Guardian's Rise

by Matthew Renard

  I should probably back up.

  After leaving the Centre with my mostly functional right hand, Sammy and I went back to the hotel. I plugged my phone in to charge (it seems as if even Danti Tech can’t make a phone run for more than a day without charging) and I waited for both it, and Sammy, to power up. As soon as Sammy got near the bed in my suite he proclaimed “Damn. A bed.” and collapsed on it, dead to the world. It also left me needing to sleep on the couch, which I did so gratefully - it had been a very long day. When he woke up, still bleary eyed, I called down for some coffee and we had a frank and open discussion about what had happened in the past day or two, to clear the air. Then, there had been a knock at the door.

  ‘I’ll get it.’ Sammy rose, and answered the door as I sat, staring at my hand and slowly flexing my fingers, experimenting to see what I could do with my hand. When he came back, he held two cream envelopes, and tossed one to me. I reached out with my right hand to try to catch it - it bounced off my palm and fell to the floor.

  ‘Why did you even try that?’

  I shrugged as I leaned over in the chair, reaching for it. ‘I wanted to see if I could catch it.’

  ‘With your barely working right hand.’

  ‘Yeah.’

  ‘But you’re left-handed.’

  I glared at him, scooping the envelope up with my left hand. ‘You should be nice to me, you know. I have a disability.’

  ‘Yes, you do,’ Sammy agreed, ‘but not a physical one.’

  I turned my attention to the envelope. It looked expensive, although I couldn’t feel the quality of the paper, anymore. My name was written in an ornate, flowing calligraphic style: Mr Jason Anson. I opened the envelope with some difficulty, and a thick card dropped onto my hand. I glanced across at Sammy, who had already read his card, and looked back down at my own.

  Mr Jason Anson and Mr Samuel Edwards

  of

  The Anson Foundation

  Request the presence of

  Mr Jason Anson and Guest

  At The Anson Foundation New Years Eve Ball

  The Anson Foundation, 8725 Kent Avenue

  Capehill, Fl. 34208

  ‘So, we’ve invited ourselves to a New Year’s Eve party?’

  ‘Apparently.’

  Sammy glared at me. ‘It’s very short notice, you know. I don’t appreciate us leaving it to the last minute to invite us. And do we honestly expect me to have a date for this thing?’

  ‘Apparently.’

  ‘Well. It’s very rude of us. Do you have a date for this thing?’

  I thought about Emily. Then I looked down at my right hand, still not working properly. ‘Probably not.’

  ‘Oh, just ask her.’

  ‘Easy for you to say, you don’t have these issues.’

  ‘Oh?’ Sammy’s voice lowered. ‘And what, pray tell, is that supposed to mean?’

  ‘No matter where you go, men and women throw themselves at you. You’ve got a date already, haven’t you?’

  At least he had the decency to look a little abashed. ‘Yeah. I met him whilst you were recovering at EPIC.’

  ‘...Because of course you did.’ I shook my head. ‘Should I ask her, then? I mean...’ I glanced at my hand, still flexing my fingers. ‘I don’t want her to... you know.’

  ‘Notice you’re the no-armed bandit?’ He shrugged. ‘Look, whatever’s going on with you and Action Barbie...’

  ‘Stop calling her that.’

  ‘Whatever. It’s you and Emily, right?’ He crouched next to me, putting an arm around my shoulder. ‘You and Emily!’

  ‘Yeah, but on the other hand, it’s Emily.’

  ‘Riiiight?’ He paused. ‘Haven’t we been through this? Like, a couple of days ago?’

  ‘Yeah, but now I just don’t know.’

  He removed his arm from my shoulder, and reached into his pocket, to play on his phone. Probably checking his WalkWidget app. I mused. He’s addicted to that thing...

  ‘I really don’t get it with you two. You love her, she loves you, what’s the deal? You’re not proposing, you’re asking her out to a ball. Hell, you don’t even have to kiss at midnight.’ He paused, looking up at me from his phone. ‘Although you will.’

  ‘I won’t.’

  ‘Yes, you will.’

  ‘No, I won’t.’

  Sammy chuckled. ‘You forgot Rule One. “Sammy is always right.”’

  ‘I didn’t forget Rule One, because that’s not a rule.’ Damn him, though. It totally is. ‘Also, I don’t know if I’ll even ask her.’ I crossed my arms. ‘I might not even want to. Maybe I want to go by myself and play the field.’

