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Catcall Part 7

I remember the principal event like it was yesterday (photographic memory and all that). I was wearing a pretty cute black hoodie with track pants and a mask with goggles. In my prized duffle bag, I had enough rare diamonds inside that they might as well have felt like bowling balls. I felt on top of the world in the middle levels.

So much so that in my elated sense of victory, I almost didn't take note of my surroundings. And that was the only thing that saved my life! Under cover of the Krimo's neon saturated cityscape, a blue glint made its presence known amongst the dizzying beams. At first, my mind almost dismissed it as just another auto geek trying to show off, till my peripheral vision captured something different as the blue light grew closer at speeds relative to mine!

Realizing I was already in mid-jump, I had no choice but to counterattack with all I got. My power quickly erupted like a frag grenade forcing me into a circling gale of white wind! However, that only made the now slowed projectile even scarier as I got to see it at full speed. Nonetheless, I reacted accordingly, snapping my right leg to form a makeshift mid-air Brazilian kick!

Pristine fabric burned on contact with the comment, livening up every pain receptor in my body! Even still, the kick did make contact with "something," forcing the comet to veer off course just enough to send both of us crashing towards the back alley. The good news was by the time I landed. I didn't have to worry about the blinding pain of having my body pinball into a dumpster.

Though I noticed one precise detail even in this state, my bag was gone. Ravenous eyes scanned my new surroundings, hungry and desperate over what happened, only to find that answer in the voice that came from above.

"Looking for this?"

From there, I saw my new opponent and recognized him instantly. For if Omna and Aegis were Krimo's golden standard, then this man was holding one of the few silver medals. Nitrous: the self-named "blue blur of Krimo. Upon pillars of azure flame, he stood in his somewhat iconic outfit. While his frame wasn't the biggest and worst, he's still very much left his well-developed arms exposed like a bodybuilder.

He wore a blue and black tank top that at its center contained a faintly glowing flaming 'N" symbol. I was following that he also had mechanized black gloves filled with whirring propellers. This design also went into his boots, followed by navy blue track pants.

However, that all were answered with icy slicked-back hair, a pretty boy face, and glowing blue eyes that seemingly swirled with an almost on point fiery tendency contained in a futuristic but sturdy helmet covered in a visor. For the first time in my entire life, flighty excitement became grave seriousness as Nitrous leveled his hand.

A glowing blue bullseye symbol quickly formed from said hand, collecting together to form a fire that seemed to collect together to form a powerful energy ball filled with fire. He made his stance very much clear at my almost jumpy stance without hesitation.

"You can try and take what's mine if you wish, but if you do, I can't guarantee that your life won't be mine as well," he said in an almost robotic tone.

The worst part is from both media sources and now personal experience that he was dead serious. Although, Nitrous may have been one of Krimo's most popular faces, there was just as much infamy in his status as there was genuine praise. Unlike Omna's tried and failed system of peace, Nitrous was very much well aware of using rather immoral and violent methods to get what he wants.

He hasn't had any fatalities yet, but there is reason why he's had more "fake" accusations and pinned crimes than any other hero in Krimo's history, which meant that there was only one true course of action: run if you can.

With all the motivation I've ever needed, I activated once again. Slowing down my escape route while activating my powers once again in seeming defeat! Time once again slowed down inch by inch, putting my body into overtime to stir up the adrenaline and endorphins like some witch's cauldron. Once that got in, I quickly sprung back with a new life.

Almost at once, I picked up the nearest trash can I could find, throwing it dead on to Nitrous with the speed of a bullwhip! The sheer velocity was more than enough to shred the bag apart, unleashing a barrage of garbage that covered Nitrous' field of vision completely. Making due on his promise a condensed blast of heat lifted from his finger, instantly burning and shredding through my screen like it was cheese to the grater.

However that careful aim was exactly what I needed as I followed his line of sight. Using the leftover bag as a screen I obscured myself as much as I could. Which worked wonders as whatever shot he could conjure was a major delayed misfire. So in that small sense of hesitation I finally managed to close in jumping up and rebounding off the wall to close in.

