Chapter 79: 72.1 Call the Champions (1 of 2)

It was early Friday morning when Jay nearly put his sword through Derek’s chest.

Jay had been sleeping all right for once. Then he heard a conversation outside. Two voices. They’d mentioned Jhara. Jay had sprung to fight. Mom needed to be protected, Jay had thought fiercely.

Kleo had shouted for him to stop right when he ripped the door off its rusty hinges and thrust his sword at the–evil toys–endless assassins–innocent agents–and diverted his aim a second before killing Derek and splattering Amanda in friendly blood.

“Sorry,” Jay said, lowering his sword. “Fuck. That was close. Really close.” He waved at Mom to stay in bed. He studied the motel room door on the floor. “Wow. I am absolutely sorry.”

“Jay,” Amanda said shakily. “I need you to see one of our psychiatrists.”

“No,” Jay said, withdrawing into the motel room a few feet.

“Brit,” Derek said in between panicked gasps. “She’s supposed to be good at this. Talk to Brit more.”

“She’s busy,” Jay muttered.

They had a bunch of breakthroughs yesterday for the Issues, Ideals, Improvements meeting. Emily had gone in depth about her darker upbringing, getting vulnerable with everyone more than any Divine had done before. She had needed that release.

And the response from her fellow Champions had encouraged a growing sense of camaraderie. It had also elevated Brit’s status among the Champions, too. She was slotting herself into being the big sister of the group. But she had her work cut out for her.

The Champions were riddled with issues before their first crawl and assassin murder spree.

“I’ll be alright,” Jay said. “I promise.” He plastered on a smile. “Besides, can’t you feel it in the air?”

Derek and Amanda regarded Jay warily. Derek couldn’t muster the words to speak. Amanda came forward slowly, presenting herself as a feeble mortal at Jay’s mercy. Making herself more pliable. More relatable. Lost and confused and concerned. But willing to relate, even if she was obviously scared.

“Sounds frightening,” she said. “What’s in the air?”

“The next fight,” Jay said. “I’m getting some crazy waves. But no direction. And my Chance dropped halfway.”

“Oh, no,” Derek said. “Not again.”

“It won’t be another Night of Knives,” Jay said. “It’ll be something different. Weirder. Darker. Grosser.”

Jay tilted his head as his mind faded in and out of 4D headspace–just a quirk of Gravity Affinity among others. Then he snapped back to normal. “Yup. Something different. Something horribly different.”

“Weirder. Darker. Grosser. What does that make?” Amanda asked.

“Don’t know,” Jay admitted. “But whatever it is, I’m thankful.”

The two agents gaped at him.

Jay smiled wanly. “I want more challenges. I want more changes.”

In a dark ceiling corner behind him, Kleo crawled around like a demented upside-down gremlin. Her beady purple eyes twinkled maliciously from the shadows.

“And I’m not alone,” Jay continued, his differently-colored eyes shining with dangerous intensity. “We’re all hungry for action.”

“You and Kleo?” Amanda hedged before realizing her mistake.

Jay frowned, scaring both agents deeply. “I said we are all hungry.” He leaned forward. “Even the holiest of us. That’s all.”

“All, all, all!” Kleo cackled as she crawled around the ceiling in circles. Then she stopped to gnaw on a corner. That held her attention until a roach appeared in the foyer by Jay’s foot. Kleo pounced and mauled the insect savagely. “Kill, kill, kill.”

The agents couldn’t utter a word.

“Jay, Kleo, stop being scary,” their mom said tiredly. “Get freshen up, man, you got school. Get ready for more of Hailey’s reading lessons, woman.” Their mom got up from bed and stretched. “It ain’t time to bathe in the enemy's blood.”

“Gotcha, Mom.”

“Yes, Momma.”

Jay dawdled away from the doorless entrance. Kleo slung the torn roach scraps out of the room and chased after her master’s heels like a possessed doll.

“Jesus, help us,” Amanda said, staring at the shredded insect parts.

“Heh.” Derek shook his head.

“What’s so funny?”

“There’s an MPC phrase some of us say ironically,” Derek answered before falling into a seat against the wall. He held his head in his hands. “Some agents might not be ironic about it, though.”

Amanda fell into a seat next to him. “What’s the phrase?”

“YoAnna, guide us.”

