Finding Beauty (Rewrite)

Chapter 33

~The Beast~ 

The city felt different. 

The difference wasn't tangible. It couldn't be grasped, seen, or heard. It clung to every air particle, it blurred the landscape of the brightly lit rectangles and was amplified in the constant buzz but Teigan could not name what it was for the life of him. 

He had been in the city for a few days searching for someone in need. The task was a lot harder than any superhero show made it seem not because of a lack of people in need of help but because of everything else.  

 Teigan had decided to go about his new mission of saving someone in a similar fashion to when he was busting criminals. 

He kept watch of the news. He had all of his news reporting apps handy, giving him alerts every time something went on in his vaccinatie. His eyes were peeled as he made rounds around the neighborhoods, spending extra time in the ones which had the most trouble. 

Even in the handful of days he had been there, he had witnessed multiple scenarios where someone was in need of help. The act of actually helping was proving itself impossible. 

The situation had to be just right. 

Teigan had to have time to arrive on the scene ahead of the authorities, so ahead of them that he could help the person and then escape. The incident had to take place at a low profile location. He couldn't risk having tons of people at his every side. Whenever he captured a criminal, he made certain there were little to no witnesses around. No one was there to gather information on him or make lasting observations that could help the police find him. No one saw a person transform into a rose right before their eyes or witnessed his super speed and strength. 

The most shameful condition of his crime fighting endeavors was that with his dwindling powers, he could not risk getting involved in particularly dangerous situations. 

There had been a shootout a couple blocks from him but if one too many bullets hit him he would be sprawled across the concrete waiting for the police to find him with the person he was supposed to have saved right beside him. He had to let the police handle that one. 

He was growing impatient. 

Most of it was out of the desire to break the curse. He wanted his mother back, his human features back, and to be resolved of the responsibility of having a garden full of criminals somewhere in the city. 

Another contributor for being impatient was a desire to be back home with Beth. It scared him how much he thought about her. He would see something and think to himself, I can't wait to tell Beth about this. He would have a problem or an issue and want to hear her perspective. More than anything he missed being around her. He was starved from human interaction these past few years, that was more obvious than ever. Teigan figured he had never really noticed it until Bethany. Yet, he was certain she couldn't be easily replaced with another person. He didn't miss human connection so much as he missed Beth the person. 

2:30 am. 

He gazed down at the streets below him. He was on the roof of a building near a train station, keeping watch. The neighborhood was famous for its muggings. The perpetrators carried knives and weren't afraid to use them. Someone had bled to death a block away a few weeks prior. 

Teigan spotted a group of men hanging out under some scaffolding. There were about three of them and they were watching a middle aged man stride towards the subway. Their presence made the man move faster. 

One of the men jerked his head in the direction of him. The other two followed him and trailed behind their target. 

The older man was carrying a briefcase and his winter coat was designer. They had to have made the same assumption Teigan did when they looked at him: he had money.