Ryan peered out the window Kurt had just tossed his attacker out. Far below was a black, fuzzy mass next to a spray pattern of blood that covered the nearby concrete and rubble that marked the dead man’s impact site.

Turns out, tough as they were, even apes lost to gravity.

Absently, Ryan realized he felt no remorse. Not for either of the dead men, despite the part he’d played in killing them. No, he wasn’t sad.

He was pissed.

These motherfuckers had almost killed his friends. They’d tried to kidnap him. And in the process they’d hurt anyone who stood in their way. Ryan clenched both fists in anger, nails biting into his own meager flesh.

Ryan still couldn’t see Smith. Tears began to well up in his eyes. He couldn’t see his friend on the ground, but he had to find out if the officer yet lived. If Smith had died protecting him…

Well, let’s just say Betty was about to have a bad day. A dark, cruel part of him woke up in that moment. A part of himself that Ryan had always pushed down, unwilling to acknowledge. A part that would break Betty down limb by limb if his friend hadn’t survived.

A large paw on his shoulder startled Ryan out of his murderous reverie. It was Kurt, still in his shaggy dog form. His eyes were kind and concerned.

"Don't worry. Smith has fallen from higher. He will be alright." Kurt's deep voice rumbled in a way that was somehow gentle. "For now, we must leave. Betty ran off, but I could smell more scents on her. She will be back soon." He added, then began to lead Ryan back down the hall where Sherry was slinging Mike around her shoulders.

Michael didn't look so great. He managed a weak smile in the beastkin's direction anyway. "Much as I love an excuse for you to carry me love, I think I've had my fill of goons today."

Sherry rolled her eyes and started towards the stairs. Ryan and Kurt began to follow, but Ryan stopped next to the man whose brains now decorated the floor. He had an idea, though he wasn't sure if it would work. Kurt gave him a questioning look.

"One sec. Going to try something real quick." Ryan said, his eyes on the fresh corpse. Ryan knelt down, touched the man's leg with one hand, and accessed his power.

Would you like to channel the energy remaining in this corpse to upgrade your attributes? Energy remaining: 351.

Perfect. Ryan thought. A way to put what was left of this guy to good use. Ryan accepted and immediately felt his body tighten. His muscles convulsed and grew, his teeth locked together, and then his form began filling out the loose skin of his gaunt form.

There was pain, but Ryan was getting used to that. His power came with consequences, but they were bearable. Simple changes to attributes apparently came with far less pain than the other uses of his power. Even channeling it directly to them seemed easier. That didn’t make the visual of what he was doing any easier to look at, however.

The dead man’s body immediately began to dissolve as if doused in acid. Deflating flesh, organs, even bone then melted into liquid that crawled over and into him of its own volition. The multicolored liquid was red, white, and even tan. Blood, bone, and skin… Ryan noted grimly.

Worse, the mixture was warm. It slithered up his arm and entered roughly at the inner elbow. The sensation was… Well, it made his skin crawl, frankly. And the less he focused on it, the better.

Still, Ryan didn’t let go. Now wasn’t the time to get squeamish. He had a feeling this wouldn’t be the last time he absorbed his slain foes to grow in power. If anything, Ryan kind of hoped there were more bodies downstairs. 351 points? Talk about efficiency.

…

Ryan mulled over just how villainous that line of thinking was - and what it said about him - as his power finished converting the man into muscle.

Thankfully he was spared too much self-reflection as a few seconds later the horror show was over. Despite the gruesome nature of it, Ryan felt better when only clothes remained on the floor. The man had tried to kill them after all. Ryan felt no regret at disposing of him. His power had even cleaned up the adjacent bloodstains, so hey... little victories!

He still wasn’t back to normal, but Ryan had pulled enough energy to bring his strength and constitution to 6 and bring his dexterity up to 5. There was a single point leftover, but since he wasn’t maxed out he just absorbed that into his total. Which left him with 183 points. Better to save those for now.

Kurt was staring at him with an unreadable expression. The dog-man hadn’t objected to Ryan stopping, instead choosing to just wait patiently.

“All done?” Asked the large, shaggy man simply.

“Yeah… Let’s go.” Ryan stood and then followed his friends down the stairs towards the exit.

The floor below had two more bodies and a number of Michael’s clones. Michael reabsorbed his fallen while Ryan absorbed their slain foes without a word. Sherry’s eyebrow went up when she saw what he was doing, but the beastkin woman left him alone without a word of judgement.

The dead pair - a small, unassuming man and a morbidly obese one covered in spikes and wide gashes - netted Ryan an additional 732 points of energy between them. It was a windfall. Ryan would’ve liked to try and heal his friends, but he couldn’t be sure how that would go over and they didn’t have time for him to experiment with danger on the way.

Instead, Ryan funneled the points into himself. He had been weak for too long, he decided. It was time to beef up a bit. Ryan spent 710 points to bring himself to a 9 in strength, constitution, and dexterity. The remaining 22 points went into storage, bringing him up to 205 of his 230 maximum. The pain hadn't even been that bad this time.

In fact, it was amazing the difference he felt after the upgrade. He flexed his arms and felt real, actual muscles in them instead of feeble straw. Ryan still felt weaker than he had been before the accident, but he no longer looked like patient zero from the Walking Dead. At least, once he got out of his blood-stained hospital gown he wouldn’t.

Baby steps, Ryan. Baby steps.

There were no guards, orderlies, or even police at the hospital as they left. Doctors, patients, and nursing staff stayed in their lockdown, so the group made good time out of the building and into the parking lot where - to Ryan’s surprise - Smith was waiting in the driver’s seat of a white suburban minivan. The grinning man looked completely unharmed for someone who had just fallen out of a building.

“Hop in kids, magic school bus is headed out!" Announced the officer cheerily. Ryan grinned in spite of the situation. It was good to see him. Knowing your friend had a superpower to protect them from harm was one thing. Watching them fall out of a building was another.

"Physical invulnerability." Ryan noted dryly as he climbed in to sit shotgun. "Hell of a power."

Smith's smile faltered for a beat, and for once the normally jovial man had no witty response. Silence hung in the air but was quickly dispelled by the roar of their mom-mobile's engine sputtering to angry life.

Kurt tapped Ryan on the shoulder before he could ask Smith if he'd said something wrong. The dogman shook his head, clearly signalling to drop the subject for now. Which was fine, he could ask about it later. Ryan had a more pressing question anyway.

"Where are we going?" He asked as the van abandoned the asphalt and started driving across the grass.

"The exit, of course." Smith responded matter of factly as the stone hewn entrance/exit signs faded from view behind them. "Where else?"

They were about halfway across the field of grass when a blur landed in front of them and the van crashed into it at full speed.

Smith let out a startled cry as he crashed through the windshield into the waiting arms of yet another super.