— Samantha Eve Wilkins (Atom Eve) —
Sister?
"What the hell are you talking about, and what's going on with you?" She asked, visibly recoiling at the sight of their skin falling off from their bodies.
"It's as I said, we're your siblings." The blonde deformed boy said with a glare filled with hatred. "Though to everyone else, we're nothing more than failures. Imperfect versions of the perfect first child!" He roared, and all of them began rushing her.
Eve looked back to see cars were still heading their way, and she knew she had to deal with this without putting people in danger.
"[Eve, you need to get the hell out of there, now!]" Darius shouted.
She grit her teeth and nodded. He was right, fighting here wouldn't work. Not with all the traffic and lives at stake!
"You aren't going anywhere!" The deformed blonde roared in rage, launching a destroyed sign at her, which she dodged by flying into the air. "We will take our time ripping apart perfection! If you run, we'll kill someone for every second you're gone!"
Shit, she was in trouble!
Eve stared at the group in disbelief. She couldn't leave anymore, and she couldn't follow Darius's order. She couldn't leave people to die. It went against everything she stood for.
"Darius…I can't…what do I do?" She whispered with a look of distress on her face.
"[I…Shit!]" Darius shouted. "[DAD!]"
— Darius Johnson —
"DAD!" I shouted, running out of the room with my headset still atop my head. I quickly rushed down the stairs and spotted both of my parents. My mom was wearing a tank top and jeans, while my dad was only wearing his pants.
Fuck, they chose a time like this?!
"What's wrong, Darius?!" My mother asked frantically, quickly making herself more presentable.
"One of my best friends…she's in trouble! There are villains attacking her, and she needs help!"
Shock displayed on both of their faces. My mother quickly ran over to me, pulling me into an embrace, while my father was frozen momentarily in his seat.
"Dad!" I shouted again, making him snap out of his frozen state as he stood up with a severe look, studying my face closely.
"Where?" His tone was so cold that it sent a shiver down my spine. In moments like these, I felt extremely happy he was my father and not an enemy.
"Just off of the Brook St Exit," I informed him, earning a quick nod. In a flash, he disappeared from my view and reappeared wearing his costume.
"I'll be back." And with those words, he was gone.
— Samantha Eve Wilkins —
"[Eve, my dad is on the way. Put up roadblocks on both sides of the road and fight defensively until he arrives!]" Darius said through the communication device as she blocked the slow attacks of the deformed humans with her powers. She looked back at the cars and shook her head. If she did that, cars would hit the barriers.
"[You don't have a choice! If they get in the way of the fight, they'll put you in danger, and they'll end up hurting themselves!]"
"Focus on us!" The blonde boy shouted, launching a winded back punch toward her. She managed to put up a shield at the last second, but the boy's hit broke through it and launched her backward. As she sat up, the hairs on the back of her neck tingled and she looked back to see a car barreling toward her. She dodged out of the way, narrowly avoiding what would have been her death.
As the deformed humans rushed her again, she was forced to decide. She raised her hand and summoned the barriers with her powers, causing approaching cars to slam on the brakes and swerve to a stop.
She smiled quickly at her efforts but that smile was wiped away as she saw one of the deformed humans running toward her. As it did, its arm fell to the ground, decaying off of its body, but it didn't stop its charge. Eve raised up her hand, ready to defend herself-
*FWOOOSH*
*BOOM*
An explosion of debris appeared just in front of Eve, forcing her to make a shield and cover herself. After the debris began to clear, she dropped the shield only to see a hero she knew well standing in front of her.
A black cape flapped in the wind behind the man, and his black and light gray suit clung tightly to his large, powerful body.
Nocturnus!
"[He made it.]" Darius breathed out in relief, making Eve's eyes widen as she looked at one of Earth's strongest heroes.
"D-Darius…are you telling me that Nocturnus is your father?!"
"I am."
She froze at the voice of not her friend, but his father.
"And I intend to hear all about what happened today from both of your mouths." Nocturnus said, turning around, and she could see his serious face.
"Y-Yes sir."
"Good." He nodded.
"Stay out of our way!" The only deformed villain that could speak shouted in rage as he and the other three rushed toward Nocturnus.
"...You all should have died in the womb." Nocturnus said, launching himself toward them.
*SPLAT*
Eve watched in horror as an explosion of blood coated the street. The most deformed looking human had been destroyed by Nocturnus, and she couldn't believe her eyes.
A large part of her felt like throwing up at the sight, and as much as she tried to fight the feeling, she couldn't hold it back for long. She turned around and released the contents of her stomach onto the ground.
