New Beginnings

Two hours later, after school would have gotten out, there were two distinct sounds: tires screeching, followed soon after by a loud, rapid series of knocks at the door. I went to check who was there, and found something I never expected to see. Amanda, Chris's friend and in a sense my own, stood there, bloodied and beaten. She had bruises over her face, both eyes swollen and dark purple. Her cheeks fared no better, and her lower lip looked split. Amanda's clothes, a large t-shirt and a pair of cargo shorts, had been torn to hell and barely covered her. Hell her shirt was barely able to hide the skin of her chest, her bra the only thing concealing her breasts. And the only reason I knew that, was because my eye was drawn to the other bruises that blemished her normally pale skin. She was covering herself though as best she could with her arms, hands on her shoulders to hold up the shreds of her shirt and I noticed that her knuckles were torn. Whatever happened, she fought back. "J-James?" she said in a tight voice and I could tell she was on the verge of tears as she stumbled forward. Immediately I opened my arms to catch her as she feel forward, and as she leaned against me I noticed that the back of her shirt was ripped open, and there was something scrawled on her back in black ink. "Chris!" I shouted, dragging Amanda back inside with me. Chris looked up from the couch and all the blood drained from her face. Getting up she bolted for us both and took Amanda off me, hugging her close. It gave me a good look at her back while Chris quietly whispered into her friend's ear, saying "It's okay, it's okay Amy we're here."

While she did that, I read what was on Amanda's back and felt my blood begin to boil. It was in big words written in black permanent ink; FREAK! SLUT! WHORE! DYKE! CUNT! were the words written there on her back, the lettering standing out against her pale skin. She began to sob wildly, all the while saying "They did this," and "Dirk." Chris and I beat him to a pulp, and he took it all out on Amy. Him and his friends. I was barely aware of a sharp pain in my right palm and realized I was clenching my fist so tightly my own nails broke the skin there. More than anything I wanted to leave right now and find Dirk and his gang and......do things, things worse than just beating them up. But the only thing that kept me there, was Amy. We may not have been friends like Chris and I were, but she was still someone I talked to, got along with, and liked. She may as well have been my friend really, and friends stay together. They don't leave when needed.

Amanda soon fell asleep, though she was still shaking frequently. Chris stayed with her on the couch, never once letting go. As for me, I sat in an armchair nearby, silently watching them. I could tell Chris was pissed, even more than me. Her jaw muscles were tight, and her eyes......they may have been red from her own silent crying, but it was obvious they were hard. And cold; there was a fury brewing inside my friend, a want....no a need, to lash out at those that hurt her own friend. "I need some air," I finally said, getting up. Chris didn't seem to care, all her attention was on Amanda. It was probably better that way; she didn't need to know what I set out to do Gestalt, I inwardly said. Can you track down Dirk's cellphone? Or his friends?

One moment, the AI responded. Maybe it was my imagination, but it sounded.....nervous. We've located his cell number, and can track him. We also hacked into state records and accessed his juvenile criminal record, along with his known associates. Known hideouts and locales frequented by them are on record, if you would like to know.

Oh I did. I really, really wanted to know. Stepping outside and closing the door behind me, I started walking away from the house, until I was back at the same alley from a few hours ago. Making sure I was alone and unseen, I shifted into my outfit, nanomachines covering my body to once more form the skintight suit. The overlay, my HUD, spread out over my vision as the machines painted the world for me. Dots formed, one ahead of me and the rest at the edges of my vision, though one of them glowed brighter than the other.

The one that glows brightest, Gestalt said, Is the one where we tracked this Dirk. It is not his residence either.

Good, that would make this easier. If I broke down his front door, odds were someone might call the cops. And I wanted to stay uninterrupted. Turning in the glowing dots direction, I jumped up, shot out a harpoon and anchored myself, and reeled myself onto the roof. Once there, I ran, my parkour skills taking over as I traversed the rooftops of the neighborhood, alternating between crossing them and zipping through the air on my harpoon lines. I was about to rain down on Dirk and his friends like a storm, and there wasn't a thing that could stop me.

As I continued to move, Gestalt began speaking inside my head again.

Our host........James, it said, using my name for the first time. What are you going to do?

Leaping over a gap between two buildings, I responded with I'm going to make sure those asshats don't get away with what they did to Amanda.

There was a moment when Gestalt didn't speak, then it responded with Of course, but how? Are you going to kill them?

The question didn't make me stop in my tracks, but it was damn close. What was I going to do to them anyway? A whole swarm of images, spawned by my own rage, filled my mind. Cutting them, slicing them in half, impaling them on blades or flattening them with hammers. But it all faded when a single thought, a question really, drifted into my mind. Would Kat look at you when you're a killer? The answer was no, she wouldn't. So a beating would have to be enough for Dirk and his friends.

