Marc awoke to the bleating of his alarm clock. In well practiced routine, he turned over, reached out his hand, and with his eyes still closed, hit the snooze button. He turned back over, and pulled the covers back over his head. Seven minutes passed. Suddenly, Marc bolted upright in bed and glanced over at the clock.
“Shit,” he muttered to himself. “I’m gonna be late.”
Marc sprang out of bed, and grabbed the clothes he had set out the night before. He opened his bedroom door, and rushed down the hall and into the washroom, closing it’s door behind him. He quickly turned on the hot water tap in the shower, and then turned to brush his teeth. The water in his apartment took about two minutes to actually get hot, so he usually spent the time waiting brushing his teeth. Once the water was hot, he turned the cold water tap on slightly just to cool it down a bit, took off his boxers, and jumped into the shower.
“Steve’s gonna kill me. I’m supposed to be there at 8:30, and I have to pick up Sarah yet.” Marc said to himself, as he washed the shampoo out of his hair. He quickly turned off his water, and grabbed his towel off to the side, and dried himself. Once dry enough, he threw on his clothes. He opened the door of the bathroom, and he could hear the alarm in his room going off. He ran into his room, flicked the alarm switch off, grabbed his wallet and keys, and bolted towards his front door. He threw on his shoes, and grabbed his hat off the hat rack, and he was off.
“You know Steve’s gonna kill you, right?” Sarah said, as she opened the passenger door to get in.
“Ya, ya, I know. Sorry, I slept in a little bit. Surprise, surprise.” Marc said, as he shoved his car into first. The shifter on the piece of junk tended to need a little elbow grease just to switch from one gear to the next. At least it ran. Well, at least it ran most of the time. Every so often it would choose a day to take off, and just not work for the next 24 hours. The next day, it’d be fine again. Marc wasn’t sure why it did that, and he sure as hell didn’t have the money to pay a mechanic to find out why. He just lived with it. It was the same with the fact that every time he tried to change the radio, it shorted out. He figured it went with the territory of who he was. He was just cursed with anything with this car since he’d purchased it six months ago.
“Well, as long as you don’t try to blame me, I’m fine with you being late. I don’t understand why Steve wants us to get there so early anyhow. I mean, I like Wonderland, but why we have to be there the moment it opens is beyond me,” Sarah said, letting out a yawn at the end of her sentence. She was as much a morning person as Marc, which is to say that she wasn’t one at all.
“Agreed. I really hate getting up this early period. Starts the day off wrong when I see this side of eleven in the morning,” Marc smirked.
Marc pressed the doorbell to Steve’s house. Instead of hearing the jingle of Steve’s doorbell, he heard a fizzle and pop, and nothing afterwards.
“Figures,” he mumbled under his breath. He raised his hand and knocked loudly. He heard footsteps approaching, and then the door opened. Steve stood in the doorway, an expression of annoyance clear upon his face.
“I knew you’d be late. Your always late,” Steve half growled, glaring at Marc. Then, turning to Sarah, “Good morning, Sarah. Come on in. We’ll be leaving in about a minute. Christine’s in the bathroom.” He stepped to the side, holding the door open. Sarah went in, and sat down at the kitchen table. Marc followed her in the door, smirking a bit as he entered.
“Good morning to you too, Steve. Seriously, I don’t see why your in such a big rush. The rides aren’t going anywhere” Marc took off his coat, and set it on the back of the chair at the table, and started to fill up his mug of coffee with fresh stuff from Steve and Christine’s machine.
“First off, Marc, I want to be there early so we get in some rides before the rush comes. And secondly, that’s not even the point. The point is, your never on time. I know you say it’s cause you don’t believe in time, but really, it just makes you seem like an ass hole. Well you may not care about time, it makes it seems like you don’t care about your friends when you constantly show up late. It’s selfish.” Steve was getting red faced now. He was just getting going.
“Wow, someone is grumpy today,” Marc smirked, placing the coffee pot back on the coffee maker. He noticed the clock on the pad turn from 8:45 to a flashing 00:00. Weird, he thought, and then put it out of his mind.
“Not grumpy, Marc. Just annoyed. I swear…” Steve started, but then the door leading to the bathroom opened, and Catherine came out, smiling as she saw Sarah and Marc.
“Hey Marc. Hey Sarah. Are you guys ready to go? I know Steve’s raring to leave, so we should probably head out. He’s been a little grumpy all morning.” That was Cath. Always honest, always happy.
“I have not been grumpy,” Steve muttered.
“Sure you have, honey. Now grab the cooler and we can be off,” Cath said, and she walked to the door and threw on her shoes.
“See, we’re even here early, despite me being late,” Marc said to Steve, as they waited in line at 9:56, waiting in the lineups that led through the main gates.
“Ya, because I speed the entire time, Marc,” Steve grumbled, glaring at Marc. He was still sore over Marc’s nonchalant attitude, and wasn’t about to just let it go this time.
“Now boys, no fighting. This is supposed to be a fun trip,” Catherine smiled to them, taking a break from talking to Sarah about the gossip of who was dating who at the college, and, more interesting in Sarah’s mind, who was cheating on who.
“Fine,” Steve gloomed. Marc and him stood in silence for the rest of the way up to the metal detectors, and Steve brooded. Steve went through first, without a beep, and gave his ticket to the girl at the counter. Marc followed next, and the detector went off. He emptied his pockets, taking out the loose change that had probably cause it to go off, and then the guard went over him with his hand held metal detector. It went off over his knee.
“Old knee injury?” the guard asked, a stern look on his face.
“Um, ya, that’s it. You know how it his,” Marc said, a quizzical look of amusement on his face. The guard patted him down just to be sure, and then gave him his change and wallet back, and let him pass through. After Sarah and Catherine got threw, they walked over to where Marc and Steve stood chatting about where they were going to head to first. It was to be Dragonfire first. Steve and Marc both agreed that the newer side of the park, with all the newer rides from the last couple of years, would surely draw the most people this early, and they had a better chance of getting more rides in on the opposite side of the park. The two couples walked that way, with Steve and Christine leading Marc and Sarah.
“What was that about back there with the metal detector,” Sarah asked, leaning up against Marc’s side.
“You got me. I think his metal detector was on the fritz. He found metal in my knee. Seemed to think it was from an old injury. But, I’ve never been hurt there,” Marc said, the quizzical look of amusement from earlier returning. “Oh well, not my fault his stupid detector doesn’t work. I just let him believe what he wanted.”
Friday, October 24, 2008
Swarley - Issue 7: Self
Desert. When I opened my eyes, for miles upon miles there was only desert. The air was humid, the sun was fierce, and sweat was rolling down my forehead as I stood up and stared. I saw nothing but dry sand and illusions of better things as the sweltering heat played tricks on my eyes. There was not even a hint of wind either - everything was still. I didn't know how I'd ended up here, so I could only assume that this was the fate I'd been dealt by the people I'd ran into earlier. The memories rushing back, I swept my hand up to the back of my head where it had struck the wall, but much to my shock, there was no wound, nor any pain. Either I'd been out for a very long time, or something strange was going on.
I decided to walk. Each step I took was a chore in itself, the sand giving way beneath my feet and making me work twice as hard. I tried to set a course, but the only things to walk towards were the next sand hills, and after passing my first few, I couldn't really tell the difference anymore. It was like a bad dream, and before long, I was beginning to wonder if I'd ever see anything else again besides these hills. I stopped walking and sat down.
"As if," I mumbled to myself.
"As if what?" came a deep reply from somewhere behind me.
I spun around quickly, my hands accidentally brushing sand all over me, only to see a cloak floating in mid air, molded to the shape of a man.
"I must be high," I remarked.
"I assure you, you're not," came the booming voice once again from the direction of the cloak, "and you didn't answer my question."
"What?" I said, looking confused.
"As if what?" it repeated.
I leaned forward to take a closer look, glaring in disbelief. "As if this happened to me, I guess."
"So you take this for a bad thing then?" it offered.
"Well, of course I do man," I exclaimed, "look around you. There ain't shit but sun n' sand for miles. How would this be a good thing?"
The cloak made a shrugging motion.
"And what the fuck are you then?" I demanded. "Some kind of desert cloak spirit or something?" It looked kind of like my own superhero cloak when I thought about it.
"I am what you've made me."
I laughed mockingly. "And what is that supposed to mean? I've never seen you before."
"A product of your imagination," it played.
"Well, if it's my imagination," I reasoned, "then why are you wearing my cloak. Property of Vengeance I'm pretty sure."
"I'm not," it responded calmly as the cloak suddenly appeared around my shoulders. Before me now was a black shade that roughly resembled a female figure.
"What in the hell," I started, only to be abruptly interrupted.
"Well, this is what you were thinking, isn't it?" rang a more feminine voice.
I said nothing. She, or whatever it was now, was right. I did prefer feminine sage-type characters. I laughed a little.
"Alright," I said, "but why am I here? And where is here?"
"Why isn't really important, just know that you are here now because you cannot be anywhere else. As for where here is, " she paused, "well, I chose this place for you."
"You chose a fucking desert for me?" I blurted out, "why would you do that?"
"Dramatic effect I suppose."
I glared at her. "Cute." She said nothing in response. "So what am I supposed to do then," I continued, "and how do I get out of here?"
"When you understand what I'm going to teach you, you'll be able to leave this place."
"So you're some kind of teacher then, are you?"
"I am the deeper knowledge within you that is yet unawoken. I can teach, but you will need to listen."
I took a deep breath and rubbed my eyes. "Yea, ok."
"Follow me," she said as she turned, undeterred by my sarcasm.
I went to take a step in her direction and was instantly surprised by what happened next. In a sweeping wave the desert around me was transformed into rolling meadows with gusting winds and blue skies, and as I set my foot down I crushed a newly arisen flower. I stopped to take it in - after the desert this was paradise. The air smelled good, and my weariness had vanished; I wondered how long it would last.
"You like?" she questioned.
I nodded.
"Good. Then here is where we begin."
"Begin what?"
She raised one arm and then motioned behind her. "Your test."
From thin air, something began to materialize. On the ground now rested a tiny, transparent cube, no more than a foot wide with a small black sphere hovering inside. It was impossible to tell if the sphere contained anything further.
"What's that?" I asked, looking slightly dumbfounded.
She smiled. "Inside that sphere is a key that will unlock the surrounding cube. Your job is to figure out a way to get it out and do just that. Note that if the sphere touches the cube at any point, the entire thing will dissolve and you will have failed. Brute force will not work here. Use your powers wisely."
I could have asked her questions, but I doubted they would have done any good, so I didn't bother. Closing the distance between the cube and myself, I sat down in front of it, crossing my legs and leaning in to take a look. Nothing immediately struck me as a good place to start, so I just decided to start prodding. I extended my power in a hand-like form towards the cube, and pressed against the surface. The outside was a smooth, hard surface, and if I pressed against it hard enough to rock the cube, the sphere inside would dance around slightly, heading towards the wall as if off balance.
"No more moving the cube," I thought.
I passed through the outside of the cube and began to examine the sphere. Extending my power like a finger, I touched the sphere, the reaction taking me slightly by surprise. From the point where I had touched it, ripples went out across it's entire surface, just like a disturbance on water. This wasn't water though - even though it rippled, I couldn't push through the sphere with my power. I pushed slightly harder, causing the ripple to pour over the sphere once again, as well as inadvertantly pushing it close to the edge of the cube. My heart skipped a beat as it teetered towards the edge, then slowed and returned to the centre. I looked over to the shade, a mild look of frustration on my face, and she merely smiled.
"Be gentle," she instructed.
I gave her a fake smile then returned my attention to the puzzle. I was at a loss for what to try next; it didn't seem like I could do anything. "A key inside of a sphere that I can't get through, and that I can't apply force too - wonderful," I thought. It bothered me a little that I didn't really have any idea what to do. I was supposed to be good at these kinds of things. I did, afterall, used to get paid to solve problems. I needed to work with what I had, because there was no way I could let this shade stump me, especially in my own imagination. Examining the situation, all I had was a ripple.
I decided to play with it. I lightly touched the sphere in a couple more places individually and watched the ripple effect for some sort of clue. Each time, exactly like the time before it, the ripple went out, and then stopped completely opposite where it had originated. I had an idea. Extending my power to two different spots, I touched the sphere on opposite side simultaneously and the ripples shot out like normal from both spots. I smiled at what happened next; where the ripples met, circles formed for a second that largely resembled a liquid form, and then dissipated just as quickly. I didn't know exactly what had just happened, but I was sure I'd stumbled upon something important. I produced the effect one more time, and this time made an effort to touch the resulting areas. "Jackpot," I thought, as I momentarily slipped through the outside of the sphere and was able to feel the key inside. Before I could do anything however, the sphere closed again, and my power was sealed outside of it.
"Well, that's no good," I mumbled to myself. There was no way I'd be able to pull the key out of the sphere in time with that kind of a window. Another dilemna - this cube was starting to piss me off. I didn't even bother to look over to the shade to see her mocking smile. I didn't want to see her face again until I finished this thing. I scratched my head and stared at the hovering sphere from hell. There had to be something I was overlooking. I envisioned the key inside the sphere, sitting on the bottom as I'd seen it, and as I pictured it, it came to me: it was on the bottom. I pointed my power towards the absolute sides of the sphere and touched them simultaneously, sending out the ripples for hopefully the last time. I watched as the ripples collided directly under where the key should have sat, and then as it fell through according to plan, clunking down on the hard surface of the cube underneath it. Instantly, upon touching the outside, the whole thing began to glow with a soft white light, until it disappeared, leaving only a small piece of paper behind. I picked it up and read the one word written on it aloud.
"Imagine."
"That's right," came the voice of the shade again, "Imagine."
I turned to look at her, the confident smile I thought I would have turned into a confused grimmace. "What?"
"You have a powerful imagination, Ryan," she continued, "and as such, you have been gifted with a power infused by it. I gave you that test to illustrate a point to you. Things are never as simple as push and pull, and you more than anyone need to know that. What you can do is only limited by what your mind can create. Will and imagination are your strengths - never forget that."
I opened my mouth to speak, but no words came. Her speech hit me hard, and all at once what I had to say seemed irrelevant.
"This will not be the last time we meet," she stated, "I have more to show you. For now however, this should help you reach the next plateau, if you decide to take it to heart."
"Plateau?" I questioned.
She smiled a quaint smile. "In time," she said, winking.
I looked around and everything began to lose its color, slowly fading to black.
She disappeared, leaving only darkness surrounding me. "Goodbye for now, Ryan. You're wanted elsewhere."
I could hear the familiar voices of people around me, and I knew she was right. It was time to go back.
I decided to walk. Each step I took was a chore in itself, the sand giving way beneath my feet and making me work twice as hard. I tried to set a course, but the only things to walk towards were the next sand hills, and after passing my first few, I couldn't really tell the difference anymore. It was like a bad dream, and before long, I was beginning to wonder if I'd ever see anything else again besides these hills. I stopped walking and sat down.
"As if," I mumbled to myself.
"As if what?" came a deep reply from somewhere behind me.
I spun around quickly, my hands accidentally brushing sand all over me, only to see a cloak floating in mid air, molded to the shape of a man.
"I must be high," I remarked.
"I assure you, you're not," came the booming voice once again from the direction of the cloak, "and you didn't answer my question."
"What?" I said, looking confused.
"As if what?" it repeated.
I leaned forward to take a closer look, glaring in disbelief. "As if this happened to me, I guess."
"So you take this for a bad thing then?" it offered.
"Well, of course I do man," I exclaimed, "look around you. There ain't shit but sun n' sand for miles. How would this be a good thing?"
