Trials of the Brotherhood - Chapter 1

“Good morning, beautiful.”

 I said to Camille, after she opened the front door.

She had been my girlfriend for the past 2 years. Camille’s house was only a couple blocks over from mine, luckily. When she opened the door, I handed her the flowers I picked from my mother’s garden. She was wearing one of my Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cutoff and a pair of shorts. 

“Good morning, beautiful,” She grabbed the flowers out of my hands and we kissed.

I to went Camille’s house to cook her breakfast. She liked my cooking so I did it whenever I had free time. After she placed the flowers in a vase she sat at the island and watched me prepare everything. I wasn’t paying attention to what I was doing; my focus was on Camille.

She was the by far the most beautiful girl I had ever seen and I was lucky enough to call her mine. She was a couple inches shorter than me, with a caramel skin tone that matched mine and it was offset by her warm brown eyes. Her natural curly hair fell to the middle of her back. When she smiled, she radiated an energy more powerful than the sun. I would do anything for her.

I finished mixing the pancake mix when her father, Mr. Richards, walked into the kitchen from the living room. He was in some pajamas and a tank top. He was a few shades darker than Camille and had a good five inches on me. Mr. Richards was a retired vet. He had luckily finished his service by the time Camille was born. 

“Good morning, daddy,” She said, looking up from her phone.

“Good morning, baby girl,” Mr. Richards said. “Morning, son.”

“Morning, Mr. Richards.”

It didn’t take long for me to finish making Camille’s favorite breakfast. She liked pancakes, eggs, and bacon with whipped cream and strawberries on the pancakes. After the eggs and bacon finished cooking I moved on to the pancakes. When they finished, I cut up the strawberries in the fridge and made everyone’s plates.

Mr. Richards was reading the newspaper when his wife came downstairs. She was wearing one of her husband’s XXL large shirts and some pajama pants.

“Good morning, everyone,” She said.

Mrs. Richards and Camille could’ve been twins. Her curly hair was tied in a ponytail and every time I saw her, her skin was glowing. She walked over to me and gave me a kiss on the cheek. I brought the plates to the table and made sure I put extra bacon on Camille’s plate. Camille filled up everyone’s cup with juice. She put apple in ours and orange in her parents.

“You didn’t have to work today, Jay?” Mr. Richards asked in-between bites.

“Nah I’ve got the next couple of days off for our birthday,” I said.

My birthday was tomorrow and I so happened to share it with Camille. I planned on staying here until midnight so I could be the first to tell her happy birthday. I didn’t have anything planned for today, but I had the whole day of our birthday planned. 

“Why don’t you two finish your breakfast outside,” Mrs. Richards said.

Camille and I didn’t hesitate to pack up our plates and head outside. Her dad had raised an eyebrow, but didn’t argue with his wife. We sat at the glass table underneath the red umbrella. Camille’s backyard was big and empty, besides a hammock that was strung up between two small trees.

“What’re we doing tomorrow?” Camille asked.

“You’ll find out tomorrow,” I said, finishing the rest of my juice.

She hated surprises but I couldn’t help it. The smile on her face and the way she appreciated everything made it all worth it. The truth was I didn’t have a plan for tomorrow. I was just going to pick her up, drive around and stop at some interesting places. I had been in San Francisco for almost six years now and I still hadn’t explored the city. Camille had been here her whole life, but she didn’t get out much until she met me. 

“Fine,” She said.

I kissed her and brought the plates into the house. We had the whole day ahead of us and decided to nap for half of it. We woke up to a late lunch her mom had made and watched movies until the moon was high in the sky. Around 11 we lied out on the hammock and talked until midnight. I was on my phone right before midnight struck.

“Happy birthday, babe,” I whispered to her.

“Happy birthday, Jay,” She said back, kissing me. 

“And happy anniversary,” We both said. 

Our anniversary happened to be the same day as our birthdays. Camille was the best present I had ever gotten. My cherry red Camaro was a close second. We lied there, her head wrapped in my arms, for 20 minutes, before we both remembered I had to get home. My mom liked to be the first to tell me happy birthday. Every year, until I met Camille, she would come in my room at midnight with a cupcake that held a single candle.

“You better get home, birthday boy,” Camille sat up in the hammock. “You know your mom’s still up waiting on you and it’s getting late.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” I said.

