The cop named officer Strongarm laughed again, “Or better yet you all could resist. Oh, I love it when they resist, makes the job that much funner!”

  “G-guys,” Snap shuddered, “T-their auras!!”

  Salamander gawked. “What da—?” He shot a glare to Shakar, “Hey, who’s side ya on, fool?!”

  “I knew he was sketchy,” Trix said moving Xole away from him, “he must be working with the police!”

  “At this point it’s not the worst idea.’ Shakar thought. He shook his head, “I understand this may come as a shock to you all, but you’re wrong.”

  “Well that’s just great!” Spit-Take said. Looking past the fountain, he saw the group of officer’s completely blocked the front of the building. “Now we’re for sure not leaving!”

  “Then be ready to fight.” Abbas said.

  Trix readied her blades, Salamander lit a cigar, Patchwork took out a few needles, Spit-Take hocked up whatever was in the back of his throat, Snap began to fall to the back, and Abbas put his cane away. Shakar moved to join them but the Groundhogs turned their battle ready gazes on him.

  “What?” the young man said.

  “This may come as a surprise to you,” Spit-Take said, “but we sorta got trust issues with your kind. No hard feelings through.”

  Shakar glanced to Xole, who quickly avoided his gaze.

  “Abbas,” Trix said, “Besides him, I count twenty four Blue Collars, plus their leader.”

  The large man’s gaze traced from the police, to Xole, to the cops again. Abbas made out their formation, the bulk of their forces on their left and right wings while their center was thinner, yet led by Strongarm. ‘So they’re planning to overwhelm us not at our front, but our sides. A wise move.’

  “Young one,” he said. “Prepare yourself.”

  “Abbas…” Xole quivered realizing the sheer number of men, making him nauseas as he reached for the large man. “Abbas wait—!” Xole said.

  “Get ‘em boys!!!” Strongarm bellowed. The officers combined roar thundered through the room, deafening Xole to the point where he almost couldn’t feel the area rumbling, as if they were in an earthquake. He wanted to run at the glob of black mass charging his way, yet his own body could barely move.

  However, Abbas was quicker.

  “Trix,” he said, “Hurricane Blade.”

  The woman leaped high into the air at the cops. Her poncho opened to a downpour of endless daggers rapidly flying towards them, penetrating their bodies—even taking a couple down. Strongarm and the rest shielded themselves with their arms.

  ‘It penetrated!’ Patchwork thought, “Their Gi compositions’ gotta be offensive!”

  “Now, Salamander!” Abbas called.

  The man grinned. Smoke leaked through his teeth as he reeled his chest back and threw his body forward, firing a devastating stream of bright flames from his mouth, blinding the room and charring the ground in its wake. It engulfed the officers, yelling and crying out in pain as the hot weapons still imbedded in them started to melt. Xole watched in awe.

  ‘Those two,’ he thought, ‘they took out half of them!’

  Spit-Take got into low stance. “Abbas, Is it time?”

  “Yes,” he replied. He waved his arm ahead, “Everyone else, while they’re weakened, now!”

  “And make sure to avoid my setups!” Snap called out from back.

  Xole’s stomach began to back flip like crazy as the rest of the Groundhogs ran ahead. Spit-Take took the left side, firing bolts of spit at the men, busting and popping at their legs. They shouted and stumbled over each other while the right ones on the side began to charge for them, but as one stepped on a tile, it suddenly exploded, blowing the group up into the air. Strongarm shot from the center, winding his right arm back with his left outstretched, toward Xole.

  “Guards down, kid!” he said, sending his arm to him. Xole tried to move but his legs felt like jell-O. Even with Gi surging through him, he still couldn’t bring his shivering self to move. Then, Abbas’s body stuttered in, matching the officer’s fist with his own.

  ‘WHAM!’

  The shockwave rocked the building, glass from the windows burst while the roof ruptured, falling to the floor, leaving the room illuminated with the night sky. Strongarm tried to throw another punch but Abbas swayed to the side while catching his other arm, spinning the man around and throwing him through one of the tellers. Xole was about to thank him, but he was already exchanging blows with two other blue collars.

  ‘Focus, Xole, FOCUS!’ he thought, smacking himself in the head. ‘You didn’t choose these guys for nothing!’ He took deep breath, clenching and relaxing his fingers repeatedly, ‘This…this is Gus’s Talent! So why am I here wasting it on me?! GO!’

