November: I Might Be A Superhero

020: Failed Mission

Sheriff Brightside was having a hard time concentrating because his mind kept drifting over to the man on clutches and Catherine, his bank manager. Both were victims of this shape-shifting giant. 

He knew he needed to tackle the issue before it got out of hand. He didn't want more people barging into his office to give death or injury reports about this monster roaming in Indianapolis.

This monster had gotten three million dollars from the bank, meaning he'd be taking a break right now. Sheriff Brightside knew the tactics of criminals, they always took a rest, and hid for some time after carrying out the act of a successful thievery. Other than this one transformed into a giant. Sherrif Brightside couldn't fathom if he was hiding or going about to continue robbing and killing.

For sure this alien invasion had destruction looming over Marion County and even other cities in Indiana. 

How could they pass their virus onto such a person who used it to steal, kill and cause harm?

Teens were caught and apprehended, while the rest who were on the low because of the fear of getting caught, had not killed anyone or robbed a bank before.

An abrupt knock on his door averted him from his thoughts. Sheriff Brightside raised his head.

 It was his deputy.

"Do you have any news?" He inquired.

"Yes, sir." Duncan left the door and approached his table with a file.

"Now what do you have there?"

"Bradley Norman!" Duncan slapped a file onto Sheriff Brightside's desk and he was forced to look at it.

"You mean he looks like this monster?" Sherrif Brightside stared at his Deputy and then back to the file.

"He is the monster, sir. Just take a close look," Duncan urged his boss and Sheriff Brightside had no choice but to put the photo next to the file that had a passport of the said Bradley Norman, before examining it. Then his eyes swelled up in their sockets.

Surely the monster terrorizing the city wasn't the prison inmate. But they bore a striking resemblance. In fact, it was uncanny. The same eye color and facial features. 

He paused for a more few seconds and took a proper look at the photo and the file, holding them close to his face this time.

"Hold on for a fucking minute!" Sheriff Brightside immediately stood up from his chair. "It has the same face as this criminal, other than Bradley Norman is in prison paying for his crimes," he added before staring at his Deputy.

"He's not, sir." Duncan looked at Sheriff Brightside flatly. "Bradley Normal is not behind bars anymore."

"What do you mean by that?" Sherrif Brightside kept the photo and the file on his desk. "How did you find out so soon?"

"I made some calls a few minutes ago and was informed he escaped last week Wednesday, after killing a prison guard and disguising himself as the guard," Duncan informed Sheriff Brightside as he rubbed a palm over his face.

There was a pause as Sheriff Brightside stared into the air thoughtfully. So many thoughts were slamming through his mind that he was already having a hard time thinking straight.

"Did you say he escaped on Wednesday?" He asked his deputy sheriff.

"Yes, sir, Wednesday evening by 9-10 pm." 

"That was the exact time the alien invasion took place."

"So you mean he got infected with the alien virus?"

"I'm still trying to wrap my head around it. Only kids around the age of sixteen were infected. How is it possible a grown man of Twenty-eight got some quirks? It's just unbelievable." Sheriff Brightside had his hands akimbo as he turned to face the wall, inhaling deeply as of lost in thoughts.

"You remember when he arrested him after he killed Ben, the seventy-two years old man, and stole his car? I made sure he was sent to jail to pay for his crimes. It's just so frustrating that he escaped on the night the alien invasion took place, became a victim of alien virusirus, and now he's with this giant-quirk he uses for killing, stealing and troubling people." Sheriff Brightside turned to face Duncan, "we need to figure out a way to catch him,"

Duncan appeared puzzled for some seconds, unblinking and unmoving until Sheriff Brightside called his name and snapped him out of his misery.

"It'll be dangerous to go after him like this. He's totally out of control." Duncan persisted, seeming a bit scared even though he was trying to mask it up with a straight facial expression.

"And so we'll leave him to carry on with his thievery and killing of the innocent? What am I Marion's county sheriff for if I cannot do my job!?" Sheriff Brightside's voice was raised high.

"How can we get hold of him, then? You know he can transform into a beast, we'd probably be the size of hotdog buns in his hand." 

"Enough with the bullshit talk. Get yourself ready, we're skipping lunch." Sheriff Brightside commanded authoritatively, grabbing his hat and wearing it over his head.

"But I've only just had coffee. Can we stop by at some place to get hamburgers?" 

"Did you hear what Catherine said? He killed five people and injured seventeen. Tossed them aside like toys. If anything is more important, it's going after this man-beast to ensure he doesn't kill more people," Sheriff Brightside panted and puffed as he stared at his Deputy in displeasure.

