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Sonic Youth was a hero.

Everybody in America knew this. His real name, Mark Gordon took pride in this. His alter self, Sonic Youth was tasked to protect the dreams of the people with his strength. He knew it was his duty to do so.

America is the land of freedom. The spirit to achieve success is called “The American Dream”. He took this words into a literal sense, making it into his personal pride.

When he was young, his family was never fortunate, but he didn’t give up. He stood up amidst the situation and grabbed his dream. He rose higher and higher, dreaming of it and never giving up.

In following years he was the MVP of American Football, the Top Gun of the Air-Force and he became an Astronaut.

It wasn’t for him to be praised, nor did he want to be better than everybody else. He simply liked football, liked to pilot a plane and he wanted to see space with his own eyes.

He showed the world that dreams can come true.

After that, was it by chance or fate, he attained the inhuman ability, Over Sense.

With all of his dreams achieved, and with new powers, He thought to himself “This must be fate”.

He achieved his dreams in the land of freedom and thought highly of it. Now he has powers.

For what purpose?

For sure, it was to protect other people’s dreams. Mark understood it that way. Everybody has the right to pursue their dreams. Nobody has the right to take it away. Whether it was criminals or underground organizations, he vowed to fight them off.

It was for Manhattan, no, New York or yet, for America’s people.

He persuaded himself so. That’s why he can’t lose here.

[… Don’t bother. I fight to protect people’s dreams, I won’t lose]

Mark, no, Sonic Youth was standing on top of the guard-railings amidst fire and smoke, looking down at his enemy.

He heard from his partner lately, that Crimson had someone from Metallica, a Japanese man who was a modified human, sent to assist them. This must be that man.

[Hey now Sonic, he insists this much… can we just kill him right here and now?]

Slipknot, who came down and was now beside him, mocked and took lightly of the situation.

He didn’t like this part of him.

[Slipknot, you and I are different. I fight to protect the people.]

He fought with him on multiple occasions, and he (Slipknot) supplied information on Crimson activities, but he never figured out what drove him (Slipknot) to do such things.

Slipknot fought “to kill” people. Whether it’s for revenge, or self-satisfaction, he was obsessed with taking down Crimson’s top boss, Mr. Big and the top brass.

Because of his principles, nobody wanted to cooperate with him.

But soon he realized his mistakes. Sonic Youth’s condition for them to pair up was to withdraw his rights to decide what should be done to the criminal.

Since he agreed to that condition, they both worked together. He even agreed to hand over the criminal captured to the Guardians.

Perhaps Slipknot’s objective, Mr. Big, was the ultimate objective and each Crimson member killed brings him closer to his goal. That’s why he thought Slipknot was competing against himself.

If they paired up, he knew their strength would be absolute, and that was the truth.

Criminals and even Crimson were steadily taken down by both of them.

He knew they would eventually find the missing Mr. Big and his top Brass. Slipknot kept believing that and abandoned his former principles.

[You won’t kill him? I’m okay with that decision but… Sonic, it’s him you know? The guy that held the whole city hostage, blowing up high-rise buildings and all. If I remember right, he was called Nate]

[What?!]

Sonic Youth again looked at the man from Crimson, Nate.

[… So, what of it Slipknot?] (By Neito)

Nate’s face didn’t express anything. He didn’t feel anything. It looked like that to Sonic Youth.

Nate continued.

[Sonic Youth, you said you won’t lose because you’ll protect everybody’s dreams? Ha, how noble of you. You can’t defeat me. Not because “I won’t lose” but because I will win. It’s definite. I’ll do anything to win. No matter who gets sacrificed or what gets destroyed, I’ll attain what I want. That’s how I’ve always been.]

He was showing off an impressive killing intent. Directly and indirectly, Sonic Youth’s Over Sense sensed danger from the man before him. He knew he (Neito) wasn’t faking it.

But he (Neito) wasn’t afraid. On the other hand, it raised his fighting spirits. He knew it was going to be a tough fight.

He couldn’t forgive this man. He tried to steal the people’s dreams.

Evil. Enemy.

[You-!]

He jumped off from the guard rail and landed in front of Nate.

The wind was blowing and the smoke also got blown away.

[You… Do you know how many crimes you have committed?!]

Sonic Youth declared it in front of him. His heart was burning and yearned for justice. His aura was enough for average villains to contemplate their crimes and cower before him.

[It’s 385,204 incidents.]

Nate didn’t cower before him. His expression was still cold as ice.

[Wha-?]

[Didn’t you hear me? You don’t need to dig it up during trial. The total incidents I committed are 385,204. Both directly and indirectly.]

Sonic Youth didn’t understand him. Nate answer was a huge amount. Did he count each crime he committed? Did he take those crimes to heart? Is there a villain that would do such a thing?

This is no ordinary man. I can’t lower my guard against him.

Sonic Youth took up his battle stance once again.

**

(TLN: Back to Neito’s POV)

Maybe I spoke too much

Speaking to Sonic Youth directly, a little bit of him melted off.

He counted them. He counted the amount of crimes he committed and remembered them.

He wasn’t asking to be forgiven. He counted them to remind himself to carry those sins he committed on his shoulders as he moved on. That’s right, it was for self-assurance. Those who got hurt (killed), and things that got destroyed, they won’t come back. But he’ll never forget them.

Those feelings weren’t supposed to be shown to the enemy. He reflected on his actions.

