Category: Fantasy

So now Jackie was part of Team Spark. At the time we all figured it was temporary, since with us and the few other teams willing to take on Dom, we must have looked like we needed all the help we could get. Other than that, she had finally got her field license and her mentor, King Steel, felt she was ready for it. Although he wasn’t able to take her out on her first patrol; he had a lot of stuff to sort out, what with the media hounding us for answers and the countless other and arguably far more dangerous villains out there he had to deal with. So for the while, it seemed Jackie Flint was our newest member. Felicity was the first to greet her which didn’t surprise me; being surrounded by guys on the same team gets both boring and annoying and I’m one of em. Although ever since our first date, I kept catching her giving me weird looks. I don’t pretend to understand women. Frankly, half the time I don’t understand her at all since she has a habit of a) cracking under pressure and will say and do anything when she panics and b) talking a bit faster than I can comprehend, especially when she gets excited and lightning accidentally starts flying. She’s gotten better at controlling her powers now though, and even Blight Witch is apparently very pleased with her progress. Anyway, Jackie was more excited than I’d seen her before and she was more ready to get going than we were. While we were getting ready to head out, Tyler pulled her aside and explained the situation. She seemed to understand the things he was trying to say and I’m pretty sure he must have asked to try and be serious, because on the way to Sun Woo, she was quiet, which believe me, is very out of character for her. Everyone was tense; none of knew what we would find, though what scared me was if we found anything at all. But I was going to catch Dom and I was gonna smack him so hard he’d hit the moon and he’d die on impact. We got there after half an hour and the building was eerily quiet. I say that, but I honestly didn’t expect it to be busy. Still, it was very unsettling. Tyler started giving out the battle plan

“Okay, so we want to catch him off guard, and to do that we-“

I wasn’t really listening and the waiting was killing me, not to mention the last time I waited like this the love of my life died, so I kicked the fuckin’ door in and asked

“Dom, you better get your ass out here now! The more you make me wait, the harder I’ll hit!”

“Or you know…we could do that. There goes the surprise.”

We entered what looked like to be an apartment building lobby. Though it looked like it hadn’t been used in years which I guess made it the perfect place to hide. No one would really want to look into a condemned building, lest they find something they don’t want to. We all split up, Tyler took Jackie and Johnny which left me with Felicity. We took to searching the upper floors, while Tyler would check the ground floor and then follow us up, going through anything we didn’t and making sure to catch what we missed. It didn’t take Fe long to start a conversation; she likes to talk when she’s scared. Keeps her in the now you know?

“So ummm….our date was…”

“Pretty okay. Why’d you ask?”

“No reason. I loved it, but…I could tell something was bothering you.”

“It wasn’t you. Believe me, it wasn’t.”

“Its this Apex guy. You said you knew him? What did he do to you?”

I just went quiet after that. She was prying into something I didn’t want to expose her too. I knew he’d have a way of listening, and I didn’t want him taking her too. But I had to say something. She needed someone else to be there so she didn’t crack.

“He umm…..he killed someone I knew…”

“Oh god….I’m so sorry, I didn’t…”

“No, its my fault. I should’ve told you sooner”

She was quiet for a moment. I figured she’d be taking to heart what I said. And funnily enough, she asked me the very question I was already asking myself.

“D-do you want to kill him?…..”

“I’d be a liar if I said no”

“Oh…”

“But I won’t kill him. That would make me exactly what he wants me to be. That would mean he wins. So don’t you worry. I’m fuckin’ ready for him”

“Can I ask? Who did he kill?….”

“He….
He killed my girlfriend….”

Before she could respond, a loud rattling noise startled us both as we entered the 5th floor corridor. I worked through every possibility like lightning, going through everything that sicko would try. Felicity pulled me by the arm to a room and put her finger to my lips

“I…I think that’s Kyle…”

I looked at the door and back to her, nodding and grabbing the doorknob. I turned it as quietly as I could and slowly pushed it open just enough so I could get a good look without letting on that I had opened it. There was a shadow of someone strapped to a mattress frame and the light behind them. That had to be him! I burst through and got fully into the room and sure enough there was Kyle, naked and covered in cuts and bruises. Me and Fe untied him and I caught him, trying desperately to get him to wake up, to which he did, much to our relief. But whatever Dom did to him screwed with him. Still has if I’m honest

“N-no! No more! Please!”

“Kyle its us! Its Fe and Jack we’re here for you!

“Wha…”

“See? You’re safe, he’s not going to hurt you anymore”

He looked at us both, confused for a few seconds but he soon hugged us both, obviously thankful we got him away from that freak. But me knocking through that door must have been the perfect cover. I took my eyes off Felicity for one second, and I turn to see Dom with a knife to her throat.

“You like this one don’t you? Does she remind you of the other one? Alice, was it?”

“Don’t you dare….”

“Ah, ah, ah! Threats get you no where Barrick!”

The longer I looked at him, the more I could feel the adrenaline kicking my arms and legs to just run at him; put him through the fucking wall and leave. And that’s exactly what I tried to do. I threw the lamp first, which gave Fe time to get away. After she did I ran at that bastard and we both fell through the wall into the next room. I heard his knife hit the floor, so I swung and this time, my gloves were on. I hit metal, but didn’t feel a thing, and I started trying to get another good shot in.

“Fe! Get Kyle back downstairs!”

“But!-“

“I MEANT NOW FE! DON’T ARGUE JUST GO!”

She grabbed Kyle and helped the poor kid get out of the other room and down the corridor. Dom however managed to kick me off him and into the room above, to which I picked up the bed and slammed it into the top of his head as he climbed up. Unfortunately, it didn’t really do much

“Wood ain’t shit to steel, Barrick!”

He grabbed my foot and pulled me back down, slamming me through the other floors til I hit the ground floor, right in front of Tyler and the others. Whiles the others tried to register what they were seeing, I got a good punch in right into his cheek, which pushed him off me. After I got to my feet I grabbed his collar and belt and hurled that sick fuck into the street. It didn’t take Tyler long to have us all assembled outside, ready to take him on from any angle. We had him! Or so we thought. Turns out he’d been doing a bit of super power shopping or some shit, cuz the minute we had him surrounded, he bolted it faster than anyone I’d ever seen. Except Starlight! We had to worry about that later, but I wasn’t gonna give up that easily. One) I’ve been a Starlight fanboy for years (Don’t ask) so I know exactly how her superspeed works (again, don’t ask) and Two) if I know Dom, and I KNOW Dom he won’t be running away. He’ll be making it LOOK like he’s running away, and then he’ll ambush us when we aren’t looking.

“Jack”

Tyler put his hand on my shoulder. He knew exactly what I was thinking, and he wasn’t even looking at my face. He’s good at that. Always has been.

“He’s gone. We can catch him again and you know it. Let’s just get Kyle home and keep him safe”

No matter what I could’ve said back, I knew he was right. Jackie was disappointed at the fact she didn’t get to test her armour, but she seemed to enjoy the experience. We wrapped Kyle up in my jacket since it really was the only thing we had and got him back to our bunkhouse. Though of all the places we expected him to be, right here wasn’t one of them.

“Bout time you showed up. Now, where were we?”

Dom was here. And he has a knife planted into Axel’s shoulder. Before I could think, Jackie already cranked up the volume (both figuratively and literally).

“Axel, cover your ears!”

He did so without a seconds hesitation, albeit with some pain, and she let it rip. An ear piercing screech of sound blasted Dom and he pulled away from Axel, desperately trying to cover his ears. Whatever my plan was, I couldn’t tell you, but what I can tell you was that I grabbed his face and flung him out of the window before jumping out myself and almost landing on him. Our fight was gonna keep going wether he liked it or not and I was gonna make sure he didn’t get away. Although I didn’t really see what he had planned til he actually did it

“Heheh…”

“Somethin’ funny!?”

“Hey, Barrick”

“Keep talking and see what-“

“Boom”

And with that, he struck one palm against the other and I ended up getting damn near flung down by the entrance to the bunkhouse area. I definitely remember something being broken because I tried to stand up and I heard a big cracking sound that I probably shouldn’t be able to have heard, not to mention my shirt was burnt a little. It was one of my favourites too!. Regardless, I had to think fast, through the ringing in my ears and the blurriness of my vision. I saw coming towards me and as I tried toto move, my legs gave out and I fell. He got to me, putting his foot on my chest and twisting the flesh with his boot, making sure I felt more burning

“I’ve waited a long time for this. When you get to hell….”

