"Godlike"
"That's what we are called?" said Maitho.
Bevan nodded. He sat in the passenger seat, playing with the interior lights. Since the car lighting feature could change colors using a color wheel on a touch screen in the center console, Bevan switched from one color to the other, admiring each result for a few seconds before continuing his progression around the wheel. His guileless curiosity about something so trivial made Maitho wonder how he ended up with the two women. And then he realized that they were all involved in the same accident.
Were they good friends before the accident? For that matter, was the fourth member of their small team also a friend? As curious as Maitho was, he knew better than to fish for information. Besides, he had barely managed to form an uneasy alliance with the two women, which he wasn't about to jeopardize because he couldn't keep his curiosity under retrain.
The two men were in Maitho's car. After wrapping up the meeting with the promise of discussing more after they reached their destination, which so happened to be an apartment that the Scots team shared, Brigid suggested that Maitho follow them in his car. No sooner had she said that when Bevan suggested that he would take shotgun in Maitho's car. No one was more surprised than Maitho, but he did not want to embarrass the young Scot, who looked like he had mustered a lot of courage to articulate his suggestion properly.
Maitho noticed the right turn signal of the blue sedan in front of him – in which the women sat – start blinking its amber light in a steady and rhythmic pulse. He could see Brigid's silhouette in the driver's seat through the rear windshield. Flipping on his own turn signal to mirror the blue sedan's, he found himself entering a double-lane street that was devoid of life. Each parking space that he drove by was occupied, making him wonder if the Scots team's building had its own parking lot. It felt odd thinking about something so trivial as parking space, but for some reason, it comforted Maitho. After an evening spent pushing his adrenaline to the brink, normal thoughts were like a warm mental blanket. He wouldn't mind a real warm blanket, preferably on a soft bed. Or he could sleep on the floor. He had done that when he was young.
Maitho pushed his train of thoughts before they could take him down a deep and dark tunnel.
"It might not look like it," said Bevan, breaking Maitho's train of thoughts. "But we are only aggressive because it seems as though we are thrown into an unknown territory without any clue as to what we are supposed to do. The worst part is that we even lost somebody close to us. It's just. It's just frustrating and annoying and terrifying."
The silence that followed the sudden outburst of speech was one of respect and understanding. Maitho respected the idea that Bevan needed to explain, not just to someone else, but to himself. The red-haired young man was trying to rationalize it out loud in his own way. Maitho also understood that he is not supposed to say anything, as though he would disturb the presence of something sacred. It does not matter how much the Scot wanted to talk. All that mattered was that he was given a platform to talk.
"Do you think having one more person will make things better?" said Bevan, lowering the volume of his voice a few notches, as though he was apprehensive about asking the question.
"Not sure about better," said Maitho. "But definitely confident about being stronger."
Bevan gave a soft laugh. It was pure and honest, almost childlike in its quality. "Well, if we ever get tired of thinking, let's just start pounding things. Or people. Not all people though. Just some."
Maitho was too exhausted to react, but he threw a smile in Bevan's direction anyways to encourage the other man.
"We were betrayed Maitho," said Bevan, after a few more minutes of silence.
On one hand, it was great that the Scot was being candid, but on the other hand, it seemed as though they were entering a topic that might be sensitive to talk about. He was about to suggest Bevan to not talk if the subject was difficult to broach.
Somehow, Maitho's desire to learn more ruled over any objection he was about to display out of respect for privacy.
"By whom?" said Maitho.
"We met someone else. Someone before you."
"So I was not the first person you approached for a fourth member?"
"No. And we didn't approach him. He came to us."
The blue sedan in front took a left turn and Maitho followed. On both sides of the street, he saw a line of apartment buildings occasionally interrupted by a two- or three-story house. It looked like a haphazard arrangement of Lego towers.
"Who was this, well, godlike?" said Maitho.
Bevan was idly fidgeting with the light controls, turning the interior of the car into a spectrum of hues from different parts of the RGB gradient. Thankfully, he was changing the colors slowly, making it seem as though the interiors were slowly bleeding from one shade to the next. "Raiden Torben, godlike of Thor."
Maitho turned his head quickly towards his passenger out of surprise, realized his mistake, and focused back on the road. "Hold on. THE Thor?"
"Uh huh,"
"How did he betray you?"
The dance of color lighting stopped. "He was working with the Crays."
There was too much information to process at one time, so Maitho built a mental dam to prevent the flood of questions from breaking into his mind. It was difficult, since he was a naturally curious person. His stomach churned, as though it wanted to disgorge its contents. He realized that apart from the small bite of muffin, his hadn't had anything to eat the entire day.
All that stress might be causing muscle tension in my abdomen, Maitho thought, his brain seeking comfort in facts.
Bevan continued. "We got in touch with him. I don't know if it was our naivete or our desire for direction that caused us to drop our guards. But sometimes trust is the only leap of faith you have. And we trusted him. Completely."
