Death Makes Me Stronger -- Chapter 6

“Holy shit,” I gasped and then dodged behind a nearby car.

Inferno had lit the center of the intricate web on fire, and the flames were slowly starting to spread towards the buildings. Faces looked out from the nearby windows as if everyone was more interested in the fight than the danger, but then again, I’d done that myself more than once. Still, the spiderwebs didn’t look like they’d let go, and that meant that the glass would probably melt.

I glanced around the bumper of the blue sedan to watch the fight and saw Golden Weaver leap from one side of the street to the other. She flipped one long leg over the other to do an aerial cartwheel before she landed with all the grace of a prima ballerina. I hadn’t been able to see her fight before, but there was plenty of footage online, and all of it showed how graceful she was.

There was a lot of talk about what kind of spider the woman was a mutant of, but no one had ever figured it out. I tended to lean towards the banana spider since the superhero’s costume was yellow and black, and it would explain just how strong her web was. They were also extremely venomous, and there were a lot of rumors that Golden Weaver’s claws could actually poison someone. I’d even seen a post from a cop on one of the forums who claimed that the police kept a special anti-venom, just in case a fight went sideways and she had to scratch someone.

If she could just get close enough, then Golden Weaver would be able to slash across Inferno’s back, and then the fight would be over. I glanced around the area to see if there was anything for me to use as a distraction, but invulnerability to a bullet was probably different from a fire, and I didn’t really want to be burned alive. Still, if I wanted to be a hero, then I needed to figure out how to help the people that were already in the line of fire, literally.

“Okay, John,” I said and clapped my hands together. “You can do this. Just bob and weave. You’ve done it a few times in the simulator.”

The gym had a simulator that let normal people pretend to be superheroes, but it was almost always taken when I came to workout. I’d managed to survive a few levels before one of the fake villains caught my feet with a cable wire, but that wasn’t Inferno’s style, and all I needed to do was stay ahead of the flames, just in case I wasn’t invulnerable to the damage. It was just like the video game, but with the possibility of actually being burned alive, though hopefully I’d come back from the dead again if I moved just a little too slow.

I took a deep breath and stood to take in my surroundings. The web was officially gone, and Golden Weaver looked like she was trying to herd him closer to the docks. I looked over my shoulder to see the water glistening about a mile away through the buildings, and a flash of the manhole coming at my face set me back a second as I remembered the last time that I’d died.

“Get it together,” I said and then pulled my shoulders back.

A blast of fire shot down the street and barely missed the top of my head. Heat poured over me like a tidal wave, and I quickly ducked behind the car as the flame villain swept towards me while Golden Weaver flipped down the side of one of the buildings. Sweat dripped down my forehead and into my eyes, but I wiped it away with my shirt and watched as Inferno finally caught the superhero in the leg. I was starting to think that I wasn’t as invulnerable to flames as I thought, and that meant that I definitely needed to stay ahead of them.

The duo were closer than before, but the spider-like woman looked like she couldn’t hold onto the building much longer since her leg was burned. Golden Weaver’s mask hid any signs that the hero was in trouble, but it was impossible to miss the burning smell from her costume, though thankfully it seemed like it was mostly flameproof.

“Looks like you’re getting tired, little spider,” Inferno taunted and swept his hands out towards the building. “You never should’ve taken the call to come after me. Spiders are very flammable. But, you’re about to find that out.”

I expected to hear some kind of response from the superhero like when Admiral Freedom was in a battle, but Golden Weaver just climbed higher and tried to get out of the way of another blast of flames. It seemed weaker than the last few, and the windows barely even steamed over. I grinned and wondered if the supervillain actually did have a limit to his powers, and if the superhero was just biding her time until she could capture him.

“Where are you going?” Inferno teased and dropped down to the top of a nearby bus.

Someone screamed from the inside of the bus, and I realized that there were still people inside that had probably been too scared to run. The metal under Inferno’s feet had started to blister and bubble up as if the supervillain had gotten his second wind, and that meant that the people inside would be boiled alive if they didn’t get out soon.

Golden Weaver must’ve realized the same thing, because she shot a ball of web at the villain’s face and knocked him backwards. He landed with a thud and an enraged scream, but the bus driver hopped out, and I stood to wave the others towards me as they poured out like ants on a squashed anthill.

“Come on!” I shouted and motioned to the door behind me. “Get inside.”

The bus driver reached me first and didn’t bother to hold the door open as he fled inside, but I grabbed it and motioned for everyone to go. There weren’t too many people on the bus since it was the middle of the work day, and one of the teens flashed a grateful smile as he ran inside. I waited until the last one had passed by and then made sure that the door was closed tight so that none of the flames would accidentally get inside, at least, not unless the glass melted.