He opened his hand and a large, spiked bone slithered out, aiming right at my head

“Tell that slut I killed I said hi”

That fucking tape man. No matter what we tell ourselves, we’ll never forget what was on that god forsaken tape. It’ll haunt us all for the rest of our lives. We were up well into the early hours of the morning and we had all fallen asleep in the common area of our bunkhouse. We were woken by Johnny, who came crashing into the room clutching the tape I had told Kyle to keep a hold of

“Hey, asshats! Look what just showed up!”

Once we all adjusted and realized what he was holding, we searched up, down and all around until we found a working tape player (that whole ordeal was easier said than done honestly) and set the tape going. Already we knew that this….whatever it was, it was going to be horrid. Vile. Something only Dom would conjure up. And I regret to tell you that we weren’t wrong. There, tied to a broken mattress frame and….oh god its really, really hard to write this down because it hit Kyle like a freight train. He refuses to talk about it; even now he won’t mention Dom at all and the sight of him makes him shiver like he’s stood in the snow. But whatever Dom did to him, it looks like Dom decided he didn’t need clothes. Kyle looks up at what I assume must be the camera and the look in his eyes was haunting. Panic. Just pure panic; it was almost like he was looking directly at us. Begging us to come and save him and hope we weren’t too late. I don’t need to tell you what it reminded me of. All I thought about was getting that kid as far away from Dom as possible, then splitting Dom’s head open like a damn watermelon. I wanted to kill him, and I’ll admit that. I’ve killed before and I know what that does to someone. But for Dom? I can’t think of a single person that would miss that freak. Anyway, Kyle looked to be in pretty bad shape. Dom was making sure he broke this kid just for this little tape. And the he appeared, giggling to himself like a child.

“Oh he certainly was fresh! It didn’t take much. Just a few pokes and slaps here and there. A cut or too. Just one problem”

He wheeled back and punched Kyle right across his jawline. We all saw the tears roll down his purple cheeks. And I could see that Axel was gettin’ mad. Can’t blame him; I would’ve been willing to hold that sonofa bitch down while Axel blew his goddamn head off. He continued…

“He won’t stop crying. But I learned a whole lot! Much more than he’d tell anyone! Isn’t that right, queer boy?” He punched him again. Every second of watching that thing was so tense. And he didn’t care about the others. They weren’t a part of his sick game. He wanted to get to me and Tyler. Mostly me, but I know he wanted Ty in on it too. Then he did what was arguably his worst mistake. He issued a challenge

“I’ll give you heroes two days. If you can’t find me and this cocksucker by then, well”
He brandished his knife again, quickly slashing it across Kyle’s cheek.

“I’ll make sure he’ll never want another man for the rest his life”

Dom picked up the camera, smiled and crushed it. And that was that. But before we knew it, Axel was already out the window, rocketing his way to god knows where.

“C’mon, we’re following him!” I said, grabbing my jacket and heading towards the door

“But we don’t even know where he’s going! How are we supposed to follow him?”. Fe made a good point. But my instinct was pushing me.

“He knows exactly where he’s going. So we follow him” and before we knew it, the four of us were all in Tyler’s car racing after Axel. While I’ll admit, I wanted to murder Dom just as much as he did, I knew I had to stop him. I had made too many mistakes; mistakes I regret to this day. Mistakes that make me wake up in the middle of the night because no matter what I will never, ever forget the things I’ve done. And I wasn’t about to let him end up like me. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone. Even Dom. But right now, I had to talk sense into that kid. Even if it meant I had to knock it into his brain. Eventually he landed somewhere outside the city, by what looked like a run down storage place. We got out of the car and watched him climb over the gate.

“Axel! Axel, dammit wait!”

“No! I ain’t waiting! The more I wait that psycho gets closer to killin’ my brother!”

“Axel!”

I ended up tearing the gate off of its hinges. Something was telling me that he knew where he was. And like it or not I wasn’t letting him go alone. It owed it to Alice to not let anyone else I knew die. Not again. I eventually caught up with him and grabbed him

“Axel, you take another step and I’m gonna smack you so hard you’ll see Venus!”

“Why are you even stopping me!?! If it were Tyler or Felicity you’d wanna kill this fucker too!”

“Yeah I know that but-“

“THEN LET GO OF ME!!!”

“Axel you know I won’t”

“WHY!?! HE’S GONNA KILL KYLE!!!”

“He won’t”

“HOW DO YOU KNOW EINSTEIN!?!”

“Because he’s scared of me. That’s why he’s taking others”

“Wh….wha-“

“Its complicated but I promise you. I will not let him kill Kyle. But I know you know where he’s gotta be. Or you at least have an idea right?”

He nodded. See? Told you; my guts never wrong. Almost.

“Then you have me with you. And the others won’t say no to going with you. But you’ll leave him to me”

“But!-“

“Listen to me kid. Whatever you wanted to do to him, forget it. I know you’ll kill him because you have the power to do it, but that’ll make you more like him than you’ll want. And you won’t ever forget that feeling and it’ll haunt you like a phantom for the rest of your life. A phantom you can’t get rid of. So you leave him to us, understood?”

He nodded again, looking rather defeated. I lead him back to the car and we squeezed in, having him give us directions. He lead us to a small wooded, area which housed a small warehouse. He told us it belonged to his uncle who owned a shipping business, but this particular one got shut down. So he, Kyle and a few friends used it as a sort of weekend retreat for a while until they just up and abandoned it.

“If Kyle really told him stuff, then he’d have told him about this place. He’s hiding somewhere we know. I’m sure of it”

A quick search of the place proved both Kyle and Dom’s absence. But that didn’t stop us from trying a few other places but, no luck. The whole situation was stressing us all out, let alone Axel. I couldn’t imagine the shit that was going through his head. The closest person I’ve ever had to a brother is Tyler, and even now I still consider him family, just like I do with the others. But this? This is different. Tyler dying would send me to a dark place, but Axel? He’s never felt that urge before. The absolute urge to strangle the life out of another human being. And like it or not, I refuse to let someone like him; someone who has his whole career ahead of him to fall into that pit. We searched all day and no luck. We ended up back at our bunkhouse, frantically going through maps and sightings and any single piece of evidence we had. Johnny went though that tape over and over again because he swore he’d seem that room before, but he couldn’t figure it out.

Again, we spent the night searching, panic washing over all of us. Axel hadn’t come out of his room. It was evident he was alive, since he was pushing the plates of food we gave him out the door when he was done. I felt so sorry for him. Genuinely I did. I wanted to talk to him, you know, since I was the one training him up and all but my mum always taught me; when someone doesn’t want to talk to anyone, they need to talk to themselves first. Self honesty and self confidence walk hand in hand she used to say. Axel needed time to believe what I said. To believe that he really could save Kyle. So I decided to let him figure that out on his own. So I left him to see it through. He’s a tough kid; maybe even tougher than me, and I believe that one hundred percent.

I joined the others in the common area, all of us still desperately going through clues and such. I watched them all work, and for a while it almost seemed like they were machines. Total robots going through as much as they could in what little time we had. Then, Johnny piped up and to our semi relief, he had an answer

“I got it! Its the Sun Woo place in Chinatown!”

“You’re absolutely sure!?” Tyler inquired, looking absolutely desperate for anything

“I’ve been through that place more times than you can count. I’m positive”

“Team! We’re heading out!”

Tyler nodded at me to get Axel, but I gave him a pretty plain look that told him everything he needed to know. So we were a man down but that wasn’t going to stop us. But luckily for us, a certain engineer had finally gotten her field license, and King Steel and Jackie, or should I say, SoundStorm, met us in our way out. And damn was she kitted out. Her armour was pretty high tech and was covered what looked like speakers.

I’ll say this

She’s a part of the team now and we love her to bits. And she helped us get Kyle back and put the hurt on Dom. I promise you guys will love it. Although I still have a long way to go with this. I just hope you’ll enjoy it til I finish. I gotta go now. Hero stuff. Stay safe ya hear?

So, are you guys ready for Full Charge? I hope so because Full Charge Tyler is crazy! I’ll explain it. So, some powers have a ultra mega awesome special little skill. And its basically, it pushes us and itself to a place that most people I’ve met say it makes us gods. While I’ll say I’m not a god; not in the slightest, some people (one named Axel for the record) love that. I also happen to have that skill, but that’s for the end of this story. Trust me, you’ll love it! Maybe. For now, lets let Tyler have his fame. And don’t you dare touch my laptop I swear to god I will actually put you through the floor and YOU know I will. Smurf.

