The Wanderer (Book 2): Stranded

by Giancioppo, Danny

  “He said he was going to wait for me,” I said. “I don’t think he wants to do this alone. I just need to come up with a way to deflect him away from that, and have a backup in case it doesn’t work.”

  “Meaning what, exactly? That you’re going to fight him?” Bell asked. “Jason, you know my thoughts on this, but even if you do fight, you would somehow have to get him away from most any and all society, and take him out fast. Are you ready to do that?”

  I looked at Bell, and though I hadn’t found the words to say, he knew what I was going to, if I could. No, I wasn’t. Not in my heart, anyway. It would kill me, destroy everything that I stood for, everything I was. But, in my mind, I knew– as did Bell– that I would do what I had to do to protect people from harm. From him.

  Suddenly, I got a text, and I grabbed my phone to see that it was Alannah: Come to your apartment. There’s something I want to show you.

  That was… an enticing text. Pulled me out of the moment, for sure. That was, until…

  “What does your spouse want to show you at your home?” Ox asked aloud. Thanks pal, real discreet. Bell and Bentley glanced at me, half mockingly (Bentley…) half curiously.

  “I…I don’t know,” I sheepishly said, putting my phone away and looking back up at the others. “Listen, we can figure out the semantics later. So long as I don’t go with Sam, he won’t do anything. For now at least.” Bell nodded his head solemnly, and Bentley just shook his.

  “Don’t be stupid about this, kid. I know it’s hard, but don’t let your feelings allow this to slip out of our control,” he warned. It was… I got it, really, but… what could I do?

  “Yeah, I know,” was all I said, growing rather grim as I did. I moved my way out the door, and had Ox come back into the suit, then making my way up and outside, headed off to my apartment.

  It took me 5.45 seconds, about. Sorry, I know, annoying tendency. Anyway, I got on the terrace, and stepped inside. Alannah was sitting on the couch, and she turned to face me as I made my way in.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked. “You shouldn’t be in here, it’s dangerous.”

  “Oh shut up, it’s fine!” Alannah disregarded. “Security’s been ramped up around here since the break-in, and it’s my place too.”

  “It’s…It’s what?” I asked, confused. She smiled a little.

  I walked over to the couch, and sat down next to her. In her hand, Alannah was holding a key. A key to the apartment, I’m assuming.

  “W-What’s…That’s… What is that?” I stammered.

  “It’s a key, dumbass,” she replied. What? I thought it was a phone!

  “Why…? Are you…? I mean do you want to…?”

  “Move in with you, yeah,” she finished my scrambled thoughts for me. What a champ. “I just figured, we’re engaged, and I know Sam’s going through a lot, but… I’m sure he won’t mind me around; I’m here all the time anyway.”

  “Alannah,” I said softly. She gazed into my eyes, and god damn, how hard it was to not follow every command those eyes gave me. “I don’t…I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

  “Why…?” she asked. Her face looked… hurt. Stunned, even. Kill me.

  I grabbed her hand with one of mine, and with the other I cupped her face, and kissed her gently.

  “I love you, so don’t for a second think it’s because of anything like that. It’s actually because of that that I don’t think you should,” I explained. “You’re right, Sam’s dealing with a lot, and honestly… I think it’s a dangerous call having you around; for your own safety.”

  “Seriously?” she questioned, sounding scared. “Why? What’s he been doing?” I shook my head.

  “He’s just… He’s losing it,” I admitted. “His powers are getting to him, and I think his ego is inflating his head. He wants recognition, and people aren’t giving it to him. They just keep speculating he’s the dead man walking, and that he’s more of a menace than a hero.”

  “Then why don’t you just say something to the press? Help buff out his image?”

  “Alannah, I can’t just start handing out information about him. If I talk, they’ll ask questions. If they ask questions, they’ll speculate, and then it’s only a matter of time before they figure out who I am, who he is, and who all of you are.”

  I stopped, and she looked down at her hand, laying gently in mine. She squeezed onto me tighter, and looked back up, staring me confidently in the eyes. Oh no… she wanted me to–

  “Then let them know,” she said. There it was.

