Chapter II: Revenge
The phone kept ringing, Ethan was waiting for Jill to answer on the other line, Jill hasn't calling back for a while.
Typical the word rushed to Ethan's mind, she never really returns calls… she's too lazy.
But then maybe not he thought, it was him who wasn't calling for a while, it has been a roller coaster for Ethan and he was too happy to discover his new powers.
Hi, you have reached Jill Carson…sorry, I'm not here right now, so why don't you leave a message and I'll be on to it.
There was a large beeping sound afterwards.
"Jill!" Ethan exclaimed "it's me Ethan, sorry I haven't been calling for a while but I have been busy…I promise to repay the favor soon" Ethan was smiling "Just say the place and time.
With those words, Ethan hung up; he quickly grabbed his coat and went for the rooftop.
The breeze was steady, it was a cold morning, no birds, no sun, it was like a pale day… a boring day.
"You can do this Ethan" he whispered to himself holding a bottle of beer.
He threw the beer and watched as it was wildly spinning in the air, as it moved downwards Ethan let out a strong shout
"Stop!" it was so loud that it could be heard from below…Ethan had the confidence that the bottle would stop in mid-air, he was waiting for everything to stop when…nothing happened.
He gave out a surprised look as he stared at the shattered glass on the cement roof. He stayed silent for a while; all that could be heard were the doves chirping and the beeping of cars from down below. He shook his head and tried for another bottle… throwing it again with some good force the bottle went in the air for a while, as the bottle was cruising down Ethan shouted again.
"Stop!" but still nothing, the bottle had crashed completely to the cement, mixing its shatters with the last one.
When the third bottle fell down to pieces Ethan was getting very frustrated, the heat was getting to him and was breaking a sweat, and so he continued practicing for a while.
Still nothing and it was about a dozen bottles already, and he already decided to give up, he held the last bottle of beer, still full and it went down with a big gulp. Holding the beer he opened the door towards the stairs that winded back to his apartment. Maybe it was just by dumb luck he thought it was all a dream. As he stood there staring at the old creaky staircase he had thought that maybe God had given him only one chance and nothing more.
"Nothing more" Ethan whispered to himself, and this point the anger and disappointment mixed up within him, with all his strength he threw the bottle to the side not even looking at it.
As he walked a few steps down the stairs he suddenly noticed something he nearly had forgotten…there was no sound of breaking.
And if there is no sound of breaking he thought then the bottle was still in-mid air.
He ran as quickly as he can towards the roof top searching for where the bottle is… then to his surprise…it was right there, floating in mid-air as if it was placed on a table, Ethan looked upwards to see if anything else had stopped, and there it was, all the flock of fowls had gone to a complete stop, and everything was at silence. Ethan shouted with joy and finally knew the secret to his power.
It was emotion, it wasn't on saying it or anything else…if he felt like everything would want to slow down, time would obey him, it was a great feeling…it was astonishing.
The days passed by and everything for him felt like a dream… he had used much of his power to his enjoyment and had forgotten all about Jill. Ethan had not been coming home for quite a while; he had been staying in this 5-star hotel thanks to his new gift.
When Ethan did come back to his half-aged home, he had found his answering machine blinking with a lot of messages.
He went there bristly walking and he anxiously pressed the messages button.
You have…four new messages…said the answering machine.
There was a beep on the answering machine and there the voice of Jill spoke
Hey Ethan! Sorry it took me while to answer your messages, I've been busy taking care of my grandma…call me so we can set up dinner sometime…okay? Bye!
You have…three new messages…continued the answering machine.
Ethan had forgotten about Jill, he started to worry about their relationship as he waited, listening to the next message.
Ethan…it's been awhile and you haven't been answering my calls…Is everything okay? I'm starting to worry… I'm free this week if your up to it…I gotta go…bye!
You have…two new messages…the answering machine went on. Ethan had been too isolated for the past few days… he had wondered what had happened during his practice.
Ethan…I hope your hearing this message, I'll be leaving for Azshra capital tomorrow…I hope we could see each other before I leave, my plane departs at 6:30 at the 14th…I'll be at Koolz Café the whole afternoon…Bye!
You have…one new message…Ethan had looked at the time…it was a quarter to six, he rushed outside…carrying his coat and he swiftly went outside. As he wore his coat…he felt the breeze colder than before…something seemed wrong in the picture.
Ethan had took the bike Lee Roy had after he had killed him and had done a few modifications…he was especially fond of printing his name on the side.
The bike went on with a loud sound of its starting engine…and Ethan drove as fast as he could towards the café…what Ethan had forgot was the very last message on that machine.
There was screaming in the background and gunshots could be heard everywhere…and then there was a cold voice on the other side of the line.
