My back slams hard into the concrete below as the two men slam into me. They quickly begin to rain punches down onto my face, but I lift my arms to block the hits. I watch their movements for an opening. It comes when the guy on my right tries to pin that arm down, letting me crack him once in the chin, making him stagger back off of me.

Then I use both arms to shove the other one off of me, clambering to my feet as fast as I can. The one I just punched takes a swing at me, but I dodge to the side, grabbing the back of his neck and slamming him into a nearby wall face first. The main thug finally gets back to his feet and rushes at me, impacting my chest with his shoulder and lifting me as he continues his charge. I slam my fists onto his back before my own connects with the brick wall of a building, the wind instantly getting knocked from me.

I crumple to my hands and knees, trying to catch my breath, before a boot slams into my face. I hit the ground hard and look up at the main thug, who proceeds to begin kicking me in the stomach. The other two are walking over to join him when there’s a sudden flash of bright light behind them accompanied by a loud, thunderous boom.

As the light fades, I can see it seems to be some sort of lightning or electricity, and at the center of it is a young woman wearing an orangish-brown hoodie and a bandana covering most of her face. I also notice that the men are now all several feet away, somehow having been knocked away during the flash. I stumble to my feet, using the wall for balance, before pushing off of it and raising my fists at the men. The girl glances in my direction before doing the same.

Two of the men rush at me while the third charges the girl. I score a quick uppercut on the first to reach me before the other tries to grapple with me, getting my right arm restrained while I attempt to strike him with my left, but the punch is caught by his buddy. He tries to get that arm restrained too, but I sweep his legs out from under him with a kick, sending all three of us to the ground. I use the momentum to throw the one on my right a few feet away before punching the one under me in the nose, feeling the impact break it.

I push off of him and see the third guy choking the girl and slamming her into a pile of pallets nearby. I rush over and sucker punch him in the back of the head, making him let her go and fall against the pallets. Grabbing him by the shirt, I slam him hard against the pallets and deliver more than a few punches to him before I feel something heavy slam against and break on my back, knocking me off the asshole and to the ground, a broken chair in pieces around me.

The girl screams out as one of the guys grabs her and tosses her rather thin looking body into a wall, a crack heard as she impacts and falls limply to the ground. I try to get myself up but get a hard kick to the gut, making my arms give out before the trio all begin to stomp and kick me, feeling at least two ribs crack during their assault. After countless kicks, the main one lifts my head and smirks at me before slamming my face against the concrete.

"Stupid fucking kid! You shoulda just left and we wouldn’t have had to do that, but now I guess you get to watch." The man taunts me as he walks over to Izzy and grabs a fistful of her hair, dragging her over to the pallets and tossing her onto them.

"N-no, don’t f-fucking touch her!" I try to get up, but a sharp pain in my chest keeps me from moving.

"Just shut the fuck up kid, don't make us hurt you any more."

I helplessly watch as the three men surround my best friend, one of whom pulls out a knife and begins to cut away her clothing. I feel tears beginning to fill my eyes as I watch, the anger within me growing and burning. This can’t happen, not the knife. I can’t let this happen.

Not again.

NOT AGAIN.

NOT AGAIN!

Suddenly, I feel the strength to get up rush through me and I use it, picking myself up as I feel myself heating up. Sweat drips from my brow as I look over the men, who haven’t noticed that I’ve gotten back up. I take a step towards them, shaking with rage as all I can see is red,

"Get the fuck away from her." I say, my voice quivering slightly.

The men look at me and laugh, the one wielding the knife pointing it in my direction. "You really think you can still fight us, stupid kid." They begin to approach again but suddenly stop, fear showing on their faces, but I don’t care.

I rush the men, punching one in the jaw as hard as I can, seeing that my hand is on fire, but that doesn’t matter. He stumbles back as the others try and figure out what to do. They don’t get the chance as I lift one and throw him aside before grabbing the other by the neck and slamming him into a wall, tossing him to the ground a moment later.

My gaze falls onto a loose pipe beside me, and I yank it off the wall, cracking the one next to me in the face with it. The one I initially punched once I got back up rushes me with the knife, but I strike his wrist with the pipe, hearing a loud crack before I stomp down on his knee, hearing that crack as well. He crumples to the ground, holding his obviously broken wrist and knee before I turn to the one I tossed away. He tries to crawl away from me, but I push a foot into his back and slam the pipe into his head as if I were playing golf. He lets out a quiet groan before going silent and still.

I look at the three beaten and broken men, tossing the pipe down onto the floor, and see that it was my entire body on fire, not just my hands. But it doesn’t hurt; nothing burns. The flames slowly extinguish and I feel my legs wobble as I catch myself against a wall, my hands beginning to shake once more before I turn to Izzy who is still barely aware of her surroundings thanks to her being drunk. I make my way over to her and gently pick her up bridal style, starting to walk over to my truck but I stop as I hear movement behind me.

The girl who tries to help slowly picks herself up, some of her short, ginger hair spilling out of her hoodie, which she notices and yelps, disappearing in a similar lightning flash to how she appeared. I turn back to exit the alley and make my way over to my truck, putting Izzy in the passenger seat and strapping her in before walking around to the driver’s seat. I lean my head into the steering wheel and begin to cry, my breath shaky as the full realization of what almost happened hits me. I couldn’t go through that again, no matter what it takes.