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It was another day in the large metropolis of Strongcliff, inside the cafeteria of the illustrious Vertriver private school, lunch was being served. At one of the tables sat two friends, Dominic Tanner and Harvey Beck. The two of them, from first appearances anyway, seemed to be near-polar opposites. Dominic was a six-foot high grey wolf with brown eyes, Harvey was a 5'2'' velociraptor with green eyes. Dominic had a lot of muscle tone while Harvey was a tad more frail in appearance. Dominic had short, black hair, Harvey had longer, reddish hair. Dominic had 20/20 vision, while Harvey had black, horn-rimmed glasses. From looks alone, you would think that they wouldn't have much in common, but looks can be deceiving.

Both boys are the sons of some of Strongcliff's wealthiest people. Dominic is the son of Antony Tanner, owner of the Sledgehammer Arms and Amour corporation, who has been friends with Harvey's father, Sheldon Beck (the district attorney and avid collector), since they're sons were little. They were in most of the same classes, although Dominic was more athletic and more of an artisan (in large part due to his dad teaching him a thing or two about the family business) while Harvey was more intellectual and artistic side to him, often drawing whole new worlds with just some paper, a pencil and an idea in his head. They were talking about Strongcliff's latest news, a battle between some of the city's superheroes and the latest super-villain, Draco Druid.

"I can't believe that guy." Dominic said, eating a ham sandwich. "He almost destroyed the mall."

Harvey, who had already finished his lunch and was drawing something in his sketch book answered "Well, the cheerleaders seemed to take it pretty hard anyway, since it's going to be closed for the next few weeks. Such drama queens." Dominic glanced over Harvey's shoulder and saw that the school's cheerleaders on the point of sobbing, dressed in black as if someone had died (no one hadn't of course. Like any sane people would, everyone cleared out once Draco Druid showed up).

"Yeah," commented Dominic, "But that doesn't change the fact he wrecked public property."

Harvey glanced up from his drawing and told him "So did the heroes. Especially that Tex guy. My dad says that he should count as a public menace, going in guns blazing like that."

Dominic crossed his arms and said sternly "Well, tell him that since Tex has shown up, crime has gone down." Harvey looked up with a curious look on his face, one eyebrow shot up ahead of the other. Dominic tensed up a bit and responded "Well, I'm just saying." Dominic continued as Harvey went back to his drawing. "Besides, there is a sharp divide between Draco Druid and Tex. Draco Druid just came in, smashing the mall like a mad man, so Tex helped stop him by punching him through a couple of walls."

Harvey rubbed the back of his neck and cracked a few joints out of the blue and noted "Oh yeah, I saw that on TV. Makes my back hurt just thinking about it. Not that it seemed to stop Draco Druid from vanishing in a puff of smoke."

As he finished his lunch, Dominic asked "Dude, why do you keep defending the guy?! He's evil!"

"It's not what I think, it's what my dad thinks." Harvey pointed out, putting the finishing touches on his drawing.

"Well then, what do you think?" questioned Dominic.

"I think Tex is OK for a beginner super, but he's still not as good as the veteran heroes, like say 'Draft Horse' for instance." answered Harvey as he held up his now finished drawing of a female Clydesdale with an amazonian build in a black bikini. Harvey sighed contently and gazed dreamily at the sketch.

"Harvey," sighed Dominic with a mix of confusion and frustration, "Why can't you obsess over skinny, Japanese school girls in short skirts like other nerds?"

"Because I'm not like most other nerds, Dominic." Harvey noted from his world of bliss.

Suddenly, a very crass voice cut in, saying "I'll say! Yoink!" has a large, brutish hand yanked his sketch pad away and held it in the air. Harvey was suddenly snapped out of his dream world and turned around to see the football team's towering bull quarterback, Roscoe Lawrence. He wore the same black and blue uniform as the other boys at the school wore, but his was one of the largest sizes, somewhere in the X's and L's. He had large, ivory-coloured horns ending in black tips that most of the student body feared to get in the way of. His skin was covered in short, brown and white fur while the top of his head had a buzz cut. His eyes were murky sort of dark brown, not in any way hiding how dumb he was. Roscoe was using said eyes to look at Harvey's drawing.

