“As I was saying there’s a bounty on you. But that’s not the worse part Alexander there’s a group coming to Re gahn a very dangerous group that is here to kill you and your friends.”
I wanted to roll my eyes, what was with people that I know telling me information that I already knew, of course a dangerous group was trying to kill me and my friends. There was a bounty of a quarter billion on us. The real question wasn’t if a group of mercs or whoever were trying to kill us the real question was how many.
“Thanks for the info Alastor now you mind…oh.” Once I realized Alastor wasn’t pushing me to the ground anymore I got up. “Why do you care if someone is trying to kill us? And just so you know what you’re telling me isn’t news, its common knowledge by now.”
Alastor shrugged then smiled slightly. “Well, first of all I came to Re gahn to offer assistance. Don’t thank me or anything I still have a debt to settle with you Alexander.”
I blinked twice at Alastor. “First off there’s no way in hell you’re here to help. Second. Don’t call me Alexander.”
“Well Alex as it happens I am not one for unfair games. The deck was rigged from the start, it left a bad taste in my mouth so I decided I’d help out. There’s also the little matter of needing you alive so I can get my payback. Plus I figured Adam is involved somehow and I owe him a little face to face. Bottom line he’s a bigger bastard than you and if it means putting him in the ground I’ll work with the devil.”
The way Alastor spoke made me want to laugh. He wasn’t serious he couldn’t be, he tries to kill me and my friends then expects me to believe because other people are trying to kill me and my friends that he is willing to help us. Either he’s crazy or thinks I’m an idiot.
“How’s working with the devil supposed to be fair?”
Alastor smirked. “It’s an expression my friend. But right now it’s not the devil you need to be worrying about it’s the Saints.”
I looked at Alastor as confused as ever what the hell was he talking about now, who were the Saints?
“Alastor?”
“I can already guess the question. The Saint squad is an elite team of mercenaries or at least they used to be mercenaries now they are the private army of one Marc Edge. The Saint Squad is serious business we need to find Carter and AJ before they arrive and get to Los Cuevros. My airship is there, once we have a plan of attack well, we’ll attack.”
Tessa sped past Alastor suddenly, Mathew was with her standing off to my side. She stared down Alastor for a moment before saying anything.
“Mathew here tells me Alastor found him awhile back after he jumped and has been looking after him. Still doesn’t mean we should trust Alastor though.”
Alastor flashed a clearly fake grin in Tessa’s direction then locked eyes with me.
“You want to know something the Saint Squad has nothing to do with the bounty. It has to deal with Mr. Bright that means AJ is in danger most of all.”
I was about to accuse Alastor of spouting more B.S but then I paid attention to the look on his face, it was subtle but his face was strained then there was the tone of his voice just now. It seemed like he was worried maybe he had a soft spot for AJ and didn’t want him getting seriously hurt, it did seem like the two of them knew each other. There was something else there I felt like I was just scratching the surface of but I didn’t know enough to figure out what I was onto.
“Fine. Let’s go find AJ and Carter.”
Tessa rolled her eyes like she didn’t care what decision was being made, she moved to the side though implying that Alastor should leave the alley first. He shrugged then complied walking ahead of us. The three of us followed Alastor out of the alley and onto the street, it was then I noticed that a number of guns were trained on us. I looked to my left then my right, we were surrounded by eight guys. I was about to curse at Alastor for nearly tricking me then he raised his hand signaling his men to lower their guns and they did.
“Couldn’t bring them in the alley. Didn’t want you shooting at them.” Alastor commented with a mocking tone.
Normally I would have been offended maybe I still was a little but that didn’t change the fact that Alastor was right I would have shot at them so would Tessa. Alastor and co led the way through the street, interestingly enough even as armed as we were we weren’t drawing as much attention as I assumed we would. It mostly had to do with the fact that a number of people were aware of the craziness that was going on. There was that and the fact that there was smoke in the air not too far from our current location. The final clue to the lack of surprise on all the civilian faces had to do with a phrase that got name dropped a few times as we walked by. The phrase had me worried that this might escalate and end up involving more innocent people. The phrase was Riot Police.
Chapter 16
Carter
The very informative man in the van had divulged some interesting information which made it a bit more pertinent to have another talk with Juliette. Fortunately enough for AJ and I he was more than willing to give me his walkie talkie. The only problem was I had to wait for a message before I was able to actually talk with anyone, security and all.
“I hate waiting.”
AJ turned his head toward me and gave me an odd AJ style look before saying. “You are the more patient one between Alex and you.”
I chuckled for a moment. “Normally yeah. But ever since the lockdown facility, I kinda like doing things on my own time, you know.”
After I spoke AJ returned his gaze forward looking at the van which held a number of unconscious men. Once we got the walkie I didn’t feel like going too far in case we needed to return it, plus no point moving around if you don’t know where you’re going. Things were awfully quiet right now, it had me wondering if something was cooking under the surface. For one thing considering the bounty I expected a whole lot less breathing room. There was no way that we had dealt with all the people after us, something had to be up. Thinking about it was starting to get on my nerves.
