Just For One Day

21

      "Ranvier!" I said. "I, uh...I knew I would find you here!" My heart was beating like a drum, but there were rules you had to observe before you started a superfight. Banter was very encouraged, if not entirely mandatory.

     "You did?" he asked. "How?"

     "I..." I started. "Well, I didn't actually know. But I had a pretty good hunch. I was just trying to do the banter thing."

     Ranvier shook his head and sighed. "Kid, you're better than that. You've been hanging out with too much that idiot."

     "Meteor isn't an idiot," I said. "He's...well I guess he's not the smartest guy, but he's far from stupid."

     "Oh yeah?" Ranvier replied. "I could tell you some stories, kiddo."

     "The point is, I'm here to stop you," I said. "So give up."

     "You're going to stop me," said Ranvier.

     "...Yeah," I said.

     "You're going to stop me," he said again, with emphasis.

      "That's why I'm here."

     Ranvier walked close to me. I braced myself in case he tried anything. I could move faster than he could fire that rifle, so that wasn't much danger, he might still have some tricks up his sleeve.

     "Kid, you know who I am, right?" he said.

     "I've read a few articles on you," I replied.

     "A few articles?" he said. "I've been kicking ass from here to china for the better part of twenty years. When I was in middle school, my science fair project was a fully functional miniature nuclear reactor. In college I was teaching advanced quantum physics by the second month of freshman year. It would take more than a few news pieces on me to know who I really am."

     "Someone with a very high opinion of himself, I guess," I said.

     He looked mildly stunned for a second, then his face broke into a grin. "I really do like you, kid. How about joining up with me? We could be a real force to be reckoned with."

     "Absolutely not," I said.

     He shrugged. "I didn't think so, but I thought I'd ask anyway." He twisted his head to one side, accompanied by a series of pops. He did the same to the other side, loosened his tie, and started rolling up his sleeves.

     "You'll have to forgive me," he said. "It's been a while since I've had a really good scrap."

     I was perplexed. "You're going to try and fight me? Like, physically? You know I have super speed, right?"

     "Oh yeah," he said. "Don't worry about me, kiddo. It's yourself that you should be worried about." Finished, he looked my straight in the eyes; his face twisted into a creepy smile that didn't reach his eyes. "Here's how this is going to go down," he said. "I'm going to punch you. A lot. Then you're going to fall over, and I'm going to kick you. After that, we're going to find Meteor, and you're going to beat the living shit out of him. Got that?" His eyes were wide, and a shade of blue that I had never seen before on a human being. He slung the rifle over his back, put up his fists like a boxer, and threw a punch.

     As easily as breathing, I dodged it and slammed my fist into his jaw. He pitched backwards and hit the concrete floor with a crack, landing on top of the plasma rifle. It fired a blue bolt that screamed through the air, striking the far away ceiling with a small explosion and a noise like loud television static.