Derrick wasn’t sure why he was taken by the supervillain. His dad was just the head of some small-time pharmaceutical company. It’s not like it’s that important? At least in his mind.

  “So I’m sure you’re scared kid, but I promise it’s going to be okay. As soon as your daddy gets us what we want, you’ll be back home safe and sound.” The villain said his appearance no longer ?rust red as it had been when he had stolen Derrick from his home in the middle of the night.

  “I don’t know what you want, and my dad isn’t going to help you, so just go away!” the kid cried, kicking at the villain.

  “We can be real gracious hosts if you don’t decide to be difficult. Just wait patiently, and your dad will come save you, right? That’s what you’re fed to believe.”

  Derrick at that moment decided that he would not comply with what the villain wanted. And since he wanted Derrick to be kind and polite like his mom taught him, he just began screaming and thrashing in the room.

  The villain tried a few times to get Derrick to quiet down before grinning. “Maybe our demands will look better if we send it along with one of your fingers.” He said before beginning to stalk forward.

  Akin to an avenging angel, a superhero flew through the ceiling, stopping just in front of the villain, placing himself in front of Derrick. “You’re not going to get away with this.” The hero said, standing up and holding his fists.

  It’s hard to see with how dark it was, but the hero seemed to wear a full suit of armor in shades of white and grey. As if a shadow made manifest.

  The hero turned his face, and Derrick could make out just the side profile of the mask and one eye. “Just give me a minute or two and I’ll take care of this guy.”

  The villain raised a fist to attack the hero.

  Not missing a step, the hero tackled the villain, and they both crashed out of the window heading for the waiting street below.

  Who could resist the desire to witness a fight between a real superhero and a villain? Certainly not Derrick. He immediately darted to the window, peering out, having arguably the best seat in the house to see the two brawl.

  “You’re not getting past me. So just give up now.” The hero said, voice flat, as he raised his fists.

  “Screw you. You can’t stop me just because you have some cool armor.” He roared, charging the hero, hands outstretched.

  The hero turned into shadow as the villain flew through him, landing on the ground in a heap. Back to normal, the hero returns and slams a kick into the villain's side, knocking him farther away from the building.

  “I remember you now.” The villain said, getting into a crouch, his hand pressed against the street. “You’re that phasing fuck who’s been roughing up my boys and pretending to be a hero.” As he spoke, his voice changed from a nasally high pitch to what you would imagine a rock elemental would speak like.

  “You’re not going to get past me. You’re not going to hurt this kid. And I will not let you win.” The hero said as he adjusted his feet, preparing for whatever’s about to come.

  A ripple goes through the villain, and he grows slightly, his skin the texture of the street beneath them. “I’m indestructible, asshole. At least to you.” He cackles. “All you’ve got is phasing. Sure, you can probably punch some cracks, but I’ll just heal. I’ll go right through you.”

  “You’re welcome to try.”

  “Before I kill you, do you have a name with that getup? I’ll look way better if I kill a superhero instead of some brat playing pretend.”

  “I’m pretty sure I’m older than you, Rocky.”

  “I should pick a name too.”

  “Feel free, take all the time you need. I’m more than willing to accommodate your last request before you’re thrown into prison.”

  Derrick watched the exchange feeling nervous. The hero was strong; he had to be, he’s a hero, but the fact that the stone man had gotten fully powered up was bad. And the hero doesn’t know what Derrick does.

  “Hero!” he shouted out, causing both men to look at him. “He can swim through the street!”

  At those words, the hero raced forward, closing the distance between the two in an instant.

  It sounded like the earth split as his fist collided with the stone jawline. “Let’s test that theory about how you’re going to heal faster than I can break you.”

  “I’ll kill you!” he roared, bringing a stone fist up, but it passes through the body of the hero as if he’s made of air before turning solid, mostly. Derrick certainly hopes the fist wasn’t actually lodged inside his back.

  As the villain tugged on his arm, the hero stood there impassively, like a stone wall. Actually, the hero with ghost powers seemed significantly more stonelike than the super who’s literally made of stone at the moment.

  “Would you like your arm back?” The hero asked, voice surprisingly weary.

  “Yes?”

  The hero went shadowy again, and the villain fell flat on his butt the moment his arm was free from containment.

  “You can’t win.”

