The Legacy of Love

Chapter 4

       "All I'm saying, is that he hasn't done anything yet." Six says as I take a sip of my vanilla milkshake that we bought from McDonald's.
       "I'm not saying he's done anything. I just have a bad feeling about him and I don't think we should trust him." I reply. Sam pauses eating his fries to respond.
       "But we've been working with him and he hasn't done anything but help."
       "What exactly did you work on with him?" John asks as he leans against the table.
       "He needed some help protecting some people." Six shrugs.
       "Who?" Ella jumps in on the conversation.
       "Just a couple of LANEs." Sam answers. John drops his jaw slightly in surprise.
       "You helped LANEs?"
       "One time! They were just kids. And this doesn't mean I'm going to go to the academy to help." Six says defensively, crossing her arms. Daniela speaks up for the first time since we got here.
       "Who was it?" John carefully places a hand in front of her.
       "It doesn't matter. I wasn't trying to start an argument or recruit you to join the academy. I was just surprised."
       "Besides, John isn't technically with the Academy. He helps every once in awhile when it's needed, but he mainly stays in the Himalayas." I say, defending John. Six leans back against her seat with her arms crossed and Sam continues eating. We sit in silence for a couple more minutes until Daniela suddenly sits up and gasps, startling the entire group.
       "Good God Daniela! What?!" Six practically yells, surprised by her sudden movement. Daniela jabs her finger towards the window, out onto the streets. We all move our gaze outside but it's hard to tell where she's pointing at.
       "There he is!"
       "Who?" Ella asks in confusion.
       "The man who's been following me around the city!" That gets John's attention and he starts scanning the streets with determination. Finally, after following Daniela's gaze, John spots the man and points him out to us. He looks like a secret agent working with the FBI, tall, black tie with a suit, along with an earpiece. He looks intimidating and I can see why Daniela wanted our help, though she could easily take him down on her own with her legacies.
       "We'll keep an eye out for-" Six and Sam both gasp at the same time, cutting John off.
       "What?!" John asks.
       "That's the man that attacked us when we were with Nem- uh the LANEs!" Six says urgently. Sam jumps up out of his seat, nearly falling backwards.
       "We have to get out of here. Now!" At the panic in his voice and the urgency in Six's, we jump up and rush out of the restaurant. When we get outside, Six skids to a stop and spins around.
       "Act casual." She grabs Sam's hand and starts down the road, away from the man. Ella pushes in between John and I and gives me a look I'm not sure what to make of, then runs up to Daniela's side. That leaves Me and John, walking side by side. It feels like John and I go everywhere together. I don't know if that's because we want to be together or if it's because we are both dealing with the same thing. Grief. I get distracted when I hear footsteps behind me. I slightly turn around and notice the FBI-like guy about twenty-feet behind us. I quietly gasp and John and turns around seeing the man and he inches his hand closer to mine. I can feel the heat radiating off his hands. When the man notices us look at him, he picks up speed and starts beelining towards us. John grabs my hand as he yells,
       "Run!" Everyone else jerks their heads around as we sprint forward. Soon, we're all sprinting down the streets of Queens, using our enhanced speed to outrun a stalker. Daniela yells out from the back of the group,
"Turn left! Turn left! There should be an alleyway!" With John and I at the front of the group, John leads me over to the left, the rest of the group following behind. We skid to a stop at the end of the alleyway, hitting a dead end. Daniela eventually catches up, bending over and leaning against her knees in an attempt to catch her breath.
"You do realize you led us down an alleyway with a dead end right?" John asks, still holding my hand. I notice Six look at our hands and smirk slightly. Daniela sighs and stands up.
"Of course. Like you said John, this is my city. I knew where I was going. The only way to get him off our trail is to kill him." Six smiles devilishly.
"I like how this girl thinks." Daniela glares at her.
"I'm not some newbie Six. I helped win the war. I know what I'm doing." She says it a little more harshly than I anticipated. Ella jumps into the middle of the group.
