Do It Again

2009

Somewhere around 3:35 pm, I got a message on my smartphone, it read "Attack. Park near the dog fountain. Power-user. 11:20 am". I was just making the rounds from a vacant office space to the next. It had become my hobby for quite some time, there was something uncanny about visiting empty cubicles in skyscrapers that had acrophobia-inducing views, and it made me wonder how often these people take a look at the world below, do they pity us? Do they hold us in comptent? Are the people walking in the street more free than the crunch-time-ridden employees? Does the head honcho fear the height of his office? Is he more vulnerable than ever in his literal glass house? Not that it mattered anyway, I like to ponder about useless things when I'm not occupied with anything else.

<<

10:40 pm

When is this guy going to arrive? I ask myself. I rarely have to carry out a "mission" alone nowadays. Sgt. and I have collected a series of contacts around the city (some more useful than others) but they each have different routines and locations. I already gave the instructions to Sgt. I just need my associate to show up so I can actually defeat whatever we are facing. When I first moved in, I thought that I was the only person with powers but it turned out to be more of a problem than I had anticipated, how this isn't in any news outlet is beyond me. Many power-user attacks have been labeled under "arson" or "unexplained event", it's like most people are living their day-to-day lives without even knowing people like me exist, it makes me feel that this is all a big con...

"Hey there! What's up Gyu? Where's our villain?"— said Wham, yes that's what he asked to be called. Usually, pseudonyms take a lot more time and ingenuity to make, Sgt. is given that nickname because he served in the military a bit while my name comes from—

"Oi, don't space out on me!"

"Ah- I told you before. I'm not given much information by Sgt.'s visions. That's how these things tend to go"— I replied.

"Hmm. Seems like you psychics are just a bunch of half-assed guessers when it comes to the fate of the world if you asked me."

This guy still thinks I get Sgt. to message me about his future visions when in fact I get them sent in real-time and just go back to prevent any catastrophic event. Wham, a.k.a. this doofus over here, met me in... let's say... dubious circumstances. Safe to say that if I told him the true nature of my powers I can say goodbye to my sorry life.

"Look you need to stay on the lookout, we never know when the enemy might make an appearance."— I say.

"Yeah yeah, I hear you. Let's hope this one gives us quite the challenge."

"Why would you want that?"

"Well it's getting quite boring this superhero shtick I tell ya."— I'm sorry it doesn't fulfill your career goals. —"It's getting kind of repetitive, it's usually just people with useless powers like mindreading the first three words of a thought or making people who run slower"— Hey! We had difficulty fighting that guy, it was such a slog.

"I mean- I sort of get what you mean but don't you get any sense of- I don't know- that you are doing something good for the world?"

"Not really. I mean do you?"

"..."— I... believe I have put it into words in the past but maybe doing these missions after all this time has made me numb to any feeling of accomplishment. —"I believe we are making something worthwhile, most people go on with their normal lives without having to deal with the power users we face. Who knows? Maybe we inadvertently save more people than we realize."

"But is it good?"

"Of course it—"

"You are not letting me finish my point. You would say that it's a net positive overall, but maybe we're just making them fall deeper and deeper into blissful ignorance."— A notification popped up in my phone, a message from Sgt. which said he had disabled security cameras around the area. —"See, just in time." What does he get out of this smugness? His gym-maniac brain can only handle so much questioning of everything.

Suddenly, a scream could be heard nearby. We moved our heads to a man on the floor screaming at the sight of a cloaked figure. —"Somebody! Help"—his shrieking stopped by a decisive stomp to the head. The mysterious figure bursts into laughter, and people begin to run.

"Did the vision tell you any of this would happen or... is it just guessing the details."

"Shut up."

The usual. Time to rewind.

<< When I move back in time my body moves too, my eyes are fixed on the position they were in before. The only thing that remains "awake" and "in control" is my mind

||

>

"Let's hope this one gives us quite the—"

I begin to move. The distance between the cloaked figure and me was around 10 meters in. Found it. I need to step in closer. Looks like it hasn't noticed me following them.

"Huh?"— said the mysterious figure as they tilted their head towards me.

"Uhh..." —I've been noticed. Suddenly a distorted giggle started to come out of their mouth.

"Found ya!"— This guy is bad news.

"WHAM HERE THEY ARE!"—I hesitantly screamed my lungs out.

