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Concrete Kings III: Return of Obsidian
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Three months had passed since Ashcroft nearly burned to the ground.
From a distance, the city looked healed.
New glass filled the windows that had been shattered during the battle. Fresh asphalt covered craters where alien weapons had struck the streets. Construction crews worked from sunrise until well after dark, rebuilding apartment buildings, storefronts, playgrounds, and schools. Murals of Tamir and Trevon appeared on walls all over the east side, some painted professionally, others sprayed onto brick by teenagers who had watched the brothers fight for their lives above the city.
People had started calling them the Concrete Kings long before either brother became comfortable with the name.
Eventually, resisting it became pointless.
To Ashcroft, they were no longer only Tamir and Trevon.
They were proof that heroes could come from cracked sidewalks, crowded apartments, corner stores, and neighborhoods outsiders usually mentioned only when something terrible happened.
But the people closest to them still treated them the same.
Especially Malik.
“You know what’s crazy?” Malik said as he leaned against the hood of his car outside Monroe Market one warm Saturday afternoon. “You two can fly across the city, throw cars, punch through walls, and somehow neither one of you can answer a phone.”
Tamir glanced down at his cell phone.
“You called me twice.”
“Four times.”
“Two.”
Malik held up his phone.
“Four.”
Trevon walked out of the store carrying three bottles of water and tossed one toward Malik.
“You know he ignores everybody.”
“He definitely answers your mother.”
“Everybody answers our mother.”
Malik laughed.
That was how things used to be.
The three of them standing outside a store, arguing about nothing.
Malik had known the brothers since they were children. He had been there before the powers, before the battles, before strange creatures started appearing in the sky. He remembered Tamir getting suspended for fighting in eighth grade. He remembered Trevon wrecking his first car less than a week after buying it. He remembered all three of them spending summer nights playing basketball under lights that flickered every few minutes.
To the world, Tamir and Trevon were superheroes.
To Malik, they were still his boys.
He never let them forget it.
Malik twisted the cap from his water bottle“So what happens now?”
Tamir looked at him.
“What do you mean?”
“You saved the city twice. Government got people watching the sky. Reporters camping outside y’all headquarters. Everybody waiting for something else to happen.”
He took a drink.
“What if nothing happens?”
Trevon looked toward the intersection.
“That would be fine with me.”
Malik nodded.
“Exactly.”
Tamir didn't answer.
Malik noticed.
“You don't think it's over.”
It wasn't really a question.
Tamir looked toward the skyline.
Since the last battle, he had found it difficult to believe in peace.
Not because he wanted another fight.
Because he had learned how quickly normal life could disappear.
One moment people were buying groceries and driving home from work.
The next moment buildings were collapsing.
“Obsidian is still out there,” Tamir said.
Malik's expression became more serious.
Nobody needed an explanation.
General Obsidian had survived.
They knew that much.
During their last encounter, the alien warlord had escaped through a portal moments before the destruction of his command vessel. A military satellite had briefly detected the portal's energy signature beyond Earth's atmosphere before losing it.
Then nothing.
For three months, Obsidian had vanished.
No message.
No attack.
No warning.
Trevon folded his arms.
“He ran.”
Tamir looked at him.
“He retreated.”
“Same thing.”
“No. It isn't.”
Tamir had thought about that distinction every night since the battle.
People ran when they were afraid.
Soldiers retreated when they planned to return.
And Obsidian was a soldier.
A ruthless one.
Malik broke the silence.
“Well, whenever he comes back, make sure y’all handle that somewhere away from my car.”
Trevon shook his head.
“There it is.”
“I just got it fixed.”
The three men laughed.
For a little while, Ashcroft felt ordinary.
None of them knew it would be the last afternoon they would ever spend together.
Sixteen thousand miles above Earth, something moved through darkness.
At first, the object was too far away for satellites to detect.
Then it became dozens of objects.
Then hundreds.
A military observation station in Nevada detected the first anomaly shortly after 6:00 p.m.
Technicians initially assumed the readings were equipment errors.
Objects appeared near the moon without approaching through conventional space.
They simply emerged.
One after another.
Within forty seconds, alarms sounded throughout the facility.
Calls went to Washington.
Washington contacted allied governments.
