Chapter 10

Sunday 5/29/119 2:55 PM

Riverdale Park

Ethan has finished providing the Sheriff with an explanation of the events which transpired. Upon arrival, the Sheriff had been utterly flabbergasted at the scene which he was observing, and if only for a brief moment, had questioned his decision to give Ethan free rain. He, however, quickly discarded the thought when thinking about the results rather than the methods used.

Ethan, now given his statement, turns to the Sheriff, who is writing information on a notebook, and asks,

“Are you equipped with a method to secure the Awakened girl? I can’t imagine the hospital was built with that purpose in mind.”

The Sheriff sighs and answers, “Yeah, I was just thinking about that as well. I’ve dealt with Awakened before, and boy, are they a handful. Our town just isn’t made to handle them.”

Ethan begins to stew on this problem along with the Sheriff. “I doubt they’ll rip through steel cuffs, but the question is what to secure the cuffs to. You can’t strap them to the hospital bed. They’ll just break off the frames.”

“How about this?” the Sheriff asks before continuing, “What if we cuff their ankles together so they can’t run away?”

Ethan nods his head. “That could work, but it won’t completely stop them from moving around. You should post a few men in the room with high powered tranquilizers.”

“Of course. No way I’ll just leave them in there without contingencies.”

“Sheriff, once they wake up, may I question them?”

“Why?” he asks, frowning his bushy eyebrows, “I know we’re inexperienced, but my guys can handle that much. Why not just read the report?”

“I could, but I still prefer to do it myself.”

Not far away, Chris silently watches the paramedics load the unconscious sisters into the back, thinking deeply about what has transpired. The Sheriff points at the teen standing by himself and asks Ethan,

“By the way, what is that kid doing here? You vouched for him but, if I may ask, where did you find him. He wasn't with you before.”

“I would rather not reveal his identity right now,” Ethan responds. “After all, from what I understand, this town is extremely prejudiced against Awakened individuals.”

“Yeah,” the Sheriff nods, “that all goes back to 15 years ago. The Riverdale incident. It wiped out a huge area of town. The area has now been turned into this very park here.”

“Riverdale incident? I think I've heard of …”

Ethan voice trails off as he is slammed with a revelation, his eyes springing wide with shock as he remembers a name.

Riverdale incident? As in … Daniel Riverdale?! One of the four Supreme Kings in the world! There's no way! He's legendary! What the hell would a Supreme King be doing here in this backwater Territory?

A king is an individual who has amassed enough power to govern and protect a full sized kingdom. This includes the ability to defend their borders from an attack from the Global Empire.

A supreme king is far more impressive. Not only do they possess the power of kings but they are also actively fighting against the Empire, attempting to conquer Empirical Territory. This task requires them to combat the strongest members of the Empire’s military, who are all 10th tier Awakened.

That is the kind of power which Daniel Riverdale wields. He belongs to a completely different world than the residents of Arbhar. Ethan is frozen stiff with surprise, trying to imagine why such a powerful person would be in a town which hasn’t even the capability to confine rowdy, low level Awakened patients in a hospital.

To Ethan’s mutter which had slipped out before is realization, the Sheriff raises an eyebrow and says with complete misunderstanding,

“Oh, you've heard of it. Hey, that's something. News of this place rarely ever travels far.”

“Hm.” But this is far from what Ethan is actually thinking.

‘News?!’ I would say this is more than just news. But no, I hadn’t heard of it until right now, which is all the more suspicious. An incident where a large chunk of a town in Long Continent was destroyed by a Supreme King should have been broadcasted to the whole world. In the five years I spent traveling, I never once heard of such an event.

Looking at these people, they have no clue of the significance of Riverdale’s presence here? But that begs the question, why did they name the park after him. Do they actually know who he is? I’m not receiving that impression.

“Why is it called the Riverdale incident?” Ethan asks.

“Because the man responsible for the incident was named that. Apparently, he is some big shot conqueror on the outside but I don’t know too much about that. Anyway, as an apology, he built this park and even pathed our roads, even though we don’t have many cars here. But it wasn’t enough and people still hold a grudge against the Awakened. Oh, I mean no disrespect against you Mr. Blade, you being one yourself.”

“It’s alright,” Ehtan responds before changing the subject. “Ok Sheriff, do you need anything else from me?”

“Not at this time.”

“Ok, then I’ll contact you later.” Ethan leaves the Riverdale matter aside for now and takes a step in Chris’s direction to head off, however, he stops when the Sheriff speaks up.

