Bad Beat - Chapter 22 - Surge (Patreon)

There was one thought running through Gabriel’s head.

As far as he understood, he was trapped between two disasters: the attackers tearing into the building from the outside, and a very enraged Claw charging up from below.

And he – perfectly placed – stood in the stairwell connecting them.

The building shuddered above him, a deep, groaning vibration that ran through the concrete and into his bones.

Behind him, Claw roared again.

“Who the hell dares to attack us?!”

A mishmash of shouted replies followed – panicked, overlapping, and garbled. Gabriel couldn’t make out a single word of it.

However, Claw’s answer cut through everything.

“I don’t fucking care! Start packing your shit while I deal with those drug-addled morons!”

Gabriel’s eyes widened as heavy footsteps began pounding toward his position.

Slow at first, but picking up speed.

He shook himself out of his stupor and bolted upward, taking the stairs two at a time before slamming shoulder-first into the heavy door at the top.

It burst open under the impact.

He stumbled through – and froze for just half a second as he took in the scene.

The warehouse was in chaos.

Shelves had been knocked over, their contents scattered and crushed across the floor. Boxes lay split open like broken ribs. Fine dust and flakes of plaster drifted down from the ceiling, where long cracks spiderwebbed outward with every distant impact.

It wasn’t dark anymore.

Light streamed in through fresh holes torn into the structure – harsh, flickering bursts that chased away the gray gloom in violent pulses. Each flash came with a smell: thick, acrid, and wrong. It slipped past his mask’s filter, stinging his nose.

It reminded him of the time he’d gotten too close to a natural hot spring – sulfur and heat – but twisted with the sharp, metallic tang of spent fireworks.

His breathing quickened – part exertion, part rising panic – and with every inhale, his throat grew drier, scratchier, like he was swallowing ash.

He had seconds. At best.

Another explosion tore through the building. The sprinklers came to life overhead, coughing before releasing a steady rain that soaked him and everything around him.

“W-which direction?” he croaked, hoping Mia was still on the line.

No immediate answer.

So he started moving.

Spinning around, he shoved one of the few still-standing shelves toward the hidden door. It tumbled across the floor before slamming into place, collapsing under its own weight and dragging boxes and debris with it – burying the entrance in a messy barricade.

Not perfect.

But maybe enough to slow Claw down for a second.

Then Gabriel turned and sprinted for the exit he had come through.

“Shadow! Shadow! Do you hear me?” Mia’s voice came through, breathless.

“Yeah… I can,” he panted, wrenching the door open and spilling into the corridor. “What the hell is happening out there?”

A section of the ceiling collapsed just ahead of him. He barely managed to dodge aside as concrete shattered against the floor, sending up a choking cloud of dust.

“I… I think they’re here for what you found in the basement,” Mia replied. “They don’t care about the upper floors. And they’re angry.”

Gabriel grunted as he pushed forward through the corridor, half-blind in the dust, dodging falling debris while the building trembled around him.

Behind him, another roar and metal tearing.

Claw was free.

Gabriel’s steps faltered, his balance slipping. Every stride felt like it might be the one where his legs gave out entirely.

All around him, the sounds of battle filled the structure.

Gunfire cracked in sharp bursts. Explosions boomed, closer and closer. People screamed – some in rage, others in pain.

And yet… the attackers were staying outside.

That tracked with what Mia said.

They weren’t here to take.

They were here to destroy.

A series of high-pitched screeches cut through the chaos.

Then the gunfire doubled.

Then came more screaming.

“Reinforcements?” Gabriel asked, slowing slightly, every step cautious now. His eyes darted ahead, expecting – at any second – to come face to face with someone.

His hand slipped into his pocket, gripping his deck. The familiar edges of the cards steadied him, just a little.

He didn’t know how much good they would do.

But it was something.

Behind him, another roar – followed by a thunderous impact.

Claw had joined the fight.

“Are you recording?” he asked suddenly.

“What?”

“Are you recording?” he repeated, ducking around a fallen metal cabinet.

“It’s not like I have anything better to do,” Mia shot back. “Sparky’s busy mining their comms. Oh – and I identified the–”

WOOOOOSH

A narrow beam of fire tore through the building.

