A Meeting of Minds (Nightkill and Frost only)

It was a bright and shining day, not a good thing for the teen walking down the street, and it was one those good old fashioned New York summers where the black outs were rolling. That unfortunately meant that almost every person in the city was looking for a place to cool off at, selection not being very large, this could not get any worse. Jack was however hesitant when thinking that because his old Sensei, God rest his soul, always said, “There is always something waiting around the corner, whether it’s good or bad, you must always be prepared.” The teen missed the old bastard, looking down for a moment to wipe a tear away from his eye. It was still hard thinking about that fateful day.

Pushing sad thoughts to the back of his mind, Jack looked around the street to see if there was anything he should notice. Nothing really looked out of place given the scenario he was working with; some overweight tourist were sitting in under a bus stop cover, a homeless man was walking in circles telling anyone that would listen about his abduction (or something of that sort), and a child was being taken away from a fire hydrant by a police officer with a monkey wrench in the other hand. Not wanting the child to get in trouble Jack built pressure in the hydrant until it hit its breaking point, not very hard since it was an older one apparently. Water began to spray up into the cloudless sky and shower down on the unsuspecting people at ground level.

The cop was taken aback by the sudden wetness that was surrounding him and Jack took that to his advantage, walking to the boy at a rather brisk pace. The police officer’s grip was slack due to the shock of what had happened and the boy was just a surprised with his mouth wide open, not even trying to get away as well. It seemed Jack would have to do all the work. People were beginning to get a little crazy with their hysterics with the joy of being cooled down, some people danced and others were just falling to their knees and thanking the lord, an odd person to thank for something so easy to do.

Jack grabbed the boy by his free hand and pulled him away from his captor, the out of shape cop did not even seem to notice, and led him through the crowed. The boy finally began to come to his senses and understood that he was being rescued from going to the precinct or something else to that extent. “Thank you for the save, mister,” the boy had a raspy voice, sounding as if it had been hurt by years of sadness or possibly even physically hurt by some brute.

Jack looked down at the boy’s neck and saw a dark bruise forming just above his throat, the teen was horrified. How could someone actually hurt a little boy or any for that matter? “Did that cop do that to you,” Jack asked the child. Before the boy even had a chance to answer however the hero noticed a deep rumble coming from the alleyway, which was odd since the alley in question was normally deserted since it led to a dead end but the quickly growing noise said otherwise. Jack threw the child as far as he could from the mouth of the alley and as close to safety as he could as well as attempting to dodge the car himself but his left leg was clipped by the front bumper of the fleeing vehicle, which was probably being driven by wrong doers, at least that’s what it seemed like with them shooting guns in the air from the open windows.

It was just like Sensei always said, “always something around the corner.”

Nightkill was happy with life.

His meeting with Clement and Lindon had gone well enough, and now the new space technology was being developed, he was recovering from the sheer guilt of Amritsar, his stocks were high, he had a great butler, an amazing daughter, was busy working with a lot of other projects, and he had also killed off a dangerous economic opponent, who had been discovered dead of a heart attack. There were poisons that were virtually untraceable.

So now he was walking the streets of New York. The handsome Indian man saw a fire hydrant blow, and he smiled. It was warm weather, and this water would be a relief to all walking the streets. He saw a few people praising the Lord, and chuckled. The being had never fully understood the concept of religion, and had many debates with his butler, a devout Muslim, about the subject. He didn't believe in things like angels, demons and gods. Oh, he knew they existed, even dealt with them on occasion, but he didn't believe in them. That just encouraged them, and was the equivalent of believing in thunderstorms.

He saw a man and a boy leap out of the way of an alley, and a car sped out a few seconds later, the men in the car shooting guns everywhere. The people of New York scattered, relatively calm despite it all. When regular superhuman wars broke out in the streets, a few thugs with guns were nothing. They went to the proper hiding places, and Nightkill jogged over to the man and the boy. "You alright?" he asked in a concerned tone.

A man came up to Jack and the boy on the ground and asked if they were okay, something noble in an otherwise cruel time they both lived in. None the less Jack answered quickly, there was not much time to talk, he had to stop those guys before they could hurt somebody, “Yeah, I’m fine. Could you watch this kid?” Jack had lied about being alright, his left ankle might have been sprained or even worse broken but he could not concentrate on that right now. There were people that needed to be helped. The man might have been about to say something but Jack was in too much of a rush to even notice if he was or not, being that he stood and began sprinting down the dark and now vacant alley the car had just sprung from. He had to get out of sight so he could change into his hero costume.

Luckily the hero found what he was looking for, a fire escape on the side of the building in the direction the car had turned. Jack jumped up and grabbed the ladder of the escape and climbed as fast as he could, trying to push the pain in his leg to the back of his mind. Once he reached to roof and made sure that no one else was up there as well Jack changed his clothes. It did not take too long since he just wore the costume under his typical clothes, not something that was too pleasant on days like this but it saved time in the long run so it was worth it. Upon stripping the street clothes from his body he through them in his bag and froze the bag to the roof of the building, placing it in an out of the way corner.

