The anger the crowd had soon turned to fear as the flames soared above their heads. Some pushed past Roopal and into the alleyway, seeing me, but ignoring me.

I couldn't help but let out a laugh as I watched them all run past me. It was funny, watching how quickly they turned from the predators to the prey. I slipped through them, trying to get to Roopal.

It's not like this guy is actually scary or anything, I thought, pushing my earlier fears aside. He's just a joke.

That's what I told myself, until I looked up at the apartment roofs, and saw the devil incarnate himself. Agnidev.

Even though he may look ridiculous on television, I had to admit, he was terrifying, despite being many yards away from me.

"What are you doing here?" I looked at Roopal as he finally noticed me, giving him as small shrug.

"I wanted to stop the demonstrators from hurting people,' I said, before looking back at Agnidev. "Do you think he's going to try anything?"

"He's an entitled whit—I mean, he knows we're here, so he likely will." Roopal looked up at Angidev with me. Agnidev wasn't moving for that second, and I couldn't really see his face, but I knew he was staring down at the two of us. Like he was better than us.

Then, a wall of flame shot at us.

I moved before I could even think, pressing myself against the wall of the alleyway and shutting my eyes. The hot flames stabbed at me like knives, making the air around me feel oppressive as it rushed past me. It left almost as soon as it came, but the heat stuck by me as I slowly opened my eyes, forcing my body to relax. My heart was beating too hard and too fast for my liking, and my lungs just wouldn't work right. But, I wasn't immediately incinerated, which was probably a good thing.

"Kid, you should probably go inside." Roopal stepped in front of me, keeping an eye on Angidev the whole time.

"You sound like my dad. I'm fine, and I want to help."

"It's almost like your dad came to me, the guy with three kids older than you, for parenting advice." Roopal pushed me back more, looking at me for just a second before focusing on Agnidev again. "And, it's not your job to help. It's your job to feel safe."

"Well, I'd feel safer if I could help get this guy in jail!" I wondered if Agnidev had any clue what our conversation was like at that moment, or if he just though we were insane. Don't know which one of those options I would prefer.

Then, someone across the street caught my eye. More specifically, two people. There was the one person that I saw before, which I could recognize because of their outfit, but there was now someone else, dressed in obnoxious neon colors. And the two of them were fighting in hand to hand combat, which I soon recognized as some form of martial arts. It was very similar to the one my dad taught at his studio, it seemed.

"I don't think he's alone," I said to Roopal, right before another person in bright neon jumped in front of us.

The police sirens were still there, but they didn't seem to get any closer. Or any farther.

"Great, the Konda triplets. Keep an eye out for the third one," Roopal answered, though the question I had never posed had already been answered for me. I turned around towards the other side of the alley, staying close to Roopal as he pulled out his plants.

I had never met the Konda triplets, but I had heard a lot about them from my dad. Two of them, Heidi and Angie, were identical twins, and they both were born with the ability to produce an extremely deadly venom. The third one, Emily, didn't have that ability, but she was really, really good at chemistry. And exactly how to kill people in the most painful ways. If they had lived normal lives, the three would be in college now, but their parents died at some point, and they decided to basically become assassins.

I heard Roopal grunt behind me, and I just hoped he didn't get hit.

"Hello, sweetie." I jumped as I saw a figure walk out from behind the dumpster, clad in all black. That was Emily. She walked up to me slowly, as if she wasn't trying to startle me. Well, it was too late for that, as I felt my arms tingling. "I don't think you remember me. I used to watch you all the time when you were little."

"Uh, that's cool, but your sister's trying to kill the guy that's basically my adopted uncle so, uh, that's a problem." So, so graceful.

"Don't worry, it's not you'd have much time to mourn him, anyway," Emily said in a calm tone, taking something out of her pocket. I didn't wait at that point, and neither did my reflexes. I felt the aura around my arms, but it didn't make me panic like at school. Probably because I was panicking about something else at the moment.

"No you don't!" I yelled in a totally cool fashion, before running to close the gap between Emily and I, my fist ready for a punch, which I didn't even know how to do properly. I pushed my weight forward as I got to her, ignoring the fact she could stab something in my arm and immediately kill me. For some odd reason, I aimed for her shoulder, instead of her nose, which I could've broke. The punch connected, though, and I looked away as I saw the aura grow sharp, piercing through her skin.

I pulled away quickly, taking a few steps back as I watched Emily recoil from the pain. I almost felt a bit bad, but then I felt proud, because I just landed a hit on a trained assassin. Then, I felt bad again, because there was no reason why she should've had to become a trained assassin in order to survive.

Giovanna, please stop feeling bad for people that are literally trying to kill you, I thought. After all, it's kind of important to your well-being that you're alive.

"Well, that's rude. And here I was, going to give you something not so painful, because you're just a kid." Emily stood up as straight as she could, despite the pain. "And then you just go ahead and stab me."

"Well, I'd appreciate it more if that first part was just not killing me." I kept my fists up, though the sight of blood make me want to barf all over the ground. It was, odd, to say the least. After all, I've seen blood plenty of times, once a month at the very least. Why would I get nauseous because I hurt somebody that was literally trying to kill me?

"Sorry, sweetie, but in this economy, we need the money that we'll get from killing you." Emily dropped the thing she had taken out of her pocket onto the ground, taking something else out of her pocket instead. "How would some Ethylene glycol feel for you?"

"I'm guessing uh, painful?"

"Very painful. You'll die in around seventy-two hours, with your organs slowly shutting down, one by one. At least you'd have time to say goodbye to your loved ones first." Emily started to advance towards me again, though this time, the gap was much smaller.

"Uh, well, would me being alive even change anything? Like, you know, it's not like I've done anything. My head probably doesn't fetch that too high of a price." I took as many steps back as I could, now being back to back with Roopal. Emily stopped, squinting at me.

"You are too humble. Almost a shame," she said, before lunging at me. All my body told me to do was duck, which was what I did, not thinking about the fact that there was someone behind me that was also a potential target for Emily.

The sirens started to get closer.

Emily stayed above me, aiming her syringe for Roopal now. I opened my mouth to yell something, something to warn him, but even if something came out, it was immediately drowned out by a different siren. Fire department. He somehow knew, though, sending a dense vine up right where Emily was aiming, as if he actually practiced this kind of stuff. Oh yeah, he did. I was like, the only Superhuman that didn't.

Emily hit the vine with her syringe, getting stuck for just a moment. I took that opportunity, doing something actually smart, and tackled her legs while she was off balance. She fell backwards, hitting the shoulder that I had already injured onto the floor.

"Giovanna, kid, get back inside now. If anyone finds you, they'll start questioning." I scrambled back up as Roopal spoke, still parrying the attacks from whichever Konda triplet was there. The sirens from the firetruck were loud, and they weren't moving.

"But—"

"No buts this time. Just go back." I wanted to explain my reasoning as to why I'd be fine, but it seemed like I wasn't going to be allowed to talk. So, I simply kicked Emily the ribs one time, for good measure, before sprinting back over the fire escape and climbing up.

I hopped into my father's room, walked back into the living room, and didn't say a word to Mrs. Greenstein.

Maybe Nadia was right. Maybe I did need to train.