Hero Wanted - 12. Chapter Twelve

A beep of a monitor slowly wakened Ryan from the depths of sleep, and as he resurfaced back into reality he heard someone approach him. He opened his eyes to see a nurse by his bed, a bed that was located at the recovery center of the academy, considering it had rails and a tacky design on the sheet that covered the lower portion of his body that was wearing a hospital shirt and pants.

“Only one week at the academy and you’re already at the recovery center twice,” the nurse said.

“Oh…I’m sorry,” Ryan apologized as he placed a hand over his forehead, feeling like his body had completely expelled out of all its energy.

The nurse chuckled and said, “It’s okay. I’ve seen much worse. The center just needs to monitor your vitals to make sure you’re completely stable, and you’ll be out of here by morning. All right?”

Ryan nodded.

“Good. I’ll check on you again within the next thirty minutes,” the nurse verified before walking out of the room.

Ryan sighed heavily as he scooted up on his bed that was not made of the same memory foam which exacerbated the aches he felt all over his body. Something then moved to his right and he turned his head to see Josephine sitting on a chair by his bed. She was still wearing her nightclub attire, as well as the same gentle expression on her face as she smiled at him.

“Hey, Ryan. Are you okay?” Josephine asked, scooting her chair closer to Ryan’s bed.

“Yeah. I think so. Were you here the entire time I was recovering?” Ryan asked.

Josephine nodded. “I just want to make sure you remained stable…especially after what happened back at the club’s parking lot.”

Ryan grimaced as the memory of what happened to him and Christopher played back in his head. He could not believe how things escalated so fast, from a passionate kiss to being punched so forcefully that it made him crash into a car. It all went so wrong, so fast and not what Ryan wanted at all… And his locket. Touching his chest, Ryan knew that his locket was no longer with him and an intense pain started to retch through his already aching and tired body.

A gentle touch was then felt on Ryan’s back and he turned to see Josephine standing by him with one hand on his back and the other on his shoulder. The pain still coursed through him like someone was stabbing his heart with a dull weapon, but the gesture from Josephine comforted him some. She then leaned forward and hugged Ryan who was initially surprised by the action, but he soon hugged back and cherished the feeling of someone who seemed to care about the pain he was experiencing. And he could not remember anyone hugging him other than his mother, so the gesture was definitely welcomed.

The hug lasted for about a minute before they released each other, Josephine’s hand remaining on Ryan’s shoulder as she sat back down on her chair. Ryan took a deep breath to try to calm the remaining storm inside him to prevent the waves from overflowing into his heart.

“I’m sorry for what happened?” Josephine said with a frown. “I should’ve stopped it, but Delilah insisted that we let you two resolve it by yourselves…but that was obviously a mistake since it could’ve been done back at the academy, not in front of a crowd of people who were taking pictures and recording the entire event.”

Placing his hand on top of Josephine’s, Ryan said, “You don’t need to apologize. It was my fault that I let Christopher get to me. I just wanted answers, maybe even help…but I should’ve known better. He attacked me, and said it was for my betterment. How crazy can you be?”

“Beyond crazy is what I think,” Josephine inferred. “Hopefully you can move on from this and as your friend, I’ll do my best to make sure you’re okay.”

Ryan gave Josephine a small smile and said, “Thank you, Josephine. You’re truly are a good friend.”

A knocking sound signaled Ryan to turn his head, and he saw his father standing by the threshold of the door.

“Oh… Hey, Dad,” Ryan said, looking down.

“Hey, champ,” Nathaniel said with a gentle tone.

Ryan looked back at his father, wondering why he was not disappointed at him. “Dad, I’m—“

Nathaniel held his hand up to stop Ryan and said, “There’s no need for an apology, Ryan. I’m just happy you’re okay.” Redirecting his sight at Josephine, he greeted her by saying, “And you must be Josephine Carter, correct?”

“You’re correct, sir,” Josephine said, standing up and shaking Nathaniel’s hand from across Ryan’s bed.

“Let me just say that I’m very proud to have served with your father who is a very brave man. And it’s very good to see the daughter of the man I served with as a top-ranking cadet of the Champion Academy.”

