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The air crackled with sparks as Dashuan faced the other Aberrant.
The destroyed office around them bore silent witness to the disarray that had unfolded moments ago. Through the hole in the wall, Dashuan could see the figure slowly rising to their feet, electricity dancing across their skin.
"Look," Dashuan started, his voice wavering, "I didn't mean for any of this to happen. I was just trying to help."
The Other's response came in the form of a lightning-fast blitz attack.
Before Dashuan could blink, a searing fist connected with his open jaw, sending him flying through what remained of the office windows. The impact would have killed a normal human, but Dashuan merely felt disoriented as he plummeted toward the street below at an uncontrollable rate.
Intuition kicked in, and he managed to stabilize his flight just before hitting the pavement below. Cars swerved to avoid him, horns blaring as pedestrians screamed and ran for cover.
Dashuan hovered a few feet above the ground, his heart pounding as he took in the sea of terrified onlookers.
"That fucking hurt..." He muttered, rubbing his jaw with the back of his soot-covered hand.
A thunderous clap from above drew his attention. The Other had leaped from the office, landing on the street with enough force to crater the asphalt. More electricity arced around them, setting nearby vehicles ablaze as if fully directed to annihilate any in sight.
Dashuan paused; He'd never been in a real fight before, let alone against another Aberrant. Yet now, too many lives were at stake for him to just run away like his heart screamed for him to do.
"Hey!" he blurted out, trying to sound more audacious than he felt. "We don't have to do this. We're both Aberrants, right? We should be on the same side! Let's just leave the--"
The Other's response was to rip a streetlight from the ground and hurl it like an Olympic javelin. Dashuan barely managed to dodge, the metal pole clipping his ankle and sending him crashing into a nearby bus stop.
"ow--Okay fuck talking!" Dashuan sighed. He shot forward, attempting to tackle his opponent.
The Other was ready.
They sidestepped with vicious swiftness, seizing Dashuan's arm and using his momentum to slam him into the side of a parked car that set off with the voltage and impact.
Dashuan found himself momentarily stunned, head reeling from actually being hurt after years of being sheltered.
The Other extorted their momentary edge while he coughed, letting loose 3 consecutive strikes to the cranium as they held him in place by the shoulder. Each punch felt like being hit by a runaway freight train, and Dashuan could do little more than try to fruitlessly block with his wrists.
A particularly vicious uppercut followed which sent Dashuan soaring into the air 40 feet. As he tumbled, a realization struck him. The Other wasn't following him up with another attack.
"You can't fly?" He asked almost deliriously, catching himself mid-air and staring as his chest puffed in and out.
Seizing the opportunity that he now had, Dashuan steadied himself and looked down. The Other was still on the ground, they cocked their head but only responded by charging a coiled mass of electrified energy into each hand.
Dashuan took a deep breath, steeling his nerves.
"I can fix this, just need to get him to calm down, I'm faster--" he muttered as he dove.
Dashuan picked up momentum as he plummeted towards his opponent with both fists pointed and balled.
The Other looked up just in time to see Dashuan's fist connect with their face just as they were raising their hands to unleash the culmination of whatever they had been charging.
The impact sent shockwaves through the city block, shattering nearby windows from skyscrapers and delis alike, setting off car alarms for blocks as the sound waves finally reached their chassis.
The Other stumbled back, clearly dazed but not as deterred as even dashuan had been moments ago by their attacks. Dashuan tried to copy the combination they had laid on him earlier.
His inexperience showed; His form was sloppy, his strikes lacking the precision of a truly trained fighter and falling shy of anything but glancing the bobbing target.
Recovering quickly, the Other ducked under Dashuan's last wild swing and countered with a devastating elbow strike to his knee cap as they fell to the ground. The air rushed fromDashuan's lungs as he let out a girlish shriek and he doubled over in pain.
The Other seized Dashuan's arm just before hitting the floor, twisting it behind his back in a painful lock and spinning him to the ground.
Dashuan struggled, but the Other's hold was like the pressure of the deep ocean. With a swift movement, they drove their knee into Dashuan's spine, slamming him face-first into the pavement and grinding it as he slid forward bloodily.
Dashuan's vision swam, He could feel the heat from their electrically charged body no longer present. Panic began to set in. He was outmatched, outskilled, and running out of options.
