CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED FORTY-THREE

The Return of Crow-Man, Part 2

The veteran hero with the bird-shaped cowl and the black feathers cape was the first to jump off the rising ice pillar. He fell on top of the polymorph Cheetor with his right knee smashing against the villain’s feline face, knocking Cheetor to the ground and ringing the proverbial bell which announced the start of the royal rumble that followed.

As for Sam, he’d barely called out Crow-Man’s name before a half-naked, muscular man with dark skin and a huge afro appeared to replace Mr. Crimson as his next opponent. Mr. Crimson himself was nowhere in sight. The villain had conveniently disappeared once Crow-Man and his companions arrived from the floor below.

“But… why’s Crow-Man here?” Sam asked in confusion.

He posed his question to the villain he now faced. Although the only response Sam would get was an approaching fist that was three times the size of the villain’s body.

“Oh, Styx—you’re Disaster Joe!” Sam blurted out.

He ducked underneath Disaster Joe’s gigantic fist while drawing his sword from its improvised sheath strapped to his back and then sliced at the villain’s exposed midsection with Gram’s enchanted blade.

“Oh, right”—Sam’s eyes widened at the sight of Gram drawing only a thin line of blood into the abnormally thick muscles of Disaster Joe’s abdomen—“you’ve got a beta-level ‘gigantification’ gift which is super cool by the way.”

Sam shuffled back while the six-and-a-half-foot Disaster Joe grew into a ten-foot bruiser with muscles on top of already bulging muscles. After he’d grown to a size that would dwarf even Apex, Disaster Joe took a fighter’s stance that reminded Sam of this villain’s past profession as a former world heavyweight powers-boxing champion.

“Hey, Mr. Joe, um, I was a huge fan of yours back when you were still the champ!” Sam ducked out of the way of a huge right-fisted jab that would have blown his head off its shoulders if he’d been tagged by it. “Before the gambling debts piled up and you were forced—”

He weaved away from the follow-up straight that nearly caught him in the left shoulder.

—into a life of crime”—Sam swung Gram forward while coating the blade in Sword Aura to repel the left uppercut that was far too swift for him to dodge—“and I’m hoping that reminding you that you were once the country’s symbol of pride—”

With Sword Aura growing around its enchanted blade, Sam swung Gram down on Disaster Joe’s chest.

“—will help you remember that you were once one of the good guys!”

Disaster Joe didn’t bother to reply to Sam’s appeal or dodge his attack. He allowed Gram’s blade to slice into his arms which he’d raised to defend his upper body. Then, with the blood splatter caused by his attack momentarily impairing Sam’s view, the villain who’d been a boxer for his entire professional career used a kick to catch the hero off-guard.

“Holy—”

It was pure instinct that made Sam raise his left arm forward, allowing the near-transparent shield of Bulwark to repel the sneak attack. Unfortunately, Disaster Joe struck him with such force that he broke Sam’s left forearm and shattered his shield with that one kick.

“—Styx!” Sam cursed.

You should have dodged, lame-brain, Chiron chided. A similar reprimand appeared from Triple-A; reminding Sam that his concussion had only just healed and now the bones of his arm needed repairing.

“Yow… I realize… my mistake…” Sam shuffled away from the villain who hadn’t once responded to his provocations. “Didn’t know you kicked as hard as you punch… I’m sorry you broke bad, Joe…”

Sam attempted to put some distance between them, but Disaster Joe refused to let him go. A single, gigantic stride forward was all the ten-foot bruiser needed to get back within range of attacking him. Disaster Joe’s right fist might even have smashed into Sam’s chest too if it weren’t for the crow-shaped shadow that sliced at his forearm and diverted the direction of his punch away from its intended target.

“Whoa!” Sam’s eyes widened in delight. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen the Shadow Crow in action.”

A bird with feathers as black as night soared overhead. It circled Disaster Joe’s head and distracted the villain long enough for a shadowy figure to appear behind him and stab at his exposed back with the knives in each of the new arrival’s hands.

“Cro~~ow!” the villain roared.

Disaster Joe whirled around to grab at Crow-Man, but the veteran hero proved as slippery as the night he and Sam first met. He ducked underneath Disaster Joe’s attempted bear hug and sliced at both of the villain’s ankles with his feather-shaped knives.

“So cool,” Sam whispered.

Crow-Man then rolled out of Disaster Joe’s reach while his Shadow Crow flew into Disaster Joe’s line of sight, obstructing the villain’s view long enough for Crow-Man to dive back in and slice at the villain’s gut with both his knives. This pattern of the Shadow Crow stealing Disaster Joe’s aggro while Crow-Man sliced at the villain with his knives was repeated over and over again with blood leaking from Disaster Joe’s numerous cuts until, finally, the villain wobbled, wobbled some more, and then toppled over—and Disaster Joe didn’t get back up again.

Sam, who’d been watching Crow-Man’s fight from the corner of his eye while he fended off some d-list villains who’d rushed at him after Disaster Joe left him alone, couldn’t help but feel admiration for his ally, the only delta-level hero to break into the top-fifty rankings of this year’s Winter U.S. hero charts.

“Do I look that cool when I’m kicking butt?” Sam wondered aloud.

As he’d just gotten socked in the chin by a villain with four arms, Sam heard Chiron let out a neigh in derision. Nope. You’re about ten years too early to be comparing yourself to Crow-Man.

Sam wanted to refute Chiron’s words, but he didn’t get a chance as the four-armed villain he planned to beat up was already toppling over.

“What the”—he glimpsed the handle of the feather-shaped knife embedded on the Villain’s shoulder—“oh… hey, man. You look like you’ve been through the wringer.”

Crow-Man glanced down at the bloody hole in the stomach area of his suit. “Miracle Girl patched me up.”

While they conversed, the last inmate left standing between them shifted his wary gaze from Sam to Crow-Man and back to Sam, and then charged at Sam as if saying he’d rather face him than fight Crow-Man.

“Seriously?!” Sam balled his left hand into a fist. “Wrong choice, dude!”

He didn’t have to hit the guy so hard, but Sam was a little too exasperated to pull his punches—and it was a punch fueled by his life force too. His ‘Mortal Fist’ smashed into the villain’s gut and sent him crashing into the stone wall a good ten yards away, drawing more than a few awed and wary gazes in Sam’s direction. It was exactly the reaction he wanted from these villains looking down at the non-ranked vigilante.

“You’ve gotten stronger,” Crow-Man noted.

“Says the guy who took out Disaster Joe without much hassle.” Sam’s gaze drifted over to Joe’s unconscious form. “How’d you knock him out so fast?”

Crow-Man raised a feather-shaped throwing knife to Sam’s eye level. “Some of my blades are coated with—”

Without warning, Crow-Man flung his throwing knife at Sam.

“Argh!” Sam screamed.

No, Crow-Man’s knife didn’t hit Sam. It pierced into the back of the hand of the villain whose arm had wrapped around Sam’s neck before he realized he was in danger. Sam’s scream was because Mr. Crimson—the villain who’d snuck up behind him without even Chiron or Triple-A noticing—just bit into Sam’s neck.

Kid! Chiron yelled.

The damage was already done though, and Mr. Crimson willingly let go of Sam when he pushed him toward Crow-Man’s side.

“Hades’ balls!” With his hand covering the bite mark on his neck, Sam turned around—and his eyes widened at the sight of his blood coating Mr. Crimson’s lips. “Oh, Styx!”

“I would like you to do me a favor, Herculean….” A grin of pure evil appeared on Mr. Crimson’s face, the kind of manic smile that reached to the corners of his cheeks. “I want you to kill Crow-Man for me.”