Battlefield (4 page)

 

Orlando scowled and a slight growl escaped his lips. “Where are you? Show yourself instead of playing mind games with us. Especially if you want our help with this ever-precious and important grand mission of peace you've chosen us for.”

“My apologies.” Alan materialized before them in the middle of the room and took a good look around. Much like before, he still appeared in nothing but shades of red. Thankfully though, he wasn't on fire or glowing. He still, however, needed to put on more clothes.

“Your home is quite nice. I didn't mean to startle you or appear deceptive. I thought perhaps my vocal presence would be less frightening than my physical one, considering my previous manifestation seemed to trouble you. I will not make this assumption again,” Alan said.

“It was scary before because you demolished the roof of the mall and almost killed us. Why didn't you just poof your way down to begin with?” Orlando said.

Alan tilted his head to the side. “Poof?”

“He means teleported, or however it was you got in here. You appeared out of nowhere instead of making a big, messy entrance. We wanted to know why you didn't keep it simple like this the first time,” Cadence said.

Alan nodded slowly. “Yes, I understand now. I was not yet in your atmosphere. My teleportation abilities, as you called them, are limited.”

Orlando asked the most important question of them all. “So what now?”

“Now I will explain your mission,” Alan said. His tone grew more serious as he spoke in a slow, quiet voice. “Everything happening between my people will not only affect our world, but your own. You see, the two warring tribes are manipulating your species into doing their bidding, and it is much more than just talking to them and telling them about their ‘special abilities'. It involves illegal and unethical things as well.

“What we would like for you to do is find the instruments of these tribes and stop them from doing their work. While you are not law enforcement of any kind as of yet, you can still do everything in your power to make sure they are punished for their crimes.”

“I'm not quite sure how well that's going to work. Even if we gain the skills to do what you're asking, it sounds dangerous,” Orlando said, and rubbed at his arms. This sounded more complex and frightening by the minute. He didn't know if he wanted to do it.

JD shook his head. “You need to relax, man. We'll be trained in how to do all of this, right?”

Alan nodded. “Yes, of course.”

“See?” JD said as if that was supposed to make everything better. Orlando wanted to stick a needle into his bubble and give him a small dose of reality. This wasn't a comic book, a movie, or a video game. Still, Orlando found himself wanting to at least hear their visitor out. He had powers now, and the only people he could turn to were in the room with him. Alan was by far the most knowledgeable in the matter, and a little training in how to control what he did would be useful. How long he planned to stick around was another story entirely. He'd ignore JD for now.

“I don't know about where you're from, Alan, but here we have things called surveillance videos, cell phones, and the Internet, which make staying incognito difficult. I personally don't want to get arrested,” Orlando said.

Alan handed each of them a simple, plain, black mask that only covered the eyes. “These have always been a way of protecting one's identity. No one will recognize you, not even your mothers. There is one condition to this rule, however. Anyone who sees you remove this mask will forever know who you are. Be wary of those you show the truth to.”

Orlando stared at the mask, trying to make sense of Alan's attempt at sounding like some kind of wise guru. To him, it felt a little forced, as if the young man were trying to prove something, and that made him all the more wary. “You're not serious, are you? I put on this mask, and all of a sudden no one is going to know who I am? You're nuts.”

“By all means, give it a try. Put it on, right here, in front of your friends.” Alan gestured at Orlando with a smirk.

Hesitantly, Orlando did as he was told. “All right, it's on.”

All three of them stared at him blankly.

“All right, funny. Someone else give this whole thing a try,” he said while folding his arms. He gestured for JD or Cadence to go next. After a moment's pause, Cadence scoffed and rolled her eyes before placing her mask on as well.

He watched her put the mask on, and the moment it was placed over her eyes, it was as if every one of his senses became disoriented. Where Cadence had once stood was now a girl who appeared as nothing more than fuzz. The most he could make out was that she was tall, dark-skinned, and a girl, but he couldn't recognize her face. Almost as if each of his senses experienced static whenever they tried to tune in to her features. Just when he thought he had something figured out, he'd become even more confused. Where did he know her from?

“Okay, who are you?” he asked.

“You're one to ask. You're the one who's just standing around like he owns the place, and now you're demanding answers?” she snapped back at him.

“I only asked who you were. I didn't realize it was such an offensive question. And I do own this place. Got it? So tell me who you are now.”

“This isn't your house.”

“What are you talking about? I—”

Alan waved them quiet with a hand gesture. “Remove them.”

Both of them stared at the alien before looking back at one another. Slowly, they removed the masks. As he watched her pull off her mask, Orlando saw everything about her become focused and clear as day. Instantly he recognized Cadence.

JD stood off to the side with wide eyes. “Awesome.”

“I'm...” Orlando started, but he couldn't quite figure out how to say what was on his mind. What just happened? How is it even possible?

“Wow, speechless. That's new. I thought you had something witty to say about everything,” JD said.

“I see that no matter what happens, you're never startled enough to grow a brain.” Not his best comeback, but Orlando wasn't going to let JD get away with thinking he could out-snark him. His sarcasm was always a good way to deflect what he was actually feeling. The others didn't need to know how disturbed all of this was making him feel.

“JD, you better do your thing now, so that way we can all know who the other is even when we're ‘in costume',” Cadence said.

He nodded, taking his turn. “Okay, now it's on.” Again, everything about him became blurry and distorted. “And now it's off.”

Cadence blinked. “Why is this happening? It makes no sense.”

“Does any of this? While your planet's ideas of logic are greatly developed, there are still a few aspects of it you have not quite uncovered yet. It will make perfect sense in the future. For now, just accept it for what it is. The others you will be up against will be wearing the same sorts of masks, perhaps different in style but the same in function. Try your hardest to expose the other warriors,” Alan said.