I looked around for a moment no cars probably meant people were either evacuating the city or abandoning their cars. Wait…something had dawned on me, I moved my attention to the walkie and began fiddling with it changing the channel every so often.
“There.”
“There?” AJ asked.
The emergency broadcast came on before I could even reply. First came the jarring loud sound that was guaranteed to get your attention then came a message telling people to move away from certain parts of the city. It was a no brainer that where AJ and I currently were was one of the areas that people were being warned to stay away from. Based on the information I was hearing, it sounded like a few places that we haven’t even been to had been attacked. What was that about? For a second I almost thought it might be some sort of conspiracy or something then I notice the marching of boots against the pavement.
The sound was loud, which wasn’t just from distance but the amount of people marching forward, each footstep made in unison. Clomp clomp…clomp…I stood up while the first row of the marching police arrived, they wore black body armor, red and blue helmets, gloves and knee pads. There were other splashes of red and blue on their armor but it didn’t seem relevant to mention. They weren’t normal officers which was obvious based on the armor and the kind of firepower they were wielding, it was like staring at an army.
“You two. Clear the area immediately…why are you armed?”
I blinked, forgetting for a moment that I was in fact armed. “Oh this…would you believe me if I said I never leave home without this stuff.”
“Why are you armed?” Repeated the same officer.
My brow twitched for a moment I really don’t like having someone repeat questions to me. I took a deep breath then exhaled and smiled. “I’m armed so when people shoot at me I can shoot back.”
As if that was the worst response I could have given, the police officers all trained their guns on me which caused me to cautiously raise my hands.
“Don’t move or we’ll shoot.”
I rolled my eyes. “You’ll probably shoot anyway. Ok AJ. Let’s camp somewhere else bossy boots over here isn’t going to let us stay.”
Of course AJ didn’t move while I turned around and took a step forward, the click sound that followed from the officers removing their safeties was simultaneous. A slight smirk went on my face it could have been confidence of cockiness maybe both but I wasn’t worry about their guns.
“I’m warning you because you’re officers. It’s in your best interest not to do that bec…”
“Fire!”
It was almost like a boom when all the guns went off baaaarp baaaarp baaaaarp zeeeeet. My body was pelted by the storm of bullets which normally would have been more painful than this, even deadly but considering the rounds they were using it was just a lot of stinging and a lot of unpleasant tickling. Zeeet zeeeet electricity coiled around my body which caused me to wiggle around a bit. It always felt different when it was electricity entering my body instead of leaving it.
“Ow…ow…ow…it hurts so much stop. You have rendered me helpless.” I spaced out my words and spoke in a monotone voice to emphasize the sarcasm. Once I was done I turned around shaking my body knocking all the zap rounds off.
“What…that’s not possible. What the hell are you?”
“You know I get asked that a lot. It’s who by the way. Who are you? And just for your information I normally shock the people who shoot at me. I’m giving you guys leeway because you’re officers an all but it only goes so far ok. Anyway there’s a bounty on my friends and me, it’s probably why all this mess is happening.”
The officers looked at each other for a moment talking more about the fact that their zap rounds didn’t work rather than the fact I had just mentioned a bounty on my head. So while the riot police talked I reached behind my back searching for any zap rounds and sure enough I found a couple which were lodged deeper than the others. It took me a moment to get a grip on all of them once I did I yanked them out no problem. Looking at one of them in my hand I noticed that they looked like normal rounds except for their tips that looked like tranquilizer rounds in truth they were like a combination of the two. Considering there were a number of Superhumans who metabolized tranquilizers and other sedatives and the like a lot faster than a average person it was reasonable for the Riot Police to use zap rounds.
Even though they were using zap rounds there were still the exceptions to the rule such as myself and that guy with Adam who could absorb my electricity. I heard some of the muttering of the police officers so I held out my hands in front of me with my palm facing upward. Zeeeeet an arc of electricity jumped across my hands which got everyone attention.
“Yeah my power’s electricity. Moving on there’s a bounty on my head. You guys are in danger by being around us.”
There was talk among the police officers before the officer in charge spoke. “There are people in danger. You two shouldn’t be out in the open we’ll take you somewhere safe.”
It was kind of them to offer but it felt like he wasn’t really listening so I was going to have to be a little more firm in the way I told them to leave us alone. We were already endangering lives if I didn’t think they would just follow us, we would have taken a helicopter out of here. But we were vulnerable in the air plus it would give the mercenaries more of a reason to attack Shield, Beth and Mathew at least this way we weren’t endangering them. Before I could continue reassuring myself that we made the right decision by staying behind a couple of the police officers mentioned the bounty and something along the lines of attempting to take me down.
“What are you guys talking about…stand down….stand down I said.”
The officer in charge’s words fell on deaf ears as at least seven of the riot police rushed toward me with batons in hand.
“Seriously. I don’t want to fight you guys.”