Military satellites shifted position.
What they found immediately classified itself beyond anything humanity had prepared for.
Ships.
Hundreds of them.
Black vessels stretched across space in organized formations.
Some were small enough to move through Earth's atmosphere.
Others were several miles long.
At their center traveled a massive command ship, shaped like a spearhead and surrounded by rotating rings of dark energy.
On its bridge stood General Obsidian.
His armor had changed since his defeat.
The damaged plating had been replaced with heavier black metal forged on his home world. Deep crimson energy moved through narrow lines across his chest and arms. A long scar crossed the left side of his face from Tamir's final attack during their last battle.
Obsidian had refused to have it removed.
He wanted to remember Earth.
He wanted to remember humiliation.
Behind him stood dozens of warriors from his species.
They shared his towering height, dark stone-like skin, and glowing crimson eyes. Some wore heavy battle armor. Others carried long staffs or weapons mounted over their shoulders.
Their species called themselves the Veyari.
For generations, the Veyari had conquered worlds across distant systems.
Earth was supposed to have been easy.
A primitive civilization.
Fragmented governments.
Weak technology.
No organized planetary defense.
Then Obsidian encountered Tamir and Trevon.
And everything changed.
A Veyari commander approached him.
“General, the fleet is in position.”
Obsidian stared through the observation window.
Earth floated before him.
Blue.
White.
Alive.
He hated it.
Not the planet itself.
What it represented.
Failure.
His first true defeat.
“Begin descent.”
The commander hesitated.
“The Council instructed us to recover the Crown energy before initiating planetary destruction.”
Obsidian slowly turned.
The commander immediately lowered his eyes.
“I know what the Council ordered.”
“Yes, General.”
Obsidian looked back toward Earth.
“The humans who defeated me believe they understand what they carry.”
His scar tightened as his jaw clenched.
“They understand nothing.”
He raised one armored hand.
A holographic image appeared.
Tamir.
Then Trevon.
“Bring me the brothers alive.”
The commander nodded.
“And the others?”
Obsidian's eyes burned brighter.
“There are no others.”
At 6:43 p.m., every phone in Crown Station began ringing at once.
Tamir and Trevon were already moving before the emergency alert finished displaying.
Malik followed them inside.
The central command room erupted with activity.
Military officers appeared across video screens. Satellite images filled monitors. AURA processed information so quickly that entire columns of data flashed faster than human eyes could follow.
Tamir stared at the main display.
“What are we looking at?”
AURA enlarged the image.
Black shapes surrounded Earth.
Trevon's face changed.
“Ships.”
“Yes,” AURA replied.
“How many?”
“Confirmed count is currently eight hundred and twelve.”
Malik stepped closer.
“Eight hundred?”
“Additional objects remain unidentified.”
Tamir stared at the largest vessel.
He already knew.
AURA confirmed it seconds later.
“Energy signature matches General Obsidian's previous command technology.”
Nobody spoke.
Malik looked between the brothers.
“So he's back.”
Tamir nodded.
“He brought his whole army with him.”
The station shook.
A distant explosion followed.
Everyone looked upward.
AURA's voice changed.
“Atmospheric entry detected.”
The main display shifted.
Dozens of Veyari ships were entering the atmosphere.
Then hundreds.
They appeared over North America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and South America almost simultaneously.
But the largest concentration was descending toward Ashcroft.
Obsidian remembered exactly where he had lost.
He was coming back to finish it.
Tamir turned toward Malik.
“You need to get underground.”
Malik stared at him.
“No.”
“Malik.”
“No.”
“This isn't the last fight.”
“I know exactly what this is.”
“You don't have powers.”
“I didn't last time either.”
Trevon looked at him.
“This is different.”
Malik pointed toward the screen.
“That's why I'm staying.”
Tamir's voice hardened.
“You can't help us fight those things.”
“I can help people get out.”
“Military's handling evacuation.”
“You know this neighborhood better than they do.”
Malik looked from Tamir to Trevon.
“There are old people over on Grant who aren't gonna leave because some soldier tells them to. Half the families on Monroe don't even have cars. Somebody needs to get them to the shelters.”
Tamir started to argue.
Then stopped.
Malik was right.
He usually was when it mattered.
Tamir reached out and gripped his shoulder.
