Abilities

Brick stood between Eric and Lawrence waiting for them to make the first move. He kept his head on a swivel and turned his body in quick, jagged circles to always be aware of where each guy was. The two circled Brick, they too, waiting for him to be daring enough to make the first move. Eric looked at Lawrence and nodded at him. They both dropped their guard like they were giving up. Lawrence reached into his black trench coat and pulled out a new, chrome handgun.

Brick turned quickly and knocked the gun out of Lawrence’s hand before he could load it. The gun flew up in the air like a rocket ship and never seemed to land. Lawrence watched it fly through the air and drift off into the dark night. While Lawrence was distracted Brick shoved Lawrence with both hands sending him crashing into the side of one of the TDAA SUVs.

Eric jumped, high in the air and before Brick could react Eric was on top of him and transformed into a tiger, yet again. Brick was on his back holding off the claws of Eric’s new form from scratching his face. He lifted the tiger higher to keep him from biting off half of his face. Each chomp of his razor-sharp teeth came inches from Brick’s face, but Brick used his strength and tossed Eric to the side.

Once Brick rose to his feet, he grabbed the tiger by his front paws and slammed him into the side of the car. He lifted him again and slammed him one more time. The tiger let out a whimper, but continued to fight with Brick.

Brick felt a couple kicks in his side, but because of his strength they felt like someone was poking him instead of kicking him.

Brick turned to see three people taking shots at him all wearing their black trench coats. Brick tossed the tiger over the SUV and focused on the people wearing trench coats. He began punching them off one by one. Each punch sent the multiples sliding back on their feet but they kept coming. Brick was becoming fatigued but continued to fight.

Eric had changed back into himself once he hit the concrete. He held his side in pain and wiped the blood from his mouth. He pressed against his side and writhed in pain each time he pressed thinking that he had a broken rib. He struggled to get to his feet and peeked over the hood of the car to see Brick easily overpower Lawrence’s ability.

Brick’s punches were packed with so much force that each time he connected with one of Lawrence’s multiples they vanished into thin air. Brick was punching through each one like they didn’t exist and after the punch, they didn’t.

Eric watched as multiples continued to slide out from Lawrence’s body and sprint towards Brick. But no matter how many kept coming, Brick fought them off just as easily. Eric decided that he had enough of trying to go up against Brick as an Ability, he was simply too strong.

Eric opened the door to the SUV and reached into the middle console. He pulled out a small black holster that was zipped up tightly. He unzipped it and pulled one of the Babbitt handguns out. Inside the bag were small tranquilizer darts. He opened the gun cartridge and loaded it into the slide of the gun. He cocked it back and slammed the door behind him.

Brick was still fighting off everyone that Lawrence was throwing at him but the fatigue was beginning to catch up to him. The multiples were starting to land more kicks and punches onto the body of Brick, and he wasn’t destroying them as easily as he had been when the fight began, but he was still standing.

“Call them off,” Eric shouted to the man he only knew as the Marine.

Lawrence acknowledged Eric and within seconds all the multiples that were surrounding Brick erupted into a cloud of smoke. The smoke hovered in the air for a moment like a thick fog and then compacted into a small pillow. With a breath, his body absorbed the smoke.

Brick dropped to one knee and tried to quickly catch his breath. He found his way to his feet, again, and held his exhausted hands up expecting more of a fight.

Eric pointed the gun at Brick and pulled the trigger. It sounded like someone had just shot a spitball out of a straw, a short, soft sound. The dart flew perfectly through the air in a direct line and stabbed Brick in the side of his stomach.

He looked down at it and pulled it out as quickly as it punctured his skin. He tossed it aside and got back into his stance ready to fight. Eric took his time now knowing that Brick couldn’t fight back anymore. He handed the gun to Lawrence and began walking to Brick’s side.

