Key to understanding:
Part two is Nightfall's origin. You may need to re-read part one to get a complete understanding of these stories. Although part two is NOT continued from part one, they are linked.
Generation Pre 2
Version 1.0 The night. A time or condition marked by absence of moral or ethical values. Those who would do wrong cloak themselves in the blanket of darkness hoping to conceal their evil deeds. The night. The period between evening and bedtime. A period of time during which, most, humans regenerate. No matter what it is used for; the night is uncontrollable. Big cities such as Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, and Kernersville can have problems with crime at night. Vandalism, stalking, murder, and robbery are a few of the problems associated with crime. In severe cases citizens can even learn to fear nightfall. In Kernersville, gangs are popular among young adults. Many start as gathering of friends after school. As they become aware of the evil and misdeeds of the peers; the young adults can easily be influenced to follow. Then they can snowball into some of the most feared people in society. One organization, for example, the “Degenerates” have been around for several years. The Degenerates are composed of only teenagers. Seventeen guys and three girls. Spanning from 12 to 19. Age equals superiority in the Degenerates. But attitude is the ultimate factor. For example: Jeff Knight is the oldest, 19, but Victor Mabe, know more commonly as “Pain”, has more of a violent temper and such a bad attitude that the Degenerates listen to him more than Jeff. Besides it’s only natural for people to listen to pain. Jeff and Victor have always been at each other’s throat. Jeff is jealous of Pain. Jeff feels that he should be the Degenerates’ leader but Pain would not allow Jeff to. Jeff is the preferred head but no one is brave enough to overthrow Pain. But Jeff waits. He unhappily waits for the right time to put Pain in his place. But it never comes. Gangwars are inevitable. Gangs collide with one another for areas of the city, recreation areas, people. Even on rare occasions gangs will ally themselves to fight a larger advesary, the police. In a past rumble between the Degenerates and the Cripplers, a rival gang, the Degenerates decide to go explore the new area they won. Or at least Pain decides for them. Jeff resists just because it is Pain’s idea. They all go the next night anyways. Jeff warns them that the Cripplers will be waiting. Refusing to give their portion of the city away. Pain insists that Jeff is stupid and a weakling. When they get there, as Jeff predicted, the Cripplers are waiting with their knives, chains and other weapons. The Degenerates prepare to show the Cripplers back the way they came. They fight. Not too long though. The police appear. When Jeff sees them coming he decides to take off. “Come on!”, he yells to his peers. They follow him when Pain stops them. “NO! Are you all just gonna run away like babies?! Stay here and fight!”, he yells. “I’ve got a better idea! Now come on!”, Jeff orders. Taking command he realizes this is his chance to shake the Degenerates to the foundation then procure the command he deserves. They Degenerates, unable to make up their mind of who to follow, stand listening to the sirens approaching. Finally they start to go with Jeff. Then they all do, abandoning Pain. The police come and see the Cripplers with the weapons. The Cripplers drop them and run but nearly all of them are caught by the police. Including Pain. He insists to them he is not one of them. The police refuse to listen. Pain continues to resist until he is forced to break away. He escapes and runs into the shadows of a dark alley. A police officer, Mr. Parker, follows him and finds him in the shadows. Pain leaps up on a garbage dumpster and leaps over a barb wired fence behind the dumpster. Parker, hot on his trail leaps up on the dumpster and carefully climbs over fence clearing the barbed wire. Pain hits the ground, rolls, and leaps to his feet. Then runs down the other end of the alley. Parker climbs down the fence with more caution and then leaps to the ground. He bends his knees to cushion his fall. Then he runs after Pain to catch up with him. Pain runs harder. Looking frantically for the other Degenerates. They are no where to be seen. He takes a sharp right