Adam

The streets of Lekki, Lagos

           The rain was drizzling now, pouring lightly from the night sky.

 September rain. The kind that never really ended.

 The streets were not particularly empty, but it wasn’t as busy.

 There was the tap-tap sound of Adam’s foot against the floor as water splashed with every step.

       But it was light. Almost inaudible.

  Because he was trailing them very closely.

    Just earlier, under the drizzling rain, a Daimler had come to an abrupt halt along the road and pushed a young girl. The person inside seems like her driver, and the clothes she wore show evidence she was probably the owner of the car.

But what made the driver pusher out, he didn’t know. And now, as she quickly walked under the rain looking for cover, 2 men followed quickly behind her.

   They took the next bend to the right, into another open but empty street, trailing the girl closely, but unaware that they were being followed themselves

   Adam walked casually, careful not to give a sound at all .his kissed his teeth barely “robbers”

  He hated anybody that seemed like a bad guy.

  He followed closely , the street light began twitching, a sort of ominous sign, then to his surprise, one of them clicked his fingers and the lights went off.

  Adam was surprised at the sudden development ”what is this supposed to mean?” he asked himself “who is that girl anyway that people like them would be after her ?”

  The girl paused as well; hearing the clicking of finger and seeing all the lights go off at once. She knew they had come for her as well.

  She turned around slowly, shaking; her eyes heavy with fear and dread. “who are you ?” she asked slowly, fear in her voice.

  The rain was still drizzling softly and her hair was soaked, the rain clouds had formed a thick blanket above them to block the moonlight. So yes, it was pitch black now.

  She couldn’t make out the faces of the two people coming at her, but she could make out silhouettes of their body appearing and seeming to vanish as they approached

   She staggered backwards, the high heels making clapping noises against the concrete floor. “What do you want?” she asked “haven’t you taken enough from us already?”

  The men paused, surprised to hear what she was saying

  “You know who we are?” the first man asked, he was the one who had flicked off the lights.

  “Yes” she replied “Aren’t you part of the organisation of bloody serial killers! The one that’s been targeting politicians and society top brass! The ones with the supernatural powers. “

  The man chuckled. “A pleasant surprise” he said with a grin “to hear that you are aware of us. What better gift to give to a dying person, than the identity of the dreaded killer himself”.

  He opened his palm and a ball of glowing light slowly manifested, setting aglow the entire radius just enough to reveal their face and the horror of the girls eyes. “Now then, to finish this business”.

  They approach closer and the staggered backward, then trip and twisted her ankle, then fell hard to the floor.

  She fell in a small puddle of water, the rain still drizzling and drenching them the more.

    The fear in her eyes was evident “Please! Wait please; you don’t what to do this! It’s isn’t human….”

  There was a loud clang sound that filled the air and forced everybody to pause.  It was the sound of metal striking something else. The two assailants turned around slowly.

  There, in the distance, was a young boy in his early twenties, standing next to a metal trash can and kicking it repeatedly. He wore dreadlocks over his head and had a healthy lean structure.

  He was barely paying attention to them and just kept kicking at the trash can. Now this was incredibly annoying.

   The light ball vanished from the first man’s hand and he took two steps forward. “Hey! Who are you?” he was addressing the new comer as calmly as he could.

  The boy froze, then turned around with a smile and waved “Don’t mind me. Carry on with your business like you didn’t see me okay”.

  He was being casual, they knew. This guy was far too calm for this situation.

  “You’re here to save the girl, aren’t you?” the man asked again “Don’t thin k of yourself as some hero. Get out of here while you still can, or face the consequences!”

  The boy totally ignored this threat, he grinned “My name is Adam. What’s your name by the way, girl?”

  The girl was thrown in to a state of confusion ‘He’s asking for my name at a time like this?’ she screamed inside her head

  “Uh…Remi” she managed

  “Okay Remi” Adam said, ignoring the two men there as he approached steadily “Do you want to leave here alive? I saw what happened earlier with your car and driver, are these guys related to that too?”

  Remi was astounded; Adam wasn’t the least bit scared of these guys, why? She nodded absent-mindedly, figuring somewhere in her head that he was her only hope now.

  Adam came to a halt a few metres away from them “Then…I guess the good guy will just have to pay them back in their own coin. After all, that is no way to treat a lady”

  “Hey” the second man, a grumpy looking, muscle headed guy, finally spoke up “What are you feeling like here? You think you can actually save her. She’s worth five million naira tonight! You think I'd let anyone interfere!”

  Adam still showed no emotion, he slid his hand into his pocket and took out his phone, staring at the screen as the rain dotted on it. He sighed. “It’s getting late. Let’s go home, Remi”

  “Enough of this bullshit!” the muscle headed man roared and stretched his palm towards Adam “Die!”

  He activated his technique, the ability to apply magnetism to inanimate objects and control their movement; telekinesis.

  All the objects in the surroundings suddenly rose off the floor. From scrap pieces, to the trash cans around. Then they were crushed into themselves, turning into huge scraps.

  The man grinned at Adam “For the record, this is all supernatural” he jammed his palm into a fist “Telekinetic art; Crushing bone!”

  All the junk pieces pulled in together, with Adam in their centre, and in a single instant, rammed into each other, crushing whatever was in-between and forming a large ball of compressed and crushed scrap.

