(AN:hello this is bloodrake. I would like to first thank you for choosing to read this story. I have worked long and hard on the plot and finally have decided to publish it. I will forwarn you now that the main character is one of my own. So if you don't like it then I understand if you go somewhere else. The first couple of chapters will be focused on the main character. But when it starts to pick up you will see many of your favorite DC characters pop up soon. With that said enjoy the story.)
New York City, New York 9:00 P.M EST
It was a peaceful night in New York. The people walked around the city to going on with their lives like any other day. However, within the darkness of an alley, a painful cry went unheard by the people who walked past it. A boy, no more than thirteen years old, was on the ground a fetal position, the result of a punch to the stomach, with three large teens around sixteen years of age, dressed in the typical jock uniform: jeans, a pair of converse brand shoes and a white t-shirt worn underneath jackets that showed the colours and insignia of their school's team. The trio surrounded their prey like a pack of wolves, in a semi-circle formation. The leader of the group, due to his being in the center of the group and being the largest of the three, crouched to look at the younger boy's face to show a crooked grin. He grabbed the boy's head tugging him up by the hair to lift him to his feet. The larger boy cocked a fist back before saying.
"Its time you learn a lesson kid" a scowl crossed the large boy's face, "don't mess with Bobby, especially not when I'm about score with a hot girl like your sister."
"Yeah...right" the boy wheezed, his own scowl crossing his face as he took note of Bobby's perverted grin upon the mentioning of his sister, "I'm not gonna let you harrass my sister... I won't let you hurt Megan, so..." the boy swung back his leg and let it fly, the leg crashing into Bobby's knee. "Fuck off" Bobby bent down, clutching his knee in pain, releasing the young boy as an added bonus. Bobby quickly recovered before raising up to his full height.
"You won't huh? You know Max...this mean we'll have to hurt YOU instead." The bully said with a chuckle followed by his two friends. He shot his arm forward aiming for the younger boy's face. The helpless boy could only squeeze his eyes shut and brace himself for the pain soon to come...
"You know, I hate people who pick on little children. How would like it if you were the one to be beaten to a pulp?" Came a voice out nowhere. The next thing to be heard was grunts of pain followed by two thumps that hit the concrete. Max opened his eyes to see two of the goons out cold, each with a black eye. He looked to see the idiotic Bobby held back, his arm held painfully by the wrist by a newcomer as it bent at an angle it wasn't supposed to be bent at. The stranger appeared to be six feet tall,white, brown hair, and grey eyes. The stranger tightened his grip on the bully, who tried to free himself from the death grip. The strange then spoke up his voice though not scary itself, sent shivers of fear down the backs of both Bobby and the young boy.
"Alright, here's the deal. Let the kid go before I decide to dislocate your arm." backing up his threat as an audible crack was heard when the stranger continued to pull on Bobby's arm. The bully did as demanded and he was released, but took a swing with his free hand. The unknown male merely sidestepped the punch before grabbing the outstretched arm and using the momentum from the punch, spun around, taking the jock with him and let him fly. The bully soared through the air, into the wall and landed in a dumpster.
"Who the hel-agh!" The bully tried to respond to the events unfolding only to have his dumpster tipped and he rolled out with the rest of the trash in it. He released a grunt of pain as a foot was slammed onto his chest by the stranger. The newcomer then grabbed the bully by the scruff of the jacket and hefted the bully up and pinned him to the wall.
"I'll say this once and only once" the stranger growled, hsi grey eyes staring into Bobby's frightened brown ones, "leave the boy alone, and if I catch wind of you doing anything otherwise, then I will show no mercy. Do I make myself clear?" The bully reluctantly nodded and the stranger unpinned him. Once down, Bobby, who obviously hadn't learned his lesson, jumped towards the stranger who had his back turned by now. A right hook aimed for his head. Max was just about to cry out to warn his savior, when in one fell swoop the stranger ducked and twisted counter-clockwise under the punch and retaliated. Slamming his elbow into Bobby's diaphragm, the air was removed from his lungs causing the jock to hunch over slightly, as the hero followed up with a fist-to-face action in the form of an uppercut. Clutching his now bleeding nose, the bully took a few steps back and fell over. The winner slowly walked over to the young boy. He stopped in front of the boy, his shadow enveloping the little boy's entire body. There was a long pause and the boy just studied his savior. The guy was intimidating, the boy was taller up close and the seemingly emotionless expression added to that intimidation, but his eyes showed a sort of determination, eyes that would almost open a door to who this young man truly was. The stranger reached out to the boy in a way to offer him help, snappping the younger one out of his thoughts. The older boy offered a smile.
"You ok?" The younger one only nodded. "Then lets go take you home, your folks must be wondering where you are." The younger boy just kept stare at the other boy until walked again towards the bully again. He reached into the bully's pocket and pulled out a cell phone. He opened up the phone but caught sight of the confused look on the younger boy's face.
