ARCHETYPE (Slowburn Superhero Progression)

Bramble was soaring through the air, and not in a controlled way. With a sudden hard impact her back slammed into one of the trees from above.

"Bramble?!" Emulsion-Man cried out.

And Bramble began to free fall to the ground. Shortly before striking the ground her awareness of her surroundings returned, and she fell into a crouched position.

Her right arm however was hanging limp by her side.

Closed segmental fracture, Slip resonated inside my head, which was another way of saying two bones in Bramble's arm were broken in two places with no external bleeding.

CLANG!

Clang fell from the sky and landed close by to Bramble, but didn't attack. Instead he smiled gleefully as his bronze skin radiated heat and steam.

Emulsion-Man bounded over to Bramble, standing between her and Clang.

"Bone break," said Bramble, "Don't let him punch you."

"Right-O," said Emulsion-Man, "How long do you need?"

"A minute," said Bramble.

"Then a minute you shall have," said Emulsion-Man.

I would find out later that Clang had first punched and broken Bramble's left arm, and then had taken hold of her other arm, spun her around, and had thrown her across the forest. And in doing that Clang had shown mercy because he could very well have punched her face and not her arm, or kept the punches coming.

I could hear the wet sound of Bramble's arm internally healing, joined with the pops and cracks of her bones being forced back into their proper positions. Bramble showed little of the agony she was likely feeling from focusing on healing her broken arm, but my heightened hearing was able to pick up her strained grunts through her gritted teeth.

THWOCK-SHISH!

"Above!" Bramble shouted suddenly.

Miss Toontastic had returned to the fight after a brief reprieve. She soared downwards from above, her hands and feet covered in ink-blood-rubber spheres.

Bramble broke away to the left, and Emulsion-Man to the right, just in time to avoid being struck by Miss Toontastic.

No, I thought, It's Snap.

Snap was back in control, as evidenced by her anime-style eyes. There was something about the way Snap struck down on her blood-rubber-hand-spheres and back upwards to the forest canopy which suggested she hadn't truly tried to hit Bramble and Emulsion-Man.

Clang, who hadn't attacked again seemingly as an act of mercy to Bramble and Emulsion-Man, bounded towards them.

This time it was Emulsion-Man who was ready to take on Clang's challenge.

For several seconds Clang gave several testing punches, all of which were at high-speed.

Emulsion-Man ducked and weaved like a professional boxer, but most of his ability to avoid Clang's attacks was through him deftly retreating away from the fight in bigger bounds.

SHISH-SHA-CLANG!

Clang had used both his enhanced strength and energized state in combination with another propulsive burst of steam, to close the distance between him and Emulsion-Man. He struck Emulsion-Man's shoulder with a soaring-right kick which sent the filmstock-wrapped figure tumbling across the forest floor and into the base of a nearby tree.

Emulsion-Man lay prone on the ground, as if curling around some of the larger tree roots.

"Enough!" Bramble shouted, "The fight's over!"

Soon after Snap fell from the canopy above and landed close to Clang. And Clang, in turn, powered down from his second tension state.

Bramble ran over to Emulsion-Man's side just as he sat up. His shoulder looked to be in an odd shape.

I bounded into the small clearing where the others were located.

Closed fracture-dislocation of the right glenohumeral joint, Slip resonated inside my head.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Despite knowing this, and not fearing the worst for Emulsion-Man since I was sure he could manage healing such an injury with the power, I then said rhetorically, "You okay?"

"Fine, yes, yes," Emulsion-Man grunted, though clearly in a good deal of pain, "Will be fixed in a jiffy - ah!"

He cried out, because the pain of beginning the process of using the power to heal his shoulder dislocation and fractures was climbing.

The resulting few minutes of patiently waiting for Emulsion-Man to finish the ordeal of healing himself gave the other three time to heal what remained of their own battered and bruised bodies.

Clang and Snap exchanged a high-five at their victory.

And then Emulsion-Man began to recite another poem:

"In the fell clutch of circumstance, I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeonings of chance, my head is bloody, but unbowed."

Clang coughed into his closed fist, then his voice rang, saying, "Thought I hit your shoulder."

"That you did," said Emulsion-Man, "And a mighty fine hit it was too. Good golly, what a blow."

With Bramble's help Emulsion-Man got to his feet.

"Did you get what you wanted?" I resonated.

"Yes m'boy," said Emulsion-Man, "Had a good few presumptions dashed. What do you all say to a spot of lunch before the night's end?"

"Sun will be up soon," said Bramble to Emulsion-Man.

"We'll not take too long," said Emulsion-Man, patting Bramble's shoulder affectionately.

