Demonic Martyrs (Dire vs. Martyr)

The Demonic Dire had one thing in mind today.
Kill these bastard ninjas!
Criminals have been getting smarter. You can't just rough them up and leave them for the cops, because they can't handle them.
They need to be dealt with manually.
The real heroes don't believe that, but it doesn't seem like he cares.
The Demonic Dire found himself pacing the floor of his apartment, being sure he would have enough ammo in his twin pistols to do this job.
This group was known for being in and out within 60 seconds. All he had to do was be sure he delayed them long enough for the police and the news got there.
Then the fun began.
He checked his watch, and pressed "deploy" on his watch.
His suit then dissipated of his body with a swoosh and he became the brown eyed Malik Faulkner.
He grabbed his black leather gloves and went to the bank that was about to be robbed.


The bank was the largest one in New York and by God it was HUGE.
The building had a wide open floorspace with clerks stationed at their designated spots.
Off to the side there were stairs that lead up to a balcony. This is where the vault was.
He walked in and slid the gloves on.
He walked up the stairs and was approached by two guards.
"Hey, you can't be~"
Was all he could get out before Malik pulled out his golden butterfly knife and killed them both.
He took the key card to the vault and used it to lock himself in.
Now it was time for the waiting game.


Meanwhile, a group of twelve men walked into the bank with masks made of carbon fiber and bulletproof vests. They were all wearing grey and black with skull designs on their masks.
One shot a Spas 12 shotgun shot into the air, and the leader began commanding the civilians in a chilling, icy voice.
"Everyone stay down. You comply, you live."
He sent two of his men to go gather money from the vault.
The two were undeniably shocked to see the guards lying slashed up and dead on the floor, but deduced it to be their leader.
They opened the vault to get a Dire boot in the chest, knocking them over.
He was now in costume again, all black with red cloak, red eyes, katanas sheathed at his sides, and pistols around his shoulders like cops wear them.
He knocked one of them out with a well placed punch in the jaw.
The other one got their neck snapped.
11 out of 12 is good enough to publicly humiliate.
He threw both of them over the railing and began to open fire on the leader.
Unfourtunately missing most of them.
By now, the news is tracking this live and the police have the place surrounded.
He went down, taking them down one-by-one and tying them up.
He got down to the leader who actually cowered in fear upon approaching.
He took them all out and lined them up in the cold rainy evening, the sun had almost set and by the time he was done...
Well it'd be night.
"Thank you f-" The officer that was approaching was stopped by Dire's bullet puncturing his skull.
"Who the hell said I was done?"
He said before questioning where the money they stole from him was.
This is it, all of New York can see this.
No turning back.
No regrets.
Yet...

Martyr was once again on one of his "business trips" to New York, which seemed to be happening more and more often as of late. He was busy staying in a dirty hotel; his last couple jobs hadn't exactly gone as planned. But he had been able to rake up enough money to warrant his New York trips. He had just settled down into bed, with the "Martyr Mobile" outside - It was actually just a 1987 mercury Xr7 Cougar that he had spray painted an M onto - when he flipped the TV channel to the news.

"New York's largest bank is currently under siege by a group of individuals who seem to hav- Wait, we're getting reports that there is a hero inside. Perhaps they'll be able to stop the thieves from hurting anyone? Wait, oh god. We have reported casualties in the building. This person is not a hero at all. To any heroes in the area; we need you!" The news person yelled.

"Wait what?!" Martyr yelled shoving his rocket boots on over his sneakers and trying to find his trench coat in the pile of clothes on the floor. "I was gonna rob that bank!" The casualties thing took a moment more for him to register. "Killing people... They... They're killing people." Martyr said frozen. "Heroes don't kill people..." Martyr muttered.

With anger in his heart; and rage on his face. He moved quickly outside and moved clicked the button on his boots. He flew into the air; he hoped that he had remembered to fill them up with gas as he moved quickly down the street towards the bank. He had to hold onto his hat as he moved due to wind velocity. He had brought his duffle of supplies with him. Twin pistols, knife, smashed up chess board - Don't ask - and a picture of his family.

He landed just outside the bank to see the quote-unquote "hero" arranging the bank robbers in a firing line. "Hey!" Martyr yelled at the man. "You really shouldn't kill people!"

