Dressed in Sophia's clothes with his face hidden Adam finally reached the hill behind the school. It was the place Andrew and his group had told Sophia to meet them.
The area was densely wooded. As evening settled in a deep darkness enveloped the landscape.
The moon was a pale sliver in the sky offering little light.
He began to walk slowly up the dirt path that snaked through the trees.
His borrowed shoes were not made for this kind of terrain but his enhanced agility allowed him to move with a strange unsettling grace.
The only sounds were the crunch of his own footsteps on the dry earth and the whisper of the wind through the leaves.
He moved cautiously his senses on high alert. His perception was a sharp instrument cutting through the darkness.
He could smell the damp earth and decaying leaves. He could hear the distant cry of a night bird. He was a predator entering another predator's territory.
Suddenly he heard a rustling sound from the bushes just ahead.
He stopped instantly his body tensing his hand moving instinctively to the hammer tucked in his waistband. He waited listening.
From behind the bushes a group of figures emerged. It was Andrew and Lily.
They were accompanied by three other boys and one other girl.
They stepped onto the path blocking it completely. Their faces were illuminated by the harsh light of their phone flashlights creating distorted shifting shadows on the trees around them.
Adam was momentarily surprised.
Sophia said three girls he thought. His mind cataloged the discrepancy. The group was smaller than he anticipated. I'll have to ask her about that later. For now he stood still. He let them see him a lone figure in a skirt and a cap his face hidden. He was the bait in his own trap.
Andrew's eyes swept over Adam's disguised form. Thinking he was Sophia a wide predatory smirk spread across his face. He was the king of this small dark hill.
"Good," he said his voice smug and arrogant.
"I'm glad you came with your face covered. It saves us the trouble of looking at your pathetic face. And you even wore such nice clothes for us." His gaze lingered on the skirt and his smirk widened into a leer.
His friends snickered behind him their flashlights dancing over Adam's form.
Adam had seen enough. He had heard enough.
With a slow deliberate movement he reached up.
He pulled off the black cap. He then grabbed the long dark wig.
He tossed it aside letting it fall onto the dirt path like a dead animal. A moment later he tore off the face mask and let it drop to the ground. The disguise was gone.
Though the hill was dark the combined beams of their phone flashlights illuminated him clearly. His face was now fully visible. It was a blank emotionless mask.
Lily recognized him instantly. She was in his class after all.
"Adam?" she shrieked. Her voice was a mix of shock and confusion.
"What are you doing here? Where is Sophia?" The confidence she had shown in the classroom was gone replaced by a sudden and jarring fear.
Hearing his name Andrew's smug expression vanished. It was replaced by a flicker of fear. He had not wanted anyone else to know about this.
Especially not about what they had planned to do to Sophia. His father was a police officer. But Andrew hadn't sought his permission for this little venture.
He didn't want his father to find out. This was supposed to be a private display of power a secret thrill. Adam's presence complicated everything.
"Hey Adam!" he yelled. His voice was laced with a nervous bravado. He was trying to reassert his authority.
"What are you doing here? Do you have some kind of hero complex? Are you trying to save the poor little charity case?"
Adam's face remained a blank mask. He stared at Andrew his gaze cold and steady. He said nothing. His silence was more unnerving than any threat.
"For someone like you," he said finally. His voice was flat devoid of any emotion. "I don't need to be a hero. I should be a villain."
As he spoke he reached into the waistband of his skirt. He slowly drew out the long sharpened piece of rebar. The moonlight caught the polished metal making it glint menacingly.
It was a crude and brutal weapon a piece of the city's underbelly.
The other boys in the group began to grow uneasy.
They hadn't expected this.
They had come here for an easy victim not a confrontation.
They didn't know if Adam had come alone or if he had brought others with him.
They started nervously pointing their flashlights at Andrew.
"You said everything would be fine," one of them hissed his voice a nervous whisper. "You said she would be alone."
Andrew shot a glare at the boy next to him. "Shut up," he snapped. He then turned his attention back to Adam. He tried to regain control of the situation. He fell back on the only power he truly had his father's name.
"Adam you probably don't know who my father is. You should just walk away now before you get into real trouble."
A small cold smile touched Adam's lips. It did not reach his eyes. "Why?" he asked his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Didn't your mother tell you about him?"
The insult was simple crude and devastatingly effective. It combined with the fear simmering beneath his bravado made something snap inside Andrew.
Rage washed over him. He was a spoiled child who had been denied his toy. "I'll kill you Adam!" he roared charging forward. "You talk too much!"
His friends tried to call him back. "Andrew wait!" "Don't be stupid!" But it was too late. He was already sprinting towards Adam a wild uncontrolled charge.
Adam stood his ground. He was calm and unmoving a rock against a raging tide. His enhanced stats made the world seem to move in slow motion.
He saw Andrew's clumsy charge his telegraphed punch.
Just as Andrew reached him Adam lunged forward not backward.
He met the attack head-on. He drove the sharpened rebar deep into Andrew's thigh.
The metal tore through fabric and flesh with a sickening wet sound.
A horrifying piercing scream tore through the night. It was a sound of pure agony a sound that would haunt the woods for a long time.
Andrew's forward momentum stopped instantly.
The impact was so severe that his leg buckled beneath him.
The other students watched in frozen horror.
Their faces were pale in the flashlight beams. Lily and the other girl looked like they were about to be sick. The fun and games were over. This was real.
This was violent.
Adam didn't pause. He yanked the rebar out of Andrew's leg. The sound was wet and sickening. Andrew collapsed to the ground clutching his bleeding thigh and screaming in agony.
But Adam wasn't finished.
The lesson had only just begun. He dropped the rebar.
He grabbed Andrew's other uninjured leg.
With a swift brutal motion born of his new strength he twisted it until there was a loud sharp crack.
The sound of snapping bone was clear and distinct in the night air.
Andrew's screams intensified.
They echoed through the dark silent woods.
He was now completely incapacitated writhing on the ground in unimaginable pain.
He was no longer the king of the hill. He was just a boy broken and bleeding in the dirt.
Adam stood over him a dark silhouette against the pale moon. His work was not yet done.