The cloak made a shrugging motion.
"And what the fuck are you then?" I demanded. "Some kind of desert cloak spirit or something?" It looked kind of like my own superhero cloak when I thought about it.
"I am what you've made me."
I laughed mockingly. "And what is that supposed to mean? I've never seen you before."
"A product of your imagination," it played.
"Well, if it's my imagination," I reasoned, "then why are you wearing my cloak. Property of Vengeance I'm pretty sure."
"I'm not," it responded calmly as the cloak suddenly appeared around my shoulders. Before me now was a black shade that roughly resembled a female figure.
"What in the hell," I started, only to be abruptly interrupted.
"Well, this is what you were thinking, isn't it?" rang a more feminine voice.
I said nothing. She, or whatever it was now, was right. I did prefer feminine sage-type characters. I laughed a little.
"Alright," I said, "but why am I here? And where is here?"
"Why isn't really important, just know that you are here now because you cannot be anywhere else. As for where here is, " she paused, "well, I chose this place for you."
"You chose a fucking desert for me?" I blurted out, "why would you do that?"
"Dramatic effect I suppose."
I glared at her. "Cute." She said nothing in response. "So what am I supposed to do then," I continued, "and how do I get out of here?"
"When you understand what I'm going to teach you, you'll be able to leave this place."
"So you're some kind of teacher then, are you?"
"I am the deeper knowledge within you that is yet unawoken. I can teach, but you will need to listen."
I took a deep breath and rubbed my eyes. "Yea, ok."
"Follow me," she said as she turned, undeterred by my sarcasm.
I went to take a step in her direction and was instantly surprised by what happened next. In a sweeping wave the desert around me was transformed into rolling meadows with gusting winds and blue skies, and as I set my foot down I crushed a newly arisen flower. I stopped to take it in - after the desert this was paradise. The air smelled good, and my weariness had vanished; I wondered how long it would last.
"You like?" she questioned.
I nodded.
"Good. Then here is where we begin."
"Begin what?"
She raised one arm and then motioned behind her. "Your test."
From thin air, something began to materialize. On the ground now rested a tiny, transparent cube, no more than a foot wide with a small black sphere hovering inside. It was impossible to tell if the sphere contained anything further.
"What's that?" I asked, looking slightly dumbfounded.
She smiled. "Inside that sphere is a key that will unlock the surrounding cube. Your job is to figure out a way to get it out and do just that. Note that if the sphere touches the cube at any point, the entire thing will dissolve and you will have failed. Brute force will not work here. Use your powers wisely."
I could have asked her questions, but I doubted they would have done any good, so I didn't bother. Closing the distance between the cube and myself, I sat down in front of it, crossing my legs and leaning in to take a look. Nothing immediately struck me as a good place to start, so I just decided to start prodding. I extended my power in a hand-like form towards the cube, and pressed against the surface. The outside was a smooth, hard surface, and if I pressed against it hard enough to rock the cube, the sphere inside would dance around slightly, heading towards the wall as if off balance.
"No more moving the cube," I thought.
I passed through the outside of the cube and began to examine the sphere. Extending my power like a finger, I touched the sphere, the reaction taking me slightly by surprise. From the point where I had touched it, ripples went out across it's entire surface, just like a disturbance on water. This wasn't water though - even though it rippled, I couldn't push through the sphere with my power. I pushed slightly harder, causing the ripple to pour over the sphere once again, as well as inadvertantly pushing it close to the edge of the cube. My heart skipped a beat as it teetered towards the edge, then slowed and returned to the centre. I looked over to the shade, a mild look of frustration on my face, and she merely smiled.
"Be gentle," she instructed.
I gave her a fake smile then returned my attention to the puzzle. I was at a loss for what to try next; it didn't seem like I could do anything. "A key inside of a sphere that I can't get through, and that I can't apply force too - wonderful," I thought. It bothered me a little that I didn't really have any idea what to do. I was supposed to be good at these kinds of things. I did, afterall, used to get paid to solve problems. I needed to work with what I had, because there was no way I could let this shade stump me, especially in my own imagination. Examining the situation, all I had was a ripple.
I decided to play with it. I lightly touched the sphere in a couple more places individually and watched the ripple effect for some sort of clue. Each time, exactly like the time before it, the ripple went out, and then stopped completely opposite where it had originated. I had an idea. Extending my power to two different spots, I touched the sphere on opposite side simultaneously and the ripples shot out like normal from both spots. I smiled at what happened next; where the ripples met, circles formed for a second that largely resembled a liquid form, and then dissipated just as quickly. I didn't know exactly what had just happened, but I was sure I'd stumbled upon something important. I produced the effect one more time, and this time made an effort to touch the resulting areas. "Jackpot," I thought, as I momentarily slipped through the outside of the sphere and was able to feel the key inside. Before I could do anything however, the sphere closed again, and my power was sealed outside of it.
"Well, that's no good," I mumbled to myself. There was no way I'd be able to pull the key out of the sphere in time with that kind of a window. Another dilemna - this cube was starting to piss me off. I didn't even bother to look over to the shade to see her mocking smile. I didn't want to see her face again until I finished this thing. I scratched my head and stared at the hovering sphere from hell. There had to be something I was overlooking. I envisioned the key inside the sphere, sitting on the bottom as I'd seen it, and as I pictured it, it came to me: it was on the bottom. I pointed my power towards the absolute sides of the sphere and touched them simultaneously, sending out the ripples for hopefully the last time. I watched as the ripples collided directly under where the key should have sat, and then as it fell through according to plan, clunking down on the hard surface of the cube underneath it. Instantly, upon touching the outside, the whole thing began to glow with a soft white light, until it disappeared, leaving only a small piece of paper behind. I picked it up and read the one word written on it aloud.
"Imagine."
"That's right," came the voice of the shade again, "Imagine."
I turned to look at her, the confident smile I thought I would have turned into a confused grimmace. "What?"
"You have a powerful imagination, Ryan," she continued, "and as such, you have been gifted with a power infused by it. I gave you that test to illustrate a point to you. Things are never as simple as push and pull, and you more than anyone need to know that. What you can do is only limited by what your mind can create. Will and imagination are your strengths - never forget that."
I opened my mouth to speak, but no words came. Her speech hit me hard, and all at once what I had to say seemed irrelevant.
"This will not be the last time we meet," she stated, "I have more to show you. For now however, this should help you reach the next plateau, if you decide to take it to heart."
"Plateau?" I questioned.
She smiled a quaint smile. "In time," she said, winking.
I looked around and everything began to lose its color, slowly fading to black.
She disappeared, leaving only darkness surrounding me. "Goodbye for now, Ryan. You're wanted elsewhere."
I could hear the familiar voices of people around me, and I knew she was right. It was time to go back.
Swarley - Issue 6: Clarity
The mall was busy as usual. It was only minutes until the meeting was supposed to occur, and Ryan was standing in the food court watching people pass by as he waited. He wore a hood that was drawn up and he kept his head down – the last thing he wanted was to get recognized and get in a brawl with the authorities here. He didn’t imagine anyone would recognize him anyway, but it was best not to take chances. Today was important for him, and he needed things to go smoothly.
“What's up man?” came a familiar voice from nearby. Ryan spun to see Greg approaching him. “Mind if I grab some Subway?” he asked.
Ryan shrugged. "Go for it. I'm not really hungry though.”
Greg nodded in response and made way for the Subway lineup, only to change his mind and hit the Mr. Sub where the line was one tenth the size. As Ryan stood and watched him, another voice called out to him.
“So where are these other people you were talking about?” asked Lyle, “please don't tell me you're the only one, and you think the voices in your head are other people.”
Ryan smirked, and then pointed over to Greg in line. “I assure you,” he responded, “not just voices. That’s Greg over there.”
Lyle looked a little reassured at that notion. “Okay, I’m going to grab a taco then. I need to clean my colon.”
“Wonderful,” mused Ryan as he walked over to a table and sat down. It wasn’t long before Greg was back.
“So really, what’s up?” he started again, as he placed his tray down on the table. “Why’d you want to meet Seguin and I?”
"It's more than just you and Seguin,” Ryan offered as he gestured towards Lyle talking to the girl at the Taco Bell counter. “I ran into that guy over there the other day. He's like us."
"Like us as in attractive, funny and awesome? Cause that's cool and all, but I'd rather you brought a girl out to join our group of friends,” smirked Greg.
“A comedian today eh? You know what I mean"
"I try,” said Greg with a short bow. “Okay, so when you say like us, what exactly can he do?"
"Well, that I'm not sure. But I did see him disintegrate someone,” recalled Ryan as he looked over to see Lyle heading his way.
"Disintegrate?” A look of bewilderment crossed Greg’s face as Lyle sat down at the table, taco in hand.
"I don't care what anybody says,” interrupted Lyle, “Taco bell is good for you. It's cheaper than getting a colonic."
Ryan laughed to break the tension. "If you say so."
Noticing Greg’s look of confusion, Lyle chimed in again. "No, I don't make gas if that's what you're wondering. Well, toxic that is."
Greg laughed a little uneasily.
"Figured out what kind of bike you ride yet?" Ryan joked.
I have an idea,” replied Lyle as he fiddled with some coins in his pocket, “but I'm a little apprehensive about going into depth on it. If the wrong person were to found out then something bad could happen." Lyle paused a minute to lean back in his chair before finishing. “It’s sufficed to say that I'm affected by the type of light I'm in."
Nothing is said for a moment, as Ryan and Greg both took a second to take in what they’d just heard.
"Light, you say," quipped Ryan eventually as he looked over at Greg with a mischievous smile, who smirked a little bit in response. Lyle looked genuinely confused.
“Well, that's very interesting, um... I don't think I even know your name. I'm Greg by the way," he gestured as he extended a hand for Lyle, only to retract it quickly a moment later when he remembered Ryan’s comment from earlier. Lyle didn’t miss a beat responding.
"Don't worry. I'm inside, I can't blow you up if that's what you're thinking. I'm Lyle, disgruntled programmer and occasional heavy drinker," he exclaimed as he shook Greg’s hand. Greg seemed to relax a little.
"Nice to meet you Lyle, disgruntled programmer and occasional heavy drinker. So, you know what Ryan can do, and you’re probably wondering what I can do? Well, I mean, even I don't really have a firm grip on it, but as far as I can tell, I can become/control light to some degree. That's why I found the fact that your powers also related to light interesting."
At hearing that, Lyle stood up suddenly, looking slightly alarmed. "Maybe this was a bad idea. I don't mean to offend either of you but I think we may have a problem if you use your powers near me. I should go..."
“Sit,” replied Ryan calmly as he shook his head. "No one's going to be using any powers right now. Relax." With a sigh, Lyle nodded and sat down again.
"I sure hope you know what you're doing. I don't have much control over what I can do. I'm just a little uneasy being near someone who can make light."
"Well, I've got that aspect under control, so it won't be happening without me wanting it to happen,” assured Greg. “So, how long have you been able to do whatever it is you exactly that you can do, Mr. Lyle?"
"Actually my first name is Lyle,” corrected Lyle, “my last name is McManus. As for your question, I'm not one hundred percent sure. I just started to notice odd things happening the last few days, but my invisibility could've been going on for much longer than I thought."
"Invisibility... interesting," mused Ryan. Greg chucked a bit.
"Very much so. Oh, and sorry, I have the habit of taking people's first names and using Mister before them, don't ask me why. So, you can go invisible eh? That's very cool. We're the first people you've met that can do things as well?"
"Well unless being a jerk is a power, than yes,” joked Lyle with a little smirk, as he continued fiddling with the coins in his pocket. “I still don't know what to make of all this to be honest."
Greg laughed. “Well, I can't say we've had much more luck running into others of our kind. So far there's us, and our friend Seguin. You know where he is, by the way Ryan?”
Ryan pulled out a cell phone from his pocket and examined it for a moment before looking up and shaking his head. "It looks like he won't be joining us today."
"Weird. I haven't heard from him at all for like a week.”
"Well if he's your friend I'm pretty sure he wouldn't ditch you,” reasoned Lyle. “He may drop in, you never know"
"Maybe, but I won't count on it,” responded Ryan sternly. “I haven't heard anything from him at all. In any case, you're probably wondering why I actually brought us all here." Both Lyle and Greg nodded. "Well, I've had a lot of time to think lately. It seems to me that we've been given a chance here to actually be something with these powers."
Greg nodded again in approval.
"We can sit around and question why and how, but in the end, this is it, this is now who we are,” continued Ryan. “We have it in our power to do anything we want now, and that's a startling discovery."
"You should be a motivational speaker,” interrupted Lyle. “What do you propose we do with these powers? I can go in the womens bathroom, you can lift their skirt, and Greg can blind them so we can all have a peek."
"I was thinking on a larger scale, but remind me to get us to try that sometime," said Ryan with a grin.
"So, what exactly are you proposing, Ryan?" asked Greg.
"I'm saying that we should work together. Just think what we could do. No one could stand in our way.
Haven't you ever wanted to be rich and powerful? Well, we could be."
"It is tempting, I'm not going to argue that,” replied Lyle, cracking his neck. “I practically lost my job a few days ago, but is using our powers for personal gain really a good idea? I don't know about you but I can't dodge bullets, and I hate to break it to you, but that’s what cops have."
Greg rolled his eyes. "Rich and powerful are one thing, but exactly how we do that with these powers is another. It's not like just because we can, we should go rob banks."
"I can take care of bullets," offered Ryan with a smirk. “And why not? Why shouldn't we have what we want? Who's to say down the road that we all aren't wanted anyway. Bet it'll seem like a good idea to have stuck together then."
"But if we stay low profile we won't have to worry about being wanted,” reasoned Lyle again. “If we do something, that'll draw attention. I'm sure I can hide better than most right now, but I think we gotta ask ourselves, if we decide to do something, how do we not get caught? Either way, I think the grouping together is a wise idea if by chance we do get figured out."
Greg leaned forward in his chair. "I'm clearly all for grouping together, I mean, as long as it's like the Avengers, not the lame Fantastic Four. But I'm not about to do it just to go out and take things. Oh, and about that wanted thing," recalled Greg as he pulled out the picture from his coat and slid it towards Ryan. "Someone out there’s looking for you."
Ryan snatched up the picture and took a good look at it. "Where did you get this?"
"I had a run in the other night with these government guys. They drugged me with some drug that temporarily took away my powers, and tried to recruit me. It seems like they're after you."
Ryan slammed the picture down on the table. "The government knows about us?"
Lyle chimed in again. "You’re worried about the government? Come on, they couldn't even find Osama bin laden, what makes you think they can find us?"
“These guys seemed very secretive. Like beyond CSIS secret."
Ryan sat back in his chair and let out a deep sigh. "I'm not going to end up in some test tube."
"I don't think you'd fit in one," joked Lyle again with a laugh.
"What's to say you won't be next?" snapped Ryan back.
Lyle shrugged. "If they try catching me inside. I disappear. If they do it during the day, I'll run away. If they try anything at night, well you saw what happened to that mugger."
“You need to hide,” suggested Greg. “These guys are good. I was lucky to escape without having my memory wiped. They have people like us working for them. I don't think it's as easy as we think it's going to be."
Lyle’s calm demeanour faded. “What do mean like us? This grouping up thing keeps sounding better and better."
"Well, the one I ran into said he had more people of our "unique" type that worked for him, and the girl who was going to wipe my memory was definitely of the powered variety.”
"Well if she had powers how did you get away?" inquired Lyle.
