Bring The Heat

37. Lunar Pre-Mortem Evolution Theory (GOJS ARC 8)

Abilities were something that in most parts of the world, remained mostly unknown. BM seemed to be the only person with a great deal of power and influence that could identify them as anything more than strange, unexplained occurrences, being the only one with an ability of his own. Still, there was so much to learn - what caused them? There didn't seem to be an obvious pattern... how common were they? There were a surprising amount in BM's general area, after all. Was this a worldwide phenomenon? It was highly likely to be, but BM couldn't create foundations to support these people without the desired subtlety. And... who should know about them? This question of how societies would react was a huge one. BM was still conjuring up an answer, and had decided it was best to keep it all on the down low for now.

But though the source of these powers was still unfound, BM liked to entertain a theory. What if they were the next stage in human evolution? And if they were... was it possible to evolve further?

As Mint stood, watching bullet after bullet slam into the knight, she felt it. She was... stronger, stronger by a remarkable degree!

Coming to, she readied her aim, no longer shooting with panic. She lined up a shot for the head, and fired. The initial bullets clattered into the back of the knight's helmet, and the purple flare sparkled brightly, but as the volley of bullets shooting into it's back ended the knight sunk into the floor, appearing behind Mint once more.

As the knight readied it's blade, Mint didn't even turn. She wasn't concerned. She was beginning to understand her newly evolved ability... she could see that the smoke trails had turned, passing straight over her shoulder! And so, in form, the knight fell backward as Mint turned to face it, jolting about on the ground as a volley of bullets shot into it's helm! But how!? Was it not out of the line of fire?

Mint stood over it's body, waiting for it to get up. She normally wouldn't give in to overconfidence, but the irony of the turning tables made her feel almost lightheaded. The euphoria of evolution plagued her mind as she laughed maniacally. It was just so funny! A silly little lady had decided that she could fight a gun with a sword and some dress-up. Mint was so, so superior!

She delivered a quick kick to the side of the knight's head as it laid weakly on the ground, blood pooling out of it's visor. She couldn't resist it... the urge to put it in it's place! Mint paced around the warehouse, overflowing with energy as she waited impatiently for her opponent to rise to it's feet. She turned around only to see it sink into the floor.

Surprise quickly quelled the feelings of superiority as Mint's eyes scanned the warehouse to see where the knight had gone. And then... it crashed down next to her!

The floor cracked as the knight landed heavily upon it, and Mint jumped aside, shocked. It had miscalculated it's attack, probably due to the blood in it's visor, but... it could've easily just killed her! It sunk into the ground again, and appeared in front of her, staggering forth weakly and dragging it's blade loosely along the ground. With all of it's might, it swung shakily, missing Mint as she stepped back. It kept approaching, swinging more, and whether out of surprise at it's persistence or just pity, Mint only dodged. She found herself feeling a weird amount of respect for her opponent... it could've killed her. It could've won, and probably should've.

Finally, the knight swung once more in a small, slow arc, and Mint backed up, dodging it but pressing against the wall behind her. She was cornered! But then, the knight collapsed in fatigue, clinking on the ground like an empty suit of armour. Mint just looked down at it, feeling... something indescribable. She felt like she should've lost the fight, even if she was glad she hadn't. She felt like the knight was the rightful winner... and yet it began to sink into the floor one last time, making it's getaway.

And Mint didn't stop it.

She stared at the empty floor where it had lay for a second. The euphoria and indescribable feeling had left her body. She just stood there, staring, and began to pant for air. She wasn't tired, she just felt like she should be...

There was a sudden slam somewhere in the warehouse.

Mint ran out to the middle of the building, and looked across the empty floor to see the entrance shaking, and her barricade tumbling down. Yet again, the gunfire had lead the fangs right to her! She readied her gun, taking stance, but... the side door started to bang too!

Mint backed away from them both, panicking. There was no nearby cover she could take, and both doors were about to open! Collecting herself, she took a deep breath... and waited.

The main door shot open.

Mint fired a spray of bullets, hitting the front two of what appeared to be about 40 men waiting outside. Fuck! The gangs were temporarily joining together to kill Ben...

As the men at the front took cover, the side door shot open. Mint aimed her gun at the first of about 10 more men, but knew she was low on bullets. This was not sustainable! But... she didn't even fire, and yet, the whole group flooding in the side door already had those purple flares? Mint snapped her head to the front door, and saw a large purple glow emanating from it. She would've liked examine her situation more, but bullets from the side door's group whizzed past her head and Mint activated her ability in a split second decision.

BANG!

Normally, ghost bullets made a much quieter noise, but... holy shit. The noise that followed was the sound of roughly 50 men dropping to the ground at once, dead. Flares on each of their bodies fizzled out silently. Horrified, Mint slowly approached the front door, and gasped when she reached it.

Every single gang member lay on the ground, unmoving. They had fallen like dominos, like lightning had struck the first and they had all been shocked by proximity.

Now Mint was no stranger to killing, but... this was a fucking massacre! For the first time in decades, tears rolled down her face. What had she done? So much life extinguished at once...

As the thoughts and turmoil rolled around in her head, one of the men began to groan, sitting up. Mint's head snapped over, and a massive wave of relief crashed down on her. On second look, all of the men's head had not gunshot wounds, but large red marks, like they had been struck by a flat stick!

Other than the men who had taken real bullets, everyone was just unconscious!

Wait. Shit. They were just unconscious! Before anyone could come to and pull a gun on her, Mint ran off into the night. She wasn't sure what the hell she just did... but it had sure knocked 50 men on their ass!