New Zion

“Hey dad?” Cole cracked open the door to his father’s office.

“C’mon in,” his father’s voice came from inside. Cole stepped into the room and closed the door behind him. He looked up to see Harry, his father, and a massive Berg Leute. “What do you need, Cole?” Cole looked at his father.

“Uh, an Avian visited me today, and she said that she got permission from you to use me on a mission of some kind,” Ryan nodded.

“Yeah, he visited me before coming to you, and I gave my consent,” he responded. Cole’s eyes narrowed.

“I’m not a tool,” Ryan sighed.

“I know that. Ultimately, it was your decision to do so. I told him as much. It’s just that you aren’t legally an adult yet, and in order for you to…” Cole shook his head.

“Dad, I’m older than you are. Legally, I’m a senior citizen,” Cole stated. Ryan chuckled.

“Yeah, but you’re still considered to be eighteen, and until you’re nineteen, I have to give my consent for things like that. Anyways, the reason that I wanted to talk to you,” Ryan held out two pictures. Cole stepped forward and took it. Scanning he shook his head.

“What is this?” he asked. Ryan let out a long breath.

“Someone’s trying to call you out,” Cole looked up at Ryan.

“What did I do?” Ryan picked up another piece of paper.

“Here, let me read you something,” Cole nodded. “‘To the little bastard that cut up my brother and broke his mind, I will continue to murder these women until you show yourself. The two women that were found today are only the beginning. Show yourself tomorrow outside of Central High or else the killings will continue’,” Cole’s shoulders slumped.

“That was two years ago. Why is he coming out now?” Cole asked. Ryan shrugged.

“This guy was in prison for assault. He must have just gotten out,” Cole nodded.

“Ok. I’ll deal with him,” Ryan grabbed Cole by the shoulder.

“What are you going to do when you find him?” Ryan asked. Cole shrugged off his father’s heavy hand.

“We’re going to have a little chat about his brother,” Cole answered. Ryan raised an eyebrow.

“Oh, is that all?” he asked. Cole sadly smiled as he responded.

“It takes a light for there to be a shadow, but there are no shadows in absolute darkness,”

“So, who are you?” Cole asked the Berg Leute that was following him. The Berg Leute had short brown hair and green eyes.

“Sir, my name is Levi, sir. I am a new recruit,” Cole nodded.

“So that’s why they sent you with me,” Levi looked down at Cole. “Well, just keep people from getting in the way, and could you also go to the police station and inform them about what’s going on? I’ll meet you outside of Central High, ok?” Levi nodded and sprinted off in the direction of the police station. Cole shook his head. “Why do they keep sending the new recruits with me on things like this? They’re less likely to be broken in, and more likely to just become afraid of me,” Cole said aloud.

Well, some say it is better to be feared rather than loved, Elder offered. Cole sighed.

“I’d rather be normal than feared or loved,” Cole replied.

I’d say it’s better to be loved’ Abra chimed in. Cole stopped in front of Aria’s house. And here’s your chance to be, a smile tugged at the corner of Cole’s mouth.

“Well, here goes,” Cole walked up to the door and knocked. The door cracked open and a crimson colored eye peered out. “Hey Aria, could I ask you something?” The door opened all the way. Aria stood there in her pajamas, her crimson hair slightly messy.

“Yeah?” She blinked rapidly and rubbed one of her eyes. Looking down at his waist she saw a sword. “What’s with the sword?” Cole smiled.

“Just a precaution,” he replied. “Anyways, could you put on some clothes and meet me at the corner store near Central High in about half an hour?” Aria looked up at him, blinking.

“Uh, well… I…” She looked down and nodded. Cole smiled.

“Ok, I’ll see you in half an hour. Oh, and when you go there, don’t go by the school. Something’s going to be happening there in a few minutes, and you won’t want to be around,” Aria nodded again and went back into her house. Cole walked off towards the school. Making it there he saw that the police had already set up around the end of the bridge, and some had set up on the bridge, near the middle. Levi stood just inside of the circle, and a human man stood near the beginning of the bridge. He was the spitting image of the man from the alleyway. Cole strode forward, a police officer raising the tape for him to get through.