My trek took me to a bad side of Brooklyn: Red Hook. It was one of the more dangerous neighborhoods, even now in 2034. In fact it was tragic: just when the residents managed to clean the place up and make it safe again, the economic collapse shattered in just a few months what took them years. It got cleaned up again, but not by much and now gangs like Legion were running amok here. They kept the worst of their activities off the streets but there were still drugs and robberies here and there. Shootings too. But they weren't my concern right now, as I honed in on the dot. My destination it seemed, was an old run-down movie theater, as I stood on the edge of a rooftop looking down on the street and theater. Front doors and windows, including the ticket booth, had either had the glass shattered open or boarded up with plywood. But then, I wasn't going in through the front door. On the roof of the theater, there was a rooftop access, that little triangle shaped thing with a door on the front. Zipping through the air on my line, I got to the roof and door, and wasn't surprised to find it unlocked. Then again, these guy's weren't geniuses. Stepping inside, I cloaked and made my way down. A few seconds later I could hear muted sounds, and they had to have been loud to reach this level. Opening a door, I found that it had opened onto a second level (it was that big a theater believe it or not) and there was garbage everywhere, graffiti on the walls, and most of the lights were broken. One of them, a long bar of fluorescent lighting, was hanging from the ceiling by its cable.

I didn't pay much attention to them at all though, the moment my phone rang. On the HUD, it showed the number as belonging to Chris and I immediately picked up. Her voice was hoarse over the line, like she had been crying a lot and I barely made out my name. "James...." she said. "What are you doing?" Damn, Chris really was smart. Keeping her wits about her to guess what I had in mind. "What do you think I'm going to do?" I asked her, and she snapped at me. "Dammit James, don't be an idiot. We should call the police, not try and.....they're going to kill you." I'd like to see them try, I thought to myself.

"Chris I'm not going to sit at home while these useless fucks go on their merry way after beating up our friend, alright? I could take Dirk, I can take his friends," I said, to which Chris made an almost growling sound. "No. No, James you will stop whatever you're planning right now and come home or else so help me god I will never forgive you." Suddenly, her voice became.....well, tighter. Like her throat was constricting and I realized she was fighting back the urge to cry. "Please.....I can't see you in the hospital again James. Don't ask me to even think about it." That.....that made me reconsider a little bit. Chris, my best and closest friend didn't want to see me in the hospital again, and hell who could blame her? I already barely made it out of there once, and in addition to the likelihood of Amy ending up there, there was the risk of me going there, at least in Chris' mind. It wasn't fair of me to put her through that.

Still, that didn't mean Shifter instead of James could go in and wail on Dirk and his friends. I just had to tell Chris that I wouldn't go in. Putting on as good an act as I could, I sighed and said "Alright Chris.....I won't go inside. At least I know where they are, so maybe I'll just call the co--whoah, what the...?" Doing my best to sound surprised must have fooled Chris, because she said "What?" Keeping up the act, I said "Think I just saw that guy. The one that saved you before? He just walked into the building Dirk and his friends hang in." I wasn't worried that Chris would ask how I knew about their hangout; while I hadn't been a hundred percent sure myself on where Dirk and his friends were today, they all had a reputation for hanging in an old theater.

I could hear the smile that crept onto Chris' lips, and she said "Good. Let him beat Dirk and his crew up. Just get back here soon James, okay?" Breaking into a slow walk down the hall, I said "I'm already on my way Chris. See you soon." And with that, I hung up and opened the first door on my left. It opened out onto the second level of the main theater, the level I stood on slanting down slightly. There was a projector on the edge of the landing, at least I guess that was what you'd call this. On the screen at the front of the theater, instead of a movie there was a game being played, one of those first-person shooter types. Making sure I stayed cloaked, I walked over to the edge and looked down.....and there was Dirk and his crew.

They were seated in the center row, front seats with those bars set up in front that people would rest their legs on. I counted five, Dirk among them, either drinking beer, smoking, or in the case of Dirk playing the game. Loud music pumped from the theater speakers and I had no doubts that they plugged themselves into the local power grid. Scenarios poured into my head on how I was going to do this, when I decided a straight up brawl would work. After all, it wasn't like they were a big enough threat to warrant proper tactics. So with that, I climbed up onto the lip of the landing I was on, looked down and kicked the projector over the edge. On the screen, the boxish images projected went tumbling down and the guys below shouted "What the fuck?" One of them looked up, saw me and shouted "Who the hell is that?"

without waiting for a response, I jumped down and landed in one of the aisles with a thump, knees bent. Standing up, I looked at the group and spotted Dirk, sporting those white mini-splint things on his nose, along with black eyes and bruises. "You like video-games right?" I asked, voice distorted by the nanomachines. The gang was silent as they gave me sneers and started moving out of the seats to get into a more open space. One of them drew a gun and said "What's it to you freak?" Looking at him, I cocked my head and asked "Tell me if you've played this one." Then I shot my right fist out, shooting the cables and having them latch onto the gunman's chest. He barely had time to react before I tugged back on them shouting "GET OVER HERE!"

