A wave of mental energy crashed into Argi’s psyche as dreamlike memories surged through his mind; memories that were not his. As the memories filled the gaps, his mind began to recall them and Argi experienced them as if they were his own. He remembered the first discovery of the power, which would later be called the “Harmonic Fists of the Empty Winds”, to defend against a gang member. He remembered playing around with this power, moving arms and legs, manipulating individual fingers, and even lifting people up into the air. He remembered using it in numerous bouts against martial artists and championed fighters to make a name for him and his martial arts business.
However, he also remembered using his power to break and twist their limbs. He also remembered tormenting gang members that continued to pursue him until they stopped after many of them ended up dead or disfigured. He also remembered purposely changing the slightest movement of people that had annoyed him, which resulted in them causing major accidents to themselves. He also remembered forcing others to harm themselves, and finally, he also remembered using his power to overpowering many young women to his advantages…
Argi remembered all of that in the blink of an eye. And the power to control other people’s movements was his to use as his own.
He snapped back to reality as the crowd was disturbed by the fake bouncers approaching him and Larsa. His immediate sight counted seven, but it was likely that more were stationed around the building. The nearest one, a bulky muscled man wearing dark clothing and shades, was almost upon him. A recent memory flashed to his mind of the volunteer frozen mid-run and Argi instinctively lifted his hand, calling upon the power he just replicated, to freeze the bulky bouncer in place. The bouncer tried to move himself, but his face displayed the physical strain in trying to regain control of his limbs again.
Three more bouncers were approaching Argi from the side, but with a flick of his outstretched hand in their direction, the lone bouncer he held with Larsa’s power was sent flying into the three, knocking them all to the ground. The last three were reaching Argi from his other side, but rather than their comrades’ failure of trying to physically apprehend him, these three had decided to use something with a little more shock value.
Each one of the three brought out a taser gun.
Still held in the grasp of his replicated power, Argi brought the first bulky bouncer just in time to intercept the electric hooks of the taser guns. The bulky bouncer convulsed uncontrollably as three times the voltage of a taser gun surged through him. Argi released the bulky bouncer, who collapsed in a smoky meaty heap to the floor by his feet, as the previous three bouncers had recovered themselves and they finally reached him. One of them grabbed Argi by the wrist, but his instincts drove him to use his forgotten skills from his training as a Secret Operations agent rather than Larsa’s power. A low kick was delivered to the bouncer’s knee, which caused a horrible crunching sound and the leg bent awkwardly in the other direction. The bouncer let out a deafening scream as he went down onto the floor like his other comrade, and Argi placed himself in the middle of the two fallen as the other two bouncers circled him. A quick glance revealed to him that the other three bouncers were held frozen by the power of Larsa Weber. It seemed the “Grandmaster” was handling himself well on his own, despite the earlier plead of help to Argi.
Argi caught sight of movement in his peripheral vision and turned to block whatever was aimed at him, but he misjudged the attack as a low punch luckily found a section in the side below his ribcage. He staggered but stood his ground as he swept the blow downwards and moved in close to offer an attack of his own. His elbow lashed out to meet the sternum of the bouncer, but since they had come from similar training backgrounds, the bouncer intercepted this and countered with a shoulder barge. Argi stumbled back and found the other bouncer advancing upon him with a baton. He moved with the force he was stumbling in and regained his position to grab and throw the other bouncer into his comrade. He managed to successfully execute this, but not before the baton had managed to hit him on the nose. Pain flared from there as blood started to gush down his mouth and chin.
A scream directed Argi’s attention to Larsa, who had lasted long enough against the other three bouncers, but the “Grandmaster” had inevitably been overwhelmed by numbers, strategy, and more taser guns. A moment’s hesitation froze Argi as he internally struggled with his next plan of action. His original mission had gone awry as soon as he had been discovered and he lost his replicated illusionary power. To follow the Secret Operations agents undetected after they captured Larsa would be impossible, so Argi was left with one other option that his instincts ordered of him.
He ran.
Argi dashed through the panicked crowd and went to the nearest exit. There were two other Secret Operations “bouncers” waiting for him beyond the exit, but he simply sent them crashing into the walls of the corridor with Larsa’s power. A fire escape granted him access to an alleyway of the outside world and he sprinted deeper into the maze connecting the surrounding nearby buildings. Sounds of other footsteps behind him reached his ears and he realised that he was being pursued. Blood continued to drip off Argi’s face and onto his shirt as he darted through the alleyways, turning into other connecting passages without much direction or thought to where he was going in hopes of losing his pursuers.
