After we had filled up on fast food, Ash told me about a base he was the planning on taking out later. We decided to take it out together.
1 Hour Later
"Alright man, this is a pretty big compound, not to mention there isn't a lot of space. I've never really had to fight in a closed off space but I'm pretty sure I can get away with it. You, on the other hand, your powers require a lot of space. How good are you at CQC?" I asked Ash. We had heard about an FKD stronghold that was based in an old storage unit place, I can't remember what their called. The place was packed with thugs maybe even a few Conduits. The problem with this is that there were a lot of closed corridors and not a lot of space to fight. I have guns so I can easily take out guys, but Ash relies on his powers too much, and I don't want to get hit by a stray fireball.
"I gave you a run for your money right?" He said with the faintest hint of a smirk on his features. "Look, I can handle myself alright. I would say give me gun but I tend to light the gunpowder on fire when I touch em."
"Well that's unfortunate. Well I suggest we just go in there and improvise. Let's get a bird's eye view before we go in." I said, standing and cracking my knuckles. I leaped off the roof, using gravity to carry me high into the air. Once I was high enough I surveyed the area, cancelling out gravity around me to hold me in the air. Most of the place was indoors, but there was also a part outside that had a couple dozen units in it.
"What's the plan?" I heard Ash say beside me. He was using his respective owers to hold him in the air.
"Since you're powers require more space, I think you should go over to that part of the complex and give em hell. I'll head inside and take out the guys in there. Be careful, there might be a few Conduits waiting for us here."
"Don't worry, I got this." He said, taking off toward his battle site.
I looked below me and saw a group of thugs stationed outside the front doors. I let myself fall through the air, raising my fist in the air to strike the ground. I impacted the ground and an explosion of time ripple through across the ground suspending them in time. I raised my foot in the air and slammed it down sending the gang members flying into the air for a second before they froze again due to still being frozen in time. I let time play and they went flying high into the sky before I brought them crashing down hard with heavy gravity. I walked up to the front door and kicked the door off it's hinges with a heavy weighted foot. "Hey guys, I got a package here for someone named 'Dead Asshole.' You happen to know where I can find him?" I asked the surprised gangsters who were stunned at my sudden entrance.
"Yea, I think I'm lookin at him right now. Light this dude up!" The guy all the way on the right replied. Pulling the assault rifle off his back and shooting hot led at me. His boys followed suit pulling their own, pointing their guns at me and firing.
I raised a time shield in front of me that froze the bullets. "Actually my name is Paradox, but it seems like you guys all share the same name. I guess you'll have to share the package too." I said, slowing time to a very slow crawl and dashing over to the thug on the far left and sliced his throat with my newly acquired knife. I threw a heavy weighted uppercut to the guy next to him on his left, that would snap his neck once time played out, before teleporting to the thug in the center and shooting a bullet from my pistol at his face. Everything I had done so far hadn't even properly played out since time was barely moving. I turned to the guy a few feet away to his left and dug my knife to the hilt under his jaw, cutting through his tongue, the roof of his mouth and penetrating his brain. I left the knife there and dashed over to the final guy, the one who told them to start shooting. I pulled the gun out of his hands and picked him up by the neck. I let the scene play out and watched in amusement as the thug watched his boys die simultaneously like there was some unseen force striking them down.
"The only reason you're alive is because I want you to send a message to your boss for me. Tell him that his time is running out and when I find him, there will be no mercy, no help, nowhere to hide, I will make him suffer like no man has suffered before. He will not die quickly, I'll take my time with him for years and years to come. I'll cut his fuckin' dick off and feed it to him if I have to." The thug's eyes widened in fear. He nodded his head frantically before I dropped him to the ground and he took off running. I grinned wickedly at the thought of putting, not the fear of God, but the fear of Me into that man. I turned around and walked through the door that housed the storage units.
