Season 1, Episode 3 - The Ring Dings X - "The Mad Preacher"

Down below, in that basement room of Hayman Office Supplies, four people heard the gunfire, observed the slight shaking of the store as the battle raged above them. Fluorescent lights and a barrel fire illuminated their faces.

"Looks like we got company," a man in a white trenchcoat said, smiling despite it all.

"Think any of them will make it?" Harriet asked, tying her long black hair into a pony-tail so it wouldn't get in her way during combat.

The man shook his head. "Unfortunately, I suspect all of them will either be killed or captured. So it goes in life."

Harriet pulled her hair through a dark green band. "What about us?"

The man relaxed himself on the wooden crate he was sitting on. "I suspect the two Rddhi users will notice your presence down here soon. You and I will stay here to greet them."

The other two men in the room took a glance back at their leader, but soon got back to their work around the fire.

"Is that wise?" Harriet asked. "If they capture you, then the Second Restoration can never be completed."

The man smiled. "Don't take this for cowardice, but I'll leave the fighting to you. I simply want to observe what the Technical Academy has produced before departing."

"I would never take anything you say for cowardice."

The two other men subtly rolled their eyes.

"Don't stay any longer than you need to," the man commanded. "Incapacitate them quickly so our escape will be unhampered."

"What about the two other users outside? The two boys in the jeep?"

"I can sense their presence, despite their attempts to conceal it," the man explained. "Their Rddhi is uneasy. This is their first time in actual combat. I suspect they're in charge of a contingent of men. The Academy will discover that having users serve as combat leaders can reduce their effectiveness in actually joining in our fight. I hope they'll learn a great deal from this operation. They've left large gaps in their lines for us to flee through."

One of the men around the fire finally spoke up. "You want them to improve, boss?"

The man nodded. "Of course, Stefano. I want every bright mind in this nation to improve. The Second Restoration will require it."

Stefano didn't care much about the Second Restoration. He only cared about the healthy-looking paychecks the boss sent his way. And those paychecks depended on the smuggling ring.

"You're really not concerned about losing this smuggling cell?" Stefano asked.

The man remained calm. "It is what it is. One falls, another will rise. And despite your belief to the contrary, I have many more sources of income at my disposal. This is just the most visible one to you."

The man rose from the crate. "It looks as though the Rddhi users are approaching. Stefano, Roman, are you finished?"

Ten minutes ago, Stefano had brought in a stack of papers detailing a list of the smugglers' telephone lines, contact information, local intelligence, and accounting records. A brief moment of contact with the man's finger reduced them to shreds. Ten minutes in Stefano's barrel fire reduced them to ashes.

"We're all set, boss."

"Good. Take Roman and head out through the Bay Mart."

"We're separating?"

"We'll be more likely to be spotted if we depart together. I'll take the emergency exit. You head out the other way."

Of course, the emergency exit didn't exist yet. The man would create that.

The fire produced a sheen of sweat on Stefano's brow; he wiped it off and rubbed his hands on his black jacket. His boss had such power...such precision...such wealth. He favored his odds of escaping the police and military much more likely if he was with the boss.

But Roman...Roman was a fucking nutcase. Powerful, but unpredictable. In their escape, Roman would lead the charge; Stefano's job would be guiding him to the rendezvous tunnel, where they could make their ultimate escape out of Elizabeth Pond, deeper into the city.

Stefano didn't like operating in the Rddhi district. Too many variables, too many ways for things to go wrong. But just as many customers could be found here as in normal districts, and a lot of them possessed more money to spend to boot. The income was just too good to pass up. Unfortunately, it looked like their activities had finally caught up to the smuggling cell.

Unless they could escape, of course. Stefano displayed no doubts about the boss escaping...as for him, well...

"Best of luck, you two," the man said. "And Roman, be careful out there. Remember our lessons." Empty and half-empty shelves dotted the basement, joined by random crates and boxes, providing the man with a number of shadows to melt into to. He disappeared around a corner, leaving his three subordinates behind.

"You heard the man," Harriet said sternly.

Stefano patted down on his jacket, cleaning his hands. "Yeah, yeah. Let's get going, Roman."

The quiet boy nodded and joined Stefano as they left through the door connecting the basements of Hayman and Bay Mart.

This left Harriet standing in the middle of the room, her eyes a mixture of excitement and determination behind her glasses.

Isaac and Alfie arrived at the bottom of the steps, a windowless door blocking their movement.

"Ready?" Isaac asked.

Alfie sighed and nodded.

Isaac raised his leg and gave a forceful kick, but the locked door refused to buckle under the pressure.

"Huh, I guess I should've tried this first," Isaac supposed. Golden energy ignited in his palm and he struck the door near the handle, smashing it into splinters. Another kick broke down the door, swinging wildly off its hinges.

Isaac and Alfie entered cautiously, both of them with their right arms ready. Shelves and crates lined the sides of the concrete room, but a wide open spot existed in the center, sterile fluorescent lighting illuminating the figure standing there. She wore a gray rain jacket and mottled military pants.

She seemed to be her late twenties, otherwise normal, but the way she eyed them – menacingly – suggested to Isaac that something seemed sort of off about her.

"Who are you?" Isaac challenged, taking a step forward-

Out of nowhere, Isaac and Alfie heard a slight crackle in the Rddhi.

