Book II: Brinus Helios - From Criminal to Hero

Every door in the neighborhood had a cop knocking on it. Officers from all over the megalopolis were present, and urgency filled the air as police and magi specialists worked the scene. They had put up barricades and cordoned off parts of the neighborhood to make sure nobody could get in or out. They had suspicions that Dale was in the area, as he was last seen at a nearby convenience store. Reports had mentioned he had no vehicle, so he traveled on foot.

Officers cataloged yard furniture and lawn items after scanning them with specialized equipment and then placed them in a field replicator for storage. The officers radioed and communicated their efforts quickly and swiftly tried to sterilize the area of loose objects.

A cop knocked on the door of a young couple, and they answered. A young man looked the officer in the eyes, and the cop cleared his throat. "My name is Officer Thomas. Are you aware of the current situation?"

"What is it, officer? What's happening?" The young man asked as he shook in suspense.

"We're towing you're your car and taking your kid's toys out of the front yard. There is a dangerous criminal on the loose,e and we are reducing the number of objects he can use. He has special abilities to gravitate objects, so we're taking away his ammo for public safety." Officer Thomas handed the homeowner a card. "Your items will be returned to you after the fugitive is apprehended. Call this number if any damage occurs to your property or your family. Stay inside for now, this house is in a quarantine zone. We will let you know when it is safe to come out. Do your kids have somewhere to stay tonight?"

The man nodded. "They're at a friend's house for the day. I'll call them and tell them to stay there. They're several blocks away."

"Good. Stay safe, and if you need anything, call 911. We'll bring food and deliver what you need. Just tell the operator you're in Quarantine Zone A, or it may be mistaken for a prank call. Have a good day." Officer Thomas left after handing him a card for a lawyer before he could say anything.

The mother looked at her husband. "Fuck that fugitive. What about our dinner plans?"

"We have no car, and if we leave the house, we forfeit any claims to payment for our kid's daycare. Hon, dinner is canceled."

The wife scoffed and rolled her eyes.

Cars were either stored in large-yield replicators or towed away if they weren't replicator-compatible or older model cars before that was implemented.

"I could sure use a cigarette right now." The guy said.

Dale walked up to a vape shop. His hands shook from tremors, and the sunlight made his skull feel like it was splitting open. The shop was closed and locked up. He needed nicotine products but knew he would lose his magic if he touched Tarken Tea. He pointed his palm at the door. The glass exploded, and the bars bent open. After he grabbed a tin can of Zyn nicotine pouches, he put one in his mouth and felt better in a few minutes.

The streets were abandoned, with no cops, no cars, and no people — there was nothing—not even the sounds of nature, as he was in the downtown area. The wind blew trash down the road and it tumbled to Dale's feet like tumbleweed. The still silence sent a shiver down his spine as Brinus stood on the other side of the street. He put another pouch between his lower lip and gum for the buzz.

Dale the Whale smiled, "I challenge you to a mage battle! Just you and me! We can prove who's the best!"

Brinus smiled back. "I accept your challenge, but it won't be much of a fight." He flashed his screw-you smile, which caused Dale the Whale to give him a middle finger.

"I have more power in this finger than you do in your whole scrawny body."

Brinus was still in uniform and had no time to change. He had his marching orders and remembered what the magi told him before the battle.

"We're being evacuated because it's a code 10 fugitive. The magi have a message for you. They want you to stall Dale the Whale on Main St. until they arrive to contain the situation. They want Dale alive."

Brinus readied himself, he had his orders. He took his wand out and gripped it tightly. Gravity is powerful, however, he didn't know exactly how creative or resourceful Dale was or what he knew of his abilities. Brinus didn't want to take any chances. This wasn't a fair match; they were two very different mages, and there were no rules or referees to stop the match or recognize a tap-out. Lethality was in question. Brinus needed to keep him alive, but did Dale want him dead?

"You don't know what you're doing, you haven't been trained with your magic yet. You could hurt someone innocent, or yourself." Brinus reasoned with him, but his attempts fell on deaf ears; Dale didn't care.

"Someone as powerful as me doesn't need to be careful. Who's going to stop me? They can't put me in prison, I'll just break out. A hundred men are nothing but a feather to me! I control gravity itself, and I will squish you like a dirty little roach!"

Dale lifted his hands, and the air in the vicinity grew dense and heavy. Brinus was being weighed down, and the battle hadn't begun. "Nullify zone…" Brinus muttered to himself, creating a bubble of his own magic around him to negate the gravity effects on him. He felt normal again and could move easily, but the weight was pressing on his senses, and he had to keep his mind on it or he would drop the shielding to Dale's gravitational effects. If an object was thrown at him, he would still be impacted by it.

The young couple looked through their front window, seeing Dale and Brinus match up in the street in perfect view.

