I remembered that wherever Rex had taken me, I was surrounded by power dudes. My head was tingling like crazy. I remembered a huge man, Torque, the young general of this army. And there was something else, he was meeting with a group of humans. I remember the folks around him didn’t give me a tingle and he wasn’t eating them. Strange. I think we were in a large hall. I remember seeing a lake from the sky before we landed and noticing many power dudes in the streets. It was some kind of base of operations.

“Hey, you’re up,” Rex had appeared standing over my bed, his handsome face and massive pecs completely filling my field of vision and interrupting my concentration.

“Ohhh,” I moaned, my head was pounding.

“Headache, huh?” Rex responded. “That should fade soon. Sorry, I had to keep some things private. You understand, right?”

I nodded as my mind raced through my jumbled thoughts. Apparently I had almost lost an entire day. I couldn’t figure out exactly which part of that time I had been asleep for or how much time had been wiped from my memory. Apparently it was quite an involved process.

“What’s the last thing you remember clearly now?” Rex asked, in a firm tone.

“Umm, the bank, us leaving the bank,” I muttered. I had a feeling of déjà vu, like I had answered this question a few times previous to this.

Rex stared at me intently as I answered, I knew he was using his super senses to detect if I was lying or not, which I wasn’t. After a moment or two he responded, “Perfect.”

“OK, we have a big day today,” Rex exclaimed, almost excited. “Ron is going to be here soon and you have to get washed up and ready.”

“Oh, I need to call Ron and set a time,” I said as I reached for my cell phone on my nightstand.

Rex’s hand closed over mine, “Don’t worry,” he smiled, “You already did, he’ll be here in two hours.”

Apparently I had done this between memory treatments. I reviewed this whole mess in my head. Ron was a friend of mine from high school. We got together a couple times a year to catch up and hang out. Rex had revealed to me that Ron was kind of a leader among the ranks of the unaffiliated power dudes and knew the identities of as many as a hundred power dudes. Rex had initially asked Ron to join Torque’s resistance forces and to help promote the cause among the power dudes he knew. Thus, increasing the ranks of Torque’s resistance forces. These resistance forces were gathering in opposition to Gideon’s forces. Gideon was a powerful being who had amassed an army of power dudes and taken over the Federal Government a few years ago. Ron had refused Rex’s previous requests to aid him in his cause on several occasions, so a new approach was required.

Adding a certain level of urgency to the whole operation was the fact that in the past few months there were reports that several of these unaffiliated power dudes had vanished. Rex and Torque suspected Gideon’s forces and were determined to make sure that if they were not going to be able to recruit these power dudes, no one was going to get them.

The hope was that when Rex captured Ron, he would lead them to other power dudes that might be more open to being recruited into Torque’s resistance forces. If Ron refused to cooperate, then he would be taken out and hopefully a leader more receptive to Torque’s plans would emerge. Also, that’s where I came in, with my ability to detect other power dudes, I could help Rex find others to recruit.

As I sat there struggling with my conscience, SHHBOOOOOOM! A sonic boom erupted outside my open bedroom window followed by WOOOOSHH! A rush of air, as a shadowy figure matching Rex in size, appeared outside my windscreen, hovering in the air. Rex reacted with his super speed, snapping his head up before my ears had even processed the sonic boom.

FWOOOOOOO! A jet of air shot through the window and WHHOOMMMP! Slammed into Rex, who was KERAKK! Launched backward into my dresser which KROOOSH! Exploded into wooden splinters when Rex’s massive physique smashed against it. Rex ended up leaning against the wall covered by pieces of wood and my socks, underwear, and t-shirts.

“HA! HA! HA!” Came the laughter from the figure in the window, who was cloaked in shadow. I could tell he was massive and had blond hair, but that was it. Since, I was lying in bed, the gust of super breath missed me, but this dude’s next blast wasn’t going to, unless Rex did something quick.

“YOU FUCKER!” Rex roared before he puffed out his cheeks and FAWOOOOSHH! Unloaded a jet stream of his freeze breath. I pressed myself back into the bed, trying to stay as low as possible as the bluish vapors raced overhead and passed through the windscreen.

“ARG---“ I heard the shadowy power dude cry out before KRICK! CRACKK! The vapors solidified around his body and he WHUMMMMP! Plummeted onto the back lawn completely surrounded by a foot of ice.

I was in less than great shape, although Rex’s ice breath didn’t hit me dead on, it sucked a lot of the heat out of the air and my semi-nude body. My black cotton bed sheet was little protection.

