Cain looked at Agent S. Slowly, he reached into his pocket, opened Lucas' number, and hit call. The phone rang for a few seconds. "Is it done?" His cold voice spoke on the other end.
"ISD... is... here." Saying through breaths, he stared as Agent S strolled forward, fixing his tie. Lucas was silent for a moment.
"Put me on speaker. You obviously can't talk." Cain clicked the button and watched as Agent S slowly approached. Lifting his hand, he formed a fist, creating a gold light. From it, a set of scales formed.
"Lying is prohibited in court." Cain felt a change in the air like an unknown power washed over him, "Violence is prohibited in court." Once again, the power washed over him. Agent S, with his other hand, pushed his glasses up. "Is this your lawyer on the phone?"
"You could say that," Lucas replied for Cain, "As you could see my client is injured. I will speak on his behalf. First, may I know what charges my client faces?" Lucas said, trying to sound calm, but Cain could hear he was annoyed by the whole situation.
"The defendant is to be questioned for espionage, murder and treason. He will cooperate." Agent S said without a change in tone. Staring into his eye, Cain felt weird. It looked like he was blind, but it also gave the sense that he could see everything.
"So he is not under arrest?" Lucas said, trying to hide his excitement.
"Correct, all are innocent until proven guilty." Agent S said, turning towards the door once more. The heavy door flew open as Jeremiah walked in, behind him, Phillip. Phillip looked around and focused on James, going to his side. Seeing he was barely alive, healing himself, he nodded and looked at the situation around, knowing it was not his place to intervene.
He had been tempted to shoot many times, but knowing what an ISD vehicle looked like, chose against it. The same for Jeremiah and his squad car. Jeremiah walked over to Rose and covered his mouth. The small puppet held her hair, pulling it back towards her body, leaving a trail of blood behind. Jeremiah frowned but said nothing. Some abilities lingered after the user's death, but it was only a matter of time until they vanished.
Going to George, he saw the man's lifeless eyes looking up at him, his hand over his stomach, not healing it in time, the blood slowly pooling beneath him. Finally, he saw James and felt a rage take over. Using his ability to hurt him, he felt something forcefully suppress it.
"Violence is prohibited in court." Agent S said without emotion, "All guests of the Court shall not intervene in the verdict." Jeremiah went to speak, but found he couldn't.
There was silence for a minute before Lucas spoke, "A court of law allows suspects to make deals and pleas. Does my client have the same luxury?"
"Yes." Agent S answered. Everyone heard Lucas laugh on the other side.
"All information regarding General Otto Waltz. In return for providing this, he will be given immunity for his actions." Lucas confidently said. Agent S looked at Cain and took out his phone.
"He wishes to make a deal." Agent S said, waiting a second, "Understood." Putting the phone away, he looked at Cain, "He will return with me until the ISD makes a decision. Until then, he is forbidden from outside communication other than with his lawyer. ISD agents will be present during all conversations. The Defendant will not refuse the Judge's ruling."
Cain felt his feet move without his control as he followed behind Agent S. Looking at the power, he felt fear but quickly realised its flaws. It couldn't span long distances. In an enclosed setting like this, it was perfect, but in the open, if someone was outside Agent S's range, they could easily attack him. Adding to that, Cain felt the rules Agent S made had to be applied to himself, which meant an attack from outside his range couldn't be returned without releasing his ability.
Stumbling forward, he looked at the people around and clicked his tongue. Although he got Rose, he didn't kill James, the main target. 'Lucas will have to finish this.' Telling himself, he was disappointed at his failure, but never expected the ISD to show up, nor James's ability to evolve in such a way.
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Jeremiah looked back at Rose and frowned, seeing her ability still running. Going over, he picked up her head and placed it by her body. Grabbing her arm, he did the same. The puppet, happy, pulled the thread out of its body and quickly stitched her back together before climbing into her mouth and crawling down her throat, vanishing from sight.
Ignoring the strangeness of everything, Jeremiah turned to James and stared at him with a cold glare. Running his ability, he saw Phillip point his weapon at him. "Unfortunately, he paid me for my services today. Now you weren't who it was for, but if you are going to kill him." Phillip shook his head.
James coughed up blood and looked up, seeing Jeremiah. Falling back down, he tried to push himself up. His legs nearly gave out. "Where's... Cain?" James said with a tired voice.
"Is that it?" Jeremiah said in disbelief. "Not hows George, hows Rose. No, where's Cain?" James froze up, finishing the last of his healing. The lightheadiness overwhelmed him, and he could understand why George fell asleep every time he healed someone. "You're scum, you know that. They're dead, just so you know." Jeremiah looked at Rose's body, which looked like it was peacefully sleeping, with her head reattached, unsure what had happened to her.
James looked at the two before looking to the ground. Taking a deep breath, he grabbed his face so no one could see his tears before falling backwards, passing out.
