Let This Go Epilogue: The Mission



Back in Nashville, a small television played te national news as the Uptown District became home to a media circus with news reporters in every nook and cranny, crime scene investigators inspecting every shred of evidence, policemen interviewing the scared citizens of New Orleans' most notorious projects, scared tenaments giving their horrifying reenditions of the events that took place, and Purple Eyes simply sat back and watched as the detectives were stumped as to who could've been the culprit. None of the citizens were confessing to what organization was responsible for mass muredering dozens of corrupt police officers, and in truth the residents really had no idea what organization was responsible. They knew what the couple looked like, how they sounded, they even knew their names, only hearing it in passing from bullets to bodies, but they were not going to give the information to the police, not when it seemed like they were the only people who were willing to stand up for them. They simply shook their heads when the frustrated officers asked them who was responsible. The answer they got out of most of the residents were, "I don't know," and "I have no idea," but one answer sent the media into a wild frenzy. It seemed like everything microphone in the world was shoved in this young man's face as he answered the question the reporter presented. "Do you know the organization who was responsible for this sheer onslaught of police officers?"
The boy couldn't have been no older than fifteen, but his expression was true as were his words as he replied with a voice filled with conviction, "No. I don't know who was responsible for saving us from those bad men y'all call police officers, but don't get it twisted, they did save us. When no one else but more corrupt police officers would come when we needed help those people came and helped. Those officers destroyed my apartment, my projects. They killed my little brother," Tears were running down his face as he gave his testimony of the events that took place to what seemed like the whole world. "They raped my sister and my mother, and they made me watch. Told me, 'This is what happens when you go against the law and harbor the identity of fugitives.' I never my ma cry. My ma and my sister was in so much pain and I couldn't do nothing about it, and if it wasn't for those people who came and rescued us, all us would be dead, so I don't know they name, but I wish I did so I could thank 'em personally."
One reporter shouted over the rest, catching the young boy's attention, "So do you have anything to say to the rest of the world about surviving this amazing ordeal?"
"As a matter of fact I do. Y'all wanna look at us like we all bad cause of where we from and the people who live here, but we deserve peace just like everyone else. We don't deserve this. Not even animals deserve to be treated this way. We didn't ask for this. This is what you made us. So what kind of message do you send to us, America, when you send people to rape and kill us because we're different."
That statement resonated in Purple Eyes as he sat on an old recliner in some dark room watching the story. He smoked a cigar and drunk an old liquor from a blood stained crystal glass as the stench of the dead family filled the room. He cut the television to fully savor the smell and sweet sound of silence. He smiled, "Well played, Brody, well played. But you must know that the road to hell is paved on good intentions." Then he laughed a loud, sinister laugh, the sounds of laughter filling the dead man's ear as the petrified man was stiff in rigor mortis, reaching for his deceased family.


The next day, Kylie walked in the room where Kayla was sleeping in to find her packing up her belongings. In another room, Brody found Chevy doing the same thing. Both Kylie and Brody looked at Chevy and Kayla like they had questions to ask them. Kylie leaned on the white wall watching her older sister pack her things. Kayla wore an agitated look on her face, and Kylie failed to understand the reason for her frustration so she just sat back and watched until Kayla broke the silence. She turned her head slightly and with a hint of frustration in her voice, she asked, "Aren't you going to ask me what I'm doing?"
Kylie crossed her arms and shook her head nonchalantly. "Why you ask you when I already know what you're doing?"
Kayla stood up with a scowl on her face. "See that's what I'm talking about."
"What?" Kylie asked confused.
"You act like you.....like you just don't care about anything anymore. What's going on with you?"
Back in Chevy's room, Brody presented Chevy with a question of his own. "You out, love?"
"Yee." Chevy's answers never went into more depth than needed to. Simple and short. Short and sweet. Just the way he liked to keep it.
"Things getting a little too hot for ya ha son?"
Brody smiled, leaving Chevy no choice but to smile with him, even though he really didn't want to. "Yee. Y'all on some other stuff, you and Kylie. I liked it better when we was all just chilling."
Brody smiled, closed his eyes, and shook his head. "Yeah, me too, but I couldn't sit back and watch blue eyes and curly head do my people wrong like that man. They had guns to my peoples, put bullets in my peoples. Did 'em dirty dog."
"Yeah, I know it must have been hard to see yo' folk get gunned down."
Brody's once wondrous smile disappeared into a pain filled frown. "Pain. Nah, pain didn't come to me when I saw people who were from the same city as my cousin get gunned down by the police. I knew then I had to fight against those who would seek to destroy a people simply because we're different. But even then, I felt no pain. I saw the police raping women, killing children, but still I felt no pain. I felt nothing, but I knew I was put on this earth to destroy evil at that moment. You want to know when I truly felt pain? When I was faced to face with the men who killed my father. Filled his veins with the E-v that ultimately took my sister. Your love. Your baby mama. That's when the pain set in, but at that time I couldn't feel it. The only thing on my mind was to do what was necessary to protect the people of Uptown District. They didn't deserve the treatment they was getting so like a real dude, I stepped in, and I killed every single one of them, homie. Fuck 'em. They killed my pa. Killed my sister, and for what? Because my pa wasn't going to just go along with poisoning the hood? Because my father didn't want to go down in history as the person who helped spread the E-v, rather his name is associated with greatness and hatred by the same police who are supposed to be sworn to serve and protect us. My dad took a stand as the last honest policeman in the whole damn brotherhood and now he's gone, leaving me with a choice. Do I honor his memory by defending the people who he refused," Tears were pouring down Brody's face as he gestured wildly, pointing to the floor below him, raising his voice just a little more with each word he spoke, "He refused to simply write off as evil and watch them infect and kill each other, or do I do nothing? See I was unsure about my decision to fight the good fight, afraidf becoming a monster, but I know now that society's filled with monsters, it's all on you which kind of monster you decide to be. I can't be the monster who cages the righteous beast inside of my soul." Brody smiled, the epiphany coming over him feeling as though he were being washed by the rays of the sun. "I'm the monster who lets him out." His laugh was hungry for company, but received none as Chevy just stared at him with his usual still expression.
Chevy just shook his head and continued to pack. "I guess. It ain't me though. That sounds like something you and only you would do, so I'm uh let you do you, folk, but I'm going home."
Brody shook his head, and when he saw Chevy pack up his last pair of shoes in his suitcase, he replies solemnly, "You won't know what it's like to wanna do right by yo' people until it hits closer to home, and because you're my brother, I pray you never find out."
Chevy thought about Bailey, about her smile, her touch, her skin against his skin, and he looked at Brody with hurt eyes and he answered, tears plotting their escape from his eyes, "Brody, it already has hit close to home. If you remember you killed my son, killed the only woman I loved, and showed up to my doorstep with their blood all over, so yeah, I do have an idea of the pain you went through. I was there."
Brody looked down and then looked back up with dark apologetic eyes. With a low voice, he asked, "Do you forgive me man?"
Chevy sighed and shook his head, "You my brother, dog. You one of the few people I could trust with anything. Of course I forgive you, but I can't do what you thinking about doing. This hero stuff just ain't for me, dog. Some people have a knack for it like you, but not me. I already lost my family, I can't stand there and drive y'all to danger without being able to do anything about it."
"It's cool man." Brody quickly interjected.
Chevy looked at Brody and shook his head. "I hope you know I ain't scared."
Brody smiled, "Yeah I know," and he patted his older brother on the shoulder as Chevy grabbed his bags and prepared to take his leave. "You know you my brother."
Chevy turned his head slightly and extended his hand toward Brody. "Always. Once you through cleaning up New Orleans one dirty cop at a time, you come on back to the City. Come on back home."
Brody smiled, "Oh you know home is always where the heart is for me."



Later on that night, Brody and Kylie cuddled up in Brody's bed accompanied only by the news and the silence of the mansion. They enjoyed a rare moment inside of the mansion, a moment of silence and tranquility.
Watching the news, they saw Toon's childhome in a blaze like no other, consuming everything in its path. The images resonated within Brody's pupils. He knew this was a test, something to make him question whether he should still be the one to save the people who were in dire need. He looked down at Kylie and stared at her for what seemed like minutes slipping into eternity. He thought about what life would be like without her in his arms, without her fighting by his side. His little monster. He knew from their childhood that she looked up to his sister, and it was in her that he saw a little piece of his lost twin. Maybe that was the reason he was so protective over her. Maybe those same low eyes held that gleam that his sister's beautiful brown pupils had.
He smiled knowing that the flower he had in his arms was worth protecting with his life. Feeling his eyes piercing her skin, she looked up with those loving brown eyes and she asked him softly, "It's us against the world huh?" He nodded his head. "Baby....."
"Yes."
"I don't want to fight off the world by myself."
"I don't either."
She turned her head, their lips within inches of one another's and she whispered. "You want to go back home."
He nodded his head and whispered back, "Yeah. I think we've done enough in this city without us having to be here to add to the trouble. We just two babies, how we gonna save the world when the world don't wanna be saved?"
She turned her head back to the news where she saw the victims of the burning of the projects. She saw the sadness on the victims' faces and she realized that she had felt that pain breeding inside of their hearts, feeling as though they had been uprooted from everything. She knew that couldn't abandon her post. She was a soldier of justice, no matter how much she missed the little makeshift family she had made for herself. She knew she couldn't just let anybody feel that feeling. She turned back toward Brody and spoke softly, "So how long we gonna stay here?"
Brody laughed, knowing she was affected by the news coverage. They truly were two peas in a pod. "As long as it takes."
"Takes what?" She asked, knowing full well what he meant.
"As long as it takes for the people who need it most to see help in their own communities. I won't be scared off."
"So what's the next step, baby?"
He looked down her at her with eyes filled with caring. "You know I know you miss Kayla. You ain't gotta stay down here wit' me if you don't want to."
"No, no Brody, you know like I told you before, I'm gonna be with you 'til' the end."
"Well you know the road we walking on is uncertain, sweetie. I don't know if tomorrow's promised walking on the road I'm walking on and I want you to know that. I can't stand the thought of possibly losing you and it would break my heart if you were to be taking from something I dragged you into."
She kissed him on his honey brown cheek and smiled, still inhaling the cologne imprint off of his skin. "You don't have to worry about me," She said with a voice filled with passion. "Just remember what we face, we face together and nothing will ever stop us."
"Even if we went up against the world?"
She kissed him on his neck. "Especially if we went against the world."
He turned towards her and leaned over her, his lips completely paralelled with hers and he smiled confidently. "I love my lil' bad ass."
His lips found a place on hers and when they finally parted, she said, "And I love my little bad boy, just me and my boyfriend. That's all I need to save the world." She smiled and placed her lips right back on their proper place, on his lips, diving into the deep waters of his mind, sinking into his lustful passion and the pool of warm, pink love in his heart .

