Heroic Acts

Thirty Three

Darien was hit multiple times, almost losing his lunch in the process. He slowly crumbled and fell to the ground, weakened and bleeding. He gasped for air as he looked up at the villain. What the fuck was wrong with him today? Why couldn't he fight back as easily as usual?

"Why... why do you need my identity so badly?" He finally shouted.

"It'll be all the more fun to kill you," The Phantom said, bluffing for the most part. He still wasn't sure about the whole killing thing. Still, he had to play his part. He floated back down to the ground and landed on some rubble in front of the hero.

"You couldn't just kill me now? Are you that cowardly?" Darien taunted.

"Are YOU so cowardly that you'd rather be killed right now, identity hidden, than live another day?" Seth asked, laughing maniacally. He stepped towards the hero and kicked him down, pressed his foot onto his chest and began to step on him.

Darien winced and grunted, trying to push the Phantom off of him. He grabbed onto his ankle and tried to remove it from his chest, but that only made the villain press down harder.

"You're going to listen to me, now, hero," Seth said and smiled. "I'm going to take your mask off, and then you're going to die."

"Fat chance," Darien said, struggling to say it. The Phantom reached down for his mask and slid one of his fingers under it, ready to lift it off. The Warrior began to struggle and pull his hand away.

"Stop!" Someone shouted.

Confused, the two looked over to see a girl standing there, her red locks of hair twisting and blowing violently in the hurricane-level winds. For some reason, she had a feeling that she needed to help the hero. She stood there, staring blankly at the two with innocent, brown eyes.

Caroline? Seth thought. Why the fuck is she out here? She'll get hurt..

She really shouldn't be out here right now, Darien thought.

"Caroline!" Andy called. He had obviously been running after her, as he was out of breath. "What the hell were you thinking?!"

She was unresponsive to Andy for the moment. She just stared at the two boys, studying them. She wanted nothing more than to help, but she really wasn't sure what to do at that point.

News crew workers began to focus on her, watching this frozen girl stare at the scene as if it were transparent. At this point, the Phantom had stood straight up again, leaving the Warrior's mask alone. Darien secured it tighter to his face.

He used this opportunity to get back at the villain, forcing him into the brick wall behind them. For a moment, he was over powered, punching and kicking the distracted villain, who appeared to stop fighting back. Still, the Warrior had no time for sympathy, pummeling his enemy into the dust.

Andy took Caroline's hand, motioning her to come with him. She broke her gaze from the fight and nodded, locking her fingers with his. The two decided to take off together, running away from the situation and any danger. By the time they had gotten away, Darien had flung the villain into the cage. The lightning appeared to have solidified, staying in shape. The Phantom was trapped by a force that only Z could open.

"Me? I don't kill people. Face it, Phantom. We're never going to have a clear winner here. We are equals," Darien said, stepping up to the cage.

"We will never be equals," Seth snarled, clearly pissed that he was caught in the trap.

"We're at another stalemate, my friend, except I'm on the good side of the cage," Darien said with a smile.

"I'll rip your eyeballs out of your skull!" The Phantom growled.

"I'm sure we'll meet again soon," The Warrior said, making his departure. Seth sighed and sat down on the ground in the middle of the trap.

Z, excitedly, was notified about the trap and had been making his way to it, eager to finally congratulate his monster of a villain. He approached the cage to find Seth inside and he frowned; his blood began to boil in anger.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?!" He shouted, using a weird, transparent device to open the cage. It disintegrated into ashes all around them.

"It's my fault, sir. I saw someone I loved, I was afraid of hurting her," Seth admitted.

"You need to be able to think through situations like that, boy! Be smart or don't love anyone at all!" Z shouted, smacking Seth across the face.

"Yes sir," Seth said and sighed. He felt like crying.

"Meet me in my office, now," Z said before disappearing. The black sky slowly turned light again, sun glistening against broken glass and destroyed building parts. Seth decided to turn invisible to make his way to the plant, feeling quite embarrassed.

He could never do anything right in the eyes of Z. Z was the closest thing to a father that he ever had; he just wanted to make his old man proud. He often remembered his own father beating him when he was a child; he didn't mind it though, because he had a dad. When he was taken away, he had no one. Z seemed to fill that spot, at least a little bit. Seth didn't even know his identity. No one did.

He met outside his office to receive his mental beating, and stepped inside, ready to be screamed at.

***

Darien walked in the room to find Caroline there, crying. Andy was sitting with her. As much as he didn't like him, he didn't actually have a restraining order yet. He just decided to ignore him and talk to Caroline.

"Caroline, are you okay?" He asked softly.

"I saw them today," she sobbed.

"Saw who?" Darien asked her.

"Them, the hero and the villain. I was so close up, I'm just.. I don't even know why I'm crying," she admitted.

"It's okay, are you hurt?" Darien asked.

"No, Andy, he protected me," she said. Darien looked at Andy, who looked right back at him.

"You're probably just in some shock," Darien said. He stepped over to Caroline and gave her a hug, which she accepted happily.

"Caroline, I'm gonna go, okay?" Andy said softly. Caroline nodded and thanked him again. He got up to walk out of the room and made his way for the door.

"Andy," Darien said. Andy turned around to face him.

"Thank you for taking care of Caroline," he said softly, not a single expression on his face.

"You're welcome," Andy said before excusing himself from their room. He shut the door behind him.

"I'm sorry I brought him in here," Caroline sobbed. "We have been hanging out and studying together and I wanted to tell you guys but all this happened before I could."

"Caroline, it's okay. I'm not upset, really," he said, still hugging her.

"I just wanted to help that Warrior so badly," she admitted. "He's doing the right thing. He's a hero."

"I think the same thing," Darien said softly.

"Do you think he'll ever win?" She asked him, looking up at him.

"You know, I sure hope so, Caroline. I really do."