The Hero Without A Cool Name

by Stan Hendriks

  With a deep breath, Roy nods and replies, “Yeah, you’re right. I… we, can do this. We are going to defeat Toogaan, no matter what!”

  “That’s the spirit!” Lexi says, as she gives Roy a high five. “Anyway, while I was looking for you, I figured out a plan that might work.”

  “Oh yeah, we completely forgot about discussing a plan. How did your search for Mr. Golden Poison go, by the way? Did you find him?”

  “No, I’m sorry. He probably left Detroit already. But don’t worry, after we beat Toogaan, we are going after him.”

  “Oh, that’s for sure. I don’t want that bastard to ever poison someone again.”

  “Yes, it makes me want to throw up when I think about that people like him actually exist. I don’t get how I really don’t.”

  “Me neither, I guess something must have happened to them what made them that way. But anyway, we should leave soon.”

  “Yes,” Lexi nods, as she and Roy then both get up and walk out of the park. “Do you have everything you need?”

  “Yep, I got enough things on me to change and I also brought my ski mask. But so, what’s the plan? What are we going to do when we get there?”

  “Well, this is what I had in mind,” Lexi replies, as she then tells him her whole plan.

  Five minutes before Roy has to meet Toogaan at the top floor, Roy arrives at the skyscraper that is owned by Einar Tech. It’s raining and not only is there a strong wind, but thunder also emerges from the dark clouds and leave a noise similar of that to an explosion! Roy swallows and with a deep breath, he puts on his blue ski mask and then walks up to the main entrance, where three security guards are waiting. They look at him with serious expressions on their faces but without saying a word, they move aside, open the door, and let him in. Inside, there barely isn’t any light on, and the lights that are one don’t provide much light. But the bright tiny light in the distance above the elevator makes it clear where Roy needs to go. As he walks up to the glass elevator, the security guards keep on staring at him, but as soon as Roy presses on the button that will take him up to the very top floor, and as soon as the elevator doors close, Lexi sneaks up to the entrance and takes the three security guards out with a single punch in their neck! After that, she quickly runs to the stairway and goes up. As the elevator, with Roy in it, goes up through glass elevator shaft and passes all the floors, Roy sees that there are at least three security guards standing on each floor, and they all stare at him as he passes by. With a deep breath, he says, “You can do this, Lexi, I know you can. At least, I hope you can since I’m going to need you.” After about a minute, the elevator reaches the top floor and through the glass elevator doors, Roy sees Toogaan standing behind Julian, who is seated on his knees with a blindfold on, in an empty but enormous office room! The elevator doors open, and with an angry expression, Roy walks out of the elevator and looks Toogaan directly into his eyes. “Right on time, wonderful,” Toogaan says, as he looks at his watch.

  “That’s what you wanted, right?”

  “It sure is, Roy Tabby. My plan seemed to have worked but then again, after carefully calculating all scenarios out, I couldn’t be more certain that it would.”

  “Roy, what are you doing here?! Leave me behind and run! He knows everything!”

  “Oh, Julian Herrick, the biggest parasite of them all, could you be quiet? Adults are speaking now. Anyway, Roy Tabby, I assume you have come here to surrender, as any wise person would?”

  “Hell no! I’ve come to save Mr. Herrick and save the world from you!”

  Toogaan laughs, with insane and bloodthirsty looking eyes, and replies, “Save the world from me? Listen, you parasite, this world needs saving from you and your kind. You are the one who is going to be responsible for bringing death upon this earth and it is my destiny to stop that from happening and that is exactly what I am going to do. You see, you may look at yourself and think that you’re a hero, but you got it all wrong, Roy Tabby. In this story, I am the true hero, and you are the villain.”

  “You really are deluded, aren’t you?”

  “You act confident, but I can hear your rapid heartbeat from here. It’s crying out of fear, fear of not knowing what comes after death because it already knows, that soon it will not beat any longer. But I guess the little act of confidence you are portraying here comes from the fact that you think you have the element of surprise. Tell me, Roy Tabby, did you really think for a second that I wouldn’t know about Lexi Wheeler? Well, I’m not surprised, parasites like yourself have the mental capacity of… well, a parasite.”

