“It’s pretty ironic, isn’t it? A man like you, so confident in your strength that you embarrassed me in my own domain, now getting embarrassed out here.”

I leaned on a tree and sank to the ground, noticing the mysterious, feminine voice coming from above me. “If you’re gonna insult me, you better do it to my face. Lasting impressions are the only way you'll be remembered.”

“C’mon, old man,” she said, clearly contemptuous. “Don’t tell me you already forgot about me.”

A section of the tree stretched out, morphing into the face of someone familiar, someone I’ve faced before. I didn’t know why my mind was cursing me with Sunflower’s sneering face again, but I knew I wasn’t going to enjoy it.

I sighed. “If you want to be disciplined again, don’t forget how easy it was for me to do last time.”

“You didn’t do anything!” Her head quickly stretched toward mine, her wooden eyes wide with fury. “The only reason you beat me was because I was alone. The full extent of my power was being held back somehow. Your hurtful words didn’t help either.” Her lips turned into a twisted smile. “But now you know how I felt. To be utterly alone with your own self-deprecating thoughts while the words of the selfish shoot into you like bullets. To be embarrassed and overpowered knowing that there’s nothing you can do to win. You’re weak, and you don’t have anyon-”

With all the talking Sunflower was doing, it was obvious she’d be too distracted to avoid the smack I gave her, a smack that destroyed that section of the tree. It would’ve been impossible for the girl to affect the environment like that, especially after I reduced her body to an orb of aura. That was probably just mind messing with me, tempting me to surrender.

With her head reduced to shards of wood in the grass, it finally gave my head more room to think. If there was one thing she was right about, it was that I didn’t have any allies at the moment to help me win against Daemon. It didn’t help that he teleported me to…

I scanned the area and realized I was sitting near a mountain towering over the forest around me. A pack of small animals—rabbits and gophers—were poking their heads out of a hole a couple of feet away. They didn’t look radioactive, probably because years of breeding had eliminated all the mutation genes from their offspring.

It’s been ten long years, after all.

Another group of rabbits and gophers were scurrying towards the hole, holding various foods and sticks and bringing them to their supposed home. From what I heard from my kid, an avid reader, rodents like these use pieces of nature to create makeshift households underground. If different species were huddling up together in one den like they were, then this place must’ve been cold—cold enough to warrant that level of cooperation. I knew it was cold, though my body prevented me from feeling discomfort from it.

The only place that could’ve been cold enough in New York to cause these uncharacteristic behaviors in those critters had to be Topside Mountain. Daemon said my daughter was near here, and if that was true, then I’d have to find her. But here could she be…?

Oh yeah! On the mountain, obviously.

I took one last look at the little animals heading back into their hole. If those dumb, little animals knew the importance of teamwork, then what the hell was stopping me from knowing too?

Jesus was seemingly a fellow father who took the time out of his life to help Sunshine and I when he didn’t have to. Dante was an asshole and I couldn’t bring myself to honestly forgive him, but he never antagonized my daughter during their time together. Plus, we had a common goal in taking down Jason and, with his ability, we should come out of that battle fine.

Emmy’s feelings about my daughter and I were clearly preprogrammed. As long as I change her mind, her and that shapeshifting power would be on our side completely.

Then, there was Sunshine…

With immense force and an intense level of squeezing, I jumped upward. The cold winds lashed at me, trying to drag me back down, but my ascent was swift and unyielding.

Once my feet met the mountainside, I latched on with my toes and sprinted upward. Each step formed a crater and each step brought me closer to where Sunshine was. Though, that raised a question…

Could my daughter really stay up there this entire time without freezing her butt off?

That was a question that would immediately be answered the second I heard the sound of clapping from behind me. I stopped running, my attention turning to where the sound came from.

First, a rock blurred downwards. Then, another clap rang out. Finally, Sunshine and an older man appeared out of thin air below me. The guy was clapping nonstop while my child was holding on to his back.

“Sunshine, wait! It’s me!”

