I narrowed my eyes, my fingers twitching ready to clench them to form fist to knock this guy out. Deal? What deal? What is he scheming? I'm not sure I'll like what he has to say.
I wanted this guy out of my city, but Gavin, on the other side, chimed in.
"Relax, let's hear what he has to say first, we need information but keep up your guard. And like I said, if things get rough, retreat."
I opened my mouth to argue verbally, but I quickly shut my jaw. I didn't like this, not at all. I took a deep breath and glared at Arc who was patiently waiting for my response.
"Okay, let's hear it, Metal-Man," I said, trying to sound big, which made the villain chuckle a little, making me growl.
"Don't pretend not to know my name." He smiles, it was a normal smile, though it has traces of teasing and smugness.
I blinked. What does he mean by that? Of course, I knew his name from Gavin, but how did he...?
"Tell me, are you satisfied with the current world?"
"What?"
"I mean, the world we live in right now. Do you think it's something worth protecting?"
I narrowed my eyes. "What are you talking about?"
He put his arms in the air and gestured to the whole room.
"All this..."
"Hey, you caused that. I may have thrown you in there, but it's your fault, whoever owns this building is gonna get mad."
Arc sighs, shaking his head. "I'm not talking about this building, boy. I'm talking about this city, this world. You've seen it, this world's...imperfections."
"I-" I cut myself as a memory of that homeless person and that robber yesterday flashed in my mind for whatever reason.
"I...have no clue what you're talking about."
My voice was weak, I knew what's talking about but didn't want to admit it.
"You know what I'm talking about, don't you? The rise of people without homes. The struggles of the common man increase as those above prey on them." Arc hissed.
Gone was his calm demeanour, replaced with rage and loathing. That face, that pure anger in his expression, disturbed me far more than when Emily made the same face. He lets out a shaky breath as he calms himself before he returns to looking neutral.
"Those in power are corrupt; they are the very reason why all the flaws in the world are like this, and why you're frustrated, and why people are ignoring this. Don't you want to see a world where everyone has a place to belong? Where even struggling folk could afford luxuries that only the rich could afford?"
I was speechless. Of course, I wanted everyone to be happy; that's why superheroes exist! A world like that sounds incredibly wonderful, but for some reason, I got a weird feeling about all this.
"What are you getting at?" I finally say.
"...That is my objective, to help the world to rebuild a system for everyone, lower, middle and even wealthy. But to do that...I'm going to tear apart our current government."
"What? What the heck are you saying!?" My heart starts hammering.
'Destroy The Current Government'? Is such a thing even possible?
"Can you even do it?"
"My methods to complete such a task are none of your concern. But like I said I plan to make this mess of a world right, an ideal we share no?"
I stayed silent.
"That's why I'm offering you a deal. I will make sure the lives of your city and country would be as minimal as possible and I'll make sure everyone in this place prosper, all I ask you to don't interfere with my organization plans."
I narrowed my eyes and tensed my body again, feeling the warmth of Cosmic Energy running through my veins.
"The way you said it, it sounds like a lot of lives will be lost in our plan."
Arc's face grimaced. "I won't sugar coat it, yes thousands-no million of lives of soldier and civilian alike will die from my war against the entire Earth's government."
"...Then you know what my answer is."
I jumped into the air before dropping down where Arc is, my fist aimed at his head, but he jumped away. My fist cracked the floor, I turned and glared at Arc who took a few steps back.
"What a shame, I knew this was going to happen, but having to fight against you even with my army and allies is a pain." Arc sighs.
"Welp, it's time for me to head back, my soldiers are currently waiting for my orders, I cannot keep them waiting."
I snort getting up, infusing my fist with Cosmic Electricity, bringing my hands up ready to throw down.
"You make it sound like I'm going to let you get away?" I was grinning, but my heart raced quickly. This wasn't a fight that was going to be easy, especially when I'm low on CE.
To my confusion, Gavin formed a small, playful smile on his lip. He grabbed something from his back and retrieved a cylinder object with a red button on top.
"Oh, but you will."
