Vigilante Files Database: Sport

Chapter 7 - An Unwelcome Visitor

       Nick was still awake when Matt arrived at the dorm room. "So, how'd it go?" Nick asked like a parent would after school.
"Depends. I accomplished what I wanted to, socked Damian in the mouth pretty good. But I didn't feel too good about it, and he knew who I was right away. I gotta throw money at him to keep his mouth shut."
       Nick closed the book he was reading and faced Matt who had just slumped onto the couch. "Would you say that's more of a positive or negative? Now that it's out of the way."
"I don't know. It's pathetic of me to want revenge on someone as crappy as Damian. I felt like I was stooping to his level. On the plus side, all those boxing and MMA classes I took payed off. I never got touched by anyone." Matt exaggerated his fighting success but only because the one kick Damian landed was in a moment of surprise.
"That's good. Why don't you get a shower in and call it a night. I'm tired from waiting up for you." Nick got up and stretched. "Good night."
       Matt gave a disdainful wave, only now realizing how exhausted he really was. He wondered if the accelerated healing used up more of his body's energy.

       A few weeks passed. Matt's vigilante identity Sport was not a well-known name, but it was becoming a presence in downtown. Matt had stopped a few gas station thefts and one mugging. Each time he announced his name, the criminal in question gave Sport the strangest look. Their faces quickly turned to struggle and anger once they were getting their asses kicked, their loot returned, and left for the police to take in. Matt's run-ins with the law were minimum, thanks to his athleticism and advanced healing, he could scale walls and jump as high as pro basketball players despite only being six feet tall. Matt's confidence as Sport skyrocketed, and even Nick began to relax more.
       Nick continued his work in the college's chemistry lab as Ignis's assistant. Ignis made sure Nick gave a full report on the healing serum, reporting any flaws or side effects.
"Matt tells me at the end of the day he's exhausted. That's only when he's had a strenuous day of exercise or something." Nick made sure not to spill too much information on what actually went on with Matt being a vigilante and all. "But on days where he doesn't do much but rest, he doesn't feel so tired. So my guess is that the serum accelerates healing but doesn't take less energy to heal."
       Ignis nodded thoughtfully. Nick kept seeing Ignis flipping through Nick's notes and running copious simulations on the computer. Nick's assistance with Ignis's projects involved starting chemical fires and then testing what materials put it out quickest or cleanest. Ignis explained that the incoming freshmen will be doing those experiments and other similar ones. Nick didn't remember doing those freshmen year, but he was going into junior year so perhaps the curriculum was changing.

       The summer was nearly over and Matt was debating in his head whether Sport should continue during the school year. He sat at the workbench with Nick learning how to repair his complicated gear. "Hey Nick," He felt like he couldn't make the decision by himself since Nick was his other half in this. "Should I keep up the vigilante schtick during school? I've never been overly concerned about grades but I could end up over-doing my limits."
Nick put down the tool he used to sew the clothing and thought about it.
"Tough call. Maybe... maybe you could do it every few days instead of every day. Like the days where cops are around the least." Matt felt like that was the best idea, because by Friday on a full week of being a superhero he was whipped. "I might do that," Matt stated. "Anyways, thanks for showing me how to stitch stuff up. I'm gonna head to bed."
"Alright. Keep being the hero, man." Nick went back to tinkering with Matt's rollerblade basketball shoes. He chuckled at how ridiculous all this gear was yet it all had a purpose. He dozed off without knowing it.
       Nick looked up after awaking suddenly and realized it was almost one in the morning. "Yeesh, I wasn't planning on staying out here" He whispered to himself. He began putting all of the equipment away when a faint sound of metal hitting the floor alerted Nick. It sounded like a screw was dropped, but in the other room nowhere near Nick.
"Matt?" Nick asked the darkness.
       No answer came, so Nick walked over. He felt like the sound had come from his room, so he opened the door fully and walked in. Looking around, he didn't see anything. There was nothing on the floor either that could have made that sound. He walked out slowly when he heard the faintest shuffle of feet, triggering him to whip around at whoever was invading his room.
"Who- Pr... Professor Ignis?" Nick couldn't mistake that body frame belonging to the chemistry professor. He was hunched and reaching for Nick's desk where he kept the spare serum that Nick was planning on presenting eventually, but Ignis's eyes were now fixed on Nick. Nick saw surprise and anger in Ignis's eyes. Nick stepped forward, believing his eyes must have tricked him or something. Ignis took the opportunity to yank Nick all the way into the room and onto the floor while he shut the door fairly loudly.
"What?" Nick's bewilderment caused him to stay frozen on the floor staring up at his professor. Nick couldn't bring himself to move because his mind was racing too fast. His favorite professor and for the last 3 months his boss was staring down at him with regret sparkling in his eyes. "I'm sorry, Nick." He whispered, and the last thing Nick saw was Ignis reaching down too fast to retaliate.