Third person point of view- Ashton
The pyrokinetic Conduit flew walked through the storage lot, lighting thugs on fire with a sadistic smile on his face. There were gangsters running around, screaming in despair as their skin burned to a crisp. He dashed forward, disappearing in a cloud of smoke and embers and reappearing in time to grab a thug by his neck and his face into his knee, cracking his skull. He shot a burst of fireballs at another thug before dashing towards another, grabbing his face and melting it between his palms. He shot a fire rocket at a group of thugs on top of one of the storage units, blowing them apart. Ashton's body erupted in burning flames and he took off into the sky. He shot rocket after rocket at the helpless thugs below, ripping apart bodies and melting skin off bone.
He was having the time of his life before a ball of solid concrete slammed into his chest knocking him off balance. He regained his composure and looked around for the source of the attack. Below him he saw a man with his arm extended towards him with concrete floating around it looking up at him. He snarled like a vicious animal and shot towards the ground sending a shockwave of fire exploding from the spot where his fist impacted the ground, causing the concrete juggernaut to slide back a few feet. The pyrokinetic then shot forward, a trail of fire streaking behind him, and threw his hands out shooting a huge blistering stream of fire at his assailant that lasted for five seconds. When the onslaught ended the hothead was surprised to see that a pillar of concrete had erected from the ground,protecting the man from the flames. The pillar collapsed and the juggernaut reached forward and grabbed the pyromaniac by the neck and threw him into the gate of a storage unit, leaving a deep dent. Ashton dashed out of the way as a large concrete slab sailed towards the spot he previously occupied. He ran circles around the juggernaut shooting fire at him from all angles. Causing the main to flinch in pain. The juggernaut had finally had enough and slammed his foot into the ground causing the ground underneath the pyro to spring up, throwing him into the air where he was hit by a heavy concrete boulder sending him flying backwards. The juggernaut sunk into the ground and rose up, moments later, where his enemy was about to land in time to throw a punch right into the back of the pyro, sending him tumbling across the ground.
When the friction between his body and the ground finally caused him to stop tumbling, Ashton made the wise decision to get away from the concrete goliath and find somewhere to plan out a strategy.
Third person - Aiden
Back inside the complex, Aiden was rampaging through the halls taking down everything that moved with deadly efficiency. He shot, stabbed and punched his way through endless waves of gangsters. He picked one thug up by his shirt and slammed him head first into the ground, wasting no time he kicked the lifeless corpse past a group of thugs where a gravity bomb he sneakily placed on it with his foot exploded, knocking the surrounding thugs into the walls with devastating G-forces. The puckish rogue then jumped through a portal behind a gang member and performed and german suplex that drop the thug on his neck with a sickening crunch, then teleported up to another thug and dug his thumbs into his eye sockets before slamming his knee into the man's jaw, crushing it. He threw his knife into the chest of another thug before reaching through space and pulling it back in time to impale another thug through his temple, then kicked the body through a wall to his right.
"Let's go fuckers. I'm just gettin started." The anti-hero chuckled maniacally, sending a rocket of matter at another group of thugs that hit one of them head on and sent the others crashing into the walls. A hot beam of light struck him in the chest making him hiss at the burn. Before he could even blink a fist connected with his jaw and sent him to the ground.
The dazed rogue looked up to see a Conduit staring him down, red light shining from his palms. "I've been waiting to run into you. You might actually put up a good fight." The photokinetic grinned widely at the thought of a good fight.
"You're a fan huh? Sorry, I don't do autographs. But I can give you something to remember this moment." Aiden said, throwing a time blast at the living light bulb, hoping to slow him down. But by the time he it left his palms the man was already behind him. The rogue tried to throw another one but the man was too fast. He got to his feet and looked around trying to find his assailant but he couldn't keep up, the photokinetic seemed to be everywhere at once. He slowed down time to a crawl, and while he could keep up with him more successfully, he was still moving pretty fast.