Let This Go

"Our top story tonight, eight dead bodies were found last night, five of them police officers from the New Orleans Police District, and policemen still have found no leads in the Uptown District Massacre. The tenants are offering no leads to the men behind these brutal slayings or even the reason behind them, although the all around attitude of the tenants were made quite clear that justice had been served last night."
The clip of an elderly resident of the Uptown District being interviewed appeared on the screen, giving viewers a further glimpse of how the community in the Uptown District felt about the death of five corrupt police officers. "Aside from those young boys who died, I think somebody just got fed up with Grady and nem always harassing the Late Nighters. Them boys don't be doin' nothing and them officers always finding reasons to find them guilty of some crime, and dey charge 'em right der. So I don't feel sorry for none of 'em. My hearts go out to they family but as far as I'm concerned, they had to know something. Can't keep coming home with black blood on yo' hands, and yo' people don't suspect nothing."
The news story switched back to the attractive news reporter as she reported on the scene the aftermath of the Uptown District Massacre. "The overall mood of the Uptown District is jovial as they celebrate the demise of five corrupt officers. Not being able to find a trace of evidence or even the ammunition used to slay these officers, the N.O.P.D have no leads or suspects to this crime, and with the community of the Uptown District not speaking out, this hot case is turning really cold really fast, which leads the people of New Orleans to suspect an Evil Virus carrier vigilante in our backyard. The real question now is do we have a problem in our police department, and these group of vigilantes, do we hate them or thank them? Back to you Tom."
The attractive tanned Tom looked into the camera with a smile the size of a mountain range, "Thank you, Sara. In other news..,,"
Chevy looked up from his phone, then turned his head toward Brody with a look that asked, "You wouldn't have anything to do with this would you?"
Brody just smiled and chuckled goofily, and without Chevy having to say a word, he answered, "Maybe." Chevy shook his head. "What?"
"And you call me wishy washy. Just a few months ago, you hollering you was gonna just chill, you ain't wanna play hero no mo', you was just chillin', now I look at the news, you killing police officers. Wassup with that?"
Brody just shook his head. "Nothing."
Chevy just looked at him as he drove through the city of New Orleans as if he lived there his whole life. He shook his head with a disbelieving look on his face. "Man, you lying. You actin' like I wasn't there when you came home drunk with Kylie talking 'bout y'all don't want to be superheroes. Now you killing police and sitting here smiling like I you ain't even did nothin'."
Brody played with the brim of his hat with his hands, lowering it over his eyes as his stare peered over the horizon as Chevy continued to drive. Brody enjoyed the silence of the moment. It gave a feel of mystery between the two. For friends who knew everything about each other, sometimes it feels good to have a secret that you could have for yourself. But Chevy wasn't having that. He wanted answers and he wanted them now.
He drove back to the Uptown District, back to the scene of the massacre, and saw dozens of police officers outside of the project buildings, destroying, looting, terrorizing, raping, and performing all sorts of horrific acts to the tenants of that building, seeking revenge for their fallen comrade, even of there acts of brutality were against innocent victims. But seeing this wasn't what made. Brody's eyes grow to the size of a half dollar. It was when he saw the three E-vs he had fought to save the day before hung from the roof, their lifeless bodies serving as a warning to anyone who decided they were going to interfere with the N.O.P.D's brand of justice. If they only knew seeing this would spark the flame that would ignite the rage inside of young Brody. He turned to Chevy, a look of deadly sin on his face, and as he was transforming into Hit Man, he answered with a deep, cold voice, "Do you see why I turned my back on doing nothing now? What kind of man does this? This is beyond evil. If Smartz were here, she could truly see what a monster is, but don't worry, she will hear all about a monster on the news when I'm through." By the time he had finished his statement, he had completed his transformation, and as he was exiting out of the car, his voice traveled behind him as he ordered Chevy, "Call Kylie and Kayla. Tell them we fight again, and I refuse to take no for an answer. He stopped dead in his tracks as his beautiful pistols fell to the palms of his hands and turned his head to the profile position and changed his response, "On second thought, how you go and get Kayla. Once Kylie knows, she'll be here right beside me, and then yall could play catch up."
He smiled, but Chevy still didn't feel comfortable leaving his best friend to fight off a whole army of angry police officers sieging inside of this notorious projects. "Are you sure you can handle this by yourself?"
Hit Man nodded his head, while Chevy saw the look of a fearless man enter in Hit Man's eyes. "I can't turn my back no more. They need me Chevy. They need us," and with that, he sprung into action, leaping in front of two officers into a flip where he unleashed a barrage of bullets into their chest. His graceful landing was followed by a powerful backstep, flinging him into one of the project buildings where he found the room occupied by corrupt police officers, bleeding, dying men, and tortured women and children. Unlike Brody, Hit Man's face did not read rage. He only felt a powerful urging to kill everything that wore that skull branded by the de le flour, and he wanted to make sure they felt the pain of the people, the pain he had because he had witnessed these atrocious acts of violence.
He shot out all of the lights in the once well lit room, allowing for the cowards to play hide and go seek for at least a few seconds before his android eyes found their marks. He raised his immaculately designed pistols eye level and begun firing as the police officers tried to fight their way through the darkness. But to no avail. All those were caught in the hail of gunfire were exhausted. Only one was able to make it to the doorknob and that was only to turn the knob and show the other officers the fate that awaited the rest of them. The only officer to make it out of the building fell before the rest of his body could even make it out of the darkness.
Hit Man exited out of the building slow and delibrately, causing fear to erupt in the hearts of the police officers. It was then they discovered their monster, and even their worst imagination couldn't have prepared them for what was about to come next. Hit Man smiled ear to ear, his dark pupils gleaming with a red beam. Two officers fell from the sky with their weapons drawn, attempting to startle Hit Man into making a mistake. Little did they know, Hit Man had super hearing as well. When he heard the slight whistling of armored men falling through the air, he simply placed the silence pistols by his ears and had them whisper a death to them. One bullet caught an officer in the neck. Another, right between the eyes. Hit Man knew he had been gaining skill in the art of merciless killing.
There were three more officers standing in front of him. The rest were scattered all through out the expansive projects. He knew he was going to have search every rat infested corner of these large tenament buildings just to find them, but he would find them and make them pay, even if he had to do it all alone.
The three police officers were completely unprepared for the assault that was coming toward them as they raised their weapons toward the quickly advancing Hit Man, but their bullets hit nothing but air, whizzing by the impossibly fast Hit Man. His cuts and turns made dust float off of the ground has his bullets once again found homes inside of the bodies of three police officers, only this time with one he was careless in not killing the officer. Then again, Brody still had a miniscule part in the decision making process of Hit Man. Wanting to be the kinder, gentler creature out of the three, but Hit Man quickly pushed those weaknesses to the side, raised his pistol to the head of the head of the officer, and whispering, "It was necessary." He closed his eyes and he could feel the officer's soul being drug down into hell from his body. Hit Man felt so close to hell at that moment, that he could feel the flames of the damned licking at his feet.



Back at the mansion, Chevy swerved in the driveway, his tires squeeling against the cobblestone. The car stopped ten inches away from an elegant water fountain decorating the front yard. Kylie and Kayla ran out of the house to see what exactly was gone. The phone call they had received earlier from Chevy was so cryptic that they couldn't understand a single word he said, but they knew something was wrong, and when they saw Chevy exit out of the car winded with his hands on his knees, missing a Brody, their suspicions were soon confirmed. Kayla ran to Chevy's side and placed a comforting hand on his broad shoulder and she asked him softly, "Are you okay? Are you hurt? What's going on?"
Kylie on the other hand only had one question. "Where's Brody?" He looked back at both of them as though he had failed them somehow.
He caught his wind while imagining his brother massacring those unsuspecting police officers. "If they only knew how strong he was." He looked up at Kylie's fierce eyes and he said, "It's time."
Bonnie not realizing the call to arms questioned Chevy. "It's time for what!?"
Kylie smiled to herself, feeling as though she were a lioness being let out of the cage, ready to maul her captors. "He's Uptown isn't he?"
Chevy nodded his head, "Yee."
"He's the one whose been killing those officers hasn't he?"
Chevy nodded again, and Kayla interjected, not fully comprehending what was happening. "Wait a minute! That was Brody!?"
"Shut up, Kayla!" Kylie said with an angry whisper. "Tell the whole world, why don't ya."
Kayla snapped her neck back and hissed venenous words at her sister. "Whatever, Kylie! I'm just surprised, that's all! I mean it wasn't that long ago where Brody was scared of becoming a monster and after seeing the bodies of those policemen, he has definitely succeeded in becoming just that."
Kylie fired back with a response of her own, "Well maybe he saw someone in need and he couldn't stand by and watch them hurt. You know how Brody is. You know he don't like to people in pain. Why are you acting as if him being a heroic and amazing person is so new to you?"
"Would you both shut up!?" The big brother came out of Chevy, and the girls immediately opened their ears to listen. "You both sitting here arguing like little kids, while Hit Man out there fighting what has to be at least sixty officers all by himself. We have to...."
"Wait...." Kylie said, holding her hand to stop him from going any further. "Did you just say Hit Man?"
He looked at her confused, wondering what that had to do with anything. "Yeah, he out there right now."
"Oh, this gets better and better." She turned around and her eyes grew shadows inside of her pupils as she began to transform into Gun Shadow, a woman who fully epotimized the phrase, "Beautiful yet deadly". Her smile sent shivers down the spine of Chevy and Kayla's backs as they watched darkness overcome babygirl. Swirling around her wide smile, convassing over her small body until her long ponytail fell down her back, her large bang fell over her face, her large scarf covered that unholy smile, and her weapons of mass destruction appeared in her hands. Her voice traveled like a shadow along an alley wall as she spoke. "I'll meet you guys there. Please don't take to long,"she waved her finger mockingly before continuing, "Or you just might miss the fun." The last thing they heard was the sadistic laughter of Gun Shadow before she disappeared into the night.
Chevy and Kayla stood petrified as they turned around and stared at one another, both with looks that said, "What kind of evil have we just unleashed upon the world?"
Kayla was the first to speak, finding it hard to gather her voice and sense of humor in light of her new situation. "Maybe...there was actually a reason...why those two didn't want to fight anymore."
"You think?" Chevy said smugly.
"I mean she said they were afraid of becoming monsters and I didn't even take her seriously, but did you see her face when you said Hit Man? It was like the devil woke up in her."
"You know...we didn't see them fight together when they fought Tiger, but Smartz did. Maybe she was on to something."
"Maybe we need to...get back Uptown, you know just to make sure they don't have too much fun." Even though Kayla was smiling, there was a sense of urgency in her voice. They both knew she was right. New Orleans had no idea of the destructive power Hit Man and Gun Shadow held, but The City was in for a new wave of dark justice.



Gun Shadow skipped through the darkness with a large smile behind her even larger scarf. It was as if she had been waiting for this day her whole life. As she jumped through shadows, she reminisced about the first time she had ever fought alongside Hit Man. She remembered every detail of that night. How he walked ominously toward her and the tiger beast with only two pistols in his hand. His swagger was dark. The air that surrounded him reeked of deadliness, anger, and pleasure. It was like his true nature, the animal inside of him, came out, and even as Gun Shadow, her aminalistic lust for him stewed inside of her, already at the boiling point where the liquid contents of the pot were beginning to overflow. The desire she felt for him caused him to fight more impressively, hoping to catch his eye, even if for a second longer. She would have him in her arms tonight. She would have her Hit Man.


