Chapter 9: Aftershock
"Indigo City is still reeling from the supposed terrorist attack on Temper Industries early yesterday evening. Causalities are ranging in the hundreds as bodies of Temper Industries staff and pedestrians are pulled from the debris. Indigo City Police believe the cause of the explosion came from some kind of device underneath the building, planted in an unknown underground bunker. While many believe the cause to be related to other bombings around the city, police have confirmed that this was an unrelated incident due to the lack of graffiti that has been found at the other bombings. Police have also ruled out any possibility that Carriers were involved. It still, however, begs the question, 'Who caused this bombing?'"
"You know the boss didn't survive that, right?"
The guard watching the television turns to his partner, lounging in his chair at the other side of the room.
"I mean, come on." The partner continues, "The odds that Sinclair made it out are astronomical."
"You're point is?"
The partner throws his hands in the air, "That this sh!t is useless now! No one's coming to relieve us and no one's certainly paying our checks anymore. We might as well pack up and leave."
"And what about her?" The guard asks, pointing to the locked door behind him.
"Who cares? Didn't she bite you the first day she was here anyways?"
"That doesn't-"
The two stop when they hear the sound of something dropping to the floor in front of them. They get up from their chairs slowly, the guard signaling for his partner to be quiet as he un-holsters his gun. His partner does the same.
The silently comb through the rows of old shelves, dusty boxes and odd metal parts stacked everywhere. They finally come an aisle where they see a box lying on the ground, the dust spread away from it from its impact. The guards look at the shelf to see that it split where the box used to lie, revealing old, rotted wood inside.
"Damn things are falling apart their so o-"
Before the guard can finish speaking something jumps from the top of shelf and lands on him, knocking him down. The intruder kicks the other guard in the stomach, sending him falling to the ground in pain. He pulls out a pair of night sticks from his side and whacks both the guards over the head, knocking them out immediately.
"Freaking finally…"
I put my night sticks back in their holsters and leave the guards to dribble on the floor. I drag my feet back to where they came from and spy the locked, iron door behind the desk. I can't help but smile a small, tired smile as I take the set of keys from the desk and start trying to find the right one.
I woke up three hours after the tower fell. It was pitch black inside the abandoned factory and I felt like every single one of my muscles had been put into a blender they hurt so much. Don't even get me started on my head. I thought about helping out with the rescue teams, but I knew that any Carrier help would only bring wandering eyes and unwanted questions. The amount of ambulance, fire truck and police sirens going off through Golden Roads was enough to tell me they had the situation in hand anyways.
That doesn't mean I've forgotten what went down though. No one knows that Malcolm caused that explosion. No one knows that the deaths of all of those people can be put on just one man. And I will find him, for those people, for those real heroes risking their lives to save the wounded and hell, even for Caleb Sinclair. I'm bringing Malcolm Young to justice.
The key slides into the lock with the most beautiful of sounds and I turn the key.
"Hi honey, I'm home."
Jane looks up at me with her big green eyes filled with joy. She lunges at me and gives me a massive bear hug, practically crushing me in her arms.
"Okay, ow. You don't have any Carrier powers that I don't know about do you?"
"Just shut up and kiss me."
I oblige without a moment to waste, kissing my wife for the first time since I got my powers, tears of joy rolling down both of our cheeks.
We break away to look at each other. She looks fine, if not on the pale side, and looks just as beautiful, if not more, as I remember her to be.
"Ed, you look terrible."
"…Shut up."
We embrace again and together we walk out of warehouse arm in arm.
"I want a salt water pool," I tell her and she laughs.
It's the most beautiful sound I've heard in a long time.
The End
Next: The Hunt for the Invisible Man
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