by David Jobe
The man that sat next to Mac was an older gentleman with dark skin and a clean-shaven head. He had strong features, it a little gaunt. His hazel eyes held a sort of haunted look that made his friendly smile seem real, yet pained. “Huh?”
Mac smiled or tried to. His face hurt and he had to admit that he had no idea why. He didn’t remember getting hit in his face. He wasn’t sure if he was smiling or giving the officer a slacked jaw stare that would label him an idiot. “Nurse Millie.”
Lanton smiled wider, and the look in his eyes seemed more hopeful for a second before it faded and returned to the haunted expression. “Heard that, did ya?”
Mac motioned with his head to the machine attached to the IV bag that was still announcing its displeasure with annoying regularity. “Worst alarm clock ever.”
Lanton nodded. “I ‘ve spent a bit too much time in hospitals lately, and I have to say, for a place that keeps telling you to relax and get some sleep, they seem dead set on interrupting it as often as possible.”
Mac laughed and then winced as the pain from his stomach and chest was too much. A wave of nausea set in and Mac found himself looking for something to empty his guts into. All he accomplished was a horrible retching noise that sent Officer Landon scrambling for a nearby bucket. Nothing but a drop of drool escaped Mac’s lips though. “Maybe don’t make me laugh until they give me my pain meds?”
Officer Lanton nodded, setting the drooled-in bucket down by his feet as he sat back down and smoothed out his blue button up and black slacks. “Cut the stand-up routine. Got it.” Officer Lanton’s eyes seemed to focus on something in the corner behind Mac, but when Mac turned to look, he found only an empty corner with a chart that explained the varying levels of pain in emoticon faces. Right now, he felt like the one above number eight. When Mac turned back to look at Officer Lanton, the Officer had a strange look on his face that was there one second and then gone the next. He held out his hand, “Officer Monty Lanton, but feel free to call me Lanton.”
Mac tried to raise his arm to shake hands, but the IV caught on something and pulled on the needle in his arm. He gave a wince and set his arm back down. “Just know I am shaking your hand. Machiavelli Patton. You can call me Mac and we will both agree not to make pop culture references to our names?”
Lanton nodded with a chuckle. “You read my mind.”
“Am I in trouble?” Mac asked.
Lanton frowned but did not answer right away. He steepled his slender hands in front of his lips and appeared to be contemplating. After a pregnant pause, he answered, “Not from me. At least not in the traditional sense.”
Mac couldn’t help but chuckle, wincing as he did. “You’ve come to give me a quest, haven’t you?”
Lanton frowned, blinking. “I don’t understand.”
“He means you are being cryptic, like people in video games that hand out quests. Sending them off on harrowing adventures to gather up some stupid artifact to defeat a boss, but never really coming out and saying what you need or why.”
Mac turned to face the speaker and found a beautiful woman standing in the doorway. She had her arms across her chest and she leaned against the door frame with her head tilted to one side. She was slender and tall, with a shapely body that fit well in the nurse’s uniform that she wore. Her black hair was up in a ponytail whose tip of hung just over the nape of her pale neck. Her smile was warm and welcoming and made Mac feel at ease.”.
“Miss Millie.” Lanton breathed out in a rush. “I didn’t summon you.”
Nurse Millie raised a thin eyebrow at him. “It’s Nurse Millie, Officer Lanton, and no one summons me. I come and go as I please. You’d best to remember that, unless you want to rent a room next door.”
“Would you be my nurse if I did?” Officer Lanton asked, his face unreadable.
Nurse Millie’s eyes sparkled with mirth and her smile slipped to a smirk, but she didn’t say anything.
Lanton grinned but turned back to Mac. “Sorry, I’m not very savvy on games as such.”
“Next time, throw a book reference at him, and he’ll get it. He loved the older books too.” Millie offered. “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, War and Peace,” she shot him a pointed glance, “Stranger in a Strange Land.”
