Fifth Avenue

Hartley sat in the infirmary by Justin’s hospital bed, her hand was holding his tightly, she was worried if she let go he would never come back. “Come on Justin, wake up, and wake up please” she whispers to him, pressing his hand to her lips lightly. She didn’t want to move the IV drip.

Doc walks in and removes in gloves with a sigh “Any movement?” he asks and Hartley shakes her head sadly, she would know, she hasn’t left his side since she was allowed to visit him, she needed a shower more than anything but wasn’t about to leave him alone.

“Okay let’s get this done then” he says stretching before seating himself beside Justin and placing his hands-on Justin’s most damaging wound, the one on his chest, Doc said that Justin was lucky, the sword punctured a lung and just barely missed his heart.

Doc was able to heal the lung but getting Justin’s body to allow him to wake up is a harder story. Doc closes his eyes putting as much energy he could into healing the wound.

He had offered to rid Hartley of the many scars she had gained because of Reaper but she decided to keep them, every mark is a memory, even the ones we don’t want to remember.

When Doc was finished, he stood up and stumbled slightly, obviously still feeling weak. “Hartley, I need you to come with me” he says slightly strained “Please” she looks to Justin’s pale face and nods releasing his hand and following Doc out of the room.

“I want to show you something” he says and steps into the car, they drove near the town where the orphanage was but pulled into the park just outside it. Doc gets out and straightens his suit before walking ahead, not even waiting for Hartley to catch up.

“I knew your parents Hartley” he says glimpsing at her “we were good friends, and when this” he stops and his hand grips his left forearm “when this happened to me I went to your parents for help, they were the ones who told me I was not alone, your parents were a rare kind, they were born into families with a long background of these abilities” Doc looks up to the sky “Then when they got pregnant with you something happened, people are incredibly rare and for two to find each other and have a child can be incredibly dangerous, the power that surged within your mother slowly turned her mad so in turn her husband followed her, they made a deal with Wisdom that when you were born she could have you, raise you so you could be the most powerful human in the world and so Wisdom could use you as a weapon” Hartley’s eyes slightly widen and she looks down to the ground.

“But after you were born your mother looked at your little face and had a moment of clarity, she called me” he says sadly.

Hartley falls to her knees and clutches her head “Oh god” she whispers before she is once again surrounded by white.

Hartley looks up and sees a woman crying in the corner, she wore a white dress covered in blood and going transparent as the rain began to cover it. “I’m so sorry” the woman whispers and Hartley moves towards her seeing the small child bundled in her shaking arms. The woman lightly kisses the baby’s forehead before looking up, as if she could see Hartley.

A small smile goes onto her face as Hartley looks at her strangely, no she couldn’t see her. Hartley thought shaking her head

The woman pulls out her phone and places it to her ear “Allen” she says quietly as she looks around her “I can’t go back, she’s looking for me, Allen I made a mistake” she sobs “I need you to take care of her, I can’t do it, she’s not safe” a growl can be heard from the distance “The orphanage, okay” she nods “Promise to watch over her, be her guardian angel, never let anything happen to my baby girl Allen” the woman says in a low voice before she drops her phone crushing it as she stood.

“It’s okay Hartley, I’ll make sure there’s always someone there to take care of you” the woman looks back down to the baby before getting up and running down an alleyway.

Hartley was pulled along after her, a loud growl came from the alleyway and her heart began to pound against her chest. The woman keeps running, stumbling slightly in the puddles on the rocky path. “Catherine” a scratchy voice whispers, Hartley turns around and see’s four yellow beaming eyes coming from the shadows.

Looking forward the orphanage came nearer and nearer, the familiar broken bricks coming into focus. The woman trips falling onto the stairs and protecting the child from the impact. The two creatures appeared from the darkness; slowly limping closer and closer to the woman “Stay back!” she calls the fear evident in her voice.

“I’m sorry baby” she whispers kissing Hartley’s small forehead “You don’t deserve this” the baby looked up to the woman with wide eyes and gave her a toothless smile “Just remember that mummy and daddy love you, and nothing will ever change that” she says trying not to choke up.

The woman ripped the bottom of her dress and wrapped the baby in it leaving her at the door of the orphanage, a small piece of paper placed neatly in the child’s arms. “I hope you never remember me” she whispers sadly removing the babies hand from around her finger and staring into the baby’s emerald green eyes.

