THE ONE CALLED J

The Race

In a poorly lit room with no furniture except for a king-sized bed etched at the far end of the room. Terry's entourage suddenly appeared at the center, there was a black portal not too far from the entourage.

"How did it go?" Madame's voice began, it was coming from the king-sized bed. "Is there any news about this Sensei?"

"There is, he's every bit as good as the rumors say, from that, I don't think I need to say what else happened."

"Is that another way to say the Korean freak has died?"

"Pretty much," There was a short sigh. "What are your next orders?"

"We shall not attack for now?" She begins, Terry was surprised.

"May I ask why?"

"My younger brother has proven himself to be a formidable enemy and what's the greatest weapon of every man, the mind. It's the mind that enables a man to make choices which, in turn, shapes his life and truly, all a man can do is purely dependent on his state of mind, that's what we are going to cripple."

"J is the most narcissistic being in creation, how can his mind be broken?"

"Everything breaks," there was a snicker in her voice. "Sufficient force just needs to be applied.  J is too focused on trying to rescue Eva, without any further clue on where she is, he will get frustrated, his frustration will blind him and cause him to make wrong decisions, when he's receiving the burnt of those decisions, that's when we strike, at his very worst, when his mind is unsettled, when the state of his mind is ailing."

"David has the ability to restore the Korean freak," Terry says. "He might talk."

"And don't forget my ability to manipulate minds, he won't talk even to the death, it's no longer in his will to decide whether to talk or not, he just can't."

"f**k," Terry thought to himself. "The plan would be good and all if Joshua wasn't arriving here in the next moment, I am going to have to find a way to outsource."

"You did not comment what I said, that's a first, it means your mind is troubled, is there something you aren't telling me?"

"Nothing at all, I was just wondering why we have to be patient, I was hoping we'd be able to crush both Primordials at once," Terry lied.

"We already have the eclipse Primordial with us, she is going through all sorts of pain and mental agony, she will need it, even my remaining two younger brothers would need it if they are to survive the strain of what I am about to do to them, it's the only way creation can be restored to its normal glory."

"What do you mean?"

"Terry, don't push your luck, a man should know his boundaries," Madame had a fierce tone in her voice. "You only hear what I decide you can hear, Till the moment I summon you back, do what you want, look up on eBay, I hear they have many things there, who knows, you might even find a life but when I call you back, you better answer."

"Yes, Madame," the entourage says as he vanishes into the portal, as he vanished. The black portal also disappeared after him.

Terry appeared at the docks, he was by several boats. Many Russian fishermen were gathering their game from the river as they proceeded to move to some fishmongers who were out to buy their catch.

Terry vanished into one of the shadows of the fishermen, his entourage mimicking his every move, he began jumping from one Shadow to another until he arrived in front of a small cottage.

"Knock knock," he whispers.

"Who's there?" A voice asks from inside.

Terry shook his head as he looked to his right, there was a young boy in the field of vision, he jumped into his shadow and from there, he materialized in front of another cottage.

"Knock knock," he whispers.

"If you are coming in," came a gruff voice from inside. "It's either you have a proposition or a death wish."

"Definitely this place," Terry grinned as he spoke. "Yo, open up, it's Terry."

"Why don't you just use your shadow s**t and come inside," the gruff voice says back.

"Thought you said you didn't like it."

"Was just checking, get your ass inside."

"Alright," Terry grinned as he opened the door, it led into a small building where there were many children, young women and a few mature men chained to the walls and a few pieces of furniture. Two men in the room were not chained, one of them was extremely fat, roughly 200 cm tall, he was about to touch a woman.  The woman seeing him approach her, began screaming at the top of her lungs when she noticed him coming closer, as he touched her, her screaming stopped as she had transformed to a big chocolate bar, the guy licked his lips as he began to munch the chocolate bar greedily, his entourage was at his left side; it was five feet tall and had an irregular potbelly with beads all over his face.

As soon as Terry had entered, the door behind him suddenly clamped shut.

"Take it easy, Ralph," the other man in the building smiled at him. "If you keep eating like that, Spetsnaz might notice the disappearance of these foreigners."