Hello, hello Project Immortal…I have a friend of yours right here beside me…there was a scream of a girl in the background. Meet me at the docks at seven this evening or all you'll see of her is her intestines hanging of a tree. The line was cut…
You have no new messages…there was a beeping sound and then the machine had gone into silence.
Ethan on…not knowing, that one last message on the machine. As he reached the café he jumped out of his bike and went straight inside the glass doors. There were only a few people on the café, full of unfamiliar faces…but there was no sign of Jill whatsoever.
Ethan sighed and walked away…maybe she had already left? He had thought…he checked his watch, and had found that his watch had stopped…he looked up to see the time on the digital billboard above, it was already quarter to seven. The darkness was growing steady on the noisy city of Zanthropolis.
Ethan went back on his bike and went on his way, it seemed slower on his way back…he passed by the monument of Zanthropol…the founder of this city…said to be one of the DivineKnights, the best skilled weapon masters in history.
Everything seemed to be moving slowly, the mixed emotions that Ethan felt were playing with time…that few blocks to his apartment seemed like miles…he wanted everything to be normal again...his head was aching because of all the thoughts that were crossing his mind.
He let out a sigh of relief as he was only two blocks away from his apartment; everything seemed to be moving at a normal pace again. As Ethan reached that last intersection, he was cut off by two roaring fire trucks headed towards the direction of the street he was living in… as he turned his head, he noticed a large cloud of black smog rising from what looks like his apartment dancing with the flames.
He revved up the engine and his bike went soaring towards his place, not noticing the traffic lights…something was wrong, he could feel the blood pumping quickly through his veins and arteries.
He said nothing as he reached the front of his apartment, a wave of shock coursed through his body as he saw his once home engulfed in flames…a lot of people went as spectators as the firefighters moved in towards the burning building, trying to extinguish the strong flames.
Some two hours had passed before everything had gone to silence again, he kneeled in front of the ashes of that place, and the firefighters had reported that there were no survivors…an array of dead unrecognizable corpses were being carried into ambulances.
No tears had come from Ethan's eyes; so much for your new life whispered his thoughts sarcastically into his ears. As he rounded the former building, he kicked the ashes side to side; all the people he ever knew had died…it was unbearable.
As he was about to leave the dreaded place behind he heard a feminine shout from the distance "Ethan! Ethan!" the shouts continued, as he turned to look, he saw a mid-40s lady running towards him. His eyebrows were raised; confusion swept his mind. Who is this? He kept asking to himself. But soon the answer was about to come when the lady suddenly hugged him tightly.
"I thought you were dead" she blurrily said she paused for a moment with tears running down her cheeks… she looked straight at Ethan's eyes and found the confused look on his face.
"Don't you remember your aunt Lily?" she asked soon after. The look on Ethan's face had said enough. He couldn't mutter out a word out of his mouth.
"Listen" she suddenly spoke "when I heard there was a fire here I immediately came to see if you were alright, and I'm so happy you are" a smile suddenly appeared from her face "You have no place to stay at…come you must stay at my place." She paused again for a moment to take out a piece of paper and a pen from her velvet handbag. She wrote down the address carefully on the little note and gave it to Ethan. "You go ahead, I have to pick up something to pick up first." She turned her back and said "Bye." Then she walked to the opposite direction.
Ethan was still confused after all the events that had occurred this day, little did he know that the firefighters had reported the bomb had started the fire, and it was located at room 209… it was Ethan's room.
A police car's sirens were screeching in the background, police had to investigate a matter of terrorism that had just struck the area… Ethan was filed as a suspect…as the car neared to where Ethan was standing, the police inside the vehicle were ready, with their guns at holster and their badges flashing. Ethan was at sight, and when they exited the vehicle, to their surprise, he was gone.
Ethan had wanted everything to stop, and so everything did as his emotions would tell him. So he quickly exited the area and went for a place of peace, the Park of Fountains.
He entered the gates and as he went in read the writing written on the stone wall encircling the park, the park was first discovered during the colonization of the New Age by the Republic. The commandos were amazed when they had found out that this area, completely excluded to civilization, contained all these fountains inhabited by so many wild creatures of their climate, up to today, the secret of the fountains still remain unknown.
Ethan had sat on one of the benches nearing the largest fountain ever known in the planet…it was called the dolphin fountain because of the 50 foot dolphin statue on the middle of a fountain the size of a small lake.
Everything seemed so fast, Ethan was buried with flashbacks of his awakening, his friends, Jill, his powers, everything seemed so fast and so everything felt wrong.
He went to the address Lily had written down the note, 47 Raspberry drive, South Area.
It took him a few minutes to finally find the area; it was a two-story white house, decorated beautifully with an ensemble of flowers. There was writing under the note of the address saying that the key was under the mat, and so it was, as Ethan entered the house, he was amazed at the very tidy house flourished with antiques.
