Meanwhile

Zero looks on quietly from a distance, two or 3 rooftops away. The sun is just starting to set, and they can hear, in the distance, sirens. Just like always. Always there, quietly, off in the background. Someone, somewhere, has made a mistake. Just like always. Eventually, either Policeman or some big time super is going to show up, and fix that mistake, even if it means using lethal force. Just like always.

They take a long drag from the cigarette as they watch, the oversize sleeve on their right side having turned from the gaudy, almost comical looking golden color to a deep, viscous crimson, blotting out any sign of frivulous pattern that had been there previously. Each heartbeat, each pulse, they could feel themselves getting more and more lightheaded. But. What were they to do, exactly?

They can't go to a Hospital, someone would put two and two together, figure out their secret identity, and potentially endanger those they held close. ...So no hospital. Zero remembered what happened with Psilence. Zero knew better than that. Don't seek help. Keep it a secret. Suffer through it. So they were, plain and simple.

Was it legal for them to be smoking, at their age? Of course not. But there was a lot of 'illegal' things around nowadays. Illegal weapons. Illegal maneuvers. Vigilantes. Villains.  Zero watches a small sun appear for just a moment, and then vanish again, and listens quietly to the angry shouting and the screams. They'll get over it. They always do. Insurance is ridiculous when you live next to a bank around here. Zero's thoughts don't linger on it too much.

Zero's thoughts instead linger on the fight.

Why?

Those people have families. Why endanger them? Zero would have normally given the secondary thought to the fact that the villains do to, they might need that money, but then Zero remembers. Guns. They had to have purchased those somewhere. With money they could have used for their families. They were automatic machine guns too-- not just simple dinky pistols. They were high grade.

They just wanted the money for the power it gave.

It would never be enough.

Another drag, another wince, another heavy cough as the burning in their lungs was complimented by the flow of liquid life beating gently from their arm with that simple rhythm of life. One, two. One, two.

It's quiet now.

One, two.