by Lucas Flint
The Neo-Killer began walking up to me, never lowering the gun or turning it to the side. Uh oh. My powers still hadn’t come back yet. It would just take one well-placed bullet from the Neo-Killer’s gun to kill me. Luckily, the Neo-Killer was still ranting about his origin, so I still had time to save myself.
“Then why did you come after me?” I said. I glanced at the mechanical claw wrapped tightly around my body. “I didn’t kill your family.”
The Neo-Killer stopped less than a foot away from me. He was a few inches taller than me, but with all of his armor, I felt like I was standing before a giant. “Originally, I wanted to kill the Pokacu, but when you blew up the Mother World, that killed all of the Pokacu, which left none for me to kill. I was confused about this at first until I learned that you were responsible for the second invasion happening in the first place.”
The Neo-Killer leaned forward until our faces were mere inches apart. “I learned that you allowed a Pokacu from the first invasion—a Pokacu named Graalix—to escape Earth and return to the Mother World. With the information that Graalix had, the Mother World staged a successful invasion of Earth, which would have resulted in the complete destruction of the human race if you hadn’t destroyed her.”
Oh. I had forgotten about that, but what he said was basically correct. “I didn’t know Graalix would try to escape Earth or that he would even survive and bring back a new army. None of that is my responsibility.”
The Neo-Killer laughed, his spittle flying in my face. “Not your responsibility? Please. You could have killed Graalix at any time and kept him from coming back to Earth. Instead, you allowed him to escape, which eventually resulted in the destruction of San Francisco and the death of my family. I wasn’t a fan of supers before I learned that, but after I did, I became their worst enemies.”
“How did you even find out about this?” I said. “It isn’t like you can just go online and read about it on Wikipedia.”
“A man told me,” said the Neo-Killer. “A man who claimed to be intimately familiar with your situation. He helped open my eyes to the reality of superhumans, to how evil your kind really is. Most importantly, however, this man opened my eyes to your vileness and gave me the motivation I needed to become the Neo-Killer.”
The Neo-Killer grabbed my neck and wrapped his hand around my throat, making me gasp in pain. “The reason I didn’t go after you immediately was because I knew I needed training. So I went on the black market and attained a large amount of illegal powerless gas. Using that gas, I then began killing supers at random, getting better and better at killing supers with each successful kill. Think of the ones I killed before you as practice, while you are the grand finale, what I have been working toward for the past few months. Once I kill you, I will have achieved my purpose in life.”
The Neo-Killer placed the barrel of his gun against my forehead. His mouth twisted into the maddest grin I had ever seen on another human being’s face. “Now that you know my story, I hope you finally understand why you must die today.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
My vision narrowed. My eyes locked onto the trigger of his gun. His trigger finger was already pressing against the trigger, about to depress it and shoot a bullet into my head. This was it. There was nothing I could do to save myself.
Right before the Neo-Killer could pull the trigger, I heard heavy footsteps echoing off the concrete floor and then a fist came out of nowhere and slammed into the side of the Neo-Killer’s face.
The Neo-Killer yelled in surprise. He pulled the trigger and fired the gun, but because he had been punched off balance, the gun fired into the ceiling, rather than into my face. The echo of the gunshot made me wince, while baby Joey continued to cry as loudly as ever if not louder thanks to the sound of the gunshot scaring him.
The Neo-Killer staggered to the side, rubbing his face and wearing a bewildered expression. “What … who did that …”
I was about to ask the same question when a figure stepped into my view. I had never seen this guy before. He wore a sleek, black leather costume, which emphasized his muscular physique quite well. He wore a motorcycle-style helmet, although it was stylized to resemble the head of a hawk somewhat. He had no weapons from what I could tell, but he looked more than strong enough to take care of himself in a fight.
“Who are you?” said the Neo-Killer, staring at the newcomer in astonishment.
The newcomer did not speak. He just held up his fist, like he was warning the Neo-Killer to stay back. Actually, it looked more like he was threatening the Neo-Killer, which I found strange, given how he was unarmed.
