“I'm
sorry...”
The
words echoed through his mind as he ran back towards the ship. There
was something familiar about them, but he didn't have time to worry
about it now. He finally spotted the ship in a river, and he leapt
into the water, regaining his original form as his body hit the
water. He quickly circled around the ship as the jungle faded away
behind him, but the waters were perfectly calm, there was no sign
that anyone might have fallen overboard. He climbed the ladder to
the deck, but the ship was also totally quiet, and against his better
judgement he went to look for her.
“Alright
Banshee, this isn't funny, you can come out now”, he called, but
there was no answer. It was almost pitch black below deck, but he
could see in the dark well enough. Most of the rooms were covered in
a thick layer of dust, as if they had been undisturbed for a long
time, which was not surprising, he rarely had any reason to come down
here. He finally reached the last room, the place where he had laid
Banshee the night before. He walked up to the couch, but all that
remained were a few white hairs to prove she had once been there.
“She
must not be back yet”, he thought, so he climbed up onto the sail
and waited. The evening went by, and it gradually dawned on him that
she wasn't coming back.
“So
that's it then?”, he asked, hopping down from the sail. “I try
to help you, and you just disappear, like Line? Bah! Who
needs you? You never did anything but get in my way, I'm better off
on my own.”
His
declaration
floated out on the wind and faded away, reaching no one.
There were none left who could hear it.
“I'll
prove it”, he said, climbing down the ladder. He closed his eyes
and dipped his tail in the water. “Show me where they are”.
At
first there was nothing. He shut his eyes harder and tried to shut
everything out of his mind. Unwittingly, his thoughts kept returning
to Line and Banshee. “This isn't about them”, he told himself,
“this is about me, just the way it's always been.”
Finally,
he started to feel something. At first he thought his tail was going
numb, but there was no mistaking it, there was a faint rhythmic
throbbing in his tail. It started off weak, but it began to grow
stronger, pulling on the tip of his tail. There were several
different sources, he realized, but one of them was stronger than the
others. That was the one.
“She
was telling the truth”, he thought, finally removing himself from
the water. “So Line really is gone”. He walked to the helm of
the ship, and turned hard to starboard. “An idiot until the very
end. He did give me an idea, though”, he grinned cruelly, “I
won't just beat
them, I'll
humiliate the lot of them, so they'll realize I was right all along”.
He hopped up onto the sail, keeping watch for any ships on the
horizon. “I can hardly wait”, he thought,
sharpening his claws.
The
sun was already starting to rise in the sky by the time the ship with
black sails closed in on its prey.
---
The
first thing the hunter felt was the
familiar sensation of the wind blowing through his hair, and he
thought he might still be at sea, but he couldn't feel anything
beneath his feet. He opened his eyes and looked down to see a
harbour far below. For a moment he was overcome
with a sense of panic, but he didn't feel himself falling, and the
harbour wasn't getting any closer. Gingerly he lifted his head back
up and looked around, but there was nothing under his feet, and
nothing holding him up. He had not become
a ghost, nor did he possess wings, by all accounts he seemed to be an
ordinary stranger, floating high in the air. After becoming
convinced that he wasn't simply going to fall, he dared to wiggle
his leg a little, and he felt himself gliding in
that direction. After a few moments he learned to control
himself, deftly circling over the world
below. The harbour looked so tiny from up here, the people were mere
specks of colour set against the ground, and the ships, large as they
might be, were scarcely the size of his palm. He reached out towards
one, his hand wrapped in an elaborate black gauntlet, to see how
small it truly was. It fit completely within his fingers, such a
tiny thing, it would be such a simple matter
to crush it within his palm. He clenched
his fist, and there was a great rumbling down below. He watched
wide-eyed as a wall of water rose up around the vessel and then
closed in, sinking the ship in an instant. As the mist cleared, the
ship was on its side, and people were screaming down below.
He
held up his hand in disbelief, staring at it for a moment. Then he
reached towards another ship, and the water swallowed it up as well.
The people down below were so well and truly panicked that there was
little he could do but laugh. “This is
more like it!”, he beamed, “without
those fools to tie me down, I am powerful!”. He made a scooping
motion towards the water and created a giant wave, sinking several
boats at once. He sank another and another, his stress melting away
as he capsized their stupid ships.
