Even Heroes Fall

18. Justice

'C-Castlemain?' I could not believe my ears. Did he really think I would fall for that bullshit?

'It's true. He is like me.' Ghoul said reluctantly.

'Like you how?' I demanded.

'Strong. He-' But before Ghoul could finish there was a sudden click and the sound of something powering up all around us. Too late I noticed the red glowing lights of a dozen charges set up around the warehouse. I had been so focused on getting my revenge against the man who murdered my father than I had failed to take in what was happening around us and now it appeared we had been ambushed.

'Hey, Ghoul!' someone shouted. 'Castlemain sends his regards!'

And then the building exploded.

At least that is what it felt to me as everything seemed to move in slow motion. I felt the ground beneath my feet disintegrate as the walls erupted around me and chunks of the ceiling started to crash down. Debris rocketed past me, grazing my body.

This is it, I thought vaguely, but then someone grabbed me pulling me close against them and everything went black.

When I woke I was surrounded by darkness but I knew I was alive. The ache in my body told me as much but it was the smell that settled it for me. Dead did not smell like sewage. I took a big gulp of air, my side hurt as I breathed and I suspected broken ribs. I sat up slowly, fumbling for my phone from my pocket which remarkably had survived in its tough case. I turned the torch on so I could assess bodily damage and ran it over myself. Aside from a dozen minor cuts there didn't seem to be any blood flowing freely. Gingerly I flexed my feet, legs, arms, and neck. Surprised that other than a twinge in my right ankle, and my ribs, I seemed to have avoided being badly hurt. But I knew I should be dead. I moved the light around me and I saw a prone figure lying a few feet away among the rubble. Ghoul.

I frowned. I knew Ghoul was fast enough to have escaped from the building. But then I remembered someone grabbing me just as the building exploded. He saved my life.

Now I was beginning to suspect he might have been telling the truth about not killing Theodore. But if that was true then what he said about Castlemain was also true. Castlemain was another superhero. No, supervillain. 

Carefully I crawled over to where Ghoul was wedged between bits of rubble. Shining the torch across him I noticed a cut on his forehead, blood trickling down his face. Considering my attempts to cut him with my claws had failed he must have taken a huge hit to even be injured. I pushed as much rubble as I could off him. His superhero suit was ripped and filthy, covered in dust, though one glance at my own clothes told me they were in a similar state.  Dirt streaked across his pale face. His blonde hair was ruffled and his mask askew. I could almost see the identity of the man underneath. 

For a second I hesitated, caught between wanting to know his true identity and knowing it was immoral to take off his mask whilst he was unconscious. But hadn't we been through enough together to at least be able to trust each other with our secret? I reached forward and pushed the mask the rest of the way off his face. A familiar face.

Max.

Suddenly everything shifted into place. Of course he hadn't been cheating on Celia. The late night disappearing acts and the refusal to give an explanation to where he was. He had simply been out being Ghoul. And I hadn't imagined him flooring Troy with one punch, that was real and not some drunken hallucination. With a pang of guilt I remembered the last time I had seen him, Max, standing on my doorstep begging to speak with Celia, promising me he never cheated. He had just been drunk and alone. I knew better than anyone how lonely the hero life could be, at least I was lucky that my friends had stuck by me all these years despite my own disappearing acts. But Ghoul admitted he was new to the hero life, he was basically clueless about leading two lives.