Chapter 3: Shelter
I’d been taken back to tower and set up in one of the rooms there. All my stuff was gone, but luckily I’d go shopping in a few days or something. My mind wasn’t on any of that. My costume, my weapons, and my stylish yet affordable living space were all gone. Luckily I kept an extra costume and some weapons downtown in an abandoned building. I meant to swing by and pick it up, but I was still stunned. While exploring, I found on the training floor. I walked into a room that could only be described as an athlete’s dream. There was everything someone wanting to get into shape could want. I quickly spotted David boxing with the punching bag. He was hitting is so hard that dust was flying out. I looked to his right to see that there were already four burst bags on the floor. He was too into punching the bag to hear me come in, so I stood there watching him.
“Practicing for the aliens?” I asked, leaning on the boxing ring beside the punching bag area.”
David willed himself to stop and turned to me, “You okay?” he asked.
“Thanks to you. What about you?” I asked pointing to his exposed bicep, “You don’t bruise easy.”
He ran his hand over the bruise, “Yeah. I’m fine. Taken bigger falls.” He said, turning away from me.
“I wouldn’t have survived without you being there.” I said quickly, “So, uh, thanks.”
Even from the back I could see him smile, “Peter doesn’t say thanks.” He chuckled.
“Huma doesn’t. Peter is learning.” I said slowly, “Besides, you had every right to not save me. To let me die in there…”
“It’s time we leave the past where it should be.” He shrugged, “I won’t hold it against you. Neither will any of the rest of the team.”
“You sure? I mean Birkoff is doing a pretty good job of it.” I chuckled.
“Birkoff’s been touchy ever since…” He trailed.
“It always comes back to that night.” I frowned, “I knew that being a thief was something frowned upon, but…”
“What’d you expect?” David asked with astonishment, “Look, I don’t mean to be…You want to prove yourself? Help us protect this world.”
“That’s it. You’ve known me. I shouldn’t have to prove myself to you.” I said angrily.
“No, you don’t. But your teammates, they don’t exactly trust you.” David said, “There are still people who don’t know you. Prove them wrong. Show them what you did in that apartment.”
“What we did in that apartment, it was teamwork, just like that night.” I said.
“Exactly. Teamwork.” David smiled, “Can’t be about you.” He said, heading to the showers.
“But, it’s always about me.” I smirked.
He stopped and looked back at me, “Just when you’re vulnerable, Huma shows up. You can’t play both sides, not this time.” He quickly left.
I stood there, trying to bring myself to realize what he was saying. I wasn’t Huma and I wasn’t Peter and trying to be either one was useless, I learned that at the battle of Medusa. I was an amalgamation of both of those people. It’s something Steven figured out and accepted about me, but something David would probably never understand. I smiled to myself and turned, stopping at the sight of Dana.
“You just don’t stop.” Dana frowned, watching me intently, “It isn’t enough that you corrupted one of my sons…”
“Corrupted?” I asked.
“…Please stay away from my son. I only say please because it’s proper protocol.” Dana said, “The last thing he needs in his life is you.”
I chuckled, “I wouldn’t worry about it. He can barely stand to be around me.” I said quickly.
“You just make sure you stay away from him.” Dana said looking me over, “And do clean up.” She said, disappearing through the door.
I watched her leave, noting that she was indeed a bitch. But she wasn’t wrong. I needed to stay as far away from him and the team as I could while still being on the team. I wasn’t a teamwork type of guy, especially if the past was any indication.
I turned the key and stepped into the dilapidated apartment. It was, for the most part, clear of furniture except for the kitchen. There was also a murphy bed in one of the bedrooms and a few moldy boxes. I walked into the bedroom and headed for the closet. I opened the closet and bent down, rummaging through some clothes I had left in case I needed to make a quick getaway. I smiled to myself and reached over the bag, pulling out another bag with weapons. I nodded and stood, turning to see Inik Bonkino, a former agent of Medusa. Inik was a tall, dark-skinned man from Africa. He was wearing a silver suit with expensive shoes. His special talent happened to be soul and power-sucking. Not necessarily soul-sucking but stealing their essence. I hadn’t seen him in a while. He wasn’t on my friendly list. I quickly sat the bags down on floor and took a fighting stance.
“Relax. I’m not here to fight you.” His voice boomed, “It is not safe here.”
I groaned, “I’m figuring that out more and more.” I said, “How’d you find me?”
“Dana.” Inik said quickly, “I work for Inashi, as Dana’s second-in-command.”
“You followed me? Dana has spies on me?” I asked.
Inik walked over to the boarded up window, “Get down.” He frowned.
“Now, why would I do that?” I asked walking over to him.
