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Note: Will be edited

Chapter I

My name is Zachary Zerchwits, and I am far from normal. My dad, Paul Zerchwits, works two jobs and my stepmother, Victoria, is an alcoholic. My older brother, Mark, is fighting in a war and my half brother, Victor (my stepmother’s idea), is mixed up with the wrong people. My mother, Mary, died of a bizarre poison she got from a snake with genes that were purposely altered to be the ultimate killer. That was when I was 6 months old. Paul quickly married Vicky and Vic was born. Mark is 22 now, I’m 15, and Vic’s 12. Dad’s second job would let Vic and I hang out a lot, but Vic hates me. Not, “I don’t like you hate,” but more like the, and I quote, “Hey you little punk, I’m gunna have tah beat you up twice as hard today ‘cuz I missed out on it yesterday” type of hate.
Vic smokes pot and can handle a knife like it was an extension of his arm. I will try to keep away from his gang, but when I can’t, I stay on Vic’s “good” side. Life was like that every day of every week. Well, until a year ago.
That weird snake puzzled scientists for years. We gave mom’s body to them for research, but those medicine men couldn’t get it right. They also had the snake. I went over to see mom and the evil snake one day, and the snake bit me. It hurt like nothing I ever felt. I passed out. Those idiot scientists didn’t know what to do, but one of them was hanging out near a nuclear plant and found a new breed of mongooses whose blood was the antidote to every venom known on this planet. Those “geniuses” decided to forget about research and pump my blood with the mongoose DNA. That was the first step to my road being abnormal.
I was sick for weeks getting hairy and thin and fat and bald, until one day, I woke up perfectly normal.
I went downstairs and ate like a wolf. I had forgotten the taste of food. I went to school, avoided Vic, and went home to exercise.
Oops. Weird time.
I can regularly bench-press the fifty-pound dumbbell ten times without my arms going numb, but I did ninety-four lifts and didn’t sweat a drop. I looked at the barbell to see if the weight was on it (I had forgotten to put the weights on once or twice), but when I looked, I was really surprised.
Vic was mad because he couldn’t beat me up while I was sick, so he tried to play a cheap joke on me. He made the dumbbell weigh one hundred pounds instead of fifty. I was deeply appalled. Because I couldn’t work out while I was sick (surprise, surprise!), I expected to lift the fifty pound weight only five times, yet I lifted a one-hundred pound one ninety-four times! Than, I looked at my hands after stretching out my arms. I had claws as long as my foot and as thick as a pencil coming out of my fingers and thumb, like a dog or a cat. Or… a mongoose? I didn’t have time to think about it because suddenly I heard Paul.
“Hey Zach, everything ok in there?”
I panicked. I couldn’t let Paul see I had claws, could I?
“I’m, uh, I’m not decent!” I told him. I tried to push the claws in, make a fist, and even cut them off, but nothing worked. I ended up stretching my fingers all the way out and as wide as possible (that is a chemical imbalance that happens to me when I’m panicked) and the claws slipped in less than a second. Good thing, too, because Paul barged in seconds after I pulled the claws in.
“What did you do to your room, kid?” Paul asked. In haste to put my claws in, I destroyed and stabbed half my room.
“I’m training with knives to defend myself, like Vic,” I said. What else could I say? “I have claws?”
“Kid, you shouldn’t be like Vic. He ain’t cool. Ask yourself who you are and follow that ok?”
“Ok,” I said. I didn’t really think about it. All I did was train with my claws.

