The Stand-ins

A prelude to it all

'There comes a time in everyone's life, in which you must make a choice. Stick to your zone of comfort, or bound beyond what you thought you could be capable of. Sometimes that choice appears in the earlier years of your life, and sometimes it happens when you're 39.'

A sudden crash echoes down the darkened hall followed by two large doors flying from their hinges and sliding across the ground. A handsome man in a long winter coat, comfortable pants, and a button up shirt, nimbly lands on his feet before looking up and being tossed down the hall by an invisible force. The room that once had doors gave way to an oddly dressed figure stepping out into the hall with a headband adorned with a massive eye.

"Come back here you piece of shit! If you're going to start something with me, then you're damn well finishing it!" The eyeball decorated man shouts followed by a raise of his hand. The other man swiftly sidesteps as another unforeseeable force blasts at him, missing him by mere inches and knocking his somewhat lengthy, brown bangs from his eyes.

'The man with an ungodly skip to his step is me, Sullivan Stirling, also once known as Re-Verse.'

"I sure don't intend to." Sullivan states with a sharp breath, suddenly racing forward with a blinding speed. An alarm rings over head as the eyeball decorated man puts up his arms before him, causing the ground, nearby walls, and ceiling to suddenly shatter sending chunks of rubble flying in front of him, causing Sullivan to backflip out of the way.

'This costumed lunatic, and resident of my kill list, is known as The Third Eye, aka Peter Jacobs.'

"I don't know what the hell got into your thick head that makes you think that you could take me on, but I'm glad to be the one to put an end to your miserable, alchy life!"

"That's a bit of a low blow, don't you think?" Sullivan calls out from beyond the cloud of dust and debris before rushing forward with a sudden uppercut, sending The Third Eye stumbling back. Sullivan rushes forward to close the gap only to be flung back at break neck speeds. "I'm not going to stick the landing!" He exclaims as his body suddenly finds itself perfectly stabilized on the ground.

"I always found that shit annoying. When you were in the fliers, you never used it like this!" The Third Eye shouts as he sends out another wave of force with a wave of his hand.

"This is going to hurt..." Sullivan mumbles as he kneels and covers his head with his arms. The blast strikes him like a strong gust of wind, causing his clothes to flap, but not a scratch on him.

The sound of police sirens joins the alarm of the building. Officers rush in as patients, nurses, and doctors begin to flood from the hospital.

"What even is your endgame here? You gonna kill me? Even your try at this shit will get you into a whole lot of trouble!"

"Maybe there's just something better out there than you. Maybe there's a brighter day in which you assholes don't hold rule over this world. Maybe... I just want to kill you guys for what you did to my family!" Sullivan monologues with a crescendoing voice, before running forward with a furious expression. The Third Eye frantically throws his hands up, only for no wave to be sent from them. A sudden sense of nausea arises as he witnesses the gap between them close quickly. "I'm weak..." Sullivan whispers as his wound back hand is thrown forward. A juicy pop followed by a wet splatter rings out. Sullivan slowly draws back his bloody fist, eyeing it in amazement before looking down to his practically headless foe.

The sirens slowly began to be drown out by the sound of a beating heart. Sullivan looks blankly down at the costumed corpse by his feet. The heart beat continued to pick up as a child's laughter echoed by his ears.

'We'll see you soon my son. Make mama p-'

A sudden heavy weight was applied to Sullivan's back, forcing him off his feet and to the ground with a painful thud. His trance is broken by the small glimpse of an officer on his back.

"Get the other cuffs! This guy's an idol!" The officer shouts to the others following close behind. Soon the feeling of cold, tight steel dug into his wrists before a low hum emits from them. Sullivan is brought to his feet before being escorted down the hall.

A sky piercing flame stood roaring before him. Sullivan watches in horror on two knees as cries of pain rang out from the smoldering house.

"SULLY!"

"SULLIVAN!" 

Feminine voices cried out from the flames before being put out by a heavy blow from a flying figure. With the fire gone, several tight cladded figures land down in a circle, looking on at the ash with silence. Sullivan felt his body going numb as a hand is placed on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry, we couldn't have done anything to stop this. We will be sure that the next time we face off against a rank 3 villain, that no innocent soul will ever be caught in the crossfire. I swear it, on your Mother and Sister's graves." A powerful voice says softly before letting go of his shoulder and flying off.

Sullivan feels the familiar cramped space of a police car. His eyes fall swiftly beside him to a newspaper that read in big bolded letters.

100 RECORDED LIVES LOST, BETWEEN THE BATTLE OF PROVIDENCE AND THE BLUNDER BUS

Sullivan slowly looks up as the officers chatter amongst one another. The feeling of euphoria was long gone, and in it's place rested a hopeless despair.

'What the fuck have I done?' Sullivan thinks to himself as he throws his head back against the seat.

4/14/2021, 4:58 AM
Palm Springs Jail, CA.

Hours that felt like years would pass as Sullivan sat cuffed to a metal table. His eyes never deterred from the glowing purple handcuffs that adorned his wrists. His aching head let's him know with great certainty that he was hungover. His attention was quickly diverted to the door before him being fiddled with. Once it swung open it would quickly give way to a sharply dressed woman wearing a high ranking badge of some sort. Without a word she slammed down a stack of papers before Sullivan.

"Do you know what you've done?" She asks in a stern voice.

"Honestly... I've been questioning that myself."