Back in the Uptown District, heinous acts of violence were still going on toward the people of the community. Children were being pushed into the bricks, shot, their mothers were being thrown over the ledges, shot, teenage girls raped, shot, and Hit Man was growing more and more angry by the second. This blatant display of inhumanity was sickening to him, but it also fed into his dark power. Seeing these images as he killed one police after another was like adding fuel to the flames. He made a decision as the unjust police officers attempted to run from him that he would never sit idly by while people suffered again. His bullets had no names. His pistols offered no mercy, only pain as they ripped through dozens of armored policemen. The corrupt police officers, seeing that their numbers were dwindling, tried to run away. Some sought shelter sprinting toward the roof, some simply ran down the corridors and the stairs. When the officers running down the stairs felt as though they were home free, a sudden, swift cut in the wind stopped them dead in their tracks. When Hit Man turned around and saw their movements suddenly stop, he knew his love had come to his side. He loved how she fell into the shadows and brought devilish souls with her, never to return again. She was truly a beautiful death and he loved to watch her with his android eyes.
She smiled when she saw him watching. She loved the way his android eyes fell on her; surveying her body, studying every curve, studying the way she held her blade and her pistol, studying the way she stood over the bodies of the deceased with the confidence of a supermodel. She blew him a kiss as he felt a warmth come over his cold heart. He turned away from her to see the police officers running through the corridors and up the stairs to get away from the demon below, but found that the populace in the Uptown District were not forgiving. They blocked the path of the remaining officers as Hit Man advanced slowly toward the villainous policemen. Gun Shadow placed her hand on his shoulder as she followed her love toward the immediate demise of the corrupt officers. Dark love pulsated through her hand into his body. His smile was ear to ear. He was ready to put an end to these devils and he was happy that for the most part, he had murdered the corrupt portion the New Orleans Police Department. He had waged war and won, taking no prisoners, and the men in front of him were to be no exception.
The community looked at the police officers daring them with their eyes to shoot their way past them. The police officers knew they wouldn't get far if they murdered anymore civilians. So they turned their guns on Hit Man and Gun Shadow and the leader stepped up with his pistols drawn. He pointed the pistols at Hit Man and he said with an authoratative voice, "We will not go out without a fight. You may have a killed our brothers in arms with fear on their face, but you will find none here."
Hit Man pointed at them with his trademark smile growing wide on his face, and he turned toward Gun Shadow and said mockingly, "This coming from the men who were just running from us huh?"
Gun Shadow covered her mouth femininely and chuckled at the police officers feigned confidence. The leader of the police troupe knew that this was their final moment and he would not have it mocked or downplayed by what he known to be monstrous vigilantes. He yelled but the words that he said were indecipherable as bullets rang out of their assault rifles. Hit Man and Gun Shadow laughed even louder as they looked at the bullets coming toward them, preparing the people of the Uptown District for a show they would never forget.
As the bullets inched closer and closer, Gun Shadow and Hit Man's dark powers began to show as they moved closer to their assailants, weaving in and out of each other as they dodged the bullets as easily as wind dodged raindrops. The residents of the bleak projects stood with their jaws dropped as they watched black puffs of smoke birth and retract both Hit Man and Gun Shadow. Gun Shadow was truly poetry in motion as she disappeared and reappeared, carving up a few of the officers her self. She saved the leader for her king of course, wanting to give him the satisfaction of killing the one with the biggest mouth. His crew of flunkies however were fair game.
Hit Man being the vindictive being he was, wanted to make the killing of the leader as personal as he could. The leader continued to unload into Hit Man or at least he attempted to. The closer Hit Man got, the more the leader realized just how impossibly fast Hit Man truly was. The bullets seemed to just go through shadows as Hit Man advanced closer and closer to the leader until he finally placed a pistol on the leader's forehead. His voice came out like a whisper from the devil. "What happened, friend? You said you would have no fear in your final moments, but even through your helmet, I could see the sweat dripping from off of your forehead. I can hear your heartbeat accelerate, and you know what?" He smiled. "I love it," and with that last statement, they were all dead. Two heroes/mass murderers had entered the projects and waged a war against impossible odds, and they came out of the battle unscathed.
Gun Shadow clutched his hand and led him to the roof as the sea of onlookers parted, their eyes following the lovers as they walked. She had to have him. She had to feel his lips on hers.
They escaped to the roof where the passion between them began to develop as their dark passion enveloped them an in even darker shadow. Their lips came together as they danced to the song in their hearts, a melody that was a mixture of Paramore and Garbage, dark yet melodic, graphic yet beautiful.
For five minutes the world was theirs. The stars gazed down on them envious of the shine and beauty they produced together, and as if their envy took physical form, the two were interrupted by a group of well tailored men all wearing the same suit as Hit Man. Their gaze into the infinite inside of their eyelids was cut short when they turned their heads to see these well dressed men standing a few feet away. Gun Shadow immediately knew it was trouble, drawing her sword while still being held captive in Hit Man's arms. Hit Man's once relaxed face quickly formed a scowl as his hands fell to Gun Shadow's waist and without moving an inch, he asked, "Who are you people supposed to be? You look like the Feds."
Gun Shadow's intense black eyes stared holes into the troupe of well manicured men as one of the men took a mental picture of her curves and licked his teeth demonically. The leader answered Hit Man's question with enough confidence and swagger to make any woman aside from Gun Shadow swoon. "It isn't important that you know who we are, Brody, merely that you know forces beyond your control or mine for that matter feel you have gotten out of control, and they sent us to dispose of you." The leader then faced Gun Shadow, "And as for you, your mother wants you to live so we can't really do too much to you. Maybe slap you around a bit, but we have strict orders not to kill Kylie or Kayla. Doesn't make no difference to me, but the boss told me specifically not cure of life by giving you the vaccine which is death."
They all laughed as Gun Shadow and Hit Man surveyed the group of men. Both were disgusted as they watched their breasts expand and retract from laughter. The leader's statement didn't even reach her as her anger began to grow to epic proportions. She stepped back from Hit Man's embrace and gripped her sword. Hit Man didn't even notice. His eyes burrowed into the leader. The leader's words did touch Hit Man. He looked back at Gun Shadow, eyes glowing with heated darkness, reminding him of the effects of a heat lightning storm. When he turned around, he held one of his pistols eye level, and said simply, "Die."
His face filled with surprise as the group of men wore that same scowl aiming identical pistols at the couple. This time, Hit Man had to take a closer look at the group. He was so engulfed in Gun Shadow, that he didn't even notice that the group of men appeared to have the same powers as he did. He knew assassins when he saw one. They wore the same suit he had. Their pistols held the same golden tattoos his had on the exception that theirs held a green jaded jewel on the barrel. Then Hit Man's eyes touched the leader's pupils and he knew exactly who he was facing when he saw those jade eyes. "I know what you are."
The smug smile on the leader confirmed his suspicions. The only thing he was unsure of was why they had the same powers as he did. In order to have his abilities, they would have had to have trained with his father, learned the same things he had, and that's when everything became clear. These men had betrayed his father. In what fashion, he did not know but he knew that was the only way they could've aquired an E-v strand so similiar to his. "Oh do you now," the leader asked sarcastically.
"You're Judas's Children. Snitches." They laughed while he began to describe them, almost as if they were proud of the titles they held. "Informants. Turncoats. Rats. Snakes."
"That's my favorite one." The leader interrupted Hit Man with a smile complete with a vicious set of fangs sharper than diamonds. His slithering tongue frolicking in his mouth, showcasing its venomous capabilities. "Snake." The leader's jaded reptile eyes fell upon Hit Man's frame. His evil eyes smiled at Hit Man. "You know your father called me the exact same thing, Brody." Hit Man was unmoved. It was all coming together. He was beginning to see why they had powers similiar to his. He figured he would just let the venom fling off of his speech until everything made perfect sense. "It was a shame too. We tried to convince him," he said, showcasing his brothers, fellow Children of Judas. "But you see your father wasn't like you, Brody. He didn't have that killer instinct, which is why he never taught you how to kill, simply how to defend yourself. But you Brody, you have the assassin's tenacity, you and Kylie. Had we known you two would've grown up with such killer instincts we may not have injected the Evil Virus."
Hit Man stood with a stoic face, utterly lost. "What are you talking about?"
The leader laughed along with his brothers. "Oh, you must've thought that the Evil Virus was a natural occurence." He laughed again. "Oh, to be a child and be ignorant again." Kylie looked at Hit Man and wondered why he stood there listening, when she felt he should have been filling these men with enough bullets to give them a lead bloodstream. But she just watched, waiting on Hit Man to make his first move, she knew he had to be thinking of something. She knew Hit Man or Brody or Gun Man was just going to stand there with the man who murdered his father and his sister bragging about betraying his father and sending his life into a whirlwind.
Gun Man's head sunk low to the ground. His eyes closed, memories of his dying father began to flood his mind as he began to imagine his father being injected with the Evil that plunged the world into what seemed to be an eternal darkness. "So you're the one who killed my father?"
The Child of Judas smiled, "Son, I'm one of the main reasons why the Evil Virus spread so rapidly. Your father was the original carrier of course, but when he woke up in Franklin, the virus was already in the air. You see high command decided it would be smart if we introduced this virus to the places most populated and most crime filled just to see if those people would kill each other. Let the dogs eat the dogs right?"
Hit Man smiled, "But instead, my father died and I had to watch my sister transform."
"Oh, you know you did more than watched her transform, Brody. We know you killed her, or at least you think you did. You don't have to be so shy with us. There might be some things we are still learning about you, but when it comes to your past, you'd be surprised on what we know."
"So you thought we would just kill each other?"
"Revolutionary, isn't it? So much so, that the rest of the states adopted the Evil Virus policy, hoping to achieve results. But it appears we didn't do anything but accelerate evolution. Now beings like yourself are all over the United States, so we had another brilliant plan. Why not fight fire with fire?"
Hit Man smiled, "So you think that because you may have a fraction of my powers that you can compete to the original?"
"You're not even the original. Your father was. Your just second edition."
"Either way, his blood courses through me while snake blood races through you. We are not the same. You are cowards and I will kill you a thousand times."
Gun Shadow smiled, "Now that's what I been wanting to hear come out of your mouth, sweetie. Can I kill them now?"
Hit Man loved to hear the killer come out of her. It was something about the way her small voice sounded like assured death. He couldn't do nothing but smile and respond by saying, "As long as I could help out."
The leader of the Children of Judas smiled, showcasing his ever growing sharp teeth, and with the voice of a rattlesnake, he answered to the subliminal threat with one of his own, "Oh, you're going to need all the help you can get."
And thus began the ballet, the cacophony of bullets, swords, and movement. It was like watching a play take place on the project rooftop. The dilapidated roof served as the backdrop to one of Hit Man's greatest battles, the fight where he had to face the men who took part in the death of his father. Knowing this information didn't affect him however. Surprisingly, he fought with the same grace and beauty as if though he weren't facing his father's killers. Gun Shadow, on the other hand, was affected. She could not help but feel the need to gut the Children of Judas. After all, Daddy Gun had taught her everything she knew, everything he knew, everything they all knew about battle. She would never forgive the traitor borns for what they took away from her, what they took away from Hit Man. In this state, he could only shed tears of lead and steel, but Gun Shadow felt the pain of losing her mentor, her father figure.
She slashed wildly, leaving herself open to gun fire as the Children of Judas simply parried her wild swings. Hit Man knew she was in trouble. Even though his aim was truer than hers, all he could do was provide a distraction. The Children of Judas simply laughed as they weaved in and out of one another just as Hit Man and Gun Shadow had mere minutes ago. The Children of Judas fired at Gun Shadow in an attempt to only wound her, but Hit Man wouldn't allow her to even be touched as his bullets struck theirs in mid flight. Growing frustrated, Gun Shadow pulled out her own miniature assault rifle, reminding the Children of Judas that she didn't have to result to close range combat. She used her shadow powers to the fullest extent, releasing the shadow death that was inside of her. She took aim with her assault rifle and while the Children descended on the calm and collected Hit Man, she proved her speed was uncanny and unmatched by any of the men on that rooftop. She made all of them look as though they were moving in slow motion as she stepped on their arms for leverage, leapt forward in a tumbling motion, shot three of the Children in their foreheads, and grabbed Hit Man in a gust of shadow. They flung off of the roof as Hit Man fired his pistols while falling off of the roof in Gun Shadow's arms. It was like watching a ghost pulling a man down to his early grave. The shadow speed of the bullets traveled at an immense rate toward the two remaining Children of Judas but to no avail, they simply dodged the bullets and returned fire. When they saw Gun Shadow deflecting the bullets they jumped off of the roof in pursuit of the duo, forming another ballet of death in the air with two assailants dodging the bullets and the champions of the Uptown District returning fire. When Gun Shadow knew that Hit Man was close enough to the ground to land safely on his feet, she let him go as he watched her scarf grow ten times its normal size, covering her entire body sword included. It looked like the Devil's Curtain had escaped from his bedroom as she ascended toward the men who seemed to have been the devil's spawn. She drew her great sword and with speeds they couldn't register, she sliced one of the Children in half and continued to rise to the top of the project tenaments. The leader of the Children had to watch as two halves of his partner descend to the ground beside him. A look of rage passed through his face as Hit Man smiled. Even while falling, he could tell that Gun Shadow had struck a nerve inside of the Child, and he could do was close his eyes and laugh quietly to himself.
The Child of Judas shot wildly, so much so that he didn't even have to dodge the shots, just watch as they whizzed by him, hitting everything but him. They fell a few more feet before Hit Man performed an aerial flip that would've allowed him to safely land on his feet. He stood up anticipating the Child of Judas to drop down in front of him at any moment and sure enough Hit Man was greeted by his scowl. "So the son of the just Brayden has succeeded where his father had failed. Singlehandedly, well not so singlehandedly destroying the men who destroyed him." His laugh was evil, "Even with my evil eyes I did not see that coming." He raised his pistol to fire on Hit Man. "Oh well."
He was on his way to pulling the trigger when Hit Man's smile made him pause in his tracks. "You probably won't see this coming either."
At that moment, Chevy swerved in front of Hit Man, blocking the impeding path of the bullet. Then, Bonnie stuck her body outside of the window with two pistols raised and she unloaded every bullet she could muster into the Child of Judas. No matter how fast he was, he couldn't dodge all of the bullets, especially with Bonnie's expert aim operating behind the trigger.
The Child of Judas stood with his body quivering, eyes pouring out coagulated blood as he watched Hit Man jump on the roof of the car. Hit Man's smile gave the Child of Judas a sense of his near demise. He knew it was the end. Gun Shadow wasn't far behind as she dropped down behind Hit Man. Bonnie kept her pistols drawn on the Child of Judas as Gun Shadow wrapped her arm around Hit Man's shoulder and chest. She kissed his neck, taking in the scent of cold blood and even cooler death emitting from his neck. The smile never left his face as he raised his silenced, intricately crafted pistol and shot a single bullet into last Child's forehead. The project tenants hung over the railing as they watched their dark knights kill the last opressor. Their eyes filled with hope then and again, Hit Man was reassured that defending the population of people deemed unredeemable, undeserving of justice was a passion he could never let go.
Gun Shadow turned his head around and placed a well deserving kiss on his lips. "Are you okay?" She asked, voice filled with compassion.
As Hit Man was nodding his head, Chevy exited out of the car. His brown eyes first fell on the downed Child of Judas with clotting blood slowly leaking from his cerebellum, then he turned his attention to the top of his car. When he saw Gun Shadow holding Hit Man all he could do was shake his head. "Yall gotta do that standing on top of my ride?" Hit Man looked at Chevy and smiled, while Chevy just looked around, taking in all of the carnage around him. He saw the sheer amount of dead bodies litering the tenaments ranging from little kids
to policemen and he thought to himself, "It's like a massacre went on here." He looked at Hit Man and his long time best friend seemed unfazed by the amount of death that surrounded them. "So you guys did this all alone?"
Bonnie opened the back door and quickly jumped out of the backseat. When she saw the blood pools on the ground, the blood and feces falling from the building, the dead bodies litering the Uptown District, she covered her mouth in disgust. She looked up at a stoic Hit Man and a happy Gun Shadow, and with a voice filled with fear she asked, "What happened here? Did you two cause all of this? It looks like a monster went on a rampage down here and you two don't seem like it bothers you at all."
Hit Man simply smiled, but Gun Shadow didn't smile. The little sister mentality was overpowered by the shadow inside of her. She didn't like the way her older sister was talking to Hit Man and she was going to make sure she knew it. "You weren't there Bonnie. You don't know what these officers were doing to these people."
"That may be true but you brought this on these people when you killed those first five officers, Brody and you know it. We're not going to be here all the time to protect these people, what happens when they send a bigger army?"
Hit Man looked into Gun Shadow's eyes and he whispered to her, "Then we take them on, right?" She smiled and her eyes shone as they connected with Hit Man's android eyes. "Are you with me?"
She grabbed his chin and pulled his lips close to hers again. Then she whispered, "Til the end," and her shadow scarf swallowed the couple taking them to another plane of dark existence.
Bonnie looked at Chevy confused and asked him, "Did you catch what he said?"
Chevy shook his head, "Nope, but whatever it is, it can't be good."
"We have to get out of here. This city doing something to Brody and Kylie."
"I couldn't agree with you more."