Greg grinned. "Well, let's just say I got lucky. Plus, my powers can make me pretty hard to touch." Jokes aside, I'd be up for teaming up, but you should know I'm not in for doing things just to get what we want. You should know that especially, Ryan."
"What we want and what we need may be one and the same very soon," stated Ryan. "If we plan to be able to protect ourselves, we're going to need resources. I'm not going to take from the poor to get them or anything, but I certainly think that the rich have some to spare. Better to go into this prepared and together rather than try and do it all ourselves and end up serving whatever fuckin' purposes these guys have for us."
Lyle looked confused. “What are we going to need exactly? Like I'm assuming we really don't need weapons, so the only other thing I can think of would be money, but if you think about it, why would we need that if we can just take what we need?"
"Everything is easier with money," quipped Ryan in return.
"Speaking of that,” observed Lyle, “I should buy some stuff while I'm here for a costume. I'm not doing anything unless I'm disguised. I don't want to end up in the papers like Ryan."
Ryan shifted uneasily in his seat at that comment and took a quick look around to see if they were being watched.
"Ya, that's how they found me,” recollected Greg, “cause I went out without a costume at first."
Lyle smiled. "Well it's a good thing I'm learning from your mistakes. I don't want these guys to find me. That mugger had me worried enough."
"In any case,” interrupted Ryan, “it's good to see I can count on you guys. Before we make any plans, I want to talk to Seguin first. Until then, we should probably keep our heads down. We should also probably figure out how we can contact each other easily if the need arises."
"Bat signal anyone?" mused Lyle with a short chuckle.
Greg laughed too. "Just what I was thinking. Actually, you could probably just use my cell for now, until we come up with something better that is. Now, if Seguin were here, he could just be our mental walkie-talkie."
Ryan took his cell out of his pocket again and stared at it for a moment, a look of incredulity crossing his face. Startled, he set it on the table next to them. "I'll use a pay phone if I need to call you. Doesn't seem safe carrying around something they could use to find me."
"Hate to be a pain but I don't suppose we could continue this conversation outside?” questioned Lyle urgently, his hands starting to fade from view. “I'm having difficulty staying visible."
Ryan shook his head. "We're nearly done. Lyle, I’ll just need your number."
"As will I,” mentioned Greg, “ I should be going anyhow, gotta meet someone for some coffee."
"Just call my home number,” offered Lyle as he pulled out a couple business cards from his wallet, giving one to Greg and Ryan. “I'm not going to be at work for a few weeks."
Ryan stood. "Sounds good. I'll be in touch with our next move as soon as I find Seguin... Or perhaps he'll be in touch." Ryan laughed. “Bloody telepaths.."
Lyle sighed. "Something tells me I'm not going to like this Seguin guy. Last thing I need is someone going into my head." Ryan smirked.
"Well guys, since we're done, I'm leaving,” stated Greg as he stood up and began to walk away. “Let me know if you hear from Seguin, Ryan. And keep your head up. Those guys are probably still looking for you pretty heavily."
Ryan nodded. "Until next time gentlemen, be safe."
He watched as Greg left through another exit and Lyle faded to invisibility before heading to the entrance from which he'd entered earlier. Pushing through the doors, he stopped and leaned against the cold concrete walls once outside. It was cold out, but since he'd learned to shield himself from the wind, he didn't mind it so much. He needed time to think. The world around him seemed to fade away as he drifted into his own mind.
So many new questions now without answers. Who were these new enemies he'd made? Why exactly were they after him? Things were going to get difficult in between the police and now this. He'd had a hard enough time staying undetected on the radar for the last couple of days with only one enemy. He hated living like this, and he knew he needed the support of his friends to lift him out of the hole he'd dug for himself. They couldn't know the real reasoning for what he'd done though, else they were liable to desert him too. A life of secrets he knew he was doomed to lead, if he could lead a life at all.
Scenarios played out in his mind as future versions of himself found themselves in various dilemnas and worked their way out of them. It was easy to be content imaginging yourself winning and getting what you wanted when it was all in your head, and lately Ryan had spent a lot of time in that place. It couldn't last forever though. The sound of the doors to the mall being locked roused him from the dream this time, and immediately he felt the weight of his problems take it's seat on his shoulders once again.
"Fuck," he mumbled to himself, cursing his own situation. "I need to find Seguin fast. I've had enough of this running. Hopefully he understands."
He began walking out into the parking lot, trying to find a deserted area where he could take flight and not draw much attention to himself. He looked around and saw only a single person walking to his left wearing a blue jacket and sporting a baseball cap. He smiled at his fortune, and headed for a the small enclosed section ahead of him that lead to another entrance to the mall; rounding the corner would put him out of sight of the man. As Ryan approached the turn, he looked back to try to spot the man and was startled to see that he was now roughly 30 paces behind him and looking right at him. Ryan looked away and rounded the corner, pausing for a moment to decide what he should do.
"He's probably one of them," he thought to himself as he levitated roughly 15 feet in the air, guessing the man would not think to look up. It was time to send them a message he decided, Vengeance was not to be taken lightly - Especially not by some chump in a baseball hat. As expected, the burly looking man wearing the cap marked with an H rounded the corner and stopped, looking dumbfounded when he saw there was nothing between him and the doors 30 feet ahead.
"Looking for me?" mused Ryan as he descended behind him. Without bothering to turn, the man replied.
"I have a proposition for you."
"Not interested," Ryan snapped back.
"Pity."
Catching Ryan completely off guard, the man spun and delivered a huge backhand to the chest that sent him flying towards the wall on the other side of the walkway. He had used telekinesis to protect himself, but was not prepared for the force of it, and the speed at which he struck the wall stole the consciousness from his body, leaving him tumbling to the ground in a heap. The man stared at Ryan for a moment before shaking his head and taking a cell phone from his coat jacket. He dialed a number and brought the phone up to his ear.
"What news?" came an impatient voice from the speaker.
"He didn't cooperate. He's down."
"Pity. Sedate him and bring him in then, let's give this one one last chance before we're forced to erase him. I want to talk to him personally."
"Roger, boss."
"Good work, Max."
"Thanks."
He went to hang up the phone, but much to his dismay, it lifted itself up out of his hands, and then crushed itself to pieces in midair. He covered his eyes against the debris, and then as if realizing his blunder, quickly looked over to where Ryan had been left unconscious. Now on his knees, one hand holding himself up off the ground, and the other outstretched towards Max, Ryan was awake with blood pouring down his forehead and a devil's glare in his eyes.
"Fuck," lamented Max, and before he could even move, he was pinned up against the opposite wall.
"Quite the strength you've got there," rasped Ryan, as he got to his feet, one hand now clutching his head to try to help fend off the pain. He coughed and spit up blood as he stepped forward. "But I can do that too," he finished, augmenting his strength with his power to deliver a monstrous blow to Max's face that would have sent him flying if not for the telekinetic hold on him.
"Wait," coughed Max, "We could use someone like you."
"Should have thought of that before you went and fucked things up for yourself. Who are you, and who's we?"
"I can't tell you that."
"Then what good are you," retorted Ryan through gritted teeth, the pain threatening to make him lose his concentration. "Give my regards to the others like me your people have squashed. You'll be joining them shortly."
"Wait!" screamed Max, getting frantic now.
Ryan stepped back, feeling like making a show of it, and readied a new trick he'd learned recently. Focusing his power, he created an invisble blade that extended from his arm, and then slowly gathered dust from the ground around it's edges, giving it visible shape. Ryan smiled as he completed it, pointed it towards Max and watched him struggle in morbid anticipation of what was to come. He readied himself to charge, but before he took the first step, he felt something sharp hit his leg, knocking him off balance. The extra pain and shock caused him to lose his concentration and the blade dissipated, along with his hold on Max as he stumbled to the ground.
"What the," Ryan mumbled, looking down at his leg and seeing a dart sticking out.
"Tranquilizer," offered Max.
Ryan was the one in a panic now, and he could feel the effects of the drug setting in. In a last ditch effort, he looked up to see where the shot came from, noticed the sniper, and pulled him down off the roof towards him in one swift motion, the gun landing a few feet from where he sat. He tried to pull the gun to himself with TK, but Max was ahead of him and stepped on the gun, shaking his head.
"Sorry friend," he remarked, "but today you lose."
Ryan's eyelids were getting heavy now, and he was losing control of his body. He sank back on the ground and collapsed, unable to do anything anymore. The last thing he saw before his consciousness faded once again was another man running towards him.
"Late," he mouthed before he finally passed out.
Max looked over too late, and another fist caught him in the face, sending him to the ground. Seguin was now standing over top of him, tranquilizer gun in hand, pointing it towards him.
"You," stated Max with a bewildered look, "you were supposed to be dead."
"Sorry to disappoint, but that won't be happening anytime soon. Goodnight." Seguin fired the other remaining tranq dart into Max's chest and tossed the gun aside. Without waiting to let it kick in, he turned, picked up Ryan in one quick motion, and started to high tail it out of there. He was moving swiftly enough for one carrying another person, and after running for 100 feet or so, he looked back to see Max face down on the concrete. He sighed to let loose the build up of excitment in him, knowing he was now safe, but it proved to be a short respite. As he turned turned back towards the parking lot, a huge explosion engulfed the road in front of him, the shock of it nearly knocking him over.
"Man, what have these guys gotten themselves into while I've been gone," commented Seguin as he watched the flames rise up.
“What's up man?” came a familiar voice from nearby. Ryan spun to see Greg approaching him. “Mind if I grab some Subway?” he asked.
Ryan shrugged. "Go for it. I'm not really hungry though.”
Greg nodded in response and made way for the Subway lineup, only to change his mind and hit the Mr. Sub where the line was one tenth the size. As Ryan stood and watched him, another voice called out to him.
“So where are these other people you were talking about?” asked Lyle, “please don't tell me you're the only one, and you think the voices in your head are other people.”
Ryan smirked, and then pointed over to Greg in line. “I assure you,” he responded, “not just voices. That’s Greg over there.”
Lyle looked a little reassured at that notion. “Okay, I’m going to grab a taco then. I need to clean my colon.”
“Wonderful,” mused Ryan as he walked over to a table and sat down. It wasn’t long before Greg was back.
“So really, what’s up?” he started again, as he placed his tray down on the table. “Why’d you want to meet Seguin and I?”
"It's more than just you and Seguin,” Ryan offered as he gestured towards Lyle talking to the girl at the Taco Bell counter. “I ran into that guy over there the other day. He's like us."
"Like us as in attractive, funny and awesome? Cause that's cool and all, but I'd rather you brought a girl out to join our group of friends,” smirked Greg.
“A comedian today eh? You know what I mean"
"I try,” said Greg with a short bow. “Okay, so when you say like us, what exactly can he do?"
"Well, that I'm not sure. But I did see him disintegrate someone,” recalled Ryan as he looked over to see Lyle heading his way.
"Disintegrate?” A look of bewilderment crossed Greg’s face as Lyle sat down at the table, taco in hand.
"I don't care what anybody says,” interrupted Lyle, “Taco bell is good for you. It's cheaper than getting a colonic."
Ryan laughed to break the tension. "If you say so."
Noticing Greg’s look of confusion, Lyle chimed in again. "No, I don't make gas if that's what you're wondering. Well, toxic that is."
Greg laughed a little uneasily.
"Figured out what kind of bike you ride yet?" Ryan joked.
I have an idea,” replied Lyle as he fiddled with some coins in his pocket, “but I'm a little apprehensive about going into depth on it. If the wrong person were to found out then something bad could happen." Lyle paused a minute to lean back in his chair before finishing. “It’s sufficed to say that I'm affected by the type of light I'm in."
Nothing is said for a moment, as Ryan and Greg both took a second to take in what they’d just heard.
"Light, you say," quipped Ryan eventually as he looked over at Greg with a mischievous smile, who smirked a little bit in response. Lyle looked genuinely confused.
“Well, that's very interesting, um... I don't think I even know your name. I'm Greg by the way," he gestured as he extended a hand for Lyle, only to retract it quickly a moment later when he remembered Ryan’s comment from earlier. Lyle didn’t miss a beat responding.
"Don't worry. I'm inside, I can't blow you up if that's what you're thinking. I'm Lyle, disgruntled programmer and occasional heavy drinker," he exclaimed as he shook Greg’s hand. Greg seemed to relax a little.
"Nice to meet you Lyle, disgruntled programmer and occasional heavy drinker. So, you know what Ryan can do, and you’re probably wondering what I can do? Well, I mean, even I don't really have a firm grip on it, but as far as I can tell, I can become/control light to some degree. That's why I found the fact that your powers also related to light interesting."
At hearing that, Lyle stood up suddenly, looking slightly alarmed. "Maybe this was a bad idea. I don't mean to offend either of you but I think we may have a problem if you use your powers near me. I should go..."
“Sit,” replied Ryan calmly as he shook his head. "No one's going to be using any powers right now. Relax." With a sigh, Lyle nodded and sat down again.
"I sure hope you know what you're doing. I don't have much control over what I can do. I'm just a little uneasy being near someone who can make light."
"Well, I've got that aspect under control, so it won't be happening without me wanting it to happen,” assured Greg. “So, how long have you been able to do whatever it is you exactly that you can do, Mr. Lyle?"
"Actually my first name is Lyle,” corrected Lyle, “my last name is McManus. As for your question, I'm not one hundred percent sure. I just started to notice odd things happening the last few days, but my invisibility could've been going on for much longer than I thought."
"Invisibility... interesting," mused Ryan. Greg chucked a bit.
"Very much so. Oh, and sorry, I have the habit of taking people's first names and using Mister before them, don't ask me why. So, you can go invisible eh? That's very cool. We're the first people you've met that can do things as well?"
"Well unless being a jerk is a power, than yes,” joked Lyle with a little smirk, as he continued fiddling with the coins in his pocket. “I still don't know what to make of all this to be honest."
Greg laughed. “Well, I can't say we've had much more luck running into others of our kind. So far there's us, and our friend Seguin. You know where he is, by the way Ryan?”
Ryan pulled out a cell phone from his pocket and examined it for a moment before looking up and shaking his head. "It looks like he won't be joining us today."
"Weird. I haven't heard from him at all for like a week.”
"Well if he's your friend I'm pretty sure he wouldn't ditch you,” reasoned Lyle. “He may drop in, you never know"
"Maybe, but I won't count on it,” responded Ryan sternly. “I haven't heard anything from him at all. In any case, you're probably wondering why I actually brought us all here." Both Lyle and Greg nodded. "Well, I've had a lot of time to think lately. It seems to me that we've been given a chance here to actually be something with these powers."
Greg nodded again in approval.
"We can sit around and question why and how, but in the end, this is it, this is now who we are,” continued Ryan. “We have it in our power to do anything we want now, and that's a startling discovery."
"You should be a motivational speaker,” interrupted Lyle. “What do you propose we do with these powers? I can go in the womens bathroom, you can lift their skirt, and Greg can blind them so we can all have a peek."
"I was thinking on a larger scale, but remind me to get us to try that sometime," said Ryan with a grin.
"So, what exactly are you proposing, Ryan?" asked Greg.
"I'm saying that we should work together. Just think what we could do. No one could stand in our way.
Haven't you ever wanted to be rich and powerful? Well, we could be."
"It is tempting, I'm not going to argue that,” replied Lyle, cracking his neck. “I practically lost my job a few days ago, but is using our powers for personal gain really a good idea? I don't know about you but I can't dodge bullets, and I hate to break it to you, but that’s what cops have."
Greg rolled his eyes. "Rich and powerful are one thing, but exactly how we do that with these powers is another. It's not like just because we can, we should go rob banks."
