*Written by Mxy, with minor additions by Grimm
Phil and Grimm decided to take a walk around the town to see if they found anything suspicious. Maybe the killer was badly hurt and stopped to rest somewhere. Hero insisted in coming along. It seemed logical that the killer would flee to the poorer parts of town, since people there in general 'don't
see anything', so they went that way.
“I understand that you killed the former bearer of my name,” Hero finally said, interrupting the somber silence of the walk.
“Yeah, well,” Grimm replied, “I'm guessing you now know that the guy wasn't as good as the media painted him...”
“I know that now, yes,” Hero nodded, a sad expression in his face. “He was also my brother.”
“I didn't know that,” Grimm said. “That doesn't make me regret what I did, though. He was a criminal, just like that whole Strikeforce.” Hero looked down and said nothing. “If it's any comfort... you seem to have turned out a lot better than your brother.”
“Thanks,” Hero faintly said. He wanted to forgive this man, he really did... He knew it was the right thing to do, but he just couldn't do it. Brandon Mullarney's face contorted in pain, anger, and confusion. He looked up at the former Vanguardian next to him.
"Listen," Grimm stopped him before he could start. "Your brother was in the act of killing a teammate of mine. We were in the midst of a war, do you understand? The Strikeforce invaded a country we were bound by an obligation to protect at that time. It was kill or be killed. Your brother. . ." Grimm paused for a moment, "Your brother would not have hesitated to do the same. The difference is. . .he would've done it without the extreme circumstances."
Rationally, Mullarney knew this was true. But emotionally, he wanted to speak up, to throw these accusations back in this person's. . .face. Or what passed for one. "How do you know these things? How can you? What. . .are you? You're not a metahuman. . .what are you?"
"I am the shatterer of worlds." was Grimm's only reply.
The three men continued walking in silence for a while.
Suddenly Grimm stopped walking. The others were a bit ahead of him, so they didn't notice. Grimm turned around and looked at the street around him. It seemed completely empty... but he couldn't help feeling there was something
strange about it. They had walked for some time now, and reached a not particularly classy part of town. All he could see was trash cans and a dirty alley. The only thing that seemed out of the ordinary was the piece of black wood lying on the street. It was a stick, maybe some sort of cane.
Following nothing but an irrational hunch, Grimm bent over to pick it up. It was a cane, topped off with an ornate, silver skull. As soon as he touched the piece of wood, his hunch was confirmed when a familiar blue energy erupted from the can and traveled back and forth between it and his hand.
“This is fucked up...” Grimm said, looking at the now glowing cane in his hands.
He looked down to the street and saw something even stranger: there was a small black arrow painted where the cane used to be. Grimm saw Hero and Phil were already a block ahead of him. They didn't seem to notice he stopped
walking, so they wouldn't mind if he disappeared for a second.
Grimm followed the arrow through the alley, and when he got to the other side he saw another arrow below him, this time pointing to an abandoned building.
“I think I smell a trap...” Grimm said. He grabbed his axe and walked into the building without hesitating. “Let 'em come.”
******************
“Where's Grimm?” Hero asked.
“He was just here...” Phil replied. They turned around to see if he had stayed behind, but there was no sign of the big guy. “He probably went for a hot dog.”
“This is not normal...”
“Ah, leave him alone, he's a big boy,” Phil said. “Besides, he's Grimm. What could possibly put him in danger? Don't sweat it.”
And that's when they heard it: a loud explosion...
...followed by the sound of a building crumbling...
