J5 AND Christie walked to the front of the officers. I wasn’t sure if they were real or implanted images, like the town had been, they created as reinforcements. “While I’d love to play some more,” J5 said. “These nice men would like to take you away. So, for your own sake, please give up.”

“Or don’t,” said Christie. “It would be more fun if you didn’t”

Quentin walked out in front of us and stared at them quizzically. They squinted at him and he waved a hand in front of himself. Their faces dropped in shock. “Why isn’t it working?” Christie asked J5.

“I don’t know,” he whispered back, then stood up straight and stared at Quentin. “And who are you. Another Misshape?”

“You could call me that,” he said proudly.

“Well, whatever you’re able to do to block our powers won’t matter. They still work on the proletariat over there.” J5 twisted his hand and a pain shot through my stomach. I clutched it as did the rest of the Misshapes.

Quentin, however, did not. He raised one hand and pantomimed pushing forward. When he did this, J5 and Christie flew backward like rockets, launching off into the distance. They flew so far we couldn’t see them. Our stomachs instantly felt better. But even though the initial trouble was gone, it was clear that the troops weren’t some mind game. They were real, and their fingers moved toward the triggers of their guns.

We saw the guns fire before we heard the shots. By the time the loud BANG hit my ears I was certain I’d been hit. I patted my body, expecting to find blood, before falling dead. To my surprise my hand came back dry. When I looked up I saw the bullets hovering in the air, sunlight reflecting off them like tiny suspended stars. More BANGS rang out and the air in front of us was filled with these tiny glints of light. It wasn’t until we heard the clicks of empty cartridges that the bullets stopped. Quentin waved his hand and the guns flew out away from the security guards and landed in the distance with a loud clatter.

Out in the open for the first time in four years, Quentin seemed indestructible. His powers must have been at an untouchable level. He walked slowly through the hovering bullets. When they touched him the fell to the earth with a tinny clang, like loose change. His body cut a silhouette through the sparkling sky, a tunnel of space forming behind him. He stopped for a moment in front of the terrified guards, examined one bullet, and flicked it away. It shot forward, punctured one of their shields, and cut through the guard’s body armor. He fell to the ground, a look of shock still on his face.

The guards tried to turn and run but Quentin scrunched up his hands and they were locked in place. I could see their bodies twitching, unable to move, pushing against some invisible force. Soon he was upon them. He thrust his hands through two shields and they moved through the Plexiglas like water. He placed his hands on the guard’s chest and a surge of blue electricity flowed through him and into the guards. Their bodies shot back, black smoke pouring out of their chests and off their heads. I was certain they were dead. They hit the ground with a loud thump and didn’t move. My moment of relief turned into terror. I was powerless to stop Quentin — quite possibly our only hope for safety.

He released the other guards and they were on him in an instant, swinging clubs, slashing with large knifes, thrusting with Tasers. He was lost for a moment in the scrum of violence, then suddenly, at once, they all flew outward as if pushed by a great force. He emerged unscathed. Some of the guards managed to get to their feet and started sprinting off. The officer looked at one of them with disdain, thrust out his hand, and shot a red bolt into the man’s back. He fell to the ground convulsing.

“Coward,” he muttered.

The other guards, seeing this, continued their assault on Quentin, but more timorously. He dispatched them, one by one, until the ground was littered with their limp bodies. I couldn’t tell if they were alive or dead. But they were motionless. Not even their chests were rising. The only one standing was the Officer. He had on red leather gloves, which he removed delicately and laid on the ground.

Quentin tried to shoot him with another bolt but he waved it off and it flew skyward. He tried a few more moves but they were all deflected. The officer probably had on some of the PeriGenomics power-blocking equipment or had some ability to block them on his own. Probably the reason he had been put on security for the company. I was worried that Quentin, who had never really used his powers before, let alone faced a challenge, might be no match for him.

After one last invisible push failed, Quentin rushed toward the Officer. Quentin moved so fast I didn’t seem him until he was right in front of his opponent. This didn’t faze the Officer, who was comfortable fighting others with powers. Quentin swung wildly at him in lightning-quick, untrained swings, easily blocked or ducked under. The Officer, having dodged a wide blow to his head, struck back with a hard punch that sent Quentin sprawling. He hit the ground with the look of shock on his face, which was quickly replaced with amusement. He held his hand to his cheek—which seemed undamaged—got up, and walked slowly toward the Officer. This time he seemed more relaxed. Slack in his movements. Like he wasn’t rushing into a fight but taking a stroll down the block to the comic book store on a Sunday afternoon.

The Officer shot some sparks at him and Quentin didn’t even try to deflect them. He took them full-on in the chest and didn’t flinch. The electricity flowed over his body, blue crackling bols spreading over his skin and swirling in his hands. The Officer tried to hit him again but he just stood there, absorbing the blow. When the Officer pulled back his fist it was bloody and red, but the blood was his own—as was the pain. Quentin, a foot shorter and half the size of the man, took his hands and pressed them against his chest. I thought he would shock him again but instead his hands pushed through the Officer’s clothes and continued moving.

It was hard to see but by their depth it seemed like his hands were inside the man’s chest cavity. The Officer’s once-calm face turned to terror, his mouth unhinged, his eyes widened. Quentin lifted him up into the air, his wiry forearms tightening, and with a quick, powerful thrust, he threw him against a brick wall. The Officer’s body hit the wall so hard, the bricks cracked behind him, and he slid down, leaving a trail of blood as he fell. His chest, too, was a pool of dark, thick blood. There was something dark and fleshy in Quentin’s hands, which he threw on the floor at his feet.

I tried not to look at it, but my eyes kept flicking on it while my mind kept telling me to stop it. The mass was like a dead animal, gray and red, with its skin removed. I tried not to think about what happened, the violence that I just saw, but the evidence laid there at Quentin’s feet. I turned to Alice. Her face was white, bloodless. Hamilton was cowering in a corner. Marcus, his eyes fixed on the viscera, turned and vomited. Tape Deck and Johnny were motionless. Fixed in place, trembling at the horror.

Kurt was smiling. He walked up to Quentin and gave him a huge hug. “So good to have you back man,” Kurt said. He released him. There were bloody handprints on Kurt’s back. “Thanks for that.”

“Don’t mention it. I’ve been dying to stretch my legs since they’ve had me cooped up. Still getting used to these new powers.”

Kurt eyed the corpse of the Officer. “Got some pretty neat tricks.”

“Still learning what I can do. It’s amazing. I feel like I’m in tune with the universe. Like every atom in the world is at my command. I can see things. And feel things and move things I never knew existed. It’s almost too much.” As the two talked, the rest of us exchanged looks of fear. I didn’t know how to be a person in this situation. Quentin used his power for evil. He was dangerous and deadly. And he was, at this point, on our side.Johnny unfroze himself. “What’s our next step here?”

“Well PeriGenomics is probably going to sending more security. A lot more. So you may want to get out of here.” Quentin said.

“Are you coming?” Marcus asked him, in a trembling voice.

He whispered something to Kurt. Kurt smiled.

“We’re going to head out of here as well,” said Quentin.

“Take my cousin’s car,” Kurt said. “It’s fast and I won’t need it.”

“Why, where are you heading?” Alice asked, her voice quavering.

“Oh, we’re off to kill Freedom Man. And anyone else at PeriGenomics that did this to me,” Quentin said. He sounded downright cheerful. They then lifted off the ground and flew into the distance.