“You little bitch!” Inferno snapped as he pried the web off. “I’m going to burn you alive.”

“Hey, Flame Boy!” I shouted and ran out into the middle of the road.

Golden Weaver’s masked face turned in my direction, and her head tilted to the side as if she couldn’t believe what she was seeing. It had to be weird to see some random guy in jeans and a t-shirt stepping up to help, but whatever.

“What did you just say to me?” Inferno snarled as he glided towards me.

The supervillain only hovered a few feet off the ground, but at this point, I wasn’t sure if he was conserving energy for one more big blast or if he really was near the end of his power. There was a still molten hole in the top of the bus that dripped metal onto the pleather seats, and Inferno was at the perfect height to use my head as a soccer ball. He floated a little closer, and I saw the amber color of his eyes glow hotter the way they were supposed to right before the maniac used his flames.

“I called you Flame Boy,” I shrugged and started to walk towards a crashed SUV. “I mean… that is your power, right? You just set things on fire? Maybe they should call you the Arsonist instead of Inferno.”

“Or maybe I’ll just show you how fiery I can be,” he smirked and tossed a baseball-sized ball of fire in my direction.

It was such a lazy throw that I easily managed to get out of his way, and it helped that there were so many cars that I could hide behind. Inferno stayed low to the ground as I dodged behind the SUV, and the windows started to shiver like they might explode from the heat that wafted off of the supervillain. I side-stepped to keep the vehicles between us as he floated around, and a quick glance behind him showed that Golden Weaver had finally started to move again.

All I needed to do was keep Inferno distracted enough for the superhero to do her work, and if I was lucky, maybe I could even make the arrogant bastard use up more of his powers. The fiery supervillain lobbed another fireball over the top of the SUV and then bent down to wave at me through the window as I spun out of the way.

“You’ve got some balls jumping into a fight with me, kid,” he said and made a big show of sitting in the air. “I mean, even heroes don’t want to come and face me. Only the itsy bitsy spider over there is crazy enough… but clearly she was getting her ass kicked. Especially if a civilian was desperate enough to get into the middle of our battle.”

“Golden Weaver can handle you all on her own,” I shrugged and took a few steps towards the building behind me. “You’re basically a lighter. You’ll run out of fuel sooner or later. And honestly, you’re about as smart as one, too.”

Rage flooded Inferno’s face as he stood up and glowered at me. The flames that covered the supervillain’s body were tinged with blue and white, and I could feel the heat even with the space between us. He took a step forward and grinned like the psychopath that he was, and I didn’t waste any time.

I took off towards the nearest alley and jumped behind one of the dumpsters. The stench of vomit clung to every concrete surface as it grew hotter, but at least my shield managed to hold up against a direct hit from the enraged supervillain. I’d trained enough in the gym to know how to bob and weave, but it was different in real time, and there was barely any time to think of my next move as Inferno stood at the front of the alley.

“You’re clearly not the smartest person in the world,” Inferno laughed and lobbed another fireball at the dumpster.

It must’ve melted through the other side, because the metal next to my shoulder burned hotter than a seatbelt in July. I gritted my teeth and forced myself not to shout in pain as my skin blistered. I knew for sure now that the invulnerability didn’t extend to heat, so I’d have to stay alive just a little bit longer and give Golden Weaver the chance to lay her trap.

“I just have to be smarter than you,” I taunted as I searched the alley for another hiding spot. “And that shouldn’t be very hard. What is your brain made out of? Flint?”

I heard the woosh of another fire bolt as it headed toward my semi-melting dumpster, so I bolted for the back of the alley and a stack of wooden pallets for cover. As soon as I was a good fifteen feet away, the dumpster exploded like shrapnel in a dirty grenade, and one piece tore through the sleeve of my t-shirt. I double-checked to make sure that there wasn’t any blood, but at least something was working in my favor finally.

My new hiding spot was sure to become kindling in seconds, but hopefully Golden Weaver was almost done with whatever her plan was. I’d managed to distract the murderous jerk for a few minutes already, and it wasn’t like the superhero would just leave. Still, it would be a good idea to come up with a backup plan, maybe one that included the shrapnel that literally fell at my feet.

“How are you not dead?” he snarled. “I saw--”

Inferno’s sentence was cut off as Golden Weaver dropped a web dome on the flaming supervillain’s head. The superhero dropped down to land on his squirming shoulders and ran her sharp fingernails down his cheek. He stilled in seconds as purple veins crawled along his neck and face, but his amber eyes glowed bright like a bomb about to explode.

