Close my eyes...
Imagine...
Imagine...
...
"Breezy up here, hm?" Someone's voice echoed, I don't know who, but it was gentle, deep, serene.
I opened my eyes to find myself sat on the roof of a skyscraper, overlooking a city I wasn't familiar with. The sky above was mainly dark blue, but moving towards the horizon, it was gradually painted purplish, then pinkish. No sun, twilight, an enchanting sight.
And it was indeed breezy. Wind wafted my hair a mess; I ran my fingers through strands to prevent them from slapping my face.
I looked around, but there was no one else up here with me. I was alone on this skyscraper.
Was that voice you, Alex?
"The view's beautiful, isn't it?" The voice spoke again. No, it can't be you, you never speak to me, did you decided to do so now?
Alex, tell me, is this you?
"Who are you?"
Or, maybe it's Them. But, this wasn't Their voice.
"Did the wind blow your head a fuzz?"
"No, I just..."
Another strong gust shut me up. I was at least 50 storey elevated, the wind here was unforgiving.
"YOU TURNED INTO WIND!" Amelda's voice.
...
I opened my eyes, and I was back in that dark office, but on the ceiling instead of the floor.
I didn't have my hands, not my feet, not anything. I had become a gust of wind, and Amelda became a voice in my head again, "EXTRAORDINARY! NO HOLDERS I'VE EVER HAD COULD PULL THIS OFF SO QUICKLY!!!"
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Bullets grazed the doorframe. More wooden splinters rained onto the curled up office worker.
I spiraled on the ceiling as a body of white gas.
"Go help the Goat!" Amelda urged, and I complied.
I seeped through the upper door slit, travelled over the two robbers' head while they scratched their heads and furrowed their brows in confusion, "Yo, what the fuck?"
"It's just smoke, eyes at your front!"
The smoke, me, transformed back to my protector form and landed behind them inaudibly; the agility boost was incredibly apparent, which gave me the confidence to draw my crimson katana.
Using the flat side of the blade, I swung,
THUD! THUD!
The strength boost was also apparent; I knocked them out with just one slap, "Woah!"
My unnatural strength and the tumbling of their bodies scared myself.
"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAH!!!" Amelda was even more excited than I was; the little red cloud by my ear turned in circles.
Footsteps echoed.
More was approaching.
Two more turned the corner, picked up their guns on the ground and almost immediately opened fire in my direction.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
Those bullets went straight through me, creating splashes of water. I had transformed before they hit my physical form.
"What the fuck?!" They exclaimed, while maintaining fire with their machine guns and me, a body of water gushing towards them.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
I reformed my two hands as I flowed through their feet. I squeezed them, then pulled with my boosted strength,
"WOAH!"
"ARGH!"
They lost balance and collapsed onto the ground, but not blacked out yet.
I stood back up and transformed back into my physical form, unsheathing my katana, held it high and thrusted it down.
CRACK! CRACK!
I shattered their guns.
But they still had their heads.
One, with a completely dislocated arm, threw his normal fist at me with an angry grunt before he even stood back up.
"Woah!" My neck reacted before my head, pulling myself back and evading that punch. "AMELDA HELP I DON'T KNOW HOW TO FIGHT!"
"HAARRGHHH!!" Both robbers stood back up, and both threw their fists straight at me.
My instincts reacted before me again.
I bent down backwards, dodging both fists that were aimed for my chest.
The two men didn't cease their attacks, they kept throwing, but I kept dodging. Was it even me that's dodging? It didn't feel like it.
"Don't underestimate your superpowers!" Amelda said, "The agility of a Romanics athlete is not one to look down on!"
"Olympics!" I corrected while my feet below danced to get me out of range of every jabs thrown.
"Right. Don't underestimate your strength either!"
Okay.
I pulled a fist back, then thrusted it against one of them, the one that looked like an easier target for his broken arm.
CRACK!
I might've broken his jaw given the noise, "OH MY GOD!"
Thud!
In moment of shock, I was caught off guard by the other robber, who managed to land a punch on my left cheek.
I staggered back, but it was now one on one, and I understood my body better now.
