Project Nocens

What is Project Nocens? It is a man's attempt to bring down a city, and he may very well succeed.

Chapter One

Friday the 12^th

Arianna could hear her boss’s fingers tapping against his chair; he had just had a “business meeting” with some heavily shrouded people - five of them if she had counted correctly. She didn’t think much of it; honestly, he had the same people in there before. They always concealed themselves with some kind of robes. Never did she see their faces, but one time she could have sworn that she smelled a strong smoky campfire odor coming from Mr. Zachariah’s office.

The people in Mr. Zachariah's office radiated a sense of power impossible to ignore. It gave her chills sometimes. Anyone that did business with Mr. Zachariah had to have great power. He was possibly the most powerful man in the city of Aro, he didn’t deal with small business people, or the riffraff that wanted help�"money�"from him. The people he dealt with on a monthly basis, like her own father, were close “business partners”.

These people had come every week since the beginning of the month. Normally when she asked who was a part of the business meetings, he would tell her. It was usually a process that took up to half an hour, with Mr. Zachariah going through each person, what business in Aro they controlled, and what they were accomplishing in the meeting that day. However, when she asked the first time these mysteriously covered people came in, he patted her head and smiled at her, “Don’t worry your pretty little head about those people.” She had beamed; being called ‘pretty’ by Mr. Zachariah was the highest of high compliments in her opinion.

Usually after meeting with those people, Mr. Zachariah was deep in thought, digging through notes that he made during the meeting, typing away at his keyboard and looking things up on the computer. Sometimes he made Arianna grab files from his file cabinet in the safe, but she never looked any further than the outside of their covers and names. She had no idea what he was doing really; she assumed he was doing research for a business opportunity.

Today, he had his chair turned to face the city skyline; he hadn’t called her in for anything. He seemed irritated, though she hadn’t heard yelling in the meeting. Actually, she didn’t hear much of anything inside of his office when the meeting had been going on. This was different than most of his meetings, when she could at least hear voices, or if she tried, make out at least a little bit, of what was being said. She shifted in her seat, fiddling with her papers as she continued to hear the nonstop tapping of Mr. Zachariah’s hand on his chair. Why did the thought of these meetings of his unnerve her so much?

She grabbed her notepad and pen and walked into the doorway of his office, “Sir? Do you need me for anything?” He didn’t speak, but turned his chair around and faced her. Therefore, she had thought correctly, his very dark brown eyes narrowed at her. He only gave her that look when he was fed up with her, even if it was due to something else entirely. She sharply inhaled, preparing herself to be lectured about interrupting his thinking time.

“Ari,” he began, with a surprisingly pleasant tone rather than one from someone that was angry. Whether the tone was phony or not, she didn’t know. “Be a dear and fetch some papers for me from the safe. They’re in the folder Project Nocens.” She nodded quickly as he ran a hand through his hair, and when she started out the door she heard him softly sigh.

She hurried toward the safe, more because of nerves and not wanting to irritate Mr. Zachariah any more than he already was. Once she got to the safe, she entered the pass-code and stepped into the large, dimly lit room. She went through the alphabet in her head as she scanned each file cabinet for the right group of letters. Finally, when she reached “Po-Pro” drawer she opened it. There was half a dozen different “projects” in the drawer, none of which intrigued her except the one she was looking for.

She grabbed it with her hand and looked curiously at the cover. Project Nocens.  Could this have anything to do with the people that have been coming in Mr. Zachariah’s office every week? If she just peeked… No, she wouldn’t dare pry into Mr. Zachariah’s things. That was wrong, unprofessional. She was his assistant now, no longer the nosey teenager that was bored and sometimes shifted through his things just to see what she could find.

Nevertheless, she slowly pried open the cover of the folder… she looked around the room to see if there was a camera watching her. Staring at the folder, she realized she was shaking, nervous about what Mr. Zachariah’s reaction would be if he saw her going through his things … oh but the thrill of finding out what he wasn’t telling her! He didn’t keep secrets from her; he always told her everything … except about those five people.

She heard a loud noise from outside the safe and she dropped the folder instantly. The papers went everywhere, pictures were scattered, and she was cursing loudly as she bent to pick them up. The first picture she picked up was of a strange looking…woman? She couldn’t really tell in the dim light. The person looked like they were on fire, completely nude. She flipped the picture over to see Mr. Zachariah’s handwriting, “Iris Wenn”.

Had Iris Wenn been in Mr. Zachariah’s office? Was that why she had smelled smoke? Arianna gathered everything up as neatly as she could, placed it back inside the folder, stood and walked out of the safe. It closed as she walked toward Mr. Zachariah’s office.

He sat smirking at her and it terrified Arianna. Arm stretched out over his desk, she handed him the folder and he kept that eerie smirk on his face. It was as though he’d been watching her the entire time through the security cameras.

“Arianna, sit down. I would like to tell you about Project Nocens and how you can help me with it…”

                Arianna sat when she was told, and she looked at the insides of the folder she had just given Xavier. He placed before her five pictures, just like the one she had looked at in the safe. Attached and behind the pictures were papers, information on every one of the people in the pictures.

                “Project Nocens is just a piece of the future Arianna, and I want you to be a part of that.” He paused, and leaned over the desk and took her hands in his, “With me.” Her heart fluttered at the gesture, and she almost pulled back from him in reflex. However, she let him hold her hands, nervous and carefully listening to everything he said.

                “These people before you are the Nocens. They, along with you and I, are going to be the future. We are going to make Aro greater than it’s ever been, Ari. We’re going to make this city ours.” He let go of her hand and pointed at the first picture. It was a man that was well dressed, but had a short body. He couldn’t be taller than four foot, his hands were mangled. He had three fingers instead of the normal five, and his face was not pleasant to look at. He had beady black eyes, that had a stare that she could only imagine in person was more nerve wrecking than it was through the picture.

                “This is James Cavalier, but call him that and he will surely haunt you, he calls himself Mulog. He is, well, deformed. He was rejected from proper society and taught himself everything that he knows now. He is a genius, Arianna. You won’t understand this until you meet him, but his mind is above anything that the world has known.”

