CHAPTER 2: BOND BETWEEN US
Two weeks later,
A man in a red and white sweater and jeans is seated behind a brown table in an office with a red rug and a bookshelf fitted into the wall at the side with a coat rack with a black hat on the other side, he clicks his pen as he looks at the man seated in front of him.
"You've been through a lot these past few weeks, Mr Morgans."
The man says
"That's not my name....not really."
"That's what it says on your case file."
"That's not what I am...please just call me Lio."
"Okay, if that's what you prefer."
" I...I let this happen."
"Are we talking about your brother or...the mission in Fort Blanc?"
He grinds his teeth as he rubs his thighs
"I'm sorry, doc. I..."
"Can you walk me through what happened, L io?"
"I...um...no, this was a bad idea, maybe our next session."
He gets up and walks to the door."
"I see"
He stops halfway, rubbing his hand through his uncombed hair, feeling the hard clumps of hair scattered around his head.
"Doc, do you believe people can be inherently broken...cursed?"
"It's not by job to impose my beliefs on you."
"I get it doc...It's just that I have a bad habit of believing I know what's right then everything I touch turns to shit."
"Lio...please have a seat."
He runs his fingers through his hair again and walks back to the seat.
"This is your third psychiatric visit since you left the military. "
"I don't want to talk about that. "
"I wasn't going to ask about that, what I would like to know is the monthly visits every month you have had since you were thirteen. Your file says there was an incident involving a murder that day. I feel like that could be something that's affecting you."
He exhales.
"My brother...Ray and I, didn't feel welcome when we were adopted, the parents were fine but the first three...three parents I mean; they met had kids and all three looked at us like we had a disease or horns on our heads, those cold glares from our adopted siblings...they all eventually just sent us back to the adoption agency."
"I'm sorry you had to go through that at such a young age. "
"I...uh....didn't really know what to do, sometimes I would..."
He breathes deeply...I would take people's wallets when they weren't looking; if we were lucky, someone would accidentally throw money in the trash, and we would eat."
"What about the incident?"
"...I was getting to that...so one day, there were these guys, obese with flashy chains and rings, women on both arms, when they weren't looking I stole his wallet but...the mall cop found us and turned us in, the fat man didn't take too kindly to being robbed.
He told one of his men to mess me up.
They did but a few seconds of being smacked around with a baseball bat..."
Lio pauses for a second
"Then I heard Ray screaming."
He and I are darker skinned than most people, so they must've singled him out, believing we were together, and this is the part most people don't believe... I blacked out. The next thing I remember, I'm in handcuffs and brought to an office like this."
"What do you remember when you came to?"
"Blood. I saw the 6-foot brawny guy who was beating me up, now down in a pool of his own blood. After all that happened.
I was lucky, though, a man called General Morgans was around, a strict but understanding man. He made it so I didn't have to go to jail, but my brother and I would live with him. That was the happiest day of my life."
"Because you found a home?"
"No... I tell people that's the reason because it's what's normal.... The truth is, I'm glad my brother had someone to take care of him, but I was more ecstatic to take out that pent-up rage of being rejected, being unwanted, raising my hopes and throwing them away...."
As he says this, his body starts to smell like burning wood.
Honestly? I Was so happy to take that on someone. That was the last time that happened....until what happened at Fort Blanc."
"So you joined the military to control that urge?"
"Yeah, doc."
Elsewhere, a man takes off his cufflinks. The pins are spiral and textured like the body of a snake, he groans, tosses a file jacket at the wall and lays on the couch when the power suddenly goes out.
"What the hell...?"
Unbeknownst to him, armed men in ski masks surround his house; one of them uses pliers to cut wires, leaving the entire house in darkness.
Two hills and a road behind them are two men in a black van, both listening through walkie-talkies on the masked men.
One of the men is caucasian in a red headband and grey tracksuit, and the other is wearing a blue checkered shirt with his sleeves rolled.
"This is not a good idea, V."
The one in the red headband says
"You're always a pessimistic man...worst case scenario we lose some men, just keep the engine running...He pushes the button on the talky, hearing some static.
