BATTLE SCARS: (Indigo Symbols Book II)

Chapter Twenty-Four: Territory

HUNTOR:
    After our little altercation, Reina and I held a barrier between us, a line neither of us dared to cross. Part of me wanted to, wanted to tease Sarah into sharing a bed with me, to really piss Reina off. but that wasn't my way, and that, that would effect her too. So I kept to myself, kept it between me and Reina, but was ok with Sarah. I dragged myself out the hotel room to go exploring with Sarah, keeping the pretense we were brother and sister, adopted siblings. We were lounging by the pool side out behind the hotel when it happened. We heard the sound of police cars, cars and gunfire. sarah's body went completely still, and I shot to my feet. "Huntor." She said. There was another gun shot. I held up my hand, trying to use my echo location, trying to see. Once I did, I turned to Sarah, "Go." She bolted for the doors and other people joined her. I ran in the other direction, through the bushes and ducked down. I pulled my pendant out of my shorts, usually I kept them in my pockets now, and was glad I did. I hooked the chain around my neck and the band over my head. I concentrated and felt the rush of power, the scent of Indigoism in my nose and on my tongue. I grabbed the pendant and for the first time in a long while, I made a portal right there under me. I dropped through and landed right on a car. I bounced smoothly off and rolled as a bullet soared for me, no doubt out of reflex. I took stock of my surroundings, or would have if a body didn't, hadn't appeared right next to me. "Strangeness, I don't know you." I stared openmouthed as the stranger, a boy, gotta be the same age as me, just disappeared, one moment he was in front of me, then he was gone. There, in the back of my mind, I thought, "Rogue Armada." Either they caught our trail, or they were attacking because they could.
    There was a voice now, speaking through a megaphone, "surrender to Rogue Armada." Hell, as if to confirm what I thought. "We lay claim to this territory. Surrender or we destroy." Answering them, police shot off six bullets. There was the sound of an explosion and I got to my feet. I used my telekinesis to shift the car over and said, "No, we won't surrender." I knew the cops' faces were priceless as they stared at me. Then, the boy appeared, "Not apart of the plan you ass, though nice entrance, I like that." The police nearest shot at him and he vanished. "No." I thought, not vanished, but ran, fast, super speed. I jerked my forearms, whipping out the blades hidden within. "If the Rogue Armada wanna tangle with the territory, then they'll have to go through the Indigo." Silence reigned after my words. Then the boy appeared next to me, "What you talkin bout, we Indigo too." "Oh are you? Indigo don't claim territory just for conquest." "We do if we deserve it." Another one, female, shouted. "We grew up with nothing, we all had family, friends, everything taken from us." "Exactly." The boy nodded his head. "We all don't, didn't deserve what we got, now we just returning the favor. Giving them a taste of what we had." He put his hand on my shoulder. "You should join us, why work for this asses? What would be the point when they'd stab you in the back?" Full of himself, completely convinced, he kept going.
    "Come on." He said. His hand fell from my shoulders and he gripped my fingers. "Join the right side, join the side that'll give you everythign you want. Everything, money, houses, food, Apple products. Girls." He chuckled. "You a good looking sun of a bitch. Our leader would love to have you around. You both could rule together." I smiled, as if I was going along with the idea. "Perhaps." I said, then I lashed out with the hydro whip I had waiting and threw him back. He soared through the air and flew through a window. "Then again." I said, dusting my hands off, "Perhaps not." Then they screamed. I spun and reached in the belt around my waist, pulled out the staff. I flicked it and it grew to it's seven foot length. Cops shot their guns, but the three that ran for me dodged the bullets with ease. I let off a frontsnap in the gut of one, and swung the staff at another. The third I hit with telekinesis. She spun, as if sensing it, and dove behind a car. I felt the boy behind me before I felt the fist punch me in the spine. I stumbled forward and grunted, "Coward." I lashed out behind me but he was gone. "Coward, punching your enemy in the back." "True." He called. "Coward, but it worked." He was next to me, slapping me across the face, then was gone. Meanwhile, two Indigos, no, two Rogues, were speeding for me, no doubt the real threat while their speedy friend played with me. I lashed out with a vicious double-kick to one's chest and lashed out with the staff. Both went down, but the boy sped over and swept his leg under me as I landed, then was gone.
    I got to my feet and blasted outward with my telekinesis, then said to the cops, "A little help here." They reacted, aiming for the two I just took down and firing at them. The rolled apart and ducked behind cars. The boy appeared, but this time I was expecting him. I lashed out as he came within reach and he fell, sliding across the pavement. "Damn." I know that gotta hurt." I said. He got to his feet and disappeared again. Then was to my left, staring at me, then was gone again. I wanted to swear violently. How was I gonna catch this bastard if he kept running off? Then, as if he read my thoughts, which he might have, he said, "Can't go against the rogues, we da bad asses of the South, we da real deal now. We made da laws, we make da future now." "Indigos shouldn't be using their gifts or powers like this." I said. They all laughed. "Like shit we do and will." A girl said. "We use em cause we can, cause we gifted with dem, now we gonna use dem on you since you ain't one of us." "You'd kill your own kind?" I asked. "We have." The boy appeared on my right. "If they don't join or get in our way, we kill them. Sometimes quick and easy, sometimes brutal and painful. Depends on how we feel and how much they piss us off." "You should never kill your own." I said, taking a step forward. The boy laughed, "What are you, God? He failed us too, shit we da real Gods now, we da real religion now." I took another step forward, so close, I was so close now. "No." I said in a whisper, the battle field too quiet. "No you aren't." Then I lashed out with my own fist, four jabs, two to the face, two to the stomach, then two kicks to the knees. He fell, screaming and the place exploded with noise. Rogues ran out of their hiding places, ten, twelve, fifteen of them. "Damn." I muttered. "Fifteen to one, how very brave." But then, as I prepared to battle again, a very familiar voice said, "Now that, is some true cowardice." Reina was standing on a raised platform, with Sarah by her side.