"I can take care of bullets," offered Ryan with a smirk. “And why not? Why shouldn't we have what we want? Who's to say down the road that we all aren't wanted anyway. Bet it'll seem like a good idea to have stuck together then."
"But if we stay low profile we won't have to worry about being wanted,” reasoned Lyle again. “If we do something, that'll draw attention. I'm sure I can hide better than most right now, but I think we gotta ask ourselves, if we decide to do something, how do we not get caught? Either way, I think the grouping together is a wise idea if by chance we do get figured out."
Greg leaned forward in his chair. "I'm clearly all for grouping together, I mean, as long as it's like the Avengers, not the lame Fantastic Four. But I'm not about to do it just to go out and take things. Oh, and about that wanted thing," recalled Greg as he pulled out the picture from his coat and slid it towards Ryan. "Someone out there’s looking for you."
Ryan snatched up the picture and took a good look at it. "Where did you get this?"
"I had a run in the other night with these government guys. They drugged me with some drug that temporarily took away my powers, and tried to recruit me. It seems like they're after you."
Ryan slammed the picture down on the table. "The government knows about us?"
Lyle chimed in again. "You’re worried about the government? Come on, they couldn't even find Osama bin laden, what makes you think they can find us?"
“These guys seemed very secretive. Like beyond CSIS secret."
Ryan sat back in his chair and let out a deep sigh. "I'm not going to end up in some test tube."
"I don't think you'd fit in one," joked Lyle again with a laugh.
"What's to say you won't be next?" snapped Ryan back.
Lyle shrugged. "If they try catching me inside. I disappear. If they do it during the day, I'll run away. If they try anything at night, well you saw what happened to that mugger."
“You need to hide,” suggested Greg. “These guys are good. I was lucky to escape without having my memory wiped. They have people like us working for them. I don't think it's as easy as we think it's going to be."
Lyle’s calm demeanour faded. “What do mean like us? This grouping up thing keeps sounding better and better."
"Well, the one I ran into said he had more people of our "unique" type that worked for him, and the girl who was going to wipe my memory was definitely of the powered variety.”
"Well if she had powers how did you get away?" inquired Lyle.
Greg grinned. "Well, let's just say I got lucky. Plus, my powers can make me pretty hard to touch." Jokes aside, I'd be up for teaming up, but you should know I'm not in for doing things just to get what we want. You should know that especially, Ryan."
"What we want and what we need may be one and the same very soon," stated Ryan. "If we plan to be able to protect ourselves, we're going to need resources. I'm not going to take from the poor to get them or anything, but I certainly think that the rich have some to spare. Better to go into this prepared and together rather than try and do it all ourselves and end up serving whatever fuckin' purposes these guys have for us."
Lyle looked confused. “What are we going to need exactly? Like I'm assuming we really don't need weapons, so the only other thing I can think of would be money, but if you think about it, why would we need that if we can just take what we need?"
"Everything is easier with money," quipped Ryan in return.
"Speaking of that,” observed Lyle, “I should buy some stuff while I'm here for a costume. I'm not doing anything unless I'm disguised. I don't want to end up in the papers like Ryan."
Ryan shifted uneasily in his seat at that comment and took a quick look around to see if they were being watched.
"Ya, that's how they found me,” recollected Greg, “cause I went out without a costume at first."
Lyle smiled. "Well it's a good thing I'm learning from your mistakes. I don't want these guys to find me. That mugger had me worried enough."
"In any case,” interrupted Ryan, “it's good to see I can count on you guys. Before we make any plans, I want to talk to Seguin first. Until then, we should probably keep our heads down. We should also probably figure out how we can contact each other easily if the need arises."
"Bat signal anyone?" mused Lyle with a short chuckle.
Greg laughed too. "Just what I was thinking. Actually, you could probably just use my cell for now, until we come up with something better that is. Now, if Seguin were here, he could just be our mental walkie-talkie."
Ryan took his cell out of his pocket again and stared at it for a moment, a look of incredulity crossing his face. Startled, he set it on the table next to them. "I'll use a pay phone if I need to call you. Doesn't seem safe carrying around something they could use to find me."
"Hate to be a pain but I don't suppose we could continue this conversation outside?” questioned Lyle urgently, his hands starting to fade from view. “I'm having difficulty staying visible."
Ryan shook his head. "We're nearly done. Lyle, I’ll just need your number."
"As will I,” mentioned Greg, “ I should be going anyhow, gotta meet someone for some coffee."
"Just call my home number,” offered Lyle as he pulled out a couple business cards from his wallet, giving one to Greg and Ryan. “I'm not going to be at work for a few weeks."
Ryan stood. "Sounds good. I'll be in touch with our next move as soon as I find Seguin... Or perhaps he'll be in touch." Ryan laughed. “Bloody telepaths.."
Lyle sighed. "Something tells me I'm not going to like this Seguin guy. Last thing I need is someone going into my head." Ryan smirked.
"Well guys, since we're done, I'm leaving,” stated Greg as he stood up and began to walk away. “Let me know if you hear from Seguin, Ryan. And keep your head up. Those guys are probably still looking for you pretty heavily."
Ryan nodded. "Until next time gentlemen, be safe."
He watched as Greg left through another exit and Lyle faded to invisibility before heading to the entrance from which he'd entered earlier. Pushing through the doors, he stopped and leaned against the cold concrete walls once outside. It was cold out, but since he'd learned to shield himself from the wind, he didn't mind it so much. He needed time to think. The world around him seemed to fade away as he drifted into his own mind.
So many new questions now without answers. Who were these new enemies he'd made? Why exactly were they after him? Things were going to get difficult in between the police and now this. He'd had a hard enough time staying undetected on the radar for the last couple of days with only one enemy. He hated living like this, and he knew he needed the support of his friends to lift him out of the hole he'd dug for himself. They couldn't know the real reasoning for what he'd done though, else they were liable to desert him too. A life of secrets he knew he was doomed to lead, if he could lead a life at all.
Scenarios played out in his mind as future versions of himself found themselves in various dilemnas and worked their way out of them. It was easy to be content imaginging yourself winning and getting what you wanted when it was all in your head, and lately Ryan had spent a lot of time in that place. It couldn't last forever though. The sound of the doors to the mall being locked roused him from the dream this time, and immediately he felt the weight of his problems take it's seat on his shoulders once again.
"Fuck," he mumbled to himself, cursing his own situation. "I need to find Seguin fast. I've had enough of this running. Hopefully he understands."
He began walking out into the parking lot, trying to find a deserted area where he could take flight and not draw much attention to himself. He looked around and saw only a single person walking to his left wearing a blue jacket and sporting a baseball cap. He smiled at his fortune, and headed for a the small enclosed section ahead of him that lead to another entrance to the mall; rounding the corner would put him out of sight of the man. As Ryan approached the turn, he looked back to try to spot the man and was startled to see that he was now roughly 30 paces behind him and looking right at him. Ryan looked away and rounded the corner, pausing for a moment to decide what he should do.
"He's probably one of them," he thought to himself as he levitated roughly 15 feet in the air, guessing the man would not think to look up. It was time to send them a message he decided, Vengeance was not to be taken lightly - Especially not by some chump in a baseball hat. As expected, the burly looking man wearing the cap marked with an H rounded the corner and stopped, looking dumbfounded when he saw there was nothing between him and the doors 30 feet ahead.
"Looking for me?" mused Ryan as he descended behind him. Without bothering to turn, the man replied.
"I have a proposition for you."
"Not interested," Ryan snapped back.
"Pity."
Catching Ryan completely off guard, the man spun and delivered a huge backhand to the chest that sent him flying towards the wall on the other side of the walkway. He had used telekinesis to protect himself, but was not prepared for the force of it, and the speed at which he struck the wall stole the consciousness from his body, leaving him tumbling to the ground in a heap. The man stared at Ryan for a moment before shaking his head and taking a cell phone from his coat jacket. He dialed a number and brought the phone up to his ear.
"What news?" came an impatient voice from the speaker.
"He didn't cooperate. He's down."
"Pity. Sedate him and bring him in then, let's give this one one last chance before we're forced to erase him. I want to talk to him personally."
"Roger, boss."
"Good work, Max."
"Thanks."
He went to hang up the phone, but much to his dismay, it lifted itself up out of his hands, and then crushed itself to pieces in midair. He covered his eyes against the debris, and then as if realizing his blunder, quickly looked over to where Ryan had been left unconscious. Now on his knees, one hand holding himself up off the ground, and the other outstretched towards Max, Ryan was awake with blood pouring down his forehead and a devil's glare in his eyes.
"Fuck," lamented Max, and before he could even move, he was pinned up against the opposite wall.
"Quite the strength you've got there," rasped Ryan, as he got to his feet, one hand now clutching his head to try to help fend off the pain. He coughed and spit up blood as he stepped forward. "But I can do that too," he finished, augmenting his strength with his power to deliver a monstrous blow to Max's face that would have sent him flying if not for the telekinetic hold on him.
"Wait," coughed Max, "We could use someone like you."
"Should have thought of that before you went and fucked things up for yourself. Who are you, and who's we?"
"I can't tell you that."
"Then what good are you," retorted Ryan through gritted teeth, the pain threatening to make him lose his concentration. "Give my regards to the others like me your people have squashed. You'll be joining them shortly."
"Wait!" screamed Max, getting frantic now.
Ryan stepped back, feeling like making a show of it, and readied a new trick he'd learned recently. Focusing his power, he created an invisble blade that extended from his arm, and then slowly gathered dust from the ground around it's edges, giving it visible shape. Ryan smiled as he completed it, pointed it towards Max and watched him struggle in morbid anticipation of what was to come. He readied himself to charge, but before he took the first step, he felt something sharp hit his leg, knocking him off balance. The extra pain and shock caused him to lose his concentration and the blade dissipated, along with his hold on Max as he stumbled to the ground.
"What the," Ryan mumbled, looking down at his leg and seeing a dart sticking out.
"Tranquilizer," offered Max.
Ryan was the one in a panic now, and he could feel the effects of the drug setting in. In a last ditch effort, he looked up to see where the shot came from, noticed the sniper, and pulled him down off the roof towards him in one swift motion, the gun landing a few feet from where he sat. He tried to pull the gun to himself with TK, but Max was ahead of him and stepped on the gun, shaking his head.
"Sorry friend," he remarked, "but today you lose."
Ryan's eyelids were getting heavy now, and he was losing control of his body. He sank back on the ground and collapsed, unable to do anything anymore. The last thing he saw before his consciousness faded once again was another man running towards him.
"Late," he mouthed before he finally passed out.
Max looked over too late, and another fist caught him in the face, sending him to the ground. Seguin was now standing over top of him, tranquilizer gun in hand, pointing it towards him.
"You," stated Max with a bewildered look, "you were supposed to be dead."
"Sorry to disappoint, but that won't be happening anytime soon. Goodnight." Seguin fired the other remaining tranq dart into Max's chest and tossed the gun aside. Without waiting to let it kick in, he turned, picked up Ryan in one quick motion, and started to high tail it out of there. He was moving swiftly enough for one carrying another person, and after running for 100 feet or so, he looked back to see Max face down on the concrete. He sighed to let loose the build up of excitment in him, knowing he was now safe, but it proved to be a short respite. As he turned turned back towards the parking lot, a huge explosion engulfed the road in front of him, the shock of it nearly knocking him over.
"Man, what have these guys gotten themselves into while I've been gone," commented Seguin as he watched the flames rise up.
Swarley - Issue 5: Questions
The coffee helped keep me awake. I was sitting in a Williams, the sun having just risen after a long and sleepless night, wondering if this would be one of the last times I would be able to do this. I knew I'd chosen my fate when I left Aimee untouched last night, free to be able to tell the world that Ryan Swartz had killed - that Ryan Swartz was Vengeance. I didn't have a choice though, there was no way I could have done anything to my Aimee. A killer I was, but cold hearted I was not. I could still see her face, her blonde hair a mess as she smiled her perfect smile at me making me smile in kind as I brought the cup of coffee to my lips again. It pained me every time I realized I would never see it again.
Life was too short for regrets though, that was a lesson I'd learned a long time ago. You could wallow in your own sadness for an eternity and accomplish nothing, or you could just move on. It was hard, but I was choosing the latter. What faced me now however was daunting. When news hit today, I would be a rogue, running from the law with no place to go. Sure, I had power on my side, but I didn't want to have to do anything unneccessary. I deemed fighting the police unneccessary. I had to be crafty, but that was hard to do without some source of inspiration. I could read some comic books, but hell, I wasn't that hard up for ideas.
I'd had some of my own though when I met Lyle earlier that morning and decided to have a meeting in 3 days time with all of us "freaks". The outcome of the it all would prove very important for me - I didn't need opposition, but there was a potential to make some there. I honestly wondered if they would be interested in what I had to offer. I was convinced that I could swing Lyle to my side, at least for a little while, but after that it was anyone's guess. Greg on the other hand would prove difficult, and he posed my biggest challenge for my proposal. I knew I would be able to count on Seguin, but I hadn't been able to reach him lately, so I had my doubts that he would even get my email. We would see when the time came I guessed. I mulled over some potential outcomes of the meeting for a couple more minutes until another thought dawned on me. I had left my costume in my car at my house.
"Fuck," I swore openly, the two other patrons inside the williams not paying me any attention. I couldn't just leave it there, I loved that outfit. I would have to go get it, and that meant doing something rash. I could wager that police would still be on the scene, I just had to hope that they hadn't hauled it down to the station yet. attacking a few lone officers was preferable to storming a station. I grabbed my cup of coffee, stood up and walked outside to find a pay phone where I could call a cab. In 10 minutes I was on my way.
I ordered the cabby to drop me off at the entrance to my subdivision, paid him and hopped out of the car. I walked the short distance I needed to until I could see the scene, then slipped into the backyard of some of the neighbours across the street. I levitated myself and hid behind the rooftop where I could observe the men below. The police were still there doing their whole investigation routine, which was great, but much to my dismay, I couldn't tell if Aimee was still around. I would assume they would have taken her down to the station for hours upon hours of explaination, but I had no way of knowing. I felt bad for her, but I had a bigger problem. There was no way I could storm down there with even the slightest possibility that she might be around - I didn't want to see how she would look at me. I would have to wait until they confiscated my costume from my car, and then ambush theirs when it went to leave. Luckily for me, it seemed those were the next two things on their agenda. A rather chubby looking officer walked up to my car and opened the back door. After poking his head in and rummaging around for a moment or two, he emerged with the bag that contained my costume. He mouthed some words I couldn't make out to a fellow officer, who took the bag from him, marked it with something and placed it in the backseat of their own car. It was only a matter of time now.
Roughly twenty minutes passed and still nothing had happened. It wasn't snowing, but it sure as hell was cold, and if not for my ability to shield myself from the wind, I'd have been frozen solid. There were only 4 officers still walking about below, and they had all ceased doing anything but talking. I could vagely make out the one who seemed to be in charge - a tall man with a thick mustache who the others seemed to be pretty fond of. I felt like going down there and ripping that stupid mustache off his face for taking so long. Before I did anything rash however, he decided to send two of his officers back to the station. As they got in their car, I readied myself for what was to come. I dropped down to the ground and started walking towards the road that they would reach in only a moment's time.
I nodded to the car as they passed me by en route to the stop sign not 20 feet more ahead of them. I arched right and headed towards them. As they hit the stop sign, I lifted my arm and used my power to ensure that the car wouldn't be moving from that spot. I laughed a little as I saw their wheels spinning in place when they tried to accelerate into the intersection. I waited until the chubby one in the passenger seat got out of the car before walking right up. I lowered my arm to look less conspicuous, using my mind to keep the block up now.