“And thank you, sir, for giving my father a second chance at life by recommending him for the project that granted him his nodes,” Josephine said with appreciation.

“It was an obvious decision that the bravery of your father determined,” Nathaniel asserted. “And thank you for being by my son’s side as he recovered.”

Ryan just watched the exchange that was happening between his father and Josephine with perplexity before saying, “So, are checking up on me, Dad?”

“Of course, I am,” Nathaniel said, grabbing a chair and sitting down by Ryan’s bed. “And I feel like we need both to explain ourselves about what just happened.”

Ryan raised an eyebrow, wondering what his father wanted to explain. “What do you mean?”

“Well, obviously, you two need privacy, so I’ll be going now. Goodbye,” Josephine said, giving Ryan a smile and a pat on his shoulder before standing up and leaving the room.

Nathaniel watched Josephine as she left before returning his eyes to Ryan and said, “You’re very fortunate to have her by your side the entire time you were recovering.”

“Yes. You’re right. She’s a good friend.”

“Just a friend?” Nathaniel asked, leaning forward.

“Yes, Dad. Just a friend,” Ryan assured.

“Oh. Okay then,” Nathaniel said, a hint a disappointment in his eyes. “Well, anyways, back to the important issue at hand.” Sitting straight up and putting on a serious expression, he said, “I saw the video of your fight with Christopher Shepherd on social media and there’s no doubt that it’s going to be on the news tomorrow… However, from what I’ve been told, Christopher was the one who initiated the fight and that you were only trying to defend yourself.”

Ryan nodded, knowing that was the truth for the most part. He could have told his father the rest of what happened, but really did not want to be lectured about it.

Nathaniel then sighed and said, “But do you care to explain how it all transpired?”

Frowning, Ryan said, “It’s…complicated.”

“I’m all ears,” Nathaniel said, tapping an ear with his index finger.

“No, I mean…it’s really complicated. I can’t explain it since I don’t even know what happened.”

“Well, try your best, Ryan. I’m not leaving until I get some sense of why Christopher attacked my own son,” Nathaniel insisted.

Ryan sighed and scratched his head. “I…I just wanted to talk to him about something.”

“And why would you do that, Ryan?” Nathaniel said with furrowed eyebrows.

“I know you said for me to keep my distance from Christopher, but…like I said, it’s very complicated… He told me that he was just doing it to protect me, from his father…and he said something about my mom, in a way that sounded like his father was involved with my mom’s death. I’m so confused, Dad. I need answers too.”

Ryan saw his father looking down and he knew that his father had something to say. That only became certain when his father stood up and walked to the door, closing it shut before returning to his seat. Whatever his father was going to say was not meant for other people to hear and that really troubled Ryan.

“Where to begin… Well, I first want to come clean about something I said to you three months ago… I didn’t tell you the complete truth about why your mother decided to leave me while she was still pregnant with you, or the relationship I had with her.”

“Yeah, you told me she did that because she didn’t want me to be recruited into the Champions…but the Champions didn’t even exist when she was pregnant with me, were they?” Ryan stated.

“You’re right, Ryan… The reason your mother kept you away from me was because of HELA.”

“What’s that? Another organization like HERO?” Ryan asked with confusion.

Nathaniel shook his head. “It’s actually a secret independent agency of the United States government, standing for Humanity’s Eternal Life Administration, abbreviated as HELA. It was established during the year 2012 and was responsible for programs meant to study the possibility of eternal life, akin to NASA’s partial motivation of discovering extraterrestrial life beyond Earth. After my retirement from the Army, I was voluntarily selected as one of several candidates for a program meant to discover the concept of the soul in the human body.”

Scratching his head, Ryan asked, “Why would an American agency want to discover eternal life?”

“I don’t know the answer to that question. Then again, why do we want to discover life outside of our planet?” Nathaniel inquired as he crossed his legs. “And this was way before the discovery of the gold in the Philippines, so the concept of eternal life seemed very far from reality, let alone discovering the possibility of life after death which was another goal of HELA. However, these concepts intrigued me greatly, hence my participation in the program.”

“And how does this relate back to my mother?”

