CHAPTER 6: The Tranquilizer
Alright, so here's the real story. Not the one they tell on the news. Not the lightning-worship TikToks with the crazy edits. This is the raw version. The real deal. The one you only hear if you're deep enough in the hero world to know names like Jade Clay.
See, before he became The Tranquiliser, he was just some dude at a fancy magic school. Like, Hogwarts level but way more intense, and in Asia. It was called the School of Mystique Arts. Kinda mysterious, right? Everyone there was doing wild stuff , summoning fire dragons, floating in the air, turning invisible, talking to spirits. The kind of stuff that would make your brain melt if you saw it in real life.
But Jade? Bro couldn't even light a candle.
While the rest of the students were out there waving wands and building magic circles like they were born with it, Jade was just there, getting roasted every day by the instructors. They called him a late bloomer, but eventually even that sounded like a lie. Dude couldn't conjure a spell to save his life. Like, literally , one time a spell beast chased him across campus 'cause he botched a protection charm.
Only thing he could ever do was summon lightning. But even that was unstable as heck. Sparks would shoot off in random directions, and once he even short-circuited the entire dorm block. Not even in a cool way. Just... ZAP, lights out.
Other students looked at him like he was broken.
And for a while, he believed it.
But Jade? Man had something the others didn't. He didn't quit. Not at first. He stayed up late. Practiced in secret. Took extra scrolls home. Burned his fingers. Failed. Repeated. Until one night, after trying for what felt like forever... he just gave up. The magic thing wasn't working. Period.
So, he packed his stuff and dipped. Took the first train out, landed in Beijing. That's where he joined this underground martial arts school. And this wasn't some basic karate class at a strip mall. This was ancient, deadly, secret-level training. Only invite-only students made it in, and Jade got in off pure desperation.
He trained in brawling first. Chinese-style street combat. Elbows, knees, grapples, joint snaps. Stuff that would make Bruce Lee pause the fight and say "yo chill."
After years of discipline, he unlocked something big. His body started syncing with the lightning. It stopped going crazy. It started listening. Jade realized he didn't have to be a wizard. He just had to be a weapon.
When it came time to pick a weapon to master (it was tradition there), other students picked staffs, swords, nunchucks... but Jade? He went with the bow.
Not just any bow.
A Dragon Scale Bow forged during the Wuhan Dynasty. It had this red and black shine like it had seen a thousand battles. Rumor was it was made from the bones of an ancient dragon that died protecting the city. Super myth-level stuff.
Jade trained like a madman. Day. Night. Rain. Snow. Didn't matter. He learned how to pour his lightning into each arrow. First just simple sparks, then full-on red lightning bolts that whistled through the air like thunder on caffeine.
He could shoot an arrow that would explode mid-air. One that split into five. One that curved around buildings. All pure energy, no quiver required.
Eventually, he became so lethal, the school had to stop letting him spar with normal students. Dude broke one guy's rib with a practice shot.
And then? He disappeared from the spotlight.
Until he started showing up on crime feeds across Asia. Drug lords tied to lamp posts with burns on their chests. Crime rings dismantled in one night. Whole gangs hiding in fear. People started calling him The Tranquiliser.
Why that name? Nobody knows. Maybe 'cause he hit hard and fast like a sedative. Maybe 'cause he never killed, just paralyzed dudes with fear. Either way, it stuck.
Meanwhile, back in the shadows...
The Professor, aka The Man in Black, had his eye on him.
Hero hunting was his thing. He didn't just collect random people. He picked the ones who didn't fit. The ones with raw power but no team. No back-up. Misfits.
So, one foggy evening in Hong Kong, Jade is up on this rooftop, doing his usual thing—tracking a shipment of stolen weapons. He hears something behind him.
Tap. Tap.
Turns around , black boots, black coat, no face. Just shadows and that clean, smooth voice.
"You're hard to find," the Man in Black says.
Jade immediately draws the bow. "Stalker much?"
The Professor steps forward. "I come in peace."
Wrong move.
Next thing you know, Jade fires. BOOM. Lightning arrow explodes near his feet. But the Professor? Dodges it like he's been doing this for years. Next five minutes? Straight-up brawl.
And bro!!! this fight? This fight was MOVIE LEVEL.
Flips, counters, pressure points. Jade uses lightning-enhanced kicks. Professor blocks with an energy shield. They crash through a neon billboard, land on a moving truck, keep fighting. No cap, it was dope.
Eventually they square up, breathing heavy.
"Who are you?" Jade finally asks, aiming another red arrow.
Professor raises his hands. "I'm here to offer you a contract. Protocol Zero."
Jade frowns. "What the hell is that?"
So, the Professor explains.
