The Crimson Phoenix

Saving the Day: part 2

BANG!

The back door of the van was kicked open by the two robbers, who aimed their guns at the policemen scattered in front of them and opened fire like hell.

AAAAAH!

The robbers yelled as they fired at will. They had the money bags in their arms. The bigger one was shooting and leaving the scene slowly while the other guy was giving him cover fire. Some civilians were on the scene so Leo ran as fast as he could to get those people away from the scene and prevent them from being hit by stray bullets.

A huge gunfight broke out and the policemen could barely find space to shoot them back. The two robbers were using submachine guns while the cops were just using pistols. One of the policemen went to the car and used the radio to request reinforcements, but by the time reinforcements will arrive, the robbers would’ve escaped by then.

Most of the cops were hit by the bullets but none of them died, they were only injured. The two robbers quickly rushed into a nearby restaurant. They planned to use the back door of the restaurant to escape. There were still people in the restaurant and they all had their heads on the ground so that they wouldn’t get shot. Some even escaped through the kitchen while others were too petrified to even stand. The two robbers entered the restaurant and the big guy grabbed a teenage girl and pressed his gun on the girl’s head.

“Hey, drop your weapons, or this little girl dies.” The big guy yelled. The girl in his arms felt despair and began to cry. The robber pressed the gun harder on her head and yelled, “I said drop it!” The girl screamed, as a result of the pain of a cold and metallic object pressed against her skull. The policemen complied and slowly dropped their weapons. The loss of civilian life would not be too good and with the hostage being a fourteen-year-old girl, they had no choice but to oblige.

‘If only we had a sniper’ one of the cops thought as he dropped his gun. The big guy backed off slowly, while still holding the girl and pressing the gun on her skull. His partner in crime went behind him and had his back covered. He didn’t take a hostage but his gun was still loaded, thus, he was still considered dangerous. He was a bit relieved inside.

“We might just pull this off.” He hoped. They both entered the kitchen and many chefs were there. They all backed off and held their hands up. The other armed robber observed each and everyone in the room and he noticed that something was off. One of the chefs slowly took a knife from a shelf and was just about to throw it but the robber was quick to react and he shot the chef twice, one on his hand and the other on his lap, a little bit near his crotch.

“Aarh” The chef groaned and fell to the ground. He was bleeding heavily. This shocked all the chefs present and they all began to shiver. One of the chefs took out a wiping towel and wrapped it on his friend’s leg.

“Everybody out.” The guy with the hostage yelled and all the chefs left the kitchen. The man who was being shot was carried by his friend and they all left the kitchen. After they all left, the big-bodied robber with the hostage pushed the girl towards the door.

At the same time, Leo quickly rushed into the kitchen and was a bit startled when a young girl was thrown at him. The two robbers were shocked too and the little guy shot a bullet at Leo but the girl was right in front of him. Leo had his eyes wide open and he quickly pushed the girl slightly, away from the direction of the projectile and he used his hand to block the bullet.

The bullet penetrated his palm and Leo felt intense pain and he gritted his teeth. He looked at his hand and he saw blood gushing seeping out of the wound. The guy was shocked as to why a guy wrapped up all over suddenly entered the kitchen and blocked a bullet with his hand.

“Hey, who are you?” He said with a startled voice. Leo gave him a glare and didn’t answer to him, “Why are you all wrapped up like a mummy?” The guy asked again with an irritated tone. Leo sighed deeply and gave him an answer.

“I was burned alive in an accident.” He said. The guy gave me a look of both shock and sympathy. Leo didn’t care less and he was just about to take a knife.

The two robbers ran but Leo wasn’t giving them a chance. He threw the small knife at the big guy’s butt.

“Ouch!” The guy held his butt as he cried out in pain. He turned to glare at Leo but the guy was unmoved. He gritted his teeth and pulled the knife out of his butt before throwing it at Leo. Leo caught the knife easily since it wasn’t as fast as a bullet. He already ordered the teenage girl to leave the kitchen.

The tall and slightly muscular guy aimed his gun at Leo and tried to fire but his gun gave a ‘click’ sound instead. He was out of bullets.