— Lucan Johnson —
He stared down at his clothing to see it stained in blood. A small amount of disgust showed on his face. He never liked staining himself with the blood of the weak, so to quickly clean himself off, he flew into the air so fast that all the blood on his clothes flew off of him.
"That's better." He nodded then looked back down at the deformed humans.
"Y-You monster!" The blonde one shouted, his fists clenched in anger as he glared at his better.
Lucan tilted his head. A deformed member of a weak race, calling him a monster? Definitely one of the more significant moments of irony he's experienced since coming to Earth.
The tall, dark-skinned Viltrumite glared at the three remaining enemies. These had been the ones who set off his son, who had nearly forced his boy to tears?! Lucan couldn't believe it, not for a moment.
Ever since his son was born, he had tried to raise him the Viltrumite way, or at least the closest he could with Earth not suspecting anything. He had told his son about Viltrum, explained the truth of their Empire to him, and Lucan made the boy promise him he'd uphold loyalty to the Empire.
Yet, just minutes ago, he came down with a face filled with so much pain and worry.
Worse than that, it was all for a human girl.
A friend, yes, but a human, a lesser being.
And…worst of all, seeing his son in that upset state…it caused Lucan to feel so conflicted, more so than he'd been in the entirety of his life.
The bald Viltrumite shook his head, clearing his thoughts and glaring at the foes in front of him. Those deformed scum. They were to blame, and he'd do what should have been done at their births and take them out of this world!
"Bastard!" The blonde one shouted, grabbing some debris and launching it at Lucan, who took the hit without moving or flinching. The blonde paused at the sight before glaring with even more rage than before. "We'll kill-"
That was as far as he got before Lucan dropped down right in front of him faster than anyone could see. Lucan looked at the two deformed humans on either side of the blonde, grabbed both of their heads and slammed them into one another, destroying both of their brains in less than a few milliseconds.
*SPLAT*
"-you…" The blonde finished, now covered in the blood of his siblings. Lucan watched in twisted pleasure as surprise slowly consumed the boy's face, then fear, then grief, and then back to rage. "I'll-"
*BAM*
*SQUELCH*
The blonde couldn't even get to say another word. The deformed boy slowly looked down to see Lucan's large hand within his stomach, piercing all the way through the other side.
The boy looked up at Lucan in disbelief before dropping to the ground.
Lucan looked down at the boy, not feeling much better than before. There was still a lot on his mind, and even spending some time messing around hadn't cleared his head of it yet.
Suddenly the girl, Darius' friend, rushed past him and dropped down to her knees, cradling the dying deformed boy in her arms.
"Wait…you called me your sister earlier, what did you mean?!" The ginger girl asked frantically.
The dying boy looked at her, the light leaving his eyes as he opened his mouth and spoke. "...W-We were imperfect creations m-made in light of your p-p-perfection."
"What does that mean?!" The girl questioned, tears beginning to well in her eyes.
The boy pointed at her. "One." Then he pointed at himself. "Two." Then he pointed at the bodies of the two Lucan crushed the heads of. "Three, four." And finally, he pointed at the remains of the first one Lucan killed. "Five. Each of us made after you, growing weaker and less useful with each one that came."
The girl held the boy a bit tighter as he coughed up some blood. "O-Our lives…t-they were bad—we just w-wanted to be looked at…as m-more." The boy clenched the girl's hand tightly. "So—rry…Eve."
His hand dropped to the ground as the light ultimately left his eyes, leaving behind a traumatized girl who began to weep against her brother's deceased corpse.
Lucan watched the girl weep with mixed feelings. He knew nothing of this girl, and yet, as he watched tears spill out of her eyes, he knew his son wouldn't be happy with this result, with his friend crying around the corpses of her family, and once again, he hated the feeling it brought to his chest.
"Girl," Lucan said in a deep voice filled with forced indifference, crouching down to her level. The girl, Eve, began sniffling and forced herself to look at him. Lucan looked at her hesitantly, not wanting to involve himself more than he had to, but ultimately, he was here to help his son. "The earpiece, give it to me."
Eve nodded slowly, reaching into her ear and pulling out the piece. Lucan grabbed it and put it in.
"[Dad…]"
The sound of his son's saddened voice amplified the feeling in his chest beyond anything else. The older man clenched his fist tightly and gnashed his teeth together.
"Darius, it's done."
Sirens in the distance and Eve's sniffling were the only sounds that could be heard for a long while before Darius spoke again.
"[This isn't over…someone caused all of this. Dad…they need to pay.]"
Lucan stood up from his place in the middle of the street and looked up to the sky. He leveled an annoyed glare at the sky.
For the first time today, he and his son agreed.
*FWOOOSH*
— Chapter End —
Beta Reader: Basilisk Dragonboy1