Chapter II

After a bit of training, I was good at controlling my claws. I could put them out and in with but one breath. I also figured out that I was very flexible and fast. I thought it was really cool, but what will I do with these powers? Be some sort of superhero? So I kept my powers a secret and life went on. I did better at gym and I showed no fear of Vic. That made him snap.
Vic’s pride and joy is basking in the fear of others. Hi is five foot six and had a thin build, but he has a whopper of a punch. He has near-white blond hair and cold blue eyes that showed only hatred. He is the spitting image of Vicky. I’m five foot five and I look like him shape wise, but I’m not strong. Well, I’m strong now, but before, you know. I have long brown hair and green eyes. I look like Paul, but my eyes are all Mary. Mike on the other hand, is tall, muscular, and has brown eyes like Paul and dark red hair like Mary. He is six feet tall on the button now. All of us, no matter whom, is very smart.
Vic’s gang is a tough bunch. Vic is the general of the gang. There is Jawbreaker, the lieutenant general of the group. He is big, bulky, and dumb looking with small eyes spaced out far and a slightly slouching forehead. His short bright red hair and gray eyes are very frightening. He can, as his name says, break your jaw with one punch, but he is slow running, his primary disadvantage other than his intelligence.
The major general is Marty, who is a fourth degree black belt in Kung Fu. He is quick and can defend himself well, but he is very envious of Jaw’s and Vic’s rank and thinks he should be general, if not lieutenant general. He has long blond hair and grey eyes that are big and close together. He is the oldest of the group, at seventeen. He couldn’t beat up Vic, though, which down heartens him greatly.
Brain is the genius of the group, and the brigadier general. He is short, thin, and weak, but he knows the human body all to well, and can bring down a grown man just with a quick jab in the pressure points. He shaved his head and his black eyes shine brightly in the light.
The final one with a high rank is the colonel, Arte, is like Vic, but weaker. He has a look just like Vic. He could be mistaken as his twin.
I was walking home and Vic’s gang attacked.
“Hey ya little punk, ya don’t seem ‘fraid of us no more!” Jaw yelled out at me.
“Yeeeah! Lets us here show this punk who the boss is!” Marty hissed. They all started fighting me. I avoided every punch, kick, and tackle they threw at me.
“You morons, lets get the ------- outta here!” Vic yelled and they fled.
I was walking home when I saw a man on the ground near my house. He was dead. Stabbed. It was Vic’s work for sure. I looked again and found it to be my teacher. Vic killed my teacher. I thought about it. I didn’t beat them up; I let them go when we fought. I could have stopped this. I went insane. I could have stopped this. I could have stopped this. I was panicked. I glared at Vic’s room. I knew my destiny, stop Vic and his gang. I rushed to my room and decided to do what all “crime fighting heroes” did. I made my hero suit. It was based on my powers. I was the mongoose.

Chapter III

I ran to the nearest craft store and got as much brown, tan, and gray cloth as I could. I also got some glasses, translucent red paint, and some wire. I knew exactly what I wanted to look like. I ran home and went strait to my room and worked on my costume. I had a tan, ski mask like head with red eyes and two ears pointing strait up (I used the wire). My body and arms were grey with two brown gloves. I wore tan pants with brown shoes that went almost up to my knee, but they were comfortable and flexible. In the middle of my chest was a big, black “M.” I was dressed in the garb of heroes. I jumped out my window and scaled the wall to the roof of my house. I leapt from roof to roof to a lot until I heard a noise that made me twitch.
“Vic, wha - whadda we do now? We’re kill a guy!” It was Jaw’s voice.
“Shuddup Jawbreaker!” Vic yelled. “Who’ll figure it out?”
My eyes steamed with rage as I jumped down to confront them. I leapt down to him.
“I will!” I yelled.
“Who are you?” Vic asked.
“Don’t question me! You took an innocent life for revenge. I’ve been watching you. You hated Zach’s fearlessness and you killed an innocent, old man to show him you were more than just another gang? You’re a dirty rat!” I yelled.
“Brain, take this little ------ out!” Vic yelled. Brain charged at my with a punch right for my armpit to break valuable blood vessels and give me a heart attack. I avoided it and kicked him where every man has his weakness. He choked and fell on the ground. Marty charged at me and did a leaping side kick. I grabbed his airborne foot and broke it with one punch. Arte leapt up behind me and grabbed my throat, but I flipped him over my shoulder and broke his ankle. Jaw threw a lightning fast punch at me and I shot out my claws and cut a deep wound down his right cheek from temple to jawbone. Vic threw a knife at me that I deflected with my claws at the last minute. He chucked more at me and I avoided them all but one, which cut my arm a little. I pushed Vic to the ground and put my claws to his throat.
“I kill dirty snakes like you! Do you want to feel what it’s like to die?” I asked. And then I saw it: fear. Vic’s cold, unmoving eyes showed fear. He had fear of the Mongoose, fear of me, fear of Zach Zerchwits. I whipped my claws in.
“Don’t bother with them,” I said pointing at his gang. “They are the bad ones. This is a chance to live a new and better life. Will you give up your life of crime, or continue your evil ways and die a criminal?” I asked. He looked at me.
“I’ll take my chances,” he said and he threw the knife at my leg. I yelped in pain as it pierced my skin. I ran home, scaled the wall, and cleaned up in my room. I decided to wear my suit under my clothes wherever I went. I was the Mongoose. I had to protect the weak. I got in my bed and fell asleep. It’s all over thought; I’m going to be fine. That fight, though, was just the beginning.

