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Chapter One: Killswitch

  The city is loud, laughing, and cheering. Many cars are honking and beeping while crowding the multiple bridges connecting the hyperscalers, each desperately trying to get to their job before everyone else wakes up to this false paradise. The buildings were disgustingly covered with neon lights and advertisements. Most of the buildings are made out of thick black glass, so the signs pop out more; it is rare to see a building empty of light.

  A black armored hand with crimson blood dripping down from its spiked knuckles rests upon the edge of one of the shorter skyscrapers. His forearms look metallic, almost like armored gauntlets that knights will use. His dead, tired, bloodshot eyes are covered with a neat pair of sunglasses, aviators to be exact. They look down at the paradise below, the magnitude of color may be beautiful, but this city is anything but. His right thumb wipes away the blood that is dripping from his cheek, then he rests his hand on the edge once more. He grips onto the concrete hard, causing it to crack and crumble for a bit before he destroys it. The man lets go. He breathes heavily, in and out, in and out, then his stare shoots up at the “night sky.” The stars that he looked at didn’t twinkle, stationary, not real. He sighs, wishing that he could experience the real thing. Loud music begins to play within his pocket, guitars and heavy drums play to a fast tempo. His blood-filled hand reaches in and pulls out a nearly broken phone. The black cracked exterior, once he turns on the phone, the buttons underneath the slightly cracked screen light up red. The screen displayed who was calling him. The picture is of a girl, her lips black as the night sky, smiling at him provocatively. Her neck is exposed within the profile picture, only showing a bit of her chest. He did not pick this profile picture for her, he was forced to. Her contact name was simply a black heart with the initials “KC” right next to it.

  He picks up the phone,

  “Heya, sweetheart, I hope you are calling me for something important because I'm rather busy right now.” His voice is dark, cocky yet stern.

  On the other side of the call, he heard a deep, feminine voice, and she felt playful today, “Oh come on, don’t be like that. You know that you want to talk to me.”

  He responds with a smile on his face, “That is true, but your precious boyfriend is busy, so be quick.”

  “Fine fine, didn’t know that my boyfriend will act like a little bitch, I’ll keep that in mind next time,” her playful statement rattles him a bit more.

  He sighs, surrendering to his girlfriend’s antics, “What do you want, Kat?”

  She remarks, “That’s what I thought anyway, I got something for us to do. Let’s meet at the park near our old high school.”

  The tired man shakes his head, “This better be fun, Kat.”

  Kat laughs, “You know damn well that it is going to be fun anyways bye! If you come here early, maybe I’ll give ya a gift, dork.” And before he can say anything, his girlfriend rudely hangs up on him.

  What a vicious woman, he thinks to himself. At least it gives him something to do in the meantime. His phone is quickly put back in his pocket, and the young man stands up and, with no worry from the world,

  He jumps off the building.

  Now free-falling from what seems an endless drop, the young man seems not to be bothered by the high, cold winds that are smacking him across the face. A bridge is coming in hot, inching closer by the second. Then a black chain shoots out of his wrist, it hooks onto a random hyper scraper. Destroying the black glass and attaching itself to the concrete layer. The young man pulls himself to dodge the bridge effortlessly and flips himself into a swing. The chain lobs him across the sky, he looks around to see the lights beaming past him, then at the end of the swing. He lets go for a burst of speed, the chain flinging him higher up.

  He yells at the top of his lungs, full of excitement. With the rush of the swing, he begins to fall once more. While reaching peak speed, he shoots another chain to keep the momentum going, and it flings him once more. The swinging takes him to a pedestrian bridge, and the people who are up right now are all in suits. People who work their ass off so this city can stay afloat. So many of them are talking on the phone or eating a quick breakfast. Despite their grueling jobs, they push forward because once work time is over. The city is a paradise for any type of pleasure. He lands on the bridge with all four of his limbs, but his limbs push him forward so he can break into a quick sprint. He continues to run until the first obstacle blocks his way, a mom wearing a green tracksuit with a baby stroller. She is jogging rather slowly, trying to get her exercise in despite giving birth not too long ago. She didn’t expect a random man to jump over her and her stroller. This causes her to stop dead in her tracks to register what happened.

  “Sorry!” The man yells out, and he pushes forward.

  He steps to the side to dodge a man who is about to take a sip from his coffee, watching a black blur almost hit him, startles him. This causes him to reel his cup back to his chest immediately, but doing so makes burning hot coffee spill onto his nice white shirt. He begins to grumble.

  Maybe taking the bridge was a bad idea, and surely it was. He bumps into a tall wired mess, an officer, a robotic police officer. Runners are used to keep the city safe from low level thugs so the real heroes can spend their time taking care of real issues. The Runner turns around immediately to grab him by the collar of his shirt.

  A red light shoots out of the runner’s visor to scan him and a dark metallic voice says, “Identity not found, this is a warning for disturbing the peace.”

  “Heard you loud and clear, pig,” Ryan angrily says while gripping onto the runner’s wrist.

