The Phenomena of Fireflies and Star... - Chapter 6: Chapter 6

For a good few minutes, Ames simply stood there, eyes on the door that Gabriel had left behind. He couldn't think straight. Placing himself in such a way that he could sort out what truly his motivations and thoughts on certain things were was a bit of a challenge. To interact with superhumans was something he had no interest in. In fact, the past hours, he knew he couldn't take back. However, his recent experience had been strangely interesting and pleasant. He knew Alpha—Gabriel, rather—had always been unproblematic and an overall good-natured individual. Ames would just rather navigate in a world where he didn't need to worry about the risk of becoming collateral damage.
It was very refreshing, though, to confirm firsthand that Gabriel was a good person.
Despite the fact that Gabriel basically had just ghosted his job, Ames understood all the motivations that the former Alpha had presented.
'Imagine spending over eight decades doing the same thing over and over,' Ames thought as he stared at the exterior space that was now empty save for his car. 'Stuck, monitored, studied, and used.'
Ames found it weird. As critical as he normally was toward superhuman existence, he actually missed Gabriel. He couldn't pinpoint what it was that was making him feel that way. He wondered if it was his deeply seated loneliness or if it was just because he hadn't spoken with anyone who really resonated with him similarly, the way Gabriel had done, for a considerable length of time.
'I saved an Enforcer,' he thought to himself as he moved to close the front door. 'And I saw the person who longed for a life underneath. I saw how desperate that person was to rewrite his destiny. As crazy as the events of the past hours have been, I've never been more emotionally invested.'
'As for the suit, I'll deal with it later.'
On the Road
Walking was no problem to Gabriel. In fact, he'd been so physically trained for the past decades that he could withstand most elements and the pressures of physical activities. He'd been walking for a solid twenty minutes now, and commuting was starting to sound like a very smart idea. At his current pace, he was stalling himself. In retrospect, he'd only ever commuted once since his transformation. Enforcers typically flew from place to place. Sometimes, they had limo services for special conventions and ceremonies. Sometimes, they used special container trucks. The only time he had commuted in a public jeep would have to be back in 2012, in a tense situation involving a pregnant woman in a sudden need of medical assistance. He remembered how he had bought out the seats of a nearby jeep and accompanied the woman to the hospital. His pathokinetic abilities had helped in keeping the woman calm that day.
Commuting now would be different, and he knew that the fare had increased.
He could take a taxi, however.
'They couldn't possibly require an ID for a taxi ride,' he thought as he spotted one coming. He was back in the road where he'd landed.
He could see it in the distance. The crater had been surrounded with a yellow caution tape and some traffic cones. A police car waited on standby right before it. Gabriel knew he couldn't risk it.
He also knew he wouldn't be the smoothest in communicating with taxi drivers, as he didn't have any experience with them. Then again, an awkward conversation would be miles better than having to walk past a potential checkpoint zone.
'Here goes!' he thought as he stopped in his tracks and hailed the oncoming taxi.
'This better not make me look bad,' he hoped as he crossed the road to the side of the taxi's current lane. 'I wish Ames gave me a refresher on commuting.'
When the taxi halted before him, he didn't hesitate and helped himself in.
"Good morning, sir," the driver greeted. Gabriel noticed that the interior of the taxi still had the installed division for the driver.
"Good morning," he replied courteously.
'Oh, boy,' he thought, holding back the urge to make a face. 'Here we go.'
"Where to?" the driver finally asked.
"Right...," Gabriel murmured, realizing he didn't have an actual destination in mind. The bus terminal would be a good stop, but then identification documents could be asked of him. There was an alternative: there were large jeeps stationed near the terminal to service travelers who would prefer not to use the buses. He could also still explore the city, though. Try something he hadn't tried before as a person. As a human. He still wasn't a human no matter how hard he tried. Not anymore. Then again, he could try. After all those years, he deserved a break. After all those years of contemplating his freedom, he didn't want to let his newfound chance to go to waste.
Ultimately, the risks outweighed the perks he would've otherwise enjoyed.
"Excuse me, sir?"
"W-what?"
"What..."
"Oh," Gabriel finally realized his stalling. "The bus terminal."
"Alright, sir," the driver replied affirmatively before turning his radio on. "Would you prefer the AM or the FM?"
'Is that a usual question passengers are asked?' Gabriel wondered.
"Um...," he dragged on for a while. "I'd like to hear the news, please."
"Very good, sir," the driver replied, half-chuckling. "Same."
