I first thought that it would be my

best friend, and immortality the

biggest gift. I now know how wrong

I was.

Laura saw how the security staff fell to the ground, both hands on his left leg. He had been shot by a man standing in front of him with a gun in his right hand.

“GET ON THE GROUND, NOW!” The raider shouted. “Okay, if everyone obeys and behaves like good boys and girls, no one will have to get hurt.”

Three new figures appeared near the entrance of the clothing shop and behind the initial perpetrator. Two had guns. They seemed like assault rifles. The remaining figure was unarmed.

She crouched and tried to hide behind the multiple layers of clothes that were between the criminals and her.

First, she needed to assess the situation and elaborate some kind of strategy.

Laura was close to the end of the shop. She had a red cart next to her and his brother was in a fitting room behind her. She was partially covered by clothes and, from what she remembered, there were three or four people close by.

On the one hand, there was only one injured. He got shot in the leg, meaning that the shoplifters most likely won’t be using any lethal procedures. It also meant that his wound wasn’t as grave as it could be.

On the other hand, there were three men armed with firearms and it seemed like they all had some kind military equipment.

She heard more gunshots, but they didn’t come from any of the gunmen in the shop. She peeked a little so that she could look at the criminals. They didn’t look worried about the shots coming from the stands nearby.

Shit. There were more attackers than what she had thought. The shop’s staff had probably already called for help with some button or switch. But still.

She would need back up.

Laura looked around, seeking the emergency exit. She found it. The gray and metal looking door was to the right of the multiple fitting rooms, five or four meters away. She made her gravitational pull five times weaker as she began to crawl towards it. She stood up to a crouched stance when she finally reached it. She then grabbed the door handle and began opening the door.

An alarm went off.

It began screeching with a drilling and high pitched sound.

“Someone’s getting out! GO GET HIM!” Yelled one of the criminals.

With her cover blown, Laura got up and pushed the door with her shoulder, slamming it open. After going through it, she shut the door with a bang. She then made it five times as heavy.

She had entered a long alleyway with multiple garbage containers distributed through it. She looked around. The right end of the alleyway was too far for her to reach. The left one was closer, but still was a good fifty meters from her.

Shortly after, someone began banging the door. Probably trying to kick it open. Gunshots could also be heard from the inside. Laura prayed they weren’t aimed at anyone.

She reached into an interior pocket on her jacket. She pulled a pair of black gloves and a plain blask mask with two white circles as eyes. Fortunately, Laura hadn't gotten rid of some of her old habits from when she was a vigilante. She put them on.

She then jumped at the wall in front of her and kicked it. Returning to her normal weight as soon as her foot left the wall's grasp. Laura changed the direction of her gravitational pull, making her behind her down. She landed with both feet on the shop’s wall. Above its back door.

The door burst open and one of the gunmen with an assault rifle came through. She returned the door to its original weight.

She changed her gravitational pull to its original direction. Laura began descending.

She fell on top of the man. They both hit the ground, but Laura’s landing was softer. She rolled to one side and quickly got up. She then grabbed the man’s head by his hair and threw a punch to his jaw. Rendering him unconscious.

Laura pulled out a phone and typed a number on it. A voice recording greeted her.

“Hello,” the voice of a woman softly said. “Please state you emergency so we can-”

“G, eight, eight, F, four, exclamation mark, seven, three, capital P, omega,” Laura said, interrupting the recorded message.

There was a small pause.

“Gravity, how can we help?” Said the voice of a man.

“I’m at the Fenderson mall. I need back up. At least a B rank. It’s a hostage situation,” she took a pause to breathe. “From what I know there’s at least five assailants. Four of them are gunmen and everyone seems to have some kind of military equipment.”

She heard typing coming from the other end of the call.

“The only one who can get there quickly enough is Yellow Airstrike,” said the man after a moment. “But still, I’ll be sending a message to We and Phase.”

“Good. Thanks.”

She hung up.

Laura looked down at the unconscious criminal. He wore a green bodysuit, a bulletproof vest, some protection on his knees and elbows, and a pair of light brown gloves and boots. He also wore a white mask with black dots on it. From what she remembered, the rest of the shoplifters wore the same thing.

