Jacob didn't want to think about what he had just done. That would require standing up and coming to his senses. That would require feelings, which he had decided to turn off.

All Jacob could think about was the conversation he had had with Larkin on Sunday night. He'd been walking to where his parents were parked to pick him after his band concert. She had been out, probably waiting for criminals, when he had stumbled upon her tense form leaning against the wall of a building downtown. She was Coalescence at the time, and he was just Jacob.

When he was with Larkin, he always felt unimportant. She made him feel that way.

Before he approached her, he debated whether or not she would actually want to talk to him. He last talked to her on Friday, when he revealed his identity to her.

Sitting where he was now, that night felt like ages ago. However, it was only Monday.

Finally, he decided that he should talk to her. He had something important to say, and it could not be ignored, or a life would be lost. So Jacob went up to Larkin.

"Coalescence," he said.

Larkin smiled a wry grin. She pushed herself off the wall and stepped a bit closer to Jacob. He noticed that she was still tense, as if waiting for someone to pop out of the shadows, but for all he knew, that could be exactly what she was doing.

"Jacob, I hope you're keeping out of trouble," she had said.

Her lilting voice made Jacob smile. "Band concert," he mumbled. It was the only response he could handle. "I play the clarinet," he said, gaining control of his tongue once again.

Larkin nodded once. "I've heard."

Then silence. And Jacob tried to say the words he had come to say, but his vocal cords weren't working and his lips were glued shut. I have to kill your father.

Before he could attempt to tell her, Larkin stood rigid. Her back was ramrod straight, and he could see her concentrating to hear something. He backed away a few steps, and then opened his mouth, hoping to get the words out before she left. Larkin, I have to kill your father.

He never got the chance. A slight breeze brushed across his face. She was gone. She'd probably disappeared through a wall to go save someone. He shut his mouth in defeat. Or my father will kill me.

()()()

Jacob didn't know how to use a gun before he turned 15. Now, just a couple months away from being 16, he had shot at more people than some do in their entire lives. Had he killed someone?

Not quite.

Did he want to kill someone?

He hoped it didn't have to come to that.

Jacob decided that he had been running away from his problems for far too long, and it was time to turn around and face them. He stood up. He brushed of his pants and tucked the gun into his waistband like they did on the TV shows. Except, this wasn't a TV show, this was his life.

He walked out of the old, cinder block building with its stucco trim beginning to crumble and headed toward his old elementary school. The streets were relatively empty because school was out and most people had already gone home after work.

J. Francis Elementary's parking lot was desolate, so Jacob circumvented the building and made a beeline for the swing set on the familiar playground. He sat on a swing and slowly pushed himself backwards.

He wondered what it would look like to a passerby. They wouldn't be able to see him at all. They would only see the swing rocking back and forth on a windless night without someone to propel it. It would be eerie.

Jacob looked back at what he had done. He looked at it in steps.

1. Keep Larkin away from family for one night. Keep her from getting involved. It would be too difficult to complete his mission with a super in the way. His father had helped him with that one.

2. Occupy Black Lightning. Jacob didn't know who was doing that, but his father had said he would take care of it.

3. Locate Mr. Knolls, and exterminate the target. Jacob didn't quite succeed at this one.

He sighed. Even when his father had planned out the whole thing, he still couldn't go through with killing someone. He had shot Mr. Knolls in the shoulder, just like he had done with George Fredericks.

()()()

Larkin stood up off of Black Lightning's couch. He had dozed off after they sat there for about an hour. Larkin searched through the treehouse for a bathroom, and finally found one in the back corner. She didn't really want to know where the waste went. He must have an awful fancy sewage system up in this tree.

She then began her quest for food, and made her way to the kitchenette, which was stocked just like a regular kitchen. Honestly, Larkin was impressed. It was obvious that he cooked for himself all the time by the amount of dirty dished piled up in the sink.

After searching through a dozen cabinets, Larkin finally found a loaf of bread and stuck a piece in the toaster. When the toast was done, it popped up, and she laughed when Black Lightning jumped awake. He stood up and stretched like a cat. He walked over to the kitchenette.

"It's very rude to wake someone up like that," he whined.

Larkin smirked. "Get over it."

Black Lightning walked around the counter and leaned against it. "Do you have your powers back yet?"

She had totally forgotten about that. Larkin tried to put on her super suit. She felt little pinpricks all over her body. It was like the feeling one gets when their foot falls asleep. She tried to force it out of her, she wanted her powers back. She wanted to feel powerful again.

It didn't really work. No matter how much she wished it to happen, she was unable to make her powers work. She frowned, and instead tried to pick up on the noises outside of the tree house.

"So did it—"

Larkin shushed Black Lightning but didn't say anything else to him. She focused on the outside, hoping that something had come back to her.

Focus. That's what it took. After she calmed herself down and really focused, she was able to hear the city noises in the distance. She grinned at her small victory. Apparently, the gold didn't disable her permanently.

With a relieved sigh, Larkin opened her eyes, which had been closed in concentration. Black Lightning was grinning at her. Larkin liked it when he smiled. It made him seem more like a real person, like someone Larkin would hang out with.

His smile reminded her of Finn. Larkin remembered her twitch on the first day of school, and how she believed that Finn was Black Lightning. She still thought he was Finn.

She wanted proof.

"Do you remember what I told you about my twitch?" she began.

"What?"

"Remember? When I first met you, I told you about the twitch in my eye that warned me about other supers."

"Oh. I do now."

Larkin walked out of the kitchenette and stood next a window. She saw that Black Lightning had saved newspaper clippings featuring him. They were tacked onto the wall with clear tape. She skimmed over the headlines, remembering what it was like when the thrill of saving people was still new.

Black Lightning had followed her and stood next to her, looking at the clippings.

"I hope you don't think I'm self-centered," he admitted, letting out a nervous chuckle.

"No. I used to do it too. It gets old though, after a while, and then you realize that they aren't actually good for anything. It's not like I can show my parents that I was in the newspaper. It's nothing you can really show off to anyone. No one will know. Eventually, they'll just sit in boxes, and I'll just be Larkin Knolls, city-girl."

He hummed in response.

"Black Lightning," Larkin said, calling for his attention.

He pulled his gaze away from the wall of clippings, and focused on her.

"Can I call you Finn?" asked Larkin.

He blinked, then sort of deflated. A puff of air escaped his lips, and Larkin thought that it almost sounded like a laugh.

"And why would you want to do that?" he asked.

"Because Black Lightning is such a long name, and I've known since the first day of school."

"The twitch," he stated.

"The twitch," she repeated.

She reached up and touched his face. Her palm rested on his cheek, and then Larkin decided to test out her powers again. Her hand tingled, but she didn't know if it was from the use of her powers or toughing Black Lighting. His mask disappeared from his face, but he didn't react, didn't flinch or move. He just stood, and looked at Larkin.

Larkin looked at Finn. Finn smiled.

Larkin thought of all the cheesy lines he could have said at that moment, but he said nothing, and she was glad. It totally would have ruined the moment.