  He dashed at a Blue Collar nearing Snap. He vaulted over the couch and hit the man as hard as he could in the chin with his knee—which sent a spike of pain up his entire leg. The officer didn’t even flinch and without looking, grabbed Xole’s arm and flung him over his shoulder.

  “AHHH!” he yelled, flying directly towards another cop—who accidently back armed him while trying to hit Shakar—launching the boy in the opposite direction and into the marble wall.

  ‘CRASH!’

  Xole remembered being pushed into the deep end once from the highest diving board at their local outdoor pool. Because he wasn’t ready nor could swim, he ended up falling face first, like he was now, his arms and legs outstretched at his sides. When Yesfir told him about what happened, she said she thought he’d exploded.

  ‘Yeah,’ he thought, ‘it’s kinda like that feeling but ten times worse.’

  His body peeled to the floor as Shakar slid back to where he was. He gave him a concerned glance. “Well at least we know you can take a hit.”

  “Shut up.” He groaned, crawling to his hands. Abbas’s words filled his head.

  ‘How did it feel? Using your Talent.’

  ‘Feeling…’ he thought. He caught sight of a large officer fighting Spit-Take. The cop laughed off the man’s shots of spit, which didn’t seem to slow his barrage of punches as he pushed the homeless man to a corner. ‘He’s gonna get hurt,’ he thought, ‘Just like Gus…’ He then gazed down to his right hand, watching it twitch uncontrollably. ‘Is that it?’

  He flipped up is arm up and took the top of it with his left hand, squeezing it as hard as he could, ‘How did it feel then, back at Amesworth? How did it feel a couple days ago? How did it feel just now?’

  He saw it again, his body. The clearish color that was his Gi filled his lower wrist and hand, more cloudy than ever before. ‘There it is,’ he thought, ‘If squeezing my wrist like this gets Gi to my hand,’ he worked his way up, ‘then maybe if I squeeze my elbow…’

  The color filled like a cup, quickly overflowing his forearm, the sensation giving him chills. Then, he slowly brought his left hand up even higher.

  ‘And if I then take my shoulder…’

  The cloudy clear color oozed throughout his entire arm now, feeling lighter than before. He took a deep breath and raised it to the cop, ‘This…should be enough.’

  In an instant, a Blue Collared officer fighting Spit-take couldn’t move, he was then yanked towards Xole, who burst forward. Right arm reeled back, the older boy then swung it as hard as he could just under the cop’s throat in a fierce clothesline.

  If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

  ‘POWRAACK!’

  The man’s eyes budged open, his moth twisting and his large body falling back and Xole took him to the floor, landing on his feet. Spit-take looked on in astonishment, Trix, Salamander, and even Patchwork gawked at the sight. Abbas just smiled.

  “Woo!” Snap cheered. “Way to go Xole, ya got ‘em!”

  Xole panted hard, “yeah,” he said surveying the unconscious cop. His body still tingled, as if it were a dream. “I did it…”

  It was there he noticed his right arm dangled, and bloodied, broken. He blinked.

  “AAAHHHHHHHHH!” he screamed, “MY ARM! MY ARM, WHAT THE HECK JUST HAPPENED?!”

  “Calm down would you?!” Patchwork said running in opening his suitcase. White bandages flew out, wrapping around Xole’s arm. The doctor threw a handful of needles into it and snapped his case shut. “It will be good as new in about three minutes.”

  “Oh…oh ok.” Xole said. “Th-than—”

  “You welcome, now just stay back for now!” He said running back. Suddenly, a barrage of tables and couches were tossed aside in a stampede of officers charging the doctor. However, Patchwork stuttered his body to the right with surprising speed, swaying out the way and throwing a fistful of needles at the men. They cried out as their bodies began to tingle and shake, long enough for Trix to come down in a spiral of blades, slicing their throats, the cops falling around her.

  “That’s four more for me, Rivers.” She said.

  “Go head,” The doctor sighed, “I’m not gonna argue.”

  Shakar’s ears perked, ‘Are they…counting?’ he thought.

  “Hey, no fair!” Spit-Take said as another officer exploded away from him. “Ya got help and you know it!”

  “That’s what part of being a team is.” She grinned under her mask.

  ‘It’s as if this is a game to them…’ he cleared his throat. “Mind if I take part?”

  The three quickly glanced over their shoulders to him, then, stuttered from view.

