Noble Revelations

by Adeleke Kayode

  I visualized a giant hand ready itself for use, thrusting both my hands forward I let out a loud yell.

  “Haaaaaa.”

  And with it came an invisible blast knocked the remaining four gunmen off their feet. It was like a powerful gust of wind blowing them down all at once. I kept up with the telekinesis which cause miscellaneous office supplies like paperclips, staplers and pencils to fly about. The gunmen rolled on the ground as if they were simple pieces of trash being swept away by the janitor. It wasn’t long before they were knocked out of the office completely plummeting to what I assumed was their deaths. Unless of course they were the average human which considering the world we lived in. It was entirely possible that they were alive.

  Zeeeet, my eyes widened as an arc of electric shot up from the floor and craned across the room coming right at me, I dropped to the ground so fast that it was like something had dragged me down. I rolled to my side hitting a nearby body which caused me to contort my face in displeasure. It wasn’t like my clothes weren’t already ruined, if the person next to me wasn’t already dead I might have killed them just because I was annoyed. I laughed but then a haunting feeling began eating at me. What the hell was wrong with me?

  “You’re still not as strong as you use to be. Maybe you need to embrace who you truly are and realize you’re a monster just like me.” I could hear Adam’s voice saying those things to me at this very moment.

  “No…no I’m not like you.” By now I had unconsciously worked myself into a sitting position with my knees pulled up to my chest, the look on my face was grim.

  “You’re just a MONSTER.” Adam’s voice said.

  “No I’m not a monster….I’m not.”

  “Just like me…A monster just like me hahahaaha.” His voice grew louder and louder as he laughed.

  “I’M NOT A MONSTER, I’M NOTHING LIKE YOU!!!!”

  Ha….ha…ha my breathing was shallow I closed my eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. I looked around, Adam wasn’t here he never was, yet I could hear his voice so clearly. I took note of the bodies around me. A number of them had burn marks from my energy blasts. Some were perforated by bullets, others were down permanently when I struck them with my strength. It took me a moment to notice it but there was blood everywhere. A lot was running down from the bodies that surrounded me. For some reason or another I felt like I was suffocating almost like the sea of red was trying to drown me. It took me a few minutes to catch my breath when I did I looked at my body and noticed for the first time that I was covered in blood. I blinked once maybe twice while I looked my body over. Most of the blood wasn’t mine. I sort of sat there just dumbstruck at it all with one question in my mind.

  “Was I a monster?”

  Chapter 7

  Peeesh hot water poured into the sink and along with it came the redness of blood. Water washed over my hands as I scrubbed them clean then I moved on to my arms and finally I splashed some water on my face and turned the faucets off, while the reddish water swirled into the drain. I wasn’t bothered by the image not one bit. Maybe it was like motion sickness only a problem in the moment. Sure equivocating murder and motion sickness was a bit weird and probably callous too but it wasn’t like I was the most nurturing person in the world so those were the type of comparisons I made.

  Water dripped from my face while I stared at myself in the mirror. I looked right into my brown eyes and remembered a time when I couldn’t even recognize my own face. Back then I knew there was a cold detachment when I killed now it was like it was no longer so cold it made sense in a way I suppose. Something had happened which had turned the volume down on my so called emotions and placed them where they were before as time passed the volume was being raised. It took years to get to this point who knows when my emotions would be like they were and who knows if that’s a good thing. I mean I have lived my life the way I am without my emotion flickering away like a wild fire they were tamer less fleeting but now it was like it was something I had never experience or more accurately something I had forgotten how to experience. Drip. I blinked a few times then left the sink to get myself some paper towels, I ripped out a handful and began drying myself off.

  “Where the hell is Carter with that change of clothes?” I said to myself.

