Sentry: 1-Violence & Variations

by Thomas Shaw

  The police officer chose not to listen to him. He pushed David back, knocking the other three back with him.

  "Look. You need to let us though. We'll sort this out for you" David tried again but to no avail.

  Sam moved David to one side and stood with his arms folded, "Let us past"

  The officer, again, ignored him and started pushing Sam. He couldn't move him. He tried again with more force. Still, he didn't budge. Sam started smiling, amused by the officer’s feeble attempt to shift him. The officer placed a hand on his holstered pistol, "Sir, please step back"

  Sam took a step forward towards the officer, who drew his pistol immediately "Try me"

  David immediately started typing a message on his phone. He put it back on his pocket and stood watching Sam and the officer square off. He looked around, the news cameras were now pointed at them. Laura had seen them too and was burying her head in the long sleeves of her navy hoodie.

  After a tense few seconds, the officer’s walkie-talkie started to chatter. The officer held it and spoke into it in a hushed voice. He listened again and looked at the four. He lowered his gun and placed it back in its holster, "You're clear, you better go through now" he stood to one side and David, Laura and Amy ran off towards the entrance. Sam still stood by the officer, gave a sly smile and walked off after the others.

  Once inside, Sam closed the door behind him and smiled, obviously proud with himself. Laura turned and got in Sam's face, "Well that was fucking clever wasn't it?" She shouted, "So much for being inconspicuous!"

  "What's your problem?" Sam asked, walking past her.

  "My problem is all of you!" Laura shouted, her voice echoing in the empty entrance hall. She took a breath, "You really didn't have to show off back there. Now you've drawn the media’s attention to us. Amy, because you can't control yourself, we have DarkWatch on our backs"

  Amy raised a finger, "To be fair, it happened a few years ago"

  Laura threw her arms in the air, "Doesn't matter though, does it? They've still been watching us. And David. Forming this 'Team', taking charge, working with a company we know nothing about. Not to mention breaking my heart. Where the hell do I start with you?" Laura was shaking, her hands curled into fists, she was getting overwhelmed. Everything was too unpredictable for her.

  David took a step towards her, "Laura. Look, I know this is way too much, in too short a time. I know you being in the limelight is the opposite of what you want right now. But this is something we need to do at this moment" He took another step forward, "I'm not going to say 'calm down' or 'stop being angry' because I need these feelings from you right now. But I need them aimed somewhere else. Please"

  Laura was trembling. Her eyes were fixed on David’s. For a brief moment, they were the only two people in the world. David took another step, Laura held her hands up and he stopped. She inhaled deeply "Ok. Let's just get this over with".

  They made their way through the abandoned airport, until they came at a gate close enough to where Anthony had been spotted. Sam found the doors and pried them open. The four of them walked outside onto the tarmac.

  Far across the other side of the runaway, outside of a locked hanger, they could see a man in a cloak surrounded by an army of robots. As they made their way across they were unfortunately spotted by one of the robots, who signaled the others. They all turned around, including Anthony who pointed a hand in their direction. All the robots started marching over to them.

  David, Amy, Laura and Sam spread out as they drew closer. Sam ran ahead and as soon as he was close enough, swung his fist, making direct contact with one of the robots, right in its chest. It shattered into pieces, five others turned their focus to him.

  Amy hung back and raised both her hands. The four robots that were running towards her started to judder as they got closer until they started to smoke and went up in flames!

  David was surrounded by six. He hadn't had much fighting experience in his life, so he dodged their punches and tried to keep low. All six robots grabbed a hold of him. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. His eyes shot open and in a blinding flash and a crackle, lightening shot from all his fingers, hitting a few and the lightening jumped from robot to robot until they were all fried.

  Amy, Sam and David continued using their powers to fight off the robots until there was only five left. They stood in a line and raised large assault rifles.

