A Cause's Crossfire


It was the afternoon of a lazy summer day. It had been three years since coming to this new orphanage, and after all that time, some of us had a bit of a routine on Sunday mornings.

"A1 Rook to A3." Alice said after humming in thought.

I moved the piece for her. She was trying to free up her rook to support her knights on the chessboard. I could see what she was doing, but that didn't make matters as easy as they did before.

"You are taking longer with your turns." She noted with cheek.

"The TV was distracting me," I told her, but I'm sure she didn't believe me.

We were playing in a low table, seated in pillows on the floor between the sofa and the TV, which always ended up stuck in Discovery Channel when Rose had the controller. There were also a few boys from the orphanage around us. Jack, Ricky, and David. They were quiet, in silence as they witnessed the longest game I had ever played, put against the wall by none other than Alice.

She was getting better at the game. While at first her blindness meant she had to first memorize and visualize the board on her own, I realize now that had been but a simple hurdle for her. It had been a few months since she had started practicing, and I would in the beginning remind her of where certain pieces were on the board.

Not only that was absolutely not needed at the present, nowadays I was starting to hope she would forget a couple of positionings. I looked at her again as I measured my next move. Her empty eyes reminded me that everything she had was not here at the open, but inside her head. I couldn't read her, nor her intentions.

I could try to dig her bran for information, of course, but that would be undignified. I couldn't do that—no, better—I didn't need to. A blind girl was nothing for Tom Marvolo Riddle.

"Stuck?" Rose chimed in, an annoyingly satisfied smirk settling on her lips.

I shook my head, as I moved my bishop, "E7 Bishop to C5." If she was aiming at getting my last knight caught on the crossfire, I would set up an ambush. "It's fine." —

"Queen to F3."

It wasn't fine. She was cornering me good, and even the foolish boys besides us could see it. Stupid, they were grinning like dogs. Was it so satisfying at seeing me lose a match? I would have my revenge. More chores for them. We need to clean the showers, and it seems I've found three capable pairs of hands.

Nevertheless, there was no need to panic. Retreat was in order, I needed to cut some losses but if I regrouped and positioned myself better, I could make a comeback. "H5 Rook to H2." I needed to open some space, however, to make a successful fall back. Using my Rook with some decent aggressiveness should do the trick because of how the game was organized. Having a few leftover Pawns at the middle was serving me as a nice screen.

But not where I needed.

Not where I thought I had.

Oh no. Oh shit.

She can checkmate.

She can fucking checkmate me.

I looked besides me, I couldn't stop myself, and I saw our three spectators drooling with their mouths open. They had seen it too. My heart ached, and I felt the humiliation kick in. I had never lost in this orphanage. I had a perfect record, and now… now Alice would destroy it.

"F5 Bishop to…"

She was enjoying this.

"…to H3."

What? Why wasn't she checking me? Had she not seen it? I mean, of course she hadn't, but that's not the fucking point. She had a line to follow with her bishop, the opposite way! Was she so focused on my lesser troops? My king was within her grasp, and yet she had not realized the hole I had opened in my defenses. Tunnel vision? Could be, but I could help but wonder if she had forgotten, or lost track of some of her pieces.

I couldn't ask her though. She could realize her mistake and do over. But had she forgotten it? Anyone with a pair of eyes could see how close she was. Even Rose was now staring at the board, no doubt realizing the three boys' reactions by now, but she was silent.

And then Rose looked at me with an expression I couldn't read. At least not at first.

'I can actually believe you won't say anything, you selfish bastard.'

I looked away from Rose and back at the board. There was only one way to proceed. "Could you repeat? David Attenborough held my attention there for a second."

"God, when I'm winning you are not even paying attention," she pouted, "F5 Bishop to H3." She told me again firmly.

I moved her piece, taking it off the board and placing it in its final spot with an echoing knock of the wood landing on wood.

Alice gasped, and I could see the horror downing on her.

"Realized it?" I asked her, forcing myself not to smile. That impacted my voice in a way Alice would recognize. I think I managed it.

"I can't do it over, right?" She asked me, her voice already sounding defeated. At the lack of my response, she covered her face with her hands and lied down on the floor besides the table. "This is a dark day. A handed you over a win."