Eventually he got tired of all the people screaming, so he washed
them all away with a giant wave. He was running out of boats to
sink, so he turned his attention to the harbour itself. He pointed
his palm towards a brick building that stood near the docks, and
squeezed, and it collapsed in on its foundation as he watched with
glee. He was just about to level a whole block when he was
interrupted.
“Stop,
evildoer!” a deep voice boomed. “Fantastic Flames, the hero of
justice, has come to put a stop to your wicked ways!”
A
man clad in a bright red suit from head to foot was floating in the
air nearby. The only part of his body not covered by the suit was
his face and his bright orange hair. The man
stared at him with an expression of intense determination. “This
is your only warning, stop your rampage or I will have to use force!”
“I
am the Destroyer!”, he
proclaimed, “none can stop me!”. He reached out towards the man
and tried to crush him with his fingers,
but it didn't seem to have any effect on him.
“Very
well then, you leave me no choice!”. The man in red brought his
wrists together with his palms stretched apart, and a stream of fire
shot out from his hands. The Destroyer quickly dodged to the side
and the burst of fire dissipated into the sky. He looked back to see
the man's body was now completely encased in flames.
“Let's
see how you like this!”, he scowled, reaching out towards a
building behind the man and pulling it towards him. It exploded into
a shower of bricks, which sprayed Fantastic Flames like a machine
gun. He darted through the air towards the Destroyer, avoiding most
of the onslaught as the bricks crashed back to the ground, cutting
the docks below to pieces. The man in red threw a flaming punch, but
he dodged to the side and countered with a knee to the stomach.
Fantastic Flames barely flinched, socking him hard in the side of the
face with his other hand. It pushed him back slightly, but he was
not seriously hurt, and they laid into each other with all they had.
The fight was evenly matched, with neither side showing any signs of
tiring.
“The
fool means to delay me”, he realized, swaying away from a punch
aimed for his head. “From this range my
powers are useless.”
He quickly feinted back through
the air, and
Fantastic Flames lunged at him, but he saw it coming and caught his
fist in his gauntlet. “Now I've got you!”, he declared, throwing
the man all the way to the ground. He landed hard, leaving a crater
in the pavement, but he was right back up, ready to fight again. He
raised his palms to fire again, but it was too late. The Destroyer
gestured with his hand, and a massive tidal wave swept over the
harbour, burying the man in red. When the water washed away, he was
lying face down on the ground, his flames extinguished. He
floated down towards his defeated foe.
“You're
all washed up, Fantastic Flames”, he declared, smiling to himself.
Line would have enjoyed that.
He
expected the harbour to just fade away, but what remained of the
harbour persisted silently, the people having long since fled. The
stranger must have been somewhere else.
“So,
you're one of the ones
from the other ship”,
he said, picking up the defeated man. “When will you fools
learn to stay out
of my way?!” He flung the man into the ocean and rose into the
sky.
There
wasn't much to see from up here. The harbour was surrounded by ocean
on three sides that went on as far as the eye could see. Beyond the
harbour the land turned to largely featureless hills. Atop one of
the expanses of green he spotted a large building with a red roof
that stood out from all the others. “There”, he declared, flying
towards it. “That's where the stranger will be.”
He
could have simply crushed the place in his hand,
but that would be too easy. What was the point of having these
powers if not to lord them over others? He would make the stranger
beg for mercy first, then crush the life out of him. He landed on
the ground, shattered the door with his palm, and walked inside, his
black cape billowing powerfully behind him.
The
giant building opened into an extremely tall room with a staircase on
either side and an elaborate stone fountain in the middle. That
would be the first thing to go. He floated up into the air and
crushed the fountain, which crumbled into stone powder, spraying
water everywhere. “Show yourself, coward!”, he boomed.
A
man stepped out from one of the doors, but it was not the stranger,
it was the same man in the red suit from before. He threw his arms
out to the side and ignited his body. “Fantastic Flames is here!”,
he declared.
“Fool,
I have beaten you before, and I can do so again.”
“Don't
count on it”, said a second voice, and a woman dropped in from
above, landing near the first man. She had long black hair and
carried a large sword, which she pointed towards him. “I, Lady
Samurai, shall be the one to stop you!”
