by Lola StVil
“I’ll go too,” Bex says.
“No, we have a better chance of things going smoothly if Swoop goes by herself.”
Swoop glares at Bex and takes off after her sister.
* * *
“So, how deep are these feelings you have for Pry?” East asks moments later as we head down the hallway. Bex shoots him a warning glance but East was never one to take hints.
“Seriously, how deep are they? Is it like a passing fling?” he asks.
“East, shut up,” Bex replies.
“Oh come on, how deep? Did you write her name on notebook paper with a colorful marker?” he pushes. Diana starts to smile and even Randy can’t help but join in.
“East, leave him alone,” I reply.
“Oh no…you have gone way past the crush phase, haven’t you? Admit it, Bex, you’re ready to give her your Netflix password,” East concludes.
Now, Diana and Randy are laughing outright. The more they try to stop the worse it gets. And the stern look on Bex’s face only adds fuel to the fire.
“I think you guys should have a human wedding,” East adds.
“I have the perfect dress for the occasion; it’s black,” Diana says.
“That way when Key kills Bex, you can go from the wedding straight to the funeral that will surely follow.”
“Exactly,” she replies happily.
“I’m gonna miss you, buddy. But seriously, when Key kills you for breaking her heart, what song would you like played at your funeral? Do you want to go spiritual old school or maybe something a little edgier like Pink Floyd?”
“No, I think something more like ‘Stairway To Heaven’—Led Zeppelin,” Diana replies.
“Guys, let’s get serious; everyone knows the best funeral song, especially for a dead angel, is ‘Angel’ —Sarah McLachlan.”
“I don’t know, that’s a little on the nose,” Diana replies.
“How about—” Bex pins East against the wall by his neck before he can finish his sentence.
“Okay, okay, I can see now that you’re not ready for open mockery. Noted,” East gasps.
“When the mission is over I give you permission to take his head off, but for now let him go,” I reply.
Bex releases East but takes a moment to glare at him. East gives Bex a charming smile and fixes his clothes. Randy and Diana start to hum various funeral songs under their breath.
East’s cell rings. He looks at the number on the screen and instantly his relaxed demeanor changes. The conversation is brief. There’s only a series of “Yes” and “Okay, whatever,” but judging from the tone of his voice, something is wrong.
“What is it?” Randy asks.
“It’s just…forget it,” East replies.
The team and I exchange an uneasy glance. It’s rare for East to take anything seriously, let alone get upset. There’s usually only one thing that can get to him like that.
“What’s going on with your family?” I ask.
“My dad forces us to take these stupid camping trips in the mountains once a year. It always takes forever to set up the tent, it invariably rains, and we end up trying to eat beans from a can. We always forget the can opener and have to use our powers and more often than not the cans explode,” he replies.
“So you’re upset because he’s gonna force you to go again this year?” Diana asks.
“Um…no. I’m lucky, this year they went without me,” he says quietly.
“That’s a good thing, right?” Bex says.
“Yeah, yeah. Definitely. I mean, I didn’t want go anyway, so…”
“Why did they leave without you?” I ask.
“My dad heard about what happened at Para headquarters and he thought the family should get away and avoid whatever fallout there may be,” East says.
“Why would that make them take off without you?” Randy asks.
“East, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make things hard for your family,” I reply.
“It’s not you. My dad is always looking for a reason to take off without me. I was once late from a training session by five minutes and he just drove away. The thing is, I saw him drive away as I was running up to the car. I swear to Omnis he saw me. He saw me and still kept driving,” East says, lost in thought.
“I missed something. Why is your father such a dick?” Diana asks.
“The thing is he’s not. He’s the nicest guy to everyone but me,” East says with an ironic smile.
“Why?” Randy asks.
“I have no idea. It’s like I did something horrible to him and I can’t remember. But whatever I did must have been really bad because…I just keep paying for it,” East says sadly.
