Chapter 16 part 1

Matias

His whole body ached mercilessly. His legs wobbled under his weight and he could barely even brace himself for impact before he slammed into another half destroyed building.

He pushed up with his arms, falling back as his left elbow gave out.

"The fuck is your problem?" Matias shouted, though he knew he wouldn't get a response.

She had a mask on, but Matias could just tell that the new villain was grinning. She was incredibly strong, and she knew it. She knew just as well as Matias did how unfair of a fight it was, but she didn't care.

Matias rolled over abruptly just as another attack landed right where he was just seconds before. He grabbed onto the broken wall and pulled himself up, ignoring the objections from his body.

He staggered out of the building and back into the street. He was more visible to the cameras, but it was better than tripping over bricks. Besides, most of the people were over in the buildings anyways. That is if you can even consider their mangled corpses 'people' anymore.

The new villain wasted no time following him back out. She walked casually as a normal person would walk down the road, but the red strings coming from her back very clearly proved how she was the exact opposite of normal.

She sent a line of her powers at Matias from one side only to grab him from the other side as he went to dodge. She held him up in the air in a rather humiliating way.

Matias had already over exerted himself, especially his powers, leaving him to dangle in the air as she looked up at him.

Matias was sure that was it. If she wanted to, she could kill him. If she wanted to she could kidnap him. Hell, she could do whatever she wished and Matias wouldn't be able to do anything about it.

Matias tried to muster up even the littlest bit of power. The smallest inch of strength, but it was no use. This was it. He was sure of it.

That was until a very specific image popped into his head.

Samuel.

He was alone in some alley right now probably bleeding to death, and Matias was too busy getting his ass kicked to help. Sure, the cameras must've caught where he had gone, but how long would it take for the police to show up? Better yet, how long can Samuel hold out, waiting for someone to show up?

The thought of Samuel being in a dirty alley all alone in his condition brought Matias a certain kind of rage.

The new villain slammed a knot of red into Matias's exposed face. And that was it.

Matias pulled himself together and collected a bundle of his own powers. Before he knew it he had sent a blue ball of his ability flying right at her.

It hit her right in the center of her mask before disappearing into the air. The new villain paused and, almost in slow motion, her mask cracked off her face and fell to the ground.

Shocked eyed stared back at him. The last thing Matias expected was for the new villain to be one of the few people he actually knew.

Let alone someone he knew from the coffee shop he had worked at for years.

Suddenly he recognized the long hair draped down her back and the general shape of her body. Had he really worked with her for years and not known?

Meera.

The young girl who worked early mornings and chose to keep the socializing to a minimum was the same girl who was terrorizing the city. The same girl who murdered all the people around them.

Matias almost hadn't realized that she had slowly lowered him and set him on the ground. Her powers pulled towards her and into her back, her wide eyes never leaving Matias's.

The two stared at one another silently, the only sound coming from the helicopters that had gotten annoyingly close to them.

And then she ran. She ran fast. Within a second Matias was left alone staring at the spot where she had stood only moments before.

Matias's head was fuzzy and he wanted to sit down, but he couldn't. Physically he could, but he refused to give into his aching legs.

He had to find Samuel.

Surprise punched at his brain, trying to make him hesitate. Trying to make him stay standing where he was.

But Matias refused.

He ignored every thought of the new villain, and Meera, and all the dead people around him. And he ran the same direction Samuel had hobbled.

He was exhausted and ready to pass out then and there. Nonetheless, he kept moving. He hadn't seen how far Samuel had gone nor what alley he had turned in, but he wasted no time beginning his search.

Surely he hadn't gotten that far in his condition, right?

Matias raced down the first alley on the left, only going in up to the first turn before turning back around and running back to the street.

He ran across the road and into the next alley. Nothing.

If he thought he hated running when he was running from Guzantee's men, then he absolutely despised it now.

He made his way into and out of multiple different alleys, his heart speeding up every time he found an area empty.

He was nearly out of energy, his steps slowing down and his breath coming in heaves.

He barely managed to jog down another alley. He went right passed a dumpster, nearly missing what he was looking for.

"Samuel"

His name left Matias's lips without Matias even thinking about it.

The sight of Samuel's beaten body sitting in a broken looking position made Matias's face heat up with anger, but there wasn't much he could do about it.

Samuels hands were weakly pressed against the wound in his stomach and blood was dripping out of the many cuts across his body.

Matias crouched down close to Samuel. He paused for a moment, unsure of what to do.

Matias's heart ached as he saw Samuel fight to focus his sight, a desperate and almost confused look on his face.

"Can you hear me? Samuel?" Matias almost mumbled

His voice was caught in his throat and refused to come out at any volume above a whisper.

There was no response.

Matias stared at Samuel, frozen. It felt like he had sat there for hours just looking at Samuel, wasting the little time they had. It had only been seconds, but the time passed still made Matias's heart beat faster.

