Flashback

John’s hands felt numb as he stared at the sky falling further away from it. The air pushing him downward making him feel as if he weighed a ton. Why didn’t he save her when he had the chance? He could hear their voices even as he fell. He could feel the pain growing inside. He could feel the…darkness. Something had changed inside of him…maybe even broken. Why was he still falling? Will his fall ever end…..is this what it means to…. die? He wondered as the darkness slowly consumed him. 

Present 

John awakened from his dream-like memory as he began to look around. His vision was slightly blurred causing him to rub his eyes until he could see clearly. He realized he was somewhere else which felt like a prison. He looked down to see these strange things on his wrist. Slowly, he reached up toward his neck to feel a collar. John looked across the room to see Diane with the same things on. 

She appeared to still be unconscious and was badly wounded. John stood to his feet and walked toward the door of the facility. There wasn’t any way for him to look and see what was going on. He turned to see Diane sitting up as she held her head. She sighed as she looked around as she stood to her feet.

“I couldn’t beat him and now were somewhere else.” She said as she tried to pull of the cuffs on her wrists. 

John turned away and began examining the room trying to see if he could find a way out.  He continued to examine the room as he heard footsteps at the door. They waited silently until the door opened. Two guards dressed in Drex-corps uniforms appeared. John lunged forward tackling the bigger to the ground. Diane managed to knock out the other one as they both stood to see a dozen more.

“Shit…” John said as he lunged at another one as he continued to push forward. 

Every time an agent went down another appeared. John was growing agitated as he smashed a guards head into a wall. Another ran at him with a taser as ducked down and knocked him over. John pulled the keys off of him and backed away. He fumbled with them in his hands as he tried to unlock the cuffs. Unfortunately, none of them worked on his locks. He threw them at a guard before kicking him to the ground. They all stopped moving when Dr. Lee appeared.

“Finally, you’re awake.” He said as he approached John. He noticed the man’s skin glowing vibrantly. John was confused as the man walked around him slowly. He felt as if the man was trying to examine him.

“Where are we?” Diane asked as she stepped beside John. Dr. Lee barely looked at her as he folded his arms and began to examine John.

“You going to answer your daughter?” John questioned as he began to notice the tension. He wondered why Dr. Lee refused to acknowledge his daughter.

“This failure of a child? She’s not worth my acknowledgement.” Dr. Lee said as John grew angry and swung with all his might. Dr. Lee disappeared as a cloud of energy remained in his place. John looked over his shoulder to see him smiling.

“Why does everyone have that lame power?” John questioned as he turned around to face Dr. Lee. He glanced at Diane who appeared angry. She had this look in her eye that made her seem deadly.

“Listen John… I’m not the villain everyone wants me to be. I’m trying to save the world from a dark age.” Dr. Lee said as he approached John. He had this look in his eye that John couldn’t trust.

“You say that yet a murderer was made into a superhuman. Now he’s an arsonist and nearly killed two girls.” John said in a serious tone as Dr. Lee stared at him confused for some time. He finally nodded as he looked away.

“I lost funding for my experiments a few years after going public. I resorted working with criminals in order to continue research. At the time… I was hoping the experiment would make Jason better.” Dr. Lee said sounding regretful as he stared at the ground briefly. 

He sighed as he stepped passed John. Diane began to follow Dr. Lee causing John to do the same. John needed to figure a way out of the cuffs and out of the building. Unfortunately, he had this feeling they were in a location far from Darko city.

“You going tell us where we are?” John asked a few feet behind Dr. Lee who stopped and turned. He sighed deeply before spreading a grin on his face.

“Don’t worry I’ll send you back to Darko city soon. I wanted to show you something.” Dr. Lee said as he turned to a door and pushed it open to reveal a highly advanced lab filled with unusual technology. In the far side of the room John saw a young woman floating in a vat.

“What are you doing to her?” Diane asked as she started to walk over to the woman but Dr. Lee appeared in front of her. John became tense as he continued searching for a way to get the cuffs off him.

“Like John here, her DNA is something I’ve never seen before.” Dr. Lee said as he stared at John with an intrigued look on his face. The expression on Dr. Lee’s face made John uncomfortable as he began walking around the room. John felt Dr. Lee’s eyes watching him as he continued to look around the room.

“Mind taking this collar and these cuffs off of me?” John questioned.

Dr. Lee nodded before disappearing with a set of keys. This hadn’t been what John expected but he decided to use the time to plan. He figured if these tools were used to negate powers it meant his powers would take time to return. John wasn’t fully sure if he controlled his powers. It felt like something else was using them most of the time. 

“I hope you don’t plan to attack me.” Dr. Lee said as John shook his slowly. He wasn’t planning attacking him directly. John was looking for a way to cause a small explosion.

“I’m ready to go home.” John said as Dr. Lee stared at him for a long time. It started to annoy John at how much Dr. Lee stared at him in a curious manner.

“Do you truly have a home?” Dr. Lee asked sounding curious.

 John stared at him taken aback by his sudden question. He didn’t know how to answer. He sighed as he shook his head and looked down at his torn and ragged clothes. Diane came over to them with a serious look on her face.

“You do have a home…” She trailed off as she stared at John for a long time. Dr. Lee laughed causing her to look at him. John was getting fed up with Dr. Lee at this point.

“Look I’m hungry… do you mind feeding us?” John asked. 

He dint really care for food but he figured he could distract Dr. Lee a bit. If he pestered him enough maybe he could get him to make a mistake. Dr. Lee sighed as he walked over to a table where John saw a walkie talkie. He watched as Dr. Lee ordered someone to bring up food for him. John nodded gratefully as he glanced over at Diane. 

He was buying time as he hoped she may have a plan as well. John walked over to Dr. Lee accidentally bumping into him as he examined the table. He was looking at a vial that had this purple substance in it.

“This is the super serum. I’ve been testing new elements to add to it. I’m hoping to make a stronger dose.” Dr. Lee said as he turned away from the table causing John to follow him. 

“Are you going to take these restraints off me as well?” Diane asked.

 Dr. Lee raised his hand as it began to glow blindingly bright. John stepped in between Dr. Lee and Diane. He felt a powerful blast of energy that sent him hurdling into the wall. He winced in pain as he felt his ribs break. Dr. Lee sighed as he briefly disappeared before appearing over John.

“Tell me…why do you choose to help people?” Dr. Lee asked as he knelt down beside John.

John was leaning against the wall as he noticed his wounds weren’t healing yet. The pain felt excruciating as he sat there struggling to breathe. John sat silently as he sat long and hard wondering why he chose to help anyone.