In the silent evening of the day, there was no one on the rooftop of one of the oldest and most glorious buildings in California, apart from an old security guard who appeared to be smoking while reading a newspaper.
All of his youth had been wasted away either by doing odd jobs or chasing after won. Although he had been successful in doing the latter, he couldn't maintain a relationship with any of his escapades and in his old age, he had no one who could take care of him, no children, no wife, no family... but still he was happy with who he was. However, there was sothing he wanted more than anything else... a last adventure before he retired, tomorrow. Nothing has him the thrill like chasing after a thief or protecting soone's life.
"*sigh*, What am I even thinking about? Nothing exciting has happened here in almost half a decade, and I'm wishing to get so action a few hours before my retirent?" The watchman mumbled to himself, still hoping to get a last dose of excitent before his retirent.
Ever since Arica got divided into East Arica and West Arica, the cri rate of West Arica had declined sharply. Cris like theft, mugging, sexual assaults etc beca kind of nonexistent.
This decline too was a product of the partition and happened due to the following reasons, one, only respectable and honoured people were allowed to live in West Arica and hence there weren't many people left to commit cris in the first place.
And two, there was a single punishnt for anyone who dared to commit a cri and that was banishnt. Many considered it to be a harsh punishnt, but it was necessary, and it was given regardless of how big or small the cri was. Most of the people living there had to work hard to get where they were right now and hence didn't wanted to do sothing that would get them thrown out of the safety of the western region, not even by mistake. This law was also implented because The Syndicate already had their hands filled with dealing monsters, they simply didn't have the ti to handle petty criminals as well. So this 'banishnt' rule was set up after debating for so ti.
Sadly even with the strict laws, no one could stop the few from trying and these people ended up getting 'banished' now and then.
"Just let witness sothing exciting for the last ti-" The watchman sighed heavily.
Just then the air in front of his eyes started warping in weird shapes and soon a weird human-sized, crimson-coloured circle appeared out of nowhere.
Thinking that it might be a monster attack, the watchman quickly reached for his trusted sword, only to realise he had left it downstairs. He wanted to warn the others but the portal in front of him for bigger and bigger... sothing was about to co out of that thing and he couldn't risk the lives of the others.
The old man cursed himself, and slamd the terrace door shut, while he grabbed his torch in his hands like a baton, ready to charge at whatever or whoever ca out of that thing, it wasn't clear but the guard was willing to bet it was a monster, after all, what else could co out of a portal?
Sothing finally appeared out of the portal, and the old man fearlessly charged at the creature, wildly swinging his 12 inches long flashlight at his unknown target.
'Finally! One last adventure!'
The rooftop was dark, and not only the old man missed the only change to knock out his enemy, but he also couldn't even control his montum and went racing towards the railing of the roof. He was about to knock himself off the roof, to his certain death, when suddenly soone grabbed the collar of his uniform and pulled him back, saving his life.
The watchman fell on the ground with a thud, his flashlight rolled off his hands and lit up. He hesitantly turned around, hoping to see a horrifying monster but instead, he saw the face of a man who was standing behind him, as the crimson portal slowly disappearing behind him.
The man had walked out of the portal, wearing a black, neatly pressed, three-piece suit, the kind you only see on high priced lawyers or The people who worked for the Syndicate. The man pulled the watchman back onto the terrace with a single sweep, his eyes settling on nothing. He just kept looking around his surroundings. The watchman was about to ask him who he was but the stranger was quicker than him.
"Would you be kind enough to tell which city are we in right now?" Arnold smiled as he helped the watchman back to his feet.
"L-Los Angeles!" The guard blurted out after so effort.
***
'Looks like I've arrived in the right place,' Arnold thought as he gazed over the City of Angels, from up there, Arnold felt like he was looking down at the world.
He could see everything, from the trees and the flowers to the sea and the many busy people going on about the night. He could even see the famous Griffith observatory in the distance, as well as the world-famous Hollywood sign. The city was the polar opposite of what he had seen in the wastelands... it was like nothing had happened there at all!
