Chapter 1 - Origins of a Vigilante

Vic

I stood perched upon a rooftop with my black leather jacket flowing in the wind. The city below me was positively bustling with life and movement. I called out to the winds to tell me of anything that seemed out of the ordinary. Nothing. Good. I could use a bit of a break honestly. I'd been fighting nonstop for the past few hours. These demonic fucks are relentless let me tell ya. But first, introductions are in order. My name is Victor Harris, but I implore you to call me Vic. No one really calls me Victor…nobody calls me anything anymore. Most of the citizens in this city believe I'm dead. As well as my parents, Lauren and Dante Harris. Both of them were murdered by invading demons. The memory of that day hit me like a truck as I sat down in the shadows, pulled out my music player, popped the earbuds in my ears and began to remember.

Many Years Ago

I was around the age of eighteen or so. I was in the middle of walking down the street cursing myself after what had happened just a few days before. Before this, I believed I had a good life. Great family life and the girl of my dreams who was head over heels in love with me. Keyword being "was." I dated the daughter of Hollywod actor Johnny Cage, Cassie Cage, for all four years in high school with plans of continuing through college. We had been friends ever since we were ten and she was the new kid at my school. Until one day, right before Spring Break, that complete and utter whore Lacey MacQuoid had decided she wanted to break me and Cassie up and spread a ludicrous rumor around the school that I had cheated on Cassie. Something about me swapping spit with Lacey in her car. Completely ridiculous. I was hanging out with my bandmate, Malcolm, during the aforementioned event. Cool dude. Great guitarplayer. Also, yes I'm in a band. We're called Olympis. Like the mountain in Greece. Heavy metal and rock songs mainly but we do covers a lot too.

Anyway, I started hearing news about this rumor one day and Cassie had been acting extremely cold towards me. I had no idea why until Lacey shouted in the hallway that I was a great kisser and that she expected to see me that night. I still remember Cassie slamming her locker while crying and shouting that we were through. Any call I made to her after that fell on deaf ears. I usually spoke with her mom or her father whenever the line didn't go to voicemail. The pair of them would try and get Cassie to speak with me but it usually never worked. At least they believed my story but Cassie wouldn't budge. I still remember the phone call we had the same day of the break-up.

"WHAT?!" she shouted.

"If you would just allow me to explain," I answered back.

"EXPLAIN WHAT?! HOW YOU MADE OUT WITH HER?!"

"I didn't,"

"OH, SO YOU JUST FUCKED HER?!" she screamed. "I THOUGHT WE HAD SOMETHING! SOMETHING GREAT! WE WERE EACH OTHER'S FIRST TIME! AND YOU DUMP ME FOR THE HEAD CHEERLEADER?! WAS I NOT GOOD ENOUGH?! IS THAT IT?!" Not a good thing to be screaming with your parents in the vicinity Cass but alright.

"Ask Malcolm where I was Cass. Or your friend Jacqui. She saw us hanging out at the coffee house. Why would I ever hurt you?"

"Just…just stay away from me…" Cassie said sadly and hung up. Never spoke to me again afterwards as I just mentioned. What I found out shortly after was that Lacey had posted photos of her and I kissing on the school's social media page. They were of course fake. My other friend Steve (also the drummer in my band) had informed me of this which just made everything worse. I found an envelope containing a necklace I had given to Cassie for Christmas shoved in it with a note in her handwriting that read; "I never want to see you again. EVER."

So there's the backstory as to what is currently going through my head on this particular walk. What was I going to do next? I was going to see her at school at the end of spring break right? Man this SUCKS. Cassie and I were supposed to see a rock show yesterday together. It was actually where I was walking home from. I had crashed at my other friend Brian's house after the show and he lived within walking distance from my house. I turned the corner while muttering insults I was going to hurl at Lacey when I saw her again and I stopped dead in my tracks. My house…was…was in ruins. It was like a bomb went off inside…and not the kind of bomb my dad says he was going to unleash whenever it was burrito night.

"No….NO!" I shouted and sprinted over to the ruins of my house. I examined the damage quickly. It looked…recent…like within the last hour or so. Didn't really have time for that…because what I saw was worse than anything and I mean anything that has happened to me in the last few days. I saw two charred and burned bodies on the ground. One was taller than the other and they were grasping each other's smaller of the two bodies had something I recognized on it. A tattoo sleeve along their almost blackened arm and shoulder. The heat had burned the skin around as well as most of its design, but the colors were the same. Blue, gray and orange. This tattoo was how I was able to tell my mom and my big sister, Kimi, apart when I was a baby. They looked so much alike. These bodies were…my parents. They were dead. I opened my mouth to scream but no sound came out. There was nothing left in me. This had to be a dream right?! RIGHT?! Please! What did I do to deserve this?! Had I actually cheated on Cassie? No…no I didn't. THINK VIC!

