107.

  My treacherous body moved before my brain could think.

  I practically flew down the fire escape, leapt over the railing two floors up and landed with a heavy thud, falling to one knee and accidentally looking super cool. Even though I’d probably skinned my knee raw.

  The two goons spun. Their eyes widened. I looked up at them and the terror on their faces was… delicious.

  “Let her go,” I growled.

  The goon with the razor blade looked at the old junkie and then dropped her.

  “It’s him,” the other one whispered. He was young, with a shock of blonde hair peeking out from under his red hood.

  “No, it’s not!” the bald headed one with the blade snapped at him.

  “It’s fucking him!” the blonde said again, looking like he had seen a ghost.

  “He ain’t real!” the bald snapped.

  “Aren’t I?” I said, slowly rising up to my feet. “Wanna find out?”

  The goon with the blade leapt at me without a word and slashed the blade at my face. Muscle memory kicked in and I raised my forearm to intercept the razor. The only problem was that I wasn’t wearing the bent sheet of steel I called a forearm guard. The razor blade bit into my sleeve and sliced through the fabric of my hoodie.

  The sight of blood seemed to invigorate the blonde one. He screamed and recklessly charged at me, pulling a blade of his own. This one looked like a kitchen knife he had pilfered from his mum's cutlery drawer. It was deadly nonetheless. I took a couple of quick steps back from the razor-blade-wielding one, and they got into each other's way as they eagerly rushed at me. This wasn't going to end well. Even worse, the old woman was just laying on the floor, mouth agog as she watched. If she had run away, then at least I could have too.

  I circled backwards again. Instinct pushed my hand upwards to reach over my shoulder for my Grandad’s, but I grasped nothing but air. Damn it. I didn't have anything, no carapace, no Wrist Rocket, no Grapple Cord, no bat, and no Zap Knucks. I just had a few untested gadgets and my two bare fists. I reached into my trouser pocket and pulled out a coin. It was one of the large silver 50p pieces that I carved a new Rune into. Well, here goes nothing. I dodged another slice of the razor blade while the other one sort of danced around behind, jabbing wildly and missing by a good half a foot. I kicked out with my boot and caught the bald one in the kneecap, and that gave me enough room to unleash my new gadget: the Flash Coin.

  Even though I had no intention of becoming the Gutter Mage again, redesigning and upgrading my gear had given me some sort of purpose and something to do in the dark hours when I couldn't sleep. I'd learned from all my battles that, while the Chalk Bombs were very useful and had saved me on numerous occasions, they weren't exactly the best device for causing distraction or blindness. They were unwieldy and had blinded me as many times as my opponents. Plus, if it was raining or there was a strong wind they were pretty useless.

  Through my research and study, I'd come across a Rune that emitted the power of the sun. Now, whatever that power was, I had no ability to grasp it, let alone use it. But I followed the chain of runes and picked out a particular one that seemed to be associated with light. After a few random experiments, I realized that it was a light Rune. However, it wouldn't stay lit, it only flashed. And that's when I came up with the idea of creating a flashbang. It turned out that 50p coins seemed to provide the best material for the lowest price. Although these coins were largely untested. My few test runs had ended with me almost blinding myself, so I sort of stopped messing around with them for a while to let my retinas heal. But I suppose now was as good a time as any to find out if they worked.

  Looking away and shielding my eyes with my forearm, I hurled the penny to the floor, imbuing it with a last gasp of energy as it flew from my fingertips. It bounced off the floor and then rolled away. I opened my eyes and watched it go, then groaned. The two thugs stood and looked at it, perplexed for a moment, before looking back at me. I just shrugged.

  "Fucking kill him!" screamed the blonde one, and they both charged me again.

  I dodged the one with the razor blade and punched him square in the nose as he went past me. It was a good punch, and I was sure I felt bone click and break under the impact. He staggered past me and fell to all fours. Then the little blonde one was in front of me. He tried to stab me in the guts, and thankfully muscle memory didn't kick in this time. Otherwise, I would have presented him with my carapace-less stomach and he would have gutted me. Instead, I sucked in my belly and turned my hips so the blade weaved past me. This time, I couldn't catch him with as good a punch and ended up sort of thrusting the heel of my palm into his forehead.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  The blow was barely enough to throw him off balance, but fortunately, he had thrown himself so wildly into the stab that even if I hadn't hit him, he probably would have still fallen over. I spun around and faced the two goons again, my fists raised as they gathered themselves. Both of them looked at each other, egging the other on to attack first, and for the first time in our short battle, they did something intelligent, they split up and circled, one from either side.