"I'm still at disadvantage." I reminded her, this time not really holding off the satisfaction of dripping over my tone. She took her time to process and returned to the table, but I could see she was frustrated.

That was enough. Her decision making afterwards became clearly affected, and her failure to punish me led me to mount a new defensive strategy. One by one, I was removing her pieces from the board, until it became clear that the tides had turned. Announcing her checkmate, I moved my Bishop into its final square and ended the game.

She was silent for a few seconds before announcing, "I need my cereal," and leaving the living room with as much hurry as a blind person can get. Rose went after her, no doubt ready for any possible damage control in the kitchen. Although rare, Alice had managed to drop milk all over the balcony just last week.

I looked at the three dunderheads that still had their eyes on the chessboard. "If you guys have nothing to do right now, the showers need some cleaning."

Jack waved his hand as he got up after hearing my voice, "I just wasn't ready for history to be made at 10am on Sunday."

"We are on school break." I reminded him.

He shrugged, "Yeah, but its still Sunday. No one's awake yet, and we need them to be for the next time. We need witnesses to record this shit."

"I didn't lose." I reminded him, and my voice almost cracked, much to my distaste. I had to hold myself better.

"Barely," David smiled at me as he left the room. The other two followed him.

I doubted they were on their way to clean their showers, but right now I couldn't really give a damn. I had to study this game. Understand where I had made the first wrong move that had allowed Alice to capitalize and control the flow for most of the game. I took a block of notes from the desk and started writing the moves in chronological order before I forgot them.

"What are you doing?"

Rose had just returned to her spot on the sofa.

"Making sure this doesn't happen again." I explained, my pen writing our game' actions to my brains' best recollection.

I saw Rose looking over her shoulder from the corner of my eye. She leaned close to me then, and her tone was dangerous. At least she was trying to make it so. I personally think it just made her sound constipated.

"Couldn't you've let her win? Was that too much?"

I rolled my eyes, "It was a fair game—"

"Fair game my ass, you can check the board with your own eyes every fucking time, she can't!" she exclaimed in a surprisingly quiet voice, "You know how much it would mean to her getting a win over you."

"I'm not letting her break my record because of charity," I shot, breaking contact with the notes I was taking and turning my eyes to look at Rose. "Alice too wouldn't like to be given a victory. She wants to earn it."

"When's the next tie she will get this close, Tom? She got lucky."

"That's where I disagree. She is getting better—"

"I've never seen you compliment anyone, but sure you do when it protects your god damn record." Rose spoke with frustration.

This was an uphill battle, and I think Rose already her final opinion on the subject. "You might not believe it, but Alice can one day defeat me fair and square. As I've said, no need for charity."

Rose rolled her eyes and went back at watching TV.

Then I woke up.

In my defense, I was slightly disoriented. As I got up, I managed to beat my head against the wall due to a weird angle I found myself in my bed. Despite the pain, that wasn't where my attention was. Alice was crawling on my floor, or at least was. She was now dead silent, probably waiting for me to say something.

I didn't. I was enjoying her anxiety and nervousness.

"Did I wake you up?" She asked gingerly.

"Alice," I called her name and she straight up her back, "What are you doing in my room?"

"I… think I forgot my ring here, last night."

I shook my head. "Ring? Which ring?"

"Ah—John gave me the other day. I have been wearing it too, and if I go to school today without, he might realize it."

"Immaculata is an all girls' school." I spoke out loud, my voice still filled with grogginess.

She seemed hesitant, but she still spoke. "We are going out afterwards."

"Nice." I nodded. I looked around and found my clothes for today already at the hook behind my door, ready to go. Magic was nice.

"Is… everything fine with you?" she asked me.

What was she talking about? I brought my shirt to my nose and I confirmed they weren't smelling like sweat or anything. Was my voice hoarse? Was my nose dripping? Why wouldn't I be fine? I don't even have to wake up earlier now to iron my shirts anymore since magic took care of the deal. It gave me half an hour more of sleep. Best deal ever.

"I'm great." I assured her, leaving my bed and grabbing my clothes. "I will just out my clothes on and see if I can find the ring afterwards."

