Spectacular World

The Start of His Win

Sirens cried out, and lights flickered from red to blue and back as Ruby sat on the corner of a rooftop, looking down at the horde of twisted creatures that were being loaded into cages. Hero Branch members stood by on the sidelines with tranquilizers in case the creatures sprung out. Mermaid and Legend were both loading the former humans into the back of a large Hero Branch truck. It was one of the kind that had a built-in lab onboard so more workers could study the monsters and see about finding a way to change them back, or if that was even possible.

From what her father once told her, though that was impossible. Even if they could somehow revert the bodies back, the soul within had been destroyed and merged with the new power that was forced into its flesh.

Many of the officers and several policemen had their weapons trained and stared at the sleeping creatures in horror, waiting for any of them to act up. She doubted the things would be waking up any time soon though. Not with what Legend had done to them.

She remembered how he had transformed, this time into an olive-skinned man with wings sprouting from his back and forehead, holding a dripping tree branch. With just a wave of the branch, almost all of the creatures had fallen into a deep sleep that would last for days. He'd left enough to fight, though, and Ruby took her time to clear out the gunk from under her fingernails.

She didn't bother to look up as she felt a flutter of wind and ignored Max as he sat down next to her on the rooftop. He stared down at Legend and Mermaid, watching them enter the dead Building and come out with more of the knocked-out monsters to load onto the truck.

There was a brief pause before the young man spoke up. "You two are crazy," He finally said, running a hand through his hair. "Has anyone ever told you that? You and that Legend guy. Even Mermaid. All of you are straight loony."

Ruby turned to the hero, raising an eyebrow, and gave a sly grin. "What do you mean? I'm completely sane." She was covered in black blood and in serious need of a shower, but other than that, she felt fine both physically and mentally.

Max chuckled. "Seriously? Legend just decimated that Building guy with one of the apparently hundreds of abilities or something that his power has. And you? I'm sorry, but ripping a monster apart with your teeth is not 'sane' behavior."

"Hey, in my defense, both of my hands were full."

"With two other monsters, which you were choking out! Then you proceed to rip the throat of another monster out with your teeth! What part of that sounds sane!"

"Being sane is for the weak." She shrugged, turning away from Max to look back down at the cages and Hero Branch workers. "Got to challenge yourself if you want to get stronger. I think anyone strong enough to take another life has a few screws loose at the very least."

"Yeah." Max sighed, "I need to stop being so weak."

The blonde man turned as he heard Ruby snort. She shook her head, laughing. "You got it all wrong, zapper."

"Zapper?"

"It isn't about not being weak," She proclaimed. "It's about being strong!"

Max raised an eyebrow and gave her an odd look. "What's the difference?"

"The difference? The difference is the method." Ruby explained in her best teaching voice. "Trying to not be weak is like trying to not be scared. Weak people are always scared, so they try to make up for being weak with tricks and contraptions. You go up against real strength, those tricks and gadgets are going to get blown apart. They're not worth acknowledging."

"And being strong?" He asked, watching as Ruby stood up, one hand reaching up to the sun as if she wanted to grab it.

"Being strong..." Ruby stared into the sky. "Being strong isn't just not being scared. Not just trying not to be. No, you've got to have no fear in you at all. Not of dying or losing. If you're afraid, you're already weaker. You start thinking, 'Will this asshole hit me with this next hit?' and 'Will it hurt?'. That's when you get hit, and it will hurt. You just have to assume no attack will ever hit you, and if it does, who cares? You can just plow right through it and kick the guy who hit you in the junk or something as payback."