This World

by Lee, TD

  My hands reach into my pockets and I pull out my wallet. I pull out the picture of Hiro and Meteor and slam it onto the bar counter a lot harder than I initially planned which causes a lot of the nearby patrons to look over in our direction.

  I try to speak as confidently as I possibly can, “H-here. This is my b-b-best friend, he loves you. He’s your biggest fan for as long as I’ve known him and he has always loved you. He would defend you like his life depended on it. He would attend Hero Con every year in the hopes of seeing you and would even dress up like you. He treasured this picture of you guys and has kept it all this time. If you think you don’t have any fans that will stick around, then you thought wrong.”

  Meteor glances at the picture as he takes a sip of his drink. He stares at it, his eyes looking a bit sad. Meteor takes a moment just looking at the picture before returning his focus back at the drink in his hand. He questions me stoically, “Then why isn’t your friend here if he’s my biggest fan?”

  “Um, uh, w-well,” I try to answer, but my heart drops a bit to acknowledge reality, “h-h-he died recently.”

  Meteor pauses, I can tell he’s squeezing the glass in his hand tightly by the straining in his wrist. He sighs, “See what I mean kid? No fan will last.” Goddammit!

  “He died following your footsteps!” I raise my voice and even hit the bar counter again out of frustration. While other patrons would look over at me again, Meteor just gives me the side-eye. “He always dreamed of being a superhero like you and when he finally became one, he was so happy. Because of you, you inspired him to become someone amazing. He wanted to be super like you because you were and would still be, if he were alive, his role model.”

  Meteor quiets down for a bit. He doesn’t say anything, just his eyes darting between looking at the picture and his drink. Did I lose him? I really can’t tell if this guy is still interested in keeping this conversation with me or not. Kirika would’ve been way better at this than me. She probably would’ve convinced him by now. Maybe there’s something else I can say about Hiro to draw this guy in?

  “He fought with you before, you know. You called him MechaKnight and he was so excited about it. That made his night. You even saved him when he was a kid and that’s why he always looked up to you. Through any sort of scandal or problem you had, he would be your number one supporter. He never doubted you for a second and always believed in you.

  Meteor pauses again, swirling the glass he has in his hand. He doesn’t look at me at all which makes me a bit concerned. “Thanks for the pep talk kid, but it doesn’t matter anymore does it?” he grumbles quietly, “Hiro deserved a better role model than me.”

  Did he just say what I think he just said? He actually knew Hiro?

  Before I can question what he said, he reminds me, “You wanted to ask me something?”

  “Oh, right, yeah,” I say, I have to remember why I’m talking to this guy in the first place, “I’m here to ask if you can help with a case.”

  “Case? You some sort of gumshoe?” he questions.

  What am I really to the agency? If Adele is a detective and I’m working for her would that make me her assistant or something? She never gave me a title so I’m not even sure what I am. “Um, well, not really. More like a gumshoe assistant if I were to have a description.”

  “Who do you work for?”

  Is it safe for me to answer that honestly? I don’t know if there’s any danger in telling people that Adele is a detective. I feel like there isn’t, but I answer, “I work with AKA.”

  “And what case are you guys even working on?”

  “It’s, uh, well,” I stammer with my words. Oh God, I don’t even know what this case is even really about. What do I do? With how long I’m taking, Meteor gives me a weird look. “Um, uh.”

  A heavy hand grabs my shoulder and violently pulls me back. When I see the person grabbing me, I’m surprised by her presence. “Ainia?”

  “I’m getting you out of here!” Ainia angrily says in a hushed voice. Her eyes wander around quickly as if she knows something is about to happen.

  “What? Why?”

  “Don’t ask questions, we have to go!” Ainia pulls me up and I almost fall off of the stool. She drags me as I pull against her. What’s with her? And how did she know that I’m here? With her being so forceful with me, people in the bar are focusing their attention on us. This is embarrassing.

  Dom drops down from the upper floor in front of Ainia to stop her. “Yeah, you’re not going to do that. If you value anything about yourself, you’ll want to let go.”

