Chapter 13: Chapter 4: Ally Part 3

Suddenly Zavier felt a sense of direction. “Then that’s probably your guy. Shen. We need to figure more out about what happened to these people.” Zavier mimicked the expecting glance Yafu gave him earlier.

Yafu glanced at the TV and then looked at Zavier. “I need you to translate for me.”

Zavier was confused. “You can speak English, dude.”

Yafu responded, his voice barely trying to conceal his irritation. “No, I can’t. I’m using my soul energy to hear your intent in my language. In fact I’m doing the work for both of us so you can understand me in my language.”

“How the fuck does that even work?”

“Brain waves and such. I learned how to do it, not how it works.” As Yafu was speaking, Zavier noticed for the first time his lips were not matching what he was saying. It was like watching a foreign TV show. “It has a limited range. If we were shouting at each other from across a canyon, you’d hear gibberish from me and vice versa. It also doesn’t work through this moving picture. I can’t lock in on their cognitive intent through the glass veil.”

Zavier sighed. He was going to feel crazier than he already felt repeating the local news verbatim for the next thirty minute block. But he obliged. The report was done in a standard local news format. Basic facts with the slightest hint of fear mongering and threat exaggeration. Basically, the two men were found slumped outside bars late at night, initially thought to be drunk until they didn’t respond to bouncers at closing time. One was an accountant, one was an insurance agent. Both were family men and a lot of the story focused on that and the strangeness of their condition. The third guy was a security guard for a warehouse just outside of town. He was found at his post by a coworker. The man claimed he was attacked but could not provide much detail of the assault. The fact that the warehouse had no exterior cameras made the perpetrator quite elusive since they did not appear to enter the warehouse after assaulting the guard. Zavier finished the second half of the new report and then started on the repeat at the top of the hour until he got to the point he had started at. Thankfully they did not spend much time at all on anything else. The celebrity birthdays and deaths translation to Yafu was a long three minutes.

Once they had gotten to repeat information, Zavier let Yafu know and then turned to Yafu and waited for him to speak. Yafu took a minute, standing as still as a statue while he gathered his thoughts, then turned to Zavier and spoke like a chess player breaking down his opponents moves. “He wiped the memories of the two men he talked to at those bars. Most likely because he asked questions that were suspicious. I believe because he was looking for large indoor private spaces to perform the ritual to bring his friends here. That would explain the third man. He went to the warehouse the man was guarding but gave up on it as a location because it lacked the privacy he needed. He will go to the next place on the list. It will be another large space that is enclosed and empty.” Yafu then broke his analytical trance and turned to Zavier, “If you can take me to such places we should get close enough that I can sniff him out. We got lucky last night with the security guard. Tonight is most likely the last chance to stop him before we have more enemies to worry about.”

Zavier hesitated after the last sentence of Yafu’s plan. He was unsure what “stopping” this guy meant. At this point he felt the same feelings he did when May texted the Spider back earlier that day. The situation was spiraling out of hand and he needed to regain control before something dangerous happened. Trying to be as gentle as possible he spoke to an impatient Yafu, “What if we tip off the police here and they take care of it. If he is what you say he is, we’re putting ourselves in a dangerous situation.”

It became very apparent to Yafu at that moment, that Zavier had a better life than him. It was going to take a little bit more convincing to get him to take risks since he had more appealing places to go back to. Yafu was not as lucky back home.

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“It’s not a good call.” Yafu said dismissively.

“Why not? They’ll at least have numbers and firepower.” Zavier challenged.

“If this world is as ignorant as it appears, then they will not take you seriously enough to send more than cannon fodder to Shen. By the time they are convinced there is a threat, it will be too late. Besides, we actually are the most qualified to fight him.” Yafu replied.

Zavier's choice was made pretty clear by those comments. Yafu was going to fight this man. Zavier could help or abandon him. After a pause to consider this choice, Zavier spoke, “Before anything else we need to get you cleaned up. Do you have showers back in your world?” Yafu shot Zavier an annoyed look to which Zavier responded, “It was an honest question.”

“Yeah we do. I’ve had priorities above everyday washing.” Yafu said matter of factly.

Internally, Zavier was a little disgusted and annoyed at what sounded like a cop out for just plain poor hygiene, but he decided to conserve his energy and just roll with it. “Be that as it may, you’ll draw a lot of attention this dirty and with these clothes. Use my shower and I’ll give you some clothes to help you blend in. Just to get us around while we look for Shen.” Yafu obliged this request and headed into the bathroom. Zavier sighed a sigh of relief when he heard the shower turn on. It seemed Yafu was not unbearably stubborn.

While Yafu showered, Zavier went through his dresser and picked out clothes for his guest. Zavier had an inch or two on Yafu but it was close enough that almost all his clothes would fit. It would be better than the mud stained robe he had been wearing prior. Sifting through the stack of folded clothes, he selected his beat up but still wearable blue jeans and a white t-shirt with his school mascot imposed on the chest area. He was going to fit in a little better with these. It did occur to Zavier as he was picking out clothes that he was going through the process that would end with him following Yafu’s lead into this fight. He had initially proposed Yafu shower partially to give himself time to think about what to do, but the second he heard the water go on, he flipped on autopilot and started the task in front of him. He just could not figure out an alternative with any sort of certainty of success. In the end, he was just defaulting to Yafu’s plan.

As he heard the water shut off, Zavier opened the door slightly, reached his arm in, and dropped the clothes onto the bathroom counter. He then sat on his bed and waited for a few minutes while Yafu got himself situated. It was a little amusing to hear clothes get pulled on only for them to get pulled off as Yafu clearly was testing out which way they were to go on. As he walked out, Zavier was half expecting him to have his pants or shirt on backwards, but to Yafu’s credit he got it right. Now that Yafu had cleaned off, Zavier was able to size him up well for the first time. He was incredibly skinny and scrawny at first glance, but had some subtle lean muscle mass on his frame. His dark olive skin and bright blond hair stood out more without mud and rain in it. His eyes were a dull, dark red. The combination of phenotypic traits on this man was certainly unique. Hopefully alien would not be people's initial guess when they looked at him.

Yafu gave a small nod to Zavier, almost asking him to say something if he was not wearing the clothes right. Zavier let his silence in combination with a quick look down of Yafu serve as affirmation that he was. Understanding this, Yafu moved back to his prior focus, “We need to get going. He’ll almost certainly start the ritual at sundown, when he believes he will have the most privacy. We’re going to have to check every place you know that fits his needs. Nothing escapes through the cracks.” This was the first time Yafu let a good amount of deep animosity seep into his instructions. Zavier could tell it was not for him.

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