Chapter 45.

Give me Twenty.

Damien Reyes.

Time/Area: August 3rd, 2013. NYC

1:00 AM:

My ears rang a little when I woke up, the sound slowly subsiding after a couple of seconds.

Unfortunately, the sound was quickly replaced with my phone alarm.

“Ugh,” I groaned, grabbing the device and swiping 'off' before navigating to another app on the small screen.

It was a timing app, and I had already set it for twenty minutes.

The phone chirped, signaling the start of the countdown.

The reason I had a twenty minute timer set was to force me and Jason to get ready faster on training days, which seemed like a good idea at the time, but it wasn't exactly as motivating as I had planned for it to be.

I sat up on my mattress, resting against the headboard before glancing to my right at Jason’s bed,

"We have twenty minutes," I yawned, "Let's-?"

Where...was Jason?

I squinted, trying to see through the dark haze of the early morning,

“Where was he?”

I tilted my head back for a moment, letting my vision seep from black to a transparent blue.

“Jason?” I found myself muttering, slowly taking off my bed sheets as I took a fresh look at his bed with my ‘night vision’.

He wasn’t there, and in his place was a clutter of messy blankets.

I frowned, unable to stop ideas from forming.

“Calm down,” I told myself, blaming the paranoia on the fact that I had just woken up, “Probably just in the bathroom.”

I turned a little more to the right, facing the closed bathroom door as I felt my eyes begin to glow.

A low, almost vibration-like pitch entered the air as my Fear Sight was made active.

Nothing…

I turned it off.

Huh.

Confused, I rolled out of the bed, switching my field of view back to night vision in order to navigate through the darkness in my room.

Between what had happened last night, and just the general stress of Jason’s life at the moment, I felt like my concern was justified.

After I had put some new clothes on and grabbed my phone, I slowly opened our bedroom door, careful not to make much noise while stepping out onto the carpet.

I didn’t want to risk the chance of waking Mrs.Mabel; she had enough to deal with.

“Jason?” I whispered to myself, walking towards the movie room down the hall.

He wasn’t in there, nor was he in the hallway bathroom.

I groaned again as I trotted down the stairs, sliding into the dark kitchen when I hit the floor.

I hesitantly flicked on the kitchen light, shutting off my blue-ish vision as I surveyed the dining area.

Jason wasn’t here either.

My heart started beating faster, familiar feelings surfacing once more.

They were the same feelings I had when facing off the monster more than twice my size.

I gulped,comfortable with raising my voice now that I was downstairs,

“Jason?” I called out, my voice rebounding off the empty space of the mansion, “Jason, this isn’t funny-”

Just then, a piece of paper caught my eye.

It was directly under the gleaming eye of the kitchen bulb, lying face up on the counter beside the toaster.

I walked over to the counter, the slap of bare feet hitting tile filling the air as I approached the paper.

It Jason’s handwriting,

“Back in a few D. I have to clear my head. I’ve never felt so useless in my life. My parents, my uncle: I have to figure out how to not be so bad at everything. We can skip training today - Jason.”

I re-read the note, trying and failing to comprehend the…stupidity.

I gritted my teeth, a number of thoughts blasting through my brain,

Useless?

What the heck was he talking about?

And didn’t he know the ‘unspoken’ rule?

We weren’t supposed to split up, and Jason should’ve known that.

That…that was the whole point of my powers, wasn’t it?!

I was supposed to be able to protect people, but how could I do that if I didn’t know where they were?!

The kitchen bulb flickered as my frown deepened,

He should’ve known that.

I didn’t really care if the anger I was feeling was as justified as simply being concerned, but I wasn’t…just concerned.

I was pissed.

Why did he leave to ‘clear his head’ now of all times???

I knew he just lost his uncle, but what if something happened to him?

What about Mrs.Mabel?

What about me?!

It was infuriating. I had all this power…and the people I wanted to protect with it seemed to be too stupid to accept help.

Didn’t he see that I was getting as stressed as he was?

I shook my head, figuring I could talk to Jason about this before I got too mad.

He probably wasn’t thinking straight- not that I could blame him for that, but I wasn’t about to just let him stay on whatever brooding expedition he was on.

I bent my head downward, clearing my mind as I let millions of noises flood my ears.