“Are you Cole Avalon?” the man called out from where he stood.

“Yeah. I heard you were looking for me,” Cole called back. He continued walking forwards until he was a short distance away from the man.

“I been waiting two years for this,” the man pulled out a blade of his own, but Cole held up his hand.

“Before you do anything rash, let me explain why I had done what I had,” The man didn’t move.

“Explain away. I’ll wait for your explanation, but the outcome of this isn’t going to change,” he snarled. Cole nodded.

“Your brother had gone around raping women, and then cutting them up. He’d done this to at least ten women, and I only managed to find him by accident. I just happened to be passing by. I did what I had to him because it would serve as a lesson to other people,” the man didn’t react for a time.

“You think that just because he’d done those things he would cease to be my brother?” the man asked. Cole nodded.

“Your brother forfeited his right to be treated as a human being,” The man looked at Cole.

“He was mentally messed up to begin with! He didn’t even realize that what he was doing was wrong!” Cole shook his head.

“Then why didn’t you take care of him?” Cole asked.

“Because I was in prison!” he replied. Cole raised an eyebrow.

“And who’s responsible for you being in prison?” the man paused. “You are responsible for being in prison. It sucks that all of this had to happen, but he needed to be stopped, and he was a threat. We do not have the luxury of keeping around unpredictable and unmanaged threats in the city. And how can you console all the women that he hurt?

“Do you think that telling them that your brother was sick is going to make the scars fade, and take away the pain and shame of what had happened?” The man screamed at Cole and ran towards him, lunging with his blade. Cole sidestepped but the blade went right through his forearm, in between the bones. Cole grit his teeth.

“Let me kill you!” the man yelled at Cole.

“Sorry, but I’ve got someone that I’d like to meet up with today. Also, it won’t work. Believe me, I’ve tried,” Cole responded as he twisted his arm, wrenching the blade from the man’s hands. Cole pulled out his sword, a metallic grinding noise rasping out as he did so. “Dang, I’ve gotta take better care of this thing,” Cole pulled the dagger from his arm. He tossed his sword to the man and got ready with the dagger.

“Are you mocking me!” the man yelled. Cole shook his head.

“No, I’ve simply got the advantage. Come at me,” Cole challenged. The man lunged, and Cole lifted the dagger and guided the sword past his body. “Besides, I can control the sword with the dagger better than the other way around,” the Man sped past Cole and spun around, trying to land a hit on Cole’s head. Cole rolled to the side. Standing up he faced the man who lunged at him again.

Cole guided the sword again, but this time he slashed the man’s ribcage. The man screamed and swung again. Cole ducked under the swing and quickly rolled again to avoid the blood spurting from the man’s chest as the wound ripped open further from the strain. Cole shot up and lunged at the man, stabbing him in the shoulder joint, pulling the blade down the tendons in the area. The man dropped to the ground. Cole stood up and looked down at the man.

“You’re lucky that I was swearing a t-shirt today. If you’d ruined my shirt for my date things would have turned out differently,” Cole stepped over and picked up his sword. As he leaned down he whispered to the man, “You asked for this,” Cole sheathed his sword as he walked towards the Police ring. He held out the dagger to Levi.

“Here’s a souvenir of your first task as a member of the Avalon Family,” Cole started to walk away when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Cole turned to Levi. “What?”

“Two things. First, you have a drop of blood on your cheek. Second, are you ok with this outcome?” Levi looked at Cole expectantly.

“Two things. First, thank you for letting me know about the blood, as well as getting the police here,” Levi gave a slight nod. “Second, it doesn’t matter if I like the outcome. What matters is that it happened,” Levi nodded.

“That’s all I needed to hear,” Levi responded. Cole walked through the police and continued down the street towards the corner store.

Cole looked at the shelf in front of him. The wrapped candy and bagged junk food almost seemed to stare back at him. He sighed and walked to the front desk. He held out a crimson handkerchief. The store owner held up two fingers, the scar running the one side of his mouth in a wicked smile giving away his muteness.