Dire was slamming the handle of his gun into the man's face, not worrying about the health of the man.
All he wanted was to know where they took everyone's money (including his) so he could return it.
He didn't need the crowd's approval, he needed their ability to not do anything.
Upon shooting that police officer, they began enacting that ability.


The crook was just about to fess up, when a man yelled to him.
Telling him not to kill anyone.
"Dude, that's the dumbest way to start that sentence." He laughed
His eyes were showing true happiness, he was always happy.
Only when people took from him was he angry.
"You don't say 'Stop! You're under arrest!' Or something like that... No it's just 'Hey! That be enougha dat there!' I mean really? You think you giving me a friendly lecture is gonna stop me?"
He looked at the crook he was questioning and said, "Do. Not. Move."
He then stood a good distance away from the man, so he had to yell.
The scene outside was amazing to him.
It was an extremely rainy night.
Thunder and lightning crashed throughout the now completely darkened sky.
There were police barricades all around the steps of the grand bank, the bank almost looked like the Lincoln Memorial.
After letting the rain fall on his face a tick, he made his red eyes flash in the night sky.
Sure it wasn't as intimidating due to the fact the police had lights shining all over them, but who cares. It's so cool looking.
"Well, if I shouldn't kill people, then you should've been there when I got my powers. My entire life I spent as a maercenary. Where were you when that was happening? When I was killing people on the down low. Just because I'm not on television, proud of my powers it's okay? Is that what you think? Well you're wrong."
He began yelling even louder, so the newscasters could here him.
"Well that is incorrect. I am here, proud of the powers that a demon cursed upon me! I am here to protect the earth at any and all costs. I don't want your approval. Just stay out of my way and you won't get hurt." He looked to the man confronting him.
"That goes for you too."

Martyr had to admit that his entrance was less than ideal. He hadn't planned it out very well, and it was pretty clear to him that if he should probably have thought it through on the way out. But as the man spoke, Martyr realized this man was completely freaking nuts.

"Okay, let's back up for a second here." Martyr said. "So if I'm understanding this correctly... You're killing people... To show people that people with powers deserve to be treated just like normal people?" He asked looking at the man derisively. "That's absolutely insane, and I'm afraid that you're gonna need some time in a spongy room, my friend." Martyr said before drawing his knife and pointing it at his own side. "I really don't want to have to do this, but if you don't stand down; I might have to."

Dire hated being called insane.
It infuriated him.
Yet he had to stay level headed.
"First off! Don't tempt me with the spongy rooms, man! Those God's gift to earth."
He lied.
He hated the thought of those things.
"And second off... I'm letting the world know that like it or not, I'm protecting them from all the rape, theivery, and mass muders it offers up. The few ignorant civilain casualties that come along with it... Well that's just payment."
He chuckled that last part out.
He hated when the ignorant people wouldn't just leave the job to the merc...

"As for standing down? I'll turn them over to the cops when they tell me where all the money they stole is, so I can return it. So I've got it under control... Don't worry, no one else will die unless SOMEONE decides to keep their mouth shut."

"That's a terrible way to deal with this! I mean good lord! You don't just kill people to get secrets out of them?! I mean what the hell do you think is going to happen if you run out of people before someone tells you where it is? Or what if these people don't even know where the money went?! Maybe one of them got away, huh?" Martyr said, becoming more and more frustrated with this.

Tapped the knife to his own head trying to think. He couldn't very well just take him into civillian custody and be like "lol, hi. I'm a Canadian vigilante who is also a thief. Can you take this guy into custody and throw away the key?" That's what the heroes would do! Martyr did have a rep to keep up. But he also couldn't leave without stopping him somehow. You could kill him... Martyr thought, then immediately shrugged it off. He'd have to just talk to him, hope that he calms down. Last resort? He hurts him and hopes medical care can get to him in time.

"Okay, so. Let's work this out for a second, okay?" Martyr said after several deep breaths. "These people are murderers, they're thieves. They're racists towards you and me. But, if you do all these same things to them, what's going to be the difference in the end, huh?" He said trying to think this through rationally while at the same time, focusing on his target continuing to keep the knife firmly pointed at himself.

