As he strode through the dark alleyways of Might City, Visuveus had an expression on his face that was anything but calm. His hands were in his pockets and has he powered towards yet another alley, his footsteps echoed through the air. He entered the next alley and the number of echoing footsteps multiplied the deeper Visuveus went into the alley, until he stopped in a clearing. Soon, a group emerged from the darkness of the alley, with the one who was standing in the centre appearing to be the leader. They approached Visuveus, who continued to stand with his hands in his pockets and didn't even move or react to them.
"Hey there, friend." The one who was the leader said as the group of eight stopped moving as well. "You seem to be lost there. Are you trying to get anywhere in particular? We would be more than willing to give you directions, or even escort you – for a small fee, of course."
Visuveus said nothing as this guy spoke, and at the end of the speech, he took a deep breath and started walking again.
"Tonight isn't the night to approach me. Find yourselves another target – I'm not in the mood."
The group shared surprised looks, with a few of them actually laughing out loud. The leader signaled with his head for them to surround Visuveus, who was still walking towards another alley entrance. He was however surrounded rather quickly, and this caused him to stop in his tracks.
"We weren't done with you, Friend. Don't you think it's kinda rude to just walk off when someone is talking to you?"
"I repeat, I am not in the mood for this. Leave me alone."
One of the goons from the group then spat on the ground before stepping to Visuveus aggressively.
"Listen here you fool, whether or not you are lost and need to be escorted somewhere, you are going to hand over all of your money. The only thing you can affect in this scenario is whether or not you get home covered in blood or not."
Visuveus didn't say or do a thing as he took an almost unnecessarily deep breath, before speaking with an ominously chilling voice.
"Don't say I didn't warn you."
Visuveus turned his head and glanced at the goon that had come up to him, and something about the way he looked at the goon made the other man react and freak out. Before he knew what he was doing, he let out a yell and threw a punch at Visuveus. Only those who were paying attention actually managed to see what happened next, as Visuveus simply pulled his face away by leaning back and evading the punch by what seemed like a hair's breadth. After doing so, he slid his left foot along the ground and used his right as a pivot, moving in a semi-circular motion. When he had turned enough to actually face the goon, Visuveus planted his left foot, bent his knees slightly and rotated his hips to the right. His left hand, which had still been in his pocket when the entire exchange started, suddenly shot out from his pocket, formed a fist, and was thrown towards the ribs of the goon. It made contact with his ribcage, and the resulting crack had no business being as loud as it was. Before the goon could even fall though, Visuveus pulled the fist away, before rotating his hips again, only this time, he altered the course of the punch and instead of a hook to the body, he threw a short uppercut to the jaw, which not only snapped the goon's head back, but actually lifted him off of his feet for an instant. The goon's feet had yet to touch the ground again when he ate a straight right hand right in the mouth, the force of which was so vast, it actually caused him to spin backwards and complete two full revolutions before his limp body hit the ground like a sack of boiled and mushy onions.
The entire group, regardless of whether or not they were able to follow what had just happened, watched on in stunned silence. They watched their colleague hit the floor with a disturbingly wet squelch, and as they tried to process what they had just seen, Visuveus turned to face the group head on. He looked them up and down with a glance, before sliding his left foot along the ground until his feet were a little under shoulder width apart. He then slid his left hand into his pocket before loosening his tie with his other hand. The lighting in the alley was such that his face was masked in shadow, however Visuveus' eyes were clearly visible and the way he was looking at everybody sent chills down their spines. His breathing was slow, and it sounded heavy, as if each breath changed the atmosphere a little bit.
The atmosphere appeared to get to one of the goons, as she let out a roar as she activated her Powers. She had a strength-based Power and her limbs grew in size; her muscles rippling as the muscle mass in her arms and legs almost grew two-fold. The crackling of joints and the like echoed through the clearing, and the goon smashed both fists together before letting out another roar and charging Visuveus. Once she reached him, she attempted to tackle him as she lowered her torso and jumped forward, however the ex-con leapt back just a little bit. He timed his leap so that his feet would touch the ground just as the woman's leap began to fizzle out, and the moment they did that, Visuveus reached down with his right hand, cupped the back of her head while simultaneously raising his left knee – driving said knee directly into her face. Immediately afterwards, he pulled his knee back, repositioned his hand so he could wrap his fingers around her neck and raised the woman high into the air and then slammed her hard into the asphalt below, bending his knees and hunkering down as if to increase the force that little bit more. A ring of dust, sand and other types of particulate pulsed out from the point of impact, and forced the others to shield their eyes.
Once things died down, Visuveus stood to his full height and looked at his six remaining would be robbers, his body heaving as he took a deep breath. The second exchange was over in the blink of an eye – much like the first – and the noise and commotion from only moments prior had now been completely replaced by an oppressive and heavy silence. Visuveus stared at everybody with unblinking and unyielding eyes, while, the remaining six goons split their collective gaze between their two fallen comrades, who were taken out in an instant. They then looked at Visuveus, and one of them looked at the others and spoke.
"W-What the fuck just happened? Did you guys see what exactly that guy did?!"
"Shit, did any of you see him use any Powers?"
"He just took out both of our heavy hitters in the blink of an eye, with his bare hands…"
"Shut up, all of you!" The Leader boomed. "What are you panicking for?! We have the higher numbers! So we've lost our Power guys, big whoop! We'll overwhelm him with Speed and burn him to a crisp nice and slow as revenge for… Tina and Tiny!"
"Their names are Gregory and Jessica, Boss." One of the goons said after a brief silence.
The Leader did not acknowledge the correction, and just pointed at Visuveus, who was still sending chills down their spines.
"Look at that bastard! He took Tiny out, and then felt like we'd be so easy to handle that he slid one hand into his fuckin' pocket! We can't accept this! The disrespect must be addressed!"
"So I'm guessing you and Gigi are gonna hang back and prepare yourselves to attack while we keep that bastard occupied?" One of the goons asked, apprehension thick in her voice.