  “Seriously?” I scoffed in disbelief. “Ana that’s crazy!”

  “Is it?” She persisted. “Really? I mean, you have no blood relatives, and your private life can remain a secret, about me and all our friends.”

  “They’ll know who you all are the second they see me or Sam out with you guys!” I protested. “Then your lives are put at risk, and ruined from being normal! I don’t want to do that to you!”

  “Jason, stop shouting and listen to me,” she insisted, grabbing my face in her hands. She meant business, now that she locked my face in place. “You need to have a little faith in the world you live in. In the people you live with.”

  “Ana, I know people. They’re selfish, and twisted, and if they don’t like something, they’ll do all that they can to get rid of it,” I argued still. I really didn’t want to do this to her, to any of them, not with the dangers involved.

  “Yeah, they are. They’re also kind, and understanding, and patient, and forgiving. They want to live by happiness, not by fear and rejection and hatred. Right now, people are afraid of you; you reject them, and you’re both starting to hate each other. Maybe this could be the first step in helping to mend that wound,” she explained.

  God damn it… She had a point. Granted, I think my point was fairly valid too, but still, it was a good counter argument.

  “Well what if I fail them again?” I asked, my barriers falling down before me. “What if I mess up, and now they know who to blame behind the suit? When people die, or when I can’t help them, even from themselves… what then? Then it’s not just on the Wanderer, it’s on Jason. It’s on me.”

  “Jason…” she cooed, pulling me closer to her. “I know it’s a scary thought; it’s a lot of weight to hold on one set of shoulders. Maybe some people will be upset with you, but that’s just part of the job. If you take responsibility for your actions, and actually try to be there for people, when they need you? Not always, but sometimes? Maybe that’ll be enough. At least for enough of them.”

  I laid my head in her lap, and she played with my hair. That always made me feel so… safe. So loved. So at home.

  “But what about Sam?” I wondered aloud. “He’s scared these people now more times than not. He’s so thick-headed about being a hero, he’s becoming a villain, faster than I ever was. Are they really going to accept him?”

  “I don’t know,” she admitted. “But you’ll never know until you try.” I paused, and closed my eyes, still laying in Alannah’s lap. It was so peaceful. And so rarely did I get to feel peace.

  “He won’t even listen to me right now anyway; he’s pissed at me,” I said. “There’s no way he’d want to listen to me trying to flip his crazy-ass idea around.”

  “Then I’ll talk to him,” Alannah said decidedly. I shot back up, and stared her dead in the eyes.

  “No you will not,” I disagreed sternly. “Not a chance in hell.”

  “Why not? You can’t control me, Rhodes.”

  “Because he’s losing his damn mind, Alannah!”

  “I– He’s still Sam!”

  “You don’t know that! I don’t know that!”

  “You seriously think he’s so far gone he doesn’t even remember who his friends are? With what evidence? That he’s trying to be a hero and he’s upset it’s not working? Jason, he’s our friend, he’s my friend. He’ll listen to me– talk to me– if I ask him to,” she argued, standing her ground.

  It
was so difficult being with a girl so headstrong. I knew there was little I could do to change her mind without causing a huge fight, and if nothing else, she was able to get in my head enough for me to question myself.

  Did I really think Sam was that far gone? Was I really so ready to turn my back on my oldest friend, just because he freaked me out with his strength, and his bad mood? What kind of a friend was I being, by being so unwilling to try and help my own?

  Still, if I thought there was even a chance that he might put her in some kind of danger, intentionally or not, there was no way in hell I’d let that chance take form. I didn’t know what to do.

  “I have an idea,” I spoke up at last, after several moments of silent contemplation. Alannah looked at me curiously, and I didn’t say anything back.

  “Are you going to say anything else, or…?” she asked impatiently.

  “I kind of thought you’d ask what.”

  “Why would you think that? Why would you need me to say that at all?”

  “Well I guess it doesn’t matter now, does it?” I asked.