I stood into a stance I learnt from karate back when I was in high school.
He charged up another punch, but before it can even be thrown—
SNAP!
I jabbed him in the chin, and I was holding back as to not break his jaw like the other guy.
Both of them blacked out after a single strike of mine.
"Holy shit..."
"Zodiac warriors are powerful! Aren't they?" Amelda declared proudly.
"Yeah, damn. Uh..." I moved my feet around the recent four men that I've successfully knocked unconscious, navigating through them with careful steps as to not trample.
Turning the corner, I found it. At the end of the corridor, the entrance to the bank vault, left ajar.
I dashed on ahead and pulled the several inches thick metal door open with unnatural ease,
THUMP!
The noise of the heaviest punch I've heard.
The fight inside seemed to be reaching its climax.
The puncher: a bald, hyper-masculine man with heavy dark circles. What's fascinating about him was what he was wearing: an intricate exoskeleton, metallic and dark in colour; both his fists were reinforced the most. He was masked with a black handkerchief around his lower face. His chest plate had one clear word: EXO.
The receiver: the goat zodiac warrior, who was sent flying by that singular punch to the gut. He travelled until a neat and massive stack of money slowed his momentum, but not stop it. Money bills burst from the impact than rained: my dream.
He still didn't stop tumbling backwards until the metallic wall.
His back thudded heavy, even printing his silhouette on that wall, in red.
He had a black eye, a bleeding temple, and a mouth that was still rapidly vomitting blood. His once pristine Hanfu was also drenched in dark red. Worst was his fists, they almost lost their shapes.
I tranformed into water, then flowed quietly to close the distance.
"It's over." Exo declared, as a network of tubes of some sorts around his forearm began glowing orange; he's charging another attack up.
"Pugh..." The goat only spat more blood, whilst difficultly wiping his dirtied cheeks with the sleeves of his dirtied Hanfu. "... I... Puhg... I don't hear no bell..." He shook his head and raised a tremulous fist weakly.
Exo advanced towards him with deliberate steps, unaware that I was below him in the form of a puddle.
I followed the tubes, from his forearms, to the back, to a small compartment attached to his lower back.
That seemed like where all the tubes end.
Exo pulled back a charged punch, ready to cave the goat's face in. But he really shouldn't have taken his time to look cool.
My katana materialised first, thrusting straight towards that compartment with all my strength.
CRACK!
It shattered, several wires inside were severed, copper emitted sparks.
The orange glow in all the tubes also slowly dissipated.
Exo turned around to find me, fully materialised, and wielding the katana defensively.
"Another one?" He muttered indifferently, then threw a punch with more power and speed than his lackeys.
But without his exoskeleton, my agility boost was superior.
I evaded the punch, then countered with my own: an uppercut.
CRACK!
His final expression was a stunned one. Never had your exoskeleton stop working, huh?
His heavy body thudded on the ground, prompting a couple more money bills to fly.
I so, so so so wanna steal right now. If heaven exists on Earth, bank vaults has to be the closest to it.
"Haha... Ha... You..." Oh right, there's still someone else here: the goat zodiac warrior gasping for air, also with a surprised look on me, also seemingly... chuckling?
"Uhh... Hi?"
"Y-yeah..." He dropped his head backwards, resting his entire body against the wall, "... Hi."
Well, this is awkward. "Can zodiac warriors go to hospitals? Because you definitely need it."
"Physically, yes, you can." Amelda answered, "But with this kind of injuries he sustained, it'll raise suspicions, and the specific someone wouldn't like it."
"My spirit said no, but a specific someone can help me." The goat zodiac warrior muttered while blood continued flowing out from his lips. Somehow, in his state, he could still muster up a smile, "What's your name?"
"The specific someone doesn't like protectors revealing their identities, even to eachother." Amelda warned, "They don't like it either, so please don't."
"Uhh... Like my superheroine name?"
"Just something I can call you by? Aside from the Dragon Warrior, hahaha..."
"Hehe..." I chuckled lightly to the Kung Fu Panda reference before realising that he was literally bathing in his own blood, "You're also going to meet that specific someone?"
He nodded weakly, "Yeah... Why not..."