The Bronze Bear's Story

With a loud sigh John watched through bullet proof glass as the customer he had just sold a carton of cigarettes too exited the shitty gas station he worked at eight hours a day-Monday through Friday. It had been a rather slow day for some reason, only the occasional customer stopping in for a small purchase or two. It was days like this John especially hated. Sitting hours on end at the cash register in his bullet proof box left him far to much time alone with his thoughts, thoughts that had become increasingly more and more depressing over the past few months.

'ten years, six months, and two days.' John thought as he sat back onto the old worn out wooden stool that sat behind the counter, years of use had left the thing slightly rickety and a fading yellow color. That's how long it had been sense he had worn his old costume, that’s how long it had been sense he was a 'hero'. Now he was just normal, or doing his best to act like it anyways. As he sat there lost in his thoughts he noticed his own reflection in the thick bulletproof glass that separated him from any gun waiving lunatic that attempted to rob the store even though bullets wouldn’t do more then leave bruises on his abnormally thick skin. As he stared at the reflection the man that stared back was nothing but a stranger to John, from his balding head and slightly overweight frame to the depressed almost lost expression on his face-this was not the man John was, nor had ever been. He was once the mighty Bronze Bear, a fit super powered hero who patrolled the mean streets of Kansas Cities worst neighborhoods.

That was until the 28th amendment had been passed and hero's and villains alike were being gunned down in the streets by both law enforcement and fearful citizens, not to mention the Cape Killers. These days John honestly lived terrified, his fear having been growing and growing over the past ten years until it had become some huge monster deep inside him that not even his alter ego The Bronze Bear could beat back. Thinking of his old costume John was quickly snapped back into reality by the growing sound of a rapid 'whupwhupwhupwhup'.

It sounded like a helicopter but John wasn’t sure, pressing his face against the thick glass in front of him with his hands cupped over his eyes he did his best to peer out the front store window. That's when he saw the large helicopter, the thing was a huge gray monstrosity that looked like it was equipped for war-from the missle launcher looking devices that hung from two large wings on each side to the tiny figure manning a huge machine gun that John could just barely make out sitting at an open hatch in the midsection of the now overwhelmingly loud chopper blades.

Cape Killers.

Johns adrenaline surged as he stared transfixed. Had they finally come for him? How did they find out? All these thoughts and a dozen others raced through his panic stricken mind as he quickly ducked behind the counter-immediatley feeling like a coward.

John remained hidden as he heard the familiar clinging of the bell that sat above the store door to alert shopkeepers of coming and going customers. Assuming the new arrival was just another customer John stayed in place beneath the counter-he didn’t care if the customer helped themselves to whatever they wanted in the store, at the time he had more important things on his mind, mainly the large harbinger of death that was now hovering in the street above the store.

“We know your inside the gas station!” A loud voice boomed over the streets obviously coming from some sort of microphone. “Just come out and make it easier on yourself. We don’t want any normal citizens being harmed here.”

Now John was really worried sweat beginning to trickle down his face, apparently they had somehow found him. He was going to end up on that fucking monstrosity of a show about dead heroes, he just knew it. He was going to become just another dead sideshow.

'No!' Some voice shouted angrily from deep inside him, his fear being replaced by a long seathing rage he hadn’t even realized had been there. Before he knew it he could feel that sweet familiar adrenaline coursing through his veins as he finally stood up, it was a feeling he hadn’t felt in over ten years. If they wanted him he wouldn’t be going without a fight. Turning to the thick bulletproof door John threw his foot forward in an extremely awkward looking kick-he was rather rusty-but nonetheless the door exploded from its reinforced hinges smashing through two aisles of snack food before planting itself halfway through the wall.

John knew he was out of shape but seeing that he still had such power brought an actual smile to his face. Upon quickly exiting the booth he spotted an old metal pole that held various cheaply made hats and beanies on its various protruding arms, they were items the store barely sold but nonetheless John was now extremely glad they had them. Quickly snatching an ordinary black ski mask off the rack he immediately slipped it over his head leaving only his mouth and piercing blue eyes exposed.

Walking to the center of the store to get a better look outside at the real villains, at least that’s how he thought of them. That’s when he noticed the girl hiding behind the aisle nearest to him, she was probably terrified of him-probably just another 'meta freak' in her mind. She honestly looked as scared as he had felt earlier, if not more so. “Hey miss, you might want to get out of here.” He said trying to muster up his old confident Bronze Bear voice, obviously failing from the nervous undertones in every word though. “This will probably get ugly.”