                His finger now moved to a different picture, a woman. Not the Iris Wenn she had picked out earlier, but instead a woman dressed entirely in black, a black jacket over a black blouse and black dress pants. She had long, curly hair that went down to her armpits. She had this smile on her lips that made her look, seductive, despite the fact that her clothes weren’t revealing at all. She was attractive, that was sure.

                “That is Emma Cleaver, code name Alethea. She is a talent thief and hacker; she can hack into almost anything in record time. Not to mention delete any records of her being in the system, she’s an angel to the team. She is also extremely agile. From what she’s told me, she’s been in sticky situations before and has always gotten out of them by simply running.”

He paused, tapped the picture and smiled. “She’s a clever little thing, always willing to try something new if it involves her stealing. She is a bit of a kleptomaniac; I can hardly trust her to keep her hands off something incredibly valuable. She has an eye for things that are expensive and likes to take them for her own. I have a feeling you’ll like her, or at least she’ll like you.” At least someone of the group would like her, outside of Xavier that is.

He moved his finger, this time on a masked man. The man had a wicked smile painted unto his lips, and eyes that told more stories than Arianna ever wished to know. He frightened her; he had the look of Arianna’s prototype lunatic. Of course Xavier’s words didn’t really relax her any. “This is Heath Reynolds, calls himself Rowt, a serial killer. He’s the one behind the murders of all those young women in the last few months. He’s mute, or chooses not to speak I’m not entirely sure, generally the only noise he makes is a high-pitched giggle. Brilliant mind, that one has. He’s a bit unpredictable, though he’s a strong link in the team.” Xavier nodded, smiling at Arianna. She wasn’t sure, if he couldn’t see her fear, or if he was choosing to ignore it.

He moved his hand to another picture, the picture she peeked at in the file. Iris Wenn. She moved on the edge of her seat, looking at the picture, eager to see what Xavier was going to say about her. “Iris Wenn, code name ‘Vereni’. She was one a beautiful woman, before something misfortunate happened. She has yet to tell me, and the information is very top secret. However, whatever happened caused her body to manifest into this. She has flames all throughout her body, and can set fire to anything she wants to. However she can also extinguish parts of her body from the flame, it’s a very interesting gift. She’s a very interesting member of the team.”

Xavier moved his finger to the last picture. It was not of a man, or something that even seemed to have once been human. The thing was large, and monstrous. He was at least eight feet in height, his limbs were thick and there were dark green vines embedded inside of his, also green, skin. Though the creature was looking towards the camera, his eyes were hard to see. There was something that resembled a mouth, and two white fangs hung over his lip.

“Asher Matthews. He was once a wrestler, though he got involved with the wrong people and he was thrown into a highly toxic swamp. This is what is left of him. We call him Koboid, and he goes along with it. He hardly remembers his old life… Nevertheless, he is the muscles and the strength of the group. He has horrible mood swings; he goes from being perfectly content to throwing things across the room. This team is called the Nocens. ”

“And that, Ari is what Project Nocens is,” Xavier Zachariah leaned across his desk, peering at the petite, redheaded woman sitting in the chair across from him. Her trembling hand was hovering above the pictures on the desk in front of her. Her head tilted and her mouth slightly open…she was shaking all over.  Terrified and nervous �"feeling as if she should be punished for being told this information. Perhaps, she was wondering how the people in the pictures came to be the way they were; her mind still reeling from everything he just told her.

“So… what you’re telling me is…” After she had begun to speak, she hesitated, looking down at her feet and hiding her eyes from him. Her hands continued to tremble. He continued to lean forward, pushing the pictures even closer to the end of the desk, and her. She looked up, gray eyes meeting his dark brown, for a moment he saw a flicker of confidence in her. A sign of strength that he never thought possible. “Why tell me this? I’m just your assistant.”

He blinked, thought about it for a moment, and then spoke. “Because you, Arianna, are beautiful,” she seemed to sit straight up in her chair, hair no longer covering her eyes. He continued. “As well as intelligent, and you’re the only person I can trust.” She shifted slightly in her seat; her cheeks turned a light pink color. Flattering her was too easy. The fact that she was falling for this was just naïve and sad.

The truth was Xavier Zachariah did need her.  Arianna’s Father had nearly as much power as he did. Arianna was great arm candy for those parties that he attended for the sake of keeping up with public appearances. She was beautiful and her social status was sound. Even if she tried to separate herself from ‘Daddy’ by working for him, she was still Arianna Neville. That awarded her the social status that made her the ideal final piece to this puzzle of his.

The tiny girl shifted in her seat again, leaning forward and letting her fingers actually touch the pictures this time. “When can I meet them?” Her voice changed, it went from uncertain to eager and that confidence was back in her eyes. They moved from each of the five pictures and then to him, there was a smile on her lips. She was almost too eager for this.

He tapped his fingers on his desk, thinking of when he could pull something together so that all seven of them could meet. It couldn’t be in public, nor could it be at one of his parties. Too many people expected to be invited to his parties, even if he called it a party for very, very close friends. He didn’t call anyone that, but people still assumed if they did business with him it was an automatic invite to his parties. All of them. No matter if, it was the second largest company in the city, or if it was the grocery store down the street, they wanted to be invited. He supposed they felt special that way.

“Tonight, I’ll arrange a limo for your pick-up after five-thirty. Don’t talk to anyone about where you’re going, all right? Dress nicely but don’t… over do it.” He knew how she could be told there was a party and she’d go out and buy some five hundred dollar dress for one night that half a dozen people would see her in. He had known her since she was a spoiled rotten child, and she had grown into an equally spoiled young adult. “And by don’t overdo it, Arianna, I mean don’t go out and buy a brand new dress between now and five.” Her beaming face shifted to one that was pouting, her bottom lip trembled and her gray eyes seemed to get obnoxiously big and bright.

