Running From Himself 3-3 (Patreon)

The fight immediately spilled out into the street.

Reggie had all of a heartbeat before he had to dodge a burnt-out sedan from El Asfalte, the tar-man with the shitty name already having decided the best way to start a fight was by throwing shit. “Bruh, could you chill!?”The answer to that was a big fat no, and it came in the form of another high-pressure jet from Sangre; a burst of what Reggie was beginning to think was something too close to blood. The thick sludgy weapon sheared through a chain-link on the other side of the street and cut into the wall of some derelict building.The sound of screams filled the air behind the speedster, people running for their lives as cars swerved to avoid the fight, and others slammed on their brakes. The sounds of squealing tires and blaring horns added to the panic of afternoon traffic as commuters realized they were driving into a superpowered warzone.

The news chopper overhead definitely didn’t help, either. If I’m gonna be on the six o’clock news, can’t get my ass ki-!Another jet of red sludge shot his way, aimed low and right at Reggie’s knees. He jumped back in a blur of motion, the blood-cutter carving a deep groove into the street.

Heat washed over the back of Reggie’s neck and he snapped his head up to see El Diablo in the air, the bald fire-breathing bastard with cones of bright fire a constant jet-like burn from his bare feet. The villain roared, mouth open wide, and flame roared out even louder — swallowing any sound Diablo made as the fire seared the air.

Give me a second, man! Reggie didn’t get even half of one as he already jumped back, fire cooking the asphalt where he just stood and forcing the ground to bubble.

His feet met the side of a parked truck and Blushift kept moving, running up the side and leaping off the top in a single breath. His powerful legs launched him high into the air, Reggie’s arms windmilling as he arced up and up.

Right at the hovering El Diablo, several stories above the street.

The street boss’s eyes widened, but Reggie was already too close, right fist blurring as it swung out. Diablo’s head rocked back, steaming blood spraying from his mouth as dark hands wrapped around his neck. The guy choked on his own fire, thrashing wildly as blood mixed with orange sparks hissed at his costume. 

Reggie’s teeth grit as he threw punch after punch, the heat off the man’s skin burning at his knuckles. Diablo spat in his face in too-fast Spanish, the other man eating hits as he traded them back and forth. They neared the ground, wind rushing past them both even as Diablo tried to keep in the air. Flames burst to life in the villain’s mouth again, Reggie moving on instinct to stop a burst of fire to the face.

Something cracked the instant his head snapped forward, more hot blood spraying. With a scream, fire exploded out from Diablo’s arms and legs, Reggie screaming back as he was thrown off with another wave of heat and force.Concrete cracked under his feet as he landed hard, Reggie’s head snapping back up as Diablo rocketed higher into the sky, one hand clutching his ruined nose. "Kill this cabrón! Kill him!"

The fiery banger bellowed again with the order, furnace mouth open as a massive wave of fire rolled out.Fool me twice, bitch! Reggie made to dodge — only for his momentum to stall, muscles locking up at the sound of a too-close scream. 

Right behind him, a minivan was stalled in the street; a panicked mother with tears in her eyes struggling with one car seat in her hand as she tried to get her other child free.

“No!”The gout slowed to a crawl, individual licks of orange and yellow suspended in the afternoon air as Reggie rushed forward. The woman didn’t have a chance to breathe or blink, frozen like a statue as he scooped her up with both her kids in hand; all three of them safe across the street in a blur of motion. Back to the car before anyone had time to form a thought, Reggie put all ten tons of his force to work as he shoved the minivan out of the way, body-frame flexing and axle protesting as the tires screamed across the intersection.A heartbeat later, the world juttered back to life, Blushift catching his breath as flames washed over empty pavement. His head snapped up, only one split-second of breath allowed as El Diablo backfired flames from his arms with a yell. The propulsion threw him forward, the man moving like a missile as he threw out a punch with momentum, speed, and strength beyond human.The punch burned past him, Diablo’s glowing eyes meeting Reggie’s for all of a second before a hand lashed out and caught the too-tough pyro by the ankle. With a yell of his own, the speedster spun in place and Diablo went flying again — this time entirely out of his control and far faster than before.

The impact was a bomb all its own, as explosive as the man’s own breath, Diablo’s body caving in a metal dumpster with a sound that could set off a car alarm. The dumpster didn’t last as fire exploded off the leader of this cell, the metal of the dumpster dripping into slag as the supervillain rose to his feet.

Glowing eyes on Blushift, the man spat a glob of burning saliva onto the street, teeth pulled back into a grimace. Diablo’s glare didn’t stay on him, though, the man looking up at the distant news chopper before dropping back down a half-second later. “Tómalo.”The rasp came out again, the man’s eyes aimed at his crew. “Take care of him!”A frown on his face, Reggie scoffed at the man barking orders. “Not gonna do it yourself? You scared, bruh?”He didn’t get an answer from Diablo, and the villain didn’t wait to see if his people followed the order. Fire burst from his feet and forearms, bright orange cones launching him up over the low rooftops of Queens as he trailed black smoke behind him."Bro really just dipped.” Reggie let out a breath through gritted teeth. “A’ight."

He turned back to the street, four street supes still waiting for a beatdown in front of him.

It was crazy how little supes used their powers; in a fight, at least.

The show ponies posed for the camera and danced on the strings for corporate, in media junkets and ad spots and car dealership grand openings.

The Rojos, though?

They might have been random cells of powered thugs, but these street-level bangers had actual stick time with their powers. They had the muscle memory of murders, and they showed that off as often as they could.

They didn't care about collateral. 

They didn't care about cameras.

