Chapter 15: Lonestar
"Don't you know playing in traffic is dangerous?" Tyler sarcastically asked as he swooped down onto the upper deck of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't the Magna Man," the single assailant mocked, a deep Texan drawl in his speech. "Allow me to introduce myself. The moniker's Lonestar."
"Let me guess... you're gonna tell me to not mess with Texas, huh?" Tyler questioned.
"Damn skippy, boy," Lonestar growled.
Tyler got into a ready position. He had to get this guy off the bridge, not to mention hurry up since he was in the middle of his lunch period.
Lonestar had the look of a desert desperado as he was sporting a large, jet black cowboy hat and a slate gray cloak. On his boots were two shiny spurs that looked as if they could slice through solid steel. Attached to his sides were a pair of chrome plated pearl handled pistols.
"Listen, pilgrim, I'm on a tight schedule so if we could speed this along, that would be great," Tyler requested. "So if you're looking for one of those Bonanza stand off's, you're out of luck."
"Well then come on, fluffy. Let's tangle!" Lonestar roared as he pulled out his guns, aimed and fired.
Tyler back flipped, went into a crouch, then though about returning fire, but there were hundreds of auto's behind Lonestar that could be caught in the fire. Another hail of bullets ripped past Tyler, qho casually danced and juked out of the way.
"That all you got, cowboy?" Tyler jived.
"Hardly," Lonestar noted as he pulled two super sized throwing spurs, reared up, then let them fly.
Tyler traced them in the sky as they arced gracefully, then spun as if they were the blades of rotary saws. Oh great. Why do I always attract people who have a fixation with sharp objects, he wondered to himself as he jumped, went into a series of corkscrew flips parallel with the deck of the bridge, then landed just as the spurs narrowly missed his body.
Instead of maintaining their trajectory, the two spurs arced, then came back, vying for Tyler's blood. Instead of staying on the bridge, Tyler lifted off, hoping the spurs would follow.
They did, homing in on him rapidly.
Once he was a good height above the towering suspension bridge, Tyler descended, his back to the surface and arms pointing upwards towards the sky. He pointed his index fingers and waited for as long as he could–about a half second–then fired on the spurs. The explosion brightened the mid day sky ten fold, then dissipated. Cheers from those stranded on the bridge erupted.
As Tyler kept descending, he unsnapped his cape, coiled it tightly, then snapped it out like a whip, around Lonestar's leg, snagging it and bringing the cowboy off the bridge effectively. Before the two could hit the water, Tyler managed to land a glancing punch clean on Lonestar's face, sending him flying into the financial district, Tyler close on his heels.
The two combatants hurled themselves headlong, right into the Embarcadero Street Mass Transit station. Unsuspecting commuters scrambled out of the way as both Lonestar and Tyler–Magna man–tumbled down one of the escalators to the Bay Area Rapid Transit line underneath the city. People disembarking from the automated trains dove back into the cars, or simply out of the way as the two aggressors punched, kicked, dodged and juked on the marble tiled platform.
From behind his back, Lonestar pulled out a lasso, twirled it over his head, then threw the looped end at Tyler, tying him up.
"That all you got country boy?" Tyler mocked as he grabbed the rope with his gauntleted hands.
Before he could react, Lonestar jerked the line, causing Tyler to lose his balance and crash down onto the electrified BART Train tracks. A surge of electricity raced through his body, but also traced the rope that had him tied up.
"I've always wanted to check out the Transbay Tube," Tyler joked. "Let's have a close up look!"
Tyler yanked hard on the rope, forcing Lonestar into a wall. Next, Tyler hovered above the train tracks, then rocketed into the dark, three and a half mile, tube, heading eastbound to Oakland. Like a toy, Lonestar bounced and ricocheted off the walls of the submerged tunnel
"Havin' fun back there, big boy? "Cause I sure am," Tyler laughed. "Uh oh, train up ahead."
Sure enough, a Richmond–Red Line–train was up ahead. Tyler, who was gingerly flying at about 170 miles per hour, flew above the commuter line with ease. Lonestar, on the other hand bounced on the roof of the five car train. Tyler chuckled at the grunts of pain as he continued to drag Lonestar through the tunnel.