Chapter IV

Though I was asleep, an anonymous source told me of this happening at the lot.
“What is we gunna do now, Vic?” Jaws asked.
“Ya’d best shuddup, Jaw, or I’ll make that cut worse!” Vic threw back. He was in a foul mood because he lost the fight. “We’d all better find out who that jerk was!”
“I do not know,” Brain said, “He seemed to have super powers or something.”
“Do ya mean like in my comic books?” Jaw asked.
“No, stupid, like in your armpit,” Marty said sarcastically, “Yeah like in your comics!”
“He did seem like that. He was fast and agile. Those knives he wielded, though,” and as Vic said that, his eyes sunk.
“Those there couldn’t ‘ave been knives! I says them are claws!” Arte said.
“Yeah, but what form of hero is he?” Vic asked.
“Maybe he’s like the Cheetah, my favorite comic book character, fast, tough, and clawed,” Jaw suggested.
“Nah, he couldn’t be,” Marty said. “He ‘ad an ‘M’ on him. What animal starts with the letter ‘M?’”
“Mule? Mongoose? Moose? Monkey? Mouse? Moth? Mole? Minx?” Brain said.
“Mule, monkey, moth, and mole are ‘no’s’ for sure,” Marty said.
“Di’n he say somethin’ about Victor being a snake?” Jaw asked.
“Yeah, he called me a dirty snake and he said he kills snakes…” Vic said. Then he looked at the gang and grinned a cold, evil grin. “Brain, what kills mongeese?” he asked.
“Mongooses,” Brain corrected. The price of teaching Vic spelling and grammar was a hard slap across the face. Jaw winced.
“Well,” Brain said getting up; “There are snakes, large cats and dogs, eagles-”
“Stop there,” Vic said. “Marty and Arte, go get as much black and grey cloth at the craft store. Get black paint and wire. If he is the Mongoose, I am Dark Eagle, fiend of fiends, travels on rooftops preying on the Mongoose,” Vic said. His cold eyes grew colder. Jaw rubbed his cheek where he was bleeding and his eyes grew cold.
“You’ll need a partner? I’m yer man!” Jaw said and he swore vengeance on the Mongoose.
“We’re all on yer side, Vic,” they all said. Vic was ready to be the Dark Eagle. It was his destiny.

* * *

Meanwhile, I was laying in my bed. I thought about what Paul said for the first time. Who am I, I thought. Am I Zach, a bully, a hero, or a maniac? Why did I fight them, revenge or to protect. All these questions, I thought. They whirled around in my head, ceasing only when I was asleep. I closed my eyes and lost myself to the dark of night. The Mongoose was here to protect the weak and innocent, to save the needy, to stop the villains of society. I slowly fell asleep, undisturbed until the next morning.


Chapter V

I awoke the next morning to an unpleasant surprise. My leg, although surprisingly not dead, was numb. I felt dizzy from the blood loss and my arm and leg hurt badly. I put on long clothes after covering up the wounds (what would I tell Paul if he saw? I got in a fight with Vic’s gang while dressed up as a mongoose?). There was some good, though, because I got a letter from Mark.