Now that Frost was ready to go he began running in the direction the car had taken, hoping his practicing quick change time had paid off. Leaping from building at an angle, he hoped he could cut them off if he made for the direction they turned for next which the hero thought would most likely be to the right, since it would be easier with not having to cut across traffic, luckily Frost had guessed right. The car was now in sight and he had managed to get ahead of it by at least a hundred feet or so.

Ahead of Frost and the car were some shorter buildings, which would decrease the height he would have to jump from, something the hero found himself silently thanking the architectural design of the block planners for since that was the logical person to thank. Running as fast as he could and jumping the gaps of the buildings as smoothly as he could, the teen made sure to keep up with the vehicle that was catching up to him very quickly with as recklessly fast they were driving. Then all of the sudden Frost stopped turned and leapt from the building and towards the empty road below him. Hoping that he had done the math correctly in his head, then after exactly seven seconds the car passed under him and he landed squarely in the middle of the roof of it.

The car crunched and bent under the impact of Frost landing with his feet first, thankfully he had been taught how to withstand a fall from about that height, which is why Frost choose that building. Something did however happen that Frost had not expected, the car abruptly stopped throwing the hero from the car at the same speed it had been going. He hit the ground and skipped across the asphalt a few times until he came to a stop, when he lifted himself from the ground and looked to the car he had managed to stop he saw at least three fairly big guys and they all had a gun trained on him. Nope, this was not going to be a good day.

Nightkill nodded to the kid. "Hello." he said. "Come with me." Confused, the kid followed Nightkill, but it was plain he couldn't keep up. Nightkill sighed, and thought up a rational solution.

Pretty soon, a figure was racing toward the truck, not doing any fancy building jumps like Frost had, but simply running toward the truck and hoping to catch it.

And then, just as he would have caught the car, it stopped and a boy flew off the top of it, landing on the asphalt below. Nightkill saw three men aiming guns at the boy, and then Frost would see the same Indian man, with a young boy piggybacking on his back, punch two of the armed men in the back, and as the third was turning, he punched him in the face. The men went down. The driver of the car tried to start the car up once more, but Frost had damaged it enough so that it didn't start up at the first time.

Nightkill walked toward the window, and punched through the glass, hitting the driver in the face. He went down, unconscious like the rest of his friends. He set the young boy down on the ground gently, and turned toward Frost. He looked up at the buildings, and drew a conclusion rapidly. "Let me guess, you jumped from building to building, looking for a place to jump on and stop this car? Now, I can see that this was a good plan, but if you'd been off by a centimeter, it would have hurt and you would have failed. Now, I simply ran toward the car, and planned to stop it when I got there. I'm not quite sure how fast you are, but you should always have a plan B. My powers are quite diverse, so I had many plans as an alternative.

"I do thank you for stopping the car in the first place. It made stopping these men quite simple. Bank robbers, idiotic beings of the Earth. If they put half the effort they did trying to rob a bank that they did in trying to legally make money, they would have gotten it easily." he gave a chuckle. "Fools."

He turned to the teen on the ground. "In any case, I do compliment you on the disguise. Most would never recognize you, but I'm not most. You're the boy I met a few minutes ago. I know you recognize me, as I'm not wearing any disguise."

Frost listened to the man speak and knew pretty much instantly that he was no fool, which at times seemed like a very rare thing to the still young hero. He stood as he listened to the man as he continued to speak, he spoke quickly and wisely, so Frost did the only respectful thing and listened, and it was not simply because of gratitude it was also because it was the nice thing to do, and he had always been taught to respect your elders. Once the hero was standing he noticed that the boy on the other man’s back was the boy he had tried to help from earlier, the boy seemed to be in good hands so there did not seem to be anything to worry about.

After the man was done talking Frost responded, “Yes, it was a risky move but sometimes you have to take risks in order to succeed,” that was another thing his Sensei had always taught him. “And I agree with you on the part that they would have made the money much more easily and much more legally if they had put the same effort into a more honest living,” it was not exactly part of the ordinary for Frost to have discussions like this with intelligent company in the middle of a street with unconscious criminals either near or inside a smashed up truck, it was always nice to have a first time for anything unexpected.

“If you don’t mind me asking, what’s your name?” Frost knew that question was on a risky type of ground and was normally something you did not ask of other supers, but this man had already discovered his identity, or could at least spot him in a crowd, and helped him stop violent criminals, so maybe it was not so out of line to ask. Then looking around them Frost noticed that they were definitely attracting a lot of attention, not surprising the hero because of what the two of them had done, which did not make for a great conversation spot.