“Watch out!” I shouted.

The spider-like woman reacted as the words left my mouth like one of her powers was the ability to sense danger. Her entire body contorted to flip out of the way as Inferno’s powers burst out of him in a torrent of blue and orange flames. Golden Weaver managed to jump onto a nearby wall and avoid the fire, but the heat from the explosion was enough to make some of the wooden crates smolder, and I had no doubt that the hero was sweating inside her skintight suit.

“You!” the supervillain snarled as he floated towards me.

“Me,” I said and looked around for something else to hide behind.

There was a metal door that led to a coffee shop, but the handle glowed a bright red, so that wasn’t going to be an option unless I wanted my skin to be burned off. I turned my attention back to the shards of metal that littered the dirty alley and then grinned as I noticed a discarded shirt underneath some of the debris. It looked stiff and covered in filth from who-knows-what, but it would protect my hand from the sharp edges of a makeshift shiv.

Inferno was almost on top of me, and the pallets that I’d hidden behind burst into flames like it was a funeral pyre. I did one of the rolls that I’d practiced in the gym, grabbed the biggest metal shard, and then snagged the t-shirt. The supervillain laughed so loud that it reverberated against the brick walls. The echo made it sound as if there were hundreds of Infernos coming at me from every direction, but I ignored the rising panic in my chest as I wrapped the cloth around one end of my new weapon.

“Do you really think that you’re going to be able to get close enough to stab me?” he mocked and floated down so that his feet touched the ground. “Here. I’ll even make it easier for you.

“Okay” I shrugged and fought the urge to look at Golden Weaver. “You had terrible aim.”

The superhero had vaulted out the alley for a moment, but now she was back with what looked like a hubcap. Visions of the manhole cover flooded my mind, and I gulped hard as I reminded myself that my skin was practically invulnerable, so even if Golden Weaver missed, I’d be okay.

Inferno strolled down the alley with his arms outstretched like the showman of the century, but all I needed to do was distract him for a few more seconds. Golden Weaver silently swung through the air and landed right behind the villain, and I grinned and then aimed the metal shard at my opponent. He smirked and shook his head like I was an idiot that had trapped myself in an alley, but it was the supervillain that had fallen into mine and the spider’s trap.

Golden Weaver swung the hubcap like it was a baseball bat, and the hollow metal clang rang through the alley as Inferno’s eyes rolled up into the back of his head. The supervillain dropped to the alley floor like a sack of potatoes, and I let out a sigh of relief. The spider-like hero tossed the metal disk to the side and then bent down to make sure that there weren’t going to be any surprises.

But the fire super was only playing possum, because his eyes snapped open as soon as Golden Weaver closed in.

The world seemed to move in slow motion as the purple veins that crawled up Inferno’s neck became more pronounced. It looked like the superhero’s venom was about to finish the job, even if the hit to the back of the head hadn’t, but there was nothing more dangerous than someone backed into a corner, and that went double for a super. The villain’s amber eyes flashed blue for a second as if the fire inside of him was so hot that it would burn him up, and there was no doubt that the spider-like woman was so close that she’d be caught in the blaze.

I shouted and raced forward to help Golden Weaver, but it wasn’t the superhero that Inferno had decided to take down. Instead, the fiery arc raced towards me so fast that there wasn’t time to avoid it, and it slammed into my chest so hard that it knocked the metal shard out of my hand. I dropped to the ground to roll in the dirt, but there was too much grease on the concrete, and it only made the flames only spread faster.

Pain seared through my body as I became a candle that lit up the entire alley. Each breath seared all the way down as if the very air around me was too hot to breathe, and salt burned my cheeks before my tear ducts melted together. It felt like an eternity as the flames consumed my clothes, and my skin started to bubble and blacken like the ribs that Mike always burned on the grill, and all I wanted was for it to end.

Through the flames, I saw Golden Weaver as she punched Inferno. He collapsed onto the ground, and the fiery pillar died as quickly as it had sprang to life. I tried to force myself up since the flames were gone, but my body didn’t want to listen to me, and the last thing that I saw was the superhero as she rushed towards me.

“You were really brave,” someone whispered in a soothing voice. “Thank you.”

The pain slowly ebbed out of me, and I knew without a doubt that I was about to die. The results from the blood test hadn’t come back yet, so there was no way to know if I’d live again, but at least my death would be for a good reason, and all of those people in the bus were safe. It was a good way to go out, though hopefully I wouldn’t be in a drawer if I woke up again.