"Don't star nothin', won't be nothin," Tyler mused.
Soon, they emerged at the West Oakland Station. Tyler flew up and outside, his eyes quickly adjusting to the daylight after spending a few minutes in the dark of the Transbay Tube.
"Well, it's been fun, but I'm missing my lunch with a hot girl and I'd much rather be chillin' with her."
Tyler loosened the noose around his body, yanked it, forcing Lonestar into his grasp, then spun like a top in a gut wrenching rate. Finally, Tyler let go of his challenger, watching the cowboy fly high into the sky.
"Y'all don't come back now, y'hear?" Tyler mocked and he put his hands together, created a glowing orb of superheated plasma energy within his palms, then fired, engulfing Lonestar.
For the better part of the past couple weeks, Chelsea had been floating on could nine, especially after Saturday. Since that day, Raven noticed Chelsea had a glow about her whenever she and Tyler were together. At that moment, she started to think of her first boyfriend that she actually loved, Devon Carter, who coincidentally was in Seattle. It had been over a year since they split. But he was still on her mind, even with the influx of other guys she had her eye on, especially her most recent beau, Andre–which she colloquially called "Mister Perfect."
Her thoughts then went to Chelsea's own "Mister Perfect," and what she saw back when they first met. She had seen Chelsea get hurt by guys who either hid something or flat out lied and though Raven knew Tyler was a good person, he was hiding something. A very big something. Just then, Tyler rounded the corner.
"Hey, Tyler. We need to have a talk," Raven insisted.
"Now? I, uh... had to work on a project, and I haven't had anything to eat yet," Tyler tried to explain.
"Oh? Well too bad, you'll survive. And this is important." Raven noted, then whispered, "Really important. About my visions."
Accepting the fact that he was going to miss out on lunch he sighed. "Okay then, fire away." Tyler then thought to himself, "thanks a lot, Lonestar. Jerk."
"Okay, I know you're different and all, Tyler. And that's cool, but..." Raven began.
"You want to know more about me. The real me, huh?" Tyler interrupted.
Raven nodded.
"Alright then. Get comfy because it's a long story. And it's gonna sound kinda far fetched, but it's all true."
Tyler told her about everything, from how he came to be, what he endured, and his escape. He omitted the portion of him being Magna Man. The only other person who knew was Jennifer, and that was because she was with him at the time it happened.
Raven's eyes went wide as she listened to his words. If anyone else were telling her this, she would have sworn they got it from a movie or something, but this was all true.
"So... are you still a person?" she nervously asked. "You're not, like a robot or alien or something, right."
Tyler chuckled, "Yeah, I'm definitely human. I'm just an augmented one."
"So exactly what can you do?"
"Oh, basic stuff, y'know. Bench press a car, run a mile in two minutes flat, hold my own in a fight if I'm drastically outnumbered."
"Kinda arrogant, ain't ya?" Raven smugly inquired, then remembered, "So that's how you fought all those guys and rescued Chelsea. You're like Clark Kent from Smallville."
"Sorta kinda. But unlike that guy, I actually look like a teenager, just tall. And I can't shoot heat beams from my eyes." I shoot them from my hands, instead, he thought with a grin. "Anything else you wanna know?"
Raven shook her head.
"Well, if you need to know something else, just come find me. I'm gonna go find Chelse before class starts."
Raven didn't say anything as Tyler walked off. There wasn't really anything she could say, though she still had questions for him. She came to the conclusion that she'd ask them later. At that second, her gazed went off into space and her eyes shot wide open.
An incoming vision.
In her vision, all she saw was students running and screaming. The thing that chilled her to the bone, however, was the sound of a gunshot somewhere in the school.
"Oh my gosh," she gasped, then ran to find one of her friends to fill them in.
Tyler found Chelsea and Jennifer walking down the hallway. The bell indicating lunch was over blared and quickly, the halls were filled with students grabbing their stuff for their afternoon classes.
"Chelse, Jay, what's up?" Tyler greeted.
Before they could say anything, Tyler saw Ben approach from behind the two girls. From the look on Tyler's face, Jennifer could tell something wasn't quite right. Inconspicuously, she tuned her head and out of the corner of her eye, she too saw Ben.