  “Get out of my way or I’ll move you myself,” Ainia threatens. Dom doesn’t move which provokes Ainia to take a jab at Dom with her umbrella.

  Dom angrily swats it away and warns Ainia with a scarily serious tone, “Don’t touch me.”

  Ainia aggressively leans forward, which drags me forward a bit, and feistily says back, “Then get out of my way.”

  Interrupting Dom and Ainia’s soon to happen battle is a loud sound of shattering glass accompanied with panicked shrieks. People start scattering around the bar and make their way to the entrance. What’s going on? There’s loud thuds upstairs and several people fall from the upper floor. It’s absolute chaos in here.

  “What the hell?” Dom mutters, her eyes watching all of the scrambling and falling people within the bar.

  Kirika jumps down in full superhero garb, wielding her twin spears. “Not sure who these invaders are, but they are intent on trying to kidnap a rather young girl upstairs. Your friend outside, Dom, is currently fighting upstairs as well, assistance would be great,” Kirika fills us in on what’s happening and then jumps back up to the upper floor.

  “Damn, Ridley you stay low,” Dom advises, running up the stairs.

  Ainia doesn’t waste a single second as she pulls me again, “Let’s go! I knew these guys were going to come in here, this is the time to leave!”

  I resist her pulling which only causes her to get more upset at me than she already was. Why is she so aggressive with me today? How did she know I was even here?

  After fighting back and forth about who owns my arm, Ainia grumbles in frustration, “Oh my God. I didn’t want to do this, but I have no choice.” Ainia ducks low and I’m quickly listed into the air. I try to fight her, but she positioned me over her shoulders that doesn’t give me much wiggle room.

  “Ainia! Put me down! Put me down! Why are you doing this!?” I yell. Even though I know it’s for nothing, I keep trying to wiggle out of her grasp.

  “Would you just shut up for two seconds!?” Ainia angrily snaps at me as she tries to take me out of the bar.

  As Ainia steps out through the door, I look back at the bar and don’t see Meteor anywhere. Did he leave? I try to see what’s happening upstairs, but all I can hear are people grunting and yelling. Dom, Kirika, and Shiko can definitely handle their own. Or at least I really hope they can, I don’t even know what these invaders look like.

  Once we’re outside the windows, we’re accompanied by the customers and employees of the bar that are just staring at the bar. More glass shatters and rains down. A loud thud lands next to me and Ainia and I see a limp body in a tight black suit lying on the ground. Following the flying body are similarly dressed people jumping out of the window and quickly scaling the walls. One of these people is carrying a screaming girl in his arms. Soon after Dom, Kirika, and Shiko jump out the window and land safely on the ground. Shiko, who has become a little bit bigger with three ghostly heads, doesn’t stop and continues to follow the black suited people. Kirika follows, but Dom notices that Ainia is carrying me.

  “You’re still here? Put Ridley down!” Dom orders Ainia.

  “Or what? Ridley is under my guardianship and needs to return home now!” Ainia retorts, matching Dom’s volume in her yelling.

  Dom’s brows arch in anger. She says, “Return home? Just because you fail to communicate with the people under your guardianship doesn’t mean you need to be
a bitch.” Dom takes a quick glance at Shiko and Kirika. “Either you come with us and help since you’re so intent on keeping Ridley near you or I can report you to HERO and notify how you repeatedly fail to keep Ridley out of your care. I’m sure the latter isn’t a good thing for you.”

  Ainia’s breaths become loud and deep. I can hear her grinding her teeth. After a few seconds, she lets me down and says, “Fine, you win.”

  “Good,” Dom responds.

  Coming out of the bar is Taron who is a bit beat up himself, he says to Dom, “Can you help me get her back Dom? I’m sorry that you’re pulled into this.”

  “It’s fine, I was planning on helping anyway. My associates are on their tail right now, we have to go now if we want to try to get them,” Dom says, taking off running.

  Taron follows after and Ainia is about to run, but notices I haven’t moved yet. She turns and says, “Let’s go! Stop being a pain in the ass!” She turns back around and starts running.

  “Right, right,” I say following Ainia.

