Vagabonding.1 [COMPLETE]

23. Samaritans

My palms were getting sweaty as I paced back towards the desk when I noticed Surge looking very much upset. Something went seriously wrong.

"Did you get Kid Jones?" I asked.

"Excuse me?" Surge asked in return in a very aggressive manner as he heatedly stomped towards me as he began to extend his arm out.

"It's me!" I said quickly, "Don't hurt me! I'm Nolan, remember?"

"You know, this messes with my head more than you can actually realize," Surge said as he grunted, "Kid Jones is gone."

"What? How?"

"She's gone," Surge continued to say, "She's probably down at the heart of the city by now, they must have rescheduled for her hanging to happen much sooner."

"...Now what?" I asked as I gripped my palms together tightly as I waited to hear his solution. This could go bad either way and there was no happy answer, we were caught in the middle of a forked road.

"Rotem gave his orders," Surge repeated firmly, "We were given an hour and we need to get back to the car, we're running out of time."

"But what about Kid Jones?" I asked.

"What about her?" Surge stated harshly, "People die all the time, and it's not like she's all that innocent in the first place..."

"Is she even more innocent than us?" I stressed. "Look at me, everyone hates me but they all still help once in a while. And you, you steal everything in sight! ... Can't we do something?"

Surge looked at me before glancing at the wall behind me where the clock stood high above my head. He let out a rough exhale.

"Orders are orders..." Surge began to say.

"I'll be sure to get that on your tombstone," I replied.

"Well, while you're debating on my design, I'll be out of your way and going back to the car," Surge replied, "We leave in twenty-eight minutes, that'll give us more than enough time to spare, just in case we need it."

As he left me frozen and shattered from his response, I decided to be a coward like him and get out. I quickly stripped my uniformed shirt and gunned it straight to the entrance when I noticed that the once filled streets were completely bare and nude again from citizens, the sidewalks covered in cracks that were once naked to the eye because of constant movement.

I bolted down the steps and looked around in shock as Surge stopped on the sidewalk ahead. A faint sound of a growing commotion came from the other side of us, and it was growing. The sky was crowded with dark brewing clouds, lightning followed shortly by the feeling of the ground quaking underneath me. The storm was brewing a little too close for comfort right above our heads.

"Why'd you stop?" I asked as I approached him.

The bustling noise from a crowd of people grew and I realized that there was a gathering far from the naked eye and buried behind buildings at least a few blocks away. Surge turned his head slightly to look at me before focusing on the complete opposite path of where we needed to head out.

"She's not out by the car and she sure wasn't in her cell," Surge replied, letting out a grunt of frustration seep past his calm demeanor before looking over at me. "What would you do?"

"...A part of me says to leave," I said before looking down the path. The crowd grew louder still as it heavily weighed its noise on my consciousness. It made sense, it all seemed to click as the crowd grew louder. "But, if there's going to be a hanging, I think we should at least do something to see if we can put a stop to the next one."

"Might as well talk while we're going to the lynching," Surge said as he quickly turned toward the noise and began to sprint.

As I quickly caught up to him, we kept up a speedy trot towards the noise of the crowd grew louder and louder still. Surge and I eventually caught up to the beginning trail of other beings in our path.

"We need another plan," Surge said to me over the sounds of the crowd, "You're already starting to change and it's creeping me out."

"I have extra hair," I said as my hand dug in my pocket, "I can always make sure I can turn into him again."

"No, use it for backup to escape if things go bad," Surge added before marching forward towards the main point of noise of the crowd. "Head towards the crowd, create a diversion when you get near stage. You could even mention Kid Jones' disappearance as an excuse, but feel free to invent something juicer if you can."

"And what about you?" I asked in return. "You're not going to leave me here after I came back for you all those times, are you?"

"Don't worry, people around here tend to avoid fights," Surge said, "Still, be careful. You don't get caught, and please use your magic if you know it already."

"I wish I could," I shrugged before looking at the stage, I tried to get myself into the moment and toughened up. "Okay, and what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to knock down that stage," Surge said as he cracked his knuckles and looked around, "You're just buying me time, but it'd be equally as awesome if you'd help. You'll go on stage and get the person from the noose and gun it to the exit."

"Are you sure you don't need me to come with you?" I asked with a hopeful voice as I secretly hoped I wouldn't be in charge of something so major on my own.

"I'll be fine, just worry about yourself for once," Surge added with a reassuring shoulder pat. "Just be careful out there and do anything you can to kill their time and prevent the hanging. Remember, timing is everything!"

I nodded.

Taking my first few steps into the crowd, I noticed that the once calm demeanor faded and was replaced with anger and yells of threats. They wanted vengeance or some other thing, but one thing was very evident from all this and that was the fact that they were all here for a show.