I sidestep to dodge another piece of the wall flung at me by the robber, who turns out to be my very first friend, Emily. I mean, who else has telekinesis and hates my guts after what I did to her father. That reminder causes my heart to hurt, is that why she's here? Not just to rob the place, but to also get my attention?
"Ben, watch-"
I blinked awake as Emily rushed at me aiming a jab to my place which I evaded quite easily. She growled and began a series of punches which never connected, I was simply too quick.
"Listen...Em-robber person...can...we just...talk...this...out!?" I managed to say between dodging her attacks.
Her movements are way too slow and easy for me to read. Nothing like Atlas who while weaker than me, made up with his experience skill. Emily knows attacking barehanded is futile, so why would she insist on doing this? Suddenly, I felt something rapidly flying towards my back. Judging by its silhouette, it was round and big.
Whatever it is, I instantly flew up to evade the large object. I looked down, the object slowed down before it could hit Emily. It hovered in front of Emily who clicked her tongue, clearly irritated. My eyes widened in realization of her plan. It was rather brilliant, she was making me focus on her by rushing me with punches distracting me. Meanwhile, she was using her telekinesis on the metal circle to hit me behind.
If it wasn't for the fact, I technically have 360 vision, that would've hit me. Speaking off, where did she get that thing? My eyes darted to the side where the large metal piece came from, it turns out it was the door to the vault where I could see stacks of cash and some gold bars behind. I turned back to Emily who pulled the circular metal door back, aiming at me.
"Wait, just relax! Let's-"
"Shut up!"
Emily threw it, and I quickly thrust my hands forward, ready to catch it. But then realized I could just save myself the pain and dodge it. And so I did, it narrowly hit me, but flew past me, breaking past the ceiling and into the sky.
"Listen, I don't want to fight-"
"Idiot!" Her panicked voice made me stop.
Despite hiding her face, it didn't hide the fact that she looked worried and afraid. What's got her worked out? Wait a minute. Just before I could put two and two together, Gavin was already screaming in my ear.
"Civilians! Civilians!" Gavin shouted hysterically.
"Oh, crud!"
I turned around and flew to the ceiling of the second floor, all the way out of the building, where I could see the metal door rapidly descending in the air. I chased it. I pushed myself even faster as I saw it was about to fall on a car, and there were families inside. They didn't notice when it was literally on top of them, about to crush the ceiling to the car and on top of them. Thankfully, I caught it, gripping the metal so tight, my fingers dug deep inside.
I carefully descended, putting the metal door on the sidewalk. I could feel their frightened and awed stares as I got up. The father and mother looked at me like deer in headlights while their baby laughed and pointed at me. I gave them an awkward wave.
"Don't drink and drive, p-please!" I said, before shooting up in the air, before I flew to get back at the bank.
"Ben, what are you doing?! You've got to fight back; if you don't, people could get hurt! Like what nearly happened a second ago."
I bit my lip, knowing he was right. I like to think that I could comfortably fight someone without worrying about killing them. Sure, I still felt incredibly guilty about Mr. Shinich, but I think I'm mentally ready to fight someone if it comes down to it. However, I'm not emotionally prepared to fight my friend. It's true, I only met her recently, and I haven't seen her personally outside of our first meeting. But still, can I hit her?
Hit my first friend? Can I stop her rampage against me, knowing it was justified? My thoughts cut off when my SEE googles spotted something just a few blocks away. It zoomed to the thing, and it turns out it was Emily, flying in the air with a duffel bag, filled with something which I would assume was stolen money. I mentally slapped myself. Of course, she could fly.
That's one of the main benefits of having telekinesis as a superpower! That power is truly busted...
"Hey!" I shouted once I got closer.
She spun back and stopped. I did too. We just stared at each other, both of us unwilling to make any sudden moves. I noticed her fingers twitch; she was aching for a fight. I, on the other hand, was ready to use my arms to block to defend myself. As for hitting her, well, that was a battle going on in my mind.
Can I fight her? But if I don't, civilians might get hurt, even if she doesn't intend to hurt them. Perhaps, I could restrain her? But, again, I could hurt her if I put pressure on her. It's better than doing nothing.
I took a deep breath and raised my arms in the air, going in a fighting stance. Emily's blue eyes narrowed, lifting her hand slowly. We stared at each other for the longest time; it honestly felt like an eternity. I inhaled sharply and flew towards her. Emily's eyes widened before she thrust her arms in my direction, and suddenly, I found myself unable to move.
No, that's wrong, something is pulling me backwards, which halts my speed. I grit my teeth as I push myself off her hold. Emily wasn't much better, even underneath the mask, I could see her putting a ton of effort into pushing me away. I pushed and pushed before, eventually, I managed to break from her telekinetic grip and rush at her. She tried to back away, but I was far faster than her.
I reached my hand to her arm, but before I could come in contact, something invisible prevented me from going further.
"Wha-?"
I was so distracted by what happened, I didn't realize, Emily's telekinesis got hold on me again. Emily yells before throwing her arm down, with me following suit. I tried to fly up, but it was hard to regain stability with something pushing me down. I ended up crashing into the road, I groaned as I picked myself up, before I yelped seeing a truck coming at me. The driver's eyes shot up in terror before honking at me.
I brought my arms forward to catch it. And I did, but I underestimated the force the truck would hit me with and so when I grabbed the front, the truck made me slide on the ground for several meters before I successfully made it stop. I let out a deep sigh of relief as I pulled away from the truck, its bumper dented and damaged after my hands made contact, it was smoking too. The truck driver got off his vehicle coughing. I winced as his head had a drop of blood which trailed to his beard.
