Extraordinary Man

The mangled body of the apostle hit the ground with an anticlimactic thud.

Shocked at the man finally going down, it took a moment for the group to realize he had fallen. The tension of battle faded slowly, with Slater and Axel both collapsing from their damage from the fight combined with their previous skirmish.

“You guys are something else, huh?”

The body spoke, despite his heart supposedly being burnt out of his chest. The tension which had only just dissipated suddenly rushed back to the arena, with Icarus placing his right hand behind him and sitting up by straightening his arm. His left arm had yet to recover, but in the cavity Slater had hollowed out was an influx of aether, a beating heart made of aether visible in the center. Seeing the man still living, Maya, Lupus, Charlotte, and April grasped their weapons and prepared to continue the fight, but were interrupted by Icarus throwing his hand up.

“Relax. You beat me, I can’t hurt you anymore like this.” His face showed no hint of this being some quip or joke of his, and his hand raised in surrender seemed to reinforce that notion.

Despite that, the girls on the battlefield refused to put their weapons down. It was Lupus who was the first to do so, wanting to heart he man out.

“What are your plans now, then?” He asked, crossing his arms. Lupus had put his claws away, but they were still close enough that he could react to any suspicious behavior in half a second.

Icarus simply pointed to his heart with his right hand.

“I can still function without my heart as it regenerates, but I can’t do much more regenerating until I grow the biological heart back. Make sense?” He cocked his head to emphasize his ending question, even if he didn’t expect an answer.

April walked forward and pointed one of her blades at the defeated apostle’s head.

“If that is all true, why tell us? Doesn’t that give us more reason to kill you?”

Icarus pushed the blade out of the way with his hand slowly.

“You beat me, I felt I should share something of value as a reward. Just to be fair.” He spoke with a suave sincerity, trying to brush off the danger he had been to all of their lives. He paused for a moment as April sheathed her blade, looking into his eyes. Once she had retreated and gave Icarus some space, he leaped onto his feet and stretched his back, then gave his enemies a small wave. “Now, I’ll do what I do best and get out of your hair. You gave me all the time I needed to prepare to leave, but that was a fun little bout we had today. Wouldn’t recommend the pain of having your heart burned out though.”

A light blue, oval shaped circular shield extended around his body, masking the man in the tattered white cloak behind a filter of aether.

“You’re not getting away, dammit!” Charlotte yelled as she burst forward and tried freezing the pod to the ground, but before her fist connected to spread the ice, the pod jetted off into the sky somewhere, leaving Charlotte’s fist to only hit the ground and leave a frozen flower in its wake. Her fists crushed the flower shortly after as they pummeled the ground instead of the man she had let escape. She would’ve kept going, if not for Lupus catching her arm as she went in fro another punch.

“It’s no use crying over it now, he may have got away, but we were lucky to all make it out of there alive.”

He looked sternly into her eyes. Seeing this look, Charlotte slinked to the ground and sighed, letting herself rest from the back to back battles.

Similarly exhausted, but still standing, Maya and April had naturally floated towards each other as Lupus and Charlotte. After exchanging whispers between them, April walked forward to address the secret police’s leader.

“Don’t come to expect treatment like this, but we’ve come to the decision that we should go our separate ways without conflict.” April outstretched her hand for a handshake. “Next time we meet, it will be as enemies once again.”

Lupus met her handshake in kind, smiling warmly at the notion.

“I look forward to clashing blades with you again, young lady.”

The kept up their cordiality for a few moments longer, until a yell from the entrance of the building drew their attention away. The girl in the black hood and the boy with brown hair were supporting each other’s weight, shambling towards the arena where everyone had gathered.

“Lupus!” Cora had shouted once she viewed the man. Her shamble sped up slightly, but after wincing from a slight pain, returned to her normal pace. Lupus made it easier on both Cora and Blitz by meeting them where they were, giving each of his shoulder to either of them, and spying Blitz’s mangled hand during the exchange. He was speechless at first, but masked his shock as Blitz flashed a smile back up at Lupus.

“I… won.” He said, before passing out onto Lupus. The director immediately turned to Cora and Charlotte.