Then she spoke, it was that peppy voice that he hated. “Yes sir!” She paused, looked down at the pictures again that were sitting on his desk, and then looked back up at him. Her voice faltered and she lost the spark of confidence - as well as that annoying peppy tone. “Can I go now Mr. Zachariah?” He nodded, and she got up from her seat and headed back to her desk.

He then added, not wanting any more disturbances until he left, “For the day, Arianna.” She turned back towards him and smiled. He knew she was gone when he heard the sound of her heels stop at the elevator.

 

Chapter Two

The limo ride had been a long dreadful thing for Arianna. She had been shifting in the back seat, occasionally whining, as the ride seemed much longer than it actually was. She was alone, which shocked her. She was used to Mr. Zachariah being beside her when he sent the limo for her, but it wasn’t so much that he had come for her, he had sent someone to get her.

So she hadn’t exactly listened to him when he said not to go overboard. She didn’t go shopping after she left the Zachariah Industries. She had gone home and picked out a dress almost right away. It wasn’t that fancy, at least she didn’t think so. It was a short, red cocktail dress with a black ribbon that went around her waist. She didn’t do much with her hair; she curled it a bit so it didn’t lie so flatly but that was it. She was shaking, so it was an understatement to say that she was nervous.

It felt like an hour before she arrived at the Zachariah Mansion, a place that she had been many times before, but tonight it seemed… different. There was an unusual aura about it; in the full moon’s light, it seemed mysteriously eerie. She helplessly pulled at the bottom of her dress, trying to make it longer than it was, she was failing horribly. She walked towards the front door, and before she could lift her hand to knock, it opened.

Chills ran throughout her body.

Standing in front of her was a man that had a white mask over his face. The man from the picture. No skin was visible and painted where his lips would be was a sick, demented, twisted smile. Dark circles surrounded his eyes, and he was staring at her with bright blue eyes. Without a word of any kind, he tilted his head at her in a curious manner. She couldn’t tell what his expression was, that smile was the only thing she could focus on. He was much more frightening in person, if that were possible.

With a high-pitched twisted giggle, the man moved away from the door and allowed her space to come through the door. What in God’s name, had she gotten herself into? Perhaps she could leave?  Say that she never was picked up by the limo.  She could never deceive Mr. Zachariah.  He would know.

Beginning to feel ill, she went to turn on her heel to turn away from the mansion and the strange persons inside. “Arianna you look beautiful tonight.” She knew it was too late to escape and cursed to herself in her head, repeatedly. Her cheeks slightly brighter than they had been a moment ago; she spun herself around without a second thought.

He held a hand out to her, and a feeling of overwhelming doom came over her as she paused before hesitated taking his hand. What did she have to lose? Xavier had everything to offer to her, he could hand her the world on a silver platter. He could give her more money than her own Father could ever dream. A home; a family…love? Maybe she was getting a little carried away. Still… He had so much to offer her…

Arianna took his hand, and in that moment, something deep down changed inside of her. He whisked her off her feet and into the house. It was gorgeous on the inside as well as the out, though it was much larger than it seemed. Down the hallway from the front door was the kitchen, to the right was the very large living room where everyone sat, and waited for her. Everyone from the pictures: Vereni, Alethea, Mulog, Koboid, and Rowt. Each was situated in their own part of the room.

Rowt stood in the middle, still with that terrifying mask on his face, demonstrating how he murdered the women. To watch the man demonstrate what he did to the women he had killed, made Arianna whimper and want to close her eyes like a child that was watching a scary movie. She kept the urge to herself as she stood next to Xavier, who was waiting for him to finish the “story” that had no words.

Vereni was standing in the corner, completely on fire except for her feet. Arianna found her power amazing, though, if it had been her with that power she would have probably preferred to be completely extinguished the whole time. Not just part of the time. Arianna thought that she would grow to miss clothes after a while.

While her eyes wandered around the room to look at the others, she and Mulog made eye contact and he tipped his top hat to her. He smiled at her, and she felt herself move closer to Xavier’s side for comfort. While Mulog didn’t seem to be someone that she felt she should fear, she still wasn’t completely comfortable in this situation. That and perhaps she just wanted to move closer to Xavier.

Koboid was standing in the corner with Vereni. He made the woman look like a dwarf, and Mulog look like the size of a child. He was almost too tall not hit his head on the ceiling, though he didn’t seem to be entirely concerned by this. He was far too busy staring her down with his beady, black eyes, and she was too busy staring at the fangs that hung out of his mouth. If there was any possible way to make him seem more menacing, those fangs were it.

The only “normal” looking one, besides herself and Xavier was Alethea, who was lounging on the couch watching Rowt occasionally, but then she looked towards Arianna. The look wasn’t menacing, if anything it was welcoming. Her green eyes moved away from Arianna’s when they made contact and went back to the masked man standing in the middle of the room.

“Ari,” Xavier breathed in her ear, causing goose bumps to appear down her neck and arms. “You can sit down you know, you don’t have to continue to stand.” She nodded her head, and looked towards Emma again. They made eye contact again, and Emma patted the seat next to her. She didn’t know why, but the brunette made her feel comfortable.

When she sat, Arianna noticed Xavier sit as well. Everyone was still watching Rowt’s ‘story’, but when he covered the woman’s invisible mouth with his hand, and took the knife in his hand and once again slit her throat. She had no Xavier to comfort her, so she couldn’t help when the whimper came out of her mouth.

A long, drawn out silence made the room even more uncomfortable. Everyone was staring at her, and she wished she had kept the noises to herself. How stupid could you get? Sit in a room with a bunch of damn criminals, and whimper when an invisible person is being ‘murdered’. It wasn’t exactly going to prove to them that she belonged there, was it?

“Xavier,” Vereni mused as she blinked her large brown eyes in the direction of Xavier. “Why did you bring the whiny one? She’s so… ugh. With Emma and me around we’re all the women you need.” She looked from Xavier to Arianna, glaring with cold eyes.