I leaped off the wall, and I was able to catch her attention with even more screaming.

“Woah, it’s my dad,” she yelled, blipping once again. “Hey, stop clapping! Someone important is trying to talk to me!”

Using the last bits of my energy, I released them from my feet and flew towards them.

I caught the two of them and asked, “Sunshine, care to explain what you’re doing with this stranger? I told you not to hang around strangers unless you can beat them senseless.”

She pointed to the man’s disfigured leg and said, “I did beat him senseless, Jerome. Look at his leg. I totally destroyed him!”

“Ah, that’s my girl,” I laughed. “I should’ve known you had it in you.” I pulled the red haired man up so he could meet me at eye level. Although, he was keeping his eyes shut for some reason. “So you’re the guy who was giving my daughter trouble? Where do you get off fighting nine year olds, you weirdo? I should drop you right now, but I’ll let her do the honors.”

He gritted his teeth. “All of this is complete bullshit! I’m the victim here! This girl didn’t even break my leg. It was someone else she fought. I’m a member of the goddamn Corleone family. You will show me some re-”

I backhanded the guy across the face, putting an end to his shouting. “Sunshine, you fought and defeated two people up there!?”

Sunshine’s eyes glanced to the side, pursing her lips. “Yeah, I didn’t really wanna brag about it. I didn’t think you’d believe me.”

“Of course I believe you! I heard that victory scream of yours through someone’s status board.” I playfully bumped her shoulder which got a soft laugh out of her. “Way to let those vocal chords out, girl. Just like your old man.”

Her cheeks reddened. “Well… uh… Oh, take a look at this.” She pulled out a small green orb out of her hoodie sweatpants pocket. “I was able to successfully retrieve that bag of ‘medicine’ you got for me. Does that… make you proud?”

“Heck yeah it makes me proud. Do you even have to ask?”

“Enough of this stupid talking,” the man cut in. “It’s cold as hell up here, so get me down right this inst-”

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The anger in his voice instantly turned into fear the second I let go of the guy, grabbing my daughter before she could fall too. “Now that he’s gone-”

“Why would you drop him,” she gasped, reaching her hands out to him. “His power was so cool.”

“Don’t worry about the abilities of the forgettable, Sunshine,” I replied, flying back to the ground. “Besides, fighting alongside your dad is gonna be way cooler.”

“You mean… you want me to fight with you?” She sounded shocked. “Like as a team? You trust I won’t get hurt or die?”

“I’d be an idiot to think you couldn’t get hurt or die. That’s just what happens in fighting, and I get hurt all the time. What makes someone strong is whether they can come out the fight winning rather than losing. I think as your father, it’s about time I stop worrying so much about your safety.”

“This sounds really out of character for you. Did something happen while we were separated?”

“I learned that… a lot of people would despise you if they found out about the truth of your disease. You’ll come face to face with a lot of people who want you dead, and if you’re not battle ready enough to take them on, then you’ll die way earlier than I’d like you to. I’ve always sheltered you, but you’re growing up now. Like Jesus said, people see nine year olds as nineteen year olds in our world now. You’re gonna show those enemies just how true that is.”

“Alright, sounds good.”

Once we landed on the ground, I continued with, “I was fighting a really strong guy a couple minutes ago, and I’m gonna need you to help me beat him. Use that Mind Trick ability and turn him into a dog or a cat or any other small-brained animal. Once that happens, I land the final blow, got it?”

She nodded, giving me a thumbs up.

“Alright, I’m officially-”

“Just one thing,” interrupted Sunshine, jumping to the ground. “I’ll be the one landing the final blow. Not you. Even if I lost my bat, I can still handle that much.”

I chuckled. “Whatever you say, kid. As I was saying before, I’m officially tapped out of energy. I think one more big attack and I’ll be out of this transformation too. Spare me some energy if you can.”

“I can only use Mind Trick three times. If you want to guarantee I can land one on him, I can only give you about one Mind Trick’s worth of energy. Is that fine with you?”