Alice took that as her leave, closing the door besides her. She didn't really need to leave. She was blind after all, but I could only shrug. Privacy rules are a thing after all.

As I put on the last piece of my clothing, I only needed to glance at my bedside desk to see a ring glinting back at me. I had probably subconsciously swept the floor and put it there while I slept.

I too it in, and as I exited my room, I found Alice there waiting for me.

"Open your hands." I told her, and she raised her eyebrows. I dropped the ring in her palms.

"I suppose it really is easier when you can see."

I scratched my neck, "The fact you can forget about that is, in itself, a greater achievement."

She seemed to stop breathing for a bit before nodding and following down the stairs, her hands on the wall and handrails.

Wait.

I had locked my room last night.

With my wand.

And she got in?

Surprisingly, that wasn't exactly the most interesting part of my day. It had been long, and the sun had finally set. Arcadia was mostly empty, if not for some club activities and, in my case because of the student council duties due to the Halloween party. Today it had been mostly splitting up the space between different clubs and organizations, and although it sounds simple, the fact that every club thinks they are more important than the rest made it a headache.

As we left the gates of the school, we firs heard them. Sirens in the distance, but not from the police. These had a different tone.

"Firefighters?" one of the students in the party committee asked.

"Someone probably just left the oven on."

It was a fair assumption. These parts of Brockton Bay are generally peaceful, wit a lot of wealthy residential areas close by. TO think this was a simple domestic accident was by no means unrealistic.

"No," the president started, his eyes on his smartphone, "Every firetruck in the city is being taken right now. Lung is using his powers!"

"Holy shit! He finally did it." Someone else exclaimed, "How long had he been in Brockton Bay?"

"A few years?"

"Around five-ish. No one is sure."

"What made him do it? What pushed him?" Everyone was on their phones now, trying to find the right source on the internet. I simply stood behind a few people with good phones in order to get answers for myself.

"The Twenty-One. Oh. My. God. He is literally using his powers on a gang with no parahumans."

This was absolutely terrible. The Twenty-One was one of the biggest of the gangs that were expressively against capes. Also, one of the very few left. Lung wasn't just roasting what no doubt were small-timers for him. He was assuring Brockton Bay's underworld that times were changing.

The girl who had caught the information was scrolling down on news, and I managed to catch where it was happening. North of Brockton Bay, between the more abandoned parts of the docks and the poorest suburbs, but by the size of the fire in the pictures… this was a danger to the entire city.

"I gotta go to bathroom, guys." I told them as I walked back to Arcadia. "Just go without me. Will see you tomorrow."

With my unceremonious departure, I proceeded to find an empty bathroom. I checked every stall and made sure I was alone before apparating into my room. I'm sure the cracking sound was loud, but this was an emergency.

Damn it, Lung. This was too soon.

I wasn't ready yet. I still had a few plans to execute and a lot of scouting to make. This was absolutely not fine. That still didn't stop me from taking off my school books from my backpack and putting in my mask, the right collection of maps, a few robes I could transfigure, and a couple of amulets I had enchanted. Hopefully, one of them would protect me from projectiles, but since I hadn't tested it with bullets… I wasn't holding my breath on that one.

I took a good look at my wand afterwards.

"Ready for some magic?"

The wand didn't answer me back, and honestly, I think it is better this way.

I apparated at the roof of the orphanage, which was actually pretty safe. There were no tall buildings close, and the roof's door was always locked. I managed to get a view of the north. The sun had set, but part of the sky was lit, clouds of smoke colored yellow, thanks to the raging fires. Just the amount of horizon that was covered by the smoke and light was enough to tell me I really couldn't back out on this one.

I had to step in, or else, there would be no way for me to get up the ladder. Not unless I worked with other existing gangs, but working with parahumans was… to say the least, undesirable.

There was an old building, quite tall for the north region, being around 11 floors. Everyone knew it was abandoned, so I could perhaps use it as a vantage point, and if my geography wasn't to far wrong, it was located quite closely to where the fight was supposedly happening.

Aiming at around 5 miles north, I looked up and apparated.

I transported myself at around a mile up in the sky, and although I hoped that it would give a good view of where to land and conduct my operations, the smoke made it quite hard to locate any suitable places. Stretching my arms and legs, I made sure to create as much resistance as I could.