Dear Zach,

Hey man, what’s up? The war is still raging and won’t let up anytime soon. My friend Johnny got banged up pretty badly, but we think he’ll live. We got the bullet out quickly and gave him a few shots. You haven’t been writing a lot lately, and if it’s Vic, you can smack him pretty good, so just put him in his place. He isn’t that tough. You can tell me anything, you know. Well, I need to go. See you later, Zachinator (Zachinator was my nickname from him).

I’ll be home soon,
Mark

I missed him so much. The war had been raging so long, we all forget why it started. War is dumb, I thought, just like Vic’s gang. I looked at Vic. He was tired and beat. Vic was beat. I thought about Mark. He was a great brother. I longed to tell someone my secret. If I told Vic, he’d kill me. If I told Paul, he’d go crazy and tell me to be more careful. Vicky is never home and wouldn’t listen. Mark… Mark would listen. If I said it right, he wouldn’t think it was a joke. We never joke around anymore, now that he is in the army. I got some paper and wrote to Mark.

Mark,

I hope Johnny gets better. Be is your best friend. I have some bad news. You know Mr. Wooddale, your favorite teacher? He died. Stabbed. I wish I didn’t have to tell you this. Can you keep a secret? You found out about the snakebite incident with me, right? Well, that mongoose DNA made me have super powers. This is not a joke, I swear. Why would I joke about this? I put in some pictures of me with claws. Please believe me. I understand if you don’t, but trust me.
Love,
Zach

I put in some pictures of me with claws and stuff like that and I sent it to Mark. I got my things and got ready for school, but when I rolled up my sleeves, the bandage on my arm fell off. I had forgotten all about it. Vic looked at it wide eyed.
“Hey you!” Vic yelled. “Where didja git that?” he asked.
“I fell,” I said as nonchalantly as I could. He looked at me and walked away. I got my books and got going.
Today was quite the day of wonder. Vic’s gang didn’t do anything. And I met a pretty new girl named Melissa. She was a year younger than me. She had brown hair in a ponytail, had big blue eyes and was tall. She had a cute little nose and when she laughed, it sounded like the chorus of a thousand angels (assuming I know that the chorus of a thousand angels sounds wonderful). She was very graceful and as soon as I saw her, I liked her.
“Hi,” I said to her.
“Hi,” she said back.
“How are you?”
“Good, and you?”
“I’m ok.”
Then the bell rang, and she left. I went to class.

Chapter VI

That night, I went to spy on Vic. He looked at his watch. 11:17 PM. The gang arrived soon.
“Brain, did you make it?” Vic asked.
“Sure did, Vic ol’ boy!” Brain said. I knew this was bad. It was.
“Yes…” Vic said. It was a large, one-piece suit that was dark grey. There were black gloves and red eye covers, like mine. It had a short, curved yellow beak and shoes.
“The Dark Eagle flies tonight!” Vic yelled all suited up. They than left and I went home.
The next day around 6 PM, I started walking down an alley when I heard screaming. A black figure was robbing a store. It was using knives. I took off my clothes to reveal my mongoose suit and ran to the strange figure. It was the Dark Eagle.
“Mongoose…” it said. It grabbed me and punched me, knocking me out cold.
When I awoke, I was on top of a building.
“I knew this petty thievery would attract you, Mongoose. I’m glad I get to finally see you again…”
Again? I thought. When did we meet?
“Now…” He said, “I will kill you!”
He swung a knife at me, but he missed. I barely dodged it. I leapt up and clawed his legs slightly. I didn’t want to kill him; he was my brother. I just wanted to put him in his place. He hurled knives at me, but I deflected them with my claws. He charged at me and I punched him hardly in the face. I could see his nose bleeding. I broke it. His beak was bent. He started throwing wild punched at me. I dodged most of them, but I got hit hard a few times. Vic could punch. He kicked me hard while I wasn’t ready and fractured one of my ribs. I swung a hard slap across his face. I had cut it. He than, somehow, did a jumping roundhouse kick to my face, but I grabbed his foot. I threw him to the ground. He wouldn’t quit. There was fire in his eyes. He opened his suit and I saw a nasty little surprise: cheap liquor, a box of tissues, and a lighter.
Oh, shoot… I thought. He put the tissues in the beer, and lit it.
“You haven’t seen the last of the Dark Eagle, Mongoose!” he yelled. He jumped off the top of the building and left me with the burning beer. I ran over to see if he had fallen to his death, but Brain gave him wings for gliding.
I looked back at the beer and decided to drill my claws into the side of the building and climb down. Just as I did that, the bottle exploded and shot flames and glass everywhere. Lucky for me, the building was brick. I climbed down and went home.
Back in my room, I cleaned up my cuts and bruises, wrapped them, and went to bed. No one can stop me, I thought. I was the Mongoose.
The invincible Mongoose.