Harvey was jumping to try and reach it, downy feathers molting off from stress, but Roscoe used his height to keep it just out of reach.

"Well look at 'dis." said Roscoe. "Aren't you just a little faggot?"

Harvey was outraged. He shouted as he tried to jump to reach his drawings. "It's a drawing of a girl! Do you even know what the word faggot means!?!?"

Roscoe held his free hand up to his chin, trying to think. At this point, all the students were watching what was going down. "I know what it means!" he yelled. "It means.....duhhhhhh.....par-taning to....aaaahhhh..... SHUT UP, FAG!"

Dominic stepped up and growled "Subtle, Roscoe. Real. Subtle."

As the wolf walked over, causing a chorus of gasps to escape from the students, Roscoe said "There you are Tanner! Changed your mind about hanging out with this loser?"

Dominic started to list off his reasons for sticking with Harvey. "One, I have been friends with Harvey for years. Two, last time I hung out with you and the rest of the dumb jocks, you had a 'little get-together' that trashed my house and my parents grounded me for a month, and three, I don't want to hang around to the dumbass son of a bank manager who will probably end up running it into the ground and ruining tons of lives just because he can't even add two-plus- goddamn-two!"

An echo of 'oohhhh's and one or two students shouting 'burn!' or 'bam!' filled the room.

"Oh, I gets it." responded Roscoe, lifting Harvey by the scruff of his neck, "you two are a pair of fags." He soon started singing a childish song using the last four words over and over, inciting truth belly laughs from his band of idiots known as his friends, and forced laughter out of the rest of the students, afraid of what might happen if they didn't laugh. Dominic clenched his fists, ground his now barred teeth, fur bristled.

"Time to make a bull into a steer." Dominic muttered under his breath. He rushed up to Roscoe and gave him a swift but heavy kick to the groin. Roscoe stopped singing and began to fall to the ground from the pain, eyes almost seeming to want to pop out of their sockets. Harvey dropped onto his feet, ran to pick up his sketchbook, then swiftly walked to the side to both watch and dust off his artwork.

The attack continued as the bull feel to the ground, with Dominic punching Roscoe square in the chin, sending his head flying backward and helping to knock the wind out of him.

Dominic turned to see a shocked student body. Suddenly, they erupted in joyful praise, and Dominic, a tad confused and caught in the moment, took a bow.

This was soon cut short by the teacher who had just arrived (everything before Dominic kicking Roscoe in the boys happened between shifts for on-duty teachers), old Miss Hess. "Just what do you think you're doing, young man?!?!" the old ewe shouted. Dominic tried to explain himself, but before he could form a single proper word, she pinched him by the ear and started to drag him off. "I'm taking you to the principal's office, Mr. Tanner." She stopped for a moment, looked over her shoulder at Harvey and added "Mr. Beck, you too."

"But I didn't do anything!" he shouted.

"Yes, but you are a witness, so Mr. Bradford would like to hear your account of the story." Miss Hess explained.

Harvey tried to force out a rebuttal, but all he could say was "Yes, Miss Hess." as he started to follow her and Dominic towards the principal's office, causing all the students to laugh and mock him. Harvey answered their jeers with a sigh.

...

Later, at the end of the day, Dominic and Harvey were waiting out in front of the school. The old cougar Mr. Bradford gave Dominic two and a half weeks suspension and the two boys were waiting for Harvey's dad to pick them up. They sat on a concrete chock in the nearly empty parking lot.

"This isn't fair." sighed Dominic. "Roscoe was picking on you like he always does and has done for years, but I stand up to him, and I get punished."

"I'm sorry, 'Nic." apologized Harvey. Dominic gave him a friendly pat on the back.

"Don't say that Harv'. Someone had to step in for you. You can't just sit around waiting for karma to happen." Dominic told him.

