"Never use your powers to their full extent unless everything's on the line. That's when it's okay to let go and unleash everything."
My mother's words to me on my twelfth birthday came back to me as I prepped myself for my final confrontation with Braxton. I had opted to dress in clothing that would let me move around unrestricted without having to worry about aesthetic. I had put on a pair of camel colored joggers, my Nike Air Max 270 sneakers, a plain black T-shirt and a zip nylon jacket. Now I stood with Kato, Yasmine and Eboni at the edge of an abandoned lot as we waited for the inevitable. Time seemed to crawl as we watched the sky for any sign of Braxton but it gave me time to think about the plan that I had come up with. Rather than face him by myself, the four of us would work as a team to take Braxton down and tire him out enough. I glanced to my right at my fraternal twin sister who was playing with the ties of her hoodie. She looked over at me when she realized that I was staring.
"You scared?" I asked.
"Somewhat," She responded, her voice low. "From what you told me, he's powerful and ruthless."
I nodded. I had given my sister a fair warning about Braxton and how ruthless he was but she still decided to join me in stopping him.
"Stick to the plan and we'll be fine," I said reassuringly.
"You sure about that?" Kato asked gruffly. "He's got nothing to lose and a person's at their most dangerous when they've got nothing to lose."
"Pretty good quote there, Kato," a voice said menacingly. "Too bad those are gonna be your last words."
I glanced up to see Braxton coming down from the sky to land a few feet away from us. His lightning had always had a dark blue color to it but now it was the color of black obsidian stone, crackling darkly around his entire body as he glared at us. The four of us stood there solemnly. The atmosphere was heavy and thick with anticipation. This is where everything would be settled between me and my former best friend.
"You were too scared to face me alone so you brought friends?" Braxton asked mockingly.
"You're nothing to be scared of," I retorted. "You're just someone small pretending to be bigger than what you are."
Braxton scowled darkly. "The one who's pretending is you!"
He left off a blast of lightning that we all barely managed to dodge. To my right, Kato left off a blast of energy that caught Braxton in the chest and made him skid back a few feet. Braxton let out a roar and a discharge of electricity ripped the ground apart, sending us flying back into the ground. I rebounded into a backflip, sliding back as I landed. Glancing around, I could see Kato rushing forward while Yasmine helped Eboni to her feet. I got to my feet and activated my powers at fifteen percent then rushed into the fray. I ducked under a lightning enhanced punch from Braxton, feeling the air crackle as it sailed past, then swung my fist at Braxton's face. He blocked then tried to hit me with an electrified palm strike that missed as he dodged a blast from Kato. Braxton jumped back to try and regroup but I wasn't going to give him the chance.
"Kato, now!" I called out. "We'll attack in waves."
"Don't tell me what to do!" Kato yelled back.
We charged at Braxton, letting off a combo attack that knocked him to the ground. Braxton rebounded then swept Kato's feet out from under him but I grabbed Kato's arm and used my enhanced strength to swing him around. Using the momentum from my swing, Kato blasted himself forward just as I let go and slammed his elbow into Braxton's chest. Braxton let out a grunt of pain as he hit the wall of one of the abandoned buildings in the lot. Kato landed then glanced back at me.
"That wasn't a bad move," he said, smirking slightly.
"Guys!"
I turned around slightly to see Eboni and Yasmine running towards us, their powers activated. I turned my attention back to Braxton as he emerged from the rubble covered in a few scratches and dirt.
"Gonna take a lot more than that to keep me down," he snarled. "So I hope you can do better than that."
He charged forward and swung his leg in a roundhouse kick at Kato's head. Kato blocked but the force of the blow knocked him to the ground and sent him flying across the lot into a rusted car.
"Yasmine, Eboni, let's go!" I called out.
The girls nodded and the three of us rushed Braxton. Yasmine and I stuck to close combat while Eboni provided support by using her force field generation ability to shield our blind spots from Braxton's attacks. Despite never having fought together, my moves were perfectly synchronized with Yasmine's as we bombarded Braxton with punches and kicks from all directions but I couldn't allow this to turn into a battle of attrition. Yasmine's ability wasn't suited for long drawn out fights and there was no telling when my ability would start to strain my body.
"Josiah!" Kato's called from my right.
Not even turning to look, I spun to left as an energy blast flew past where I was originally standing and struck Braxton in the shoulder. Seeing an opening, Yasmine burst forward with a flying kick to Braxton's chest that knocked him to the ground. I ran forward and jumped in the air, bringing my fist back and charging it with all the power I could gather. Braxton gasped and blasted himself backwards just a my fist collided with the ground, cracking the pavement and letting off a ripple of energy in every direction. Braxton staggered to his feet shakily, his breathing labored and ragged as he glared at us.