  The runner was about to let go but a file came up, the words “Black flame” appeared within the visor of the robotic cop. This has gained his interest in his captive “Rather interesting, Does Black flame ring a bell for you?”

  The mention of that title boils his blood, he growls, “I’m not sure what you are talking about, pig but I will very much appreciate you letting go of my wrist.”

  The runner pulls Ryan closer, “Keep on resisting and I will have you on the ground, boy.”Now he is stuck if he fights. He will have a whole squad of robots chasing after him, if he doesn’t then this piece of shit robot will have the last laugh

  A crowd started to form due to the commotion that the runner had started.

  So many eyes

  Stop staring at me

  His anxiety begins to eat at him.

  Within a blink, a black gauntlet was already piercing through the runner’s steel head. The damage caused was enough for its body to shut down entirely, allowing Ryan to break free from his captor's grasp and run. The crowd breaks away, the same old problems, nothing has changed. Ryan runs as fast as he can to the edge of the bridge, and he throws himself off of it. A chain shoots ou,t and he begins to swing again. He swings as fast as he can so he can escape those eyes.

  The runner’s dead body lies in the middle of the pedestrian bridg,e and two colorful heroes stand over it, missing Ryan by a hair.

  The person wearing a pink and blue hoodie crouches down, “Yup, this one got mangled by something precise. Can’t tell if it was a gunshot or something else.”

  “It was someone with superpowers, this was too clean for a gunshot. Wanna go looking for them?” The lady with a black beanie that resembles cat ears says while crossing her arms.

  They got up from looking at the bot and said, “Nah, it was clear that this was from self-defense rather than an attack. The runner was probably a defect anyway.”

  ~~~

  Ryan stops by a casino, a medieval castle with a huge dragon on top of it. Once inside, knights in fancy suits were walking around serving guests who were either hanging out at poker tables or playing slot machines. The young man walks around the slot machines, each one trying to sell you the idea of gambling with them. Pirates, Greeks, Egyptians, and even some that were based on dragons, but despite that, Ryan ignores them. He finds a nice corner to hide, right next to a broken slot machine. He sits in front of the machine and begins to think of a plan so that the runners don’t end up chasing him. The best-sounding plan right now is to dive down to the midnight zone and rise to the park, but even then, the area is full of creeps and crazies. If the runners don’t find him, those fucker will. He spins on his chair while thinking some more then the chair stops.

  He busts through the doors of the medieval casino and the free run begins again. The bastard jumps up in the air and the chain shoots once more but instead of swinging, he gets yanked by the chain to go as high as possible. Using the giant castle to his advantage, he zips up to the top. Ryan looks at his destination, the tallest spire on the castle. If he can’t go low then the second best thing to do is to go higher than the flying drones and patrolling runners, he reaches the lower edge of the tip of the spire and clings onto to his dear life. He always forgets that the air up here is thin, Ryan looks down to see that the city below is tiny but compared to the buildings around him. He still can’t see the top of most of the hyperscrapers but he is high enough to avoid detection from any law enforcement. A chain grabs onto a nearby building and he zips along the air, quite cold. Very cold, no living being is supposed to be up in the air but despite that Ryan manages to power through it like it is nothing.

  After one zip to a hyperscraper, he clings onto the glass pane. His fingers begin to heat up, melting the pane itself so he can grip it better. He takes a small break and conveniently his phone’s ringtone goes off once more.

  He uses his left hand to grab the phone out of his pocket and answers the call.

  “Where are you? I have been waiting here for a good while now. Don’t tell me that you decided to ditch me, you fucker,” Kat says on the other line

  Ryan panicked, “No, I just ran into some trouble. I’ll be there soon, sweetheart.”

  Kat asked, “Trouble? The fuck did you do?”

  “Bumped into a pig, the fucker kept peskering me so I had to destroyed it. Now I’m thousands of miles up in the air trying to avoid any more fucking pigs,” Ryan's shivers made it hard to speak but he got his messages through

  Kat laughed, “Ohhhhhh, you dumbfuck. Are the giant 7-foot-tall robots hard to dodge? You really gotta work on your free running.”

  Ryan looks annoyed, “Okay, I get it. I’ll be there in a couple of minutes. I'd better get that gift.”

  Kat sounds smug, “Sureeee cause making your precious girlfriend wait like a jackass is deserving of a gift. I’ll think about it.”

  Ryan begins to zip, “Not my fault, and knowing you, you’re going to give it to me anyway.”

  She simply laughs, “Fuck you.”

  “I love you too, anyway, I’ll see you in a bit,” as he hangs up the phone, mid zip, he finally gets close enough where he can start descending to the park. His hand begins to cool down, so he can slide down the wall that he was hooked onto. The descent was going rather smoothly until Ryan looked up, and a random pigeon with no face hit him hard. His hand slips off the melted black glass.

  He begins to fall from a great height, the pigeon is flapping its wings frantically. Ryan couldn’t figure out where to shoot his chain. Each chain gets shot at the hyperscaper, but it misses, again, again, and again. The pigeon finally gets off of Ryan’s face, leaving behind some white crystallized feathers stuck on his cheeks and forehead. A chain rips through his wrist, rapidly heading towards something to hook onto. It latches to a nearby bridge, but before Ryan can swing,

  He crashes through a bridge.

  Lucky for him, the bridge was under construction, so it was mostly soft metals and durable light, but despite that, some of the rebar pierced through his right arm, left thigh, and lower abdomen. After the crash, he falls unconscious and his body flips face down. His poor body continues to fall, and he finds himself landing on top of a bush.

  He has made it to the park, and areas like these are much wider than the bridges. Shaped like ovals or half circles, depending on what the area is used for. The park is rather large and filled with plant-machine hybrids since the city barely gets any sunlight. The bush that Ryan landed on was purely organic.

  A large gasp for air can be heard inside the bush, and Ryan rushes to get out of it as soon as possible. He coughs and winces, then he groans, refusing to open up his eyes.

  “Ow,” he quietly says while crawling towards a nearby bench. With every movement comes sharp pain; the rebar continues to rip on his flesh and scrape against some bones. His left hand grabs onto the edge of the seat, and he pulls himself painfully up to the bench. Once he reaches halfway up to the bench, he groggily turns his body away from the bench and takes a seat. His blood pools and drenches the poor park bench. The struggle of trying to sit down is over. Ryan digs into his left pocket to pull out a purple cardboard box. He flips the lid to reveal a couple of cigarettes. “Sticks of death,” his roommate calls them. he pinches at the end of the cigarette and pulls it out. The cigarette makes its way into his mouth, but instead of bringing out a lighter like a normal person would. Ryan snaps his fingers to cause a black flame to ignite on the tip of his index, then he brings his index to the other side. The tip burns up, and with a deep inhale, smoke runs into Ryan’s lungs. The smoke soothes his pain, and he hangs his head on the edge, exhaling the purple smoke out of his body.

  Foot traffic is little to nonexistent right now, no children playing on the sets, and the fountain is off. There are a couple of joggers, but mostly middle-aged adults who want to stay fit. A couple of sprinklers turn on next to the plants that Ryan was sitting next to. Not only did they keep the plant hydrated, but they also released a nic,e dewy smell, the fresh smell of blood, grass blades, and smoke.

  While looking up at the false stars, something came into Ryan’s view. A woman stands behind the bench. Beautiful skin, dark black lips, dyed hair, and finally a blue eye that has a purple X on it, he recognizes that face.

  “Heya, Beautiful,” The bastard smirks. This only makes her more annoyed.

