“Why would you do something like this?” Mr Universe asked, pointing at the pile of wrecked cars on the ground.
“Because I want you, Mr Universe.” Gauss cackled. “I want you to die.” The air buzzed with electromagnetic energy, as every unrestrained metal object sailed into the air around Gauss. “But most of all, I want you to suffer.”
“Well then?” Mr Universe said, as he cracked his knuckles. “Let’s do this.”
“You’re going to regret that.” Gauss said.
“You’re doing a lot of talking, but not a lot of fighting.” Mr Universe taunted.
“I didn’t say all this was for fighting.” Gauss laughed.
“What?” Mr Universe asked.
“No. I said I wanted to make you suffer. All this shrapnel, this isn’t for you.” Gauss said.
“Then what’s it for?” Mr Universe asked, not sure he wanted to know the answer.
“Well, some of it’s for you. The rest… Well, you see the crowd gathering on the street, don’t you?” Gauss laughed, as Mr Universe’s eyes got wide. “And the people in the windows of all those buildings.” Gauss pointed at the windows lined with people. “You see, in a few seconds, all of this is going to be going everywhere.”
“You’re insane.” Mr Universe said, as he tried to figure out if he had the power to stop all of the debris from striking the onlookers.
“That’s the general consensus, but I beg to differ. My plan is completely sane. This is the best way to make you suffer. Their lives are your responsibility. They have faith in you. If you’re not strong enough, if you’re not fast enough, their blood is on your hands. I am going to break you before I’m done today boy.” Gauss said.
“Over my dead body.” Mr Universe said.
“That’s the plan.” Gauss cackled, as the metal exploded in every direction.
Mr Universe acted fast, using the brunt of his powers to catch the metal raining down on the crowd of panicked onlookers. At the same time he sent an electromagnetic wave through the shrapnel that was rushing to hit the occupants of the buildings, praying that it would slow it down enough that the glass windows would be able to stop it.
In the rush to protect the innocents, Mr Universe forgot to protect himself. He cringed, as he felt the metal pierce his left hand, before flying out the other side. He stumbled in midair, almost hitting the ground, before catching himself.
Before flying back up to Gauss’ level, he looked at the awestruck civilians. “Don’t just stand there you idiots. RUN!” He shouted. The crowd didn’t budge. “I’m not joking around. I don’t care if you all want to see this fight. You need to understand, I can’t win here. And that means he’s going to kill you all. The best I can do is buy you time. Get out of here.” Concern began to appear on the faces in the crowd. “I’m not going to be able to stop the next blast. RUN!”
Finally the crowd understood, and they began to disperse, as Mr Universe sailed back up, clutching his bleeding hand. “Now, where were we?”
“I believe I was ruining your life.” Gauss said. “Before ending it, of course.”
“Of course. You’re going to have to do more that stick metal through my hand. We folks of Jewish descent tend to be pretty resilient against stuff like that. Three days later, good as new.” Mr Universe said.
“Your arrogance never ends. First you start calling yourself the Master of Magnetism, you seek to usurp my legacy, and now you would compare yourself to the so-called Son of God? When I’m done, you’re going to wish I had just crucified you.” Gauss said.
“You talk a big game, but I don’t see you acting on it.” Mr Universe said, bracing himself for the inevitable onslaught.
“And you try to taunt me into attacking you. Look at you, trying to put up a barrier against my attacks. You should know by now you can do nothing to stop me.” Gauss said. “Face it, you’re already beaten.”
Mr Universe shook his head. “Actually, I just won. Do you see any civilians around?” Gauss looked down at the ground, and then through the windows. “No, I didn’t think so. I bought them time to evacuate. It’s just you and me now. And I don’t care what you do to me.”
Gauss laughed. “This is Los Angeles, you fool. There are millions of people within a minute’s flight. There’s nothing you could do that would stop me from levelling a dozen city blocks right now. I could kill thousands, and you would just have to watch me. You saved a few dozen lives. So what? I could kill you right now, and then finish off this worthless city, while the Boomers are in San Francisco stopping the prison breakout.”
“You won’t kill me. You’re having too much fun. And besides that, you’re not powerful enough.” Mr Universe said, ducking to the side just in time to dodge the twisted metal spear that shot at him.
“I’ll show you power!” Gauss screamed, as the spear was joined by two more.
“Struck a nerve, have I?” Mr Universe taunted, as he deflected two spears, before twisting to narrowly avoid the third.
“No, but I’m about to.” Gauss said, as a fourth spear rocketed through Mr Universe’s stomach, narrowly missing his organs, and sticking out the other side.
Mr Universe screamed out in pain, as he fell to the ground. He was a quivering, bleeding mess, when Gauss picked him up, using the same metal attachments in Mr Universe’s costume that allowed the hero to fly.
“Not powerful enough? Look at you. You’re on death’s door. Too bad I’m not through with you.” Gauss laughed, as he lifted Mr Universe through the air, before crashing him into the side of a building, knocking the wind out of him, and crushing his ribs. Moments later, he sent him careening into the side of another building, before sliding him down the wall, grazing his entire body along the brickwork, tearing at costume and flesh alike.
“I’m going to enjoy this.” Gauss said, as he levelled his spear at Mr Universe’s head.
The last thing Mr Universe saw was the spear racing towards his head, before he blacked out.

During his daily walk to the bus stop, Charlie Phillips paused to look at the television in the window of the Radio Shack on 7th Street. The screen showed Alcatraz, where a prison riot was erupting. The text on the screen said that dozens of prisoners had escaped, and that the West Coast Boomers were now arriving on the scene. Hire-A-Hero had also been called for backup. The report urged people in San Francisco to remain in their homes, but to not panic.