  “Roy, I told you, he knows everything! Run while you still can and just leave me behind! Please, Roy!”

  “I can’t, Mr. Herrick, I’m not going to leave you behind!”

  “What a beautiful moment, when two parasites confess how much they care for each other. Well, it’s pathetic, actually. And if I could vomit then I most certainly would. But back to what I was saying before this twisted individual interrupted me, why do you think I’ve put some many security guards on each floor? You see, I’m remarkably familiar with how skilled of a fighter Lexi Wheeler is, so, I thought by myself, let’s tire her out a bit before she makes her spectacular entrance.”

  “It doesn’t matter if you know about her or not, all you need to worry about is that it’s over, Toogaan. This stops today!”

  “I have to admit, you’re quite the comedian. But I agree that this conversation has been dragged out for much too long already, let’s get down to business, shall we?” Toogaan then starts speaking in an ancient and a non-understandable language, and with some strange hand movements, a thick purple cloud appears in front of him! Toogaan then puts both of his hands into the cloud and takes out a sword so heavy and big that it has to be wielded with two hands! After that, the cloud disappears and Julian shouts, “Roy, please, run!”

  Toogaan then hits Julian on the back of his head with the sword and knocks Julian out! Roy’s eyes immediately start to shine bright blue, but he’s left in shock when he sees that he cannot change Toogaan’s sword! “What… what… why isn’t it working?!”

  With a smirk, Toogaan replies, “That is something beyond your understanding, parasite. Now, let’s finish this, shall we?!” With the sword held high, Toogaan comes running at Roy while letting out a deep and loud scream! Toogaan swings the sword at Roy’s head but right before it hits Roy, Roy quickly grabs his phone out of his pocket, changes it into a sword as well, and blocks Toogaan’s sword! But Toogaan’s sword goes through Roy’s sword like a knife goes through butter and he misses Roy’s head by only an inch or two! Roy falls to the ground and as Toogaan lift up his sword, he shouts, “Die, parasite!” He then smashes the sword down and Roy rolls over to the side just in time and as the swords clashes down onto the floor, the whole room shakes! While heavily breathing, Roy gets up as fast as he can and grabs a coin out of his pocket, changes it into a stun gun, and as he pulls the trigger, he presses it against Toogaan’s neck! But Toogaan, with little to no pain, grabs Roy by his throat and with an insane looking expression on his face, he lifts Roy up and with some spit, he says, “Why don’t you just accept your fate and die?!”

  Roy looks Toogaan directly into his eyes and this time, he presses the stun gun on Toogaan wrist which makes Toogaan let go off of Roy’s throat! But before Roy can do anything else, Toogaan kicks Roy so hard on his stomach that he flies away a couple of feet! Roy makes a hard landing on the concrete and with some grunting, he quickly grabs another coin out of his pocket changes it into sand and right as Toogaan comes running up to him with his sword held high and ready to strike, Roy throws the sand in Toogaan’s eyes! Because of it, Toogaan drops the sword and while loudly grunting, he quickly tries to get the sand out of his eyes! But then the elevator doors open once again but this time, Lexi comes walking out with two handguns aimed at Toogaan and starts firing at him! As per usual, the bullets deflect off of Toogaan’s suit but while she’s shooting, Lexi shouts, “Roy, come!”
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br />   Roy immediately gets up and as Lexi fires her last bullet, which flies straight Toogaan’s head, Toogaan picks his sword back up, blocks the bullet, and with a terribly angry expression on his face, he says, “You’re not going anywhere!” He then smashes the sword down on the floor which not only causes an enormous crack in the concrete, but it also causes Roy to fall right through the floor! Lexi, with a concerned expression on her face, immediately runs over to the hole in the floor but right before she gets there, Toogaan throws a razor-sharp throwing star into her heel which causes her to fall! As Toogaan licks his lips, he slowly walks over to Lexi, who is slowly crawling further away from Toogaan, while dragging his sword over the floor which makes an ear bleeding screeching sound! “Lexi Wheeler, you have been such a fool. What a shame!” He then lifts the sword up and right as he wants to strike, a piece of the floor underneath his feet shines bright blue and is turned into a piece of paper! Toogaan then falls through the paper and makes a hard landing! But not only that, Roy immediately jumps on top of him and starts beating him while shouting, “You will not kill her or anyone else!”