  Sammy laughed. ‘You haven’t “played the field” since you were 16, and Emily told you that you were going to date, basically. You and she are going to dance, it’ll be romantic, and at midnight you’ll kiss.’

  ‘She might not even say yes.’

  He slipped his phone back into his pocket. ‘Yeah, but she did. Just now. To me. You’ll pick her up at 8.’

  ‘Sammy!’

  He kept his grin and shrugged. ‘We should probably call Elijah.’

  I thought about it for half a second and nodded. ‘Yeah. I want him to make up some new clothes for me anyway.’

  ‘Oh?’

  ‘Yeah.’ I cast my mind back. ‘Something in cream and beige.’

  And so here I stood, my clip-on bow tie looking every bit as real as one I’d tied myself. I brushed down my shoulders, stepped out of the washroom back into my office, and saw Sammy, resplendent in his tuxedo. He glanced at me as I shut the hidden door.

  ‘Nice clip-on.’

  My hands went up to the bow tie. ‘How did you-?’

  A knock at the door interrupted me.

  ‘Come in!’ Sammy called, and the concierge strode in and nodded to us both. ‘Sirs, your car is waiting.’

  ‘Oh. Good.’ I felt my stomach churning more than it had before Emily and I had gone to Alfredo’s a few days prior. ‘Let’s... let’s go, then.’

  The man nodded. ‘I’ll let the driver know you’re on your way down.’

  ‘We’ll be a few minutes, but we’re on our way.’ Sammy advised him, and I noticed him eyeing me levelly. When the man left, Sammy put an arm on my shoulder. ‘You okay?’

  ‘You know how I feel about crowds. I don’t like them. And I didn’t like them before I got blown up at the last big event.’

  ‘It’s fine.’ He smiled at me. ‘I’ve made sure there’s more security on hand for the event. And there are PIs and Auggies-’

  ‘Ahem.’

  ‘PIs and Augmented People,’ he amended, ‘in the crowd. If Nemesis tries anything, we’ll be ready for him. Plus, you know... you’re Fire Guardian.’ He patted me on the shoulder. ‘And now you can throw fireballs, you can definitely take him.’

  I glanced at him.

  ‘Well.’ He amended. ‘Maybe.’ He considered. ‘He’s pretty big.’

  ‘Yeah.’

  ‘And scary.’

  ‘Yeah.’

  ‘I still can’t believe he snapped that guy’s neck with one kick.’

  ‘Yeah, but... wait, did I tell you that?’

  He shrugged. ‘You must have done. Anyway, you’ll be okay. Possibly.’

  ‘Hey, I’ve got a force field.’

  ‘Yeah, that’ll... uhm... help?’ Sammy headed to the door. ‘Don’t worry, As I say, I took care of security personally. Nothing can possibly-’

  ‘Don’t say it.’

  ‘But...’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Fine.’ We left my office, and I closed the door behind me.

  ‘Nothing can possibly go wrong!’ Sammy screamed, running past me. I laughed, despite myself, and gave chase.

  After all... what could possibly go wrong?

  The limousine glided to a halt outside Emily’s apartment building. I rested my hand on the door release, and eased the catch gently, before pausing, one leg almost out of the door.

  ‘You okay?’


  ‘I’ve been better.’ I admitted to Sammy, who nodded knowingly.

  ‘Well, better rip the bandage off.’ He shoved me, and I stumbled out, catching myself just in time to stop landing face-first on the cold, dull grey pavement. As I straightened up, the doorman reached out and opened the door. I heard a polite ‘Have a good evening, Miss Roarke.’ and then I saw Emily.

  Her auburn hair was swept up behind her head, and artfully arranged, twisted and turning into a pattern which I couldn’t even begin to fathom how it was created. Her eyes looked... smokey. There wasn’t much make-up (at least, that I could tell) but it was used subtly, enhancing her eyes, her cheekbones, her lips...

  Her lips, which were turned slightly upright. She was smiling at me...

  No.

  She was smirking at me.

  ‘Like what you see?’

  ‘I...’

  I did. Wearing a low-cut black sequin dress, with a belt tied across it, and carrying a small matching bag, Emily looked incredible. However, what really caught my eye was what Emily wore around her neck. I didn’t want to mention it, so tore my eyes away, and her smile widened.