“Make
way for THE THINK TANK!”, a mighty voice bellowed. A muscular
giant of a man landed on the ground fist-first, smashing a dent in
the ground and sending a shockwave through the entire room.
Ridiculously, he was wearing glasses and a tie to go with his ripped
shirt and pants.
There
was a tremendous swoosh of wind, blowing all the doors in the
building open, and another figure was standing by the others. He
was the smallest of the lot, and was
dressed in a colourful costume with a red cape. “And don't
forget Kid Comet, the world's
fastest boy!”
“It
doesn't matter how many of you fools there are!”, he growled,
spreading his hands apart and bringing them together. “I'll crush
the lot of you together!”
The
walls beside them exploded inward, and they all dashed out of the
way. “Spread apart!”, Fantastic Flames yelled, and they all
split off in different directions. He was the first one to attack,
launching a stream of flames towards the Destroyer, but he raised the
water from the fountain to create a shield, then blasted him with a
jet of water using his other hand, knocking him back into the wall.
The Think Tank was next, he grabbed a giant stone pot and threw it
towards him, but the Destroyer shattered it and sent the pieces back
at the Think Tank, tearing his clothes even futher. Lady Samurai
threw several daggers towards him, but he
dodged them easily and collapsed the ground underneath her. Kid
Comet flew up the stairs and toward the
railing to leap at him, but he broke the
railing under him, causing him to fall
harmlessly to the ground below.
“Your
pathetic powers are no match for mine!”, he boasted.
“Think
Tank, launch me!” Lady Samurai yelled, and he picked her up and
threw her towards him. She drew more daggers from within her cloak
and threw them towards him, drawing her sword as she prepared to
strike. He tore out a section of the roof and flew out of the
building to evade, then slammed that piece down on top of her to
crush her into the floor. However, Kid Comet pulled her out of the
way just
before the tiles
broke unceremoniously upon the floor.
“We
can't fight him alone!”, the Think Tank told the others, “we have
to combine our powers!”
“The
only thing that will be combined are your graves!”, the Destroyer
declared,
tearing out more ceiling tiles and firing them at Kid Comet, but he
was too fast to be hit. He swirled around the room at incredible
speed, and soon it seemed like the air itself was turning with him.
“It's
my turn!”, said
Fantastic Flames,
launching his steam of fire towards him. The Destroyer raised the
water to shield himself, but both water and fire were caught up by
the wind, swirling around him like a vortex. He tried to pull out
more ceiling tiles, but he couldn't see well enough, the smoke was
blinding him and the heat was starting to make him feel weak. He
scowled menacingly and tried to focus on controlling the water again.
He
never even saw Lady Samurai coming. She
flew through the flames, sword drawn, ready to
strike. By the time he spotted her
and moved to block it was too late. He was falling to the ground,
the flames were dissipating, and everything was going dark.
He
opened his eyes again to find himself in a cell. He immediately
tried to reach forward with his hands, but he could not, they were
bound in shackles above his head, and he couldn't squeeze his fist
together.
“Your
reign of destruction comes to an end at last, Destroyer”, Lady
Samurai told him.
“It's
not possible”, he said, in disbelief, “I'm by far the most
powerful!”
“You
are strong, yes”, Fantastic Flames said, “but we have something
you don't
– Teamwork.”
“That's
right”, the Think Tank added. “Our abilities compliment each
other perfectly, as long as we fight together, we can
never lose. But I
wouldn't expect a villain like you to understand that.”
“That's
nonsense!”, he spat, angrily. “Other people are unreliable!
It's much better to have those powers yourself!”
“You
poor, poor man”, Lady Samurai said, shaking her head and walking
away. The Think Tank joined her.
The
stranger walked up to his cell, looking right into
his eyes. The Destroyer scowled.
“Destroyer...
you stink!”, he declared.
“You
said it, Kid Comet”, Fantastic Flames laughed. “Let's go home.”
They
left, turning out the lights in the hallway. He pulled as hard as he
could at his restraints, but they just wouldn't budge. “Arrrgh!!”,
he yelled in frustration. “Curse you all!”. He yanked hard
again on his restraints, wondering if he was going to be stuck here
forever. He didn't have to wait long to find out, he felt the grips
on his wrists loosening, and the next moment he slipped out of the
shackles and fell straight down into the ocean. He forced his head
above water and the cell and everything else was
gone. He was back to his old self, too, powerless, wet, and alone.