It blasted past in a straight line, so bright it burned itself into Gabriel’s vision. Concrete parted before it like soft butter, edges glowing white-hot for a split second before the beam vanished as suddenly as it had appeared.

Darkness rushed back in, deeper than before.

For a split second, everything fell silent.

“– the super with the Buzzers,” Mia finished flatly, as the momentary lull shattered and the battle resumed.

“I saw,” he said, equally flat. “Pyro?”

“Afterglow. Short bursts of extremely high-output fire. Total adrenaline junkie.”

“Joy,” he muttered. “Is the way clear?”

“No.”

His heart sank.

His body, already slick with sweat, somehow found more to produce upon hearing that.

“You need to cross the building,” Mia continued. “They’re locked down both the front and the back.”

“Great…”

At least his enhanced memories paid off now. The building’s layout rose clearly in his mind as he adjusted course, angling toward the far side.

‘I hope by the time I reach it the building is still standing…’ he thought as he started to pick up the pace.

The shaking intensified.

So did the fight.

He caught glimpses of it through broken walls and flickering light – Claw’s roaring presence marked by curses and impacts, countered by searing flashes of fire and manic, unhinged laughter.

It seemed they were having a blast fighting each other.

The gunfire began to taper off, overshadowed by the sheer violence of the superpowered clash.

A small, grim part of Gabriel felt relief.

Dodging two rampaging supers was… maybe easier than dodging dozens of armed men.

At least he hoped so…

Ahead, the building continued to come apart. Beams of fire carved through walls and ceilings, while Claw’s voice boomed through the structure.

“What’s up, Dullboy? Having performance issues?”

The reply came sharp and high-pitched.

“Fuck off, Kittykat! This is Buzzer turf now!”

WHOOCH

WHAMM

FWOOOSH

Each burst of fire turned the world into a stuttering sequence of snapshots.

Darkness.

Then, a blinding light – like a miniature sun igniting overhead – revealed everything in perfect clarity.

Then darkness again.

Gabriel’s vision struggled to keep up, colors and afterimages smearing across his sight.

‘Thank god I’m not epileptic…’

He finally reached the last room in the building that sat next to a small alleyway separating it from the next building over. The windows were blown out, and everything seemed to be broken.

He was almost at a broken window, seeing the small alleyway next to the building, feeling the hope surging in his body, when–

CRASH

CRUNCH

“AAAAAAAAAARGH!”

The front wall exploded inward in a storm of fire and debris.

A massive body tore through it, smashing into the room.

Gabriel dropped instinctively, shielding his head as chunks of concrete rained down around him.

For a moment, everything rang.

Then silence.

He stood slowly, taking everything in.

One wall was gone.

Light poured through the gaping hole. Dust hung thick in the air.

A large hole in it, light streaming in as footsteps approached the dark room he was in.

The room itself had been obliterated – chairs, desks, printers, all reduced to splintered wreckage carpeting the floor.

And in the center of it all lay a large, muscled figure.

The owner of said body was wearing military-style boots, tattered pants – clearly singed from the fight. Aside from the mask covering the upper part of his face, the rest of his hairy body was naked.

And his eyes were locked directly onto Gabriel.

Gabriel stared back, frozen. Only his mask hid the disbelief on his face.

For a long moment, the outside world seemed to fade as Gabriel contemplated his bad luck.

Then footsteps approached, before stopping suddenly.

And a high-pitched voice cut through the stillness.

“Who the fuck are you?”

Afterglow stood in the ruined opening, framed by flickering firelight.

His outfit was a garish mix of purple and magenta spandex, straight out of some retro fitness video. His hair was sculpted into an impossible shape – held in place by what had to be an entire canister’s worth of industrial-strength product.

A shimmering haze clung to his body, distorting the air around him with heat. His fists were raised, posture loose but ready.

Though Gabriel noted that his ridiculous clothing was just as torn as Claw’s.

Claw began to push himself up, a translucent white energy starting to wrap around his body.

Gabriel’s brain finally kicked back into motion.

Mia was shouting something in his ear – he couldn’t focus on it.

He palmed a card.

The Flash Pop slid into his waiting hand.

He said nothing, just staggered backward, nearly tripping over debris, until his back hit the crumbling wall.

Afterglow noticed and grinned.

“Not chatty, eh?” He raised a fist, aiming it lazily between Gabriel and the rising Claw. The air around it began to sizzle, sparks snapping into existence. “Don’t worry. The quiet ones burn just as easily.”

