“What shall it be Destroyer, your sidekick or the world?”

The Healer cackled as he held my sidekick in the air, the metal talon grabbing my sidekick’s head was viciously swinging his body from side to side.

I couldn’t help but think about how I had gotten into this situation.

Ten years have passed since the beginning of the Legend War, ten long years for the insane villain in front of me to kill millions in the war he waged against the world.

He healer grinned maniacally as he saw me struggling to bring my hand up to deliver the final blow.

He had been a good man, once upon a time. He had developed technologies centuries ahead of our time and used them to further the development of mankind.

Whether it was because of the infinite food supplies he created in famine inflicted countries or the cures he made for incurable diseases, he had been known as a saviour to millions of people.

He had been one of the few people on earth deemed to be a true hero.

The moniker ‘The Healer’ was a name given to him by the people he had saved and along the way he had accepted the title grudgingly.

He stated that even though he had a title he was simply a man that was doing something that anybody else in his position would do.

But he had grown insane with power. Ten years ago The Healer declared war on a group of people that he declared were ‘impure’. At first the world hadn’t understood him, no, they refused to try and understand what he was telling them.

So he made it clearer. He claimed that even if he died trying he would cleanse the Earth of those without powers.

The amount of destruction that followed far outweighed the help he had given.

At first it wasn’t even a war, it was simple and pure slaughter under the guise of ethnic cleansing. All the people his army encountered that didn’t have powers were taken by the death machines he had created and killed on the spot. They were helpless to stop him.

Then those that couldn’t stand the slaughter any more created the hero association.

“Don’t let me slow you down, kill the bastard!

I looked into my sidekick’s eyes and saw that they were steeled in preparation for what was to come.

It had been exactly seven years this day since we and five others had joined together in a small room and agreed to create the association. We vowed to use our powers to fight against The Healer, to fight against all evil.

“I’m so sorry.”

My hand rose to deliver the final blow to the villain, a blow that would go right through my sidekick and destroy both of their lives and both of our lives.

He had been my best friend.

“If it costs me my life to put an end to this war then I give it willingly. It was fun working with you all these years.”

A single tear rolled down his cheek, I had known him long enough to recognise it as a tear of happiness.

My hand grew cold as I materialised large crystals of ice over my fingers, the claws which had killed thousands of machines would now be used to end this war.

I closed my eyes and stabbed forward. I could feel the ice piercing flesh and then metal as it passed through my sidekick and then The Healer. Warm blood splashed across my face.

I heard The Healer laugh and I opened my eyes in time to see his body explode. A metallic shape jumped out of the remnants and struck me. As I flew through the air I felt it clamp onto my leg.

I screamed in agony as the death machine began to destroy my flesh and bones.

I was a fool for not expecting this. We had encountered these types of machines countless times during the long years of the war. The death machines had killed thousands of people well after The Healers men had died.

As I hit the ground I knew that I didn’t have the strength to destroy it. The machine would continue to consume me until I died.

“Destroyer!”

I blinked as a bolt of lightning shot down from the sky and struck the machine, cleaving it in half.

The booming of thunder followed soon after and a shadow rolled over me. I looked up and saw a man dropping out of the sky and speeding towards me. He stopped right before hitting me and looked at the remains of The Healer.

“Why did you not save him?”

I reached up and grabbed the new arrivals arm.

The man was Robert Richter, the hero known as Core.

“WHY DID YOU NOT SAVE HIM?!”

We had fought in countless battles together. Time and time again I had seen his control over electricity, the power which could destroy the world if that was what he wanted.

If only he had been here sooner. If only I had had that power, I might have been able to find a way to resolve this without the needless sacrifice.

I tried to lift myself up to face him eye to eye but found that my body wouldn’t move off the ground. I looked down and saw the reason why.

My leg had been crushed by the machine. Judging from the pain I felt my leg had probably been damaged further than what I could heal through regeneration. The Healer had had his final laugh, his final revenge on the one that swore to stop him.

Perhaps it is a fitting price to pay. I would have paid more if it had meant saving my sidekicks life.

Core grabbed my shirt and lifted me into the air. I wanted to see anger in his eyes but there was only pity.

“He’s still alive. But not for long.”