My body's close to giving out, I thought. Dunno how much longer I'll be able to fight at this percentage.
I glanced at my friends. Yasmine and Kato were covered in bruises, dirt and grime just like I was while Eboni was virtually unscathed due to her staying away from majority of the fighting and only offering support. But I knew that me, Yasmine and Kato were reaching our limit with her abilities. Kato's energy blasts were becoming weaker while Yasmine's movements were beginning to become sluggish.
The situation's going to become a desperate struggle if we don't end this.
Subtly reaching in my back pocket, I pressed a button on my phone to send a message to a specific person then turned my attention to Braxton. His expression was one of anger and disbelief that we were holding our own against him despite how powerful he had gotten. I had seen that face expression on many of the alphas that I had fought in school. Defeat was a foreign concept to them especially defeat at the hands of a weaker individual. It was almost like their minds couldn't comprehend losing.
"Give it up, Braxton," Yasmine said, doing her past to keep her voice from shaking. "You can't take on all three of us."
Braxton glared viciously. "Don't get cocky. I already know that the three of you are at your limit."
Braxton chuckled to himself as he stood up and exhaled. Then he raised his hand to the sky and the clouds began to darken. I could hear the rumble of thunder as Braxton began to generate an electrical storm directly above us. The air became charged with electricity as the storm gathered and swirled, kicking up winds that blew dirt and debris everywhere.
"Eboni! Force field!" I called to my sister.
Eboni rushed over to us and raised up the biggest force field that she could muster as the storm reached its peak.
"You think that'll save you?!" Braxton called out mockingly. "This storm has enough power to wipe out an entire city block!"
Braxton thrust his hand towards us and a huge bolt lightning struck Eboni's force field, ripping the ground apart as Braxton continued to bombard us with lightning strikes that were slowly causing the force field to crack from the force of the blasts.
"Hang in there, kiddo!" I yelled to her. "Just a little bit longer!"
Eboni grunted in response as she strained to the keep the force field from breaking down. I glanced at Yasmine and Kato who were readying themselves to fight again. We had all taken this opportunity to recharge our abilities. Fifteen percent had put a strain on my body so I had decided to fight at eight percent for the rest of the fight. While I wouldn't be as strong, I'd still be able to fight without my body hurting or being on the verge of giving out on me. The storm continued to surge around us as Braxton seemed to be increasing his power.
"That's not good," Kato murmured.
I looked up to see that Braxton had gathered an ungodly amount of electricity within his hand and was aiming directly at us with a menacing smirk on his face.
He's going to kill us, I thought incredulously. That blast is going to kill us.
There's no way that were going to survive that blast head on. It was impossible. We'd either be disintegrated on the spot or incapacitated beyond belief if that attack hit us directly.
"Can you layer your force fields?" Yasmine asked Eboni, seeming to be on the same train of thought as me.
My sister grunted. "I can but I'm not sure how strong a multi layer force field would be against whatever attack he's got charged up."
"We won't know till we try," I said. "Put up as many layers as you can."
Eboni's eyes glowed brighter than they ever had as she began layering the force field from the outside. Her face was one of concentration and strain as she overlapped six more force fields onto the one we were currently in.
"That's the best that I can manage, big bro," Eboni said, her voiced strained from the effort.
"Let's hope it holds out," Kato said unsurely.
I looked up at the sky as a bright flash of light illuminated the abandoned lot. Braxton had finished charging his attack. Bracing ourselves, we all watched in awe and terror had the lightning Braxton had generated constructed itself into what looked like a lance of some sort. Braxton clutched the lance in his right hand and pulled it back. The last words I heard were "Lance of Zeus!" before Braxton threw the lance at us. There was a bright flash, the sound of lightning and something cracking before I was plunged into darkness.
...
When I came to, I was immediately aware of the smell of smoke in the air. As my eyes adjusted, I took in the scene around me. Braxton's last attack at decimated a good portion of the lot and left a huge crater right in the center. The ground was torn and charred black from the lightning bolt that had hit us. I glanced around and saw the unconscious forms of Kato, Yasmine and Eboni lying a few feet away from me but Braxton was nowhere to be found.
He probably left thinking that we were dead from his last attack.
A groan from Yasmine drew my attention and I staggered over to my girlfriend to help her sit up. Her hair was all over the place and her face was covered in grime, sweat and dirt but still managed to look as beautiful as ever. She made eye contact with me and smiled tiredly.
"Guess we lost huh?" She asked with a sigh.
