Warning, this is going to be dark. Precede with caution.
I had scars. A lot of them. Some from old injuries from being a superhero, but the most, the biggest, most noticeable scars, came from my time as the Dark Soldier. Like for example, the brand on my thigh, Subject HNRE.
My friends didn't know about most of my scars. They knew about a few, like the giant slice on my back. I had gotten it when I had dropped a weight during training. They didn't like to see that I was weak, not even a little.
We had all stayed the night at the Man Cave about a week after I had returned. Rai had dropped a candy bar, so when I bent over to pick it up, my shirt went up a bit.
They, of course, asked me a bunch of questions, I really didn't want to answer.
Another was three, claw like, lines on my shoulder blade. I had spoken during an assignment. A murder. I remember the victim perfectly, Sam Edison, 33. Anyways the gang found out about that scar when I injured my shoulder on a mission with Rai. Schwoz had to check it out. They of course asked me everything they did last time. How'd you get it? Who did this to you? When did this happen?
But they found out about the branding in the worse way possible.
-.-.-.-
"Rai, Henry, suit up. There's a masked, group of criminals in the downtown area." Schwoz alerted us.
"Cool, we haven't had unknowns in awhile." I say.
"Ya, I think the last one we'd ever had was-" Rai trailed off.
"Jandi Bridge, seven months ago." I say hesitantly. "When I was kidnapped."
An awkward pause filled the room.
"Kid, if you don't want to go, if it brings up bad memories, you don't-''
"Rai, I'm fine, that was seven months ago. I've been back for three." I say, subconsciously pulling my sleeve down over the scars on my shoulder. "Let's go."
"Henry, you are never going back there, you hear me? I won't let them get to you, ok? And anyway, we have a cure to snap you back."
"Thanks, Rai but I'm fine. Let's go."
Rai gives me a look before taking his gum tube out.
I follow and quickly blow a bubble. We run over to the tubes.
"Up the tube." Rai calls.
We zoom up the tube.
- time skip -
When we arrive on the scene, I instantly felt as if I shouldn't have come. Their masks were the same as the masks they used at Z and N. I quickly feel my branding on my leg. But none the less, I jump into battle.
I slam my fist into someone's jaw. They stagger back before lunging at me. He flips me over onto my back. I grunt before jumping back up. I kick them in the stomach. Just as I was obtaining the upper hand, I feel a blow to my back.
I drop to the floor, wheezing.
"Henry! Are you ok?" Schwoz asks into the coms.
"Ya." I wheeze.
I catch my breath and continue fighting.
I knock a few out, but as many I defeat, double seem to come out.
I dodge as many as I can, but these bastards are starting to overpower me.
One grabs me by my shirt and tosses me into a building. I place my hand to my head, only to have a stinging feeling in my head and hot liquid under my fingers.
I'm losing. I can feel it.
I look over to Rai quickly. He wasn't doing much better.
In my distraction, the goons take the chance to kick me in the ribs. I grunt it in pain.
"Henry!" Jasper yells.
"Kid Danger, how are you doing? These guys are really tough." Rai asks into the coms.
"Not so good." I pant.
"Just, keep-'' Suddenly the line is replaced with Rai's muffled shouts. "Kid get out of here!"
"Captain Man?" I ask, panic shooting into my bloodstream. While trying to keep the criminal surrounding me at bay.
Suddenly the circle of criminals separates.
A man with orange-red hair, about six foot, walks over to me. His face, his eyes, his look, it burns a hole into my soul. It's a face I would never forget, not in a million years. This face belonged to a monster.
Nigel.
"Hello, soldier." Nigel said.
A goon grabs me from behind, firmly holding me in place.
A goon dragged Rai into the circle. He was chained up.
"Kid! Don't listen to him!" Rai yells.
"Please, don't do this." I beg.
"Doctor."
I twist in pain as every memory seeps into my head.
"Kid! Don't listen to him! Listen to me, listen to my voice."
"Henry, Henry it's Charlotte, don't listen to him!" Charlotte shouted through the coms.
"Gas."
I cry out in pain.
"Henry! Henry, you're stronger than this!" Rai yells to me. "Do you hear me? You are not who they made you to be! You're stronger than what they want you to be."