  ‘I was going to say, my eyes are up here.’

  ‘I... yeah.’ I stammered. ‘You look incredible.’

  She rested her hands on my shoulders. ‘You look pretty good, yourself. Better than jeans and a beaten-up jacket.’ She ran her hands down to my bow tie. ‘Although you could have learned to tie a bow tie.’

  ‘Em...’

  She yanked on the clip-on gently, pulling at the back of my head. ‘You’re not fooling anyone, you know.’

  ‘Says you.’ I tried to smirk back and failed. I indicated the limo with my head, and she smiled, linking her arm with mine.

  ‘Says me. I really must thank Sammy for inviting me, by the way...’

  ‘I was going to!’ I lied.

  ‘Uh huh.’ I opened the door to the car, and she slid inside gracefully.

  ‘Hi Emily!’ Sammy’s muffled voice came from within.

  ‘Hi Sammy.’ I heard the greeting. ‘Thanks for inviting me. I’m assuming I’m your date, and Jason is going on his own?’

  ‘Oh, definitely.’

  I rolled my eyes and got into the car. Emily smiled up at me innocently as I did so. ‘Oh! Hello.’ She chimed.

  ‘Hi.’ I sat next to her and closed the door.

  ‘So...’ She eyed me. ‘Who’re you going with? Since I’m with Sammy now, apparently.’ She rested a hand on his knee, and I enjoyed the slight discomfort that seemed to cause him.

  ‘Oh, some... what’s his name?’

  ‘Geoff.’

  ‘Nice name.’ Emily joined. ‘Sounds like a smart guy.’

  ‘Yeah, he’s a handsome orderly at the Enhanced/Powered Individual Centre.’

  ‘Why don’t you just say EPIC?’ She asked. Sammy nodded in agreement, and then batted my arm.

  ‘See? I told you. All the cool kids are calling it EPIC.’

  ‘...At the Centre.’ I said, my teeth gritted.

  ‘Geoff works at EPIC,’ Sammy answered Emily, glaring at me, ‘as a trauma specialist nurse. He was one of the people who assisted in putting Jay’s legs back on.’

  ‘Oh! I see.’ Emily nodded.

  ‘So did Geoff.’ Sammy smiled. ‘He saw everything.’

  ‘And by everything, you mean...’

  ‘Everything.’ Sammy smirked at me. Why does everyone I know smirk much better than I can?

  ‘Well, that’s good to know. Are we picking him up?’

  ‘Yeah, now.’

  ‘Marvellous.’

  The party was in full swing by the time we arrived. The limo pulled up outside the Foundation building, and the four of us exited. Geoff was a tall, handsome looking man who looked vaguely familiar to me. Then again, I’d probably seen him around the Centre, so I suppose that would make sense.

  He had a knowing smile which reached his green eyes in an easy, happy-go-lucky and unflappable manner which suggested he was in on some giant benevolent secret, which people wanted to know. He was likable enough, but not really what I imagined Sammy’s type to be. Then again, Sammy didn’t really seem to have a “type”, per se. Even he, however, with his unflappable manner, seemed impressed with the sight of the party.

  The foyer was decorated in blue and silver balloons, and the receptionist, a blonde lady I hadn’t seen before, smiled at Sammy and I as we strode in, dates on our arms.

  ‘Mr Anson, Mr Edwards, welcome!’ One of them beamed at us. ‘Your invitations, please?’

  We handed them over, and the receptionist scanned them in. ‘These appear to be in order...’

  ‘They appear?’ I mouthed at Sammy, who shrugged.

  ‘Right through there, please!’ The receptionist gestured towards the main doors to the left of the reception desk, which was guarded by two large, burly men in black tactical gear and baseball caps, holding futuristic looking weapons. They nodded at us slightly as we walked past, and I felt as if they were appraising us, trying to figure out if we were threats. I felt Emily shiver slightly as we walked past them, and I put a hand reassuringly over hers. She smiled at me as we walked through the doors, and into the main auditorium.

  ‘The last time I was here,’ I remarked to her, ‘I was nearly blown up.’

  ‘I know.’ She replied sadly. ‘I’m so sorry, Jay.’

  ‘Why? It’s not your fault.’

