The blade protruded after being pushed through her lower abdomen. Then, as he withdrew the blade from her body, she slumped to the ground, and blood seeped from her wound and her mouth.
"Oops! I guess my hand must've slipped," the deranged lunatic replied, and laughed afterward.
Harrison furrowed his brows and roared with rage. He clenched his fist, which initially morphed into a giant fist, composed of rocks. He charged at him shouting, "You bastard! You'll pay for that!"
Seth discharged his heat vision from his eyes when they turned red. Harrison covered his face with his writs in turn. His wrist was burning with discomfort as the beams burned through the rock minerals. He pressed on, however, but one of Seth's subordinates launched a plasma attack in his direction. He fell flat as the plasma assault struck his knee. He then gripped his wound and winced as a pool of blood spilled out. He moaned in distress as Seth grabbed a small tuft of his hair and raised him up.
He locked eyes with him and continued, "I didn't want this you know, but you forced my hand. Now you must deal with the ramifications of your stubbornness."
He then smirked, "Alas, I bring forth good tidings. You will get your vengeance soon enough as I will return. And once I do, I will burn your city to ashes, so that the four of you will understand the consequences of your actions. The only way to prevent your city from falling into oblivion is if you kill me yourself. Yes Harrison, I only want you to deal me with the final blow. Think about it, you will be able to fulfill your heart's greatest desire!"
He placed a dark blade in his hands and tossed him aside.
***********
As soon as the firefighters arrived at the farm, they extinguished the tower of flames that was raging through the corn fields, Dan's house, his barn, and the wheat fields. Dan sat on the stoop of what was once his house. With tears in his eyes, he buried his face between his knees. He then reflected on his childhood memories.
On a scorching day twelve-year-old boy named Dan observed his father tilling a field of dirt while he ate a plum from a tractor from far away. When he was done, he walked over to his son and dropped the pick on the ground before wiping the sweat from his temples.
" Yowee, I am drained... What a day!" His father, Darren said.
He nibbled through the last bits of flesh, sticking out from the seed.
He looked down at Darren and inquired. "Dad, why are you always working in the field?"
He smiled and took off his cowboy hat, he gently placed it on his son's head. "Well, sunny. We need to keep the family tradition going. This farm was passed down to me by my pops, who inherited it from my granddad. Not only that, but we are one of the best farmers in the country. We have established great relations with nearby credible markets and successful businesses. This is our legacy and one day when you're old enough, this tradition will be passed down to you."
He returned back to reality and glanced at the picture of his mom and dad, "I'm sorry pops. I failed you. You left your legacy in my hands and I let you down."
His right pocket vibrated. He tucked his hand in his pocket and grabbed his cellphone. He switched it on and saw a message from Sam that read the following, "Let's meet urgently. This is about Seth."
Dan clenched his fists and lowered his brows, his body was coated by the heat of flames. He took off and flew to New York.
************
"What! What do you mean our mean that our prototype has been compromised!? It was your responsibility to look after our project! Do you realize how much money we lost because of your incompetence!" Stated Mariko through the cellphone.
Sam sighed and placed his forefinger under his brows, "Look Mariko I understand your frustrations, but what happened was beyond my control. We were ambushed. None of us knew that this would happen!"
She burst into a fuse," Sam I don't want to hear any more of your excuses. The prototype was in your hands and you screwed this up. My family invested millions of dollars in this project. And you failed us! What are we supposed to tell them now?! That you are too irresponsible!"
He sighed and continued, "Listen I'll figure something out!"
"You better or else we will take our investment elsewhere!"
She dropped the call and he sat down to ponder about his circumstances. He pushed his hair backward and glanced at the table. He sighed as Jonathan approached him from behind with a tray of coffee. He placed it on the table, "Here we are sir?"
"Thank you, Jon."
He grabbed the mug and placed it close to his nose, he drew in the scent of the coffee and took a sip. He placed the mug on the table, "This is exactly what I needed. A strong cup of coffee."
"Sir," he turned to face him and inquired, "Yes, Jonathan."
"I'm sorry about what happened, regarding the outcome of the prototype. You worked very hard to fulfill your father's dreams. Now, things went off track and you were unfortunately put in a tight predicament."