When she was done, the woman took off running as fast as she could from the creatures, Hartley moves to the baby and jumps as she hears a blood curdling scream in the distance, the baby began to cry and her brown hair slowly turned blue.

The large wooden doors open to reveal a middle-aged Sister Juanita.

Hartley opens her eyes breathing deeply “Are you okay?” Doc asks worried and she nods giving him a half smile “Is that- I mean did you just?” Hartley nods.

“I saw it, I saw her leaving me at the door” Hartley sobs and Doc hugs her tightly.

“Hartley, you need to understand it wasn’t her fault okay” he says and Hartley nods “That kind of power is enough to turn anyone mad” Hartley pulls back and stands up brushing the dirt from her knees, as she looked up she noticed it had begun to rain. “Wisdom plans to clear the world and then start a better one, a world where society doesn’t judge, the sickness that took over your orphanage has now taken over the entire town, most people has either died or fled town” Hartley nods “I want to show you” Doc led her back to the car and they drove down the road into the town.

It was dark and quiet, not even a crow could be heard. Doc parked in the middle and they got out looking around, rain belted on the tin rooves of the houses and the abandoned boats hit against the harbour with every wave.

“Can we look at the orphanage?” she asks quietly and Doc nods walking off in the direction to the orphanage.

They soon approached it and Hartley stopped in her tracks, the building had been burnt down, spray paint covering the remaining rubble of the building, Doc clears his throat “I’ll just give you some time alone” he says before walking off.

Hartley walked through the rubble, her hand brushing over the last of the walls, the memory of Sister Hannah pressed against it in fear and tears slightly pooling in her eyes, the rain getting heavier. Although she had few, if any good memories at this place it had been her home and they had been her broken for almost sixteen years and to see it like this hurt.

“Must hurt” a voice says from behind her and she turns to see Candii. She had a bruised face and dry blood coming from her nose. “To see everything burnt down, gone” a cruel smile attempts to make its way onto her face but she flinches in pain leaving her with a simple snarl.

“Must hurt” Hartley copies “to have failed and been punished for it” Hartley tilts her head slightly allowing the smile to make its way onto her face. Candii growls and lunges forward wanting to hit her but Hartley quickly dodges smacking Candii across the back of her head.

Candii stumbles but catches herself before falling “You little-” Candii growled swiping her sharpened nails at Hartley’s face, Hartley goes to dodge but still gets her face gets hit causing a small amount of blood trickle down her cheek.

Hartley pauses and reaches her hand to her cheek looking at the blood on her hand, she slowly to face Candii, her hair changes to red and her eyes flicker the flamed colour causing the colour to drain from Candii’s face.

She jumped onto Candii and pinned her to the ash covered floors “Mistake” she spits pressing her hands either side of Candii’s head and pushing all of her pain onto her, just as she had once done to Reaper.

Candii began to scream, her hands go to her head to try and stop it but she couldn’t. Hartley stepped back with a smile “Hartley!” Doc calls and her eyes go wide, her hair returning to blue as she turns to face him “What have you done?” he asks worriedly looking at the screaming girl on the ground.

“I don’t know, I just kind of...” she trails off hoping he would drop it but he gives her an unimpressed look “I transferred my pain, you know, to her” she says quietly and his eyes go wide.

“You what?” he asks astonished.

“You heard me” she says before closing her eyes and imagining herself on her roof, her hair now returning to brown.

Doc walks up to Candii and touches her forehead making her fall unconscious “How long have you been able to do that Hartley?” he asks picking Candii up bridal style.

“First time I ever did it was when the first base was found, I was left in a room with Reaper and I kind of just placed my hands on his head, I don’t even know how I knew what to do, I just did” she says “once I did it I felt happier and he was screaming in pain, I got angry when Candii scratched me so I wanted her to hurt so I, I didn’t mean to, I lost control” Hartley says covering her face “I’m sorry” Doc sighs and begins to walk to the car.

They drove in silence back to the base and Doc barely said a word getting out.

He placed Candii in a cell and left, Hartley went back into the infirmary to be with Justin and only looked up when she noticed Bullet and Shooter walking towards the cell area holding a big black bag.