As I leap off the clock-tower, I phase through a nearby building, occasionally solidifying myself so that I catch the air and slow down before landing with a roll that leaves me feeling almost entirely fine.

  I have a date to get to.

  As I run, I cast my net wide, trying to see if there’s anything different going on, but I think I’m good.

  Not that this side of town is where I am expecting all the drama to be. Tonight though, if I’m right, the kidnappers are going to leave their base to either get supplies or people so I can stop them.

  I won’t dismantle them all tonight, but maybe I can put them on the back foot. If I make them slow down and worry about me, I’m putting myself in the best situation that I can.

  As I run, I reconsider all the powers I know I could face.

  Kurt is a telekinetic.

  The green-skinned lady has some kind of incapacitation power that makes it so that she can take out basically anyone that uses their eyes.

  Andromeda can duplicate herself, though I don’t know what the rules or conditions for all of that could be.

  That’s two probable wins and one maybe. I don’t need eyes, so I can probably take the green lady, and if I can pass through fire as if it’s not there, I’m guessing the hopefully more solid red telekinetic energy is even easier for me to pass through.

  As for Andromeda? Yeah, I’ve got no idea on how to beat her. It’s not like I can counter her ability like I can the other two, and I still need to be solid to hit someone, so that means one of her can counter.

  It all keeps coming back to practice.

  Practice using my powers so that I can phase more weight.

  Practice fighting to not just get knocked out.

  Practice using powers in a fight so you can actually tangle with proper supers.

  Study the lab so you can come up with a plan for it.

  I let out a slow breath as I screw my eyes shut, letting them rest for a minute as I sprint using only my mind map for bearing.

  I’m burning the midnight oil something fierce, and it’s starting to show.

  The van is leading me to the far side of town, which I'm a lot less familiar with, but it could be great if they can't run back home or will have many people to support them.

  I only need to beat whoever all fits in the van, and they have never once sent the scientists out, which makes me hopeful.

  It's going to be around four people. They need room to kidnap people and store them on the way back, right?

  “Why are you going into a parking garage?” I mumble as I practically lean off of the roof.

  It doesn’t make sense to me.

  There shouldn’t be any people in there, so unless they’re meeting someone there shouldn’t be anything down there for them to use.

  The idea of them selling one of the people they’ve turned super spurs me into action, and I throw myself off the ledge, passing through the first level and landing with a solid thud on the next.

  I don’t know where their car is, but hopefully they haven’t gotten to go up all the way yet and wouldn’t have heard my gigantic crash into the ground.

  Slowly stalking down the ramp, I let my mind map unfurl to my reasonable limit, canvassing the area.

  There shouldn’t be too many ?human-shaped objects around, so ?Kurt is meeting with will be easy to find, especially with all the movement.

  This floor doesn’t have anything for me, and I can’t decide if I’m hoping he’s in the basement so he’s trapped down there with me or if I hope he’s on one of the upper floors.

  Nevermind I figured that one out. I definitely prefer them being up here where I can see the sky. I do not like going underground.

  On the third floor, feel some cars, and while it feels like there’s tons of random garbage in the vehicles, there’s nothing moving, so I continue my search.

  On the next floor down, there’s something that feels like the van Kurt and company usually use.

  At least it feels like a similar shape, and almost all the seats are taken out, which would give them more space to put people in them.

  If Kurt is expecting me, they’ll think I’ll just drop in from the ceiling, so I quietly jog to the next ramp down and take it at a slow pace, trying to reduce the amount of noise I’m making.

  Turns out I’m not that good at it. My heartbeat is slamming in my ears. In this mask, my breathing seems like one of the loudest things ever, and with this empty stone room it feels like every single step is echoing across the whole place.

  But it means that they can’t sneak up on me. If my own steps are that loud, then a deal of selling supers is certainly going to work.

  They have those strange control chips that can silence the person they’re selling, but they actually have to talk about the deal, right?

  Taking the long way, I don’t feel anything around me, and in preparation for a fight, I draw my mind map and fold it in on itself, increasing the clarity of everything I’m feeling.

  There’s definitely something in the back of the van, though I’m still not sure what. Definitely not chairs, and I don’t think that it’s human?

  On second thought, they have a super that's something akin to living slime, so I can't say that's not a human there till I get closer.

  Getting to the van is pretty simple with it being conveniently placed in the middle of the parking garage, but I still try to move with some thought even if I'm speeding up.

  As I stare at the back doors, I realize I'm really just hoping that the thing is going to be already unlocked, which, if true, would be highly convenient and even more suspicious.

  As I pull the handles, I already have a sinking feeling that there isn't going to be anyone in there.

