Chương 62: Pray

The world saturated in that frilled, buzzing sensation. Like the air itself was replaced by a great swarm of locusts, whose target crop was grown deep between the ears of the two heroes. Flowstate dug his palms into the concrete as he began to slip away alongside those precious thoughts that truth sought to extract rushing through his mind." Not so confident now that you know it all comes back, right?" truth taunted, hands going back into his pockets."

So perhaps you should recognize the futility here and just tell us more about your little organization, boy." Lazily, he reached out of his pocket and raised an arm towards Flowstate. Able to still see the amorphous shifts in the air as the energy cascaded towards him, the hero was able to scramble back as he shouted to Teiú.

"Keep him busy! I can stop him!" Teiú moved like an attack dog beholding a fresh meal, fist cocked back to deliver unto truth. truth, however, had other plans as with a simple stroke of his other hand, he slapped away the monstrous hero, sending him stumbling back." Do you really think there being two of you will stop me? Especially now that you know how useless your little ace in the hole is? You could barely even avoid me until I began maiming just one of you."

"Kids," Holden barked out in a scoff.

"Perpetual rebels. Would be admirable if it weren't wasting our damn time." Teiú rose back to his feet, lunging back in. When truth aimed for a follow-up strike, the beast dipped below his arm before arcing back up and sending an uppercut cleanly into truth's jaw... prompted with little reaction from the entity.

"Like punching! Through sludge!" Jairo buzzed out, barely able to get the words together with how far his body had morphed.

"It's fine! Just keep him busy!" Flowstate responded, pushing himself up to his feet as he began the Lord's Prayer again.

"Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name!" He rapidly began to belt out, struggling to keep a balance between both pace and clarity. If interrupting it by saying something else made it fail the first time, it was most likely that a mispronunciation would have just as dire a consequence. truth didn't take well to hearing those words, the air behind him bulging again as it hurled him towards Christian.

The hero fully anticipated dodging, until he was reminded of who he was with: The fastest creature in The New Sentinels. Jairo was already in the way, lunging forward and embracing around truth's midsection to push him back. Teiú buzzed out another attempt at words.

"Can't do! This long!"

"Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven!" Flowstate called out, using the opportunity to start sprinting around the car and maximize distance between him and truth. So long as his voice could be heard, it should be fine. Seemed to do so last time. Suddenly, Jairo was airborne, thrown by a now-leaping truth. Unfortunately for Christian, he had temporarily forgotten that people with super strength love jumping.

"Give us this day our daily bread-!" he yelled out, digging into his pockets and procuring both suntetsu, haphazardly flinging them directly for the plunging force. The pale man reached out to parry them both aside. In that same motion, truth was met with a surprise as his arms were spanned out: One of Flowstate's jitte hurtling directly for his face, digging into one of his eyes.

Despite being slowed by that thick, syrup-y force that softened Teiú's blows, it seemed to be enough to cause truth to reach for his face and hiss out in pain, landing on his feet.

"-and forgive us our debts-!" From behind truth pounced Teiú, fist cocked back again. This strike properly landed against the back of the entity's head, producing a great smacking sound that forced a step back from truth." Alright, maybe I should start with you first!" Raising a hand up, truth set that awful buzzing force upon Teiú, causing the hero's mind to be flooded by that awful static noise and his senses to be overwhelmed. He stayed on his feet, yet his body seemed stone-still."

What on Earth is going on in your mind?" inquired truth, visibly fascinated by the display, offhandedly reaching down to pick up one of Flowstate's suntetsu.

"As we forgive our debtors; and lead us not into temptation-" The suntetsu hurled through the air towards Christian, who at the last moment was able to catch it and attempted to hurl it back. truth caught it out of the air, this time just hurling it out of the parking garage entirely.

"On me for letting you take a weapon," he mused, his focus more centralized on Teiú." Perhaps 'minds' is the better word for this one. Tell me, have you always had this little stowaway on you?" Teiú groaned out the words, sounding like a swarm even more intense than the buzzing in the air.

