Isaac, wearing a thin jacket and jeans, was quietly walking down one of the streets in Central City, before finding a tattoo shop, looking to make sure the address in the dossier was the same as the tattoo shop.
"Alright, this is the place." Isaac said to himself. He walked in, seeing it looked more like a dive bar than a tattoo shop. He saw a burly man with an eagle claw facial tattoo, matching the sketch in the dossier.
"This Seer better be right." Isaac muttered, before approaching the man. The man, working on a few sketches for tattoos. Isaac cleared his throat, getting his attention.
"If you want a tattoo, you'll need to make an appointment." The man gruffly said, not looking away from his sketches. Isaac took a deep breath, already feeling like this was going to escalate.
"Actually… I've heard you're the guy to talk about getting involved in… Bubble Bombs." Isaac said. The man stopped sketching, looking at him.
"You a cop?" The man asked, frowning.
"Uh… no?" Isaac responded.
"If you're a cop, you have to tell me. That's the law!" The man said. Isaac raised an eyebrow at that statement.
"Uh… that's not actually the law, but no, I'm not a cop." Isaac responded. The man rose from his seat, before aiming a shotgun at him, Isaac diving to avoid a scatter of buckshot!
"Fucking cop! You're a fucking dead man!" The man yelled, racking the shotgun! Isaac crouched behind a counter, before peeking out, diving back down to avoid another round of birdshot!
"Okay… looks like The Seer was right on the money." Isaac said to himself, before focusing his powers, heating the metal components inside the gun from a distance, the gunpowder in the shotgun shells combusting! The barrel of the shotgun banana-peeled, the man stumbling backwards into the wall, Isaac charging, pinning the man against the wall!
"Who's supplying you?!" Isaac yelled, before the man grabbed a tattoo gun near him, attempting to stab him with it, Isaac grabbing his wrist, stopping his attack!
"Go to Hell!" The man choked out, before Isaac slammed him into a table, breaking him through it!
"WHO'S SUPPLYING YOU?!" Isaac demanded, his eyes glowing with a furious intensity! The man was defiant, until the Demon came out for a moment, his face replacing Isaac's, roaring at him! The man whimpered, his gruff facade giving away to immeasurable fear!
"WHO IS IT?!" The Demon roared, his teeth inching towards his throat!
"23rd and 5th! There's a warehouse! They've been pumping tablets out like it's going out of style!" The man cried out, terrified!
"HOW MANY?!" The Demon raved.
"I don't know! I've never been inside! There's four, maybe five, guards, always rotating outside! I just pick up a box, and hand them their cut at the end of the week!" The man admitted. The Demon roared, before throwing him through the glass window! Isaac regained control, before hearing sirens.
"Oh, damn it! Thanks a fucking lot!" Isaac cursed his demon side, before seeing a box of Bubble Bombs hidden in a locked cupboard. Smirking, he broke the cupboard open, before scattering the Bubble Bombs around, making sure this place would be locked up tighter than a bank vault! Soon, he ran through the back exit, running out of the tattoo shop, going down the alley!
Isaac soon dove behind a dumpster, taking out his cellphone. He called Joshua, knowing he would most likely be asleep, but he needed to talk to him!
"Pastor Joshua Hagram speaking." Joshua's voice said.
"Joshua, it's Isaac! I have the address of another warehouse. But I'm worried! I'm worried the Demon is going to have full reign, and he'll kill everyone, and…. and…" Isaac began to explain, feeling like he was beginning to have a panic attack!
"Isaac, breathe. Calm yourself. Run down to the apartment. I'll be able to help you here." Joshua calmly said.
Isaac caught up on his breathing, taking deep breaths. After a few moments, he brought the phone back to his face.
"Okay… I'll be there in a bit." Isaac said, before hanging up. He tucked the phone away into his pocket, before walking towards Joshua's apartment complex, mentally arguing with the Demon!
Thirty Minutes Later:
Isaac walked up the stairs to Joshua's door, knocking. He could smell frankincense and myrrh, before the door opened, Joshua already wearing his pastoral suit.
"Come in." Joshua said, his voice slightly muffled through his bandages. Isaac walked in, before Joshua led him to the living room, sitting down into his chair, Isaac sitting across from him.
"Good. Now, I want you to tell me… what triggers your demonic episodes? What causes you to lose control?" Joshua asked. Isaac took a deep breath.
"Okay… part of it is… guns. Hearing them fire, the smell of gunpowder… getting shot by them! It's just all… too much!" Isaac said, feeling his heart picking up its pace. Joshua nodded, giving him his full undivided attention.
"Anything else?" Joshua asked. Isaac nodded, feeling the Demon scraping the inside of his stomach.
"This city… the Bubble Bombs… just… everything! Being away from my wife and daughter! My baby sister is here! Just… EVERYTHING!" Isaac yelled, his skin darkening, his veins glowing red! The Demon choked, the frankincense and myrrh depressing his abilities, reverting back to his normal form.
"Let the sacred incense calm you. Let it keep you in line, to control your transformations. Let it allow you to yell and scream without the threat of losing control." Joshua said. Isaac, breathing heavily, released a loud, long yell of rage and anguish, his powers being in control for once, venting!
"RAAAAAAGGGHHHHH!" Isaac gutturally roared, before breathing heavily.
"Damn… that felt good." Isaac sighed, sitting back down. Joshua nodded, understanding the need to allow anger to be expressed, instead of suppressed.
