The walk to school so far was surprisingly uneventful. There were some noticeable changes though. At some point the government decided to put law enforcement personnel at every street corner in the downtown area. Benji wasn’t sure what the point of that was. Sure they could respond to crimes faster than they normally would but very few laws existed, at least not yet, that would prevent people from using their powers.

Alex and Duncan spent most of the journey theorycrafting potential uses for their respective powers. Benji’s own powers were fairly straight forward, at least from what he had seen so far. He needed to spend some time going over the list of games that he had completed. A few minutes later they turned the corner, the school now within sight.

As they walked through the front entrance the same voice chimed to warn them that they receive another demerit each for missing the last few hours of classes. They ignored it and instead made their way down to the basement levels of the school building where the administrative offices resided. After exiting the stairwell onto the second basement floor Benji was shocked by the amount of students waiting in line.

The paperwork to graduate was fairly simple. Grades were compared against the minimum required to graduate. Any demerits or merits gained through the years applied to his final score. That score would then be applied to his permanent record and would be used to what universities he was qualified for and what jobs he could hold in the future. It wasn’t a perfect system but ensured that people were placed in the job they could do the best.

The administrative staff were efficient so after about 30 minutes he completed his paperwork. He walked back out into the hallway as a full citizen in the eyes of the govenment. Alex and Duncan were still in the office so he stood off to one side out of the way of the waiting students. There wasn't enough time to play on his GSP so he watched his classmates. Many were chatting excitedly about their plans to enter the workforce or to go off to university. A few spent their time practicing various powers and abilities, most were uninteresting.

As he looked down the line he heard a loud stomping from the stairway. From around the corner appeared Chad and Brad Killian. The tall, muscular, twin brothers were the source of much pain and suffering for many students over the last few years. They spent more time working out than they did in class yet for some reason they always got nearly perfect grades. Either through intimidation or bribery their behavior was ignored by the school administration. Most people just gave in to their demands rather than risk upsetting them.

Benji was no stranger to Chad and Brad. After one ugly run in with them in his freshmen year their faces were seared into his mind. But the red haired bullies he saw today weren’t the ones he had avoided just yesterday. Chad now had legs of steel while his brother boasted arms of steel. The two bullies went down the line of waiting students robbing them of any valuables. Watches and phones were taken. The two brothers even took credit sticks, even though they couldn’t use them.

Rather than risk a confrontation Benji walked back towards the administration office. Just as he was about to walk through the door a strong hand jerked him back into the hallway. The next moment he was pushed up against the wall, stuck between Chad and Brad.

“What’s the big rush, blueberry?” A sadistic grin spread across Chad’s face as he spoke.

“Sick burn, bro.” Brad, always the yes-man, praised his brother.

“Guys, I don’t want any trouble. I’m just waiting on my friends.”

“Well, don’t worry. My brother and I will keep you company.” Benji looked to his left just past Chad’s shoulder to see the line of students slowly backing away. “Hey, don’t pay attention to those cowards. We’ll take care of them once we’re finished with you.”

Brad leaned back to yell at the waiting students. “You heard my bro! Any of you useless little shits try to run away and I’ll personally fuck you up.”

“Good job, brother. Now we won’t have anyone interrupting our quality time with blueberry here.”

Brad crossed his arms causing a slight screech of steel on steel. “Hey, bro, shouldn’t this guy be paying us for spending so much of our valuable time keeping him company?”

“Excellent idea, brother.” Chad said with a sadistic grin on his face.

Benji knew the conversation was quickly heading in the wrong direction. “Guys, I’m gonna be honest here. I don’t have anything worth your time. Just my GSP but it’s DNA locked.”

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“Hand it over, blueberry. That's not a problem for me.” Benji reached into his front pocket for his GSP and gave it to the red haired bully.

“That’s a good boy. Now turn out your pockets.”

“Guys, I don’t have anything else.”

Brad put his hand on Benji’s left shoulder and began to apply pressure. “You lyin' to my bro? You got that backpack don't ya?"

Benji had no way to give them his backpack even if he wanted to. A second later Benji went from standing up to doubled over to his knees. Searing pain shot through his torso as he tried to catch his breath. Through the agony he heard the two brothers laughing above him.

He gently placed both hands against his chest and tried to focus his mana only to have it slip away. He worked quickly to focus his mana again. He didn't know how much time he had before the next punch came. He muttered ‘heal’ under his breath, completing the spell. He leaned forward a bit more in an effort to hide the golden glow. As the spell ran its course he saw Alex and Duncan walk out of the administration office.

“What the hell are you doing to our friend!”

Alex’s voice barely registered as two ribs snapped back into place. The pain faded away but exhaustion remained from the effort. The distraction caused Chad and Brad to away from the wall. Benji took the opportunity to slide out of the way, scrambling towards Duncan’s outstretched hand. He was quickly pulled to his feet as Alex moved in front of him to cut off the advancing bullies.

