Monkey Man

A boy could be seen sitting with his legs crossed on a grassy plain. He had his eyes shut as he breathed rhythmically. After Isaac had fun with his body strengthening, it depleted his Qi. However, after a few hours, most of it had returned. 

He was currently strengthening his heart with Qi to try something new. After the heart was strengthened, Isaac started to repeat familiar words.

"Begin by inhaling slowly and deeply through your nose. As you inhale, imagine that you are drawing in pure, vibrant energy from the universe into your body. Visualise this energy as a bright, warm light that fills your entire being." Isaac braced himself for the slight chance the pain from last time would return. However, as the 'Energy' reached his heart he felt completely normal. No pain and no resistance. Isaac unconsciously grinned as he continued with the latter half of the instructions.

"As you continue to inhale, feel the energy expanding and circulating within you. Imagine it flowing through your body, nourishing your organs, cells and energy centres." Although it was subtle, Isaac could feel the blockade in his meridians slowly loosening and the 'Energy' washing away his impurities.

"Once your inhalation reaches its peak, hold the breath for a brief moment…" He said as he held his breath.

"Savouring the energy and allowing it to permeate every part of your being. Exhale slowly and completely through your mouth, releasing any tension or stagnant energy from your body. As you exhale, imagine that you are letting go of any negativity, stress, or blockages."

"Now repeat." As he said this, Isaac stood in the same position for an hour, breathing in, holding his breath and exhaling. His Qi perception became much more focused as he could scarcely see green specks about 1 metre around him when he focused. 

The Qi in his Dantian had slightly grown a few centimetres. However, he had to stop due to losing too much Qi. This technique of strengthening his heart to use his breathing technique was useful, however, it was incredibly taxing. The longest he could go with his current Qi was 2 hours before he ran out. The fresh Qi entering his body didn't help either since he was using Qi quicker than he was cultivating it.

Nevertheless, Isaac grinned widely as he was happy with his progress. 

"It's been a long day and I'm starting to get hungry. I better get home before Grandpa gets back." He said as he stood up, releasing the strengthening in his heart. Before he started moving he looked around and raised an eyebrow.

"Where am I?"

***

The sun had set as the mesmerising glare of the moon peeked through the clouds. Ravenwood District was as quiet as ever, only hearing distant sirens and miscellaneous strange sounds. Yet, the smell of burning smoke and nicotine never seemed to leave one's nose.

Isaac could be seen breathing heavily as he walked down the street, his steps heavy and his face drenched in sweat.

"That took way too long. I didn't even realise where I was going when I was running. Grandpa's going to kill me." He said as he dragged himself through the empty street.

As he looked to the side he saw a misplaced couch in the middle of the street with a red scarf on it. At first, he thought the couch was the workstation of a prostitute, however, this couch was in the middle of the street. They were indecent but not that bad.

The street seemed to be especially empty these days. Usually, the local gang members and drug dealers would be seen in the dark alleyways and suspicious cars. However, tonight it seemed as if they all decided to take a vacation.

As he thought this, the sight of the night he came back from the other world dawned on his mind. The bloodbath of a sight with his Grandfather suspiciously at the scene. The reason they were all missing could be because they were all…

"Stop it. You don't know what you're talking about. I wasn't fully conscious that night. To be honest I don't know what I saw." Isaac wrestled with the dark thoughts in his mind as he was interrupted by a few voices.

"What do you bring to the table? I can't just let you in my crew. After all, you could be a snitch."

"I'm not. The streets are just awfully quiet these days. All the gangs that owned this territory just went missing. It's unreal. One night they were all just gone."

"Yeah, I know that. Why do you think I came here? It's not every day you find an empty neighbourhood begging you to take control of it. But that's not what I asked."

"Well, I don't bring much to the table other than the fact that I'm good with technology. I can hack into almost any type of software…"

"You've gotta be kidding me. Look around. Where do you think you are? You think this is a joke? Hacking?! Are you shitting me?! What kind of street gang needs or wants a nerd?!

Isaac decided to leave after knowing this was a local gang recruitment, however, he couldn't help but stay and eavesdrop after the man started to become violent. He peeked around the corner and saw a blond, spiky-haired man with sharp blue eyes and an obnoxiously large golden necklace. He had two bulky men standing by his side as he sat on a sofa and spoke to the black-haired man with glasses in front of him.

"Hacking is a useful skill. Please, let me demonstrate my abilities before you make a decision."

