Page 80 of The Not So Super Hero

B lood trickled out of Zane’s nose from the force he had to create to prevent the shield from cracking. His options were limited. With Antoine’s speed, one opening could spell the end.

Zane did not know if Antoine had more secrets up his sleeves, either.

Who was to say he hadn’t stolen more than two mutations?

Stepping out of the barrier was inevitable, but a choice he didn’t wish to make.

A crack had formed to his left. The crack expanded, then a slim piece dissipated.

Dirt and dust trickled in through the opening.

Then a familiar blue gaze peered within.

“Time’s up,” Antoine said, prior to a string of abrupt attacks against the weakened point of Zane’s barrier. Each hit held the same force as the next; over and over until Zane had to take his chances.

Zane’s shield disappeared. He retreated, narrowly escaping Antoine’s hand reaching for his throat.

Antoine moved faster than Zane could blink.

Antoine’s hand grasped Zane’s wrist. Before Zane’s arm went completely numb, he warped a blade around his free hand and brought it down.

Antoine released him and leaped back into the tree line.

Day faded into night. Shadows cut across the estate. Normally, Zane grew more confident at night. His power surged from endless shadows, but he wasn’t keen on fighting Antoine. If he got his hands on Zane, his power would amplify too.

A tree ripped from the ground flew at Zane. He shattered the tree with a shadowy blast. Antoine appeared from the dust. He lurched towards Zane. He landed a kick against Antoine’s chest. The earth shook again. He dashed away from the sinking ground. The dirt clung to him, thick as tar.

His slowed movements would have resulted in getting caught if not for a fiery tunnel of flames that shot above his head. Antoine barely dodged the flames. Natalia appeared at Zane’s side.

“If it isn’t the mighty Scorch. How’s your brother?” Antoine called.

Natalia lit up like she was doused in gasoline and ran at Antoine in a fiery blaze.

“Don’t let him touch you! I think he can keep mutations now!” Zane shouted. Not that Natalia had to worry. She was the last person someone would touch, burning hotter than a bonfire.

Even with two mutants on his tail, Antoine was a pain.

His earth mutation made the smallest of movements difficult.

A wall erupted. Trees tumbled in every direction.

Chunks of boulders flew. Zane had a barrier up more times than not.

Antoine’s speed too. One second, Natalia had him cornered and the next he was at Zane’s throat again.

Judging by the ice shooting into the sky behind the estate, Nate was otherwise preoccupied or he would help.

Not to mention, Zane preferred if Natalia wasn’t there purely out of fear of what Antoine would do.

Antoine wouldn’t kill Zane until he got what he wanted. However, Natalia meant nothing to him.

Antoine leaned forward to press his hands against the earth that rippled, then cracked open beneath Natalia’s feet. Her body dropped into the crevice that, if Zane hadn’t reached a shadowy hand in to save her, would have crushed her to death. Natalia’s flames diminished when she stood next to Zane.

“You sure do act like a hero. Not even phased by a near death experience,” Antoine spoke to Natalia, though the tone was not complimentary. “Your parents would be proud if they were alive.”

Zane grabbed Natalia’s shoulder. She was about to burst into flames again.

“He’s toying with you. Don’t let him get to you,” Zane whispered.

“I know, but I don’t get him.”

“What’s to get?”

Natalia ignored Zane’s question in order to ask her own, although the question was directed at Antoine. “What’s your endgame? Steal Zane’s mutation? Take away everyone else’s bit by bit so that you’re the only special one left?”

“Of course not,” Antoine responded, like it should be obvious.

“Mutants are superior in every way, but there are those who are unworthy of their abilities. You, for example. The idiotic reform society thinks they can have the upper hand over me one day. Obviously, that won’t happen.

They will continue doing the dirty work for me, warping the minds of mutants and humans alike until the world is in its most weak and vulnerable state.

It’s child play, although I don’t expect either of you to understand. Besides—”

Zane froze when he felt a breath on the back of his neck. The problem was, Antoine stood across the way.

An icy hand gripped Zane’s neck, followed by extreme pain. Cold steel pierced his body. The attack stunned him long enough for Antoine to take the opening. Zane was frozen in place, his energy being ripped out of him, leaving nothing but a chill in his veins.

Natalia hadn’t realized Antoine was there until it was too late. The knife was already in Zane’s back. Antoine had him. Her attention shifted between where Antoine should have been. Zane’s thoughts from earlier were right. He had stolen more than just two mutations.

Natalia didn’t react quick enough. A wall of earth shot up, knocking the girl back and successfully cracking her head open. Blood seeped from the open wound. Her world spun. She struggled to move.

Zane rammed his elbow into Antoine’s stomach once, twice, and third a time. Antoine’s grip tightened, cutting off his air supply. Zane wasn’t sure if he was thankful or not when Antoine let go, allowing him to fall forward.

Blood leaked from the wound. He felt the warm liquid staining his back. Zane pushed himself up. Behind him, Antoine’s eyes darkened black. Dark veins pulsated beneath his skin, reaching from his eyes. The power settled into his twitching body.

“I must say, Law did his job well,” Antoine said. “I’ve never felt it to this extent before. The fact that you’ve squandered it—”

Zane shot a shadowy wave, knocking Antoine back and shattering the earthen wall. He didn’t want to hear Antoine’s monologue. He didn’t want to hear his reasons. He didn’t care. He wanted the end.

Natalia had finally set up. Her and Zane’s eyes fixated on Antoine.

He pressed his hand against the side of the house.

He ripped the building from the ground, then hurled it at Zane.

Dirt and chunks of the house flew through the air.

Zane shot a shadowed hand through the wreckage, reaching for Antoine.

Now that Natalia had her bearings, she returned to the fight.