  ~~~

  “Bleeding out on a bench is so you, what a good excuse to make me wait like an idiot,” Kat glares at her boyfriend while he continues to smirk like a dork.

  He speaks once more with a cocky attitude, “What can I say? Cool guys like me live life on the edge.”

  “Cool? You? That’s a funny joke.” Kat had a mischievous look in her eyes

  He retaliates against her claim, “I am so cool, the coolest actual—“

  But before he can finish his sentence, His girlfriend yanks the black cigarette out of his mouth, “So cool that he would give me his cigarette without complaining.”

  Ryan watches her put his cigarette in her mouth, and he chuckles, “You know if you wanted one, you could’ve asked.”

  Kat takes the cigarette out of her mouth and holds it with her index and middle fingers. “And where’s the fun in that?”

  He is already digging into his pocket for another stick. “I guess you are right, teasing me is your favorite activity after all.”

  “Second favorite, loving you is my first,” she kindly says while letting out a puff of purple smoke.

  “Right, anyway, come here, I gotta light this.” He had the cigarette in his mouth already, waiting for her.

  She moves in front of him but before she does anything, Kat complains, “Aren’t you a walking fireball of doom? Light it yourself.”

  Ryan groans, “Fun fact, fire takes energy to create, and I have none. No energy means no combustion, no combustion means no fire so stop bitching.”

  She rolls her eyes, “My bad, I forgot that my boyfriend isn’t normal and has superpowers.” Ryan just glares at her, his tired eyes say it all.

  “Alright alright, I’ll light up your stupid cigarette,” she bends forward, letting her cigarette touch the tip of his cigarette. The kiss between the two lights it up and Ryan inhales. After that, Kat sits next to her tired boyfriend and leans her head on his bloody shoulder.

  “What are you going to do with the metal stuck inside your body?” She questions

  Ryan says, “I’ll rip them out later, I’m already bleeding enough.”

  She lifts her head, astonished, “Doesn't it hurt? Like hell?”

  “Nah, I’m chilling,” he simply says with a stupid smile on his face. Kat does not like this stupid smile, so she does what every good girlfriend would do in this situation: she rips the rebar, which is stuck in Ryan’s thigh, out in a rapid motion.

  While blood spurts out of Ryan’s poor thigh, he says, “Yup, this is nothing.” He holds back the tears that begin to form in the corner of his eyes.

