Chad reared his head back, going for an action movie style head butt. Aaron, pumped so full of power it was nearly leaking out of his ears, simply curved to the left and brought his right shoulder forward into Chad’s nose, cracking it in three different places and causing it to spout blood like a faucet.

Brad and Thad immediately rushed forward. Thad got tied up with some people who were getting up from the table that was in his path, but Brad managed to get through quickly.

Brad started with a looping right haymaker, confident he could put Aaron down with one punch. Aaron could’ve avoided it even without his power.

Right before Brad’s fist touched his cheek, Aaron dropped underneath the speeding punch and popped back up on Brad’s right side now. Aaron then shot his right arm up under Brad’s over-extended limb, pushed forward and in towards the tall frosted blond to curl his hand around the bro’s neck and partially down his back, and twisted his shoulder straight up. Brad’s right arm popped out of its socket. He screamed.

That’s when Thad managed to join the fray, rushing in like a mad bull. Aaron, still holding Brad, whipped back, spun in a full circle, and threw him at Thad. They went down like bowling pins.

Chad climbed to his feet, shirt front drenched in blood, rage in his eyes.

Before he could make a move Aaron leaped up and back, curling his body as if to do a backflip. Instead he landed on his hands in a perfect handstand on the table behind his and Natalie’s, being very careful not to tip the table over or spill the drinks of the cute couple sitting there. Natalie clapped her hands in delight.

Aaron tilted his head up, looked Chad in the eyes, and winked.

Chad lost it and started to run forward, arms already swinging. He got about three feet, when Aaron pushed off with his hands, curled forward, and wrapped his legs around Chad’s neck. The momentum carried them both forward to the ground.

Chad’s head rebounded off of the floor. He was out for the count.

Aaron used his momentum to somersault forward to where Brad was getting up, drunk enough to think that he could still fight with a dislocated right arm. Aaron dissuaded him of this notion by popping up off the floor like a Jack-in-the-box and smashing the top of his skull into Brad’s chin. Brad was unconscious before he hit the ground.

That left only Thad, still completely unhurt. He and Aaron circled each other slowly while the entire bar crowd looked on in dead silence. This was more entertainment they’d ever gotten on a night out before, and no one was going to raise a hand to try and stop it from finishing. “The bros had it coming,” they were all thinking.

Thad came in, fists held up in a classic boxing pose to protect the face. As if it would make a difference.

He started throwing quick punches, more to put Aaron off balance than to do any real damage. Aaron responded by punching Thad’s fists, so quick his arms were a blur. The bro launched himself forward, tackling Aaron to the ground. That would be his last mistake of the night.

Aaron felt more at home on the ground in a fight than on his feet, being a wrestler at heart long before he got his ability. The instant he felt his back touch the ground he twisted onto his side, planting an elbow into the side of the still-falling Thad, knocking his wind out.

After that Aaron mounted a whirlwind attack of elbows and knees, trying to cover every single inch of Thad’s torso. It was then that he realized through his own drunken haze that he was playing for a crowd.

Sensing the end was near and knowing his audience expected something amazing, Aaron turned again onto his back, curled his legs up in between him and Thad, and pushed up as hard as he could, shooting the bro into the air like a cannonball.

Aaron pulled in as much of his power as he could hold. Everything began to move in slow motion.

While Thad was still sailing upward, Aaron flipped up to his feet, noting where Thad’s arc would carry him to, jumped over someone’s table, leaned back as far as he could, and punched both fists forward with all his strength.

He knocked Thad out of the air right before the bro crashed through someone else’s table, hitting him hard enough to send him careening into the low wall of the bar.

It was over, and it had taken less than five minutes from start to finish. Not only that, but not a single drink had been spilled, no tables had been knocked over or broken, no property damage whatsoever had been done.

“Aw yeah!” Somebody shouted. The rest of the bar joined in, clapping, cheering, and hooting. The place went nuts. Even the bartender, who usually loathed any fighting in his bar, was laughing so hard that his eyes were tearing up.

By the time the bar closed, just as the villains were arriving at the park, Aaron had been bought over $50 worth of drinks. Apparently those frat guys had been in there before, and were notorious for being shameless womanizers. For that shining moment, Aaron was a hero.

For that all too brief moment, Natalie and Aaron forgot about their fallen friend and cousin.

***

Read the rest of the story: Part I introduces our heroes and villains. In Part II plans unfold, and in Part III the story erupts into battle. In the epic battle that unfolds, who will be victorious?