Chapter 9: Slums of Zeta

As Adam and 'Tasha approached the slums, they began to see what kind of squalor these people lived in " and Adam had thought it to be full of rich people " Sigma was full of richer people than this... The boy sighed softly, and looked at the girl walked beside him, then hurriedly looking back over the slums, studying the people that walked to and from the ramshackle buildings. So... They were looking for Kenton Bara in here? What a shithole. Adam turned towards someone to ask about Bara, but was shouldered before he could ask.

 

With a huff, he turned to another person to ask. Ignored. Next person ignored him too. What was going on? The fourth person finally spoke. Four words.

 

“Outsiders. Meet with Alan.” Adam blinked. Alan? He sighed softly, and tried to ask the person who the Hell Alan was, but they were gone. Okay... Weird. He continued walking, and each person he asked about Bara asked him to find Alan. Well, this was pissing him off no end, and so he decided that it was ample time to stop someone and use the 'murderer' image that he'd come up with earlier. The next person to come past was suddenly forced against a wall by Adam, who pulled out the empty 9mm, held it to the woman's stomach and spat.

 

“I'm looking for a man named Kenton Bara. Where the f**k is he?!” Instead of co-operating, the woman he pushed against the wall spat in his face, spun him around, kicked him between the legs and dropped him to the ground, all without breaking a sweat. As she walked away, she spoke to the boy.

 

“Outsiders. Meet with Alan.” Adam... just lay there. He'd just had his arse handed to him, by a woman no less? He sighed softly, and stood up. Well, there were a lot of kickass women out there... He sighed and started looking around for someone else to ask. But there was no-one else to be found " which meant that he had to find either Bara or this Alan character, both of which seemed to be eluding him.  He sighed, and studied the shacks carefully.

 

Well, that's where Alan lived. Adam nodded, and headed towards the large tent that just happened to have a lot more to it than the rest of them. That, and there was a big sign on the front that said ALAN. If that wasn't who they were looking for, then Adam didn't know where else to look.

 

 

One curtain later, 'Tasha and Adam were standing before a man with a girth as wide as the tent around him. Adam had seen large people in his lifetime, but none like this... His body stretched from one end of the tent to the other, and the folds that were so well-revealed seemed to cover even the glourious clothing that he wore. He was their leader? He seemed richer than all of them put together... Or maybe that was it. Adam sighed, and walked up to the man, nodded his head.

 

“Greetings, sir. Are you Alan?”

 

“Thaaaat I aaaaam. I aaaam the Greeeeat Alaaaaan!” The man seemed to pronounce  at least one of the vowels in each of his words longer than he needed to. Delusions of Grandeur abound were in this man's eyes. Adam could see that already, and the man's eyes were hidden beneath almost three layers of pure fat and sinew. Adam was, to be completely honest, disgusted. But he got over his aversion to this man's presence, and stepped closer.

 

“I need your help. I am looking for a m-”

 

“Why doooo yooooou not briiiiing an offeriiiiing for the Greeeeeat Aaaaalan?” Adam blinked. Nobody had told him about an offering.

 

“An... offering, sir?”

 

“Yeeees, an oooooferiiiiiiiiiing... The Great Alan requires but one thing. The Greeeeeat Aaaaaalaaaaan requires foooooood!” Adam swore. They had little food as it was, and this guy was asking them to give over? He grimaced, and ran straight for the man, holding the emptied handgun at his... well, where Adam thought his heart was.

 

“I'm not f*****g offering you anything! Just tell me what I want to know!” The voice of the man who had just been exaggerating every vowel suddenly changed, and he peered down at Adam with beady “eyes”.

 

“You dare threaten the Great Alan? I shall have you hung!” He raised the stub with fingers on it called an arm, and clicked once. Suddenly, a group of armed men stood before Alan, firearms pointed at the pair. Adam sighed. If they were captured, they could simply Attunate out. But maybe that wasn't the plan. Adam stuttered a little bit, and spoke again.