turn to run down the street. He doesn’t know where he’s going or how much longer he can run from Parker. He is catching up. They run for just over a block. Parker pulls out his gun and holds it at Pain. “Stop! Freeze!” Pain continues to run. “This is your last chance!”, Parker manages, to yell while breathing heavily. Pain realizes that Parker is tiring and finds new strength to run harder. Finally as Parker shoots him a chain is thrown at his feet. He trips over them and hand is flung up as he pulls the trigger. His bullet hits a streetlight and blow it up. The entire block is flooded with shadow. As the darkness devours the dying light Parker watches as Pain’s figure disappears into oblivion. He runs for a moment more until he reaches an alley. He stops. He bends down with his hands on his knees trying to catch his breath. Then an arm reaches out of the black alley and grabs Pain. He is pulled in unable to resist. “It’s me Jeff!”, a voice calls out. Pain recognize the Degenerates. “You should have came with us!” Pain tries to speak but can not. “Here. Take this. It should conceal you identity until we can get out of here.”, Jeff hands him a tee-shirt. “We pulled it off a clothesline up there.”, pointing to the lines suspended on the walls of the alley. Pain looks at it and throws it back at Jeff. “I’m not wearing that! Garfield?!”, he exclaims. Jeff looks at the other Degenerates. “Ok! Fine!”, Jeff exclaims angry. Jeff takes his shirt off and gives it to Pain then put the Garfield shirt on himself. “There you happy?!” “Why you risking you butt to help me? You know I wouldn’t do the same!”, Pain says as he puts on Jeff’s blank white shirt. “I would have left you but everyone insisted that we help you.”, Jeff explains. “Come on. We gotta get out of here.” “You nearly got me killed!”, Pain argues. “We saved you! If you hadn’t rebelled and stayed like a fool then you wouldn’t have gotten in trouble!”, Jeff says. “I’ll argue this with you later, Victor!” They start out and walk briskly back to where they left there car. Trying to stay hidden the darkness. As they walk up to the corner of a block as a police car pulls up. They stop in their tracks. It stops and an officer gets out. It is Parker! He looks them over searching for Pain. “What are you kids doing out so late? Huh?”, he asks them. They say nothing. Then he sees Pain. Pain realizes that Parker recognizes him. Pain lunges at him as Parker reaches for his gun. “NO!”, the Degenerates shout. They try to stop him but can’t. Pain over powers Parker and grabs the gun. He fires two shots into Parker’s chest. Then spins around and aims the gun at Jeff. “This ends now!”, he says. “Now listen Victor...!”, Jeff starts as Pain fires four bullets into Jeff. The Degenerates stand horrified at Pain’s actions. “I have been and always shall be the only leader of the Degenerates!”, Pain says. Jeff, clutching his chest, falls to the ground in a puddle of blood. Then as another police car approaches he throws the empty gun down and runs away. The Degenerates look at Jeff’s dead body as the police arrive. Epilogue Jeff wakes up. Dusts himself off and looks at his chest. Four holes in the Garfield shirt. But no holes in his chest. Blood stains on his clothes. But none on the ground. He looks around and sees Parker on the ground half alive. An ambulance coming. He realizes the bullets must have passed clean out of him and that he will live. So Jeff runs with incredible speed away in an opposite direction. He runs for a while, towards the center of town, as memories, visions, and thoughts dance in his head. Jeff is disoriented, lost, confused. He runs until he reaches a building with “Pinnix Drug Store” painted on the side. He looks at it as if it is talking to him. He stands on the sidewalk moonstruck by the sign when a young man walks into him. “Oh!”, he says, “I’m sor-ry.” The man pauses when looking at Jeff. “I’m Max Jones.”, he says carefully analyzing Jeff’s face, “Have we met somewhere before?” Jeff returns his curious gaze, “I... don’t think so.”, he says cautiously. Max sees the his Garfield shirt and a chill runs down his back. “Oh. Must be thinking of someone else. Good night!”, Max says as he walks off. Both of them stunned but unsure why. Then Jeff hears a scream. He looks around but no one seems to have heard it. He hears it again. A lady’s cry. So soft he almost