  I kept backing up until I felt the metal railing of the fire escape behind me. The bald-headed one with the razor blade went first, but the razor blade proved to be a rather ineffective weapon because it required him to get so close to me and even if he cut me he wouldn’t be able to put me down for good. I grabbed his wrist as he tried to strike, but before I could capitalize, the blonde one attacked again, trying to stab me in the back. I spun just in time to avoid it, then lashed out with a stiff punch at the bald-headed one, throwing him into his friend.

  I pulled another metal coin out of my pocket. Just as I was about to throw it to the floor, I took a second to glance at it and realized it wasn't a flash coin, it was another new invention, the zap coin. I was confident this might work. I flicked the penny in the air, caught it, and then threw it at the bald-headed goon. It hit him in the back of his neck, and there was a sudden crackle of energy as the Shock Rune activated and zapped him in the base of his neck. He screamed and stumbled sideways, slapping at his own neck, trying to get hold of the coin as it fell down the back of his shirt and kept zapping him. The charge was nowhere near as powerful as what the knuckles could unleash, but it was definitely enough to distract him.

  He howled and spun around in circles, trying to dig it out of his jumper, while the blonde one with the kitchen knife just watched him in confusion. I whistled, and they both turned to look at me, seeing that I was covering my eyes with my hands as I threw down another Flash Coin. This time, it worked, and I have to admit, those Flash Coins were brutal. The entire alleyway lit up with a sudden flash of retina-searing light. The bald-headed one had only half-turned, but the blonde one caught it full in the face. He screamed and dropped his knife, raising his hands to his eyes as his entire world went white with searing pain.

  I blinked twice and looked around. Fortunately, the old woman had seen me cover my eyes and had done the same. The bald-headed one was still fighting with the Zap Coin in his jumper and was now half-blinded. He was hopping around in circles, with one hand slapped to his right eye, the other fishing underneath his jumper trying to get the coin out. I looked at the blinded goon, who was screaming, and I almost felt bad for a second, but then I remembered he tried to stab me in the back. So I ran up to him, raised my boot, activated the Shockwave Rune, and literally kicked him into next week. The Rune activated as my boot met his stomach, and he was thrown five feet through the air into the brick wall behind. He hit with a fleshy thud and landed in an unconscious heap.

  The bald-headed one had finally managed to get the coin out of his jumper. It clattered at his feet and crackled with energy. He turned to me, one eye shut, his razor blade held in front of him, quivering, snot running down his face.

  "You fucking fuck," he whimpered, holding the razor at full extension. "We... we would... we were told you weren't real," he stammered. "You're just a ghost, a made up story.”

  I advanced on him slowly, relishing the obvious fear and pain in his eyes.

  "Sorry, mate," I said, "but I'm as real as they get."

  He swiped with the blade, and I leaned back, dodging it, grabbing hold of him and slapping another Shock Coin onto his cheek. I held it there, feeling it crackle in my hand, burning the plastic of the MMA glove. He screamed as the shocks ran through his cheek and into his brain. Then I dropped the coin, grabbed him by the front of his shirt, and repaid him for the bridge by headbutting him hard enough to splatter his nose across his face. He rocked backwards, and I let him drop to the concrete, blood pouring from his nose.

  I stood over the two fallen goons, my hands still raised, but they were both done for. I looked from one to the other, kicked the blades away from their hands, then looked at the homeless woman who still sat on the floor, staring wide-eyed.

  "Are you okay?" I asked her.

  She licked her dry lips, her tongue almost completely white.

  "You're him, aren't you?" she whispered. I just looked down at her. "You're the Gutter

  Mage.”

  I swallowed and then looked from one of the goons to the other.

  "No," I said. "I was just here to watch.”

  The junkie scrambled to her feet, looked at the fallen backpack full of drugs, snatched it up, and then ran into the darkness. The thought occurred to me to chase her down, but then what would be the point? I let her go and then fished around in the pockets of the downed drug dealers and pulled out a small wad of cash, tutting at how little there was.

  "Honestly, boys, I'd find a different occupation if I were you.”

  The big one started coming around, groaning, while the blonde one just remained still. I grabbed the bald one out by the front of his shirt, slapped him across the face until he woke up, and then pulled his face close to mine.

  "You tell whoever the fuck is in charge over there that the Mulberry Estate is off limits. If I ever see one of you red-shirt pricks again here, next time I won't be so nice. Understood?”

  He blubbered and nodded, fear stripping him of his words. I dropped him to the cobbles, stepped over his body, and then made my way back up the fire escape.

  I hated it, but damn, that felt good.