It was 30 minutes before Michael, Joel, and Donie should have returned to the bunker. Raymond stepped out of the back seat of a black sedan with a scowl. He looked over to see the SUV they had taken still parked in front of the run-down bar. He shook his head in disappointment. Two other large, sharply dressed men walked up behind him.
He glanced at both of them quickly and nodded toward the bar. They walked purposefully, the two large men placing their hands on concealed firearms. Raymond pushed open the front door.
“What the fuck happened here?”
Michael sat on the ledge of a skyscraper overlooking the city. He watched as cars passed below, heading somewhere late at night. He sighed, diving back into his mental library and trying to integrate his new power into his martial arts. It was a lot simpler to add than his other powers, as it just enhanced what was already there instead of giving him new options to consider.
A loud thump on the roof behind him pulled him from his thoughts. He whirled around and came face to face with a man dressed in a green suit covering everything but his mouth, chin, and two eagle-like wings sprouting from his back. He walked forward with a scowl and placed his hands on his hips.
Ah, great. One of Raymond's so-called heroes. Just play it cool and hope he doesn’t recognize me. “Who the hell are you?”
“Me? I'm the person who's perch you're stealing. Who the hell are you?” he asked in an offended tone.
“Still didn’t answer my question,” Michael sighed, jumping down from the ledge he was sitting on.
“Don’t you know?” the man asked, gesturing to his costume.
“Uhhh, No.”
“I’m the green eagle and the newest protector of this city.”
Michael looked at the man with a confused expression. “Never heard of you.”
The man let out a gasp and gaped at Michael. “I’ll let you know I have been featured on multiple news channels recently and have contributed to keeping this city safe, just like Wonder Boy.”
Michael let out a choked laugh.
“What’s so funny?”
“Look man, I know you have to put up an act so the general populous doesn’t know but you can cut the crap. I know you work for Raymond.”
The green eagle scratched his head. “Who?”
“Don’t give me that bullshit. We both know there are no legitimate superheroes in this city.”
“Uhh, have you gone mad? There's Wonder Boy, Viperlash, me, and that's just naming the popular ones.”
“And all of them work for or with Raymond.”
“Look man you can keep saying his name all you want but I’m still not going to know who the fuck that is.”
Michael cocked his head and stared at the man for a good few moments. “You’re serious, aren't you?”Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.
Green Eagle shrugged and gave a slight nod. “What part of this conversation made you think I was joking?”
“The part where you weren't working for Raymond, are popular, and can still have a conversation…”
“Still have no idea what the fuck you are talking about.”
“Oh, right, it's a long story, but you know who Deckmaster is, right?” Michael launched into the entire story of Raymond and Wonder Boy’s criminal enterprise. “And that’s why you should get out of this city if you want any chance of being an actual hero.”
“Yeah, I don’t believe a word you just said. There is not a chance in hell Wonder Boy would work with his arch-nemesis. I've met him, and he's a pretty cool guy.”
“Look, I know it might seem hard to believe, but you should get out of here while you still can.”
“Yeah, no, I ain’t buying into your conspiracy theory bullshit just so you can steal my perch.”
“I don’t give a damn about your perch. I’m trying to save your life.”
“Look man, you’re obviously on something to come up with a story like that so why don’t you fuck off and I won’t bring you down to the police station to spend a night sobering up.”
Michael pinched the bridge of his nose. “You know what? Fuck it. If you don’t want to listen, why should I even bother? Have fun becoming another of his lackeys or ending up as nothing more than a red smear on the pavement.” He jumped, igniting the flames in his palms.
“I hope you get the help you need, man. That shits not good for you,” Green Eagle called after him.
He shook his head and let out a low growl. Fucking idiot.
Michael spent a long time watching the city from high in the sky before his drowsiness began to catch up with him. He soared up to find another skyscraper to land on. There was no way he would trust going to a hotel, but he needed at least a few hours of rest before making his debut.
He planned to start acting as a new superhero who had come to town and wait until Raymond’s henchmen approached him. He was sure that he would not survive a full-frontal assault, but if he could cause enough damage to the body, then maybe he could lure out its head.
He pulled on the roof access door and was happy to find it unlocked. He shut it behind him and walked down to a small outlet where the stairs turned. He lay down, using his backpack as a pillow. Hopefully, no one needed to go up to the roof anytime soon, he thought, slowly drifting to sleep.
He woke up around midday the next day with a mild neck cramp. After some time stretching, he decided to make his way further into the building to see if he could find a bathroom without being noticed. To help with that, he pulled his mask off but kept his hood up to obscure his face. To his surprise, he found the top floor of the building almost entirely empty.
He made his way back outside and noted the building's location. It was a good place to rest for the next few nights. He flew around the city several times, looking for anything that could be a good debut for him. Sadly, there were no perfectly timed bank robberies. He eventually settled for sitting on top of the building he had slept in and watching the news.
Any time now.
After almost an hour of nothing happening, he grew tired of watching weather reports and news about which team was winning which championship. He dived into his mental library, going over all his skills. He was just about to go through combos using electricity and the ability to harden a tall, thin man wearing a disheveled, collared shirt and a loosened black tie, standing on the ledge, caught the corner of his eye.
Michael turned to face the man, but as soon as he did, no one was there. “What the?”
“You… know…”
Michael nearly fell off the building as the man appeared next to him. He caught himself with a quick burst of flight, landed on the roof, and turned to face the man in a combat-ready stance. He nearly fell off the edge again when he got a good look at him. His body looked like he had been dead for weeks, and rot had already begun to set in. On top of that, Michael could see straight through him like he was not there.
“You… know… where am?”
A strange sense of déjà vu hit Michael. He had heard that voice before, and even though it was half rotten, he could have sworn he had seen his face somewhere before.
“You… know… where am?” he repeated slowly, careful to pronounce every syllable.
“Uhh, on top of a skyscraper,” Michael answered, with a confused look.
The half-rotted man looked around for a few moments. “I–” He suddenly faded away, leaving Michael alone again.
Michael shook his head, tightly shutting his eyes and opening them again, revealing a still empty rooftop.
“I need coffee,” he muttered with a sigh.