It's a Hell of a World

Nathan looked out at the city far below him. His home of Venice, Italy spread out before him as he flew away on the plan back to the United States. He had been there for the Maxwell family reunion and as per every year he left feeling home sick but also happy that he was on his own..relatively speaking. He had made it to the America's with his father and older sister when he was 15. The reason he left Venice is one that he tries to keep secret but it has to do with what Nathan himself can actually do.

Nathan is a metahuman, having powers over the shadows themselves and being able to manipulate darkness. This "gift" came to him at a time when he was about 13 and still...well you know the cliche. He was picked on by some people that tried to harm him. instead he harmed them when tentacles of darkness threw his attackers away and made them look like ragdolls. Nathan tried to hide for two years after that, not wanting to cause his father and sister stress over him but at the same time not knowing what he was. But in the end the three moved to the Americas and it was a lot better there than anywhere else.

The plane landed at about 5 am, the almost 12 hour flight washing over Nathan's body and the lag from the time changes making him more tired than he realized. But he found himself in New York City, one of the many places that he had a home in, the one that most don't know about being the White House itself down in the nation's Capitol.

He pulled out his cellphone and hit the speed dial button, the phone ringing but going to voice mail. 'Never answers her phone immediately' He thought as the tone sounded to leave a message. "I'm back in the states, just landed in New York City." He left the message there and ended the call, walking out of the airport with his laptop bag hanging from his side. He walked down the streets of the sprawling city, glancing at the people as they went by.

Something caught his eye though..a shady character entering a bank, and Nathan could've sworn he saw was he thought was the reflection of a handgun. 'Never a day of rest with these people...' He thought as he walked to the bank just as the man pulled a gun and fired into the air, causing the people to panic and drop to the ground, Nathan saw that there were some inside people that had pulled their guns to the the hostages as well.

"He said get on the ground." One of the men said to Nate, training his sights on the young 26 year old man.

"No." Nathan stated as the shadows started to come alive, swirling around him and lifting off the ground. They would've been stronger at night, but the dawn had set in and the lights from the building made his shadows weaker, but not so much that Nathan was useless with them. He saw the look of fear in their eyes as they opened fire. Nathan's shadows created a bubble that ate the bullets , dropping to the ground as if they had never been fired and then when the shooting stopped, burst forth and grabbed the robbers, holding them in air like they were weightless. He threw them all to the walls, and caused them to hit hard enough to knock them out. Extending his will, Nathan reached out with the shadows and grabbed the guns, breaking them from the inside out, "I hate firearms..." He muttered as he grabbed the unconscious men and brought the into a circle, telling the security guards to tie them up and call the authorities.

Nathan left the bank as if he had never been there and vanished reappearing on top of the roof of the bank, sitting on the edge and looking out at the rising sun.

Nathan felt the sun's heat flush his face as Chiara walked up behind him asking about the trip. He smiled slightly at the sound of her voice after having dealt with relatives for a good week now. "English perhaps? I think I've heard enough Italian for one week. But it was good, same canal city it's been since I last saw the place" He told her, looking up at the red-head that he shared home with.

Nathan had been together for a long time, but they never married. Chiara never felt like she needed to marry, it's surprising that she's settled down at all even by the metahuman standards, but they worked things out well enough and as far as Nathan cared for they wanted each other to be happy well enough to be fine. "Before you ask, yes I hid my face." He told her smirking at her. He knew she always hated having to erase their face from the system and made more of a point to keep a secret identity, even if he thought that he'd feel more free with the world knowing who he was, and not having some superhero name like 'The Shadow' or some crap like that. It wasn't how the two of them dealt with things.

"How's the week been without me?" He asked her as he offered for her to take a seat next to him.

Nathan smirked at her, knowing what she meant by needing real action. Over the few years of knowing her he understood her need to have an actually mission or quest or whatever someone other than them would call it. To them it was a normal day drawn out too damn long, but in the end it passed and he watched Chiara wait needingly for the next chance to really push herself.

"I'll ride on the bike with you, jet lag always gets me groggy, you know what happened last time I tried to teleport home from the airport." He said to her. It wasn't a pleasant experience. He got off the plane 2 years ago from a trip to Italy and tried to travel straight to one of their flats in D.C., instead he appeared in the White House, in the Oval Office, during a presidential conference. It had the headlines for literally months before Chiara managed to tear it completely down and they hid again. It was part of the reason that they hadn't stayed in the White House for a while because they weren't sure how much the president and other officials remember of it. Since then he chose to ride with her back to the home they were staying in at that current time.

