Bulletproof

"Let's see... Quintin Cassidy, alias BulletProof. Six feet, blue eyes, white hair... And Murphy thinks I look like a protagonist?" Leo mused, his eyes glued to the screen of his new phone. He walked through the crowded streets snapping pictures of everything he saw, until he saw a familiar figure at the crosswalk. A woman with shiny red hair flowing down her back. The lady was wearing an oversized brown trench coat on, you'd think she'd have an oversized magnifying glass as well.

"Selene?" Leo nervously calls out.

The woman turns around and is shocked. She ducks her head down and rushes to the other side of the street.

"Wait! Selene! Come back!" Leo calls out once more, now pushing past people walking. "Sorry, 'scuse me, 'scuse me, sorry, my bad." He says. "Wait! Selene! It's me! Leo! I promise I'm not mad! Can we just talk!" As he made his way to the other side of the street, Selene had already vanished within the crowd. "Selene!" After looking around frantically for a few moments, Leo face palms. "Fuck, I keep forgetting she's a damn shapeshifter." 

Elsewhere.

Above Zaheera Tower. On its helipad, a large arguably obese man stood. He has wild hair and no shirt or shoes. Suddenly, lightning strikes the surface and when the dust clears, Roy appears.

"What's up, fat boy? We gonna do this right here and now or what?" Roy arrogantly said with his katana pointed forward.

"You'd best watch your tongue." Kema responds.

"You'd best watch your weight. I can tell being in America has definitely made you fatter as well. You came here to kill me, right? Well, I'm right here. Try it!" Roy challenged.

"So, hasty, do you truly wish to die so soon? I figured I'd let you enjoy a little bit more time with your familial bonds, so I could have a live audience when I sever your head."

"Oh yeah? What's stopping me from cutting yours off now?"

 "You don't want to raise suspicion, I assume? Coward." Kema instigated.

A furious Roy says, "Raise These!" and SKRAAAKOOOM as a massive wave of electricity shoots at Kema.

The attack sent Kema hurling to the wall, but the massive man dissolved into a swirling toxic mist before crashing. Out of the debris, a barrage of poisonous blasts fly at Roy. He deflects them effortlessly, but a cloudy hand carrying a massive iron club stretches out the fog behind Roy and swings to his abdomen. Roy barely has time to deflect the incoming attack and has to use his full strength to block the heavy swing. Suddenly, a massive sword shoots out from the cloud of smoke, carried by another ghostly hand. Still blocking the club, Roy quickly turns his body into electricity and both weapons pass through.

"Vortex!" said Roy after his body reconstituted. A swirling wind appeared in the air above the helipad, sucking in all of Kema's gas. Kema quickly shifted back into physical form and landed, but Roy was already driving his sword into Kema's gut. The Ogre winced before grabbing Roy's entire body in one hand and flinging him across the roof. Kema pulls out the blade from his stomach and examines it.

"Being fat has its perks. Probably would've actually hurt if it was a Wang Lo sword."Kema laughs. "This is a real blade." He says, holding up his large sword.

"You still haven't touched me yet! Killing you with a Wang Lo, would be too much of an honor for someone as undeserving as you." Roy says before putting his fists up, one covered in stone, the other covered with ice.

"And you dare claim yourself as a Snake Clan swordsman?" Kema says before dashing forward, attempting an overhead swing with his cleaver.

Roy lunges forward and slaps Kema's hand, transferring all of the stone from his hand to Kema's, weighing him down significantly.

"You think this will stop me?" Kema says as he spins and swings around the massive club he had in the other hand.

Roy jumps directly above it and slams his ice-covered fist down into Kema's skull. Slamming him into the ground and freezing his head to the floor.

"Mmmm hmmm gmm ymm fmm" came from Kema, struggling to get off the ground.

"What's that fat boy? Speak up!" Roy kicks him in the side. "Just eat your way out!" Roy kicks him again.

Suddenly, the doors to the roof burst open. Several armed guards circle Roy and Kema, a lady in corporate attire steps from them. "Stop this at once! You are causing structural damage on top of trespassing! Take your mess and get the hell out of here!"

Roy sighs then walks over to pick his katana off the ground. One of the guards hesitates and Roy playfully puts his hands up. "Let's all relax, I can explain everything."

"M-M-Ma'am, he has a Blue Bottom. Proceed carefully." One of the guards trained on Roy nervously said.

"Your men have some good eyes on them." Roy chuckles.

