It was raining when I regained consciousness. I was laying on the ground, looking up at a sky filled with storm clouds. Alistair, Serena, and Dion were standing above me, looking down.
“Are you okay?” Alistair asked. I struggled to say anything.
“Doesn’t look like it.” Dion chuckled.
“This isn’t a laughing matter, Dion.” Alistair scolded.
“Oh, lighten up, brother. The child is practically indestructible.” Serena said.
“Don’t speak to me, abomination.” Alistair snarled. I attempted to get to my feet. I readied myself for what was to come. I knew what I had to do, I just wasn’t sure I was going to survive. I flicked to normal vision.
“See? The boy’s fine.” Dion said, patting me on the back. The force put me on my knees.
“Maybe try to be a little gentler, Dion.” Serena said sweetly.
“Medical assistance is on the way.” Alistair said.
“Welcome to the family, son.” Dion said as he pulled me to my feet.
“Welcome cousin.” Serena smiled.
I sprung to life as soon as I was on my feet. I grabbed my boa staff and swung myself onto the roof of the nearest building. It was much easier to use than my previous design. It had an AI built into it that let it move at just the right speed, and swing me to my intended destination without much effort.
I landed on the alcove of the roof and hopped down to catch my breath. I was bloody, bruised, and every muscle in my body ached. My face hurt like hell, and my suit was damaged significantly. But all of that didn’t change what I had to do. I could hear the three Platinums below talking.
“What is he doing?” Serena asked.
“Can’t you tell? He’s trying to back out of our deal.” Dion said, angrily.
“This should be entertaining.” Serena chuckled.
“Neither of you will harm the boy until I speak with him.” Alistair commanded. Then he sighed. “I know you can hear me, Jason. Why are you doing this?” He whispered. “These two will kill you if you don’t come down soon.” He added. I replied by grabbing one of my red smileys, twisting it, and throwing it down at them. Then I swung to another building down the block.
The explosion rocked the street beneath me. Police were preventing people from going anywhere near this block, since we started our attack. The only ones below were my three targets. Unfortunately, all three of them were unharmed. Alistair pulled a nearby metal statue to take the blast for him, Serena created a fountain of water from the rain, and Dion simply tanked the hit. He landed on his back down the street.
“Do we get to harm him now, Allie?” Serena laughed. Alistair didn’t respond, instead he pulled a metal platform out of the ground, and stepped up on it while it floated in the air. Serena gently stepped onto it next to him.
“Which one is he at?” Alistair asked. My heart rate rose when Serena pointed directly at where I was at.
The rain! She can sense what the water’s touching!
Suddenly my throat was struck by what felt like a bullet. I was knocked back and landed on the ground. I pulled the object out of my throat as I stood back up. It was an iron ring, one that Alistair wore on his hand. I looked back and saw three ring shaped holes in the concrete wall behind me. Alistair arrived as I turned back around. He was standing tall on his platform, while Serena sat beside him, her legs dangling off the side.
“This is ridiculous. Just come with us, please.” Alistair pleaded. I responded by jumping after him and tackling him off of his platform. Serena laughed as her brother plummeted below. Before we fell too far, I pulled out my boa staff and began swinging across the city block.
“Just let me go and nobody has to get hurt.” I warned. Alistair looked up at me as we swung.
“You clearly have no idea who you’re dealing with.” Alistair remarked.
We were suddenly engulfed in a bubble of water, mid swing. We gently descended down to the street, and the bubble collapsed, washing us down a mini river. Serena stood above us with a smile, dry as a bone. A soaked Alistair coughed up water while I got to my feet. I reached for my boa staff and pointed it before I was pelted by a dozen six inch wooden spikes. I got back to my feet in time to dodge a punch from a wooden gauntlet double the size of my head, wielded by Dion.
“Alistair should’ve let me put my splinter in you, boy. Would’ve saved us a lot of grief.” He shouted as he continued attacking me.
I dodged each hit and moved further away as I did. His gauntlet rapidly changed into a mass of wooden tendrils that tried to reach for me. They grabbed me and pulled me into the air. I could feel them attempting to squeeze the life out of me.
I grabbed a blue smiley and twisted it. Then I dropped it, and it gently floated down below. It was a drone that was connected to my suit. I could see out of it, and control its movements.
“Alistair, crush him while we have him!” Serena shouted.
“He’s changed his suit. It’s not metal anymore.” Alistair remarked.