Anyway, holding that door was easier said than done. Whatever it was doing on the other side, it really, REALLY wanted in. The others even came to help me, pushing back against it. I turned to look at Tyler, silently asking him to, you know, hurry the fuck up. And I got a look at probably the coolest looking superpower ever! He was stood in between two huge generator, all hooked up to the rest of our city and few placed outside it. He was quite literally, draining the power grid and feeding it back. Taking more and more with each cycle. Eventually, when he reached Full Charge, he stepped down and oh my god, I could feel it. You know that static electricity in the air, the kind that makes you’re hair stand on end? It was that. He looked like he’d literally just descended from the heavens or some shit. His eyes were sparking with electricity, you could see the veins in his neck glowing with charge. His skin had a blue hue to it, but I could see burn marks appearing. Whatever this was, he couldn’t hold it for long.

“When I say so, get out of the way as fast as you can. If you’re lucky, he’ll cone straight for me”

“Why ‘ugh’ whys that?”

“He eats electricity. More specifically, the electricity our brains produce. And I’m a fucking buffet at this point”

He nodded and on three, the rest of us got the hell outta there and he came crashing through, screaming a scream I’d only hear the day I walk through satans gates. It swung its arms all over the place, wreaking everything they hit.

“You wanna eat?! Then come get dinner!”

Tyler ran at that thing and did an awesome spin kick thing right to whatever its jaw might’ve been. I’m still not too sure about its actual, like, physique. Its really confusing. Since electricity technically doesn’t actually have a form right? Like a physical form? Ah well, I’ll figure it out someday. Anyway, the whole room burst with sparks and light, as they continued to fight. Tyler reached to his belt, and pulled out this like retractable staff thing. Awesome right!? He started whacking this thing with it, and even shot electricity out of it, and boy it really didn’t like that. They smacked and clawed at each other for what seemed like hours until, he grabbed it, dragged it to the floor and just….vanished

Just like that. We all got up and looked around, having absolutely no fucking clue what just happened.

“So uhh. What”

Did…did the captain just die?…”

“I am….surprised. To say the least”

“Huh”

“C’mon Ty…Whatever it is you gotta do just do it…”

(Game: try to guess who said what. Lets get some of that interactivity most people like nowadays). We all stood in a tight circle, ready and waiting for whenever that thing came barreling out. But something told me this is what he wanted to happen. While I was piecing this together in my head, Kyle found something. Something we’d been looking for.

“Uhh, team? There’s a video tape here”

“Video tape? What is this, 1985?”

“It’s got a note….for Barrick’s eyes only”

The mention of my name snapped me out of my trance, fully aware that my teammates were waiting for some sign of direction. So, I took the most reasonable course of action.

“Keep it on you. Do not let that thing damage it. We’ll see what’s on it later”

Kyle nodded, stuffing the tape into one of his trenchcoat pockets. I’m telling you, those pockets are either black holes or actual pocket dimensions. Its frightening the amount of stuff he can fit in em both. Anyway, we stood looking around wondering what happened, when all of a sudden, Tyler came flying out of nowhere and right through the door Killer Watt had come through. We rushed outside and helped him to his feet. He was still fully charged though some of it must have been discharged somehow. His costume was ripped in some parts and it looked like his nose was broken (thankfully it wasn’t).

“Captain, are you okay!? We have to get you out of here!”

“I’ve already called an evac out of here. We have to let the prof-“

“I am a professional! I’m fine, we can do this!”

Killer Watt broke his way out of the station, screaming and slamming his fists down to the group, obviously angry his meal had gotten away yet again. And couldn’t help but piss me off. Yeah in case you haven’t guessed yet, I got anger issues. Perks of being super strong I guess; you’ll always be mad at somethin’. And I already know it; I’m really protective. I shouldn’t be honestly, since I know my friends and family can handle themselves, but Alice’s death taught me something. Everyone and everything you love and care about can be taken away in an instant. You may not think it’ll happen to you, but it always catches up with everyone. Especially in this day and age, where superpowers and stuff run around. And uhh, I might have uhh…. lost some control there at the end. Trust me, you gotta get me absolutely furious for me to lose it. But…something just snapped. The more I looked at this huge thing screaming and smashing shit, I saw Thrash. I saw Alice getting smacked around, absolutely defenceless. I heard her beg for me to get there….beg for me to hurry….

Needless to say, I think I scared the shit out of everyone. I stood in front of them all, digging my nails into my palms to the point they bled. I roared as loud as I could and ran at it, pouncing on it like a rabid wolf. It didn’t really work, and I ended up getting tossed away like a broken doll. But that didn’t stop me, and I ran and jumped on its back, and I even bit its ear (again, I think it was its ear. Its body is weird) I started smacking it’s head against the ground at some point, since most of this is a blurred recollection. Though Tyler remembers what is said, so apparently I said;

“Pick on me!! I dare you! Try and touch her again you FUCKING MESS!!! I’M GOING TO KICK YOUR TEETH IN!!”

Yeah, even though that thing is a dangerous monster, I felt bad afterwards. Needless to say, Tyler managed to drag me off of it and managed to scare it away doing this thing called “Shock and Awe” or whatever the pun was. I sat there on the ground afterwards, just staring into nothing, feeling real woozy and tired after that sudden adrenaline rush wore off. Then again, I’m used to that feeling. Axel was the first to voice his concern

“Okay, that was fucking scary. What are you? You some kinda monster yerself?”

I didn’t answer. Didn’t feel like talking to anyone until of course, he showed up

“Ooooooo Bad-Man Barrick almost lost his marbles there didn’t he?”

He laughed afterwards. Everyone, turned and prepared for anything, all ready to fight at any possible second. Except me. All I did was look at the sick son of a bitch. I knew what he wanted. I knew what hand he was playing. And I walked right into his trap….

“So did he scare you?”

“It ran Apex. You’re little shock dog wasn’t much in the end”

“Ohh my sweet dear woman. I was talking about your boyfriend here”

I felt it again. That rush of adrenaline and emotion when he said that. You know, looking back I have no idea why I began to hate her after that. She meant me no harm, and I was the one who made the first move anyway. She just wanted someone to help make things seem a little less shitty, just like me. And he made it worse. He used one of D-Rips void bubbles to trap Kyle and practically screamed with laughter!

“Oh yeah, by the way. I’m gonna be taking this one he looks….fresh” he brandished that same bowie knife he used to threaten me and faster than Starlight, he ran towards the city. There was no way we’d be able to catch him in time.

We spent weeks tracking down Kyle. His tacking beacon had gone offline. But we didn’t give up. He wasn’t dead and we knew it. But honestly, I’m glad he got through it all. Because when that video tape got sent a few weeks later, nothing could’ve prepared us for what was on it….

Well, we had the pleasure of meeting Killer Watt for the vert first time. Tyler named him since well, he’s ol’ Zap’s biggest rival. A being made of pure electricity. Well we thought so for a while but that’s another story for another time. Maybe I’ll tell it if I feel like its a good time to. Hopefully I’ll be a lil better at actually putting my stories to virtual paper by then. Who knows? Anyway back to the story. So we’ve met Killer Watt. Big, scary and basically a walking lightning strike. A smart lightning strike. You know how they say it can’t strike twice? Yeah, Killer Watt would beg to differ. I was pretty much out; I didn’t expect that kind of shock, to which I should’ve but like I said, I’m not that smart. Though I did manage to touch it. Remember that for later. Anyway, I was out. Not out cold, but the shock to my system fucked me up big time. My vision was blurred and trying to stand was a task and a half. Fe and Axel had to lift, and then carry me out of the second warehouse and into a smaller one. Kinda like a spare storage shed thing. All while being chased by 100,000,000 watts of pure rage and hunger. All in a days work they’d probably say right now, but back then? They said something like

“HOLYSHITFEWEREGONNADIEIMGONNADIETHERESSOMUCHIWANTEDIFWEDIENOONEWILLTELLKYLEHESDUMBOHGODNO!!!!!!”

“Can it for a minute boom brain we need to think!!”

“BUTWEREGONNADIETHETOUGHESTHERECANBARELYSAYHISOWNNAMEWEREDONE!!!!”

