LET THE PUNISHMENT FIT THE CRIME

5 years later…

Levi stood atop the city's highest skyscraper. Just 5 years ago, he had used this tower under construction to practice high-speed flight maneuvers. Now complete, the building took over as Mitras' tallest and stood dead center of the city.

Kenny had been saddened when, after the boy's run-in with Harbinger, he'd refused to accept another hero's costume. He was giving up the Super Hero racquet. "Blackwing died with Izzy and Farlan," he'd told his uncle.

He had disappeared for just over two years, during which he had focused on building his strength, skills and control of his power. He had a number of 'trump cards' as he called them. One of which was the limited used of magic, some telekinesis as well as telepathic communication. When he returned, his entire outlook on fighting crime had changed. The law was not good enough. It protected the criminals and left the innocent at their mercy.

Blackwing had always brought his targets in alive. He had a bright personality that enabled him to get along well with the other Supers in the city. But, Blackwing was dead. The man who took his place was dark and brooding. He kept all other Supers at arm's length with his abrasive and downright rude personality. He worked alone. Period.

Even Kenny's people had noticed the change. The bright, friendly and cheerful boy they'd all watched grow up was now a dark, no nonsense, deadly serious adult with absolutely no desire for any kind of friendship. If he trusted you, that was the best you could hope for. People he'd known all his life now had little more than his trust. From his perspective, they were all safer if they weren't his friends.

Most criminals and Super Villains alike were absolutely terrified of him. He didn't pull any punches. Repeat offenders especially were dealt with harshly. Those with no regard for human life found their own lives ended swiftly by the dark anti-hero. Not that Levi ever killed indiscriminately; far from it. He gauged a villain's right to live based on what he saw in their souls. Mass murderers were often killed outright. Drug dealers with no regard for the lives they destroyed and ended were themselves killed, but those with remorse and hope for rehabilitation were dumped at police headquarters trussed up like hogs. Rapists . . . well, let's just say that Levi's mantra was, "Let the punishment fit the crime".

Tonight for instance; Levi's attention was locked onto a park about 1 mile from his position. It was a decent part of town, not run down or seedy by any definition. Over the last two weeks, however, there had been nearly a dozen rapes involving young women and teenage girls. The attacker was very quiet and the victims were immediately gagged to prevent screaming. Tonight, Levi resorted to using telepathy to watch the 12-block area for signs of fear and distress.

At the edge of his senses, he could feel someone watching him. There was no malice or ill intent, but there was curiosity, caution and determination. Goddamned caterpillar eyebrowed jackass, Levi thought to himself. Why doesn't that fucking Captain America-wanna-be go catch a villain or something? Why is he wasting all his time watching me, for fuck's sake? In spite of his mounting irritation, he finally detected the distress he was watching for.

His silver eyes, behind a simple, black mask, locked on to a girl being chased into the tunnel under the freeway that led into a small park. Gotcha! With a single powerful stroke of his wings, he dove off the skyscraper and a rocketed towards the tunnel. The wind whipped through his black, undercut hair as he drew his dagger from its sheath inside his well worn, knee-high black boot. He folded his wings back, and never slowing down, disappeared into the tunnel.

The rapist never saw the black blur that slammed into him and sent him flying out of the tunnel. The poor girl only saw a black blur that whipped past her and knew that her attacker had vanished. The would-be rapist lay screaming in agony on the grass near the tunnel exit, blood staining the front of his torn pants and running down his legs. His genitals, shaft, balls and all lay in pieces several yards away. His would-be victim ran back the way she'd come, grateful to have escaped this nightmare with nothing more than a torn shirt.

Levi cleaned off his blade as he flew away, still going at top speed and dropped the soiled cloth to the ground. "Let's see you rape someone now," he sneered to himself. He had 'shut off' his telepathy the instant he'd spotted the rapist. He didn't need it anymore. Telepathy was a last resort measure. He didn't like using it. Too invasive in his opinion. Even without his telepathy, he could sense he was being followed. Ugh! This bozo really needs to give it a rest.