“I'm still not sure if I want to do this, but I'm willing to try since it seems like it's the right thing to do, I think,” Orlando said. He glanced over at the others.

JD grinned. “I always wanted to be Batman.”

“Right now, that's appropriate. So we save the world one day at a time?” Orlando said. He still wasn't sure he understood it all, but he was trusting Alan to keep them informed. Hopefully, the more he knew, the more he'd start believing in the cause.

Cadence nodded at him with a smile. “This is crazy. I don't know why I'm even agreeing to do it, but saying no feels wrong.”

“We have a lot of cleaning and planning to do.”

“Nope, I'm not doing any cleaning or anything until we have costumes,” JD said.

“If you think I'm going to prance around in spandex and tights, then I'm going to have to punch you. I think costumes can wait. Do you have priorities?” Orlando said.

JD rolled his eyes. “
Pfft
, you don't have to wear spandex or tights, but it's super hero law to have a costume so no one recognizes you.”

“But that's what—” Orlando exchanged a glance with Cadence. She shook her head at him. “Right. Don't bother arguing. Fine, we'll get costumes, but we're picking out our own and we're not coordinating because I know you're going to do something ridiculous.” He'd go along with JD's stupid ideas for the time being. Humoring the guy would at least get him to shut up.

He motioned for the rest of them to follow him out of the room. “I have stuff in the attic to browse through if you want.”

“You are seriously no fun. What kind of stuff do you have anyway?” JD mumbled with an eye roll.

Orlando replied with an innocent shrug and a coy smile. “My dress-up hobby. Actually, my parents have a lot of clothes. They don't believe in throwing things out, so they packrat everything into the attic, claiming it has sentimental value or something.” He paused and looked JD's cut frame over. “You're about Dad's size. I'm sure you'll find something.”

The four of them trekked through the dark, narrow hall leading back to the main house.

“Just keep it casual until we get up there. Lyssa could be anywhere. She's pretty cool most of the time, but when she hears something interesting, she sticks with it,” Orlando warned. He paused at a closet door in his dark and practically empty basement. “Do you want to go up the normal way or the fun way?”

“Is it another secret?” JD asked with wide, glittering eyes. Orlando opened the door to show him a ladder. “So cool.”

“Have at it. It goes all the way up to the top, but there are exits on each floor, too. So don't get lost, all right? Just go all the way up and try not to kill yourself on it either.” He stressed the point.

“If you wish, I can follow behind him, and I will use my abilities to protect him,” Alan offered with about as bright of a smile as JD. They were a lot more excited by this than they should have been.

“Sure.” He shook his head as he watched the two disappear up the ladder.

“Come on.” He motioned for Cadence to continue following him up the stairs. Silently they moved through the house; she was too busy staring at everything to muster up much conversation. Orlando preferred it this way. He walked with his head down and his hands in his front jeans pockets, classic signs to leave him alone.

She did have one comment for him. “I honestly can't get over the style of your house. It's not like any architecture I've ever seen before.”

It had a few classic touches to it, but there was something unique about the angles that were different than most other mansions he'd been in. He'd noticed it as well, but he also didn't know anything about modern buildings.

“I'm sure you hear that a lot. I don't want to annoy you. I just can't help it,” she said, no doubt noticing his frown.

“Yeah, no problem.” He led her further up the stairs, pulling his hands out to use the handrail. Lyssa was staring down at them from the top. “What? We're going to my room to make out.” He knew she didn't buy that, but she also wasn't supposed to. He rolled his eyes. “I'm giving her a tour. Why are you staring at me like I have three heads all of a sudden?”

Lyssa looked first at her younger brother and then at his new friend; his new friend who was a girl, a cute one at that, and a smile started to form on her lips. No doubt she was getting the wrong idea. Maybe she would take his making out comment more seriously than he thought.

“Sorry, I didn't realize...Are you going to be here for dinner, too?” she asked.

“Doubt it. Probably another hour or two. But don't worry, she'll be back, and we can play twenty questions later,” Orlando said, and then he proceeded to move past his sister. “This is the master bedroom,” he said loudly as he pulled Cadence into an enormous room before shutting the doors behind them.

It hadn't been used in a long time. There wasn't a lot of dust, but the calendar on the desk near the far window still had August of three years ago displayed. Orlando was pretty sure that was the last time his parents had stayed longer than a day at the house. The books by the bed were slightly yellowed. The television was more outdated than it should have been, given the rest of the technology they owned. It was clean, but empty and hollow-feeling. He didn't like being there much.

“Stairs to the attic are this way,” he said quietly. He walked her through the walk-in closet, opened another door, and the two climbed more stairs.

“You know where a lot of things are,” she said.

“I told you before. I get bored, so I explore.”

The attic was huge and cluttered. There was hardly room for them to walk as they danced around box after box of things in an effort to get to the racks of clothing tucked away in the back. Cadence immediately began to look through everything. There was a great variety of styles and something for every occasion packed away. He didn't get why they kept so much stuff, especially since they weren't around to enjoy whatever nostalgia the objects had. He watched as she paused to admire a black, flowing gown covered with sequins.

“I'm not sure if I'm feeling anything,” Cadence admitted with a sigh as she moved from the rack to a box of hats and other accessories. She picked one hat up and put it on top of her head. “Ta-da! There we go. A disguise.”

“You know, if you got a pair of ugly bug sunglasses from the nineteen-eighties, you'd look like a celebrity,” Orlando said as he searched through a box of his father's old clothes.

“Thank you.” Why was she smiling so much at him?

“Er, right,” he said with a raised eyebrow.

With a giggle, Cadence picked up a black fedora and placed it on top of his head. “You should wear this. It suits you with your emo hair.”