Super Crush (BxB)

World Rocked

It's the sound of a boom and a crumble near me that brings me back.

A blur of hands and feet, bodies engaged, tumbles by me. When the dust settles I find Abe and Clay going at it. Their melee is rough and painful to watch. The idea that the two guys I care so much for are fighting so bitterly brings stomach acid into the back of my mouth.

With a red blast, the two stumble away from each other. They both hit the deck. I can't see Abe very well from where I am, but I hustle over to Clay and help him to his feet. He looks worse for the wear. Exhausted. Beat up. Bloody with chunks of rock missing from his skin.

I ignore the anguish in my gut and hit the record option on my cam. "What happened to all of these Maniacs?"

He catches his breath and then takes mine away.

"It was The Fleet."

I knew he was going to say it, but I guess I had hoped otherwise.

"They were all using lethal force."

My face must have a question on it, and Clay seems to know the answer I need to hear.

"Except Crimson Kid. He got here late. Left the Maniacs alone. And went right for me. I'm the only one he is using lethal force on."

He gives me a half smile. Some part of me is relieved.

A scarlet blast hits the ground between Clay and me. I see red as I feel my body thrown backward. The remains of a concrete wall catch me. Hard. When the birdies stop circling my head, I see about twelve inches of an iron rod sticking out of the surface beside me. Half a yard to my right and I would have been a kabob.

With what wits I can gather, my eyes meet Abe's as I pull my body cam up to show my face. I see myself on the screen behind Abe. It is not flattering. Up my nose, double chin, but this is war.

"Please, everyone watching!" I shout, "The Fleet and otherwise, do not kill the Maniacs."

I stare right at my old friend as I speak.

"They are brainwashed." Abe grits his teeth and turns on his glow.

"They can be stopped by taking their wigs off." He is dashing at me.

"Stop killing these innocent people!"

I finish my PSA just as his fist finds my left eye.

Fuck. I fall to my hands and knees.

My world is rocked. Forget the pain, Abe punching me is the most hurtful thing that has ever happened to me. It's sobering, though. Reminds me of my mission.

"Real big man, are ya?" I scoff, uprighting myself to look at him from my knees.

He grabs my utility vest with one hand and readies to punch out my other eye.

"All these years, people like Stephan trying to beat me up. And the real villain was right beside me, masquerading as my best friend."

This pauses him.

In what vision I have in my good eye, I see the ultimate sign of hope in Abe. On his visor, is the sticky remnants of a circle. Like when you put a decal on your water bottle for too long, and later you take it off and the adhesive junk from the sticker is still there.

This helmet is not his currently issued Fleet attire. He went to my room and took his old visor from my closet. There is a chance that this headgear has no brain inhibitors wired into it. The headspace of my friend may be a shitshow right now, but his neuro pathways aren't being highjacked. 

"I get it. You are broken and hurt and betrayed. Both by your team and by me."

His arm lowers.

"But you want to believe. You want to hope I am telling the truth. You haven't hurt any of the civilians because you know the vigilantes could be right. The small margin of error is enough for you to play it safe."

Abe's hand goes slack.

"Because you are a good person. You love others. You do this job because you want to make the world a better place. And you want to trust your best friend."

We stay unanimated.  The moment between us is not just standing across from each other on separate teams in the middle of the rubble of a battle. This moment is everything we are. Everything we have been. Everything that could still be.

"I'm sorry, but I don't know who to trust anymore," he whispers, lifting his arm back up into a striking stance.

As crazy as it sounds, I think, At least it is him I see before my world goes black.

And with a jolt, I am shaken but not knocked out. Abe is no longer in front of me; Clay is. I take in what happened in the split seconds before I was gonna get my lights knocked out and realize Clay suplexed the crap out of Abe and saved my brain from being concussed.

We both look at Crimson Kid grumbling on the ground.

Clay looks to me, and says "You better run while you can."

Instead, I stand and plant my feet.

"No. I am seeing this through to the end."

A high-pitched laugh comes from the alley beside us. Out of the shadows saunters Matriarch. She unsheathes her sword and points it at me.

"You should have listened to him, kid, because the end is here."