Kasha stared at Dylan for a moment. Dylan wasn’t quite sure what to say next. To be perfectly honest, he had expected some sort of response. A scoff, to a rebuttal, even a straight out attack from Kasha, these were all things Dylan was prepared for.
What he wasn’t ready for was to be ignored. At least, that was what it felt like. Nobody was responding to his proclamation. One of the hostages even coughed awkwardly after a few seconds of the silence. Dylan swore he heard a clock ticking. He shifted from foot to foot. Maybe they were waiting for him to attack them? He had just declared that fighting them was his ultimate intent. Surely, then, it would make sense if he had the first move?
Dylan was spared from further pondering when Kasha finally spoke, breaking the nearly minute long silence.
“Do you have to?”
Dylan frowned beneath his helmet.
“Of course I do. You took hostages. You’re a villain. It’s my job to stop you.”
Kasha tilted his head to the side.
“So you’re a hero, then? A licensed one, I would presume?”
“Uhh, no. I’m not licensed. But I am a hero.”
“So, to clarify, you’re not legally obligated to be here? Why come, then?”
Dylan, unprepared for the barrage of questions, took a moment to think. He found an answer pretty quickly, however.
“Because it’s the right thing to do. It doesn’t matter that I’m not legally a hero. I have to stop you from hurting these people.”
Kasha nodded, and made an understanding ‘hmmm’ sort of noise.
“You do realize that I haven’t hurt any of these people, right? Before you respond, take a look around, and point out any injury you see.”
“I won’t fal-”
Dylan tried to protest, but Kasha interrupted him before he could finish his sentence.
“Do it.”
Wary that he was being tricked, Dylan looked around the room. Although some of the hostages looked scared, he couldn’t see any visible signs of injury on them. A few tears, some disheveled hair, one guy who looked like he hadn’t slept in a week, but nothing to indicate that they had been hurt.
Kasha waited until Dylan was looking at him before speaking.
“See? They’re unharmed.”
“Yeah, but if you don’t get your money, you’re going to hurt them.”
Kasha shrugged.
“I hope it doesn’t come to that. Whether I have to hurt these people isn’t in my hands anymore. It’s up to the police waiting outside. They get to choose whether they value money over these peoples safety, over their lives.”
Kasha stopped speaking for a moment, letting his audience digest his message. Dylan, for his part, was frantically looking for a response. Kasha didn’t give him long, however, resuming speaking after several seconds had passed.
“It would be to everyone's benefit if you were to leave. I’d even pay you some, if you want.”
“Pfftt, in what way would it be to everyone’s benefit? You’re just trying to manipulate me.”
Kasha drew back slightly, as if he were offended.
“Of course it would be to everyone’s benefit. I'm far more experienced than you are. The chances of you besting me are slim. Plus, I find it difficult to hold back my powers. I cut things. I have no control over how much. Even if you were to beat me, the chances are that you would end up heavily maimed are high.”
Kasha paused for a few beats, before resuming his explanation.
“If we are to fight, no matter who wins, there's an extremely high chance that one or more of those hostages behind you gets hurt, or killed.
“I need to stop you, though. You’re a villain.” Dylan protested weakly.
“Like hell you do. You sound young. You don’t think all those police officers outside, who are specifically trained for things like this, have a better chance of a peaceful resolution? Really, you’re only making their jobs harder. Take the money and leave, I implore you. Like I said, it's better for everyone. Plus, it really comes down to if you can beat me. And chances are that you can’t.”
“You don’t know my full hand”
Kasha shot Dylan down.
“You really think I don’t know about your friend? You broke through two separate windows, at two separate times. I’m sure he’s sneaking around right now, looking for some sort of-”
Kasha stopped speaking, launching himself sideways, in an attempt to dodge a sudden blow from Puncher, who had just launched himself through a door on the other side of the room. Puncher, who was nothing but a blue blur, shot towards where Kasha had been. Dylan was confident that he would miss, as Kasha had landed nearly 15 feet to the left of where he had dodged from, but Puncher’s trajectory arced.
The blue clad hero reached Kasha not a second later, fist impacting the villain in the back. A monstrous boom resounded out from the impact, a visible shockwave trailing behind, one that blew out all of the windows in the room.
