《Spiral》 Downwards - 1.01 Chapter one I was standing around the third aisle checking out the stores selection of chocolate when three people with masks walked into the store, one blocking off the exit, another rounding up all the shoppers, and a third walking up to the register. The robbers looked very young, around eighteen years old, my own age, but their voices were very commanding when they told us to sit down and take out our valuables. It took me about five seconds to realize something was wrong with the entire situation was developing, and how *easy* it was for them to make us listen, and that''s the same moment i realized the robbers were superhuman, people with abilities they were born with or maybe even trained to use, who they now were using to steal with. Suddenly, the small one in the back walked up to us, "Hurry up" she said, from hearing her voice i realized it was a girl - "we don''t have all day". Fighting the strange urge to follow what she said, i used my own power - a worthless, mundane power, but still something i took comfort in, maybe it''d have some secret , unknown part that made me unkillable, and suddenly my head was all cleared up. The girl obviously noticed something was wrong, cause she recoiled and trained her eyes on me. Outwards, nothing about me had changed, and neither had anything inwards. My own power was shifting my body into, well, myself. I get to turn into a almost exact copy of myself, it''s a little bit stronger, a little bit faster, and has a little bit more endurance, but it''s still well within human levels. So of course i did what any prideful human would do after being basically mindcontrolled - i punched the girl in her damn face. It was only after this point that i remembered that most superhumans have some kind of enhanced durability, and are generally harder to take down. So i ask, has anyone here ever punched a wall, cause that''s what it felt like. But how it felt didn''t matter, my form was good, and so, while it hurt, a lot of the force in the punch got put into the punch, when a guy punches a small girl, she will go flying, or , in this case, sligthly stumble backwards. It still took them by surprise, going by the look in their eyes, and the guy that rounded up all the shoppers in the start swiftly, and very violently, charged me into the ground. Now , the word charged can be used when you run at someone, and tackle them. But the word charge can also be used when talking about electricity, and what he did was a combination of them both. It put me on the ground, paralyzed, and i realized that whatever his power was, it basically made him into a glorified taser. "Jesus fuck, are you fine, did he hurt you?" the guy turned towards the small girl, who, going by the look in her eyes, was pretty confused at the moment. "No, no, i''m doing fine, i''m just surprised , that''s all. He suddenly broke free of my control and just straight up charged me. It''s like his mind went from regular to being almost strange, imagine if a normal persons head is supposed to be like a uncleaned room, his suddenly turned into the most organized storage ever!" "Wow" i said - coughing violently while stumbling up on my legs "I almost feel complimented" This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.Now it was the guys turn to be surprised, as he turned around and downed me again, this time with a even bigger charge. This time, i could barely breathe, and was wholly unable to move. "I just used enough to lay down a rhino, and this guy looks like i used a normal charge on him, the fuck?" The guy said - "And he''s smiling aswell, we run into some known psycho here?!" "Please, stay quiet and focus on the task at hand" Came from the last person of the trio. The voice sounded like it had been ran through a robotic filter and the gender was unrecognizable. "We are done, let us leave quickly before the police contacted by the silent alarm arrives" Turning around, the trio stalked outside where they met up with their last member, and they disappeared into and alley on the other side of the road. *** When i got home later, sneaking by my father and mother and into my room, i realized i was strangely happy with the days contents. Ever since i accepted the fact that i''ll probably die soon because i stopped with my meds, i''d been in a constant downer, but today had strangely made me exited, almost happy, over what happened in the store. Walking over to my closet, i took off my clothes and looked at myself in the mirror. A body from years of medication and operation, with a strange lack of scars, looked back. Most people would look scrawny, while i myself managed to look extremely scrawny, because of my large frame, the obvious lack of muscle was more obvious, and i looked like a small thin branch because of it. Looking up, i saw my face. What surprised me was not my blue eyes or blonde hair, no, they''d always been there, but my giant grin, like i''d seen something that would make me almost laugh to death from how funny it was. Looking at the mirror, i began to laugh. It was not a panicked laugh, but something that i had felt been building up since the incident at the store earlier. I stood there for a good fifteen seconds before my father knocked, and entered without my response. "What''s up?" My father asked me. He''s a big guy, and normally intimidating for someone that has never met him before. But for someone that has lived with him for almost nineteen years, he''s a very nonthreatening guy. "Nothing at all, just ran into something funny earlier and just now realized how funny it was exactly" i said, simple as that. It was the truth , or a modified version of it, at the very least. "Just tone it down Liam, Vanessa is trying to sleep" He said, closing the door slowly, making sure it didn''t make much sound. Still, with a smile on my face, i went to sleep uncharacteristically early, simply because i felt really, really good. *** Uh - yeah. This is my first time writing a story in English, and i''ve had this good idea building up for quite some time, so i decided to post it here. Please give me some pointers if you find some kind of messed up parts in the writing. It''s four in the morning (04:20 as i post this) and i''m just damn tired but i felt like i wanted to do something today. I''m unsure of the dialogue so give me some fuckin tips if you got em. Nite people. 