"Luke? Manny?"
Harvey said, standing a couple of feet away. He wiped some stray beads of sweat off his face with a towel that was wrapped around his shoulders. Harvey's outfit consisted of a red shirt and blue basketball shorts. His old Adidas shoes shifted as he walked further into the alleyway. Luke and Manny turned their heads in his direction; they saw Harvey's face contort to a calm and intense expression.
"What's going on here?" Harvey asked.
Luke and Manny's faces lit up with smiles. It was Harvey! Manny's face suddenly became sour. Harvey might be here now, but the situation was still dire. It was three grown men, and they were all still just students! How are they going to get out of this!?
"Harvey!" Luke yelled as he tried walking up to his friend, only to be pushed back into Manny, who caught him. The man in the black and grey hoodie sneered at the two boys, causing them to recoil slightly. He then turned and looked at Harvey.
"You with these little shits? HUH!? You all think you can come here and disrespect us like that!?" The man said as he walked up to Harvey, a sneer on his face.
"Luke. Manny. You two, Alright?" Harvey said while looking at his two friends, completely ignoring the man.
"Uh, we're alright! We just bumped into them by accident. We thought this guy was you." Luke told Harvey as he motioned at the man in the red shirt, Manny nodded.
"We tried apologizing, but then they asked for our shoes!" Manny told Harvey in a hurry, a nervous look on his face.
"Shut up!" The man in the red shirt and tattoos yelled at Luke and Manny; he then turned to the man standing before Harvey. "Owen, why the are fuck you are you standing around for? Show that punk we mean business!"
"Shut it, Mateo! Just take their shoes and wallets alre-"Owen didn't finish as he turned to look at Harvey, only not to find him there.
"What?"
"Alright, you two. Let's get going." Harvey said as he walked up to his friends.
"You fucker! Who do you think you are!" Owen yelled.
"Harvey! Behind you!"
Manny yelled as he saw Owen rush Harvey with his hands raised into fists. Harvey then stepped back and grabbed the lid of a nearby trash can; twisting his body around, Harvey swung the lid towards Owen's face. Causing him to flinch and cover his face.
Owen's face was scrunched up in confusion due to not having received any impact. Suddenly, he felt the world spin for a second but then crashed roughly on the hard concrete. Landing on of his head.
'What the!?'
Manny and Luke yelled in their heads at what had just happened. They thought Harvey would have slammed the lid in Owen's face only for it to have been faint. Harvey dropped to the ground in a spin. It was then that Harvey swung his leg in an arc. Kicking Owen into the air.
"Holy shit. Did you see that, Wyatt?" Mateo asked the man in the white tank top. Wyatt nodded.
Harvey dashed in Luke and Manny's direction. He grabbed their shoulders and pulled them back; Harvey then started jogging away with them both. Luke and Manny struggled to keep up with Harvey. Manny turned back and saw the other two men run at them. They would catch up in no time!
"Harvey!"
Manny yelled at Harvey. Harvey turned his head and saw the distance between them and the two remaining thugs. Harvey stopped running and pushed Manny and Luke behind him; Luke was confused as a heavy feeling rested in his chest. Was Harvey going to sacrifice himself so they could get away?
Harvey saw Mateo throw a sloppy punch at him, which caused him to back up and slip the punch; without a second to pause, he raised his knee and threw a solid forward kick into Mateo's sternum, Knocking the wind out of him. Finally, The man in the white tank top stopped his rush and narrowed his eyes at Harvey. They both stood in front of each other, a quiet silence was shared between them.
Luke and Manny stood a few feet back; they wouldn't run away and leave their friend behind. But all they could do was stand and watch. Inside, they were frustrated that they could do nothing to help. It was their fault they were in this situation in the first place. At the same time, they stood in awe at their friend. Harvey was holding his own in such an unfair fight!
•••
'I can't believe I'm holding my own here!' Harvey thought as he continued staring at Wyatt.
'I'm not. You have been training non-stop. It's only natural.' Spirit told Harvey.
'What do you mean?' Harvey asked as Wyatt raised his hands and got into a boxer's stance. This opponent would be a tougher challenge.
'Ah, I forgot to let you know about this fact. Your body wasn't the only thing to have changed. Your brain can now retain and learn information at incredible speeds.' Spirit informed Harvey.
'That's kind of an important fact to know, Spirit!' Harvey yelled in his head.
Wyatt dashed at Harvey, causing him to stop his mental conversation with Spirit. Wyatt started throwing fast jabs at him; Wyatt was clearly trained in the sport. Harvey struggled to dodge and parry the punches. It was only due to his well-trained body and speed that he could keep up. Wyatt started to breathe heavily. His stamina would soon run out.
Wyatt saw the opening he needed and landed a solid punch on Harvey's face, causing him to stagger lightly. Wyatt smiled confidently and threw another punch, but this time he over-extended. Harvey capitalized on the opportunity. He slipped the punch and twisted his body. Landing a powerful right hook onto Wyatt's face, knocking him out cold.
'Not bad.' Spirit complimented.
Harvey smiled and looked down at his fist, a proud smile on his face. It had only been two weeks, but the fruits of his training were showing. His moment to himself was cut short as he heard his two friends yell excitedly in his direction.
"That was awesome!" Luke and Manny yelled in unison.