The one thing that bothered her about Vereni’s comment was that Xavier didn’t stand up to her. He shrugged his shoulders and looked purposely away from Arianna’s eyes. Her lip trembled, and she tried to find a position that she could pout properly in without anything being revealed underneath her dress. A light touch in her hair made her jump slightly, and she looked behind her. Alethea hadn’t said much so far, so when her fingers tangled into Arianna’s hair and began to braid it, the red headed girl was more than a little caught off guard.

One hand held her hair tightly and the other tickled down her bare shoulders with her long nails. “Don’t mind Iris,” the woman said, leaning in close to Arianna’s ear to whisper.  “She just doesn’t like change much and she’s a bit on the jealous side. You know?” She giggled into her ear and then leaned back, removing her hand from Arianna’s bare skin and continuing to braid her hair. The tiny ginger girl was still trying to figure out what the hell had just happened. “Oh and call me Emma, Ari.” The whisper was almost as bad as Xavier’s in her ear, goose bumps went all up and down her neck. Emma was very aware of what she had just done to the petite girl and giggled.

Once Emma was done braiding her hair, things got quiet again. Then Xavier spoke, “Next Monday Emma, I need you to do me a favor.” From behind her, Arianna could hear the brunette groan. “Second Century Bank has a vault of money, which I would very much like.”

“Xavier, a bank really? Best damn thief in the city and you want me to rob a bank?” Emma was pouting, something that her sultry voice didn’t suit very well. “Can’t someone with more muscle do it? I don’t want to waste my time on something so… easy.” Arianna turned to see the woman pointing her thin fingers towards Koboid. She avoided looking at the monster-man in the corner.

“It’d be easier to scare them into giving you the money. Besides, I thought we discovered that he couldn’t be taken down with bullets. I may be amazing,” Emma giggled and twirled her fingers in her hair, “but I’m not invulnerable to bullet holes… Besides banks are so boring, please give me some kind of challenge. Anything else you need to be stolen, hacked, broken into, or disabled?” Xavier narrowed his eyes at her and she stopped talking. It seemed even here Xavier could intimidate someone without speaking, but it wasn’t her and that felt weird. However, nice? She couldn’t decide.

“He’s not the hacker you are,” Xavier finally concluded, which got another groan from Emma. She opened her mouth to say something, he glared and she shut it promptly. “I suppose it could work, if we had you located where you could hack the safe while Koboid and Vereni took out the guards�"“

“Done. I’ll do it.” Xavier blinked at Emma, plain to Arianna that he was not appreciating being cut off before he could finish his thought. She looked from the thief to her boss and then back again. Even if Emma stopped talking when he glared at her, she was probably a match for him in ways she couldn’t imagine.

“I haven’t even given you all the details…”

“No, sir, you haven’t. However as long as I’m not being shot at I’m in for it. Besides, I can hack the system before Koboid even gets in the building.” She paused, grinned at Arianna in a way that made the girl look elsewhere, and then ran her fingers through her hair. “Besides, I love playing little journalist with Jude… I ask what happened and act-oh-so-innocent while doing it…” Arianna noted the look on Vereni’s face. She wasn’t pleased.

“Don’t know why we can’t just kill everyone by setting the place on fire…” Vereni chimed in, arms crossed over her chest as she glared in the direction of Emma. “Or at least y’know the bankers. They’re always so slow anyways, losing one… or five really wouldn’t be that big of a problem.”

“We can’t kill every time we’re doing something. It causes too much of a scene, they investigate murders and I don’t think the police are stupid enough to skip over the connections the seven of us have. Even if Arianna and I are elsewhere at the time,” Xavier chimed in.

“Then we should just stick to me going disguised as a journalist afterwards. I love being there when the pieces are picked up… Interviewing the police as an everyday journalist is so much fun… I get to play with the coppers…” Another giggle came from Emma as she smiled at Xavier. “Then again it’s usually Jude I interview…” She let a little dreamy sigh escape her, and ignored the glares that she got from Xavier.

“Don’t get attached to your little cop boy-toy, Emma.”

“Attached? No, I just like playing with him. Really it’s just a game of cat and mouse we play, he just doesn’t really realize it.”

“Don’t let him.” The way Xavier said it was so serious sounding that Arianna wanted to ask Emma who Jude was and what went on between them. Seeing as everyone else was around, she supposed it could wait until later. When the room got silent, Xavier spoke again, “If we have everything straight for the bank robbery this Monday, then you all can go.”

Arianna blinked, how long had she been there exactly? She shrugged and stood, pulling her dress down again trying to make in longer in vain. “It’s a nice dress, but it seems like hell to get off.” Emma said as she stood up as well. The dark haired woman was taller than her, not but much, but at Arianna’s height, it seemed like something.

“It’s not that difficult, really.” Emma snorted at her reply and shook her head. Arianna could only wonder what that meant as the thief grabbed her things off the couch and headed towards the front door. After a few moments, everyone else was gone and it was just her and Xavier.

“What did you think, Ari? Of the Nocens?”

She shrugged her shoulders and smiled at her boss, “They’re interesting people Mis�"Xavier.” Arianna didn’t know what made her call him by his first name. There was something in his smile, in his eyes, in his whole pose that made wonder what she was getting into. Then again, another part of her really didn’t give a damn. She was going to side with that part, for now.

“I’ll call my driver to take you home, Ari. Say hello to your father for me,” with those words, Xavier moved towards the phone and Arianna couldn’t help but smile.

 

Chapter Three

Monday the 3^rd

Darkness surrounded him, surrounded his Mother, Father, and little sister. Though he could see them, it was like he was miles apart from them. He couldn’t touch them, reach them, or call out to them to wait up, but he could hear them like he was beside them. He could see his sister jump in the puddle with her bright red rain boots and laugh even when their mother scolded her.

“Lily, stop it. You’re too old to be doing that!” His little sister stopped hopping over the puddle, but he could still hear that adorable giggle of hers. He knew that she was looking at their Mother with bright blue eyes, in what he called the ‘puppy dog pout’ and Lily was famous for pulling. “Lily, I swear, you and Nick are going to be the end of me.” He could only imagine Lily grinning at their Mother, and walking beside them on the very dark streets.

