“He panicked, you scared him to death.”
“He deserved it.” she mumbles.
“Did he? Really?”
She hesitates.
“No.” she relents. “Still, he needed to pay. He hurt Emma. He hurt your sister.”
“But we’re supposed to be superheroes. Heroes Lily, not murderous vigilantes.”
“Well you’re the one to talk!” she retorts. “That ghost we encountered, the one that looked just like you...”
“That wasn’t me!” Seth responds.
“So? You said he was pushed too far. It could’ve easily been you too, doing the things he did. Kill, for someone he cared for.”
“I’m not that thing you saw.”
“Still, you’re entirely capable of it too Seth.”
Seth sighs.
“Pete deserved jail for what he did to Emma, but he didn’t need to die. You didn’t need to come after him like that.”
“It would have gotten worse and worse.” she tells him. “It won’t stop. He won’t stop.”
“How do you know?” says the voice from the doorway. Emma.
“Emma, what are you doing here?” Seth asks her, concerned. She should still be in hospital.
“I told the nurse I was okay enough to go home.” she tells him. “No one stopped me.”
Emma looks to them.
“He’s dead, right?”
“He fell while I was chasing him.” Lily tells her. She doesn’t dare look at her.
“Why did you do this Lily?”
“I was protecting you.”
“I told you to stay out of it.”
“How can I stay idly by when my friend is getting harassed like that?” she tells her.
“I wanted him to leave me alone, not dead.”
“He wasn’t going to stop Emma.”
“How do you know that Lily!” she shouts.
“Fuck, how can you be so stubborn?” Lily shouts back.
Emma pauses. She considers her words.
“Because I used to love him too.”
She sighs.
“You can’t stay here anymore Lily.”
A moment passes. Lily sighs. She nods.
“Okay.” she tells her.
Getting up from her seat, she moves past Seth and Emma without exchanging a glance. Leaving the house through the front door, she takes to the sky and flies off.
Busy shutting up shop, Rob almost didn’t notice the young woman in the red jacket quietly slip into the co-op. “Sorry we’re closed.” he tells her before he realises who she is.
“Lily?”
“I need a place to crash.” she tells him.
Nine
Rob pushes open the front door of his home, a small studio apartment not too far from the co-op supermarket.
“Well, this is where I live.” he tells Lily. “My casa is your casa.”
Lily looks around the unit. It’s a little sparsely decorated but seems like a nice place to live.
“You know in that red jacket you kinda look like one of those heroes.” Rob tells her. “You know the one that shoots blue fire?”
“Yeah.” she laughs. “I get that all the time.”
“Anyway, bathroom is over there, you can have the bed and I’ll take the couch...”
Lily suddenly kisses him. Rob pulls himself away.
“What are you doing?” he asks her.
“I just need some company tonight.”
Slipping off her jacket, she drops it to the floor followed by her other clothes. He quickly strips too. The sex is the emotional distraction Lily needed.
It is still dark when she eventually wakes, he still next to her in his bed, deep in sleep.
Rummaging through his wallet, she takes a twenty. She pauses at a small photo of him and a young girl. He never mentioned her before at all.
Her latest one-night stand still fast asleep, Lily quietly slips out the door.
Arms folded, Lily stares at the TV hung upon one of the walls of the central bus station, half-watching an infomercial for robotic vacuum cleaners which plays silently on the screen.
Still early morning, the place is deserted save for a bored ticket agent and a cleaner doing his rounds. The first bus out of town won’t leave for another thirty minutes.
The woman with the short crimson hair and black coat and specs sits down next to her. Charlotte Salt, the Lego Banshee, the Toy Box agent. Of course she would find her.
“You can fly but you’re still taking the bus out of town?” she asks Lily incredulously.
“I like to sit and stare out of the window.” she replies. “So, you still playing with children’s toys?”
“Hey, Lego can be enjoyed by people of all ages.”
“What do you want?”
“You know what I want. I want you to join me.”
“And why would I want to do that?”
“You know you can do a lot of good with your powers Lily. Come work for us, and you can use them as much as you want. Plus...”
Salt removes her phone from under her coat. Fiddling with it, she starts playing a video, showing the screen to Lily.
“We can also protect you... and your friends.”
Lily watches footage of her chasing Pete, along with Seth intervening shot by a witness on their phone. It catches Pete’s fall and death, and clearly shows Lily had a role to play in it.
“Fine.” Lily mumbles.
“Good.” Salt chirps as she puts away the phone. “Let’s get out of here, shall we?”
Salt stands and walks towards the exit to a black SUV waiting outside. Following her, only now does Lily notice the armed men watching her from every corner of this place.
It had been Emma's idea to attend the funeral. She had always gotten on well with Pete's parents and they didn't even know about the rift that occurred between them, let alone the events that led him to his death.
With Seth by her side for support, she listened as everyone talked about him lovingly, how great a guy he was. How he will be missed. She declined to share some words of her own.
Passing on the wake, Seth and Lily come home to a house missing a housemate.