“Son of a bitch,” I gasped a few seconds later.

Every inch of my body ached as if it had been blasted with sand, but the pain quickly faded as I blinked and looked around. Pale fluorescent light clouded my vision for a few seconds, but then the morgue came into view, and I sighed with relief that I’d come back from the dead again. I looked down to see a pinkish tint to my skin like when it had just healed from a cut, and the scene from the alley washed back through my memory.

That bastard had burned me alive, and it had taken an eternity before I’d actually died. The smell of barbecue seemed to cling to the air around me, but then Raven and Paul walked through the door with bags filled with styrofoam boxes. I forced myself not to think of the stench of burning skin, or how close it had smelled to the pig we’d roasted at Mike’s in the summer.

“You’re awake!” Paul exclaimed with a bright smile. “See, I told you he’d wake up after twenty-four hours. That’s how long you said it took last time, so it makes sense that it took the same amount of time.”

“It took twenty-six hours and twenty-eight minutes,” Raven said as she stopped a timer on the desk. “Which was just a little longer than the last time. I wonder if the extent of the damage is a factor. And you know that we can’t call it a scientific fact until it has been studied at least three times.”

“Good morning to you guys, too,” I grunted and sat up. “Thanks for not putting me in a drawer this time. Not sure if I could handle that a second time.”

The autopsy table underneath me wasn’t nearly as cold as the last time that I’d sat on one, even though the room was just as chilly, and I was just as naked.

“You’re welcome,” the goth woman smirked and set her food bag next to me. “We brought food. Paul was convinced that you’d wake up soon, so we thought we’d grab something for you as well. If I recall correctly, you woke up ravenous last time you revived.”

“I am really hungry,” I said as my stomach growled so loud that it echoed back at us.

“Which makes sense,” the beefy CSI said and put his food down. “Since your stomach had to regrow itself. There’s probably nothing but stomach acid in there. By the way, your bloodwork came back. You do have a mutated gene, but it’s not the one that we usually look for, so the government isn’t going to be tracking you. At least, not yet.”

The smell of sweet and spicy barbecue sauce distracted me from what Paul was saying, but I replayed the words as soon as my teeth sank into one of the ribs. If the mutated gene that resurrected me was different from the usual one for supers, then there would be no way to know if it would deteriorate like the others. I processed the information as Raven and Paul dragged up seats and dove into the food before I could eat it all.

The barbecue joint that they’d picked it up from was clear across the city, and always had a line around the block, but it was the best. I was pretty sure that it was run by a super like Ina, but the rumors had never been proven, though there were always a lot of inspections as if the food and health department wanted to keep an eye on the owner. Either way, it was melt-in-my-mouth delicious, and soon, even the mystery of my mutated gene took a backseat to my hunger until there was nothing left.

“So,” I said and used one of the wet naps to wipe away the barbecue sauce on my face. “You can’t tell me if I’m going to be able to resurrect again?”

“Not for sure,” the beefy scientist said as he wiped off his own face. “It looks pretty stable, but I can’t tell you how long it’ll last. You may have one resurrection left, or thirty. Only time will tell.”

“Great,” I said and ran a hand through my hair. “Raven, did you autopsy me again?”

“There wasn’t much to autopsy,” she shrugged. “But I did have you out on the autopsy table for the day. Jonesy said that he’d keep your secret, and I made sure that Paul was the only other person who had access to the morgue during your recovery. That way no one will be any the wiser. You were also logged in as a John Doe.”

“It was easy since your wallet was burned up in the flames,” Paul nodded and then rose from his stool. “I did take the liberty of going to your apartment.”

“How’d you get in?” I asked.

“I wasn’t always a CSI,” he grinned and winked. “I used to run with some pretty bad people. But that was before I met Briar. Anyway, I added an extra lock to your door. Your landlord cleared it. I told her that you were out of town for a day or two and had asked me to double-check that your stuff would be okay. She’s a tough old lady.”

“No kidding,” I said and swung my legs over the autopsy table.

I’d never been an exhibitionist, but the CSI barely looked in my direction, and Raven had at least draped an autopsy sheet over my middle so that not everything was exposed. Paul tossed a backpack to me, and I quickly hurried behind a screen that hadn’t been there during my last visit to the morgue. I grinned at the forethought from the medical examiner and quickly tugged on my shirt and jeans.