Courtesy of my strength, he was yanked towards me, and he was so surprised that he didn't have time to fire a shot. Flying across the distance between us, he was stopped in midair and knocked back when I lifted my leg and kicked him back, the blow striking him in shoulder hard enough that I heard the sound of bones breaking. He screamed in pain, but the cable was still on him and I had no plan on letting go yet. Like a yo-yo, I pulled him back into a punch this time, hitting him in the chest and feeling as ribs cracked and broke. But my focus was so directed on him that I didn't notice as his friends moved to attack me. Dirk had grabbed an aluminum baseball bat and lunged towards me, the bat swinging towards me and landing on my left shoulder. I felt a thump.....and that was it. Gestalt hardened the nanomachines to the point that the bat dented where it struck. Letting the cables release the first guy, I turned to Dirk and said "Dirk Jones....."

He blanched at the use of his name, clearly surprised as he stumbled back. "How....how the fuck do you know me?" Advancing towards him, I paused to let one of his friends punch me, only to break their hands on my armor before I grabbed the same hand, squeezed to break it further before punching them more. Blows landed on their face, chest, and I could tell I broke their bones as I let go and let them crumple to the ground. "Been looking for you and your gang Dirk," I said calmly. "You hurt a girl today Dirk. That make you feel brave? Ganging up on a girl, just you and your gang beating her to within an inch of her life?!"

Someone managed to grab the gun that had fallen to the floor, aiming it at me and pulling the trigger. Bullets pinged off my armor as I turned to face them, and they looked stunned even as they emptied the clip. Not bothering to use the cables since the open aisle gave me a clear path, I surged towards them in a burst of speed, grabbing them by the neck and lifting them up into the air. They grabbed my wrist in an attempt to break free, so I decided to let them go.....by throwing them into the wall. Flying across the distance, they hit the hard surface with a thump and slid down to the floor. I didn't know if they were dead or not, but Gestalt said they weren't, his voice clear in my head about how the force wasn't enough to do more than knock the guy out. That left Dirk and his other friend, and they both ganged up on me, swinging punches and kicks at me, all of which I dodged or blocked before countering on the friend first, a kick to his knee which broke it at an awkward angle before following up with grabbing his arm as the guy fell, and twisting it with an audible pop and snap of breaking bones. He howled as I let him go, falling to the ground cradling his arm. Dirk was pale, all the blood drained from his face as he tripped and fell backwards, crawling away from me, stammering "G-get away from me! You fucking freak!"

I just kept walking towards him, intent on finishing what I started back in that schoolyard. "Typical bully," I snarled. "All tough talk until someone stronger comes around. Until all your allies are gone." I bent down, and landed my first punch on him since the fight at school. Hitting his jaw, I broke the bones there before I swung again and hit him on his collar bone, snapping the bone there. I just punched and pounded, breaking what I could to hurt him but not kill him. When it was over, there was nothing but a bleeding, bruised form before me, and I realized that somewhere along the line he pissed himself. Gestalt, is he in any danger? I asked the AI. There was a moment where I was aware of a scan taking place.

None. He won't be able to chew for a while.....or move. But neither he nor his friends will die.

Nodding, I grabbed Dirk by the collar of his shirt and growled "Never again, you piece of shit. You hurt anyone else ever again, and I'll be back."

He didn't respond with words so much as a groan, and I let go. Leaving Dirk and his gang in a heap, I made my way to the doors before I stopped to look at something on the ground. It was a box, about the size of a two year old curled up, next to the door and against the wall, some labels slapped onto it though the lid was open. Ever the curious cat, I peeked inside and found a mix of interesting items.

Inside, separated by a tiny divider, was money, and vials held in rows by plastic frames. I had a feeling on what those were. Drugs. Now, look it's not like I'm an expert on narcotics or even do them myself because I don't. The news helps me stay informed, and what I was looking at wasn't cocaine or heroine or even meth. It was a new kind of drug that was hitting the streets: nanomachines. Nothing like Gestalt, no no we weren't nearly that advanced. However nanomedication, machines meant to monitor patients, administer medication, things like that, had been twisted by some into a new, non-addictive drug. The nanites all had this....well, mini-computer in their original boxes. Every hundred vials had one, and the computer served as a control unit for them. A user could tell either all of the vials or specific vials what to do.