Let This Go Prologue: Kings And Queens

A couple of weeks had passed, and Nic Angel had begun to get into the swing of being the counter culture's superhero, defending those who were overlooked and overbeaten by the society who they only wanted to accept them. Nic Angel soon became famous as the man who knew no fear and alongside Sheetah and Smartz, he was regarded as the leader of the people, the fighter for the common man, no not the common. He was the savior of the different. He protected those who were outcasted by a society who strived to be a utopia. He fought for those who had sadness in their eyes, and battled to bring a piece of happiness back into their souls. He was going to be the hero that Gun Man had inspired him to be.
One day, he was sitting on the couch with his short legs stretched out flipping channels back and forth from the Funny Papers to ESPN, where he was watching himself win the Xtreme Olympics. His thoughts drifted off as he tried to wrap his head around being a revered hover boarder around the world and a loved superhero in his own backyard. He thought he was important before, but now, he realized he was a big deal. Just as his already large head was filling up with hot air, his phone had rung beside him. Still learning how to use his new, more technological phone, it took him a while before he answered the phone. "Hello?" He said questioningly, still unsure about who had just called him. But as soon as he heard the voice on the other end, he knew exactly who it was.
"Wasaam, superstar!?"
Nic Angel laughed lightly to himself, "Hey wassup man? How's the tour going? I see you guys on tv all the time. It looks like y'all having fun out there."
"Hell yeah, man. I just been chillin', writin, rappin', you know the deal."
Nic laughed into Brody's ear. "Hell yeah, that sounds cool."
"It is kinda. Just nice to be away from all the superhero stuff ya' know."
"Yeah."
Brody laughed, "What you saying yeah for? From what I hear you not only a whiz on the hover board, but you also be keeping everybody from the hood safe. You got everybody talking about Lucky Brand No. 7, and I was talking to my lil' patna, and I was like who is this character y'all talking about? He started describing you and he told me to watch TV and look out for this dude who could out hover board anyone and that's the dude. Come to find out my homie was talking about you. Crazy world, ain't it."
"Yeah, you know it, but hey who told you who I was? I was kind of hoping that would stay a secret."
Nic could hear Brody putting his hand up, telling him to pause. "Yoooo, chill out. I know dude who saw y'all. He an E-v too ya heard me. That's my dog Whiz Kid. He bout as smart as Smartz but he like weed to much to do somethin' wit' it. I told bruh bruh that he could be anything he wanted to be, but he ain't hearing it. Or he wasn't anyway. He ain't had no hope for the future for people like us. He knew the chances of people like us making it were slim to none dog. He seen me do it with his own eyes. Watched me go from selling drugs to super stardom, and I told him anything you want you could get it, it just takes hard work and dedication on your part." While Brody talked, Nic tried to imagine Brody selling drugs and talking to a younger Whiz. "He just couldn't see my point of view until he saw you. You sparked a flame, dog. He ain't never seen anybody just really give back to the hood like you did homie. Yeah, some people volunteer, try to feed hungry chil'ren and whatever, but the only thing Whiz knew was watching over the little ones who be off in that skate park. When the polices destroyed it in an attempt to destroy y'all, he said he really lost hope. He was like why try if the polices could just come and destroy everything he loved, but when he saw you willing to risk your life, your identity, he was like, I gotta work with dude. I don't know how I could contribute, but I want to do my part. He asked me to ask you if you needed any help homie."
Nic sat open mouthed, looking into the phone. He been getting these feelings that he had truly found the right path he was supposed to take, but to hear this from the person who had set him up on the right path, it was like God opening up your chest and shining a single ray of sunlight into his chest. "Did he really say that?"
Brody smiled, "I wouldn't lie bout nothing like that homie."
Nic was touched. "Well I wouldn't want to put someone's life in danger, but if he feel he could handle it, I'm sure we could place him on the roster."
"Hell yeah, I'm finna call him nah, and tell him the good news. I'm sure he gonna be lovin' that one, ha bruh."
Nic smiled, "Hell yeah!"
"So how does it feel to be inspiring people, dog!? You came a long way since that rooftop."
Nic felt like this was the perfect time to try and convince him to come back to the hero business while Brody was praising his name."Yeah, but I wouldn't have jumped off that roof at all if it wasn't for you, man. When you coming back to jump off some more roofs with me? Beat up some more baddies?" Nic could hear the hesitation over the phone. Even if he said no, Nic knew Brody had been thinking about it.
"I don't know bout all that, dog. I kinda got used to chillin'."
"Used to chilling? How could you chill after that speech, man."
"What you mean, homie," Brody asked confused.
"I mean you just got through telling me how much I inspired somebody. You just told me that I'm doing good in Nashville, and the only person I have to thank for that is you. Do you remember what you told on that rooftop? How you couldn't ever just leave your people down below while you seek sanctuary? You remember that?" Brody remembered it all too well, but hearing it come from Nic made him feel as though Nic were trying to trick him into something he truly didn't know if he could do. "A lot is going on around here. The police aren't just after E-vs no more. They're killing everything and me, Smartz, and Sheetah..."
"Who?"
"Sheetah."
Brody thought for a second as he recalled her dodging tranquilizer darts and bullets, attempting to claw at his friends. He remembered how, as Hit Man, he almost executed her, just like he had done with his uncle and just like he did with the rest of the Zoo Crew and he thought to himself, "How could you guys expect me work with somebody whom I've tried to kill?" Always the one to voice how he truly felt about something, he said exactly what was in his mind. "Didn't I just try to kill her a couple months back?"
"Yeah turns out she's not that bad actually. She softened up ol' Smartz. They both get along great, I get along good wit' her, she's really cool. After finding out her dad was killed in the fight, she decided to be one of the bad guys."
That phrase hit a nerve ending that caused him to jump out of the plastic seat. "Hold up, and y'all believed that?"
Nic shrugged his shoulders, "I mean she seems genuine. She fought with me when the police destroyed the skate park, was the first to jump into action to save them kids, and she knows exactly who we are, but even with all of that, she became a part of the crime fighting family. She's just trying to embrace her destiny like someone told me to do a while back."
"I ain't gon' lie, I don't trust it homie. I just don't. You say her pa was a part of the Zoo Crew?"
"Yeah."
"Well, I killed all of them so do you happen to know which one of em was her daddy?"
Nic sat and thought for a while before revealing to Brody, "I actually don't. When it comes to things of that nature, she talks more with Smartz than me. I do know she had an uncle who was a police officer, but that's all I know."
Sounding irritated, Brody responded, "Whatever dude. I just think it's suspect to trust somebody who a couple of months ago I just killed all of her friends. Seems kinda funny to me, but whatever. To each his own."
"Whatever, I think you're just scared. Either that or jealous. Maybe even both."
Nic had received Brody's full attention now. He sat completely erect and with a scowl on his face, he asked with a dark voice, "What you talkin' bout homie?"
Nic smiled, knowing his mental manipulation had worked. He knew he had Brody's undivided attention now, and he knew every word he said beyond this point would be absorbed. "I mean look at you, you're hiding. You may think that no one is noticing, but we all do, your people, the police, the renegade E-vs, we all know that the once fearless, inspirational Gun Man wouldn't shoot the wings off of a fly, and they reacting to it. They don't come in packs like they used to. No, now they come in waves, knowing that when there was once six seemingly all powerful defenders of Nashville, now there's only three. And the only reason we even have a third is because a former villain decided she was going to join the cause after everybody else left, so yeah, I trust her, because when you all left, she stayed. I think you're jealous because you wish you could say that you would've stayed and I think you're scared to come back because you would have to face leaving without a reason."
Brody placed his hand over his face to contain the rage boiling in his pupils, but it was at that moment he realized that Nic was right about some of the things he had said, but at the same time he was ignorant to Brody's situation. All he could say was, "You right, love. I am scared."
Nic didn't expect for him to just come out and say it. "What are you afraid of?"
Brody simply said, "Myself," and hung up the phone.
Nic looked at the phone confused, while Brody planted his face into his hands, trying desperately not to shed the tears growing hot inside of his tear ducts. The only memory that kept replaying in his head was the one where he had the pistol pointed at his sister's evil scowl, and the only thing he could see were two monsters, her being the lesser of two evils.



