Wizardness

Something squelched as he landed. He pulled his hand out of someone’s stomach. His back was covered with another person. Make that somethings squelched. He shook his head. Of course he’d be blamed for this. As he gestured intestines and gore flicked from his hand.
A man screamed in horror. Falton glanced at him, he was covered in visera, a turd slowly oozed out of the large intestine.
Falton shuddered. He braced himself and launched himself into the sky. The ground crumbled beneath his shoes. The shoes quickly fell from his feet.
“Fuck!” he roared. “You mother fucker, that was my last pair of shoes!”
The being he launched himself at, Vartooze was his nemesis. It was one sided, though. They both knew it. Falton had never once beaten Vartooze. Today it didn’t even look like his heart was in it.
Falton’s punch caught Vartooze awkwardly. The man was floating in the sky, barely paying Falton any mind. Like he was somewhere else. Vartooze’s eyes glazed over, he was rocked back. He dropped from the sky. He was falling.
Falton grinned, he pumped his fist. He was falling!
He was falling? He’s not catching himself. Vartooze had never been knocked out before. Hell, Vartooze was never the underdog in any fight. Even when aliens come to Earth, Vartooze is always the favorite. Falton was almost always minus multiple thousands from the odds makers.
Falton watched for a moment longer. Fuck, Vartooze was going to land on someone. That, that just can’t happen. He launched himself down towards Vartooze.
Falton’s flying was awkward at best, but he had to push himself. Save that woman. Vartooze would never forgive himself if he, even accidentally, killed someone. Launching Falton into someone, sure, but Vartooze doing it directly, unthinkable.
Falton swung down, he caught Vartooze by the toe, his boot threatened to slip off, but Falton gave a tug and Vartooze lifted enough, that Falton could catch him by the calf. Falton pulled himself up.
“Holy fuck.” He grunted.
He strained and pulled. He felt veins pop out on his neck, then his forehead. His vision narrowed from the effort. The people in Vartooze’s path scrambled out of the way. Falton slowly lowered the man to the ground.
“Call 911, something’s not right,” Falton said to one of the bystanders. “I don’t have a phone on me. Just… Fuck, I cannot believe this.”
The woman gave him a terrified look and did as he asked. Falton chewed a finger nail.
“Yes, I’m here with Vartooze and some villain. Some how this guy killed Vartooze.”
Falton’s eyes shot open, “What? He’s just knocked out.”
He scrambled to Vartooze’s head. He quickly checked his neck for a pulse. Then he did the same at the wrist. Nothing, in either place. Vartooze wasn’t breathing.
“FUCK!” Falton cried.
“I don’t know, he’s got an anvil with an ‘F’ on it. Oh, Falton? whatever, the guy’s freaking out. I think he’s trying to do chest compressions. Anyway, I’m at NE 33rd and Killingsworth.”
Falton straddled Vartooze and tried to do chest compressions. He pushed with all his might and barely moved the man’s chest. He continued for what seemed like hours.
Smithstone arrived, he picked Falton up. Ready to pummel him. “Stop! Please! Try chest compressions! You shouldn’t stop once you start.” Falton sobbed.
Smithstone tossed Falton to the side. He replaced Falton with the compressions. The man pressed but couldn’t do much more than Falton.
“Let me help.”
Smithstone scowled, but nodded.
“1, 2, 3, 4, 5” Falton counted out their rhythm, together, they managed better.
An ambulance arrived. They just shook their heads. Vartooze was gone.
“You. I’m going to fucking kill you.” Smithstone said.
Falton just looked at him, “Not here.”
“No, it needs to be public. No one will care if I kill a shit stain like you.” Smithstone sneered. He reared back, his fist grew in size, doubling, then tripling size. His fingers morphed into a solid mass turning his fist into a solid boulder.
Falton braced for impact. He hoped there was no one behind him. The last time he took one of these hits, he was sent flying blocks. It took him months to recover. Medical bills from that fight was the only reason he was in this mess.
Never at the right place at the right time. Falton felt the shadow of the boulder on his face, “Fuck” he whispered as it slammed into his arms and face.
The boulder shattered. Rocks clattered down and around Falton. Smithstone bounced back, clutching his shattered arm.
As the arm recollected its rocks, Falton shook his head. “What the fuck?” he asked. “You normally kick my ass.”
“I don’t know what you’re playing at Falton. I’m gonna take you down.” Smithstone screamed.
“Just fucking take me to prison you blockhead!”
“What did you call me? What the fuck did you -“
“Are you serious? Come on, just here, take me.” Falton held his wrists together out towards Smithstone.
“No, no, you don’t get out of this ass whooping. No one calls me that.” Smithstone grasped his hands together, jumped in the air, and drove down towards Falton’s head.
Falton jumped up and caught the hands and slowed them so they gently hit the ground. No earth shattering crash which would destroy blocks worth of buildings. This part of Portland was way to cool for that.
“You? How could you? Only Vartooze could do that! What the fuck is going on?”
“Look, I don’t know, are you going to arrest me, or are you gonna keep looking like a fucking idiot.”
“I said, I’m going to kick your ass.”
Falton launched himself into the air. He’d braced himself as he normally did, but there was so much more power there. He was already in the clouds before he realized how fast he was going. He looked down at the city and decided he needed to rest somewhere else. He took off towards a cabin he had in Hood River.
