1Story 6: The Lost Children (Continued)
We return to the story, in New York now, a derelict and ruined building in Hell's Kitchen, where currently are gathered several older teens, the leading members of the Lost Children. Also present are CD, Forte, the violet knight named Vasilis, and oddly, Rouge the Bat. More unusual, she is married to the knight, as they both bear wedding rings.
The area is dingy and dark, save for light from broken walls, as the several teens are in thought, looking to the others.
"We're not here to cause trouble." CD told them.
"Agreed. Our presence here is to recognize you as a faction." Vasilis added.
"Though not quite as advanced as ours.." Rouge noted.
"Now, Rouge, best not to provoke them." Vasilis informed her.
Rouge grinned, then hugged close to the giant knight.
"Sorry, I'll stop."
The Lost Children shifted position a bit, a little uncomfortable with the situation. One as tall as Vasilis, wearing full body bandages under his clothes, and a hideous iron mask, looks over to them.
"So we've heard. But we do have our reservations towards adults, you're aware.." He spoke, in an unexpectedly charming voice.
"Yeah, yeah, I heard that," Forte grumbled, "But seriously, there's just too many of you to realistically think of brushing off ALL adult attention."
One of the others, a blonde with bandages on both hands up to the elbow, with burn marks on his fingers, got up quickly, mad.
"You don't have any place to judge, ESPECIALLY after what happened to Mark!" He shouted.
A brown haired one in a green tank top held a hand up as if to silence him.
"Nicholas, cool that temper, they don't know what happened then. Plus they're right, I know first hand not all adults are backstabbing bastards. Now sit down, chill, or step outside."
Nicholas muttered, folding his arms, and sitting back down where he'd been. CD was quiet, and Forte glared at Nicholas.
"What DID happen to Mark?" Rouge asked.
The Lost Children became quiet for the most part. It was Dynamo to broke this uneasy silence..
"He was a young boy, maybe 8 or 10, who got ESP or something from his exposure to that mutating stuff. He was pretty tuned into everything around him. Some crooked guy found out about him though, and kidnaped him to try to force him into winning bets for the guy..."
"So they used him to cheat at gambling..." Vasilis muttered.
"We went and got Mark free, but that guy figured if he couldn't use Mark, no one should..."
Rouge and CD's eyes widened. Forte blinked, looking over. Behind his helmet, Vasilis scowled...
"He KILLED a young boy over THAT!" Vasilis boomed.
"Bingo..."
Forte snarled, furious.
"That's just low..." He growled.
"Oh Prime..." Rouge stammered.
"I've never seen Johnny so ticked, he-" Dynamo started.
Johnny, the one in the green tank top, interrupted.
"That's enough, they get the point...and I'd rather not remember that day.."
"Sorry.." Dynamo said weakly, going quiet.
"No wonder you all hate adults..." noted CD.
"Exactly. Not all of us had bad or missing parents, but we all know how low people can sink.." A blonde boy with glowing amber eyes and strange markings on his face added.
"Then it's settled!" Vasilis stated, "We are going to take you all from this to somewhere you don't have to deal with the likes of them!"
Rouge grinned, liking the idea. CD nodded to himself on it. The Lost Children, however...
"You're doing What?"
"No way!"
"We live here!"
Johnny had to take a minute to get the others to pipe down, before he could speak.
"Nice gesture, but no."
"What? Why? You want that to end, don't you?" inquired Vasilis.
Johnny cracked his knuckles, and took on a common boxing stance, staring the outsiders down.
"If you feel so strongly about the idea, come on! Right now!"
The four sweatdropped...they came to broker peace, not promote war.
"I won't fight children." Vasilis stated.
"Same here, you'd get creamed." added Forte.
"We're trying to HELP you here.." CD told them.
"Huh, shows how strongly you feel about it to me then, you won't even fight for it." Johnny scolded, "If you believe in something strongly enough, you ought to be willing to put yourself on the line for the cause."
Silence hung over them in the room for the better part of a minute. Johnny broke this silence, easing out of his aggressive stance.
"Look, if you really want to make us leave, then you have to go through me to do it. Who fights, I don't care as long as it's the best you've got."
Dynamo paled, and got up to speak.
"H-hey, hold on, they've got Superman as an ally..."
The others stared at Dynamo except Johnny himself, who shrugged, smirking.
"Bring him on then! I believe strongly enough in my views about this to fight an army of him! Let's see if they believe strongly enough in making us leave to even bring a real fighting effort."
Vasilis facepalmed, Rouge sweatdropped, and CD sighed.
Story Divide
About an hour later, outside on the streets of Hell's Kitchen, being watched by several children from the faction, and a few homeless people, as well as several beings from the studio and the SPGXA, was none other than Johnny and Superman standing face to face, getting ready to fight.
"I'd say the odds are about a million to one the human wins." The Irken Zim stated, wearing the logo of SPGXA.
"You're on!" some kid shouted.
"Oh no, I'm not betting on this fight, I'm just stating a fact, Earthling."
"This, was a mistake..." CD groaned.
"Tell me about it.." a Space Pirate agreed, "The kid's going to get slaughtered."
"Superman's not a killer, but yeah, I can't see how he can lose."
Inside the circle of people, Superman sighed, not taking a defensive posture, but just trying to reason with Johnny.
"Look, I don't want to hurt you. We're just trying to help."
"I know that, but this is our home. You'll have to MAKE us leave."
"...If you feel that way, I don't suppose I have a choice. It's for your group's good."
Vasilis was just waiting nearby to use his means of healing, a substance called NanoFlow, to heal Johnny after the fight. However, they were all in for a surprise..