 

“My apologies. It's just that we don't have enough food to last us for any more than another two weeks, and we can''t use it wastefully for others.” The man erupted into what sounded like laughter, but it was too muffled for Adam to tell.

 

“I. Don't. Care. About. You. F*****g. Dolts! All I want is food!” Adam was worried for a second, he might be bursting into song at any second... No, it was alright. Nothing was happening. He breathed a sigh of relief. Amazingly, a second later, Alan stood up before them, his head almost touching the roof. What... was this guy?

 

“Food food food food!” Alan started to attack Adam, moving faster than he'd expected. Adam only barely dived out of the way, but he and 'Tasha were now separated. Which meant they were both easy pickings... And maybe only a snack for this monster. Alan turned around, and sent a punch flying for Adam's position, cracking the ground where his feet would've been a second earlier. The ground was solid concrete, and no sign of the attack was visible on the larger man's knuckles. They were... clean. Adam gasped, and quickly focussed on 'Tasha, feeling hi body pull through space and appearing next to the girl. He sighed, and clenched his fists, ready for a fight.

 

“Wait!” Adam turned to the source of the new voice. Through the filtered light, a boy stood before them, and he looked about their age, Adam surmised. Though he could've been wrong, he was pretty sure that this boy was who they were looking for... The kid turned to Alan and nodded at him. “It's alright, Alan. They weren't going to hurt you.” He pulled a leg of ham out of a bag, and threw it to him. The large man lunged for the treat, and began to eat it with great gutso. Adam turned away, definitely disgusted by this man now. He decided to be upfront.

 

“Are you Kenton Bara?” The boy shook his head and lowered his eyes.

 

“I'm his son, Salathiel. He told me about the Free Hawks, and how they'd recognise him as leader someday. But he died about a week ago in a Guardian attack.” Adam's eyes flickered, and he looked down at the ground.

 

“I... I'm sorry.” Salathiel shook his head and put a hand on Adam's shoulder.

 

“He also told me, should someone strange come looking for him, that I take the reins. And, well, after seeing you do that, I'd certainly class that as strange.” Adam blinked and blushed " he'd never actually been seen Attunating by someone not in the Ten before. And how could he tell that this person wasn't one of the Ten? Because of one simple thing " no Resonance. He sighed, and took Salathiel by the arm.

 

“So, you want to come to meet Reila?” The boy nodded, and Adam focussed on Dai, trying to Attunate. He felt his body pull through space, and founds himself standing in the Free Hawks base, standing next to Dai and Reila, with Salathiel on his arm. He grinned, and 'Tasha suddenly appeared before him too, a grin on her face.

 

“Mission Accomplished.” She nodded, and Reila simply peered at the trio, a look of wonderment on her face. Which suddenly turned to rage.

 

“He's not Kenton Bara! Who the f**k is he?!” Adam sighed, knowing it'd come to this.

 

“This is Salathiel Bara, his son and heir, apparently. It seems that Kenton told him everything about the Free Hawks, with plans to have him continue on the Resistance after he left.” Reila looked a little more confused for a few seconds, before walking straight up to the boy and peering at him closely.

 

“Well, he looks related. Heh... What's our mantra?”

 

“Peace, Freedom, Prosperity!” She smiled.

 

“What's the word?”

 

“FANLKEWA!” Reila sighed, and nodded.

 

“Alright. I think you're the real deal. Call me stupid, but I'm going to leave you in charge of these people " I don't feel like being stuck here anyway.” Most people would've run away screaming at this offer, but not Salathiel Bara " he simply saluted the girl and nodded.

 

“I feel it is my duty, ma'am.” She shook her head.

 

“Reila. Not ma'am, Reila. I'm only 16, GAWD.” For some reason, the five of them burst into laughter, and didn't stop laughing for a good few minutes. Adam wished their life could just feel like that...