Detective Sergeant Jack Henderson was a connoisseur of shitty days. Over the course of his ten-year career, life had not been fair to Detective Henderson, but it rarely was to anyone. But today… today took the fucking cake. First a teenager had gotten blood all over his coach, then someone had gone on a rampage at the station and now there was a shootout at the Rusty Hinge. Jack didn’t plan on running in guns blazing, but he'd be damned if he wasn’t there to help.

Sirens blazing, he gunned it around a corner as he came upon the trailer park. The entrance was blocked with four undercover black vans, the travel vehicles of the armed police. The air was still and instead of gunshots, all Jack heard was shouting. As he left his car, he was immediately confronted with three bodies, all of which were members of the Slashers with weapons still in hand. They lay still on the concrete, blood seeping out and staining the stone beneath them, except for one who twitched every now and then.

Jack, slight pause in his step, came into view of the main square of the park to find a platoon of officers going door to door, clearing caravans. To his utter surprise, Jack found no more bodies and it seemed the armed officers had taken no wounds or casualties. He approached the group of officers gathered in the middle, who were shouting commands to their colleague, and asked, “What the hell is happening?”.

The lead officer turned to Jack, who was holding his badge out for ID, and said “Sir, I need you to stay off the premises. The scene is still under our jurisdiction and there may still be Slasher’s on the property”.

Jack gestured around and shouted “Then where the hell are they? Now tell me exactly what the fuck is going on here and then I’ll decide if I’m in danger or not”.

The lead officer turned to his partners who just shrugged in response, so he scoffed and replied “We got here a couple of minutes ago before you. We encountered Slashers at the entrance, but so far it seems that they’re gone”.

Jack frowned and said, “You mean every member of the Slasher’s just managed to up and leave in the five minutes it took you to get here?”.

“They probably left before the attack on the station even began”, the lead officer responded. He continued “Still, if they were in a hurry then they probably left some evidence-“.

Jack looked around and said “That doesn’t sound right. Alejandro’s been avoiding arrest for months now, there’s no way he made a mistake this big”.

The lead officer was beginning to grow irate and yelled “Then what the fuck is this master plan?”.

As he scanned the area, watching as officers kicked down doors and rifled through belongings, something else caught his attention. In the middle of the square, a small pile of rubbish was shaking. On a normal day, this would have been perfectly normal considering the weather normally seen in Greyhall, however not today due to the complete lack of wind.

Jack, one finger up in a silencing motion, began to creep towards the scrap pile while the other officers raised their guns in response. With one swift kick, the pile fell away revealing an open manhole cover and crouched in the tunnel below was an entire squad of Slashers. Jack opened his mouth to shout, but someone else beat him to it.

“BOMB!”.

Jack leaped to the ground before an intense wave of heat rushed over him. A blinding flash of light flooded his vision while his ears were drowned with the roar of the explosion which were promptly followed by gunfire. The sensory overload caused his vision to fade, but Jack clutched to consciousness, bringing himself back from the brink with a deep gasp for air.

As his sight returned, Jack saw he was surrounded by fire and blood as the flaming shards of the caravan that had detonated had rained all around him while the men he had just been speaking with lay crying and bleeding on the ground. Out of the tunnel came nearly twenty Slashers, some wielding pipes and bats while a few aimed pistols and knives. One, seemingly a leader among this group, crouched by Jack and held a knife to his throat. He yelled to his allies “Find any survivors and put the pigs down. Leech wants a message sent”.

Before this order could be fulfilled, there was a sudden wave of force that sent anyone still standing in the square flying off their feet and hurtling back to the ground. Jack just groaned as he looked up to see the beaten, but not broken figure rising to his feet after his shockwave of energy.

“Sup assholes”, he remarked.

XXX

“I think you know where this is going” I remarked.

The first man up from the ground raised his firearm, but a beam quickly knocked it out of his hand. Before he could react, I ran over and punted him in the skull, knocking him back onto his ass. Three men charged me now, each winding back bats, but I snapped the first in half with an energy charged forearm block, a beam to split the next and an energy shield in mid-air to crack the last. For good measure, I sent a less powerful energy wave out with a punch to the ground to batter these three and conserve energy.

