Chaos (1)

“What do you mean by rebirth?”

A young, immature voice asked innocently. An older, motherly voice responded back with,

“Well, I mean that after your death in this life, you will be born into another. Born into a time where you are truly needed. This is what makes you truly special.”

The slow, methodical flipping of page after page was the only sound within the room for a while. But suddenly, a pair of hands, a pale, white pair of hands that had never seen sunlight, snapped the book shut. Two glaring and teary red eyes stared at the woman angrily.

“Special? Is that why I can’t see daddy anymore!?”

Unlike most in her position would, the woman did not respond to the loaded question in a roundabout, soft, and caring way. Instead, she glared back at the boy and seethed out a direct answer that wouldn’t spare a cent’s worth of his feelings.

“Of course. Now get back to reading, you spiteful brat!”

****************

After Alice had left, Chief Ronald spoke a few words in closing. Basically, he referred those with an ability to their local public library, where they’d be tested and classified. He also gave the name of their website to those who were attempting to understand more about the topic, and with that, the broadcast ended.

Me- “Gabe?”

Gabe’s eyes were cloudy, as if he was in a daze. What was going on? But suddenly, they cleared up. I repeated, assuming he didn’t hear me.

Me- “Gabe?”

Gabe- “Yeah?”

Me- “Where’s Sparrow?”

Gabe looked at his phone for a second, and then responded absentmindedly,

Gabe- “She should be at some abandoned warehouse… What, don’t look at me like that! She needs to interrogate the guy we found stalking you at the school. Her ability is useful for things like that.”

Stalking me at school? Oh yeah, that was in the note he left behind…

Me- “Has she sent back any results?”

Gabe checked his phone again, and replied,

Gabe- “Not yet. But she should shortly…”

I relaxed onto the couch, hoisting my arms onto the armrest, while Gabe went back onto his phone. Seeing him do this, I decided to check on Chloe. How was she doing? Did she hear the broadcast? Was she ok after the other me treated her badly at lunch?

Me- “Hey Chloe, how are you doing? Did you see that broadcast?”

There was complete silence on the other end for a few minutes, so I put my phone away and moved on to other matters.

Me- “Gabe. Is it possible that you could find out which warehouse she would be staying at?”

Gabe was pretty chill at the moment. He looked over and responded calmly, without any trace of worry,

Gabe- “No need. She just finished, and she should be arriving here shortly.”

Me- “And? The results?”

Gabe- “We’re not entirely sure. It seems this guy is connected with New World, but he works under a certain sect of it. She called it the Scars, or something like that.”

Scars? Doesn’t ring a bell.

Me- “Weird. Do you know when she’s gonna get here?”

Gabe looked at me quizzically,

Gabe- “You seem worried. Is there something going on?”

Well… I don’t know how to answer that question. I don’t know exactly what’s wrong, but apparently my other-self accidentally let Blackmist go loose? And apparently that would put Sparrow in danger?

The more I thought about it, the less worried I became. Who was this Blackmist guy anyways, and why was he so dangerous? Isn’t it just another one of my abilities? I would be able to control him eventually; it was only a matter of time. Plus, I bet the black aura is kinda like the golden aura, in the fact that it can’t affect ability users unless I make contact with them. What danger would there even be to speak of?

I made an excuse to cover up for my hesitation to answer,

Me- “Sorry. I was just thinking about the news broadcast. If she was in an abandoned warehouse, how would she be able to see it?”

Gabe was still overly calm. Was this a trait from being trained as a bodyguard?

Gabe- “Either way, what happened doesn’t affect Sparrow and I. All we have to worry about right now is protecting you, and that means you can’t go disappearing for no reason. If not for the fact that Chloe didn’t have any abnormal emotional reactions, I would have had to call your grandparents.”

Ah, I see. They were using the link between Chloe and I to determine my state of being while my other self was in control. Smart thinking. Speaking of which, why hasn’t she texted me back yet? It has been at least 5 minutes. Ah whatever, I’m sure she’s doing something right now. She’ll probably get back to me later.

I responded absentmindedly, still thinking about possible reasons on why she hadn’t texted me back yet,

Me- “Alright, I’m sorry. So, what do you think we should do about Song?”

Gabe- “Song? What do you mean?”

Oops. I used jargon from C.H.I.B.I.

Me- “Alice Praetor. The woman who spoke on television.”

Gabe moved from his relaxed position on the couch. He sat up, leaned forward, and looked me straight in the eye. Clearly, he thought this was an important matter.

Gabe- “She’s from your organization!?”

I nodded my head. Gabe cursed under his breath,

Gabe- “Sh*t”

He immediately jumped to his feet, and without a word he began to half walk—half run to the door.

Gabe- “We’re going to find Sparrow. Right now. Get inside the van.”

I shot to my feet, clearly alarmed by his behavior. I immediately went to the door as well, and we walked together to the bulletproof minivan. He took out a key and unlocked a compartment on the underside of the minivan. Inside was a row of equipment: guns, ammunition, body armor, the like.

Gabe- “Here, take this.”

He handed me a bulletproof vest. I started to put it on while he explained.

Gabe- “Even with our bodies strengthened, we are nowhere near the level needed to tank bullets, much less dodge them. Even with your regeneration, this vest should save you a lot of trouble… Wait why are you putting it on top of your clothing!? Even a beginner will start aiming for your head if he sees a bulletproof vest; put it underneath your clothes!”

Ah. In my anxiety, I hadn’t thought it through. But excuses wouldn’t help the situation, so I started furiously unbuckling the vest.

Gabe- “Here, do that in the car. We need to hurry up and find Sparrow.”

