"I got him! Quick, get some hits on- euugghh!" One of them managed to grab hold of my arms and hold me in a lock, but I quickly regain composure and throw him off-balance, grabbing his shirt and then throwing him back at the two who were about to attack him. Time goes by in a blur as I use every fiber of my being fighting off against angry and desperate stray kids of all sizes from overwhelming us and reaching the hideout. I knock out the last stray still standing, and the third wave has been defeated, though Carl and the rest of the guys look like they're barely holding on. I only feel slightly tired from the whole ordeal, but the rest of the guys look exhausted and sound like they are ready to collapse on the number of injuries they obtained. "They can't... possibly..." Carl wheezes heavily before trying to stand up straight, "they honestly can't have the nerve to attack us a fourth time so stupidly, right?" "Please, don't jinx us." Their numbers seem like they haven't gone down, and their leaders don't look fazed, rather they look too smug for their own good. I think about confronting them head on, but an instant feeling of danger hits me, and I suddenly realize why they were only sending them in waves. "Guys! Get away from the walls, they're gonna blow them down!" "Huh?!" Before any of us can react fast enough, the makeshift barricade that we helped put up starts crumbling down in a heavy force, falling down in a large area of dust that reduces our work to nothing more than a floor of junk. Damn it, they were buying their own time by distracting us in waves so they could come at us from all angles and surround us! My vision is blurred by the dust that gets close to my eyes, but I can see the large army of strays approach us slowly but surely. I hear Yan cough loudly, "Fall back, fall back! We'll hold 'em off on the stairs of the hideout!" I help Carl and another Swift Cross member reach the entrance before they start charging at us, seeing that we are in no shape to fight them all off.
"Dammit, where are the rest of the guys!? Quarter said he would be here by now!" By this point, the strays have formed a circle around us and close in as they try to push their way to the entrance of the hideout. But then, they all stop by the sound of whistling and hold firm with their angry scowls. We're all confused by what's going on, but the center area clears a path, and someone walks towards us. It's J.J of all people, wielding black brass knuckles in his hands. He stops just a few feet from us and folds his arms. "I gave y'all a chance to not get involved in this and you just had to try to play hero. Why even bother stay here if you don't have anything to gain from this?" "It's not about gaining anything for Swift Cross." Yan responds, tightly holding onto his left arm. "What you all feel right now, nobody can say isn't wrong. Maybe adults aren't as good as many of us would like to be, maybe, in the end, we can only rely on ourselves. But" he winces in pain, "that doesn't give you justification to wage a war against all of the adults here, where innocents are getting hurt by your clouded vision." "Shut up! What would you know!?" J.J's face starts to turn red in anger, "Do you think they care about us, the people that they are supposed to guide us in this world, when all we are to them is a problem instead of the product of a problem?! Your lousy gang knows nothing, NOTHING!" He looks like he's about to lose control of himself, but surprisingly he maintains composure, "Let's do this then. One of you will fight me in a 1-on-1, no outside help. If you win, we'll let you go and your other guys around town for the night, but after that you are fair game. If I win, then we will show you how much anger we have been holding inside ourselves in place of those adults. Come on," He turns around and walks to the edge of the circle, holding a challenging position with his brass knuckles, "pick your best fighter, you'll need him now more than ever." The guys suddenly turn towards me, their eyes pleading that I go in their own place as I have the best chance out of all of them. I suck it up and approach J.J, who gives me a death stare.
"Fine, then. You better hope you don't care that much for your face!" He lunges towards me, brass knuckles in view, and tries to deliver a punch towards my chest, but I easily dodge him and kick him away from me. Surprised, he quickly closes in on me and he continuously tries to land a hit on me though I'm able to dodge and sometimes counter with a jab here and there. Suddenly, he feints a punch and sweeps my legs and I fall to the ground on my back, luckily rolling away from his follow-up that would've landed on my face. He's too quick on my feet for me to end this fight quickly, so I decide to rely on the technique Quarter taught me a few days ago: Steel Wall Defense. I get some distance away from J.J and I follow on the training on what he taught me: firm leg stance, hands rooted to my sides, and all of my defensive instincts centered around my waist with only my head being the only body part that should move freely. I feel no fear as he lunges again and finally lands a hit straight on my stomach, feeling very little pain as I hold my ground. Surprised, he furiously attacks me over and over again with no success of throwing me off balance, even as he tries to sweep my legs again and hits my face over and over again. I see that he starts to wear himself out and losing balance, so I use all of my strength to deliver the killing blow: use the motion of my arms to strike J.J directly at his chest that he loses his breath, then a rapid series of punches followed by a grab onto his shirt and throwing him overhead towards the other side of the stay-formed circle. He's down for the count, he can barely get up from all that and I appear to be the victor. Suddenly, all the pain I endured from the Steel Wall Defense starts to rear its ugly head and my body starts to ache all over and my chest feels like it's on fire. "Marcus, behind you!" Before I can look back and see what Carl shouted for, a sharp pain hits me in the back, and I slump onto the ground with blurred vision. It was one of the strays, I can see that he ran behind me and hit me with a tire iron, no doubt because it was because of J.J's idea to never lose to begin with.
"You did, *cough*, good, Marcus." He approaches me where I can see him, somewhat limping and holding his stomach with one hand, but otherwise still able to stand. "I think any other kid would fall over that much damage, but remember this, the hatred a kid can bring can overpower pain like this for their revenge. Push through!" He rallies the strays, "Forget these chumps, we go straight in there and show 'Father' what we want to do!" Even as the guys in the upper floor pelt them with stones and other garbage, the rebel strays rush into the building behind J.J while a good amount of them stay behind to bully us who don't have the strength to fight back. Their kicks and sneering almost too much for me to endure, but then I sense other people approaching our direction. It's Benson and Jackson of all people and I hope Quarter too, as they run closer and closer to us, and the other strays look surprised. I hear a good amount of fighting before it dies down and almost feel like I'm gonna pass out.
"Hey, hey. Don't sleep just yet." Benson grabs a hold of me and starts slapping my face to wake me up.
"Oh, thank God. I'll get him, could you please open the first-aid kit?"
YOU ARE READING
The Matters of Power
ParanormalThis story involves the supernatural, with the events of one man who was suddenly introduced with very strong mental powers considered to be Psychic. Marcus Fernandino throughout -most- of his lifetime had not lived under the special abilities of su...
