Just as he’d said, Walter and his two children met again. This time, however, it was Tate that had on the shared suit rather than his sister. It was personal. He’d started this entire crime fighting thing because of Leviathan, and now he was going to end it. Tana had insisted on being there herself, using a makeshift mask to hide her identity despite the fact they all knew who each other were at this point.
The two Crawford children had never felt so betrayed before, and that was a lot when one considered that Tate had a lot of betrayals in his short life already. What was truly important was stopping Leviathan, and that was something that Tate was going to do. He’d promised to make their streets safer. He’d promised to stop Walter, no matter what it took to do so. And Tate? Well, he simply refused to be like his father. Keeping his word, his promises, was all that mattered.
They’d tracked their father down to one of the warehouses that he had told Tate he ran around the city. It was near one of the many channels that ran through the city, as most of New Elysium was situated on islands and all connected via short bridges. This one was the closest to the heart of the city. The most built up part full of the largest skyscrapers were just across the bay, shining in the setting sun. Originally they’d anticipated going in quietly, but that was quickly foiled as Tana bumped directly into an armed guard who opened fire on her without any thought. She’d turned her skin to steel, and thankfully would only come out with bruises that would heal in a couple of days.
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Leviathan had taken off. Running at the first sound of gunfire. He knew that his children were coming for him, but he wasn’t going to make it easy for them. Four years of the same thing. He’d run away the second the fight got too intense. Tate wasn’t going to let that happen this time. Taking off after this father, and managing to grab onto the man just as he came flying by in his exo-suit. Climbing up until he grappled onto his father’s chest, not letting go no matter how hard Walter punched. “Just let go, boy!” Walter shouted at his son, but Tate refused.
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“I gave you the chance to turn yourself in, asshole! You’re all out of chances now, Walter!” Tate shouted back, holding on for dear life as they continued to gain altitude. “It doesn’t matter if you get away this time or not, I’ll never stop tearing your shitty empire down! We’ll crush it!”
As Tate continued to shout at his father, he began slamming his fist into the shield protecting the power cell in the center of Leviathan’s chest. He knew if he could get that out, Walter was essentially powerless. He’d never survive a hand-to-hand battle with his son that could lift a car. The man didn’t have that kind of strength without the suit. He’d nearly succeeded at clawing it out once before, so he knew it was possible. All Tate needed to do was break into it so he could absorb more of the reactor’s energy, and then he’d be able to actually free it fully.
The two men continued to squabble mid-air, as Leviathan didn’t stop going straight up into the sky. They had to be hundreds of feet above the water now, and a plummet that far could injure them both severely. Tate didn’t care. He continued to slam his fist into his father’s chest, hearing the loud cracking sound when he’d finally broken the protective layer. Immediately he began absorbing the energy as it seeped out, threatening to explode from where he’d damaged the reactor. He could feel it burning his entire arm, a searing pain as he absorbed all of the radiation he could while he continued to push his fingers into the hard material of the exo-suit. Tate’s suit began to burn away from where his hand was absorbing the energy, slowly being eaten away from his arm as the energy crawled up it.
He ripped the tiny reactor free of Leviathan’s suit and watched as the green glow flickered off. The thrusters sputtered and ceased to keep propelling them upwards, just as Tate pulled the reactor back and showed it to his father. Leviathan’s mask was no longer glowing either, but Tate could see his reflection in it. His entire body was lit up a bright blue, even through the suit he had on. “It’s over, Walter.”
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“Wait, don’t-!” Walter shouted as he watched his son close his fist around the reactor and crush it.
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It was too late. Just as Tate crushed the reactor, a massive explosion happened. Sending both father and son in opposite directions of each other. The shockwave that separated them was only amplified by Tate’s own powers being released, as he couldn’t keep containing that much energy within his body any longer. The sky lit up green and blue as both of the men began plummeting back down. Somehow they both crashed into the bay. They both hit the water, but only Leviathan came out. Pulled out of the water by the police that had already arrived on the scene. They unmasked him and quickly whisked him off to jail.
What the news cameras and police officers didn’t see was a frantic young girl jumping into the water further down the channel herself. Tana found her brother and pulled him out of the water, getting him back to safety on her own. The rest of the Crawfords would wake up the next morning to the breaking news that Leviathan had been captured, and that his identity had been revealed as Walter Yeong-Saeng Crawford. A petty criminal turned supervillain. His mugshot was plastered everywhere, and his family quickly became targets of the media. Everyone had questions about Leviathan and if those closest to him had known. It would take weeks for the buzz to die down, and for the family to finally go back to being nobodies again. Tate's anger and hatred only festered more and more. Seeing just how badly his family was hurt only put the final nail in the coffin that was his love for his father.
The heartbreak that they’d all experience was nothing compared to what would come. That was just something that came with the hero title. Heartbreak and betrayal. Tate had decided he’d had his fair share of being a hero, however, and gave the masked moniker of Spitfire fully over to his sister, Tana. She’d go on to become a feared symbol among the criminal underworld. Known to punch first and ask questions later. As for Tate? He just wanted to be a normal person again, without all the superpowers and superhero business. But, as already stated, with great power comes great responsibility.
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