"Who are those two?" The young woman asked her husband.

"Oh my god," The man exclaimed. "That's Brinus Helios, and the big one is Dale the Whale. I just saw them fight on TV. Oh man, Dale was such a sore loser." He pulled out his TriQuarter and began taking a video. His arm felt like rubber as he held it against the local gravity. "Everything feels so heavy."

"Isn't Brinus a mage? I bet they're going to use magic. We should stay away from the windows." The young woman was worried.

"No way," said the guy. "I need to see this, it has to be recorded. Brinus kicked Dale's ass in the ring, he surely can do it again in the streets. No holds barred, mano y mano."

"I'm calling 911." The woman told him.

"Good, while you're at it, tell the cops to bring snacks. This is gonna be good."

Brinus didn't waste any more time. He whipped a blazing fireball at Dale's face, but as it flew, it fell and fizzled on the ground at his feet. He needed to account for the new air pressure as well; even so, outside Brinus's shielding, he likely wouldn't be able to breathe. This made Dale laugh. "Pathetic!"

Brinus tried again before Dale responded with his own maneuvers. Plasma electricity shot from Brinus, and it didn't bend to the local gravity; it arced through the air between them and burned hotter in the increased pressure. It struck Dale in the shoulder, but what should've charred him and disabled his arm only tore a few shreds of his clothing.

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"Still pathetic! You think I'm dumb, don't you? I'm not trained like you, but I can pick up your tricks and use them against you!"

"Shit…" Brinus muttered, and Dale made his first move. A small black hole was formed directly at him. The dark energy swirled and ebbed as it flew the distance between them, and narrowly, Brinus dodged with a swift dive to his left.

His dodge was affected, but the gravity and his mind lost focus on his shielding for a moment. He wouldn't make this mistake again. The little black hole stopped and began sucking him into it, dragging him across the ground with nothing to grab hold of.

He thought quickly and flooded the little black hole with Hawking radiation, which transformed it into a small splasmatic sun. Its gravity was less, but at least it was not in his control. He grunted as he grabbed it and whipped it at Dale.

The small bright sun hit him in the chest and it engulfed him, covering him in plasma. Dale was strong but wild and threw the fire and electricity from him like he was covered in water and only trying to become dry. He laughed.

"Is that the best you can do?"

Dale threw his hands up, and the asphalt road beneath them cracked and became uneven. Chunks rose into the air, making fools of the police and magi for thinking he couldn't just break the ground itself to use for projectiles.

Chunks of the road the size of a man began flying at Brinus, and he had to put himself on the defensive. He changed his shielding for a moment to be that of the sun itself. All he saw was light, but his senses kept him aware of anything beyond his plasma layer. The chunks of earth melted and exploded as they hit solid energy, then dissipated, vaporized, and melted.

Brinus realized he was too much on the defensive and changed tactics. Near blindly, he went at Dale the Whale head-on. He skipped and bounced around the rubble-covered surface beneath them to close in, then he shifted his shielding entirely to his fist. A singular gravitationally negated plasma-infused punch landed on Dale's left cheek with the force of a supernova.

Dale flinched and was surprised he had been hurt, he thought he was impervious, but was learning that perhaps he was outmatched with magical wits. "So you want to do this hand-to-hand?"

He dropped his area of gravity, and it went back to normal. The chunks of ground in the air dropped, and the road evened out and settled to be mostly flat again. Dale summoned his fist to be covered in dense gravitational energy just as Brinus had made his fists bright with energy.

Brinus huffed. "Can't you do anything original?"

"I'll be the original once I kill you. Everyone will think I killed you with my own skills, nobody will question a dead man."

Dale rushed at Brinus, leaning into a punch that was far more deadly than it needed to be. The air around the swing warped, and light bent as the forces of nature tried to figure out how it was moving unnaturally. Blocking wasn't an option for Brinus; any impact would cause incredible damage. It was the same for Dale, any touch would make searing burns.

Dale swung wildly, missing all but one swing that clipped Brinus in the shoulder. He felt heavy as the muscle condensed and seized. Gravity energy seeped into him, and the only way he knew to keep himself moving was to infuse himself with raw massless energy. This made him less effective, but he didn't need to be. It wasn't his punches or impacts that would subdue Dale, but his heat.

Rock beats Scissors, but paper cuts were his new strategy. Brinus's fists clenched, and his posture loosened. With quick brushes inches from Dale, his magic was able to bridge the gap and burn him. He slashed against the chest and face, and Dale was flinching to respond. Brinus, for the first time, created an upper hand and wasn't letting it slip this time. He stayed focused, as being too cocky would create vulnerabilities he didn't want Dale to get a hold of.

