Super Avenged: Only Human

“Remember, Miya, stay inside,” Jimmy told me sternly. The sirens blared around the house, but they fell silent with a simple push of a button from Matt. Everyone filed out of the house, but Jimmy lagged behind a little bit to remind me to stay inside while they were gone, like I was some sort of disobedient puppy.

I saluted. “Aye aye, captain.”

Jimmy shook his head at me before turning and walking out of the house, closing the front door behind him. I casually strolled over to the window and watched them leave the house. Once they were all gone, I waited a few more minutes to make sure they didn’t come back for something they’d forgotten before running upstairs and grabbing my camera from my studio. Like hell I was going to stay inside any longer.

Everyone always drilled it into my brain that I had to stay inside, unless I was accompanied by one of them. I honestly didn’t want to be like a kid again, asking if I could go play outside under their supervision, so I never told one of them to come outside with me for a bit. They all seemed to busy with their own devices anyway to take the time out of their day to follow me around. Besides, they would probably end up disturbing something I was trying to capture with art. So, I’d somehow dealt with staying inside the house.

That is, until now. I couldn’t stay inside any longer.

After grabbing my camera, I hurried back downstairs and stepped out of the front door. Zacky explained to me once that the alarm wasn’t set off by someone leaving the house. Apparently, if I understood him correctly, as long as I kept the door unlocked for when I came back in, the alarm wouldn’t be tripped. I could just lock it again once I got back inside, and they’d be none the wiser.

It felt great being back outside. A blue sky hung above my head with a pleasant golden sun stapled to it. A gentle breeze blew through the trees as I walked towards the meadow, rustling the emerald leaves in the trees. I began to wonder how I would ever convince myself to head back up to the house. I decided to worry about that when the time came.

The meadow glowed with sunshine. I snapped a few photos of the swaying grass using the black and white option on my camera. I then realized that I should’ve brought my easel and paints out to paint an abstract picture using the meadow as a background. I often did that sort of thing. I would paint a realistic background, and then put something abstract and abnormal over it. It created a very surreal image, I thought.

I switched my camera off, having decided that painting would be more worth my while than photography. Then, I continued back up the path towards the house to grab my painting supplies. As long as I got the meadow background painted, I could do the abstract part back at the house later on. I whistled a happy tune as I walked, feeling euphoric with the feel of the sun on my skin. Today felt like it would be a good day, the first one I’d had for a week.

As I emerged onto the circular gravel driveway, I noticed a dinky little car sitting there that I didn’t recognize. I thought back and realized that it wasn’t sitting there when I left the house. As I stood there wondering what the hell a car was doing sitting there, a guy climbed out of the car. And this guy was huge. Not fat huge, but muscular huge. He was about as tall as Jimmy, but unlike Jimmy, he had muscle bulked up everywhere.

I didn’t have a good feeling about this guy. Our eyes met across the driveway, and a twisted grin spread across his face. That was evidence enough for me to put this guy under the Bad Guy category. I bolted towards the front door and out of the corner of my eye, I saw him running towards me. I reached the front door before he did, wrenched it open, and rushed into the house. I made sure to shut and lock the door before sprinting up the stairs and into Jimmy’s and mine’s bedroom.

I dropped down next to the bed and looked underneath it. Jimmy told me he’d hidden a gun under there, and that if I was attacked again and found the time to escape, I would at least have a gun to use. He said it was loaded and everything, and if I shot my attacker in the kneecap, he would be down for awhile. I saw the gun and shimmied over a little bit, stretching my arm as far as it would go. But, I couldn’t reach the damn thing.

“Damn his long arms,” I grumbled. Suddenly, I felt a hand close around my ankle. I sighed. Here we go again.

Muscle Man dragged me away from the bed. I flipped myself over once he released my ankle and went into a roll to dodge one of his humongous fists aimed right towards my stomach. I rolled more as he tried to stomp on me, finally hitting the wall. I tried to scramble back from him, but he reached down and seized a fistful of my hair. I screeched at him as he dragged me painfully to my feet by my hair.

He just laughed at my attempts to punch him. I gave up on that and clawed at his arm, screeching at him the whole time. Some strange human instinct told me to make a lot of noise, even though no one would hear me. Muscle Man dragged me down the hall. He shoved me in the direction of the stairs and stuck his foot out. My shin caught on his ankle, and I tripped face first down the stairs.

I tumbled all the way down, landing hard on my stomach at the bottom. I rose to my hands and knees, knowing I would feel that in the morning. That is, if I survived long enough to see another sunrise. I felt Muscle Man’s fist in my hair again as he pulled me back to my feet. He spun and slammed me hard into the nearest wall. I struggled to stay on my feet as he whirled and released me. I tumbled hard to the ground and tried to climb to my feet again.

Muscle Man grabbed my ankle and dragged me into the living room on my stomach. I kicked and screamed the whole way, but nothing would loosen his grip. Of course, the guy was probably three times as big as I was. It wasn’t exactly an even match. Hell, there wasn’t even a match. It was more an episode of Let’s Beat Up Miya.