They managed to give him the slip while dragging me around and we found a quiet spot inside the warehouse the other three had snuck into. They set my down and Fe began to come up with a plan, while Axel freaked out. So, with all the strength I could get, I had to calm him down. It was either that, or we wouldn’t get anywhere. Not while he was freaking out.

“A-A-Axel…”

“NONONONONONODONTTELLMEYOUR’EGONNADIE!!!”

“Im….im not gonna die you cock end just shut up and listen”

He seemed shocked that I had been so abrupt, but I had to. He wouldn’t have listened to me otherwise. I managed to straighten myself up, already feeling a lil less sore.

“We aren’t gonna die here. That….thing out there won’t kill us. It won’t kill you”

“HOW DO YOU KNOW?!?! YOU GOT KNOCKED ON YOUR ASS!!!”

“Am I dead?”

“What kinda question is tha-!”

“Am. I. Dead.”

“N-no…”

“Then it missed its chance. I’m not going to die, and neither are you”

I rose to my feet, feeling dizzy and some stinging in my hands and arms, but relatively unharmed. I fell forward a bit, putting on hand on Axel’s shoulder to steady myself.

“I lost someone before, Axel. I’ll be damned if I lose someone else”

As I said that, its arm crashed through the steel doors, creating an absolutely agonising metallic screech. I pushed the other two aside, the adrenaline kicking its way all around my body. Even if I couldn’t touch it, that sure as hell wasn’t going to stop me from keeping it as far away from them as possible. I didn’t even notice the sound had made my ears bleed. It ripped its way through, and lumbered its way towards me as fast as it could. This time, I felt my body push itself. I can count the amount of adrenaline in my body by the feeling in my chest. At max adrenaline, it feels like my heart is actually on fire. So it FEELS like I’m having a heart attack, without actually having one. Scary I know, and believe me when I say it really is. The usual amount is pretty simple. My chest tightens a bit and I feel my heartbeat get faster. My skin reddens I think too. As it gets higher things stop working. If I get to the max limit, I can’t even feel pain. Crazy right? Anyway, I had reached 150% of my maximum limit. Killer Watt slammed its tree trunk like arms down at me and, to my surprise I caught them with some relative ease, but didn’t feel the shock this time. Though I could feel its “skin” burn through my gloves with every second. I realized I had to get it outside. Fight it in open ground. I ducked and went for the gut shot, landing it with an impact that sounded like a damn cannon blast. My arm shook quite violently from the force, but thankfully, I hadn’t forgotten my shock absorbers (no pun intended). It pushed him back, but not enough. He grabbed me and flung me upwards, through the roof and out onto the pier. As I struggled to get to my feet, Emily piped up, hurting my already bleeding ear.

“Jack, what’s happening!??! Your heart rate is skyrocketing! I’m gonna have to send a medic team this is way too dangerous!!!”

“No! Don’t send anyone! Contact Tyler and get him to my location!”

“I can’t! It’s just static!”

Then it hit me. Static. It was interfering with our comms! How?! Well it became pretty obvious. It was made out of ELECTRICITY. It was basically a walking scrambler, jamming or disrupting any electronic equipment near it. Which meant, no back up. No need for it either. I wasn’t about to endanger the lives of others just because one freak hit me harder than I expected. Though I have to admit, I was pretty scared. I hadn’t met anything or anyone that could take more than that kind of punch, let alone to the stomach. At least, I thought it was its stomach. I had to get away from it and get it away from here. It can’t jam anything that’s too far away right? Made sense to me so I turned and tried to run but each step shook my already burning head. It had gotten me pretty good and I could hear it tearing its way out trying to find me. Why me? No idea. But at that point, so long as it was away from the others I was a-okay with it coming after me. I kept going, knowing full well that this thing was closing the distance. It was now or never, so I grabbed a shipping container (as you do) and flung it right at that walking fuse box’s ugly ass head. And boy did it hit. And it certainly didn’t like it. I ran, pushing my legs and my adrenaline to make sure I got away. As soon as I felt I was out of it’s range, I tried to get to Tyler and to my surprise it worked

“What’s going on?!?! Jack!?!”

“Ty! Some big ass electric…thing is here!”

“What….”

“We didn’t find D! Dom wasn’t here and then this thing attacked!”

“Where are you?!”

“I ran! I had to get through to you!”

“The others!?”

“I’m….I’m not sure…”

He was silent for a minute. Of course, I knew they could handle themselves. They might’ve even managed to either A) get away from it, B) snuck past it or C) it was still after me. In any case, Tyler had a plan.

“Go back and get the others. Try and lure it to the Kaiser Energy power station. You know it?”

“Of course how can you miss it”

“Then lure it there. I’ll be there waiting. Make it quick!”

“Got it!”

I turned right back around and ran back. It got there and boy. I had ripped right through the container like it was nothing. As I turned the corner, to a gap between the warehouses, I saw Axel and Fe….actually fighting it? And winning!?
Fe was shocking it with actual lighting, and Axel was being as precise as he could with his little lighter gadget thing. So, the first thing I did was get their attention, by grabbing that thing, and suplexing it as hard as I could! And damn was that fun! My chest hurt still and the kick from Dom rattled my ribcage a little but its was fun nonetheless. And very satisfying. Anyway, after I quickly got to my feet I grabbed both Axel and Fe, swinging Axel over my right shoulder and telling Fe to hold on.

I turned as Killer Watt stood up, roaring in anger, and did my best to get him to follow me.

“Hey! You wanna fight!? Then come get me you sack of useless sparks!!”

I’m still surprised to this day that it managed to somehow understand me (though we later learned why it did) and he started at me faster than I’d seen of it that night. So I made my move, and jumped, pushing the strength of my legs to their absolute limit. I made sure to look down while in the air to make sure it was still following me after every jump. That, and to make sure I kept property damage to a minimum. Although I did have a hand in wreaking a shipping container didn’t I? So maybe not that careful but in my defence; heat of the moment. I managed to get to the power stations, landing just outside.

We made our way in, and shut the doors, with Tyler ordering me to keep them shut as long as I could. I stood there, pushing against what felt like everything it had. And I realized Tylers plan, as I overheard him in the comms channel.

“This is Zap, codename Blue, requesting use of full power! Status name, Full Charge!”

Emily went quiet for a minute before returning

“This is Operator Parker, permission granted! Keep the damage to a minimum!”

The next morning was almost utter havoc. I didn’t sleep from Dom’s visit the night before and could barely move or acknowledge that my friends were trying to get though to me. I couldn’t think straight. All I could think of was that he was there. He made Alice suffer just one more time before he took her from me for good. And while everyone else had finally calmed down after finding me angry and sleep deprived, I continued the investigation. Reading through file after file, report after report. But none of it made any sense. Everything was so sporadic and out of place that it made tracking him impossible, not to mention any information on this so called “Fearsome Five”. There was no motive. Literally just random killings. The frustration was getting to me and everyone could see that. I’ll be honest, I’m not a smart guy. Not that I have anything wrong with me, I’m just not that smart. My smarts come from gut feelings. Pure instinct half the time. You could say its almost like magical thinking. Like there’s this voice in the back of my head that points me in the right direction. And right now, he didn’t feel like sharing.

I sat at the kitchen counter, going back through file after file and eventually I gave up. I would’ve gotten up and done something else had Kyle not come over and already started inspecting the files.

“Woah. This is…. this is weird”

“I know. The murders are so random its impossible to track anything”

“No, I mean they’ve got heroes down as potential weaknesses”

“What?”

“Look. Is says here on Cast Iron’s file. Axel would’ve been a weakness”

I looked and sure enough, Axel’s name was down under weakness. What did that mean you ask? Well it clicked. Finally, that instinct was pulling me into the right direction. I grabbed my own file and began to read. And there, under weaknesses was Gas Mask. And by extension, Cast Iron.

“Kyle…. Kyle you’ve done it!”

“Done what?”

“You’ve figured it out!”

“How?”

“He can steal powers Kyle! If the Association has other heroes under others weaknesses then that means-“

“He’s taking the powers that we’ll be weak against….so he can fight us head on!”

“Exactly! Kyle you’re a genius!”

