Extraordinary Individuals : Josiah Rising

Chapter 16

Being blown through a building is definitely more painful than they make it look in the movies. Superhuman durability or not, I still felt a surge of pain sear through my back as I flipped across the ground and came to a stop next to a rock. I staggered to my feet and immediately had to dodge a blast of electricity from Braxton. I rolled out of the way and came up kneeling, then launched two small energy blasts towards Braxton, catching him square in the chest. He skidded back a few feet but didn't have time to catch his breath as I flew towards him and slammed my knee into his face, forcing him to the ground. I landed in a crouch then sprung forward again, narrowly avoiding a roundhouse kick from Braxton in the process. I grabbed his leg and brought my elbow down on his thigh, eliciting a cry of pain from Braxton that was cut short by my fist slamming into his jaw. As much as it pained me to do this, I had to stay on the offensive during this fight, otherwise I'd have more to worry about than losing this fight. My aim was to wear him down enough that he'd either lose consciousness or have no energy left to fight me but if there was one thing I knew about Braxton, he wouldn't go down without giving me hell first.
"I don't know if you're trying to kill me or knock me out," Braxton chuckled, staggering to his feet. "I can tell that you've picked up a few new tricks too."
He rose to his feet, wiping a small trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth with a smirk. He turned towards me with a dark smile on his face like he knew something that I didn't. I readied myself to attack him again but something was making me hesitant. There was an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach as he continued to stare at me with that same unsettling grin on his face.
"Given your intelligence, I'm pretty sure you've figured out how I overpowered you a lot the last time we fought," He said, cocking his head.
"You've been using amps," I responded.
He clapped his hands mockingly and laughed. "Correct. Training and mock duels weren't enough for me to raise my level and compete with you so I had to be a bit underhanded with my approach. The society we live in values the strong over the weak but you omegas were given a bit of an unfair advantage."
"So you decided to become a power hungry jerk," I retorted. "Talk about shortsighted goals."
His grin immediately faded. "Mock me all you want but a pretender like you could never understand how it feels to be in my position. You were born to be the strongest. You were born with a power that no one can rival or surpass. But you threw it away because you're afraid of power when power is what makes our society work."
I glared at him. "That power isn't yours. It's unnatural and it'll be your undoing in the end. You think I wanted it to come to this, Braxton?!"
I charged forward and slammed my fist into his chest, sending him to the dirt and cracking the ground from the force of my punch. I slammed my other fist into his face, earning a grunt of pain from Braxton as blood fled from his mouth.
"You have no idea how much hell I've gone through with my powers!" I yelled.
I grabbed his arm and slung him across the ground then fired a blast directly into his face, sending him flying into the barbed wire fence that surrounded the factory. Braxton staggered to his feet shakily, blood leaking from a cut over his eye. I was pissed. Who was he to tell me that I didn't understand what it meant to be stuck in a position?
"While you relished in your ability, I lived my life afraid of my own powers because I knew what would happen if I lost control for even one second!" I yelled. "I had to constantly hold myself back so I didn't hurt anyone! Do you know what that's like?!"
I charged forward, aiming a kick at his face. Braxton rolled to the side and shocked me with a blast of lightning. I yelled out in pain then grit my teeth and punched him in the jaw with all my strength, sending him tumbling across the ground. I stared at him as he stumbled to his feet, a purple and black bruise formed on his cheek from the force of my punch. My rage was the only thing driving me forward at this point as I felt my powers surge as I walked slowly towards him, charging up a blast in my palm. All I could feel was pure anger as I stood over my former best friend, a look of abject terror on his face as we locked eyes. I probably looked unhinged as hell from his perspective as I raised my hand, placing the blast inches from his face, glaring down at him. I could feel his ragged breathing on my fingertips as the realization set in that I was done holding back.
"I tried to empathize with you and the way you felt," I said, my voice low. "I really did. But now I realize."
I poured more tactile energy into my blast, causing the glowing sphere to grow to the size of a basketball. I was through trying to reason with him and see him as my friend. Braxton had shown me that he was too far gone for that. The only thing that mattered to him was proving that he was stronger than, that his power was greater than mine.
"Since you won't submit to words, I'll make you submit to my power," I said coldly. "Even if it leaves you a bloody heap."
I released the blast, red light illuminating the entire area as the blast erupted and blew debris and rock everywhere. I was faintly aware of Braxton letting out a cry of pain as the blast sent him skidding across the ground, ending with him crashing and creating a huge crater.