"I just want to be left alone," Brody thought to himself as he looked at Kylie trying to reach him though his phone. He was in an unshakable daze. The tour was over. His bank account had grown exponentially, but for some reason, he just wasn't happy. He couldn't get the thought of what Nic had said out of his head.
He walked down a New Orleans street smoking a blunt with his thoughts swirling. He felt the eyes of the natives on his back, wondering who he was, but he just couldn't shift his thoughts to the outside world. He was caught inside of a whirlwind of confusion and dismay. Had he made the wrong decision? Had he truly let fear contain the good he could do with his power? He knew the answers were complicated. He knew it was deeper than simply not wanting to fight the good fight anymore.
He thought about that faithful night where he watched the Evil Virus take over his body. He watched his veins turn black and his skin boil and scab apart as he reached out for his son with watery eyes. Until then, Brody had never seen someone go through the tortuous process of dying. He'd seen dead bodies, even had people he knew pass away, but to see his father with black blood and dark red mucus pouring from a crater in his chest the size of a Styrofoam plate. It was like watching dark spirits leave his body in the most horrific ways, but it was his eyes that told Brody the story of how much pain his father had truly been going through. His eyes were spotting black and red dots as blood rushed to the whites in his eyes. His irises were growing a deep red ring around the dark browns. It was like watching a man scream out to God with no voice escaping from his throat. It was pure unadulterated torture. And then he died.
Then it was Bailey's turn, but with her, it was different. The Evil Virus took over her differently than it had with her father. Instead of hideous wounds appearing all over her body, her once short hair grew long and luxurious. Her aura grew brighter and brighter. The shines in her eyes shone brighter than two suns and her rays were set upon her brother. He felt his blood boiling under his skin. His epidermis was on fire. Yet in still he couldn't take his eyes off of her, even when he realized that something was wrong. He saw her teeth become razor sharp knives that looked like they could puncture brick walls. Small, dark batwings exited out of her back as she inched closer and closer to her brother. Brody remembered how large his eyes grew as he thought a beautiful demon was after him. He wanted to fend it off, but with no weapon in sight, he knew the end was near. At first he thought he held his hand out in defense, but then when he looked at his hand, he found the most beautiful chrome Beretta he had ever laid his eyes on resting in his hand. His eyes were glued on the pistol as she crawled closer and closer to him, her breathing dripping seductively off of her tongue. When she was finally an inch away from him, her whisper knocked him out of his trance. "Kill me."
Brody shook out of his trance, and his eyes fell back on hers as he whispered, "What!?"
"Kill me."
It was then he saw the pain in her eyes. He knew the Evil Virus was killing her softly, and a tear came to his eye. The nerves in his hand twitched, his pupils dilated, and it was the first time he had ever became Hit Man and it became necessary to kill somebody he loved.
When he woke out of his dreams, he found himself in the Uptown District, Louisiana's largest and most notorious projects. He didn't have any fear in his heart though. He looked around seeing Sleepless dealing drugs, he saw Gab selling the Jezebels, and not a single iota of fear pumped through his heart. It was then he realized that he didn't fear anything since that day. He was already a monster. It was just deciding on what kind of monster he was going to be. Was he going to be the kind of monster that promoted destruction? The kind of monster who helped quell the chaos erupting around the world? Or was he going to be the worst kind of monster? The monster that did nothing.



While he was in the middle of that thought, he looked up, throwing the roach of the blunt aside, and he saw a group of heavily armored policemen gripping their assault rifles mocking the Sleepless who stood on the corner. The police officers' voices were intoxicated with rage as one of the officers pointed their rifles at the chest of one of the Sleepless and fired. The rest of the Sleepless just stood there with fear gripping their hearts, knowing they were next. "E-v trash!" That's all Brody heard. What he saw was something from the 1960's Civil Rights Movement in modern day 2090. He realized that something wasn't right about the way these E-v were being treated. Sure they may have sold drugs, but that's something he couldn't assume either. He didn't see anything that would make the E-v a threat to society, especially for the officers who stood in front of them. It was a classic example of bigotry against the human beings and the E-v. Brody asked himself how it was that he and people like him were infected by the Evil Virus when it was clear to see who the real evil men were. But he didn't have the time to answer the question in his mind. He watched the act of bigotry turn into an execution as the officers made the E-v fall to their knees, one by one killing the poor souls who knelt before them. Brody couldn't watch this occur anymore. Before he knew it, he acted, not as Brody, not even as Gun Man, but as the infamous Hit Man. When Brody saw the tailored black blazer covering his arms and the beautiful chrome Beretta in his hand, he knew that whatever the outcome of this was, that it was necessary.
Two innocent E-vs had died before Hit Man and his beautiful pistols found a place in front of two surprised officers. Even through the their helmets, he could see the surprised expressions on their faces. The fact that his android eyes offered him x-ray vision helped him to confirm their wide eyed expressions. They found a new target in Hit Man, but the two officers who had pistols in their chest didn't have the time to react to their new situation. Before they had time to blink one more time, they found two of the most beautiful bullets screaming through their armored vests and implanting themselves inside of the officer's chest. The other three officers took a couple steps back and tried to catch a bead on their new target. They soon found out that Hit Man was not the kind of E-v they had been dealing with. They weren't dealing with an E-v who knelt down in front of them. They were facing a monster who knew his own kind and would have no problem ending a corrupted souls life. They were not facing Martin Luther King Jr. They were fighting Malcolm X and he would have justice by any means necessary.
The officers soon found out how quick Hit Man was. They pulled their rifles on Hit Man only to find that he was gone, leaving the E-vs to question if they just seen an avenging ghost of justice and destruction. Then they seen the dragon on the intricate dragon on the barrel of one of Hit Man's pistols slide silently beside the scared officers ear. The last thing the officer heard sounded like a whisper as the silenced bullet ripped through the officer's helmet, ran through his thoughts, and jetted out of the other ear, finding a home in one of the bricks outside of the project walls. The officers turned around to see their comrade of corruption fall to his knees and then face forward to the ground. They looked at each other, then to Hit Man and when they saw his large, pretty smile and his demonic, black android eyes glowing with pleasure, they knew they were in trouble.
They drew their rifles, but before they could lift their rifles chest level, Hit Man rose his pistols eye level, whispered, "Goodbye," and sent a bullet in between each of the officer's eyes. They fell to their knees at the exact same time, then face forward like their comrade.
Hit Man wanted to walk over their bodies and send a complimentary bullet into their bodies, but he thought to himself that even though his bullet supply was unlimited, it still would have been a waste of ammunition. Hit Man didn't believe in wasted bullets in already dead opponents, especially if it didn't serve a purpose.
Hit Man walked toward the remaining E-vs, and saw the fear increase in their eyes with every step he took toward them. They looked at him like he was a monster, and in essence he was. He just had to remember what kind of monster he was. He extended his hand out toward the closest E-v and asked him with a soft EMS voice, "Are you okay?"
The E-v looked at him suspiciously, wondering if he could trust the man he had just witnessed murder five police officers as though it were nothing. Then he quickly came to the realization that the immaculate young man that stood in front of him had just saved his life. He grabbed his hand and Hit Man easily lifted the bigger man to his feet. The big E-v sized Hit Man and decided right then and there that this man was an angel of mercy and an angel of death. "Yeah, I'm alright. My two dogs ain't but I'm good, love."
The other two E-vs stood on their feet and walked to their friend's side. They looked at their dead friends' bodies lying on the ground and a tear dropped from their faces. "Damn fall, they got Mason, dog. Straight blues'd him."
The other one shook his head and replied, "They stole Mack and Trevon too."
They wiped tears away from their eyes and continued to look at the blood leak from their friends' bodies. Hit Man saw the despair on their faces, and he knee he had to become the rock they could lean on. He spoke with a quiet, death filled voice, "Do not cry for your friends, love. Just remember that when you lose a friend to an unjust country in a corrupt war where it's us against them, realize they are better off than us." He looked up to the sky and smiled. "Simply because they're free." He looked at the young men and made a promise to them. "I promise one day I will make a difference for people like us. One day we will become citizens of this nation and not just victims of a cruel society." His eyes were full of conviction as he stared at them for a second. He heard the cry of more police sirens approaching and he knew that trouble was approaching with the sirens. "You three better get out of here." They nodded their heads already knowing that when the police found five officers dead in the projects,it was about to be a real hot autumn, but to them it was all worth it, just to see one time corrupt police officers get a taste of their own medicine.

