The Break (The Aesir Saga Book 1) (9 page)

“Fuck this.” he said, standing up still behind the beam. He waited till he felt the next sweep of wind fly past his left side. Gabriel spun to his left, seeing Stephen standing in the same spot he had been the whole time. He raised his hand in Stephen’s direction, the flame pouring out of his right hand as he moved closer. Gabriel had noticed Stephen’s pattern, and anticipated the next pass, so he turned, spraying the fire in a circle. He saw Stephen reappear at the edge of the ring as some of the flames danced off his shirt, forcing him to abandon his attack and turn back. Gabriel turned to see Stephen standing in his usual spot, but this time the left shoulder of his shirt had a large burn mark on it.  

This is my chance, he thought. He walked closer to Stephen, alternating between blowing the fire directly at Stephen and encircling himself. With his method of protection, Gabriel was moving closer and closer to Stephen. As Gabriel would move a step closer, Stephen would move one back. The problem became that Stephen was moving in the direction of the nearest corner. Once his back hit the corner, Gabriel’s method of encircling himself with fire left no room for Stephen to get away.

“Well” Gabriel yelled, walking closer to Stephen, throwing flames to both sides, keeping him penned in. “I guess the shoe is on the other foot.”

              He heard Caleb yell from the other side “Good job Gabriel. Trainings over, that’s enough.”

              Gabriel just ignored it, walking closer to Stephen, feeling his anger fuel the fire in him. The flames burning hotter and brighter the angrier he got. Gabriel was only five feet from Stephen, his flames licking the walls on either side. He saw Stephen smile as he neared him in the corner. Gabriel though it as odd, but he did not have time to think about it, as soon everything went black. 

              The crane lowered the Maiden onto its support structure. Marcus watched, making sure they didn’t damage any part of his baby. He already had enough to fix from his run in with the two Aesir, he didn’t want more to fix because of a lazy crane operator. Marcus started his work to repair the Maiden just as Williams entered the command center. Kyle looked up from his desk “They want us back at the headquarters.” He handed Williams a printout from SI9.

“We just got started on this job. Why are they pulling us off it now?”

“I have no idea, but you could give them a call.” Kyle said, handing the phone to Williams before returning to the map he was working on. 

              Williams took the phone from him, dialing the commander of SI9 directly. This was one of the benefits of being the son of a council member that Williams didn’t hate.

“Director Beach, this is Agent Williams. Sir, why are you requesting my team back already? That is correct sir, we have lost contact with the target Aesir, but we now know he is being helped by a larger contingent.” A long pause followed as Williams paced back and forth, his head nodding slightly, his lips pressed tightly together.  “Sir, I must insist, we should not be pulled from the investigation at this time, if we do there is the possibility that…” Agent Williams trailed off, cut off by the voice of the director. 

“Understood sir, we will be mobile as soon as possible.” Williams pulled the handset away from his face, clicking the phone off before throwing it across the room. 

              Without looking up Kyle asked the obvious question “What happened?”

“One of the other teams suffered catastrophic losses. They need us back in California to hunt down the perpetrators. Marcus will be happy, they have authorized use of deadly force as well as containment.”

“Well,” Kyle said, pushing back from his desk, “I guess I’ll begin tear down procedures.”

“No, as soon as that is done we are coming back here. I am not losing the first fire Aesir in twelve years because of someone else’s mistake. Shut everything off, but I want all this on standby for our return.”

              Williams started walking to the hanger, Kyle turning his chair to follow Williams’ path out of the room. 

“I’ll tell Marcus,” Williams called over his shoulder, throwing his arm in the air to punctuate his frustration. “I want to be ready to leave in three hours.”

              Gabriel awoke on his bed; he looked around but found only his room. He sat up, feeling a splitting pain in his head. Bringing both hands to his head he tried to deal with the pain. After what felt like ten minutes, but was more likely one, the pain finally began to fade. He got up and walked out of his room into the hallway. It was as empty as it always was, but Gabriel could see through the window that the sun was clearly up, so everyone must be down stairs. All of his muscles ached. It was like he got hit by a car. Gabriel started putting the pieces back together of what happened before he blacked out. He had been sparring with Stephen, and he had lost his anger again. He had been able to ignite both hands, and even project some flame off of his hand. The last thing he remembered was having Stephen trapped in the corner, with fire trapping him in. 

              Gabriel leaned on the wall as he went down the stairs. Making his way to where he had first met Caleb, Gabriel looked around, but there was still no one in the house. Gabriel knocked on the door, hearing the same voice calling him in as before. Walking in, Gabriel saw Caleb standing over his desk, the computer off, looking at a picture of a city block. It was an aerial photo, which interested Gabriel since all of the satellite view websites were taken down as an early effort to hinder terrorists. As Gabriel walked closer, Caleb looked up at him, then back down to the map. 