Now, how was she going to defeat them? They surpassed her in numbers. That alone wouldn’t be a problem. But in this instance there were two gunmen left in the shop and they had the advantage of being out of her gravitational range.

Neither stealth or waiting for reinforcements were an option. They were expecting for someone to come out of the back door. And it would be fairly suspicious if their partner didn’t come through it.

She looked down at the unconscious man. Then at the assault rifle.

“So, the problem is range, huh?” Laura said to herself.

Laura unstrapped the bulletproof vest. She weighed the piece of equipment, putting it on afterwards. She put her jacket on top of it to try and hide it as much as possible.

Laura returned to her normal weight to then make herself three times lighter, and the vest two times lighter.

She grabbed the gun and pulled the magazine out. She experimented with both objects for a little while. Testing out their weights. She then made the gun itself three times lighter and the magazine two times lighter

“This should work.”

Laura removed the bullet in the gun’s chamber and put the safety on. Just to make sure. She then approached the door.

Laura stood in front of it, reviewing her plan and the situation one last time. She grabbed the door handle with her left hand. The same one that had the magazine.

She then opened the door.

Laura began sprinting as soon as she was able to. She ran avoiding the different clothes stands and people crouching on the floor. Laura saw the two gunmen near the counter. She jumped towards them to avoid any possible obstacle. Her reduced weight made it possible for her to triple the height of her jump. Then, she threw the gun and the magazine.

The assault rifle struck the gunman to the right in the head, making him fall against the counter. The magazine whacked the jaw of the gunman to the left, making a heavy noise on impact. He fell on top of his gun. Both of them were lying unconscious.

Laura landed in front of the counter. She then saw some movement at the other side of it as she landed. She walked slowly and tried not to make a noise as she got close to it. She returned the magazine and the gun to their original weights whilst she was approaching the counter. When she was near it, Laura jumped on top of it.

She saw a startled blond manager at the other side. The manager looked at Laura. She looked at the new masked figure in play. She then looked at something to the left and behind Laura.

Laura followed her gaze.

She was able to catch a glimpse of the remaining shoplifter, who was running towards the loaded assault rifle on the ground. Fortunately, he was pretty far away from it. And it was inside of her power’s range.

Laura changed the direction of its gravitational pull, making the weapon slide across the ground as it got away from the criminal. The criminal continued running.

He was surprisingly fast. He caught up to the gun in no time. But he didn’t grab it. He just kept running in the same direction he had been doing so. Towards Laura.

Laura removed her influence on the gun. She began walking. Towards the attacker. And then it happened. In a brief moment, he had entered Laura’s range. She made the shoplifter five times heavier. He slowed down, his body jolting at his new weight.

But he kept running.

Laura was a bit surprised for an instant. But then she became astonished when the man tackled her with his shoulder. She was launched backwards, partially hitting the wall that was behind her. She then skidded a short distance across the floor and into several clothes stands before coming to a stop.

Laura had returned both herself and the bulletproof vest to their original weights mid fly. The attacker was now out of her range, so he too had returned to his original weight. Fortunately, she hadn’t run into any civilians from what she knew.

Laura began pulling herself up. Thinking about what just happened while doing so.

The man had just run into her while carrying the equivalent of three-hundred kilograms. There was no doubt about it now. He was an atlas. A potens with super strength.

Laura was also thinking about how much she missed her new suit. Her back was burning with pain. On the bright side, she believed there weren't any broken bones. She had been able to avoid getting pounded at full speed. But still. It hurt like a motherfucker.

(Please! Let it be a low-level,) she thought.

Super strength was a classic superpower. And a very useful one, in fact. But it wasn’t as common as a lot of people believed. That spot belonged to the different forms of kinesis. That plus the fact that the average level for an atlas was four, meant high-level atlas were even rarer. Which was something that made Laura happy.

But, of course, that didn’t mean that they were non-existent. Freaks like Don Quijote and Victoria existed, after all.

Laura got to her feet just in time to watch the atlas coming towards her. Even faster than before. She jumped and changed the direction of her gravitational pull, landing on the high ceiling and dodging the man narrowly. He tried to stop, but some pants had stuck between his legs, making him fall face first.

She didn't have time to think of a complicated plan.

Laura didn’t like atlas. They made things harder.

