Five Moons of Pluto Page 8

  Vicious jumps down to stand on level ground with Jacob.

  “Smoke?” says Vicious holding out his cigarette carton of Marlboro

  “No.”

  “You must be wondering why you’re here?

  “I don’t understand.”

  “You. here. right now. At this present moment you need to question yourself how did I get here?” Vicious takes a pull of his cigarette.

  Jacob looks confused.

  “Quantum, dropped me off--”

  “wrong answer, Jacob.”

  “why are you here?”

  Vicious face brightens.

  “Right question...Im here to spread the truth...that’s all I want.”

  “What truth?”

  “That your hero holds a very dark secret. He was good at concealing it but i finally unlocked it.”

  “You mean his secret Identity?”

  “Wrong answer again, Jacob. I already know who he really is. I gain nothing by exposing it. The truth Jacob, that’s all I want.”

  Jacob ponders Vicious words. What is Quantum hiding and why? Why is Vicious coming to me? Does he need me? No. he’s evil. A murderer. He can manipulate people. Is he doing trying to manipulate me?

  “I don’t care about your truth or what you know about Quantum. You’ll do anything to kill him and control the world. Just take you, your truth and leave me alone.”

  Vicious finishes his cigarette and flicks it over the edge.

  “Funny thing about truth is it’s not for everyone...it’s not for you but them.”

  Vicious points up showing Jacob his parents trapped in a clear crystal cube object floating in mid air. they bang on the clear cube trying to communicate with Jacob.

  “Mom. Dad!! Let them go!!” shouts Jacob.

  Vicious makes a sinister smile.

  Jacob yells ferociously breaking windows of cars, apartments and store windows for miles.

  “Come now Jacob, lets show them the truth together.

  Jacob rushes towards Vicious. Vicious stands still ready to accept the powerful attack. Jacob fist connects to Vicious’ jaw sending him flying through apartment buildings and landing on the West Side Highway. Vicious gets up and dusts himself off. Cars takes evasive action as Vicious stands in the middle of the highway. Jacob lands behind him. Vicious turns around to face Jacob.

  “You see, you’re beginning to understand the truth Jacob.” Vicious turns to his parents. “Witness the...truth.”

  Jacob rushes at Vicious again. From behind Vicious, eight long metal construction poles levitate and flies towards Jacob piercing him through the chest, arms and legs. Jacob falls to the ground and begins shake uncontrollably. A blue substance leaks from his mouth and wounds. with a wave of Vicious hand the crystal cube gently floats down and breaks. Jacobs parents rushes towards there what they think is their son.

  “No. you son of a bitch. Jacob!!” cries David.

  David and Susan look at Jacob on the floor lying in the blue substance. thier confused.

  “What is this? what’s going on?”

  The police arrive and point their guns at them and are screaming at them to get on the floor. Pedestrian get out of their cars to get a better look. Vicious waves his hand again and times stops. David and Susan look around...they don’t understand how he did it but he did.

  Vicious holds out his hand.

  “Mr. and Mrs. Henderson, Im sorry we had to meet like this, but you have to understand that the truth needed to be exposed.”

  “That’s my son.”

  Vicious points at Jacob.

  “Im not a doctor Mr. Henderson but Im sure human blood is not supposed to look like that.”

  David and Susan run over to Jacobs body and examines it.

  “Where is our? wheres Quantum?” Susan sobbing.

  “Your son is dead. Quantum is somewhere in Miami doing his good deed.”

  “No.No. I don’t believe you. I saw my son today. I touched him. Felt his breath on my face….please tell us.” David cries.

  “He’s dead. two years ago Quantum fought the dimension destroyer monster Boreack. He was careless in his fighting. He picked up a train smashed the monster in his face. the broken piece collided with your son and killed him.” Susan falls to her knees and screams. David calms her down enough to listen to Vicious’ story.”After Quantum, defeated the monster He did his usual damage report and found your son underneath the train. I suppose he was stricken with grief that he decided to have your son rebuilt by a robotics genius in another dimension. Im not certain on who rebuilt him...but you must understand that Quantum Killed your son.”

