The young man sniffed for, what was it, the thousandth time that day? He had a cold or something, he didn't know for sure. But whatever it was, it was bugging the hell out of him.
Akihiko Minoto cracked his knuckles as he stood with his back upon a nearby post. He was standing in one of the worst spots in Gotham—which wasn't saying much, because many spots in Gotham were horrible—waiting for some thug, some creep, to come along and cause trouble.
Within moments of waiting, Akihiko saw the first target of the night. Some tall punk, with shaggy hair down to his shoulders and stopping just above his eyes, was looking about quickly. The young Japanese man gazed from beneath the cowl of his red hoodie and the tips of his crimson hair towards the newcomer. From what he could see, Akihiko recognized the punk as a wanted man.
Akihiko growled in the back of his throat, the deep and quiet noise sounding almost like a canine's. And the longer canine teeth he had didn't help matters much, either. Slowly, he moved down from the post down the sidewalk as the punk caught sight of a pair of teenage girls walking opposite the road from him.
What the hell are two teenagers doing out this late at night? Akihiko wondered. It didn't surprise him much, though; no one really cared one way or another what teenagers did, it seemed. In Gotham, teenagers were treated pretty much as adults when they weren't in school. The two, unsuspecting girls were unaware of the set of eyes following them, and the young man had crossed the road to move behind them.
Akihiko reached into his left pocket, turning down the volume to his iPhone, cutting down the sound radiating through his earbuds. When he pulled his hand out, Akihiko was holding a switchblade in his hand. Tucking it up into the sleeve of his hoodie, Akihiko stuck to the shadows and moved around to get a vantage point behind the punk.
He could hear the guy mumble something in slurred, slow words to the girls, but couldn't make out what it was. Louder than the man had spoken, one of the girls replied, "No thanks. Our stop is just around the corner."
He must've asked if they needed a ride, Akihiko decided. The two girls waved goodbye to the guy as they turned and continued on. Akihiko crossed onto their side of the street just as the guy pulled a metal pipe from within his jacket. "Watch out!" Akihiko yelled just as the man swung down the blunt object. The two girls turned around as the weapon smashed into her head, sending her sprawling to the ground. The other girl screamed and, after looking in agony on the scene before her, turned and sprinted off down the street. The man fingered his pipe and went after her.
Akihiko took off, removing the small blade from his sleeve. He looked down sorrowfully upon the unconscious woman. Quickly, he took off past her, flicking out the blade of his knife as the man overtook the woman ahead as her screams filled the alleyway.
"Let go of her!" Akihiko screamed, lunging at the attacker. The man turned just in time to see Akihiko tackle him into the nearby brick wall. As he grunted, the man brought up his pipe, catching Akihiko in the chin. The young man stumbled back, dribbles of blood coming down his chin. He bit back a curse as he jabbed out with the knife, missing narrowly. The man swung down with the pipe, smashing into his arm.
As the knife spun away into the shadows, the man gripped the pole with both hands and swung again, sending Akihiko sprawling into the street. The young man sent out both legs, catching the attacker in the gut and pushing him back into the wall. As he sank down, the man realized that Akihiko's discarded blade was mere inches away. Quickly, he grabbed it up, pointing it towards the Asian vigilante.
Just as the punk came at Akihiko, a picture from his past soared back into his mind.
Doctor Stanford came at Akihiko with the knife, his teeth gritting. "You sorry, pitiful excuse for a human being!"
His stab missed narrowly, jabbing into the wooden table where Akihiko had been thrown by Stanford's lab assistant, some brute named Jones. Akihiko offered a sly smile. "It's no wonder. I'm hardly a human being after what you did to me!"
Quickly, he rushed forward, tackling Stanford into a nearby glass case. The doctor shrieked as glass shattered into the man's back. Only a few scratched Akihiko's body, for Stanford's body blocked most of Akihiko's.
The younger of the two flipped over another table, landing on his knees. Quickly, he clambered back to his feet as Jones rushed him, his massive hands balled into fists. Just as Akihiko raised his own hands to go into what seemed like a pointless fight, three gunshots rang out. Blood spurted from the new holes formed in his torso as he sank down to his knees, the form of Akihiko's best friend, Maxwell Woodly, stood behind him, a handgun raised.
Ever since he had been taken at the age of ten from his parents after they were murdered, fifteen-year-old Akihiko was treated in the labs of Doctor Miles Stanford and given wolf abilities, such as faster speed, better teeth, and stronger leg muscles. Around the same time, Maxwell Woodly—whom Akihiko grew to know as Max—was taken in to be given powers as well.
Often, Max dreamed of getting out of the laboratories and becoming a hero liked the famed Batman. It had come to this point, when the two had formed an unshakable bond that the scientists kept trying to break apart. Akihiko had known of a stash of explosives that Jones kept hidden in case a subject escaped—little did he know that one day it would be used against him.
