Off John Street, I turn into a long alley shrouded in shadow. The buildings on either side are squat and no more than one or two stories. Most are made of gray bricks with dark windows protected by bars along both sides. To the right high above, power lines stretch down the alley between poles that have weak street lights at their top. The concrete ground stretching down the alley is cracked in a pattern that almost looks like lightning, and regularly spaced large grates are inset all the way to the far end where I can see a parking lot. My eyes have no trouble with the shadows and the dodgy back alleyway lives up to its reputation; someone’s getting beaten up or mugged outside the doorway of my destination. Or maybe it’s just the fun and games inside have spilled out of the door.

  I pull the information from all three of them while I approach cautiously. I’m not yet a licensed Hero, part of the EDF or law enforcement, or anything else - just a concerned citizen who could get into heaps of trouble getting involved without understanding the situation. They’ve all got reasonable Levels and Powers, far above ‘normal’.

  Dani Chartrand (Brawler)

  Rank estimate: E

  Level: 54

  Redux: 5%

  Power: Iron Fist (Tier 3 Minor)

  Conditions: None

  Arvin Allread (Patroller)

  Rank estimate: E-

  Level: 45

  Redux: 0%

  Power: Strength of the Bull (Tier 2 Minor)

  Conditions: None

  My guess is Arvin is probably an off duty cop - so my immediate question is why he and Dani are beating the shit out of the other guy.

  Csaba Nagy (Spearman)

  Rank estimate: E

  Level: 49

  Redux: 0%

  Power: Penetration (Tier 3 Minor)

  Conditions: Concussed, Critical Wound x3, Paralyzed

  Csaba is not doing great; with my increased senses I can feel Soul Sparks starting to form within him. Fuck this - I said I’d follow my own path and it doesn’t involve standing by while shit like this happens. I dart forward and catch Arvin’s right fist in my hand before it lands on Csaba. He grunts and I can feel Mana pour into his Strength of the Bull Power. Instinctively I know the limits of his Power are far below my own. I brush off his effort and lash out with my right foot to stop Dani the Brawler from knocking Csaba’s block off while he’s senseless. My kick is precise and only knocks her hand away instead of launching her down the alleyway. The amount of anger in the air makes me think Csaba’s been a naughty boy to deserve this, but that anger dissipates into fear as Arvin and Dani both realize I’m here and it’s changed the tide of the situation.

  Before I can say anything, Arvin the fucker takes a pistol I didn’t see him holding behind his body and swings it around. My nascent Danger Sense starts to tingle too late as he fires directly into my crotch. The bullet and impact is mostly deflected by my armored jumpsuit, but it sure does shock the heck out of me. I instinctively jerk back to protect myself; in the process I crush his fist like a beer can and pull him off his feet.

  Dani isn’t standing around - she tries to hit me with a lightning quick set of punches that I counter with my free hand and then I grab her arm to use my superior strength to yank her into me and slam my forehead into her nose. A satisfying crack reverberates in the alleyway and she’s stunned so I throw her down on the ground, then grab Arvin’s weapon out of his hand nd throw it up in orbit. Arvin isn’t whimpering even with his hand, but he has frozen and shrunk into himself as if he was prey hiding from a predator. I resist the urge to kick him.

  Csaba topples from his sitting position to the concrete and I can feel his Soul Sparks near the surface. There’s no obvious massive wound - it looks like he’s suffered too much internal damage and bleeding for his Regeneration to deal with. My own Regeneration would be able to… is there any way for me to copy what Bobby does, or Auntie V used to do, and extend my healing to someone else? Csaba doesn’t have long so I push my Mana into my Power and try to cycle it outside my body and through him. I feel something happening and so I push and push, but it’s way too slow and Csaba’s Soul Sparks fully form as he expires, and then sit there for me to Reclaim. Too late. Maybe with time and practice I could have saved him. I grunt and look around at the two assailants, pissed off even though I don’t know what happened, then I Reclaim the Soul Sparks. Healing others is something I’m going to have to work hard on, if it can be done.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  The door opens up as I haul Dani and Arvin to their feet and hold them up, one in each hand.

  “Hey! What’s going on out here?” asks a dark heavyset guy with short silvery spiked hair who emerges from the entrance. “Why do you have both of my bouncers hanging in the air?” He’s confident and not at all afraid to confront me, despite the Powers I’m displaying. Maybe he hasn’t bothered to look yet.

  All kinds of thoughts flash through my mind. Were they shaking Csaba down? Ejecting a bad apple? Stopping trouble from entering? I toss both of them to the pavement and pull the Status of the newcomer as I try not to jump to too many conclusions about exactly what had been going on.