"I doubt Spetsnaz will be bothered about this s**t," Terry had a skeptical look on his face as he focused his attention on the other man. "Adams, with the way Ralph is eating, you gonna need a better food supply source."

"I am more than capable of providing for my cousin's needs," Adams replied him and as he did, the duo heard an audible cry coming from Ralph's direction. Apparently, he had consumed all the people who were in the room, Terry was astonished as when he had walked in, he had counted about forty people there.

"The situation says otherwise," Terry says without missing a beat.

"What's your proposition?" Adams bit his lower lip as he turns towards him.

"I know these great villages in Africa, just full of people whom their government don't even know they exist, what's more, the niggas in those places f**k like goats on heat and their women, really fertile, it's the best food supply, you never need to kidnap any foreigner again, this solves your entire problem."

"You know," Adams begin wiping a tear from his eye. "It hasn't been easy for me since his parents died, I am his uncle, his last family member and he has this medical condition, I believe the doctor called it an intellectual disability, all he does is just eat and s**t everywhere, for some reason, he can only eat food from the effects of his entourage..."

"Look!" Terry stopped him from talking further. "I didn't come here to hear your sobs story, like you, I am only here for a proposition, you help me, I help you, that sort of thing, you dig?"

"And here was I thinking we were friends."

"We aren't friends, more of business associates," Terry says. "You got a problem, I fix it for you, if I got a problem, I expect you to return the gesture."

Adams looked back at his pitiful cousin who now sat on the floor and began to wail like a baby.

"Alright Terry," Adams sighs as he turns back at him. "What's the catch?"

Max and Dave had arrived at Joshua's location, he was with someone, Leon.

"You didn't tell us he was coming with us," Max was surprised to see Leon.

"Me neither but you know the weakest link always try to stick with the strongest," Joshua grins at Max. Leon turned towards Joshua with contempt, his face contorted with hatred and anger.

"After we find Kronk," Leon taps Joshua lightly. "If you are still yet to be six feet underground, I will ensure I put you down there myself."

Joshua Snickers as he was about to speak but immediately, they all heard a voice calling from the middle floors, they could all identify the voice, it belonged to none other than Hendrickson.

"Heard you guys were leaving," Hendrickson grinned as he landed. "Couldn't even say goodbye."

"Alright," Dave smiles. "Goodbye," he turns towards the rest of the teenagers. "That's fine, now, let's go."

"Jeez," Hendrickson smiles. "Teenagers sure are restless, do you have any plan on finding Madame when you get to Russia?"

"Yep," Joshua replies him. "Circle around the base, find Madame's hideout, kick ass and take names, get Eva back just in time for dinner and smooch Jolie all night long, though I am wagering we gonna get a bit physical."

"That's my daughter," Hendrickson's smile had vanished as he looked at Joshua with a cold expression.

Joshua was about to make a snarky comment until Dave hit him hard in his stomach with his elbow.

"Mr. McCarthy," he began.

"I told you, just call me Henry."

"Alright Henry," Dave sighs. "I did a little dots connecting last night and I found out Eva was the third Primordial, it makes sense why she was captured, she has tried to capture J too and I am sure it's only a matter of time before I too, am. I personally don't think anyone kidnaps anyone to give them a nice bath, take them shopping or eat eccentric meals, I don't know what Eva is going through but I am pretty sure it's rough, no one other than J and I remember her so we can't even give this case to anyone to help, J and I are the only ones capable of saving her, that's why we have to go, I won't let you stop us."

"Who said anything about stopping you?" Hendrickson's smile had appeared on his face. "I am coming with, so I spoke to my agent that we need plane tickets for Russia."

"Are you that old that you don't fancy a bit of exercise?" Joshua grins at him.

"You really are rude," Max grits at Joshua.

"I really don't care what you think," Joshua smiles back at Max. "Know that and know peace."

"You can't be serious, Moscow is at least 4700 miles from here, how do you propose we run there."

"Our entourages move faster than light," Dave explains. "And when we cloak ourselves in its aura, we can perceive as fast as its speed, we can even see what happens in an instant."

All of them already had their entourages out and they were each cloaked in its miasma, only Hendrickson was yet to, he still had a look of disbelief on his face.

