Con-Crush looked at The Rejuvenator with shocked eyes. His eyes were practically bulging out of his head. Asha and the two other grunts also appeared stunned. It was as if none of them expected to see Ven in the wilderness.

  “Impossible… I killed you… I know I did,” said Con-Crush, as he remained flinching.

  Asha then attempted to run towards Ven, but Con-Crush held her arm in place. She was too scared to make another attempt at escaping.

  “Let her go,” said Ven fiercely.

  “Should we call for backup?” one of the other criminals asked.

  “Call everyone you can!” Con-Crush demanded, panting heavily.

  “But we’re too far out in the wilderness,” said the other gang member. “How will they even find us.”

  “Just call someone.”

  Ven slowly began walking towards his enemies. He was tired of waiting, he was ready to resume the fight. He was ready to make Con-Crush pay for what he did to Tamu. He could see his foe’s nervousness written all over his face.

  “Uh… we have no signal out here,” the gang member said again.

  “Then go fight him yourself!” Con-Crush pushed the guy towards Ven.

  “He knocked us out already, won’t he just do it again?”

  “Go now!”

  One of the criminals charged Ven, but he was easily knocked out by the hero. Ven didn’t even look at the guy he knocked out.

  The other criminal refused to rush Ven again, so Con-Crush decided to make his own dark move. In no time flat, he angrily pushed Asha to the floor and then with concrete covered hands, grabbed the man’s skull and crushed it, killing him instantly.

  Ven gasped when he saw the site. He knew Con-Crush was an evil person, but killing his own ally was just monstrous.

  “So, you like killing your allies, hurting kids, and abducting women?” said Ven, his rage seemingly creating a cyclone.

  “I already told you, that girl was a thief! I do—“

  Ven immediately launched himself towards Con-Crush, grabbed his face, and brutally smashed him into the ground. The impact left a small crater on the rocky floor.

  Con-Crush gasped with pain, before shooting a huge chuck of hardened concrete out of the ground into Ven’s torso. The attack capitulated Ven all the way into the small pond that was nested close to their location.

  Con-Crush jumped into the pond too, with a downed Ven. He unleashed his powers into the water and he turned his concrete into wet and sticky cement. He launched a huge wave of cement at Ven as soon as Ven rose to his feet.

  “What?” Ven said aloud as the sticky substance grabbed him. He could barely even move, whenever he tried to it was very sluggish. Eventually, the cement began to harden and became an extremely hard substance.

  Con-Crush walked over while cracking his fist. With his bear hands, he punched Ven as hard as he could.

  “You thought somethin’ different was gonna’ happen!?” Con-Crushed mocked, as he socked Ven again in the eye.

  “If I killed you before, then I can kill you again,” he said as he punched again and again.

  Ven’s vision started to fade again, during all of the humongous punches. He gritted his teeth as he kept trying to break free from his rocky prison to no avail. It was all painful, but the worse part was not being able to return the punches.

  “You don’t mess with me and live!” Con-Crush yelled before smacking Ven yet again.

  “After I’m done with you, I’ll go back to take the girl’s other eye,” Con-Crush said menacingly.

  Upon hearing those words, a sharp and righteous rage rose up from within Ven. He broke out of the hardened concrete with one arm, and instantly socked Con-Crush in the face. Finally he broke his other arm free as well, so with that arm, he punched him again and unleashed a devastating combo on his foe. Blow after blow, the image of Tamu’s bloody appearance came back into Ven’s mind. This made him swing even more aggressively; the pain Con-Crush caused her was unacceptable. Getting his revenge felt satisfying.

  After tanking several punches, Con-Crush tried to send an entire wave of wet cement over Ven. Ven panicked as he saw the wet cement slowly surround him. If that much cement was able to trap him, then it was possible he wouldn’t be able to escape. Only one way to escape… he had to end everything now.

  Everything felt like it was in slow motion. He stopped punching and looked at his right fist as he thought about how important it was for him to win the battle. He’d do everything to avenge Tamu, and save Asha too. Con-Crush was a dangerous yet powerful foe. The world could have been a better place if he used his abilities for good, but atlas, he chose wickedness.

  A surge of raw, burning power flooded Ven’s battered body. He gathered it in his fist like a roaring storm that was about to swallow everything. With a furious battle cry, he launched himself off the ground and rocketed himself upward — and slammed a devastating uppercut into Con-Crush’s jaw. He put everything he had into the blow.