This isn’t the first time we’ve heard about East’s father, Frank, being cruel, yet it still gets to East. This time is no different. We hear the hurt in his voice. We’re not sure what to say. Normally East is the one who can find humor in these heavy moments. When he’s down and hurting, we’re at a loss as to how to help.
“Fine, you big baby, we’ll take you camping. But no beans and you have to promise we can kill things along the way,” Diana offers.
“I could see myself roughing it. Okay, when this is all over, we’ll go camping. We can be out in the great wide open. Live by our wits and nothing else. I’ll bring my portable DVD player. We’ll watch Star Wars,” Randy adds gleefully.
“How is bringing your DVD player ‘roughing it?’” East asks with a smile.
“It doesn’t play Blu-Ray,” Randy informs him.
“Wow, you’re a brave man,” I reply, shaking my head.
“Okay, we’ll watch Star Wars, but just to be clear, Han didn’t shoot first,” Diana says.
Randy’s so insulted by her comment, his jaw drops. The look on Randy’s face helps bring East back to his old self. Just then, my phone vibrates; I pull it out and read the text on the screen. I announce the news as I take to the sky.
“We gotta go; Swoop’s in trouble!”
* * *
A few minutes later we fly into the dark Chicago skyline. Right away we are greeted by a slew of Powerballs and flames. The Kasters have taken over the area. Kasters are superpowered demons that have been chosen by Malakaro to hunt us. There used to be six of them, but Pryor killed one and Diana left them. So now they are down to four.
But losing two members doesn’t stop them from wreaking havoc. They are spread out in the sky, poised to attack. There are very few humans around but the ones there flee in panic.
East uses his electric lasso around the Kaster named Twist. It wraps around the demon and starts draining him of his powers. Another Kaster, Wrath, creates a vortex in the sky and tries to pull East inside it. Unable to hold on, East is forced to release Twist and focus on not getting pulled into the vortex. Unfortunately, there is nothing he can grab hold of.
Bex, an expert in flight strategy, is able to maneuver around the vortex without getting pulled in and save East seconds before the hole swallows him. While they were able to avoid certain death, they can’t stop the force of the closing vortex from knocking them both out of the sky.
The second they hit the ground, a Kaster named Manic seeks them out. Manic is always a pain in the ass to fight because he’s a Partial. That means he’s half animal and twice as hard to defeat. He takes the form of a winged beast with poisonous fangs. One bite from him and death isn’t too far off.
I send a Powerball right at Manic and it lands on his hind legs. He howls and roars loudly. My strike gives East and Bex time to regroup, but they are no match for what’s about to happen.
“Kill is getting ready to fire, stop him!” I order Diana.
Diana looks down from her Port and sees Kill, the leader of the Kasters, about to take out both Bex and East. She looks back at me and she’s uncertain. At first I think maybe she doesn’t want to attack her old teammates, but then I realize what the problem is: Randy.
In our hurry to get here we took Randy with us.
“Throw him to me!” I shout.
Before he can object, Diana pushes Randy off her Port. Randy screams as he plummets out of the sky. I catch him just in time, place him on a rooftop, and put a Holder around him. Randy bangs against the bubble-like prison, insisting that he be allowed to help. I pay him no attention and head back to the battle.
Diana dives down and attacks Kill by opening her mouth and inhaling his life force. This gives Bex and East a chance to escape the Kasters. I turn in search of Key and Swoop, but I can’t find them in the air.
“Where are they?” I shout to East.
“Swoop’s over here!” he yells as he heads towards a row of trucks.
I fly down to get to them but I’m tackled by Kill, who has managed to break free of Diana’s powers. She now lies on the floor. I shout out to her and she assures me she’s okay.
“So nice to see two demons connecting,” Kill says venomously.
“I’m in no mood for you. So if you promise to go away I might let you live,” I offer.
“I think I’ll stay for the rest of this party. I already paid the fee to enter,” Kill replies and he takes out his blade.