I focused on the sound of Jason’s voice, tearing through car horns, footsteps, and bicycle bells before-

“Leave me alone. I don’t have any money.”

My eyes widened at the sound of Jason’s voice, slowly looking back up again.

I glanced towards the front door.

Where was he…and what was going on?

Just then, another wave of echoes bombarded me; another voice,

“Oh please” he said, “- you’re Jason cole...New York’s little cover boy… It ain't smart to just walk around… when nobody’s out.”

The voice was clearly male- deep and gruff.

Even as I heard the words, it took me a minute to process them.

Then another to believe them.

I gasped, a painful ring bouncing through my ears at the presence of another sound.

It sounded metallic…like iron scraping, no, sliding on something smooth.

Like a blade.

1:10 am

“I…I’m not scared of you..” Jason sounded terrified.

I was already going for the door, not bothering to grab a jacket or shoes before I was gripping the handle.

“Oh, so we’re playing it like that, are we?” The man laughed, “You don’t get it, do you? Or maybe you have a death wish?”

I shut the door behind me, desperately forcing myself to hear Jason’s voice as another flurry of city noises were unleashed upon my brain.

I stumbled to the darkened sidewalk, unable to feel the chilly temperature due to the adrenaline that was coursing through me.

What was he thinking!?!

I began to get nervous when I didn’t hear anything.

There I was, just standing on the sidewalk in front of our house, the power of 57,000 mwh just…useless.

I tried not to scream in frustration, I tried not to think of what could’ve happened.

I tried to listen…mentally pleading for anything…

…car horn

…laughing

…ringing

…talking

… “Look at you…all scared.”

Then I was gone.

I took off to the left, making a beeline across Draxon as fast as I could.

1:15 am

All I had to do was follow the noises:

I ain’t playing around kid!.

“Come on,” I told myself, “Faster..!”

I felt, not just my ears, but my entire body begin to warm despite the cold.

Jason’s voice came- it was louder so I was definitely going in the right direction,

Ack! Stop-!

I closed my eyes, not able to find the will to care about what could’ve been in front of me as I called them.

“Come out…please!” I thought, a warm sensation beginning to grow and grow in intensity.

I opened my eyes, weaving around a street lamp as my vision began to blur.

The edges of my sight shifted to a vibrant red, sparks beginning to run rampant from underneath my clothes.

More.

I felt the sparks reach the soles of my feet, curling protectively around my calves before climbing upwards to my thighs and the tips of my hands.

My feet began to feel nearly weightless, my arms cutting through the air like daggers as I went even faster.

The sparks were now leaking from my clothes, static crackles of light engulfing my body as the world itself passed by.

No…I was passing the world.

Benches, lamps, traffic lights, skyscrapers, everything could seemingly only be processed for a millisecond before they were behind me.

Left in the dust.

But I wasn’t focusing on that.

I wasn’t focusing on the possible miles I was covering in mere seconds, not on how I was somehow dodging every obstacle in my path, and not on the thunderous booms echoing from the meeting of my feet with the ground.

I was listening to Jason.

And he didn’t have much time.

My consciousness felt like it had taken the backseat, my subconscious ruthlessly taking over as I felt myself do things I didn’t think were possible.

I cut into the road beside the sidewalk, absently following whatever whispers Jason uttered as I charged directly into a brief wave of traffic.

I slid around a speeding taxi, effortlessly vaulting over an orange sedan before the driver could process what was happening…before I could process what was happening.

In a flash, I was already across the street, now near Bronze; my old neighborhood.

Finally, I stopped at the tip of a lengthy sidewalk, my brain still half in a trance as I was allowed a breather.

I could hear the sounds more clearly now:

Pit pat,

Pit pat,

Rapid footsteps,

Jason and his attacker must have been running now.

They were close…possibly about to appear on the direct opposite side of the sidewalk I was on.

My endless outpour of ‘Excess’ hadn’t ceased, my glowing eyes still as bright as my adrenaline was high.

I ignored how cool or insane or...whatever I had just done was, trying to form some part of plan.

I noted a full bike rack plastered against the outside of a grocery store next to me.

I had an idea.

But my body felt like it still...wasn't mine, and I found it torture to wait for Jason to appear at the end of the walkway before I let it take control again.

I didn't think what I was feeling was even Terry. No, all this was just pure, unrefined, monster-ish instinct.

