Hero's Break Read online

  #

  Bolt walked over to Accel, who was pinned to the sidewalk, and put his foot on the junk pile that towered high on top of his opponent.

  “The old man is here just in time to see you defeated. How much can I steal from you in one day? Your girl and the team?” Bolt said, grinning down at Accel trapped under the tangle of tables, chairs and benches.

  “The game isn't over yet,” Accel said, and then started furiously slamming his feet into the sidewalk, forcing the ground to vibrate and the junk from the top of the pile to cascade to the ground.

  Bolt lost his foothold from the vibrations and slipped on the wet flagstones. The junk burst off Accel as he hammered through it to return to his feet. Bolt regained his footing and deflected the assorted flying junk away with his telekinesis.

  They launched into another series of blows, kicks, and punches. Accel tried to speed up the action, but Bolt slowed him down to normal speed with his telekinetic powers.

  The Commander shouted over to the General. “Cameras streaming and recording, Sir. The others—Psy, Flame, and Amazon—will be here in a few minutes to assist.”

  The General watched streaming images of the fight as his two top men, Subjects One and Two, exchanged blows. He observed the exchange like a fight coach, analyzing their moves and critiquing every punch and block. If nothing else, it would make for a good review back at base.

  “What’s with the silly names? What happened to Subjects Three, Four, and Five?” he asked the Commander.

  “They all adopted aliases. They like playing superheroes,” the Commander answered with his eyebrows raised.

  “These two as well?” the General said as he pointed at the screen.

  “Accel for Accelerator and Bolt because he thinks it’s cool.”

  “Kids,” the General muttered, “What started the fight?”

  “Accel caught Bolt and Psy together,” the Commander answered.

  “It’s like being back in high school,” the General responded. “Let them wear each other out, and then we will move in. I guess the cat is out of the bag now. We’ll never keep their existence a secret. The whole world will know about these superheroes by morning,” he said as he looked around the plaza at the crowd filming on their phones and sending messages to their friends.

  Emergency sirens rang out as police, fire trucks, and ambulances converged from stations across the city to attend to the chaos. The police cars zoomed into the Plaza, and officers jumped out with guns pointed at the General's squad. In response, the squad members aimed their weapons at the police.

  “Get the local police on the phone and tell them to stand down,” the General barked. Behind them, fire trucks and ambulances screeched to a halt.

  Bolt and Accel noticed the squad encircling them and the police pointing their guns at them, but they continued firing in blows at each other. Eventually, Accel slipped a punch onto the side of Bolt’s head and broke his telekinetic spell. With his powers released from Bolt’s telekinetic prison, Accel grabbed Bolt by the arm and swung him at super speeds around in circles, and then slung him smashing through a first floor office window.

  Bolt blasted through the office, smashing the office furniture and I.T. equipment as he went. Outside, they all waited, watching the office block for movement. Accel smiled and started walking over to the General to claim his prize as team leader.

  Moments later, the street door to the office block exploded off its hinges, and Bolt walked through. He was bloodied with cuts, and his neat clothes were torn and filthy. Accel turned back around as Bolt marched forward. Accel was ready for the re-match.

  The water from the hydrant drenched the ground, and Bolt reached out with his powers to bend the streetlamp’s wires into the massive puddle that Accel stood in. Electricity zapped across the water faster than Accel could run and paralyzed him in an electric fit. Bolt withdrew the wire and flung himself at Accel. He collided with him, and they rocketed backwards to punch straight through the huge windows of a café and into the crowded seating area. Shattered glass, food, and drink exploded all over the inside of the café. Customers, cut and covered with the debris, screamed as they fled the establishment.

  In the corner of the café, a lone man sat. Somehow he was unscathed by the wreckage. Seemingly unaware of the mayhem, he slowly sipped his coffee. He wore a black baseball cap pulled down and a green coat with the collar pulled up over his jaw. With his head and cap down and collar up, his face was concealed.

  Accel and Bolt continued their fight, rapidly returning one another’s blows, unaware of the strange lone man sipping his coffee unperturbed by their spectacular entrance.

