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Four Years Ago...
It was a cool fall evening and the sun had set a few hours ago. Amanda was on her way home from a busy work day but that wasn't the main thing currently on her mind. She was distracted most of the day being worried about her boyfriend Jack. Earlier that morning he told her that he had something important to tell her.. She would of guessed that it was related to him acting off for the last few days. She had no idea what he was going to tell her since they were pretty open about everything until recently. She didn't know what had happened to him but he wasn't sleeping well at night. She noticed they were having more arguments and he was spending less time with her because he wanted to be along. Jack told her he would be back after he got off of work and promised he would explain everything.
Amanda was pulled away from her thoughts when she noticed a faint glow down the street from where her house was located. The car got closer to the turn she needed to take and she could smell the strong scent of something burning. She turned the corner and gasped when she realized it was her house that was burning out of control. A hooded figure stood in front of her house and didn't make any movements. She swung her sedan halfway onto the driveway and the sidewalk. The worried woman rushed out of her car and over to the cloaked figure. Her paced slowed to a stop when she recognized the figure as Lamplighter from The Seven.
“What happened!?” She felt the blast of heat from the fire hit her entire body. The superhero's back faced her and he didn't move as muscle as he watched the flames. One of his hands held onto his staff and the other was down by his side. Her mind raced with thoughts on why he would be here outside of her burning home. He didn't seem to even acknowledge her presence at first as he stared on quietly. Her mind was still trying to figure out what could of possibly happened to cause him to be here and her house being on fire.
Lamplighter hung his head down for a moment before he spoke matter of factually. “I set your house on fire.” It was eerie there was little to no emotion in his voice when he spoke to her. He didn't seem to be surprised by the fire at all.
Amanda's eye widen at he plain statement of the obvious as if setting homes on fire was an everyday occurrence. “Ok... why?” She knew all too well that when superheros saved the day some accidents were to happen now and again. There were plenty of news reports that this was an unfortunate occurrence when our heroes were saving the day. Did Lamplighter accidentally set her house on fire? “Was it an accident?”
One gloved hand tightened around the staff he held and his other hand balled into a tight fist. “No.”
Her heart hammered in her chest at his response. “Then why did you set my house on fire!?”
“I killed Jack.” The fiery blaze that engulfed the house appeared to increase in its intensity and heat after his admission. She let out a breath of air she realized she was holding in.
Amanda was confused and in shock as tears pricked at her reddened eyes. She couldn't even form words with her mouth as she choked on the smoke filled air. Her mind raced as she tried to rationalize the fact that Supes don't go around killing innocent people! Supes were supposed to save people from the bad guys! “No...” She shook her head not wanting to believe what he just said.
The superhero continued to speak as he stared into the fire. “I burned him until nothing was left but ash.” He almost seemed to be lost in thought as he spoke.
“Your lying..” He had to be lying to her and she wanted answers. “Jack wasn't a bad guy!” She remembered back to earlier in the day when Jack was going to tell her something important later. Was Jack going to tell her something that was going to get him killed? She gasped and took a step back away from Lamplighter. If he killed Jack then she may be next on his list. “Why did you kill him Lamplighter?” A tear rolled down her cheek and she spat out the last question. “Am I next?”
Lamplighter stood still and ignored her last question. He took in a long breath of the burnt air and spoke out loud but to no one in particular. “Because I am a monster and I burn down everything I touch.” Large flakes of ash started to fall down like snow around the two.
He wasn't making any sense to her at all and he didn't answer her question. “What are you-”
The Supe interrupted her and continued to speak in almost a whisper. “I'm no better then the rest of the Supes out there.” For a brief second it seemed like he was more sad then angry.
Amanda wasn't going to fall for it. Was he trying to make her feel sorry for him? She shook her head and took a step closer to him. “No... That's not a good enough reason!” She was practically yelling at him at this point with tears running down her cheeks. She was shaking at this point because the Supe in front of her could kill her with the fire in seconds. “What did he know about you!”
Lamplighter didn't answer her and she yelled again. “Why did he deserve to die! Tell me!”
The superhero turned around but kept he head down. The light from the flame barely lit up the features on his face. “If you knew...”
She waited for him to finish his sentence but he just stood there quietly. “If I knew what!?” She took a step towards him.
He took a few steps back and the flames from the house roared up the the widows shattered. She jumped back and saw the scowl on his face. “I would have to kill you too.” He said curtly.
The woman jumped back when the flames came up and the windows shattered. The fire seemed to take on its own personality as it grew much larger then before. The heat coming off the fire was so intense that it dried up the tears that fell down her face. A bead a sweat formed from the heat coming off the fire.
She reached into her pocket to pull out her cellphone. “I can call the cops about this!”
Lamplighter sneered and growled back at her. “If you tell the authorities or anyone else about what happened here tonight..” He walked past Amanda and spoke coldly. “You will be next.” He walked away and the fire burning the house felt less intense then before.
Amanda started to cry. She didn't understand why this was happening. Jack wasn't a bad person! Why would Lamplighter kill him! She fell to her knees and started to sob on the ground. She dropped her cellphone and watched the flames through teary eyes.
Lamplighters form disappeared into the night as the sound of a firetruck siren could be heard approaching in the distance.