Not from her though – from who? Isaac thought.

The two looked behind them – the smashed door not only reassembled itself into place, but it also completely changed texture. A moment ago, they entered through a wooden door. The one behind them now was made of metal. No door handle, no window.

Isaac slammed a charged punch into the door, but his fist bounced away harmlessly. It wasn't just the texture...this thing is metal all the way through now.

A man in a white trench coat emerged from the shadows.

Isaac wiped some sweat away. A second person? Could this be another user? But I didn't detect him at all...

"Is that another user?" Isaac asked Alfie, his fists raised in a boxer's stance.

Alfie shrugged. "I don't sense him in the Rddhi, but that girl definitely didn't change that door. Has to be him."

The man smiled. "Welcome, Technical Academy Rddhi users. I suspect your friends are making quick work of my men upstairs. I'll be brief, then."

Isaac and Alfie looked at each other in confusion.

"I want to be perfectly clear with you," the man said crisply. "I am allowing you and everyone here to live right now. I don't want any more bloodshed than necessary. I sincerely hope you will all be of use to me and the nation during the Second Restoration."

"The Second Restoration?" Isaac questioned.

Isaac remembered a history lesson with Shokahu. The Restoration was the conflict that restored the office of President as the ultimate leader of New England, fifty-something years ago. What's he talking about? What's there to restore now?

"A crisis will engulf our beloved New England soon," the man explained. "We will all have to take a long look at ourselves in the collective mirror and think about the sacrifices necessary to bring about national rejuvenation and restoration. When that day comes, I want you to stop and think about my words. We will build a new world that day. Wash away the oligarchs, the gerontocracy, the weak and spineless. New England will be reborn and saved. That is the only way we may fulfill our national destiny of reforming the United States and the world at large. I will create a world where all under the banner of pine tree and eagle will be equal. Every man will work hard and do his duty. And, in turn, he will receive his just rewards. When that day comes...I hope you make the right decision. I will destroy anyone who doesn't."

"So what, you're a mad preacher?" Alfie said.

The man shrugged. "I'll be called many names in the following years. The only one that matters to me will be President."

The man turned to the woman. "If you wish to dispose of them, make it quick, Harriet. Otherwise simply subdue them and leave quickly."

Harriet nodded. "I'll do as you wish."

"Hey, wait!" Isaac called out.

The man, clearly amused, stopped to see what Isaac had to say.

"You just said you didn't want any more bloodshed than usual. You even said you could kill us all, just like that. Why risk getting her hurt? There's no need for her to fight us, you could all just evacuate."

"Are you trying to help him?" Alfie said curtly.

The man's face still displayed that aura of calmness. "The only way the Second Restoration can come about is through violence and bloodshed. I wish to avoid unnecessary bloodshed. But man cannot evolve without conflict. Without competition and the need to survive, we become complacent, lost and without meaning."

He patted Harriet on the top of her head; she blushed a little.

Isaac and Alfie looked at each other dryly.

"Harriet knows the path to restoration is paved with warfare. Only the fittest may survive. If she wins here today, it means she can continue down that path with me. If she loses, it means she's not worthy. It means you two are the ones I wish to follow me."

"You want to be a leader, but that's how you treat your subordinates?" Isaac questioned, growing angry.

"Enough!" Harriet interjected. "Don't delay my leader any further. I can handle any further questions."

The man smiled. "I'll see you on the other side," he simply said as he departed.

Isaac stepped forward, energy flaring from his fist-

A concrete block forming a thin wall suddenly appeared in front of Isaac, blocking his path. When his fist connected, the wall stopped his blow in its tracks. The force of the blow did manage to smash the block, at least. Through the rubble, Isaac saw the man smile and place his hand on one of the room's walls.

The briefest flash of blue appeared in the man's fingers. The wall – a concrete wall, located in a basement – morphed into a door. The man opened it and went through, closing the door behind him.

Isaac looked down where the block was and saw, through the rubble, a long, thin hole in the ground.

That must have been where the material for the wall came from, Isaac realized. But that hole...it goes down deep. That block was all concrete, but the hole...after going through the floor, he used dirt to make it.

Isaac looked at the newly-created door. What's his power...and why can't we detect it?

"You want to know why I'll follow my leader into certain death?" Harriet called out, clearing enjoying the mind games running through Isaac's head at the moment.

Isaac still kept his focus on the hole. "Uh, actually...not really anymore. His power is sort of more intriguing to me than whatever freaky worship relationship thing you got going on with him."

"Power? Don't you realize that the Rddhi is just one of his abilities? Rddhi is how he'll move bodies. But his charisma, his vision, that's how he'll move the masses."

Alfie kicked over some of the rubble. "So he changed dirt into concrete, huh?"

Isaac nodded. "Yeah, pretty crazy, right?"

"Pay attention!" Harriet ordered.

Isaac remembered his mission. "Stand down or we'll have to kick your ass!"

"Kick my ass? You think you can kick my ass after what he's shown me? After how he's developed me, trained me in seeing his vision of the future? My leader...he's my life! He saved me from enslavement!"

"Enslavement?" Isaac repeated.

"Of a corporate kind. Enslavement to the system that prevents you from living your life. You cannot escape the system...at least, that's what I thought, until he showed me the truth on the banks of the Charles River..."