1.02 Chapter 2 When i woke up in the morning, my good mood from last night was still there, and i felt that this would be a interesting day. Jumping out of bed and putting my clothes on i went on downstairs to get some breakfast. I was up earlier then the rest of my family, so i ate in silence, thinking about the incident at the store, my own behavior and the fact that i was strangely okay with what had happened. Leaving the house, i ran up to the bus i almost missed, and went to school. Life is filled with tons of mundane things, and one of them is school. My school is a old monstrosity with newly renovated wings, but it''s still mostly shoddy work, built in the 1970''s with the cheapest available materials, it''s clearly a rush job, but it got the job done until the renovations. At school , i mostly sat through the lessons, not really interacting with my neighbors and simply focusing on the lessons. At lunch, i sat outside with Adam Johnson and Daniel Berg. The three of us had our own little group where we sat around and talked about anything really. Today on the other hand was very slow, so after initial greetings, we simply sat around for quite some time. After sitting around in silence , Adams eyes suddenly lit up, and he looked towards us with a look that told us it''d be one of those conversations. "Hey,did you read the papers this morning? There was another attack by the Crazy Circus in Minnesota, they killed like 12 people." Turning around from his food and looking Adam in the eyes, Daniel looked pissed "Adam, please don''t talk about the Crazy Circus while we''re eating. We get that you''re interested in stuff like that, but what they do is fucking disgusting." "Yeah Adam, can we put this conversation on hold until we''re finished with our food?" Leaning backwards, i put down my food. The the Crazy Circus were a band of crazies with powers that used them to kill people. They had been around for a long time, but due to their leader, Ringmaster, they had avoided capture for years. "Sure, sure, let''s talk about it later" Throwing his hands up in the aid, Adam looked defeated. Leaving the subject, none of us felt comfortable with starting up another conversation, and we set out the rest of the lunch in silence. After sitting through the rest of the day, the last bell finally rung and i started making my way outside when suddenly, someone put their hand on my shoulder. Turning around, i realized i was looking at a small girl, and then i realized i was looking at Alexa Lambert, a girl from another class. "Hey" She said, looking at me awkwardly. She had a small bruise on her face, and it took me about five seconds to realize who i was looking at. "Oh, you''re that girl from yesterday? How come you were ro-" This was as far i got before she put her hand over my mouth and almost hissed at me. "Quiet, what are you saying in school!?" "I wanted to talk to you after what happened yesterday, would you care to meet me at this adress later on?" She said, simply looking at me with a mix between irritation and pleading. "Why in gods name should i meet with some criminals, how do i know this adress is not some abandoned warehouse and that you''ll dispose of me in some barrel?" I asked her. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.I was now genuinely curious, and wanted to know what she''d answer. "We- it - it''s not an abandoned warehouse, it''s a small caf¨¦, and i wanted to talk to you alone. I recognized your face yesterday and i wanted to both apoligize and offer a proposal." She was oddly collected now, obviously having calmed herself down to act calmer as not to scare me off. The prospect of meeting with a supervillan was intriguing, and it took me a couple of seconds of contemplation to decide if it outweighted the risk of whatever they could do to me. They could kill me, but from what doctors had told me, without my meds i was probably not gonna live long anyway, so that didn''t scare me so much. "Sure, i can meet up with you at this ''caf¨¦'' as you call it, what time should i be there?" Sighing she answered me. "It''s an actual caf¨¦, not some secret base." She sounded genuinely annoyed now "But anyway, good, meet me there at six?" "Sure, i believe you, and six is an alright time for me aswell." Sharing quick goodbyes we both left school, she to do whatever she had to do, and i to go home and swich out my clothes. Even thought she was a supervillan, i was still going to meet a girl at a caf¨¦. *** Arriving at the caf¨¦, she was already inside, waiting for me. I walked up to her table after getting a muffin and some hot chocolate. "So" i said "What do you want me here for?" waiting for her to reply, i took a sip of my hot chocolate. Given the fact that she''d still not responded when i was done swallowing, i took it she was having a hard time responding. "I take it it''s at least not standard procedure meeting up with your would-be victims after a robbery went wrong?" This got a reaction out of her, and she perked up. "You''re right, it''s not ''standard procedure''. This was also the first time we hit a grocery store. We''ve only been in places without customers before this." Then she realized what she''d let slip, and i could hear her cussing silently under her breath. After regaining her composture, she took a deep breath and looked straight at me. "Anyway, this was not what i wanted you here to discuss." i could tell she was serious now, since she actually kept her gaze on me. "Oh, then what did you want me here for? I''d take it it''s something relating to these less legal activities you do on your free time, since you rather talked to me here then at school." I realized i had the entire conversation under control, so i started drinking my hot chocolate "No, you''re right, it is about what i do on my free time." She was serious now, i could tell. "I want you to join our little gang." Huh. *** Once again, i write this way later then i should. If anyone has any legit tip on my writing, i''d love if you could drop a comment. uuuh - in case of any grammatical errors, please tell me about them as well. Nite ;^). 