"Not! Your! Business!" The reptilian took a step forward. And another. truth's eyes widened at the movement." Oh my, you're actually able to resist. Unfortunately for you..." truth trailed off, his hand guiding the force tensing up as Teiú was brought to a knee." I can simply turn up the dial." Looking towards Christian, he continued speaking.

"I suppose now's a good time for you to start talking. If I keep going, your friend here might end up with an aneurysm." Flowstate looked towards Teiú. The boy was shuddering on his knees, one hand clutching his head. The other, however, simply raised a clawed thumb up. The other hero nodded, looking back towards truth.

"-but deliver us from evil! For thine is the kingdom and the power-"" Don't you do it again!" truth began trudging towards Flowstate, his hand tensing up even further as Jairo was brought down to a prone position, letting out a sickly reverberating wail.

"-and the glory, forever!" Getting within arms' reach, truth reared his own hand back and sought to swing for Christian, but as it careened through the air, Flowstate was one step ahead. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

"Amen!" The buzzing stopped, leaving the air empty and serene again. truth's arm hadn't stopped moving, but with clearer space to focus, Chris was able to grab and redirect truth's movement, causing him to rotate one hundred and eighty degrees towards the exact thing his power was stopping. A now standing Teiú, heavy with breath as his heart pounded between his ribs. Hungry for great violence. Even with his superior vision, Flowstate could not see his comrade blurring through the air.

He was already in front of truth, and in seconds the exchange of blows began. It was reminiscent of the battle with Technofiend. But in this case, they seemed to be on far more neutral ground. The roll of thunder from each strike was cacophonous, nearly disruptive to the senses. But both heroes persevered. Christian took the opportunity to begin approaching Holden, hands at his sides.

"You're at checkmate. I can keep dishing out the Lord's Prayer. There's no putting Teiú down. You'd have to hold us up forever, but I just have to detain you once." Holden scoffed.

"For what? I'm not truth. He's the one attacking you. I'm here for an interview. You think you can put that thing in handcuffs? The only reason he hasn't simply left is because things like him love violence. They feed off of our worst behaviors. And right now, he's being indulged. You know what happens when he gets well-fed on a fresh supply of sin?" The journalist gestured back towards the brawl. Christian was able to easily see how they were moving, the choices in their strikes.

truth had no technique to it, just raw physical power and speed being unleashed on the far more skilled and even faster Teiú. But he did notice that truth was speeding up, and Teiú was relying less on simply taking the hits and beginning to focus on dodging blows. His own strikes were losing weight. They were on a timer. Christian looked back towards Holden, realizing the actual skill he had to use here.

"That might be true, but that doesn't mean anything. You know what happens if he puts us down?"

"He sucks the information right out of your head."

"Sorry, sir, that's not what's going to happen. You're going to learn that we operate on a provisional information basis. We don't know anything. You'll have wasted your time. You might not have attacked us, either, but you're clearly an accomplice. More than enough to question you."

"Don't bother with the political responses, kid. You think you're the first government stooge to tell me something like that? They always know more." Flowstate shook his head.

"There's only one answer you're going to hear from me, the one I know deep in my heart." He kept the brawl in his peripheral vision. He could see that static beginning to form around truth again, and knew it was time to recite a third time.

"Our father who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name."

"There's nothing to question me with, boy. I was simply paralyzed with fear by the supervillain showing up. You have no recording devices. It's the word of you two kids, versus a historied journalist. One you know is at your mercy."

"Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven."

"Unlike you two, I have a track record of doing my job well. My testimony is worth ten times what you all have, given your track record is not only short and new, but absolutely barren of any tangible accomplishment."

"Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil."

"If anything, your ragtag tax-funded outfit has done everything except accomplish anything. Every time you show up, so do bad guys-"For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever."

