Rival Rising

by Ben Swallow

  The man’s face lightens up as he hurries to a nearby shelf. “I knew I had to buy this beauty when I heard of it. It seems to be broken for reasons I can’t explain, but the intricate design on the cover is marvelous.”

  “Broken? Sounds like it really is the compass Cross looking for,” Bryan whispers to me before the man comes back.

  When he comes back and shows us the compass, the needle is unsteadily pointing at us. “See? Wherever this compass is pointing, it is not north.”

  “I see you are collecting all kinds of naval relics. How come?” Bryan asks.

  “I was in the Navy, like my father and his father before him. My family has been sailing the sea for generations, even if it has now lost its magic. These are reminders of our legacy, of better times.”

  I look up from the compass and back to the man. “What about your children? Are they in the Navy now, too?”

  “No, they are going their own ways,” he says quietly, looking down sadly.

  I hate to be coming here just take his beloved compass away from him. Even if we pay him well, it still feels like stealing from a sad old man. I look at Bryan, hoping that I wouldn’t have to make Cross’ offer.

  He nods at me, then turns to the old man. “Like Robby said, we are here because we would like to purchase the compass. All for a fair price, of course.”

  He looks at us with the same sad eyes again. “You want to buy it? But how would I fill this hole in my collection, then?”

  “Cross wants to buy it, actually.”

  “You can buy another compass, one that actually works,” I quickly add. “Wouldn’t that be nice?”

  “But you can’t just find a compass like this on this internet thing you kids like so much! These rarities are hard to find.”

  I smile at his mention of ’the internet thing’. “Would you be willing to give us your broken compass if we manage to find another one?”

  He looks at me, thinking for a second, then nods. “If you can find me a compass like this, I guess this is a fair offer.”

  “Great,” Bryan smiles. “I’m afraid we need the compass today, though. But I promise you, we will hold up our end of the bargain. On that, you have our word.”

  He frowns at Bryan for a few moments, then sighs. He looks at the compass one last time said eyes, then puts it in my hand. “You take good care of it, darling.”

  “I will, I promise.”

  “Very well. Then we thank you for your cooperation, but we should be going now. Oh, and thank you for your hospitality,” Bryan adds as he takes a sip of his tea.

  The man walks us to the door, carefully closing it behind us. I can almost still feel his sadness at the loss of his precious compass. I know this is supposed to be a harmless mission, but I can’t help but feel bad regardless. I guess I shouldn’t get as emotionally close, but I can’t help it.

  As we walk to the car, I inspect the compass again. The needle really doesn’t seem to point anywhere specific at all. If I hold it to my right, it points to the left, if I hold it to my left, it spins in a circle.

  With a disappointed sigh, I close its ornate lid as we get into the car again. “Well, that was both easy and hard.”

  “I know. Sometimes, working for Cross can be difficult for those of us with empathy and a working moral compass.”

  “Heh, working compass.”

  Bryan looks at me with confusion for a moment until he gets it. “No pun intended,” he grins.

  With a slightly better mood, we drive back through the streets of New Paradise. But as we pass through a side street, we are suddenly stopped by three men.

  Bryan rolls down his window as one approaches him. “Hey there fellows, can we help you?”

  “Stop talking pretty boy,” the man snarls as he holds a gun in his face. “And get out of the car.”

  Chapter 3

  Bryan clenches his jaw, then nods at me and we get out of the car.

  “Look, you picked the wrong guy to rob, alright? Let us be on our way and we will forget this ever happened.”

  I stand right next to Bryan, so he can easily shield us both if anything happens, and I can freely use my abilities as well. Two men are in front of us, one still pointing his gun at us. The third man stands behind us with crossed arms, as a quick glance over my shoulder reveals.

  “If I had a dollar for every time I hear these words, I would be living in the Skyline, brother,” the man laughs.