1.03 Chapter 3 After i stopped choking on my own hot chocolate, i had to take a moment to really understand what she told me. "Why? Why would i join a bunch of thugs and go around harming innocents? If anything, i''d rather try my hand at being a hero and do some good. This entire thing is so weird, why would you contact me after i witnessed you robbing a store? What am i missing?" Watching her crack a smile, i felt like a small mouse cornered by a very large cat. "Alright, here''s the thing, we''re not supervillans, we''re vigilantes, and we''re planning to fight crime across the city! Since we''ve just started out, we''re a little low on funds, and that''s why we hit that store since it''s actually a front for White Light, the Nazi gang ran by Purifier." "Wait, what? But the store owner is a really nice guy, and you''re telling me they''re Nazis? And how does this explain you wanting me here, what could i offer your little crew, i''m a normal person and i don''t have anything to offer you people." "Oh please" she said, looking at me like i was treating her like a child "I know you''re not normal, you have powers as well. I was trying to convince you to do what i said when you used your power yesterday and clocked me in the face. Kinda hard to forget. And that''s why we need you, my powers make me take control of people by amplifying their ideas. That''s why we came in looking as scary as we could, so when people got told to sit down and give us their money, they already had the idea in their heads, and i simply amplified it, but you resisted it by doing that weird thing before you clocked me in the face, and that''s why we need you." She looked serious now, but i still didn''t understand exactly why she needed me, and then suddenly it dawned on me. "Wait, is this going were i think it''s going? You need me cause Purifier has some mental powers like you, and you want me to clock him in the face like i did to you." "Yes!" she said, practically beaming "And that''s why we need you! Don''t you understand how useful a power, however minor it is, with the power to resist mind control is against someone like Purifier?" Yes, i really did understand how useful it is, but - "Why don''t you go to the police, or the local Hero League and let them handle this? They''re surely more qualified then us, and they have the resources to get jobs done without having to rob stores." "Like they''d do a thing. the police can''t handle criminals like these, and in a big city like Brownell City there are more high profile criminals to catch then some drug pushing, piece of shit Nazis, and that''s where vigilantes like us come in." "I-" and then i froze, realizing that i could, for once in my life, make a difference. I also remembered how alive i''d felt yesterday, and i wanted more. "I''ll join you since it sounds interesting and hey, being a hero doesn''t seem to bad!" *** Almost forty minutes later, we arrived at a run down warehouse at the docks. Brownell City, being located at the coast, had a large, if old and underused, port, which often served the less legal parts of the cities inhabitants. Going into the warehouse, one among many, it looked exactly like i''d expect a old run down warehouse to look. Turning towards Alexa and raising an eyebrow, she simply pointed forward, towards a room inside the building. Going inside the room, she turned towards me, and handing me a balaclava. "Put this on, even thought they saw your face yesterday they didn''t realize who you were, and we''ve decided that we''ll hide our identities from each other unless we want the others to realize who we are. So put that on, and let''s see who''s in." Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. We took the stairs up, and taking a key from her pocket and unlocking a lock that was very hard to see, we went into the room. Once inside, i looked around and realized it looked much like how i''d come to expect teenage hangout spots to look. A TV with a couch and a couple of love-seats, a fridge and even a stove. Inside the room there were two guys with masks, one of them the person that tasered me the other day, and the other one i didn''t recognize immediately, but the i realized it was the one that had been waiting outside. "Hey, i, uh, kinda got recruited today? Nice to meet you, you can call me John Doe for the time being, if we''re supposed to be anonymous." The guy that tasered me started laughing, and after recovering, he started to speak. "Hey John, you can call me Shocking, since i can, as you probably noticed, shock people." letting out another small laugh, he walked up to me and shook my hand. "Welcome to the group, and i get feeling odd hanging out with the people that robbed you yesterday, but we can''t let those shiteating Nazis find out that we''re actively targeting them before we can line up a real good sucker-punch." Turning around and focusing on the last person there, the one who had been waiting outside spoke up. "Hello John, you can call me Poof, since i can teleport myself and other people, and leave a small cloud of smoke both were we left from, and where we arrive." Then they turned to me, both of them, and i realized that Alexa had left me alone to go get something to drink. "So what do you do man, you managed to resist Takeover, so it gotta be something cool, right? You got mental powers on your own or what?" Shocking was almost bouncing now, and just from looking at him he looked exited. "I actually don''t know very well what i do. I suppose i have some minor mental resistance, but it''s not anything I''ve known of before today. There might be something else as well, but nothing I''ve noticed before today." "Oh, i was thinking you might have some regeneration as well, since you recovered from my shock so damn fast. I was scared i''d put you down for good with that second shock man, i''m sorry ''bout that, but i kinda panicked, since this was the first time any of us attacked somewhere with actual customers, before this, we''ve only hit places like empty warehouses where they store drugs or weapons to mess them over, so i''m not used to using my power on people." "That actually sounds plausible since i recovered so damn quickly. And apology accepted, it''s really nothing to worry about, since i''m fine and all. But i gotta go guys, i told my parents i''d just head out for a walk since if i even mentioned a girl, they''d probably start probing me for info, plus it''d only take a little time before my sister found out, and then i''ll never be able to live this down." That actually got a laugh out of them both, and i even heard a small snigger from Alexa over on the couch. Turning to leave, someone coughed behind me to get my attention. Turning around, it was Poof. "Here, take this" he was holding out a cellphone with a charger , "so we can contact you when we''re gonna go for ''em. Also, come back another day, our last member is out right now, so we''ll let her introduce herself when she gets back. Stay safe." Walking