Looking away from Ryan, Nathaniel said, “Your mother was actually one of the lead scientists of HELA. She devoted a decade of her life into research on the concept of immortality, even after many of her colleagues dismissed her work as supposed lunacy.”

“My mom…a scientist?’ Ryan said, not believing what he was hearing.

“Your mother was a very…unorthodox woman of science. Her methods of proving the possibility of becoming immortal were, like I said, dismissed as delusional, at worst dangerous. However, the establishment of HELA proved her colleagues were wrong about the credibility of her theories, and when the agency elected her to become the lead scientist, she made it her life’s goal to discover what she believed was reality. And the agency was how we met… I understand that is all hard to believe, but I can show you all the documentation from the agency since you of all people should know the truth about this.”

“Yeah, it is hard to believe, I mean…if my mom was an actual scientist, why did she work at three minimum wage jobs?” Ryan asked.

Sighing, Nathaniel said, “It was because of the incident from one of the programs that I volunteered in. After that incident, your mother lost all credibility and any opportunities she could have had as a scientist evaporated…and when she discovered that she was pregnant with you, all she wanted was to protect you from further experimentation.”

“Can you tell me exactly what happened?” Ryan asked.

Looking above to the ceiling, Nathaniel said, “It was an explosion…a massive one. The program was meant to discover whether radiant energy was a component to immortality, however something within the facility malfunctioned and everyone was ordered to evacuate.

“Unfortunately, not everyone was able to escape the blast that destroyed the entire facility. And anyone who did manage to escape suffered from various degrees of radiation poisoning. A few of us did manage to fully recover, however, and those people included me…and your mother who was pregnant with you during the time of the disaster.”

Ryan groaned as he held his head with both hands, feeling a headache coming. “I’m going to need those documents.”

“Of course. I’ll send you the documentations of everything that occurred with the program through your private server,” Nathaniel assured.

“Thanks… So, can you tell me again why my mom escaped with me still in her womb?”

Nathaniel nodded. “After that disaster, HELA completely turned its back against your mother, and when the agency discovered that she was pregnant… I knew I had to do something since part of the agency’s goal was to create some sort of super soldier, and that was the last thing your mother wanted for you. So, I helped by assisting her escape from the agency, as well as erase all knowledge of her existence. Being a highly-decorated officer before retirement had its benefits. I wanted to help her further, but she feared that the agency would discover her, and you if she continued to communicate with me…

“So, that’s what happened. Your mother, with all her credentials erased from existence, had to work from the bottom to support you and herself. And she very well couldn’t go to her family for help since they disowned her after she rescinded her faith as a Christian…ironic when you consider what she became devoted to, but your mother was not like anyone I ever knew before…and that’s why I fell in love with her.”

Looking at his father, Ryan said, “You were in love with my mom?”

“Of course, I was. I know that I said that your mother and I were just acquaintances months ago, but that was a lie. I didn’t know how you’d react to the truth, so I held it back. But that was wrong and I’m sorry… She was a very special person, so devoted to what she believed in even when everyone else didn’t support her or her cause… And Rory really liked her too, even considered her his second mother.”

“And what about your wife? The woman who gave birth to Rory?” Ryan asked, wanting to know more about the other woman.

“I loved her too…but not in the way I did with Barbara. Rory’s mother, Jessica, came from a wealthy family and one thing led to another and we were eventually married. It was more of an arranged marriage than anything else, but I remained faithful to her. And when she died after giving birth to Rory, I started to become obsessed with the idea of living forever and even beyond the limits of our physical bodies, hence my involvement with HELA.”

“I see,” Ryan said as he scratched his chin.

“And there’s a moral to this story,” Nathaniel said as he leaned forward. “One of the other scientists who was involved with the program that caused the explosion…was Christian Shepherd.”

“Christopher’s father?” Ryan muttered.

Nathaniel nodded. “There might a connection to what happened with HELA to the current situation humanity is facing now with the Colossus and node technology. Or maybe not. But my worst fear is that Christian Shepherd was somehow connected to the explosion of the facility. However, there’s no evidence to prove that point, but there’s no doubt that the man had ulterior motives while working with HELA, which transferred to his creation of Synergy a few years after the disaster.”

“So, he knew my mom then?” Ryan inferred, feeling a sickness develop inside his stomach.

