Chapter #12

Lightning flashed through the thick thunderclouds that drifted over Limerick, raining beginning to fall as Zarian and his henchmen stood across from the groggy group of fighters, chuckling to himself.

"You people thought you could stop the Seth Zarian?!" he chuckled some more, "look at you. Worn out deadbeats with nothing better to do then play 'superheroes'."

"This is no game," John stepped forward angrily, "What you are doing is wrong. No one should have such power. And your henchmen," he looked over at Kenny, "should realize they're not getting any benefits out of this."

Kenny rolled his eyes as Seth began clapping slowly, "Admiral speech, Mr. Allsworth, but I'm afraid words will not solve anything today."

"Fine! If it's a fight you want, you got it, bub!" Aaron jumped to his feet and, followed by the others, stepped up next to Johnathan.

Zarian took a step back in shock, "Y-You're crazy! Surely you all must be tired or something!"

"It's not all brains and brawns you know. Ofcourse we're tired. Exhausted, I think would be a better term. But we have courage."

Zarian glared angrily as Henry continued, "It's a feeling that sends you headlong into peril because you're trying to protect something or someone you love. It's something you've never experienced. You send these creatures and use these henchmen to cover your own a*s instead of dealing with it yourself. You're a coward! A pathetic, hopeless man with, in the end, absolutely nothing!"

The sinister glare faded on Zarian's face and was replaced with a smirk, "Well you're wrong about one thing, kiddo," his smile faded back to his cold and angered look, "I'm going to have everything!"

At that, Ranzford morphed his arm into a large machine gun as the other men spread along the alley. John quickly raced after Kenny as Henry shot a bolt of lgihtning toward Timebomb, who barely dodged it. Seven Rogers charged at Grundman, Harold a couple of steps behind him. Marié ran headlong into Ranzford's gunfire with her body shining of pure steel. Elders shot a long wrap of gauze at Tracey, who quickly deflected it with a blast of wind. She then flew after him as Guilzini stood, staring over at Mencelli, who was returning the gaze as he slowly reached for a knife on his belt.

~

Thunder roared through the stairwell as Donovan raced up through the building's stairways. He passed by the doorway to the tenth floor and sighd in disgust, "Why did the elevator have to be broken?!"

He looked up through the center of the stairwell at the next twelve stories. He made one last sigh before starting again.

"Almost halfway there right? Hehe..."

~

The streets sounded with explosions and gunfire. Small buildings calapsed and even a large skyscraper shattered under the impact of a fireball sent from kenny, missing John by just inches.

John turned his direction and stopped in mid-air facing Kenny, "This is absurd! How can you have so much hate for me and Catherine to the wanting of killing us?!"

"It's not like that!" Kenny roared, "It's...I don't know!" His eyes turned bright orange and his body became encased in flames. He shot out another fireball at his brother angrily wit incredible speed. John tried to dodge it, but couldn't get away in time and it grazed against his left arm, burning the skin.

John winced at the pain, then looked up and glared over at Kenny, blue flames beginning to creep across his body. Kenny took a step back as John's flames suddenly flared and sent seven fireballs at once toward him. As he dodged the large spheres of fire, John charged at full speed at Kenny, tackling him and sending them both into the side of a building.

As the debris cleared, John sat up and cracked his shoulder back into place as he looked around for any sign of his brother. Suddenly Kenny shot up into the air and stopped about thirty feet above John's head, enraged and burning feriously.

But before either of them could react, a blast of water knocked Kenny off balance and he fell to the ground below.

John started turning his head in the direction of the blast, "Nice shot, Cather-," but before saw it, a wave of water smashed into him, knocking him back a couple of feet.

Both men lay on the ground, steam rolling off each of their extinguished bodies. Catherine stepped into view, arms on her hips and shaking her head, "Henestly, you boys are rediculous!"

She stepped down and crouched next to Kenny, "You two ever think about just talking?!"

"I have nothing to say," Kenny glared before turning away, acting as if there was something more interesting somewhere else.

"Oh please! What could make you so angry to want to hurt your own brother?"

Kenny dug into the ground angrily, "Nothing, alright?!"

"Yeah that's the biggest bullcrap ever," John stood up and dused off some of the debris.

"Errr shut up!" Kenny sent him a sinister glare.

"Come on! What the heck is wrong with you lately?!"

"Errrr, JEALOUSY!!" Kenny's eyes suddenly flashed bright teal as he shot another fireball at John, blasting against his chest and knocking him back fifteen feet.

Kenny stood up off the ground and faced Catherine, smirking.

"You fools could never understand the jealousy, sadnes and anger you have caused him. You two were so blinded by leaving together, you completely missed what Kenneth felt. That day of the explosion, I found Kenneth, barely alive. I could sense his anger and I knew I could use him. So I, Seth Zarian took this boy under my wing, saved him and am now fulfilling his dreams!" He shot another fireball at Catherine, who swiftly threw up a wall of water in front of her, blocking the attack. She then used the wave to knock Kenny down.

John quickly hobbled over to he side, "What are we going to do?"

