Paragon

Zeke told Kira everything that had happened in the last hour. The hostages, his fight with the Hellion and then the world’s first recorded Paragon, thought dead, Phalanx appearing and killing the Hellion. He described what happened when the Paragon had removed the mask and how the thing seemed have its own will and what Phalanx told him about it. Kira sat in stunned silence, her mouth slightly agape at the mention of the Paragon’s appearance. He also decided to tell her about the bookshop Phalanx told him to go visit in search for answers, something that strangely did not seem to upset Kira; at least not on the outside.

“So what are you going to do?” She asked once he’d finished his story. Zeke shook his head and shrugged his shoulders.

“I guess I’ll probably go to the bookshop... I don’t know why but I feel I need to see this through... There’s something else though...” He paused, rubbing the right side of his neck and twitching his eyes left and right not sure how if he should mention what he was about to say. “Phalanx said I was a Paragon...”

“I’m sorry, what?” Kira exclaimed while blinking rapidly. Her tone shared equal parts dismay and disbelief considering the Paragons were the first to get taken down when the registration act came about. At first most Supers merely refused and protested with the Paragons at the picket lines with them. These acts were seen and displayed on media as acts of aggression and were “hastily suppressed” by Nullifiers. A lot of Supers and the only Paragons that still lived were cut down, nullified and then disappeared never to be heard from again. Officials said they were in special custody, but there had always been rumors and Jon’s conspiracies. So Kira’s reaction was relatively appropriate, considering.

“I don’t know why he’d say such a thing, I’m not that powerful.” Zeke said, also with disbelief. He’d always considered himself to be powerful, but there weren’t any Paragons left, or so everyone had always thought, to compare himself to.

“You’re really gonna go to that bookstore?” Kira whispered after several long minutes of utter silence.

“I have to...” He replied.

“You don’t have to do shit; you want to I can see it in your damn yellow eyes.” She said with a raised voice. He knew she was only thinking about his safety and was afraid for him. He knew that she felt only love towards him and wanted no harm to come for him and this was definitely going to put him in harms way. “Its not the age of heroes and villains anymore, Z. You don’t have to put on a damn cape and save the world!”

“But shouldn’t we?” Zeke yelled back. Kira’s eyes widened, she was stunned to silence. “We have these powers. We can do things that at one point the world considered myth. Shouldn’t we do something with it instead of hide?”

“Not everyone has powers that let them do things, Zeke,” said Kira. She was certainly right. Not everyone had gifts, some had curses. There was a woman at the bar he fought in that was, what many would call, an eco-mancer; someone who could manipulate nature. The only thing she was able to do, however, was make lemon trees. She tried, heaven knows, but it was the only thing she was able to make and manipulate. At the same time, she used her ability to make the best hard lemonade or lemon-flavored alcoholic beverages the city had ever seen and people came to that bar just to have her drinks.

On the other hand there was Collin Eckert who had developed an unending adrenaline flow at the age of 13. By now he easily had to be somewhere in his mid-twenties, but no one had heard from him because at 19 he’d run into the forest on the eastern edge of the city and hadn’t been seen or heard from since. Before he had run off Zeke had known him and Collin had confided in Zeke that he’d started to go slightly mad. He was always awake, always wired and alert, always pumped to do something, anything. At that time he hadn’t slept in six years and, if he was still alive now, likely hadn’t slept in over a decade. There were also people with acidic saliva and couldn’t kiss anyone and had to be careful where, when, and if they spit or brushed their teeth, if they even did so. Not everyone has a fun power.

“But I do. On top of that, I’m apparently immune to Nullifiers which gives me an element no one else has. I can’t just ignore this, it would be irresponsible.”

“Irresponsible?!” Kira yelled, “coming from the guy covered in tattoos and a mohawk who fights for a living?”

“Yeah, coming from that guy. Now isn’t that something?”

“You can still be hit with bullets, Zeke. Bullets will still kill you and they have plenty of those. By now the word has to be around that there’s a Super out there who’s able to completely ignore the affects of the Nullifiers and I’m willing to bet they’d shoot first and ask questions later.”

