— Darius Johnson (Three Months Later) —
"I just don't understand how the Mauler Twins keep managing to escape! They're major threats that should have been thrown in a cell a long time ago." William vented, pacing back and forth around my room.
"Their intellect is a force to be reckoned with, isn't it?" Bethany pondered, her finger tapping her chin. "Remember when they outsmarted the Guardians?"
"Yeah, they did. Stunned them and dipped out of there. It was a smart move, but they got lucky Omni-Man wasn't there that time around." I shrugged.
"Why wasn't he?" William frowned.
"I don't know." I lied with a shrug. At the time of the second most recent attack, we were on the cruise, which is why Nolan couldn't be there. "It's not like he's a member of the Guardians anyway."
"Tch," William grunted before throwing himself on the bed. "Well, let's hope someone can take those guys down. Their recent attack…it was too far."
The Maulers recently launched an attack on a random street, which actually ended in the deaths of a couple dozen people. Apparently, it was an experiment gone wrong, and the Maulers fled the scene the moment it happened, which really wasn't their style.
"I have faith in our city's new heroes. They're rising up, and they might just be the ones to confront this menace." Bethany's voice was filled with hope as she crossed her arms.
"Yeah, but most of them are mid." William waved her off. "I mean, seriously, the only one that's seriously interesting is Solace."
Mark and I shared a glance at one another while Eve sent a glare William's way.
"The guy wears an outfit that we don't see heroes wearing, and it's totally badass! Not to mention, he acts a lot like Nocturnus and has a similar kit of powers. If anyone is stopping the Mauler twins, it's him, Omni-Man, or Nocturnus. Everyone else has been an embarrassment to heroing." William finished with a content smile.
Seeing Eve actually being pissed at William encouraged me to try and fix this situation a bit.
"What about Atom Eve?"
"...Who?" William raised an eyebrow. "Is that the girl that can duplicate herself?"
Ah, I may have made things worse.
"Nah, that's Dupli-Kate. Atom Eve is the girl that wears pink and patrols with Solace a lot." I tried explaining, and William's eyes lit in realization.
"Oh, how did I forget about her? She's pretty damn badass, and she helps Solace out a ton. What are her powers again? I saw she can create shields and stuff."
"Manipulation of atoms on the sub-atomic level." Mark supplied.
"Holy shit that sounds broken!" William shouted, and Bethany nodded along in surprise.
"It is." I agreed, glancing at Eve, who wasn't even hiding how proud she was of her abilities. "Subatomic Manipulation ain't no joke."
"Why the hell doesn't she do more then?" William tilted his head in confusion. "A power like that is so useful. If she can alter the atoms of everything, she could do a lot of good."
"From what I've seen, she can alter only non-living things." Mark rubbed the back of his head nervously as Eve returned right back to glaring. The whole alteration of living things was a bit of a sore spot for her since her deceased siblings weren't able to control it.
"Even with just that, she could still do so much!" William tapped his fist in his palm. "She could stop forest fires, bring water to the thirsty, food to the hungry, and, alone, end the need for basic necessities in so many places in this world."
The room went quiet with his words. I didn't need to look at Eve to know that she was considering such a thing, and while I had thought about her doing it, I didn't want her to do it yet. More than anything, I wanted her to gain more experience fighting villains while things were easy because we'd need her to know how to fight in a few years.
As her friend, I have no objection to what she wants if she enjoys helping others more than saving them.
"Well, all this superhero talk has me thirsty. Is it okay if I grab water, Darius?" Bethany asked, standing up from the bed.
"Of course, it's always fine." I waved at her nonchalantly before looking at Mark. "I'm pretty thirsty, and I'm sure Eve and William are as well." I gave them both a quick glance, and they nodded along with mischievous smiles on their faces. "So why don't you and Mark grab us some too?"
"U-Uh, w-wha-"
"You can do that for us, right?" I cut Mark off, throwing my arm over his shoulder.
"Of course!" Beth gave a happy smile. "Let's go, Mark."
Bethany walked out of the door, leaving behind Eve, William, myself, and a stunned Mark.
"Darius wha-"
"This is your chance, Mark!" I grabbed his shoulders and shook him. "I did all I could; now it's your job, soldier."
"We're rooting for you!" William sing-songed, which made Eve laugh.
"Yeah…right." Mark gulped down his nervousness and made his way out of the room.
"He's gonna fucking flop, isn't he?" I asked a few moments after he had left.
"Oh, most definitely." Eve nodded.
"Mark, taking the initiative? Yeah, that'll happen when pigs fly." William grinned, making a chorus of laughter echo throughout the room.
"Hey, who knows? Maybe he'll succeed."
— Later —
"I'm a failure…" Mark said with his face in my sheets.
William and Bethany had left for the night, leaving Eve, Mark and I in the room.
"Almost, buddy, almost," I called out from my chair, barely paying attention.
"Who am I kidding anyway…she's way out of my league."
I glanced back at him, feeling bad for being the reason he's like this. Bethany is one of the most popular girls in our school. And keep in mind that she—like the rest of us—is a freshman, while Mark is a bit of a nerd.
