Anthology Two Presents

The Mysterious Veil
"Veil"
By Philip Dupplessis

I watched them from within the shadows as the two men made the exchange. One was Kid Rocket, a so-called superhero of the city of Windfall. He was arrogant, and normally he was seen dressed in a bright costume.  His mask was gold, and it covered his face completely. He wore a bright blue jumpsuit trimmed with gold along the arms and legs, gold gauntlets
on his hands and gold boots on his feet. Tonight he was just an everyday twenty-something named Richard Pure of Pure Industries. He had black hair that was closely cut and tanned skin, an expensive gold watch and was dressed in the latest trendy clothing designer's best, from his navy blue t-shirt down to his fashionably baggy jeans and leather shoes. The second man was a less savory sort. His name was Donnie Raymell. He was a drug dealer, a scummy-looking young man with a shaved head. His eyes seemed to have an animalistic quality to them and he wore a wife beater and displayed the variety of tattoos on his arms. The tattoos were mostly gang related, and the most prominent was a black scorpion, which stated his membership in the gang of the same name. He wore cargo shorts and white Reeboks.

I watched the dealer leave after he gave Pure the drugs. I followed him as he made his way to his penthouse apartment in the rich section of the city. To say that I kept to the shadows is an understatement.

I submerged myself in the shadows.

This was my birthright. I am one with the shadows.

They call me the Veil. I didn't come up with that. The media did. My real name is Franklin Moore. I am the heir to the cloak of shadows. That's why they call me the Veil. I hide myself completely within the folds of my cloak. My mission is to hunt false heroes like this Kid Rocket. By the time I reached his apartment and hid myself in the shadows of his living room he had already begun to snort the cocaine he bought. The room's only source of light was coming from the television, which he
had tuned to Cartoon Network. I watched him and decided his fate.

When he made a call to one of his buddies, I listened intently, and when his friend, an older white man who was dressed in a
flashy fur coat and a top hat, showed up at his door with an underage girl forced to sell her body I reacted instantly.

I felt my body began to solidify as I emerged from the shadows. I commanded my cloak to swirl around me, and strike fear into the two men as the girl ran from the room. My eyes focused on Pure.  I didn't see the other man draw a handgun.

I heard the second man shout to Pure, "Shit! It's the Veil!"

I turned my eyes upon him just in time to see him pull the trigger. A brief flash lit the room. The bullet pierced my cloak and struck the armor over my chest. The impact sent me to the ground. I groaned in pain as Pure ran for his bedroom. I couldn't let him get his rocket belt, I knew that was the source of his powers. I drew my own handgun. It was a PT-92, and it was stainless steel with rosewood grips. I took aim for the man's leg, having the ability to see just fine in the dim light cast by the Scooby Doo episode playing on the television. I pulled the trigger, and watched as the blood exploded from the man's white pants. I had shot him in the left kneecap. He groaned and dropped to the floor in pain.

The wall near the bedroom door exploded outward. I winced and ducked when the fragments of drywall and dust showered over me. Then Pure stepped out of the newly formed hole. I cursed as I gazed upon his powerful form. He was still dressed as he was before, except for the golden belt around his waist. His body rippled with his increased muscle mass.

I holstered my gun, knowing that he was not vulnerable to bullets in this form. He stepped forward slowly, balling his hands into fists. He laughed when I began to shrink back into the darkness.

He stopped laughing and spoke, "Now that I have my powers, you hide. Coward. You are afraid of Kid Rocket like all the others."

I smiled as the man continued to speak. I tuned his voice out as I crept unseen within the shadows, and stood behind him. I emerged from the shadows, allowing my cloak to flow outward and away from my body. I tapped him on his left shoulder. He whirled around, swinging his left fist as hard as he could.

He wasn't fast enough to hit me. I ducked underneath the punch and I responded with a punch of my own. It collided with his stomach, and I groaned, because it felt like I had hit a steel plate. He laughed at me again, and kneed me in the stomach. I groaned from the force behind this attack, and the wind was knocked out of me and fell to my knees before him.

He spoke again, "See? Even now you are falling before me as you were meant to."

I shook my head at this arrogant bastard, and he sent a fist into my face again. I concentrated as he lifted his hand for another attack, and tried to block out the pain. My cloak began to flow around me, and I felt it bend to my will as the fist came towards me.

I sent solid darkness shooting outwards toward him. I laughed at him as they hit him in the stomach, and sent him flying backwards. I shook my head as he went through another wall, and out of his apartment. I didn't want to cause so much property damage.

I bounded after him, throwing my body into the shadows again and flowing along them until I reached the hole in the outside wall. I let myself become solid again. I looked down to see the busy street below, but there was no sight of him.  I saw something coming towards me in my peripheral vision, turning just in time to see a fist.

Cursing my idiocy, I fell from the hole, trying to clear my head off the pain.

I had forgotten he could fly.

I felt like a moron.

As I fell, and my eyes traveled upward to see his mocking form floating in the air next to the hole.

I wasn't going to fall to this loser. I wasn't going to let a pseudo-hero kill me. I felt my cloak change itself into rope and I commanded it to hurl itself at the man. He stopped laughing when it wrapped itself around his neck and began to choke him. I grabbed the rope in my right hand, and I stopped falling. I swung towards the apartment building, and landed safely on a
balcony. Luckily no one was home.

I began to pull the rope, bringing the still choking Kid Rocket downward. He passed out at some point, because I felt the rope suddenly go slack. I rapidly tried to pull it in and watched as his unconscious form plunged downward.

Laughing, I commanded the rope to change into a harness and cease choking him. After a few moments I hauled him over the balcony, where I threw onto the concrete next to one of those white lawn chairs that the inhabitant of the apartment had placed out there.

Bile welled in my throat as I looked at the fallen Kid Rocket. Then I did the only thing that would prevent him from using his powers again. I took his rocket belt off, and smashed it into pieces, shaking my head in disgust before reaching for one of his pockets. I pulled his black cell phone out, flipped it open and dialed the police before dropping beside the limp body and stepping once more into my web of shadows.

I watched the news the next day in my apartment, bare feet bunching into fists against the rough carpet.

That day was my day off from my work at the paint factory and I was relaxing.

I remembered watching John Starr, who was at that time a young, blonde haired man making it big as a reporter in Windfall, as he interviewed the police chief, who wouldn't give any details on the arrest of Richard Pure, now exposed as the famous Kid
Rocket. I laughed when they said it was the work of the mysterious vigilante known only as the Veil. I always enjoyed it when they threw that part in.