CHAPTER 34

Beast Boy stood on the roof of a building as he watched the growing tension between Kid Flash and the vigilante, while it seemed the vigilante was about losing his cool and Kid Flash was getting riled up by the fellow.

"We are not done talking." Kid Flash said with his hand still on Tom's shoulder.

"I think we are." Tom replied as he instantly released a burst of energy which propelled Kid Flash off of him that sent him flying through the air and he smashed into a wall.

He changed the vector beneath his feat as he kicked the ground and accelerated onward, yet he wasn't fast enough to escape the approaching Beast Boy who transformed into a hawk once more and flew ahead of him.

He transformed back to a person as he landed in front of him, he blocked Tom's path and it made the advancing Tom suddenly stop in his tracks, not knowing what Beast Boy might try to do.

"Not cool dude, you should have at least heard him out completely before you attacked him." Remarked Beast Boy.

"I think I've heard enough of his accusations and I actually warned him to let go of me before doing that, he just dealt with the aftermath of his actions." Tom said as he stared at Beast Boy, wondering what the young lad would do since his friend was just attacked after trying to arrest him.

"He just wanted you to clear things up with the police by turning you in, then you explain to them why you do what you do as a vigilante." He tried compelling Tom to let down his guard and go with them but the exasperated Tom did not want to listen to whatever he had to say.

"Sorry, but I'm not going anywhere with you guys tonight.The only place I'm headed to right now is my place.

"If you won't listen to reason, then I guess I would have to do this the old fashion way and beat some sense into you." Beast Boy transformed into a gorilla then attacked Tom who just stood and prepared to evade.

The gorilla threw a punch directly at Tom who evaded the attack as he took a quick step to the right. He dodged the huge fist of the gorilla which had completely missed its target. Before Beast Boy could react and throw in a second punch, Tom was fast enough to change the vector behind his punch and he increased its momentum.

He delivered a solid blow to the jaw of the gorilla who crashed against the sidewalk then pirouette across the street on impact with the ground.

"Beast Boy!" Yelled the young speedster while still in pain from the collision he had with a nearby wall. He struggled back on his feet and joined in on the fight.

The gorilla immediately stood up and charged towards Tom, so did Kid Flash. As both of them tried to subdue him, Kid Flash got to him first and held him in place, Tom was surprised the speedster had already gotten to him before he could put up his deflective field, he wasn't fast enough to react to a speedster.

Kid Flash maintaining contact with Tom was a big mistake on his part, Tom could divert and change all vector energy that was in contact with him and Kid Flash just gave him an advantage over himself.

Immediately Tom noticed Kid Flash had entered into his personal space and was in contact with him, he changed the energy around Kid Flash and himself, stopping the slightest bit of motion and held him to the spot.

The more electricity an object can conduct, the more it becomes volatile to an abrupt change if something else is introduced with contact, similar concept is used in magnetism. He basically made Kid Flash a magnet with supercharged N-poles then changed the ground and himself to a submissive S-pole.

With Kid Flash's movements completely neutralized, he threw a punch with a condensed repulsive field around his fist as he increased the vibration of the field around it, thus increasing its intensity.

Kid Flash saw the punch coming but he couldn't move, he tried but his body couldn't leave that spot or react to the incoming punch. Vibrating his cells at a higher rate, he created enough kinetic energy within himself and broke free from the hold Tom had over him.

Having broken free at the last second and as a speedster, he was able to dodge the punch just in time. He watched the punch slowly pass by him but he was suddenly hit by the field surrounding Tom's fist even though the punch completely missed him. The impact lifted him off his feet and sent him twirling a few paces down the street until he crashed into a trash can.

He turned to Beast Boy who sprung into the air with his two huge gorilla fists clenched and ready to smash him. Tom created a repulsive field which provided little to no precise control over what they pushed away from its center. The field pushes things away from him at a certain radius, with size and mass being more of a factor, so he contained it to his immediate surroundings.

