Chapter 7

Arbhar Streets, Sunday 12:30 PM

The site of Lyra’s murder,

Steffan and Alex round a corner and walk into the street, dressed in an inconspicuous manner. Their eyes dart around, observing the normal looking scene in front of them, devoid of any sense of yesterday’s tragedy.

“Nothing seems out of the ordinary,” says Steffan, his eyes still exploring his surroundings.

Alex then raises his nose slightly and sniffs the air, only for a grievous expression to cross his face.

“No. Something definitely happened. I smell blood.”

“I don't,” says Steffan after sniffing the air for himself.

“It's faint.”

“But, I don't see any,” he says, his eyes still failing to find any signs of her death. “Perhaps you're just paranoid?”

“Well they might have tried to clean up,” Alex’s eyes suddenly widen, “but look at this street post right here.” He proceeds to point at a post on the edge of the sidewalk. “The pole. You can still see some splatter.”

Steffan, turns his head and stares at the pole apprehensively. He looks for but a moment before backing away. His fears confirmed, a tear drips from his eye.

“Maybe it's just …”

“Be real Arngrimmson. A woman was rumored to have been killed here. A woman who matched her description, and now we find blood at the supposed crime scene? This town is small. What's the chance of a look alike being murdered in the street?” Alex stares directly into Steffan’s eyes. “None. She's dead.”

Steffan’s face twitches as he bites his lips, trying to hold back more tears. He is considered the mama bear of the group and is far more emotional than the rest, with exception of the twins. He is trying his hardest to choke back his grief.

Suddenly, Alex’s eyebrows furrow as something across the street hooks his eye. He catches a short glimpse before hurriedly turning back to face Steffan.

He says in an assertive whisper, “Steffan! Stop crying. At your 2 o'clock across the street. Look over my shoulder and be discrete.”

Steffan does as he’s told and wipes his eyes before looking. There, he sees a concealed cop car parked on the side of a building. Inside, there are two officers with their eyes peeled towards them.

“A-an unmarked car? I didn't think this town would have one.”

Alex frowns and asks, “That's your take away? There are two officers in that car that just confirmed our existence in this town. I guess we should have expected as much, given we were probably in Lyra’s files.”

“What do you want to do?”

“First we're getting out of here. Slowly. They don't know we've seen them. Just slowly walk away. We'll rendezvous back at base.”

“Right.”

Then, without another word, they slowly start walking in opposite directions of each other, as if the rendezvous is second nature. Watching the two slowly walk in seperate directions, the officer in the passenger-side seat picks up his SDC and calls the sheriff.

“Sheriff.”

“Yeah.”

“Two of the guys you were looking for just turned up at the crime scene: Alex Spencer and Steffan Armgrimmson. They just took off in different directions. Which one do we follow?”

“Follow Spencer. He’s the ring leader after all.”

“Got it.”

***

Sheffer Residence

Meanwhile,

Ethan is sitting on the couch with Chris at his side, while Joe stares at the two of them from across the table in his chair. They both are in rough shape, with bruises littering their bodies while their clothes are covered in dirt. Chris is holding a wad of tissues to his nose to stop the bleeding while Ethan is constantly sending Chi through his broken bones to aid healing.

The three of them are sitting quietly, not having spoken a word since entering the house. The silence is finally broken after Gertrude sets a glass of water down in front of Ethan.

Joe is the first to speak. “Now that everyone's here, we have a few questions. One: who the hell are you?”

Before he can answer, Chris opens his mouth. “Oh um ... his name is uhh ..,” however Joe cuts him off as he aggressively points to Ethan.

“I was asking him, smartass,” he tells Chris before turning his attention back towards the subject of his interrogation. “What's your name son?”

“Ethan,” he answers honestly. He has no intention of hiding who he is from them, as his goal in meeting them is to gain their trust.

“Ethan ... what?” Joe then asks.

“Is knowing my last name necessary?”

“Yes. I would like it if I knew who was beating on my son.”

