Prologue: I'm on the Payphone (2nd Draft)

My hands were shaking badly when I picked up the phone and began dialing a number I knew so well.

2-7-3

My heart began to beat faster.

4-2-6-9

The dial tone played.

There was no turning back.  The tone continued to play.

“Hello….Desilvano Residence?” It was a familiar voice. “Sino to?”

“Ate…Si, si…” Words got stuck in my throat. There was no turning back. I had made the call and soon I would be discovered. A breach of confidentiality wasn’t dealt with lightly. There was no telling how the Lazarites would deal with me once they were exposed.

I wouldn’t blame them if they killed me.

“Hello…”

“Ate Char, si Joboy to…” I composed myself in mid sentence I didn’t want to stammer, each passing second mattered. “…is Ma there?”

“Joboy! Hoy Joboy, gago ka talaga. Saan ka ba pumunta? Where’d you go? Ma was unresponsive for three days when you disappeared.”

“Put Ma on the phone, Ate Char, it’s important.”

“Ang bastos mo naman. How dare you! We were looking for you…”

“PUT MA ON THE PHONE!” I shouted. I had the sinking feeling that they were just a few blocks close and getting closer. She did not say anything else. I guess she was shocked. I never raised my voice at her in the past. Not even once. When her side of the phone became silent, I hoped that she hadn’t hung up.

I heard the scuffling of feet and another voice. A voice I knew since I was a child.

“Joboy…Ikaw ba yan? Is that you? Anak, Son, bat ngayon…why did you just call now after all these years?” I could hear her breathing. I could imagine the tears welling in her eyes now.  No parent should be placed in constant worry about the whereabouts of their child. However I did this to her; I have no excuses, I did what I did for my own reasons.

“Ma listen, I don’t have enough time. You have to do as I say. Go without me. I repeat do not wait for me and abandon the search. Mayroong mangyari. Something big. I don’t exactly know what, but leave.”

“Joboy anong ibig mo sabihin? What’s happening?”

“Mum. I can’t say much more I’m running out of time. Mum, just go to the States. Don’t wait. Iwanin mo ako. Please.

“Joboy, bat anak. What is happ…..” The line cut off. They had found me. I suppose I had it coming. There was no escaping them. I turned from the payphone and to the parking lot behind me.

As I had predicted there were black sedans parked fully surrounding me. I had not heard any noise ever since the phone line was cut. I dropped the change in my hand and allowed them to clatter in the floor.

No sound.

Complete silence, which explained why I had not heard the cars coming and parking just right behind me.

My suspicions were confirmed. The sound was gone. I could only think of Boom Box being capable of doing such a thing. But she didn’t do hits. She didn’t kill people for money. She didn’t kill people at all.

I noticed that the black suited and black masked people stepped out of their sedans, which formed a barricade around me. They really wanted me dead. A few seconds and they all had their weapons trained on me.

Then I heard the music.

“Listen…gIve Up…rEal sLIm Shady.” Boom Box stepped out of the furthest car. She was dressed in her neon-lined, sleek black armor complete with a faceless helm that lit up with colors according the music she played.

“Boom Box? This isn’t you.” She looked at me, at least I think she looked at me it’s hard to determine because of her helmet. She fiddled with a few knobs and finally pressed a button on her arm where the radio changed.

“…Honesty such a lonely word. Everything is sooooo Untrue….”

The sound came back the moment Boom Box played her radio. I found it always eerie when she used her ability.

Seeing that I had nowhere else to go except seven feet under, I readied myself ducked and rolled towards a pillar when the gunshots started.

I felt a sting in my arm and realized that I had been grazed by a stray bullet. I didn’t have time to cry out in pain.

I closed my eyes and concentrated. I felt the warmth on my back and hand, the next I found myself wreathed in fiery wings which spread out. In my hand something only the religious can describe as a sword made of pure fire. I suppose this is why people have called me “Anghel” or “Angel” in English.

Like the ethereal entities in the Bible I was ready to fight the evils. In this case the evils are those who want to kill me. As cliché as it sounds I was not going down without a fight.

I inhaled and exhaled gathering my thoughts. I then spread my wings incinerating whatever remained of my shirt.

The black suits. The people who wanted me dead noticed the change in temperature. I caught one loosening his tie and unbuttoning his shirt. Then suddenly all of them dropped their guns as they suddenly become too hot to handle. Luckily none of them discharged when the guns hit the ground. 

Boom Box however wasn't affected. I would assume she came prepared; we have fought a few times. None of us got the upper hand, but I always got the feeling that eventually she would get the better of me. She's been in the business longer than I am. I'm just a greenhorn. A noob hero who just got in a few months ago and while she did not kill people she was noted to be a complete pain in the ass to deal with, due to her slippery and indirect nature. 

As she approached me I told myself that to be ready for whatever she would throw at me, then I heard her sound system blare again. 

