A Second Chance

Part 5 - Ninja-go!

"P-please let us go," the man begged. "I-I have nothing to give you-"

THWACK!

The others gasped as blood dripped out of the man's head.

"WILL YOU SHUT UP?!" the Viper roared. "Y'all been whining for the past ten minutes! It's driving me insane!"

"Look..." the man gasped, trying to gather himself. "I work for a Fortune 200 company, okay? I'm an executive. I can pay you a ton!. I have a son - he needs me!"

WHACK!

The thug smiled. "You think I do this just for the cash?"

He raised the bat again, this time aiming for the back of the man's head.

The poor guy shut his eyes, bracing for impact.

But the hit never came.

...

When he opened his eyes, he was shocked, like he was in an optical illusion. One second, he was about to meet his maker, and the next, his would-be killer is lying unconscious.

He looked up and saw me.

I bent down to his level. "You're safe now. Go to your kid,"

He stared at me like I'd just dropped out of the sky.

"I... I don't even know how to thank you," he stammered. "You saved my life."

"Don't worry," I said. "Protecting people is my job, and I'm back in business."

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The rest of the thugs looked me at with their eyes wide.

"Where the hell did this guy come from? What's that fancy suit?"

"Be careful. He took out Joey with one hit. Bro's dangerous."

"Wait a second... why does he look so much like Electro-Punch?"

Disappointing... I expected them to mention him earlier. I thought they'd say it right after I blasted the other thug with lightning and be shocked. Maybe their ego was too inflated and needed some cutting.

"Who the hell are you?!"

Good thing I came up with this name while I was running. I needed to mix some things, and from what I've seen here in my realm, the best superhero names come from the mixing of different things.

The two things I need to mix are a position where I can recount all my experiences. I have evidence of everything I went through... the trial, surviving ten yeas in The Desert of Doom, and finding a new home in this city. That evidence shows power, because I had the power to go through all that and still keep my goodness.

I did say that I am following Billy's legacy, so I will need to show it through my name.

"Call me Power-Punch," I declared.

The name held its own story and the thugs exchanged nervous glances for an obvious reason. The name sounded a little too close to Electro-Punch.

"C-cosplay?"
...
...
...
"Well, are we gonna fight, or?"
...
The thugs looked at each other and nodded.

"Power-Punch, huh?" one of them said, pacing his legs and moving around like he was doing something. "What, you some kind of Electro-Punch wannabe?"

He took a step forward with a steel pipe in hand. God, the ego of these people... being dumb is one thing, but being dumb and confident with no evidence of good things is even worse.