Powerhouse: Legend of the Archwave

Chapter 4 (Act I): Duncan's Last Wish

We last read Chapter 3, in which a random terrorist from the Lumen Field stadium awakens after the attack on the venue and reports the attack's "success" to his superior, who is revealed to be named Warren Schaefer. It's then revealed that the entire attack on the Lumen Field stadium was an elaborate "trap"—with numerous innocent civilians caught in the crossfire—to lure the mysterious female archer Isabela Acosta a.k.a. Archwave into the open so they could get a good look at her; after the random terrorist reports that he had managed to do so—while also stating that Isabela bears some connection to some other targets that Schaefer's group is already tracking—Schaefer commends the random terrorist on his success before succinctly telling him to report back to Seattle's FBI field office, at which point he manages to escape the premises undetected.

Meanwhile, James Markovsky a.k.a. Powerhouse runs into Isabela Acosta a.k.a. Archwave again at his own house after returning there following a long day, with the mysterious female archer herself casually sitting against the wall next to James's front door. After trading a few pleasantries between each other—with them even formally introducing themselves—Isabela, claiming that she sensed that destiny had a hand in uniting her and James at Lumen Field, asks him to take her under his wing and serve as her "protector", claiming that she comes from a bad home and that James's "countrymen" wouldn't take too kindly to her. Unfortunately for her, James refuses for the time being, stating that he already has too much to worry about. Isabela tries to pique his interest by alluding to another "case" that's currently going on—a case that James likely hasn't heard of yet—but James still turns her down and enters his house to meet his mother, Susan Markovsky, closing the door in Isabela's face in the process.

Inside, Susan reveals that she heard about the attack on the Lumen Field stadium on the news, and expresses her great relief that her son is okay. James again asserts that he can take care of himself now—while also noting Isabela's absence after Susan turns the house's security cameras on—before grabbing a bottle of water and heading upstairs, promising to send his mother his upcoming schedule in the future with regard to his tenure at the security firm Lockdown, Inc. The chapter ended with him heading to his bedroom, ready to get some much-needed rest.

This time, James dreams of a friend who has recently passed on, and begins to have second thoughts about his abandonment of Isabela.....

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James Markovsky a.k.a. Powerhouse changed himself into suitable pajamas—a pair of black slippers, a white design-less T-shirt, and woolly gray pants—before checking his iPhone one last time for any text messages or alert notifications. After seeing that there was none, he exhaled, set his device against a special wireless charging device on his bed's nightstand—so it could refill its battery overnight—then hopped into the bed itself, pulled up the covers, turned on his left side, and drifted off to sleep.

But the dream he was set to have.....would be one unlike any other.

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-Duncan's Apartment, Dream World-

When James Markovsky a.k.a. Powerhouse jolted up out of bed, he realized that he was no longer at his own house. Rather, he appeared to be in a different bed.....which was set up in the guest room of an apartment belonging to his late friend and fellow Paragon Dr. Duncan Drevis, as well as the doctor's genetically-modified lizard sidekick The Crawler, who was also deceased.

He whirled his head to the left, where his nightstand sat back at his own house. Upon realizing that it wasn't there anymore, he threw off the covers, hopped off the bed on the left side, rose to a standing position, and stretched while yawning at the same time. Then, he took a little more time to verify his surroundings.