4 Fusion

Despite oftentimes making irrational decisions. Patrice was a smart person.

Experiencing almost 25 years of this exact same situation, He quickly realised the reason the three men had such fearful expressions on their faces.

He had yet to strike back, so to them, he must appear to be a hidden expert, able to absorb blows which would obliterate a regular person of his stature.

Should he lash out now, they would quickly realise his level of strength did not match his monstrous body. Unfortunately, this secret was almost always uncovered in the end.

To avoid this from happening, Patrice adopted a look he believed would impose a sense of superiority and mystery. He pushed his chest out, tilted his chin upwards and slightly lowered his eyelids. He then placed a hand on his hip and slowly walked towards the men, speaking in what he believed to be a cold, raspy voice.

"if you brats know what's good for you, you'll get the hell out of here before you really piss me off!" He said slowly, tilting his head to the left.

The bald man, Marco, shook himself out of his stupor and stared at the skinny twig he was previously pummelling into the ground. 'What the fuck is he doing? Is he acting out some kind of scene? Oh my god, so cringey!' he thought as he looked away in disgust.

Despite this, he did not dare to make a move. He was well aware of how much force he had put into those strikes. As a body refiner who had enhanced their body through years of ki absorption, he had cultivated strength equivalent to that of 8-10 fully grown adult men. There should be no reason this bag of bones could take one punch, let alone the beating he had given him…unless he was an…

"Eh-Ex-Expert!!", a voice from his right shakily completed his train of thought. Marco turned to see the mastermind in their group, Luis, with his jaw hanging open, eyes bulging and appearing to completely buy everything he was seeing.

In that instance, Marco felt a lump rise up from his chest into his throat, his ears heated up and his eyes watered a little. 'Come on bro, you can't really believe that atrocious acting, surely' he thought, immensely disappointed in the friend he had always praised for being smart. 'The twig may have done the unthinkable and absorbed my punches, but come on man…from the weird stance to the fake voice he's putting on, you can't see anything wrong with this scene?!?'

'He was shitting himself five minutes ago!!'

"I don't buy it!"

'Ohhh yes baby!!!' Marco thought ecstatically as he wiped his eyes and turned to his left to see Paul with a resolute look on his face despite his shaking hands.

"If he was an expert he would've noticed me when I flashed behind him!" Paul said as he slowly regained control over his trembling hands. "He didn't notice me until I spoke!"

"You're right!" Marco readily accepted this confirmation to his doubts. This twig was fishy. If he hadn't said anything, Marco would've most likely reacted like Luis, but that bad acting man….that bad acting had rubbing him differently. He shivered slightly as he remembered the twig's behaviour and was enveloped in an overwhelming wave of cringe. 'Fuck this guy for making me witness that' Marco thought as the air around his body began to warp and twist and his fist yet again took on an iridescent red hue.

"Drama class is over you little shit stain, I don't know what's up with you, but I'll be sure to bury you underground so you never do that to my eyes again!" Marco said while gritting his teeth, the air twisting even more violently as he clenched his fist tighter. The steam rising from his fists warped and wrapped around his thick beefy arms. Marco took a step forward and the ground beneath him cracked under the pressure.

Patrice was already thinking about how to escape as soon as the fast man sussed him out but then the bald man's words distracted him. 'Your eyes? Dafuq? I didn't do anything to your eyes! All I did was…wait drama class?' then it dawned on him. 'Oi fuck you!! My acting was flawless!' He thought at he glared at the bald man. He felt his chest heat up as a fiery rage wrapped itself around his senses.

He had completely forgotten about escaping and was now ready to throw down to protect his pride!

The initial reason for this clash appeared to be long forgotten. The supplies were but a distant memory.

This was now a battle of ideals between a performer and a heckler!

However before the two could fight for their cause, a blinding white light enveloped the entire store and momentarily blinded all four men.

Unfortunately or fortunate for Patrice, the source of the light was closer to him and as he put his hands up to shield his face, he felt something shoot up his arm like a surge of electricity and violently fling him backwards, through the brick walls of the store.