Hi Guys and welcome back to Blizzard! Another big chapter for you today, so let's crack on shall we?
As James opened the door to his apartment, both he and Kendall noticed how Ricardo loitered by the doorframe.
"So, do you want to come in or anything? Will you need anywhere to sleep?" James asked the private security officer, causing Ricardo to shake his head.
"I'll wait out here, thanks. Just so you're aware, in about 3 hours, someone will come to replace me while I rest for the night, so don't be alarmed if you hear anything" Ricardo replied, causing James to nod his head, as he let Kendall into the apartment.
"Well, if you need anything, just let me know" James added, causing Ricardo to nod before James walked into his apartment and shut the front door, albeit awkwardly.
With the door closed, James turned around to see Kendall pouring two glasses of wine. "I'm guessing you need one of these?" the blond asked, causing James to nod as he quickly crossed the space to the kitchen.
"More than you'd expect" James replied, picking up the glass of wine and taking a big sip of it before the two of them headed over to James' living area. Feeling slightly hot, the brunet slid the balcony door open, allowing a breeze to flow through the apartment.
"So, you wanted to tell me about what your dad did?" Kendall asked, causing James to shake his head as he plopped down on the sofa next to Kendall.
"You go first. You said you wanted to tell me something, and frankly, I could do with the distraction" James replied, causing Kendall to place his hand onto James' knee.
"You sure?" Kendall asked, causing James to nod.
"Honestly. Now, tell me about your meeting with Katie, how'd it go?" James replied, causing a small smile to grow on Kendall's face.
"Really well actually. We chatted about our pasts for a little bit, and she told me this story about how she'd ran a poker ring at her school before they shut it down."
"No way," James said, letting out a little chuckle as Kendall nodded.
"Yeah, and it turned out that she lived in Minneapolis, so she had to travel far to find out that information on me" Kendall continued, letting out a sigh as he took a sip of his wine.
"What's up?" James asked, now resting his hand onto Kendall's knee.
"It's just…Am I a bad brother for not trying harder to find her?" Kendall asked, causing James to shake his head immediately as he put his wine glass down on the table.
"Don't be ridiculous, how can you say that?" James replied, causing Kendall to shrug, taking another of his wine g before he placed it on the table next to James.
"It's just Katie went to all that effort trying to find me. Getting a blood test done, and then searching through years of newspaper records to try and find my name. I just feel guilty because I didn't do any of that"
"But you couldn't have done" James replied, causing Kendall to glance up at him. "I mean, you couldn't have had a blood test done. One because of the whole superpowers thing" James began, lowering his voice for that last part. "And two because it only would have told you who your parents were, which you already know. Besides, the hospital wouldn't have indulged that information to you, hell, they didn't even tell Katie about you. As for the newspapers, looking through those wouldn't have done you any good, as Katie probably wouldn't have even been in there, and if she was, she would have been under a different name, so you wouldn't have known anyway" James continued, causing Kendall to let out a sigh as he nodded.
"You're right. And I did try when I was sixteen, but no one would tell me anything anyway" Kendall replied, causing a small smile to grow on James' face as he patted Kendall's knee.
"See, there was nothing you could have done, so I wouldn't let it get to you. Instead, I would make the most of the time you have with her now" James continued, causing Kendall to lean up and place a kiss onto his lips.
"Thanks, James" the blond replied, causing a smile to grow on James' face as he squeezed Kendall's leg. As the blond reached for his wine glass, he spoke up again.
"Oh, I should also warn you that Doctor Mitchell knows about us. He was asking about you today" Kendall said, before taking a sip of his wine.
"And what was the good doctor asking about?" James replied, causing Kendall to let out a little chuckle.
"Everything really. How things are going between us, and how you're coping with everything."
"It's funny, I had the same conversation with Camille, a friend from work" James replied, causing Kendall to raise an eyebrow at him.
"And what did you say? How are things going between us?" Kendall asked, a grin growing on his face.
"I'd say that things are going really well. You could even say lovingly" James replied, causing Kendall to roll his eyes as he placed his glass back onto the table.
"You are cheesy, you know that right?" the blond asked, causing James to let out a little chuckle.
"But you love me for it" James replied, causing a grin to grow on Kendall's face.
"I do, I really do. Well, that and your impeccable ass" the blond replied, causing James to let out a hearty laugh as he pushed Kendall down on the sofa before straddling him as he leant down for a kiss.
Before their lips could connect properly however, Kendall's stomach began to rumble, causing a blush to grow on the blond's cheeks while James let out a chuckle.
"Sorry, I didn't realise how hungry I actually was," Kendall said, causing James to lean down and place a chaste kiss onto Kendall's lips.
"I'll cook you something. Want anything in particular?" James replied, causing Kendall to let out a little chuckle as James climbed off of him.
