"True Men of the People"







-Friday March 10, 2017, Los Angeles, CA 8:30 AM PST-


'You MORON.'

I hang an illegal U and flip back around on North Sepulveda Boulevard. I'd been literally 5 minutes from pulling into LAX looking to catch a flight to Croatia, or as near as possible, for round 3 of the Lethal Lottery before realizing I still had an upcoming Savage card to compete on in Oakland up north.

I roll to a stop at the intersection of Sepulveda and East Walnut, taking in the track playing on the XM. It occurs to me while the lyrics may not pertain to my partner Trax, the title sure as hell does. What a "coincidence".

In the rearview a large black panel van catches my eye as it pulls up to the curb outside the Alliant Credit Union building some 50 feet behind. 6 men exit at once leaving a seventh behind the wheel, all clad in identical non-descript and identity masking clothing...all lugging shotguns. They head for the front doors.

'What the fuck?'

Filming going on here without shutting down the street? I look around the area. I don't see a crew.

'............'

Holy fucking shit...

'Yeah.'

There's no fuckin' way. HERE? NOW!?

'Light's green. Go.'

I stop myself the instant before I mash on the rental's pedal.

'Don't even think about it.'

This is my chance. I can make my parents proud of me again. I can void all the bad shit I've ever done. I'll run in there, take those men down and save-

'What? The bank's money? I'm sure even Credit Unions are federally insured. Don't be an idiot, you rep reality and the reality is, you'll die. There's no such thing as heroes.'

Yes there is.

Ignoring the better judgment screaming away in my head, I wait for oncoming traffic to pass before taking another U turn, a third just past the credit union, and pull up a few feet behind the van.

I hop out and make for the entrance casually, refusing to give the get away driver any notion that I'm aware of the situation.

From the moment I enter, a shotgun is pointed in my face. I raise my arms. I guess I didn't really think this through.

"Get your ass over with the rest and don't give me a reason to blow your fucking head off. I'll do it."

'I hope you're happy. Just do what he says. ...I don't like what you're thinking.'

I'll disarm him, knock him out and-

'And then what? You haven't even had the balls to look around and assess.'

I'll figure it out. I can be a hero. For once. A real hero.

Like a flash I spin with my left backfist and nail the man in the temple. He crashes to the floor, shotgun clattering. Frantically I grab for it, snatch it and rise to aim it at the next assailant.

Before I notice a double barrel pointed at my chest point blank I catch a glimpse of my own face in the reflective surface of sunglasses.

::BAWOOOM::

My flesh scatters, my heart explodes in my chest and I collapse.

Darkness....
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Light. My eyes open............I try to focus on the blob of shadow breaking up the illumination before me.........a face takes shape......................it's Trax!

Caedus stares at Trax blankly before looking at his chest where the man shot him to see...no wound? Caedus looks around to see several bodies strewn all over the building floor, causing more confusion as he looks back at Trax whose eyes are glowing amber indicating he's just recently used his powers.

"Trax? What happened? I should be dead...how am I..."

"I'm...I'm still tryna work that out myself, I'm not sure what the fuck just happened."

"You gonna fill me in?"

"Yeah..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

-A FEW MINUTES PRIOR...-

:: BAWOOM ::

Jim Caedus drops to the floor clutching his chest with his hand and torso bloodsoaked, his eyes closed as he feebly gasps for breath as the man who just shot him points his double barrel at his face. Before he pulls the trigger, a flash of light appears behind him and Trax appears out of thin air twisting the man around.

"Hey, sorry no can do, he's my tag team partner and I need him."

Trax uppercuts the man damn near out his shoes! He goes flying through the air and lands beside the prone Jim Caedus who has slipped into unconsciousness much like the man who Trax just punched is about to. The other five men in the room who were making sure the other hostages didn't try anything while their comrade dealt with Caedus all turn and point their guns at Mr FN' Dominance, who simply smiles before firing dual energy blasts at two of the men, both blasts hitting the men square in the chest causing them to fly backwards.

Three men left, one lets off a shot but Trax teleports out of the way and reappears behind the man, grabbing him and teleporting them both 20 feet in the air directly above one of the other unsuspecting men. Trax teleports yet again in mid air while the other man plumments into his comrade, smashing his head off the ground as he lands on top of his partner in crime. The sole robber left standing frantically looks around the room trying to work out where Trax has disappeared to.

"Sh-sh-show yourself!"

"Hey..."

Trax steps out from a pillar and the man fires a shot but Trax just smiles and teleports once again.

"Thats not very nice."

