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One sharp drag of a man’s hand and the asphalt was peeling up, folding into itself in an impressive wave of damaged piping and condensed rock. Anyone close enough was entirely engulfed in the cloud of dust.
Those unlucky few who this attack had been aimed at were completely consumed, drowned under tons of rubble.
Pebbles pattered against the ground like disturbed rain as the carnage settled. The fight had been gruelling, the guardians hardly holding their own as they dug themselves out of carnage again and again, finger tips raw and face’s resembling the grain of a tapestry.
The commentary had all but died, everyone running out of any space in their brain to dedicate to anything but trying to survive, luckily a priority had been put on evacuation before engaging, a lesson the Guardians had taken far too long to pick up from their predecessors. Without it, the impact on civilian life would have been irreparable.
It was when the rubble settled that a different kind of silence laid over The Guardians. The whole street had just been tipped on top of Rex Splode.
Despite being on a active battle field, Mark could hear a pin drop, though his ears were more so listening out for a groan his eyes obsessively ran along blunt edges of rock as he slapped his opponent two streets up like it was nothing.
“Rex!” He wasn’t the only person to yell it but he was the first to snap across towards the rubble. A second gust of debris kicking up behind the hero as he came to a sudden stop.
Look for hands. Look for legs. Get the biggest offender off the pile.
Marks elbows strained under said biggest offender. The mere thought that that weight had been comfortably crushing ribs seconds ago was almost enough to have the boulder rejoin the pile.
“Rex! Are you alive buddy!” Marks voice was drowned out under the new wave of chaos erupting around them.
Something went flying past Marks head. Then his eyes were assaulted by a flash of pink too close for comfort but the hero paid it no mind.
There was at least three layers of shit under his boots. All of which trapping Rex. Mark had been under debris before and even without his bones shattering upon impact, the way the air so quickly became akin to chugging sand and the lack of space for your ribs to expand, there’s few things that still has your brain immediately fumbling this far into the game. A sense of doom settles in when that first cough hits and your body has no air to expel, something clicks in you, too aware that you’ve just been served a death sentence. Like being under a building. Or in this case, a road.
When a building collapses, non superhero forces are sent to collect the bodies because the chance of survival is so slim that pulling hero’s away for that slim chance would be negligent.
That’s one of those things your not supposed to acknowledge as a hero. There’s a uncomfortable amount of those, Mark has found.
Regardless. Mark is cracking this pile open like a egg shell, fingers dug in and rocks thrown out of the way. Mark started with where he sort of thought he’d last seen Rex but he was nearing the bottom and still nothing.
Sweat slid between Mark’s eyes, creating a stark line that contrasted all the dirt and grime pressed into his skin.
“Rex!” Mark felt like a child yelling for attention and getting absolutely stone walled. The feeling of betrayal a little boy would feel the second his mum is too busy for him. Except Rex is probably dead.
Then he found it. A gloved hand. Fingers had been crushed under the weight, bending awkwardly from where his wrist was being pinned between two slabs.
Mark’s fingers landed on the injured palm, preying that the convincingly squishy flesh was artificial.
With some awkward manoeuvring, not wanting to dig the side of a slab into Rex when trying to lift it, Mark was able to crouch down, back bending uncomfortably as he all but forced his hands under the rubble, slowly and carefully heaving it out of the way.
The slab slid off the pile and crumbled into smaller pieces.
Under was a painting of red.
It splattered across the dusty surface where it had turned into thick clunks of muddy blood.
Rex was laying on his front, one arm disgustingly wrapped over the back of his neck. Clearly the man had tried to protect that very fragile part of his spine only for the combined opposite pressure from the rocks to snap his forearm.
It was a valiant effort. Blood soaked down his back and shoulders and Mark heard more then felt himself gag.
Shame washed over the hero, his head pivoted away from the scene in a knee jerk reaction.
They’d been struggling for a while now. A common part of being a hero was fumbling. Even those who had had multiple life times to learn how to react in situations like these still struggled to make the perfect choice some times.
Like speaking out at the family gathering, nothing you could possibly say would be the perfect thing, the clearly outlined statement that’ll have everyone agree peacefully. Sometimes there are just momentous tasks that humans are simply not made to succeed in.
This wasn’t one of those times.
This was entirely preventable.
Rex was entirely protectable.
Rex had taken one hell of a heel to the side of his head, spun around with enough force to knock him to the ground and sway his vision.
When the man came too, his attacker was already throwing himself on top of him, the sun behind his shoulder entirely smudged out his face but Rex could feel hands wrapping around his throat, latching on like a locked jaw.
Rex swung his hips up, knees locking around said man’s neck and throwing him to the ground with a new found urgency. The villain’s fingers couldn’t keep a strong enough grip through their surprise.
Rex pressed a glowing pill into the slack jaw, gasping for air in his new position as the victim. When the man instinctually bit down in an attempt not to choke, the metal coin designated.
It was when Rex wiped the blood from his goggles that he realised that the resulting bang was alarmingly absent.
In fact, the whole world was suddenly quiet apart from the rushing blood in his ears.
Rex stumbled, the heel of his hand banging just in front of his ear. Nothing. Fuck. The hero likely made a sound of pure annoyance but it was lost on him.
Retreating wasn’t a option. Something went flying above the hero’s head as he tried to find a clearer area non the less, he’d need his opponents to strictly approach from the front if he wanted to survive this.
Rex could feel a vibration in the back of his jaw as he tried to alert someone, Rudy in particular. Though he was completely unaware if anyone had called back.
