#FoF:og

[ohgoddard]

Fist of Fire.2.19. The End pt.1

“......progress is coming along remarkably in the…”

Eyes begin to move in the darkness. Ears start to pick up voices.

“...yes sir, she has been injected with the blood. No, we don’t know if the process will..”

Every vein bulged with effort to move, paining with each centimetre shuffled.

“.....Yes, sorry, yes we will have her ready by tomorrow. Thank you, Lord.”

The sound of an old analog phone being hung up with a loud thunk fills the black nothingness that is Jade’s reality.

Bright lights start the make their way into her eyesight, only to be filled once again with pure tar.

The voice that she heard earlier was now hovering over her, the warmth of their body being so close to hers would have made her cringe if not for the restraints and liquid ice she felt in her veins.

“No, no you can’t be awake just yet. Just a few more days until you are all ...swapped out.”

The voice was of a German accent, but that was all Jade could recall as the touch of pointed steel stabbed into her skin and once more she was gone.

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The airplane cabin vibrated with a constant drone. It was the fourth that Joseph Ellington had been seated in during the last five days, and he has been growing angrier every hour. Not only because of the general garbage experience of airplane flight in business or coach, but because he had to use this method at all.

The night that Jade was taken from him, he had Omegaman take him immediately to the hero agency center in the city. And he demanded he be allowed to go get her back. And for the first time in his hero career, he was laughed at. The admin had looked at Joseph and laughed at him. He said that they would send someone when they had the chance. That a single kidnapping was not the biggest deal of the agency at the moment. And, for icing on the cake, they would be sure to send someone who could walk. They could do a better job than the broken man before him.

Omegaman had to physically hold Joseph back from the attendant, who very quickly realized after a quick lookup of his name who he was talking to. The only respite that Joseph had in that moment of unrestrained rage that only the number 1 in the nation could hold him back was seeing the color drain from the admin’s face. 

Still.

His condition and previous violations of property laws had meant not only was his Hero License revoked in its entirety, he couldn’t have gone even if it wasn’t. Omegaman had promised Joseph he would make this top priority. He looked him in the eyes and said, “I will not let her go, Joseph. I will not let Emesh take her from you. And I will not let injustice continue.” After that, Omegaman shot into the sky, presumably in the direction of Emesh’s hideout.

There has been zero contact since that night. 

Of course, Joseph was not going to follow any directions. The night he was laughed at and rejected, after Omegaman shot up and away, he wheeled himself alone to the home of Mary Laurens. She opened the door to him and asked if Jade was at Riley’s, as she was not with him. Joseph’s silence at her question answered more than she asked for. A grieving mother, worried about her only child’s life, was another weight put upon Joseph’s mind. No, no he would not follow the orders of any administration. He had only done so once, and that was to a great man. There were no good men in bureaucracy. 

And so that night, while the weeping and sobbing of a mother hurt filled his ears, Joseph Ellingston packed his bags. Clothes for the night, clothes for the Desert. For stealth. Gear for protection.

Clothes for her. 

As his bags were packed, and he was about to roll out the door, a knock came.

He opened the door, bags slung across the back of his wheelchair, to see Riley standing before him. Still dressed in her white undershirt and dress pants. Still blood on the front. Carrying a bag in her off hand, and a long box in the other.

“No. No you are not going.” Joseph knew what she was here for instantly, and he would not allow it to happen. “I am not going to lose two students. I am not going to let you throw your life away on this, It is illegal for you to accompany me on this, you know that right? What will your parents think? They are going to be terrified when their daughter doesn’t come home for who knows how long.”

Riley just stood there, staring down Joseph. Her face stayed bold and determined, though she said nothing.

“I know how you feel Riley, but this isn’t going to happen. You are still a student. You don’t even have your provincial license yet. What you are doing, if you are caught, could send you away for life. Not even to mention how dangerous it is. Do you even know who we’re fighting? Because I don’t. It certainly isn’t Emesh, like everyone thinks it is. I should know. It's someone far worse.”

Riley still just stood there.

“Riley , if you don’t move right now I will call your parents, the school, the police whatever. You will not come. There is nothing you can do or say that will convince me otherwise.” Just as he said that, Riley tossed him the long box under her arm. It landed with a heavy thud at the bottom of his wheelchair. He gave it a curious look, before returning to the determined eyes of Riley. His own were fighting a battle of will. For even though he wanted all the help he could get, he could not rely on any other for this. Especially not a child.

But then she spoke.

“My father works for the medical field. He created personalized devices. You were my favorite hero growing up, and in doing so I made him a fan of yours as well. I went to all your signings you did when you came down here. When I told him who the new Hero combat teacher was, he almost cried with enjoyment. He was devastated at your death, relieved at your survival, but crushed again at your immobility.” Her eyes darted to the wheelchair quickly before returning. “So he got to working, thinking. And eventually, he made this. He was planning to give it to you after a few bugs were worked out. However, I took it from his lab a few minutes ago.”

Joseph, face still set and stern, was turned curious as he listened. He looked at the long box, and thought to himself. This couldn’t possibly be…

He bent over and threw off the top of the box to reveal…

“The only stipulation of you keeping these is that I come with you.”

Joseph Ellington looked up at Riley, but his face had changed from its former aggression to one of shock. And a small grin at the edges.

“Atleast get changed first.”

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That had been five days ago. Riley sits next to Joseph on the plane, though she is asleep. Joseph on the other hand stays awake, to think. How is this plan going to work out? Are they really just going to walk in and leave with Jade? How deep does it go? He remembers Omegaman’s info, about the caverns of space they have below them. Jade could be held in theoretically any crack in the wall. No, they would need information first.

Joseph’s hands rubbed his knees, the phantom pain still there from months ago when his legs were shorn from his body. But that won’t hold him back anymore. His body aches when thinking about the upcoming battle. Even though he hopes for a clean entrance and exit, deep down he knows that is nothing but a pipe dream. The years have finally caught up to him, going on more than twenty straight years of nail biting action and tough ground work, the strain on his body was acceptable due to his quirk. But the months of inactivity has finally allowed all of that to return. 

His final fight approaches, and this time there won’t be a miraculous survival if he dies.

But that doesn't matter right now. He needs to focus on saving Jade. Like he promised to do.

A couple of hours later, after Joseph had been thinking long and hard on the approach, Riley awoke to the plane beginning it’s touchdown. She was dressed in pure sweats and a pair of black converse shoes. She still groans when she sits up, migraines becoming a common visitor in her head after being hit in the head. “We’re here. The final stretch. Riley, this is your last chance to turn back.”

She doesn’t turn to face Joseph. “I owe it to her. I need to do this.”

Joseph didn’t say anything, but Riley saw out the side of her eyes that he nodded.

The Pilot’s voice came over the intercom announcing their arrival to the McCarran International Airport, Nevada. Riley stood up to grab her bags from the overhead storage as the other passengers began to stand and leave for the door. “Do you want me to get your bags?” Riley asked.

“No, I can get them myself.” And at that Joseph stood up and grabbed his duffle bag from the overhead, and walked with Riley to the hatch out of the airplane. She looks down at him,”Are they working out well for you?”  Joseph and Riley were walking down to the front of the airport, walking to a rental car center that was nearby.

“It's like I never lost them.”

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Jade Laurens woke up to freezing cold water being poured onto her face. The sharp change in temperature and suffocation shocked her brain into throwing her into the world of the awake and living. The sudden bringing about brought an assault of color and noise into her senses. High pitch wails and blinding chromatic orbs of light was all she could feel. The same icy pain was felt in her veins, and any movement brought about a pained response from her body. Her mind was too clouded and drugged to even bring about a response to anything. Which, unbeknownst to her, was a blessing. For when her vision finally cleared, her situation became very apparent.

Chained to a cave wall with iron cuffs, like a prisoner. Her clothes were gone, replaced with a prison jumpsuit. There were no bars infront of her, but why would there be? She has nowhere to go. Her eyes darted from one wall to another, and upon each was filled with more and more fear.

On one end she saw a wall of computers and equipment, organs floating in jars, rows upon rows of gun racks, dozens of people walking around the huge cavern carrying various boxes and specialized equipment. But none of it mattered compared to what she saw in front of her. 

A giant ring of metal, easily almost a hundred feet in diameter and height. The ring floated effortlessly in the air, suspended by nothing. In the center of the ring was, by all accounts, a disgrace to natural biology. It looked humanoid, but its attributes were far beyond what man was meant to have. It’s body was small. Too small. It pulsated with the movement of the heart and other organs within. It had too many tubes to count pumping unknown liquids into it. It’s head was the most discomforting though. Long, ballooned into a great size and expanding on what used to be the human skull but was now something more. This was no longer human. This was a brain with a vestige that resembled a person.

“Ah, so you see why I have brought you here. My magnum opus.”

Jade turned her head, the pain shooting within her, to see the golden haired boy who had tried to take her from the games. He stood before her in a baby blue suit, and a yellow neck tie. And in his hand was a cane, though he did not need one.  No, this suit was meant to mean something. He drops a bucket to the floor, a small amount of water leaks from the bottom.

“And not a moment too late. Don’t you think it's beautiful?” He turned from her, and gestured to the ring and its occupant. “I do not mean to be so prideful, but so much time and effort it seems a shame to not at least revel in some of it. Of course, you would understand wouldn’t you? Oh wait.”

He flashes her an evil smile.

“You have nothing to be prideful of.”

The boy’s face was no longer sporting the injuries Jade had inflicted upon him at the stadium, looking as if the fight never happened at all.

“So, I expect you’d want to know why you’re here, hm?”

Jade opened her mouth to speak, and was only barely able to speak before being smack across her face with the cane. Her teeth hurt.

“I didn’t want you to really ask it, you know. Your voice annoys and irritates me. Just like your father’s.”

Jade, bruised, looked at the boy with a look of confusion on her face.

“Ah! Yes, you don’t know me in this form. Well,” the boy took three steps backwards and spread his arms wide,”We are Emesh.”

In tandem, all the people moving in the cavern stopped at once and dropped what they were doing. They all turned to face Jade, chained to the wall, and spoke in unison “We are Emesh.”

The Golden Boy laughed, clapping like a giddy child.

“Yes yes! See all those years ago when your father and his team of disgustingly loyal lapdogs foiled my DC plan - oh foiled is such an evil person word! - I had to begin planning a magnificent return! So I hid myself away while Tapout ruined all my connections in the world. But he missed me the whole time.”

The Golden Boy snaps his fingers and all the workers begin moving once more, a well oiled machine. The monster in the ring groaned, shaking the cavern and causing dust to fall upon Jade’s face. The Golden Boy simply brushed his suit off and continued.

“My Research was hidden away, far from the prying eyes of one Victor Laurens and his crew of do-gooders.  Oh, I am NASTY with these cliches aren’t I? No, It was too important to keep around them. And for good reason. It allowed me to avoid the same fate as Victor, but oh at what a cost!” He spoke at the end with a fake air of sadness and played it up like a middle school play.

This man has lost it. Jade thought.

“I had to sacrifice so much to keep what I had here, but it worked out in the end! True, my body is no longer what it was then, now only a hub of activity and psychic power. But my mind is the only thing that mattered. My mind was the only thing I needed. I could live without life as it were. My consciousness grew beyond myself!”

It was then Jade realized with a horror what the monster in the ring truly was. It was the decrepit and shriveled body of The Planeteer. He had abandoned his humanity and turned himself into something awful. But why?

“Why? I’ll tell you why!” He spun in a little circle, laughing. “Oh my how I’ve missed this! The body of a young boy really is just pouring out with energy. So much potential here. Of course, the same cannot be said for you. Victor was the peak of heroism, you have barely even scratched the surface of what he could do. This boy was grown to be me, and I must say he works perfectly! That other me? A prototype not worth keeping any more. But why do you ask? Why go through all this?!”

He skipped forward to Jade, did a small hop, and then smacked her face across with his cane once more. Jade then found herself yanked forward by the air itself and facing him. Time and time again he hit her with his cane, making deep bruise markings all over. And each time he laughed a bellowing laugh that shook the cavern.

“BECAUSE”another hit”YOU ARE WHAT REMAINS”a slash across the head”OF THE MAN I DESPISE!”  He lets Jade fall back into the cavern wall, a small drop of blood falling from her mouth. The Golden Boy, Emesh, stands there heaving and tightly gripping his cane. “That's why..I will destroy all that he made. In you resides the last of his blood, both real and figuratively.”

He stands up, and spits on Jade. “I replaced your blood with his, to finally get a bit of Revenge on all that remains of him. Sure i killed him but look at me!? Have I not suffered enough that those fucking garbage divers cannot leave me be? No, no this has been a long time coming.”

Jade could hang there in horror as he walked away from her, laughing into the open cavern.

He can turn anyone’s mind into his own. He’s immortal...

A tear rolled down her face as she stared into the lifeless and hollow eyes of the being that used to be The Planeteer. That used to be a young man named Quientin who saved the world countless times. The thing that had killed her father. And now..

“I’m..gonna die here..” 

The Golden Boy stopped his retreat, and cocked his back at her.

“My, you’re smarter than I gave you credit for.”

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“Is the car stashed?” Riley nods at Joseph, who looks back through his binoculars.

The desert had turned from its boiling orange sky to its softer and now freezing purple and black. Out here, far from the lights of Las Vegas, the stars peek out from their hiding. They along with the full moon provide ample lightning. Joseph looks at the biker bar at the side of the road, the place Omegaman had spoken of. And he sees the two guards outside, just as he said there would be. He lowers his binoculars and shimmies down the hill he had been laying on.

“Alright, we are going to need to be absolutely secret about this. A quiet entrance, a quick exit. We can be loud when we have her, but until then… silence.” Riley nodded. They duo had changed from their traveling clothes to pure camouflage, desert camo. Underneath were black suits that would allow them to more easily fall into the shadows. Joseph’s pant legs did not fully cover his new legs, so he wrapped his prosthetics in electrical tape.

The two slinked from rock to rock, ever slowly approaching the two guards. Eventually, after crossing the street, in a mad dash when the two armed men outside weren’t looking. Now hiding behind cars in the parking lot of the bar, Joseph turns to face Riley and gives a quick nod. Instantly, she disappears and so do the two men standing in front of the bar. When she returns she looks tired but unhurt.

“How far away?”

“90 miles. Took their phones and their communicators as well.”

Joseph smirks and slowly approaches the bar entrance. As he slowly opens the door and enters, he sees that there is no one in the place. All that is present is an empty and unstocked bar counter, several unoccupied tables and stools, and a silver elevator.

Joseph turns his head to Riley.

“Going down?”

#FoF:og #writing #creative writing #creativewriting #creative #original #original writing #original story #originalwriting #orignal female character #superhero #superhero story

[ohgoddard]

Storyteller.2.

“Armak, I wanna hear another one!”

Holly hollered from her horse, which was trotting behind Armak’s. They were riding down one of the busiest roads in the region, the ones connecting Haversham and the great lake. Armak’s cloak billowed in the wind as great gusts of air shot at him. The ends of his bandages trailed behind him, making him look like a large weather rock.

They were still amongst the great plains, and aside for small hills and the occasional patch of trees, there was only green for miles around. The sun bore down upon them, but due to the seasons did not bring much heat with it. The air was actually quite crisp, and nipped at the nose of Holly as she rode. She had dawned a dark blue coat to go over her shirts, and had adorned a small little scar around her neck. Her small stature meant she was cold quite easily, so even in the rather mild cold she was shivering a good amount.

“Not now, Holly. We are on the road, and we must stay alert. In my many years of life I have had too many encounters that lead to disaster, all due to distraction on the road.”

Holly’s pointed ears perked up and, while still riding atop her horse, began to search for a pad and pencil. After an inordinate amount of time digging, she found her objects of search and pulled them from the saddle bag. After a small amount of hilarious adjusting where she almost fell off her horse multiple times, she eventually got her pad situated upon the horse’s neck.

“What kind of encounters?” Holly asked in her inquisitive and  sing-song voice. Armak turned his head and shook it. “Not going to happen, Holly. Like the wise Karrowren used to say, ‘The patient hunter brings home the greatest hunt.” Armak turned forward once more into the wind and continued his steady pace on the road.

Holly let out an exasperated sigh, doing her best to relay her disappointment to her traveling companion. Armak seemed to pay no mind, which only made Holly grumpier. She put her pad and pencil back into her saddle bags, and leaned into her horse. She had been traveling with Armak for a good three months now, and had only gotten a handful of stories from him. The man was a veritable treasure trove of memories, with a snapshot into the world that was before her. She could have gone to any old coot in the continent for stories about the Great Divide, or about the Yaldor Invasion and the uprising of man. But they could have only given her what everyone else could have given her. The same story of a farmstead being invaded and the subsequent taking of arms against the invaders. The tale of the lost son, returning with scarred memories. The fable of the wizards who threw mountains onto their continent. Boring shit that everyone else had.

But not Armak. Holly was fascinated with him. He had the key to extinct cultures, the adventures of an eccentric explorer searching for his great treasure. Though, he would never tell her what she was after. Nor, how he lived as long as he had. His race was known for dying at the age of 30-42. Armak was hundreds of years old. She never thought to ask...until now that is.

“Armak?”  He turned his head slightly, as to show he was listening. “How have you lived this long.” Arvak's horse stopped, causing Holly to quickly pull the reins in on her own.

For a while the two merely stood there, wind still blowing the wraps of Armak in the breeze.

“How about I tell a story, Holly?” His horse began its trek once more, but at a slower pace.As Holly scrambled for her pad and pencil, Armak began his tale.

“I was in the Windstep Valley, looking for an artifact of great magic said to destroy anything it touches..”

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High velocity winds carrying shards of small rock threw themselves against all that blocked their travels. Towering mountain peaks soared into the skies, looking as if they scrape the heavens themselves. The sky itself was no less ominous, coloring itself a deathly grey and sending down hailstorm after hailstorm, the biting cold chipping away at all it touches. And all this was being brought down upon one lone hiker.

Armak was covered head to claw in his usual cloak and wraps, each violently flapping in the gale-force winds. He makes slow progress forward, his clawed feet digging deep into whatever it finds to keep him steady. His hands were grabbing at the spires and jagged rocks around him, taking hold of any and all. The winds would occasionally throw massive rocks at him, which he would often get caught by and go sailing into the great nothing before he grabbed another spike and eventually would have to make his climb all over again. He had been making this arduous trek for a week now, only stopping to eat when he was cast down from the mountains.

His goal?  When he was traveling along the north he came across a small town of dwarves who had begun a small operation into the natural veins of metals they had recently found after many years of traveling. 

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“See, back then there were many types of tribes on the continent. They would often, however, travel in groups of the same race. And when they did that, their conflicting cultures would either blow up their faces or merge into one mess of a thing.”

They had transferred from their horses to a small clearing a ways from the road. Holly was vehemently taking every word he spoke and transcribing them into her journal. Armak was busying himself with building a fire from previously collected wood.

“However, among this now giant dwarf tribe there existed a myth that permeated throughout them all, even before they all had the great idea of getting together.”

Holly looked up, a puzzled look on her face. “What’s that have to do with anything?”

Armak removed his hood, as to better take in the heat of the now alive fire.

“Because in every myth there is a kernel of truth, and this myth was something big.”

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The dwarves had this myth with them about some old, old magic. Involving a race of peoples who came from another world that existed below us. Centuries ago, these people made a foray into their overworld and were attacked because they brought with them weapons of destruction. The dwarven tribes of old drove them back to the Windstep Valley from whence they came, and as a final act of aggression to the dwarves they used a powerful magical device that shattered the area and sent the dwarven tribes away, fleeing, before they went back underground.

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“Atleast, that is what the dwarves told me.”

Holly paused her writing and looked up. “Wait, you don’t even know if that story was real?”

“Do you expect me to believe everything a crazy dwarf shaman tells me? They believed in burial while the poor dwarf was still alive, I would trust their customs with about as far as I could throw them..which..”

Armak pondered on his dwarf throwing skills. “Anyways, I’m getting off track. The point is, there was a strong chance there was this powerful artifact in the Windstep Valley that destroyed anything beyond all recognition, and I was going to find it.”