"I don't care if you had red bottoms on. Get your shit and-"

"Too bad they aren't good enough." Roy says as Kema in his mist form reconstitutes behind the corporate woman and holds her in the air by her hair. All of the guards quickly switch targets. "Well Kema, this was fun. Seems you have your work cut out for you now, let's do this another time shall we?"

"Agreed." Kema says before throwing the woman to the side and flies away as a cloud of mist. Bullets fly through his ghostly body as he departs.

Roy hops off the edge of the building and free falls towards the city below laughing.

Back to Leo.

For the past hour, after running into Selene, Leo had been ransacking all of Bulletproof's safehouses without a shred of progress yet.

"Alrighty, last safe house on the map."

KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK

"Helloooooo…"

KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK

Leo squeezes the bridge between his eyes. "The fuck am I doing? Jesus, Leo, get it together." He says before spinkicking the door in and off its hinges.

"QUINTIN CASSIDY! Where are y-" 

"Yes."

Leo is cut off mid yell by a man standing in the hallway that matched Bulletproof's description, except he had on a fuzzy robe with a toothbrush in his mouth.

"Someone's a little impatient. Can't a man brush his teeth?" Bulletproof nonchalantly says, ignoring the fact that his door was just blown off the hinges.

"I need you to come with me."

"Why?"

Bulletproof stumbles into his kitchen to spit in the sink.

"Because I was told I can't kill you, so come on."

"Well, I don't wanna." Bulletproof says before burping.

"Well you don't have a, wait, are you drunk?" Leo asks.

"Pfft. No." Bulletproof chuckles. "You're drunk. What are you doing in my house?"

"Because you're a wanted criminal! And I'm here to-"

"You a cop?" Bulletproof says before holding up a pistol.

 "I'm not a fucking cop!"

"Oh that's perfect! I can't stand cops." Bulletproof says before dropping his arm and opening up the refrigerator. "You want something to drink?"

"Got any sprite? Wait, no! Look, asshole, Murphy told me that you were-"

"Murphy?"

"Fuck! I didn't mean to say that-"

"What the hell does Murphy want?" Bulletproof says as he slides a can of soda down the island to Leo.

"Wait, how the fuck do you know Murphy? And thank you by the way.' Leo says as he cracks open the can.

"He's one of my handlers, duh. He's the guy that got me and Lena this place." Bulletproof sniffles then puts his head down. "Oh Lenaaaaa! Why won't you come back already!?"

"Lena? Lena, like Selene? Red hair? If so, I saw her on my way-"

Bulletproof picks his head up and re-aims his pistol at Leo. "How the fuck do you know my Lena? Huh!"

Leo puts his hands up. "Woah, woah, woah. How the fuck do you know Selene?"

"I asked first, you homewrecker!" Bulletproof says wiping tears from his eyes.

"Homewrecker?"

"No! I see! You're the guy she's run off with, huh? Come to rub it in my face huh? Well, let's see how you like a hollow tip in yours!"

"WAIT!NO!IONLYKNOWHERFROMMIDDLESCHOOL-" Leo frantically pleads.

"You two have a happy life!" Bulletproof cries. "IN HELL!" He yells before he starts shooting sporadically throughout the house. Leo ducks behind the counter. Suddenly, a phone ringing breaks the rattle of gunfire. Bulletproof ceases fire and answers. "Hello."

'BP it's Murph, why haven't you been answering my calls?' 

"BP? Murphhh?" Whispered Leo in confusion. 

BP sniffles. "Cause me and Lena broke up againnnn! I've been sad!" 

'Get your shit together! Is the kid there yet?'

Leo peeps his head above the counter and BP shoots beside his head. "Yeah, and he's about to die!"

'Stop it! He's a family friend. Well…he's the family of a friend. I sent him there to pick you up.'

Leo puts his hands up above the counter. "Murphy! Why the fuck, didn't you mention that you two knew each other!?" He pokes his head fully above the island. "And today was the first time I've seen Selene in six years! I swear!"

'I'm one of his handlers, duh. Well at least now I can save you the trouble of meeting up to drop him off. Quintin! Given your current inebriation. I can make two guesses. Your girlfriend has been killing people using your face or-'

"Nope, those were me."

'Right. My second guess.'

"I tracked down every slimy guy she's cheated on me with and sent them to an early grave."

"Well. It seems like I can just take my leave now-" Leo says, trying to scurry off.

