Chapter 2

  Dad had tried to rope me into a meeting with a colleague of his, but I was too excited. I promised him I'd be back by seven that night.

  First i wanted to go out on the town, have some fun.

  Eventually me and my clones made it to the basement. We had an old plastic fold out table, several pieces of clothing, a black bike helmet, knee and arm pads, bright white boxing gloves, and a light grey robe. Wed settled on the outfit after forty or so minutes.

  “We need a little more versatility, me thinks” Two said.

  I stroked my chin in thought, and noticed my clones had done likewise. “How about we tie the gloves to the pants, and also get like a baseball bat or a couple other things.” I said.

  “Ooh, good idea, then each different clone can have their choice of weapon based on what the need at the time!” three was already peering around the room.

  “I do wonder though… can you make clones in a pinch, it took you a while to make three over there,” Two hiked his thumb towards Three.

  I looked at my hands as I said “I can, but they become more temporary. It's almost like a series of sliders, and however much energy I put in, is how far I can slide the sliders.

  For you guys, I put in enough energy to slide all the sliders to max. That's why you're full blown me’s.”

  The full costume was really cool, I thought. A black helmet, black T-shirt, jet black jeans, grey floofy robe, and bright white gloves.

  The robe was really more of a bathrobe than anything else, and the helmet was hard to see out of, but I liked it overall.

  As alternate weapons we’d scrounged up a baseball bat, and a golf club. We’d also found out that I could project my current outfit onto the others, overriding their clothes. It took a fair amount out of me however.

  We’d started goofing around, lightly boxing each other, with little to no technique.

  We knew how to throw a punch, and kept our arms up, but that was about it in terms of form.

  Two had just thrown a punch, and I blocked with one arm, stepping towards him. With my other arm I threw a counter punch. Three times.

  One arm flew towards his face, another towards his chest, and a final one hit his gut.

  He managed to block the face shot, but the other two sent him stumbling back, groaning lightly.

  “Ughhh, no fair” he grunted out “thats cheating”

  Three snuck up on me, bopping me lightly in the back of the head, then harder in the side. “Oww” I whined out. Then Two was on me “revenge on the cheater!”

  small jabs smacked into my sides and stomach. Pinned on either side, I tried to mitigate strikes but failed miserably.

  Having had enough, I split apart, one me fighting two, a second fighting three, and the actual me making his escape.

  I dashed up the basement stairs, escaping as my temporary clones fought my anent clones. By the time they were done, I’d be long gone.

  As i crested the stairwell, and burst from the door, I ran face first into my father. He spluttered back, almost dropping the small cans he'd carried with him.

  After steadying himself, my father looked at me with a kind smile.

  “I'm so proud of you Jackson,” he put his hand lovingly on my arm “This means so much for your future,”

  with that he handed me the small cans and went back to the living room with mom. Love for my father settled on me as I thought about his past.

  I wasn't the first adept in our family. My grandfather had been a hero of some renown, or so I'm told at least. He'd had two sons, my father and my uncle. My uncle had inherited grandfather's abilities, and dad was left with nothing. Grandfather always took it as a personal failing on my fathers part that he didn't have powers. Dad had never done the same with me, and I could tell that his personal happiness was just that, simple joy at my fortune. It didn't hurt that I'd be able to show my cousins up either. Well Tyler more specifically, Sarah was alright.

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  We made our goodbyes to dad and mom, and set off.

  About an hour later, after enduring the odd stares as our trio walked down the streets, we made it to the boardwalk.

  This area was a common enough spot for young heroes and villains to skirmish in front of the gushing tourists.

  The local guards didn't care too much as long as property damage and civilian violence was absent, and the dozens of videos happy tourists posted was good for young adepts reputation.

  In a city like ours, with countless competing adepts it was hard to make a name for yourself.

  We'd only been perusing the boardwalk for a couple minutes when an arrogant voice shouted down to us “are you clowns here for a fight or something? Its honestly hard to tell when you look so ridiculous.”

  I bristled immediately “HE-” “WH-” “YO” all three of us started before quickly cutting off.

  Damn it. Should have thought of this before hand. Quickly we huddled up, discussing for a moment. “Hey” “Hey” “Hey” we took turns shouting, a littler louder each time. Then in chorus “Who do you think you are” finally i finished “Think were clowns eh? Come down her and fight us like a man!”

  The man, tall muscular in a full body bright red suit with dark red flames, looked a little bewildered at our showiness. He got over it momentarily, then smirked. “Sure, dosent even matter that its three on one, ill crush you.” then he jumped off the building he'd been standing on, feet shining with crimson light.

  A crowd had already gathered, in a loose, wide circle. They'd clustered together, eager to get front row seats to an ability fueled fight.

  As his feet struck the ground, fifteen feet in front of me, an explosion of flames shot out. It looked like a large fire work, flaring briefly then sputtering out into a thousand tiny sparks.

  Two reacted fastest. He rushed the man, swinging his bat. Spark, as I'd taken to calling him, ducked the bat. His hand glowed, took on a crimson hue, and shot out into Two’s chest.

  The explosion was more directed this time, it spat out in a great gout. Two went flying 15 feet then tumbled with a sickening crack. He rolled end over end, before flopping still. He went limp.

  A great rage filled me, not so unlike the flames from his ability. I shot forward, dashing haphazardly. I threw a wild haymaker, coiling my arm up above my head, and creating an overlapping version of myself as I threw my fist.

