Chapter 29: Whoops

Melissa looked at the Reinforcer and smirked. The odds didn’t matter, stacked against her as they were. Melissa was going to beat this man, and if not for her own sake, then for Jack’s. For a brief moment she felt bad about destroying Alana’s lawn, but with a peek behind her at the hole torn in the side of the house, she realized that at this point it hardly mattered. She was startled when she heard Michael’s voice shouting in her mind.

“Don’t even think about it!” Michael screamed in her head. With all the chaos going on around her, she had forgotten about the device in her ear, which in addition to audio also allowed them to see a visual of the situation.

“Melissa, this is Paro. Just hang tight. We’re almost there. You are not to engage this man, do you understand me? I’m already on the phone with General Deven Moore, and he’s furious. Let him handle these Op. team animals, it’s his job, not yours. Do not make any attempt to engage Neil Witherson, age forty-four, Reinforcer. We are almost there. I repeat, do not engage.”

“Forgive me, Paro.” Melissa cracked her knuckles.

“Hmm?” Neil gave Melissa a questioning look. “So, you’re wearing one of those devices, are you? Let me guess, we’re in quite a bit of trouble—so much for all that false bravado, girl.”

Melissa grinned. “You’ve got nothing to lose now, do you? Don’t worry yourself. I’d never pick a fight I couldn’t finish.” To prove her point, she removed the device from her ear and crushed it between her powerful hands. “Let’s see what’cha got, big-boy.”

The man wasted no time, charging at her and taking a swing aimed at her head. Melissa ducked under the blow and attempted to return one of her own. Despite the man’s massive size, he evaded the return-swing with ease, throwing yet another jab directed towards the center of Melissa’s face. She stepped back just in time, feeling the wind from his punch on her forehead.

What the man had said was true. He had about triple her experience. However, he’d been wrong about one thing—he was not more powerful than she was. Everyone was born with a certain amount of power. It was unchangeable. Melissa estimated that she might even be the stronger of the two, although in the end it didn’t really matter. To a Psych, experience and skill accounted for eighty-percent of the fight. Power had very little bearing in the long run. As if to prove this theory, Neil dashed forward and swung at her yet again.

Melissa reached deep and pulled out everything she could draw. She assaulted the man with a jab-cross, pivoting off her back foot and throwing her weight behind the punch. Their two fists connected with a loud crunch, and pain shot through Melissa’s arm, cascading from her knuckles all the way up into her shoulder. Still, she held her ground.

Their two fists remained connected, struggling against the force of the other. In the end, the man’s experience won out, as he started to push her fist back, following it up with an unexpected hook from his free hand.

Melissa’s head was snapped back as the man’s fist collided with her cheek, forcing her to retreat a few steps. She tasted blood in her mouth and spat it onto the grass. She swished her tongue around her mouth, checking for any loose teeth. It was only her cheek that had been damaged.

Neil advanced on her yet again, and Melissa began to worry. Already people were turning on their porch lights to see what all the commotion was about. In a risky move, she charged to meet the older Psych head-on. He braced himself, ready for her assault.

Before the two met for another round of attacks, Melissa stopped short and jumped into the air, well over the man’s head.

“Huh?” he said in surprise as she came to land behind him. He turned to meet her, but found only her fist to greet him. He was knocked off his feet as fist hit bone. There was a disgusting crackling sound. She’d caught him off guard and he landed on his back.

Melissa blew on her first like it was a smoking gun. The man, Neil, screamed as he jumped back to his feet and once again rushed at her. Now, there was murder in his eyes.

His attacks were a great deal faster than before, swinging one-two combinations with his full strength. If even a single one hit Melissa, she’d probably close her eyes and never again wake up. She ducked, side-stepped, and even spun her way around his fists, narrowly avoiding each attack. The man was in a rage. He threw one punch after the other, each one almost close enough to graze Melissa’s face.

If things kept on going the way they were, then it was only a matter of time before he managed to actually hit her, and when that happened the man was sure to knock her head off. She waited for the perfect moment, a chance to counter. She needed him to aim straight for her nose—an opportunity for her to win. If he threw even a single straight-punch, she’d be able to use something Kazou once taught her.

