From the first drawing he sketched in his notebook as a kid, Kenny wanted to see his superhero costume come to life. Designed by Kenny and produced by Garrick: a blue parka with a black fur trim hood and a blue helmet with black lenses, the Streaker was finally born.

Garrick did make some additions: bulletproof padding, a radio headset built into the helmet, and a holster for the cryopistol. All that was left was to patrol the streets to greet the citizens and stop crime and it would be a comic book for real.

At this installation, however, surrounded by actual soldiers dressed in fatigues, his costume stuck out like a sore thumb. Even UnderDog rocked proper combat gear and dog tags. At least Kenny was warm.

The mission was to protect the scientist Enrico Golgi. Dr. Golgi had worked for the Pantheon before and was now believed to be a target for Immortal. He was a quiet, frail old man and the only person on the installation who appreciated the costume. ‘A hero’s costume is the flag they wear’ is how he put it. The others, however…

“Man, why is this kid here?” asked a soldier, who tossed his soaped rag away, “no offense to you kid, but there’s nothing for you to do here—or for any of us.”

They were at an open garage cleaning up the humvees. Dr. Golgi kept to himself in the trailer that doubled as the sick bay, separate from the barracks where the soldiers slept. The whole facility was set up in a forest clearing next to a lake. Even the humvees had their windows replaced with plastic; smaller things like goggles and phones were allowed.

“You have something you want to say, corporal? Asked Captain Force.

“Full offense captain, your man in the sky got folded like laundry by the guy he had in cuffs. Even if he gives us his fancy toys, I don’t think we can do any better.”

“Are you saying you want to give up?”

“I’m saying we need a better plan than waiting for muties to come kill us.”

The garage was quiet as everyone stopped what they were doing to watch. They didn’t say anything, but the other soldiers almost certainly felt the same way.

“Just get those jeeps clean before sundown. Kenny, you’re with me.”

Kenny looked back and forth between Max and the unassured boots before he jogged up to follow Max. They came over to the trailer where they were alone.

“I agree with them,” said Max, “This isn’t your fight. If you try, you’ll just get killed.”

“W-what are you saying?”

“I’m saying I want you to leave as soon as the shooting starts. Run away as fast as you can. For my sake, and for your brother’s,” Max pulled out his wallet and handed over all the cash he had. Kenny was too stunned to think straight and took the money while he still processed what he was told.

Fighting in a war… some heroes did that but it wasn’t the kind of hero I imagined myself as. But then heroes didn’t run away from a threat if it came up. They were right that I didn’t have any military training but that training was failing them now. I’ve practiced my mutant power all my life. If I didn’t get the use it now, when the enemy is coming to me, then when would I? When would I get to be a hero?

He followed Max up the steps into the trailer, even though he did not hear a word Max said. Positively befuddled, he watched but did not see Max take out his radio. There was one phrase that did snap Kenny out of it.

“The radio’s not responding,” said Max.

The radio’s not responding.

Max told Dr. Golgi to hide in his room and for the medics to spread the word that enemy contact was inbound. With them out of the trailer, Max stayed with Kenny and Golgi. The soldiers dropped their cleaning supplies in the garage and rushed over to the barracks to get the rest of their gear. UnderDog was woken up by the commotion.

It seemed all fine for the moment—until every vehicle in the depot combusted into gory slag. It was the same plasma used in Olympus and the fact that they could not see this assailant meant that it must have been Anthony. This was what Max was here for. For the most part, he was just seen as an exceptional ranger. But he was a mutant nonetheless: his eyesight could change modes, among them being infrared vision.

The heat from the plasma obscured, but what he could see left no doubt: a monster not of this world skulked around the garage. What’s more, it specifically targeted the roof-mounted turrets for its plasma grenades while slashing the tires of the other vehicles.

Max tore down the window’s plastic wrap to pop a yellow flare that would signal Anthony’s involvement. It was as he threw it that his enhanced vision caught the glint from across the lake. A mix of instinctual reaction and the flare’s smoke allowed him to dive out of the way.

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The crack and whirr of bullets that pierced through the trailer siding jarred Kenny into flicking on his power. The world slowed down, and he could see four bullets, fired in unison, that created ripples in their flight. He flicked off and the bullets whipped through the other siding.

“There were four shots!” yelled Kenny over the howling of the flare.

“Get out the back and run to the nearest town,” ordered Max as he pulled up his shotgun.