'Not so fast! BP! One of those guys you killed out of jealousy happened to be a member of the Cugliano Family. Another was from the Markovs. Then you killed three Latin Disciples.'

"Ok so what?"

'Meaning three of the city's biggest gangs are tearing up the city hunting for your head. If you turn yourself in we can-'

Bulletproof takes a gulp of water. "Save it. Not my style, you know that."

'Figured as much. Well, that's the second reason I sent the kid. He's eager for some action, take him with you and figure this shit out.'

"Heard." BP hangs up the phone then walks into a backroom for a few seconds before emerging in some fresh clothes. "You heard him. Ready to go?"

"How the hell did you change clothes so fast?" Leo says, walking behind BP.

"Trade secret."

"You don't seem that drunk anymore. You sober up fast."

"If you ever have to assassinate someone with a healing factor, get them drunk. The body's reactions to injury are dulled, taking longer to regenerate. However, all it takes is a glass of water to flush out your power receptors and boom, back to being unkillable and sober."

"Good to know. Drunk you was something else, can't believe I almost died that easily."

Bulletproof turns around and shoots Leo in the face. The bullet bounces off and leaves a stingy red mark.

"SHITTT!" Leo grabs his forehead in anguish. "Fuck!"

"Relaxxxx, they're BB's. You really think I'd be drunk with a loaded firearm?" BP chuckles as he walks out front. 

"I don't know what to think anymore." Leo says, sluggishly walking behind.

As the two make it to the street, four different vehicles pull up. Men get out on all sides

"You sick bastard!" A burly Caucasian man says, brandishing an iron pipe.

"You'll pay for what you did." said by a husky Latino man, carrying a metal chain.

"We're going to kill you, Quintin Cassidy, or shall I call you Margrit?" A lanky black man says, holding a pistol.

"That was fast." Leo says.

"Run along kid, this sicko here has been transforming into pretty women so he can steal money from us." Said by the black man, followed by a collective "Yeah!" from the group.

"I don't think you guys have the right-"

"Save it kid. Whether these guys have the right idea or not, they've touched my Lena. Aye losers! Which of you were sent by the Cugliano family?"

The men look around and three in the back raise their hands, and 1, 2, 3 are shot in the face.

BP's pistol smokes as he spins it around to the next target. "There's 16 of them. Try to take down at least three." The burly white man rushes him, BP shoots him in the face as well. The bullet passes clean through, ricochets off of a rear-view window, bounces off a street light, down through the knee of the hispanic man, ricocheting off the bone into the black man's hand, knocking his pistol to the ground.

"I thought you said they were BB's!?" Leo says, ducking under the swing of a baseball bat from one of the goons.

"They were! I have two guns!" BP explains, "Lefty." BP shoots a goon 10 times and the pellets bounce off. The goon drops his guard and opens his eyes to see BP throwing his pistol which slams into the man's skull before bouncing back into the sharpshooter's hand. "And Esmerelda." Shooting the man point blank with real bullets.

Leo runs and slides through a goon's legs, catching his ankles and making him fall forward. "Was the name Righty not available or something?" A man turns to shoot Leo, but the boy spins on his back before springing off of his hand to kick the man in his face.

The goon that fell forward rolls onto his back and starts firing at Leo. Being mid-air is a speedster's worst weakness. Had he been on the ground, Leo would have a 50/50 chance of dodging a bullet at point blank range. As the gun sounds, time slows for a moment. Leo holds his breath and tilts his head back as far as he can manage as bullets visibly wisp by. As he lands and catches his breath, time speeds back to normal.

"What was that?" Leo says.

"Ack!" BP grunts. The bullets that Leo dodged had found their mark in BP's spine. He turns around silently. "Are you trying to get me paralyzed?" BP puts his thumb in his mouth and blows, the bullets pop out his back one by one and his wounds close up. "It's a good thing I'm BulletProof." He says followed by finger guns.

Leo along with the goon that shot him stared blankly at his remark.

 "Tough crowd. Well this one will surely knock your socks off!" BP spins the barrel on his revolver. "Don't move a muscle kid. Time for a little Rain Dance!" BP holds his gun to the sky and shoots until the clip is empty.

"He's out! Get him!" The remaining men charge the duo from all sides. 

Leo hugs his sides and tries to make himself as small as possible. Nervously looking up he says "Ummm..B? When can I move my muscles?"

