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Athens, Georgia – Seventeen Months Previously
James stepped off the dump-truck parked in the depot, his high visibility tabard draped over the blue overalls he wore, and headed for the break room, his face screwed up in disgust. After his grandfather’s display of power his dislike for his family had quickly grown into hatred with every hour he spent on the job he'd been forced into. Stomping into the break room, he closed the door and locked it behind him, before setting his eyes on the man waiting for him.
“You got it Danny?” James asked, as the dark skinned man dressed in a similar uniform to him placed a backpack on the table.
“Oh I got it boi.” Danny snorted, as he pulled out a canister filled with green gas that swirled inside like a miniature cyclone. “Spent a month’s wages and spent eight hours bargaining with Socrates on ‘the Forum’ but I got it. Real exhaust fumes from the Terror Truck itself. With this I’ll be a real playa.”
“Are you sure you want to take that, it looks foul.” James stated, as he went to his locker and began to remove the first of the padlocks he had attached to the front. As he placed the lock on the table, he saw Danny release the cap of the canister, thick green gas leaking out and into the face of the young man who had brought it. Pulling his overalls up over his face, James watched on in awe and horror as Danny coughed and spluttered, his skin and muscle convulsing as his frame grew in size and bulk. Groaning and roaring the bones in his shoulders erupted through the skin before forming into wing like metal spurs.
“Oh yeah this is amazing!!” Danny groaned as glowing lens formed over his eyes and his skin lightened until it became a rust red. “This is power!!” He boomed, as James turned back to his locker and removed the second padlock, the door swinging open. “That old fool won’t know what hit him when I roll in!!”
“Yo Car-Face, you still haven’t told me who we’re gunning for.” James stated, as he pulled out a leather holster decorated with a naked woman supporting dragon wings emblazoned on the front.
“We’re after some rich white guy, Mick O’Hare or something like that, there are rumours that he’s sitting on tons of cash down in his condo.” Danny told him. “Apparently he’s a tough old coot though, you should have brought some powers like me.”
“Oh don’t worry about me…,” James replied coldly before drawing a slim-line sci-fi looking pistol, “…I got mine.” He added before taking a shot at the dustbin in the breakroom, the receptacle bursting outwards as the trash inside vaporized, molten metal shrapnel wafting through the air like burning hail. “Now let’s burn the house down!!”
**
Bank of America Plaza, Atlanta, Georgia
James smiled as he burnt out the blue marble eye out of Storopes’s face, tiny electrical sparks running along the surface in protest to the increase in external heat. Eventually the gem exploded in a massive blast, one that consumed the entire top three floors of the Bank of America Plaza. Emerging from the glow, James looked around the now open roofed building and smirked as he looked down at the burning streets below.
“Are you happy with yourself James?” A voice announced, as a chrome skinned figure announced, as he walked out of the ruins. “You and I, we was partners, the 'original' partners and now you’ve forgotten that.”
“I don’t need partners ‘Car-Face’!” James sneered, as he got ready to defend himself. “Why didn’t you run like all the others? I mean that’s what you’re good at, being a coward and running away.”
“Being a getaway driver is different to being a coward.” Car-Face replied, as he locked eyes on the pistol his former partner wielded. “And the old one eye was right, better to make a stand then run and hide in the shadows with every ray of sun feeling like I’m in your sights, ready to be burnt.”
“Then make your move.” James stated as he held his arms open in a mocking invitation to attack. “How would you say, come at me bro?” He snorted, almost missing Car-Face slam his foot down on the ash damaged floor, the entire top floor shaking and knocking James off balance. Making use of his opening Car-Face charged in, tackling his partner to the floor before ripping the pistol away from him.
“I’m sorry bro but it’s time for you to pay for turning on your own.” Car-Face announced as he pulled the trigger, only for the weapon to misfire and spark in his hands. “What the…?”
“DNA reader only lets me fire it!!” James snarled as he snatched the weapon away from his partner, and drew a second pistol and opened fire at close range, the blast pushing Car-Face back, his chrome torso now blackened and burnt. “And I always carry a sidearm, just in case…” He added, opening fire again, as Car-Face came charging in, the heat beams doing nothing to slow him down or visibly harm him as his target s hit him like a freight train.
“You are about to go down!!” Car-Face grunted as he slammed his fists into the ground, the floor shattering around them. Desperately James attempted to return fire, only for Car-Face to force his weapons to face down, the floor melting around them as they fell five floors through offices and tearing though electrical cables into a fountain. Groaning Car-Face was the first to recover and ripped down a section of cable from the hole they had blasted through, and threw it into the pool where the pair of them stood. Reacting quickly James fired down into the water, vaporising the fountain in a massive steam explosion and covering the area with a burning mist. Emerging from the mist, Car-Face kicked James in the chest, knocking him to the floor, his chrome armour cracked from the increases in heat he had endured. “Any last words?” He asked, as he threw the two pistols away.
“Where’s there smoke…” James sneered, as he raised his hands and blasted Car-Face with a pair of smoke emitters mounted in his gauntlets, the thick chocking smoke enveloping the automobile themed villain before wriggling away. “…there’s fire!!” He snarled, as he thumbed a concealed trigger in the little finger of his glove. Seconds later the cracks in Car-Face’s skin ignited, rivers of flame running through his body, purple flames erupting from behind the lenses until he fell to the floor smouldering. “You lit the flames that led me to this path, now you’re here to see that fire be extinguished…” He stated, as he reclaimed one of his pistols, “…for you!!”
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