"I guess you're right." agreed Harvey. "Hey, you want to see the drawing I did of Miss Hess when she wasn't looking?" Harvey opened his sketchbook to reveal a caricature of Miss Hess as a demon, which made Dominic laugh. Suddenly, a large black stretch limo pulled up in front of them. The boys both gulped as the back door swung open.

"Get in." ordered a baritone voice inside, belonging to Harvey's dad. The got inside the black leather interior of the limo, black-tinted windows letting in very little light. They slammed the door after they got in. Facing them was Harvey's dad. He wore a dark green business suit, gelled hair, neatly-kept body feathers, even the claws on his fingers seemed sharper then Harvey's. He pressed a red button next to a speaker and said "Jackson, home please."

"Yes sir." answered the driver over the speaker.

"Now Dominic, do you know why I'm doing this?" asked Harvey's dad.

"Because there is a media frenzy whenever my dad leaves the house?" responded Dominic, twiddling his thumbs.

Harvey's dad explained "Because me and your father are friends, and I owed him a favor. Now, I respect that you defended Harvey today, but you are 18. You can't keep getting into fights for people, especially with being in the public eye so much as your family is."

"Sir, I've been standing up for Harvey since we first met." argued Dominic.

"But that doesn't give you the right to brake the law." he pointed out. "Just look at that Tex fellow. Because of him, thousands of dollars of collateral damage was caused."

"Without Tex, the mall would be a pile of rubble, and that's assuming Draco Druid would have stopped at the mall." responded Dominic.

Harvey's dad corrected him. "Not true. We already have heroes who have been doing a good job for a while and without causing as more damage as the villains they fought. Besides, my point is, me or your dad can't always bail you out if your in trouble, so you gotta keep your nose clean, understand?"

Dominic tried to argue back, but Harvey grabbed his arm and said "There's no point. He's a lawyer, it's his job to argue with people."

As the limo came to a stop, Harvey's father told him "Thank you son, I think." Dominic grabbed his backpack and stepped out of the limo in front of his house, a mansion in a gated community. He waved goodbye to Harvey as the door slammed shut and drove off to Harvey's house down the street.

Standing out front where Dominic's parents. They did not look happy. He just sighed and began to walk towards the house.

"Son," his father began, but Dominic cut him off.

"I know, I shouldn't have done that. What was I thinking? I shouldn't have done that. I should be ashamed of myself. I'm grounded for a month. Blah-blah-blah." he said.

"Don't talk to your father that way!" scolded his mother as they walked through the door. He walked up the stairs to his room.

"Whatever." he shrugged.

"Don't give me that tone!" his father shouted. "What kind of father do people think I am if you act like a thug?!?"

"Is that all you care about? What people think about you?" asked Dominic, facing his father. "About how what people think and say about you will effect how much money you can save up for a solid gold bust of yourself? Well here's something for the tabloids to announce to the world, your son thinks you're an ASSHOLE!" before slamming the door to his room. He tossed his backpack to the floor and told the security system (the Tanners called their system LiZ) to lock the door.

"Did I get any messages LiZ?" asked Dominic.

"Your father has barred you from phones, texts, and the internet." LiZ warned him.

"I'm asking if I got any messages, I'm not doing any of those things." said Dominic, lying down on his bed.

"In that case, you have had a number of texts, tweets and phone messages concerning a 'big fight' against a 'knuckle head' and saying it was really 'epic'." LiZ answered.

"Well, at least somebody thinks I did something right. People keep telling me that I'm a screw-up." noted Dominic, opening his wallet. In it was a picture of him as a little kid with his uncle Craig. He sighed and added "I miss uncle Craig. He understood me."

Dominic just sat back and, in silence save for the sounds that echoed in his mind of his memories. He had a close bond with his uncle Craig even before he met Harvey. Uncle Craig left the family business of weapons manufacture to join the police force. He was always a easy-going type of person (when off duty of course). Dominic and him both shared a love of action movies, especially westerns. From a young age, he would take Craig out to the country to teach him how to use weapons and hand-to-hand combat. His parents never found out, because they were sure they would have a heart attack if they did. Those were good times.