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Armak finally made it to the top of the Windstep Valley spire, the one the dwarven shaman he spoke to about this legend called ‘The Point of Many Graves’. And he was intensely disappointed in himself for believing the oldest coot in the dwarven village, as there was nothing here. Armak was certain there would at least be something here, as during one of his many attempts to reach this peak he found ancient tools and crude swords. He thought that this dwarven myth was true and it was only then did he try even harder to push forward to the top. And he found nothing.

Armak screamed into the sky and slammed his clawed foot onto the ground in rage. However when he did this, the ice underneath him began to shake and shatter, until he was falling down a deep pit.

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“Why didn’t you just fly out?”

Armak raised his wingless arms.

“Even then?”

“Yes Holly. Especially then. Now as I was saying..”

What did he mean by especially then?  Holly thought as she began to scribble his words down once more.

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Armak fell a good bit before plunging into a deep well of water. At first the water was shivering cold, but then for some odd reason had gotten warmer. Armak had fallen into a natural hot spring, which had been hidden by the layers of ice up above. Armak, once swimming to the surface, looked around and was stunned by his surroundings. Skeletons littered the ground around the springs, and they were skeletons of dwarves. Among them were the same type of tools and crude weapons he had seen on his trek up here, but there was something else. Amongst their decaying bones were the bones of a race Armak has never seen before. He could not even describe it.

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“Could you try?”

“No.”

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What's more however, there was a huge door carved from the stone behind all these bodies. It was beautiful carving, with chiseled tapestries of disaster and words of danger written in old dwarvish. It would seem that even in death the dwarves were master artisans, and what's more warned of a great evil not too far behind this door carving. As Armak approached it, however, a voice sounded from behind him.

“I would not approach that door, traveler.”

Armak turned around to see a tall, inkblack elf approach him. The elf adorned a black dress and had what looked to be horns coming out of their head. “Who are you?” Armak questioned.

The figure pointed to the door. “I am the keeper of the Sev ants’k’ , the now dormant instrument of so much destruction.”

Armak turned to the door and appraised it once more. The door was not carved to be opened, he saw, as there were no hinges nor even a method of sliding it out. This was meant to be a seal.

The dark elf approached Armak in a method that would border on slithering. She circled him, noting his weapons at his waist. “Do not think you will find what you want here. Behind that door is only destruction. It was sealed away for a reason. Not even us, the Drow, the people who created it could think of controlling it.”

Armak removed his hood, showing his aged face to the Drow. “What if destruction is what I am looking for?”

The Drow appraised his face, and nodded somberly.”I know of what you want, and can tell you it is not here.”

Armak tensed in his shoulders.”What if I try anyways, huh? What if I give it a go?”

The Drow backed away from him, and out of thin air two ethereal blades formed in her hands. “Then I will fight you until my last breath,although I know I will not win. The Demonweb will not allow such a device of destruction to fall into the hands of such people as yourself.”

Armak went for his sword, but stopped before pulling it out completely. He then sighed deeply, and regained his usual composure. He pulled his hood over his head once more. “No. No this won’t work. Even I know it. But I must at least try.”

The Drow looked over Armak with a suspicious gaze, as if expecting some surprise attack. Finding none, her weapons disappeared. 

“I cannot tell you where you will find your goal, overworlder, but know it is not here. Now, begone.”

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“And with a swish of her hand, I was transported seemingly instantly back to the base of the spire I had just climbed.”

Holly finished her writing then looked up from her pad. The sky was now it’s nighttime blue and pale white, with the sounds of insects echoing their usual song. Except, the tranquility of the night was lost on Holly. There were these questions now, building in her head. 

What did Armak want with a device of mass destruction? Why was he so set on reaching it?

“Armak? What is the treasure you were looking for?”

Armak stood from the now dying fire, and kicked the embers out. The light now gone entirely from the fire, he bundled his cloak tightly around his scrawny body and walked to his tent that he pitched.

“Goodnight, Holly.”

#FoF:og #creative writing #creativewriting #creative #original #original writing #original story #originalwriting #dnd #dnd stories #dnd storytime #dnd story #fantasy #fantasy story #St:A&H

[ohgoddard]

Fist of Fire.2.17

The hot arid air of the Mojave Desert bore itself in the lungs of two men standing outside Clint’s Bar. It was an average biker joint, looking like a saloon of old stuck on the side of a highway going to a much more desirable place. The two men, some run of the mill looking bikers surveyed the horizon of the cracked and dried rock and piles of sand and saw nothing. The most activity they saw was a tumbleweed roll gently by them, carried by a wind that only brought more heat with it. Although the parking lot outside Clint’s was full, there were no noises coming from within the bar, but to these men that was normal. One of them took out a cigarette and lit it with his hands, coughing as the smoke filled his lungs. He then got a message on his phone, and looked. In almost synchronous nature, both men walked into the doors of  Clint’s Bar and locked them in their wake. 

All of this was seen and heard by a woman miles away, lying prone. She covered herself in dirt and desert weeds and held in her hands a pair of binoculars. Her blonde hair,colored to match the desert soil, was tied behind her in a practical braid. Her face, a light tan covered in more soil, was tucked under a hat with a shrub placed over it. For all intents and purposes this woman was hidden to any who looked in this direction, or even looked closely. She slowly shimmied herself back from the edge and took cover behind the backside of the hill she was spying over. Her hand reaches for a notepad on her belt, and she scribbles into it. After putting it away, she takes out a device. It has just one button on it, and begins tapping it in a series of dots and dashes. After this, she packs up, and begins hiking into the desert.

In the city of Cincinnati, there was a bank robbery going on. Terrified people ducked under cover as four giants ran down the street, chased by police cars. The crowded city streets were full of chaos, as these four giants were destroying parts of whole buildings and crushing cars. In the hands of each they carried bank vaults, the entire thing. They laughed uncontrollably, as when the police fired from their weapons they did nothing to pierce the skin of the giants. One of them, the presumed leader of the pack, turned towards another and yelled, “We’re gonna get away with this! No one can stop us!” Then, as his head was turned, a firetruck flew into his head. The giant did a full backflip then hit the road like a sack of bricks. The vault falling with a loud thud, and property damage, besides him. The other giants stop and look at their fallen leader with an expression of shock overtaking them, that is until one of horror comes. In front of them, floating several feet in the air to reach their eye level, was a muscular man dressed in blue jeans, a shirt that had a greek letter familiar to all, and a helmet that covered his head in its entirety. The helmet looked like that of a Trojan Warrior, with long accented faceplates and a netting underneath it to hide his facial features. The man had his arms crossed above his chest, and a booming voice came from his mask that was heard for blocks around.

“I don’t know how you thought no one could stop you. Don’t you read the news?”

At that the man moves at sonic speeds and spearheads another giant in the stomach, sending it flying back several blocks and into a large stone building, now unconscious. The other two giants drop their vaults and run, trying to flee, but are stopped when a dash of black and blue wake circles around their legs and they fall. Their heavy bodies hit the ground and, before a heavy punch is delivered to their heads, they see electrical lines had been wrapped around their legs.

Standing victorious over the giants bodies, crowds begin to cheer as they send accolades to the hero. Reporters run up to him, microphones ready and cameras rolling. “How did you know they were going to be here?””Is there anyway you could have caused less destruction?””Do you have any words for the people at home?””Will you attend the Colored Heroes Rights conference in July, as the most famous hero of color?” The man just stood there and said various nothings into the cameras, his voice quieter than when addressing the giants. “Damages are expected, I was just in the neighborhood, and of course I'm showing up to that! I’d be dumb not to.” He steps away from the crowds and picks up the giants by the wires holding them, rising into the air. “And for the people at home,’ he says turning his head towards the camera once more,”Stop committing crimes. I want to go home one day!” With that he became a blur and the giants were gone from the city.

A couple hours later, after the giants were delivered to the Ohio Powered Incarceration Center and the vaults given back to their banks, the man found himself sitting alone under a shady tree in the countryside. After looking around with a vision that extended for miles, he takes off his helmet. A short cut but neatly trimmed black beard and bald head greet the cool air with gratitude as he takes a deep breath. “Another day, another lock up.” He reaches into his back pocket and takes out his phone, and starts to go through his missed emails and whatnot, when he notices a notification from an app he usually never checks. Which meant…

He opens it up and examines the contents. They read: TRACKED-ETEAM-2-NV-STOP. ETEAM-IS-ALIVE-STOP. MORE-INFO-LTR-STOP. HEG.

He lowers his phone and sighs a breath of stress and anger. “You damned cockroach.” He stands up and grabs his helmet, and angrily puts it on. “No one does all this and keeps living.”

He then gets a call on his phone and answers. “Omegaman,” the voice says over the phone,”You’re needed in Detroit, danger rating 78%. Gravity monster.” Omegaman sighs and replies. “On my way.”  As he lowers his phone from his head, he looks to the skies.”I’ll get to you later, Emesh.” With that, he soars into the clouds.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Oh my God mom, it's not that big a deal!” Jade sat in her living room while her mom played with her hair and sprayed something here, pinned something there, readjusted this and so on. “It is so! This is your first date in..” Jade’s mom paused, holding a can of hairspray away from her daughter. “Well, ever!” She resumed her pampering ,with Jade spitting as the spray got into her mouth. She was dressed in a white and red dress, and it was a stunning one. It had an open back and the red spiraled up the whole body while the white sparkled in the light. 

“It's just a dance, mom. It's nothing big!” As Jade spoke this, Joseph rolled himself in from the spare room he was staying in, a large purse laying across his lap. “Au contraire, Jade. This is the AHA’s summer gala. It happens once a year and you have never  gone to one and with your senior year coming up it will be your last one as well! You must go. And, you even got a date so that makes it all the better!” He places the purse at the side of the chair Jade is being forcibly fancied up in and retreats a safe distance from the cloud of product in the air. “Oh come on not you too!” Jade screams in mock pain as eyeliner is drawn over her face. “I don’t like makeup and -ack- Riley and I aren’t, like, official yet or anything so -” the spraying stops. Jade looks around and sees the very confused faces of the two adults. Joseph’s is far more confused that her mother’s, who is more disappointed than anything.

“Really? You guys haven't officially asked each other out yet?” Joseph was the first to speak, and it was filled with incredulous emotion. The fact that he was out and about as he was in the first place is a miracle, as his doctor had prescribed him several more days of bedrest(“I'm always sitting down, that counts, right?”). His voice has improved, and is sounding much like his old one.  It was because of this that Jade was the most taken back by his comment. “Why do you care so much? Isn’t shipping your students against the law or something?” Joseph gave a look of fake shock. “How could you! And no, it isn’t.” Jade’s mom speaks to her next, “Why haven’t you asked her yet, sweetheart?” Jade blushed and looked away from her mom, who began to apply more of the makeup she was carrying. “I dunno..just kind of hasn’t come up. There has been a bit that’s been going on.” Joseph coughed. “Oops.” Jade shot him a dirty look and he looked away, pulling at his collar in a joking fashion. “I’ll..I’ll ask her tonight. She said she’d meet me there anyways.” Her mom beamed when she heard this. “You know Jade, not too long ago you were a hot headed troublemaker who always got into the trouble,” Joseph interrupted with a “still is” and suffered a hit from Mrs.Laurens, “but this Riley girl has really done a lot of good for you. The least you can do is properly ask her out.”

Jade took a deep breath, “Yeah, you're right mom. That reminds me, “ she looks towards the clock on her mom’s oven. “It's almost time for me to go. Who’s gonna take me to the school.”

Joseph rolls over to the door, “I will. My car is outside.” Jade begins to get up, grabbing her bags, before stopping. “Wait a second.” Joseph gives great bellowing laughs, holding onto his wheelchair for support. Jade gives a harumph, obviously not happy to be the butt of the joke.

“Oh Jade, don't be like that,” her mom said, stifling a laugh herself,”he will actually be taking you there though.”

Jade looked at her mom, her turn to give an incredulous look. “How?” Joseph smacked his wheelchair. “We’re gonna take the train. Remember, the school has a lien that goes straight to it.”

Joseph opens the door and rolls out, looking back. “Coming?” Jade could not believe this was happening.

A few dozen minutes and a train ride later where everyone looked at Joseph more than her(which brought a great deal of relief, but a twinge of jealousy too) they arrived at the school station. Joseph got off, gave the finger to multiple people who asked about his accident, and Jade soon followed. “The nerve of some people,” she heard him mutter under his breath. He turned to Jade. “Now, go over what we talked about on the train.” Jade rolled her eyes. “Walk up to her, hand on her shoulder, ask her in my ‘manliest voice’ to go out with me. I just don’t think-” Joseph shhsh her. “Don’t think. It only makes things worse.” She gives a laugh, a nervous one, but still a laugh. A small smile appears on her face. “Thank you, Mr.Ellington.” She leans in and gives him a hug. “Now,” Joseph says after the hug is done, “I have to go to the teachers area to get ready for my round of chaperoning. I’ll see you in a bit. After the dance, wait for me here. I don’t want you walking the streets without me.” “I’ve done it tons of times what-” “Just wait for me. You’re a pretty teenage girl walking alone in a shit part of town. Different creatures come out at night.” She rolls her eyes. “Ok, whatever dad.” Joseph smiles and rolls off. “Have a good dance!”

A few seconds after he enters an elevator to take him to the school, Jade realizes what she said.Dad? She would have to think more about that later..some conflicting feelings have been affecting her recently. Thankfully, a good distraction just came off the next train.

“Well, hell-o beautiful.” Jade turned to see Riley step off in a spiff tuxedo, one that hugged her body. It's just about made Jade faint then and there. “Hh-hey! You ready?” Jade nervously stammered out. Riley walked up, took Jade’s hand, and kissed it like a prince. “With you? Always.” Jade’s plans went out the window.

#FoF:og #writing #original #original writing #original story #originalwriting #orignal female character #superhero #superhero story #creative writing #creativewriting #creative

[ohgoddard]

Fist of Fire.2.15

A hollow emptiness rests where drive once lived. A once vibrant and mighty figure beloved by his peers is not laying before one in utter disarray. His environment is devoid of color, white basic walls pouring over sterile hospital green. The room is empty save for himself and another, disregarding the furniture of course. 

This was the hospital room of Joseph Ellington. 

He is no longer the hero Reverse.

Reverse died in a crater fighting the villain Emesh, who attempted to kill thousands in his debut to the world. Reverse gave the ultimate sacrifice to defeat him, laying in the middle of a crater of his own creation while debris began to fall on top of him, crushing him completely.

When the news hit the air, everyone was ecstatic. The mighty hero who saved thousands and thousands more was found alive amongst the rubble after weeks of cleaning, a miracle. He was rushed to the hospital via flying transport immediately. This is what the public knew, and they hoped he would make a recovery.

But they did not know that retrieved from that crater and flown to safety and care was not the hero Reverse. It was Joseph Ellington.

Because the hero Reverse is dead.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Darkness began to fade into bright, blinding light. 

Joseph Ellington slowly drifted awake, his eyes blinking one at time, slowly. His brain began to process information again, like a disused factory once again starting up. He did not like his surroundings. Not only because they were not where he was, but what they meant.

He saw a large window, barred from the outside. He did not understand why, as he could see the roofs of many buildings in the distance, and was fairly certain he was many stories above the ground. He saw a camera, pointed at his face,drilled into the cieling. An obviously new addition. He looked to his right and saw curtains drawn, and a skinny man with outrageously sized hair sleeping in a chair. He did not pay much attention to the man as he saw the door. It was a large, steel sliding door with handle on  the inside. Where he was. He also noticed the shadow of a man hovering near it.

He was under watch. 

He looked to his left and noticed something. A wall of machines he had not previously seen, each with dozens of screens on them. He looked down at himself and saw an almost equal number of tubes plugged into him.

Probably best to keep those in.

Joseph tried to speak, but found it near impossible to create a noise louder than a squeak.

A curdled noise came out from his throat, and he felt an incredible pain. Which only reminded his long dormant nervous system to begin sending feedback from the rest of his body. It was as if pure ice was running in his veins, and it was leaving shards in him. Joseph began to shake heartily from the pain, his back arching as he tried to scream out but his mouth made no noise. A monitor to the left of him began screaming out in noises, and the steel door flew open. Several nurses came in, and started holding him down. One produced a large needle and stuck him, and it wasn’t long until the darkness took again.

Joseph Ellington woke up once again, and took a survey of his surroundings. He noticed some machines were not there anymore, and that the freezing piercing pain that was once flowing in his body was now gone. He turned his head from the wall of machines and saw the same skinny man standing in front of him. Except, his mind was no longer hazy so he knew it was..

“Hello, Joseph. Long time no see.”

Joseph opened his mouth to scream out, All Might!, but a quick finger from him being raised stopped him.

“Joseph, your larynx is still damaged. Speaking again may cause another episode where you relapse into your coma.” Joseph turned his head in concern. Coma? All Might walked and sat down in a chair next to Joseph’s hospital bed, and sighed deeply. “Joseph, for all intents and purposes you were dead for four weeks. And I don’t mean your coma. You were found bled completely dry under sixty dons of concrete, with several pieces of rebar sticking out of you.”

Joseph’s face betrayed no emotion, but his heart began to beat faster, which started making noises on the wall of machines again. 

All Might noticed this and made a motion with his hands to calm down, waiting for the noise to drop until continuing. “You were being kept alive by some sort of energy in your body. Your heart wasn’t pumping any blood but your brain and damn near everything else was being kept intact,preserved,and alive by just pure energy. It may be a lucky feat of your quirk.”

All Might coughed, excusing himself from Joseph for a second.

Joseph pondered on this. It was probably why he felt that freezing feeling in his veins when he woke up the first time. They were keeping him alive with fluids before putting blood in him. He can imagine that many of the machines there were acting as metal organs for him, one breathing for him and so on. 

All Might returned and sat down again. He carried with him a bottle of water that he handed to Joseph, who drank with earnest. The cool water rushed down his throat, making him feel just how much damage it truly was. He struggled to swallow, as All Might spoke again.

“When you got here, the doctors strapped you up the largest machines I have ever seen. See, your quirk was in a defensive mode. Whenever healers tried to lay their hands on you, their hands began to burn with a harsh heat. So, they went old school with you.” All Might sighed and stood up, and walked to the side of Joseph, grabbing his hand in a confident manner.

“Joseph you’ve been with me for so much. I am always in your debt for what you did for me those few years ago. However, there is only so much I can do.” Joseph’s eyebrows lowered, a look of confusion overtaking him. All Might let his hand fall to the bed.

“You can keep your teaching job, but your school team is disbanded unless it can find another coach. Your license has been permanently removed with no chance of retrieval. You can guess why.” Joseph slowly nodded, faintly remembering the destruction he was seeing as he fought Emesh.

“And something else.” All Might moved to the end of the bed, the foot of it. “Not only is your license suspended, you may not be able to … to..” All Might paused, a contorted look overtaking his face. “When we found you under the rubble, you were not whole. Not only in the sense that your body was on nigh mystical life support, but because.. Of Emesh’s last act on this Earth.”

Joseph began to notice something, looking at All Might at the end of the bed.

Something to do with the blanket.

“His cane was snapped in two, and buried into.. Your body. When we went to retrieve you, the cane fell out. With.. you.”

Joseph’s stomach dropped, and he began to sweat as he raised his arm. It was all slow motion to him, he was moving under water almost. The pain was racing from his arms, his chest, his head, everything. Everything but.

He grabbed the blanket and threw it to the ground, and everything began to blur. All Might slowly approached his side, and helped lay him back on the pillows. He then pulled the blanket back over him, Joseph just staring into the ceiling. Tears were welling in his eyes, but none fell out.

“Im sorry, Joseph. But you’ll never do heroic deeds again.”

The hero Reverse is dead. There will never again be another heroic act from the hero Reverse.

Because Joseph Ellington had no legs.

#FoF:og #writing #creative writing #creativewriting #creative #original #original writing #original story #originalwriting #superhero #superhero story

[ohgoddard]

Fist of Fire.2.14.

AN: Hard Topics in this chapter.

Loud rock music blasted out from headphones atop Riley’s head as she laced up her skates. Her hands were shaking, but this was not out of nerves or anticipation. 

Riley was angry. Her breathing was short and quick, and her skin was taking on a reddening hue. Other women in the locker room of which Riley was lacing up were eyeing her up, whispering to each other.

