One of the villains rising to his feet folded like he’d been hit with a baseball bat. The invisible force launched him down the street, skipping like a stone before sliding to a stop, completely still.
Another hero reached into the air above his head. Light coalesced in his grip, solidifying into a massive warhammer easily twice the size of his torso.
He brought it down hard onto the ground.
The road shattered. A shockwave rippled outward from the impact, tearing through asphalt and tossing the villains like rag dolls, while simultaneously freeing the heroes.
As the heroes surged forward, the remaining villains broke. Struggling to their feet, they ran without looking back.
The telekinetic turned his attention to the fleeing group. He reached out with his right hand and, with a yell, began tearing the entire concrete facade off a nearby building. Rebar shrieked as it was ripped free. Dust exploded into the air as the massive section came loose.
Then concrete shattered apart in his invisible grip, fragmenting into deadly chunks. He hurled them like a shotgun blast at the retreating villains farther down the street.
Most of them managed to dodge or deflect the worst of it. One wasn’t fast enough, and he went down hard, not moving.
The guild members pressed their advantage, launching more attacks as they gave chase. The woman with the mortars fired another volley, explosions blooming ahead of the villains to cut off escape routes. Another threw a chakram, bouncing it off the walls of the buildings. It pursued its target with uncanny accuracy.
The fight moved down the street, the sounds of combat growing more distant as they rounded the corner, out of sight.
Alexander tracked them with Hyperawareness as silence settled over the ruined street.
He maintained his hold, keeping the ceiling stable. The two people inside still hadn’t moved.
Alexander waited, certain they’d leave now that the fight had moved on.
A minute passed.
They were probably just being cautious. Making sure nobody was coming back.
Time continued ticking away.
His eyebrow twitched.
With a low growl of annoyance, he launched himself off the edge of the building. Metallokinesis flared, oscillating and managing his descent with finesse despite only having his boots and cybernetic arm to manipulate.
It was definitely a good thing he hadn’t needed to get involved. His armor and belt remained in the backpack hanging from his shoulder.
He touched down gently on the sidewalk, glancing left and right, but the street remained empty. No heroes. No villains. Just flickering barrel-fires casting orange light across broken pavement and ruined walls.
Alexander chuckled quietly to himself. Trusting his eyes over even his superpowered senses remained instinct, even after all this time.
Alexander walked into the coffee shop, stepping over chunks of concrete and around broken furniture. The rusted car was visible through the hole in the back of the building.
He approached the counter and leaned over it, looking down at the two people huddled against the wall below.
“Are you two stupid? Get out—”
He stopped mid-sentence.
They were just kids.
The one on the left was huddled against the wall, arms wrapped around her knees. Torn clothes stained with grime and dust. Dirty face. Alexander was no great judge, but he couldn’t believe she was older than sixteen.
He turned to take in the other one. A boy. Similar appearance. Similar grime-streaked features. Siblings, clearly, but perhaps a year older than his sister.
Then the girl screamed, hands snapping toward him. “Leave my brother alone!”
Alexander reacted faster than conscious thought, his cybernetic hand coming up to defend his face.
Brown and green erupted from the very skin of her palms. Roots and vines bursting forth with incredible violence. The undulating mass slammed into his cybernetic arm with shocking power, shooting him back out through the ruined storefront and into the street.
His mind stuttered for a moment, certain that children couldn’t have powers.
Before he hit the road, Alexander seized hold of himself. He just stopped. Hung there in the air, horizontal and awkward, frozen mid-trajectory as if someone had paused reality.
He stayed like that for a long moment.
Processing.
A kid had just used a superpower on him.
Somehow, that made everything much, much worse.