Then he remembered.
His flight.
With a burst of exertion, Dashuan pushed off from the ground, rocketing into the air with the Other jumping to cling to his back. They shot upwards with voltage exploding downward like a freak lightning storm.
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They flew past the tops of buildings, higher and higher until the city looked like a scale-sized model below them. The Other, caught off guard by the sudden ascent and the endurance through the pulse of energy, loosened their grip.
Dashuan seized the instant he felt it, twisting in midair to break free from them. For a split second, the two Aberrants faced each other, suspended high above the city as the clouds rushed past them.
Then gravity took hold.
The Other plummeted, unable to soar. Dashuan watched for a moment, torn between relief and concern as he let loose a groan of pain. His hesitation was short-lived.
The Other crashed through the roof of a nearby building, disappearing from view.
Dashuan descended cautiously, landing on the edge of the hole left by the Other's impact.
Dust and debris filled the air, obscuring his vision. He peered into the darkness, straining to see any sign of movement. "Hello?"
"Are you okay?" He called out, almost concerned but the falter in his voice was more shaded by the agony he felt physically.
A bolt of electricity shot out of the gloom, catching Dashuan square in the Solar Plexus. He flew backward, tumbling across the rooftop before coming to a stop near the edge and roaring in suffering.
The Other arose from the cavity, their military suit was torn and sparking in places where it was missing, but otherwise seemingly unharmed by the battle so far.
Dashuan struggled to his feet, his chest smoking from the electrical attack while the roof gravel crunched beneath his feet. "WHY?!" he panted.
The Other rushed forward, closing the distance between them in the blink of an eye. Dashuan braced himself for another onslaught, but this time he was ready. As the Other threw a punch, Dashuan ducked and countered with an uppercut of his own just in time targeted at their kidney.
The blow connected, sending the Other back wobbly.
The Other recovered quickly, slipping into a stance that Dashuan vaguely recognized as Muay Thai from the fighting matches he sometimes would see playing on the televisions at the stadium.
The fight was only 15 seconds to the average observer.
Buildings crumbled beneath their feet as they traded blows and dashed between them, each impact powerful enough to send chunks of roof falling to the city street.
Cars were crushed, roads were torn up, and the air was filled with the sounds of destruction and the panicked screams of civilians fleeing the area with no hope of escaping the armageddon the Aberrants brought.
Dashuan managed to land a solid hit after sustaining the brunt of the assault with no offensive, sending the Other crashing through several levels of the building.
Before he could catch his breath, they were back, electricity crackling around their fists as they unleashed a flurry of lightning strikes that ripped the paint off the brick walls that were now shaking as the supports to the building shuddered angrily.
Neither combatant was willing to give an inch; not understanding the sheer level of devastation being caused to the city-block.
The Other moved with the precision of a trained killer that had seen years of combat. Dashuan couldn't help but marvel at the Other's abilities. The power behind their attacks–
It was unlike anything he'd ever seen even in over-blown superhero movies.
Part of him was frightened, but another part was enraptured entirely by the limitless power he and the other seemed to possess–
and for the first time in his life...
He wasn't alone.
Here was another person like him, with powers beyond human comprehension.
The moment of cautious elation of distraction cost him.
The Other caught him with a devastating roundhouse kick, sending him crashing through a nearby ledge and plummeting to the floor. Cement bricks crashed over him as he tumbled to the street below, landing in a heap amidst the twisted metal and broken concrete.
Dashuan grunted, his whole body hurting.
He'd lost track of how long they'd been fighting, but the sun was now low on the horizon, casting long shadows across the ravaged street that used to be in front of the Mayor's office. Two entire blocks had been reduced to rubble, a testament to the destructive power of their conflict.
He struggled to his feet, swaying slightly.
The Other landed a short distance away heavily, their stance now more wary. Dashuan could see that they were breathing heavily, their movements slightly slower than before; possibly due to the high amount of energy needed to use their power.
The fight was taking its toll on both of them.
"We don't have to do this," Dashuan said, his voice raspy. "Look around us. We're destroying the city. Is that what you want?"
The Other remained silent, but Dashuan thought he saw a flicker of hesitation in their body language.
He pressed on, taking a tentative step forward and putting out his hand against the orange glow of the evening sun.
