Thanks for the reviews guy. The muse is really going with me on this one, hence the updates! Lucky you!
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Don Flack was pissed. Actually, he was worse than pissed. He was cold, tired and really pissed. AND he was supposed to be at home, watching the Rangers game. Instead, he was on a raid with a guy whose partner had called in sick. Vincenzi, the guy he was on the raid with, seemed basically a good guy, but god he could talk the hind legs off a donkey. In the half an hour journey it took to get to the warehouse, he had covered baseball, hockey, basketball, his wife and children, background on the Wilder Gang, and the personal experience he had with both the department and this particular case. Flack was about ready to hand himself over to the Wilder Gang by the time they reached their location. Instead, he smiled, nodded, and tried to tune out the chatter as best he could while removing his jacket and putting on the bulletproof vest. He had his usual raid gear on, his favourite jeans, a soft black sweater with the sleeves rolled up and a Ranger's ball cap on backwards, so the brim didn't get in the way.
Heading silently into the warehouse, he gestured with his hand to send Vincenzi the other way. Skulking around the back of the warehouse, he raised his gun as he heard conversation. Slipping into a side door, slid into an alcove, and jumped as someone ran past, followed by Vincenzi crying 'NYPD!' Naturally, he gave chase, his sneakers slapping down on the concrete floor as he skidded round a corner, picking up speed as he chased the perp down the deserted dirt road just out of state. They came to a half built housing estate, and the suspect dodged inside, using his momentum to half climb, half jump over the temporary fence, followed suit by Vincenzi. Flack, already bored of the chase barreled straight through the flimsy chain link, and continued on his way, shaking off remnants of the fence like raindrops. Slowing to a halt, he ducked into a half finished house, catching his breath. He knew that the mystery man was near, as was Vincenzi.
Suddenly, he heard a yell and a thud, then the sound of someone having the wind knocked out of them. Venturing out of the house, he edged forward. His night vision had finally kicked in, and he scanned around for the cause of the noise. He leapt backwards as someone came lunging out of the darkness at him, but the shadow missed and fell on its face. No wonder, he thought. It's handcuffed. 'Nice one Vincenzi,' he called into the darkness, grinning as Vincenzi appeared from around a corner, a split lip but otherwise OK.
'That's just how I roll,' he laughed, his New York accent dulled, but not gone. He had just returned from Italy, where he had been building bridges between international police forces. He hauled the handcuffed man to his feet roughly, tugging his towards the car. Flack felt his cell vibrate in his pocket. 'You go on, I'll be there in a second,' he said, flipping it open. UNKNOWN NUMBER was on the screen, and he answered it, gulping in air. 'Who is this?
A familiar voice trickled out of the handset. 'It's Greg. Remember me?'
Flack smiled. How long had it been? 'Yeah, sure I do. How ya doin', Greggo?'
'Coping,' he answered, and Don laughed.
'Aren't we all?' Out of the darkness, he heard gunshots, and he ducked, swearing loudly. Something slammed into his chest, just above the vest, and he flew backwards, hitting the ground heavily. His cell flew out of his hand, and his gun skittered in the opposite direction. He could hear Greg's anxious voice on the other end of the cell, and with an effort, he crawled over to his gun, and then to his phone, leaving smears of blood behind. In the distance he heard more gunshots, and Vincenzi screaming in pain, before there was another shot, and he was silenced.
'Don?'
'Greg?' he groaned as a stab of pain rippled through his wound. He was losing too much blood too fast.
'Yeah, I'm here Don. What happened?' The poor kid was terrified. He'd probably never heard a gunshot before.
'They shot me in the chest. And my partner's down. I can hear them looking for me, I don't think they were aiming for me, more a lucky shot.' He could hear the footsteps getting closer, and he fired his gun blindly. He was in trouble here, the edges of his vision were graying and he was lightheaded. A man rounded the corner, a 50 caliber Desert Eagle in his hand. He looked at Flack, then saw the vest and aimed the gun at him, moving closer.
'Come on man, you don't wanna do this. You what happens to cop killers? They get the death penalty. Immediately.'