  David looks closely at what use to be he’s son. Electrical wires, metal bones and flashing lights are exposed. The darkest thoughts and feelings run through Davids mind and heart. His son...His only son…gone.

  David looks up and sees Quantum ripping through Vicious’ time barrier with little effort. He breaks through and lands. He looks around and sees’ the robot Jacob with David and Susan. The truth has been exposed. David and Susan stand up. Susan wipes the tears from her face.

  “You killed our son!!” Screams Susan.

  “Im...sorry. I--

  “Shut up...you lied to us...betrayed us..,” says David

  Vicious’ looks at Quantum and waves.

  “Hiyya big guy. your secret is out,” says vicious lighting up another cigarette.

  Quantum ignores him.

  “Where is my real son’s body at?” says David.

  “His body is gone...I buried him. I can show you--”

  “No. He’s gone. Lets go Susan, were leaving.”

  Susan, still sobbing hugs David and follows. David walks her to a near by Honda Accord and puts her in the passengers seat. He walks back to the robot Jacob, picks him up, carries him to the car and lays him down in the back seat. David walks over to Quantum and stands a few feet in front of him. Vicious, tired from standing sits on top of a car hood enjoying the show.

  “You have taken our son away from us Quantum, I know he’s not coming back. Mourning for him now will do nothing….out of all the trials you have faced, the enemies you fought, armies you have broken is nothing compared to a father's wrath after losing a son...you will soon feel my wrath Quantum. After i have destroyed you, then I will mourn for my son.” David looks at Vicious. “Can you unfreeze this time trap?”

  Vicious finished with his cigarette throws it on the floor.

  “Sure Mr. Henderson.”

  david gets inside the car. Vicious waves his hand and times resumes. David drives off and the cops are pointing their guns at Quantum. The cops look around confused about what's going on but even more confused as to where the boy went and how did Quantum just appear out nowhere.

  “Well Quantum, be prepared for the final finale. I of course will be their to see it to the very end. later.”

  Vicious vanishes before everyones eye’s. Quantum stands there wishing he can go back in time. It was possible with Alister, but he died many years ago in the future by the tetra virus. He saved the planet and gave it a new future. Quantum flies off and soars into the sky. It’s peaceful and quiet. Up here no one can bother unless some other superhero or supervillain disturbeds him. his thoughts are wrapped around Jacobs death and Davids words. Can this human really defeat me? and if so, how? I have faced demi gods and triumphed. I have tried everything to bring Jacob back but failed. I don’t know what else I could have done. Quantum speeds off into the horizon with a heavy heart because of his sin.

  Davids eye’s if fixed on the robot Jacob. The skin has been removed and only the metal bones and wires lay bare. numerous empty coffee cups are on the floor and table. The basement which was supposed to be a workout gym for Susan is now his personal lab. David at one point wanted to be a mancave but his load at work put an end to that dream. A black board sits right besides the door to upstairs covered with notes, sketches and mathematical equations. A wooden desk is across from the blackboard and next to the desk is a couch. David
rubs his eye’s and fights to stay awake. He gets up and walks to the stove, not caring that he is stepping on his own notes, where a coffee maker is at. He searches for a cup but all sees is the used ones either ripped apart or crumpled. He open the above cabinet and sees a sketchbook and an old mug. He grabs both, pours himself a cup of coffee and sits on the couch. He flips through the sketchbook and sees various drawings of Quantum. The signature down below of each drawing is Jacobs. David throws the sketchbook on the floor and begins to cry, his thoughts drifts of Jacob, but he quickly stands up and wipes away his tears telling himself not yet we have work to do. He looks on the floor at one of Jacobs drawings. It’s some sort of a huge giant metal armored robot. on the top left corner of the drawing it reads supervillain contest. supervillain name Hardwire. David quickly goes to the blackboard, erases all his notes and begins jotting down his new idea to kill his son’s murderer.