“Michael it seems like we’re walking an awful far distance from where we were. Are you sure we parked all the way out here?” Their surroundings were blurred to him, but he could tell almost exactly where they were. There was the jewelry store where their Father had gotten their Mother her necklace for their anniversary just this last year. There was the small, shabby bookstore that hardly anyone ever went to, but Lily insisted on going there to buy her books when she wanted something.

Then they turned down a seemingly small alley, and he could see the parking lot only feet away. “I told you where I knew where we parked, Beth.” Lily made a little sound of rejoice and started bouncing up and down. If he knew anything about his sister, it was that she was more than likely about to say that she’d race them to the car. However something kept her from doing so.

He couldn’t see what they stopped at, but Lily crept behind their Father and gripped his shirt for comfort. She made the sound of a soft, frightened whimper and he couldn’t stand not being able to see. He could hear. “Give me your wallets and I won’t hurt you.” It wasn’t the typical voice of someone who you thought would be robbing a family at night. He sounded intelligent like this was planned.

Their Father reached in his back pocket and grabbed his wallet, as their Mother reached into their purse and grabbed her own wallet. He couldn’t see the man, but he could hear the footsteps as the robber ran away. Lily was crying at this point, her hand was clenched tighter around their Father’s shirt.

Darkness.

The scene rewound itself, this time he could see what the robber was holding. A gun. This time his Father didn’t give him the wallet, but instead leap forward and tried to wrestle the gun out of his hand, it was like slow motion. Then the gun went off, and his Mother screamed and pulled Lily into her arms. His father fell, slumped. “No!” He tried to yell; again and again he tried to push past the boundary that seemed to be in front of him. He needed to get to them, needed to be there for them, but he couldn’t be passed!

“Nick…” Lily’s voice, it was so calm considering what had just happened. She didn’t sound worried at all. “Hey Nicky, wake up! What kind of weirdo falls asleep at the computer? What are you looking at anyway? A body suit? It’s nowhere near Halloween, so I dunno why you’d want that. Hey are you listening to me, or are you still sleeping?” The darkness faded, and he opened his eyes.

“Huh?”

“You fell asleep looking at something on the computer. You’re so weird, Nick.” He yawned and looked at the computer screen. Oh, he remembered what he had been doing. “So Mom and Dad want to know if you can babysit this weekend, even though I don’t need a babysitter, but you know them… They just want me to spend the night and stuff, so I don’t have to deal with all the investigation stuff about the robbery.” It took him a moment to realize what was being said. Then he remembered: his Father had been perfectly fine after the robbery, just like the first bit of the dream. Nick was eternally grateful that his family was alright. All of them. He couldn’t help but to think about the families that didn’t end up alright, there had been a growing amount of murders in Aro lately. How many of them had been robbed at gunpoint before murdered?

“You know you’re welcome here anytime, Lil. But you’re going to have to deal with my cooking.”

“Yuckkkk. Can’t we just eat out?” She wrinkled her freckled face and frowned. He ruffled her light brown hair in response to her pout.

“Fine, we can eat out when you spend the night.” She beamed and bounced up and down on her toes. Nick shook his head and smiled, gripping her into a tight hug. Something he hadn’t done in a long time, probably since she was a toddler and he still lived at home.

“What’s this for?” After flailing for a moment, she relaxed and hugged him in return.

“I’m just thankful you’re okay, that’s all. I’m glad you’re okay, Mom and Dad are okay. That robbery could have taken a horrible direction and it didn’t and I’m so glad that you’re okay.” It wasn’t common that he showed emotion like this, but Lily was his little sister. He had every right to be somewhat emotional when it came to his family.

“I’m glad we’re okay too, Nick… I don’t understand why people are evil. I mean, he could have killed us Nicky… He could be out there robbing other people and killing them! That’s not fair, it’s not right, Nick. We can’t do anything about it either.” Even Lily understood what he had been thinking since he had found out about the robbery. He couldn’t do anything about it, he was forced to live his life and accept that there were murders that took place on the street. Who knows how close to his own home! It frustrated him to no end. 

“No, kiddo. We can’t.” He kissed the top of her head, and let her go. “Go watch television for a bit and I’ll call for a pizza. Unless you want to go home now?” She shook her head and moved away from him.

“No, Mom’s been all stressed and upset since it happened and Dad’s just been grumpy. It’s understandable, but not pleasant to be around. I’ll call after we eat and ask for a ride.” Lily smiled and turned on her heel and headed out of his office/bedroom and into the living room. Nick turned back to his computer; a full black body suit was on his screen. He had many different ideas about what he could do for the city of Aro. Purchasing this was just a tiny part of it.

He had so much more planned.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Friday the 12^th

Dressing up in a full black bodysuit, and going around at night with little protection in the city of Aro was not a smart idea. His body ached; he was learning the hard way that being a “vigilante” to “save the city” was not easy. At all. One thing was good; he could say the other guy looked worse. He softly grinned at his thoughts, and slowly pried his window open with his fingers. He climbed in and shut it slowly.

Lily was in the other room sleeping; he didn’t want her to wake up while he was in this costume. He stripped and changed quickly, rubbing some bruises on accident and cringing. He had done something for the city, and it was only night one. However, damn it hurt so badly. He ran his fingers through his short brown hair and walked towards his laptop and lifted the screen up. The light blinded him in the dark room; he blinked furiously as he reached on his keyboard and lowered the brightness. When his eyes focused on the screen, he saw that he had one unread email. The title? Nick. Out of pure curiosity more than anything he clicked the email.

Dear Nicholas Matthew Wilder III,

Tonight, a Saturday morning, at approximately 3:32 am I saw you in a dark alleyway interrogating a thug. I couldn’t bug the audio, so what was said is unknown even to me. However I read about your family in the paper, and I’m sorry that they had to face a scare like that. Especially your poor sister, she’s twelve right? I can only imagine the horror she went through.

