The Cowl paid no mind to the now disposed of gas grenade as he lunged towards Liam. In the final seconds before they collided Liam activated his flaming hand again.

The exchange of strikes was quick and fast. Both parties throwing attacks and blocking others. But the Cowl was steadily gaining the advantage. Every punch Liam made that was close to landing was knocked aside by weak explosions emanating from the Cowl’s body. None as strong as the ones he faced before, but they were enough to send Liam’s strikes flying wide. The net result was none of Liam’s attacks landed while his opponent didn’t face the same problem.

With every strike the Cowl made, Liam fought hard to defend. Blocking them with whatever he could. Eventually some made it through. Unlike his initial attack to Liam’s chest, the Cowl aimed these new attacks at the joints in Liam’s suit. Each strike a probing attack to determine Liam’s weakness.

After a few dozen strikes the combatants separated. Both catching their breath from the fierce exchange. The room was already clearing of gas, most escaping from the now broken window and the gaping hole in the wall.

Liam knew he needed space. Whenever the Cowl got in close the man used his power to create explosions. Well they seemed to be more like shockwaves as there was no obvious detonation, Liam corrected himself. But that didn’t change the fact that Liam’s direct attacks were being deflected by the shockwaves. It repelled anything Liam did near the guy’s body.

Throwing out his hand, Liam shot a teaser dart at his opponent. If he couldn’t get close, maybe he could use range and get an attack in before the Cowl had a chance to defend. The little stunning device flew forward, just before impact there was another shockwave and Liam’s dart was sent flying away. Okay ranged attacks could be blocked, Liam thought as his options were starting to run dry.

‘Think Liam. Think’ he yelled internally. The academy trained you for this type of situation. All you have to do is treat it like a challenge. Opponent that counters all of your attacks, how do you fight that? As he was working through an answer, his opponent wasn’t sitting still.

Before the sound of the last shockwave subsided the big man was moving again. Straight for Liam, his arm pulling back for another punch. Liam slipped into a defensive stance without a thought. If his attacks were being pushed away, then he wouldn’t attack. As the Cowl’s fist arched forward, Liam moved his arm to deflect the blow. All he had to do was extend the fight until help could arrive, then they’d win, two against one.

Just before their fists connected another shockwave rang out, to Liam’s annoyance. The ability didn’t just trigger on defense. Liam had made that foolish assumption and now it’d cost him.

The blow that followed spun Liam to the side. Disorienting him and leaving him open for another attack. That one also brought a much larger shockwave with impact and Liam wasn’t able to dampen it in the slightest.

The world turned upside down as the blow sent Liam flying. It wasn’t a maneuver he had much experience with. Sure there’d been simulations where the suit had proven capable of making artful landings after being thrown back. Flying as delicately as a cherry flower falling from a tree. But those were only simulations. Any techie worth their salt would’ve run hundreds or thousands of them. However, simulations and the real world were very different things.

What Liam was doing now could best be described as not what the simulations showed. He was in free fall, arms and legs flailing about as he spun through the air. There was no hope of reorienting himself. With the ground coming up fast Liam didn’t have time to think of a plan. Good thing past Liam had created contingencies for just this type of situation when building the suit. Right before he crashed, airbags deployed all over the armor. The inflatable black balloons made the suit look comically out of place, like some robotic sumo wrestler. But they dampened the landing and allowed Liam to bounce off the ground and through a glass walled office.

While he may look crazy, Liam could get up from the terrible crash as if nothing had happened. The airbags detached from the suit and fell to the ground, their use exhausted. Liam couldn’t take another attack like that. The airbags were his one get out of jail free card and he’d just used them.

As Liam was getting his bearings, the Cowl was already moving. After the first few clashes, Liam had expected Skip to come back and help deal with this man. Hadn’t Ullr told him to watch over Liam? Yet reinforcements hadn’t come. Liam could only assume Skip was dealing with the person in the hoodie and was finding it harder than expected.

Liam wouldn’t let this abandonment affect his fight. If he lost the first fight he was in what would The Hunt think? Would they change their mind and treat him like the other teams? Asking Liam to stay back at base, unable to help people with his own hands. No, Liam couldn’t let that happen. He had to win, even if that meant going it alone.

As the big man approached, the now open office, Liam tried to gain some distance. But that soon proved to be harder than he’d thought as there was only one clear way in and out of the room. And that was the door through which the Cowl was approaching.

As his opponent entered the office Liam made a quick decision. Rushing to the far side of the room he flung himself through another glass window, into the hallway beyond. So ranged attacks and melee attacks don’t work on this guy. The shockwaves seemed to deflect anything sent at him. With his first two avenues of attack blocked, Liam knew there was only one option left, but he would only get one chance to try it. And the first step of his new plan was to get away for a second.

