Damon watched his friend with a sense of marvel. People like this don't exist, he thought to himself. If a client of Rogers and Stanley had given them a book with this sort of fight scene to edit, or a character like Karik, it would have been returned with a comment of get real please but this was real. He and countless others at Benjamin's were testament to it. As he stood there deep in thought, wondering where this guy came from, Damon's attention became diverted by a special news report on the television above. It caused everyone to stop and watch.

On the television screen, Damon saw a news reporter standing in downtown Manhattan, live. "I'm sorry that we're interrupting the ballgame, we'll have you back there in a moment, but when news happens NBC News 5 is there. Earlier today there was scuffle in the financial district. Normally we wouldn't interrupt you for a minor disturbance except that the entire incident was caught on video, and what a video it is," the reporter said with excitement as the video began.

Damon felt a surge of adrenaline jolt his body. That's me, on television, holy shit! Damon saw himself lying on the ground, unconscious with blood on his head, surrounded by the three gang members.

"Leave him alone!" an English accent called out from the street.

"You also want a beating?" a gang member shouted as he waved a crow bar in the air.

A young man, about six feet tall with a slender build, walked confidently towards them. It was Karik, Damon excitedly realized as he watched the video. Unbelievable, was the only word that came to his mind as he watched the TV in absolute bewilderment.

"Give me the crow bar, Stanley," Karik sternly demanded.

Stanley was startled. "How the hell do you know my name?"

Karik calmly walked closer to Stanley. "Leave him alone. This man needs help before he bleeds to death."

When the young man, Karik, was close enough, Stanley swung the crow bar straight for the side of his head. Karik held out his left hand and effortlessly caught the crow bar. Stanley put both of his hands on the crow bar. Using every ounce of strength he could muster, Stanley tried to take it back from him. The young man, with what appeared to be minimal effort, took the crow bar and swung it at the side of the building next to him, embedding it deep into the brick wall. Stanley looked to the huge muscle bound freak that had originally approached Damon and just shrugged his shoulders, very confused.

"Each of you have people who love and care for you," said Karik with the comportment of a Sunday morning preacher. "Don't hurt them this way. Let the goodness in your hearts lead you instead of your anger."

The big guy flexed his massive biceps and then his pecks. "Nobody speaks to Leon like that!" the big guy said, referring to himself. "What are you, some kind of fucking priest? Who the hell talks like this? Man, get out of our way or we'll kill you too."

Karik ignored Leon's warning. He bent down over Damon and began to check on him when James pulled out a gun. James' hands shook as he aimed the gun straight between the Karik's eyes who calmly stared back at him.

"Just shoot the bastard!" Leon commanded.

James appeared startled by Leon as he pulled the trigger before he was ready. Click. Nothing happened. Leon pulled the gun out of James' hand and fired at the young man repeatedly. Click, click, click. Again, nothing. Confusion turned to anger as Leon looked at James. "Did you forget to load the fucking bullets?"

Karik rose to his feet, reached forward and then slowly, but easily, pulled the gun out Leon's hands as he stood there bewildered, frozen like a deer caught in a car's headlights. Karik aimed the gun at a dumpster and successfully fired three shots.

"Give him back his wallet," Karik said to Leon, "and his phone." Leon and his two comrades in crime looked on in utter disbelief at the young man who had single handedly taken them on, and came out victorious. "Give them back now."

Ambulance sirens blared off in the distance. The three gang members, confused and scared fled but not before they had tossed Damon's wallet and cell phone to the ground. Leon tried to regain some of the respect that he had just lost as he looked back at Karik. "We'll be back for you. And when we meet again, I'll kill you," but those words, threatening as they were, lacked any real conviction. The three gang members quickly disappeared behind an office building.

Karik looked down at Damon who was lying on the ground unconscious. Blood was still pouring out from his forehead. A small crowd had now assembled around them, curious onlookers who relish in the drama of others. The young man kneeled down and put his hands over Damon's head. He closed his eyes as he and moved his hands in circular motions. After a few moments the bleeding stopped and then Damon opened his eyes.

"We'll continue to keep you updated on this amazing story," finished the reporter as the channel switched back to the ball game.

Damon gasped. Karik really saved my life! Words couldn't describe how Damon felt after he watched the news report. This wasn't an ordinary life saving event, as if any lifesaving event could ever be called ordinary. This bordered on the unexplainable.

"Who are you man? I mean, really." Damon asked Karik. "Are you an army guy? Special forces? A kung-fu super ninja? What?" Damon hoped that there would be a logical explanation to what he had just witnessed.

"It is exactly like I told you before;" Karik said to Damon. "The mind can do anything as long as you believe it can."

Damon didn't know how to react. In all of his years in publishing he had edited stories about people who had done incredible things with their minds or bodies, but they were mostly fiction or at best greatly exaggerated. This wasn't. This was real, and he was living proof of it.