They were just down to fuck shit up.Okay. Alright now. Reggie dropped his hips, shoulders rolling loose; those same strange blue sparks coming to life on his feet as he danced into his pocket. You got this. You got this! 

Time stretched out, everything inching to a crawl as his heart hammered in his ribs. The steam venting from Fuelle hung motionless in the air, weird blood-stuff in Sangre’s palms frozen, and the dull grayed skin flaking from Escombro’s fat forearms hanging in the air like glitter.

Steam-girl vented air from her ankles, eating up ground in a blink as she threw a hissing gatling-gauntlet of punches. Reggie bobbed under the first two, pressurized air whistling past his ears, but the third punch grazed his shoulder even as he ducked back. Son of a-! The scalding punch hit hard enough for him to feel, sheer force of it sending Reggie skidding backward with smoke trailing from his heels, the grip of his cleats digging twin trenches into the asphalt.

Before he could catch his breath, the redhead with the bloody palms rushed in with a crescent of sludge arcing out; a fist of high-pressure fluid aimed right at his neck.

Reggie ducked, the swing passing over him as he scrambled back. “Motherf-!” His eyes went wide as the red sludge hit a rusted light pole behind them, the sound of shrieking metal loud as it cut right through the steel.

The chubby villain stepped in, fist out in a wild haymaker.

Reggie caught the wrist, a grunt leaving him at the unexpected strength in the fat man’s fist. It didn’t stop him from throwing back a punch of his own into the villain’s face.

That was a mistake.

Escombro’s skin detonated.

A cloud of those gray flakes exploded off the street-supe, Reggie screaming as something tore across his exposed face and arms; a hundred tiny burning cuts that ate at his skin like a swarm of tiny piranhas. “F-fu… what the h-hell?” Half-blind and blinking through the gray dust, Blushift scrambled back as quickly as he could.

The same second he shook his head to clear the dust, Escombro charged at him through the smoke, shedding flakes with every step.

Wrong day to forget my sunglasses. Eyes watering, the speedster ducked under the heavy man’s wild swing, and his hands lashed out. Reggie grabbed Escombro by his heavy leather belt and the back of the neck, and drove him down.

The crack of concrete drowned out the crack of a broken nose as the ground shook, the fat man bouncing off the concrete completely out. Reggie let out a shaky breath, standing up straight again. One down.

His head snapped up, the high-pitched hiss of escaping air shrieking too loud and too close. 

And directly behind him.

Fuelle. Fully charged.

The small woman’s chest was three times larger than it should have been, but it didn’t seem to slow her a bit as she vented air from her body and spun out at Reggie with a flying kick.

Reggie tried to pivot, too run; the micro-cuts all over his body didn’t help with that, pain and the raw exhaustion of fighting five solid C-listers made it even harder.

So, when Fuelle’s kick hit him square in the ribs, there was nothing he could do to keep it from hurting like a bitch. The girl spun, the valves on her palm and elbow blowing open wide at the same time as she threw a punch.

Ribs flexed painfully as Reggie’s feet left the ground, launched horizontally through the air like a ragdoll as he tried to catch himself.

He didn’t see the lariat coming until it was already in front of him, an arm half as thick as a tree trunk and dark as the street below. Reggie’s neck snapped back and his body went with it, pain exploding in his chest as something cracked and the world spun into a chaotic blur of blue sky and dark concrete. 

His body crashed across the asphalt, chewing up the yellow dividing lines, suit tearing more and more as he skipped end over end. Finally, he ground to a halt against the curb, thirty feet of pavement torn up and his suit torn at the sides. 

A rattling groan pushed past Reggie's lips, pain flaring hot along his chest all the way down to his screaming ribs. He groaned again, peeling himself out of the dent as he spat a mouthful of blood onto the street. He planted a scraped-up hand on the cracked curb, and pushed himself up; chest heaving and vision swimming as he tried to catch his breath.

Boots hit the ground as Reggie forced himself up to his feet with a grunt, hands raised as he dropped back into his stance. The stabbing pain in his side could wait. I ain’t hear no bell. Blue lightning flared around his sneakers again, the sparks travelling up to fight the black spots at the edge of his vision.

Across the street, the blood-guy stepped out from behind a wrecked sedan, both hands raised as red sludge began pooling in his palms and building up for another high-power blast.

The speedster tightened his jaw. You got this, Re-

A flash of yellow tore from the sky, electricity dropping like a heavy hammer; enough to light up the afternoon.

The lance of raw voltage struck Sangre dead in the chest, his mouth wide open as he screamed his lungs out. A few seconds later, the lightning eased up and the villain’s eyes rolled back, red sludge splattering onto the pavement, body smoking as he kissed the floor.

Unconscious before he even hit the ground.The asphalt giant froze, steam-girl no longer venting as the hiss died from her elbow.

Reggie froze, slowly straightening as his eyes tracked up to the sky.

Floating down from above the intersection, afternoon sun behind her, was a dark-skinned woman in a perfect white-and-gold bodysuit. She hung in the air, a Vought-branded angel, short dark hair blowing slightly in the wind as both hands crackled with leftover arcs of bright yellow power.

Nubia.

Gold boots hovered just above the wrecked street, staring at the smoking craters and torn-up concrete, as her eyes trailed over to the bleeding speedster unsteady on his feet. The Super-Mom of the West Coast tilted her head, a slow smirk spreading across her lips.

"Looks like you're getting your ass kicked, Blu Boy."

Reggie wiped the back of his hand across his mouth, smearing the blood. He tilted his head with a side-eye, a lopsided grin on his face that actually felt real.

"No idea what you're talking about."