Being A Hero

CHAPTER 7

(SUNSHINE CITY)

(ROBERTS LAB)

The heroes were amidst a conversation, except Ben, who had not returned from his trip. Ronda; clad in a brown short gown -fitted and elastic- and also above her knees, thereby revealing a said portion of her thigh.

“A lot of people have turned their backs on Johnny Tony; because you saved this city,” she said, with a smile, and a tone of relief. Kyle sighed, before Mark gave a rely, “… couldn’t have done that without all of you”, he smirked. He was putting on a white top; short sleeve, and a navy blue trouser.

“now I say, we can take on him, reveal his secrets and let justice prevail”, Mary said, with a stern look on her face. She wore a blue top, and black trousers which stopped between her knee and ankle. Kyle replies sharply, he was always looking happy,

“of course, but about Moza… where could he be? Back to Planet Hulton?” he asked, eagerly expecting an answer, and Mary exhales sharply, and answered, “I was also thinking of the same”, she said, while Kyle then gazed at Nesa abruptly, “I think I’ll have to go to Hulton and find out if he has returned or not”, she suggested.

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Mark nods, and said, while he gets off the chair, “right now, I have to meet Johnny Tony in his house”,

“I’m coming with you”, Bethany said; she had been quiet all along. Mary also added, “me too…”. The latter stood up, as well as Bethany; donning a grey suit, and trouser, while a white top was underneath the suit, “fine, let’s go,” Mark concluded, and they headed from the door

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Moza was alone in an underground house; with dim yellow lights, he was seated on a metal chair, and he clicks a device on his wrist; which immediately projected a small hologram of one of the king’s men. Moza was speaking to him,

“I’ll bring Hero to the king before the next 7days, and he’ll be brought to Hulton dead, that’s a promise”, he said, grinding his teeth, the man smiles and replied, “I trust you can do that. Bring Nesa as well, she will be judged here according to the laws”, Moza bows his head and raised it, “as you wish…”

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(JOHNNY TONY’S HOUSE)

Johnny Tony was in his house seated alone in the living room; there were guards everywhere, he seemed to be in thoughts of how Dr. Robert has now been confined in Roberts Lab by the heroes, how other partners in business left him because Hero saved the day, and a lot of other things on his mind. He was obviously angry, and this made him hate Hero even more; save the fact that he knows Hero is Mark whom he hated already.

One of the guards came to him with a tablet phone in his hand, he got right in front of Johnny, and the latter asked, “what is it?”, the guy replies, “you have visitors, sir”

He gave the tablet to Johnny, who collected it, sighing as took it from the guard. He checked it, and saw Mark, Mary, and Bethany in the compound, being checked by guards who were outside, Johnny smirks, and then sniffles,

“let them in,” he ordered, while giving the tablet phone back to the guard; who quickly headed outside. Johnny hummed for few seconds, until the three came in. He stopped while getting up, Mark, Mary and Bethany came closer, and Johnny yells audibly in a calm way, “privacy!”

The guards understood, and all walked away, to places they couldn’t be seen; leaving him with the three. Johnny chuckles softly, and started, “welcome to my humble abode, Detective Bath, Mr. Mark Bryan, and Miss Mary Stark… why are you here?”, he asked.

Mark answered almost immediately, “well it seems you know a lot about us already, well…. We know a lot about you too, like laundering of cash, drug dealings, killings, and…”, Johnny lashed in saying, “and planning your death? Look, I’m aware you know everything, Robert has failed, others have turned their backs on me, but I remain who I am and there is nothing you can do to put me away, except you kill me… then you’re gonna be thee bad guy”, Johnny chuckles on a high pitch.

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Mary replied after Johnny stops, “we’ll reveal your secrets and the court will decide your fate, just like it decided your father’s fate”, Johnny smiled, he scoffed dismissively, while he said, “I just told you that won’t stop me… this is very stupid of you, Mark, you came with Beth, your girlfriend. Brought her in my den, you saw my guards, they can shoot her down anytime, and also shoot you down and I’ll still be a free man”.