Mac chuckled, and then found himself gagging again. Lanton held the bucket and by the time that a couple more drops of drool escaped his lips, Nurse Mille had returned with another nurse who made quick work of changing out his bag and injected a few things into his line.
The new nurse, a plumper woman with dark skin and bouncing curls in her hair glared over Mac at Officer Lanton and muttered, “Narc.” Though she frowned at him, even Mac could see she had mischief in her eyes.
Lanton raised his hands in defense but said nothing.
The other nurse chuckled and left, nodding with respect to Nurse Millie.
“Officer.” Nurse Millie gave the word bite when she said it. “Whatever you need to talk to this young man about, do it quick. In ten minutes he will be in Lala Land and I will have to ask you to leave. Our patient needs his sleep.”
Both Officer Lanton and Mac grinned big at this. “Of course, Nurse.” Officer Lanton said. “I will be out of your lovely hair as soon as possible.”
Nurse Millie had that grin, but she turned her attention to Mac. “You let me know if you need anything, okay?”
“I could go for some cake,” Mac admitted.
“The cake is a lie, kiddo.” She said and gave him a wink before turning and leaving.
Mac chuckled and found it didn’t hurt quite as much.
Officer Lanton smiled big and nodded. “Sorry for being cryptic earlier, but coincidentally you weren’t far off. I do have a sort of quest for you. Once you are back on your feet.” Officer Lanton winced at that but kept on talking. “I would like to come to you for insight on your powers. Get a better understanding of what you do and how.”
“Not sure I’ll be much help. In case you missed it, I’m kind of a failure at the whole superhero thing.” Mac sighed.
“I don’t think that is true at all.” Lanton leaned in. “You are the living embodiment of what people think about superheroes. Brave and courageous.”
Mac frowned and shook his head, “I was a fool. I accomplished nothing, and got gut shot for my troubles.”
Officer Lanton smiled. “Courage is facing adversity when fear should make you run. You saw smoke, and you ran toward the fire. That is courage. That is bravery. Trust me, I have seen people run both directions on the battlefield. Not many people like you. Not near enough.” Lanton’s smile expanded. “You’ve been out of it for a bit, so I’ll let you in on a little secret. You’ve got a bit of a fan club growing out there. You and your friends.”
“My friends!” It dawned on Mac that he had been heartless and had not asked about them. “Is Allison okay?”
“She’s unhurt.” Something in Officer Lanton’s demeanor seemed off.
“But?”
“But she’s in jail. I am sorry. She is on video executing a woman.”
“She was trying to defend me.”
“I know, and I believe her defender is going to be using self-defense as her defense. But, while they sort that out, she’s in custody.” Officer Lanton frowned again, genuine in his dismay.
Mac sighed and laid his head back. “This is all because of me. I just wanted to be somebody. To have her like me. To prove I wasn’t a fat nobody. And now I’m in the hospital, and she’s in jail. She probably hates me now.”
Lanton shook his head with a slow smile. He patted himself down until he found the pocket he was looking for. From it, he withdrew a smart phone that looked like it was on its last leg. “I shouldn’t be showing you this, but I am a sucker for a love story.” He started fiddling with his phone, becoming more frustrated as he went. After a minute of arguing with it, mumbling under his breath he said “Ahh hah. Had it in a different folder.” He poked the screen with flair and turned the screen to face Mac.
Officer Lanton reached around and tapped the screen, advancing the video. Mac almost protested, wanting to hear Allison for as long as he could, but he could already feel the medicine trying to pull him back to sleep.
“We have you on tape executing the teacher in cold blood.” The officer’s voice was even, but still sounded accusing.
Allison’s face changed, and Mac knew that face well enough. It was the face he sometimes got when he mentioned something that made her livid. “I assure you, my blood was anything but cold. That ‘teacher’,” she said the word with such venom, “Was threatening to roast my boyfriend, even though she knew he was dying anyways. Then she went on a stupid villainous rant about murdering me and other people. I stopped her.” Tears had formed in her eyes. “Is Mac okay?”