Years from now, Yasmine would tell me that my fight with Braxton had only lasted around two hours but to me, it had felt like an eternity. We traded blow after blow with each other but I don't think either of us felt any of it. My knuckles were bruised and covered in blood and grime but I didn't let up. The factory had been almost completely leveled from the destruction our fight was causing and I was almost certain that my ribs had either been cracked or were severely damaged but I didn't care. The only thing that was fueling me in that moment was unbridled rage for Braxton as we both stood a few feet away from each other, our breathing labored and haggard as we struggled to stay on our feet. His clothes were torn and tattered and covered in blood, dirt, and blast marks from getting at point blank range so many times. I wasn't faring any better than him. My shirt had several singe marks from getting hit with electricity and my right arm was leaking blood from a cut caused by Braxton swinging a metal pipe at me. But I had to keep going, I had to beat him and end this fight before what little stamina I had ran out. But my entire body felt like I was trying to walk under water. My arms and legs were heavy and I knew that my body was making me pay the price from overusing my powers but I had to push through it.
"Had enough yet?" I asked, trying to sound intimidating.
Braxton didn't answer me and collapsed onto his knees. I staggered towards him, each step feeling like I had weights attached to my legs. I stuttered to a stop and stood directly over him, staring him down as he looked up at me with that grudge still burning in his black eyes. I felt my blood boil, causing my fist to clench and my powers to surge. Even after all this, he still had the nerve to look at me like I was the villain in all this?! I cocked my arm back and threw my fist into his face, knocking him down. I crouched down, planting my knee into his chest, and began to land punch after punch after punch on his face. Blood flew from his mouth onto the ground, one of his teeth came out; but I didn't stop, I wouldn't stop. Whatever fatigue I had felt earlier vanished as my rage guided my fist to constantly pound away. As this continued, a memory flooded my mind. It was the memory of when Braxton and I had first met.
"You can't keep taking beatings like that, ya know?" He'd said. "If you can't protect yourself, then I'll protect you until you can."
"Why?" I'd asked. "It's not your problem."
He had laughed and offered me his hand to help me and said:
"Cause I'm your best friend, your problems are my problems. I'll always have your back and steer you right when you go wrong."
As the memory faded, I felt myself snap back to reality, my punch missing and landing in the dirt inches from Braxton's face. I stared at the face beneath me and felt tears trickling down my face as Braxton lay unconscious, still breathing but hardly recognizable underneath the bruising and blood on his face. I stood up and tried to catch my breath. What the hell was I doing? Why had I let my rage get the best of me? I looked up to the sky as a light drizzle began to fall and finally felt the weight of realization crush me as I slumped to my knees and stared at the ground. I had been on the verge of committing murder. My anger had blinded me to the point that I had been ready to kill Braxton and that wasn't who I was. I wasn't a killer so why? Why had I almost crossed that line?
"Josiah!" A voice called out.
I glanced behind and saw five figures running towards me in the distance. As they got closer I saw that it was Yasmine who was accompanied by my sister, Kato, Layla and Ashley. When they reached me, Yasmine wrapped me in a tight hug while Kato and the others went over to Braxton. Kato let out a low whistle as he surveyed the damage done and turned towards me, his expression unreadable.
"I didn't think you had it in you, Josiah," he said.
"He's not dead," I replied, my voice hollow. "Just unconscious. How did you guys find me?"
"We tracked your location," Imani said, showing me the gps app on the screen of her phone. "Plus there were reports of explosions coming from the outskirts of town so we put two and two together."
I nodded and then turned my attention to my girlfriend who had her face buried in my neck. I kissed her cheek and rubbed the small of her back comfortingly to let her know that I was okay. Yasmine pulled back and cupped my face, smiling at me as she rubbed her thumbs across my cheeks. I tried to smile back at her but all I felt were the tears roll down as I buried my face into her chest and wrapped my arms around her. I felt my body deflate as all my emotions poured out. It shouldn't have come to this, but it did and now nothing would be the same. I had almost fought my best friend to the death instead of trying to steer him away from the path he had chosen and left him to spiral out on his own. Why hadn't I tried a little harder to get through to him? Why didn't I stop him before things got this far? Why?
"Josiah, look at me," Yasmine said softly.
I raised my head to meet her eyes and saw that she was on the brink of tears as she wiped my own tears away.
"Sometimes you have to make peace with the fact that you're the villain in someone's eyes, even when you think that you're the hero," she said, kissing my forehead. "You know that your intentions were good but you can't always save someone, even someone you care about deeply."
I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked up to see Kato looking down at me with an understanding expression on his face.
"The hardest decisions are the ones that we hope we never have to make. Had anyone else been in your position, they wouldn't have had your resolve to not deal the final blow."
I let out a deep sigh and glanced back at Braxton. Layla had healed most of his physical injuries but he was still unconscious and probably would be for a few more hours. I could also feel my own fatigue coming back as I lay my head on Yasmine's shoulders and closed my eyes. I was faintly aware of Ashley calling the authorities before I let my tiredness overtake me and drifted off the sleep, Yasmine kissing my forehead being the last that I felt.