Running along the empty streets, the group was greeted by the familiar sounds and smells of the city, still lively as ever even in the middle of the night, the starch air still prevalent, accompanied by the sounds of dogs barking in the distance. The dim-lit street lights did little to light their path, which was mostly illuminated by the reverse crescent moon in the black sky. Abbas led the group through an empty parking lot and out the nearby alleyway. As the group got further ahead Xole panted, struggling to keep up. Trix shot a glance back, falling from the group.

  “Xole,” she said, “this is the next part of you training. Remember when we had you perform all those exercises back at the lot and Zone 1?”

  “Yeah,” he panted, “Why?”

  “There were two parts to that,” she said. “The first was to draw out your latent potential through your Spiritual Talent, but the second, and more important for this situation, is to utilize your body’s Inner-Gi management.”

  “Huh?” he gasped, breathing hard. “How’s that supposed—?”

  “Just stop talking.” She said, now running shoulder to shoulder with him. “I was once awful at Gi management myself. However, I discovered the issue wasn’t too much Gi being wasted, but it wasn’t being used in the right places.” she nodded to the ground, “Your feet.”

  Xole looked down, “My shoes…they’re not untied!”

  “No, that’s where you should be focusing your Gi to.” She said. “Close your eyes and envision your body.”

  The two ran across the street over a broken headlight. A massive semi-truck blaring its horn flew behind them. Xole looked back in terror.

  “I can’t do that!”

  “That wasn’t the only one,” Trix said. She looked ahead at the web of freeways before them. “See that?”

  Xole went bugged eyed, “Wait…wait, wait WAIT—”

  “It’s adapt or die, Xole.” She said. “Everyone else’s ahead of us now and soon so will I.”

  ‘Let’s see your theory in action, Melmar,’ Trix thought to herself.

  “W-wait!” he called. “So I’m supposed to close my eyes and focus on my feet?”

  “Yes, start from there.” She said.

  Xole closed his eyes, taking a large breath. He remembered the chart from Brandon’s office, and then remembered his body. But he didn’t see anything besides his body’s outline.

  ‘Wait, I don’t see anything. Where’s the Gi?’ he focused more, trying to feel for anything. Then, he began to see small ripples around his body. ‘Oh, I get it. I thought Spiritual Talents would be a yellow or gold color according to Brandon, but mine’s clear for some reason. Now what am I supposed to do wit—‘

  ‘SMACK!’

  His body smashed against a wall, stumbling and falling to the ground only to scramble to his feet in a limp. Groaning in pain, he instinctively tried to rub is eyes.

  “Don’t!” Trix’s distant voice stopped him. “If you open your eyes for even a blink, you’ll progress will be lost. Focus, Xole!”

  ‘God…what’s with these people?!’ He tensed, gritting his teeth and running faster. ‘The body, remember!’ he saw his body again, the clearish color rippling all over the place. ‘My legs, my feet,’ He thought, his footsteps clanking with the ground, ‘this needs to move down, now.’

  He tensed hard, flexing his legs and clenching his toes. However, he ended up staggering more, even feeling his shoulder bang into an open door. He cried out but shut his eyes even tighter. ‘It’s not working…Jesus what am I even doing right now? I hear people, smell food…I’m so hungry right now…where’d everyone even go…?’

  ‘The question is, why don’t you have the answers?’

  “Shut up!” he said, hobbling and banging his shin against what felt like a pole, causing him to yelp and tumble to the ground. He breathed hard, already hearing an oncoming car, forcing him to his feet as it honked out his right ear. He ran again, focusing on his body again, only this time he could see the color had moved itself down to his stomach.

  ‘When did that—no, I should know?’ so he breathed again, letting his weak body sway as he an blindly along. He could hear the sounds begin to subside and the smells start to fade, even the ground began to feel less and less solid. What he could barely make out now were more colors, slight hints of blue, all surrounding him. He breathed again, almost letting himself fall, but dragging himself forward feeling as if there was nothing around him except his heavy legs.

  The saw it.

  The clear color now rippled at his legs and feet. The weight was gone, the pain nonexistent, and it was as if he could run—no, fly at any moment. Taking one final breath he slowed for a second, leaning forward…then…exploding off the ground.

  ‘WHOOOOSH!’

  He felt the wind on his face as he bolted, unaware of anything but himself.