Dylan thought he saw one of the hostages scream in pain, but he wasn’t sure. The ringing in his ears drowned out all other sound. Kasha had been sent tumbling from the blow, rolling head over heels until his momentum eventually subsided. The villain lay there for a moment, an expression of pain visible on his face.
Puncher stood in the same place he had punched Kasha, still in the follow through pose of a punch. He was breathing heavily, and his exertion was plain as day.
As for all of the thugs that had surrounded Kasha earlier, they were currently in the process of scrambling for an exit. Most chose to run for the doors, primarily the one that Puncher had smashed through to get into the room, although a few opted to run past Dylan. One lackey, not satisfied with how long it would take him to reach either exit, jumped through one of the recently broken windows.
Dylan decided to let them go. There wasn’t much point in trying to stop them, and even if he did manage to keep one or two for leaving, that would leave him vulnerable to Kasha. Instead, he chose to try and get the hostages out of the room.
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“GO, GET OUT OF HERE!” Dylan screamed.
Most of the hostages listened, scrambling to their feet. They weren’t tied up, so it was easy for them to move. It had been fear that had prevented them from moving earlier, the promise that they were safer sitting there, rather than trying to move. Now, that same fear was telling them they didn’t want to be in the same room as a guy who could punch like a bomb was going off, who was about to fight another guy who could take punches like that without exploding into meat chunklets.
One hostage, however, continued to sit there. It was the man who looked like he hadn’t slept for a week. He was probably middle aged, dressed in the attire of an office worker. He had deep purple bags under his eyes, and his hair looked like it was just starting to turn gray. Instead of running like the others, he just sat there, staring blankly at the wall, while blood slowly trickled from his ears.
Dylan didn’t have time to get the man out, however, as Kasha was starting to stand back up, the pained expression on his face morphing into one of rage. The suited villain lunged at Puncher, hand held over his head, fingers slightly spread. When he got close enough to the blue clad hero, Kasha brought his hand down in an arc. Puncher barely managed to leap backwards, out of the way of the trailing fingers.
Nothing happened until Kasha's hand reached the ground. Where his fingers trailed over the floor, large cuts appeared, the concrete floor of the room giving way, as if it was being cut by five invisible, giant blades.
Kasha went in for another strike against Puncher, who dodged backwards, putting more distance between himself and the enraged villain.
Dylan started, unsure of what he was doing, until his vision went dark, and he arrived right behind Kasha. Dylan rammed his shoulder into the villains back and pushed, sending the villain tumbling through the air.
Dylan was about to press his assault, but he noticed that Kasha looked unusually held together for someone who had just been sent flying. It quickly proved to be a good thing that Dylan didn’t try to give pursuit, as Kasha twisted around mid air, swinging his hand behind him in a widespread arc that would have gutted Dylan had he been there.
The villain tumble continued unabridged until he hit the ground. Dylan was treated to a full view of Puncher's handiwork when Kasha stopped moving, however. A large portion of the back of the villain's suit was simply gone, exposing his back, which almost looked burned, the skin pink and flaking. It was oozing blood in some places.
As Kasha pushed himself back to his feet, Dylan stepped closer to Puncher.
“Fuck, I guess I see why you called yourself Puncher. Think you can do that again?”
Puncher shook his head.
“Not for a little while. That took a lot out of me. That was supposed to put him out of commission. Fucker must have focused on toughening his body. Shit. I should be able to manage some weaker punches, but you’ll either have to do most of the rest of it yourself, or buy me five or so minutes to recuperate.”
They were interrupted as Kasha launched himself at them. Dylan bounced away, losing sight of Puncher and Kasha. When his vision unblurred, Kasha was where they had been standing, hand swinging through the air.
While the heroes had managed to avoid the attack, there was someone else who wasn’t so lucky. Dylan hadn’t realized it in all of the pandemonium, but the sleepless looking hostage was sitting right behind them. Dylan watched, unable to intervene, as the man was split into 6 slices as Kasha's fingers trailed down his front.
The villain flicked the blood of his hand, seemingly unbothered. With a wordless cry of rage, Dylan launched himself at the villian, moving as fast as he possibly could. Dylan, when the blackness faded from his vision, was presenting with a view of Kasha’s knees and shins.
‘Shit, too low’, thought Dylan, as he crashed into the villain's lower legs, sending the tall, suited man tumbling over him.
