Chapter 2, Revival

CHAPTER 2

 

 

I made my approach to her, she was hovering slightly above Waverly Station. She looked different. Embers and smoke seemed to infinitely bellow off her like she was a burning factory of death. Her jacket was torn at the ends, laces undone and the once shining buckles were rusted. Her hair had returned to its deep space purple but it looked dead. She almost looked like herself again, that thought shredded my heart. This was the legacy of Osiris, once a well of love was now the pit of cruelty. I was speechless. She turned to me, her eyes deeper than Vantablack and with a smirk that did not resemble her old smile.

The Raine I knew was dead, I knew that, but I couldn’t shake the idea I could save her. She charged at me with a sonic boom and struck me across the face creating a large cut down my right eye. My head spun like a malfunctioning carousel. She flew back and hit me again in the chest, beating my already broken heart. I dropped to the ground unable to fight back, I couldn’t do it, not to someone I loved. She lifted me into the air with her telekinesis. She surrounded me in fire which was close enough to hurt, but too far to burn me. I would have cried if my tears weren’t boiling away as they left my eyes. 

We’d drawn quite the crowd. People stood there in fear, some with phones pointed at us, filming. Out of nowhere, a little girl burst out of the crowd.

“Osiris, please, don’t do it!” she cried out with a small tear in her eye. Her family ran out to grab her but were held back in the crowd. The girl had a homemade looking plushie of Raine clutched in her arms over her little heart, she was holding it tightly so you could tell she was afraid. I guess it struck a nerve because Osiris dropped me. I gasped for air as a few people helped me up. She looked at me then towards the ground and sighed.

“I’m sorry.” Her eyes began to flicker a little as she turned her head to me. For a second, her skin seemed less milky. I saw a glimpse of the old Raine, the dead Raine. I didn’t know what to say, I felt as if she was saved. Osiris was back.

“It’s okay.” I told her as I held out my hand to support her.

But that wasn’t what she wanted. As her head turned back towards the little girl, she slowly raised her hand as a collection of flames gathered between her fingers. She threw the ball of fire towards the child and the surrounding crowd. Time seemed to slow again as I leaped off the ground dashed forward, throwing myself through the air in front of it. 

Fireballs have a real nasty kick to them, I flew back into a nearby shop window which conveniently had a water feature that extinguished the flames on me. I got up slowly, my ears were ringing. I was covered in dust, cuts and glass. My hair was wet and flopped over my eye, stinging the larger injury she gave me earlier. I climbed out the window, stumbling onto the ground before standing up and walking towards Raine.

I hoped I could get through to her. “Stop! Raine, this isn’t you!”

She looked at me and chuckled with an echoing laugh.

I ran towards Osiris but she flew off as I dived at her. I almost landed face first on the ground but I caught myself. I looked up at her and I couldn’t bring myself to chase her - I didn’t have the energy. I threw myself onto the bench and sat there, in agony. People rushed to me with food, water and bandages, some still taking pictures. I was ashamed. I’d been bettered in public before but this time I hadn’t even tried to fight back, I couldn’t. People surrounded me pretending to know the pain I faced, asking me if I was okay. How could I have been? 

That night, I was at home. I threw an ice pack on my face and turned on the TV. It was the news, eight different angles of me getting my a*s handed to me, all thanks to Twitter. The presenters tried their best to discuss my self-defence or lack thereof, but they didn’t seem to understand. Aries vs Osiris. They knew I loved her, everyone knew what we were, but still they pondered how I couldn’t fight back. They compared me to a Kardashian breakup and went on to tell other stories. It was soul crushing - Everything was just a little event to them, when it was consuming my entire life.

The internet wasn’t much better, of course there were the memes, conspiracy theories, rants, you name it. What stood out was a YouTube video entitled “Scottish Superhero a Soy Boy?” of some a*****e saying he wouldn’t let any woman treat him like that - As if that was what it was all about? Some bullshit alpha male power struggle against a woman? I’d half a mind to find this sexist a*****e and raise his computer and all his other expensive recording equipment six feet in the air and drop it into a bath.

I decided to take a few days off from being Aries, to let myself heal a bit. I went to college, saw a movie with some friends, ordered a takeaway, normal work break stuff. It didn’t help. No love story could top the drama in my life, no Chinese tastes as good when the one you used to share it with, the one you love has went colder than the icy plains of Antarctica.

I sat there, slouched on my Livingroom sofa with a terrible Superhero hangover, the room seemed bare without the Christmas tree. My eye stung but it was healing well, I just had a faint scar at this point. What really hurt was my heart, the break wasn’t helping. People started to discuss the lack of sightings of me online; some thought I was dead whilst others declared me retired. My Mum walked through and sat on the sofa next to me.

“I know what you’re going to say.” She always knew what I was going to say, I’m convinced she also has super powers.

“I can’t beat her. Not like this.”

“Sure, you can.” She smiled at me and hugged me on the sofa, I flew her cigarette to the ash tray before my hair dye caught alight. I looked up at her doubtfully.

“Ray. You helped stop all-out nuclear war, you’ve fought away criminal after criminal in the past ten months.”

“None of those were her.” I got up to change my ice pack.

“She isn’t Osiris either, she’s a shell. Remember when the fast one got possessed before he left out of embarrassment? You pulled through fighting him. You can with her too.”