When I got to the boarded up window, I saw something very large outside the window. The instant I saw it, I turned and ran, jumping behind the Murphy bed. Inik was close behind, just barely avoiding the gunfire. It was a helicopter firing the bullets. Inik looked to me, nodding to the weapons bag. I nodded and rolled as the machine gun bullets sprayed into the wall! I grabbed the bag and rolled into the bathroom, ducking behind the tub. I quickly fished through the bag and pulled out a couple of shurikens, smoke pellets, two pistols and a pair of Eskrima sticks. I strapped holsters to my sides and stood up against the wall, pistols in hand. I peeked around to see the boarded up window were completely wide-open. With as much speed as I could muster, shooting as fast as I could. I took off running and tossed a gun to Inik. As another gun was rising, I threw down smoke pellets, causing smoke to spray all around the room. Inik grabbed my bag off the floor and pulled me out of the room. As we got down the hall, the room exploded from the inside, a missile of some sort. We continued to run down the hall and out of the door, onto the street. I only looked back when I saw bullets hitting the street. People began to panic and run around, making it hard for them to focus on us. We ran down the streets, occasionally turning to shoot at the helicopter. As we came to an intersection, I spotted a subway station. I pulled Inik down into the subway and jumped the turn style. As we came to a stop at the train, I noticed that Inik was breathing pretty hard. Or maybe it was me.
“You’re still pretty good with a gun.” Inik said, “A burglar never forgets, eh?”
“That’s broad daylight! How are they able to shoot at us in broad daylight?!” I asked angrily.
“The same way they were able to blow up your apartment.” Inik frowned, “The new Medusa is much more powerful and aren’t taking any chances where you’re concerned.”
“The first time was a fluke.” I said, “They’ve got to know that.”
Inik shook his head, “They don’t. And you don’t believe that either.” He said.
“Now you know what I believe?” I said, folding my arms, “Did it ever occur to you that you’re wrong?”
“No.” He said, looking around, “There may be more.”
“More agents? Exactly who else is on this little dream team?” I asked.
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.” Inik frowned.
The silence that followed stumped me. He wasn’t usually Mr. talks-a lot but something about how he’d just said that was concerning. The train stopped in front of us and we quickly boarded it. I looked around at the empty car, noticing the kids sitting at the back, playing some sort of game. A man sat on the opposite side with his hands
interlaced. He looked to be on the far side of thirty and had silver hair. My eyes stayed on him. It felt like Maksim in the restaurant, but worse. There was a spooky familiarity. The train started moving before I pull Inik out and he looked at me, asking me what was wrong. I cocked my gun and handed it to him, to which he looked at me with fascination.
“What is going on?” Inik asked, surveying the gun.
“I think we just got herded like cattle.” I said as I slipped out my Eskrima sticks.
There was a low chuckle as the man with the fingers stood, “It is, of course, a pleasure to see you again.” He smiled.
His face was awkward and unbalanced, yet there was something beautiful about him. He reminded me of someone, but I couldn’t place who it was. It wasn’t until that moment that I noticed that his skin was yellowing.
“Do I know you?” I asked.
“I’m hurt.” He said, “I thought we were old friends.”
Inik pushed me behind him, “Go to a different car, now!” he ordered.
I turned to see that the kids were blocking the exit.
The man laughed again, “Don’t leave. It’s not nice to walk away from a conversation.” He smirked.
My eyes darted to him. In an instant, it was returning to me. In Medusa, there was this guy, a scientist who happened to be evil. His name was Cypress. He was, until that night, a beautiful man. Hidden behind sunglasses, yes, beautiful. I’d met him through Steven.
“See, you were always a smart boy.” Cypress smirked, his teeth now jagged and serrated.
“I thought—“
“Nothing is as it seems.” Cypress smiled, “My greatest experiment.”
“I’m not your experiment.” I frowned.
Cypress chuckled and looked to Inik, “Inik, of course Dana would send you to protect him. Traitorous!”
“Medusa really is back and let me guess, you’re leading it?” I asked.
“No. I have my orders.” Cypress said quickly, “I’ve followed your progress. I could have never known what you’d turn into.”
“What I turned into? Look at you!” I protested.
Cypress lost his smile, “Of course, there is something about free will.” He looked between us, “Only you could get out of the life or death situations we’ve put you in.”
“I have friends.”
“I’d imagine not too many.” He snapped, “Not after what you did.”
“Yeah, and I got out of it without looking like a total freak.” I spat.
“Freak? Look at yourself clearly and say that again.” He said slowly, “Normal people don’t dress up in costumes and fight bad guys.”
“I’m getting bored. Can we please fight?” I asked.
“I’m afraid it’s the end of the line.”