I had only a moment to catch my breath before gunshots broke out and I covered my body with a light shield to block the gunfire. From behind an overturned bookshelf, about five Slasher’s were firing their pistols and assault rifles stolen from officers.

I smirked and shouted “One of these days you’re going to learn better! Until then!”.

Using both hands, I unleashed what I’ll call a super laser, that punctured right through the shelf and blew all five men back. As I scanned the scene for the next Slasher, I felt a weight on my back and an arm around my throat. Well, technically around the light shield around my throat. I charged my arms with darkness once more before I plucked him off my back and tossed him like a javelin across the square, right into the back of a retreating Slasher.

The remaining number of Slasher’s had decided this was a losing battle and began to retreat around the corner and towards the exit. I went to give chase, but the approaching sound of sirens told me they wouldn’t get far. It was also a sign that I should get going. As I prepared to charge jump out of the square, Jack called out to me.

“Kid”. There was a pause before he said, “Don’t fucking die”.

I gave him a nod before leaping out of the square and to the safety of the rooftops.

XXX

Alejandro sat in the bedroom of his new penthouse suite, gazing out onto the city below. From up here everyone looked like insects to him, scurrying about his kingdom. There was a knock at the door before the Bull entered the room. He reported “The woman has left the city. She’s on the way to the safehouse”.

Alejandro just nodded in response. The next few weeks were going to be tough and he didn’t want Jade in the firing line. They’d only be apart for a while and once the city was his, they could be together again. He rose from his seat and asked, “What’s happening at the Hinge?”.

“The line went cold. Scouts reported explosions and gunfire before police flooded the scene”, the Bull replied.

“I don’t like uncertainties Bull”, Alejandro said. “Everything needs to be settled before we make our move against King”.

Bull just nodded while Alejandro moved to a table on which a bottle of complementary liquor was waiting. This was how the rich lived it seemed. Alejandro hated it. As Bull went to leave, Alejandro turned to face him at last.

“You failed me Bull", he growled. "Then you tried to betray me. Do either again and it’ll be more than your contract that I terminate”.

Without reply, Bull closed the door on his master. He went to pour himself a glass as he also reached for the tv remote. Couldn’t hurt to check what the news were reporting about him. As he took his seat once more, there was a ring from his burner phone. With a sigh, he answered “Is it done?”.

A familiar voice replied, “Yeah, it's done. And so are you”.

Alejandro stood up once more as he recognised the caller. That damn kid from last night. “How the hell did you get this number?”.

“Your friends at the trailer park were done with these phones and I’ve been looking for you so I borrowed this from them”.

Alejandro scoffed and said “I thought I was done with you after last night. Still got some of your blood on my boots”.

“You’re getting desperate Alejandro. Attacking the police was just dumb”, he mocked.

Alejandro found himself grinning as he said “You haven’t been paying attention son. I don’t make mistakes”.

The voice asked, “What’s that supposed to mean?”,

“Let’s just say, I got friends who’ll make sure there’s no CCTV at the station at the time of the accident. They might suspect me, but right now they have no hard proof which means I go free”, Alejandro spat.

Surprisingly, the voice just laughed.

“Good”, they said. “That means I get you all to myself”.

There was a pause before Alejandro just burst out laughing.

“I’ll give you this boy, you really make life interesting”, he exclaimed. "If you want me, come on in. The Ornate hotel, top floor. Me and my friends are ready for a repeat”.

The voice, with a chill in his voice, said “Watch yourself Alejandro. We both saw what I did to the Bull”.

Alejandro's smile faded. This little shit just threatened him.

Alejandro growled down the phone “And just what are you going to do when you get here?”.

Silence followed before… the call ended. Alejandro sat back down and turned on the news to see reports of the explosions at the Rusty Hinge and the attack on the police station. ‘Terror in Streets! Who is the Leech?”. Alejandro found himself smiling again. He could sense it. The fear. This city would know what it was like to be scared and alone. First the vigilante. Then the King.