For another few heart-wrenching moments, she backed away from him as he pushed her towards the street, ducking and side-stepping his deadly fists powered by his massive arms. Finally, when she was almost against the curb, with the street just a foot behind her, he went for it. With a grunt, he sent his right fist soaring at her, a blow that if connected, would probably crush her nose and kill her.

She kicked off her right foot while at the same time she grabbed his wrist with her left hand and his shoulder with her right. With all the strength she could muster she continued along with his own motion, pushing him in the same direction he was punching, and positioning herself to the side of him. Using his own force against him, he was hurled to the ground at a speed that made him look like a homing-missile. He threw out his hands to defend his face, landing on the ground in a pushup position, smashing the concrete with his open palms.

It’s now or never, Melissa thought.

This was her only chance—there wouldn’t be another. Neil, for the shortest moment, was unable to defend himself. His palms were sunken into the concrete, and he was attempting to push himself back up.

Melissa ran at him, and at the risk of her own safety, she gave up all her own defenses. Even a weak Reinforcer could put their fist through her head as her tough-as-steel body softened to normal human flesh. She diverted all of her power into her right foot, every last drop, and then she launched it at the face of the Reinforcer, who was still in a crawling-position.

For a moment he met her gaze. He locked eyes with Melissa and he actually trembled. Her front-kick connected with his jaw, and the impact was so powerful that it sent him airborne. There was a terrible crunching sound, as teeth and blood parted his mouth, causing him to once again fall on his back in the middle of the street. He cried out in agony, rolling on the ground and holding his face. Blood dripped from his open mouth like a leaky faucet.

All at once, Melissa returned to reality. The adrenaline was gone, the hatred was gone, and now she looked on with pity at the man she had just harmed. She’d never hurt anyone as bad as she’d just hurt the whimpering Reinforcer.

Neil looked up at her. His expression was one of disbelief. His mouth was completely red, and the extent of the damage she’d done disturbed Melissa. Even for a man like Neil, she felt guilty. Melissa was no Telepath, but at that moment she knew what the man was thinking.

Did that just happen?

“K … kill … m … me,” he begged, tears in his eyes, his voice raspy and pained. Melissa must have knocked at least half the man’s teeth out. “S … Santos,” he murmured.

Melissa didn’t know who Santos was, but she suspected it was the Telepath Alana had killed. She felt a new kind of anger grow in her. Not the raging, murderous hatred she’d felt earlier. This time it was a disappointed, saddened anger.

“Everything that has happened,” she said to wounded man. “All of it. These are the consequences of your actions.”

Melissa looked down at her bloodied hands, and even through her pity, she had a sense of empowerment. She had just beaten a forty-four year old man, humiliating him in a way he’d probably never recover from.

The commotion from the house was becoming louder, and she realized with a gasp she had forgotten all about Jack and the unconscious Alana. She took the time to grab Neil’s foot and drag him back across the street, or at least far enough so that a car wouldn’t hit him, before dashing back towards the home.

****

Jack watched as Cemmera and the two men she was with—Telekinetics, if he’d overheard correctly—positioned themselves side-by-side, ready to take on Andy and the two others he was with.

Jack struggled to remember their names, close to moaning with the frustration. He hated it when a name was on the tip of his tongue and he just couldn’t remember it.

Damn, he thought. Was it Rupert and Roberta? No, that wasn’t it. Was it Rambo and Rhonda? No, that’s not right either.

“Cemmera,” one of the two Telekinetics said, “we should not fight this battle, you know. We don’t have a Telepath, and they do. One-on-one I can understand, but to fight as a group without a Path among us, well, that’s suicide. Their Manipulator is going to tear through us.”

Cemmera snarled at the man. “I know that, you fool. But they’re just children. I don’t care how powerful they are. Hey, you,” she said, pointing to Jack.

“Me?”

“Yeah, you need to help us here, and maybe, just maybe, I’ll let you live. I need you to focus on keeping their Telepath occupied, so we can take down the other two brats.”

