Page 77 of The Not So Super Hero

Zane peered over the top of a crate he was shielding behind.

A bullet whizzed past his head. He ducked, heart beating a mile a minute while he weighed his options.

Taking a deep breath, he pressed his hand against the crate.

Wisps of black smoke circled around his hands before he gave one hard push that sent the crate flying.

The box flew, crashing into some guards.

He sent another pulsating wave of shadows.

Those on the floor couldn’t stand back up while those on their feet were pushed down like they were nothing.

Reaching out, Zane clenched his hand into a fist and pulled his arm back.

The darkness obeyed his will, twisting around the guards like vines and dragging them across the ground.

Surprised shouts escaped their lips when they were thrown across the room against the opposing wall.

Most blacked out from the hit while others scrambled to their feet and ran.

Zane was on his way to help Natalia next when he caught a familiar face out of the corner of his eye.

Leona came storming out of one room in the back of the warehouse. Her eyes narrowed on Zane. A scowl marred her face. She shouted. Zane couldn’t decipher the words over the chaos. However, she didn’t seem all that panicked or worried about seeing him. Regardless, he wouldn’t let her get away.

When she ran for the back exit, Zane sprinted towards her. A couple of officers followed, keeping close to Zane’s back. All of them were safe behind the shield he conjured and moved along with them. He picked up his pace when he heard screams coming from the backroom, none of which were Leona’s.

By the time they crashed through the door Leona had taken, it was too late. The team that was sent through the back laid dead on the floor, their bodies swollen and beaten. Snakes from nightmares slithered across their carcasses. Zane gagged when one made its way out of a man’s open mouth.

A pained scream echoed through the room.

Snakes rained down from the rafters. Zane stumbled out of the way.

Their fangs sunk into whatever piece of flesh they could.

Arms flailed. The men were panicked. In their panic, they fired their guns off without care.

Zane’s arms and shield were up in a moment, narrowly saving him from the friendly fire.

While the darkness around him kept him safe, it also meant he couldn’t see what was happening outside.

Zane couldn’t risk lowering his shield until the gun shots finally stopped and a familiar giggle came from behind him. It made his teeth grind.

Slowly, he lowered his defenses. The officers that had joined him laid dead, taken by venom or bullets. There was no time to check for survivors or even feel guilty about it.

Leona stood nearby. Her green eyes sparkled, lips twitched back into her signature sinister smile.

The room they were in resembled the one from earlier, though there seemed to be far more serious equipment in there.

He hadn’t a clue what any of it was, but he was certain nothing good was happening there.

“What are you wearing, darling?” Leona laughed, pointing teasingly with a crooked smile. She never was very good at taking things seriously. She and Law had that in common. “I must say, tights aren’t for you.”

Zane fired dark spears in her direction. She ran to the side to evade, then lunged for Zane with a blade in hand. He barely dodged the dagger that came at his throat. Leona sent her foot into Zane’s gut. Shadows wrapped around her leg, flinging her across the room.

Leona’s nails dug into the floor, catching the tiles and ripping them up. With a low growl, she slashed at her own leg, cutting through the skin. Her blood dripped across the darkness. The tendrils weakened from the acid of her blood that slipped through to burn the tiles.

Zane threw one spear after the other at her, doing his best to avoid any large-scale attacks that might bring the building down.

Leona was, for lack of a better word, slippery like a snake.

She slithered her way out of anything, dodging or using her blood as a shield against his attacks.

Her advances worked, ducking behind crates and desks to get closer and closer.

The lights flickered, then went out. Dim rays barely trickled in through the clouded windows, giving the whole room an off orange look. Shadows cut through the room at odd angles. Zane moved for cover. He wouldn’t risk a battle with limited sight against Leona.

“When did you have such a change of heart?” Leona called. Her voice echoed off the walls, carrying over the hissing of her venomous friends.

His eyes darted about the room, searching for any movement. The last thing he wanted was to get bitten by any of those demons she summoned. There was no antidote to their bites. He would be dead before anyone even got to his corpse.

“Ignoring me? That’s rude. Come on, tell me. What made you think you could suddenly be a hero?”

She was getting closer. Zane tried to pinpoint where, but with all the noise around him, it was too difficult to get a good guess.

“Haven’t you realized it yet? You can’t save anyone. All you do is hurt people. Isaiah is proof of that.”

Zane took a deep breath.

“Keep this up and he won’t be the only death you’ve caused. Bailey will be next.”

He sent a wave of shadows far more powerful than the last. Everything in the room was lifted from the floor and sent hurtling throughout the room, Leona included.

She released a shocked shout, followed by a scream.

Zane took her shock to his advantage, rushing through the room to dig a dark dagger into her abdomen.

He didn’t linger, retreating as her acidic blood splattered across the floor.

“Son of a bitch!” Leona screamed, eyes narrowing on Zane. She dug her fingers into the open wound. He pivoted when she lashed out. The blood sizzled the tip of his shoe.

Snakes erupted from her fingertips. They lunged at Zane.

He slashed them with a shadow blade. Their bodies dropped to the floor, but Leona kept up.

She sent wave after wave of snakes until they coated the floor.

Each creature leapt for Zane. He created a fist to slam against the floor, crushing them.

Leona dashed around the fist, coming at Zane from the side.

He bent back. Leona’s bloodied hand slashed where his head once was.

She slid across the floor, coming at him again.

He retreated, keeping a distance from the hissing woman.

Her movements slowed, eyes frantic and attacks random, likely from the blood loss.

Her pants barely clung to her, the acid tearing apart her jeans wherever it touched.

Zane tried to go for a knockout, ending a fist that knocked Leona back.

Her body rolled, arms barely able to push herself back up.

Her body swayed when she got onto her legs, turning around to face Zane with a glare.