XXX

That had settled my plans for my evening. I tossed the phone into a nearby trash can, giving it a laser blast for good measure, before emerging from the shabby little alley I had been hiding in. No one on the street even spared me a glance as I emerged in normal clothes, my blood-stained costume now smouldering in a bin fire I had passed on the way here. My head was still pounding, as if a vice was crushing my skull with the grip only growing in strength, as my healing slowly dragged on due to my current low energy supply. The most serious of my wounds had started healing first, such as concussions or broken bones, but bruises and cuts still persisted all over my body.

Tonight was the end, no matter who won. Alejandro had the numbers, control of the battleground and seeming immunity from the police, but all of this had made him cocky, that much was clear. Last time, I wasn’t thinking straight, and Alejandro would be banking on the same thing happening tonight. If I was reckless or careless, he’d kill me without a thought. The last fight had been on his terms and it wasn’t any different this time.

I could try calling the police, let them distract him while I snuck up from behind and fucked him up. However, that would put police in the path of Alejandro’s rage and that would only add bodies to the pile. I could try a rush attack, but no doubt he had people waiting and traps laid for me knowing that would be my plan.

“Give it a couple of hours”, I whispered. “Let my powers recharge and come up with a plan”.

But before that, I needed to have an important conversation and honestly, she scared me more than Alejandro ever could. I stopped right in front of my apartment block; the gates lock still tattered on the cobbles. The door screeched as it opened, as it always had, causing a few kids messing around in the courts to glance in my way before turning in dismissal when they recognised me.

I paced my way up the stairs, one hundred quips I could throw at Faith when I opened the door yet none of them seemed quite right. In no time at all I found myself hovering at the door of our apartment, relative silence permeating around me as my arm began to raise.

“Why is this so hard?”, I exasperated as I went to knock. “Alright… one, two, three!”.

I quickly knocked on the door four times and froze, the unease in my stomach only growing as I heard Faith’s footsteps growing closer. The door swung open revealing a pale, dreary looking Faith about to speak until she realised it was me. In the blink of an eye her arms had wrapped around me and I was pulled into a tight embrace, momentarily stunned until I hugged her back after a couple of seconds.

Any semblance of words escaped me as Faith let me go and said, “I swear to god; you are going to be the death of me one day!”.

I gave a weak smile and responded, “We need to talk”.

We walked into the flat, closing the door to shut out any prying ears or eyes, and I nearly collapsed onto the couch as Faith rested down next to me. A sigh escaped my lips before I exclaimed, “I fucked up. I should have phoned you or let you know what was happening; I-“.

Faith raised her hand and interrupted “Ronin, I don’t want an apology. I just want the truth. I gave you your space after the attack on the school, but now I need you to talk to me. Please”.

I paused before I spilled everything. There wasn’t a chance in hell I was going to tell her the whole story as that might just push her over the edge. As strong as Faith was, I didn’t know if she could handle the story of what I’d been up to. Of what I still had to do. On the other hand, it didn’t feel right to lie. Nothing stays hidden forever and the more lies that pile up, the worse the betrayal would feel if the truth came out. So, I decided to compromise.

“I was looking for Alejandro”, I admitted.

I could tell she was holding back a scream as she took in my statement. She eventually replied “Are you fucking insane! He’s tried to kill you twice now and you wanted to fight him!”.

Technically it was three times, but I wasn’t willing to disclose that now. So instead, I choose to reveal something much worse.

“I didn’t want to fight him”, I said. “I wanted to kill him”.

There was a brief silence before I continued “He’s a psychopath Faith. He doesn’t give a shit who he hurts, he just takes lives and people and smashes them up. I’ve never wanted to kill anyone before, but after what happened to Kaine…”.

Faith placed a hand on my shoulder and said, “He might be a monster Ronin, but that doesn’t mean you have to be too”.

“But something has to happen!”, I exclaimed. “He will keep on killing if I don’t do something. Otherwise the next person he kills, the grief of the people left standing, that’s on me because I was too scared of reality. Just like with Kaine!”.