  “Fuck that. I’m stronger than you. I’m way tougher. That shell you’re wearing doesn’t even bridge the gap. No two bit hack of a hero is ever going to beat Lance!” the villain, supposedly Lance, said as he got up, seeming to grow larger as stone wrapped around him, leaving a divot in the street.

  “I don’t care. I will beat you.”

  “Try.”

  Lance vanished, merging into the street. From Derrick's perspective, he can’t see any sign of where the villain could be hiding.

  The hero? seemed entirely unperturbed as he spun around in a slow circle. “Three, two, one.” He said before jumping above a pair of outstretched hands coming out of the ground like zombies digging out of their graves.

  Before the hands could retreat, a kick lanced out, spraying chips of stone everywhere.

  The hero landed on the ground in a new spot at the same time the hands retreated back into the street, and the game of cat and mouse began.

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  Every time Lance brought up a limb to attack the hero dodged and often struck back, but the problem lay in that every time Lance came up, it seemed as if he’s fully recovered. No matter how many chips of asphalt are flying around.

  “Time for plan B.” The hero grumbled before turning to Derrick as he pranced away from the outstretched hands. “Don’t worry, kid! I’ve got this all under control; you can trust me!” he called before racing to a new spot, phasing his left leg and swinging it through the street, though halfway through the arc it looks like it stutters for a moment.

  He pulled back his face aimed at the street, glaring intensely. Though with a helmet with small eyeholes, they always look like they’re glaring intensely.

  Lance surfaced ten feet away from the hero on his hands and knees, coughing hard.

  “Having lungs made out of asphalt is a neat trick.” The hero admitted. “But have you seen the distance between the two of us? You can’t beat me.”

  Even from where Derrick was, he could make out the absolute hatred in Lance’s eyes as he glared at the hero.

  “Give up now, villain! Good will always win!” Derrick shouted before throwing a small stone at the villain, harmlessly pinging it off the villain.

  Lance stared at Derrick for a second before a grin showed across his face. It grew even wider, splitting his face apart in a horrifying manner.

  “You’re right. I don’t have to win. But I wasn’t wrong last time. You can’t stop me. After all, you just have the ability to let things go through you.” He said before charging at the hero, his hands morphing into larger rock masses closer to mini boulders instead of hands.

  “That was right. Not tonight though.” The hero said, his voice carrying through the twilight air.

  As if ink was spilled on a page, the hero turns jet black, the color of a starless and moonless sky. To Derrick, it’s as if for a moment that hero has become the only real thing in the world and everything, including his own attention, is being drawn towards him.

  The giant stone fist slams into the raised arms of the hero meant to block the blow, and Derrick shuts his eyes, not wanting to see the hero break himself.

  When he opens his eyes, his jaw hangs open at the sight of the hero holding Lance’s boulder fist completely unconcerned. “You should keep up with what I’ve been doing recently; otherwise, you wouldn’t have made this mistake.” He said before slamming his fist into the chest of Lance.

  The difference was that this time, instead of a small crack, a crater formed from the blow.

  Lance lashed out, trying to overwhelm the hero with a rain of strikes as the hero just weathered the storm, putting no stock in dodging or even defending any attack.

  He doesn’t need to; every strike seems to do just as much as water off ?a duck's back.

  More than that, the hero was moving forward, pushing Lance back.

  “I’ve figured it out. You absorb a material, becoming like it. Can merge with it and can use it to reconstitute and manipulate your form to a degree. All I need to do is get you onto a soft material and hold you there till you break.” The hero said, his voice warped through whatever he’s doing.

  Lance barrelled forward, causing the hero to take a few steps back before he sank into the ground. Whether he’s swimming away from this fight or towards Derrick, nobody could tell you.

  The hero races along the street before shoving an abyssal hand through the concrete before heaving as he unearths the street, throwing Lance into the air.

  “You can’t run. You can’t hurt the kid. You can’t beat me. Surrender now.” He roars as a rain of blows descends upon Lance, breaking the stone more and more.

  Though after a certain amount of distance the hero seems to always twist around, breaking another spot instead.

  It takes a moment, but Derrick realizes what the hero is doing. He doesn’t want to kill Lance, just stop him. So whenever it got close to where the full stone would break away and reveal the person underneath it, he moved to another spot.

  Lance tried twice more to escape the hero, but neither time did he go deep enough to prevent the hero from breaking through the street and tearing him out.

  The man now just lay there curled into a ball, weathering the storm of blows.

