Sam rushed outside as the gunfire continued, nearly knocking over the sleepy cook as he stumbled back inside the diner.

“Better get somewhere and hide, man,” the cook nervously said to Sam, “Those gunshots sound close!”

“Thank you, but there's somewhere I have to go,” Sam managed to say as he began running down the sidewalk toward the shots.

It did not take very long at all to find the source of the gunfire.

About a block away from the diner, on the edge of the city, was a lone gas station and a rundown junkyard. The gunshots were coming from two individuals at the gas pumps. One had looked like they had pulled up to refuel their car's tank, while the other looked like they had flew onto the scene and haphazardly. Both looked to be men in their mid to low twenties. Sam wondered if this was perhaps a gang related drive-by shooting gone wrong.

Sam was half a block away, and tried to gauge the situation for a moment before rushing in to get involved. There could always be more shooters hiding nearby.

After a moment or so passed, not wishing to wait any longer before the men killed themselves, he took a deep breath and materialized his ethereal blue-white wings. His spear had formed into his hands as well.

Taking aim, he planned to launch the spear and knock both of the firearms out of the shooter's hands. With the way he could control where the spear traveled in midair, he hoped to avoid any mortal wounds, and simply disarm and stun them until the police arrived.

After planning this course of action, with sweat beading on his forehead, he arched the spear back and--

POW POW

Two quick shots from the junkyard sounded off. Sam stopped himself from launching his spear and quickly surveyed to see what had happened, or if another gang member had arrived. Looking back to the gas station, it was clear that the active shooters had both dropped their guns and were holding their hands in obvious pain.

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Another person must have joined the fight, from toward the junkyard. Was it gangs, or police? Sam couldn't hear any other gunshots, and didn't see flashing sirens. Although, it was still raining, perhaps his view was obstructed?

Sam changed his course of action from attacking to reconnaissance. He would be better off flying above the action and scoping it out.

As he took to the sky, he watched as the young men started flailing around, looking for their weapons. One had spotted his gun, and stooped down to pick it up. He had nearly had it in his hands, when out of the shadows, a bola-like device had been flung toward his feet. The cords wrapped around his feet, and one of his hands that was close to the ground, completely incapacitating him.

The mysterious third shooter had now revealed himself in the light of the gas station parking lot. He was a black man, and appeared to be around 6 feet tall, and around the same age of the first two men. He wore a ball cap, brown leather jacket, and old ripped jeans. There was also an odd looking rifle strapped across his back.

Could he be allied with one of them? No... He is going for the other guy now.

The new man kicked the firearms away from the battlefield and prepared to brawl with the remaining attacker. Sam could only watch with curiosity as the action unfolded.

I will get involved if things begin turning lethal.

The man from the junkyard walked right up to the attacker and took up a boxer's stance. The man must have trained or something, because he was swiftly dodging punches while landing his own effortlessly. Sam wondered if he would have a chance fighting him, even with superpowers.

It was not long before the attacker was knocked out cold.

The man from the junkyard looked around the gas station, as if he had lost something. He found and picked up two... bottle caps? He then took the odd rifle off of his back and appeared to load the ammo feeder with the caps.

That couldn't have been what he just did. Surely he didn't shoot them across the street with a bottle cap sniper rifle.

The man retrieved a cola from a vending machine near the gas station's entrance, chugged the bottle in seconds, and loaded the new cola cap into his rifle.

Apparently, that's exactly what he did.