Jace X vs. Project X

Chapter 4: Pricks by the Pier

     James Bakth. I was fixated on the name so much I began to carve it into the desk in the hotel room. I didn't have a game plan to go by or any way of knowing the guy's face, and I knew that Antonio wasn't gonna give me anything else, so I felt like I was in a dead end. It didn't help that I hadn't slept at all the previous night trying to think of a way to find this guy. I couldn't just look the guy up on the internet, he wouldn't come up anywhere. All I could think of doing was waiting by the pier all day and waiting to see who looked most like a smuggler and dealer.

     Amaya and I had decided to wait at the pier in my car literally all day, watching the numerous different people walking past but none of them staying any longer than five minutes at a time. At some point, Amaya made a game out of making up strangers' reasons for moving around.

     "That guy in the suit," She said as we watched a business looking male walk from one end to the other. "He's undercover for the CIA and he's waiting on an informant to call him." It only got funnier when the guy actually pulled out his phone to call someone.

     "If that turns out to be the informant, I'll give you 10 dollars," I told her with a quiet chuckle. I looked at a lady who was nearly sprinting past everyone. "Hm... I say she just found out her boyfriend's been cheating, so she's running to his place to catch him in the act." Amaya laughed as she pulled out a Sprite from the glove compartment. It was still cold from when she bought it maybe two hours ago. It was getting late in the day by the time any of us said another word.

     "So... about your powers..." She said. I sat up as I cracked my neck. "The explanation you gave me was rather brief, and barely gave me anything to go on. I get you didn't get your powers the same way I did, but... how exactly did you get them?" She asked me.

     I looked at her and I could tell she wouldn't give up the subject without an explanation, so I sighed and told her, "It's... very complicated. I had a very rare terminal disease sleeping in my blood, waiting to just wake up and kill me over the years. I was given a serum to nullify the disease and it ended up giving me... well, whatever it is my arms can do. Become weapons under my control, along with being unable to take any real damage, or get sick, or even die as far as I know." I sighed as I thought about it more. "But honestly, I think I'd rather have the disease than these powers."

     "Why's that?" She asked. "You always talk like you have this cloud of guilt over your head."

     I looked back at her with a more  stern look. "That's too personal for us to talk about. My powers are one thing, what I went through is another." The look I gave Amaya was all it took for her to drop it.

     "...Who's Dawn...?" She asked a few minutes later and I practically snapped my neck turning it to face her. Her face went white and she stumbled on her words. "Y-you say her name in your sleep a lot."

     "Don't. Don't ever bring up that name EVER again." I said as calm as I could without shouting, but anger was still in my tone. She opened her mouth to say something, but she looked forward and sunk in her seat, sighing as we returned to silence.

     "I don't have much for my past you know," She said to break the silence. I looked over at her and arched a brow. "I have a brother, a mother, no father. But my past is practically Hell. My mother was self centered, arrogant bitch who could barely look after two kids. Every night, she had a different guy come home and they were always gone by morning. I tried my best to protect my brother, but something between us happened, something really bad... now he refuses to even acknowledge me as a person, let alone a sister..." She sighed at the last part. "I ran away from home at 17 and I've been living in Silver Streak since. I've been getting by through the money of others, taking their money for promises I never backed up. Usually for perverts and sleazy rich men with marital problems. They paid me and I ran off before their belts even came off." She looked at me. "I was at that concert trying to forget and I ended up getting powers that let me control others through emotions, and so many more I haven't even discovered." I looked at her and I took a moment to think about it.