What we Reap

The wind felt good on Alex's fevered skin. He had welcomed it, embracing it as he took a small break. It was not beach wind, but it still felt good. He had been at this for hours now by the way the sun was setting down over the horizon. He closed his eyes and breathed the brisk air in, held it, then let it out with a sigh. A good day. He opened his eyes once more, staring up at the frieght cart he was bench pressing.

"One more set."

This was close to his tenth one already. Everyday, Alex was pushing his strength and stamina in an effort to find his limit. So far, he hadn't found it. But the work outs made him feel good. He felt stronger the next day, not sore or worn out. He would find his limit one day, but that day was not today. He grinned as he set the cart down with a loud thump. Grabbing his sports bag, Alex took a swig of water from his water bottle before tossing it into the bag. He began a brisk job back home from the old train tracks.

It was night time by the time he made his way across town. Not his best idea to be caught out at night in a new city, specially when he was crossing some of the worst parts of town. Oh well. Alex just haunched his shoulders over, bag slung across his back as he made his way home. Hopefully no one would try to stop him... For their sake.

"Find them! They didn't get far!" a guttural voice growled over his coms, as a group of hardened cultists searched the sprawling, dark, recently closed amusement park. A hostage taking had taken place here recently, and police lines were everywhere. The rides were silent, the stalls empty, the place devoid of any joy, as the faces of clowns and animals stared soullessly into the darkness.

The cultists were armed with knives, bats, and simple firearms; they wore whatever grungy attire that they could find, their burlap sack masks the only sign of their allegiance. A strange symbol written in black tar was on their foreheads. They overturned boxes of cheap toys, smashed down doors, and vandalized the place in search of their prey. Their leader though, wore the formal robes of a preacher or a deacon. He carried with him a weapon- a rifle- of inhuman design.

Hiding in the house of mirrors, teen hero Sage sat down, gasping as silently as she could, comforting a girl with very unusual powers. Sage was a lean and athletic blonde girl from Cali, wearing advanced combat armor and carried a high tech bow. Her companion was a small, starved emaciated girl, wearing only dirty rags and blindfolded. The girl was crying under her blindfolds. Black tears rolled down her cheeks.

"Hey, like, Don't be afraid kid! I definitely won't let the bad guys getcha. Hey like, I promise we are so getting ice cream after this..." Sage said, patting her on the head. She could feel the girl's rough, dry hair.  "...and a trip to the spa." She said, reassuringly.

"I-ish cream? Shpa?" The girl tried to repeat, poorly. Sage noted the girl's impaired vocabulary. These monsters.

Footsteps caused Sage to become quiet once more. Cultists passed outside. "Check the house of mirrors." One voice said.

Sage gripped her bow tightly, but saw that the girl was clinging to her arm. Unable to fight effectively, Sage prepared to carry the girl and continue this deadly game of cat and mouse. "Be brave for me okay?"

"Time for a short cut."

Alex was going to be late at this point, but if he cut through the old amusement park then his mom might not yell at him for missing dinner. Or maybe his dinner might not be cold. He would get a talking to no matter what he did. He didn't break stride as he leaped over the 8 foot fence with ease. He landed with a small thud as a smile broke out across his face. Now would be a good time to try out one of his new tricks. He stood still for a few seconds before gently rising off of the ground. Only a few inches, but it was a good start. He leaned forward, arms extended and began to fly. He flew across the park at a brisk pace, just practicing his flying.

But movement from ahead caught his eye, bringing him to a halt. He set himself down on the ground. This park was suppose to be abandoned, who was here? Men with guns as it turned out. Various broken down hoodlums with bags over their heads were making their way through the park as if they were looking for something. Alex paused, then reached into his bag pulling out a mask. Time to suit up.

Spoiler:

He pulled up the hood of his new uniform (freshly bought) as the men made their way to a building saying "House of Mirrors!"

The cultists were very unfriendly, and brooked no interference from outsiders. One of the cultists, by day a divorced, middle aged insurance salesman with a large belly and high blood pressure, was the first to see Alex.

"Hey! Who the hell are you? Get out of here kid. You get one warning." He immediately pointed his two-barreled hunting shotgun at him, gesturing him to leave.

Right then, he'd hear gunfire break out, and the voice of a child crying out in a panic.

AT THAT MOMENT

Inside the House of Mirrors, Sage found herself relying on her motion tracker to evade the men. They were not looking for her, but for the child, and she couldn't leave her alone. She turned the corner and came face to face with a gun...