“Hey, we found Alex Spencer briefly but we lost him again. My guys aren’t trained in following people. We tried contacting you earlier but you didn’t respond.”

Hearing this, Ethan pats his right pocket where he had left the SDC, and discovers it to no longer reside there.

Right. It probably fell out during my fight with Chris.

“The SDC you loaned me was broken in the shooting just now,” he explains with a white lie, finding it easier to explain the communicator’s whereabouts in this way. “I apologize. May I ask that you deduct the cost from the next bounty I bring in.”

The Sheriff, clearly grumpy at the loss of one of the few SDC’s he possesses, grumbles before agreeing to Ethan’s proposal. After settling the matter, Ethan turns and walks over to Chris who is still watching the ambulance in a daze.

“Something interesting about that ambulance?”Ethan asks as he approaches. Chris, as a result, jolts awake from his said daze and answers hurriedly.

“Y-yeah. Wait, no. I was just watching the ambulance drive off and um … well my bruises from our fight got worse from getting shot at and I was going to have them check me out but … also I didn’t want those two girls to wake up and cause trouble so …”

Ethan stares at the teen for a long second. His words sound like impromptu excuses and his voice is shaky. He’s clearly still a bit shell shocked.

“You had a long stare. You're a bit shaken up with guilt, right?”

Chris’s eyes widen slightly, signaling to Ethan that his guess was indeed correct. Instead of covering it up, Chris shakes his head in agreement.

“I didn’t hit me until the other cops arrived and found him, but … a cop really died today. Even though their target was you, someone else died because the bullet ricochet off my arm.”

“You don’t know that the bullet that killed him …” Ethan tries to say, but he is cut off.

“Oh come on, Ethan. Don’t do that. I felt that bullet ricochet. At the time, I thought, please don’t hit one of them, but it did. So yeah … I feel guilty.”

Ethan stares at him in silence once more. Since he hasn’t experienced much in the way of human connection, nor has he shared his experiences with others much, his mind is blank for what to say in such a situation. However, before he has a chance, Chris lighty claps his hands against his face and a bit of life returns to his eyes.

“Ok, I’ve gone and made this depressing,” he says before turning to look Ethan in the eye. “Don’t stare at me like that, man. Your pitying look is not charitable right now. I might feel guilty now but I’ll get over it soon, so stop worrying.”

Ethan tilts his head slightly. “I wasn’t worried. I was merely thinking of how to sooth your mental state. Now that you’ve proven you can do so without my help, I need not contemplate it any longer.”

“Haaaa! That’s so cold! Sincerity is not your forte, is it?”

And just like that, he is back to his usual light hearted self. Though Chris is not one to have regrets nor dwell on the past, Ethan can still sense a slight pain in the teens words.

“You should probably head home for the day before anyone else has a chance to recognize you,” Ethan tells him. “Though I built up some trust with your parents, that will be for nothing if they find out about this.”

“Awwwww come on. This was great. Plus, I want to be there when you interrogate them. I don't wanna go home. Oh, does my parents liking you really matter that much?”

Ethan, without answering his last question, retorts, “I recall a Biology test that you needed to study for.”

“Don't be like that. I already said I’m content with a bad grade. What are you going to do after this?”

“Go back to my hotel and rest.”

“Whaaaat?” Chris asks. “But I thought you said something about checking out potential threats or whatever.”

“I’ve decided to do that tomorrow.”

“Ehhh?!”

Ethan continues arguing with him for some time, and after some more persuading, finally convinces him to head home. Ethan watches Chris depart from the park at high speeds, evading the eye of any onlookers who might recognize his face. As a result of his acceleration, Chris's shredded shirt rips off his body as he makes his exit.

Ethan walks over and stares at the ripped shirt on the ground, which cements in his mind what his goal in regard to Chris really means.

He went through a lot today. He is strong-willed but he’s still a sheltered kid. I still think he would make the best partner for me and I want him to follow me into bad places in the future, but I didn’t expect something like this to happen.

I wonder if I should continue building a relationship with him. One might suggest acknowledging his opinion as well but I’m positive he would accept my offer to take him away from this place. The problem is his parents. He should know not to tell them of today, given how they are to react, but still ... if or when word of this reaches their ears, I’ll never be able to contact him again, let alone convince them to entrust him to me. Maybe I …

In the midst of thinking, Ethan shifts his gaze to the northeast side of the park, having felt a gaze casted upon him. However, his eyes meet nothing.