"I don't know who you are or why you're doing this, but I'm not your enemy. I'm like you. We're both Aberrants. We should be helping each other, not fighting."
The Other's aggressive stance softened slightly, the electricity crackling around them dimming.
A loud new sound cut through the air—
The whir of helicopter blades and the rumble of heavy vehicles.
Both Aberrants looked up to see a fleet of military helicopters approaching, accompanied by a column of tanks rolling down the street.
The National Guard had arrived.
Dashuan's heart sank. He knew how this would look to the authorities-– two super-powered individuals wreaking havoc in the heart of the city. They wouldn't differentiate between him and The Other. To them, they were both threats to be neutralized.
The lead helicopter's speaker crackled to life. "This is the National Guard. Both of you, stand down immediately. You are under arrest for destruction of property, endangerment of civilian lives, and rampant terrorism. Surrender now, or we will open fire."
Dashuan raised his aching hands, trying to appear non-threatening even after all he had done. "Wait!" he shouted.
"There's been a misunderstanding. I was trying to help!"
His words were drowned out by the sound of gunfire.
The Other moved with incredible speed, dodging the hail of bullets and launching themself at the nearest helicopter in one fluid motion. They ripped through the aircraft's tail rotor, sending it into a tailspin as the electricity ripped it to pieces in the sky.
More helicopters opened fire, their rounds pinging harmlessly off both Aberrants, but the higher caliber was able to push them back. Tanks began to advance, their massive guns turning to target the super-powered combatants.
Dashuan found himself torn.
Every instinct screamed at him to flee, to get as far away from this nightmare as possible; But he couldn't just leave now. Despite everything, he still wanted to help, to somehow make this right with his own hands just as he had made it worse.
He took to the air, trying to draw fire away from populated areas of citizens still hiding in their metropolitan apartments. "Stop!" he exclaimed at the Other. "You're making it worse!"
The Other disregarded him, continuing their assault on the military forces. They moved with ferocious purpose, electricity angling from their body to disable vehicles and weaponry as they crashed into the front line.
Dashuan watched in awe and horror as they single-handedly held off an entire military detachment like they were beating back lemmings from a cliff.
One of the helicopter pilots, perhaps out of pure desperation, fired a large caliber round directly at the Other's head and found its mark with untested ammunition.
Time slowed for Dashuan as he watched the slug ripping through the air.
To his shock, It didn't bounce off the Other's skull, but the impact was enough to crack their visor. The mask fell away, revealing the face beneath with a burst of blood streaming from the nose of the aberrant.
Dashuan gasped.
The Other was a woman, probably no older than he was but that would have been obvious. Her features were twisted in a mix of rage and pain, her pale eyes glowing with the same electrical energy that surrounded her body.
For a moment, their stares met.
The regard was shattered by the boom of a tank cannon. The Other turned just in time to see the shell hurtling towards her. With a cry of defiance, she unleashed all her remaining power.
The resulting explosion was blinding. Dashuan was thrown backward by the force of it, tumbling through the air before regaining control.
When he could see again, his heart sank.
The Other lay motionless in a smoking crater. The military forces were closing in, weapons trained on both of them. "Final warning," A voice from A helicopter boomed.
"Surrender now, or we will use lethal force."
Dashuan hovered in the air, his face unreadable.
He had three choices, each with potentially devastating consequences.
He could surrender, and give himself up to the authorities. It would mean the end of his freedom, possibly his life if they were as bad as his parents had warned; But it might also mean a chance to explain, to make them understand that he wasn't a threat.
He could try to escape, and use his flight to get away from the military forces; But that would mean leaving the other Aberrant behind, abandoning her to whatever fate the government had in store for their kind.
Or he could fight--
Use his powers to save her, to fight off the military, and to escape together....
That meant breaking his promise to his parents, using his abilities against normal humans just like them. It would confirm every suspicion, every mistrust that people had about Aberrants.
Dashuan weighed his options.
The Other stirred slightly, her eyes flickering open to meet his gaze once more. In that second of recognition, he saw a reflection of himself--lost, afraid, alone in a world that feared and abhorred him for what he was.
His decision made, Dashuan took a deep breath and prepared himself for what was to come.
Whatever happened next would change his life forever. There was no going back now.