Shopping center, huh? Never really paid attention to what was there when I went.
Kara seems to be staring at my face. She's examining it quite intensely.
"Your eyes are weird." She remarks, her voice tapering off.
"And your nose looks weird," I retort.
"Hey! Rude! I was just gonna ask why you had two different pupil colors." She pouts, swatting my shoulder.
"I was just born like that. I dunno," I tell her.
"Heterochromia. Genetic condition." Elaine chimes in, not even looking at us.
"Thanks." She says to Elaine.
Looking forward, I see a building to our left with a bunch of different stores and stuff.
Bayani starts jogging over to the shop on the leftmost corner that's in sight.
"Secondhand bookstore. He goes there every time." Kara remarks.
"Of course," I reply with a sigh. "I'm not holding more books for you in my room! I can't go in there anyway!" I shout after him.
I spot a larger section of the building labeled "Prehistoric Museum." I proceed to grab Elaine's hand and drag her toward it. Kara follows close behind.
"You don't gotta drag me, squirt!" Elaine shouts.
I stop outside of it. "Elaine, we gotta go to the dino museum. Please?" I beg.
"Good god, I guess. But let me go inside this store next to it. I want to get myself new shoes." She says.
"Ooh! I need more athletic clothes! Lemme go with!" Kara shouts excitedly.
"Parker?" Elaine asks.
"Can I wait outside? I'm not gonna buy anything there, and I wanna get a bit more sun." I ask.
"Sure, but you move one inch from that spot in front of the door, I am beating your little ass," Elaine says, pointing at the spot against the wall to the right of the door, by a small alley that leads into the other side of the shopping center.
I nod and stand where she pointed, leaning against the wall as Kara and Elaine go inside.
The sun feels great beating onto me. I don't get as much as I should. Before being Parker. I never got any as I didn't go out during the day. I think I like being outside.
Without warning, I feel a large hand cover my face and drag me back into the alleyway. I get slammed into the brick behind me. I'm now face-to-face with the King of Hearts.
"Nice day, isn't it, Parker?" He greets with a thick russian accent, his voice dripping with malice.
"What do you want?" I sputter out.
"Why do you fight?" He asks, as if he is completely ignoring my question.
"What does that matter?" I reply.
"You don't have an answer, do you?" he says, a large toothy grin growing on his face.
"I asked what does it matter?!" I shout.
"How do you think one beats someone objectively stronger than oneself? Like you in almost every fight you've won." He says, answering my question with one of his own.
"My power. It's something that's never been seen before. So it throws people off." I answer.
"True. But I don't think that's quite right." He remarks.
"What are you on about?" I ask him.
"Know yourself, Parker. Why do you fight? What do you yearn for? When you look inward to the very core of your soul, what does it desire?" He rambles, pressing me harder against the brick. I feel it scraping my skin a little.
"So many words to keep making the same point," I remark.
In response, the King of Hearts knees me in the stomach.
"You interest me, Parker. You fight like you have to. Yet, your actions always speak to a personal agenda. Someone who only fought out of obligation wouldn't seek out a life-threatening fight over and over." He whispers, getting eerily close to my ear.
"And what does that mean for me?" I ask.
"I want to push you past your breaking point. I want to break you and see if you can rise past it." He says, before continuing. "I mean, what other chance do I get a specimen like you? Someone of your background, the one and only apprentice of Wraith. The bastardized son of-" He says, before I interrupt him by creating a shadow portal behind me and kicking through it, making the other end right by his jaw. The blow causes him to let me go.
"Shut your damn mouth. I'm not some lab rat." I snarl. Readying myself in a fighting stance. If need be, I'll take him on right here and now.
"Do you really wanna fight me out in the open?" He patronizes.
"Isn't that what you were after?" I remark.
"Not necessarily. I don't think it'd be much of a fight as you are now." He says matter-of-factly.
I don't dignify that with a verbal response; I deliver a punch to his stomach, but he doesn't budge. He grabs my hair and lifts me. He uses his other arm to punch me in the face. He then drops me. I land on my knees and am rendered prone and coughing.
"That position should be quite reminiscent for you, Parker… Or should I call you by your name?" He asks.
"What are you on about?" I sputter, still coughing.
"I was just thinking I might want to throw you a dog bowl too, Ray Halford." He says, leaning down to be over my head.
"How do you know my real name, let alone my full name?! I threw that last name out almost three years ago! If you're gonna use anything, use Davis!" I shout.
"Your mentor's last name? Cute." He says, delivering a kick to my head.
I look up at him, and it seems like he's turning around to leave. As I am about to scramble back up to my feet and try to lunge for him again, he stops in his tracks, and I do the same. "By the way. Clubs are hiding out in the docks. Where you killed Klein and those C ranks. Use the other factions as a stepping stone, think about the questions I posed, and climb up to me." He then starts walking again and exits the alley, turning the corner and leaving my sight.