"I could get used to you being domesticated" Kendall replied, causing James to pick up a pillow and throw it at Kendall, the blond letting out a laugh as the pillow landed on him. "And I'll eat whatever you cook" Kendall continued, causing James to nod as he headed to the kitchen, taking his wine with him. As James rummaged through his pots and pans, Kendall spoke up again. "So, why don't you tell me about what happened with your dad"
"I think it's easier to tell you what didn't happen with my dad" James replied, pulling out a large frying pan and some mince from the fridge. With his back to the blond, James continued. "He undermined Chief Garcia just because the chief didn't take his complaint seriously, he hired private security for me without even consulting me about it first just to get to me and and he insulted you, by saying that you and I quote 'aggressively dragged him out of the room, without his consent.' Can you believe that? After you saved his life, and he's slandering you because of it. It was safe to say that I was not happy with him one bit, so after shouting at him and calling him a spoilt brat and a petulant child, I stormed out of the room" James continued, putting everything down for a brief second as he let out a sigh. "Do you think I was too harsh? I mean, sure he deserved every word of it, but I don't know, maybe I shouldn't have shouted at him like that. What do you think?" James asked, and for a brief second, the room descended into silence.
That was until of course, James heard a glass smashing, causing him to turn around, where the colour completely drained from his face at the sight that greeted him.
"Oh, don't mind me, you continue your little story," Inferno said, the supervillain stood there with Kendall in a headlock, with one hand covering the blond's mouth. "I love hearing about other's family drama, especially since your father killed mine"
"What are you doing here?" James asked, struggling to find his voice due to the fright that was coursing through his system.
"Isn't it obvious? I'm here to kill the one you love most" Inferno replied, tightening his hold around Kendall's neck, causing the blond to squirm in pain. "I've seen you and him with each other a lot, so I could only figure that you two must mean something to each other. Especially with all your coffee dates and sleepovers" Inferno replied, tightening his hold on Kendall's neck once again, causing tears to start falling from James' eyes uncontrollably.
"Please, don't hurt him. You don't need to hurt him" James pleaded, causing a wicked laugh and an evil grin to come from Inferno.
"Oh, I'm not going to hurt him." Inferno began, backing towards James' patio, walking through the open door. "His death will be quick and painless. And then, once I'm done with him, I'm going to kill you. After all, you are what your father loves most…well, probably second to most, but I can't exactly bring his entire business down as quickly as I can kill you" Inferno finished and before James even had chance to react or say anything, Kendall was thrown through the glass railing off of the balcony.
"KENDALL NO!" James screamed as the blond disappeared, before falling to his knees, the brunet trying to keep himself together.
As Inferno approached him, James couldn't help but shake his head as he wiped the tears from his eyes. "You have no idea what you've just done" James gritted out, causing a grin to grow on Inferno's face.
"Oh, what are you going to do about it? I would love it if you put up a fight" the villain replied, slowly getting closer and closer to the shaken brunet.
Still, James had the one thing that Inferno didn't.
Hope.
In a split second, Kendall went from not being able to breathe properly to being thrown off of a balcony, so it was safe to say, it took the blond a few seconds to adjust to his current predicament.
Which was that he was plummeting towards the ground pretty quickly.
The panic was there from the offset, but as Kendall saw Inferno step away from the edge of the balcony, the realisation that Inferno was now going after James set in, and that caused Kendall to try and focus his mind. The first thing the blond did was to reach around the back of his head, where thankfully, his mask was located.
Luckily, Kendall had been prepared enough to have his suit on under his clothes and with the mask now over his face, concealing his identity, Kendall found himself spinning in mid-air so that he was now facing towards the ground, before creating a massive ice slide beneath him, about halfway down the building. The blond hit it with a thud, causing the wind to be knocked out of him, but Kendall didn't let that deter him, as he pushed himself up to his feet.
Without even thinking about it, Kendall found himself gaining momentum, and before long, the blond was skating back up to James' apartment, ready to face the supervillain once and for all as anger coursed through his veins. As soon as Kendall was back up to James' apartment, he stripped out of the rest of his clothes, throwing them to the side as he walked back into the apartment, where James was currently being choked out against the wall, and Ricardo was laid out by the front door.
"Hey, why don't you pick on someone your own size" Kendall spoke up, causing Inferno to bash James' head against the fridge before dropping him, the brunet falling to the ground unconscious.
"Well, if it isn't Blizzard. Come to get your ass kicked once again?" Inferno replied, turning to face the blond, fire now radiating from his skin.
"Not this time. This time, you've crossed the line."
"Oh, does this sad sack mean something special to you?" Inferno asked, causing Kendall to let out a little growl as Inferno kicked James' legs, the brunet still unconscious. "Oh, he does, doesn't he?"
"Let's just say I'm sick of you terrorising his family" Kendall replied, causing Inferno to let out a wicked laugh.
