Bill crawled, dragging his broken body inch by inch across the overturned rig. Every movement was agony, his limbs screamed, his vision blurred, his breath came in ragged sobs of pain and terror. It was a hopeless, pitiful attempt to escape. He knew it. But his instincts wouldn't let him stop.
Big Rick advanced behind him, slow and steady, like a predator savoring the hunt. Each step landed with a heavy thud, the sound of finality drawing closer. His face held no expression, just raw, merciless cruelty carved into scarred stone.
He stopped.
Right in front of Bill.
The giant stood there for a moment, casting a long shadow over the trembling man. Bill looked up, face smeared with blood and tears.
"Please…" he gasped, voice cracking. "I have a family. A daughter, Jada, she's only six. Don't do this. I'm not the one who put you in chains. I was just doing my job… Please… please, I'm begging you."
Big Rick didn't move. Didn't blink. No mercy. No hesitation.
Then, slowly, he raised his boot.
It hovered for just a second, long enough for Bill's eyes to widen in horror.
And then it came down.
Hard.
The sickening crunch of bone echoed through the rig, followed by a wet splatter as Bill's head burst beneath the weight. Blood, brain matter, and shattered skull sprayed across the walls in a gruesome arc.
Rick stood still for a moment longer, his boot grinding slightly, before lifting it again and walking on, silent, unstoppable, unbothered.
.....
Thirty minutes later.
The SWAT team found Big Rick. He wasn't hard to track, an enormous, slow-moving superhuman giant was difficult to miss.
Red and blue lights strobed across the city as armored vehicles cut through the night. Above, a helicopter circled, its spotlight slicing through the darkness until it pinned Big Rick in a glaring cone of white light.
He stood at the center of it, exposed, unmoved, unafraid.
The convoy screeched to a halt in a semi-circle, engines rumbling, lights still flashing. Armored doors flew open and SWAT units poured out, fanning into position behind the vehicles, weapons raised, using the metal beasts for cover.
"Sergeant, do we ask him to surrender?" one officer asked, his voice tense.
"There's no need," said Sergeant Sandra Albright, eyes locked on the giant figure in the spotlight. "He doesn't speak. And he doesn't surrender. We've tried."
"So… do we engage?"
"Tell the others to hold fire until my signal."
The officer nodded and ran off.
Sandra stood tall behind the nearest cruiser, jaw clenched. She'd faced superhumans before, volatile mutants, rogue metas, enhanced soldiers. But nothing like this. Not this thing.
She knew they weren't going to stop him. Not with bullets. Not with numbers.
But that wasn't the mission.
Horizon Heroes had been alerted. Reinforcements, real ones, were inbound. Capes. Powers. People who might actually stand a chance.
Until then, all they could do was hold the line.
And buy time.
"He's coming!" an officer shouted.
Sergeant Albright turned sharply. Big Rick was advancing....slow, deliberate, unstoppable. There was no mistaking the intent behind each step. He wasn't charging.
He was hunting.
"Sergeant… your orders?" the officer asked, voice tight with fear.
Albright didn't answer at first. Her eyes locked on the approaching monster. Every instinct screamed danger. Around her, SWAT officers shifted nervously behind their cover, fingers twitching on triggers. No one wanted to be the first to die.
He was closer now.
"Sergeant!" the officer repeated, more urgently. "He's getting closer!"
Albright swallowed hard. If she didn't act, her squad would be slaughtered standing still.
God help us all, she thought.
She inhaled deeply, squared her shoulders, and gave the order.
"Alright, lads. Light him up."
The air exploded with thunder.
Heavy weapons unleashed a storm of gunfire. Orange tracers lit up the night as the bullets slammed into the giant's torso and limbs, sparking off his skin like metal striking metal.
Big Rick raised his arms to shield himself, roaring, a deafening, primal bellow that echoed across the city. A sound born of rage and pain and something deeper. Something monstrous.
"By God..." someone muttered.
"Keep firing!" Albright shouted. "Don't let him move!"
But Big Rick did move.
Suddenly, he shifted, legs coiling like a spring. Then, with a thunderous crack, he exploded forward into a supercharged sprint. The ground trembled. Bullets ricocheted harmlessly as he blitzed through them, faster than a creature his size should ever move.