  Remi’s eyes widened in horror ‘Did they just…kill him?’ she asked herself ‘What were you thinking Remi? That he could somehow save you. What a stupid…huh!’ she gasped and her eyes widened even more at what she saw. It was a miracle.

  There, safe and sound and standing on top the large ball of scraps was Adam.

  He was glaring at the two men with contempt and his entire body was covered with brilliantly crackling electricity.

  “Hey” he said scornfully “Why don’t you keep all the trash to yourself. Don’t try to get me dirty”

  The man took a step backwards “Wait a moment…” he choked “You’re a …”

  “A calvary” Adam took the words from his mouth and grinned “Just like you two”

  For a brief instant, thunder clapped in the sky and lightning flashed, revealing the look of surprise and shock on Remi’s face.

  And in that brief instant, Adam saw it too. The surprisingly shimmering blue eyes that this girl had.

  As he stared into her eyes in that instant, a not so distant flashback hit him; one of a raid.

  There, he had seen a man with strikingly the same colour of eyes. Shimmering blue eyes.

  As he paused for an instant in his memory, the other man with the ability to control light flashed behind him, holding a massive ball of light in-between both palms and hovering for a second mid-air.

  “Light art; Ring lord!”

  The ball of light split into a dozen rings of light and all accelerated towards Adam at blinding speed, cutting everything in their path and setting off a chain explosion that took the roof of the building they had struck.

  But right after the set of explosions went off, Adam’s voice sounded on the floor, next to the big guy.

  “For a user of light techniques, you’re pretty slow”.

  The man landed and turned around amazed, to his surprise, Adam was standing next to his partner and had placed a hand on his chest.

  The big man couldn’t move, his arms outstretched but stiff.

  “If you want to attack me from behind” Adam continued “Do so silently. However, I don’t need to. I want you to know what hit you”

  There was a quick crackling sound of electricity, and then the next instant, the man was blasted by a tremendous force.

  As he shot backwards, there was a small sphere of electricity on his chest that was evidently pushing him backwards.

  He smashed into a shopping mall, striking the wall with so much force that the concrete pillars gave way instantly and exploded.

  A loud shattering sound followed, as electricity blasted all the glasses to pieces.

  Adam’s eyes bulged out “Damn! My bad, I lost it there for a second” he chuckled softly and scratched the back of his head “It’s a good thing I already set up my thunder vault.  Nobody knows what’s going on in here…”

  The second man was behind him again, rings of light surrounding them instantly. ‘This guy is the one, isn’t he?’ he asked himself ‘I’ve heard about the electricity user from the missionaries. It has to be him. Besides, only four people in the entire world can manipulate electricity. I have to hit him with my full force!’

  “Light art; Sirius!”

  All the rings blew up simultaneously in a blinding explosion, rocking the floor and totally incinerating everything in a 50yard radius.

  Remi was in this radius, and her eyes gleamed with fear as the light raced towards her and engulfed her completely.

  As the light subsided, the junks and street poles and trash cans were all set ablaze.

  The man was heaving, having drained enough stamina from the last attack.

  ‘I used up more than 70% of my stamina on that last attack!’ he cried within himself ‘So how…how on earth is this guy still alive! And he managed to save the girl too! Just how!’

  Adam was standing at a distance, facing the man with a cocky smile and Remi wrapped in his arms like a little girl.

  “Good work closing your eyes, Remi” he said calmly and Remi slowly opened her eyes.

  She was shocked to see herself in his Adam’s arms.

  The street was lighted by the burning flame from the previous attack, and it was in this light that Remi finally saw the full face of her saviour.

  She couldn’t believe it; this face wasn’t the face she was expecting to see.

  Her eyes brightened as a renewed hope flushed through her and her lips moved “Adam”.

  Adam barely paid heed to the fact that she had called his name.

  Although the way she did, it was as though he was someone she knew.

  Not possible; someone with his name and face.

  He dropped her softly from his arms and stepped in front of her “Your part was to close your eyes, Remi. Now just kick back and relax. We’re going home soon. First, let me take out the real trash”.

  The man gasped for breadth “What…what are you?” he asked in confusion “How are you so fast, and strong, and still resistant to my attacks?”

  Adam smiled at him “First question. What am I? Let me answer that for you. I am a calvary, like you guys. But unlike you boys, I’m also a missionary. You know who the missionaries are, don’t you idiot?”

  He pointed a finger at the man now “Your second question, I won’t answer that. It’s boring stuff. Instead I’ll tell you about the technique I used to kill your partner”

  He opened his palm now, and a small point of electricity crackled mid-air, then slowly began enlarging by pulling in electric charge from thin air.

  “You see” Adam began “By pulling in negative charge from space, the phenomena we call creating electricity, and amping and compressing it to a single point, I create a dense sphere of accumulated electricity that packs enough charge to instantly crush a heart ten times the size of a human, and enough magnitude to practically destroy anything from the sheer force. So yes, I lied when I said I lost it with your friend. I was just joking, for the record, I always joke”.

  Suddenly, Adam appeared standing in front of the man and his palm was already touching the man’s chest, the only thing in-between being the sphere of electricity.

  “Here’s the part you light users need to understand. Although light isn’t so common, it isn’t considered scarce. So it makes it easy for us rare electric users to understand your basic techniques and output. Oh, I forgot to tell you the name of that technique. Electric art; Thunder clapping bullet”