To this, Chris murmurs under his breath, “He did not beat me …” but Joe nor Gertrude hear this. Instead, they see Ethan nod his head in acknowledgement of Joe’s request.

“Fine. My name is Ethan Blade.” After answering, Ethan casually takes a sip of water, awaiting Joe’s next inquiry.

“Ok, well, my next question is: why are you beating on my son?”

“Again, he was not beat…”

“I wanted to see how powerful he was. I believed that, like me, your son has the capability to rival Empire soldiers of the Lieutenant rank. I wanted to test this belief to not only see if I was right, but to let him discover how gifted he is as well.”

While his motives are not pure, the latter of what he said is true. If Chris could not realise his potential, then how could Ethan persuade him to leave his home?

To his statement, Joe and Gertrude wear blank, confused expressions on their faces. Ethan realises their not buying his kind words and tries a different approach.

“To put it simply, I was just scouting whether or not your son posed a threat to myself. When I discovered he was just a dumb teenager, I determined he wasn't and offered to help him test out his abilities, if only to see how powerful he was for my own benefit.”

They seem to believe his words more now that he has taken a more selfish and potentially threatening approach to explaining his actions. They’re more inclined to believe this line of reasoning over the previous, and therefore loosen their guard slightly. However, little do they know what Ethan was actually thinking.

Though I would've killed him if he posed a threat, teenager or not. Luckily, they can not read his thoughts and their expressions brighten somewhat.

“Is that so? Joe asks. “You didn't hurt him too bad, right?”

“He'll be fine,” Ethan takes another sip. “I didn’t target any vitals. Also, I'd like to clear up one misconception. I'm not actually a bounty hunter.”

“EHHHHHHHH?” slips from the mouth of the three family members in synch. After a moment of silence and realization, Chris grabs his collar with wide eyes.

“DUDE! YOUR NOT A BOUNTY HUNTER!?”

“No.”

“But we heard about a bounty hunter in this town,” Joe states with a shocked expression, which is not the face you want if you're trying to interrogate someone.

“I even saw you arrest someone,” Chris tells him.

“Bounty hunters don't arrest people. They capture them. The police or GE arrest people.”

“Whatever. You know what I mean.”

Suddenly, Gertrude chimes into the conversation with a wryly smirk. “That's a pretty clever way to make money young man. Let me guess, that dumbass Sheriff didn’t even check for an ID.”

Joe and Chris turn to look at Gertrude with an even greater sense of shock, as if to question how she knows. Ethan, on the other hand, arches his lips into a tiny smile.

“Nice deduction. That's exactly what happened.”

Chris turns to Ethan with a disappointed look. “Tell me it ain't so! But that means your ... your ... A CON ARTIST!” He puts his hand to his forehead with an exaggerated gesture. “THIS IS VERY TRAGIC! WHO KNEW SUCH A YOUNG KID COULD TURN OUT SO BAD!”

It is at this point that Ethan has realised Chris is joking, but before he can stop him, Chris puts his hand on Ethan's shoulder.

“There there. You must have had it tough. You poor thing. I'm here for you.”

Ethan’s cheek twitches slightly. Is he ... blatantly making fun of me? What happened to the respect from earlier? Then, realising how baffled the other parent in the room also is, he turns towards Gertrude and asks ...

“Are these two really that naive? What I'm doing right now is common practice in South Continent. Madam, I take it you're the only one who has experience outside of this town.”

“Unfortunately,” says Gertrude, nodding her head with a sense of embarrassment at her family’s naivete.

***

Later, 1:26 PM

An hour has passed and Ethan has managed to become acquainted with the Sheffers. Although he feels they will be unwilling to let Chris leave the territory with him, they now trust him more than they did previously.

After accomplishing his goal for today, Ethan is now leaving the Sheffer house. He exits the door and begins to walk down the long, dirt driveway.