We walked to the front of the house and kissed before I headed home. I started my walk home, I didn’t like to drive small distances. I liked to maintain my body. After a few minutes of walking I ended up in the street. When I got to the top of my street, I stopped.

Something was coming out of the ground about ten yards ahead of me. I watched as it formed from the shadow of a car parked on the street. From what I could see, it was disgusting looking. Its face was a deep shade of blue with black scars on it. Its had jagged, yellow, teeth. It looked taller than me and its muscle mass was a bit bigger. The shadow thing was covered in rags too. I could hear it breathing from where I was standing and it sounded like a low growl.

“What the hell are you?” I asked, taking a few steps back. 

I stopped when I heard something behind me. I spun around to see two more creatures forming from other shadows cast on the pavement. They were identical to the first one I had seen. Two more appeared on my left.

“What the hell,” I said. “I really don’t need this right now. You couldn’t wait just a few more days?” 

The original rushed me, baring its mangled teeth. Guess not.  I flexed my fingers and instantly my hands were engulfed in flames. I formed two fireballs and threw them at the two behind me, right before the first could get to me. I reacted fast and decked him in the jaw, leaving a singe on the thing's face. It hit the concrete with a loud thud then burst into ashes. I checked on the other two and they were still standing. 

“I’ll put more juice in these.” I launched two more fireballs, twice the size of the originals. The two creatures dodged them and all four rushed me at once. I willed the fire from my hands to the rest of my body, I was covered in flames now.

The creatures buffeted but continued even though I could feel my fire getting hotter. As the creatures got closer I started to fight them off. I threw punches at their bodies and their rags started to burn. Two turned to ash and I kicked through the third and watched as the ash burned off my leg. I picked up the last one by the neck and kneed it in the jaw reducing it to ash as well.

I, too, was reduced to nothing. All my clothes had burned off, that was the second time this month. I didn’t expect to be attacked and go Super Nova though. I looked around on the street for my phone. It had a flame-retardant case around it. I found it next to one of the parked cars when the screen lit up. I started to run home, covering myself when I saw a few of my neighbor’s lights turn on. I ignored the hard concrete as I sprinted to the house. The lights in my living room were on when I burst through the door, out of breath. For a split second I had forgotten it was his birthday. I was shocked to see some balloons that had floated to the ceiling.

“Happy…” I heard my mom’s voice. It took her less than a second to realize what I looked like. “What the hell happened to your clothes?” She threw me a pillow from the couch so I could better cover myself.

Her hair was in curlers and she was in her robe. My mom’s tan skin radiated from the candle in the cupcake that she was holding. She told me to sit on the couch while she grabbed me a towel. She gave me a decorative one from the hall bathroom. I felt embarrassed while I tried to wrap the small towel around my waist. 

“So what happened to you tonight?” She asked. 

“Uh I'm actually not sure,” I had just gotten my breathing under control. “Some things came out of the shadows and attacked me. I’m okay though.”

I wasn’t sure why I was embarrassed. This wasn’t the first time I had burned off all my clothes and it definitely wasn’t the first time my mother’s seen me naked, but nonetheless I felt a bit uncomfortable. This wasn’t too far off from a normal day for me though. I fought strange creatures and super powered terrorist for a living. I was an operative in the C.I.A. After the government became privy to people with abilities and creatures coexisting with the world they began recruiting and training agents to handle what normal operatives wouldn’t be able to.

I, along with the rest of my team, was recruited when I was 12. Since our first day at the agency, we had trained to handle mission across the globe and protect the people without powers. I had the power to conjure and manipulate the element of fire. Everyone on my team had a different elemental power and we were regarded as the best field agents the division had ever produced.

I was recruited after I accidentally set fire to my classroom at my elementary school in New York. I was being bullied by some kid named Ace and when I couldn’t take it anymore my body combusted. Fire spit from me erratically, I was a human fire work. My teacher, Mr. Jano, put me out with the fire extinguisher that he held behind his desk. Shortly after that my family and I were relocated to San Francisco. We worked at the main branch of the agency, under a condemned Walmart.

“They just came out of nowhere, mom! Out of the shadows and they put up a fight too.”

I was glad she wasn’t the worried type. She handed me the cupcake and blew out the candle. She patted on me the back when she stood up to go back upstairs. I winced and she pushed me forward to reveal something on my back. I hadn’t noticed the pain until she touched me.