  Geoff Haekes (Pugilist)

  Rank estimate: D-

  Level: 113

  Redux: 10%

  Power: Combat Mastery (Tier 2 Major)

  Conditions: None

  Shit… it’s the owner. Geoff looks past me to Csaba’s body and frowns, then looks at his two bouncers and seems to put two and two together with all the context he has that I’m missing.

  “You’re fired,” he tells Dani and Arvin as they both stagger to their feet, looking wary. “Get out of here.”

  “He’s dead,” I say, pointing to Csaba.

  “You fucking killed him?” Geoff exclaims at his employees. Before they can say anything Geoff bulldozes forward and slams both of them with heavy blows, knocking them unconscious. No Soul Sparks begin to form so I know he’s used just the right amount of force despite the flurry of punches.

  He picks both of them up, one in each hand with their arms dangling and their legs dragging along the pavement, and marches back to the entrance. Warm air is still pouring out of it, along with the not too distant sound of yelling and cheering. Geoff stops as he passes me.

  “You just passing by, or on your way in?” he asks, then glances with his hard-bitten eyes at Csaba’s body and shakes his head, frustrated or pissed off.

  “Looking for Bryce Markman,” I say, and motion at the door.

  “Yeah, he’s fighting tonight. Come on.”

  With that, he throws Dani and Arvin through the door one at a time and then picks up Csaba, considerably more gently, and throws him over his shoulder, then disappears through the door. I follow him into the unmarked entrance to the club. It’s warm, with more warm air flowing from an open door at the far end of the room and through the door to outside. To our left is a high security version of a coat check that looks more like it belongs in a military facility or the weapons lock up of a police station. To our right is some kind of registration or ticketing counter with two men and a woman behind it, and at the far end beside the door is a small bar serving drinks on one side and what’s clearly a bouncer’s station on the other side. I’m a bit shocked to see a mountain of Galactic there that’s an honest to god Minotaur, at least 8 feet tall and massively muscled. I pull his Status instantly.

  Tauren Vhal’Drak (Warden)

  Rank estimate: D+

  Level: 96

  Redux: 35%

  Power: Martial Retribution (Tier 1 Major)

  Conditions: None

  What the fuck is someone like this doing here? There are a few Galactic races we have good trade or military relationships with, but it’s still not that common to see one of them in daily life on Earth. Maybe they have to be as strong as Tauren is to hold their own while they’re here.

  “Call the cops, Banksy,” says Geoff to the people behind the counter. “Dani and Arvie have killed this one.” He walks behind the counter to a door leading to a back room with Csaba still slung over his shoulder as one of the guys behind the counter picks up his phone and the other two come out to grab the still unconscious former bouncers.

  Tauren frowns at the scene and huffs out a powerful breath. As I wait for Geoff to return a group of four people emerge from inside, laughing and boisterous. Two of them have swollen faces and blood, some dried and some fresh, all over their hands and faces. I step to the side as they step up to the ‘coat check’ and an old guy behind the counter puts some weapons and other personal effects in a big, wide metal compartment the length of the counter and then starts a mechanism that slides the compartment out at floor level. The group grabs everything while Tauren, bored but watchful, provides plenty of deterrent or motivation for them to continue on out into the alleyway while the compartment slides back into the heavily reinforced counter. While I’m watching them, Geoff emerges again from the back room.

  “Calrik, yeah?” I nod. “Haven’t been in Seattle that long, but Corvin’s a name I recognize. Sorry about outside, that’s not what we’re all about. Csaba won a lot of money tonight but I didn’t expect the people I asked to make sure he got home safely to do the opposite.”

  He waits for a few seconds to see if I’ll say anything or maybe identify myself as one of ‘those’ Corvins, or ask some questions. Instead I just nod again and wonder if he’s treating me like more of an equal than I’m used to because of my new Powers, my new Attributes, or something else. The fact I just watched a man die is still on my mind, even if Geoff seems to have brushed it off already. I wish I could have prevented Csaba’s death and I wish shit like this didn’t happen, but it does and I can’t change it - at least, not yet. A world where everyone has Powers is inherently a more dangerous place than it used to be.

  And a guy like Geoff has seen it all a thousand times, so he doesn’t dwell on it.

  “Well, I’m happy to comp you entry and a couple drinks. Bryce isn’t fighting for a couple hours at least… anything I can help you with?”

  His question is helpful but also penetrating. I can see him calculating if I’m going to be any trouble and over Geoff’s shoulder I can see Tauren’s eyes and ears both pointed right at us despite his casual posture. I guess maybe now with my Powers and Charisma I’m not always going to be dismissed like I’m used to.

  “Bryce used to be my combat instructor,” I tell him. “I’m back in town and wanted to reconnect with him. Maybe see if he can help me with something.” I can see a couple flickers of something in Geoff’s expression and then he grunts.

  “I’ll take you to him. A word of warning - don’t expect much.”