“If things get bad, you leave.”
Malik nodded.
Tamir kept holding his shoulder.
“I mean it.”
“I heard you.”
Neither man knew the promise would become impossible to keep.
The first Veyari ships appeared over Ashcroft at 7:02 p.m.
People had already filled the streets.
Police cruisers blocked intersections while buses carried residents toward underground shelters. National Guard vehicles moved through downtown. Fighter jets screamed overhead toward the approaching fleet.
Then the sunlight disappeared.
Everyone looked up.
A vessel nearly a mile long moved across the city.
Its shadow swallowed entire neighborhoods.
More ships followed.
Tamir and Trevon stood on the roof of Crown Station as their armor formed around them.
For several seconds, neither brother moved.
The scale of the invasion was unlike anything they had faced.
The last time Obsidian came to Earth, he brought soldiers.
This time he had brought civilization-ending force.
Trevon stared toward the horizon.
“He really came back for us.”
Tamir's hands began glowing.
“Then he can have us.”
Trevon looked over.
Tamir stepped toward the roof's edge.
“But he doesn't get the city.”
They launched together.
The Concrete Kings streaked upward.
Almost immediately, Veyari fighters broke formation.
Twenty came toward them.
Tamir struck the first one head-on.
His fist tore through the vessel's armored front.
He flew through its interior and burst from the opposite side as the fighter exploded behind him.
Trevon spread both hands.
The metallic hulls of three nearby fighters groaned.
He pulled.
The ships collided.
Another squadron fired.
Crimson beams crossed the sky.
Tamir rolled between them and returned fire.
Blue energy ripped through two ships.
Trevon redirected pieces of wreckage, sending jagged metal into approaching fighters.
Below them, Ashcroft became a battlefield again.
Veyari troops descended onto rooftops and streets.
They were larger than humans and moved with disciplined precision.
National Guard soldiers opened fire.
Bullets struck their armor.
Some fell.
Others continued advancing.
Malik drove through Monroe Avenue with four elderly residents packed into his car.
Explosions shook the buildings around him.
A Veyari fighter crashed through an apartment building half a block away.
People screamed and ran.
Malik slammed on the brakes.
A woman stood in the street holding a little girl.
“Get in!”
She didn't hesitate.
Malik pushed open the rear door.
The woman climbed inside with the child.
He turned the car toward the nearest shelter.
Behind him, the sky burned.
Tamir crashed through the side of a troop carrier.
Inside, more than thirty Veyari warriors turned toward him.
He didn't hesitate.
The first swung a massive blade.
Tamir ducked.
His fist struck the warrior's chest hard enough to launch him through the wall.
Two others attacked.
Tamir released energy from his body.
The blast filled the compartment.
Warriors flew backward.
The ship tilted.
Warning lights flashed.
Tamir jumped through the opening just before the carrier smashed into an office building.
He emerged into open air and saw Trevon fighting above the city.
Trevon had become the center of a storm of metal.
Destroyed vehicles, pieces of satellites, shattered fighter hulls, and fragments of alien armor rotated around him.
He sent the debris outward.
Veyari fighters fell from the sky.
For several minutes, the brothers appeared unstoppable.
Then the command ship arrived.
It moved through the clouds slowly.
Everything beneath it darkened.
Tamir stopped.
Trevon floated beside him.
They both knew who was aboard.
A section of the command vessel opened.
A figure stepped into the air.
Obsidian.
He descended without a ship.
Without hesitation.
The crimson energy surrounding his armor grew brighter as he approached.
Tamir's fists tightened.
Trevon moved forward.
Obsidian stopped several yards away.
For the first time since their previous battle, the three enemies faced one another.
Obsidian looked at Tamir.
Then Trevon.
His eyes showed no surprise.
No fear.
Only hatred.
“Concrete Kings.”
Tamir stared at the scar across his face.
“You should've stayed gone.”
Obsidian's expression remained still.
“You mistake survival for mercy.”
Trevon moved slightly to Tamir's left.
Obsidian noticed.
He noticed everything.
“You embarrassed me before my people.”
Tamir answered, “You tried to destroy ours.”
“I came to reclaim something stolen from my species.”
“You came here killing people.”
Obsidian's voice lowered.
