"Hello brother," Francis wheezed through the mask, Ben immediately rushing to his side.

     He tore off the mask, but all he saw was a scarred and bruised face of a man who only faintly looked like his brother. Years of abuse had left the man a tattered soul, and it was reflected in the sadness in his eyes.

     "Francis?" Ben asked, his eyes suddenly clouding with tears.

     "Surprised to see me?" Francis asked, before he erupted into a fit of coughing.

     The world instantly seemed to freeze as Ben made the connections in his mind. He had been fighting his last surviving family member the entire time, and the thought made Ben sick. Emotion washed over him as he cradled his wounded sibling, and he tried to hold back tears as his world began to tear apart.

     "But...why?" Ben whispered. "Why?"

     "Don't cry over a fallen warrior, when you are one yourself," Francis whispered, spite in his voice.

     "You were dead..." Ben whispered to himself.

     "You let me die," Francis hissed. "You let me be taken, and you never came back!"

     "I thought you were gone..." Ben whispered.

     Francis shook his head, "For years, I blamed you. I blamed you for the years of abuse, and for the pain I suffered..."

     "I'm so sorry...I'm so sorry..." Ben repeated.

     "I donned the mask so I could bring justice to people like the ones who harmed me," Francis continued, it appeared as if talking was a great pain. "But then I was contacted by a group of people saying they could give me information...if I stole an artifact..."

     "Information?" Ben asked.

     Francis faintly pointed to the envelope, which was lying several feet from where they were.

     "They didn't tell me that I was going to find you," Francis whispered, shaking his head. "When I found you in the alley I didn't believe it was you. The fight in San Diego, the second time we met, it was to complete my mission. Once I knew it was you, though, I was consumed by anger..."

     "Please..." Ben whispered.

     Francis shook his head, tears swimming down his face, "I found you in the factory, and I went there to kill you...all those years of abuse...so much pain...it was all your fault..."

     "Francis..." Ben begged.

     "I...hated...you..." Francis whispered, but then the light died from his eyes.

     "No!" Ben screamed. "No!"

     His world was destroyed, and all he could do was cradle the dead body of his brother. Francis, the Silver Assassin, it didn't matter to Ben. He was his brother.

     Ben looked up at the gaping hole in the ceiling where the beam of light had shot through. He shook his head, beginning to cry, as he realized that his brother had died blaming him.  

     Footsteps interrupted his mourning though, and he turned around as three figures walked into the interior of the warehouse.

**

     Ben slowly stood up from his fallen brother's side as two men led by a woman approached him from the far side of the hangar. They were all dressed in heavy-duty combat gear, and all of them had a scowl etched into their faces.

     "Who the hell are you?" Ben asked, tightening his hold on his remaining hand-gun.

     The head woman had flowing red hair, and she was slightly shorter than Ben. However, when he began to talk her skin began to glow with the heat of flames. With one swift movement she sent a billowing ball of crackling flames toward him.

     "Holy--" Ben started, ducking out of the way from a fiery blast.

     The woman tilted her head, recoiling from the burst, "Good evening Benedict. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

     Sweat rolled down his face as Ben went into a combative stance, "What the...how?"

     The woman nodded to the two men beside her, who moved in like wild animals. One was bald and a little shorter, but the other one was much taller with muscle. They grinned at Ben as he backed away from them.

     "You were difficult to track," the woman continued, "but I think the master will be pleased to hear that we finally killed you. He's had a rather rough time with opposition as of late."

     Ben looked at her arm and saw the snaking dragon. It could only mean one thing.

     "Damn you..." Ben hissed, unlatching a third hand-gun from his belt. "Damn you to hell."

     The short, bald man slapped his hands together and a sound wave exploded in Ben's general direction. The blast knocked him off his feet and sent the gun spiraling off into the darkness. He landed on the ground with a thud, disoriented by the sudden sound burst.

     His back split with pain from the impact, but soon the feeling faded. With a renewed energy, Ben stood up in front of the three people. He glared at them as a cut slowly closed on his face.

     "How?" the woman seemed to say. "It's not possible..."

     "Bellator's a bitch," Ben smiled.

     Ben looked from person to person, and he took a breath to calm himself down. He had been outnumbered in street fights at least a hundred times, but nothing was quite like this. Evil people with superpowers was insane.

     He would have to take out the one that seemed to distort sound; sonic booms. Then, he should take out the female, because she seemed to be the leader. Finally, he would move in on the final one even though he didn't know what his powers were yet.

