A D Tier's Breaking Point

Chapter 9

This was not the reunion Alex was expecting.

Granted he hadn't really given himself the time to imagine Morgan's reaction on seeing him alive again, but if you had asked him he would have probably described shock initially (which he had been correct on) and bleeding into some form of yelling about being gone for so long, or perhaps laughter at the state of Alex's clothes, or maybe a nicer more tearful welcome. Maybe one where Morgan locked the two of them away in their flat and caught him up on all the movies Alex had missed, and then on the gossip, and then insisted on a few rounds of Mario Kart and Alex for once would agree without any sounds of protest because it was the least he could do to be back with his most important person.

But no. No, he had watched his friend tear through the heroes with a ferocity they had never shown before, showing a display of powers that Alex was struggling to process Morgan using, and in all that time only get hit once. By Chad of all people. But as Morgan had skidded across the rooftop Alex was already plotting how many ways to make Chad beg for death. Because none of them were going to get a second hit on Morgan.

And now they had all been blasted away by an electrical force that had barely tickled Alex, and Morgan was standing there, glaring at Alex, power gathered in their gloved hands and aiming it at his chest. No, Alex had not been expecting suspicion from his best friend.

Alex swallowed and raised his hands, watching Morgan carefully, 'Morgan? It's me, its-'

'Bullshit.' Alex flinched at the venom in Morgan's voice, but didn't miss how their hands had started to tremble as Morgan tried to examine every inch of Alex, their eyes lingering on the flower in his lapel. 'This...you're going to have to do better than that.'

Alex didn't see the blast coming, but only because he wasn't expecting Morgan to actually fire. He stumbled backwards from the blow, only a few steps. From the frown on Morgan's face Alex was supposed to move more than that. 'Morgan please-'

'Don't call me that,' they hissed and reached out to a pile of rubble, lifting it into the air for a moment before throwing it at Alex. He braced this time and felt the rock and concrete shatter off him with barely a scratch left on his skin as Morgan shouted. 'Don't you dare pretend to be him!'

Alex wasn't going to fight Morgan, he knew that, but he looked around at the others on the rooftop. Most of the heroes were up now and hanging back, watching the two villains intently. Leader USA had picked up Chad and was hiding the both of them behind his shield. The Amazonian was readying her ridiculous Whip of Honesty. The Vigilante had a hand to their ear, probably talking to his own silly little family of crime fighters. Didn't one of them have a...yep, sniper rifle, set up across the square. Morgan had really gotten everyone's attention hadn't they?

'Okay now is really not the time to do this,' Alex shouted to Morgan, 'lets get rid of these guys and then we can talk-'

'They can wait their turn,' Morgan growled and lightning crackled across their hands, before they thrust it forward, only for it to bounce off of Alex's chest. 'How are you doing that?!'

'You're acting like you've never seen me fight before.'

Morgan was watching Alex again, eyes roaming over every part of his body, 'Maybe if you got a hold of the duplication software, but then how are you manifesting the powers?'

'Oh for the love of...there's no tech! It's just me!'

'And I say again, bullshit!' Morgan yelled and threw a telekinetic wave directly at Alex's chest, making him stumble back. Alex heard them mutter under their breath, 'I need a full scan of this guy's powerset and source,' Morgan muttered under their breath, 'See who you can match it to.'

'Morgan this isn't funny,' Alex said, 'Talk to me, how do I make you believe this is real?'

Instead of answering Morgan's earpiece blinked, and a ring of light appeared in their pitch black eyes. Alex frowned at that, Morgan's eyes had always been hazel, when did that change?

The light in their eyes flashed to red and Morgan suddenly screamed in pain and the sound system around the square screeched. They stumbled back, fumbling for their earpiece, as Alex moved to catch them. 'Morgan, are you okay?'

Morgan finally got the device out and yelped as their gauntlets began to spark and whine before all the lights began to power down. 'Oh shit,' Morgan whispered, poking at some of the buttons but to no effect.

'Your new fangled bracelets are down?'

'Shut up!' Morgan looked up, then looked past Alex. He didn't even need to see who was behind him, his hand shot out and wrapped around the shakanium sword, barely able to bite into his skin before he growled and ripped it away, catching the hero by the throat before throwing them back and tossing the sword to the ground.

Morgan was climbing to their feet, watching the heroes slowly advance, and they gritted their teeth, 'Let me guess. You figured out I'd show up to this fucking farce of a celebration, decided to get a fake S tier on the books and then take down my network before I could figure out who they really are? I shouldn't even be surprised.'

Alex rolled his eyes, 'Morgan please, I'm not a fake.'

'Not that hard to find a shapeshifter.'

'That can duplicate my powers as well?'

Morgan opened their mouth to rebut, only to snap back to attention as the first hero charged. Another one cried out, trying to catch them but they were already running at Morgan, fire gathering in their hands and Alex grinned. It had been a while since he had used fire powers.

Alex raced to intercept the fire user, appearing with just enough distance for them to notice the S Tier before he reached out for their throat and-

A resounding snap of fingers echoed across the rooftop, making all of the heroes still. The fire user tumbled and slammed into Alex, staring ahead in shock as their still smoking hands clawed at their chest. Alex moved to the side and watched the body fall, gasping for a breath they couldn't seem to find, and one of the heroes screamed in horror. Looking back to Morgan, Alex saw the fresh and oozing heart by his friend's feet.

'Did they honestly think that was going to work?' Morgan asked the group, voice trembling with rage as they looked around at the heroes. 'Did you honestly think this would stop me?'

USA stepped forward, hand out like he was trying to placate Morgan, 'Heart Stealer, please, try and stay calm...'

'Stay calm?' Morgan whirled on him, fury burning in their eyes and making their body shake. 'After everything you and your so called heroes did and have done and are doing right fucking now, you want me to stay calm?!'

'Enough!' Chadster stepped forward. USA cringed and tried to push him back but Chad ignored him, shouting out to Morgan, 'Let us help you! We can get you somewhere safe, remove the last of the villain's mind control and then-'

Morgan flinched, eyes wide and staring at their brother like he had grown a second head. Alex couldn't register most of the expressions on Morgan's face but he grimaced when their face hardened, chuckling as their smile grew a little bit too wide. 'I've never broken a promise before,' they said, and Dodgers started pushing Chad back into the crowd of heroes, 'but I guess there's a first time for everything.'

'Stop them!' One of the heroes shouted and they all charged. Alex backed up to Morgan, trying to picture the wave of lightning Morgan had used earlier. If he could replicate it...

Morgan nudged the blade of the shakanium sword before kicking it into the air, catching it by the hilt and twirling it with ease, 'I think it's time for another Culling.'