I half-expected Bramble to brush him off. Instead she held his hand in a way that returned the affection.

Something romantic? I wondered, Or they're just good friends?

Emulsion-Man extended a hand for Clang to shake, which was readily accepted. This in turn led to handshakes between the four that had sparred, with me as a fifth wheel observing - which was fine with me. My mind was on lunch.

Emulsion-Man handed out sandwiches, crisps, and biscuits, which everyone, including myself, and Bramble, helped ourselves to.

There had been a moment where Clang, Snap, and I were excited to see what lay under Bramble and Emulsion-Man's masks to give away some clues to their real faces. Instead their masks opened up around their mouths, giving little away about who they really were beyond the additional knowledge that their teeth were in fine condition.

I felt newly whole from yet another cup of hot tea, and having eaten a ham and cheese sandwich.

Before long the overall mood among everyone was good-natured and easy-going. Bramble talked the least, but when she did speak there was warmth in her tone.

"It's bad luck you went up against me," Clang's voice rang as he put a hand on Emulsion-Man's shoulder beside him, "Because I'm going to be the world's greatest hero."

"Is that so?" said Emulsion-Man, "Well it's a good thing we've met, isn't it?"

"That raw strength of yours," said Bramble, looking to Clang, "It's incredible. How have you harnessed the unique gift we share to make it possible?"

"We cocooned," Clang's voice rang.

"'Cocooned'?" said Bramble.

"Yeah," Clang rang, "You can use the power to change the stuff your body is made out of. For me I made my body to be made out of a unique gold. It makes me stronger, and it means I can push the limits of my body beyond what I could do when I was just, you know – meat."

"Have you all done this?" said Bramble, astonished.

"For me it's rubber," said Snap.

"I've got a mix of things," I resonated, "Some rubber, some metal, but also a special resin."

Bramble and Emulsion-Man exchanged a look.

"It appears we've fallen short," said Emulsion-Man.

Bramble clenched her leaf-gloved fist tightly.

"I thought we were doing well," she said, "But you beat us so easily."

"Well you can always change yourselves like we have," Clang rang, "You could make your bones wood or something."

"And does it change your appearance when you do this?" said Emulsion-Man.

"Yes and no," said Snap, "You're different on the inside of course, and your body feels different. You know, like, I'm stretchy – and I kind of feel like rubber. And Clang's like metal. You can hear it."

Clonk-clonk-clonk.

Snap had wrapped her knuckles atop Clang's head.

"That wouldn't do," said Bramble.

"It's fine," Clang rang.

"I think she means she can't live her normal life with a body made out of metal or rubber," I resonated, "Not if she's trying to keep her identity a secret."

Bramble nodded.

A prolonged silence followed. The obvious question of who Bramble and Emulsion-Man really were hung in the air. It was readily understood by everyone not to even attempt asking.

Birds began to tweet amid the forest, and the dark of the night had become lighter shades of blue.

"We best be off," said Emulsion-Man, grunting as he rose to his feet.

Bramble stood next, and soon we were all standing.

"Thanks for the food," I resonated.

"Thank you for the sparring session and for being such good company," said Emulsion-Man.

"So," I resonated, "We've still got some things we need to do in Lowems Park before we move on. Would it be safe to assume you wouldn't mind so long as we keep out of trouble?"

Bramble nodded.

"And we'll know," said Bramble, "We have eyes everywhere."

It was my turn to nod.

Bramble had already collected her phone from the nearby tree root where she had perched it before. She did however hand me a different small phone and a power cord.

"This is a burner," said Bramble, "It has a number on it you can contact us on, and some pre-paid credit."

"Thank you," I resonated, "But I'm not sure how long we intend to stay in Stowchester. We might be just passing through."

"Either way my lad it's good to have a means of staying in touch," said Emulsion-Man, "Don't be a stranger."

Emulsion-Man collected his rucksack and the remaining litter from the impromptu lunch we had all enjoyed. Very quickly Bramble and Emulsion-Man sprinted off and were soon out of sight and hearing distance.

"They were nice," Clang's voice rang.

"Yeah," said Snap, "But did either of you get the feeling that…?"

"What?" Clang's voice rang.

"...that they weren't our age?" said Snap, carefully.

Snap and Clang looked at me, as if I might know the answer. And, as it turned out, I was pretty sure I did. Not from just common sense, but from the strange Intuition ability of mine which had been working non-stop inside my mind before, during, and after our encounter with Lowems Park's night time defenders.

"Oh," I resonated, "They're not teenagers, that's for sure."

"What?" Clang's voice rang in astonishment, "But they have to be."

"They're not teenagers," I resonated, "They're full blown adults."