WnW 4.10

There’s a feeling I sometimes get when I forget that I’m choosing the lesser of two evils and I just think, I’ve made a terrible mistake. That thought played on repeat as I watched my silhouette fall in tandem with me in the reflection of the building I’d just leapt from. Silver walls and reflective windows slipped past all too quickly like a giant snake rushing upwards. The wind whistled through the small gaps in my armour. It dawned on me that all the armour in the world wasn’t going to protect me from gravity. It was still my flesh, my bones that had to take the impact.

I had a half-formed idea of somehow Shaping wings when my feet hit the ground, followed immediately by my knees slamming into the concrete. Gravity mercilessly drove me into the ground. Bones cracked. Pain shot up through my legs. I rolled and fell onto my back. 

The pain shot up from my toes to my head in pulses. Staring at the sky framed by skyscrapers, I admired the fluffy white clouds while I assessed how I was feeling.

“Ow,” I breathed.

“Holy shit, Nick.” Zola’s face appeared in my line of sight. His mouth hung open in a rare display of his strangely coloured teeth. “Are you okay?”

“Mm.” I couldn’t say what I wanted to, the Jiezhi are coming, we need to move. I rolled over, eliciting a fresh wave of pain. My knees throbbed terribly.

“Stay still.” This was Nell’s voice. “You broke a lot of bones. You need to heal.”

I felt tissues shifting in my ankles. The fire that the pain had been hiding suddenly flared, like it’d been given oxygen. “Careful,” I gasped. The pain began to lessen and my mind started to feel cloudy as the warm hunger spread. There was a strange clicking sound and I felt one of my leg bones sliding under the skin.

A hand touched my shoulder. I smacked it away. New pain emanated from my hand, somewhat clearing the haze. I stared at the long cut that ran along the back of my hand. 

Zola clutched his own hand, my blood dripping from the nail of his pointer finger. “S- sorry,” he said.

I gritted my teeth and pulled myself up to my knees. The pain was bearable. I looked around. We were at the back of the building. It looked like this was a small park, with sidewalks wrapping around some trees and flower boxes. Zola, AJ, and Nell were standing around me. AJ’s eyes were as wide as saucers. Zola kept glancing nervously towards the window where I’d jumped from. Along with pieces of my shattered armour, there were a few vines strewn around the cracked concrete I kneeled on, they connected to the trees around me but they were too far apart to act as a net. Thanks for the attempt, Nell. 

I struggled to my feet and limped towards one of the trees. “Is there anyone around?” I asked as I laid a hand on the tree’s trunk.

“Not yet,” said Nell. “You’re safe to do it.”

I let the fire that danced at my fingertips consume. The tree’s bark began to slide down the trunk like a waterfall of molasses. It looked like the tree was melting, but not decaying. The crisp green leaves entered into my hand without losing their vibrance. My mind sharpened and the pain began to fade entirely. The adrenaline made my mind buzz nicely. All things considered, I’d gotten off easy.

“Where’s Terry?” I asked.

“Here,” Terry drawled. I turned and watched him walk up to the group. He eyed me with amusement. “You beat me here and I even had a head start. Did you take a shortcut?”

I realized that I still had my armour up, at least the bones that hadn’t shattered upon my landing. I didn’t particularly feel like dropping it. “Fuck you,” I spat.

Terry raised an eyebrow. “I told you I wasn’t a fighter.”

“I thought Richard was going to be a problem but I stand corrected, at least he hasn’t actively abandoned me with no warning.”

“We all have to play to our strengths. I appreciate the diversion you made. That probably made the difference in me getting out.”

I stared at him incredulously. “Are you sure you don’t want to be captured and tortured again? You don’t seem to care much about a successful mission.”

Terry’s smile faltered. Then it dropped completely. Terry suddenly looked much older as he spoke, “We’re business partners, Nick. Not friends. I can’t be expected to throw myself into moving traffic to save you.”