home, i realized what a day it had been. In less then 24 hours, i had fought, and then joined, a group of vigilantes, whose current objective was fighting a small Nazi gang. What a fucking day. *** Little longer today, only by a couple of hundred words. If you have any questions or if i fucked something up hard, don''t hesitate to give me a comment pointing it out. Nite. 1.04 Chapter 4 Four days later on a Friday night, we were lying on the rooftop across the road from our target. The building, a small drugstore, was a front White Light cooked, and sold, meth from. Over the last few days, i''d been training, running and lifting by myself, something i never had the opportunity to do before, and psychic resistance training with Alexa. It was hard, but it was *fun* in a way i''d never experienced before. Every time i challenged myself, i felt overjoyed, and afterwards i could *feel* myself growing. The plan was simple. Poof would teleport me, Takeover and Shocking inside the store, while the last member of our crew, a techie that calls herself Foldup whose power was making things incredibly compact, would be providing cover from across the road with a rifle she had designed that shot supercharged bolts that would paralyze, courtesy of Shocking. It was weird seeing her show the rifle for the first time, since before it was folded up, it was around the size of a cucumber, and afterwards the size of an assault rifle. Once we got inside, we would kick some serious ass and capture the people inside, call the police and then skedaddle before they arrived, hoping the more legal part of the law could give a longer term solution. From what Takeover had told us, Purifier was not in the area for the time being because of business, so we took our chance to strike at their moneymaking while we had it. Offering a polite cough, we all turned towards Poof "Alright, i think i''m ready to teleport us down. Are you ready?" After looking around at me, Shocking and Takeover, Poof closed his eyes. "And by the way ''John'', you really need a superhero name." *** Next thing i knew, we were all inside the building, but because of the smoke, i was not sure just *where* we were. Running out of the smoke, i saw three thugs sitting around a table drinking with their guns propped up to the wall next to them, so i rushed them. During my life, because of my sickness, i''d never been involved in any real fights, but because of my parents profession, they had always insisted i''d at the very least learn. What they taught me was, when in a fight without rules, fight as dirty as possible. So i did. When i came up to the first guy who had just started to stand up, i kicked towards the leg he had all his weight on, or more specifically, his knee. I could hear a noise, but i can''t really place it. I''d put it somewhere between ''snapping'' and ''cracking''. The guy stood there in disbelief while i turned to the next guy, delivering a punch to his solar plexus. Just as my fist connected, the guy i''d kicked in the knee started to scream in terror, and i saw the third guy training his gun on me. We looked at each other for a moment, but if felt much longer. Then our staring was interrupted by a voice. "Surrender." was all that was said, but the guy dropped his gun and sat down on his knees with his hands on his head. Turning around, i saw Alexa looking hurried, and Shocking was obviously all charged up. That was the real downside to using Poof, he''d discharge if was teleported while charged since Poof required body contact, so he had to start charging after we arrived. "Holy shit you were fast John, when did you get so quick? When we got out of the smoke, you were already on the second guy, and if Takeover would''ve been any slower you could have gotten shot!" "I don''t really know, i just decided to rush them as quick as possible, but never mind that now, let''s go into the next room. It''s supposed to be the lab, right?" Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. Turning towards the door into the next room, i took a quick glance behind me at Takeover, Poof and Shocking. They all looked ready, so i pulled the door open and ran inside. What we found was two people in gas masks mixing chemicals, exactly what we expected. I rushed the first guy and clocked him in the back of his head, while Shocking went for the other one. It was a simple affair really, nothing to really worry about. That''s when it struck me - "Was there not supposed to three cooks? Where''s the last one?" And then i saw movement behind Shocking. A guy with a small, sawed off shotgun who just finished putting both shells in, and started taking aim. Thinking about how i''d probably die soon anyway, i decided to at least try to save Shocking. I jumped almost two meters from standing still, pushing him to the ground and then i started to rush the guy with the shotgun. I managed to grab it with the palm of my hand when he punched me in the face while i did the same. The shotgun got aimed towards my left arm, and the last thing i remember before i passed out from pain was the sound of him firing and the look of horror on his face. *** When i woke up, i felt weak. It took me a while to realize i was in our base at the warehouse and it took even longer to realize that my arm was halfway *gone*. When i sat up, i saw Shocking to my side with mask on, but form how deeply he breathed out, i could assume he felt relieved. "Hey man, how you doing? You just took a hell of a hit last night, so don''t stress too much." I was surprised. "Last night? How long was i out for?" He turned away, towards the TV where the others were sitting. Looking over, i saw the clock above it. "I''ve been our for almost eight hours? What the fuck? And why am i here and not in a hospital, i''m missing an arm here!" I realized i was not as upset as i should be, and i felt just like i did after i got attacked at the store, or when i trained. I felt content, relaxed, *happy*. "Well, we were gonna fix a healer, but, uh, your bleeding stopped by itself. Then it looked like it started knitting itself together, so we simply teleported back to base to let you heal up here. Man, were you even aware you had increased regeneration? Cause growing back half a arm in a night is awesome as fuck!" "I, uh, no, i was actually not aware i had regenerative powers. I don''t have a tendency to get my extremities blown off in hope they''ll regenerate. But honestly, i''m relieved. Would''ve been hard to explain a missing arm to my parents." And that''s when i realized, my power was still on. I was currently in my changed form, the form i''d taken to using in my day to day life the last week since i met the gang, and i wondered how it''d work if i shifted back now. Pushing it to the back of my mind, i stood up instead and made my way over to one of the love seats. Sitting down i gave a nod to everyone respectively, and turned towards the TV. Then Alexa spoke up. "By the way ''John'', you were brutal as hell when you fought those thugs, kicked a guys knee in? That''s savage." "Oh." I said. "Yeah, it was." *** Sorry for being late AF with this chapter. As always, don''t be afraid to comment if you find any errors in my way of writing, since i write to get better. Mornin. 