"Aye, bruh, how you feelin'?" Antwan nodded at Marcello.
"What have you done?" Marcello glared.
Under the Influence: When Antwan succumbs to the effects of his specially cultivated drug, a surge of energy courses through his veins, mirroring the quantity he has consumed or smoked. However, this power boost comes at the cost of a cognitive tradeoff, sacrificing mental clarity for power. To activate this ability, Antwan must personally nurture and imbue his energy into the drug during the growth process, and the drug's potency is directly proportional to the amount of energy invested.
Match Me: Once Under the Influence is triggered, Antwan gains access to a secondary ability. If the target smells Antwan's drug, the energy from the drug is now inside the target and can 'level the playing field,' making them just as intoxicated as Antwan with none of the benefits.
'If I had to guess, this is an ability!' Marcello thought. "He's using some type of manipulation. Let's see…he probably enhanced the thing he's smoking with his energy, then probably has some other ability that's able to affect us in some way."
"Shit, you're pretty close," Antwan said, now only ten feet away. In his right hand, a bright light glowed. When it disappeared, a steel baseball bat was in his grasp; the word, 'L1ghter,' engraved in red on the side.
"I don't have time for this," Marcello growled, looking at the door. The windows of the building were shrouded in darkness, concealing any prying eyes that might be observing. 'I have to be careful, I don't want to reveal my abilities. They could be watching from any one of these windows. Also, my trust in her isn't too high; I'll limit myself to one ability, but which one?'
A quick movement to his right, a card glowing orange embedded itself into his bat. Antwan's bloodshot eyes widened, staring in slight disbelief at the playing card buried several inches deep into the baseball bat. "Aye bruh, what the-" His words were cut short as he ducked another card, which cut deep into a nearby metal sewer pipe, allowing a macabre blend of bathwater and sludge to trickle forth from the small incision.
"Normally, I would've hit that," Zoe mumbled, instinctively reaching for her orange four-leaf clover necklace, but remembered she had given it away.
"A'ight, let's run it," Antwan swung the bat as if he were hitting an imaginary ball.
The next thing Zoe knew, she was looking up at the dark grey swirling clouds, a loud pain in her chest. Something had completely knocked the wind out of her; Zoe's world spun as she tried to catch her breath. Lifting the back of her head off the ground, she saw that on her chest was a baseball made of highly condensed energy.
It felt like an eternity before she could move more than just her head. She pushed herself up, sitting on her knees, wiping her mouth, seeing a streak of blood on her arm.
She felt herself being blown back once more; this time it felt softer, less concentrated, as if a gust of wind gently but quickly shoved her aside. Several bricks on the wall behind her shattered as another energy ball bounced off it, whizzing back over her head.
'He's actually surprisingly experienced,' Marcello glared forward, his hand outstretched behind him; one of the large rings glowed brightly on his right hand.
'He pushed me out of the way,' Zoe thought, staring at him in surprise. "Was I knocked out?"
"Can you get up?" He asked, not taking his eyes off Antwan.
"Y-yeah," her voice was shaky. She looked down; a few feet away was the energy baseball that slammed into her chest. Curiously, Intrigued, she cautiously reached out, gingerly seizing the unusual projectile. She rose to her feet, using the wall as support.
'He's more impressive than I thought. Doesn't really help that I have her around. She's dragging a bit,' Marcello thought. He lifted his left hand, removing each ring from his fingers and placing them in his pocket; he then did the same with his other hand. He took his eyes off Antwan, and he turned his whole body, looking at Zoe's shocked expression. "Hey, Zoe, if you tell me what your ability does, I'll tell you mine, and then we'll kill this guy. How's that sound?"
"I-uh, sure," her eyes shifted from Marcello to Antwan, who stood several yards down the alley, a dumbfounded look on his face. "What about him?"
"We'll get him in a sec. Plus, he'll want to listen to this."
Zoe decided to take his word for it, "Well," she put the baseball in her pocket and took the box of cards from her other, opening them and creating a fan in both her hands. "Through the energy tree of enhancement, I can basically control anything about these cards. Hardening, sharpening, stretching, camouflaging. Things of that nature. The enhancement allows for the cards to travel at high speeds with precision. That's all I'll need for this."
"Seems simple enough," Marcello said. "Well, this ability will definitely work with yours, then.
