The edge of an enormous alleyway, or street-like alleyway rather, a man strode in hurriedly. He was a young man in his late teenage years, a burst fade on top of his head for hair, relatively dark skin and a decent jawline. His build was rather slim but his frame was large, standing at six feet- two inches, he was a big boy. He had a jacket on that covered his upper body and a backpack on his back.
His face expressed subtle discomfort, as he stared at the ground his hands clenching at the sashes of his bag by his ribs. The street was filled with ragged looking homeless people and smoking barrels. At the base of the buildings were pieces of trash having collected there with dirt over time. Some seemed entranced and in their own worlds, obviously high on something powerful.
By the walls on both sides of the streets were some suspicious looking individuals leaning on the walls at intervals along it. They glared at the man immediately he had entered the street and followed him along with their eyes, at some point and one by one they slowly ejected from the walls still staring at him. From his peripheral view, he could see it all and it triggered a warm sensation on his chest accompanied by anxiety and fear. They were clearly not good news.
Two of the crooks at the further end of the streets stepped forward and sort of blocked his way but the distance in between was relatively long and so this individual proceeded to walk as if he had not noticed a thing. At this point his breathing had slightly shifted and was slightly faster and louder yet he masked it with his movements as he walked on aggressively. Suddenly a hand gripped his right shoulder stopping him on his tracks!
"Aye there kid," greeted a warm yet croaking voice from behind, the voice behind the hand.
The inertia induced by the braking force from the grip was enough to shake the boy. He turned rapidly and in fear as he gusped for air, eyes slightly widened and right hand off the sash of the bag. His reaction took a pause somewhere in between fight and flight. Immediately his eye's spotted the person who had stopped him, he subconsciously heaved a sigh of relief as his chest dropped and the crevices between his eye lids narrowed.
"Pete," he said looking at this man who he was obviously familiar with. There was subtle joy in his voice, trace but enough for Pete to notice.
"Relax Jude, I'm here now," said Pete smiling at him warmly.
The suspicious individuals who had been stalking the boy reset back to their points of origin, their eyes lowering down to the ground as if programmed to do so. It played like a script in a superhero story. His hobo of a savior had come to his rescue. Pete of course dressed the part, he was among the homeless, had a dirty and torn jacket, a checked shirt underneath and dirty pare of jeans. He was almost as tall as Jude with long, unkempted blonde hair and a beard.
"So tell me, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in school or something?" Asked Pete as his arm descended from Jude's shoulder. Jude now facing him.
"I'm walking to school," Jude answered him.
"Why didn't you take a bus there?" Asked Pete.
"So I can save up a lil, I'm extra early don't worry, I won't be late," answered Jude.
Pete pushed him forward signaling him to walk, "I have to worry, wouldn't want you ending up like me you know?"
"End up like you?" Asked Jude turning to his friend who was now walking by his right side.
"Come on kid, you're a man now, let's not pretend like I'm not a loser," said Pete.
"Meh, circumstances fucked you up, besides, I'mma work hard and..." Began Jude who was interrupted by Pete.
"Get me outta here ? Yeah, I heard that one before, you're not the first one kid," said Pete.
"Yes well, I'll be the last," added Jude.
"Sure," immediately after this utterance he fell to his knees as if he had been hit by a projectile on his back, "Ahh!"
"Pete!" Called Jude as he stared at his friend, stretching his arms and placing his hands on his back as he leaned down to check up on him. There was a hole on his back that seemed to have fresh blood oozing from it.
A moment later he stopped fidgeting as if the pain was gone, low groans could be heard as his fingers slowly scratched the ground. "Pete?" Called Jude once more, worried for his friend.
Pete rose up swinging his left arm shoving Jude back and throwing him up into the air. He flipped once before landing three metres back on his back, his bag cushioning the fall. Pete had a deranged look on his face. His skin was looking pale and greyish, his eyes were bleeding and his nose followed suit. There was a look of confusion mixed with rage and a hint of fear on his face.
He stood there for a moment then realized he had attacked Jude. A slight shift in facial expression that expressed remorse. He stretched his arms towards Jude spotting his hands that had turned grey and had developed claws. This stopped him on his tracks as he retracted his arms and started to stare at his hands, scrutinizing them in awe.
The homeless people around began to run away using that as an opportunity to escape. Jude began to slowly get up and stand on his feet. He stared at Pete scared but worried at what was happening to his friend.
A short moment later a robot descended down from the sky and landed about four metres behind Pete, breaking the pavement beneath it's feet. It had the clear curves of a woman, hips and breast plates budging. A darker shade of silver in color with whitish-blue lines running along it's body that emitted light. It triggered him on impact and caught both their attention. "Hey there kid, you're safe now, I'll protect you."
"Holy shit! It's Metal Knight! But wait, she'll kill Pete," thought Jude to himself.
"No! He's... he's my friend," pleaded Jude as he dashed stepping in between Metal knight and Pete.
"Well, your 'friend' here is clearly not taking puberty too well. Obviously he attacked you from the looks of things, I'm sorry but I have to put him down," said Metal Knight.
