Part 5: Present tense
Two weeks at school and the homework starts piling up into hills. Damon wakes up to the loud siren of his alarm. He lazily gets up from his bed and heads downstairs soon after. He greets his family as he usually does every day without a miss but the only person he does not greet is his elder brother, Nuway.
Aside from the usual route to his school, his daily routine sometime changes or so he wants to believe. He just uses another route to school. He wonders if he has any powers like those Naturals. Not many Naturals dare to use their powers as they are afraid of people talking behind their backs and also the fear of being incarcerated into the Podium. The looks the normal humans give off are uncomfortable as they too have a reason to be such. After the incident which resulted in the city centre being a battleground caused by Naturals, people start to fear of what is to come.
“Morning Baba! It’s a good day today!”, said Damon to the old lady.
He knew the old lady way back when he started high school. Truthfully, the old lady knew him even before he was even born when his brother was still in high school. Most of the neighborhood citizens know of Nuway’s existence through his rebellious years in high school. A miracle that he turned out to be a responsible and dutiful police officer.
“Hold on there young man, let me give you give since you’re not carrying anything with you.”, said the old lady.
“Awww.. you don’t have to. I’ve got money for lunch already.”, Damon replied.
“Hush young man, just take it already. It’s good for your health.”, the old lady hands Damon a few sweet buns. He thanked her before speeding off to school.
On his way to school, he saw yet again the girl on fire flying in the sky. It looked as if the girl on fire was looking at him but he perceived it to be only his imagination.
“Damn.. that’s cool.”
Back in the hospital ward where Kim Young is in. She lays there still unconscious from her previous brawl with her partner. Nuway sits beside her with a worried look on his face.
“I shouldn’t have gone far. I’m sorry Kim.”, he said as he holds her hand.
Suddenly the monitor screen shows hope as her heartbeat starts to increase. As a result, her eyes slowly open and the first thing she sees is the face of her long time partner in the force, Nuway.
“What are you doing here?”, she said.
Nuway is surprise by her words, “Do you know where you are?”
“No. Wait, why are we in the hospital?”, she asked him.
“You don’t remember anything?”, he patiently waits for an answer from her.
“The last thing I remember was.. I chased after Nemesis then it went dark after that.”
“You’ll be fine.”, Nuway reassures her before the doctor came barging in.
Nuway heads out from the hospital and into his car. He looks through all the case file regarding Nemesis.
“Strange. All of them don’t remember. Is he a Natural?”, he thought to himself.
He wanted more information but the source he has now is the sex worker and that was about it. He is facing a dead end with no lead to look into. He is desperate for answers.
His response, “Fuck you Nemesis.”
Damon takes his seat beside the ever lovely Fira. He wonders where could she be considering class is about to begin. Without a moment to waste, just before their teacher enters the class; Fira shows up all sweaty. Her breathing heavy and hard when she was at the door but as soon as she goes to her seat, she calm herself down.
“Woah, what happened? It’s like you got into a fight or something.”, said Damon sarcastically. He waits for a reply from her but before she could give him a reply, she chugs down her water bottle finishing it.
“You can have mine if you want.”, Damon offers his water bottle to Fira.
“It’s fine. I’m fine and yeah, I was late that’s why. I had something to do just now in the morning.”, Fira replied.
“You can tell me later, right?”, asked Damon.
“Sure, sure but not now.”
Elsewhere at a local bank in the city, a group of armed men are tied to pole.
“Did you saw anything?”, asked a police officer of the New Kuala Lumpur department.
“A girl. She was on fire. She stopped them all.”, the bank clerk answers.
“A girl on fire you say?”, the police officer looks at the bank clerk with a doubtful look.
“She’s a Natural. I’m sure of it.”, said a passerby.
“Now sir, Naturals are the things of the past. Even if the girl was a Natural, no Natural is brave enough to use their powers out in the open. You’re probably seeing things here.”, said the police officer.
“We’ll take it from here officer”, said an agent of the NRD as he shows he badge to the officer.
“NRD?”, wondered the police officer.
“I’m agent Marsha of the Natural Response Department and this is my partner, Pennie. This is way above your pay grade officer.”, the agent said to the officer. The police officer made way for the agent to question the witnesses. The NRD agent without a moment to waste starts questioning the witnesses. She takes out a sophisticated digital notepad writing down every bit of information as she listens to the witnesses description of what happened earlier on.
“This should be enough. Thank you for cooperation.”, said the NRD agent.
Pennie places her palm on the television monitor in the bank and suddenly everything from the computers to personal tabs goes static.
“I got everything we need.”, said Pennie.
“Good. The faster we find this Natural the better.”
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