[But I never thought of it that M-uch!]

In the next moment, he used his claws and slashed upward. His claws were powerful enough to cut through steel.

[Too slow!!]

But it didn’t hit Sonic Youth. Leaving his after image, he disappeared. Looking up, he was doing a summersault flip and landed behind him.

[Che- you’re one fast bastard…!]

[Take this-!]

Neito turned around and assumed a defensive stance.

It was close, but he managed to block him off. He blocked his accelerated spin hook with both of his arms. Sonic Youth used the force from the kick to gain distance.

They both stared down each other.

[… I see… I can’t do it half-heartedly huh…]

Zing

Fast. What speed is this? I can’t hit him at this speed!

Sonic Youth was using his Over-Sense to focus on him. His posture, movements and focus were perfect. His dodge rate was almost at a hundred percent.

[He’s close to being invincible]

No matter how he looked at it, it felt so.

Sniping and long range attacks would weaken the bullet’s firepower and because of Over-Sense, he could detect it early on.

But then, close range attacks were also impossible. When Mark Gordon was assigned to a VIP, his security was perfect that nobody could get close to them.

And whenever he fought, he could read the expressions of his enemies and know what they were thinking even before they acted. In that case, he was invincible. His body may be like a normal person’s and still vulnerable to mortal wounds, but with his speed, he was untouchable.

It was impossible to kill him from afar. It was impossible to get near him. And with his Over-Sense focused into a single point, he was unbeatable.

He is close. Close to be being invincible.

[…That’s right only “Close to”, but not Invincible!!]

Neito took a breath and charged at Sonic Youth.

[It’s futile. You can never catch up to me!]

Sonic Youth activated his Roller Blades. With a quick jump and a spin, he dodged Neito’s attack.

[Take this-!]

He still dodged. Even with consecutive attacks, he dodged every single strike. With perfect technique and his frightening speed, his attacks never touched him. It was like he was only hitting his after image.

But this after-image also struck back.

[Ha-!!]

While dodging Neito’s attacks, Sonic Youth immediately did a spin-hook.

It was so sudden that Neito couldn’t block it. He took the blow and got blown off.

With his speed as his focal point, Sonic Youth displayed a huge advantage over him.

He couldn’t hit him, but Sonic Youth could easily get a blow over him. It was a one sided battle.

At the same time, Slipknot was sniping him from the guard-rails. With his superb accuracy and timing in-between blows, he landed every shot at Neito. Of course, Neito could do nothing but receive the shots.

[… Not… Yet…]

Neito tried to stand and fight, but the blows kept coming at him.

[You should stop. You’re all beaten up.]

He was already knocked down multiple times, but he still stood back up. Sonic Youth pointed a finger at him to stay down.

[… I won’t stop.]

Neito stood back up. He’ll fight to death. His trap will be set off at the most critical moment. There was no other way to win but that.

[You’re stubborn… Then I won’t hold back!]

Sonic Youth’s saw butt hit Neito’s head. Paired with the speed and the kinetic energy stored, this brought Neito to his knees. No doubt everybody looking at them via television were cheering at this moment.

(TLN: Saw-Butt – I think that’s a part of a roller blade)

But all was good for Neito. The reason he fights is for himself. He was fighting for the world he wanted to create.

That’s why he wasn’t bothered with other people’s opinion of him.

[… Come! You can’t stop me unless you kill me-!]

Neito stood back up again.  His body was screaming all over, but he ignored it.

[A-ah, you look so pitiful now… Sonic, I’ll get serious too.]

Looking down at Neito, Slipknot pulled out a different weapon than his rifle.

He pulled out a rocket launcher.

[Yahooo-!!]

Slipknot fired a rocket.

Neito grit his teeth and tried dodging it.

Explosion and thick smoke eloped the bridge. Slipknot probably reduced the fire power so the bridge won’t get destroyed but it still was powerful.

[Hey Hey Hey-!]

Slipknot was now throwing grenades. This also caused explosions and thick smoke.

Paired with the burning vehicles, rocket launcher and grenades, the Washington Bridge was now covered in thick black smoke. No doubt people from afar can no longer see what was going on inside the smoke.

[… Is this it huh…?]

Neito managed to avoid the blasts but still sustained splash damage.

He couldn’t stand back up. It was over for him. He can’t fight any more.

Looking at the defeated figure, the two heroes approached him.

[It’s your lost.]

[You did well, but how unfortunate. You were so close-!]

Both heroes were unhurt. They casually looked down on Neito.

[… Yeah, It’s my loss.]

Neito’s transformation wore off. Even in his human form, he was all beaten up.

[Sonic Youth, go ahead and capture me. I’ll face trial as you suggested.]

Neito didn’t have the strength to attack. He couldn’t move. That’s what Sonic Youth must have thought.

[… Good.]

Sonic Youth slowly walked towards Neito. He was still on his guard. Even if Neito did a surprise attack, he knew it would be useless. But he still was cautious.

[Being defeated by heroes… doesn’t sound too bad after-all]

Neito didn’t move. Sonic Youth gave his gear to Slipknot and approached Neito.

Amidst the fire and flames, the hero captures the villain.

This was the moment

Bang!

The sound echoed.

It was a gun shot.

[… Wha-? Slipknot, what are you–!]

Thud

The sound echoed again.

**

Uuh, gimme a few hours to finish the remaining part of the chapter. I must say, this is a nice cliffhanger. Don’t you agree?