  Kat looked unpleased, “Uh huh, so you wouldn’t mind if I do this then.” Her hand grabbed the rebar located in his lower abdomen and ripped that one out also. The immediate rush of pain causes Ryan to jump a little, but he continues to try his hardest to show no reaction.

  Before she goes for the last rebar, Ryan stops her, “No, that’s enough. You’re staining the bench and scaring the joggers.”

  “Or you are just a pussy ass bitch trying to pretend that it doesn’t hurt, admit it and I’ll stop,” Kat says jokingly. His girlfriend challenging him is getting on his nerves, but that is what he gets for dating someone so vicious, so to stop all this, he grabs the last rebar, his black claw of a hand wrapping itself tightly, then he counts in his head.

  One, he focuses on his breathing,

  Two, his body begins to tighten up,

  Three, his mind goes numb,

  He rips the bar out of his arm, taking chunks of flesh out, but the pain was too grave. He yelps like a mutt and this causes Kat to burst into laughter. Despite the amount of blood he lost in that short period, he gets all red and flushed. Now that the extra debris is out of his body, his wounds begin to close up. Blackish red smoke burns within the wound, flesh reanimates into its original shape. The holes are gone, but the embarrassment is not

  The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  Ryan immediately tries to switch the topic, hoping that he can make Kat stop laughing, “Ahem, anyway, you called me over because you need me for something? What is it?”

  Kat calms down while she wipes a tear off of her eye, “Oh right, that, I need a bodyguard for this next run that I gotta do, and I thought my amazing and beautiful boyfriend would be up for it.”

  “A run? I thought you were going to give up the gang life now that you got your shit together,” Ryan says

  Kat responds, “This is the last one, I promise. Please just help me out with this one.” Ryan doesn’t say anything

  Kat begs once more, “Please, I need the money. Look, right after this. I’ll walk up to Val and tell her that I am going to depart from the gang, and you can come with me if you need proof.”

  Ryan simply sighs while placing his hand on his eyes, “Fine, but this deal better be quick. I already ran into too much trouble today.”

  Her eyes lit up from the sheer happiness, “You are awesome, have I told you that you are such an amazing boyfriend?”

  “Nearly not enough,” He chuckles

  “I definitely tell you all the time, spoiling you even,” she says while crossing her arms.

  Ryan nods sarcastically, “Yeah, cause I remember the times that you praised me, uh-huh, it is coming back to me now. Oh wait no, those are moments where you act like a fucking brat.”

  Kat lightly punches him, “I am not a brat, you are just a dork who tries too hard. Someone's gotta put you in your place.”

  “Hmph,” Ryan stares at her while she continues to go on about how she is the only one who can deal with his bullshit, he admires her beauty. Watching her rambling with a smile on her face is a dream come true.

  He interrupts her rambling, “So where is this 'run' at?”

  “In the midnight zone, it shouldn't be too dangerous, tho. Val told me that the guy getting the drugs is some big movie star, so extra security should be there,” Kat says while leaning back on the bench.

  Ryan crosses his arms while looking down at the dark pavement, “Ah, I see, no wonder you want a bodyguard.”

  “Mhm,” she answers.

  The two sit in silence, not knowing what to say next, but they don’t have to. Kat looks at the horizon, staring at the hyperscapers. Ryan continues to stare at the ground, simply appreciating his girlfriend’s company until it is time to go.

  ~~~

  The constant night sky always makes it hard to keep track of time, hours go by quickly. Quicker than a blink. Ryan is lounging around, his arm stretched out on the back of the bench. Kat is checking out her sharp black nails. The two forgot what they were doing, just enjoying some quality time.

  Music begins to blare inside Kat’s back pocket, the song being played by her favorite emo band. It was her phone; unlike Ryan, she kept her phone in pristine condition. Band logos, black stars, she even has a monster sticker on the back of it. She turns the phone on to reveal that the buttons light up a dark, cool blue.

  “Who’s calling ya?” Ryan asks once he takes notice of the phone in his girlfriend’s hand.

  Kat answers while trying to turn the sound off, “It’s not a call, it’s an alarm. We gotta go now.” She stands up while putting her phone back in her pocket.

  Ryan questions, “Who uses songs for alarms?”

  “A lot of people do, asshole. It is called having a personality, something that you wouldn’t understand,” she claps back with a smirk on her face

  Ryan shrugs, “Tch, a simple ring is good enough for me. No need for that extra shit.”

  Kat teases him, “Whatever, you boring dork.”

  Ryan simply shakes his head in disbelief but can’t help it but smile at her. After their little banter, the bastard scoops her up from her feet and holds her with his left arm. Then he jumps up, Kat holds tightly to her boyfriend, and the chains take them to a swing. Down to the midnight zone they go, the darkest and most dangerous part of the city.

  ~~~

  No color, no advertisement, the gothic buildings looked ancient compared to the giant hyperscapers from above. The night sky was still present, yet it had one little change to it. The massive “moon” that glows blue.

  “You ever wonder why we can see the moon here and not up there?” Ryan asks while gazing at the giant projection.

  Kat answers, “No, not really, only come here to make deals. Not to look up at the fake moon, shit burns my eyes anyways.”