“I don’t even know how to.” �" I wasn’t lying. I didn’t know what to do. How do you defeat someone who is already dead?

She looked down and lit her cigarette. “I’m sure her weakness will be in your past. Just think about Osiris’ weaknesses before and you’ll find your answer.”

Her answer was strangely cryptic, but I was willing to give it a go. I walked through to my bedroom and pulled out my uniform. I turned the leather jacket onto its front and looked at my logo. The curves flicked into the star-shaped A. I knew it was time for Aries to return.

When I next dawned my mask, it was a Monday. The world was quiet, in fear of where she’d strike next. I didn’t know what to call her, she wasn’t Osiris anymore and I couldn’t bring myself to use her real name. I flew to our place, not a house or anything like that. It was in the clock tower of a nearby Church. We could see most of the nearby towns from there and we’d rigged up some hidden cameras to a monitor in the tower. We boosted the Wi-Fi from a nearby restaurant who didn’t mind, really. I walked up to the top floor; now decaying because I abandoned the building when she died. It was late, but there was no silence. There was a faint humming, which was a new sound for this place. The room was illuminated by the helicopters that were flying outside with searchlights looking for her. One of the beams flew in through the circular window, shining on graffiti. ‘Osiris is dead and the age of heroes is over’, stencilled in purple. To the right of it, another phrase spray painted in blood red ‘Where is Aries?’ I heard a noise behind me, followed by a gruff voice;

“They looked up to her, you know. They still do.”

I turned around, a man stepped out of the shadows in a beige trench coat. If anything, I was relieved to see who it was.

“Officer Leonard Jackson, fancy seeing you here.”

He smirked and walked over to the switch that turned on our equipment.

“Kid, I’m always here. I’ve been waiting for you to find a new team, to get this shithole up and running again.”

He blew the dust off the large switch and pulled it. A loud humming filled the room as about a third of the fluorescent lights flickered on. Cracked monitors blinked on showing streets of every town in a fifty-mile radius. I looked at him. I can remember thinking How dare he. I mean, the pain I’d been through. My first friend, QuickStep, abandoned us to live in Vegas, then Pyrogiest drowned sacrificing himself to stop a Russian nuclear submarine. Vladimir Vine was consumed by his need for sunlight and went to live in some forest, somewhere. Raine died and was resurrected as some horrible being. How dare he tell me to find a new team, not after the pain my old one put me through.

“Aries, I know you’re hurting about Raine-”

“It’s not just that. It’s so much more.”

I turned away from him and looked at our table. The five seats were covered in dust, they hadn’t been sat in for months.

“I know, it’s all of them. Every loss. Every life you couldn’t save.”

“That’s why I can’t put any more at risk. I get people killed.”

He sighed audibly and walked up to me, he rested his hand on my shoulder in a firm yet reassuring manner. Human contact had never felt so relieving, but I could feel my emotions build up more. I needed to let myself calm down before I gave this place’s batteries a massive electrical boost.

“Not everyone can be saved. Never. If you do want to save some good folk, find the other people like you. There’s a teenage girl that’s been experimented on by now ex US government officials taking refuge in Falkirk, she’s a kickass shot with a bow and can mess around with elements, there’s a woman from England who can make wounds disappear that has been popping up in Glasgow, there’s a vigilante in Stirling that’s been turning the legs of bank robbers into solid gold, which seems great until you realise the kid is crippling them for life. These people need your guidance to become better heroes, to help save lives.”

I wasn’t having it. I’d failed too many people.

“They won’t make it that long with me.”

I felt a tear drop to the ground, but I caught it and flew it into my knee, so Jackson didn’t notice.

“They’ll make it longer with you than on their own.”

I couldn’t argue with him, I knew he was right.

“Next week, bring them in.”

“Just those three?” He asked, implying there was more.

“All of them.” I was probably being cocky, but I knew that to defeat Osiris, I needed whoever I could get. Jackson laughed to himself and walked out the room, he seemed like he had hope again. Something I hadn’t seen in him since Raine died - She was like a daughter to him. After his actual daughter died, he looked after her. I knew this was hurting him as much as it did me, so I had to do right by him. Maybe it could have saved us both. I observed my surroundings for a minute. Painfully beautiful memories. Scars from cuts in my heart. This was home.

I walked out the building to see a crowd of locals around the door. Upon seeing me they burst into applause, Jackson knew I would allow a new team. A woman stepped up and looked at me, her eyes shining with tears. She said to me something that will always stick.

“Seven months ago, you saved my eleven-year-old son from a group of thugs who attacked him. You saved everyone here or someone they love. We’re here to refurbish your tower because, Aries, you have shown nothing but unconditional love to everyone. You’re the miracle this world needed, so it’s time we returned the favour in your time of pain. We love you, Aries.”

I didn’t want to cry but, oh my God, it was hard not to. A hundred or so people were here for me, to support me. People I’d never thought twice about, people I’d just done my best to save. I never thought about how much what I done impacted others’ lives. It was truly motivational. I shook every hand there until my arms ached. Hugged every child that stepped in front of a bus. Every person who thought life got too much for them, but I managed to talk them down. They were all here. I would have stayed but a siren blared in the distance.

“Duty calls, go get ‘em!” Shouted a young boy, obviously inspired by the comic books. I smiled and waved to them all before bounding into the sky to follow the blaring fire truck.