Nathan smiled as he stood up behind her, glancing down at the cops as well. Then Chiara pulled him into a kiss and he kissed her back, wrapping his arms around her to hold her, closing his eyes as well. He held the kiss with her for a good minute or two before pulling away and smiling at her. "I missed you too." He told her softly as he smiled at her.

Nathan climbed onto the back of the bike and wrapped his arms around falling asleep on her back as they returned to the condo. He glanced at the building, waking up as he felt the motion of the bike stop next to the sidewalk. He got off the bike, slumping a bit like he was going to fall over.

"I forgot how much I miss home." he told her as they entered the building and got to the room. He fell on the bed barely keeping from passing out.

Nathan slept, subconciously wrapping an arm around Chiara as they napped, but his slumber was stirred. He opened his eyes, noticing the bright daylight shining through the apartment windows. A shadow was cast from that light, a man's figure with lightning bolts for ears. He glanced up at the man in the red and yellow suit and rolled his eyes slightly, noticing, though probably mistaken about it, that Chiara was still asleep.

He disappeared from the bed, not getting up but melting into the darkness and reforming standing in front of the foot of it. "Flash...ha..since when do you commit breaking and entering?" He asked the living lightning bolt though Barry didn't seem to take much of a joke about it.

"There's a problem Shadow." Barry Allen told the metahuman

"My name is Nathan, I don't use those blasted code name y'all give each other. And it's not my problem whatever it is. In case you couldn't tell I just got home, I'd like to spend some time with someone that shares my interests." Nathan told his...acquaintance as he went and poured a small glass of whiskey

"I wonder why you two don't just marry already...anyway this is a conflict of interest that does concern you." Barry insisted, steadfast on the fact that he wouldn't be leaving.

"What's happened to her..?" Nathan asked, glaring at the realization of what Barry meant. The Flash had been watching Nathan's sister ever since Michelle had chosen to move to Central City. Flash would never come to Nathan unless something serious was going on.

"I need your help." Barry simply said. Almost about to leave, wanting Nathan to come to Central to talk about the situation.

Nathan glanced between Chiara and Flash. The scarlet speedster merely ignored Chiara's demand to take care of it and left, knowing that Nathan would come to Central as soon as he could. Nathan nodded silently and grabbed his daggers from the closet and tossed Chiara the keys to her bike, transporting the two of them down to the back corner of the lobby where no one would notice them.

Nathan waited for Chiara to crank the bike and rode along with her on it for a good portion of the trip. But as soon as they hit the open highway out of the city he lost his patience and teleported the two of them and then bike a good distance from where they were to being just a decent 15 miles from Central City. He could do these jumps with ease using the momentum of the bike to propel is own powers, but it still came at a cost. He gripped Chiara harder as he faded into unconciousness, holding her tight so that he wouldn't be lost along the road as they drove into the city.

Barry glanced over at Nathan whom was still unconcious. "He teleported you two here didn't he?" He asked Chiara knowing the answer was obvious.

Dr. Wells sat there eyeing Nathan for a moment before turning back to Chiara. "So these two are what you ran an errand for? I hope it was worth it." He said as he glanced over at Chiara not much liking her appearance. Though that was how Dr. Wells usually acted towards people. He sat in the confines of his wheelchair and looked at Barry to continue.

"Like I told you at Manhatten. I need your help, and it should be obvious that it's about her." He told Chiara motioning to Nathan's body.

As if on que Nathan's eyes open. He raised up and looked grim faced at the group of people. "Tell me where the hell my sister is and who the hell took her. I'm in no time for idle talk and I have more than a fair share of morons to rip the heart out of."

Nathan was absent-minded through all the talking that Wells and Chiara batted at one another. He didn't listen, all he could think right now was about his sister. She was somewhere trapped and with her life hanging on the line. He couldn't accept that. Eventually the noise was just too much and he felt the shadows he controlled come to life around him whipping but not hitting anyone.

"They chose the wrong family to mess with..." He muttered under his breath, coming to the conclusion of how he'd handle it.

He turned to Barry with a common, "Please help us," look then turned back towards Chiara.

"I take it you didn't pick up the sniper rifle did you..?" He asked her an idea playing through his head, hopping that she would catch on and realize what he needed her to do.