16. As The World Turns
Steel had never really hit anyone before. Not in any real kind of way.
Sure, Metamorpho and Plastic Man had let him land punches in training (because nothing could hurt them) but it was nothing like this. As his arm stretched and his fist expanded, Steel could barely believe the sensation which came from knocking a Creeper clear across the street before them. It was exhilarating.
Wildling felt the same, somersaulting and leaping, tossing, kicking and punching with the combined might of her genetic Totem, Wildling felt what her mother must have; righteous excitement, a true thrill with substance. Element Boy was different; he didn't see a thrill, but a task ahead of him. Forever picked on by those around him; driven by the turned shoulders and dull disappointment of a mother and father who had never done anything in their lives, Element Boy fought to be something... someone, not to anyone else, but to himself. He knew the trappings, how closely his background mirrored that of the villains he had read of, but he also had read the Arthurian legends and knew that just as that King had discovered his true lineage; his true nature later in life, so would Element Boy. That was why he never revealed his true name and as he fought, turning air into gas and fabric to stone, he knew that he never would.
Element Boy. That was all he would ever need to be.
And as the Black Lightning arced across the battlefield, not from Black Adam, but from the hands of Montez, rising from the rubble, all who fought for their lives thought that maybe everything was going to be alright.
As fools often do.
For what those who walk in evils shadow and those who walk the latter both know, is that there is a thin line between a hero and a fool.
And as Black Adam laughed and his Creepers gathered around him, all there questioned the distinction.
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