Ashborn sighed again, his eyes lazily drifting up toward the clear blue sky.
"It is a nice day," he said softly, as if lamenting the situation. "Birds are singing, flowers are blooming..." His eyes returned to the monster, hardening into something deadly. "On days like these, men like you..." Ashborn's voice dropped into a razor-sharp whisper "should be burning in hell."
In one smooth, effortless motion, Ashborn slashed with the blue dagger. A deep gashing wound tore across the monster's broad chest. The beast roared in agony, instinctively swinging a massive fist at Ashborn with all the strength it could muster.
Ashborn simply stepped to the side, graceful and quick. As he moved, he slashed again, carving a deep wound along the monster's outstretched arm. The monster, bellowing in rage, tried to dash forward, but Ashborn smoothly rotated around him, delivering a brutal slash to the back of the monster's knee.
The giant collapsed heavily to the ground, snarling and growling.
Ashborn didn't press the attack. Instead, he casually began taking off the jacket of his suit. The monster, struggling to its feet, turned to face Ashborn again, pure fury burning in its eyes.
With a roar, the beast charged.
Ashborn met it with maddening calm. As the monster rushed in, he threw his jacket covering the monster's face and blinding him. In that instant, Ashborn moved like a whirlwind. Slash after slash tore across the monster's body, blood splattering the ground as the creature swung blindly, missing every blow.
Soon, the monster staggered and fell again, its body riddled with deep, bleeding wounds.
Ashborn stood victorious, breathing evenly as he turned away from the fallen form and walked toward the stunned Stargirl. She sat there still leaning heavily on her staff, watching him with wide, amazed eyes.
Ashborn smiled warmly as he approached "Ace would glare at me for the rest of her life if you got hurt on my watch," he said with a chuckle.
Stargirl let out a weak laugh, trying to stand up straighter.
"I knew you were good," she said, wincing slightly from her injuries "You gave Batman the beating of his life after all... but I didn't expect you could take on that thing."
Ashborn rotated the blue dagger easily in his hand, the blade still shining with a faint magical glow.
"Magical dagger," he said casually, "good for cutting tough things."
Stargirl smiled gratefully and, with effort, got to her feet, wobbling slightly.
"Thanks. I'll drag that damn thing away from here," she said, determination flashing in her eyes.
Ashborn raised an eyebrow.
"You're still weak. You should recover a little first" he advised.
But before either could act further, a deep, guttural growl drew their attention.
The monster was standing.
Ashborn's eyes narrowed sharply as he noticed the deep wounds slowly knitting themselves back together. Regeneration.
Stargirl stared, stunned, as the monster's eyes began to glow a blinding white. It roared louder than before, the very ground trembling from the sound, and then, without warning, charged not at Ashborn... but straight at Stargirl.
Stargirl froze in place, her body still too weak to react. Ashborn moved instantly. He shoved Stargirl out of the way and raised his left arm, activating the arm guard in a flash of light.
The monster's punch collided with Ashborn's guarded arm. The guard pulsed brightly, absorbing most of the impact but the force was colossal.
A massive shockwave erupted, cracking the street, flipping cars, and sending Stargirl flying away like a ragdoll. Ashborn himself was hurled backward with bone-breaking force, crashing through the glass doors of a nearby building with a thunderous crash.
Meanwhile, the monster staggered back a few steps, momentarily dazed.
Inside the building, Ashborn stood up quickly. He quickly scanned his surroundings, it was a deserted venue hall, no civilians, no cameras.
The monster charged after him, fists raised for another brutal assault. Ashborn smiled as he extended his hand, blocking the blow with ease.
The entire floor cracked beneath their feet, the impact shattering the tiles and sending dust billowing up around them.
The monster's eyes widened with confusion and shock as Ashborn's smile turned predatory. His eyes glowed with sinister purple light. In the next instant, Ashborn slashed faster than the eye could follow.
The monster's head dropped from its body, landing with a sickening thud a few feet away.