“I need you on my side!” Zeke yelled and grabbed her by the shoulders. “I need...” He hung his head and took a deep breath and a drawn out exhale as he attempted to calm his nerves. “I need you on my side Kira... I can’t do this kind of thing alone, and I can’t do it knowing you’re going to yell at me the second I get home. I need you.” Kira was silent and then wrapped her hands around his muscled back and rested her head on his chest.

“I’m on your side, you idiot.” She whispered into him. Zeke felt hot tears streaming down her cheek that started to dampen his shirt a little bit. Her hair was glowing softly and, as always when Kira became emotional, the scent of smoked hickory flooded his senses. It was a scent he’d grown to love.

“I won’t go tonight. I’m too tired, besides we have other plans.” Zeke said.

“Plans?”

“Yeah, we’re going to my aunt Brida’s, remember? We were gonna leave tonight and stay for a couple of days.”

“Shit, I completely forgot to pack,” said Kira as she pulled away from him. She wiped away the tears from her cheek and turned to go to their room. Zeke laughed softly. It was so easy for her to just switch moods and tones sometimes. Zeke was glad they were going to be heading off soon, there wasn’t much left of the night and that was the only time he was comfortable moving around given that he was not the type of person who could be inconspicuous during the day. At least there were few people on the streets and even fewer who would care enough to report a moving fog cloud.

Thankfully, Kira was a fast packer and had everything they needed for the next couple of days in a pair of duffle bags and ready to go. Kira kissed Zeke goodbye and headed out the door while Zeke grabbed the two bags and slung them over his shoulders, one on each side and took off out the window. As always, he was accompanied by a fog cloud that shrouded his form as he flew through the city until they got to his Aunt Brida’s fenced back yard. The fence had been put in only a few weeks after Zeke had moved in with his aunt back when he was 14 years old, that way he was able to go outside and the neighbors wouldn’t see him running around.

Zeke knocked softly on the door and was very glad to see she’d been waiting for him. His aunt was a short woman who still liked to dye her hair with pink and snowy-white highlights. She was also somewhat of a telepath which made lying to her very difficult, something he’d discovered at a very young age. She greeted him with a quick hug and then led him further into the house so that he could put down the bags. It would take Kira roughly another ten or so minutes to get there seeing as she had to drive. Zeke set down the bags and then was immediately attacked by his 11 year old sister, Mary, who hugged him tightly and squeeled with joy.

“Z! What took you so long?” She asked, punching him gently in the arm. A blow he pretended hurt more than it actually did in order to be cute with her.

“Sorry sis, had to take care of some adult things before we came. Kira’s on her way.” He said and then hugged her again. He was always very close with his sister since neither of them had any other immediate family. He’d talked about adopting her, unofficially, and taking her off of Brida’s hands but, again because of his skin, never went through with it given that she went to school and needed guardians who were around to help her with those kinds of things. Now with the way things were going Zeke felt like this might be the last time he would get to be around his family. Who knew how the coming days would progress with all the weird things going on.

Shortly after his sister had greeted him, Zeke’s two late-teenage cousins came clamoring down the stairs arguing about some game they were playing. They acted like most brothers did; swatting one another, calling each other names they didn’t really mean and demeaning one another in ways that only siblings could. Tony, the older of the two by almost two years, was a little taller than Zeke. He’d taken after his run-away-dad’s physical appearance with naturally tanned skin and dark hair. The kid had been born with wide shoulders and a thick skull, much like his deadbeat dad, but despite that he was strong, loyal and loved his family. He shared his mother’s affinity for the mind and loved to read and write and also happened to be a fairly competent telekinetic: someone who can move objects with their mind even going as far as being able to create barriers with his powers. His brother was also tall but his appearance took more after Brida in the sense of lighter skin and light brown hair that sometimes almost seemed to be blond in the right lighting.

Jason was what the Super world called a technomancer: someone capable of controlling, or some would say speaking to, technology. When it came to anything that ran on electricity Jason could move it with his will, form it and turn it into whatever he pleased, given the right parts. He also sometimes actually spoke to computers, out loud. No one was ever really sure if he really heard them talk back or if it was just a gimmick he did to amuse himself. As such, Jason was planning on going to Glacier City University to major in physics and engineering. God only knew he’d blow every other student away.