“You’re bleeding out,” he stated.

“Then you better knock me out quick because I refuse to get taken alive by the likes of you.” Leona was ready to run at Zane again when her gaze caught Nate coming through the doorway.

She sent a spray of acid with a flick of her hand.

Nate screamed. The acid collided with the right side of his face.

Fear and anger hit Zane in a wave. He fired a spear of shadows into Leona’s chest to ensure she wouldn’t hit Nate again.

Her body went limp, then dropped to the floor.

The spear evaporated in a wisp of smoke.

Zane rushed to Nate’s side. Whimpering, Nate kneeled on the floor, hands in front of his face but not touching the skin.

His cries ranged from small groans to a shrill scream of panic and pain.

Smoke rose from his wound, followed by a sickening sizzling sound.

His body jerked, legs squirming beneath him.

There was nothing nearby that Zane could think of using to help.

Then Nate’s hands froze over. He pressed them against his cheek.

The ice encased his face over and over, battling against the acid.

All Zane could do was a shout for help and sit before him, hands gripping Nate’s shaking shoulders.

When the sizzling sound finally stopped, Zane was too scared to look.

Nate wouldn’t raise his head, only letting out a terrified whisper, “My eye…I, my eye, it’s not, fuck… ”

Nate’s breaths came out quick and short.

Zane wrapped an arm around his shivering shoulders.

He wasn’t sure what to say. It all sounded like a load of shit.

You’re ok? You’re alive, that’s all that matters?

He wasn’t sure because Nate was freaking out.

His heart thumped so loudly that it echoed in Zane’s mind.

Zane called out once more, trying to move Nate towards the exit.

He refused to budge. Zane searched the room, desperate to find something to help.

Instead, he found Leona’s eyes staring at them from across the room.

His jaw clenched. He held up his hand, ready to attack until he realized Leona wasn’t moving, however, she could still speak, “Your mother was a pain too. She was a fighter,” Leona said with a pained cough.

Blood splattered across her lips and onto the floor. “W-We had trouble with her.”

Zane hated that her words made him curious.

She could be messing with him, a last ditch effort to get him to come close, luring him in.

However, judging by the color draining from her face, Leona spoke without even realizing it.

Either way, he didn’t respond. As much as he wanted to learn about his mother, there was already a family member in his arms that needed his attention. He wouldn’t leave Nate.

Zane wasn’t sure if he was relieved or concerned when Natalia burst into the room.

Her eyes widened, expression pale when seeing Nate shivering in Zane’s grasp.

She fell at Nate’s side, asking what the hell happened and bursting into tears when Zane pulled away, allowing them to get a good look at Nate’s face.

His right eye was completely gone, like it was never there to begin with.

The skin was red, burned and melted like plastic, showing the muscle and bone beneath.

Ice lingered on his skin, that remained cold to the touch and slightly discolored, proving how much power he had used to salvage what he could.

Natalia looked at Leona’s corpse that laid on the floor, eyes narrowed in a glare. If Nate weren’t clinging to her, Natalia would have beaten Leona’s corpse until she was unrecognizable. Natalia whispered comforting words to her brother.

“I’m sorry,” Zane said, although he wasn’t sure who to. “I should have reacted faster. If I did-—"

“He’s alive, Zane, that’s what matters to me,” Natalia interrupted, helping Nate to his feet. Zane held onto Nate’s arm. He could barely stand, leaning his weight against Natalia.

Seemed the battle was over as Paul was the next to arrive. When he saw Nate, there was a moment of concern, overtaken by spotting Leona’s corpse.

“What part of capture her alive did you not understand?” he snarled.

Zane would have kicked his ass, but Natalia was quick to grip the bastard by his shirt.

He let out an actual squeal when she turned the fabric to ash.

Paul stepped back when flames circled around Natalia’s hand.

The flames cast a warm glow across her face that was not giving a warm expression to match it.

“My brother’s safety is more important than your fucking mission,” she said, low and damn near demonic. “We’re going to get him to the hospital. If you have anything else ignorant to say, then I suggest you keep it to yourself unless you want to be the kindle to the next fire I make.”

Paul kept his mouth shut and allowed them to leave without a word. Zane helped Natalia take Nate outside where the three sat waiting for the ambulance.

“You should stay,” Natalia said. Nate was too delirious to say much of anything, leaning against her side. She held him with such ferocity that Zane wondered if she’d ever let go.

“How can I stay when Nate’s like this?” Zane argued.

“He’ll be fine. I know he’ll be fine.” She sounded like she was trying to convince herself more than Zane. “But you should stay, keep up with everything, learn what you can. I don’t trust these fuckers with all this. One of us should be here. Please, Zane.”

If the situation was different, he would argue.

However, her shaking eyes, the pure anxiety morphing her into someone she wasn’t, he couldn’t bring himself to disagree.

More importantly, he understood. He was pissed.

He was annoyed. He was frustrated. And he was fucking determined to run Rebirth into the ground.

Just looking at Nate made his entire body shake with an unexplainable rage.

Leona was dead, but Zane still wanted to pound someone into dust.

“I’ll stay,” he said, easing Natalia enough to release a slow breath. “But keep me updated.”

“I will.”

“I’m coming over as soon as we’re done here.”

“I know.”

A dozen ambulances pulled into the lot. Paramedics took Nate on a stretcher.

A healer rushed to his side, inspecting the damage.

Natalia left only after pressing a quick kiss to Zane’s cheek.

He lingered outside, watching the ambulance drive out of sight.

His feet felt glued to the ground. At the same time, he had this need to run.

Biting at his bottom lip, he struggled to calm his nerves, tried to take a breath that ached his lungs.

The idea that their battle against Rebirth had only just begun, and that already happened, made Zane fearful of what else was in store for them.