The Ascendants: Genesis (7 page)

James and Lucas huffed. They both wanted to go another round, but they were certain Mia wouldn't allow it. She had her telekinesis in such control that neither men would have a chance against her if she really wanted to stop them.

“So is this your plan, intimidate people like me until we do what you want?”

“Don't be ridiculous Lucas, you know it isn't like that.”

“Really? Because as far as I'm concerned, that's exactly what it's like. Here I was minding my own business, enjoying my day, when suddenly two uninvited guests show up. Two uninvited guests that have made it their mission to try and get me to do something I want no part in.”

James grunted. In that moment he wanted nothing more than to use his strength on Lucas, but Mia’s interest in Lucas caused James to refrain from such actions.

“The reason that we are here more so than anything else is to find out about Dorian Granier,” Mia said.

Lucas gave Mia a worried look. “Dorian Granier? Why would you mention that name to me?”

Mia and James looked at one another. “I read your file, I know that a little over a year ago you and your brother were captured by an unknown group of scientists.”

Mia immediately regretted bringing up Lucas' past. It wasn't something he wanted to talk about. “We have reason to believe that this organization that experimented on you and others like us is an organization known as the Syndicate. We don't know much about them, but we were able to identify an individual we suspect to be a high ranking member within the organization.”

Lucas studied Mia hard. “And you believe this Dorian Granier person is someone that I know?”

“I believe he's someone you might have heard of, or now that we know this organization is the same organization that captured you and your brother, there might be something that you can tell us that will help us find out more about them.”

“I don't know anything about them and even if I did, these aren't the type of people you want to mess with. Now if you will excuse me, my lunch break is over.”

James cracked his knuckles and moved closer towards Lucas. Mia used her telekinesis to hold James in place.

“Come on Lucas, don't be like that. You must know something.”

Lucas shook his head. “I don't know anything about this organization you're talking about. All I know is that my brother, and I were captured by some man and knocked unconscious. When I came to, I was in some facility being rescued by a group of black opts soldiers or something.”

Mia and James looked at one another.

“This man, what did he look like?” James asked.

“I don't remember; it was over a year ago.”

James gritted his teeth. “Try anyway.”

Lucas huffed. He relaxed his defensive stance and thought back to his time in the facility. He tried to replay the details of that horrible time, but a lot of it was still fuzzy.

“Please Lucas, anything you can tell us would be great.”

“I don't remember.”

James shook his head. He did not believe Lucas for one moment. “This was probably one of the worst days of your life Lucas. You don't just forget about something like that.”

“If I remembered anything I would tell you. Especially if it meant I could finally be rid of you two.”

“You don't mean that,” Mia said.

Lucas looked directly at Mia. “Yeah, I kind of do.”

Mia looked over to James. “He might be suppressing his memory. It was after all a traumatic event.”

“Well, if that's the case, we need to get him back to the ship and let Tori read his mind. She should be able to recover any suppressed memories he might have. If not, she can easily read his thoughts and uncover whatever it is he's hiding.” James gave Lucas a hard look, a look that made it clear that he didn't believe Lucas.

“I'm not going back anywhere with you two. Now I'm only going to say this one more time before things turn really ugly.”

Lucas did not have time to follow through on his threat. The confrontation between the three Post Humans was interrupted by the sounds of screams coming from the hallway. Lucas glared at James and Mia. They looked at one another unsure of what the commotion was about.

“Stay here,” James said.

James pulled out his gun, opened the door and calmly walked out into the hallway.

“Everywhere you guys go, trouble follows. I have no idea what's causing the screaming, but I bet you had something to do with it!”

Mia had no words to say. Each dig Lucas made cut deeper and deeper into her.

“What is it with you two anyway?” Lucas asked.

“What are you talking about?”

Lucas had an offended look on his face. He didn't consider for one second that Mia didn't know what he was talking about. “You and James.”

“Lucas, he's my partner, and a really good friend. We're in the field a lot together, which means we spend a lot of our time with each other. Plus, I genuinely enjoy his company.”

“How could you enjoy the company of a guy who's nothing more than a hothead?”

Mia stretched her hands forward and knocked Lucas back down to the couch. “James is one of the kindest, smartest men I know. There's so much more to him than you realize. Just like there's so much more to you than he realizes. You two just seem to bring out the worse in one another.”

Before Lucas could reply, James returned and looked completely terrified. “You two are going to want to come out here.” James paused. “Well, I take that back, you probably don't want to come out here, but come out here anyway!”

Mia and Lucas looked at one another with worried expressions. Lucas got back off the couch and followed James and Mia out of the room.

Lucas' jaw dropped, and he nearly threw up his lunch as he stared at Samantha's lifeless body. “What happened?” Mia asked James.

Several panicked teachers ran passed the three and didn't bother to look back. “That happened,” James said. He pointed down to the end of the hall.

“I don't see anything. What am I looking for?” Mia asked.

James kept his finger pointed down the hall. “Wait for it!” Suddenly something massively well-built and tall emerged from around the corner of the other hall. It had skin the color of blood, long black dreadlocks that were tied at the top, and tribal tattoos on its face.

“What in the world is that?” Lucas asked.

“I have no idea,” Mia said.

Lucas looked back over at his now deceased coworker Samantha. She had a large hole that went straight through her body. It looked as if some sort of extremely powerful and hot weapon was used to cause such a deadly result.

“Guess there's no need to ask if it's friendly or not.”