  ‘I could have done... something. Anything. I don’t even remember the bomb going off! One second I’m in the crowd, and the next, I’m waking up and it’s the next morning. I’m just lucky I wasn’t injured.’ She responded, looking around. Wait, that’s not… I opened my mouth to speak, but Sammy joined us a second later.

  ‘You know, they’ve done a good job. Nobody would ever know that this place was bombed to hell a few months ago!’

  I nodded in agreement, distracted by the view. The grey walls were adorned with gold fabric, bunched and festooned with ribbons and balloons. The coming year was written in black at the end of the auditorium, under which a band sat, playing lively but restrained music. People stopped dancing as we got near to approach us, and wish us a happy new year, which was nice, but made me feel uncomfortable. I searched for any familiar faces: Michael, Doctor McMannus... hell, even Elijah Noch. I saw none, although one man, short and balding, with greying brown hair, was looking at me speculatively. He seemed out of place in a tweed suit and cream shirt, clutching at a glass of champagne as if were his lifeline. I sort of knew how he felt; a good drink would go a long way to making me feel more relaxed. Emily seemed to read my mind. ‘I’m going to get us some drinks.’ I nodded absently, letting her go gently, never taking my eyes off the man.

  When he noticed me watching him, he turned away, as if he hadn’t been staring at me. I nudged Sammy and gestured towards he man with my head. ‘That guy keeps staring at me.’

  ‘What makes you think he’s staring at you?’ Sammy remarked. ‘You know what you are? You’re an egocentric maniac.’

  ‘Sammy...’

  ‘Maybe he’s staring at me? Or Geoff? Or Ac-’ he cut himself off at my glare. ‘At Emily.’ He amended.

  ‘No, he recognised me. I could see it in his face.’

  Sammy looked at me, deadpan. ‘No. Really? He recognised Jason Anson, standing in the middle of the Anson Foundation building, during the annual Anson Foundation New Year’s Party? I’m shocked. Honestly.’

  ‘Sammy, I-’

  ‘Is this an annual thing?’ He mused. ‘As your chief adviser, I’m advising you to make this an annual thing.’ He prodded me. ‘Look at him, he’s a scrawny old man. A scientist. you know what they say about scientists - he’s more afraid of you than you are of him.’

  ‘No, that’s spiders.’

  Sammy peered intently at the man. ‘He could be a spider.’

  ‘He’s not a spider, Sammy.’

  ‘Who’s a spider?’ Emily chipped in, returning with two champagne flutes.


  ‘Nobody’s a spider.’ I replied, simultaneously as Sammy responded ‘That guy over there. Total spider.’

  We all turned to look.

  The man had gone.

  ‘What guy?’

  ‘I guess he went back down the drain?’ Sammy chortled, as I turned around to look for him.

  ‘Look, whoever he is, he didn’t get in without an invitation, right?’ Emily pressed me gently. I nodded, and she continued. ‘No way he got past those two armed guards at the front. So just ask at reception. Give his description, and I’m sure they’ll check.’

  I was jostled lightly from behind, and I turned around. Michael was beaming at me and hugged me hard. ‘Jason! I’m so glad you could make it!’ I glanced at the empty champagne glass in his hand, and guessed it may not have been his first, or even his second. The tall, stately looking gentleman next to him politely waited, smiling lightly at us. ‘Jason, I want you to meet the police commissioner for Capehill, Commissioner Tubonay.’

  I shook Tubonay’s hand. ‘It’s a pleasure to meet you, Commissioner.’

  ‘And you, Mr Anson. I know you’ve only had a brief experience with the Capehill Police Department, when you were being interviewed about the...’ He gestured around the hall, ‘incident in September, but if you require anything, please don’t hesitate to let me know. Within reason, I will try to accommodate you.’

  I thought back to Tarkenden. ‘Actually, Commissioner, I ran into an officer the other day when I was... out and about, and she was extremely helpful to me. She said she had to go and help out with a missing person case, so she couldn’t stick around for long.’ I smiled at him as I said it and turned to Sammy and Emily. Sammy’s face was unreadable, and Emily looked curious. ‘I was wondering if you could tell me how that case turned out? She seemed to take it quite personally.’

  ‘All my officers take crime personally.’ Tubonay informed me with pride. ‘That’s what makes them such good officers.’

  ‘One would think,’ Emily chipped in, ‘the ability to detach from personal feelings would make for a better officer.’