Aaron was walking down the street on his way home from another average day of work at Dr. Banks' practice when he felt a shiver up his spine. His brain didn't know what the sensation meant, but his body did, quickly running down an alley and hiding behind a dumpster as a helicopter flew overhead filled with armed men.

"Cape Killers? Probably, but who are they after?" Aaron thought to himself as he moved quickly from the dumpster to a nearby wall to sneak a peek at the developing situation. "Me? No, I've been careful enough." They were focused on a gas station nearby, shouting orders to whoever was inside. Aaron decided to try and get a read on who they were after. The Cape Killers were trained to suppress their fear while "on duty", but every wall has crack and Aaron was good at finding these cracks. A newbie was scarred of their target; a woman with mental abilities. Afraid she was gonna push thoughts into his head. Even after all this time, Aaron was still surprised how specific people were about their fears. It's with this knowledge he decided to try and sneak around the back of the gas station. He figured the Cape Killers would have their attention on the front.

His suspicion was proven correct when a man in a ski mask exited through the front door. Confused, Aaron brushed it off and figured now was his chance to move as he quickly bolted for the back door of the gas station. When he got there, it was locked, but he could feel the fear of the woman inside; the fear of death. Aaron tried multiple times to bash through the door, applying all his strength to each hit, but it was locked up tight. Looking around, he noticed a small hole, big enough for a mouse to get through, and therefore it was big enough for him. He quickly shape shifted into the form of a mouse, walked through his now giant clothes, and entered the gas station, finally getting a look at the woman. She was even more frightened then he expected, and he was sensing a similar fear nearby; from the man in the mask. "You have to be kidding me." Aaron thought to himself as he scurried behind one of the aisles. He'd actually only met one other person with abilities in his whole life, and now he was meeting two in one day...and they were all in the cross hairs of the Cape Killers.

He decided to change into his "suit" as his body quickly changed to the faceless man some had come to know as The Scream; a frightening face. That thought in mind, Aaron grabbed a nearby can from the shelf and rolled it towards the woman's feat, hoping to get her attention. He didn't know if he had her attention though. "He, Ms.. I'm here to help. We need to grab that guy and get out of here or we're all ending up on the evening news." Aaron said loudly, trying to talk to her over the helicopter blades. "Him and I are like you, so the way I figure, from this point on, it's us against them. Okay?"

It had taken John a minute to realize that Natalia was in fact the meta the cape killers were actually after, the realization causing him to mentally kick himself in the head. He should have just stayed hiding behind the counter.

Before he had a chance to respond to the cowering girl however another voice from behind him had interrupted through the chaos, nearly causing John to literally leap in place. He had thought somehow the Cape Killers had came in from behind him. Turning to look at the newcomer John was forced to do a double take as he noticed the man had no face. Staring at the distinctive figure for a moment John could swear he had seen the man in the news before but his attention was drawn back towards the front of the store as a loud shattering sound erupted in the air, the two large front windows breaking as three men stormed inside obviously ready for combat.

John could tell by the thick bulky dark green armor that each man wore they were cape killers, and it was obvious they meant business by the menacing looking sleek black assault rifles each one had at the ready. He couldn’t make out a feature of a single one due to the full face helmets each one wore, large black see through glass hiding each of their eyes. John knew at this point it was to late to play it off like he wasn’t in league with the other two obvious meta humans so without hesitating he grabbed the nearest item within his reach.

A small yellow candy pack of gobstoppers.

'This had better work' John told himself as he effortlessly tore the package in half, spilling a large fistful of the small marble shaped hard candy into his right hand. Taking aim at one of the seemingly similar looking cape killers he let the small candy fly from his hand with all his strength. He was honestly surprised by the result of his candy coated attack as his intended target was literally thrown off his feet as the small multi colored balls impacted into him at various points even causing his black helmet visor to explode in a shower of dark black glass. As the man flew through the same window he had entered through John silently cursed himself hoping he hadn’t hurt the man to badly, it’d been so long sense he'd used his powers that he’d forgotten just how much control he actually needed to exert over them.

Then suddenly the shooting started, bullets ripping apart anything unfortunate enough to get in their path-John even felt the familiar sting of two colliding with his right should as if someone had thrown a ten pound weight at him. The pain caused him to duck behind the nearest aisle of assorted goods just opposite of Natalia. “Whatever his name is right!” John roared over the gunfire, nodding his head in the direction of the faceless man who John was just waiting to see unleash his own power. “There's a door in the back, we can high tail it outta there!”