"Chelly? Ben's behind us," she whispered.
Instead of acknowledging the girls, Ben stormed right past them towards Tyler.
"Ben, it's been a while, man," Tyler said with a smile, opting to take the high road.
"Spare the shit, McGinnis." Ben growled. "If it wasn't for you, I'd still be with Chelsea. It's your fuc–"
"Now wait just a minute," Tyler interjected. "Don't try and put the blame on me just because you let her get away on your own, pal."
"Bullshit!" he yelled, catching the attention of everyone else in the hallway. "Before you came along, things were just fine. But you know what? I don't even give a damn anymore."
Tyler stood his ground defiantly. "Then what's this all about, man?"
A grin cracked Ben's features. "What's it about? It's about... principle"–he then chuckled "–the principle that if I can't have her, then you sure as hell can't."
Within the blink of an eye, Ben reached under his shirt and pulled out a black 9 millimeter pistol, aiming it right at Tyler's chest. Students who saw the gun panicked and left the scene. Raven skidded around the corner and quickly came to a halt beside Chelsea and Jennifer as she saw Ben gripping the weapon. He spun around and aimed the gun at the three, who instinctively ducked and screamed as there was no where to run.
"Ben! Leave them out of this. This is between you and me," Tyler pleaded.
"No! That bitch Raven was in it as well!"
Tyler saw the fear in all three of the girls eyes, each glazed over. "Ben, this isn't worth it. You don't have to do this."
"Yeah, I do have too." Ben said emotionlessly.
Ben spun back around and pointed the gun at Tyler once again. Good, Tyler thought, I have a better chance to survive than them if he decides to shoot. Though he had been shot–a long time ago–he didn't really want to feel it again. And the last time he was shot, it was from a distance. Ben was at point blank range.
From the corner of his eye, Tyler saw some people emerge from another corner and immediately come to a stop. It was Eddie, along with the Principal, Mr. Lawler, the Vice-Principal, Mrs. Cereghino, and another teacher who he didn't recognize. The three staff members ordered Ben to drop the gun as they stood a safe distance away. The sound of emergency vehicle sirens became audible and the flash of red and blue strobe lights could be seen. Though the others couldn't hear it, Tyler could hear snipers and the other officers take up positions, as well as the chatter over their radios.
"Ben, this is getting way out of hand. All you have to do is put the gun down and we can all go home," Tyler said as calmly as he could muster.
"No, we won't all be going home, Tyler. I'm a kid with a gun and that's grounds for jail time. At least now, I'll have a legit reason." Ben noted.
Things seemed to move in slow motion as Tyler saw him cock the gun, then start to squeeze the trigger. With the lockers to his back, he had nowhere to run. He could see the others mouths open as if yelling, but he couldn't hear their voices. Tyler also noticed Eddie, Mr. Lawler, and the other teacher start to advance on Ben before he could fire.
They were too late.
Tyler heard a loud clap of thunder–the gun–and felt a bullet impale through his chest and lodge in his heart. Another bullet pinged off his rib and made a home in his left lung. The force of the shots caused Tyler to slam into the lockers, then collapse onto the linoleum floor. Tyler's shirt became drenched with blood as he lay there, though he was still conscious. Barely.
The principal, teacher, and Eddie, tackled Ben to the ground, then wrestled the gun away. A swarm of police officers entered into the school. Tyler saw one of them mouth the words "oh my God" as the saw Tyler laying in a crumpled heap.
Chelsea ran over to Tyler, knelt down beside him, and put her arms around his neck and head. Tears flowed from her eyes after what she witnessed.
"Chelse?" he quietly whispered, "Ch-chelse? Please don't... don't cry."
She couldn't bring herself to say anything. All she could do was lean down, her cheek pressed against his own. Some of her hair draped into Tyler's face. To him, it had a citrus-like refreshing smell that he never wanted to forget. Just for that, he knew he had to pull through. If only to see her smile one more time, he would fight and win.
"Remember, Chelsea," he finally whispered into her ear, "All that matters... to me... is that you're okay."
Tyler then closed his eyes and blacked out, still in Chelsea's arms.