Silver Canvas [ON-HOLD]

Prologue

I dedicate this to my families. My family at home, my family at school, and as well as to my best friends/family :-)

And of course to God Himself!

Enjoy!

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"Kenan, I can sense him. Is this the place?" Seth asked in a hard tone.

"Yes sir. The target is right inside," replied the sergeant.

A squad of six soldiers in black gear stood right outside a shady bar in a street hidden from any commoner's sight. The wide alley itself looked deserted despite having run-down houses all around the more classy looking bar.

The soldiers wore typical tactical warfare gear with the black kevlar helmets, bulletproof vests, long-sleeved apparel, black pants and a belt with a couple of rifle clips attached to it. Plastic tranquilizer guns hung from slings on their back. A tactical mask covered their faces with gray-tinted goggles. They locked and loaded their M16 rifles at their leader's hand signal.

Their leader looked the most out-of-place in the group. Seth was topless and just wore jeans and was at the forefront of the squad, like he wanted to be the first one dead. He glanced up to the neon blue-lit sign of the bar. He thought it quite dumb they'd keep the sign's light on in broad daylight.

"Beo's Bar. Finally, it's been months," he cracked his knuckles. "Let's go get him."

Sergeant Kenan pulled at Seth's shoulder.
"Remember sir, we need to take him in ALIVE. I have orders to put you down if go berserk on this mission again," the sergeant said sternly.

"Would it kill you to be less uptight?" Seth shook Sgt. Kenan's hand off his shoulder. "We don't work for the government remember? I'll use as much force as I'll need to take him down."

Before the Sergeant could protest, Seth kicked open the bar's double-doors and barged in. The place was atleast big enough to fit six cars. Dim yellow lights lit it up and it looked like any other regular bar, with a 5-foot long counter with all the shelves of alcohol on the west side and, on the east side and far end of the bar, around twenty circular tables were lined up.

Bartenders and customers glared at the soldiers charging in. At the two tables at the far end of the bar, ten guys in high-end suits got up, brought out their pistols, pushed over their tables to use as cover, and began shooting at the squad.

"Cover!" the squad hurried to tip over some tables to use as cover as well.

People ducked and covered as a shootout broke out between the two parties. Seth just stood at the doorway looking for somebody among the cowering innocents. It didn't bother him that he was a wide open target.

Sgt. Kenan inched closer to Seth while still shooting and crouching behind the table.
"Sir! The target doesn't have accomplices, these guys might just be some mafia cronies!"

One soldier was shot in the shoulder and leaned behind a table to catch his breath.

"Keep shooting Ke-" CLANG!

Seth's face made a sound like it was slapped with a metal baseball bat.

"Sir?" Sgt. Kenan turned his head to look at Seth.

"That guy just shot me in the face." All of Seth's skin suddenly turned into a gray-metallic color.

"Sir, calm down," Sgt. Kenan said slowly.

Unfazed, he pushed Kenan aside and jumped over their cover, charging toward the gangsters and into the cross fire as bullets ricocheted harmlessly off his skin.

"Hold your fire!" Sgt. Kenan ordered his squad. "He's got this."

"Let's just hope he doesn't bring the building down," said one of the soldiers.

Seth smashed the goons' makeshift covers to bits with his bare hands and caused chaos in their ranks. All of them just pointlessly kept shooting at his metallic skin. He lunged at one of the thugs and punched him out cold. He ran toward another guy and tossed him toward the counter, the bartender ducked as the goon smashed into the shelves of alcohol.

The rest of the thugs stopped shooting and backed away in terror, but Seth wasn't done with them yet. He barreled towards the hapless cronies and beat them senseless.

...

Once the violence died down, the squad got out from their cover. They saw the far end of the bar in a mess of dead guys, frightened bargoers, cracked walls riddled with bullets, and broken furniture. The goons didn't look any better. One's head was smashed straight through a wall, another lying unconscious by the counter, and another whose left leg was broken backwards.

"Sir, just in case you're done, we should get back to the mission," Sgt. Kenan approached his superior with care, noting that he was still strangling one of the thugs. "Intel just radioed me, the cops will be here in ten minutes."

Once Seth was done, he threw away the unconscious goon and got up with his metallic chest and knuckles splattered with blood. Sgt. Kenan stepped aside, afraid Seth might still be in berserk mode.

As his adrenaline rush just started to disappear, he glanced at the Sergeant then dragged his feet through the bits of smashed chairs and tables. His eyes scanned the room for their target.

"Do you think he escaped in the ruckus?" asked a soldier applying pressure on his shot arm.

"No, he's still here. I feel him," Seth's skin went back to normal as he walked around getting a good look at the still cowering bystanders.

The whole squad turned their heads to the echo of a toilet flushing by the southeast corner of the bar. Out from the bathroom, a kid in a dark green windbreaker and black shorts stepped out. He was atleast 14-years of age with a brown complexion and chubby cheeks.

"Uhh, what happened here?" the child said as he looked at all the damage. "I was just taking a dump and styling my hair and this happens."

The squad was about to reach for their tranquilizers but in an instant, the guns were dislodged off their slings and flung out of their reach by an invisible force.

The boy gave an amused expression to them.

Suddenly, the soldiers' M16 rifles crumpled into spheres in a deafening chorus of the sound of twisting metal. They instinctively let go of their now useless weapons.

"You didn't need those right?" the boy smirked at them. "Your tranquilizers' carabiners still count as metal y'know."

Seth stepped forward.
"SE-3, I've come for you."

"Oh, it's just you. You've got new friends I see."

"Skip the theatrics, stand down now before I make you."

"We don't need to fight, you know that brother..."

A silence crept across the whole bar.

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