Aaron was surprised of how effective the two strangers were against the Cape Killers. The man took out one with candy while the woman made the other two fight, which gave Aaron an opportunity to attack. He formed his arms into tentacles and wrapped each one around a soldier's necks, causing them to pass out.

When the two ran for the door, he followed them, catching a stray bullet to the arm in the process. He winced in pain, but kept his composure, focusing on healing enough so their wouldn't be any blood trails and applying pressure with his hand. He stumbled after them, making sure to grab his clothes from in front of the back door.

"We need to get out of here." the woman said, looking around for a place to run to. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a sewer cap in the middle of a nearby street. "Damn. I don't think I can pick that up." Aaron thought, still holding his injured arm. "Wait, guy. If you can throw a man through a window with candy, then a sewer cap is no problem, right?" Aaron said, pointing to the sewer cap. "I'll distract the chopper long enough for us to get over to the cap. Then you can pull it off and we can lose them in the sewers." Aaron began to morph his right hand into another tentacle, eyeing the tail of the chopper.

"I hope you two are ready to run!" and with those words, Aaron threw his tendril and wrapped it around the tail of the helicopter, applying all his strength to spinning it, causing the chopper to spin wildly in the air.

"We gotta go, NOW."

The shooting had stopped for a moment which caused John to peak his head up over the aisle he was hiding behind, surprisingly seeing both of the heavily armed men literally beating each other in a vicious fist fight. “What the hell?” He asked more to himself then anyone else. Then things got even stranger as two large tentacles shot from seemingly out of nowhere, wrapping tightly around both mens necks and pulling them apart. The men struggled for a minute before going limp, their bodies dropping to the glass riddled floor with two loud thuds. Following the tentacles back to their owner John saw that they belonged to the faceless man who was halfway through explaining his plan. John had to admit it was a pretty cool looking power and apparently rather useful to.

The plan sounded pretty good to John, or at the very least he couldn’t think of a better one off the top of his head. Standing in the back alley as the helicopter circled over head obviously trying to position itself for the guy manning the machine gun. “The caps no problem for me man, just don’t get yourself killed over here. Don't wanna see you dead on the news tonight.” John said as he ran out of the alley towards the man hole in the center of the street, doing his best to stay in front of Natalia like some sort of human shield. He wasn’t sure if bullets would hurt her or not, but nonetheless he thought it’d be better to air on the side of caution.

Upon reaching the middle of the street he quickly knelt down beside the old iron manhole, gripping at the slightly rusted thing with both hands he almost effortlessly tore it from the street. Taking a look back at the faceless man who was doing a rather good job of making the helicopter unable to position itself to get a shot John hollered as loud as he could “Were good to go tentacles! Get your ass over here, ill cover you!” The big metal beast in the air had finally righted itself from the vicious spin The Scream had thrown them into, and it appeared as if the pilot was still having trouble flying straight. The Cape Killers inside were probably pretty nauseous John assumed.

John kept the manhole clutched tightly in his right hand as if it were a mere plastic Frisbee, he was keeping the thing at the ready just in case the chopper did start shooting at the man he called 'tentacles'. He didn’t want to throw the thick iron disc into the helicopter due to fear of hurting someone innocent with a crashing helicopter but he'd already decided if it came down to it he would.

Remaining silent in the dark sewers as Natalia and the man who called himself 'The Scream” spoke. After hearing the mans name Johns mind was flooded with a few clear memories of watching the news one night, the man before him having been one of the main topics of discussion. He remembered hearing from the news anchor how The Scream was considered extremely dangerous being one of the few heroes still actively patrolling Kansas City, he was even number eight on Americas 'most wanted meta list'.

Realizing who he was John immediately wanted to shake his hand but resisted the urge to do so, he didn’t want to come off as some weird fan boy or something. Men like The Scream made John still have some form of hope due to the fact that somewhere out there people still were not afraid to stand up for what was right like he had become.

After Natalia apologized John shook his head, his somewhat low voice slightly echoing down the long stretch of sewer the three now pathetic trudged through. “No need to apologize. Hell, those fuckin maniac cape killers woulda gunned us all down given the chance. Oh, and you can call me uh...” John stopped for a moment, unsure of exactly what name to give them. He wasn’t even sure which name was the real him, but before he knew it he was speaking again as the words flowed naturally from his mouth “..Bronze, you can call me Bronze.”