I’ve never seen her like that. She’s not usually this mad. Think her boyfriend dumped her? Oh I don’t think she swings that way.

Riley turned quickly to the gathering of which was discussing her attitudes, and glared at them.

The group quickly disappeared into the rink, almost tripping over each other. Riley turned back to lacing up her skates, trying her best to still her shaking hands.

It was nothing new to her. Especially at this rink. They would always talk behind her back, snidely putting her down for who she was. Normally Riley would ignore it, then when the derby games started would then lay out the girls who talked bad about her into the ground.

But today Riley was fuming. It was a rage she had been hiding, suppressing, fueled by a hatred.

Hundreds had died at Charleston. It would have been more had Riley and her class not been there helping others escape. 

Could have been a lot less too.

Reverse had always drilled into them a strong moral code one must follow to be a hero. “You are safe when everyone is safe.” Riley could not allow herself to be safe, as she could have easily run away from the disaster, if others were still in danger. 

However she was not a professional hero yet. She was a teenager. She could only do so much. So when Reverse delivered the second largest punch in American History, she was lucky to be outside the Stadium carrying a civilian to safety. But she knew there were more. More in that Stadium who she could have saved. But she couldn’t, because she was not fast enough.

Thats the rage Riley now uses to fuel herself in Roller Derby games. The rage at herself. How she could have saved tens, no dozens more had she had just been faster. Ruler messes up a knot on her skates, curses, and begins to untie them. She feels like such a hypocrite, preaching to Jade about how nothing she could have done would have changed the outcome of Reverse’s fight. How she needs to stop putting the blame of his death on herself. Such words rang hollow on her own ears.

Riley pulled hard on her hand wraps, enough that it hurt. Her face did not betray any emotion, it was stone cold. Another woman came skating in, “Kim, we’re up in two.” Riley nodded and the woman skated away. Riley, while comforting Jade in her perceived failure, had actually failed what she set out to do. Riley had wanted to save everyone in that Stadium. What had happened was, Riley saved a quarter of what she perceived as everyone. 

Riley strapped on her knee and elbow guards.

Every life lost is because I was not quick enough. Every life I did save was not enough.

She put on her helmet and skated to the gate.

I failed them. 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

School had opened up again for the students involved in the Charleston Incident. Reverse, however, was not back in the school yet. Instead there was a sub in the form of the coach Reverse hired for afterschool practice. Riley stumbled into class, legs and arms obscured with a jacket and jeans. Her face was fortunately clean of blemishes. Upon walking into her Hero Combat class, everyone turned to face her. At once dozens of question barraged her, asking about the Stadium. Riley put on her face she always wore, one of a suave and cool chick who could face anything.

Behind her mask she was cringing and crying from what they asked. “Did you see what the villain could do? So cool!” “Did you see what happened to Reverse?” “Wow! You’re like totally a hero now!” “You’re so lucky! I’d give anything to be where you were.”

Would you? Would you give anything to be where I was? Terrified and desperately trying to rescue all I could before the hit landed on Emesh?

Riley smirked, “Yeah it was pretty cool. But I’m glad i’m back here.”

The sub called for everyone to come back to their seats, giving Riley a respite in the questioning. She shuffled to her desk, and very painfully sat within it. The derby last night had been painful, the team she was facing were a good 10 years older and three times as strong as she was. And due, to the no powers rule, she could not outpace her opponents. She was made to be slow, and paid the price for not being faster.

I deserved it. If I were faster..

Riley drifted throughout the day, not really living in any of her classes. She would just blankly stare into the front of the class, the teachings going into one ear and out the other. Riley only felt the throbbing pains in her arms and legs, a grim reminder of her inability. When lunch came, she sat with the Hero Combat Team like she always did. The table was crowded in dozens of people, asking their invading questions and poking their noses into their lives. She thought at least Emily would be soaking in the popularity, but instead Riley saw her across the lunchroom at her own table yelling at her old friends. Then, in an even larger move of surprise, got up and moved to the Team table, sitting next to Ricardo.

The move of Emily to the table had caused the people crowding them like piranhas to dissipate instantly. And with their absence, the table was dead quiet. The only sounds made were the wrinkling of plastics and elbows on tables where heads were soon placed. There was almost a visible depression resonating within all of them. No one else seemed to see it, those who weren’t there. Those who hadn’t seen what they had seen. 

“I am so tired with this school.” Emily spoke with a vindication that was not unheard of from her, but was usually directed at one of them. “They keep talking about how cool it must have been. How they wish they could have seen it.” Emily looked down, her hair obscuring her face. “Don’t they know? Don’t they know that we could have died? That we save hundreds of people who did just that?!” The table could hear a faint choke in her voice. Ricardo put his hand on her back and she fell into his arms. A soft sob could be heard.

Everyone has it. The whole team. Not just me and Jade. 

Ricardo had huge bags under his eyes, and numerous bandages at his fingertips. He has been pushing himself harder. John has knee braces and his arm in a sling. He still hasn’t recovered from the injuries at the stadium. Grace, the often overlooked member of the team, had long since laid her head on the table. The whole group was broken.

After school, Riley was walking to her dorm, and was jumped on by Jade. Jade gave her a huge bear hug, which caused deep tendrils of pain to shoot up her arms. Riley had to stifle any sign of pain within her voice and face as she spoke, “Hey there whats all this for?” Jade looked up to Riley, a large puff of red hair bouncing as she did so. “Don’t you remember? We’re watching a movie tonight. I thought we could go to dinner first.” Riley smiled, although under her mask she cringed.

I don’t deserve this. I can’t sit there next to you and act happy. Don’t look at me with your trusting eyes, I am a failure. Don’t say I saved you, I couldn’t save anyone.

“Riley?” Jade’s question shook Riley out of her stupor, her focusing regaining. “Oh yeah!” Jade stopped hugging Riley, which sent a wave of relief through her. “Is something wrong? You seem off today.” Riley swallowed. “Well, you know, first day back after the whole debacle. Just trying to adjust you know? Ha ha.”  Riley was sweating. She always was a terrible liar.

“Hm, well if you say so. I have to go to tutoring, but i’ll be by your dorm around 7, ok?”

Riley sighed internally.

“Ok! I’ll start tidying up haha.”

When Jade had left, Riley entered her dorm room and fell onto her bed. 

I don’t deserve this. I don’t deserve her.

When Jade had gotten on the bus on their way back to Atlanta, Riley knew something was wrong. And she would not let that wrongness stand. She put others before her. That's how she’s always done. So when she gave her support to Jade in her room those days ago, she had considered the problem solved. But then there was no one else she could focus on but herself.

Riley never had to focus on herself before. It was always for someone or something else. Now, when she was left alone with her thoughts, it was nothing but clouded shadows.

She stood from her bed and looked around, making sure the coast was clear. She then reached under he bed and took out a slim box. She retracted one of the objects.

The door swung open, Jade walking in speaking. “Tutoring was cancelled today, so I thought I’d come by earlier! So what do you-”

Jade stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Riley holding a shaving razor to her arm. 

The only noise heard was the soft clinking of metal as it hit the floor, falling from a stunned Riley's hand.

Jade slammed the door. “NO.NO YOU DO NOT.” Jade rushed forward in the small dorm room and grabbed the box of razors from Riley’s bed, Riley lunging for them. Jade snatched them out of reach and threw them behind her. Riley looked up at Jade, and saw that she was fuming.

“Why.” The word was given not as a question, more as a command. Riley looked away.

“Why, Riley?” She still remained silent. Jade sat down next to her. “Please. Why?”

Riley turned, “Because it made me feel not worthless! Ok?! It made me feel like maybe all those people I couldn’t save didn’t die in vain. That maybe if I feel a fraction of their pain I might be able to reconcile some of the guilt I feel for choosing to save another over them. I had to run by so many people trapped under rubble of the collapsing building, having to choose who I had to save.”

Riley stood up, her face turning red.

“So many called out to me as I ran by with people draped over my shoulders. ‘Please help me.’ ‘Please I have a family.’ ‘Please save me.’ And I could have, Jade. I could have saved them if I was. Just. FASTER!” Riley Slammed the back of her fist into the wall behind her, making a sizable dent. 

“I deserve this pain! Its nothing compared to them! They gave it all and I was left over. I -”

Riley was slapped in the face by Jade, stopping her train of thought and speech instantly.

“How DARE you say you deserve pain. Do you know how many people you have saved? How many people got to go home to their family? This was your first time doing literally anything of this caliber and you start hurting yourself because it did not go how you thought it would?”

“You don’t understand I-”

“I AM NOT DONE. You know that not even All-Might can save everyone? The fact you saved over 70 people should be extraordinary. You cannot be out here judging yourself by what you haven’t done, but instead by what you have. Yes, the lives of those lost is a loss to the world. But to hurt yourself? That is to ruin their names. “

“THEN WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO?!”

“PUT THAT ANGER INTO THE MEN WHO CAUSED THIS MESS, NOT THE WOMAN WHO DID HER BEST TO SAVE PEOPLE FROM IT!”

Riley was silent. Jade was breathing deeply in front of her, eyes red from tearing up.

“When you came to my home, Riley, you stopped me from… from something very bad. You made me realize that I shouldn’t be beating myself up. That's what they would want.”

Jade grabbed Riley’s hands.

“We can’t let them win. So don’t give them a win.”

#FoF:og #creative writing #creativewriting #creative #original #original writing #original story #originalwriting #orignal female character #writing #superhero #superhero story

[ohgoddard]

Fist of Fire.2.13

White light. Warm, inviting heat. A choir of singing angels sounded in the distance, bringing tears to eyes all around.

“You’re not supposed to be here yet.”

The voice came from a man in a beautiful white and gold suit, strolling towards a park bench, surrounded by nothing.

Sitting on the park bench was a tall man with a close-cut hairstyle and a face full of bandages. His legs were gone. But that did not phase him, because upon his face was a look of happiness and content. The man in the white and gold suit sat down next to him.

“I thought it would be at least another thirty or so years. I’ve already met with the others who got here before you. Diana, Song, Conor, Dwayne. I did not expect to see you.” The man in the gold and white suit turned to face the man on the bench, his curled red hair slowly moving in a non-existent breeze.

“I saved her, Victor.”

Victor Laurens turned away from Joseph Ellington, the man known as Reverse, and looked into the same white nothing. Reverse took a deep breath and let it out. “I was the last one, you know? The last one to be a hero. All the way to the end. Like you said I'd be.” Reverse brought a finger to his eyes to wipe away a tear he felt, but found nothing. He assumes it fell off him already.

“Joseph, I can’t believe it. You are older than me before I bit it, and you are still as hopeful as when I last saw you.” Victor put his arm around Reverse’s back, pulling him for a hug.It was the warmest thing he could have imagined. And as comforting as he’d remembered. 

“But.” Victor stood up, walking a few paces out from Reverse, turning and facing the legless man.  Reverse got a confused look upon his face.

“But what? Victor, I did it! I stopped him! No one will come after her again!” 

Victor stood there, still looking into the distance. The same nonexistent breeze still billowing his hair and coat-tails.  “Joseph, Quentin was a misguided soul. He took my words of caution as words of criticism and barbed phrase. Night after night he and I would argue and fight on the..ethics of his studies.”

Reverse, unsure of where this was coming from, still followed. He remembered the nights of screaming he sometimes heard. And the night he left for good, after throwing the chair out the window.

“Every night he would bury himself in quirk theory and experiment journals. And every night I would tell him that this was dangerous. The implications of what could happen to him were awesome, as were the potential rewards.”

Victor turned away from Reverse, looking into the great empty.

“He took a dive into his own mind and came out with his demons. He sought to control them and they overtook him. I fought them every night. The voices in his head that whispered words of great ambition into his ears. Words of deceit and lies. He sought for a way to use his power, an extreme telekinesis, to elevate beyond us all. He looked into quirk evolution, power gain. But every step forward he took with his ability, he fell behind in sanity and reason.”

 Victor lowered his head.

“Joseph, I loved the boy. He was my family as you were. But he had become dangerous. I caught him, the night before I died, drawing up plans for an attack that could rip the Earth itself asunder. I tried to steer him to the right path, but that's when he lost it. And, well, when you lost me.” He gave himself a small chuckle.

“Victor, why are you telling me this? It doesn’t matter anymore. He’s gone. It’s done. Isn't it?”

Victor walked back to Reverse and sat down with him. He gave a great big sigh.

“You deserve your rest, Joseph. But you’re not here for this rest yet.”

The world of white around Reverse started peeling away like chipped paint.

Reverse looked around, and saw it all crumbling.

“Whats going on?” 

Victor stood up, and straightened his suit. “Looks like its my time to leave. Until we meet again, son.” He started to leave, the world of white falling away fast and faster.

Reverse raised his hand, screaming out,”VICTOR NO! DON’T GO! WHATS GOING ON?! IS HE NOT DEAD?! PLEASE COME BACK!” Tears were filling his eyes as he went to stand up but hit the ground, forgetting his legs were gone. He crawled forward, his arm reaching out, “Dad...please don’t go..not again..”

As the world of white fell away for good, and the only thing left in the void was Victor Laurens in his gold and white suit, he merely smiled at Reverse. “Go get em, tiger.”

And then the world was black.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jade was sitting in Riley’s living room, her mom at work. The two of them were channel flipping, trying to find something good on the TV. Jade had been slowly getting accustomed to the presence of Riley in her life. A protection she knew she could always count on. In her arms, she felt like her problems could be solved.

That is until they flipped to the news.

“Breaking News! Professional Hero Reverse found alive among the rubble at the Charleston Combat Stadium. Reverse is alive!”

#FoF:og #creative writing #creativewriting #creative #original #original writing #original story #originalwriting #writing #superhero #superhero story

[ohgoddard]

Fist of Fire.2.12

AN: Warning, heavy topics in this chapter.

“Court is now in session. On the matter of ‘The State of South Carolina vs Joseph Ellington’ on matters of extreme destruction of public and private property, endangering the lives of the innocent, partaking in heroic actions without a valid license, and conspiracy to destroy the government.” The judge takes a deep breath, reaching up to his face to straighten his glasses.

“How does the defense plead?”

The courtroom was packed. Behind the fencing that separated the legal teams from the people, every available seat was packed with news teams, cameras, and those lucky enough to get in before all the seats were taken. Dozens of eyes were centered at the legal teams, which were feeling the heat of the public gaze. The plaintiffs were four neatly dressed men, the most lawyer people you can think of. In front of them on their table lay briefcases of paperwork, with piles around them as well. This was a legal case they wanted to win. The defense on the other hand, was remarkably bland. Their table had nothing on it, save for a glass of water. But every movement the defense made sent off the camera shutters in the back of the room, and elicited hushed whispers of the news crews. The defense was a huge man, dressed in a custom tailored striped suit, with his hair slicked back. And he had the largest smile yet.

“Yes, the Defense pleads innocent to these charges.” When he spoke, the room exploded in the snapping of shutter lenses and the scribbling of pencils and pens onto notepads. The judge slammed his gavel on his desk, calling for order. The Judge peered over his post to eye up the defense, his eyesight failing him at identifying who it is. “Am I to believe you are who we are prosecuting today? Are you Mr.Ellington?”

The defense laughed and shook his head. The Judge did not like this display of non-professionalism in his court. “Just who are you then? And where is the defendant?”

The large man stood up and did a courteous bow to the Judge. “Excuse my manners, your honor. I am not accustomed to American law. My client will not be joining us today. I doubt he will be walking in anytime soon.” He stands up and straightens his tie.

“As for my name? I am a good friend of Rev-I mean, Joseph Ellington. And I believe I can help him out in this situation. My name is All Might.”

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Jade had been in a violent depression for weeks now. Since the fight in Charleston, the last time she saw Reverse..and his body laying at the bottom the crater he caused. In the following days of the fight, of her scuffle with the golden haired boy, she was in dozens of police stations. She gave the same story, the same details. But they always brushed off one part of her story. How the golden haired boy spoke of Emesh’s plan. How it would happen, regardless of her being there or not. But they were not interested in that. They wanted her to say they saw Reverse destroy the stadium. That he without calling for backup jumped into a fight. That he was a reckless man who did only the wrong.

You killed him.You caused all this destruction.

Then came the chastising. The scolding. The ‘You should have just run.’ They seem to forget she was paralyzed for a good bit of her story. A lot of this though was aimed at her other classmates, who instead of running away assisted in getting the civilians out. Riley, who instead of running away ran to the people who were too slow to get out on their own. John, who teleported to far away places. Emily, who grabbed those under rubble. Seems like there was a good bone in her after all. Ricardo, who managed to cut a hole in the wall for them to escape. Grace, for keeping their captors under wraps. They got the worst of it. They were being hit with all manner of charges with juvenile heroism and such. They would have all gone to prison if not some big shot from the school called in a favor from overseas. Some “Mighty Strength” ass hole. 

But her friends being given the slack on their sentences did not alleviate the depression that built up in Jade. In her head a whirlwind of emotion whizzed around, hurling insults and depreciation.

It was all your fault. They came after YOU. Reverse would still be here if not for YOU. YOU CAUSED ALL THIS. After the police were done grilling the teenagers, weeks of testifying and interrogations and interviews, they sent them back home to Atlanta. However, the school could not legally take them into the dorms due to the police investigation going on over there. So they had to go to their parent’s homes. Which, for some like Emily, were good. But then there was Jade.

Jade’s mom lived in an apartment in Boulevard Heights. It was not a desirable neighborhood to be in. The streets still had their usual aroma of spilled alcohol and urine, the streetlights were flickering in and out. Jade was unfortunately the last person to be dropped off by the police, and even then they dropped her a block away from her home and drove off. They must have been scared of her street, the only reason why they must have dropped a teenage white girl off by herself in the middle of Boulevard Heights.The sun was setting too, but this wasn’t the problem. Being out in the dark on her street was nothing foreign to Jade, especially when you had to grow up here.

He would still be here if not YOU. You saw his body. You know he’s dead.

Jade began her walk home, looking around at how her block has gotten worse since she was last there, Whole buildings now nothing but rubble, larger congregations of people around shops.

She sighed deeply and kept walking, keeping her head down. It was like putting on a familiar hat. She melded right back into the place. Except, instead of a hidden bravado and looking for a fight, she was not trying her hardest to not scream and cry. All around her she is reminded of that day.

The flashing of the broken street lights reminds her of the warning lights in the corridor. The humidity of the air reminded her of the restricting telekinetic grab around her throat and chest. The yelling and hollering of people having fun that night only ring in her ears as the cries of people being crushed by falling debris.

Jade’s phone buzzed.She took it out, saw that it was Riley, and put it back in her pocket. It was hard to talk. Especially to her. And especially about this. The missed calls tallied up to seven. The dozens of text messages only given one word replies. She ran her hand through her hair, grabbing it in a faint attempt to give herself any feeling. But there was nothing. Her being sent back to Boulevard would not help her get better. Her outside now reflected her inside. She walked by an old man sitting on a stoop, listening to a radio. The court case in South Carolina against Reverse was dropped. The broadcaster was going on about ‘celebrity judges’ and the swaying of the juries. But all that doesn’t matter.

Because Reverse was dead. And she killed him. 

A few minutes later, Jade appeared at her mom’s apartment’s door. She knocked and waited. And waited. Down the hall, the old lady who used to look after her as a child was leaving her room turned to see Jade. She waved happily at Jade, who only replied in a meek hand gesture. Her mom’s door opened and.. She was exactly as Jade remembered from when she was here three years ago. Her bright ginger hair was put up in a messy bun, zero makeup on her freckled face, and a slim frame dressed in a nurse’s scrubs. Her face was one of joy when she saw her daughter standing there. She immediately swept Jade up in a huge hug and gave a yelp of joy. Jade was lifted off the ground for a moment as her mom bear hugged her.

“Oh my Jesus thank God you’re safe!”

“Thanks mom. I’m a bit tired though, from being in the car all day. Can I go to sleep?”

Jade’s mom put her down and let her walk in. The apartment was very tidy, as there was only one very organized nurse living there. Her teenage daughter would not have messed it up in a  while. Jade made a bee-line to her room, where she closed the door behind her almost just as fast. She didn’t like doing this to her mom, but she could not talk right now. Her room was just as she left it, posters of mighty heroes on the wall, piles of books on gasoline and petrol. Kinda useless now. And her bed, which was -

Full?