  I stare at the duffel bags slack-jawed in horror. Now that I'm this close and can collapse my mind map even further, I can now see clearly.

  Inside is just a bunch of what I would have to guess are dirty clothes from the experiments.

  It's a trap.

  And I fell for it hook, line and sinker.

  “Got you.” A nauseating voice says before I’m slammed into the wall.

  My armored back meets the concrete, and the concrete is the one that loses as I feel a small fissure form in the rock.

  “Hey Kurt.” I cough for the first time, grateful that my helmet modulates my voice.

  I don’t get a response, and the red energy continues to flicker around my body violently, so it’s time to put my money where my mouth is.

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  “Come on, you captured the intrepid adventurer here to stop you, aren’t you formally obligated to monologue your entire plan to me before I make my dramatic escape?”

  Take the bait, jerk, so I can have some time to plan and at least find you.

  My head whips around as I scan with every sense I have to find him.

  Got you.

  “There’s not going to be a monologue, and I’ll be damned if one of you brats escapes me again. I’ve got a lot of money riding on which one of the presumed dead or gone kiddos I think you are.” Kurt says his voice coming through a microphone throwing his voice off so that nobody could tell where he is from sight or sound alone.

  “Fair.” I say, activating my powers as I push off of the wall.

  Going through telekinetic energy is odd but not the weirdest thing I’ve gone through yet.

  Corporeal once more, I launch myself in a seemingly random direction, running away from the energy as fast as I can.

  The fact that my direction also happens to bring me closer to Kurt is just a side benefit.

  Now that I’m paying attention, I can feel the energy solidify in the air.

  That’s the wrong word. But close enough.

  For a brief moment, it’s like a static discharge builds up that my brain can feel before the energy goes visible and then moves to grab me.

  For some reason, Kurt doesn’t just manifest it around me; it generates a little away from me and then moves in after it’s completely formed.

  Not sure what that habit means, but I use it to the best of my ability, pushing my physicality as far as possible to dodge and leap over any telekinetic attacks.

  As I bounce up, I flail my arms wildly to throw myself in another direction, which works somehow. Not going to question it.

  As I’m about to land, I elect to phase all but a hand and let myself fall, catching myself one-handed and then swinging like a trapeze artist back into the air, now on a direct crash course for Kurt.

  “And here’s Johnny!” I shout, crashing through the ?windshield and slamming a fist into Kurt’s face.

  Kurt sputters for a second before exploding with crimson energy, sending me flying back through the windshield.

  Like a bear on a unicycle, I not so gracefully land on the ground, scrambling to my feet as Kurt pushes himself out of the wreckage of his exploded car.

  How I wish I had enough money that I could explode a car while I’m fighting crime wouldn’t that be amazing.

  Putting my hands up, I eye Kurt.

  Frankly, I’m feeling pretty good at the moment. I don’t think there’s anything I really need to worry about at the moment.

  I can pass through that energy; my armor is putting in the work, and if I can keep predicting where the energy is going to go with my powers, I’m set.

  Darting forward, I go with a simple jab, slamming my fist into Kurt’s ribs and beginning to press my advantage.

  Every time he prepares a counter, I slip back, but I try to throw in a few phasing feints, dropping to the ground to avoid some attacks.

  Dodge, punch, dodge, phase, kick.

  It all has a rhythm to it.

  Not entirely positive, but I think Kurt is just as physically capable as I am. It’s not as bad as punching Travis for him to only blink at me, slowly, but Kurt isn’t responding like a normal person would.

  Nor am I getting that visceral texture feedback that I was getting for the Crabulon.

  Stepping in to avoid a kick, I try to trip him, but as my foot collides with his ankle, a crimson light grabs my foot, throwing me away before I can respond.

  “You’re pretty shit at this,” Kurt says, wiping his face.

  “And you’re… bad?”

  I’ll work on that later.

  “You can’t beat me, so I’m going to capture you.” I say, looking around to see if there’s anything I can use for this fight that can help me.

  Nothing conveniently placed to use besides rubble and what would I be able to do with loose rubble?

  The broken car being thrown at me is enough to stop my plot to find a maguffin to use mid fight and I rush forward, trusting in my ability not to get hit to carry me through.

  Inches from getting a mask to metal meeting with the car, I push off the ground lightly, phasing as I arc through the car only to find that I can’t solidify my body. I’m stuck phased.

  Rubble!

  All the rubble around is flying about on currents of crimson energy, and because of that, I can’t go solid because there’s always something inside me.

  Thanking my internal power rules and their desire to keep me mostly in one piece, I solidify the soles of my feet and bottom of my shoes so I have something to land on.

