New Age

by Str4divarius

In a modern age, bending is an art known only to a few hundred thousand out of the billions on earth. Around the globe, small groups of people have been discovering their new ability and join together secretly to practice. However, small groups of benders are vanishing around the globe, however, in a slew of kidnappings non-benders call a "tragedy", and benders call an "invasion".

New Age I

Location: The Bronx, New York

Time: 11:30pm October 17, 2012

The cityscape was cold and dark, with icicles hanging from every outhanging crevice. The city streets were empty, their only occupants being vacant cars and empty space. The many apartments lay in darkness, a faint light coming from forlorn lightposts and billboards. It was the period of night where all are dormant, all is silent, and the air is still.

A single soul was walking the streets, his breath coming out is wisps of hot air and his body covered in a single unzipped jacket, a sweater underneath. Though he knew he should feel cold, he felt perfectly fine. If not a bit warm. He walked under a streetlight and casually looks both ways before crossing to a black wire gate guarding an alley. He reaches into his coat pocket to pull an old key, rusted over the years, and pushes it into the lock like he has thousands of times before. The gate yields to his familiar touch, and clicks back into place to guard its post once more.

He casually strolls through the narrow passage, red brick houses on either side, and a basement entrance boarded into the brick at the far end. A single padlock, small but sturdy, locked the boards in place. Another key from his pocket opens it, and he slides inside and down a ladder, closing the boards behind him.

As he nears the bottom shouts and voices could be heard, interspersed with laughter and bantering back and forth. His feet touch smooth concrete and he lets go of the rungs, stepping back and making sure to empty his pockets into a nearby cardboard box, already full of cell phones, wallets, and a single topaz ring. She's here again? he thinks I doubt she can even start the basics.

He empties everything into the box without hesitation, everybody knows everybody here, and if someone were to have something stolen, they'd have to answer to Rob. And no one likes to answer to Rob.

He turned to see a man in a green hoody moving toward him, right arm outstretched, "How's it going, Tanner?"

Tanner reached his arm out and shook it grasped it firmly, "Doing fine, Michal."

Another in a red T-shirt and jeans came forward, "Hey, Tanner." he said with a small voice, though he walked with a proud stride.

"Brent." Tanner acknowledged with a nod.

He walked over to a tall, shirtless man with a strong hearty build, "Hey Rob, what are we learning today?"

"Might be simple breathing patterns again if she decides to stay." he replies with deep annoyance.

Brent came forward, "She's got potential! You've seen how well she can grasp the concepts."

Rob looked him in the eyes, "Not many can tap that potential though. You have to understand that even though someone might have a diamond in their floorboards, it doesn't mean they're ever going to find it. She might never be able to-"

"Come on!" Brent interrupted, "Don't give up on her!"

Rob bore into his eyes with a stare that could curdle new milk, "I never give up on anyone. You of all people should know this."

Brent looked down and rubbed the back of his neck, "Alright... but can't you just give her another private lesson? Like you have all those other times?"

Rob sighed heavily, giving off a sense of annoyance and pity, "I only do that with the beginners, and how many times have I done that?"

Brent looked down at ground in silence.

"That wasn't rhetorical." Rob said sharply.

"Every Thursday."

Rob nodded, "Every Thursday. Now go in the Sweat Corner and do fifteen squats."

Brent looked at him incredulously, "What did I do?! All I did was-"

Rob moved forward a step.

"Okay, going." he practically ran into the far right corner started the exercises.

"And make 'em thirty-five for the backtalk!"

Brent groaned and rolled his eyes.

"Damn, since when's he been so protective of her?" Tanner asked, almost to himself.

"Since she got here. Their history, his past, her looks, it all just piles up."

Tanner nodded and breathed deeply, the tension of the argument gone. "So what are we gonna do? She hasn't even showed a spark of comprehension and we haven't made any real progress for weeks."

Rob leaned back against the bare concrete wall, "I don't know. We might have to kick her out."

Michal shook his head, "No, she knows everything about this place. We let her out and she could quickly become a liability. Give her a few more weeks and if nothing happens, we'll give her over to Hannah."

Rob nodded in agreement. Tanner shrugged.

Rob turned to look at Brent, whose sweat was starting to show through his red t-shirt. He chuckled, "Getting hot over there Brent?" Brent's eyebrows furrowed deeper and his breathing became more meaningful. "He might actually get angry tonight." Rob thought out loud.

A rickety wooden door opened behind them, and the voice of a girl came through, confident with a hint of sas. "I've been doing breathing exercises for twenty minutes." she said, annoyed.

Rob rolled his eyes quickly before turning "Well, do fifty more and try again. We aren't moving forward until that twig is-"

"DONE!" Brent shouted from the other side of the room before running forward. He stopped beside the girl and tried to act as if the exercises were nothing, his heavy breathing betraying his weariness. "How did it go?"