"Having some troubles, Officer?" I questioned, knowing full well what the problem was.
"Yea, we seem to be stuck," he said, looking rather confused as he examined the car.
"I know," I said as I looked into the backseat of the car, spotting my bag sitting neatly in the middle. The officer looked at me with a blank expression for a moment, obviously trying to figure out what I'd meant and what I was doing before responding.
"We can handle ourselves, why don't you step away from the vehicle."
"No, that just won't do," I mocked, "you've got something I want."
The officer reached for his gun, but I was ahead of him. I grabbed it from it's holster and brought it over to my hand in the blink of an eye. I heard the driver getting out of the car, and when he pointed his gun at me over the top of the car yelling, "Freeze," I took his too. I was now holding the guns of both officers in my hands, watching as they stared back at me dumbfounded. I loved that look.
"Listen," I continued, "I'm not here to hurt anyone, I just want my things. Cooperate, and it'll all go smoothly. Open the back door or I'll open it for you," I motioned to the chubby one in front of me. He looked over at the driver who nodded, and then tossed him his keys. He opened the door and stepped aside.
"Thank you," I said as I pulled the bag from inside out to me with TK and hung it over my shoulder. "One last thing gentlemen, I'll be needing those keys. Can't have you following me after all." They seemed to be getting a little sour over all the demands now, what with the other officers only a block away and completely unaware, but the chubby one still obeyed. He tossed the keys to me and I caught them mid air with TK and dropped them into my pocket.
"Excellent," I concluded, "now, I have no use for these things myself, so I'll leave them at the base of the stop sign at the entrance to this subdivision. I wouldn't advise following me for now, I wouldn't want to have to do anything rash."
I winked for effect as they stood there uneasily.
"Alright Gentlemen, it was a pleasure doing business."
With that, I levitated and took off at the fastest speed I could go towards the entrance to the subdivision, probably only 100 feet away from where we were standing. When I reached it, I dropped the goods and looked back at the officers, who were now running back towards the others at my house. I doubted they would be so bold to come after me after what had just happened, but you can bet chief mustache would be getting an earful for the next 5 minutes. I laughed a little at that thought before taking off and flying away from the roads in order to keep under the radar, my costume secured safely at my side. I wondered how much of a habit this kind of thing would become for me soon, but I knew only the meeting in 3 days could answer that for me. In 3 days I would decide my fate.
Life was too short for regrets though, that was a lesson I'd learned a long time ago. You could wallow in your own sadness for an eternity and accomplish nothing, or you could just move on. It was hard, but I was choosing the latter. What faced me now however was daunting. When news hit today, I would be a rogue, running from the law with no place to go. Sure, I had power on my side, but I didn't want to have to do anything unneccessary. I deemed fighting the police unneccessary. I had to be crafty, but that was hard to do without some source of inspiration. I could read some comic books, but hell, I wasn't that hard up for ideas.
I'd had some of my own though when I met Lyle earlier that morning and decided to have a meeting in 3 days time with all of us "freaks". The outcome of the it all would prove very important for me - I didn't need opposition, but there was a potential to make some there. I honestly wondered if they would be interested in what I had to offer. I was convinced that I could swing Lyle to my side, at least for a little while, but after that it was anyone's guess. Greg on the other hand would prove difficult, and he posed my biggest challenge for my proposal. I knew I would be able to count on Seguin, but I hadn't been able to reach him lately, so I had my doubts that he would even get my email. We would see when the time came I guessed. I mulled over some potential outcomes of the meeting for a couple more minutes until another thought dawned on me. I had left my costume in my car at my house.
"Fuck," I swore openly, the two other patrons inside the williams not paying me any attention. I couldn't just leave it there, I loved that outfit. I would have to go get it, and that meant doing something rash. I could wager that police would still be on the scene, I just had to hope that they hadn't hauled it down to the station yet. attacking a few lone officers was preferable to storming a station. I grabbed my cup of coffee, stood up and walked outside to find a pay phone where I could call a cab. In 10 minutes I was on my way.
I ordered the cabby to drop me off at the entrance to my subdivision, paid him and hopped out of the car. I walked the short distance I needed to until I could see the scene, then slipped into the backyard of some of the neighbours across the street. I levitated myself and hid behind the rooftop where I could observe the men below. The police were still there doing their whole investigation routine, which was great, but much to my dismay, I couldn't tell if Aimee was still around. I would assume they would have taken her down to the station for hours upon hours of explaination, but I had no way of knowing. I felt bad for her, but I had a bigger problem. There was no way I could storm down there with even the slightest possibility that she might be around - I didn't want to see how she would look at me. I would have to wait until they confiscated my costume from my car, and then ambush theirs when it went to leave. Luckily for me, it seemed those were the next two things on their agenda. A rather chubby looking officer walked up to my car and opened the back door. After poking his head in and rummaging around for a moment or two, he emerged with the bag that contained my costume. He mouthed some words I couldn't make out to a fellow officer, who took the bag from him, marked it with something and placed it in the backseat of their own car. It was only a matter of time now.
Roughly twenty minutes passed and still nothing had happened. It wasn't snowing, but it sure as hell was cold, and if not for my ability to shield myself from the wind, I'd have been frozen solid. There were only 4 officers still walking about below, and they had all ceased doing anything but talking. I could vagely make out the one who seemed to be in charge - a tall man with a thick mustache who the others seemed to be pretty fond of. I felt like going down there and ripping that stupid mustache off his face for taking so long. Before I did anything rash however, he decided to send two of his officers back to the station. As they got in their car, I readied myself for what was to come. I dropped down to the ground and started walking towards the road that they would reach in only a moment's time.
I nodded to the car as they passed me by en route to the stop sign not 20 feet more ahead of them. I arched right and headed towards them. As they hit the stop sign, I lifted my arm and used my power to ensure that the car wouldn't be moving from that spot. I laughed a little as I saw their wheels spinning in place when they tried to accelerate into the intersection. I waited until the chubby one in the passenger seat got out of the car before walking right up. I lowered my arm to look less conspicuous, using my mind to keep the block up now.
"Having some troubles, Officer?" I questioned, knowing full well what the problem was.
"Yea, we seem to be stuck," he said, looking rather confused as he examined the car.
"I know," I said as I looked into the backseat of the car, spotting my bag sitting neatly in the middle. The officer looked at me with a blank expression for a moment, obviously trying to figure out what I'd meant and what I was doing before responding.
"We can handle ourselves, why don't you step away from the vehicle."
"No, that just won't do," I mocked, "you've got something I want."
The officer reached for his gun, but I was ahead of him. I grabbed it from it's holster and brought it over to my hand in the blink of an eye. I heard the driver getting out of the car, and when he pointed his gun at me over the top of the car yelling, "Freeze," I took his too. I was now holding the guns of both officers in my hands, watching as they stared back at me dumbfounded. I loved that look.
"Listen," I continued, "I'm not here to hurt anyone, I just want my things. Cooperate, and it'll all go smoothly. Open the back door or I'll open it for you," I motioned to the chubby one in front of me. He looked over at the driver who nodded, and then tossed him his keys. He opened the door and stepped aside.
"Thank you," I said as I pulled the bag from inside out to me with TK and hung it over my shoulder. "One last thing gentlemen, I'll be needing those keys. Can't have you following me after all." They seemed to be getting a little sour over all the demands now, what with the other officers only a block away and completely unaware, but the chubby one still obeyed. He tossed the keys to me and I caught them mid air with TK and dropped them into my pocket.
"Excellent," I concluded, "now, I have no use for these things myself, so I'll leave them at the base of the stop sign at the entrance to this subdivision. I wouldn't advise following me for now, I wouldn't want to have to do anything rash."
I winked for effect as they stood there uneasily.
"Alright Gentlemen, it was a pleasure doing business."
With that, I levitated and took off at the fastest speed I could go towards the entrance to the subdivision, probably only 100 feet away from where we were standing. When I reached it, I dropped the goods and looked back at the officers, who were now running back towards the others at my house. I doubted they would be so bold to come after me after what had just happened, but you can bet chief mustache would be getting an earful for the next 5 minutes. I laughed a little at that thought before taking off and flying away from the roads in order to keep under the radar, my costume secured safely at my side. I wondered how much of a habit this kind of thing would become for me soon, but I knew only the meeting in 3 days could answer that for me. In 3 days I would decide my fate.
Swarley - Issue 4: Blue Skies Gone Black
I'd never killed a man in the two weeks I'd been masquerading around as Vengeance, but I had definately felt the desire to. It was easy to get caught up in the moment, lose yourself to the feeling of absolute superiority and do something rash. Fortunately, I'd been able to control and contain it to a reasonable level in the past, and I was having to do the same today. I could smell the fear on this one as I held him motionless against his will and made him listen to my monologue. The little white collared worm had been responsible for the layoffs of over 1,000 people, all for some extra profits for him and the higher ups in his company, and I was here to make him pay for it. These people thought they were untouchable, secured by their money and power; it gave me so much pleasure to be able to rip that sense from them with only a few gestures of my hand.
In a matter befitting of his character, the man began to beg for his life when I held my handblade up to his neck, offering me whatever I wanted in return. These people were so daft - I come under the flag of rooting out their corruption, and in turn he tries to use it to get out of the situation. It angered me, but I knew it was only natural, so I was able to stay my blade.
"Have you not listened to a word I've said, Mr. Greaves?" I responded. "Neither your money nor your power means anything to me. My only concern is that you attone for what you've done."
"Of course," he whimpered, "I'll do anything that you want."
"Yes, you will, Mr. Greaves, because if you don't, there's not a single person in the world that can stop me from exacting my own brand of vengeance for the people you've wronged. I expect we have an understanding."
"Y-y-yes," he studdered, "I w-w-will do what you asked."
"Good," I stated, releasing my telekinetic hold on him and watching as he fell to the ground and cowered away. "I hope for your sake, Mr. Greaves, that we don't meet again."
Without looking back, I turned and walked out of his house, levitating myself once I was back outside again. In truth, levitation had been one of the hardest things to learn. Propelling other objects was an incredible amount easier than propelling yourself. Normally, when drawing on my power, I could use a hand or body part as a focus to make it clear to the energy what I wanted it to do, but in the case of levitation, it wasn't so. I had to train my mind to push under and around me with precise amounts of force so as not to fly in aimless directions or at uncontrollable speeds. Levitation was one of my more painful lessons - impatience and overconfidence had left me with a large bruises on my shoulder and hip that were taking forever to heal. Losing control and falling 10 feet onto pavement was not one of my brighter moments. However, in the end, I had developed a mastery of it, and I was now able to move at speeds that slightly exceeded running, which I was currently doing as I glided over treetops on my way back to my car.
The past couple weeks had been a very interesting time. I had put my figurative boot up the figurative asses of over half a dozen corrupt individuals since my first outing with Seguin. It was addicting. Still, I had to be careful - the papers didn't really know what to make of me, and the cops were looking for me. I was hoping for a more inviting reception from the general public, but I guess some people didn't approve of my methods. Some hailed me a hero, others a freak. My favorite was one reporter who had called me out to be a possible member of the horsemen of the apocalypse. Nevermind the fact that it didn't even make sense, considering my actions, but I also didn't have a horse. Sometimes I wondered why I bothered helping out society. I knew though; I wasn't doing it for them, I was doing it for me.
As I approached a familiar clearing out in the middle of nowhere, I started into a slow decent. Parked in front of the abandoned looking forest trail, my little white car awaited me patiently, hidden away from the rest of the world. I had come to the realization after my first time as Vengeance that I would need a way to change in secrecy and get home again as the regular Ryan, and in the couple weeks that I'd been using this place, I had still never seen another person even close to it. As I touched down to the ground and began to slip off my layers of black, I didn't even bother to look around to make sure no one was watching - I knew there was no one here. I stripped off the final layer, revealing my regular clothes underneath and stuffed my costume into a bag in the crowded backseat of my car before climbing into the drivers seat. I was just Ryan again.
It was hard to adjust back to your average joe sometimes after returning from adventures as a powerful avenger. It was a completely different mindset, and I'd almost found myself talking like Vengeance to Aimee a couple times when I first started. I made sure to prep myself every time now before I went inside my house. Just a couple minutes of reminding myself who I was supposed to be usually worked wonders, and I felt it would today too as I sat in my driveway talking to myself. "I'm a leaf on the wind," I said quietly as I got out of my car and walked up to the front door. I placed my hand on the doorknob and paused; I could hear Aimee inside talking to someone. "Odd," I thought, she said she might be here tonight, but not with someone else. Not dwelling on it, I twisted the knob and stepped inside. My stomach sank to my feet when I realized who it was.
Staring back at me was the face of my greatest sin. In the hallway stood Gary, the giant of a man whose life I'd ruined to better my own, and beside him a distraught looking Aimee.
"It's about time you showed up," Gary started, his hate filled eyes boring into me. This was bad - real bad, and I needed a plan of action quick. I decided to act the fool.
"What are you talking about? What's this guy doing here Aimee?" I questioned, looking confused.
"Don't act like you don't know, you prick. What is it you call yourself now? Vengeance?"
"Wait, what?" I lied, "First of all, what's that freak from the papers have to do with me? Second of all, who are you to be insulting me in my own house?"
"Cut the crap!" he shouted, "you ruined my life you asshole. I know it's you, I just know it. Now that you're here talking to me, I know for sure. I could never forget that voice - your voice."
I was stunned. I had never even thought of changing my voice for the recording. Obviously, that had been a grand error. I decided to keep up my act.
"My voice? What the hell are you talking about?"
"Is it true?" Aimee chimed in quietly, "is what he's saying true, Ryan?"
"Is what true!?" I almost yelled back. "I have no idea what this is about!"
"Don't lie to me!" Gary shouted again, extending a finger in my direction. "It ain't no coincidence what's happened around here and you know it. I thought I was a nut job for awhile after I was assaulted and told to leave everything I know by what I could only assume was God. Fancy this, when I start watchin' the news again and see this freak going around, using that same voodoo junk he used on me against other people. Thankfully, you're really predictable, so once I decided to come back and get my revenge, it was easy to find you."
"What the hell are you t.."
"Shut the fuck up!" he interrupted, "I'm not finished. Here I find you, dating my girl, and I've been watching you. I see you do your magic for her, and I seen you coming home late every night that that Vengeance character is out and about. So, I approach Aimee, tell her my story, and get her to let me in here to wait for you.
"You believed him Aimee??" I asked her, looking dumbfounded.
"You've been so weird lately, I didn't know what to think! I needed to know if what he was saying was true."
"I can't believe you would even listen to this Aimes, this is ridiculous!"
"I said, stop fucking lying!" Gary uttered before stepping forward and delivering a strong punch to my face, turning me away and sending me to my knees.
"Ryan!" Aimee screamed.
I had never been punched before. My face was on fire and my jaw felt like it was ready to fall off my skull. As I kneeled there looking at the ground however, something snapped inside me. If I'd have stuck to my story I could have perhaps won this battle of wits, but that didn't matter anymore. I had dreamed of moments like these, and I couldn't contain myself. Excitement took hold and I lost myself to it. I began laughing like a true lunatic.
"The fuck are you laughing at freak," Gary asked, moving towards me to strike another blow. I stopped him mid-step. "What the.."
"I warned you, " I said deeply, getting in a couple more short laughs and rising to my feet. "I warned you what would happen if we met again."
I wiped some blood from my lip for effect before throwing Gary towards my front door with a quick blast of telekinetic energy. As he hit it he pushed right through, the wooden door tearing off it's hinges and going with him out onto the front porch. I walked calmly out to him, all the humor gone from me now, a dark and serious expression in its place, and then knelt beside him.