"Victor Harris," a calm voice said from behind me. I turned to face the sound. Was this motherfucker to blame for all of this?! I swear to God, if he is…But no. What I saw was a guy around my height and if I were to guess, a little bit younger than my mom standing there looking at me. He had chalk white hair that fell down to his shoulders. He was wearing something that wouldn't be out of place in a kung fu movie except…it looked more like he spent more time among people if you know what I mean. It was a black vest like garment covering all of his chest but exposing his bare arms. One of his arms bore a very similar tattoo to my now dead mom's. Dark gray pants covered his legs and he also wore a pair of black shoes. A sword was attached to a belt on the man's waist and one of his hands was resting upon it. A pair of gray stormy eyes were staring me down and something was telling me that I had seen this man before but I couldn't quite place it. Didn't matter. Only four people on this planet could call me Victor. My sister, my parents and Cassie. He was not any of them.

"Vic. My name is Vic," I snarled. "Did you do this?! YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Without thinking, I charged him. The man calmly stepped out of the way of my punch and stopped my following punch with his hand…or rather…he stopped me with the fucking air between his hand and mine.

"No, I did not," the man said, not lowering his hand. His voice sounded…calm. As if it was actually a summer breeze. "I came to clean up what I actually did." The man motioned with his other hand to something that caused me to scream out in fear. What I saw lying on the ground, sliced in half by the way, were two gray skinned humanoids bleeding yellowish orange blood everywhere.

"What…the fuck…" I managed to say. The man guided my hand down out of the air.

"Demons," he said simply. "From the Netherrealm."

"Ne-Netherrealm," I said. "What the hell is that?" This was just utterly insane.

"You got it right in one actually," the man answered and almost smiled. "It is essentially hell. It is where all the foulest and most evil souls reside once they die. Some breeds of demon are native but a good chunk of them aren't. Like these two. Former criminals of this world. Tasked with killing you and your family."

"But…but why…" I said and looked over at the corpses of my family. "Wait…where's Kimi?! Is she dead too?!" The man actually smiled this time.

"You know where she is. On vacation with her boyfriend," the man answered.

"Why…" I began and the realization that my parents were dead was starting to hit me. This was worse than the phone call with Cassie the other day. My mom was a musician that worked on a lot of movies and TV shows while my dad was a small-time actor. This…this wasn't fair! Why does everything bad always happen to me! Whenever I seem to believe my life is going in the right direction, the universe goes "FUCK YOU VIC!" and screws me over. The man walked over and stood right in front of me. Now that I was this close to him, he looked very similar to my mom. Same facial structure and a similar physique except he had a little more muscle to him.

"These things…they were looking for you," he said simply.

"For…for me?" I asked. The man nodded.

"Someone in the Netherrealm knows about you. About your abilities," he said. Wait what? Why would some guy from the Netherrealm want to kill a guy that can play guitar? The man seemed to know what I was thinking and continued speaking. "Shove your hand towards me. Make it seem like you are trying to move the wind itself." I looked at him quizzically.

"Bro…what?" I said.

"Trust me Vic," the man responded. Hearing him use my preferred name of Vic actually made me want to follow his instructions. I lifted my hand and shoved it forward expecting nothing to happen…except something did. As if I was actually commanding the very air around me, pieces of debris moved in the direction of my hand and I felt a sort of rushing motion erupt from my palm.

"Whoa…" I said stupidly. "I…I can control the wind?" The man nodded.

"Come with me. I can keep you safe. It is what your mother wanted before…before she died," the man said. Hearing this strange man mention my beloved mother pissed me right the fuck off and I became very hostile and without giving it much thought, I was throwing hands with the man. He was able to match me and block my every strike but I could tell he was actually trying rather than just toying with me like before. Eventually, the man drew his sword out of habit I think and swung it at me. I reacted instinctively and raised my hands to parry but felt something form in my two hands…like a sword. The man's sword struck the "blade" of my own sword that I had apparently made out of the air itself. My surprise was short lived because the man instead used the pommel of his sword to strike me in the chest. It wasn't super hard but it was hard enough to be taken as a warning. I stopped attacking him.

"Who…who are you actually," I asked, realizing that this should have been the first question I needed to ask. The man smiled, sheathed his blade, put his hand on my shoulder and looked at my mother's corpse one final time before looking down at me.

"I am Fujin," he said calmly. "Your mother Lauren, whose birth name was Hikari before moving to the U.S, was my older sister. You are my nephew Vic. Come, I will keep you safe."