A figure was laying in her bed, and when Jade turned on the lights..It was Riley.

Jade just kinda stood their dumbstruck, as her classmate got out of her bed and walked over to her, looking down.

“If you don’t respond to me, I’m not just gonna sit by and let you do it. I’m gonna track you down, and we’re talking about it.” Riley tried to reach for Jade’s hand,but she snatched it away. Riley took a step back, and gave a look to Jade.

“I’m..I’m sorry. But I can’t talk.” Jade turned her face away from Riley, not wanting her to see her face. Not see her eyes. 

“But you can talk. You need to. If you keep all this bubbled up inside you you’re going to do something bad like -”

“Like what?!” Jade turned around to face Riley in a fit, her eyes tearing up and her hands and arms starting to glow. Riley kept her calm composure and slowly walked back to Jade.

“I’m worried about you. You didn’t go through what me and the other teammates went through. You went through worse. I know it was awful. I know it left a mark on you. I saw the way you walked on the way to your home.” Jade took a step back from the approaching Riley, her arms lighting up another level of light.

“You followed me?!” Riley yelled back, “Because you weren’t answering my calls! You weren’t talking to me!” Jade wanted to punch her. Just to vent. 

“I DON’T NEED YOU!” she yelled as her arms lit up in a flame,her whole body becoming a blinding light.

She didn’t want to be cared for right now. She wanted to be alone. Be alone with herself. With those violent thoughts. The memories of the corridor fight, and how helpless she felt until her body was overtaken by some golden feeling. The memory of seeing Reverse’s body at the bottom of a crater. She wanted to be alone with those memories. And her thoughts. The ones that told her she killed her teacher, the only connection to her father that wasn’t her mother. The man who had taught her how to use her power better. The man who told her stories about her father that her mom could or would not. The man who was..more of a dad to her than her own father. She wanted to be alone with those thoughts. The ones that reminded her of the extension cords in the closest and the height of her ceiling fan. The ones that told her to do it.

Jade didn’t know when Riley took her arm. Nor when she started crying. Jade didn’t know she said all that aloud. Her eyes were too full of tears and her mind was gone. All that was left was the sorrow and regret. The pain she had been holding onto for so long. The burden she put upon herself to kill her father’s killer. To stop his evil plans and make her father proud. She let it all out, holding tightly onto the arms of Riley and sobbing. She fell onto her bed, whimpering and bawling while Riley calmly rubbed her arm and gave soothing words. Riley rebuked every foul statement Jade made about herself, about her inability to be a hero, her cause of Reverse’s death. She just let Jade get it all out.

And in the morning, when Jade awoke from a night of sobbing and release, she found herself alone in her room.

Then her phone buzzed. She saw that it was Riley. She hesitated. Was she ready to just talk? Talk like it didn’t happen? Maybe it didn’t. Maybe Riley was never here. Maybe Jade made it all up in her head. Was she even in the right headspace? No, no Jade still felt the haranguing pain in her soul that she caused all of this. But, it was not as heavy. And with it came vindication. A drive. A need to turn that pain into something else. To ruin whatever plans Emesh left behind. To avenge Reverse. 

She picked up her phone.

“Thank you.”

#FoF:og #creative writing #creativewriting #creative #original #original writing #original story #originalwriting #orignal female character #superhero #superhero story #allmight

[ohgoddard]

Fist of Fire.11.Arc-1-end.

Cloaked bodies huddle in the dark, in the time before sunrise. In the middle of an empty parking lot in a part of the city that no one goes to in any regularity, the meeting was clandestine and secure. From a corner covered in shadows, a man wearing a three piece suit and a tophat emerges, brandishing a cane. He looks quite pleased with himself, overlooking the group.

“I assume,” the man spoke with smug satisfaction, “all is ready for the big event?” 

“Yes, Lord Emesh.” A voice came from one of the taller cloaked people, a dry gravely tongue. One by one they all took off their hoods, revealing themselves. A teenaged boy with golden hair, three huge lizards, and a simple old man with spectacles. The old man spoke, in a southern drawl reminiscent of a slave owner, “Although we are very confused as to why you are not appearing in person. Is this not the perfect time to unveil yourself to the world, Lord Emesh?”

Emesh clicked his tongue and slowly tilted his head towards the old man, who quickly bowed his head. “ Phantom, now is in fact not the time for me to appear. My precious has not finished growing, and I fear that a premature opening would bring unwanted attention from abroad. I do not want both Omegaman and All-Might attacking me, do I? It's not a fight even I could win.”

The mention of Omegaman shuddered the three lizard people, and the old man now known as Phantom bowed his head deeper. “My deepest apologies, Lord.” Emesh gave a single hmph before turning to the boy with the golden hair. “Now, you are the lynchpin of this operation. The others will run interference along with the other nobodies I recruited to distract the other heroes. But you? You will carry out the job.”

The boy bowed his head. When he looked up, he wore a smile upon his face.

“I will not disappoint you, father.”

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Jade was not expecting the venue for his tournament to be as large as it was.

“WELLLLLCOME EVERYBODY TO THE SOUTH-EAST HERO CONFERENCE!” A voice roared from loudspeakers placed all around the largest stadium Jade has ever set foot in and thousands of voices screamed from packed seats. There were people wearing jerseys, people wearing hero merch, music blaring from speakers all over the place. Confetti was being shot into the air as three heroes flew at sonic speeds over the stadium, creating a huge boom. The crowd only got larger.

And Jade stood there dumbfounded. Riley walked up to her, and put her hands up to her eyes to see better. “Damn, turnouts a bit big this year. Was only about 90% this last year. Must be a champ coming.” A marching band was on the field playing a tune that was loud and inspiring, and acrobats were jumping into flaming hoops made by pyromancers below. It was an experience completely foreign to Jade. “Why..Why are there so many?!” “You don’t know?”

The students were standing in a box room above the rest of the stadium with a huge glass window looking down at the rings and fields below. Ricardo had just walked in on RIley and Jade talking and had overheard Jade’s plea for help.“This is one of the three hero conferences before the championships. It's like a college football game, but bigger. Scouts from all over the country come here to recruit people they see from the games, and the games only get more intense when you get out of the highschool circuit and into the college. Some people even go professional and go onto the HCL and play the sport as a living.” Jade was gobsmacked; she did not know of this beforehand. “Most people don’t watch the Highschool circuit, except for one bit.” And just as he speaking-

“ATTENTION AUDIENCE! IT IS TIME FOR THE FIRST EVENT OF THE HIGHSCHOOL CIRCUIT!” A voice sounded off from the loudspeakers and the crowd roared, screaming and cheering. The band on the field started peeling out, the acrobats following suit. The crowds started to chant, “Coaches! Coaches! Coaches!” The loudspeaker rang out once more, “Can the coaches of the highschool circuit please take the field.” The crowd cheered, and from a distance Jade could see five people walk out of a corridor. The announcer started reading off the names, “Representing New Orleans High, it’s Bayou Queen! From Nashville Academy it is Bluegrass! From Chattanooga Academy its Lakeside! From..” as the names were read off, sections of the stadium would cheer accordingly. The biggest cheers thus far came for the Little Rock High coach, Jungle King. However everyone was starting to notice something. “Where is Reverse?” Jade started to ask, but was once again interrupted by the loudspeaker. “AND! Making their first appearance in the circuit it is the Atlanta Hero Academy with their coach,” and as he spoke a streak of blue and white whizzed into the stadium creating a huge boom. Dust clouds flew everywhere, and when cleared the crowd saw standing in the middle..”REVERRRRRRRRRRSE!” The stadium exploded. Cheers and chants carried throughout all sections of the crowd. Reverse was dressed in bright white, red, and gold. He looked like a titan carved of marble, and his posing did nothing to dissuade the notion.“That’s right ladies and Gentlemen, Reverse! Savior of the President’s Daughter, the Knight of Mt. St. Helens, the defender of Boston!” The crowd was chanting his name and only died down when Reverse did a motion towards them. “Folks, this coach fight is going to be a doozy! Now, for any newcomers out there, let me explain the rules.”

The coaches started to go into seperate corners of the stadium, each doing small stretches. Reverse was just leaning against the wall. “To decide which school goes first in choosing the brackets, the coaches must duke it out! In order of who goes down last to first is how it goes. Normally, the games are set before they even begin but this time it's anyone's bet. We only have one returning coach from last year in Lakeside, so we need to see how well he holds up!”

The coaches were all eyeing each other.  Ricardo continued explaining,”It is no secret that coaches for the school must be trained in hand to hand combat on a professional level before they can coach. It's so the school does not lose face in the ring. So they hire coaches more for punching other coaches than teaching the kids proper. However, the AHA decided that Reverse needed no supplementary coach for this part of the match.” Ricardo chuckles. “The coaches are now in place, and are waiting for the mark to go!” Jade and the rest of the AHA crew, even Emily, were pressing their face to the glass in anticipation. Then, a loud buzzer sounded and the coaches were off. Reverse did not move however. What’s his game plan? Jade thought.

Lakeside rushed in and summoned a large stream of water from the grates on the stadium floor and shot it at Bluegrass. Bluegrass ducked and weaved away from the blast and punched the earth, causing ripples of vines and plants to follow in a jagged pattern to the feet of Lakeside. The vines shot from the floor and lashed at Lakeside, who fell over. He sent another splash of water at Bluegrass who thought he could take it. But the water had small rocks in them and went at high speeds all around his face and neck, causing small but oozing cuts everywhere. Meanwhile, Bayou Queen and Jungle King had just finished their fight. Jungle King had jumped over a beam of darkness shot from the Queen’s hands and delivered a strong hook into her jaw, causing her to crumble to the ground like a wet paper bag. Jungle King’s gaze turned towards Reverse, who was still leaning against the wall. He shook his head at Jungle King, who made no advances towards him. The king was instead blindsided by the coach from Birmingham PowerSchool, Kintay. She grappled onto him like a child riding a bear, bolts of electricity jolting out of her and going into the King. He jumped in the air and fell on his back, nearly crushing the coach had she not jumped off at the last second. The King turned to fight her only to be hit in the face with a stream of water, temporarily blinding him. With the combined water and electricity now, King was being electrocuted. That is, he would have had Kintay not also shot a bolt of electricity at Lakeside and gotten him too, making him out for the count. His body fell to the side of Bluegrass, who he had taken care of earlier. King, now no longer being soaked, leveled his shoulder and charged Kintay, who was unfortunately not lucky enough to dodge him this time. She was thrown against the wall and fell to the ground unconscious. Which left only Jungle King and Reverse in the stadium. 

Reverse walked forward, and took off the helmet of his coach uniform, letting his face and short cut hair show to the whole crowd. Jungle King gave a low chuckle and readied himself against Reverse. “Never thought I’d get a chance to fight you again, after you put me away six years ago.” Reverse’s face was stone, making no reaction. “I’m surprised,'' he said as he tossed his helmet to the ground, “they hire convicts as teachers in the state of Arkansas. Especially convicts who’ve killed.” The crowd was so loud, not a soul could hear what they were talking about to each other. All they could see were the two men circling each other. Jungle King was a huge, 7 foot 3 inches 360 pound man of muscle in a wife beater. His skin was a golden bronze and his hair was in a mohawk. One could describe his face as a wild boar with no tusks’.

“Well, it was easy for me when it happened then, now there should be no different this time.” Jungle King charged Reverse and delivered a mighty left hook into his body which .. did nothing. Reverse stood there, unmoved. The crowd went silent. Even Jungle King took a step back, in surprise. 

“You just don’t learn.” Reverse simply walked forward and within a second delivered an uppercut to the behemoth’s body and he went flying into the air and outside the stadium walls. The crowd once again exploded.

“I CAN’T BELIEVE IT! NOT SINCE THE DAYS OF OMEGAMAN HAD WE SEEN SUCH POWER IN THE SPORT!” The band was now in the stands and was now playing a tune to hype the crowd up as Reverse retrieved his helmet, turned around to face the cameras all along the stadium edge, and gave a little wink. And as the stadium was cheering he walked into the corridor he came out of. Jade stood still in their room, speechless as the rest of them. “He went so easy on us in practice…” John muttered under his breath. Not even two seconds later, the man himself appeared in the room.

“Man, that was some fight. I'm pooped yall. I ran here from the hotel after sleeping in jeeeeez.” Reverse sauntered over to a couch in the box room and crashed down on it, putting his feet on the armrest on the other side. Riley walked up to him, sat in a chair next to the couch and put her hands on her knees. “So, who’s gonna go first?” Reverse yawned and scratched his face. “Jade. She’s gonna fight this telekinetic kid. So uh, good luck kid. All of you go change into your gear.” In just a few seconds, Reverse had shaken Jade twice.

A few minutes later, Jade was down in a corridor leading out into the field, facing another corridor across the way from her. Standing with her was Reverse, who stood rather mightily. “All you have to do is throw fire at em, he can’t concentrate on more than one thing. Just don’t get caught in his grasp and you should be good.” Jade was shaking a small amount, the nervousness getting to her. She had already vomited in a nearby trash can, her nerves running rampant. “Don’t worry, you won’t get hurt too much. If anything, this is great practice for you. “ Jade gave a sideways look at Reverse. “That doesn't help my nerves.” “Well, don’t say I didn’t try.” A buzzer sounded from outside the corridor , and it called for the contestants to take the field. Jade gulped and Reverse pushed her out of the corridor, to the sound of screaming and cheering.

There would be three fights this round, so that they can get through the fights faster. Jade saw three giant concrete platforms on the field, with their contestants approaching them. Jade didn’t pay much attention to the other contestants, instead focusing on the boy approaching her. He was slim, smug faced, and jauntily walking teenager with a short dollop of golden hair on his head. He was dressed in the purple and green on black suit of the New Orleans School, with a popped collar. “CONTESTANTS! TAKE THE PLATFORM!” Jade stepped up to the platform, and was now mere yards away from her opponent. The boy is about her height, and his hands are in his pocket. His face is plain, spotless and essentially featureless aside from his golden yellow hair atop his head. His teeth were a shining pearly-white. Reverse was looking at the large screens around the stadium, and was hit with a hint of familiarity when looking at the boy. His hair, why does it look so familiar?

“CONTESTANTS! ON YOUR MARK!” The competitors took their fighting stances, except for Jade and the golden haired boy. Jade was far too taken aback by his non-chalantness to take form. What did Reverse say about his power? Her mind was racing, trying her hardest to remember his words. Only pulling up memories of the bus ride with Riley and coach fight.

“GET SET!” The golden haired boy spoke, in a voice that sounded like a love song.”Don’t worry, you won’t have to fight very long.” Jade’s blood ran cold. “GO!”

Then the stadium exploded. This time not with the cheers and screaming of joy, but with shrapnel and cries for help. The contestants run for cover, save for Jade, who just stands there in shock. Reverse sees this and starts to run towards her, him realizing what's going on. 

But he was too late. The golden boy raised his hand at him and, miles away he was still only a few yards away, was forced into the ground by an unseeable force. Jade started to run towards him, her arms glowing with the sun energy within her, but soon found herself wrapped in the same bands that held Reverse.

“Oh no, that's not going to happen. You’re going to stay for the show. And I'm leaving with the girl.” Reverse was livid, his body heaving with anger and the energy within him. Jade was dripping puddles of burning energy and could only watch in anger and desperation as all around her explosions happened. The box rooms were on fire, the stands were frantic with other explosions. The heroes who were on guard are seen being easily bested by huge lizard people. An old man is seen floating in the middle of everything, pointing at locations and explosions happening. Heroes would rush in only for another lizard man to appear out of  nowhere. The crowds were halted from leaving the stadium by the fallen rubble collapsing the exits.

Then, a voice echoed throughout the whole stadium. “IT'S BEEN FAR TOO LONG, REVERSE!”

The large sports casting screen at the end of the stadium lit up, baring the face of a man in a suit and tophat, smiling cruelly. He sported several scars across his face, with a notable dent in the right side of his head. His evil grin was accented by disgusting yellow teeth and his eyes with heavy bags under them shone with red evil fury. A strand of dirty blonde hair dangled down his crooked nose, between his eyes. The whole stadium was held still by an invisible force. “I would not try to escape civilians. You will find yourself cubed, No, no I do not come here today to kill. Although, I might make an exception.” While he was speaking, the boy in golden hair walked up to Jade, grabbed her arms , and started pulling her like a balloon at a state fair, away from Reverse. He was seething with hatred, a faint light coming off of him now. “Emesh…” Reverse muttered underneath his breath. The man on the TV gave a hearty laugh, as by driving the civilians who were in his clutch began to pull from their stopping points, now circling above in the air in varying poses of escape. “Reverse, I thought you finally bit it in Boston, after I let loose that plant beast. But no, you always had a penchant for survival. Did you run away again?” The faint light around Reverse was now growing brighter. “I am frankly surprised you are knowledgeable of my new name. You never were the smartest of the group.” Jade and the golden boy were out of his sight. He would have to deal with that later.. He has to save all these people now. “I think a punishment is in order. For daring to live after I tried to kill you, I will now drop all these people from the sky. A fitting exchange, isn't it?” He started to cackle, as the people began to slowly stop spinning and then.. Fall.

Then an earth shattering explosion was heard, causing a huge dust cloud to appear in the middle of the field. “Phantom! Did you kill him?! THAT WAS FOR ME!” The old man was whipped in front of the screen, and was babbling. “Nonono-no. I did not do that!” “I did it.”

The dust was split down the half as a cyclone of air shot from its origin, a bright light standing tall. Around the light were the thousands of people who were in the air, and the unconscious bodies of the lizard men. In the four seconds after the explosions, Reverse grabbed all the people out of the air and took out the lizard men. And was still raring to go, the bright white light still beaming out of him. “Where are you Emesh? Are you too afraid of being beaten twice? Of being broken and humiliated within the decade?” Emesh screamed into the screen, causing earthquakes.”hHOW?!” The beam of light that was Reverse stood there, stalwart against the man on the screen. The ground around Reverse was slowly decaying, turning grass into dust. 

“I could always break your chains, Emesh. When you were still Planeteer. You were never stronger than me.” Emesh laughed. “ Oh really? Care to wager?” Suddenly the stadium started to shake and the giant screen caved in, creating condensed points of iron and television screens. The old man floating nearby was also sucked in, screaming that he was suddenly silenced as he was crushed in the mess of mass until the ball exploded.

In its place was a floating man with a three piece suit, a tophat, and a cane.

“Would you wish to put your life on the line?”

Reverse leapt from the stadium at lightning speeds and delivered a punch into the face of Emesh, traveling hundreds of feet in the air doing so. Emesh flew backwards and slammed into a concrete wall of the stadium. Reverse landed on an exposed girder from the scoreboard, standing resolute still. “I have ten years of regret in me, ten years of what ifs. Because of you. I would put my life on the line if it meant you don’t get to have yours.” Emesh shot from the hole he was thrown into, and launched a part of the stadium with him. Entire rows of seats and concrete chunks slammed against Reverse, only causing him to glow brighter.

Emesh was floating still, a look of fear creeping across his face. He knew he could not win against Reverse.. Why had he let his ego bring him out here? A drive to wipe away those we wronged him? Whatever it was, he could not die now. He was so far away from his goal.

Emesh spread his hands wide and the ground shook, creating a great tear in the earth where pillars of molten rock started to pour out. “Look familiar?” The cries for help reached Reverse’s ears as he remembered the tons of civilians down at the stadium floor. He was torn. End Emesh and cause  thousands to be killed, or let him go and allow millions to die. Just as he was about to decide, a voice came from the field. “Don’t worry! We got this!” He turned to see Riley and his class carrying people to the corridors in the stadium side,along with other competitors and the coaches moving rubble to carry to injured and moving people out.

Emesh hated the community that he had to fight. While Reverse was distracted, he launched a pillar of lava at him from the crack in the ground, hitting him straight in the back. “Just like Victor! The same trick carries such great merit!” He began to cackle, but was stopped when a bright white glowing fist struck him in the chest. Emesh was thrown hundreds of feet into the air before righting himself. Standing atop the wall where Emesh was floating was Reverse, still glowing bright white. The space around his body was dark because of his presence,he illuminated so much light. “This ends today, Emesh.” The sky begins to turn red and dark clouds start to roll in from nowhere. “I would have no other way, you mistake!” 