“When’d you get this tattoo?”

“What tattoo?” I jumped up from the couch and checked it out in the hall bathroom mirror.

She was right, there was something that looked like a tattoo on my back, but I didn’t have any tattoos. The mark was the number 18. It was small and black and in between my shoulder blades. I gaped at myself in the mirror.

“It’s a pretty dumb tattoo if you ask me.” She poked her head in the bathroom. “You aren’t even 18 anymore.”

“I don’t have a tattoo,” I protested. 

“Well it looks like you do. Your dad’s going to be pissed.”

“I don’t remember…”

“Happy birthday, Jay,” She turned the light out and kissed me on my forehead. “Get some rest.”

 “Thanks, mom.”

I followed her upstairs and went to my room. Her and my dad’s room was on the opposite side of the hall than my room. My younger twin brother and sister’s rooms were across from one another. Their TV’s were on, but I would see them in the morning. 

I turned the light on and stripped out of the decorative towel. I had my own bathroom in my room, to the right of the door.  I looked at the “18” on my back again. I wasn’t sure how it had gotten there because it wasn’t there when I was at Camille’s house. Maybe it was the shadow creatures? I thought. None of them landed a hit on me though. I decided not to worry about it until the morning. 

“Weird.” I turned on the shower.

Before I got in I looked at the rest of myself in the mirror. My green eyes were tired. I took my brown dreads out of the ponytail I kept them in and let my hair fall over my face. I trimmed my beard and mustache for the photos that I knew Camille would be taking today. I hadn’t noticed I was covered in sweat too.

After I finished in the shower I threw myself on my bed. I plugged my phone up to the charger and threw on some boxers and shorts to sleep in. I didn’t have the energy to respond to any of the birthday messages I had received. When I turned the lamp off, that was on my nightstand, I was out almost instantly.

My dreams were weird. I dreamt of more of those shadow creatures. There were ten of them now. We were in the park, in the middle of the day. Kids were running around, screaming and chasing one another as if unaware of the threat before them. The shadow things were stronger and bigger in my dreams. They attacked me all at once, and didn’t burn up in the flames that my body emitted. I could feel the flames growing weaker as I fought them off and it felt like I had been fighting for hours. I was tired. My body extinguished itself and my dream shifted.

I was back at Camille’s house. We were in the backyard. She was lying in the hammock looking down at me while I lie in the grass underneath. It was the perfect moment, until the sun disappeared behind some dark clouds. The scene grew immensely dark like the sun would never come out again. I blinked and when I opened my eyes again Camille had transformed into one of those shadow creatures. I quick rolled from under the hammock and ignited my fist, ready for a fight.

“Relax, kid,” The creature said calmly. The voice didn’t match what I thought they would sound like, if they could talk that is. 

I tried to respond, but couldn’t find my voice. I backed away as the creature began to grow in size. It got taller and bulkier, to match the height. I took precautions and my body erupted in flames. The creature swatted at me and before the hit could connect with my torso I woke up with a start.

I sat up in my bed, covered in sweat for the second time that night. The sweat wasn’t registering in my head though, as it was freezing in my room. The temperature didn’t seem like the normal setting for the A.C. I turned the light on and my body tensed, instantly. Across from my bed, in my lazy boy, was a man. 

“She’s very pretty, kid,” The man stood up.

“Who the hell are you?” I did my best to keep calm. I didn’t want to alert anyone in the house and cause panic. 

“Camille, right?” He completely ignored my question. “2 years, right?”

This man looked normal to me. He was tall, probably six foot. His skin was a dark caramel, a few shades darker than my own tone. He had a clean haircut. I found two things off with him, though. He was wearing a tuxedo with a red collared shirt and a deep black tie. His tie was the strange thing. When I focused on it I could’ve sworn I saw the paisley pattern moving, like it was breathing. The second thing was the man’s eyes. They were pitch black and when I looked into them I felt like I would sit there and stare forever.

After taking all this in, I realized something. His voice matched the creature that was just in my dream.

“Were you just in my head?” I was putting things together. “Did you send those shadow things after me?”

“I’m not here to answer your questions.” His voice was soothing, but menacing all in one.

“So what do you want?”

“I just wanted to wish you a happy birthday,” He raised an eyebrow and vanished leaving a small puff of black smoke in his place.