“And now I have returned without restraint.”
He lifted one hand.
The fleet responded.
Hundreds of ships changed position.
Weapons turned toward the city.
Tamir looked around.
Obsidian watched him.
“This time, I did not come alone.”
Tamir turned back.
“You needed help.”
The insult landed exactly as intended.
Obsidian charged.
His fist struck Tamir before Trevon saw him move.
Tamir shot backward through the air.
Trevon attacked from the side.
Obsidian caught his arm.
He pulled Trevon forward and drove a knee into his stomach.
Then he threw him toward the city.
Tamir recovered and slammed into Obsidian.
They crashed onto the roof of a skyscraper.
Concrete exploded.
Tamir punched.
Obsidian blocked.
Tamir struck again.
Obsidian caught his wrist.
The two struggled.
Their armor cracked the roof beneath them.
Obsidian leaned closer.
“I studied every second of our last battle.”
Tamir tried pulling free.
“I studied you.”
Obsidian drove his forehead into Tamir's face.
Tamir staggered.
Obsidian kicked him through an air-conditioning unit.
“You relied on instinct.”
Another strike.
“Anger.”
Another.
“Luck.”
Tamir hit the roof hard.
Obsidian stood above him.
“You defeated a version of me that no longer exists.”
A silver cable wrapped around Obsidian's throat.
Trevon yanked.
Obsidian flew backward.
Tamir rose immediately.
The brothers attacked together.
Their movements had improved.
Months of training showed.
Tamir pressured Obsidian directly while Trevon manipulated the battlefield around him.
Steel pipes ripped from the roof.
Obsidian blocked one.
Another struck his back.
Tamir landed a punch against his jaw.
Obsidian stumbled.
Trevon pulled an entire communication tower sideways.
Tamir caught it.
He swung the structure like a massive weapon.
The impact sent Obsidian through the rooftop.
For a moment, the brothers stood over the hole.
Then crimson light erupted beneath them.
The roof exploded.
Obsidian emerged.
His armor had changed.
Additional plates expanded across his shoulders.
Energy flooded his body.
He grabbed Tamir by the throat.
Trevon attacked.
Obsidian released a pulse.
Trevon's magnetic field collapsed.
He fell.
Tamir's eyes widened.
Obsidian smiled for the first time.
“We learned from you.”
He threw Tamir after his brother.
The brothers fell toward Ashcroft.
Malik had already made three trips to the shelter.
He should have stayed underground after the first.
Instead, every time he saw another group trapped outside, he went back.
On his fourth trip, he found a city bus overturned near Jefferson Square.
Smoke poured from its engine.
People were trapped inside.
Malik stopped the car.
Gunfire echoed nearby.
He ran toward the bus.
A man inside kicked at the shattered front window.
Malik grabbed his arm and helped pull him through.
“How many?”
“Maybe ten.”
Malik climbed inside.
The bus smelled of smoke and gasoline.
People cried out from the rear.
A woman was pinned beneath a seat.
Malik crawled toward her.
“Don't move.”
“My leg.”
“I know.”
He grabbed the twisted seat frame.
It wouldn't move.
Another man joined him.
Together they lifted.
The woman pulled herself free.
An explosion sounded outside.
The bus shook.
Malik looked through the broken window.
Three Veyari soldiers had entered the square.
National Guard soldiers fired from behind an armored vehicle.
One Veyari raised a weapon.
A crimson blast destroyed the vehicle.
Malik turned toward the passengers.
“Everybody out. Now.”
He helped them crawl through the front.
The last person was a teenage boy.
Malik pushed him toward the opening.
“Go.”
The boy jumped.
Malik followed.
Outside, the fighting had moved closer.
One Veyari soldier saw the civilians.
Its weapon turned.
Malik froze.
Before it fired, something dropped from the sky.
Tamir slammed into the soldier.
The impact cracked the street.
Tamir rose.
“Malik!”
Malik looked up.
Tamir's armor was damaged.
Blood covered one side of his face.
“What happened?”
“Get them underground.”
Malik pointed toward the civilians.
“I'm trying.”
Trevon landed nearby.
“Obsidian's different.”
Tamir looked toward the sky.
“He figured out how to interfere with our powers.”