As my body began to shake, Faith pulled me in close for a hug to which I didn’t object.

“It’s ok to be scared”, she said. “Everyone is. But none of this is your fault. You are not responsible for his actions, don’t let his pain become yours. You are a victim in all this too, you’re just hurting in a different way. Don’t let him change who you are. Beat him by showing him you survived him”.

I slowly nodded as I pulled away from her, now back in control of myself. My voice was nearly a whisper as I said, “I need some rest”.

Faith opened her mouth to speak, but changed her mind and gave me a soft smile as she nodded in agreement. I rose from the seat and headed towards my room but before I left her sight, she shouted after me.

“I love you Firecracker”.

“Love you too sis”, I responded before I hid myself in the safety of my room. A deep breath of relief escaped my lips as I locked the door behind me while Faith’s words sunk in. I quickly grabbed my wallet from my desk and pulled out the remnants of cash I had left in there. Scanning through the money, I let myself smile.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

It was just enough. I grabbed the pieces I already had lying around for my new costume. I unlatched my window and slipped outside, my strategy for the evening already beginning to formulate. I knew I could beat Alejandro. The hardest part would be what came next.

XXX

The Slasher’s were tense to say the least. The penthouse had devolved into chaos as all available Slasher’s had coalesced in the landing. Furniture had been flipped onto their sides for cover, guns were in hand with a range of weapons all aimed at the elevator and the Bull was standing directly outside Alejandro’s room with a machete in hand and a walkie talkie hanging from his belt, relaying to a spotter in the hotel lobby.

By now, rumour of the vigilantes' strength had spread and no risks were being taken. Alejandro had told them his powers had its limits, that his abilities needed some kind of energy and those reserves would eventually run out. They just had to hope he was exhausted before he got his hands on them. Hell, he could be across the room and it was still lights out for anyone in his way.

This fear was most prevalent in the youngest member of the Slasher’s, a boy of only fifteen who before today had never held a weapon in his hands. Usually a messenger for Alejandro and his operations, the boy had been dragged into this mess by his friends who were dedicated members of the Slasher’s.

As he took a steadying breath, there was a buzz from the Bull’s radio before a murmur responded over. The Bull walked to the room and yelled “He’s in the lobby now! Any of you try to run, you’d better hope he catches you before I do!”.

All eyes turned to the elevator as a flashing yellow arrow pointing skywards indicated the lift was on its way. Silence overtook the group in the seconds that followed as the grinding of steel from the elevator gears rang from the shaft until…

DING

The boy was unsure who fired the first shot, but as soon as the lift doors opened a maelstrom of bullets unloaded. The boy himself joined in, although the recoil from the first shot nearly knocked out his shoulder, but after a few seconds of gunfire occurred, the Bull roared over the noise.

“STOP!”, he screamed.

The various members of the Slasher’s ended their tirade to find the unusual sight of an empty lift. They shared glances of confusion and uncertainty among each other before one of them finally spoke up.

“Where-“.

He wasn’t able to finish his sentence before the floor beneath him exploded.

XXX

As I unleashed a dual charged beam through the floor, I let myself smile. It had worked. The idea was simple. I allowed myself to be spotted on my way in and when I entered the elevator, I made sure to stop on the floor before the penthouse and sent the empty lift up on its own. Using the sound of gunfire to locate where best to breach, I had charged possibly my strongest blast yet and let loose hell on the floor above.

With an energy charged jump I leaped through the hole I had created, a diameter that was about twice my height, and into the penthouse lounge. I discovered many of the Slasher’s had already been knocked down, some looking already worse for wear while a lucky few had escaped harm for the most part. The most dangerous of these was the Bull who was already coursing with rage. He let out a war cry and ran towards me with his blade wound back, but before he even got close I fired a two-handed beam into his chest.

Initially, it only hampered his charge but with a little more power the Bull was sent flying back and through the wall of the lounge, out of sight and out of mind. It was about now that those around me opened fire as I barely got a barrier around myself to block the bullets. Knowing I had to end this quickly before Alejandro joined the fight, I decided to bring out my new attack. It was risky and would cost some energy, but it was guaranteed to knock these fuckers down and out.