  The impact wasn’t just felt—it shook the air.

  A violent gust exploded outward from the force of the blow, sending dust and debris spiraling through the dusty ground. Water from the pond was also spiraling everywhere, to a degree to where even a small rainbow could be seen. Asha, watching helplessly from the sidelines, had to shield her face as the shockwave tore past her like a beast.

  Both The Rejuvenator and Con-Crush were hurled into the air. They were several feet above the shattered battlefield—two broken warriors suspended in a single, fateful moment.

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  The sun slowly began to rise at the very same moment of the final blow. It was shining victoriously on the new hero.

  After both fighters landed, Con-Crush was out for the count, his eyes almost appearing lifeless. The Rejuvenator, though in serious pain, put one foot on his defeated foe and stretched his fatigued fist towards the heavens. It was finally over. He wanted to do what he always saw the heroes do on television, even if it looked lame.

  Asha ran over to Ven, soon afterwards. “You did it! That was amazing!” Her eyes were finally full of life, and traces of hope.

  Ven smirked before completely falling over. All of his strength was sapped away after that uppercut.

  ****

  “Man I’m glad we found you out here in the middle of nowhere,” Mlinzi said to Ven a couple of hours later in the same desert.

  “I can’t believe he really took down Con-Crush,” another bodyguard named Askari said. “When word gets out of this, there’s no telling how the world will react.”

  “Hey, well someone needed to stop the Cinder Fangs,” said Ven as he was being bandaged by several emergency service workers. “All gangs who do evil like that should be stopped. Why let them run around when we have the power to stop them?”

  “Uh… politics?” asked Mlinzi.

  “I guess you’re right,’ said Ven.

  After Ven defeated Con-Crush, he fell unconscious for several minutes. Panicking, Asha attempted to drag him near the main road to get help, but fortunately for her, Nuru took care of everything. He tracked Ven’s location and successfully sent many bodyguards, police officers, and first aid workers to Ven’s location. It was now in the early morning hours—the sun was now out playing.

  “Not really though, people have been trying to stop the Cinder Fangs and other gangs for years. You do realize that several heroes have tried to defeat Con-Crush in the past and they were all killed! It’s insane that you beat him on your first superhero mission,” said Askari.

  “Yeah… I guess that is amazing,” said Ven as he closed his eyes. He couldn’t believe that he thought about not being a hero a moment ago. It felt extremely good to have won the battle, and seeing Con-Crush contained was almost euphoric.

  Con-Crush was alive, but was now in strange glowing blue handcuffs that blocked off all superpowers. He was also practically in these blue layered chains from head to toe. He appeared as if he were barely conscious. The thug that Ven knocked out was also in glowing handcuffs (though he did not have superpowers), and the other thug that Con-Crush killed was in a bodybag.

  “No, that ain’t amazing!” a familiar voice uttered.

  Ven turned and saw the ice superhero that he used to idolize—Stylo. He was super shocked to see him.

  “You’re here too Stylo? Shouldn’t you be with my Mom?”

  “She asked me to come out here,” his tone disapproving. “Do you think you can just sit at the Hero Brunch after defeating a gang member? I’ve defeated gang strong members too, it’s nothing to feel special about. You performed vigilante activities, we could arrest you now if we wanted too!”

  “Uh… okay,” said Ven. Why was he so irritated anyway? If Stylo came from Ashton, shouldn’t he be proud that he took out a guy causing trouble?

  “Just know that the Cinder Fangs still have a leader. He’s probably going to come for you now. Other gangs might too. We probably gonna get a whole gang war with Con-Crush out the picture,” Stylo continued.

  Ven almost shuttered with fear hearing those words. Perhaps Stylo was right, there was a huge target on his back now. He was not an official superhero, he was just an unlicensed vigilante. It was illegal to use powers in public, even if one was saving a life. Still, he was happy because it meant that he could save Asha and Tamu.

  “I hate to interrupt y’all, but how is my sister Tamu?” asked Asha, concerned written all over her face.

  “Is Tamu the kid that lost her eye? Yeah she’s fine. She and her mother are being flown to the same hospital we’re taking this guy to, as we speak,” explained one of the emergency service workers.

  “My mother too? What?” asked Asha, now even more fearful.