"Kenny is still inside there. I know it. He tried concealing the anger earlier," she rushed over to Kenny's side, "Kenny? It's Catherine. You've got to fight this!"

The bright teal eyes looked over at her and kenny gave her an evil grin, "You can't stop me. It's futile."

John quickly ran over and held Kenny's arms down, "Kenny? It's Johnathan. We're here now. We are here for you. You're not alone anymore. Please, Kenny. You can beat him!"

"Hahaha! He can't beat...me...?" Kenny's eyes began to flicker between teal and orange rapidly. He clutched his head and began screaming.

"What are you doing?! You don't want them! I'm protecting you!"

"You've gone too far! This wasn't supposed to happen! You're plans of killing are...OVER!"

"Err...you stupid, little brat! You can't stop me! It's too late!"

"No, it's not! You're time of messing around is over!"

There was a flash of orange light and a ghastly teal glow seaped out of Kenny's eyes and disolved into thin air.

Kenny slumped to the ground in exhaustion. John caught him before he hit the ground and held Kenny's head in his hands. Catherine knelt beside them, worriedly.

There was a sudden twitch and Kenny's chest began to rise and fall, breathing returning to him. His eye lids flutterred open slowly and his watery eyes looked up at John. At first he just stared and smirked but then, with a sudden realization, his eyes flew wide open and he choked as he tried explaining.

"Johnathan! Oh god Johnathan! What have I done?! I never meant to do any of this. It was Zarian, he took over my mind and-."

"It's ok, It's ok! Nothing permanent. We're just happy to have you back," John smirked as a tear rolled down his cheek. Catherine smiled as the two brothers hugged. Kenny looked over at her and smiled back, "Nice to see you here!"

She giggled softly but then there was a loud explosion in the distance. 

"What the heck is going on?" Kenny gave them a puzzled look.

John looked over at Catherine and grimaced, "We...need to fill you in on some things."

~

Commander Wilson had ordered the surviving police force to distract the bizarre creatures while Guilzini and the others held against Zarian. Two of his officers shot wildly at a charging boar before it fell to the ground jsut feet in front of them.

"Shouldn't we atleast call in the National Guard or something for this kind of situation?!" one of the men panicked as he shot at another beast in the knee cap.

"We have," the other man began reloading his handgun.

"Really?! So they're coming!"

"No," the man cocked his gun, "they put us on hold."

~

Harriman's eyes glowed a bright silver color as a large pile of debris next to him began to rise into the air. Hugo thrusted his hand out in front of him and the ruble went flying toward Martin, who had just appeared out of the shadows. He rushed through the debris, dodging metal beams and stakes as he got closer and closer to Harriman. But, just before he could get to Hugo, he threw his hands up and a large pipe blasted up through the ground and slammed into Martin. The impact threw Martin off balance and was knocked backwards, slamming into the wall of a building. 

Maritn's head ached in pain as the wind had been nearly knocked out of him. He leaned up slowly, getting onto all fours. But suddenly, metal chains appeared above him and dropped down onto the ground, pinning Martin to the pavement. he struggled to get free but the chains were held down strongly by magnetic force.

Footsteps could be heard coming toward him and Martin leaned his head up ever-so-slightly to see Hugo looming over him.

"You punny mortals think you can tempt the power of magnetism?!" Hugo roared with laughter as he slowly cicrled Martin, "You just don't know when to quit."

"Yeah...pretty much," Martin groaned, his fingers beginning to lengthen and his hair began to turn black.

"Please. You have no chance. Give up now while you can still breathe," Harriman made the chains tighten down on Martin. Blood began seeping through the chain links as Martin's dark form expanded.

"Never!" was his last words as his beast form took over. A quick swipe of his large claws cut through the chains and he lunged at Harriman. A large gash in his left side left Harriman staggering backwards and falling to the ground. He gasped for air as he looked up into the bright red eyes of the dark creature. It lifted its head and let out a piercing howl.

"Go...to...hell," Hugo raised his hand weakly and the large pipe from behind him flew at Martin once more.

"You first," said a voice behind Martin and suddenly the pipe turned and slammed into Harriman, lifting him up and ramming him into the wall. Blood spilled as the pipe ran through Hugo's stomach, into the brick wall behind him. He gasped and sputtered as he slowly looked up at Aaron Broider, leaning against the far lamp post; one hand clutching his bandage, the other pointed at Harriman.

"B...but...how?..." and with a last cough of breath, Hugo's body fell limp against the side of the wall, pinned up by the steel pipe.

Aaron let his outstretched arm fall to his side as he slumped to the ground in exhaustion. The dark creature blinked and began to shift back into Martin. He turned to Aaronand jogged over, "Hey, you ok? Thanks for the save, by the way," he began lifting Aaron up and let him lean against his left side. 

"Don't mention it," Aaron whispered weakly as he gripped at the pain in his stomach.

"No really. I underestimated the guy..." Martin sighed as he readjusted Aaron against his shoulder.

"Heh, that's funny," Aaron groaned as his eyes grew darker, "You've underestimated me as well."