  Ryan continues in his gaze, “Fair enough, so where are we heading?”

  “Cedar Avenue, do you ever pay attention?” Kat growls

  Ryan laughs, “Hard to pay attention when I've got a pretty lady in front of me.”

  Kat's eyebrows frown, and she says, “Flattery isn’t getting you anything.”

  “Whatever you say, beautiful,” They continue to walk down the road. The streets were quiet, it seemed like the two got lucky.

  After a couple of steps, they arrived at the intersection where Cedar Avenue connects. Kat points at the edge of a short brick building nearby, “Go there and watch from above.”

  Ryan looks at the building, “Alright, not that bad of a climb. Can’t use power here right?

  Kat grows more annoyed, “No, you fucking idiot, do you want to attract hundreds of cops?”

  A bead sweat forms on Ryan’s temple, “Okay, I got your message. I’ll get going now.”

  “Tch,” escapes from Kat’s mouth and she turns away while crossing her arms. A clear sign, he is gonna stop teasing her for a while.

  He is climbing the brick wall, it feels loose, unfinished. Ryan couldn’t stop thinking about how awful these living conditions gotta be. He grabs onto the edge and Ryan turns his head to see that the “deal” hasn't started yet, which is good. Giving him time to prepare himself for what's to come. The immortal perched on the edge, one hand grabbing onto the building and the other hovering over a holster.

  A nice expensive car pulls up right next to her.

  ~~~

  She has her hand on her hip, the car pulls up right in front of her. Windows are tinted, rims painted gold, yup this is the douche that her boss told her about. The car window rolls down, and all Kat can see are green forest eyes.

  “You got the goods?” The man whispers worriedly.

  Kat says, “What’s the password?”

  “Password? They didn't tell me a password?” The man was dumbfounded

  Kat crosses her arms, acting annoyed, “Oh well, if there’s no password, then I can’t give you what you want. What a shame, it was a good rock too.”

  “Look, what if I throw in double the original price? Two thousand instead of one,” he pleads, sweat forming on his face.

  Kat steps closer to the car, cocking her hip, “Show me the money and you got yourself a deal.” Two rolls of hundred-dollar bills poke through the car window.

  “No need to check, that is authentic paper right there,” he tries to gloat, hoping that would woo her in some way.

  It didn’t.

  She snatches the rolled up money, “You better hope so, you wouldn’t want big jefa putting your head on a stake.” The buyer stays quiet while Kat inspects the money.

  Once she made sure that the money was real, Kat pulled out a pitch black little bag out of her jacket’s pocket, “It’s all good, here ya go.” She throws the bag inside the car.

  The bag lands on the dude’s lap and he grabs it with his sweaty hand, “What the fuck is this? There is nothing in it.”

  Kat was already leaving but once she heard this, her head turns to face the car, “Open the fucking bag, dipshit. It's not clear for a reason.” So he does just that, and there it was, the thing he was looking for.

  A small white luminous crystal with little tendrils poke out from its side. The man yells with excitement and immediately rolls up the windows of his car. He speeds off, causing the car to swerve.

  Kat shakes her head, “Bleh, addicts will forever be disgusting.” She heads over to the wall and leans on it.

  A black blur drops down, “Is that guy going to be okay?”

  “Probably not if he snorts the whole crystal in one go, he might end up dead on some random movie set,” Kat nonchalantly says

  The idea makes Ryan feel uneasy, “Yeah, this is definitely your last run.”

  Kat continues to show no care, “The dude was a scumbag, it would be better that he is dead.” Ryan just looks away, not knowing what to say next. Kat is an enigma, a girl full of emotions, yet she still lacks empathy to care about anything. Hell, he still considers himself lucky for even winning over her cold, dead heart.

  His thinking is interrupted by Kat wrapping her arms around his, “Alright, work here is done. Let’s get out of here before they start a shootout.”

  “Right,” He nods, and the two begin their journey back to the paradise zone. Sadly, it isn’t as simple as Ryan zipping up to it, so the two have to find a “hole” within the ceiling of the zone. During their walk, they came across many alleyways. Each one is full of trash and graffiti, but one sticks out to Ryan.

  The alleyway was covered with this gruesome white crystal, the tendrils swaying around lively. This causes Ryan to stop, dragging Kat with him.

  “Hey, what’s the big deal? Why are we stopping?” Kat blurts out, annoyed.

  Ryan simply asks, “Wanna do something stupid?”

  Then Kat notices the crystal cave that is next to them, “Of course you want to explore the nasty cave of tentacles.”

  “Kat, those caves usually mean that people are in danger. We gotta step in and help,” Ryan pleads with her

  Kat is hesitant, “Yeah, but that’s the job of a superhero, leave it up for the elite ten. We are nothing more but a bunch of low lives. Best to ignore it.”

  Ryan couldn’t just ignore this; he had to do something, “You can stay here if you want but I am not passing up the opportunity to save someone.” And after saying that, he sprints into the cave. This pisses off Kat, enough for her to chase him.

  “Hey! At least wait for me! You fuck!” She yells while going after her boyfriend.