"You guys! We don't have time to bicker! May I remind you we have a creepy man stalking right towards us where we are stuck in a dead end alleyway!" Everyone turns their attention towards the top of the alley. I feel John's grip get even hotter and I radiate cold from my hand to even the balance. The man reaches into his suit coat and pulls something out of it. I can't see what it is but John, Six, Sam, and Daniela seem to know what it is and all instinctively step back. John's hand gets so hot that my cold doesn't do anything and I have to loosen my hand from his grip. I shake my hand to cool it off though it don't need to. He looks over and mouths,
       "Sorry." I motion it away and turn my attention back to the man who is just a couple yards away now. All of a sudden, the man holds up a gun and aims it at Ella. She screams out of fear and as soon as he gets off a shot, I shoot an icicle from my hand to stop the bullet. The bullet hits the ice and it explodes in front of  Ella. Daniela grabs Ella and pushes her behind a dumpster. John ignites his hands and shoots fireballs at the man while Sam uses his techno-legacy to turn the lights in the alley on, attempting to blind him. Six falls back and raises her hands in the air, creating the works of a storm. And I'm by John's side, shooting ice at the man in an effort to wound him. The man barely has time to take anymore shots because he's so busy trying to dodge our legacies. But there is a break in the action and he flips his gun up, shooting a bullet towards John. He barely has time to react and it hits him in his lower leg. He screams out in pain and falls onto the ground.
"No!" I yell and run over to him, falling onto my knees and immediately press my hands against his wound. I know it's just his leg, but I'm not going to loose anyone else I care about. As I work, I yell up at Daniela and Sam,
"Daniela cover John and I! Sam cover Six!" Daniela towers over us and is shooting beams of stone at the man while Sam is using his telekinesis to defect anything that he may shoot at him. It's hard to concentrate but soon, I can feel the bullet wound healing under my touch. Nothing better than feeling the rush of battle and the use of legacies, I think to myself. With John's wound completely healed, he jumps back onto his feet and joins in on the battle again. I take a deep breath and stand up, my attention going to the problem at hand. Six finally gets a big enough storm and shoots a bolt of lightening at the man. It lands right in front of him, a warning shot. He levels his gun again and this time aims at Six. She looks down at him with determination in her eyes as she pushes her arms towards him, another bolt of lightening strikes down. He empties his gun of bullets, probably hoping at least one will hit one of us, but they didn't. John uses his telekinesis and stops each bullet in mid-air and holds them there. He slowly turns them around, having them point back at the man.
"Who are you and what do you want with us?" He narrows his eyes.
       "I ain't talking." John looks over at me, signaling me to help. Without hesitation I walk towards him and hold my hand up, an icicle forming. Fear grows in his eyes and starts to sweat as the ice gets closer to his face. He eventually yells out,
"Okay! Okay! I'll talk!" I step back. "I was ordered to follow her and find out her whereabouts." He motions towards Daniela. "But I lost her track a couple days ago. But as luck would have it, you showed back up." We all stand patiently, waiting for him to continue, but he doesn't.
"Who sent you?" John asks sternly. He says nothing. I throw the icicle from my hand onto the ground next to him.
"Consider that a warning shot." I say coldly. He still doesn't say anything.
"Hey! What are you doing?" We all move our gaze to the top of the alley. A citizen who was stopping by noticed the group of us standing and decided to play hero. John is just as stunned as the rest of us and we're all frozen in place. The man stands up and runs, stuttering a thank you as he leaves. The citizen eyes us but says nothing and continues to walk.
"Crap..." Daniela says. John sighs.
"Okay well, that was..." Ella interrupts, stepping out from behind the dumpster that Daniela pushed her behind.
       "A disaster." Ella says, finishing her thought. I look down at Ella then back up at the rest of the group.
       "It wasn't that bad." I say shrugging, trying to think positive. Six gives me a sidelong look.
       "Seriously? It was a mess and a half." Six responds, sounding like she's disappointed in how we fought. Sam has been quietly standing next to Six with his arms crossed across his chest.
       "We were just rusty. We haven't fought together in awhile." He says shrugging. John looks at Sam, appreciation painted on his face. Six talks again.
       "Okay well obviously we have to go after him." John shakes his head.
       "We have more important things on our hands."
       "Like what?"
       "Like finding out what McKenna wants. Deciding if we want to help him. Maybe finding the others?" Six shrugs.
       "I think our most important problem right now is tracking that man down and getting information from him."
       "What if we split into groups?" Ella shrugs, thinking out loud. I'm about to say something but Six talks first.
"Perfect idea Ella! We can split into two groups. One can go after that man. The other can tackle one of the problems." I don't know if splitting up is a good idea, but I might have a chance to be with John so I say nothing. its crazy that we've been reunited for a couple hours and we already have so many problems. Everyone but John nods in agreement and I can tell he's hesitant.
"We should be smart and split up the healers. So, since I want to go after this stalker man, Marina you come with me and John you can be in the other group." Six states and my heart drops. I was hoping John and I could stick together as we usually do but I guess we do have to be safe. John picks Daniela and Sam to be with him and Ella and I go with Six. We walk to the top of the alley and Sam and Six kiss quickly and separate, one group going one way and the other group going the other.