Nightti is when the city reveals its essence, it was sothing Arnold had always believed in. But there was an edge to the nights here also, a weird loneliness — or perhaps it was more accurate to call it a dispersion, a quality of letting go. He wasn't talking about the nightlife, but rather about the life of the night. A weird sense of fulfilnt filled Arnold's body... until he looked at the watchman and the police officers who were talking about him.
'Looks like I startled a poor old man. He nearly died because of although it was him who charged at , and I only did what anyone would've done to dodge soone's attack.' Arnold sighed heavily, 'I didn't think I'd find soone as soon as I got here. Well, it's good that he called an officer here, it saved a lot of trouble.'
Once the watchman regained his deanour, he imdiately called the police ergency helpline and reported everything to them, it seed to Arnold that the watchman was a man of character as he didn't hide anything from them and inford the police about how Arnold saved his life as well.
Arnold could have just disappeared from there and the watchman couldn't have done anything but he wanted all of this to be processed legally so that he could be on his way in no ti, thus once the police arrived, he imdiately showed them the letter Nathan and sent him and right now they were in the middle of verifying it while Arnold gazed around the lively city.
"Looks like its all good here. But next ti try to use a verified ans of transport." The officer handed Arnold's communicator watch back to him, "A car is waiting for you downstairs that would drive you to the HQ of The Guardian syndicate."
"Sure officer. Sorry for the trouble." Arnold shook their hands and together took the lift with them.
***
Arnold walked out of the lobby of the building along with the officers and the old watchman, and just like the officers had inford him, a car was waiting for him outside the building. But it wasn't just any car, it was a black 2021 Dodge Challenger. Its gates were flung open as Arnold took a step towards it, and out of it ca, Nina.
"I'll take over from here officers." She said.
"As your wish ma'am!" The officers saluted her and imdiately went away, once they were earshot, Nina spoke once again.
"Nice suit. It's good to see you in decent clothes and not your cosplay stuff, for once." She sniggered and got inside the car.
"Well, it was the only suit other I could wear other than this one was a hazmat suit so yeah, no more cosplaying. Although it's quite disappointing that you're not wearing your yoga pants anymore." Arnold joked and made himself comfortable on the passenger seat, "Nice ride by the way."
"You're really infatuated by my yoga pants aren't you?" Nina smiled and revved up the engine a bit, "And yes, she's a nice ride. Sadly she ain't mine."
"Then whose- wait let guess, Johnny?"
"Ding Ding Ding. You're right and you've won nothing." Nina smiled as the car drove off.
"So he's here as well?"
"Nah, he had to go away on a mission along with Kolt and a few others, so I'm taking care of his car for a while. But enough chit chat about the car," Nina said, "mind telling , how the hell did you end up on the rooftop of that building? Nathan told us you won't be arriving until the day after tomorrow, and the next thing I know, I'm told to pick you up from a random building?"
"Well, let's just say I got an ability to travel around faster." He slyly smiled, because he knew what Nina was about to say.
"Damn! Another ability? Are you kidding ? How many abilities do you have now?"
"I don't know... maybe a dozen or maybe more?"
"You, brother and sister duo just never cease to amaze . On average, a human only has about 6-7 abilities but both of you are on a different scale. Even Johnny doesn't have more than 12 abilities, I think. But Nicole has more than abilities than him so-"
"Woah Nicole has more abilities than Johnny?"
"Yeah, or that's what I assu because the stronger you are, the more abilities you have right? And she's stronger than him"
"If that would've been true, then I'll be the king of the world..." Arnold mumbled.
"Did you say sothing?"
"No, I just wondering how did Nicole get so strong in so little ti..." Arnold replied and got lost in his thoughts.
"I don't have any idea, but the doctors said she already had so powers but they were in a dormant state and awoke due to a trigger or sothing..."
'I do have an idea how she got so strong in so little ti... she might have a system too, that could solve the mystery behind her having so many abilities and her sudden power-up. But nah, she wouldn't have one, it's not possible, right? Yes, it's quite absurd to think that, but then Jake had one as well. But if she had a system, my system would've inford if there was another paladin around when she visited at the alpha base,' Arnold's mind was racing faster than a horse, 'damn I forgot my system is offline and is only using the basic functions. Damn it! Does it an in future the system will force to fight her as well...'
Arnold was silent for the rest of their way.
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