Falling is so loud.
It felt like the wind wanted to burst past my eardrums and into my head. Free falling probably wasn’t so bothersome to people with regular hearing, I wanted to plug my ears shut! The noise was definitely more concerning to me than the gloved fingers wrapped around my neck. I had RatKing right where I wanted him. The fancy bank was split in half, the Wolf stayed on the part that remained suspended in the sky, the Quasi-beast couldn’t do anything from all the way up there as it shrunk from my sight. I could’ve sworn that it roared at me or called out for its companion (owner?), I didn’t know. Regardless, my true adversary was all the way up there and I was stuck with the brains of the operation.
From this height, even if I used myself to break the fall, RatKing would probably die. Nothing gained… nothing lost.
That didn’t mean I wasn’t going to try, I was morally obligated to.
Big blue ocean waves get closer as I expected to become fully engulfed in salty seawater, feel the combined pressure of the entire ocean on my body and thinking of a way to explain to not only the cops but to the press about how I followed RatKing just so I could personally hear his bones shatter.
But that didn’t happen, instead we jolted upwards, only skimming across the ocean’s surfaces as we flew back to the coastline. We went over the docks and then entered right above the city's western side.
I was hanging upside down, something had hooked itself onto the fabric of my legs. I looked up to see RatKing standing on a purple hovercraft of sorts, it had sharpened pieces of metal sticking out of the front like mandibles, my leg was stuck on one of them.
I tried to free myself from the contraption but failed as the Villain steered it like a madman as if he didn’t have a human being tied to his ride.
Sadness overwhelms me as I simply pulled my leg and with that the entire leg of my costume is torn off. My mothers hard work, being taken away by that rat bastard. I should have let it go. The bank was absolutely destroyed, pieces of it fell onto the city and innocent bystanders most definitely got hurt. And besides, my mother was waiting for me back home. But something about RatKing just rubbed me the wrong way. I chased after him once again.
He stayed low to the city's skyline, convenient for me since I lacked flight abilities. I wasted no time in catching him though, and he definitely had no idea he was being pursued.
“You didn’t give me the faith of a one on one and you expect me to let you go?!” I yelled as I tackled him, sending us careening back from where we came from.
“Damn you!” he said indignantly.
RatKing tried desperately to go west, using his feet which were clamped into the hovercraft to move in different directions. I locked my feet around him and clung on his back like a jockey. He elbowed me in the sides frantically and even tried to headbutt me. I put my hands around his head, blocking his mask’s eye holes as he started to truly panic.
He went west while I pulled him south. I needed to get him back to the city and have him arrested but he seemed keen on not being put behind bars where he belongs. We spun around like an out of control firework rocket, RatKing flailing his arms as a pigeon drunk off a used bottle of cognac and if I was a bystander looking over inside a skyscraper or on the street, I’d be laughing even more than I already was.
I should have focused more on which police precinct or Hero HQ I wanted to take him to than laughing because I oversteered.
We were heading straight for the docks. More specifically, Jonah’s Marina.
Orange-stained sky with stray lines of white started to form as the day was reaching its end. Time has already had its effect, brick-and-mortar buildings that have stood for more than a century broken windows and foliage grow across the dark surface like veins. Graffiti art, amateur and professional, branded the landscape. Squirrels nested inside phone booths as falcons swooped from above and striking at scurrying rats hiding inside tall weeds. Lily pads and bulrush plants decorated the waterways, an ecosystem growing on top of what was once civilization.
Jonah’s marina was once a place where people lived, where families made a living, and prosperity was on the rise. Everything was going well… until a Villain washed it all away. Most of its inhabitants ended up at the bottom of the bay overnight.
And me and my good friend RatKing were about to crash land right into it.
The hovercraft whined violently as its owner did the best to ease the impact, until he powered off the engine (somehow).
We hit an abandoned a/c unit, which finally separated us. I landed on my two feet without much issue while RatKing went tumbling across the rooftop, skidding to the edge as he held on with one hand. There he was dangling like a fucking booger or a clump of knotted hair over multiple stories down of not-so-clean water.