A loud rumbling came from Duncan's stomach and he gulped and looked at the Sheriff, wondering if he'd be granted a few minutes to eat.

Sherrif Brightside noticed this and glared at him.

"Now, thinking about food at this point makes me want to kick your so hard in the face, to knock your teeth off. Get yourself ready, now!"

"Yes sir!" Duncan gave him a two-finger salute after flinching and composing himself.

"May I ask if we're going alone?" He paused to look at his boss.

"Of course not, we'll have company with us."

***

Bradley was dipping his fried chicken wing inside a tiny bowl of ketchup when he heard a loud bang on his door.

"This is Sheriff Brightside from Indiana police metropolitan Police department, (IMPD) either you comply in handing yourself over or I break this door down!" A masculine voice boomed through his door.

Upon hearing this, he rolled his eyes and uncapped the lid of a beer. He was unfazed because he knew they were no match for him. Sheriff Brightside and his team were useless right now. Unlike the time he was cuffed and taken to jail for killing an elderly person. It was this same Sheriff Brightside who caught him when he tried to flee. The same Sheriff who made him suffer in jail.

Bradley brewed with rage when he remembered this, but he still dipped his chicken wing in the ketchup and ate out of it.

"I know you're in there, Bradley Normal. And I know you have this quirk that makes you feel like some god because you can transform into a fucking giant to cause terror!" Sheriff Brightside already had his pistol in his right hand, ready to break down the door with his foot and fire shots at the beast of a criminal.

Deputy Duncan was opposite him, with his two hands on the gun, ready to fire shots at Bradley Norman.

"You'll pay for all the crimes you've fucking committed. Either you turn yourself over to avoid getting hurt or we'll do it the hard way!" It was Duncan's time to yell this time. Somehow, he had gained some courage for this upon seeing how angered and determined Sheriff Brightside appeared.

"I know you have an eighteen years old son who's readying for college, and then a sixteen-year-old sweet sweet girl who seems stubborn but cares deeply for you." Bradley paused to take a big gulp from his beer before continuing, " Now listen to me and listen good, Sheriff Brightside. Go home to your children. That's if you don't want them to be fatherless." He finished the last of his chicken wings and then kissed his teeth.

His voice sounded really calm as if he was talking about something else. Something entirely different that didn't have to do with killing.

And it angered Sheriff Brightside even more, that a prison inmate could threaten him.

"On the count of three, Bradley, open this door or we'll break it down and shoot."

"I'd like to see you try, Sheriff." Bradley chuckled, rising from his chair immediately. He stretched and spun his head, before flexing his bones, prepared to kill.

"One!" Sheriff Brightside yelled.

"For agony," Bradley's voice was awful as he said this in a sing-song manner.

"Two!" 

"For death,"

"Three!"

"The funeral!" He immediately squatted and bent over the floor, before transforming into his giant-form. It was at that moment Sheriff Brightside broke down the door and started shooting.

"Holy cow!" Duncan exclaimed upon seeing the red, fuming monster.

Bradley dodged the bullets that were fired at him, he had his back lowered the whole time he ran because he could not stand at his full height inside the house, since he was taller than it. 

As he approached Sheriff Brightside at a speed, the floor shattered from the impact of his weight like there was an earthquake.

 Sheriff Brightside carried on shooting, not even scared at bit at the monster heading his way. 

He dodged when Bradley's huge hand tried to smack him, and then he resumed shooting.

The bullets Bradley sustained were like office pins stinging his body. He stopped running after Sheriff Brightside for a moment and shook his body until his skin grew thicker and shoved the bullets to the floor.

"Unbelievable!" Duncan muttered because it was completely incredulous.

The whole neighborhood was getting tumbled upside down because a giant was chasing after Sheriff Brightside. People were running and hiding as far as they could, because the unlucky ones got crunched on the floor, by the bigfoot of Bradley. Leaving dead bodies like bloodied battered sacks of meat and broken bones.

People were dying again, and it pained Sheriff Brightside so much. He wondered if he should just stop so there'd be no loss of lives anymore, but he could not back out now, with the beast chasing after him, determined to kill him.

They circled the neighborhood for some time and Bradley damaged houses, cars, and shops with his fists and feet.

A helicopter flew out from an unknown destination and two cops started shooting Bradley with sniper rifles. 

He sustained more bullet injuries that seemed to be a lot more painful than the first, and this triggered his anger. He caught the helicopter, twirled it on for some time, and threw it against a high 27-story building, and it exploded immediately. Killing the cops and more people.

