There was suddenly another man standing between them, nobody noticed the man. In the man's hand, he was carrying a lot of jewelry. The man appeared to be of Koryan descent. Unbeknownst to Ven and the others, the man's name was Choi.

  "So you guys knocked out Frank huh?" the new stranger said while seemingly staring at the immense jewelry he was carrying.

  "Is... is that my jewelry?" asked Vera.

  "Yes it is, I'm keeping it now. You've got gold, silver, pearls, and even diamonds... this is gonna' sell for a lot of coin."

  "Put that down right now!" Mlinzi shouted at the strange new criminal.

  Choi still remained unfazed, as if he were in another world.

  "Yeah, what gives!? You can't just take my mother's-,"

  Before Ven could finish his sentence, the strange criminal suddenly appeared kneeling by the other criminal that was already defeated by Mlinzi.

  "Looks like he's not dead," the new criminal said while checking Frank's pulse. "Not that I care anyway."

  Ven was too stunned to speak, how did he not notice the mysterious man that seemed to have appeared from nowhere, and now appear by the downed burglar. Did the new emergee he was looking at have super speed? He looked over at Vera and Mlinzi's stunned expressions as well. They too were probably too shocked to utter a word.

  "Vera Nguvu, as I was walking around this mansion that you don't deserve, I noticed herbal teas from Korya, my homeland... It must have cost a fortune to drink high quality tea like that," Choi said, his voice tinged with anger.

  "Actually, they were pretty cheap,” answered Vera.

  The criminal then calmly set the piles of jewelry down to the floor. "Do you think I'm a fool!" His new body posture showed that he was threatening violence.

  Mlinzi took up a fighting stance as well, eyeing the criminal like a hawk.

  Vera pleaded with the criminal. "Look, I don't know what it is you're planning to do, but just leave! Your friend already destroyed my house and the police are already on their way probably with heroes. You don't have time to do anything you want, so if you don't want to go to jail, leave peacefully. You can take the jewelry with you, just leave."

  Choi suddenly erupted into a soft yet cold laugh. "Sounds like a good offer, but I think I'd rather hold a billionaire hostage. Besides... the police can't 'catch' me."

  "That's not gonna' happen!" yelled Ven. "You can't even get past me, so how are you going kidnap my mom"!? he further bluffed.

  "Oh, is that so," Choi suddenly disappearing and socked Ven at the side of his face. The fast hit stunned Ven as he fell to the ground. He barely saw the the stranger move, what could he do against that?

  "Ven! Are you okay?" Vera yelled as she went by Ven. Meanwhile, Mlinzi quickly engaged into combat with the criminal when he saw Ven get hit.

  "I'm fine, it doesn't hurt too bad," said Ven.

  Mlinzi tried to hit Choi with his cannonball fist, but Choi avoided the attack effortlessly. Mlinzi appeared stunned and then unleashed a barrage of attacks, however Choi also avoided those attacks with relative ease. The more he tried to attack Choi, the more sluggish and more tired he became.

  "Those weird cannon fists looked like they'll knock me out like it did Frank, but if you can't touch me, there's nothing you can do."

  Mlinzi wiped the sweat from his face with his sleeve, as he panted heavily. He continued to try to land a hit to no avail. Suddenly, Choi punched Mlinzi in his jaw. The impact didn't seem to affect the tank built man too much, however when Choi hit him multiple times, things began to change.

  Ven rose to his feet after Mlinzi's took countless hits from Choi. He ignored his mother's concerned voice as he looked back at her. Apparently, Choi's goal was to take his mother hostage to demand ransom. If he were to run away, Choi would just catch up to them quickly due to his super speed.

  He looked back at Choi and Mlinzi's scuffle, Mlinzi now on the ground panting. There was no way Mlinzi could win the battle. He then looked down to his shaky hands. The best hope he had was to unleash his superpowers... whatever they were.

  "Hey Mlinzi!" Ven shouted as Mlinzi took another impact from Choi.

  "We're kinda busy here Ven," answered Mlinz, trying to embrace for each quick impact.