Hopefully.

With one hand, I formed an energy ball formed from darkness that was roughly the size of a football and in the other I braced a light shield strong enough to burst it completely. I smashed the two forces together and an energy wave, one more powerful and farther reaching than my usual shockwave, was released upon the room. Anyone not already dazed was smashed into the walls and furniture before slumping to the floor dazed.

To anyone still in the mood to fight, I yelled “Get up again and you won’t be walking out without assistance”.

This threat seemed to take effect as no one got back up and those that did were rushing towards any available exits. However, as I headed towards the door leading deeper into the penthouse, I spied someone curious. A boy, likely younger than me, was shaking behind a flipped sofa with a pistol aimed weakly in my direction. While my first instinct was to open fire, I found myself hesitating. This boy was scared, that was clear to see but he was a member of the Slasher’s. He had made that choice. I begin to charge my fist and then…

I realised something. Alejandro manipulated people. He took the most vulnerable and made them believe in him before he let them fight his battles and sacrifice themselves for him. I lowered the shield from around my body and walked to the boy. Slowly, I raised my hands in peace and knelt by him, lowering the gun from my direction to the floor which he let me do with little resistance. Behind my mask, I smiled and said “Get out of here kid. You need help, call this number”, as I handed him a scrap of paper.

He took it hesitantly before nodding and running away. As I did this, I heard a shout from behind.

“We end this here and now hero!”. From the rubble he had landed in, the Bull had finally arisen and was stalking towards me. “I underestimated you last time. It was a mistake. Now-“.

“No more talking Bull”, I joked in response. “You’re not that great at it anyway. Just let me kick your ass really quick so I can move onto Alejandro”.

A low, guttural growl escaped from the Bull’s mouth and he reached for the weapon at his waist while I charged my beams in turn. However before he could find the handle of his blade, his entire body turned stiff like a board and the hate emanating from his eyes faded. His mouth tried to tremble, to scream out in shock, but he no longer had the strength to do so. That now belonged to Alejandro.

The Bull fell to the ground limp while Alejandro only seemed to grow, who had snuck up behind his lackey during the confrontation to my own surprise. He bared his fangs as his veins pulsed and glowed before yelling “You called?”.

Seconds passed with no response to which Alejandro just laughed. “No cocky quip for me? I can’t blame you. No one’s brave when confronted with their death. Everyone has the same moment of realisation where they learn who the better man is. I would have thought you might have learned that last night, but I’m happy to revise the lesson for you”.

“How many people have you hurt?”, I asked. “Or how many did you care about hurting”.

Alejandro’s smirk left his face and he spat back “Don’t pull some moral bullshit with me. The world was made by killers. It’s the only way anything can change. I learned that one from my dad as he beat me bloody when I got home from school. He taught me that to gain power in this world, you have to get some blood on your hands. Without me and the blood on my hands, half my boys would be dead already while the other half suffer in city centres. Every one of them chose to follow me, not out of fear, but so they could build a better life for themselves. I gave them the chance for something I never had as a kid. I gave them power. I gave them respect”.

“You’re delusional”, I snapped. “They don’t respect you Alejandro. All of them live scared shitless while you pretend you’re a saviour! Look around you piece of shit. How many of the Slasher’s are rotting in prison? You think they feel grateful for your gifts”.

“You don’t understand", said Alejandro. "You’re young, you still think the world is worth saving. It's a shame those beliefs are going to get you killed”.

“That remains to be seen”.

The time for words had passed. Now came the storm.

With a burst of energy, I leaped across the room and cracked Alejandro across the temple with a punch. He stumbled back, but lashed back by grabbing a table with one hand and swinging it like a bat at me. I raised my arm, charged with energy, to block it but the impact still knocked me to the side. With my guard broken, Alejandro capitalised with a right hook to my jaw that finally brought me to the ground, the combined force of Alejandro and the Bull’s strength flowing through him. My light shield stopped me from being knocked clean out, but I was still dazed as I stumbled around the floor, vaguely aware of the hole I had created directly to my right.