"Really? I'm in a super suit in the middle of the night in a place surrounded by guards with guns. You really think I'm going to just leave with a warning? You know what, give me that."

Alex was floating now then accelerated to just under mach speeds as he dashed passed this man to grab the gun. Alex tried to crush the gun before a shot could go off to alert others. He was about to follow up on his little grab, but he heard gunfire coming from further in the park. And a kid crying.

"Uh oh...."

With no effort into stealth, Alex put pettle to the mettle as he broke out his speed. He broke the sound barrier as he flew rapidly to the source of the sound.

"Punk! The Elders shall-" The middle aged man collapsed, passing out from the sheer speed and nearly having a heart attack from Alex's brutality.

The excessive speed caused a sonic boom, making a noise that alerts then entire amusement park, and causing all the mirrors in the Hall of Mirrors to shatter into deadly flying shards. All the bag men in the House scream in pain as they're turned into pin cushions for glass, falling to the ground and bleeding out.

Sage could barely react, shielding the girl with her body. Luckily her armor could withstand the shrapnel. "HEY! OW! LIKE, WATCH THAT SUPER SPEED!" she said, valley girl and all. The one holding a gun to them was already on the ground.

The little blindfolded child was crying from the sonic boom, covering her ears. "Shh... sh..." Sage tried to comfort her, but the newly arrived hero didn't seem to know the consequences of his powers yet. Worse still, in a few moments the Hall of Mirrors would soon become the Hall of lead, as a dozen deranged gunmen would fill it with bullets.

"Maybe that was a little to fact..."

Alex muttered to himself as he hovered in front of the two girls. The sonic boom was unexpected and so was the resulting destruction caused by it. He had been going faster then he thought before. He looked down at the two girls on the ground. It looked like they were alright, but it was rookie mistake by Alex doing that. He rubbed the back of his head.

"Ohh man, sorry about that.... Look, I can fly you out of here. You will be fine, I promise."

He came down on to one knee next to the girls. The sounds of men groaning and rising began to sound outside. They wouldn't have much longer till the shooting began. Alex would be fine, but the other two didn't look completely bullet proof

Sage looked at Alex with a look of exasperation. This one must be a rookie. "Fly? and get shot at? Like, no way! Look since you can go that fast we can probably take em- "

The bullets begin flying overhead, and the child with them was screaming. Sage remedies the situation with a flash bang. Or several of them, in convenient pellet sizes. They go into the crowd of gunmen, and the flashes light up the dark amusement park, causing the all too human cultists to be disoriented.

Sage then takes out her bow and sticks arrows down the barrel of two guns. Alex seemed like he could take out the other ten.

"Right right, bullet magnets. I'll go get the others then."

With the flash bangs giving Alex cover, he moved out of the house of mirrors and into the street. He floated above the ground, looking menacing. An obvious target. One started to pull their gun up to fire at him. With one hand, Alex grabbed the gun crushing it and with his other hand he picked up the man by the scruff of his shirt. He threw the man into another, taking two down. A shot rickset off of his back. Alex didn't even flinch at it. He turned to the attacker, coming in with a kick at his side. It was just strong enough to send the man skidding hard across the pavement. He was a flurry of blows, taking down the rest with relative ease as none of their attacks made any difference. Bullets bounced off of him, fists broke when they hit him, guns cracked under his strength.

Alex was having a hard time holding back against these guys. He could have ended this in a single blow by smashing the ground and simply destroying the area. But that would have put the other two at risk and may have killed these guys as well. Alex was here to protect the others, not kill these sorry goons. After a few seconds, Alex was the last man standing. He floated inches above the ground, looking around for signs of danger.

"Are you two alright back there?"

Calling out to the two girls.

Yumo had been lazily strolling through an amusement park that had long since been closed down. Tattered tents barely hung as rusted metal bars held up various attractions. He was only hear as a body guard, but he began to get bored and decided to get food. It seemed that nothing was going to happen tonight which was pretty horrible for Yumo to think about. At first it was quiet but for a second he could hear someone scream about something. The only word he heard was elders. He was in the processes of drinking the rest of his chocolate shake from wendys when there was a loud boom.

A quick breeze blew past him then followed by a loud pop in his ears that he'd never felt before. As a reflex to the pain his grip tightened on the cup and his chocolate shake erupted into the air and in his face. He looked down as the pain dulled and he was left with a rapidly vanishing ring in his ear. He was already in a bad mood due to his earlier plans fell through after he had paid for everything and now he was some dumb weaklings guard and partial servant for the night. With what just happened he snapped and filled with fury.

