The sun was setting behind the skyscrapers in the distance. Devon and Imani, the shorter man that controlled the exit, taught him a few tricks of the trade before getting ready to open the doors.

Despite the man’s tough exterior, Devon was really trying to make sure he got through the night with a stab and bullet resistant vest, a taser, and a uniform. Sean took a calming breath before nodding to his companions.

The doors flung open and the flow of people surged forth. They pushed the partiers back out and onto the street before organizing them into a line.

Devon patrolled the long que, pulling any people he didn’t like the look of out and sending them on their way. Most of his work consisted of looking intimidating and checking ID's

The night was going perfectly fine until Sean heard shouting from inside nearly an hour before closing. Devon immediately took over for the door and sent Imani and him towards the problem. People poured around them as they fought their way through the crowd to locate the source of the commotion.

Sean caught the first look of the issue and led the shorter man towards it. Three men had another surrounded and there was a small pool of blood starting to form around them.

“Oh shit, I think one of them is hurt!” He shouted back to more experienced worker.

They managed to push their way through into the small clearing that had opened up around the scuffle.

Imani took the lead, stepping between the parties and searching for the injured person. He quickly picked out something of note before a shocked look possessed him.

His dark skin lost a few shades as he reached for his taser. The singular man launched a kick towards his gut, sending him flying into a group of people. The force pushed all the air from his lungs

Screams filled the air.

Sean took his taser out and approached the man. He was slightly muscular for his size and was a whole head shorter than him. At his feet, a young teen had a bone sticking through his skin, leaking blood.

“What the fuck?” He aimed the taser at the singular man and fired the weapon.

The barbs flew through the air, connecting with the man's chest. The expected spasms didn’t manifest as he grabbed the wires and yanked them clean out without flinching.

He gulped a wad of spit down before reaching for his baton. The man immediately lunged for his waist with his hands ready to grab ahold of him. Sean swerved to the side and watched him tumble to the floor.

“Watch out, he’s a powered.” Imani’s words caught his attention as the man stood up once more.

He had his suspicions when a single kick sent someone airborne .

Not many normals could cause so much damage without a weapon, let alone pull taser prong from their skin without flinching. He looked at the metal pole in his grip and then to the guy before him.

The agressor lunged once more, this time, catching his collar and yanking him down to his level. Sean pulled back with as much force as possible, ripping the shirt slightly but breaking loose of the beast before him.

A loud crack filled his ears while backpedaling. He could see Imani from around the man's side with his baton clutched in both of his hands.

Another crack rang out as he watched the shorter man whack the powered human over the head with every bit of force he possessed. He staggered forward a step before throwing his arm blindly and hitting Imani directly in the chest.

He swore he heard the loud pop of shattering bones as they made contact. Sean winced but tried to take advantage of the situation with his own weapon.

He brought his arm up and swung it downwards. The hit connected with a heavy thud on his shoulder but the man didn’t budge.

“Oh shit.” The super human swiped back at him with an open hand, sending him flying away with just a glancing blow.

He crashed into a table, throwing the drink all over him in the process. The beast clambered over, still wobbly from the first man’s attack. Sean groaned in pain before noticing the man standing over him.

‘I can’t die like this!’

He threw his hands out in front of him to block the raging man’s attack and felt a burst of energy emanate from his body. His eyes were tightly shut as he waited for the impact only to hear him stagger backwards. A few uneven footsteps gave him enough courage to look.

“Argh, what the fuck.” The attacker's gravelly voice choked out while he regained his footing.

He turned his gaze to Sean's cowering figure and stomped forward.

“You are so dead.” As he spoke the words, a splash of blood covered the cowering young man.

Sean’s hands moved to his , wiping the red fluid from his eyes. A loud thud filled his ears as he flicked the gooey substance from his fingers.

He looked back up and met the stare of Louis Le Gros. In his chubby fist, a large cain was so tightly gripped, his knuckles were white.

“Hey boss.”

He managed to squeak the words out under his intense glare.

“Everyone out!”

It became a mad dash to the exit.

He scrambled to his feet, rushing to the door after the other party goers.

“Unless you work here!”

He halted mid step.

‘I really want to leave.’

His thoughts warred within him before finally giving in.

It would all be for nothing if he left. Not a dollar richer, but one more traumatic experience in the bag.

His shoulders slumped and he resigned himself to his fate.

The room quickly emptied of everyone but the boss, the staff, the unconscious powered, and the poor kid with the horrific injury.

