THE ADVENTURES OF TEKEON

#5. NO HEARTACHE ON THE JOB

Lake Vew Park... it's a pretty decent spot in New Chronos.Perfect for couples to hold hands and enjoy nature by day and for singles to kick rocks along the lakeside at night. Of course, I didn’t start my rock kicking until after a hearty session of skipping stones.

Blitz tried to distract me with math, pointing out how surreal the velocity of my skips was or something.He finally took a hint after a few belied sighs of languish.

Even though I blocked my thoughts from him at that moment, he still figured out why I was blue.

"You shouldn't have rejected her." Blitz said.

A calm breeze rustled the trees and swayed the grasses, but my armor blocked my human skin from feeling it.

I took a deep breath, drew one foot back, and kicked a rock so hard, it flew up into the clouds.

"I was not her type!"

"You clearly were. And you two were in beach clothes, so you can't counter with 'I'm sure she preferred guys with abs' again."

Scanning the ground, I spotted another rock and exhaled."I meant what I said."

"And I'm telling you such a conclusion is 100% illogical.She really wanted to get to know you. Not to mention, the background check I ran indicated you two had a 53% chance at compatibility."

With all my rage, I kicked the rock, and it shattered, its pieces flying around.
"Her type is a guy who thinks about her!There's someone else on my mind, dammit!"

Sympathy emanated from Blitz's voices."It's Gina, isn't it?"

I fell to my knees, head bowed. "Why can't I find someone else like her?"

"Shit!" A deep voice bellowed from behind me.

What I witnessed was a shocker. Two hefty men, dressed in black and wearing bandanas over their mouths, froze like deer caught in headlights.

One of them sighed in frustration, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Bob... we were this close... this close to getting away with vandalism."

The other one gulped. "How should I have known the dramatic screaming was coming from Tekeon? I was just curious!"

My brows furrowed under my armor. I sprang to my feet. Me? Dramatic?

My thought barrier was down, enabling Blitz to read my thoughts right then. "Sure, you aren't dramatic."

The crook on the left dug his hands into his pockets. "Look, Tekeon, we got off on the wrong foot. Can we start over?"

My heartbeat was rising. There's really no handbook for this job.Should I say, 'Save it for the judge'? No, that's for cops. 'Freeze' was also overused.

A smug grin appeared on his face as he unsheathed a gun and pointed it at me. "My name is 'the man who killed Tekeon.'"

I glanced at his colleague, tilting my head as if to say, 'He alright?'

The other guy made a twirling gesture with a finger beside his temple.

Then he grunted at his partner."You're dumb. I thought I was dumb for getting us into this mess, but this... haven't you heard the rumors? Tekeon's invulnerable!"

"Hey, dunderheads!" I cracked my knuckles.Self-belief is great and all, but when your opponent believes in you... it hits different."You picked the wrong day to enter this park."