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Jade ws being pulled down a series of hallways in the stadium, each one echoing with the sounds of explosions and shakes. The golden boy was holding her arm and moving through the labyrinth of tunnels. I need to get out of here, and fast! Jade had been struggling the entire time in their mental grasp of the golden boy. She had been unable to get out, but she noticed something. His brow was becoming more and more tense, and the sweat was pouring off of him.  His concentration is waning.. If I can surprise him I bet I can break his will! Jade began to concentrate on her right arm, the arm that the golden boy was holding, and tried to focus all her power on it. She steadied her hasty breathing , then -

“FUCK!” the golden boy yelled as his hand caught fire with solar energy and he let go of Jade, her hitting the floor. He turned to look at her with vitriol in his eyes. “You burnt my hand you BITCH!” He pointed at her and the pipes on the wall of the utility corridor he was pulling her down began to bend and pull from their place. Jade, however, tapped into something. In her concentration and desperation to escape, a latent power clicked. Her eyes glazed over in gold and she lashed her arms as if whipping someone, a beam of light shooting from her hand and creating a rope. The rope went around the golden boy and he screamed in pain as the rope began to burn his clothing. He jerked his head to the side and a pipe flew from the wall, steam pouring out. Jade let go of her rope in surprise, and had to dodge another pipe being thrown at her head. She raised her hand again and shot a bolt of light from it, its radiance illuminating the steam as it sailed down the hallway. And also giving away the position of the golden boy. The golden boy lunged at her, scratching her face. He punched Jade in the gut and she fell to the ground. Jade turned over and grabbed his head in both of her hands, and summoned her flaming arms. He began to cry out in pain as the sides of his head burned. He shoved her off and stumbled away. He turned to her.

“You’re not worth it… my face.. My hair! I don’t care if my dad wants you for his dumb plan! It’ll work anyways. Just you see!” Jade raised her hand to shoot another bolt of light but was halted when the boy raised his hand and collapsed the ceiling in front of her, separating them. He then turned tail and ran, his hands still clutching his face. Jade was about to pursue, but the shuddering corridor reminded her of Reverse and Jade started running the opposite way to try and find a way back to him. 

It took her a while, but she came back to the corridor that led into the stadium, and was shown a devastating picture. Competitors were guiding people out of the stadium which was now a huge tear in the ground with gushing lava pouring out of it. And in the air, a glowing ball of energy was fighting an increasingly erratic moving flying man. Jade was watching a fight for the ages.

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Reverse lunged at Emesh and finally made contact. He grappled onto his legs and started climbing up the three piece suit. Emesh raised his cane to smack him, but as it got close to Reverse’s body it disintegrated. Reverse raised his right fist and punched Emesh into the ground. His body went flying towards the Earth, Reverse not too far behind. As he was falling, Reverse raised his arm in the air. Emesh hit the ground, and was struggling to stand when he looked up. He saw the rapidly approaching Reverse and raised both his hands to stop him in the air. Reverse’s descent did not cease, only slow. Flames started to form around his forward fist, like a meteor entering the atmosphere. “Must...not….let.you..win!” Emesh shouted as blood started to pour out of his eyes and nose. 

“This is for Victor.” 

Reverse kicked his legs into the other and a force propelled him into Emesh, who screamed in fear as he approached.

Hikers along the Appalachian trail would report seeing a bright light appear on the distance. The people of Charleston would say they thought a nuke dropped. But what happened was that Reverse delivered one kiloton of energy into the body of Emesh. The explosion was immaculate, the stadium now gone entirely. A crater now stood where it once stood.

And at the center of the crater was Reverse, on his stomach, unmoving.

End Arc 1.

#FoF:og #creative writing #creativewriting #creative #original #original writing #original story #originalwriting #orignal female character #superhero #superhero story

[ohgoddard]

Fist of Fire.10.

The soft rumbling of a school bus rattles Jade’s head as she rests it on one of the cold metal plates. The bus was alive with chatter as Ricardo and John were sitting together, a friendship that she did not really expect but must have happened because of the training. They were very loudly discussing some hero event that happened in Japan. The rest of the noise was taken up by the snoring of the nurse sleeping at the front of the bus and the music of the radio. Emily sat herself at the far back of the bus, staring daggers at Jade for the duration of the entire ride up until this point. Jade looked behind her shoulder and got a glimpse of her eternal glare. Her hair had grown back at an impressive rate, although it was not back to her old length. Small burn marks could still be seen around the parts of her head where she pulled her hair back. Jade imagined it hurt when she touched them. 

Jade looked to the seat next to her and saw Riley laying in one, feet hanging over the side. She, like everyone else, was dressed in a school sweatshirt and sweatpants. Her eyes were closed and her head was resting on her arms, which were behind her forming a small pillow against the metal. Riley must have felt someone looking at her, as she opened an eye to look at Jade. She smirked and winked at jade before closing her eyes again.

Jade turned rapidly away from Riley, feeling as if she could melt the bus. She had almost forgotten about the other girl, who was sitting at the very front reading a book on American Heroes and Private Hero Corporations. She had pulled her hoodie over her head tightly and her hair was obscuring the rest of her fast. Jade still hasn’t learned her name fully, despite knowing it earlier. Anne? Gracie? Jade couldn’t remember. I wonder if that makes me a bad person?

While looking around the bus, aside from the school bus driver, she was reminded of Reverse’s absence in the bus. And of her latent sun powers. Reverse had informed the class that he will not be on the bus ride up to Charleston, as he has to take care of some professional work.

“But don’t you worry,” he said with his usual bravado, “i’ll be there for the coach fight.” Jade knee why he wasn’t coming with them. Another one of the Laurens SHS crew had been killed. It was a small news story, one she only knew about because she heard a glimpse from the radio playing in the shower room a few mornings ago. It has been a week since that murder, and Reverse had been showing up to practices only sparingly. He had delegated most of the practice oversight to his assistant, which no one knew he had. They were a small blonde woman who told everyone they were not his assistant, but a former professional hero sport coach that he hired for the week. So their practices were a tad bit harder leading up to their first tournament in Charleston.

In class, Reverse had been looking more and more haggard. And more bruised. The day before they left, he had limped into class. He brushed off all questions about it, only focusing on quirk actualization or some garbage. He wouldn’t even talk to Jade, only telling her to continue trying to work out her solar powers. Which she has been unable to do. After the revelation that she had used her dad’s quirk, Reverse filled her in on what it meant. Jade thought she sweat gasoline, but no. She was just capturing heat from the sun and storing it in her body and releasing it via her sweat. But, if she could concentrate enough it seems, she could shoot a damned laser from the sun itself.

Except she’s been unable to do that. Try as she could, night after night and day after day, she could not summon the power of the sun down to her. It kept her up at night, confusing her deeply. How could she not call out to it on demand? It should come to her easily, she felt. And it opened up so much more questions about her father. If he could harness the power of the sun itself, how could he lose in a fight? And because he, the solar hero Helios, died to Planeteer, just how strong was he?!  Jade’s world was getting more and more complicated by the week it seemed. And Reverse not being here was only making it worse.

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Reverse threw a man across the back alley of a brick building. Dust and pebbles scattered everywhere. The streets were loud and busy, so no one heard a thing. He was performing in broad daylight, yet no one saw him. 

Because he was dressed in disguise.

“I know you have information.” Reverse walked forward towards the man he had thrown. He was not in his usual uniform, instead dawning a simple grey sweatshirt and sweatpants. He obscured his face by wrapping it with white medical tape, masking any features. He grabbed a brick from the broke against the wall and threw it at the man he assaulted, the projectile shattering next to his head.

“I don’t know man! I DON’T KNOW!” the man screamed and started to back away from the advancing Reverse. “I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Reverse moved in a snap in front of the man and grabbed his collar, shoving him into the wall behind him.

“BULLSHIT! I know everything goes through you in this part of the city. Two murders happened to two former heroes, there is no way you.” He punches him in the gut.”DON’T.” He punches him in the gut again.”KNOW!” He drops him and grabs the hair on his head and goes to slam his head into the ground when he yells out ,”OK OK! I’LL TALK I’LL TALK!” Mere inches away from the concrete, his head was paused. Reverse let go of his hair and he fell and hit the ground.”Talk.”

The man rolled over, and he was a real weasel. In fact, he was a weasel, his body reflecting the rodent perfectly. “Someone was asking around my people, asking for the whereabouts of a guy named Eldritch. He paid me the money and I told him.” Reverse stepped on the man’s chest and started to lean into it. “Who,” Reverse asked him”  The weasel man squirmed, gasping for air. “EMESH! HIS NAME IS EMESH!” Reverse pulls up to his face, his eyes centimetres away from his. “Where is he?!” “HE’S GOING TO SOME HERO COMBAT TOURNAMENT IN CHARLESTON!” Just as he yelled that out, two police men walked by the alley and looked to see Reverse standing on the man.

The Police Men started to rush in, drawing their weapons and yelling, “FREEZE! POLICE!” Reverse, like they asked, froze. He stepped off the man’s body and put his hands in the air. Once the policemen got close, one went to grab Reverse and cuff him, roughly doing so. The other went to assess the damage of the fallen weasel man, who was still lying on the ground. The office patted the weasel man down, and talked to him about some things. Reverse was now cuffed and on his knees in front of the police, as they began to talk into their radios for a pickup. 

“Rick, this man has two broken ribs and a broken foot. We need an ambulance for him.” The police officer, Rick, Reverse assumed, looked at him. “Who are you, huh? We both know who this is here, this guy you were so kindly stomping on.” He jabbed a finger in the direction of the weasel man on the ground. “Vigilante Justice is illegal, doubly so in these times. So, i’m gonna ask again, who are you?” Reverse looked up to the cop’s eyes, and spoke. “Wraps.” Reverse then snapped the cuffs behind him and leapt into the air towards one of the brick walls. He punched a hole in the side and began to climb to the roof of the building at alarming speeds,the police standing there dumbfounded before yelling into their radios.

Reverse got to the roof and started leaping from one to another, making it blocks away from the police and their backup heroes they were no doubt calling. When he reached a distance he thought suitable, he jumped into another alley and changed clothes quicker than a professional broadway actor. He was now no longer Wraps, but Reverse. He was in his usual shorts and t-shirt getup, stuffing his sweats and wrappings into a duffel bag. He then looked around to make sure the coast was clear and joined the street traffic. Excellent, he thought, I got the information I was looking for and away from the Police. The Wraps persona is working out great. 

When Reverse had seen Eldritch’s corpse, he knew he could no longer sit by and let this happen. He was the only one of the surviving crew who could have a chance against Planeteer. Which, he now knows goes by the name Emesh. The loss of Tapout hurt the most, but the loss of Eldritch is what finally got him to work. Outside of him, those two were the hardest hitters and could trap anything or defeat anything. It’s now up to him to find Emesh and bring him to justice. So, he set out to investigate. But he could not go out as Reverse. For one thing, he no longer had a valid hero license. If he was found doing this, he could be taken to jail and his search would be for nothing. Two, he did not want to draw attention to Jade, because if word got out that he taught the daughter of famous hero Helios, Emesh would descend from the sky akin to a fallen angel and destroy the school and all within with glee. So, he had to adopt a new persona.

And I think it couldn’t have gone any better. Now, I need to get to Charleston.And with that, he disappeared into a blur on the horizon.

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“Alright kids,” the nurse called out to the bus as they pulled into a hotel parking lot, “we’re here! Now, the tournaments tomorrow at noon, so we’ll be getting up at 7 to get there. Don’t be going to bed late now! I’ll be handing out room keys for y'all. The school didn't want to buy individual rooms for you, so you’ll be sleeping in pairs of two.” Jade’s ears perked up at that. Oh God. What If I have to share a room with that girl? Or Emily? Or- “First up is Riley and Jade. You get room 127. Next is -” Jade’s heart stopped a bit. Riley sauntered up to the nurse, took the room key, and looked back at Jade. She smiled and gave a little head nod towards the hotel. “C’mon hot head, lets go. I'm tired from doing all that nothing today.” Jade could catch on fire in that moment and probably did. This would be the first time she would have to interact and sleep in the same room as another girl who was incredibly hot. Their hotel room had two beds, which Jade found both reliving and disheartening, a terrible TV and a bathroom. Riley threw her stuff on one bed, followed by herself, and turned on the TV. Jade moved to the other bed and tried to act as cool as Riley, who was exuding coolness while just laying there watching the news. “Hey Jade,” Riley said while taking off her hood and turning to look at her, “I have a question.” Jade looked over her, trying her best to make sure no blood rushed to her face from just having a basic human interaction. “Yes?” Jade was beginning to warm up, and being afraid of lighting the sheets on fire, grabbed a bottle of water she had brought with her and began drinking it. “Are you gay?”

Jade spit out a good bit of the water, and choked up a bit more. While she was scrambling to regain her composure, Riley let out a little giggle.”W-why,” she coughed,”Why do you ask? I am, by the way. Gay, that is.” Riley laughed, giving a big stretch while she did it. “Thought you were. I catch you staring at me sometimes. Kinda thought you were checking me out, but I wasn’t sure.” Riley stood up and started to collect some clothing items from her suitcase she brought, and Jade was out of this world. She...she knew? And as if reading Jade’s mind, “Yeah, I knew you were looking at me.” She started to walk towards the bathroom. “And i’m not gonna lie, I kinda like it. I wanna get to know you better.” Jade has not said a word, for every response she could think of was getting stuck in her throat. “Now, i’m not saying we should date right off the bat,” as she was saying that she was grabbing a towel hanging outside the bathroom door, “but I would not be opposed to doing that kinda stuff in the future. I’m going to take a shower now, no peeking now ok~?” And with that she winked and walked into the bathroom, closing the door behind her. Jade fell over and passed out, the events that just took place overloading her with too much information to handle. This weekend is going to kill me.

The next morning, after a rather boring continental breakfast and hasty morning shower, everyone found themselves back on the bus. And still without Reverse among them. Is he really going to meet us there for the tournament? Jade’s thoughts were interrupted when Riley came on the bus and sat down next to her, already in uniform. Although, she was wearing her sweats over them. “So,” she said as she put her arm over the headrest of the seat they were both sitting in, “let's do that getting to know each other thing I talked about. I wanted to try to do it last night, but I think I burnt you out like a light bulb.” She is practically putting her arm around me ohmygosh. Screw the weekend, I’m not going to survive this bus ride.

#FoF:og #original #original writing #original story #originalwriting #orignal female character #creative writing #creativewriting #creative #superhero #superhero story

[ohgoddard]

Fist of Fire.9.

Terror.

Jack Hoehn awoke with terror filling his very molecule. Where am I, what’s going on?! Thoughts raced through his mind. He stood up and looked around, thrust his arm forward and..

Nothing.

Terror filled the body in a much higher capacity than it ever did. 

“Doesn’t feel good, does it?” 

A voice echoed around him. Jack Hoehn looked around, all he saw was room after room of beige peeling wallpaper, flashing office lights on stained stained office ceilings, and moldy carpet, and no way out. It was not too cold, it was not too hot. It was… nothing. But to Jack Hoehn, it was something terrifying.

“Who are you?!” Jack screams out. He began spinning in place, looking around. An echoing laughter fills the halls and office spaces around Jack. “Do you not see the Irony? I know you do.” The voice felt as close as whispering in his ear and as far away as space. Jack spun round, flinging sweat from his neck and brow. “You would be far less afraid if you didn’t know where you were.” The voice seemed to envelop him, Jack falling to the floor cradling himself. 

“Nonononono, this can't be happening. This can't be happening. This is not possible.. I can’t.. No one can use my..” Jack stops as he hears walking coming toward him. “Ah, but apparently one can.” It was the voice, and the voice had a body to it now. It was a tall body, in a three piece suit, with a cane. “No one but I can use your quirk against you Eldritch.” The man in the suit walked forward to Jack, sinking into the floor until disappearing, as if walking down a hidden set of stairs.

Jack started to run. He started to sprint down the hallways and office spaces, looking around. All he saw was the same wallpaper, the same lights, the same ceiling. He wasn’t sure if he wanted that to change. The voice seemed to whisper in both ears at once, Jack feeling the heat of his breath. “You know better than this. To run.” Jack turned a corner, another beige wall, another flickering ceiling light. He began to see shadows in the corner. He began running harder.

“The news won’t say anything important about you, you know.” The voice sounded as if they were on his shoulders. “An old black man found dead in Atlanta. So what if he was a hero. At Least to me, you mean enough to kill you. To them? Not even the evening news.” Jack smacked both his shoulders and screamed in frustration and fear. “I'M NOT WHO I WAS! THIS ISN’T REAL.YOU CAN’T HURT ME. I CANNOT HURT!” Jack covered his hands over his ears and kept running, his body beginning to feel weak. He swear he's heard this voice before, his memory trying its hardest to remember amidst the fog.

A memory of Laurens SHS, the only people who he could call a family before he married. A memory of long nights where he would trap the perps in their own suffering before the police carted them away. Of Washington DC when..

“Planeteer?!” A roar bellowed behind Jack as the lights flicker in the forever hallway. And each flicker showed a new shadow creeping ever closer to him. The voice slithered inside his head and whispered softly. “I think you better keep running~.” Jack screamed in agony, kneeling as he clutched his head. The lights kept turning on and off, revealing walkers and beasts of darkness inching closer and closer to him. Jack was backing into a corner, raising his arms out of a vain hope his bolts would shoot out.. But nothing.

The man in the three piece suit appeared out of the flickering lights, twirling his cane. He spoke in a soft singsong voice to Jack. “I would always watch, never participate, but watch. You would grab those who would attack our clients and hold them in a cell of their own creation. Eternal torment until the police arrived.” Jack backed into the corner, having nowhere else to go. Slimy, cold liquid was drooling onto his bare shoulder. His clothes were gone, him wearing nothing all of a sudden. “I never thought it was all too heroic, really. If the world knew about Eldritch the torturer instead of Eldritch the Jailer, you would be far more popular. “ He stops in front of him, placing his cane on the ground. Jack looks up at him and tries to speak, but finds his mouth garbled, a pool of silver liquid pouring out. The flashing yellow lights from the ceiling reflect like gold off his eyes as they dart in terror. Tentacles of shadow lash to his arms and legs, restraining him to the corner.

The man in the three piece suit leans in. “Laurens never loved you. We all knew it. He kept you around as insurance. Too dangerous to be on the streets. In fact, he’s the whole reason you’re in this right now. For more than one reason.” He chuckles as Jack begins to squirm against his restraints, smoke rising from the chaffing. “He had a contingency plan for you. He knew that if you were placed in so much shock that your quirk would overtake yourself, and you’d be destroyed by it. And, I do believe, coming home from work to see your wife dead in the kitchen.” He laughs and gives a small clap to himself. “Oh, you should have seen your face. My being here is all orchestrated. Far before I even meant to do it. Shame I could not get your kids though,” he says as he wipes a tear from his eyes, “ah the wonders of private school security. I’d never be able to break into the Academy. But, soon I will not need to.” Jack's hands break from one of the tethers and begins to claw at his chest , leaving gouges in his own flesh.

The man in the three piece suit stands, unimpressed.”Really, didn’t think you’d crack so easily. Well, when you mean Tapout in hell,” he begins to turn and puts on a tophat, “ tell him Emesh sent his regards.” As he walked into a wall and disappeared, the lights shut off for good. And then the beasts attacked.

-------------------

Jade was surprised when she got to seventh period and saw that there was a substitute teacher today. “Where's Reverse?” she asked the sub, a rather unimpressive man by all means.

“He’s attending to personal business. Now, class..” As Jade took her seat and the sub passed out busy work, she wondered where he was.

Reverse stood at the end of a metal table, surrounded by the 6 other living members of Laurens SHS. They all collectively looked down at the pile of guts and torn flesh that is all that remains of the former professional hero, Eldritch. The morgue had allowed them time alone with the body, as they prepared the paperwork for the state.