"You noticed how I had a ring on each finger. That's not arbitrary or for some type of stylistic choice. Each ring, when worn, reduces the punching power of my body by half. It limits the strength I can exert through manipulation. This is a compounding limitation. So, if the first ring on my right hand reduces my body's punching power to 50%, then the fifth one on that hand will bring it down to only 3.125%. If I decide to take off a ring, my 'base' punching power will double. The first ring removed will increase my bodily power to 200%." By the look in Zoe's shiny blue eyes, he could tell she knew what was going to happen. "Once I remove the last one, it will bring my power to 3,200%!"
He decided to leave out the caveats of his ability, which were:
Marooned Five: Allows Marcello to imbue five of his rings with an ability. For the ability to be attached to the ring, the ring must have a gem of differing type from all the others and be worth equal or more than seventy thousand. The removal of any rings, renders their abilities unusable until he wears them again.
Marcello must wear the rings at all times, except when voluntarily subduing his energy or using the ability.
If a ring is destroyed, Marcello will need to reforge a new ring. Until he does that, he will be unable to make use of his body's peak power.
The effects of a single ring removal last precisely ninety seconds. After this interval, his decision to retain the ring or remove another dictates the subsequent power state, returning to default power after twenty-four hours.
If all rings are removed, he will need to place them back on in the order they were removed when he is done.
Zoe watched as Antwan's bloodshot eyes widened. "Bruh, ain't no way. This dude straight lyin' now!" He pointed the end of the bat toward them. Marcello turned and stared him down. With a quick movement, he swung the bat, sending another ball at Zoe, and charged Marcello.
Marcello danced with finesse, effortlessly sidestepping the relentless swings of the baseball bat. Antwan's free hand, wreathed in a dark red aura resembling translucent brass knuckles, descended like a phantom. The impact reverberated with a wet, snapping resonance as Marcello, quick to defend, intercepted the strike with his forearm, the sound echoing off the narrow walls of the brick alleyway.
'Knuckle Breakers: When I enhance the aura 'round my hands, shit feels jagged like a chunk of iron. Gets me to hit a lot harder, an all dat ish,' Antwan thought, smiling.
"Duck!" Zoe's voice came from several yards behind Marcello.
Marcello threw himself to the side. Antwan looked forward, seeing Zoe strategically positioned at the alley's end. With a wide stance, she extended both arms, tightly gripping a collection of enhanced cards. Methodically assembled and imbued with extra potency, the amalgamation formed a resilient, stretchy sheet. The baseball had collided with the makeshift wall of cards, creating tension as it stretched backward for several seconds.
Antwan couldn't move in time. The baseball blasted from the sheet of cards and slammed him in the shoulder, breaking his collarbone in a sickening crunch.
Capitalizing on the opportunity, Marcello advanced, poised and ready to put his fist through Antwan's head.
Despite Antwan's attempts to evade, another well-aimed baseball, skillfully ricocheted off the nearby blue brick wall, hitting him in the head. Zoe had thrown the ball. Having kept it in her pocket, knowing how bouncy they were, she used the wall to aim around Marcello. Antwan doubled over; something inside him felt like it had ruptured. Marcello's fist stuck deep into his gut. He pulled his hand back, winding up another punch.
Zoe winced as she saw blood splatter to the ground; the light flickered off around Antwan as he limply crumpled. She squeezed her eyes shut, sticking her fingers in her ears; the impending brutality was temporarily shielded from her senses. The last thing she saw was Marcello lift his foot into the air, ready to stomp the man's head. She cautiously reopened her eyes when she felt a gentle tap on her shoulder, marking Marcello's presence.
With his good arm, Marcello grabbed her hand, pulling her finger from her ear. "He's not dead. Don't worry. Even though I want to, I can't. I made sure I held back enough for that to not happen. I just wanted to make sure he won't talk. And he won't…probably ever."
Zoe's gaze wandered past Marcello, fixating on the motionless form of Antwan sprawled face down. A morose pool of blood stained the concrete beneath him. "He's dead," she whispered, her voice barely audible. The high that Antwan had invoked in her had dissipated, replaced now by this sobering feeling. A tightening grip of the shock of seeing a corpse as if the air around her was thinning.
Marcello rolled his eyes, "Look, Zoe," he walked over to Antwan, seizing a handful of his disheveled hair, and lifted his head from the ground. "He's still alive. Even if he wasn't, it's not the end of the world... If you can't handle people dying, I don't know why you're here." A sigh escaped him as he released Antwan's head, letting it thud back onto the cold floor. Marcello scanned the alley's surroundings, checking the windows of nearby buildings for any signs of prying eyes. "Hell, why did you even choose to follow me?"