  I anxiously watch his finger on the gun’s trigger. The way he gestures around with the gun, he will probably just shoot us by accident. Or maybe he’ll hit himself, the chances of that aren’t so bad either.

  “But how many of those are working directly for Cross?”

  The man’s laugh disappears in an instant and he quickly exchanges glances with his buddies. The mention of Cross’ name clearly makes them uneasy. The others take out guns now, too, while the first one keeps waving his gun in our faces.

  “Not for long if you don’t give us the compass!”

  ‘Not for long’? If that’s his way of saying he is going to kill us, he’s pretty bad at threatening.

  “Is that so?”

  Bryan just calmly stares right back at him, his stance relaxed, arms crossed. His lips even turn into a slight smile as he briefly scans his opposer. I briefly glance at his pants, where I see the bulge of the compass in his pocket.

  It’s still there, good.

  As my eyes are drawn to a different bulge, I quickly look up again and swallow, hoping no one was watching me.

  The amateur mugger swallows hard, trying to hold Bryan’s stare. Then he fires a warning shot on the ground a few feet from us.

  “Yes! The compass! Give it to me!”

  How do they even know about it? Have they been watching us while I inspected the compass on the way to the car?

  Bryan sighs and rolls his eyes. He glances at me, nodding only lightly.

  He quickly raises a barrier around us, just as I gather energy for a shockwave.

  Since there are attackers in front of and behind us, I have to attempt something I’ve never done before – send out two waves simultaneously in different directions.

  A moment later, the three men are thrown back, collapsing against the wall.

  “Well, that was that I guess,” I chuckle.

  But as we turn back to the car and want to get in, a slow clapping noise makes us freeze.

  “Well done, brothers.”

  A man has stepped out from the shadows, clapping, approaching us slowly. He looks friendly enough, even though I would hesitate to call him harmless.

  He seems to be of Asian, likely Chinese, origin but speaks almost without an accent. He’s neatly dressed in a shirt and clean jeans, probably around thirty years old. I would have almost guessed him as some upper-middle class employee. If it wasn’t for the look in his eyes.

  “Who are you?” I shout as he comes closer.

  “I’m Wang, and it appears I am one of you. You are like me. Oh, I love this city. People like us, openly defending themselves on the street. It is beautiful to behold.”

  “People like us?” Bryan frowns at him. “Powered people, you mean?”

  “Yes, exactly. We need to stick together, do we not? So we can survive the ones that seek our enslavement or destruction.”

  “We are doing pretty well on our own, thank you very much,” I interrupt him. He reminds me of a priest, someone who might mean well, but ultimately wants to tell me what to do and not to do.

  “You all cower under the iron grip of this Syndicate, forcing you into doing their bidding! You can continue serving them until you are discarded or join me as equals to live life on our own terms.”

  From the corner of my eye, I notice that the three men are getting up again. However, they seem to just watch us, waiting for an order. They must be working for the Chinese.

  “Thank you for the offer, but as my friend said, we are doing quite well on our own.” Bryan returns with a hint of anger in his f
ace.

  “Are you? Are you really free to follow your dreams?”

  For a moment, I see a hint of regret in Bryan’s eyes. The idea of finally being able to open a bakery must seem tempting. I still don’t trust Wang one bit, but I can’t say I’m not curious what he has to offer.

  But Bryan’s face quickly turns cold again as he nods at me. “Let’s end this nonsense.”

  He raises a barrier while I blast the men away again with two shockwaves. They stumble back, but manage to not completely collapse against the wall this time.

  Bryan turns to the Chinese, Wang, again and looks at him expectantly. “You were saying?”

  The man shakes his hand, looking at us with sad eyes. “So be it.”

  As his hands suddenly burst into flames, my stomach turns inside out.

  With a flick of the wrist, Wang shoots one fireball near our feet, a warning shot, as he comes closer.

  I still stare at him, eyes wide open.

  “Run,” Bryan whispers beside me as he turns around.