“Freya, who is this?” said the Neo-Killer, glancing up at the screen.
“How am I supposed to know?” said Freya. “I didn’t even sense him enter through the front door. He somehow made it through my security systems without being noticed.”
“Must be another super,” said the Neo-Killer. He looked over at me suddenly. “Should have known you would have brought backup. If there’s one thing I know about supers, it is that you guys are a bunch of compulsive liars who can’t even begin to tell the truth. Oh, well. You knew what would happen if you brought backup.”
The Neo-Killer suddenly pointed his gun at Joey’s cradle, but before he could fire, the newcomer drew some kind of disk out of his pocket and hurled it at the Neo-Killer. The disk slammed into the side of the Neo-Killer’s gun, suddenly making it vanish into thin air.
“What the hell?” said the Neo-Killer, looking at his empty hand in shock. “What happened to my gun?”
“A teleportation disk,” said Freya. “Somehow, he got his hands on some of Genius’ disks.”
The newcomer didn’t speak. He just rushed toward the Neo-Killer, who drew his knife from his belt to defend himself. The Neo-Killer slashed at the newcomer, but the newcomer dodged the knife and slammed both of his fists into the Neo-Killer’s stomach. The Neo-Killer gasped in pain and dropped his knife, but then the newcomer followed it up with a kick to the abdomen, sending him falling onto the floor with a thunk.
I couldn’t believe my eyes. I had no idea who this guy was, but he seemed to be on my side. Which meant that now was the perfect time to figure out how to get the hell out of here before the Neo-Killer recovered.
As soon as those thoughts passed through my head, however, the claw began constricting around my body. I gasped but was unable to do anything, because my powers were still negated and the metal claw was much stronger than me.
“Don’t get cocky, son of Genius,” said Freya, her voice echoing through the Vault. “Just because Dave has been taken out doesn’t mean I have, too. I will still kill you, with or without the Neo-Killer, because you deserve to die.”
Feeling the air squeezing out of me, I looked at the newcomer and shouted, in a strangled voice, “Help!”
The newcomer must have heard me because he stopped kicking the Neo-Killer and rushed over to me. He moved faster, his long legs allowing him to make great strides. As he ran, his fist began to glow with some kind of red energy, which made me wonder what his powers were until he leaped into the air toward the mechanical claw, pulling back his red fist as he flew.
With a roar, the newcomer slammed his glowing red fist into the claw’s joint. The claw’s joint exploded, causing it to let go of me and crash down onto the floor all around me. At the same time, the wiring above sparked and crackled, raining down sparks on me, but I didn’t care. I just fell to my hands and feet, gasping for breath as the newcomer landed a few feet behind me, the red energy around his hand dissipating.
“How dare you!” Freya shrieked. “I’ll kill you first, then, since you obviously want to die!”
A second mechanical arm shot out of the ceiling toward the newcomer, but the newcomer’s fist glowed with crimson energy again and he slammed his fist into the arm right before it hit him. This time, red energy crackled up and down the arm for a moment before the entire arm exploded, sending fiery, metallic debris flying everywhere and forcing me
to cover my head to avoid getting hit by the shrapnel.
“You jerk!” Freya screamed. “How dare you destroy my other arm! How dare you!”
The newcomer, however, seemed to stop paying attention to Freya, because he walked over to me and helped me to my feet. He didn’t say one word through all of this, but I felt like I could trust him just the same.
“Thanks for the save, man,” I said, shaking slightly as I wiped the sweat off my brow. “I don’t know who you are, but I appreciate your help any—”
I was interrupted when Joey’s crying suddenly turned to screams of terror. The newcomer and I looked over at his cradle and saw that another one of those Security Spiders had picked up his cradle between its pincers.
“She’s trying to kill the baby!” I said in horror, but the newcomer didn’t hesitate.