Cole dropped two coins on the counter and used the handkerchief to clean off the blood from his cheek. Carefully folding it up he put it in his back pocket and walked out the door. As soon as he stepped outside someone bumped into him. Cole looked up to see a blonde haired blue eyed Berg Leute holding hands with a blue haired feline Terra.

“Hey Cole,” Cole blinked.

“Hey Peter. How goes it?” Cole responded.

“Eh, not too bad. It kinda feels like I’ve lost my freedom, but I think I gained something better,” Cole chuckled. Skyla held onto Peter’s arm tighter.

“Yeah, you have lost your freedom. Your time is mine for the next while. After all, the government demands it,” Skyla said.

“I’m still not all too sure about this,” Cole leaned and looked past the two to see Simon and his partner standing on the other side.

“What could possibly be the problem?” Cole asked, stifling his laughter. Simon’s partner was gripping his arm, holding on tightly as if he’d disappear if she let go.

“I presume you had something to do with what happened near the school?” Peter asked in a quiet voice. Cole looked at the girl’s.

“Hey, girls, head into the store and get yourselves something. Just tell the owner I’ll be right in to pay,” Skyla nodded

“C’mon Kat,” she said and took hold of the other girl’s hand and led her into the store. Katherine gave Simon a look as if to say ‘if you aren’t here when I get back I will find you’. Cole sighed after the doors closed. “You remember that time in middle school when I didn’t come to school for a week?” Peter nodded. “Well, you remember the story of that guy that’s been hung up in the alleyway the week beforehand?” Peter shook his head.

“We know that you’re the one that did it. We also know what the guy’d done. So what?” he asked.

“Well, his brother just got out of prison and he left a note telling me when and where. So, naturally, I went to meet him. I tried to explain, he didn’t care, and he attacked me. Right now, I don’t know if he’s going to die or not,” Cole explained.

“Well, if he dies, it was his fault for attacking you. All you did was defend yourself,” Simon chimed in. Cole nodded.

“I know. Frankly, I won’t be sad if he dies. My problem comes with the fact that he murdered two innocent women while trying to call me out,” Cole answered.

Why are you bothering? They won’t be able to understand, Alfred asked.

I bother because I care about them. They’re my friends, Cole answered.

Hush Alfred, Elder scolded.

“Well, there are things that will always be out of our control,” Peter finally said as he looked up at the sky. “The most that we can do is the right thing, no matter what the right thing may be, when the opportunity comes up,” Cole nodded.

“How do I know what the right thing to do is?” Cole asked.

“Cole!” Cole looked up the street to see Aria running towards him. He waved.

“Well, I’m sure you’ll figure it out soon enough,” Peter stated. Aria reached them and stopped just short of Cole. She had her hands on her knees, panting.

“I’m sorry I’m late. I didn’t realize how long it would take to go the long way around,” Cole smiled at her.

“Don’t worry about it. I haven’t been here long,” he said. Aria stood up straight. She had a cream colored t-shirt on, and a blue skirt. Her crimson hair was pulled slightly to the side with clips. Cole turned to Peter. “You guys go on ahead. See you around,” Peter nodded and the rest walked off.

“Are we not going with them?” Aria asked. Cole shrugged.

“I suppose we could if you wanted. I only happened to meet them by chance,” Aria looked down. “Well, if you want to get something from the store here, I’ll pay for it. I’m sure we’ll be able to catch up to them fairly easily between your enhanced senses and my knowledge of them,” Aria nodded. “Ok, go pick something and let’s get going,” Aria walked into the store.

“So, what are you planning on doing later on in life?” Cole looked down at Aria as she looked over the shelf.

“Well, I’m going to inherit my father’s Mafia. You?” Aria continued searching.

“I don’t know. I can’t really take over as the head of my clan, and I don’t really know what to do with myself,” She responded.

“Well, you’ll let me know when you do, yeah?” Aria looked up at Cole.

“Yeah, I will,” She then looked back at the shelf. “I can’t decide between these two,” She picked up a necklace with a phoenix pendant and a hair clip with a Plumeria flower pendant. Cole looked them both over.

“Both would look great on you,” Aria didn’t look up at him. “Well, there is a third option,” Cole offered. Aria looked up at Cole. He smiled.

©2017