My door burst open, seconds after and noise flooded into my room. It was my younger siblings screaming, “happy birthday.” They had noise makers and some balloons in their hands. They ran in and jumped on me while I sat up on my bed. They were five years younger than me and they did this every birthday. I did the same on their birthday. I wrestled both of them until we were all tired and out of breath.

My younger brother, Shane, played soccer following in my footsteps. He was the same complexion as me and he was growing his hair out too so it he could dread it. Right now, Shane just had a nappy afro. He still had a baby face that made him look younger than he was but he just finished his first year of high school. He stayed out of trouble and brought home better grades than I did when I was in high school.

His twin, Alicia, was an inch or two shorter than Shane. She was the only freshman on the varsity cheer team. She kept her hair wavy and her face was a bit rounder than Shane’s. she was starting to attract boys, and I wasn’t too hype about that. She didn’t pay them any attention though, because she knew if her grades slipped she would have to quit the team.

I reached for my phone and the first message I opened was from my friend and teammate Lucas.

The message read, “We need to talk.” He had said happy birthday earlier that morning but I was just worried about what he wanted to talk about. I ignored the message though, I didn’t want to deal with it. I was attacked by five shadow things and had dreams that made me want to stay up for a couple weeks. And to add to that, the guy that was just in my room was the creepiest thing I had seen and I had faced demons before.

“What’s for breakfast?” I asked.

“Your favorite!” Shane jumped out of the bed and jetted out of the room.

My favorite breakfast meal wasn’t too much off from Camille’s. I just liked sausage in place of bacon. Alicia had followed Shane out of the room. Before I headed downstairs I brushed my teeth and checked out the “18” on my back, hoping that that was a part of the nightmares I was having. The thing had only gotten bigger overnight. There were lines jutting from the number like roots spreading through soil. I put my hair in a ponytail and threw a crewneck on so my dad wouldn’t ask about the odd mark.

I walked downstairs with a smile on my face. The smell of the breakfast had made its way upstairs. I could never get tired of pancakes. I caught myself licking my lips as I made my way to the dining room table where Shane, Alicia, my father and Lucas were sitting. D****t. Don’t get me wrong, I love Lucas, but this was my day off.

“Great another surprise guest for the day,” I said to myself, but Lucas heard me.

“What’re you talking about?” Lucas asked.

“Will you be staying for breakfast, sweetie?” My mom asked Lucas. 

“No,” I responded for him. “He just came to say happy birthday in person.”

“Oh yeah,” Lucas said. “No thank you, Mrs. Phoenix. I just have to talk to Jay.”

“Well make it fast boys,” She said. 

We left the dining room and walked over to the foyer.. Lucas was an inch shorter than me. He had the same lean muscular build. Lucas’s sandy blonde hair lay messily on his head. He had freckles covering his cheeks and nose. His skin was tanned to perfection. He was second in command, on our team at the agency. He could control the element of water. He was recruited after the agency found out he was cheating to win surfing competitions. He needed the money to help his mom after his dad had passed away. Lucas was the brains of the groups, great with geographical stuff and random facts. He tends to read while we are traveling on missions.

“Happy birthday, by the way,” Lucas was sitting on the bottom step looking up at me.

“Thanks,” I said. “What’s up?”

“Your mom said you got attacked last night.”

“Oh yeah, it was nothing.”

I explained to him what happened after I left Camille’s house early this morning. I decided not to mention the man that visited my bedroom this morning and I left out the nightmares that I had. 

“So you got whooped on by some shadows?” He laughed.

“Seriously,” I said laughing too. 

I couldn’t help but laugh along. Out of all the things that we had taken on the past six years, shadows did seem a bit out of the ordinary. Lucas had come to the agency around the same time that I did. He got recruited after his surfing scandal caused a massive flood in California. We should’ve been complete opposites, considering out elements, but out of all the others on the team, I was closest to Lucas. Our friendship had grown into a brotherhood after the past six years and I would’ve done anything for him.

“So you going to tell Griffin?” Lucas asked.

“Yeah, but not today. I just want to relax with Camille,” I said. 

“S**t, it is your anniversary, too isn’t it? I’ll talk to Griffin for you.”

“Dude, for real?” I asked. 

“Yeah. You owe me though.”

“You’re a life saver. Oh s**t, there’s something else.”