Muscle Man wrapped both of his hands tightly around my thigh just above my knee. He straightened up suddenly, somehow slung me high over his head, and then slammed my back hard into the coffee table. Really, moves like these are only supposed to happen in movies! The coffee table broke in half beneath my weight, and let me tell you this: it’s not nearly as cool as it looks in the movies. It actually hurts a lot, and knocks the breath out of your lungs.

I wheezed, clutching my chest and trying to suck air back into my lungs. Muscle Man leaned down and fisted the cloth of the front of my button up blouse in one humongous hand. He straightened up, lifting me out of the wreckage of the coffee table.

“This is so much easier than I thought,” he told me calmly. The freak wasn’t even out of breath! What the hell! He’s dragged me all around the house, pushed me down the stairs, and slammed me through the wooden coffee table! HOW IS THIS EVEN POSSIBLE IN REAL LIFE?

“Think again.”

Muscle Man turned to find Brian standing just inside the living room. Muscle Man just laughed. He flung me down onto the ground and cracked his knuckles.

“Bring it on, pipsqueak,” Muscle Man taunted, motioning for Brian to come at him. I shoved myself back from Muscle Man, looking between him and Brian. Well, compared to him, Brian was indeed a tiny little pipsqueak. It would be interesting to see how this fight panned out.

In the blink of an eye, Brian disappeared. Muscle Man looked confused. It looked like a natural expression on his face, until surprise took over when Brian slammed a hard punch into Muscle Man’s nose before disappearing again. Brian may be small compared to Muscle Man, but he sure had some power built up in those arms. Muscle Man spun, looking for Brian. Out of nowhere Brian appeared again, only this time he was holding a baseball bat. I wasn’t sure where the bat came from, but it sure made Muscle Man realize that Brian wasn’t playing around. Could it be considered fighting dirty if the good guy is using it to protect someone? I didn’t think so.

Brian disappeared for a second, and Muscle Man lurched forward, obviously having just been struck a blow to the back of his head. He whirled around, only to have his knee collapse beneath him as Brian slammed the bat into the back of his knee. It was pretty amusing for me to watch. Muscle Man didn’t have anything on Brian’s speed and surprise.

With a roar of frustration, Muscle Man dragged me back to my feet. He wrapped an arm around my neck and pulled a pistol out of practically nowhere, pressing the barrel to my temple. Oh, boy. This’ll really piss them off, because I’m sure the rest of the guys aren’t too far behind Brian. I curled my fingers around Muscle Man’s massive forearm, trying to pull it away from my neck. It didn’t budge at all, but then again, that’s exactly what I expected. At least I tried.

“Hit me one more time, and I’ll kill her!” Muscle Man exclaimed. Brian reappeared near the kitchen door. He wasn’t even out of breath. Brian folded his hands calmly behind his back, waiting patiently for something...or someone.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Matt said, stepping into the living room. He stepped up beside Brian, putting a mean face on and crossing his arms. Everyone else soon followed. Muscle Man retreated back a step, dragging me with him.

“What do you say, boys?” Jimmy asked, looking around at his friends. “Should we just leave him critically injured, or in a coma?”

“Critically injured sounds good,” Zacky answered thoughtfully. “At least then he can feel the pain.”

“Yeah, that sounds good,” they all agreed. Simultaneously, they took a step forward. Muscle Man retreated back another step.

“I’ll kill her!” he repeated frantically. I could feel his gun hand shaking. He was scared out of his wits.

“Go ahead,” Matt told him with an indifferent shrug. “What’s one woman here or there? It’s not like they’ve ever done anything ever in the history of human beings.”

Later, I would slap Matt for that sexist comment, but for now I would just assume that he was using that reverse psychology shit. It appeared to be working, too.

“What?” Muscle Man asked, obviously shocked.

“Go ahead and shoot her,” Zacky repeated. “Blow her brains right out of her skull. Either way, it doesn’t matter to us.”

“She can be really bitchy sometimes,” Johnny continued. It looked like I would be doling out some slaps for their comments. “The world would be better off without her.”

“Go on and shoot her,” Jimmy concluded. “I know I won’t be missing her. Right, Syn?” Jimmy turned towards Brian.

“Yeah, Rev,” Brian answered with a sure nod. “No one will miss her.”

“What?” Muscle Man repeated dumbly. He began to lower the gun in his confusion, and the guys made their move. Brian sped past us and snatched the gun right out of Muscle Man’s fingers. Before Muscle Man could realize what was going on, Johnny slammed a fist into his jaw. Muscle Man released me, and Jimmy stretched his arm and wrapped it tightly around me, pulling me out of harm’s way. Matt screamed, and the sonic boom sent Muscle Man flying back into the wall, at the base of which he crumpled. Zacky fashioned a pair of handcuffs out of a piece of steel he must’ve brought from upstairs and wrapped them tightly around Muscle Man’s wrists.

“You do know I’m going to have to slap you all for those comments, right?” I asked them, just to make sure they knew.

They all grinned at me. “Yes, Miya.”