“But—” The sniper shots hit outside this time. The soldiers cried out as they had to scramble for cover with the monster in mind.

“Now!” shouted the Captain. The flare was not just to signal for the people outside. It would provide a screen for Kenny to escape while the snipers and the monster were kept busy.

Kenny complied, exited out the back door, and ran away faster than light. He ran. And ran. The same way he ran for all his life. He stopped in his tracks in the thick of the forest and looked back.

The pillar of smoke, even if it was from the flare, was just like that day when Olympus was desecrated while he was carried away. Not just Olympus was destroyed, but other places and even other people. Helpless. Useless. Weak.

The plan for Anthony was to have Captain Force identify it so that they could group up and pin it down under sustained fire. They even created the flare system because of Lady Teumess and got rid of any glass to prevent them from dropping right on top of them. Instead, the enemy arrived from a distance or an entry point that they had not considered; unlike the others, Immortal did not specify the limitations of teleportation.

The fact that they had to play this game by his rules, and use his terms, made Max sick, but this wasn’t the time to argue about it as another volley of bullets cracked outside.

Right now, those snipers threw a wrench in most of Max’s plans and contingencies. The Immortals always used shock strikes to get in and get out quickly but now they decide to take their time.

With the soldiers pinned down, Anthony would have free range over the installation. If it attacked the barracks, it would bring carnage as anyone who left cover would get put down by the sniper. UnderDog could not take it alone last time, either.

If it came to the trailer, Max would be by himself against it.

Then there were the plasma grenades, if it had any left, the only solace being that they must be here to capture Golgi if they aren’t blowing the place up wantonly.

When the siding at the back of the trailer was sliced by a claw, Max shot a shell whose pellets perforated the panels and the trees behind it. He replaced the shell as he went to his more straining option: x-ray vision.

Max blasted shells into the floor which made the monster burst forth. He caught its falling hands with the metal of his gun, claws coming over the barrel and stock. Outmatched in strength, Max pushed Anthony to the side but the wing batted him in turn and the tail knocked the gun out of his hands.

Max pulled out his knife and readied his stance; Anthony stood on its hind legs and mimicked Max’s stance with its tail spike a facsimile of his knife.

Outside, UnderDog pulled the pin on a smoke grenade and carried it in his mouth as he ran across the clearing to the trailer. Sprinting past a hail of sniper fire, UnderDog lept into the window and speared Anthony through the back siding. They tumbled across the ground until they both hit the trees.

With the cover of smoke, Max took up the doctor and brought him to the barracks.

Anthony and UnderDog rose to their feet at the same time. Under the smoke haze, both of them had to catch their breath and find their bearing. The thousands of ommatidia that made up Anthony’s bloody eyes stared into UnderDog's glare. UnderDog’s rugged canines were bared against the needles that filled Anthony’s grin. Anthony’s claws dug into the dirt while UnderDog’s paws shifted into a stance. Little Birdie arrived on both of their shoulders.

“You ran bruised and broken the last we met little one,” said Anthony.

“I just didn’t put my back into it that time.”

“Excuses. The language of a living failure.”

“Nah, I’m just letting you know why you’re about to get you’re teeth kicked in. When I do win, GalvanGal’s gonna bring me into her bosom and call me a good boy again.”

“That wasn’t… is that you’re motivation?”

“If you saw her, you’d want to give your life to swim in that sweat trough too.”

“Then here’s your opportunity to die a hero."

They lunged at each other. Anthony flapped his wings to gain air at the last moment, its tail lashed to split open UnderDog’s snout. They both landed on their feet and faced each other. Anthony licked the blood off of its tail.

UnderDog ran low to the ground and as expected Anthony went for the tail swipe. UnderDog dodged the spike to bite deep into the meaty upper part of the tail.

Anthony tried to shake him off by smashing him into the ground, even flapped his wings to gain more height so that he could plummet back down, but UnderDog’s clamped jaw was too stubborn to be removed so easily. A claw gouged UnderDog’s belly, but UnderDog wrapped his front legs around the hand and didn’t let go even as his blood poured out.

Anthony got hit with a fresh slug that ruptured his eye, and UnderDog finally let go. A whole firing line lit up Anthony like a Christmas tree, holding it down with fire from shotguns and rifles that pulped its hide, punctured its wings, and broke its various spikes. Only when they ran out of ammo did they stop to see the bloody mess that was once a monster. Max was the one who came over to check on UnderDog.

“I told you I’d win,” UnderDog told Anthony in their last moments.