“Imani, give him a drop and throw him out.” Louis started shouting out commands.

The smaller bouncer ran over, took a large gulp from his flask, and clicked a small device to his hand.

A single drop of blood fell from his finger and onto the open wound.

Sean struggled to watch the scene, when, before his very eyes, the skin began to close. Imani pulled the injured man’s arm back in place, dragging the bone past the skin and setting the snapped structure end on end.

The grievous wound disappeared like it was never there in the first place.

He dragged the unconscious man to the side door and unceremoniously threw him onto the wet asphalt.

“You good?” Devon patted Sean on the shoulder startling him from his concerned stare.

“Huh?...I, yeah. I think. Tore the shirt already, though. That kind of sucked.”

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A heart laugh filled the room as the boss slapped his knee.

“That kind of sucked he says!” The jovial tone was a drastic contrast to the yell that had left him not a minute before and the tough facade he put on during their first meeting.

“Hey, boss. I am so sorry, I didn’t know what to do. I swear I won’t let it happen again.”

Louis put his hands up.

“Woah, calm down there. You did everything perfectly. I had enough time to get here and lay the smack down. The last guy didn’t even last one swing. You managed to dodge like three of them and you even stunned him with your power.”

Sean’s mind ran rampant trying to understand what was going on.

“I try to only hire powereds. It increases the survival rate alot. With Devon here to take the trouble makers out of the line and direct them to an appropriate establishment, business has been smooth. We almost made it through the entire night without having to close and no one died. I’d say that is a win in my book.”

He grabbed the two experienced bouncers by the shoulders and pulled them close.

“They have saved me so much heartache over the years, I owe them tons. If you manage to stick around for a few weeks, I’ll even bump your salary up to where it realistically should be.”

Sean didn’t know what to say.

Louis pulled a wad of cash from his pocket.

“Four hundred and I’l give you an extra hundred if you come back tomorrow. We are only open Friday to Sunday, so it isn’t too bad. Lots of free time.”

“You aren’t upset?”

The boss turned around and headed towards the back room.

“Naw. We almost never get to closing before something goes down. Sometimes even Devon misses a powered, but you handled it as best as I could expect from a newbie. I am here to deal with these kinds of problems. I have a lot of muscles under all this...excess. Now, wash up, you got some blood… all over.” He motioned from Sean's face to his feet.

The door flung open and his massive figure left the dance floor.

“Good job newbie. Devon sure knows how to pick them.” Imani slapped his back before grabbing the powered man’s legs and dragging him to the front door, scooting piles of trash along with the unconscious body.

The tattooed bouncer walked over, slamming his large hand on his shoulder.

“Great first day. It has been a long time since the boss has been this happy. Must’ve made a ton of money. I hope you don’t mind me asking, but what is your ability? I can only see a weird mesh of stuff when I try to read you.”

Sean stammered in uncertainty.

“Uh, what are you, like, I don’t-”

Devon cut him off.

“Hey, you are amongst friends here. Imani, the boss, and I are all powered too. I can tell if someone has an ability based on energy waves, Imani can heal others super quick, and the boss is super strong. Sooo, what can you do?”

“I…”

‘What can I do?’

Sean had no clue. He hadn’t even tried to use whatever power was awakened.

“Something psychic? I saw that mental energy wave you sent out. Pretty cool.”

The strange feeling of power pushing from his body returned to him.

Was that it? Was he a mentalist?

“Yeah, that's uh... I guess that’s the best way to explain it.”

Devon nodded along.

“Perfect. That will come in major handy with the fights that happen here. That’s if… you plan to come back tomorrow?”

The trailing question gave him pause.

He had already died once and he had been drawn straight into danger the very next night.

Would he be willing to risk his life for four hundred bucks a night?

‘Four hundreds bucks more than I had this morning and a bonus tomorrow? The boss was right.’

“You will definitely see me tomorrow.”

The tattooed man broke into a wide smile.

“Fantastic. Can’t wait for the help. I’ll look forward to it.”

He headed towards the back office with Imani following shortly after.

Sean changed into his street clothes and turned towards the exit

‘Now I just need to find a place to sleep.’

The cool air blew against him with the street lights shining overhead. The early morning darkness left him with the first hints of exhaustion creeping through.

He turned to the side with his arms high above his head, stretching the tension from his body.

“Hey!”

The commanding voice froze him in place.

He slowly turned to look at the speaker.

