With Mac on his way home now, Alpha noticed that his mind was occupied with a lot of things from what just happened, so he took this time to catch up on his mental journal.
"So Stephanie Connors sure is an interesting person and the fact that she is into martial arts just like Mac is kind of a coincidence but still….I wonder if she has some ulterior motive in all of this.", said Alpha to himself as he made another journal entry.
"I trust Mac will be mindful of the people around him but I still have a lot to learn about him and everyone else around him.", said Alpha only as a precaution to make sure that The Order does not find out about Mac or those close to him.
With that being said, Alpha notices that they've arrived at Mac's apartment just as he stepped inside, closed the door behind him and walked into his living room and put his bag down on the couch, then took a seat.
"Ah looks like we arrived, I'll continue my journal another time.", said Alpha as he switches his focus back to Mac's vision.
"Damn, talk about my first day back….it was exhausting.", said Mac as he gave a heavy sigh of relief, but before he could fully relax and start on his schoolwork from the last two weeks….
"Oh, let me text JR and have him come over so that I can talk to him.", said Mac, which Alpha heard and reacted to as well.
"I'm guessing that it's about me, right?", asked Alpha.
"Yep, got to know what he knows and set the ground rules for him as well.", said Mac, then he pulled out his cell phone and sent a text to JR….
"Hey JR, can you come over to my place….we need to talk about "you know what".", said Mac in a text message to JR, which didn't take long for him to respond to.
"Yeah, I'm on my way….be there soon.", replied JR, then Mac put his phone down on the table in front of him and just sat back and waited, but Alpha's curiosity got the better of him.
"Uh Mac, what's that thing you were just using?", asked Alpha since he wasn't aware about what a cell phone was.
"Oh that's a cell phone….it's a device that people use to communicate with one another over long distances.", said Mac which Alpha quickly understood and was just fascinated by it.
"Wow, a lot has changed in last few hundred years.", said Alpha, then he realized the mistake he just said and without a moment's hesitation….
"I'm sorry, but how long?", asked Mac who was caught off guard by the comment that Alpha just made.
"Damn, yeah can you pretend that you didn't hear that?", asked Alpha politely which didn't seem to work in his favor.
"Oh no, you don't get to say something like that and think I'm going to ignore it.", said Mac as his interest quickly grew but just as he was about to learn more of Alpha possible past, someone started knocking on the door.
"Son of a….you got lucky this time Alpha.", said Mac, which Alpha gives a hugh sigh of relief even though Mac noticed it but said nothing about it.
Mac gets up from the couch and goes to see who it was knocking on the door and notices that it was JR, who quickly arrived at Mac's apartment which kind of surprised him, so Mac opens the door to let him in.
"Jeez dude, when you said "soon", I didn't think it would be this soon.", said Mac as he closes the door after JR entered the apartment, then they both headed into the kitchen.
"Yeah I used my bike to get here quickly, sorry that I didn't mention it.", said JR as he sat down at the kitchen counter while Mac got some drinks for them.
"Right, I forgot you had a bike….anyways….", Mac was saying but then he notices how JR was staring at him really hard which made him slightly uncomfortable.
"Dude, why are staring at me like that?", questioned Mac as he wondered if something was stuck on his face.
"Hmm….oh sorry, my bad.", said JR.
"Just wanted to make sure that I was talking with Mac-Mac and not Alpha-Mac.", said JR which all but confused the hell out of Mac.
"I'm sorry….Mac-Mac….Alpha-Mac….what the fuck are you talking about?", exclaimed Mac since these nicknames made no sense to him at all.
"Right, I guess no one told you but I figured out how to tell the difference between you and Alpha.", said JR which Alpha remembered back to when Mac was still in a coma and he was in control of his body.
"Oh yeah, forgot to mention that.", said Alpha which slightly irritated Mac as to what he was talking about.
"Okay enough from both of ya!!!", yelled Mac, then he calmed himself down and took a deep breath….
"Can you please tell me about this difference that you mentioned JR?", asked Mac.
"Oh right, so it's your eyes.", said JR but Mac became even more confused by what he just said.
"Could you stop being so cryptic.", stated Mac as he became slightly impatient.
"Alright, alright….just trying to make things fun and interesting.", JR began to say but Mac was having none of it….
"Your natural eye color is silver but when Alpha is in control, your eyes become gold.", said JR which intrigued Mac for a quick moment.
"Really?! Alpha, did you know about this?", asked Mac since he still had a lot to learn about these changes to his body.
"Yes but only after JR mentioned it right after the events of that night.", said Alpha, then Mac notices how JR is looking at him with an expression that seems to be questioning his sanity.