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James opened his eyes and looked up at the hospital roof. At his side, he saw a blood bag hanging up and in the bed next to him, Rose still asleep. Activating his eyes, he saw a change in her. Unlike before, where it was a cloud of smoke, her aura had become a large tangle of threads spreading across her body. Nestled deep in her heart, the white puppet sat with closed eyes.
James gulped, unsure of what he was seeing. As if feeling his gaze, the puppet eyes opened and looked back at him, awakening Rose. An ear-shattering scream came from her mouth as she grabbed her head and hyperventilated.
"I'm dead. I'm dead. I'm dead. I'm dead." Telling herself over and over, her finger dug into her skin, "This isn't real." Noticing the gaze on her, she turned and saw James, bewildered, staring. "You." Falling out of bed, her body was still weak as she tried to pull herself towards him, "You did it." The tubes connected to her body snapped, "You did it."
"Rose." James weakly said, "You're alive."
"NO!" Rose screamed, clutching her neck, feeling the pieces of thread in it. She desperately clawed away at it and panicked, "What is this? Why am I here? What's going on? Who am I?" Her words were rapid, unable to accept the reality around her. James turned his head away, hiding his shaking eyes. "Where's George. Can he heal me?"
James slowly lifted his hands to his eyes and took deep, rapid breaths. Xavier's words echoed in his mind. 'Fortune and misfortune walk hand in hand.' James felt the world crumble around him, repeating that.
"No, you couldn't have meant this." Saying to himself, he looked to Rose and choked back his tears. Just because they coexisted didn't mean he would be the one to bear the misfortune. Chuckling to himself at the absurdity of the situation, his phone rang on the side of the table. Looking at who called and seeing Xavier's number, he took a sharp breath and reached out with a shaking hand.
"James. The window next to you. Jump out of it. Run down the back road to the white car and stay low." Xavier gave the order in a serious voice. Not hearing a reply or action, Xavier chuckled, "Have you not seen the news. You're a wanted man."
"What?"
"You have ten minutes before they get to you. I pulled some strings to buy this." Xavier said the final bit with a happy voice before hanging up. Looking at the TV in the corner of the room, James turned to Rose, who still clutched her head, shaking, before grabbing the remote.
Turning it on, he saw his apartment on the screen with multiple squad cars around it. Turning it up, he didn't dare breathe loudly.
'NPSD own, Detective James Graham wanted for Vigilante-related crimes and Numerous counts of Manslaughter.'
The bright heading told James everything he needed as the sound reached his ears. "We have just received a statement from Captain Cox of the NPSD." The remote fell out of his hands. "Every man and woman is innocent until proven guilty. The same applies to Detective Graham. However, we do know that Detective Graham had leaked the news of Charles Lazard. Whilst commendable under normal circumstances, the discovery in his home and witness testimonies, we believe he may have had ulterior motives. Until proven, however, we shall treat him like any other suspect."
The lady put the paper down and looked at the camera, "Although the charges against Mr Graham have yet to be proven, everyone should consider him armed and dangerous. If anyone has news of his whereabouts, please report to the NPPD or NPSD."
James looked down at Rose, who still struggled to understand what happened to her. Looking at her body, he couldn't understand what had happened; the puppet inside was a completely different thing from what her ability had been before. Was the person he knew as Rose dead and now her body marionetted by the thing inside, was she still the same person as before, or had she become a living Aretfact? James didn't know. He wanted to comfort her, tell her it would be okay. He wanted to ease her worries, but looking back at the TV, he knew he couldn't.
He had desperately fought to stay alive, not to spend his time in prison. He had destroyed everything around him just so he could see the truth. James covered his mouth in self-horror.
"I really am scum." Looking out the window below, he saw a bin filled to the brim, conveniently placed to break his fall. Taking a final look at Rose, he grit his teeth, "I'm sorry. Please forgive me." Telling her, he jumped out and fell, crashing into the bin bags.
Groaning, he pulled himself out and limped towards the white car. Opening the door, he threw himself in the backseat, lay down and relaxed. His phone vibrated, and seeing Vanessa's number, he answered.
"Yeah." James didn't have the strength to talk; his voice was quiet.
"What have you done, James? Why are they saying you killed a bunch of people?" Vanessa said with a worried voice that slightly broke. James closed his eyes and sighed, grabbing his head. Tears dropped from them as he let out a deep breath.
"Are you alright? Are you safe?" James ignored her. He could tell from her voice that she wasn't scared and knew what he'd heard before was a trick.
"Why do you keep asking? I'm fine." Vanessas said, "But James, what did you do?"
Reaching into his gown, thinking it was his coat, he went for a cigarette and frowned when he realised they weren't there. As if Xavier knew what James would do, a packet and lighter rested in the cupholder between the driver and passenger seat. Taking one out, he took a deep inhale of the cigarette, letting it sit in his lungs for a while.
Thinking about everything, he shook his head and exhaled, "Things got out of hand, Vanessa."
End of Arc 1- Alleyway Murder