Brick threw a weak punch, but Eric ducked it and punched Brick in the upper stomach at the bottom of his rib cage. Brick felt pain for the first time in over twenty-five years. He dropped to his knee and coughed. He tightly shut his eyes and clenched his fists in pain. He held onto his ribs as the pain shot through his entire body. It was the highest level of pain he had felt since becoming an Ability. He had been thrown through cars, ran over by rhinos, and tossed off the roof of a ten-story building, but those felt like a Leprechaun was pinching him. Now he was being punched and it felt like a car ran him down.

Eric readied himself and drove his elbow down onto the back of Brick’s head. He got him clean with the point of his elbow on the soft spot on the back of the head. Brick’s head bounced like a basketball and he was unconscious before he fell to the ground. Brick fell onto his side and his eyes were glazed over before they slowly closed.

“Throw him in the back and get the collar on him before he wakes up,” Eric said to Lawrence.

Lawrence watched as Eric walked into the school building. He eyes slowly panned to Brick lying by the tire of one of the SUVs. He kneeled down to his side and grabbed Brick’s legs and dragged him to the back of the car. Brick’s head bobbed up and down tapping the concrete.

Lawrence opened the back door and tossed Brick into the back. He looked at him with compassion but still followed orders. He snapped a collar onto his large neck and closed the door locking Brick in the back seat.

CHAPTER 51

“Where are you, Michael?” Mitchel asked quietly as he walked through the dark halls of Carmel Clay.

Michael turned the corner. He ran at a quick pace but made sure to keep his steps quiet. He passed by each door trying to push it open, but all the doors were locked. He sprinted through the front lobby, passed by the principal’s office, and followed the hallway down to the biggest room in the school, the cafeteria.

Mitchel walked through the halls slowly. He picked up each foot like he was walking through drying cement. The hallway was pitch black until his right hand illuminated from his ability. He continued to hold the light emitting hand at his side like he was walking the halls holding a light bulb.

He started throwing shots of electricity at the lockers. He was like a kid with too many toys just throwing the old ones to the side. The lockers were exploding and shooting out of the walls. Mitchel didn’t flinch or dodge the debris. He walked calmly down the hall destroying whatever he could.

Michael looked all around the cafeteria for a place to hide. He ducked behind one of the lunch tables and started shaking his hands like he was trying to dry them off after a rinse under the sink. He held them close to his face because it was too dark to see them in his lap. He closed to a fist and then opened them quickly trying to produce a spark of electricity but it wasn’t working. He had no idea how to control his ability.

His breathing picked up and he looked around to make sure that no one was around him. He quickly came to the conclusion that if he couldn’t use his powers then he would have no chance of beating Mitchel. He looked at the doors across the cafeteria and raced to them but they were all locked.

He picked up one of the lunch chairs and got ready to throw it through the window, but stopped when he heard the smashing of what sounded like the lockers down the hall. Michael dropped the chair and hid in the dark.

Mitchel got to the front lobby and stopped in his tracks. There were three ways to go. He could go through the glass doors and into the administration offices, he could go to the right, which would be more classrooms and locked doors, or he could keep going straight toward the cafeteria. He looked at the administration offices.

The double doors were made of glass. Instead of walls to the offices they were all glass so that the principals could keep an eye on the students and make sure they weren’t doing anything bad. Mitchel smirked. He turned to the glass and stuck his hand out. The electricity shooting from his hand was like a line of silly string. It just kept coming out and he dragged it from the far-right window to the far left. As he scanned the entire office the glass shattered as soon as it was hit by his powers.

He stopped. The blast had broken the glass down to such tiny specs that it sounded like the sprinklers on the ceiling were turned on and it poured water down on the carpet floor. The last couple of pieces of broken glass landed on the floor and then it was silent. It was like the calm before a storm. Mitchel turned his ear to the offices expecting to hear a moan or a cry for help. If Michael was in the office the glass would have cut him or the blast would have hit him.