“No. But we can’t be an effective team if I have to wonder if you’re going to disappear at any moment. What did Graham say about trust? You seem to have this devil-may-care attitude about everything, but I need you to back me up when I need it. I’ll do the same for you, even though I feel like punching you right now.”

Terry glanced over his shoulder. “Your threats of violence pale in comparison to the Jiezhi on my tail. Let’s get to the car.”

Getting away from the Jiezhi took priority, so I swallowed my anger for the moment. Our group got away before any witnesses of my dramatic exit showed up. We piled into a car that was parked a block away. I heard sirens getting closer. The paramedics would be perplexed to find nothing but dry broken bones. Nell was burning a hole in the back of Terry’s headrest with her glare.

As we pulled away, I kept my eye out for the Jiezhi. I didn’t see any outside of their building, even though we had taken a long time to get away. I suspected that there were too many witnesses and too much traffic to really do anything about our escape. They were probably watching us from the floors above.

“Not good,” Terry said to himself more than anyone in the car. “Someone gave the Jiezhi good intel on me. I wouldn’t be surprised if they let me in just so catching me would be easier.”

“Is there anyone specific that springs to mind?” Zola asked from the passenger seat.

Terry chuckled. “Half the criminal underground would love to lay hands on me, but it couldn’t be any of them. That thug in the stairwell knew about my Shape which I keep under fairly tight wraps. Only veterans of the original Ring should know about it.” Terry looked lost in thought.

AJ sat between me and Nell, he nudged me and asked, “Did you get any leads on what they’re doing?”

“Not much,” I said. “The only odd thing is that they hired a 3D modeller. Not sure what that means.”

“How did you do it?” AJ asked quietly.

I realized he was talking to me. “Hm? Do what?”

His eyes were full of awe as he took one hand out to motion with his finger, letting it fall, then stopping and splaying his fingers, complete with a quiet explosion sound effect.

I snorted. “That’s not how I remember it. I would have screamed if I had any air in my lungs.”

AJ shook his head. “You looked so cool. You’re like a superhero.”

A hero? That was the furthest thing from my mind.

“You mean the whole super powers thing? Yeah, I guess that’s pretty cool. But you have a Shape so then you’re a superhero too.”

AJ looked down at the floor. “It’s not the same. I can’t fight bad guys. I can’t survive anything.”

I winced. “Listen, I definitely can’t survive anything. I was lucky I’d already gotten to the lower floors. Any higher could have been a lot worse.” Although, as I said that, I realized that a drop like that was not something most people could walk away from. My body was getting stronger, perhaps to the point it could be called superhuman.

AJ took his hands out of his pockets. I saw that he had a small piece of my antler, which he was turning in his hands. He looked up at me. “What would your superhero name be?” He asked.

I hadn’t ever considered it. But looking at AJ, it really hit me that he was still just a kid. I wanted to encourage him to act like one. “Mm. Something with bones… How about the Ivory Knight?”

AJ nodded seriously. He didn’t smile. 

“Not that good, huh?”

“It could use some work,” he said, giving me a tiny smile.

“Alright, I’ll work on it. Now it’s your turn.”

“Ajna,” he said without hesitation.

“Ajna? Sounds cool. What does it mean?”

He moved his hood back a little and pointed at the bindi on his forehead. “Third eye.”

I smiled. “Clever. I like it.” A thought dawned on me. “Hey Ajna, did you get anything from listening to the meetings the Chinese Ring was having?”

AJ looked down. “I don’t know.”

That was to be expected. AJ could only use one “sense” at a time. He was probably just watching mostly.

AJ continued, “I don’t speak Chinese, so I don’t know what it means. But they said the word ‘Imo’ a lot. They were gesturing at the Old Town. They looked scared.”

“Imo? Maybe Èmó.” Terry commented from the front seat. “I believe it means demon in Mandarin.”

“Then…” AJ looked up at me, “there’s a demon in the Old Town.”