Mark yells back, “no you won’t, not after all you’ve done!”. Johnny grins and asked with a smile on his face, “oh, have I done anything? I hate to say this, but I’m just getting started…” he was walking closer to Mark, who was also came closer to him, “…and no one, not even one person can stop me. Consider this the day you start dying”

Three guards shot multiple bullets towards Mark, but Mary quickly reacted and was able to blow some of it away with wind while Mark saw the others coming slowly towards him, so he dodged the bullets, and concentrated on it, he suddenly got hit by something which threw him back to the ground. It was an energy that came out of Johnny Tony’s hand and it looked exactly liked the doses which had made Mark weaker.

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They were stunned, and the other guards came out in large numbers pointing guns at them while Johnny Tony walked away. Mark was speedily getting weaker on the ground, while Bethany said to Mary, “we must go, let’s go!” Immediately, Mary made a little mini spinning wind from her hands, and below her legs, which rasied her, Beth, and Mark off the ground, as they flew outside quickly to escape.

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(ROBERTS LAB)

Mark was unconscious and on one of the beds, while Mary was attending to him. Kyle, Bethany, Nesa, and Ronda were also there talking to one another, Ronda said amidst the conversation, “so, Johnny Tony has a power that weakens a person, and that’s what Dr Robert has been giving Mark before, so now he got a hit right from the source and this isn’t fine… he keeps getting weaker”. Bethany gasps and replied, “I hope he wakes up soon, cause it’s gonna be much worse if Moza comes at a time like this”.

“that’s right”, Nesa replies. Mary came to them and sat, “let him come, we’ll whoop his ass”, she said. Kyle chuckles softly while Ronda replied, "no, we’ll be damned”. Bethany clears her throat and sat, “don’t you think we should try convincing Robert to help us, cause by now Johnny might think we’ve killed him”.

Kyle replies, “no he won’t, but he’s useless to him now”. Mary looked at them and asked, “should we try?” The door slammed open causing them to be startled; due to the suddenness. Moza came in looking strong, and ready, he sped in the passageway and came back holding Dr. Robert as he raised him off the ground with his top. They were shocked, even Dr. Robert had fear in his eyes, “want information from him? You won’t get it”, Moza grins wickedly, Mary frowns and tries to attack, but before she could move, he sped out again. Bethany yells, “he’s gonna kill him!”, in a worrisome tone, while Nesa replied sharply, “and Mark is still down, what the heck are we gonna do?”.

Mary grunts, and clenched her teeth angrily, “damnit!”, she cursed, “… I’m going after that asshole, I’m gonna end this myself”.

“not alone…”, Ronda said from behind, while Mary turned to look at her, surprisingly, she was quickly suited ion her tech suit, which had blue led lights on its’ end, and a helmet mask which generated as she clicked her wrist, it covered her face and head, but her eyes were visible through it, “… I’m coming with you!”

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Moza was already on a stage in a live public gathering holding Dr. Roberts firmly, that he couldn’t escape his grasp. He stood before the podium, speaking, while the people were in fear, expecting the heroes,

“the savior of your city, your protector, your Hero and his friends are not powerful enough to stop me, he is weak. And I; Moza, I’m the protector of my own world, here to rip your world apart, and I’m starting with this man right here, he… will… DIE!”.

Moza’s eyes glowed red, in readiness to blast his head off with heat vision, while his left-hand flamed fire, and held Robert tightly with the other, cops had arrived and the people were terrified, then out of nowhere, Miss Awesome, and Ronda (clad in her super suit allowed her ability and joy of flight)

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Ronda landed while Miss Awesome blew Moza back with the wind, but he only moved a bit as the stage shook, he had let go of Dr. Robert, and Miss Awesome was not relenting, as she sent waves at Moza to blow him, back, meanwhile he forced himself to stay on a spot, as the surface of the stage began creak and crack.

The people moved away; the stage was about to go down, Ronda began to shoot blue laser like lights from her suit at Moza, but as he was hit twice, he grunts, and sent a fireball at Miss Awesome, throwing her off the stage.

Ronda lost concentration, and was suddenly punched by Moza, pushing her backwards, while mid-air; the punch didn’t really hither, but his hand touched her before she sharply moved backwards, he yells and tried to punch her again, but this time, she disappeared.

