Empowered Boy

Ch. 6 The Conspiracy

A man was running through a kitchen restaurant that wore a suit.  He pushed the people as he exited the back turning on the fire alarm.  Behind him was After Dusk as he gave chase.  Just as After Dusk was outside in the night sky he knew that the chase was over.

The void man spread out like a fog of darkness, obscuring the victims vision.  The man that was running for his life to a slow as he looked around him to see nearly nothing.  He could barely see a few millimeters in front of him.   The man looked up to see that the only source of light were the stars in the sky on this crescent moon night.  His face was tanned and his hair sleek black, pulled back in a top knot.  His brown eyes scanned for escape as he saw something take shape.

Walking through and into the void was a feminine body.  In the darkness appeared a little girl that had a black pony tail.  Her green eyes shook in fear as she stood innocently in her pink shirt and held a teddy bear.

A little boy came from the void wearing a blue baseball cap.  His brown eyes showed his fear while in his two times his size baseball jersey. He stood with a toy bat as he looked at the man in the business suit.

The man noticed that other children came out of the void to surround him.  Finally, walking out of the void was After Dusk himself.  He then said to the man, “Carl Acciai, you were charged of kidnapping children and brutally murdering them. The evidence has been found and I, After Dusk, have the pleasure of carrying out your sentence as seen by the League of Anti-Heroes.  Now, to let the night judge you and spread your blood that will been seen even in the moon light.”

Suddenly several pink glowing caltrops rained down into the void.  They pierced the darkness as the surrounding cloud of shade gathered into a single body of After Dusk.  He growled as he looked at Fox Tail who was tossing a couple more in her right hand.

Mr. Acciai began to run again as After Dusk said to the hero, “A hero looking for money from a man in a suit, in such a provocative clothing.  You’re no better than a whore.”

Fox Tail replied to him as she threw three caltrops at him, “Better than being a painting of the night, honey.”

After Dusk replied as he moved out of the way with after images appearing behind him.  Fox Tail gasped at the speed of the void man as he leaped into the air.  He then said to her with a looming voice, “Man walks in the sun, and hides in a house from the night.  Better to be the very representation of night my dear.”

The void man floated in the sky as he swirled in the darkness becoming a large cerbus of shadow.  The stars in the void flashed as he let out a low growl that was as loud as a wild rave.  Fox Tail gulped as she said out loud, “I might be in over my head.”

The cerbus went in for a bite as Fox Tail leaped back having pink aura coming off her arms.  A shroud surrounded her as a fox head appeared around her own.  She looked up with pink flashing eyes as she said getting a little hot under the collar, “Time to get it on!”

After Dusk and Fox Tail exchange blows of energy as Mr. Acciai recorded himself saying, “To this heroine, leave her $5,000 dollars.  I think she said that her name was Fox Tail or Fox Claw.  And now, I leave-”

Mr. Acciai was interrupted by a voice that came out from above him on his own car, “That’s a very generous fee for a dead man.”

He looked up at the masculine voice to see Villain Hunter standing on top of his car.  Villain Hunter’s gauntlet glowed as he had red energy blast from it in the form of lightning.  Mr. Acciai flew back and impacted into a motorcycle.  He groaned as he tried to get up and felt a few broken ribs.  He looked up at Villain Hunter who said to the man, “I hope you liked your last will update.  Cause, you will not be making any more.”

A pack of hyenas appeared as they let out laughs surrounding the man.  The teeth of the red energy hyenas ripped at Mr. Acciai’s suit and flesh as his screams were heard from everywhere.  Police sirens were heard as the police were on their way, but too late.

Fox Tail roared as pink rings of energy ripped from her lips at After Dusk.  The claw that went at her ripped apart into fog as several meteors of dark fog rained down.  Three void men surrounded her as they went on the attack.

Glaring Fox Tail blasted off waves of energy as they hit the first man.  Fog was left behind as she then screamed having two rings of pink energy spin around her.  She grabbed them with a claw that came from her right arm.  The claw threw the two rings at the other void men as they burst into smoke.  

As she noticed that the void men were gone, that so was After Dusk.  She growled as her energy slowly vanished.  She huffed as she walked in the direction of the man she was going to collect her tab from.  But, it was too late as she saw that there was a cop looking at her from behind a SWAT shield.  They had witnessed that she had gave her all to take on the villain.  

She listened as one of the officers told her that she would be paid by Mr. Acciai’s company.  She smiled at this as she said with a little dance at hearing about the 5 grand was hers.  One of the officers glared at her from his car as she danced off.

In an office building

A balding man with red hair in the back and the sides was bent over his desk doing paperwork.  His blue eyes read the paper behind his reading glasses as he took a pen to the paper and signed it.  His black suit jacket was unbuttoned showing his disheveled white shirt with loosened green tie.  

The phone on his desk rang as he sighed taking off his glasses.  He answered the phone as he said to the caller, “Governor Clancy Finn speaking.”