“I video-taped the entire experience,” Raven said as I came back out. “It was quite interesting. If I hadn’t needed to rest, then I would’ve stayed the entire time. As it is, Jonesy was able to see most of your organ regrowth firsthand. Sadly, we will be watching it on playback.”

“You video-taped my resurrection?” I asked, but even as the words left my mouth it made complete sense.

Raven had taken a ton of notes the first time that I’d revived, and this time there was a reasonable expectation that it would happen again. It would be a missed opportunity for the assistant medical examiner to not video-tape my resurrection, and I had to admit that I was excited to see it myself.

“I also took extensive notes,” the goth woman said and held up her journal with the cat stickers. “If you continue to resurrect, then I’m going to need to buy a new one soon.”

A text ringtone went off as I strolled over to take a look at the notes, and Paul let out a heavy sigh as he checked his phone.

“My results are in,” he huffed. “It’s for a different case, but I still need to log everything in. Crime doesn’t sleep. Not even in a city full of supervillians. Rave, can I borrow the recording later? I know for a fact that Briar will want to watch it with me.”

“As long as you don’t leave it out in the open,” Raven said. “There’s no telling what will happen if Inferno gets his hands on this information. Or if any of the other villains find out that there’s a new super that won’t stay dead.”

“They’ll probably come up with very creative ways to kill me,” I agreed. “Especially Inferno. He was really pissed. He even took the opportunity to burn me alive instead of going after the actual superhero right next to him.”

“Well,” the assistant medical examiner smirked. “You were the hero that distracted him enough to be taken down, and we all know that Inferno holds grudges.”

“I definitely need to figure out a costume sooner rather than later,” I said and ran a hand over the back of my neck. “But first, let’s see this video.”

“I’ll see you guys later,” Paul said as he cleaned up the mess from our meal. “And John, I’m glad that you came back. I wasn’t sure you would after seeing that video footage on the news. And after seeing your body on the autopsy table. There wasn’t much left.”

“Thanks,” I grinned and waved goodbye, took a deep breath, and then hopped back up onto the autopsy table. “Let’s watch the video of me coming back to life.”

Raven hopped up onto the table next to me and scooted close enough that our thighs touched. The smell of lilacs and antiseptic washed over me as the assistant medical examiner leaned closer, and I wrapped an arm around her waist.

“Do you remember anything from your death this time?” she asked as the recording loaded on the small camera.

“Nope,” I shook my head. “It was just like the last time. Everything went black, and then I woke up. I’m starting to think that there’s no afterlife.”

“Or maybe you weren’t dead enough to warrant a visit,” the goth woman pointed out. “I’m going to play this at ten times the speed so that we’re not here for another twenty-four hours.”

“Sounds good,” I said and then braced myself. “I have to admit, I’m sort of looking forward to seeing how this works.”

The corpse on the video looked nothing like an actual human as it was unloaded and taken out of the body bag. There was hardly any flesh left, and my cooked liver slipped out onto the autopsy table as if it wasn’t connected to anything. My eyes had burst and dripped down what was left of my charred face, and blood-stained bone made it hard to tell where the tissue ended and my skeleton started.

“Holy shit,” I whispered and forced myself not to throw up lunch. “Inferno really did a number on me.”

“Golden Weaver said it was the worst burning that she’d ever seen,” Raven nodded. “I talked to her to get the exact time of your demise. The hero was impressed with your bravery, though she was baffled as to why you would risk your life in the first place when you weren’t a super.”

“You didn’t tell her?” I asked as the video continued.

“It’s not my secret to tell,” she shrugged. “ You were my charge, and though I do tell my charge’s secrets, I feel that  yours are better kept a secret since, you know, you’d be coming back.”

“Thanks,” I said and reached down to intertwine my fingers with hers.

I went silent as the video continued to play, and my body started to knit itself back together. It started with fresh muscles and tendons that wound around the bone like snakes but then moved onto veins, and finally, the skin started to regrow. I felt like I couldn’t breathe as the hair on the top of my head regrew, and then my eyelids, and then finally my eyes.

“It’s disgusting,” I managed to say as my waxy skin started to solidify.

“It’s brilliant,” Raven said. “And also disgusting. This is the first time that I’ve seen a body being grown. I wonder how much of your body would need to survive in order for it to resurrect.”

“That is a question that I’m not sure I want answered,” I chuckled and then shut the camera as I started to breathe in the video. “But there is one that I want answered.”

“Are you invulnerable to fire?” the assistant medical examiner smirked as if she’d read my mind. “I had the same exact question.”

“Do you have a flame handy?”

“As a matter of fact,” she said and hopped down from the autopsy table. “I do.”