1.05 Chapter 5 I stayed around in the base for a couple of hours afterwards, watching TV with Alexa and Poof, while waiting for my warm to grow back. You''d never think it could feel bad having your arm back, but it still hurt having it grow back, and the odd thing was, my other arm hurt as well. I went to the kitchen to get some water and snacks since i was hungry as hell, and it''s hard to get pizza with one arm slowly growing back. Standing there, i notice someone approach, and turning around i quickly notice it''s Alexa. "Hey, ''John'', your arms are grayer then the rest of your body, any idea what that''s about?" She asks me, obviously concerned. "And your nails, they look longer and sharper then before. You think this might be your power, becoming better when hurt, adapting to the damage you''ve taken and growing from it?" "Honestly Takeover, i didn''t even know you were that perceptive, I barely noticed myself. Maybe this is my power, to grow stronger from defeat and learn from it." Then i straighten myself out when i realize something "Takeover, where is my arm? You got rid of it, right? Cause it would suck if my secret identity was busted after my first outing." "Don''t worry, we got it covered, threw it in the lake" she tells me, "so that''s fixed." "Good. Now, since my dear parents are out the entire weekend and my sister is spending time with her favorite youth group, i was thinking we could go out tonight and kick some serious ass, just you, me and Poof. Thinking we could track down some bad guys and break up some drug deals, stop some robberies, things like that." I turned towards her, and i see that she''s smiling. "You in?" *** Three hours later, we''re standing on one of those damn rooftops again. In front of us is a regular, if a little boring, apartment. Apparently, it''s supposed to get a shipment of herobusters, weapons with the power to kill most supers. Designed by builders hired by the American government, they were made to put down renegade villains, people that broke the codes between hero and villan and did stuff like go after their families when they were off duty, or disaster class threats, cases where peoples powers took control of their body, their mind and made them into, well, walking disasters. Powers want to be used, and when the power is strong enough, it will make itself be used. So yeah, we can''t let stuff like this into the city and out in the gangs if we''re gonna stand a chance, even if it''s the lower yield stuff. From where we''re lying, we can see the people in the room. Two not-so-obvious sides, one delivering large cases, and the other bringing in duffle bags filled with something of value, money or otherwise. Takeover takes charge, like always. "This is our chance to stop both of them. Poof, ''John'', you ready?" We both nod, and Poof grabs onto my arm. "There''s only seven people in there, and from the looks of it, they agreed to come unarmed. From what i managed to scrounge up, there are not supposed to be any supers in there, so let''s just kick their ass, call the Hero League, and get out of there." Then she takes a deep breath. "Go." *** From one moment to the next, we''re suddenly surrounded in smoke and inside the apartment. I rush the first guy i see and deliver a quick punch to his ribs. I feel a couple of them cracking and he exhales and drops to the ground. Since they decided it''d be a great idea to stand so spread out, the next guy managed to get a small crowbar up before i reach him. He swings towards me and i stop in with my arm, barely feeling a thing. A smile appears on my face as he goes down, and i continue my assault. "Surrender." Takeovers voice. I stop my rush and see that all except one have stopped moving. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.Suddenly, the room starts heating up. "A fucking super, just great. Takeover, Poof, you two back away, if anything happens i can at least recover." They do. After three seconds, they disappear back to the rooftop on the other side of the road, and i charge the guy heating up. The guy didn''t turn into fire like so many others, but he produced weak flames whenever he punched, and punch he did. My balaclava was set on fire and i could feel my skin starting to boil, but somewhere in the pain, it felt good. I went for his throat right away, punched him right in his windpipe. He started coughing, but on a normal person a punch like that should have them choking. I was no almost fully on fire, but i didn''t focus on the pain and just kept going. A punch to the solar plexus, a kick to the balls and a series of punches to the stomach. He was on the ground in pain, but not passed out. If i gave him a moment, he''d recover and continue torching this place down to the ground. So i went for his joints. Kicked downwards on his right arm shoulder several times until i felt something go loose, and then started on the other one. If he can''t move his arms, he can''t punch. And if he can''t punch, he can''t create any fire. With this guy down for the count, i realized large parts of me were on fire. So i did what the adults always told me, I stopped, dropped and rolled. Standing up, i could already start to feel things in my skin. When i say feel ''things'', i mean pain. Lots of pain. *** When i came to, i was still on the floor in the apartment, but Poof and Takeover were there with me. They''d already started rounding up all the people we put down, and was carrying the last guy over to the rest. "Jesus man, how are you doing? Recovering alright?" I wordlessly took the hand Poof had offered me and had him pull me to my feet. I could still feel a dull ache, but nothing as intense as how it was earlier. "Yeah, i''m doing fine, already starting to recover from