by Gold Baron and Kristogar Velo
He didn't speak, he didn't move; he just stared, motionless in the open door. Light streamed in through the open door, the light of day, a new dawn. The tension could be pulled from the air. It was tangible, material.
Christopher Trinity turned his head slowly from one man to the other. "What pathetic stock."
"You should talk," Eclipse bit back.
"Ah, the black one presents himself." Christopher chuckled to himself and drew out the vibrant blade, drawing a line in the dust as he set the tip on the floor and rested his hands on the hilt.
"Is that really how you see it? Is all the world a stage, a Shakespearean play, with a hero and a villain? Is good and evil really so black and white, or are there a lot of shades of gray?"
"Hmph. You miss the mark. In my eyes, the entire world is red."
Eclipse's bottom lip quivered and his throat gurgled, but the words never came out. He choked, his mind reeling, and black spots danced before his eyes. He felt so warm, as it trickled down his neck, across his heaving chest, down, down, down.
Sol took a step back in horror. How could this pathetic old man have beaten him so easily? The dark form slumped to the ground in a pool of his own blood, his throat torn out before his very eyes.
"I know your every thought, your every action, your innermost desires and feelings. I too desire the same things, move with the same grace, the same sense of purpose. I am thee, and you are thine."
He stepped forward, powerful, bold, the flowing red cape rippling and writhing along the floor, spreading like a great crimson ocean over the world, filling its every orifice with retribution. The sword crackled and split, the air condensed and fell to the floor, the ceiling erupted in flame, and the walls became molten.
"I am death, come for thee."
The shimmering silver armor with dazzling gold was the last he saw, as time became still, until he knew no more. His eyes burned, blind to the world, as he sank like his companion into the liquid floor. The plasma slowly burned its way toward the screaming blade, and then it was silenced, hushed in its sheath, awaiting the sweet taste of revenge.
Marv Velo had arrived shortly after the investigators. Already the police tape was up, and the officers were holding back the growing crowd. The sun had cracked over the horizon, then sunk again, plunging the lone city into darkness again.
All that was left of 49th and Wall Street was a crater, smooth as glass, black as obsidian, and perfectly spherical. The walls were still hot to the touch, and the blacktop around the decimated block still bubbled from the heat.
"My God..." were the only words Velo could think of, and he was not a religious man.
Velo took out a small tape recorder and spoke into its microphone. "Detonation point plus six feet. Explosion melded floor into unknown material." He clicked it off, and an investigator walked up beside Velo.
"Explosion? So this was a bomb or something?"
"I'd bet on 'or something.' The explosion must have been circular, and controlled, judging by the damage factor."
"What exactly is the street now?" The investigator seemed confused.
"You know how heating sand creates glass? I think what we have here, on top of a major crime scene, is a scientific discovery. I'd advise getting the best minds in the city together on this as soon as it's feasible." Velo paused, wondering why he didn't say "in the country" in place of "in the city." He shook it off. "Of course, trying to decipher the exact events that transpired outside of the big bang is another matter entirely."
"Tell me about it," the investigator said before letting out a long, pained sigh. "We're trapped here. Outside of planting evidence, there's no way to pin this on anybody. All these unsolved mysteries stacking up on us... it's making it harder and harder to get through the night."
"But then again, we've always had that problem," Marv Velo said, faintly smiling.
The End