There was something so uncomfortable about being left in silence while bones cracked around you, a sense of incoming dread that was hard to shake. Rex didn’t like to think of himself as defenceless but he could admit that he was absolutely out of his element.
Rex had his back pressed to the side of a collapsed building, he was crouched in what was best described as a ‘cornered rabbit’ position. Despite his alert eyes, Rex flinched violently when some one was suddenly in his face. Kate. Her lips were moving, her hands were pointing, her expression was grim.
Rex swore he said words but it didn’t quite seem to reach her either. It was hard to feel out the way his tongue so naturally flowed when he had no access to the feed back. Rex had been told he talked different when he couldn’t hear himself, unsure, stunted. Eve had once described it as ‘endearingly juvenile’, like he was sounding out a new word.
Kate was gone. Running back into the battle, clones jumping out at either side, leaving Rex to ponder if either of them had connected any dots out of that interaction.
Not too far ahead, their enemies lackies were getting closer and Rex couldn’t help but immediately retreat, stumbling around the crumbled wall and almost twisting his ankle on unstable ground.
Rexes shoulders were up, at a constant state of alert but it did nothing in the face of- Rex was shoved to the side, his elbow made contact with the ground first- his brain almost tricked him into hearing a thud, either way he definitely felt it.
When his head twisted Rex found Eves hands flying out in front of them, a pink barrier being the only thing keeping the man from being charred. Pink pillars slammed into the attacker but the impact felt light without the -Thud- Rex was waiting on.
Eve! Rex felt the movement in his chest.
Again her expression was wild, something very important being shared before she yanked him up by the armpits and stabled him in front, hands on Rex’s ribs like he’d been swaying which Rex was sure he hadn’t been. That kind of intimacy should have died with their relationship but despite the romantic love being carted off, certain habits had been tangled between the two since teenage hood. Rex found it comforting, leaning into her palms, more than aware that she could hold his weight.
Eve stood in his sight. Different states of desperation met each other.
Rex was encased in a pink bubble.
Than, again, Rex was left fumbling like a lost child at the super market, eyes wide and hands starting to shake. Even as he whipped his head around urgently, the pounding fear that groped his attention prevented anything meaningful taking place.
Rex was stuck. Feet frozen to the ground in a perpetual state of waiting.
He supposed he shouldn’t be so antsy in that bubble but being so in the open- so out of the loop created a cloud of anxiety within the shield.
Something grazed his shoulder and Rex threw out a explosive so fast it almost slipped out of his fingers prematurely but his fist hit something hard first.
The smoke simply licked orange metal.
When it dissipated Rex was met with the embarrassing reminder that Eve wouldn’t be so careless to let anyone else in that shield.
The front of the suit Rex had just tried to polish folded back to reveal a very small and very squishy frame that was dangerously unprotected. Even under the pink film. Rex’s hand landed on the man’s chest automatically, as if Rudy had simply fallen out of the suit.
But then hands came into his vision.
Rudy pinched his own nose, pointed at Rex, then the finger moved from his ear to his chin.
‘CAN YOU HEAR?’
Rex almost sobbed, he was strong enough, and maybe shaken enough to admit that.
Rex was so fast to shake his fist, slamming it into his own chest. He almost caught his suit in how messily he signed, hooking a finger behind his ear.
‘NO! MY HEARING-AID BROKE’
The back of his nail hit his nose, turning.
‘CANT’
A finger from his ear to his chin.
‘HEAR’
Rudy’s expression got more troubled the more Rex signed the same statement over and over, unsure if the man even knew what he was signing, desperately trying to beat the urgency into his teammate before he too flew away and left him dazed in the middle of a battle zone.
Rudy’s head leaned back into his suit, supposedly checking some sort of screen on the interior, it was a fast glance.
Rudy’s mouth started moving again, Rex’s eyes locked on but he was going much too fast for him to even attempt to lip read.
Rex was sure he said the man’s name. He nodded two fingers forcefully.
‘AGAIN.’
‘RUDY’
‘WHAT?’
‘I CANT HEAR’
Rudy’s head shook quickly, mouth still going.
Than his attention locked back into Rex, small hands eased tense hands off of his shoulders.
‘STAND. MARK HELP.’
Rex nodded quickly, panic flowing out of his shoulders and down into the vibrating ground.
Rudy’s suit folded back around him. The suit did a stiff, clumsy job at signing what was either ‘WATCH’ or ‘AGAIN’ something with two fingers. Either way Rex’s joints yearned for Rudy to wait with him but Rudy was promptly flying off, leaving Rex again in this bubble of silence.
Rex went cold, felt the blood drain from his face as the realisation that despite everything, despite making a huge impact on their survival, he had unwillingly become a sitting duck, reliant on someone to come retrieve him. The world felt empty, like he was the only soul there.
Rex imagined he’d feel embarrassed or spiteful to be reduced like this but he only felt alone.
Someone had carefully plucked everyone out of their homes and taken them away, away to some beach side hotel where they were served cocktails and poor, silent Rex was left on an abandoned plane. Not even worth scooping up with the stragglers.
It reminded him of how Rex had felt all those years back when the spot Rex shared on his own couch with his own parents seemed to suddenly have no bearing on the family unit, deemed vacant before he even stood.
As if things couldn’t get worse, the shield flickered, clipped into the ground before disintegrating in a sad show of defence and left a cold breeze combing through Rex’s hair as he was yet again left open to the elements.
Rex tried to not crumble in on himself despite how his energy had just drained into the ground, sucked away by the earths core and leaving him unmotivated to get to safety for that momentary wave of hurt.
“REX!” Someone had yelled.