Outside, Courtney struggled to her feet, her body trembling. She looked toward the building with horror. Ashborn had pushed her aside, only to be thrown into the building by that monstrous force. Then the building shook violently. Dust and debris spilled from the shattered entrance.
Fear clenched in her chest. Had Ashborn...?
But then, through the haze of dust, a familiar figure emerged.
Ashborn walked calmly out of the building, his clothes torn and his left sleeve shredded. He dusted himself off casually, looking almost annoyed.
"Gizmo is going to kill me," he said loud enough for her and anyone still listening to hear. staring mournfully at his destroyed arm guard.
Stargirl hurried toward him, a relieved expression on her face.
"You're okay!!" she called out.
Ashborn glanced at her with a half-smile and said dryly, "Which part of me looks okay to you? Gizmo's toy is destroyed, I was worried Ace would glare at me for your death, now I need to worry about an overly enthusiastic employee avenging his toy."
Stargirl's eye twitched in irritation. "I'm being serious!"
"And I'm being serious too," Ashborn replied without missing a beat. "Imagine a combination of Batman and Lex Luthor. That's Gizmo."
He said it so casually that Stargirl almost forgot how much pain she was supposed to feel right now.
"Putting aside the stupid toy," Stargirl insisted, her voice firmer, "are you okay? It hit you hard."
Ashborn shrugged. "The arm guard took most of the damage, but that thing was really strong. Managed to destroy it. That's a new achievement."
Stargirl hesitated before asking, "What happened to it?"
"Dead," Ashborn replied simply. "I cut his head."
Stargirl swallowed hard, her stomach tightening at how casually he spoke of it.
Ashborn's gaze shifted toward the recovering heroes, Green Arrow groaning as he stood up, Crimson Avenger leaning heavily against a broken wall, S.T.R.I.P.E attempting to pull the remnants of his armor together.
Ashborn sighed and tucked the broken remains of the arm guard into his pocket. "Well, I've had enough action for one day. I need to figure out how to calm Gizmo down before he stages a tech-based coup in my house. Cya around, and don't get yourself killed."
Without waiting for a response, he strolled off, ignoring the dust and the scattered debris around him. Stargirl watched him go, a chuckle slipping from her lips despite herself. If he hadn't stepped in… they would have all been dead.
With renewed strength, she walked toward her injured friends and smiled weakly. "It's over," she said.
But as she reached them, her smile faltered. The sound of muttering civilians met her ears. The whispers weren't about relief, or gratitude. They were sharp, cutting.
"They couldn't even stop that thing…"
"Just fillers, not real heroes."
"A random guy with a knife did better than all of them together."
The words stabbed deeper than any wound. Stargirl stiffened, feeling the weight of their judgment. Their failure wasn't just written in bruises and rubble, it was being etched into the hearts of the very people they had sworn to protect.
Her mood dropped immediately, her staff feeling heavier than ever.
___________
Later that evening, Ashborn sat in the R&D lab, slouched comfortably in a chair as Gizmo paced furiously in front of him, waving what looked like blueprints and broken metal fragments.
"You're lucky to even be alive!" Gizmo snapped for what felt like the tenth time. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to create an arm guard that can withstand that level of impact? And you…" he jabbed a finger toward Ashborn, "you just let it get destroyed!"
Ashborn said nothing, simply nodding occasionally as the small genius ranted on. He didn't object, didn't argue, he could see the passion burning behind every furious word Gizmo threw at him.
[This guy cares too much] Ashborn mused internally, hiding a tired but amused smile.
As Gizmo continued his tirade, moving into the technical difficulties of reconstructing the arm guard and how Ashborn's reckless behavior would require weeks of work to fix.
Ashborn thought idly to himself [Fighting that monster was easier than enduring this lecture.]
He almost chuckled, but quickly swallowed it back, realizing that if he so much as smiled, the lecture would only get longer and louder.
So he sat there, quietly suffering, while Gizmo's voice echoed through the lab late into the night.