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Posts: 211
Join Date: Jan 2008
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Three weeks passed by and Mark unveiled a mask and handed it to John. John took the mask in his hands and ran his fingers over the strange green lenses that were sewn where his eyes would be.
“This mask reminds me of that legend we were told growing up” John said staring at the eerie green eyelets.
“That’s what I had in mind” Mark replied “I mean you wanted something scary right?”
The two friends referred to the legend of the Avenger who appears in Battlefield Park just outside of the city. It was nothing more than a local legend they knew. But as a kid growing up it was the scariest thing imaginable. This Avenger would appear roughly at midnight wielding a knife that would shine in the darkness. The only thing you could make out was his glowing green eyes that seemed to peer into your soul. Then he would go on the hunt for murderers and thieves.
The tale was told by parents to frighten their children into behaving so that they wouldn’t grow up to be thugs. It worked on a lot of kids but not all. Some were still swept away by the gangs and criminal organizations that saturated the city.
John looked up from the mask with a puzzled look on his face.
“Those are military grade night-vision lenses, the kind used in goggles and rifle scopes” Mark answered before John could ask the question.
“It’s perfect” John said excitingly “one question how do the lenses work? I mean if I enter a room filled with light I won’t be blinded will I?”
“Not at all, I thought of that. No these work similar to those transition lenses you can get for eyeglasses nowadays. When you go outside they get dark and when you enter a building they lighten up. These lenses are pretty much the same, when it is dark they automatically kick in and lighten everything up for you and when you enter a lighted area they return to normal lenses within seconds.”
“Okay so we can use the legend of the Avenger at midnight in order to strike fear into the criminal soul, to seek vengeance for my father’s murder” then John saw on the table another object still covered in a small sheet and he pointed “what’s that?”
Mark grinned widely, he had been having trouble containing himself this far. Removing the sheet he revealed a metallic gauntlet, one that fit on the right hand “what is the Avenger without his knife?”
“But that’s an armored glove” John pointed out “a fancy looking one to be sure, but a glove none the less.”
“Not so” Mark corrected pulling the glove on his own hand “if you make a fist like so and touch this spot with three fingers” as he demonstrated a small compartment opened on the backhand of the gauntlet and a razor sharp blade extended to about six inches past his knuckles.
“Wow” John almost shouted in amazement “I stand corrected.”
“That’s not all John. If you move your thumb over and touch the palm” another compartment opened and a small three pronged hook shot out with a cable trailing behind it. The hook caught on the banister at the top of the stairs and tightened the slack in the cable. Mark then pressed the gauntlet on the spots again and everything retracted back into the armored glove.
“I’m not done yet John. Come over here with me.”
Mark went over to a metal storage closet and opened it with a key. Inside hung a black suit that matched the mask, it had a silver metallic belt and a pair of gray boots that went along with it. He motioned toward the belt and the small segments along the length.
John reached out and touched one of the segments, it detached rather easily and he turned it over in the palm of his hand. On the back side there was a small button. He pressed it and the small square became a metallic ring. On the outer edge of the ring covering every inch, other than the original buttoned area, was a razor sharp serrated blade.
“A miniature chakram” Mark said triumphantly “every segment turns into one at the push of the button. You can use them as throwing weapons.”
“Like the big disc thing Xena uses on TV?”
“Exactly, that’s where I got the idea!”
“Figures” John spoke aloud while he remembered his friend’s obsession with all things Lucy Lawless.
Several minutes later John had donned the black costume and snapped the belt, with the M shaped buckle, into place. He then pulled on the gauntlet and grabbed the mask with his left hand.
“Oh and there is a built in communicator in the mask too John. That way we can relay information.”
“Thanks Mark” and with that John pulled on the mask and left through the back door that opened on a dark alley.
Using the rooftops to traverse the city he was able to monitor the goings on in the streets below from a relatively safe distance. He saw drug dealers in the shadows and prostitutes on street corners, both of which were common in this city. Saint Katherine’s Bay was filled with lowlifes of every level. From pickpockets to serial killers, they were all here.
John Dark Sr. spent thirty years trying to clean up the streets as a police officer. The last five years he was doing it as chief of police. But it never seemed enough. Things appeared the same today as they did yesterday. From the roof of a bank, John Jr. spotted a patrol car on a routine traffic stop. Here he paused a moment and watched the officer do his job.
Then he heard shots ring out and the policeman dropped to the ground as the car sped off. John leapt off the roof and fired his grappling cable at a building on the opposite side of the street. He used his momentum to swing through the air and then the hook released catapulting him onto the roof of the speeding car.
The thud on the roof caught the driver’s attention. His passenger began to struggle against her bonds, trying hard to scream through the gag in her mouth. John extended the blade from his gauntlet and plunged it through the roof, narrowly missing the driver’s head. This caused the driver to swerve trying to dislodge John from the car.
As the car swerved into oncoming traffic it slammed into a mini-van. John flew off the roof and hit the pavement. He managed to roll back onto his feet and he turned to face the car. The drive was out, a pistol in one hand, the bound woman in the other.
He was using her as a shield. John had no choice but to stay where he was. Or did he have a choice? The decision was made in a split second. He moved his thumb over activating the grappling hook. The metal prongs struck the gun knocking it from the man’s hand. He let go of the woman and ran.
“Stop villain” John shouted “or I will have to use excessive force!”
The man never slowed, he just kept on running. John released one of the chakrams from his belt and threw it. The serrated blades striking the soft flesh from the back of the man’s thigh, he fell with a scream of pain clutching the edge of the chakram trying to pull it out.
John untied the woman and removed her gag. She gasped greedily for air trying to catch her breath. Then she threw her arms around her rescuer and hugged him for the briefest of moments before running off into the darkness. John approached the wounded man and painfully yanked his weapon free, placing it back on his belt.
“Who are you? What do you want from me?”
“I am the Midnight Avenger” John replied “and I want you to let the rest of the scum know I am coming for them!”
“You’ll be sorry” the man whimpered in response “Frank the Tank doesn’t take kindly to anyone pocking around in his syndicate.”
“Frank the Tank” Midnight asked curiously “who is he?”
“Don’t you know anything? He is only the kingpin of the East Coast Mafia!”
With that the man finally succumbed to the pain and fainted. John Dark aka the Midnight Avenger simply left him there for the cops to find. He returned to where the chase started only to find the police officer was already dead.
“Not another one” he mumbled to himself “I will put a stop to this.”
Then he shouted into the night sky for everyone in earshot to hear “beware villains, for when darkness falls it is not long before the Avenger comes for you!”
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