"Okay, hit the pause button. Let's go!" Harvey told his two friends. He then started pushing them out of the alleyway. They had to try and get far away from here before any of these guys' friends showed up. He also had to hurry and get back to his teacher. He only had a few more minutes to finish his mile run warm-up.
•••
"Dad, you should have seen it! Harvey was amazing! It was like watching a movie but in person!"
Luke said in excitement. It was currently dinner time; he and his family were eating dinner together. Manny was also there, joining them. Manny finished chewing his food and swallowed.
"It was unbelievable! He took on three grown men at the same time!" Manny told everyone. He was slightly embellishing the events that happened.
"Okay, Calm down! What are you two talking about!? You were both in a fight!? Does Gloria and Dad know about this!?" Claire said with a worried look on her face. Phil stopped eating and looked at the two boys in worry.
"Oh my god. Are you two okay?" Phil said as he stood up and looked the two boys over.
"You two were in a fight? That's hard to believe. You sure you weren't just pretending you were in one?" Hailey said as she looked at her brother and uncle carefully.
"A fight? Please, this is Luke and Manny we're talking about." Alex said as she drank her cup of water.
"Everybody, Hush! Luke, Manny. You two will tell us everything that happened from the beginning." Claire said as she stood up and walked over to the phone.
"Who are you calling?" Luke asked.
"Dad and Gloria. They need to know about this too." Claire told her son.
"Here we go, making it a whole thing." Alex whispered to herself.
Later...
"Aye papi, estás bien? Quién fue? Who did it? Encontraré a quien lastimó a mi bebé y lo enterraré debajo de nuestra casa!" Gloria said as she held her sons cheeks, inspecting him from head to toe for any injuries.
"You okay, kid?" Jay said as he laid his hand on Manny's shoulder and bent down to look at him.
"Okay! Now that everyone is here. Luke and Manny, tell us what happened."
Claire told the two boys as she held Joe, rocking him in place. The rest of the family sat down or stood, ready to hear what happened. Luke and Manny looked at one another, now regretting telling their family about what happened. In their excitement, they forgot how their mothers would react. Manny took a deep breath and calmed his nerves, he had to be careful how he told the story.
"Well..."
•••
"What!?/Que!?"
Claire and Gloria yelled. They were shocked and appalled. Jay looked impressed after hearing what happened.
"That kids got guts."
"This is like fight club." Phil whispered, Wishing he could have seen what happened.
"Phil, no! This is not okay! What if you two got hurt? Why were you even there?!" Claire said as she paced around, trying to calm herself.
"Papi, What were you thinking!?" Gloria asked her son, grabbing his shoulders.
"Wait, so there was a fight?" Alex said as she walked up to Luke to inspect him
"Luke, Manny, What were you thinking!" Hailey asked as she had a worried look on her face. Mirroring her step-grandmother, Gloria.
"Okay, let's all calm down." Jay spoke as he walked before everyone and stood behind the boys. "Everything is fine. The boys are okay, see? Not a scratch on them. Instead of panicking, we should be grateful things ended the way they did."
"No, Dad! Everything is not fine! My baby could been hurt or worse!" Claire told her father as she grabbed her son and hugged him.
"Yes, Jay! Manny could have been hurt or killed! How are you so calm!" Gloria asked as she walked up to Manny and hugged him.
"Mom!" Manny and Luke whined.
"No, Manny! You are just a little boy. My little boy!" Gloria hugged Manny even tighter.
"Wait a minute, You said your friend's name was Harvey?" Alex asked as she crossed her arms in front of her chest.
"Yeah? Why?" Luke answered.
"As in Harvey Miller? From our school?"
"That's the one! Do you know him?" Luke said with a smile.
"What!?" Claire and Phil said at the same time, they turned to look at each other in surprise.
"Hey, do you two know him?" Haley asked her parents.
"Yeah, he's the Millers son. I saw him working on his yard a while back." Phil told everyone. Then, Phil finally remembered what he forgot to do, looking deeper into what was going on with the Millers son for Alex to call him a bad apple.
"I ran over- I mean, I bumped into him at the grocery store." Claire said as she rubbed the back of her neck. The memory of crashing her cart into Harvey popped into her head. "Alex, How do you know him?"
"Who doesn't? He's the school pariah."
•••
Achoo~
Harvey sneezed as he stood on top of a roof, dressed in the same outfit he wore when he first met his Teacher. He took out a napkin from his pocket and rubbed his nose.
"Am I getting a cold? Can I even get a cold anymore?"
'No, your body is unable to get sick.'
Spirit told Harvey as he continued to expand his senses into the city. Tonight was their first official night out to seek out evil in the city. Harvey was unsure at first. Considering he hadn't been training for too long, he was uneasy and believed himself unready. But after encountering the three thugs harassing Luke and Manny, he was confident he could handle one opponent at a time without trouble.
"I'm starting to think about just asking for a list of my changes and abilities by this point."
'Hm...'
Harvey's head twitched, and his body started to feel warmer. He turned and looked at the direction the feeling was coming from. It was a few miles southbound. Harvey hopped onto the fire escape and quickly made his way down; as soon as he was at a safe distance, he jumped down and rolled into a sprint. Harvey came to a stop and pulled out his mountain bike from its hiding spot.
"This feeling is different from the night we met Teacher." Harvey said as he pedaled at incredible speeds. If you were to measure his speed, he would easily manage forty-five miles per hour. What Spirit said next caused him to go even faster.
'It should be. The blood of the innocent has been spilled. We must hurry.'