Chapter 15

Ashton was a baron piece of land that sat right outside of Darko city. The Valentine Expo was often held in this area. Today the place was filled with carnival rides and games. Children ran around happily as parents struggled to follow them. It was a cold day, so everyone appeared to be bundled up in heavy jackets. John stood at the entrance alone. Not far from him he saw Octavius, Ava and Jazlyn were behind them. He looked around the area trying to see if he could spot anything unusual. He didn’t see anyone hiding behind trees or anything. There was no sense of danger yet. As he continued to look around, he saw Diane approaching with Jazz and Celina.   

“You didn’t come back to the bunker.” Diane trailed off.

 John remained silent. She glanced at the ground as she rubbed her arm.     

“I probably won’t be sticking around much longer once we handle this.

“I don’t know what happened yesterday but right now we should worry about preventing lives from being taken.” Jazz advised. 

John turned around as he looked up at the entrance to the carnival again. John walked away from Diane as he entered the area.  He walked past a Carousel as he looked up at the large Ferris wheel in the distance. On John’s left he saw a line for bumper cars. He could see the excitement on everyone’s faces. Another thing he took note of was that the people seemed to all be human. As he noticed this he saw a sign that said humans only. It caused him to look over his shoulder to see some of the others still at the entrance.   

“They’ll be fine but this is getting too much.” A voice said next to him. 

John glanced to see Jazz walking with him. He hated even noticed him at all. Did have some sort of power to conceal his presence? It was odd and John didn’t like that he hadn’t noticed him before.

“Signs that say human only. That’s horrible.” Jazz sighed. 

 “Aren’t you a human? So, what do you care?” 

“It doesn’t matter what I am or what I look like. Everyone should be treated fairly and based on their character.” 

John noticed someone watching as they continued to move through a crowd of people. Growing up, John always felt as if everyone was looking at him with judging eyes. He felt this feeling once again when he noticed people looking at him strangely. As he continued walking he saw Gizmo and Melina walking. She was biting into cotton candy and her lips were stained blue. Gizmo smiled at her with this sense of peace in his eyes. John couldn’t help but notice it and knew how much Gizmo loved her. Her arm was in a brace which made John worry. As John, Jazz got closer to the two, Gizmo’s demeanor changed.   

“Ah, John you showed up. Didn’t expect that.” Gizmo said sounding as if he was trying to conceal his frustration. 

John knew he didn’t want to see Him. He had already said he’d kill him the next time he saw him. “No need to pretend as if you're happy to see me. We know you don't like me, Gizmo." John said coldly.

Melina stood by silently as she continued to eat her cotton candy. "I hate when you guys do this stare down thing, it's weird." Melina spoke up.

Jazz burst out laughing. He slapped John on the shoulder. “Wait, they seriously do this that much?”

Melina nodded excitedly as she started to giggle. Jazz’s laughter grew even more louder. It caused Gizmo to divert his gaze and John scoffed as he turned the other way. 

“I’m going to search the perimeter so be ready if you see something.” John muttered.

 He started marched away from Jazz not wanting to linger any longer.    

“I guess you’re here to try stopping a superhuman attack. Why can’t you leave shit alone?” Gizmo questioned.

Even instead of engaging any further, John kept moving. A loud explosion caused John to look up as he became tense. He realized it was nothing more than fireworks as he heard Gizmo laugh. John shook his head and continued walking.    

“Why are you being a jerk?” 

John heard Melina say. He heard Gizmo try to apologize but he didn’t turn around to see what was going on. A moment went by before he noticed someone walking beside him. Melina walked silently as she finished the rest of her cotton candy.        

“You shouldn’t get so upset with him. He’s been through a lot.” John said as he looked straight ahead of him. He watched kids run by as Melina walked ahead of him.    

“It's hard not being upset with him when he only wants to destroy himself. I want to be there for him, but he makes it extremely hard, John. Also, you shouldn’t allow him to punish you with the past." Melina said as she stopped at a line where they were passing out funnel cakes.    

"Most of the things he says is right. Nothing ever good comes when I'm around." John said silently as Melina turned away from the line to face him. 