Present Day

I was shaken out of my all expense paid trip down Memory Lane by the winds telling me of a demonic presence nearby. That was followed by a scream of "WHAT THE HELL" and that was followed by screams and snarling. I sprang to my feet still chewing the last bits of the powerbar I had been eating while reminiscing on how I got to this point in my life. I began to make my way towards the screaming and snarling. In the distance I saw two figures running from three beings running on all fours. Damn, those things were fast. Thinking quickly, I formed an air dagger while vaulting down from a roof top and did a tuck and roll when I hit the ground. Assisted by the winds, I was able to catch up to the demons just in time. One quick throwing motion caused my dagger to go whistling through the air and lodged itself in one of the demon's throats. It pierced its entire neck coming out the other side covered in blood. What surprised me was the color of my dagger. Usually, my constructs were just the color of clouds but this time it happened to be like a bright glowing red…which is still weird cause shouldn't the color of the wind be blue? OOH! ZINGER! *ahem* Right, why the hell was it bright red though?! A quick scan of my surroundings revealed that I was near the outskirts of the theater district of the city which was still brightly lit thanks to all the neon signs. Wait…no way…

"Neon?" I said out loud to no one in particular and snapped my fingers. Without so much as a warning, my dagger that was causing the demon to clutch his throat exploded in a bright flash of neon light and reduced the demon's head into a pile of gray and orange goo. Its hands stopped grasping at their throat and slumped to the ground dead. The other two demons looked over at the sound and saw me standing there with my hand still raised in the snapping motion. They snarled and shrieked at me and began to charge.

I looked up to see that I was standing under yet another neon sign and smirked under my face mask. I held one hand out in front of me and the other behind my back. I began to feel the neon get drawn closer to my hand and start to form into daggers. The demons kept charging all while the two innocent civilians stood there in shock. As soon as one of the demons was about to pounce, I flung the neon charged daggers at it from behind my back. As usual, my aim was mostly good. Only one missed and got lodged in the brick wall of the neighboring building. The demon that now had three daggers lodged in its forehead and chest began to clutch and snarl in pain. The other demon pounced on me and I only just managed to stop it from ripping out my throat. I got my feet into a good position on this thing's chest and kicked it into the air. I formed my usual sword and held it out in front of me and the demon landed right on the blade. The blade pierced its eye and it twitched a few times before going limp. Meanwhile the other one, the one with two blades in it, was still attempting to move but another snap of my fingers gave this alleyway a fresh coat of paint. Before I walked over to see if the civilians were alright, I pulled my sword through the demon's head, slicing it in half like a melon.

I approached the two people I had just saved. Both of them female. One older woman and one that looked like she was a teenager. The teenager had her phone out no doubt taking a video of me. Great. Just what I needed. More people on my ass. It's bad enough that the local police department has started to take notice of me. Whatever.

"Are you two all right?" I said, making my voice a little deeper and raspier. The mask I wore helped a little too. It wasn't like a surgeon's face mask. It was made of durable resin, colored black and had the design of the lower half of a human skull. The older woman didn't answer but the teenager did.

"Oh yeah, we're fine! How did you do that?!" she asked excitedly. "Like make those knives explode!" I shrugged. I'll be honest, that was a new one. I'll run it by my uncle later. The teenager kept talking.

"What name do you like better? The Rattlehead or Thrash?" she said. I raised my eyebrows under my glasses.

"Rattlehead?" I asked. Thrash I got, but Rattlehead? Not so much. The teenager nodded vigorously.

"The air around you seems to make your head rattle or so I've been told! My friend Kathy saw you a few weeks ago, do you remember her?" she was saying very quickly. Her mother still hadn't said a thing but I saw blue and red lights begin to bathe the area. Great. GREAT! That's what I fuckin get for talking to people!

I turned my head to see…oh fuck…FUCK! That…that's bad. Full SWAT team led by my sister's boyfriend. Kurtis Stryker. Guy was currently decked out in full SWAT attire but he always wore a backwards hat like it was still the 1990s so it was easy to pick him out of the crowd. Didn't make him a douche though. I liked him and he actually was good at his job. He was the former commander of the NYPD Riot Control Division before he was transferred here right before I lost my parents. He was currently in a long term relationship with my...Oh GOOD! I just now realized who was standing with him! TAKE ONE FUCKING GUESS! That's right! His girlfriend and my older sister Kimi Harris! She was not in full SWAT attire at this moment but rather dressed as if she was just on a date with Kurtis. Nice shirt and a clean pair of jeans. Her hair was always in that faux hawk she had since her twenties. She wore it pretty well. Kimi was a woman in her late 30s and resembled our late mom almost one to one. She was ten years older than I was. Yeah. I know. I was taller than she was too. She called me "little bro" or "buddy" when I was growing up. I wanted to reveal that I was alive…but I had promised Uncle Fujin that I wouldn't until the time was right. Kimi was actually a DEA Special Agent and was very good at her job and for all she knew, I was dead. Uncle Fujin and I agreed that it was for the best…even though I protested greatly and wanted to live with my big sister instead but he eventually talked me down. Seeing as there were currently two people in the area that could pick me out of a Black Friday stampede, I took the teenager's words about my head rattling and instructed the air to distort my image. Kurtis or Kimi didn't immediately shout "VIC!" when they laid eyes on me when they got closer so I'm assuming it worked.