“It’s been quieter ever since Lily left.” Seth tells her.
“Yeah.”
“I saw that video of you two at the convention. You make a good team.”
“We did.”
“I haven’t been able to find her. I can’t Blink to her location. It’s like she’s just disappeared off the face of the Earth.”
“Maybe it’s for the best.” Emma tells him.
Leaving Seth alone, she retires to her room.
Pete’s death is ruled a misadventure by the police, based on the circumstances. They didn’t have a lot to go on; no witnesses coming forward, no video of the incident to be found. No one knew what truly happened. It all seemed swept under the rug.
Still, the guilt behind not knowing about Pete’s actions continued to haunt Seth, gnawing away at him over the past few weeks. Seth never did like Pete. He always felt there was something about him, but this. This he didn’t know. He hated he didn’t know.
Seth finds Emma in her bedroom, staring at a computer monitor, working. She had recovered quickly from her physical injuries, but has spoken little about what happened since the funeral.
“I’m sorry about Pete Emma. I...”
“You don’t have to say anything Seth.” she says to him, her eyes still fixed on her work. “I just want to move on, okay?”
“Ok.”
Not sure what else to say, Seth leaves her be.
She hides her sadness well.
Ten
In between his appointments at the outpatient clinic and his new courier job, Jean’s downtime was spent watching as many Asian martial arts movies as he could get his hands on.
He studied them, films starring the likes of Jackie Chan, Jet Li and his favourite, Donnie Yen. One of his favourite Donnie Yen films was Iron Monkey, a Robin Hood-inspired caper where
Yen and his cohorts flew across the screen, performing gravity defying martial arts moves that dazzled the bad guys they were fighting. It inspired him.
Still, Jean knew he couldn’t just rely on pirated movies to learn what he needed to learn. He needed more.
He needed help.
At the gym, Jean watches the two men spar at the edge of the ring. They trade blows in a playful manner. He observed them intently.
“Hey mate, can I help you?” the trainer asks Jean as he comes up to him.
“Yeah, I need to get into fighting shape.” he tells him. “Do you think you can help me?”
Jean pulls up a pant leg, revealing his prosthetic to the trainer. He grins.
“Mate, I can definitely help you.”
***
As Seth continued working his civilian job, he often heard stories of other heroes picking up the mantle in his absence, ordinary people without superpowers trying to help the citizens of the city like he used to do.
Alas many don’t last long, their lack of powers and training leading them to suffer serious injuries and get them a lengthy stay in hospital. Others are mere fame seekers looking to make a name for themselves; the fact that superheroics is both a tough and unglamorous hobby leads them to give up after a few nights on the job, overwhelmed by it all. Others still are just crazy people who just want to go out beat people up. Those are the ones that get Seth worried the most, but the police seem to be taking care of those people.
Well, hopefully they are at least.
Although he feels fulfilled with his work in construction, deep down Seth still misses being out there, being a hero like he used to be. But he’s still helping, here on this building site.
He still feels the city can do without him.
Seth enters the gym, the smell of it nostalgic to his senses. He hasn’t been here in a while.
He watches the young Sudanese immigrant train at a punching bag. He’s impressed by his speed and focus, landing some hard hitting blows.
“He’s surprisingly fast on his feet, considering...” says the familiar voice behind him.
Seth grins as he greets his old trainer Cam, shaking hands with him.
“Hey mate, good to see you!” the trainer exclaims, happy to see his old friend.
“You too. Sorry for not being able to drop in, been a bit busy with a new job.”
“Oh, where you working at now?”
“Construction.” Seth tells him.
“So is everyone else.” Cam replies.
The two return to watching Jean. He lands a few kicks on the bag.
“Hard to tell that guy has no legs.”
“What now?”
“He says he lost both legs in a car accident and got fitted with prosthetics. It seems to be working out well for him.”
Jean lands a few high kicks before returning back to punches.
“We’ve had a few vets come in before, but this guy is something else.” Cam tells Seth. “It’s like he has an agenda. Reminds me of someone I know.”
Cam turns to him, a huge smile on his face.
“Hey you wanna to go spar? It’ll be just like old times!”
“Thanks, but no thanks.” Seth says to him. “I just came by to say ‘hi’.”
“Your loss.”
The two men continue to watch Jean as he moves on to a speed bag in the corner.
“You get any guys come in, like wannabe superhero types?” Seth asks him.
“Oh like the ones getting beat out there, who think they can be the next Blink?”
“Yeah.”
“We’ve had one or two come in, asking questions. Seemed real dodgy.”
“So what do you think about The Blink, Cam? I heard he’s gone underground because people blame him for what happened.”
“What do I think about The Blink? He’s a hero; that’s what I think.”
He looks around the gym, his face beaming with pride.
“See this place? Months ago it was thrashed; not by Jahannam but by looters in the aftermath. They almost set this place on fire but The Blink scared them off. To me he’s a hero, and still is.”
He looks to Seth.