  ~~~

  The cave felt humid, different from the cold, dry air outside. It makes Kat’s skin crawl when she traverses deeper in the cavern

  “The whole alley way is covered with this nasty shit, how do people stomach it as a party drug?” She whispers to herself. Everywhere she turns is just white, finding her boyfriend in here is going to be hell. Dumbass should’ve waited for her, she is definitely going to knock him out once she sees him again. She squints her eyes, and at the very end of the cave, she sees a black blob. Finally, there he is, and she runs in that direction.

  “Hey, Ryan! Get your ass bac—“ it wasn’t him, it was a girl, a little girl with her mom. Both are tied up with zip ties.

  Kat says, “Oh wow, he wasn’t wrong, shit.” She frantically searches inside her left pocket to see if she has anything sharp to help free the two, but a pungent smell hits her nose like a truck, causing her to gag. Kat manages to yank out a small pocket knife and turns herself around violently to see what was the source of that smell.

  A tall man towers over her, his body is draped in a disgusting yellow vintage curtain, his limbs are covered by white crystals similar to the cave, and his face is hidden with a paper mask. All she can see is a poorly drawn smile on the mask.

  The man's voice was raspy, alien, “A villain has walked into my lair. How interesting.”

  Kat points the knife at him, “Get away from me, you disgusting bitch.”

  His body snaps around, limbs moving in a horrid manner closer to her, “You are the one in my home, why should I be the one getting away when it should be you, villain?”

  Annoyed, she yells once more, “I said move! Is there so much shit in your ear that you can’t listen to me?!”

  “Oh, I see, you are trying to take away the people that I saved from their horrible lives. You truly are a villain, taking innocent lives for your pleasure.” his crazy words are followed by his waist bending forward.

  The closer he got, the easier it is for her to stab him so she did what she is best at, insulting, “If you are so keen on protecting them then come and stop me, you fucking nasty bucket of piss.”

  “Merely all bark but no BITE!” He yells while swinging his massive arm forward, Kat moves her body slightly to the left to dodge the attack, then she stabs the monster’s arm. The floor pools with yellow blood. He screeches in pain, and Kat runs over to cut the zip tie off the mother’s wrist. Then she rips the tape off of her mouth, but before she can say anything, he stands over them.

  He grabs Kat by her hair and throws her away from the two, her body smashes into the crystal wall. She grits her teeth in pain and drops to the ground.

  He turns his head and his neck snaps just so he can get a good look at the villain who tried to ruin everything, “Quite bold for someone powerless. Do you have a death wish, girl?”

  Kat pants and breathes heavily, “Fuck you.” The man was offended by her comment; the idea of her not taking him seriously is infuriating, but no matter. Once he crushes her head, she won’t be a problem anymore. The masked man tried to walk forward, but he couldn’t move.

  “Fighting and kidnapping a bunch of powerless women isn't very heroic, do n’tcha think? Maybe the villain here is you,” The voice echoes across the cave. He looks down at his legs to see. Black chains digging into his skin, and when he looked in front of him. He saw the man who trapped him.

  Ryan crouches down next to his girlfriend, “Hey Kat, I think I found the problem.”

  Kat growls at him, “You fucking! Where were you!?”

  He laughs, “Sightseeing, relaxing. You?”

  “Once this is over, I am killing you twice with my bare hands,” she growls once more

  Ryan gets up from crouching and cracks his knuckles, “Love you too, beautiful anyway, once you can get up, take the two and go. I’ll fend him off.”

  The masked man butts into the conversation, “Two villains who came to destroy my plans, how infuriating. I will end you both swiftly.”

  “Still going on with the hero talk? Fine, I’ll be your villain. Burn,” the chains that Ryan set up to capture the masked monster begin to glow red. Fire erupts from the base of the chains, and the monster screeches in pain. It begins to claw out pieces of its own flesh so it can be free from this imprisonment of flames.

  Ryan goes down to help Kat up, “The fire should keep him occupied, let's grab them and go.” But before they can make any progress with their plan, the monster manages to break free from Ryan’s chains and smacks the cocky bastard away from his girlfriend. Kat falls back down to the ground, Ryan regains his footing, and throws a left punch.

  A thick claw pierced through his chest, and blood spilled everywhere. Ryan coughs, and blood covers his chin and mouth. His eyes come in contact with the monster’s face or well, or lack of. The fire burned away the mask, so all that is left is a gaping hole where the face should be.

