God help me.

*****

Able continued to follow Mouthpiece from a safe distance. They passed by an area filled with people and the pathetic hovels they called home, and directly in to the Q-Zone. Even with his limited knowledge of the Divide, Able could tell the location simply by a series of walls spray-painted with story-high question marks.

As Able entered it some distance behind Mouthpiece, the Q-Zone seemed highly overrated. It was famous even outside the Divide for its randomly occurring “wild zones”, areas where reality shattered and the laws of physics had no meaning. Anything imaginable, or even unimaginable, could happen in these wild zones. The stories made it seem like the things popped up every few seconds, but Able saw nothing of the sort. No sign of them at all. He kept his eyes open nonetheless as he focused his metagene detection ability forward.

He could feel several more metahumans in the Q-Zone, all congregated in or around a massive group of norms somewhere ahead. As they neared the location and Mouthpiece slowed down, Able could see the edges of the crowd formed in the Q-Zone’s center. He scowled. The only thing he liked less than Americans were groups of Americans.

He pushed his revulsion to the side and forced his way in to the crowd. As he stepped forward he could see a raised dais in the center of the crowd. Able watched as Mouthpiece joined his compatriots on the dais. Able recognized the Great Question’s commander Conundrum as well as his two dwarfish sidekicks. A woman dressed like an American cowboy hovered a few steps behind Conundrum. Another man, cloaked in a robe covered in druidic runes, stood off to one side.

The crowd cheered their leaders with reckless abandon. Able felt like he had somehow found himself in some third world country from a B-movie, where the population mindlessly loved their evil leader. Something here wasn’t right; a tingle in his spine reiterated it.

Conundrum listened to a few words whispered in to his ear by Mouthpiece. He smiled. Mouthpiece stepped forward. The crowd instantly fell quiet to listen to his proclamation.

“The enemy of the people of the Q, the American’s vile agent Mister Midnight, is dead! He fell at my hands only minutes ago. The Great Question takes another victory in the control of our great Divide!”

The crowd cheered together. Their timing was eerily perfect.

“No!” A figure leaped from within the cheering crowd. The multicolored rags she wore to blend in with the crowd fell away in mid-air. Beneath it, she wore a solid white costume that glowed slightly as she floated down to the stage.

“I will avenge my partner’s death. Prepare to die, Mouthpiece.”

The two midgets moved in to protect their leaders, but the man in the druid’s robes stepped forward. “Shock, Awe, hold,” he said to his compatriots.

The midgets dropped back a few steps. The robed man pulled his hood back revealing a weathered face and several rows of nappy dreads. He gave the new arrival a cocky grin. “Doctor Dawn, welcome to the Q-Zone. I plead with you; do not throw your life away here today.” Able knew this must be Antagonist, the true power behind the Question.

“It’s you that will die today, Antagonist. You and all your kind!”

Antagonist looked around at the members of the Great Question, both on stage and off. “You’re surrounded by hundreds of my men, Dawn. I rule this city while you’re just a pathetic pawn of an inept government unwilling to accept the changes within my city. Out of the goodness of my heart, I will give you one more chance, stand down and leave.”

“Never.”

Americans and their showboating, Able thought. If the fool of a woman would have struck from her position in the crowd, Mouthpiece would be dead now. Perhaps some of his compatriots with him. Instead she placed herself in hopeless odds with no chances of victory. Idiot.

Antagonist shook his head. “Great Question, stand down. I will deal with this fool myself.”

Doctor Dawn dove at the Great Question’s leader. Antagonist shot straight up in to the sky and passed right over her. As he landed Dawn answered with bolts of concentrated light fired in Antagonist’s direction. Antagonist answered in turn with a raised force field. The lasers ricocheted in to the sky.

Antagonist dropped the field and unleashed his own devastating blast of force that drove Doctor Dawn hard in to the ground. Dawn’s flowing outfit began to glow brighter and brighter. It took the light only moments to turn blinding. Able shielded his eyes as he felt what came next.

White light filled the courtyard. It pierced even through Able’s closed eyelids before fading away. Able uncovered his eyes as the glow faded back to normal levels. His vision was still hazy, but he could see her as she struck out with another series of blasts in Antagonist’s direction. The ruler of the Divide answered with yet another shield of force.

With a angry cry, Antagonist unleashed his own blast of pure force. Dawn flew back several feet before crashing in to the solid wall to the back of the dais.

Antagonist walked to her and bent down over Doctor Dawn’s unconscious form. He grabbed her by the chin. He took a moment to look at the woman’s face before he turned to Mouthpiece. “She will do. She is yours to work with, Mouthpiece. I will expect her ready by this evening’s festivities.”

“Yes, my liege.” His words were calm and respectful, but the excitement was clear on Mouthpiece’s face. Whatever the Question’s plan for this woman, Able knew it would prove unpleasant.

Antagonist turned back to the crowd. He raised his arms in victory. They cheered.

Savages, Able thought. Americans savages at their worst. Nevertheless, he was thankful for the display of their powers. None of the metahumans here possessed what he sought. As it should be. I would rather die than make allegiance with this body before me.

Able turned and made his way out of the crowd. He felt one more metahuman presence nearby, heading back out of the Divide. Best to check it, so I may leave this godforsaken hole forever.

*****

Gold-Diggers wasn’t the usual type of joint John Simmons liked to frequent. The beer was good, some of the least watered down in the entire Divide, but the entertainment just wasn’t his style. All the Latinos and black girls just weren’t his style. He liked his girls blonde with giant gazongas rather than all this booty-shaking nonsense.