  "Well, duh. Tell me how do I activate my superpowers? I went to an Emergence site the other day."

  Choi then looked at Ven as if he were a threat. Ven got the impression that Choi’s mug was the result of the criminal anticipating his potential superpowers.

  "Uh... I don't know. You just do it."

  "Just do it!?”

  "Yeah!"

  Ven sighed before looking back at the fast criminal. He may had been scared out of his mind, but his only hope was to "wing it."

  He made the mistake of placing his wavering hand on his chest, anxiety crippled him when he realized how quickly his heart was beating. Was he ill again, or was he just scared? The question rattled him with even more fear, so much fear in fact that he wanted to run away and retreat somewhere.... but he couldn't. If his mother was abducted, there would be a chance that he'd never see her again, and he'd never forgive himself for it.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  He walked towards the criminal while panting with bleating anxiety. His mother demanding him to return to her was hard to for him to hear due to the ringing in his ears and the sound of his rapid heart beat. Now standing face to face with Choi, he knew he couldn't walk away. He wouldn't let his heart hold him back any longer.

  "What's your superpower?" Choi demanded, as Mlinzi looked up from the ground.

  "Ven, don't worry about me. Listen to your mother and take cover with her," Mlinzi grunted as he tried to get back to his feet. “I’m not done just yet.”

  "It's too late for that. There's no way for us to stop this guy at the moment. I'm not gonna let this guy abduct my mother. This is our best bet."

  Mlinzi remained mute as he looked on, his face was riddled with worry.

  Vera's face held even more worry, her pleas for her son to return to her fell on death ears.

  "I said, what's your superpower!?" Choi demanded once again.

  Ven just stared at the strange man for a few seconds as he tried to calm his breathing. "I have no clue, but you wouldn't want to find out."

  "Don't make me laugh," said Choi.

  Here we go, Ven thought as he launched himself towards the speedster.

  Choi immediately punched Ven, with Ven barely seeing the impact.

  After wincing, Ven clenched his both of his fist and tried to punch the criminal multiple times but failed to land a single blow.

  Choi ran fast, as he hit Ven each time Ven's counterattacks failed to land.

  As Ven closely studied the attacks that were hitting him, he realized that the attacks became more and more clear. Eventually Ven was able to dodge an attack, however this only angered Choi. He punched him again, that time knocking him to the ground.

  Ven watched the stars spinning around his head as he listened to Vera's muffled voice in the background.

  Is this what being a superhero is all about? Getting your ass kicked? As he continued to lie on the ground, he looked at his hand before forming it into a fist. This is what superheroes do, this is what you wanted, isn’t it?

  He eventually got up as if nothing fazed him, shocked with how quickly he was able to stand back up after getting knocked out. He wasn't sure if he was knocked unconscious or not, but one thing he knew was that the pain from Choi’s punches didn’t stick like he thought they would.

  Ven ran towards Choi again, swinging his fist at the villain repeatedly. He was able to dodge some of Choi's incoming attacks during the scuffle, however some attacks still grazed him.

  After being kicked away several feet, Ven placed his tired hands on his knees. Anxiety was still speaking to him, but it's frail voice was a lot more distant. It he was going to defeat the speeding villain, he could not mindlessly swing his fist expecting something different to happen. He must have swung about a fifty punches, it was no surprise that he was exhausted. Unless he changed his game plan, the outcome would be no different than it was with Milinzi.

  "What's wrong? Too tired to continue?" mocked Choi. "I'm kinda on a tight schedule with the police coming and what not, so I'll be taking Vera and getting on my way. Someone has a plan for billionaires, so I don’t want to disappoint him. Next we will target other billionaires."

  Choi's words enraged Ven, but the young man tried his best not to get worked up. He couldn't let Choi take his mother for some foolish heist. Surely he was an emergee, which meant he had the power to defeat Choi... surely he had the power to save his mother. Even without knowing his superpowers, he had to believe he had them.

  A brilliant idea hit Ven's stunned head, an idea that he was sure would help him defeat Choi. If he was unable to hit Choi, then he would have to find a way to hold Choi long enough for him to counterattack. He dodged a few of the villain's attacks before, if he could manage it again that would bring the opening he needed to counterattack.