  Twisting through the air, I narrow my map's field of sensation, on, around and inside me.

  The wide general view is my favorite, but not wanting to get nickel-sized pieces of concrete to the eye means I have to try other methods at least for right now.

  Feet slamming into the ground, I bound forward, aiming for a patch of clearer space.

  Not wanting to trust the helmet, I firmly keep a hold on my power despite the risks.

  For whatever reason, Kurt’s not having anything close to the ground; it’s all from mid-thigh height and up.

  I continue to sprint in his last known direction as I try the mental gymnastics to keep most of me phased while running while controlling how far out my mind map goes so that I have enough fine detail to know where is safe for me to solidify while also not leaving me in a miniscule bubble of information.

  Ten feet seems to be a limit for me at the moment, but my hold on it is tenuous.

  I need a better plan.

  My thoughts racing, I put together ideas and dismantle them at an equal pace, trying to figure out which one will give me the best chance of success and I land on one that should definitely work.

  With a smile, I drop through the ground, solidifying my fingers to catch me and let my mind map unfurl to its full length looking for where Kurt has gone.

  Hiding behind the third pillar to my left, so I’ll need to run and throw myself… got it.

  Thanking everyone who was involved for giving me super strength, I throw myself straight up, solidifying my full body as I fly into the sky towards the next level of the parking garage.

  As I twist through the air, I orient myself and solidify my footing once more.

  With a silent roar, I push off the ceiling, phasing fully once again as I careen towards Kurt’s hiding position like a human-shaped missile.

  Unfortunately, even with my prodigious strength, I can’t cover that full distance in just one leap, even with gravity helping me a considerable amount.

  Stupid part of the plan time.

  I let my hands and feet turn fully solid once more and start using the larger telekinetic projectiles as probably the dumbest parkour course I have ever tried to do, and that includes climbing through the whirling gears of a steampunk clock tower.

  My feet don’t seem to take many injuries. The boots are armored enough that while it stings, nothing truly bad has come.

  The hands?? They’re starting to hurt something fierce as I accidentally clip some of the smaller projectiles, but it’s not too bad yet.

  Adrenaline, my darling, keeps me going.

  Flying through the pillar, my body contorts as I aim a superman punch at the man's face.

  For a moment, it’s like the world slows down as I see his eyes widen, his hand moving up to try and catch me.

  I let a smile grow across my face right up until crimson energy flares to life, catching my hand and holding me in the air as my body continues past where my fist stopped, slamming my body into him.

  Not sure who’s feeling better after that blow him, who’s skidded back from the slam, or me, who just caught all of my weight on my shoulder, which is incredibly not pleased about the whole thing.

  “You can’t win.” I say, stalking closer, trying to come up with a way I can stop him.

  If a surprise like that isn’t going to work, I’m not sure what will. I’m not good enough to slide through his energy barriers and then solidify back to punch him on a dime.

  Hopefully, the bluff goes through, and he’ll surrender now.

  “You might be right about that one.” Kurt coughs. That cough did not sound good. Did I accidentally break a rib with the body slam?

  That would make the pain in my shoulder and hands way more worthwhile.

  “So why don’t you surrender? Surely you could go to the police with me. Give up all of your friends, and you could get away with a smaller sentence. To boot, you’re also useful, so that would make it even easier?” I try in the attempts to appeal to his goal of self-preservation.

  “You’re right.” He rasps slowly, pulling himself to a standing position as red energy flickers around him.

  I take a half step back trying to set my feet. I don’t know what’s about to come, but that didn’t sound like someone who’s trying to surrender. More akin to someone building up ?steam to do their big finish.

  As I don’t have any anime special moves that I can think of, I really don’t want to get caught up with whatever this is.

  He releases a blast wave of energy, and I dash away, phasing and dropping a level, accepting that I’ll have to scramble back up.

  Don’t want to get caught in that blast, and it went floor to ceiling.

  Twisting around as I fall while there’s no wall of force coming towards me from the view outside, I can see a burst of crimson lighting up the sky, and my heart sinks as I finish my fall to the ground.

  “I can still try.” I remind myself, shaking my stupor off and running towards the top level.

  I know what direction he’s going, and he’s literally a blazing star of light at the moment, so I can definitely follow up and catch him.

  Arriving at the top level, I soar towards the nearest rooftop I can jump to and begin picking my way across the city looking for the gleaming beacon of light.

  If I can cut him off before he makes it to the lab, I can take him out somehow.

  No miracle solution comes to mind, but I keep my pace up, chasing doggedly.

  He can only win if he actually escapes, so as long as I keep trying, I’m putting myself in the position to succeed.

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