“He did…and he was the person who helped finalize HELA’s decision to turn its back against her, causing the domino effect that ended her career as a scientist to living in that apartment of yours in New York City, barely making it by as she tried to support you. He’s a very manipulative and malicious man, and I can see that transferring to his son who has let all that fame get into his head. That’s not what I want for you, Ryan. Getting involved with Christopher in any way, and you’ll be inevitably involved with his father too.”

Ryan grimaced, feeling overwhelmed by all the new information that he was being told as he lied his head back down on the pillow. “Is there…Is there a possibility that he had something to do with my mom’s suicide?”

“If he did, your mother didn’t mention it when she left her message on my phone, and I don’t understand why she wouldn’t.”

“Oh, okay… It’s just sometimes I think…if she hadn’t seen my acceptance letter, or if I told her instead…”

“Your mother’s death was not your fault,” Nathaniel asserted.

“How do you know that?”

Looking down, Nathaniel said, “Because I know the feeling. After Rory’s death, I wondered what I could’ve done differently, what I could’ve changed that would’ve prevented Rory from dying from the hands that Colossus… I eventually understood that I can’t change the past, nor could a control what others do with their lives…and at least your mother knew that you loved her before she passed. Rory, on the other hand…”

“What happened between you and Rory?” Ryan asked, looking at the saddened expression on his father’s face.

“We…We weren’t in good terms during the time before he was deployed to Chicago…and I’ll leave it there. I’ve already told you so much and I don’t want to overwhelm you. Just continue to rest and I’ll talk to you tomorrow during the usual time. Okay?”

Ryan nodded. “Okay.”

“And, Ryan…keep your distance from Christopher Shepherd. His father is an evil man and don’t expect anything different from his only child. All right?”

Ryan nodded again.

Nathaniel patted Ryan on the shoulder and after saying goodbye, he walked out of the room, leaving Ryan by himself and feeling somehow empty. Everything that he was just told was also giving him a headache as he tried to process it all, trying to connect the dots of his mother’s past to the time she mothered him. Things like his mother’s inability to get a job other than minimum wage and the disownment of her family were starting to make sense from his father’s explanations on what happened.

As Ryan continued to think, he felt his eyelids begin to become heavy and he decided to just sleep, so he had more energy to think about everything he was just told in the morning. And as his eyes finally closed with flashbacks of his mother, he somehow managed to think about Christopher again before sinking into the depths of sleep.

***

One week later…

To say that Ryan was distracted was a major understatement. The week since he heard the revelation about his mother’s past life went by in a haze since his main focus was analyzing the pages and pages of documents that were sent to him by his father through a private server in his computer. It was all he was concerned about. He even thought about skipping his training sessions and classes, so he would have the whole time to read everything without interruption. However, he knew that his superiors would be pissed that their excelling cadet missed even one day, so he forced himself to train and when the evening came, his eyes were glued to the screen of his computer during half the night as he learned more and more about his mother’s past in HELA. He barely got enough sleep as a result, which only made training harder, but he endured and made sure he was on par with the rest of the cadets before the evening ended and he was back to reading the documents in his room.

Through his research, Ryan saw numerous pictures of the scientists and program participants, including his father who was young and clean-shaven at that time. There were also pictures of his mother, but for some reason her face had been blacked out and the only way he could tell that the faceless person was his mother was the heart-shaped locket that was clearly visible around her neck. In addition, any information about his mother, like her name, was blacked out as well. Was it an attempt to erase all knowledge about who caused the disaster, so that people would not accidentally discover the truth or something like that? Ryan did not know.

Though the theories developed by Ryan’s mother were mostly intact, and they were intriguing to say the least. One of her theories suggested that the manipulation of light can be used to mutate a person’s genetic structure in a way that would allow all the cells in the person’s body to regenerate to its original state before its repair functions gradually became more damaged, causing the aging process.

And the only way that this could be possible was through the soul that could absorb light to create certain vitamins to emitting light all around the body, otherwise known as an aura. So, discovering a way to increase the power of the soul would lead to the soul having the ability to manipulate light at a fundamental level and thus leading to eternal life.