"Nothing, again." she says smiling, her eyes disappointed.

"I'm sure you'll do better next time. It's just a matter of when."

She rolled her eyes playfully. "And maybe you can fly. It's only a matter of when." She says sarcastically, her smile growing.

Brent moved forward and hugged her. "Hey, at least you're here." he said optimistically.

Rob coughed to gain everyone's attention. "Alright everybody, we need to move to the next lesson. Sorry Rebecca, we're going to have to ask you to move to the side on this one."

She nods and goes to sit down beside a wall.

"Alright!" Rob says loudly, "Tonight we're going to learn what to do if someone comes at you from behind with a knife. Everyone in ready stance and start the usual warm-ups, we get to the meaty stuff in five."

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Location: Cheyenne, Wyoming

Time: 11:37pm October 17, 2012

"I can't do it."

"Yes you can! You've done it many times before."

"That was different... I don't know if this will spark it again."

"It will, just try again."

A large expanse of open field was quiet as could be, the rough brown grass observing quietly from their posts. The sky was a dark purple, night but not completely black. The clouds were nothing but small wisps in the sky, now almost impossible to see from the lack of sunlight.

Two girls were standing in the middle of the plain, one watching the other with crossed arms and a smirk. The other was holding a rock in her hands, focusing intently on it. "You're not gonna get it if you don't breath." said the girl from the side. The other realized she wasn't breathing, and exhaled loudly. She dropped the rock and sat in the dirt.

"Come on, you're the great and noble Tally! This might as well come naturally to you!"

"My great-great-great-grandparents worked in a quarry, so obviously this must be easy." she said sarcastically. "Besides, you're the great and mighty Master Katharine! You should show another demonstration!"

She sighed and shook her head, a proud smile spread across her lips. "Alright, but you have to promise me you'll never copy my form, everyone's is different."

Tally nodded and sat on a nearby boulder, one that they always used as a marker for where their practice sessions took place.

Katharine stood with her feet slightly past shoulder length, her eyes closed in concentration, taking deep breaths in through the nose and out through the mouth. She opened her eyes and stared at the ground for a while, preparing herself for the movements she had practiced regularly. She stepped out with her left leg and was about to push her arm forward when something caught her attention. A low-pitch buzzing sound was playing in her ears, one that she could sense wasn't her brain playing tricks on her. She stopped the form and looked up at the sky. Nothing seemed out of place.

"What's wrong," Tally jested, "hearing voices again?"

"Shut up." Katharine said, annoyed. The buzzing was getting louder. "Do you hear that?"

Tally saw the look of concern on her face and knew she wasn't joking. "No, I don't. What do you hear."

"A buzzing." she replied. "And it's getting louder."

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Location: Pensacola Beach, Florida

Time: 11:38pm October 17, 2012

The waves' silent rush against the sand was calming, and the calm breeze wafting from the waters tranquil. The only light on the dark beach came from the stars and the moon, the silent watchers of the night. A single boy, about 11, was sitting next to the waters, fiddling with something in his hands and letting the waves touch his feet in their rhythmic pattern.

He was staring across the ocean to the horizon, his mind at ease and his thoughts jumping from topic to topic. Without warning he stopped, his body tensing and his eyes wide. He quickly put the trinket in his pockets and got up, stumbling slightly on the unstable sand. He started to run back to where he had entered, but stopped when he saw people coming through that way, and others started to come in the other entrance. He was fenced in.

There were about thirteen of them, all about their early twenties, and the oldest looking about thirty. Every last one of them had their hair put into a buzz cut, with the oldest one completely bald and a tattoo of a silver bullet on the crown of his head.

The group completely surrounded him within seconds, all of them smiling ruthlessly in the darkness. The Bald One stepped up from the group, the tattoo stark silver in contrast to the rest of his body. "Colin! What luck finding you here! We were beginning to think you stopped your little visits here." his grin widened considerably at the shock on the boy's face. "You still remember us." he said almost to himself.

Colin slowly reached into his pocket and clasped his hand around the trinket. Baldy noticed this with exceptional pleasure. "Grab it." he ordered the group. Two of them came from the small crowd and held his arms, while a third walked to him and dug into his pockets. He pulled a silver chain and held it up for examination, the beautiful metal glinting in the moonlight.

He handed it to the leader, who observed every inch of it with careful hands so as not to stain the surface. Baldy held it up to the moon, smiling at the locket's beauty. He opened it and grinned at the picture inside. "A beautiful piece. A gift from your mother?" Colin nodded slowly. Baldy grunted in acknowledgment. "A shame... such a priceless work of art, thrown so quickly into the sea."

Colin's heart sank.

Baldy clasped his fist firmly around the necklace before holding it over his shoulder and throwing it far out into the ocean.

Colin screamed in dismay at seeing his mother's locket be so easily thrown away. His only picture of her was on the inside, serving to be his only memorial to her life. Tears began to crawl down his face as realization of what Baldy had just done finally sunk in. His eyes filled with anger, and for the first time in his life he wanted someone dead.

