THE ONE CALLED J

Fulfilling a promise

Ben could feel sweat breaking from his forehead, Dave's entourage looked like an army general, it was even scarier looking than Joshua's one. Since it was short-range, it must have great offensive ability.

"I just have to wait for my mist to begin to take effect," he thought to himself. "Though, I don't think taunting him like the way I did to J is gonna help me very much."

"Aren't you going to attack me?" Dave asks. "Since you are obviously the one with the weaker entourage, I will let you have first hit."

"For all the time I have been monitoring you, you never struck me as the cocky type."

"Trust me, I didn't say what I did out of confidence, it was actually out of respect just like Max taught me but since you refused my gesture," Dave said as he crouched down. "I guess I will bring it to you."

Dave's entourage grabbed Dave by his right arm and flung him towards Ben, his entourage was also in a similar motion as it too appeared flung in the air.

"What a child, I can easily escape at this range," Ben thought but almost immediately, he saw Dave standing at his left. "WHAAAT!!!!" Ben couldn't hide his amazement as Dave's entourage had nearly hit him but he had quickly jumped backward. Ben looked back in the air to where he had seen Dave earlier but he wasn't there, it was almost as if he disappeared in the air and suddenly reappeared beside him.

"Gosh!" Dave exclaimed. "I wanted to end this battle at once."

"Your entourage ability can't be teleportation, it's impossible for two entourages to have the same ability," Ben's facade was gone, he was tense. "What the hell is your ability?"

"Weren't you the one acting all calm and confident not too long ago," Dave smiles warmly at him. "I am one of the Primordials, it's general knowledge that the first crescent Primordial could manipulate time as he wishes but unfortunately, I have only two time-related abilities, the first is time skip, it enables me to skip five seconds forward or backward in time, while I was in the air, in exactly five seconds, I would have been beside you so I just skipped to that time making me already by your side, bear in mind that it has to be five seconds worth of time in my brain as we can both perceive faster than light movements since we are cloaked in entourage miasma, five seconds in the real world would seem like days and unfortunately it doesn't work that way, it's just my personal perception of five seconds."

"What about your other ability?" Ben asks. "What does it entail?"

"I am sorry but I have to respectfully decline," Dave smiles as he begins to walk towards him. "When I saw J back here earlier, he was even more bruised than when he fought Max, it means either your entourage has a greater ability or you are a better strategist or who knows, probably even both, either way, it would be safe to keep you in the dark."

Dave ends as he suddenly vanishes, he reappears right beside Ben, his entourage had extended its arm as if to throw a punch but it wasn't in Ben's direction, it was just directly beside. Ben could feel his legs shaking as he saw Dave's entourage directly beside him. "Gosh, so this is where I will be in five seconds, so lame."

"So he can't see what will happen in the duration of the five seconds, when he skips time, he just appears at the spot where he had supposedly skipped time to but he possesses no knowledge of the events that led up to the time he initiated that skip and the time he skips too," Ben thought quickly as a smile lit up his face, his entourage suddenly moved towards Dave, Dave saw his entourage coming and causes his entourage to block Ben's one from advancing any further. Ben expecting that smiled as he slid underneath the two entourages, he does a kip-up(also called a Chinese get-up) his two legs connected with Dave's face sending him staggering backward, Ben makes a feint as if to run. "Since I have closed the gap between myself and David, I have made it seem like I winning and usually when people feel they are losing especially teenagers, they always lose their demeanor and attack blindly, he would be initiating his time skip ability, I have made a feint as if to run towards him, he would making his skip right about now, I am sure he would most likely appear right behind me."

Dave didn't make any effort to attack Ben, he just touched his face lightly and the damage which he had sustained disappeared immediately.

"Ouch," Dave said. "You sure can pack a punch," he turned his back and began to walk in his friend's direction. "It was nice fighting with you, I guess the only reason why you were able to beat J was that you were a better strategist, your entourage abilities are nothing impressive, my second ability is time restore, that's what I had kept using on myself to prevent the effects of your mist from taking place, I have taken several martial arts disciplinary practices so I know when there's something wrong with my body, as a result, I knew what time intervals to keep restoring my body to optimal health thereby making the mist ability completely useless."