So someone got the bright idea to issue new orders to them, and have them stimulate the pleasure centers of the brain. Give the same kind of 'high' that other drugs gave. What was illegal was that the nanites were stolen; they were too advanced and expensive to make independently, so dealers stole them from hospitals and manufactures.

The other thing in the box, was money, bills stacked and wrapped in saran wrap. Yeah yeah, it's the future so why are we using paper money? Well it was the same system as bills and credit cards back in the old days, at least that's what I was told. We still had plenty of electronic currency (bitCoins made a comeback as the new credit cards) but bills were a decent fall-back for those worried about hacked accounts.

But where were we? Ah, right theater, beaten up gang, and a box of drugs and cash. Forming my right hand into a hammer, the nanomachines merging into a larger mass, I slammed my fist down onto the vials, shattering them and the box. That was when Gestalt spoke up.

Detecting foreign nanomachines. Isolating, examining. Hmm, primitive. Early attempt at nanomachinery?

Taking a step back, I thought to Gestalt Yeah, they're the first success we've had in that field of nanotech. But they've got nothing on you.

After the drugs were destroyed, I made my way back home. During the run back, I had Gestalt place an anonymous tip to the police about Dirk and his gang, though the odds of them showing up in an hour were slim. Didn't matter, Dirk and his friends were going away for a long time.

Honestly I'm starting to become a frequent visitor of this alley, I thought to myself as I jumped down and landed on the ground, shifting back into my normal attire. Making my way back home, I was guided by the police lights outside Chris' house along with an ambulance that was just leaving, along with a car I recognized as belonging to Amanda's parents. I didn't see Chris, so she was either on the ambulance (which made no sense since she'd have called) or was in the house.

So I made my way to the house, walking up the concrete path to the door and opening it. Inside were a pair of officers, one of them I recognized from my stint in the hospital: Josh Stallings. Chris was seated on the couch, eyes puffy and red with the bare minimum of makeup she had on streaked across her face from the tears. She looked up and saw me, and said "James," in a small voice. Stallings turned and saw me, and I noticed that he looked mildly surprised. "Oh, Mr. Connor. I wondered where you were living now; staying healthy are we?"

Before I could answer, Chris stood up and walked to me and pulled me into a hug. She whispered into my ear "We'll talk later," before letting go and saying in a louder voice "I was giving my statement to the police." Stallings was now facing us fully, and said "I'm told you were here when the girl arrived. In fact you found her first." I blinked and said "Uh, yeah I was first at the door and found Amy there." The next few minutes were me giving my statement, which I'm told was the same as Chris' with the details. After they left, Chris called her dad while I sat in the kitchen. I wasn't eating, didn't have the stomach for it while I heard Chris talking. She came into the kitchen a while later, a bit more in control and said "Okay.....my dad knows what happened, but he can't leave work right now. But he said it's fine if we take a cab to see Amy in the hospital."

Nodding, I waited while she got her shoes and personal items. There was a quickness about her, precision in the way she moved to grab her stuff; shoes, phone, keys and wallet. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised. After-all, it was her friend in the hospital, and odds were she acted the same way when she heard about me. When she was ready to go, she had called a cab service on her phone, and five minutes later (trust me, cabs could be fast when they were needed) we were sitting in a yellow cab on our way to the local hospital.

Amy was in the E.R. for a bit just to be sure she wasn't in any more danger. Thankfully, there wasn't anything serious that the EMT's had missed, but she still needed to stay over in the hospital for the night for the cell repairs. See, the worst of her injuries was a fractured jaw, but thankfully this wasn't the old days where they'd have to wire her mouth shut. New medicines abound, now all the doctors needed to was give her an injection that not only encouraged, but sped up cell repairs. It wasn't fast enough to get her talking by tonight admittedly, though by tomorrow at least she'd be able to talk.....if feel a bit sore in the process. So Chris and I waited outside her hospital room, her parents wanting some privacy with their daughter. They opened the door to let us in a minute later, and I got my first look at Amy since she walked through the front door. Her face was still bruised and swollen but the blood had been cleaned up. She had something akin to a neck-brace, but it wasn't for her neck or spine: it was to keep her from talking, moving her jaw. When she saw Chris, she stirred a bit, moving her arm and mumbling, her face twisting up a bit in an effort to smile, something her eyes still managed to do as they sparkled.