doesn’t believe his ears. Instinct takes over. He takes part of the leg of his jeans and rips a strip of it off. He takes his first two finger and punch holes in the cloth. Then raps it around his head. Leaving holes for his eyes. Then he runs toward the scream. When he gets there a masked man wearing a cape is attacking a large thief. Jeff sees the woman on the ground near them holding her purse with tears running down her face. He runs over to her and helps her up. “Go on get out of here. You are save now.”, Jeff says. She thanks him and takes his advice by running far away. Jeff turns to the fight. The masked man is holding the crook in place by what looks like mear thought. It is weakening though. The crook is getting more and more movement back. He pulls out a hand gun from a back pocket and aims it at the caped crusader. Jeff feels a bullet puncture his chest. The crook pulls back the hammer. Jeff feels a second bullet breach his chest. The crook places his index finger on the trigger. Jeff feels a third bullet fly into this chest. The crook takes aim. Jeff throws himself at the crook with an incredible amount of strength. A shot is fired. The fall to the ground. A scream is emitted by a civilian near by. Jeff clutches his eyes shut. Not wanted to see what he is afraid has happened. Finally he has to look. He sees the caped man standing over them, unharmed. A wave of relief passes over Jeff. The crook can not move a muscle in Jeff’s custody. “Thanks!”, the caped crusader says as he helps Jeff up. “Anytime”, Jeff says. The two look at each other knowing who each is despite the masks. The crook is apprehended and the two masked men leave the scene with the woman safe and the crook caught. They later meet at Max’s house. “I don’t know how... or why; but it sure is weird.”, Max says. “It’s because of God.”, Jeff explains. Max is stunned. “I was killed tonight. Four bullets riddled my torso. Then I found myself before God!” “You’re serious?!”, Max says astonished. “He told me to come back to Earth. He said the life I led was a sinful one and that He wanted me to return and correct the wrong.” “That is amazing!”, Max exclaims. “He told me so long as I believed in him and fought for Him he would give me limitless power and enhance my body.”, Jeff pauses for a while. Max is silent as well, trying to comprehend the events of the night. “I am Nightfall.” “I am...”, Max stops, “I am the Caped Crusader!” “All right, Caped Crusader. What next?”, Jeff asks. “Well... we need to work together. We need a place to meet. A hideout or something. Maybe even some crime fighting gear. I’m really good with technology. I can rig us up some stuff.” “Won’t that cost alot of money?”, Jeff asks. “Hmm... Well, I have quite a bit of money saved up... I was saving if for...”, he pauses, “...I have a pretty good job down at the computer corp. I can probably get stuff on discount.” “Good. But we’ll need more than computers.” “Yeah.”, Max agrees. “I’ve learned some street fighting through my teen years.” “I’ll take some martial arts classes. What do you know about human anatomy? Or Geopolitical studies?” “Not all that much. You?” “Nope. Hmm... We’ll buy some books and information and have to teach ourselves. It’s for sure we can’t send our selves to college and still work on this crime fighting gear.”, Max gets a notepad and begins to take notes. “I’ve got technology... which you’ll need to learn too.”, Jeff nods, “I’ll take anatomy and psychology too.” “Ok. I’ll take foreign affairs, martial arts- in depth, and... theology.”, Jeff says. Max smiles, “I think I would too. Well both need Criminal psyche. Ok...” “I think this partnership will work out just fine.”, Jeff says with a smile. “Yes, me too. But it’s not just a partnership. We’ll be an entire team! We’ll take some of the teens on the street and transform them into weapons against evil.”, Max says. “We’ll have an entire generation transformed! Then when there is enough of us we can eliminate evil forever. Tonight Kernersville! Tomorrow the world!!”, Jeff laughs. “Or maybe the day after... No need to rush ourselves.”, Max jokes. And so it begins. A new group of heroes for the generation X to look up to. The fire inside the earth grows hot tonight. Like the build up of stress in a volcano, evil and sin will soon erupt and it will be up to Caped Crusader and Nightfall to save Kernersville.