Martin froze, his heart skipping a beat and looked down at Aaron worriedly. There was a sudden flash of teal light and Aaron quickly shoved himself away from Martin. In a single motion, he held up his glowing hand and a small lead pipe began to lift off the ground. Aaron whipped his arm in a motion toward Martin and the pipe flew toward the confused man. In the blink of an eye, Martin quickly morphed back into his dark form and caught the pipe in his large claws, only inches away from his chest. Aaron pushed harder to put more pressure into the pipe as Martin struggled to keep it from running through his chest. 

"A-Aron...err...why?" Martin gasped in a deep, sinister voice.

"Small change in plan," and with that Aaron threw his remaining might, forcing Martin off his feet and slamming through the brick wall.

Aaron fell to his knees, panting and coughing through the dusty air from the strenuous effort. He held his side as his wound opened up once more and he struggled to breathe normally through the pain. He slowly looked up and saw through the shadows of the building Martin's body laying still on the ground, the small pipe protruding out of his broken chest.

Aaron chuckled to himself softly and after a couple of minutes, he began to haul himself up onto his legs. They wobbled beneath him as he staggered away into the clouded mist...

~

Gunfire rang through his ears as Guilzini fired off another shot at Luey. Across from him, Mencelli ducked swiftly, releasing another dagger from his hand. It sailed through the air and before Draco could move away, it sliced ino the back of his right hand. Pain seered up through his arm as he staggered a little off balance. Mencelli grinned wryly, knowing this was his chance, and flung a knife directly toward Guilzini's heart. Draco looked up just in time and rapidly spun out of the way and began blasting away with his left handed gun. Bullets sang through the air toward mencelli once more and he ducked behind a dumpster in the knick of time.

Draco took a step forward, gun raised, as he quietly moved toward the battered trash container. He tried to clear his mind of the pain as his concentration was blurred by the stinging sensation of the knife in his hand. He krept silently to the far sie of the dumpster and held his breath. In his head, he began to count down from ten as he raised his weapon.

3...2...1...

He spun on his heel and fired the gun as the bullet sailed through the mist and pinged against the hood of a car.

Gone. Luey Mencelli seemed to have disappeared without a trace. That can't be right, Draco thought as his eyes scanned through the cloudy debris.

Luey watched as Guilzini wandered aimlessly, not knowing that Mencelli was only a couple of yards behind him. He unsheathed a knife from his vest and licked the blade in a stimulating excitement. It was the last knife and Luey knew he could not miss his unsuspecting target.

After a few moments, he finally stepped out of the darkness and flung the knife with all his might at Guilzini's back. There was no time for Draco to turn and in seconds the small dagger would impail his heart.

But, just before the knife reached Guilzini, Leslie had lept through the fog and caught the knife in mid-air. In the same fluid motion, she spun in the air and released the knife back towards Mencelli. Shock covered his face as the knife sliced into his forehead and he fell backward from the impact. His last breath escaped him as he landed on the ground, staring up at the cloudy night sky.

Draco stumbled over to where Leslie laid on the dusty sidewalk.

"Hey, nice save," he smirked as he offered his hand to her.

"You know me. I always got your back," she coughed and grasped his hand.

Guilzini hauled her up, wincing in pain, realizing he had offered her the wrong hand.

"You better get that looked at," Leslie noticed as he swiftly pulled the knife out of his hand with a yelp.

He shrugged and tossed the knife to the ground, "No time. We better go help the others."

~

A large gust of wind barreled into Craig Elders, sending him and his snake-like bandages hurtling into Kevin O'Connors. As the two ex-police officers slammed into one of the sides of a brick building, Harold Maxwell rushed forward, basting ice across the two men and freezing them against the wall.

"It's about time you guys chilled out," Harold smirked at himself as he saw henry run out of an alley to join the group. Across the road, Leslie and Guilzini appeared and walked over to them.

A little further down the street Marié's steel fist smashed through the rock wall created by Grundman as Roger Verlin charged in, already beginning to multiply. John and Kenny both began their meteor assault to distract the large, muscular man who began to turn his skin rock hard. The large fireballs blasted against Rick effortlessly, leaving nothing but small singe marks across his skin. He grinned and began to warp the rock material covering him into a large sphere in front of himself. Then he lifted the sphere up into the air toward the two brothers. Just before it reached them, the ball exploded into small pieces that pelted into the Allsworths and knocked them away.

But now the large rock man's body was defenseless and the multiple Rogers took the chance to attack him from all sides. Though Verlin's punches weren't strong enough to knock Grundman out cold, the multiple jabs and hammering began to weaken the burly man to his knees. As Verlin began to back off, Marié quickly took over and slammed her steel fist up across Rick's lower jaw, sending him reeling backwards and falling unconscious on the ground. Marié stomped over to him and lifted the heavy body up onto her shoulders.

"I'll put this one with the rest of the junk," she heaved as she headed down the street toward the others.

"Only two more left," Verlin sighed as his multiples began to disintegrate away.

~