"If you kill these men, and they don't know anything; you've killed them for no good reason. The world is going to think of you as a terrorist, not a..." Martyr chuckled for a second at his next words. "Not a Martyr"

Dire was getting angrier and angrier by the second.
He took cautious steps toward the man, to show he wasn't out to hurt him.
Yet.
"These people get caught by the heroes, right? They take but never give, then get caught. They go to jail and break out within a week. Sometimes people never learn. Like these schmucks. They have been in and out of jail more than our ages combined. You can't expect my conscious to stay clear by leaving them to steal someone else's things."
He said all of this with a lower tone. A sincere tone. It was noticeable that he believed his statement 110%
"I know your next card as well. Don't try and guilt me over the casualties I bring with me. If they can't appreciate what I'm doing for them and stay out of my way, then I can't guarantee their safety."

Little did he know, the police were hastily rounding the theives up behind him. The process went smoothly because they wanted as far away from The Demonic Dire as possible.

Martyr saw the police doing their jobs, so Martyr decided to continue doing his. "Oh please, if I was gonna judge you over previous, casualties you'd already be in handcuffs!" Martyr yelled trying his best to keep Dire distracted.

"I mean, if you even saw what you looked like to these people, you'd never have left the house today! This isn't going to help meta-human/human relations! It's going to hinder it farther!" Martyr yelled increasing his anger in every word. "Do you want segregation?! Because this how you get segregation!"

Dire couldn't help but start yelling.
This guy was making him look bad.
He inched closer and closer, but stopped a good arms length away.
"You're missing the point buddy... I don't care what I look like the civilians! I care what I look like to THEM!"
He turned to point at the crooks he had at the steps... Only to see them rolling down the street in cruisers.
Most of the police left, but the crowd didn't diminish.
He became infuriated to a point of no return.
His eyes began to glow a very intense red.
He turned to the man, done looking to talk to him.
"That's it!!! I tried to get you to go away. But NOOOO you just HAD to keep going! We're about to find out if twelve criminal lives were worth yours..."
He said, challenging him to a fight evidently.

Martyr grinned as he started to move away. "I'd rather not fight today." He laughed and turned to the crowd.

"You're welcome!" He said and clicked the button on the side of his shoes. He flew 5 feet into the air; before they decided to sputter out and die on him. "Oh crap..." Was all he could say as he faceplanted into the sidewalk. Supposing he had to fight.

Dire couldn't help but laugh when the man looked to make an exit, but slammed onto his face into the concrete.
"Whoa!!! What a wipe-out, dude! If only you could've stuck the landing!"
He was prepared to fight.
In fact, he wasn't going to simply let him go, but he also wasn't stupid. Years of being a mercenary taught him something: Never underestimate a target.
He scoped the man out, yet he couldn't really discern much because of the dark.
He made out the trench coat, which instantly turned into a threat.
And the boots could be problematic.
He wanted the man to take the first punch, but it didn't seem like he was the person to do that.
He checked the scene behind the man, and found a car that had a retreating lady inside.
He had no intentions on hurting the woman, she wasn't in his way.
But he did intend to scare her.
He shot into the hood of the car in just the right spot to catch it on fire.
It wouldn't blow up for a good 15 minutes, but hopefully the man didn't know that much about shooting cars.
He then played a maniacal role of the villain for a minute.
"Have fun with her." He chuckled as he began following the cruisers to the station.
It was pretty bold to go to the station, but he needed that money.
He was always reckless, and if this didn't pay off then he'd be in a heap of trouble.
He didn't need some guy stopping him.
He was sure the man would come back though, so he never holstered his gun.

Martyr was stunned by his fall, but then saw that Dire was running off and putting more civilians in danger. He needed to catch up with Dire and fast. Pressing the button on his boots a couple more times; his boots finally sputtered to life.
Just then; he found that someone was in the middle of a car on fire. "Son of a!" He yelled and burnt his hands on the hot metal of the door. He ripped them away and watched the light burns heal almost instantaneously. He then shoved his elbow through the window and attempted to pull the woman through the hole.
Succeeding; Martyr watched as she ran into the crowd without so much as a "Thanks for saving my life, Mystery Man."
He then found himself going after the sound of sirens. He needed a way to subdue dire, and fast. He was about to give up; when he flew by a fire truck. He found himself ripping a fire extinguisher from a firefighters hands and flying towards the cops sirens once more.

Dire hopped on top of one of the police vehicles with a fury in his eyes.
"I said I wasn't done!!!"
He yelled as he tried to crash the glass windows.
The fugitives and policemen alike were crying out in fear.