“Not really. You figured this out”

“I’ve spent all day doing this and not once did I see the picture til you showed up. Trust me kid, its on you”

I told him to gather the others and in a few short minutes. We explained what he was doing and how we were going to counter. And we were going tonight. Me and Kyle had a plan and we had a feeling we’d know who he was gonna go after next. He killed Gas Mask to use his gas against Kyle. Cast Iron against me. So logically, the next one to die would be D-Rip, a hero who could trap people in small rips in reality. He was the first of the next generation with almost unstoppable powers, just like me. Although I suppose living with his power is a lot more taxing than mine. Either way, he’d use D-Rip against Axel we figured; trapping him meant he couldn’t use his explosions. So once we geared up, we headed out as a team, and had Emily guide us and feed us intel on the way.

“Okay, from what I’ve got here, Apex can steal powers, so that means you’ll have to minimise exposure as must as possible. You’ll want to keep quiet for this one.”

“Copy that. We’re approaching now. You see anyone in there from the thermal drone Emily?”

“Not right now. But I wouldn’t just say he isn’t there. You’ll have to search the old fashioned way”

“Roger that. Beginning search”

We had managed to track down D’s last known location; a warehouse down at the Industrial Districts pier. Why he was here, we had no idea. He hadn’t been seen all day, and with the killings, we had to assume the worst. However, Glam didn’t want to risk anyone being sent to investigate since she didn’t want to risk anymore lives. But we somehow managed to convince her that we’d be the best ones for the job. Being that me and Tyler knew Dom. We’d know if he was just proving his worth, or that something else was going on. Anyway, we had split into two teams. Tyler had taken Kyle and Johnny, since those three would have an easier time getting the drop on Dom, so that left me once again with Axel and Fe. Keeping Axel quiet was easy; Fe told him to just be a spy. Be Kyle or something. While he visibly looked disgusted at the latter, he took the former seriously and well, moved like a spy. He was even humming that tune from that one moving while he was doing it. And does that every time we do something like this. Its was funny but got boring after a while. Anyway, I tried contacting Ty to ask him if he had found anything but all I got was static. Pure static. Weird, I thought, aren’t these things on mega batteries? Then, an ear piercing buzz roar sound echoed throughout our search area

“What….what was that…”

“I have absolutely no idea”

“I don’t like the sound of that….we should go back to Tyler”

Fe was right. Whatever the hell that was sounded way out of our league, even with the crazy almost unstable powers we had. As we turned to leave a glow came from our entry point. All three of us stopped dead in our tracks and I instinctively pushed them back gently, stepping out in front. I can’t help doing that. I guess you can thank Alice for always making me react by keeping everyone else as far away from danger as I can. Anyway, the glow suddenly just…stopped. Like someone just switched off the light. We relaxed ever so slightly, when a HUGE….thing made out of pure lightning or electricity or whatever burst in and started screaming like it crawled out of Hell on its period. Axel screamed like a woman (he tends to do that) and Fe grabbed my arm as tightly as she could. She let go when I pushed at it, swinging my right arm as hard as I could into its stomach. Bad decision really, as the second my hand touched it, it discharged and sent my flying backwards. I’ll admit, that hurt. Like, a metric fuckton of pain. My vision was already blurring as Fe and Axel came rushing to get me on my feet.

“I mean you have balls to try”

“Axel! He’s hurt!”

“I know! But you have to be impressed”

He came roaring at us again, ripping through the steel wall like it was paper mache. He lumbered towards us, almost in a confused, drunk like manner. And it spoke.

“B-B-BRING!!!”
“M-M-M-ME!!!!”
F-F-F-F-F-FOOOOODDD!!!!”

Uh oh. Big, strong, can’t be touched AND can think. Doesn’t look good does it? Well I have a secret weapon. And he’s called Smurf

(Hello! I’m Tyler! I see Jack left his laptop open. He’s doing a real good job of this account huh? I’m really happy to see him express himself other than punches! Also stop calling me Smurf. You know I hate it! I’ll tell everyone about the thai restaurant incident and you know I will jacket boy!)

Now before I carry on you gotta understand. Finding myself in love with Felicity was one of the most painful things I’d ever had to experience. At the time, Alice meant so much to me that falling for someone else was, in a sense, betrayal. I was there to avenge the woman I loved, not find another one you know? But everything about her just….spoke to me you know? I couldn’t help myself. So, that brings us back to where I left off

“Well Aunt Patti its just….I think I’m in love”

Her expression said it all. She obviously knew about me and Alice and everything. I showed up at her cafe at closing time just two hours after Alice died in hospital; I had nowhere else to go. Anyway, even she couldn’t believe it. “Honey are ya sure? Maybe you should think about this a lil more”

“I have thought about it Aunt Patti. She’s just…”

“Somethin’ else?”

“Yeah….”

“Oh darlin’, I’ve been there”

And of course she went on another one of Patti’s famous rants. She rants about anything. Men, the weather, men, the price of gas, men, Joanne who she hates and men are some of her favourite subjects to rant about. Did I mention men? Yeah, she had a bad husband a long time ago. In fact, it was my dear old (don’t let her know I said that) mother who sorted this guy out. Aunt Patti told me he couldn’t drive let alone walk after my mum got a hold of him. I only know the fine details because oh lord, I can tell you every word off by heart.

“But look shugah, if you really do like this girl then, well, go for it. You got my full support”

I couldn’t help but grin like a kid when she said that. It was hard enough getting her blessing to even apply to the Association but if she was okay with Fe, then that meant god damn was she special. I checked my watch and realized I was a few minutes late for my date so I drank my tea, gave my Aunt Patti a goodbye kiss on the cheek and out the door I went. I asked Jackie if she could make me some of those shock absorbers for my legs and she happily agreed. So if you can guess how I got to the bunkhouse, nice guess. If not, I’ll tell ya; I leaped the whole way there. It was so fun! I got to see the city from an almost entirely new angle, watching all the cars and such go by. And not a single bit was damaged! Pretty proud of myself for that one. I landed on the grass infront of our bunkhouse and there was Felicity, looking pretty good and smiling at me, albeit wiping some dirt from her jeans

“Sorry about that. I don’t really know how to land yet” I said, laughing nervously

“Don’t worry about it” she replied, finding my incompetent landing pretty funny. As does everyone. Still can’t quite get it right.

“So, where are we going?”

“Oh umm….well theres this big arcade place near my Aunts cafe. I figured we could go there”

“Old school hm?”

“That bad?”

“No actually. Kinda cute”

And christ on a bike eating pudding, she gave me that sly little smirk I love. My heart started pounding from that smile as we made our way to the arcade. Now when I say big, I mean HUGE. This place took up one whole block. The Fortress of Awesome if I recall. Cheesy name but appropriate. I love that place. Me, Ty and Alice would always hang out there in our spare time. And as time went on, many games won and lost, I noticed something. There was this weird glimmer, that kept passing me by every so often. And once I saw it coming again, I moved my foot ever so slightly, and Kyle hit the floor.

“Just because you’re invisible doesn’t mean I don’t know you’re there”

“Of course, I know that!”

I laughed as Axel, Tyler and Johnny all came from behind a few machines. Of course they’d follow I thought. But in the end it wasn’t all bad. Fe didn’t seem to mind and neither did I, so we all had fun anyway.

“This’ll be good for you” Tyler said as we made our way back home. It was in the middle of the afternoon and since we had no work schedule, we thought we might as well head home.

“You think so?”

“Of course. Even I can see she likes you. And she reminds me of Alice too don’t worry.”

“Least I’m not the only one”

We all began to wind down and the afternoon progressed into the night. Axel and me spent the day trying to beat the Street Fighter arcade machine (Felicity did it in the end. Beginners luck I say) and it gave him a few ideas for moves he wanted to try out so I spent the next few hours going through them with him. Some were cool and had potential, others would have gotten him killed almost immediately. Eventually everyone went to bed one by one, leaving me and Fe as the last ones to go.

“I had fun”

“Glad you did. I still can’t believe you beat M.Bison. You’ve never even played before!”

“That’s because I’m just good!”

“Beginners luck, Streaks”

“Oh are we doing nicknames now, Jacket?

“Seems that way huh?”

We laughed and, as we slowed the laughter, we ended up looking into each others eyes. Time seemed slow just a little, and I could feel every muscle in my body moving me closer. She also must have felt the same, since we ended up practically chest to chest. She pulled away quickly, clearly embarrassed. Then she gave me a super fast kiss on my cheek, made a weird squeal noise and went into her room. I stood there, confused but also, in a state of euphoria. She liked me! She actually liked me! This hero gig was actually turning out a lot better than I thought.