I crawl my way back to my feet, and I exit the alley from the opposite end, making my way back to the wall where Elaine told me to wait. Unlucky for me, she and Kara were already there, and Elaine is fuming. "One simple instruction. One!" She scolds.
"You've broken the rule of sticking together, too. Don't act perfect." I retort.
"Parker, you look hurt. Did you get into a fight while we were gone?" Kara chimes in.
"No, these were from the spars from earlier, you just must've not noticed," I reply, looking away from her.
Kara's eyes narrow as she seems to still be inspecting me. She steps slightly closer, really examining me. I lean closer to her, which, for some reason, makes her fluster slightly. I whisper in her ear: "We should talk later back at HQ. You, me, Bayani. We find an excuse to lose Elaine."
I pull away, and Kara stares at me for a few seconds blankly before hurriedly nodding. Elaine walks over to me with a sigh, "You'd better tell me what happened while we were gone when we're back in our room."
"Our room?" I question.
"My room, whatever. Don't play semantics with me." She scoffs. "Now let's go to that stupid museum you wanted to go to."
"Don't forget about Bayani!" Kara interjects.
"I'll go get him from the bookstore; you two stay put," Elaine says, rushing over into the bookstore nearby.
"So what was it you wanted to tell Bayani and me? You can tell me, then I tell him." Kara says.
"I ran into the King of Hearts, and he punched me," I tell her.
"Ha! Knew you were lying! You're easy to read, Parker." She says triumphantly, as if she solved some great mystery.
"He told me where the Clubs faction is. Northern Parlay docks." I continue.
"Why would he do that?" Kara asks.
"He wants me to 'fight my way to him'. Or at least that's what he was saying. The guy is a psycho." I explain, sighing.
"Sounds like it…" Kara says before continuing, "What are we gonna do?"
"I want to scope it out by myself. My power is well-suited for that type of thing." I tell her.
"Yeah, that's not really my style," Kara says.
"But, Bayani should go with you. He'd be helpful."
"I suppose, if he wants to," I reply.
"Meh, I'll order him to go." Kara shrugs.
"Yeah, you're his number one authority. He just has to listen to you." I remark, chuckling a bit.
"See? You get it." She chirps.
At that moment, Elaine heads out with Bayani, who is holding a stack of books, smiling up at his purchases. While Elaine, on the otherhand is looking down at Bayani, with an exasperated look on her face.
"Hope I didn't buy too much," Bayani says, a little worried, looking over at Elaine for approval.
"Oh, surely not, you could never have too many books," Elaine says, rolling her eyes.
"I agree!" Bayani chirps, his eyes lighting up.
"Bayani, how are you gonna take all of those in the museum?" Kara asks.
"Oh," he replies, making a full stop. "I guess I can't."
"And we walked here. So you can't store them in my car." Elaine chimes in.
The four of us stand in silence for a little while, Bayani's stack of books wobbling slightly.
"I guess I can walk with him back. Parker was the one who really wanted to go into that museum anyway." Kara says, looking over to Elaine.
Elaine sighs, scratching the back of her neck, "Sounds good. Stay safe, you two. Text me when you're back."
Kara nods and walks over to Bayani, turning her head and shooting me a wink.
What in the world is that supposed to mean?
Bayani, with the assistance of his sister, steadies his stack of books and the pair walks away, heading back to HQ.
Elaine turns to me, "Let's go into that dumb dino museum that you wanted to go to." She says, grabbing my hand and dragging me in.
I scramble so I can stand stable on my feet to walk with her. I don't entirely appreciate being dragged.
We enter the building, and it's rather… underwhelming. The lobby is just drab grey walls with shelves on them, and set up around the floor. The shelves are filled with various dinosaur figurines, books, and magnets. At the front, there's a desk with a tired-looking receptionist who looks to be around Elaine's age.
Behind the receptionist is a large blue sign with various prices. It reads: "$5.00 for Children under 12. $15.00 General Admission. $10.00 for Seniors (60+)."
Elaine slams down twenty-dollars onto the counter, startling the teenage boy. "Two tickets, one child, one general." She says.
"You don't count for the senior one?" I say, looking up at her.
"I will kick your little-" She starts, before cutting herself off with a sigh.
The teenage boy, a little greasy, looks up at Elaine and seems to immediately look far more awake upon the sight of her. He pulls out the tickets and holds them up. He gives his best attempt at a charming smile. Though I can see food in his teeth. "I could give you the tickets for free… If I could get your number." He says.
"Not interested," Elaine replies flatly, grabbing the tickets, taking my hand, and beginning to lead me away.
Though Elaine most definitely cannot hear it, I can hear him muttering with Mr. Eun-ji's power, "Bitch."
I look over at him, eyes widening and my jaw dropping. He notices me and scowls down.
That ass! What's the big deal about some phone number? She doesn't even know that guy! I see the shadow of the stool he's sitting on…
CRASH!