She couldn’t just make them heavier and wait until they fell unconscious, which was her preferred tactic. And whenever she faced an atlas, Friction would usually be the one to take care of it.

She missed him more than ever.

The man began standing up.

Laura changed her gravitational pull to its original direction. She landed softly on top of some clothes. She couldn’t overpower him, so she would need to play smart. Play dirty, if she wanted to defeat him.

She made herself five times lighter.

She would need to be faster.

Although she could punch harder than most people thanks to her power, it didn’t exactly make her stronger. She still had the strength of an average person. It just made her lighter. Basically, she had to do less force to move her body like she used to with her normal weight. Which meant that she had both more force and mass than someone her weight should.

Before doing anything, Laura made sure there was no one nearby. She saw the civilians near the end of the shop. Which was something good. She and the shoplifter were near the entrance.

Not many people liked being in the middle of a battle between potens, anyways.

She ran towards the criminal, who was still recovering from the fall. Laura made him five times lighter. She then kicked him on the side, launching him into the nearest wall, making it rumble. Dust fell from the ceiling.

More acceleration times the same mass. Equals more force.

Fighting an atlas was a pain in the ass for Laura. But there was one good thing. No matter how hard, how much or where you punched. They wouldn’t break easily.

They were the perfect punching bag.

She approached him, returning him to his original weight while she did so. It seemed like the atlas was dizzy. Because everytime he tried to stand up straight, he would almost fall, having to use the wall to avoid doing so.

When Laura got next to him, the attacker launched a sloppy punch which she avoided ducking under it. She then punched his throat with all her strength.

That, by his reaction, seemed to hurt the atlas. But apparently, not enough. After taking a fast breath, he threw a kick. Trying to sweep Laura’s legs.

She jumped. Just enough to pass above the shoplifter’s legs. Laura took advantage of his remaining dizziness and kicked him in the scrotum.

The kick worked better than the throat punch had done. That’s why she threw another kick. And another one. And another one. And a last one.

The barrage of kicks had left the atlas on the floor. Screaming in pain and insulting Laura’s mother.

“I’ll fucking kill you!” The raider said with a high pitched voice and the little breath he still had.

Laura returned herself to her normal weight. Then, she made the shoplifter ten times lighter. She grabbed him by his right leg. The man felt lighter than a ten kilogram weight. She threw him into the ceiling. The collision made more dust to fall from it.

Then, as he was about to hit the ground, she grabbed him by the collar of his bodysuit and launched him into the floor in front of her.

He laid unmoving on the ground after bouncing a couple of times as he struck the floor. She approached him and took his pulse.

She found one.

Atlas were very durable, but you never knew. And the last thing she wanted was killing someone by accident.

Laura didn’t want to repeat the experience.

She got up and looked around. Laura saw various clothes and clothes stands laying on the floor. Teared and broken. She should make sure the owner got a bonus or that the insurance paid for it once she got back to-

A bullet struck Laura at the chest. The sound of the gun coming instants later.

She fell to the ground.

“Yo, you think he died?” The voice of a man asked.

“Don’t know,” the other one responded. ”Let 's check. If he’s dead we need to put him in a body bag. Else the boss might get angry.”

The sound of footsteps echoed. Along with the distant police sirens.

One of the gunmen from the new pair crouched. He reached for her neck. Just as the shotgun on his partner’s hand fell to the ground with a heavy thud.

He looked back at him.

“The fuck are you doing?”

“I don’t fucking know! It just felt heavier,” the shoplifter standing up said.

“Are you high or some shit-”

Laura punched him in the face, breaking his white mask, fragments flying from it. He spun around before falling unconscious on the ground.

“Holy shit!”

He reached for something in his back pocket. But he began falling towards the ceiling. And just before hitting it, he began falling downwards once again. A kick to the face met him on his way to the ground. He fell unconscious next to the other gunman.

The bulletproof vest had been a good idea. Although she couldn’t think how protection against bullets could be a bad move when facing armed foes.

Laura felt something on her shin.

She looked at it and saw a hand grabbing it.

“You gonna pay, motherfucker!”

Pain sprouted on her back. She then fell.

Laura turned her head to see the atlas standing. Half of his mask was destroyed. Exposing a white man with a brown beard and eyes. He lifted her into the air. Then, he slammed her to the ground.

