Peeking over the edge of the building, which was still trembling from the hit, Bain saw Stitches fighting an unfamiliar man. The opponent was wearing a fully black outfit, consisting of a t-shirt and jeans, with bandoliers of various knives covering his torso, back, arms, and legs. It was honestly a little impressive he hadn't cut himself yet. His face was covered with a tinted black visor, a helmet supporting it.

Pulling a bowie knife from his shoulder, the silent assailant held it in the air, and it instantly grew to about twenty feet long. He didn't seem to have any trouble wielding despite its enormous size.

Stitches sprinted towards the man, sliding under the massive swipe on his knees and raising a stiff finger in an attempt to poke him. The knives on his torso reacted, springing forward on their hooks and jabbing at Stitches' hand, forcing him to back away in a weird shifting motion.

Bain jumped off the building, ignoring the enjoyable sensation of freefall, and slammed to the ground with a thud. Rolling into a standing position, he shouted, "Stitches! How can I help?"

Stitches didn't look away. "Bain, get those guys out of here! Tough - his name's Dice - don't get near him!" He barely dodged an extended scalpel, which soared past him and severed a steel support beam in half.

Bain nodded to himself, knowing that Stitches could handle the villain. Turning, Bain leaped straight upward, soaring to the top floor and hooking himself onto the unsteady beams. "All right, there's a villain attacking Stitches, I need to get you guys out of here! Let's go!"

The worker who had been insulting him folded his arms stubbornly, ignoring his panicking coworkers. "As if. You's just gonna take us to yer cave and eat us."

Bain stared at him uncomprehendingly. He'd thought this man was being mean, but apparently he was just stupid. "Are you crazy? The whole building might come down!"

He snorted, thumbing his nose. "And 'oose fault is 'at? I don't doubt some hero is tryin' ta take ye down."

Shaking his head, Bain turned to the other workers. "What about you guys? You want to get down, right?" They nodded, eyes wide with fear, and the offending heckler grunted, looking away. Acknowledging their panic, Bain grabbed two of them and lunged downwards, ignoring their screams, and carefully put them on the ground.

He repeated the process until all fourteen of them were safe, directed them to leave, and then hurled himself back up. The heckler was standing, nose in the air, looking away from him. "I ain't goin. You cain't make me."

The building shook as something hit the base. Bain didn't know whether it was Stitches or Dice, but stared at the man's back. "I'm trying to save your life!"

He snorted. "Yeah, right. I ain't dyin' from some freakshow and his taste in people, ya hear me?"

Bain facepalmed. "I'm not going to eat you! I'm trying to be a hero!"

Turning to face Bain, the heckler folded his arms, ignoring the dark patch spreading across his own pant legs. "There's nothin' you can say to make me-"

His eyes crossed as something hit him over the back of his head, and he keeled over, landing on the plywood squares that served as a temporary floor. Joel was standing behind him, a strange silver gun in his hands and a nonplussed expression on his face. "Sorry 'bout that. Ole' Jack here can be a bit slow on the uptake. Let's 'is biases control his life. Well, I ain't one of those people and I 'ken appreciate a good man when I see one. Yer not a man, per se, but you get the point."

Bain's jaw dropped. "You... just knocked him out!"

Joel chuckled. "Yeah, I knocked 'im out. Only way ter get 'im to shut up. Now imma go 'elp Stitches out, all righty? You get Jack down. Pass 'im off to his mates and get fightin'."

Bain slowly smiled, wondering where people like Joel had been during his early life. Finally, someone was treating him like the sidekick he was! "You got it, Joel. I'll be right back."

The man shooed him away. "Don't tell me 'bout it. Do it."

Dropping Jack off at the bottom of the building, Bain jumped back up, casting his gaze around for Joel. He found him a moment later, aiming the techy rifle down at the fight below and tuning a variety of knobs on the side. Walking up behind him, Bain hunkered down and watched.

Stitches was fighting full force, shattering knives whenever he got the chance with ridiculously powerful pokes of a finger. He had his hands tightly posed as if he was holding a pencil, each strike loaded with strength. Dice was attacking oddly, using two switchblades at a time to swipe at Stitches, wide moves that looked like scissors closing. Bain could hear Stitches grunting in pain every time he blocked the blades, though they didn't appear to be striking quite as hard as Bain had been.

Joel fired, a thin beam of blue light erupting from the tip of the bulky gun. It smashed into Dice's arm and he howled in pain, dropping his enormous knife. Stitches saw the opportunity and lunged forward, slapping the other weapon aside and-

A butcher's knife the size of a semi-truck carved through the ground at Stitches, and he twisted to avoid it. He almost made it, but his foot was severed, and it went flying with his boot still attached.

An identically dressed man jumped in, yelling, "Where's there a Dice, there's a Slice! You're going down, zombie!"