Feeling a sudden breeze which had not accompanied him before, he studies his clothes, now ripped and torn from the fighting he experienced earlier. Holes cover his sleeves and pant legs while his long coat is in shreds. It’s no wonder why he can feel the wind on his skin.

His ripped clothes remind him of the fight, which in turn reminds him of his injuries. Receiving his focus, his pain becomes accentuated and he begins to realise how injured he actually is.

This is why I like skilled battles rather than brawls. They’re a contest of training instead of a contest of strength and durability.

After having walked 100 yards away down the driveway, Ethan feels a spike of Chi from behind him, followed by Chris suddenly appearing at his side. Following his arrival is a cloud of dust which had been trailing him as he ran at extraodinary speeds; a cloud that proceeds to cover the two of them in small bits of soil.

“Oi! Ethan! Where are you going, man? You just left without saying a word.”

Despite the teen's sudden appearance, Ethan continues to walk at a steady pace, to which Chris follows suit, awaiting his answer.

“I accomplished what I came here for. Now, I have work to do.”

Chris then snickers and retorts, “Fake work.”

Ethan lets out a quiet sigh of annoyance and frowns. He finally turns his head towards Chris and asks,

“Do you need something or are you here to poke fun.”

“Uh .. um .. no that was uh .. actually …”

“If it's nothing I will be taking off. I’ll get in touch later,” Ethan informs him, preparing to Flash Step away. Just as he turns his line of sight to the end of the driveway, Chris quickly grabs onto his shoulder.

“Wa .. Wait!”

“What?” Ethan asks, glaring intently at the hand gripping his shoulder like a bear trap, reminding him once more of the bruise located there.

“Actually ... can I ... maybe ... come with you?”

“Why?”

“Because I want to watch you work. I’m ... bored.”

This time, Ethan halts his steps to turn and look Chris in the eye, almost as if to confirm if he’s serious. After all, this development is crucial to his plans. He wants to grow closer to Chris in order to gain a powerful ally, but he never imagined Chris would grow fond of him so quickly.

“I thought you had to study. You were talking to your parents about it earlier.”

“My grade is cinched,” Chris says, shrugging his shoulders. “Nothing I do now will improve or hurt it.”

Ethan hesitates, contemplating the pros and cons. After all, if Chris follows him and gets into trouble, he could lose trust he built up with the kid’s parents. While Ethan is confident in Chris’s safety, as even he would find it hard to kill him, he cannot be certain Joe and Gertrude hold the same confidence. However, he still cannot pass up this chance.

“Fine. You can come. After all, I doubt you'll get in the way. Just don’t complain if it becomes brutal.”

“I can handle it.”

“That’s what everyone says, until you puke at the first sight of a dead body.”

“I … I see. I’ll try my best.”

On that note, Ethan sprints down the driveway with Chris in tow. Kicking up a massive dirt cloud behind them, they reach the end of the driveway, turn right onto the street and head towards town.

***

Abandoned Housing District 1:15 PM

The Vault Ghosts’ hideout,

The remaining seven are gathered in the main room. After they left the scene of the crime, Steffan returned to the hideout not 15 minutes later, while Alex took nearly 45 minutes trying to shake off the police’s attempt to follow him. Now, they all sit there in silence at the news of Lyra’s death.

“So ... she's really dead.” Guzel, one of the twins, is the first to speak. Alex nods his head to confirm her words, which causes the pair of sisters to start bawling.

“Why? Why did she have to die?” cries Faith, the more timid of the two. Observing their reaction from a corner in the room, Ulrike plays with a butterfly knife, thinking over her death.

Damn. I never thought I'd actually miss her. I must be going soft.

He does not express this outwardly, as he has trained himself to never show emotion to anyone. This is the case with the majority of them in the room. They’ve all lived harsh lives that’ve required them to distance themselves from their feelings. But the sisters, Guzel and Faith, are still young and never developed the habit of suppressing sadness.

“How .. did she die?” asks Guzel, to which Alex stays silent. “Alex?” she asks again but is given no response.