"I've already made my decision. Don't you know who I am? Hacking?! Oh, I'll show you hacking alright! I'll hack your head right off!" Said the man as the two bulky men grabbed the hacker by his arms.

"Stop right there miscreants." Said a comical voice atop a building. The 4 men searched for the voice and their sight soon fell on a man on the rooftop with a scarf around his face.

The men were confused slightly, even looking at each other a few times before the blond-haired man spoke.

"What the hell are you supposed to be?" He asked, having to yell a little due to the distance.

"Me? Um, I am… the Monkey Man? And um, I'm here to…stop you." He said, not carefully planning out what he was going to say.

"Really? You don't sound too sure." Said the blond-haired man as he was slightly entertained by the comical situation.

"Yes? Um, I mean, YES! If you don't let that man go right now I'm going to… wait why does this scarf smell so bad." Isaac pressed the red scarf he found on the couch and took a sniff. 

He instantly turned around and started to throw up at the intense stench. The men on the ground watched with raised eyebrows as they felt deeply confused.

After a few seconds, Isaac stood up again.

"Oh my god…what is this white stuff? It's… it's on my face. IT'S ON MY FACE!" He said with a girlish scream before quickly turning around again to throw up. The liquid splattering across the floor and Isaac's loud hurls made the men contort their faces in disgust.

After a minute, Isaac rubbed his forearm across his face as he put on his hood and threw the scarf away. In an energetic and enthusiastic voice, he started to speak.

"Ok, so it turns out that was the property of a prostitute. New lesson learnt, don't put strange items on your face. Anyway, let that man go before you succumb to my wrath." Isaac suddenly gained immense confidence. In his eyes, he had already deeply embarrassed himself anyway so he might as well play the part of the cheesy hero.

"Yeah…ok. We'll be sure to do that." Said the blond-haired man, refusing to take the situation seriously.

"It seems you don't want to take me seriously. No matter, I shall put my money where my mouth is." As he said this, Isaac slowly leaned off the building and in the next second his feet had left the edge of the structure.

The blond-haired man, being the only one who caught a glimpse of this, watched as he cursed at the idiotic man's stupidity. Now he was going to die after stumbling off the building while acting like an idiot. 

As he followed his eyes with the man about to fall to his inevitable doom, the next thing he saw put him on high alert. The falling man landed on the ground with both feet making contact with the floor, leaving two small craters where he landed.

Isaac stood up with wide eyes. 

'Holy crap! I didn't feel a thing.' He said as he looked back up to where he fell from. He was still figuring out the extent of his body strengthening therefore it still shocked him when he could accomplish superhuman feats like that.

"What the hell are you?" Said the blond-haired man as he suddenly became serious. 

"Haven't I said it already? I am the Monkey Man." An Isaac from 30 minutes ago would rather rub that scarf all over himself before referring to himself by that ridiculous name. However, the current Isaac was currently numb to feelings such as embarrassment, shame and disgust.

"I am the great Monkey Man who scours the earth, protecting all who are in harm's way. Surrender criminals or prepare to fight."

"Right… Bobby, kill this fool." As the blond man said this, one of the bulky men let go of the hacker and started to make his way to Isaac.

Isaac was unflinching until the man came within a few feet of him. The man was wary, seeing what the mysterious 'Monkey Man' was capable of. He slowly approached him and eventually, he dashed at the mysterious man, hoping to tackle him.

He took one step before a knee was smashed into his face, making his eyes roll back and causing his nose to flood with blood. The man fell backwards, collapsing into the ground, causing it to tremor a little.

Isaac dropped onto the ground after jumping into the air and throwing a knee, performing a similar attack to a familiar Monkey person he used to observe.

The 3 men stared at the collapsed man with shocked faces. 

"I've already told you, surrender now or prepare to fight." 

The blond-haired man's face turned from one of shock to one of amusement. Soon he started to laugh as he walked toward Isaac.

"I have to say, I'm impressed." As he walked, the man's aura started to change. A foreboding feeling crept up on Isaac as he watched the man slowly approach him.

As Isaac locked eyes with the man, a surge of unease washed over him. His heart raced, and a cold sweat formed on his brow. It was as if the very essence of danger and the unknown had materialised before him.

"You want a fight? You got one." Gentle winds started to gather around the man as a blinding blue light appeared from his hand. Isaac started to panic while seeing the phenomenon.

"Hey, be careful!" Yelled the Hacker as the bulky man tried to silence him.

"That man… He's a Metahuman!"