  We try to follow these black suited people the best we can. They keep jumping from rooftop to rooftop, trying to lose us. We’re taken through alleys and streets with no chance of taking a break. If I’ve counted correctly, there’s seven of these black suited people. Kirika jumps high and starts tailing them on the rooftop with Shiko trying to run ahead to try to intercept them. These people are so acrobatic that any time Kirika would’ve gotten them, they slip from her grasp. Dom and Taron keep their heads up to try to follow the black suited movements.

  We’re led to a train plaza that was completely abandoned until we showed up. The tracks lead into a dark cave. On the tracks are several train cars with the one closest to us being an open platform. All of the black suited people land on the last train car and I can hear the train starting to move.

  “Shiko, break the link of the last train car!” Dom orders as she’s trying to catch her breath from all of the running.

  Shiko barks and lunges into the air. Shiko is encompassed by a bright light and within a flash he grows even larger with two actual additional heads as well as a hellish looking spiked tail and sharp nails. Shiko lands in between the last train car effectively breaking it and his heads attempt to bite and grab the black-suited people.

  All of the black-suited people scatter, but notice that they are closed in with no escape, unless they can somehow teleport.

  Taron steps forward and orders with a commanding voice, “Give back the girl.”

  One of the black-suited people, the one holding the girl in particular starts maniacally laughing. Now that they’re not actually moving I have a better look at these people. They’re dressed in black leather and chains. Some have hoods and masks over their faces. The one that maniacally laughs unhoods themselves and what I see is a dangerously pale man with bloodshot eyes.

  “Oh you got to be shitting me,” Taron mutters.

  Dom shares the same sentiments as Taron as she asks, “Why the hell are you here Genma?”

  Genma maniacally cackles again, speaking in an intensively crazy tone, “I must do everything I can for Lord Brycen! Lord Brycen will help me! He will give me whatever I want!”

  “If you know what’s good for you, you would all surrender now before things get more altercated,” Kirika warns, doing her best to retain her usual calm composure.

  “There’s no point trying to talk sense into him, he’s already out of his mind. Just a submissive freak working for a horrible corporation,” Dom remarks with anger in her voice.

  Genma cackles even louder. The echoes of his cackling sounds like a pack of hyenas are surrounding us.

  “I forgot how bat shit weird you are,” Dom sighs, “just give us back the girl and we don’t have to repeat what happened during the tournament okay? Okay, sounds good so we’ll take the girl back now.”

  Genma cackles again, his body starts to contort strangely, his shoulders bending back in an inhuman angle. He drops his head down, angling until his head is completely horizontal. His piercing eyes creepily stare at Dom as he continues to cackle like a hyena, “Oh, Dom, Dom, Dom. Can’t we go back to the good days of when we would be on the beach and-”

  Dom immediately interrupts, her cheeks flustered red, “We’re not talking about that! Oh, to hell with it. Time to kick your ass Genma.”

  Dom and Taron run towards Genma. The other black suited people stand in their way and a battle ensues. Kirika joins in, but Shiko stays put to continue to block a potential exit for Genma. Genma tries to escape, but Dom or Kirika would block his exit, however he’s so agile that he immediately dodges any sort of attack coming his way. The other black suited people are agile in their own right, but not to the extent of Genma. Genma is such a strange contortionist as he will bend and angle his body in such inhuman looking positions that they look painful and insect-like. Genma never releases the unconscious girl in his arms though, somehow being able to keep her out of grabbing distance of Dom, Kirika, and Taron.

  Taron’s a strong fighter in his own right, he seems to favor heavy and hard punches than anything else. I think I even saw him do a body slam on someone that effectively knocks them out. He’s able to take several punches due to his larger frame. A kick comes his way, he grabs and easily picks up the leg just to slam the attached body down to the ground.

  Kirika is just as quick and agile of a fighter that I remember her to be. She uses her twin spears to keep her enemies at a good distance away that is good for her, but not good for the black suited people that she’s up against. The way she’s using two spears is so interesting as she’s flip and twirl them around that it makes it really difficult to keep track of where she would attack next. It may not seem like it, but Kirika is pretty strong too as she is able to use just her lances to fling any of her enemies high into the air. Any time she would fling someone to the air, she’d jump high and slam them back down. Glad she’s on my side.