Jack didn’t like the woman, and from everything he’d seen she looked to be pretty evil herself, even if she was on the same side or whatever. Looking over, Jack saw Andy and his two creepy friends grinning at Cemmera. No matter how wrong Cemmera was for destroying his home and hurting his mom, Jack knew that he’d have to back her up. He made a promise to Paro to help stop the murderers for everything they’d done, for everything they’d still do.

Andy and his two partners in crime listened to their conversation, looking unworried and carefree. They remained motionless.

“Now, listen to me very, very carefully, Harris. What I’m about to tell you is both complicated and deeply important. You must heed every word of it to have even the smallest chance at surviving this. Their Telepath is going to stop my Manipulation, which normally would be no problem except for the fact that they’ve got a Manipulator too. I’m going to use all my power to neutralize their Manipulator’s attacks, and as a result, I won’t be able to deal any in return. Both of my Kinetics will do their best to stop their one Kinetic, but they too will be dealing with fending off the Path’s attempts to weaken them. You see, there is a reason every team needs a Path, and if your tramp of a mother hadn’t killed mine, those three would be dead already. Do you understand?”

A sudden, gripping panic entered Jack’s mind.

I did it again! he thought. I stopped paying attention when someone was trying to teach me something, because it was boring. It’s okay. I’ll just do what I always do. Pretend I understand.

Jack narrowed his eyes on Cemmera and forced himself to wear his most confident grin. “I understand,” he said, keeping his voice cool and confident. A glimmer of hope entered Cemmera’s otherwise dark and desperate expression.

Jack walked in front the three Op. team members, positioning himself directly in the middle between Andy’s group and Cemmera’s. Jack knew what he would do. He’d use a burst, and send the three of them packing, just like when he’d fought against Melissa.

He allowed a very small drop of power to trickle in, groaning at the agonizing feeling of discomfort and nausea.

“Gah!” he called out. “It’s like the worst thing ever.”

The power rushed into him, and he extended his arm, holding out his open palm to the three murderous Psychs. Andy met Jack’s eyes and retreated several steps, petrified of him for some reason. Requiem only smiled. It was a twisted, disfigured smile, lighting up her maddened face. There was a single strand of her smooth-flowing red hair dangling across her eyes, adding menace to her psychotic delight. Ruin looked as he always did, carefree, languid, and sincere.

Jack searched for that trigger—that familiar feeling, and using all the power he had drawn out he threw it at them, attempting to send them flying with his Kinetic might.

All at once there were screams, followed soon after by the sound of banging and collision, erupting from somewhere behind him. Several loud clangs rang throughout the kitchen. Jack looked over his shoulder … and felt a wave of embarrassment and shame, as he saw the three members of Cemmera’s team crash and break the few remaining kitchen cabinets. The Kinetics were unconscious, and Cemmera looked livid.

“Whoops,” Jack said to the group with Andy. “I meant to do that to you three, not sure what I did wrong. Hold still, okay? Let me try this again. Not sure why it went backwards.”

Requiem clapped her hands together and cheered. “Oh! Brother, Jack, Darling! That was wonderful! Well, well, done.”

Cemmera screamed at him, shaking her fist in the air. A look of depression replaced the previous fire in her eyes. She had been sent crashing into the broken refrigerator, and now, in addition to the water from the broken sink showering her head, cracked containers of milk and orange juice were leaking on top of her as well. Between the dirt from the garden, the juice, the milk, and the water mixing it all over her, Jack thought she kind of resembled an alien monster.

“HARRIS!” she roared at him. “What kind of a man can’t aim straight? You buffoon, you idiot!”

Jack felt guilty. He sort of had an idea of what he’d done wrong, and he was certain that next time he could correct it. “Sorry about that, guys, I made an oopsie. My bad.”

One of the Telekinetic brothers fell forward onto his face as the cabinet he was leaning on gave out, while the other simply closed his eyes and drooled. Cemmera tried to stand, and made it halfway too, before the slippery floor got the better of her, and she tripped, landing painfully on her rump. Jack wasn’t sure if it was the water and juice in her eyes, but it looked to him like she was crying.

Ruin gave Andy a pat on the back. “Do you see, brother? And you said it was going to be hard to get Jack Harris to join our side. Look, he’s only taken one glance at us and he’s already betrayed his friends. He knew we were family at first sight.”

