Caught In The Crossfire (Patreon)

Graham wasn’t sure why Skyfall City was such a hotspot for superpowered conflicts but the near constant destruction of property meant that rent prices were dirt cheap and as a fresh out of college journalist, it was pretty much the only place he could afford to live if he didn’t want to move back into his parents’ basement. Besides, the superhero-versus-supervillain conflicts gave him a lot to write about and his online blog was starting to gain traction. He’d made a habit of trying to get on the scene as quickly as possible to get a first-hand report and his own photographs, which, as he was constantly reminded by his concerned friends, was a dangerous risk but when it led to clicks and therefore money to pay the rent, he saw no other choice. Besides, it wasn’t as if he’d been hurt by anything… yet.

The most recent hero-and-villain rivalry was between Mega-Bro, a muscled blond bombshell of a guy, and Sharp Sword, an equally muscular specific of a man with tribal tattoos and a sharp silver blade. The two men were both blessed with superstrength and as a result their clashes could be explosive and many a building had crumbled as a result of their battles. Graham’s articles on their epic skirmishes though always received good numbers so when he heard that they were doing battle in the Skyfall Museum he was out of the door and on his way there in a flash. He was thankful for the fact that his apartment was in the heart of the downtown district because it was only a short ride on his bicycle before he was outside the museum and slipping past the shamefully unguarded police barricade to sneak into the museum.

Once within the building it didn’t take Graham long to find the fight in progress, all he had to do was follow the sounds of destruction. He found Mega-Bro and Sharp Sword fighting over a small glass box which held a purple gem inside of it; the aspiring journalist remembered reading a report about a new stone that was going on display in the museum but he had no idea why either would consider it important enough to fight over. He’d barely had time to sneak a single photo of the fight in progress when the glass box was sent sailing through the air and smashed just a few feet away from Graham, causing the gem to skid across the floor to stop at his feet.

Despite both of the super-powered beings now having their attentions fixed on him, Graham couldn’t resist the temptation to reach down and pick the gem up. It felt strangely warm within his grasp, as if it was emitting heat itself, but how could that be possible? He had all of a few seconds to consider what he should do when he was suddenly attacked by a wall of muscle that sent him toppling to the ground. He had enough time to briefly recognise his attacker as Sharp Sword from the tanned muscles and the tribal tattoos, before the supervillain’s weight crushed him against the ground and a collision between the back of his head and the hard floor caused Graham’s world to momentarily go black.

The next thing he knew he was being roughly pulled off of the ground and slammed against the wall, prompting a deep grunt to escape from his lips. As his vision finally began to return, Graham was stunned to find that the person pinning him against the wall was actually Mega-Bro, rather than Sharp Sword like he had expected. “Bad luck, Sword, you didn’t just hurt that civilian, you also smashed the gem! I guess you’ll be going down for assault and destruction of property,” the hero declared smugly, while Graham’s gaze drifted over Mega-Bro’s shoulder to the surprising sight of his own body groggily recovering on the floor, surrounded by the shards of the shattered purple gem. Oh no, no, no. This isn’t good!

“Now I know this is going to sound crazy,” Graham began, wincing as he recognised the rumbling voice that emerged from his lips, “But I’m not Sharp Sword. My name is Graham Smith, I’m a freelance journalist and that is my body.” He nodded over Mega-Bro’s shoulder to where his body was weakly pushing itself to its feet. “Whatever that gem was, I’m pretty sure it bodyswapped me with Sharp Sword, so uh, please don’t hit me or throw me in jail. I’m telling the truth and I’m pretty sure he’s--”

“What the fuck?!” Graham’s own voice suddenly exclaimed, cutting him off. In an instant his much smaller body was at Mega-Bro’s side, desperately trying to grab at the real Graham but struggling to do so around the superhero’s bulk. “What did you do to me? Give me back my body! I’m not getting stuck like this!” The other’s raving prompted the look of doubt on Mega-Bro’s handsome face to shift to one of confusion and then even amusement. His grip on Graham loosened, although he didn’t let him go completely, and he used his free hand to grab the much weaker Sharp Sword by the collar of the shirt Graham had thrown on that morning.

“So, this is a pretty unique situation,” Mega-Bro joked in his dreamy Californian drawl, looking between the two men in his grip. “Y’all really got bodyswapped by that little stone? Huh, I don’t think any of us expected that, right?” He chuckled and Graham couldn’t help but do the same, but Sharp Sword was definitely not laughing. He looked furious, although given he was doing so with Graham’s body it didn’t look threatening in the slightest. Gone were all of the strong muscles the villain had relied on to intimidate the civilians of Skyfall City; he was in a five-eight gangly body weighing in at only one-hundred-and-seventy pounds, hardly the makings of a fearsome supervillain.

With the stone destroyed, it was clear to both Graham and Mega-Bro that there would be no easy resolution to the situation at hand, but Sharp Sword kept insisting that they try something. “You can’t trap me like this! You can’t leave me as this weakling!” Each cry sounded more desperate and pathetic, prompting the other two men to laugh heartily. Eventually they turned Sharp Sword - still in Graham’s body - over to the police so he could be kept safely in a cell, while Mega-Bro insisted that Graham come with him to the base of the League of Supers so they could discuss what their next move would be.

As if being in a huge muscular body wasn’t enough of a strange experience for Graham, being in the presence of some of the most legendary superheroes in the world was enough to make the freelance journalist feel weak at the knees. Never in his wildest dreams had he envisioned such a crazy series of events happening to him and yet every loud thud as his feet hit the ground and the gentle breeze against his bare pecs made it clear that this was all very much real, as insane as it was! He was even able to bounce those glorious pecs, a sensation that he rather enjoyed and planned on doing again when he wasn’t being watched by the very same heroes he had been reporting on for the better part of two years.

After Mega-Bro had explained the situation to the rest of the League of Supers, there was some deliberation over what should be done next. There were contrasting opinions from all sides and Graham himself didn’t have the chance to give his point of view, indeed none of them seemed interested in hearing from at all. In the end it was Mega-Bro who made the boldest suggestion of all: “What if we, like, just left it and we let the new Sharp Sword join us as a hero in training? We get rid of the sword, of course, for something a little less lethal and then let him use that strength to beat the bad guys up rather than wrestling with us.” The suggestion was met with complete silence from the gathered superheroes, but Mega-Bro was undeterred and instead finally turned his attention to Graham. “What do you say, big guy? You want us to train you up to be the newest member of the League?”

Thousands of thoughts rocketed through Graham’s mind in a single moment but there was only one logical response and the words left his lips almost immediately: “Fuck yes!”

It took some convincing of the other Supers but eventually they agreed to let Mega-Bro mentor the new Sharp Sword to eventually join their ranks. In the meantime the supervillain he had replaced was being held in a special supervillain prison for safekeeping, his identity hidden from the world, as the media had been set alight when the first few reports came in of Sharp Sword working to help Mega-Bro and acting in a heroic fashion.

It took some time for the citizens of Skyfall City to trust the newest recruit to the League of Supers and despite all of the theories floating around, nobody ever truly found out what had caused the supervillains supposed change of heart!