Kasha’s hand trailed near Dylan’s back. Most of them were mere centimeters away from connecting, but Kasha’s middle finger was just long enough to make contact at the highest extremity of the armor on Dylan’s back.
Immediately, a line was torn through the power reinforced metal. The contact had only lasted for a fraction of a second, but it still tore a three inch gash into Dylan’s back as if his armor wasn’t even there.
Dylan cried out in pain, his momentum causing him to slide on the ground, away from Kashal, who had landed on his back.
Dylan tried to push himself to his feet, but even with the armor, his limbs wouldn’t obey him, the shock of the sudden acceleration he’d put them under, plus the jostling from the contact with Kasha and the ground, and the wound on his back turning them to jello.
Kasha didn’t seem to be having as much trouble. There were definitely signs of effort on his face as he pushed himself back to his feet, but the villain was able to slowly stand back up.
That process was interrupted as Puncher arrived, delivering what looked to be a devastating blow to the side of Kasha’s head. It wasn’t anywhere near as strong as the previous attack, but it still made a booming sound that was louder than what Dylan could produce, even with the full strength of his powered armor behind the blow.
Kasha spun around like a top, and Puncher had to step back as one of the villain's hands came extended. The spinning didn’t last long, however, and soon the suited man was launching a barrage of attacks at Puncher, who was frantically backpedaling.
Dylan wondered where his drone was. Looking around, he saw it, hovering outside of the buildings, frantically moving back and forth between windows to try and get a shot in. Kasha didn’t stay still long enough while he was on his feet for the drone to get a shot in.
Dylan mentally cursed himself for his foolishness. There were a few windows on the roof. He should have told the drone to shoot from up there.
Looking around, the teen tried to figure out a way he could help Puncher without getting shredded himself. He spotted a rock on the floor, debris left over from Kasha slicing through the concrete, and scrambled over to it.
Dylan picked it up, and taking another brief glance at the pair of fighting supers, chucked the rock as hard as he could. It flew through the air with a sharp whistle, hitting Kasha square in the forehead with a loud crack, rendering itself into dust. While it didn’t do serious damage, the blow did stop Kasha’s relentless assault, causing the villian to bring a hand to his head.
Puncher took advantage of the opportunity, blasting an uppercut into the distracted Villain's chin. Kasha’s head snapped back, and Puncher landed one final blow, a punch that shook the floor, and sent the villain flying limply through the air. This time, however, he didn’t return to his feet.
Dylan stared, unwilling to believe that it was over, heart pounding in his chest. It felt unreal. Last time he had fought a super, Dylan had taken a huge beating before finally putting his opponent down.
This time, he had taken more damage from himself and his ally than from the person he was fighting. The cut on his back did hurt pretty badly, to be fair, but Dylan didn’t feel like he was beaten black and blue, unlike last time. He shared a look with Puncher. The older boy was grinning at him.
“Good job! We got his ass.”
Dylan let out a brief laugh, some of his tension dissolving.
“Yeah, we sure did. Bastard cut me pretty good, though.”
Puncher started stretching out his hands.
“Don’t worry, we’ll get you medical treatment soon as we turn this guy in.”
Dylan felt relieved. Teaming up had made this so much more bearable. Kasha was a lot more dangerous than his previous opponent, and to be honest, if he were by himself, he probably would have gotten severely injured, or even died. Instead, he had helped to take down the villain, all while enduring significantly less trauma than he had during his last major battle.
Dylan resolved to team up more often, at least until he got better. There was no telling what could happen in the field, and having someone there to save his ass if something went wrong was something that Dylan suspected would prove extremely valuable in the future.
He was excited for another reason, however. This was his first high profile job as a hero! While he had foiled the robbery at the gas station, the super Dylan fought then really didn’t have much of a name for himself.
While Kasha wasn’t exactly famous around the country, he was somewhat known. Dylan felt proud of the fact that he had helped stop a notorious villain on only his second outing as a superhero. He might not become one of the legends, but at this rate he was bound to be a household name soon enough, right.
Expectations and newly found pride dampening the sharp pain in his back, Dylan started to walk towards Kasha’s unconscious form, feeling hopeful.
It stands to reason, then, that it was at this moment everything went to shit.