James reached to his left leg and pulled out his secondary firearm. “Now you see why I never enter the field without my gun. Doesn't matter what the mission is, I ain't taking any chances.”

“Agreed.”

James took a step forward and was about to fire on the hostile, but he froze when he saw the aggressive being snatch up a woman like she was nothing. The hostile seemed to examine her. He looked her up and down and sniffed her as if she was a piece of meat. It must've been dissatisfied, because after a quick examination, it snapped the woman's neck like a twig and tossed her aside.

“Oh God!” Mia shouted. Her entire body jerked back at the sight.

“Okay buddy, that's enough,” James said angrily. James squared his feet, pulled the trigger of both guns and fired until the clip was empty. The bullets bounced off the hostile like it was nothing.

“I think you're just making him angrier,” Lucas said.

“Yeah, no kidding,” James replied.

“What kind of Post Human looks like that?” Mia asked.

James looked the hostile over. “I don't think it’s a Post Human at all.” James, Mia and Lucas shared a look that needed no words. They all were thinking the same thing and in that moment the thought of what the hostile represented made the situation as dire as it was with the Syndicate seem trivial.

The hostile dusted itself off and found the bullets to be nothing more than a minor inconvenience. It studied the three Post Humans carefully and decided to counter James attack. The hostile reached behind his back and pulled out a long weapon that looked similar to a wizard's staff seen in movies. It fired a single blast that emitted a massive ball of fire. The fire hurled itself at the group, but Lucas stretched his hands forward and created a wall of ice to block the attack.

“Interesting,” the hostile said to Lucas. It seemed a bit surprised, yet pleased at the same time.

“Yeah, well guess what, he isn't the only one!” Mia stretched her hands forward and concentrated heavily. Suddenly the door of the classroom next to the hostile ripped off the hinges and hit the hostile square in the head. The hostile dropped the staff weapon and hit the ground with a loud thud.

Mia quickly stretched her hands forward and used her telekinesis to bring the staff weapon to her. The hostile reached for it, but the weapon moved towards Mia with great velocity.

James quickly grabbed a ladder in the hallway and ran forward. He swung it with ease like a baseball bat and connected with great force. The hostile flew backwards and went through a classroom.

Lucas and Mia moved with urgency and caught up with James. The three of them cautiously approached the room the hostile fell into.

“Careful,” Mia said as Lucas took the lead.

“Move,” James suddenly shouted. James pushed Lucas out of the way just in the nick of time. He quickly shifted his feet forward and with his right arm, shattered a desk the hostile heaved in their direction.

The hostile studied the three Post Humans and smiled. “Cyrokinesis, Telekinesis and Superhuman strength. So the stories are true. You are indeed the next generation.”

Lucas, James and Mia did not understand what the hostile was talking about and at that moment, none of them cared. The only thing on their mind was stopping the intruder from causing any more harm. It was a task that proved to be quite daunting.

“Who are you, what do you want?” Mia shouted.

“Those questions will be answered in due time.”

“What's the play?” Mia whispered to James.

James stared the hostile down. The hostile seemed completely unfazed by their presence.

“Hit him with everything we've got.”

“Him?” Lucas echoed.

James thought for a moment and shrugged his shoulders. “Okay, let's be real, what we're looking at isn't human. What we're looking at isn't even a Post Human, that right there is an alien. A male alien, so yeah, hit him with everything we got!”

“All right, let’s do this!” Mia said.

James charged forward while Mia and Lucas stretched their hands and unleashed their respective powers on the red skinned alien.

The alien easily caught James by the throat, lifted him off the ground, and threw him into the nearest wall. The alien showed a complete disregard for James' presence. As Lucas' ice attack and the force of Mia's telekinesis approached, the alien calmly reached to his left wrist and activated a personal force field.

“Your abilities have no effects on me,” the alien said. Mia and Lucas stopped their attack and rethought their plan. Satisfied by their reaction, the alien snickered and deactivated his force field.

“You sure we have no effect on you?” James asked. The alien turned just in time to see James' fist connect with a devastating uppercut that sent the alien flying backwards. James rushed over to the alien and delivered several closed fists punches to various parts of the alien's body. With punches as hard as a rock, James disabled the personal force field.

The alien embraced James' attack and waited for the slightest opening. When he found one, the alien pushed James off of him and reached for his staff weapon. “Lucas, freeze him!” James said.

Lucas stretched his hands forward and directed a massive ice attack large enough to completely encase the alien.

“Should we finish him off?” Mia asked.

“Yeah,” James replied.

The encased alien concentrated and slowly the ice began to crack. Before the trio could reach him, the alien broke free. He looked around the room and saw the three Post Humans ready to make another move on him, but with his force field disabled, he did not want to take any chances.

“This isn't over!” The alien drove his hands downward and hit the ground with such force that the entire area around him collapsed to the first floor. The alien emerged from the debris and fled the school, leaving behind his staff weapon.

Mia, James and Lucas watched the alien leave the school through one of the back doors.

“Should we go after him?” Mia asked.

James listened to the sounds of several police cars approaching. “No time, with our luck, they could be after us.”

“Lucas, where are you going?” Mia shouted.

Lucas used his cyrokinesis ability and created an ice slide which he used to easily descend to the first floor. “Away from you two. You guys do nothing but bring trouble. I know it's not intentional, but everywhere you go, trouble follows!”

Lucas did not look back. He ran out of the school as fast as he could. He had no intentions on going after the alien, but he had no intentions on sticking around for questions either.