He reacted fast and he took another knife from the counter and swung it at Leo. He tried stabbing him in the face but Leo dodged it. Without withdrawing his hand, the guy swung it again and tried to cut Leo’s neck but the latter bent down and used one hand to grab the robber’s hand and another to punch his face, slightly putting him in a stunned state. Leo then turned and threw him to the ground from his back.

The guy was shocked as to how a guy who had little strength and smaller stature could be able to beat him so easily. Leo didn’t give him time to think as he punched him in the face and knocked him out.

Leo left that one and quickly caught up with the second robber who was frighteningly running in an alley. Leo passed him by, taking the gun off his hands and hitting him on the back of his head. I made sure not to use too much force so as not to kill him.

He looked at my hand and blew it. “(Whoosh) I could get used to this.” He said as looked at the man on the ground. He took away the bags of money and guns and placed them on a tray in the kitchen and dragged the body of the guy outside into the kitchen. He brought out three handcuffs which he stole from two cops and cuffed the unconscious robbers together while he used the back door and left the scene. He could hear the footsteps of the police so he jumped the fence and put on his hood and went home.

The cops barged into the kitchen with their guns aimed forward and they were at high alert. The teenage girl who Leo saved, went outside and told the policemen about the incident inside the kitchen and they all assembled and decided to go in.

When they entered the kitchen, they were stunned by what they saw. They found four guns, which had been disassembled on a tray, and two big, black bags filled with money. That was surprising enough, but that wasn’t the most shocking thing. The most shocking thing was that they found the two armed robbers on the ground. They were unconscious and they were cuffed to a metallic shelf.

A black man dressed in a suit and having a holster on his waist, who wore a badge on his chest walked into the kitchen. He was a detective, and he was stunned when he got to the scene. He wondered who it was that defeated the two robbers. “The driver of the van was knocked unconscious and pushed out. These guys were knocked out too. Who is this guy?” He asked himself. He decided to as the girl who was saved by Leo.

“What did the guy who saved you look like?” he asked as he took out a notebook and wanted to jot something down.

“I couldn’t see his face because he wore a black hoodie. But his whole face was bandaged, except for his eyes. He wasn’t too tall and he’s just a little bit taller than me. If I was to guess his age, I would say that he should be about seventeen to twenty years of age.” She described. This shocked the detective.

“A young guy saved the day and did it without being spotted by any of the cops. Although, I did see a black blur rush out of the van when it stopped…” he pondered on the mystery of this mysterious man.

*************

Leo got home later than he should have, and he would’ve gotten home later than that if he didn’t have super speed. School had closed since two o’clock and he spent less than one hour at THRL before saving the day which took him thirty minutes, before finally getting home at three o’clock in the afternoon. He used his spare key to open the door and went into his room and locked himself up. He unwrapped his hand which was shot and he saw that it had already healed. He was a bit surprised and he started walking to and fro, talking to himself about his powers.

“Okay Leo, first of all, you have super healing abilities. Second, you have super speed, only that you are not as fast as the speed of sound. Third, you have super strength. Only thing is that it’s still a speculation and you don’t really know how strong you are…” he paused as he suddenly thought of something, “I think I’ll have to go to the gym for that.” He said to himself and put that thought aside.

“You also have an affinity for lightning which is also still a hypothesis.” He sighed and sat on his bed, “Okay… okay, I’ll have to test that during a thunderstorm. Oh I just remembered… I’m starving.” Leo rubbed his rumbling stomach and went downstairs to get something to eat. He opened the fridge so that he could get the ingredients to cook what he would eat. He intended to prepare some noodles so he turned on the gas cooker only to be startled by the flaring up of the flames.

BOOM!

This shocked him and he took a few steps back to access the situation. He slowly turned on the cooker again but the flames flared up again. It kept burning so much that it looked like a welder’s torch and the flames rose to over one feet high. He turned off the gas cooker and grumbled. ‘I’m hungry!’ he couldn’t take it anymore. I was just about to leave when I saw a sticky note on the fridge. I read the contents.

“Hey Leo, I won’t be back until eight in the evening so do you mind picking up Katy for me? I also left some money on the fridge in case you’re hungry. Love you. Your Aunt.” Leo put my hand on top of the fridge and took out a fifty-dollar note. ‘Looking at the situation of the cooker… or probably me, I think little Kate and I will have to eat at a restaurant.’ Leo speculated. He quickly got dressed and went to Kate’s school.

