Rampage

  # # #

  The Heroes walked into Blue Collar bank around 11:30. Deadguy felt someone bump against his shoulder hard. It was a huge, muscular man. "E...e...ESCUSE me," he stuttered, not looking back. Deadguy paused, trying to figure out where he had seen the man before, but the thought was gone once Jill dragged him into the bank.

  "Deadguy, please stay with the tour group," she said. "Last time you wandered off, two buildings exploded and we ended up with three sexual harassment suits."

  "It was only two," DG defended. "One woman dropped it once I saved her dog."

  "Lucky you," Valkadaidan stated, trying to keep his katana hidden in the brown overcoat.

  "Having some adjustment issues," Deadguy mused.

  "Shut up," Valk growled.

  "Alright," a man yelled at the top of his lungs."Point me to the vault and no one gets hurt." The three Heroes turned to see a man dressed in black football-inspired armor standing in the doorway of the bank.

  "Looks like we're on the clock a little early boys," Jill commented. "Move into attack formation."

  Deadguy tugged on his fighting gloves as Valkadaidan threw off his overcoat and unsheathed his blade. "Party time, Chump," DG exclaimed. The guys rushed towards Rampage, ready to strike him down. The villain simply knocked them back with a swipe of his hand.

  Our Hero flew off in one direction, landing on one of the desks, while the Dragon Blooded crashed through one the the office windows. "Not what I meant by attack formation," Jill sighed.

  "All I heard was 'Move in to attack'," Deadguy yelled back, vaulting off the table.

  "Of course you did," she muttered to herself.

  "So, what's Plan B," he asked.

  "We haven't even done Plan A yet," she shot back.

  Rampage roared, interrupting their conversation. He charged at Jill, who quickly jumped out of the way. He slammed into the teller desks behind her, money and pieces of wood flying everywhere. She barely had time to pull out her gun that was almost as big as her head and fired off a few shots.

  "Bullets won't work," Valk called out, dusting glass off of his shoulders. He readied his katana and charged at the villain again. He struck a shoulder pad, causing Rampage to stagger briefly.

  "Who did that," Rampage growled. He turned to face the Dragon Blooded. "How did you do that?"

  Valk held his katana at eye level. The blade pointed at the villain. "This is Unmei no owari. As long as I breathe, it is indestructible. As long as I fight, it will slay anything it comes in contact with."

  Rampage cracked his neck. "Let's test that claim, little man.." The two charged at one another. Valkadaidan swung as Rampage went to block. The collision rung in Deadguy's ears for a few moments as one tried to weaken the other.

  "Distraction time," Our Hero proclaimed, grabbing one of the lobby chairs. As the two continued fighting, he took a swing at Rampage's back. He continued blocking Valk's attacks while slapping away Deadguy.

  "I'm done playing around," Rampage yelled, slamming his foot one the ground. The tremor caused Valk to stagger back and the villain took off to the vault. Deadguy followed with another chair held high, cackling like a madman.

  "Deadguy," Jill yelled, chasing after him. "put that chair down." Valk followed Jill as all three Heroes chased after Rampage. There came a loud CRASH as the villain smashed through the vault door.

  Rampage started throwing money into a large duffel bag as Deadguy slammed the chair into his back. He backhanded him, sending the Hero flying towards Jill. Valkadaidan pulled her out of the way at the last second, causing DG to slam into the Dragon-Blooded. The villain turned to run as Deadguy stood in the entrance.

  He stopped short of Our Hero and stood his full height. "Wow," DG said. "I just realized that you're a lot bigger in person." The villain let out an angry yell, and started to charge. The collision sent Deadguy flying through the wall. Shots rang out as bullets bounced off his shoulder pads. He turned and started to run towards Jill again, gaining speed quickly despite his large frame.

  At the last moment, Valkadaidan stepped in between them and was sent flying through two offices. "You're lucky, girly," he growled. "No one can survive a Rampage."

  "Seriously," Our Hero weakly yelled. "That's your catchphrase? 'No one can survive a Rampage'? Ha." He started crawling out from the hole in the wall. Broken bones quickly sunk back into his body. Cuts clotted and healed over as he struggled to stand. "You are obviously not the brains of the operation."

  "I don't have time for this," Rampage yelled. He turned and took off in the opposite direction of the Heroes and crashed through another wall. Deadguy and Jill watched as he broke through the police's line of defense and continued on his path.

  "I think we are seriously underpowered," DG commented.

  Jill nodded, then quickly started looking around. "Wait, where's Valkadaidan?" They heard a familiar voice moan. The Heroes looked over to see a pair of cargo pants lying in the rubble of two office walls. Jill rushed to his side before Deadguy had a chance to react."Help me dig him out," she commanded.

  The Heroes arrived home after the crushing defeat at the bank. Jill swung open the door and started looking around her apartment for something. Deadguy slowly followed, dragging the barely-conscious, bandaged up Valkadaidan along."Don't put him on the couch," Jill screamed. Deadguy stopped in mid-drop, trying to maintain his balance. "I don't want him bleeding on anything."

  "Ever heard of club soda," Our Hero asked.

  "Put him on the kitchen floor," she instructed.

  "You're all heart boss," he remarked as he dragged Valk into the kitchen.

  "At least I can mop up in there," she said. There was a loud THUD as Deadguy laid him down on the tiled floor. He looked down at the Supreme Warrior, then back at their boss through the service window.

  "Can we get him a pillow at least." he suggested. "You can always throw the pillow out."

  Jill gaze met his. "No," she stressed. "What part of 'I don't want him bleeding on anything' did you not understand?"

  "The part where you lost any sense of compassion for your employee," he answered.

  Jill stormed over and smacked Deadguy on the back of his head. "Are you brain dead as well," she asked in anger. "He is the Supreme Dragon-Blooded Warrior Valkadaidan. Dragon. Blooded!" She looked down at him with concern. "If even a drop of that blood fell into the wrong hands..." She stopped and shivered.

  "Okay, so what are you going to do about blood on the linoleum floor," DG asked. "Not to mention the bank, your car, and the trip up the stairs?"

  "That's what the bandages were for," she said. "Besides, he gave me this liquid that will delude the dragon's blood to the point of uselessness."

  "Wait, you mean he has real dragon blood," Our Hero questioned. "He's a dragon?"

  "No, he's not a dragon," she answered. "Again. He's dragon-blooded. From what he told me, it means he had a blood bond with a dragon at some point in his long and violent past."

  "You believe that?"

  Valkadaidan groaned, slowly waking. "Why am I on the kitchen floor," he asked.