  ‘I-I’m doing it!’ he thought, ‘I-I can control my body!’

  “Xole!” Trix’s voice called out again, “Follow the sound of my voice!”

  Instinctively, Xole’s body twisted right and hopped over something, and then he felt himself dart up back and forth between two vertical objects. A big smile crossed his face. He finally did it. He was making use of his Talent.

  “WA-HOOO!” he cheered vaulting over a tall ledge. He couldn’t help it; he had to open his eyes to save this moment if even for a second.

  Hundreds of headlights speeding through the dark were all his eyes could register.

  “AAHHHHHHH!” he screamed. He felt his legs twist violently to the right to avoid the first one, only for one to his left to come from the dark out of nowhere. His body jerked left and right, but there were too many of them. Horns blasted and people screamed at him in confusion. A car tried to swerve to avoid him but the side hit him and the boy flew, spinning in the air in the way of the same semi-truck from earlier.

  ‘HOOOOOOONK!’ it sounded like some type of nightmarish train.

  Xole shut his eyes. Suddenly something wrapped around his body and swung him around the ramp, above the cars, and pulling him over the ledge and under the freeway. He fell on his back, eyes open but silent. Mr. Holdover strutted into view.

  “The fuck were you doing?” he demanded.

  Xole tried to talk, but nothing came out.

  “Oh, you made it!” Trix said smiling. “I told you he could do it Rivers!”

  “Patchwork, when on the job, Trix,” The doctor said. “And if you called that reckless maneuver training then—”

  “Yeah, yeah, ya hate everythin’.” Salamander waved him off and stood Xole up, putting a heavy arm around his neck. “Kid, I’m so proud of ya! Ya actually did somethin impressive.” He wiped away a tear. Spit-take was smiling at first, then his face quickly twisted angrily in shock.

  “Hey! Where was this back at Haven you two?!” he pointed at them. “I thought, ‘ooh! Rivers is right, lemme make treats!’ or ‘we can’t take da risk, I smoke too much!’” he said mockingly.

  The two looked back at him, confused.

  “I don’t remember saying that specifically…” Trix said.

  “And last I checked, I don’t make ‘treats’.” Salamander added.

  Abbas placed his large hand on Xole’s other Shoulder, nearly knocking him to the ground once more.

  “Young one, how did it feel?”

  “How…did…” Xole shook his head. “How did what feel?”

  “Using it, you’re Talent,” He said, “Tell me what your experience was like. Bliss, pain, fear, uncertainty?”

  “A bit of everything,” He replied, “Not to mention I felt better when I didn’t know what I was doing.”

  Snap took off his backpack, taking out some wires, a hammer, bolts, and tape. There was an electrical pole next to him, which he pried the front and yanked the protective seal off, revealing dozens of wires underneath. He yanked a bunch out and tied them with the ones he brought; taping them together and stuffing it back in.

  “Phew!” He said wiping his forehead, “That’s one!”

  “Nice!” Spit-Take said, “Dozen more of those then we can move on to the bank.”

  Shakar blinked a few times, the stench of his clothes now burning his eyes, “How long’s this supposed to take again?”

  “Oh, not too, too long,” He replied. He did a double take back at the younger man, “Oh snap I almost didn’t recognize ya!”

  Shakar would’ve replied but he had to hold his breath.

  “Yeah, uh about that,” Xole said, still feeling a bit dizzy. “Is there gonna be another run too? I’m still barley over my first one.”

  “Well of course.” Abas said. “Now that you have the sensation of using Gi you must hold it tight and continue to learn more.” He looked around, noticing the quiet of the bridge they were under besides the sounds of the traffic above. “But since we have a bit of time here, I’d like you to perform that feat again.”

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  Xole groaned, “But we aren’t even leaving yet!”

  “You don’t have to run, just interact with your own Gi once more.” He said. “This is what I was attempting to accomplish earlier and it seems high tense situations are indeed what forces your body to become reactive.”

  “Reactive?”

  “Yes,” Abbas paced back and forth, “You said earlier you felt better when you ‘didn’t know what you were doing’, which tells me your still not placing enough faith in your Talent.” He stopped and looked at him, “Tell me young one, this power you have, does it frighten you?”

  Shakar looked up. Patchwork looked over. Everyone else was still focused on the power cables.