  Most of my dress clothes were torn and bloody so I wasn’t planning on walking around in them anymore. So I had taken them off when I entered the bathroom to properly clean myself. I was currently standing around in my underwear which didn’t bother me as much as it should…go figure. I turned to my right while moving my shoulder around it hurt but not much, AJ had bandaged it for me, surprisingly well actually. That didn’t change the fact that whoever those guys that attacked us were they came loaded with bullets that could hurt me. Plus there was the fact that they knew my name. I’ve been working for Mr. Bright for a year but it wasn’t like when I did jobs for him I was giving my name out so how did they find out?

  “How did they know my name?”

  “Public records maybe. We were soldiers after all.” Carter answered.

  I looked up to see Carter flush the toilet and fix his pants before walking to a sink not too far from where I was standing.

  “You spaced out didn’t you?” Carter asked while looking in my direction.

  I just stared at him not wanting to give him the satisfaction of admitting he was right. I looked around avoiding eye contact with Carter, it took me a moment but I noticed the change of clothes laid out on top of the trash…

  “What the hell Carter!?!” I said while speed walking passed Carter toward my change of clothes.

  “Work it girl.” Carter called out as I went passed.

  “Real mature.” I replied.

  “I am the older brother after all.” Carter commented with a laugh.

  I glared at him as I put on my blue jeans and grey hoodie. Carter dried his hands then exited the bathroom without saying another word. I followed after him entered into a small hallway which led to what was left of the current floor. From what I could see on my first glance there were bullet holes scattered across various surfaces splintered desks, fluff from a couch or two which I didn’t even know there was a couch on this floor. Plenty of glass shards and miscellaneous office supplies like pens, pencils and the occasional paperclip. There was also a light breeze coming from where the windows used to be.

  “Those guys really did a number on this place.” Carter commented.

  “Who do you think they were though?” I asked.

  Carter pondered the question for a moment scratched his head to emphasis the fact then shrugged. “They could have been Prometheus not like those guys commonly dress in uniform. Or maybe someone with some beef with Mr. Bright. You probably should have left someone alive to ask them yourself.”

  I glanced at Carter for a moment then raised an eyebrow. “Not like you left anyone of them alive either.”

  Carter gave me a look then put his hands out like he was saying whoa touchie there are we.

  “Using what we know I’d say they came here for a fight.” Carter commented.

  I almost laughed at his impossibly obvious conclusion, what did he think that they just came here and decided on let’s just shoot up this building over here, hey look there’s a guy I recognize by name let’s try to kill him.

  “Yeah so Alex you just said all of that out loud.” Carter gave me a smug look for some reason.

  I just stood there silent for a moment, those guys definitely could have been Prometheus but it seemed too sudden unless there was an underline reason that I wasn’t factoring in. So I thought back to when I entered the other building and was faced with all the multiple gunmen. I closed my eyes and thought about how they looked, what they were wearing…

  “They’re not Prometheus.” I rolled the words together so it sort of came out more like therenotprometheus. Which either AJ and Carter still managed to understand or they were just stunned into confusion.

  “And the reason you’re saying tha
t is….?” Carter let the question hang there as if to prove a point.

  “They were dress like I am right now, casual like you would any other day. People working for Prometheus usually are like a militia armed to the teeth. These guys seem more like hired helpers kinda like with the Conner Creed mission.”

  “Ok, how they were dressed is something but it’s not like they would plan everything so carefully then just show up dressed suspiciously if they did they would have to sneak around instead of what they probably did, which was walk in through the front door.”

  AJ nodded. “All true. Although if they were hired it could have been an attempt to throw us off Prometheus’ trail. The last time Prometheus did something like this it was a diversion meant to leave us distracted and confused.”

  AJ was right that’s how they snuck up on us and killed Connor if someone from Prometheus was trying the same tactic again this time we would be ready for them. Brring brrring brrrig my phone rang it was set on what was left of a nearby table. AJ was the closest so he moved over and tossed it to me.

  “Hello?”

  “Alex. So I heard there was some trouble at my building is everyone all right?”

