Etienne and Gabe entered the house as police sirens and fire truck horns blared in the distance. Their entire trip back to the house was completely silent. Etienne opened his mouth to speak a few times, but he couldn't produce a sound.
"I spent all that time planning my revenge, but I never thought for a second about what Gabe would think. Of course, he wouldn't accept that his little brother is some killer…"
Gabe entered the front door and made a right into the living room, and Eitenne followed him. Gabe leaned on the arm of the couch and crossed his arms.
"Be honest with me, Etienne. What happened to you out there? First, you come back from the dead randomly, now you're some killer metahuman…" Etienne put his head in his hands, then looked back at Gabe, whose fierce stare nearly punched a hole through him. Etienne pulled up a chair that sat against a wall and looked into Gabe's eyes.
Etienne's voice was eerily soft and devoid of all bass, "Where do I begin? My memories are so foggy, it's like movies playing on top of each other. I remember fire, there was this kid…I don't…"
Gabe looked frustrated, "So that's it? You don't remember the kidnapper's names, where they held you, anything?"
Etienne scratched his chin, "What? Kidnappers?"
Gabe uncrossed his arms quickly and confusion began to spread on his face, "What do you mean what? Were you not kidnapped? Oh man, I need to reach out to P.I…" He started to pace around the room.
Etienne stopped speaking softly, "I was safe. No kidnappers, nothing like that. I remember leaving here, getting on the plane to Japan and getting pretty close. Out of nowhere, the plane nosedived into some island. I survived somehow, and some of the locals nursed me back to health…"
Gabe nodded his head, "And then?"
Etienne looked away from Gabe, "Well, that's where it gets strange. The locals that helped me were actually…"
Gabe stopped pacing and stared at Etienne, "They were what Etienne?"
Etienne bit his lip and looked on the ground, "They were…ninjas."
Gabe continued to stare at him. Etienne shrugged his shoulders, "What, you don't believe me?"
Gabe chuckled, "I do believe you. In fact, I'm more surprised you thought I wouldn't. I just saw you move faster than sound, so I'm inclined to believe everything you say. But still, I know it was more than that…everything about you is so different in a little over a year."
Etienne shook his head, "See, that's the other thing. For me, it hasn't been 13 months. It's been 13 years."
Gabe slapped his mouth on his hand, and with his voice muffled, he shouted, "Say no more! Don't say another word, I'm having the investigator I hired come back here tomorrow to complete his investigation. Whatever other crazy revelations you have, please share them with P.I, he'll be here first thing in the morning!"
Etienne nodded and stood up, "I got it. So, we're going our separate ways for tonight?"
Gabe turned and walked into the dining room behind them. He shouted back, "We still have a lot more to talk about Etienne. Don't think you're off the hook. I want to know what 'even if they are part of my family' meant from your speech."
Etienne walked out of the living room and made his way up the stairs, the portrait of his family staring down at him.
"He took that a lot better than I expected," Etienne thought to himself. _______________________________________________________________________________________
A kid, no older than 15, floated on a hoverboard up to an intersection full of burning cars and emergency service vehicles. In the middle of the intersection, a group of medics rendered aid to a meta-human with spikes protruding from their body. One medic tossed another some kind of jelly, and they rubbed it on the cuts on the meta-human's face and neck.
The kid kicked the hoverboard into his hands and threw his head back, gazing up at the sky through his orange-tinted athletic glasses.
"Dude…Josiah is going to crucify me for this," The kid thought to himself. The kid's phone began to ring. He pulled it out and looked at the caller ID, which read Josiah Okun. The kid hit the phone against his head a few times before answering.
The kid spoke quickly, "I just made it to the sce—" Josiah shouted, his booming voice nearly causing his phone to shake, "Alex, you cannot be serious this is completely unacceptable! You were that late to the scene? Not only did some vigilante do your job for you, but you even arrived after the police? The police captain had to call me asking where the heroes are!"
Alex sighed deeply, "Look, can you leave it alone? I was in Port Darius for a family event, I got here as fast as I could."
Josiah's voice calmed slightly, "Alex, I've told you time and time again that being a superhero is a full-time gig. You always have an excuse as to why you can't or didn't do something. Do you even want to do this? Maybe you should go back to being a student so you can attend family events or whatever at your leisure."
Alex sighed, even deeper this time, "Is there something you want me to do? Or are you really cutting me loose this time?"
"Look into the vigilante. Find out everything you can, from his name to his powers to his favorite day of the week, and report back to me. You have a month, and you better not let him do anything as flashy or as public as this again."
Alex paused for a moment before meekly responding, "Yes sir."
The call ended immediately.
Alex grabbed the phone with both hands, tapped it on his head again, and whispered, "Damn it, man. One day…"