"So you guys are serious," he sighed as his entourage materialized directly behind him, he now had a sly grin on his face "but don't think for one moment that you are going to beat me."

"See you later, losers!!!"Leon said as he had partially immersed himself in his entourage, like a race car, he had zoomed off!!!

"Didn't know we started!" Hendrickson grins as he follows suit, Max followed not too long after.

"Why are you waiting?" Dave grins at Joshua.

"When the wise man," Joshua grins, motioning to himself. "Competes with snails, he gives them a headstart."

"I know you believe in yourself and all," Dave shakes his head. "But trust me, you can't keep up with my entourage in speed, truth be told, none can."

"Ever wondered who first said the phrase, I can't keep up," Joshua had his haughtiest smile on.

"Who?" Dave was perplexed.

"The first i***t who raced against me," Joshua replies.

"Alright then, let's see who can't keep up," Dave ends as he dashes away. Joshua steps back, grinning to himself, he too dashed after him.

Leon smiled to himself as he kept running. "I am going to get to Russia before those brats," he smiled to himself.

"What's up, kiddo," Hendrickson grinned as he reached his position, Leon had an annoyed look on his face, Hendrickson replied his look with a warm smile, then left him in the dust.

"At least, I will be second," he mutters to himself.

"What's up, fam?" Max smiles at him. "Putting on our running shoes, are we?" He ends as he leaves Leon in the dust.

Leon's look of annoyance had turned to a frustrated one. "At least, I will be third," he cries internally.

Almost immediately as he had thought that Dave dashed past him, before he could react, Joshua too went past him.

"Oooh, come on!!!!" he cried unhappily.

"Come on, J, you finding it difficult to keep up," Dave snickers as he turns back at Joshua who was still wearing his haughty look. Joshua tried his hardest to mentally push his entourage to its very limit but yet, he found it difficult to keep up with Dave.

Soon, Dave had gotten past Max, Joshua too passed Max almost immediately.

"Alright then," Joshua mutters to himself. "It's time to do this," Joshua ends as his entourage suddenly lifted him by his waist and threw him forward in the air. Joshua grinned and since a short-distance entourage couldn't be more than a distance of two meters away from its user, his entourage too was also high in the air with him. Joshua used that avenue to pass Hendrickson who was still running.

"ENTOURAGE!!!" Joshua shouted as his entourage dashed to his left-hand side, it held him gently helping him to land on the ground. Joshua grinned as he kept moving forward. Dave couldn't help but smile to himself as he raced past Hendrickson.

"J, you cheated, wow, I am surprised, I didn't know you'd resort to that," Dave had an edge of sarcasm to his voice.

"When mortals do it, it's called cheating because they are subject to the law and rules but since the J is above all law, the concept of cheating doesn't apply to I," Joshua replies with a smirk as he turns his head backward.

"You think you are so clever, don't you?"

"It's now that I think I am clever, I know I am the cleverest amongst those who live and breathe."

"You should have used your trick later cause now, I can easily do this," Dave grins as he skips five seconds forward in time. Joshua gritted his teeth as he noticed that the distance between him and Dave had suddenly reduced by half. Dave skipped forward once more and right now, he appeared by Joshua's side. "See you at Moscow," Dave ends as he pours more on speed and leaves Joshua in the dust.

Joshua tried to initiate that same trick he did but Dave just kept skipping forward maintaining the distance between them.

Eventually, Joshua got tired as he retreated to running behind Dave like he had been doing, soon, the duo could see the borders of Moscow in sight.

"J," Dave smiles slyly as he turns at Joshua who was exasperated. "How does it feel to lose?"

"I don't know," Joshua smiles haughtily, his phone was expertly hidden in his left hand. "But I am sure you will when we get to Moscow."

"Is J really serious right now?" Dave thought. "We are just about twenty kilometers from Russia, I can always skip forward if he tries to use that second-hand trick, how then does he think he can win?"

Dave kept trying to rack his brain but Joshua made no move to cheat, he just kept moving forward, his entourage technically was the one moving forward, he was just going along with the ride.

Dave eventually got tired as he reasoned that there was no way Joshua could have anything planned, as he was about to cross Russia's border, he felt an object suddenly crash into him and before, he knew it, he was flying meters high in the air away from his intended trajectory. Dave was astonished as he looked at the object which had crashed into him, it was Joshua's Rolls Royce phantom, it was cloaked in blue miasma. "That cheat!!!"