“It's another one of us..” Snowthrone spoke. All faces were somber, solemn. Before them was a member of their family. Sure, he was rough sometimes with the perps, but he was family. None of them knew the truth that Victor and Emesh knew. “I never thought he’d be gotten. He seemed...too arcane to attempt”, Ribbon spoke, all emotion being blocked from her voice. Her eyes glistened red. The body of Eldritch was found inside his home next to the body of his wife, completely separated. It had been two days, the coroner said, that he'd been dead. Only found by the smell.

Reverse looked down at the body, and saw what no one else did. He knew Eldritch, and he knew him as a smart guy. A guy who knew when he was beat. So he wouldn’t be killed for nothing, he’d leave something behind. He had to. It's who he is...was..  Reverse looked at the body, hand covered over mouth, until he saw it. 

A patch of skin from the body, untorn save for scratches on it. Except, these scratches formed three letters. Reverse peered closer at them, and when he did his blood turned to ice.

The three letters carved into the body of Eldritch by his own hand were “A.H.A”.

#FoF:og #creative writing #creativewriting #creative #original #original writing #original story #originalwriting #orignal female character #superhero #superhero story

[ohgoddard]

Fist of Fire.8.

“Your first tournament is next week.” The entire classroom collectively choked on their drink. “Wait what?!” yelled back Ricardo. The AHA Combat Team had been training for a few months now, and Reverse had been running them hard. And it was beginning to have results. Ricardo could accurately shoot and move like a gunslinger of old. Riley could move faster than ever, with a punch backing up her speed as well. Emily could now move beyond her usual ‘kicking those below me’ style and for some reason had stopped bullying during her usual hours. Jade chalked it up to being too tired to hate. John has been getting better at moving faster and hitting more often, becoming a mosquito almost. Jade came to find out that quiet girl’s name was Grace, who had an quirk to cause fucking paralysis. Jade had to fix her ‘judging the book by their cover’ style fast, as she was certain it would backfire in the future. 

“Yes, a tournament. In order to keep this club running we have to actually fight other schools. I'm not going to sugarcoat it, it's going to be really tough for you guys. While you all have been improving your abilities and skills, these people have been in the Combat Sport for years. And none of you, save for very specific circumstances, have actually fought someone. So we’re going to fix that today.” Reverse walked to the door and opened it. In came the school nurse pushing a trolley of suit bags. Reverse gave the nurse a handshake before turning to the group. 

“These will be your uniforms for the competitions. They were each made to your measurements you all sent me when I had you sign the waivers. Now, unlike other countries,  the US Combat Sports Association does not allow for specific suit modifications to match a quirk power unless it is to allow body quirks. As such, they are just body suits. However, that doesn’t mean we can’t make them look cool.” He picked up one of the suit bags and opened them up. As he was taking out the suit he gave a small chuckle. “You see, even I have to get a suit, as the club sponsors have to fight each other before the competition to get the first pick of opponents.” Reverse unveils the suit, and it is as best as bodysuit can look. They were accented with blue and gold chevrons along the sleeves and legs, with a white body as a whole. The chevrons all connected to a bright red AHA on the chest. “These suits are made to be breathable and shit like that, but it looks cool too. I based it off of my favorite hero’s uniform. Now, you all will still be required to wear underwear and shit but -” The nurse cleared his throat.

“Oh right. You will be putting these on today for practice. We are going to fight each other, to get you used to how other humans think. Do not worry about getting hurt, my good friend here will put you right back together.” The nurse took a step forward and gave a friendly wave. “Hello hello! I recently bought 70 heads of lettuce, so I believe I can help you all get back to health easily enough!” The students did not know what to make of that statement. Reverse started grabbing his suit and gloves and walking out the door. The students took the cue and rushed to the cart to grab their suit and ran to the bathroom to change.

When they met at the gym, it was obvious to find those who were more comfortable with their body and those who were not.  There were the majority of  students who were trying to cover up parts of them because they were shy, and then there was Riley, who was standing there like a greek statue. The nurse was there with a camera and a giant shopping cart of lettuce head. He had also changed clothes, out his white lab coat and dress shirt and pants to what looks like a red Hawaiian shirt and cargo shorts. He had also donned a pair of sunglasses and brought a lawn chair. He seems to be getting ready for a good show, Jade thought.

Soon after Reverse walked in, and aside from Riley was the one who rocked the suit the most. His suit allowed for small cosmetic modifications, so had it all cut up into separate sleeves, leggings, and the initial torso covering. He also had a helmet over his head, which made him look like a huge buff biker. Jade was drawn away from looking at him when she heard something to the right of her. It was the short shy girl named Grace. She was muttering something under her breath, and had a twinkle in her eye. Her gaze was landing right on Reverse. Gross...thought Jade. Reverse flipped the visor and spoke, “I am going to assign you to pairs of two. You are going to fight each other, one at a time. Emily, Jade, you're up first.” 

It was like Reverse had poured a bucket of ice down her back. Wait, us up first? Right off the bat? Emily seemed to have lost any semblance of the shame she was wearing earlier, her arms dropping to her sides.  And while moments ago she was awash with a sheepish energy, what now radiates from her body was something akin to bloodlust. 

“Eh..Reverse?A word?” “No.” Jade would have to talk to him about that later. The two girls walked away from the group and stepped into a painted ring. The ring was fairly large, about the size of a basketball court. Inside the ring lay several crates that in some areas pile up to create cover within the ring. Reverse leaped from where he stood and landed on the tallest of the piles. 

“Alright, so I'm going to lay out the rules. Follow them or risk disqualification. They are as follows: Do not use lethal force.  That's it.” That's it?!?!?! Jade’s minds bellows. She was already uncomfortable in a suit that seemed to form to her body in a way that makes her very exposed, she has to fight her bully who has beaten her for YEARS without any warning...wait a second.

This could prove to be in my favor.

Reverse jumped away from the crate pile and next to the nurse. Jade looks across the ring straight into Emily’s eyes. “I'm not going to hold back. I'm going to get back at you,” Jade says to Emily, putting as much authority into her voice as she can. “I sincerely doubt it.” Emily put her arms above her head and did a lazy stretch, never breaking eye contact with jade.“This is routine for me, and I’ll treat it as such.” Emily’s reply is delivered with as much nonchalance as one could imagine.”Truth be told, I was afraid i’d be fighting anyone else. But when I heard it was you? I knew I could finally have fun again. It's been so long since we’ve had a moment.”

Reverse picks up a previously hidden bell and punches it. As it rings out across the ring and courtyard, he yells.”FIGHT!”

Immediately, Jade loses sight of Emily. It was almost too fast how she moved. Jade walked forward into the piles of crates and was looking around and up, scared. Around her she hears rustling everywhere, and is spinning in circles.”Stop running! Face me!” Jade calls out. She was not used to this, Emily would always do head-on beatings, she never would…

A crash is heard behind Jade and she turns around to see a crate flying at her. Jade leaps to the side and looks up to see Emily. She was floating in the air, standing on several towers of crates. Her hair seems to have grown exponentially somehow, looking like several spider-legs writhing around her head. A leg shoots forward and nearly misses Jade’s head. Emily starts floating forward, her hair moving like an insect crawling along a wall and pulling her with it. Jade scrambles to her feet and starts charging Emily. Emily’s face was a bit surprised at this, although she did not stop her advance. Jade’s arms started to begin their flame, the gasoline dropping to the floor, when she was clotheslined. A line of hair raised up to head level, near invisible, caused Jade to fly onto her back and knock her head. She looked up from the floor, vision hazy, and saw Emily quite literally lording over her. Emily had a look of complete sadism in her eyes, and was seen trying to stifle a laugh with her hand. “Oh Jade, you can’t ever compete with me. That little stunt you pulled earlier was hilariously funny, but not unexpected.” Tendrils of hair shoot down and restrain Jade in place, and Emily spits on her face. “You’ll never be better than me. Let this serve as a reminder to Know.Your.Place!” Her last word was said with malice, as a bundle of hair turned into a large fist and came rushing to her face and -

Jade woke up once again in the nurse’s office. She had an exploding pain in her head. But it was nothing compared to the pain she felt in her soul. She had lost. Not only lost, she lost to her bully yet again. After all those months of working out, those long nights of learning to control her quirk, those special sessions with Reverse… all for nothing. Why did I even think I could compare to her.. She’s always held herself over me. Jade swings her legs off the bed and stands up, stretching. I’ve been trying to make myself bigger than I am..I thought I could take on my father’s killer. I should have known better. I’m just a teenager. It's probably best to just leave it to Reverse.. Jade goes to the curtain surrounding her bed and pulls it back, expecting to see Reverse again.

But that is not what she sees. She sees Emily, lying unconscious on a bed with several bandages around her head. Her..bald head. Jade looked at her head and saw burn marks around her scalp, where the bandages cover her up. “What the hell!?” Jade audibly says. “You sleep for so long.” Jade turns around and sees Reverse drinking out of smoothie, sitting on the bed adjacent to Emily’s. “An hour shorter than last time, but still. I want to go home y’know?” 

“What the hell happened?!” Jade was scared, but not as much as she was bewildered. 

Reverse spends the next minute draining his smoothie. After a very satisfied burp, he puts his cup down. “Well, it went something like this..”

As the first fell towards Jade’s face, something happened. The courtyard, the whole city, was filled with bright light never really seen to that extent. The air was filled with heat felt before though, as this was Georgia. Emily, momentarily distracted by the sudden flare of light, soon found herself with something very alarming to take care of. She was struck with a bolt of light, pure white and bright light, to the back of her head. And in that strike, the entirety of her hair was lit on fire. And burning to ashes too. The tendrils of her hair began to fall off akin to leaves in a fire, burning away completely in the wind. Reverse shot from his spot next to the nurse and dashed into the air, catching Emily before she hit the ground. The impact of Reverse catching her, in addition to her flaming head, caused her to go unconscious. However, when Reverse was catching her in the air, he hit a crate on accident which fell right on top of..

“You dropped a crate on my head?!” “I don’t think you’re paying attention to the important part of this story.” Reverse stood up and walked to Jade, putting his hand on her shoulder.

“Jade, you summoned the power of the sun. You used your dad’s quirk.”

#FoF:og #creative #creative writing #creativewriting #original #original writing #original story #originalwriting #orignal female character #superhero #superhero story

[ohgoddard]

Fist of Fire.7.

The sky was a crisp and light blue that day. Children laughed and ran alongside the national mall, with their parents shortly behind them. The crowds were filled and packed along the streets, as the President was soon expected to come down to them in his motorcade. The city of Washington D.C. was as tranquil as it could possibly be.

“SHS Check in, perimeter callouts.” Stationed along the street and in their work uniforms were the 12 members of Laurens SHS. Dressed in simple three piece suits, all the members were hidden in plain sight. This was an important mission, the most important in their running as the Laurens SHS. Victor had gone to many meetings and contract bidding competitions to get this position, and if successful, the company and all involved would be set for life. “Eldritch, all clear.” Victor himself was not in the crowd, but with the President himself. The image of Helios was often enough to deter any wannabe villain or criminal. “Scythe, all clear.” “Huntsman and Meteor, clear.” The crowds were roaring as their President turned the corner and began the last stretch of his return home. Inside the car, no one was for certain what was being discussed. But no doubt it was about the “Quirk Ethics and Governance” conference he just came from, which Helios also attended. “Snowthrone, all clear.” “Breakerx2, all clear.” All was going smoothly. The Job was going off without a hitch. But a thought rested in the back of every member’s head. The crowd was cheering and throwing streamers. The President had been away for months from his own country, and had been championing the rights of those with quirks on the international stage. Those with quirks were still being classified as outlaws, so they were outside the protections of the government. The President helped fix that. “Inside team reports are all good. Missing two reports.”  Inside the car, Victor was dressed in his Hero uniform. A powerful white and gold color scheme ran up and down his button up jacket and pants, being capped off with brilliant red hair. He adjusted his reading glasses as he played with the President’s young daughter who was also in the car. “Mr.President, I do hope your stay with us was enjoyable.” The President looked over at Helios and chuckled. “The best I've had yet. I might even permanently hire you. Not a single thing has happened.” Helios gave a small laugh. He turned back to the President’s daughter. “I do hope you also liked hanging out with these heroes!” The little girl looked up at Helios and gave a toothy grin, with some teeth missing. “You guyses are so cool!!! I wanna be like you when I grow up!”  Helios grinned, but was stopped from continuing his conversation any further. A static buzz in his ear, followed up by dangerous words.

“Reverse, Tapout, problem.”

The sky of D.C. were bright and blue. The parking garage four miles away, however, was not.

Tapout flew forty feet into a concrete pillar, cracking it. Reverse was not too far in front of him. His hands were raised, and he had many cuts on his arms already. In front of him was a man dressed in a wife beater and welding goggles with a purple mohawk. “I’m tired of all this. You really think you could attack me? THE San Andreas?” He let out a maniacal laugh. Reverse straightened his back. He put his hand through his hair, and let out a small laugh.”oh please. Don’t think we were anything but more than you. We just had to report something in before we ripped you to shreds. You wanna take this one Tapout?” Reverse looked behind him and saw a hand raise from the pile of rubble where Tapout was. “You go on ahead, I'm a bit occupied.” Reverse turned back to San Andreas, and cracked his knuckles. After the last snap, he was already touching noses with him. San Andreas ducked his first punch, then punched the ground. Spikes shot up from the concrete and caught Reverse’s hand, cutting a gnarly gash into it. Reverse wind-stepped through the spikes, and threw a left hook. Even though San Andreas slid to the right, the force behind the punch broke the sound barrier. San Andreas weaved behind Reverse and dropped a huge block of stone from the ceiling onto Reverse. As the dust cleared, he saw that Reverse was not there. “I got you! You weakling I got you! Now nothing can stop us! The New World Order! The Nation of those with Quirks and nothing more!” Reverse came flying out of nowhere and delivered a double kick into San Andreas’s chest. He went flying out of the parking garage and into another building. The force of his impact left a huge crater, with a pair of arms and legs dangling out. “This is Reverse,” he said as he touched his ear, “The Villain we encountered was named San Andreas. He implied there might be more, be advised.”

Helios started to talk back, but Reverse was distracted. He heard clapping come from around the corner. Out from it came The Planeteer. “Planeteer? What are you doing here? You change your mind.” The Planeteer was dressed in a similar Three Piece suit , but different from the ones the Laurens SHS was wearing. His was green and grey all over, and he had a cane for some reason. “Reverse, you did it again. You stopped a villain from disrupting the peace. Bravo, really.” The Planeteer then raised his wrist to his face and spoke, “First step complete, initiating phase 2.” At the end of that, The Planeteer tapped his cane twice against the ground, and the sky turned orange. Instantly. “You two will be the first victims of my Vision.” And then suddenly the parking garage was gone, replaced with air as Tapout and Reverse were now free falling, the Planeteer gone.

Elsewhere, the city was on fire. “Huntsman and Meteor, fighting Guang He.” “Eldritch, fighting Warcross.” “Breaker here, helping evac alongside the inside team.” “Snowthrone, putting out fires. Scratch that, fighting Molten.” Helios watched silently as he saw Scythe get thrown onto the hood of the Presidential car, before dodign the punch of what looked like a huge werewolf. He calmly turned to the President and spoke, “Sir I think it is our best interest to leave.” Helios pointed to the roof and it disintegrated into the light. 

Reverse and Tapout were beginning to see what the city was turning into. Still miles above the ground, they saw the fires starting to rise from the buildings and chaos in the streets. Explosions were going off around the capitol building, and numerous figures in black suits ran out and suddenly disappeared. “TAPOUT,” Reverse yelled through the wind, “SOMETHING IS GOING ON HERE!” “NO SHIT IDIOT! HOW ARE WE GOING TO STOP FALLING?!” Reverse struggled against the wind and pulled his hand to his ear. “THIS IS REVERSE AND TAPOUT WE ARE ABOUT 1100 FEET ABOVE THE WASHINGTON MONUMENT AND WE NEED HELP!” At the end of that broadcast, a beam of gold shot up from the streets and grabbed them mid air, and brought them to the ground. The caster of said beam was Ribbon, another Laurens SHS hero. “Reverse, Tapout what's going on?!” “Planeteer betrayed us, this is all his doing.” “What?! How?!” “HOW INDEED.” A voice echoed from above.

Helios was sprinting in the streets, shooting beams of light from his arms. The President and his service were not too far behind, moving him out of the way when explosions and debris fall or go off near him. But they all stopped and looked up when they heard that voice. “No..” Helios uttered. The ground shook and a crack opened up, consuming most of the National Mall. The President and his Service were caught on a piece of falling rock, and were taken too quickly for Helios to act. In his hands, the President’s daughter screamed as her father fell into a molten lava mass pushing itself up from the tear. Helios scanned the horizon and saw Reverse, Tapout, and Ribbon pulling people from the rubble. He flew over there, dodging bolts of lightning firing from the newly appeared dark clouds in the sky.

“Reverse,’ Helios said as he landed down near him, ‘take this girl and run. Go now! NOW!” Helios yelled as he thrust the girl into Reverse’s arms. He nodded then sprinted off. Reverse left D.C. within minutes. “Tapout, I need you to - “ “HALT, VICTOR. YOUR HEROISM WILL NOT SAVE YOU TODAY!” The heroes turned to see a figure floating in the air, staying in one space as if standing on nothing. The Planeteer stood above the gaping maw of the tear, with molten lava pouring out. “TODAY I INACT MY REVENGE. YOU WILL PAY FOR NEVER LISTENING TO ME,MY IDEAS, MY VISION!” As he spoke, the lava began to rise, and started to swirl. Soon, a tornado of molten rock began to envelop the air around him. Helios took to the sky and began firing beams of pure light at him, disintegrating pockets here and there of rock,but they quickly filled again. The lava tornado began to move, tearing up the buildings of the Smithsonian. The winds began to pick up, and they were drawing everything around into it. People caught up in them flew into the burning inferno, along with piles of rubble. Helios flew around, trying to catch as many as he could while still shooting at the tornado. Tapout was catching them in midair and pulling others behind cover while Ribbon snatched those in danger’s way. “YOU WILL LOATHE THE DAY YOU DENIED ME!” The ground shook, and more and more lava came gushing out.

Helios stopped flying for a moment, to stare down the inferno. He put his arms up to the sky and beams of sunlight began to poke through the orange sky and dark clouds. They began collecting in his hands and then..

Bolts of sunlight ,akin to lightning, began striking the tornado, tearing chunks of it off. Faster than any attack ever seen before, and devastating. “Fool.” Helios did not notice in time, turning around only to see it. A wave of molten lava the size of a tsunami, overtook Helios in one giant swoop. When the wave lowered from the sky, Helios was no longer there. The cuts in the sky where he pulled sunlight from now closed. And not a sign he was there to begin with existed anymore.

“Finally. Finally! MY VISION WILL BE REALIZED! I WILL RULE WITH ALL-” “YOU BASTARD!” Tapout shouted from the ground, loud enough and with fury to break the enhanced thunderous voice of the Planeteer. Tapout began to sprint towards him, screaming. Tears were falling off his face and evaporating, the heat boiling. Planeteer pointed down at Tapout running at him, and two giant hands of rock flew from the ground and narrowly missed the hero. Planeteer raised his hand and the ground itself began to rise, creating boulders that Tapout hopped to and from. 

“YOU KILLED HIM!” Tapout threw a right punch, and around the Planeteer one thousand punches appeared. The Planeteer was expecting this though, and had formed a barrier of clear quartz around him. “You thought I'd be easy to kill? You always underestimated me.” He made a backhand motion and the wind itself slapped Tapout away. “Looking down on me.” Tapout, on the ground and bleeding, looked up with pure vitriol. “NOW IT'S MY TURN TO LOOK DOWN ON YOU!” Planeteer raised his hand and moved to slam it down. In the air, debris rose and started to melt, turning into molten lava. As he threw it down, Tapout came from the ground with the mightiest punch ever thrown in American History.

Tapout bounced from the ground with an uppercut, and put forward all energy he had left.

The debris in the air cooled and disintegrated, the clouds and sky were cleared. The fires were all put out. Any and all people who were not behind cover were blown away. And The Planeteer was seen flying away at 100 miles per hour. What happened is still discussed when the question of “can x hero beat y hero in a fight”. Tapout came from the ground, and delivered one million punches at once to the body of The Planeteer, with enough force to cause biblical events.