A powerful gut punch from Brinus connected and knocked the air out of Dale, followed by a debilitating uppercut. Dale staggered and fell over some chunks of the road to hit the ground.

"Give it up, Dale." Brinus was exhausted and panted out his words. "The Magi will be on you, and the police will find a way to contain you."

"You think I give a shit!? I'm Dale the Whale. I'm better than you, and I'll prove it."

The gravity on Brinus increased when his guard was down, and he couldn't breathe. He could've shielded himself, but thought to copy his move. Brinus shielded Dale, then burned away all the oxygen inside the bubble. Once there was none, Brinus calmed himself. Yes, he hurt, yes he couldn't breathe, but he was confident he could hold his breath longer. He would be more confident if he had never smoked in his life, but the wish was pointless. He closed his eyes and focused on the shield around Dale as he gasped and choked.

He was passing out slowly, and Brinus knew he had won, but Dale let go of his chokehold on his chest, and Brinus gasped. Dale switched on him, and a chunk of road slammed into the back of him. It knocked him down to face the ground, and before he could resume fighting, he was pummeled with more chunks. Dale had buried him alive with more and more weight while he regained his strength to continue fighting.

Brinus was too weak and at last, couldn't continue the fight. He lost.

Dale stood over him, smiling. "I won," he gloated as Brinus fell into darkness.

Brinus woke up in an ambulance. His chest was wrapped in compression bandages, and an IV bag was attached to his arm. His head spun from whatever was in the IV, and he had a huge smile flashing his white teeth.

"Hey, honey cakes!" he exclaimed with a drunken slur. "Will you marry me?" he asked an attractive male paramedic.

The medic removed his needle from his chest. "Brinus Helios, you're on a high dose of anesthesia, and you're likely feeling a little dopey right now. You're going to be ok. Remember, you're already married and you'll be home to see him very soon."

"I love him, but he ain't as hot as you, sexy buns," Brinus laughed like an intoxicated person and then coughed up blood.

"Dale the Whale got away. It looks like he just wanted to win a fight against you to prove he's the best," said a strange voice in the corner. He was viewing the video that was posted moments ago. It showed what exactly had happened and exactly which injuries he had sustained.

"Dale isn't my type." Brinus tried to focus on the voice but didn't know where to look. Everything swam and everyone was looking very attractive. Luckily, they were professionals.

The medical doctor in the ambulance put an egg-shaped healing device under the bandage and growled, "You're lucky the rubble didn't squish your head."

"Where're y'all takin' me?"

"Outside of Zone A. Some people were injured in your duel, so we're taking you to the triage area. The magi are closing in on Dale the Whale. They think they'll have him by tomorrow. All you need to do is rest."

The healer's vibration soothed Brinus, and the pain in his chest lessened. He began to itch, and he fell asleep.

Dale caught his breath and sat under an overpass. He was in a low part of the city and was trying to keep a low profile. He knew the entire city would be looking for him. He didn't care, though. Surely someone must have caught the fight on camera, or even local neighborhood security surveillance might have picked it up. If he had planned better, he would've sold tickets and made an official match of it. His wounds stung and burns blistered deeply, but a smile spread across his face, knowing he was the man who defeated Brinus Helios, a famous Duke, a famous dark fire mage. Any scars that would form would be regarded as badges of honor.

Dale clenched his fists and laughed to the heavens in victory. He pulled out his TriQuarter and noticed a corner of it was warped from a burn. He paid it no mind though, he could get a new one using his new fame and money. He dialed his agent.

"Dale?" He answered immediately.

"I beat him!" Dale cheered. "I beat that criminal Brinus Helios!"

"You fucking idiot!" His agent cussed. "It's all over the news! It wasn't a fair fight, and you weren't in the ring! The whole city is looking for you! The police are going to arrest you and the magi will lock you away for being too dangerous!"

"No, they won't. I'm too strong."

"You're too stupid!" The agent yelled back. "Turn yourself in. You've got what you wanted, now go peacefully. If Brinus can turn from being a criminal to a naval officer, you can redeem yourself, too! Just be smart for once!"

"I don't want to hear his name unless you're talking about how much I kicked his ass!" Dale yelled and hung up. Instinctively, he crunched his TriQuarter in a single grip. It was easy – a bit too easy – for him.

He still had to heal and recover from the fight. With the city looking for him, it would be impossible for him to check into a hospital or get help at all.

He settled on robbing a pharmacy, and maybe start looking into getting off the planet. There must be a way to stay free and keep his pride rather than admit himself as a criminal like Brinus once was. He was better than him in all the ways he thought mattered and wouldn't stoop so low.

Stealing from a pharmacy wasn't criminal to him, though; it was survival. The city should thank him for knocking Brinus down a few pegs. He felt the city owed him just for that and planned to cash in the favors.