  Quantum places a bouquet of flowers on Jacobs grave, another place where Quantum can be secluded right among the dead. Quantum steadies himself. With his super hearing, he hears someone or something approaching him...very fast. He turns around to the direction of the sound. Within seconds the ten foot tall metallic man lands inadvertently crushing a few tombstones. His red, slanted robotic eye’s scan the area. His metallic frame reflects Quantum’s image and a metallic guard covers his mouth like Optimus Prime. The metal man gazes at the bouquet of flowers on Jacob’s grave.

  “Placing flowers on a grave will give you no solace,”say’s the metal man, His voice, more human than robot.

  Quantum studies the metal man. He wants not to believe it, but his eye’s and ears are revealing him the truth.

  “David, is that you?”

  “David is no more. Hardwire stands before you,” he say’s holding on his iron arm, clenching his fist.

  Quantum shakes his head. He wants to laugh at the ridiculous sight but out of respect for Jacob he holds it in.

  “There is no need for us to fight David. I’m truly sorry for what i’ve done. I’ve decided to turn myself in and face my crimes.” says Quantum holding his head down in shame.

  “No Quantum.” Hardwire walks up to his son’s grave and picks up the flowers. The flowers rot in his hand, sizzling to ash with a dark red mist. “Death is the only thing you shall face.”

  Hardwire shoots out a red beam from his right fist blasting Quantum to a parked car in the parking lot. Quantum angrily gets up. He feels pain, not much, but enough for him to take notice and touch his chest. His chest is bare. His skin slowly begins to rot but his healing force activates. Skin starts to grow and the burn marks very slowly disappear. Quantum’s healing force never took this long to heal before. He will have to take note of this. Just a fast as Quantum, Hardwire collides into him and together they battle across the sky. Quantum can’t help but be amazed at how quickly David developed the armor. He took his time and calculated every strength and weakness of Quantum. In the sky, Quantum will have the advantage. He must not know this. so far the offensive capabilities is proving more than adequate at delivering pain. However, Hardwire does not desire pain.

  From Queens to 42nd Street in Manhattan the combatants soar then crash. Hardwire is the first and quickest to rise to his feet and fires a double beam using both fists at Quantum. Quantum crosses his arm and shields himself from the blast. Again he flies this time by himself ten blocks down . A MTA bus rockets through the air. Inside, people are screaming, a man vomits on the woman in front of him and a lady smashes her face against a window cracking her skull. Quantum bolts towards the bus and grabs it with his massive arms, but the force is too strong. He glances inside. A woman looks at him, her lips move saying “Please save us.” Quantum looks behind and sees that they are heading towards an office building- a bank where a meeting is taking place. Metal bends and makes squeaking sounds as Quantum clutches the bus tighter. He shifts his weight to the left, crashing through side of the building ripping and shredding his skin tight yellow and black costume, exposing most of his impeccable physique. As the bus smashes through, Quantum watches as people look in shock, and who wouldn’t, a bus has just crashed through a twenty-fifth floor office building. Quantum, what little control he gets, uses his body to brace the impact. The bus slides uncontrollably while Quantum is sandwiched between the train and the pavement. The bus slows down to a complete stop in front of a Ray’s pizza shop. Quantum lifts up the bus just enough to climb from underneath it. He gently puts it down and rips open a hole wide enough for the passengers to escape. The passengers push and shove to escape the hellish ride.

  “Hurry, get somewhere safe,” says Quantum breathing heavily.