But as I entered my room, and turned on the light ,a chilling yet familiar voice hit my ears and I could’ve screamed. I scanned the room pretty quickly and saw him. I’ll never forget those eyes. They weren’t childish ego anymore. They held pure, unobstructed evil.

“So, it looks like Bad-Man Barrick as a new widdle pwincess”

I lunged at him, ready to dig my thumbs into those eyes or do whatever it was that came to mind first. He dodged almost effortlessly and pushed me out of my window and into the cold of the night. I got up quickly, anticipating every possible move he could make and how I was going to counter. He stood on front me, climbing out of my window, brandishing a bowie knife that glinted and glowed in the moonlight.

“Going somewhere big man?”

“You have ten seconds to tell me why you’re here Dom before I tear you apart!”

“Ooooo scary! Didn’t take you for the murdering type Barrick. Then again, no one else did either!”

He laughed as his said that. I felt the blood and adrenaline rush to my arms and legs. He dared to show his face to me and now he was mocking me! Making me remember! I wanted to snap every bone in that body and I lunged at him again, this time managing to grab him

“I’m gonna snap you!”

“That’s a bad idea Barrick. The rest of the five wouldn’t like their oh so special leader being broken”

“Five?….”

“Oh didn’t I say? I’m here for what you did to Thrash. No one messes with the Fearsome Five!”

I stood there, confused for a moment, holding him up to the brick wall. Fearsome Five? It didn’t take me long to realise who he was talking about either.

“You….You were there…”

“Where? I’ve been lots of places Barrick”

I slammed his back into the wall, the adrenaline in my body rushing and crashing throughout

“You killed Alice!”

“Oh you’re still mad about that?”

That did it. I couldn’t believe that after all that, after what he did to her that he’d mention it like it was a passing fancy! I pulled back my fist and threw a punch I knew for sure would hurt him. Might’ve even crippled him for life if it hit. But my fist slammed into steel, and I dropping him, clutching my hand.

“Oh silly me, I forgot to tell you! Cast Iron might be dead and well, this power suits me you think?”

He booted me hard, right into the chest. I didn’t feel anything break, but I certainly felt something crack. As I lied there, the pain in my chest and hand literally burning, he looked down on me, grinning that sick grin he always had.

“I came to leave a message Barrick. Don’t even think about coming looking for me or the rest of us. Or that pretty little thing of yours ends up like the last one. Same goes for the rest. Even smurf”

It was pretty funny to think he remembered that. Then again, I wanted to tear him limb from limb, put him back together and do it again. He left before I got the chance unfortunately and as I climbed back into my room, bandaging up my hand and holding my chest I sat on my bed and stayed there til morning. I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t think. All I felt was pain.

And pure, absolute anger. The kind that makes you do things you’ll regret. But honestly, I don’t regret a goddamn thing about what I did to that freak. He had it coming, one way or another.

Seeing as I was now officially part of the investigation, I figured then would be as good a time as any to start training up Axel. I managed to get him while we were on a break from our patrols, making sure to keep an eye out for anything at the same time.

“Hey, Axel?”

“Yeah what?”

“About the whole training thing. You free later this afternoon?”

“Yes! Absolutely!”

“Great, I’ll meet you in the weight room at our bunkhouse. Say….three-ish? Quarter past?”

“Yeah I can make that!”

“Nice. I’ll see you then”. I made sure to say that with a smile. If I was gonna train him up I needed pretty much all his focus and attention. So I figured if I was nice to him, but kept a metaphorical leash on him, then maybe this might work. All that chaotic energy I was also familiar with needed an outlet regardless of how you put it. Anyway, the time came and I went to the weight room to meet him and funnily enough he was already there. Trying in vain to bench press weights that were clearly too much for him. So I just pulled it up and put it down; simple as that. Being super strong works in a lot of situations. He sat up and while struggling to breathe (Axel doesn’t work out as often as he should) and seemed to almost bounce around “I’m ready for it! What do I gotta do first!?”

“Well for starters, I’m not gonna teach you how to fight like me”

“What?!?!”

“Well not exactly like me. You’re still a kid and they way I fight, plus the way you fight equals death. So I’m gonna teach you the way my mum taught me”

“Huh?”

“Look I’m gonna be smart with this. I’m gonna work WITH your power. I’m not gonna make you change your style, but I’m gonna teach you some boxing incase you can’t use it alright?”

“S-sure! I’ll do my best!”

And with that I was teaching him how to jab properly, I taught him southpaw and orthodox (he’s a southpaw like me, which made it a lot easier). He seemed to get the hang of it pretty easily, which surprised me; I didn’t take him for such a fast learner but he surprises me every single day. I’m used to it by this point. Eventually he had leaned pretty much everything my mum taught me and he was pretty excited to keep this going. We had to cut this session short, since today was the day of the ceremony and well, I had to jazz myself up. I’m not one to wear suits. It was never my personal style but I will admit that while wearing one I become one hell of a handsome bastard. At least its my assumption. Anyway, by the time we had decided it be best to get ready, everyone else was already frantically getting ready too. Kyle was helping Fe get her hair right and styled perfectly (still don’t understand it. Her hair has one style anyway!) And of course, Tyler was already ready, but couldn’t figure out how to get his tie done. In all the years I’ve known him, he still to this day cannot get it right, no matter how much we tell him or show him. As for me, I had a pretty special suit in mind. It was the suit I had intended to get married in but, I guess it never really got to be there for its use. I’m guessing you’ve got a grip on my personality by now, so I hope you didn’t picture me in a plain black one. I chose one that was right for me. Purple and grey. I don’t know if theres anything that says something about me because I chose those colours but I liked it, so I got it. I made sure to shower and do all that, and when I put it on I felt sad. I should’ve worn that suit watching Alice walk towards me in her dress, but she never bought one. Didn’t get that chance. I guess I kept it because it was a reminder that I was still alive, in a time where honestly; I wish I wasn’t. I can’t tell you how many times I wished I would’ve gone with her. Being dead alongside her felt better than being alive without her. And while I did feel sad that, she’d never get to see me wear it, I felt pride knowing I was where I wanted to be, with people who, while they didn’t know me very well, they knew me enough to care.

Eventually we were all ready and off we were. I spent the walk to the main atrium with Felicity. Just talking about things that have happened in the past week. “You think this Apex guy is gonna try anything?” She asked, although I could hear the concern in her voice

“Maybe. He’s smart. But I don’t think he’ll overdo it”

“How do you know?”

“I uhhh….I might’ve knew him when we were kids”

“You what?”

“I knew him. But even I didn’t think he’d turn out like this”

And that was true. As much as I hated him, I never expected him to be capable of murder. Then again, I doubt he cared about being a hero or even a good person in general. He just wanted to feel like he was better than everyone else. Even if that meant killing someone. Regardless, when we got to the atrium, the party was already in full swing. Heroes of all shapes, sizes and powers were all dressed up, drinking and enjoying the night. Even Mama Glam had gotten dressed up and was interacting with recruits and professionals alike. After drinking a bit myself and laughing and talking with others and my own team of newfound friends, I had put Dom and the threats he had given out of my mind. Eventually at round about 11:15 it was time for the awards and such. I did actually manage to get one, “for calmness and sense of right during a crisis”, which I assumed would be for the incident with Kai. I took my award and sat down at the table Tyler had managed to get us and was showered with compliments. Once the awards was done, they told us to just have fun. Keep doing what we were doing. While that happened Tyler beckoned us to follow him and we all did. He led us to a corridor which led to some stairs. We followed and ended up on the roof, just behind the dome at the very front of the Association building. It was one of the landing pads for the heroes who could fly or had some sort of gadget that helped them fly. “I managed to snag this one. The other were all taken but no one wanted this one, so I turned it into a kind of retreat for us” and boy was it ever. It had a jukebox, a TV, video games, food and drink. Tyler really outdid himself and for the rest of the night, we all had fun just hanging out with each other. I watched Axel open a beer bottle with his teeth, Kyle showed us this cool optical illusion he learned when he was a kid with his hands. Johnny did this thing where he drank AND smoked at the same time! How crazy is that?! Even some other heroes had come up to their landing pads and we all just had fun.

As the night went on I noticed Felicity had climbed onto a small platform on the dome. What it was for I’ll never know but some how she was sat there, just staring at the city. It made me feel bad that she was alone so, I grabbed two beers and headed up there. No one seemed to notice where I was going, and if they did, they didn’t say anything. I climbed up and sat next to her. She seemed pretty happy I came. I twisted off the cap on her beer and handed it to her and after doing the same to mine I sat next to her.