Andy did not meet Jack’s gaze, once again making Jack wonder if he’d done something horrible to him, but for the life of him, he couldn’t remember. Andy retreated a few more steps, to stand behind Requiem.

Jack scratched his head. “Umm, I think you guys might be a little confused. That was an accid—”

Requiem cut him off and grabbed his hands. “Darling, I have a present for you! You’re going to love this. Come, come, come!” Before Jack could protest, he found himself dragged away by the deranged girl. She led him out of the house and started off at a run, pulling him with her. Jack ran alongside her, more than just a little confused. Ruin and Andy followed close behind, though Andy just a bit farther away than Ruin.

They led him to the back of a large, beaten-up van. The front window was missing, and blood was everywhere, some in very odd places. There were splotches on the dashboard, steering wheel, and even some on the tires.

Requiem hopped in the back, and Jack turned to Andy. The boy shivered just by having Jack look at him.

“Andy, did I do something?”

Andy fell on his knees with tears in his eyes as he backed away from Jack at a crawl. His hands scraped the concrete while he back-crawled into Ruin. The young man held Andy in place, preventing him from going any farther.

“S-stay away from me, you monster!” Andy looked horrified, so much so that he was unable to stand.

“What did you do to our Brother?” Ruin asked Jack.

“I don’t know. I don’t remember. I feel like I did something bad, but it’s just not ringing a bell. Oh, by the way, you three are like, under arrest and stuff.”

Ruin laughed. He helped Andy get back to his feet. Requiem emerged from the back of the beaten-down vehicle with a small, fluffy animal. Jack’s eyes lit up. He remembered having one very similar a long time ago.

“Is that a rabbit?” he asked.

“Yes, it is, and I got it for you, Darling.”

Requiem passed the creature to Jack. It was a small, white little thing, with tiny blue eyes and a round nose. He held it in his arms, and for a moment Jack remembered the one he had lost so long ago.

“Thank you,” Jack whispered. He didn’t understand why such a horrible person would do something so nice for him. The little rabbit didn’t struggle, it even started to fall asleep in Jack’s arms. Requiem blushed, and while Jack had not known her for long, he had the feeling that it was an expression she seldom displayed. Even Andy and Ruin seemed surprised by it.

“It was … nothing, Darling,” she said, crossing her left foot over her right and averting her eyes. For a moment, some of the madness in her eyes seemed to fade, only to be replaced in an instant. “Now, our newest and dearest brother, you must come with us. We’re working on getting a home for everyone—for you, me, and your two brothers. Mr. Wellington and the rabbit too, of course. You’re going to love him, Darling.”

Jack didn’t understand why, but he felt no anger or hatred towards Requiem or her brother. There was something about them, something off. He couldn’t place it, but there was a look in her eyes as if there were more to her buried beneath the madness. They’d committed such terrible and despicable crimes, they had ruined lives and crushed people’s dreams, and yet, Jack could not bring himself to hate them.

“Can I ask you something, Requiem? Requiem is your name, right?”

She smiled. “Ask away, Darling.”

“How come you guys kill people? When I’m alone with you guys, you don’t seem like such bad people, so why? Don’t you feel bad that you take away other people’s lives? I don’t understand why all those people you killed had to die.”

Requiem turned away from Jack and said nothing. Ruin spoke in her place. “Brother Jack, my sister and I learned at a young age that regardless of what you do in this world, as long as you’re strong enough to get away with it then it can’t be wrong.”

Jack tried not to let sadness fill his voice, but some of it seeped through. “But how can you say that, guys? You seem to really care about each other. Are you saying that if someone really powerful came along and killed one of you that … that it’s okay because they were strong enough to do it?”

Requiem spun around and grabbed Jack’s shirt. “No!” she yelled. “No one can ever take away my family. No, that can never be right.”

Jack put an arm on her shoulder, and she blushed yet again. “Then how?” he asked, looking deep into her maddened gaze, trying to see past it. “Then how can you make other people feel that pain?”

She released his shirt and walked away, mumbling words to herself that Jack couldn’t make out. There was more to her—he was sure of it. Ruin sighed and walked over to Jack.

