Authors Notes:
So I may have written a little more than I anticipated for this last part. I was considering dropping it all in one bit chunk but instead I have split it into two parts. This roughly concludes the first phase of my FanFiction and I hope you enjoy.
Zane watched the world outside from inside his hood and through a small slit in the boards covering his windows. It had been two days since Zordon if that was really his name. Left him the crazy device, claimed he was some kind of hero and left him with a strange set of memories.
Something else had been troubling him ever since he touched the relic. Everything had started to feel different. He had only briefly left his safe house for supplies but he noticed his pace was quicker. He could hear and see things that were normally unnoticeable to him. Traversing the rooftops and backstreets were easier, his reflexes and strength exceeding what it had been only two days ago.
Zane sheepishly glanced at the red mask resting on the table. After his antics with the local captain it had been relegated to the desk. What was once his one piece of anonymity had now become his undoing. Mamba had seen his mask before he fled and now the entire area was crawling with slithers searching for him. It was really inconvenient. Zane kicked an empty tin across the open space of the room. The sound echoed through the empty space, the only pieces of furniture were a bed, a desk and the back room for personal sanitary needs. It wasn't much but it was home, that was something in this god forsaken world.
"Damn it I need to get out of here, this place is driving me mad." Zane mumbled the words even though no-one could hear him. A quick look through his boarded window was enough.
"Looks calm enough, let's see if anything interesting is going on." Zane pulled his scarf, brown and worn, up to cover his mouth and nose. Pulling the steampunk style goggles over his eyes. The hood combined with the scarf and goggles were enough peace of mind that he could stay hidden and off the radar. Zane slipped the red mask under his jacket. It may be a clear target but it had a reputation, not just with the Zodiac empire but in the underworld. It may still come in handy if he got into any trouble.
Zane fell into a familiar pattern. Heading towards his usual haunts. The area wasn't particularly large, the old houses looking ancient. Everything was run down, including the people. Things were getting worse, the work was hard and the reward tiny. They lived in stench and filth. One look in the eyes of anyone in the street and you would be greeted with cold, lifeless corpses.
The air smelt funky. Like it was burning. Zane could see smoke floating above the chimneys. Damn Zodiac empire was tearing this place apart. This was all his fault. Zordan had said he was some fabled hero. What hero left this kind of destruction in his wake.
He was about to leave, return home and plan his escape from this sector before he was rudely barged into.
Hey! Watch where you're going! Can't you see we're walking here! A gruff voice growled at him. Zane just looked at them. Three thug like men, faces rough and plastered with scars. Mine workers. The men's faces tightened at his silence, apparently it offended them.
"Wait a minute, that mask, you're the guy. The one the slithers are searching for!" Zane looked down at his jack, knocked open, red mask poking out. Crap. The largest of the three moved to grab him, probably to cash in on whatever reward was being offered for his head.
Zane sidestepped, grasping the man by the arm and launched him. A small crowd watched as the large man sailed through the air, crashing into the building with a loud thud. Zane stood in the middle of the road, the house was some distance from where he threw him. The noise rose as murmurs and talk started. The two guys just stared open mouthed before screaming his name, The Red Shadow. Zane ran.
His new found speed surprising his body as the air cut and flowed past him. They were coming, he could hear them, deranged hissing and shuffling as slithers in the area converged towards the commotion. He rounded another corner, this was his expertise. The city was a playground, there was no way they could catch him. Zane let a small smile form under his scarf before again rounding a corner. Straight into a square filled with slithers. Zane stood frozen, two dozen maybe more. That wasn't the worst of it, he fell to a knee as the first sound of drums vibrated across the open town square. Captain Mamba-drummer stood at the center of the small slither army.
Still kneeling, Zane looked down slipping his mask out from his pocket. Removing the goggles and scarf discarding them to one side he made a show of place the mask over his face before slowly standing to face his enemies.
"Damn it, ever since taking that job I have been cursed." Zane weighed his options. Running would do no good. The rest of the slithers would be surrounding him by now. Could he surrender? No. They would show him little mercy, being chained to the wall in the basement would be a dream.
"Shit! That leaves only one thing. If this is my fate then I will go down swinging." Zane let his hand slide inside his sleeves. He didn't fight often, avoided it as much as possible. However that didn't mean he couldn't defend himself.
"Puny human! Take off that ridiculous mask. It's not fooling anyone. Give back what's mine and I may be mercyful, a quick death and all that jazz." Mamba sounded like a snake trying to sing, a mix of hissing and harmony. Zane wouldn't give any of them the satisfaction.
A quick twist of his wrists and two daggers fell comfortably into each hand. Zane flung the daggers with lightning speed, again his new found abilities surprising him. The extra force from his untrained strength meant that the daggers lifted two slithers off their feet. They collided with a line behind them, crumbling dead on the ground.
"Bring me his head!" Mamba hissed loudly, beginning a slow rhythmic beat on his drums. All hell broke loose as the slithers went into a frenzy.
Zane danced amongst a sea of snakes. The new powers had given him a certain grace, increasing all of his skills tenfold. Everything felt easier, his reactions to attacks, his senses. Even his execution of moves seemed more flawless with his new speed and strength. Slithers collapsed around him, punches and kicks sending them in all directions. Zane leaped in a flip over the head of another two, pulling more daggers from inside his jacket and cutting them down before he landed. Another round house kick, another slither down. The onlookers watched in awe. It must of been quite a sight, one man slowly taking down an entire platoon of slithers.
As Zane fought the more confident he became. Each punch grew more controlled, each move more precise. Another wave of slithers collapsed on him. Quickly dodging the flurry of attacks he grabbed one by the arm, dropping to his back and monkey flipping it over his head into another slither behind him. Within seconds he had flipped himself back up, ducked and landed a punch square in the chest of another.
"This is easier than I expected. I may even survive this." As if reacting to Zane's thoughts there was a loud BOOM! Turning to late a massive sound-wave sent him flying. He wasn't sure how far he travelled, only the pain kept him conscious enough to let fear creep back in. Eyes ringing, head pounding, he tried to stand. Only to met by a second wave knocking him back down.
"Grab that mouse, bring him to me!" The words were muffled, Zane could barely make them out between the screaming and ringing. There was a distinct sound of drums, a constant thump. These drums were only in his head, a consistent beat against what he assumed was his skull. Two tail-arms wrapped around him, dragging his limp form through the dirt. How did he ever think he could win? The monsters were far too strong, even with inhuman abilities.
"Now mouse, where is my device, tell me before I make music with your bones!" Zane realised in that moment, to his horror, that is exactly what Mamba intended to do. Bones of all shapes and sizes decorated his drums. The sticks themselves bones of some kind. That was his fate, to become some deceased decoration for a snake monster. Zane sat silently in defeat awaiting whatever fate was in store for him.
- End of part 4 -