Moza was surprised by this, as well as Miss Awesome who just got on her feet. But Ronda didn’t actually disappear; she reduced in size, and sent blasts of lights at Moza, which hits his chest, causing him to stagger. She turns back to normal and Miss Awesome flew forward, stretching her hand towards Moza, and all of the oxygen around him ceased, he couldn’t breathe anymore, he was choking already, but he yelled angrily and shot heat vision from his eyes, blasting Miss Awesome, while Ronda shot a blue laser lights from two circles on the sides of the space that showed her eyes.

Moza blocked with a continuous heat vision, and overcame the laser, thrusting her backwards in the air. The stage was about to fall when Moza blasted Dr. Roberts with fire, throwing him back, and as he was burning, the stage collapsed, and he fell with it as well, dying in the process. Moza levitates slowly and left flying speedily.

(SUNSHINE CITY)

A journalist was speaking live, while she was on the roadside; being telecasted, and everywhere looked scattered, the headline was, ‘Is Hero dead or alive?’. She spoke while facing the camera, “the city is being terrorized by one man, who calls himself Moza, and as you can see, he’s destroyed a lot of things and even killed some people. Where is Hero? if you’re alive out there watching this, please come to our aid and save the city… but so far, two female superheroes have been trying to take him down but he’s very much stronger than them…”

Micro (Ronda) said to Miss Awesome, “Moza decided not to leave, and now a lot has been damaged… we really need to do something to bring Hero back to consciousness”, Miss Awesome sighs and replied, “and one of us has to stay here to keep Moza busy”

“I’ll stay”, Micro said, but Miss Awesome disagrees, “I’ve been doing this for a while, I don’t want you to get hurt, think of a scientific way, and I’m gonna keep Moza busy, if you need ideas, talk to me through the earphone”, she said. Miro nodded, and quickly left flying. Miss Awesome took a deep breath, and charged towards Moza speedily.

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(ROBERT LAB)

Ronda was back already; she had changed to a casual dress. Mark was still unconscious and Bethany was beside him with her eyes red as she held his hand.

“it looks like he’s getting weaker from the inside,” Kyle said worriedly, “and if we don’t find something we can use, he might die in less than 2 days”, Bethany was surprised; she looked up at them, and replies, “we have to save him… I haven’t even told him I’m pregnant yet”,

They were all surprised and Ronda exhales sharply, “okay, power on…” she said; her suit immediately switched on, “…how long does Mark Bryan have left to live in this state he’s in? scan”

The computer answered saying, “if Mark Bryan’s strength keeps depleting at the current rate, he will die in 6 hours 38minutes!”

Bethany gasps while Kyle said to Ronda, “what can we do?” The computer answered almost immediately, “give him strength,”

“Ronda, how are we gonna give him strength”, Nesa asked, looking puzzled.

“even if a device was to be built to give him strength from our bodies, it would take months or years to build it…” Ronda said; she placed her palm on her forehead, while she heaved a sigh. Bethany got up and cleans her eyes, “I’m gonna kill that bastard!”, she yelled.

Kyle quickly blocked her way saying, “no, you can’t….Killing Johnny Tony isn’t what Mark would want right now, right now he needs you to be with him, stay beside him, that alone can make him live longer than the expected time for his death, we’ll figure something out. But if we can’t, we’ll have to accept our fate”

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Moza was shooting continuous heat vision from his eyes to different directions and soldiers who were trying to take him down as well; but they couldn’t. Miss Awesome was down on the ground lying flat, her mouth was open and blood was in her mouth; she had been stabbed on her stomach already by Moza; it was the black dagger.

Tears rolled down from her eyes; she wasn’t listening to any sound, she stared up into the sky trying to force herself to smile, she coughs and said to herself,

“it’s not time for me to die yet, even if I’m to die, I’m taking Moza with me”.

She yelled angrily and raised her hand up then thunder began to rumble and the sky was filled with thick clouds as if would rain.