  He saw me coming from a mile away. Fluidly he stepped in and twisted to the side, dodging my strike entirely. His fist glowed crimson, and he unleashed a light jab into my stomach.

  I blasted off, my feet flying out from under me, and tumbling through the air. I created more overlaps and clenched my eyes shut. I hit hard. The back of my head smacked into asphalt and I crashed in a flop. Pain spiked from my skull, and contusions littered my arms and legs.

  I lifted my head just in time to see Three have a boot planted into his chest. A lighter blast of flame sent him stumbling back and he dropped his golf club.

  Spark took another step forward and slapped Three across the helmet. He went spinning, then fell onto the floor. Spark followed him, paused for a moment, left foot back wide stance, then kicked out again.

  His foot was much brighter this time. A larger blast then wed seen yet sent Three into the corner of a building. Crack. Three went shooting into a side alley, after hitting the corner square on his back.

  I pushed my hand under me pushing with seven separate hands. I staggered up, least injured by far. I let out a ragged scream, and charged.

  Spark spun around to face me. A dark look crossed his face and both of his fists started glowing crimson, small tendrils of crimson fog leaking from his fists. I was on him in a moment. He kicked up and to the left, sweeping his glowing foot through the air. I stopped myself just in time to dodge. His foot was still in the air briefly, and i took that moment to shoulder check his off balance form.

  He ragdolled through the air. As he landed, his whole body glew a light orange. When he hit, a burst of flames sent him right back into the air. This let him swing his feet underneath him and land in a skid.

  “You hit hard” he grunted out. I didn't respond.

  Three could be dead or paralyzed, and Two lay in a heap not far from us. I gave a mental command to my overlapped selves, and fed a little more energy to them. They shot out, each moving in a slightly different direction

  Sparks eyes went wide, and his jaw slacked. It lasted a moment. He shot forward, meeting the farthest clone head on. He punched out, a small blast of flame and sparks throwing the clone off balance.

  Small jabs littered my front line, blowing them back just enough to stagger them.

  I was already charging, having retrieved the golf glub, and overlapped myself another five times.

  I was running low on energy. I was hurting, and out of my depth, but I wouldn't let this stand. Me and my bros just wanted to have a nice spar, test ourselves lightly, not die in an alleyway like a piece of forgotten trash.

  My clones had started to fight back, when one was knocked back, the others lunged forward. It wasn't without a price however, two clones had taken stronger shots and been put out of commission.

  Spark had a bruise on his face, and leaked blood from his lip. I ducked beneath the small tide of clones, not letting Spark see me. Then I burst from behind them, reabsorbing those I touched into the stack.

  Spark raised his arms to block the swung golf club. Fiery energy, and a cascade of sparks sent my club flying away. Feeling inspired I swung with the moment of the club, doing a three60, and bringing it back around on his other side.

  It hit ribs, barely glowing orange. I felt slight resistance, but it gave quickly. Then felt ribs. They gave to. He was sent smashing into the brick of a nearby building. I dropped my club and pursued him.

  He tried to raise a hand in defense, but his concentration was shot. I smacked the hand away with my left, then slammed his face with my right. I'll give him this, he was a tough bastard. I sent a full body right, straight into his jaw. His jaw dislocated or broke and he tumbled like a puppet with its strings cut.

  I stumbled over to Two first, while my remaining clones ran after Three. Looking over to the shell shocked crowd i shouted “Someone call 911.” when no one moved, shouted louder “NOW!”

  I rolled him over, belly up, and took his helmet off. Blood coated his face, and his nose was bent at an odd angle, his arm was clearly broken, and his lower torso was beat up. This was bad. He probably had internal injuries to, which could kill him extremely quickly. I had a thought, though I wasn't really sure if it would work.

  Back when i gave them my clothes, id sort of “updated” that section, reapplied myself wouldn't be an incorrect way of putting it. I could try to do the same to just his body, doing so to his mind as well would be no different than letting him die and creating a new clone.

  I wasn't an idiot. Id realized already that clones would die. There was little way to circumvent that when they would essentially be humans fighting adepts. That didn't mean i had to like it, and that didn't mean i would just accept it as the way of things. So i took a lotus pose. I tried to feel my body out, while not focusing on my mind. Then i reached out to my power.

  I had to resorb all the overlaps to get enough energy to do it. And even then, it was a half measure. It wasn't that i didn't have the power to do so. I just want good enough. I couldn't figure out what i had to do quickly enough, and do it with enough skill, all while holding an aspect of my ability back. But it was enough.

  His face regained color, and his nose flickered for a moment before unbreaking itself. It was odd to watch, but I was simply relieved he would be alright. I patted his chin lovingly, then got up to go check on Three. My three temporary clones were huddled around the collapsed form of Three. He was sprawled across the ground, eyes open and mouth hung agape, bruises covered his exposed body. I rushed to his side, already resorbing my temporary clones and dropping to my knees by his side.

  I was too late. Already he flickered in and out of my powers reach. I reached my hands out to him and held his hand. He stared up at me as his life waned, reaching gently up to pat the side of my cheek “Its ok” he coughed a mouthful of blood into his hand “we’re practically immortal anyways, as long as your alive.” he grinned up at me with blood soaked teeth even as his hand went limp. He was dead. I could feel my power reach out to him, gathering him up, but I didn't care. My ears rung, and my vision blurred from tears. Three was gone.