  “…”

  Smiling, he turned back in time to see Salamander laugh and jump into the middle of a pair of police, pulling his cigar from his lips. Sticking his fingers into the middle of his mouth, he blasted two streams of flames from both corners of his lips, hitting the men. Trix quickly retuned, swiftly evaded flurries of punches form two cops, and then jumping into the air as another swung his overhead clasped hands at. From above, her poncho opened again, unloading dozens of daggers into the two. Four tried to run at Abbas from all sides—only to explode from another set of tiles on the floor. He tipped his hat at Snap and thrust his open palm into a nearby officer’s stomach with a heavy ‘fwup’ blowing his body straight through a pillar near the door and destroying the metal detector behind it. Shakar extended is stick to its maximum of eight feet, his expression changed.

  ‘The Bodily Talented,’ he thought. ‘arguably the most arrogant of them all. Many of these men went their entire lives never fearing the thought of dying—let alone being hurt—until now. They’re dropping like flies, and yet…’ he carefully scanned the room, keeping his stick close. ‘Yet in my short research, they’ve never lost a confrontation in their near decade of service—’

  “Miss me?” Officer Strongarm said within an inch from behind his shoulder. Shakar spun with his stick up, but the cop rammed his right fist into the younger man, launching him backwards across the bank and crashing through the fountain. Strongarm held his fist up, which was now steaming, “’Cause I sure missed y’all!” he then took out a small packet of a sparkling green powder, “But I missed these even more.”

  Abbas watched in shock, ‘Enhancers! When did the police—no, the rest!’

  “Groundhogs!” he yelled, “The floor!”

  Spit-Take’s eyes went to the ground, he saw a hand twitch. ‘Shi—’ it grabbed him and hurled him around in a blur into the upper wall through the overhead chandeliers.

  ‘C-C-CA-CRASH!’

  The rest of the Groundhogs shot a glance back, then forward in to see the many of the fallen cops from the first attack had now gotten up. Their body’s red aura now steamed a sickly yellowish outline.

  “Whew!” a cop said, flexing their fingers, “Haven’t had to use these in a minute!”

  “You’re telling me!” another one said.

  “Teh!” Salamander cackled, “Looks like I get ta nab da most collars today afta-all!”

  “I still got plenty of explosives left.” Snap said.

  “Hmm,” Trix examined the Blue Collars, “Their Gi, why does it seem similar to…”

  “They’ve taken enhancers!” Abbas yelled running to the front as fast as he could, “Everyone, regroup—!”

  ‘WHAM!’

  In a flash, one of the officers was behind Trix, hitting her into the metal detector. She shot up only to be slammed into the ground again, this time hard enough to send the woman face-first through the floor. She cried out, her body recoiling back into the officer’s grip. The Blue Collar smiled and slammed her over his shoulder and into the floor again and again. He picked Trix up again, holding the bloodied woman to his face.

  “Homeless,” he scoffed, “Can’t afford a job or common sense.”

  Salamander across the bank, growling, “EY!” he said feeling his mouth well with fire. “I ’ma ‘bout ta—”

  ‘SMASH!’

  The man’s head was slammed into the nearby wall by an officer who’d come up behind him.

  “About ta ‘what’?” they mocked. “Your cheap tobacco couldn’t even give me a first-degree burn the first time!” he pressed the man’s face deeper as Salamander tried to blast him, but to no avail. “Man you stink!” the officer laughed.

  “No!” Abbas yelled. His body’s Gi surged and his feet exploded off the ground in their direction.

  “Not so fast!” Strongarm said, ramming a fist into the side of Abbas’s face, knocking the large man into the wall hard. He coughed and threw his arms up just as a teller flew at him, shattering against his guard.

  ‘These are enhancers,’ He thought. ‘When did they take them?’

  He peeked behind his arms in time to see Strong arm to hit them. Abbas felt them grow numb, but he could still move his fingers. Taking the opportunity, he weaved to the right of Strongarm’s next swung, returning one of his own to the man’s jaw. But the cop’s smiling face took the strike to the chin, unflinching.

  “That all ya got?” he spat. He drove his foot into Abbas’s stomach and slammed both fist on the man’s back, but Abbas arched his back hard, swinging his own set of clasped hands under the man’s chin again, this time, hard enough to snap the cop’s head back. In that moment Abbas widened his stance; his hand’s raised to his shoulders.

  “One thousand slaps!” he said, unleashing a flurry of palm strikes to Strongarm’s stomach, reverberating the room with sound. The cop felt his stomach cave in. He coughed up blood as the large man’s finale strike sent him stumbling a dozen feet back.