But then one day, Craig was shot down in the line of duty by some drug dealers. Dominic was heart broken, and, taking inspiration from the stars of the westerns he and his uncle enjoyed, wanted revenge. So he used his security clearance card his dad gave him, he snuck into Sledgehammer Inc. at night and stole a suit of prototype armour, some weapons, put on his favorite hat and tracked down the dealers to bring them to justice. Dominic was able to fake it so that someone else stole his card and stole the suit (it helped that his dad was incompetent with computers). The media ended up referring to this vigilante "Tex." That's right. Our protagonist is the hero known as 'Tex.' Sure hope no one was betting that he wasn't.

Anyway, LiZ brought something to Dominic's attention. "I have been scanning news broadcasts and it appears that Draco Druid has started causing mayhem in front of the First National Bank."

"Well, maybe kicking his scaly kester will make me feel a little better." commented Dominic as he slid an electronic case from under his bed. He typed in the code into the number pad, and after pressing 'enter', the case slide right open. As fast has he can, he puts on the gear he has been working on for the past year: A skintight, full-body suit that regulates body temperature; followed by a Kevlar body covering for his chest (with his emblem, a crossed pair of revolvers); fallowed by a utility belt; then protection for the shins, elbows, and knees; then laced up a pair of boots with built in crampons; then a pair of high-tech gloves; then a gas mask with a one-way tint to hide the face and a voice-changer to give an authentic 'cowboy' voice; and for the final part of the uniform, his cowboy hat. He grabbed his weapons snuck out the window.

"LiZ, you know what to do." he told the computer through his voice changer.

"Fake it like you're still here, got it." it answered back. 'Tex' ran to the garage, activating the suit's on-board computer. As soon as it chimed on, he jumped on his motorcycle and rode off.

...

Later, downtown at the bank Draco Druid was there, using a small army of monsters he conjured up with his magic to destroy the street. Lucky for the city, some of the local heroes where already there, fighting the monsters, including Harvey's crush Draft Horse, in her red and orange costume and the city's electric mongoose speedster, Trubozap. Tex then rolled in on his bike.

"Hey Tex. You really got to start working on your timing. That's the second time in a week that you where late to the party." grinned Trubozap.

Tex got right to the point. "Draco. Where is he?" he asked, punching the lights out of a zombie minion that was about to get him.

"In the bank." Trubozap pointed out as he zapped a bolt of lightning at another zombie. Tex just walked over and pushed the doors open. The odd thing was was that, while fairly modern on the outside, the inside now appeared to be an 1800's saloon! Standing in the center of it all was the villain himself, Draco Druid. He was a 5'9" dark purple dragon, with large wings. He had short, curved horns on his head. His eyes were white and pupil-less. His scales where covered in bright blue Celtic runes. Over his body, he wore a loose black cloak.

"I see ya'll did some redecorating." noted Tex, loading his semi-automatic rifle.

"Aahh, there's Strongcliff's favorite cowboy now." hissed Draco. "I hope I set the mode very well. Oh wait, it's just missing one thing." He pointed his finger in the air, and then suddenly, from seemingly no where, Marty Robbins's song 'Big Iron' began to play. "Excellent." noted Draco, tenting his fingers. "You may kill him now, boys." Suddenly, zombies and orcs dressed in western get ups came from all directions. Tex got behind a half-wall for cover and began to aim. He noticed some orcs on the second floor, with crossbows. He emptied a clip to take them out, with one orc leaning forward, braking through the railing, and crashing onto a table.

Tex slung his rifle onto his back and took out his semi-auto pistols, and started to pic off zombies and orcs until they had all hit the ground. As he loaded another clip into each, he told his foe (with an unseen smirk on his face) "This next barrage is for you, yea' glowing lizard."