“You’ll understand in time, Brother. For now, we should be on our way.”

“No.”

“No?” Ruin asked. “What do you mean, ‘no’?”

“I mean, no way. I’m not joining you guys. What you three do is wrong, and awful. No one has the right to do what you’ve done. May I ask you a question? You’re Ruin, right?”

He nodded. “Go right ahead.”

“You killed a boy named Jonathan Herbert, right? He was my age. In fact, he was in my class. Do you remember?”

Ruin crossed his arms and rested his chin on his left fist, deep in thought. After a moment he looked at Jack. “I don’t remember the names, but I think I know the one you’re talking about. What about it?”

“Did you know that our solar system was formed by something called a nebula?”

Ruin looked taken aback. “What does that have to do with anything, Brother?”

Jack ignored the reply. “Just answer me. Did you know that?”

Ruin laughed. “No, Brother, I didn’t.”

“Well, Jonathan did. He told me that once. It’s amazing what you can remember about people after you find out that they’re no longer alive. He wasn’t like other people. Then again, nobody in this world is truly like anybody else. Ya see, Jonathan wanted to be an astronomer.”

Jack had to struggle to continue speaking. Requiem had returned, and now both her, her brother, and even Andy looked at Jack with confusion as tears began to fall down his face. A deep sadness entered Jack, but he wiped away his tears and continued to speak. His voice occasionally broke into a whimper.

“When we went to that space-camp thing on a field trip, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a person so happy. All he wanted was to work for NASA. He had so much that he wanted to do and a whole life ahead of him to do it. Every day he would come to class wearing those t-shirts, with the stars and stuff. Adam used to talk to him about it, because Adam knows a lot of things. He and Jonathan would go at it for hours, and I’d listen. I didn’t understand most of it, but I understood that it was his dream. I wasn’t really his friend, but I always hoped that one day he made his dreams come true. And he was doing it, too! At least, he was until he met you two. I read the file, you know?”

It was becoming very hard to continue, but Jack forced out the words. “They say he was walking home one night from the astronomy club, and it was dark because he’d stayed late at school. You two held him down. You.” He pointed to Ruin. “You pinned him down kinetically, and you.” He pointed to Requiem. “You allowed Ruin to see his heart. It was the same heart that filled him with wonder when he looked at the stars, the place that made him chase his dreams. And for no reason other than ‘fun’ you decided that his hopes, his dreams, his life. You decided to take all of that away from him. All I want to know is why? What did he do wrong that he didn’t deserve to live? Was it because you didn’t like him? Or did you even know him? Tell me, you two. Tell me!”

Ruin’s smile did not fade, but his eyes did seem to take on a more serious gaze. “We chose, that’s why,” he said. “There is no reason, don’t you get it? We don’t kill because we hate the people we’re killing. We do it to prove that we can.”

Jack felt the beginnings of anger. “Is that all?” he shouted. “Just for that? You’re willing to take away everything from people, just to show that you can?”

“We don’t expect you to understand right away, Brother. But until you—”

Jack roared at the two. “I am not your damn brother! I will never be your brother!” He forced calm into his voice. “I don’t know what happened to you two, but I wish I did, really, I do. Whatever the reason though, you two can’t be allowed to walk free anymore, same goes for Andy.”

He gently put the rabbit on the ground and allowed himself to draw from the disgusting, vile source of power he had come to hate. He did not close the ‘door’ right away, he allowed it to pour into him a moment longer.

He was almost unable to close it off as the torrent of wild power rushed into him.

“Ruin, Darling, the Harris-boy is drawing quite a bit of power, almost as much as you’re capable of.”

Ruin spat on the ground. “I guess you were right, Brother Andy, we can’t make Jack Harris our family after all.”

“Please,” Andy begged, “let me kill him.”

Ruin and Requiem answered at the same time.

“No!” Requiem shouted.

“Go ahead, Andy,” Ruin said. He looked to his sister. “We must face the facts, dearest Sister. The Harris-boy will never be ours.”

She turned around to face away from them. “I will not watch this.”