“So what if there’s this backlash, its bullshit! Things would have been so much worse without him. He needs to be out there, doing his job, like he always has.”
“What if the city doesn’t need The Blink? It seems to be doing fine without him.”
“This city needs all the help it can get.”
Cam places a hand on Seth’s shoulder.
“You should be out there Seth.”
Seth turns back to watch Jean.
“I’m not ready yet.”
***
Tonight was the night.
Jean stood in front of the mirror, admiring his new midnight black crime fighting outfit. Pulling up a bandana covering his lower face, he looked just like Iron Monkey.
Perfect.
Sneaking out the window, he takes to the sky and flies off silently. Surveying the inner city neighbourhood below, he spies four men entering a corner store, the same gang he had seen before.
This time though, he can do something.
Floating down, he pushes the door to the store open and calmly walks in just as one of the thugs smashes open a fridge with his aluminium baseball bat, again trying to intimidate the owner into handing over protection money.
Noticing his presence, the thugs turn to him, staring at him like he is an idiot.
“Hey man, get out of here.” one says to him. “You ain’t seen anything.”
“Leave him alone.” Jean orders them, his voice muffled by the bandana covering his mouth.
“What?”
“I said, leave him alone!” he shouts, louder, and only slightly clearer.
The gang bursts into laughter.
“Oh I see, we’ve got another Blink wannabe here.” the thug with the bat grins. “So, you wanna prove yourself? Go ahead, bitch.”
“Sure.”
Leaping in the air, Jean kicks one of the thugs in front of him in the chest, sending him somersaulting backwards into a stack of energy drinks. The man with the bat attacks next, swinging at Jean’s head with his weapon. Dodging the first swing, Jean blocks the second with a kick, the weapon clanging loudly as it impacts Jean’s prosthetic leg. Hitting him with a flying roundhouse kick to the side of the head, Jean sends him careening down an aisle as a third grabs him from behind, trying to choke him. Flying straight upwards, he crashes him into the ceiling. Slipping off Jean’s back, the unconscious thug falls straight down to the floor, a loose ceiling tile landing on top of him to add insult to injury.
Landing lightly on his feet, the last remaining thug tries to escape from Jean by running straight out the door. Flying after him, Jean grabs him by the collar and runs him face first into a streetlight.
Returning to the store, the owner comes up to him, still in awe at what he just saw.
“Who are you?” he asks.
“The Iron Hawk.” Jean mumbles inaudibly.
“Who?”
Jean pulls down his bandana.
“The. Iron. Hawk.”
Much better.
Eleven
The wind whistled ominously as it suddenly picked up, rattling the scaffolding at the building site. The workers take cover as it begins to fling lightweight objects around like a mini tornado. The foremen shout for everyone to get to shelter as the gusts grow in intensity.
Seth, safe in the relative cover of the central stairwell, yells at Jake to get his ass moving. Working near the open edge of the floor, he’s vulnerable to being hit by the growing swirl of debris being flung up and off the side of the building.
“Jake, get your ass in here!” Seth yells as a massive wind gust suddenly blasts through the floor like an explosion, throwing up a loose sheet of plywood that smashes straight into Jake and pushes him out the window into oblivion.
“Jake!”
Without hesitation, Seth rushes out of the stairwell
and towards the edge. Seeing his co-worker plummet towards the ground he Blinks, grabbing him in mid-air as he reappears.
“I got you!”
Disappearing in another flash of light, Seth and Jake immediately reappear in an alley a few blocks away from the construction site. Landing in a heap, it takes a second for Jake to regain his bearings.
“How did you do that?” he mutters as he scrambles away, not sure at what just happened.
“I think you know how.” Seth tells him.
“You, you get away from me!” he shouts as he runs off in a panic.
Seth watches him escape into the distance. He doesn’t follow.
He Blinks.
As he suspected, Seth finds Jake sitting at the bar, staring into his beer. Behind him, citizen video of the rescue on plays on the TV. The reporter excitedly exclaims that The Blink is back, apparently moonlighting as a construction worker during his absence.
Sounds about right, Seth thinks to himself.
Jake looks up from his glass and sees Seth looking at him. He sighs.
“Fine.” he laments as they head out the back of the bar and into the alleyway outside to talk.
“Jake...”
“So you’ve been hanging around us normals all this time?” Jake asks him away from prying eyes. “Getting some experience in construction?”
“I am... was on a self-imposed break. Apparently my shenanigans were... too much for some people.”
“Like me.”
“Yes, like you.”
“You know I hate you for what you do.”
“I know. You told me.”
Jake laughs.
“Shit....”
“I have been helping with the rebuilding, and not just by wearing a helmet. You still wonder how those air conditioning units got up there so fast?”
Jake laughs again.
“That was you?”
“Yup.”
Jake sighs. He looks to Seth.
“Like I said, I used to hate you, and by you I mean The Blink. But I was wrong. You saved my life.”
Broken City (Open Your Eyes Book 4) Page 4