     "Do you feel fear?" the bald headed man asked.

     Ben looked to him, "Do you?"

     He clicked his remaining hand-gun and sent a spray of bullets in the direction of the bald-headed man. The man tried to use another sonic boom, but it was too late and the attack was misdirected at the wall. Everything creaked and groaned as the sonic boom destroyed valuable support beams for the warehouse.

     Ben turned on the woman who shot fire, but she was already sending a blazing inferno in his direction. The heat was extraordinary, and he dropped his gun out of fear that it would melt. His skin blistered in pain as the flames danced along his body, but the pain was only temporary. The burnt skin renewed itself, and Ben turned to face his stunned opposer.

     "Regeneration?" she asked.

     "Call it an upgrade," Ben coughed, his lungs mending themselves.

     He tried to come at her from behind, but she surrounded herself with a wall of fire that inhibited his movement. The remaining man pulled a gun and tried to fire at Ben, but he was already dodging the bullets. He scooped up his fallen gun and fired, but the man disappeared in a flurry of light.

     "Teleportation," Ben whispered. "Great."

     He turned around just in time to dodge another heated blast from the woman. Quickly, Ben groped for a knife and unsheathed it.

     "You'll pay for killing one of his disciples," the woman taunted.

     Ben fired his weapon, and he felt the air explode around him with each blast. The woman sprinted towards Ben and slugged him in the face, sending him sprawling to the ground. Then, she grabbed his knife and pressed it against his throat.

     "Resistance would be futile," she hissed.

     "So would trying to fucking kill me," Ben retaliated, uncapping a homemade grenade from his belt and clipping it onto her waist.

     "No!" she screamed, exploding in a blast.

     Ben ducked and shielded his face, just as the final soldier flashed out of nowhere. He punched Ben in the face, blinding him temporarily. Ben tried to punch back, but the man had already disappeared.

     "Shit," he whispered as the man flashed from behind and smacked him in the back of the head.

     Ben whirled and tried to punch but missed.

     "Just give up," his opposer taunted, flashing in and out of view. "There's no way you can beat us."

     "I think I'll still give it a go," Ben spat, as he threw himself at the man.

     "So you think you can regenerate?" the man taunted. "How about let's see what happens if I cut your head off."

     "Nah," Ben answered. "Just...fuck you."

     The Black Dragon soldier flashed in front of Ben and stood there. He grinned as he began to walk toward his tired adversary. Ben unclipped a homemade smoke grenade, his adversary drawing closer.

     "Goodnight Mr. Cain," the soldier chuckled, pulling out a gun.

     Ben threw down the smoke grenade, and smoke immediately billowed up. It blinded his opposer, but luckily Ben was wise enough to cover his face.    

     "Coward!" he screamed, his lungs burning from the smoke.

     With no way to tell where Ben was, he couldn't teleport to get himself out. Ben came up from behind and grabbed the man's neck.

     "The only coward is the Shadow, who wouldn't come out to fight me himself," Ben hissed, snapping the soldier's neck.

     The warehouse creaked as the supports gave way and the entire structure began to cave in. Ben immediately turned and sprinted to Francis's body along with the envelope that had been given to him. He dragged the body out as the warehouse began to collapse in upon itself. Chunks of the ceiling fell while Ben hauled his brother from the structure and collapsed onto the asphalt outside.

     The structure fell to the ground in a heap of grinding metal. It echoed throughout the area, and a dust cloud was swept up. Ben covered his face, and the dust swept past him. The structure collapsed and everything was buried inside, including the Stone of Ascension. In a moment, there was nothing left.

     It was over.

     Ben gasped and wiped sweat from his brow, laying on the ground shaking. He had successfully taken down three operatives and secured his brother's corpse. As he pulled himself together, Ben stared at the file Francis said contained information he had been promised.

     He tore open the envelope and pulled out a stack of papers. Inside, there was a file entitled "Lineage of Francis and Benedict Cain". It could only mean one thing: that Francis was searching for information on their parents.

     He had just wanted answers; closure.

     Ben sat for a moment, staring at the file, but then he placed it back in the envelope and discarded it. He had had enough surprises for one day, and some things were just best left to be secrets.

     Ben shook with shock as the true realization of his brother being the Silver Assassin sunk in. He had fought his brother, he had tried to kill his own brother, and then his brother had died hating him. 

     Francis...

     Benedict Cain would be changed forever.