Chapter 76: Just like you!
"My Grandma would've murdered me if I was late for the bus again. Thanks for asking him to hold it for me." Henry showed his gratitude further with a slight smile. "No thanks needed but you need to start getting some rest, young man." One of his best friends named Brontë replied with a joking tone. "He won't lil bro's a gamer, you think he's that weak?" Jaquan butted in as the two sat next to him on the public transit. "We need to be for real with this dude for a moment, Jaq, you two are immature dorks." Brontë responded as he sat back. "Guys. I'm fine, I've actually been studying for the end of year exam, I need to graduate but I'm missing a few credits. You're right, Bron, sacrificing my sleep for my education now is something wild." Said Henry as his eyes were feeling the effects of his lack of sleep. "Oh wait, you fools hear about Mist-Deemer stopping one of the largest and chaotic bank robberies in the city? Homies really attacked the richest bank and almost got the bag!" Brontë asked the two with a tone full of disbelief. "Thought they could secure the bag?" Jaquan mocked the perpetrators who were now incarcerated. "I liked his father's way of taking on crime better, it was more practical and brutal. Deemer's way too soft on criminals." Henry added as he nodded.
"Did you see that X-ray of one of his victims somebody somehow found? Many broken bones, financially crippling hospital bills, Bro." Jaquan responded as he laughed with Henry cracking up with him.
"I don't like laughing at stuff like this but I'm not gonna argue that Mist-Affliction was definitely a better hero than his son." Brontë replied as he was feeling like he was unsure and missing something. The Trio of childhood friends exited their public transit to walk the rest of the way to Arata Dawn high but on their way off, Henry notices a masked man in a strange costume of some sort, swiftly sizing him up he estimated the man was a regular gym goer and stood around near several feet tall. One thing that made him feel uneasy was when he recognized the pin and shoulder covering was the same as the kind Mist-Affliction and Mist-Deemer wears in all of their rare photos you can find online by folks who sketched them from memory.
"Psst, Bront, Jaq." Henry whispered over to his friends and elbowed Jaquan as they were behind him getting off their bus. "Who's going to tell him that Christmas is coming up, not Halloween?" Jaquan commented in a joking tone. "Let's just— keep it moving… guys." Brontë suggested as he refused to take his eyes away from him, the other two listened to him and the Trio began to walk away together, minding their business. They make it to the end of the corner and turn only for this masked fellow to meet them there in the same exact posture and stance.
All six eyes were fixed on this mysterious masked stranger seemingly following them, wide, open and filled with terror from Jaquan. Henry noticed that smoke began to flow from the masked man, reminding him of the night he and his friends ran into trouble with a local trouble maker and were saved by Mist-Deemer himself. Smoke flowed from him in a similar manner. The three began to turn around and sprint as if their thoughts were synced.
Henry stopped as he heard one of his friends' body thud. Henry hesitated to check but he was frozen solid. Shaking where he stood. "You sick—!" Henry heard from behind him as he recognized Jaquan's voice filled with pain and his wrath. Henry's ears were wide open which helped him realize Jaquan was in mortal danger as he could hear him being choked which forced him to take action, he couldn't sit by during this but half way forward he witnessed the gory death before his eyes. He fell to his knees, muscles weak and mouth gaping, tears flowing from his face which would leave his friends dumbfounded if they were alive. The eighteen year old's heart was hurting. Eventually he closed his mouth, closed his eyes and placed his chin on his chest and his racing mind couldn't decide how he was feeling. The mysterious masked murderer began approaching him calmly and cracking his knuckles.
The strange murderer dodged a car and sent his way out of a humongous cloud of smoke. Henry was unfazed, felt unfazed, zero reaction and stood with his shirt covered in tears and knee in snow. Out of another cloud of smoke which suddenly appeared behind the masked murderer, the strange clad in white and Gray armor almost hit the stranger with a flying double legged dropkick, when he missed, the masked murderer countered with a powerful kick to his ribs which created distance between them. The masked stranger stood by as his second opponent in the ground dropped through another mysteriously engendered cloud of smoke from the floor.
"Shockingly impressive." The younger Gray and white armored savior commented after he witnessed the masked murderer dodging his father's ancient chain until it inevitably caught him and he saw the masked murderer shatter into pieces when his father swung. "He was a vile scum that deserved to suffer." Henry replied after his eyes flew open and he balled up his fist with his anger taking control of him. The White and Gray armor clad savior gave him a death stare before he dipped, rolled and dodged every punch that flew from Henry with ease until he fell in the snow and remained in it. "Name's Quinn, he's my father, Elias." Said the Gray and white armored rescuer.