As the group trudged through the sewers for what seemed like hours but was no more than a mere twenty minutes John finally spoke again breaking the silence that had slowly came over the group. “So Scream...I saw somethin about you on the news once....It true you can change into anything?” He asked curiosity thick in his voice, as if he'd been putting off the question as long as he could but just couldnt wait any longer.

"Nice to meet you, Natalia and don't beat yourself up too much." Aaron said, feeling bad for the woman and how they Cape Killers took advantage of her kindness. "They treat us just as bad as common criminals and some of us deserve it. I know I do, but you didn't.." Aaron said, thinking back to a time when there wasn't as much fear surrounding him. "And besides, you didn't drag me in. I jumped in. This is a profession for altruists or idiots, after all." Aaron said in a slightly joking manner.

"Bronze? Odd name, but I like it." Aaron replied after Bronze answered his question. Something was picking at the back of his mind when he heard the name. It seemed like he remembered it from a very long time ago. “So Scream...I saw somethin about you on the news once....It true you can change into anything?” Aaron got that question more then he liked to. He understood why. People were naturally curious, and hell, he was even a little curious about his abilities and how far they could go.

"That's what I want them to think, but no. Not everything. Most things I can see in my minds eye, I can change into." Aaron stopped and turned toward the two, his face and body slowly morphing until they resembled Natalia to a tee, except his ill-fitting clothes. "People are easy enough and animals I can handle." Aaron thought Natalia might be freaked out, so he decided to change back to his faceless visage and body they had come to know and started walking again. "Items on the other hand are a little harder. Have to figure out where everything fits. You may have also noticed the tendril trick. Stuff like that and showing some sharp teeth or the like usually scares people."

"And fair warning, Natalia. I wouldn't appreciate you pushing your thoughts into my head, so please don't try it. I don't think you would, but I'd rather be safe then sorry." Aaron said, already thinking of ways to counter her ability if the worst were to come about. "And what about you, Bronze. We saw your super strength. You have any more tricks?"

"Yeah. Let me try and look up." Aaron pushed the manhole cover up as hard as he could, pushing it up just enough to see ahead of him. He was surprised to find that he recognized the street it opened on was only a left turn away from his apartment. "My place is nearby. You two can hide out there for a while." Aaron said, jumping back down from the ladder.

"Bronze, you might want to lose the mask. We just need to not stand out." Aaron asked, quickly remembering he would also stand out like a sore thumb. So, he shifted his face back to his own, quickly grabbing the glasses from his pocket and putting them over his now visible eyes. "Do I look alright?" Aaron asked, not really wanting the answer as he again climbed the ladder, pushing the cap with all his strength and pushing it to the side, exiting the sewer.

"Follow me." Aaron began to walk down the street, trying to look normal and hoping his companions were doing the same. When they reached the apartment after a few minutes of walking, Aaron went into autopilot. He walked through the front door, checked his mail, and walked up to his home, almost entirely forgetting the two strangers he had brought home. His place was modest, but he was proud of it. "Make yourself at home. Just stay away from the windows." Aaron grabbed a bottle of rubbing alcohol from under the kitchen sink and a rag and sat down on the kitchen table. He then took off his shirt and jacket, exposing not only his chest, but his still fresh wound. It had healed a little, but was still bleeding slightly. So, Aaron grabbed the alcohol and poured some of it onto the wound. "Damn it!" Aaron winced through clenched teeth as he rubbed the wound with the rag. He then found a bandage wrap in the bathroom cabinet and began to wrap it around his arm, making sure to keep an eye on his new house guests.

"You gonna be ok man?" John asked Aaron, his wrapped arm still bleeding slightly. "I'll be fine." Aaron replied entering the living room with the others. The wound would be fully healed by tomorrow, but it still hurt a lot. Luckily, he was used to the pain as it hadn't been the first time he'd been shot.

As he entered, he noticed almost immediately how uncomfortable Natalia was. She seemed like she had something on her mind she wasn't saying. "Natalia, you have something you wanna say?" Aaron said, feeling like he owed them some info since he knew secrets about them. As he waited for an answer, he remembered something the two might want to know about. He pulled out a drawer from his work desk and pulled a small cell phone from it, placing it on the coffee table for the two to see. "If you wanna make a call, use that. I'm a little paranoid when it comes to the Cape Killers and phones. It's a burner." Aaron said as he looked for something to wear nearby, remembering he was still shirtless. He settled on a blue hooded jacket lying on the edge of his bed.

