WalkMan
I knocked on the door. It was an ornate, beautiful door, carved from real wood by an undoubtedly skilled craftsman. I felt bad for the woodworker, as his creation fell apart in a shatter of splinters beneath my hand.
I took a step back, startled by the reaction. My MP3 device detected my sudden movement and elevated heart rate and automatically launched into the opening rift of my emergency fight song. I could feel the sudden surge of power in my muscles, like a thousand shots of adrenaline and steroids injected directly to my brain. It was far from an unfamiliar feeling, since it was the base of my super powers, but it always came with a jolt of pain.
"Who's there?" A slightly slurred voice called from inside. "I'm a fuckin' Super, I'll kick yer ass."
"Hadron, its me, Wal-" I was rudely interrupted mid-sentence by a thunderous blast. I dodged out of the way of the accelerated particle as it finished off the door, the frame, and most of the porch furniture in front of his house.
"For fuck's sake Hadron, it's WalkMan! Stand down!" I shouted.
I heard something shuffling around inside, like a drunk man was kicking debris aside as he made his way to the final resting place of the front door. "WalkMan? The fuck you doin' here." He asked, in lieu of a greeting.
I deactivated my combat MP3 player, and felt the power drain from my body as the Breaking Benjamin song faded into silence. "The Union sent me to check on you, Hadron. They're worried about you."
Hadron narrowed his eyes at me, and took a long draw from a mostly empty bottle of Schnapps. "Why didn' they send a Union rep then?" He said, emphasizing his question with a belch.
"I was appointed as a rep when you quit, remember? Can I come in?" I asked. This wasn't a conversation I wanted to have in public.
Hadron finished off his bottle of Schnapps, and chucked it straight into the air. With an intense focus, Hadron swirled his hands in a controlled pattern, then unleashed his power at the unsuspecting glass bottle. A single particle accelerated through the bottle, shattering it into molten droplets of glass.
"Nah" Hadron said, after admiring his work for a moment. "We'll talk out here."
Glaring at the 'hero', I tapped a few buttons on my smartwatch, activating another playlist. I needed the enhanced reaction time to dodge another particle if this turned violent.
"Hadron, the Union is concerned about your recent heroics, specifically the collateral damages." I said, in what I hoped was an even tone.
"Ah, are they now?" Hadron said, smirking to himself. "Well maybe they shoulda' thought o' that before takin away mah sidekick." The hero pulled out another bottle of undistinguishable liquor, and blew the top off with a flick of a finger.
"That was from the lawsuit, not the Union." I said, clarifying my point with an accusing finger.
Doctor Doomsday had struck the Union of Heroes with several lawsuits, claiming that any under-age sidekicks fell under the child labor laws. This had a rippling effect across the entire landscape, causing every sidekick to be exposed to verify if they were of legal age. This also exposed their secret identities, and has so far lead to the death of 22 former sidekicks. Doctor Doomsday had caused more damage through the courts than he ever had by violence.
"I don' care who did it, all I know is my boy's dead now." Hadron slurred, taking another swig from his newest bottle. "Electron didn't do nothin', and now he's gone."
"I sympathies with you, Hadron." I said. "But losing a sidekick doesn't let you abuse your powers. It's no excuse to blow up a Taco Bell like that."
It was Hadron's turn to point a finger at me. "That was a misunderstand'n, mate."
"A misunderstanding that left 4 employees and 12 customers dead." I shot back. "That's not something you 'accidentally' do. Thats murder. Actually, that might classify as mass murder."
Hadron sighed, and tipped his bottle straight up, chugging the entire bottle in less than five seconds.
"Just come with me, Hadron. You can explain-"
I dodged yet another of Hadron's projectiles, this time just a glass bottle. I rolled to my feet, activating my fight song as I struck a fighting stance. "So that's a no, then?" I asked.
Hadron responded by charging up a particle blast. If he fired that thing at me and missed, it would keep going until it hit something. It could be a tree, a car, a preschool, anything unlucky enough to be along that trajectory. I couldn't let that happen.
With an acrobatic twist, I closed the distance between us, and grabbed both of Hadron's wrists. He looked confused, but that could have been the alcohol's effect instead of mine.
"What now, WalkMan? Gonna rip my arms off, like you did with Doomsday? How'd that work for ya, you prick. Heard yer son is-"
I didn't rip Hadrons arms from his body, as my grip had suggested. Instead, I twisted, breaking all the bones in both of his forearms. It was a nasty and painful solution, but he would keep his arms, if he saw a Doctor soon enough.