He paid attention to the man's location and at the perfect moment he raised a space shield in front of him that he smacked into hard. Wasting no time, the puckish rogue teleported to his opponent and sent a powerful fist into his face that snapped the man's head back into the ground. He threw two more devastating fists at the man before a burst of light momentarily blinded him causing him to stumble back rubbing his eyes. The photokinetic rushed to his feet, dashed forward and shoulder checked the hero through a wall. Aiden, always quick to react, teleported back to his feet and dashed back at the man almost as fast as he did and threw a solid punch into the man's abdomen that sent him crashing through the opposite wall. The rogue through a grenade through the hole in the wall that exploded upon impact, but the photokinetic was already running out. He shot a beam of light that connected with Aiden's head and burned a line through his hair, had he not been in his focus mode and managed to just barely move his head the bolt would have left a horrible burn mark on his flawless features.
The photokinetic stopped and fired a continuous beam of burning light towards his opponent that had Aiden running to get cover behind the wall he had previously crashed through. "Nowhere to hide buddy, just come out and face your death like a man." The photokinetic taunted, a sadistic smirk plastered on his face. Aiden growled at being taunted instead doing the taunting. He teleported out of the room and behind his opponent and went to stab him in the temple but the man's heightened reflexes helped him duck down to the left out of the way, causing the blade to sink into his right side. He yelled in pain and sent a burning fist into the chest of the rogue, and knocked the air out of him. The photokinetic clutched his side where the blood was spilling out of him he ran under one of the light fixtures hanging from the ceiling and drained the photons from it, the wound in his side sealed up immediately and his entire body felt rejuvenated. Aiden watched the miraculous display unfold and quickly understood that the only way to beat this guy is to shut out the lights. He teleported into one of the closed storage containers and pulled out his phone to call Ashton.
Third person - Ashton
The pyrokinetic shot another fireball at the concrete juggernaut and then dashed out of the way of an incoming concrete slab. He took out a group of would be attackers with a fire rocket before the ground he stood on betrayed him and he was sent into the air. His body ignited into flames and he flew through the air, dodging incoming boulders. He heard his bluetooth earpiece ring and reached a hand up to answer it.
"What?" He asked bluntly. "I'm kind of in the middle of something." He shot down a boulder that was flying at him then through his own fire rocket at the juggernaut down below.
"No shit asshole." Replied Aiden, who was busy dodging deadly photon beams. "Look, I need you to find the generator for this place and, Fuck! That was close, and shut it down. This guy can drain light sources and heal himself. I can't do anything to him without him just healing." The rogue explained, hissing in pain as a beam hit him in the leg.
"Oh yea? Well I got my own problems, like this dude down here throwing concrete around like a pitcher in the fuckin World Series." He shouted back getting distracted and failing to dodge the boulder headed straight for him. It collided with his ankles and wrapped around his feet, causing him to come crashing and burning back to the ground, no pun intended.
"Ugh. Fine, I'll try to draw this guy outside and we can take them both on togeth-" Aiden was cut off as the photokinetic he was fighting ran at him and kicked him through the wall and into the outside air. "Aw fuck, well that was fast." He stood and saw Ashton throwing fireballs at a thug who was raising concrete pillars from the ground to block the incoming projectiles.
"Get over here and help me kill this fucker." The pyro shouted into his headset, diving to the side as his opponent slammed his foot into the ground intent on sending him into the air again.
"I'll be there in a sec, just gotta try to move faster than light. Should be easy." Aiden said sarcastically. He dipped to the left out of the way of an oncoming fist and then countered with a stiff uppercut to the jaw of the photokinetic. He followed it up with a left haymaker, two quick right jabs, and ended the combo with a powerful roundhouse kick that sprawled the man out on the ground dazed and confused. He took that time to move over to where Ashton was fighting the concrete dude.
Ashton dashed forward, reappearing on the other side of the concrete barricade that was blocking all of his shots and sent a flaming hot fist into the face of his opponent, causing his head to whip to the side. The juggernaut turned back towards Ashton with fury in his eyes and threw a powerful fist covered in concrete back at the pyrokinetic that caused his head to whip to the side as well.