With a grunt, the newcomer rushed toward the Security Spider. This time, both of his fists began glowing crimson red and he leaped into the air. With a yell, the newcomer crashed both fists down onto the Security Spider, his fists smashing into and through its metallic hide. The Security Spider dropped Joey’s cradle onto the desk and staggered backward, while the newcomer continued to smash his fists along its back, making huge holes wherever his fists struck.
But I didn’t care about that. I ran over to Joey and looked down at the baby. He was still screaming his head off, tears running down his baby face, but as far as I could tell, he was just spooked, not harmed. Of course, if he ended up surviving all of this, he might need therapy when he’s older.
Two hands suddenly wrapped around my neck and yanked me back. I gasped and grabbed at the hands, trying to break their grip on my throat, but the hands had a grip like iron and my powers were still negated.
“Forget about me, kid?” said the Neo-Killer’s husky voice in my ear. “I didn’t forget about you. No matter how many of your friends back you up, I’m going to make sure you don’t leave this Vault alive ever again.”
I couldn’t respond, so instead, I kicked back with my foot and hit him in the groin. The Neo-Killer gasped in pain behind me and his grip on my throat loosened, allowing me to rip off his hands and whirl around and punch him in the face.
My punch was a lot weaker than normal, thanks in no small part due to the fact that I was still powerless. Nonetheless, my fist hit home and sent him staggering backward. I lashed out with another punch, slamming my fist into his face again, and then followed it up with a kick, but the Neo-Killer caught my leg and spun around, throwing me behind him.
I hit the floor hard and rolled, just narrowly avoiding his boot as it came crashing down on my head. Rising to my feet, I rushed toward the Neo-Killer again and threw another punch at him. This time, the Neo-Killer dodged the punch and responded with several punches of his own. He must have been wearing some kind of thick gloves, because each punch landed like a pile driver, hitting me in the chest and aggravating my knife wound from before, which was still not entirely healed yet.
With a yell, the Neo-Killer kicked me in the stomach hard enough to send me stumbling backward. I lost my balance and fell on my behind, holding my hands out behind me to break the fall.
Panting and sweating, I tried to get back up, but winced at the pain in my abdomen and stopped. It felt like something had broke inside me, which, given all of the punishment I had taken, was certainly possible. My costume was very protective, but it could only protect me from so much when I was powerless.
The Neo-Killer must have noticed because he cracked a grin and said, “Is that despair I see on your face, kid? I hope it is. I hope you are feeling the same sense of despair which every man, woman, and child on this planet felt when they saw San Francisco’s destruction. The same despair that nearly drove me to suicide when I learned of my own family’s death … and your part in it. Makes you want to die, huh?”
I didn’t answer, mostly because I was too tired, but also because I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of answering his question. The newcomer was still distracted by the Security Spider, which meant I was all on my own against the Neo-Killer.
Suddenly, strength flooded my bones and body like a river overflowing with power. And that was how I knew that my powers were back, but the Neo-Killer did not. He was still grinning like I was still under the effects of powerless gas. He wouldn’t be smiling for very long, though.
Slowly rising to my feet, I said, “I’m not going to die, Neo-Killer. You kept talking about vengeance earlier, about avenging your family by killing me. Well, I’m going to avenge people important to me, too, the people who you hurt, and I am going to do it by beating you. No more innocent superhumans will have to die or end up in the hospital because of you.”
The Neo-Killer snorted. “You supers are so delusional. ‘Innocent’ superhumans … what a joke. But enough of your jokes. I’m not laughing anymore. When you die, every single superhuman in the world will come to know the name of the Neo-Killer … know it, and tremble.”
The Neo-Killer rushed toward me, his hands balled into tight fists. I didn’t move, however. I was waiting for the right moment to strike, mentally counting down the seconds. If I attacked too early, I would give him time to respond and maybe even escape. If I attacked too late, however, he might be able to take me down. It all came down to timing now.
I raised my own fist and, at the last possible second, swung it at the Neo-Killer’s face. The Neo-Killer, seeing my fist come, raised both of his arms in front of his face. Right before my own fist struck his arms, I saw a smirk cross his lips as he no doubt thought about what his next move was going to be.