  But the punches don’t seem to have any effect on Toogaan as he simply grabs Roy by his collar and throws him off him! Toogaan then gets up, wipes the dust off his suit, and grabs two daggers from behind his belt. And without any hesitation, he jumps on top of Roy and smashes both daggers into his shoulders! Roy screams it out from pain and with a satisfying smile, Toogaan says, “Finally! Feel it all through your body! Hear your heart crying!”

  On the floor above, Lexi closes her eyes, bites her tongue, and takes the throwing star out of her heel. With a couple of deep breaths, she grabs the tube of batrachotoxin out of her pocket and pours it onto the throwing star. Then, with an angry expression on her face, she gets up, carefully jumps down, and throws the throwing star right into Toogaan’s neck! Toogaan immediately let’s go off the daggers and as he gets up, his eyes roll back for a second and he gets wobbly on his feet! “What are you going to do now?!” Lexi says.

  But then, Toogaan shakes his head, turns around, and as he takes the throwing star out of his neck, he replies, “You thought this would have any effect on me? I already knew you were going to use it against me so, I came prepared. Too bad!” He then rips the daggers out of Roy’s shoulders and jumps all the way towards Lexi, who just in time jumps away! But Toogaan isn’t done yet as he tries everything, he can to stab Lexi! But because of her fighting skills, she is able to dodge the daggers and kick them out of his hands! They then start to fight but Lexi, who is already injured, doesn’t stand a chance against the strength of Toogaan and Toogaan starts beating her up badly! Roy sees this and while he grunts it out from pain and while both of his shoulders are heavily bleeding, he slowly gets up and changes one of the desks, which are standing on the floor on which they are on and changes it into a magnet! Toogaan, who is on top of Lexi, flies towards it at a rapid pace and clashes into it fairly hard! “Again?! You must be joking me!” Toogaan shouts, as his suit opens up and he steps out of it. Toogaan, who is now standing in his underwear once again, then looks at Roy with wide open eyes and continues, “I have to admit, you’re a tougher opponent than I thought you would be, you really are. But Toogaan will not fail in fulfilling his destiny!” Toogaan then rushes towards Roy, jumps up, and kicks Roy tremendously hard on his head! In fact, so hard that the sound of Toogaan’s shinbone against Roy’s head is heard throughout all of Detroit! But as Roy falls to the ground, Toogaan realizes that Roy changed his ski mask into a metal helmet right before Toogaan’s shinbone connected! Toogaan then looks down at his leg and sees that his shinbone is completely broken! But he couldn’t care less and as Roy, who is slightly dazed, takes off his helmet, Toogaan inhales deeply through his nose and says, “The smell of fear is something I cannot get enough of. But the smell of death is something I crave. Something I need!” He then jumps on top of Roy and as he puts both of his hands around Roy’s throat and squeezes it, he starts to laugh hysterically! Roy, who is struggling for air, is slowly starting to lose consciousness but right at that moment, Lexi jumps on top of Toogaan’s back and puts her arms around his neck! With all of her strength, she tries to break his neck, but she isn’t strong enough since Toogaan keeps on laughing and choking Roy out! But then, Lexi looks up and with a surprised expression on her face, she immediately gets off of Toogaan and Julian, who is wielding Toogaan’s sword, shouts, “Toogaan, it’s over!”

  With a shocked expression on his face, Toogaan looks up at Julian in complete disbelief. But right before he can say anything, Julian pierces the sword, with all of his strength, right through Toogaan’s heart! While coughing up blood and with the sword pierced through his body, Toogaan gets up and while his legs are wobbly, he takes a couple of steps back before he falls to his knees. He then rips the sword out and looks at Julian and Lexi who carefully get Roy back up on his feet. “I’m sorry, Roy, I had no other choice. I hope that you can forgive me,” Julian says.

