It helped that Peter recognized me, otherwise I’m not sure he would’ve listened to a strange person suddenly appearing out of nowhere to quote old movie lines and invite him to step into a suspicious hole floating in the air.

We crept toward the rest of his group and Peter whispered to them, “Come on, let’s go.”

They didn’t budge, of course.

“That big guy used a power on them so now they can’t move,” I said.

“Oh, that explains why they all stepped off the road,” Peter said. “What are we gonna do? He’ll be back any moment.”

“This portal will take you safely away,” I said. “You step through first and wait on the other side. I’ll pass the others through to you.”

“Seriously?”

“Got a better idea?”

“Okay then,” Peter said, and jumped through the portal. I could see him on the other side, standing in a field far on the other side of the river. He turned around and looked back. “That’s pretty cool.”

“Hang on,” I said. “I’ll be back.”

I went over and grabbed the nearest Player, hiking them over my shoulder. It was like picking up nothing. I was constantly surprising myself with how strong I’d become. I grabbed the next Player and slung them over the other shoulder, then dashed back to the portal. I pushed them through to Peter’s waiting arms, and as soon as they went through the portal the charm lifted and they could move again. Flint’s control power must’ve had a range.

I went back and grabbed the other two. I had almost made it back to the portal when I heard someone behind me.

“And just what the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Flint snarled.

I stopped with my back to him, the portal about five feet in front of me.

I was strong now, yes, but was I strong enough?

I could hear Flint’s boots crunching on the gravel of the road as he approached me. It was now or never. Let's hope I was strong enough.

Grabbing the two Players dangling over my shoulders by fistfulls of their clothing, I heaved them off and tossed them feet first through the portal. The moment their heads went through, I managed to take one step toward following them.

“Don’t move,” Flint’s voice came from behind me.

I froze in place. Oh crap.

He could keep me from moving, but not from thinking. I closed the portal with a thought. At least the kids were safe. Now I just had to figure out how to get myself out of this sticky situation.

“That was a bad move, pal,” Flint said. “Turn around.”

I turned around without even thinking about it. Yeah, this was just craptastic.

He was standing there with his arms folded across his chest glowering at me as I stood there, helpless under his commanding aura. That was quite the power he had. It’d be fun using it later. You know, if I survived long enough.

“Hang on,” he said. “I know you.”

And just when I thought things couldn’t get any worse.

“You’re the guy who was with the elves. Hey look everybody, we got ourselves a celebrity here.”

The rest of the Silver Sword wandered over, having secured the barges to the dinosaur again.

Maybe this was a good thing. Maybe I can still talk my way out of this. If only I could talk.

“Crap,” I said. Oh. I could talk. That’s right, he did only say not to move. “Uh, hi there. How’s it going?”

“Just peachy,” Flint said. “You must think you’re hot shit, huh?”

“Actually—”

“Think you can just waltz in here and screw with my fun because you’re famous or something? Or maybe you think cause you’ve got them elves on your side you’re untouchable, huh? Well I got some news for you, buddy boy, ain’t no elves round here to come save you.”

His chums chortled at that.

“This is all just a big misunderstanding,” I said.

“Nah, don’t think so,” Flint said as he stepped right up to me. “You cost me some loot from them pipsqueaks so I think it’s only fair you pay up for them.”

“See what he’s got on him, Flint,” the Silver Sword archer said.

“Yeah,” Flint said. “I think I will.”

The good news is I never carried much on my person anymore. Everything of any value was kept in the extra-dimensional space of my inventory. I had a coin purse with some gold in it so I wouldn’t have to use my inventory in public for minor purchases, but it didn't have much in it.

I stood there while Flint frisked me. It felt more like I was being smacked around, but I'm sure the main intent was to see what I was carrying. He was grinning when he started, but once he’d slapped me down and reached into all my pockets only to come away with that coin purse and a small cube, the grin was gone.

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"Message cube, huh?" He tossed the cube on the ground and crushed it under his boot. “No more messages for you." Then he opened the purse and saw what was in it. "What gives, huh? Who goes around with nothing but the clothes on their back and a few gold?”

“You sure that’s all he’s got?” said his pal. “That don’t seem right.”

Flint felt the fabric of my armored coat between his fingers. “This is nice, but ain’t my style.”

“I like that cloak,” said another one of the mercenaries, the supporter.

“Yeah?” Flint said, “it’s all yours.”

The bully unclasped my elven cloak and tossed it to his comrade.

Pity Peter’s resistance to charms was a gift and not a power. I couldn’t copy gifts and I sure could’ve used a way to get rid of that commanding aura jazz.

“Oh, lookie here,” Flint said, looking down. “I like those.”

Oh come on. The cloak was one thing, but was he really going to take those? I struggled, but it was no use. I literally couldn’t move.

He reached down and pulled my elven knives from their sheaths.

“Elven made, very nice,” he said as he studied them. He flipped them around in his hands with practiced ease. He was an Expert with knives, after all.

“I wouldn’t take those if I were you,” I said.

“I wouldn’t make threats you can’t back up if I were you,” he said. “How are you gonna stop me?”

“Obviously I can’t,” I said. “But those knives are special to the elves and they are very particular about who gets to have them. You can take them, but you won’t be keeping them for long.”