  That was until a spire of earth shoots out of the ground at the hero, causing him to stumble back as Lance gets back to his feet, his form shifting rapidly and growing multiple tendrils of concrete to defend and attack with.

  Lance tries to keep his distance as the hero fends off all the tendrils, breaking each one faster than Lance can build up more, but for a moment a stalemate seems to be taking over as Lance gets faster at manipulating his form.

  It’s as if the fight is going to continue forever in that fashion until a strangled yell breaks out screaming his surrender.

  Derrick only barely caught it, but between the blows of the tendrils, the hero had forged a way forward, driving his fist through the shoulder? in a single strike.

  As Lance falls to the ground in a broken heap, the hero sags to his knees, hands against the ground as the ink bleeds out, returning him to the normal color scheme as he pants in relief. He pressed a hand to his ear and said something quietly before pushing himself back up to his feet.

  “I’ll be there soon.” He said, looking at Derrick. “You’re safe, I promise.”

  Before the superhero can start making his way back to Derrick, the world becomes a lot colder, and a vaguely familiar suit of armor frosted over crashes down on the street. It doesn’t take him long for him to realize who it was.

  There’s nobody in town who doesn’t know who Fractal was after all. Could the two of them be partners?

  Derrick was definitely glad the dark hero saved him instead of Fractal cause she makes everything cold, and he didn’t get to take his coat with him when they kidnapped him.

  The two heroes seem to talk quietly to themselves. Despite his best efforts, he could not hear what was going on before they entered the building, hopefully coming up the stairs quickly so they can free him from this room because well jumping out the window onto all that broken glass doesn’t sound that exciting.

  Before long, the door that he was sure was locked swings open, revealing the two armored forms of Fractal and the dark hero. If only he had a phone, he could take a picture of what Fractal’s suit looks like underneath the layers of ice.

  “One superhero rescue team coming right up. Do you know the way home or at least someone we can call?” Fractal asked, her voice brimming with cheer, as the other hero leans against the wall.

  Derrick walks over to them and blows past the outstretched hands of Fractal to hug the arm of the other hero. “Thank you for saving me.”

  “Always right? That’s what being a superhero is for.” He said, patting Derrick on the head gently. Despite how much power Derrick knows those hands hold, they feel incredibly gentle.

  “You got any suggestions for superhero names for my bestie here? He’s being a little difficult in picking one.” Fractal said, clapping the other hero on the shoulder as the trio start making their way out of this place.

  “I don’t know.” Derrick said, trying not to freak out at the fact he has not one but two actual superheroes helping him home.

  “So I know we asked if we could call anyone but we already got your way home so do you want to hang out with us and wait for your parents to show up or com with us there and we’ll dorp you off?” Fractal asked.

  Derrick looks between the two, not sure what he’s supposed to do. These are actually important people, not minorly important like his parents. Either way, he’s wasting their time, wasn’t he?

  He should ask to wait for his parents, right? After all, what type of idiot would squander the chance to see two heroes hanging out to pass the time?

  That’s the choice, right?

  The hero who saved him crouched down in front of Derrick, their eyes meeting. “You just went through one of the worst experiences of your life. Even if you don’t realize it. If that doesn’t warrant the presence of two superheroes to make sure you can do what you want to do, nothing is going to,” he said softly.

  Derrick freezes before his eyes begin to water. “I want to go home.” He admits quietly, tears already beginning to form.

  Fractal moved before the other one waved her off before picking Derrick up. “I can’t fly, and I don’t want to do parkour while you’re in my arms, but I’m pretty fast when I want to be, so let’s get you home.” He said in a gentle whisper before running fast.

  The trio quickly made their way to Derrick's home, and he’s never felt better than when his parents hugged him and he was back in their arms.

  Despite his own desires, his parents felt the need to talk to the heroes for a long moment before finally the entire group drifted apart.

  “Hey Derrick?” The dark hero called out before he turned around to head to the door. “No matter what happens, remember that we’re going to be here, okay? You’re safe.”

  Derrick nods before chasing inside, not wanting to deal with the outside world anymore. Just because these two beacons of light helped him doesn’t mean it doesn’t terrify him to the core any less.

  As Derrick closes the door to his house, his parents ushering him inside, he can just barely make out the dark hero sagging to the ground, Fractal just barely stepping in time to help him stay standing.

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