Chapter VII

I was tired when I went to school tomorrow, but I got through. After leaving, a shady man walked up to me. He seemed homeless.
“Z-Zachary Zerchwits?” he asked.
“I am. Who are you?” I asked.
“C-come with me. We need t-to talk,” he said. He was nervous.
His house was a one room hut with snaked and test tubes everywhere.
“S-sit down, yes… p-p-please, s-s-s-s-sit,” he bade. I did.
“S-so I heard about t-t-the… uh…” he trailed off.
“The… poison?” I asked.
“Y-yessss…” he said. “Th-that. T-tell me, how did y-you l-live?”
“My blood was pumped with mongoose DNA. I am toxin resistant, now. Why?” I said.
“C-can I have a blood sample?” he asked.
“Why?” I said.
“The snake…” he said. “It needs perfecting now. I made that super snake… it was suppose to be the ultimate bio-weapon. Now that there is an antidote, I need to fix it. I didn’t mean for your mother’s death…” he lost all conscience of everything else.
“I wanted to give the government the perfect bio-weapon. Your mother, she came into my private study. She wanted to steal my secret, or so I thought, so… I gave her the snake.”
“You!” I yelled. I shot out my claws.
“Whoa,” he said. “D-don’t do that. Don’t kill me!!”
I punched open a glass cage filled with pythons. I grabbed one out.
“Stay back,” he told me. “Don’t hurt me with that!”
“You robbed me of my mother,” I said. “I won’t kill you with this…”
“Oh, thank you,” he said.
“I’ll kill you with THIS!” I screamed and I grabbed the mutated snake. It bit me many times, but I was unaffected by the poison.
“NO!” he yelled. I put the snake down his shirt and he cried out a high-pitched wail. He kicked, shouted, and writhed on the ground in pain. I walked over to him.
“W-w-w-w-why?” he asked.
“Just avenging my mother, you little snake,” I said as I stabbed him in the heart. He yelped a little and as he died, I watched the life leave his eyes. It was a horrible sight. A moment ago, they were living with fear and now… a blank expression. I left.
I was frightened. I had killed someone. But than I thought, he was better off dead with his diseased mind. I went home for even more “fun,” Vic’s gang.
“Hey!” Jaw yelled. “I thinks we gots some unfinished business!” and he threw a can of beer at me, but I dodged it. I went over to the TV. Vicky was there.
“Awwwwwwww hey…” she said. She was very drunk. “You seem banged up pretty badly,” she slurred.
“I got in a fight with Vic,” I said.
“I’m sure my son won. He does have a great group of friends. You shouldn’t pick on him so much,” she said. I thought about her. She didn’t care if I died. She only cared about herself and Vic. I hated her. I went to my room and went to bed.

