Rampage

by Quintin Fortune

  # # #

  Marshal ran into the room. He was still in his Rampage armor. "Brother," he said, almost out of breath. "It was a trap."

  His brother turned, "What do you mean...You're still in your armor?"

  "Sorry brother," Marshal pleaded. "I didn't have a chance to change. I didn't know what to do. All the money was gone."

  "What do you mean gone?"

  "Those Heroes were there waiting for me." He started taking his helmet off.

  "What is that," Ethan asked, noticing the small, blinking light that reflected off the back of Rampage's helmet. The man spun his younger brother around and pulled the tracking device off of his armored neck. "You damn idiot!" He held the device up for Rampage to see as he turned back around. "How many times must I tell you? How many?"

  "S-sorry, brother," Marshal replied, mush like a child would when they're being scolded.

  "What have I told you about fleeing a scene," Ethan demanded the know.

  "Jump into a body of water," his brother said.

  "To what," he yelled.

  "To destroy all the tracking things," he answered. "But you don't understand! They knew I was coming. The bank was empty."

  There was the sound of various machines beeping at a quicker pace. The bothers looked to the commotion.

  "Now look what you've done," Ethan growled. "You've upset our mother." He rushed to her side. "Shh. Shh. It's okay, Mother. No need to be upset." He looked at the tracer in his hand. He then dropped it on the floor and stepped on it.

  The Heroes were leading the charge as they followed the tracer signal. As they drove closer to their destination, the signal stopped. "Uh oh," Jill muttered.

  "Uh oh," Deadguy repeated. "Uh oh's never good."

  "The signal just...disappeared," she said.

  "Where did it disappear at," Valkadaidan asked, trying to swerve though traffic.

  "Um, well," she replied. "New Tao Central...Memorial...Hospital."

  "Don't even think it," Valk growled to Our Hero. He merely grinned in response.

  The Professional Heroes pulled up to the hospital with the police close behind. Deadguy was out of the car first, but was quickly tackled by a few police officers. "Hey," he exclaimed. "Let me up."

  "This is a matter for the police to handle now," a voice from above him answered. He looked up to see a young man standing over him. "I'm Lieutenant Ramirez. I want to thank you for everything you've done."

  "By tackling me," he asked.

  "By keeping you kids from getting arrested," Ramirez answered.

  "Let him go," Jill demanded. "You need him. You need us."

  "No we don't," Ramirez said as a S.W.A.T van pulled up. The police piled on top of Our Hero finally let him up.

  He brushed off his trench coat and adjusted his black cap. "Look, I know first hand what this guy can do," he explained. "He'll knock your boys over like bowling pins." The lieutenant waved them off as he started following the raid into the hospital. "He's not listening. Does everyone I run into have a listening problem?" The Heroes quickly followed the raid.

  "Hey, will you people listen for once," Jill called out. "This guy isn't normal."

  "We'll take it from here," Lieutenant Ramirez instructed."Please step back outside or I will have you arrested for obstruction of justice." The police and S.W.A.T. swarmed the lobby. The Heroes looked on, aggravated.

  "Rampage will probably either take off before they find him, or trample over them when they do," she commented.

  "Not unless we find him first," Deadguy said. "Come on." The other two followed him as they started running up the emergency stairs. "Last time we were here, there was this guy on the Fourth floor watching us," he explained, taking two steps at a time.

  "With your latest exploits, maybe it was just a fan," Jill offered as an answer.

  "This wasn't an 'Oo, Hero' look, this was an 'I hope these assholes aren't here to ruin my plans' look," DG responded.

  "What kind of look is that," Valkadaidan asked, two steps behind him.

  Our Hero stopped and turned to the others. "It's a mix of anger and discontent with a hint of panic," he answered, flinging open the door to the Fourth floor.

  Marshal stepped out of his mother's room to find out what all the commotion was about. "Hey Rampage," a voice called out. He looked over just in time to see Deadguy punch him in the face. He staggered , then readied himself to fight back when Valkadaidan followed up with a right hook. The villain fell crashing into a few hospital chairs.

  "Come on, chump change," Deadguy mocked, taking a martial arts pose. "I know Jeet Kune Do. Or was her name Jean..."

  Rampage ripped one of the chair pieces out from under him and threw it at Our Hero.

  Jill slipped into the darkened room as the guys were fighting Rampage. A young, frail, bald man had his back to her. "The police have this place covered," she said. "Deadguy and Valkadaidan are taking out your hired muscle..."

  "Brother," he interrupted..

  "Your brother," she quickly corrected.

  "We needed the money," he said, his voice starting to crack. "They said...they said they'd stop treatment if we didn't have the money.

  "The bank robberies were your idea then," she asked

  The man hung his head. There was the faint sound of weeping. "All I wanted was to keep our mother alive," he whimpered.

  "That is completely understandable," Jill said, inching closer to him. "but robbing banks are not the best way to go about things."

  He spun around quickly, a pistol in his hand. "Don't you judge me," he screamed, tears rolling down his checks. "My mother is all I have left in this world."

  Jill automatically threw her hands up. "It's okay," she said calmly. "No one's going to take your mom away from you."

  "Hey Jill," Deadguy asked as he ran into the room. "We heard yelling and..."

  BANG.

  Our Hero fell to the ground, a bullet wound in the middle of his forehead.

  Ethan looked on in shock and horror at what he had done. "I didn't...I never," he stammered, falling to his knees. Jill slowly walked over easily pried the pistol from his hand. "I'm not...I'm a good boy. I'm a good boy." He started to repeat that sentence to himself as he slowly rocked back and forth.

  The sound of machines beeping suddenly stopped. There was simply one long BEEP coming from them. That noise was followed by weak coughing as Our Hero came back. He stood up and plucked the bullet from the hole as his body started to push it out.

  He took in a deep breath and blinked a few times. "Bullets hurt," he commented. "A lot. It's like being stung by a large, belligerent wasp."

  Jill turned to look at the brothers' mother, and saw something that was going to haunt her nightmares for the next few weeks. Their mother was only a head and torso in a glass case. Her skin was pale blue, almost ethereal. Her eyes were closed, as if she was at peace.

  "Seeing that in a video game is one thing," DG said. "Seeing it in real life is just freaky." Jill simply nodded.

  You heroes will pay for this," Rampage screamed as the police escorted him into the wagon. His brother was already in, still muttering and gently rocking. "You hear me? You're-" The wagon doors slammed shut before he could finish.

  "Yeah, good luck with that," Deadguy responded.

  "I kind of feel sorry for Rampage," Jill said. "Living with his mother in that state. Manipulated by his brother. Losing both of them in the span of an hour."

  "Now I feel bad for joking about his mom," DG admitted. "Poor guy."

  "He deserved it," Valk growled. The other Heroes looked at him in shock. "He could have walked away at any point in time. He didn't. This is karma."

  "We're going to have to agree to disagree on that, Valkster," Our Hero said.

  Lieutenant Ramirez walked up to them. "I should have all three of you arrested," he threatened.

  "Here we go with this again," DG sighed.

  "You interfered with police business," he said. "You've destroyed public property."
<
br />   "...And we made sure none of your officers got hurt," Jill added.

  "Not to mention apprehended both Rampage and his brother," Valk continued.

  "If anything, you owe us a medal," DG finished, crossing his arms.

  "Besides, how would it look if the NTPD arrested three people that just helped take down a seemingly unstoppable force," Jill questioned.

  Ramirez thought for a moment, scowling. "I'll be keeping a close eye on you three," he said finally before turning to walk away.

  "Yeah, that's not ominous at all," Deadguy said.

  END