“Not
again.”
Ben
Lenard bounced across the rooftops towards the smoke that began billowing up
from a street a couple blocks down from where he was out on patrol. His body
was currently a rubberlike substance, allowing him to travel much faster than a
normal human being. In a few bounces he was on the rooftop overlooking the
fiery chaos below. Shaking his head, Ben let out a sigh.
“Can’t
this guy just give it up already?”
Ben
Lenard, known as the Shield, is a licensed superhero for the town of Siloam
Springs. He both lives and protects the little town located in Arkansas. His
ability, as the official paperwork of his registration says, enables him to
convert his skin into any material he has touched, including, but not limited
to, metal, rubber, and wood. Ben Lenard is a law-upholding, model citizen, and
publically announced his superhero identity right off the bat. Working as a
full time superhero, the Shield is always ready to put down crime, and although
there aren’t many metahuman adversaries in his district, that doesn’t mean he
isn’t prepared for one.
The
Brute picked up a police car that had gotten in his way. He let out a roar as
he smashed it into the ground, scattering the human officers who were on the
scene.
“Woah there, buddy. We don’t
need any more damage done here.” The Shield landed on the street with a thud,
his skin shining due to its metallic composition. The Brute looked over his
shoulder at the hero in disgust. The flames across his shoulders grew along
with his rage, and the skin covering his monstrously muscled form grew a deep
colored red. He turned and charged at Ben, who held his ground.
“Looks like somebody needs a
time-out.”
The Brute’s face collided with
Ben’s metal fist, halting its charge. However the force was strong enough to
knock Ben to the ground as well. He got right to his feet, but so did the
Brute.
“What’s the problem now, Larry?”
Ben asked as the two combatants stared each other down. The Brute’s only
response was a ferocious roar and a fist straight at Ben.
Larry Stephens was not necessarily
a bad man. He came from a bad seed, however, in every sense of the word.
Larry’s father was an abusive alcoholic, often taking out his anger of having
to feed his children on the children themselves. Larry and his siblings didn’t
have a mother’s protection either, since she ran away when he was young to
escape the abuse. Larry’s younger brother died in a car crash of his own fault,
while Larry’s older sister had run away twenty years ago and hadn’t been seen
since. After his father’s suicide, everyone thought Larry, being the last of
the Stephens in the area, would soon follow in a blaze of drink and drugs. But
at his father’s funeral, a very different kind of fire consumed Larry, and ever
since then the Brute has been Stillwater’s only metahuman threat.
Ben jumped back, narrowly
avoiding the Brute’s fist as it smashed into the ground. The activation of
Larry’s abilities didn’t just make him immensely strong, however, and he
swiftly caught Ben before a counterstrike could be launched. The Brute crunched
his hands together, trying to break the Shield’s metallic skin, but Ben held
strong.
Thinking fast, Ben jammed his
fingers into the soft spots on Larry’s wrists, inflicting enough pain that Larry
almost let him drop. Instead the Brute let out a roar and threw Ben down the
street. Ben smashed through a brick wall into an evacuated store. As he stood
up, he felt a tinge of regret that he was allowing so much destruction to take
place. There was not much time to scold himself however, as the Brute tore what
was left of the wall down coming in after Ben.
As Ben charged, the Brute
concentrated his rage and exploded in a ball of fire, knocking Ben back. With
the store’s ruins now on fire, Ben heard the sirens of back-up on the way.
“I can’t let anyone get hurt
just because I couldn’t stop him myself,” Ben said to himself as he threw a
table at the Brute. The table broke and exploded in flames as it hit the
monster’s back, and he ran at Ben once more. As the Brute’s fist flicked out,
Ben dodged underneath. Positioning his metal fingers into a point, Ben rammed
his makeshift sword up into the Brute’s chest.
Hot blood ran down his arm and
the Brute staggered back. Ben rushed to him and landed a few punches, knocking
the Brute down. As the fire died from Larry’s back, Ben knew he had won this
round, albeit just barely, and wanted to have a word with Larry before the
officials took him away once more.
Ben nudged Larry with his foot
until Larry opened his eyes. Ben could tell the fight had exhausted Larry, so
he made his question blunt.
“Why do you keep doing this,
Larry? You won’t ever win.”
Quietly Larry tried catching his
breath, but each inhale sent slicing pain through his chest from the wound. With
slurred speech Larry replied, “But I will beat you one day. And that’s all that
matters.”
Ben was dumbfounded. “I don’t
recall ever doing anything to you personally Larry, at least not before you
became this…villain.” The word was sour in Ben’s mouth.
Larry laughed, “You keep showing
them you’re better than me. With all your fancy powers, you think you’re above
me. Like a god defeating a monster.”
“That’s not true, Larry. You
don’t need to beat me up to show you’re an equal, if not better, man. You could
help, in so many ways.”
Larry leaned up on one elbow, wincing
at the pain and looking at Ben with evil intent. “But if I became a good guy,
what would that make you?”
“You’re partner,” Ben answered
simply as the police officers and GMA agents stormed the building. The
restraints were slapped on Larry, although he wouldn’t have any fight in him
for a few days. As they escorted him out of the ruined store, Ben called to
him.
“You ever change your mind,
Larry, and want to do the right thing, you let me know. I’ll be there next to
you the whole time.”
Larry spit out some blood and
turned away, letting the guards take him to the transport that would send him
miles away from Siloam Springs. Ben sighed, and began helping with the clean
up. He knew, no matter how far away they took him, Larry would be back. The
Brute would never rest until the Shield was broken by his own, furious hands.
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