“You haven’t begun to pay,” I vow.
I hurl fireballs at him in rapid succession. He manages to dodge all of them as he tackles me to the ground. He cuts though the air with his blade until he makes contact with my skin. He slices into my forearm and laughs. I groan as the blood comes rushing out of me and seeps down to the cement.
I send a Powerball to the base of the nearest skyscraper and watch as it topples over on us. The falling glass and metal causes Kill to lose his balance and drop his blade. I summon a massive orb of power, far bigger than what’s safe.
I know it’s a risk to summon up such a powerful weapon in a city filled with humans, but I need to get Swoop and Key. I yell to the team to take cover and then I send the Powerball right into Kill’s face. The city of Chicago shakes violently.
Kill manages to move out of the way but not before the Powerball makes contact with his left arm and leg. The blast shreds his limbs off. Pieces of Kill are sprawled out into the night air.
Manic, in the form of a beast, runs to his leader’s defense. Diana grabs the blade and stabs Manic in the back with it. The animal howls repeatedly. Seeing that Bex and the others have overpowered his team, Kill calls for them to retreat. Meanwhile his arm and leg have already started to regenerate.
“We’re not done here; believe me,” he says as he takes off into the sky.
I order Bex to secure the humans and get Randy out of the Holder. I take off my shirt and use it to stop the bleeding as I run towards the twins.
“Is Swoop okay?” I ask, looking down at her bruised body.
“Yeah, but she needs something to mend the wound on her side,” East says.
I look closer and there’s a silver colored pool of blood forming on Swoop’s right side. Her eyes are barely open and she moans in pain.
“Swoop, don’t worry. Everything’s going to be okay. I promise,” I reply, hoping my voice doesn’t betray the worry I feel.
Diana begins to tend to Swoop. I look around, fearing Key may be hurt in the debris.
“Where’s Key?” Bex asks as he comes running with Randy a few steps behind him.
“I was following her…got attacked from behind…I called but she never came,” Swoop says in a weak voice.
“What do you mean, she never came? Swoop, where is Key?” I ask.
East signals for us to turn and look behind us. We do as he instructs and find a small-framed girl running towards us laughing uncontrollably. It’s Key. Her clothes and hair are disheveled. She’s jittery and unable to stand still. There is no doubt about it; Key is high.
“They have the best colors in that alley. So pretty,” she says, sounding like a child.
She doesn’t notice her wounded sister on the floor until Bex points it out. That seems to snap her out of her drug-induced haze. She falls to her knees before her sister and begs for Swoop’s forgiveness.
“I didn’t hear…I wasn’t…I don’t know what happened,” Key says.
“What happened is that you came here to get high and your sister tried to stop you. Now she’s injured because you were too stoned to hear her crying out for you! It’s like you don’t give a damn about consequences anymore,” Bex shouts.
“Swoop, I’m so sorry. Don’t be mad. I love you,” Key pleads.
“Key, she could have been killed,” East says.
“I know, alright! I know. I messed up, okay?” she shouts.
“NO, KEY, IT’S NOT OKAY!” I yell.
“I’m sorry.”
“BEING SORRY DOESN’T MEAN SHIT TO YOUR INJURED SISTER OR TO PRYOR, WHO’S SOMEWHERE FIGHTING FOR HER LIFE. SCREW YOU AND YOUR APOLOGIES; YOU’RE OFF THE TEAM!”
Chapter Ten:
We Know You
I send East to Mind wipe the humans that witnessed the battle. In the meantime, Diana tries to help Swoop while Key looks on anxiously. I make a call to Noble and push back our meeting. The fact that we are once again delayed pisses me off far more than I can ever articulate. But we can’t go without ensuring that Swoop is okay, especially now that we are down one member.
I thought Key’s boyfriend would have something to say about my decision to take Key off the team, but the one who requests to talk to me isn’t Bex; it’s Randy. He asks that we take a walk while Swoop is being tended to.