“PLEASE! Alex, I need to know.”

Feeling pressured to answer, not only by her but also by a suggestive stare from Steffan, Alex rubs the back of his head with his hand nervously.

“There was blood on a street pole, and unless she died close to it, that probably means the blood was splattered there from quite a distance. She most likely died violently, and possibly decapitated like Jarvis said.”

The room becomes needle-drop silent in shock. Even Charlotte, who only ever shows contempt, looks up from the magazine she’s reading to give a reaction.

“Damn,” is what escapes her mouth before she continues to read. With even Charlotte acknowledging Lyra’s death, Guzel and Faith start crying with more intensity. Unable to stand how raw and uncomfortable their emotions are, Ulrike exits the room.

Trying to be of some comfort to them, Alex places his hand on Guzel’s shoulder.

“I’m sorry. I know you two were closer to her than the rest of us,” but then, “and I know you don't want to hear this but don't go off on your own and do anything stupid like revenge.”

Guzel slowly turns her head to look at him with a glare of scorn in her eyes. She knows he’s right, however, in the moment, being forbidden to avenge Lyra’s death sounds like a betrayal. She aggressively brushes his hand away from her shoulder and stomps to her living quarters.

Alex looks at the hand which she brushed away and reaffirms himself that what he told her needed to be said.

***

Later,

On Lanstein Road, not far from the abandoned housing district, Guzel walks down the middle of the street with a grim but determined look.

Sorry Alex. I guess I can’t control myself.

***

Barry’s Northern Restaurant. 1:40 PM

After visiting his hotel for a fresh set of clothes, Ethan, along with Chris, have decided to eat at the restaurant which the Sheriff had recommended to him earlier. They are currently sitting across the table from each other in a booth.

Ethan looks around at the slew of empty two-person tables and asks, “Question: if there are only two of us, why did you insist on a 4 person booth?”

Chris, in response, looks at him with a smile. “That should be obvious,” he says, leaning back and stretching his arms horizontally along the back of the booth. “So I can spread out.”

“Was that the only reason?”

“What other reason would there be?”

To this, Ethan just sighs and picks up the menu. Ever so slightly, he is beginning to worry about his partnership with Chris, not because of anything the kid is guilty of now, but in anticipation of how annoying he’ll be in the future.

Unaware of Ethan’s thoughts, Chris asks, “You said you had work right? What will we be doing?”

“I would like to hunt down some more bounties, but first, I want to check in on a few more potential threats.”

“Who?”

“I have no idea,” Ethan says with a slight gesture of his hand. “But I can feel the presence of roughly a dozen or so Chi signatures throughout the territory. I was thinking of investigating them just to make sure they won't become a problem while I'm here.”

“Ahhhh. So kinda what you were doing with me.”

“Yes. Only none of them have power like you do.”

“That still freaks me out. I mean, I've just always had these powers, but now I find out that I'm among the elite without even trying.” Then, Chris suddenly remembers their conversation from earlier. “Before, you told me I was a 6th tier. What does that mean?”

“It’s just a power grading system that measures how potent one’s Chi is, and it’s very unreliable, as Chi can rise and fall depending on their mood, health, psychology, et-cetera. People use it as an absolute status of strength, but it's nothing special. For example, Power Gems users are always stronger than their tier because they have eccentric and diverse abilities. That includes you, though I’m still unsure as to what you are.”

“Okay.” Chris nods his head in acknowledgement that he actually comprehended the information. “I mean, I get the concept but I don't really have anything to base it on. I mean, what constitutes me as a 6th tier. Is it number- based? What’s the measuring system?”

“I'm not an expert either. I make my estimations based on very limited experience. So, I doubt I'm doing this correctly either.”

“Oh.”

Now that his explanation has concluded, Ethan finally takes a look at the menu. He scans over it for a little while before noticing Chris has left his untouched.

“You're not eating?” he asks.

“I know exactly what I want. I’ve been here before.”

“Ah.”