Well, this was a long time coming. To all my old readers, sorry I took so long. To all my new readers, I welcome you all. I recommend reading through the first book Half as Long, Twice as Bright just to get up to speed. Now for a big announcement. This book is being written by not only myself but also Jack Cross, the writer of Chain Lightning and Rolling Thunder. Yes that's right folks. Alex Chambers and Bigby Garza are going to be fighting side by side now. I know the chapter isn't long but we both hope you enjoy the story.
Bigby tugged his hood further over his head as the rain pelted his jacket. The cold drops of water made even colder by the chilled wind that howled down from the mountains and rushed into the narrow streets of Republic City. He missed the streets. Walking down and occasionally greeting the other citizens or seeing the small children playing in traffic.
Those days were gone now. Instead of children playing, soldiers patrolled the streets and stood at checkpoints. Ever since the Equalists fell apart the city has been under martial law. United Republic forces were flushing out the last of the Equalist who remained after Amon's disappearance. That and looking for any remaining high value targets. Hence why Bigby has been skulking around like a pigeonrat. Given his involvement and the fact that Amon was presumed dead, he was public enemy #1 in the city.
Heavens bless Jin. If it wasn't for her, he would either be dead or in prison right now. After the fight in the arena she had spent the better part of a month and a half nursing him back to health. Apparently his over exertion of his abilities shattered a good portion of his bones. More than half to be specific. Much to his protest of her helping him, they both ended staying in an apartment building in the Akusho borough. It was the oldest district in the city and hosted myriad abandoned or condemned buildings due for destruction. So that she could keep an eye on him, she claimed.
As for why he didn't just leave the city? Quite simply, he couldn't. Not with the military checkpoints covering all exits and on the lookout for him. More importantly he felt a deep connection with the city. Despite all the craziness he grew to love the city. It was the first home he felt comfortable living in for a long time. That and the naive hope that he could somehow redeem himself. Easier said than done.
As for his first show of redemption: a series of murders that have been plaguing the city despite the military presence. So far all the victims have been both male and female and varied from normal citizens, to the rich members of the city, to some of the soldiers who happen to be by their lonesome for some reason. The time varied between day, midday, and night so it was hard to pin down a pattern. Two things have been a constant reoccurring factor though. All the victims were benders and all had succumbed to clean, precise cuts. Which meant the killer was trained. If Bigby had to guess, he'd say a certain Equalist had decided to stick around in Republic City. One who he was pretty certain was psychotic.
Unfortunately for him, he had no leads. Hence why he was busy moving through alleys basically stalking every person he saw alone. But then again if it was who he thought it was, they'll find him eventually. It was only a matter of time.
Time he did not have anymore as an explosion from behind him forced him forward on to his stomach. The force of the blast was enough to make him lose his breath, gasping he rolled over over and looked at whatever caused his discomfort. Honestly, he had been expecting Equalist or UR soldiers but what he got was more shocking than either. The walls on each side of the alley was singed black as well as the ground surrounding the epicenter.
In said epicenter was a man about his age, if not a little younger, dusting himself off as he got to his feet. Various bits of metal equipment lay scattered about, like some kind of machine had been the source of the blast.
"Goddamn cheap ass Earth Kingdom construction," The man coughed before kicking a hunk of metal, clearly annoyed.
The man was dressed in a brown duster and olive drab patrol cap. Interesting dress choice. He took off his cap briefly and wiped his brow with the back of his arm. What really stuck out was his blond hair and stubble. Bigby hadn't seen anyone with blond hair since… since he was in his world. Was it possible? Could this guy be from the same world that he came from? Excitement and shock welled up as Bigby stumbled back up to his feet so quickly he was tripping over himself.
"No fucking way man." Bigby exclaimed as he walked up towards the man who eyed him suspiciously. "You have blond hair. I haven't seen anyone with blond hair since before I came here."
"Whoa whoa whoa whoa, calm your shit." The man put up a hand signaling him to stay back. "Who are you and where am I?"
"Right, sorry. Name is B…Garza and your in-"
"Halt! United Republic Military." A rough voice yelled from behind Bigby. The two guys turned to the source and saw a squad of soldiers all in bending stances. One of the soldiers locked eyes with Bigby's and gasped in surprise. "It's him! Take him do-"
Before the guard could finish Bigby sent a purple wave of energy towards the squad knocking them into each and on the ground.
"Run!" Bigby yelled at the blond man who simply stared at him in shock as he still glowed purple. "Let's go." He grabbed the man by his arm and dragged him off down the alley.
To say that he was excited was the understatement of the century. So excited that he didn't even notice that him and his new companion had ran all the way to the apartment he and Jin had now claimed as their home/base of operations. For the moment it was pretty spartan but then again, everything was set up so it could be packed up in a dash should trouble arrive. Better safe than sorry, right?
Shutting the door behind him Bigby hunched over his knees as he regained his breath. The blonde haired man looked over the accommodations briefly before turning to face him.
"I've seen actual war zones that were more comfy then this dump. Why did you bring me here?" he asked tersely.
"It's definitely not the Ritz-Carlton but it serves its purpose well enough." Bigby countered as he stood up straight. "As for why I brought you here? I have some questions I want to ask you. Mister?"
"Chambers."
"Chambers?" Bigby chuckled. "Your last name only proves to me even more that you're not originally from here. What with everyone else either not having a last name or having an Asian one."
