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The scar on Desperation’s face is not always visible. When it is, it plumps up from the skin of his cheek like new growth pushing out of the boundaries of the original wound. He got the wound from his father, and it definitely required stitches at the time that it happened, but Desperation never received medical treatment for his wound. When a doctor inspected it after the incident where Desperation killed his father, the man looked at it perplexed. The boy had a gruesome gash, but it was covered in a silver substance that had seemed to seal the wound and prevent profuse bleeding, but he had no idea what the substance was. It would not come off, no matter how hard the nurse scrubbed. She went easy at first, but when it was clear that the young Desperation was not in pain, she rubbed harder with her sponge. The silver substance was stubborn. Eventually they gave up and the right side of Desperation’s face was silver for about a week. It concerned his mother who tried every night to wash it away. And then she noticed that the borders of the substance were shrinking, and that the wound was swelling more and more as it shrank. After about a week, the substance was gone, and Desperation was left with the bulging silver scar that also vanished over the course of about a week. It was like a miracle, and even though the boy had a permanent scowl on his face since the run in with his father, his mother viewed the entire episode as proof that her son was a special servant of God who did his bidding and received his special protections. His mother was the only person who thought him an angel. Desperation was meaner after the incident, much quieter and very brooding. And when he got angry, the silver scar would reappear on his cheek and he would be capable of things that made people look at him in disbelief. Like the time he flipped the car of his middle school gym teacher because the man had insisted that Desperation change into short shorts for the period. No one believed that the boy had actually flipped the car, not even the people who had witnessed it. They had assumed that Desperation used explosives or something to flip the car over. But Desperation had been forever changed when his father struck him and covered his wound with the mysterious substance that he had innocently got on himself at some point before hitting his son.
Today, Clay decides that he won’t wait for Desperation to find him. He had spent most of the previous evening cleaning baseballs from his front lawn, and today he hopes to shove each one of them down Desperation’s throat.
He doesn’t know where he can find Desperation, but he starts at the home of the drug dealer/purveyor of prostitution. Laura opens the door with a smirk on her face.
“What you want?” She asks.
“You know that dude don’t you? Danny, or whatever the fuck he call himself.”
“I don’t know what you talking about,” she says and tries to close the door.
Clay stops the door with a foot. “Tell him to come find me and if I don’t see him by the end of the day, I’m gonna tear this house down.”
He leaves and goes out into the neighborhood, stalking the sidewalks like a predator.
He comes to an intersection, and he sees two young men in wifebeaters with their pants sagging. When they see him, he sees them whispering to each other.
“You know Danny?” Clay calls to them and he watches them whisper to one another.
“You looking for him?” One of the boys asks and when Clay says that he is, the boys lead him down the sidewalk toward a small park.
“He on the swings?” Clay asks when they make it to the street where the park is located, and then the boys run away. “What the fuck!” Clay yells and then he hears gunshots. Clay ducks and takes cover next to the jungle gym as the shots ring around him. When it subsides, Clay peaks out and looks around. He sees Desperation standing between two old men. Both have guns up and ready to fire.
Desperation waves when Clay sees him.
“Sweetness! You couldn’t wait to see me could you?” He smiles and Clay hates the sight of his teeth. He wants to knock them from his head, but he tries to keep his cool. It is clear to him now that Desperation is an expert at agitating him, and Clay tries to keep his cool.
“What you do with Ivan?” Desperation asks and his smile fades, giving way to feigned concern. “I miss him, we was becoming good friends. I have a gift for him.” He grabs his crotch. “I would leave it with you, but you probably would just keep it all to yourself.”
Clay growls and his attempt at control is an instant failure. He jumps toward Desperation as his body reinforces, and the bullets seem to bounce right off of him. Desperation is concerned; he didn’t know Clay was bulletproof. Laura had told him that she was able to shoot him, but at the time, Clay was distracted. Now, he is a man of focus and every fiber of his being is stronger than it had been. Clay feels the bullets, but the pain doesn’t matter. When he lands, the force causes the men with guns to fall and they lost their guns. They both scurry away, afraid of the bullet proof man that could shake the ground. Desperation jumps at Clay and tackles him. The two roll over the field of grass next to the park, and then Clay regains himself and flips up onto his feet. Desperation moves deliberately, never taking his eyes from Clay who is both extremely fast and very strong.
“This is done,” Clay says and there are green flames at his eyes. He jumps at Desperation and kicks him with his right foot, lands on his left, then swings his body completely around to land a kick with the right foot again. Then he jabs incessantly at Desperation’s midsection, before jumping again to front flip over his head. When he lands, his front is facing Desperation’s back, and Clay unloads punch after punch in the vicinity of Desperation’s kidney. Then Clay flips back into a ready position to watch as Desperation falls to one knee and his head hangs like heavy fruit. Clay feels the wind move past his still body, ready for Desperation’s counter.
When he stands and turns to face Clay, Desperation’s face is bloody and he holds his back while he winces in pain.
“Son of a bitch,” he says and he is no longer smiling. “You went and did it didn’t you?” The right side of Danny’s face begins to split as the silver scar reemerges.
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