Ashton clutched his jaw and smirked "This is gonna be fun." He threw a lightning quick jab at the man's jaw and tried to follow through with a left hook but the juggernaut had hastily threw his guard and blocked it, sending his own heavy handed jab back at the man. Ashton skillfully deflected the hit to the side but he wasn't prepared for him to elbow him in the abdomen with the same arm, which was quickly followed by a devastating body shot that flowed seamlessly into a strong push kick. This guy had clearly had some training in CQC. The kick threw Ashton onto his back, the air knocked out of him.
At that moment Aiden stepped in and took over. He came in fast with a hard left superman punch into the juggernaut's jaw, he ducked low upon landing and sent a strong right body shot to the kidneys. He followed it up with left uppercut and then kicked him hard in the chest. The juggernaut fell onto his back and rolled back onto his feet, shaking his head to clear his head from the onslaught that it just went through. He stared daggers at the man who just bested him. He growled low and sped forward prepared to hit him with everything he had, but the anti-hero was prepared. He dipped to the left causing the juggernaut's fist to fly past him and giving Aiden the opening needed to send his knife into the man's gut.
"Oh, so close." Aiden grinned, thinking he had won. The smile was taken off his face however, when he felt the man wrap grab his arm and yank the blade out of his stomach. The juggernaut held onto his arm and flipped him over his head and hard into the ground. He was about to bring a concrete covered foot onto the rogue's head before the man fell into a portal and into the sky, dropping from up high he threw his fist into the ground and sent a shockwave of gravity at the juggernaut sending him flying backwards.
The photokinetic from before had finally recovered from the beating the rogue had given him and dashed towards Aiden, picked him up and slammed him into the ground, leaving cracks in the ground. He was about to start bombarding him with fists when a blast of fire threw him off of him. Ash had recovered and was now taking the fight to the photokinetic, throwing fast fiery fists all over the man's body. The photokinetic dodge a fist that was going to connect with his jaw and sent an impossibly fast fist straight to Ashton's gut, he dodged out of the way of a fist that was about to fly at him from behind courtesy of Aiden, then dropped low and swept his feet from under him. He rolled forward and kicked Ashton in the chest before backflipping on top of the downed Aiden and threw a hard punch into his cheek. Ashton was about to return to the fight when the ground latched onto his feet and locked him in place. The juggernaut shot out from the ground and sent an uppercut into the pyro's jaw.
Aiden blocked a punch from his attacker and threw him off him. He was getting pissed off at the difficulty of this fight. He slowed down time and threw a heavy punch at the man but he was still too fast, he just barely dodged out of the way and tried to connect with a backhand but Aiden grabbed his wrist and swung him to the ground he held his arm up and stomped hard onto it, breaking it effortlessly. The man screamed in pain at the injury and tried to pry his arm lose but Aiden pulled his knife out and stabbed him through the other hand. Tears were falling from the man's eyes from the agony he was in. The rogue gripped his opponent up by his shirt and penetrated his abdomen over and over again his eyes going blank as he was overcome with bloodlust. He threw him back to the ground and plunged his knife into the man's face repeatedly until it was completely unrecognizable. Still not having finished he pulled a shotgun out of his inventory and blast away at what was left of his face. Feeling as though the wan was dead enough. He stomped over to where Ash and the concrete user were brawling and threw a stabbed the man in the spine immediately paralyzing him. He turned him around and drove his blade into the top of the man's skull and dragged it down, cutting his face in half.
Ashton looked at his new partner with wide eyes, surprised to see the normally upbeat teen filled with such rage. When Aiden locked eyes with him, Ashton couldn't help but look away in fear.
"We're done here." Aiden said in a voice cold and chilling, completely void of emotion, he walked through a portal and left Ashton standing there completely dumbfounded.