Hero of the Day (planned)

Precariously balanced as he was atop the column of cardboard containers it didn’t take long for Zephyr to notice the vans sudden loss of momentum. Swiftly raising his feet the elemental dug the soles of his shoes into the back of the front passenger seat; in effect wedging himself between the stack of cardboard boxes and the seat in front of him. While it was obviously not the most efficient method to secure himself Simon was confident that it would do for the moment. It wasn’t as though the van was going to do perform a flip anytime soon, not without his help anyway, most likely they had just reached a series of stop lights or something similar and would be on their way again soon enough, his actions here were just to avoid the possibility of him becoming destabilized and landing face first on the floor like some absurd cartoon character.

However it was quickly revealed that the cause for their abrupt lack of acceleration was due to something somewhat more problematic than a run of the mill traffic light. When Hunter informed that the van had lost all four of its tires the young man let out an exasperated sigh, things just weren’t working out for him today; first he’d had to cancel/postpone his minor excursion to the Grand Canyon, then he had been delegated the task of moving man and now it seemed his journey would be delayed even further. He didn’t question the vampire’s orders that they were to kill whoever was stalling them; the merc had enough experience to realize that he had only been denied the use of lethal force earlier because they had been on the mansion grounds, a place where Hunter had little influence. However now that they had placed a fair amount of distance between the crippled mansion and themselves well… how did the saying go? Ah yes, “the gloves were off”, after all it would take the blood sucker almost no effort to bribe whatever authority to either ignore any death that took place or simply make it look like an accident.

‘What did I do wrong in a past life?’ the merc wondered bemusedly as he casually observed his employer struggle with the vehicles door, “We appear to be sealed in” he announced blandly as his senses failed to detect any openings within their metallic shell, he was still aware of, and could manipulate the air both inside and outside the van but there was no clear path for the air molecules to travel from one to the other. This problem was quickly resolved though as Zephyrs employer first dented, and then completely removed a section of the vehicles side as he vented his frustration and once more demonstrated his super human strength to give them a new opening from which to exit. ‘crude, but I suppose it will do’’ the merc thought critically as he evaluated his employers work. The elemental himself would have opted to make his departure via the tinted windows in the front of the vehicle, they were less durable than whatever alloy had been used to construct the van and would therefore require less effort to remove. Still what was done was done and merc had the sneaking suspicion that the vampire would be less than thrilled if he chose to voice his own thoughts on the matter and so he kept silent as he strode past Jazz and followed his employer out into the cold night air.


The individual before him something of a surprise for the British mercenary, he had been expecting an opponent around their twenties or maybe even thirties perhaps armed with some type of firearm and maybe even sporting an exaggerated hair style that was intended to make its wearer appear more “unique”. Instead what Simon faced was a lavender haired youth around the same age as himself who was armed with a single wooden staff and a cocky smirk. All in all the elemental was not impressed; however there were very few things that did impress him as a rule, so this did not amount to much. However that didn’t mean he wasn’t wary of his adversary; age was no indicator of an enemy’s skill after all, he himself was an example of that.

Even before Hunter had given the order to “deal with” the annoyance before them Zephyr had already begun to move, swiftly departing the pool of light which displayed his “teammates” and their van the elemental casually strode into the sea of darkness which covered the majority of this desolate back road. He wasn’t completely invisible though; light had this annoying habit of reflecting off every surface it came into contact with, but his form would now hopefully appear as nothing more than a vague outline to their inconvenient pursuer. “I don’t suppose I can persuade you to simply abandon your current course of action?” he inquired in a surprisingly polite, albeit bland tone. In truth Zephyr wasn’t really in the mood for any kind of mutant powered battle, he just wanted to get back to his apartment, maybe get a few hours sleep and then be on his way the moment the sun rose over the horizon.

Despite his words and current disposition though Zephyr wasn’t going to allow the stranger to simply walk away, even before he had started speaking the elemental had gradually began to leech away the oxygen from the air surrounding his lavender haired foe. It would not be anything immediately noticeable, not right away at least, but if the merc subtle attack was not halted then the young man before him would soon pass out from lack of oxygen and this little scuffle would be over before it even started.

Hunter felt the change in his clothes to a thin metallic substance, but he could still move with little restriction. When he felt his foot suddenly becoming very attached to the ground he wrenched it up, ripping it free. Next salt was shot into his mouth, causing him to cough as he cleared his mouth of the substance.

The boy had made a serious mistake though, he had gotten close. Rather that offer him a verbal response Hunter darted forward and shot a fist out, aiming of the boy’s chest. If he connected the forced of the blow would likely take him off his feet and send him flying back, away from the van. He needed the area around the van clear. In the distance a helicopter could be heard.

Hunter was mildly impressed by the boy’s quick thinking in defending against his attack. He combined his movements and powers well. However these thoughts were interrupted when he saw what the staff the boy was swinging at him was made of. Wood!