He flipped onto his back to look behind him. I knew it! That blond jackass again! He turned over to fly normally again. I wonder if that's really spontaneous flight, or if he's using those obscenely big eyebrows of his like wings? Well, time to show him what powered flight can do! He dove down into one of the city's many drainage rivers and turned sharply into one of the many rainwater drainage pipes. He knew the city's underground better than the back of his hand. He couldn't keep his wings fully open in the pipe, but open enough that he could remain aloft until he came to one of the massive junction areas. He dove down again and entered one of the subway tunnels, where he had only two inches clearance to open his wings completely.

He was still being followed, but his pursuer had lost some ground. He noticed one of the late trains coming at him down the tunnel. Levi turned onto his side and hugged the tunnel wall, not even an inch between his back and the cement. He straightened out again after the train passed and turned up a smaller service tunnel. He'd been forced to land and run in the service tunnel, but just as he'd known he would, he came out into a larger subway tunnel and took flight again. There were few people about at this hour, but those that were in the subway station yelped in surprise when a black whirlwind blasted out of the tunnel and up the wide stairwell back to the surface.

After several more sharp twists and turns through the streets of Mitras, he landed near the top of one of the massive oak trees in Somerset Park, the large city park on the east side of river near the middle of the city. Hmph! Powered flight trumps spontaneous flight every time! He settled down in the branches to rest for a while. Normal people would never see him up there in the dark.

Most Super heroes wore skin tight costumes, some with capes (how fucking cliché), some without. They stood out in their costumes, most wearing masks to cover their eyes. The only thing Levi wore as a costume was a simple mask that covered his eyes, brows and part of his nose. He wore his black, well worn boots that went up to his knees but had tough, combat worthy soles. He wore a pair of black denim pants that were actually women's pants. He found that they had more stretch and flexibility to them than men's, and so were better suited for going out and fighting crime. His shirt was a loose fitting, long-sleeve turtleneck, also in black that tucked neatly into his jeans. He carried a dagger in each boot cuff and two on his black leather belt, along with a Remington R51 handgun with two extra magazines.

He'd been resting for just about an hour when he heard someone approaching. Greeeeat. Eyebrows' lap dog. Could he be any more obvious with that sniffing of his? A deaf person could hear him! Of course, that means the blond jackass is nearby too. Why is he so interested in me? Looks like I'll have to tell him to 'fuck off' to his face.

Sure enough, the Super in question was looking around the base of Levi's tree. "Hound, are you sure he's around here?"

Levi landed with a solid thud behind the blond giant. "He's sure," Levi said dryly. "Now what the fuck do you want? Surely you have better things to do than follow me around all night."

The man never so much as flinched. If Levi had surprised him, it never showed. He turned to face Levi with a calm, neutral expression on his face. "Ah. Good. Nice to finally meet you face to face. I'm The Commander."

"Really?" Levi deadpanned. "That's the best you could come up with? The Commander?"

Those giant eyebrows went up. "I was hoping you would tell me your name."

"I think not. I don't believe in wasting time with a useless moniker. Most people just call me 'Hey Asshole' or 'Shorty' or 'Short Stack' just to name a few. Take your pick. I don't care." Suddenly his eyes narrowed and he dropped low, swung his left leg around behind him and took an even taller blond's legs out from under him. "I'm not a goddamned daisy, Sniffy!"

The scruffy, lanky blond lay on his back, masked eyes wide with surprise. "Bloodhound," he corrected.

"Whatever," Levi retorted. "Now I'm only gonna ask this one more time. What the fuck to you want?"

The Commander actually chuckled. "I guess it's true what they say about you. You have no manners at all."

"Fuck you." Levi stretched his wings and then turned and walked away.

"Don't you think you went a little too far?" The Commander called after him.

Levi decided to play dumb. "What are you talking about?"

"The serial rapist. Don't you think cutting off his entire penis was a little excessive?"

"No." Levi again started to walk away.

"The law would have taken care of him. You should have . . ."