I moved to stop him, but it was too late. He pushed the button, and almost instantly, I felt the whole area shake.
"What the heck!?" I shouted, before glaring at Arc.
"What did you do!!?" I demanded, ready to throttle him for answers, only for my SEE goggles radio to chime in.
"Ben, oh my god! Three apartment buildings around your area just suddenly blew up!"
"What!?"
"It didn't explode, entirely, it's just the structure supporting the building is compromised and in about twenty or thirty seconds the whole building is going to fall!"
My heart quickened, and my throat felt dry. My stomach bubbled, and I felt sick. I felt like throwing up there, but I steadied myself, looking shocked as Arc continued to stare at me with an expressionless stare. I glared at him.
"This isn't over, bastard!"
He only nods in response.
"I'll see you in Russia then, Red Justice."
I gave him one last venomous look before flying straight up, not caring that my head had to break through a couple of doors to reach the sky. I stopped my momentum and scanned my surroundings. It didn't take me long to find the three apartments; they were almost next to each other, only 500 metres away from each other. I could see dark clouds of smoke rising in the air, and even from far up high, I could hear the piercing screams of fear and desperation.
"Full speed!" I shouted as I launched myself to the apartment buildings.
As I flew there, eventually I could feel everyone's silhouette from each building. There were lots, almost uncountable. By my estimation, there were about two thousand people in total. And two-thousand dead if I don't save them. I could see the structure wilting, just about any second, it could fall over.
I dove inside the building, ignoring that I'm technically breaking and entering. I crashed into people's walls, grabbing them as they remained slower than a snail, their faces etched with fear. I grabbed about a dozen people, and put them in a place far enough so any of the building debris wouldn't crush their head. The problem was that by the time I got everyone from the first building into a safe zone, everything started moving faster. Each second, for me, going at full power speed leads to my CE dropping. Making me slower and my perception faster.
If I had been at 100% saving everyone would only take three seconds or less to save everyone. I put a dog and a cat down near their owners as their bodies started to move even faster. The dog looked startled, looking at me clearly, while I was taking deep gulps of air. I turned around, looking at the other two buildings filled with people.
[CE : 9%]
Just a bit more and I'll lose my powers, and a lot of people would die due to incompetence. No! Red Justice doesn't be that way, you got to think, think! We're out of snacks, and my SEE goggles are revolutionary and fast. From my point of view, it was like an old laptop with bad wifi. I couldn't rely on directions to any food shop! I had no choice but to run as fast as I could while my lungs felt like they were on fire, looking around for any restaurant.
[CE : 5%]
Come on...There! I stared at one of those all-you-can-eat buffet restaurants, and I instantly crashed into the window. The slow-motion faces of shock on the patrons and waiters had funny expressions as I ran into the stalls, grabbing multiple pieces of sushi before shoving them into my mouth. I didn't stop there, grabbing a nearby glass from a random customer's table, I drank it only to start coughing violently. It was wine! That damned poison thing that adults somehow liked to drink was in my system!
That doesn't matter now. I tossed the drink away and began to consume everything I saw. Meat, hot dogs and even that damned celery got into my mouth. My eyes stung with tears, forcing that disgusting thing into my mouth.
"What the fuuuuuuuuuuuu..." One of the partitions started to say, but he started to move slowly and soon he became still as a statue.
After finishing with a glass of water, I was more than ready to get back to the field.
[CE : 100%]
And in a flash all the people in those two buildings were all evacuated. Time returns to normal for myself, then the tenants I saved and me watched as the three apartments crumbled down and crashed to the ground. They were in a safe place, I didn't need to worry about rubble coming down, I took a deep breath and let my butt strike the floor as I lay breathing a bit more laboured. The tenants were panicking, unsure of what had just happened, and some were grieving the fact that they didn't even get a chance to play the new Grand Steal Automatic game.
I felt bad for them, I do, and I should do more than just sit on the ground and do nothing. But the thought of Arc's face caused me to grit my teeth. He's probably long gone by now, even with the SEE goggles and my Mind's Eye, it would be almost impossible to track him. It doesn't matter, though, I can feel in my gut that I will see him very soon.