Spectacular World

Myth's Promise

"You have real crappy luck. Anyone tell you that?" Lois asked as she parked her motorcycle next to Thaddeus's apartment building. It was near the middle part of the city, a modest place with a large orange tree whose branches swayed close enough to Thaddeus's windows that the man could often reach out and grab a fresh orange whenever the tree bore fruit.

Thaddeus climbed off the bike and shrugged. "Luck has always been on someone like Grove's side, not mine."

"I wouldn't really say Mr. Grove was lucky either, considering what happened." Lois winced. He had been a bad guy—a straight-up scumbag. In the end, though, he had done what he thought he needed to, and his reward was a violent death from the monster he had been working for. "I've been thinking about what your brother said, though."

"You asked about that earlier." They had just finished up at the bowling arena. Max Lightning had finished telling Lois something. She had been strangely quiet and a little off, not saying anything once her dad left. Thaddeus didn't know what had been exchanged since he stayed out of it, but whatever it was, it was having an effect on her.

Lois rubbed her arm a bit. "He asked you to stay out of the Beast fight."

"He's just worried about me."

Her father told her he would be dying soon. She was keeping it secret from Thaddeus. She hadn't fully processed it yet. Between what he said and what Fable asked of his older brother, it made her wonder if the Beast could be coming sooner than any of them thought. Her powers had been a bit on the fritz ever since she saw the Emperor. "I think your brother has a good reason to be worried." She finally said.

"What do you mean?" Thaddeus asked, raising an eyebrow and folding his arms.

"You said you fought the Emperor once when you were a kid, right?"

"Yeah?"

"So then, how many did you have?"

"How many of what?"

"How many near-death experiences?" Lois asked in a blunt tone. "You fought the Emperor twice now, and you've survived an encounter with the Beast. Not to mention what happened with your father and that Calamity. You even once told me you lost your grandfather to Lucifer. You've practically run into every threat besides the Shadow. It's almost like death follows you closely. I once saw that you would die to a Calamity level threat. Yet here you still are. How much longer do you think you can do it, Octavius Thaddeus? How much longer you'll get away with cheating death."

This was the conversation that went through his mind as he stared up at the Beast.

Myth gritted his teeth, and his muscles flexed. He was already in his lion form, his second most durable transformation. He had always hated his powers to an extent. His father and brother got it so much better. He was the only one cursed with the power to take on the form of a monster. His grampa had a similar power, but he never got to meet the man, though he had seen pictures. His grampa was the reason he chose to tame his bull-form first, to honor the man.

He knew his lion form wouldn't do squat against this thing. He had just watched it take down nearly every other hero. All of the heroes were slowly recovering. Lady Time was using her ability to heal who she could, but they lost a few people, like Sea Monkey or Vampirica.

Thankfully, the Beast didn't bother to finish the heroes off. It was almost like a machine attacking what it deemed a danger. Its eyes stared down at him.

No...

Not at him.

The Beast stared at the only threat left on the battlefield. Battery. A bolt of lightning rained from the sky and twisted in the direction of the hero in red, but Myth was faster. He let out a savage roar, the sonic blast slamming into the lightning and dissipating the bolt. He had made a promise. He would shield Battery for as long as he could.