Chapter 15 - My Heart

"What do you mean Matt? Come and get him? What am I an animal?"

"No you're my brother, and I just want to help save you from yourself."

"HA! Myself? You want to save me from myself? The only reason any of this happened is because of you. You wouldn't believe the amount of people dead because of you."

"Because of me? What did I ever do to you? All I've ever done is support you. You're my brother."

"You. The Defenders of Aincar. You're all self righteous jackasses. You don't know talent if it's sat right in front of you."

"Seriously Jack. This is all this is about?" I look over to him concerned. Has he just been killing people because I ended up getting the dream job both of us wanted? No. It has to be something more. Something deeper.

"No they were just a part of it. Just like you. I realized not too long ago that unless we change the system. Change how things are done. Nothing will ever change."

"That can't be it brother. This isn't you"

"No it's not the me you knew. But it is the new me."

"Stop this. Think about what Mom would have said."

"Don't Matt. Don't you say her name. She has nothing to do with me losing my powers."

I aggravated him. Got something out of him. He's losing his powers.

"Jack. Why didn't you tell me you were losing your powers?"

"Not like we could have done anything about it. IT just made me realize that our crime fighting needs to be a bit more permanent."

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"And that's where I'll leave it, for today at least. But you get the idea."

"Yeah, he's a bad guy. But was he wrong? Criminals are criminals, and when they serve their time the cycle repeats."

"That's not for us to decide kiddo. If we break the same laws they do, then that makes us as bad as them. We need the system, something for people to believe in."

"We need, A, system Dad. Just maybe not the one you were used to."

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"So I'm assuming you got it?"

"Oh the device? Yeah it's here. He has no clue, there weren't even any alarms."

"I mean it is a pocket dimension created by me. Normal people wouldn't put an alarm on that."

"So what now?"

"Now Micron. We take what is ours."

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I look up to the sky and all I can see is darkness. And through that darkness comes a ray of light. I look over to the light for some sort of comfort but I get none. All I am met with is despair. For this isn't a ray of light it is a crack in the wall. The wall of everything. And through it is pouring very layer of hell.

I'm surrounded by old friends. And a lot of people I don't recognize. What are we doing here? What divine wrath have we wrought. I turn to the man next to me in his colorful outfit and try to say something to him. But I can't. Nothing comes out. This isn't a time for words. This is a time for action.

The ones I don't know are the first ones to action. I look on in horror as these unknown beasts hack them down, and break them. These creatures are like nothing I have ever seen before. Each one stronger than the next.

Their hulking figures towered over each and every one of us, but we toed the line. Because if not us, then who else would. Not that it mattered one way or the other. We were all dead the second we stepped foot in front of that crack.

This is the end. I know it is. Where are they? Where are my family? I look for Sara, but before I can react I see one of the beasts tear her in two, and I can feel her fade away. Gone forever. All I have left now is Claire. Where is she?

In the moment it took to readjust, they were upon me. The beasts were taking hold of me. Trying to break me. But it isn't that easy for them. I don't break as easy as everyone else did. I feel it take over me. The rage. It fuels me now.

As more of the beasts pile on top of me I feel my rage grow stronger, and in that instant, my eyes almost explode from the power, as the beasts on top of me are engulfed in flames, and burn in front of me.

As I step out from the flaming husks of these beasts I feel my powers kick into overdrive, and I fly up into the air against my will and I look upon the battlefield, and despite all the death and destruction around me, it doesn't bring fear to my heart. In fact it feels like everything is back the way it is supposed to be. A good old fashioned superhero fight.

It isn't until I return to the fight that the horror sets in. In between punches with the beasts I see something that shakes me to my core. A group of 6 people that are just stood at the side watching everything happen. They aren't stepping in one way or the other, and at the center of this group are two people I recognize. The Man on Fire. The bastard who set my family on this path, the man who by proxy killed my wife.

And now he had took my last remaining family member too. For at the side of him stood Claire. Just watching us all die. She had turned. She was a villain now. What happened to her to make her do this? Why can't I remember anything from before today. The last thing I remember is the day my brother came back into my life.

Then it happened. A whistle. A single noise rings through the battlefield, and everything stops. I get to my feet, and I don't feel it at first. I don't think I ever felt the physical pain. All I ever felt was my world break in two. For the hand that ripped out my heart was Claire's. She looked at me with dead eyes, and smiled as I faded away.