Nonetheless, I suspect that you are trying to do something for this city. Something that will help it, not harm it as some people have been doing. I’m working on the same thing. However I can’t… well I’m not willing to do what you’re doing. Dressing up as a fool and running around in tights to fight crime.

So I’ll be leaving that part to you. I have my sources as to where the corruption is taking place. If you accept my offer you’ll be getting the best equipment money can buy. Instead of a cheap body suit with no covering, that wasn’t very smart I hope you know. I don’t approve. If you had died tonight, well I would have no one to help me.

This person that I want to go after is powerful. I don’t know who he has behind him, but I know that if we go about doing this the wrong way. We’re both going to end up dead.

I suggest coming up with a code name if you do take this offer. I’m Delphi, which was the location of the Oracle in Greek legends. Don’t bother asking my real name, you won’t find out until I trust you and I’m not sure how long that will take.

Reply to this email if you’re in, if not then delete it and pretend you never got it.

-Delphi

How did someone already know about him? How had she, at least he assumed it was a she, seen him? He had hid in the shadows of the corners most of the night. He hadn’t even walked openly on the street, he climbed fire escapes to get to the top of them and listen. It wasn’t the best idea when it came to mobility or time of climbing up and down, but he couldn’t fly and he was too broke to have any kind of gadgets. If he signed on with this Delphi person, what would she do? Send him supplies? A costume? Gadgets to help him with the mobility?

Could she train him more properly? Sure he had taken a few years of martial arts, but that was over a decade ago when he was an early teenager! His sister hadn’t even been born yet when he had started and had been a toddler when he had quit. If she wasn’t going to tell him her name though, he doubted he was going to be able to see her face to face. Maybe she could get someone to train him. Or he’d be on his own for training. He’d be royally screwed if a professional martial artist was ever up against him.

He was rambling; he realized and leaned over his computer to type a response.

Dear Delphi,

I don’t know how this is going to work, to be honest. I’ve never done this before, obviously, and I’m probably not the best person for the job. I have little martial arts training, and as far as having spare money I have none. I want to do something for this city though, as you know. I want to save it from whomever or whatever is corrupting it.

I know I can’t do this alone, and I don’t even know why I tried tonight. Any help I can get will be extremely appreciated.

If you have sources then I’m sure that what I found out today you already know. A man named X is going to conduct a robbery of the First Bank within the next week, as far as selected and plotted murders. I have no leads on anything soon. Of course my time was limited out there (didn’t want my sister waking up and looking for me) and I didn’t get to as many people as I could or hoped to.

If we can stop what is happening to Aro, I’m in.

Oh, and call me Kreu.

He moved his mouse over to the “send” button and clicked it. He closed his email and shut his computer screen. Something about the idea of doing this excited him more than actually being out there. If he could, he would do so much with Delphi’s help. But for now, he needed to sleep. He’d think about everything in the morning, and check to see if Delphi replied.

The excitement begins.

 

Chapter Four

                Monday the 15^th

Communicating with someone �" something�" that spoke in broken sentences and made little to no sense was more difficult than Emma originally thought. Though, thank God that Vereni was down there with Koboid, Emma was considering going crazy with just being able to communicate with Koboid. Even if Vereni was a b***h, she made sense when she spoke.

                “Location? Are you guys in there yet?” Emma spun in the black faux-leather computer chair. In front of her was her desk, with a laptop sitting in the middle. The other junk �" not hers, but rather Russell James’s, was knocked all over the floor. A picture frame had busted when she had cleared the desk.

                “One sec, Emma dear�"everyone on the floor with all valuables out in the open, or I’m sending this place up in flame and you’ll be with it when it burns! We’re inside dahling, now make things a little easier for us?”

                Emma smiled softly and began to type in her keyboard. Hacking security systems was easier than it should have been, especially for a bank.  First she disabled the security cameras, and alarm system, and then she opened the safe in the back of the bank.  All she could do now was listen for Vereni and Koboid to tell her to get the hell out there.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Didn’t take long. Emma hacking the system. After Vereni talked into the microphone, things opened up fast. People were scared. People were screaming when they looked at him. He didn’t see why. He wasn’t hurting them. Vereni was the one on fire. He was just the big one.

Vereni was walking towards the safe. Laughing and telling him to follow. He started to follow. There was a little girl standing next to her mommy, crying. Blonde hair in pigtails, bright red dress on, and matching slipper shoes. She was the most scared of all. Crying. Shaking. He wanted to know what was going on in her head. What she was thinking. Why he scared her so bad.

Getting money for Xavier wasn’t bad. It was something that he got praised for, a good thing. Not bad. Why were people so against it? Why were they so scared? He knew Vereni yelled, probably burned some people. But she was all talk, no action.

He wasn’t going to hurt them. There was no reason. They weren’t hurting him, after all.

“Stop standing there!” Vereni was yelling again. Made him stop thinking and caused him to move. He followed her towards the safe. Bags and bags of money were sitting in the safe. He didn’t know how much, it had been a long time since he had any use for money. Before he had been employed by Xavier that is. Vereni removed the fire from her hands and grabbed a handful of money. She grinned and laughed, before she grabbed a sack and flung it over her shoulder.

He did the same. He could have more than likely held more than one or two bags. So he grabbed what he could, what he could fit in his hands. What wasn’t heavy.

Vereni then went around the bank and gathered all the shiny things from people, and the money holders. She placed those in the bag too. She jerked her head to one side and began walking towards the door. He started to walk, but looked at the little girl again.

She was still crying. Still frightened. He just wanted to talk and tell her that he wouldn’t hurt her. They were leaving now, and their job was done. He wanted to comfort the girl somehow.

He was too big, too scary, and too ugly to comfort such a little girl. He had to leave now. One last look towards the little girl. He followed Vereni out the door.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

                “Gotta move, Alethea, the cops are going to be on our tail in a matter of minutes.” Vereni’s voice caught her slightly off guard as Emma looked towards the window. Sure enough, there they were heading out the door, and getting into the car that had been waiting for them. She, on the other hand, would be finding her own way home. Most likely through the rooftops, but why not have a little fun at the crime scene first?