"But I am still standing, how have you won?" Ben asks. "What's this strange feeling, I can feel myself getting entirely weak, my bones feel broken and my vision, blurry." He thought to himself.

"You can't tell me you are not feeling it by now," Dave said as he suddenly stopped. "Time skip is an ability I hate using on the battlefield due to its nature as what about if I had very well walked to my death in five seconds and I skip to it, then I would just die, I had intentionally shown you because being the strategist that you were, you would therefore analyze my ability and once you had seen the numerous flaws, you would begin to manipulate it to your advantage."

"It still doesn't explain how you have won?"

"Since you were going according to my predictions," Dave continues. "I knew you were going to cause your entourage to hit me once you saw that there was a chance I could get damaged, that's why before I lastly time skipped, I had hoped you would stay in the same position, I just intended to attack the spot very close to you and it's a good thing that the future five seconds me kept to that bargain, you being the opportunist that you were would not hesitate to use that chance and deal some damage, I was right, you sent your entourage after me and I played your game by sending mine after you leaving me seemingly defenseless and once you had hit me with your legs, I had skillfully brought my right hand up and brushed your heel lightly before the force pushed me backward."

"How does that still explain how you have won?" Ben asks, his body just kept getting weaker and he struggled to maintain his balance.

"All short-range entourages' ability primarily deals with their hands and because of this, entourage-users and their entourages have a relationship that mid and long-range entourage users can never relate to, so long a short-range entourage-user is cloaked with miasma and his entourage is out, he can also manifest the entourage ability with his hands, that's why I had immediately restored you to the moment I had seen you when I first arrived here," Dave ended as he now crouched down beside Max. "Now, do you understand why you have lost?"

Ben couldn't keep himself up anymore, he fell unconscious to the ground, he was amazed, Dave had the cool of a matured adult, the discipline of a Martial arts master, and the cunning of a snake. "I have to find a way to inform Madame, she has to watch out for him, he's even more dangerous than J but where's my phone, what can I do? God, I can't stay conscious anymore, is this really how it ends for me? There was so much I wanted to do, I just wanted to see Madame one last time before I died."  he had a sorrowful expression on his face as a tear fell from his right eye before he slumped unconscious to the ground.

Dave touched Max and almost immediately, Max recuperated and came to, he sat up as he quickly looked around. "Don't say it!" Max gritted his lower teeth.

"What," Dave smiled at him. "That I was right and you were wrong."

"Dang, you already said it," Max said as he got to his feet. "So where are we going to now, tell me you were able to find out where J is."

Before Dave could reply, he felt his phone vibrating in his pocket, he removed it and unlocked it, there were several notification bars, each were talking about the numerous earthquakes in the city and about the destruction of Kronk's bar, a popular joint which opened 24/7 and had won the best bar in the city for the last six years, it also showed the headline of a woman who had her skull splattered while in the hands of a very popular and renowned high school, Joshua Anderson popularly called Jay.

"I think I knew where J went to," Dave answered Max.

"Where?"

"Somewhere in town, not too far from here, though I am pretty sure J would be pissed with this journalist, he prefers to just be called the letter J, he sees the ay after it as redundant and unnecessary."

Joshua was presently in police custody, he hadn't said anything from the moment he had been brought in there. It was still bright daylight when all of this had happened, journalists had been the first to storm the scene, they had begun asking people what happened, of course, the people present said they had first seen a vehicle crash into the biggest window in Kronk's bar, a man then was hurled out of it and finally, they saw Joshua coming out; he was carrying the woman through the broken window and while he was nearly out, her head had exploded to a million bits.  Many journalists tried to persuade the drunk or Joshua to speak but the drunk was useless as he had been drunk throughout the entire event and Joshua was too devastated to even speak. Eventually, ambulances and police cars had pulled to the scene, they had begun tapping around the bar and put it out of the jurisdiction of the public, some medic officers had tried to examine Joshua but they found nothing wrong with him as the effects of the ice entourage had worn off thanks to his miasma cloak, then a police vehicle had carted Joshua off to the station for questioning.