I was falling at what must have been hundred miles an hour at least, so I had to make my choice. I managed to find the roof of that single tallish building in the region, the 11 floor one, since it crossed the clouds of smoke. I couldn't see anyone there, so I supposed it could be a start. Depending on how things went, I would change locations later on.

Twisting my body again midair, I apparated myself above the roof, braking my fall with my wand and landing with a gentle roll. I cleaned the dust on my clothes, most of it from the smoke that polluted the air. Now, here close to the action, I could hear all kinds of sirens screaming about, as well the gunshots.

This was becoming a war zone. I had a limited window. For some reason, no superheroes seemed to have showed up yet. Did they not know how to engage Lung? This must be the first time he's engaged with his gang, but everyone has been waiting for this for some time. They must have a drafted plan in some shelve, right? Doesn't matter, the more they took their time, the better for me.

With a few simple spells, I managed to clean the air around the tower in a way that wouldn't look to suspicious. I put on my metal mask, as well as my robes. They transfigured into flexible metal plates, which, with the amulets around my neck, would protect me from most physical injuries.

But not from burning. Lung could still cook me and serve me for dinner with smashed potatoes and a collection of vegetables.

I didn't like this scenario at all, but Twenty-One was a big deal. They had enough of a base start that it wouldn't take long for me to use it for my own ends. Furthermore, if they disappeared overnight… the power vacuum was a scary prospect. I wasn't in a position to take advantage out of it, so it wasn't really an advantage to me. It was, however, to some Nazi and drug dealing gangs which had accrued a few parahumans in the last couple of months.

Until now no one had made a move, and things were quiet. For Lung to suddenly explode like this, it required either a personal stake, or it was part of a greater strategy. Maybe it was a show of force, not just to us, but to his own gang?

I didn't know enough, but I knew something. I felt it. This was the moment I could swoop in and change things. If I failed, it wasn't difficult to make my presence hidden and forgotten. No one expected another player, nor even know me at all. However, if I succeeded… I would be bringing a gang literally back from the dead against all expectations.

And who doesn't like not dying? How many legends are there with men in quests for immortality? How many soldiers will gratefully bow to the general that doesn't get them killed?

My success here will also ensure that my soldiers become innumerous. If I allow even the pettiest human, or any civilian for that matter, to fight back against capes, I would be a gamechanger. Twenty-One, knowingly or not, represents the struggle common men and women have in a world of monsters, in a planet where capes increasingly define our futures. Well, either them, or the Endbringers. It doesn't get any better.

Thus, it was time for that resistance to gather around a symbol. Something that could give them hope, and in turn, they would do anything for it. Just like medieval kingdoms were born out the need for protection, my rule would be born out of their necessity. I was helping them.

I am saving these people.

I extended my arm, my wand at its end, and I thought about the closest member of the Twenty-One.

Accio.

What was at first a distant dot soon became a man as my spell brought him closer to me. With a few simple twists, I made him kneel against his will and forced his eyes to stare right back at me. I had no need for subtleties. He was dirty, completely engulfed dirt and soot, and trying his best to resists my control. Overpowering a simple human was but a trivial task.

"Didn't know they another one of you monsters in ABB!" he spat, trying his best to sound brave.

As I gave him little care for his comments, and took sufficient steps forward, grabbing him by his cheek and forcing him to stay quiet.

"You will tell me everything."

How the Twenty-One operated, what were their current resources, who was in the chain of command, what was the current manpower, which tactics they preferred, the current method of communication, and etc. He would obviously be oblivious by more than a few, but every single piece of information was essential in defeating not just the ABB, but Lung.

His scream were disturbing no doubt for those who could hear them, and since they were distracting, I silenced him with a spell as I extracted every bit of information from his mind. After the job was done, I petrified him, just in case I needed something I hadn't know about before. War was a tricky business after all.

I accioed his radio, which had been beeping for a while now, and unmuted.

"We need support at the 45th Street! They got the two compounds across Midway Road!"

With some twists of my wand, my maps were extended on the floor besides me. It was time for the most important chess game of my life, yet.