“I take it you like looking at it?”

“Hm? Oh, yeah. It’s so pretty. It’s crazy to think of the things that go on during the day”

“Yeah. Crazy”

She paused for a bit, as we both just stared at the lights of the city, in all its crazy glory. It was usually pretty peaceful ay night. The guys and girls on the night shift are pretty scary from what I hear. Anyway, she spoke and it broke me out of my staring contest.

“I don’t get you”

“Really? I’m a pretty simple guy. Have you seen the state of the jacket?”

She laughed a little and continued

“No, I mean you’re not what I always thought a hero would be like”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. You’re so…..so….”

“Private?”

“Yeah. Most heroes are really open but, I can tell you’re hiding something”

“I…I have a lot of things I don’t like to talk about”

“Would it make you feel better if I told you about me?”

“I-i guess. If you’re okay with that”

She took a breath, composing herself somewhat, then continued on.

“When I was a kid, I was pretty weird. I liked emo stuff you know? And I wasn’t really good at showing off my powers so I guess a lot of kids didn’t like me. And one day, one of em pushed me a bit too far. I hurt him pretty badly. And ever since then I’ve felt like I’m just….”

“Yeah….I know what you mean”

We once again found ourselves staring into the lights of the city and next thing you know, she slid her arm around my and rested her head on my shoulder. Naturally I panicked on the inside; what is she doing!? I’m here for Alice dammit! I kept telling myself but I just didn’t move. Instead I spoke

“Ummm…since tomorrow is Saturday um….do you wanna….”

“Get lunch? See a movie? Do anything other than work?”

“Y-yeah pretty much”

She smiled at me. In a way that Alice used to that was all but familiar to me

“Sure, why not. I was gonna ask you at some point too”

We sat in silence for a while before the reality dawned on me

“Did….did I just ask you on a date?”

“Yup”

“Huh. Never thought I could”

“Why’s that?”

It was at this point that, I realized I had a choice. I could tell her about Alice, about my past, about everything. She deserved to know right? And as much as I felt the same way, I just….couldn’t

“Nervous I guess” I said as I chuckled nervously. Hopefully she didn’t see through that but Fe is smarter than she looks. Of course she saw it. But as we headed back to out bunks, she pulled a sneaky on my and held my hand the whole way there. I tried not to let it get to me. I really did. But come the next day I needed to talk to someone I trusted the most. So I went back to the place this person was

“Well Aunt Patti its just….. I think I’m in love!”

Dominic Carter. Dominic fucking Carter. Of all the people I did not want involved in my life or my business, why’d it have to be him? I would’ve taken Thrash if he was ten times tougher than before but Dom? He’s not like Thrash. He’s his own breed of evil. Thrash is stupid; relies on strength and size to out do someone. But Dom doesn’t need size. He doesn’t need strength. He’s smarter. He’s a hunter, and if I’ve learned anything from what I’ve done, is that you don’t let hunters get close. But of course, I know that now. Back then, I knew what I wanted and I wanted that sonofa bitch to try his best because I thought I was ready. Spoliers: I wasn’t. Not by a long shot. Before I get into the thing about the note, its time for a personal history lesson dear readers.

I went to a school that was one of the first to cater to kids and teens with superpowers. That’s where I met Tyler and by extension, Alice. We were a trio you see, and were almost inseparable. Tyler was a goodie two shoes, which I guess you’ve figured out by now. Me? I was a bad kid. Even before my strength just kicked its way into my life. But Alice? She was one of the weird kids. The shy kids. The kind of person Dominic Carter and his cronies loved to pick on. And before it happens, no I didn’t hate Dom because he was black okay? I hated him because he was a vile, despicable human being. He’d beat me so bad not even Tyler, with all the sparks and crazy looks he gets, would try to stop him. No one wanted to. Because he got a….unique power to say the least. He could copy other powers. Genetically. Meaning his body would mutate and change to give him that power. No one wanted their own ability used against them, so no one stopped him. Except me. The day I found out I was super strong was the day I realized I wasn’t so weak anymore. That I could be worth something. I went home and my mum burst into tears when I showed her. She was so damn happy. And so was I. Because when I went to school the next day, I found Dom and broke his damn nose. By the time I was done; fractured arms, the broken nose and a fractured jaw. “Try stealing it!” I was screaming at him “I dare you! Come at me! See what happens!”. He left me alone after that. And moved targets to Alice. She never did no wrong to anyone. Always kept to herself and her notebook. And Dom loved that shit. He’d steal it and tear pages out of it til she cried. He’d pull her hair and drag her around. One time, he even forced her to eat mud. She was in the hospital for weeks. Then one day, he upped his game and it was the worst decision he ever made. It was a normal day pretty much. Me and Ty were doin’ our thing sat at the back of class. Then he walks in. Kids part, they all take corners of the room, at least any corner he wasn’t in. And he spots Alice just writing in his notebook. Not paying attention to him. Oh did I forget to mention? Dom loved it when people were scared of him. It made him feel strong. Which is why he had it out for me ever since I showed the school what a total wuss he really was. And seeing Alice not make way for the so called “king of North Side High”? That pissed him off. He snatched her notebook and instead of ripping out pages, he did something worse. I’m sure a few of you had diaries. You know how personal they are. Having someone read it out without your input is the worst. He started laughing “shes in love with bad man Barrick! Awww is widdle Alice in wov wiv the big strong boy?!?!”  She jumped at him and I gotta say: the scratch she left on his cheek was a pretty bad one. So of course he retaliates. He punches her. Harder than I’ve ever seen him hit anyone, even me. Square in the nose too. She runs out the class, and he just burns her book in his hands. He stole a friend of mines power and I lost it.

I had that sonofa bitch by the collar and dragged him outside. I took of my blazer and kicked him as hard as I could. “You wanna pick on someone eh Dom?!? S’that it?!? Pick on me hard man! Cmon I dare ya!” He went for me and by god I heard his ribs crack the second I landed that punch. Of course the fight didn’t last long. The teachers just barely split us up. The next day, Alice didn’t look at anyone. She couldn’t. She was scared of everything and everyone. So I stepped in.

“Hey! Everyone!”
“Alice is my girlfriend! Anyone has a problem with that, come talk to me! I double dare ya!”

And that’s how it happened. I have to say, she grew on me. She was the sweetest, most generous person I ever met. She always saw the best in everyone. Even me….

Now back to the present. Dominic Carter was after me. I didn’t know why. Maybe he saw me on T.V after the incident in Heroes Corridor. I didn’t know. But I soon found out. After the factory was searched and the scene was closed off, I went back to Mama Glam and some of the other elites with the note I found. Strangely it wasn’t bugged or even poisonous or anything you’d expect. Just a regular note. It confused a lot of us heroes. Why would someone demolish a factory just to leave a note? I knew the answer but didn’t dare say anything, since I was currently in a meeting with heroes who were some of the very best. And I didn’t want anyone to know of my involvement. It was clearly a very tense situation.

“Whoever did this is obviously stupid. No villain would try this. Especially if its directed at the tough guy I’m thinking of”. Overbite had a point. It made no sense for a villain to after the greatest of all time like this. Which is why it made sense to me. I knew Dom. Tyler knew Dom. And we both knew him doing this I just him showing off. He wanted me and Tyler to follow the trail; to chase the tail as it were. We figured we’d be smarter by playing along. At least then we might be able to trap him some way. Back him into a corner. Little did we know we were pretty much at the wall by Thursday.

I remember them bringing up his file on their cool as fuck holoscreen thingie. Its awesome getting good funding. But even seeing the image of him just brought back everything. I was gonna make sure he couldn’t hurt anyone ever again. I wanted to see it again. The fear in his eyes as I broke his damn nose. He was gonna get what was coming to him. And unfortunately, as the days went by, Apex made another move. Now I’m telling ya, the thing that makes him dangerous is what happened right then. A hero, who went by the name of Gas Mask, turned up dead. Stab wounds and lacerations all over him. And not only that, they found his lungs full of liquid. Like he’d been breathing in chlorine gas. Which was HIS ability. Sounds dangerous I know but trust me he made it work somehow. Anyway, the police and the heroes who were essentially detectives were stumped. It just made no sense. Sure they found bits of evidence but how could he die from his own ability? A lot of heroes with powers like his are immune to it, so why did he die like this? And not only that. They found another note. This time, it said “didn’t expect that one did you? You’re a predictable man, so I’ll give you a head start. Remember tough guy; I’ll be seeing you soon. D.C”

The thought of him being out there pissed me off every single day. You get it now right? He’s dangerous because he’s truly unpredictable. He’s always one step ahead because he’s smarter than most villains. But don’t worry, people who are reading the story of my life. I promise you we get him good. Because we’ve got someone smarter. And that someone was Kyle. I remember it pretty vividly, since I felt the adrenaline rush to my arms the second I was told Team Spark was officially going to be a part of this investigation. Glam gave us a brief rundown “You’ll be able to use your powers outside to their fullest extent if you can. But you must gain permission from your operator who will be granted that power by us. Understood?”