Joshua had been thinking about what had happened from the beginning of the day, the time was 1:45 pm, in about fifteen minutes, the school would be over and he had promised the only girl he gave a s**t about, Eva that he would do something nice for Jolie and yet, he was still in custody and might not be released for a while, a few people had come in to question each employing different tactics but Joshua didn't respond to any of them. What was on his mind was how he would get to school, keep his promise to Eva, find the bastard who killed that woman, give him a taste of his medicine, and rescue Eva. That day was the worst and most eventful day of his life, the last six hours of his life have been a bizarre and adventurous experience.

The door at the opposite end of the room opened, a handsome young man walked in, he wore a blazers jacket which complimented his suit perfectly and a checkered tie, he smelled nice and his auburn-colored hair was jelled nicely, he was roughly 195 cm tall. "Jay," he began. "We meet again."

"Does your J have an ay at the back?" Joshua asks. The police officers who were watching the proceedings from the control room were surprised as for the first time, Joshua had spoken, they had thought he was too traumatized to talk but for him to be concerned about such a miniature detail, he wasn't broken or traumatized, he was at most, just angry with himself.

"Isn't it supposed to?" The man asks.

"For mortals yeah, because whenever mortals are about to do anything that will have an iota of sense, they have to come together, a man by himself can accomplish nothing but I, the J am no mere man, J is unique as the letter makes sense as a name even when it stands alone, mortals can't relate with that logic."

"It's good to see you still have your spunk back," The man smiles. "I just want you to know that you are free to go."

"You said we meet again, I don't recall ever meeting you," Joshua says as he gets to his feet.

"Wow, and people always tell me I leave an impression, I should understand by now that people flatter a lot," the man chuckles lightly. "Don't worry, if fate destines us to see again, we shall see but for now, do your best to stay alive until the point of fate's destination of our next meet-up."

"I am the J," Joshua begins confidently as he strode over to where the man was. "Fate doesn't determine my destination, I determine fate itself," he grins as he points to himself.

"Good for you," the man chuckles as he taps Joshua lightly, he moved over to the door, pressing the doorknob down, he opened the door and he left.

"He's dressed like a politician," Joshua thought. "No police officer would come into an interrogation room wearing a suit.   That denotes going for a social function, also, he's extremely suave, he must be an entourage-user, he probably convinced the police force to let me go, I don't think it was due to his entourage ability, I am sure it was just due to good-old-fashioned influence." Joshua moved towards the door as he looked at the time on his wristwatch. "I have exactly ten minutes to get back to school."

He mutters some words as he pushes open the entrance door of the police station, his Rolls Royce had already flown over the rest of the cars kept in the impound and appeared directly in front of Joshua.

Some police officers who were watching the event from inside the station had amazed looks on their faces as they suddenly saw Joshua's car directly in front of him. "This isn't my first time in the police station," Joshua smiled to himself as he entered his vehicle. "The first time, I snuck in to find out Vin's new address in the police database, I had deliberately mastered the layout of the impound as I had a gut feeling that one day, my vehicle would be confiscated and with the amazing voice technology, I could direct it to come whenever I wanted it, some people think I brag when I put myself on a pedestal above mortals but it's not being haughty or anything, it's just facts." Joshua drives off as fast as he could towards his school building, he was whizzing through vehicles, it was about 20 miles from the police station. Joshua drove towards the sidewalk, pressing the horn of his vehicle, people began to jump out of the way in fear of getting hit by the car, he pressed the accelerator of his vehicle as he drove into a slanted pillar causing his vehicle to propel forward into the air, while in the air, he adjusted the gear and changed direction as he landed on the ground softly before finally zooming off to his school compound which was already in his line of sight. Joshua parked his vehicle at the car park and immediately, he did, he heard the bell ring, school was over.

"I had remembered to put a note in Jolie's locker when I had gotten to school this morning, I told her to meet me at the car park," Joshua thought to himself as he got out of his vehicle and waited by the bonnet. "She should be coming out any moment from now."

A few minutes later, Jolie came out of the main school's building, she was in her typical cheerleader outfit but she had made her hair, she looked really hot like a Hollywood actress but Joshua kept the unimpressed look on his face.

"J!!" Jolie's voice was suddenly all octave. "I didn't see you at any class today, are you good?" She asked as she stopped a few feet from his position.