  “Jason!” she yelled annoyedly. “Get to the point!”

  “Right, sorry,” I apologized. “What if I go talk to the press, say who I am, whatever, but I do it without Sam?”

  “Why? He seems pretty explicitly focused on putting his own face on the map,” she said.

  “Because, when I do and it goes poorly, he’ll see my point– that nothing that we do will change their perception of us. He’ll probably be all but confirmed to be Sam anyhow, since I’m friends with him,” I explained.

  “And what if it doesn’t go poorly?” Alannah asked. Sweet girl, so innocent.

  “Alannah, they already blame the Wanderer for everything bad that happens in the world, now I’ll be giving them a real face to point to; how could it possibly not go bad?” I said.

  “And what, you’re just not gonna tell Sam? You know if you do he’ll come anyway,” Alannah countered again.

  “I guess I’m not, no,” I replied. After all, he’d likely see it airing live somewhere, somehow. “I know it isn’t the best plan, but I don’t want you to be in danger, even if it’s hypothetical. Sam might be angry at me, but if he just sees how negative the reception is, then maybe he’ll see my point.” I grabbed her shoulders, and held them lightly in my hands. “Then, you and I can move; get out of here, go somewhere wicked secluded and safe. You can still go to school, and all our friends will know where we are, but you and I can live, safe from harm.”

  She glanced down for a moment, and her hair fell from the side of her head. She was thinking about it at least.

  Then though, I noticed something. Her hair was… still falling. Or I guess, it just stopped falling… mid-fall. Almost like she was frozen.

  Immediately, I shot my gaze over to the terrace, and for only a moment, I saw Sam, fully-suited. He was halfway from the kitchen to the couch, and he was staring at me. His hand was bent to the side, and I can only assume that in that moment, he kicked his time-manipulation up a notch, and locked me into place as well.

  Thanks to my enhanced senses, and thereby ability to process information, I could still know that I was locked in a frame of time. When he and I had sparred, it came as a surprise, so it hit me hard. When we had fought the Gredace, he had consciously kept me in the loop. Now, he hadn’t, but I had even the mere second of free time to focus up. I could feel myself stuck in the moment, I just couldn’t for the life of me move past it. I couldn’t move period.

  I was like that for no more than a minute or so, and then suddenly, everything slipped back into place, the path he moved in blasting with air, and the terrace doors shattering. It felt so… odd. It felt… It felt wrong, I suppose. Not just in the moral sense of the word, but physically, everything felt off. Like all my atoms were put on pause, and they were just then starting back up again.

  I looked over, and noticed then what to you may seem very obvious, blatantly so even, but utterly broke me. My heart, my brain, my soul. Everything.

  Alannah was gone. Disappeared. And so was Sam.

  It was almost too much to take in all at once. It felt like when I had first gotten my powers, and all the information of worlds and galaxies stretching for eons, but far, far worse. This time, it felt like not only was I getting hit with too much at once, but also torn apart by the seams. Half of me was just taken away, and the other half was left to wonder why.

  He took my fiancee. Out of rage, or spite, or any other kind of emotion, thought, or impulse, I didn’t know. In that moment, it didn’t matter. I didn’t know where he was taking her, or what he was going to do, but I did know this: If he laid a single finger on her, if she was touched in any way, he was going to pay for it. If Alannah was hurt, then Sam would die.

  15

  Brothers

  It took me seconds to find them. As much as I hated to admit it, while pure focus gave me a huge burst, negative emotion did too, and that was always a hell of a lot easier to get to.

  Sam had taken Alannah to The Hancock, and was standing on its edge, fully suited up, with her hanging from one hand, and some other woman from another. They were hanging off the building, with nothing but Sam as a support keeping them from plummeting to the ground.

  There were also at least three news helicopters circling in on the area, and what looked like hundreds of people already standing below. Police, reporters, civilians; the crowd was growing larger by the minute. Who knew how far in advance Sam prepared this.

