Last Man on Earth

Standing amongst the ruins of New York, our hero awaited the arrival of the Talon’s leader; Phoenix. Phoenix was instructed to bring one soldier, his very best to prove their worth as heroes, their worth as guardians of this planet. Pain was in desperate need of an army, the devastating assault on New York proved that, but an army is nothing without strong soldiers. The Talon’s were among the first he intended to recruit, a young group that aided in the defense of New York. Though they had a mixed reputation, The Big Guy was never one to go purely by word. Action is what he wanted to see, that’s why he brought them out here today.

Pain sat down upon what was once a skyscraper, now it was nothing more than rubble. At least it made a good seat. Most of his time was spent here now. Walking through this ghost town, he swore he could still hear the screams of the ones he failed to protect. It was a reminder, a motivation to be stronger, to become something greater. Being here, he felt like the last man on Earth, even looters did not dare to venture deep into the ruins. Pain puffed on a cigarette, his icy eyes leaving the ruins and trailing to the cloudy sky above. “Gonna’ rain tonight.” He uttered softly to himself, exhaling a cloud of grey into the atmosphere. As he waited patiently for his possible recruits’ arrival, his mind wandered through the darkness that plagued him. Pain had to look ahead, turn the darkness into a weapon. With it, he could become something greater, more than just a hero. The world needed that, one man to stand up and hold it upon his shoulders. Pain would be that man, he would be their guardian.

~Voice Message sent by Pain to Phoenix ~

“Yo. Phoenix ain’t it? I been hearin’ about that little group you got, some good things, some bad, but I ain’t convinced of anything til’ I see whatchya’ got for myself. If you really wanna’ make a difference, meet me among the ruins of New York. Bring whatever the hell you need and one of your best soldiers. Prove to me, to your friends, and to yourself, that you got what it takes. Meet me at these coordinates, I’m givin’ you forty-eight hours to show."

Phoenix was messing around on the Talon's computer checking emails and such. His cellphone was linked to the computer as well, so all his calls and voicemail messages would appear. One particular message caught his eye. It was from Pain. With his eyes widening a bit, he clicked the message and it began to play.
Taking a moment to register what he just read. He called over his shoulder to Sean. "Hey man, you might wana see this." Moving over a bit to show Deluge the message and letting him hear it. The ruins of New York was the battleground for their "test". Phoenix smiled with confidence. His childhood hero had wanted to meet him. "Let's get geared up, and move out man." Andrew said getting up out of the chair.

Walking to the elevator, he took it to his floor, and went to his bedroom. Closing the door behind him, he pressed the button on his dresser, and his Phoenix costume was in front of him. Throwing it on quickly he was almost ready. Pulling his favorite katana off the wall, he cracked his knuckles and the nerves began to start. Putting them out of his mind, he went back down to Sean. "We'el take my car." he said dangling his keys.

Walking out of the Talon base, he unlocked his car at the end of the dock, getting in to the drivers seat. He turned on the radio and "The Final Countdown" began to play. Laughing a bit, he pulled out, and headed to meet the big guy. Looking over at Deluge he wondered how he felt about his all. Pulling into the ruins he saw Pain sitting on what was left of the building. "Well I'm here." Andrew said was he walked towards Pain. "As you can tell I got your message, now how are we going to prove ourselves to you?" Andrew said looking around the area. Not one single person was around.

The minutes, even hours passed on without recognition, as if time had eluded and gone on without Pain. The rest of his pack was smoked down to the stubs, a habit that only grew worse with idle time. Around his feet looked to be a dozen cigarette butts, and at his side rested a large half empty bottle of jagermeister. After taking one final drag from his last cigarette, he tossed it to the floor just as the others and reached for his bottle. Before he could take another swig, his new recruits arrived with a roar. They pulled up in a nice sports car, and two brave young men stepped out. They were brave for simply arriving, but anyone can show up to a fight. Now it was just a matter of testing if they had enough strength to back up that bravery.

