Armed robbery

"Please, don't shoot! I-I'll do anything!"

Michael signaled Anna to keep it down. They were in a small convenience store with a single counter next to the exit. A row of shelves separated them from the clerk and the robber, so they could go unnoticed if nothing happened. Michael was somewhat confident in his own ability to confront a gunman, but he couldn't risk Anna's life.

They crouched down and stayed silent amidst loud clattering and shuffling. The clerk was too scared to move his limbs properly, so he made a lot of noise.

"Hurry up!"

"Sorry! I'm so sorry!" his voice carried crying undertones.

The other man huffed and shot his gun.

Glass exploded across the room, liquor bottles shattered and fell on the floor. The first shot was to show he meant business, but it also caused the situation to develop in the way no one wanted.

Anna gasped, unable to contain her voice, and Richard barked, broken out of his dozing-off by the noise.

"Fuck. Who's there? Come out now!"

Michael looked at Anna and marveled at her determined expression. He wasn't afraid because of his strength and Control over Emotions, but the girl was just that tough when it counted. She blanched like paper and tried to stand up, but he pressed down on her shoulder and took three steps to the right by himself.

"Sorry. I hid because I didn't want to get hurt," he said with confidence. And then he learned why the clerk had been so scared.

The large man in front of him must have been well over 6 feet and built like a bull. He was dessed in dark casual pants and a hoodie to keep his face away from sight. However, that was unnecessary because he didn't have a face.

Or he did, but it was vibrating at ridiculous speeds, concealing his features. Average humans had no chance of making out his appearance, and even Michael could only tell the man had a large nose and short cropped hair.

'Another one,' he thought. The man's power was vibration or speed, and the first thing he did when he learned to control it was rob a convenience store.

"And the dog?"

"It was my phone."

"Are you fucking with me?!" The robber aimed his gun at Michael instead of the clerk, to which the poor guy exhaled with a gasp. "There is someone else, so tell them to come out!"

"It's me!" Anna came out, still hugging Richard in her bosom. The clever pup was ashamed of his earlier bark, so he nestled into the girl's arms obediently.

Anna tried to stand across from the robber, but Michael was blocking the narrow aisle with his body, obstructing the way.

"Shut up and stand there like good children," the criminal moved his gun back at the clerk just in time to notice him finish collecting the money.

Michael's Intuition was screaming at him not to stand in one place, so he eased his thoughts and let his mind wander for a single second. His Awareness took the wheel, and he subconsciously concentrated on the gun in the robber's hands. That barrel was too long.

A silencer? Who uses a silencer unless they are sure to shoot?

The gunman received a bag from the sweating clerk, his facial expressions unreadable behind the vibrating mask. Then, he took a shot.

"No!" Michael's yell caused the gunman to flinch and miss. The clerk fell, spraying blood and clutching his wounded shoulder.

The man aimed back at the teenagers, only needing a second to move his arm. However, a second is an ample amount of time for a cultivator.

Anna and Michael had been hiding behind the furthest row of shelves from the counter. Now that him and the robber were in direct confrontation, there were about six meters separating them.

When he shouted "no", he already took the first step, simultaneously pushing Anna behind the shelves. His legs filled with power and propelled him forward, right at the gunman. Six meters, two steps, one breath. One second.

Clang! Bang! Scream!

With a precise movement, Michael flicked the barrel of the gun upwards with his nails, reaching just far enough and with just enough strength to deflect the shot towards the ceiling.

Unable to stop his charge, he took another step and noticed the man swinging his fist in response as he stepped back. Those reflexes didn't belong on an average person!

Michael was confident in his Life Force of a hundred, so instead of breaking momentum he chose to catch the fist with his palm in a classic Tai Chi move. When the fist vibrated an inch away from his palm, it was too late to stop it.

They collided, and Michael hissed at his skin bursting, spattering blood all over the robber.

In the next exchange, the cultivator's speed was a great advantage, as he managed to land a heavy uppercut at the man's abdomen. The well-built criminal was pushed upwards and flew into a wall near the door.

When Anna opened her eyes, dumbfounded by the fact she was still alive, Richard was whining and shivering in her bosom. Even when she fell on the floor from Michael's push, she kept her hold on the puppy. He licked her hands, and the tickling sensation woke her up.

