The Hanged Man

The call connected to the phone.

Beep. 

… ‘Yes, who is this?’

‘... There is a bomb under St Mary’s Hospital, which is going to explode in exactly thirteen minutes. If anyone tries to touch it, it will go off automatically. If any super goes within a hundred meter radius, it will go off automatically. If anyone is told of the bomb or tries to escape, it will go off automatically. The only way the bomb will stop is if Iron Knight, and only Iron Knight, goes there to stop it. Do you understand?’

‘Who-o is this. How did you get this number!? Do you understand who you’re calli-’

Beep.

Sighing, I drew a cigarette from my trench coat pocket, lighting it, and taking a puff. The sun’s light on the river seemed too bright, especially against the twinkling yellow lights of the shops. But it was time for one more. Taking the phone, I tapped in another number.

For a couple seconds, a sweet tune, a pop song I did not recognize played amidst the silence. My foot tapping did not mean I enjoyed it. After a while, it connected. 

Beep.

‘Who is this?! How did you get this number?!’

…

‘Answer!’

I sighed. Sadly, he was all the brute I had gathered from my research. Sadness still, I had wanted myself to be wrong, though I never am. 

‘Big man, what is with the temper? Let’s all cool down a little bit, strike later when it's better. Quench that fire of yours. Being too hard can get you killed, you know.’

‘What-t, how…. How do you know me?!’

‘You got that?‘ I nodded genuinely. I had expected him not to. ‘Well, your time must be going well, Iron Knight’

‘... Who are you.’

‘Just your friendly neighborhood villain. Just passing by.’

‘What do you want.’

‘Nothing, nothin-’

‘Shut up! Just tell me. How did you get this number?’

‘Whoa, again with that temper of yours. Not pleased with our small talk?’

‘...’

‘Really, don’t want to speak anymore?’

‘...’

‘Fine. Have it your way. If you want it, I’ll give it to you. How is Tasha by the way? Doing well I suppose?’

‘... Don’t speak that name with your dirty mouth. How the he-’

‘So, are all your needs met I’m sure? She is a very pretty women form what I’-’

‘SHUT UP! Don’t you dare-’

‘I have the videos.’

I took a puff from a cigarette. This was getting tiring. Throwing the still mostly good cig into the water, I continued.

‘All the videos and pictures of you and those girls you bring to your house. I see some of them you took yourself! Very nice. But don’t you think all those angles are a little unflattering to your image.’ I paused, but only silence. ‘I’m sure you're much more handsome in real life. Now, if you want these videos, you’ve got to come to me, which I’m sure,’ I glanced at my watch. It had been at least a minute since our call started. ‘You know where I am by now.’

Still, silence met my words.

 ‘Well then, chou big man, expect you here in a couple minutes, otherwise, you know the internet is a dangerous place right?’

Beep.

And then I waited.

…

“FUCK! MOTHERFUCKER! THAT LITTLE COC-”

“Knight Sire, Knight Sire, what is wrong, wha-”

“Get out of my way.”

Aram Fullblood, Unique super Iron Knight, shoved the servant to the side and stormed out of his mansion. There another servant waiting in front of the cars got pushed to the side as well, as Aram seized the keys from his poor hands and got into his Lamborghini. Another few more moments later, he was speeding down the road.

“FUCK!” 

As he stopped at a light, he yelled out once more and slammed his hands against the wheel.

“How? How?! HOW?! There is no-”

Beep. Beep. Beep

“If I get interrupted one more-”

As he looked down at his phone, his heart, along with his voice, dropped.

UHA? Why? … Do they know? He couldn’t have… shared that right. Shit.

After hesitating, he answered the call.

“Is this Mr. Iron Knight?” an out of breath female voice questioned.

“Yes…” 

“Sir, we have an emergency at the St. Mary Hospital. A villain has declared they planted bombs underneath the Hospital and is demanding that you are the only one to come and stop it. The UHA needs you to come immediately to resolve the crisis. We can not risk the chance of the bombs being real.”

As she continued to speak, Aram’s face became more and more grave. “No, no, no, I can’t come, it’s impossible. You need to get someone else!” Aram yelled at the phone.

“... Sir, why? You need to come immediately or the bombs will set off! The villain is requesting you and you only! We need you to come NOW!”

“NO! Get someone like Lighthand or I’m sure you got King right? Get him!”