Malik saw another Veyari squad moving toward them.
“Then stop standing here.”
The brothers turned.
Malik started guiding civilians toward the shelter entrance across the square.
Tamir and Trevon moved to intercept the soldiers.
For the next several minutes, Jefferson Square became chaos.
Tamir fought three Veyari at once.
Trevon lifted abandoned cars and used them as barriers to protect fleeing civilians.
Malik kept people moving.
“Inside!”
A mother stumbled.
Malik grabbed her.
“Keep going!”
The shelter entrance was less than fifty feet away.
Then Obsidian landed in the square.
The ground cracked beneath his boots.
Tamir saw him immediately.
“Malik!”
Obsidian looked toward the civilians.
Then toward Malik.
His eyes narrowed.
He recognized him.
Not because Malik possessed power.
Because Obsidian had studied Tamir and Trevon.
He knew their routines.
Their family.
Their allies.
Their weaknesses.
Malik was in the files.
Obsidian smiled faintly.
Tamir realized what he was thinking.
“No.”
Obsidian moved.
Tamir attacked.
Obsidian knocked him aside.
Trevon sent a metal beam toward him.
Obsidian released another suppression pulse.
The beam dropped.
Obsidian continued toward Malik.
Tamir flew after him.
Two Veyari warriors intercepted.
Tamir fought desperately to get past them.
“Malik, move!”
Malik looked back.
Obsidian was coming.
He pushed the last civilians toward the shelter.
“Go!”
A little girl froze near the entrance.
She had fallen.
Her mother screamed from inside.
Malik turned back.
Obsidian raised his weapon.
Malik saw the girl.
Then the weapon.
He didn't think.
He ran.
Malik reached her and threw himself over her body.
The weapon fired.
A crimson blast crossed Jefferson Square.
Tamir broke free from the Veyari soldiers just in time to see it happen.
The blast struck Malik in the back.
His body lifted from the ground.
For one impossible second, everything seemed silent.
Then Malik fell.
“NO!”
Tamir's scream echoed through the square.
The little girl crawled away.
Her mother grabbed her and pulled her into the shelter.
Malik remained on the pavement.
Tamir reached him first.
He dropped to his knees.
“Malik.”
There was no response.
Trevon landed beside them.
His face changed the moment he saw the wound.
The blast had burned through Malik's jacket and shirt.
Tamir carefully rolled him over.
Malik's eyes opened.
Barely.
Tamir put one hand behind his head.
“Stay with me.”
Malik tried to breathe.
Blood appeared at the corner of his mouth.
Trevon looked away for half a second.
Then back.
“Medical team!”
No one came.
The square was still under attack.
Malik looked at Tamir.
“You got her?”
Tamir's face tightened.
“What?”
“The girl.”
Tamir looked toward the shelter entrance.
She was alive.
“Yeah.”
Malik slowly nodded.
“Good.”
Tamir shook his head.
“You're gonna be okay.”
Malik knew better.
So did Trevon.
Tamir refused to accept it.
“We're getting you out.”
Malik reached weakly for Tamir's arm.
“Listen.”
“Don't.”
“Tamir.”
Something in his voice stopped him.
For a moment, the war around them seemed far away.
Three boys on Monroe Avenue.
Basketball after dark.
Walking home from school.
Laughing outside corner stores.
Years that had seemed ordinary until they were gone.
“You two always thought this was about the powers.”
Tamir's eyes filled.
Malik struggled for another breath.
“It ain't.”
Trevon moved closer.
Malik looked at him.
“It's about who you protect.”
His hand slipped slightly.
Tamir caught it.
Malik looked toward the sky.
Obsidian was still there.
Watching.
Malik's eyes returned to Tamir.
“Finish it.”
His body relaxed.
Tamir stared at him.
“Malik?”
Nothing.
“Malik.”
Trevon lowered his head.
Tamir shook Malik gently.
“No.”
His voice broke.
“Malik.”
There was no answer.
The war continued around them.
But one life had stopped.
A life that had mattered more to the brothers than all the cheering crowds, murals, headlines, and superhero names combined.
Tamir slowly lowered Malik to the ground.
When he stood, something inside him had changed.
Obsidian saw it.
Trevon saw it too.
The blue light beneath Tamir's armor became brighter.