Too bad I never got to learn what it was, because when my fist struck his arms, a loud crack could be heard and the Neo-Killer went flying backward. He flew through the air straight and true, not even screaming as he flew like a thrown baseball.
I got one last look at the Neo-Killer’s face—distorted with fear, hate, and surprise—before he crashed into Freya’s screen with a loud boom.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Panting, I stared up at the smashed screen on the wall above us. A large hole the exact shape and size of the Neo-Killer stood in the center of it, with big ugly cracks running from hole along the rest of the screen. Bits and pieces of the screen fell onto the floor below with a soft twinkle, while an eerie silence had fallen over the whole Vault. I found it weird that Freya wasn’t saying anything, but perhaps she was just too shocked by the Neo-Killer’s defeat to say anything.
Rolling my shoulders, I waited to see if the Neo-Killer would jump out of the screen to resume out fight, but he never did. Not surprising. He may have been a good fighter and a strong man, but he was still just a normal human. The punch alone should have killed him. That he crashed into the screen should have killed him for sure.
I killed a man. That thought would have disturbed me normally, but then I looked over at Joey’s cradle, where he was still crying, and I told myself I did the right thing. Anyone who threatened innocent children deserved to get punched.
Shaking my fist, I flew over to Joey’s cradle and rested on the floor in front of him. “Hey, buddy, it’s going to be all right. Uncle Kev is here to take you home. Sorry about all of the noise. Some very bad people tried to do bad things to you, but I made sure to stop them.”
As soon as I spoke, Joey stopped crying. He looked up at me with big, curious eyes. I smiled at him, relieved that Joey had stopped crying.
Then I heard heavy footsteps and looked up. The newcomer—the man with the red fists—was walking toward me. Behind him lay the broken and shattered remains of the Security Spider, which looked less like a menacing robotic guard and more like a pile of scrap metal now. The man himself was completely unharmed. He didn’t even seem to be winded from his fight.
The man stopped a few feet away from me. His helmet hid his face so I couldn’t say what he was thinking, but he seemed to be watching me warily as if he wasn’t sure whether he could trust me or not.
Not knowing who he was, I nonetheless
smiled at him. “Thanks, uh—”
“Fisticuffs,” the man said. His voice was soft, yet familiar, though I wasn’t sure where I heard it before. “Call me Fisticuffs.”
I blinked. “I didn’t know you could talk.”
Fisticuffs said nothing. He merely folded his arms in front of his chest, as if that was all he planned to say to me. Kind of weird.
“All right, Fisticuffs,” I said slowly, “are you with the NHA? Did Brains send you?”
Fisticuffs shook his head but still said nothing.
“G-Men?”
Shook his head.
“INJ?”
Shook his head again.
I frowned. “What are you, then? Just a random super who decided to help me because it’s the right thing to do?”
Fisticuffs looked down at the floor. “I am trying to find the answer to that same question, although I think I am close to finding out the answer.”
I was about to ask him what he meant by that when a loud siren suddenly began wailing throughout the Vault. I slammed my hands over my ears to protect my hearing, but even that wasn’t enough to block out the monotone, automated voice blaring out from the speakers:
“ATTENTION! VAULT B SELF-DESTRUCT SEQUENCE HAS BEGUN! IN ONE MINUTE, VAULT B WILL SELF-DESTRUCT. ANYONE STILL WITHIN VAULT B WHEN IT SELF-DESTRUCTS WILL DIE!”
“What the hell?” I said, looking up at the speakers in alarm. “Did that voice just say the Vault is going to explode?”
Fisticuffs nodded. “It appears so.”
“It must be Freya,” I said. “She knows she can’t kill me now, so she’s going to blow the entire Vault to kingdom come just to get me. What a witch.”
I looked down at my waist and saw Dad’s Teleportation Buckle still firmly attached. “Not a problem. I’ll just teleport Joey and myself out of here.” I looked up at Fisticuffs. “Come with me. I can teleport all three of us out of here if you—”