“No sire, we can’t risk it. The Villain requested you by name. We need you. Please.”

“But… the call…”

Aram groaned. Why now? It couldn’t have happened at a worse time. What was he supposed to do? If he ignored the call and went to the mysterious man, not only would countless die, not that it mattered to him, but the public and UHA would be outraged. If he didn’t the mysterious man would put the videos on the internet. He could think about how he got them later. If they were released he would be finished. The Government, Public, UHA, and oh, Tasha. Tasha.

“SHIT!” He slammed his hands against the steering wheel again. This time, his power activated and his hands turned to steel, creating an imprint on the soft metal. 

Behind him, another car honked. The light was green. 

Aram let out a scream, a guttural scream, one which did not seem too human. Perhaps that made sense.

…

Staring into the water, I continued to wait. It was more boring than expected. This was the first message of my story, and yet I had spent most of my time daydreaming about future plans instead of doing the stuff I had wanted. Next time, I should add more action. But as if my thoughts had been read by God, a red Lamborghini came steaming in from the road. I wanted one of those.

Out of the doors came the man I had seen only through pictures and my gift. It was different I can admit, seeing with your own eyes. 

“YOU!” As soon as he came out of the car and caught sight of me, he began to scream. Typical. “What have you done! How do you know about … how do you have videos?!”

Time to begin acting. 

“Oh, those… I just stumbled across them. Nothing to worry about. You should be worrying about what I’m going to do with them. And by the way,” I checked my watch for effect, “Don’t you have somewhere important to be? I heard it was-a hospital?”

“It was you?! YOU did that!?”

Oh no, he was going to explode.

Without needing to use my gift, I saw his skin turn to metal from his feet onward, until all of his body had become steel. 

And then with a scream, he charged. 

This brute. 

I used my gift, and in an instant, time seemed to stop . Of course, I wasn't stopping time, even my sight did not have that power, but I could use my gift to perceive everything in slow motion, therefore giving me the perspective of stopped time. The only downsides being that it took massive amounts of energy and my body could not keep up.

Then I used a simple application of my gift: Seeing the correct actions I had to take to beat him. In an instant, overlays of what I needed to do appeared in vision. After inspecting for a while, I returned back to normal speed.

As he got closer, the ground cracked under his feet, his swinging arms like giant swords. But I knew from my vision. 

When he came within a few feet of me, I ducked down and quickly rolled my through across his body. His attempts to grab me were futile from his increased weight and idiotic, impulsive actions. As I did so, forcefully grabbed his right ankle, latching like a koala. The effects were immediate.

While not heavy, his momentum wasn’t too heavy for him to bear, and when I grabbed his ankle, he lost his balance. 

With a thunk, he slammed his feet into the ground, but his body fell onto the ledge of the water. Though he scrambled to get up, a simple grab of his leg made him tumble into the war. He let out a yell, and with a giant splash he crashed in. 

I remained on the ground coughing. I could feel the wetness of blood behind the blindfold, I had perhaps spent too long in the effects of slowed perception. But it was fine, my plan had succeeded.

I slowly got up, brushing the grass from my coat, before approaching the elephants in the water. HIs iron transformation had continued and he was splashing about and creating a big fuss not to drown in the water. Pussy. He was too occupied to turn himself back into his normal self.

Iron Knight, are you happy?” My real personality was coming out. No matter. “Do you truly feel happy?”

“W-Puh-hat! Get me o-puh-ut!”

“Hah. Get you out? Is that what you truly want? What is in your heart Iron Knight? Or, should I refer to you as, Aram. Your name is a special one, peculiar, perhaps too much of one for a man of your caliber.”

He continued to suffer. Perhaps it was time,

“You know Aram,” I kneeled on the ledge staring at his eyes. Eyes filled with anger. But more importantly fear. Agonizing fear and confusion. They filled me with… Happiness. “Did you really think the videos were real?”

His eyes widened.

“You said it yourself. How could I get those videos? There was a chance, I knew, they did not exist in the first place, only, your reaction told me they were real. So, thank you.”

I couldn’t tell if it was the water or tears coming out of the corners of his eyes. Either way, I could see the fear turn into anger, more anger, in his eyes. Good, he could be more broken. As my cold eyes met his fiery ones, a pang of joy sprang into my heart. Two emotions now. 

I needed more.