Zac remembered what utter helplessness felt like, what it was to be weak and defenseless against unending cruelty. It was all he'd ever known for a very long time. He'd been a lab rat, a slave to constant torture for the sake of research in service of a low level chembaron seeking a competitive edge by creating an 'unkillable soldier'. If it weren't for the kindness shown to him by two scientists that rescued hi and raised him as their own, pain and suffering would still be all he knew.
His 'parents' were gone, but Zac still paid their kindness forward by rescuing others from the grasp of the sadistic. He also paid something else forward. Something powerful and dangerous. The primal rage that the small, sentient, barely developed goo he used to be would feel enduring those 'resilience tests' and 'survivability experiments'. While Zac gave the kindness of rescue to those robbed of hope, he saved his rage for the callous monsters dishing out the injustice. He peered down at the two animals who preyed on that lone woman here in the dark.
Absolute fucking scum.
Zac could still feel the sheer panic she felt before it gave way to immeasurable relief, but for the first time in his life, his own feelings overrode his empathic abilities. Normally he'd use the feelings of malice produced by the assailants themselves to empower his attacks, but not this time. He was so filled with rage, so brutally reminded of his past, a combination of peace and disgust enveloped him. He became detached, as if looking at a couple clearly broken pieces of equipment that had malfunctioned and came close to causing an innocent bystander serious harm. The only thing left to do was to dispose of them.
Zac reached out and latched onto the groaning tall man on the ground clutching his sides, then stretched his other arm and grabbed his squat partner in crime as he tried to crawl away. In one explosive move, Zac clapped his hands together. Green slime droplets bursted from his gelatinous form as their skulls bashed together.
There. Much better.
These goons wouldn't b hurting anyone else anytime soon, if ever. Dead or alive, they were no longer moving and that was enough for him. He flung them to either side of the alley and walked over to the slime on the floor and reabsorbed it into himself. The fury evaporated. His rage dulled to a calmer, more average mood. He nearly chuckled. It had been quite awhile since he'd 'hulked out' like that. He would need t–
What's that noise? Someone's behind me!
Sudden, slow clapping akin to the start of a round of applause made him turn around. A person was walking towards him. Their visage became visible as whoever they were crossed a beam of moonlight spilling down through the buildings. It was a guy in a leather jacket and sunglasses despite it approaching midnight. He also had a funky hairdo and walked as if he had the key to the city in his pocket. Zac was sure he could handle a guy like this no problem, but something didn't seem right. He couldn't put a finger on it, but something about this stranger felt off. Something Zac's instincts picked up on and not just told, but screamed at him to run.