"Ready for the cloak and dagger routine to end when you are," The man known as Chambers grunted impatiently as he stuck a cigarillo in his mouth, it was clear that he was getting antsy.
"Right, right, sorry." He raised his arms in surrender. "You're from Earth, right? At least a different version of Earth than this one right? You're American, right?"
Chambers looked at Bigby, his eyes narrowed as he studied him more closely. "Based on that accent, I'd guess you're from somewhere up north. Boston maybe."
"I fucking knew it." Bigby screamed in joy pacing through the living room. "I can't believe someone else from my world is here."
"I knew of other people traveling between our world to my world." Chambers, now recovered from his shock, sat down on the couch and rubbed his chin in thought. "And I knew there was an alternate version of my world, but just how many are there?"
Bigby stopped his pacing and broke from his revelry. "Wait, there's alternate versions of here?"
"Yes, though I'm not sure how many there are since this is only the second alternate version." Chambers assumed before shaking his head. "Wait, wait. That thing you did with your hands the purple glow shit. What was that?"
Bigby lifted his hand to his chest and let the energy swirl around his hand. "I'm not sure to be honest. I only just recently got these powers and I can't really do much." Closing his fist the energy quickly dissipated and he smirked. "Still cool though, right?"
"I guess so." Chambers gave a sly smile, raising his hands and produced electricity between them. "I like mine better though."
Bigby's eyes grew to the size of dinner plates as he watched the electricity arc between his fingers. "No way."
"How did you end up here, anyway?" The blond inquired letting his hands fall.
"It's kind of a long story, but simply put I was sailing through the Bermuda Triangle of all places and… well here I am."
"Seriously."
"I wish I was lying." Bigby sighed as he took a seat on the opposite side of the couch.
Chambers stayed silent for a bit as if he was deep in thought and it was a little worrying.
"What's wrong?"
"I have this theory on how we got our abilities but I only really applied it to my world." He explained. "Just trying to figure out how you getting powers would fit in or change it."
"I see." Bigby rose back up from his seat and walked over to a wall.
On this wall was a series of newspaper clippings as well as pictures of various people and locations. Red yarn connected some parts to another and so words written in read were near some pictures. It was very cliche cop movie to him but it actually did help out a lot. Unfortunately thanks to meeting Chambers and what not he made no progress in his investigation. He still had no idea who was behind the murders.
Well, he did have an idea but he had no proof. He sighed and shook his head. That is he would have done that normally but instead, a light bulb went on in his head.
"Hey Chambers. Think you can help me out with something?"
"Depends," Chambers said as he lit his cigarillo, "What's the job and how much does it pay?"
"The job is I need help tracking down a murderer or murderers. Anti-bender motive is most probable and definitely professional. Extremely deadly," Bigby elaborated "Maybe that'll help clear my name and in the process you help me get a handle on whatever these abilities are. In exchange, whatever loot we find when we bust these fucktards is yours and I help you get back to your world."
Chambers scowled at Bigby as he took a drag. "That doesn't sound anything like me getting paid."
"Does it look like I'm swimming in cash here?" Bigby gestured to the apartment. Chambers expression made it clear he wasn't budging on the subject forcing Bigby to sigh. "Goddamn it, look I'll see if I can scrounge anything together. But unless you expect me to rob a bank don't expect much. Jin is gonna gut me for this."
Chambers raised an eyebrow. "Friend of yours."
"Yeah, wouldn't be walking around if it wasn't for her," He chuckled, "Much better person than I deserve, that's for sure. She should be here soon. Let's call it a day though, we can start fresh tomorrow."
Chambers simply shrugged before claiming the rest of the couch as a bed and tipping his hat over his eyes. Bigby sighed to himself, wiping a hand down his face. Today has proven to be quite the interesting day; depending on how he looked at it, the day could be considered a success. Sure he made no progress on the investigation front but now he had a new potential ally and teacher. Shaking his head, Bigby retreated into the only bedroom deciding to deal with everything later and start fresh. Hopefully, Jin wouldn't mind him using the bed considering the new circumstances.
*Literally 10 minutes later*
It's always when you finally get comfortable that something decides to happen. Not necessarily something bad, but something. Such was the case when Bigby would finally reach the sweet embrace of sleep only to be nudged and cursed with panicked whispering.
"Bigby. Bigby, wake up." Jin nudged him some more. Had he not been so tired the terrifed look on her face as well as the frying pan she was clutching like a weapon would have been hilarious. Groggily looking towards her, Bigby rose up from the bed.
"Jin, what are you doing?"
She nervously looked out of the bedroom door and clutched the frying pan tighter. "There's someone on the couch."
Bigby rubbed the sleep from his eyes and stretched. "What? Oh, right. He's-"
"Please don't talk like I'm not here." Chambers suddenly appeared in the doorway looking just as tired, if not moreso, as Bigby.
Jin shrieked in surprise at the new guest and did what any not normal person would do. She threw the frying pan. Bigby could only watch in a mix of shock and awe as Chambers face and the pan got very well acquainted with each other with the former landing flat on his ass. 'Down goes Frazier' popped into his mind.
"-a friend." Bigby finished with a sigh accompanied by a facepalm.
"Oops." Jin nervously laughed, looking at her handiwork.
This was going to be an interesting partnership.