The small group of onlookers started to disappear once the fire department extinguished the flames to her home. Amanda just stared at the burnt down home with her eyes red and bloodshot from crying. A fireman walked past her and she flagged him down. “Excuse me..” She wiped that tears away from her face. “Was there any signs of anyone else in the house?” She was hopeful the Lamplighter made a mistake and just assumed Jack was at her house at the time. He did have a key to her home and his car wasn't there. A part of her hoped he would pull up at any minute from the store.
The fireman looked at the distraught woman and sighed. “The fire burned so hot that if there was someone inside.. we wouldn't be able to tell.” He glanced at the home and back to the woman in front of him. “Could there have been someone else inside at the time of the fire?”
“No.” Amanda shook her head and lied. “A friend.. who had a key was supposed to come by but..” She looked around. “Their car isn't here..” She looked back at the fireman. “No. I don't think anyone else was in the house.”
The firemen departed from her burnt down home and she sat on the ash covered steps that lead to the front door. She waited for what could have been hours for Jack to show up at any minute now. She was half expecting him to call her and tell her he ran late at work again. The sun started to rise over the horizon. She stood up and tried calling his phone number again for what felt like the hundredth time but it went straight to voicemail.
She put the cellphone away back into her pocket and walked through the skeletal remains of her home. Nothing was left to salvage after the vicious fire Lamplighter had set. She had nothing left besides her car and the few clothes that were stashed inside.
Amanda was holed up in an old apartment complex in down town New York. She knew where Jack worked so she was going to call to see if he had missed the last few days. She dialed the number and pressed call.
A cheery voice on the other line answered. “Thank you for contacting Vought International. How may I direct your call?”
She didn't know how to even start the conversation at first. Tell them her boyfriend might be dead and wondered if he came into work the last few days?
The woman on the other line spoke up again. “Hello? How may I direct your call?”
Amanda cleared her throat. “Yeah, hi, sorry about that.” She sighed. “I was wondering if a Jack Wilson came into work the last few days?”
The representative from Vought replied with an annoyed tone in her voice. “I'm sorry but I can't release employee information.”
“But he was my boyfriend and he has been missing the past few days-” She tried to explain but the representative cut her off.
“Please don't call our office again or we will have to get the police involved.” The woman on the other line hung up on Amanda before she could get another word in.
“Fuck!” She whispered and she tossed the cellphone onto the bed she sat on. There was one more place that she could try but she remembered Lamplighters words to her. Was it really worth it to go to the authorities? Would they even believe her? She got up and put on her jacket. It wouldn't hurt to try.
Amanda decided to risk going to the CIA despite Lamplighter's threat to her. Mallory had helped her once before years ago but she was disappointed to hear that she had retired. She was pointed in the direction of Susan Raynor. She explained to the agent about how she saw Lamplighter outside of her burning home and admitting to killing her boyfriend Jack. Lamplighter had claimed he left Jack inside and burnt him alive.
Raynor leaned forward and sighed. “As I explained before. I'm not able to find a Jack Wilson in the system but it doesn't mean that he never existed. He may have a clean record or the search requires a higher clearance level to be able to access the information.”
Amanda gave Raynor a pleading look. “Are you able to pull employee records from Vought?”
The agent shook her head. “We don't even have enough evidence to get a warrant to do that. They have a right not to hand over that kind of information because you were not married.” She picked up a file and set it down in front of the other woman. “If you file a missing persons report then I could try to do more for you.”
Amanda shook her head. “No. I can't.”
Raynor sighed again. “Did you happen to get any evidence of Lamplighter burning down you home or saying he killed Jack?”
The woman shook her head and closed her eyes. She was stupid not to use her phone to record evidence of him that night. “No...” She opened her eyes and looked up at Raynor. “I was just in so much shock that it didn't occur to me..” She pushed the file back toward Raynor. “I don't want to file a missing persons report. I don't want to tip him off that I even spoke to you.”
Raynor wasn't sure what else she could do for the woman sitting across from her. “Is it possible that Jack could of stayed anywhere else?” If she had to take a guess maybe Jack knew Lamplighter was after him?
Amanda rubbed her temple as she felt a headache coming. “It's possible... He wasn't officially living with me but he was over so often that it seemed like it.” The room started to feel too chilly for her. “He stayed with some roommates and he was helping them keep a roof over their heads. He said he would move in with me but didn't want to leave his roommates without a place to stay.”
This may have been a piece of information that Raynor could work with. “Do you know any of his roommates or where his apartment is located?” She grabbed a pen and a piece of paper.
The other woman shook her head. “No. I never thought to ask him because he was always at my place most of the time.”
She saw Raynor drop the pen and paper in frustration. “Ok so.. as of right now I can't do anything for you. We don't have any evidence that places Lamplighter at your home when the fire started and no evidence saying he killed Jack.” She leaned forward. “Look, if you change your mind about the missing persons case.. let me know. I think its our best bet.”
Amanda slowly sat up. “Yeah, I will let you know.” She walked over to the door and glanced at Raynor. “Thank you for trying.” She turned to leave but Raynor stopped her.
“Amanda?” She scribbled something down on the piece of paper on the desk. She got up and walked over to the other woman with the paper in her hand. “Even though I can't help you.. maybe this person can. I trust him with my life.”
Amanda looked at the piece of paper and took it from the agent. “Thank you.” She looked down at the paper to see the name 'Butcher' written under it.