Running up the hall Liam could hear the bigger Cowl cursing under his breath. Then giving chase. Around a corner Liam saw a large wooden door with a sign hanging next to it reading ‘Branch Head’. Unlike the office Liam had just jumped through, this one didn’t have any glass windows on the outside. This would have to do Liam thought. As he sprinted inside, he pulled the door closed behind him. Liam only needed a second to prepare as he dropped his special tennis ball next to the door. As soon as the tennis ball touched the floor it was stuck, refusing to budge.

Dashing to the far side of the room Liam got into a defensive stance, waiting for his opponent to come, preparing for the second part of the plan. He didn’t have to wait long as an explosion shattered the door into hundreds of pieces. Sending them flying throughout the room, decorating the space with bits of a broken wood.

The Cowl entered cautiously following the destruction of the door, expecting a trap, but finding nothing in the room to indicate one was coming. Liam soon drew his full attention as he said, “I tried to warn you before we started. You stand no chance against me.”

“I’m still standing.”

“For now, but you’re running out of places to run.”

Liam looked around the room, feigning his desire to flee. Seeing the Hero trapped before him the large man laughed.

“Started to dawn on you isn’t it kid?” the Cowl said as he started to move into the room, “Too bad you didn’t realize it a little earlier.”

Stalking into the room the Cowl approached his Hero prey. No sooner had he walked past the tennis ball than it activated. Silently opening along the white seams like some egg of a terrifying alien. Revealing metal coiled into a tight ball inside. With frightening speed the metal ball shot toward the Cowls back. As the ball flew it unraveled, going from a tight sphere of wire to a large metal net. Wicked looking barbs covered the metal lines, designed to help it gain purchase on its victim.

By the time the Cowl knew what was happening it was too late. As dozens of barbs sunk into him, holding the net tightly around his body. The shockwave a moment later was able to remove some of the net but not enough as it refused to be detached.

Current followed. Coursing through the net. It caused the man’s muscles to convulse uncontrollably. Preventing the Cowl from using his shockwave ability again. As the Cowl started to collapse Liam was already in motion. Meeting the falling man with a small metal cigar case, jokingly referred to as a suppression stick. Plunging the needle of the device into the man’s neck Liam pumped him full of benzodiazepine. Knocking the Cowl out of the fight for the next few hours.

When close range and long range attacks don’t work, switch to a trap Liam thought. He was glad to see the strategy was just as effective out here, in the real world, as it had proven to be at the academy. Few people expected a Hero to use traps which Liam always found surprising. Maybe it was something to do with the mystique of a Hero, dashing into harm’s way to save an innocent. Not hiding in the shadows laying down a web. Regardless of what it was, Liam would take advantage of that misunderstanding for as long as he could.

With his opponent incapacitated Liam moved quickly. His fight was over but the rest of The Hunt had their own opponents. Dashing back through the bank Liam saw tell-tale signs of the fight between Ullr and the sword arms lady. Slashes decorated the walls and the furniture was left in chopped heaps. As brutal as Liam’s own fight had been this one was on another level entirely.

Moving through the bank Liam followed the sounds of combat until he reached the room where Ullr was fighting the sword arm Cowl. As the damage to the bank suggested their fight was incredible. It was hard to keep track of their movements as both attacked and parried with a speed no normal human could hope to match. Moving quickly Liam fired a teaser dart towards the back of the woman, hoping to take her by surprise. Without missing a beat, she slashed backwards, with a sickening sound her sword arm cut through the dart before it could do any damage.

Backing up to a wall to gain vision of both her attackers the Cowl’s eyes widened when she caught sight of Liam. The look was replaced with a stern one of determination as she processed what it meant to see him.

“Phaser we’re leaving now!” the woman shouted into the destroyed bank. A second later a small hand reached out from the floor and grabbed onto sword arms ankle. Both the hand, which Liam assumed belonged to Phaser, and the sword armed woman were gone a second later. Swallowed up by the floor.

“Skip where are you?” Ullr bellowed.

“Here,” Skip said as he appeared next to Ullr.

“Check the surrounding buildings, they couldn’t have gone far.”

Skip nodded and was gone. The puddle where he was standing expanding.

“Darn it, I can’t believe they got away,” Ullr said as he looked around the now vacant room.

“Well not all of them. I knocked out the big guy in one of the offices,” Liam told his team leader.

Ullr’s eyes scanned his newest team member. Looking at the young Hero in a new light.

“Nice work for your first day on the job,” Ullr congratulated.

Liam felt like he was about to lift off and fly. A smile pulling up his lips.