I pulled off my crew neck and showed Lucas the number on my back.

“You got a tattoo too?”

I put my crewneck back on, frustrated. “It’s not a tattoo. It just showed up there.”

“Well I’ll talk to Griffin about it.”

We did our handshake that we made up when we went on our first mission and I walked him to his car.

Lucas drove around in a Jeep Wrangler, with no top and no doors. The guys in the lab customized it to be fit for any type of terrain and it ran on a small amount of Lucas’s powers. He was the only one that could drive it. My Camaro was the same, and we all had a few vehicles that only we could wield. Lucas drove off blasting music that reminded me it was the middle of June. 

My family had started breakfast without me, but they left me a good portion of the food. They didn’t look up at me when I fixed my plate. I stacked it with five pancakes, six sausages and half of my plate was covered in eggs.

“Happy birthday, son,” My dad said. 

My dad was built. He was a personal trainer and the owner of a gym. When I didn’t sleep at the agency, we worked out in the mornings. He was an intimidating 6’4”. His bald head glistened whenever sweat beaded up on it. His skin tone was darker than everyone else's in the family. 

I explained the start of my birthday to the table. The twins loved when I told stories about my missions. I left out the part about the stupid tattoo, that I didn’t get, on my back and my mom raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything. I told them about the dreams I had too and also left out the part about the guy in my room. There were somethings they didn’t need to know.

“I don’t know how you do it, son,” My dad admitted.

“It’s nothing,” I laughed.

“What are you an Camille doing today?” My mom started clearing the table.

“I told her I have the day planned out, but I’m just going to see where the day goes.” The doorbell rang. “I’ll get it,” I said.

I opened the door to a stranger. He was dressed in a tuxedo that resembled the one that the guy that wished me a happy birthday was wearing. He was eye level with me and his skin was pale. This man’s hair was slicked back with oil and he was wearing sun glasses that eclipsed his eyes.

“Hello,” He said, in a soft tone. “Is this the Phoenix residence?” 

“Uhh, yeah,” I wasn’t ready for that question. “And who are…”

He cut me off. 

“And are you Jayden Phoenix.”

“Yeah I am,” I said. 

Everything seemed to happen all at once after that. He reached behind his shoulder blade with the quickest speed I had ever seen. From what it looked like the man pulled a sword from his body. I wasn’t quick enough to react. His foot hit me, dead center, in my chest sending me flying back into the stairs. I could hear my family in the dining room but I couldn’t make out what they were saying. I rubbed my head and shakily made my way to my feet just in time to dodge the blade that was swung at me. I continued to dodge the swings until I saw an opportunity. I found my opening and tackled the man into the hallway leading to the dining room. I looked up and saw my family. My dad shielded the twins and my mom screamed out. 

“Dad, get them out of here and call Lucas.”

We were wrestling on the floor until I found the strength to kick him off. The man flew back into the foyer. I could feel my body heating up and I started throwing fireballs at the attacker. He blocked every one with his sword, that seemed to absorb the fire. I watched his sword turn an orange red and he pointed it at me. A stream of fire was sent at lightning speed at me. I dropped to my stomach and rolled into the dining room, under the table. I flipped the table over and used it as a shield while I planned my next move. I jumped from behind the table right before it blew up in flames. I made my way through the house towards the back door. I ducked as the man shot fire blowing the sliding door up. I jumped through the hole in the wall into the grass and readied myself for a real fight. I felt fire erupt from my core and instantly was covered in my own flames. 

“Cute trick, kid,” The man whispered a couple yards from me. “I’ll show you mine.”

He got on one knee. He started to pull smaller blades �" throwing knives �" from his knee cap. I could hear the knives tearing from his skin. He threw five at me with quick speed. Before they could make contact, I focused on them and the knives blew up in the air leaving a cloud of smoke. Through the smoke came a foot, the man’s foot. It was another direct hit to my chest.

When I hit the ground, I recovered with a roll and rushed the man. I thought hand to hand combat would be easier. This guy was fast though; he dodged every punch and kick I threw at him, returning blows of his own that always connected. My fire began to die down and I only had enough energy to keep my fists aflame. My breathing began to grow heavy and I didn’t know how much longer I could keep this up. I took another swing and missed. The swordsman pulled a blade from his back and cut into my right thigh. I stifled a scream as blood began to flow from my gash.