Bain had stopped paying attention at the point where Stitches had lost a foot and had launched himself straight at them. He didn't have a plan. He certainly didn't have any clue what he was doing. If they could even come close to beating Stitches, he probably didn't stand much of a chance. Regardless, he couldn't help but interfere.

Smashing into the ground, he skidded to a stop, claws scarring the ground as he halted his momentum. The two villains screeched to a halt. "Holy..." Dice seemed taken aback and glanced at his teammate. "This guy a recruit?"

Slice shrugged. "I dunno. Sorry, monster, we're not hiring right now."

Bain blinked. "Wait, what? I'm trying to stop you!"

Dice hefted the thirty-foot scalpel on his shoulder, scratching his neck. "Why?"

Bain rolled his shoulders. "I'm a hero! I'm Stitches' sidekick!"

Slice hefted a ten-foot letter opener. "Welp, I dunno how true all that is, but if you're associated with the zombie, then..."

Stitches, getting to his foot, hobbled towards them. "Bain! Why are you still here? I've got this under control! Now MOVE!"

Touching a steel beam, Stitches flicked along its surface, and it launched from its place on the ground at the two villains. Their knives flashed as they dismantled the metal, refocusing on their target.

Bain launched himself towards them, arms outstretched for the fight. His feet left the ground as his claws opened into position, and his eyes narrowed, trying to track their movements.

Slice noticed him. "Oh no you don't!" A gigantic butcher knife sprang into existence, swooping downwards at Bain too fast for him to react. Forcing his body to the side, Bain heard a dull shhhck.

Something hit the ground. Something heavy.

Bain crashed to the dirt, scrambling to his feet. He was a little disoriented. For some reason, he was off balance. And where were his claws? Moreover, why did he feel lighter?

Looking over at where he'd been, he saw a smooth black shape, wriggling as razor-sharp claws clenched, shriveling slightly even as he watched.

It took Bain a moment to realize it was his arm.

Looking down at his lower left shoulder, Bain saw a stump, dense yellow matter visible where his arm should be. He blinked, dazedly asking no one in particular, "My arm got cut off."

He kept expecting the pain to cut through the loud buzzing sound in his head, but it never did. His stump wiggled slightly as he tried to reach out formerly powerful claws.

Turning to look at the two villains, he said again in a deep growl, "My arm got cut off." His eyes began to glow as his face wrinkled, changing into an expression of unmistakable fury. "You cut my arm off."

Slice slumped, clearly disappointed. "No blood? What's the point of stabbing you if-"

Another lance of blue energy shot down, crashing into Dice's head. The villain stumbled, dropping his knife, and collapsed in a heap.

"BRO!" Slice screamed, rushing to his brother as he hurled a knife upwards. Sliding to a stop, Slice grabbed Dice's head, checking it to make sure he was okay.

Joel's body hit the ground a few seconds later.

Stumbling to his feet, Stitches shouted, "Bain! Are you all..."

He slowed to a stop. Bain stood up, his monolithic black shape shivering. Stitches couldn't see his face, but he had a feeling the center had split open. "Bain?"

Slice jumped up, a veritable cloud of knives appearing around him. "You're gonna pay for-"

Bain blurred through the knives, ignoring the nicks being engraved on his carapace, and grabbed Slice by the helmet. Spinning, Bain reached one of his legs out and yanked part of the dissected beam towards him. Raising the villain in the air, he slammed Slice's face into the steel with a clang.

Limping towards him, Stitches yelled, "Bain!"

Bain didn't react, repeatedly smashing the villain's head into the beam. Blood was beginning to spatter from the impact, and when he raised Slice again, his entire body suspended by Bain's single hand, his visor had shattered. The shards had dug into Slice's face, and he was crying blood and tears in equal measure. "Help m-"

Bain mercilessly rammed Slice's head into the steel over and over, arm pistoning through the air with mechanical power. The blood was getting worse, and was beginning to stain the dirt around him.

Stitches managed to get closer, and screamed at Bain's back, "YOU'RE A SIDEKICK!"

The monster turned around and hissed at Stitches. Unfazed, he stared him in the vertical, nightmarish mouth and yelled again, "You're a sidekick, right? You're going to be a hero! SO ACT LIKE ONE!"

Bain's mouth closed, and he dropped Slice to the ground. The villain didn't move. Snapping out of it, Bain blinked. "What... what happened?"

Stitches refused to look over at Joel's crumpled shape. "We... we won."

Bain nodded vaguely. "Oh, good." The glow went out of his eyes, and he keeled over backwards with a ground-shaking crash.

Sirens growing in his ears, blood spreading across the dirt, Stitches sat down, and steepled his fingers under his chin, wondering if he should have ever accepted Bain as a sidekick.