The battle had shattered half of central town. Now, the fires dying down, the crowd turned hostile. In the center of all the din, and flashing lights, and amidst the torn hoodie and damped hair stood Asap Ashton, with eyes faintly glistening with green under the emerald sheen of smashed neon lights; he had just smashed Red Leader, the most powerful in the city, and everyone had witnessed it.
Asap backed away, heart in mouth, eyes blazing; the sounds of the crowd, the flash of the lanterns and the hiss of the bottles, were heard, he heard a low hum, the stirring of his powers; a bottle struck against his forehead, the strength that existed within him trembled, throbbed, he felt a low hum under his skin. A man broke through the crowd, a red face — "You used the blast on your watch!" Another voice cried out: "My sister's shop is demolished! My whole family was working in it!"
In a twinkling, the world was changed. He was no longer in the market-place. He tried to recover his bearings, but the pavement slipped and swayed from under him.
First came the drones, black butterflies descending on the rain; he felled it with a sparking punch, then another. But still they came, following the unstable energy field that bled from his flesh. Then his own body started to shuttle and scatter its mind from side to side like a phonographic dance. And before he had caught his balance, the world blinked and he had changed place in an alley; a sideways rain was falling. Like last time, his legs were fast and impossible -- after some teleportation; beside him, the world jumped between two places like a damaged record that skips in slow motion, there was a high viscous wind of ozone and tin.
'Shut up,' Asap replied irritably, before the man could answer, and Asap disappeared. "Why are you sleeping on the pavement?" Asap asked. A voice behind him made him turn. Around the corner of a cart, a homeless man was seated on his heels in a blanket that had ended too many winters. Asap hid behind a cart, breathing heavily, sparks on his fingers.
He blinked at the absurdity; he hit the ground hard and coughed up sand, the sound of seagulls ringing in his ears; he had somehow landed on a beach. Nearby, a young guy was digging in the sand, mumbling to himself, with his bare hands; "You-what are you doing," asked Asap; "Looking for my cereal, it was here just now," the guy replied. Asap blinked again: behind them, a young man ran past, with a bagel taped to his face; behind them, a middle-aged man was filming everything on his mobile phone.
"Aya, you're not allowed out of the server, rule breaker!" the man shouted. "The Millennium Net! You're corrupting the sim! Oh, and don't mess with me, I have a kitten on-line who will ban you." A portal burst open
A portal appeared beneath the man, and he disappeared mid-sentence.
Later, Asap clumsily strolled into his apartment, mentally drained and physically exhausted. He turned on the television. A very angry news anchor was gesticulating wildly in his face with a photo of him in the background.
News Reporter: "This so-called hero, Asap Ashton, the portal thief, has wreaked havoc on the infrastructure and is still at large. And what about that ridiculous haircut? It looks like somebody flipped a salad bowl upside down!"
Asap sighed and tousled his hair, a bowl cut. "Geez, you don't even know anything about me and have nothing else to do."
He switched off the television and walked out again. The rain had started again and considerably harder now. There were murmurings in the streets about a power outage and rolling blackouts.
Citizen: "They say the city barely got a hold of this one. Apparently, the portals are messing with the grid,"
Another person said: "It's that Ashton guy. He's got to be stopped."
He caught their eyes and froze. One of them reached for their comms. Police sirens wailed in the distance.
He ran.
Running Through Chaos
He teleported, just to escape-but overshot. In an instant, he was in space, the curve of the planet spinning beneath him. Then, mid-orbit, his power stuttered. He blinked back onto a rainy street, hitting the pavement hard. The cops were there now-lights, shouts, drones closing in.
He climbed a fire escape and hid on a rooftop. Music pulsed faintly from a nearby building: an after-party still in full swing despite the chaos. He peeked inside. People were dancing under purple lights, oblivious.
He came in dripping rain. No one paid much attention to him. He saw a joint on the table, shrugged, and took it. The smoke burned his throat. He couldn't help himself-he danced. Just for a second.
When the music cut out and the heads turned, he teleported again, laughing.
The next thing he knew, he was above the moon, floating; the electric bike was spinning beside him in zero gravity. Money spilled from one of his unstable portals and fluttered around like confetti. He caught a few bills and chuckled. "Guess that's my paycheck."
Then he saw it-a red sports car orbiting lazily through one of his portal echoes. "Why not?"
He jumped in, gunned the motor, and took off through cosmic dust. An asteroid smashed into the hood; the car spun. He bailed out mid-spin, free-falling through another glitching portal.
The Capture
News Reporter (on all screens): "As the police continue their manhunt for fugitive Asap Ashton, people are advised to stay indoors.
Far away, deep underground, a girl with green hair and violet eyes sat before a holographic console. Her fingers flew across invisible keys, dozens of screens reflecting in her irises.
Girl: "There you are… portal thief."
A few moments later, Asap woke up to find himself in a padded white room. No windows. No noise. No powers.
He screamed into the silence until his voice cracked. Every memory played in his head: the boxing match years ago when he first lost control, teleporting mid-fall, vanishing into this cursed life.
Time passed. Hours, maybe days.
The door hissed open.
The Interrogation
The green-haired girl walked in, carrying a tranquil confidence.
Girl: "On your knees."
He didn't move.
Girl: "So this is the portal thief. Cute. Try it—see what happens."
Her tone was playful but her eyes glowed sharp and knowing. ASAP gritted his teeth. Electricity crawled across his arms.
ASAP: "You really wanna test me?"
The handcuffs cracked apart in an outburst of energy. He vanished and reappeared right behind her guards, slamming one into the wall and throwing another through a portal. Alarms wailed. ฉ
He sprinted down a corridor. Red drones poured in from above, mechanical eyes glowing.
The City in Revolt
He burst into open air again. The city skyline greeted him—half-lit, half-broken. On every skyscraper, the girl's holographic face glowed massive and bright; her voice was magnified across the streets.
Girl: "Citizens of Millennium, your thief has returned. Stand down or suffer his chaos again."
Crowds filled the square below, shouting.
Crowd: "Give up! Give up!"
ASAP stood there, soaked, exhausted, his eyes ablaze.
ASAP: "You want chaos? Fine.
Electricity flared through his body, and he raised his hands to let a surge of blue lightning streak across the sky, tearing through the drones one by one. The crowd screamed as explosions lit the horizon.
When the last drone fell, Asap stood alone amidst the smoke, a joint hung between his fingers. He took a slow drag, watching the ash fall. People stared, blank and silent.
He turned away.
Silver robots dropped from the clouds, weapons humming. He fought until his body gave out, blood dripping into the cracks of the street.
A stray blast hit his side. The world tilted. A portal yawned beneath his feet.
He fell through, tumbling, weightless, spinning through collapsing colors.
Then—
Snow.
Cold, endless, blinding white.
ASAP lay still, breathing shallow, as snowflakes melted against his bruised skin. Above him, the aurora pulsed faintly green, like his eyes.
He whispered into the void, "Guess I finally fell out of the world." The wind answered with silence.