“Maybe we could carry this conversation somewhere a little more private?” that was a simple question or at least it seemed so to him.

Nightkill nodded. "Of course. The police will be here soon enough," he said, hearing the sirens in the distance, "and these men aren't about to go anywhere." he said with a slight chuckle. "I will inform you of my name when we reach a private location." he told the strange teen. He was impressed with the boy, who had formulated half a plan to defeat bank robbers who were heavily armed. When Nightkill was around his age, he had been fighting in the Korean War. But the man looked like whatever he wanted to look like. Extremely advanced plastic surgery methods he had invented and slowed aging did that.

"But what will we do with you, son?" he asked the boy who had watching this exchange.

(Short post since this issue needs to be resolved before he can have a large conversation. And because I am about to fall asleep on this computer.)

“Yeah, I know somewhere we can go,” Frost said with a little smirk, something he did anytime he was trying to be friendly or do something in a good natured way. “My only questions are though,” he then looked at the child still on the man’s back, “What are we going to do with him? And are you sure you’ll be able to keep up?” He still was not completely sure if the older man that had helped him would be so receptive to the idea of being playfully poked fun at but there was really only one way to find that out and Frost would find out soon.

Frost thought he might just take the guy to where he had left his clothes and just put those back on and remove his mask. It would not make much difference since the other man already knew who he was, meaning he would not really have to hide who he was. It would be nice talking to someone else with powers and not have to try and hide things for a while.

Nightkill chuckled. "Believe me, I'll easily keep up with you no matter how fast you run." he said confidently. "I'm not sure what to do with the boy though." he set the child down. "What's your name, son?"

He then turned to Frost as well. "We better get started walking there then. The police should be here in four minutes." he noted, the sirens coming closer. The man pulled out his IPhone, sent a text, and then he put the phone away. "Sorry about that. Had to send that text. Urgent business."

"Now, where is your secret location? And it better be secret. You have no idea how many people I run into who have their 'secret' locations be the first abandoned church or warehouse they can find. In fact, about a half of the abandoned warehouses in this city are probably secret lairs of wannabe superheroes and supervillains, and an eighth of the abandoned churches are as well. People just don't understand that clichés don't work well in real life." he sighed.

Frost heard his words with a slight sense of dread, trying to think of somewhere else he could take the man and not look like an absolute idiot. “What? No, I have somewhere way more secretive than some lame ass warehouse,” the hero said trying to not look like he was quickly trying to think of somewhere else, anywhere else, he could take the man. He had already shot down the place Frost had intended to take him and that was to his future base of operations, which was cliché but that was the appeal and it was close enough to the city that it would not take too long to stop crime. All the same he had to find somewhere else to go now.

“Follow man,” Frost said with a quick turn of his entire body and ran to the side of the building and jumping from ledge to ledge in order to get to the top of the building. Maybe showing off some off his moves would be enough to impress the man enough so that he would not pay attention to Frost expression as he searched his mind for somewhere for them to go. It did not take a long time to reach his clothing and bag that he had hidden and it looked like no one had touched it, something Frost was very happy to see since he had left his wallet in his bag.

Walking over to the edge of the building as he put his clothes back on over his hero suit and took his mask off, this however was more like peel off because of the spirit gum, and made his way down the fire escape. Once on the ground he walked from the alley and over to the coffee shop on the corner, buying to plain black coffees, one for the both of them. Sitting at a table, Frost motioned for the other man sit with him. True it was not a very secret place but it was all he could think of with the time he had had to find a new place. It was too bad he could show off his awesome new warehouse though.

With the boy on his back again, Nightkill followed Frost, jumping from ledge to ledge with ease. He hadn't done this building jumping for a while. He was glad that the skill still remained in him, though he considered it overrated. What was so hard about just walking? Nightkill watched the boy's expression with amusement. He had clearly made a warehouse his base, and decided to impress him by picking a more secretive and less clichéd base. Ah, kids these days.

He waited patiently for the boy to get his bag, and then followed him down the fire escape to the coffee shop. "Not a bad location." he told him kindly, and set the boy down. "So, is this boy your brother?" he asked.

“No, the kid was getting in trouble for trying to cool off,” Jack said to the man that still had not revealed his name to the hero. “I don’t know about you but I don’t like to see people get in trouble for something stupid,” which was very true. Jack had gotten in trouble and had run away from a lot of sticky situations when he was younger and living on the streets, those had been tough times and he would not let another boy make the same mistakes he had in his life. It would not be something that a hero would do, being a hero meant trying to help people without asking for anything in return even when that meant putting yourself in danger.