  “…No.” Xole said. “It doesn’t.”

  Abbas nodded. “I see. In any case, focus on your Gi and let it consume your body. Remember, you are its master.”

  Xole sat down on the pavement. He really didn’t want to have to jump into traffic again to jump start his Talent, but at this point he felt it was the only way. He tried thinking about his body again, seeing the same image only the clear color now was thicker like a cloud, and creeping up his sides. He shuddered. Mr. Holdover glanced at him, and then looked over at Abbas.

  “So how are we supposed to avoid the cops?” he asked. “Been seeing lights across the city back even from before, can even hear them.”

  “I picked tonight because of the increased police presence.” Abbas said.

  Mr. Holdover took a quick breath and could only look around, then back at the man “Just…just why?”

  “Because their forces are focused,” He said, “Focused away from here. I picked this location and the next few specifically to capitalize on that. I suppose I also have your stunt on the highway to thank for that as well.”

  “Huh,” Mr. Holdover thought a moment, “I guess when you out it that way—”

  ‘WEEEEWOOOOO! WEEEEWOOOOO!’ WEEEEWOOOOO!’

  “You’re still full of shit!” he yelled.

  Xole shot to his feet, “What was that?!”

  Trix’s head snapped in the direction of the noise, “It’s the police! We have to move!”

  “Hold up, hold up, I ain’t done yet!” Snap said, “What about the rest?”

  “I think their doing a perimeter check,” Patchwork said, “Shoot that includes here!”

  Abbas looked down the hill they were on, watching two cars pull close to their side of the street. “Spit-take, how many do you see?”

  The hunched man stretched his neck out, squinting his eyes. “Look to be about four of them,” he said, “it ain’t too bad.”

  “Good, you and the young one come with me, we’ll lure them away. Snap, we’ll use the bank as our primary this time. The rest of you go with him, we will be right behind you.”

  Mr. Holdover put his hand up, “Wait a sec—”

  “Let’s do this, guys!” Xole said. With that, he took off with them. However, he saw they immediately went in the direction of the police. The car flashed its lights.

  “HOMELESS!” their speaker boomed, “STOP RIGHT THERE!”

  Xole looked at the two, just twenty feet from the officers. He gulped, “Um, now what do we do?”

  “Spit-take turned his head to him, grinning. “Hope you’re recovered, kid, cause it’s time to run!”

  Snap led the group back into the city. The group not bothering to be as careful this time, sticking to the rooftops as they ran, vaulting and avoiding hanging clothes, fans, and chimneys. He peered ahead.

  “Up this way y’all, this’s it!” He said, running with the others towards the large bank. Up ahead they saw the large label on top of the building still lit reading ‘Emperial City Banking’. Shakar made a face at the sign.

  “Why is it spelled like that?”

  “Like what?” Trix asked.

  “It should be Imperial with an ‘I’, rather than an ‘E’.” he said.

  “Looks fine to me,” Mr. Holdover said. “It’s probably just you.”

  The group stopped at the side of the bank far from the street. Snap unloaded his supplies and got to work. Patchwork pointed at the sign.

  “The spelling is a play on ‘Empire’, after the city.”

  “So they think their being cute?” Shakar said.

  “Pretty much,” The doctor replied.

  Shaking his head, Mr. Holdover moved away and towards Snap. He tapped the wall next to him with his foot a few times to get his attention, “Hey, jit, how long’s this gonna take?”

  “Huh?” Snap looked at him confused, “What’s a jit?”

  “He calls everyone younger than him that.” Shakar said.

  “Wouldn’t dat make you one, ya fool?” Salamander said. He then started laughing.

  Mr. Holdover’s neck craned, “Before I forget what I asked…”

  “It should only take…” Snap coked his head from left to right, “’approximately five to five and a half minutes, give or take.”

  He looked confused. “If it’s ‘give or take’ then why so specific?”

  Patchwork looked up to the top of the building adjacent to them, “Trix, are we clear for the next ten minutes?”

  “We should be.” She answered. “Though I see sirens, it looks like their focused further north.”

  “North?” Shakar said. “I thought most the big business moved out already?”

  “Almost all of them,” Patchwork said. “However, north is also where the Head Police Precinct is located.” He paused. “You know now that I think about it, tonight is an odd night for so much activity.”