“Cheater.” Tony sneered and smacked his brother on the chest.

“Halfwit.” Jason responded with a tap to the back of his brother’s head.

“Hey Heckle and Jeckle,” said Zeke with a curt smile. His little nickname for them perfectly surmised his own relationship with the two of them. Much more brotherly than just cousin, after all he did grow up with them being a few years older than they were. He was basically their older brother.

“Hey blue,” they said in cheerful unison, quickly turning their heads toward him with a smile and then immediately went back to their sibling banter.

“What in heaven’s name are you girls bickering about?” Zeke asked with one hand covering his face.

“Jay cheated again,” said Tony with a snicker, knowing just how to set off his younger brother.

“What you call cheating, I call strategy. It’s not my fault you can’t get the damn ball in the cup.”

“Hold up...” Zeke said waving his hand with a sigh, “you two were playing ball-in-a-cup? Do they even still make those things?”

“Yup.” They said in eerie unison.

“We found one at an antique shop mom made us visit with her,” said Jason.

“Yeah, and he bet me I couldn’t do it better than he could,” said Tony.

“You can’t, so you owe me your last coke.”

“You knocked it out of my hand!”

“I was on the other side of the room! And you’re the one with the telekinesis, sewer-breath. Seriously, brush your teeth, guy.”

Zeke’s face was now firmly planted in his hands as he couldn’t actually believe the conversation he was hearing. He figured they were fighting over a video game or a girl. Something normal. Then again, he thought, what family is normal after all?

“Spawn, set the table.” Brida’s voice came bellowing from the kitchen. The two brothers knew better than to argue when she used that pet name for them. Usually when she called them her “Spawn” it was because she was referencing herself as the head of the house, the Queen Bee so to speak and that the queen wasn’t in the mood for sass. The two jumped like a bonfire had suddenly been lit beneath their feet and hopped into the kitchen. Zeke shook his head and then felt his heart pound against his chest when he heard the doorbell ring. Kira was here.

Sure, it had only been twenty minutes, maybe even less, since he’d seen her but that didn’t matter. In the four years they’d been together that stage of their relationship had never really ended. Being apart from her for any period of time made him feel achy inside and getting to see her again always made his heart race and his blood run. Zeke stood from the couch and walked over to the door, being careful to pull it open and step to the side so that he wasn’t visible should anyone be looking. Once Kira was inside he closed the door and hugged her from behind and kissed her neck. She responded with a delighted coo and pressed her palm against his cheek. Mary then came over and gave Kira a hug, something else Zeke was very grateful for; his sister and the woman he loved getting along was quite possibly one of the biggest reliefs of his young lifetime.

Once the table had been set everyone sat down and Brida served up the breakfast she’d made consisting of homemade pancakes, eggs, bacon and hash browns; a hearty meal, if there ever was one. At the end of it, the entire family regaled one another with family tales and funny school/college stories. Then Zeke stood up and raised his glass of orange juice with a smile.

“I’d actually like to give a toast, if you folks don’t mind.” He said and cleared his throat. He’d practiced this in front of several mirrors several times and still, it was no easier to do. “Kira, you and I have been together for four years now. Four years today in fact.” He smiled, she touched her hands to her chest and smiled back grateful that he’d remember it was their four year anniversary. “You’ve put up with me, you’ve put up with my family and, I daresay it we’ve borderline adopted you. You are the literal and romantic fire in my life and without you my world would be dark and cold.” It was sappy, true, but it still got right under Kira’s defenses and choked a small tear from her right eye. “I’m so glad to have you, we’re so glad to have you as part of the family.”

“Well,” she interjected with a light chuckle, “I’m not really a part of the family... yet...” She added somewhat awkwardly and then gasped when Zeke lowered himself in front of her onto one knee.

