Someone knocked on the door and shouted, “Pizza time!” Coop yelled for him to come on in. The man walked in and tossed the boxes on their counter before he told the trio the total for their three medium pizzas and two orders of breadsticks. He saw that they had a program related to the uprising super heroes and muttered, “Bunch of idiots.”
“You don’t like them?” Wally asked as he got off the couch and paid the man.
“Not at all. Y’see I believe that they’re staging some of their so called heroic rescues,” he told them.
“What are you talking about?” Coop asked as he sat up in his recliner.
“Take this guy, the Human Titan. He’s saved the same woman three times since his big debut with that Captain Density, who might I add has saved the same group of four people four times since his debut.”
“So you think that some of these people are making themselves out to be heroes and are only in it for the media attention?” Ian questioned him, as Wally handed him his supreme pizza.
“What am I speaking Mandarin or something? Yes! They’re phonies,” he took a slice of Coop’s Canadian bacon and sausage pizza, which Coop didn’t seem to mind or notice. “Let me just say that one of these day some hero’s gonna get shot and maybe then we’ll have some of these idiots off the streets.”
“You don’t think there’s even one out there that’s genuinely trying to help people?” Wally asked as he ate a slice of his cheese pizza.
“I don’t know, maybe. But I’m still waiting for the day when we’ve got a hero with a real costume, a real name, and maybe a real superpower.” He checked the time on their digital clock and realized that he was running late and left them there.
None of them said a word for nearly a minute, but Coop broke the silence when he realized that the delivery guy didn’t bring them their beverages.
“He might be right you know,” Wally said.
“Ya think? I ain’t got a drink in my hand,” Coop complained.
“Not you, he was right. Someone’s going to get killed and then there’ll be trouble.”
“You know Ian, these idiots could really use someone like you to show them that it’s not a joke and that they could get hurt, maybe even killed,” Coop added.
“And how would I do that?” Ian asked while he retrieved a piece of his own pizza. “All I could do is stop petty theft and maybe, maybe at the most stop a hostage situation, assuming one ever happened and I heard about it and managed to get to the place in time to help. They don’t need me.”
“Well we don’t have someone here in Seattle, so why don’t you help out here?” Coop asked.
“I’ve told you guys that I’m still moving to London on the twentieth, which would make it difficult for me to be a super hero here in Seattle.”
“What? That mean’s we’ve only got a week to…” he stopped himself. “Uh, why…why don’t we go camping up at Lake Chelan this weekend?”
Ian looked at him and asked what he was up to.
Wally interceded for Coop, “We just wanted one final hurrah before you moved.”
“I thought you two were going to a concert this weekend.”
“We sold the tickets for…”
“Our rent,” Wally filled in. “We forgot to pay it, again.”
Ian looked at Wally and then back at Coop, and asked, “What’s going on?”
“Nothing.”
“Tell me.”
Coop finally sighed and admitted, “I wanted to go camping to get you to fight a bear…Sort of as a final test for your training.”
Ian rolled his eyes and told him he wasn’t going to fight a bear. “That’s just stupid Coop.”
“Either way, we really should go camping,” Wally told him. “It would at the very least get our minds off of this useless crap,” he said as he flicked the television off. “I think we could all use a break.”
Ian still felt that something was amiss, but agreed nonetheless. “So what did you guys really do with the money from those tickets?”
---*---
2:00 PM
Kenmore, Washington
Mizuno’s class remained the same for Nick; he held hands with his girlfriend, exchanged pleasant chitchat with her when allowed, he ignored Mizuno’s lecture altogether (as Mizuno assured him he would pass him one way or another), and Nick did his best to recall the day’s previous training sessions to better prepare himself for the afternoon’s impending exercises. Amy asked him midway through class if he wanted to have dinner with her, which Nick wanted to if for no other reason than to have an escape from his evening with Mizuno or one of his other members and their ruthless training regime.
“I can’t Amy,” he apologized. “I’ve got to work late tonight.”
“You’re always working Nick,” she frowned. “We never do anything anymore.”
Nick knew it was true. He hadn’t seen any of his friends since Ian’s party and hadn’t even so much as called Drake more than one time to tell him he transferred to Inglemoor High School.
Class ended and once he finished packing his bag Nick walked with Amy toward the parking lot and mentioned that he hated his schedule as well.
Amy quietly followed after him. “What do you even do Nick?”
“What?”
“What do you do? Where do you work?”
He never thought up a cover and Mizuno never gave him one either. “I work in a warehouse at an office supplies department store in Lynnwood,” he told her.
“Do you even like working there?”
His thumb twitched. “No, not really,” he admitted.
“Then why bother working somewhere you don’t even like if it’s invading your personal life so much?”
He stopped her and tried to explain, “It pays well and I need the money.”