  Laura looked around, she had hung back and luckily none had gone for her. She saw a large truck with a huge metal water tank on the back. She picked up a large piece of metal from one of the broken robots. She ran over and jammed the shard of metal into the tank. Water started gushing out. Laura guided the water with her hand towards the firing squad. She made a huge wall of water between them and David, Amy and Sam. The robots started shooting and Laura turned the water into a thick ice wall! The bullets were imbedded in the ice. Quickly, she turned the ice back into a liquid and raised it high in the air. The robots took notice of Laura and aimed at her. They were about to fire when a huge slab of ice dropped from the sky, crushing them. The others looked at Laura who was breathing heavy. Sam walked over to one of the robots that was trying to crawl away and he ripped its head in two.

  David ran over to Laura, "Hey, you ok?"

  "I'm fine, let's go" She panted.

  They marched together towards Anthony as he swung open at the large hanger doors. Inside was a small aircraft. Unlike most planes it was black, had a dark red stripe going along the side and was secured to the ground with some high security chains. Anthony turned to face the four.

  "So... you’re different" He said, in an unsurprised tone. He stood there waiting for one of them to do something. He twitched his head, "Yes? What do you want?"

  The others looked at David. He looked at them and rolled his eyes, "Fine" he muttered under his breath, "Anthony Forster, you're coming with us"

  "No. No I'm not" Anthony replied. He turned his back and walked towards the plane.

  "Four of us versus one of you?" David called over, "You can't win"

  Anthony stopped walking and slowly turned around. He folded his arms, "Then come and take me"

  The four started walking. David looked at Sam and nodded towards Anthony. Sam knew what he was implying. He walked faster and went to grab ahold of him. Quick as a flash, Anthony unfolded his arms and hit Sam in the stomach. Sam curled down and Anthony raised his knee into Sam’s chest, knocking him on his back. David, in a shock, ran over to help Sam up. Amy raised her right hand and pushed forward. Anthony's left sleeve caught fire and he smacked it out. The fabric burned away to reveal a metal arm! He looked down at his hand and waggled his fingers. Satisfied they still worked he raised his own right arm and with a loud bang, a bullet shot out of his wrist and towards Amy! Sam jumped to his feet and took the bullet for her. The bullet was lodged in his shoulder but didn't penetrate the skin. He picked it out and threw it on the ground. He looked back at Amy and smiled at her.

  David raised both his hands and bolts of electricity started flying out in all directions. Anthony dodged all blasts by jumping, crouching and diving. He brought himself closer to David and grabbed him by the throat. His grip tightened around him neck and he lifted him up off the ground, "You look familiar" Anthony said.

  Before David could answer, a huge ice cone came flying towards them. Anthony threw David away and jumped back. The ice spike just missed him. Laura stood at the entrance of the hanger. She was raising the ice that had crushed Anthony's soldiers and was breaking bits off and reshaping it into sharp objects. She launched more and more at Anthony. Sam, ran in for a punch and got him in the leg. Anthony was knocked to one knee. Sam went to punch him in the head but David jumped onto his arm, "Sam no, they want him alive!"

  Anthony chuckled and stood back up, punching both Sam and David in their guts and they went flying into Amy who was about to fire again. As they all fell over, Amy's aim went towards the wall of the hanger. It blasted a long hole in the wall and the whol
e hanger started to collapse. They hadn't noticed Anthony climbing into the cockpit of the jet. He closed the canopy and the jet started hovering. It hovered out of the hanger and continued going further upwards.

  "How..." Laura muttered under her breath as she helped Amy to her feet.

  "It's a VTOL" David shouted over the engines.

  "David, shoot it down!" Sam called over.

  David thought but decided not to, "DarkWatch want him alive. They should be able to trace him"

  "Fuck what DarkWatch wants!" Sam argued.

  The jet was a mile up now. It stopped rising, paused for a second then blasted east.

  "Fuck!" Sam shouted.

  Laura and Amy both hung their heads and David reached in his pocket for his phone.