Tapout then looked up, spit on the ground, then passed out.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“That,” Reverse spoke with finality, “was what really happened in D.C.” He got up and stretched his back, and looked out the window. The sun had long set, and the city of Atlanta was no less busy. “Tapout delivered what is still called “the end all punch” and defeated the Planeteer. But not before he got to your father. After that, and numerous court visits, the Laurens SHS was dissolved and we all went our separate ways. Tapout said he was going to go out of his way to end all those who had a connection to Planeteer and his New World Order.” He turned around and looked Jade in the eyes.”I think the Planeteer is still out there. And he just killed Tapout. And he will likely come after you, the last connection to the man who was better than him.”

Jade sat in her desk shocked, and Reverse walked out the door, turning off the light.

“I’d get some rest for tomorrow. You know what you’re up against.”

But will I be ready?

#FoF:og #original writing #original story #originalwriting #original #original female character #creative #creative writing #superhero #superhero story

[ohgoddard]

Fist of Fire.6.

Jade had been going to Reverse’s afterschool activities for around seven weeks now, and it has been hell. Especially after the first meeting. It was like a switch was flipped in Reverse’s head, and Jade had no idea why. But, all of a sudden, training had gotten infinitely harder. And I fucking hate it, Jade thought during one such practice. She had been subjected to miles of running, flights of stairs, and tonnes of weight. And that was just the general training, the specialized training was far more grueling. Reverse, in an act of surprising intelligence, had begun putting Jade into refrigerators and telling her to, “make yourself warm.” Usually this was said with a quick smirk, or a joking look. But ever since that first practice day, Reverse had been anything but cordial and happy.And, for some reason, just to her. He has been so much more serious and pushy to her in her training than to any of the others. So, as Jade sits in a freezing room, she thinks to herself.  I wonder what the hell happened to him.Why does he hate me all of a sudden?..I wonder if anyone else is getting it this bad.

Riley was currently being chased by someone whom she considered unable to do such a thing. Her arms were pumping in tandem with her legs and she was moving at peak speed. Yet..

“Not fast enough.” Riley looked to her right and saw Reverse there, running at what looked like a leisurely jog. Then he winded his left arm back and threw a jab for her head. She ducked instinctively and as a result tumbled forward onto the ground, stopping completely. Reverse stopped mere feet away from her, and started slowly walking towards her. “This is the farthest you’ve gone with me on your tail,” he said while taking out a phone,” and I dare say your best time yet. 200 miles in 7 minutes? Nowhere near Whirlwind’s, but you're making good time. However, your reactions are garbage and you slow down too easily. You have to be able to take as many hits than you can give, if not more.” Riley slowly got up and dusted herself off. They were miles away from the city of Atlanta, somewhere in the mountains surrounded by trees and forest for all the eye can see. She looked around at her arms, which had gotten decidedly bigger and more defined since Reverse’s training, and saw the many bruises on them.  “Riley, you are making great progress on your speed but running is only going to get you so far. You also have to practice attacking. I want you to do 150 reps of those distance punches we’ve done before.”

Riley hopped to her feet. “Sir, with all do respect, “ she said while taking huge breaths, “I could attack you right now. I was just confused about the drill we were doing. That's all.” Reverse’s face did not change at all at the challenge. Neither did Riley’s, keeping a stone cold gaze the entire time while staring into the face of her teacher. But…

Oh my god why did I say that?! Riley's head was now exploding with terror. He is going to work me even harder than before. Why didn’t I just take the original workout? I'd be done quicker oh no oh no no no - “Really?” Reverse’s singular word cut through RIley’s train of thought like a knife. Riley was keeping her complexion the same, but she had no doubt he looked right through her. He’s going to kick my ass. He’s going to do it right here, right now. Im dead. “Hm. Well then , I have a bet.” A BET??! AM I GONNA-  Riley slaps herself in the face. All thoughts are gone, all of a sudden. “Oh yeah? What's your bet?” Reverse started doing stretches, and started to explain. “We’re going to have a race. Back to the school. You win by getting there first, or punching me. Whichever is easier. I win by just getting there first. Sounds stacked in your favor, don’t it?” Riley was eying up the boxer,her arms now crossed and her eyes slit in suspicion. 

“What's the catch?” Reverse looks up, and a nasty grin crawls across his face. “You win, you go home for the day. I win? We box until you fall from exhaustion.” Riley’s whole body began to feel numb. The mere thought of going to toe-to-toe with one of the biggest hand to hand professional heroes was suicidal. Reverse has sent more than enough people to the hospital, and about an even amount to the grave. She was going to have to win this..or else. “ Ok, I take your deal.” And with that Riley instantly started running. Well, running isn’t the right word. More like skating on air. She was already 50 miles out from Reverse when he caught up to her. “Nasty trick you pulled, but it only gave you the head start. Not the victory.”

Riley pumped the brakes a small amount and got behind Reverse. He turned behind her in confusion. Why is she slowing down? What is she doing with that rock? Oh no! I'm about to be hit in the head by a rock!...That’s probably what he’s thinking at least. Riley’s thoughts tended to get in the way of things. She positioned herself a bit to the back right of him, and dropped a rock. When she did, her foot came around and kicked it straight at him. Reverse skidded for a bit, tripping over the rock. Riley sprinted farther ahead, only 100 miles left. She looked behind her and saw Reverse gone. Did I trip him?!  She turned her head to the front and-

“Peek-a-boo”. Reverse let loose a right hook right into her temple, and Riley almost tripped forward again. But.. this time she caught herself before she made the full fall. And in a moment of inspiration..

Reverse suddenly tripped over his feet and lay face first on the ground. When he looked around, he saw no sign of Riley. And when he looked at his feet. “That clever bastard!” His shoes were tied together. Reverse began laughing.

Back at the school, Riley stumbled into the classroom, exhausted. She walked to her desk and collapsed.”Need something?” Riley slowly lifted her head from her arms and looked in abject horror as Reverse was sitting at his desk, drinking a bottle of water. “How..how!? HOW!” was all Riley could say. “I have to admit, I did like your trick. You pulled one on me. Looks like those legs aren’t the only fast part about you. I’ll have to augment your training.” He stood up and walked over to her, and she noticed his beat up ...feet? “I took off my shoes. Actually makes me run faster. Ain't that something?” He set down a cold bottle of water on her desk and began walking back to his desk. “No boxing for us today, sadly. You did a good job today, and pulled one over on me. Hitting isn't just about pure strength, you know. Go home.” As Riley began to sit up and walk out the door, she turned around. “Was I the only one who showed up to practice today? You only really attended to me.” Reverse looked at her with a preposterous look. “Only you? During our training today I got to every single one of the team member’s training. I took breaks from running to go see them, then I would catch up to you, scare you a bit, then went to go check on another.” “Oh..I see.” Riley walked down the hallway, knowing that at any point today Reverse could have overtaken her, and only chose not to because he had other things to do.

Jade was still in the Refrigerator. And was covered in flames. Up to her collar in it. I did it! I could do it! I can create flame in extreme cold. I just needed motivation! Reverse walked back to the door, swinging a ring of keys in his hands. He peeked his head in the freezer. “Good job.” He then had to immediately duck back out as a blob of fire was thrown at his head.”YOU LEFT ME IN HERE FOR THREE HOURS!!!!!!” Jade screamed as she charged the door. It was closed, but it didn't matter as soon it melted away from her incessant pounding. “I did not expect you to make this much progress.” Reverse said from down the hall. He walked towards her with his hands clasped behind his back. Looking quite smug. “THREE HOURS.I ONLY SWEAT BECAUSE I'M MAD AT YOU!” Jade began to charge him again, but not before he whipped out a long red object and-

Jade was now covered in a towel. The Fire Extinguisher,now spent, rested in a corner. While Reverse was talking over the phone to the Dean, Jade shot daggers at him. He put me in a freezer for three hours today, left me in the south of Georgia for three hours another day. It's like he's trying to make me sweat anywhere. That's when it hit jade. Oh..He doesn't hate me. He is just finding the extremes I work at. He could have at least told me. “Jade there is something I have to tell you.”

Reverse stood up from his desk and started walking over, taking his wallet out. He pushed around receipts and other papers before he found the one he was looking for. He handed her a worn looking photo that had writing on the bottom. “Laurens SHS?” Jade read aloud. She looked at the photo and saw a bunch of people she kinda recognized. She remembered them as the people from Reverse’s ‘quirk assessment’ lesson. And a few other faces, like Huntsman and Meteor, young Reverse(“Wow you used to have a mullet?”), a scratched out face. And also..

“My dad? What's going on?” Why did you show me this?” Reverse took the photo and gently placed it back in his wallet. “Because something is going to happen to all the people in that photo. And, I'm afraid, all those related.” Reverse sat down on a desk next to her.

“Your father Victor, better known as the hero Helios, ran a private hero business called Laurens SuperHero Service. I'm not sure how much to already know so I'm just gonna say all of it, so bare with me. Anyways,” Reverse cleared his throat, “he ran this business. He started small, just himself, and quickly found out he was outmatched. So, he began to look for people to work for him. He could only pay for food and shelter, but for some that was enough. Including me. Before I met your father I was a street rat stealing to make up money for hospital bills. A lot of similar stories from the other people there. Remember Huntsman and Meteor? Your father saved them from a trafficking ring. Tapout was picked up from an orphanage, snowthrone an abusive house. Your father did a lot of good, just getting us out of there. We owed him a lot.”

Jade sat there, listening. She did not know much about her dad. Her mom never talked about him after the accident, not a word. So hearing all this, it was eye opening. My father was a saint.

“However,” Reverse continued, “the jobs we did were tough. We were bouncers at high-class parties,escorts for politicians, bodyguards at international conferences. We had our fair share of big fights, such as Nucleus at the START conference and Quantum at the WHO meeting. And we also had a fair share of fights among ourselves. Usual quarrels,nothing to get into really. Except one. Your dad and one other fought the most. His name was Quentin. You might know him as The Planeteer.” Jade was confused. “The Planeteer? That guy who could ‘talk to nature’?” Reverse chuckled. “Yes, the very same. He and your father would fight often over everything and anything. It got pretty ugly. But, the biggest fight was the one before the D.C. Job.”

Reverse took a deep breath, and took several gulps. Jade could see that talking about this was very uncomfortable for him. She would offer to stop, but she knew he would turn her down. She also had an interest in her own development though. “I remember it clearly. We were at the house, and Huntsman and I were cleaning up after dinner. I was cracking jokes, flirting(I didn’t know she was gay then), when I heard a huge crash. Huntsman and I took a look and saw Planeteer had thrown a chair out the window of the living room. He was pointing at your father and was yelling, ‘you could never take me seriously! You could never listen to me and my plans, my creations! I’ll show you what I can do! I’ll show you what i’ve built!’. After that, he stormed out the door.”

Reverse’s hands began to grip the desk, and Jade was afraid that it might break. “I think i know what happens next. My dad goes to D.C. and dies to the villain San Andreas after she creates a magma flow. You don’t have to explain it to me.” Reverse looked up at Jade, and she was taken aback. The most serious face she had ever seen was looking at her. “Your father would not have lost to San Andreas. Your father was killed and betrayed by Quentin Gaius. Otherwise known, as the Planeteer. And he recently killed Tapout, a member of the Laurens SHS, as well as his family. You are in danger. So, I hav-”

Jade interrupts him.”Tell me what happened. I hate being lied to, tell me right now.”

She stood up, towel falling off her. What she thought was angry sweat on her face was actually tears rolling down.”Tell me what really happened in D.C.”

#FoF:og #writing #creative writing #creative #original writing #original #original female character #original character #original story #superhero #superhero story

[ohgoddard]

Fist of Fire.4.

A couple hours after the combat lesson, a request for a meeting was sent to the Hero combat Teacher. And very soon, Reverse had a very long meeting with the Academy dean.  He sat in front of a long oak desk, covered in papers and a very ancient computer. The room was depressing at best, and pathetic at worst. It was very apparent the funding went into the classrooms and facilities of this academy instead of the administration. Behind the desk, sitting down in a very large and ornate office chair, sat a toad. Well, he had the fat and large head of a toad, and he was not very tall. But what he lacked in physical ability and demeanor was filled with a sense of authority and power. Reverse gulped. The toadman took off his overly large pair of glasses and started cleaning them. “Mr. Ellington, yesterday you sent five children to the infirmary and several more back to their dorms bruised. Normally, I do not care for this.” Reverse had been expecting this. Even though he had brought it past the Dean, and had gotten his permission to run the ‘quirk assessment’ lesson, he knew this was going to happen. Reverse went to reply, opening his mouth and raising a finger, but a quick look from the Dean shut that down. “Normally,” the toad man replied in a rumbling voice, “this would not be an issue. But yesterday you punched the Mayor’s daughter in the gut.” He put on his glasses and leaned forward.

Reverse had fought many villains before. Monsters too. Beings of extreme power and anger, that had given him many an injury and pain. He was reminded of that power right now, as the Dean stared at him from behind the desk. If the toadman could shoot death from his eyes, there is doubt he would have in that moment. The dean straightens his tie before continuing. “Now, the Mayor knows what he signed when his daughter decided to go here. Truth be told, she should not even be here. I have strong suspicion some on the admissions staff allowed her in with false hopes and empty promises of rewards.” He takes out a stack of paper, taking a breath. “We see where that gets us now. The Mayor is very mad with us, and is threatening an investigation among a whole deal of things.” The Dean shoves the pile towards Reverse, and as he picked them up he saw that they were letters from the office of the Mayor concerning the teaching practices of the Hero Combat Teacher.“I’m going to ignore that pompous bastard and all the shit he spews.”

Reverse looked up with astonishment. His mouth agape, he tried to make a sentence but a raised hand from the Dean silenced him. “If we are to release heroes from this school, or if we fill the ranks of those private organizations we will do so with real people and success. The Mayor cannot touch us, we are beyond him. But, I am going to give you a warning.”

Reverse had been filled with too much different emotions, and was bracing himself for the next impact. “You cannot openly assault our students. Atleast, during class time. The A.H.A has spent a good deal of time out of the news, atleast a few weeks now which is not common for us. I do not want to hear about anymore poor conduct from you involving the students here. However, if you were to make an after school club, then we would be free of any issues.” The Dean pulled out a separate paper, with what looked like an already signed signature on a dotted line.

“Let's discuss the operation of the new ‘A.H.A Combat Team’ , if you will.”

After a few more hours of work, Reverse left the Dean’s office as the new sponsor of the Combat Team. There were a number of schools in the US that competed in Combat events, and the Atlanta Hero Academy had not participated since the founding years of the school ( Sometime in the 2090s). Reverse was muttering to himself, walking down the hallways down to his classroom/office, when he passed the nurse’s office. He paused, standing still outside the door. Maybe, he thought,  I should check up on the kids in there. He walked in, pushing the door and leaving it open. The nurse was at his desk, writing a report on today’s influx of visits. He turned to see the visitor and laughed. “Come to grab a trophy from your recent hunt?” The nurse was a short,stocky, old black man, with a head full of silver hair. He was wearing green scrubs,and had several scars up and down his arms. “See, usually when kids come in here they just want an excuse out of class. But this time? You really gave me a test of my abilities. I’ll be honest, it’s been a while since I got to use my quirk to its fullest.” He grabs an apple from his desk and walks over to Reverse, and gives him a look. “Nasty burn scar you got there.”

Reverse put his hand over his forehead, and winces. “Yeah,” he said with a chuckle, “one of the students got a lick on me. Gave a good sting too.” The nurse put his hand on Reverse’s arm and all of the sudden the apple in his other hand turned to dust. “Your scar should heal up soon.”

Reverse was taken aback a small amount. “That’s quite the quirk you have there.” 

“Yes, it takes the life energy from one object and gives it to another. Good thing i’m a nurse right?” He laughs. Reverse gives him a weary chuckle in reply. Going to need to keep a note of that. The nurse regained his composure then continued. “Hey can I ask something of you? My wife has been attacking me all week about getting home earlier than I usually do. Can you do me a favor? Can you stay here for just about 1 more hour?” The nurse was speaking incredibly fast, as he was putting on his coat and walking towards the door Reverse was standing at. “Really thank you for all of this, you only need to look after one kid. The rest are staying for the night. Make sure the heat fans are plugged in. Thank you so much bye!” And with that the nurse had left the room, leaving a very confused Reverse standing wondering what just happened.

What just happened? He thought to himself. Did I just get hit with extra stuff? Man, I need to be more cautious of this place better. Reverse took a deep sigh and looked around at the students in the bed. He observed one in a giant block of ice, which made him giggle when he saw it. “Aw man, Snow-throne you outdid yourself.” He walked around, looking at the other beds. He saw the one student still conducting electricity, courtesies of BreakerX2 , and then his two students. He looked at Riley and felt something. He thinks it was respect, but he is not certain, as he had never respected a teenager before. But, he thought,  if anyone deserved it 'd be her. She was the only one to dodge one of his attacks today and at the same time was grateful to be hit. She liked to learn, and from the looks of it had gotten to this school the hard way instead of the silver spoon morons he had to deal with. He would keep a close eye on her.

That left the last bed then,the one close to the window. Laying in it, and looking quite knocked out, he saw Jade Laurens. Reverse sat down at the end of Riley’s bed, and looked on over at Jade. I cannot believe out of all the schools, she’d be in this one.  Reverse put his head in his hands and the memories came flooding back. He tried his best to forget that day and move on, as the pain it caused him still left scars, but try as he can he could never. He could not forget seeing the Washington Monument on fire and falling down, not running away from the tornado of molten magma  while holding the President’s daughter, and certainly not forget the tears he felt as he saw Victor Laurens lose his fight with that monster that dared try to pass as man.

Reverse sighed,but let a small smile creep through. “Victor Laurens, you mad man. Here I thought I would never get to repay you for taking me off the streets.” Jade’s body began to stir, before settling again. A nightmare no doubt. Reverse reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet, then slipped out a picture. It was of thirteen or so people with the caption at the bottom, “Laurens SHS.” Reverse smiled as he looked over the faces, and was happy he got to see some of them today. It was not often they got back together with each other. A group of misfits under their strong leader. His eyes strayed away from his friends and down to a face that was scribbled over. I wish I could say I missed all of us. As he was putting his picture back into his wallet, he noticed a pair of trimming scissors over on the desk of the nurse. After a few glances at it, then at Jade, Reverse retrieved the Scissors before getting to work.

“This” snip “is for” snip snip “your own” snip “good.”

Red swatches of hair began to slowly trickle down. Reverse was no hair stylist, but he was fairly good at copying. He began to look around for a reference until he saw Riley. He thought,”Good enough I supposed.”

After he was done, he sat down on the bed and waited. And when she awoke...

“Nice to see you awake.”

------------------------------------

Three days after the nurse’s office, Jade Laurens was getting dressed for her ‘extracurricular activity’. While she was trying to play it off like she didn’t want to go, and was only doing so because she wanted to gain better control of herself, she was excited. So it was when she got there that she was a bit confused. In the classroom, which would now be the clubroom once school ended, there were only five people. Turns out, not many wanted to excel at being a hero.

The desks were filled with the likes of John,a tall gangly dude she remembered is named Ricardo, Emily for some reason, and a very quiet girl she has never met before. Jade turned to also see Riley, who once she saw Jade’s new haircut gave a huge smile and a small laugh. “Didn’t know I made such an impact with my passing out next to you.” Jade’s face turned red and she quickly took a seat. Reverse was sitting on his desk, talking to the school nurse. They were talking about a bet or something it sounded like, the words “sandwich” and “you owe me”. 

The tall kid walked over to where Jade sat down, and did his best to introduce himself. “Hi, I don’t believe we’ve met before, but i’m Ricardo and I can shoot bullets from my fingers.”

Jade’s eyes shone. “THAT’S SO COOL!” Ricardo was not expecting that response. “Really? No one ever says that! Whenever I tell them what I do, they always scoff at me and say ‘don’t go around the police’ or ‘bet that's how you got past the border’. Wow, I found one of the few non-racist people in this school!”  Jade was about to respond back to him when Reverse coughed. “I believe this is all we are going to get today, so i’m going to begin. This class is going to be about getting stronger in your own abilities and growing to be 110%. I was originally going to have a cool slogan like ‘Go Beyond Plus Ultra’ but it turns out some school in Japan have copyright on that everywhere. Anyways, in order for me to teach you how to get stronger I have to do it via this ‘Combat for Sport’ kinda thing. So, the game plan is we’re going to win, we’re going to get strong, and we’re not going to sue the school or me because you all signed those waivers before coming here. Let’s begin, shall we?”