I looked past the smouldering corpse to the fallen body of my sidekick.

“Take me to him.”

Core nodded and the gentle breeze felt like the stabbing of a million needles as it rushed past my destroyed leg.

I felt Core put me down on the ground rather than saw it. I was barely keeping conscious. I heard the familiar whoosh of air as Core left my side and I silently thanked him for leaving. This time was meant to be spent between me and the person in front of me.

I crawled over to the dying man and cupped his cheeks in my hands. As I looked into his eyes for what would be the last time I remembered the life we had spent together.

It had been a good one.

~~~~

The man that would come to be known as my sidekick hovered in the air as he viewed me trying to jump up and catch him.

“You know, just once I’d like to be known.”

My brother sighed listlessly.

“But you are already well known.”

I looked at him in confusion and he laughed at my expression.

“I’m well known as the brother of Destroyer. I just mean that I want to become my own man, that’s all. I want there to be a time when people sing out my name in praise and joy. Without them mentioning your name right after.”

He lifted his arms as he spoke and motioned the cheering and shouting of the crowd. He whistled through the air and broke into laughter as he fell to the ground, his butt landing square on the floor. I took a single look at him and punched him over the head

“I-I guess so.”

I laughed with him but to be honest my heart wasn’t in it. I wasn’t sure what he meant, even if people always talked about us together it was just because we were partners, I definitely didn’t outshine him in any aspect.

He looked at me and smiled, but it was a sad sort of smile.

“Maybe you’ll understand it one day bro.”

I kicked his leg and looked at him.

“If you ever feel like that just do what I do, kick it. Then it will go away.”

My brother looked at me and I stepped back. The face that was permanently filled with laughter had turned deadly serious.

“I’m not like you bro, you could always play and somehow you would always be on top. I was always the one that had to work for it, that’s just the way it is.”

I gazed in horror at him, had he been feeling this way the whole time?

“That-that’s not true!”

Normally my brother would just turn away at this point and just accept what I said. But right now he was acting differently to how he usually did.

“You know bro, while you rise above the rest I’ll rise with you too. But in the end I’ll prove myself as my own man, if not to others then to you. I’ll change the world someday.”

He suddenly shook his head and I saw that his smile had returned.

“No, we’ll change the world.”

I nodded my head and agreed.

“Together.”

~~~~

“You did it brother. You changed the fate of the world.”

Although I was sure that he couldn’t hear my words, he lifted his hand and his fingers ran across my face.

“Thank you.”

As my brother closed his eyes for the last time tears splashed onto his face, my tears. He had been a companion with whom I had gone through battles of life and death, a person who had been my friend for as long as I could remember. He had been more than just family to me.

I was the one deemed the Destroyer, the man that had been thought untouchable, unbreakable, and I couldn’t stop the flow of tears.

I had been broken.

~~~~

“Hey!”

A pair of tiny hands grabbed onto his white coat.

“Why did you stop reading?”

The man ran his hand over his hair and moved it in front of his eyes to cover them. He doubted that they would let out any tears but his body had been known to betray him before.

It had been a long time since he had thought about the events of that day.

“Sorry E-23, story time is over for today.”

The little girl sitting on the ground pouted and the Director allowed a fleeting smile to cross his lips. Only for a second though.

So much had changed since then that he doubted any of his old friends would recognise him now.

He had found a new purpose in life.

“Go back to your room now. I’ll be back tomorrow.”

“Okay!”

The girl obediently pulled the wires out of her arms and walked to her holding cell. The bars on top of the entrance slammed down as she walked past them, trapping her. She wouldn’t be able to get out of there until he came back to get her.

After a few minutes the Director saw the cell illuminate with an eerie blue glow. E-23 was playing with the power he had given her. Years of experiments had finally been a success. He had managed to give someone the power of electricity.

He sighed as he pushed himself out of the chair. One of his legs lagged behind the other as he limped to the exit of the laboratory, handing the file to the personnel guarding the entrance.

As a guard took the file away the Director couldn’t help but let out a little whisper.

“I’m sorry old friend. But it looks like the next time we meet you might not want to talk to me. I intend to finish what The Healer started… even if it costs me my life.”

When his mission was complete he would watch the world burn.