Garbage day.
I hid my smile at the sight of the metal trashcans scattered around the narrow back alley, along with the fair-sized dumpster not far.
I could feel the magnetic pull of the metal beginning to hum as I walked out. I suspected Riggin didn’t switch to plastic cans because fights with me happened often, and it certainly beat trashing his place. A bar brawl involving supers was not a pretty sight.
"Okay," I said, turning back to Earthshaker. "We’re here. Now-"
I heard the whistle of air and jerked my head back, Earthshaker’s fist missing me by inches before slamming into the wall. Brick cratered under his blow, powder raining down from the impact.
"Super strength?" I said as I took a quick step back.
Earthshaker turned to face me, grinning, lazily cracking his knuckles, the chains rattling around his wrists and neck.
"Yeah," he said, grabbing the lid of a garbage can. "I was once nothing but a common construction worker. But then, one night, when all the rest of the crew went home, a meteor fell from the sky and hit the site! When I touched it, I gained incredible physical power. Now, I am the Earthshaker!" he said, metal groaning as he crushed the lid into a ball, tossing it over his shoulder. "And I’m gonna be the number one villain in this city!"
"Interesting," I said, my fingers spreading out at my sides, feeling the humming magnetism around us, amplifying it. "And I suppose you made those chains yourself?"
He raised his fists with a laugh. "Sure did."
I love stupid people.
I flicked a finger at him, and with a crash the chains slammed together, magnetically cuffing him.
Earthshaker looked at them with shock for a second, then tried to wrench his arms apart. He was strong, the metal groaning, and though the magnets held, the metal didn’t. Earthshaker broke them apart with a bellow, sending links raining down onto the ground.
"You think that’s gonna stop me?" he roared, coming towards me like a pissed off bull. "I’m the Earthshaker!"
"Pretty sure there’s a guy uptown who already took that name. He’s a geomancer or something," I said as I increased the magnetic pull of his necklace.
"Then he’s next! And when I’m done, I’ll-"
What he wanted to do next would remain a mystery, because what happened was a garbage can filled with rancid food slammed into the back of his head like a sledgehammer, laying Earthshaker out on the ground.
He gave another roar and started to get up, but four more garbage cans crashed into him with a sound like a percussion band falling off a cliff, weighing him down on the ground, tipping over and dumping their reeking contents all over him.
"Yeah, I’m sure you were gonna be big," I said, sidestepping another trashcan as it slid across the ground, joining the pile of them covering him. "But maybe try something smaller next time. Purse snatching, muggings, maybe a ski mask. Seems more your pace."
"I’ll fucking kill you!" Earthshaker howled, shambling awkwardly back to his feet, barely able to move with all the metal currently attached to him.
"Word of advice," I said as he took another dragging step towards me. "Maybe think twice before picking a fight with a real villain."
"Ain’t no more trashcans now," Earthshaker growled, clanking forward another step.
"No," I said, raising my voice over the shriek of dragging metal. "But there is a dumpster."
Earthshaker turned, and his sheer disbelief when he saw the dumpster barreling towards him was a thing of beauty.
Not even his superstrength was saving him from that, the impact carrying him off his feet and into the far wall with an echoing BANG!
I moved alongside the dumpster and peeked through the crack.
Sandwiched between metal and wall, Earthshaker moaned in pain, but the lolling of his head told me he wasn’t going anywhere for a while.
Poor bastard. Maybe he’d learn his lesson after this. But I had my doubts. He wouldn’t be the first one not to, truthfully. But I always tried to let first timers off with a warning. If they tried again though?
Well, I was a villain.
I left him there to stew in unconsciousness and trash, opening the door and slipping back inside the bar.
No one even looked up as I did so.
In fact, the bar was looking quite empty.
That gave me a moment of pause. I looked about the room. The few remaining patrons were far away from where I’d been sitting, and even Riggin looked uneasy, his scarred face tight, his hands furiously busy polishing a glass.
When I finally looked back at my booth, I was instantly on guard.
There was a man at the table.
I sized him up quickly, and didn’t like what I saw.
He was dressed in a suit over which he wore a huge oversized jacket that seemed to almost melt off him. His eyebrows were sharp along with the rest of his face, with an edge to them I didn’t care for, his fingers thin where they rested on the table, his hair slicked back like a Bela Lugosi character.
For all I knew, he might even be a vampire. He had that air about him. The look of someone who looks at everyone else as a meal.
Across him was seated Glacia, who looked even paler than usual, but more angry than afraid.
I moved quick back to the table. "Hey," I said.
"Sir!" Glacia said, shooting up and hastily making space on her side. "I um..."
"You must be Miles," the new guy said, his voice having a smooth accent I couldn’t place. He smiled and extended a hand that looked uncomfortably moist. "A pleasure."
"Uh huh," I said, not bothering to take it. "And you are?"