As I started to get to one knee, Alejandro delivered a push kick right to my chest that knocked me back through the hole and plummeting to the floor below the penthouse. I hit the floor with a bounce, a piece of debris jabbing straight into my shielded right shoulder blade, before I flipped over with a gasp. I quickly flexed my fingers as shock ran through my body while up above Alejandro sneered down at me. He had grabbed two of his still conscious Slasher’s and was draining them of power to add to his own reserves. By the time I started to rise once more, I looked up to see the sickening grin that overcame Alejandro’s face before he jumped down towards me with a baseball bat in hand. I rolled out of the way seconds before he smashed his weapon down where my bat had previously been and managed to blow him back with a double handed blast. The force pushed him into the wall of the corridor, but only caused him to scoff. Winding his bat back, I quickly ducked down before he let loose a swing that was quick as lightning.

From the corner of my vision I spotted concerned people exiting hotel rooms, looks of horror and dread in our direction, but I had no time to think of them, let alone care. New strategy in mind, I grabbed the exposed Alejandro by the back of his skull and drove his head into my knee, dark energy flowing through my entire body now. To follow this up, I drove my shoulder into Alejandro’s gut and tackled him off his feet while firing a beam into the floor, destroying through the floor beneath us. We tumbled to the next floor, both thrown into different directions in our collision while screaming started from above and around us.

An unfortunate man happened to walk out of his hotel room, a son and wife right behind him, as Alejandro and I got to our feet. Before I could react, Alejandro clutched the man with one hand and began to sap him of his energy causing him to continue in size. By now, his skin was glowing with red energy while his victim was turning an unhealthy pale as Alejandro kept drawing energy from him. Before he could kill the man, I threw as much energy as I could into my fist and swung for the stars and managed to cause the man to drop from Alejandro’s grasp. He glared at me and with a firm grip he grabbed me by the throat and raised me off the ground with just one hand. I flailed at his arm and face, but even with my energy strikes he wouldn’t budge. Behind him, I could make out the family were still there? trying to shake the man awake, so I tried to gesture for them to run away. However, this only caused Alejandro to retake notice of them and toss me directly at them.

The mother was quick enough to pull her child out the way as I flew into their hotel room, colliding with the wall as the window above me shuddered from the impact. Between coughs, I managed to spit out “Get back!”, to the family as Alejandro stalked towards us.

The mother pulled her husband back while the child ran next to me. At this point, I could feel my light shield fading in and out due to the repeated blows and my lowering reserves. If he landed one more hit, it would shatter. My head told me to retreat and live another day, but the quivering child in front of me convinced me otherwise. Alejandro was enraged and god knows what would happen to everyone else if I left.

With a fire in my chest, I rose back up and roared at Alejandro as I charged him again, letting loose a two-handed beam right in his face. He raised one hand to block it swinging wildly towards me with the other. I made sure to keep out of his range and continued to fire which only seemed to piss him off. As I began edging away from the direction of the family, Alejandro charged towards me while my back was to the wall giving me only an instant to dart out the way. However, instead of stopping, Alejandro just continued his charge, bursting straight through the wall into another, now abandoned, room. He only added to my confusion when he roared in anger, punched through a bed and tossed it at me like a frisbee. I hit the deck to avoid it while Alejandro continued roaring, smashing up the room around him.

It seemed his strength had its drawbacks, I realised. The stronger he got, the dumber he became, unleashing his animalistic nature. I could use this, I realised. Firing a brief beam into his face to catch his attention, I yelled “Over here dumbass”, and sprinted back out into the hall.

Sure enough, he charged straight through two walls and out into the hall as he tried to swing at me with his freakish strength. Just as his hands came within inches of me, I fired a beam at his feet to cause him to disappear out of view of me. I looked down to see him lying dazed two levels down, but still very much still in the fight. So, I wound back my fist and dove into the abyss. Diving straight at him with a powerful hook to the face that actually seemed to hurt him.