Officer Lanton stopped the video there.
Tears were in Mac’s eyes now. Here she was being accused of murder, and she was more worried about him. He felt like an even bigger heel. “What did they tell her?”
“They didn’t know at the time. You were in surgery for hours, and even after you came out, you were walking the wire. Still are, I am afraid.”
“But does she know I’m alive now?”
“If she has access to television, she does.”
Mac sat up, fighting the drowsiness that was reaching up to try and take him down. “You want my help. You got it. As long as you promise to tell her I’m okay. And. And that I am so sorry about all of this.”
Lanton stood up. “I can do that.” He moved toward the door and stopped. “One thing I should warn you about. One of the major drawbacks to having a fan clubs is that it naturally breeds a haters club too. Plus, with you being a public figure now, and a superhero, there will be those who will want to make a name for themselves by taking you down. Might even try to kill you.” He looked down at his yellow tie. Mac could see that there was some reddish brown on the tie. Lanton gave a long sigh.
“My father might beat them to it.” Mac said.
Lanton nodded. “Oh, do you want me to say anything in particular to your girlfriend for you?”
The medicine was no longer willing to be put at bay. It reached up to claim Mac with warm strong hands. He couldn’t be sure, but he thought he might have muttered, “She called me her boyfriend.” As his mind slipped into unconsciousness, it had a single moment to ask itself if the officer had been pointing his phone at him.
Chapter Eight
The Prodigal Son Returns
Julian stepped off the bus, taking a careful step down as he did. Even with the careful step, pain laced up his side and made his vision go blurry for a few seconds. His left side was still a mass of pain and sore muscles. Even the prescription pain killers seem to have very little effect on the pain. Julian consoled himself in the fact that other more worthy men had spent their whole lives in constant pain, he could handle it for a few more weeks as he healed. The evening Indianapolis sun peered between tall buildings as he walked toward his neighborhood and the hopes of being reunited with his family. As he neared the intersection that would mark the beginning of his apartment complex, he noticed three familiar figures lurking around the stop sign, talking loud enough to be heard from half a block away. Julian contemplated taking a different route, not sure he was ready to talk with his friends. Though it had only been a little over a month since he had vanished, it felt like he had been gone for years. He took too long in contemplating because as he stood there, one of them noticed him.
“Julian?!” It was Stephen “Dance” Shawns that spoke up, but all three came running. “Yo, man. I thought you was dead.” Dance was the star running back of his school’s football team, and even now he wore the black and blue jersey of the team, the black 08 flapping like a flag in the breeze as the cold wind pushed past for a second.
To his left, Roberto Evans backhanded him on the chest. The hit had been controlled, meant to be light, but for Roberto, light was other people’s medium.“I told you he was the guy who jumped in and saved that dude. I told you Julian was the Angel of Mercy.”
Julian blinked. “What? Angel of Mercy.”
William Rosckowski nodded and spoke before anyone else could. “That’s what they are calling you. Well, if it was you that did that. Your whole little gang is being called The Angels of Indianapolis. You, the Angel of Death, Cherub and Bulletproof. Though that last guy’s name doesn’t really match the naming scheme.” He chuckled.
“I heard a news report call him…” Dance faded off for a moment, his long dreads swaying and he shook his head as if he might rattle lose the info. “Oh yeah, the Archnemesis.”
William chuckled again. “He means Archangel. Otherwise, it still wouldn’t fit the naming scheme.”
Dance nodded and smirked, “Yeah, that’s the one. News said those angels are the sort of brutes of the whole angelic football team.”
Julian stood dumbfounded. The angel thing had come up again, even though he himself had said nothing to the people he had tried to rescue. His mind fastened onto one piece. “Angel of Death?”
