Dreams of an Absolution

Potential (Episode 36)

"Brian!!!", both Jessica and Timothy yelled in relief as they ran over to him. Seeing them okay, Brian limped over to meet them halfway with a smile on his damaged face, instantly hugging the both of them in the center of the room. "Brian!! What happened to you!?", Jessica worryingly asked. "No...time to....explain," Brian barely said as he breathed heavily. With that, they all looked back and turned their attention to Slick.

Blood spilling from his upper back onto the floor, Slick slowly stood up with an evil smile. The shadows from his fedora hat covered his eyes, making his face look all the more deviant. Suddenly, Slick planted a sticky bomb in the doorway behind him. "Guys, step back! He doesn't know how to set a time using my powers!", Brian shouted whilst keeping Timothy and Jessica at a distance.

The bomb went off instantly, blasting Slick onto the ground face first. The small explosion set the back of his vest on fire for a split second. "Ahhh! Well, that's one hell of a way......to sear a stab wound. God damn that hurts!", Slick exclaimed as he got up off the ground, holding his pistol in his right hand.

Seeing Brian on the brink of death, and having just got Jessica back, Timothy clenched his fist, knowing he had to be the one to do something. Slick smiled as he looked directly at Timothy, seeing the tears in his eyes. "Make your move, little boy, " Slick menacingly whispered. With no thought in mind, Timothy ran at Slick as fast as he could with his fist balled. "Timothy!!", Jessica yelled in immediate concern. Before he could take another charging step, Slick smacked Timothy aggressively across the face with his pistol, knocking him to the ground instantly.

Before Slick could make another move, pissed, Jessica quickly ran up and threw fast a right hook at Slick, but he quickly weaved back and grabbed Jessica by the arm, flinging her and sending her crashing into the wall. But when Slick turned back around, he saw a broken, wooden chair flying at him at high speeds for a split second before smashing into his face. Slick immediately grabbed his bloody nose as he muffled in pain, dropping his gun. His nose was broken upon impact. As he swiftly tried to retain his weapon whilst holding his nose, Slick was met with a brutal kick to his chest from Brian, sending him flying into the wall with a hard thud. The crash was so hard that he smashed through part of the wall. The room immediately filled with dustiness and parts of the broken wall.

Breathing heavily, Brian snapped his dislocated wrist back into place, sounding a blood curdling crack. Timothy and Jessica slowly got back up following Slick's attacks. "I think.....it's over," Brian muffled in his shortness of breath as he picked up Slick's gun. Holding their bruises, Timothy and Jessica gazed over at the dusty hole in the wall Slick crashed through, seeing if he was truly down for the count.

All of a sudden, an explosion went off from the inside of the hole in the wall, knocking Jessica and Timothy back in the blast and launching Slick right towards Brian at insane velocity. Milliseconds in mid air, Slick pulled a dagger from his back pocket, slicing Brian across the left side of his face and ear instantaneously as he landed. None of them had the chance to react as Slick had snagged his pistol back from Brian right after slashing him. A stream of blood began to leak rapidly down the left side of Brian's face as he was stiff armed onto the ground by Slick. Once Brian was down, Slick aimed his gun down at him.

"Well son of a bitch, that's one hell of an explosive power. Pretty handy, but it sucks that you can get affected by the explosion yourself because that shit hurts. I mean look at the state you kids got me in. Broken nose, a nasty stab wound on my back, and my vest all ripped up. I oughta shoot you dead right now," Slick babbled, still maintaining his villainous smirk.

Yet, even with his damaged face and body, Brian smirked right back up at Slick with an equally malicious grin. "Just shut up already bastard! I....I know you won't shoot me, or any of us for that matter. You've had so many damn chances but you couldn't finish us off. You just keep running your damn mouth! Oh wait. That's right. You can't kill us. Because you need us to give you the information you need to find the ghost kid, right? Well you're wasting your time because we ain't telling you jack shit!", Brian exclaimed.

Slick looked directly into Brian's eyes, as if he was staring down into his soul, and softly chuckled. Then, right after, Slick's evil grin vanished. He looked as though he was serious as the eerie room lighting shadowed half his face. "Kid, I meant what I said earlier when I said you're pretty damn smart, and on another level for someone your age. I see it in your eyes. You're not like the others, you're like me. I mean look, you pushed me this far, even though your body is completely broken. Buying time by keeping me monologuing for a hero to show up and take out four of my guys. Using sticky bombs to propel yourself onto my car and stick to it despite the self inflicting damage. And setting the timer of the bombs perfectly to which they'd all blow up at the same time and destroy my car without you or your friend being hurt in the process. So tell me Brian, why do you waste all that skill and potential by deciding to take the heroic path. Sacrificing your own body to keep your friends and random civilians safe, until one day, you end up meeting your own fate, letting all that talent you have go to waste. Giving your life for people who wouldn't do the same for you...."

Brian's bloodshot eyes widened, as Slick continued speaking to him. "Why waste all that skill, practice, and potential for this damned, false hero society. When you can partner up with me and be the two most powerful beings in this shit hole of a world. C'mon Brian, you're so much better than this, you're so much better than them. Respectfully, you gotta know your own worth. Don't let yourself go down that miserable path. Being a hero is nothing but an endless pain." Slick then lowered his gun and held his hand out to Brian. He was offering to pick him up.

Brian looked down, deep in thought. Everything Slick had said, resonated something within him. "Y'know what, fuck it, I'm in," Brian said with an evil smile as he took Slick's hand. Slick greeted him back with an equally evil smirk. "Sike!" Without a second thought, Brian snatched the gun from Slick, punching him in the throat in the process. Slick fell onto the ground, and Brian quickly aimed the pistol at him.

From the other side of the room, Timothy got up off the ground and tossed a cracked (full) flower pot across the room. "Jessica! Now!!", Timothy shouted as she got up off the ground as fast as possible and punched the small flower pot out of the air, shattering it instantly. As the soil spilled over the floor, Jessica ripped off her black glove and planted her hand into the small pile of soil.

In an instant, small vines sprouted off the small pile of soil and immediately wrapped around Slick's arms, quickly tightening. Keeping the gun aimed down towards Slick's face, Brian uttered, "Any last words..….Slick?" Slick looked up at Brian with a devilish smirk and said, "It's a damn shame Brian. We would've made a good team. I still think it's embarrassing that someone like you has to rely on these weak little-" before finishing his sentence, Timothy appeared behind Slick in a matter of seconds. "You gonna finish that damn sentence you bastard!", Timothy mouthed at Slick. And, not giving a damn, Slick grinned and finished his sentence, "Bitches."