  “You’re good,” Strongarm said with a grin, wiping the side of his mouth. He stretched his back out to the sides, letting out a breath. “So good that I think I’m gonna save you for last.” He eyed the rest of the Groundhogs, then, his body stuttered, vanishing. Abbas tried to follow, but he was quickly surrounded by six enhanced men. He grimaced.

  Xole began to trudge forward, trying to ignore the screaming and yelling in the room. He could feel his still broken arm sway with his body as he reached his hand in the direction of the fighting. “Hey, get away from them!”

  Patchwork suddenly tackled him as a teller flew right over his head. “What did I just say?” the man demanded. “You need to stay back until—GAH!” the man yelled as a fist shot into his side, shooting the man through the left row of tellers, tumbling through each one until hitting the last. He went limp. The officer who kicked him picked up Xole and let him drop, only to kick him in the stomach. The older boy groaned, feeling blood fly from his mouth. The cop beating Trix laughed and hit her again, feeling the woman’s body dangle.

  “No!!!” Snap cried.

  “Ah shit she’s dead.” The man said. “Damn Material types—”

  Her eye flew open and her wrist became a blur, plunging her dagger into his eye as hard as she could. The cop screamed, dropping her and struggling to get it out. The woman spun, feeling her heel drive the weapon through his head. The cop’s lifeless body fell to the ground. Stumbling to her hands and knees, she inspected the badge she’d snatched off the officer’s chest and noticed a needle in the back of it. Vision blurred, she took a whiff.

  “Strip-Lash,” she said. Panting, she held the badge up, turning around “Salamander…their badges…“

  “Sala-who?”

  Trix looked up very slowly to see Strongarm standing there. He whistled.

  “Well I’ll be! You took out one of my best men!” before she could move, he grabbed the top of her head, yanking her hood off. “Not only that, you know ow hard it is to find a woman who’s pretty and smart?” He sighed and started to squeeze. “Oh well!”

  “AIEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!” The woman screamed.

  Salamander’s eye opened to the sound. He jammed his hand into his coat pocket, yanking out a black cigar and put it in his flamed mouth, taking the biggest breath he could, feeling as if his chest were about to explode and twisted his head downward. “Hey fool!” he said, feeling flames spill form his mouth. “Ya said I wasn’t hot?”

  “Hmm?” the confused officer began to feel the man’s skin begin to burn his hand. He tried to let go but now Salamander was holding on to him. a massive lump with a red glow filled from his chest to his throat.

  Abbas punched an officer and felt the sudden spike of heat in the room. He shot his head back, his eyes widened. “Michael, don’t!”

  “Abbas?” Xole said, ‘What’s he—?”

  “Get back, young one!” he roared, as a barrage of his pelted down on him.

  “Abbas!” Xole said, sweat pouring from his face. He carefully turned back to see a dark red glow in the room emitted by flames, which now overflowed from his mouth

  “Take…dis….fool!”

  ‘WHOOOOOOSH!’

  An inhuman bellow erupted from the cop briefly, echoing as his body was incinerated in a cascade of blood-red flames, even burning nearby police officers alive. Streaks of black coated the marble and everyone else cried out at the painful flash of heat. By the time he was done, six cops were down and the room was burning hot. He shifted to where Strongarm was and pointed at him.

  “Ya…ya next fool!” he said staggering towards him. Then he coughed up blood, but not just normal blood, it was black and smoking. The man fell to the ground, a pool forming around his head.

  “Sal…Salamander…” Trix said, feeling her vision grow black.

  “Six?” Strongarm said. “Oh, man you guys are doing a number on my unit!” he threw Trix to the side and stormed over to Salamander, jamming his right fist across his face. “THAT’S A TOTAL OF SEVEN NOW YOU RATS!” he yelled, sending the man through a painting of the city.

  “N-No!’ Abbas could only say as he was now swarmed by even more officers. Dozens of bodies held the man down. The rest of the police began taking turns beating Trix and Salamander, laughing as Patchwork cried out, Strongarm stepping into is back. Spit-take shot up from the rubble, watching the sight unfolding. His head shook as face twisted in anger.

  “SNAAAAAAAAP!” he yelled. “Blow it all up! NOW!”

  “Eek! Yeah, yeah I gotcha!” he said. He yanked two stick of dynamite form his back and stuck two wires into them. He threw them to the middle of the room. “KRAAAKAAATOAAAAAA!”

  “Huh?” Strongarm spun in time to see a bright flash from the floor. His face filled with shock, “BOYS GET CLEA—!”

  ‘KA-BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!’

  The ground ignited to a flash of yellow as the entire building exploded.