  “Commander, clear that area. I don’t want any civilians hurt,” the General said, pointing at the lone man.

  The Commander ordered two men to follow, and together they jogged to the side of the café. They stayed out of the way of the two superheroes fighting but got close enough to shout at the lone man.

  “Quick, Sir, please leave... Sir, please leave,” the Commander shouted.

  The lone man sipped some of his coffee and then looked down into the swirling blackness in his cup.

  “General, maybe he is drunk or deaf or blind. He hasn’t seemed to notice,” the Commander said into his headset.

  “How can he not notice? Two of the world’s strongest superheroes are going toe-to-toe meters in front of him,” the General said.

  “But, Sir, he isn’t moving.”

  Just then, Accel punched in Bolt’s direction, and as Bolt ducked, he tripped backwards, bumping the table of the lone man. The bump caused the lone man’s coffee to slosh over the edge of the cup onto the table. The loss of coffee jolted the lone man out of his stupor and slowly looked around to see the two superheroes fighting. The General could see on the screen the lone man speaking to Accel and Bolt.

  “What did he say, Commander?” he asked.

  “Sir...he just said…, ‘Who spilt my coffee’?”

  The General tapped the arm of the soldier sitting by his side, controlling the remote cameras. “Son, get me a close up of this moron. Get me face recognition. This idiot is going to get himself killed.”

  The soldier complied and within seconds the face of the lone man was scanned and downloaded. The screen flashed with a stream of unknown faces as the matching program ran. The General looked back to see the lone man slowly rising from his chair and speaking again.

  “Sir, he just asked them again, ‘Who spilt my coffee?’” the Commander said.

  Accel and Bolt continued on smacking lumps into each other. They did not notice that the lone man had asked them a question and continued their fight to the outside of the café where they wrestled in the rain.

  The General looked down at the screen, which flashed red along with the words, “Access Denied.”

  “Pass it here,” the General said with his curiosity peaked, and he typed in a code.

  The screen cleared and a profile next to the image of the man’s face loaded up with his history down one side and name at the top flashing in large bright green letters. The General instantly recognized the name and profile, and his face exploded in fear.

  “Holy s*#t,” he shouted.

  “He asked again, Sir, ‘Who...spilt...my...coffee?’” the Commander said.

  In a brief lull in the battle, Bolt stepped back from Accel annoyed by the voice coming from the café.

  “Screw you, pal,” Bolt shouted, flicking a finger up in the air. He used his telekinesis to spin the coffee cup around, splashing over the coat of the lone man.

  “Uh oh, that was a mistake,” the General said under his breath. “All forces, new mission. Attack the man in the café. Protect Subject One and Subject Two at all costs. Prepare for war,” the General ordered.

  “Sir, who is it?” the Commander shouted into his headset with his gun now pointed at the lone man.

  “It’s Subject Zero,” a terrified reply came.

  “Who?”

  “S
ubject Zero. The whole reason our unit exists is to stop him. Our team isn’t ready for him yet. Now attack, and protect Subjects One and Two at all costs,” he ordered.

  “Does he have a name, Sir?”

  “No, he is just Subject Zero, our Target.”

  The General pulled out his phone and dialled.

  “Hello, General,” a woman’s voice answered.

  “Kate. Your man is here. Patch into the network to get the live streaming,” he said.

  “What? Where?” she asked.

  “Just login, I will explain it all later,” he said and hung up.

  The lone man, Subject Zero, pulled off his cap and placed it gently on the table, revealing his razor-short dark hair and shattered crystal blue eyes. He removed the coffee-splattered coat and placed it calmly over the side of a chair. Underneath, he wore a wrinkled and ripped black t-shirt and torn blue jeans, which were matched with scuffed yet sturdy black army boots.

  “Sir, Target Zero, Sir, please step away and put your hands above your head,” the Commander shouted and advanced with his pistol aimed.

  Zero stepped towards Accel and Bolt, who were still fighting unaware of the scene unfolding.

