TSAWOKI 5

Chapter 5

Last night had been a failure for both Blake and Danny. It was late enough in the night, or early enough in the day, that she had either been fast asleep or purposefully ignoring his calls. Danny refused to rule that out of the equation. That had left them without anywhere to go other then the apartment.

They’d checked the locks on the doors and the windows, but they wouldn’t stop someone who really wanted in. They didn’t believe N was a god for a moment, the idea was too farfetched, but the point stood at someone knew where he lived and worked. The implied threat at the end of ‘Duststorm’s message proved it. Blake could only hope it was only an imposter. Danny has filled him in on the details due to his lack of knowledge. Needless to say, it wasn’t good.

Duststorm had appeared a month or two back and he seemed to have aerokinetic talent. For his first appearance he had turned a small storm into a weeklong problem, holding it up and running from Registry Heroes until the city met his demands. He did get cornered, but disappeared in what could be called a miniature tornado before he could be detained.

It seemed he only disappeared for a few weeks, because weeks later he was seen breaking into an upperclass house in the Oceanside. His crime spree gained speed with him breaking into shops and houses of increasing security. He just flew over walls and if the wind couldn’t shatter windows, then he lifted something with it to ram into it. Bullets were useless against the breeze, doing more harm then good if they turned around.

In short, Danny had described him as inexperienced, but terrifying to fight.

Neither Blake nor Danny got much sleep that night. Danny spent the night keeping watch, while Blake tried to take his mind off things with menial tasks. He had actually managed to clear out his classwork backlog by the time his alarm rang in the morning.

Blake practically slumped over then at the wave of exhaustion that washed over him. The alarm had reminded him that he spent most of the night awake and his body was now starting to pay the price for it. By no means was he nocturnal, and he’d been up nearly 24 hours. His eyes felt heavy. It took a supreme effort to pull himself into the car to teach.

Blake didn’t quite remember the trip, but he ended up making it to the school safely. He crept into his classroom, setting it up and waiting for students to enter. Slowly they trickled in and with yawn, Blake started class.

The class was another presentation where the students spoke and got judged by their professor. Some were obviously nervous and rapidly scanning through their paper and others were either bored and tired as they slouched in their chairs or slept. It irked Blake to see them so indifferent to their classmates progression, but there was little he could do about it. Besides, a few of them were practically geniuses and led the class when they felt like it.

Fortunately for Blake, no one acted up and everything went smoothly. This was especially fortunate because he wasn’t actually paying attention, despite how much he wished to. His mind was free to worry about this figure going by N instead.

It was a worrying position he was in. Somehow he had gotten the attention of whoever was pulling Duststorm’s strings, which meant he had a shadowy enemy to watch out for. He also had the known enemy in Duststorm, if it was him and not an imposter. He could only hope Duststorm would be kept under a tight leash by N, which was foolish to think, because otherwise N wouldn’t let him continue his crime spree. It was highly likely that N himself was indeed a villain.

Blake didn’t buy into the fact that he was a god, but he felt it was safe to assume N could beat Duststorm into submission if it came down to it. The letter had an arrogant quality of superiority to its writing, along with an offensively derogatory tone.

Now that he thought about it, Blake objected some of the points in the letter. He wasn’t pathetic, for starters. He wasn’t fit or athletic in anyway and he basically couldn’t defend himself if it came to a fight, but the trick was not getting in fights to begin with. That was something Blake had learned back in school when he was bullied for being nerdier and awkward. Keep your head down, don’t attract attention, and if you do attract attention, shift the focus away. Get them talking about themselves, stroke their ego, get them too self absorbed that they forgot why they came over in the first place. It wasn’t always effective, but it was great when it worked. He had learned to be analytical and cover his weaknesses any way he could. The problem was that he didn’t know what weaknesses N could exploit or where to start. He knew somewhat about Duststorm, but not nearly enough. Based off his powers, Blake knew he probably stood the best chance in an enclosed space rather then a wide open arena. The problem with an enclosed space was that it would get physical and Blake would lose. And it wasn’t like he could pick his battles in this matter. The solution was to not encounter Duststorm, but the only surefire way to do that would be to move or to accept N’s power. He had even said that he had expectations for Blake. The mystery man who only went by a letter was expecting him to to accept a mysterious power without anyway of contacting him. The whole endeavor seemed too suspicious and vague. Whoever set this up hadn’t provided enough real proof to make their promises convincing. It was likely this was all a scam.

If N was real, then his motive was really unclear. He didn’t believe anyone could offer a superpower out of boredom and if they did, they had to have an ulterior motive. People weren’t that nice. It was likely he had a use in mind for Blake and wanted someone they thought malleable and weak willed. If that somehow failed then they would probably use Duststorm as an enforcer. It made sense, with him memorizing the address.

Desperately, he hoped this was all an elaborate prank. If this N was a god, he would have to show a sign of his existence. And he wouldn’t be able to because he wasn’t a real god. At least, Blake hoped he wasn’t a real god. If he was, then he had denounced him multiple times in a span of minutes. It was nicer to hope he was an imposter or a scam artist of sorts. Maybe a powered one, but not a threat.

