Glowing in the Sun 2

Darren's face tickled a little, but he felt no pain. He gave another burst of laughter before he took the spoon to feed himself.

Darren looked at Tora, who was making her plate of food to eat. His eyes caught her hair shimmering when caught by the light of the sun. Her skin also looked softer and brighter than when he last saw her. Her shoulders were broader, and her waist was thinner, emphasized by the cotton pants, tied high around her waist. The muscles of her naked arm flexed with every move she made as she ate.

"What about you? You don't look so bad yourself. You look better than you did when I last saw you. What have you been doing these past few months?"

Tora smiled as she looked up from her plate. "Well, as a matter of fact, I've restarted my training with Master Levi. I started soon after your accident. I felt so helpless and hopeless and weak."

Darren's face tightened when he saw Tora's smile disappear. "I almost lost you. Your heart stopped beating." Her voice trembled as her eyes reddened as she continued. Her eyes pierced his own. "You had seizures, too. And it wasn't just once. It took a while before you were finally stable."

"Then, Rouen came and offered me money to stay silent and not talk to the press. One hundred million dollars is what they paid for your life, but that's not enough for me. I hated them," she said breathily.

Darren heard a sudden thumping, a beating heart racing. Did he hear Tora's heart? No, that was not possible. Was it his own heart reacting to Tora's story?

Tora's face tightened as blood rushed through her veins at the thought of the past few months. Night after night, Miriam would call her to tell her if Darren had a heart attack or seizure. When she sat by his bed, and his heart would stop, she had to stay out of the room to let the nurses shock his heart back to life. Her emotions went through a roller coaster. Tora would, at times, spend hours with her eyes watching Darren. She felt if she moved her eyes from him for even a moment, he would disappear.

Darren listened to the rage that flowed from her lips as he felt heat radiate from her entire body. Her furrowed brows overshadowed her eyes, and her nose flared as she spoke through gritted teeth.

"I was so angry I felt like I was going to explode. But I couldn't." Her voice deflated, and her shoulders fell in defeat. She opened and closed her palm repeatedly to calm herself. "I had to rein in my anger because I didn't have the power to hurt the people who hurt you. That night, I learned that the worst feeling in the world is watching your loved ones hurting while you stand on the sidelines without being able to do anything."

Darren's heart clenched when Tora wiped a tear away before it fell from her eyes.

She looked up at him as she said, "That's why you didn't like Electro, isn't it?"

Darren said nothing.

Tora continued, "You knew that he and Rouen were paying off families of people injured as collateral damage in their battles to keep them quiet. It's bad for business if people talk."

Darren's eyes widened when he saw Tora's deeply furrowed brows. Her eyes had a dangerous glint in them that he had not seen in a long time. When they were younger, Tora got into a lot of fights because they were often bullied by their peers. A glint of pleasure would appear in her eyes. The same look would appear when she faced a challenge, and she was confident she would overcome.

"Tora, what did you do?" He asked cautiously. "Did something happen between you and Rouen?" Darren shifted to the edge of his seat as he looked at Etora, his face contorting with concern.

How could she be so sure she could overcome Electro and the S7? What about Rouen, who was behind them?

Knowing Tora, he knew she would be outraged when he was hurt. If she had the power and physical strength, she would have probably charged at Electro that same night. Since she could not challenge him head-on, she would challenge him and threaten Rouen in a way she could reinforce.

Tora learned computer science and programming at the Air Force Academy, which included high-level hacking skills. Since she could not threaten them with physical strength, she could threaten them with the information she could quickly obtain with a few keystrokes on her laptop.

Tora remained silent and ignored him as she ate. She would find information that could cripple Rouen should they ever be released to the public.

Darren was just as observant and had a knack for research and collecting information, which also led him to learn of Rouen's dark secrets.

In January at the start of the year, Roman -another member of the Super 7- rammed through a cargo train that was transporting oil across the country. Although there were no human casualties during the crash, many people complained about the oil ruining their crops in a small town in Kansas.

A week after the accident, he found almost no news about the oil spill or the ruined crops. Due to his hacking skills, he recovered the complaints and followed the money back to Rouen. Digging deeper, Darren found many more similar accidents going back almost seven years since Rouen established the team of Supers.

The accidents were sparse during the first few years, but in the most recent years, there were frequent incidents that included Rouen and the supers. There were no human casualties, but he found many instances where individuals and communities were paid millions of dollars for property damage to stay silent. Some people even left the country after having a run-in with the supers.

Darren once idolized Rouen and their super-team, the S7.