"What was your plan?" I whispered to him, "thought you could use all that muscle to overpower me? Thought you could just march in and take her back from me? I may have lost her because of you, but you my friend, you will lose everything."
"Fuck you," he mumbled through bloody lips.
I could hear Aimee panicking and crying behind me, but I didn't care anymore. I stood again, pulled Gary up from the ground with Telekinesis and levitated us both into the air. Up and up and I went until we reached roughly 100 feet vertical. I watched him struggle for a moment before making my decision.
"Die," I whispered edgily as I released my grip on him and watched him plummet to the ground.
"Gary!" yelled Aimee just before he hit the ground and the cracking sound of his bones on pavement echoed down the street. I watched, suspended in the air as Aimee got to him and began sobbing as she realized his grim fate. She looked up at me and we locked eyes for the last time.
"Goodbye," I mumbled as I turned and flew away towards the unknown.
In a matter befitting of his character, the man began to beg for his life when I held my handblade up to his neck, offering me whatever I wanted in return. These people were so daft - I come under the flag of rooting out their corruption, and in turn he tries to use it to get out of the situation. It angered me, but I knew it was only natural, so I was able to stay my blade.
"Have you not listened to a word I've said, Mr. Greaves?" I responded. "Neither your money nor your power means anything to me. My only concern is that you attone for what you've done."
"Of course," he whimpered, "I'll do anything that you want."
"Yes, you will, Mr. Greaves, because if you don't, there's not a single person in the world that can stop me from exacting my own brand of vengeance for the people you've wronged. I expect we have an understanding."
"Y-y-yes," he studdered, "I w-w-will do what you asked."
"Good," I stated, releasing my telekinetic hold on him and watching as he fell to the ground and cowered away. "I hope for your sake, Mr. Greaves, that we don't meet again."
Without looking back, I turned and walked out of his house, levitating myself once I was back outside again. In truth, levitation had been one of the hardest things to learn. Propelling other objects was an incredible amount easier than propelling yourself. Normally, when drawing on my power, I could use a hand or body part as a focus to make it clear to the energy what I wanted it to do, but in the case of levitation, it wasn't so. I had to train my mind to push under and around me with precise amounts of force so as not to fly in aimless directions or at uncontrollable speeds. Levitation was one of my more painful lessons - impatience and overconfidence had left me with a large bruises on my shoulder and hip that were taking forever to heal. Losing control and falling 10 feet onto pavement was not one of my brighter moments. However, in the end, I had developed a mastery of it, and I was now able to move at speeds that slightly exceeded running, which I was currently doing as I glided over treetops on my way back to my car.
The past couple weeks had been a very interesting time. I had put my figurative boot up the figurative asses of over half a dozen corrupt individuals since my first outing with Seguin. It was addicting. Still, I had to be careful - the papers didn't really know what to make of me, and the cops were looking for me. I was hoping for a more inviting reception from the general public, but I guess some people didn't approve of my methods. Some hailed me a hero, others a freak. My favorite was one reporter who had called me out to be a possible member of the horsemen of the apocalypse. Nevermind the fact that it didn't even make sense, considering my actions, but I also didn't have a horse. Sometimes I wondered why I bothered helping out society. I knew though; I wasn't doing it for them, I was doing it for me.
As I approached a familiar clearing out in the middle of nowhere, I started into a slow decent. Parked in front of the abandoned looking forest trail, my little white car awaited me patiently, hidden away from the rest of the world. I had come to the realization after my first time as Vengeance that I would need a way to change in secrecy and get home again as the regular Ryan, and in the couple weeks that I'd been using this place, I had still never seen another person even close to it. As I touched down to the ground and began to slip off my layers of black, I didn't even bother to look around to make sure no one was watching - I knew there was no one here. I stripped off the final layer, revealing my regular clothes underneath and stuffed my costume into a bag in the crowded backseat of my car before climbing into the drivers seat. I was just Ryan again.
It was hard to adjust back to your average joe sometimes after returning from adventures as a powerful avenger. It was a completely different mindset, and I'd almost found myself talking like Vengeance to Aimee a couple times when I first started. I made sure to prep myself every time now before I went inside my house. Just a couple minutes of reminding myself who I was supposed to be usually worked wonders, and I felt it would today too as I sat in my driveway talking to myself. "I'm a leaf on the wind," I said quietly as I got out of my car and walked up to the front door. I placed my hand on the doorknob and paused; I could hear Aimee inside talking to someone. "Odd," I thought, she said she might be here tonight, but not with someone else. Not dwelling on it, I twisted the knob and stepped inside. My stomach sank to my feet when I realized who it was.
Staring back at me was the face of my greatest sin. In the hallway stood Gary, the giant of a man whose life I'd ruined to better my own, and beside him a distraught looking Aimee.
"It's about time you showed up," Gary started, his hate filled eyes boring into me. This was bad - real bad, and I needed a plan of action quick. I decided to act the fool.
"What are you talking about? What's this guy doing here Aimee?" I questioned, looking confused.
"Don't act like you don't know, you prick. What is it you call yourself now? Vengeance?"
"Wait, what?" I lied, "First of all, what's that freak from the papers have to do with me? Second of all, who are you to be insulting me in my own house?"
"Cut the crap!" he shouted, "you ruined my life you asshole. I know it's you, I just know it. Now that you're here talking to me, I know for sure. I could never forget that voice - your voice."
I was stunned. I had never even thought of changing my voice for the recording. Obviously, that had been a grand error. I decided to keep up my act.
"My voice? What the hell are you talking about?"
"Is it true?" Aimee chimed in quietly, "is what he's saying true, Ryan?"
"Is what true!?" I almost yelled back. "I have no idea what this is about!"
"Don't lie to me!" Gary shouted again, extending a finger in my direction. "It ain't no coincidence what's happened around here and you know it. I thought I was a nut job for awhile after I was assaulted and told to leave everything I know by what I could only assume was God. Fancy this, when I start watchin' the news again and see this freak going around, using that same voodoo junk he used on me against other people. Thankfully, you're really predictable, so once I decided to come back and get my revenge, it was easy to find you."
"What the hell are you t.."
"Shut the fuck up!" he interrupted, "I'm not finished. Here I find you, dating my girl, and I've been watching you. I see you do your magic for her, and I seen you coming home late every night that that Vengeance character is out and about. So, I approach Aimee, tell her my story, and get her to let me in here to wait for you.
"You believed him Aimee??" I asked her, looking dumbfounded.
"You've been so weird lately, I didn't know what to think! I needed to know if what he was saying was true."
"I can't believe you would even listen to this Aimes, this is ridiculous!"
"I said, stop fucking lying!" Gary uttered before stepping forward and delivering a strong punch to my face, turning me away and sending me to my knees.
"Ryan!" Aimee screamed.
I had never been punched before. My face was on fire and my jaw felt like it was ready to fall off my skull. As I kneeled there looking at the ground however, something snapped inside me. If I'd have stuck to my story I could have perhaps won this battle of wits, but that didn't matter anymore. I had dreamed of moments like these, and I couldn't contain myself. Excitement took hold and I lost myself to it. I began laughing like a true lunatic.
"The fuck are you laughing at freak," Gary asked, moving towards me to strike another blow. I stopped him mid-step. "What the.."
"I warned you, " I said deeply, getting in a couple more short laughs and rising to my feet. "I warned you what would happen if we met again."
I wiped some blood from my lip for effect before throwing Gary towards my front door with a quick blast of telekinetic energy. As he hit it he pushed right through, the wooden door tearing off it's hinges and going with him out onto the front porch. I walked calmly out to him, all the humor gone from me now, a dark and serious expression in its place, and then knelt beside him.
"What was your plan?" I whispered to him, "thought you could use all that muscle to overpower me? Thought you could just march in and take her back from me? I may have lost her because of you, but you my friend, you will lose everything."
"Fuck you," he mumbled through bloody lips.
I could hear Aimee panicking and crying behind me, but I didn't care anymore. I stood again, pulled Gary up from the ground with Telekinesis and levitated us both into the air. Up and up and I went until we reached roughly 100 feet vertical. I watched him struggle for a moment before making my decision.
"Die," I whispered edgily as I released my grip on him and watched him plummet to the ground.
"Gary!" yelled Aimee just before he hit the ground and the cracking sound of his bones on pavement echoed down the street. I watched, suspended in the air as Aimee got to him and began sobbing as she realized his grim fate. She looked up at me and we locked eyes for the last time.
"Goodbye," I mumbled as I turned and flew away towards the unknown.
Swarley - Issue 3: Validation
"What if I had superpowers?" Ryan asked suddenly, interrupting Tobey Maguire in his on-screen conversation with Kirsten Dunst. Without bothering to shift her attention from the movie, Aimee gave a short, humoring laugh and said nothing.
"I'm serious Aimes," he prodded, "what if I were Spiderman? Would that change anything between us?"
"What are you on about?" she retorted, shifting on the couch to look him in the eyes. "Of course it wouldn't change anything, you nut. I might prefer it actually, " she smirked, making a game of it, "at least our dates would be more exciting. Never done it on top of a skyscraper before."
"I love when you take a perfectly normal idea and make it dirty," he quipped in return, putting his arm around her.
"Hold your horses Spidey," she changed gears, "I'm not in the mood."
Ryan sighed and turned back towards the movie screen.
"Why you asking all of a sudden?" she pried, "been shooting webs from your hands by accident lately?"
"Not exactly."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing."
"You are so weird sometimes, you know that?"
"I know."
He knew exactly what he meant though, he just wasn't ready to tell her. Lately he'd been struggling with having to keep his powers a secret from everyone. For the first while, the discovery had been enough to keep him entertained, but now he wanted to be able to brag about it. Having power wasn't enough - he needed others to acknowledge it. He had an idea, but he wanted to discuss it with someone first, so he went to one of the only people he knew he could talk to: Ryan Seguin.
---
Ryan was always a little taken with the sound of the Seguin's doorbell, and today was no different - he couldn't help but laugh as the jolly sound rang through their house. He didn't need to ring it he supposed, most people would just walk in, yet Ryan had never really been the type of person to barge into a house unannounced. So, he waited until he heard the clicking of the door being unlocked and a saw a familiar head poking it's way through.
"Sup man," Seguin chimed, looking a little caught off guard, "didn't know you were coming over."
"Yea, well it's important."
Seguin's eyebrows arched a little in curious response before he moved aside, welcoming Ryan in.
"A'ight man, c'mon in."
"Thanks, your parents home today?" questioned Ryan as he stepped in and took off his shoes.
"Nah, they're out for awhile doing some shopping. Why, what's up?"
"We better sit, this is going to take awhile," offered Ryan, as they walked downstairs and took a seat on the couch. "Alright, so, where to begin."
Seguin laughed.
"What?" asked Ryan, "I haven't even started yet."
Seguin merely smirked.
"You're doing it again, aren't you? You're reading my mind."
"You want to become a superhero? Oh that's classic. Didn't really pit you as that type though."
"Guy, are you going to let me tell the story or what? You know how long it took me to figure out what I was going to say?"
Seguin laughed again before giving the thumbs up. "Ok, no more interruptions, pitch your idea to me. I'm all ears."
"Doubtful."
"Serious!"
Ryan rolled his eyes. "Alright, here goes."
"You're not content with just having power, you need other people to know it?"
Ryan glared at Seguin, who burst out laughing in response.
"Sorry, sorry, last time, I promise."
"You know, I could use my powers too," offered Ryan as he glanced at the steaming cup of coffee in Seguin's hand.
"Point taken."
"Glad we understand each other. Now, where was I?"
"Power."
"Right. It's killing me not being able to tell anyone about this power. I've gotten almost everything I wanted since I learned about it, except this. I need people to know, and I want to feel their jealousy - it's like I need to show the world that I've become better than them. Does that sound weird to you?"
Seguin shrugged. "It's not like anyone else can do what you do."
"Exactly."
"So this is where the superhero thing comes in?"
"Well, yes, but I doubt it's what you're thinking."
"No tights?"
"No," remarked Ryan with a smirk, "definately no tights. If I'm going to do this, I have to enjoy it. I'm going to save people, but in my own way."
"And what's your way?"
Ryan smiled a mischevious little smile before continuing. "I need to take power from those who perceive themselves to have it. Killers, thieves, and assholes who think they've got one up on society because the law can't touch them. They run amuck doing whatever they please, but soon, I'm going to make them wish they'd never been born. Just imagining the look on their faces as they realize that they, the hunters have become the hunted will be enough for me."
"And that's where I come in," mumbled Seguin.
"Precisely. You can find anyone right? I need you to be my training wheels and help me find the first few, and set up news crews to be there. The world needs to know that Vengeance comes for those who dare warrant it."
"And you're Vengeance?"
"Yea, what do you think? Sweet name, huh?"
"I guess so."
"Oh come on, it's better than 90 percent of superhero names out there."
"Well, guess I can't argue that. What about your costume though?"
"You'll love this. Loose fitting black robe, with a black, hooded cloak overtop. Pair that with red contacts and a face mask of some sort, and we've got a winner. Oh, and don't forget the handblade on my left arm."
"You have TK, what the heck do you need a handblade for?"
"Because it's cool, that's why."
Seguin shook his head in mild disbelief.
"You laugh now, but when you see it, you'll think it's cool too."
"Where the hell do you plan on getting a handblade anyhow?"
"Uh, I was hoping you could help me with that too."
"Of course. Trying to be the most powerful man on the earth and you still need to ask me for help with everything," Seguin mocked.
"Well, you're like my sidekick."
"Sidekick? I'm like your fullkick. Better half even."
Ryan laughed. "Easy there tiger. I'll settle for partner in crime."
"I can dig that."
"You know, I know you could just help me out from the comfort of your own home, but it might be fun if you came with me when it goes down."
Seguin thought about it for a moment before answering. "Alright, but I'm staying in the car where there's heat, and music, and food. Can there be food?"
Ryan smirked. "There can be anything you want. We are afterall, probably the two most powerful people on the planet. I'm sure we'll manage something."
And they did. Seguin ensured he had all manner of different snacks to choose from on that night, courtesy of course of a very willing convenience store worker. In fact, most things came easy for the two of them. Ryan had to hand it to Seguin, his power came in useful all the time for practical things while being able to stay off the radar. Tracking down the pieces that made up Ryan's costume had been easier than expected, and after only two weeks, they had fully assembled the suit - handblade included. It even retracted when not needed; a perfect design from a norwegian blacksmith and mechanic that Seguin had convinced to do a rush job. Wearing it all and seeing himself behind the mask and cloak made Ryan feel powerful, like a legend among men - the desired effect.
The stage was set, and the news crews of Toronto were already on their way. Seguin had located a particularly violent first victim for Ryan, a man who was in the act of kidnapping a young child for intents that were more vile than he wanted to think about. It was a part of his power that he found himself regretting, whenever he touched the thoughts of someone who was what society would call deranged, or sick. The slew of disgusting imagergy and feelings was enough to almost make him vomit sometimes, but fortunately for him he had learned to quickly separate himself before ever letting it get that far.
"In the building across the street, top floor," stated Seguin, pointing towards it as Ryan stepped out of the car and closed the door. He watched him walk slowly for a few metres, his cloak blowing lightly in the wind, the darkness of his guise blending him into the night, before deciding to view the scene from Ryan's eyes. He concentrated for a moment, and then in an instant, was seeing as Ryan saw, and feeling what he felt. It was a strange sensation, getting into the mind of one of your friends, because often it surprised you what they actually felt. Today was no different, as instead of the anxiety he had been feeling before, Seguin was now greeted by an overwhelming sense of something more potent, and more lustful. It felt heavily of impatience and excitement, a burning desire for what was to come. Best of all, it felt good; Seguin felt as though he were in some sort of movie scene as Ryan forced open the building door with a small blast of telekinetic power.