"Lizard!?!? I take offense to that last part!" boomed Draco. "I will not stand for slurs in my presence!" He then created a magical fireball that engulfed the entire front of the bank. When he finished, he waited for the smoke to clear, waiting to see the charred carcass of Tex. When it did clear, he gasped as he saw Tex still standing, dusting ash off himself.

"Fireproof coating...lizard." mocked Tex. Draco Druid came charging at him as he emptied his pistol rounds into him, only slightly slowing him down before socking him in the gut, sending him flying out into the street, but the hero soon landed on his feet. As Draco and Tex walked over to each other, Draco created an iceball and shot it at Tex. Tex grabbed a zombie as a meat shield, which soon froze solid. Tex pushed it to the ground, where it shattered into many chunks. They looked each other in the face (or as best possible with Tex's gas-mask).

"I'm going to tan your scaly behind, son." Tex quipped.

"You'll have to come down from Brokeback Mountain first, cowboy." snarled Draco.

Tex responded with a quick back flip, kicking the dragon in the jaw. Draco stumbled back as Tex started to deliver blow after iron-fisted blow. He even activated the taster function on his right glove, zapping Draco in the neck. However, the dragon's thick skin stopped him from collapsing, and took the chance to grab Tex by the arm, spun him around like in shot put and sent him flying into a nearby bus. The other heroes where too busy mopping up the minions to help.

Draco ran up to the bus, hoping to put an end to his foe. He noticed the large hole Tex had left in the side of the bus. He walked in, looking for Tex, when he heard some beeping. He looked down to see a flash-bang grenade by his foot.

Suddenly, the light and sound of the flash-bang had disorientated Draco. Tex got back up on his feet, his hat leaning to one side and his gas mask slightly cracked. He snuck up behind the dragon, then repeatedly slammed the villain's face into the steering wheel. Draco wrapped his strong tail around Tex's leg and threw him through the windshield. He then used some magic to send a force of air to send Tex flying towards a water tower on a rooftop, but in mid air, Tex shot a grappling line right at Draco, sending Tex straight back for him. He led his latest attack with a punch to the face. As they rolled through the air, Tex beat the dragon like an old rug until they crashed into a convenience store. Tex's armour was covered in nicks and scratches, his hat, while somehow remaining on his head through out the battle was about to fall off, and his mask had heavy damage. He was towering over Draco and aimed the hidden crossbow he had in his left glove at reptile. The other heroes, as well as a group of reporters, rushed in to see what was happening.

Tex, who's voice was now distoried like listeaning in a radio with a weak signal, asked "Do you surrender?"

Draco, who hadn't fully recovered from the beatdown, weakly hissed "What?" Tex held him up the the hood of his cloak.

"I AM ASKING YOU IF YOU ARE GOING TO STOP AND GO QUIETLY!!!" Tex shouted, static cracking his voice up.

"Listen man, you can't send me to jail, I'm too young!" shouted Draco, squirming in his cloak.

"Ha!" laughed Tex. "Not so tought when you're caught, are you?"

Draco continued "No, I mean it! I'm only seventeen! I was just getting revenge on the popular kids who picked on me after my dad found this old book of magic and spells!" Tex dropped him to the ground and crossed his arms.

"Prove it." he said.

"OK, OK." Draco said. He snapped his fingers and there was a puff of smoke. When it cleared, there was a short, nerdy velociraptor. It was Harvey! "See?" he explained. "Please don't hurt me, sir! I only wanted to get even with them. It's like my friend said, 'we can't just wait for karma to happen'!"

"Holy crap, Draco Druid was a kid?" commented Trubozap, scratching his head.

"I understand Harvey." said Tex.

"How....How do you know my name?" asked a quivering Harvey.

"Because," Tex explained, removing his helmet, "I'm your best friend." Domenic looked down to the floor and flattened his ears. Harvey just sat in shock.

"HOLY CRAP, TEX IS A KID TOO?!!?" shouted Trubozap. The two friends just sat, not saying anything, as the sounds of cameras flashing, reporters shouting and far-off sirens blaring....

To be continued.