"Oh this?" The boy laughed, "Just seeing if I can call this punk's folks and have them pick up these three stooges up and get them home." The younger boy nodded again just as it seemed he had found the number and held the phone to his ear.
"Ah, hello hey I'd just let you know your son is unconscious here and thought you would want someone to pick him and his friends up." He paused, probably listening to the parent's response.
"How? I knocked them out cold, they were picking on some boy, and in an alley no less, he would have seriously hurt the kid had I not intervened." the stranger paused before nodding his head. "Yes I know, they'll be fine they are just unconscious, a couple bruises. I didn't rough them up TOO badly." The coversation went on until the older boy told the parent the location of his/her son. He then ended the call and tossed the phone on the still unconcious Bobby and went back to the younger boy.
"Sorry about that but I thought I'd let his mom know where he was before we left...So, where do you live?"
"Down the street, about ten minutes from here" Max said hesitantly. The older boy caught this and laughed.
"Haha, sorry if I scared ya, didn't mean to. The guy was going to pound your face into oblivion and it just erked me." He said with a smile before stepping aside to reveal the entrance/exit of the alley. "Lead the way, I'll feel better knowing you get there safe." The younger boy did as he was told and they took the short walk to his home. They walked up to the door and the older boy knocked on the door. The two boys were greeted to the sight of a girl answering the locked door. The girl was about 5'4, had the same brown eyes and raven coloured hair as the boy the stranger had saved and judging from the age difference, probably siblings. The sister, named Megan, had shocked look on her face when she saw the older boy.
"Hey sis I'm home." Max smiled, but then tilted his head in confusion at his sister's expression."What's wrong?" Megan shook her head as she heard her brother's words.
"Nothing Max...ummm, did something happen today?" She asked sweetly. The boy look nervious and was about to explain when the stranger beat him to it.
"Your brother was in little mess and I lent him a hand" he said with a nervious voice, chuckling slightly," Yeah, some bullies were about to cause some serious harm had I not stepped in. I only heard parts of was going on, like the guy's name was Bobby and about Max not wanting him near you. I guess he didn't like that." The girl was shocked at the news.
"You mean my boyfriend was bullying my brother?" She got mad at this point. God only knowswhat she will do to her now ex-boyfriend when she saw him again. She calmed down and proceeded to talk again.
"Thank you, I'll take things from here unless I need help again. Good thing you were there too. I can only imagine how humilating it was for them to be beaten so easily." She chukled lightly as the stranger looked uncomfortable and looked away embarassed, a slight blush on his face from the praise he received.
"I guess I should have Max check out just incase of anything serious... so I'll see ya around at school?" She asked. The boy nodded to Megan,
"Sure thing" he replied. And with that he turned and walked away. The girl closed the door and she led her now slightly nauseated brother into the living room. She checked him out for injuries to see nothing to bad, a small cut on his arm, a scraped knee., but he would be rather sore for a while from that punch to the stomach.
"Hey Megan?"
"Yeah?" she asked as she applied the disinfectant on his wounds to prevent them from being infected.
"Did you know that guy? You seemed you did by the way you talked to him." Max asked.
"Personally, no. I just know of him. He is kind of a mysterious icon at our school. His name his David Manner. He very popular, but sticks to himself. He has a habit of beating up any bullies who are unlucky enough to cross his path. Hehe, he even has a nickname; Mr. Brassknuckle because some of bullies he has beaten up swear his punches feel like he wears them even though he doesn't" she laughed as she finished placing the bandages over her brother's wounds. "You got lucky today Max. Next to an actual super hero, David is the next best person you want on your side." With that the girl walked out of the room, leaving Max to really soak in what she said. Next time he meet this David he would properly thank him. However, he was pulled out his thoughts when Megan poked her head back into the living room.
"By the way, mind telling me WHY and HOW you got into a mess with Bobby?" Max chuckled nervously...this was going to be a loooong night.
THE NEXT DAY
It was calm day for David Manner. The sky was clear, the wind blew peacefully up the large hill he was lying on. He was in thought, deep thought. He had some troubles sleeping recently. He laid there trying to put together what he remebered. He closed his eyes and concentrated on the dream...or rather a nightmare...that he had been having for the past few days.
-David's Dream-He was a little boy, no older than six... in a room full of fire. Searing heat ripples through the air, making him feel as if he himself was on fire just by the sensation. One of the walls was a huge window, with a huge, jagged hole in it that let the smoke filter out. He heared screaming and yells for help. David was confused as to why was he here? He turned and was confronted by a blinding white light. He, for some reason, reaches out of to the light then...
His eyes snapped open, forehead full of sweat. He sat up, chest heaving quickly as he tried to clam both his breathing and his heart rate wondering what had just happened. He looks around seeing it was mid afternoon. He got up and dusted the blades of grass off of his jeans. With that he began to walk off.