And before I could let that take over, I had to be certain this was the right-

“Agh! No, Let m-”

“Me go!” Jason yelled, his form now visible in the dark morning.

Place.

He, like I predicted, was at the end of the sidewalk- and it didn’t look good.

He was being lifted by a much larger man, a knife at his throat.

From here, they looked like two blurry silhouettes under a black sky, but that would soon change.

I slid my foot back, my head beginning to swim with mental lists of actions that seemed impossible to perform.

“Imma gut you like a fish, brat!” The man shouted, his voice carrying all the way to where I was…100 feet up the same sidewalk.

100 feet.

The man pause for a second, both his and Jason’s form glancing up the path towards me.

“And what the *** is that thing?!!!” The man cried out.

Jason

Jason.

The back of my brain took over once more, my hand already gripping the seat of one of the chained bicycles before my back foot kicked off the ground.

I felt my body fly forwards into the air, snapping the chain tethering the bike like a twig as my body twisted with the structure through the sky.

I didn’t even feel my feet touch the floor anymore, my body propelling itself forwards as I glided just inches above the concrete.

This man…

100

Really thinks …

50

I would let this slide..

25

The entire bronze shopping center was illuminated in a blinding red, and I could see Jason break free from the man’s grip just in time to dive to his left.

I finally landed about twenty feet away from the target, using the force of my dash to spin with the bike still firmly clutched in my palm.

I rotated the object faster and faster as the man backed farther and farther away from me,

“Wh-what is this!?” he shouted over the crackling of electricity.

I made one final spin, splitting the cement beneath me as I slammed my right foot down to stop my acceleration.

I extended the hand holding the bicycle forwards, feeling the distribution of speed rush into the bike as I prepared to fling it the rest of the twenty feet like a Frisbee.

Then time froze.

I found myself, the man’s horrified expression, and the world... frozen.

-

“What are you doing…Damien?”

I heard Terry speaking.

“I’m gonna-”

“Kill him?”

I frowned…realizing the extent my anger was now boiling into.

I wasn't a killer...

What was I doing?

“N-n…oh.”

-

Time began to speed up once more, and I was able to move the position of my arm downwards before-

BANG!

All at once, every particle of light dissipated, every crackle of red static was put out, and every boom was silenced.

It was quiet.

I heard Jason huffing from an alley next to me, “Damien…”

I was looking directly ahead.

Twenty feet away stood the man, the five foot bike impaled into the sidewalk directly in front of the tip of his shoe.

He was frozen, his body shivering in the dawning light of the rising sun as steam and melting metal protruded from the bike.

For a minute, the only distinguishable noise was the rapid spinning of the bike’s back wheels, still turning even as its opposite set was halfway through the ground.

The man’s face was caked with dust and debris, and mine was covered in sweat.

I was breathing heavily, my still extended hand beginning to shake as I realized what could’ve gone very differently.

I glanced hesitantly to my right at Jason.

He was staring at the man still, and it didn’t take a genius to realize he was still scared of him.

My glare returned to the man, dropping my hand as I forced my body to emit even more energy.

My eyes once again began to glow, just the presence of the bright red causing tears to roll down his face.

He was clearly trying to say something, but he couldn’t piece anything real together except one word,

“Monster.”

“Monster.”

“Monster.”

I opened my mouth, trying to keep my voice from shaking as I offered him five words,

“Run.” I said, my voice echoing and scraping off the tension within the air,

“Before I kill you.”

And I wasn’t sure if I was joking…

Then the man was gone, screaming about a monster as he charged across the street.

I glanced at the road, relieved there were no cars out on this one anymore.

I could feel the amount of Excess in my system begin to fall, the sensation comparable to that of an unsettling breeze flowing down my spine.

Running over here took a lot of power…and the effects were starting to occur.

“But I still did it,” I tried to reassure myself, “I…I can still save everyone.”

I turned to Jason, who was now staring blankly at me as he slumped against the side of the alley.

Taking a deep breath, I shakily walked over to him, rage beginning to bleed through into my words as he looked down,

“Jason,” I said, the sound of my normal voice almost foreign to me.

He glanced upwards.

Just then, my phone buzzed from within my pocket.

I took it out, swiping away the notification.

It was just my timer.

I glared back at Jason,

"Let's talk."

1:20 am