“Wow, that sounds scary. A bunch of tree-huggers gonna come tickle me until I give them back?”

It was my turn to chuckle. “For someone who’s as strong and experienced as you are, you sure are ignorant about a lot of things.”

“What did you just call me?” he said.

Crap. Perhaps ignorant was not the smartest word to use.

He stuck out his tongue and drew the flat of an elven blade across it. “I think you just volunteered to help me test how sharp these knives are, buddy boy.”

I wonder if he'd still be licking that if he knew where it had been?

All I needed to do was get him to uncharm me, then I could use some movement powers and escape far, far away.

“I guess the rumors about you weren’t true after all,” I said.

“Yeah? What rumors?”

“That you’re some kind of A-Rank super-team, the best of the best. But here you are, too scared to fight someone head on. Like all bullies, deep down you’re nothing but a coward who can only pick on someone who can’t fight back.”

“You really think that’ll work on me?” he said. “Taunting me so I’ll let you loose for a fair fight? How dumb do you think I am?”

“Can I just say no comment? I’m pretty sure answering that will only make things worse for me.”

“You got a mouth on you, I’ll give you that, buddy boy.” He stepped right up close to me, raising one of my knives up and pressing the tip against my lip. “Maybe I oughta just cut out your tongue, that oughta shut you up.”

Ah well, in for a penny.

“Oh, fig man,” I said, trying not to move my mouth too much. I could already taste blood in my mouth from a puncture of my upper lip. “You really are scared of a real fight, aren’t you? Fathetic.”

“You know what?” he said, taking a few steps back. “You win. I'll let you fight me. You can move now, but don’t go anywhere.”

Crap. So much for escaping through a portal. At least I could move again, though. Who knows, maybe I could take him in a fight.

Yeah right. In my dreams. I’d be lucky to get through this with my head still attached.

Ah well, in for a pound.

I stretched my neck and stepped casually into the middle of the road, facing him. He took up a position about fifteen feet away, facing me.

“Hope you don’t mind if I use one of my new favorite weapons,” he said, flipping a stolen knife around in his hand. “I only need one.”

“The sportsmanlike thing to do would be to let me use the other one,” I said.

“Probably,” he said, but made no move to offer me the weapon.

Then I had a thought. I copied a power.

“Give it to me,” I said, using his own commanding aura ability against him.

He looked at me for a moment. “Nah.”

Crud nuggets. Maybe it didn’t work on someone who had the same power? Or maybe he just made his saving throw.

“Can I have it?” the Silver Sword archer said.

“I like that idea better,” Flint said, and tossed the extra knife to his comrade.

Ordinarily, those elven knives were what I’d use to fight. I’d even made them affinity weapons. So what now? I wasn’t confident that trying to get fancy with affinity control would be a good idea, and I hadn’t really fought with anything else since learning to fight like an elf so I didn’t have much confidence in other powers either.

Straight up omni-do it was.

At least I could put a few buffs on myself, and I could reapply the debuff I’d just learned how to do from Peter onto the big bully in front of me, but I still didn’t like my odds. I needed to get at least one good hit in and force him to use his That All You Got? power to take no damage from it. If I could crawl away from this fiasco with the ability to copy that one I’d call it fair.

“Ready buddy boy?” he said.

Buddy boy. I think I liked that even less than elf boy.

“Does it matter?” I said.

“Not in the least.”

“Figured.”

And then he came at me. He was fast, but no faster than I was. That debuff seemed to be working. He also must have been underestimating me because the lunge he made at me with the knife was half-hearted at best. I deflected it easily using a move from the Israeli martial art krav maga before stepping in close to thrust the heel of my palm up into his nose, then leaping back out of range.

It was a solid hit that, under ordinary circumstances, should have broken his nose and sent him reeling. Instead, he absorbed the hit but his health bar showed he’d suffered no damage. Mission accomplished: I’d made him use his That's All You Got? power to ignore an attack.

While watching his health I also noticed that using the power had zorched a significant amount of his mana. I had been wondering how the game would balance that ability so that he wouldn’t keep spamming the power to become invulnerable. At this rate, he could use it maybe two more times before he’d be too low on mana. It made me wonder how much mana he had when he was full, and how many times I’d be able to use it with the mana I had.

Only one way to find out. I immediately copied the power.

“Nice hit,” he said. “That would probably hurt an ordinary person. Too bad for you I’m extraordinary.”

“And people call me modest.”

He took the initiative and stepped toward me again, slashing the knife in front of him back and forth. The careless, almost lazy way he’d attacked before was gone, and now he was forcing me to dodge while leaving no opening for a counter-attack.

“Come on, Flint,” the Silver Sword archer moaned. “Stop playing and finish up so we can complete this job. I wanna hit up the Gentlemen’s Club.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Flint said, continuing to jab and slash at me. “Alright.”

I finally saw the opening I was waiting for. He reached a bit too far with a lunge and I took advantage of his precarious balance to grab the arm holding the knife and go for a throw. I realized too late that I had just been suckered into falling for a feint.

Before I knew it, the handle of the knife was in his other hand and its blade was buried to the hilt in my abdomen.

Oh crap.