The caller was a woman as she said to him, “Governor, our mutual friend Mr. Acciai is dead.  For private reasons, but that doesn’t mean that our secrets won’t be discovered.  What are we going to do about it?”

Governor Finn’s eyes widened as he said to the female caller, “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it.”

Governor hung up as he stood up and fixed his clothes.  He walked to the door as he opened it and saw his two security detail.  He locked the door as he went to the car that pulled up for him.  He got inside with the security detail as the car drove off.

Appearing from the other side of the car as it drove away was Battle Gal.  She put her hand to her mouth as her hand changed into a radio microphone as she spoke, “The Governor just left his office, shall I go inside?”

The small antennae where her ear was supposed to be had a red light flash.  She nodded as she began to move out towards the building.  Her hand changed into an ID card as she scanned it and the door’s lock released.  She opened the door as she walked inside and went to Governor Finn’s office.

At Mount Chapman

A Chinook flew towards Mount Chapman as it was coming for a landing.  A side of the mountain opened up as a landing pad was produced by the moved door that looked like the side of the mountain.  The chinook landed as the door pulled in the landing pad and slid back into place.  

Clancy Finn got out of the Chinook with his security detail as a military person walked up.  It was a woman that had brown hair in a bun while wearing dress browns.  Her green eyes locked with Governor Finn’s as  she said to him, “Gov. Finn, we have heard about what has happened to Mr. Acciai.  What are your orders?”

Clancy told the woman as he began walking, “We're going to find this League of Anti-heroes that has killed three of our members and two of our best agents.  And will do that with the team.”

The woman said to him fast on his heel, “Governor, you can't be serious.  The team hasn't been fully trained yet!”

Clancy stopped as he said to her with a rage, “Nonsense Capitan Winters, the team was designed to take on alien war lords.  This will be considered practice for them.  I mean they are a bunch of humans and aliens.”

Captain Winters then said to him, “Yes sir.”

The two resumed their walk until they got to a pair of doors.  They each pulled out a card as they swiped them opening the doors. 

The pair walked in as Captain Winters pulled out a remote as she clicked a button.  Five laser guarded cells opened as five people walked out of them. 

The first was a black man with brown eyes that looked at the pair as if they were masters.  Around his neck was a technology collar with a blinking red button.  On the back of his neck were two small yellow orbs that had a green light on them blinking.  He wore a green vest with a pair of blue jeans.  His muscles were large and his height formidable.  The man had a red tattoo on his right bicep that said, 'Broken'.

The second person stepped in a blue technology vest wearing the same collar.  Only his vest had two yellow doors that looked like pectorals.  His right arm was an advanced prostate that looked to be a replacement of his previous arm.  He had a lower half that was based off a tank with the exception of the canon barrel.  Futuruno was written in yellow letters on the front of his legs.  He was of Spanish descent with curly black hair.  His eyes were green and his lips thin as a line.

The third person walked out wearing a white scarf wrapped around his neck and face.  His eyes could not be seen thanks to the considerable shade provided by the wrap.  The man did not wear a shirt showing his many scars and former bullet wounds.  His hands had red cloth wrapped around them.  The feet were naked and looked to be made of leather they had been walked with for so long.  The brown loincloth swayed with the man's steps as he constantly muttered, “Herald Fist needs blood.”

The fourth person was a girl with orange hair.  She had a pair of backward legs like an Ugarian and her eyes were just like an Ugarian absent of pupils and an iris.  Solid bright orange that even without features seemed almost dead to the world.  She wore a black tight best with hair  coming around her neck hiding the collar as best it could.  She wore a pair of skin tight black leather pants making her hooves nearly indistingushable from the leather.  The name plate she wore on her left bosom said, “Grenade”. 

The fifth and final person was the only one that didn't wear a collar.  He was a white man that was rather lanky with brown eyes.  He had brown hair pulled back with a shine to it.  He was neatly shaved and wore a black suit with bow tie.  His shirt was a teal that matched his pants. 

Clancy said to the man that walked up to him, “I have a mission for your team.  It could put the whole project at jeopardy Project O.”

The man said to him with a grin, “Please, Oscar will do like I've told you before.”

Clancy told him with no change in his features, “Complete the mission and maybe then I'll consider changing your code name.”

The man's eyes lit up at the hope of a name change but lost the light as Clancy continued, “But, then again that would be like name a refrigerator Suzy.  Now, get to Mr. Acciai's home and destroy it.  If any member of that League of Anti-heroes are there.  Terminate them.”

Oscar replied to the man somewhat distained, “Yes sir.”

Oscar then said to the four obvious inmates, “Alright, guys time to go murder and destroy.”

Captain Winters said to Clancy once the five were out of reach, “Sir, try treating him with respect.  He is pure human after all.”