Gabriel’s pulse thundered.

The sparks turned into a brilliant orange fire – hungry for destruction.

Just as Claw managed to work himself into a standing position, turning toward Afterglow – completely disregarding Gabriel as a threat – and roaring at the Buzzer super, teeth bared, and while his nails continued to grow and thicken into blade-like claws.

Without thinking, he threw his hand forward, letting go of the Flash Pop, just as the beam of fire launched off Afterglow’s fist, while Claw launched himself forward, hands held in front of him, intending to disembowel the tacky super.

Then everything happened at once.

Gabriel’s arm snapped forward, fingers releasing the Flash Pop with a motion that was more instinct than intent. The small upgraded toy left his hand in a tight, spinning flick. He followed its flight path for a moment before it became almost impossible to track.

At the same time, Afterglow’s grin widened into something feral.

The fire came alive.

A concentrated beam of searing orange-white flame blasted from his fist with a deafening roar, the air around it warping violently as heat displaced everything in its path.

Claw moved with equal violence.

His body compressed for a fraction of a second – muscles bunching, tendons tightening – before he launched forward. The floor beneath his foot fractured under the force of the push, sending splinters of concrete skittering outward. One leg drove him ahead, the other trailing just behind, claws extended, each one gleaming like a drawn blade.

Time seemed to stretch.

The Flash Pop spun through the air, tumbling end over end, absurdly small compared to the devastation rushing toward it.

The beam advanced, devouring the space between them in a straight, unstoppable line.

Claw surged into its path, his momentum carrying him forward, straight into the converging point.

Gabriel’s brain caught up with the situation, his body moving almost on instinct.

He twisted sharply, turning his back on the scene. His eyes slammed shut as he threw his arm over his face, the fabric of his sleeve already prickling with heat. His other hand flailed blindly, searching for the windowsill – anything solid, anything that meant escape.

Then…

WHUUMMP

The beam of fire struck the Flash Pop.

The result wasn’t just an explosion – it was as if the very air became light.

A sphere of blinding brilliance erupted outward, destroying the very idea that shadows ever existed. The contained heat of Afterglow’s attack burst wide, splashing across the room in a violent bloom of fire and pressure.

Even turned away, even shielded, Gabriel felt it.

The light burned through his closed eyelids, a white-hot imprint that carved itself into his vision.

The air itself seemed to ignite.

Heat slammed into his back like a physical force, driving the breath from his lungs. His clothes snapped against his skin as the pressure wave hit, followed by a roar so loud it drowned out every other sound for a heartbeat.

At the same time, behind him, two people were screaming – one high-pitched and another with a deep voice.

Behind him, two voices screamed.

One high, shrill, and panicked.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! My eyes! My eyes!”

The other deep, furious, and full of raw, animalistic rage.

“RRRRRAAAAAAGGH! I’m fucking gonna kill you!”

Gabriel didn’t turn.

Ignoring the heat on his back, the shapes and colors he was seeing, and the awkwardly stumbling supers behind him, he found the windowsill, clumsily hauled himself up, and tumbled out into the alley.

He hit the ground hard, knees screaming in protest – but forced himself upright and staggered forward.

He wanted to get as far as possible.

Maybe even find Mia…

But at least away from the monsters behind him.

Then he stopped.

A realization hit him cold.

‘Regeneration!’

He had no idea who fast the supers he left behind regenerated…

Swearing under his breath, he yanked out the rest of his Flash Pops – five small items appearing in his palm.

He didn’t turn.

Didn’t aim.

He just hurled them blindly back through the window and legged it.

“Oww!” he yelped as he immediately slammed into something in his half-blind state.

Another great flash erupted behind him, while even more screams tore through the air.

Shaking the pain out of his legs, he kept running.

Five minutes later, his vision had mostly cleared, and he spotted a familiar car idling at a crossing they had discussed beforehand.

Relief hit him so hard his legs nearly gave out.

He staggered forward, adrenaline draining fast now, leaving exhaustion in its wake.

He took a moment to confirm it was Mia behind the wheel, then he practically wrenched the door open.

Gabriel barely had the door halfway closed when Mia slammed the accelerator.

The tires screeched on the old car… and they were gone.