Michael’s whole body felt like an entire train hit him. Granted, it wasn’t as bad when he, along with his team, fought Arc, Droid and Silver Marksman. But this was a close second, and a well-known, dangerous assassin or a dark Super Soldier didn’t beat him. Squad Nova got their behinds whipped by a boy who looked to be nine years old or maybe even younger. When he wakes up, he finds himself in a hospital, most likely a secret one for Super Soldiers.

  He groaned as he tried to sit up, but only to hiss in pain. Slowly, he brought his aching body down back to the soft bed.

  “Don’t move, idiot. You’re going to open your wounds again.”

  Michael slowly turned his head right to find Arti. Her forehead was wrapped in a white bandage. Left arm in a cast, while her other hand was also wrapped in bandages, but clearly not broken like her left. He frowns, watching Arti bring up her cigarette to her lips, using her broken arm.

  Arti notices Michael’s stare, and she puffs the smoke before smirking at her leader.

  “What captivated me?” She says smoothly.

  He looked away, but his cheeks and ears burned. “You shouldn’t smoke while injured."

  “Little ole me? I’m not that fragile. Besides, we Super Soldiers are nearly immune to disease.”

  “Nearly.”

  Arti chuckled, shrugging, but crushed her cigarette with her hand before tossing the remains into a trash can beside her. The two just stared at each other silently before someone cleared their throat. They both turned to look at the other side. To find Ricardo giving them a knowing grin. Despite taking the most punishment from their battle with Red Justice, he healed pretty well.

  He’s got wrapped in bandages too, but still not seemingly as hurt as Michael or Arti. Meanwhile, Ricardo is what appears to be a mummy. All four limbs were cast, which were elevated by straps to ensure proper healing. If it weren’t for his messy golden blonde hair, they wouldn’t have recognized him as Gabe.

  “Hey…guys.” Gabe managed to croak out. “Please…tell me…we…kicked…that little…jerk’s booty.”

  “...Sorry, Gabe.”

  “...Aw, man.”

  Michael soothes his brother with some kind words and encouragement, hoping to break his depression. Arti was just chilling. Ricardo, on the other hand, was thinking about the battle. No doubt, they were doing better than they expected. They didn’t think they would last this long for someone whose power the Monarchs are afraid of. Granted, it could be because Red Justice was tired from stopping that tsunami, and then after saving people, had to fight all four of them.

  Ricardo grimaced; it goes to show that if things were fair. None of them would stand a chance against him. The door to their room suddenly opens, making them stop their conversation and muse over the person. It was Nine, by the flesh. He regarded them with an icy look before speaking.

  “I see, you’ve healed quite nicely for only two days after your battle-.”

  Nine cuts himself off as Michael forces his body to stand straight before getting off his bed with trembling legs.

  “Fighter, I suggest you return to bed-” He didn't get the chance to finish as Michael rushed to him clumsily, but still managed to punch him straight to the lip.

  Sending the suited man to the floor. Almost instantly, Michael’s teammates react.

  “Whoa, chill the f out!” Arti said, standing up straight despite hissing a little from moving suddenly.

  Ricardo already moves, grabbing his leader and pulling him back as the blonde man tries to get out of his grasp, glaring hatefully at Nine. The suited man’s lip bled a little, but Nine didn’t show any expression aside from his usual stone-cold look.

  “Michael, by the lord. Calm down, what’s going on!”

  “...Bro, what the heck?” Gabe chimed in, trying to move but to no avail.

  Michael didn’t look at his teammates or even offer an explanation for his behaviour; instead, he clenched and gritted his teeth.

  “You! You were going to kill us!”

  “What?” Ricardo asked, startled.

  Michael points at Nine. “This bastard launched a nuke in the middle of the forest while we were still there.”

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  Ricardo blinked, Arti narrowed his eyes, while Gabe, with his current smashed-up face, would have found any surprised facial expression too painful. So all he said was let out a weak sound of surprise. Things got quiet.

  “Is this true?” Ricardo looked at Nine, who got back up, wiping his mouth and standing straight.

  “Yes, what you hear from your leader is true. We launched a nuke at the forest. We theorized that Red Justice would try to move the bomb in an attempt to save you or the wildlife.”

  “And what if he didn’t?” Michael growled out.

  Nine shrugged. “Then I suppose you would be dead.”

  Michael saw red and, despite his injured body, rushed to him only to be stopped by Ricardo. Ricardo is also mad, as clearly shown on his face, but he knew lashing out now would be pointless. Still, he could understand and even empathize with his leader’s attitude and rage.

  “Don’t get too worked up.” Nine said. “World-renowned psychologists predicted that Red Justice is someone who compulsively saves people even at the risk of his own life. Which is confirmed when he tried to throw the bomb into space. It blasted him, dead-on.”