“We should fix that,” said Zeke and then reached into his pocket and withdrew a small jewelry box. Kira’s heart was in her throat, for a second she found she couldn’t breathe. Another tear streaked down her cheek as Zeke opened the box to reveal a white-gold ring with three gem stones on top of it. The primary stone was a princess-cut ruby, and a very real one at that with two opal-cut emeralds, also very real given their murky color, on either side. Her eyes were green, her hair was red, and her power was fire. It was made specifically for her. Without even a word she stretched out her left hand while her right hand covered her mouth to prevent any further exclamations. Zeke slid the ring onto her finger and it fit perfectly.

“Zeke...” She whispered.

“Kira... Will you-”

THUMP! An audible crash brought everyone in the kitchen onto their feet with eyes staring directly at the door which had been thrown open and quickly shut by a lean, wiry man wearing black cargo pants and a dark-grey t-shirt. He clutched his side and Zeke saw blood on his hands and forearm.

“Sorry to drop in... Perimeter’s secure by the way...” said Jonathan Webber with a notable tone of pain. Zeke was by his side within a second and quickly helped him into the living room. By the time Zeke got his friend onto the couch Brida was already there with warm, damp towels.

“Tony, first-aid kit. Jason, get the hydrogen peroxide and some whiskey.” Brida barked as she shoved Zeke aside and helped Jon to lie down and then set a warm rag on Jon’s bald head. Out of nowhere she whipped out a pair of clothing shears and started to cut away Jon’s shirt so she could get to the wound. “Mary, upstairs. Finish your homework.” Mary nodded and quickly scampered up the stairs. Zeke was actually impressed at how fast Brida had acted, but also at how well her children obeyed her. It was one of the finest examples of synergy he’d ever seen. Kira was still sitting in her chair, looking out from the dining room and into the living room with a worried expression.

Zeke looked back to Kira apologetically but she waved him off and gave him a look that told him it was okay for him to not be finishing his proposal right this second.

“The hell happened to you, Jon?” Zeke said, standing over his friend’s head, staring down at him. Now that Brida had her first-aid kit, one that was significantly more detailed than most people’s, she was sewing up what seemed to be a bullet wound and a vicious claw mark. “Seriously did you run into a bear with a colt or something?” Jon’s response was a wince of pain and a quick cough.

“Been looking... for you...” said Jon.

“Well I was at my apartment for the past few days, like I usually am. You know your house is destroyed right?” Zeke asked.

“They were close to finding me, thats why I burned the basement.” Jon grabbed the bottle of whiskey and took a long swig as Brida pulled a large .45 calibur slug from his abdomen. The ripped muscles contorted in pain as she started sewing up the bullet wound.

“Please don’t play the damn pronoun game, Jon,” said Zeke, “you know I don’t know who ‘they’ are.”

“Draco’s thugs, that’s who. Been tailing them trying to figure out why they’re swiping Supers off the damn streets and I found something much more interesting.”

“Phalanx?”

“Yeah, you saw my message?”

“Naturally, but aren’t you afraid they’d see it?”

“Doesn’t matter, they’re trying to find him too. Ol’ Vlad wants him dead from what I can tell.”

“I can see why...”

“What’s that supposed to mean? Don’t you start getting cryptic and irritating now, that’s my job.”

“Well, I sort of met him.” Zeke’s response drew a long pause and a confused expression across Jon’s face. The confusion was quickly replaced by pain when Brida started sanitizing and stitching his other wound.

“You met the world’s oldest Paragon?” Jon exclaimed in a mixture of shock, awe and what seemed like envy.

“Well he’s the first one we know about, Jon, I doubt he’s the first-”

“He IS the first. The man is over a thousand damnable years old, if that young.”

“That’s... not possible.”

“As ‘not possible’ as a man with naturally blue skin and yellow eyes sucking electricity out of a building’s circuitry and discharging it like lightning bolts while flying in the air?”

“Touché. Yeah, I met him, he helped me dispatch the Hellion. Not sure if you saw the news about that...” Jon nodded and waved his hand for Zeke to continue. “He showed up and pulled off the Hellion’s mask and the thing tried to... well... I’m not sure how to describe it. It tried to stay attached to the Hellion’s face. Then, he talked some cryptic-sage crap and told me if I wanted to help to find some facility under a bookshop.”

“Old Dragon’s Books?”

“Yeah, how’d you-”

“Been there, thats how I got this damn claw mark in my spleen.”