Andrade Residence
8:28 AM
Ames put on his favorite black V-neck shirt. It was soft, liberating, and comfy, but form-complementing. Just the way he liked his tops. He had on a slim pair of black jeans to match. Today wasn't exactly a day for something too formal, but he did want to look sharp still. He fastened his pants onto himself with a basic black belt before hooking on his pepper spray and his keys. The black university bomber jacket completed the upper garment combo. A colorful but very sharp-looking graphic of the school emblem was printed on its back. On the chest part was printed a smaller version of the emblem, sandwiched by a print of his nickname on top of it and the word "Faculty" beneath it. It looked very good. Ames preferred this jacket over the previous releases.
He gave himself a quick mirror scan. Not bad, he'd have to say. He looked well within his element without setting aside the "teacher" vibes. The faculty jacket did the trick.
He wasn't going to lie. Gabriel's unpretentious kindness and expressive thirst for change felt empowering. Ames also couldn't deny that it had been rather tense, considering it had been unexpected. He'd tried his best to be professional about it. He wondered if his perspective on the whole superhuman thing was clouding his professionalism a little too much.
He wondered if it was unhealthily general.
'I'm going to give Gabriel that special mention of exception from now on,' he decided. 'I don't know about the others, but I don't think I'm about to change my general opinion anytime soon. I can't.'
'I don't think I can,' he acknowledged deep inside him as he stared at his reflection in the mirror. 'Not after everything.'
'But for Gabriel, I'm gonna' cut him the slack.'
'I wish him well, wherever his determination takes him.'
Downtown
9:22 AM
When Ames drove on the usual flyover route, he gave the billboard of the superhumans a look. It was funny how his usual cynicism didn't peek out from inside of him in any way. It normally did in some manner. He then realized he was looking specifically at Gabriel. He made a careful scan of Gabriel's confident pose, his glorious smile, the majesty of his suit, and the sharpness of his mask.
When Ames looked away and put his eyes back on the road, he could picture out the state in which he had found the leader of the Enforcement: suit torn, mask chipped, cape ripped, and weakened by some form of attack that must've been strong enough to put him down for a while. Ames remembered his doubts as to whether he really had just rescued the Alpha. He remembered how Gabriel had flickered in the most dazzling of colors in his pained grunts in the depth of his unconsciousness and how his eyes had also flickered in a color reminiscent of the glow of fireflies and, perhaps, sunlight. It was public knowledge that Gabriel could heal himself, but why Ames had ultimately decided to just give Gabriel a place to stay for the night instead of driving him to the hospital, which would've made more sense, in a way, he couldn't answer precisely. His thoughts had gone in a scramble last night. That, he knew.
Just this morning, Ames had come to know a little bit better the person underneath the Alpha suit. He'd been introduced to the "human" in the superhuman, and it was an aspect he hadn't seen in the other Enforcers and had initially merely noticed and acknowledged in Gabriel's Alpha alter ego. He wondered if he truly hadn't seen it or if he hadn't looked.
He turned the radio on.
"Following the shocking disappearance of the superhero, Alpha, fears of the resurgence of crimes began to resurface," the female news reporter was saying. "Social media is bursting with at least three trends on the matter, composed of entries such as opinions, conspiracy theories, and even condolences. Citizens are expressing concerns regarding their safety, and Division Director Emil Lazaro has recently expressed his concern for the fallen hero, who hasn't been found yet. The Division Director has also given words of encouragement for the people to put faith not only in their superhuman defenders but also in the human law enforcement, which he feels have been given less and less importance in the years following the public revelation of the existence of superhuman agents."
"I was rescued years back by the Alpha," the voice of an old woman, an interviewee, made an intermission. "I was being held hostage among others by a couple of men in West Miranda when he dropped in and rescued us. The police hadn't arrived immediately, and the men had refused to negotiate with them."
"Doctor Luis Cheon, professor of sociology in the Gonzales University of Arts and Sciences, had this to say," the reporter spoke again.
"Since the year 2010, when the government revealed the clandestine use of superhuman agents to help deal with both large and relatively small-scale threats, people have become not only fascinated by but also very accustomed with the presence of these superhumans," the professor, someone Ames had admired since the start of his teaching career despite their rare run-ins, spoke. "People have developed a strong, internalized, but also common reliance on the proactivity of powerful beings. All the attention that could've been directed to the human elements of our society, both in the private and public sector, has since been put largely on the superhumans. People now see them as the easy and immediate solution. A superhuman ex machina. A skeleton key."
Ames couldn't agree more. Sadly, the revelation that these powerful beings existed had entailed as many drawbacks as it had done advancements.
