On his militant march out of the forest, Arik was startled by a humanoid figure in a clearing. His heart skipped a beat and his first instinct was to fly away. But then he thought better.

What if it wasn't the guy, but a random human? Due to the distance, Arik wasn't sure if it was actually a human to begin with. He covertly approached closer to get a better view of the shrouded person.

It was a rotted dead tree.

He smacked his forehead and suspired in relief. Everything was happening one after the other and now he was completely on edge, ready to fight or flight at the drop of a hat. At least if that man was still in his house, then he would have the upper hand in the form of a first move this time. Fingers crossed at least.

The plan was just that: manage to get home with minimal exposure to bystanders, and confront the guy for more questioning. Don't get it wrong, that man still made Arik's heart want to jump out of his chest, but with the newfound yet disturbing knowledge of immortality in his hand, it seemed doable, if at least just a little. If the man wasn't there, which Arik preferred, then he can grab a bunch of his stuff, change clothes and not die of the elements. It was sort of a win win.

But Arik was still afraid.

Arik turned to glare at the dead tree once again as gears turned in his head. He swiftly approached the rotted wood and raised a fist.

'How did I do this before?'

In an attempt to learn his new power the same way he did his last, he thought back to the time he had punched the metal armed guy. The feeling, the atmosphere, the muscles involved. All of it could have been important. But, the memories of what happened during that fight earlier just that day were foggy and fuzzy with fear and adrenaline. The only thing he could manage to recollect was the heat.

'Maybe that was due to using the power again to escape,' he explained to himself. 'What was I doing different then?'

He stood there for about 30 seconds with his eyes closed, shutting off all outside noise and desperately attempting to focus his mind on the events of when he previously used the new power. Suddenly, his eyes vigorously shot open and he punched the tree with all his might.

Pain twisted his face when his knuckles bounced off the wood with little more than a few splintered dents to prove his mettle. He howled and and hollered under his breath for fear of anyone around hearing his location. He shook the pain from his hand and dabbed the blood from his knuckles onto his already bloodied shirt.

"Ugh, what even is this power anyways? First I punch super hard, then I fly faster. Next thing I'll be swimming like a dolphin."

An acorn dropped beside Arik with a dull thud. He looked up to see a squirrel scurrying about some branches in the sky. He also saw that the sky had little light left.

'This is no time to practice my new power. I need to get out of this forest before it's dark out or I'll be stuck here all night. Either that or risk people seeing me fly again.'

Arik bid farewell to his training spot and the forest denizen and made his way promptly through the forest, avoiding main trails whenever possible. He had spent so much time in the forest over the years that he knew it very well. Every couple hundred yards he could find a landmark that he had some memory tied to in the past, so getting out of the forest in stealth was something he was particularly adept at.

He had made his way out of the forest within 45 minutes with moderate difficulty, in part due to the waning sun but also because of the nicer dress shoes he had on from the interview earlier. They were now a destroyed mess much like the rest of his outfit. If anyone were to see him like this, they would assuredly run.

'Seems as if the dark was a blessing in disguise,' he doubled back.

He walked through town avoiding the populated and well lit areas to the best of his abilities, something that he was sadly already forced to master once before. This time was undeniably different, however.

For starters,there was currently a very large and scary man with superpowers somewhere out there that wanted Arik dead, or at least incredibly injured. And the last thing he had said to Arik was that he would be back with others. Arik didn't know when that time would come, and almost everything burrowed further paranoia into his mind.

'The enemy could be anywhere,' he thought to himself, his head on a swivel.

Arik was making his way down a secluded sidewalk when an obnoxiously growl from a car flew by him at illegal speed. The loud car drove into the distance before turning into the dimly lit parking lot of a building with pink and red neon signs atop its roof a couple hundred yards up the road. Arik could hear the boisterous bickering and laughter of the multiple people filing out of the car seconds later.

He kept his head down as not to be recognized by anyone, but as he drew nearer he could hear their conversations growing ever clearer.

"Yo, all I'm saying is it's bullshit," proclaimed the man waving a cigarette around. "It's probably just some edited video or social experiment and your falling for it hook line and sinker."

"Okay, maybe. But I don't know, I have a feeling about this one dude. I mean, we literally saw that dude fly whose bike you hit with a car."

"Shhh! Keep that shit down, man! Besides, no. You saw a man flying. I didn't see shit. Not to mention, you were tripping balls."

"Well that's because you fucking drove off!"

Keeping his head down was no longer in the cards for Arik. He stood still and looked to the people talking, getting a good long look at their faces. The faces of the very people that had almost hit him with their car almost a week ago and took off without seeing if he was okay. Fate had crossed their paths once more, but this time, Arik saw them first.

The two who were talking were the loudest, with the bigger one rocking spindly voluminous hair atop broad shoulders. The other wore a beanie with a puffy coat. Two more were leaning on the hood of the car, their fronts hidden from Arik's view.

A delicious plan quickly concocted in his mind and he began walking confidently at the group with a devilish glare. The group had picked up on his presence before he could get too close.

"Aye, yo. Who's that?" asked a guy in a dark hoodie as he spun around revealing a long goatee.

It appeared Arik's footsteps had prematurely given himself away. The group halted their idle chatter and took a few steps toward Arik in apprehensive caution.

"Hey, you looking for a problem, guy?" shot the broad man with a cigarette.