I went over to check on him at a leisurely pace, if he knew how to pilot his own hovercraft then he must at least know how to doggie paddle. I looked down, wishing that he could see my smile. He looked back up, grunting as his grip loosened,
“You’re a miserable creature… I should have killed you when I had the chance!”
“Nice to see we are on the same page.” I hoisted him up to safety as I heard his heart relax.
He didn’t bother to stand, only remaining on the ground sitting in a slumped manner. I hopped on top of the beaten up a/c unit sitting crisscrossed as I watched RatKing intently. I should've dragged him straight to prison or at the very least hand him over to the nearest police department. But the best way to defeat your enemies is to figure out who they are. I had enough time, mom would leave some leftovers in the fridge.
This Villain didn’t seem physically imposing despite him being a foot taller than me, and whether or not it was his long black jacket that hid most of his form I imagined he wasn’t built at all. His get-up screamed “cowboy” mixed with a generic mad scientist that showed up more in comic books and movies than in real life. And like the jangle of spurs the steel on his bulky boots made plenty of noise at the slightest movement.
“I understand now. You’re both… a sadist… and… a masochist. I am truly damned, and God sent you to punish me.” RatKing uttered.
“I don’t believe in divine intervention. And neither should you… no one is saving you today.”
“Good. I don’t want to be saved, ma’am.”
“Don’t call me that.”
“Sorry, ma’am.”
This guy and his southern hospitality bullshit kept fanning my fiery temper so I changed the subject to something more light hearted. What was his deal? And what was that werewolf back at the bank, a science experiment?
“So… Mr. King-”
“No please, Mr. King was my father.”
I rolled my eyes, “RatKing. What possessed a Villain such as yourself to rob a bank?”
“Sport….”
“So this is all one big game to you? And that monster, is it your hunting dog?”
A surge of energy overtook him as his heart beat shot up, his voice grew loud and harsh, “He has a name! And he’s just as much a monster as you are. I bet that’s why you wear a mask. Can’t stand to look at a mirror?”
“You’re one to talk, Villain!” Now I had my arms crossed and my feet were twitching like crazy.
“And most importantly, I am an outlaw. Not a Villain.”
I was caught off guard, my brain was short circuiting for a couple of moments.
“That hole in your arm? It wasn’t a Villain who did it.”
I felt like I was blacking out. A horrible sensation ran across my skin and into my spine. I had to calm down just to make sure it wasn’t my rabbit senses alerting me from real danger.
“What are you saying?”
“The law says… at least from my quite simplistic understanding of it: all Quasi must apply for a government-sanctioned Hero license in order for them to freely use their powers in public. Those who use their powers without a license are hereby classified as Villains.”
“Your fucking lying.”
He laughed, it began slowly, almost like tiny hiccups, until it turned into a howling jeer. The Rat couldn’t get enough of my bewilderment, cackling as he held his chest together. I should’ve let him fall, yet I saved him. Twice.
“How the fuck did- the bank! How did you even do that?! Who else was helping you?”
It wasn’t just him and the wolf. There had to be more. A Super Villain gang. Someone with telekinesis or geokinesis, maybe a float power, that was the only way.
“The power of the mind is seldom considered in most situations, Little Rabbit. Trust me when I say, the heist was my doing. Thanks to my team of course, they were very helpful.”
Ok he had a team, a group of Villains running amok in my city? Interesting….
“I’ve never heard of you.”
“And I’ve heard enough about you, Rabbit. I never expected you to show up. That's why we are in this most uncomfortable scenario.”
I asked him exactly what he meant. He gave no answer, instead he got up to stretch as he walked over to his grounded hovercraft. No danger, not yet at least. What was this guy’s deal?
“The money you stole… belongs to the people of New Geweld. You will face justice for your crimes, I’ll see to it.” No more messing around, I had to get serious.