Falton shifted in his sleep. He’d been having strange dreams all night, but this one felt different.
“You can already feel the difference, can’t you?” a smiling man asked him.
“What difference?”
“That you have THE power. Vartooze’s power. You have it now. It’s so immense, isn’t it?”
Falton nodded, “Yea, how did you know?”
“Oh, that’s because you took it from me. I’m Mike, the man you knew as Vartooze. I knew my time was coming, I didn’t know it’d be to you. You of all people.”
“Huh, like you even knew me. You just stomped me every chance you got.”
“No, I knew you, Falton. I know you were trying and just life was in your way. I tried to help in the ways that I could. I’m sorry it wasn’t enough though. Your brother.” Mike shook his head.
“Wait? That was you, you paid for his hospital bill.”
“I made it go away, I didn’t pay for it.”
“Why?”
“Because you, were being wasted as a villain. You didn’t have the conviction to be a real villain. You would have been a better hero, but you couldn’t. You needed to get by, so you used the strengths you had.
“Now, you have Vartooze’s strength. Your power certainly has already been noticed.”
“What, what were you thinking about, what happened when I, uh, killed you?”
Mike sighed, “I’d been fighting the call for a while to relinquish my powers, to give them to someone else. I just didn’t see anyone around me that I felt was worthy. If I had, I’d still be alive and you wouldn’t be in this mess.”
“A call?”
“Yea, you will have these powers for somewhere between twenty and thirty years. After, you’ll return back to your old Falton. The prior mantel holder was killed like I was, so I’m not sure if there’s any truth to that.”
Falton shook his head. “No, no, this can’t be real.”
“Oh, it is. You better see who’s at the door.”
Falton woke with a start. Someone was pounding on his door. He staggered out of bed, stooped to pull on a shirt, and walked towards the front door. Before he got there, he saw the disco lights of a police cruiser.
He jogged back to his bedroom, grabbed some pants, socks, and … he didn’t have any shoes to put on. Fuck.
He pulled on some socks and put on an air of carelessness. He sauntered up to the front door, and pushed aside the curtain.
“Daryl, open up!”
“What do you want?”
“We have reason to believe a dangerous powered person is here.”
“A powered person, you say.” He smiled ruefully, “Sure, take a look Officer Davidson.”
He opened the door and Davidson pushed his way in. The man pulled out his flashlight and gun and made his way through the house.
Falton flicked on lights to each room behind the officer. As Falton passed the attic ceiling entrance, he gently hopped and pulled down the stairs.
“Where’s the attic- Oh, thanks.” Davidson muttered.
“Lights already on up there.”
“Uh, thanks.”
After Davidson came back down the stairs, Falton asked, “What are you looking for here?”
Davidson rubbed his head, “Well, we were uh, told, that Falton lived here, that he killed Vartooze. But we were also told he was needed because of some emergency.”
“Where’s the emergency?”
“Oh come on Daryl.”
“Davidson, you know my name, my full name. Daryl Falton.”
“Yea, I know, I just thought you were smarter than that and it was a coincidence.” Davidson rubbed his eyes. “You need to go back to Portland. You’ll figure it out quickly.”
Davidson tossed Falton a uniform, it was Falton’s.
“Er, thanks. Do, do you by chance have some extra boots? I destroyed my last pair of shoes…” He trailed off.
Davidson nodded and shuffled out to his cruiser. By the time Davidson returned with a scuffed up old pair of boots, Falton had changed and was eating an energy bar.
“Be safe.”
Falton nodded his thanks. He floated off the ground, boots in hand and took off. As he flew, he pulled on the boots and laced them up.
The rising sun caught in a wall of smoke. Portland was burning. Falton accelerated. He was going significantly faster than he could ever fly before. It was so effortless.
He found the source of the fire. Some giant being. He launched himself towards it. His first inclination was to punch the shit out of the thing, but a voice in his head, suggested he pick up the beast and move it out of the city. There were farms he could easily, safely fight the monster on.
His fists turned into open hands and he swung down below the monsters. He flew up and caught the creature by an arm and pulled. The creature staggered at first, then lifted into the air. Falton surged and found the flying got easier.
As he flew, he felt more than saw, other people flying around him. He found a farm quickly. He swung up a bit, as the creature struggled in his arms, he swung down and pulled the monster into a dive.
He drove the creature into the ground. He bounced up into the air. The creature seemed to sway stuck in the ground. It eventually fell over. Falton hovered and gently flew towards the creature. It was still alive, but badly injured.
“Where am I? What happened?” The creature asked.
“You attacked Portland. I stopped you.” Falton said.
“What happened to me?”
“I don’t know.”
Someone came up behind Falton, “We can take it from here. We have ways of helping people like him.”
Another handed Falton a phone and an ear piece, “You’ll need this.”
“Is this the man who killed Vartooze?” a voice said on the other end.
“Uh, yes?”
“Ok, we need you in D.C. a negotiation with an alien isn’t going well. You may need to deal with it. Get here now.”
“Get where?”
“Who the fuck are you? You don’t know where to go?”
“I’m Falton. I’m local to Portland.”
“Fuck you, you piece of shit.” It sounded like the call ended.
Another person hovering near by said, “I’ll take you where you need to go. I can’t believe YOU killed Vartooze.”