Memory Lane

24. A serious siege

24. A serious siege

"shack, shack, shack, SHACK!!!" Fred ran up the blue and purple hills out of town and looked around to find the odd building, eventually finding it to his north. He ran up, leading the mob to him and Anima's unsuspecting shack.

"Fred, what's going on?" Anima's eyes opened wide as Fred shut the front door behind him and began to barricade it with a nearby cabinet.

"what are you doing?" Silhouette told Fred.

"what did you do?!" Anima gritted.

"something bad happened, and now here we are" Fred explained before rocks and golden bars began to break through the windows. The angry mob clustered around the house, jeering, and wielding hard walking canes for when they finally broke into the residence.

"there is a reason why I never really head into town" Anima regrouped with the others away from the flying objects to the veranda, where the mob formed a ring around the house.

"this is an illegal settlement. Come out now and we will let you escape with your lives" a person in a long bowing hat at the front of the mob shouted to those inside.

"piss off!!!" Anima shouted from the veranda, then shot an energy ball as a warning to the ground between the house and the mob. In the midst of the angered citizens, one stood out completely unnoticed by his peers. His name was Noel. He was a short thin being with black jeans, bald head, black eyes, and a white shirt. He had been in scouting the realm for a particular reason, a reason that was now right in front of him. Besides from this reason, Noel thought that the rest of life was a pointless cycle of pain and suffering, not caring who would succeed as long as he could be left alone in peace.

"everyone out of the way...hello?!..." Noel shouted out to the crowd, but they ignored him consistently. Finally, he pulled out a silver revolver and shot it several times into the air, dispersing the mob that retreated back to the city in a hurry and leaving him alone with the besieged.

"get down!!" Anima could see the short man point the gun through the veranda and pulled Fred down before the bullets began to fly in. for a minute, Noel was out of sight before Fred heard the sound of a foot being used to kick the door down enough for Noel's hand pushed over the cabinet and swinged his way inside the house.

"well, well. Good to finally see you" Noel stood up in front of the three travellers on the fallen cabinet, speaking with a sulking tone of voice.

"who are you?" Silhouette asked, looking down from the floor.

"let's just say, Superego brings his regards" Noel sulked some more.

"of course, he does" Anima stated.

"I presume this is the part where we fight" Fred formed two energy balls in his hands and addressed Noel.

"getting into the rhythm of things I see" Noel cocked his revolver and began shooting again. He managed to slip through and kick over Fred, dodging incoming energy blasts from Anima which tore massive holes in the flooring of her house.

"I wasn't expecting it to be this easy" Noel picked up Fred and swung him around into the nearest wall. Despite his small height, Noel was very strong compared to everyone else

"don't get your hopes up!" Fred shot an energy ball at Noel, throwing him into the kitchen, where a line of brass oil lanterns were burning brightly.

"whoops!" Noel saw an opportunity and smashed all the lanterns on the floor, starting a large fire that soon engulfed most of the house to feed on the wood.

"NO!!" Anima jumped out of the flames with Silhouette and watched the fire rage. Fred burst out of the front door before it collapsed, holding onto Noel. The grip prevented Noel from using his arms or his gun to aim. When Anima saw the intruder, she sent energy through his chest just as Fred let go. Briefly looking down, Noel fell to the ground in front of the burning shack.

"we said there would be more" Silhouette wafted over the floor, warped by the shadow of the fire.

"at least it was just one this time" Anima lifted up Noel's body and threw it into the flaming house.

"one thing still bothers me. How could you live next to people who are so arrogant and vile?" Feed looked back on the False Vision City.

"it is called being incognito" Anima replied.

"I saw them kill an innocent man and treat it like nothing happened. People can't live like that" Fred continued.

"it's not like you could do anything about it" Silhouette moped.

"I've got an idea" Fred clicked his heels, seeing sparks fly out of his soles. He then jumped into the air, stamping down, and flying for a second before landing in a roll. Anima and Silhouette had seen energy beam out of Fred's feet when he jumped up, then both spotted a devious look in his eyes as he watched the color comets surge across the sky. The second time, he stamped as hard as he could on the ground and went soaring through the air without having to touch down, discovering the power of flight in the mindscape.

"Fred, what are you up to now?" Anima shouted up, but Fred was too high to hear her. Fred went even higher, eventually to the altitude of the falling color comets that were moving along his flight path. He took a moment to anticipate the next in coming comet that was heading straight towards him and jettisoned it down to the city with a large beam of mental energy. In the mindscape, anything was possible. The comet went in a completely different direction and crashed down in a loud boom in the center of the city. Luckily the comets were only no bigger than a house, ensuring the entire city would not be destroyed.

"dear god!!" Anima saw the light of the impact obscured behind tall skyscrapers in the city. Fred landed back down near the crater of the color comet, to find cars overturned and buildings collapsing around him. Several survivors saw Fred descend from his flight and deduced how the impact was a very unnatural event instead of the usual comet showers that were harmless. It was not like a color comet to deviate from its course unless someone had done something to it.

"why did you do this?" a soiled survivor walked out to Fred and demanded an explanation. He, like the others around him, was shaken by the event.

"as if what you did to your own people was any better" Fred looked down into the blackened crater and addressed the man.

"you are a terrorist!!" the survivor shouted.

"consider it a lesson" Fred talked back.

"but why?" the survivor continued.

"because you need to know that nothing is perfect. Now, you have the chance to start over. To make a better world. who cares if something isn't perfect?. That's what makes it unique and special" Fred answered the man as more angry citizens gathered. To avoid making any more of a scene, Fred flew back out of the town and made a bumpy landing near to the soot covered remains of Anima's shack. He saw Silhouette and Anima staring at him with gaped mouths, shocked by his actions.

"why the long faces?" Fred smiled at the others and sat down near them.