The officers didn’t listen, fwwwwhooo two green balls of energy shot forward nailing two officers in the chest. They fell backwards almost immediately, coughing and wheezing once they hit the ground. AJ rushed forward standing by my side.
“Glad you didn’t get hit by any of those zap rounds.”
“You were foolish to goad them. Even more foolish than Alex.”
I was about to say how that was untrue but he was right plus I had something a little more pressing to deal with. Two officers were closing in on me now they both swung their batons in a downward motion so I raised my arms up and grabbed hold of both of them then I pulled the officers in and sent a punch forward. I hit both of them in the head with enough force to crack their helmets, they went down without too much hassle. The two police officers that AJ had downed were beginning to get back up but AJ handled it. First he jumped in the air then turned grabbing the first officers’ head with his hand while at the same time clamping his legs around the head of the second officer, he turned his body sharply, quickly pulling the officers down to the ground.
They were thrown forward in one fluid motion, while I was busy paying attention to AJ a police officer struck at my side. I moved out of the way but he managed to graze me. I was surprised at the amount of pain that flared from the hit. What the hell are those batons made out? The same officer came at me again swinging his baton toward my head hoping to get lucky. I clapped my hands on the baton stopping it in mid-air.
“You know you guys are starting to give me a headache.” I commented just before head butting the officer there was a crack sound as he went down. “OW! What the hell are their helmets made of?”
Two officer had managed to sneak up on me while I was attending to my head. I turned to see them swinging their batons at me then….baaaarp baaaaarp baaaaarp baaaaarp.
“Ahhhhh aaaaaah. Aaaaaaa.”
Four quick burst were fired hitting the officers in the elbow belonging to the arm which was holding the baton and the left and right knees respectively. The shots were pretty precise. I turned to thank the officer who fired only to see a familiar face.
“So Carter, I see you’re making friends everywhere.” William commented while blowing on his gun as if he was a cowboy in the west.
William looked a bit different than the last time I saw him, for one it looked like his hair was a good length shorter and he was decked out in what resembled swat gear. I would have made some comment about it if I didn’t hear someone mutter something about gunfire the person who spoke was another familiar voice. I turned my attention from William to see a number of people approaching. There were at least eight or ten people, among them was Tessa which was good news then there was Mathew…what the hell was he doing here. In the front was Alexander which brought a smile to my face.
“You’re alive Alex.”
His only response was to scrunch up his face just before speaking. “Of course I’m alive you’re the one that was in a car that exploded.”
I was about to tell him that he had a point when I realize who was standing beside him Alastor, the expression on Alex’s face changed as electricity coiled around my arm without another thought in my head. I thrusted my hand toward Alastor sending a dazzling bolt of electricity forward.
Chapter 17
I had just told Carter how his concern was a little less well founded than mine, when I noticed that Carter’s attention had drifted from me to Alastor.
“Oh no.” I muttered the words breathlessly.
Electricity ran down Carter’s arm in a spiraling motion almost like a snake wrapping itself around a stick or a pole. He launched his arm forward releasing a blue bolt of electricity in Alastor’s direction. My body had begun moving before I realized what I was doing, everything had slowed down except me and the bolt of electricity. It would be just a second or two longer before I was in front of the bolt but it was about the same time for it to hit Alastor. Zeeeet zeeeet just like that the bolt of electricity hit me the pain I felt was unimaginable. It wasn’t like any of the other times I had been shocked before, no this wa
s more intense, something about it felt raw.
The electricity seemed to circulate through my entire system but even as it moved around there wasn’t a moment were the entirety of my body wasn’t in pain. There was something else there too I hadn’t realized it at first but this feeling I had felt it before. The second I realized that was when I started to see a picture of my mother with her long wavy auburn hair and comforting emerald eyes.
It took me a moment to realize that in this vision or whatever it was, that my mother was frozen because she was an actual picture one that was being held in my hand. Eventually the picture started to get wet at the top of it which I wasn’t sure why then I was being shown a window. I could see a field of grass that seem to stretch on forever and not too far in the distance there was a blue flash that went into the sky.
“Alexander!” Carter yelled.
It was his voice that brought me back to reality. I looked at him for a moment just before dropping to my knees. Everything seemed distant, for a while my vison was blurry and everything sounded muffed, all of that went away when I looked up and saw Carter staring at me with a look that I hadn’t seen before yet it felt oddly familiar. Wasn’t that the look? The same fear in his eyes. Only when he looks at you. The monster. My breathing was shallow as if I had just held my breath to go underwater or something. There was a question itching in my brain and now was as good as a time as any to ask.
“Carter are you afraid of me?” My voice was barely a whisper.
But I knew he had heard me. He stared at me for a moment without saying anything. “What the hell type of question is that. You’re my brother why would I be afraid of you. Why would you ask such a stupid question like that?”
“Your eyes. You’d always have that look in your eyes when we were young, you’re scared of me.”
Carter sighed loudly like he was annoyed then he spoke. “You don’t understand…its…we never talk about it and I never want to bring it up.”
Noble Revelations Page 9
