Spaceman

[RocketLord]

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[RocketLord]

This is not how everything was supposed to end.

 

This was not how the Spaceman was supposed to fall.

 

His once pristine black cape is tattered and dirty. It waves in the wind that created by the force of the blows that the man in white endures. With each blow, he weakens, until, finally, a final blow strikes his face, and he falls. His long blonde hair and beard dirty with his blood, he struggles to look up at the attacker, an enemy clad in purple that has hounded him for years.

 

Doctor Deviation.

 

The man is clad in purple armor. Rainbow colored power lines run across it. Energy from Z-Space. The very energies that course through Spaceman’s body.

 

“Get up.”

 

The doctor’s voice is heavily distorted. It is impossible to recognize it, and yet, for the first time in the decades that they have fought, Spaceman recognizes something in the voice. Something familiar, something that he cannot quite place.

 

Placing both his hands on the ground, Spaceman struggles to his feet. He has at least a few broken ribs. His left knee can barely support his weight. His face feels broken. But he rises to face Doctor Deviation anyway. He has to.

 

Doctor Deviation has gathered the Spaceman’s enemies, as many as he could find. Taken his wife and children, along with so many other innocents. There is no choice but to fight.

 

All around them, he sees them. So many villains and monsters that he has fought in the past. Thesaurus Rex. The Factor Four. Megalodon. Downtime. The first Wordsmith. The Meta-Grue. So many others. He can hardly remember them all, but none of them has ever been as personal as Doctor Deviation. He should count himself lucky, at least. Only one of his recurring enemies seem to be missing. If he were here, everything would be so much worse.

 

“You should have stayed retired. You should have stayed a family man.”

 

Doctor Deviation’s voice brings Spaceman back into the moment.

 

“A wife and children. That should have been enough for you. You shouldn’t have to do this. Shouldn’t have to risk your life for others.”

 

It is grating, scratchy and full of noise, but Spaceman listens, and he can make something out. Something too familiar.

 

“You should have been perfectly happy! Why did you have to come back!?”

 

He sounds almost… disappointed? Or sad?

 

The Spaceman opens his mouth. How many teeth are broken? Does it matter?

 

“Why are you doing this?”

 

Doctor Deviation freezes for a moment. Then, he reaches for his helmet. There is a hiss as the purple faceplate opens, a breath of cold air escaping it, as Doctor Deviation reveals her face for the first time.

 

“No…”

 

The Spaceman would never have guessed. Parker Powers never considered the possibility.

 

“I did it all for you, Parker.”

 

He knows the voice so well. He knows the face so well. She has been with him his entire life.

 

“Don’t you see? You were just putting yourself in danger. Over and over. It was just a question of time before you would get hurt so bad you couldn’t even come back from it! Or you would get us hurt! Don’t you see?”

 

Her voice is cracking. There is something unhinged in her voice.

 

Parker grits his teeth. No one has ever hurt him like Doctor Deviation. It took so long to climb back from what she did to him. She broke him. Took his powers. His body barely recovered. Even when his powers returned, they never returned to his prime.

 

“Is that it? Do you want me to give up? Do you let me go if I do? Penelope, Paris and Pia? Everyone you have?”

 

Parker’s voice breaks. He cannot wrap his mind around the revelation. How could she do this to him? How could she betray him like this, out of some twisted obligation to keeping her younger brother safe?

 

Doctor Deviation shrugs.

 

“I would. I really would. But see, you just kept pushing, and now everyone else here? They want to be sure you stay down. Don’t worry, they won’t kill you. They promised me that they wouldn’t, Parker. But I can’t say the same about my niece and nephew. We want some collateral, after all.”

 

Parker looks up. He focuses. Doctor Deviation feels a fist close around her neck.

 

“Don’t worry, they’re alive. I’ll make sure they are raised right. After all, there won’t be enough of you left to make sure they don’t become heroes, and Penelope? Well… she will be busy elsewhere.”

 

They’re not dead. That’s a relief at least.

 

Parker breathes out. He cannot go on. Tracy is right. He should have stayed retired. He should not have tried to use his powers again, he should…

 

“Is that it?”

 

No. Not him. Not now.

 

And there he is, suddenly standing between Parker and Doctor Deviation, a young blonde boy in a purple t-shirt with a large Q on his chest. He looks bored out of his mind.

 

“You used to be fun, man. Smart and everything. You’d challenge me, use your powers to save the day, and now this?”

 

Quirk does not sound happy.

 

Parker stares. His right eye is swollen shut, but he can still see him with his left eye.

 

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

 

Tracy sounds different. She sounds like Doctor Deviation again.

 

Quirk holds his hand up, silencing her. She no longer has a mouth to talk with.

 

“Oh, blah blah blah. Listen here, I don’t appreciate you breaking my toys. Really, have you seen the state you’ve put him in?”

 

The white and black costume with the large golden S is dirty and tattered. Parker’s long blonde hair and beard are wild and unkempt with streaks of grey, full of dirt and his own blood. Broken ribs, a broken leg, a knee that is barely hanging together. Broken nose, his right eye might be damaged beyond repair. Several teeth missing.

 

“Y’know, I’m a nice guy. I let it go the last time you broke him and his powers. It was all in good fun, he bounced back from that, but this? Yeah, I don’t think it’s gonna work.”

 

Doctor Deviation claws at where her mouth used to be. She has not even noticed that all the villains that surrounded them have disappeared.

 

Parker looks at Quirk. He cannot do it anymore. He cannot fight. Cannot try to outsmart the omnipotent imp anymore. Cannot try to stop Doctor Deviation, no matter who she is.

 

For his part, Quirk no longer looks bored. Instead, he looks like he just had the perfect idea.

 

“But don’t you worry about a thing, Doc! See, I’m gonna make everything right! Can’t let you spoil my fun, right?”

 

Parker feels light. He looks at his hands. They are starting to glow with white light. He looks up at Tracy. She does the same. They are beginning to fade away.

 

“Some times, you just gotta tear everything down and start over. I think it’s time you guys got a reboot. Just gonna change a few things around. Don’t want to go back to the 90’es to fight you again, old guy. And I want you a bit younger, that’s more fun, and… yeah, yeah, that’s good. Let’s see if you still turn out like this, Doc! And you better turn out more fun, Spaceman!”

 

Fading. Starting over. Parker stares at Tracy. She stares back at him. Brother and sister. Beloved siblings. Bitter enemies. Starting over. A chance to do better. To make things better.

 

Quirk just smiles.

 

"See you in the funny papers!"

 

Spaceman

in

REBOOT