Nitrous tried to close in with a half-formed bloom of fire. However, noticing it, I tried to use my momentum to morph into a bit of a corkscrew, avoiding the brush and unclasping my duffle bag and obtaining it again! My momentum still managed to carry me, though, digging my foot heel into the wall just enough to use even that as a weapon!

A triumphant kick was all I needed to aim a barrage of broken bricks pieces right at them! Instantly Nitrous' steady flight got utterly interrupted, leaving me just enough time to leap forward in a front flip that sends me to the rooftops again! Then, taking his determination very much into account, I made a snap decision that would leave the most hardened heroes in disarray.

Deciding to go for literal broke, I opened up the bag and threw a fistful of diamonds. Yet at our speeds, they might as well have been heavy artillery as they got throttled across the air upon Nitrous's reappearance! Being far too fast even to stop, Nitrous just decided to rely on pure power, creating a makeshift flamethrower-like blast that moved more quickly than even him!

Almost instantly, my barrage turned in on itself, reversing the course of my small diamonds and sending them back to me as if they were heated slugshots! Then, knowing the attack was beyond lethal, I got even faster, dragging the attack just enough to completely launch myself high into the air while decorated in burning cuts! From there, I decelerated a couple of pegs back, worriedly conserving any extra energy I had left.

Lucky for me, by the time I landed, we had already landed in my home-field advantage," Krimo's Heart. The bustling center was filled with drones, holographic ads, and low-level hovercrafts. A location that provided me with all the coverage and human shields I could ask for. From there, I kept my burst to a minimum instead of naturally picking up speed through a series of aerobatic maneuvers.

At the peak of said maneuvers, I pulled a tight forward flip off a drone and corkscrewed my way between 2 hovercrafts in flight. With that perspective, I managed to get a good look at the blue streak vengefully following me from above. Unfortunately, that simple look was pretty much all I needed to know that he was going to give up, as he raised his right hand as if it was a pistol.!

Realizing that I was now in a dead-end, I pulled off my magnum opus, unfurling a whole host of smoke bombs and letting it all loose! From there, a humongous cloud of dense grey smoke darkened the storm of lights, keeping my presence unknown while a traffic jam for the ages started to dogpile on top of each other. Still, I didn't realize that Nitrous was far more powerful than I until then in terms of nerve.

Because despite all the risks, all the ways it can go wrong, Nitrous still made his shot! Almost instantly, my smokescreen went from temporary safe space to a potentially final prison as the fateful shot rocketed through the air. My body especially remembered the attack far more than my mind ever could.

The almost oppressive heat that seemed to consume my breath, the darting speed that made the attack feel like a knife to my back, and the sheer domineering power made the attack hurt more. That alone pushed my entire body to its very limits, almost on instinct, shifting my body just enough to reduce the damage, forcing me to brave a blast that still managed to pierce through my abdomen!

At that point, any sense of confidence, control, and sense of self vanished. The sheer pain and heat from the blast ripped the private world I had enjoyed for so long seemed to vanish. Which added a rather depressing insult to my injury as I crashed into one of Krimo's most resilient monuments: the Mind's Eye.

To fit with the whole body part theme and calm the populace during the Dark Decade. So the community tried to pitch in and create a projector that would calm the people with uplifting messages. But, eventually, it became pretty clear that there was nothing to uplift here as time passed.

Upon contact, the projector started to rend into pieces along with my duffle bag, leaving me a broken heap on top of the building. Like a faulty pipe, blood started to pool all around me, covering the diamonds I had procured in a crimson hue. Through both, I managed to see an almost uncanny reflection.

The beautiful, stylish, confident women from minutes ago had now turned utterly ugly. Garbage-like grime caked my clothes, followed by the ashy remains of my pants leg making me stink worse than rotten food. But I think the truly ugliest thing besides all that was my face. My relatively unharmed face shook with one of incomprehensible fear, one that sapped everything, including even my will to live, as I saw a blue streak overhead before having everything fade to black.