The Awakened World

Part 4: A Fateful Clash

Brian was frozen solid. With his awakening had come the ability to sense and manipulate energy. This capability to sense energy also made it possible for Brian to sense other Awakened. He had first noticed this upon waking up in his apartment; he could sense everyone who lived in his apartment. However, their presence was small, almost negligible when compared to Susan's. She radiated energy in a much different way to everyone else. The amount of energy was at least ten times more intense than with everyone else. Brian sensed this again when he entered the bus station. An Awakened happened to be buying a ticket at the station. This particular Awakened was wearing a black trench coat adorned with red markings, which signified that he was part of the militia. The presence he put out was much more intense than anything Brian had experienced so far; whereas Susan's presence had felt ten times more intense, this felt at least a hundred times more intense than a regular person's. Suddenly the man started looking around the station. When his gaze stopped at Brian for a second, he felt his heart skip a beat. Brian realized that he, too, had to give off a different sort of presence. Much to Brian's relief, the man just shrugged his shoulders and continued talking with the clerk. Now hiding inside Susan's family cottage, he could feel a presence again, outside the house. And its intensity was unprecedented.

Brian stood up and tried to not panic. "How could they find me so fast? Was I followed? Or did Susan betray me? Or did..." Before he could think anything more, he could hear a woman's voice from the outside. "We know you're in there, Brian Stevens." Brian was confused for a second, but then realized that there were two presences outside. While the intensity of the first presence, presumably the woman's, had confused his senses, he could now sense a second one with an intensity to rival the militiaman's from the bus station. "Come out, your presence betrays you. Don't worry, we won't hurt you," the voice continued. Brian weighed his options. He didn't believe the woman's words. As Susan had said, killing an Awakened was about the most severe crime one could commit. As such, he was going to be facing an execution for sure. "I can't run either. As she said, my presence would give me away. On the other hand, I have no confidence in my fighting skills..." While had a rudimentary understanding of his powers, he knew he probably couldn't stack up against an individual like the one standing outside. "Screw it, I'm going out with a blaze of glory, then."

Brian stepped outside and saw the woman with the incredible presence. She was a tall woman with short, brown hair. The leather jacket she was wearing curiously had a red "peace"-symbol sown onto its shoulder. The other, smaller presence was emanating from a white van parked a short distance away. "Good. Now, it you would be so kind as to come with us silently," the woman said, and gestured towards the van. "Sorry but going out silently doesn't sound like a good idea," Brain said, and prepared to fight. His whole body was once again enveloped by green flames and tensed his legs in preparation for an energy-infused leap towards his opponent. "See, Mercury. Told you I'd have to use force," she sighed. Her body was enveloped in sparks of red "electricity". Brian leaped at superhuman speeds in order to catch his opponent, but she effortlessly leaped out, and when Brian landed, she retaliated with a kick to Brian's gut. Brian gasped for air as he flew to the sky and started to fall. Somehow, he managed to twist his body in the air so that he would land on his feet, and loaded his legs with energy, making his landing painless. "Well, colour me impressed. Most beginners wouldn't have been able to do that. Unfortunately for you, I'm just getting started," the woman said, while she charged up electricity in her hand. Brian stood up but was immediately struck with a bolt of lightning from the mysterious woman's hand. Brian screamed from pain but kept standing. "Again, you impress me. Not just anyone can withstand one of my signature moves. You have an awful lot of energy, don't you?"

Brian was thinking furiously. The difference in their combat experience was like that of night and day. His leap attack was meant to end this fight quickly, but it ended with him taking a lot of damage. He had to think of something, and fast. "Have you had enough? If you just want to end this pointless charade, come with us," she said with a bored look on her face. "Not quite yet, miss. I'm quite content on dying here, fighting," Brian grunted as he formulated a plan. The woman rolled her eyes and assumed a fighting position. "I sure do hope this bloody works," Brian thought as he started to act out his plan. He charged his both hands with energy and struck the ground with all his might. The ground in front of him exploded with tremendous strength, sending rocks and sand flying in the air. Brian's opponent enhanced her mobility and dodged out of the explosion's way with the grace of a cat. "You sure do have a huge amount of power, but such an unrefined attack won't hit me," she said, looking disappointed. Brian said nothing but continued his plan. The woman hadn't noticed it, but most of the rocks that had flown up hadn't come down, many large rocks were now floating in the air. Brian had huge trouble regulating the energy he was releasing, and as such many of them broke down. "But enough of them remain to finish this," Brian thought as he charged them with energy and sent them hurling towards the woman. His opponent soon noticed that something was amiss and looked to the sky. Her eyes widened as she saw rocks flying towards her at breakneck speeds. In a fraction of a second she started to act, trying to desperately dodge the rocks, but it was too late. A particularly large rock hit landed on her, squashing her whole body against the ground.

Brian crouched to catch his breath. "How's that for a refined attack, eh?" His victorious feeling was cut short, however, as the rock covering the woman exploded, and victim of the attack rose to stand. "I have to hand it out to you, that was a pretty good attack. Would've probably killed any regular Awakened. Me, too, had the rock been heavier and more solid," she said while panting heavily, while Brian watched her in disbelief. "This has shown me that I shouldn't take it easy with you. I'll finish you, right now." With that she launched herself towards Brian. He tried to hit her, but in vain. The woman managed to dodge his attacks and struck him with a single finger, that gave of strong electric charge. Brian's eyes rolled backwards, and he fell to the floor, unconscious. "Alright, Mercury. We're done here. He'll be out for a few hours." The door of the van opened, and a man with long, blonde hair and beard stood out. "So it would seem. But he sure put you through trouble huh, Minerva?" "I was caught off guard, that was all," she said, "but his kind sure is terrifying up close. I he had even the slightest training, I could have been in actual danger." With that they lifted him to the back of the van and drove off.

When Brian woke up, he was sitting in an empty room, surrounded by four people. In addition to the woman she had fought there was the man whose presence he had felt in the van, a young man with light hair and a short beard. An impossibly huge man who had a long black hair and smelt of sweat sat furthest away from Brian. His presence was almost a large as the woman's, and his whole being filled Brian with dread. Right in front of him was an older bespectacled man who was wearing a black suit. Although it was clear from his hair (that had grey stripes on both sides oh his head) that he was quite aged, and his presence wasn't that big, he gave of an air of power and authority. "Greetings, Mr. Stevens. I'm the leader of this organization and am known as Jupiter. The lady over there is known as Minerva, and the man next to him is Mercury. The large man over to my right is known as Pluto." Brian was confused. This didn't seem like an official meeting; there was no sign of glamour found in the Awakened's offices in the city. In fact, the room had no windows and seemed like something inside a bunker. In addition, the people before him didn't wear the typical trench coats Awakened have. "As you might have surmised, we're indeed not part of the Awakened regime," Jupiter continued. "We had a man tail Scott Thompson yesterday, as we had planned to eliminate him. Then our man saw something interesting: you, a class 2 commoner, completely overpowered Scott in a fight. Naturally this piqued our interest, and we would like to formally invite you to join us; the rebels who fight for an equal world!"