"What? So his lawyer can get him off again on a technicality and let him out on the streets to rape again? I don't think so," Levi snapped as he spun to face the two blonds. "That's what happened the last time he was brought in. The law doesn't work. The rights of the criminals outweigh the rights of the victims."

"But . . ."

"But nothing, Eyebrows! That useless fuck got what he deserved. Let the punishment fit the crime. He'll never rape anyone again. His victims can sleep at night knowing that he is powerless to harm them. Be thankful I didn't kill him. Frankly, death was too good for a piece of shit like that." With that, Levi was done with the conversation and flew away, leaving The Commander and Bloodhound baffled.

Over the next several weeks, The Commander tried engaging in conversation with the irritable anti-hero. Levi all but ignored him. He quickly learned that The Commander's Super powers included not only spontaneous flight, but also super strength; strength that exceeded his own. Bloodhound, as his name suggested, had a hyper sensitive sense of smell that was actually better than a dog's. He could also see in both infrared and ultraviolet. Levi also learned that the two always worked together and with another pair of Supers called Rapier and Razor. The latter two had super speed combined with superior hand/eye coordination.

Rapier and Razor were opposites in appearance. Rapier had long blond hair kept in a bun at the back of his head and a scarce beard on his chin. He was tall and slender. Razor, on the other hand, was a little shorter and stockier. He had short dark hair that was gelled up to a point at the back of the top of his head; it rather reminded Levi of a chestnut. Levi also knew their real names. Eld Ginn and Gunther Schultz from Kenny's syndicate. He also knew that the group they were now in was called The Scouting Regiment.

Eld and Gunther had left Kenny's syndicate about a year after his encounter with Harbinger to strike out on their own as heroes. A year after that, they joined up with The Commander and Bloodhound. They were probably the only two heroes in the city that didn't think him a complete asshole. He almost never interacted with them, though. They could handle themselves, so he didn't worry about them. Most importantly, they never told The Commander that they knew him and who he was.

It was an unspoken rule among Super Heroes, to never reveal each other's true identities to anyone. Even ordinary citizens adhered to this rule. NEVER acknowledge a Super Hero's true identity, even if it was painfully obvious.

Levi noticed a new Super working the city. They were covering the area around Mitras University. They were androgynous, a little taller than Levi, and had messy brown hair pulled up into – something very messy. They wore a simple black spandex costume covered by a simple white lab coat and in lieu of a mask, they wore a pair of goggles that made their eyes look reminiscent of Mr. Magoo. But the strangest part was the straps covering their body suit with a pair of strange boxes with air tanks attached that hung from the Super's hips that had a line coming from each to attach to a pair of swords and presumably controls that they held in their hands.

The Super was currently cornered in a dead-end alley by every member of a gang that called themselves Fireball, and the rather scorched looking gang looked completely pissed. Normally, Levi wouldn't interfere with another Super's business, but this Super was clearly in over their head. Levi rolled his eyes and decided to help. He dove in steeply, and when still a few feet above the ground, between the unknown Super and the gang, he snapped his wings forward twisting them slightly at the end of the stroke, coming to an absolute halt. He put far more power into the stroke than he had back when he'd faced Harbinger's men. The shockwave roared down the alley, flattening the entire gang and leaving them unconscious on the ground.

"OH WOW! THAT WAS SO COOL! HOW'D YOU DO THAT? WHAT DO YOU CALL IT? OOOOOOO! ARE THOSE WINGS REAL? CAN I TOUCH 'EM? I WANNA TOUCH THEM! ARE THE FEATH….MPFF!"

"Come up for air you raving lunatic!" Levi growled as he held his hand over the person's mouth.

He yelped in indignation and revulsion, quickly withdrawing his hand as if burnt by fire when the Super licked his palm. "Disgusting!"

They now held out their hand to him. "I'm Scientist! I have the power to control and read technology with my brilliant mind plus I have science and chemistry on my side!"

"Yippy fucking skippy," Levi drawled. He turned and started walking away.

"You know, you're supposed to answer me with your name." They started to follow him.

"Don't have one. Call me whatever the fuck you want to." He flew up onto the roof of a building.