"Hands up!" Kurtis shouted at me. I obliged while looking for a way to escape.

"On the ground," another officer shouted. Feeling a little cheeky, I decided to respond but not before telling the wind to distort my voice too.

"Which one chief? Hands up or on the ground? You don't get both," I said in a voice that totally was not my own. AWESOME! I can't believe that worked!

"Don't shoot him! He saved our lives!" the older woman behind said, finding her voice at last.

"Ma'am, are you alright?" Kurtis asked. "Are you hurt? Williams, go get them will you?" A masked officer walked behind me and began to escort the two women from the scene. I still stood there with my hands in the air. At that moment, I realized that the neon in the signs around me had begun to glow brighter. Oh HO! Super brilliant idea incoming!

"You're coming with us," another officer said.

"Hold on, don't I get to say something first?" I answered.

"Nope, you got nowhere to run kid," Kurtis answered. "Move in. We want him alive!"

"Hold on there tough guy," I said quickly. "What's the name of that Bruce Springsteen song that was covered by Manfred Mann's Earth Band?" I saw Kurtis hesitate for a fraction of a second before my sister chimed in with "Blinded by the Light"

"DING DING DING!" I said and commanded the neon in the area to glow blindingly bright. I seemed to be immune to it but what I wasn't immune to was shards of glass falling from the shattered tubes of the lights. Still though, fantastic diversion Vic! A real ten out of ten! I quickly ran up the side of the building thanks to the assistance of the winds and hid myself in the shadows on the rooftop.

I looked down to see that the SWAT team and Kimi were shielding their eyes from the intense glow.

"Oh shit," I muttered realizing that I should probably "turn it off" and did so. One by one, I saw the SWAT team and my sister remove their hands from their eyes. Kurtis pulled off his balaclava revealing his face. He was around my sister's age but didn't really look like he was approaching 40. Guy was a looker honestly and I say that as a man who likes women.

"Damn!" he said, a little annoyed. "Really Kim? You had to answer him!"

"Yeah…that's my bad," Kimi answered. I chuckled. Classic Kimi Harris. Always has to answer a question, even if it was a stupid one.

"Son of a bitch we had him sir," an officer said. "I thought we'd actually get him behind bars tonight. I still can't believe he managed to get away again."

"In retrospect, the file didn't say he could literally control neon lights!" another officer added.

"Yeah…you got a point Kabal," Kurtis said. "Whatever. Son of a bitch messed up our anniversary." I grimaced and looked down at my watch that told me the date. He was right. Way to go Vic!

"It's fine Kurt," Kimi answered. "It was my fault he got away. We'll get him next time. He looks pretty inexperienced. C'mon, let's get out of here." The group of people climbed into their cars and drove off no doubt to alert every other precinct in the area. I breathed a small sigh of relief. I can't believe I avoided capture again. I thought I was really in for it after the last time where Uncle Fujin literally had to cause a small accident in order to extract me from the squad car. Stupid me thinking that the night shift staff at It's ALWAYS Pizza Time wouldn't call the police. I got up, stretched and began to walk forward before a hand came out of literally nowhere and grasped my shoulder. Oh son of a bitch and pants….

"Moonlighting again?" Uncle Fujin began in an annoyed tone and inhaled sharply "While I admire your determination to save others, I would like a word with you about this whole situation. AGAIN."

Back at Uncle Fujin's

Uncle Fujin was standing in front of me gripping the bridge of his nose. I meanwhile was sitting on the edge of my bed. My room at least was similar to the room in my old house. Spacious, covered in band posters, housed by acoustic and electric guitars and basses. I even had my own TV and minifridge! I'd call that a win!

"How many times Vic," Uncle Fujin began. "How many times do I need to tell you that revealing yourself to the public is unsafe!"

"Do you mean like this week or all time?" I asked without thinking.

"YES!" Uncle Fujin said loudly.

