It was getting frustrating. He could do nothing but stare at his brother at this point, hovering less than 20 feet from him but far enough away to react to anything that came near.

"Done already?" the elder baker asked, not sounding as smug as Patrick would have expected. "With the ring you didn't pack this much of a hit but you sure lasted longer…you should have waited for the others"

"What Others?" Patrick spat back.

"Oh come on Pat. I know Becky well enough to know that she is getting EVERYONE here as fast as she can to stop me…even if she does not know why she needs to," AJ said as he begins to drift farther away. "Besides, I think Helen figured out what I meant".

"Witch is?" Patrick was stalling; as soon as AJ left the ground and began gather Power he knew what his brother meant.

Sigh "If we can't put down a threat at my level as a group I would stop trying to be normal and just let the Power take me"

MASSING the atmosphere around him was getting more difficult, as Patrick was drawn higher and higher above the earth. As much as he loved flying, he hated aerial combat. He always seemed to go from fighting in 2d to defending in 3d, up and down were just more directions an enemy could dodge and counter attack from. "And what good will that do? Then we would have one less person on the team. Kinda dumb don't ya think?" His energy was nearly back and he could defend himself again.

AJ frond as he stopped moving, holding his position "When… If I just let it happen, I will BE power. Pure energy. I have seen it on Greene, I would not be the first, and the Seven have confirmed it too. I would be near unstoppable".

"Perfect now he is monologing," Patrick thought. "I just need a distraction now". The air around him shimmered as he prepared a new assault, lowering his altitude in relation to his brother.

As if on cue AJ's cell phone rang in his pocket, causing him to visible startle. Reaching for a ringing phone was muscle memory to a modern man, let alone a super human with people to protect… The mistake barley registered as 2 blasts of plasma charged air arced towards him from his left and right. Training makes muscle memory as well, and AJ did just as his training told him to do, stop flying and slip downward, letting gravity do its work. Halting his decent he realized his second mistake, Mass Fusion was his most frequent sparring partner.

A power enhanced fist to the body rocked him out of his position in the air. AJ struggled to right himself as a flurry of punches and kicks rained down on him.

It was a short sprint from the clearing to the command center. Thinking back Helen could have made the trip considerably faster than she could of. But after the younger girl explained the situation to Becky, all she could think of was getting help to stop AJ as fast as possible. Could he do it? Would he really let himself burn away, leaving them all again….leaving her? She had to stop herself from thinking like this, if he wants a fight he'll get it. Then he would have to answer to her.

She rounded the corner to the glass front of the arched building. Pushing open the doors with her mind so as not to slower her down. She rushed through the huge foyer and towards the communication room. She could hear multiple phones ringing while typing in her pass code into the doors lock. It was good to know that people knew something is wrong, even without telling them. Sometimes the lack of privacy of being friends with some of the most powerful physics on the planet had its advantages.

She picked up the first line, "OH MY GOD what the hell are they doing, I can feel it in Syracuse" the voice on the line yelled.

"Carol! Oh thank goodness, I need you to get a hold of every one close by and get them to the mountain now!" No time to be subtle. Becky knew she had to take charge of the situation, if for nothing more than her own sanity. "We have a situation with AJ and I want to get it handled fast".

"I can already feel someone moving in your direction, can't tell who with the amount of juice Mass Fusion is throwing around." The phone went silent for a moment, Becky guessed Carol was trying to locate who else was nearby. "The only other level C or higher is XXXXX here in Syracuse".

There was a boom in the distance that shook the chairs in the room "Get everyone you can Tap," use code names she though, "our mission is to take down Advent Force, we will need everyone if we want to do it before the government shows up."

"Alright, I'll get everyone I can and be there 30." Tap hung up as Becky quickly pressed the queue for the next line.

Sweat soaked through his light tee shirt as he continues to rain blows on his brother. Every consecutive power enhanced punch draining him more. Mass New his first hit was effective, but the following barrage felt like he was striking a cement wall. Even when he passed his brother's guard he could not land a decisive blow. It was time to up the ante.