Another theory involved life after death that branched from the other theory about eternal life. It stated that with enough power, the soul would not need a physical body to continue existing and her theory about obtaining godhood status was also very interesting. The ability of a powerful soul to create life just like the gods and goddesses of various mythologies and religions made Ryan wonder about how life really began, whether it was by coincidence or through a divine being or beings really made him think deeply about the subject throughout the week.

There was so much information to read and examine, and the one thing that surprised Ryan and what his father did not mention specifically was the object that was being studied, the thing that led to the program that his father and mother were part of. It was the object that was sought after by Spanish explorers during the fifteenth century. It was what the famous Ponce de León was supposedly seeking. It was the Fountain of Youth.

Ryan had to reread the paragraph a few times to fully realize that HELA was actually studying the fountain that granted eternal youth, the remnants of it that is. Its location was in Florida as well and through their research, it was discovered that the Fountain of Youth was indeed water, the fountain being purely metaphorical, but it also emitted radiant energy similar to emissions from radioactive materials. The source of this was unknown, but a recent document stated that it may be connected to the mysterious figure known as El Dorado who was known by Spanish conquistadors for throwing gold and jewels into a lake to appease a certain god.

Ryan was astounded from what he was reading, a literal Fountain of Youth that granted, to an unknown extent, eternal life was an amazing discovery. With more reading, he discovered the gold and jewels were actually just one incarnation, an incarnation that was connected back to the gold created by Maria that was now used to create the jewel-like nodes implanted in every Champion that allowed them to, of course, fight the Colossus.

And Juan, the Spanish explorer who was said to have sought after the Fountain of Youth, was the same Juan who Maria supposedly fell in love with according to Filipino legend. He was a Spanish settler in the Philippines during the Spanish colonization of the country that started during the fifteenth century, same period as Juan the explorer and was one of three suitors who Maria loved more than anyone else.

In addition, researchers discovered that the farmer who Maria was in love with was connected to the jewel she created, the jewel that represented the virtue of benevolence in Japan, which the name Juan also stood for in the Spanish language. The names of the soldier and scholar who were the two other suitors who tried to win Maria’s heart also stood for valor and wisdom, the two virtues of the sword and mirror of Japan’s Imperial Regalia.

So, Juan Ponce de León was apparently the embodiment of the jewel who traveled to the New World, and somehow merged the jewel into a body of water, transforming it so it could grant eternal life…and records stated that the Spanish explorer went to the land now called Florida to establish a farming colony. And it was believed that the actions of Juan were then practiced by the indigenous tribes of the New World, all the way to South America where the El Dorado legend originated.

Why Juan decided to settle into the New World, and specifically into the Sunshine State was still unknown, but the connections the researchers of HELA have made were very undoubtable. The man did not find the Fountain of Youth, but was the creator and he could not have done this feat without Maria herself.

Ryan could not deny that Maria was an astounding figure, her influence spreading from Japan—creating the three sacred treasures—and Vietnam—using the treasures to liberate the country from Chinese rule—to the New World where her creation most likely helped propagate life at the other side of the world from her origins in the Philippines.

From all the research that Ryan read, he would not dismiss someone if they said to him that Jesus Christ somehow received his power to perform miracles because of Maria as well.

Anyways, the Fountain of Youth was the main study of the program that was led by Ryan’s mother that eventually led to numerous experiments. The goal was to replicate the water’s rejuvenating capabilities, but like what his father said, the documents stated that the facility suddenly began malfunctioning and soon caused a blast that killed many people and poisoned the others. However, a few people managed to recover from the disaster: his father and mother…and Christian Shepherd.

Ryan tried to find any information on Christian Shepherd like his involvement with HELA, but all the documents stated that he was just an assistant for Ryan’s mother and was the person who dealt the final blow to his mother’s career as a credible scientist.

Ryan looked at images of the facility, before and after the blast, when he suddenly heard someone knock on his door. He wondered who the person was since it was close to midnight, but as he walked to the door, he stopped when he saw a small, white envelope that was slipped through the bottom space of the door. Picking it up, he opened the unseal envelope and his eyes widened from what he saw inside.

Ryan immediately opened the door and looked out into the hallway, but no one was to be seen. He then closed the door again and leaning his back against it before pulling out his mother’s locket from the paper envelope.

