“I see you now,” Norman mumbled.

Calmly, he strode towards the landlord.

Mr. Leatherback fought the urge to step back. “You see me? Heh, what you seein’, boy?”

Norman stopped in front of him, grinning within grappling range.

“Everything.”

Mr. Leatherback sneered. What was he so worked up for? He reached out to pop Norman’s head like a cherry.

BRAX! PAX!

What was-? Why did his abdomen-? Ah, Norman dodged and punched him. Twice. Slippery little guy. It wouldn’t happen again.

Norman’s kick was heading for his liver. He reached down to catch it and crush the ankle.

POW!

He gagged a bit. His throat throbbed. When had Norman’s kick gotten all the way up there? No matter. He’d just-

THWAK! BRAK! THWMP! BAM!

Mr. Leatherback dodged. A flash knuckle found his eye. The light wasn’t active, but an eye was still an eye. His vision blurred a bit after the impact. Norman veered into semi-blind zone. Mr. Leatherback focused his guard there.

GNK!

The other eye.

Mr. Leatherback could still see well enough, so he struck. He blocked. No matter what he did, the hits kept landing. They landed in ways they weren’t supposed to. Every time he made the right moves, Norman changed up the hit at the last fraction of a second, and it got through.

His colleagues’ cheers were going silent. Some noticed Amy Mini floating on the sidelines, watching impassively. Norman didn’t need her.

And that was terrifying.

Temperature dropped.

WMM WMM WMM WMMM …

"EYE̴͎̗̥̦͋͜ OF̴̤̯͉̈́̌̒̕̚ ̵̡̭̼̳͌̓͑THE̶̙̤̭͋̒̚̚͝ ̵̤̱̬͍̌ST̷̯̈́̀Ơ̸̤̼̓̾̍̏̕RM."

Red light blazed through the windows.

The building shook violently. The air grew hot. This light was bright enough to sting nyctal skin, but only slightly. The fear factor it delivered was much stronger. Was Amy doing this? She had to be hurting herself, but she was the only explanation that made sense. Mr. Leatherback and his colleagues staggered from the windows. However, Norman laughed, basking in the show of power.

Just when Amy’s light began to dim …

“YEAH! THAT’S MY GIRL!” Norman whooped.

Her power burnt brighter than ever.

Mr. Leatherback pushed through the light and swung at Norman. His fist hit air.

More strikes to his liver.

“Mr. Leatherback, you better pray my flash knuckles start working soon,” Norman suggested, “‘cause if they don’t, I gotta take you apart. Piece. By. Piece.”

The damage was piling up.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

He didn’t understand. Norman wasn’t strong. He was barely even fast. For some reason, his movements just didn’t … read right. Every time Mr. Leatherback thought he knew what he was doing, it was wrong. Norman danced on the blindside of his tactical mind. No, it was worse than that. Sometimes, Norman moved before Mr. Leatherback knew what he himself would do, but he did it anyway. A fist was always waiting. Norman’s actions guided his own. He was controlling the fight, scribing their moves like a master wordsmith. He understood Mr. Leatherback, not as a friend, but as prey.

Silhouetted by the crimson light, Norman looked like a horror from the shadows, human in form alone.

~Who is this boy?~ thought Mr. Leatherback.

He felt his nose break.

~… This man?”~

His throat caved.

~This MONSTER?~

image [https://c10.patreonusercontent.com/4/patreon-media/p/post/114025360/0e46d5af349b45588a39ef6375c3ecc9/eyJxIjoxMDAsIndlYnAiOjB9/1.jpg?token-time=1733788800&token-hash=KspW5KGW0QnJI4IA7gfLszEG61nRS_YAlsKfQGZITQc%3D]

His liver ruptured.

Mr. Leatherback collapsed, drawing squeaky gasps for trickles air. His throat decompressed and he heaved a long, deep breath. There, before his colleagues, he cried like he never had before.

He cried for his mother.

__CHAT

* AMBIVALENT_TRENT: 😳

* ENTO_MOLLY: 😬

* ARN74: GO NORMANNNNN!!! WOOOOOOOOO!!! 😍😍😍

Norman looked down upon the sorry sight he had created.

“Maaaan, I feel like a bad guy,” he quipped, rubbing the back of his head.

Though most cowered, some landlords made as though they wanted to come at him.

With the last of his gumption, Mr. Leatherback reached out to crush Norman’s foot.

Norman stomped his hand and ground it into the floor under heel.

The other landlords halted. Their fighting spirits died there and then.

Norman’s flash knuckles stopped fizzling. He beamed a demonstrative burst of light at the ceiling. For the landlords, it was like firing a gun into the sky, just to say it was loaded.

If they weren’t going to attack him before, they wouldn’t dream of it now.

Norman sauntered to the elevator as with the ease of an evening stroll. The landlords parted before him. Some had to drag their battered bodies out of the way.

He looked at Mr. Squeam. The landlord looked about ready to faint.

With a flick of his head, Norman beckoned him. “Walk with me. We’re still squadmates.”

“Ye-yes Sir!” Mr. Squeam stuttered.

__CHAT

* AMBIVALENT_TRENT: anyone think maybe Norman went too far?

* MUNSTER-VERSER: I see where you’re coming from, but those landlords kinda woulda sucked out his guts if given the chance.

* RAIDER-COMMANDER: He was being tactical. Maiming one landlord scared the others into submission. Besides, they regenerate.

* ARN74: makes sense. Norman understands being a good guy doesn’t mean you gotta be helpless, even if it makes him feel like a bad guy or whatever. I think he was semi-serious about that part, even if he didn’t sound serious

* AMBIVALENT_TRENT: still kinda extreme tho

* MUNSTER-VERSER: I repeat: THEY WOULD HAVE SUCKED OUT HIS GUTS. LITERALLY. They’ve done it to lots of people, and they’d do it to him without a second thought. If the guy hadn’t acted up at the last second, he probably would have made it out with his fingers.

* UNREPENTANT-MEMER: yeah. there comes a point when violence isn’t an option. it’s a question, and the answer is yes

* ARN74: true dat. besides, what he did wasn’t nearly as savage as what I do on the regular

* AMBIVALENT_TRENT: 😳

* ARN74: still wanna meet me, my lovely little peeps 😇?

* MUNSTER-VERSER: Yep.

* ATTACK-OTAKU: Oh yes. Oh, so very much yes 😍.

* ARN74: weirdoes 🙄

“Mr. Squeam, can you make this elevator take me to straight to Johnny?” asked Norman.

“I … I think so,” Mr. Squeam confirmed.

Amy Mini hovered close to the landlord’s head, turning red. He felt her tendrils tasting his thoughts.

She turned back to pink, bobbing up and down in a nod. The landlord was telling the truth.

“Good. Get it done,” Norman requested.

A shaky Mr. Squeam moved his keychain towards the hole. Amy Mini never left his head, scanning for deceit, threatening with her very presence. She perked up and darted to Norman, pressing her findings into his mind.

Norman frowned. “Actually, let’s stop at Floor Thirteen first.”

A chill ran down Mr. Squeam’s spine. “Th-there is no Floor Thirteen. Buildings don’t come with … f-f-floor thirteens! You should be smart enough to know that!”

The way Norman looked at him? He sensed there was no room for argument.

Mr. Squeam gulped. One of the few places he really didn’t want to be was down there.

However, he feared Norman more.

“F-floor Thirteen it is, then …” stammered the landlord.