The agents ignored the CWG’s pestering calls for updates since they had all the surveillance recordings readily available. The two simply soaked up the moment as Jay’s closest agents outside of the pantheon. The oncoming promise of future horror weighed heavily on the mortals.

***

Jay wore all black today. From his hoodie to his shoes. He was not in a dark mood, however. Just because he wore all black didn’t mean he had to be edgy about it.

As sorry as he was for nearly swording Derek in the chest, he treated everyone amicably to keep the mood light. They had their usual breakfast with Derek and Amanda joining, ignoring the agents’ traumatic moment to play house with the Luckruns.

Jay’s attention was on his mom most of all. She was still not completely herself, but something felt better about her today than in the past couple of days. The way she twirled a butter knife around her thumb was a good clue.

Mom was going to get active again. Either to write. Or to cause mischief. She shouldn’t need Kleo.

“Mom, I’m taking Kleo with me today,” Jay said at the kitchen table.

Derek and Amanda halted mid-bite.

“You’ll find time to continue her lessons?” she asked with a lazy smile.

“Yeah,” Jay said. “Or I’ll dump that on Hailey when I see her.”

“Works for me.”

Jay turned to Derek and Amanda. “For today, you’ll do what my mom wants. Follow her. Serve her. See that she’s alright.”

Amanda puffed up. “I’m supposed to–”

“Okay,” Derek said.

Amanda whirled on her MPC counterpart. “But I’m CWG! I’m supposed to stay on Jay and keep watch when he’s outside of school!” Funny how she took her job more seriously when Jay nearly killed a man.

Oh, wait. Wasn’t that the perfect time to pay more attention?

“Trust me,” Derek said sagely. “Heavy Chance fluctuations. Jay acting weirder than usual. It means rough surf is incoming, and it’s better we wait it out and do what we’re told.”

“He can’t go to school,” Amanda said. “Not like this. He’s a danger to innocent students. And I’ll call up to the highest chain if it’ll stop him.”

Amanda stared at her meal, doing her best to hold her composure. Her hands were balled into fists on each side of her plate, which gave away how anxious and scared she felt without needing emotional gravity senses.

Jay laid his hand on her fist.

“I’m a danger to everyone,” Jay said. “But I got monsters to fight. Please, Amanda, let me go to school. I need to go.”

Amanda cracked a little. “Are they at school? The monsters?”

“No,” Jay said for certain. “I just need to go there before we can launch.”

“Who launches? And where?” Amanda pushed quickly.

Jay kept his hand on Amanda’s and leaned back into his chair. He closed his eyes and felt for a message from his 4D headspace. Nothing.

“Gotta wait and see,” Jay said.

“I swear Jay if you spill a kid’s blood I’m going to punch you so hard,” Amanda declared.

Jay’s eyes widened at the mention of ‘punch’ and how gravity rippled out from it. He heard his mom snort, making him wonder if she felt the significance of punch as a narrative keyword for manipulating Chance.

“It’s time for you children to go,” Mom urged.

“Wanna call someone to escort them, Amanda?” Derek suggested.

“I’ll go and call someone,” Amanda muttered.

“Nah,” Jay said. “I got my own ride.”

He stood and offered his elbow to Kleo. She finished a piece of bacon, skipped from the table to his arm, and squirreled into his hoodie’s pouch. Jay rested his hands in his hoodie where Kleo fussed, gnawed, and wrestled with his fingers. She had a lot of energy to spend after staying in the motel for so long.

“What ride is that?” Amanda arched an eyebrow.

Mom broke into laughter. “It’s about damn time.”

“Derek? What’s going on? What’s Jay gonna do? Derek?” Amanda raved.

Derek took a calm sip from his tea. “Expect crows’ feet in your early thirties if you don’t chill out, Amanda.”

Jay burst into laughter as his body glowed with dim purple light. He floated off the floor, hovered for a few seconds to burn Amanda’s gulping fish expression to memory, and flipped into a fall out of the motel room. He bounced off the hallway wall, pointed his feet toward the back lot exit, and slammed his way out with a stomp. Then he diverted Earth’s gravity to drop him toward the sky and in the direction of his school.

***

Jay had to land in an alley that concealed him when his Chance dropped to x3. It went back up to Chance x5 once he exited the alley and joined a flowing procession of Central High students.