Momentum now in my favour, I unleashed a quick flash of blinding light from my entire body, temporarily blinding Alejandro who tried to shield his face. I then let loose with a series of jabs, kicks and elbows, peppering him with strikes from all angles that he couldn’t see coming. Even when he stopped protecting his face and took swings in the dark, it was easy enough to duck and weave around them with the majority of his attacks not even remotely close to me. The monster of a man was beginning to tire as his punches lost their velocity and force while I only grew in strength.

Alejandro dropped to one knee, hands grasping at the floor blindly, which left his head wide open. A grin erupted from my lips as I wound back and let loose with a coup de grace. Yet as I was in mid motion, Alejandro’s head snapped up with his eyes trained right on me. I had seconds to realise I had been had before he dodged my punch, grabbed me by the throat and slammed me into the floor towards what I believed to be the fifth floor. The warm, glowing shield of light left my skin as Alejandro dropped down next to me and took my left leg in a vice grip. The pain of my shin and surrounding bones becoming dust from his grasp was overwhelmed by the full body agony of being rag dolled through the two walls of the corridor and eventually tossed down the length of the hallway.

Nausea ran over me as I caught the sight of my mangled leg while blood poured from my right temple. “Shit”, I muttered as I held back some vomit.

My breath and pulse quickened as the sting of the broken bones started to hit me, but dampened when a low glow covered my skin. Alejandro was pacing in my direction, laughing with glee as he did.

“Still a dumbass”, I pondered as he continued forward.

It was about then I realised something. My head was resting against a window right now and behind which was the car park roughly five stories beneath us. “Probably dumb enough to fall for it again”, I thought.

One arm was feeling limp, so I used my good one to prop myself up onto one leg while the other slouched along the floor. Barely holding myself up, I flipped off Alejandro with my weak hand. His eyes narrowed and once more, he came charging down the corridor at me, mania in his eyes and just seconds before he hit me, I let loose a small flash from my eyes. Nowhere near enough to blind him but just enough to force his eyes shut for a second. With the uninjured hand I grabbed him by the neck and sending a surge of energy through my leg, I pushed back. Our combined force was strong enough to break straight through the wall and out onto nothing.

Everyone has that one dream. The one where you’re falling. It doesn’t prepare you for the real thing. For one, you really have no control, not like you do on solid ground. In mid-air, you just fall and fall and fall while all your insides only continue to go up. Moreover, it doesn’t last long. I had roughly a second before I hit the ground and that was not long enough to regret my actions. So, I did the only thing I could. Brace for impact. I flipped myself over, putting Alejandro between the ground and myself, and plunged every last drop of light energy into a light shield on my stomach. You know, the one I’d be landing on. As the ground came rushing to meet us, I closed my eyes and hoped to god I would open them again.

Ironically, as I shrugged off the darkness of my eyelids, I was blinded by light. Specifically the fog lights that surrounded the car park to keep it lit when the night came around. My ribs hurt like all hell but apart from that, I was alive. That also went for Alejandro, but his overall health seemed somehow worse than mine currently. Both of his legs were mangled with bone sticking out of his right leg while his shoulder was bent at an odd angle, almost definitely dislocated as bruises were beginning to shine through on his face. His head didn’t seem to be bleeding, but his skull had definitely been rocked as his eyes couldn't focus on anything, dilated like all hell. It was safe to say, this was over.

People were beginning to flood outside from the lobby to see the sound of the crash while the flash of police lights became visible in my peripheral vision. It was now or never. As the purple glow faded from his skin, I raised a fully charged energy fist into the air. Memories flashed through my head. Faith, Ashely, Kaine, Jack. With a primal scream, I slammed it down, directly next to his skull sending chips of concrete scattering across the lot. I pulled it out of the hole, roughly a foot deep and grabbed Alejandro by the scruff of his shirt.

“Remember today”, I growled. “Remember that despite all your men and all your power, you couldn’t stop me. The next time you think of hurting someone, remember I’m still out there”.