He looked delirious for a moment before spotting his smashed up bumper. His mouth quivered before he screamed to the heavens in despair. Judging by his reaction, that must have been his personal semi-truck. He turned to face me, anger was plastered in his face as he thrust a finger in my direction.
"You! What the heck are you doing, brat!"
I gulped before raising my arms to calm the man down.
"Listen, sir, you're bleeding, can I take you to the hospital?"
"I don't care about that! Who's going to pay for my beautiful truck!?"
I hesitate, I really want to help this guy calm down and I did damage his bumper, when I could've just flown away. I opened my mouth to say something, but I was cut off with Gavin speaking to me.
"We could be worried about that later, you got to stop the Esper."
"Esper?"
"No time, get to it!"
I flashed the man an apologetic smile before I flew up, ignoring his cursing and threats. I flowed where Emily and I had our showdown, but she wasn't there. I couldn't even sense her with my Mind's eye, she disappeared. She got away.
"Can you sense her with your Mind's Eye?"
I swallowed before I defeatedly.
"...No."
I just floated there, unable to comprehend the fact that I let a criminal get in the way. Even if she was a friend that should have been easy!
"Just get back here."
My mood dropped even more, and the tone sounded like a disappointed parent. Honestly I preferred him shouting and getting mad at me than disappointed. But, I did what I was told and flew back to Gavin and the store.
RED
Later...In Clark's Store
JUSTICE
I removed my SEE goggles, but I kept the suit on. Looking away as Gavin crossed his arms looking at me silently in his PC chair. He didn't say anything for quite a bit of time, possibly on purpose. Eventually even he got sick of the silence and started to talk.
"So, what went wrong?"
I swallowed. "Don't you already know-"
"I want to hear it from you."
I wince, he no longer held warmth. Instead the coldness of a drill instructor. He didn't glare or shout, but he might as well have. Even with all my powers and abilities, I guess adult disappointment will never fail to affect me.
"I-" The words died in my throat.
I licked my dry lips before I finally found the words.
"I-I didn't fight back..."
"And?"
"I allowed the fight to go on and risked other people's safety as a result."
Gavin nods, his face softening. Getting up from his chair, raising his hand to ruffle my hair.
"Welp, that's done. Let's talk about Espers-"
"Wait, what? That's it?"
My eyes widen as I look at his confused expression.
"Yeah, you probably learned your lesson by now, it's pointless to lecture you even more, especially since we have supernatural threats on our hands."
Yeah, I suppose that makes sense.
"Now back to the matter of hand, Espers. That person you fought is most certainly one of them."
I crossed my arms and crashed by butt to the couch, Gavin grabbed two sodas from his mini fridge and tossed me one. I grabbed it in the air easily.
"What are Espers anyways?"
"I couldn't tell you, not sure if there were lab experiments or people who got powers through going to a different dimension like you. Actually, before, I thought you were Esper, if it wasn't for the fact your power sets are completely different."
Gavin paused in his explanation, opening the can and drinking the contents. He let out a satisfied sigh as he sat on the couch next to me.
"Espers have two abilities, although sometimes they have a third one. But their main abilities have been telekinesis and barrier."
"Barrier?" I was puzzled.
"Yeah, remember when you couldn't grab them?"
The memory of trying to restrain Emily, only for an invisible force to halt their movement.
"It's basically an invisible force field." Gavin clarified, taking another sip of his drink.
"How did you come across these Espers?"
"Though my days as a soldier of course. I fought roughly about five of them, they were tough even as a super soldier in his prime. Now that we know what they are, we have found a way to beat them."
"Well any suggestions, you beat five of them."
Gavin chuckles, shaking his head. "I said, fight not win. In fact I only won once, it was difficult to get through their barrier even with high-tier equipment."
My shoulders dropped, I guess, I have to figure it out myself. Gavin noticed my drop in mood before rustling my hair.
"Okay, can you stop that!"
"I can't help it, your hair is like a sheep. It feels nice to touch."
I rolled my eyes and scoffed. "Can you be serious, you weirdo."
Gavin's teasing smile drops, guess it was serious time once more. He cleared his throat.
"Though they have weaknesses. Like you, they can't keep using their powers for a long period of time. They experience a painful headache and start to bleed from their nose."
"So, I could just outlast this robber?"
Gavin sighs, shaking his head. "That would be a decent strategy if it weren't for the fact you can't use powers for long either, I bet the robber could outlast you before he or she starts to suffer the effects."
He got me there. Usually my weakness was never a problem, probably because I don't use my powers strenuously. But with big fights with Atlas and Emily, I have to use my powers heavily.
"We got to figure out, how to solve that problem, it will be problematic if you suddenly lose you're powers in the middle of a fight. But, we can do that later, you must be tired go home and rest. The Esper robber will eventually pop up again."
After our little meaning, I removed my costume and hung out in his mancave for about hour before I decided to leave. I opened the door before turning back, Gavin was in the middle of another game, absolutely mad that he got killed by an enemy player. I debated wheather or not to tell him about Emily's true identity. But I was worried, Gavin will send in a squad of soldiers to ambush my friend. I couldn't just do that to her!
I don't even know ratting her out would be the right thing to do. I bit my lip as I closed the door. By the time, I exited the shop it was nearly night time. I fished out my phone and opened discord. My finger frozen at the send button. I took a deep breath and pressed the button.
[BigRedJ] : Hey, Emi can we talk?