I managed to stay on my feet while my thigh screamed out in pain. I blocked some punches but took a slash to the chest. Unable to stand anymore, I dropped to my knees breathing heavily. The sword in the man’s hand grew as he approached. I stared him down as he readied his sword that was the size of a pole now. 

“You’re brave,” The man’s whisper was rhythmic. “They told me you would be stronger. They told me I wouldn’t be back after today, but that was the price to pay to fulfill the destiny of the Brotherhood.”

I didn’t respond.

He cocked his sword in the air and brought it down fast with great force. Before he could slice through my neck he was hit, himself, with a baseball bat, by my dad. He hit the ground hard but got up almost immediately. My dad stood his ground as the man ascended on him. My dad was just as lucky, trying to get a hit on this guy, as me. The man dodged every blow and ended it with a final blow to my dad’s stomach. He doubled over and fell to his knees coughing aggressively and trying to catch his breath. I heard my mom scream again. I had to get up and stop this guy before he hurt anyone else.

I shakily got to my feet and ignited my fists once more, for my final assault.

“It’s ok, buddy, I’ll take it from here,” I looked up and saw Lucas through the hole where my back door used to be.

Lucas ran over to me and stood his ground in front of me. I was relieved: I was exhausted and I didn’t think I would’ve made it through the rest of the day. Lucas was in full battle mode. He was wearing his government issued battle suit that was customized to adapt to and enhance his powers. The suit had a thick blue stripe down the arms and legs. Lucas also wore a gourd on his back. The gourd was engineered to absorb the water from the air to fill itself. When Lucas was incognito the gourd emptied and shrank down to a metal container, like a water bottle.

Lucas’s fighting style was whimsical to watch. He moved like he was a wave flowing to the shores. He shot water from his gourd and sent it straight at the man. As the water soared through the air it separated into two thick streams. Both streams made contact, one hitting the attacker in the head and the other at the base of his legs. The man was sent spiraling midair before he hit the ground. I watched as Lucas used his hands to control the water. Lucas forced the two streams back into one and the water continuously rushed onto the man like a waterfall. Lucas didn’t stop the water until the man stopped struggling under it, he was drowning. Lucas released the water and it fell around the man who was coughing violently. He stopped coughing and lay motionless in the grass.

“So you can fight shadows but cant take on some vampire?” Lucas walked over to me and knelt down.

“He ambushed me.,” I said. “I couldn't land a hit.”

I struggled to reposition myself so Lucas could see my battle wounds. He started to heal me right away. His hands were encased in water and began to glow a faint blue as he ran his hands over my wounds. I felt that icy feeling, that I hated, as the wounds began to knit themselves close. My chest took longer because of the depth of the gash. I stood up and we helped my dad get to his feet, leading him to the house. We sat him down on the couch and Lucas started to heal him too. 

“That was brave of you Mr. Phoenix,” Lucas said finishing up his healing.

“Well I couldn’t just sit back and watch some guy kill my son on his birthday,” My dad said plainly.

“Well you took it like a champ, dad,” I patted him on the back.

Lucas had put the small fires out in the house. The rest of the family came to the living room and my mom gave me a hug. My mom thanked him.

“It’s no problem,” Lucas said. “But I think Jayden has plans today so I’ll take the guy back to the base.”

Lucas and I left returned to the backyard. The ground was still soaked but the vampire was gone. We looked around the yard stunned. There were no footprints, or any sign of the man just getting up and walking away. I was sure the guy was knocked out or worse. I thought back to my first visitor this morning and remembered what he was wearing. They were both wearing a tuxedo.

“He said something about the Brotherhood,” I said. “You ever heard of it?”

“Nah I haven’t,” Lucas said.

The house was no longer safe. I had to get my family out. I asked Lucas to take them to the base. I gave everyone ten minutes to pack some things for the next few days. I wasn’t sure what was going on exactly, but I knew we’d be safer at the agency. Griffin would be able to find a safe house for them until things settled down. I gave everyone a hug before we separated.

“I’ll see you back at the base,” I said. “I need to go get Camille.”

“Alright, man,” Lucas said.

I went back up to my room to change out of my shorts. Luckily I had worn my flame-retardant ones. My crew neck burned up though. i picked up my communicator from my nightstand and attached it to my wrist. I fiddled with it and soon my battle suit, similar to Lucas’s, but with a red stripe, formed around my body. The communicator had dozens of functions, including changing my outfit. The battle suit, like most of my clothes, were fire proof.