Sheriff Brightside felt his heart drop in his stomach. He couldn't believe what he just saw with his eyes. How his men and innocent people died within the space of thirty seconds. It was now him and Duncan.

Did he do the right thing by approaching this beast? Should he have listened to his deputy who was persistent at first? 

Sheriff Brightside hadn't seen a typical Beastly-Bradley in person and had no idea he could be violent.

People were running for their dear lives, even reporters from afar, zooming their cameras to snap and video the whole scene.

Bradley raised two cars in the air, consisting of people and children.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are, Sheriff Brightside. You can not abandon what you started. You have to finish it because you paid deaf ears to my warning. Fucking come out now and perform your duty as the lives-saving Sheriff, became I'm about to kill some more people." Bradley's was so loud that it could surpass a gong and a trumpet. And it sounded beastly too.

The people in the cars he held were shouting at top of their lungs and crying their eyes out from the fear of getting killed.

Sheriff Brightside immediately decided he had had enough and emerged from his hiding place, not wanting Bradley to kill more people. 

"I'm over here, you heal of shit. Let them go!" He yelled at Bradley, aiming his gun at his eye.

"Very well then," Bradley chuckled inauspiciously as he violently kept the cars down, not even caring if anyone got hurt because it was a rough act.

Their heads bounced back and forth, hitting the steering wheel or the glass beside them. They sustained nosebleeds and bumps on their heads.

"Look at you, the almighty Marion County's sheriff, so small like a toy." Bradley's shoulder shook along with him as laughed like a psychopath. "You always felt on top of the world while arresting criminals, but you were just delusional. Being this big and powerful is what it feels like to be on top of the world."

"You're not in any way powerful, Bradley. You're still that small-town criminal who is as useless as a used dumped tissue. And now, you've picked murdering as a hobby." Sheriff Brightside lashed out, his body invigorating for war. He didn't care if Bradley Norman was thirty feet tall, he was unfazed by him.

Sheriff Brightside's insult seemed to have gotten through Bradley Norman because a cloud befell on his face, and he immediately glowered at Sheriff Brightside.

"You'll regret your actions in hell," Bradley told him and then swung his fist in his direction, but he dodged.

This time he tricked Sheriff Brightside into swinging his fist in his direction again and as Sheriff Brightside ran in another direction, Bradley caught him and held him up.

"I'll crunch you into pieces and send your bones to your children." He began to squeeze Sheriff Brightside in his hand like a toy, making him go through so much pain.

Duncan, who didn't want his head to get hurt, came out of his hiding spot and attracted Bradley's attention to him.

"Hey, big guy."

"What are you doing?" Sheriff Brightside gritted out from where he was in Bradley's hand. He didn't want Duncan to get involved in this anymore. He thought Duncan had hidden somewhere.

"You're a living proof that two wrongs do not make a right. Your dead parents deserve curses even as they rot and smell in their graves." Although the deputy didn't mean this, he just wanted his words to hurt as much as they could and it worked.

There was so much pain, anger, and sadness in Bradley's eyes upon hearing his late parents get insulted this way.

He unconsciously let go of Sheriff Brightside, making the fright-driven man yell until he fell 20 feet down, breaking his left leg in the process.

Meanwhile, Duncan couldn't run far because Bradley chased after him like his life depended on it, and then caught him really fast.

"Say hi to the devil for me," he told the struggling deputy, turned him upside down, and left him to fall down, landing on the ground with his neck.

There was a cracking sound as Duncan's neck broke, killing him on the spot.

"No!" Sheriff Brightside bellowed at the top of his lungs upon seeing his deputy die such a terrible death. His leg was completely broken, making him go through pain he wouldn't wish for his worst enemy to suffer, but he didn't care. 

Deputy Duncan Lockwood was dead. It was just hard to accept that fact.

A minute ago Duncan tried to save his life by saying harsh and hurtful things to Bradley.

An hour ago, he was persistent, and he didn't want them to go on the mission.

But Sheriff Brightside refused. He reproved him from eating lunch when he wanted to.

Sheriff Brightside was guilt-stricken. He felt he killed Duncan Lockwood himself.

Tears welled up in his eyes as he crawled with his uninjured leg and elbows and hid under a spoilt truck, to hide from Bradley Norman who was in search of him.

The beast called out his name as his mighty feet approached the trunk, and Sheriff Brightside could feel his heart dropping in his stomach. He had lost this battle and now he was hiding to survive.