“That's not how banks work. All that money will reappear in your buddies bank accounts as if nothing happened.” he nudged at his machine with his foot, like he was checking to see if it was dead or not.
“You killed people.”
“That's subjective.”
I laughed, he made me genuinely laugh. At the absurdity of his words and how completely avoidant he was of his own actions. I imagined that was how most Villains were, selfish till the bitter end. They belonged to be locked up. Not just for everyone else's sake but for their own. I wondered why I wasn’t sensing danger, it seemed as though he was going to make a move. If he wanted to flee and get away then he had to kill me.
He opened up a lid on the side of the hovercraft and started rummaging through it. I quickly got off the a/c unit and got ready to charge at him.
We stared each other down. A light gust of wind picked up the dust on the roof while balls of tangled dried up vines followed. Crows and ravens perched on the old electrical cables and overgrown trees watched us with anticipation. The sun got lower by the second, making its peace with the day and letting in the cold night. He was not tense at all, red piercing eyes met my white lenses, and I was waiting for my senses to alert me, but nothing was setting it off. I readied my fingers.
“It was nice meeting you, Power-Jack. Honestly. I like your outfit, it’s cute. But I got places to be.”
“No one is coming to save you, Rat.”
“I know….”
Just then, he pulled out a canister and flung a canister. I sidestepped easily as it stuck to the unit behind me, I barely processed what it looked like until it exploded.
A warm, gooey feeling swept across my arm. A mass of pasty turquoise had completely devoured my right side.
I tried to pull with all my strength but to no avail. I raised my free hand up, fingers prepared to flick the bastard over the side of this decrepit roof, but he already threw another canister. And another and another.
My entire body was cocooned in a goopy toothpaste.
All I could think of was, “Damn!”
RatKing pressed something shiny on his gun belt and the engines of his hovercraft hummed to life. He chuckled dryly as he jumped on it, boots clamped and the sound of gears securing the pilot. The piece of pink cloth torn from my suit still hung on its horns.
The wind picked up even more to reveal the silver pistol on his hip.
My gaze never left that thing.
He looked at me one last time before reaching down, yanking off my cloth and throwing it at my face.
“I like you, Power-Jack. I think you’re a righteous gal. And a true hero in a sea of frauds and tyrants. So stay righteous and don’t get in our way.”
I didn’t even get enough time to say something sarcastic before the Villain blasted off into the night sky, west from what I can tell, far into the inner state.
And there I was, stuck in glorified rat spit or whatever the fuck that maniac got me stuck in. He knew me, or at least enough to form an opinion.
There was a hole in my arm that was only just starting to heal along with the scorch marks that riddled my skin. The goo made it hurt less for some reason but it was still unpleasant. My back hurt like a motherfucker and I hadn’t drank a sip of water since yesterday. My feet were most definitely bruised and battered, my suit was ruined, the pink and white now covered in soot, sweat, and asbestos.
I failed to capture a Villain and I failed to stop the heist. If my father could have seen me then. The only thing I had left was my life and that wasn’t much to boast about. And that fight with the wolf quasi was different. Good different. It scratched an itch I had since….
A half hour passed and I felt the glue paste lose its elasticity. Patience is what I needed most and I wasn’t having it one bit. I tried shaking off the gunk, pulling and kicking as much as I could, the a/c groaned as the metal began to strain at my superhuman force. I wanted to be free of that rusty piece of junk. My efforts worked as the plate tore off by its bolts. The plate remained on my back but at the very least I was standing on my own.
Like a pudgy marshmallow lady, I took awkward steps forward. To where I couldn’t tell you. I was doing well enough until a foot got really attached to a specific tile mid stride. I lost balance, arms flailing, and fell facedown.
My mom must have been worried sick, my dinner going cold. I could have gone for a beef patty at that moment.
She always told me that things had to get worse before they got better.
Bird shit struck the back of my head, seeping into the fabric and into my hair.
I needed a cigarette.
Comments (0)
See all