Righteous Lad: The beginning
#2In the wake of an explosion heard all around for miles, the green hero, Righteous Lad, flies toward the disturbance with haste. Maneuvering through city buildings and sharp corners before eventually ascending diagonally to pass over the latest one obscuring his sight and path. At the very peak of getting as high as he wants, an individual on a flying vehicle suddenly comes into view.

"Hey, watch it, jackass!" The figure clad in black shouts while swerving around him.

 Dumbfoundedly, Tyson looks over his shoulder at the peculiar stranger, then briefly toward the direction the said individual came from. 

In his line of sight lies a bank building with its emergency alarm blaring, and its front glass doors blown down. Police cars were also just arriving onto the scene. A visual that brings a disapproving frown upon the young man's face. In an instant, Tyson does a 180 turn and immediately begins his search for the flying contraption he saw just seconds ago. 

It takes only a moment of venturing with a few twists and turns through several blocks before he spots the unusual vehicle again. Increasing his acceleration of flight, he manages to catch up and match its pace. In the midst of closing in, he also studies the flying device. Noting the two sphere-shaped compartments attached to the sides near the rear, and how they were large enough to possibly hold groceries, bags, equipment, or -as it presently were- several hefty bags of cold hard cash in each of them. Something he spots through the glass covers containing the stolen money.

 

"So…" Tyson begins, startling the masked man in the process.

 

"Huh!? What the–" 

 

"I noticed that the bank's alarm back there was ringing, the broken doors on the steps outside, and police cars pulling up to the scene… Now, I'm no detective, but I'm going to go out on a limb here and say you didn't make a legal withdrawal today." Tyson concludes with a skeptical grin on his face.

 

"Yeah. Yeah, real observant of you, man. Like wow, who could ever pull a fast one over on you, huh? Freakin' Sherlock Jr. over here." The bank robber responds with sheer sarcastic disdain, rolling his eyes behind his obscuring red goggles.

 

"I.. What? Are you seriously sassing me to deflect from the wrong you did right now?"

 

"I'm not deflecting anything, you dunce. Buuuut..  I am going to repel a pest." The criminal responds and reaches for the holster on his left leg. Meanwhile, Tyson stares with a questioning frown.

 

"What is that supposed to–" 

Z A A A P ! Before Tyson can finish that question, he abruptly finds a strange firearm in his face - one the criminal doesn't hesitate to fire at all. 

"Guuaah!" Instinctively, he flinches while crying out in surprise. Stopping mid flight to cradle his face. However, all panic leaves him upon realizing that, well, he didn't feel any pain. No burning, flesh melting off his skull, or even eye irritation.

"Huh… it… it didn't actually hurt me." Gathering his senses, he resumes his pursuit of the criminal. Catching up easily once more. This time though, he doesn't go unnoticed while approaching to fly beside the thief.

 

"Are you serious right now…? That laser shot should have literally burned a hole through your head!"

 

"What's wrong wi– You know what? It doesn't even matter. Pull this thing over. Now." Tyson sternly orders.

 

"Why don't you go take a hike instead!?" The thief retorts.

 

"I think you two should take each other's advice. Especially you, kid. Because this is definitely about to get ugly." A third voice chimes in. A voice with a bit of an accent that sounds as if it were  speaking through a phone speaker. Upon the two looking upward behind them, they spot a peculiar metallic machine – something that looks like a drone modeled after a triangular spacecraft of some sort. 4 feet wide, 3 feet in height, and a large red glass 'eye' at the center of its 'face'.

 

"What is that…?" Tyson questions with a wry look on his face.

 

"I think… I think… that may be a guy controlling a droid." The thief proposes, just as confused.

 

"I am the head huncho who runs the streets of northwest Chicago, a.k.a, The Freakin' Sonuvabitch THAT Sonuvabitch is stealing money from! And as you can probably tell, I ain't a happy camper about it at all… Someone's going to be sleeping with the freakin' fishes today!!" Answers the individual controlling the drone from a secluded location.

 

"Ah, I stand corrected… It's not a guy with a droid, it's a dirt bag with a droid. Fantastic." The thief comments.

 

"Oh-ho-ho, you think you're a comedian, huh, smart guy? How about one more joke before I riddle you with holes and see you out? Make your last one a good one, punk."

 

"Hey-hey, listen! Listen, alright? We can resolve this without violence. I'll just return the money to the bank, and we can sort of… sweep this one under the rug. Sounds good, right?" Righteous Lad offers.

 

"PFFFTT! As if!" The thief on the aircraft bike dismisses the suggestion entirely and uses his thumb to push open a small safety cover on the right handle of his bike, exposing a red button and pushing it without hesitation. The vehicle accelerates with a nitro burst that dispels blue flames from the exhaust pipes on its lower rear. The robber speeds on ahead, drifting the building up ahead while also tilting back to head toward the clouds, far above the city buildings. The other two were momentarily left behind.

