Prologue 3: Father, Daughter and Hideout

Caption (to assist readers):

- Everything is fine. - = speech of the character

"It's okay." = character's thoughts (during certain scenes)

*boom* = ambient or scenery sounds (similar the use of other types of font letters in comics)

This chapter is narrated from the point of view of James Heller.

It's time to reencounter with Dana and Maya, I need to ask Dana for help and try to convince my daughter to be patient for a while longer, our time together will have to come later.

- Daddy! - Shouts Maya as she runs towards me, I smile and crouch down to hug her again, right after going down the three floors that separated us by the stairs inside the building.

- Did I take too long my baby girl? - I asked while the little girl squeezed me tight with her little arms.

- Yes! At least your snoring didn't get worse. - Replied my daughter with a smile.

- James. - I heard Dana call my name as she approached, perhaps worried about the time it took me to get back.

- Were you able to contact the Resistance? I asked Dana as I picked Maya up again to hold her in my arms while standing up.

- Not yet, the phone lines are dead and the building is without power, by the way we will have to go down to look for help in the streets. - Dana replied with a colder tone, probably due to the situation not being the best.

- I don't hear a sign of life, and I don't see anything around the block. - I told Dana while using my amplificated senses together with my thermal vision.

- If I had at least one radio, it would be better than having to find out which street we are on and how far we will have to walk to my hiding place. They took my cell phone before they locked us in the safe. - Says Dana while putting her right hand on her forehead looking down, this time in a despondent tone of voice.

- Use mine, it's in the left pocket of my jacket. - I informed Dana, who made a slightly surprised expression, but soon returned to her normal posture.

Dana approached me and put her hand in one of my pockets and easily found the cell phone, as if it were easy, as it really is, since I discovered that my own cell phone can also be reconstructed by biomass, something that I only noticed after think about how many times I could have lost or destroyed it in battle, while checking my pockets minutes ago in the stairs.

- Thanks James, I'll get back soon. - Thanked Dana after picking up my cell phone and realizing it was still working.

- Maya, Daddy needs to talk to you. - I said to my daughter, because I decided we should have this conversation before Dana returns.

- What's up Daddy? Are you hungry too? - Questioned my daughter, who obviously should be hungry after so many hours of her last meal, that I didn't even know when had.

- Not yet, but you will be able to have a lunch with Dana soon, dad will need to leave you alone for a while longer. - I replied to my daughter, who obviously didn't like the answer, this time without a crying face, but with her little face visually sad.

- Do you promise you'll come back daddy? - Maya asked me.

- I promise my baby girl, daddy will just visit an old friend and come back soon. - I replied mixing truth with lies, I don't know how to explain to my daughter how much my encounter with Rooks could go wrong, including the part where I consume him in the worst scenario, something very complex for a girl in her age and even for other adults.

My daughter didn't answer me and just squeezed me tight with her little arms, I could feel her fear of losing me, I wasn't a present father, but now I'm all the family she has.

- I managed to contact my people and found our location, even using this outdated cell phone of yours, thank you James. - Dana informed, as she approached the two of us again, and with a more relieved expression.

I feel that my body continues to change and evolve, I feel that I can sense the emotions of those close to me with my instinct. I can feel Maya's love and fear feelings, in addition to Dana's sense of relief and hope, I feel that I can do something similar with other people or living beings too.

- Daddy? - Questioned Maya when she noticed my look at the window.

- It's nothing my baby girl, let's take a break from our hug that I need to talk to Dana. - I replied my daughter as I took her down from my arms and put her back on the ground, she didn't resist, despite holding my right hand before I could get up, I could feel that she wanted one more hug before my brief farewell, I didn't hesitate and gave her another hug before getting back to my feet.

When I looked at Dana, she had her right arm outstretched and holding my cell phone, I felt like she wanted to give it back to me before she could even speak.

- Keep it for now Dana, then you give it back to me. - I said to Dana.

- We are close to the border between the Dead Zone and the red zone, but luckily, we are close to one of my hideouts, which without any infected on the streets we will have more chances to use as a temporary base. - Shared Dana as she put my borrowed cell phone in the right pocket of her pants.

- Which direction? I'll check if the path is safe and come back to get you both soon. - I questioned Dana.

- East side, same street, do you remember the location? - Asked Dana.

- Yes, take care of Maya for me, I'll be quick. - I replied as I let go of Maya's hand and quickly went to the window on impulse.

- Daddy! - Shouted my daughter when realizing what I was going to do, which made me hesitate before jumping.

- Sorry for scaring you my baby girl, remember that daddy is super strong now? Daddy won't get hurt jumping off the building, but don't repeat what I'm going to do and hold Dana's hand until I get back, your Daddy is much stronger and faster than before, I'll show you later. -

I tried to explain to my visually scared daughter, looks like being both a monster and a father is really going to be tricky, but I couldn't be stayed for more time now to calm her down because the time was ticking.

I jumped out the window, much more quietly this time, just breaking the glass without sounding like a bomb strike, I manipulated my body's biomass to glide down to the ground, probably my smoothest landing since gaining all these skills.

I amplified my senses to the maximum and ran at a speed comparable to a light motorcycle, trying to reconcile speed with silent movements, easily finding Dana's hiding place, with no sign of life or possible threat within a radius of 100 meters.