Not believing it was the same locket, Ryan checked to see if the surname, Lockhart, has etched on the front side, and it was. The shape and length of the chain was also the same, and when he opened the clasp of the locket that was fully secured by the hinge, he could not believe what he was seeing. The glass was replaced and was scratch-free, but that was not what Ryan was looking at. It was the picture of his mother, smiling brightly in the casement of the locket.

Slowly sliding his back against the door and sitting down, Ryan examined the small picture of his mother and wondered where it came from. So, out of curiosity, he gently opened the frame and saw that the picture was folded in half. Pulling the small picture out carefully, he then placed it on the palm of his hand and slowly opened the picture to reveal the image of both him as a newborn infant and his mother, a vertical crease right at the center where it was folded.

Ryan’s mother looked so youth in the photo, no signs of stress or sleepiness anywhere on her face. She was beautiful. And now he had a picture of his mother that was by his heart the entire time and he believed that this was a sign of some sort, a sign from his mother who he loved beyond anyone else was still with him in some way.

Ryan placed the photo back inside his locket, his mother’s image now facing the front and closed the locket before standing back up. He wanted to think that maybe Josephine was the person who gave him back his locket that was now repaired, or maybe his father…but why slip it under his door instead of giving it to him in person?

As Ryan rotated the locket in his fingers, he had to wonder if it was Christopher who gave it back to him. However, if he was going to be completely honest, he really hoped that Christopher was not involved in getting his locket back to him in its repaired state. Ryan already hated the bastard for breaking it, why would he want to know that the guy actually had a heart that was locked away from everyone else. And to give it back to him in a way that made it even more valuable than ever before? And because of that, regret for what he did to Christopher was growing inside him and he hated that too.

Ryan needed to talk to Christopher, even though he was nowhere to be seen ever since their last encounter at the nightclub last week. He was apparently taking a two-week vacation, the reasons why being obvious.

However, Ryan was not going to let that stop him, and he soon put his computer in sleep mode before exiting his room. He was going to have a real talk with Christopher and no amount of avoidance or punches to the gut was going to stop Ryan. He just hoped the latter would not happen again.

***

After a few attempts, Ryan managed to enter the right code on the keypad in Christopher’s personal elevator that led to his penthouse. He remembered how Delilah entered the five-digit code and with luck managed to activate the elevator, and as it went up to the top floor, he wondered what he was going to say to Christopher, if he even wanted to talk to Ryan after accessing his penthouse without his permission. But Ryan figured that this was the only way to talk to him and Ryan was not going to cower away now.

The elevator soon reached the top floor and when the doors slid open, Ryan cautiously stepped out and into the hallway of the penthouse’s entrance. Walking slowly, he looked at both walls that had generic images of natural landmarks and manmade structures in picture frames. They looked like the photos that came with new picture frames and were dull, matching the bland white walls. No pictures of any family, but Ryan wondered if Christopher even had any family beyond his father, and if that was true, he completely understood why there were stock photos on the walls instead.

Ryan eventually stood at the front of the large living room area, and looking around he saw that it was empty of any people. The area looked completely different with the lights on and everything looked in order, the total opposite of what it looked like more than a week ago.

The oversized, television was on though and was displaying a children’s cartoon show that Ryan was not familiar with. He then walked to the coffee table and was surprised to see a board game, and not one of those cheap family board games either. There were miniatures placed all over the large board and it looked like a complex, fantasy game of some sort. And there were other board games stacked on the three-seater couch as well. Ryan would have never expected Christopher Shepherd to be a board game nerd, but he did not think that was bad at all.

Looking closely, Ryan saw the miniatures were most likely hand-painted due to the immense amount of detail on them that no factory could ever mass produce. He knew this because of his collectible figures that always managed to have a flaw on them that he had to correct himself. These, however, looked flawless and were obviously painted by a professional.

“What the hell are you doing here?”

Ryan quickly turned around to see a very sweaty and shirtless Christopher standing a few feet from him with an angry expression on his face.

“Oh! Hey, Christopher,” Ryan said, taking step back.

