Free First Superhero 1: The Second Super by Logan Rutherford Page B

me what you want to talk about, Richter .”
    Richter’s joking expression flashed red with anger, but he was able to hold it back. “I have a proposition for you…?” He looked at me questioningly. “What’s your name anyhow?”
    Now it was my turn to laugh. “You think I’d tell you?”
    Richter shrugged. “Worth a shot, no? Anyways, as I was saying. A proposition.” Richter cleared his throat and stood. He paced in front of me. “You and I are both special. We’re different. We’re better. We could basically do anything we wanted to, with no one to stop us. Or, at least, I can. I have, as I’m sure you’ve seen. I’ve turned to world into my playground. But to be honest,” Richter turned and looked at me, “it can get kind of lonely.”
    “And I care about your loneliness why?” I asked, trying to make jabs at him. If I couldn’t hurt him physically, I’d at least try and let my words do some damage.
    “Because,” Richter began as he crouched down to get eye level with me, who was still sitting against a boulder letting my body heal. “Soon you’ll be lonely, too. You’ll try and hide your powers, try and keep your loved ones safe.” Richter’s face turned dark. “But then you’ll start to feel a disconnect. Your friends will start to push you away, saying you’ve been acting ‘weird,’ that you’ve been ‘hiding something,’ that they can’t ‘trust you.’” Richter was trying to keep himself from shaking with anger. “BUT YOU’LL JUST BE TRYING TO PROTECT THEM!” he yelled, his words filled with anger.
    I jumped up from my seat, and Richter stood as well. “So the next step for you was to go on a rampage?” I said back, as smug as I could.
    “No!” Richter snapped back. “It was to tell them who I was. But you know what? They said I was a freak. They were afraid. But you know what?” Richter got a crazed look in his eyes. “They were right. They were right to be afraid of me. They were right in calling me a freak. Because I am a freak. I’m a freak who’s better than them. Who’s better than every person on this goddamn Earth.” Richter’s voice turned soft; the charm returned to his eyes. “And together, you and I could rule this place. The Earth can be our playground. We could have whatever we wanted. Who ever we wanted. So let’s not fight. Don’t make me have to kill you. Because we could have so much fun.”
    I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Richter thought that what he was doing was actually fun. He’d lost his humanity. He’d lost his reason to live. Well, replaced it would be a better word. Now his reason to live was to just have fun by destroying the Earth. His superpowers drove him mad, and that terrified me.
    “So what do you say?” Richter said, extending his hand. “Truce?”
    I looked at his young hand. I couldn’t believe someone who was only seventeen held the world in such a state of constant fear, and his hand was just inches away from mine, wanting me to shake it. My gaze turned to Richter’s eyes, and I could feel the anger and rage toward him fill mine.
    I let my emotions well up inside me. This man had killed so many, destroyed the lives of many others, and just got done asking me to join him— after beating the shit out of me. I was so angry at him, I had to have been shaking. I made a fist and did something that felt amazing.
    I punched Richter as hard as I could, square in the face. I let out a yell so loud, and punched him so hard, that a shock wave blew dust and small pebbles back.
    Richter went flying backwards into the Washington forest. He took out many trees as he slid for a good mile or two across the ground, screaming in pain the entire way.
    The bones in my arm healed themselves almost instantly, and I took to the skies, flying back to Ebon as fast as I could, thankful to have survived another encounter with Richter. I knew, though, that it would most certainly not be my last.
    Things were just getting