Before anyone could react, he slammed into one of the armored vehicles.
The impact was devastating.
The six-ton behemoth of steel lifted off the ground, spinning through the air like a toy and crashed into the officers behind it with a sickening crunch of metal and bone.
Screams followed.
Chaos erupted.
Some officers collapsed behind cover, paralyzed by terror. Others, those who still had fight left in them, fired wildly, desperately, hoping to slow the monster down.
One officer, standing too close, froze. His rifle slipped from trembling hands and clattered to the asphalt.
"Wait....please!" he gasped, raising his arms in surrender.
Big Rick didn't pause. He reached out, massive fingers closing around the man's head like a vice. With one brutal motion, he slammed it down into the pavement.
The skull shattered on impact....blood and bone bursting out in a red smear.
Another officer tried to run.
Big Rick kicked him, a violent, casual motion. The body flew through the air like a ragdoll, crashing into the side of a parked car across the street. The metal buckled around the limp form, leaving a crater of twisted steel.
One by one, he tore through them, ripping through the line of armored vehicles, dragging men from behind cover, and crushing them like insects. Screams echoed across the street. Blood painted the sidewalk.
Then… he turned toward Sergeant Sandra Albright.
She raised her weapon, heart pounding....but he was coming. Slow. Unstoppable. Murder in every step.
He killed the last two officers between them without even looking, cracking bones and snapping spines like branches underfoot.
And then.....
RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!
The helicopter's heavy machine guns came alive. Thunder filled the night as the minigun spat fire, sending a rain of glowing bullets down from above. The air shimmered with heat and metal. The street below lit up in flashing bursts of orange and white.
Big Rick staggered slightly, raising his arms again to shield his face and chest. Sparks flew off his skin and armor, bullets ricocheting in every direction.
Sergeant Albright stopped firing, breath caught in her throat, eyes wide with a sliver of hope.
Maybe....just maybe....the gunfire would slow him down.
But then Big Rick reached to his side… and ripped the steel door off one of the burning vehicles.
He didn't even aim. He just hurled it with terrifying force.
The heavy slab of armored metal spun like a frisbee, hissing through the air, and slammed into the helicopter's rotor assembly.
The rotor blades shattered. The chopper jolted mid-air, smoke pouring from its engine. It began to spin wildly, nose tilting.
Albright watched in frozen horror.
"Mayday, mayday...." a voice crackled over the radio.
And then the helicopter dropped from the sky.
It slammed into the street with a thunderous explosion.
A wave of fire and debris tore through the air, blowing out windows and flipping a nearby cruiser. The shockwave knocked Albright flat, her ears ringing, eyes dazed by the glare.
Above the flames, Big Rick stood silhouetted.
Smoke rising.
Unburned.
Big Rick raised his leg, slow, deliberate, ready to crush Sergeant Albright's skull, just as he had done to Bill.
She lay sprawled on the pavement, ears ringing, vision blurred. Through the haze, she saw the massive boot looming above her, casting a long, dark shadow over her broken body.
She couldn't move.
She couldn't scream.
All she felt was the cold grip of death tightening around her.
This is it, she thought.
And then....
A gleaming metal fist slammed into Big Rick's jaw.
The impact was devastating, his head snapped violently to the side, neck twisting at a brutal angle. Blood and spit exploded from his mouth as he was launched off his feet, his massive frame tumbling through the air like a ragdoll.
He hit the ground hard, skidding across the asphalt with a thunderous scrape, tearing up concrete in his wake.
Sergeant Albright blinked.
Through her dazed vision, shapes emerged from the smoke.
Three figures.
Standing tall. Backlit by fire and debris.
Unshaken.
The first, a man in full grey armor, his body sculpted in sleek, futuristic steel. The fist that had struck Big Rick still crackled with kinetic energy, humming with restrained power.
Beside him, a woman in a white bodysuit, long white hair whipping in the wind. Frost trailed from her fingertips, the air around her shimmering with cold.
And behind them, a tall figure in a jet-black suit, twin swords strapped across his back, face partially hidden behind a half-mask. Calm. Still. Coiled like a predator ready to strike.
Albright's eyes widened in recognition.
She'd seen them before, on news broadcasts, social feeds, maybe even a cereal box.
Horizon's newest superheroes.
The cavalry had arrived.