"Have you secured the package yet?"
"We're moving in now."
One of the men in ski masks responds.
"Stay frosty boys."
There's static once again followed by silence.
After a few minutes, there's silence on the radio.
"Hello! Status report!."
"Boss...he's....!
The audio cuts off multiple times making it difficult to make out what he's saying.
There's a click on the other side of the walkie talkie then a high-pitched sound emerges from the speaker, ssp loud, the man in a shirt starts to bleed from his eyes and ears, the other man kicks his door open and rolls out, just as he does there's a loud high pitched sound that dulls his hearing when he hears a loud bang, he looks inside the van and the inner part of the windshield is covered in blood.
The man spits
"Damn you Hernandez...plan b it is."
The smell of burning wood and embers cover him and they coalesce into a small ping pong ball that appears in his hand, he strikes it against the floor three times then strikes it with a force that sends it cutting through the air it aims for the window of the mansion, it hits it's target causing the window to crack, the ball dissipates int embers.
"What the hell ?"
He picks up his phone and makes a call.
"Hey, Bang, can you do your job and sort this mess out already. "
"Will do, boss."
A buff man in dreadlocks responds, he's a buff man with a black vest, camo trousers and combat boots, his arm is covered from the elbow to the wrist in words in an unknown language, he lowers the hand holding the phone, and one of the few parts of his body not covered in blood and viscera.
He takes a deep breath, inhaling the smell of blood oozing from the decapitated naked men lying around him.
He faces the sky and screams:
"Showtime, bitches!"
In the blink of an eye, another fast-moving ball speeds towards the target, but he hits him again. He reaches for it, but he slips on the blood beneath him, and it hits the window, leaving a small crack on the spot.
The man with a red headband smiles as the next ball he holds morphs into a tennis ball with red dots on it,.his paddle is also covered by embers and changes into a tennis racket. He strikes the ball and it flies at the same spot.
As it approaches the spot, embers surround a man's face and form a plain wooden mask; he jumps with his face between the ball and the window. However, the force is so much it chips off of the mask as he bleeds from the gash over his eyelid.
"Haha! Hit me again, sucka!" The man in the wooden mask below.
There's a loud cracking sound coming from the mask as the broken parts grow to repair themselves; it appears as if nothing happened; he picks up the ball and perceives the smell of burning wood before it disappears.
The man in the headband seethes in pain as a red line is slowly carved horizontally into his wrist.
"Dammit...that's the first time I've missed a target in a long time."
He clenches his teeth and breathes deeply, and his body becomes slimmer as he strains. He loses fat instantaneously and two balls appear in his hand both similar to the last one, he raises them both and serves them with a single strike, they fly at an even higher velocity, both approaching their target following a curved pattern, birth outside the masked man's field of vision, the man in front of the house takes a deep breath and the mask curves into a circular shape with spokes around the circle, he exhales causing a thick. Gusts of air to trap the ball, making it lose momentum and fall to the floor.
The man in the red headband screams as two more red lines are carved beside where the first one was.
He clutches his arm and starts to walk away.
The man in the mask squints and through the eye holes of the mask, he sees the invisible air trail the balls travelled.
He picks a stone, winds his arm back following the trail with his eyes and launches it with such force it moves as fast as the ping pong balls, the sharp-edged pebble flies at breakneck speeds along the trail, and the man in the red headband turns around just as the rough-edged stone makes an impact with his face and he falls down the plateau he's standing on.
The man in the wooden mask still watches the trail until it disappears.
He gets a phone call.
"Yeah... I'll dispose of the bodies...don't tell me. How to do my job. What? You want me to bring who you are?"
Not long after, the office door opens, and Lio shakes the doctor's hand.
"We made good progress today, Lio. Same time next week, and I hope your brother gets well soon."
Lio walks down the stairs and onto the street when someone drags him into an alleyway. He pulls the assailant's arm off his collar and tries to throw the person, but he maintains his Stance and slams Lio's back against a wall. He tries to catch his breath as he slides his hand down to the knife saya hidden in the back of his boot, just as his opponent pulls out a gun.