He looked down at Samuel stomach, blood spilling out of it as Samuel was too weak to apply the pressure to make it stop.

He put his own hands down to help but froze, his hands roaming around the wound for a long moment.

He tried to keep his gaze down on Samuels injury, but failed. His eyes flashed up and down from Samuels face back down to his stomach.

"Mat"

Matias froze upon hearing Samuels broken and destroyed voice. It was quiet and even after one word he seemed to breathe harder.

When he finally came to his senses he adjusted his hands and put pressure on the wound, moving Samuels hands away.

He took a deep breath, debating what he should do next. But before he got any ideas a soft pressure laid itself on top of his hands.

Samuel had brought up his shaking hands and put them on top of Matias's, which admittedly were also shaking more than he was comfortable with.

"I'll.. be okay" Samuel just barely breathed

It was clear the amount of pain he was in, but Matias was unsure of what to do.

Samuels eyes unfocused and he looked like he could black out at any second. There was no way in hell he was going to be okay.

"I promise"

He might be crazy, but Matias was fairly sure he saw a small smile form on Samuels lips. He was fucking insane.

Matias felt one of Samuels quivering hands slowly lift up. He pried his eyes away from Samuels face to look down at it.

Samuels hand was curled onto a fist, one finger sticking out of it.

"no" Matias muttered without even thinking

"pl...please" Samuel pushed

He was dying. He was fucking dying and he was trying to pinky promise this shit. Matias wanted to be mad, he wanted to be furious. But he couldn't. Not at Samuel.

No matter how upset he wanted to be, he wanted Samuel to be okay more than anything.

"You promise?" He finally replied, his voice softer than ever

"Pinky promise"

Matias brought up one of his own hands. It was probably pretty stupid considering Samuel was still losing blood, but he had forgotten about that. Temporarily.

Their blood covered hands held each other of a moment before Matias pulled his away, putting it back down on Samuels stomach.

Matias watched as Samuel looked down and inspected his own stomach.

What was he supposed to do? Samuel had to get to a hospital, but what would he do from there?

His face was exposed and the cops wouldn't waste a second when they saw him. Not to mention how little he trusted the doctors with Samuel.

Matias ignored all the problems building up in his mind, noticing the troubled look on Samuel's face.

He considered saying something, but opted against it. Of course he was troubled, everything about this situation was troubling.

But Samuel did something that completely changed Matias's perspective on the situation.

He raised a still shaking hand and pulled the mask he was still wearing down to his chin.

Samuel gripped lightly onto Matias's forearms and pulled himself forward. He was clearly struggling, but kept going anyways.

When he was close enough he pressed his lips onto Matias's, leaving Matias stunned.

Matias didn't kiss back. Hell, he didn't do anything. It wasn't how he had ever imagined a first kiss going.

It wasn't sweet and loving and wonderful. It wasn't something you would do if you expected to see that person again.

Instead it was rushed and stressed. Samuel's lips barely making it to Matias's and then quivering through the second that it lasted. It was clear Samuel wasn't certain he'd make it.

And then he was out. He fell backwards, limp against the brick wall behind them.

"Samuel.." Matias mumbled, slowly recovering from his shock

"Samuel!" He repeated, the realization setting in.

His thoughts were going a mile a minute, not giving him any time to think of a legitimate plan.

He picked up Samuel as quickly, but gently, as he could. He pulled the mask back up over Samuels nose and made his way out of the alley.

The sun shined brighter in the daylight and the smoke had mostly cleared from the explosion. One of the helicopters had even left.

Matias glanced over to see only two cop cars at the end of the road, empty.

His body ached and his arms threatened to give out, but he made his way over to the cars anyways.

Some of the cameras must've been stopped since the helicopter paid no attention to him, but a camera was still propped up across the road, a blue light flashing indicating that it was still going.

Matias paid it no mind, though. He got to the cop cars before anyone showed up.

Out of what seemed to be nowhere, a male officer came running by the car with a gun already pointed.

"Drop him and put your hands up, now!" He shouted aggressively, but Matias couldn't help but roll his eyes.

Everyone had just watched as he saved their precious hero's life but they still saw him as a villain.

"Keys" Matias demanded, gesturing to the car.

"Put him down!" The officer yelled once again

Matias sighed, debating his next words. He couldn't threaten the cop, but asking nicely wouldn't exactly work. It didn't help that his powers were completely burnt out either.

"I'm trying to help, give the the keys" He raised his voice, but avoided shouting

The officers eyebrows raised and he only stared at Matias. The man he knew as 'the villain'.

"He's running out of time. If you don't give me the keys to this car you will be the reason the hero dies."

The cop continued staring for another second before coming to his senses.

Matias hadn't actually expected what he said to work, but this cop must've been new.

That or extremely scared.

"Get in the car, I'll drive you two to the hospital" he ordered

There was no way this could be a good idea, but what other ideas did he have?

There was truly no other option.

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Wouldn't it suck if the protagonist died?