“He’s coming in and out of consciousness, he won’t last long unless we get back to our territory soon. I’ll call for a transport.” He then looked to Charlotte specifically. “You grab Slater so we can leave as soon as possible.” With his command given, he turned and walked towards some place to sit down, both to rest and to lay down Blitz. He intended to give Cora a place to rest as well, but the sniper girl had broken away and followed Charlotte towards Slater. But her focus was not on her childhood friend, but rather the blood swordsman who was being hoisted up by Maya across from him. She limped towards the two, resting on a piece of rubble sturdy enough to hold her weight once she got close enough, and got the two’s attention between pants.

“Hey… Axel, right?” She called out. Cora wasn’t sure if Axel was still unconscious, but she figured if he was she’d at least get a reaction from Maya. Fortunately, her calling of the Wendigo’s name seemed to have worked the same as an alarm for him.

Maya curiously looked at her damaged partner, before nodding, most likely in response to some whispered command, and turning Axel towards the girl who had called his name. He didn’t speak a word, only waited for whatever she had to say.

The words came flowing from her naturally. “My father. What did you do with him?”

“You mean the man who knew my name?” Axel responded back.

“His name was Elijah, you should know.” She crossed her arms, leaning against the rubble.

“’Was?’” Axel looked at the girl. “If you think I killed him, you’re mistaken.”

Cora’s eyes expanded.

“What?”

“I brought him into custody and handed him off, but he isn’t dead yet. I’ve made sure he doesn’t bite the bullet until he explains why he knew my name.” Axel still was hanging off of Maya, but gave a clear and invigorated response that betrayed his current situation.

Looking down at her hand, making a fist and holding it to her chest, Cora sighed in relief.

“So… That old man is still alive… Thank God.” She smiled, looking forward, where April now stood across from her.

“Now that you have had your questions, I have one of my own.” She paused, putting a hand on the brim of her cap and looking into Cora’s eyes. “What happened to Droite? I know he wouldn’t have let you two go quietly.” The question was innocent of itself, but April’s tone had made Cora take a step back.

“When I got up there… he was already… gone.” She drew her answer out, fearing some sort of retaliation. In her current state, she couldn’t run, and being a sniper meant she had very little close combat experience.

“I see.” Was the only response April gave, turning away. “Be on your way then.”

The sniper girl was stunned for a moment, but soon took the advice and limped back towards Charlotte and Lupus. It was an awkward note to leave on, but the sooner she left the conversation the better. At least, that’s how she saw it.

Axel, however, turned to his boss.

“The Werewolf’s dead?” He asked.

“It would seem so.” April’s stern demeanor didn’t falter as she answered Axel without sparing him eye contact.

“He had it coming to him.” Axel replied, not giving April any attention either. “He never truly wanted to be with us. He was just in it for the heck of it.”

“And yet, he still was our comrade.” April rebutted.

“He never thought of us as companions, April. We weren’t his comrades in the slightest.” Now Axel looked his boss in the eye. Now that the dam had broke, April did the same.

“Even so, he was still ours. We may not have appreciated his company, I know I lost a fair share of mugs to the man, but we can at least give him a send off of some kind.” April place a hand on her rapier fitted with a flame core, drawing it out of her belt and pointed it at the air. A lone fireball burst from the tip, flying into the air before bursting in the sky.

As the sparks rained down, Maya chimed in to the conversation.

“Do you really miss him, April?”

“I can’t say I do, but tradition is tradition. Let’s head home.”

As the sun broke through the city skyline and dawn bathed the city in light, the two groups which had occupied the city the entire day went their separate ways, letting the city rest in peace once more. As a gentle morning breeze blew between the hollowed-out buildings, the hair of the only new addition to the city: a lone corpse, swayed like wild grass. As it would until the body itself decayed away.

One week later

Slater pushed the door to the hospital room open slightly, peeking in to make sure he wasn’t intruding on anything. While he noticed his appearance was not unwelcome, he did draw the attention of Charlotte, who sat next to the bed at the end of the room. She smiled warmly, the same way Lupus always did, and stood up to greet him at the door.

“You need some time alone with him, I think.” She whispered, before opening the door all the way and brushing past Slater. She gave a thumbs-up of good luck before walking down the hall, disappearing around the corner.

He stood still for a moment, before walking in and shutting the door behind him, being met with a Blitz covered in bandages all over. Most prominently, his right hand, which was bandaged around the entire forearm as it waved to greet Slater. It would have been a perfectly normal greeting, had it not been for the fact the hand itself was entirely missing.

