Chương 12: Zero

My huddled body froze where I sat on cold asphalt. The whispered threat had come from down the alleyway, but off to the side, down another lane. The crying I heard wasn't from my subconscious, it was from someone else and another person was trying to shut them up. I stayed still but mentally stretched my ears out, listening for the tiniest sound. A woman was crying, you could hear the small gasps, but they were muffled. Soft scrapes and thuds against concrete came, like two people struggling against a wall.

"Stop it, stop it. You want me to hurt you? I could really hurt you." I raised my head just enough to see above my arm. There was no one in sight up or down the lane. It had to be right around the corner, one lane down from the store. A small scream pierced the night, but was then quickly smothered.

"What did I tell you?" A crack resounded off the alley walls, like a head hitting against stone. The woman's sobs grew deeper, but drawn out, tired.

"Shut up or I'll kill you." I stood up. My feet were moving before I could think about it. I didn't try to keep quiet or anything. I stomped my way to the end of the alley and turned around the corner. There wasn't much to see beyond the man because he was a big guy. He stood facing the alley wall with his back to me, the breadth of it probably twice the size of mine. Maybe he was a bouncer or a wrestler, maybe he had jacked himself with steroids. It felt like looking up at Atlas.

Over his shoulder, I could barely see the top of a head with red hair and the eyes of a woman, frantically darting between me and the guy who had her up against a wall. His head turned back to glance at me, face heavy and sharp as a rock, looking me up and down with a smile growing on his thick lips.

"Oh, you want some too, little girl?" I could see the look in the woman's eyes, glazed over as she stared at me, smudged mascara dripping down her cheeks. There was no hope or relief. She didn't think I could help her. If I tried to run for help, he'd just get away. The police wouldn't arrive in time and who knows what he would do to her before he left. He turned back to the woman with a laugh.

"Ooh, she likes to watch." The alley was a dead end. There was no way for the woman to escape, but I could still turn back. He was giving me an out. A small clicking sound broke through the muffled noises and he turned around to see me, mask on, standing with the stun baton held at my side. The guy smiled, ready to make a joke again, but faltered as he heard the electric sound of the taser tip. His body turned fully, keeping his back against the woman so she couldn't break free.

The titan's mouth contorted into a sinister grin.

"You think you can hurt me with your little wand, girlie?" He took a menacing step forward just like I did with the poor kid earlier. There was blood on the woman's face, but my stomach was empty so I wasn't going to vomit all over the gorilla in front of me. My heart raced and my head ached as I gripped the baton tighter. My hand flicked out, extending it as I took a running leap forward to bring it against his side. Time did not slow, but I whipped it with every ounce of speed I could.

His hand shot up and caught my wrist mid-swing. He squeezed and lifted me higher with a cruel smile twisting his lips and pain lanced through my wrist as I dropped the baton. Hanging from his grip like a fish on a hook, my foot slid out and kicked him in the gut. His abs must have been made of steel because he just laughed at my futile efforts.

"Oh look, she wants to join," he growled, his heavy hand closing in on my waist. But then, finally, the buzz of the taser on the ground morphed into a sound like a swarm of bees, the air around us became thick enough to choke on, and his laugh dropped from a baritone to a bass. My power was here. My legs kicked out in slow motion again, trying to reach his Tommy Wiseau face, but my foot could only land on his roided out body. His eyes slowly widened as his features filled with shock.

I reached up and grabbed the arm that was holding me and pulled myself up. After years of learning in the public education system, the first useful skill I had employed was a pull up from Mrs. Stiggs' gym class. My mouth reached up to his baseball mitt of a hand, I opened wide and bit into his wrist as hard as I could. My tongue tasted blood and his croaking laugh turned into a deep slow yell. His sausage fingers slowly released me, but I grabbed on with both hands and bit down harder.

His other hand formed a fist and came crawling towards my side. I swung my legs up and hooked them around his shoulder like a kid playing on a jungle gym. Sound came rushing back and the night air grew thin, just as his meaty fist flew beneath me. My power had ended.

"Get off me, you freak!" His arm flung down and tried to shake me off, but I clung on now upside-down, with one foot wedged against his vein-riddled neck as the other kicked out. The heel of my shoe made a sickening smack as it connected with his mouth. A small inhaler tumbled from his free hand and blood dripped from his lips and down his pale face when he yelled out, his teeth were red instead of white.

I pulled my foot back for another strike when he lifted me up and swung me against the wet bricks of the alley wall. My shoulder hit first. The pain was worse than when I dislocated it. Then my head knocked against the solid surface and the whole world went fuzzy. Red words flashed against my eyes, my system raising some alert. But my body was sliding down to the alley floor, bruised brain waves assuring me it wasn't important.

Taking a nap was what really mattered; the wet pavement here looked like the softest of IKEA beds. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. Someone was shouting, but they sounded so far away. Then the world slowed again and I watched through lidded eyes as a boot inched its way toward my stomach. It made contact and sent me crashing against the wall in slow motion. The world sped back up as my stomach heaved what little it had all over myself.

The girl was screaming.

"Stop! Leave her alone! You'll kill her." It sounded like she was yelling from across the Atlantic. I watched his foot pull back for another kick, this time aimed at my face. The strangest thing about it all was that it felt like it was happening to someone else. You hear that about people who endure torture, their brains go somewhere else to try to escape. Mine was off in Gran's apartment, sitting on the couch, watching old TV while she did a puzzle and made snarky comments.

