Honestly, Desmond had bitten off more than he could chew, and that was putting it lightly. Today's target was different than normal. Instead of taking his time to learn the day-to-day schedule; something that normally takes a week or two; he rushed in after his target left.

The reason was simple: Greed.

After finishing another easy job, he happened to come across this guy taking home a payment, and this wasn't just any payment, it was sizable: Easily more than triple his.

And this was to be expected. This man was a Herculean. A physically enhanced meta-human.

This guy was new to the area, quickly making a name for himself for being a muscle for hire, and that power of his made the price tag go up. And go up it did, evident of the giant duffel bag of cash.

For something so rushed, everything was going so smoothly; The meta left, probably looking to spend some of his paycheck; and he had gotten inside. After getting in he had to find the cash, which wasn't hard, but a problem occurred.

Turns out this muscle brain was cautious, and had an EED, also know as an Ether Emission Detector. Pretty much, if someone used their powers near this thing it would send a signal to a receiver. The problem occurred when Desmond was getting inside. He had to use his own powers to get inside.

Desmond had a unique ability, one that he discovered at an early age. He could go through things. Literally. His power allowed him to become intangible. He could go through walls, floors, ceilings, he could even go through people too.

This power has gotten him out of many sticky situations, and very rarely does someone outside of active duty military have an EED, aside from law enforcement. They weren’t that rare, but weren’t something a low time thug like this guy would normally have.

The meta had left 10 minutes ago, and it took less than two minutes for him to run all the way back, the Herculean types were that strong.

Subsequently, finding someone in your house stealing your stuff wasn’t the best first impression. So the Herculean did the natural thing and attempted to crush Desmond with his bare hands, and thus he finds himself in his current predicament.

The second the Herculean came through the stone brick wall, Desmond knew he was in deep shit. When the meta swung his fist, on instinct Desmond phased into intangibility, and the fist swung harmlessly into the floor, smashing the tile into dust, and breaking the floor, sending the man into his own basement.

The man bellowed in rage as he fell down, and Desmond found that the opportune time to dip, dive and dodge his way away from here. However, Desmond underestimated the Herculean meta-humans. All physically enhanced meta-humans are not equal, some are stronger than others, but one thing remains a constant: The enhanced strength gives them major benefits that make them far more superior than the average human. Physically enhanced meta-humans obviously have more strength than average, but that increased strength also comes with a much higher endurance, with some Herculeans able to shrug off bullets, and other projectiles. Along with that high strength also comes with surprising speed.

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That surprising speed is exactly what caught Desmond with a punch to the side. Despite being almost seven feet tall, this man almost instantly came out of the hole he made in his floor, and slammed his fist into Desmond. Desmond promptly flew until he hit the wall, crashing through the cinder blocks and insulation, and hitting the outside wall of the building next door.

It all happened so fast that Desmond could barely respond, making his body intangible only after he flew through the first wall. In an attempt to escape he phased through the wall and kept going, until he went through the outside of the second building. Thinking he had a moment of respite, Desmond quickly looked around and found a manhole. Immediately he made his way to it, only to have to phase as a fist almost took his head off.

Through the second building came the Herculean, and finally he addressed the thief, realizing through the haze of his range that he was dealing with a meta-human like himself.

“You’ve got a lot of balls to think you can steal from me you fucking worm!”

The man had a deep voice befitting his large stature. Desmond chose not to respond, looking for an alternative than the manhole which was now blocked. Desmond can’t phase for long, and if he phases for short amounts of time he can stretch out how much he can use it at once. This however, went unnoticed by the large statured mans head, and as he didn’t get a response he immediately went on the attack again. Quickly stomping his foot down the ground cracked and the pavement under Desmonds foot flipped up forcing Desmond into the air.

While in the air Desmond was grabbed by his throat and he panickedly pulled out his pistol, a silenced M9A1, and proceeded to unload the whole magazine into the tank of a man. Alas, Herculeans can’t be taken down by a weapon of such small caliber. Grinning with malice, the man darkly said: “Got’cha, ya little shit!”

As a last resort, through adrenaline and instinct Desmond phased his whole body, and shoved his left hand into the center of the large man's chest. As the man's eyes widened, Desmond Clutched his hand and yanked, pulling on something he couldn’t see.

The reaction was immediate as the man let out a ear piercing screech. He clawed at his chest, and started to shrink as he lost mass. He fell to his knees as his skin started to flake as he crumbled, screaming in pain all the while. This continued for about ten seconds until the once seven foot tall Herculean was nothing more than a pile of dust, waiting to be scattered in the wind.

Struck to silence, Desmond stared blankly as the once powerful man crumbled to nothingness. He had to hold back the urge to vomit, at least until he felt it. Quite literally a surge of power coursed through his body as Desmond grew about six inches, making him a staggering six-nine. His hands got bigger and he could feel his clothes, boots, and gloves get tighter. It took around a full minute for the changes to finish, and by the end of it he was panting.

It’s not like growing six inches suddenly feels nice, Desmond grit his teeth to keep himself from screaming as he experienced excruciating growth pains. When it was finally over, he grabbed a nearby wall for support only to crush it as he grabbed the corner. He stared dumbly at the wall as realization kicked in; He had stolen that man's power! Could he still phase though?

The answer was yes, and if anything it seemed easier, smoother. It was almost like he had given himself an upgrade.

The sounds of sirens snapped him out of it though as he quickly went back and grabbed his bag and the duffel, which was on the second floor. He didn’t spare his ability and grabbed his loot and immediately phased through the floors and then the ground, disappearing into the night.