I smiled as I moved the smiley drone behind Dion and released two taser wires onto his back. He dropped immediately, and his tendrils went limp. I fell to the ground, and immediately ran down the street to create distance between me and the remaining Platinums.
“You can’t hide from me, little boy!” Serena shouted. I climbed up a wall and grabbed a green smiley. I twisted it and the capsule it was in opened up. Victoria’s creation crawled out. A small insectoid beetle, with a smiley face on its back and two large pincers.
“Go to the one on the ground, and bite him.” I whispered to it. It immediately flew off down the street. I hopped down as my attackers arrived. Serena shot a blast of pressurized water at me strong enough to cut through the building behind me, as I rolled to the side. Alistair followed up her attack by pelting me with his rings again.
“Stop going easy on him Allie.” Serena scolded, as she sent another blast of water my way. I just barely missed this stream.
I grabbed my boa staff, but as I left the ground Alistair tossed a car at me. I was sent through a wall and landed in the lobby of a hotel with a car on top of me. I let out a gasp of air.
“I grow tired of these games.” Alistair approached with hard footsteps. “Give up or I put this through your skull.” He pointed a ringed finger at my face.
I tossed the car off of me. He barely managed to catch it with his telekinesis before it crushed him. It floated above him an inch from his face, and there was real fear in his eyes. I tossed it aside and in the same motion hit him across the chin. He was out cold. I hobbled outside to a waiting Serena. Her arms were crossed and her crazed yellow eyes glowed and spun as thunder rumbled behind us.
“I am sick of you!” She shouted as she raised her hands in the air. Fire hydrants burst, manhole covers became fountains, and the rain started to surround her. “I am sick of this city!” She clenched her fists, and the water began to form a massive wave, frozen in the air behind her. “I am sic-” She was stopped short of lowering her arms by a wooden spike shooting through the wave behind her, and through her throat.
Her body dropped as blood pooled beneath her. The water fell to the earth and flooded the area around, dispersing in all directions. Dion stood twenty feet away, his wooden arm pointed to where his sister was standing. My smiley beetle was attached to his back, controlling him. And his sister lay dead at my feet. The rain continued as normal.
I started to run down the streets. Run away once again. Runaway until my last days were up and I could finally stop running. I stopped in my tracks when I saw him. Standing in the rain in front of the tower.
“Jacob.” Danny said. Suddenly everything began to hit me at once.
The deaths.
The slaughter.
My parents having the girl they always wanted.
“Jacob, take off the mask.” He commanded.
My friends know I’m a superhero.
I’ve been living with criminals.
Tears began to stream down my cheeks. The suit turned off and for a brief moment I was in the void again. It wasn’t terrifying this time, it was peaceful. It made the return to my senses, and my thoughts, all the more jarring.
The mask fell to my feet. Danny approached me.
I killed a man.
His son…
His monster found him dead in front of me.
My best friend got turned into a labrat.
I began to wheeze. I couldn’t breathe. The whole world felt like it was trying to suffocate me. The wind was leaving my body. Everything was going dark around the edges. Tears streamed down my face. Thunder boomed in the distance.
Danny grabbed my shoulders.
I killed a woman just now.
“Jacob, calm down.” He commanded, his hands gripping my shoulders tight.
I’m gonna die.
I’m gonna die soon.
I’m gonna die and I don’t wanna die.
I don’t want to die.
I fell to my knees and stared at the ground. It hurt to even exist.
“Jacob. Look at me. Look at me.” Danny shook me, and tried to force my head up. “Do you remember sixth grade? When you went bald because of chemo? You complained because everyone could see the scars. Do you remember that?” He asked me as he shook me. His voice was soft. I continued to wheeze.
I grabbed my hair and started to pull. Grabbed for whatever was real, whatever was there to be grabbed and yanked for dear life. Trying to pull away the pain. Trying to pull myself away from all the terror in my life.
“Jacob!” He raised his voice. “Do you remember that?” He said.
“I… I don’t know.” I mumbled.
“Do you remember what happened after? What I did?” He continued speaking.
“No.” I barely got out through the tears. He forced my head up. Forced me to look him in the eyes. His face looked stern. He looked at me with grave concern etched into his face. His blue eyes almost glowing in the darkness.
“I shaved my head bald. So you wouldn’t have to go through it alone.” He answered his own question. “I shaved my head bald so we could go through it together.”