"Please just... let him cool off or knock him out or something, he's a good guy, please," pleaded Jude for his morphed friend.
"Is that so?" Asked Metal Knight as she subtly tapped the palm of her right hand with her middle finger immediately triggering s reaction from Pete who began wailing and roaring as if in pain. He spam around in circles stretching his arms back at something but unabke to reach it. Finally and suddenly he stopped, he then turned towards the two.
He pounced and was about to land on the boy when Metal Knight grabbed Jude by his chest shoving him to the left with her left arm and pointed her right arm at Pete. The arm quickly restructured itself and morphed into a sophisticated blaster before launching an energy beam at Pete.
The blast caught Pete off guard and sent him flying back slamming him onto the side of one of the buildings at the fifth storey before he slowly plucked off of it and fell down to it's base leaving a man sized patch with divergent cracks on the spot he was plastered on. Slowly yet almost immediately he began to collect himself, used his arms to boost himself onto his feet.
As he looked back at the two, the look in his eyes, he seemed more deranged that before. Jude could see the humanity rapidly fading away yet at tha point there was nothing he could do, he couldn't argue his friends case as clearly he was the assailant. Pete proceeded to clench fists as he roared before pounding them both at the ground beneath him creating minor seismic waves before ejected forward like the deranged animal he had become. Metal Knight welcomed his challenge as immediately her Metal boots began thrusting like rockets, a whitish-blue flame blasting her forward as she dashed for Pete.
The speed at which the two were moving was beyond Jude's perception. As they neared collision, it was clear Metal Knight's speed outscaled that of Pete. On impact, Metal Knight delivered a devastating upper cut that connected with Pete's chest and proceeded to drag him through the air before she used it's force to throw him onto the ground with a thud.
Before Pete could recuperate, as she stood over him, she aimed both her arms at the man. They both shifted in form becoming the very blaster she had used against him before. For a brief moment, she charged up energy preparing for a critical attack before launching two energy beams at the same time. The blast was so powerful it completely blew away Pete's chest leaving behind a smoking two foot pothole in between what was left of Pete's upper and lower body.
The blast was bright and for that moment that it was launched Jude had to cover his eyes with his right hand as he turned his head to the side. He slowly looked back to see the remains of his deceased friend. Remorse was all over his face, even after the attack and the morphing, even after he clearly could see Pete lose himself, to the end he felt sad for his friend.
"He was long gone before I killed his...body. Be glad, I put him out of his misery," she said slowly hovering over to Jude, she then stretched out her left hand down to him as she towered above him, "Come on, let's get you to a hospital."
Moments later, Jude was being attended to by a doctor. He sat on a stretcher as the doctor patched him up while a lady in a black suit stood besides them. She was rather tall, about five feet and eleven inches, though she had high heels on. She was of Asian descent, gorgeous and of middle age. She had of course taken care of herself because clearly from her dressing, she had the money required to do it. She had black long hair, dark eyes and a rather sharp nose. Her lips were small but fit perfectly on her face and in unison to her other facial features, it was all just right, or by her own perception of it, perfect.
"Okay, luckily, you don't seem to have anything broken, just a few bruises," said the doctor who backed up from Jude.
The doctor then proceeded to excuse himself and walked out of the room. She stared at him walk off the turned back to Jude.
"Thank you, Miss Nakamura," said Jude to her looking low.
"It's ok, I also handled the bills so you're free to go home, everything is cleared," said the lady who added, "About your friend, I'm sure he was a good man, but there was nothing either of us could do, besides, you have Jordan, I'm sure she'll be glad you didn't die to that creature."
"Right," said Jude.
His response was unsatisfactory to Miss Nakamura, for a moment her face frowned and she then rolled her eyes.
"Anyway, see you around Jude, take care," she said before leaving the room.
"You...too," said Jude staring at his feet.
A while later Jude was at home, walking into his small apartment that he shared with his father. He was sluggish and dragged himself along. Upon entering his father saw him. He was a middle-aged man standing at about six feet and wore glasses. The two reassembled each other and other than height, hair cut and facial hair, his father looked like older version of Jude. He was surprised to see Jude.
"Jude? What're you doing here, shouldn't you be at school?" Asked his father.
"Yeah, uhm, I didn't go...I mean, I was going but then along the way I passed by some alleyway...," said Jude looking down still.
"Alleyway? What do you mean alleyway? Why were you walking? I gave you bus money..." He was going on gradually raising his tone when he noticed a tear role down Jude's right cheek, "Aye? What's wrong kid?"
He immediately changed tone and mood, worried at his son's show of emotion. He stepped forward leaving about a foot in between them, he stared up at the boy who was sort of still bowing his head but the sadness in his eyes and on his face still very visible.
"My friend died dad...he died," Jude whispered barely being able to mutter those words as tears began to continuously flow down his face.
"Oh no," said his father who once again stepped forward and hugged his son, "It's alright son, I've got you."
Jude hugged his father back laying his face on his father's shoulder as he gently placed his hands behind his back. His father placed one hand behind Jude's back while the other behind Jude's neck. Jude sniffled and squinted his eyes squeezing more tears out as he sunk in his father's embrace, a comforting hug it was.