He grabbed a gun that looked similar to a Desert Eagle, and then he closed the compartment. With a swift movement, he circled the van and entered the driver’s seat. I entered the back seat and closed the door.

For how urgent the situation was, I was surprised we were still going the speed limit. But that wasn’t the only thing I was surprised over. People were using their abilities, in broad daylight! I couldn’t help but think back to the rules listed out from the organization.

You could not use your ability in public with the exception of two circumstances: one, you or a family member was in identifiable danger, or two, you were instructed by a higher up to do so. Otherwise, punishment would be administered harshly, and the memories of the affected would be erased. But they couldn’t possibly erase the memories, actions, and thoughts of millions, especially since that number was presumably growing at an astronomical rate!

I couldn’t think of any rational reason for this decision to come out in public if she was not ordered to do so. It was obvious then, that this was a decision made by the higher ups. But then the question was why, and why now!?

And then there was the fact that she used her ability during the speech as well. What worries me most is the “awakening,” she said on the broadcast. Ability users, I had found, were few and far in-between. At least that was without any other influences. But now that she used her ability on such a thing, I had a nagging suspicion that…

A person flew past the van, laughing loudly as he did so. I watched his retreating figure from my tinted window.

Suddenly, he flew in front of a car in front of us, causing them to come to a screeching halt in the middle of the road. The problem was, he was at an intersection. When he stopped in the middle of the road, a few idiots tried to use that chance to turn around him at the same time and bumped into each other.

Their horns went blaring, they walked out of their cars, and they started to yell at each other. But in the process, they had blocked off the whole road! Just like that, a traffic jam was created.

Gabe slammed the horn to vent off his annoyance, as did most of the other spectators. But seeing as the issue didn’t seem like it would resolve itself anytime soon, Gabe texted something on his phone and then drove onto the side of the road. An annoyed driver quickly filled in his place.

Gabe- “Come on, we’re going there on foot. You can keep up, right?”

My body was filled with nervous energy; when he said that, I had finally found a place to vent. Not only that, but I had full confidence in my speed.

Me- “Of course.”

Gabe- “Follow me.”

Walking around the traffic jam, all I saw was a straight, empty road. Perfect. Gabe turned to me and said dismissively,

Gabe- “If you can’t keep up, just stop running. I’ll come back to you.”

What?

Before I could express my discontent at his attitude, he turned around and started to fall straight down to the ground. Which was an action that was, to say the least, questionable. Especially at his level. Although our ability can increase his reaction speed to superhuman levels, the acceleration due to gravity remains the same. Thus, he would have more than enough time to stop himself. So why was he just letting himself fall to the ground?

Stepping into second gear, I dashed after him immediately. However, I was a step too late*. When he was inches from the ground, he suddenly took a powerful step forward with his right foot! The asphalt beneath him suddenly cracked, and his body flew forwards at unimaginable speeds! He was practically flying!

*(Author’s Musings- Ha! I didn’t even make this pun intentionally)

‘Let me catch up to him as quickly as possible!’

A sudden strong gale appeared at my back, and I flew forwards, trying to match his speed. But I could not catch up to him. No, I was even falling behind!

I watched his broad back leave me in the distance; the disparity was simply too great! Although we had similar levels of pure speed, his running style was simply worlds apart from mine. My style was simply, running, as would a normal human.

But now that every step sent me multiple feet upwards into the air, it was completely laughable. It was like a child trying to leapfrog his way into beating a professional sprinter. Simply… impossible. If I wanted to catch up to him, I would have to run like he did.

Instead of taking my next step, I let myself start falling. The ground became closer and closer to my eyes, yet I resisted the urge to stick my hand down to stop myself.

2 ft. I placed my hands at my sides, refusing to let my instincts get the better of me.

1 ft. My pupils contracted, and I focused on one point of the asphalt. That would be where I would step.

6 inches. I extended my leg upwards in relation to my body, touching part of the pavement.

“Crack!!!”

My body shot forward like a bullet!

“WHOOSH”

The air stuck to my face like glue, and the shockwave I created boomed forward. Due to this, Gabe turned his head around, and his eyes grew wide like saucers. He said something in his surprise, but I wasn’t able to hear it due to the screaming of the wind.

I took a second step in rapid succession, accelerating myself even further. This running style not only maximized the amount of steps I could take in rapid succession, but it also decreased the amount of air resistance I had to take on, allowing my body to move at incredible speeds!

“Vrrrooooomm!!!

An excited man on a motorcycle sped up over to me and screamed,

Moto man- “Oh mah gawd! How are you running so fast! You’re going like, 90 mph!”

I looked over at him, silent. But suddenly his face changed, and he pulled into a stop. While doing so he yelled,

Moto man- “WHOA! WATCH OUT!!!”

A truck in front of Gabe suddenly veered around the corner and fell on its side. He jumped over it, but his misfortune was not over yet. The gas tank exploded right as he soared over it, causing his body to be sent further up in the air!

Shoot! I have to catch him!

Miraculously, the truck bounced right over me, and I went straight under it. Gabe was still in the air at this point. Helpless. While in the air, people can shift their center of mass to a certain extent by moving their arms and legs, turn by making use of air resistance, and position their arms and legs. But that was it.

Unlike the ground, people could not leverage force, move to a different area as quickly, nor effectively defend. I doubted he could hit the ground at an effective angle like this.

I reached out my arms, and flooded them with the golden aura. And suddenly, we were a few feet apart. A distance that could be crossed in the blink of an eye.

Gabe positioned his arms into a defensive posture. But I didn’t have the time to worry about that right now. With the golden aura surging around my arms, I smashed right into him.

“Bam!!!”