  I nodded even though Mr. Bright couldn’t see me. “Yeah AJ, Carter and I are fine. I don’t think any other floor was attacked…wait.”

  “Oh it seems you have picked up on something well considering the circumstances I want you guys to be safe so tell AJ to organize everything alright. I have to get back to business, talk to you later.”

  Mr. Bright ended the phone call before I could get another word in. Why in the world was he talking to me like a concerned parent? It was a mix of the ever annoying Mr. Bright weirdness and a little bit of condescension which seemed out of nowhere maybe he was just annoyed at the fact someone attacked his building I know I would be.

  “So what did he say?” Carter asked.

  “He wants us to be safe and AJ is suppose to organize everything.”

  AJ’s ears perked up, which I found weird, it was definitely a code for something which was weird in itself who has a code for when your building is randomly shot up then again in Mr. Bright’s line of work it was practical to have safety protocols.

  “Anyway when I was on the phone with Bright I realize they knew we were on this floor so it obviously wasn’t random then…”

  “The fact they occupied three floors of the building adjacent from us. Mr. Bright has security in this building but not in that building since he doesn’t own it. You set up in that building you completely skip having a run in with the security staff and avoid tipping us off.”

  I was a little impressed at the fact that Carter had noted those things especially since I was about to say all of that I would have been more impressed had he not cut me off. Before I could comment AJ had signaled for us to follow him which honestly piqued my interest a little. Carter and I followed AJ’s lead heading for the nearest elevator which was at the end of the floor. There were bullet holes in the area but it was the most unscathed of the floor. The bullets must have shredded through the building to reach here, so they were high velocity rounds who the hell were those guys? While I was lost in my train of thought I almost didn’t notice AJ pull out a key which he inserted into the console then press down one of the elevator buttons as the doors closed.

  The ride up felt like it was moving surprisingly fast which only started to create a plethora of questions in my head. Then I remembered something William had said a while ago something about the top floor of Mr. Bright’s building and the things he might keep in there. Ding….Retinal scan require, finger print scan required. The voice was quiet and obviously had come from the elevator. AJ opened his left eye wide while placing his hand on the console which displayed an area for his hand. It took a couple of seconds before the elevator spoke again.

  “Alphonse Hwan Junior, Identification confirmed.”

  I blinked for a moment then looked at Carter who smirked and mouthed the words so that’s what it is. Before I could even get a chance to reply the elevator doors opened. AJ then Carter stepped out while I left the elevator just before the door closed. The room wasn’t very large at least comparing to the floor we were on before. There was no real decorations that I could see just a lot of boxes used for shipping items and a lot of black cases that looked like the kind used for weapons or ammunition.

  The lighting was sparse, as I looked over the room again I notice it had a sort of stuck in the past vibe, there were guns held on displayed from different eras ranging from the 1970 to the present. I looked around and saw a table full of schematics and blueprints, I saw something sticking out of the corner so I went to investigate. It appear to be a post card from someone with the name Alison. C, I was about to pull the postcard out when AJ dropped his hand on the table obscuring it.

  “We are not here for you to pick through Mr. Bright’s things.” AJ sounded as serious as ever.

  I was going to say something smart but decided to back off, there was no reason to bite off more than I could chew for no reason.

  “So is this what Mr. Bright has in the office on the top floor?” Carter asked in an attempt to diffuse any hostility.

  “No. It is not. This is not the top floor.” AJ said sort of casually. Almost like it was something we should have already figured out by ourselves.

  Once again before I had the opportunity to say anything AJ signaled for us to follow him. There was an opening to the right which led to a more spacious area which had a sort of back room which is where we were headed. There was a door in the way which AJ opened with the elevator key then held the door for us to enter. Carter flicked the lights on inside the room which revealed an even more impressive stock pile of weapons and body armor. There were things inside this room that I had never even seen before. Some of the weapons looked almost futuristic. AJ moved around knowing exactly what he was looking for, he picked up two silver and black handguns and toss them at Carter and me.