He reached into his backpack and pulled out four wristbands covered in viles of bright red liquid. He strapped one on each of his limbs then tied part of his hair back out of his face showing his enraged red eyes. His teeth sharpened as his rage continued to rise as he thought about what he'd do to the culprit of the boom.

As he walked through the amusement park he was confronted by a few people who seemed to be looking for someone or something, but forgot that he's the body guard of they're boss. They shot at him expecting him to fall from all of the bullets but instead the bullets fell to the ground as they crushed themselves upon impact. Yumo pushed forward towards one of them and sent his fist into a guys stomach causing a massive amount of blood to spill from the guys mouth as he was sent through the air.

As Yumo watched him fall he noticed a guy hovering in the middle of several guys that looked like they belong to the group he was interacting with. "Unless you wanna be next......run." Yumo said as his voice lowered to an inhuman tone.

A satanic smile crawled across his face as he looked at the rest expecting them to run. Instead they all fell to the ground and began to cry and beg. This was enough for him so he left with a laugh. He then began to walk towards the guy hovering in the air. Obviously if he wasn't the culprit of the boom he had to be stopped because he was beating the lackeys of Yumo's temporary boss.

"Mediocre!" The portly cultists' field leader huffed through his mask, though he was some distance away from the combat and already fleeing when Alex made short work of his men. The child could wait... but the Elders would not be happy.

Then he came across Yumo, casually strolling in. "You! Where have you been?! Kill the metahuman... but I want that archer and the girl alive... and intact. The Elders will it." He said, going off to hide somewhere despite having a gun.


Sage slowly emerged from the bullet ridden Hall of Mirrors with the little blindfolded girl, having some difficulty coaxing her out of cover. "Like, We should totally get out of here. Those guys like, are sooo gonna be looking for us now." She said to Alex, before noticing Yumo nearby.

"...Crap. Hey little kid... can you like, go and hide just a bit longer? your big sis Sage has to like, fight the bad men who wanna take you away." Sage knelt down to ask the girl once more.

"bu...bu...big sis..." she tried to repeat, but understood when she... smelled... the Bad Man Yumo. The girl ran into the ruined Hall of Mirrors once more.

Sage stood beside Alex, nocking an Alloy Arrow onto her high tech bow. "Like, Two to one, creep. You should totally scram, before I make you target practice." She threatened Yumo... complete with the valley girl attitude.

.

Alex was holding up a man by his shirt, fist drawn back to strike a blow when he saw the demon approach. Least, something that sounded like one. This man looked like a skinny little runt, but the way he moved was all wrong. And the way he killed a man with a single punch spoke to the mans power. Not a good sign. His glowing red eyes and those red things on his arms were.... ominous. Alex slowly landed on the ground.

"I do not run..."

The archer was now next to him as well. Alex stood slightly in front of her, ready to shield her.

"But if you wish to grab the girl and go, I will hold these guys off till you get out of here."

And with that, Alex sprung into action. He dug his hands into the cement ground and pulled up a chunk the size of a car with ease. He threw the hunk of earth at the man before taking off into the air for a better view. He wanted to see what this guy could do

Yumo watched as some boy gave him an order in a tone that gave the impression he took orders from them. He took orders from no one and this man needed to learn his place. Just before he attacked the man the guy that was hovering chucked a rock towards him. "Really....a rock?" Yumo said as he took a stance and caught the rock.

It knocked him back a couple feet but he still stood on the ground. He held the rock up and looked at the area, the boy was gone from view and that just left the girl with the bow and some child with a blindfold on. "Hey boy how many people died here in this park?" Yumo yelled towards the man that screamed at him about the elders.

Yumo tossed the rock to the ground and noticed the boy was in the air. With a smirk Yumo pooled a large sphere of blood in his hands and filled it with oxygen. The sphere was about the size of a kickball and would be able to do about the same amount of explosive damage as a large rocket. "Catch." He said as he chucked the sphere towards the man.

If Yumo looked around he would see that the cultists were knocked out, rather than killed. Sage and Alex both conformed to the creed of life, and bereft of their masks and the emblazoned symbols they slowly crawled away. After all, all of them were just bankers, salesmen, managers, cashiers... all unwitting accomplices to a sinister power.

Sage quickly distances herself from Alex, putting distance between her and Yumo as well. She fires off a foam cement arrow, hoping she could immobilize the Blood Weaver by encasing him in rapidly expanding foamcrete. She also decides to call him out. "Give up! You and your alien cult aren't taking this girl!"