Clancy said to the Captain, “Human?  He's a damn genetically enhanced clone of 300 human samples.  He's nothing more than a tool, like a flash light.  And when that light starts to flicker, we'll just open him up and toss out his batteries.  Then put in new ones and use his zombie remains 'til we get the next one fully grown.”

Clancy walked away leaving Captain Winters to stand there as she said heart broken, “Sometimes I wonder what I'm doing here.”

At Fox Tail's apartment

Fox Tail walked through her door with a jam as she clicked on her answering machine.  The answering machine announced, “Ms. Locklear, this is Devin Ricketts.  I would like to say that we identified seven of the people at Sunday's event where Ice Golem Able, Ace Stewart was stopped by your efforts.”

Fox Tail pulled off her shades as she put them on her table.  She smiled as she began to unbutton the strap on her right shoulder.  She said as she walked over to her computer hearing the anwsering machine beep, “My efforts is right!  Catori Locklear didn't raise no fool, in this world you have to take what you deserve.”

A frame was seen on the wall above the tv that had a piece of paper inside it.  The paper had the name 'Catori Locklear' on it in neat hand writing.  Under it was of her as a child with several other children at 'Linn's Foster Care'.

Catori sat at her computer as she went to the heroes affairs homepage.  She searched the database for Impowered Lad and came up with the best search, Empowered Boy.  She clicked on it as she said out loud, “Let's just see how much you get from just being given it.  Probably doesn't have a cent...”

Catori couldn't believe her eyes she rubbed them twice.  Empowered Boy had 23 comments, three reviews and had racked up $3,456.78.  He hadn't been a hero for more than two weeks and he was already making as much money as her.  And he didn't even ask for a cent of it!

Catori just shook in slight rage as she took her computer and tossed it across the room.  She screamed out as she began to cry, “Why!  It's not fair!  Why should he be so damn lucky to get any money!  He's already got a nice life probably.  He's got a boy, nice original clothes!  Had a computer bag!  Heck, he even looked fancy at the registry!  And, me?  I've no body!”

Pink aura flew off her as she threw her arms at the couch.  The claws that were produced grabbed at the couch as they lifted it into the air.  She stopped when she heard a voice say something, “Stop it!”

She turned her head to the vanity mirror on a closet door.  There was her reflection only it was wearing a fox's fur as clothing.  She held a spear as she said to Catori, “You aren't this monster, you are a beautiful and desirable woman.  It doesn't matter that you have no body.  You have power and money, who needs somebody to hold you back?  We have us, and that's been fine so far.  Hasn't it?”

Catori nodded as she sniffed, “Yeah, we've made it this far.  Although it hasn't been fun, being tossed home after home.  I was happy at Linn's, she didn't deserve to have her life taken from that guy!”

Catori's reflection spoke to her as Catori walked to the mirror, “You couldn't stop that drunk driver.  It wasn't a villain that took her away from you.  It was that driver and remember what she told us?”

Catori nodded as she fell her to knees, “Be that heroine you were in the back yard on Friday.  Make something of yourself and watch after us, normals.  Do be here.”

Catori's reflection reasoned with her, “Exactly, and you have done what she asked of you.  You are no longer going from place to place.  You have a home right here.  You help out the normals.  And to do that you need money.  You are doing everything just fine.  It's that Empowered Boy that's doing everything wrong.  He's probably had everything handed to him on a platter compared to you.  Now, stand up and make me proud.”

Catori nodded as she stood up and walked to her table putting on the strap from her shirt.  She picked up the glasses as she put them on and said with determination, “Time to go make some money.”

Outside of Perry's flat

Perry walked outside as he saw a moving truck in the parking lot.  Kevin had left work by now as he was going to the bus station.  He saw that there were a pair of people carrying a couch to the gate. 

Perry got the door for them as they nodded their thanks to him.  Perry looked to see who his new neighbor was.  A young man got off a black motorcycle.  He wore a black jacket with blue jeans.  On his legs were a pair of spiked knee pads.  The young man walked with his blue shirt exposed from under the jacket.  The young man pulled off his full helmet to show his sandy brown hair with blue eyes.  He smiled at Perry as he waved to him.

Perry walked up and introduced himself to the divinely handsome man, “Hey, I'm Perry Turner.  Welcome to building A.  I know it doesn't sound like home, but this building has been mine since I was 9.  And it is a great place to live and cheap.”

The man nodded as he said to Perry, “Nice to meet you, name's Craig.  I just got here myself, I assume you are my neighbor.”

Perry nodded as he pointed up at the third floor, “Yup, 3 A.  If you need anything, just come and knock.  So, where are you going to be living?”

Craig replied to him with a grin, “Oh, I'll be living up in 5A.”

Perry said to him with a grin back, “Nice, pent house level.”

Craig laughed as he said back, “Yeah, well I'll see you around.”

Perry nodded as he replied to the young man, “Yeah, see ya!”