                “You guys go; I think I’m going to have a little fun with the police. After all, they’re looking for you, not me.” Emma slid her laptop into the case, and stood. Looking around the room for a quick moment, she spotted the security camera she had purposely ignored when she had come in. She waved, and made her way out of the office, down the hall and towards the elevator.

                Besides, she hadn’t seen Mr. Jude Ashford in more than a week.

 

Chapter Five

Sometimes Jude Ashford honestly hated his job, but other times he found it interesting and he couldn’t keep himself away from it. Today was the latter of the two. He was used to robberies, murders, and kidnappings, but a seven and a half foot swamp thing and a woman made entirely of fire? That was something new.

And it made it all the more interesting.

He had been called in not even ten minutes after the robbery had happened; they wanted to know why the alarms didn’t go off. They also wanted to know how the hell something like they had seen today could even exist. Aro was a strange city, but it wasn’t known for its weird people. At least not the ones that were like what they saw today.

Of course the press was on the scene like vultures on a dead animal. That’s how they behaved too, asking absurd questions about the things that everyone saw on the television. Everyone. Questions were being asked and people wanted answers, but they didn’t have the answers to give them. That’s why they had him.

The first thing he did was try and access the security cameras, but besides the first thirty seconds of the two suspects being inside of the bank there was nothing else. There was no film of either of them hacking the systems from the inside either, and all witnesses could account that the woman had been talking to someone through a microphone and receiver. So they had help on the outside that they couldn’t even narrow down from where. As soon as the suspects had left the building, the cameras were back up and running again.

Jude closed the security feed with a soft groan.

“May I try, Officer?” Jude turned around to see a familiar face. Though, it wasn’t one that was supposed to be on a crime scene. She was above average height, with lots of curly brown hair cascading over her shoulders. She had a white summer dress on, and a notepad wasn’t in her hand but it was placed on the counter beside both of them.

“You’re not supposed to be on the crime scene, Miss Cleaver. I’ll have to have someone escort you out of here…”

“Ssssh, Officer Ashford. If it’s a secret between you and I, what’s it going to hurt?” She gave him a smile, and then asked again, “May I try?” He frowned, but stepped aside so she could access the computer terminal.  “Have you looked in the recent activity of this computer?” She looked at him and clicked the mouse pad a few times. Sure enough, with a few clicks she discovered a folder that seemed to have something in it.

He stared at her for the longest time, trying to figure out whether or not this action was suspicious. Sure, he hadn't looked there, but honestly? How could she find something so fast, and if this wasn't supposed to be suspicious then why did the hacker leave a trail? He didn't understand that.

 

She kept clicking through the files. She had found where the video had been deleted, she had found a note by the hacker, or at least someone that wanted to take the blame for it. His mind was boggling at what was so easy for her to find.

She looked up from the laptop and grinned at him softly. "Well I think I found your perpetrator, if you wanted one. See this note? It seems to be from the person in charge of the operation. I think he wanted to be found, well… if this “X” person is a he that is.” She smiled and turned the laptop towards him.

There it was, his evidence. He blinked several times before reading it. He read a sentence and then would look up at her, scanning her for any possibility of suspicion. How likely was it that someone like her, a journalist, would just walk right into a detective’s case and find the evidence within five minutes?

How?

He told himself that he would think about this later, right now he needed to read the letter fully.

To the Aro Police Force,

This is my work. I will admit it now. These people? They’re mine, they listen to me and obey me at every one of my whims. It’s a great gift, being who I am. I can get what I want with little to no consequence.

I dare you to challenge that statement. You may try again and again to do something against me, you may hire people to hunt us.

You’re not going to win. Let’s just begin this tale like that and I challenge you to make that statement false.

Truly,

X.

He read the message twice more before pulling his eyes from the screen and looking at Emma. She was grinning. “Now that I’ve helped you Officer, will you help me?” She stepped away from the laptop, grabbed the notepad of hers and pulled the pencil from the spiral.

“I can’t say I can, Miss Cleaver. All the evidence, you just found. We know nothing more than what everyone else knows. There are two very strange people lose out there, and they may commit more crimes. Even if no one was hurt, it’s a strong possibility that someone will be in the future. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to give this information to my higher up. I will have to escort you out of the building, for now. No press is allowed, and I thank you for helping me, but my job is in danger if I let you stay any longer.”

She shrugged her shoulders; thankfully she wasn’t going to throw a fit over this. She scribbled a few things down in her notepad, stuck the pencil behind her ear, and began to walk herself to the entrance of the bank. Though a few seconds passed, she stopped in her tracks, turned around and walked back towards him. “Thank you for the information Officer, and really helping was really not a problem.” She gave him that irresistible grin of hers and began to walk towards the doors once again.

What in the world had he gotten himself into? He watched her leave and made sure she didn’t stop and run towards him again. He ran his fingers through his hair and shook his head. Richard Emerson, Police Chief, was on the scene and asking for information from mostly everyone. He had been the one that had told him to check the computer system, he had also been the one to personally call Jude to get him on the scene.

The Chief was a man of authority. He was in his late forties, with three children. Two grown and out of the house and the youngest was almost always with him. He was tall and there was evidence of muscles when he had been one of the top policemen in the city, his hair was graying and there were more prominent wrinkles on his face then there had been when Jude was just a rookie.

He was standing talking to one of the other officers, with his young daughter by his side. Jude could only assume that Nora had been on the way home from school with her Father when he got the call about the robbery. The tiny blonde girl was quiet enough; she always was when she was brought to crime investigations, or when she was stuck in her Father’s office when he was working late. He was a widower, and hadn’t since remarried so there was no one to look after the fourteen year old girl when she was home alone. Her father didn’t like the idea of leaving her alone when it was dark.

So there she was.

Jude waited for the Chief to finish talking to the man, before speaking. “Sir, I found something that I think you would like to look at.”