His heart immediately sank.

“My name’s… Hot Pink Hannah.” She fought through a yawn as she introduced herself.

“You work with Louis right?”

He swallowed the wad of saliva in his throat.

“Uh, yeah.”

He recognized her immediately.

The edges of a form fitting leotard peeking out from under a tracksuit. The bright pink latex and silver glimmering under the overhead lights. The platinum ponytail bobbing with every movement. Her black boots were as immaculate as the night he first saw them.

It was the same hero that had killed the peacekeeper who chased him into the alley and dashed the mind hopper's brain across his face.

‘Please don’t recognize me.’

A prayer formed in his mind.

“Great, what did this powered do in there? The other guy told me but I forgot. Don’t want to get my shoes sticky walking into this… fine establishment.”

She looked towards the still swinging doors

His heart pounded in his chest.

“Uh, he did some grave bodily harm to one of the customers and disrupted our business with his powers.”

He recited the problem while looking back, hoping she wasn’t staring at him too hard.

He heard the tell tale clicking of a digital keyboard as she pound the summary into a smartphone grasped in hand.

“Cool. That makes this pretty easy. Alright, that should be everything I need then.”

Her small hand reached down to the unconscious body, lifting him from the ground with ease.

Sean turned away from her and pumped his feet without a hint of delay.

“Hold up. Actually, I have something I wanted to ask you. Personally, I mean.”

He froze mid step. His head swiveled, slowly making direct eye contact with the woman.

“What’s up?”

She smiled as she took a few strides closer with the man dragging behind her back.

He took one step backwards and then another and another.

His back finally hit the wall with her standing directly before him.

“Has anyone told you, you look like someone they know?”

He felt his pits begin to sweat despite the cool breeze.

“Ugh, no they haven’t.”

His palms fidgeted slightly with anxiety.

‘Does she remember?’

“Really? You are the spitting image of Bacteri-Man. A little taller and nicer skin, but the face structure is right there.”

The name was familiar, but the resemblance was far from anything he had heard to date. He was too scar covered and weathered to look like such a manicured hero.

“Yeah, I haven’t heard that before. Thanks though. He’s a good looking dude.”

Sean cracked a smile, mirroring the woman’s own while internally begging for the conversation to end.

“Yeah he is. I like them around my age and a bit taller though. Kind of like you.”

He didn’t know how to respond. An awkward laugh left his chest.

“Timid Is another good point. Do you have a girlfriend or boyfriend?”

He almost couldn’t believe his ears. Was he getting hit on?

“Nope. Not for a while.”

Her grin grew wider.

“Good. Keep it that way. I’ll be around on the weekends if a scuffle breaks out. You should drag them out instead of the other guy. He’s a little boring.”

She turned from him and walked down the street with the man’s body dragging along the concrete sidewalk.

“What the fuck just happened?”

Sean counted the money in his hand over and over again.

It was more than he had seen in a long time.

He went through the math a few times before deciding on his next action.

‘I’m getting a hotel room!’

The excitement was visible in his steps as he walked to the nicest place he had ever stayed at.

‘I can’t wait for this. A real bed that hadn’t been chucked out of some van and soaked in the rain for weeks.’

He stopped before the doors.

The sign read ‘Johnny’s Premium Motel’.

An oxymoron if he ever heard one, but that didn't matter.

Sean was giddy as he pushed his way inside and walked up to the counter.

“A room for one please.”

The old lady at the desk didn’t even hazard a glimpse upwards as she tapped the screen before her.

“Cash or card?” Her voice spoke of her age.

“Cash.” He fought through the smile that wanted to break through.

“Ninety-five.”

He pulled a few crinkle bills from the wad and handed it over.

She chucked a key over and told him the room before acting like he didn’t exist.

The walk to the room was surrounded by the sickening perfume of prostitutes and flickering lights that were increasingly common in the aging city.

Finally, he stopped and stared at the numbers the cranky woman had told him.

He swore he could feel butterflies in his stomach.

Almost like concentrated glee..

Sean turned the lock over and pushed the door open.

The room was dark, had an ancient tv set, and the bed was sunken in the center.

“Perfect.”

He took a deep breath before throwing himself onto the relaxing cushion.

His body loosened up as unknown tension dropped from him and the warm fabric coaxed his eyes shut.

He drifted off to sleep with the sounds of hookers and Johns doing their thing in the adjacent rooms.

Sean truly felt of top of the world.