  I still stare at the Chinese, heart pounding in my chest.

  I only snap out of it as Bryan grabs my arm and pulls me with him. I stumble after him through the side street and into an alley. We keep running, from one alley to the next.

  Only as we are out of sight do I regain control of myself.

  “What happened back there, Alice? You looked like you’ve seen a ghost.”

  But before I can answer, the three thugs and the Chinese storm around the corner, guns drawn.

  Shit, they are fast.

  We sprint away as they open fire, but the men follow us relentlessly. Bullets are flying left and right, showering us with dust and debris as the hit the walls beside us.

  I don’t know how he does it, but Bryan seems to be covering us with a small barrier even while running, so we don’t get hit.

  I almost fall to the ground as a cat suddenly dashes right through my legs, but Bryan quickly catches me, pulls me with him.

  My heart is pounding painfully in my chest. I’m not used to sprinting, or any kind of physical strain, really. Every breath burns in my lungs, and I hear blood rushing through my ears.

  Just as a start to fall behind a little bit, I’m suddenly pulled to the side and into a house.

  The door closes behind me as quickly as it opened as I fall to the ground inside. I quickly get up again and see that I was pulled through the back entrance into some kind of apartment building. However, I’m alone.

  As I look around me in confusion, a man suddenly appears in front of me.

  “You again!”

  “Yes, Alice. Do you not recognize me?”

  I frown at him, letting my eyes wander across his face. “Nope, nothing.”

  “Eric. Eric Lang. From high school?”

  I can’t believe this guy pulls me out of a gunfight and then wants to catch up, but I do remember him. A kid from my class, but that is pretty much everything I remember about him.

  “Oh, of course, Eric. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m kind of busy right now.”

  “Right. Because that pretty face couldn’t protect you like I did. Well, since you are busy right now, how about we grab a coffee tomorrow?”

  I just stare at him with wide eyes for a second. Is he seriously asking me out while there are people with guns after us?

  “Now is really not a good time. I have to go.”

  I push him out of the way and storm out of the house, yelling for Bryan as a don’t see him anywhere.

  He better not left me behind!

  But instead of Bryan, Wang and his three men appear around the corner and quickly have me surrounded before I can escape them.

  “Where is the compass?”

  “You will never get it,” I snarl as I raise my hands to blast them away again.

  But before I get the chance, three guns are pointed at me and Wang’s hands start burning. He looks at them surprised for a moment, then shakes them until they go out again.

  With a dismissive gesture, he turns away. “Just shoot her, then. I hate to kill my own people, but I will not let you stand in the way of peace.”

  My heart stops as I look at the guns pointed at my face.

  So this is it? This is where it ends?

  If this is my end, I regret not getting closer to Bryan. All because I was too afraid to let him in, too afraid to be hurt again, even if it means giving up on being happy. I guess looming death puts things into perspective.

  With the same clarity, I realize that I’m making the same mistake again. I don’t blast them away because I’m afraid what they might do to me? They are going to kill me anyway, so to hell with that!

  I have always used my hands to channel my abilities, but I can’t use them now without giving my intentions away. Instead, I try to channel them with pure will.

  This time, I don’t feel the energy flowing into my hands, but it flows into my chest instead, like I was breathing it into my lungs. Then, with one unfocused blast, I let it all out.

  All four of them are hurled back against the wall. Two gunshots echo through the street as they pull the triggers in reflex. I pull my head in, but both shots go wide.

  Wang gets up first, his eyes burning with anger, his hands burning with fire. “Fine, let’s do it my way.”

  I barely dodge the first fireball he hurls my way, but a voice interrupts him as he gets ready for the next.

  “Stop! I will give you the compass.”

  We both turn to the side as Bryan comes running, compass in hand. He stops a few steps from us, throwing the compass towards Wang.

  Wang, still with burning hands, lets the compass fall to the ground while he still tries to extinguish the fire on his hands. I flinch as the beautiful compass hits the dirty ground, but dare not to move.