How the world is changing. How new threats are coming. Bigger than street crime. Bigger than anything anyone's prepared for. He says Jade is part of something bigger. That he needs him. Not as a student. But as a weapon.
Jade listens.
Then shakes his head. "Not interested."
Professor just nods, pulls out a card plain black, glowing red text.
"If you change your mind... you know where to find me."
A week later?
That alien thing crashes into the ocean (see Chapter 5).
Jade's watching from a skyscraper in Singapore when he sees it. Feels the energy shockwave. It's bad.
He pulls out the card. Stares at it.
Then...
Just when it looks like it's game over for our heroes, the sky splits open with a deafening CRACK. A lightning bolt slams into the alien's chest, knocking it back a few steps. Sparks fly everywhere, and the smell of ozone fills the air.
This new dude leaps off a skyscraper, like, a legit 50-story building, and lands in this super cool superhero pose, one knee down, fist on the ground. He's got this bow made of pure lightning, crackling and spitting sparks. His arrows seem to form out of storm clouds that just appear around him, and his face is hidden behind this energy mask that makes him look like a thunderstorm with legs.
"Call me Tranquilizer," he says, voice all deep and echoey, like he's got a built-in reverb effect.
First shot: He fires an arrow, and the alien tries to catch it like a dumbass. The arrow explodes in its hand, sending bits of its armor flying. The alien roars, shaking the ground.
Second shot: Tranquilizer aims lower, and the arrow goes straight through the alien's foot, pinning it to the asphalt like a butterfly in a science project. The alien screeches, thrashing to pull free.
Third shot: The alien's smarter now and dodges, ducking under the arrow. It sails past and hits an abandoned delivery truck, which goes up in a 10,000-volt explosion, lighting up the night sky like the Fourth of July.
Man in Black, crawling out of the burning gas station wreckage, wipes blood from his mouth and grins. "Took you long enough, Tranquilizer."
The alien's skin is now, like, completely bulletproof. Bullets, punches, arrows, nothing's getting through. It's just standing there, shrugging off everything like it's bored.
Man in Black reaches into his busted-up armor and pulls out this tiny silver ball, no bigger than a marble. "Nanobyte bomb," he says, coughing up more blood. "This better work."
The Twist:
Melvin, despite looking like he got hit by a truck, starts running Mach 5 circles around the alien. His shoes are literally burning off, leaving trails of melted rubber. The wind picks up, turning into a dust storm that stings everyone's eyes and makes it hard to see.
Tranquilizer summons three arrows at once, each one crackling with enough electricity to power a city. He fires them in a spread, forcing the alien to twist and dodge, keeping it distracted. One arrow grazes its shoulder, blowing off a chunk of armor.
Man in Black goes for broke. He charges in, dodging a swipe from the alien that would've taken his head off. The alien catches him with a punch that cracks his ribs through his armor, and you can hear the bones snap from a block away. But Man in Black grits his teeth, gets right up in the alien's face, and shoves the nanobyte bomb up its nose.
The alien freezes, its glowing eyes going wide. It makes this nasty gurgling noise, like it's choking on something gross. Then...
BOOOOOOM!
The explosion starts inside its head and rips downward, like someone stuffed a firecracker in a watermelon. Black goo and chunks of alien rain down for blocks, splattering cars, buildings, and a few unlucky seagulls. The air smells like burnt tires and rotten eggs, so bad people are gagging half a mile away.
[AFTERMATH]
Melvin: Suit's 90% destroyed, just a few sparking wires and scraps left. Nose broken, blood dripping down his chin. Left pinky finger numb, probably from all the pavement slamming. Got second-degree friction burns on his legs from running so fast.
Tranquilizer: Lightning bow's cracked down the middle, barely holding together. Hands are charred black from overusing his powers, looking like he stuck them in a toaster. Only one arrow left in his quiver, and it's flickering like a dying lightbulb.
Man in Black: Armor's completely shattered, hanging off him like tattered clothes. Coughing up blood like he's got a lung full of it. Left arm's definitely broken, dangling at a weird angle. Probably needs new ribs after that last hit.
The city's a mess half the pier's gone, buildings are smoking, and there's alien goo everywhere. But people are cheering like it's the Super Bowl. News helicopters are buzzing overhead, cameras zooming in on the carnage. Some kid, probably hyped out of his mind, chucks his Watt action figure at the pile of alien guts, yelling, "Take that, you freak!"
Man in Black slumps against a wrecked car, one side of his face swollen, grinning through bloody, broken teeth. "Next time…" he wheezes, "we aim for the balls."
Melvin just groans, lying in a puddle of sewer water. "Dude, I'm never eating burgers again."
To be continued...