"These superhumans—except for those who have chosen to use their powers to bring harm—are just as much a welcome part of society as anybody," the professor went on. Ames kept his eyes and ears open as he stopped right into a slow-moving traffic. "As magnificent as they are as heroes, they are functioning in a society full of other so-called "modern-day", non-powered heroes. As terrifying as they are as villains, they belong to an ecosystem of other powerful human threats and devastating natural dangers. People need to understand that these beings have weaknesses that come alongside their strengths. In their elevated morals, they are to be made examples. Standards to surpass. Benchmarks. In their cruelty, they are to be held accountable, be made liable, and be examples of what we cannot afford to be. They are to be convicted and charged accordingly. As thankful as we are, and as much as we do need them on a handful of occasions, they are not our beginning, and they are not our end. At least, not yet. Right now, they simply are. We are. There has to be a system to be followed strictly that involves them inherently to ensure we all play our parts well, with powers or without.'
Traffic still wasn't moving.
Ames was then distracted by the sudden ring of a notification on his phone, which was suspended on its holder. He clicked onto the notification. It was Eliza, sending him what would have to be the longest message. The length and the numerous capitalizations of some words alarmed him quite a bit. Before he could read properly, however, the traffic moved and smoothened for the rest of the travel.
Commercial District
The streets and buildings of Falco City's commercial district looked different from a worm's eye view. Gabriel had enjoyed the privilege of seeing these establishments from a variety of angles, but he had never gazed upon them with the mindset of a human. He'd always looked at them strategically. He'd also normally looked at them with concern, particularly in terms of insurance. Superhuman battles meant impacting infrastructure. It wasn't fully inevitable.
They drove under a massive flyover. It was the Magallanes.
If Gabriel could remember clearly, he'd landed quite hard onto the flyover back in the day. It hadn't fazed him, but it had definitely closed the flyover. He had left a crater, and the engineers had consequently suffered a busy month.
They passed through the shadow of the Magallanes and out to more buildings. The buildings were mostly tall, and their windows glistened in the sunlight.
'Someday,' Gabriel thought fondly. 'When this country has forgotten me, maybe Ames can give me a tour in these buildings. Maybe he can even take me to the parks and zoos.'
The sound of a cell phone notification blared from the driver's seat.
Gabriel observed the driver as he pressed onto his phone, which was secured in a holder on the dashboard.
After a while, the driver changed the radio station.
"Police officers have been sent in to the Maravilla Intersection to respond to an ongoing hostage-taking situation involving three members of the terrorist group known as The Legion and a bus full of employees of Omni, arguably the leading tech company in the industry here in the Philippines," the reporter was saying.
Gabriel's eyes locked right onto the radio. There came the powerful urge to stop what he was planning to do and to get to action. It was so sudden and so strong that he instinctively reached out for the door handle, only stopping his hand a few centimeters away.
'Dammit,' he thought, his eyebrows knitting. 'This is not good. This is not good.'
"The Enforcement is expected to arrive the soonest second possible."
'The others are coming,' he thought to himself. 'The Legion has been on our radar for a long time. They are an Enforcement-level threat.'
'We've always trained together,' he recalled. 'Us, Enforcers. We do have Interns waiting for their chance to join the primary strike force, but the compatibility that I share with Channel, Battle Cry, and Sun Dancer in even the most tense of situations hasn't been topped yet.'
'Maybe. Just maybe...'
'Maybe I can help without being seen,' the thought came to him with a certain weight. He definitely could. He'd been invisible in some missions before. He had trained for years to learn how to bend light around him and to not have a reflection. It wasn't something he could always hold for long, and it didn't come with intangibility. Invisibility required creativity from its activation to its application. Scientists had repetitively recorded that he had cast a slight shimmer in every instance that he had used his invisibility. He'd had quite some time to train himself to maintain fine control over the photons around him and to erase the shimmer for a considerable period of time. He hoped he could find a spot where he could go invisible and take position. The rest, he could figure out from there.
'If I do this,' another thought crossed his mind. The ride was still ongoing. 'Then I'm not ready to start over, and I'll be caught in the loop again. They want me in the loop.'
'But these people also need me in it...'
"Dammit," he cussed, letting out a heavy breath of frustration. He couldn't help but shut his eyes hard in a futile attempt to silence his thoughts.
"Eh," the driver spoke insecurely. "Are you okay, sir?"
Gabriel had no honest answer for it.
He hadn't even thought of an alias yet. His real name had been registered since the 1940s.
"These times are tough, right, sir? And now that Alpha's nowhere to be found, they're only going to get worse."