“Was I just imagining things? I definitely felt two strong Chi signatures but …”

Finding zilch, he pushes the feeling to the back of his mind and sets off, still planning to check out his potential threats list even though he told Chris otherwise. In honesty with himself, he would accomplish this task much faster without a tag along anyway.

***

Abandoned Housing District

A little while ago,

Alex, with a concerned demeanor, walks around the hideout, peeking his head inside each room in search of something. Jarvis, after watching him doing this for sometime, finally becomes curious enough to stop his sweeping and ask.

“Alex, may I inquire as to what you're looking for?”

“The girls.”

“Pardon?”

“I’m talking about Guzel and Faith!” Alex yells with a sour look on his face. He continues to search the handful of rooms a second time, with much weight behind his footsteps as he does so. His movements also seem rigid and tense.

“Ah I see,” Jarvis politely answers. “What seems to be the problem? You’re awfully wound up.”

“I can't find them.”

“Interesting,” he comments. “Are they not resting? They had known his Ozpri for quite some time. The news of her death would impact them far more than the rest of us.”

“Yeah, I know. And that's what's bothering me. Not only are they gone, some of our guns are missing as well.”

Jarvis, having grasped what thoughts are running through Alex’s brain, becomes far more serious than usual, his eyes narrowing as a stern expression overtakes his body.

“I see. However, before we are consumed by worrisome presumptions, I might suggest that if they went out for a less concerning reason than you are thinking of, they might have taken the guns for a sense of security.”

“Oh really?!” Alex shouts. “Who takes a high caliber automatic rifle for security?!”

Jarvis's eyes widen, realising that his friend’s worries are not unfounded. He takes a deep breath before speaking again.

“That … does sound troubling. But let's remain calm and see if …”

“I'm going out to look for them.”

Before Jarvis can say anything more, Alex strides towards the front door like a man on a mission. He passes Steffan who has just come from upstairs without saying a word.

“Hey Ale … Wait, where are you …”

Alex ignores Steffan as well and continues out the front door, which prompts Steffan to follow him.

“Alex, wait! Where are you going? After today, I thought we agreed we shouldn’t leave the hideout recklessly.”

“I’m going to find Guzel and Faith. They’ve disappeared.”

“Oh, I see. That is troubling. Even still, they could be anywhere and we don’t know for certain they will run into trouble.”

“I get that, but I should …”

BANG! A gunshot rings out across the landscape, freezing the two of them in their tracks. Neither says a word as they stare at each other for a long, silent moment. Steffan eventually breaks the ice by suggesting,

“Maybe it was a firework”

“For what occasion?”

“You don’t always need a reason.”

BANG! Another gunshot bellows. This prompts the two to both look in the direction which the sound originated. They discover there is no flash of light that a firework would create if set off. Besides, hearing it a second time, they both become sure of the sound's creator.

“That was definitely a gunshot,” Alex says under his breath. The two then stand there listening for any more shots that could come, and, after waiting a moment, they’re ears are met with the sound of eleven shots fired in quick succession.

After hearing a total of 13 shots, they both can guess what is happening if Guzel and Faith are indeed there. While this might not be the case, they cannot take any chances. Therefore, Alex, followed closely by Steffan, shoots off in a full sprint towards the direction of the gunfire.

“Steffan *huff* what's over there?!” he asks while pointing towards the gunshots origin. Steffan briefly scans his surroundings, trying to reference back to his vague memory of the town's layout.

“I think *huff* that’s the park,” he eventually answers.

“Damn! I remember the map *huff* saying the police station was near there. If they *huff* are the cause of the gunshots, they might be taken down before we get there.”

With even more incentive to reach their destination, they kick their speed up a notch as they sprint down the middle of the roads. The other residents of the town, who are walking in the street as well, dodge out of their path to avoid being killed.

Being the most powerful Awakened in their group, Alex and Steffan’s sprinting speeds are far beyond what normal humans are capable of. This is not to say they measure up to Ethan or Chris, but they are capable of keeping up with cars on a highway.

After keeping this pace for about a minute, they start to wonder about the state of their park. Then, almost if on cue, they suddenly hear a burst of rapid fire, causing Alex’s eyes to widen with shock.

“THAT SOUNDS LIKE OUR RIFLE! FUCK!”

Basically confirmed that the sisters are at the center of the gunfire, a nervous sweat forms on his palms while he listens to the distant shooting.