I couldn’t tell if he understood what I told him. His eyes were rolling back, still breathing, as his consciousness faded but I still felt the message was sent. I let him go as the crowd began to form, spotting the child from the eighth floor among them all. Some looked in fear, some in confusion but one looked in awe. I gave the kid a crooked grin from my now torn mask at the child before I pushed myself up to my feet, now able to put slight pressure on my healing leg. The crowd took a step back as I did while the police finally started to arrive. Leading the charge was Detective Inspector Henderson who as he neared me, looked between me and Alejandro. I gave him a nod before walking the opposite direction from him and his fellow officers. One went to chase me, but Jack held out his arm to stop him.

“Let him go”, he said. “He gave us Alejandro. Least we can do is give him a head start”.

Limping away, no one tried to follow me as I slipped into a nearby alley. Out of sight, I finally dropped to one knee and let a sob escape my mouth. The pain was persistent and far reaching, and I didn’t have the energy left to heal it. My leg stung with every step and my chest would squeeze when I took too deep a breath. Yet, I couldn’t stop here. All I had to do was get home and sleep this off. I was finally done. I had won.

XXX

Sunlight streamed through closed blinds when Alejandro finally awoke. As he tried to open both eyes, only one would respond as the other was too bruised to move on command. He tried to reach for his face, but his arms were held by his waist due to being caught in large iron cuffs that had two green dots in the middle. Meta restraints, designed to disable his powers. In fact, all he could move was his head as large straps pinned him down to his hospital bed, not that his body was capable of moving independently anyway.

As he went to take in his surroundings, a door swung open and a woman walked in. She was tall and elegant, wearing a white button up shirt under a black cardigan with white trousers and flats. Brown hair held in a neat bun, she had an earpiece on and disdain in her eyes. However, just peeking out from the tip of her sleeves was the point of ink, a tattoo that he couldn’t make out in his current state.

“Two minutes”, she stated as the earpiece gave a flash of blue light before glowing with azure.

“I trusted you Alejandro”, a voice stated. “It’s rare I make a mistake, let alone one this serious. You’ve really disappointed me”.

Dread hit Alejandro at the sound of his voice, the spider weaving his web just out of sight. Just a shame Alejandro was currently a fly.

Through coughs and splutters, Alejandro muttered “I’m s-sorry Mr-“.

“You know the rule Alejandro. No names”.

Alejandro, pride the last thing from his mind, replied “Of course sir. Look, I know I fucked up, but this is fixable. Just help me back on my feet and I can deal with this vigilante”.

“Don’t mix your words Alejandro. Because of you, we’re now dealing with a hero. There hasn’t been one of those in Greyhall for ten years now and business has been thriving in their absences. So you see the position you’ve put me in. It’s not just me you’ve slighted. It’s the whole operation you’ve endangered”.

“Sir, I-“.

“You’ve had far too long to run your mouth. Now it’s time to listen. You’ve become a burden to the Chain, so we’ve decided to let you go. Your assets and region will be transferred to your replacement and any attempts to inconvenience him will be met with your immediate disappearance. Talk to the police and they will bring you to me. All previous immunity is off the table. Starting from now, you’re out. Good luck”.

“Y-you son of a bitch! You need me!”.

“No, Alejandro, I don’t. I gave you chance after chance and you continued to disappoint. Shooting up a school… That was the last straw. I’ve left you with your life and that is more than you deserve”.

“Who the fuck are you to judge me! You're worse than all of us put together!”.

“I believe Ms Jade would disagree with that point. We’ve treated her quite well since she came into our service”.

Alejandro began to shout as he bellowed “DON’T YOU FUCKING TOUCH HER YOU SON OF A-“.

“Don’t threaten me because then I might do something I will come to regret. Stay in your cage and we’ll have no trouble. Mind your manners and you might make parole. Goodbye Alejandro. Hope we never meet again”.

The light on the earpiece faded and the second it did, the woman left the room leaving Alejandro to stew in his resent and regret. His head sunk into the pillow as he cursed under his breath.

“I won’t let him win. I’ll kill him, him and that fucking kid. After that, I’ll finally rule this fucking city”.

But even he didn’t believe that.