He smiled at Colin's apparent anger, and spat at his feet. "You are weak. You hear me? Weak." He walked over to him and touched one of his tears, looking at it with a carefull eye. "Men don't cry. And what are you doing?" He slapped him hard across the face with as much force as he could. Colin tasted copper. He then ordered one of the men to come and pull his hair back, exposing his neck and jaw.

Baldy took his thumb and began lightly touching his neck, searching for a pressure point. When he found it he smiled, and pressed down hard. Colin tried to scream but he couldn't, his air supply cut off. The pain was like that of someone choking you, but only in one specific place; it was almost unbearable.

When Baldy let go the pain went away almost instantly and his breathing came back, allowing him to take deep thorough gulps of the sweet oxygen. Baldy's face was in a wide sadistic smile. "If you thought that was bad, just get ready for this." He snapped his fingers and one of his men came with something wrapped in cloth. He smiled all the more at Colin's immediate fear.

"Do you know what this is?" he asked. Colin shook his head no. "Then why are you so scared?" He let the cloth fall to the ground, exposing a sheath made of simple hard leather, and a handle made of a tough military grade plastic. "Now you should be scared." He practically ripped the knife from its holster.

Colin tried to comprehend what was happening, and stared at the knife. When it finally clicked that he was going to die, his heart froze, and his stomach dropped. Baldy slid the flat side of the blade across his adams apple, sending shivers up Collin's spine.

"Are you ready to die, you little shit?"

"HEY!" someone yelled from behind the group. "GET THE HELL AWAY FROM HIM!" The voice was one of someone young, a few years older than Collin's age, but with much authority. Baldy turned to see someone about a head taller than Collin, with jet black hair and thick eyebrows.

"Y-you again! What are you doing, why are you-" he looked from Collin to the figure. "No! This isn't what it looks like!" His men stood in shock, staring at the figure in unbelief. Baldy had to snap in their faces to get them up before whispering for them to let him go. "We were just playing a game of tag, you see! We won! Nothing wrong here, nothing bad going on!"

"I don't want any of your bullshit, Lee. Now put the boy down and I won't freeze you in an iceberg for a hundred years."

At the uttering of those words, Lee's (Baldy's) legs started to shake, and his face went pale. The group gathered around started to take steps back, their eyes trained on the lone bystander. Lee looked at them fiercely, trying to keep them in place. But it was worthless.

When they had all ran off, there was no one but him, Collin, and the stranger. Lee looked from Colin to the other quickly, his eyes darting from place to place in anxiety.

"What's it gonna be?" the stranger asked. "Leave or die?"

Sweat beaded on Lee's forehead. "I-I could take both of you! It's just that, I don't feel like it. I'm out of here!" and as quickly as he appeared, he left.

Colin was sitting in the sand, his eyes looking down at the sand, studying the many minuscule pebbles placed evenly throughout the beach. The stranger walked up to him, "Are you alright, Colin? Did Lee do anything?"

Collin turned his head away in shame, tears started to bead from the edges of his eyes.

"Please don't be like this. I just want to talk."

"He took the locket," Collin said suddenly, "and threw it into the ocean."

The stranger's eyes opened in shock, and his mind raced with ways he could calm Collin down, all ending with a blank. Then he remembered, Why don't I just get it for him? He smiled, "It's alright, I'll get it back for you. Remember, it's a full moon?"

Colin looked up, the sadness gone from his face, replaced with boundless thanks and wonder. He started to say something, but he didn't know what to say.

The stranger just winked, "It's alright brother, I'll be right back." he began to strode towards the water, feeling a pull on his soul to his native element.

"Noah?" Collin said from the beach.

"Yeah?" he replied.

"Thank you."

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Location: Unknown

Time: 11.38pm October 17, 2012

A man in a sharp business suit was looking down at a monitor with a silent observing expression on his face. Multiple other men were around the wooden oval table, looking at him intently.

"Well?" said one particularly well built man, "What shall we do?"

The man at the end of the table thought for a moment, taking his eyes off the monitor and into the other's eyes. "You say we have a chopper ready in Cheyenne?"

He nodded, and a man at the far corner of the table began writing everything down.

"I want a forced extraction on the two. Bring them here within three hours unharmed. Keep careful surveillance on the others."

"Is that your final order, sir?" he asked.

The apparent leader nodded, "Any and all failure is not acceptable. Remember, you're an unnamed asset to this group. If you become a liability, we can snap the cords quicker than we plugged them in and no one will know the difference."

He nodded, "I understand sir."

"Then get going. I have better things to do." his eyes returned to the monitor.

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Hola! Thanks for reading!

This story came to me in the night like a thief, and took all my other thoughts along with it. I hope you enjoyed it, more chapters to come.

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PACE MI AMICOS!