He faced the surface of the table once more. His eyes were throbbing red from weeping plentifully. He held himself from weeping once more and continued. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He then opened them and continued, "No need to apologize Jon. Setbacks are a part of life, we need to face them at some point."
Suddenly, Dan landed on the balcony with force. He got inside and marched toward him.
"Did Seth have something to do with this!"
Sam rose to his feet and approached him, "calm down. Let's wait for Diana and Harrison."
Dan pointed his finger at him, "Don't fucken tell me to calm down! I wanna know if that son of a bitch had anything to do with this!!!"
"What are you talking about?" Inquired Sam.
Dan grabbed him by the collar, "He set my house and crops on fire and you are telling me to calm down!!!"
Sam pushed him away, "You think you are the only one who lost something? He destroyed my father's project. It was worth millions of dollars of investment. And soon, I will likely lose my business partners for this!"
Dan calmed down and took a deep breath. He rubbed his face and pottered toward the wall while Sam watched from behind. "I'm sorry. It's just that the farm was all I had that reminded me of him. He worked so hard to take our legacy to another level, and then Seth came and destroyed what he built. That whimsical jackass also destroyed my home!" He then punched the wall, and in doing so, the portion of the wall that he punched cracked open.
Sam watched with sympathy from afar. Someone then called out to him, "Sam! Sam! Sam!"
He turned to the side and saw Diana land on the balcony from above. She jolted with speed inside the pantry, dripping with tears.
"My career, it's all gone. Everything that I worked hard for went down the drain!"
"Calm down Diana! What are you talking about? The studio! It has been set on fire! All our equipments are gone, Sam! Microphones, headphones, recordings, everything!"
Dan turned around to face her, "Even you?"
"What do you mean? Is there something that I don't know about?"
Sam then answered her inquiry, "It was Seth."
Her eyeballs nearly popped out of her socket," What! How can that be? He saw our ship explode right in front of his eyes, how did he come to the conclusion that we were still alive?!"
As he approached the dining table, he pulled a chair from underneath and sat down. "Seth ambushed me and my employees when I went to the warehouse earlier on. He destroyed the prototype that Mariko and I have been working on."
Dan then spoke after him. "Not only that, but he set my farm into a blaze. He burnt every field and my house!"
She placed her hands on her forehead with bafflement. Though she was dumbstruck, her wrath was boiling intensely in her blood flow. "How can this be?" She inquired still dumbstruck.
"I always knew that there was something off about him. I mean he was too good to be true and that bothered me. I wondered what he was hiding, little did I know that we were dealing with a deranged maniac. He destroyed everything that we held dearly because we rejected him. How pitiful," commented Sam as he glanced at the table.
"Wait a minute! If that asshole targeted all three of us. Then what about Harrison?"Inquired Dan as they looked at each other.
***********
The three arrived at Harrison's Street Avenue using their powers. What was once a house, was a pile of planks and rubles. Harrison lay unconscious on the floor, while two more bodies lay close by.
"Harrison!" Diana yelled as she rushed to his aid and fell on her knees. Thereafter, she placed his unconscious body on her thighs and tapped his face while Dan and Sam analyzed his mother's corpse. Dan placed his hand on her chest to check her heartbeat.
"There is no response from her pulse," he said, directing his gaze at the two.
"What does that mean? Are you trying to say that she is dead?" Sam inquired.
"It looks like it," he said, sympathetically.
A few moments later, Harrison opened his eyes. He caught a glimpse of Diana's facial features.
"Diana!" He marveled, wondering why she was with him. He sat up and his brain slowly processed his current affairs. Once he remembered the events that unfolded, he bellowed. "My mom! Where is she?!"
He jolted with pursuit and ran toward the area where her body rested. He pushed Dan out of the way and gently shook her body to wake her.
"Mom! Mom! Mom! It's me, Harrison! Please respond!" A tear was shed from his left eye, dripping down his lower cheek. "Please wake up!"
Sam placed his hand on his shoulder, "Harrison...I'm afraid that..."
He raised his voice at him and completed his sentence, "...Dead! Is that what you're trying to tell me?! There is still hope that she may be alive!" He exclaimed and continuously shook her body. He even called her repeatedly, but she did not respond. It was then, that a part of him convinced him to accept his current situation. He burst into a pool of tears and Sam placed his hand on his shoulder once again to console him.