The robber turns on his heels at the sound of the voice that has just spoke behin-

TRAP SILENCER! Trax hits the robber with a superkick to the face and he's out cold! The man that had his partner fall on top of him gets back to his feet and grabs his shotgun, Trax turns to him and begins to walk casually towards him as the man begins to fire shot after shot but Trax puts his shield up and deflects the bullets until he is just inches away from the man. The robber lets off another squeeze but the shotty clicks indicating he's out of ammo. Trax grins, grabs the gun out of the man's grip and smashes it in two over his knee before clubbing the man's head simultaneously with both parts of the broken weapon.

Trax throws the pieces of the shotgun to the floor just as the getaway driver storms into the building weilding a handgun.

"What the fucks going o-"

Trax turns to him and fires an energy blast that is so powerful it causes the man to fly back out the front doors of the building and into the side of the vehicle the men had drove up to the bank, leaving a human sized dent in the car door as the man crumples to ground.

Inside the building, Trax runs over to Caedus who has passed out and is still heavily bleeding.

"Come on...come on...don't die on me Goddammit I need you!"

Trax looks at the gun wound in Caedus and looks up at the heavens.

"God help me."

"Why? You've got this."

Trax turns to see Freeman/God leaning against a pillar arms folded.

"Use your powers."

"How are they going to help!?"

"You can heal."

"Yes...myself, I can heal MYSELF!"

"Have you ever actually tried healing others?"

Trax raises an eyebrow then looks to Caedus before finally placing his hands on his chest and concentrating, Trax's eyes begin to glow, and then so does his whole body. The glow then washes over Caedus and covers him. Trax's vision changes as he begins to see the auras of everyone around him, he looks at Caedus sees his aura dimishing. Grinding his teeth, Trax focuses some more. Then to Trax's amazement, the shotgun pellets and fragments he can sense in Caedus's body, lodged in his chest near his heart, disintegrate...then the gaping wound in Caedus's chest begins to heal up and close untill that too ceases to be. Caedus's heart which was beating slowly begins to quicken and his eyes that were closed snap wide open as Trax takes his hands off his chest and stands over him, eyes glowing still.

"Trax?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The scene fastforwards to the present, where Caedus is now back on his feet, still looking confused. He looks down at the body of the robber next to him and gives him a kick and spits on him before looking back at Trax.

"So thats what happened."

"Yeah..."

"You saved me..thank you..but how did you know I was in trouble?"

"My aura sense, I can feel and see peoples' auras...their life energy, which allows me to track them. I've been keeping track of yours because, well...I don't know much about you and seeing we're going to be partners I wanted to scope you out. When I felt your aura weaken I teleported to this location. Tell me, why did try and be a hero? That was brave but foolish, you could of been killed."

"Apparently I WAS just as good as dead...I doubt even my own force of will and spiritual power would've been able to survive that. You...you truly are the Superman, Trax. I can't thank you enough.

As for your question...this ride of mine has been played out on one long hard road. I've...I've failed all those closest to me, Trax. My friends. In relationships. My family. My own wife and daughter."

I can feel tears beginning to well.

"I...I needed to feel useful. Good. To be a good man for once. You have no idea how long I've wanted to be a hero and save. All I've done is watch lives around me crumble. All I've seen is loss of life... You...you're everything I ever wanted to be, partner." I manage to draw the tears back in. I wipe my eyes. "What about you? Understand, this is very hard for me to fathom...an actual, honest-to-God superhero. At my angriest I've wished for the power to destroy the world. Why do you do it? You could just as easily use those powers for evil."

Trax, who isn't usually the most empathetic of people, actually looks rather sullen as he nods, as if in understanding.

"I see, so you was seeking to make your loved ones proud. Noble...but still foolish considering you don't have powers like me, but I do see where you're coming from. I use my powers for good to make my mother proud. She's in a coma and although she is unable to tell me so, I know its what she'd want. On top of that I believe in balance. Inside the XWF ring, I hurt people for self gratification and to achieve success, and the people I hurt may or may not deserve me doing so. Outside the ring however, I use my powers only to hurt those who very much deserve it and to protect others...that's my way of balancing things."

Trax stares at the floor momentarily lost in his thoughts, before looking back at Caedus. Caedus doesn't utter a sound, hanging on Trax's every word, awaiting his next.

"But enough of that shit,. I need to know your head's in the game. You're the current TV Champion and I'm...well I'm Trax... Scully, Bourbon and his little Hart Championship shouldn't stand a chance against us in all honesty but if your head's not where it needs to be that's gonna be an issue. I hope you caught what I said in my last promo; fuck your "friendship" with Bourbon, he'd throw that away without a second thought to achieve his goals. He'd pin you in this match to advance and not give it a second thought and so would Scully because he doesn't give anything a second thought. He's still a who is unable to do so. So...can I count on you?"