He moved on to the cafeteria. He stood in the doorway his hand still illuminated from his ability. The cafeteria was big, the size of a gymnasium, and there were no lights on. The glow of his hand only lit up a couple feet around him so for the most part he was walking blind.

“Michael,” Mitchel said in a menacing tone. He walked through the cafeteria listening for a scared brother.

He heard TDAA agents coming quickly down the hallway in the direction of the cafeteria. He shook the power out of his hand darkening the entire room. He moved into the pitch black when the agents’ flashlights lit up the hallway.

They entered the cafeteria and scanned all over the room. Their flashlights were strapped to the top of their weapons so that they could see, aim, and shoot without hesitation. The front-runner in the group directed traffic by pointing agents in different areas of the cafeteria.

A team of four agents moved down to the lower level of the cafeteria and walked through the aisle of tables and chairs. They didn’t get far before a bolt of electricity hit them. They all dropped to the ground before they could fire off a single shot. The blast broke their lights and their bodies fell into the darkness.

The rest of the agents turned to see what happened but when they got down to that level, they only found their four-team members dead. There was no Mitchel and no Michael.

The darkness turned to light when Mitchel lit up both of his hands at the end of the room. He walked towards the guards with his hands out in front of his body. The electricity stretched to each hand like he was holding a stretched out slinky of energy. The agents turn to him but didn’t fire their guns. They were waiting for the leader’s orders but didn’t give them because the TDAA wanted Mitchel alive.

Some of the agents began shaking with nervousness. Their guns rattled in their hands. Some wanted to retreat, but they knew that they had a duty to the TDAA and stayed waiting for their orders watching Mitchel approach them with a storm of lightning in his hands.

“Oh, the hell with this,” said an agent. “Fire! Fire!”

They began firing their automatic weapons at Mitchel, but Mitchel shot out his electricity at the same time. One by one the agents began dropping.

They shot towards the light, but it was so blinding they couldn't aim, or even look, at the target. The sound of the gunfire became quieter because the amount of guns firing was diminishing. The agents were dying quickly until only one remained.

The shooting stopped. The electricity stopped. The agent was shaking very noticeably now. He was terrified to see that all the agents were dead and that they didn’t have any impact on Mitchel.

He took a deep breath and let it out. And then it got quiet.

Mitchel stood in front of the agent and he lit his hand up like he ignited a cigarette lighter. The agent froze. He didn’t know what to do. He wanted to fire but all of his muscles were stuck. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t think. All he could do was take a deep breath. It was his last breath. After a shot to his chest, his vision got blurry and he fell to the ground.

Mitchel didn’t have any time to celebrate what he did. He saw Michael light up his hands out of the corner of his eye and turned around to see Michael standing in the aisle ready to fight. Finally.

For the first time, Michael felt like he had full control of his powers. He had been hiding underneath one of the tables waiting for the moment when he could control his ability. They stood across from each other, both with their hands illuminated by their ability. Mitchel with black electricity in his hands, Michael with gold in his.

Michael believed the stories more than ever now. He felt his powers taking over his body and his attitude. He felt a streak of violent rage running down his spine and he was steadily growing angry. He wanted nothing more than to kill his brother where he stood.

They ran towards each other and met in the middle when Michael landed a punch on Mitchel’s face. Mitchel landed a punch of his own. They exchanged punches back and forth with neither brother getting the upper hand.

Because their hands were illuminated, each punch landed was like watching a firework explode in their face. Pops of gold, and then black, and then gold, and then black. It was like Fourth of July in the cafeteria.

They exchanged blows to each other’s faces and bodies. Mitchel dropped to one knee and put extra power into his hand, something that Michael was still unsure of how to do. The power in Mitchel’s hand grew to be twice the size of Michael’s. Mitchel stretched his arm back and with all his might behind him, punched Michael in the face. The explosion of power was like someone had set off a bomb.

