Chapter 20
Jared moved without restriction, unthinking.
He clutched her arm almost instantaneously, and yanked her out from the room before she had the chance to get a sniff of the thick, white smoke. After making sure she was unaffected by the gas, he started to run, but was then stopped by a sickeningly familiar presence.
He retreated and sprinted towards the opposite direction, pulling the stiff Faye with him. They were heading towards the emergency stairs.
Why was Jared pulling her? She gaped in alarm. Did he saw all that? Did he know what was happening? Did he know there was danger? Did he know what they were running away from? If it was safety he was looking for, they needed to stay with Hanade! For goodness’s sake!
“Why are we running?! Let’s go back!” she shouted when she found her voice. It was thick with shock and fear.
“Are you crazy? We’re obviously leaving,” he said grimly, his emotions kept in check.
“The others –“
“Your safety comes first.”
“B-but –“
“He could handle them.”
He?
Suddenly, Jared pushed her away from him, making her back hit the hard wall on the farther side of the hall. She gasped as her body throbbed in pain. She slumped on the tiled floor like a flimsy doll. She probably broke her wrist. And twisted an ankle.
Her vision had dark spots dancing on it as she tried to focus on her surroundings. Why had he tossed her away like that, like she was a thing? Jared had never been that brash before.
“Run Faye,” she heard him say in a low hiss. An order for her. A plea from him. “Now.”
There was blood on his cheeks.
“Jared... you have a wound.”
Where did that come from?
She saw his whole body tensed; his arm muscles hardened as he stood imposingly a good four feet away from her. His body’s stance... it was as if he was protecting her from something. From something terrifying and dangerous.
Like a ghastly, ferocious beast.
She could think of only one.
Falcon.
Then things suddenly clicked in place. Why hadn’t she thought of that possibility? Hanade. Alexey. Their reluctance. Their words. Their precaution. Her worry. Everything.
She is the target.
As if on cue, a tall silhouette of a man emerged from the dim alley. A man with shaggy sandy hair and penetrating dark green eyes. A long deep scar ran from his right eye down to his chin, pulling the right side of his mouth into a perpetual grimace.
He watched them with a vicious glint in his eyes.
“Run!” Jared yelled as he charged towards the man with a speed Faye never knew he had. He was buying her time, she knew that. But she couldn’t obey him. Her legs were numb, her arms shaking as she pushed herself into a sitting position, her back protesting in dull pain. She also didn’t want to leave him alone. She knew he had no chance against the vermin. If he would die, she better die too.
Things came on excessively fast. She didn’t even have time to blink. In an instant, Jared was on his knees on the other side of the hall, blood dripping from a gash on his right arm, his shirt torn on the sides.
What happened? Did Falcon throw him? Falcon was holding no weapon. Not a single blade. How had he wounded him, then?
The vermin lunged towards the injured Jared, making Faye scream an ear-splitting shriek.
*****
Streaks of thread-like bluish white light sprouted from Falcon’s body, exploding almost instantaneously. Sizzling in sound, haphazard in growth and fatal in close contact. It left black burnt marks on everything it touched.
Faye knew what it was.
Electricity.
High voltage electricity.
And Falcon has the Gift to manipulate it.
“Jared!” she wanted to cry aloud, but her voice had left her. She couldn’t speak. It was as if her heart was caught in her throat. She helplessly watched in terror as Jared stood up.
She is the target, right? Why wasn’t Falcon attacking her?
Kill me! Kill me! Just don’t harm him!
She wanted to close her eyes. She didn’t want to see the inevitable, but her eyes refused to follow her brain. She saw the lightning-like bolt hit him, causing him to yell in pain.
“You’ve lost your edge,” Falcon said in a disappointed tone.
Huh?
“Shut up,” Jared snapped, glaring balefully at the tall man, and stealing a quick, worried glance towards her. He stood up again, but now, he had a different stance. His hands were curled on his sides like claws, and his lips were curled into a disturbing smile.
Of all irrational things to do, why was he was grinning?
*****
Stupid, stupid, stupid!
He shouldn’t have allowed those two out of his sight.
Hanade ran out of the room. Out of nowhere, a hand pulled his arm and he was thrown back inside. Instinctively, he coiled himself and then dashed outside before he hit the ground. He narrowed his eyes, but saw no one. The teenagers were still unconscious on the floor. Falcon wasn’t there either.
A pair of arms pulled him against the wall, and as he struggled out of it, another pair braced against his trunk and his legs, pinning his whole body in place. He saw that the arms didn’t exist at all. They were simply shadows. Solidified shadows.
“Sorry, dude,” a small male voice said, “but boss told me not to let you run off.”
“Let me go!”
A child around twelve years of age stepped out from the nearby room. He was a very thin boy with wide hazel eyes and rusty brown hair. He was wearing a fire-proof vest, gloves and long black boots.