His face fell grim and pale as Arik drew close enough to be made out amongst the shadows of the night, his bloodied clothes looking like some kind of zombie or serial killer.

"Yo George! That's the guy you hit with the car!" shrieked the person beside him who Arik could now make out as a female.

"He didn't hit me," replied Arik matter-of-factly. "But he probably should have." The words rolled off his tongue before he could even think about them, which was contrary to his natural tendency to overthink.

'What the hell am I thinking?' he cringed in his head.

George's face livened up a bit as he recovered from the shock of the bloodied Arik.

"W-what's that supposed to mean, guy? You threatening me?" He forced a smile for the group around him and they all softly chuckled in unison.

Arik finally stopped about 6 feet from George, and the rest of the group began to circle him.

He could see their weighted shuffling and wild faces illuminated by the neon colors of the building sign. These people were not sober, nor did they appear to be the type to run to the cops at the drop of a hat. But they were most likely more prone to fighting.

"This is a nice little gang of burnouts you have here."

"What the hell did he just say?"

The violence enflamed immediately as the group began barraging him with insults, defenses, and the occasional wad of spit.

"You've got some balls." The smile on George's face transformed into something more genuine. "If you know what's best for you, you should get lost. Unless you want to get more blood on that fancy pencil pusher shirt you got there."

"I don't like this, George. We were just talking about this fool and then he shows up like this? We should just bounce," pleaded the visibly anxious girl as she slapped the sleeve of his leather coat.

"Bullshit, Brie. This guy came walking on us," replied the man in the hoodie.

"What do you want, man?" George's disposition became exasperated as he took a step closer to Arik.

Arik looked to the beautiful red car beside them. "I have a date coming up and I need your car."

George looked at Arik in bewilderment, not sure how to properly react to the request of the fool before him.

"Alright, screw this." George took another quick step forward and twisted his body, landing an accurate right hook to Arik's cheek. "Get the hell out of here!" he yelled as his arm recoiled. The crowd mostly reacted in awe, with Brie seeming shocked.

Arik's face recoiled slightly as his hair covered all his face but his displeased mouth. His arms hadn't so much as flinched.

"Not bad. But you hit like a kid compared to someone else I know.

George's right eye twitched for a split second before he balled up his fists again and shouted "Fuck him up!"

The gang, excluding Brie, took a step forward in restless outrage after holding back for so long like ravenous dogs who were just set loose on a wild animal. The man closest to Arik, sporting a face full of chrome piercings, took a swing at the back of Arik's head. The fist brushed against a few strands of inky black hair, but the rest of Arik's head had moved away at astonishing speed.

Arik reacted almost immediately to their hostile advance and activated his flight. But instead of flying up to escape the group, he flew straight forward in a charge toward the leader George. The leader was caught off guard by the strange advance and was grappled by Arik who effortlessly pushed him diagonally back into the bright building sign. Glass shattered and fell to the concrete ground as the light vanished from everyone's face.

George was taken aback and quickly pulled at Arik's arms to let go of him. The rest of the group was standing motionless, not knowing what they were witnessing.

'This could be bad for me,' Arik thought mid-action. 'These goons could just take their phones out and get me on video. But I'm really banking on them just running for it. If not, I'll have to get their phones too.'

"Get him off me!" yelled George furiously.

The group seemed to break from their petrified gaze and gasped in fear.

"I-is that guy f-flying?" choked out one of the frightened men meekly.

"I knew it." whispered Brie.

Arik's face was stretched in enjoyment as he looked into George's eyes, eyes that felt so small and afraid of the unknown. The same eyes Arik had displayed multiple times over.

"So that's what they look like," he marveled while steadily floating back from the building sign with George still in his grasp. The man was heavy for Arik's arms alone, and began to fall and sag in his jacket.

"Awe hell naw," called one of the men on the ground. Both of them turned tail and sprinted away in fear.

George looked down and saw he was over 10 feet in the sky and slowly climbing. He began to freak and grab hold of Arik's arms, screaming like only a grown man can.

"Please! D-don't drop me man! I'm scared of heights!" he pleaded.

"Give me your car keys," replied Arik succinctly.

The man shook his head violently, tears beginning to well in his eyes. Suddenly, George's sweaty grip loosened and he slipped through the leather coat that Arik had a hold of. He plummeted to the ground feet first in a high pitched screech as Arik failed an attempt to drop altitude and grab him. Brie wasted no time helping him back up and the man took off running in a limp with the girl.

"Hey—" Arik yelled at the man before hearing a jingle in the coat pocket.

Arik grabbed the keys victoriously and floated to the ground. "I'll bring it back in a few days!" he shouted into the dark.

He took a few steps up to the car and tried to admire its undeniable beauty, but could barely make it out with the building lights gone. But he knew it just had to impress Celesti. He also counted himself lucky that the guy had the decency to replace his windshield since the accident.

He opened the car door and sat inside, absorbing its dark, comfortable yet tough interior. It smelled strongly of weed and beer, but that was manageable with some air fresheners. He twisted the ignition and the car roared to life like a mechanical lion. Arik wasn't a car guy, he didn't even own a car, but it just felt right.

"One side mission down," he mumbled to himself while shifting the car and looking behind himself.

He pressed the gas and the car rocketed forward in the wrong direction, nearly hitting the building.

"Whoops." Arik's face turned bright red as he shifted the car into reverse, the real reverse this time.