The blast shot through the entire cafeteria like an electromagnetic pulse. The force knocked Michael onto his back and left him in a daze. He stared up at the ceiling but saw double. His head was spinning and he felt like he was seconds from passing out. His brain was swelling inside his head, pushing against his skull wall.

Mitchel tried to catch his breath by putting his hands on his knees and sucking in as much air as he could. He stared down at his brother and became torn between killing him and letting him go. Killing a stranger had become routine for Mitchel, and that’s how he thought this would be because Michael was a stranger. They only met fifteen minutes ago, and Mitchel was convinced he could kill his brother, it just was harder than he thought.

But he knew the legend was true. Deep in his heart he knew what he had to do so he held up his hands and illuminated his ability. Ironically the black glow produced light in the pitch-black room.

Michael was out of it. He wasn’t sure where he was, but he knew what was happening. He was conscious of who was standing over him. He connected eyes with his long-lost brother and stared deeply into his eyes. Unable to speak his face tensed up to the point where it was shaking.

The power in the building turned on and the electricity in Mitchel’s hands went out— as if someone had flipped a switch cutting off all power running through Mitchel’s veins.

Mitchel looked at his hands and couldn’t produce any more of his power. He felt a sting in his shoulder and looked over his right side. A small dart was stuck in the back of his right shoulder. All of Mitchel’s powers were gone for the next twenty minutes.

Mitchel turned around to see Eric standing at the other side of the cafeteria pointing the chrome gun at him. Again, Mitchel tried to shoot his powers at Eric but nothing came out. He was delusional without them. He felt like a lost puppy and began wandering around the cafeteria moving closer to Eric.

When he came within a few feet of Eric, Mitchel dropped to his knees and looked up at Eric. Mitchel was a broken man without his powers. He felt like everything in his life was sucked out of his body and taken away. He no longer felt that he had any strength or any way of fighting back. For the next few minutes, Mitchel was no longer an Ability.

Lawrence came into the room with a pair of handcuffs and the Babbitt collar. He snapped it around Mitchel’s neck and then handcuffed his hands behind his back.

“Get Michael, too,” Eric ordered.

When Lawrence turned to the other brother, he was gone. Michael had snuck out of the cafeteria when everyone’s back was to him. He managed to regain his composure and shake off the effects of Mitchel’s last blast.

“Find him!” Eric shouted. Lawrence looked back at Eric in anger, but listened.

Michael limped and stumbled his way through the theatre department to behind-the-scenes production stage. He stepped around props, costumes, and a piano looking for a way out. He tried to be quiet as best he could but knocked over a lot of the backstage stuff. His knee buckled from the pain and his hand slammed down onto the piano keys producing a tone that no musician would ever want to use in a song.

He stopped and listened for a reaction. There wasn’t one. As far as he knew no one was following him. He hoped that they got what they needed with Mitchel and would just leave.

Michael reached the end of the stage. A small window was about eleven feet up. He tried to jump up and reach it but he came inches short. There were cardboard tables, and plastic boulders used as stage props but there was nothing strong enough that would hold his weight so that he could reach the window and get out.

Then he spotted a ladder on the side of the stage. He pushed the fake table out of the way and maneuvered his way through the junk to get to the ladder.

“Michael,” an Irish voice came from behind him and startled him. Michael tripped over a basket of fake Gladiator swords but managed to stay on his feet. The noise would have erupted but luckily the swords were foam and didn’t make any noise when they tipped over. He turned around and saw a small man with a cane standing at the window he was just in front of.

“How…who are you?” asked Michael.

“My name is Gazet. I’m a friend of your father’s, Michael.”

Realizing that he and his father hadn’t gotten off on the best foot because William was actually a shifter named Talib, Michael was ready to protect himself. He charged up both his hands with his electric force for quick protection but it also shined light on the man so Michael could get a better look at him.

“Michael, please, please, I’m not here to hurt you,” he spoke very calmly. He was telling the truth.