Joshua sent a sly grin in his direction as he crossed the border. "What a dumbass, I had already come to Russia yesterday, my entourage had carried both my car and I, I just decided to go back, I knew I'd need the backup, I already cloaked my ride so its speed and durability would exponentially increase when we were about to begin the race and Dave had already ran before me, I gave commands through my phone to configure my ride to keep driving around Moscow to gain enough momentum to push Dave's entourage away and I timed it perfectly, when I knew Dave was about to cross the border, I had begun instructing my vehicle to come and it crashed into Dave before he could cross the border, I rule!!!" Joshua couldn't help stop smiling to himself as he suddenly stopped, his entourage had vanished. "I am the cleverest being in all of creation, I am the J!!!!"

Not long after, Hendrickson crossed the border, soon Max came, and finally, even Leon passed the border.

"Wait," Leon said as he looked around. "I don't see Dave, I wasn't last! YES!!!"

"You cheating fucktard!!!" Dave shouted, his entourage was right behind him, Dave has veins popping all over his neck and forehead, he was agitated.

"Calms, my man," Joshua had a sly smile on his face. "We both cheated, I just did it better, you should know by now, I, the J," Joshua grins motioning to himself. "Am the best at everything I do."

"That's it," Dave's entourage grabbed Joshua's vehicle which was still by the border, and flung it towards Joshua. It was about to hit the blonde teen until a green entourage suddenly appeared before Joshua, it held the car, the car vanished and in its place, Dave was standing there, obviously fuming. It was Hendrickson's entourage, Joshua was fazed, he couldn't hide his facial expression, he had not expected Dave to react the way he did.

"Dave is flustered," Hendrickson thought to himself. "I have never seen him pissed, he always seems to have a handle on his emotions." Hendrickson punched Dave hard on his face as Dave staggered backward. "Dave, calm down, J didn't have his entourage close, you could have killed him."

Dave panted for a while, closing his eyes, he relaxed as he got to his feet.

"J," he begins looking in Joshua's direction. "Sorry I overreacted, I wasn't expecting to lose, I thought I really had you, the loss hit me a bit too much."

Joshua didn't say anything but now, he wore a neutral expression.

"This is where you say you are sorry," Hendrickson whispers to Joshua.

"The J never apologizes!" Joshua answers back fiercely.

"Forget it," Dave sighs, he was calmer and had regained his former demeanor. "How much time did we use?"

"I set a stopwatch which is capable of recording time values as small as nanoseconds, it started when Leon started running and stopped after Leon had crossed the line."

"So how long?"

"5.13 nanoseconds."

"Wow," Leon was surprised. "It felt like hours."

"That was thanks to putting our aura cloak on, it had made our perception adjust to the speed of our entourages."

"So what do we do next?" Max asks as he comes forward.

"We look for the Big Burger joint here or if it's more than one, we find all of them, I have told you all how the shadow guy looks like, we just go around asking peeps, I am sure we can't turn out empty, someone must have definitely seen him."

"It doesn't mean they would be too hasty to tell us about it," Hendrickson sighs. "I thought you'd be a little smarter, we could meet his henchmen, that would only put us at a disadvantage."

"You didn't lemme finish," Joshua smiles at him. "When we approach anyone about Hendrickson, we have our entourages brought out and we will it into making a feint as if to punch the person, most wouldn't want to risk getting punched so they either evade or summon their entourage, that's when I'd alert the rest of you as naturally, the best amongst us will do the questioning, rest of y'all would be lookouts."

"Not exactly a bad plan," came a gruff voice from behind, everyone turns to see the owner of the voice, it was a 5'10 tall man, he had dirty brown hair and was dressed as in a lumberjack shirt with raggedy jeans, it was Adams.

"Who the f**k are you supposed to be?" Leon asks.

"Oi, you should learn to show some manners boy," the man grinned as a brown silhouette began to take a more defined shape at his right side. "I guess they don't teach you that from where you are from.   Welcome to Russia, here, you will learn a bit of manners, now, how about I give you a warm welcome."