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Thomas was still a little bit flustered about what he saw on the TV as he drove away from the mechanic shop. The whole superpower thing was so different to him. He figured he probably was one of the few not revelling in it, having only used his power like five times. Those who embraced their powers kind of scared Thomas, like that Reaper guy. While Thomas liked to consider himself a progressive, he was definitely not on board with the whole overthrow the government thing.

The voice of the GPS on his phone told Thomas to take a left. Luke had given him a spare key to get into the house. Apparently Thomas would be staying in the semi-finished basement under Luke’s house. Luke said that even though him, his wife, and his son lived on the top floor, they wouldn’t bother Thomas, except for using the washer and dryer that was in the basement.

Thomas wondered how big his living space would be. Truth be told he actually hadn’t seen any images of the place. In fact he hadn’t known about a lot of things before coming to San Fransisco. He had rushed to leave Phoenix as he felt a desperate need to leave it and its memories. Some of those memories came back when a ping on his phone announced that his brother had texted him.

Thomas and his brother’s relationship had been rocky ever since the death of their father. Both of them had survivors’ guilt, and when Thomas looked at his brother’s face all he saw was a younger version of his father. Thomas assumed that his brother felt the same way about him. It made it to painful to actually talk.

As Thomas’ truck came to a stop at a red light, he decided to look at the text. While he knew he wasn’t supposed to do this while driving, the need to hear what his brother was saying outweighed the rules. Thomas read the text out loud.

“Hey bro, how are you? Mom told me you made it to San Fransisco. What’s the coast like? Anyways, I just hope your okay. I know this energy storm stuff was messed up and how it changed things. I hope it didn’t change you too much. Just be safe.”

Various emotions washed over Thomas as he put down the phone. One that surprised him was fear. The wording of: I hope it didn’t change you too much. Did Daniel know that he had gained powers? He had been very careful the very few times that he used them to do so in the middle of nowhere, with not a single person around for miles. Maybe Daniel had powers too? It wasn’t out of the realm of possibility. If Thomas had gained powers from that energy bolt, it had also hit his brother, so maybe?

Several honks broke Thomas’ concentration as he realized the light was now green. Cussing quietly, Thomas began driving toward Luke’s home. He had only made it about six hundred feet before a wave of ice covered the street. Thomas slammed on the breaks, bumping into the wall of ice, denting the front of his truck. Thomas turned off the ignition and stepped out of his vehicle.

As he left his truck, Thomas saw someone sliding down the ice, which seemed to be coming from their hands. The ice creator seemed to have dark skin, but it was to tell as they wore a big hoodie and a mask over their face. Thomas locked eyes with the man as he slid past him. Thomas broke eye contact when out of his peripheral vision he saw someone leaping off a rooftop and onto the ice.

“I’m gonna fuck you up!” the man shouted as he collided with the ice, causing it to shatter.

This man was also wearing a mask, but also had some kind of superhero outfit on, including a bullet proof vest. More cars slammed to a stop as the costumed man leaped at the hoodie guy, who shot out a blast of ice. The guy in the costume punched the ice, making it instantly shatter. The hoodie guy swore as he jumped back, barely avoiding his attacker’s fist.

“Man, I just robbed a 7-11,” he spat, “That shouldn’t give me a death sentence.”

“Crime is crime. A sickness,” the costumed one said as he punched again.

This one landed, knocking back the hoodie guy, blood rushing out his mouth. Gurgling on blood, the hoodie guy attempted to create a wall of ice between himself and the costumed man, only for two punches to break it completely.

“Fuck!” the hoodie guy screamed, blood launching from his mouth.

The costumed guy raised his fist, clearly ready to finish the criminal. Without thinking, Thomas moved. Jumping toward the ice, energy burst forth from Thomas, propelling him toward the criminal. With a few milliseconds to spare, Thomas grabbed the man in the hoodie, pulling him out of the way as the costumed man’s fist bore into the street.

“An accomplice?” the costumed individual said confused.

Thomas swore as he and the criminal tumbled to the street. That was time six of using his powers, and he did it on a busy street in a big city. Thomas prayed that he had moved fast enough so that there were no witnesses, or much worse, footage taken of him.

“Thanks?” the criminal spattered in between bloody coughs.

[color=#E3E854]“Don’t thank me yet,”[/color] Thomas replied as they both got to their feet.

Thomas turned to see that the man in the costume had spotted them. He leaped up into the air and began to fall down toward Thomas. Thomas prepared to launch himself again, but then he heard police sirens. He definitely didn’t want to use powers in front of law enforcement. Not sure what to do, Thomas pulled the criminal and himself backward, hoping that was enough to dodge the crushing blow of their attacker.