  Roy closes his eyes for a moment and takes a deep relieving breath, as does Lexi, but then an insane looking smile appears on Toogaan’s face and as he starts to laugh, he says, “You really think this is over? Although the chances of me being defeated by the three of you were slim to none, I still took some precautions just in case. You see, this building is packed with so many explosives that as soon as it explodes, it will wipe out all of Detroit, including you two parasites! My destiny has been fulfilled! After all those years Toogaan has done what he was destined to do! A beautiful paradise awaits me!” Right at that moment, Toogaan starts being consumed by thick purple smoke and right when Toogaan is fully consumed, the smoke separates itself in five different smoke beams that shoot away through the window and go up into the air at the speed of light! “Oh no, if these explosives explode then Detroit will vanish! Everyone will die!” Lexi says.

  Julian bows his head down and replies, “I should have known he wouldn’t let himself be defeated without… well, having some sort of destructive backup plan.”

  “But… what are we going to do?!” Lexi asks.

  “I’m sorry, Lexi, I’m afraid there is nothing we could possibly do to stop this,” Julian replies, with a sad expression on his face.

  But right at that moment, Roy takes a deep breath and says, “Leave this building, now.”

  “What?! What the hell are you talking about?!” Lexi asks.

  “I don’t understand, are you asking us to leave you behind? Roy, as Toogaan said, this entire building is basically one big bomb. You do not have the power to find every single explosive and change it, nor do I.”

  “Just leave this up to me, alright?”

  “But what are you going to do then?!” Lexi asks.

  “I’m going to do what a hero is supposed to do. A true hero will never hesitate to sacrifice his own life in order to save that of others and that is exactly what I’m going to do. Now, leave.”

  “Roy, please, do not do this! You can’t!” Julian says. But Roy then spreads his arms and as his eyes start to shine bright blue, so does the entire skyscraper! “Oh my God! He’s changing the entire building including everything in it! He’s doing it! He really is the best out of all of us!” Lexi is looking at Roy with a shocked expression on her face and as Julian grabs her arms, he continues, “We need to leave, now!”

  “No, I can’t leave him!”

  But Julian drags Lexi with him and jumps through the window and out of the skyscraper with her! And right at that moment, the entire skyscraper starts to shake and as Roy screams it out, he changes the skyscraper and everything in it into white feathers! Then, as Roy starts falling down, there all of a sudden is no more sound. Everything seems and feels so peaceful as Roy’s life flashing before his eyes. And right when a beam of moonlight breaks through the dark clouds and shines down at Roy, a smile of pure happiness appears on his face. And just before he hits the ground, he closes his eyes, and everything goes dark.

  Chapter Ten Are You Ready?

  “Th
is is Simone Johnson with Detroit News Of Today And Tomorrow. As you can see behind me, the police are investigated what exactly happened to the building of Einar Tech. Apparently, according to witnesses, the skyscraper of Einar Tech started to glow bright blue and within seconds, the entire skyscraper changed into what must have been a million white feathers. Normally this wouldn’t be possible, but the feathers that were laying on the ground and spread throughout most of these streets, and of course the disappearance of the skyscraper, tell otherwise. The police have already collected most of the feathers and send them to a lab where further investigation will be done. But the police could not answer the burning question we all have. Is the man with the blue ski mask, that apparently has the ability to change things, responsible for this? And if so, what would have been his reasoning? We have also reached out to Mr. Einar himself, but thus far he has not been available for comment. Thus, what happened to the skyscraper of Einar Tech, and who is responsible for it, remains a mystery, for now. And let’s not forget that people are now wondering, is there a new hero who possess special kind of abilities unknown to humankind? Well, I guess we’ll have to wait and find out. But if that is so, then I believe I can speak on behalf of many people that live here in Detroit that we will welcome him with open arms. This was Simone Johnson with Detroit News Of Today And Tomorrow and we will keep you updated as this story develops so, stay tuned.”

  In the meanwhile, Mary, who is watching the news from behind the front desk in the hotel, grabs the phone and calls Mr. Einar. “Mary? To what do I owe the pleasure of you calling me at this time?”