I nodded. "That last attack knocked us all out but we managed to survive because of Eb. Braxton fled."
"I didn't think he'd be that strong," I continued. "I wouldn't have dragged you guys into this had I known that he'd pull a move like that."
"Still think we can take him?" Kato grunted as he came to. "We managed to hold him off but part of me thinks he held back."
I contemplated. It was possible that Braxton had held back on his last attack but a small part of me doubted that. Braxton wasn't the type to hold back in a fight because he fought to win and dominate his opponents. More than likely he had ran out of steam after his last attack and had fled thinking that he had beaten us or killed us. I glanced over at my friends. Though we had held out, we were drained and my body was sore to the point that even trying to power up hurt.
"Let's head back to my house and regroup," Yasmine suggested to me, putting Eboni on her back.
I nodded. "We need to recuperate plus Eboni's still unconscious."
I pushed a strand of hair out of my sister's face and cupped her cheek. "Good job, kiddo."
We opted to take the subway home and had to deal with odd glances from the other passengers but we managed to make it to Yasmine's house without any further issues. When we got to her house, Mrs Knight and the girls rushed to us and began tending our injuries. Layla took Eboni to heal her while Kato, Yasmine and I all showered and put on fresh clothes then sat down in the living room, each of us lost in our own thoughts. I felt terrible. How could I have let things get this bad? This desperate? We all could've died had it not been for my sister and Yasmine's quick thinking but that had only delayed the inevitable by a small margin. I glanced up at Yasmine. She was sitting in the easy chair dozing, her curls still slightly wet from her shower. Her eyes fluttered open and she locked eyes with me then nudged her head to the right, obviously wanting to talk in private. I looked into the kitchen where Mrs Knight was with Ashley and Layla cooking dinner. Becky had gone home after making sure that I was okay but had made me promise to call if we made a new plan to deal with Braxton. Once we were out of earshot, Yasmine and I gazed at each other.
"Hey," she said softly.
"Hey," I responded, giving her a small smile.
I leaned down till my forehead was touching hers, our breathing becoming intertwined as we stood there in each other's presence. In a short timespan, Yasmine and I had formed an unbreakable bond that was unspoken but full of unshakable emotions. I cared deeply for her and I knew that she felt the same. She was the Gwen Stacy to my Miles Morales. When everything was going wrong, she made it seem right. Whether it was a look or her cupping my face and calling me Babyboy, she was my peace and normalcy in a world where the unnatural was natural. I studied her face. She had full kissable lips with a beauty mark above her upper lip. Leaning in further, I kissed her, placing my hands on her waist to pull her closer. Yasmine melted into the kiss, placing her hands on my chest and pressing her body closer to mine. She smelled sweet and it was slightly intoxicating but I loved it because it was her scent. My hands slid lower but Yasmine didn't stop me and before I knew it my hands were on her butt. Yasmine let out a small noise that a mix between a squeak and what I assumed was a moan.
"Let's go upstairs," she whispered in between our kiss.
At that, my body heated up. I followed obediently as Yasmine led me by my hand upstairs to her room and locked the door. We resumed kissing but it felt different. I don't know what it was but the mood between us had become heavier and more....intimate? To highlight the mood shift, Yasmine slid her hand under my shirt, raking her nails across my stomach as she maintained eye contact with me, her pupils seeming to glow under the dimness of the LED lights around her room.
"Take your shirt off," Yasmine said quietly.
Without hesitation, I lifted my shirt over my head and threw it on the floor, exposing my torso for her to view. She took her fingers and traced the scar that started at my chest and led to my stomach before she stopped at my belt buckle.
"Are you sure about this?" I asked, trying to hide the nervousness in my voice.
Yasmine kissed my neck then bit it softly, eliciting a soft sigh from me before she brought her lips to my ear, blowing her breath on it.
"I've never been more sure about something in my whole life."
She took her own shirt off then her pants before falling back onto the bed, outstretching her hand to me, her body in full view for me to see.
"Come here, Babyboy."
I gulped but crawled over to her until I was kneeling over her, the only sound being our mingled breathing as we both prepared to take a plunge that we couldn't come back from. But for some reason.... I wasn't scared. I wanted this. I wanted her. I leaned down, placing a kiss on her lips before I began to trail a path of kisses down her stomach, my heart pounding as Yasmine let out soft noises. I came back up and put my forehead to hers, locking eyes.
"Last chance," I said softly. "Are you sure that you wanna do this?"
"Yes," Yasmine responded stoically.
"Why?" I asked.
She reached up and cupped my face, smiling sweetly at me before she said the words that broke the barrier.
"Because it's you."