  1.6

  Two hours after the fight, they were sat in the DarkWatch reception. David was rubbing his neck, Sam was playing with the dent the bullet had made on his shoulder. Amy was busy texting on her phone and Laura's head was in her hands. Finally, the receptionist told them to go up the spiral staircase and head into the first door at the top.

  Mike Richards office. It was spacious but homely. It had a mix of 'living room' and 'office' about it, but still had that white design the rest of the building had. The far wall, which was pretty much just one large window, illuminated the whole room.

  Sat in front of the window and at a large glass desk was the grey-haired Mike Richards. He held out a hand, inviting the four to sit across from him in the chairs that had been provided. Once they were all sat he cleared his throat.

  "So. What happened?"

  David told him about the fight, explaining that they had used their powers to try and stop Anthony but it was no use. He had bested them, stolen a jet and was missing again.

  Richards sat back in his chair and thought for a moment, "I've been thinking about the deal I offered you. I'd like to offer you another one. In my excitement I may have over reacted to your...hesitation to join us. And after reflection I can understand where you are coming from. What I instead offer you is this: you are free to come and go as you please within our organization. You can use our resources, our facility, our weapons, even my agents. All I ask, is that you work with us. You keep us updated in your activities, just so we can help and provide back up. Your powers signify that things like an ability to control water or super strength are not science fiction anymore"

  David took a deep breath and was about to reply but Laura spoke first, "We'll do it" The others looked at her in shock. She looked back and shrugged her shoulders, "Look, they've been keeping tabs on us anyway. It makes sense to work with them under our own terms"

  Richards smiled and nodded, "Exactly. Look, I'm sure this isn't the last we've heard of Mr. Forster so I'm sure we will be dealing with each other again soon. In the meantime, go home, get some rest. Maybe work on some team building skills. I'm sensing some tension between a couple of you"

  Sam sighed, Laura hung her head slowly and David looked out of the window. Amy smiled, she didn't have a problem with any of them.

  1.7

  David dropped Amy off at home first and then drove Laura to hers. She got out of the car and he got out with her. He told Sam to wait in the car as he was going to walk her inside.

  He walked her up the path to the door of the apartment block. She turned around to David, "So, we're going to be seeing a lot more of each other"

  David nodded, "Yeah, I suppose we are"

  "We don't have to make things awkward. I'm wanting to forget about everything. And I mean everything. You were every... you and I had something but now it's gone. I took a long time getting over you, and in all honesty, I don't even think I'm there yet. But I suppose I have to be"

  "What if we-"

  "No David. You hurt me. You didn't talk to me, you just acted. And that shows that you never really loved me like you said you did"

  "I do love you"

  Laura, rubbed her eyes, "Don't. Stop it. If we're going to work together, I need you to stop"

  David didn't know what to say. He gave a nod, "Goodnight Laura"

  "Night David" She turned and went inside. David stood looking at the battered door for what seemed like hours. He took a deep breath, contained himself and turned to walk back to the car.

  David and Sam entered David’s apartment. His key card reader had been fixed and a new card had been slid under the door in a small brown envelope. David was closing the door when something stopped him. He opened it again to see John, green eyes wide with excitement.

  "I've been watching the news! What happened?"

  John invited him in and closed the door behind them.

  2.1

  11/01/2110

  Over a month after the incident at the airport; the team, and John, were sat in David’s apartment, hanging out, sharing a few pizzas and drinking.

  They hadn't had any contact from anyone at DarkWatch since they were last sat in Mike Richards office.

  However, they had seen a lot more of each other. Sam had moved in with David now, but was still looking for work. David had no problems with this so let him live with him rent free, and in return, Sam kept the apartment clean and maintained. John visited more, him and David becoming good friends. There was a slight awkwardness between him and Sam, but they got on.