"Don't do this! Please!" I scream.
"Amore." Nigel said stoically.
I cry out in pure agony.
"Charlotte! What's happening?" Jasper yells.
"They're forcing him back into the Dark Soldier!" Charlotte yells.
I vaguely see Rai try to break his chains.
"Gum."
Almost every thought in my head is soon replaced with orders, Captain Man's the villain. Rai's my friend, I persist.
"Henry, fight it!" Charlotte commands, her voice in my ear was hardly noticeable though. With all the commands and voices in my head telling me that Rai was the villain, Charlotte's voice was nothing but a whisper.
"Frittle."
"Captain Man, I'm sorry." I cry out. I struggle to get out of the goon's grasp, but I was fighting a losing battle.
"Kid!" Rai shouted.
"Stairs."
And then I stop struggling. I stop fighting the soldier.
"Dark Soldier." Captain Nigel says.
I pull out a tiny chip in my ear, and crush it in my palm.
"Ready to comply."
Rai's Point of View
I watch helplessly as Henry's forced back into the soldier he never wanted to be.
Suddenly he stops screaming and thrashing, and stares darkly into the eyes of the ginger haired man.
"Dark Soldier." The man says.
Henry pulls out his com and crushes it.
"Ready to comply."
"Charlotte, code dark. Alert the news. Tell people to keep off the streets." I said shakily.
"Rai, what are you going to do?" Jasper asked, nervously.
"What I have to." I say sternly.
Henry excepts the gun from the red head.
"Kid, please, your stronger than this." I say, catching Henry's attention.
He looks at me with black eyes. He walks over to me and crouches down to my level on the ground.
He locks eyes with mine.
It's like we're playing a game of chicken. Who would blink first. I try me hardest to keep looking into his eyes, but they're not his eyes. I look away from them. Henry's eyes are soft and warm, these eyes were cold and unforgiving.
"Soldier, defeat Captain Man and shoot the witnesses." The leader ordered. "A chopper will be ready for you when you are done. Here." The leader handed Henry some chip. "Place it on you chest and press the button."
And with that, the red head left.
I quickly blasted my way out of the chains.
All the soldiers had left with the leader.
"Kid, Kid Danger, this isn't you."
Henry looked at me with a dark expression.
He stared at me, stoically, and placed the chip on his chest. He tapped it and immediately a black suit spread over his body like poison, replacing the signature red and blue.
Once I realized no one was around, I spoke again.
"Henry, it's Rai, listen, you don't have to do this. Your stronger than this." I state.
He makes his way over to me, gun raised, blood dripping from from his head.
"Henry, Kid, don't do this." I reason.
He shot at me repeatedly with the gun. I blocked the bullets with my arm.
Henry, realizing the bullets did nothing ran forward whilst hooking the gun back to his belt. He grabbed me by the shirt and threw me into a building.
I grunt at the force. I forgot how bloody strong he is when he's the soldier.
"Kid, you're not a bad person! You're not who they forced you to be!" I yell at him. Trying to reason with him.
He ignores me and makes his way over.
"Rai, don't hold back, I just ran a scan of Henry, he's two times stronger than you." Schwoz said.
"Alright, here goes." I say.
He goes to throw me into a building but I grab him by the fabric on his leg. I launch him through a window, but ripping part of the thigh's fabric off.
He leaps through the broken window and pins me to the ground.
I push him off and toss him away from me. He runs toward me and slugs me across the jaw.
I kick him in the stomach. He doesn't even move. He punches me across the face and then kicks me back.
I land on my back and grunt.
I leap up and tackle him to the ground.
He punches and kicks me, trying to escape.
He grasps my neck and throws me off.
As he was tossing me off, I read words on his leg that were branded in brown .
Subject HNRE
He never speaks of his scars, so it's not surprising to find he has more that we never knew about. But the letters are big, clear and brown. It had to hurt and it had to be hot metal to have it that clear. I grimace at the thought.
I'm snapped back to reality as I slam into a light pole.
I groan.
Henry tackles me to the ground, punches swinging. I can't believe I'm saying this, but Henry was winning. The soldier was winning.
I was about to give in, when I see civilians watching around us. I look at the gun in its holster and remember what the red head had said.