“What do you want? How the hell did you get in here?” Michael was on edge and wasn’t going to relax until he was out of the school and back home with Brittany.

“Relax, Michael. There’s only one way out of here…you have to come with me.”

“Come where?”

“You’re not going to believe me, but I need you to trust me…the past.”

“What? What—what do you mean?”

“We need to go into the past…travel back in time.”

“You’re kidding? What the hell are you talking about?”

“What’s happening with you and your family isn’t over. Not by a long way. And you need to come with me so that we can save them.”

“Save who?” Michael asked.

“Your father. Right now, William Wehde, the real William Wehde, is sitting inside the TDAA’s prison and within the next hour a dear friend of mine, and your brother, will be locked up with him. We need to get them out.”

“How do you know all of this?”

“Because I’m from the future, Michael, and right now the present version of me, the Gazet from your time, is at the TDAA with them.”

Michael turned off all the energy in his hands. He was confused and while he was trying to figure out what exactly was going on, he lost all concentration on his ability. He didn’t feel like he was in any danger, though. Besides, the man in front of him didn’t look dangerous at all.

Michael laughed, but kept it quiet so that the TDAA wouldn’t find them if they were still in the building. The stern expression on the Irishman’s face, though, killed the laughter. He looked at Michael like he had never been more serious in his life.

“You’re telling me the truth, aren’t you?” asked Michael in disbelief.

“I am, and I know that this is difficult to believe, but we need to go now.”

“Why?”

“Because they’re still looking for you,” Gazet pointed to the front of the production stage referring to the TDAA. Michael listened closely.

Eric called in to the TDAA to have more agents sent after he found that Mitchel killed his entire team. Two helicopters landed outside the building that were occupied each with five TDAA agents and a pilot. They have overtaken the building and are searching through every room for Michael.

“If…”

“I promise I will answer every question you have, but you need to come with me right now. Please, Michael. This is the only way.”

“I just—how do I know you are who you say you are?” asked a panicked Michael.

“I know all about you, Michael. I know about your adoptive parents Merry and John. I know about your girlfriend, Brittany. I know that you haven’t been able to tell her any of this because you are afraid that you’re going to lose her. I know about J.R. trying to get into the army. And I will tell you how giving you up was the hardest thing William ever had to do in his life. I came to him the night you and Mitchel were born. It is because of me that you were given up. All of this was my idea.”

After Michael had all the facts, he couldn’t help but believe Gazet. The evidence was over whelming because he hadn’t told anybody any of that.

“Do Brittany and I end up together?” asked a curious Michael.

“I’m sorry, Michael, but we need to go now.”

Gazet held his hand out to Michael who looked at it and then looked into the eyes of the short man. He was nervous. He had desperation written all over his face, but it was in his eyes that drew Michael in. His eyes spoke nothing but honesty. He was telling the truth. All of it was the truth. Gazet was nervous because he needed Michael to come with him or everything would be over. The fate of everyone they loved was in Michael’s hands and all he had to do was take Gazet’s hand.

Michael slowly reached out and put his hand on top of Gazet’s cane. Gazet placed his other hand on top of Michael’s hand sandwiching them together. And then he smiled and nodded as if to say thank you.

The TDAA agents kicked open the theatre doors, “Don’t move, Michael!” they surrounded the theatre and held their guns on Michael and Gazet ready to fire. Not a single one of the agents recognized Gazet, and because he was in the TDAA at the present moment they didn’t even consider him to be the one talking to Michael.

But by the time they got behind the curtain there wasn’t anyone around, no signs of Michael and his friend escaping the stage. The window wasn’t broken or unlocked; there was no way anyone would have been able to fit through a window that size. Their weapons were drawn the whole time except for the couple of seconds it took them to get around to the backstage area. There was never any time to sneak out of the theatre. There wasn’t any other way they could have gone to get around the agents.

The exit, the stage…the entire building was covered by the TDAA.

But somehow…

Michael and Gazet were no longer in the building.