However, they relentlessly followed his trail, and Argi was beginning to grow tired from his continuous sprint. A quick glance behind him revealed the two bouncers that had waited for him by the exit. As he passed a large metal dumpster, Argi spun and swept his arm to catch at least one of the bouncers with Larsa’s power. He sent one of them crashing violently into the big bin, which left a large dent and the bouncer was rendered unconscious. The other bouncer had managed to evade the flight of his comrade and he managed to gain additonal speed upon his target, as Argi had slowed to execute his attack.
As he turned another corner, Argi stopped in the middle of the alleyway and spun to await his last pursuer. When the bouncer turned into the alleyway, Argi sent Larsa’s power to lift the bouncer into the air. He was about to send this one straight into the brick wall, when a groan came from behind him. Argi spun around in panic, taking the suspended bouncer with him to be used as a shield for whatever had sparked his attention.
On the floor was a man sat up against the brick wall, with several broken bricks around him. He wore dark clothing, which was different to the ones worn by the fake bouncers, and he was of a smaller physical build than them. He seemed dazed, but his dark eyes were on Argi, and he appeared to be mumbling something that Argi could only barely make out.
“Found him”
Although he didn’t look like a Secret Operations agent, Argi wasn’t going to immediately let his guard down for this stranger, who appeared to have an unusual interest in him. Still using the frozen limbed bouncer as a shield, Argi lifted his other hand to raise the fallen man up to face him.
“What do you want?”, he said coldly, staring into the man’s deep eyes.
“Wondered…how you…could do…the Harmonic…fist thing…”, the man managed to get out as the sentence seemed to be taxing without several breaths of air in between a few words.
Oh great, a fan…, Argi thought annoyingly. But he had been chased through the alleyways, taking random directions and with no apparent destination in mind. “How did you find me?”
The man’s eyes briefly glanced upwards as he answered Argi’s question with a single word. “Roof”
Argi glanced upwards and disbelief crept into his mind. The building was at least 15 feet high and he noticed the cracks and holes in the wall upon closer inspection; the stone debris had fallen directly by where the man had been sitting when Argi found him. He wasn’t sure what to make of this man or his motives, but he had to quickly deal him, along with the bouncer. If this man had managed to find him, then it was possible the other Secret Operations agents may be currently on their way to him.
“Don’t come after me again”, Argi addressed them in that cold-hearted manner again. He lifted both of them in the air and prepared to throw them into the brick wall, until a nearby scream sliced through the tranquillity of the alleyways. It was a sound that chilled everyone’s blood and raised the hairs on the back of their necks. Whoever it was, they sounded distressed and desperate for whatever was happening to them to end.
The scream lasted for a moment, before it died down. As it did, a sniffing sound could be heard and it grew steadily louder as someone approached them. A bloody hand tightly gripped the corner of a building with such force that the fingers crumbled stone as if it were soft snow. With one last effort, the hand hauled its owner around the corner and revealed itself to the three lingering in the alleyway.
A thing stood and stared at them, just as Argi, the bouncer, and the man stared in wonder back at it. Whatever it was, it was a mess; with one arm bigger than the other and bent in the wrong way, two thick and hairy legs along with a long, thinner leg behind it, an opening and closing bloodied hole in the middle of where its chest should be, and a single, bloodshot eye focused upon them, tilting its oddly shaped head to one side. The stare off felt like an eternity as the three wasn’t sure what to do while the thing kept sniffing the air around with its ‘mouth’ as blood dripped from the opening of it. The eternal observation of each party was interrupted when the bouncer started coughing, which drew that single bloodshot eye to stare intensely at him. The thing staggered backwards as if it was about to lose its balance, but it suddenly rushed with incredible speed towards them, like a predator moving in for the kill.
All three men let out panicked cries and the two men were released from Argi’s power as they all scrambled backwards away from the thing. The bouncer was unfortunately the closest to the thing, which had caught up with him and begun to savagely tear him apart. A similar scream of terror and hopelessness came from the helpless bouncer, as the thing quickly started to devour what it had torn from him. Argi and the other man hurried to escape while they could, but an unearthly screech came from behind them and they turned to find the thing chasing after them. Its single bloodshot eye was fixed upon them, with a red hot fury intent upon bring the same havoc to them as it had done with the now dead bouncer.