Not wild.
Not uncontrolled.
Focused.
Tamir looked at Obsidian.
“You wanted me angry.”
Obsidian raised his chin.
Tamir stepped forward.
“You should've left him alone.”
Obsidian lifted his weapon.
Tamir vanished.
The pavement exploded where he had stood.
His fist struck Obsidian square in the face.
The impact sent the Veyari general through three buildings.
Tamir followed.
Obsidian barely emerged from the rubble before Tamir hit him again.
Then again.
Every strike carried more Crown Energy.
Obsidian tried activating his suppression system.
Tamir's power flickered.
Then surged through it.
The device shattered.
Obsidian's eyes widened.
Tamir grabbed him by the armor.
“You studied how we fight.”
He slammed Obsidian into the ground.
“But you never understood why.”
Trevon arrived.
His grief looked different.
Tamir burned.
Trevon became cold.
Every piece of metal within Jefferson Square lifted.
Then every vehicle.
Every broken beam.
Every fragment of alien armor.
Thousands of objects rose into the air.
The remaining Veyari soldiers stopped.
Trevon's eyes glowed silver.
He closed his fists.
Veyari weapons tore from their hands.
Armor plates ripped from damaged soldiers.
Fighters above the city began losing control.
Obsidian pushed Tamir away and rose.
He looked around.
For the first time since returning to Earth, uncertainty appeared on his face.
Tamir and Trevon stood together.
Behind them lay Malik.
Ahead of them stood the army responsible.
Obsidian activated a communication channel.
“Fleet.”
Every Veyari vessel responded.
“Destroy Ashcroft.”
Tamir looked upward.
Hundreds of weapons charged.
Trevon stared at his brother.
“If those ships fire—”
“They won't.”
Tamir launched.
Trevon followed.
They flew directly toward the fleet.
The first barrage came.
Tamir spread both hands.
Crown Energy expanded around him.
The beams struck the shield.
The sky turned white.
Tamir screamed as the force pushed him backward.
Trevon flew beneath him.
He reached toward the Veyari ships.
Their hulls responded.
One ship turned.
Then another.
Trevon forced their weapons away from the city.
Several fired into empty sky.
Tamir released the shield.
The brothers flew straight into formation.
What followed was unlike any battle Ashcroft had ever witnessed.
Tamir became a streak of blue light tearing through fighters.
Trevon turned the enemy fleet against itself.
Ships collided.
Weapons rotated away from Earth.
Veyari pilots struggled against controls ripped from their hands by magnetic force.
Tamir punched through engines.
Explosions rolled across the sky.
Obsidian returned to his command ship.
“Bring the primary cannon online.”
The Veyari commander hesitated.
“General, the weapon will destroy the Crown energy.”
“I no longer care.”
“Council law—”
Obsidian grabbed him by the throat.
“I am the law here.”
He threw the commander aside.
The command ship began charging.
A massive crimson sphere formed beneath its hull.
AURA spoke inside Tamir's armor.
“Extreme energy concentration detected.”
Tamir looked toward the command vessel.
Trevon saw it too.
They both understood.
One shot would erase Ashcroft.
Possibly more.
Tamir turned toward his brother.
“We hit it together.”
Trevon nodded.
They flew.
Veyari fighters surrounded them.
Trevon tore a path through.
Tamir blasted through the opening.
The command ship fired.
The crimson beam descended.
Tamir and Trevon met it head-on.
Tamir released everything he had.
Blue Crown Energy collided with crimson destruction.
Trevon wrapped his magnetic field around the beam, forcing its direction upward.
For several seconds, neither side moved.
The sky shook.
Buildings trembled below.
Tamir thought of Malik.
Not dying.
Living.
Laughing outside Monroe Market.
Driving too fast.
Calling four times when Tamir refused to answer.
Standing beside them before anyone called them kings.
Tamir screamed and pushed harder.
Trevon did the same.
The beam began moving backward.
Inside the command ship, alarms sounded.
Obsidian stared at the display.
“No.”
The energy reached the cannon.
The weapon exploded.
The front of the command ship disappeared in fire.
Veyari vessels scattered.
Tamir and Trevon flew through the explosion.
They entered the damaged ship through the opening.