 

"...Well, I was going to consider your offer, kid. But guys like him are young, dumb, and cocky. They never change. Now, excuse me while I go take care of business." And with that said, the drone accelerates at an even faster rate than the thief's bike. Following the same path.

 

"You've got to be kidding me…" Tyson utters, internally sighing.

Above, the drone closes in on the high-tech cycle with ease. Though, it eases back on its speed for the purpose of keeping what the controller deems adequate space. From its top front corners, two small and thick barrels rise in a mechanical fashion. The drones targeting system trains its view to get a lock on its oblivious target.

 

"I got you in my sights, you sonuvabitch…" The drone's distant pilot murmurs to himself, waiting until he hears an affirming beep before he pushes the firing button.

 

B W O O O S H - B W O O O S H !

 

Two heat-seeking rockets are shot, sent to zero in on their mark with intense precision. Out pacing the bike's nitro-amplified momentum. 

 

"No!" Just as they were nearing making contact, a returning third party intervenes. Speeding pass the drone with ease as the being maneuvers into a curving dip under the rockets, and rises to not only block off their intended target, but catch them like footballs within each of his hands upon seamlessly turning his body mid-flight. The catcher, Righteous Lad himself, throws one to his right and the other to the left with all his might to derail the rockets.

 

 b o o m - b o o m.

 

The projectiles go off with sounds of distant explosions, finally catching the thief's attention. He looks behind himself and sees the two from before right on his tail.

 

"You shouldn't have done that, kid. You're wasting your time trying to protect scum like him. He knew he'd have someone like me on his trail. The ballsy guy stole directly from me, not just snatched up random cash laying around in the back of the joint. He wanted this." The voice behind the drone informs as it closes in just enough to be heard clearly.

 

"It doesn't matter. Look, I get it, alright? I don't like people stealing from others either, but that shouldn't lead to someone casually taking a life. That's far from an equivalency!" Righteous Lad reasons.

 

"Ha! Far from an equivalency? Kid, take a look at us. All three of us. How much value do you think he has as a person, huh?  You think he'd be doing this if his life had any real meaning?"

 

"He can be redeemed. Anyone can. Making a bad decision or two shouldn't mean someone's life should come to an abrupt end. Sometimes all it takes is a little help to guide people like him to the right path." The hero asserts his stance.

 

"That's the thing about hindsight, kid. It comes after the deed, not before. You don't really get to choose how you pay your debt in this kind of lifestyle. It's all a gamble, and right now? He's rolling a pair of snake eyes. And this house always takes all." The drone's operator concludes before two thin barrels extend from the machine's sides and adjust to take aim. Firing swiftly, discharging a sticky black substance that splatters across Tyson's face. Right over his eyes and the upper half of his features, blinding him. It's then the drone speeds by and leaves him behind.

 

"Guuuh!? What the heck…!?" Righteous Lad slows drastically as he tries to wipe his face clean. No avail at all as the substance quickly dries up and takes on a rubbery texture. 

"Aaarchk… what is this stuff made of!?" He asks in annoyance, now clawing to get a grip and pull. His initial attempt results in the substance stretching, but eventually snaps back into place after slipping off his finger tips. Growing agitated, he tries again. Gritting his pearly white teeth as he hooks his digits into the malleable material and pulls with all of his effort, stretching it far and wide at opposite sides. Expanding to its lengthy limit until it finally begins to peel and tear off from his skin completely. With an exhale of relief, he wags the goop off his hands and refocuses on the chase miles ahead of him.

 

"Alright, punk. You got lucky for a moment, so we'll do this the old fashion way instead. Quick and almost painless." 

 

"Nah, I've got a better idea." The thief quickdraws to train his firearm on the stalking drone and swiftly pulls at the trigger in a rapid secession, firing three shots back-to-back-back.

All of which meet and bounce off a briefly visible forceshield. Something that reduces the bike rider to staring in disbelief.

 

"What, you thought you were the only one with expensive blackmarket super-toys?" Rhetorical question spoken before a mini gatling barrel expands from underneath and center of the drone. Just as it was whirring up to turn the thief into swiss cheese, the biker makes a hard diagonal downward left a mere second before bullets begin flying. It turns into a chase of wild-like maneuvers as the thief does his best to avoid predictable patterns, and the droid tries to at least some portion of its target. A death shot was awfully close, too. Before those flesh shredding projectiles could pierce the biker's back, Righteous Lad comes swerving in to protect him. A knee raised and his forearms held parallel to one another in front of his face. No pain felt or blood drawn, but the lower half of his jacket's sleeves were poked through and torn. His jeans also bear tears after the assault of gunfire.

