Continued from Chapter 2: The Right Time
by Gooz
Later, as Ritchie made his way home, he let the last few weeks begin to set in. Life was normal, no metapowered brawls, no beatings, and no death, three facts that made everything much better. But there was always an upside to being a metahero. Only a few things in the world could compare to saving the universe, the rush, the pure happiness -- you had to feel it to believe a feeling like it could even exist.
As he made his way down the street, he passed a bum slumped up against the side of an apartment building, an old man shivering. At first he was going to simply walk by, but his conscience stopped him. He took out his wallet, which was all but empty, and grasped a ten-dollar bill.
"Sir," he began, "I'm sorry that this isn't much, but I don't have much myself."
He shook the man's hand, placing the ten-dollar bill in it. At first the old man seemed happy, but that quickly changed. The man grabbed his head in pain, almost falling back onto the hard street. Ritchie caught him, making sure he could stand on his own.
"You! ... You..." the old man mumbled.
"Yes, sir?"
"...are the only one who might stop the night... the night... stop the darkness... stop it... stop..."
The old man began freaking out and ran away from Ritchie as fast as he could, yelling, "Stop the darkness from falling," all the while. Ritchie looked down, seeing the bill he tried to give the man, now feeling even more pity for the crazy old guy. New York was one weird city. Ritchie picked up the bill and continued his journey home.
***
New York Museum:
A little more time had passed. It was just shy of eight o'clock when everything was set and ready for its opening display in front of New York's finest. Businessmen, political officers and celebrities were invited to the opening... for a nice sum, of course. The doors would be opening in just about an hour, when the gathering would begin.
"Look at that -- done with time to spare!" Jackie said, smiling as Marisa stared at the ancient suit of armor before them, the light glimmering off it, creating an angelic feel.
"Oh, yeah, yeah. But you never know when something might go wrong."
On cue, the power went dead. Darkness befell the room.
"You had to go and say that, girl?" Jackie whispered, attempting to lighten the now dark mood.
"Oh, no, not now! Okay, back-up generator, let's go!"
As the two women made their way toward the back of the museum, there was dead silence. That was strange, since the place had workers all over only minutes before setting up and cleaning. They stopped dead in their tracks as they saw a body lying on the ground through the darkness.
"Is that...?"
"I don't know. I don't know."
Marisa walked in front of Jackie toward the body. Both girls looked away as they saw the man. It was Fred, the main security guard. But his name tag was the only thing left to identify that. His face was gray, wrinkled, and -- for lack of a better word -- drained. After a few seconds of letting everything set in, Marisa calmed herself down and checked his pulse. He was dead.
"AAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Screams could be heard from not too far away. Both girls hugged each other in fear as the noise came closer before finally running back toward the other room.
"What the hell is going on?" Jackie yelled.
"I-I don't know. But whoever did that wasn't human."
"What do you mean? Like an alien or something?"
"No, that..."
Both girls stopped dead in their tracks. In front of them was the figure of a man over eight feet tall. Three more bodies were at his feet, their appearance the same as Fred's. The man dropped another body on the pile, smiling as he moved toward the girls.
"Who? Who are you?"
"VIPER."
***
At his apartment, Ritchie had just finished a quick late dinner and was cleaning up a bit. He used his powers to turn the TV on. He stopped dead in his tracks, a dish slipping from his hands and smashing on the floor. On the screen was a special report from the New York Museum. Police were all over the place, holding back swarms of people who were yelling and screaming. A thick shadow covered the outside of the building, not letting anything through it.
NO!
Ritchie lifted his right hand in front of his face, a burst of energy from it blowing the TV apart. He then quickly ran into his bedroom, ripping the closet doors off the hinges. Pushing aside the clothes, there it was, his old silver and black costume. He eyed it for a moment before grabbing it, his eyes glowing bright red.
***
New York Museum:
Viper dropped the lifeless body onto the ground next to Marisa and Jackie. As he made his way toward them, six others entered the huge room, with Devin Philipe leading them.
"Boss, we found it!" Devin yelled to the eight-foot giant.
Viper turned toward him, nodding his head. He then turned back to the girls. "LOOKS LIKE IT JUST TURNED INTO YOUR LUCKY DAY." Viper turned and followed his men toward his real goal. "DON'T FORGET TO TAKE THE WEAK FEMALES!"
Devin signaled to two of his men, who grabbed Marisa and Jackie and began pulling them toward their destination.
In the other room, Viper stood in front of the old suit of armor. The armor was tinted light green, a huge glass case separating it from the outside world. With a single punch, Viper shattered the bulletproof glass as if it was nothing.
Marisa looked at Jackie and whispered the words, "Don't worry, we'll be okay."
Jackie slowly nodded her head, fear written all over her face.
***
Outside, Ritchie, in his old metahero suit, landed in front of the police lines. A commanding officer quickly ran toward him.
"Generator? A real-life metahero! Boy, am I grateful to see you!"
"What is going on?" Ritchie asked, his voice cold.
"We're not fully sure. We got an alarm signal, and two of my officers went to investigate. They were killed before they even entered. Now, the whole place is covered in what appears to be a shadow. Nothing we've tried has been successful in busting through. We have no clue what to do next!"