A small chuckle escaped the aged and scarred hero, seeing the two young men make their way towards him reminded him of his younger days. They were going to face an enemy that could possibly kill the both of them, but they faced the odds with courage. He respected that, something he could still relate to this day. Pain took a heavy swig from his bottle, and then rose to his feet to meet the two at a middle ground. “Take it easy Phoenix, we’ll get to it.” He paused briefly, bringing the bottle to his lips for another swig. After a relaxing exhalation, Pain wiped his lips on the back of his hand and respectfully offered it to the two. “I’m Pain.” The Big Guy kept his hand out, offering it first to Phoenix, and second to Deluge.

After the greetings, Pain got right down to business and simply blurted out why he brought them here. “I need soldiers, people willin’ to fight and die for a cause. You boys got that look in your eyes, I can tell just by lookin’ atchya’ that your fighters.” The aged hero took another swig, attempting to finish the bottle off before they got started. “One of you boys got a cigarette?”

Pain was a lot bigger in person than Andrew would've thought. Andrew wasn't a small guy, but neither was the tough guy.
Andrew grinned at the Big Guy's comment. He proceeded to shake the fellow hero's hand. "Pleasure." Pain had asked them for a smoke. "Sorry, don't smoke." Phoenix shrugged to Pain's request. All of his comments and his statement seemed to be leading up to a certain point. Obviously the hero would be challenged in some way by the big guy. "I assume the "lets see what you got" part comes next. That's what i've been anticipating at least. The hero said with a grin. He was proud to be able to get a shot at the tough guy.

Andrew took a deep breath. "So what's our task?" Phoenix asked looking around for any clues of what he might have to do. Nothing was indicated. Andrew could smell the alcohol off Pain's breath. A grin crawled across his face and he decided to make a joke to the tough guy. "Liquid courage?" Andrew asked jokingly to the hero.
He tightened his hand to fist and awaited what Pain and Sean had to say. He tuned he head and let Sean go.

The Big Guy took the cigarette from the lanky looking one, Sean Collin, a young man who had battled with him in the past. Guess now he'd get to see just how much time has strengethened him. His attitude certainly stuck out more than he remembered. These kid's probably had it rough, they seemed hardened and strengthened from years of fighting. The two of them radiated confidence, but this Phoenix guy seemed far more eager and motivated. That could make for a great leader, or get him killed.

Pain brought the cigarette to his lips and quickly ignited it with a pink BIC, smirking slyly at Sean's retort. "We fight for order," He stated simply, exhaling dark grey smoke with every word. After inhaling another drag, he spoke with his icy glare glued to Sean. "And we protect those who cannot protect themselves." After that, he eased up and returned to darting his scanning eyes between the two young heroes.

"That is the next part." Pain simply replied to Phoenix, returning the same eager smirk the young men held on his face. "Liquid courage?" The Big Guy chuckled at the comment, finding their unique attitudes humorous. "Nah, don't need that. Just somethin' to make the grey skies blue." After one last drag, he spat out the cigarette and popped his neck in the usual fashion; left to right.

"Sean, you know the routine. You boys ready?" Even though this was only a spar to test them, he had a feeling that this was going to be a great brawl. A battle fueled by the strong desire for the young to prove themselves, and the pride the old must preserve and defend.

"I've devoted my life to protecting the innocent Pain, saving people is what I do best." the young hero said with a smile forming across his face. He was finally about to go toe to toe with his child idol. By no means was Andrew going to hold back at all. This was his opportunity, and he was most certainly going to cash in on it. Him and Sean had gone over their strategy on the way there. Somehow Sean had known that their challenge would be the big guy himself. Something looked off in the ice like eyes of the world's hero though. Maybe the loss of his kid in the assault had broken something inside of him. Now was not the time for sympathy, this was time for action.

With Pain's last sentence, Andrew's hand closed to a fist. "So us against you eh? Let's do this." Phoenix created a ring of fire around his feet and nodded to Sean. Andrew turned back and looked the big man in the eye. "Here goes nothing." the hero though to himself as he took a leap back and fired a stream of white fire towards the big guy. For his first attack, he had come out of the gates with a lot of power. He moved quickly to his left, throwing a barrage of fireballs at Pain. Once his attack finished the hero began to spin rapidly and created a tornado of fire.
He hoped Sean would attack Pain also and take his attention off of Phoenix for a moment.
After a quick count in his head, Andrew leaped out of the tornado and fired it towards the hero.