"Hola, Chico!"
The voice of excitement belonged to my second best friend Becky Banda. I had met Becky during my sophomore year of high school and we had been inseparable since. She was older than me by a few months. She had long blonde hair that was originally dark brown but she had dyed it. Her eyes were dark brown and she wore a pair of rectangular frame glasses over them. She was petite but toned since she worked out. She had light skin which caused me to think she was white upon our first meeting until she explained that she was just a 'pale Hispanic'. Honors English was the only class we had together and we just so happened to sit next to each other.
"Hey, Chica," I said, using the petname I had given her.
"I heard you and Kato got into it this morning," she whispered conspiratorially.
I chuckled nervously. "More like he tried to bully me and Braxton stepped in."
Becky shook her head. "You could've taken him with your-"
I quickly hushed her and looked around to make sure no one had overheard her but luckily the classroom was still fairly empty since class didn't start for another fifteen minutes. I breathed a sigh of relief before turning my attention back to Becky.
"Chica! You can't go blurting things out like that," I admonished. "Only you and a few other people know my secret and I'd prefer it if you kept quiet."
Becky rolled her eyes at me. "Josiah, you're an omega level. If Kato saw you in action he'd think twice about bullying you!"
"No," I hissed. "My mom said that my powers aren't meant to be used to hurt people."
"So you'd rather be bullied and beaten everyday than stand up for yourself and pay them back?" Becky asked, peering at me.
I paused. Sure my life here at Charter hadn't been easy but not once had revenge against my bullies ever crossed my mind. I wasn't a violent person. If anything, I hated confrontation which my friends found odd considering how strong I was. But I wasn't the type who liked to assert my dominance with powers or harm those weaker than me. It left a sour taste in my mouth that people like Kato and his lackeys would use their abilities to hurt someone just because they could. I was a firm believer that the strong should help the weak instead putting down the weak.
"You know I'm not that kind of person, Becky," I said quietly.
She stared at me. "I know. That's what I love about you. You've got all the power in the world but you'll only use it to save others. But maybe you should save yourself sometimes too."
I opened my mouth to respond but the bell rang and students started filtering in, signaling that class had started. Our teacher, Mr Bell, began writing notes about British literature and the rest of the class period consisted of note taking and worksheets. The whole while though I mulled over what Becky had said. Was she right? Was my ideology holding me back? On this world, heroes and villains weren't a thing. Sure there were laws to regulate when and where and how we could use our powers but superheroes and supervillains were nonexistent. The authorities took care of unruly people who violated the law and used their powers for the wrong reasons but that hardly kept them in line. Our society was governed by one unspoken rule: the strong will always be superior to the weak. The gamma levels had it the worse. With their abilities ranging from weak to useless, they were treated like garbage and it angered me. I believed that everyone could contribute to our society regardless of what ability they had.
"Josiah, can you stay after school?" Mr Bell asked me.
I opened my mouth to object but he peered at me over his glasses and any objections I had died in my throat. Mr Bell probably wanted to ask about the incident in gym today considering the fact that Kato was currently sitting a row ahead of me with singe marks on his chest from Braxton's electricity. I sighed and slumped in my seat. Keeping a low profile was hard when your best friend was a hotheaded idiot with a penchant for fighting. And knowing Kato, he had probably misconstrued the entire story to make it seem like Braxton and I ganged up on him.
"You gonna be okay?" Becky whispered to me.
I shrugged one shoulder. "Worst case scenario is that it's about this morning. Best case is that he wants to discuss my grades."
"Be careful going home once you finish," she warned. "Kato might try something."
I nodded my head but internally my mind was turning. Kato was known to be vengeful against anyone who pissed him off. However, in a fight Kato was a long range fighter. He would use his energy blasts to maintain distance from his opponents and bombard them when they would try to close the distance. Nine times outta ten he was also a shitty hand to hand fighter which worked perfectly for me. I glanced and caught Kato's eye. He narrowed his gaze and there was a challenge in them.
Bring it.
He smirked cruelly and murmured "Let's see Braxton save you this time."
I clenched my jaw. "Turf field. Free period."
He chuckled and turned back around. Becky looked at me worriedly, having heard the whole exchange. When the bell rung to dismiss us, she caught me at my locker and hissed,
"How're you gonna beat him without using your powers?! He'll blasts you to pieces before you can land a hit."
"I know what to do. He's got one fatal error and I'll use it to my advantage," I replied in a low voice.
She shot me a confused look but I waved my hand dismissively and gave her a reassuring smile.
"It'll be okay. I don't go down easy, you know that."
I closed my locker and proceeded to make my way to the turf field where Kato stood waiting. A few other students were standing around idly talking or eating lunch but their attention was soon caught by Kato raising his voice.
"So," he announced loudly. "The weakling has finally decided to stand his ground and not hide behind his friends anymore."
"I wasn't hiding behind anyone, Kato. Your ass just wasn't worth my time," I retorted.
Kato glared at me. "You think you can take me? There's no Braxton here to save you. It's you and me, Smith. And I'm gonna put you in your place with the rest of the gammas in this school."
I took off my hoodie and handed it to Becky. Oddly enough, I wasn't scared. For some reason I was excited. Kato was hoping to humiliate me but he wasn't going to get the satisfaction of doing that. We took stances opposite each other on the field and readied ourselves.
I won't lose.
Kato raised his hand, an orb of blue energy gathering in his palm as he smiled wickedly.
I'll show you.
"I hope your false bravado can save you, Smith!"
The blast fired.
It takes more than your powers to beat me.