"Well, if you'd let me finish, I'd be done terrorising them pretty soon"
"I can't let you do that" Kendall replied, causing a grin to grow on Inferno's face.
"Then try to stop me," the supervillain said, before launching a fireball in Kendall's direction.
The blond was quick to dodge it, watching as the fireball shattered a piece of James' glass as it flew out of the building. Glancing back to Inferno, the blond was greeted with the sight of the supervillain storming towards him, causing Kendall to dash out of his way, firing an ice shard as he did. As expected, the ice shard melted as soon as it got close to Inferno, but Kendall knew that it couldn't let that stop him this time, this had to be the last time to the two of them fought for the sake of both James and his arrogant father.
Instead of launching an ice shard this time, Kendall found himself charging towards the villain, jumping over the sofa as he tackled the villain to the ground, the two of them crashing into the dining room table that James had. The object crashed under the weight, Kendall now straddling the villain as he began to lay punches into his face since Kendall knew that he'd have to go old school for this one.
Inferno struggled beneath him, as Kendall wailed on the villain's face, but unfortunately, the villain was able to grab a piece of the destroyed wooden table, using it to whack Kendall over the head with. The blond fell to the side at the impact, causing Inferno to now straddle him, with his knees over Kendall's arms to stop the blond form doing what he'd previously done.
"I believe we've been in this position before" Inferno spoke up, his grin creepily bearing down on Kendall as the blond struggled.
"Yeah, and I believe I got out of it last time as well" Kendall replied, ready to headbutt the villain again.
This time, however, the villain leaned back, avoiding the headbutt before grabbing Kendall's head and forcing it back into the ground, now holding it in place. Kendall ignored the pain that was radiated from the back of his head as he tried to figure out what to do next. The only things that were free were his legs, but at the moment, they were pretty useless considering that Inferno was straddling his chest.
Moving his feet around, Kendall felt a loose piece of wood off to the side, and with some skilled manoeuvring, Kendall hoped he'd be able to use his knees to hit Inferno with it, enough to cause a distraction, but that was exactly what Kendall needed at the moment. Acting out of impulse Kendall spoke up.
"Why are you doing this?" the blond asked, his right foot moving to try and reach the piece of wood. "Why are you so determined to destroy the Diamond Family?" Kendall asked, trying his free his arms as he spoke so that he could distract Inferno from what was happening behind him.
"Why? Why? Because the Diamond Family took everything from me!" Inferno raged; his teeth gritted as he came right down in front of Kendall's face.
"You keep saying this, but what did they actually do?"
"They killed my entire family! They pathetic experiments caused the death of my entire village, poisoning the water supply we drank from, so they need to pay for what they did"
"I'm so sorry," Kendall said, feeling slightly guilty for the villain. He knew the pain losing your family could bring, but clearly, the two of them chose to process it differently.
"I don't need your pity. I need justice for their deaths"
"Justice and vengeance are two very different things. What you're seeking is vengeance!"
"I don't care what you call it, I just want them to suffer like I did" Inferno replied, and by this point, Kendall had the piece of wood in between his legs, ready to strike.
"Then I don't feel sorry for this" Kendall replied, bring his knees up, so that the piece of wood rammed itself into Inferno's back, a small sharp piece breaking through the skin, causing Inferno to let out a grunt of pain as Inferno's grip on Kendall loosened slightly.
Taking the opportunity, Kendall was able to free one of his arms, quickly swinging his fist towards Inferno's face, causing the villain to stumble to the side, much like the blond did when he was hit. Pushing the villain off of himself completely, Kendall jumped to his feet, glancing towards the kitchen, where he noticed that James was no longer laid unconscious at the bottom of the fridge.
Kendall's distraction, however, caused Inferno to get the better of him once again, the villain kicking Kendall in the back, his superior strength causing the blond to go flying towards the island in James' kitchen. Kendall stomach slamming into it, the blond was winded once again, and this time, it was enough for Inferno to pick Kendall up from the back of the neck and force him back down into the island, causing it to crumble under Kendall as he fell to the floor.
The blond tried his best to get back to his feet, but Inferno gave him no opportunity, grabbing Kendall by the neck once again as he threw the blond back towards the living room, Kendall now going crashing into James' TV before falling to the ground.
"No more distractions or opportunities for escape this time Blizzard. It's time you finally die" Inferno said as he crossed the space between the two of them, picking Kendall up by the throat as he began to choke out the blond. "Any last words?" Inferno gritted out, loosening his grip briefly on Kendall's neck so that the blond could speak.
"Behind you" Kendall managed to say before being dropped to the floor.
When James woke up, he glanced around his apartment briefly, trying to remember what had happened, but as soon as his eyes landed on Inferno straddling Kendall, he remembered exactly what had happened.