  Ven rushed towards Choi again with a barrage of punches. He wanted the criminal to believe he was going for the same attack again.

  "That's not going to work!" Choi yelled while throwing a fist at Ven.

  Ven dodged the attack and reached for the criminal's arm. After grabbing it, the speedster wouldn't be able to move around and victory would be Ven's. It felt like everything was in slow motion as he tried to grab it. Now was the time to win. Victory was near.

  Suddenly, Choi punched Ven hard in the stomach. Ven fell to the ground to hold his stomach. It felt like the wind was knocked out of him. Was the plan never going to work?

  "I don't know what it was you were trying to do, but it didn't work. It's time for me to go," said Choi.

  "You punch like a small child," lied Ven as he rose to his feet once more. He could not let Choi leave under any circumstances.

  "What did you say?"

  "You heard me. You call yourself an emergee?" smirked Ven.

  "Ven stop!" Vera pleaded as Choi walked back towards Ven.

  Mlinzi tried to hit Choi again, but was quickly knocked back by the speedster.

  "I'm sorry Vera, there isn't anything I can do," Mlinzi said. "Ven, stop trying to be tough. Get out of here!"

  Ven smirked as Choi walked closer towards him. No matter what, he wasn't going to run.

  "If my punches are so weak, then take another!" Choi yelled as he punched Ven in the stomach again.

  The brutal impact did not stop Ven from holding on to Choi's arm tightly. Ven grabbed his opponent's arm the moment he was attacked.

  "What? Let me go!" Choi yelled

  "Since I couldn't grab your arm, I figured I take a hit to grab it," said Ven. "Your attacks actually hurt like hell, I just needed you to take the bait.”

  At this point, Choi began to punch Ven's face multiple times with his other hand, however Ven refused to let go.

  Ven balled up his fist, he felt a strange immense level of energy and strength gravitate towards his fist. Now was the time to defeat his foe.

  Choi stared at Ven's energized fist and desperately tried to flee, however Ven's immense grip only grew tighter.

  Ven let out a battered battle cry as he unleashed an enormously powerful punch on Choi. Choi was knocked back several feet away, the wind from the attack shocked Ven, and everyone else around him.

  Super strength huh? How boring. Ven thought as he stared at his strengthened fist. At least it was enough to save his mother.

  "Ven... That was incredible." said Mlinzi as he walked towards Ven.

  "Thanks," Ven said as he placed a knee on the ground. Getting hit in the stomach was agonizing.

  "Ven, why didn't you run!?" said Vera with a disapproving tone as she comforted her injured son.

  After a brief silence, Ven finally answered his mother. "Because heroes don't run.”

  That sounded a lot less cheesy in my head, thought Ven.

  He looked at Choi's unconscious body as he stared at his fist again. With super strength, the sky was the limit. It may not have been as cool as fire or ice powers, however he could make it work. He stopped a villain, perhaps he could stop several more.

  Police sirens began to erupt in the night time sky. They grew louder and louder with each passing second. If only the police arrived much earlier, but all was well because now it seemed their enemies were defeated.

  Choi suddenly rose up and spoke with a damaged tone. "I'm getting out of here, but I promise we’ll meet again... son of Vera." Choi quickly fled away, seemingly invading the police. All of the jewelry he stole was left behind.

  Whatever, Ven thought.

  "I'm sorry about the house," said Mlinzi as the trio walked down the stairs to the police.

  "It's fine, we're all safe so that's all that matters," said Vera.

  When they arrived downstairs, they saw the villain with the sound wave superpower in police custody. He was equipped with special handcuffs that allegedly disabled all superpowers. Choi seemed to have evaded custody so perhaps Ven would see him again and if so... he'd be ready.

  In handcuffs, Frank’s demeanor drastically changed to that of a nervous schoolchild. The next haunting words he uttered would be words Ven would never forget.

  “You don’t understand, if I don’t get Vera, he will find me!”

  Who was this he Frank was referring to?