Only if they get caught,' The man had a thick Irish brogue, and a dark, animal like smile.
'What's goin on Connor?' Another voice, this time from far away.
Connor turned and shouted back. 'It's just a pig, fellas. I'll get rid of him, you find the other.' He put the gun to Flack's head. He closed his eyes. This was happening; there was nothing he could do to stop it. He breathed in, and held his breath as Conner pulled the trigger.
--
Conner stepped over the body and picked up the buzzing cell. Someone on the other end was screaming for Don. That must be the dead pig. 'Sorry, Don's not here right now,' he said into the phone. 'Mr Wilder got plans for him. And these plans don't involve living.'
Then he hung up, tossing the phone onto the body's chest, leaving it there.
--
Adam was bored. He hated the night shift. New York City crazies were all asleep, and he was sitting at his workstation, playing with a bag of jellybeans. Making sure Mac was nowhere to be found, he picked one up, a green one, for some reason, and, resting it in the open palm of his hand, closed his eyes and focused.
Opening his eyes slowly, one at a time, he grinned. Floating about six inches above his hand was the jellybean. 'Cooooooool,' he said, focusing on making it move. Within a couple of minutes, it was whizzing around the room like a tiny jellybean fighter jet. He heard someone behind him clear their throat and he flinched, and, as he lost concentration, the jellybean fell out of the sky, landing on the keyboard with a clatter.
Turning around, he relaxed slightly as he saw his partner in crime, Stella, standing behind him.
--
Two weeks ago they had both discovered that they weren't exactly… ordinary. Stella had awoken one morning to find a frozen city, forever ten past six. She had turned the time back on, somehow, and gone about her business, hiding her secret from the world until one day she had walked in on Adam doing his jellybean trick, and they had opened up to each other. Stella had told Adam about stopping time, and he showed her his telekinetic ability. On the sly, he had used the NYPD database, looking for any sign that this kind of thing had happened to other people, the only thing he could find was a cop in LA who had claimed to read minds. This same cop had later disappeared for two months and reappeared in New York, becoming a Detective for the NYPD. He had a squeaky clean career, up until about a year ago, in which he disappeared again, to turn up…
Nowhere. Matt Parkman had just disappeared completely. No transfer info, no death certificate, no missing person's filed. Just the end of the file.
Searching deeper, he found a book called Activating Evolution, by a scientist named Chandra Suresh. Putting him into the database, he found a death certificate dated three or four years back. Adam devoured the book in a week, relaying his discoveries back to Stella. He learnt that it was pure chance that he had ended up with telekinesis, and that Stella had ended up with the ability to manipulate time and space. Even rarer that they had both received powers, two people living in such close proximity to each other. It was practically unheard of.
They both kept their powers secret from everyone apart from the other. They didn't want anyone to know. Until Adam was visited by a man in horn rimmed glasses.
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It was late one night, and Adam was playing Guitar Hero during a sudden bout of insomnia when he heard a knock at the door. Opening it, he came face to face with a man, wearing an expensive looking suit and horn rimmed glasses. He had invited himself in, and proceeded to explain what was happening to Adam, and then at the end, asked him to join a war.
'We need your help Adam. There is a war coming, and you are part of it. Quite an important part. You are one of the new generation.'
Adam was stunned. He'd never felt like this before, never felt important enough to be needed. 'What happens if I refuse?' he'd asked, although he had no intention of refusing.
'Then we fall, and The Hunter takes control. You and twelve others are the dawn of a new age, and without you, it cannot be done.'
'Then I'll do it.' he said, grinning despite himself.
--
Later the next morning, he'd discovered that Stella had had a similar call the night before last. And she had joined as well. Then they realised, neither of them knew his name. From then on they just referenced him as the man with the horn rimmed glasses, HRG for short.
--
'What?' he asked defensively, looking around him. 'No-one's watching. Just you, me and the candy.'
'That's not the point,' Stella said, pulling up a chair. 'HRG told me that we don't know when this hunter is coming, we should be careful using our powers. If she sees them, she will kill you if she thinks you're in her way.'
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Hope people liked that, next up, the guys from Vegas rush to find Flack. But there's something they don't know…