       Matt awoke suddenly from a pleasant dream due to the sound of a door slamming. Matt sat up and rubbed his eyes, wondering why Nick would be careless enough to slam a door at - he checked the clock - one in the morning. He was about to lie back down when he heard noise coming from the room over, Nick's room. It sounded like there was wrestling, Matt even heard a deep grunt. Matt's heartbeat soared as he shot up at the speed of a track star and ran out of his door and threw open the door to Nick's room. The first thing that caught his eye was the body sprawled on the floor. Matt rushes over and crouched down. His heart was beating right of his chest as he pieced together that his brother was lying still with deep bruises on his neck. Matt was almost too stricken to hear a shadow slip out of the door right behind him. Matt whirled around and only saw a foot slip out of the bedroom door. Matt scrambled onto his feet, already with tears flowing freely but still determined. He ran out into the main room and only saw a tall, lanky figure shut their dorm room door. Matt couldn't see his face through the tears and the low lighting. Bursting out into the hallway he looked left and right but whoever it was had already disappeared.
       Knowing it was most likely futile anyways, Matt gave up and ran back into Nick's room. He knelt beside his brother and was already weeping from fear of the worst. He patted Nick in the face, trying to wake him up. "Nick," He croaked weakly. Matt laid his head on Nick's chest. No heartbeat thumped in the body. Matt stayed there for what felt like an eternity, sobbing. The flood of sadness, anger and guilt flowed as freely as the tears did. Matt eventually called 911 but not because he thought they could save Nick. Nick was strangled to death, and the thought of anyone laying their hands on Nick that way was difficult for Matt to process.
       The police that showed up tried to comfort Matt, probably having been through many similar cases. Matt described the man as best he could through sniffles, but all he saw was an outline. The police told Matt "I think the only person who really knew what the man looked like was Nick, but we're going to try our best to find him. Don't you worry, son." The officer has a friendly and gruff look about him that really helped put Matt at ease, but he doubted that anything would come of it. "Do you know if this guy took anything? He must have been here for a reason."
       Matt jerked his head up and realized the officer was right, he must have been here for some reason. Matt shakily went into Nick's room, the body of his brother already removed. He looked around and realized that the only thing of extreme value was the spare serum and magnetic belt. "He must have-" Matt swallowed in an attempt to compose himself. "-must have taken Nick's life's work." Words we're struggling to come out as Matt felt another wave of tears building up. The big officer led Matt back into the main room so that Matt could calm down again. "What was that work, exactly? And who could know about it?"
"It was... well it was a revolutionary thing. It accelerates healing so that a torn muscle could be healed three times faster, that's what Nick said."
The officer looked surprised. "And it worked?"
Matt looked down at his own hands. "Yeah, he made it for me because I was in a wheelchair from injuries. Without it-" Matt begin feeing hot tears run down his face. "I'd still be in a wheelchair." Matt coughed out the last words as he put his face in his hands and began another fit of crying. The officer sat beside him with a hand on his back, patting Matt reassuringly. Get some rest, sport. We'll contact you in the morning and let you know if we find anything."
       Matt paused when the officer said that. As the big man got up and left with the rest of the police, Matt got chills. He called Matt "Sport" unbeknownst that Matt was actually a vigilante by that name. Matt knew he told himself no more with the petty revenge, but this was entirely different. What happened to Nick needed to be avenged.
       For the rest of the night, everything was silent. Matt felt lonely. He was asleep in minutes, emotionally exhausted. He did not have any pleasant dreams for the rest of the night.