“I didn’t ask for fucking greeting. I asked what the hell you’re doing at my penthouse,” Christopher said, taking a step forward.

“Look, Christopher. I don’t want to fight,” Ryan said, deciding to stay where he was.

“Well, what do you want me to do with an intruder then?” Christopher asked, dropping the towel he was holding onto the wooden floor.

“Just stop, Chris! I just want to talk! Can we at least do that?” Ryan asserted.

Christopher halted his movement, looking somewhat surprised by Ryan’s assertiveness.

Crossing his arms, Christopher then said, “Fine, but make it quick.”

Ryan held his locket in his hand and looked directly at Christopher’s eyes as he said, “I…I just want to say thank you for giving my locket back to me, and fixing it as well.”

“Why would you think I had anything to do with you getting your locket back?” Christopher asked with a frown.

“Oh, come on. Who else would it be?” Ryan said with his arms crossed as well.

A moment passed in silence with both just looking at each other in the eyes, and then Christopher sighed and dropped his arms to his sides.

“Well…you got me. I’m sorry.”

“What are you apologizing to me for? You fixed my locket and—”

“Yeah, a locket that I broke that in the first place, causing you to go into rage mode and attack me at your fullest power,” Christopher specified.

“Yeah…I’m sorry about that.”

“Don’t apologize, Ryan. I deserved it. I was giving you mixed signals since my last delusional episode and you deserve so much more than the crap I’m giving you right now.”

“Still, though. I bloodied your face pretty badly.”

“Don’t worry about it. Most the blood came from your fists anyways,” Christopher clarified.

Ryan raised an eyebrow. “And let me guess. I didn’t actually knock you out with my last punch either.”

Christopher lightly snickered. “Guilty…your punches did fracture my right cheekbone if that makes you feel any better.”

Ryan huffed. “I don’t care about competition, Christopher. And I don’t care about not being as powerful as you are.”

“That’s good, because with great power comes great responsibility…and a lot of horrible side effects,” Christopher added, combing his hair back with his fingers.

Another moment of silence grew between the two of them and Ryan was about to say goodbye when he heard someone coming through the hallway entrance. He turned to see Delilah who was wearing pajamas with cartoon monkeys printed on the fabric.

“Well, I’m ready to play that new board game, Chris. Do you want to—?” Delilah turned to see Ryan and squealed in response, using her arms to cover the big monkey in the middle of her pajama shirt. “What the hell are you doing here, Johnson?”

Taking a step back, Ryan said, “Oh, sorry, I—”

“Oh, I guess you never saw Delilah in her nightie before, huh?” Christopher said, chuckling.

“Not funny!” Delilah yelled. “You two weren’t going for round two, were you?”

Christopher shook his head. “Of course, not. Ryan just want to talk is all. And Ryan, Delilah just came here for our game night.”

“Oh, that sounds fun,” Ryan said, looking back at the board game on the coffee table.

“Really? Do you want to play with Chris instead?” Delilah suggested, taking a step back.

“Delilah, you promised,” Christopher said with narrow eyes.

“Yeah, I know, Chris. But you know I didn’t get much sleep for the past few days because of the upcoming training exam. I would like to use the weekend to catch up on my sleep instead. So, I’m sorry…but I’m sure Ryan would love to play your new board game with you.”

Ryan looked back and forth at Delilah and Christopher who both seemed to be communicating through their eye movements and he thought he should intervene.

“Look, um…I wouldn’t mind playing at least one game with you, Chris,” Ryan said.

“See! Problem solved,” Delilah said before yawning.

Chris grumbled. “All right, fine. Go ahead and get your beauty sleep, Delilah. And Ryan?”

Looking at Chris, Ryan said, “Yeah?”

“Get ready to get your ass beat,” Christopher said, oddly serious before picking his towel up from the floor. “Just let me take a quick shower first.”

“Okay,” Ryan said, rubbing the back of his neck and wondering what that statement really entailed.

“Have fun, boys,” Delilah said, giving Ryan a smile before walking away.

Christopher left as well to take that shower and Ryan decided sit down by the coffee table. He saw the guidebook on the coach and thought he should at least know the basic rules of the board game since now he was going to battle with Chris again. However, this time Chris was not going to be let go so easily.