Maitho noticed the blue sedan take a turn into a small brick driveway and he followed close behind. The sedan reached a parking lot barrier where a terminal that was of chest-height was positioned next to it. In the glare of the headlights from Maitho's car, he noticed the sedan pull up next to the barrier, the passenger side window roll down and a hand holding a blank card reach out towards the terminal. After a quick swiping motion by the hand, the barrier began to rise. The sedan crossed the barrier threshold and disappeared into an underground parking.
When Maitho leaned forward in his seat and looked up at the building the underground parking belonged to, he noticed a six-storied apartment structure.
"I got this," said Bevan. "Just pull up next to that terminal."
Maitho did as instructed and was soon easing his car down a short ramp. He looked to his left and right, found the blue sedan parked a short distance away, and headed in that direction.
The two women were standing outside the car. After parking in reverse – Maitho supposed old habits die hard – the two men exited their vehicle.
"Just to be clear," said Brigid, as soon as the men congregated near the blue sedan, "we are doing this because we have no choice. Don't get comfortable Maitho."
In light of all the things that had happened to the Scots team, it would not seem fair to look for a comeback. Maitho also realized that his exhaustion was getting the better of him. Would he have handled the situation at the cafe a little better if he had a little more energy in him? At the moment, it was as though his mind and body were working slower, like watching a video at three-quarters of its original speed.
Brigid had donned an expression and stance of confidence. She looked like someone who was comfortable leading people, and judging by the way she had held the group together so far, she has done a good job of it. Maitho realized that there were two sides to a coin. And in this situation, it was him on one side and the Scots team on the other. They are not going to face each other out of admiration, but they can stick together out of a common goal; one that is made out of survival instincts, a satiation for normality, and perhaps even a degree of fear.
"Once we resolve this situation, you are back to being a group of three," said Maitho.
"Guid," said Epona. She was leaning back against the trunk of the car, her hands tucked in her denim shorts. "'N' we ur nae a team."
"As I said, a group."
Without turning her head, Epona started walking towards a pair of elevators surrounded by a wall of glass. Brigid followed her and Bevan stopped has he neared Maitho. "Come on. We'll show you our not-so humble abode."
Maitho was about to follow him, but stopped in his tracks. A thought had occurred to him. "Is your place safe? Aren't you being observed?"
He watched the two women approach the wall of glass and realized that one section was actually a pair of sliding doors, which parted open to let the women in. Brigid and Epona walked up to the elevators, the former stopping in front of them and looking out at the two men, while the latter pushed the button to call the elevator.
"Oh you are going to love this," said Bevan, smiling.
The men joined the duo by the elevator doors. Once they were inside the cabin, Maitho saw Epona push the button marked by the number 6.
"Does this building have security?" said Maitho.
"No," said Brigid. Despite whatever doubts she had, she was making an attempt to, at the very least, be diplomatic. Her leadership qualities were slowly beginning to unravel. It was like unwrapping a gift, removing one fold after another until you were able to see the real object. "And we won't require it."
"We were fortunate to find this place. And the landlord, Mr. Imai by the way, was kind enough to give us the apartment at the end of the hallway. We literally face the hallway and-"
"Imai?" said Maitho, "Jizo Imai?"
Something in his voice made the other three people in the elevator cabin turn around to face him.
Brigid was frowning, looking like she was pondering about something. "That's right. How do you know?"
"Because he owns my building too," said Maitho.
At that moment, the elevator doors pinged open. The four people stepped into the hallway. Maitho noticed a hardwood floor that extended to either side of the elevators. The walls were white, occasionally splashed with a little color by an abstract painting enclosed in a gold-colored frame. The three Scots began moving towards a door at one end, which faced the entire length of the hallway. Maitho imagined that anyone looking through the peephole would get an unobstructed view of the hallway.
"Isn't anyone curious about why we both have the same landlord?" said Maitho. "And I remember Jonathan Cray mentioning him as well."
Bevan turned around. "Well, I'm sure it's nothing Maitho. After all, it was Charon who got us in touch with him."
Maitho wanted to protest, but he realized that for the moment, there was nowhere for him to go. He could hide in a hotel room, but he had spent the last of his financial reserves on a muffin that he had not finished and a bottle of water he had emptied earlier. He wouldn't last another day without proper sleep, and maybe something to eat. Staying in an apartment was much better than using the backseat of his car.
Without further explanations, the four people reached a door with a golden 6 embossed on it. Brigid punched in a few numbers into a keypad beside the door, blocking Maitho's view of her actions.
Little trust, thought Maitho. But I don't really need to know that number.
Brigid placed her hands on the door handle, but before she could depress the mechanism, she looked at Maitho.
"Before we go inside, I want you to know what we are planning to do. If you don't like it, you can back off now."
"What are you planning to do?" said Maitho.
"We are going after Raiden, godlike of Thor."438Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjUrHRh5Ydm