However, the sudden halt of the shooting worries him more, despite reasoning with himself that they could have run out of ammo. In fact, considering that he could only hear one person firing, it’s more than likely that the magazine just ran out. But still, the unknown is frightening and the two are still over a mile away.

For the rest of the run, he hears not another gunshot. One and a half minutes later, when the two round a street corner, their vision opens up to see a huge park being swarmed by cops. In the center of the field they are overlooking, they see two young men standing over Guzel and Faith, who are lying in puddles of their own blood.

“What .. the .. hell?” Alex asks, flabbergasted at what he’s witnessing. His eyeballs would fall out if he were to open them any wider.

Behind him, Steffan's reaction is similar. Feeling defeated, and not because he’s tired, he collapses onto his knees, unable to believe his sight either. Neither of the two can look away.

Time passes and they continue to stare down at the park from the street above until it’s completely clear of police. They doubt their eyes as they see the teenager who is with the bounty hunter run out of the park at speeds far greater than their own.

But what they are truly focused on is the departing ambulances which carry Guzel and Faith. Their comrades, two members of the group which Alex founded, were now in the clutches of the authorities. This spelled trouble not only for the twins, but for the rest of the group as well. The Krylova sisters might agree to a deal in exchange for the whereabouts of their hideout.

With all of this in mind, they lightly jog back to their hideout with their hearts heavy and their willpower drained.

***

Rose Hotel - Ethan’s Room

Later,

Ethan, after spending a few hours hopping across rooftops, trying to sense the various different energy signatures he felt, returns to his room with a list of addresses. At each address, he had felt the Chi signature of an Awakened.

Entering his room, he takes off his long coat, which he had bought after the fight with Chris had ruined his first, and sets it on the chair. He then digs a piece of paper out of his pants pocket and lies down on his bed.

After studying the addresses on the paper, he calls the Sheriff using the hotel’s RC (Regular Communicator, this world's version of a landline phone) and asks for information on each one. After waiting an hour, the Sheriff calls back with the information he needs.

A baker, an architect, a retired Empire Petty Officer, a bike mechanic, a banker, a plumber, a trailer park hick, an electrician, a grade school teacher, 3 high school students and a street alley cat (no address needed).

He stares at the list, and realises it's far smaller than it should be considering the town’s population.

I realise a large chunk of the Territory's residents live on farms miles away from the town but there should still be more than this. Actually, I’m sure there is, since I couldn’t find those who were at the park today.

The problem is Chris’s massive energy signature trumps everyone else's, making it difficult for me to sense anyone more than a few miles from myself. It’s like I’m in a fog and can only see a few yards ahead. I already told myself this today, but I need to train my senses more.

Ethan might say this, but his Chi sensory skills are already far better than those of most Chi Masters. He surpasses even his own master at this point. Even since he Awakened ten years ago, he has always had the ability to sense the presence of others, and this trait became more accentuated while he trained.

Moving on, as his eyes move down the list of information provided to him, they stop at the names of the three high schoolers.

The students must have found a gem collection or something similar. The fact that three high schoolers, all the same age, have abilities stemming from Power gems and not Chi awakening, is not a coincidence. While gems aren't extraordinarily rare, they're still rare enough that three gem procurements coinciding is impossible. After all, two is coincidence but three is a pattern.

He studies their addresses and notices that two of them sound familiar. Thinking back on his limited knowledge of the streets, he realises where the two live.

Interesting. These two are located close to Chris. I would ask him if he knows them, but I don't want him to ask questions. If his parents kept his abilities a secret, the other parents probably did too. He'll know some thing's fishy if I'm asking about his classmates. It’s no wonder I didn’t sense them, considering how close they live to him.

***

Sheffer Residence

Upon returning, Chris was forced to do a practice Biology quiz by his parents, which he, after procrastinating, has now finally started. He rolls a short table, which he sits on the floor to use, from out of his closet and sets it up in the middle of his surprisingly clean room. Although one would not guess, Chris is secretly a clean freak, a trait which he chooses not to let anyone know of.

Back on topic, only a few questions in, he keeps re-reading the same problem with an intense look on his face.

“What ... the hell ... is this?”

Frustrated, he squeezes the pencil in his hand and inadvertently snaps it into two without any difficulty.

“AHHHHHHHH! WHY IS THERE A SMOOTH ER AND A ROUGH ER?! ARE THESE SCIENTISTS TRYING TO PISS ME OFF?! GOD DAMN IT! I HATE SCIENCE!”