Chad laughed at the sight. “And what do you plan on doing, shitstick?”

“I plan on protecting my friend.” Alex began to bounce from side to side with his hands up in front of him, a stance similar to the movie they saw back at Benji’s house.

“Man, you’re as dumb as you look. Teach him a lesson, brother.”

“With pleasure, bro.” Brad lunged only to have his hands grasp thin air. Alex ducked out of the way to land a few quick punches to Brad’s kidneys. The enraged bully swung his steel arms around but again Alex barely slipped out of the way. He landed a few shots on Brad’s stomach but the bully grabbed both his fists. Alex tried to pull back his hands but they wouldn’t budge.

“Got ya now you little prick.” Brad grinned as he applied pressure to Alex’s hands. Alex screamed in pain as he fell to his knees.

Benji felt a lump forming in his throat as he watched his friend helpless in front of him. He looked towards the other students cowering back at the far end of the hallway. No help would be coming from them. With no other choice he

He leaned in to whisper to Duncan. “Do whatever you can to distract them. I’ve got a plan.”

Duncan looked confused but did as he was told. He pulled his sketchbook from his backpack and flipped through, pulling out pages as he went. Soon balls of fire filled both hands. After a moments thought he sent them both flying towards Brad and Chad.  Brad released Alex, stepped in front of his brother and crossed his arms in front of him, bracing for the impact.  The fireballs exploded on impact but the flames disappeared before they causing any lasting damage.  Benji used the moment to decide on which game to draw from with Nerd Lord's Majesty.  A grin crossed his face as one particular game came to mind.

“Nerd Lord’s Majesty→ Empire Battlers 9→ Lu Bu.”

A blinding light appeared a meter away causing everyone watching to cover their eyes. The light contorted and grew into the shape of about 2 meters tall. As the light began to away it left behind a man wearing a flower patterned robe underneath a suit of black lacquered armor. He wore an ornate leather belt with a golden clasp in the shape of a mythical lion. His black hair was pulled back into a complicated braid. One hand held a 3 meter long crescent halberd and the other held a composite bow with its quiver slung across his back. Lu Bu looked around for a moment before walking forward to kneel before Benji.

“I live to serve you, my lord.”

A dozen questions filled his mind about what just happened but Benji pushed them back as he spoke to the man before him. “Protect everyone in this hallway from those two men.”

Lu Bu stood to face his master. “Do you wish their death, my lord?”

“No. Protect us without causing permanent injuries.”

Lu Bu placed his bow and quiver on the ground before shifting his spear out in front of him. “As you wish, my lord.”

Chad stepped forward with his brother to face the man. "Who's this fuckin pansy in the bath robe? You know what? Who cares. Let's get 'em brother!"

Brad stepped forward and swung at Lu Bu who simply raised his spear to deflect the blow. He brought around his spear and struck Brad in the solar plexus with the blunt end of the shaft. Brad fell to the floor gasping which spurned Chad into action. He ran forward and jumped into the air, thrusting his massive steel legs towards Lu Bu but the warrior simply sidestepped sending the bully crashing to the floor. Both men scrambled back to their feet, their faces red with embarrassment.

“The weak should know when they’re beaten.” Lu Bu showed nothing but contempt for the two brothers as he leveled his halberd towards them. “Stay down, worms.”

From the end of the hallway he heard someone trying to force their way through the crowd. Benji watched as Mr. Kemper, his history teacher, appeared from the crowd. The middle aged man ran forward to Benji.

“Benji, what the hell happened here? I could hear the fighting from the top of the stairs.”

Benji sighed. “Sir, Chad and Brad went down the hallway robbing students. When they came to me they took my property but wouldn’t leave me alone. Brad struck me in the ribs.” He pointed back over his shoulder. “My two friends stepped in to protect me. In the end I summoned my retainer to protect everyone from Chad and Brad.”

“I’m assuming you and your friends completed your paperwork already?” Benji nodded to him which caused anger to flash over his teacher’s face.

“Instead of this being taken care of on school property I now have to call the police since you idiots decided it was a good idea to attack citizens!”

It was a fact which had slipped Benji’s mind. People didn’t become citizens until after graduating high school. Many rights and privileges were afforded to citizens, including harsh punishment for any non-citizen who assaults them. Chad and Brad had effectively elevated their punishment from a simple in-school suspension to possible jail time.

“Benji, I want you to take your friends and your retainer to my classroom and wait for me there.” The teacher pulled out his phone while the two bullies looked in Benji's direction. Shaking his head, Benji walked over and used Heal on Alex. He heard audible cracks as the broken bones in his friend's hands settled back into place. After retrieving his property, and with Duncan's help, they lead Alex back up the hallway towards Mr. Kemper's classroom.