She had a serious look on her face as she looked up at John. He started to blush when she continued staring at him. "If I hadn't met you when I was twelve then my sister, and I would be dead. The good that came from that is my sister, and I are still alive. Good things do happen when you're around, John." Melina said as she touched John's hand, causing him to pull away.

He briefly glanced up to see her appearing shocked. Before he got say anything someone grabbed his arm. John turned to see Diane staring at him with her bright grayish-blue eyes.   

“Can we talk?” 

John let out a deep sigh as he glanced at Melina. He could tell she was confused about something and his face turned red with embarrassment. “Um…sure, I guess. I got to go, Mel.” 

“Oh…okay.”

John started walking with Diane. The two of them didn’t say much of anything. Then Diane cleared her throat before taking a deep breath. 

"You were having a moment...”

“Not really. Anyway, what do you want?”

“I’m sorry… I don't know what I was thinking. Look, I screwed up yesterday letting my emotions cloud my judgment." She said as John placed his hand on her head while he looked at her with his soft but stern eyes.      

"Nothing else for you to do but move forward. This attack today is going to make things worse. As Dante's sister, you have to take his place but instead, do things differently. Seek peace for everyone and do it where no one else has to die." John emphasized. 

As the two of the stood there silently, John noticed people moving in a comm direction. He turned to see people headed for a stage. As if drawn to its pull he began following the crowd. He felt himself grow curious to see what this could be about. John saw Melina and stepped beside her, causing her to smile. Gizmo walked onto the stage with his charming smile as the crowd cheered loudly. Michael Kang was beside him waving to people in the crowd.    

"I hope everyone is having a good time today. We made this huge effort to try and get everyone's minds off of these recent tragedies. Dante has abused the powers of his own people to terrorize this city. Rumors of deporting superhumans may frighten them. This brought me to the decision to develop mech-suits and bio-suits for the task force. These suits will better equipped to handle future situations involving superhumans. That's all I wanted to say as well as have a good time tonight." Gizmo said as he raised his hand to wave while the crowd applauds him. Michael Kang took the mic and smiled into the crowd.       

"As you may know, the government has been working diligently to deport superhumans. We call what we're doing project Refuge, where on this island superhumans can live in peace. They'll have their own homes and govern how they see fit." Michael Kang trailed off. 

That was when the ground shook beneath everyone's feet. John looked around worried as he saw the ground rising around the carnival. It created a prison where thousands of people were now trapped. People screamed in horror as they ran in panic. A small army of superhumans was marching toward the fleeing crowd. John turned around to see another group of people that weren't superhumans. One of the people became engulfed in neon green energy as he transformed into a disfigured creature. This energy John saw wasn't like the energy most superhumans possessed. Melina pulled his arm as she forced him to run. He ran behind her as he continued to hear explosions while bodies crashed into the rides around them. 

He looked around wondering where his friends were. A flash of scarlet red energy blinded John. He felt something tear throw his side as he fell to the ground. Melina turned as he urged her to keep running the taste of iron flooded his taste buds. He looked down to see blood as he struggled to stand. Before she could get to him a strange woman grabbed her, as he stared into her inhuman neon gold eyes. She stomped the ground rupturing the surface as John fell through the surface. He managed to grab onto the edge. The hole she created was deeper than he expected it to be. He managed to climb out of the hole and rolled onto the ground. John's side was still bleeding as he looked around, and Melina was nowhere to be found. His heart pounded as panic started to set in. His worry continued to grow as he saw bodies everywhere around him. 

Gizmo appeared beside them looking worried as he looked around.     “Where’s Melina?” Gizmo questioned.

John looked away as he felt ashamed. He couldn’t look at Gizmo because he knew what was coming. Gizmo grabbed him and yelled in his ear as he shoved him. Jazz came running over and  grabbed Gizmo then pushed him away. Diane showed up with a worried look on her faces. He held his side as he realized he wasn’t healing. John took off running as he heard the others following him. 

In the distance he saw Celina fighting alongside Octavius and his allies against the superhumans. John charged at a group of superhumans fighting task force soldiers. Jason appeared in front of him with a wicked look on his face. Gizmo appeared beside John and then he began to tremble.        

"What happened to Mrs. Valentine was an accident man." Jason said as his expression changed. 

