Murphey's Law (open)

[Braxton Carson]

The boy was completely right. Brax couldn't take being bothered too much before he just had to do something about it. There were only a select few numbers of person who could bug Brax to hell and back and wouldn't make him go physical on them and they were his two best friends. And even with them, there were forbidden topics such as Brax's sister or body size in comparison to most fratbrothers. This, however, was just a random kid from his ex-school, so as he held the cigarette next to the boy's ear, he wasn't listening to any pleads or begs, even if they were the one thing he was asking for at first, he was only listening to that little voice asking him to break the blonde's nose instead of just burning him with the cigarette.

When the boy fell, after burning him slightly, the nicotine cylinder spun in Brax's hand, burning him slightly in the palm of his hand. It was not the first time he had burnt himself in a hand with it though, so the pain brought him memories instead of freaking him out, and caught the cigarette safely with the other hand. As he turned to look at the other boy, however, he suddenly saw himself being thrown away and hitting something with his back. The pain made him see stars for an instant before he realized he had hit a tree. Oh... you didn't... Brax composed himself and took a few steps towards the younger boy before seeing himself being hung upside down once again. He couldn't use his powers probably for about half an hour or so anyway, so he knew it was helpless, specially after he realized he had won the battle anyway.

"You begged didn't you?" Braxton smiled as he placed the cigarette in his mouth and breathed in seeing the blonde's fist coming at him.

Being punched was not that bad, and if it meant anything, was that once Brax was down, he, by all means, now had all the reasons to go and beat the hell out of the kid, who didn't look like that much of a fighter anyway.

[Lani Hunter]

Lani’s hand felt the tender skin, it was enflamed and it almost felt like his skin was on fire. He batted at it his mind imagining that there were still ashes on it. It hurt like nothing he had ever felt. He had been spared most of the abuse by his boss because he was so good but he still got smacked around a fair bit. Never burned though. The only times he had experiences them had been bad run-ins with an iron and an oven. Both times when he was much younger. It made Lani sick to think that he had begged, bowed to someone so cowardly. Yeah anyone could be tough when someone was stuck to a tree. Now Lani wanted to see how brave he was now that Lani had the upper hand. He was not holding back. He was in pain and there would be no mercy.

He didn’t even know that the other man had also been burned but rather was so furious that he had he didn’t even care. He didn’t wait for him to prepare or react he just launched him away. He smiled finding sick pleasure in causing pain to someone who had caused him pain. All of his anger channeled into one line and Lani had tunnel vision. It was just unfortunate that this guy happened to be the one that got the full scale attack of Lani’s anger. He let the man compose himself before sweeping his feet out from under him again. He wasn’t about to let the guy gain the advantage again. He had made that mistake and had learned from it. His pride was wounded and his body was burning. He saw red and his power fed off of it like an animal.

If the man knew what was good for him he would have kept his mouth shut. Lani’s face flamed red and he connected his fist with the man’s jaw as hard as he could. "Don't think you've won anything!” Lani yelled, "You're nothing but a coward!" It knocked the cigarette out of his mouth and for good measure Lani tossed it away not wanting anything to do with it. His blood boiled and adrenaline filled him with the thrill of his fist strike something. So he did it again. And again. He wanted to feel the bones crunch and see the blood flow. Lani took a step back at his thoughts looking down at wonder at his bloody knuckles. Where had this bloodlust come from? Had it been lurking within him all this time waiting for a chance to come out? It scared him to know that he was capable of thoughts like that.

[Braxton Carson]

The first strike came in and... Well that didn't hurt that much. Braxton thought to himself as he saw his cigarette fall. But the blonde was not happy. A second one, a third one and... yes, that was the sound of his nose breaking. Braxton recognized it clearly since not only he had broken several noses through his years, but his had been broken several times before as well. He didn't quite know if being upside down was going to be better or worse once the blood would start to come out, but feeling quite choked, he sneezed a lot of blood into his face in between several of the man's punches, which still, were somehow not hurting enough. Braxton did know this boy was not strong, but he expected more than just twelve-year-old punches.