  Ven looked at her as sternly as he could. “Asha… I’m sorry, but before I went to rescue you, Tamu told me your mom was in her bed… and wouldn’t wake up.”

  Asha got on her knees as she tried to stop the tears from escaping. Everyone from the bodyguards, to Ven, and Stylo looked at her, offering support with their gazes.

  “Don’t worry, she gonna make it,” Stylo smirked. “It’s one of the best hospitals in the world.”

  “I hope you’re right,” Asha said, after taking a deep breath to relax herself. “I know I should have said this sooner Ven, but thank you so much for saving me. Tamu was right about you being a superhero.”

  “Well he’s not a hero unless he passes the Hero test held in Spectralis fair and square!” Stylo barked, his demeaning becoming obnoxious again.

  “Well he’s already a hero to me.”

  “Way to go Ven!” cheered Mlinzi. I bet your mother would be proud.

  Man, my mother’s going to kill me once she learns what I did, thought Ven. He was trying to mentally prepare himself for a hardcore lecture.

  “Asha… you shouldn’t call me a hero just yet. I failed to save you and Tamu the first time, when I know I could have. Tamu will see through one eye for the rest of her life and it’s all my fault.”

  Asha flicked Ven in the floor head. “Don’t worry, it’s not your fault.”

  “What was that for!” Ven complained, his reaction making all of his pain erupt again. He certainly still felt like he was going to drop dead any minute, but having everyone around him really calmed his anxious nerves.

  “That’s gonna leave a mark,” joked Askari. Everyone around then erupted into laughter too.

  The police were about to haul Con-Crush into the large police truck, when the defeated villain suddenly called for Ven.

  “Hey kid!” His yell was somehow ghostly and disturbing.

  Ven flinched with anger as soon as he heard that despicable voice again.

  “He’s uh… calling for you,” an officer said to Ven.

  “Ugh… just ignore him,” Asha said angrily.

  “He’s probably got nothing good to say,” said Mlinzi.

  “It’s fine, I’ll hear him out,” said Ven as he slowly got rose to his feet.

  “Suit yourself. Need help?” Mlinzi said as he slowly helped Ven rise to his feet.

  “Thanks.”

  Ven limped to the Van, his vision blurring more with each step. He finally got to the vehicle that held Con-Crush in several restrains. Just what on earth did he want.

  “What do you want?” asked Ven.

  “That was a good fight. Was a lot of fun. Haven’t lost a fight in awhile,” Con-Crush said.

  Ven said nothing, just stared at him with more rage.

  “I’m sorry,” said Con-Crush.

  “You’re sorry!?” Ven staggered, ignoring the pain. “I literally saw you crush a guy’s skull in front of me and you have the audacity to say sorry? You should be apologizing to Tamu, Asha, and all of the people you’ve killed.”

  “Yeah I guess you’re right,” grinned Con-Crush. “Listen, there’s something strange happening behind the scenes, and it involves all of those kidnapped billionaires. There is a man… no… there is a demon who is about to be unleashed.

  “A demon? Just what the hell are you talking about!?” asked Ven, his ears now shuddering.

  Con-Crush continued. “This man is one of the only people to defeat me in combat, and he did it effortlessly. He lost his powers years ago, but somehow he is slowly regaining them. A month from today, that certain man will be at the Umoja Terminal going to Spectralis. Tell all the heroes you can, though I doubt they will believe you. He will not be at full power that day, so he can still be defeated, but if you wait any longer to face him, he cannot be defeated.”

  “I don’t understand what you’re telling me? Why should I trust you? And if you’re not lying, why should I believe you?”

  “Take what you want with that info, though I will say that if this man regains all of his power… then it’s probably gonna be the end of the world.”

  Ven’s heart almost skipped a beat in his chest. He was so delirious, that he was practically imagining a mighty dragon emerging from the sun to swallow him whole. It was a horrifying image. Overall, he did not think Con-Crush had a big reason to lie.

  “Why the change of heart?”

  “With all this power… I lost myself. When a king loses his empire, he reflects on everything. This man is not like us, he is beast that preys on flesh. If you lay eyes on him, you’ll probably never be able to sleep soundly ever again. Now, I want this demon to be put to rest… before it’s too late.”

  Ven remained speechless, he didn’t know what to say. He was horrified, but too damaged to fully process everything he heard.

  “By the way… what’s your name kid.”

  “It’s The Rejuvenator.”