A haymaker left blasted into AJ's blocking arm, sending his own fist into his face. Mass Fusion smiled at AJ's grimace of pain as the forced generated from the focused punch forced them apart.

"I can keep this up all day bro" Mass lied. That shot took a lot out of him and it would be a while before he could repeat it. He had put enough energy into that punch to blow a car away, but it was not enough. Not for the first time he wished he still had the power of the Red Dragon Ring.

AJ eyed him as he tried to shake out the pain in his arm. Even from 30 feet away, Mass could feel the air start to chill as his opponent sucked the ambient heat out of the air.

Uh oh, he thought as he began massing the air around him together to shield him from what was coming.

The blast came just as he condensed the shield enough to absorb the impact. The beam of pure energy was tight and condensed, nearly white instead of its normal blue hue. The concussion forced Mass farther away as the kinetic energy it contained escaped violently. Mass's eyes were just refocusing when the second blast slammed into his defenses, forcing him further away.

The third blast of KE missed as Mass flung himself from its path. AJ raised his other hand and sent a following shot immediately in the direction his brother dodged. The distanced between them increased as the force erupted against his body.

It was not till Mass was a football field away that the barrage stopped. Panting, he tore away the shredded remains of one of his favorite shirts. "That was a present from Helen you jerk" he yelled as he glided through the air. Staying still against a blaster like Advent Force was a bad idea. He was no longer in a condition to go blast for blast against him, nor did he think he could get close enough to connect with a hit that could take him out. Mass looked to the ground to see where Helen and Becky were. He was higher than he thought but surprisingly they had not drifted far from their original location. In fact if he had to guess he would say they were still over the same field at the top of the old ski resort where they had met that morning.

Whatever, time to stall again, "So this is some kind of sick test to see if match up to you huh? Ego much?" Mass Fusion immediately regretted his words, their context and the reaction they induced.

Coronas of energy seemed to radiate from the elder Baker. Power condensed from his body and into his hands as pulled them together and to his side. Patrick could see his brother's eyes glow with power.

"BIO BLAST" his AJ shouted swinging his arms around in front of him in a tight arc. A stream of energy lanced out at the exhausted target. Before Mass could will his power to move him or tell his muscles to twist out of the way completely, the huge blast was upon him.

A cascade of kinetic energy enveloped him as Mass as he tried to press back as best he could. Forcing all his power in front of him to deflect the blow as much as possible before the power overwhelmed him. His shields gave out, allowing the blast to wrest him completely around bending his left arm at an odd angle nearly pulling it from its socket.

His ribs smashed, left arm near useless and bleeding from multiple lacerations…Mass was actually amazed he was not worse off, until he saw his brother rocketing toward him at top speed.

The punch had no power behind it, that is to say no enhanced power. The shear velocity AJ was traveling added to the impact magnifying it many times past what normal human muscles could achieve. Mass folded in half when his brother's fist slid under his single raised arm and buried deep in his solar plexus. Time seemed to slow down as he struggled to take inhale, making the seconds of not breathing seem like hours.

"Sorry bro, but you are out of juice", AJ curtly informed, "Let's hope the others do better. I want to stick around"

Through his gasps mass tried to ask why and lifted his head just in time to see the back of fist before the lights went out.

Amber Weiss paced on the balcony of her parents new your high rise. The phone she was calling went right to voice mail this time. "Well that's not right", she said out loud. One of the unspoken rules of Bio-Factor was you answer your phone. Neither one of the Baker brothers had answered theirs and the line at the base was busy.

She was really curious and little nervous about the text message she had received from Helen with a Bio-Factor priority on it. EVERYTHING IS FINE, STAY THERE, WE WILL CALL IF NEEDED, B-F LVL 4.

The double pained glass door slid open and her mother poked her head out. "Is everything alright? Who are you talking to?" her Yiddish accent heavy as she yelled through the cracked door.