Chapter VIII

I was better after a good night of rest. That man was messed up. A doctor examined his brain to find many parts abnormal, some not even there or working. I felt a little sad, but he was now at peace. Friends and family members said he had many “imaginary friends” and talked to Schmishle, his “alter-ego.”
I saw Melissa walking in the hall.
“Hi,” I said.
“Hi. I heard about that weird guy,” she said.
“Yeah, he was a little messed up in the head.”
“Vic told me about this new guy, this Mongoose or whatever his name is. Do you know what he’s like?”
“I heard he hangs out in the alley near Phil’s Fast Food. I think he is there around 10 PM,” I said.
“I’ll go and see if I can find him,” she said.
That night, I got suited up and headed down to Phil’s alley. There she was. She was in a red dress and looked like she should be anywhere but in an alley. I guess the color was a bad thing, because two guys came down the street after her.
“Hey pretty lady,” the first one said.
“You seem awful purty tah be down an alley like dish one,” the other said.
“We feel obliged to walk you home,” the first one said again.
“No, thank you,” Mel said.
“Golly, you seem awful continent,” the other said.
“It’s confident, not continent,” the first one said.
“I’m fine. Please leave me alone,” She said politely.
“Sorry, we can’t do that,” the first one said, and he grabbed her. This has gone far enough, I thought. I jumped down and shot out my claws.
“Whose he, boss?” the second man asked.
“Put those knives down!” the first man said. I pulled them back into my fingers. They seemed stunned. I punched the first one hard in the stomach and he fell back onto the other man. They got up and ran.
“Tell your friends about the Mongoose!” I yelled to them. Mel looked at me with loving eyes.
“Are you all right?” I asked. She was speechless. Than, she embraced me.
“You saved me,” she said. “That kid, Zach, told me to come here to see you, and he was right.”
“Zach is a cool kid. You should hang out with him,” I said.
“I will.”
Right after she said that, I saw a flash of light.
Vic was in his Dark Eagle suit.
He ran up to me and did a side kick to my face. That hurt badly. He started rapidly punching me in the gut.
“You wanna play hero?” Vic said. “I’m gunna play villain!”
He stabbed me in the chest. I gasped and tried to run. I didn’t know what to do. I lost consciousness.
I awoke to a doctor checking a monitor in the hospital.
“What happened?” I asked.
“Shhhh…” she said. “Don’t talk. An urchin found you almost dead on the streets. He brought you here and he left your outfit over there.”
Oh no! I thought. She knows I’m the Mongoose! I was in the news because Vic’s gang is everywhere in the news and now that she saw my costume so she must know my identity.
“You shouldn’t be dressed up like the Mongoose walking the streets,” she said. She didn’t think I was the Mongoose. I saw a note on my suit. I read it. It was from Vic, telling me he was holding Melissa captive in an abandoned church.
“What day is it?” I asked.
“Friday,” she said. It was Wednesday when I fought Vic.
“I need to go,” I said.
“Listen, kid,” the nurse said. “When you were stabbed, whoever did it missed your heart by an inch. You are in no condition to leave.”
I shot out my claws.
“I’m the Mongoose. I need to leave.”
She looked at me, reconsidered, and let me leave.
I ran to the church as fast as I could, but it was hard with my wound. I came past a liquor store, and so I went in, bought some beer (they thought I was over 21), got a match and a tissue, and headed to the church. I saw the church and heard Vic’s insane laughter. I climbed up the wall with my claws as quietly as possible. When I got there, Vic was pacing in his Dark Eagle suit and Melissa seemed in a panic because she couldn’t leave.
“I have you now, Mongoose!” Vic. He started throwing knives at me. I looked at him.
“Thanks for showing me this,” I said and I put the tissue in the beer and lit the tissue on fire. I threw the beer at Vic. I grabbed Melissa and jumped off the church leaving Vic up there. I heard a scream and an explosion as I climbed down. It was the end of Vic. His cruel and guilt-free mind was gone. He would kill innocent people no more. Vic was dead.
Or so I thought.