"I'm going to go with upwards of twenty-ish then. At least I wasn't captured this time," I answered and then began to stare at the floor. I felt Uncle Fujin put his hand on my shoulder again. Much like how my mom used to do.

"Again, I am fine with you using your abilities for good but I would really prefer that you did so from the shadows," he said. "These demons are still after you. I already lost my sister. I promised her that I would look over her son." Normally, I would have lashed out against anyone who even spoke about my parents after what happened. Believe me, I was at the funeral in disguise and I nearly socked someone in the face after they called my mom an overrated putz before Uncle Fujin stopped me. Yes I was at my own funeral. Mainly because Uncle Fujin was there. I stayed hidden due to Uncle Fujin using the wind to distort my image and make me nearly invisible. Near the end of the service, I saw Cassie approach my coffin and watched her begin bawling uncontrollably. Seeing Cassie act like that nearly made me blow my cover but I reluctantly resisted the urge to comfort her. It was at that point where I realized that Jacqui or Malcolm or someone finally got her to see reason. But recently, hearing Uncle Fujin talk about my mom's upbringing has mellowed me out more. Apparently she had another brother named Raiden who could control LIGHTNING and lemme tell you, that sounds AWESOME!

"Yeah, I know," I answered. "But…but I can't just sit here and do nothing. What if more families are pulled apart like ours? I can't let what happened to me happen to anyone else uncle. They don't deserve that. These things killed my parents and I want revenge. Did you see that woman and her daughter I saved tonight?"

"Oh yes I did. It's going viral on the internet. You have been officially dubbed Thrash," he said and tossed me my phone. "Not the name I would have chosen but it does suit you." Sure enough, there were about a dozen articles written about a "Local Vigilante, Dubbed 'Thrash' by Police, Saved Young Influencer and Mother."

"You do realize how bad this could potentially be, right?" Uncle Fujin asked. I looked at him for a moment before it hit me.

"The…the demons?" I asked. He nodded.

"Remember how scared you were when you found out about demons? Now imagine that on a global scale. The good news is that the girl was in so much shock in denial about demons, she's been saying you saved her and her mother from a couple of muggers. The footage shows you just talking to the pair of them rather than fighting," Uncle Fujin explained.

"Then…how did she explain the blood and guts everywhere," I asked.

"I took care of that while you were talking to Mr. Stryker and Kimi," Uncle Fujin answered.

"Speaking of Kimi, does she know about you," I asked. Uncle Fujin hesitated for a moment before he answered.

"Yes. After we set up your supposed death, I confronted her and revealed who I was. Plus you know she was there at the funeral. We speak from time to time. I hate having to lie to her about you but she does not possess your abilities. There was a reason you were Hikari's 'special little man.' You shared her gift," he said.

"Could…she control neon too," I asked. Uncle Fujin's eyes widened.

"Yes. She could. Her areas of expertise were light manipulation and healing techniques. She was as adept at air constructs as you are," Uncle Fujin explained. "Look, there was a reason that you never saw me much growing up. Hikari, Raiden and I had quite the falling out when she moved to this country." That…explained a lot. My mom often told me and Kimi that her brothers died when she was younger and that's why we never met them as kids.

"What happened," I asked before again, realizing my stupid mistake. Uncle Fujin took a few moments to answer.

"She wanted a different life than what Raiden and I wanted. That caused quite the rift between the three of us. We were all young and foolish to sever ties. I regret it to this day. But I still managed to meet my niece and nephew," he said and managed to smile. I could tell he was hiding something but I didn't ask again. I was already in deep shit for doing the whole vigilante thing again…even though I was in my late twenties now…bogus. Whatever. His house, his rules I guess. I'll take the potential punishment for free room and board.

"If you are going to do this whole vigilante thing, you are going to need more training," Uncle Fujin said after a few minutes of me staring at the wall for some reason. It actually took me a moment to register what he said.

"Hold on…are you letting me go out there on my own?!" I asked excitedly. Uncle Fujin smiled warmly.

"I can't keep you on a leash forever. You remind me of your mother even though you look more like your father. Both of you are stubborn and will do what you want even if it is against my wishes," Uncle Fujin said. "Now get to sleep. We train at four in the morning." Aw wha?!

"Four in the morning?!" I exclaimed and looked at the clock. It was about 9:30. Great. If I conked out immediately, I'd get six and a half hours of sleep.

"There's your punishment Mr. Thrash," Uncle Fujin said, smirked and began to walk out of my room. "Oh and I want you to tell Kimi who you are within two weeks or else I will."

Cheeky bastard…but he was family. And still a pretty cool uncle all things considered.