However, there's nothing wrong with that.
He honestly just needs to put himself out there instead of hesitating. He acts like he's going to lose his life if she rejects him.
Which she won't. And why do I think she won't?
Because she's literally the comic book Amber.
It took me a while to see it, but I couldn't unsee it once I did. He's destined to pull her; it's just a matter of time.
Eve walked over to Mark and tapped his back a few times, which caused him to look back at her slowly.
"You up for some comms?" She questioned, giving him an apologetic look.
He let out a deep sigh and sat up. "Yeah…I could use something to take my mind off of this."
"Good." I smiled and stood up. "I'll get changed." I walked over to my closet and grabbed my hero suit, then left the room and went to the bathroom.
Once I was entirely changed, I walked back to the room to see Eve leaning against the wall in her suit and Mark sitting at my desk, booting up the monitors.
"Ready?" I asked Eve, earning a nod from her as she pushed herself off the wall.
I opened the window and flew out of the room, she followed after me, and we soared high through the cool night air.
"There's a crime in progress-"
"Actually." I cut off Mark with a frown under my mask. "William…motivated me so to speak. I wanna find the Mauler twins and take them down."
"...The Maulers? You sure?" Eve asked curiously.
"Yeah, they're pretty strong and tanky, but they shouldn't be too hard to take down. Plus, I think we've graduated from fodder thugs, don't you?"
Eve looked at me for a moment before nodding. "I do, but how would we even find them?"
"Don't worry about that, I think I have an idea of where they might be," I smirked as we flew over the city. This night could go one of two ways, only one being beneficial for the Mauler twins, and both allowing me to get something out of it.
— Mauler Twins —
"This is why you're not the fucking original!" One of the Maulers snapped at the other, gritting his teeth in annoyance. "How the fuck did you manage to bomb the street?!" Thanks to his brother, the two were forced to abandon their old, decently equipped lab and head to a run-down location where they barely had what they needed.
"Mistakes happen." The other Mauler shrugged. "Also…since when did we start caring about lives? Sounds like something a clone would do."
"I couldn't care less about the lives of those worthless humans." Mauler #1 crossed his arms over his chest. "What I do care about is you making a bigger deal out of us even though we're trying to stay low-profile."
"Nothing we can't handle." Mauler #2 shrugged. "Mistakes are but a detour to success. I make and learn from mistakes, so I never fail because I am the original."
"You're the original clone, you fucking dumbass, that's for sure."
"Now you see…"
The Mauler twins both snapped their heads toward the hole in the roof of the run-down building.
"Me personally, I'm not taking that level of disrespect."
Both twins narrowed their eyes at the two heroes sitting with their feet dangling below the hole.
"Atom Eve and Solace." Mauler #1 glared at the two.
"Oh, you know us?" Solace asked with a tilt of his head. "That's good; that saves us about a minute."
"Tell us what the fuck we want or leave in a body bag, your call." Mauler #2 threatened the two heroes.
"...You didn't even tell me what you wanted." Solace stopped dangling his legs and dropped down from the hole.
"..."
"..."
"Jesus, for a pair of geniuses, you both sure are retarded." The young hero sighed.
"You're putting that nicer than I would." Eve snorted, making both Maulers glare at her.
"It's confirmed; you're the clone because I would never say something that fucking stupid." Mauler #1 crossed his arms with a deep frown. "Seriously, brother, just kill yourself or something. You're making us look bad."
"Yikers." Solace put his hand on his heart. "See, again, I'm not taking that, but then again, I'm not a bitch."
"Shut the fuck up!" Mauler #2 roared, rushing toward Solace.
— Darius Johnson (Solace) —
And he's running toward me…
Wow, these guys are dumb as fuck.
Eve got on the defensive, but I waved her off and pointed at the other Mauler. I didn't need help dealing with this one, but I didn't want to deal with both simultaneously. With her powers, Eve held her hands up and trapped the other one in a pink dome.
"Die!" He shouted, launching a powerful punch.
"Weave," I called out, dodging the hit, grabbing his arm, and twisting it as I moved behind him. He attempted to hit me with his other arm but couldn't reach me since I was behind him. I kicked the back of his knee, making one of his knees hit the ground, and then I grabbed his other arm and put one leg on his back, pulling both of his arms.
"...Please don't break my arms." He pleaded.
"Eh…no."
CRACK*
"ARGGHHHHHH!"
The other Mauler, who was still trapped, watched with a frown as his brother fell on his face, crying in pain.
"Oh man, that's…yikes." I rubbed the back of my hood. "I meant to do that, but I didn't expect the guy to cry. I just wanted to talk to you both."
"Talk?" Mauler #1 asked calmly.
I raised an eyebrow under my mask. Mauler #1 was considerably more competent than Mauler #2, and it has something to do with the first one being the original.
"Yes…talk."
I looked at Eve, who seemed confused, but needed her to trust me.
"How about you and your crippled twin give yourselves up and save us the trouble."
— Chapter End —
Beta Reader: Basilisk Dragonboy1