  Sam was making some kind of announcement, but I couldn’t hear what, as I kept my distance. He was staring at the helicopters though, I could tell that much. I sent a small piece of my suit to listen in on the conversation.

  “As soon as the Wanderer arrives, and fulfils my request, I’ll let them both go, and you’ll see my point proven to be true. Then, the both of us will share with you our plans to be your new, better, higher powers. Your heroes,” he explained. His voice was… broken. It shook somewhat, but more noticeably, it sounded dead. Like the piece of Sam that was Sam… was gone.

  “Sam, for God’s sake! What the hell are you doing!?” Alannah screamed, trying to push the back of her head against him.

  “Please– don’t say my name yet, Alannah. Not until he shows up,” Sam insisted quietly.

  “God, Sam… what happened to you…?” she muttered, horrified. The other woman just cried in a silent terror.

  She knew I’d come, so did he. So did anyone that knew who I was. The people probably questioned me– I could only imagine that was the point of all this. Sam wanted me to show up, save someone, and reveal myself to the world. He’d join me, and whether through a blind, misguided faith in the people’s response, or by sheer will, we’d take over as “heroes.” He was lost.

  In fact, he was almost not even him. I mean, a ploy in front of a large crowd to reveal myself, this time from suit to man? It was disturbingly reminiscent of four years ago. I was so sure it was impossible, so sure that Sam was still Sam, but at this point, what was the better outcome? That Malek’s being and soul of evil-incarnate had taken over my dying best friend’s body, or that this was just Sam– twisted and deranged maybe, but Sam all the same?

  I suddenly got a call from Alex. I had my suit answer, and kept my gaze transfixed on Sam and Alannah.

  “Dude, do you know what’s going on right now?” he asked, sounding spastic and scared out of his mind.

  “Yes,” I said. “I’m here now.”

  “What the hell are you waiting for, man? Save Alannah!” Will yelled from the background. So they were hanging out, having to watch this together. Great…

  “Save them both, dude!” Alex yelled in response.

  “Jason, what’s wrong with Sam?” Julia asked. Good lord. “Is he… I mean, what’s he doing!?”

  “Where are you guys?” I asked.

  “With us,” Bell responded. What the hell was going on with these people!? “We grabbed them all as soon as you left us. They’re safe; we�
�re in a location neither you or Sam knows about. We had a feeling something bad was coming.”

  “Good. Stay hidden,” I said.

  “Kid,” I heard Bentley call out. “You have to play his game. He’s too close to both of those women for you to try anything else. Just get them away from him, save one and then the other, fast, and then get out him of there.”

  “I don’t know if he’ll let me get them both…” I admitted. “I don’t know that I can overpower him at this point; it’s too hard to tell.”

  “You’re going to have to, son,” Bell said.

  “Jason,” Alex muttered. “I… Do what you have to do, man.”

  The call ended, and I took a deep breath. My odds of getting both Alannah and this other woman were up in the air, no pun intended. Sam clearly wanted to make a point. If I save Alannah, my identity is all but confirmed with just a little research, but I’m seen as selfish– trading one innocent life for another. If I save the stranger, I’m a “hero,” but I let my fiance die. Either way, I lose.

  I cleared my mind as best I could, which was not easy at the time, let me tell you. Once I had done well enough, I shot over to him, and stopped in front of the hostage situation laid out before the world.

  “So, you finally show up,” Sam said, seemingly unphased by my appearance. The woman looked shocked, and Alannah just seemed scared.

  “Stop this,” I ordered. “Whatever game you’re playing, it ends, now.”

  “It’ll end in a minute, so long as you work with me here,” Sam said through gritted teeth. “Play along.” I didn’t say a word, and instead just glared at him. I turned slightly to look at Alannah, and she stared back at me in total fear.

  “It’ll be alright,” I promised. She nodded her head subtly, and looked back out at the cameras in wonder. I gazed over to the stranger, and she looked like she was ready to try and lunge for my arms. “Are you okay?”

  “Help me! Please!” she screamed. “I don’t know what he wants–!”