Jay couldn’t buck the constraints of having to hide his powers. And the System was willing to punish him for that. Or warn him. On this occasion, Jay was okay with listening even if it rankled and stopped his fun.

The school arc was still playing out Champion storylines transitioning from old lives to new lives. All the Champions were more or less aware of Chance, stories, roles, and the System’s ridiculously influential nature. They’d all agreed to see to and solve their mini-character plotlines holding them back at school. Then they could transition into the next arc, whatever that could be.

“I’ll fly more freely sooner or later,” Jay said with a sigh, holding the moment lovingly in memory.

The wind. The flips. The twirls, strides, and tricks. The great expanse of sky with nothing in his way. That was a way better experience than the first time he used [Dance Floor Relativity] in a big way–speedrunning his team behind the staircase militia.

At the very least, he’d gotten some Skill level-ups thanks to Kleo joining him in the g-flight fun.

Dance Floor Relativity leveled up to 18!

Moonwalker leveled up to 18!

Dance Floor Relativity leveled up to 19!

Orbital Mastery leveled up to 16!

Gravity Mastery leveled from 3 to 5!

Orbital Mastery leveled up to 17!

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Even though Kleo was in his hoodie’s pouch, she could still use [Orbital Mastery] and [Gravity Mastery] just fine. That helped mitigate Jay’s mana cost, which was pretty freaking swell even when the Skills were far from the pinnacle of Kleo’s Rank 3 growth. On top of that, Jay’s [Status Channels] Talent would boost Jay’s casual mana regen as the school day rolled on.

Yeah, flying did drain some mana–but Jay had crossed a milestone off his magical bucket list.

• Fly to school like a magic badass. Checked!

Right at the lion gates, Jay found Emily heading inside by herself. It was a strange sight since the Divine tended to enter school together as an absolute unit. And Emily’s style changed, too! She was wearing–

“Hey, Jay, what’s up?” she asked, interrupting Jay’s ogling.

“I nearly killed Derek,” Jay said with a smile. “I was a split second away from thrusting my sword through his heart. If we ignored me ripping the door off the hinges, me spraying Derek’s blood everywhere would’ve lost the motel deposit for sure. Am I right or am I right?”

Jay laughed.

Emily’s eyes widened behind her oversized round glasses. Jay had spoken aloud instead of quietly for only Perceptive Champions to hear. Amid the throngs of students and teachers streaming into school.

“Kids and their violent video games,” grumbled an old and salty teacher.

The other Systemless followed his example except for paying their respects to a Divine with a respectful bow or greeting. Jay got a couple of greetings and lots of stares at his glowy eyes.

His eyes were shining brighter than usual. Jay could tell Emily sensed something deeply wrong with him.

“It’s no big deal,” Jay assured. “I’m fine. Totally fine.”

A few minutes later, Jay found himself in the school’s journalism and news production studio. It had lights, cameras, and everything you needed on set for recording and distribution. All in one half of the studio. Then on the other half held rows of computers and printers. And lots of different charges for phones.

With one order, Emily had the journalism kids leave the room. The instructor came out to see what was wrong. Emily acquired his office and had Jay sit in a spare chair in front of the desk.

She locked the door.

“Jay,” Emily called carefully, more like a friend than a seductress, “you are drenched in the promise of death.”

“They’ll be lots of fighting soon,” Jay said with less perk and lightness in his voice. “Can’t you feel it?”

“Yes,” Emily admitted. “But I’m trying this thing where I stay balanced. When it happens, I’ll be ready. But I don’t know if it’s good to carry it like this, Jay.”

“What happened to you being the shadow to my sunlight?” Jay asked neutrally.

Emily paced casually around the office space. Pinned news clippings covered the corkboard. Haphazardly stacked paper towers laid across the desk, building a castle wall behind a laptop. Emily looked like she didn’t belong for some reason. She was not the femme fatale, the deadly bombshell from Monday morning here.

She was just a pretty girl wearing a billowy knee-length black skirt, black and white stockings, dark military-like boots with rugged treads, and a comfy-looking sweater with a heart and a skull stitched in red at the center. She seemed way more centered compared to her emotions the past couple of days. She looked transformed for the better, really.