“How long were you sitting on that one?” Inik asked.
“Long enough to see the end coming.” Cypress smirked.
I stared at him blankly. It was something he’d said before. Or something I’d heard. The lights flickered and when they came back, Cypress was gone. There was another group of kids with weapons. I quickly turned myself so that I was back-to-back with Inik and he seemed to be checking the gun. I twirled the Eskrima sticks and looked to them with a smirk. I took a count of about six men on my side and let out a subconscious-driven growled. Each guy had a different color on. There was a red, a blue, a green, a yellow, a turquoise and a pink jacketed kid. The guys advanced on us and I bounced off the glass window, kicking the blue guy in the chest. I swung around one of the poles, using the window as a running base, kicking down green and yellow! I stood face to face with the red kid, wondering what I was going to do. He was way bigger than me. He threw a punch, to which I ducked, and grabbed me into a bearhug. I groaned in pain as I brought around one of my sticks, clobbering him in the head. He dropped me and staggered back. I took this opportunity use the sticks on the turquoise and pink, sliding it across their stomachs and faces. The pink one fell to the floor and his hat fell off to reveal his long dark hair. He was a she!
“You’re…a girl?” I asked.
She smirked and tried a footsweep, but I jumped over it. And flipped backwards, avoiding what looked like an ax. The red guy had gotten back up and was forcing himself to me. I also noticed the three other colors coming at me. Without warning, I jumped into the air and waited to come down. I didn’t hit the floor. I looked around at the amazed faces and saw that they were just as stunned as I was. I quickly used the momentum to do a backwards flip, kicking yellow, turquoise and blue to the floor of the train. I dropped to the floor and looked to Red. He was still in shock. I turned my head and saw that pink was stumbling back, looking at me with astonished eyes. I looked over to see Inik struggling. One of the kids had him from behind. I quickly stood and threw one of my sticks at the back of the kid’s head, causing him to yelp in pain and let go. Inik blocked a few punches, laying out a few guys before staring blankly through the window into the upcoming cars. I turned back to red and took off running as fast as I could. I jumped into the air, wrapping my legs around his head and spinning, causing him to flip over and roll against the floor. I turned in time to see Inik running towards me. He quickly grabbed my arm and pulled me through the door to the next car! I heard a rumbling and a crunching noise, not bothering to look back. I didn’t ask. I didn’t want to know. When we got to the last car, I finally looked back to see an explosion up ahead. The girl in pink was beside us now and followed us as we threw ourselves off the rail of the train and onto the tracks. It felt excruciating when we hit. It was the last thing I felt before fading into darkness. I awoke when I heard footsteps and saw the lights shining down the tunnel. I moaned as the light got closer, wondering if they were friend or foe. It was too dark to see anything, beside the fire and wreckage. I chuckled as I sat up, grabbing my stomach and doubling over in pain. I think I hit the rail and until I stopped. There was bruising all over my body, I could feel it. The lights flashed in my face and someone shouted, “Stay where you are!”
“Well, I’ll be…” A familiar voice said indignantly.
The fire only illuminated his mechanical arm. Colonel Anderson was standing before me in all his Fury-like glory. Another face from my past. He used to run a team, much like Dana’s, shortly after the emergence of superhumans. As far as I knew, he was promoted after our dealings with Medusa. He was an African American man in his forties with a bald head. He had hardened features and bright brown eyes He’d once worn an eye patch. He liked to look like Colonel Nick Fury, his favorite comic book hero. I guess he’d exchanged it for the metal arm, which he lost at the battle of Medusa. Needless to say, like the others, I hadn’t stayed in contact.
“Why is it that every time there’s trouble, you’re not far behind?” Anderson asked, surveying the scene, “This is going to cost you.”
I tried to stand but couldn’t, “Yeah, you can put this on Medusa’s tab.” I frowned.
“Are you not able to stand?”
“Give me a minute.” I said looking around, “Inik? There was…and there was a girl!”
“Relax. Bonkino is fine.” Anderson shrugged, “Maybe not fine, but alive.”
“Cypress—“
“Long gone. Those kids died.” Anderson said, “Agents in training for Medusa.”
He walked over and helped me up. I nodded, “They start young.” I said with obvious pain.
“We should get you to the tower unless you can magically heal yourself now.” Anderson said.
“The tower? Are you going to explain your job?” I asked.
“I work with Dana. You didn’t think the government was just going to trust her to run a whole division, did you?” Anderson smirked. He looked around one last time, “Let’s get out of here. This place is depressing.”
I chuckled, leaving with him. My leg was hurt as well as my side and shoulder. I felt terrible and I had a feeling this was just the tip of the iceberg.