Hawaii is a wonderful string of islands that has always been viewed as a perfect vacation spot. Except, what happens when the islands' beauty and source of wealth are exploited by criminals? Criminals capable of stealing your free will and getting a...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
As Ryan jumped into the fight with calculated ferocity, the tide of battle turned dramatically. Despite the wild shouting and roaring, his brother's mind was not quite as subdued as it seemed. Carman sprung to his feet instantly once the men on top of him were knocked off. He grabbed Ryan's shoulder firmly and turned to face the group of Helix in a moment of their hesitation. With a twisted grin and burning red eyes gleaming in anticipation, he laughed out loud. It was murderous laugh that his little brother had never heard come from his lips, but he knew had been building under the surface for a long time now.
The brothers dived fist-first into the growing mob of men in black and white. The narcotic rain continued to pour down on their heads, but it had reached its limits on the two. Ryan clung to his mantra of control in order to continue fighting while Carman unleashed all the hatred and anger in his heart. Helix lunged at them still, swinging clubs and batons. Even as one Helix fell, another closed in to pick up the fight.
For a moment, it seemed like the brothers were winning and would overcome the numbers. But the entire assault was more than just a random brawl. The Helix had a mission, and two grunts broke from the melee to charge after the twins. Carman had turned to smash his fist through a baton at the same moment the grunts made it to their table. He caught a glimpse of one leaning over to whisper something over their still shoulders. Confusion was replaced by acceptance in their eyes as the compulsion took over their minds. In the next heartbeat, wordless thoughts of love and protection cleared past the haze of battle and Carman stopped fighting.
A second later a gloved fist crashed into his jaw and nearly knocked him off his feet. The protective older brother inside was again overcome by rage, and he turned his back on his younger siblings to charge down the thug who'd punched him. There was a real chance that most of these men were doing all of this out of desperation or under compulsion, but Carman had stopped caring. He took hold of the man's left wrist in an iron grip and spun it around till he bent forward with hand raised far behind his back. In an instance of unnecessary violence and sheer cruelty, Carman roared and jerked the man's arm far past the point of breaking. As another Helix approached from behind him, he spun with the most vicious roundhouse he'd ever performed while aiming at another human being.
But he'd stopped thinking of himself as a human at that point. The Helix's drug had stripped away the last bits of his conscience that kept him grounded. In his mind, he'd become a tortured animal bent on vengeance. Unlike all of his siblings, Carman was raised on his own in a violent American city. Before his father took the time to train and guide him, he'd been treated as an outcast for his entire life. In the place he grew up, the darkness of his skin was all it took for people to decide he was less than a human being. He'd been labeled and branded every name under the sun, but the title of monster was the one that buried the deepest. Even after becoming a junior detective, he still carried the weight of his appearance inside of his. No matter how calm, gentle, or intelligent he could ever become, and no matter how many people he helped, the world would always see him as a monster. Or at least, that is what he feared so deeply that he could never speak of it.
So with his thoughts undone by the obsidian rain pouring from the sprinklers, that was what he became. A monster who chose to fight on while his younger siblings faced abduction. A decision Carman Krag could never, and would never be allowed to forget.