As Ryan continued inside the building towards the stairs, Seguin suddently noticed that his legs weren't moving; he was floating. The feeling of freedom and weightlessness was incredible, and he was only levitated a foot or so from the floor. It was beginning to feel a bit surreal, this having been the first he'd ever experienced so many of Ryan's powers, and he was really starting to enjoy it all. He looked on with anticipation as Ryan reached the door that held the man and his captive inside, then paused. He needed only wait for a moment before he heard the sound of vehicles pulling up to the building, the news crews exactly on time. Smiling in realization of his great moment, Ryan blasted down this door with a larger burst of telekinetic energy that knocked it off its hinges, set down from his levitation and walked in through the doorway.
Inside, a scruffy looking man stared back at him with angered eyes, as a young child lay bound and bruised on the floor, tears rolling down her eyes. Seguin felt a bout of nausea hit him from the sight of it all, but resisted the urge to disconnect from Ryan. Then it hit him; anger poured out of Ryan like a fountain as he stood there staring back at the man, hate portrayed in his now artificially redenned eyes.
"Who the hell are you!?" screamed the man in a slurred and drunken state as he turned his body towards Ryan.
Ryan laughed for a moment smugly and it chilled Seguin a bit. "Look at yourself, filth," started Ryan in a cold tone, "Look at what you've done. Look well, for it may be the last thing you see."
"I'll say it one more time," the man shouted again, pulling a gun from his pocket and raising it towards Ryan, "Who the ***** are you?"
Seguin was caught off guard by what he felt next. He felt a genuine feeling of satisfaction rise out of Ryan as the gun was pointed at his head, and when he laughed again, he knew that Ryan was really enjoying this.
"And what do you plan to do with that?" Ryan mocked as he started walking towards the man.
With a look of annoyance, the man pulled the trigger and a loud bang echoed through the room as the bullet left the chamber. Seguin almost pulled away again, but was reassured by the feeling of a large surge of energy that moved through Ryan in a split second. Suspended in midair, the bullet sat motionless, the man's look of confidence now shattering as he faced the impossible.
"What's going on," he cried as he started to back away towards the wall.
Ryan laughed again, all the while continuing his slow walk towards the man while he let the bullet drop to the ground harmlessly. Seguin was unsure what would happen next, as inside Ryan were a turmoil of emotions battling for supremacy. One thing was for sure though, and that was that Ryan continued to grow more and more excited with each step, to the point that it was almost unnerving for Ryan to continue feeling it. It was almost as if he were experiencing a fit of controlled insanity.
"Silly man," Ryan started, still maintaining the distinct mocking tone, "You thought you could do anything and get away with it, did you? Thought you were a real badass did you? Well I've got news for you."
In an instant, Seguin felt energy flow out of Ryan again, as he tossed the man's gun aside and raised him into the air, lifing him over to in front of the window. The man struggled against the force but could not say nor do anything to help himself.
"You know nothing of power, fool," Ryan continued, a dark tinge of hate now affecting his voice, "you will pay for what you've done!"
What happened next was almost a blur for Seguin. The pane of glass that used to be the window shattered to pieces as the man was propelled through it towards the building across the street. Without hesitation, Ryan chased after him, levitating himself in a straight dash out the window, and extending his handblade in preparation to strike. As the man hit the wall of the building with a large thud, he was met a moment later by a blade piercing his shoulder. Seguin was now met by the horrified look of incredulousness on the man's face, as Ryan held the two locked together against the building, staring each other in the eyes. Seguin was unsure if Ryan had just killed the man or not, but when he smiled and that same feeling of satisfaction washed over him again, Seguin disconnected himself from Ryan by reflex, as one would normally look away, despite his training not too.
It was a minute before Seguin reconnected himself to Ryan, feeling that he needed the time to brace himself for what he might see. Fortunately, when he once again saw as Ryan saw, he was no longer staring at the eyes of a horrified man, but hovering above a crowd of reporters who were now gathered around the body of the man who was cowering and holding his shoulder where he'd been pierced, and the crying, battered 10 year old child. Many snapped pictures up at him as he floated there, gazing down at what he'd accomplished, before finally he levitated himself out onto the rooftop and out of sight of the public.
Seguin sighed as he disconnected himself once more from Ryan. God only knew what the newspapers would say tomorrow.
"I'm serious Aimes," he prodded, "what if I were Spiderman? Would that change anything between us?"
"What are you on about?" she retorted, shifting on the couch to look him in the eyes. "Of course it wouldn't change anything, you nut. I might prefer it actually, " she smirked, making a game of it, "at least our dates would be more exciting. Never done it on top of a skyscraper before."
"I love when you take a perfectly normal idea and make it dirty," he quipped in return, putting his arm around her.
"Hold your horses Spidey," she changed gears, "I'm not in the mood."
Ryan sighed and turned back towards the movie screen.
"Why you asking all of a sudden?" she pried, "been shooting webs from your hands by accident lately?"
"Not exactly."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing."
"You are so weird sometimes, you know that?"
"I know."
He knew exactly what he meant though, he just wasn't ready to tell her. Lately he'd been struggling with having to keep his powers a secret from everyone. For the first while, the discovery had been enough to keep him entertained, but now he wanted to be able to brag about it. Having power wasn't enough - he needed others to acknowledge it. He had an idea, but he wanted to discuss it with someone first, so he went to one of the only people he knew he could talk to: Ryan Seguin.
---
Ryan was always a little taken with the sound of the Seguin's doorbell, and today was no different - he couldn't help but laugh as the jolly sound rang through their house. He didn't need to ring it he supposed, most people would just walk in, yet Ryan had never really been the type of person to barge into a house unannounced. So, he waited until he heard the clicking of the door being unlocked and a saw a familiar head poking it's way through.
"Sup man," Seguin chimed, looking a little caught off guard, "didn't know you were coming over."
"Yea, well it's important."
Seguin's eyebrows arched a little in curious response before he moved aside, welcoming Ryan in.
"A'ight man, c'mon in."
"Thanks, your parents home today?" questioned Ryan as he stepped in and took off his shoes.
"Nah, they're out for awhile doing some shopping. Why, what's up?"
"We better sit, this is going to take awhile," offered Ryan, as they walked downstairs and took a seat on the couch. "Alright, so, where to begin."
Seguin laughed.
"What?" asked Ryan, "I haven't even started yet."
Seguin merely smirked.
"You're doing it again, aren't you? You're reading my mind."
"You want to become a superhero? Oh that's classic. Didn't really pit you as that type though."
"Guy, are you going to let me tell the story or what? You know how long it took me to figure out what I was going to say?"
Seguin laughed again before giving the thumbs up. "Ok, no more interruptions, pitch your idea to me. I'm all ears."
"Doubtful."
"Serious!"
Ryan rolled his eyes. "Alright, here goes."
"You're not content with just having power, you need other people to know it?"
Ryan glared at Seguin, who burst out laughing in response.
"Sorry, sorry, last time, I promise."
"You know, I could use my powers too," offered Ryan as he glanced at the steaming cup of coffee in Seguin's hand.
"Point taken."
"Glad we understand each other. Now, where was I?"
"Power."
"Right. It's killing me not being able to tell anyone about this power. I've gotten almost everything I wanted since I learned about it, except this. I need people to know, and I want to feel their jealousy - it's like I need to show the world that I've become better than them. Does that sound weird to you?"
Seguin shrugged. "It's not like anyone else can do what you do."
"Exactly."
"So this is where the superhero thing comes in?"
"Well, yes, but I doubt it's what you're thinking."
"No tights?"
"No," remarked Ryan with a smirk, "definately no tights. If I'm going to do this, I have to enjoy it. I'm going to save people, but in my own way."
"And what's your way?"
Ryan smiled a mischevious little smile before continuing. "I need to take power from those who perceive themselves to have it. Killers, thieves, and assholes who think they've got one up on society because the law can't touch them. They run amuck doing whatever they please, but soon, I'm going to make them wish they'd never been born. Just imagining the look on their faces as they realize that they, the hunters have become the hunted will be enough for me."
"And that's where I come in," mumbled Seguin.
"Precisely. You can find anyone right? I need you to be my training wheels and help me find the first few, and set up news crews to be there. The world needs to know that Vengeance comes for those who dare warrant it."
"And you're Vengeance?"
"Yea, what do you think? Sweet name, huh?"
"I guess so."
"Oh come on, it's better than 90 percent of superhero names out there."
"Well, guess I can't argue that. What about your costume though?"
"You'll love this. Loose fitting black robe, with a black, hooded cloak overtop. Pair that with red contacts and a face mask of some sort, and we've got a winner. Oh, and don't forget the handblade on my left arm."
"You have TK, what the heck do you need a handblade for?"
"Because it's cool, that's why."
Seguin shook his head in mild disbelief.
"You laugh now, but when you see it, you'll think it's cool too."
"Where the hell do you plan on getting a handblade anyhow?"
"Uh, I was hoping you could help me with that too."
"Of course. Trying to be the most powerful man on the earth and you still need to ask me for help with everything," Seguin mocked.
"Well, you're like my sidekick."
"Sidekick? I'm like your fullkick. Better half even."
Ryan laughed. "Easy there tiger. I'll settle for partner in crime."
"I can dig that."
"You know, I know you could just help me out from the comfort of your own home, but it might be fun if you came with me when it goes down."
Seguin thought about it for a moment before answering. "Alright, but I'm staying in the car where there's heat, and music, and food. Can there be food?"
Ryan smirked. "There can be anything you want. We are afterall, probably the two most powerful people on the planet. I'm sure we'll manage something."
And they did. Seguin ensured he had all manner of different snacks to choose from on that night, courtesy of course of a very willing convenience store worker. In fact, most things came easy for the two of them. Ryan had to hand it to Seguin, his power came in useful all the time for practical things while being able to stay off the radar. Tracking down the pieces that made up Ryan's costume had been easier than expected, and after only two weeks, they had fully assembled the suit - handblade included. It even retracted when not needed; a perfect design from a norwegian blacksmith and mechanic that Seguin had convinced to do a rush job. Wearing it all and seeing himself behind the mask and cloak made Ryan feel powerful, like a legend among men - the desired effect.
The stage was set, and the news crews of Toronto were already on their way. Seguin had located a particularly violent first victim for Ryan, a man who was in the act of kidnapping a young child for intents that were more vile than he wanted to think about. It was a part of his power that he found himself regretting, whenever he touched the thoughts of someone who was what society would call deranged, or sick. The slew of disgusting imagergy and feelings was enough to almost make him vomit sometimes, but fortunately for him he had learned to quickly separate himself before ever letting it get that far.
"In the building across the street, top floor," stated Seguin, pointing towards it as Ryan stepped out of the car and closed the door. He watched him walk slowly for a few metres, his cloak blowing lightly in the wind, the darkness of his guise blending him into the night, before deciding to view the scene from Ryan's eyes. He concentrated for a moment, and then in an instant, was seeing as Ryan saw, and feeling what he felt. It was a strange sensation, getting into the mind of one of your friends, because often it surprised you what they actually felt. Today was no different, as instead of the anxiety he had been feeling before, Seguin was now greeted by an overwhelming sense of something more potent, and more lustful. It felt heavily of impatience and excitement, a burning desire for what was to come. Best of all, it felt good; Seguin felt as though he were in some sort of movie scene as Ryan forced open the building door with a small blast of telekinetic power.
As Ryan continued inside the building towards the stairs, Seguin suddently noticed that his legs weren't moving; he was floating. The feeling of freedom and weightlessness was incredible, and he was only levitated a foot or so from the floor. It was beginning to feel a bit surreal, this having been the first he'd ever experienced so many of Ryan's powers, and he was really starting to enjoy it all. He looked on with anticipation as Ryan reached the door that held the man and his captive inside, then paused. He needed only wait for a moment before he heard the sound of vehicles pulling up to the building, the news crews exactly on time. Smiling in realization of his great moment, Ryan blasted down this door with a larger burst of telekinetic energy that knocked it off its hinges, set down from his levitation and walked in through the doorway.
Inside, a scruffy looking man stared back at him with angered eyes, as a young child lay bound and bruised on the floor, tears rolling down her eyes. Seguin felt a bout of nausea hit him from the sight of it all, but resisted the urge to disconnect from Ryan. Then it hit him; anger poured out of Ryan like a fountain as he stood there staring back at the man, hate portrayed in his now artificially redenned eyes.
"Who the hell are you!?" screamed the man in a slurred and drunken state as he turned his body towards Ryan.
Ryan laughed for a moment smugly and it chilled Seguin a bit. "Look at yourself, filth," started Ryan in a cold tone, "Look at what you've done. Look well, for it may be the last thing you see."
"I'll say it one more time," the man shouted again, pulling a gun from his pocket and raising it towards Ryan, "Who the ***** are you?"
Seguin was caught off guard by what he felt next. He felt a genuine feeling of satisfaction rise out of Ryan as the gun was pointed at his head, and when he laughed again, he knew that Ryan was really enjoying this.
"And what do you plan to do with that?" Ryan mocked as he started walking towards the man.
With a look of annoyance, the man pulled the trigger and a loud bang echoed through the room as the bullet left the chamber. Seguin almost pulled away again, but was reassured by the feeling of a large surge of energy that moved through Ryan in a split second. Suspended in midair, the bullet sat motionless, the man's look of confidence now shattering as he faced the impossible.
"What's going on," he cried as he started to back away towards the wall.
Ryan laughed again, all the while continuing his slow walk towards the man while he let the bullet drop to the ground harmlessly. Seguin was unsure what would happen next, as inside Ryan were a turmoil of emotions battling for supremacy. One thing was for sure though, and that was that Ryan continued to grow more and more excited with each step, to the point that it was almost unnerving for Ryan to continue feeling it. It was almost as if he were experiencing a fit of controlled insanity.
"Silly man," Ryan started, still maintaining the distinct mocking tone, "You thought you could do anything and get away with it, did you? Thought you were a real badass did you? Well I've got news for you."
In an instant, Seguin felt energy flow out of Ryan again, as he tossed the man's gun aside and raised him into the air, lifing him over to in front of the window. The man struggled against the force but could not say nor do anything to help himself.
"You know nothing of power, fool," Ryan continued, a dark tinge of hate now affecting his voice, "you will pay for what you've done!"
What happened next was almost a blur for Seguin. The pane of glass that used to be the window shattered to pieces as the man was propelled through it towards the building across the street. Without hesitation, Ryan chased after him, levitating himself in a straight dash out the window, and extending his handblade in preparation to strike. As the man hit the wall of the building with a large thud, he was met a moment later by a blade piercing his shoulder. Seguin was now met by the horrified look of incredulousness on the man's face, as Ryan held the two locked together against the building, staring each other in the eyes. Seguin was unsure if Ryan had just killed the man or not, but when he smiled and that same feeling of satisfaction washed over him again, Seguin disconnected himself from Ryan by reflex, as one would normally look away, despite his training not too.
It was a minute before Seguin reconnected himself to Ryan, feeling that he needed the time to brace himself for what he might see. Fortunately, when he once again saw as Ryan saw, he was no longer staring at the eyes of a horrified man, but hovering above a crowd of reporters who were now gathered around the body of the man who was cowering and holding his shoulder where he'd been pierced, and the crying, battered 10 year old child. Many snapped pictures up at him as he floated there, gazing down at what he'd accomplished, before finally he levitated himself out onto the rooftop and out of sight of the public.
