Ravela felt light as a feather as she dodged the first goon’s swing at her. Sidestepping it by pulling herself out of the way using her telekinesis.

Using his punching the void turned forward-stumble to her advantage she kicked the man’s legs out from under him without slowing down and rushing on toward the other man barreling towards her.

Undoubtedly, having superpowers and using them skillfully were two different things. These men behaved more like they usually would. Moving slowly and trying to punch hard without making use of the super strength as a whole.

They were sturdy targets, but in the end, they were just targets. Sure they might hit her, but only if she fought with her eyes closed. Ravela gave out a liver hook that sent even these men to the floor here and broke a nose with a high kick there. She slid on the floor and flipped off the walls and ceiling as she flung these guys every which way.

It looked like a very one-sided beatdown, but there were a lot of strong punches kicks and desperate swings to be aware of. The girls may have been able to do this just as easily but they could not have avoided getting hit by these men as Ravela did, well maybe Laena could have and Safora might have been able to just tank the hit. But avoiding was better than tanking, and Ravela was running circles around these fools.

A huge grin formed on her face as she had the reign in the hallway. There was no feeling quite like a battle. The hallway flickered and at times it looked like the walls were clean metal plates the wooden doors turned into airlocks as she spun circles kicking two guys at the same time. One in street clothing the other in heavily plated armor wearing an Exohelmet and an electro-assault staff.

The visor cracked under her kick. She was getting disorientated as the scene seemed to blur further.

She made it almost to the end of the hall and the concrete wall swapped for a mirrored panel. There she saw herself clad in her old armor suit, two black bloody knives in her hand, smiling just as though she wasn’t wearing her ring. The image was there for just a split second as she finished one last spin kicking the last man standing through the door leading further into the factory, but it startled her.

Ravela shook off the trance-like state she had been in and follow her last opponent inside. She gave him credit for struggling to his feet again. Even after the pummeling she had dished out to him moments before he managed to stand.

A feeling of calm rolled over herself. She needed this chance to cut loose.

Shots rang out from the massive concrete fortifications with their embrasures. It looked just like in the photos Atla had taken.

Ravela held out her arms and let the bullets shower her as she slowly turned around on the spot. The last man still standing saw Ravela take the bullet shower leaning up against some sort of vault door. That wasn’t there when Atla took the photos.

They had increased their security profoundly after their run-in with the Bomber. It was a shame that this door wouldn’t stop her from getting inside.

Once the bullets stopped flying the man readied himself. The swollen eye and the split lip didn’t bode well for the outcome of this brave last stand.

“Please, tell me there are two dozen more of your sort inside there.”

The man lowered his fists a bit and said, “Doesn’t matter how many are inside. You aren’t getting through me.”

Ravela laughed at this. “Such bravado! But here I am, already through you the first time.”

“What’s your point?”

“My point is, I will get through you….again. I will get through that door too, and that will the harder task of the two.” Ravela mocked the guy some more.

The man put up his hands again. “You done talking?”

“Sure, but next time you get super strength, don’t waste it by fighting like you don’t have it. How do you get that strength, by the way? Because it isn’t second nature for you to be that strong.”

Instead of responding, he tried to lunge at Ravela. She grabbed both his arms, stopping him from putting her in a bear hug. The man groaned as he used all his strength without managing to move his arms an inch.

“I guess I will have to ask someone else then.” Ravela declared, gripping the man’s arms harder. The man tried to headbutt her but she just threw him up at the ceiling with but a twitch of her wrists.

While he was hitting the ceiling she jumped up spinning herself and pulling her legs close to herself. As he came down, she gave him a dropkick that barreled him against a wall.

Ravela landed on her feet looking down at the man slumped against the wall limply. This time he was out of the fight for good.

“Guess I will have to ask someone else then,” Ravela said. She saw submachine gun barrels pop out from the embrasures as well as a small metal ball that landed right at her feet.

Ravela looked confused at the weird thing and just out of instinct layered some barriers around it and also strengthened the barrier around herself enough to give herself a golden hue. She was getting better at controlling the energy flow from herself. As the bullets from the guns bounced off her, she watched the oddly shaped thing curiously.

The explosion came suddenly and shattered at least some of the protection layered around it giving her a good idea of the protection needed to stop this kind of attack if it came her way again.

After the explosion did nothing to her the shooting stopped abruptly.

The embrasures all closed one after the other.

Ravela laughed, the gangsters made the intelligent choice after seeing that their explosive did nothing to her. She wondered what they’d have in store for her once she cracked open the vault door.

Tilting her head from left to right, she was wondering if she could even scratch such a massive steal door. Her eyes wandered up and down the frame and found no weak spot on it.