 

"Still not going to let you do this!" Righteous Lad exclaims as he lowers his arms.

 

"YOU again?" The droid's pilot questions.

 

"ME again." Tyson retorts and lunges right for the mobile war machine with the intent of crushing it between his capable hands like a tin can. However, nothing remotely of the sort happens. In fact, his hands phase right through the drone like water. It even slips pass his body like a ghost before taking a solid form again behind him.

"What? How!?"

 

"Nanotechnology, kid. I've got stuff that you can only hope to see in spy movies!" The droid vaguely explains before continuing with its pursuit. Tyson turns to examine and rethink his approach to the dilemma at hand. If he couldn't stop the droid by direct means, then he could probably play keep away for as long as needed. Looks like that would be crucial too, because the thief's bike was giving off a bit of smoke.  Thus, he advances onward with a powerful burst of speed. Passing the drone easily, he rushes to fly beside the smoky vehicle and its driver.

 

"Hey, are you alright!?"

 

"No! He shot one of the support thrusters out and I can't maintain this altitude. I have to go back down to city level, and I definitely don't want to risk using nitro again!"

 

"Hang on, I think I can help with that." And with that said, Tyson moves closer to the flying cycle and reaches to place a hand at the rear of the ride, and his other to the underside. With an established grip, he uses his own acceleration to give it a boost in speed. He guides them downward among the buildings below. Yet, the drone was capable of following just fine for the most part.

 

"This is just greeeeat… First some superhero wannabe with no style shows up, then a mob boss with a super advanced drone, and now? My bike needs repairing! This just couldn't get any worse…"

 

"Dude, you're acting as if people went out of their way to ruin your afternoon walk or something. Robbing a bank isn't exactly an inconsequential thing to overlook. There's cause & effect to your decisions, you know!" Righteous Lad scolds.

 

"But that's the thing… Robbing a bank WAS supposed to be a walk in the park for me. Like, dude. I was in and out of there so fast, that I thought I had broken a world record or something. It was too easy. And then you showed up…"

 

"Yeah, and now I'm trying to save you from being murdered and blown out of the sky. As far as I'm concerned, I was right where I needed to be." The young hero counters, then takes a moment to steal a glance over his shoulder. Just in time to see an incoming attack, conveniently enough.

 

B U E W - B U E W - B U E E E E W!

 

Tyson takes evasive action and guidance preemptively, avoiding several shots of neon green beams that sear anything in their paths. They only manage to graze and connect with a few buildings, fortunately enough.

 

"Hey, fly still, will ya? I'm doing my best to do damage control and avoid hitting more people than I need to here. But a guy only has so much patience, you know!" The voice speaking through the drone complains.

 

"I'm not going to let you kill him! I really still think we can work something out here!" Tyson reasons.

 

"Something tells me that involves me getting the short end of the stick, and I'm not exactly cool with that. You can both take a hike, honestly. But especially you and that Goddamn hunk of junk!" The thief chimes in with evident annoyance. He draws his plasma handgun again and begins firing relentlessly upon the stalking drone. A mid-flight shootout ensues between the two opposing men, much to Tyson's worry and disapproval. Reasoning with them would have to be held off for a moment - all of his efforts were being used to keep the biker from being struck with a laser blast. However, there was only so much he could do within such limiting circumstances. He had to be mindful of his strength, his speed, and their surroundings. 

Despite his diligent effort, another shot lands on a crucial part of the aircraft and causes a violent tremble on impact. On top of that, they were closing in on a tall building up.

 

"We can't keep this up… there has to be somewhere, someway I can set you down safely and focus more of my attention on that drone."

 

"We have a bit of a technical problem too, actually–" The thief informs while attempting to drift for an upcoming turn up ahead. The steering was barely responsive. He was more likely to crash than actually make a successful hard turn.

"The controls aren't responding too well. Don't know if it's because of your hold on my bike, or if another jet was shot out." He adds before the bike takes another direct hit.

 

"I got it, I got it. Just keep turning and hang on!" Tyson advises. With their combined efforts, they compensate for the vehicles compromised mobility in the form of Tyson rotating his body and using his feet to make the impact instead.

 

K R O O M !

 

A portion of the building's concrete cracks beneath the soles of Righteous Lad's sneakers. With very little hesitation, unbending his knees, he runs along the surface of the building while simultaneously helping the damaged cycle turn down the next block safely. Well, as safe as possible given the circumstances.

 

"Huh. Kind of cutting it close there, but good stuff! Sadly, I don't think we can do this forever… Got a plan yet, hero?"

 

"I'm doing my best here. This is my first day, and I wasn't exactly expecting to save one criminal from an even more dangerous one."