It didn't matter that I was exhausted. It didn't matter that I was still beaten and banged up from my battle with the Tank Beetle. It didn't matter if I'd expended so much energy in that fight that my legs still quivered. It didn't matter that I had welts and bruises all over my body. The rage and the righteous anger boiled through me and gave me strength I never knew I had.

  I hadn't had the time or, to be honest, the mental space to figure out how to properly integrate the Tank Beetle’s carapace into my armor, so I ended up simply duct taping it to my vest. The armor dug into me in places, but it felt secure. I wrapped tape around and around my body until I was sure the pieces wouldn't fall off. Then I'd layered on a hoodie and wrapped my poorly enchanted jacket around it. I strapped my Grandad’s bat to my back and then spent the rest of the afternoon hastily putting together another shock Rune for my nearly ruined glove. It felt pretty horrible, if I'm honest, but it would do. The magnet Rune on the palm had survived, and the new shock Rune was perhaps even better than the old one. I hastily etched the second Magnet Rune that I hadn't had time for before and glued that to my other glove. I rubbed my fist together, felt the zap of energy, and grimaced. I tightened the Grapple Cord around my wrist and as soon as darkness fell, I was back out on the rooftops, prowling across the rooftops of the Mulberry Estate.

  It didn't take long for me to find my first little pack of thugs. They were hanging out by a row of derelict shops on Parker's Corner. They were standing there drinking, spitting, snorting, laughing, play-fighting, and shouting as if there weren't dozens of families living in the flats above, probably peering out of their windows and tutting quietly at the foul language and noise. But all of them knew better than to go down and confront the goons. It would do nothing but get them hurt.

  I felt my anger, my hatred seethe again as I watched them. I didn't bother strategizing or planning; I just moved. I slinked down from the roof on silent feet, crouching in the darkness on the fire escape just above them. They were completely unaware of my presence. I pulled my hood tighter around my face and made sure that my scarf was in place. Then, without a thought, I leaped. I landed heavily on one of the goons, completely flattening him and smashing his face on the concrete floor. Before the others could react, I spun and slammed my left fist into one of the men's faces. He had just enough time to cry out before the Zap Knuck rendered him unconscious. His body fell twitching to the floor.

  "What the fuck!" one of the other thugs cried out.

  I spun again, unsheathing my Grandad's bat just in time to see him grab a pole and charge towards me. I swung the bat low, catching him just above the knee, the explosion Rune going off and sending him flying into the brick wall and crumpling to the floor.

  I turned on the last goon who hadn't moved. He stood there staring at me, mouth agape. He dropped the beer he had been drinking. The glass bottle smashed. He turned and tried to run, and I shot my Grapple Cord out, wrapping around his ankle and yanking him from his feet. He hit the floor with a meaty slap.

  "Wait, wait!" he cried out, trying to turn around.

  But I was already on him. I drove both knuckles into his back. His body spasmed and convulsed. I held it there for a few seconds, feeling the power surge through the knuckles into the man's back. His screams turned to garbled cries. Eventually, I relented and looked around. All four of the goons were completely still.

  I was panting. The whole fight had lasted maybe 30 seconds. I sheathed my Grandad's bat and wound my Grapple Cord around my wrist. I looked up and saw curtains twitching and silhouettes of people pressed against the windows, staring down into the alley. I pulled my hood down tighter over my head, turned, and ran. But the night was young, and my fury had not abated.

  *

  It took me maybe 15 minutes to track down more of the Syndicate goons. I found two of them sitting on a low wall, sharing a joint and blowing noxious clouds of smoke into the air. They never heard me coming, and they were unconscious in a few seconds, the Zap Knucks leaving their bodies twitching. I vaulted the wall they had been sitting on, stamped on their joint, turned, and kept running into the night. I hit the rooftops again, silently prowling around to all the favourite haunts of these thugs.

  I found myself at the tunnel where I had my first encounter and found five of them standing around. These five were more organized than the previous ones. One of them was at the other end of the tunnel acting as a lookout, two others were secreted in the shadows of a fire escape, while two more casually shared a drink, with poles and baseball bats leaned against the wall next to them. I hunched down on the roof and watched them. I saw a drug addict come up to the man at the other end of the tunnel. They spoke, and the man took some money from him. The addict shuffled through the tunnel until he reached the two men on the fire escape, where again something was exchanged, and the addict hurried away limping and scratching himself, clutching his fix.