my burns. How we doing? Called the Hero League already?" "They are on their way, so i''ll just get you and Takeover back to base when we''ve secured the criminals. And take this, you''re naked." He extended a arm and dropped some clothes in my arms. A new balaclava, underwear and a suit. "The underwear is mine, freshly washed. We got the balaclavas in a bulk since we figured you''d probably burn throught a lot after you showed reckless abandon in losing your arm, and the suit is from one of the guys that surrendered." I nodded, and started putting my clothes on. The only part of my body that was still badly burned was my face, so i turned around and changed back to my normal form. Suddenly all injuries were gone, but i still felt a dull ache in the background. I put all my clothes on and then got back to Poof and Takeover. "We ready to go?" I asked them. "Just, i''m, uh, thinking that maybe we should take some of the stuff? We need money for our base and gear, plus, I bet Foldup could do some great work with those herobusters if she got her hands on one.? "Yeah." I say, and their eyes are on me. "If we can do good with something that''ll otherwise just sit in some evidence locker, we take it and use it. There''s enough stuff here that us taking a bag of money and a couple of herobusters won''t affect these guys getting jailed or not, so why not make our future chances better by getting some technology and funding?" "You know" Poof suddenly spoke up "I never took you for the kind of guy that thought so far ahead. I''m on as well." So we took some money and a couple of guns, and a poof later? We''re gone. *** Once again, sorry for not delivering on time. Wanted to get this chapter out tomorrow, but i didn''t find any inspiration to write yesterday. And like always, tell me if something is wrong with the chapter. Cya. 1.06 Chapter 6 It¡¯s been two weeks since we ¡®borrowed¡¯ money and guns from the local crime scene to fight them, and it¡¯s been going smoothly. Foldup got to work on the guns, and the prototypes are looking pretty slick. With the money we got equipment for her and some weights so I can work out at the warehouse without having to lift literal steel beams. The only problem I have right now is that I¡¯m wasting time I could be using for something useful sitting in class, listening to something I already know and generally being useless. I could be fighting crime now, for crying out loud! ¡°Now class - today, we¡¯re going to have a special visitor for our metahuman studies class. As per the cities agreement with the Hero League, we have one of their junior members here today speaking about how it is living as a hero in Brownell City. I want you all to welcome Maneater.¡± And this is what I get for not listening to what my teacher is talking about. A visit from a junior at the Hero League is pretty awesome, and Maneater is one of the newest additions to their roster. Having the power to drain other people is extremely versatile ¨C making her a powerful asset for their team. Walking in and draining someone that you can¡¯t hurt physically is extremely useful, since heroes generally avoid using mental assaults unless they absolutely have to. Then she walks into the room. Her costume is almost entirely white except for some red splashes on her arms, while she herself is short with brown hair. ¡°Hello everyone, I hope you¡¯re all doing well! My hero name, or Cape as it¡¯s sometimes called, is Maneater and I work for the Hero League in the junior department. I am here today to tell you about some of the less known things about metahumans, so let¡¯s just get started right away. The most basic thing are names for people with powers. Can anyone here tell me some of the names used for people with powers?¡± A boy next to me ¨C I think his name is Josh ¨C answers immediately. ¡°Metahumans, Extras, Superhumans and ,uh, Boosted¡± ¡°Good, but I¡¯m not here today to tell you about boosted, so we¡¯re going to skip that today. But as this young man said, Metahumans and Superhumans are the two most common names when talking about people with powers. Both coined in the 1990¡¯s, they¡¯ve grown to be the most common names is about thirty years. Extras on the other hand, is an older word for people with powers, coming from the military after world war two. Other than different names for people with powers, there are some common traits when talking about powers. When it comes to the powers themselves, they are very open about some information. What I¡¯m here to talk with you today is something called resonance. Resonance is the phenomena when two powers work with each other and increase their powers exponentially. Like how a person with fire-related powers will be exponentially more powerful if they team up with someone what has the power to focus gasses in the air, powering their fire. There is also hyper-resonance, when both abilities benefit and grow incredibly powerful when interacting.¡± I open my mouth, fighting off my rising headache trying to get my question out. ¡°Have you ever fought someone that was resonating?¡± ¡°No, I have not. I just got cleared to do missions for the Hero League, so I have virtually no real life experience. That¡¯s the reason I¡¯m here really, all members of the Hero League have extensive training, both physical and mental. It¡¯s a lot like school for metahumans where you learn about being a hero and using your powers. That¡¯s why I¡¯m not talking about fieldwork and only theory.¡± The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. After this, it kept up for a while. There were questions about her private life and what she was working on, when suddenly a signal went off. ¡°I¡¯m sorry that we have to cut this short. The case my team has been working on had an incident so I have to leave. I hope you learned something today and that you don¡¯t think this is completely pointless. And remember, if you have powers and want to help people, we at the Hero League will accept and train you to be a hero.¡± *** Later that evening, I walked into base. ¡°You called me Takeover, what¡¯s up?¡± She turned around abruptly and stared at me for a second. ¡°Jesus christ John, you scare me so badly. When you¡¯re shifted I can¡¯t feel you like I can feel others and you sneak around like a thief, I thought someone was coming to kill me!¡± ¡°Well, I¡¯m ¨C uh ¨C sorry I suppose. So what¡¯s the deal, why did you call me here? Something up, or can I just go home and sleep, we have school tomorrow.