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A Day in the Life of a Superhero
It was dusk in Twilight city, a time of day when the town jumps to life, people can be seen bustling around until very late at night, and some of them with nefarious intent. A dark figure stood in front of a vast computer, surveying the city. his cloak pulled tight over his face to obscure his features, he turned and strapped on a jet pack built, at great expense, to quickly cover long distances. He fumbled for a minute with his amulet, tucking it down the front of his armor. It was his ace in the hole.
He surpressed a shudder. Would tonight be different? One never knew when turmoil would arise, and certainly not in Twilight City. Every day was a parade of evil, there only to be stopped by avengers like him, like The Druid.
Most days it was ordinary criminals, gang-bangers, mafia thugs and the like, but the shadows of this city have been known to hide some strange and bizarre things. Robots, Demons, Cultists, and even monsters from the sewers, led by the likes of Captain Buzzkill, The Mind Bender, The Bard, The Mick...
The Mick...
The Druid seethed with impotent rage. The Mick had caused so much terror... would he ever be stopped? The Druid had put a stop to some of his henchmen, but the mastermind remained at large.
The Druid stepped out of the garage concealing his secret lair, and took to the skies. First, he would patrol Downtown from the air, to see if he could spot any major action. Then, a quick sweep of the hotspots, call Susan Novak to see if the robots had returned to the Space Station, and then off to the desert outside the city, where ancient evils bubble up from beneath the sands.
***
He patrolled the skies for about an hour, searching for any sign of trouble. He'd heard about some insane flying rodent up here that some other heroes had gone up against, but no sign of it so far. With everything clear, he dropped down to the rooftop to call Susan Novak.
He pulled out a cellphone and dialed her number.
"Hello?"
"Susan? Druid. Any news on the Station?"
"Oh, Druid, Hi. No, there's no news up there. The robots don't seem to have returned yet. But thanks again for helping get rid of them. I'll let you know if they come back."
"Good. I'm eager to get to the bottom of that."
"Yes, I know."
The Druid cleared his throat. When he first saw Dr. Novak, she'd made his heart jump. He wanted to ask her more, about herself... maybe ask her for a date. The feelings he felt for her, of longing, of... love? were too strong.
"Druid?"
"Yes, dr. Novak?"
"You don't have to keep calling me every night. I'll be sure to call you if the robots come back."
"Oh, uh, I..., er..."
"I have your number. Thanks for calling." As she hung up, he was sure he could hear her addressing someone in the room with her, saying "Now, where were we, Dogbonius?"
Dogbonius? Dogbonius!
He was in the same superhero group, the cleverly-named League of Zeroes!
The League of Zeroes - ith a name like that, we were being constantly underestimated by our enemies, which lead to our success, more often than not. Together we had beaten back Captain Buzzkill and his forces in St. Anne Park, and the robot incursion on the Space Station. He should've known that Dogbonius would have had contact with Dr. Novak.
He sighed a sigh of defeat. Beaten to the punch by one of those Elementalists.
Dammit.
Well, he decided to go beat back some of the rising evil at the Fiendish Pit.
***
He landed at the edge of a huge pit with a swirling vortex in the center. He'd seen this before. The vortex becomes visible jsut before a demon comes through. He steeled himself for whatever he would face.
He saw a number of other heroes, all standing around the edges of the pit, tensed, waiting. Suddenly, a cacophany arose as a horde of demonic creatures burst out of the vortex. He launched himself into the fray, and witnessed the vortex behind him disappear, only to recharge.
The demon he'd chosen was enormous, some great tentacled fanged thing, and he intoned the chant on his amulet to give him strength, and charged the beast, head lowered, like an angry Bull. He felt his limbs surge with energy from the strange amulet just before he collided with the fiend, which swatted him back.
He landed on his back in the sand.
It was not too long ago that he was just an ordinary man, beaten down and humbled by life. his car stolen, his job on tenterhooks, and finally, mugged on the subway. When he'd come home to find his apartment looted, it was the last straw. That was the fateful night that he'd found his amulet, the one which charged him full of nature's raw power.
He sat up in the sand in time to see the fiend bearing down on him, slavering mouth full of glistening yellow teeth open to make a meal of him.
He rolled out of the way and slid down the sand further into the pit. He got to his feet just as the fiend turned to swipe at him, and charged it once again, with the fury of a Rhinocerous. the fiend sidestepped him, and a heavy tentacle blow landed on his back, knocking him back down to the sand.
Winded, he lay there for a moment, certain those fell teeth would close on him, and sever his spinal cord, killing him.
Somehow, strangely, he pulled his arms underneath him and pulled himself up. He looked up, squinting from the sand stinging his eyes, to see someone attacking the Demon, distracting it. He staggered to his feet, and tried to wipe the sand from his eyes, to get a better look.
His eyes, still blurry, saw his mystery benefactor land a solid punch on the creature, actually staggering it. Then, while the creature was off-balance, His benefactor raised an arm to the sky, and a piller of fire descended on the fiend.
The fiend howled in rage and pain, and disappeared. He looked up at the hero who'd rescued him. As his eyes cleared, he could see him.
"Dogbonius."
"Hey Druid. You look a little worse for wear. maybe you should get some rest?"
Dogbonius. Damn him. He decided he wasn't going to let this smug elementalist get the best of him.
"I'll rest when I'm dead." He said, and slid further down into the pit to confront the next wave of evil.
Behind him, he heard Dogbonius mutter "Suit yourself."
Suddenly, the vortex exploded again, regurgitating another horde of demons into the world. Druid steeled himself, and then looked up to see the largest thing he'd ever seen walk on land right in front of him.
Behind him, he heard Dogbonius yell "You hit 'im low, I'll hit 'im high!" and then he saw Dogbonius plow into the creature's neck at high speed.
"I don't need your help!" Druid shouted, as he charged the thing, summoning his Rhino strength. The creature staggered under the twin blows, nearly stepping on Druid, but he tucked and rolled out from under the footfall.
He was repositioning himself when the creature's tail... or tentacle... thing knocked into his chest and sent him flying backwards.
As he landed, he felt a crack in his ribcage and inhaled fire.
Broken rib, he thought, and struggled back to his feet. He intoned to his amulet and charged again, impacting with all the strength he could muster, swinging with his mourning star. He felt the creature's bones snap under the assault, and dove for cover as the creature tumbled to the ground.
It lay there unmoving. Druid climbed up out of the pit, satisfied. He'd need to tape his ribs and get some rest before fighting any more evil. Steeling himself for the pain, he activated his jetpack. The sudden upward jerk of takeoff nearly made him vomit from pain, but he persevered, and flew off to his secret hideout.
***
Dogbonius stood with another hero at the edge of the pit, as Druid rocketed away. The other hero looked at Dogbonius.
"You gonna tell him that behemoth was dead before he hit it?"
Dogbonius shrugged. "Nah. Guy looked like he needed a win"
-The End
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