Here We Go Again Epilogue: Miss Me

Back in New Orleans, Chevy clutched on the wheel driving through Downtown New Orleans, while Raven held the weed in her lap, attempting to roll it up. Chevy smiled smugly, "I don't know why you tryin' to roll. You know if you need me to roll up, I'm a professional. I can roll and drive at the same." He said laughing.
She laughed right back at him, making sure he knew that he was no competition. "Boy boom, you ain't outrolling me, no!" She placed her hand on her heart while breaking the weed down with one hand and placing it inside of the cigar with that same hand. "I promise you baby, I been doin' this a long time, yeah, so you talking bout professional, I should be getting paid by the hour just so you rookies can see what a veteran look like."
Chevy loved the way she talked smack. He hadn't heard a female speak her mind since...Bailey. He laughed and shook his head as the lyrics of the old song Raven had blasting out of the speakers began to flow into his mind. Hearing lyrics about the hardships of growing up fatherless and being a good father made him think about his own past. Again the memory of Bailey, his absentee father, her loving father, and the child he would have given anything to see take a single breath wandered into his mind. He would have stayed in that mind-state had it not been for Raven interrupting his train thought with a braggadocios gesture. "See?" She lifted the perfectly pearled blunt in the air to let the moonlight catch a glimpse of perfection as she deemed it.
He held his fingers out with a enough space to where she could place the blunt perfectly between his fingers. She gave it to him and with a quick glance he looked at it and decided he was going to light it. She was so distracted by looking for something to listen to that she didn't even notice, that is until she smelled the smoke.
She pushed the CD and looked up too see Chevy admiring the blunt. Even he had to admit, it looked and tasted wonderful. He looked up at the road to make sure he wasn't about to hit nobody, then he looked at her. When he had fell into her eyes, he wished he hadn't glanced at her at all. He could tell by her cocky stare that she knew she had won his heart with her rolling skills. "See, I tried told ya I can roll."
The sweet seduction of her voice coaxed his hurt pride. He could only smile, "Yee."
They shared the blunt driving through Downtown New Orleans, and once again Chevy found himself entranced by the music she had playing in her car. He looked at her, surprised that somebody else besides Brody played music that was well over a hundred years old. He recognized the songstress playing immediately as the once beautiful, soulful Sade and he asked, "What you know about this, sweetie?"
She smiled back, blunt in hand, "No, the question is, what you know about it?"
He laughed, "Man, Brody be playing her all the time! I think he slick in love with her. I catch him saying all the time, 'If I was around when she was, she would've been my baby mama'. He be having me laughing on the real."
"Sounds like y'all real good friends."
"That's my brother. He one of the only people in this world
that I completely trust. I mean completely. I tell him everything. He like family to me."
"Must be nice to have friends like that."
He looked at her and hit the blunt again. "You mean you ain't got people like that in the city?"
She shook her head, "No. Not in the city, love. The motto round here still get it how you live. People round chea' be cutthroat, pirates, on the real. Ya gul who you knew since babies can turn around and kill ya over a nigga, and ya boy who you thought you could give ya heart to, he can be the one to earn the price on ya fade, or...." She ran her hand through her kinky twists and replied, "or ya curly twists." Chevy could feel the tension in the air and he knew that he had just stumbled on a sensitive subject. He wanted to change the subject, but before one could come to his mind, she continued to talk, her sexy voice floating over the smooth music blasting from her speakers. "But it's cool, it's cool though, I ain't even tripping cause I know, first chance I get, I'm bouncing out The City. I don't know where I'm gon' go, ya heard me, but I know God gon' lead me somewhere where I can shine, ya heard me, someplace new."
"Yee." She laughed and passed Chevy the blunt. He took a puff of the potent marijuana and asked her, "So what you wanna do? Like do you wanna go to school or work or what?" She looked around, her eyes telling him that she was afraid of having her dream judged or crushed by Chevy's judgment. He smiled, "You don't have to be afraid to tell me. That's one thing I learned from Brody. He said never judge or knock somebody's dream. A dream is something extremely personal and to deny somebody their dream by telling them it would never come true or telling them it's impossible would be like robbing them of their perspective, their opinions, of everything that makes them human, and once you take those things away and a beast comes out of them and destroys you, you can only blame yourself."
Raven formed a face of approval, "Wowwww, ya boy Brody sound real smart."
Chevy smiled, "He is."
Her comfort level rose as they drove the city, anonymous under the dark tint. Before she could tell him her secret dream, his phone rang loudly in his pocket, interrupting her train of thought with the loud rap music coming from his phone. He knew from the ringtone exactly who was calling his phone and from the looks of the celebration he saw at the backstage party, he expected a large amount of belligerence to come through the headset. He answered the phone and the first thing he heard was the loud voice of Brody yelling, "Waaaaaa! Where you at boy!? You missing a crazy party! Toon got bukuu guls out chea' yeah! I'm bout loaded the long way, we got all kind of drank out chea', all kinda dolja, that midnight, dro that is..." The people behind Brody, including Q and Toon, started laughing. "Man you need to come out here, dog! You should see ya' boy Q! He on everything walking, but let me tell you, ain't nothing walking out chea' less then a dime walking round here. They got some ghetto goddesses out here, some suburban angels, some amazons, and they all on us, but you know Kylie ain't goin for all that, but I need you our here dog. Peel some of these guls off me cuz Toon got at least three in the pocket, I'm pretty sure no matter how lame Q is, he gon' leave here wit' two, you need to come out chea' if not for these females, at least to keep Kayla company, celebrate wit' ya brother, wazaam!?"
Chevy was surprised that Brody finally stopped talking. He looked at the phone just to make his phone hadn't hung up. He brought it back to his ear, "Damn, you excited ain't ya?"
"Man, yeah man! Where you at, fall?"
Chevy looked at Raven staring at his phone, clearly waiting for his answer, waiting to see if he'd chase skirts or stay with her, because she had made up her mind that she wasn't going into a mansion party only to get embarrassed. Just wasn't happening. "I'm ridin' wit' chick."
"You talkin bout girl who was backstage with us? Slim was fine yeah. Bring her to the party dog, she need to meet Kylie and nem anyways, you know Kylie asked me who she was as soon as y'all left, ha bruh."
"Word."
"Hell yeah, you know the sissys gotta make sho yo' gul kosher or whatever. You know yo sisters get worried bout they big brother."
"Yee."
Chevy smiled, thinking about Kayla and Kylie with crossed arms, trying to cross examine the cool, composed Raven. He thought it was funny. "So you know where we at ha? We in the mansion district of the Big Easy. I would tell you where it's at, but I know you already know."
"Yee."
"Get down here man!"
"Yee."
"Yeah!" They hung up their phones and Chevy drove for a little while in silence. He exchanged a glance with Raven and turned away embarrassed.
Raven blushed and looked back into his face, studying every detail from the long chin hairs to the thin eyes to the mouth that held all his smiles inside of his mouth. He knew she was looking. Everything inside of him told him to play it cool, but he knew he had to ask her the inevitable question. "You tryna go to this party?"
She wanted to say, "No, I would like to spend this night wit' you and just you. I would like to find out more about you in a quiet setting not one where I was surrounded by everyone you knew, especially wit' two girls who were going to try and check me," but what had came out was, "I'm down for whatever you wanna do, baby."
He shook his head, "Such a girl," he thought. It was easy to read between the lines. Her mannerisms gave away how she really felt. The crazy thing about it was that he felt exactly like she did. "Well, how would you feel if I said I ain't wanna go to that party?"
She didn't want to show her excitement, not to him, so she decided to play it cool. "I would have to ask you why, I mean that's yo peoples. I would almost expect you to want to celebrate wit yo peoples, ha?"
He smiled, and with the hand that held the blunt, he placed his index finger in the air, pointing to the cloth on the car's ceiling, and he said with a smug smile, "Another thing Brody be saying all the time. Never let people expect you to do something unless they truly know you, because if they know you then they know the reason behind you doing something, but if somebody don't know you, then they aren't expecting you to do anything, they're assuming, and that ain't cool. I expected Brody to be at a party. He always been the life of a party, just like he knows I'm the type to be ducked off somewhere chilling. He knows I don't be doing that party life like that. I'll go to a club all day, but only under my terms. If I can't leave when I want to, then I ain't goin' straight up. He already know the business. I ain't finna go to that party, but he know later on. I'm probably goin' to have our own private party on the plane on to the next scene."
"Wow, you know the more you talk to me, the more you talk to me, the more I like you and the more I love Brody."
He laughed, "Why you say that?"
"I mean from the sound of him, he seems like the coolest lil' boy ever! Real understanding, real down to earth. He's like the anti-celebrity, ya' know. You don't meet too many stars like that."
"He's had a real life, man, and I was there to watch him grow up for myself."
"You know what? I do wanna go to that party, if that's cool wit' you? I know you don't like to party, but I just want to meet everybody, ya' know, the people who helped influence the man sitting next to me."
At first, he was wary to introducing her to all of his friends, unsure of whether he could trust her or not, and his silence gave away his suspicions. She quickly realized he was sizing her up to make sure that this wasn't a ploy to get closer to his more famous friends. At first, she had felt insulted by the accusation and crossed her arms defiantly while Chevy kept his eyes glued to the road. Then she had an epiphany. She realized that he had to get that often, girls coming on to him just to get closer to Brody or anybody else famous he may know. Maybe that was the reason why his two sisters had to inspect every girl who he had appeared to like. She felt ashamed and when she was just about to apologize, Chevy said something completely unexpected. "Yee, that's cool."
She was so happy that words just came pouring out of her. "You mean it!?I ain't want you to think I was some kind of gold digger or nothing, it's just...I'm really interested in you, and I wanna know everything about you." It's like a shy spell came over her. She grew so bashful that it was cute. "We can leave whenever you want to."
Like an arrogant man, he smiled and said, "Oh, I know."
She returned his arrogance with some of her own. "Oh...you know now?"
He just smiled. "Yee."
She liked the way his rare smiles came across his face whenever she spoke. He made her feel special enough to disregard his arrogance.
They drove until they reached the mansion district. They knew exactly what mansion Toon and Brody were in. It was the only one with like forty cars parked in the front yard. Chevy drove up and parked the car, then asked her, "You ready?"
She shrugged and laughed, "As ready as I'll ever be." They got out the car and walked up to the beautiful, white mansion as the only couple to enter the expansive house, and they felt right as rain crossing that threshold into sin.