  Shiko is keeping the train tunnel guarded, using all three of his heads to snappily bite anyone who gets close, mostly Genma. Each of the heads are snarling angrily, some flames and smoke seep their way out of the edges of their respective heads. Every so often, if there are multiple people near Shiko, he would swipe at them with his giant paw.

  Ainia and I just stand nearby. It doesn’t seem like Ainia is intent on just making me leave with her anymore, especially after Dom’s threat earlier. She has her hand readily on her umbrella. Now that I notice, why is she always carrying an umbrella with her? It’s not raining or even sunny out right now. She does use it as a weapon a lot so maybe it’s just her weapon of choice? There’s a stern look on her face as she watches the battle ahead. There’s not a single moment that she’s missing, almost like she’s just analyzing the situation.

  “Hehehehehe, are you getting tired Dom? You’re not the same as you were on the island!” Genma chuckles loudly dodging each of Dom’s attacks.

  “Shut up you freak!” Dom yells, throwing a punch designated for Genma’s head. Around her hand glows a wispy blue flame.

  Genma continues to dodge any attacks the go his way, he taunts Dom, “Must not be easy after what Lord Brycen did to you after all! You’re not even fully human anymore!”

  “Shut the hell up!” Dom angrily yells, I never knew she could possess such frustration since she always seems so bored all the time. Dom lifts her right leg and bends it awkwardly. A large rocket shoots out of her knee.

  Genma dodges the rocket. The rocket strays for Shiko who quickly dodges, leaving the blast to hit the top of the tunnel. Genma uses this opportunity to escape and makes quick strides to get into the tunnel.

  Large flaming balls fall from the sky and block the train tunnel that Shiko was previously guarding. I look at the sky and see a figure quickly fly away, but couldn’t make out who it was. With Genma’s focused exit being blocked again, Dom was able to grab a hold of Genma and throws him to the ground. Genma releases the unconscious girl in the air, but luckily Taron catches her.

 
; Dom has Genma’s head facing the hard floor. His muffled voice continues to cackle, “Oh Dom, doesn’t this bring back great memories? You and everyone else on the beach, the sand at your feet, your bouncing b-”

  “For the last time, shut up!” Dom snaps back. She lifts Genma’s head and slams it into the floor, effectively knocking him out. But she keeps going, and going, and going. She’ll kill the guy at this rate!

  Taron runs over to Dom and yells at her, “Dom stop! He’s already out, you can stop now! The storm is over!”

  Dom snaps back into realization. She immediately releases Genma and starts rapidly pacing. She’s holding herself and she looks a bit shaken. Is she okay?

  Every single black suited person has been rendered unconscious. The group gathers together, Shiko reverts back to his puppy form and size. Kirika changes back into her casual clothes within a blink of an eye. No one gained any substantial amounts of damage, just some cuts here and there from what I can tell. Everyone definitely knew how to hold their own.

  “Everyone okay?” Taron asks.

  “Yes, who would have thought an old enemy of yours would be the one to attack your bar,” Kirika answers.

  “Enemy is taking it a bit far, but you’re not wrong. Guess this means the Kilmer Corporation is still up and running,” Tarons responds.

  “What is the Kilmer Corporation?” Kirika asks.

  Taron briefly explains, “The Kilmer Corporation fronts as a medical testing corporation when in reality they engineer biological weapons with all sorts of horrible experiments being done to anything you can think of. They were the host of the Master of Intense Martial Arts tournaments where they would have experimented and forced some sort of inhumane thing on the champion. Dom, here, can tell you that from firsthand experience.”

  All of us look at Dom who stops pacing around shies her eyes away, keeping it to the ground. “All of that is in the past now, okay? No need to drudge up stupid shit. Taron, you have Ming’s and Vince’s numbers, let them know that the Kilmer Corporation still exists. Take this asshole and have him get locked up too.” Dom tosses Genma’s unconscious body effortlessly towards Taron.