“OHHHH” I moaned. I couldn’t move and could feel myself about to pass out. It was like the blood had frozen in my veins.

“SHIT!” Rex stood over me again and VREEEE! His eyes flashed with red light as broad heat rays from his eyes swept over my frost covered body. The darkness receded and Rex stopped the beams just as KERBOOOSH! The sound of the ice chunk exploding and KERASSHH! Large pieces of it smashing through at least a couple of my first floor windows reached my bedroom.

“DAMN IT!” Rex swore again.

CHOOOOOMM! I wasn’t sure what that sound was, but I decided that our visitor had entered my condo and not used the door. FWOOOOO! I heard the sound of a rush of air and KERASHH! BOOOM! My stuff being knocked over, Rex turned toward my open bedroom door, prepared to meet his challenger head on when he came up the stairs.

Suddenly, CHOUUF! CHOUUUF! Two hands came up through the floor, wrapped around Rex’s ankles and THERBOOOMM! Yanked Rex right through the floor into my family room in an explosion of wood and plaster.

“HACK! UCCKK!” I choked on the dust that filled my room as WHAMM! BOOOM! KERACKKK! The entire condo building rocked and shook as the two power dudes battled it out below.

THWRAMMMMM! The sound of a definitive blow being struck reached my ears, just before CHOOOOOMMM! KEROOOOOOOMM! I watched the blond dude blast through the floor just outside my bedroom door and continue upwards through the ceiling. I looked out my window and watched the blurry muscle god rocket into the sky.

I leaped out of my bed, jumped around the holes in my floor and proceeded down the stairs to check on Rex.

I found Rex standing on the deck in the backyard he was smiling broadly. His hair was messed up, but otherwise he was ok. My condo had been devastated, not a piece of furniture was intact and several of the walls were cracked or busted.

On either side of me, my neighbors, also young professionals, had gathered in their backyards. Rex didn’t pay them any attention, but I was concerned.

“You ok?,” One dude called to me.

“What the hell was that?,” Cried another dude. “The whole fucking building shook.”

“It’s ok,” I reassured everyone. “My water heater just exploded.”

My six neighbors, having determined they were in no longer in danger, were curious to see the damage.

My excuse worked until SHBOOOOOOOMM! The blond dude raced from the sky and slammed into the lawn in my backyard. The shockwave from his landing knocked everyone except Rex off their feet.

“Say Uncle,” The blond monster demanded of Rex as he FRACKL! ZZZIZACK! Pointed his outstretched arm in Rex’s direction. I saw that his hand was formed into a fist which was surrounded my a throbbing sphere of violet energy which was about 1.5 feet in diameter. “Think you can outrun it? Think again, buddy.”

Rex seemed to consider the situation and then, to my disbelief, he replied, “Uncle, you bastard” and both of the titans started laughing.

“I could have finished you like three times,” Rex proclaimed.

“Yeah, you got me good a few times,” The blond titan admitted as FRAZZKL! He absorbed the violet energy sphere surrounding his hand back into his body.

My puzzled neighbors slowly started to get on their feet while the blond dude strode across the lawn toward them and went into a double biceps pose. Mountains of muscle rose up on his upper arms and HRUUMM! HRUMM! Pulsed with green energy. My neighbors were bewildered by these strange goings on and stepped back from the huge man wearing only gym shorts whose huge upper arms were glowing.

“These six ok?,” The blond monster asked Rex, who nodded.

“No, don’t---“ I weakly protested, but I knew it was no use. Sometimes Rex just didn’t listen.

URMPP! The two mountains of muscle swelled with more power as the titan contracted them and FRACKKKTT! FACCKKKT! Unleashed broad beams of green energy which he directed at my now terrified neighbors. I watched in horror as my neighbors were bathed in the green energy. They froze as the power stormed through their bodies charging them up before FROOMPPHH! Reducing them to clouds of white vapor along with large patches of my lawn.

The two supreme muscle specimens SNIFFFFF! Snorted all of the white vapors up their nostrils with a single inhalation, like they were taking a long drag of a cigarette. Then they hugged and chuckled some more.

“Frank,” Rex finally turned to me, “This is Aaron. He’s going to be assisting us with our missions.”

I stared at the huge blond muscle god as Rex explained the situation. He and Aaron were buddies, comrades in arms. Aaron had some special abilities that could come in useful. Apparently it had something to do with that violet energy orb he produced. The explanations were cut short because Ron was supposed to be at my place in an hour and my condo was completely destroyed by Aaron and Rex’s sparring match.