  This is going to be a lot harder than he thought.

  ~~~

  The warm aroma of blood wakes Kat up, her vision is blurry. She can barely make out anything in front of her; all she can hear is the crackle of fire and the screams of multiple things at once. Her legs felt so weak, her body was in immense pain. Then a loud crash can be heard, the harmonic rhythm of crystals breaking is all that she can hear. Her poor ears scrunched downward so she can block out as much noise as she can but a warm metallic hand gently holds her arm.

  A muffled voice speaks to her, “Kat, wake up, Kat!”

  “Huh, what? What’s going on?” Her voice is loud, not able to control the volume.

  The more he speaks, the more she recognizes his voice. “Look, Kat, we don't have much time before he gets up. Grab the two and go. Now!”

  She nods and stumbles her way to the black blobs. Kat helps the mother up, then she grabs the kid. There is so much going on, the crashes, the blood, it all clogged up her senses, but she moves forward. Kat tries her best to lead the mom and her child outside of the cave despite her vision being blurred right now.

  “Let go of them!” The stranger shrieks while charging at Kat, but Ryan tackles him.

  “Hey freak, I’m your opponent, not them!” He yells while keeping him on the ground. Kat continues on moving, but every step she takes, her body gets weaker. Her wounds are becoming worse by the minute. Being normal sucks is the only thought that runs through her head but she already made her choice to help so she sticks with it. Her walk picks up in speed, and her vision becomes clearer. A second wind hits her hard, and she pushes through. The cave may be a maze, but thanks to Kat’s keen smell and hearing, she can hear the open draft at the end. The air is becoming drier, she can smell it. The mother collapses due to her injuries, but Kat catches her; now the weight she is carrying has doubled, but she continues forward.

  They were so close, but,

  Ryan is thrown towards the wall that is near the entrance of the cavern, his heart completely ripped out from the hole in his chest. He is rendered unconscious, not even breathing. Kat's heart sank when she heard wet footsteps behind her.

  His voice echos, “Cocky villains always end up dead, poor soul never had a chance.” Kat uses the remainder of her strength to throw both the kid and her mom out of the cave. Time moved slowly for her, she was midway through throwing her pocket knife at the man while he was charging at her, the immediate danger causing the hair on the back of her neck to stand. Her boyfriend is down, there is a monster ready to tear her into shreds. What a lame way to die, she didn’t even get the chance to tell off Val for being such a shit boss.

  She felt cold, colder than usual. Is she dead? She has to be, yet she feels great. Better than ever, absolutely euphoric. The monster took a swing at her stomach, but blueish black ice stopped his arm from hitting her. The ice begins to form into a large head of a wolf, and it bites into its crystal arm. While distracted, he gets hit across the face with a cold fist, forcing his entire body to drop onto the ground.

  Her hand was shaking, she felt alive. Her excitement could not be contained. Pillars of black ice rise from the ground, piercing the monster and destroying the walls of crystal around them. Kat laughs manically while more ice attacks the man. He is getting overwhelmed, he must escape this onslaught. His claws break the ice that pierced through his limbs, and make a sprint to the outside

  “Where are you going, bitch?! We are barely getting started!” She yells while sending an army of wolf heads at the man. They growl and bark, ready to sic him, but each time one bites at him. He manages to escape by a hair. Once outside, he ignores the two that he captures and scurries along the wall as quickly as possible. Kat runs out to see that he was gon,e but the two that she saved were still there. Mission accomplished, the ice that she summoned within the cave begins to melt, taking the crystals with it. Once a white crystallized cave is back to being a boring old alley. Ryan sits near the brick wall and Kat rushes in to see if he is okay.

  She crouches down and catches his chest, closing up by recreating his heart and skin. Black smoke is released from the regeneration, and Ryan gasps for air.

  “Holy fuck, I am never going to get used to that,” he jokes then realizes where he is at and who was in front of him.

  He asks, “Did we beat him?” Kat doesn’t answer him at first. She is still deciding if she wants to pierce his heart with an icicle or give him a kiss for being alive, but before she can make her choice, a cage of white ice is formed around them. Both Ryan and Kat look around to see who made the cage. Her glowing blue eyes meet with a woman in a white and blue suit, she recognizes that glare of disappointment.

  “I went through the trouble to teach you how to act properly and stay out of trouble and yet you still managed to fuck things up,” her voice deeper than Kat’s.

  Kat immediately begins to argue back, “I did your job for you, and this is how you treat me, how classic of you, Mom.”

  The woman who is standing over them is none other than the elite hero number three, Kat’s mother, Snow Fox

  ~~~

  The two women glare at each other, and Ryan can feel the deathly cold air between them.

  Kat’s mom angrily asks, “Our runners detected a large amount of ice energy here. Care to explain what happened?”

  “We saved a mom and kid from some fucked up whack job, you’re welcome by the way,” Kat confidently remarks towards her mom.

  She turns her attention away from her daughter and asks Ryan, “Our Runners also detected a large amount of heat coming from this area. Mercer, you know what the laws are. Powers can only be used by a licensed professional, last time I remembered that you are no such thing.”

  Ryan looks away, ashamed, “You see here, Ms. Castillo… Yeah, I have no excuses, I was using them, but look, we saved those two with no casualties. You gotta at least consider that.”

  “As much as I thank you for keeping them safe, I can not ignore the law. Ryan Reyes Mercer, you are under arrest. If you resist, physical force will be used,” she says coldly.

  Ryan smirks, “Don’t worry, my heart just grew back. I ain’t fighting back.”