Eering on the side of caution, Blake recalled his sparse knowledge on the groups that held supervillains. If N was a a normal supervillain, then chances were that he was with one of these groups and maybe high ranking in it. Duststorm was a solo-villain according to Danny, but an alliance was possible. Limbo wasn’t an option, they never went up in Blake’s neighborhood and from what he heard from his students who lived in the Park, Damocles was practically a ninja when it came to stealth. This was anything but the act of a ninja, so it ruled him and Limbo out. Antithesis could be easily ruled out. They were basically the boogiemen or the monster under the bed when it came to supervillains. That is, if the monster under the bed was a literal monster from the depths of hell. Lastly, there was the Nightmare Knights. It could plausibly be them. Blake didn’t know much about what they did except assassinations. If they were an assassin group though, shouldn’t he be dead? He knew he would have no success in outrunning assassins. But Blake was certain he hadn’t offended anyone, meaning there was no reason for someone to even want to assassinate him. That left solo villains. They didn’t get much attention at all and were a bit less abundant, but they existed. The only one he could think of was Retrograde, a drug lord in the Park, and Tarrasque, who Blake only knew of due to him recently popping up a few blocks away from the apartment. None of them really had the notoriety Antithesis had, nor the power to backup many threats if they had to fight a hero. A solo villain was definitely the most likely possibility, considering Duststorm was one too. It was probably a one off job in the end. Admittedly, it could be an out of town Villain, but Clearcoast was one of the less interesting major cities. If villains stopped here, they were typically just passing through. Most didn’t feel the need to travel regardless. They stayed in their own locales, which sucked when big villains called the area there locale.

Blake was snapped out of his thoughts by the bell and hurriedly stood up to announce the class’s lack of homework. It was definitely an embarrassing moment, being caught so out of touch with reality by his students. They all ambled out at their own pace, putting away their pencils and textbooks...

The textbook! The letter had originally come hidden in a textbook. There was no name on it, but it meant that whoever this N was had personally had a follower among the students. Maybe more then one follower. It really shouldn’t have been surprising, N had known his address, workplace, and mentioned high school details he should have had no way of knowing. The possibility of a weakened deity seemed more plausible, but surely it was just some all knowing supervillain, right?

Regardless, the threat still stood and Blake couldn’t help but scan over his students. Anyone in this class could be a spy. Anyone in this class could be affiliated with N and Duststorm.

The minutes ticked by slowly, with Blake considered every probable and improbable possibility from a willing follower, to blackmail, to mind control. The point stood that one of these students had done it. He couldn’t call them up all at once and just ask them, that would be strange for a teacher to do and whoever it was probably knew how to stay hidden. In short, he couldn’t do anything but wait. That’s when he remembered a line near the end of the letter that ramped up his paranoia.

‘I will contact you anytime’

Which meant he wasn’t going to be left alone, that N would find and contact him. It meant that he didn’t have a choice in the matter, he would undoubtedly be forced into something. If N was honest about it being anytime, then at least one of his agents always had eyes on him. It would be impossible to run.

His mind swam briefly in the onset of a headache. He could feel his head throbbing violently, blood pounding through him. The throbbing pulses sent jolts of pain through him as his headache worsened into a full blown migraine. It took all his effort not to cry out at the pain. He closed his eyes and passed out.



Blake teetered on the edge on unconsciousness, hearing without listening. Vaguely, words drifted in the background amid beeps. His head was pounding, throbbing to the point where sleep was a blessing. He couldn’t focus  and sporadic bursts of nausea and electrifying jolts of pain kept flowing through him. He succumbed to sleep again.

Except it was an odd type of sleep. Vaguely Blake heard words surrounding him, but they were faraway and from behind a thick veil. It hurt to focus on them. Whispers pierced through the veil, barely audible. It hurt to listen, but Blake felt himself enraptured by the quiet, steady monotone, latching onto it like a drowning man a float. It burst in and out of his hearing, like a broken speaker that kept cutting out.

‘-ke up. You napped long...  get up... Ward... am N’

Blake’s mind latched onto the whispered words harder as he heard N, not understanding the significance in his hazy state, but knowing it was crucial. His mind couldn’t comprehend and firmly grasp the words, so Blake heard and occasionally listened.

‘I apologize for the delay... letter had to be delivered... but found again... my champion will see you soon.... gifts to bear... anger you, so accept..... full of questions.... am N... miracles.... am only N... unfortunate... means to an end.... will be reprimanded...’

Loosely, Blake caught some of what was said, but most slipped through his grasp. It all seemed significant, important, even dire, but why? It was crucial, but he couldn’t figure it out. His mind’s fog started to clear and he was hit with a fresh wave of pain, lighting his once peaceful mind on fire. It throbbed hypnotically and Blake found himself falling into a black sleep.