In a huff, he aggressively walks over to his bookbag and graps another pencil before plopping back down at the table.

“Fine. Skip over it Chris. Don't get so worked uuuuuuu....”

His words trail off as he reads the next question, followed by the twitching of his face. He reads the question out loud in a grumbly voice, trying to confirm that his brain is reading it correctly.

"Intermediate filament vs microfilament"

And another pencil snaps.

“HOW ABOUT THIS QUIZ BECOMES MY DOG'S FILAMENT! FUCK!”

Note: This dog will never be shown but it does exist.

Chris, in a fit, slams his head against the table. As one would expect, the table smashes to pieces from his inhuman strength, further serving to piss him off.

“GAAAAAAA! I'M SO DONE!”

***

Abandoned Housing District

Upon returning to the hideout, Alex has everyone gather in the meeting room. Now, with their three newest members dead or captured, the ones who remain are the five original members of the group. In front of everyone, Alex, while explaining, has started to throw a fit, knocking over furniture and smashing walls.

“DAMN IT! FUUUUCK! HE TOOK THEM OUT WITHOUT A SCRATCH!” he yells while everyone else keeps silent. Every one of them knew that the opponent was dangerous before, but now …

The first to speak besides Alex is Ulrike.

“If all 5 of us were to use the Gem’s power, winning would be easy.”

“Not likely,” says Steffan.

“Why not?! If it’s five vs one, then we can …”

“Why not?!” Alex interrupts. “Because of the brat with the glasses!”

“The hell are you talking about?”

“There was a young man, about 15-17 years old with glasses,” explains Steffan in a calmer fashion. “From the looks of it, Faith shot him with the rifle, but only his clothes were ripped. The rest of him was fine.”

“So what!? Then it’s still five against two!”

“No, we should refrain from fighting them,” Jarvis advises in a stern manner. “If the young man is as durable as you say, then killing them would be difficult, even with the abilities gained from the gem.

“Because none of us have actually integrated with it,” he continues, “and are instead using it to create a serum for short term use, we are at a disadvantage with those who possess real strength.”

“Yeah, but strength doesn’t matter much in front of the Gem’s abilities,” claims Ulrike. “I can think of a few ways to kill that kid off the top of my head.”

“But you couldn’t do that should the bounty hunter choose to interfere.” Jarvis says with a strict glare, which causes Ulrike to tense up. After his voice cuts out, everyone sits in silence for a moment. However, eventually Charlotte of all people breaks the ice.

“We should leave tonight,” she says.

“And leave Faith and Guzel behind!?” asks Steffan.

“So?”

Steffan stares at her dumbfounded. Charlotte almost never voices her true opinion, so he would like to be happy now that she has. However, she has just made it very clear she does not care one iota for the sisters.

“Charlotte … you can’t really mean …”

But then, Urlike suddenly adds his opinion as well. “I agree. I'll miss them, but if it's as Alex says and we cannot win no matter what, then it's not worth my life to rescue them. However, I still think we could win.”

“H-How can you say such a thing!?” Steffan stands up, angry at his comrades' lack of compassion for their own. However, before he has a chance to express this angry any further, Alex, sighs and says,

“Well, I won't force you, but I'm going to save them!”

“No Alex, you can't.” Charlotte tells him.

“They put their trust in me after I said I would help them. The same as all of you. I can’t abandon them now.” his voice suddenly fills with emotion. “Lyra’s death was out of my hands. I couldn’t do any to help her. But now I have a chance, even if it's just a small chance, to save two young girls who entrusted me, of all people, with their well being.”

Everyone stares at him, having realised that his slightly distant attitude over Lyra’s death was an act which he put on.

Alex clenches his fist, trying to calm himself down.

This is my family that I built up from nothing. Everything I have done, I did it for these guys. Everything I've ever stolen went towards making a better life for us. The only reason we're in this dump is to lie low and pull a few small jobs while we're here. But the bounty hunter showed up and ruined everything. He won't be taking Guzel and Faith from me like he did with Lyra. I won't let him.

He takes a deep breath before addressing the group, his eyes sparkling with resolve.

“In all honesty, I would like to grab the girls and sneak away, but he’ll never let that happen. Instead, as impossible as it sounds, I'm going to kill that bounty hunter and then take back Guzel and Faith, even if I have to do it alone. It’s the only way we all make it out of here.”