"There you are."—said Wham as he lunged at the mysterious figure, punching them so hard they bounced off the fountain. It looked like it was all over, everyone around us looked confused and scared by all the sudden screaming.

"EVERYONE GET OUT OF HERE THIS PERSON HAS A GUN!"—I shouted at the audience that had formed around us.

"Relax man, it's all over."

"Hehe... hehe... HAHAHA!"— The mysterious figure had stood up with what appeared to be a broken neck which quickly moved back to its place in an unnatural fashion. —"I knew somebody was going to try to stop me, even if I hadn't started my rampage. So you are the guys who have been going around taking us out." Its body quickly began to morph. Most of the audience wasn't there to witness, seem like my urgent cry had convinced most onlookers. Those who did saw watched as its body stretched, its muscles drew tight, strained themselves to their limits, wrung into an amorphous shape, changing its pigment to a greenish tone, you couldn't call that thing a human. A bunch of spikes appeared and attacked all at once.

"Look out!"— I yelled as I jumped to push a guy out of the spikes.

"Wow, quick reflexes my guy" — Wham grabbed hold on one spike and swiftly broke it from the main body. What he didn't realize is that I had lost 12 minutes trying to get the only guy who died with the first attack out of the way, I lunged at him in different ways but it'd either end up with me pierced by a spike or, worst-case scenario, both of us. I let some minor injuries slide though it didn't sit all that well with me. I began to run towards the injured to help them out of there while Wham was busy with this monster.

The monster had fully revealed itself, its head looked like a waning crescent moon with no sharp edges, and the rest of the body looked as if it was melting, there was no coherence to its form but as I moved more spectators out of the way I noticed it was a conscious effort to dull any prediction of its movements. As it continued a barrage of attacks against Wham it stopped focusing on other people,  a perfect opportunity to get them out of the area until there was no one close to the action except the monster, Wham, and me.

"Quick, we need to end this now!"—I senselessly shouted at Wham, he usually finishes the job faster.

"I- I'm trying."— I looked at Wham's hand, they looked as if they'd been mauled by a wild dog. Sorry. —"I can't find an opening."

"Ok. I got you."— I closed in and tried to distract it. It took several tries and I had already used up 4 hours to travel back to this time but I had to focus, if not I'd just make more and more mistakes. The feeling of going back even by a few seconds gives you this jolting sensation like when you stall a manual car, it's exhaustive but you get used to it after so many years. So many years. I entered its perimeter, I was at a distance where if I received an attack I may not be able to dodge it even by luck, I opened my jacket and grabbed a spray can with my right hand and a lighter in my pocket with my left hand. It was a crude theory. Surely when it hardens a piece of its body other parts are left vulnerable, oh well, aim at the eyes just in case. Fire.

"AUGH!!"— screamed the creature. The spikes became less and came out deformed then wiggled in the same way a worm thrashes violently and curls up when it feels threatened. It seems I hit it right on the mark. —"Stop."— The pieces lying around started going back to their main body. I quickly moved aside —"Stop!"— It seems I'd given an opening to Wham, I put my tools out of the enemy's sight.

"Wham do it!"— I yelled. Wham rushes in.

"I SAID STOP!"— The monster suddenly let out a big spurt of its body and wrapped it around Wham's lower half, restricting his movement. —"NOT SO STRONG NOW ARE WE!" I was at a reasonably moderate distance from the scene. —"Listen to me! If you think you are getting away with all that you've done to me you are dead wrong!"— Go on give your big speech— "As of right now I'm getting all inside your friend's body, I'll get my tentacles in his vein and harden them to give him a painful death."

"That is if you even have the strength to do that." Buy time.

"Huh. So you've noticed that, sure you took me by surprise, dodging all of my attacks as if you could predict where they will strike. Guess what even if I can't deliver on granting your friend a painful death I can still asphyxiate him."— Honest I see, the fire definitely hit a vulnerable point. As I watched closely it looked like the creature was regenerating its corneas. That's what we call a placebo, a placed limit on your powers; seems kind of counterproductive but that's due to our mind's scope. In this case, the creature was able to harden the rest of its body by making other parts more delicate to touch. When I was close it looked like gelatine.

"What's your purpose anyways? You just wake up killing innocent bystanders for fun, you criminal."— God, that came out like your typical superhero corny lecture, gotta act quick. —"Y-you filth." Maybe I overdid that one.