“Alright, Randy, what is it?” I ask.
“This walk we’re talking isn’t for me, Silver; it’s for you,” he replies.
“I don’t get it.”
“Leaders need sounding boards. Someone they can talk to about the decisions they’ve made. I was that person for Pryor. So I’m offering my services to you for a small fee,” he jokes.
“Randy, thanks but I’m fine,” I tell him.
“Pryor says that at the start of every conversation we have. She tells me just how fine she is. Then she blows something up.”
“I get what you’re saying, but really I’m good.”
“You’re bleeding,” he says.
I look down and realize that in addition to my arm, I have a six-inch piece of metal embedded inside my palm.
“I didn’t even notice that,” I admit as I pull it out.
“That happens when you’re ‘Incredible Hulk’ mad,” Randy points out.
“I know what can happen if I lose my temper. I’m trying to deal with it.”
“Yes, and I want to help. Talk to me.”
“Is that how it works? You ask Pry to spill her guts and she does?”
“Yeah, but it’s okay if you need to warm up first. We can talk about the weather.”
“What is there to say? I didn’t want to throw Key off the team, but I have no choice. She’s a liability. But she’s also an amazing fighter and I don’t know if leaving her behind is a good idea,” I admit.
“For what it’s worth I think you did the right thing,” he says.
“Really?”
“If Key does anything to endanger the mission and we don’t get to Pry in time, she would hate herself forever. Keeping her off the team, at least for now, is the best decision for everyone. Silver, you did the right thing.”
“So why do I feel like crap?”
“Hero side effects.”
“Is it this hard for Pryor?” I ask.
“Yeah, because you guys weren’t just a team, you’re a family. That means feelings are involved.”
“I guess.”
“Silver, I know you said that you didn’t want to tell us what is actually happening to her but can I ask you one thing?”
“What’s that?”
“Do they have blankets at The Center?”
“What?”
“When someone at school would pick on me or mess with me, I would push her away. But she would always insist on sitting next to me. She’d say I looked
like I needed a hug and I’d tell her that hugs were for kids. But then she’d wrap her arms around me and say “This isn’t a hug. It’s just that you look cold and I want to keep you warm.’ Tell me whereever she is there’s something there to keep her warm,” he asks.
He turns his face away so I won’t see him get choked up.
“Randy, look at me,” I order.
He reluctantly turns to face me; his eyes fill with tears.
“We will save Pryor. Do you hear me?”
“Yeah.”
“And when we get her back you can wrap her up in the biggest blanket you can find. Okay?”
“Okay. Sorry, didn’t mean to…they never lose it in comic books. I guess that’s why I’m the sidekick,” he says.
“That’s crap. You’re the reason we have a lead. Just because you can’t fly doesn’t mean you’re not important to us. In fact, you’re essential.”
“Thank you. So what do we do now?” he wonders.
“As soon as Diana is done treating Swoop, we’re gonna go drop off Key. I don’t want her wandering around and getting herself hurt. So, we’re gonna take her to someone we trust. Someone who will make sure she’s taken care of.”
“Who?”
“Pryor’s grandfather; Julian.”
* * *
We travel to Boston where the very original First Guardian leader lives. Julian is perhaps the most famous Guardian. He broke Omnis’ rule and helped a girl named Femi get into the light. That mistake cost him everything. Julian is known for being both ruthless in his determination and fiercely protective of his family.
Stories about the lengths he went to in order to stop Pryor’s mom and dad from uniting are legendary in our world. And in the end, he finally relented and welcomed Pryor’s father but it was a long road.
“So Julian is an angel, right?” Randy asks as we walk up to the two-story red brick house.
“He was human, then he died and became a Guardian. Then he messed up really badly and well…it’s a long story. But as of right now he has no powers. Although he knows all the players in the Angel world and is widely respected or feared depending on who you talk to,” East says.
“And we can trust him?” Randy asks.