Ethan decided to take a little stress off by watching TV…as he sat down on the couch and started to watch a late evening show, he slept on the couch unknowingly. And again he dreamt…
He was standing in front of a large 200-storey building, as he entered he saw everyone was looking at him. He entered the elevator and pressed the 176 floor, and a second later he was already at that floor standing in front of an old rich entrepreneur with about 20 bodyguards near.
The old man seemed surprised and said "What are you doing here?"
Ethan muttered nothing but the word "Kill…"
Everything went to slow motion except for Ethan; he drew two small scimitars hidden under his black over coat and started a massacre, when it was all over he looked at the area sprayed with blood and bodies without a clue that they died in a split second.
Ethan had awoken panting, it was morning already and Lily was cooking at the kitchen, Ethan shook his head and stood up, only to be stopped by the early morning news.
"Just in, the only flight said to arrive at the Azshra capital left at 6:30 pm, and crashed at the Vinnigan islands five hours later, though the crash reasons seem to be unknown, and no survivors have been found, the rescue team are working without rest to find survivors, this is Amy Smith with the morning news…"
It took awhile for Ethan to realize that Jill was in the flight, and she might as well be dead…a rush of anger had gone completely inside of him, he felt uncontrollable, and he wanted revenge to whoever did this.
He could hear his heart beating rapidly that early morning, losing his friends was already enough, but this had made his insides explode. At the moment the TV turned to static, suddenly every light in the house dimmed.
The large window panes of the house suddenly broke as what looked like metal-wrapped things went in. They were armed with guns and hovering a few feet in the air, the large blue steel protection on its head revealed a large red eye scanning the area, the moment they saw Ethan, the guns faced him, ready to shoot an array of bullets.
But Ethan's reflexes acted quickly as he stopped time, and took a gun from one of the machines, he pointed it at them and accurately shot a magazine of bullets to every one of them, they acted in suspended animation in the air, the gears that were flying out of them stayed in mid-air for a while, when Ethan had wanted time to go back to its normal state, all the machines had been reduced to a pile of scrap.
But it wasn't over a few seconds after the machines had met their demise; a team of commandos in black uniforms suddenly entered the building guns ready and aimed. When they had surrounded him on one side of the room, Ethan wanted everything to slow down, but time this time didn't act according to his will. And before he knew it, hundreds of bullets went straight through his body…with a last chance of effort he tried to rewind time, and luckily it did. Everything in rewind, he could see the bullets coming back inside the guns…as time went back to normal, he knew what he was going to do…he dived towards the right making the couch his shield from the bullets.
Searching for an opportunity he looked around and saw that one of the hovering droids from earlier had tear gas and another SMG. Instinctively he grabbed the tear gas and threw it wildly in the air…crashing to the ground and incapacitating the commandos.
Seeing this as a chance…he took the SMG and stood up to his feet…aimed small, and released a barrage of bullets towards the confused troop. In a matter of seconds every one of them was dead.
Ethan ran towards the kitchen to find Lily hiding behind the counter safe from harm.
"You are not safe while I am here…" Ethan said with a difference in his voice… Lily dug into her pockets and gave a silver key to Ethan, in which she said "That key is to my private condo at the North side of town nearing the lake…" She paused to look at the damage as Ethan followed behind her. "I can take care of everything from here." Ethan scavenged around the area for knowledge of who could've done this…and there it was…a band with the mark of Innova Corporation… "The Leader of Today's Innovations" they say.
With her words…he left towards the Everlasting Lake of Zanthropolis…meanwhile back at Lily's wrecked home the police were investigating the matter…and Lily covering for Ethan had said that she was attacked by them and a berserk hovering machine had killed all of them before it exploded itself…by this time the police were about to believe anything she said.
Standing at the edge of the lake was Ethan… staring at the breathtaking view of the condo on the other side... now he knows who had owned the place… there was only one way of crossing the lake…and it was a ferry that seemed that it was about to fall to pieces.
He entered the ferry as soon as it hit land and noticed only a few people were on board…as the ferry traveled to his destination…Ethan stared at the lake…it was reflecting the beauty of the trees that had surrounded it.
As soon as he had entered the condo…everything was at set…from food to clothing…to even a private gym…it felt great. But there was only one thing left to do.
On the busy floors of Innova Corporation…people were rushing about their work, too busy creating new ideas…sponsoring other companies…and some other things employees aren't suppose to know.
But at the reception desk…at the first floor of the very powerful company…there entered a man without a past…a man who had lost everything that was important to him…a man looking for revenge.
"Yes sir…can I help you?" asked the female receptionist as the man went in front of the counter.
"Yes I'm looking for a job…" replied Ethan.