Noble Revelations

by Adeleke Kayode

  The expression on my face was blank, I bit my lip while pressing on my right shoulder. Here goes nothing. Aaaaaaaaaah. The pain was unbearable but I didn’t scream at the cost of drawing more blood from my lips. With my left hand still on my right shoulder I glared at the Saint Commander. “I thought I told you not to call me Alexander.” My heart started beating faster, I could feel the adrenaline coursing through my veins and a warmth in my eyes as they glowed green.

  Time for me to teach someone a lesson.

  Chapter 20

  The first thing I did was spit out some of the blood that was in my mouth. The second thing was taking in a deep breath through my nose then exhaling it. I clenched both of my fists then moved forward at a leisurely pace once I was halfway to the Saint Commander I increased my speed dramatically. My hands were raised up like Shield had taught me some time ago, I moved in close and let loose a number of quick jabs. The Saint Commander bounced on her feet enabling her to bob and weave around my punches. She waited for her chance to attack, sending out two quick left jabs when the time was right. Without even thinking I knocked her hand away then clocked her in the nose with my right hand. Her head jerked back for a moment when it returned to its normal position I swung at her again. She ducked, hitting me in the chest with her palm.

  The Saint Commander followed up with another palm strike from her other hand, I pivoted toward her right evading her attack. That didn’t stop her from continuing on the offensive, the thing was I had no intention of going on defense. So the two of us began sending a barrage of attacks at each other, a majority of them we avoided while the others hit. Eventually we stopped dodging all together choosing to tank the hits which was incredibly painful. My body went on autopilot, attacking nearly the same places in succession. Face, chest, sides, stomach, while the Saint Commander hit me in the exact same places. I guess this was going to be a test of my indomitable will after all.

  Since my body was on autopilot I was finally able to focus on some of the sounds I was hearing like gunfire, or the discharge of Carter’s electricity. The buzzing from the Saint’s Hercules beetle airship and the other buzzing I heard earlier only this time it was much louder. Something about the sound snapped me out of my train of thought and back to reality. The Saint Commander hit me hard in the stomach so I responded by hitting her hard in the solar plexus once I did I took two steps back to give myself some space. The Saint Commander moved forward at the same time I did, we both threw a cross at each other’s face the moment our punches hit.

  There was a strange wooomp sound followed by a massive concussive force being released from the area around us. I heard the speee sound of glass shattering, it was then I noticed that my body was lifted off the ground. So was the Saint Commander’s both of us flew backward scrapping across the ground a couple times before finally stopping. I figured it would take me a while before I got up but it actually didn’t. The ground where I was standing before when I struck the Saint Commander looked dented in. The funny thing was I remembered something similar happening when I fought Shield once. Not to the extent that it happen here but on a smaller level.

  I didn’t feel like dwelling on that thought any longer so I spit out blood and a tooth, that wasn’t good. But it looks like I wasn’t the only one who was going to need dental work. The Saint Commander looked at me with an odd expression that disturbed me a little. She looked like she was enjoying this. Before I could even make a comment about it she started rushing at me so I ran toward her. Then I heard this abrupt static sound and the Saint Commander stopped in her tracks, I still ran forward however. She appeared to be talking to someone through an earbud or something I couldn’t hear the person on the other side clearly but I could hear the Saint Commander mentioning that something was wrong they need to evacuate and that someone had hacked into their systems.

  Once I was a couple feet away from the Saint Commander I saw her flash me a smile, it was a mix between a sinister smile and a kind one which was probably just the way she smiled. Anyway she mouthed something before a bright flash of white consumed her then once it faded away she was gone. I stopped running and looked around seeing several other flashes of light which took away the remaining Saint Squad members. Why were they leaving, not like it wasn’t a good thing it was just too sudden to mean anything good. The others looked just as confused as I was.

  “So what did Ms. Redhead say to you?” Tessa asked.

  “I think she said Maxine…Maxine Edge.”

  I blinked for a moment once I realized what I said the leader of the Saint Squad was Marc Edge’s daughter. Well it was entirely possible that she was his wife too or maybe niece or cousin it just seemed much more reasonable to assume that she was his daughter. Before I could delve further into that train of thought I noticed that the bottom of the Saint’s aircraft was opening up. Something red was being lowered from it, from the looks of whatever was being lowered it looked like a giant bell pepper. But I knew better than to think that it was an actually bell pepper, no, it was a bomb.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

  I barely glanced at William, instead I was thinking about the range of the bomb. Was it possible for us to escape in time? Then there was the question of the people who have yet to evacuate. Marc Edge must have really wanted to send a message to Mr. Bright if he had the Saint Squad show up with a bomb that size.

  “So what do we do?” Mathew asked.

  “Run. What else can we do?” Tessa replied.

  I didn’t look at either of them, my eyes were fixed on the red bomb that hung precariously from the Hercules Beetle aircraft. I felt a knot in my stomach as one of the craziest ideas I have ever had formed in my head. I didn’t have a lot of options so it was worth a shot at the very least, I was trying and that was the best I could do at the moment.

  “Carter, Mathew I’m going to need your help.”

