Act 4
Restaurant on 18th Street: Four-Eyes' Establishment
Stunned, the alien clicked a button under the table and 2 combat drones with weapons on their backs descended from the ceiling toward the young man.
The establishment's peace was shattered by the activation sound of the drones detaching from the ceiling, their thrusters roaring as they took aim, 4 security guards emerged from the corners, energy weapons pointed at the hero.
Masayoshi's first move was pure instinct, he lunged to the side with incredible superhuman speed that took him out of the line of fire a second before energy rays shattered the space where he had been. Not even he could believe he had dodged it.
The air smelled of charred wood.
The drones were fast, their rotary weapons tracking his movement. Masayoshi ran in a tight circle around the room, confusing the sensors. One guard, more anxious, fired; the ray passed by a drone, which swayed in the air, and almost hit the bar owner, who shouted and threw himself behind the counter.
"You idiots, control your shots!"
Masayoshi used the distraction, he approached the first guard in two quick steps, his hand grabbed the weapon's barrel. The man, a hulking brute with purple leathery skin, pulled the trigger instinctively, the weapon shook, overheating, but the energy didn't fire. Masayoshi's hand, clenched like steel, crushed the metal, containing the explosion internally, with a fluid motion, he pulled the useless weapon and used the momentum to throw the hundred-kilo guard against the second one, knocking them down like pins.
The drones readjusted their aim. Two rays then hit him squarely in the back...
The pain was sharp and agonizing, making him scream. His jacket smoked, revealing for a moment the skin beneath, intact but reddened and sore, everyone's surprise was almost palpable, the drones then recalibrated, charging a higher-powered shot.
Fury and pain mixed, the survival instinct, the awareness of Darkseid in his mind, everything called for more power. He felt something inside him, an imaginary barrier, tremble.
[50%]
One of the drones dove toward him. The same energy that once resided in his eyes now surged around his entire arm. Masayoshi didn't dodge; he turned and, moving out of anger, threw a punch.
It was no ordinary punch.
The air exploded with the impact. A wave of concussive force, visible and brutal, erupted from his fist. The drone, an artifact of raw metal, wasn't simply hit; it was erased from existence. It flew backward as if struck by a cannon, crossed the entire restaurant in less than a second, and exploded against the back wall with a deafening sound of metal being compressed and shattered. The wall cracked, shrapnel and superheated plasma flew everywhere, igniting tables and startling everyone.
The silence that followed was broken only by the cessation of fire and the groans of pain from the guards on the floor.
Masayoshi stood still, panting, looking at his own fist. The skin was red; that had not been a controlled blow... it had been... excessive... dangerous.
He took a deep breath, the sound of destruction echoing in his ears.
(Don't hurt anyone... just... immobilize)
The second drone retreated. The two remaining guards exchanged a glance; they saw his hesitation, the way he had restrained his strength after destroying the drone, they saw in him a young man holding back to defend an ethic.
They attacked, abandoning their energy weapons. One of them, a human amplified with a visible exoskeleton under his clothes, charged like a bull, the mechanical arms trying to envelop Masayoshi in a crushing hug, the other, more agile, with feline features, extended his claws.
Masayoshi tried to dodge, but the control he exerted over his own strength was a brake; he moved too fast for a normal human, but too slow for a god. The exoskeleton's blow grazed his shoulder, and it was like being hit by a hammer, the pain was intense and sharp, and he screamed, spinning with the impact.
It was the opening the feline needed; three burning lines cut across Masayoshi's back through the already destroyed jacket. He fell to his knees, the skin didn't open completely but was marked with red cuts, throbbing with sharp pain. Darkseid's voice hovered in his mind.
(They play at hitting a god. Show them your full power. Why do you resist so much?)
The exoskeleton one charged again, his metallic arms closing for a crushing blow. Masayoshi rolled to the side; the mechanical fist hit the floor where he had been, cracking the concrete.
He was getting beaten up, and every blow he endured, every cut that didn't heal instantly, was a reminder of his self-imposed limitation.
The feline lunged at the young man, but this time, he didn't try to dodge with speed. He stopped the attack; with one movement, his left hand grabbed the feline's wrist in mid-air, stopping the claws centimeters from his face, his eyes met the alien's, and in them he saw not a monster, but another being trapped in the same cruel idea, an underpaid security guard risking his life for an employer who wouldn't care if he died.
Instead of crushing the wrist, Masayoshi twisted it. It was a precise, surgical movement, an application that forced the feline to bend over in pain.
The exoskeleton one roared with anger and charged once more. Masayoshi was already turning, he didn't try to stop the blow head-on; he ducked under the mechanical arms trying to grab him and, with a burst of speed that made his muscles burn with contained effort, he planted a single punch into the man's torso, exactly where the exoskeleton connected to his flesh.
It was a surprisingly silent impact, but the effect was immediate, the man stopped suddenly, his eyes wide with shock. An electrical crackle came from the junction; the exoskeleton's hydraulic arms trembled and stopped.
Masayoshi stood up, panting, his body throbbing with pain. His back burned where the claws had cut him, his shoulder ached deeply. The drone hovered, its weapon whirring, with no clear target. Masayoshi looked at it, and then at the bar owner, who was cowering behind the counter, his arrogance replaced by pure terror.
"Turn it off," ordered Masayoshi, his voice firm, laden with an authority that hadn't been there minutes before and the pain he had endured to maintain it.
The four-eyed alien, trembling, pressed a button. The drone deactivated, landing on the floor.
Masayoshi walked to the counter, went around it, and looked down at the fallen owner. He no longer looked like a boy; he looked like a soldier, marked by battle.
"Your family... needs you alive, not in prison for murder," he said, his voice calmer but still charged with the power circulating in his body.
"The choice you made today wasn't to protect them, but for your ego. Learn from this.... Do better... For them."
He extended his hand, not to strike, but to help the alien to his feet. The gesture was as shocking as a punch. The bar owner looked at the outstretched hand, then at the young man's tired body, and the last spark of fight disappeared from him.
He had been defeated not just by force, but by a strange mercy he couldn't comprehend.
"I... don't know who you are... but... thank you for letting me... live."
Masayoshi, breathing heavily with one hand supporting his shoulder.
"I wasn't going to kill you. I didn't do that to anyone here. My duty is to show that even with power over someone... it doesn't give me the right to silence them."
The young man turned and left through the same door he had entered. The place was filled with silence and an air of guilt and embarrassment over the attitudes imposed by each person present.
Walking back home through the streets, with a huge smile beneath his helmet, even though no one could see it, he was happy to make people understand his side. Thus, making the spark of hope be born in this world.