Here We Go Again

While Brody and all of his friends were living and loving life on tour with one of music's biggest acts in the later years of the 21st century, Nic Angel was also living life on a high that couldn't be provided by any drug. While Brody was dressed in all black as his alter ego, Lucc'y Luciano, performing alongside his cousin, Toon, Nic could be found honing his electric guitar skills with Smartz listening to every note he played on the couch and Brittney purring on the floor below him reading a magazine. While Brody was strengthening his bond between his lifelong friends, new bonds were forming late at night between Nic, Smartz, and Brittney. Often, Brittney and Smartz could be found inside of skate parks watching Nic Angel gain street notoriety for his hoverboard prowess. Yes life seemed to be going well for both sides of the hero world.
Brittney soon found her place beside Nic Angel and Smartz on their mission to keep Nashville safe. On one of their missions where a massive fire had broke out in the middle of a shootout between rival E-v gangs, she turned to Smartz with hurt black eyes and she asked her, "Is this what I used to cause?"
Smartz had been gaining knowledge and wisdom over the past couple of weeks and it had shown in her statements. "It's not about what you have done, Sheetah, it's only about what you are doing now, and what you plan on doing in the future."
Brittney had smiled. "Well from now on, I plan on being one of the good guys." They both smiled as they seperated with Sheetah sprinting with a vast amount of speed toward the fire to search for any survivors, while Lucky and Smartz jumped in the fray, hoping to incapacitate the rival gangs before they did any harm to one another. After countless battles, they began to learn one another's techniques, coming up with their own formations, their own bond to defeat their enemies.
Between Smartz's occupation as a police officer, Nic Angel gaining fame for his awesome hover boarding skills, and Brittney's diligent watch over the city, they were quite busy, but still in all they found time to find out more about one another. In one instance, while standing outside in the blazing Nashville sun watching Nic Angel in a hover boarding contest against professionals, a question had burned inside of Smartz's thoughts, exploding in her heart. She turned her head toward the awe struck Brittney and asked her softly, "Can I ask you something, Brittney?"
Brittney turned to her newfound love, her new ally and answered softly, "Sure honey. What is it?"
Smartz dropped her head down, gaining the courage to ask a potentially hurtful question. "What do you think your life would be like if...."
"If the Zoo Crew were still alive?"
"I'm sorry, Brittney. I didn't mean to offend. I was just..."
Brittney cut her short once again. She smiled, easing the tension in Smartz's heart. "I sometimes wonder the same thing, what life would be like if my father were here. If he could see me now, but a wise woman once said that it doesn't matter what you've done, but what you are doing now and what you plan to do. My daddy used to say the same thing."
Smartz found Brittney absolutely breathtaking. In one instant, she had made Smartz feel completely comfortable inside of the skate park. She smiled, "You know you are wonderful, you know that?"
"I was raised by a wonderful father."
The statement was simple but it only prompted more questions.
She looked back at Brittney through the corners of her diamond eyes and as her skin glowed from the warmth she felt within, she asked, "What was your father like?"
The statement stewed in Brittney's heart as she watched Nic soar into an aerial flip, garnering many ooooo's and awwww's. In that moment, she was tranquil in the memory of her father, listening to his passionate speeches or watching him run into the night as the Blacc Panther. She smiled thinking how she used to ride on his back through the streets of Knoxville, TN as a toddler. How she missed that city. How she missed her father. No matter how old she may have grown, she still felt like she would always be able to ride on her father's back. "He was a wonderful man, the love of my life. The only love I ever knew. He played the role of mother and father after my mama left. He told me I was the only woman he ever trusted. He was a radical man passionate about everything. He used to tell me all the time never do anything you are not passionate about and that's how I'm living life from now on. I have been walking in my dad's shadow for years, chasing after his dreams of equality for us E-v's, even with force, but I have my own dream now. I plan on making this world a better place for everybody whether man or E-v. Passion."
Smartz liked her passion and she wished her own father would have passed on that same passion before he too met death. "You know my dad was a police officer too?"
"Really!? So was my uncle! Even though I never met him, he's supposed to be some kind of Nashville legend. My father used to tell me stories about him. Even before the Evil Virus infected the United States, my dad used to tell me that he had abilities beyond those that are human. I revered him when I was younger. Do you wanna know why?"
Of course she did. "Why?"
"Because I figured anyone who was strong enough to impress my dad had to be a great man. I wanted to meet him, my uncle that is. I wanted to meet my older cousins too, but things changed when the E-v took place. My father never spoke of my uncle again or my cousins. I knew he was heartbroken. I knew something had happened to my uncle and I never questioned my father, but now my father is dead and I have no clue who my cousins are. But now, I seek to find them, and find out a piece of my past that I never knew. You can understand my passion, right?"
"You know I think I had that same passion. I think that was the reason why I became a cop because I wanted to see first hand what it would be like to see the world through my own father's eyes. I feel like I'm doing him a great honor."
"But you're not like him. I can tell. You're different then your father, special, and I think with all of the opportunity and corruption in the police department, your dad would've been proud of the just daughter he had brought into this world."
"You think so?"
Brittney placed her hand on Smartz's shoulder as the crowd went wild as Nic Angel had performed a plethora of tricks as his victory lap. "I know so." And with that they joined in on the festivities as they gathered around Nic Angel, holding his golden trophy.


After the trio celebrated Nic Angel's victory and announced sponsorship by one of hoverboarding's most renown sponsors, The Angel Wings, they walked down the same street where Nic Angel discovered his hover boarding prowess. Clearly intoxicated, Nic Angel had it in his mind that he was going to skate one more time at the skate park he deemed Heaven, and he only thought it proper that his two angels join him for one quick run. They stumbled down the street, having a hard time simply counting their steps.
When they finally reached the park, they seen that they had found another party. The park wasn't empty like Nic had left it weeks before. Now the park was filled with fellow hover boarders, hipsters, beautiful young women, breakdancers, and musicians, all celebrating the success of young Nic. So when Nic stumbled into the skate park, two children who couldn't be more than twelve years old ran up to him as though they just seen Superman himself stumble into the building. He was God in their eyes, and it was at that moment when Nic had realized how much his hard work and late nights at this same skate park had paid off. "You're Nic Angel, aren't you!?" Their loud youthful voices carried throughout the skate park as all of the eyes of the bohemian oasis were upon them. "We watched you earlier. You're awesome!"
The other young boy chimed in, "Yeah those were some narly moves! How long have you been hover boarding for?"
"Since I was able to stand."
The kids were in awe, and Nic just stood basking in the moonlight next to Brittney and Smartz. He had stood as a heroic figure before. It seemed like all his life he had been just another poor lost soul from Amityville with no hope, no plan for the future. But now not only was a hero, he was a celebrity. He had the opportunity to make a difference as Lucky but maybe as Nic Angel too.
"Do you wanna skate with us?" One of the young boys asked.
Nic smiled and jumped on his hover board, "Only if we can skate right now."
The children smiled and jumped on their hover boards, following Nic into the large grafitti'd bowl as everyone else served as onlookers, cheering th three on as they performed a plethora a tricks. Nic's excellence in hover boarding must've inspired something in the young children, trying and landing tricks beyond their years, gaining as many oooooo's and awwwww's as Nic had been receiving. The whole clapped their hands rejoicing the new hoverboarding king riding with his heirs apparent. The scene was all smiles, that was until red beams of light began appearing all over the moonlit field of dreams.
One teenager who had been watching while smoking a blunt looked over his shoulder to see what looked like an automated monster. His once glazed eyes grew to the size of the fear in his heart. "Holy moly, what is going on?"
Before anything else could come out of his mouth, the police officer machine fired several shots into the skate park causing mass hysteria among the bohemian populace.


While Nic Angel and the others were staring into the face of trouble, Brody was in Toon's hometown of New Orleans tearing down the packed stadium with his set of vicious lyrics about the hard times of being a drug dealer in Nashville. Q and Chevy were heavily intoxicated, pulling girls on stage to join them and Toon as they partied like it was the last days of their lives. They shook champagne bottles and shot them in the air as the contents of those bottles created a soft mist to cover them as the heat of the atmosphere began to overtake them. The music had provided Brody with a release like no other as Kylie winded on him as if she were listening to the intoxicating sounds of the Spanish guitar. It was clear to see that love and music was in the air. It was like watching an urban version of Woodstock and Kayla captured it all with her technological digital camera.
After Brody's set was finished, it was now Toon's turn to rip the mic apart with his version of modern rock music. Brody and company stayed on stage with Brody's cousin, headbanging and rocking out to the music that was clearly out of their element, but it didn't matter. The excitement and the happiness that floated off of the chords of the electric guitar and out of Toon's soul brought them all together. The melting pot of people in the stands went nuts as Toon fingered the guitar, shouting out every inch of pain and anguish into the stands, relating in some fashion to some man, woman, and child that stood out of their seats. Brody looked at his cousin like he stared at a legend.
From across the stage, Kayla caught Brody's adoring eyes staring at his cousin, and for an instant, she saw exactly what Brody had seen surrounding Toon. She understood Toon was a Fire Blood and that his blood boiled lava, but what she seen, what her camera lens captured was epic. Toon had a glowing red aura around him. His pupils glowed a deep red as he stared out into the crowd, captivating every soul in the crowd. In her eyes, it was like capturing a photograph of the sweetest devil she had ever known.
After Toon and Brody had performed their last set, the first of many after parties kicked off back stage. It was like trying to house Mardi Gras in a one story house. There were a sea of people everywhere. Chevy looked around as Toon toasted a bottle of the best champagne with his little cousin. Kylie and Kayla were busy staring at the pictures she had taken and Q was picking the cutest girl out of the crowd to whisper some sweet nothings into her ear. Chevy was starting to feel claustrophobic. That was until a beautiful, stout young lady appeared at his side. He barely even noticed her because of her petite size, but when he felt the slight tappings of the young woman, he turned around to see the beautiful Creole with two golds in her mouth and blond and brown kinky twists. His interests were peeked then. "Wassup."
"Hello love?" She stretched her arm out to the six foot Chevy in greeting and to the naked eye, it would look like he had at least ten years on her, but in reality, she was only a year under him. She introduced herself as, "My name is Raven Bealiuet, I seen you on stage and thought you was too cute. How you knowing Toon and them?"
Chevy was intrigued by her New Orleans accent and fell in love with her raspy voice. "What's good? I'm just chilling with my boy Brody."
He pointed to Brody and she leaned to her right to inspect the celebrating his triumphs in the Big Easy. She smiled, liking what true happiness looked like. Seeing him made her want to pursue her own happiness in Chevy. "So that's ya' boy, ha? Yeah I seen him doing him on stage. He's really talented."
Brody looked back at Chevy and their eyes caught one another's, sending messages that only they would understand. Brody, seeing the beautiful Raven, smiled in approval. Chevy smiled, loving the compliment that he had just gave to him. Chevy turned back around with a look of pride on his face. His brother from another mother had made it, now it was his turn to celebrate with her. "Yeee, he his talented, been that way for as long as I knew him."
"How long have y'all known each other fa'?" She asked curiously.
Chevy just smiled, "Long enough to tell you everything about that boy. He's been my best friend for going on twelve years, and he stayed with me and my mama for two years, so I know the ends and outs on Brody."
She smiled, her two gold teeth catching the glare from the bright light above them. "I would love to know more about you two, especially you."
Her diamond cut browns placed Chevy in a trance. Those eyes and her seductive accent was enough to make him forget that he felt claustrophobic earlier. Now it felt like the only people in the room were Q, Kayla, Kylie, and Brody, but even they were far enough away to become something like mirages. The only person who had intrigued him at that moment was standing right in front of him. "Likewise." His cool demeanor still prevailed over his wants, something he had learned from Bailey.
Raven saw this as an opportunity to further explore something beautiful in the making. She asked him, "Would you like to see the sights, ya' know, just ride out? I'm sure you got time to before you leave, ha?"
He nodded his head, containing his smile. "Yeee, we got time. Only one thing though."
"Oh yeah, what's that?" Her smile toying with him in the most flirtatious manner.
"I gotta drive."
He said it so simply so matter-of-factly, that she was caught by surprise. "How you gon' drive? You done lived in The City before?"
He smiled, feeling as though he were a magician, revealing another trick he had up his sleeve. "Nah, I ain't never been here before."
She laughed, knowing there was more to find out about the young, handsome man who stood in front of her. "Then how you expect to navigate through The City, boy, no."
She laughed some more, until Chevy grabbed her hand gently and begun to lead her to the exit. His smile made her feel as though she could melt right there. "Just follow me, and I'll show you." Words wouldn't formulate in her mouth. A syllable wasn't small enough to escape from her throat. She was simply stuck. So all she could do was nod her head yes, and follow Chevy aimlessly to the exit door with Kylie and Kayla's vigilant eyes watching over them. When they got to the exit, Chevy faced the entranced Raven and said with a voice filled with confidence, "By the way, I'm Chevy."
She shook her head out of her trance and giggled. "What a coincidence."
"Why you say that?"
She smiled slyfully, "Cause I drive a Chevy."
"Well you riding with this one." They both smiled as they left out of the exit doors. This promised to be a good night for the both of them.