John noticed a sign of remorse, but he didn't trust him. Gizmo withdrew a gun and aimed it at Jason, causing him to raise his hands to surrender. "You aimed a gun at her head, and your friend wanted to rape her. I'll never forgive you." Gizmo said.

 He disappeared which left behind a gray mist. Jason seemed shocked as he looked around with a worried look on his face. Gizmo appeared behind Jason and fired the gun. A loud bang exploded through John's ears, he watched in horror. Blood dripped down Jason's forehead as he stared at John while a tear fell. John's hands trembled as he watched Jason collapse to the ground.  

"You just killed a man!" John exclaimed.

He saw the rage in Gizmo’s eyes. It reminded him of an inextinguishable fire. The mayhem

continued as John saw a soldier crash into a concession stand. The soldier stood up as a woman approached him raising her hand as the ground began to sink under the soldier’s feet. He struggled to move as John hurried to his aid. As he got closer Estella appeared with her glowing green claws.     

“Where’s Dr. Lee?” John said as he grabbed her. She tried tear into his stomach, but he grabbed her wrists. Estella laughed as John pushed her up against a wall of a trailer.    

“If you’re that desperate to find him then go to Wolf Mountain. You’ll find a trail leading to a cave where you’ll find his hideout.” She replied as John finally let her go.

Estella stared at him with a playful grin on her face as John looked up to see helicopters. One dropped a container which crashed into the ground. It was large and John managed to see that time was on it. He began to have this strange feeling as the time stopped at zero. The container opened and a figure stumbled out of it. Smoke emitted from the opening as the man coughed in agony. John’s vision allowed him to see that something was wrong. He could tell his skin was starting to glow and the ground began melting. Diane came running toward him and stood beside him.       

“I think that’s the bomb. We don’t have a way of getting rid of him….” Diane said once she got to him.

“Celina has telekinesis or something like that right?” John asked.

“Sort of…” Diane took a look around. “There she is! I’ll go get her.”

John watched as Diane took off to get Celina’s attention. He didn’t know if there would be enough time to get them to stop him.

“They weren’t supposed to send him in until we all left. Untrustworthy bastards.” Estella said in a frustrated manner. 

John took a deep breath as he realized that it was up to him. John knew if he could somehow get his powers to work for him. His side was still bleeding but he took a deep breath as he bent his knees. His palms were sweaty as he kept hoping he could run fast enough to get to the superhuman. John was trying to put all his focus into running at an unnatural speed. As his breath left his body he pushed forward feeling the wind slap his face. He grew frustrated as he realized he was running at a human’s speed. This speed wasn’t fast enough to get to the end of Ashton where the superhuman was.     

"Voice inside my head, or whatever you are, I need you. I can't allow people to die, so please give me the power to save everyone here." John muttered. angrily while hitting his wounded side. 

He continued to run as he moved around dangerous fights. His speed still hadn't changed, and he knew he wouldn't make it. Melina came to his mind causing him to feel guilty that he wasn't able to save her. He started running harder as his frustration grew to cause this mist to appear around him. His wounds began to burn as they slowly healed.    

“You’re worthless without me.” The strange voice said.

Something in John’s body changed. He began to move faster as his body moved unnaturally around crowds. His speed increased as the wind began to cut his cheeks. Everyone around him was blurred until his perception caught up to his movements. He could see clear as he got closer to the superhuman. There was tingling sensation coming from his shoulder blades. 

Trees and the ground in the area had melted away as John entered the area. Heatwaves strong enough to tear at John’s flesh were felt. His skin burned as he came closer to the man as he realized he recognized him. It was the man that shot him years ago. John’s eyes widened as his rage fueled his body further. His steps grew heavier as he got closer to see the man’s veins glowing as he cried out in pain. John grabbed him and crouched down as he prepared to jump.

The ground ruptured as he leaped off the ground. As John’s clothes burned away, he used all his strength and threw the superhuman up further into the air. As he fell, he started to remember the man that raised him. All the memories they had together, the good and the bad. The one thing that always hit him the most was ideologies of his guardian.     

“Heroes always die right, old man?” He questioned out loud as he crashed into melted trees as on the way down and hit his head on a large stone. He heard his bones break before he lost all consciousness.