"I am the J, I am never just good, I am always at my best," Joshua smirked haughtily.  Suddenly, his demeanor dropped, now, he wore a more solemn expression. "Was just doing a few shits for Eva."

"Eva," Jolie had a jealous look on her face. "Who's that?"

"My little sister," Joshua replied her as the front door on the non-driver section of his vehicle opened. "So are you coming or not?"

"I definitely am," Jolie giggled as she entered inside. Joshua shrugged as he moved to the driver's section, he started the vehicle and drove off.

Dave and Max arrived at the police station, Dave knew that it would be dumb going to Kronk's bar as for the news to have gone public, the local police must have already stormed the place and banned it from public use.

"Max, bring out your entourage," Dave orders. "We are gonna be using the same trick we used earlier today to find out where J is, I reckon he will be in one of the interrogation rooms."

"How many interrogation rooms are here?" Max asks as his entourage suddenly appeared right above him.

"Just three," Dave answered as he walked towards the door, Max's entourage had made it seem like Dave and Max were invisible, no one in or outside the police station had seen the door open and watched Dave and Max enter.

"Let's go check the interrogation rooms, you are the one who knows about it, where are they?" Max says as he appeared to move but Dave held him back.

"What?" Max asks.

"Look," Dave said as he points at the Auburn-haired man who had spoken to Joshua earlier on, he was talking with a police officer and the two of them seemed to be hitting off like best buds. "That's the man we saw yesterday, he was on the school premises, I saw him just after J and Eva had left school."

"I remember seeing him yesterday," Max says. "But your phantom Eva is still a blank."

"I reckon he's an entourage-user," Dave continues.

"Probably, he's obviously of high status with those type of clothes, I will say he's a politician and the only type of politicians who come to stations are either the crooked or guilty ones."

"You have a strong sense of morals," Dave had a smile as he looked at his friend. "I thought you would classify crooked and guilty as the same thing."

"That may be true," Max answers him. "But the laws we abide by have made it seem that you aren't guilty if you aren't caught, just like the saying, it's not a scam if you don't fall for it." Dave couldn't help but chuckle lightly. "So what do you suggest we do?" Max further asks.

"He was around the day Eva got kidnapped and he's still present the day Joshua got into a fight with Kronk, he might not be an enemy but he knows something, I suggest we tail him for a while, we know J is safe in the police station and if J could hold his own against Kronk without destroying the country in the process, it means he has gotten a good handle on controlling his entourage."

"Aight then, whatever you say," Max answers him. "You are the man."

The Auburn-haired man had finished his conversation with the police officer, he began to walk towards the entrance.

"I will call Sergio to come to pick me up now," he said as he removed an iPhone from his pocket, dialing a number, he puts the phone to his ear while he waited patiently as he could hear his phone ring.

"Hello," he finally said as he opened the entrance door, Max and Dave not following too far behind. The confident grin on the face of the Auburn-haired man had suddenly vanished as right now, the lines on his face had burrowed to express concern.

"What did you do to Sergio?" That was the next thing the Auburn-haired man said.

"Ooh Sergio, you mean this pale looking irrelevant piece of s**t," a brown-haired Korean man spoke(the one at the other end of the phone call) his set of teeth were plated gold as if he was coming from a pilgrimage in Mecca, he was roughly 6'2, wore a checkered suit and held a small knife which had blood smeared all over it. He was by the alleyway and directly beneath him was a dead naked old man who had imperfect circles drawn all over his body. "He's dead, Madame was pissed at you for interrupting Ben's job yesterday, she said I send you a message and that's what this is, right here."

"You scum!" The Auburn-haired man shouted. "I am going to do worse things than death to you when I find you."

"Then you better find me before I find J," the Korean replied him as he threw the knife he was holding away and walked out of the alleyway. "Because if you don't, you would have the blood of two people on your conscience.  Your daughter, Jolie, she's easy on the eyes, you wouldn't mind if I have a little fun with her," he ends as he cut the call and throws the phone inside a trash can. "I wasn't able to make a perfect circle, what a bummer!" He frowned as his body became cloaked with golden miasma and the shape of his entourage was becoming more defined. "Now to sort out this job and get my pay, I have another appointment at the white house in roughly five hours."