Her whole body began burning with pain. Laura had been able to cover her nape with her hands. Avoiding falling unconscious. Or something much worse.

“I usually don’t use my full strength. Because I don’t wanna risk killing someone. But you! Oh. You deserve every part of what is coming.”

The raider slammed her again into the ground. Repeatedly.

Bones began to break. Every time she hit the ground, she could feel her hands throbbing harder and harder. The air leaving her lungs. Consciousness running looser and looser.

But it stopped. The slamming had stopped. She raised her head and looked at the atlas.

He was holding a fist up high in the air. Laura changed the direction of his gravitational pull upwards. He began moving, but the atlas quickly punched the floor, penetrating the wood and using it as some sort of handle. He used it to remain in place.

“Nice try, hero,” he said with spite, mocking her.

The fist flew towards her head. It was fast, but it seemed slow at the same time. She watched as it calmly moved. Wondering if this was the end. Could she maybe have done something different? If she was more powerful... She wouldn’t need to worry. She wouldn’t have to suffer an end like this one.

A yellow beam struck the atlas’ chest, launching him backwards.

“They fuckin’ keep coming,” he said, getting back up. “Take a rest. Don’t you have paid vacations?”

A barrage of bolts answered the shoplifter. They varied in tone and light, but they all had a yellow color. Some looked like gold. Others like the rays of the sun. This time they struck the raider in different parts of his body. Making him jolt as they connected. Similar to how bullets did.

The barrage stopped shortly after. The atlas was still standing. A half smile visible due to his broken mask.

“You’re gonna need more than that.”

“Thanks for the tip.”

Laura saw how the newcomer appeared in her field of view. He was wearing a yellow suit. The costume had black painted forearms with fingerless gloves, boots and a section of the torso. Contrasting the black area of the chest, there was a white and small jet with a black outline. His head gear consisted in a tight and yellow mask with black tinted lenses that covered the upper half of his face. Revealing a clean-shaven and slightly brown chin.

He was Yellow Airstrike. A hero, just like her.

A yellow aura appeared and surrounded Yellow Airstrike as he began to hover close to the ground. He extended his arms forward. The aura around them began to brighten whilst the rest faded a little. It grew brighter and brighter until it seemed as if she was looking directly at the sun or a white hot metal.

“Here you go.”

The aura shot forward, impacting the atlas. The single beam diverted into smaller beams as it made contact with the atlas’ chest, hiding his body in a shower of rays.

Despite that it only lasted a second, it had been a devastating blow.

The shoplifter was encrusted in the wall.

Laura got up as she admired Yellow Airstrike’s demonstration of power.

She had seen Yellow Airstrike in action before. He was a very competent fighter. He could hold his own in close and ranged combat. And he was one of the most capables heroes around when it came to flying.

Her thoughts became interrupted.

“I don’t know why you’re dressed like that. But without your costume you will attract unwanted attention. You should maybe go. Or at least change clothes.”

Laura nodded and began walking to the back door of the shop. She stopped before going through it.

“Thanks,” she said while turning her head.

Yellow airstrike was already handcuffing the criminals.

“Just doing my job.”

“Also, there’s one outside.”

Laura entered the alleyway, having to jump slightly to avoid tripping with the unconscious body.

She looked at both ends, making sure that no one was watching her, before taking her mask and gloves out. She then unstrapped the bulletproof vest and threw it on top of the unconscious criminal.

Instead of keeping the mask and gloves, Laura threw them inside the garbage container that was next to her. It was safer this way. She wouldn’t need to worry about someone finding them while she had them on her.

Her whole body ached with pain as she took off her jacket. Fortunately, the only broken bones were some of the fingers that were protecting her nape.

Laura didn’t know how, but she appreciated it.

She entered the shop once again. Laura marched directly to the fitting room where Ludwig was and moved the curtains.

There was no one inside, she only saw a big pile of clothes in the red cart.

“Ludwig?”

The pile of clothes moved. Ludwig’s head popped out of it.

“Laura?”

She felt relief.

“Is everything ok?” He asked.

“Yeah. Yes. Everything is fine.”

He looked at her. Not knowing what to say.

“Do we continue shopping?”

She was exhausted and extremely tired. Yet she laughed.

“Maybe next time. How about we go home?”

(I need some sleep. And new fingers)