Today’s Writing Prompt from Community Storyboard.

People rushed through the streets as the mutated rhinoceros stomped down the city streets. Standing taller than the skyscrapers, this two-legged monster snorts while bashing down the buildings. Only one person can stop the rampaging beast and save the city once again.

“Should we flip a coin or draw straws?” asks Sergeant Commander while he watches the destruction. His hand rests on the grip of his gun, which he proudly calls the Decapitator.

“I went last time,” states Baby Kong from the corner. The short and hairy gorilla yawns and scratches his butt. “I keep telling you that we have to make a schedule or split the city into zones. It would be much easier.”

“That is a horrible idea,” Princess Matilda declares, crossing her arms across her ample chest. She shivers when a gust of cold air from the air conditioner hits her barely clothed body. “Some people would have more action than others. Villains and monster rarely attack on Tuesdays and they avoid the projects. Also, where does that leave Cometus and The Jade Marlin? The latter isn’t even here because he can’t breathe on land.”

A sparkling humanoid with seven arms and wearing only a thong nods his head in agreement. “Yes. Cometus can only fight in space or planet be destroyed.”

“The monster just ate the mayor,” announces a young man in a leather jacket. He revs his motorcycle, which spits lightning from its tailpipe. “And it eat the starting line-up of the Crusaders, so I guess the city’s baseball season is over. Why do these large monsters always eat people? A rhino is a herbivore.”

“Some mysteries will never be explained, Theus,” Sergeant Commander sighs, patting the young man on the shoulder.

“Couldn’t one of the scientist heroes study them?” Theus curiously asks. He cringes when his leader rudely smacks him upside the head.

The arrogant hero shakes his head and laughs. “You’re fairly new to superheroing, young man. Don’t you know that any hero who investigates a monster or a villain’s technology will have turn evil themselves? It’s in the rulebook. Now, we really need to send someone out there to stop it. Put your hand down, Theus. You’re still in your probation period, so we can’t send you into a fight without supervision.”

“Then lets all go!” Theus impatiently yells, casting a glance around the crowded room. “There are over one hundred superheroes in this one city. Why can we only work together when our specific enemies team up or if the villain has been planning for at least a few years? I nearly died trying to take my archenemy last week while Skullchest was thwarting a bank robbery two doors down from me. I fucking saw him waving at me while I was fighting.”

“It would be chaos and destruction if we worked together like that,” Princess Matilda angrily declares as she adjusts her uncomfortable corset. Her stiletto heels clack on the floor as she approaches Theus. “This group has rules, boy. If we worked together all the time on every job then people wouldn’t know which hero was feuding with which villain. We would have to share reporters because it wouldn’t make much sense for each of us to have our own reporter at that point. Not to mention some of us are too powerful to bother with street crime.”

The room shakes as the mutant rhino knocks down a skyscraper and fires a purple beam from its mouth. The beam disintegrates a nearby library, the brief sound of screaming heard before the end.

“This has gone on long enough,” Sergeant Commander declares, reaching into his desk. He pulls out a deck of cards and shuffles them. “Everyone take a card and the lowest number has to go out there. The highest number gets to swoop in at the last second to save the day and take credit.”

A sonic boom shatters the windows and startles the gathering of heroes. They look outside in time to see a glowing man punch the rhino monster in the face, sending it soaring over the buildings. It lands in the nearby ocean and rises with an angry snort. The glowing man unfurls six wings of pure energy before swooping in. He grabs the monster by the horn and easily lifts him out of the water. With a brief spin, the mysterious hero hurls the rampaging beast into the sun.

“He can’t do that!” Sergeant Commander shouts while feebly pointing. “A hero can’t just show up in this city and start saving the day. He needs to join us and follow the strict rules. That is entirely unacceptable!”

Everyone cringes when Sergeant Commander is knocked out by Theus’s electrified punch to his face. The young hero starts up his motorcycle and takes a final, pitying look at the gathered heroes. “I think I’m going to be a sidekick. Later, jackasses.”