He now learned what those strange boxes and tanks were for. The persistent Super fired off a pair of grappling hooks from the boxes, propelled by the air in the tanks and reeled themselves up to the rooftop with impressive speed and control. "Like it?" they asked with a proud grin. "My own invention. I call it Three Dimensional Maneuvering Gear, or 3DM Gear for short."

Levi was actually impressed with the ingenuity behind the system, but only replied with a bored, "Not bad," and continued walking away.

They clearly could not take a hint as they followed him. "So, that incredible attack down there . . . Oh! The police are finally responding to my call!" they exclaimed as sirens sounded behind them down on the street. "Anyway, what do you call that?"

Levi rolled his eyes. "I call it attacking."

"Well that won't do!" they said as they used their gear to follow him to the next building up and over. "Every Super Hero needs to have a cool name for their special attacks!"

He spun on his heels to face the annoying pest. "Let's get one thing straight, Four Eyes. I am not a hero!"

"Of course you are!" they retorted. "After all, you totally saved my ass down there. I was out of my flash bombs and there were far more of them than I expected. I was afraid I was going to have to use my concussion bomb to wipe them out. But that would have damaged the buildings around me too. So, you're totally a hero!"

Levi turned to walk away again. So why don't I just fly away and leave this weirdo in my dust? "Whatever. If that's what you want to believe."

"OH! OH! OH! I've got a perfect name for that attack! Thunder Shock!" They hopped up and down in excitement.

The raven paused a moment. "Not bad. I kinda like it." I cannot believe I just said that out loud! What is it with this loon?

"Right? Now we have to come up with a really great name for you!" they continued.

Levi gave up walking away, seeing as the exuberant Super couldn't seem to take a hint, and sat down on the rooftop, looking out across the city. "I don't need a fucking lame-ass moniker."

"People must call you something!"

"People call me all sorts of things; Asshole, shorty, short-stack, shrimp, fuckface . . . take your pick. I don't care."

"Oh, come now, my little box of grumps. Don't be like that!"

Levi's eyes widened slightly. "… Little box of grumps?"

"Yep. You're small and you're grumpy. It fits."

Levi rolled his eyes and shook his head. "At least it's one of the more imaginative names I've been called."

They giggled. "But we can't use that as your moniker. Needs to be something cool!"

"Tch! Like someone with a completely unimaginative name like 'Scientist' can come up with a name that would in any way be considered 'cool'."

"My name is simple and to the point. Besides, The Doctor is already taken."

"It's still boring."

"Well, if you're so smart, you come up with a better one."

"Azweepay"

"Azweepay?"

Levi stood, took stick and scratched it out in the pebbles of the rooftop. "Azweepay."

Their already exaggerated eyes widened before the burst out laughing. "Oh my GAWD! That's hilarious! I'll be your side kick! Asshole and Asswipe, cleaning up the shitty city!" With that, they collapsed into hysterical laughter.

Levi just shook his head. "Heron."

They looked baffled for a moment, before understanding. "As in Heron of Alexandria?"

"Ancient Greek historian, doctor, scientist and inventor," Levi clarified.

"I like it. Buuuut . . . most people have never heard of Heron of Alexandria, so they wouldn't get the reference."

He thought for a moment. "Codex."

He actually jumped slightly when they shouted, "I LOVE IT! An ancient tome of knowledge and wisdom. I AM NOW CODEX!"

Levi groaned. What is wrong with this idiot? And what is wrong with me for still hanging around and talking with them? "Yeah, well, good for you. I've had a long night, so I'm going home." With that, he flew off over the city, with Codex calling goodbye and 'nice to meet you' after him.

Home, these days, consisted of an abandon storehouse. On the fourth floor, in one corner where there were no windows, was a spot that was dry and properly sheltered from wind and rain. Here, there wasn't a speck of dirt to be found, and there was a nest of blankets and pillows in the corner. There was a duffel bag where he kept his clothes and a few toiletries, but that was it. Just enough to survive. He removed his mask with an exhausted sigh, took off his boots and curled up on his make-shift bed to rest.