“Holy hell...” Zeke wasn’t sure what to make of that. Apparently whatever was down below that bookshop was not only fast enough to rake Jon’s skin but it was also able to find him, and Jon was damn good at staying out of your senses. “How do you know he’s that old?”

“The short version is I found some tomes, old ones, and I do mean old. Apparently, they were dialogues written BY Vladimir Dracovic. Basically, when people started developing powers, people thought it was either demonic influence, wizardry or that they held relics of some sort. Some men had incredible strength, biblical almost. So they attributed it to ‘I have a sword blessed by saint such-and-such’ but that was only to mask what they could just naturally do.” Again, Jon winced in pain and took another swig of whiskey before going on. “Anyways, then comes along the stories about dragons. Specifically, one dragon. Vladimir. The knight that slew the dragon currently goes by Phalanx. Vladimir hates him. Phalanx probably reciprocates much of the same feelings. The two have been fighting each other for centuries. The Revolutionary War, Civil War, World War II, all of them boiled down to Phalanx versus the dragon.”

“This is the short version?” Brida quipped with a roll of her eyes.

“Yes, you wouldn’t believe how many books there are about this. It dates all the way back to early myth. Hercules versus the Hydra; Beowulf against the mighty dragon. Phalanx was all of these and probably more. A lot of the stories we know are definitely exaggerated, mostly where it comes to the hero KILLING the beast. Phalanx has never been able to kill Vladimir for some reason. What I do know is that Vladimir is the second half of the puzzle. Phalanx was the world’s first Paragon, Vladimir the second.”

“And you got all of this from a few tomes? A few books?” Zeke asked, crossing his arms. Even for Jon, this was one conspiracy that seemed incredibly out there in terms of credibility. “Jon, this is probably the most ludicrous thing you’ve ever brought me. I’m willing to believe Phalanx is maybe almost a century old; there are photos, documents even of him fighting in both the world wars and given that I met him he’s obviously not dead but you’re saying this guy was Hercules. That makes him well over a thousand years old. Hell, that makes him probably three to four thousand years old.”

“Yeah,” said Jon while beaming his gaze directly into Zeke’s eyes, “it would, wouldn’t it?”

“Anything actually credible?”

“I do have a video I took of the two of them talking.”

“Well maybe you should’ve led with that, dick.”

“And ruin the big reveal? Not on your cold life.”

Intermission

“Tonight, an exciting interview with renowned psychologist and expert on the Super-Human mind, Dr. James Tudd.” Diane says. She seems much more awake now than she had the previous night, perhaps she has a little more coffee in her this time, or maybe she is finally through her painkiller withdrawal. Who knows? The video switches to a small, dark room with two chairs. Sitting on the right is John Hamden, beloved reporter and journalist, and on the right is Dr. James Tudd the so-called “expert” on Supers.

“So, what can you tell us about how these people think, Dr. Tudd?” John asks. He leans back against the chair with one leg crossed over the other. He chews on his favorite pen anxiously and taps his fingers on the clipboard in his lap.

“Well, first of all,” says Dr. Tudd assuming a similar position, only with his fingers interlocking, “I’m not sure we should qualify them as people.”

“Now hold on, why say something like that?” John asks. He pretends to be concerned about civil rights for one moment, for the sake of exposition.

“Well, its simple, many of them don’t resemble people. John, in my early days as a physician, before I started writing my books, I saw Supers who couldn’t even be called human! Some had scales as thick as armor plating, some looked like wolves, or beetles, or lions. There was even a guy who could grow spines out of any part of his body. Just large, thick spines, sharp as a knife out of his chest, knuckles, neck, toes, fingers, palms you name it. That’s not human.”

“So, not being human makes them incapable of being people?”

“A dog isn’t a person, but dogs have personality and feelings, right? Most Supers I’ve met are either savage or too calm.” Tudd says while shaking his head.

“Now what do you mean by ‘too calm?’” John asks as he leans forward.

“The ones that are like that are basically time bombs. They keep everything bottled in, including their powers, until one day they just end up exploding. Supers kill people and we need to find a way to cure them. It’s the only humane thing to do.”