"Witness reports said someone was ripping those tree people's limbs off, someone else burning them. Given the bodycam footage going around..." Flowstate took a deep breath.

"I wonder how much of a kill count-" Christian's throat hitched. He wasn't giving in a response, no matter how deep the thorns of that snipe were dug into him. Journalists had asked him worse. More dire things. He was able to contain himself under oath, under scrutiny by people worthy of far more respect than this muckraker. A muckraker who really didn't deserve to be talking right now, interested in targeting him and everyone who worked with him. God, it would be so easy to just stop him for good.

That'd make the real difference. Like the journalist said, he was at Christian's mercy. But no. He wouldn't give in.

"Amen." truth let out a yowl as his body began to go a bit slack, granting Teiú the opportunity to unleash a far more aggressive volley.

"Are you seeing that? Even with the footholds you try to establish, we're not giving in. Like I said, sir. You're at checkmate." The journalist spat.

"God damn it. truth! Back off! We're done here." The concrete below the brawl between Teiú and truth cracked as the entity lunged back towards Holden, standing beside him and slipping his hands in his pockets." Shame, I was starting to have fun," truth mused. Flowstate's body tensed up as though he were ready for them to suddenly pounce on him.

"Now's the time to put your hands behind your back. You two are under arrest. We have your faces and your names. Even if you ran now, you'd have warrants out for both of you before the morning."

"I never said I'm giving up. I said we're done here." Holden stuck a hand out to truth, whose broad array of far-too-many teeth were on display before biting into the journalist's hand, blood flying. Seconds after, that energy came back in rich supply, flooding the entire parking garage." Are you sure you don't want me to just kill them now, Holden? That was all the juice I needed."

"It'd do nothing. But that's only two out of the four."" Oh ho, you are right. Maybe the other two will be less.. pious," truth mused, blood trickling down past his lips." I'll definitely be keeping an eye on you all. But that boy is right. The ghost is given up for you, Mr. Worth. Are you ready to join me in the alter egos? Have you thought of a good name to accompany mine? This is your best chance to really introduce yourself." Holden sighed.

"I find it to be buffoonery, but you're right. This puts me over the line. I suppose for now you can just call me... justice. Now let's go." truth grinned like the cat that caught the canary, planting a gloved hand on Holden's chest while backing them both away.

"Ta ta, little ones!" As they backed away, portions of their body began vanishing, as if immersing themselves into an opaque liquid. Within seconds, they were both gone. As Christian attempted to breathe a sigh of relief, Jairo pounced in the direction of where the two villains had vanished, prompting Christian to give up on that moment of relaxation to instead catch one of Jairo's forearms and run him around in a circle for a moment to wear off his momentum.

"They're gone, dude."" But! We're! Supposed to," the buzzing lightened up until it became Jairo's normal croaking voice under his helmet.

"Catch them, aren't we?"

"We couldn't. But we were able to stop them, and we can report their presence. The fact truth can be held off with The Lord's Prayer is huge. Not every win is gonna result in us catching the bad guys, man." Flowstate rubbed his face "Are you hurt badly?" Jairo shook his head, rolling his shoulders.

"That guy hit kind of hard, but I've been hit by a lot worse. Are you alright?" Chris looked down, the adrenaline wearing off as all the stinging of the loose stone and masonry hurled at him by truth and his back injury from earlier decided to make themselves acquainted. He hissed in pain, resting a hand over one of the clearer wounds.

"I think I just need to clean up and get some painkillers in me. Hey, uh..."

"Yeah?"

"We kind of just beat a supervillain by ourselves. Not like... beat, beat. But we did really good. We're the ones standing and they didn't get anything out of us."

"Yeah! I was kind of worried it'd need to be all of us to stop a bad guy, but we did it. That was awesome." Jairo held a fist out towards Christian.

"Dojo Stormers." Christian nodded, planting his fist against Jairo's.

"Dojo Stormers."