  “It coulda been Skinner,” Salamander suggested. “Mabey dem Blue fools’ finally gettin’ ready ta transfer him.”

  “Don’t say that.” Trix said.

  “I toldja it was only a matta o’ time, Trix.” He replied.

  “May I ask,” Shakar said, “who exactly is this ‘Skinner’ individual?”

  “Trix’s alleged twin brother,” Patchwork answered.

  The bottom of a dagger dropped on top of his head. “Grah!” he looked up, “That could’ve KILLED me, woman!”

  “He’s only saying that cause he don’t like him.” Snap laughed, “They siblings alright!”

  “Four and a half minutes.” Mr. Holdover said.

  “Then why are there so many Blue Collars present?” Shakar continued, “Is it for him?”

  There was a brief silence. Patchwork sighed, “He’s…unstable.”

  Trix continued to watch overhead while the rest waited in silence. The sounds of the night flowed by, carrying cars, sirens, and distant barking. Shakar took a seat against the wall, tinkering with his stick. He looked up, “Well, what about the rest of you?”

  The other two turned to Shakar, puzzled.

  “Any of you two have family? Stories to tell?” he asked again.

  “Ha!” Salamander said. He took a seat and lit a cigar. “I ain’t got none ‘cuz they all da same, here today and gone tomorrow.” He took a long puff, “It’s pointless.”

  Patchwork shrugged, “I don’t see how this is beneficial.”

  Trix suddenly landed between them, “Oh come now you two. He just wants to know a little more person rather than the Talent.” She hopped atop the dumpster to sit. “My brother and I were both abandoned by our mother since we were both nine. She did this in favor of our other cousin, Morrowyn.”

  Mr. Holdover noticed a few Groundhogs’ faces turn to disgust at the sound of the name. He looked at Trix. “Based on you reactions, I’m guessing this chick was a snob?”

  Trix giggled. “It was more my fault. I hated her for having Spiritual Talent while I was stuck with Material.” With a sigh, she looked up. “I just saw the two as so similar, Talent and all.”

  “Hold up,” Mr. Holdover said, “Same Talents? I thought only person per family could get Spiritual Talent?”

  “One per immediate blood relative,” Patchwork said. “And their mother was oddly persistent in that endeavor to say the least.”

  “I suppose it is common,” Shakar said, “parents favoring their family for failing to manifest Talents that can sustain their lives.”

  “Oh don’t get me wrong,” she said. “Skinner did manifest Spiritual Talent.”

  Now Mr. Holdover and Shakar were puzzled. Trix continued.

  “The issue was he never listened, always talking to the ground or some type of rodent, specifically rats.” Her fingers gripped the sides, “It got worse when Eldritch got him addicted to enhancers a way to ‘quicken his manifestation’. Eventually, she decided he was ‘an exceptional failure’ and left me and him at a park one day. I never saw her or my cousin again for some time.”

  The area was quiet, except for Snap who continued to work on the building. Mr. Holdover threw his hand up, “Well then what?”

  Trix got up, pointing to an old rundown building a block away, “We were picked up by that shelter and—” she cut herself off abruptly, feeling the scars around her mouth. “Abbas helped us escape.”

  Everyone sat again in silence, listening to the sound of Snap working. Patchwork stood up, hands on his hips. He let out a breath, “Fine, fine, fine! Look I was a doctor once, and a very good one I’ll add. I’ve worked with top hospitals, laboratories, athletes, hell I’ve even operated on very, very, wealthy celebrities.” He shook his head and leaned against the wall next to the corner where the street was, “Gave it all up. Couldn’t take it anymore.”

  “Even at the height of all that wealth, you gave it up because it became too…’hard’?” Shakar said.

  “Oh of course not I could do this in my sleep.” The doctor replied quickly. “What I mean is all the reckless endangerment.” He snorted, “When I’m around, people start to think that they’re invincible, that they’re brave, and I can’t stand that.” The man scoffed, “Whether it was stunts, substance abuse, hell even indulging in self-harm, it was all fun to them!”

  Mr. Holdover’s ears perked, ‘This guy must’ve been far up the food chain.’ he thought.

  “The thing all these idiots have in common is they believe the ends justify the means.” Patchwork said. “That as long as they’ll be fine, no matter how moronic their ideas are, it’s okay for them to live their life by ‘whatever means necessary’.”