  I watched this go on for another 20 minutes as more addicts came and went. This was going to be tough. These men were organized and they weren't just bunched up so that I could take them all out quickly one by one. This was going to require a bit more tact. I slipped around to the adjacent roof, leaping the distance between them. I scurried to the edge of the roof where I could just see the one man at the end of the tunnel. I would have to take him out first.

  I dropped back down to street level using my Grapple Cord and a lamppost. I slid down the lamppost, retracted my Grapple Cord, and slowly walked down the road, ambling and shambling like an addict would. It wasn't hard since my leg had started throbbing again and the aches and pains of my body gave me a natural hunch. I kept my head down and my face hidden deep in my hood. The man saw me coming and I could see him stiffen for a moment. He eyed me warily as I approached him.

  "What you looking for?" he asked gruffly, still eyeing me suspiciously.

  "About three bags of battered thugs," I said to him, lunging forward.

  The man was quick, and he was on guard. He grabbed my hands as I went for him, ducking down to dodge my punch. We stumbled to one side against the wall, and I saw him open his mouth, ready to cry out. I fought against his grip and got my fist loose enough to ram the Shock Rune into his mouth. There was a zap and a buzz, and the man's head convulsed so hard it flew back and slammed against the wall behind him. His eyes rolled into the back of his head and crumpled into a heap, completely unconscious.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  I quickly pulled my scarf back up around my face and made sure my hood was still low. I stopped and looked at the man, tapping his pockets. I found two thick wads of cash. Hesitating for only a second, I stuffed them into my own pockets, before disappearing back up to the rooftops. I had to move quickly: as soon as they realized that their man was down, they'd be on guard. I needed to take down the two by the wall first; they looked like they were the enforcers, while the other two were just there to sell the drugs. But I also didn't want the dealers to get away. I thought about it for a second and then realized that if I took out the dealers first, the enforcers would have to come after me. After all, that was their job: they were supposed to protect the stash.

  I wish I had a few Bang Rocks or even a Chalk Bomb. As it was, I would just have to move quickly. I surveyed the area and realized that there was nothing to it. I was just going to have to go for an all-out assault and hope I was quicker than they were. I managed to get on top of the building of the fire escape the two drug dealers were sitting on, and I began to silently make my way down. That was easier said than done; these old fire escapes were rusted through and made noise even if the wind blew too hard. I'd reached maybe two floors above them when finally the squeak and clang of rusted metal betrayed my presence.

  One of the men looked up and saw me.

  "Hey, what the hell is that?" he said.

  He poked his head around the edge of the fire escape, trying to look up, and he got a face full of Grapple Cord for his troubles. I whipped the Cord and hit him square across the bridge of his nose and his cheekbones. He cried out in pain and surprise before toppling backwards over the fire escape railing, and hitting the ground hard, head first. I sprinted down the last couple of steps just as the second drug dealer pulled a knife out. I didn't have time to draw for my bat.

  "Oi!" the drug dealer yelled to the other two men before turning to me and lunging with his dagger.

  On instinct, I dodged to the right, trying to get out of the way, but in such close quarters, that was almost impossible. I felt the dagger hit me and then scrape across the Tank Beetle's carapace, drifting harmlessly past me. The drug dealer's eyes widened in surprise. I snapped my left hand down, the Magnet Rune activating and clamping hold of the dagger, yanking it out of his hand as he stumbled past me. I brought my clenched fist up into his stomach and zapped him. It wasn't a clean hit, and because of his layers of clothes, it didn't have as much effect as it would have had on naked flesh, but it was enough to sting him and make him yell in surprise.

  Then the two enforcers were on me. One was coming up the stairs of the fire escape, and the other was climbing up the railing. I threw two quick jabs at the drug dealer, managing to connect once on his neck, zapping him hard enough to drop him. I felt a heavy blow across my back and the base of my skull. I stumbled against the wall, almost tripping over the fallen drug dealer. I turned just in time to see the yellow street light glint of a heavy steel pipe. The blow came down hard and I had just enough time to throw up my steel forearm guard to intercept it. I cried out in pain as the blow felt like it had snapped my wrist bone despite the guard.

  I stumbled backwards and lashed out with the thick sole of my boot. I caught the bent nosed thug in the gut. He stumbled and then a look of panic shot across his face as he tried to place his foot down on the steps and found only air. His arms windmilled as he crashed down the stairs of the fire escape.