“Welcome back.” Caleb said, putting his hand into his pocket to retrieve a cell phone that he placed on the table. 

“How long was I out for?” 

“Just short of eighteen hours. I hope you understand that it had to be done. You seemed to have lost yourself in your power and I couldn’t let you hurt Stephen.”

“I understand, but I don’t know what happened.”

“Grab a chair” Caleb said as he motioned to one of the chairs against the wall. While Gabriel was going to get a chair, Caleb sat down in the one next to his desk. Caleb spun in his chair as Gabriel set his down before sitting. 

              Caleb leaned forward, putting his elbows on his knees and his hands together. “You had Stephen pinned in the corner, and you were walking closer to him. I had already tried to call you off, but you didn’t listen. Seeing that you had let your anger consume your thinking, I hit you with a charge of lightning, which rendered you unconscious.”

              Upon hearing what had happened, Gabriel lowered his head. “I’m sorry man. Sometimes I just get so angry and I don’t think about what I’m doing.”

“I understand that, but you can’t let yourself become so ruled by your emotions. You need to spend some time with your power. Work with it when you’re not angry. If you can control it when you are calm, it might help you not let it take over when you do get upset. I know this is a lot for you, but you can’t put the rest of us in danger.”

“I know, and I’ll work on it.” Gabriel started to get up, then hesitated as a question came to mind.

“I have a question, but I don’t want to piss you off.”

              Caleb smiled, knowing exactly what Gabriel wanted to know. “You want to know about the scars?”

“Yeah man, what happened?”

“Well, this is a result of my powers.”

“What? That doesn’t make any sense. When I use mine I don’t burn my hands.” Gabriel said, looking down at his hands, as if to prove they were still fine. 

“Well, not everyone has your same problem.”

              Gabriel looked back at Caleb confused. “What do you mean my problem?”

Caleb was the first to break eye contact, looking to his left at the rest of the room. “It’s kind of a long thing to explain, and I don’t know if you’re ready for it.”

“Not ready for it? My whole life just went nuts two days ago, if there is more I need to know, it’s not like things are going to get worse.”

“Since people stared developing powers, there have never been two people with the same one. This helped to foster the idea that people with powers were Aesir, which is the term for the Gods in the Old Norse religion. There have been variations of powers, but there has been one type that has been feared every time they appear. That type is fire. Every fire Aesir that has manifested, has, at one point or another, turned out to be evil.” Caleb could see that Gabriel was looking a little confused. “Look at the DC incident, the group that destroyed everything were Aesir that the government had tried to use as a strike force. That group turned, and they were led by someone with a fire based power, specifically the ability to speed up molecules. Looking past that, into history, people have always been afraid of fire. Look at all the Gods that represent fire, Hades and Loki for example, they were portrayed as evil. Then there is the fact that your anger contributes to your power.”

“So you’re saying that I’m going to end up the bad guy?”

“I don’t know Gabriel; I can only look at what has happened in the past. I think if you are aware of the previous incarnations of your power, you can help to stay away from that life.”

“That’s a great history lesson, but it still doesn’t explain your scars.” Gabriel pointed out.

Caleb leaned back in his chair, “Good point. So I got my scars at the manifestation of my powers. We call it the break. When someone’s powers first manifest, it does so in such a violent way that for some, it causes physical damage to themselves.”

Gabriel’s brow furrowed, “What do you mean violently?”

“Well,” Caleb leaned forward again, resting his elbows on his knees. “My break happened while I was skydiving. It was my birthday, so I wanted to do something that I was afraid of. Halfway down my break happened, electricity exploded out of every inch of my body. These are Lichtenberg scars, and are most common in people struck by lightning. My tandem jump partner was killed instantly, and when they found us, they assumed we had been struck by lightning during the freefall.”

“When mine happened I think I killed the two cops that were arresting me, but I was fine.” Gabriel admitted.

“Then I’m sure you know what I’m talking about. You were one of the lucky ones, apparently.”

“Thanks.” Gabriel stood, hoping to change the subject. “So where is everybody?”  

Caleb turned back to the photo “They’re out on a mission, they should be back later.”

“Ok, I guess I’ll just hang out around here.” With that Gabriel was out the door, walking through the house, making his way outside. Once on the deck, Gabriel sat down on the porch swing, slowly rocking himself. 

              I get it, he thought, I just had an incident where I almost killed one of the team. I doubt Caleb trusts me, either. He is just waiting for me to make a decision he sees as wrong, and then I’m done.  