William nodded. “The hot chick in leather you left stranded while you went off to save two big dudes.” He smirked, leaving his meaning implied in the air.
Dance nodded, also grinning from ear to ear. “Yeah, what is up with that? You left the hardcore hottie to get caught up by Five-O. What’s that about?”
Julian shrugged, unsure himself. It was a question he had asked himself since he had woke up in the hospital after the whole incident. “I guess because she looked like she could handle herself. The big guy looked in the worse way, and the other guy was helping me get him to somewhere safe.”
“Why didn’t you just jump back and get her? Could have been a fun night after.” Dance winked.
“I couldn’t do anymore.” Julian raised up his “Jesus Saves” shirt that the pastor had given him and showed the three his six lines of stitching that were visible on his stomach. “Nearly bled out trying to do that. At least that is what the doctors said.” Julian had to admit that he didn’t see any reason to doubt them.
The face of all three of his friends darkened. It was Roberto that spoke, his tone hushed and serious. “Why didn’t you tell us, man? You know the whole team would have shown up with bats to put that a-hole in his place. You know we all got your back.”
The other two nodded in agreement.
Tears welled in Julian’s eyes. “I know, guys, and I can’t say how much I appreciate it. Honestly, I was embarrassed.”
“Ain’t no reason to be. Sometimes bad guys find their way into the mix, and you just gotta sort em out.” Dance said.
“And sometimes you need help to do that.” Roberto added.
“Just so you know. I’ve seen dude rolling around in that crap car of his. Not sure if he is looking for you, or your moms. Or both.” Dance patted Julian on the shoulder.
“She’s not at the apartment?” Julian felt a ball of ice form in his stomach.
“Naw, her and your little bro are holed up in the Chalice House.” Roberto said.
“What’s the Chalice House?” Julian asked.
“It’s a home for battered women and children. Supposed to help them get back on their feet once they get away from a-holes like..” Roberto trailed off.
Julian stood in silence, taking a moment to take it all in. His mom was free of the brute. He wondered how they were holding up in the Chalice House. Were they giving his mom the help she needed? Was his brother handling the transition well? He had been gone too long. His mother must be so worried about him. “Where’s the Chalice House?”
“Just up this street. Walk like you’re headed for the old castle building and then turn left on the street before. Can’t miss the house. I
t’s like a miniature Fort Knox with all the fencing and cameras on the outside. Place is locked up tight so the people inside stay safe. You’re gonna have to ask real nicely to get in, and even then they may not let you.” Roberto’s tone was low and serious again.
Dance laughed, “Man, the Angel of Mercy don’t need permission to get into anything. He can jump right in and there ain’t anything they can do about it, right?”
Julian nodded, trying to hide his smile.
Dance clapped Julian on the shoulder but apologized when he saw Julian wince. “Man, next year the team is going to be unstoppable. Just hand you the ball, and boom, you in the in the zone like that.”
Julian laughed. “Not sure they will let me on the team, or even back in the school. I saw on the news that people with powers are running into some issues.”
William nodded. “Yeah, you’re the new black people.” William winced, realizing he was the only white kid in the conversation. “Sorry. The new women. The new gay. Odds are you and the rest of the Altered are going to have to fight for equal rights.”
Dance broke in. “Which reminds me. Angel Hotpants got locked up, for murder and all. The news says the fat guy has police guarding his room at the hospital. There is a good chance that as soon as they know who you are, Five-O is going to come looking for you. You might want to lay low. You can crash at my place if you want. You know my moms loves you because you all religious and whatnot.”
Julian smiled. “Thanks guys. Right now, I just want to see my family.”
“Of course.” Dance said. “You want us to walk with you?”
“Naw. Five hooligans will get the neighborhoods attention quicker than one.”
Dance smirked. “Fair enough. Hit me on my cell if you need me. My bro is in town, so we can scoop you up.” He thought about it for a minute. “Though I guess you could just jump over if you wanted.”