"Any second now…" BP holds his arms out at his sides. "Just enjoy the rain…" 

As a goon brings his bat around aimed at Bulletproof''s head. Bullets rain down from the sky violently.

"And Scatter!" The marksman says as the bullets collide with pavement and splinter off into ricocheting fragments, flying in each and every direction.

The goons scatter to avoid the raining bullets, seeking cover from the sudden onslaught. But it's no use, as every nook and cranny is hit except the points where Leo and BP were standing.

A moment passes and Leo removes his hands from covering his eyes to see everyone bloodied and laid out across the ground. "I-Is it over?"

"Yup, all done, good work, kid." BP responded, dumping all of his bullet casings on the ground.

Leo walks over to Bulletproof and pats him on the back. "Bro, you're so coooool. I've never seen someone shoot like that."

"That's the combination of regeneration and perfect aim baby! My power allows me to see the trajectories of everything before me. You'll never have to worry about friendly-fire with me around."

"Good to know. I don't know if I mentioned this earlier or not, but, the name's Leo." Leo holds out his hand.

"Quintin, but you know that already. As you heard, Murph calls me BP for short." BP says shaking Leo's hand.

"BP sounds like I'm talking to a gas station. How about QC?"

"Then it'll sound like you're talking to the record label."

"Hmmm, you're right. How about Q? Q'bert? Toolboy Q? Qdatool?"

While they're discussing nicknames, a goon who was hiding underneath of a car, scurries out and begins to run away.

"Q, you missed one."

Bulletproof aims his pistol. "Just cause he's still alive doesn't mean I missed, I never miss."

Leo pushes his hand down. "Ouu Ouu, can I get this one please? I want to try something from this anime I watched in prison." Leo picks up a rock from the street and starts spinning.

Bulletproof holsters his guns and stretches. "Go ahead, jailbird."

The image of Leo disappears as he begins to spin faster and faster. 

"Look's like he's getting away now."

The cyclone that was Leo came to a full stop in a pitcher's position. "Missile!" Leo yells as he beams the rock at the goon. The projectile soars violently through the air, pieces break off as it spirals into a shot of molten core.

As the shot collides, a loud "AGHHH!!" was heard as the remaining goon fell to his knees. He looks back at Leo and BP with tears in his eyes. "What the fuck is wrong with you!?"

"Seeee, you rushed me. If only I had a few more seconds, it would've killed him for sure." Leo says to Bulletproof.

"Not if he had turned the corner." BP responds.

The goon struggles to get off the ground. "The Don is going to make you pay for this!"

"He does realize we can't hear what he's saying right? He's all the way up the street." BP asks.

"WE CAN'T HEAR YOU! SPEAK UP!" Leo yells down the street.

The goon's veins begin to pop out his head, seething with anger. "I SAID-"

The remaining goon is cut off by BP and Leo yelling.

"LOOK OUT!"

"BEHIND YOU!"

Before the goon has a chance to turn around he's struck by a red sports car and sent flying in the air. The car drifts to a stop in front of the two boys. A well groomed man stepped out, dress shoes, red slacks, and a loose unbuttoned button up.

One the goons that was dying on the ground next to BP rolled to his side to say "You guys are fucked now. That's FlameGuard, one of the Cugliano Family's top enforcers. Might as well say your prayers now cause he's about to send you straight to hell."

BP chuckles, "Go save a seat for us then." He says as he shoots the man. 

FlameGuard walks toward them with a fierce gaze.

"Flamey G whadduppp?" Leo calls out.

"What foolish last words someone could have." FlameGuard says in a commanding tone.

"Sheesh, this guy's no fun." Bulletproof sighs.

"I know right. More like Lamey G." Leo laughs.

An irritated FlameGuard erects a ring of fire around them. The surrounding cars explode from the heat.

"Prepare to-"

Suddenly a voice calls out from above them "Z-CUTTER!" 

A collective "Huh?" comes from Leo, BP, and even FlameGuard.

An ear piercing ZZZWAAANGSLASH is heard. FlameGuard looks down to see a third person in front of him. 

Roy.

"When did you?" FlameGuard asks out of confusion, however as Roy sheaths his sword, FlameGuards waist and legs fall over to the right, but his torso to the left. The walls of fire quickly dissipate as a gentle breeze sweeps the area.

"Sup boys. You guys having fun?" Roy says with a wide grin on his face.

"Royyy!" Leo says with open arms.

As Leo daps up his older brother, BP and Roy stare at each other intensely.