“Nuh-uh.” He pointed his outfit. “Boss told me that you are a pyromaniac. Good that I am equipped, don’tcha think? And too bad that you’re powerless against me.”
“Fvck off,” Hanade scowled, making the shadow arms tighten their grip around his body like constricting boas.
“You know, it’s not good to make me angry,” he said in a sing-song way, “ ‘coz I’m really short-tempered.” He cocked his head on the side. “Hear that? Your bones cracking?”
The shadows squeezed tighter around Hanade, choking him.
The boy beamed, “Wow. Crunchy. I wanna hear more.”
This is bad, he thought. He couldn’t produce fire with his hands bound. It never occurred to him or 04 that Falcon would bring his lackeys with him. When he was caught a few years ago, their group disbanded. The other Equations had a hard time tracking the members down, but most of them have been hunted. Only a few were left running on the loose. How Falcon sought Mikhaela and this tattering parrot, he had no idea.
Which reminded him of 04. His line had already gone static. He had no way of knowing what happened to his partner, but he could guess. It was either they had started fighting or Mikhaela had attacked his brother and was beaten. Either way, Alexey was at a disadvantage.
“Are you really an Equation?” the boy frowned and stared mockingly at him. He flashed him a complete set of pearly white teeth. “If so, then you guys suck. A bunch of losers. I couldn’t believe that our boss got captured by your likes before. Maybe he was just careless that time. You’re pathetic!”
Hanade smirked, his cold emotionless eyes narrowed into slits. He had heard of this story before, about the exceptional Equation he had never met even once. “01is the only UnGifted Equation. He defeated your boss with raw force and wit.”
“Impossible!” the boy shouted in disbelief. “You’re lying!”
Transparent. Very transparent.
He knew what to do. He just needed to keep the tattering parrot talking. “He was the strongest among us all. I bet you couldn’t even put a scratch on him.”
“Huh!” His teeth grinded in fury. “You bet I can! I’ve killed families and women and children! I’m great! I’m strong! Really, really strong!”
“Yet, you’re a coward,” Hanade said matter-of-factly. “You couldn’t even challenge me in a fair fight. You’re afraid of my powers,” he emphasized.
“Am not!”
“Yes you are.”
“Do you have a dying wish?!”
Hanade half-smiled, his tone contemptuous. “You’re all words.”
“I’ll show you!”
The shadows immediately vanished into oblivion, setting Hanade free.
Idiot.
In a split-second, his hand was pressing against the child’s face.
“Next time,” he murmured. “Lead a better life.”
He saw the mask of fear in the child’s face before he was engulfed by his blue flames. The fire spread all over his body, leaving nothing but ashes on the floor.
*****
“As cunning as ever,” Falcon barked, “but I learned from my past mistakes. It won’t be like last time.”
Faye stared confusedly. They knew each other? Falcon knew Jared?
Falcon jumped a few meters away from Jared. She screamed as Falcon unexpectedly stooped and carried her roughly with his free arm.
“Faye!”
“Put me down!” she struggled, but he was far too tough for her.
“I’ll borrow her for a moment, Mr. Look-alike.” Falcon laughed as he ran straight into one of the glass windows.
“Faye!” Jared ran after him, but didn’t quite make it. They were gone. “That vermin! If something happens to her–“
Hanade appeared a second too late, witnessing only Falcon’s little stunt. He turned towards Jared, surprise unmistakably his main feature.
“What happened? You’re alive?” he asked, short of breath. “Why did Falcon leave you alone? You are his target!”
Jared faced him, and Hanade couldn’t believe what he was seeing. His blue eyes... they were like looking out of a grave from the inside, buried between despair and agony and something more. Something that he couldn’t express in words.
“He got her,” he choked. His eyes were half-crazed. “That vermin got her...”
He reflexively tousled his blonde hair while he muttered the same phrase over and over again. “He got her... God, why did I let my guard down?”
“Hudson,” Hanade approached him calmly. “Get a hold of yourself. Chill man.”
Jared stared at him for the first time, and Hanade knew he became a burning man.
“Chill?! Do you know what you’re saying?!”
“I’ll look for her. Stay here.” His mission was to protect this man, so no matter what happens, he couldn’t allow him to leave the premises. “Stay here.”
He knew Jared would argue, so he decided to make him sleep. He was about to hit him on the nape, but his wrist was caught mid-air. He just then noticed that the whole hallway was covered with thin invisible wires, designed like an intricate web. His hand was tangled in it. He pulled away and the thin piano wire cut on his skin.
“Don’t try anything funny, 06.”
“What?”
Jared stroked his blonde hair again, his habit for anxiety, and thus revealing a small black tattoo beside his left ear, barely above his nape.
01
Hanade shuddered at the mark. Alarm, astonishment, disbelief, appal, he didn’t know what to feel.
Blue eyes turned to him.
“Let’s go.”