I turned my way back and went at the same speed to return, I decided to try to climb the structure of the building in a more subtle way, discovering that I can climb buildings vertically without effort, just by readapting the biomass present in my body, shifting my weight and changing the soles of my feet to stick to the surface. I can walk up walls calmly walking in the vertical, something I would never have believed before if I saw on TV, I should keep reminding myself that I'm no longer human and things like that shouldn't surprise me anymore.

Finally, I got close to the window that I jumped before and used it again as a passage, this time without any sound of breaking glass.

- I am back. - I communicated my return as soon as I entered the building again.

- Daddy! - Shouted my daughter when she saw me, this time without feeling afraid.

- James. - Dana replied, holding hands with Maya, not expressing any surprise.

They were both sitting in two office chairs that while not in the best condition, looked more comfortable than sitting on the floor, side on side and close to a table.

We were in an apparently business building, one they'd decided to place a huge vault close to a few floors from the penthouse, it didn't look like an ordinary bank or anything like that, but I decided I didn't care, this building just looked to be one of the places Mercer just used before as a base or who decided to just use the vault because of the proximity of the roof because it seemed advantageous.

- Everything safe along the way, we can now go down. - I communicated to Dana, who already suspected, but showed relief when she was sure of the situation.

- Daddy, can we go down with you? - Asked my daughter looking at me and then towards the direction of the stairs.

I smiled slightly as I glanced up the stairs and then back at both my daughter and Dana, really any building over 10 stories without an elevator doesn't seem like something a normal child wouldn't complain, including some adults, Dana didn't look to want to face those stairs either.

- Do you promise to be brave? - I questioned my daughter as I crossed my arms and changed my face expression to serious, I'm still afraid of scaring her with the changes that occur with my own body.

- Dana said that Daddy is different from the other bad guys, that I shouldn't be afraid because Daddy uses his powers to protect us. - Replied my daughter as she looked down. - I trust daddy and believe that he will never hurt me. - And she completed his answer this time looking me in the eyes, I could feel her fear during the answer, but in the end, I could feel her love and trust in me, calming my heart, or whatever was it if I not have one anymore.

I crouched down and opened my arms waiting for the hug that was to come, I could feel Dana's feelings as my daughter ran towards me and hugged me, feelings of pain and envy, but at the same time compassion, feelings that even after she losing her brother, still had, while believing in the love of others.

I adjusted my daughter to carry her in my arms, while I crouched to the ground with my right knee touching the floor.

- Dana! Do you take the stairs or do you also want a ride? - I called for Dana while I still was crouched and making a sign by moving my head, for her to climb on my back.

- I don't remember the last time I climbed on someone's back, but to avoid these stairs I wouldn't refuse even if you tied me up. - Dana replied jokingly, I felt that I knew who was the last person she walked behind her back, but her emotions showed a good memory, something precious that she can still hold.

Dana walked towards me, crouched down and hugged me from behind, closing her arms around my neck, she squeezed tight, I could feel that even playing she was also afraid to jump off the building, even if it was on the back of someone who did it easily before and who she trusted.

I got up from the ground, as soon as Dana bent her legs touching my arms with her knees, I manipulated the biomass of my body creating two small tentacles, one on each side of my torso and below her thigh, using both tentacles to hold her legs together with my body for greater safety in the fall. I also manipulated both my arms to held my daughter, but in a very subtle way just to better protect her from the impact and also fix her in my arms, making it impossible for her to slip.

I walked to the window, which was no longer a window, but just an air passage due to the absence of glass and jumped.

*Loud screaming of a girl*

My daughter screamed as soon as we jumped, Dana tightened her arms around my neck, I felt like she wanted to scream too, she just didn't want to deal with the awkwardness afterwards.

It was a strong impact when touching the asphalt, even though I used the biomass in my legs to try to reduce the shock, it was still the weight of almost three people jumping from a height of more than 50 meters.

- Are you all both right? - I asked worried.

- Yes! - both replied at the same time, even before opening their eyes due to fear.

- Do you want to get off and walk or take another ride? - I questioned to really know if they were still afraid.

- James just take us straight to my apartment! Dana exclaimed, her feelings are a mixture of embarrassment and anger.

I started to run towards our destination, the first time I had carried two people and worried about the safety of both, at the same speed I used before, trying to balance speed and subtlety in the run.

With just some seconds running, we arrived quickly, luckily without any risk on the way or nearby.

- Father! You are faster than a car! - Exclaimed my daughter, this time reacting without fear and demonstrating that she had fun with the ride.

Dana, lose her hold and got off my back without saying a word, I could read her feelings, and her head was really confused trying to process all her emotions without losing her composure.

- Thanks for the ride and the escort James. - Thanked Dana avoiding eye contact.

- Can we do this more often Daddy? - Asked my daughter, even before I could say something to Dana, her eyes seemed to shine with expectation, I felt I had changed from the scary version of the daddy to the fun version of the daddy, like a new toy.

- Another day my baby girl, as soon as the city is calmer. - I replied to my daughter, not wanting to destroy her hopes, but telling the truth.

- No sign of break-in or trespassing. And my key still works, we can go inside. - Said Dana as she checked the door to her building and hiding place.

- Let's go in, we need to talk and it will be safer inside. - I replied as I walked towards her, and the three of us entered in a building without any sign of life, much better than it was before the last night.