#FoF:og #writing #creative writing #original writing #original female character #original story #originalwriting #creative #superhero #superhero story

[ohgoddard]

Fist of fire.3.

Jade took her fights seriously. Not just her physical ones either, no she took all fights seriously. And this one would be no different. Reverse had struck a nerve within her, and she was itching to strike one in him. She began sprinting towards him, Reverse unmoving as his arms remain crossed on his chest. She closed the distance between them quickly, racing. She was within arms reach and began to swing upwards, to catch him in the chin, and then -

Jade woke up in the nurse’s office. It was empty, and the sun was shining beams of orange light through the curtained windows. She pushed herself up from the covers on the bed she found herself resting in and looked around, a hand going to her head. A pulsating pain flashed as her ears began ringing. What the hell happened? She tried to think, but doing so caused her a great deal of pain. She looked around and saw 3 other beds in the nurse’s office, each of them full with other students, with a varying degree of ailments. One student was draped in a rubber sheet, sparks flying from their fingertips. Another was under four very loud heat fans, as they were encased in a solid block of ice. And the other bed -

“Nice to see you awake.”

Reverse sat on the third bed, another student laying beside him. Jade looked past him and saw the short cut hair of...Riley she thinks?

Reverse saw her look past him and smirked a tad bit.

“Don’t be worried, she’s fine. She just exhausted herself to the near brink. You saw how fast she went today. Too fast at some points.” Reverse rubbed the back of his neck.”I think I may have attacked her a tad bit much. She did a good job in dodging my quick attacks though.”

“Shut up.” Jade said before falling back into the bed. 

“Hey now, don’t be like that,” Reverse started to say, “No one is good their first-”

“How,” Jade interrupted. She had sat up completely and stared Reverse in the eyes. Reverse gave a short cough, and stood up. And turned his back to her and started to walk towards the door. Jade threw the pillow off her bed and hit Reverse in the back, asking again. “How did you beat me?!” Reverse stopped at the door, and put his hand on the frame. “I told you to cut your hair,” Reverse said in a very exasperated tone.

Jade could remember it now. She came in for an uppercut, but he easily stepped back and watched as it sailed across his vision. What he had not seen was the the drops of fire coming off  of her hands and drip, dripping on-

“SHIT” Reverse yelled as flaming gasoline fell onto his forehead and started fizzing off. Jade fell down onto the ground and began to fling her hand in a straight edge way. I'm going to fling the gas straight into his eyes  she thought as she began to spin, then he can’t see . After that i’m -

But she did not get to finish that sentence. Jade felt a pulling sensation on her head and then saw the ground quickly approaching her. And after that, her memory blackens.

“I grabbed your hair and threw you on the ground.” Reverse said. He turned around the door frame and Jade saw a better look of him now. The low light earlier had hidden his face somewhat, but now that he was standing directly in the light she could see. Even though they were quickly growing smaller she could see burn marks on his forehead. “You had a very interesting fight style though,” he continued, “the most interesting one ive seen.”

Jade scoffed at him. “Interesting? What is that? A compliment?”

“Yeah it was pretty interesting,’ Reverse continued, “everyone there had a good grasp on their abilities and used them to their full advantage. But you were the only I fought who had no idea how to use their own quirk.” Jade near caught the bed on fire. In fact she did catch on fire, and the bed was kind enough to also not do the same. God bless the rubber polyblend it was made of. “You beat me in a fight and now you gloat to me that I don’t even know myself,”Jade snapped. Reverse sighed. “This is why you lost the fight. Not that you don’t understand your own power, that was part of it though. No, it is because you do not think things through fully. You telegraphed your moves so obviously I knew what you were gonna do the minute you walked forward. You were mad, so you would attack head on with reckless abandon.” Jade was about to recreate such anger in that very instance, as she was getting more and more aggravated at this man telling her what she was and how easily he beat her up. “Calm down,” Reverse said,” getting mad now isnt going to fix anything that happened several hours ago. Its something you need to work on.” Reverse stepped closer back to her, and sat down. “Your father would want you to work hard and improve.” Instantly, the fires erupting from her arms and neck disappeared. Jade’s face of contorted anger and fury turned to shock. “You knew my father?” 

Reverse took a deep breath. “Yeah I knew him. I was employed under him. Some 10 years ago. He was my mentor.” 

If shock could grow any more, it would have broken Jade’s face. Her teacher, one who just beat her up, used to work for her father?! “Why did you never tell me before!?” she said, her voice cracking at the end. “Didn’t seem prudent information really. But, now it is.” He leaned forward.

“Ten years ago your father saved my life by taking me on in his service. I owe him a great debt.” For several minutes Jade just stared at him. She was wondering why she had never heard of this before. So many questions without answers bouncing around her skull. Reverse coughed awkwardly then stood up. “Because of that, im offering you something. I am making a small group for afterschool study. To make a better hero out of those who join quicker. Because I think you have what it takes.”

Reverse stood up once more and walked out of the room. Leaving Jade with these thoughts. How does he know my father?! What does he mean ‘I have what it takes? So much going on..

Jade went to put her hands in her hair to do her usual stressful habit of wringing it within her hands. That is, when she noticed something.

Reverse popped his head back in the room.

“By the way, I cut your hair. It was holding you back.”

And as he left, Jade frantically put her hands all over head, feeling the shorter cut. She grabbed her nearby phone and turned on the camera to see.

“YOU GAVE ME A PIXIE CUT?!”. 

Liberal use of a fire extinguisher was used that night.

#FoF:og #writing #creative writing #original character #original story #creative #superhero #superhero story #oc

[ohgoddard]

Fist of Fire.2.

Jade grew very quickly to dislike her new teacher. There were a variety of reasons, of course. One, he was a very no nonsense kind of teacher. Which usually is good because he shuts down Emily and her goons’s antics that usually result in her getting attacked. The downside is that she can’t sleep in class anymore. Which means she hasn’t been sleeping at all the past few days, given her dorm life. Because of this new teacher interfering with Emily’s plans during school, her after school hate sessions have gotten a bit more brutal. Jade, unable to defend herself or risk expulsion, usually just takes it. But there were more reasons she did not like Mr.Reverse.

He was a very physical teacher. And truth be told, Jade was not built well for physicality. She had noodles for arms and legs and could only kinda run. Reverse had made it a goal to get everyone in his classes up to par in the terms of physical fitness. “It doesn’t matter how good your quirk is,’ he said one day and while the classroom was filled with teenagers doing numerous workouts on the floor, “you’re going to need to lift something or run very fast away. And if you can’t do either of those you are as useless as a civilian in a fight.” Jade knew very well what useless was like, and the fact that she was being made to do all this work and could do nothing about it really iced the irony cake. She’d get back at the washout bastard.

Reverse was having a very difficult time adapting to school life. Everything was different from when he was a beat-hero. All the rules and courtesies he had to give to those mentally lesser than him made him vomit. He observed how teachers had to give-in to certain student demands and it made him blanche.”This is completely dumb,’ he said one day in the breakroom to one of his coworkers,”how on earth are we supposed to get them ready for the real world if we have to accommodate to them? I thought this was a top-notch school which was impossible to get into. Why do you guys act like such little bitches to some of these kids?” The coworker stares at him from across the breakroom table and takes a long drag of a cigarette. “Because,” the man said in-between smokes, “some of these kids are children of some very powerful people that bribed many test-officials to get here. Many of these incompetent children don’t even go into real hero fighting after they graduate. They join some auxiliary private quirk force of some company and even then usually in some administration job.” He takes his cigarette out and throws it in the trash after snubbing it out. “The best we can do is kowtow to them and let them throw their future away, lest we want to lose our jobs over something as stupid as dignity.” As he was walking out the breakroom he snapped his fingers and another cigarette appeared in his hands. “Tobacco acquisition is a very powerful quirk,’ he said he left, “if you’re a giant pair of lungs.” Reverse sat in the room alone, thinking. I’m going to make sure everyone in my class knows of the struggles of the real world. But how? These trust-fund bigots won’t allow their kids to get hurt out in the real world.. Hmm. And that's when the idea struck him.

“Oh my God my muscles hurt so much” Jade was speaking to perhaps her only friend in the whole school,  John McCoy. They were sitting in their desks waiting for the Hero Combat Class to start, and the room was basically on fire. All the windows were open and numerous kids were laying on the floor and fanning themselves. It would be less than the usual numbers of kids on the ground fanning themselves if they had just finished Reverse’s ‘Pre-Class Warmup’ that he somehow got the school to approve. “The stairs? How did he even make them so big?!” “Well,” John replied while reaching into his backpack to take out two blue Gatorade, “He did get the help from DeWalt to make his special ‘combat arena’ , so that's how he got the stairs. But I don’t think you should be complaining. This is all for out future!” Jade took one of the gatorades and started chugging it, thinking. Easy for you to say, your quirk you can easily control. Jade was very conscious about her quirk. It had manifested at a young age and when it did, it caused some problems. Mostly burning down her home. And burning several people. John, on the other hand, had a power to collapse space inbetween him and anything else, essentially teleporting things to him. Doesn’t take a genius to figure out how to use that one, John. Not all of us are born gifted. Some of us sweat gasoline.

Jade then put down her bottle and looked at John a bit more. He was a very skinny guy, with a mop for a hair and two big circles for glasses. He was also on the track team as a long distance runner, so he was built very fit. Some of us also can’t be born athletes, dickhead.

Just as she was about to let John know about the immense difference between their physical abilities the door to the room flew open, as it does whenever Reverse makes an entrance. Except he didn’t fully enter. And he was dressed.. Differently.

“Don’t bother changing out of your workout clothes and meet me in the gym in three minutes.”

Reverse was dressed in a normal, although tight-fitting, white t-shirt and his trademark bright white and blue shorts. But he was also wearing boxing shoes and had a pair of gloves with him. Which, according to Jade’s memory of seeing his fights on TV, was not something he ever wore. “Two workouts in one day?! Did Emily’s dad call him or something?” some kid said from the floor after Reverse left the door-frame.

Emily shot the kid a dirty look before turning away. “My dad won’t do anything about him. Said he was ‘beyond his control’ and that ‘maybe i could learn a thing or two from him.’ Fucking Coward. I see why mom left him.” She was the first to leave the room,followed by her two friends and eventually the class trickled out. 

“Hey Jade,” John said as they were walking out, “ Did you notice that he was dressed in his uniform? I wonder what he's gonna do.”

Jade had been thinking the same thing, and it kinda bugged her she didn’t immediately know. She could usually read people, a trait she had to pick up, but Reverse never really stayed to her expectations. “ I don’t know, let's just not be the last ones there.”

Reverse stood in the middle of a circle made of his students. Yet, even though he was surrounded, he was obviously the one in charge. He and the class stood in the middle of a huge gym, with ample space all around. The students were looking around, as something was present which they were not familiar with. A student raises their hand. “Excuse me, Mr.Reverse?” He looks in the student’s direction, a muscular girl with a pixie cut and bruised knees and elbows.”What?” “Who are all these people?” All around the students stood about twelve people in normal plain clothes. Half were female, half were male. “These people are retired professional heroes hired by the school for combat training. They will be helping me today. See, children” Reverse began to pace within the circle, addressing the eyes of all the students, “the real world of hero fighting is not going to accommodate your needs. But just telling you that is not going to teach you this lesson. Also, to teach you fully I need to see your quirks used in a combat manner so I can more effectively teach you and give you tips. “ The students started looking around at the heroes and each other, a sense of unease covering them.

Emily spoke up,” Are you going to have these heroes beat us up or something?!”

Reverse stopped and turned to her. “No, I would never do that. Today, I will pair you up with a trainer and they will be assessing your power in combat. Try your hardest in these fights, as I want a real benchmark of which to gauge your skills. The heroes will be holding back on you, because you are weak kids. That is, unless, you prove yourself deserving of being tried against.” At the end of that sentence, he stopped and looked straight at Jade, who gulped.

“Laurens, I told you to cut that hair two weeks ago. You are going to quickly find out why.” Reverse took out a paper and started to call off names and kids soon spread out to go meet with their heroes for sparring. The other heroes were far more nice to the children, although they did give no pretense of giving the kids a fair shot. However, they were nicer to them. Soon, all but four of the kids had been assigned, which left..

“The rest of you are with me. “

The kids left were Emily, John, the pixie cut girl, and Jade.

“I want you to step up, tell me your name, age, quirk. I will then give you a go ahead to attack me.”

The group of children looked startled. Jade spoke up, “Attack you, sir?”

Reverse sighed deeply,” Yes. Attack me. I can more than take it, I assure you.”

Emily was the first to step forward.Ah yes, Jade thought, she would go first. She has a lot to get back on the teacher, so she would relish a chance to attack him.

She started to get into a stance and inch forward towards Reverse when he put a hand up. Emily flinched and jumped back, but Reverse did not move.

“Name,age, and quirk. I just said the rules, they are not that hard.”

Around the gym noises started to grow loud. Sounds of vibrations and sneakers squeaking, cracks and snaps. A kid goes flying over Reverse and hits the ground behind him.

“E-Emily Owens.” Emily manages to stammer out, before taking a deep breath and composing herself. Her usual RBF taking over the nervous look of trepidation that had occupied her previously.”17, Hair manipulation.”

Reverse took out a paper and wrote something down , then softly put it back into his pocket.

“You may advance.” Emily began to rush Reverse, with much more anger than before. Her hair was forming around her in many sharp points, all pointed forward. When she got close to Reverse she began to jump, getting into a volleyball spiking stance to punch him as her hair attacked him as well, creating a deadly combo. 

That is what would have happened had Reverse simply not stepped back and she fell on her face. “I have seen you fight before,” Reverse said as he began to take the boxing gloves from his belt and start putting them on and lacing them with his teeth. “Mostly against the younger years and those without as effective quirks as you. Your attack style is aimed at punching down.” Emily jumped up, her hair helping her stand. Her eyes have turned from a cruel green to a hate-fueled emerald. Her teeth were grit. She charged again, this time taking a lower stance to punch up. Her hair moved into a fist and she fainted to the left, having Reverse stepping to the wrong side and taking a gut punch. He let out an audible OOMPH, and took a step back. Emily came behind him and went to take another attack to the back of his head, and then was suddenly on her back. Reverse had, in an instance, turned and delivered a right hook into the side of Emily, putting her on the floor. “OW, fuck! Shit! What the hell you hit me!?” She screamed while on the floor. Reverse turned fully to face her, standing up and looking down at the floor where she was lying. “You attacked me, did you not? Do not give what you cannot take. I hit you with the exact amount of force you hit me with. Doesn’t feel good ,does it?” Reverse walked forward and helped Emily up. Well, more liked picking her up , as she did not want his help. “ You keep your head down when you run, don’t do that. You are also slow. Run more, lose some of the excess weight you have.”

Emily went red in the face, before yelling and moving to punch Reverse in the face. Her hair moved into a fist and went to sock him in the head, but Reverse’s glove went up quicker and caught her hair, stopping it in its tracks. Emily gasps out of pain before getting punched in the gut. After Reverse let go, Emily kind of stumbled.

“I think I understand how to further your training. Please stand back on the line with the rest of the students.”

As Emily slicked back, she let out a string of curses while cradling her stomach. Reverse looked at Jade. “See what I said about the hair?” Jade was not liking Reverse at the moment. While the joy in seeing Emily being so soundly beaten without so much of a sweat made her feel a kind of joy she had not felt in a long time, the fact that he acted so callously in the fight made her mad. If this was supposed to start making them ready for the real world, shouldn’t he be trying harder? It rubbed her the wrong way.

“Next up.” Jade was about to take a step forward, her anger at him boiling over to the point of stupidity, when someone else took the step. It was the girl with the pixie haircut. Jade had never seen her before. She was built very muscular, and had bruises all over her arms and legs. 

“Riley Kim, 17, Jet Stream.” Reverse took another note and got into a defensive stance. “Advance.” And in that moment, Riley was a blur. Around Reverse was a whirlwind of color. Every so often a streak would break from that circle and strike a punch against Reverse. He had a very slow reaction time, not really hitting her at all. Is Reverse just this bad? Jade Thought. He is getting his ass handed to him by a kid half his age! She is literally running circles around him, and he’s just soaking up damage! What is he doin- . Jade’s train of thought was cut when Reverse suddenly stood straight up and stepped back once and stuck his foot out. At that exact moment, a blur came out and tripped. Riley skidd across the gym floor at a fairly high speed, creating a beautifully awful screeching noise. She shakily got up and turned to face Reverse, a body fairly red from both embarrassment and skidding across the floor. “Your timing became predictable and you attacked at the same angles. You need to take more advantage of your legs instead of just your fists. From the look of your bruises and the way you ran, you look like you play roller derby a bit.” Riley took a step back from shock. How did he know that?! She thought. Reverse continued, stretching his arms out. “Come at me again, this time using your legs. Your power also needs to be improved, as well as speed itself. We can focus on that during the after-school power training.” Riley changed into a blur again, circling up on Reverse, but being stopped instantly. Reverse took a deep breath in and then raised his left arm. And Riley just ran into it at full speed. And like a bird hitting a window , she hit the ground. After struggling to get up, with a little help from Reverse, he gave her some advice. “Change up your timing. It's not going to matter what attack you use if you get tagged before you release it.”

“Thank you, Mr. Reverse.” Riley walked back to the line, and then sat down in an exhausted manner, before laying completely on her back. As she lay down she looked up at Jade. “Goodluck, he’s tougher than you think. I'm not sure you saw, but he was throwing punches the entire time.” HE WHAT?! Jade screamed in her head. Her hands immediately went to her hair and she started grabbing. And a bit of hyperventilating. I didn’t see him move at all! He looked like he was standing still up until those moments where he slowly moved! Just how quick is he?! John stepped forward, although his legs were shaking.

“J-John McCoy, 16. Space Erasure.”

“You may Advance.”

John raised his hand and slashed it down, and a tearing noise was made. He was instantly in front of Reverse and smacked him in the face before that tearing noise was heard again and he was far away. Reverse rubbed his face with his glove and chuckled. “Now, I've been punched and slapped before. But that? That just felt insulting.” Reverse moved in a blink and was in front of John, the distance he erased meaning nothing now. “You need to get stronger, or you need to move quicker.” Reverse looked down at John’s skinny arms. “I think you should focus on the stronger part first.” John slashed the air again and he was farther away from Reverse, and then started his attack proper. He would dart all over the gym, teleporting it would look like, before darting in and delivering a light blow to Reverse. Nothing big, small punches and jabs everywhere. He would appear then disappear, leaving behind little impact. One time he even appeared from above to try and grapple Reverse, to no avail.”I believe I have your training plan created, but to get the point across.” Reverse disappeared. Jade had been tracking where John was going, and even predicting where he would show up. She knew the limitations of his power and knew he could only jump thirty feet at a time, and only in open space. In this crowded gym there could only be so many spots. And it looks like Reverse caught on too, as he was standing in the spot John moved to. Soon, John was sitting next to her with a bruised eye. “I guess I have to get stronger, my attacks didn’t do anything to him haha” he coughed at the end.

This made Jade very mad. This entire time, he has not taken one fight seriously. It made her pissed. And even more, he hurt John. Her only friend. And he also punched that other girl, Riley was it? Jade didn’t know her, but she didn’t deserve the embarrassment that got dished out by him. She furiously stepped forward, her body beginning to heat up. Small licks of flame began to appear from her shirt collar and sleeves. Reverse noticed this and raised an eyebrow at it, his arms crossed. “Jade Laurens, 16. Flame manipulation.” And as she said this, balls of flame began dripping from her hands, creating a pool of burning beneath her. Emily’s eyes grew very large when she saw this and moved back rather quickly. Her hands quickly became enveloped in the flame as she put up her arms.

Reverse smirked, arms unmoving from his chest.

“Advance.”

#FoF:og #writing #creative #creative writing #superhero #superhero story #original writing #oc