  “I see all you needed was little motivation,” Wang says as he picks up the compass. “I’m a man of my word, so you are free to go.”

  My heart still pounding in fear, I quickly rush to Bryan and hug him tightly. Then without looking back, we run away.

  Chapter 4

  After we escaped from Wang and his men, we circled back to our car, which miraculously has not been stolen.

  Bryan asked me at least three times and I was okay, and of course I always said that I was. But in reality, I’m not so sure.

  These last few years, I have always been guarded, never letting anyone to close to me. When you have been broken like I was, the fear of being hurt again will do that to you. But when I believed that my life may be over, I wasn’t glad that I hadn’t been hurt again. I was incredibly sad that I hadn’t been happy.

  I have been doing my best to stay strong, stay on my own, get by somehow. But maybe that’s not enough. Maybe it’s time to look out for myself and get what I want.

  “You sure you are okay? You look… brooding.”

  I turn my head to look at Bryan, taking a moment to get back to reality. We are driving home, to his place. He insisted on it, not willing to leave me alone again after what just happened.

  “Just thinking.”

  And then there’s the stuff with Eric Lang. I remember now. He was one of the kids the others always made fun of. Small, weak, a bit of a nerd. I never paid him much attention, but I guess he wasn’t so bad. Whereas others were trying desperately to get in my pants, he was usually just drooling at me from afar. Unable to do more than stutter a few words if we ever talked.

  Apparently, he has grown up now. And boy, he changed.

  He certainly looks a lot better now, confident, even. And apparently, he has abilities now, too. But that was horrible timing to ask me out on a date.

  I watch the people outside for a bit as we stop at a red light. The way they all hurry around like they don’t have any time. I guess it’s true, we all don’t have much time. So why do we waste most of it in shitty day jobs? I certainly won’t make that mistake again.

  As I see a couple walk across the street, holding hands, smiling, I wonder. Woul
d I have agreed to the date under different circumstances?

  Two weeks ago, I probably would have. Maybe not for anything serious, but for a night out, having some fun – sure, why not.

  But now, I’m not so sure.

  I glance over to Bryan, watching him as he drives. Nothing happened between us, and I guess nothing is really going on, but is still feel like there is. Maybe because I want there to be something deep down, but have denied it to keep myself from letting him in.

  “What is it?”

  I quickly look away as I realize I have been staring at Bryan. “Nothing.”

  “Let me guess. Just thinking?” He grins.

  I punch him in the shoulder and laugh, but don’t reply.

  “So how about we just watch some TV and relax tonight? I think we had more than enough adventure for one day.”

  I look at him and grin. “Netflix and chill, huh?”

  “Whatever you want to call it,” he laughs.

  I smile, but I’m not entirely sure if he actually was implying something, or really just wanted to relax tonight.

  “Can I ask you something?” Bryan looks over at me carefully.

  “Shoot.”

  “Back there, when that Chinese attacked us. What happened?”

  I sigh deeply, thinking about what I want to say and what I want to keep it to myself. “My brother… he had the same ability.”

  “The one that… died?” Bryan asks hesitantly.

  “Yes. He… do you remember how Wang had troubles keeping his fire under control? That’s what killed my brother eventually.”

  “I’m sorry. Seeing Wang brought that all up?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Oh.”

  I never talked about it, never told anyone. Not even my mother knows about it. She would feel guilty about what happened, it would kill her to believe that she could’ve saved her son. Just as it is killing me.

  We continue driving in silence, which I’m thankful for. I’m not angry about it, but asking about my brother brought up some bad memories.

  As we arrive at his apartment a few minutes later, I try to push away those dark thoughts. My legs still hurt from all the running, so I just drop on the couch and lean back with a satisfied sigh. He soon joins me and turns on another episode of Game of Thrones, which I still can’t entirely follow but find intriguing none the less.