  They looked sleek and similar to the Remington’s we used earlier but were slightly bigger. I figured they probably fired bigger rounds. AJ moved around quickly and purposefully reached into a container pulling out a rifle which he handed to Carter. He even picked up a handful of daggers which had a purple lining around the blade of each.

  “Those poisonous?” Carter asked.

  “Very. Poison is released when enough force is generated.”

  Carter nodded at AJ’s reply but he didn’t notice since he was busy fishing out some belts for us which had holsters. I put my modified Remington inside and picked up another one to fill another holster slot and I slid on the rifle feeling the strap tug on my neck. I looked around curiously looking for something that would classify as special mainly out of sheer intrigue. It didn’t take me long to find something and it wasn’t a weapon but a photo by a phone. I approached slowly, AJ even glanced at me but did nothing to stop me from taking a peak. I took that as permission to proceed and did just that. The picture was of three people. One was a young Asian man that looked like a slightly older AJ with longer hair reaching just passed his neck. I assumed that was Mr. Bright, the person standing next to him on the left was a man who had a passing resemblance to Connor Creed. In front of the two of them stood a young woman who I didn’t recognize at all, she was Asian but I couldn’t tell what ethnicity she was specifically.

  “AJ who’s the lady in the picture?” I asked unconsciously.

  AJ walked over and took a brief look before staring at the picture for a moment, then he smiled for just a brief second.

  “My father looks happy doesn’t he?”

  The tone AJ used was incredibly casual for him and took me by surprise, he took a look at me then said. “I don’t know who the woman is though I have never seen her before.”

  He spoke in his same usual tone so I was inclined to believe him. AJ reached into a nearby box and pulled out two black orb like objects that were about the size of a baseball. AJ looked me straight in the eye while he handed one
to me.

  “These are extremely dangerous explosives use it as a last resort.”

  I nodded. “Ok I will.”

  Then I took the orb from his hand. “How do I use it?”

  “Squeeze then run.”

  If I didn’t know better it sounded like AJ was making a joke. After that we left the room and headed for the elevator, AJ was the last to leave since he went back to the room with the picture. I waited outside the elevator just long enough to see him stand by the door looking toward the desk before turning the light off. I moved into the elevator quickly so he wouldn’t see that I was watching. AJ entered the elevator and after a retinal and handprint scan the elevator closed.

  “So you guys ready? Carter asked.”

  My brow raised at that. “Ready for what?”

  “For whatever comes next.”

  Chapter 8

  “Donna I don’t love you, I am in love…with your sister.”

  “Huh, told you Beth I told you.”

  Beth gave a sideways glance to Shield’s seventy something year old grandmother Silvia Mason or just Silma for short. The two of them were sitting on an old couch watching soap operas. Mostly Silma was watching, Beth had promised she’d watch one with her and had been avoiding the task for the last few days. Only today Silma had finally caught her which was why Beth was weathering three hours in counting of soap opera drama which wasn’t including the two hours that Silma had spent explaining all the ridiculous plot threads.

  “Damn, gotta wait till next week to watch the next episode.” Silma said in a quick huffy voice.

  Beth sigh loudly. “Yeah and I was really enjoying it too.”

  Beth’s comment was chockfull of sarcasm that didn’t stop Silma from smiling and grabbing hold of Beth’s hands.

  “I knew Duke picked a good one. Now if only he’d put a ring on one of these fingers of yours.”

  Beth pulled her hands back quickly nearly pulling Silma along with them.

  “Uh…we’ve talk about…you know…uh?”

  Silma gave Beth a toothy smile then placed her hand on Beth stomach rubbing it gently. Beth’s face had turned beet red and she was fanning herself with her hands so she wouldn’t faint. Before Beth could stumble out another word a thud sound came from the ceiling, Beth looked up curiously as did Silma just before another thud and some yelling followed.