Back in Nashville, things had become less cozy for the trio as their stared into the fiery eyes of three mechanical behemoths, all ready to rip the skate park to shreds. At first, Nic wondered what new technology he was facing. He looked back into the face of Smartz and she looked horrified. She wondered in her mind who had gotten a hold of the technology she helped create. She had only trusted one man to her secret advances in technology, and she was sure he wouldn't use it for this. At first, when she first started seeing her technology in battle, she had thought they were overzealous officers trying to take down what they perceived to be a great E-v threat, but what she was seeing now was corruption. There was no E-v threat here, only kids, and these monsters were firing their weapons at these innocence.
The mechanical monsters began firing their giant weaponry at the youth, leaving Nic Angel and Smartz horrified by the actions. Brittney was the first to act, transforming into Sheetah, and collecting kids at a rapid pace. Her loving arms placed the children out of harm's way, cradling them as if they were her cubs. They looked at her as though she were a spotted product of divination. Her sharp toothed smile showed her kindness, and before she placed the youngest child down, she blessed his cheek with a kiss before joining the fray. The small boy rubbed his cheek, telling himself that he would never wash his face again. He wanted to cherish the mark given to him by lips that belonged to the being that had just saved his life.
Sheetah sprinted back into action, clawing at the machines with her diamond sharp talons, providing Smartz with a distraction to find a dark spot to enable her Smart Suit. She pressed the button that appeared in between her bosom and she took the form of a Bohemian young lady with long black hair and pale skin. When she looked into the face of the full moon above her, the moonlight revealed a fury in her eyes that couldn't be mistaken for nothing else but pure unadulterated rage.
While the machines were trying their best to catch a bead on Sheetah who appeared to be moving at the speed of light, one of the machines were caught by surprise, greeted with an extremely forceful punch to the face by Smartz. The massive blow was strong enough to knock the protective plate away from the machine's face, exposing the inner workings of the machine's CPU. While the machine was trying to regain its balance, she grabbed a handful of wires that were once protective armor, and with her other closed fist, she hit the monster directly under the jaw, sending several feet into the air. But before the machine could fully reach its zenith in the air, she grabbed the protective plate of armor that housed the pulsating energy core and summoned a bomb in her hands, sticking it to its chest plate. Then she kicked the monster toward another machine, both of them exploding and engulfing one another in their flames. And with that, the machines had a new target. Smartz.
Nic had watched Sheetah and Smartz fight valiantly, and he felt out of place by not helping them out, but he couldn't risk revealing himself to the staring eyes of the youth that still watched, trapped by the surrounding flames and mayhem. Nic looked into those innocent children's eyes, and he found himself at a crossroads. Does he keep his secret and risk the lives of these children? Could he sleep at night knowing the only reason his secret was kept safe was because these children had sacrificed their own lives for him? Or does he expose himself? The answer came quicker than he thought as he began transforming into Lucky.
The children watched as four leaf clovers appeared all over his body, and his muscles rippled with power. They watched as his power took over his hover board, and then, before they could blink, they were in his arms, watching as grinded on invisible rails, performing tricks that would be impossible without them in his arms, much less with them in his embrace. His mission was clear. While Sheetah and Smartz were picking the machines off one by one, Lucky was saving the children. That's what Gun Man would've done. That's the kind of hero Gun Man wanted to be. Not the famous hero, but a hero for the people. He would remind him of that next time he had a chance to, but for now, he had children to save.
Sheetah and Smartz had their hands full slicing and smashing the giant robots with their bare hands. Their movements were incredibly quick, dodging bullets like raindrops. Sheetah clawed at the protective plates with such veracity that one of the robot's protected core exploded on the impact of her talons. Smartz had figured that Sheetah could make the flame follow her velocity and that was when she had a moment of inspiration. Sheetah ran toward another monster, dodging oncoming bullets with ease, with a massive conflagration behind her. Smartz's long black hair flew behind her as her speed increased ten fold to compensate for Sheetah's great speed. She then created a vacuum of oxygen to trap the giant blaze in her hands. When Sheetah clawed at another robot's protective plate, Smartz released a concentrated blast of flame into the monster's weak spot, causing it to look like it had spontaneously combusted. Smartz had floated above the flame, watching the blaze melt the wires and circuitry of the great beast.
While Sheetah was standing, admiring the blaze overcome the monster, she had failed to remember the fact that there had been one more monster lurking around the destruction and rubble of the skate park. By the time the revelation had dawned on Smartz it had already been too late, and the monster machine had its red eye beaming on both Smartz and Sheetah with its giant Gatling gun hands spinning in a dangerous rotation, readying itself to rain down punishment on the duo. But before it could release a single shell out of its hands, a hover board flew into its main CPU as Lucky leaped over the monster's head. When the board had left out of the opposite end of the CPU, flames shot from the disorientated robot's eyes as it tried to recollect itself. Lucky had planted his feet firmly on the hover board and grabbed a hold of the protective plate that covered its face, swinging through the air, slowly ripping the metal from the flaming circuitry, exposing the destruction going on inside of the monster's main CPU. It was like watching the fall of a titan, and like its brothers, the machine had fallen in a collection of flames, destroying the skate park even further. The destruction of the skate park gave testament to the violent measures the corrupted government were willing to take.
The kids came out of hiding to see their sanctuary destroyed by the battle and Lucky saw the destroyed souls behind everyone of their pupils. It reminded him of when he saw Amityville burning in flames. He knew something had to be done. Smartz did too. She threw ice grenades over the flames to contain the fires, and when the ice froze the rubble and flame into its icy grip, Lucky saw opportunity. When others would have seen glaciers and icebergs, Lucky saw halfpipes and bowls. He looked at the lost souls and he smiled as he ran toward the glacier. Smartz wasn't sure as to what Lucky was planning on doing. Sheetah just smiled, knowing whatever he did, he did it for the kids. And that he did. He grinded and carved out bowls and halfpipes and rails and anything else one would imagine to be skateboarding Heaven. The children just watched, amazed and thankful, and at that moment, Smartz and Sheetah both thought that out of the entire night, that had to be one of the most heroic thing they saw. It was nothing to destroy those fighting war machines. That was fun for them, but Lucky was showing what a true hero was all about. One who had the ability was not the hero, the hero was the one who had the ability and used it for the betterment of his people.
When he was finished, the finished project was beautiful as the kids simply stood and marveled at its greatness. Lucky had walked up to the two youngest hover boarders and with a confident smile, he asked, "You guys like?"
They just stood there open mouthed in awe of the great structure in front of them. So did the rest of the bohemian group. Lucky simply smiled as one of the small children walked up to him slowly, cautiously. Sheetah sat on the ice structure watching the actions proceed, while Smartz hovered above the crowd with a look of great laughter. The little kid looked up into Lucky's green eyes and asked him, "Who are you?"
"A friend. A friend with a secret."
The young child's curiosity was peaked as a million questions ran through his mind, but only one burned his mind so that he had to ask, "So is Nic Angel your secret identity?" The eyes of the res of the group were upon him now. They had witnessed with their own eyes him transforming, seen a display of his magnificence, and were carried in those powerful arms of his, so to lie to them would be insulting their intelligence and that was something he was not willing to do. Not now. Not ever. Not to his people.
He placed a single index finger over his mouth, indicating that it was truly a secret, and the young boy in front him smiled, feeling as though he held in his mind, the Golden Grail of knowledge inside of his mind. His friend had ran up eyes welling with excitement. It looked like he had a million questions on his mind. His excited voice lifted out of his voice and into Lucky's ears. "So....so what are you like called!? You're like awesome dude! You gotta have a name!"
"Lucky."
The teenager who had been smoking on a blunt before the attacks and the first one to notice the monsters advancing from their rear, walked forward and with a slowed voice, said, "Lucky? Nah dog, you're like my lucky number dude. If it wasn't for you and your crew right there, we'd all be dead." The marijuana enjoyer looked around to see everybody was in concurrence. "Like I said, you saved all our lives, so don't even sweat your secret. I know I'm gonna keep it til' the day because I could've died tonight, ya'dig. You aren't the regular brand of luck homie. You different. Most times, luck only applies to white people with status, man, money. It don't apply to people like me, people like us, dog. I ain't gon', if y'all weren't here, this park would've been gone, but y'all proved it possible for anybody to be lucky, and we lucky to have you, Lucky Brand No. 7."
Lucky never knew he could influence somebody like this. The impact he just had on these people's lives were greater than anything he had ever known. Sheetah covered her mouth, giggling to herself, while Smartz just smiled, admiring the hero she always knew him to be. Lucky smiled and bowed his head in respect, "Lucky Brand No. 7. I kinda like that." His smile widened as he looked at the children below him. "You guys still got your hoverboards?"
The children yelled, "Yeahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!"
"So I guess y'all wouldn't mind christening this new bowl with me, right?"
They didn't even wait for a response as they just jumped on their boards and dove into the inverted ice dome, performing tricks that could only be labeled as legendary as everyone else stood and watched the hero and the saved fly across the ice. Lucky felt a great warmth in his heart as he finally felt like a real life hero.