Page 96 of Greed
Parker’s lips flattened. “Fine. But when this all goes pear shaped, remember you asked for it.” He turned to Griffin. “Teach him a quick lesson, then we’ll move onto measuring your output.”
“I heard that!” Tony shouted.
Teach him a quick lesson.Right. Griffin turned his focus to his brother bouncing around, jabbing his fists in the air. He stalked to the center of the alley until they were only a few feet apart.
Tony glared at him, and a calm, lethal intent crept into his eyes. The man stopped bouncing and smoothly circled Griffin. Any well trained warrior could see that Tony wasn’t as erratic and foolhardy as he led onlookers to believe. He was dangerous and deadly.
But no match for Griffin.
Make it quick.
Right.
Griffin searched Tony for a metal source. When his power connected, he almost felt bad for his brother. If he’d kept his wits about him, he might have remembered to remove his belt buckle. As it happened, the belt secured around his waist, sturdily weighted through his jeans belt loops.
Seeing Griffin unmoving, Tony launched—and jerked back as though being pulled by a string.
It wasn’t a string. It was Griffin pulling him in the opposite direction by the force of his power.
Tony’s face grew confused. He looked away, frowned, and then rallied. Anger swarmed over his features and he braced, boots against the ground, muscles straining against the unseen force of magnetism. Like a man staying staunch against a strong wind, Tony planted his boots and leaned forward. He stopped moving and just strained against the power. Impressive.
Still not enough. Griffin sensed metal supports buried within the soles of Tony’s boots, and he added his power to those, swiftly dislodging Tony’s feet until they kicked from underneath him and he went flying backward. When he landed with a thud on his back, stunned and staring up at the sky, Griffin spoke. “Anyone else?”
Liza frowned and glanced at her shoes, lifting them to peer under the souls. “You little fucker.”
He shrugged.
“Good.” Parker strode back to where Griffin stood. “Let’s just accept that Griffin’s better than you.”
“You didn’t give me a chance!” Evan whined.
“Me neither.” Liza pouted.
Parker sighed. “You’ll get your chance.”
He pointed the magnetometer at Griffin. “Amp up.”
Griffin flexed his fists. “Just fill with power?”
“Yeah.”
Okay. Griffin did. He focused inwards, closed his eyes and concentrated on the building energy his body produced. All the while, Parker narrated to those who watched what he knew about magnetic fields.
Griffin kept going until Parker whistled in awe. “One Tesla.”
He opened his eyes. “Is that good?”
“For comparison, a junkyard magnet that lifts a car is about two Tesla. Try lifting something.”
Griffin lifted his palms and pumped out more power and levitated a second dumpster toward the dark part of the alley. The big, beat up red structure lifted a few inches from the ground, creaking and moaning with protest.
“Shit. Two Tesla. How do you feel?”
“Fine.” He trembled and sweat formed. His insides began to cramp, but it wasn’t anything he couldn’t handle. He kept the dumpster levitating.
“Don’t lie, Griff.”
“It hurts a little,” he confessed. “But I can handle it.”