But then my head was being hammered by an anvil and there was no way to escape it. It didn't feel like the goon's foot had met my face, more like something internal. It was different, like a muscle that hadn't been there before. My eyes opened to see a black boot heading straight towards my forehead. I fumbled at the new feeling, trying to control it. One desperate flex, pushing as hard as I could, the pain in my head exploded but the world froze.

Everything stopped, the screaming, the foot careening towards my cranium, even the sound of distant traffic. Schwarzenegger stood there with his pork loin leg extended, looking like a footballer attempting ballet. But he was perfectly still, not a single steroid muscle moving. The woman wasn't either. I could finally see her metallic top and leather mini skirt, her form frozen as if she were a mannequin at the mall.

There was no sound at all, except for the small bits of gravel moving as I twisted around at normal speed. The world had turned into a museum with me the only living thing in it. I crawled away from the psychotic Neanderthal, fingers scraping against the ground until my hand brushed against the hot metal of my baton. It was still on, the tip buzzing blue with electricity. One hand grabbed onto caveman's leg and I pulled myself to my knees, then I drove the taser prongs into his side with the other.

Nothing happened. Well, blue sparks erupted from the baton's end along his skin which sizzled and gave off the smell of barbecue, but Mt. Olympus stayed still. I kept pressing it there, gritting my teeth, digging my fingers into his leg, and as I looked up to see his snarling boulder face, I lost my grip on my power and time started up again. The Wrestling Rapist screamed and to be honest it was higher than the girl behind him. His body shook as who knew how many volts went through him.

Orion said that just a touch would take down a grown man, but my head was fuzzy and thought, just to be sure, a little extra wouldn't hurt. Well, actually, it would hurt a lot, but that was the point. I gave it one last twist before pulling back and falling to the side. He collapsed like a ton of bricks. Just dropped in a heap, mouth hanging open, drool spilling out. His chest rose and fell so he wasn't dead and the patented urine puddle began to form. I had fallen back onto the pavement.

My head felt like someone had driven a spike through it and the rest of my body would have been in a better state if I had been hit by a bus. My eyes closed for a few seconds, mind drifting for a moment. Nothing would feel better than slipping into sweet unconsciousness, but I had to move. Falling asleep next to a rapey orangutan was not a good idea. I rolled onto my side and crawled to my knees. Steadying myself on the cold, wet pavement under my fingers, the world started to come back into focus.

The woman was no longer screaming. She held my stun baton in one hand and was pointing it shakily at the sleeping giant; in the other, she held her cell phone. Her hair was a mess, red lipstick smeared around her mouth. One eye was swollen shut, blood stained her teeth from a cut on her lip, but she held her cell phone tight and talked very fast.

"She's getting up now. I think she hit her head pretty hard." There was a pause and she started nodding rapidly.

"I'll tell her." She began to side step her way around the goon on the ground, keeping the baton pointed at him as she made her way to me and said, "Sweetie, you need to lie down. They say you could have hurt your neck or spine when you hit the wall." My mind was moving sloth slow and I wobbled on my feet as I stepped to the wall for support. She continued to talk to me like I was a hurt animal that she was afraid would run away.

"Just sit down, baby girl. This John don't look like he's getting up anytime soon. You took care a that." Her deep southern drawl was quite soothing. Maybe I would just sit for a while. The sound of sirens in the distance caught my attention. Her sharp bark of a laugh cracked like a whip.

"Never thought I would be so happy to hear that sound." The alleyway walls were spinning around, the solid ones followed around by transparent twins. There was zilch left in my stomach to throw up, but that didn't stop it from wanting to try. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, kept my hand on the grainy hard wall, then began to walk forward. Pretty Woman held up one hand.

"Honey, really, you did so much. All you need to do now is rest." I gestured to my baton in her hand.

"I need that back," I wheezed out. A thickly lined eyebrow raised as she considered for a second.

"Okay." She held it out, shaking her head.

"It scares me anyway. But you sure know how to use it." I grabbed hold with the hand not gripping the wall. Then I turned and hobbled my way towards the exit.

"Hey, where you goin'?" Her platform boots clacked on the pavement as she walked a few steps after me.

"We need to talk to the police and you need to see a doctor!" My head swiveled back slightly.

"I'm good, really. Don't worry about me."

"Why you runnin'? What are you, one of those unregist'ed superheroes?" I looked up, leaning against the wall, taking a moment to modulate the way I was huffing out air. My sock mask was still on, hoodie still tightly drawn around my face.

"What makes you say that?" She had pulled out a cigarette and had it between her teeth, lighting it up.

"Sugar, I saw him 'bout to kick in yo face with you lying on the ground lookin' like you was already dead. The next second, you up against his thigh, cookin' him like a turkey with that thing. You were movin' like some glitchy movie! If that ain't some kind of teleportation crap, I don't know what is." I paused, mouth open with no words loading. The sirens sounded just down the street. She nodded her head, looking down the lane.

"It's all good, baby girl. I know what it's like to not want to tell the police." My mouth cracked a smile, though it hurt.

"Thanks." My back rolled on the wall to make my disabled getaway. Red and blue lights were flashing onto the building next to me.

"You got a name?" she called out.

"You supers all got names." I kept walking, smile growing wide, but I said it loud enough for her to hear.

"Yeah. It's Zero."