The two power dudes made the decision that I needed to move to a new condo. The building next to mine had four nice units and all of them were similar in design and layout to mine. I picked out one that two thirty something dudes had moved into and Aaron and Rex’s game of Trading Spaces began.

Aaron knocked on the door of the unit I wanted and one of the dudes swung the door open to the surprise of his life.

“Hi, can I---“ Was all he managed to get out before Aaron’s powerful arms darted forward as he positioned the palms of his hands about three inches from either side of the dude’s head.

The dude looked a little confused as Aaron met his gaze and gave him a big smile before SMRACK! Slamming his hands into either side of the dude’s head. A jet of bloody ooze shot from the dude’s nose, as the width of his skull was reduced by a few inches, pulverizing his brain and distorting his face. Aaron restrained himself from using too much force and causing the entire head to burst.

WHUMPP! The man crumpled to the ground, his body jerking a bit as the life left it. Aaron dragged the body by one of the arms as Rex followed him inside, carrying the desk from my den.

“Hey, Kevin, who is there?” The dead dude’s roommate called out as he shuffled down the stairs to greet their company.

The first site that greeted him was his dead friend being dragged down the hall, his head lolling to one side.

“AEEEIIIIIII---“ The man squealed as he ran back up the stairs.

Aaron let go of the body, FLUMPP! Kicked it out of Rex’s way and smiled as he beckoned me to follow him up the stairs after the wailing man.

The man ran up the stairs and charged down the hall towards the bedroom. You didn’t need to be a genius to know he was going to lock the door behind him and go for the phone. It was a plan that would’ve worked, if he wasn’t being pursued by a calm and determined power dude, who simply puffed out his cheeks and FWOOO! Hit him with a gust of super breath that WHACKKK! Slammed the man against the wall so hard it knocked the fight out of him and left him crumpled on the floor.

Aaron turned to face me and said, “Watch.”

Judging by his tone, I took it as an order and felt sorry for this poor guy, who was not going to come out of this very well, I was sure.

Aaron stepped up and FRUMMP! Clamped his huge hands onto the sides of the man’s head. Aaron’s hands covered the dude’s head so completely that only a little bit of his face remained exposed.

A series of incompressible sounds came from the man’s movement restricted mouth as Aaron leaned his powerful body over the man and URMMPH! Tensed is mammoth muscles. Whatever I was supposed to watch was about to begin, but first Aaron FLUMP! Turned 90 degrees so I could get a better view of Aaron’s ultimate body and his victim, instead of just seeing Aaron’s broad backside.

Then FRIZZZ! ZHUMM! Aaron’s magnificent pecs swelled and crackled with purple energy. The aura of energy surrounding his chest extended outward from his smooth, tensed pecs a few inches. I made out the words “God”, “no”, and “please” as the trapped man’s eyes swelled with panic and terror.

Aaron chuckled and then it happened, his pecs relaxed and FRACCKOOOM! Twin orbs of purple light raced from his giant pecs, up across his shoulders, and down his huge pipes into his victim. In the blink of an eye, BLOOOSH! The process was over and the man exploded in a burst of purple slime which splattered all over Aaron, the hallway, and myself.

“FUCK!!” Aaron was visibly agitated and CROOSH! Punched his fist through the wall in frustration.

Then he seemed to realize that putting his fist through the wall just made the mess worse, especially since deep fissures snaked across the entire wall.

“Sorry, that’s not how it’s supposed to work. OK, stand still,” Aaron addressed me and VREEE! For the second time that day I was bathed in heat vision as Aaron used his power to burn the slime, which had begun to solidify into a chalky purple substance, off of my body. POOSSHHH! I watched as each glob of slime vanished in a puff of smoke. The stench was terrible, but in a few moments I was clean.

“OK, go help Rex,” Aaron commanded me, “I’ll be down in a minute after I clean this up.”

Aaron definitely didn’t have total mastery of his powers yet, at least that purple energy. It was obvious he didn’t intend to explode the dude in a burst of purple slime.

I went downstairs and found that all of my furniture was now in the new condo and pretty much in place. Rex had piled most of the possessions of the previous residents near the doorwall in the family room leading to the backyard deck. The family room was huge and behind the soundproofed walls were the two condos mine was between. This place was actually bigger than my previous condo.

“Hey,” Rex greeted me. “Go through this and see if there is anything of theirs you want to keep, while I work on the upstairs.”