He shrugged his misgivings off as he downed another Michelob in two gulps. He tapped on the counter and the bartender hustled another glass out of the tap. At least the drink is good. And with the tab covered by the locals, the price is definitely right.

John enjoyed his day to day job as the people’s Everyman. Hell, he loved being the guy that kicked ass and kept the neighborhood clean of metahuman scum with no interest in anyone’s safety. He enjoyed getting free drinks, he enjoyed the attention of his fans, and he most definitely enjoyed the benefits from the boss lady. For the first time in his life, he felt almost happy with who he was. Deep down, it scared him.

He pushed that thought aside. Too many uncomfortable thoughts for tonight, he thought. I need to stop stressing and get laid.

He finished his current beer, his tenth of the night, and signaled the bartender for the next. The bartender’s eyes narrowed angrily for just a moment at the thought of all the free beer he was serving. With a shake of his head, he served it up anyway. John looked down in to it and contemplated just how much his life had changed since the early days of the Divide.

He remembered first realizing he had power, how he could shrug off just about anything that hit him. His body healed fast too and absorbed any poison he put in to it, including alcohol. And he remembered Barb and Vic too.

He didn’t like thinking about the past. He took another swig of beer and silently wished Pinaretti would find her way here. Janice Pinaretti had kept her job as city councilwoman ever since the days back when it was a legitimate elected position right through the reigns of both Mr. Mayor and the Antagonist. She was good at her job and kept track of her people. She made sure she kept them in jobs and producing for the benefit of the city at large. Even those opportunistic, evil bastards could recognize it. Unfortunately for them, she also served as his source of information on the comings and goings of the current political circles. In exchange, he happily protected her constituents as judge, jury, and executioner of anyone who would dare attack their thirty-five blocks.

And she fucks like a damn wildcat too.

Unfortunately for Everyman, thoughts of Antagonist and sex made him even more depressed. He couldn’t help but think of Barbara, his bitch of an ex-wife. Most guys only had to deal with hatred issues when it comes to divorce, but not me. I have to deal with her, her psycho, city-controlling boy-toy, all of his minions, and my brainwashed little boy.

Vic, I’m sorry, kiddo. A better dad would never have let that happen to you.

John grunted and downed his beer. He pounded on the bar to get another beer sent his way. He could feel his anger rising. God damn Jan needs to hurry her ass up, he thought.

He felt naked skin brush against his right arm as someone sat down in the seat next to him. He glanced over as the new arrival ordered a shot of Jack.

He found himself looking at one of the booty-shakers from on stage, and damn, did she have a lot of it to shake. The light skinned black girl wore a garish red wig, a cut-off t-shirt that must have been taped on to her chest, the usual shiny faux-gold jewelry, and a pair of coochie-cutters that left the bottom half of her ass in view of the whole, goddamn world.

He couldn’t help but think for a moment about what Jan might look like in that outfit. Damn nice. He grunted and shoved the thought away before returning to his beer.

The stripper apparently wasn’t done with him. She turned and gave him a hard shove in the arm. Had he expected the blow, John could have easily shrugged it off, easily ignored it. But coming from nowhere, it pushed him off balance. His stool tipped sideways. He extended his left leg to stop himself from falling to the floor.

He pushed back his first urge to attack and turned to look at the girl.

“You mind? I’m trying to drink here.”

She gave him a middle finger salute. “Hey, you dissing me and my girls? Cuz I don’t take well to any little white boys coming in here and not at least going to the trouble to make sure me and my sistahs get paid. You feel me?”

“No, I don’t ‘feel’ you, lady. I don’t give a shit about you or your skanky ass friends. I came here to have a drink. Do you ‘feel that’?”

“Look here, bitch-boy. I don’t care who your ass be, big mucky-muck local hero or whatever. You dis me and my girls and I will kick your ass.”

John leaned over and looked at her shorts. He smiled a drunken grin. “I think it would be way easier for me to hit yours. Now get the hell out of my face. I don’t beat on girls.”

He turned back to his drink just as the girl brought her shot glass down hard in to the side of his face. The glass shattered and embedded in to his cheek. The blow caught him by surprise. He fell back and out of his seat only to land hard on his own ample but far less attractive posterior.

The woman closed on him. “I told you not to treat me and my girls like that. Now I’m going to have to beat your bitch ass.” She yanked one of the charms that dangled from her bracelet free. John watched as the charm quickly enlarged in to a full-sized nunchaku.

John rolled away as the stripper brought the nunchuks down where he lay only moments before. Tile splintered on the floor. John glanced back towards the bar where his own weapon still sat propped against this side of the table.

His vision came back up just in time to see the nunchuks swing back his way. He threw up his left arm as a sacrifice for the rest of his body. He felt the bones shatter as the stripper’s weapon struck. He instantly willed the pain away.

John quickly skimmed his body back across the rapidly clearing floor. Using his good arm, he pushed himself easily back to his feet. His steady drinking now over a minute gone, he could feel his body already erasing its effects. Normally he hated his inability to sustain a good drinking buzz but in this case he thanked his lucky stars.

“Bitch, you just made a big mistake,” he said. He raised his remaining good arm in a boxing stance.

“The name’s A, Everyman. Just A. You remember that when your ass is sitting in the hospital in the morning.” She lunged forward. Everyman shook his head and wished he could have just one night of peaceful drinking.

No, I don’t, he thought. I love this shit.

Once again, it was time to kick a whole lot of ass. Literally.