Not so Heroic

‘This is bad, this is very bad’ he thought to himself as he fought through the shooting pain running through his entire body. He was sitting somewhat upright, propped up on his one good arm as he used it to pull himself backwards and away from his impending doom. Both of his legs were busted up beyond recognition and his right arm hung limp at his side, pulled so far out of its socket that it was practically ripped off him. So far the only thing that followed him was a trail of his own blood that was quickly being washed to the nearest storm drain with the rain that was still falling. He was pretty sure that the only thing keeping him alive was pure adrenaline and fear of the one who had done this to him. How had she managed all this?

His worst fear came back to life as a bright flash of lightning revealed the shadowy figure of the one he was trying to escape at the entrance of the alley. In sheer panic, he forced himself through the pain to try and inch away a little faster, knowing full well it was pointless. ‘Maybe if I move around a little more I’ll bleed out before she can get her hands on me again,’ he thought to himself. His pursuer took her time to catch up to him, but for no faster than he was going, it didn’t take long.

“What's the matter? I thought we were having fun?” the young girl mocked as she caught up to him. He tried to throw his hand up to fire off one last electrical blast, but the blood loss and exhaustion not only kept him from using his ability, it also kept him from sitting upright. He quickly fell back to the ground, head slamming into the ground harder than he’d like. Before he could even open his eyes again, the young girl's foot slammed down hard on his chest, causing him to lose the little bit of breath he had.

“What's the matter? Out of juice already?”

“I thought it was against the hero’s code to severely injure or kill a villain?” he said.

“Well, I’m not technically a hero yet. See, you were the one who cowardly attacked a school full of first year hero students. Then, you were cowardly enough to leave your buddies to fend off the real threat, aka the teachers, and tried to make a run for it.”

“We were trying to send a message..”

“And you failed.” Her foot quickly grew heavier for no apparent reason and he attempted to scream but was only able to cough up more blood. He heard the popping sound of his ribs slowly separating from his sternum as her tiny booted foot threatened to push the rest of the way through.

“How?” was all he was able to get out through the spurts of blood.

“Guess there's no reason not to tell you. I have the ability to change the density of any part of my body on command. My foot could be light as a feather, or in this case, as heavy as solid steel.”

“Please, I’ll….turn myself in…just leave…me be,” he managed to get out through the coughing fits and blood. He knew he didn’t have long if he were to stay in this situation.

“I don’t think so. See, I know exactly who you are, you are a vile piece of trash that needs to be taken out rather than locked up. How many times now have you escaped prison? Don’t bother answering, you don’t have much energy left. Had you been a petty thief, I would have been much easier on you and left you to the police, but you are much more than that. I’m not at this school to learn how to save people and lock up the bad guys. I’m here to hone my power so that I can take on scumbags like you and deal them the fate they deserve.” the young girl said. A brief flash of lightning filled the alleyway, but the only thing he saw was sheer rage in this young girl's face. How could someone so young be so angry? She lifted her foot off of his chest and allowed him to take a more substantial breath, not that he had many of those left. His blurred vision and pain loss affirmed that he didn’t have much time left, and being that he was stubborn to the bone and had a few left unbroken, he decided to go out being sarcastic.

“Please just kill me now if you’re going to keep monologuing. Your three fourths of the way to being a villain yourself at this point,” he said as he coughed up the last couple of words. She quickly kicked him in the side, causing him renewed pain and the inability to breathe much more than shallow breaths. He went from minutes to seconds before he died now.

“Don’t you dare include me with that trash,” she said as the color slowly left his eyesight and the pain started washing away.

“Welcome to the dark side princess, we have…, we have..,” was all he was able to get out as the faded shades of gray slowly turned to black and the pain he felt washed away completely into nothingness.