Hero's Bane

Chapter 14: Vengeance Doth He Have

(Art by Me)

"Ughhh..." Steve felt his head swaying back and forth and it ached very badly to his distress. Low muffled shouts began to fill his ears, shouts of many people- a lot of people actually and they sounded really angry. Confused he partially opened his eyes and everything around him was tinted a reddish-orange color, it was also very blurry. Too blurry and so he strained his eyes to see better but he just could not.

He could make out some of the hazy figures moving around in his vision, the shapes of humans were then discernible. Several of them raised fists up and screamed louder but for some reason Steve just could not understand what any of them were saying. It was loud but he heard no words, just muffled voices filling his aching head. They also appeared to be standing below him and looking up at him with disgusted morphed faces. At the same time he realized that his arms and legs felt as though they weighed a ton and were numb to the bone. He wondered how he was positioned upright and looked down at his chest to see that he had been strung up by thick chains to a solid cold surface, a tall pillar of stone.

One of the blurred figures then pulled their arm back and launched a small projectile at him and a sharp pain pelted him on the side of the head and he grimaced from the assault, he could feel the pain radiate from the struck spot but it didn't last. Another in the crowd did the exact same thing and this time one him on the cheek, again it hurt but not for too long. It felt like rocks were being thrown at him.

Another person in the crowd suddenly ran up to him and punched him right in the gut. Steve coughed and tried to speak, trying to tell them to stop but no words came out. He could only hear himself groan and mutter something completely indistinguishable, as if he had forgotten how to talk. A sudden sharp stinging sensation slipped right into his side and he screamed as loud as he could from the acute pain, he felt as though he had been stabbed. Steve tried to squirm out of the chains; only managing to turn his head to the side but unable to escape, he couldn't move a single muscle from the lower neckline down.

'Stop!' He could only hear it come from his mind, not out of his mouth as a warm fluid seeped from the newly created wound. The tenderness remained for a short while but eventually faded only to have another piercing pain jabbed right through his chest, this pain was even more intense and he could feel very hot tears flow down his cheeks along with the wound's fresh blood seeping through the fabric of his shirt. 'Stop, please?!' He mentally begged.

The pierced spots stopped hurting, but that was until they were replaced with others in various places. He was in so much pain and agony. So much suffering. It's like his body would quickly heal up the wounds just to only be replaced with other cuts and stabbings. Was that even possible?

He swung his head around wildly but it never helped him escape this pedestal of misery, it also did little to defect more stones now flying at him. He closed his eyes tight and wished for everything to just stop, to go away.

"Heerrroohhh!"

Finally, the sounds of a normal human could be heard. He pried his eyes to see a silver figure standing in the front the vague scarlet crowd, pushing away the people that had objects in their hands. "Geth awuuay foromh hiiihm!" He forcibly pushed at a body then turned his attention back to Steve. "Heehhhroooohhh!" The man called out. It wasn't clear as to what he was saying but it did stop some of the attackers and it was more comprehensible than the humans loudly grousing in the mass.

"Itssst Ohkkkay!" The voice was so muffled and yet still loud.

'What?!' Steve mentally called out to the silver plated man, turning his head slightly to see if he could hear better.

"It's okay! Just don't listen to them, you are not a monster!"

The figure slowly cleared up in his line of vision and stood pristinely clear amongst the fuzzy crowd of blurry people. The man had short trimmed brown hair, light blue eyes, and a goatee and he looked oddly like him. He also wore a set of adorned iron armor, like a knight but with an oddly familiar circular golden symbol on the center of the chestplate.