The stool collapses, legs gone, and he falls over. Elaine looks over in confusion while I'm snickering to myself. He stands up, dusting himself off and heading into another room to the right labeled, "Employees Lounge," likely out of embarrassment. Regardless, Elaine and I continue walking over to the entrance of the exhibit.
"What are you laughing about?" Elaine asks.
"About the universe doing its work. With my power, I heard him call you a bitch." I reply.
"Yeah? Did the stool randomly break? Or did you do something?" She questions. More of a light interrogation.
"How would I? You were holding my hand the entire time." I reply, trying my best to feign innocence.
"I don't know? A second power that nobody at HQ knows about?" She says casually, looking down as if she's staring right into my soul.
"That's ridiculous. Nobody has more than one." I retort, I realize my voice is rising, making me likely come across as quite defensive.
"It'd explain why Sonar has to teach you basic shit you should already know at your age. And it explains why you look so uncomfortable fighting with it. If you had another power you're better versed in, everything would add up." She says.
Darn. She's far too perceptive. If anyone is likely to find me out, it's her. And she's the one I will be near the most, just perfect for me.
I take a deep, shaky breath and look down, trying to think of anything to say, a lie, a half-truth, anything. She didn't directly see me make four tiny shadow tendrils to break that chair, but that doesn't mean that I can just play this off like it's nothing.
"After my mom adopted me, I refused to use my power." I begin, pausing to make it seem as though it's a tough subject for me.
"Oh? Do go on," she says, motioning toward me.
"I hated it. It reminded me of my old family and how they hurt me. I wanted to live like the small percent of people who don't have powers, but Mr. Eun-ji convinced me that I could be something. A hero. So I started using it again when he made me his apprentice. I'm a quick learner, but yeah, he has to explain and teach me the basics." I finish, looking up at her with bated breath, hoping she buys it.
Elaine takes a long pause, still examining me. She turns her head away from me, nodding it over to the exhibit. "I see… Let's go."
Did she believe it?! What does that even mean?!
I steel myself and nod back, and we enter the exhibit.
I know it's a small building, but this isn't impressive at all. Just some art of dinosaurs with basic information about them below, it seems to be in some sort of alphabetical order. Elaine and I drift along it all, me reading all of the information that I already know, and Elaine staring off into space until we land upon the little podiums with the information about the Gigantosaurus and the Giganotosaurus.
"It's wrong," I say incredulously. "How does a museum get basic information wrong?"
"Hm, what's wrong?" Elaine asks, her attention now drawn to what I'm reading.
"It mixed up the names. Giganotosaurus is the carnivorous theropod, not the Gigantosaurus. The Gigantosaurus is the herbivorous sauropod." I rant.
"And the big deal is?" She shrugs.
"They're misinforming the general public," I reply.
"Parker. You're making a big deal about nothing." Elaine sighs.
"It's by far the worst sin a dinosaur museum or a dinosaur 'expert' could do," I tell her.
"Let me guess, one of them is your favorite, and you're upset over a small mistake about it," Elaine says, rolling her eyes.
I pause. Really reflecting on it. And I feel a blush creeping onto my cheeks.
I hear Elaine stifle a laugh that turns into a snort. She pats my head, "It's fine, kids get hung up over stupid stuff all the time."
I feel myself grumble something nonsensical as Elaine and I go through the rest of this tiny and shoddy "museum."
When we exit the exhibit, I see a different person at the reception desk. We exit out the front doors, Elaine tries to drag me further away, but I stop dead in my tracks and pull out my phone.
I fumble with it for an arguably embarrassing amount of time before I manage to open the camera app and aim it at myself and the museum building behind me. I take a photo, then Elaine leans down enough to try and be in one too.
"We came here together, I should be in one." She says.
A passerby likely heard her say that, because an older woman who looks to be in her sixties walks over. "I can take a picture of you and your brother if you'd like." She says to Elaine with a warm smile.
Elaine freezes at the assumption and the use of the word "brother," and forces a smile. "Thank you, ma'am. Much appreciated."
I hand the woman my phone, and she steps back from us, aiming the camera. Elaine pulls me a little bit closer, her grip a little tight on my shoulder, making me wince a little. Her breathing is uneven and quickened, yet she still keeps a smile on her face.
The woman doesn't seem to notice and takes a picture of us. She then walks back over and hands me my phone.
Elaine waits until the woman walks away, and then she lets go of me. Elaine's face drops, and she motions for me to follow. As I do, she stands a few feet away from me the entire quiet walk back to HQ.
When we arrive back, Elaine motions for me to sit in a chair near the front of the lobby, "I need to use the bathroom, wait here." She says, already darting toward the bathroom, her voice tapering off.
As if right on cue, the moment Elaine enters the bathroom, over walks a face I was hoping not to see until I absolutely had to, Cain.
"Sonar's apprentice! How are you?" He greets, looking a little too happy considering how he treated Mr. Eun-ji yesterday.
"Cain. Get to the point." I tell him flatly.
"You could help me get rid of Kara."