Samson grunted as he moved the rubble off his body. He grabbed his head and wiped fresh blood into his hair. He breathed sharply through gritted teeth. Against fallen concrete and exposed metal he picked himself up. His body ached. Limbs went numb but his chest radiated with an unyielding pain. Legs shaking, arms trembling, mind racing. Samson opened his eyes. He saw nothing but red. Whether that was from his rage or from his blood he didn’t know but it also didn’t matter. All that mattered was how he acted. “Damnit! Odin!” He screamed, his voice straining over dust. Odin refocused on Samson, sighing deeply. He didn’t think he would last this long. That last punch surely should’ve ended him. “Is this what you call being a real hero?! You’re taking lives, I’m saving them! You’re waging war while I’m at least trying to do our duty and protect! That’s not heroics! That’s cowardice!” “Excuse me?” Odin raised his brow. He took a step forward, ready to reengage. “Cowardice? I’m the one trying to make this world a better place.” “By being its only hero?!” Samson attempted to climb out from the rubble, tripping and stumbling over rebar and rock. “By eliminating the incompetence.” He coldly corrected. “Why should people have to risk their lives in the hands of a lowly D-Rank?” “Why should a hero even be labeled a D-Rank?!” “Because you’re too weak, Delta.” “Oh! I’m too weak?!” Samson laughed, pointing to his chest and cocking his head. “The way I see it, I’ve only been getting faster while you’ve peaked! Admit it! You’re scared of me!” Venom seeped through every word. “Scared of you? You?” Odin scoffed. “The only reason I haven’t killed you yet, boy, is because my daughter would be distraught.” “Oh cut the shit! You don’t love her! Neither you nor your darling fiancé Cynthia love her! She’s just a fucking science experiment to you!” “No the real reason why you aren’t dead yet is because you’re not worth the trip to the bath house. Congratulations, Sammy, is that what you wanted to hear? Do you want a medal?” Odin crossed his arms. “Yeah, wouldn’t want to dirty you with my filthy D-Rank blood.” The two continued to bicker and argue across the city. Meanwhile, back at the lab wreckage, Ali bandaged her wounds. “You know.” She began, cotton gauze between her teeth. She removed the bandages from her mouth and finished the clean up. “Win or lose, your husband has caused serious irreparable damage.” She said, glaring at a broken and defeated Cynthia. “That’s your father you know, and the strongest man on the planet. It would be wise to show him some respect.” She warned, still staring up at the sky. “Oh shut up. I don’t care that he’s my father, I don’t care that you’re my mother! Just because you two spared an egg and some sperm doesn’t mean shit, and frankly it’s kind of insulting that you’re trying to play the parent card after oh I don’t know several decades of lying!” Ali yelled at Cynthia, knowing that she couldn’t do anything but listen. A prisoner to her own hubris. Cynthia put so much faith in her pet projects, she never expected them to be her downfall. She hesitated for a moment, trying to find the words capable of putting her insolent daughter in her place. “You’re still fat.” That’s all she could muster. A cheap dig. A shallow cut meant nothing more to antagonize and annoy. What happened to her? Just a few hours ago she could cut down entire armies with her words alone. Cynthia could break down your very core, eat away at the very thing that makes you human. It was her speciality, robbing God’s creatures of the life that enlightens their souls. But now what? Reduced to playground insults. Forced to dish out the cherry on sundae, the icing on the cake, as if it were the main course. Ali looked down at her with such contempt. “Uhhuh.” She dismissed, turning her back on her mother just as she did to her own daughter. Cynthia prepared to say something. Another surface level jab designed specifically to provoke Ali to such an extent that in her hypothetical rage she would provide a means of escape. Something about her weight again, or maybe her love life, a dig that her husband doesn’t really love her for who she is and only cares to get in her pants in order to elevate his own status. Maybe she remind her of her status, her rung on the ladder, her place in the pecking order. She’s not the top dog, no, no that title belonged to her fiancé. HERS! And here her husband was, a lowly D-Rank fighting to overthrow the one and only S-Rank hero. And he was getting scarily close. Several helicopters flew overhead. Giant, unmistakable letters and numbers decorated their outsides like big flying billboards. Some belonged to the same channels, others were from rival news networks. While they differed in origin, they all sought to report the same headline. Cynthia excavated her arm from the rubble, placing her finger up to her ear. “Heads up big guy, you’re getting an audience.” She informed. Odin glanced upwards. Samson followed. Two, five, ten helicopters hung in the sky. They hovered just above the two fighters, cameras locked on and rolling. “Pests.” Odin growled, lifting his arm up. He opened his hand and aimed his palm at the helicopters. “What’s wrong All Father?” Odin paused and looked back at Samson. “Afraid of a little publicity?” He jest. “I’m not scared of showing the world my true power. We were in the final stages of the plan anyway. Perhaps maiming you on live television would deter others from becoming the same pointless martyr.” “Do you really think of yourself that highly!?” Samson scowled. “That everyone else around you, anyone who stands up to you is ‘pointless’!” He seethed through his teeth. Adrenaline pumped through his veins like blood. “It’s not that I value lives less, it’s that you, Delta, value lives too much.” Odin slowly lowered his hand. “Too much?! I value human life too much?!” Samson screamed, he shouted. His body lurched forward in a fit of unfiltered rage. “Easy, boy.” Odin’s eyes narrowed. Lightning danced around the corners like brilliant performers. He shuffled forward ever so slightly. He clenched his fist. “No! Fuck this whole system! Fuck the ranking! Fuck the board! And fuck you!! I’m taking you down one way or another! D-Rank, S-Rank, A-Rank, doesn’t matter! I’m fighting you, hero to hero.” Samson’s words shook the city. Everyone could hear him. His friends, his family, his enemies. The whole public got a glimpse at the true nature of these two figures. Samson, the D-Rank concerned with the fairness of society and life more than his own wellbeing. Odin, the S-Rank more focused on his plan and pride to get what it truly means. Him, and the whole world will get to know what it means, what it means to be a real hero.