Beast Boy came in contact with the field as he tried smashing Tom and was violently repelled from him. It sent the gorilla flying back into the streets.

"That's it." Said the pissed off speedster as he wiped his bleeding lips then stood up and darted towards Tom with an even greater speed. He charged at him with the intent of knocking him out with a speed punch, so they could continue their conversation at the station when he woke up.

Little did he know, Tom had something a little bit annoying up his sleeve.

As he approached him, he threw a punch with enough force which would definitely knock him out ice cold. Tom had sensed the incoming danger and would not want to make the mistake of Kid Flash getting to him before he could react to him, so he subconsciously put up his deflective field to evade any incoming threat the speedster might deliver.

To his surprise his fist hit a solid airfield which felt like a barrier and made water-like ripples in the air, the force from the punch which was deflected back at him threw Kid Flash away and he crashed into a post by the street, he tried getting up and realized he had dislocated his right shoulder.

"Kid Flash!" Exclaimed Beast Boy as he ran to Kid Flash's side to check if he was alright.

The sight of his friend being hurt so badly had him riled up and got him angry, he turned to look at the individual who was responsible so he could try and end this little skirmish they were having but saw no one there.

Tom had used the commotion as a perfect distraction and escaped that scene without any of them noticing his absence until it was too late.

Beast Boy took Kid Flash home and dressed his wounds which would probably heal up in no time since he is a speedster, speed healing and all.

"That dude was something else, why'd he just snap at us anyway?" Gar asked Wally as he wrapped up with the finishing touches on his injuries.

"I think it's probably because I pushed too hard and poked the wrong buttons." Wally said in a defeated yet irritated tone, he hated the idea that he was beaten by some dude he had promised The Flash he would take care of.

"But still, all that wouldn't have been necessary if he had agreed to come with us peacefully instead of resisting and turning it into a fight." Gar looked at the beat up Wally and hoped the incident did not get to his nerves.

"I knew it might go down like that but I never expected him to have so many tricks up his sleeves, we weren't able to cause him any kind of damage." He grit his teeth as the thought of what had happened kept on raising his frustration each time he remembered how he was beaten hands down by that vigilante who didn't seem like he was even trying so hard.

"Yeah, he seemed to be protected by some kind of barrier or something." Gar scratched his head while trying to figure out what it might have been

"He didn't have to use his fist or come in contact with a person to cause them damage or subdue them, now I see what Barry meant when he said the vigilante did not need to cause the victims that much harm when he could defeat them easily."

"Well, at least now we know how he is able to beat up those thugs without laying a single finger on them while sending them directly to a hospital bed. But what was that anyway?" He asked Wally in hopes of him having figured out Tom's secret.

"I don't know, it was like he was surrounded by a magnetic field or something with him at the epicenter where he could choose to repel anything within his range and prevent foreign objects from coming near him." Wally stroked his chin slowly with his one good arm and tried breaking down Tom's ability according to what he had witnessed that night.

"But you were able to get a hold of him twice."

"Yes. But I might have only been able to touch him because of my speed, but it wasn't effective when he became quite aware of it. I don't know if it was my imagination but when I held him by his shoulder, I couldn't move for a split second." He tried making sense of what happened.

"Oh that's why you weren't able to dodge that punch he threw at you earlier, I was wondering why you didn't dodge it even with your speed." Gar spoke as he snapped his fingers like he had figured it out.

"Not exactly. I dodged that punch and clearly saw his fist swing past my face but something still came in contact with my jaw." He touched his jaw and flexed it a little as he remembered that moment.

"There's something up with that dude, the way he used his powers is like nothing I have ever seen."

"Please do not breathe a word of this b to anyone, especially not to Barry."

"I've got you bro, just have some rest and heal up real quick so we can get back on the streets, then show that dude we mean business." Gar stretched out his arm with his fist clenched as the bros shared a fist bump.