Chapter IX

The next few days were hard. The cops were searching everywhere for Vic. He seemed nowhere, not even on the church. Without the leader, the gang broke up and lived active and healthy lives and never did anything really bad again. Well, for the most part. They grew old and told their grandkids about the danger of gangs and all that stuff. But this isn’t their story, is it?
Life went on better than ever without Vic. I didn’t have to worry about him or his gang finding out my secret, Vicky didn’t bother me about how great he is now that he was dubbed dead. It was like he never existed. Melissa and I dated, although she has a crush on the Mongoose. Even a new kid came: Peter. Pete was a short kid who looked like Vic, just nicer. His hair was dirty blond and his eyes were deep blue, unlike Vic’s ice-cold eyes. He talked to me about how he could wield a sword that was on fire well. At first, I thought he was bluffing, but after dressing up as the Mongoose and seeing for myself, I got a sidekick: the PyroNinja. But we barely fought everyone. All the “bad guys” seemed stunned that Vic actually died, so they decided to give up their lives of crime. Pete and I know each other’s secrets. We both fight crime, or whatever is left of it, so we text message each other to tell where we are. Life was good. That is, until Vic “returned from the dead” a year later. That is when the biggest and most terrible problem started.
One night while I was fighting a petty street gang, a man walked up to me and gave me a note.

GO TO THE ROOF OF THE NUCLEAR POWER BUILDING AT MIDNIGHT TOMORROW. YOU WILL FIND SOMETHING VERY IMPORTANT AND MEANINGFUL TO YOU. UNTIL THEN,
DARK EAGLE

Dark Eagle? I thought. But he’s dead! I decided to go there with PyroNinja, anyway.
The next night at 12 AM sharp, PyroNinja and I were on the top of the building. There was a note on it.

LOOK UP OR DIE.

We looked up and saw the Dark Eagle jump down in front of us. He waved and lepta over to the side of the building. I began to walk over to him when I heard Pete yell at me.
“Look up, Mongoose!” he yelled. The moon was getting bigger in the sky.
“You like that?” Vic yelled. He started laughing hysterically. He was insane. He wasn’t thinking rationally at all. I looked at the moon again. It was slowly getting better.
“Oh! What you learn in school. Learn about the big iron moon and how to focus a beam of magnetic energy. I plugged in a giant perfectly made magnet to the plant to suck out energy and pull the moon and only the moon to us! Hahahahahahahaaa!!” he screeched. “The moon will collide with the planet in a matter of hours and nothing you can do will stop it!”
He was right. How do I stop it? I decided to go turn the magnet off, but I didn’t know where to find it.
“Where’s the magnet, Eagle?” I asked.
“Look down,” he said. We were on it.
“I’m shutting it off, Vic,” I said.
“You know who I am?” he asked.
“You need to stop this madness, Vic. You’ll destroy half the planet,” I said.
“No, I’ll destroy the entire planet!” he yelled. When I “killed” him a year ago, I must have diseased his mind, and now he wanted to destroy the planet just to kill me. Anger turned to madness. I remembered the snake man.
“Vic, you can’t do this,” I said.
“I can, and I will…”

Chapter X

I ran at Vic and tried to stab him, but he avoided it.
“Fool!” he yelled. “Even if you kill me, you still are doomed. Mongoose, you loose!” he yelled. I ran to him and grabbed him by the neck and held him over the side of the building. He flailed in fear. I took off my mask.
“Zach?” Vic asked.
“Yes, Victor, I’m the Mongoose,” I said.
“Zach, please, don’t drop me,” he said. He was nervous. I put him on the building. I looked at him.
“Zach,” he said kindly. “I have to tell you that you need to stop me. I’m insane. I can’t control myself. I just want to…” he trailed off. “I’m sorry,” he said. Than, I felt a burn in my back. I grabbed it to find I was bleeding. Vic had stabbed me. I fell to the ground. Vic looked at me. He took off the mask. His flesh was all brown and wrinkled and it was scarred everywhere. He laughed that crazy laugh again.
“Tonight, Zach, you die,” he yelled as the bent down to stab me in the heart. “This time, I won’t miss,” he said as he laughed. I shut my eyes, and saw a light. Suddenly, he groaned in agony. I felt heat. I looked at him. His arm was on fire, and PyroNinja was next to him with the flaming sword. I stood up and stabbed Vic’s chest with my claws.
“I’m sorry, Vic,” I said. “But I need to save the planet.”
“I’ll help,” Pete said. He climbed off the building and unplugged the magnet.
Vic looked at me. He winced in pain and said, “It ain’t over, Zach… the planet needs… uh…” he said. He closed his eyes. I laid him on the ground. I thought he was finally at rest, but he spoke again. “Moon…” he said. He couldn’t move anything but his mouth. He couldn’t die, not yet. He had to tell me one more thing. “Inertia…” he said. He was so quiet I could hardly hear him. “Gravity… magnet… repel the… moon…” Pete had just climbed back up.
“I unplugged it!” he said, but the moon still got closer.
“Wires…” Vic said. “Red to blue. Blue to red…” he said. I ran down to the magnet and switched the wires. The moon slowly got smaller until the machine turned off when it got to its normal size. I climbed up the wall to see Vic.
When I got there, he was pale and weak.
“Vic?” I said. He rolled his head over near me.
“Did you stop it?” he asked.
“The world is safe. I’m taking you to a hospital,” I said.
“It won’t work,” he said. “I have lost too much. I just want to rest. Zach…” he said, and than he died. I looked at his body, and I put the mask on him, and I put my mask next to him.
Three days later, the reporters had the story of Vic’s life all over the news (I gave them a note signed “The Mongoose” about Vic’s life). We all now know about his being the Dark Eagle and how the Mongoose stopped his evil plan.
I used to hate Vic. Now, I miss him. Paul misses him. Vicky misses him, and she won’t believe that he was the Dark Eagle. She hates the Mongoose now, but what will she do about it?
I got a letter from Mark a few days after Vic’s death.

