“Now that I think of it, where is Mr. Salem? It appears that your partner in crime is not with you at the moment.” Mr. Almondo stood tall and firm whenever he spoke. It was no wonder he seemed so powerful without having any powers at all; he was the head of the DVP after all.
“Oh, Connor? He’s just in there, training with the rest of them.” Nathan responded, frightened.
“Mr. Ross, I know what you two have been up to. It is unfortunate to believe that these lies that you’ve been spewing are getting worse and worse by the second, specifically in quality. You see, Mr. Ross, I’ve been in this business long before you can think of. I’ve been lied to, cheated, scammed, nearly assassinated, the whole nine yards! If you believe that you have the comprehension to lie, then fine, be my guest. However, just note that your efforts won’t work on me. Understand?” Nathan quickly shook his head in understanding. “Now, take this wall down.”
Nathan quivered a bit before he could respond. “Y-You see, sir. There isn’t a way for me to ‘take it down.’ I’m unable to.”
“Why not?” Koyl asked.
“That’s just how my powers work. Some powers just aren’t able to do that; to take their abilities down.”
“Fine then. If you don’t have the capabilities to bring it down, I’ll find[ someone who will.”
“Why is Connor still chasing after us? Doesn’t he have other people to bully?!” Amelia yelled out.
From way in front of them, Ethan was dashing in order to escape the flock of shadow crows chasing after them as if they were worms. “Don’t know, Don’t care! I’m just trying to get outta here!”
“We’re not your bait, Ethan!” Orion yelled out in front of him. Ethan could barely see in front of him due to how dark the maze was. The man had been in dangerous situations before, but none quite unique as this.
“C’mon, Ethan! You said you wanted to join our team, didn’t you? Think of this as an initiation into the team!” Connor swung his right arm in front of his torso, the crows quickly following in the direction of his arm movement. As the villains looked behind them, they saw Connor spawn another shadow monster by the taps of his foot. A blob emerged similar to the rest of the monsters, but this time had the appearance of a large gorilla. This made matters even worse as Connor had the luxury of conserving his energy while chasing after them.
Ethan was too caught up in the appearance of the new monster when he was interrupted by a large wall in front of him. As he knocked to the ground, he looked up and saw another of the DVP members. Although he was recognizable, he had never actually met the man. The villain also appeared to be an old, skinny Chinese man. He had some recognizable muscle on him, but he primarily had a small belly gut as if a dodgeball was tucked underneath his shirt. When he began to talk, his voice was quite raspy. “Are you okay, young man? Let me help you get back up. It might take a second though, I’ve had back problems ever since I was 50.”
Ethan smacked the man’s arm, rejecting the kind gesture. A frown grew on the old man’s compassionate face. “Run! Save Yourself!”
“I don’t know what you mean, young man?” Just as he reached his hand towards Ethan again, the elder looked over his right shoulder to see two people running for their lives, straight at him. One of them had a waving motion going on with their arms, signaling them to quickly run. The elder was scooped up by Ethan and cradled as if he were a baby. “Hi, I’m Bingwu!”
“Right, and I’m Ethan. What is a frail guy such as yourself doing in this place?
“For my ability of course, young man!” The old man, Bingwu, started to chuckle. “I guess you could say my past was considered, but I left that type of life long ago. Say, why are you carrying me anyway?”
“We’re being chased. No biggie though, we’ll get out of this… eventually.”
From behind, Amelia yelled again at Ethan. “Hey, who’s the old guy?”
“Hi, I’m Bingwu!” Bingwu yelled back. He then suddenly coughed, probably due to the fact that he had to yell from such a long distance.
“Alright Bingwu, you think that you can help us out in this goose chase?” Amelia replied.
“Hmm, I just might.” Bingwu started to rub his fingers against his single small strand of facial hair. He continuously was in a cradled position, and seemed to quite enjoy it.
“Is this your power? Hair rubbing?” Ethan asked.
“No, I’m just thinking. Say, your power is electricity, right?”
“How’d you know, old man?”
“I’m on the same team as you, young man! Your vision has become so clouded that you only see yourself and not the ones around you! If you hadn’t ventured off on your own, you would have immediately recognized who I was.”
“Ah, that’s why I recognize you. Yeah, sorry about that.”
“No time. We must make sure to escape this chase safely. You see, I’m not quite able to use my ability whenever I’m by myself. My power works best when I am with others!”
“What is it then?” Ethan was curious as to what ability his teammate actually possessed. The old man reached into his tan pockets and reached out a small golden ring.
“Don’t worry, this isn’t real gold. In China, I learned the ancient technique of spray paint. Now, prepare yourself, you’re about to experience a huge burst of energy.” Suddenly, the man threw out the ring in front of them. Using the movement of his hands, he gracefully expanded the size of the ring so that Ethan could manage to run right through it. Afterwards, the ring rapidly returned back to its original shape and, like a magnet, returned back into the hands of Bingwu.
Ethan suddenly stopped in the middle of his run, carefully placing Bingwu down. As Amelia and Orion caught up, they were confused as to why Ethan abruptly stopped out of nowhere.
“We’re running, remember?” Orion exclaimed.
“No, not anymore. I feel as if I…”
“-had a boost of your ability? I know, my power is quite useful, isn’t it?” Bingwu smiled as he saw Ethan’s eyes begin to glow a golden yellow. He had an aura around him that wasn’t previously seen in him before. He felt unstoppable.