They roared an incoherent cry of fury as they charged forward, hands clasping makeshift knives, baseball bats one guy even had a length of chain! But I tuned it out as I focused.

My power had manifested 3 months ago, ever since then I had been preparing for this day both mentally, and physically.

About 2 weeks ago I had broken into an old abandoned construction site and had been practising controlling shockwaves and recently the occasional fire ball. But training against inanimate pieces of concrete and timber were far different than fighting actual living breathing people, as I was about to realise.

For one thing, stone is far more durable than a person. I found this out when I punched the big guy with the bat. I directed a shockwave into his centre just like in training and I felt his ribs crumble into dust beneath my fist. He shot outward and smacked against the far wall next to where the girl was watching. He hit it with an audible crunch as his spine broke.

Fuck. That was way too hard not only is he probably paralysed for life but I nearly hit the girl. That would have been bad.

The other gang members backed up, slowing down their charge and looked at the crater in the wall where their buddy lay. They looked at each other as if seeing what the others would do next, and I was about to restate me offer for them to leave the girl alone when one smashed me across the jaw with a nail board and the others continued moving.

Another power I had discovered while training was that I was pretty durable when I wanted to be. You may ask, why didn’t I use it when I got hit in the bathroom earlier today? The answer to that is when a kid breaks his hand after punching someone questions begin to be asked.

The nails blunted and the wood exploded into splinters. He looked amazed, from his point of view he just scored a direct hit. And he was right but they were starting to see that they had chosen the wrong fight.

I ran through the storm of splinters and wood shards and, now deciding against the direct application of shockwaves to peoples bodies unless in extreme cases, I created a controlled explosion behind my elbow to propel my iron fist forward. It struck the gangbanger in the jaw, breaking it and knocking him out.

Holy shit, I feel like fucking superman. I just took out two guys twice my age and haven’t even taken a scratch. That was when the other three dogpiled me.

I fell to the ground mentally kicking myself for celebrating prematurely. A wall of flesh blocked my vision and claustrophobia was in the beginnings of setting in.

I panicked and sent a mass shock wave outward, blowing the people off me. It was… effective, they flew into walls and I was soon the only one left standing. I picked myself up off the ground and made sure all the people were still breathing. The first guy it hit’s breath seemed to be weaker than the others, but I knew fuck all about first aid and had no idea how to help him. Something I told myself I would rectify sooner rather than later.

I heard a few sobbing sounds, and remembering about the girl I walked over two her. As I approached she recoiled from me and began to cower in the corner.

“It’s going to be okay.” I said in my most reassuring voice which, thanks to the gas mask, was a hard feat to perform.

“W-who are you?” She asked between sobs.

“I’m no one important.” I said while handing her a phone from one of the dead gang members, “Use this to call the police, tell them where you are and what your circumstances are.”

“I-I don’t know where we are.” She said, and after I hastily gave her some directions I turned and left.

“Thank you.” She said to my back as I walked off, I didn’t turn back. She was just part of the bigger picture, there were more girls like her currently being held by the Bandidos Sangrientos. There was still work to be done.