"We're not your adversaries, knock it off, but we do want you to join us when we demolish the secretive organization that is responsible for both of your friends' deaths here as they were targeting you." Elias informed the young man. "Responsible for their deaths?!" Repeated with a tone of a shattered man, "Secretive?" He repeated another word as his mind was struggling to stay ordered. Elias then removed his ancient dark orange and black helmet with his son, Quinn, following his lead by removing his own but without shock from either, they realized Henry didn't recognize them or have a clue who they were. "Of course, the jester never told you about us like he would never tell you about your mom's side of the family." Said Elias with the slightest grin on his face and a sigh. "And who should you be to me?" Henry asked without any curiosity genuinely in his mind. "Zero care? Then I'll leave it up to your cousin Quinn here to fill you in on what he never told you, kid you look exhausted and hungry, let's begin immediately in getting you into shape, armor you up. You'll need it for your vengeance." Elias replied as his son walked up to Henry and helped him up. As he got off the ground and turned around seeing the shocked expressions on his two heroes' faces, he turned around and everything was covered by a thick fog of smoke. He wasn't sure what to make of what he was seeing but his interest disappeared swiftly.
"Crime worsened while I was away and got your favorite coffee brand for ya, Set." Derek called out as he entered Settembre's hideout. "Appreciate it. I've been really curious, how has life been with your arm… replaced— by your mythical ash there?!" Settembre admitted to wondering. Derek looked down at his arm, he moved his fingers and tested himself by deforming his hand at will then having it reform whole again. "It feels like… like I never really lost it. It feels like it's meant to be here." Derek answered him as he let the ash drop and it looked like he was down an arm. "Sweet, I'm curious how powerful and versatile this new power can be." Settembre replied as he laid back in his chair. "It's been a pretty fun process through the year." Derek replied as he reformed his whole arm again. Settembre and Derek's talk was interrupted when their emergency alarm began sounding off. "Multiple city blocks have become covered in a thick fog of— wait, smoke?!" Settembre related to Derek feeling dumbfounded by the sheer span of the area affected. "Please assure me this is far from Arata Dawn high and this is a new threat…?" Derek leaned away as he asked. "Sorry." Settembre replied as Derek understood what his goals were now. "Get there ASAP, calm him down, he's causing entire roads of accidents and crashes!" Settembre warned him in a dire tone. "Just sneak into a high school while making sure nobody sees me with Nick and get out." Derek thought to himself.
"What's going on?!" Nick found himself asking in his thoughts as he witnessed his peers and his teachers panicking and hearing them screaming. Nick began walking backwards, losing his sense of direction within his classroom filled to the ceiling with smoke as he began smelling and hearing a vast array of different aromas and sounds. He began wondering about the mysterious smoke around him which caused him to unintentionally reform his physical body into a cloud of smoke before reverting back into his physical form but he soon realized he was falling out of his class' window and saw himself crashing to the ground outside before he found himself feeling anxious elsewhere. Nick's heart began beating faster and his breathing became more erratic, he fell to his butt to rest.
"We sadly have an overwhelming amount of critically injured, really angry and terrified folks stuck in this incident. Some are unconscious while others are blaming me for this, some are lost and some stuck in the smoke seem to be feeling sick to their stomachs. Turning off comms until I find him." Derek informed Settembre as he found a vantage point to scale the chaos and report it. Derek transformed into smoke and soared into the thick smoke as he's pouring all of his focus to the source. Derek traveled through the smoke as if he was born in it and found Arata Dawn high, memories from long ago poured into his mind but he swiftly discarded them and closed his eyes. He tuned in and out of sounds until he was feeling the presence of someone by their lonesome rather than near a bunch. He figured it was his little brother.
"Nicky?" Nicholas heard from a familiar voice which compelled the young teen to glance up from him sitting alone. Nick didn't say a word until his worries were lifted when Derek made his mask vanish, worry replaced by excitement and one of the few people he finds solace in the arms of, Nick leapt into his arms for a grand hug from his hero. "How'd you see through this weirdo smoke and find me?!" Nick asked with his utmost confusion until he saw the suit and realized his eye mask vanished from his face. "YOOOOU ARRRRRRRREEEEE——" Nick's disbelief and shock was so strong he couldn't finish his sentence. "Follow me out of the smoke, I'll explain everything to you when we make it back to the purlieu." Derek assured his little brother as he promised him in his usually worry free tone. The established Wiley and Hyun help his younger brother return to Settembre's hideout, he guides him with no struggle to avoid all eyes and after they exit the half of the city Nick covered, it all disperses. "Does something take the top spot on your mind?" Derek asked as he wanted to explain at Nick's pace. Nicholas sat down on the other end of Settembre and Derek's goldfish table, he thought to himself regarding that question for a moment. "Does Henry and our Grandparents know about this? Were our parents heroes? Will you take me under your wing as your sidekick?! Are we magical or scientific?! Is it super heroics how you lost your arm then?" Nick asked with overwhelming curiosity in all of those questions. Derek and Settembre looked at each other surprised. "Damn, Henry goes to Arata Dawn too! Did you see him at all before the incident?!" Derek asked his younger brother. Nick's facial expression shifted back to fearful and worried as he shook his head. "Stay here with Set, ask him, I need to go find Henry." Derek ordered him as he dropped the ash that formed his arm and ran out.