Jack saw Andy raise his arms, a look of hatred and disgust shining through his once youthful-looking eyes. Now they were hardened, and the twisted man who stood before him replaced any trace of the boy Jack knew.

Jack began to sweat, and his face began to heat up. He wasn’t sure how he knew, but somehow he realized what Andy intended to do. Fear bubbled in his heart, as he realized he was going to meet the same fate as Richard and his family.

The heat grew, and in an instant it went from being a mild discomfort into a burning sensation. In another second it would become agony, and Jack had no idea how to stop it. “Andy, please,” Jack begged.

Andy ignored him, a sadistic smile on his face. There was no breaking through to him, the time for that had passed. He was going to kill Jack.

Jack closed his eyes and prepared for the worst. After a few moments, when the pain didn’t increase, he opened them again. Not only had the pain not increased, but now, about a foot in front of him he saw a puff of smoke. All three of the Psychs seemed confused.

“Sister, why is our brother’s ability failing?” Ruin asked.

Requiem turned back around to face them, and of all things, she held a look of relief. “There is a Telepath somewhere around here, and he … no she, is interfering.”

Jack’s eyes widened. He was being saved, but by who? Andy and Ruin frowned at something in the distance and Jack spun around. Walking toward them were the five people in the world Jack had come to trust implicitly.

“Jack, are you okay?” Sarah asked, sprinting towards him. She ran in an odd, off-balance way. Her head was staring at the ground. “I got to you just in time,” she panted. She was out of breath.

Michael, Paro, and Kazou came close behind her. To Jack’s left, he could see Melissa charging from the side of his house with worry on her face. “Jack!” she called. For some reason Paro frowned at her, and Melissa returned a guilty look. Ruin grabbed Requiem by the arm and backed up, followed closely by Andy.

“I don’t reckon I’ll let you get away this time,” Michael spat. Two lampposts ripped free of the ground, which cast darkness on the area they’d once lit, and sped towards the three fleeing Psychs. Ruin made a chopping gesture in the air, swinging his stiffened hand downward. Another two lampposts ripped free, colliding with the first two and causing all four to fall to the ground with a tremendous crash. Every neighbor on the street opened their doors, each looking to find out what had been causing the commotion all night.

“Not here,” Paro growled. “Definitely not here. Besides, we couldn’t pursue these three even if we wanted to. We’ve got everything from serious, to critically injured in Alana’s home, including Alana herself.”

“Not this again,” Michael moaned. “I’m not letting these fellas get away a second time just cause of some protocol or another.”

The three Psychs broke into a sprint, darting away from Paro and his team. Jack didn’t care much for protocol either. This had gone on for far too long. He was damned if he was going to allow there to be another Jonathan, or Richard, or whoever else lost their lives to the three Psychs.

Jack was still filled with the power he’d drawn. It began to hurt—he knew he’d need to either let it go or use it, and he had no idea how to let it go. He stepped forward away from the team. Paro gave him a warning glance.

“What do you think you’re doing, Jack?” Paro said.

Jack looked at him. “What you signed me up to do.”

In what was perhaps one of the riskiest things Jack had ever attempted, he once again tried to find a trigger. Only, this time it was one he didn’t have a clue how to find. If he thought about what he wanted to do, many of them felt right, but even narrowing it down there were still so many possibilities. Once again, Jack guessed.

“Paro, I think Jack’s using Reinforcement,” Sarah said. Both concern and amazement filled her voice.

As the power rushed into Jack’s legs, he couldn’t help but feel elated. Never had he felt so much strength within himself.

So, this is what it feels like to be like Kazou or Melissa.

Jack squeezed and wiggled his toes then looked ahead of him. He crouched to the ground like an Olympian at the start of a race, and with warning shouts and threats coming from Paro behind him, he ran off.

“That’s my boy!” Michael shouted, running after him.

“Foolish children!” Kazou yelled, following behind Michael.

“You have just earned eight slaps!” Melissa added, running swiftly on her feet, faster than all of them.

“Damn everyone with a Telekinetic affinity, Unrestricted or not!” came the voice of Paro from behind them, as he too took up the charge.

“Wait up, you guys!” Sarah laughed.