Antoine wasn’t struggling, but he wasn’t winning either.

Like earlier, debris shot about and the officers around the estate wouldn’t step near them.

Plumes of smoke and dust rose into the air.

The very earth shook even without Antoine’s mutation.

To Zane and Natalia’s relief, Antoine had his first injury when an icy spear clipped his shoulder. Blood dripped down his arms.

“Don’t worry, the best hero has arrived!” Nate announced.

“Not the time!” Natalia hissed, taking the opening to lunge at Antoine.

Antoine shielded himself when a blast of fire, ice, and shadow encased him. The combination caused a strange, almost earth-like crust to form over the sphere. That sphere exploded, resembling shards of broken glass.

The battle took a turn. Antoine could barely handle three attacks coming from different sides, yet he wasn’t giving up. It made Zane anxious because why? Why was he so relaxed? What was his plan and how could they stop it? Killing him sounded like the only option, which Zane was all for, but—

“Enough!” Antoine called out. A wave of shadow burst through the estate to send everyone to their feet. Zane wasn’t sure why, but it felt different. Something inside was out of place. He discovered why when he recovered, only to stare back at him. The visage was him, but not exactly.

A strange grayish figure stood at his feet, that mirrored him in appearance.

The creature’s eyes were as black as his own, yet they held an almost unworldly look to them.

The stance it took sent a shiver down his spine.

When he heard Natalia scream hysterically, he realized it wasn’t just him hallucinating.

Zane had little time to look. All he got was a glimpse of Nate’s corpse in Natalia’s arms, reminding him of what Marceline saw all those years ago. Though that wasn’t the real Nate, Natalia couldn’t recognize the truth. She was what Antoine wanted her to see.

Fear. Their worst fears.

Zane dodged the attack from his supposed clone.

Antoine was gone. He couldn’t risk a search.

Zane 2.0 took another dark swing at him.

Even his powers were copied somehow. While Nate was unaffected by the mind games, Natalia was on the verge of breaking.

Nate sat at his sister’s side, desperately trying to speak to her.

He kept shouting, telling her he was ok but nothing worked.

It was an exact copy of Zane with Marceline.

Nothing got through to her. They were out of the picture while Zane battled against himself.

He always heard people were their own worst enemies.

This was taking it to a whole new level.

Each time he saw the mirror image move with murderous intent, his insides churned.

The power that he was seeing, though he saw it from Antoine, it just seemed a thousand times more real when he was looking into a mirror.

Each attack made his legs want to give out.

When Zane got his hand around the monstrosity’s throat, it changed into Bailey. Those green eyes gazed at him, petrified. His body trembled. Even his voice sounded the same. “Zane, what are you doing? You’re hurting me.”

It was a mind game. He knew it was. That didn’t prevent his stomach from dropping, nor notice the shadowy blade forming on Bailey’s hand. The blade ripped through his stomach in one powerful thrust.

Zane screamed. The blade retreated. Blood poured from the open wound.

He grew dizzy. His legs resembled jello.

Then Bailey disappeared, replaced by his reflection once more.

The blade remained, dripping blood onto the cracked ground.

He took slow steps towards Zane. He stumbled back.

A hand pressed against the room, pathetically attempting to stop the bleeding.

“Are you scared?” The figure asked, mimicking Zane’s voice perfectly. “Why?”

Zane’s legs gave out. His vision blurred. The pain echoed, a burning tingle spreading to the tip of his fingers.

“Is this not exactly who you are, a monster?”

It was that question that set something off in Zane’s mind. Something simply clicked, like someone hit the rewind button.

“Zane, darkness lives in all of us. People are not born with a destiny to be good or evil. There is only right and wrong and the choices we, as individuals, make for ourselves. In the end, the only thing that defines you are the choices that you make. You decide who you are. Simple as that.”

“It doesn’t matter what Antoine says. He can call you a monster or claim that all you do is hurt others, but you get to decide who you are, Zane, not him.”

The thoughts were always there, at the back of his mind, a glimmer of hope.

It took years of running and new found friendship and love to make Zane realize how true they were.

He was not who Antoine claimed him to be.

He wasn’t even who he thought himself to be.

He was the only one to decide the choices he made and the person he wanted to become. Simple as that.

When the monstrosity kneeled, Zane formed a dagger in his hand to plunge into the beast’s chest. He elongated the blade to tear out the apparitions back. Spikes grew along the blade, piercing it a dozen times.

“I’m not a monster,” Zane whispered. It held more worth than he could ever imagine.

Cracks formed on the imposter’s face. Pieces of smoke lifted into the air.

It was then that Zane realized it was not an illusion at all.

Beneath the mask was Antoine himself. Upon seeing him, Zane pulled out the blade, only to slam it back in.

Antoine’s body tensed; he lurched forward to let out a violent cough.

His hands clung to Zane’s arms, like he was willing to continue this fight, only his body was no longer listening.

“You can continue lying to yourself,” Antoine spat. His voice lowered and eyes dimmed. “You can’t change what you are.”

Zane didn’t respond. He ripped the blade out of Antoine’s chest and shoved him back. His body fell, eyes rolling into the back of his head. Blood pooled around his body, mixing with Zane’s. Crimson slipped through his fingers. He couldn’t feel the pain any longer.

Antoine didn’t move. His eyes were dim, unaware, gone.

Zane wasn’t sure why he didn’t feel relief.

Perhaps it hadn’t settled in? Was he angry that he didn’t get more answers?

Antoine was the only person who knew more about Zane than he thought, who his mother was, what they even did to him, or was he so paranoid that he didn’t think it to be true?

Zane wasn’t sure, but it left a chilly feeling within him.

All he could think about when his vision lined black was how he hoped the next time he awoke, Bailey would be there.