  A woman screams as she points up towards the sky. Two more buses soar towards him filled with passengers. Quantum, exhausted and tired, quickly wipes off the pieces of rubble and dirt off his face. The world around Quantum slows down as he uses his incredible speed to rip out four lamp poles. The bus moves slowly in mid air giving Quantum a better accuracy. He aims and quickly throws all four lamp poles. Each one hits it’s target crashing through the side window of the bus. The curved ends of the lamps hooks onto the bus. The force of the throw pushes the bus towards a building. With the help of the lamp poles being embedded into the building, the bus hangs there twenty-five stories high. For the people are safe. Quantum sets his eyes on the second bus. Quantum simply flies towards the bus and gently lays it down on the ground. Time resumes and Hardwire lands a powerful blow to the back of Quantum's head send him down to the pavement. Hardwire him picks him and bear hugs him. Hardwires body begins to glowing dark red. The surrounding area begins to slowly rot away. some civilians are caught in the decaying mist. They melt away like butter on a hot griddle. Quantum’s skin begins to melt. His golden hair slowly turns black and the wind carries it away. metal rusts, trees wither away and buildings crumble as Quantum watches.

  “Enough. people are dying,” says Quantum in agony.

  “So be it.”

  Quantum sees that his only option is the most dangerous one. He has no desire of doing it but he is all out of options. However, more people could get hurt, even die. Quantum sees a young boy not much younger than Jacob. His foot is caught underneath a slab of concrete rubble. The dark red mist is approaching the young boy. Quantum has made his decision. He flies straight up into the sky above the clouds as his face begins to melt.

  “Please stop now,” said Quantum, with slurred speech.

  Hardwire ignores his request and continues.

  Quantum stops in mid air a few thousand feet. From above the outline of manhattan can be seen. Quantum charges up and glows bright yellow like the sun. Quantum has used this very technique to wipe out an entire army on Mars. However, he nearly destroyed the planet. Heatwaves begins to emit from the armor from the extreme heat. Hardwire releases his grip but Quantum grabs him pressing the side of his face to the hot metal. From below people look up at what appears to be a small sun. They cover their eyes from the bright light.

  “let me go,” screams Hardwire.

  The metal armor glows red from the severe heat. David screams in pain from the heat but is blocked out by Quantum’s as he powers up for more. Hardwires arms falls to his side. One of his robotic eyes cracks then breaks. Quantum’s feels his lifeless arms and ceases his attack. They both crash down in the middle of Chambers street in front of City Hall. The crater reaches from both side of the street. Police officers, firefighters and paramedics quickly arrive blocking off both ends of the street and moving civilians away from the danger zone. Heatwave rises from the crater. Quantum peels his face off of Hardwires chest. Blood and melted skin oozes off. Quantum staggers to his feet. Officers run to his aid but he holds out his hand signaling them to stay back. The sounds of twisting and scrapping metal comes from the crater. Quantum turns and sees David’s body exposed inside the armor. His body is scorched and blackened. A slow and low scream escapes from the mouth as if it was trapped during the final moments of David’s death. No one could tell who this p
erson was by looking at it but Quantum does, he’s the father of Jacob, the man who had every right to take Quantums life, the only man who came close to killing him. Quantums Healing force activates and again his wounds heal and his golden hair returns. Quantum steps back down into the crater and picks up the corpse and flies off.

  Snow falls softly onto the stones of the dead. Quantum replaces the dead flowers with fresh ones on the graves of the father and son who he killed. He’s out of his costume and looks more like a regular guy wearing fitted jeans, leather boots and a thick turtle neck sweater. Quantum watches as the snow begins to blanket the flowers. His thoughts travel back to his heroic deeds of saving planets form an evil tyrant and vanquishing a giant in another dimension. Quantum is broken out of his thoughts by the cold snow on his head. He wipes it off and gazes one last time at the graves of the innocent. Quantum walks past a garbage can as he exits the graveyard and throws the dead flowers in. Todays newspaper lay beside the flowers and an empty water bottle. The headline reads: Day fifty-five. The disappearance of Quantum. The snow has become thicker and has captured each step that Quantum has taken right up to the edge of a cold lake where the footprints disappears.

  THE END

  Table of Contents

  GATES OF OLYMPUS

  6 MONTHS LATER

  RED EARTH

  SEVERAL YEARS EARLIER

  SOME THINGS DON’T COME BACK

  GOOD BOY

  SINS OF A HERO