"Damn skippy you can count on me, partner. I did indeed hear your advice and took it to heart. Robbie's own manipulated harsh response only solidified what I know I need to do. When we hit that ring...he's my worst enemy. He's the man who spat on my late wife and fallen father. He's the man who treated me like some snot nosed fan, some punk who irritated him, some inferior waste of time beyond what he 'blessed' me with in his flawed opinion. He's an asshole. What I see in Robbie is, ironically enough, a lack of heart as the Hart Champion. A lack of soul. I may not be the hero I want to be and the hero you are...I may more aptly be described as a bad guy, anti-hero at best...I may be a dirty bastard who's earned his own karmic torture...but Robbie? He's the true villain here. He's no man of the people. He's a man of the empty. The apathetic. The nihilist. The self-serving, self-centered and selfish. A shamefully massive and corpulent cocksucker who'd just as soon kick a fuckin' kitten aside and laugh while stuffing his craw with microwave burritos and chicken nugget dinners, licking the grease from his fingers before that manbeast he calls a mate in Blue can gnaw them off at the knuckle first. He is most definitely not my friend, he never was...and he'll fucking pay for what he's done. Unlike these pieces of shit you so gloriously dismantled, and I'll never forgive myself for missing it, Robbie won't have a shotgun or any other weapon of the sort that could actually KILL ME and killing me is the only way he could possibly prevent me from accomplishing my goals. He's a dangerous man but I'm fuckin' terminal threat. He has no ability for surprise attack like the murderous sunuvabitch who took away my FIRST life. He isn't going to enjoy the advantage of my underestimating him like I did the great Robert Main. He has nothing but a worthless scumbag in Scully and his own quarter-ton of honeyed ham to depend on. It won't be enough. Not against me. Not against you.

You and I Trax, we're the TRUE MEN of the people. Between us we represent the positive and negative spectrums in every man, woman and child in this nation. The unfortunate, the traumatized, the once-victims-turned-obstinate who'd finally had enough and decided to take action. I won't lie and say I haven't done bad things to others, victimized them, hurt them... but it was all in pursuit of good intentions for those I loved. Whether those intentions and actions lead me straight to Hell or not is irrelevant. What matters is I'm trying to turn my life around now, I AM trying to please and induce pride in the posthumous, I AM going to continue to destroy those who deserve it and fell any foe who stands in my way. Together, you and I, we're going to combine our strength in round 3 and we're going to overcome our obstacles for advancement to round 4. Trax and Caedus. Caedus and Trax. Unstoppable."

Trax rubs his stubble before finally, grinning.

"Hm... sounds good to me. You've convinced me, I'm fairly certain I can count on you. I know you want to win this match and make Bourbon pay for things he's said and done, I too will take great pleasure booting his ass out this tournament, because you are right, he ISN'T a man of the people, we are, and I can't wait to put Bourbons empty threats, false truths and unachievable goals to bed. I'm making it to the finals and winning this thing, I'm sure you think the same, but there can only be one winner... I will say this though, if it's YOU that I end up having to face in the match to determine the Lethal Lottery winner, I look forward to the challenge. You've already shown more potential than Bourbon ever has I'll give you that. As for Scully, heh, fuck Scully, dude's irrelevant and is more than likely gonna be the dude getting pinned in this match."

The pair laugh, the sound of laughter is followed by the sound of sirens, police sirens, in the distance and getting closer. Trax turns to the direction they're coming from and scowls.

"Thats my cue to go, believe it or not, but the five-O have as much issue with a black man stopping crime as they do with a black man causing it. I'll see you Wednesday. Peace."

Trax nods and before Caedus can reply, Trax vanishes in a flash of amber light.

'You _laughed_...'

Don't get excited. It was residual light lifeforce left over from his powers. Perhaps a smidge of what makes Trax Trax imprinted momentarily. Now that he's gone...I can feel the darkness ebb once more. Still...that's an amazing human being right there. Not just the powers...the man behind them. I imagine it'd be quite a thing to know him in personal life. He's correct. Should we face off in the finals for the 24/7 briefcase and bragging rights, he's going to be one hell of a challenge. As a tag partner...it's going to be an inch away from slaughtering our opponents.

'Stop musing and get the FUCK outta here!! Pigs'll be here any second!'

I don't bother responding. I snap to and dash for the shattered egress to exit. Passing the wheelman groaning in pain, I climb into the rental, slam the door and turn the key. I peel out into my fourth U-turn of the morning, gun it for the opposite intersection and dip with a right turn on the red just as the flicker of multiple patrol car blue and reds begin to flash far off behind me in the rearview mirror.

The thought that Trax and I had just undoubtedly been recorded by the credit union's cameras showers me with dread. I hope his powers include some form of technical interference in context. Otherwise...sooner or later...I'll have a lot of explaining to do.

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