              Gabriel got up from the swing and stared walking to the barn. He remembered the wood pile on the side and wanted to see if he could practice with his power. When he got there he picked up a medium sized log, and moved it to a flat area a few feet from the barn. Gabriel took a couple steps back and turned to face the log. He moved his hands away from his body, closed his eyes, and tried to focus. He focused on the feeling he got when his hand was on fire. He imagined the tingle that he felt before it ignited. He wanted to do it without making himself angry. The itch in his fingers crept up slowly, and Gabriel opened his eyes to see the small blue flame dancing from the top of his hand. For now, Gabriel didn’t want to try projecting his power. He wanted to spend a little time with the fire, use it without his anger taking control. He moved his hand around, watching the flame dance with the movements. After a couple of minutes with just letting it burn, Gabriel turned his attention to his left hand. He had only been able to ignite it the one time with Caleb’s help. 

              Trying to replicate what he did in the barn, Gabriel put his hands together, hoping maybe to ignite the left off of the rights flame. When that didn’t work, he took a deep breath and closed his eyes again. Gabriel tried to imagine the fire traveling from his right hand through his body to the other hand. When he imagined it, Gabriel could feel the itch in his left hand. Opening his eyes he smiled, seeing that both hands were now ablaze. 

              Gabriel spent the next twenty minutes trying to control the level of the fire, being able to sustain its level to what he considered a satisfactory height. With the fire sustainable, and his anger in check so far, Gabriel turned back to the log he had set up. He tried to start as he would in a fight, letting the flames die and his normal hands return. He focused on the log, his hands coming to life as the fire spread from the tips of his fingers to his wrists. Raising both hands, his arms fully extended, Gabriel tried projecting from both hands, bathing the log in fire. After a few seconds of exposure, he stopped the stream of fire, also allowing his hands to extinguish. 

“So far so good” Gabriel said to himself. His control seemed to be getting better. Practice makes perfect he thought to himself, raising his arms for another volley. He could tell his transition was getting better, when he raised his arms both hands had ignited in response. Gabriel let loose another volley of fire, pushing as much as he could. While he focused his power, Gabriel could feel his anger, ready to jump in, waiting for him to lose control. He continued the burn for a little while longer, then pulled back, trying to relax himself with deep breathing. He looked at what he had done. The log was charred, burned down to a thin strip of wood, not even charcoal remained of the burned section. 

              Gabriel was going to see what he could do with the scrap metal laying around, but the sound of tires on gravel drew him back to the house. As he neared the house, Madison, Brock, Stephen, and two others he had not met yet where getting out of blue Chevy Malibu. Seeing Gabriel walk up, everyone turned to face him, unsure of what he was going to do. 

              Gabriel walked up to Stephen and extended his hand. “Hey man, I’m sorry, I lost it yesterday. That will never happen again.”

              Stephen looked at Gabriel for a second before shaking his hand. “Its ok man, new stuff happening like you went through, it’s easy to get lost in everything.”

              Once they had shaken hands, the others dispersed, most going into the house, Brock heading into the barn. Gabriel just stared at Stephen with a strange look. 

“You can speak normally?” 

              They ended the hand shake, and Stephen smiled back at Gabriel.  “Yeah, my power isn’t like yours. I don’t have to summon or focus anything. Since it manifested, everything I’ve done has just been super-fast. I can’t turn it off, so for me to talk like this I have to focus and talk in super slow mo. Luckily, it comes out at normal speed.”

“So how did you hide it when you got your power?” Gabriel asked, wondering what it would be like to have his hands on fire all the time.  

              Stephen let out a loud chuckle before he shrugged his shoulders. “I didn’t. As soon as it happened there was no hiding it. I didn’t know how to control it yet, so everything I did was in a blur. Within a day or two there were SI9 agents looking in my town, so I left. Never said good bye to anyone, just took off.”

              Maybe in hindsight my story wasn’t too bad Gabriel thought. “Were did you live, how did you eat?”

“I’m super-fast, I stole food. It's not hard to do when everyone is moving at a snail’s pace. But hey, I need to go talk to Caleb, so I'll see you later."

              Before Gabriel could say anything Stephen was gone. Gabriel felt the rumble of his stomach and realized that he hadn’t eaten since yesterday. He walked into the house and headed to the kitchen. As he turned the corner into the kitchen, Madison was making herself something. 

"Hey" Gabriel said, hoping to start a conversation with her. 

"Hi" was all he got back. She didn't even look at him, just went about making her food. 

Well, Gabriel thought, better to try and kill the awkwardness now. "So this place is pretty cool. It’s nice to be around people who understand what it’s like to have powers, huh?"

              Madison put the knife down she was using to spread peanut butter on a slice of bread. For a while she didn’t say anything, didn’t even look up at him. Finally she raised her head and looked at him. "Gabriel, for the two days I've known you, I've seen you kill one guy, then yesterday you appeared to want to kill someone that is part of our small family here. Don't take this the wrong way, but I'm not going to be all buddy-buddy with you all of a sudden. Right now, you are unstable, and I don't trust you. I'm not saying I won’t trust you, but you really need to work on your problems." With that she picked up her sandwich and walked out of the kitchen. 

Well shit, Gabriel thought, then the rumble of his stomach brought back why he was there, and he opened the fridge to have a look.