“Yes ma’am!”

And just like that, my first official situation. But its a lot different when you read about it to when you actually live it. Remember I’ve been on both sides. I’ve seen a lot of bad things. Apex and his dumb little mind games don’t bother me too much. But I wasn’t worried at all. I was so mad all I could think about was beating him to death if thats what it took. But I couldn’t have even begun to imagine the things he’d do to me. Or the others….

So yeah. My first official day out in the city not only gave me some newfound confidence, it really opened my eyes. It showed me the kinda man I wanted to be. Well, I guess the kinda person I wanted to be is a more literal way of putting it. And I’m guessing from the last thing I wrote, you noticed that I… I said I killed people. Yeah…yeah I have. Even know, typing this out sat in my bed, listening to my wife sleeping next to me, all I feel is shame and guilt, whenever I remember that yeah; I’m a killer. But back to where I left, no one needed to know. I remember being sat in my room, just playing video games right into the night (couldn’t sleep. Insomnia is a bitch huh?) and I got a knock on my door. It gave me quite a shock, since it was pretty late and I didn’t expect anyone up. I opened my door and there was Mama Glam, who had somehow managed to get to my room without the sound of her wheelchair waking anyone else up. “I heard about the boy. You did well not to follow orders, but unfortunately I can’t allow it to go unpunished.” I nodded, a little disheartened but nevertheless proud of myself. She left and I sat on my bed, just thinking to myself.

My train of thought was going haywire all night. But one thing remained the same. Felicity. She reminded me of Alice…… the way she smiled, the way she spoke. Even the glint in her eyes. It just spoke Alice to me. But I eventually pushed those thoughts to the side. She might remind me if Alice, but she wasn’t the real thing. No one could replace her. I finally managed to get to sleep at sometime in the morning and somehow was up before anyone else. I went into the joint kitchen, made myself some toast and sat at the breakfast counter. It wasn’t like I had anywhere to go so I decided is should have something nice before that bloody horn goes off. Suddenly Axel rounds the corner to the kitchen and jumps a little, obviously shocked that I’d be up this early. “Sorry I scared ya” I said, chuckling as I did.

“The hell are you doing up so early?”

“Insomniac. I’m usually up early anyway.”

“Ah. Right”

He moved over to the fridge and opened it, but he did it in a way that made it pretty obvious he wanted to say something but for some reason didn’t find the courage to. Which was weird because Axel is one of the most courageous idiots I’ve ever met. Not counting me of course. After a few agonisingly awkward moments he does a full heel turn grabs my arm and asks

“OHMYGODICANTFIGHTATALLPLEASETEACHME!!!!!!!”

No word of lie, that’s exactly how he said it. Out loud with his voice. That sound actually met my ears in real life. I was taken aback at first, since my impression if Axel was that he never needed anyones help. But hey, every day has its own surprises I guess. So I played along as best I could, just to see if he meant it

“You what?”

“Look I just…”

He really looked like he was struggling to say it, but managed to find the strength.

“I can’t fight okay….”

“Well that’s a lie. You battered those bots and I heard you took down a villain yesterday. How can you not fight?”

“Kyle can defend himself. So can you and Tyler and everyone else. But I can’t…”
“I’m not strong enough….”

Once again, something hit me. I felt the same way. When I looked up, holding Alice in my arms and saw those five sick sonsa fucks looking down at me. I wasn’t fast enough. I wasn’t strong enough. I saw that in Axel’s eyes.

“You want me to train you up?”

“Please! I’ll pay anything! Any amount, you name it you’ll get it!”

I thought for a moment. I could just ask for something and have him bring it to me. It would be kind of funny wouldn’t it? To see a guy with his attitude bringing me shit just to train him up. But I decided against it. I liked Axel, I thought he was funny and it would’ve been a pretty shitty thing to do. So I made my decision, with a condition of course.

“I’ll do it. Under one condition”

“Name it! I’ll do it!”

“Promise me you’ll listen to Tyler”

“What really? That’s it?

“Do you want the training or not?”

“Yes! Yes, a thousand times yes!”

“Then listen to Tyler. He’s a bit naggy I know but he’s looking out for all of us. In this day and age its rare to find a hero like that anymore.”

“R-right. I won’t let you down sir!”

He gave me a dumb looking salute then ran off, presumably because the horn had sounded and everyone would be getting changed by now. As I made my way back towards my room, the thought just occured to me. “What have I gotten myself into?”. I entered my room to find Axel inspecting my hero clothes, mumbling to himself
“Its the jacket. Its gotta be. Somethin’s special about this thing. I know it”

“Axel”

“Ahh! Oh. Yeah?”

“Get out of my room. I need to get dressed”

“Oh! Yeah ummm….sorry!”

And with that, he was gone again. Oh boy I thought; this is gonna be a ride. I got dressed fairly quickly and went into the common area and sat down, feeling pretty tired from waking up early and the surprise of Axel asking for help. Tyler came and greeted us all in that usual manner he has, but gave us all an announcement

“So, you guys heard of the ceremony slash party thing we have?”

We all shook our heads, very confused as to that. Party? Ceremony?

“Well, every year once the newest recruits come in a get settled, we hold a big ceremony party thing where we just say thanks for joining and let you have a good night. Its a mix of formal informal. Pretty sweet though. Its sometime next week so if you wanna go, get a suit or something and we’ll go”. It sounded pretty cool. Then again, I’m not one for parties. Don’t get me wrong I like going and all, just as long as its with someone I know. I hate being around people I don’t know. Regardless, we all left in good spirits, ready to start the day. Tyler had set up individual patrol routes for us, or more specifically for those who haven’t done one with someone else yet. And as luck would have it, I ended up with Felicity and Axel. We made our way to the industrial district which is a pretty cool place by the way. I spent most of the time just talking to Axel and Fe, about whatever came to our heads. Then, my communicator starts beeping. I press the little button then the earpiece and Tyler’s voice cones through

“You there!?!”

“Yeah, what’s up?”

“There’s a disturbance of some kind around your area. Could be a villain but theres been a lot of damage done to one of the factories. You gotta investigate. Report anything you find got it? I’m gonna put you through to Emily. She’s your operator. Just report to her”

“Got it. Umm…. Brick out?”

I heard a beep and a cheery voice comes through. “Hi! I’m Emily!”

“Umm. Hi?”

“Okay so I have the map up right here. Just keep going and take a left at the third block. You should be able to see the factory there”

“Got it”

We made our way to the factory, following Emily’s directions as closely as possible and sure enough, we saw the factory. And disturbance, was an understatement. The whole front of the factory looked like it had been ripped clean off. Like something just tore right through it. Fe took charge pretty quickly, “okay Axel and I need you to start looking for anyone that might be in there. Bring them out here and I’ll see to them” he nodded and catapulted himself deep into the factories main floor. “Jack, I need you to start moving some debris. I’ll call the police for help got it?” I nodded and began moving as much as I could carry at once. Eventually the police did arrive and began searching the area for ant clue as to what or who could’ve done this. It wasn’t a mystery as to what; it had to be someone with a superpower. The real question was who. And why? Why in the middle of the morning and especially while everyone would be either already at work or getting here? I just didn’t make sense. Unless of course. They wanted people to see it. Maybe it was some kind of message. And if I have to say it. It was….

As I went deeper into the factories to clean up, I moved some of the brick walls and found a body. I was about to shout for someone, til I noticed a paper note? What? I put down the chunk of wall, knelt down and took the note. What it said didn’t phase me, but what did was that I recognized the hand writing

“They accept you for now. But do they know of the sins you carry? We do. I’ll see you around tough guy

D.C”

Dominic Carter….

Apex was on the hunt….and it seemed in that instance, that the hunter was now the hunted….