1.7 Guardsmen Part 13

Leo rolls his shoulders as he walks down the hospital corridor to Joan’s room. He initially had some trouble with the authorities letting him in, but some of the staff, Doctor Henderson in particular, insisted that his presence would be good and reassuring for Joan.

The deal he made with Darkness was a good one. No murdering parahumans when they are off-duty. No going after family or friends. No torture. No maiming or crippling after surrendering. No killing or maiming civilians. No intentionally hurting civilians. No revealing secret identities if the parahuman wishes to keep it unless they have been arrested.

And that is not even going into the other unsavoury actions they agreed to not condone.

And now Darkness has agreed to inform the DSA and the Heroes Union about the new Cape and Cowl Code of Conduct.

And he will apologise for going after the Fowler family.

Indeed.

I wonder why he did agree to that. I certainly wasn’t expecting him to, especially not so quickly and easily.

Perhaps he didn’t want to get on our bad side.

Or perhaps he wanted to get on our good side.

And that wasn’t the only odd thing about Darkness. Remember what it felt like when he attacked us telepathically?

Aye, there was another presence in addition to his.

And it felt similar to one of us. At least it did to me.

Do you think that Darkness has his own, what was the word that Guardian calls hers?

Companion?

Yes, do you think that Darkness has one?

It would explain why he is such a powerful and dangerous telepath. Two on one are poor odds.

Unfortunately for him, the odds were two on five when he took us on.

Leo stops as he hears people talking inside Joan’s room. He recognises the voice of his girlfriend, but doesn’t know the other three.

One of them is Alexis.

So who are the other two?

They might be other members of Joan’s family.

Leo steps over the broken down door and looks at the occupants of the room. He recognises Alexis in her Iris costume, but the other two people are young Aphrodite women that are unknown to him.

One has lush, flowing brown hair that goes down around her shoulders and gorgeous green eyes in addition to a curvy and beautiful body. Her outfit, a white one strap dress that is loose at the bottom and tight at the waist and upwards, serves only enhances her beauty.

The other is just as beautiful with the same eyes and hair with a trio of minor differences. The first is that the hair of the second woman is over a metre long, going down past her bottom, while the second is that, while much higher than average with a height of about six feet, the first woman is slightly over two metres tall. In addition to that, this woman has blue eyes to the former’s green. She is wearing a tight crimson mini dress that clearly shows off her figure.

Both are taller than me. That said, I’m am five feet ten and so growing as I’m only fifteen.

I wonder height we’ll be once we finish growing.

That will be interesting to find out since we are a Bellator

All four females turn to look at him as he enters the room.

“Leo!” exclaims Joan and she beams at him, “I’m so clear you’re here!”

I know that Jaylyn told me that Joan was unharmed, but it is so good to be able to check in person.

So very true.

Darkness would have paid if she wasn’t.

He has already paid Heart.

Humph.

“I’m glad to be here as well,” replies Leo as he walks towards Joan, “May I ask who your guests are? I know about Alexis, but...”

“You haven’t seen us since we manifested,” says the taller woman with the shorter hair, “Well, Leo, I’m Abigail. I’m sure you remember me?”

“I sure do,” answers Leo, vaguely recalling meeting the women a few times in the past, “I assume you manifested?”

“Yeah,” replies Abigail, “I got attacked by one of the Darkness’ followers. Most of our family did. I think only Breanne was the only of us not to be.”

“I’m going assume that you’re okay from what I can see right now,” says Leo was he reaches Joan, sitting down in the chair next to her bed, “Do you mind if I ask you what your powers are?”

Abigail is strange.

Really?

Aye, just being around her makes me feel boosted, stronger, better.

“I’m still getting the hang of them, but I’ll tell you what I figured out so far,” replies Abigail, “May I introduce you to Marcelle first?”

“Sure,” says Leo as he turns his head to look at the last of the girls in the room, “You got your powers before tonight didn’t you?”

“That’s right-” Marcelle begins to say, but stops as Alexis suddenly gets up.

“Sorry, but I got to go,” she says apologetically as she heads for the door, “Heroes Union business. Now that all the attacks have stopped for a while now, I can’t justify being here instead of doing my job by saying that I want to protect Joan. Especially with you two here Marcy and Abby.”

“I understand,” says Joan as her sister leaves the room, “I’m sure I’ll be safe.”

More than she knows.

Darkness and his forces won’t dare hurt her now.

Leo blinks as he feels a strange force enters his mind.

What or who is that?

Either Marcelle or Abigail must have telepathic powers.

What do think they want?

I don’t know. Do you guys think we should drive her out?

I would rather that you didn’t. I simply wish to talk about some private matters.