What If | Unordinary

X-Static

3rd Person POV

In the town of Lovun, a woman cloaked in black approached a man. The man had his hands in his pockets and took them out once he'd noticed her presence. His stance is confident and calm. Volcan's eyes narrowed as she eyed him up and down, scanning for slip-ups in his posture. Nothing. Yet.

"You must be Volcan," the man said. His voice is smooth and calm. He does not fear her yet. "I've heard quite a lot about you and your Ability Amplifiers. How much?"

"One-hundred for a batch," she said. "A batch will last you for about three days." His facial muscles tighten and his left fist clenches.

"I see," he said. His voice is filled with new frustration, the calm demeanor shifting drastically. "How about we make a deal?" His eyes glint a bright green as he activates his ability, his stance is still frustrated and now, a little angry.

"EMBER makes no deals," Volcan said. "You either give me the hundred dollars and take the three vials I give you, or I leave with no money and you leave with no amplifiers."

He takes a step forward. His posture is furious now. His facial muscles are incredibly tightened with his gritting teeth. "How about this: I take the amplifiers and you don't stop me. In return, I won't kill you."

Volcan closed her eyes and sighed. When she opened them, they were glowing a bright golden. Suddenly, the man is filled with fear. His facial muscles loosen and he is shaking. Volcan summoned her claws and ignited them. She slashed across the man's body with the claws. He cried out in pain as the flames tore away at his bloodstained shirt.

"You disgusting pig!" Volcan said. "People like you make me sick!" She kicked him in the stomach and stabbed him through the heart, killing him. She then walked out of the alley and left the scene.

. . .

"What the hell happened here?" Kuyo asked.

Rei shrugged. "Not sure," he said. "But it's definitely not good."

"Is he dead?"

"Looks like it," Rei answered. He noticed something on the body: a vial. He picked it up and observed it. "That's weird. The killer left a vial behind?"

He got up from his kneeling position and looked at something that caught his and Kuyo's eyes. It was a man!

"He's hiding his identity," Rei whispered to Kuyo.

"Could he be one of us?" Kuyo answered.

"Not sure." He stepped forward slightly and addressed the man. "Excuse us. Do you know what happened here?"

All of a sudden, the man's green eyes glowed and he formed claws at his fingers. Flames ignited on these claws and he dashed at the two vigilantes. The two of them activated their abilities. Kuyo summoned a blade and tried to block the attack, but was clawed across the shoulder, singeing his sleeve. Rei shot a bolt of lightning at him and Kuyo slashed at him with his blade. The man was too quick, however, and dodged both attacks with ease.

As all this was going on, Volcan was watching from the roof of a building nearby, gauging the skill of the new EMBER operative. If the vigilantes proved too much, she would step in if she had to.

Kuyo continually slashed at the man, who dodged every last attack. Rei jumped over Kuyo and tapped the man on the shoulder. A massive jolt of electricity surged through the man's body. He cried out in pain and fell to his knees.

"Looks like we found our killer," Rei said, glancing at the body.

"The attacks match the wounds," Kuyo confirmed.

"All right, let's knock him out," Rei said, walking over to the man. "Looks like we get to go home early today."

Suddenly, Rei felt a massive stinging pain across his torso. The whooshing of powerful flames filled his ears as nearly his entire suit burst into flames. He cried out in pain and fell to his knees in a dark twist of irony. Volcan dashed towards Kuyo and slashed his arm. He tried to block the attack again, but was unsuccessful.

"Get up!" she said to her subordinate.

"Forgive me," he said. "I still haven't gotten used to this ability yet."

He looked at Rei who was trying and failing to muster the strength to get up. He felt weak and could hardly breathe because of the smoke from the flames. The man stabbed him again, causing him to cry out in pain and cough up blood.

"X!" Kuyo screamed. He summoned another blade and dashed toward the two murderers. "GET AWAY FROM HIM!"

As he passed through them, he was clawed again and blood gushed from his shoulders. He stabbed one of his blades into the ground and used it to hold himself up. Rei was looking up at him weakly.

"Quick," he hissed weakly. "G-get out of here while you still can!"

"I'm not leaving you!" Kuyo said.

He stood battle ready, but was soon attacked again. He just wasn't strong enough to stop them. Rei had now made up his mind. He had to stall them long enough for Kuyo to escape. He summoned more voltage and grabbed the two attackers.

"What are you-?" Kuyo tried to say, but was interrupted.

"Take care of yourself all right?" Rei said. He increased the voltage and began continuously shocking them. "GO!" he shouted as he summoned a massive barrage of lightning from the sky that enveloped all three of them.

After the dust had settled, Kuyo returned to the scene of what had just happened. He wanted to see if Rei was still alive but...he wasn't. The two attackers had seemingly taken hardly any damage, even after the storm Rei had just unleashed on them. Now, they were hovering over his body like a pair of vultures, waiting, Kuyo assumed, for him to return and kill him too. After that, he had no choice but to leave.

X-Static was dead.

1000 words