"Many years ago, I used my anger to serve the Order of Honorius. It burned in me as a flame, oftentimes making me contradict my faith to the Lord, through serving the Order of Honorius. But it was when the fighting was done, that my anger continued to burn." Joshua explained. Isaac wanted to keep yelling, to keep his anger burning, but soon, he realized he had nothing left to yell, exhausted.
"When was the last time you slept?" Joshua asked. Isaac shrugged his shoulders, not remembering the last time he slept more than an hour.
"I haven't slept much since when you found me bleeding out on the sidewalk. I'm lucky to get an hour or two. Sometimes… I don't sleep at all." Isaac admitted, yawning.
Joshua got up from his seat, opening a closet door, pulling out a blanket and pillow. His bandaged hands tossed him the pillow, before draping the blanket over him, kicking the reclining handle on the chair, Isaac gasping as the chair reclined.
"You're safe to sleep here. You need sleep. Mistakes are often made when facing exhaustion. And I don't need the one I spared to die from passing out in the middle of a firefight." Joshua said, a bit of wry humor in his voice.
"Nah, I just need…. to… rest my eyes for a moment." Isaac yawned, closing his eyes. Soon, he felt himself drifting off, beginning to slumber.
Isaac found himself in the Great Forest that bordered the Kingdom of Acorn. He couldn't feel the temperature or the wind. He looked down, seeing he didn't leave footprints. He began walking along the trails, seeing the snow was melting, early spring beginning to set. As he walked, he saw Sally, wearing a harness, their infant daughter, Camilla, swaddled and resting in the harness, Sally gently whispering and fawning over her.
"Look at you! Did you know your daddy used to live out here? Huh? Oh, you don't know what I'm saying, do you?" Sally cooed, giggling. Isaac walked up to her, already seeing she wasn't focused on him.
"You can't see or hear me, can you?" Isaac asked, realizing he was astral projecting again. He sighed, walking along with her. He smiled, seeing Camilla, her soft quills bouncing with Sally's footsteps. She tried to reach out to him, Isaac realizing she could see him!
"What? Are you trying to reach someone?" Sally giggled, not knowing that she was able to see her father's astral projection. Isaac was hunched over as he walked with her, playing with her, playing peekaboo, seeing that Camilla's reactions confirmed she could actually see him!
"Wait… do you see someone?" Sally asked her, holding her closely, looking around. She couldn't see anyone else.
"Sally, I'm right here! Come on, we're soulmates! You have to at least sense I'm here!" Isaac said, walking around her, yelling, trying to get her attention. Suddenly, Isaac felt his pocket vibrating, hearing his phone ringing, suddenly feeling himself launch away back into his body, jolting awake!
Isaac was breathing hurriedly, before realizing his phone was ringing. He answered it, Vylania's voice on the other end, panicked and yelling!
"Isaac, you need to get back! Someone tried to break into the apartment, and Xorelaz got injured! Badly!" She yelled, Isaac quickly hanging up!
"Joshua, someone attacked my friends! I need to get out of here!" Isaac quickly said. Joshua, not even hesitating, quickly walked to his room, before soon walking out, tucking a Browning Hi-Power into his suit.
"I'm coming with you! It's time I stop standing on the sidelines!" Joshua said, before grabbing his keys, telling him to come with.
10 Minutes Later:
Soon, Joshua's car stopped in front of the apartment, Isaac quickly running out of the car, running through the door! Xorelaz was sitting on the couch, Vylania gently tending to his head wound, the wound closed with butterfly sutures and packed with gauze. Zorelaz was dazed, suffering a minor concussion. Isaac asked what happened, Xorelaz muttering.
"There… there was… three, I think. I… managed to fend off two of them, but… the third one jumped me… damn, this hurts." He groaned.
"Where's Lily?!" Isaac asked. Vylania stood up, before guiding him to the room, showing that Lily was fine. She quickly got up from her bed and quickly hugged her brother, obviously shaken from the sudden attack.
"Little sister, what happened?" Isaac calmly asked, despite his own racing heart. Lily was hesitant, not wanting to admit the three that attacked the apartment were the three men she bludgeoned with a baseball bat for information. Isaac looked at her, his eyes staring into hers, before Lily cried.
"I did it! It's my fault! I'm the Seer! I went looking for information the other day and I beat them up for it!" Lily tearfully admitted. Isaac looked at her incredulously, in disbelief of what he was hearing. As he was crouched there, unsure of whether to be angry that she did this and got Xorelaz attacked, or relieved that she was okay, Joshua heard his phone ring, before answering it. He looked stunned, whoever talking on it kept him frozen, before it suddenly hung up. He was at a loss for words, before he muttered what happened.
"That was Matthew Patrick… He told me… my wife and children… the cartel has taken them…" He managed to say, before he suddenly yelled with a white-hot rage, punching a hole in the solid oak door of Lily's room! He yelled, the bandages on his hand unfurling, showing his skin, having been severely burned and healed, his skin scarred severely.
"I paid the protection money! I made sure that they didn't know I was assisting you! And yet, they take them?!" Joshua ranted, feeling the fire inside burning! He turned to Isaac, before asking him if he was coming, prepared to finally unleash the warrior inside of him. Isaac gulped, before he spoke.
"23rd and 5th. They're on 23rd and 5th." Isaac said, before Joshua started walking, Isaac quickly following.
"It is time… I shall be the instrument of His wrath!" Joshua said, his voice calm, but laced with intense anger!