  Him giving up so easily shocks Kat and she steps in, “What the fuck, you fought back other heroes. Why stop here?”

  “Kat, I am not fighting your mom. That is a one-way ticket to getting permanent frostbite,” His smirk faded away; he wasn’t joking.

  Kat turns to her mom, “You are not arresting my boyfriend. I thought you cared about saving people.”

  Her face remains unchanged. “I do, but I care for the law also. I can’t make exceptions for him.”

  Kat grows frustrated, clenching her fist, “Then you won’t make an exception for me, also, then huh?”

  “What do you mean?” Ms. Castillo raises an eyebrow. As she watches her daughter snap her fingers, black ice begins to form out of thin air. It takes the shape of a small ball. Kat grabs it and throws it at her mom, but it is caught.

  “You awakened yours and used it…” She stares at the ball of ice, not knowing what to say.

  “Yeah, so if you’re going to arrest him, then you’re gonna have to arrest me also,” Kat argues. Ms. Castillo continues to examine the ball. She is proud that her daughter has finally awakened her powers, and she used them to save people, but she can not have her breaking the law like this.

  She sighs, “I will make an exception tonight, but under one condition, you two will work under my wing as H.I.T members.”

  Both Ryan and Kat turn to each other, then back at the fox hero, and they synchronize, saying, “No.”

  Dumbfounded, Ms. Castillo was quick to ask questions, “No? This would be the perfect opportunity to work up to be amazing heroes. Mercer, you are the child of the legendary hero, AnarchyAngel. You should keep up with her legacy.”

  Ryan chuckles nonchalantly, “I got a sister who is doing that. She got the whole legacy shit down so no thanks.”

  “What about you, Kat? I know we don’t see things eye to eye, but it would give us more time to spend together. We can make up what we lost back then,” it almost sounds like she is begging.

  Kat answers rather coldly, “I enjoy life more when you aren’t around. It’s what happens when you miss most of it.”

  With another sigh, Ms. Castillo keeps her composure, “Fine then, at least keep fighting for the greater good. Kat, I’ll send you the contact information for one of the trainees. They will help you, but other than that, I can not help you directly if you do not enroll in the program.”

  Kat waves it off, “Yeah, yeah, don’t need your help anyway. We got this.”

  “And Kat, dear, please be safe, alright. It’s a dangerous city, don’t let it swallow you,” she says

  “Yeah, sure. I’ll do that, definitely,” she spoke with no care, and luckily, to avoid any more awkward family moments, Ms. Castillo gets an alert for a crime in her earpiece. An arson that is being caused by a trio of hooligans. A white mist shrouds the wolf hero, and she disappears. The cage made out of ice melts away, and both of them get up from the ground. Ryan begins to stretch his arms, and Kat dusts her clothes off.

  “So now what? You gonna give that person a call?” Ryan ask

  Kat thinks, then she answers, “Got no other choice, we have no way to find crime, let alone find villains.”

  “I could just roam around, not like I’m sleeping anytime soon. Used to be a big ol problem magnet, fucker used to line up just to fight me,” Ryan’s cocky smile appeared while he cracked his knuckles

  “Yeah, I was there when that happened, and I specifically told you to avoid it. These aren’t two-bit petty thugs anymore. hell, you just had your heart ripped off. What makes you think that you can just fight villains alone?” she said with an annoyed expression on her face

  Ryan rolls his eyes, “He had the unfair advantage of having people around; holding back is the reason why we are all alive now.”

  Kat gets an idea, “Alright then, let’s get you a rematch. Kill two birds with one stone, I’ll try to see if my mom’s little sidekick got any info on that guy.”

  Ryan smiles once more, “That’s what I like to hear. Once you get a location, call me. I gotta go train and make sure that I’m ready.”

  “Training again? When do you not train?” Kat places her hand on her hip.

  “The only way to get stronger is to train, can’t have the same results happen twice,” even after a loss, Ryan remains cocky. The fighter never knows when to quit. A frustrating yet charming trait of his.

  Kat plays with him, “Alright, Fighter, I expect a win then. If you lose, then I’m just gonna have to find a new bodyguard.”

  Ryan gloats, “There is no 'if,' I always win in the final round.”

  “So confident, it’s really cute,” Kat continues to play with him

  The cute comment makes me blush, and he looks away bashfully, “Confidence comes with skill, if you ain’t good at your craft, you can’t have confidence in it. To be the best is to act like the best, you know.”

  He rambles on, hoping Kat can’t catch him blushing, but of course, the cunning wolf notices immediately, “Awwww, is my cute fighter blushing, how adorable. Better win for me, sweetheart, you don’t wanna disappoint me.”

  His rambling stops after hearing her flirt with him, and the blushing mess of the man scrambles around in his pocket. Within his pocket, he found a pair of black sunglasses. He puts them on and crosses his arms.

  “Of course I will win, I got a pretty lady cheering me on,” He tries his hardest not to let his voice crack. The two continue to talk about plans and how they will tackle the problem ahead.

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