"God, I hate weekends" he groaned, bored out of his mind, "There too much free time." David said with a voice that just screamed boredom. He needed something to do. It was a perfect day and that's what bugged him. When ever something ever seemed perfect, it just meant you couldn't see what was wrong, it didn't mean it wasn't there. It's not like he had somewhere he could go. His foster father was out on some navy seal bussiness. He had no close friend/friends he hung out with outside school, so he didn't have a place to go hang out. Then there was his house, which again, had nobody home so nobody to talk to! That left him to his own thoughts and one way or another it ended up back to that strange dream.
"Man, this sucks, the one time I need Sam..." David mentally cursed his adoptive father for not being around, "and the guy goes all navy seal on me and leaves me with not even a notice. I mean the guy said he'd set up tougher work outs for a while now, but it never gets done. The training schedule of his is almost no challange anymore." He kept walking along the sidewalk, hoping to find something to do. Of course there is the saying,
"Careful what you wish for", but David didn't care anymore. He just wanted SOMETHING...ANYTHING to just pop out of nowhere and give him something to do. He turned the corner and passed an alley when he heard a scream. His peaked into the alley where the sound came from, all his worries instantly in the back of his mind. He made his way towards the sound and turned another corner in the alley. What he saw made him duck for cover behind the dumpster next to him. In front of him, he saw a goup of seven men and one girl about his age. She had short brown hair that reached just above her neck, green eyes that shone like emeralds, and a slim build. Her skin colour was a lighter shade than the regular skin tone. She wore a pair of navy blue slim jean, and a pure white top. Her feet, covered by blue Converse brand sneakers, tried to lash out at her attackers. Only for the man holding her to throw her down on the ground and kick her in the ribs...hard. The girl released a cry of pain and glanced up from her position on the ground. The look on her face was of pure terror. Tears ready to stream down her face. The leader, who had thrown her down on the ground, grabbed her forcefully and held both her hands behind her back with his left hand and her right shoulder with his right hand. The man had a face of someone you did not want to get to know. It was dirty and greasy, covered with what looked like motor oil. However, his eyes told a different story, revealing the sly, cunning and completely untrustworthyness of the man. He looked at the girl like a predator would to its prey. David's face grew more serious by the second as he watched the events unfold before him. He had to get that girl out of there, but what he couldn't get was how. There were seven men. If you took the guy restraining the girl out of the question it would be six. That be a difficult fight even for him, put into consideration the fact that he didn't know if they had guns on them...well let's not think about that outcome. But he had to try, he called the police on his phone but couldn't get a signal.
'Pfft, typical' he thought. After this he was changing phone services. He put that thought on hold though; he had to get the girl before they tried anyting. It was then he noticed that the leader had had enough with her and yanked out a seemingly damp piece of cloth. He placed the cloth over her nose and mouth on her, it probably had some kind of chemical on it, chloroform most likely. The girl's eyes grew heavy and her scared emerald orb were covered by her eyelids as she blacked out. David knew he was short on time, so he rushed out with one thing in mind "Beat the living hell out of everything" and that is what he did... well TRIED to do. He quickly went behind an unsuspecting thug and kicked him in the back of his knees. The thug fell to his knees from his loss of balance and then fell to the ground in pain as David slammed his palms against the man's ears, discombobulating him. He quickly reacted as another thug tried to hit him and blocked the jab. He countered by punching the man in the nose and then hitting him in the trachea, silencing his attempt to scream in pain. He then sent his opponent to the ground as a powerful kick to the diaphragm. The thug fell on back and tried to get up but was curved stomped and blacked out. David went towards two other goons. They charged and were met with quick kicks and jabs knocking them on thier asses. David was about to head to the startled leader when he was hit, not with a puch or kick but a stun gun. His body spasmed as he fell over in pain. The gang watched as the sixteen year old boy looked as if he were having a chronic seizure before stopping. He dropped to the ground panting from the exertion of his body's nervous system having to fix itself. The next few secounds were a blur as he was restrained the remaining two thugs.
"Looks like we have ourselves a little hero don't we boys?" The leader said regaing his composure after David was subdued. The leader put on a sick smile before raising the black handgun he retrieved from his back pocket. "You know I love these kind of situations where I hold someone's life in my hands" the gang leader looked over his gun, as if admiring its craftmanship. "I get to decide who dies...but mostly...I get to decide who lives" the gang leader smirked,
"I'm like GOD!" The gang leader then put on a thoughtful face. "So the question reamains... what to do with you?" the leader paused as he wiped away a bit of motor oil from his face with his sleeve. "We can't have you going to the cops now can we? It's such a shame really, I woulda of had use for ya, cause for a kid, you got fighting talent...but seeing what your intent was..." The leader looked the gun over as David raised his head. His vision slightly blurred. "Didn't think I needed this, but I guess you learn lessons in life. Well, for you I guess lessons in death" said the leader trying to sound intelligent. He aimed the gun at David's head. All the while David struggled in vain to free himself. The leader calmly pulled the the trigger as he said his final words to the boy.
"Have fun in the afterlife" ...BANG!