  Nine’s expression finally changed; instead of his usual cold one, it was replaced by a tight, frustrated expression. “We were hoping the blast would knock him out. But it seems he’s very resilient. Not even a minute later, he got back and flew away.”

  This surprised Squad Nova. The fact that they soften him up, having a full-on battle with him, and yet he has the durability to survive such a powerful blast directly. Michael chewed on his cheek, realizing what this meant. All this time, despite them going all out and doing their best to capture him, Red Justice held back. He must have.

  The power and speed of a tsunami like that? He’s hiding his true power, or he held back massively to not kill them. Michael’s expression dropped, and guilt welled in his heart. This was the person he was ordered to capture, a person-no a hero, that wouldn’t go all out for their safety? And even used his body to protect himself and his team from the nuke dropped by the government.

  It was some kind of sick comedy. The entity that employed them would kill them to capture Red Justice, while their target risked being detained by the people who would have captured him. Nine nodded.

  "Yes, he's much more powerful than our calculations. But not as unstoppable as we expected. He can get hurt and wear down, as proven with your fight." Said Nine.

  “Once you are fully recovered, as well as your weapons and armour repaired. You will strike Red Justice.”

  “You’re making us fight him again, after he gave us a concussion?” Arti crossed her arms, frowning deeply.

  “Yes, we expect you to fight him again. Not to worry, my superiors, as well as the battle strategists, with the data we received, we might have the means to capture Red Justice early.

  Arti snorts. “Bullcrap.”

  This earns a smirk from Nine. “You will see, Mage. Oh, you will see indeed.” Nine then faced the door and took a couple of steps before stopping.

  “I must be on my way. I’m only here to deliver the news that your mission is still not done. Rest well, Squad Nova. Operation Scarlet Fall continues.”

  He said before walking out. Leaving Squad Nova, a mixture of wild emotions.

  RED

  Gavin’s Secret Hanger

  JUSTICE

  I shouted as I threw a fly at Gavin, who blocked it by crossing his arms. He was immediately countered by a spin hook kid, which I successfully evaded by ducking. I hit him in the shin, which made his structure unbalanced, allowing me to throw a straight elbow at his side. Making him shout in pain. He tried to grab it, but I immediately jumped back.

  Taking huge gulps of air. Gavin wasn't allowed to get a break immediately, rushing, jumping to perform a wing kick, which involved doing two consecutive roundhouse kicks while airborne. His second kick breaks my guard, and he immediately follows with a side kick, launching me back before tumbling into rough concrete.

  “Ow…” I said, groaning.

  I tried to get it, but my body was heavy. I was both low on CE and energy as we’ve been sparring and training for three hours straight.

  “Good job. Break time!” He says, jogging near my aching body before sitting next to me, handing me a bottle of plastic water bottle.

  Which I took and began to drink violently like a blood-starved vampire.

  “You’ve been improving quickly, that’s good. Keep it up. Only two days and you made a lot of progress.”

  I released my lips from the bottle, taking a few deep breaths. “What level am I now?”

  This leads to Gavin raising a brow as he wipes the sweat off his forehead.

  “Ben leveling up in martial arts takes time. While I admit you learn very quickly, in fact, I would say you’re a combat prodigy, but you’re still an amateur, but you are definitely a lot better than you were just a couple of days ago.”

  Gavin then hummed, scratching his beard. “Though if I have to rank you, combat-wise, I'd be a moderate level. Like you would be considered pretty strong for most dojos. Not a black belt level. Just somewhere in the middle, lower-middle.”

  Gavin then grins. “Not bad for someone with barely a week of training on how to fight, eh?”

  “Yeah, I guess.”

  I was glad and proud that my hard work, training and being a punching bag for Gavin had paid off. Though I’m still a bit irritated, my suit hasn’t been repaired yet, and in two days, Red Justice hasn’t been out on patrol. How many disasters, fires and people hurt because Red Justice is waiting for his costume to get fixed. I wondered how many people died in just those two days.

  A hundred?

  A thousand?

  Maybe even a million?

  What’s also getting me heated up is that Jimmy hasn’t returned to school yet. It's getting me worried. I already told Gavin, and he said he’ll look into it, but I wasn’t satisfied. I wanted Jimmy safe now! Away from that monster.

  I wanted to use what I learned and perform them to that sorry excuse of a man. I then felt Gavin’s warm hand pressed against my shoulder. I turned to him, his hazel eyes were filled with warmth and worry.

  “It's okay, kid. Don’t push yourself, we’ll help Jimmy, and it won't be long before you return to the field.”

  I forced a smile. “Thanks.”

  Gavin nods, getting back up, stretching. “Why don’t you rest for a bit and just study my moves?”

  He walks a good distance away before he starts showboxing performing complex and really cool-looking maneuvers. I know this was just too distracting for my current stresses. I appreciate that, but I just couldn’t wait to become Red Justice again.