She put her hand on the cold metal reaching in with her senses. Ravela felt the mechanism inside the door, as though she was touching it with her own finger her invisible hands gliding along the steal bars and wheels.

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Ravela felt the dial on the other side she tried to move the lever and felt the mechanical part inside as it tried to move. Following the bar blocking the mechanism lead her back up to the wheels aligning with the small dial on the other side.

Without noticing, Ravela had closed her eyes entirely involved with the function of the door. The wheels were the key to this door, so she looked at them closer and realized that aligning the three gates allowed the lever to move the bars that held the door shut.

There were pins on the wheels that made aligning these numbers harder. She wondered if anybody stood on the other side of that door watching in horror as the dial began to turn, seemingly on its own, under her invisible hand.

It took her only a moment longer to figure out the right way to spin the wheels and shortly after that, she could turn the lever on the other side, opening the door.

Nobody waited for her on the other side. That, while disappointing, didn’t stop her from continuing her journey further inside the bunker.

She soon realized that the factory exterior was but a facade. They had built a fully functioning bunker inside the city, which was impressive.

Ravela amended the theory of this building had been changed for its purpose after the attack of the Bomber. It must’ve been in operation for a long time.

Once again she wondered how Atla Jaest got photos from inside this building. Had she smuggled herself in with a cargo crate? Had she left that way again? The risks Atla took in her frail little body concerned Ravela.

She searched through the compound without encountering any other superstrong gangsters. Making her way through various rooms, she found a complete kitchen as well as a generator room and air-filtration system. She reached the loading bay vault door which had been left open by those who chose to flee the scene. There was one broken crate left on the ground, inside were brick-sized packages of what appeared to be a powdered drug. The truck pockets in the loading bay were empty. Ravela turned back around. She had her work cut out for her inside the building. There was no way she would be chasing trucks through the city she hadn’t even seen leaving.

As interesting as the interior was, she got back on track working her way backward through the Bunker dragging out the bounty of scum she had beaten down.

She found some of the men in the hallway were already trying to get out of there on their own. Swiping the good leg out from under each of those was enough to send them back to the ground each time she passed them.

Their spirit had been broken so badly that they didn’t even try to fight her anymore. In time they too were collected and dragged out to the curb.

Ravela wondered why no police had shown up yet, but just as she began to wonder what was taking them so long someone else arrived on the scene.

The man person landed on the pavement with such force that the street lamps flickered.

Ravela walked toward the man in his steel armor with a weird-looking grim face mask. She positioned herself right in the middle of the street just as the newcomer was.

“And who might you be?” Ravela offered up a conversation as an option.

She couldn’t see the man’s reaction but she got a better look at the face mask. It was a grim grotesque caricature of a demon snarling.

“Leave them to me,” The metallic voice demanded.

“Well, you see these are for the police. You catch your own scum, I am sure you’re capable of doing that.” She shot back.

“No, these aren’t going to prison.” The voice sounded worked up at the refusal.

Ravela changed her position from the middle of the street to standing between the Bucketman and her recent victims. “Tell you what, you go now and I forget the fact that you just declared yourself a murderer to my face.”

“You’re defending them?” There was a deranged tone swinging in that voice that sent goosebumps down her neck.

“If you make me.” Ravela tensed up as she didn’t know what kind of powers this man had and if she would be able to deal with him like this.

Strengthening her shield again she took a step toward the man. “So, don’t make me and just find victims I wouldn’t be responsible for.”

“I want them.” The voice declared stoically.

‘Big mistake, Tinman!’ She rushed toward him instantly after his declaration. There was no time to waste in a situation like this.

The Tinman clapped his hand together before himself. The fact that his hands were ungloved struck Ravela as odd. He spread his arms wide, confusing her even more. ‘What you gonna do hug me?’

She had almost reached the man when he swung his flat hand together in a loud clap, and as the noise of the clap did not ring out, it suddenly dawned on her. Ravela knew him. He was the Bomber! And she was lunging face-first toward a bomb. The moment the dots finally connected Ravela forcefully started pulling herself to the side.

For the first time, she saw up close how his powers worked. As his palms slowly opened the blastwave rolled over the dodging Ravela. The ignition looked almost beautiful.

Ravela had barely managed to pull herself out of the direct impact of the attack and felt her stored energy take a dip as she endured the force of the attack. Her reckless first strike nearly made her face-check that explosion head-on. ‘That could have turned ugly,’ Ravela thought, as the drain she felt from just being grazed by the explosion had been substantial.

Wasting no time she powered through the blast. Her understanding of the Bomber’s ability had grown from the up-close and personal demonstration.