The child sat down at another chair at the table and sat quietly listening to the two men as they spoke about whatever came to their minds. Looking at the boy again he noticed a small box on the side of the table, opening it he saw that it was filled with a complete assortment of chess pieces. This was also the first time that he had noticed the checkered pattern on the top of the table, could this just be something that they did for a few certain tables or was it a themed café? It would not be extremely out of the ordinary in the city that never slept, there were a lot of competing restaurants and they would sometimes do anything to get a few more regulars.

Setting up his side of the table with the black pieces he asked the man another question, “Do you want to play a game?” This was a game that Jack had always enjoyed because it took more intelligence than most other games he had ever played, although he had never been very good at the game himself it was always nice to play when he wanted to calm down.

Nightkill shrugged. "Chess is a good game. Helps build up the mind and such." he said, taking the black pieces and setting up his side of the board. "Very old game. Supposed to have originated in India back in the sixth century, but I've found evidence that the game may be even older than that."

He chuckled. "That may be your opinion on the matter, but I firmly believe that stupidity should be punished. If not, it can be left to grow. If it is left to grow..." he clucked his tongue. "You saw those bank robbers. If someone had nipped their stupidity in the bud, our job would have been far simpler. Indeed, second chances are good and such, but you need to punish someone for their stupidity at all times." He looked at the surprised expression on the boy's face, and smiled.

"Listen boy. I'm far older than I appear. In my time, 'heroes' were rarer, and it was darker days indeed. Now, you have more complicated morals and such, but I'll bet humans will give up these morals if it came to it, and I daresay they will then make up some excuse on 'how it was needed to do so.' Hypocritical, but that's just how humans are." He glanced at the board. "You're white, you move first."

“If you snuff out all the stupid you’ll do more harm than good,” Jack said as he moved his first piece. He placed his hand on the pawn on the square F2 to F4, it was a standard move with little room for anything interesting to happen but it was a good way to see what kind of opponent he was facing. “Most times genius is confused for stupidity in younger ages,” he said looking up from the board and into the eyes of his opponent trying to see what he could have been thinking, “Einstein wasn’t always seen as being so smart.”

Jack then looked to the boy sitting quietly next to the both of them, despite having been with the both of them for so long he had still not spoken a single word. That fact worried the hero but he would not say it aloud, the boy would speak when he was ready and nothing would change that, or at least that was Jack’s plan. “Please don’t misunderstand me, I believe your age gives you knowledge that I don’t but this is simply a little counter thinking,” he said placing his hand on his coffee and taking the first sip, testing it to make sure it was not too hot. Fortunately the coffee was just right and as such Jack took a deep gulp enjoying the bitter taste.

Nightkill moved his pawn to G6, and gave a shrug. "You make a proper point. Currently, I am experimenting with faster than light travel technology, a concept many would laugh off as absurd. But it'll work." he said confidently. "I was experimenting in the human genome long before it was fully mapped. But there is a difference between the kind of stupidity you're talking about, and what I speak of. You're speaking of unrecognized genius, mere academical things. I'm speaking of practical stupidity, the kind that gets people killed. A few months ago in Sri Lanka, a bridge collapsed and killed hundreds of people because the engineer made a miscalculation. But he was high up within the company and he got away scot-free. And as we speak, hundreds of soldiers on the Indo-Pakistani border are dying on an everyday basis due to a few idiots who started a war." It may have been a trick of the light, but Nightkill appeared guilty for some reason.

Nightkill took a small sip of the Coke he had ordered. He didn't really need coffee, it not affecting him very much. Plus, he didn't sleep all that much either. He preferred Coke, for the taste. He remembered the times when there was actual cocaine in the Coke with a slight grin. He had a seizure on his first time drinking Coke, and didn't take another sip until the cocaine was safely removed.

Jack listened to the argument that the man before him was making and he had to admit that he made some very important points that could not be simply denied. “It’s true that there is stupidity that you speak of but unrecognizable genius makes more problems than simple academic problems.” Surveying the board in front of him there were still a lot of moves open to him but he decided he would take a slightly less risky move and moved the pawn at D2 to D3, nothing much but it would give him more room to protect his king in the short game. “Genius makes revolutionaries too, Malcolm X was many things but stupid was not one of them,” the teen hero said simply.

Looking to the boy beside them that still had not said so much as a word, Jack was a little surprised at the amount of attention he was paying to the game in front of him. Most children did not care for chess and would have very quickly lost interest in the mind game in front of them but this child was instead focused almost completely on the game, seeming as though he was not even blinking. Jack wondered if he had a child genius on his hands but he still was not sure of the boy. “I wouldn’t go so far as to say that I’m a genius but I do think I took up the mask in order to help people in some way,” he spoke the truth because remembering back to his life on the streets was what kept him fighting.

“And it’s your turn by the way,” Jack was getting so caught up in the conversation that he had forgotten a common formal gesture of telling your opponent that it was there turn. Waiting for the man to move his piece and to answer the question another question came to Jack’s mind, “What’s your name by the way?”