"Soldier, defeat Captain Man and shoot the witnesses."
Shoot the witnesses. He'd do it. He was too far deep.
I flip him over onto his back, pinning him down with my knees.
I punch him in the jaw. He struggles to break free, but I have him. He's not getting away.
I flip him over onto his stomach and pull his arms up. I cuff his wrists.
The civilians around me cheer.
"I've got him." I say
I hear several sighs of relief through the com.
"Oh thank god!" Charlotte sighed.
Henry struggles to escape, but he knows it's over.
I push him into the back seat of the Man Van.
I call clean up quickly and begin to drive to the Man Cave.
- time skip -
I quickly tie Henry to a chair.
Schwoz quickly injects him with a black solution. I see him struggle to avoid the needle. Even while being mind controlled, Henry's still scared of needles.
I look away from the veins being pumped with the black cure.
I struggles against the bonds, the solution obviously burns his arm, because he keeps trying to get his other arm to it.
Finally he stops struggling as the black leaves his eyes.
He looks up, confused for a moment on what had happened or why he was tied to a chair. But it quickly came back to him.
"Did I kill anyone?" He asked, quietly.
"Not this time. You nearly killed me though, if I wasn't indestructible." I say, doing my hero pose to lighten the air, but in saying this, Henry looked at his boots in shame.
"Look, Henry, there's a lot we don't know about what happened 7 months ago." I state. He adjusts his top over his shoulder quickly, clearly hoping we didn't notice. "But if we knew more, we could help you."
He sighs.
"Ok, I'm going to tell you everything." Henry reluctantly says. "Gum ball tube please."
Schwoz hands him a tube.
As soon as he's back in his red plaid and jeans. He begins to unbutton the plaid.
Once it's off, all he's wearing is a grey tank top.
But when I see his arms and shoulders, I have to look away.
Hundreds of scars litter his arms and shoulders.
He sighs shakily.
He points to a scar on his arm. A long white line snakes down his arm.
"I let one witness escape on one of my first missions. They didn't like having people left alive." He says. "They whipped over the arm and hip. Which is where I got this."
Henry pulls down the top of his pants a bit, to reveal a long pink scar.
I see Charlotte look away.
He pulls off the under shirt, and turns around for us to see.
I nearly gag at the amount of mangled scars on his back.
"I took too long to kill the person. Kelly Greene. She almost got away. Almost. I shot her through the head. When I returned, they took a dagger to my back."
"And this one, this one's fun. I asked who Kid Danger was. I had seen it in a newspaper. 'Kid Danger: Missing!'" He pulls down the side of his pants to just reveal his thigh. The burned in branding. "Subject HNRE. They would never let me forget who they forced me to be."
"Henry, I'm so sorry." Charlotte said, softly.
"Don't be. Don't be sorry for me. Be sorry for the 237 people I murdered."
"Hen, you didn't. Z and N did. You are not the Dark Soldier. You are Kid Danger." Charlotte says.
"I know that, but that doesn't make up for the fact that 237 people are dead." He replies, slipping on the top and flannel.
Honestly I didn't know how to reply to that.
"Look, I have scars. Physical and mental. Like when I hear a gun shot in a movie, I adjust my shirt so the scars on my shoulder aren't visible and how I only take cold showers because the used to spray me with boiling water. But I don't want your sympathy. I don't want motivating, you'll be fines. I want all of Z and N dead."
Chills ran down my spine as Henry said those last words.
Henry's Point Of View
"And whether you come with me or not, I'm destroying Z and N."
"Henry, they could turn you." Jasper states.
"Not if I can't hear. Schwoz, could you make noise cancelling chips to block out everyone, besides you guys?" I ask.
"Absolutely."
"I could find where they are hiding." Charlotte adds.
"I'll try to help her." Jasper says.
I look to Rai.
"Rai, will you help me?" I ask.
He hesitates.
"Yes."
I give him a small smile.
But a burning feeling floods my heart.
We're coming for you, Z and N, and you won't be coming out alive.
Ok, that's Dark Danger 3. There will be one more in the series. If you have any requests, feel free. I will be updating previous chapters, adding what episode they're from. Please request, I'm running low on ideas.
Thanks.