Inside, Veyari soldiers rushed toward them.
Neither brother slowed down.
Minutes later, they reached the bridge.
Obsidian stood alone.
Smoke filled the chamber.
The observation window behind him showed Earth.
Obsidian removed his damaged helmet.
His scar was bleeding.
“You think killing me ends this?”
Tamir stared at him.
“No.”
Obsidian smiled.
“Then you finally understand.”
“There will always be another fleet.”
Tamir continued walking.
“Maybe.”
“Another enemy.”
“Probably.”
Obsidian raised his fists.
“Another war.”
Tamir stopped.
“But there won't be another Malik.”
Obsidian charged.
The final fight was brutal.
No speeches.
No hesitation.
Tamir attacked high.
Trevon attacked low.
Obsidian fought harder than he ever had.
He broke Trevon's armor.
He cracked Tamir's chest plate.
He threw both brothers across the bridge.
But every time they fell, they stood again.
Eventually, Trevon trapped Obsidian's arms against the metal wall.
Tamir approached.
Obsidian struggled.
The wall bent around him.
Tamir stopped inches away.
Obsidian stared into his eyes.
“Do it.”
Tamir raised his glowing fist.
For a moment, Malik's body flashed through his mind.
He wanted to kill him.
More than he had ever wanted anything.
Then Malik's final words returned.
Tamir lowered his fist.
Obsidian looked confused.
Trevon looked at him too.
Tamir stepped away.
“I'm not becoming you.”
Obsidian's confusion became rage.
“You think mercy makes you superior?”
“No.”
Tamir looked through the damaged observation window.
“It reminds me who I am.”
AURA spoke through their armor.
“Command ship reactor unstable. Total failure imminent.”
Trevon looked toward Tamir.
“We have to move.”
They turned.
Obsidian laughed behind them.
Tamir stopped.
The general had pulled one arm free.
Then the other.
He grabbed a broken Veyari blade and charged.
Trevon saw him first.
“Tamir!”
Tamir turned.
Obsidian raised the weapon.
Before he could strike, the ship shifted violently.
The damaged floor beneath Obsidian collapsed.
His eyes widened.
He fell through the opening into the burning reactor chamber below.
Tamir lunged toward him.
Too late.
Obsidian disappeared into crimson light.
The reactor exploded.
Tamir and Trevon launched through the observation window.
They flew away as the command ship broke apart behind them.
Across Earth's atmosphere, the remaining Veyari fleet began retreating.
Without Obsidian, their formation collapsed.
Portals opened.
One ship after another disappeared into darkness.
Within minutes, the invasion was over.
The brothers returned to Jefferson Square just before sunrise.
Emergency workers filled the streets.
Smoke still drifted between buildings.
Fires burned in the distance.
People emerged from shelters.
Some cheered when they saw Tamir and Trevon land.
The brothers didn't respond.
They walked through the crowd.
Malik's body had been covered with a white emergency blanket.
Tamir stopped.
Trevon stood beside him.
For several seconds, neither moved.
Then Tamir knelt.
He pulled the blanket back just enough to see Malik's face.
Peaceful now.
Almost like he was sleeping.
Trevon lowered himself beside his brother.
Tamir stared at their friend.
“We won.”
His voice was barely audible.
Trevon looked down.
It didn't feel like victory.
Tamir covered Malik again.
People had begun gathering behind them The girl looked toward the covered body.
“He saved me.”
Tamir couldn't speak.
Trevon placed a hand on the girl's shoulder.
“We know.”
That morning, news networks around the world called it the Battle of Ashcroft.
They showed footage of the Concrete Kings destroying Veyari ships.
They replayed images of Tamir and Trevon pushing the command weapon away from the city.
They called the brothers Earth's greatest heroes.
But in Ashcroft, people told another story.
They told people about Malik.
The man without armor.
Without supernatural strength.
Without the ability to fly.
The man who kept driving back into danger because there were still people who needed help.
Weeks later, a new mural appeared on Monroe Avenue.
Tamir and Trevon stood on either side.
Malik stood between them.
No glowing eyes.
No armor.
Just Malik.
Across the bottom were three words: A KING TOO.
The Concrete Kings had saved Ashcroft again.
This time, the city had paid for victory with someone they loved.