SWOOOSH! Rex was gone in a rush of air and burst of super speed. I soon heard the whistling as both of the titans raced in and out of the condo, setting up the rooms upstairs. Every few seconds, SWOOOSH! One of them would race by me and WHUMPP! Add some more stuff to the pile I was going through.

Rex had thrown all of my furniture he and Aaron had damaged during their little sparring match in the refuse pile and used the other dudes furnishings as replacements. It worked out, since their stuff was actually nicer. I even choose one of their bedroom sets to replace my own. Aaron and Rex were quick to transfer all my clothes and belongings to the kitchen, bedrooms, and bathrooms. In less than 30 minutes, everything was all set and I opened the doorwall, and stepped behind the two titans, so Rex and Aaron could VREEEEE! Unleash their heat vision into the pile and FOOOSH! Reduce all of the extra furniture and possessions to smoke and ash. Then FWOOO! They both puffed out their cheeks and used their super breath to herd the smoke into the backyard.

Next, I went to check my old place to see if Rex and Aaron had forgotten anything. Leaving Rex and Aaron to plan for Ron’s arrival in 30 minutes or so.

As I looked through my devastated condo, I couldn’t find anything the two titans had missed. I went downstairs after checking the bedrooms and was met by one of the condo associations security personnel standing in my family room.

“What the hell happened in here?” he demanded as he surveyed the holes in the walls and ceiling and the piles of plaster dust from the crumbling walls.

“Rex,” I whispered, before I started babbling about the water heater exploding, but this dude was not buying that at all. It didn’t help that chunks of plaster continued to fall from the ceiling.

“Where are your belongings?,” The security guy had given up trying to get a straight explanation out of me and moved on to another line of questioning.

“Well, I am just in the process of moving in,” I stammered.

Then, to my relief, I saw Rex float into the room, just a few inches above the floor. He ducked to avoid having his head hit the ceiling as he approached the guard from behind.

Rex’s massive hand darted forward and WHUMPP! Wrapped around the back of the guard’s neck.

“URKK--“ the guard gurgled as Rex’s hand squeezed his throat and lifted him off the floor. The guard clawed at Rex’s fingers with his legs dangling in the air just before WOOOOSH! Rex thrust his arm forward and released the guard who sailed across the room and BOOOSHHH! Slammed violently into the wall. A cloud of plaster pieces and dust filled the room. I covered my mouth and nose with my shirt and peered through the dust cloud at the guard, who had been thrown so forcefully into the wall, that his face and upper torso had actually broken through to the next room. One of the guard’s feet wiggled and I heard a dull moan before Rex’s laughter drowned it out.

Rex VREEEETT! Unleashed two jets of his heat vision into the guard’s backside. The guard stiffened as the heat beams caused him to glow pink, then red, and then PHOOOFF! Reduced him to smoke and ashes, leaving behind his partial silhouette burned into the wall.

“Was that it?” Rex asked.

I nodded and he gestured for me to climb onto his back. I reached around his thick neck and felt the muscles of his back rubbing against my upper torso as he hovered back to the new condo, stopping to THWOCKK! Kick the security guard’s golf cart into the sky. WOOOOSH! I watched it race into the air, under the awesome power of Rex’s massive quads and hamstrings.

As we entered the new condo, I noticed that Aaron and Rex had changed the address of the place to my old address, so Ron wouldn’t have any trouble finding me and I wouldn’t have to call him and clarify the directions. I also witnessed an unmistakable green flash of light as we came down the hallway. As Rex flew into the family room and had me dismount, I watched Aaron SNIIFFF! Snort a cloud of white vapor up his nose.

“Apparently, we were spotted messing with the addresses,” Aaron explained.

I wondered how many residents of my condo complex were still alive at this point. It was eating at me. On one hand, Rex and Aaron were so cool, but on the other, they were merciless monsters.

The plan for Ron was simple enough, I was supposed to lure him into a specific bedroom upstairs, excuse myself and go to the bathroom and then Rex and Aaron would pounce. After the battle, they hoped to convince Ron to cooperate, especially with the recent reports of power dudes mysteriously vanishing.

I asked about Ron seeing them before the attack. I knew Ron and Rex had met before, but they told me not to worry. They would be a safe distance away upon Ron’s arrival.

That’s when Aaron pulled a pool ball sized crystal orb from the pocket of his shorts and pressed it into the deep valley between his pecs. FRAZZKL! Aaron’s pecs glowed purple again and I braced myself for another disaster. However, this time things seemed to work out and Aaron relaxed his massive pectorals and retrieved the now sparkling purple crystal sphere. Rex stepped back a bit from the glowing purple orb.