"Are you all right?" someone said in Michael's voice.

"Michael? Are you OK?"

Anna pushed off the dirty floor with one arm and sat up, refusing to let go of Richard. Her shoulder was numb from the fall, but she didn't pay it any mind as she hurried to turn the corner.

Michael stood over the gunman's body and delivered a full-powered kick to his upper side. The man rolled from the impact and hit his head on a wooden shelf.

"I wasn't sure how to knock him out," Michael shrugged, flashing a small smile at the girl. His ears caught heavy breathing from behind the counter, and he saw that the clerk was still alive. The cultivator jumped over the barrier and laid his hands on the wound.

'Glory, how many points do I have?'

"Current glory points: 8744."

'Should be enough to stop the bleeding at least.'

Michael found the bullet on the floor, so there was no need to look for it inside. He initiated the Flawed Healing technique and directed his glory points into the wound.

This was the first time he was healing someone after advancing to 2-stage. Before, he had been saving up for curing LZD1, given up on waking Natalia Novikova up. The ease with which he manipulated the energy surprised him.

'Glory, is this increased control a benefit of a higher stage?'

"Host is correct."

With the process so much easier, Michael opened his eyes. He didn't have to concentrate as hard.

Before his eyes, a yellow-red stream of energy flowed into the wound from his fingertips. Even from under the skin, it shone through, the livid light with golden flickers.

'It's true. When I use glory points by the thousand, anyone can see them.' Back when Michael was healing his dad, he did it once an hour and cultivated the rest of the time. It would be unlikely for anyone to notice the effect if it was diminished by tens of times.

'I doubt they saw me. But I need to be more careful.' Seeing that the wound was closing, he shouted for Anna to grab her things and head for the exit. The store had no security cameras, so they would likely be in the clear if they left now.

A police siren ruined the evening silence outside.

"Hurry up!"

Michael looked Anna over. She already moved their bags from their old hiding place. Neither of the teenagers wanted to be seen here. Superpowers were still not in the news, so confessing to being abnormal like that meant being caught in the public eye or worse, being experimented on.

"You're bleeding!" Anna exclaimed.

Michael checked the ruptured skin on his hand. It made for an ugly, jagged scar where the robber's vibrating knuckles met his soft palm. He was almost out of points, so stopping the blood was the best he could do.

"I can do it," the girl offered.

"No. No time, and I don't want you to tire yourself out."

He realized that local police were likely to get his blood on file. There was some on both unconscious men and more on the floor. Cleaning it up would take time they didn't have.

"Go, I'll catch up in a second."

Anna flinched, "What are you going to do?"

"I don't want you to see this. Go."

Michael had never killed a man before but had no qualms about it. In his imagination, he tortured and mutilated Leon many times over those ten years. He had long been comfortable with physical violence, and the thirst for blood was once again whispering in his ear, convincing him to remove this threat to society.

"No way!" the pale girl put her hand on Michael's chest. "You cannot do this. He deserves a trial, not an execution."

"I can be his jury. Look at the guy he shot, he is what, five years older than us? And he was going to shoot us too! If he can kill, then we're allowed to do the same!"

"You do this," Anna swallowed, "and I won't talk to you anymore. Taking a life is… is a sin! I can't let you kill him."

There they stood, their friendship on the verge of crumbling. The siren was getting closer. Less than two minutes passed since the robber shot his gun, and the police were coming.

This was another reason the teenagers couldn't be together. They were too different in life experiences, convictions. In moments like these, Anna was a young girl, and he – an older man.

Michael pushed down on his instincts, aware of the priorities. First, their immediate safety. Then, alibi. Last, killing this man.

"Fine. I am not happy about this, but I understand where you're coming from."

"Thank you. Let's go."

Anna ran out, but Michael took a second to imprint the robber's face in his memory. Unconscious, he seemed less threatening, with a wide face, a large nose and tanned skin.

'Pray we never meet again.'

Michael exited the door under Anna's concerned stare with bags full of Richard's things. They exchanged a nod and ran in the direction opposite to the siren.