“For what?”
Nick looked away from her for a second and told her it was for his brother. “I’m using the money I make to hire a…” he searched for an appropriate word to describe Mizuno, “A private investigator to find the person who killed him.”
Amy stared at him and slowly asked if it was all for revenge.
“No,” Nick shook his head, “I don’t want revenge; all I want is for whoever killed him to go to prison, or at least to account for what they did.”
“What good would that do Nick?”
He rubbed his eyes and muttered that it was the right thing to do. “Criminals need to be punished, don’t they?”
“Yes, but it isn’t worth obsessing over.”
“I’m not obsessed.”
“Yes you are,” she told him. Amy looked him in the eye and told him it was why they hardly ever saw each other anymore.
“I see you every day,” Nick told her.
“At school,” she said. “But we don’t ever go anywhere, we don’t talk or see each other outside of class and I want to see you Nick.” She took his hand, smiled, and told him she wanted to be with him. “But as things are now we’re hardly more than friends; the way we are we’re not moving forward Nick, and I’d like to get to know you.”
Nick wasn’t looking at her. He didn’t feel that he could and it didn’t help that his ride was early and waiting for him. “Amy, I-I want to be with you too, but…” he wasn’t sure what to tell her. “I can’t give up on him.”
“Why not?”
“He was my brother,” Nick told her as he tried valiantly to retain his composure, “I can’t just let this go.” He let go of her hand and walked out toward his ride as he apologized.
Amy only stood there and watched him leave.
---*---
5:25 PM
Bothell, Washington
Drake spent the afternoon overlooking the transfer of power at Winchester Enterprises, which not only bored him out of his skull, but consumed his entire day. He didn’t have the slightest clue as to what he needed to do or even could do for the company. In the end Drake simply left the board of directors as they were, gave the position of Chief Executive Officer
to Jonathan Vane, retained the ownership of the company, and primarily just shifted some of the others around within the company to fill positions and gaps. He himself had more than enough money to live off of for the rest of his life, which naturally meant he didn’t need very much involvement (or any at all) in his father’s company.
There was one aspect of the company Drake did want to investigate, which involved the prototypal drug Regenesis that his father and the charlatan spoke of in the security feed Drake saw of his father’s death. He knew there was little hope in searching on his own, so as an added measure he promoted his good friend Sho Kazeke to an upper management position to assist Drake in researching the drug.
Sho hardly believed it when he received the promotion, but Drake simply told him he would need his help if he wanted to figure out the truth behind the drug.
“” Drake told Sho in Japanese over the phone, “
“” Sho asked.
“
“
“
“”
“
“
“”
Sho told him he’d be happy to show him. “”
“
Drake hung up and looked around his empty house and frowned. It was colder than he remembered it was before his father’s passing. He’d never been completely alone in his entire life, and even though he knew he could call one of his friends, Drake knew how hollow his home would be for a very long time. His aunt had offered to take him in, which Drake rejected graciously, but there were times when he wished he had someone to talk to in the long and tiresome evenings.
It was cold and Drake felt completely isolated.
---*---
6:18 PM
Bellevue, Washington
“Alright, we’re done for the day,” Bruce said, satisfied with the day’s effort.
Nick gasped for air, covered in sweat, and collapsed into a seated position against a wall in the dark department store where Mizuno once held a meeting with the whole of his team. Since then Mizuno and the others had utilized the space for exercises, drills, and practice. Nick and Bruce spent the day focusing on hand-to-hand combat training for Nick, which Bruce possessed unparalleled skill at, while Nick held very little strength or training to defend himself. Their skirmishes were exceptionally one-sided and usually consisted of Nick taking a beating until he learned how to block or counter one specific technique. Once Nick mastered a dozen moves they would fight and Bruce would mop the floor with him. It was the same if he trained with Strom or Mizuno; none of them ever went easy on him or gave him a moment to breathe until it was over.
Bruce hardly broke a sweat while Nick struggled to keep himself from passing out or having a heart attack. All Bruce did was give Nick a bottle of water and the usual protein shake he’d mixed up earlier while he drank his own bottle of the two beverages. Mizuno said Nick was far too scrawny and needed to bulk up. He mentioned something about steroids, but Mizuno also listed off everything that was detrimental about them, and even though he was the one who brought up steroids Mizuno was also the one to immediately disregard them.
“You okay?” Bruce asked him.
Nick failed to respond. He tried to catch his breath or even to shake his head but couldn’t.
Bruce only cracked a smile, chuckled, and told Nick he’d live.
Mizuno usually had Nick fight in the dark, (as Mizuno told him he wouldn’t always be able to rely on his sight in a fight), but Bruce usually always kept some light on when they trained. He understood what Mizuno wanted out of Nick, but Bruce also understood that Nick would be able to see in most of his fights, which meant he needed to know what an attack looked like to be able to efficiently counter or evade.
