“Wait, have you read this part? It says the best way to combat a person with a knife or other close combat weapon is to run…shouldn’t it be some sort of disarming?” The very first page on the guide they had received from Ron had started with the basics. Unfortunately, Art had expected something wildly different. 

“Of course, it is. Do you think it is better to fight? If you run away you have a lot less of a chance of being stabbed or cut. Come on!” Cara wasn’t sure if Art had just lost his mind or was just that lacking in common sense. 

“It was just a question…I have never been in that situation before.” The sad tone seemed to make Craa regret her rude response. But there was no chance to apologize since Jane had remembered something. 

“Didn’t Asher almost get stabbed before? Or wait, didn’t the guy actually think he had stabbed you?”

“Oh yeah, he thought he had killed me. But I swear it was a guy with the flu or something. He had to have been sick and the police just missed it. I don’t know though. Maybe he was both a sick man and a robber.” The fact that Asher still thought the man had been sick and in a fever delusion was amazing. The group had all heard the story by now and it was considered the biggest lucky moment in his life before they had all gotten together as a group. 

“So you’re saying that as long as we use common sense and don’t ignore obvious signs as Asher did, then we should be able to try and run first?” Sammy was honestly trying to put herself in the situation and was sure that she would have been able to run away. If the worst happened then she would have let her super power throw a burst of wind at the culprit. 

“Yes. But the next part says what to do when you can’t run.” Jackson ignored the slight bickering that was coming from everyone teasing each other and began to read deeper in to the guide while they walked toward Asher and Cara’s house. ” It says that you should call for help somehow. Most people have phones or a loud enough voice to call out. But if no one is around that combat is the next option. So fighting is a last resort in any case.” This relaxed Jackson because he didn’t like the idea of fighting someone with a weapon. 

“Alright. Alright. Alright. So we fight worst case scenario. But since we are heroes we will be fighting more often than not unless we can intimidate the villain enough.” As much as they all wanted to pretend that they were not going to be in this situation the odds were pretty low that they never would. The group was going to be in a battle scenario that required them to protect people in some form or fashion. It would not always be countering super powers or natural disasters. 

“Exactly and it says the joints will be the main focus of our attacks. See on page five it shows a diagram focusing on all the places to hit to cause the joints to collapse.” Lous found that this was much better for him to be learning. Due to his super power he had been caring more and more about human anatomy. Just broadening his knowledge about the human body in any way would help to improve the use of his super power. 

“Huh, so we have learned just to fight to take someone down and incapacitate them. But this is way better. Disarming techniques can be used anytime. Our opponents don’t need to have a weapon.” Since Asher said this the entire group stopped. They started to study the diagrams with much more focus before they all eventually started a slow walk again. 

“If we can take down an opponent using these break down techniques then we won’t have any issue taking them in to custody. Like, hitting the space right below and on the side of the knee causes the knee to buckle. That’s perfect for stopping someone bigger than us or stronger. As long as they don’t have a super power that reinforces their body we can use this. Even if they have animal limbs, this will apply.” This was the perfect technique for Sammy and Laura to learn. They were the lightest and hit the softest out of the group. Laura just had a hard time building muscle due to her insane metabolism. Sammy was just light and floaty since she had a super power that related to wind and potentially flying. 

“So when will we start to mix this in to training?” Jane wanted to start right away but knew that they were going to be studying for the rest of the night. 

“Tomorrow after school we should see if we can use the gym with those training dummies. They can be set to move in slow motion so that will let us test the joint break down moves. I think we should focus on the knee, elbow, and wrist break down first. Ankles, shoulders, and other throws can wait. I want to be able to stop an opponent trying to move forward at me first. Then we can worry about some of the complicated holds that are in the later pages.” Cara was looking forward and knew that they should not push too deeply in to things before they mastered the easier moves that could be easily incorporated in to their styles. 

“I wonder how this would work with your rag doll style Asher. It seems like you wouldn’t be able to be as accurate since you are usually going with the flow.” Since Asher did normally move with the flow of battle and reacted to his opponent, Jane was right. He would be the one with the hardest time to adapt it to his style. 

“If that’s the case then I should be able to use it the best. I have a lot more stiff style.” In comparison, Art should be able to focus and add it in to his precise movements. 

“But you still add in everyone elses’ styles to yours. If you think we can’t do the same then you are crazy.” Laura didn’t like that Art was thinking too big after not realizing he could just run away from a bladed weapon. She had to butt heads with him to make sure he would know that she would be outdoing him. 

“If I can add my shocks to it like a stun gun then they might be more than just incapacitated for a few moments. I could potentially stop them from moving kong enough for a second group to follow us and detain them.” 

“You don’t even need to touch the villain!” Cara had connected Louis’s mumbling and Art yet again. “You do the same thing that you two did with the needles. But you will focus on the joints and certain pressure points. Art needs better control of his super powers and you need to control the voltage you put out. It will be perfect.” The combination was evolving in such a short time but the perfect marriage of Art and Louis’s super powers could not be denied. 

“Yeah, I won’t say that will be easy but we can work on it.” Louis and Art fist bumped while they thought of all the possibilities. 

“Just start studying acupuncture too. I bet that would help, And we need to get off of these tangents. We made it all the way here and we have a ton of homework to do.”  Asher realized they had gotten way off topic.

“How will I manage to use this though? It is much better to combat me than for me to use…” The sad tone from Jackson made them, all feel better. But there was some promise that the others had seen. 

Sammy looked at him for a moment then spoke up, “Use a shield. You can probably get them made so they resist high heat or cold. A lot of rescue situations might need a sled or something. And, I bet that Ron will have some teaching that comes with shields. It also blocked you from a  lot of these joint breakdown techniques.” The light returned to Jacksons’ eyes when Sammy finished. It was a very good idea and would have many potential uses. 

“I could use it as a backboard to transport people out of dangerous places. Or I could use it to shield someone from heavy snow while using it as a roof for a shelter. Or I could use it to block flames and step over them. There are so many possibilities.” Jackson had become a child in a candy store with unlimited money. He wanted to make this happen immediately before he realized that he would need a lot more studying on materials and uses. “I will learn this..” The commitment was already strong in his heart.