He knew he had to avoid that at all costs. Fortunately the boy had given him just the means to do so. With his lower legs encased in pavement they would keep hi anchored to the ground. He bent backwards at the knees, moving himself out of the staff’s path. Then, using his strength he stopped his fall once he was horizontal and pulled himself back upright.

Now that Zephyr had knocked the boy away Hunter could work on freeing himself. Holding his hand above the concrete palm down he took a deep breath. Slamming his palm down the concrete cracked a little. Realising that this would take longer than he thought he held both hands palm down, and began slamming one after another into the concrete.

Moving his arms at a furious pace he hammered at his prisons, first cracking it, then sending shards of concrete flying. He’d managed to free himself just as the helicopter landed. A dozen men leapt from it, weapons trained on the boy. Hunter was now moving towards the helicopter and began giving orders.

“Half of you, engage the boy, shot to kill,” he said calmly, “The rest of you, move what’s in the back of the van to the helicopter.” Reaching the van he ripped off the back doors. Rather than simply drop it, he hurled the large chunk of metal at the boy. Stepping into the van he unbuckled Paragon and picked her up. He headed for the helicopter, but kept an eye on the boy incase he tried anything. As he stepped back the six men detailed to fight him opened fire.

Hunter heard Zephyr but didn’t respond. He’d been in the process of withdrawing, and had detailed half the squad to keep the boy away from the helicopter. They had succeeded, as Paragon and all her worldly possessions, including her cat, had been transferred to the helicopter. Paragon herself had been secured and now was time to leave. Zephyr and Jazz would deal with the boy now. For a brief moment he regarded the soldiers entombed in the ground.

While they had been defeated by a child, it had been a child of extraordinary talent. Also they had captivated the boy’s attention long enough for the rest of the squad to load the helicopter. He decided that once the boy was dead he would send a team out to retrieve any survivors. They had done what was asked of them, and deserved to have a chance at survival. Standing at the edge of the helicopter he linked to Zephyr’s watch via the helicopter’s radio.

“While I know it’s old fashioned I want you to bring me the boy’s head,” he instructed as the helicopter began to rise up off the ground. He took a seat next to Paragon and strapped himself in. Turning to look as his daughter he regarded her for a moment before turning to the soldiers. “I will send people to retrieve your comrades,” he informed them, “You all did well, but I’ll leave the Kabal to take it from here.”

The helicopter rose up into the night sky, turned to face Mondragon labs and flew off towards the facility. Mission accomplished, Zephyr and Jazz just had to tie up the loose ends and all would be finished. He would monitor the battle through their NVGs and via satellite tracking. While he was confidant that Zephyr would perform he wanted to see how Jazz did.

Zephyr glanced up at the helicopter as it slowly withdrew into the dark night sky and allowed a faint smirk to creep upon his features; the primary obstacle had been overcome. The immortal hadn’t even given him a backward glance as he disappeared into the helicopter interior, though if the vampire had tried to leave a parting message there wouldn’t have been anyway for the merc to distinguish his employers words over the mild roar caused by the vehicles dual rotors.

Turning his attention to the battle at hand once more the elemental watched dispassionately as his target was hurled through the air once more with his general trajectory indicating that he would come to land somewhere within the vast cluster of trees termed a forest. Just before the violet haired youth was due to make his rather uncomfortable landing though Zephyr attention was stolen by a sudden burst of electricity slamming into the earth where his adversary had been seconds before. The moment the neon blue energy had entered the mercs vision his eyes had reacted, the night vision goggles swiftly focused upon this new source of photons and immediately did their assigned task; amplifying the available light to ten times its normal intensity. Simons pupils suddenly dilated as they were bombarded by this new source of light, electrical signals were sent along his nervous system and informed his mind of a mild pain and slight discomfort which caused him reflexively close his optics and jerk his head away from the burst of electricity which lasted less than a second.

Frozen for just a second or two Zephyr stared pointedly at the sea of shadows which surrounded him as he waited for his azure eyes to adjust once more. Truthfully there had been almost no damage done and it could be said that the elemental was overreacting, however there was a reason for his actions; namely his desire to rid himself of the NVG which currently acted as Hunters eyes while he was away from the scene. If Simon simply behaved as though the electronic optics were more trouble than they were worth than he would be able to justify removing the device without causing undue suspicion.

Pivoting slowly on his right foot the elemental turned to face his so called “teammate” and frowned ever so slightly. Jazz had been somewhat inactive before now and he had assumed that the woman had heeded his words that he wished to deal with the violet haired nuisance himself, this no loner seemed to be the case. “Although your input is appreciated Jazz I can handle events from this point on, I will report back to Hunter when I have finished so you may take your leave” Zephyr’s tone was calm and his words were perfectly civil, however the expression which currently occupied his features showed that he was not expecting any argument. This impression was further enhanced when the mercs actions; the moment he had finished talking the metallic apparel loosely binding his right arm was sliced to ribbons by an invisible force. As the shreds of copper fell onto the vans roof Zephyr used his newly liberated limb to grasp hold of the NVG goggles which adorned his cranium and deftly removed the device and allowing it to fall with a dull thud onto dry earth right beside immobile motor vehicle.

