The young woman hesitated. His mother had been right; Ricky had matured too quickly. Not many eighteen year olds would volunteer to give up their life protecting the city, and Tiffany would know, considering she’d been in his place a few years ago. “Alright,” she finally said. “Alright, okay, let’s go. Intel says there’s lackeys placed all around, less the closer to you-know-who we’ll get, which is suspicious, and they all got guns. They couldn’t find out what kind unless they wanted to get shot, but for safety’s sake we’ll assume the worst. You-know-who is sitting smack in the middle of the room, apparently on a throne of money. We’re at the of a comic book right now, and we both know what happens then.”

“Somebody dies,” Ricky said, seeming bored.

“Right. And hopefully it won’t be us.” Tiffany crawled over to the window and peered down below. Men were stationed every few feet, two standing together back-to-back, with guns assumingly charged, locked and loaded, pumped, or whatever else they could possibly be. She could catch a glimpse of stacks of money, and knew he was sitting there waiting for them. This was what Ricky had been waiting all of his life for. Only God knew what was running through his mind right now. Instead of opening the window so the two could climb inside, Tiffany crawled back to Ricky. “You do remember you can’t let revenge get the best of you, right?” she said. “Because, Ricky… I’m getting worried. You aren’t acting how I expected you to.”

“I remember, noona,” Ricky muttered, “and I’m only acting like this ‘cause I’m nervous. It’s my first mission.”

Tiffany’s face softened. She gave Ricky’s shoulder a squeeze and murmured, “You’ll do great. I know you will.” When Ricky gave her a nervous look she smiled reassuringly, then crawled back to the window. “Ah, why not turn this to sand? We’ll give ‘em a real good surprise.”

Any chance to use his powers was taken to full advantage. “Stand back!” Ricky ordered as he felt the heat already rushing through his arm. In his metal arm he felt nothing, but he knew if Tiffany touched it she would’ve had to go to the hospital and get burns treated. His fingertips began to tingle with both excitement and heat. Tiffany moved behind Ricky, not exactly wanting to get hit with the burst of flames that shot out of Ricky’s hands moments later. The glass in the windows began to crack.

“Turn up the heat, flame boy!” Tiffany shouted over the roar of flames. She knew full well that this display of light would alert the lackeys down below, and it was all part of the plan. Get as many lackeys crowded under the window as possible, then as the sand is dumped onto them jump down inside and beat the crap out of them. The plan was foolproof, as long as they weren’t expecting Ricky was so powerful he could turn the glass to sand. If they were lucky, they would have been expecting Tiffany to bust a hole in the wall or something similar. A noise similar to the one you heard when letting sand fall through your fingers was heard by the two. No doubt, the first grains of sand were beginning to fall. “Keep it going, and don’t stop until every last grain falls!”

Ricky, too focused on keeping himself upright and steady, only nodded in response. The downside to using his power was that, unlike people like Tiffany with powers like super strength, he was taking energy from his body and converting it into his power. Nobody knew how he did it, but it just came naturally.  The same went for people with powers similar to his. Using the power was draining and he was putting so much force into this that he was beginning to get lightheaded. He wouldn’t have been surprised if his body temperature was down a good twenty degrees either. While there were downsides to his power, there were also upsides. The feeling he got while using his power was exhilarating, as if he could rule the world. It was also a pretty good way to impress the ladies.

And the guys, but that was something Ricky was still figuring out.