  I didn’t have time to revel in that small victory as the second enforcer had forgone the stairs and instead clambered up the outside of the fire escape. First he tried to hit me with a baseball bat, but the blow had no power behind it. It still hurt, but not enough to put me down. As the wood clattered off my skull, I grabbed him by his hoodie, trying to find some exposed flesh to jam the Zap Knucks against. We tussled and threw pathetic punches at one another. Suddenly, my attacker lost his footing on the outside of the railing and he plummeted. Problem was, he still had hold of me. I was yanked down over the railing and sent spinning head over heels, landing in a heap in some trash underneath.

  I rolled a couple of times and pulled myself up. The enforcer leaped to his feet and I snapped my Grapple Cord at him. I didn't catch him clean, but getting a metal cord snapped in your face was enough to make anybody stumble and throw them off balance. He landed awkwardly in a heap, his legs twisting out from underneath him as he became tangled in the trash. The second enforcer, who I had kicked down the fire escape, came sprinting towards me, spitting out a steady stream of curses and swear words. I unsheathed my Grandad's bat and swung it at him. He managed to just come to a halt in time to dodge most of the bat, but I still caught him a glancing blow. The Rune activated and sent him sprawling. I spun the bat on the second goon and caught him in the back. He cried out as the Rune thundered energy through his chest and sent him sprawling face first back into the trash.

  I was on him in a second, jabbing him with the Zap Knucks until he stopped moving. Then I turned on the final enforcer, who had managed to climb back to his feet.

  "I'm gonna fucking gut you, you piece of shit," he spat at me, a blade in his hand.

  "Give it a go… bitch!" I said to him through gritted teeth.

  We circled each other. The leg I had injured in the battle with the Tank Beetle was beginning to go numb and I was limping badly. I raised my bat in front of me like a broadsword. I had the definite reach advantage in this fight, but he had the speed advantage. That was the only problem with Grandad's bat: it wasn't the quickest weapon to use. The enforcer feinted a lunge at me, and I jabbed the bat at him to keep him at a distance. He unexpectedly grabbed hold of the bat and tried to yank it out of my hands. I kept hold of it, but that pulled me close to him and got me within range of his dagger. He stabbed me in the side, and I cried out in surprise. He roared in victory, and then the dagger bounced off the carapace so hard it came out of his hand and sliced him across his palm.

  "What the…" he snarled, looking down at his bloody hand.

  When he looked back up, he received a forehead full of Zap Knuck. He juddered, his teeth clapping together so hard I think I saw chips of enamel fly out of his mouth. His eyes rolled into the back of his head before he crumpled to the garbage-strewn floor, completely unconscious. My chest heaved and my head spun. I bent over double, pulled my scarf down and spat on the floor, trying to fight the urge to be sick as the adrenaline faded. I was covered in sweat and garbage. As I looked down at my filthy covered clothes, I saw the jagged slices taken out of my jacket. That dagger blow would have disemboweled me. I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand and then heard a noise next to me. I spun, raised my scarf, and brought my Grandad's bat to bear. There was an old homeless man standing there. He was so afraid he stumbled backwards, tripping and falling to the floor, both hands raised and his eyes wide.

  "Hey man, I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I don't mean to," he said quickly. "I was just looking to cop, I swear, I swear I didn't do anything. Don't hurt me, please!”

  I looked at him and realized he was just another drug addict looking for a fix. Sighing, my hand shaking as a fresh burst of adrenaline coursed through my body, I lowered my bat and then sheathed it.

  "I'm not gonna hurt you," I said to him before looking around at the unconscious men and the destruction around me. "But I'm afraid shop's closed for today. Tell your friends there ain't no more drugs on this corner.”

  I limped over to the fire escape, grabbed the bag of drugs, pilfered the pockets of the unconscious dealers, and then dragged myself back up the fire escape. My arm had gone numb and I was pulling myself up the steps with clenched teeth. Just as I reached the top level, I stopped long enough to glance over my shoulder at the terrified drug addict looking up at me, his mouth gaping open, his eyes agog.

  "Who are you?" he shouted up at me.

  "I'm justice," I muttered to myself, which was perhaps the coolest thing I'd ever said in my life.

  Then I disappeared into the shadows.