Chapter Thirty-Eight

"Well, what will it be kid?" I ask, fully knowing within myself that there wasn't any version of this where this child isn't taken into custody with us.

Looking at him I can tell at a single glance that he would be a key witness in bringing down that damned Rey, and with Rey down, I can finally be given a large enough budget to get after Invincibill himself.

I let myself smile as I imagine it, I'd no doubt be given plenty of leeway as well, maybe even a meta fresh off the track with a collar round the neck. Yes, the way I see it, tonight is only the beginning of the best time in my career.

Pulling myself from my thoughts I notice the young teen has yet to give me his answer, but rather has begun to move toward the nearest person to him, not Austin or the one that looks like Rey, but Charles from my unit.

I narrow my eyes at the child and open my mouth to call out to him just as he stands in front of Charles. But I notice something else, something that tells me not to say a word.

Why the hell is Charles still aiming his weapon at Austin when the kid is right in front of him?

The kid pulls out a weapon, a heavy caliber by the looks of it. I stifle an instinctive yell to my men as I slowly begin to realize I'm observing something very, very wrong.

Is no one but the two of us moving? I don't have a chance to find out if this is the case but if the deep unsettling feeling I have in my gut is even slightly right, I know it's too late for Charles.

Watching the kid, his hands tremble as they amateurishly grip the heavy gun in them. The silence is unnatural but because of it I manage to hear him whisper out a word of...apology?

Bang!

The sudden shot of the weapon startles me almost to yelling but the kid doesn't stop there, he seems to choose between either one of Charles' arms, ending up going after the right and then-

Bang!

Fuck! I scream in my head and hide behind fat Sandra as I slowly realize that, This kid is a meta.

Panic and fear races through me like the bullet did through Charles' elbow and knees.

What the fuck do I do now? I wasn't expecting to deal with a damned meta!

Especially one of this calibre. Even after being shot in the knee and elbow, two very vital places to the body, Charles has yet to fall over in writhing pain, he's still got his weapon pointed at Austin even with blood dripping everywhere.

Whatever this kids' powers are, he seems to have complete control over every and any one who finds themselves around him....could it be mind control?

I shake my head but busy my hands, swiftly disarming one of my men for my own sake. If I can't get them out of this….mind control trance then the only thing left to do is take the kid on myself.

Bang! Bang!

I flinch and tightly grip my weapon as just like that, another one of my team is rendered a disability.

Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!

All my optimism from earlier is thrown out the window as I cowardly hide behind fat Sandra.

All I wanted was to take down a damn fucking criminal gang, I didn't ask for a tussle with a goddamn meta!

The only meta's in Invincibill's gang are the ones that surround him as his personal and most trusted team, unlike other gangs the metas he picks up for his inner circle all have at least rank D or C powers like him.

That's why I fucking chose to go after him in the first place! Before I would reasonably encounter a meta I would certainly have one given to me for all my achievements until then!

Bang! Bang!

Again.

Bang! Bang!

And again.

Bang! Bang!

And again!

I stood behind Sandra for what felt like an hour, hearing dimly in the distance as each and every one of the teammates I walked in here with have their kneecaps blown off by this...this fanatical kneecapper!

But I came to a realization thanks to all of this, thanks to all the fear in me, my mouth full of my own blood from my unconscious biting, I woke up to pain and the sound of blood dripping still, the blood of my subordinates.

I realized that this kid is all I need, that he has created the exact situation I need to propel myself to the top of the ranks in the department.

I don't need Invincibill, just him, just the kid. A mind controller? Caught by me? Half of the team injured or dead? I would make the headlines, I would make the paper, I would be given a damn medal for throwing the Kneecapper's sorry ass behind bars.

I let out a relieved controlled sigh at last and cock my weapon. I take a deep breath and look out the sides to take a peek at where the Kneecapper is now, he's three unfortunate people away from Sandra.

Bang! Bang!

Better make that two then.

As The Kneecapper silently loads more ammunition into his weapon I ready myself for a final time, Time to be a hero.

Jumping out from behind fat Sandra I pull my gun on him, his eyes widen immediately and he scrambles to do the same but it's too late and he's far too disorganized, "Drop the weapon you damn criminal fiend!"

Covered in blood and even some broken bits of bone the Kneecapper startledly asks, "How can you move?"

"Drop the weapon or I swear to god!" I scream out at him.

He reels, blood dripples down from his nose and the next thing I know-

"Agrhhh!!"

"Ahhh!!"

"What the fuck! Helpp! Someone help!"

Startled by the sudden influx of screams of agony, my finger squeezes the trigger and-

Bang!