“You’re getting better you know.”
“It doesn’t feel like it,” Nick muttered.
“Of course not, you’re still out of breath and you’re fighting someone with heightened senses, so it’s no wonder you feel like you’re not getting better.” Bruce took a swig of his water and told Nick that he was getting better. “You’re evading more, taking less hits, and you’re able to brush off a majority of the punches or kicks that do hit you, so it’s progress.”
“But I can’t beat you if I can’t land a single punch,” Nick reminded him.
Bruce agreed. “Though, you and I were only sparring, meaning there wasn’t a winner or loser. In a real fight you need to assess the situation and question whether it’s possible for you to come out on top using the skills and knowledge you possess. Plus, in a real fight you would need to put everything you can into surviving. In those situations instinct can take over, or, better yet, you open up more and come to terms with doing anything necessary to survive.”
“Do you mean like fighting dirty?”
Bruce laughed and nodded. “You can call it that if you want to kid. But let me ask you something, before you joined this team, had you ever been in a fight?”
Nick said he had on a few occasions, “They were stupid though and they didn’t last long.”
“And they were between you and someone at your school, or with one of your friends, right?”
“Yeah.”
“The kind of fighting I’m talking about is different. You’ve been in fights where you and the kid you’re wildly throwing fists at have the fight broken up after a minute or two. I’m talking about life and death, where the fight is instigated because of irreconcilable differences, because of war, or pure, seething hatred. When you’re in that kind of fight, there isn’t any ‘dirty fighting’ kid. You have to do anything to keep yourself alive, even if it might seem underhanded.”
Nick thought about what Bruce said for a moment and asked him how he knew so much about fighting.
Bruce cleared his throat and said it was partly because of Mizuno. “I’ve known how to fight for most of my life. I mean, you have to once you’re in the military, but what Mizuno taught me was so in depth and detailed that it was almost as if I never knew anything before we met.”
Nick nodded and asked how long he’d been a part of Mizuno’s group for.
“I met him in twenty-twenty, but he hadn’t begun his project at that point. I would end up being one of the first people in his group four years later though.”
“What made you want to join him?”
Bruce looked down at the water bottle he held in his right hand. He swirled the water a few times before he admitted that the life Mizuno offered sounded better than his old life was. “How about you? Why’d you join him and his crazy crusade?”
Nick told him about his brother, his life with his stepfather, and admitted that the idea of a new life appealed to him as well. “I didn’t really know it then, but Mizuno really did offer me a new life.”
“That’s one of the benefits to those of us who have rather poor existences,” Bruce said with a grin. “He takes these husks of people and makes something new, formidable, and worthwhile, if you understand what I’m saying.”
Nick nodded and said he did.
Bruce reminded him to d
rink the protein shake and his water before he asked Nick, “I take it you and your girlfriend aren’t doing too well?”
Nick wiped his mouth off and asked how he could tell.
“I saw the way you left when you were talking to her,” Bruce told him. “You’d either broken up with her or disappointed her, right?”
Nick slowly nodded and said he had. “She doesn’t like how much I work, er–”
“I know what you mean.”
“We hardly ever have time to be together because so much of this…” he searched for the appropriate word and finally settled on one, “World of Mizuno’s dominates all of my time.”
Bruce told him that it wouldn’t get any better. “In fact, that’s probably going to be the reason you and this girl are going to break up.”
“I don’t want to though.”
“Well it isn’t exactly fair to be with her and not be there for her,” Bruce reminded him. “You’ve got to remember that your happiness and her happiness won’t coincide if you keep at this lifestyle. She’ll always assume you’re cheating on her, unless of course you tell her about all of this, then she’ll worry herself to death about you and your wellbeing.”
Nick looked down at the floor in front of them and said, “Mizuno mentioned something about being alone for the sake of someone else’s happiness, and that you knew what that meant.” He asked what happened to Bruce.
Bruce let out a breath and said it all happened before he met Mizuno. “I married this girl out of high school and we had a little girl named Sadie in twenty-twelve,” he paused for a moment and realized that his daughter was only a year younger than Nick. “Anyway, I was in the military over in Iraq when Sadie was born, which wasn’t even the beginning of our marital troubles. Because I spent so much time overseas my wife Sarah and I became distant and over time she became depressed and couldn’t stand being alone six to nine months out of the year. I realized she wasn’t happy, even when I was home with her, and that hurt me too.”
“What did you do?”
Bruce shrugged and said it was something he probably shouldn’t have done. “I left her.”
“What? Why?”
“I knew she wouldn’t have been happy being with me and I knew she’d have a better life with some other guy rather than worrying about me for her whole life.”
Impact (Book 1): Regenesis Page 43