Her Affinity didn’t rage coldly around her. And her [Spooky Friends] bumped into Jay with a more friendly approach. The black mini-whales with jiggly red eyes and thin smiles gathered around Jay’s pouch and booped Kleo’s hideaway. The [Faerie] scrambled out and swatted at them. They swam away, and Kleo chased.

Emily stopped to watch Jay’s loyal familiar play with the Skill-based servants. It was another interesting cross-power interaction. These things became more noticeable now that the Champions were more aware.

Jay fell deeper into his dark mood from the sight of magical creatures in play. Then he realized there wasn’t a bottom and fell further into sorrow.

“Oh fuck, Emily, I nearly killed a good man,” Jay said into his hands. “Oh, fuck, fuck, fuck. I was finally getting some sleep, and I slipped. I let myself go and [Omen Bearer of the Apocalypse] took over since it felt like a real threat. And Kleo had to shout. And I ripped the door off the hinges. And all it would take was being a split second slower, and that’s that, Derek’s dead on my sword. But that didn’t happen.”

Jay was shaking like crazy after spilling his guts. He grasped at the air, searching for a smoke, but it was fruitless. Emily wasn’t going to indulge here.

Instead, he found Emily’s cool hands clasping one of his. Then the Divine went a step forward and knelt in front of Jay.

Jay inhaled sharply. What the heck was a Divine doing kneeling in front of him?

“I killed a man that I could’ve stopped nonlethally,” Emily said. “It was only the start of the week, wasn’t it? The two of us walking with not a care in the world, hunting down dead clues left behind by your mother’s assaulters. Global assassin stuff before school. And in the mix was confused people. Men and women who had no real clue. And I used my powers to terrorize them. And it felt good. Just like all the years I would crush any geek or weirdo attempting a pass at YoAnna. But the Queen was just a role that she passed on to others most of the time. And this whole shtick I got… even with my issues… it’s not an excuse to be a bitch.”

“Emily, stop, you don’t have to do this,” Jay whimpered.

“I have to Jay. Because Death Affinity isn’t evil unless I make it evil. And I need to be quick or else I’ll miss out.”

“On what?”

Emily smiled. “Challenging the old me and making changes. I can’t change everything. But if I start now. Just a little bit. I can be better, right?”

Emily had seen her mom get into abusive relationships after abusive relationships. And for a long time, Emily wanted nothing more than to kill the men abusing her mom. Part of that might’ve translated to being mean to guys trying to get close to YoAnna–or sometimes just guys overall. That probably inflated into being one of the meanest Divines for the past couple of years now.

J-Prez: her persona would mercilessly hack you to pieces by word of mouth or social media.

“Did I ever tell you I wanted to be a homicide detective?” Emily said, caressing Jay’s hand merrily.

“No,” Jay said.

“One time, Mom and I got away from this really bad asshole. But we left some stuff. When we came back. He was gone. And some girl he picked up was dead.”

“Fuck.”

“And mom freaked out of course. But I looked at that dead girl and wondered. What is death? What does it all mean? Why do people cause death when it’s so final? So grave–excuse the pun. Didn’t they know death is final? Death this, death that, why not investigate people who abuse death's finality and think they can get away with it? The best part is the percentage of murderers is skewed toward men, so it felt like I was double-dipping in my interests.”

She ran a hand through her waterfall of black hair. “Journalism was supposed to be the gateway to that. Especially after getting picked up by Dad. I didn't like him, of course. But he grew on me. And getting into a house with three other girls my age. And figuring myself out in ninth grade while part of this insanely weird sister pack. And then tenth grade happened.”

“Tenth grade,” Jay repeated.

“And that’s all she wrote,” Emily said. “Feeling better?”

Jay blinked. He wasn’t shaking anymore. The awful sorrow that wanted to consume him entirely halted. He was not completely okay, and he ought to treat Derek out somehow. Amanda, too, since she was getting yanked to and fro by Jay’s gravity and madness. They both deserved some kindness or appreciation when Jay could figure out how to show that.

Emily released his hand and popped back to her feet. She wore a pleasant smile. Her lipstick was still black, but she wore a light shade of rouge on her cheeks that made her face come alive.

“No more edgy Emily,” Jay said. “Just happy death-girl Emily. It suits you even more.”

“You just keep saying that because I’m pretty,” she said.

“You are pretty,” Jay admitted.