Step one of not getting splattered all across the road: Don’t let him clap his hands together again.

Step two: Copious amounts of violence.

Step three: Remember not to let him snap his fingers.

She started raining punches and kicks down on the Bomber. Always careful to not let him snap his fingers. The Bomber was different from the goons. He was clearly in tune with his powers and knew how to use his strength. Of all her attacks few effectively connected, and the ones that did were mitigated by half-blocks to turn a strike for the head into a hit on the torso.

Ravela had seen him fight before, but having him as an opponent gave her an even better appreciation for his skills. The man was trained in close combat. After weathering her initial barrage, he got his footing and went on the attack himself.

With the shift came an opening for her opponent to use his explosive ability. Thankfully, only a snap here or there. But it still forced her to use her energy which irked Ravela.

When the first high-kick nearly hit her head and the Bomber got his hand dangerously close to complete a big clap, Ravela switched tracks. Taking full advantage of her mobility superiority thanks to her telekinesis. Ravela drove the Bomber into the empty Bunker, going to great lengths to stop her opponent from launching a snap or clapping at the gangsters all sitting on the curb watching this bizarre turn of events.

Ravela didn’t have time to be bemused about the gangsters she crushed earlier probably now rooting for her so the Bomber wouldn’t kill them where they sat.

Forcing the fight into an enclosed environment served her manifold. For one the Bomber risked harming or disorientating himself with his explosions and if she could force him into the hallway she would be able to lay into him.

The Bomber had no intention of just being steered where she wanted. So, Ravela decided that it was time to use her telekinetic powers to fight dirty. Making her opponent stumble ever so often in doorways or when she forced him to rapidly change his footing.

Maybe she would teach the girl how to deal with a dirty fight, but they weren’t ready for a normal fight yet, let alone one where their opponent used her power in an underhanded way. The short distraction was enough for the Bomber to finally land a proper kick past her defense. Her shield mitigated the impact but not the sudden change of momentum and direction.

A groan escaped her lips as she flew toward the entrance. Grabbing onto the doorframe, Ravela stopped her flight’s trajectory and forcefully grounded herself, landing feet first at the entrance.

There was a small pause in the fight. Ravela felt her pulse hammer through her body. The neon lights of the entrance fully revealed every detail of the bomber's physique, armor, shoes, and exposed hands. Committing it all to memory, she straightened her stance and adjusted her jacket, conveniently leaving her hands on it. Ravela readied herself to use the revolver, though she did not doubt that the Bomber had seen the revolver in her jacket. Luckily he had no idea that it was packing more of a punch than a regular revolver.

“You know, you could easily pick any other location and be a lunatic there, right?” Ravela said trying to exude confidence. “The only thing you will find here is a very premature conclusion to your murder spree.”

The Bomber stood across from her stiffly.

“I want them.” The Bomber simply declared once again.

“Well, you can’t have them. I was here first. Maybe those dirtbags will walk free in a few days. Get them then, for all I care.” Ravela fired back.

“You’re protecting them. Why?” The Bomber seemed completely shut off to reason.

“Because after I beat them up and dug their rat hole out of the ground they’re helpless. You coming to murder them makes me an accomplice. You made me defend them. As far as I am concerned I should do what I did to them to you and leave you on the curb with them for the police.”

The Bomber took a step toward her. “You can’t stop me.”

Ravela took the chance to close the distance and slowly approached him as well. “I will mop the floor with you, friend.”

The monotone voice of the Bomber changed as he said. “I’d like to see you try.”

Ravela had closed the distance far enough to be within hand-to-hand range again. A moment later they were once again throwing punches and kicks at each other.

The Bomber tried to make it out of the building to his victims, and Ravela fought to get him further into Bunker. Before they could make it to they finally got into the hallway Ravela spotted the sloppy work done to the sides of the Bomber’s torso armor.

With great effort, she managed to grab onto the armor just under the armpit of his right side. Ripping it off was easier than she had expected.

She was now eye-to-eye with the Bomber and she heard him smack his lips. Her eyes grew wide as a small orange glimmer appeared on the small opening of his mouth. Instinctively she turned her head to the side. Just in time for a small jet of explosive energy to punch through her shield, missing her head by a hair. She felt the heat on her temple she could smell the burned hair, and without missing a beat Ravela went for the created weak spot in his armor, ramming her knee in his ribs while she arched backward further away from the hot stream the Bomber was creating.

The kick lifted the man off the ground and drove the wind out of his lungs for a moment, which Ravela used to pull her revolver, dodging the haphazard kick aimed at her, put the barrel against the chest piece of the Bomber’s armor with a soft ding, and fired one shot.