“They amputated the whole thing, huh?” Slater pointed out the obvious, averting his eyes and slipping his hands into his pockets.

“Not much of a choice, it was unsalvageable. But it’s fine, it’s better this way.” Blitz looked at his nub of an arm, getting lost in a memory. “That was the hand that killed the man I admired most. I figured, if I did end up killing the man I held a grudge against… The hand that made me a murderer had to go with him.” He looked back to his friend at the door. “But, that’s not why you’re here isn’t it?”

Slater’s eyes remained averted, but now switched to staring at his own feet.

“I know Lupus had Cora tell you all about me. She’s just a room over and these walls aren’t exactly thick.” He chuckled to himself, looking up into Slater’s eyes, which finally met with his.

“I heard, yeah.” Slater didn’t know how to bring it up, but he didn’t have to, Blitz did it for him.

“I’m sorry. I know my stupid actions are what made you coming here a living hell…” His eyes closed as he bowed his head. “But… Thank you too, for not abandoning me!” A small stream of tears began running down his face. “Any sane person would’ve cut their losses… So thank you.” He looked back up at Slater, who hid his eyes behind his bangs as he looked down.

“I don’t think I can really forgive the Blitz that caused all of that, though.” He clenched his fists, walking forward as his body quivered. He stopped at the foot of Blitz’s bed, raising his hand with his palm exposed. Blitz braced for a slap across the face, one he thought he deserved. However, his eyes were instead greeted by an outstretched right hand. “But, I think I can forgive the Blitz that I know. The coworker and friend who welcomed me into this family.

Blitz smiled and put out his hand to shake Slater’s, before both realized the hand he had put out was the one he no longer had. After a hearty laugh, the two shook left hands with determined looks into each other’s eyes. “Slater… I’ll fight with you to the end. You’re a true friend.” He smiled to his friend, but let go of his hand. “But, if you ask me, you have someone more important than me to see here.” His smile turned wry, shooing him away with his hand.

“Yeah, you’re right.” He exhaled sharply as he shook his hands out, preparing himself. “I’ll be back soon.”

The boy missing a hand leaned back in his bed. “Don’t worry about it, just get going!” He yelled, closing his eyes and smirking as the door flew open and closed shortly after.

The boy flew down the hallway of the hospital, passing by rooms in reality, but in his mind, he thought through everything he had gone through. The woman in the alley, Icarus, seeing Elijah again, meeting Theo, escaping the West, waking up in the East…

As he blew by, Charlotte, from a seat in a sitting area, smiled, knowing where the boy was headed.

He continued his reminiscing, remembering the moment he met Charlotte and Blitz, Lupus giving him his first assignment, his first laugh with Blitz, their first team mission, and ultimately, his many battles with Axel.

He passed by Lupus, who was leaning against a wall, just coming from visiting the room he was heading towards himself. His eyes followed Slater, giving a nod of approval before turning and continuing down the hall towards the sitting area.

He slowed from a run, to a jog, to a walk as he saw the name slate he was looking for. His sister’s name printed neatly in black. Slater adjusted himself, straightening his clothes and smoothing out his hair. As he checked himself in the reflection of the window across from the door, he spied the woman covered in blue cracks reflected as well.

“It’s about time you faced her.” She said, crossing her arms to hide her pride in Slater’s growth.

“She’s been waiting for me this whole time. Now I think I’ve done enough to show myself.” He stared the reflection of the woman in the eyes.

“You certainly proved your existence to that Axel fellow.” She giggled to herself. “It’s honestly funny you left the closest person to you for last.” She closed her eyes and leaned against the wall next to the door.

“When it’s strangers, it’s a lot easier to assert yourself. Things are a lot more delicate with people you know well.” He put a hand against the window and leaned over to look down.

The woman walked over and put a hand on Slater’s back, leaning to meet his line of sight.

“All it takes is that first step, don’t you think?”

Slater closed his eyes, took a deep breath in, exhaled it out, and stood up straight. He turned around to the door, where there was no trace of another person in the hallway. He took long strides to the door, placing his hand on the doorknob. The cold of the metal was the only sensation he felt flow through his body as he turned the knob and cracked the door open. Before long, he opened the door fully and went in with a greeting for his sister, shutting the door behind him, and on the insanity he had gone through ever since he and Lillian escaped the West, giving him his first real moment of rest in a long while.

- End of Arc 2 -