Dear Zach,

That’s weird. So have you done anything with your powers yet? I hope you could be like a super hero. How’s Vic? I have good and bad news. Johnny died suddenly. He was shot in the heart and died instantly. At least it was painless. But we won the war and I’m coming home soon!

Here I Come, Kid!
Mark

I wrote back.

Dear Mark,

Vic was a super villain named the Dark Eagle. He and I were fighting on a rooftop and I threw a bottle of beer with a fire in it at him. It ruined his mind of all rational thought. He tried to destroy the planer with a giant magnet that would suck the moon towards us, but I stopped it with my new sidekick, PyroNinja. I had to stop him. He helped us send the moon back into space and than he died. He wasn’t a bad kid, just brought up wrong. I’m sorry for Johnny and I’m glad your coming home.

See you soon,
Zach

I read it over and over many times, and than I sent it to him. He was home at the end of the week. We talked, played sports, and sometimes, we just sat next to each other and watch TV. We were closer than ever.
Time passed, and I fought crime with Pete. One time while I was sitting and thinking about something to do, I remembered the snake man I killed. I felt remorse for that. He deserved to go to a hospital, not death. I also thought about what Paul said once. “Ask yourself who you are and follow that.” I did that. Who am I? Am I Zach Zerchwits or the Mongoose? I decided to write everything down to figure it out.
It started like this: My name is Zachary Zerchwits, and I am far from normal.

Epilogue

I hesitated, than I knocked on the door of 483 Charmer Ave. The door opened and a pale lady with wild, unkempt hair and a lazy eye came out. I looked at her, stunned for a moment.
“I’m sorry for the loss of your husband,” I said. She recognized me. I could see it in her eyes.
“You killed my husband!” she yelled. “Zach Zerchwits is the Mongoose! I know! The Mongoose killed my husband who made mutated snakes for the government as a bio-weapon!” she screeched and she started ranting on about my being a serial killer straying from any rational thought. I looked at her dazed. How did she remember that? It was 3 years. She glared at me and drooled a little. She than went inside and came out two minutes later in a dark purple suit with spikes going down the back. She wore a mask that covered all but her mouth. When she opened her jaws wide, she revealed long fangs like those of a snake.
“I am the Great Python!” she yelled and the spat a strange substance near me that lit on fire as soon as it hit the ground. Than it hit me. She had altered her genes to make her like a snake. She knew that I couldn’t be hurt by poison, so she had made it so that her saliva was something that catches on fire in air.
“You will never survive my wrath!” she yelled, and she ran off. I just looked at her.
She wants to be bad? I’ll stop her. The Mongoose finally has a worthy opponent. I took off my shirt revealing my suit. The Great Python was not going to be evil for long.
The Mongoose had a job again.