¡± ¡°I called the Poof and Shocking over as well, Foldup is in the back building, but I suppose we can get to business.¡± She took a deep breath, looking like she wanted to stabilize herself before saying the next part. ¡°White Light are making their move on the Tigers, right now. ¡° Oh. ¡°Oh. That¡¯s not good. What made them move so quickly? Why now? They were not supposed to do anything for weeks from what you¡¯ve gathered!¡± ¡°I actually think it¡¯s our fault this happened ¨C our interfering in White Light¡¯s day to day business might¡¯ve pressured Purifier into moving. So we¡¯re going to group up and move out, go for them tonight.¡± In the middle of her sentence Poof and Shocking came into the room in a cloud of smoke. ¡°Sup people, what¡¯s up?¡± Shocking said, waiting for the smoke in his face to dissipate before taking another breath. ¡°White Light are moving on the Tigers, our fault, have to do something before someone gets hurt.¡± I shot back quickly. He suddenly looked a lot more serious, taking a look at Poof through the holes in his mask and they both went back into Foldup¡¯s workshop. ¡°You going to need your Balaclava?¡± Takeover said, still face away from me, attaching small gadgets to her belt. ¡°Do you honestly think I need one now, you seen me these last two weeks?¡± I shoot back, jokingly. She turned around and looked at my current form. I was still the same length, but my skin had turned grey and was more flaky, almost reptilian, in its design. I looked stronger as well, and I was, I could throw a man across a room no problem now, my muscles looking toned and compressed, so I didn¡¯t look like a giant freak, more like a guy that had been hitting the gym for quite some time. I¡¯d almost call myself hot, but it¡¯s hard when you¡¯re grey and scaly. She actually smiled and laughed at me. ¡°You¡¯re right, no one is going to recognize you right now. How about a name, you got one?¡± Now it was my turn to smile. ¡°Yeah, I sat around a while, and I figured out something that I think fits me.¡± She waited a beat before looking at me funny, sighing when she realized I was waiting for her to ask. ¡°So what is it?¡± She finally said, looking at me expectantly. ¡°Savage.¡± 1.07 Chapter 7. We chose to walk the last five hundred meters, since none of us were too interested on getting ambushed and maybe even killed, so we walked. I could hear the gunshots ringing out in the air when we were several blocks away and for a moment, I worried about the civilians around here. But quickly I realized we were in the eastern part of Brownell City, and whoever lived here knew how to take care of themselves. I walked in the middle of our little group. As I looked around at the others, I could see their telltale signs of nervousness. Shocking were cramping and spreading out his fingers in a rhythmic pattern, readying himself to release shocks, while Poof were walking in a way I could only describe as low. Back ached down and legs bent, he looked ready to take a tackle without moving an inch, and he would need it if things got real hairy. He finally described his power to me before we headed out, and he apparently needed to stand still for about three seconds before he could actually teleport. When he told me I finally understood why he so rarely moved during fights, preferring to stay in his smoke and thus preparing to teleport away at need. Finally, I took a long, good look at Takeover. She was varying between looking around wearily and closing her eyes to see if she could feel anyone near us. Her hands aimed towards her tool belt, the same one that Poof wore, so she could pull out one of Foldups weapons. I had asked them about what they had in there exactly, but after Foldup started rabbling about the different specs I had tuned out. I did, on the other hand, know they had the minimized version of the Herobuster, pepper spray and a small but very powerful taser, charged by Shocking himself. ¡°Takeover,¡± I said as we stopped, putting my arm on her shoulder¡± could you tell me why White Light are aiming for The Tigers, and why now?¡± ¡°White Light has actually been aiming to flush The Tigers out of the east part for a long time, but our actions have actually accelerated their plans. From what I¡¯ve gathered, Purifier thinks we¡¯re part of The Tigers and have caught on to their plan to take over the area, so he decided to act right away.¡± She said as she scrunched up her face ¡°If someone innocent actually gets hurt by this I¡¯ll feel guilty. It¡¯s my fault that this happened, so I¡¯ll take responsibility.¡± I looked away from her, training my eyes on the apartment¡¯s windows. I quickly accepted the fact that if Alexa were to attempt to give herself up, I¡¯d probably stop her, maybe even take her place. From what I¡¯d seen the last few weeks, she had a chance in life, unlike me. I was not sure anymore how I was alive, and why I felt better than ever ¨C the doctors always told me I would get sick very quickly if I forgot my meds, but after almost three weeks of not taking them I was still fine, and I was currently stronger than I was before. ¡°You guys ready to go in? I¡¯m already charged and ready to run in, so just tell me when it¡¯s time takeover, I¡¯ll put the first guy on the ground!¡± Takeover looked straight at the apartments and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. ¡°Alright. Savage, you go in first, Shocking following up with me third. Poof, you stay near the windows so we can run back to you if we need to get out real quick.¡± She let her breath out, and took another one, this more shallow. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± *** As I bust through the front doors of the apartment, I quickly realized it was empty and made my way up the stairs. Once I¡¯d walked up the first set of stairs, I saw a body. A small tiger on his chest marked him as a member of The Tiger, and while gravely injured he was still barely breathing. His face was badly burned, and the only reason I could even identify him as a member of the tiger was because of the fact that his clothes were burned off as well. We continued up the stairs and the whole way I saw bullet holes in the walls and in the floor, and because of the shoddy drywall walls the bullets had gone straight through, into the apartments. As we walked past a door looking more banged up then the others and with a suspicious amount of holes around it, Takeover put a hand on my shoulder, stopping me. ¡°They¡¯re in here. I can feel several people wanting to either attack or surrender, so I suppose one side is winning. Guessing from how this looks, I¡¯d say that it¡¯s White Light. We¡¯ll go in there and watch how it plays out, since I think there¡¯s a room between us and them.