6 Fighting Phet

"Who the bloody hell are you meant to be then?" Phet grunted, his cold eyes narrowed.

"S-Someone you don't want to mess with!" I stammered in response, trying to sound tough and confident but failing miserably.

Phet didn't bother responding to that verbally, he just started tapping on a digital display that was glowing on his wrist. The substances in the tubes that connected to his next to provide him with the drug infusions that made him more powerful changed colour as a different cocktail was forced into his system.

In front of my eyes, I could see his body change. Muscles became more protracted, and a cruel smile began to form across his lips. But it was still clear that my shockwave had done some damage to him, he was still feeling groggy.

Phet was going to be an issue, there were no two ways about it, so I needed to give it my all to try and take him down.

My left hand went back down to the dial on my right hand's palm and twisted to bring the configuration back to a narrow beam setting. It cost a lot less energy to project a narrow beam than it did the wide dispersal, I'd have a few shots but I had no idea how many.

I also chose to draw my stun baton, the end sparking slightly as I powered it up.

If Phet managed to ramp up thanks to his drugs I wouldn't have much of a chance, but if I managed to knock out the control systems on his arms I might have a chance of bringing him down before he got too amped.

With that in mind, I charged up another load of energy in the palm of my gauntlet and let the tight beam of electrical power lance forward.

Now that it was concentrated into a single thread, the electrical pulse glowed a bright blue as it sang through the air. My aim was true, perhaps some sort of side effect of my power allowing me to be an expert with the tools I built, and impacted Phet directly in the chest.

He grunted and stumbled back slightly, but wasn't brought down to his knees this time.

"Bloody amateur," He grunted, "Did yah really think the same trick would work twice? Kids like you, fresh out with your new powers and you thought you could take someone like me on?"

Phet laughed, a low grunting sound that almost sounded animalistic, and charged forward at me. For someone so short he moved incredibly quickly. Not quite superhuman, he wasn't amped enough for that yet, but fast enough to catch me off guard.

He roared as he drew closer, deep and guttural, and swung a fist through the air.

I was only just able to dive out of the way, falling into a clumsy roll that just about brought me back up to my feet. Though, as I was jumping I did manage to tag the powered man with the end of my baton.

It wasn't a strong hit, but it did discharge a colossal amount of energy into his right leg. As I stood back up, I could see that the hit had done more than my ranged strike had managed to do, Phet's leg had buckled out from under him and he was struggling to stay upright.

It still wasn't enough.

In any other fight, that would have been a debilitating injury, enough to make them an easy capture. But it wasn't a knock out blow, so as more and more drugs entered Phet's system he would just get stronger and stronger. He wouldn't get tired, he wouldn't run out of tricks. He'd get stronger, and he'd gain even more tricks.

I was regretting the fact that I'd come out half-cocked the moment I'd seen Phet emerging from his vehicle, now I was worrying that it was going to get me killed, because it was clear that my current gear wasn't having as much of an effect as I was hoping it would have done.

I swallowed hard, far too conscious of the fact that time was running out. Before long, Phet would become strong enough to break rocks with his hands and move faster than my eyes could track.

I was going to have to come up with something smarter. I was going to have to get creative.

Phet shook his leg, working the muscles back into action, and gave me another dark smile. He pushed off the ground with a gigantic leap, his arms outstretched as if to wrap me in a bear hug.

His jump was so strong that the pavement underneath him cracked. If I was caught by this attack, it was game over. I would definitely die.

Against all my instincts I dashed toward him and then, at the last moment, dropped onto my belly.

Phet soared over me, the tips of his fingers just barely brushing past the top of my head, and crashed into and then through an already mostly ruined wall.

I had a plan, but I was going to have to be quick about it and crafting while on the move wasn't exactly easy.

I flexed my power and felt the battery casing of my gauntlet split open, moulding itself into a circular outcrop the exact same size as my stun baton's end. I clipped it into place and, for a brief moment, prayed that the contraption wouldn't blow up on my hand.

It was obvious that the baton somehow had more power running through it than my gauntlet did, by powering it up I'd have more chance of dealing a damaging blow to Phet… who had just risen from the hole in the wall.

When I'd first started battling against him, Phet hadn't really seemed particularly imposing. But the drugs were really starting to take hold now. He was bulked up, and his eyes glowed an ominous green in the darkness.

"You're bloody screwed now kid," He growled from the gloom.