I folded my arms. “Sounds good to me. Hit me with it already.”

Sunshine made a finger gun with both hands and aimed at me. A couple seconds passed, and I was wondering what was taking her so long. Then, her eyes widened.

“Jerome, your left!”

As though her words took control of my body, I backed up. It was in that instant where I realized that I had backed up just in time before Daemon’s fist connected with my skull. Without hesitation, I landed a kick on his chest, eviscerating a piece of his beefy flesh.

You'd think the way the blood exploded out of his wound that I had the advantage, yet the massive hole on my own chest suggested I had only entered an equal playing field with him. Though, I would swiftly handle that problem once I absorbed the ball of energy Sunshine shot at my chest.

With the hole filled, it was finally time to end this once and for all.

My daughter kept her distance from Daemon, while I moved in front of her.

Daemon looked at Sunshine, then at me. “Hunter, are you so weak that you need a child to save you in your battles?”

“She's not saving me. She's helping me! If I can't win on my own, then the only answer to the problem is teamwork.”

“Teamwork,” he chuckled. “Interesting, but you're never going to defeat me if you don't know the first thing about my Radius Ability.”

“Maybe give us a hint?”, asked Sunshine.

I watched his body carefully, noticing his fist tightening. “Figure it out yourself, you bane of humanity.”

Something bad was about to happen…

Trusting my instincts, I leapt into the air. Just as I expected, the ground beneath us shattered like glass, revealing the animals that were living underground Luckily, Sunshine had followed me upwards so Daemon’s attack didn't affect her as well.

Daemon appeared before me in the air like a flash of lightning, raising his fists with a stern expression. We exchanged a flurry of intense blows with each other, zombie bone breaking away while blood flew sideways. Sunshine joined in the fray, landing on top of my back and kicking Daemon with an aura filled foot. The man’s eye widened, grabbing our heads and tossing us to the broken earth.

I landed on my feet, accidentally crushing a rabbit. Daemon crushed even more frightful animals than me, leaving the area and I a bloody mess. I snapped out of my regret, tapped into some rage, and charged forward. However, instead of my intended punch, I… hugged him instead.

“Hugging the enemy is unwise, Hunter.”

“I’m not doing this ‘cause I want to,” I said, trying to pull myself off of him.

“Perhaps a challenge is in order. Maybe you’ll actually take this seriously. If you manage to land even a single blow on me starting from the time I say ‘go’, then I’ll-”

His proposal was interrupted by one of the rabbit’s bloody corpse smashing into his face. Then, more pieces of meat began to pummel at our bodies, thankfully tearing our bodies apart. I jumped to one of the tree branches and noticed that my daughter was striking the various corpses toward Daemon like a batter hitting a barrage of baseballs.

Gravity took control of our bodies, forcing Sunshine and I above the trees. The blood from the ground rose up, morphed into orbs, and battered our bodies senseless. They actually felt like baseballs at that moment.

Once the assault was finished, an invisible force blasted us backwards, sending us spiraling through the forest until we crashed back down.

“Sunshine, are you ok?” I slowly sat up and checked my kid’s condition. She had blood all over her clothes, but none of it was hers. That pained expression on her face suggested she was still in bad shape. I helped her sit up. “C’mon, we still gotta win this one, right? Any idea on what his ability could be?”

She took a deep breath, clutching her chest. “It’s something… otherworldly. Like it could be anything.”

“Well, can you pin it down to one? Or at least two?”

She stood up, her legs a little wobbly. “I guess… he can make the opposite of things happen. I know it’s a wild guess, but it makes sense… maybe. He turned the ground that was intact into something broken. He made the blood solid. The gravity made us float instead of keeping us on the ground.”

“Eh… that can’t be right,” I replied, regaining my footing. “He’s done stuff way beyond that.”

“Hey, I said it was a guess. I’m not always right.”

“I still don’t understand why I’m not getting what I want out of you two.”

