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Emergency Drop (4-10-18)


[WP] You are a Villain. Your superpower is the ability to heal all wounds. [Link to post.]


Carlton Brown admired himself in the bathroom mirror. He eyed his costume up and down, flexing this way and that to make sure he had the range of motion he needed. The costume consisted of a while lab coat buttoned up, a stethoscope around his neck, and a black leather "utility bag". A small red mask covered the area around his brown eyes. He smiled at his reflection.

"I'll show them all what I can do. Today's the day the world meets Emergency," Carlton said. He winked at himself then walked out of the bathroom to take one final look at his apartment. His building would be Emergency's declaration of villainy. He did not worry much about heroes, or even the cops finding out his secret identity. Demolishing the building, destroying the lives of the tenants was him abandoning his sad, pathetic civilian life. Carlton wanted to be a doctor more than anything. Though he was blessed with the ability to heal anyone or anything, he was unfortunately not blessed with intellect. Despite proving his abilities, repeatedly, no hospital would hire him without a degree. They rejected him over a stupid piece of paper, just to save their pocket books. Liability they called it.  

Carlton pulled scalpel from the black bag and ran it down his arm, a nervous habit. The blade moved through his skin like it was water; opening before the blade, then healing back up as it passed. Spite motivated him to learn his abilities, and train his body. Now his body healed any damage without him having to think about it. He left his apartment, walked out and traveled two blocks before pressing the detonator. His apartment building came crashing down, swallowed by a ball of fire and dust. Carlton waited. 

The ten years he spent mastering his abilities were also spent learning about the heroes, almost obsessively. It helped that they all maintained a presence on social media. He learned their likes, dislikes, learned clues about their weaknesses, and figured out their patrol patterns. He heard a whooshing sound over head and looked up to see Blaze flying across the sky in her flaming form, just as he planned. Blaze was relatively new, but very popular.

Carlton ran after her on foot, and arrived at the apartment building just in time to see her controlling the flames by forcing them to extinguish themselves. He reached into his black bag and pulled out another scalpel.

"Gotta time this just right," he thought to himself. He took several deep breaths to relax until he heard the next expected hero, Blacksmith, arrive at the scene on his horse, Friday. Blacksmith stood next to Blaze and pulled all the metal pieces out of the rubble with a flick of his wrist. The heroes remained focused on helping, and Carlton made his move. He walked up behind Blaze, and jammed his scalpel into the center of her neck, then healed the wound with the scalpel still in it. She was unable to scream but Blacksmith noticed the moved and turned to face them.

"DON'T MOVE!" Carlton yelled. "And don't try to pull the scalpel out with your powers, or you'll open her neck up again." Carlton pulled Blaze's arms behind her. Instead of handcuffs he slit her wrists and healed them together. He forced Blaze down to the ground by pulling her hair down, then he stepped on her back. He looked up at Blacksmith and smiled.

"My name is Emergency, and I'm going to be in charge now." He kicked Blaze in the stomach. "I don't want heroes in my city, so leave," he shrugged. "If you stay, you die."

"Is that right?" Blacksmith asked. Before Emergency could answer a long steel pipe embedded itself in his head, popping out through the back of his skull. He smiled. He reached up, calmly pulled the pipe out, then nodded at Blacksmith. The hole in his head disappeared completely, without leaving single blond hair out of place. 

"That's right." For added emphasis he jammed the steel pipe into Blaze's thigh. She tried to scream but no air came out. "Unless you want to give me more things I can hurt her with?" As he finished his snappy comeback, Emergency felt himself lifted into the air by a pair of strong hands, and carried off. "Right on time," he thought. He felt a pair of strong hands on his shoulder, and he looked up to make sure. The man carrying him from above was pale, with a bright blue cape flowing behind him. "Powerhouse! Glad to see you." The stern man did not answer, but kept looking forward while flying. Emergency reached to his neck and removed his stethoscope. In a quick motion he inserted the earplugs into Powerhouse's ears, and yelled into the diaphragm. Everyone knew Powerhouse had super hearing. The man's hands rushed to his ears, dropping Emergency. 

On his way down, Carlton realized he did not consider that the fall might be too much damage, and did not know if he could heal from it. 

It was. He didn't. 

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