¡± I gave her a quick grunt and walked to the side of the door. I could feel myself tensing up, preparing to fight, and I could feel the usual excitement, the feeling of pleasure slowly creeping into my mind. I slowly opened the door, barely able to stop my arms from shaking with anticipation, and walked into the room. She had been right, and we walked into a hallway with an empty doorway up ahead. I could smell cleaning materials in the air, and after sneaking a peek into the next room I realized we¡¯d hit a meth lab. The room was filled with equipment and the smell of ammonia was heavy ¨C some people in the corner were wearing hazmat suits and I¡¯d assume they were the cooks, and they were joined by other people, presumably the other members of The Tigers. Standing around them were a collection of skinheads wearing dirty white hoodies and jeans, probably their gang colours ¨C and in front of The Tigers members two other men were standing, one talking silently towards the members and the other standing around looking threatening. It only took me a moment to realize the man looking threatening was the same guy I¡¯d fought some weeks ago, the one with fire attacks, and if he was here, he¡¯d probably be protecting something important, which made me believe the other man was Purifier himself. Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. Turning around to the others, I mouthed ¡®Purifier¡¯ towards them, pointing into the room. They caught the hint, and I could see Shocking starting to charge up. Takeover was preparing as well as she could, focusing on the people inside the room. Since her power actually worked better if the enemy were surprised or confused, she had planned to shout loudly, but that task had been given to me instead, since you are pretty confused when getting rushed by a screaming grey reptile-man. My blood ran hot, and when Takeover made eye-contact with me and started counting down silently, the anticipation was almost killing me, my arms shaking and pupils dilating, legs tensing up, preparing to burst through the drywall separating us. Silently, she mouths out ¡®Go¡¯, and I¡¯m going. Crashing through the wall and screaming like a madman takes them by surprise. I go for the fire-man right away when I feel Takeovers power stretch over the room, and they all freeze up for a second, unable to act against their natural instinct of fleeing, amplified by Takeover. As I crash into the man with fire powers, I punch him in his stomach and throw him towards Shocking. The plan was that I¡¯d try to take down Purifier as fast as possible, since I¡¯m fairly resistant towards psychic assaults and I have superhuman strength. Turning towards Purifier and aiming my right fist towards his face, he swiftly brings up his own arms to block my attack. As I connect I can feel his bones groaning from the force, and his face makes a grimace of pain, a sharp contrast to my own almost manic look. When I bring my second arm up to continue by attack, he manages to grab me as well, and I realize he also has some enhanced strength and durability. He pulls me in close, and I can feel something blotting out my mind, almost making me forget my purpose here, almost forgetting what we¡¯re supposed to do. ¡°You¡¯re angry.¡± He tells me ¨C ¡°Attack them.¡± I feel my rage building up, my anger towards my allies behind me, but I manage to direct it towards Purifier. My meagre psychic resistance manages to save me from attacking my own allies, but the pure, unbridled rage now focused on him instead. I feel my own face twisting into something almost inhuman, and an animalistic howl escapes my throat as I bear my fists down on Purifier. His face is coloured by surprise, soon to be replaced by pain as I drive my left fist into his stomach, upwards towards his lungs. He weathers the hit and counters with a strong strike towards my own left arm, but it glances off as his entire body contracts in an attempt to breathe. As he is bent over, I bring both of my hands down on his back, bringing him down to the floor where he cannot run from me. I mount his back and start hitting the back of his head with all my strength, when his right elbow hits me in my face. He stands up, face bloody and obviously winded, but he could still fight ¨C good. Somewhere I hear voices screaming, but I ignore them when he starts reaching into a holster on his right leg as I charge him. Pulling an oversized gun up and aiming it towards me, I feel the bullet burning a hole through my left leg, but I was already in moving towards him. I get him on his back, pinning him towards the ground. As I continue to hit him, I feel things breaking, in both my hands and his face. As I take a second to raise my arms into the air to bring them both down at the same time, I see him taking a ragged breath and then coughing out blood and teeth. He¡¯s almost unconscious now, but still my anger burns inside me, and I continue. His nose is almost flat and he lacks most of his teeth, when suddenly I get knocked off from my position on top of him. A masked man had attacked me, and he starts running with a girl towards their last masked member. Somewhere deep inside I feel I should know who they are, but I cannot remember. As they disappear in a cloud of smoke, I¡¯m confused. I turn towards the dirty window and look outside and notice a group of five people approaching the building. Ignoring them, I go inside the apartment again, walking into the hall and walking into the lab. I see a cloud of smoke inside it, and notice it¡¯s empty of people. I simply stand there for a couple of seconds when I finally feel my mind clear and my anger dissipate, as I remember why I was here, and who I am. Then I got thrown into a wall. *** Sorry for being late. Again. I''m thinking about starting to write in third person, but i actually wanted to ask if the people reading this would take great offense from this. I never really re-read my chapters after I''ve written them, so i might have grammatical/symmetrical errors (repeating things e.t.c), but i feel a third person omniscient perspective would make the process of worldbuilding easier. I have tons of cool tidbits built up to release somewhere in the text, but the first person perspective limits me too damn much. Opinions please.