With his actions no longer being observed by his vampiric employer the elemental could at last proceed with his hastily concocted plan. Silently rising into the air the merc simply levitated for a few seconds while he attempted to pinpoint his violet target among the many trees crowding the space before him. It wasn’t an extremely difficult task; trees generally retained the same shape no matter what specious they were and so all he need do was ignore the many motionless wooden pillars until his winds encountered something far less standardized in shape, preferably something that was moving.

Zephyr’s rough search continued for roughly a minute before he found what he was looking for, a small hunched up shape which moved slightly, as though it were taking deep breaths. Focusing his thoughts now on the boys whereabouts the elemental rose higher into the night sky before soaring over the tree tops as he closed on the violet youths location. In less than ten seconds he was floating above a small hole in the foliage which had not doubt been caused by the child’s rather rough landing, if the merc squinted his eyes he could just make out the boys figure on the parched earth below, which given the lack of light probably meant that his target would be hard pressed to see anything himself. Deciding to utilize this somewhat minor advantage as best he could Zephyr silently descended through the trees until he came to rest upon a rather thick bough which looked sturdy enough to hold his meager weight. The elemental then paused for a moment as he considered his words, he couldn’t afford to be aggressive or threatening for if the boy withdrew into the earth it would be almost impossible to locate him.

After considering the situation for a moment the Zephyr decided that the only way he would be able to put his target at ease would be tell the truth; that he desired to know the extent of the kids abilities in order to increase his wealth. It was a simple answer and it was logical, Simon did not see anything the boy could fins fault with. Before he began his improvised interrogation though the elemental used his right arm to withdraw the expensive looking Rolex he had received from Hunter at the beginning of his employment, deftly removing all air molecules which surrounded the watch, the merc already knew that the chronometer function as a communication device and this was most certainly one conversation he did not wish his employer to hear. Only once he had fully encased the watch within a void did the elemental allow his voice to drift down.

“You have a most interesting gift” he noted in a calm and emotionless tone, “tell me is there any limit to what you can create?”

Still coated in the shadows the British merc raised an incredulous eyebrow as he heard his opponents supposed apology, while the means of reimbursement was appealing Zephyr still had no reason to trust the boys word. He had been trying to kill the kid not five minutes ago after all, there was no real reason for the Zelek to trust at him at this stage of their encounter, logically the boy should have been considering various ways to escape or perhaps subdue the elemental in hopes of gaining information. There was no reason for the lilac haired nuisance to present him with a small fortune and offer to reverse the damage he had caused, it made absolutely no sense.

Despite knowing this though the collection of glittering diamonds on the forest floor was too tempting of an offer for the mercenary to resist. However he still had no intention of entering the Zelek’s range unless the kid was drugged or he had trained sniper by side. After considering the situation for a moment or two the elementals mind swiftly conjured a suitable solution; “That is quite a generous offer,” he observed in a tone of mild surprise as he silently descended from his perch and rested against the base of the trunk, still maintaining a good five feet between himself and his adversary, “However I’m afraid that considering the conditions of our encounter I do not completely trust you at this point…”

A strong current of wind surged into being directly behind the purple haired boy, swerving around him and focusing its energy on the log shaped diamond he had just created, propelling the oversized piece of jewelry across the dirt floor and towards the base of the tree where Zephyr was now standing. Focusing his gaze upon the jewels shining surface Simon dipped into the reserves of his gift again as he created a minute blade of air and liberating a small chunk of the stone from the larger mass and expecting it with his liberated right hand. Although he was by no means a professional jeweler the merc was aware of some of the more obvious signs which hinted at a stones value and from he could see the caliber of this sample was a cut above the rest. “Most impressive” he muttered before continuing in a louder voice, “I must commend you Zelek you seem to have a talent for jewelry, I shall remember you in the future…”

The elemental once more lapsed into silence as he considered how he wanted to proceed, the boy had not yet informed him if his gift had any type of time limit and from what little he had seen of Zeleks personality he doubted he would getting an answer any time soon without a suitable display of force, something he wanted to avoid at this point in time. A simple solution to his query would be to accept the kids rather handsome gift and keep it under observation for a reasonable period of time, if it turned out that the changes faded after time he could always dispatch the boy at his leisure. If the alterations were permanent however he would have interesting new source of revenue which led him to yet another interesting question; exactly how naive was this Zelek character? If the elemental was to have any dealing with the boy in the future he would need an appropriate understanding of the kids persona in order to evaluate how dangerous he could be in the future. If the boy had high morals and was reasonably predictable then he would represent little to no threat, however if lilac individual turned out to be similar to Hunter then Zephyr would have to tread more carefully in future encounters.

Rising without a sound once more the merc moved towards Zelek and paused just three feet from the boy, “I believe you said it was within your abilities to salvage my current attire?”