"I just didn't want to see you or anyone else die," Zoe hollowed. "I'm tired of seeing people die."
'You wouldn't have SEEN anything if you didn't follow me,' Marcello sighed, this time with less annoyance. He opened his mouth to say something but thought better of it, walking to the door they were going to enter before being interrupted. He heard the light shuffle of sneakers on concrete as Zoe followed him toward the door. 'Whatever,' he thought as he walked to the door.
"Marcello," Zoe said.
He turned, seeing her avoiding his eyes, her gaze on the ground. A candy-encrusted brownie was in her outstretched hands. "Uh," he regarded her for several seconds. 'Why is she so weird?' "I'm not hungry right now."
"Mitani's ability. The boy with the hat who was with me. It will heal you if you eat all of it. You need it more than me."
"Oh," he looked down at his side, his left arm hung uselessly. He winced, feeling a stinging sensation fly up his arm as he tried to make a fist. 'I barely even noticed. Adrenaline sure is something.' He reached with his good arm, took the brownie, and bit into it. Despite it being in her pocket for who knows how long, it was warm, like it was freshly baked. The sweet chocolate melted across his tongue.
Zoe watched him slowly lift his left arm, wiggling his fingers, moving his hand back and forth in front of his face. He nodded at her, muttering a "Thanks," and walked toward the entrance once he had placed the rings back on his fingers, reaching for the door.
The door swung open to a dark and hazy apartment. It had a sharp smell like someone had been mixing cleaning chemicals together. Zoe walked in behind Marcello, leaving the door open just in case, weary of what she might find.
Walking down the long hallway, the ray of grey light from the door soon disappeared, and they were plunged into darkness.
"Hey," Zoe started, her voice meek. "Are you sure you wanna fight that guy now? I mean, we just had- Ah!" Zoe's startled yelp rang through the apartment, causing Marcello to jump, as she felt a sudden movement across her leg. Whatever it was, it triggered the lights on her sneakers to flicker to life.
She glanced downward, squinting in the dim, intermittent glow emanating from her shoes. "A cat," she mumbled, bending down to activate the lights on the other sneaker.
Barely being able to see a few feet in front of her, she still made out his face. A smirk played across his lips. "Light-up shoes? Really?"
"What is wrong, Marcello?"
He patted the rough wall, flicking a switch at the end of the hallway, and a dull bulb cast a feeble glow over a lived-in living room. "Kinda childish," he shrugged. On the wooden table in the kitchen sat what appeared to be a kid's chemistry set, with glass beakers and tubes scattered across the tile kitchen countertop and table. Above Marcello, pairs of shining eyes peeked from a cupboard, catching the dim light of the ceiling fan. As he walked past, a small orange paw protruded from the crack in the cupboard door, swatting at his hair. Suddenly, a tiny striped kitten darted from under the table, attacking her bouncing shoelaces. Unable to resist its cuteness, she bent down to greet it. "Are you here to play with cats, or are you going to help find this guy?" Marcello asked. Zoe gently set the kitten down on the kitchen table, giving it one last pet before proceeding through the apartment.
She moved down a different hallway, absently shuffling her cards, peering into every doorway as she passed. Most rooms looked to be for storage. She saw large, tightly wrapped bags in large plastic totes stacked floor to ceiling.
"I think this is drug production stuff," Marcello said to himself as he glanced back at the chemistry set.
Reaching the end of the hallway, Zoe peered through the cracked door. The bedroom inside was unremarkable, devoid of the usual cats, chemistry supplies, or scattered boxes.
Intrigued, she slipped inside. The carpet felt damp underfoot, and condensation clung to the walls. Standing before the closed closet door, she hesitated, summoning the courage to open it. A sudden splash, reminiscent of a rock hitting a lake, echoed behind her. Unaware of the door until that very moment, she noticed a sliver of light seeping from beneath the doorframe. A persistent dripping sound suggested a leaky faucet, perhaps?
Upon opening the door, a wave of humidity engulfed her as she stepped onto the wet, shiny tile floor. Moving towards the sink, she glimpsed her reflection in the foggy mirror, her long white hair appearing blurry.
Zoe spun around, and at the edge of the bathtub, a naked woman with short red hair gazed back at her. Rising from the tub, she rested her chest on its side.