I walked through the house and looked over the damage. The dining room was in ruins along with the foyer. That was about it, since the fight moved outside. I took the door behind the steps that led upstairs to get to the garage. The three car garage had every spot filled. My cherry red Camaro was in the middle. The agency tricked it out to adapt to my powers. The car changed colors form red to black when I was on missions.

During the ride to Camille’s house my mind returned to everything that had happened in the past 24 hours. I couldn't think of a reason as to why all this was happening to me, and on my birthday nonetheless. I couldn’t remember pissing anyone off that controlled shadows or anyone that fought in tuxedos.

All my thoughts faded when I pulled into Camille’s driveway. She was sitting on her porch with her legs crossed with a bored expression. Her mood seemed to change she saw me, but her smile faded when saw my face. I admit, I didn’t look too excited to see her on our two-year anniversary but I couldn’t help it. 

“What’s wrong?” She asked.

I got out of the car and took Camille in. She was wearing a red sundress with a white floral pattern printed on it. Her white heels had put her at my height. Her uncommon green eyes had that twinkle in it and when I looked into them, all my stress faded. Her hair flowed as the wind blew and I imagined us somewhere else, anywhere but here.

“Why aren’t you dressed?” She asked.

I came back to reality. 

“We need to go,” I said with some base in my voice. “I need you to pack a bag for a couple days. Tell your parents we’re going to go to my cabin for the weekend.”

She didn’t question me. I didn’t like talking to her like that. I wished I could’ve explained everything then, but we had to get moving. If they, whoever they was, knew who I was and where to find me they might go after Camille and I couldn’t risk her getting hurt. At this rate, I was bound to get attacked again. We had to hurry and make it to the base.

Camille came back outside with an overstuffed duffle bag. She threw the bag at me and I stowed it in the trunk. She closed her door with a little force. She was mad at me, no doubt. It wasn’t my fault I got attacked during breakfast though.

“Could you lose the attitude,” I said. “I’ve been having a rough morning.

When we left the driveway, I started the story from when I left Camille’s house. I told Camille everything, all the time. She was the only one I told everything too. When I recounted the morning’s incident, I could hear my voice grow quieter. I still couldn’t believe I was face to face with death. I hadn’t been strong enough to stop a guy from wrecking my house and I wasn’t strong enough to save my family and on top of all of that I let him get away. The story took the whole drive.

“It’s ok, Jay,” She rested her hand on my thigh. “That’s why you have a team. You’ll always have each other’s backs.”

There were blockades around the perimeter of the condemned Walmart that our base was underneath. When I pulled up, I pressed a button on my dash. A section of the blockade, long enough to fit my car opened up. As I drove on the path the concrete sunk into the ground at an angle. The tunnel I drove through leading to the loading bay was illuminated by thousands of lights. The loading bay was full of the various agency vehicles. I parked my car in my spot.

I grabbed Camille’s bag and led the way through the base. We started in the long corridor that led to the other hallways and facilities.  The first hallway on the right were sleeping quarters for the various agents. My team had our own hallway: second one on the right. We had lived here occasionally throughout our time here. On the opposite side of our hall was the training room. The room could be set up to create any type of situation that could occur. The next hall to the right led to the Control Room. The room was filled with long tables that could hold at least 20 people. They all monitored a computer and were the first to know if something was happening in the world. The fourth hall to the left opned up to the lab. The cafeteria was the fifth hall to the right along with some meeting rooms. Across from that hall were more rooms for agents to sleep in. Bathrooms were placed variously along the corridor. And at the end of the hall, direcrtly across form the loading bay entrance was Griffin’s office.

I led Camille to my room. We found my family crammed in there. The room was an exact replica of the one at my house. My family was spread out on my bed.  It told them I would have rooms for them by the end of the night. I also gave them directions to everything in the base.

Before I could leave the room, I was bombarded with questions. “What’s going on?” “Who was that man in the house?” “How long are we going to have to stay here?” I was just as lost as them. I didn’t hear Camille ask anything. She trusted me, even though I didn’t know what was going on. 

I raised my hands to silence them.

“I’m going to talk to Griffin and see if he has any idea what’s going on, but until then I need you to bear with me.