Daemon was walking toward us, one hand in his pocket and the other curled into a fist. Even from here, I could feel the immense weight of his aura, a weight that was finally taking an effect on me considering my transformation was nearly up. I couldn’t imagine how Sunshine was dealing with-

She was standing… My daughter was standing tall and still ready to fight.

I laughed softly to myself. And here I was thinking she couldn’t handle it.

“It’s pretty obvious he doesn’t want to kill us, so I really don’t know why he’s doing all this,” I whispered to Sunshine.

“Yeah, I noticed that,” she whispered back. “I think there’s only one way we can get him to back off.”

Daemon looked at his necklace and then looked back at us. “You two aren’t necessarily stronger than me, nor are you able to use the full extent of your abilities. What drives you to keep fighting? What makes you think you can defeat me?”

I folded my arms one last time. “It’s ’cause even if it’s impossible to do or laughable to think about, my daughter and I are still going to open up paths to our happiness.”

Sunshine folded her arms too. “If there’s a wall to that happiness, we break it down. If there isn’t a path, we make one ourselves.”

I pumped my fist in the air. “Our bodies are fueled by selfishness and we take pride knowing that's who we are!”

She pumped her fist in the air. “And that's who we'll always be!”

“So we’ll drink up your stupid goals…”

“We’ll drink up your silly wants…”

“And spit that shit out!”

While Sunshine actually did spit on the grass, I spat out another Nuclear Clone who came out roaring like a madman.

I didn't know how much time had passed in those final moments. Punches were given out and given back. Trees collapsed, the ground turned a disturbing crimson, gravity disappeared and reappeared—the battle of strange phenomena was getting stranger by the second. With how much we mindlessly battled, it looked like that plan my daughter and I initially came up with had fallen to the wayside.

At some point, Daemon looked dazed for a little while. It wasn't because of our strikes. His eyes were locked onto that necklace of his, as if it had placed a spell on him. It was an opportunity my daughter chose to take, shooting him with a blast of energy.

It was supposed to change his mind, but it only seemed to reinforce it as he decked Sunshine in the gut, blasting her all the way to a thick tree behind us. I wanted to believe she would get back up, that I didn't have to tell her to continue the fight.

However, every child needed a confidence boost every now and then…

“Sunshine, get up already,” I screamed, absorbing my clones as I held onto Daemon. “If you don't believe in yourself, then believe in me ‘cause I believe in you!”

Judging by the way she exploded out of her stupor, those words were really all she needed to hear. She even had the balls come back in with a smile on her face and the thick tree in her grip, shoving the tip of it into Dante’s abdomen like a spear and pushing him back along with me.

As we moved through the forest, there was one thing in my mind that I couldn't stop myself from saying.

“Damn, I really do love this girl!”

I released Dante from my grasp and jumped off of him, landing on the tree.

“You're never gonna take my daughter away from me,” I said, cupping my hands, directing all of the energy I had left to that spot.

“And you're not taking my dad from me either!”

I fired the attack and roared…

“Nuclear Beam!”

As the beam exploded forth, the entire world around us transformed into a vibrant, nuclear green. The attack’s sheer force sent shockwaves rippling through the air, yet amidst the chaos, the tree and I remained firm, my eyes locked onto Daemon while I continued to blaze him with all the energy I had left. Through it all, I could've sworn I saw a tear roll down Daemon's cheek, but that wasn't the only absurd thing he would do.

All the energy I had released at the man ended up pouring into his body, turning his color into a light blue.

“This is bad, Jerome,” shouted Sunshine. “He's planning on blasting it back at us. I can sense it.”

“Damn it!” I bolted out of the way and went to protect Sunshine from the impending doom Daemon was about to release.

However, I didn't expect the beam to be so damn big and so damn powerful, powerful enough to push us all the way back to the town Daemon and I had crossed paths in. But there was no way I was going to give you the fight—the small, reassuring hands on my back assured me of that.

So, we screamed. It wasn't out of a fear of death or an anger erupting from our mouths.

No…

It was a scream made with pure defiance.