Ritchie didn't even say another word but simply began walking toward the shadow that covered the building. He used his powers to open a door into the shadow, letting him slip though unharmed. The shadow quickly closed behind him, to the officer's dismay.
This is bad! Ritchie thought as he walked through the empty main hallway of the museum. Bodies lined the floor. While passing each one, his heart stopped for a moment, fearing the awful truth that Marisa was possibly already dead. What monster could do this?
Ritchie entered the room with the others unnoticed. A huge man was fixated on a suit of armor. Behind him were four armed men, and next to them were two other armed men holding Marisa and Jackie, guns to their heads.
From the corner of her eye, Marisa saw Ritchie. A slight smile came to her face, along with a feeling of warmth. Ritchie nodded his head; he then pointed his index finger up and slowly placed his hand over his heart. For years, this was an unspoken sign of love between the two. Marisa slowly nodded her head.
Ritchie threw both hands in front of his body. On cue, all of the armed men were thrown backward into different walls of the museum, their weapons exploding in midair.
Viper turned, his concentration broken. Like lightning, he struck Ritchie, sending him hard into a stone wall.
Ritchie quickly got to his feet, and as Viper charged for a second time, Ritchie threw his hands in front of him, sending out a powerful blast into Viper's chest. Ritchie hit the stone wall hard again, his arm all cut up, blood pouring from it. He looked up to see Viper, a basketball-sized hole in his chest. Within seconds, he was healed.
Viper lifted his hands, which turned into two long spikes. Ritchie formed two swords in his hands and charged at the villain. They clashed, Viper obviously having the upper ground, but Ritchie was able to hold him off, giving the girls a chance.
Marisa had to pull Jackie, who was in shock, off the ground, and they began running toward the exit. They were stopped by a shot in the air. Devin Philipe stood before them, a new gun drawn. He slapped Jackie across the face, knocking her off her feet, and grabbed Marisa, holding the gun to her back.
Ritchie was giving it his all, bruised and bloody, but not giving Viper any extra ground.
"Hold it right there, 'hero,' or the woman dies!"
Ritchie stopped, swinging his head toward them. Viper sliced him across the back, ripping his shirt to shreds. Ritchie gritted his teeth and turned toward the villain once again. With all of his energy, he concentrated on a single blast at the villain. It plowed the huge villain off his feet, creating a thud heard for miles.
Devin pushed Marisa to the ground and pulled the trigger from only feet away. Quicker than a speeding bullet, Ritchie was able to fly across the room, both pushing Marisa out of the way with one hand and catching the bullet in his other hand.
Ritchie opened his hand. The bullet was stuck halfway through his flesh and bone. He pointed his hand toward Devin and let the bullet fly, catching the murderer directly in the chest. Both Marisa and Jackie were on the ground. Ritchie stood in front of them.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
Before an answer could be given, Viper appeared behind Ritchie, grabbing him by the throat and lifting him, feet dangling over the ground. Viper's grip got tighter and tighter, choking all life from Ritchie.
Marisa acted quickly, lifting Devin's gun off of the ground and placing it right up to Viper's leg. She pulled the trigger, blowing off a nice chunk of his leg. It was enough to cause Viper to lose his balance and drop Ritchie to the ground.
His leg quickly healed, and his sights were now on Marisa. He turned one hand of fingers into long spikes and threw his arm though the air at Marisa's face. The split second before it would have struck, Ritchie was able to tackle Viper off of his feet.
Viper got right back onto his feet and lifted Ritchie's body into the air again. Viper plowed Ritchie through stone column after column. The roof began to slowly cave in. Viper kept on plowing Ritchie through the columns, as the roof begin to now fall apart. As Viper pounded on Ritchie's near-lifeless body, something else caught his eye. Ritchie used his last bit of energy to blow apart the suit of armor.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
Viper dropped Ritchie's body to the ground and ran toward the armor. Close by, Marisa had gotten to her feet. Jackie was only a few feet away from her. Marisa looked up and noticed pieces of the stone ceiling falling toward her friend.
"Look out!" Marisa ran and was able to push Jackie away from the falling stone, but she wasn't as lucky herself. The stones pounded into her back and head.
Viper stood over the now-useless armor. His plan had failed. He moved over Ritchie's body.
"YOU WIN TODAY, HERO. NEXT TIME WE CROSS PATHS YOU WILL NOT BE SO LUCKY."
In a bright flash, he was gone. Ritchie slowly made it to his feet. He looked around, seeing Jackie in shock on the floor. He made his way toward her, finally seeing Marisa's hand, stone rubble covering her upper body.
"No... please, God, no..."
With all of his remaining strength, he lifted the small pieces of stone off her body. She was still conscious, barely. Ritchie knelt down next to her, ripping his mask off. Police and news reporters began to pour around the area, the shadow blocking them having just disappeared.
"Is Jackie okay...? Did I do good?"
"She is fine. You did great. You're a hero."
Marisa smiled, tears filling her eyes. "I... love..."
"You're gonna be fine, honey, just fine. You can't go, you can't..."
Marisa placed her finger over Ritchie's mouth. "Shhhhh... I love you. Always have and always will. You... are my hero... my love..."
Marisa's words brought more tears to Ritchie's eyes.
"I love you more than words can describe. I always have."
Silence followed as Ritchie hugged Marisa's lifeless body tightly to his own. Only one thought was on his mind. Why?