Charlie shrugged. It wasn’t his problem, San Francisco was hundreds of miles away. Let those supers take care of each other, out of his city. He had bigger problems on his hands, like just how he was going to afford his house payments after his latest pay cut, and how he was going to tell his wife.
When the car crashed into the ground in front of him, he never saw it coming. He leaped backwards, landing on his rear. “What the hell!” He exclaimed.
“Oh damn. Looks like I missed.”
Charlie looked up into the sky and saw a man floating above him. He was wearing the orange jumpsuit of an Alcatraz inmate.
“You… But how… No way anyone could fly that fast.” Charlie was completely taken aback by his attacker.
“Unprotected, no. But as you’ve seen, I have control over metal. It’s easy enough to build up a defensive shell, and break Mach 3. You see, there is nowhere I’d rather be than here in Los Angeles.”
Charlie was taken aback. “What? Why Los Angeles? Who are you?”
“Surely you’ve heard of me. I’m Gauss.”
Charlie’s eyes widened and he gasped.
“Oh good. You have heard of me. Then you know what you’re in for.” Gauss laughed, as Charlie began to cry.
“Oh, do be quiet. We’re going for a ride.” Gauss began to lift Charlie from the ground, grabbing on to his belt, zipper and the various other metal fastenings in his clothes.
<><><>
Matt sighed as he heard his phone begin to play “Adrienne” by The Calling. He paused his movie, and picked it up. He spent a few moments debating answering the call, but realised the quicker he answered, the quicker it would be over.
“Adrienne, I told you to stop calling me.” He said.
“Is that how you greet your girlfriend?” The voice on the other side.
“I’m sure she’d have something to say about me calling her ‘Adrienne’.” Matt quipped.
“Come on Matt, your friends aren’t around now, you don’t have to pretend.”
“I’m not pretending. We’re through. I love Hannah.”
“No you don’t. You’ll see. She’s just another fling. What we’ve got is going to last forever.”
“You’re a complete psycho, aren’t you?”
“No. I just know that Hannah isn’t enough for you. That’s why you were with me in the first place.”
“See, the operative word in that sentence is ‘were’. What we did was a mistake. I shouldn’t have done it.”
“But you loved every minute of it.”
“That doesn’t make it right.”
“I didn’t hear a denial.”
“I wasn’t denying it. But I’m passed that. You were a phase. I needed help getting through some stuff, and I needed to blow off some steam.”
“And the time will come when you’ll need it again, and Hannah still won’t be able to satisfy your every need. And you’ll come crawling back.”
“Are you listening to yourself? Hannah is more than enough for me now. I love her.”
“Does she do that thing I do? With my tongue?”
“No. She doesn’t need any tricks.”
“Funny, because that’s where she’ll be when you’re through with her. Turning tricks on some New York corner.”
“You’re insane. This conversation is over.” Matt hung up his phone.
He sat down on the couch for a moment, before deciding that he really wasn’t in the mood to watch a movie, and turned to CNN instead.
“Oh no…” He said, as he saw the events unfolding in downtown Los Angeles.
<><><>
“And look at this one. There’s a whole family in there.” Gauss pointed at the car that was floating next to them.
“No… Please don’t.” Charlie whimpered.
“I didn’t listen to you the first five times, why would I now?” Gauss pointed at the pile of car wrecks on the ground below them.
“Please… Those people have lives to live… You can’t-“
“I can’t? I can do anything!” Gauss closed his fist, and the car compressed itself into a cube, completely destroying everyone inside.
“You… You monster. There were children inside. How can you live with yourself?” Charlie was openly crying now.
“So their lives are more important than the people I just threw down there to their deaths?” Gauss cackled. “Aren’t people all supposed to be equal?”
“No! They’re children! They had their whole lives ahead of them!” Charlie shouted.
“Then if I was to crush you, it would be perfectly fine? Because you’ve already lived at least half your life?” Gauss waved his hand, and two cars sailed up to their level, and began drifting towards Charlie.
“What? No! Please don’t!” Charlie screamed.
The cars stopped in place, floating mere yards away from Charlie.
“You fools and your double-standards.” Gauss laughed. “You say that the lives of children are so important, but when it comes to your own… That’s the only one you truly care about.”
“And what about you? You only care about yourself, right?” Charlie demanded.
“Oh, you’re finally growing a backbone, are you?” Gauss chuckled. “Of course I do. But I don’t pretend otherwise.”
“You’re a monster.” Charlie said, before spitting at him. “I’m tired of your games. Kill me if you want.”
“Now that would be too easy. I’m having fun.” Gauss said, as the two cars he was suspending began to plummet. “I like watching you watch them. The pain in your heart, as they crash to their doom, knowing there’s nothing you can do.”
Charlie started to laugh, before pointing at the two cars on the ground. The occupants had emerged from their vehicles and were running away.
“What?! How?!” Gauss demanded.
“There may be nothing I can do, but he’s another matter.” Charlie said.
“What?” Gauss asked, as Mr Universe tackled him in mid-air, the two magnetic masters tangled up into a ball as they hurtled towards the Earth.
Charlie felt himself falling, as Gauss lost concentration momentarily, but as the hero and villain untangled themselves and regained their composures, Mr Universe caught him, and lowered him the to the ground.
“I was really hoping you’d be the first one here boy.” Gauss said.
“I’m going to put a stop to you once and for all Gauss.” Mr Universe said. “What you’ve done here today is inexcusable.”
“But it was all for you.” Gauss laughed. “I knew this was the best way to get your attention, while the Boomers are away in San Francisco, stopping the prison riots I started.”
“Why would you do something like this?” Mr Universe asked, pointing at the pile of wrecked cars on the ground.
“Because I want you, Mr Universe.” Gauss cackled.
“I want you to die.”