On getting to the school, Leo saw that there were few people in the school. It was then that he realized that he was a bit late. I went inside and he saw a woman holding Kate and chatting with her. Leo suspected that she was a teacher in the school so he approached her.

“Hello,” Leo greeted. The woman turned to look at him but she was startled when she saw a guy bandaged all over and looking like an Egyptian mummy, approach her. Leo got pissed. ‘The bandage is so annoying to my already healed body and my appearance is scaring people.’ He complained angrily inside. He didn’t show his displeasure and he made sure to smile… even though the woman couldn’t see it.

“Hello… how may I help you?” She uttered.

“I’m here to pick little Kate.” He replied, pointing at Kate who she was holding. Kate already knew about the accident and she knew that Leo was the one bandaged all over. He wore clothes though but he was still thinking of getting a nose mask. The woman got protective and she inquired more about me.

“And you must be?” She inquired. She remembered that Kate’s mom called and informed her about Leo picking Kate up from school but she didn’t believe that the person in question was the guy wrapped up like barbecued fish in front of her. Leo was just about to introduce himself when Kate spoke up.

“He’s uncle Leo, my cousin.” She said with her babyish voice. Leo gave her a warm smile and she returned the gesture.

The woman turned to look at her. “How sure are you?” She asked. Leo was getting fed up but he had to endure it, to avoid any misunderstandings. ‘Aunt Molly should have prepared them for my appearance.’ He grumbled inside. Kate nodded but the woman still had second thoughts about handing over a child to a stranger whose head was covered in bandages.

Leo couldn’t take it anymore so he took out his phone and called his aunt.

“Hello, Leo. Have you gone to pick up my little Kate?” She asked hurriedly without even making him talk. Leo rolled his eyes and spoke up. ‘Motherly love.’ He scoffed in his mind.

“Well about that, you forgot to inform the school about my ‘weird’ appearance.” I reminded her. She suddenly realized her mistake.

“Oh my God, I totally forgot I’m so sorry, let me call the school.” She said as she hung up and called the woman in front of Leo. The woman happened to be little Kate’s school guardian. After the whole thing was settled, she apologized and handed Kate to Leo.

“I have to ask, why are you all banged up like that?” She asked curiously. Leo looked at her and said without any expression,

“I was involved in an accident and got burned all over,” I said. She opened her eyes wide with shock.

“Oh my God, I’m so sorry.” She said. I just waved and left.

“It’s okay. I haven’t felt better.” Leo replied as he and Kate walked home. His last words stunned the woman and filled her head with questions and confusion. ‘Never been better!? Is he a masochist??’ She thought.

****************

Leo and little Kate got back home after going to a restaurant to grab some ice cream. I also bought some cheeseburgers for her and himself, since he couldn’t cook because of his powers. Leo carried her on his shoulders on their way home and Kate was so happy, she made Leo feel like he had a little sister. It also reminded him of the time he backed Tracy home and put her to bed after going to the park. Leo cracked some little jokes with her and even promised to take her to an amusement park. They both got home and Leo instructed her to do her homework, which he gave her some little assistance in doing and went back to do his homework.

His uncle, Williams, returned three hours later and Leo finally went back into his room. He pondered on what he was going to do when he suddenly received a call from Tracy.

“Hey babe, you haven’t called or texted me today, anything wrong?” She asked with concern.

Leo sighed, “I was actually just about to call you and the others but since you called, this might be the right time.” Leo revealed. He hung up and called her again with his laptop. He didn’t want to hide things from his best friends, especially Tracy. Tracy looked slightly confused and curious. Judging from Leo’s voice, it seemed like something big must’ve happened.

“What’s wrong babe?” She probed. Leo was just about to open the bandage on his face when he decided to check outside his room and see if anyone was coming. After being reassured that everything was clear, locked the door and went back to his seat, and opened the bandages covering his face.

“Holy sh*t…” Tracy exclaimed with surprise written all over her face, “How’s that possible? You aren’t supposed to have healed yet!” She exclaimed. Leo touched his perfect, smooth, and uninjured face.

“Turns out the accident gave me super abilities.” He said expressionlessly. Tracy was still trying to wrap her head around all this. There was one word to describe the situation, extreme bewilderment!