“And I have news that I think you would find interesting, Detective. Someone broke into the building next door. The office was closed for business, so naturally no one was there, but we had to check to see if the “helper” that the fire woman seemed to be speaking to was in any surrounding building. Damned if she wasn’t. I’ll show you the security recording in a minute, now what do you want to show me?” Jude’s mind reeled at the information. Not only was the person in charge cocky enough to leave a note, but the hacker that was helping them didn’t even shut down the security cameras when she broke in.

“I found a note from the person in charge. He calls himself ‘X’, and he more or less challenges the entire police force to try and take him down.” He paused, shifted his weight on his feet as he looked at the Chief. “He seems to think we can’t do it.”

The Chief blinked, pursed his lips in a thoughtful manner, and nodded his head. “Let’s read this note of his then. See what kind of threat he presents himself as.” He looked at his daughter, who was silently listening to every word being said, “Nora, can you entertain yourself for the time being? I’ll be right back. The children being held whose parents’ are being held for witnesses, you can go talk to them if you want. Just don’t wander too far.” Nora nodded her head and smiled, and the Chief nodded at Jude.

Jude led the Chief to the computer and pulled up the note, as well as the security feeds. He let the Chief read the note and he frowned as he did so. “Cocky son of a b***h we’re dealing with.” He sighed and seemed to be deep in thought for the moment. “Now did you recover the recording for the burglary?” Jude nodded. “Well then let’s see them.”

Jude double-clicked the file and the movie began to play. It was just as the witnesses had described, and what had been on the news. A seven-foot monster and a woman that was completely engulfed in flames, this was something that the science-fiction directors lived for. There was no sound, but what was being said was obvious. From the moment the two of them walked into the bank, the fear on the customers’ faces were apparent. Children began to cry, and adults were digging through their pockets and purses for what the woman was demanding.

No one was harmed, even if it was threatened. It was a miracle that no one was harmed.

“Freaks of nature,” the Chief came to the conclusion as the recording ended. “How are we going to explain this to the public? How the hell do you explain that?” He seemed to be talking more aloud than to Jude, or anyone else. The frown creases became deeper before he spoke. “Well, we might as well get this over with before the media goes crazy with us ‘hiding things’. When in reality we don’t know any more than they.” He paused, looked from Jude to the computer, and then continued, “Should we let them see the footage?”

He didn’t wait for an answer from Jude, but instead began fussing with the computer and the file it was holding. “Go make sure Nora’s hasn’t wandered off, and can you see if anyone in this building has a disc we can use?” Jude left the Chief without a word and began searching for the fourteen year old. It wasn’t a hard search, as she was right by the doorway sitting on the ground with her knees close to her chest and her head on her legs.

When he walked over, she looked up and smiled at him, it didn’t seem sincere. “You okay kid?” She nodded and put her head back in the position it was before, looking at the ground. “Well you don’t seem okay? You can talk to me; I’m not going to bite.” He smiled, and knelt down to where she didn’t have to look up at him.

“It’s nothing, I assure you.” She put another phony smile on her lips, and looked back down. Normally the teen aged girl was bouncing with excitement; today it was the opposite of that. If he couldn’t get her to talk, then he wasn’t going to press. She wasn’t a suspect, after all, and there was no reason to treat her like one.

“Well if you need anything I’ll be trying to find bank employee to see if they have any CD’s.” He stood back up, and turned to look around the room. After the robbery, the bank had closed for all business, so there was no one standing in line. However witnesses were sitting standing around, being interviewed by other officers about the crime and there were some employees apologizing extremely to those still here.

However, there was one man behind the counter twiddling his thumbs. He was the perfect candidate to ask for a CD. So Jude made his way over to the counter and the man immediately stopped twiddling his thumbs and began to shuffle with papers. “Can I help you Officer?”

“Chief Emerson is curious if you have any type of blank CDs. We’d like to burn the footage from the robbery on a disc for evidence.” He continued to shuffle his papers, and smiled.

“I can look Officer; there should be one around here somewhere.” He bent down, and Jude heard a few shuffling noises (surely to make it seem like it was harder than it actually was to find a disc) before the man popped back up with a disc and a CD case in his hand. “Here you go, officer. I hope you get to the bottom of this and find the crooks.” He gave a sheepish smile and began fussing with the papers again, and Jude took this as his cue to leave.

“Nora’s fine, sir, and here’s your disc.” Jude put the disc on the counter next to the computer, which the Chief was still trying to figure out. He didn’t look up at Jude, but just shifted his eyes over to the CD case and put it in the computer.

“You can go for the day, Detective. Unless you want to stay for some reason, I think we’ve discovered everything we can get. It’s miraculous that you found the footage, and the ‘note’. I don’t know what we’re going to do about this ‘X’ fellow, but we’re going to catch him before someone gets hurt. Good job and you’re welcome to go home for the night.” As the last words left his mouth, he looked up and smiled. Jude didn’t know what exactly he had been expecting, a pat on the back? It wasn’t like he had been the one that had discovered the footage anyway, that had been Emma…

“Thank you, sir. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“That you will, be hopeful we’re not at one of these places with corpses to clean up tomorrow.” Jude nodded his goodbye and walked towards the doors of the bank. He waved to Nora, who waved back and there had been a hint of a smile on her lips. He pushed the doors open and walked out.

 

Chapter Six

Tuesday the 23^rd

                It had been more than a week since the first contact with Delphi. Since then, Nick had gotten no sort of written contact from the mysterious benefactor, but he had several shipments come in the mail. He hadn’t had a clue what to expect when a box came for him, but he signed for the package and took it inside.

                Inside was not exactly what he pictured when Delphi first contacted him, but nonetheless it didn’t disappoint. A costume, not unlike something you’d see in the movies, solid black. The chest piece itself was bulletproof, and there were other bits of protective gear, but what he was worried about was his chest. It was a common place to be stabbed, shot, etcetera.  He wanted to make sure that if he was going to do this whole vigilante thing, he was going to do it right.

                First the costume came, then a brand new computer.

To be continued

Author's Note

I'm in the process of just trying to get this finished, I am well aware that Jude shouldn't be as stupid as he is when it comes to Emma.