Seguin sighed as he disconnected himself once more from Ryan. God only knew what the newspapers would say tomorrow.
Swarley - Issue 2: How To Get What You Want, When You Want It
Some
might frown on what I've done, but it really doesn't matter to me. As I laid
there in bed with the woman in my arms who had become my prize, I was content.
The sweet smell of her hair, and the heat of her body pressed against mine
almost made me forget the life I may have ruined to get there. In my mind was a
genuine feeling of power and control - I had been given the power to shape the
very reality I lived in as I saw fit. I felt as though I were a king, with
anything I wanted now only a mere request away. But even kings didn't have what
I did, I was more than they could have ever dreamed to be. I was creation at its
finest.
Yet I
struggled. As I stared up at the ceiling, I felt my concerns compound and take
shape, and they asked me if I knew who I was anymore. To tell the truth, I
wasn't sure I did; so much had happened over the last couple of weeks, and it
had all been so fast. They had been the greatest and most confusing days of my
life, and had changed me irrevocably. I learned so much so quickly, and it had
given me a definite confidence that I had never known before. When you learn to
stop a man dead in his tracks with only your will, your mind goes through
somewhat of a metamorphosis. Was I still the same Ryan I had always been, or
had I become someone else? I would have liked to have thought more, but I was
distracted by movement against my skin. I looked over to see that she was now
facing me, and was once again content as I was greeted by a tiny smile; she
must have been having good dreams.
I wasn't
much inclined to sleep that night however, as every time I closed my eyes, I
remembered what I'd done. It wasn't so much that I was ashamed of my actions,
but more that I didn't know how to feel about them. I didn't want to think
about it; but every time I felt her move against me, I remembered. Even as I
resisted, I felt myself give in, and the images came rushing back; everything I
did just to have her.
------
There I
was again, sitting in that same Williams coffee pub, staring at her from afar.
She was gorgeous – about 5' 5", skinny, with long blonde hair that she
usually tied up into a bun. She had a smile that would make me melt every time
I saw it, and the cutest little inkling of an Australian accent. Even the
little things about her had me, like the way she would crinkle her nose just a
little bit every time she laughed or the how she always seemed happy, no matter
what she was doing. She was everything I wanted, but couldn’t have.
Gary was his name, and he was the roadblock that
inevitably stood between me and my desires. I’ll be damned if he wasn’t the
hugest road block I’d ever encountered either – standing at almost 6’6”, and
probably 250 lbs, he was a solid brick wall. To make matters worse, from what I
gathered he was also a fireman. I’d never even thought of crossing the man before,
but today was different; I was different. I didn’t need to fear him anymore.
I sat
there in my seat, sipping on my coffee for a long time that day, trying to
devise the best way to take him out of the equation. At first I tried to be
incredibly crafty, imagining myself as one of those characters in a mystery
movie, trying to plan my steps with remarkable creativity and foresight. However,
as expected, it proved a little too challenging. I’d thought of using my power
to cause tension between them by causing them to appear to do things that they
didn’t, to put myself in a good light by fixing situations, and even for
blackmail purposes, but for the life of me I couldn’t link them together in any
plausible way. It was frustrating. Having this power was supposed to make this
easy for me, but still I struggled. I wondered if comic book villains had this
hard of a time when they first started plotting their diabolical schemes.
Distraught,
I looked out through the glass of the large window beside me to find something
to distract me if even for a moment. In the parking lot, I noticed a young
couple talking and looking very irate with each other. Then, suddenly reacting
to something the guy had said, a disgusted look came across the girl’s face and
she shoved him into the car beside them and started walking away. I let a smirk
cross my lips as I tried to imagine what the guy had said, and then it hit me;
it didn’t have to be as hard as I was making it. I could put him in his place
just as she had done, and I knew exactly how I would do it. Not wasting a
moment, I hopped out of my seat, returned my mug to the counter, said a quick
goodbye to the girl of my dreams, and left the Williams.
------
I was
thirsty and decided to get up to get a quick drink of water. I walked to the
bathroom, took the cup from the counter and turned the tap on to fill it. The
water was cold but felt good going down. When I finished, I put down the cup
and took a moment to look at myself in the mirror. I looked tired, but that was
to be expected – it had been a long night. I smiled a little at that thought,
and as I did so, I remembered how I’d smiled that exact same smile as I ruined
his life. I put my head down and the memories flooded me again.
------
My plan
was quite simple in its execution really; it was only the morals that were
questionable. I had decided to look past the morals though by that point, else
I wouldn’t have been sitting in the bushes across the street from his house,
awaiting his arrival. Everything was in place, the recording of my voice with
specific instructions for him, and of course, my power. It was late at night
now, and I was starting to get impatient. My heart was pounding and I was
nervous, but at the same time, it was also exhilarating. What I was about to do
was unlike anything I ever could have dreamed to do before I had realized my
ability. I was dying to use my abilities in a real situation, and the best part
about this was that he would never know it was me. I had a vantage point on his
driveway from which I could not be seen – it was perfect.
I grew so
impatient however, that I had almost allowed myself to start moving small
objects around in my general vicinity by the time the car’s lights came into
view. When I caught sight of them though, my poise returned and the game was
on. I watched as he stepped out of his car, took a moment to stretch and
started walking towards his house. This was the moment; I raised my hand a
little to focus my ability and caught him in mid-step. I almost laughed as I observed
the look of incredulousness strike his face. I could feel him struggling
against my grasp, trying to break free, but he was going nowhere – my power was
absolute. I toyed with him some more, lifting him from the ground, causing him
to levitate slightly, completely removing any element of control he might have
still been hanging onto. This was my scene, and it was time to let him know.
Focusing my power to a point as I had trained myself to do, I pushed down the
play button on the recorder I had hidden nearby, and my voice rang out to him.
“Are you
afraid?” it started, attempting to unnerve him, “because you should be. Do you
feel helpless? You should feel that way also. Know that your fate is now in my
hands, and that I will do with it as I see fit. Listen well, for I will not
repeat myself.”
There was
a pause in the tape, and during that moment, I could hear my own heartbeat,
pounding loudly in my chest, the adrenalin taking over me now.
“I am
going to tell you to do something,” it continued, “and you are going to obey.
You have no choice in this matter. If you try to cross me, your punishment will
be swift, and it will be severe. Know that obedience is your only option. I am
everywhere, and I see everything. Do as I tell you, and you will never need
hear from me again.”
I could
feel the uneasiness resonating from him now. He was genuinely scared, and he
had reason to be. He hadn’t heard the worst yet though.
“You are
going to leave town, and sever your connections with everyone you ever knew. You
must make it clear to those you love that you will never return. Do this, and I
will be appeased. Choose to defy me however…”
This was
my moment of action. I gathered up force and propelled him towards his garage
door with enough force to rattle it at its hinges and send him to the ground,
yelping in pain. The tape continued.
“And that
will seem like a nice massage. My wrath knows no bounds for those who disobey
me. I would advise that you aim to please. Farewell for now, Gary,” the tape finished in closing, “for
your sake, let us hope this is the last we speak.”
I smiled.
------
I shook
my head to push the thoughts away. It didn’t matter anymore. Everything had
gone exactly as I’d planned it; I’d been able to dispose of the tape and
recorder easily enough, and Gary, much to his benefit, decided to listen after
a couple of days spent on his own. Amazing what putting the fear of God in a
man can do. No one knew a thing that would paint me as a suspect, and they
never would. I left no trace. Even seducing her after he’d left had proved to
be easier than I’d hoped. The girl had a soft spot for “magic”, and I was happy to indulge. I had gotten everything I wanted.
“Ryan?” came a quiet voice from the bedroom, snapping me back to reality. “Come back to bed,” she pleaded. I took one last glance at myself in the mirror, convinced now that my happiness was genuine and sound, and gave myself a sly wink.
“Coming,”
I whispered back, as I turned off the bathroom light and rounded the corner
back into the bedroom.
might frown on what I've done, but it really doesn't matter to me. As I laid
there in bed with the woman in my arms who had become my prize, I was content.
The sweet smell of her hair, and the heat of her body pressed against mine
almost made me forget the life I may have ruined to get there. In my mind was a
genuine feeling of power and control - I had been given the power to shape the
very reality I lived in as I saw fit. I felt as though I were a king, with
anything I wanted now only a mere request away. But even kings didn't have what
I did, I was more than they could have ever dreamed to be. I was creation at its
finest.
Yet I
struggled. As I stared up at the ceiling, I felt my concerns compound and take
shape, and they asked me if I knew who I was anymore. To tell the truth, I
wasn't sure I did; so much had happened over the last couple of weeks, and it
had all been so fast. They had been the greatest and most confusing days of my
life, and had changed me irrevocably. I learned so much so quickly, and it had
given me a definite confidence that I had never known before. When you learn to
stop a man dead in his tracks with only your will, your mind goes through
somewhat of a metamorphosis. Was I still the same Ryan I had always been, or
had I become someone else? I would have liked to have thought more, but I was
distracted by movement against my skin. I looked over to see that she was now
facing me, and was once again content as I was greeted by a tiny smile; she
must have been having good dreams.
I wasn't
much inclined to sleep that night however, as every time I closed my eyes, I
remembered what I'd done. It wasn't so much that I was ashamed of my actions,
but more that I didn't know how to feel about them. I didn't want to think
about it; but every time I felt her move against me, I remembered. Even as I
resisted, I felt myself give in, and the images came rushing back; everything I
did just to have her.
------
There I
was again, sitting in that same Williams coffee pub, staring at her from afar.
She was gorgeous – about 5' 5", skinny, with long blonde hair that she
usually tied up into a bun. She had a smile that would make me melt every time
I saw it, and the cutest little inkling of an Australian accent. Even the
little things about her had me, like the way she would crinkle her nose just a
little bit every time she laughed or the how she always seemed happy, no matter
what she was doing. She was everything I wanted, but couldn’t have.
Gary was his name, and he was the roadblock that
inevitably stood between me and my desires. I’ll be damned if he wasn’t the
hugest road block I’d ever encountered either – standing at almost 6’6”, and
probably 250 lbs, he was a solid brick wall. To make matters worse, from what I
gathered he was also a fireman. I’d never even thought of crossing the man before,
but today was different; I was different. I didn’t need to fear him anymore.
I sat
there in my seat, sipping on my coffee for a long time that day, trying to
devise the best way to take him out of the equation. At first I tried to be
incredibly crafty, imagining myself as one of those characters in a mystery
movie, trying to plan my steps with remarkable creativity and foresight. However,
as expected, it proved a little too challenging. I’d thought of using my power
to cause tension between them by causing them to appear to do things that they
didn’t, to put myself in a good light by fixing situations, and even for
blackmail purposes, but for the life of me I couldn’t link them together in any
plausible way. It was frustrating. Having this power was supposed to make this
easy for me, but still I struggled. I wondered if comic book villains had this
hard of a time when they first started plotting their diabolical schemes.
Distraught,
I looked out through the glass of the large window beside me to find something
to distract me if even for a moment. In the parking lot, I noticed a young
couple talking and looking very irate with each other. Then, suddenly reacting
to something the guy had said, a disgusted look came across the girl’s face and
she shoved him into the car beside them and started walking away. I let a smirk
cross my lips as I tried to imagine what the guy had said, and then it hit me;
it didn’t have to be as hard as I was making it. I could put him in his place
just as she had done, and I knew exactly how I would do it. Not wasting a
moment, I hopped out of my seat, returned my mug to the counter, said a quick
goodbye to the girl of my dreams, and left the Williams.
------
I was
thirsty and decided to get up to get a quick drink of water. I walked to the
bathroom, took the cup from the counter and turned the tap on to fill it. The
water was cold but felt good going down. When I finished, I put down the cup
and took a moment to look at myself in the mirror. I looked tired, but that was
to be expected – it had been a long night. I smiled a little at that thought,
and as I did so, I remembered how I’d smiled that exact same smile as I ruined
his life. I put my head down and the memories flooded me again.
------
My plan
was quite simple in its execution really; it was only the morals that were
questionable. I had decided to look past the morals though by that point, else
I wouldn’t have been sitting in the bushes across the street from his house,
awaiting his arrival. Everything was in place, the recording of my voice with
specific instructions for him, and of course, my power. It was late at night
now, and I was starting to get impatient. My heart was pounding and I was
nervous, but at the same time, it was also exhilarating. What I was about to do
was unlike anything I ever could have dreamed to do before I had realized my
ability. I was dying to use my abilities in a real situation, and the best part
about this was that he would never know it was me. I had a vantage point on his
driveway from which I could not be seen – it was perfect.
I grew so
impatient however, that I had almost allowed myself to start moving small
objects around in my general vicinity by the time the car’s lights came into
view. When I caught sight of them though, my poise returned and the game was
on. I watched as he stepped out of his car, took a moment to stretch and
started walking towards his house. This was the moment; I raised my hand a
little to focus my ability and caught him in mid-step. I almost laughed as I observed
the look of incredulousness strike his face. I could feel him struggling
against my grasp, trying to break free, but he was going nowhere – my power was
absolute. I toyed with him some more, lifting him from the ground, causing him
to levitate slightly, completely removing any element of control he might have
still been hanging onto. This was my scene, and it was time to let him know.
Focusing my power to a point as I had trained myself to do, I pushed down the
play button on the recorder I had hidden nearby, and my voice rang out to him.
“Are you
afraid?” it started, attempting to unnerve him, “because you should be. Do you
feel helpless? You should feel that way also. Know that your fate is now in my
hands, and that I will do with it as I see fit. Listen well, for I will not
repeat myself.”
There was
a pause in the tape, and during that moment, I could hear my own heartbeat,
pounding loudly in my chest, the adrenalin taking over me now.
“I am
going to tell you to do something,” it continued, “and you are going to obey.
You have no choice in this matter. If you try to cross me, your punishment will
be swift, and it will be severe. Know that obedience is your only option. I am
everywhere, and I see everything. Do as I tell you, and you will never need
hear from me again.”
I could
feel the uneasiness resonating from him now. He was genuinely scared, and he
had reason to be. He hadn’t heard the worst yet though.
“You are
going to leave town, and sever your connections with everyone you ever knew. You
must make it clear to those you love that you will never return. Do this, and I
will be appeased. Choose to defy me however…”
This was
my moment of action. I gathered up force and propelled him towards his garage
door with enough force to rattle it at its hinges and send him to the ground,
yelping in pain. The tape continued.
“And that
will seem like a nice massage. My wrath knows no bounds for those who disobey
me. I would advise that you aim to please. Farewell for now, Gary,” the tape finished in closing, “for
your sake, let us hope this is the last we speak.”
I smiled.
------
I shook
my head to push the thoughts away. It didn’t matter anymore. Everything had
gone exactly as I’d planned it; I’d been able to dispose of the tape and
recorder easily enough, and Gary, much to his benefit, decided to listen after
a couple of days spent on his own. Amazing what putting the fear of God in a
man can do. No one knew a thing that would paint me as a suspect, and they
never would. I left no trace. Even seducing her after he’d left had proved to
be easier than I’d hoped. The girl had a soft spot for “magic”, and I was happy to indulge. I had gotten everything I wanted.
“Ryan?” came a quiet voice from the bedroom, snapping me back to reality. “Come back to bed,” she pleaded. I took one last glance at myself in the mirror, convinced now that my happiness was genuine and sound, and gave myself a sly wink.
“Coming,”
I whispered back, as I turned off the bathroom light and rounded the corner
back into the bedroom.
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