When he returned to the living room, he looked at Natalia and John. They seemed like average, decent people who got caught up in the fear mongering the country had been under for years. It was hard not to think of all the lives the Cape Killers had destroyed over the years. Lives completely ruined to placate the fearful populace.

Wiping the thought away, Aaron sat next to Natalia and John on the couch, letting out a large sigh as he looked down at the floor.
"You two should probably lay low for a while. Natalia especially. You're welcome to stay here for the time being. It isn't much, but it's better then a prison cell." Aaron was surprised by how trusting he sounded. Aaron came across as that to a lot of people, but that was because Aaron always had an ace up his sleeve. He figured a person could afford to be trusting when you know their deepest and darkest fears.

Aaron wasn't surprised John left. He probably had business he needed to get to in case the Cape Killer's found him. "My name is Aaron, by the way." Aaron said, remembering Natalia's question as he picked up the card John had left behind. He was glad to have his number in case he needed his help. Now that the Cape Killers were on their back, they would need to stick together. With that thought in mind, he decided to try and get to know his temporary housemate.

"So, Natalia, you do this kinda stuff a lot? I mean the vigilantism not being chased by armed men." Aaron said, trying to make her feel comfortable after the day she had. While he was used to his life being on the line, he couldn't help but feel Natalia was different. She didn't have the air of someone who did this often and was around these type of situations. He had become so used to it over the years, beating up villains and running from the law, that it was refreshing being around someone who he could relate to, but wasn't a vigilante. It reminded him of a time before he was the Scream. A time he missed on more then one occasion.

As John reached the front doors of the apartment building he quickly began walking down the sidewalk, trying to walk slow enough to not look suspicious and at the same time fast enough that he could get home before the nightly news was over. As he walked at his brisk pace his eyes couldn’t help but notice the sun's burning shape slowly fading off in the horizon as the dying rays cast an amber glow across the various sky scrapers and tenement buildings within his view. It was actually quite beautiful. If he hadn’t been so lost in thought and focused on the scenery he might have noticed the figure in black atop the roof of the large building directly adjacent to Screams apartment, probably not though-it seemed as if none of the dozens of people walking the busy sidewalks had noticed him.

Vincent Doran, also known as the Midnight Masher among the papers, sat high atop the streets on the roof of the slightly upscale apartments adjacent to where the man known as 'Scream' made his home. He had been following the mans exploits over the past year and he had to admit that he was rather effective and the fact that the man hadn’t stopped patrolling the streets over the past years made him greatly respect the man. Although he had been following the mans hero career for years it hadn’t been until the last week he had physically begun to watch the man, he needed to make a final decision on whether or not to invite him to be apart of the team he had been putting together the past month.

As he thought of the word 'team' a scowl spread under his masked face, thoughts of his old team flooding his mind. Back in the day he had been apart of the only real Super Hero group that resided within Kansas City, they stupidly had referred to themselves as the 'Super Seven'. Despite the dumb group name they had been some of the best men and women Vince had known in his life and as a group they had decided to continue to fight crime and serve the public. These days however the entire team, save for Vince himself, were dead and buried, hunted like common criminals at the passing of the 28th by the newly formed Cape Killers.

Over the years Vince had gone from protecting citizens from crime to protecting meta's from their own government. In the old days when he had been part of a team he fought with nothing more then his fists and a shield along with the occasional use of his powers but now when he'd stalk the streets at night he was damn near a walking armory. His huge arsenal contained just about everything, from the two .45 caliber pistols strapped to each leg and the sub machine gun tucked into his belt to the large caliber rifle strapped across his back and a medium sized curved blade attached to his lower right leg. He also carried his old signature black shield but used it far less these days. Over the past ten years the amount of cape killers that had died at his hands was rumored to be in the triple digits and Vince felt no remorse over a single one, there was a reason he had earned the title of 2nd most wanted meta in Kansas City Missouri.

Kneeling atop the roof in his kevlar looking black armor that covered nearly every inch of him he grasped a pair of binoculars in his hands. Putting the large black binoculars up to his eyes he continued to peer across the street into Screams apartment, not that he could really see anything but he was determined to find out who the newcomer was he had brought home-over the week he'd been following Scream he never once had seen someone else follow him into his apartment, and he knew the best way to find answers was to be patient.