Panicked, James found himself crawling away from the fridge and behind the back of the island in the kitchen so that he was out of the way briefly. He knew that he needed to come up with something to help Kendall, but his heart was racing, and he was panicking massively about what to do. He'd never been in a situation like this before.
Sure, helping Kendall after he was attacked from Switchblade was one thing, but actively fighting a supervillain was another.
Peaking out from behind the island again, James could see that Kendall was trying to reach for a piece of wood with his feet, and that's when the idea hit James. He needed the metal baseball bat that he'd kept in his bedroom. That thing was powerful enough to knock out the supervillain right?
With very little options, other than to wait to see who would win between Kendall and Inferno, James made a run for his bedroom, hoping that Inferno would haven't seen him. By the time James had made it down the hallway, he was greeted with the sound of someone screaming and a few seconds later came the loud crash, like something was falling apart.
Panicking further, James sprinted into his room, going straight into his wardrobe where the metal object lived and as he retreated back from his room, he watched as Kendall was thrown across the living room, crashing into his TV. James winced for the blond, and as he watched Inferno cross his apartment with wicked speed, James knew he had to act fast.
As carefully as he could, James made his way over to the two of them, trying his best to stay as quiet as he possibly could, and as he approached, he heard Inferno speak up.
"Any last words?" Inferno gritted out, Kendall glancing over the villain's shoulder for a brief second where he made eye contact with James, who had the bat ready.
"Behind you," Kendall said, and James took that as his cue, swinging the bat as hard as he could, causing it to connect with the side of Inferno's head with a huge amount of force. The force was enough to cause Inferno to drop the blond to the ground, but it didn't knock out the villain as intended.
"I did say I would love it if you put up a fight," Inferno said, as he turned towards James, who went to swing the bat a second time. This time, however, Inferno was able to grab it, yanking it from James' grip and throwing it to the ground as James began to back away. "But you've been alive for far too long but this point" Inferno continued, growing a fireball in his hand. James stumbled over a loose piece of rubble, the brunet falling to the ground causing a grin to grow on Inferno's face. "Good riddance James," Inferno said, but before he could launch the fireball, Kendall was on his back, choking the supervillain.
"Get out of here" Kendall screamed to James, causing the brunet to jump to his feet, but as he did, he noticed something in the kitchen, causing him to scramble towards it. That's when James heard another thud, with Inferno having thrown Kendall across the room once again, so James knew that he had to act fast.
Grabbing the object, James noticed that Inferno was now focusing on Kendall once again, the blond now leaning against the wall as Inferno approached him, so James basically sprinted across the room, grabbing his metal bat as he did so. Acting quickly, James threw the fire blanket over Inferno before swinging his bat at the villain's leg's this time, causing him to fall to the ground.
That's when James just began swinging the bat over and over again at the covered villain on the floor, all of his anger and rage coming out.
"James! JAMES!" Kendall had to shout to get the brunet to stop, and as soon as he did, James dropped the bat as his hands began to shake. "I need you to call 911, can you do that for me?" Kendall asked, causing James to nod, his hands still shaking from what he'd done.
As Kendall straddled Inferno once again, keeping the fire blanket firmly on the villain, who was struggling beneath the blond.
"Do you really think this will work? A fire blanket?" Inferno asked, but as soon as he tried to ignite his body once again, nothing happened, causing Kendall to pin the object down harder out of reflex.
"Fire needs oxygen to burn, and without oxygen, you're powers are useless" Kendall replied, Inferno trying to ignite himself once again, only to fail this time as well.
"The police are on their way," James said, the brunet dropping to the ground as he let out a deep breath of relief. "Hey, good job" Kendall said to him, but from the look on James' face, Kendall knew that he didn't believe him.
With his legs up to his chest, James looked as fragile as ever, and that didn't stop even when the police got there.
So there we have it, the fight with Inferno in which James helped Kendall stop him, with a fire blanket no less. I thought that was cheesy and mundane enough to do the job 😜 But yeah, one supervillain is down and James' apartment is completely destroyed because of it! And poor Ricardo getting knocked out already, but don't worry, we will get the fall out from this in the next chapter!
I want to say a massive thank you to Winterschild11, Guest, RainbowDiamonds and EpicallyObsessed for reviewing the last chapter and I'm so glad you liked it! You all seem to like Katie, which I'm glad about, as I have a plan with her and I've been debating whether to implement it or not, so I think I'm going to go for it! Also, you all seem to both appreciate and hate Mr Diamond for what he did, which I have to agree with. He did a good thing hiring security, but it was out of pettiness and self-absorption. You all seemed curious about Ricardo as well, but as we've seen in this chapter, he's already getting a tough break.
Anyway, I hope you all have a great week, and I will see you all on Thursday for the next chapter of Rush and Response, which will pick up where the last one left off, with James heading to see the commissioner. But until then,
TTFN 😃❄