  “So even if someone is happy with what they’re doing,” Shakar said. “You’d still label them an idiot for not living up to your standards?”

  The doctor gave him a look, “It’s not that I’m better, it’s the fact that they’re too stupid for their own good. We have common sense and deductive reasoning for such simple purposes yet we choose to deny and abuse them!” he looked at the rest of the group. “Can you comprehend how infuriating it is as a doctor, as someone who lives to preserve life, to see so many more by the day choose to live such short and shallow lives instead? Do you even understand why—?!”

  “Aight, aight that’s enough Patch!” Salamander said waving his hand. “Damn, get ya going and ya never stop.”

  The looked away and folded his arms. Shakar looked at the cigar man, “Well speaking of which, have you decided this isn’t so pointless after all?”

  Salamander looked him up and down, “No.” he continued to puff his cigar.

  Snap looked up, wiping his forehead. “Well boys—and Trix—we’ve got good news and bad news.”

  Patchwork rolled his eyes, “Cut to the chase Snap, why can’t we get into the bank?”

  The young man scratched his head. “Well the cords I linked up ain’t gonna cut it. Ya see the wires out here already work as third party extensions. It’s already too hot.”

  “Test it anyways,” the doctor said, “We can’t risk staying out here any—”

  “Already did.” Snap continued, “This issue out here is linkin’ cords to cords is like hell on the power lines. We’d have power for maybe a few days at best before the whole thing blows up in flames. Poof!”

  “But why now?” Trix said, “Our cables never had issue being linked before.”

  “Cause bank was never our primary source of power until now.” Snap said. “Unfortunately, we never set that up.”

  Salamander threw his arms up, biting his cigar. “Well dat’s jus’ great! Da hell are we s’pose ta do now?”

  Snap looked at the bank, but Patchwork was already shaking his head. “No, no, no, no! That is NOT an option—”

  “Look, we can use the transformer inside!” he said, “I can run my cords between the floor panels where it’s hidden, no one’s gonna know—”

  “Until we’re caught!”

  “It’s our only option,” Trix said.

  The doctor’s eyes widened, “Excuse me, but have any of you even been in there?!”

  “I have,” Mr. Holdover said, raising his hand, “Nothing but robots and bad memories from this place.”

  Shakar didn’t even ask.

  “Ha, ha!” Salamander slapped Mr. Holdover’s hand, “Ya know, I’ve always like ya!”

  “No you didn’t.” he said.

  “Mr. Holdover,” Trix said, “You have to get us in that bank, Haven’s depending on it!”

  “I just need five minutes!” Snap said.

  Mr. Holdover was stern, “We gave you five minutes seven minutes ago.”

  “I don’t see why not,” Shakar said, “It’s just money anyways, nothing of any real value.”

  “Had a feeling your ass would be first to suggest a bank robbery,” Mr. Holdover said. “But I’m not denying it, of course I’m gonna help.” He walked over to the brick wall on the banks side, “This place had it coming for some time now!”

  Patchwork reached for the man, “Wait, NO—”

  ‘CRACK!’

  The wall exploded into a cloud of smithereens, the sound, rattling the facility and the entire block. Then, just as quickly, silence. Everyone else ran inside with Patchwork reluctantly following. The inside—despite being dark—was the same marbled exterior and cream colored floors, only now there wasn’t a warning sign in front of the stairs anymore. Snap ran right to the front near the first metal detector and began to pry open the floor tile. Mr. Holdover looked around.

  “Well that was easy,” he said, “Not even an alarm.”

  The doctor angrily faced the group. “Because there’s not supposed to be one!” he yelled quietly, “The system’s designed that way so people like us get a false sense of security! Now the police are already on their way and are probably planning some kind of blockade so we can’t escape!”

  Salamander lit another cigar, “How soon?”

  “I’m guessing five minutes!”

  Salamander eyed Snap, who returned the look with a grin. “In that case I’ll be done in four!” He held out his hand, to which Salamander slapped. Patchwork’s face fell to his hands. Trix giggled into hers and glanced to Mr. Holdover and Shakar.

  “Well if you two want anything from here, make sure to grab it and fast.”

  Mr. Holdover thought to himself. He looked at the upstairs, then back at the group. He started up, “I’ll make this quick then.”