Chris, smiling herself though her eyes already ready to tear up, walked towards her friend, saying "Hey there Amy." She took her friends hand, and then moved aside a bit (without letting go mind you) to make room for me. I bore my own smile as I stood next to the bed. "Feeling any better Amy? Oh uh.....squeeze Chris' hand once for yes, two for no." She squeezed once, and that made my smile widen. "We're going to be right outside," Amy's father said, and he and his wife left us alone with their daughter.

Chris and I talked for a bit with Amy, though it was kinda one-sided with the silent Amy. She looked....pleased, when I mentioned 'seeing' the vigilante enter Dirk's building. Well pleased was a strong word. More like someone who knew the scales had been balanced.

We all chatted, sorta I guess, for a few more minutes before eventually we had to leave. Chris and I took another cab home, and the whole way she was quiet. It wasn't until we got home, and behind the door, that she turned and pulled me into a hug, her face embedded into my shoulder. "Chris, what are you...?" I started to ask, when she gripped me tighter and said "Sorry.....just, thank you, for being here James. And for not going in there to fight Dirk." Not sure what to say, I returned the hug. "No problem Chris," I said. "Sorry for trying though. Should have stayed here with you and Amy."

She let go and stepped back from me, a small smile on her lips. "It's fine.....kinda sweet even. Still stupid as hell though James." On that, we could agree.....even if I still kicked their ass anyway.

It was a few days later that things got.....well, dangerous.

We saw it on the news, an object in space that was rapidly approaching the planet. Telescopes couldn't identify it, only that it was the size of a schoolbus. The military of every country (at least those that were equipped to even reach as high as orbit) were reportedly working on ways to stop whatever this was, but it was too late. It, had arrived here, in Brooklyn, seen coming in from just off the coast before it settled into Prospect Park. Before that, every news media in the area was showing non-stop coverage of the incident and that was when Gestalt revealed to me what it was: the craft belonged to the aliens that defeated his makers.

Obviously that freaked me out, so I had snuck out of the house (which for the past few days was becoming a little bit easier surprisingly) and made my way to the park, to wait. You sure we have a chance of defeating....whatever will be in that ship? I asked Gestalt.

We have better odds than anything on this planet, short of large scale weapons like thermobaric bombs and nuclear weapons, neither of which will cause as little damage as us fighting the scout. And trust us, it is a scout, for a craft that size.

Honestly, that did not make me feel better. I mean if the scouts needed something that big, what the hell did a full blown warrior need? And for that matter how big were they?

We didn't have long to wait, the AI and I. Soon the ship came into sight and my first impression was a giant bug, maybe a beetle. Gunships were moving in the air, none of them police; the military was moving in, intending to make sure this First Contact was contained in the event things went south. It wasn't like they could have known, what was in there and what it wanted. They were just playing by the books I guess and hoping for the best.

The ship landed in a flat open field, the baseball fields actually. Gunships and news helicopters hovered around the area, while troop transports closed in to encircle the landing site. Apart from the sound of the Brooklyn still living and the aircraft flying about, it was quiet so far as the alien ship was concerned. Until it opened, and the scout crawled out.

It was bipedal, standing twelve feet in height, covered in insect-like chitin. Long, sinewy limbs stretched from the main body, hands and feet tipped with wicked looking claws, the head almost avian with that beak......except no bird I know of had the bottom jaw split in two. A long tail, tipped with a serrated point, swung gracefully, and what looked like six flat spikes stuck out from its back.

Definitely Hreshnak, scout cast and Stalker strain.

Great, thoughts? I asked the AI. As I waited for a response, I took up position at the edge of a rooftop, looking down at the park where it had landed. Military trucks were moving to encircle it, a crescent shape formed as they had guns trained on the creature. Moving to stand on its hind legs, the scout rose to survey the scene before it, jaws parting in mild interest at the humans before it. Suddenly, lines of bright green appeared on its face and only increased in intensity before suddenly they dimmed.

And an unseen force touched me. It wasn't like I was struck by something, but suddenly the suit's HUD flickered for a moment in my vision, and the scout looked up in my general direction. Gestalt what the hell was that? I demanded.

Damn, it tracked us. It released a pulse of electrical energy tuned to our specific electrical field. It knows where we are. James you have to take the fight to it; the scout is equipped with mutations for powerful ranged attacks. Get in close to deliver melee attacks and we have a chance.

Why do I feel like that's gonna-- "OH FUCK!" I screamed as the scout came at me. One moment it was on the ground, the next it had spread its insect like wings and buzzed towards me, kicking up a small cloud of dust as it did so. Right arm raised, the scout had extended its three clawed hand and swiped down at me, missing me by mere feet as I was forced to jump off the roof.