One final spark and a small billow of smoke erupted from the machine. The smell of fried motherboard filled the room. 

Arin both fought to hold back hacking coughs from the, undoubtedly toxic, fumes filling the room. It really only made it smell better in there. 

“Y--y’ur one of them! One of the supers! No, this’s South Urbana! There aren’t supers here! They’re only in the city!” Joe slipped on a plate of moldy food and flopped into the wall. His hand landed on the light switch. “At least I can see your face!” 

He smacked the switch to ‘off’ but the light behind Arin didn’t even dim. In fact, it shone brighter and brighter until it was like staring into the sun. Joe covered his eyes and leapt at the laptop, cuddling it in his drunken arms. 

“No. Turn it back on! I gotta finish this!”

“Tell that to the cops,” Arin belted in her manly-hero-voice. 

“Never! You’ll never take me alive!” Joe yelled. His inebriation had, for some reason, sent him back into a 1960s cop flick. He darted for the door, tripping over everything that was in his path–everything. He practically rolled out of the door and down the stairs. 

“Wait! Please don’t run!” Arin dropped her false voice, well aware that asking politely probably wasn’t going to stop him. 

You started this, you’ve got to finish it. She reluctantly took off after Joe. 

Joe was generally a slow dude, only made slower by the beer sloshing in his stomach and veins. He ran, with about all the grace of a frightened ostrich, through the empty streets of South Urbana. Arin didn’t possess the speed of a track runner herself but she was, at the very least, sober. She caught up to him easily, even while she took time to drain streetlights to hide her face as she approached. 

Just as she attempted to tackle him, he slipped out of her reach and onto his back, sliding through the dewy grass. The laptop flew out of Joe’s arms and tumbled into the street. Headlights could be seen speeding down the road—headlights heading straight for the laptop. 

“No!” Joe yelled and crawled to his feet. He ran out into the street and jumped on top of the laptop, protecting it as the car raced towards him.

 “Move!” Arin yelled. Joe was clueless enough without alcohol, but now he just sat there, protecting his cargo like obliviousness was his superpower.

 

Arin closed her eyes and held out her hand. 

The car came to an instant halt when it met a streetlight’s pillar. The engine smoked something awful.

Joe’s eyes were still clamped shut, hugging the laptop as he prepared to take a full-forced car right to his flushed face. Arin ran up and pinned him to the asphalt to tie his hands behind his back with her wool scarf. Not the best handcuffs on the planet, but more than Joe could handle.

 

“What did you do to my car?” yelled the man getting out of the driver’s seat. Arin was careful not to look up at the guy, or he’d surely see her face. She killed the streetlight above her for extra protection.

Arin cleared her throat and continued to speak in her low register, “This man was doing illegal—”

“I DON’T GIVE A DAMN WHAT HE WAS DOING!” the man exploded.

The man threw shut the door of his car. “This car is one of a kind!” 

Arin could hardly see the car in the dark of the night, but what little she could see was very nice. It was low, aerodynamic, and pristine—aside from the broken headlight, smoking engine, and the entire side busted in by a lamppost. All Arin did was drain some of the electricity from the thing; it’d probably be fine...aside from the broken headlight, smoking engine, and the entire side busted in by a lamppost. Then again, she didn’t really know what her powers did.

Arin rose, being sure to keep her back towards the red-faced-angry-man. “I am sorry about your car, sir; a repair shop should have it fixed up no problem. Do me a favor and call the police on this lunatic.” 

“On him? I’ll call the cops on you!” The steaming man took wide, stomping steps in Arin’s direction, signaling for her to get the hell out of there. 

She sprinted from the scene, hoodie keeping her face in shadows as Joe yelled after her, “Curse you Red Electron!”