"...beat it....just beat...don't you wanna be defeated..."

I smiled even though she was gearing up to kill me. She did have some sense of humor and a great taste in music. 

"...It doesn't matter whose wrong or right..."

"... just beat it..."

She began amping up her radio. 

I held my sword and went into battle stance, my sword held up high above my head with the tip slanted pointing down, as my HEMA instructor taught me.

The black suits began scrambling for cover or colder areas when they saw me prepping myself. Only Boom Box remained to face me head on.

This was going to be a challenging fight.

Boom Box switched to electronica or dubstep. I can’t tell as I’m not a fan of that genre. I could hear the heavy beats building up and intensifying to the point that the whole floor of the parking lot was shaking as if an earthquake was currently occurring.

The parked cars fared no better. Their windshields had already broken.

I had to finish the fight as quickly as I could. If waited any longer the music she was playing could reach a point where my internal organs or my ears would rupture. Not a pretty thought.

Right now my ears were ringing so badly and my vision was shaking, but despite the pain I leaped flew higher in the air hoping to get away further from her area of effect.

I felt slightly better for a few seconds, but Boom Box amped up her radio again. Deciding that I had to take her out from a distance, I tried to focus and conjured a blazing javelin in my hand and directed it towards her. I repeated it a few times, hoping the attack would only incapacitate her not kill her. I was getting desperate as I could no longer hear anything.

The first lance of fire hit the damaged car beside her and erupted in a massive plume of flame. Her music was still playing because she rolled away at the last moment. The second lance missed her and struck a water pipe instead releasing and obscuring amount of steam in to the air. The third one clipped her in the arm and I could see her no more as the flame swelled and enveloped her. I think her music stopped because I no longer felt my organs trembling and my vision was clearing up

My wings fizzled in to a puff of smoke and I landed hard on the ground. I felt something wet pouring out of my ears. Blood, I think. I still can’t hear.

Even though I just went through hell to fight Boom Box I still hoped she was alive. Killing people were not her nor my thing. I didn’t need to have sleepless nights because I killed Noiz.

My heart was still beating hard when I approached the wreckage where Boom Box used to be.

“No..Boom Box?” Fuck. Please don’t be dead. Don’t be dead. Sweat began to gather in my forehead, when I saw what I could only assume to be a fragment of her armor. I braced myself hoping that when the smoke cleared I wouldn’t find a charred dead body later on.

“Boom Box!” I shouted louder one more time. My knees fell to the ground and my arms began to clear the rubble.

Then I heard something.

“…another…bites…dust…”

“Another one bites…”

“…bites the dust!”

“Another one bites the dust!”

I felt the blast of directed weaponized sound hit my back. I could feel the unmistakeable crack of my ribs when I was slammed face first to the ground by the sheer force of the impact.

I no longer had the strength in me to rise up so I just turned and saw Boom Box a bit worse for the wear standing before my supine form. Her right gauntlet and armlet was damaged but she seemed fine. The armor had warped from the extreme heat and had taken the full brunt of my attacks. Her other gauntlet was however positioned just above my chest.

She made up her mind the moment she sided with the black suits. She was going to kill me.

The palm of her gauntlet opened and I could feel the vibrations building up.

She was going to make my death a quick one.

I couldn’t hear the music playing as I was deaf from our recent encounter, I could however understand the words she was mouthing through her half cracked and opened helm. The words formed by the movements of her lips. These words that I once sung to somebody I knew dearly.

“Immortality..There is a vision and a fire in me.” I half groaned and half sung.

I’m not sure whether she heard. I could feel the vibrations making my body tremble and my insides begin to hurt again.

“…We don’t say good bye”

An undescribable pain shot throughout my body as I felt something inside me burst.

Blood gurgled forth from my mouth

My breathing slowed and halted.

My vision blackened

######################Chapter End##############################

Name: Joseph “Joboy” Desilvano

Alias: Anghel/Angel

Height: 178 cm

Weight: 68 kg

Bio:

[Classified] See document ANG-21

Powers and Abilities:

While Angel’s power is classified as a pyrokinesis, his power manifests in a rather unusual manner. The first notable feature is the appearance of wings seemingly made of fire that emerge from his back. These wings allow him to fly at speeds of more than 100 kph. This power gives him great mobility in open areas. The more offensive aspect of his ability is the sword of flame that he carries in his right arm. The said sword is extremely hot and has been observed to reach temperatures of 600 Kelvins and has been theorized to go higher allowing it to cut through metals like a hot knife through butter. There was an incident where Angel was able to form the sword into a sort of javelin and throw it. We told him not to try it again because he has such a horrible aim. We are still wondering if there are any connections of his powers to faith or the traits he possesses are just mere coincidence.

[Incomplete]

Affiliation:

InterChamp - We really need to come up with a better name. 

Los Carlos Irregulars

Report done by:

Percival A. Anda

Lead Researcher, Catalyst