  “We can’t just….wait what….what are you planning Alex?” Carter asked.

  “I can’t get to the bomb on my own so I need you and Mathew to lift me there, at least partially.”

  I turned to see Carter with a grim expression on his face. He shook his head slowly like he was coming to terms with extremely terrible news and in a way he was.

  “No, you’re not going to do whatever it is that you’re thinking. I’ll…I’ll just blast that thing out of the sky no one needs to risk….”

  “We don’t have time for this. Blasting it could set it off here. I’m the only one who has the skill set to pull this off but I need your help otherwise we’re all dead not just me.”

  I was staring Carter in the eyes as I spoke, he looked away for a moment then nodded.

  “What do you need Mathew and me to do?”

  “I’m gonna need you to lift a car into the air with me on top of it from there I’ll jump to the bomb.”

  Carter and Mathew moved to the nearest car which wasn’t too far from where we were. We moved it a bit forward so I could be closer to the airship then I got on top of the roof of the car and went into a runner’s stance. Mathew stood to my left a few feet away while Carter was on my right also a few feet away. William looked at me and smiled lightly before saying that he expected me to come back and make so sort of smart remark. AJ told me that Mr. Bright would be excited to hear how I stopped the bomb. It was an odd comment but it was AJ’s way of assuring me that he expected me to make it back. Tessa didn’t make eye contact at first when she did her eyes were shaky, she looked scared.

  “Don’t die ok.”

  “Wasn’t planning to.” I remarked with a bit of sarcasm.

  “I’m serious, don’t die.” Tessa repeated with a voice that was quieter than the first time. I gave her a genuine smile that showed I appreciated her concern, then I looked at Mathew for a second and he told me that it was gonna be badass to see me take down the bomb, Carter on the other hand told me that he wouldn’t leave until I came back.

  “Ok guys, let’s do this.”

  Baaaaaarzeeeeeet zeeeeeet
baaaaaar, the car shook for a moment then started floating upward it was slow at first like someone was turning off the setting of the gravity in the specific area I was in. Then it moved up much quicker, as I was being raised into the air my heart beat faster and faster ba-dum…bad-dum…badum, badum. I took a deep breath and held it as I steadily made my way to building level the Saint’s aircraft was much higher up but the car was steadily slowing down. I didn’t bother looking down not wanting to be frozen with any type of fear from either being too high up or the realization that this could very well be the last thing I did, at the very least it was something good…or rather noble maybe for once I could live up to my name.

  It wasn’t long after I had reached the maximum height that Carter and Mathew could take me when the bomb dropped. Without another thought in my mind I made my move pressing down against the car with both my hands and feet. My feet pressed down hard enough that I was beginning to dent the roof of the car. Now. I jumped forward exhaling a deep breath while my body launched into the air, wind whipped passed me at an incredible pace. I was moving forward toward the bomb but based on the way it was falling we might have been off on our starting position.

  Or was it the fact that I was getting higher in the air while the bomb was descending. I need to move forward if I could only just...it was then I felt something weird around me as if the air around was starting to become solid. In my head I knew what was going on and I could even hear Alastor yelling. You’re Welcome. The second I heard him is when I moved out as if there was a platform behind me in a way there was an invisible one forged through telekinesis. It took me just a moment for both my legs to hit the platform the very second they did I bounced from it and rocket forward heading straight for the bomb.

  Ba-dum…ba-dum….ba-dum….ba-dum. Wind slapped against my ears as I zoomed across the sky, the bomb was slowly getting larger as I got closer, so I opened my arms and legs wide as if I was attempting to give someone a full body hug. Bonk…I hit the bomb while grabbing hold as tight as I could. The bomb started to spiral the moment I hit it causing it to fall more diagonally than straight. The fingers from both my hands had dug into the surface of the bomb allowing me to hang on. Straddling a bomb wasn’t even the worst part of the plan, first I had to carefully remove my left hand from the bomb and reach into my pocket and pull out the small black orb AJ had given me earlier. AJ words from earlier played in my head as I held the orb in my hand Squeeze then run. Unfortunately I didn’t quite have that opportunity right now.

  “I’ve probably made worse decisions in my life. What’s one more?” My tone was chalk full of sarcasm. Once I finished speaking I phased my left hand into the bomb and squeezed quickly removing my hand with the orb still inside. Now for the real crazy part if this didn’t work then all of what I was doing would be for nothing. I closed my eyes and thought of a place that was large and vast, far from here anywhere as long as it was large and vast. I imagined the place as clearly as I could then I imagined myself there. Ba-dum…ba-dum…that’s where I need to be. Ba…dum…ba..dum, I don’t know how long it took but a green flash went off in front of my eyes. Ba…dum…ba…dum…then I felt weightless….ba…dum….ba…and then nothing at all.