After the explosives were set, Akihiko and Max were able to break free from their cells and it had come to the current state, when Max had been given a splitting punch from Jones and Akihiko was thrown onto the table, where Stanford rushed him with the knife.
Akihiko smiled to Max. "Thanks," he said.
Max nodded. "Any time, Aki." Similar to the nickname "Max" that Akihiko called his friend by, Max knew Akihiko affectionately as "Aki." Max was the only one to have called him that, and, Akihiko had decided, he would be the only one to do so.
Akihiko pointed to the door. "Quick, we need to get outta here. No telling when this place will collapse." Max nodded his agreement as the two ran for the door. With his enhanced speed, Akihiko was able to move ahead of Max.
"Aki!" Max yelled out, causing his friend to drop. What he saw made Akihiko's jaw quiver.
"Max, drop!" he yelled back just as a trio of gunshots fired. The quick actions had reduced to milliseconds as the whole scene moved in slow-motion before Aki: the bullets ripping through Max's shoulder, flesh and cloth tearing away. Blood began to leak gradually from the teenager's shoulder.
His gun slipped from his hand and Akihiko quickly reached out, catching it. As he grabbed ahold of his friend, Aki raised the pistol and took careful aim at Doctor Stanford, who was shifting his aim from Max to the Asian teen. But he was too slow, as Akihiko fired shot after shot until Stanford had writhed into all sorts of positions, collapsing into the broken table and the shards of shattered glass.
Aki cursed him and hoped he was dead as he lowered Max to the ground, checking his pulse.
Max began to cough up blood. It was then that Aki realized that another shot had been fired and it went lower than his shoulder, and instead was going through his left breast. Just centimeters away from Max's heart.
"Dear God," Aki whimpered, tears forming in his eyes. Max's eyes fluttered and he reached up with a hand towards his best friend.
"A-Aki," he muttered as Akihiko took his hand.
"I'm here," he replied, offering a fake smile.
Max smiled back. "I-is it bad?" he asked slowly. Akihiko nodded in response.
Max bit back a curse. "P-promise me something, Aki. Please."
"What is it?"
"Aki," Max started, "I need you…to promise me…to live out our dreams of becoming heroes, just like…just like the Batman…"
Akihiko himself had never much looked upon the Batman in respect. He thought of him as a mere man who looked like a clown. "Really? He dresses up as a bat?" he used to say. But he knew right now that he couldn't deny his friend this promise. And besides, he wasn't going to become the Batman.
"I promise. I'll become a hero, just like Batman."
Max flashed a quick smile to his best friend. "T-thank you, Aki. I…I always knew…I could trust on…you…"
And with that, Max's head rolled back limply. Akihiko let the tears fall as he stood and took off from the building, Max's gun in hand.
Akihiko rolled over as the man smashed into the ground with his knife, and the impact sent it flying from his grasp. As the man got back to his feet, Aki rolled onto his own and pushed up from the ground, drawing the sidearm that once belonged to Max and aimed it at the criminal.
"Don't try a thing," he ordered. The man slowly raised his hands, realizing that he was overtaken.
"I…I give up," he slowly muttered, gritting his teeth.
Aki turned to the teenage girl who was still standing there in shock. "Are you okay?" he asked, his pointed teeth bared. She slowly nodded.
"Yes." Her eyes suddenly opened. "Sam—she's back there!" Quickly, she took off in the direction of her wounded companion. Aki stepped towards his discarded switchblade, replacing it in his pocket. As he did so, he pulled out his iPhone and dialed for the GCPD.
"I've got a man here who has just tried to assault two women." The voice on the other end of the line told him that they'd send two patrol units out to intercept them, and Aki agreed. As soon as the sirens sounded in the distance, the man snapped his head to Aki.
"Look, man, you can't let 'em take me in. You don't know what'll happen to me if those coppers get their hands on me; they're all corrupt, every one of 'em. They wouldn't give a damn if the rest of the inmates there tried to skin me alive!"
Akihiko didn't show any sign of sympathy. "You should've thought about that before you tried to rape those two girls," Aki said, nodding in the direction of the two teenagers. The man looked to them, then back to Akihiko.
"Look—just please, forget this every happened. I'll never lay a hand on anyone else, I swear it!"
"That's probably just the same thing you said to the judge when you got let out on your last offense."
"No, I—"
Before the man could finish, Aki raised his gun and smashed the butt of it into the man's hand, sending him crashing to the sidewalk as the flashing lights of the police cars could be seen in the distance. Quickly, Akihiko Minoto—known to certain people as the vigilante "Hellhound"—took off into a dark alleyway, ready to meet the next task that came his way.
Here's chapter 2 of Defenders of Gotham! Introduced here was Akihiko Minoto, known as Hellhound, who was created by user 0B13. Leave your thoughts on this character—and the chapter—in the review section. Until next time, goodbye!