  Laura and David were also getting along more. They had agreed to put things behind them, but both of them were never alone together. Amy, as always, got on with everyone and seemed to be the glue keeping them all together. She was thinking about dropping her studies which David was heavily against:

  "But what's the point now?" Amy argued, "It's not like I'm going to use them now we're a superhero team"

  David raised his eyebrow at the term 'superhero', "And when was the last time DarkWatch had any contact with us? You need your education Amy, never know when it will be useful"

  She rolled her eyes and turned to Laura, "You agree with me, right?"

  Laura shook her head, "Of course not! Amy, when we catch Anthony... eventually, we're done in this business"

  "Why don't you change studies?" John suggested, "Go in to law enforcement or something"

  David nodded, "Or do that"

  Amy thought for a moment and took a drink out of her tumbler, "Could do...why don't you sign up with me Sam?"

  Sam, who had stayed quiet most of the night looked up from his drink, "Don't think someone with my temper would fare well in the police" he smirked. Amy nodded in agreement.

  John was typing on his phone; his fiancée was working late.

  David had noticed, "She coming around after she finishes?"

  John put his phone down and took a drink from his beer bottle, "Maybe, depends what time she actually gets here. Be nice to spend some time with her, I've been on earlier all weeks and she's on lates. Really starting to dislike my job nowadays"

  "Money's good though" Amy said.

  It was true, making a living selling cars was good, especially since the commission for selling one brought in a bit of expendable income. But the shift changes with only a days’ notice, and the slow sales were really starting to grate on him.

  "Wish I could do what you guys do" John said with a hopeful but disappointed tone.

  The others started hemming and hawing, David sat up from the sofa, "No you don't mate, trust me"

  "You all have amazing powers, why wouldn't I want them?"

  Sam raised an eyebrow, "Mine means I have to be extra careful in everything I do. There's so much force in a single punch it can knock a car flying"

  "I've noticed" John said with a smile.

  "Mine means I have to be careful when I touch someone so that I don't give them an electric shock by mistake" David said, "It's controllable but if I was to ever lose control, who knows what will happen"

  Amy shrugged her shoulders, "Nothing wrong with me"

  David and Laura both laughed, "Apart from the fact that you have a very bad temper and have a tendency to show off?" David said with a smile
.

  "Well apart from that..."

  Laura looked at David dead in the eye, "Mine means that I can't have a relationship" The room fell silent and David hung his head. Laura sighed and took a drink, "However, I've learnt to do this, which is cool" She stood up and flicked her arm up and foreword. Out of her hand shot out a ball of ice, which flew across the room and smashed into the wall at, leaving a dint in the plasterboard!

  David, although unhappy that he now had a dint in his wall, was still impressed, "How did you..."

  "I can form the water in my hand and as I raise my hand to throw it I change its shape into a sharp spike. I can make it very sharp and the ice very hard. Hopefully it should be able to pierce skin in case I need to"

  "Didn't break the wall though?" Sam said pointing to the dent.

  "Didn't it?" David argued, "A dent is a break in the eyes of a landlord"

  "I can form any shape I want, didn't think David wanted an icicle lodged in his wall" She looked now at him, "Sorry about that"

  David closed his eyes and waved her sorry away, "Don't worry about it, I'm sure my lodger will sort it out"

  Sam rolled his eyes.

  "One thing no one’s told me" John asked, "How did you all get these abilities?"

  The others all looked at each other, "Don't know" Amy said bluntly.

  "They just developed" David added, "When I was young, one day I was playing, like any kid does and I fired out a bolt of lightning. Thought it was cool and told my Dad who told me to keep it to myself"

  "I got mine when I was around six or seven" Laura said, "One day after school, it was summer, I was really warm and wanted my fill my paddling pool up in my garden. My mom was too busy to help me. So I just kind of...willed water out of me? Look, I was very young, I was just messing about, I never thought anything would happen! Well, when I started shooting a jet of water out of my hand, I went to show my mom, who thought it was pretty cool. That is until I couldn't stop. We panicked until I eventually stopped. My mom promised me to never use the power in case I could never stop the flow"