“Can you feel it?”, Aaron asked Rex.

“Yeah,” Rex responded, “Turn it down a bit.”

Aaron held the orb about six inches from his pecs, tensed them, and FRIZZK! Two tendrils of purple energy shot from the glowing orb and streamed into his nipples. Aaron relaxed his pecs and the streaming stopped. The orb was noticeably less bright.

“Perfect,” Rex remarked. “Set it over there behind the TV on the entertainment center.”

Rex then turned to me, “OK, now bring Ron in here and watch some TV for about 15 minutes, then give him the tour of your place.”

Aaron had placed the glowing purple orb where Rex wanted it. “Can you see it?” Aaron asked.

Rex glanced in that direction. His pupils glowed blue as he WZZZZZZ! Used his enhanced vision.

“Nope, nice, dude,” Rex smiled.

Finally, Rex let me in on the secret of the purple orb and energy. It seemed Aaron’s purple energy allowed him to drain the energy from other power dudes. A low level dose like the one administered by the orb would weaken Ron’s passive sensory powers, such as his super hearing, super smell, and enhanced vision, making him less likely to detect the presence of Aaron and Rex until they revealed themselves. If the orb was charged with too much energy, Ron would be able to feel the drain. It also was invisible to their enhanced vision powers, since it somehow absorbed and redirected the beams.

Rex and Aaron then left the condo and I sat on the couch and waited for Ron, who would be there 15 minutes later. I ran through the whole situation in my head again. Rex said that Ron was powerful, but refused to join the alliance against the forces of Gideon who were in secret control of the whole country. In fact, Ron and a number of other power dudes they believed Ron to be in contact with were not willing to get involved in the conflict. They felt that if they just stayed out of it, they wouldn’t be bothered. This position ignored the fact that Gideon and his forces had begun using advanced technology to locate power dudes and “harvest” them. Once a power dude was captured they either joined Gideon’s forces or suffered a worse fate. Those were declared too disloyal or chose not to join Gideon’s forces were imprisoned using some unknown technology, used as test subjects for experiments, or destroyed. Rex emphasized that Ron didn’t have long to live regardless, Gideon’s forces would find everyone soon.

Soon Ron arrived and it was good to see him. Ron was looking great. He was bigger than he used to be and leaner too. He took off his shirt to show me how his physique had improved. It was amazing. Ron flexed his biceps and pumped up his massive chest. He grabbed my easy chair and lifted it over his head with one hand. I, of course, knew that he was much, much stronger than this.

He complimented me on the vest improvement in my physique as well. I told him I had been working with a trainer, but was careful not to mention his name. Then it struck me that I wasn’t feeling a tingle when I looked at Ron. I figured Aaron’s purple energy had interfered with my ability to detect power dudes just by looking at them. This ability had become both my gift and my curse.

I lead Ron into the family room and flipped on the TV. If he felt anything from the concealed purple orb, he didn’t let it on. Ron sat on my new couch in front of the TV, while I made myself comfortable on the easy chair that Ron had lifted earlier, which was positioned perpendicular to the couch and facing the door wall. We talked about our high school days, when I was the nerd and he was the super jock. Our brains and brawn combo really worked out well. I had helped Ron out of a few academic jams and he had taken care of at least a few muscular assholes who I had pissed off with my big mouth. The time flew by, and I soon noticed I was 20 minutes behind schedule. Ron and I should have started the house tour 20 minutes ago, but I was really enjoying the company of my old friend and had no desire to betray him at this moment. Rex and Aaron would just have to give me some more time with my friend. I knew they were probably watching and noticing the great time I was having enjoying a few beers and good conversation with my old buddy. I stopped caring about the big plan and enjoyed myself.

“Hey,” Ron asked, “You want to head to a bar or something?”

“Sure,” I answered, “But don’t you want to see the rest of the place?”

“I’ll see it tonight when we get back,” Ron suggested. “Come on, I’ll drive.”

This was an excellent turn of events I decided. Maybe I could talk to Ron about Rex and stuff and get him to change his mind. Maybe if he heard it from his trusted buddy he would have a change of heart. Then everything would work out great.

A big smile spread across my face, Ron laughed and asked, “What are you so happy about?”

I was about to answer when KERCHOOOM! The wall behind the TV exploded, sending the entertainment center and all of its contents, including the TV, hurling across the room and into Ron, along with a thick cloud of plaster dust and wall debris.. •