  Chapter 21

  Carter

  Everything was silent even the annoying humming from the Saint’s stupid bug like airship had stopped. Maybe I just couldn’t hear it, all I cared about right now was the bomb dropping and Alex making it back. He had just grabbed onto the bomb which changed its trajectory, the bomb spun around as it fell toward the ground it would probably take it a minute at most to hit the ground. Whatever Alex was planning he needed to do it now and get away from the bomb, what the hell was his plan anyway. From where I was standing it just looked like he was hanging onto the bomb and not doing much else. Why did I let him go up there I should have just blown the thing out of the sky at least it would have taken that eyesore of an airship with it. But it wasn’t like I knew how far the explosion would spread. It made sense for us to follow Alex’s lead if he had a better plan so far it just looked like…

  “What’s going on? It looks like a mirage.” Mathew commented.

  He was right it looked like the bomb was wobbling, it was subtle at first then it wasn’t. It became very apparent that something was going on as the bomb and the air around the bomb seemed to shift around oddly then it stopped. A bright green flash went off in the air it was so bright I had to close my eyes for just a second once I opened them again the bomb was gone. It didn’t take me long to realize that Alex had teleported it so instead of looking at the sky I was looking around on the ground. He should show up any second now that the bomb was no longer a threat to Re gahn. Any second now….any second now and there would be a green flash of light and Alex would be back safe and sound. I waited, my eyes darted around frantically while my head moved on a swivel. Where was he, why wasn’t he back….

  BOOOOOOOM!!!!!!

  My eyes shot up, staring into the sky, there in the distance way up above us was an enormous black cloud of smoke. My eyes fixed on it and the surrounding space around it I looked around trying to see if something, anything was falling from where the bomb had exploded.

  “He did it. I can honestly say I’m surprised.” Alastor spoke with a tone that I found condescending.

  Which prompted me to turn my attention to Alastor, he was still looking up at the sky along with the others when I approached him and proceeded to deck him sending him straight to the ground. Everyone’s attention turned from the sky to Alastor and me, Alastor got up and placed a hand on his chin as if he was inspecting it.

  “You mind explaining what that was for?” Now Alastor sounded annoyed.

  “Huh? You want to know what that was for. Try being a condescending bastard. How’s that for an explanation.”

  Alastor narrowed his eyes on me then softened them before speaking. “You act like I shouldn’t be surprised. Plus unlike you guys who says I am invested in whether Alexander lives or not.”

  “Shut up! You don’t call him Alexander.” Tessa snapped.

  Alastor signed then glared at Tessa then at me, everyone was turning toward him giving him the stink eye.

  “I’m just telling the truth. I won’t say that I’m invested in whether he survived the explosion or not…but that doesn’t mean I’ll accept that he didn’t settle his debt with me so he better be alive.”

  My expression softened for a moment Alastor was definitely getting on my nerves right now but it seems even he wanted Alex to be alive too. The only thing is, is he? I hung my head down for a moment thinking about how I should have been the one to deal with the bomb, I was the older brother. I wasn’t suppose to let my younger brother rush into danger. But I guess things have always been weird between the two of us especially since….

  Swooooom, a strange sound like a spaceship going to hyper drive was followed by a green flash of light which went off a few feet in the air above us. Seconds after the light flashed it faded while something shot out of it. Whatever it was released a trail of smoke and was moving fast. I craned my head to the right to see it zoom by, it was slowly nearing the ground when it crashed into a car. Speeee the windows shattered while the front of the car was flattened, the doors were ajar while smoke rolled off whatever landed on it. I rushed toward it getting a good look at the person, not thing that had landed on the car. It was Alexander…but he wasn’t moving. His clothes looked like they had been held over a fire, there was ash in his hair and smeared across his face. The others came over all wearing the same concerned expressions on their faces, I could have sworn that even Alastor looked a little concerned which oddly didn’t make me feel any better.

  “It doesn’t look like he’s breathing.” William commented.

  “So, someone should do CPR.” Tessa stated.

  “Carter, why don’t you help him like you did with me in the Lockdown Facility.”

  I knew exactly what Mathew was talking about there was just one problem I didn’t wan
t to shock Alex, I’ve already done it once already and he didn’t look so good after, there’s no telling what could happen if I shocked him again.

  “What are you waiting for he could die?” Tessa was yelling at me while all I could do was looked at her dumbstruck. She was right though he could die, I had to do this.

  “Everyone stand back.” I took a step forward with my hands sandwiched together in front of me. I rubbed them up and down while electricity coiled around the two, then I spread them slowly letting an arc of electricity discharge in the space between both my palms. Now or never. Placing both my hands on Alex’s chest I pressed down and released a jolt of electricity. His body flopped for a moment but nothing else happened. So I pressed down longer then stopped sending a stronger jolt, his body flopped again but he still wasn’t breathing.

  “Why isn’t it working?” Tessa asked with a concerned tone.

  “It’s gonna work don’t worry. It has to.” William commented.

  I wasn’t about to let my brother die if I had the chance to save him, so I pressed my hands down on his chest while electricity discharged from my fingertips. I held my hands down on his chest longer than the other times. I could feel a warmth in my eyes as they glowed blue just before I slowly lifted my hands up discharging an even stronger jolt of electricity. Alex’s head rose forward nearly hitting me, he sucked in a deep breath of air huuuuuuu. His eyes were glowing green then returned to normal once he started looking around. His eyes darted around for just a second then they focused on me.

  “I remember.”