He growled viciously and swam towards his ship, which was quite some
distance away, getting angrier and angrier with each stroke.
“Damn
it all!”, he shouted when he finally hauled himself back on deck,
dripping wet, freezing cold, and seething with rage. “How DARE
they do this to me?!”. He tore the rope ladder off its fixing and
threw it into the water. “I am the hunter!”, he declared,
kicking the sailpost hard with his foot. It hurt, but he didn't
care, he was too mad. He stumbled down into the lower deck, breaking
several rungs of the ladder as he did so. “Line!”, he yelled,
knocking over a chair in one of the rooms. “You worthless piece of
shit! You brought me nothing but trouble!”. He grabbed a table
and threw it against a wall. “All of your ideas were stupid! I
should have just thrown you overboard and saved us all a lot of
fucking time!” He lurched toward the next room, raking the walls
with his claws as he went. “And Banshee!”, he yelled hoarsely,
kicking the door down, “You've been nothing but a burden since the
beginning! 'Look at me! I can't talk because I'm too FUCKING
USELESS!'”. He smashed another chair against the ground and flung
it's splintered remains into the hall. “You always just got in my
way, so good riddance! I'm better off without you!!”
His
voice was completely worn out now. He threw open another door and
came to the couch where Banshee had been lying after he brought her
back that night. Thinking back on it made him mad, so he barred his
claws and savagely tore into the couch,
spraying stuffing and fabric everywhere. As he ripped
the couch apart, a cloud of white hair floated up from under the
cushions. It blew around the room for a moment before scattering
among the broken furniture, one last memento of her.
The
Destroyer fell down to his knees, completely deflated. “Why?”,
he asked, barely able to speak. “Why did
you make me care about you?”. A tear rolled down his cheek. He
was supposed to be strong, strong enough that the strangers would
never hurt anyone again, but they were never coming back, and it was
all his fault. He collapsed onto the floor with the rest of the
destroyed ship and thought of the big panther, bleeding to death
while he could only watch.
---
He
could have just laid there forever, his ship drifting off into the
night, never to be seen again, but somehow the sun still found him.
He was alerted that morning had come again by a soft, persistent
sound echoing through the room. He opened his eyes and picked
himself up. He was in a plainly furnished room with a couch and a
wooden door, not unlike the one he had just left. He heard the noise
again, someone was crying. For a moment he had the ridiculous
thought that it might be Banshee, but he quickly came upon the
source. A woman was crying her eyes out in
the next room, so completely caught up in her grief that she didn't
even notice him. He could easily sneak up on her and put her out of
her misery, like that stranger had done to Banshee, but he had no
appetite for it right now. Instead, he did
something he had never even contemplated before:
“What's
wrong?”, he asked, sitting down beside her.
Initially
she was so shocked that he was there that she reeled back and stopped
crying, and for a moment he thought she was going to attack him, but
she quickly resumed her sobbing as he looked on inquisitively.
“Everyone hates me”, she finally replied.
“Why?”
“Because
I exist.”
“I'm
sure no one hates you for that”, he said, realizing that he would
have hated her for existing just a few nights ago.
“Yes
they do”, she said, sniffling, “I have no friends, and everyone's
mean to me.”
“I
don't have any friends either. The only two people who ever cared
about me are gone now.”
“My
parents hate me, too. They split up because of me, and things got so
bad that I can't see them anymore. Now I have no one.”
“You
have me”, he said, siding
up close to her.
She
shook her head. “You'll go away too.”
“No
I won't”, he said, “I don't have anyone, either.”
She
stopped sniffling for a moment. “Who are you, anyway?”
“I'm
the
Destroyer”, he said. ”Now I'm trying to put something back
together.”
“Maybe
this is karma”, she said, not crying anymore. He laid his head
down in her lap and she stroked his face with her hand. “You're
soft for a destroyer”.
“I'm
not that person anymore”, he said, “and I never will be again.”
She
leaned in and touched her forehead to his. He felt his ship calling
to him, but there was nothing back there for him now. He held on
tightly to her as everything began to fade away. First the room
disappeared into white, then the woman, and
finally the Destroyer was no more.
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