Miss Awesome flew up really high and made a tornado around herself, then she began to spin down towards Moza till she delivers a punch to his forehead, and he fell to the ground while the tornado disappeared into thin air.

Moza stood up immediately and tried to punch her, but she dodged the attack and kicked his leg twice, then jumped, and delivers a roundhouse kick, Moza staggered and Miss Awesome said while cleaning the blood in her mouth, “I’m not just a superhuman, I’m a fighter, and I’ll use my strength combined with my skills to beat you up this time”

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Moza sped at her and punched her back, pushing her meters away as she hits her back on a car, causing a dent, while the glasses shattered, but she came back running towards him and as he tried to kick her rib, she grabbed his leg and kicked the other leg, making him fall to the ground, and as he looked up, she punched him on his face.

He pushed her back again and he got up saying, “so, Hero’s dead, huh?”, Miss Awesome answered confidently, “no he’s not, he’s coming for you, and he will end you when he’s back”

Moza sped towards her and tries to punch her, he only punched a white fog that disappeared thereafter and she was behind him, he exclaims, and asked, “how did you do that?”

She smiled, and answered, “because I’ve been hiding my full powers, you think you’ll be able to kill me, play time’s over, now it’s gonna get ugly”. She clasped her hands and the Moza was blown back with the wind to hit his back on an army tanker, Moza yelled and then carried the tanker saying, “I’m gonna crush you!”

He tried to throw the taker but she stretched forth hand forward making the wind direct the tanker back so he won’t be able to throw it, then she jumped and yells as she blew more wind at the taker and it fell on Moza.

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Moza pushed the tanker to the side; he was groaning, then he began to shoot fireballs from his hand but before it could even get to her, the flames would be extinguished, and disappear; she was walking closer to him till she got right in front of him and as he shot heat vision from his eyes, it passed through a thick fog, while she appeared behind him, bashing him from behind with a super punch; pushing him forward.

“I think I can say… you’re not as powerful as I am Moza. Perhaps I might be the one to finish you”, she said with a smirk.

Moza turn to her and replies, “no, you are not strong enough to kill me, your powers can only get me busy and frustrated, that’s what you’re doing, waiting for Hero to arrive… Buying time… “

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(ROBERT LAB)

They all sat looking hopeless, except Ronda who was walking around, Nesa asked in a tone of sadness, “can he even be saved? It’s over for us all already, right?”

“not completely, the fate of two worlds lies on our hands now, if we can save him, then we might be saving everyone here on earth and in Hulton. I know Mark will defeat Moza”, Bethany said while smiling.

Kyle exhales, “the computer says we need to give him strength, so how the hell are we gonna do that? Give him energy drink?”, Kyle yells. “no, Kyle… the injections Dr. Robert used for Mark, how does it have effect on him?”, Ronda asked.

Kyle quickly replies, “it boosts his strength so high and weakens a little after some time, could be an hour or more”, Ronda exclaims, and yells, “yes!”.

“I hope it’s not what I think you’re thinking?”, Nesa asked, as Ronda sighs and replied, “last time Robert came here before we locked him, he came with a filled briefcase, we can give him strength for a while with that. So, when he’s awake, he’d only get weaker a little, not so weak that he’d pass out… then Hero will be back to the world of the living”,

They were all quiet, but Bethany spoke, “just do it…”, she replied

Kyle rushed in to bring the briefcase and quickly opened it to see ten filled injections; Ronda said, “I hope this works”

She began to inject him one by one till it remained just two. Nesa asked as she stared, “why did you use 8?”.

“according to my calculations, using 8 is what we need to save him, perhaps for now… we just have to wait for about a minute now”, Ronda replies. Bethany inhales deeply

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Miss Awesome said to Moza as a smile escaped her lips, “Moza, you have lost this battle”

“it hasn’t begun”, he retorted back, but she laughed him off, and said,

“the one who’s gonna finish this is coming… Hero!”

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“Mark, please wake up,” Bethany said, while holding his hand

“… everyone needs you, now get up,” Nesa added, then Bethany continues, “go out there, and give Moza the beating of his life… NOW!”, she yelled, and Mark suddenly opened his eyes as wide as possible.