Johnny started the fight by charging forward, quickly switching from a boxing stance to a neutral one, elbowing Superman in the stomach, then grabbing his right arm and judo-throwing the Man of Steel into the ground. Superman was amazed Johnny could even manage a strong enough blow to shake him, while Johnny shook his left arm to try to 'shake off' the pain from hitting an invulnerable body. The crowd went silent from the immediate upset, as Superman got up.
"You're a lot stronger than I thought." He told Johnny as he rushed at him.
"Heh, you ain't seen nothing yet!" was the retort.
Superman connected with a powerful punch to Johnny's face, but even though Superman was holding back, he could tell he did a lot less damage than he expected. Johnny was still standing, and even returned the blow in kind, with one that forced Superman back, and gave him a sore jaw...this blow was a lot stronger than the last one.
"Are you getting stronger?" Superman asked, still amazed at the unseen potential in his opponent.
"Heck yeah, maybe you didn't catch the memo, but I'm called the Ultimate Power!"
Johnny then ran at Superman, leapt up, then delivered a spinning kick that spiked Superman into the pavement, the Kryptonian skidding along and digging a divot in the road. The crowd backed off from the fight at this point.
"The heck? How's he whooping up on Supes?" Forte yelped.
"Jonathan's mutation is that his adrenaline is a 'purified' form, which both increases Johnny's physical ability much higher than a normal human's, but essentially means he could vastly overpower Superman given time. Each adrenaline surge leaves Jonathan's base power higher than before, and the adrenaline's boost stacks onto that. Given enough time and use of it, he could possibly be too much for Superman to handle." A small young boy told him.
Forte sweatdropped at the fact the boy seemed so intelligent.
"How do you know all that?"
"I have photographic memory, and I read a LOT of educational books. Also, in Superman's favor, Johnny's power comes with a very serious drawback.."
Forte went silent, as he resumed watching the fight. By now, Superman had gotten up, and the two were fighting hard. Superman was a bit confused by Jonathan's rising strength, though he did his best to fight back. He noted as the fight dragged on, Johnny's blows hit harder, while Superman's were having less effect, and it was becoming easier for Johnny to keep up with Superman.
"You're a tough one." Superman complimented.
"Yeah, you are too."
Johnny then side-kicked Superman into a light pole, ruining the pole, as Johnny charged after Superman to continue the assault, getting tackled by him as he got up, and brought to the ground. Superman was then kicked off of the Lost Child, sent into a building, as Johnny flipped up onto his feet.
"I better end this soon, or I may not be able to beat him at all without using excessive force.." Superman muttered, flying at Johnny.
Johnny and Superman then each threw a similar punch, their fists meeting dead on, and causing a powerful shockwave, which threw everyone else in the area down onto the ground, and shattered windows in the area. Everything then went silent, as the two remained there, fists connected. Johnny smirked, before he then winced, falling to his knees, hand on his chest.
"Urgh...damn..."
Superman landed, and ceased fighting. Vasilis got up, and ran over, while the others were getting up from the boom.
"What in Tallon..." Vasilis muttered, using the visor scanner in his helmet to check on Johnny.
When he found out what was wrong, he fell dead silent, and began to use NanoFlow to repair damages to Johnny's body.
"What the heck happened? He was winning!" A homeless man groaned.
The young boy with the bright mind got up, shaking his head from the sudden disorientation, before speaking.
"Johnny's power comes with a deadly price. Because of his will to have the power to protect us, he has such incredible power, but because he never wants it to be turned against us, the adrenaline is also highly toxic...in a normal human, it'd burn out their entire nervous system and overwork their organs to the point of death by simultaneous heart attack, aneurysm, and exhaustion. Johnny's body isn't entirely immune to this, and eventually, it'll kill him..he won't live to see 30. He'll be LUCKY to see 25..."
Forte got up, annoyed.
"You mean he fought knowing he might kill himself doing it?" He yelled.
The boy nodded slowly, as they looked on, Johnny currently being bathed in an emerald mist, coughing from inhaling some.
"The heck...is this stuff?"
"Your survival." Vasilis morosely told him.
Soon, the mist ended, and Jonathan got up, now well again.
"Why did you fight if you knew relying on such a surge of that poison to have a chance could kill you?" Vasilis asked.
"Because that's how strongly I feel about remaining here. I knew it was a risk, but I also knew we belonged here, where we can still help other kids who run away."
"I see...that's why you wanted to remain here...very well, we won't impose on you again."
Vasilis then went over to his group, looking back to Johnny, and the other Lost Children, who were now heading to him to make sure he was all right, even as Superman had a solemn expression.
"I respect that you put others before yourself, but you should be careful. They need a leader of your fortitude, it'd be hard on them if you die because of that strength."
The SPGXA units then beamed away, as the Studio members went to Superman.
"Thanks for your help again." CD told him.
"You're welcome, though after this, I feel I need to get back to forming the Justice League in this world now more than ever."
CD nodded, looking back to the kids, as Johnny has a small one on his shoulders, acting cheerful with them, as though he weren't living on borrowed time, as they went back to their makeshift homes.
"It's not a great world we came to. Maybe...maybe we were brought here for a reason..."
Forte growled quietly, and shrugged.
"Are we going back to the studio now? We've got a network to hook up, and some more anomalies to sort out. We don't have time to be dramatic."
They looked to Forte, and CD sighed.
"Didn't you learn anything?"
"I learned I hate mixing soap opera with action."
CD sweatdropped, then facepalmed...
"Oh brother..."