"Hahaha! And who are YOU to ask? You disgust me, you and your entourage of wannabe vigilantes. As if this all mattered anyway. This all is going to change soon, you haven't experienced the true horrors that this world can bring, for we are many and we are ready to upset the score."— It sounds like I took out more than one power-user that was associated to some sort of organization, though I wouldn't know about that, I don't have time to ask, only will stalling work out in our favor this time around, just a little bit more.

"We? Maybe you are referring to the person who sent you out to get me."— I was just reaching at straws at this point, not following the narrative, just saying whatever came to mind.

"You are more observant than I thought. Yes. We are aware of your existence and believe me you are all going to pay the consequences."

"I should be the one saying that. WHAM!"

Wham crushed the shell that had been concealing him. Having distracted the creature I ran straight at it.

"Gyu, a bit of goo got into my eyes!"

"How did he-"— The monster didn't react in time to my attack, I chopped its body in half in one swift move using my bare hands. —"Ah-AHHHHHH!"— Its face stared in shock. In began to punch and stomp every part I could. —"Wait! Wait! Wait-NOOOOOO!"

Wham cleaned his eyes, blood-shot strained sclera from the scrubbing, mad as a bull. He joined me in completely demolishing apart the creature. It attacked but its body was too weak, even sharp spikes that were thrown at my face were weaker than toothpicks.

Wham's power seems to be your average super-strength shenanigans but in actuality, he makes things weaker by touching them, still, there's a certain delay so when the creature attacked in rapid succession it managed to harm him, that said Wham survived because his power is infallibly fast to react. And, if whatever attacks it is connected to a main body (like an arm to torso) continuous contact with it spreads the weakening uniformly until the whole body is weak. The creature who had held Wham hostage for less than two minutes had already lost 700% of its strength, it was like beating a tender brisket. It just crumbled in an instant.

"I GIVE UP! I GIVE-" —Wham dealt the finishing blow, crushing a part of its head. It didn't have the chance to regenerate if it tried to just the mere force applied to regeneration made the bits fall apart. In any case, I used my makeshift flamethrower to finish the work.

"Total time: 15 minutes. I thought there would be more people in this park but everyone seems to be gone, the police should be arriving in no time." —Wham pointed out.

"Good job."— It sure felt like 15 minutes to you but the amount of re-tries has pushed me to the limit, I got the timing wrong one time and Wham got asphyxiated. Let's not go through all the blunders I'm already over time, I had already used my powers in a mild altercation in the morning before I got Sgt. message.

Suddenly a thin spike came my way. It pierced my neck into my mouth, a bit over my mouth's palate. There was definitely something wrong, there's always the possibility of a forceful burst of power when a power-user is near death but Wham's ability should cover for it. It began reaching my skull, it felt like I had a needle stuck between my eyes.

"GYU! NO!"—I heard Wham say.

If it reaches my brain it's game over, there's a limit to what I can survive while conscious but if left unconscious there's no way back. I travelled seconds back to dodge the attack.

<<

I moved as quickly as I could.

"AH!"— I managed to avoid the attack.

"Oh geez! You startled me are you ok?"

"I see... it was separated from its body this whole time"— The creature intentionally left a little bit scattered to use as a last resource. "Gotta burn it quickly before the cops arrive."

Wham and I got rid of as many body pieces as we could feasibly destroy, I had no idea if it could regenerate but it was not moving anymore. Wham and I fled the scene once the sirens started to sound, we arrived at an almost dark alley. Guess I'll see the news report if anything pops up.

"Dude are you ok?"

"What? I evade the attack nothing's wrong with-"— I felt some blood touch my lips. Oh no. —"I-I've got to go, thanks for the help! Go check your hands with a doctor!"— RUN.

"Ah, wait. Yeah. Um. See you"— Wham's voice began to fade away as I helplessly ran as far as I could.

Oh no, man, I overexerted again. No, c'mon, you can handle this. C'mon. Shit, oh god my head is on fire. I settled in a restaurant's restroom. The owner was telling me I had to be a customer if I wanted to use the restroom and was banging on the door asking me to leave. I grabbed as much paper as I could, I rested my head up, and looked at the ceiling light with strained eyes. A while back, inexplicably, I began to lose my powers.