That's when he remembered. It was true he couldn't actively use his powers anymore, but he had manipulated both his and the other boy's body's mass not long ago, when he pushed him to the tree. The density manipulation part of his power, unlike the momentum one, had a lasting effect even if he was not constantly activating it. Summed up, Braxton's body was still heavier, and the other boy's lighter.

Now, it was beyond obvious that Braxton didn't know that the strength a punch carries is measured by force, which is a combination of mass and acceleration, and thus, less mass equals less force, all he knew was the outcome of this: lighter people have weaker punches and heavier people are more resistant. How did he broke my nose then? Answer was simple, dig with a spoon enough times and, eventually, you -will- get to China.

"Ha ha ha ha!" He laughed. His nose hurt, but in reality, it was the only thing that hurt and a broken nose doesn't really hurt that much, specially after you've been through it enough times. "If that's all you can do, you might as well go cry with your mom."

Braxton was way too lucky. Waaaay too lucky and here he was pushing it. After all, he knew that even if he didn't personally beat this kid up afterwards, he would just assault him at night with fellow Kappa-Sigma members as they do to anyone who dares beating up a brother. He was the one helplessly hanging upside down, but in the end, one way or another, he swore he was going to get the upper hand.

[Lani Hunter]

Lani’s arm shook with his rage and the force of hitting the man. He smiled, morbidly satisfied when the man’s nose broke. This wasn’t the first time Lani had fought but it was the first time he enjoyed it. Usually he dealt with people who underestimated him but this guy; well Lani didn’t want to meet him in a fair fight. He was pretty sure it would be his nose caving in. It probably wasn’t good for the guy to be upside down but even a little bit of blood bubbled up but didn’t come out in the flow that it should have. Lani was definitely a better runner than fighter, but he certainly didn’t have the brains to know when he had picked a fight he couldn’t win. He was really terrible at picking fights.

Besides the broken nose his punches seemed to door very little. That was frustrating. He felt lighter and he was moving faster but he also knew he was packing less of a punch. Perhaps that was it. He didn’t have enough power. He growled a little in anger but held off punching him once more. He wanted out; he didn’t like this wrathful side of himself. He could probably run and be fast enough to where by the time his power dropped the guy through distance he would be too far away to catch. He also knew that he was faster, the other guy was big but Lani was lean and had much experience running from the cops. He glanced back up surprised that he didn’t realize the cigarette pack was still floating in the air. He dropped it without ceremony and a flash of pain raced through his head.

No now! He cried out in his mind. His perpetual headache was beginning to rear its ugly head. The dull throb had become the norm and Lani had almost forgotten what life was like without it. It always surged when he used his power too much. This must be one of those times. He had not only lifted this guy twice but also tossed him. His power was very much reactive more so than controlled. His control was almost laughable.

Lani bristled when he started to laugh. Just for good measure Lani gave him another punch. The anger boiling in his veins was very different than the time he had launched that sparking guy who hurt Cassie. He winced a little as his wrist twinged but he ignored it for the most part. He growled, that had been the same kind of hit that had sent the other kid flying. The burn stung and he rolled his head hoping to get away from the pain but to no avail. He wanted to scream and make it stop. “You’re insane!” Lani informed him, “What kind of drugs are you on anyways? What the hell makes it ok for you to burn someone just for the fun of it? You’re a fucking psychopath!”

He lifted the guy carelessly and tossed him into the tree where he had lodged the tennis ball. Leaving him to deal with his own devices Lani turned his attention to the burn. He couldn’t take it anymore with a strong swear he rushed to the nearby fountain and cupped the cold water in his hand bringing it to his burn. He sighed with relief as the cool water ran over it. It throbbed and numbed but as soon as the water stopped flowing it started to sting again, if anything worse that before. He was a few seconds away from dunking his head in.