“Prettier than–”

“No.”

“Ouch.”

“Gotta stay real with you,” Jay said, grinning.

He slowly stood, feeling woozy from the huge fluctuation of emotions. Once he found his center, his mood became serious again, but not out of desperation or angst.

“Weirder. Darker. Grosser,” Jay said. “That’s the next fight.”

Emily tilted her head up, her eyes fluttering. “Innocent deaths. It’s already happened. I can feel it on the waves of your gravity, too.”

Strange spiritual stuff happened with [Mediums] and anyone pumping high into Conviction and/or the Chance Status. Jay’s ability to use incantations meant he had high enough spiritual latency to do some [Medium] stuff. And Brit and Emily’s talks throughout the week had explored a strange phenomenon [Mediums] could leverage–something akin to reading imprints, signs, flares, or messages from the spirits of others, especially when utilizing their specific Affinity.

No other Class could manipulate their Affinities for a wide range of effects like [Mediums]. Brit was already growing into a monster with her Holy Affinity manipulations. Emily was getting better at it, and Jay could feel it now as her Death Affinity passed around him like a crisp breeze on a chilly but bearable night. This version of Emily was less about power and more nuanced and controlled. Like the gap between winter and autumn that hadn’t frozen over yet.

“No location,” Emily said with a sad sigh. “I see. This is part of why you got pushed so hard. The System dumped all the echoes of death on you while the next fight is closing in.” She shook her head. “That’s shitty.”

“That’s gravity,” Jay said with a shrug. “We gotta find the missing piece.”

“Hm. Something like a herald.” Emily gasped. She felt the power of her own statement.

Jay hummed as the gravity waves passed through him. “That’s two.”

“Words of Power?” Emily asked. “That happened to me twice in my crawl.”

Jay held up three fingers. “My crawl.”

“Sick.”

They had some ideas that Words of Power were the System giving big hints. Or tools for easier Chance manipulation and big magic plays.

“Well, whatever’s going on, we’ll have to round up the Champions and….” Jay winced. “Oof. It’s Friday.”

“Yup.”

Jay shook his head. “Let’s go down the list of afterschool availability.”

Emily erased old markings on a whiteboard and got a marker ready. Then she nodded to Jay to list them out.

[1] Dennis: possibly his last football game forever.

[2] Brit: leading her last band performance forever. 

3] Casey: coaching the next generation of Cheerleaders before handing off her number one spot. 

[4] Mike, Lilith, Hailey, Macy: heading out to the outer mansion for spellcraft study and loot assortment.

[5] Frank: forced to brief the CWG chiefs due to bureaucratic bullshit.

“That leaves us and the twins,” Emily said.

“Me too!” Kleo cried, erupting out of a bin of paper scraps.

Emily’s brow furrowed. “Is she okay?”

“She’s been cooped up for too long and wants to kill things,” Jay said.

“I don’t feel that from her,” Emily admitted. “I can barely sense anything spiritual with Kleo.”

“You sure you want to crawl down that hole with me?” Kleo asked with a dangerous and humorous edge.

Emily shook her head.

Jay wondered if he was carrying a lot of Kleo’s killer edge, too. As the [Faerie’s] home, he could serve as the closet to her skeletons. Whatever that could be. At least he was centered and focused again.

He beckoned Kleo back into his pouch. She fought with his fingers and gnawed on them. He reread the lack of availability laid out on the board.

“If we were normal people,” Jay said, “we’d tell the Champions to kick this stuff aside. Focus on what’s important. And do the work we’re supposed to do.”

Emily smiled.

“But the Champions aren’t normal. In a game with storyline modifiers, the personal stuff matters. It can be the difference between a win or a loss.” Jay’s eyes shone with a different type of intensity. He felt himself swell with a sense of deranged and hopeful responsibility. He even got up to Chance x6. “If it’s just us and the twins, we’ll start it off and see how things go. But for now, let’s just carry on with school.”

“I hear ya, boss,” Emily said with an approving smile.

Jay froze on his way out. Boss, huh? He shook off the tingle in his spine and departed. The hand Emily held while comforting Jay was still tingling–filled with the echo of tranquility that had pacified the surging promise of death. As if death was something that should be peaceful and natural rather than violent and twisted. Or there would need to be a correction. So there could be balance.

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