  “Sir, step away. I will fire,” the Commander shouted again while stepping closer.

  Zero glanced around. Blue shards of light shone out of his eyes. His fists clenched. The Commander squeezed the trigger firing off several shots. Zero raised a hand, and the bullets sparked and exploded as they hit. He closed his fist around the metal bullets crushing them down and pouring them out like sand onto a beach.

  The army and police in a combined unit ran past Accel and Bolt, creating a firing squad between them and Zero. Accel and Bolt broke off contact with one another as they became aware of their sudden lack of threat. They watched as the armed line positioned itself between them and the man walking out of the destruction of the café.

  “What? Have I missed something?” Bolt said to Accel.

  “Fire,” the Commander yelled.

  Bullets exploded out of the rifles of the police and army line, creating a wall of metal death. Zero walked forward, and his eyes flashed as the bullets bent around him and impacted into the wrecked café behind.

  “Who the hell is that?” Accel said.

  The soldiers dropped their guns, unclipped their knives, and swarmed forward ready to attack in hand-to-hand combat. Zero parted his hands wide and clapped them together quickly. A sparking arc of light blasted out in a radius, swept the squad off its feet and sent them splashing into the wet plaza ground. The police holstered their pistols and retreated past Accel and Bolt.

  “He is all yours,” one of them said to Bolt, as he marched backwards then turned and ran.

  After the soldiers had regained their footing, most of them ran back toward Zero to attack. Lightning bolts burst out of Zero’s hands, shocking the soldiers and sending them rocketing back past Accel and Bolt across the central plaza. A couple of soldiers broke through and slashed at him with their gleaming blades. The soldier’s blades blocked and countered with ease by Zero. From the ground, one soldier reached up and cut Zero’s thigh. The blood seeped back into the cut and the wound healed up in an instant.

  “I guess it’s up to us,” Bolt said, and ran back to the main square to gain some space. Accel followed.

  Bolt raised his hands and all the surrounding objects: tables, chairs, guns, knives, and broken concrete flew into the air. Bolt narrowed his eyes, pulled back his hand, and then thrust his hand forward to shoot the assorted debris. The missiles rocketed forwards, and then Zero raised his hand. The assortment of debris stopped dead as if hanging by an invisible power. Zero walked forward, weaving through the stationary objects and toward Accel and Bolt.

  “I can’t shift the mass. He has frozen it all,” Bolt said frowning hard and pushing his hand back and forth trying to gain some control over his weapons.

  Then Bolt dropped his hand and relaxed his concentration, which sent all the objects crashing down to the ground around Subject Zero.

  “My turn,” Accel said and launched himself at full speed.

  Accel knew he would be there in a split second and so fast that no one would have time to react. Still, he saw the man’s eyes track him and keep pace with his movements. In an instant, Accel was close enough to throw his first punch, but his fist only met thin air. Zero swayed to the side and avoided the punch. Accel regained his balance and kicked backwards to make contact, but again Zero moved in time. Accel turned around to face Zero and jumped into a flurry of punches. He used all his power to generate a blur of movement, but Zero mirrored his punches and blocked each one in perfect rhythm. Accel squeezed his muscles harder, pushing them to their limits. His hands were a blur, but Zero’s blocking matched Accel’s punches.

  Suddenly, Zero picked up speed and counterpunched. Accel saw a split second too late as Zero's fist impacted square on his jaw. His head snapped around, and his feet lifted off the ground. The wind rushed over him, and the sky blurred past his eyes, as his body flew through the air and slammed into the wall of the building behind.

  Bolt attacked, using his telekinesis to speed up and power his punches, but he was quickly overpowered. Subject Zero flung him across the street into the red Ferrari. Bolt stared at Zero, who motioned with his hands and raised the guns up off the ground to hover in a line aimed at Bolt. The magazines all clipped into place, and the triggers squeezed to spew bullets out toward Bolt. He focused his energy into a ball around him. The bullets exploded and deflected off their paths. Bolt was spared any injury, though his beloved red Ferrari did not fare so well.