"Oh right, Alpha is in my head and only I can hear him….so no, I'm not going crazy.", said Mac just so JR won't say anything stupid.
"Anyways, I'm gonna need you to recount the events from that night two weeks ago….last I remember was fighting the creature and then getting stabbed.", said Mac hoping that what JR had to say could fill in some gaps in the story.
"Well if you're trying to remember anything after that then there's no point cause everything from there on was Alpha's doing, but you did kind of die in my arms even though Alpha revived you shortly after.", said JR as he was unsure what information Mac was hoping to get.
"Damn, sorry you had to go through that….even though I'm alive, how were you feeling after that?", asked Mac since he was very worried about JR's mental health because going through someone's death is tough, especially since he still hasn't fully recovered from his mother's death.
"Honestly….I can't really say but even though I saw you die, it may have only lasted a few seconds cause you were alive again not long after although it was Alpha who was controlling your body.", said JR, although Mac was worried about him he was just glad to hear that it didn't affect as he thought it would.
"So Alpha, how is it that I was only dead for a few seconds?", questioned Mac after learning that fact from JR.
"Well it's because the moment you died was the same moment that I was awakened, so while it seemed like only a few seconds to JR….it was because I froze time so that I could heal your wound and then fully awaken.", said Alpha.
Remembering that JR couldn't hear Alpha, Mac repeated what Alpha said to JR.
"Oh yeah, I remember something that Mr. Lou told me about being in the center of where it all happened….and that anyone caught outside the center would not remember anything, which is what happened to my dad.", said JR as he recalls the conversations he was having with both Luis and Alpha on that night.
"He's right, since he was in the center of the pillar of light his memory wasn't affected but he still went through the time freeze.", said Alpha, which Mac followed by repeating it to JR.
"Hmm….that makes sense cause I remember holding Mac in my arms one second, then the next he was gone which was when I found out about Alpha.", said JR.
"Okay before we continue, what is this pillar of light that you mentioned Alpha?", asked Mac since this is the first he's heard of it, but then JR remembers about a video that someone from school showed him.
"Oh I just remembered that I need to show you this video and hopefully Alpha can see it as well.", said JR which Mac acknowledges that Alpha will be able to see it, then JR pulls out his phone and puts up a video from the internet that was covered by multiple news outlets from around the world.
This video in question showcased the pillar of light as it shot up into the sky on the night that the events took place for Mac and the others, but luckily no one can see any of them because everyone was more focused on the pillar of light itself.
After viewing the video, Alpha was amazed to learn of the technology to be able to record videos and post them online even though he had knowledge of these things in his mental dictionary but seeing it happen was a whole other story.
But then, Alpha makes a startling discovery as he asks both JR and Mac something that he hopes isn't true.
"Mac….this video….is online for anyone to see, correct?", questioned Alpha, which Mac repeats for JR then proceeds to answer….
"Yes, that's correct….why do you ask?", asked Mac.
"Because now I know how The Order knows of my existence!!!", said Alpha with slight anger and irritation in his voice, which now concerns Mac a lot.
"Is there a way to get rid of this video?", asked Alpha.
"Unfortunately there is not, the rule of the internet….once it's online, it can never be taken down.", said Mac as he ponders about what to expect now.
Even though JR didn't hear what Alpha asked, he did figure it out after what Mac had said which was true because even trying to get lawyers involved would cause more issues.
"So not to make matters worse, but this has been the only thing that people have been talking about on the news lately and I heard that they got the FBI doing an investigation into the pillar of light as well.", said JR, which of course didn't sit well with Mac but did confuse Alpha.
"FBI….I know that they're like police but why should we be worried about them?", questioned Alpha.
"Well Alpha, you're right about who the FBI is and we should worry because they'll have the authority to dig deep into this which could also mean that anyone from The Order could be working within the FBI.", stated Mac which instantly concerned Alpha as he remembered when Luis told Mac as to how far The Order is willing to go.
"Please tell me that you're not being serious?", asked Alpha hoping that Mac and JR were just making some sort of cruel joke, so Mac repeats to JR what Alpha just said so that he could hear it from someone else.
"Mac is right about the FBI, when anything that resembles like a terrorist attack happens on US soil….then the FBI will go all out to investigate it.", said JR, but he was still confused about one thing.
"One thing though….who or what is this Order that you keep mentioning?", asked JR.
"Right, so let me give you the cliff notes version.", said Mac, then he began to explain everything he knew about The Order which also included The Darkness but in noticeably short and quick details enough for JR to understand how this situation could become really bad.
"You have got to be shitting me….they can actually do that and get away with it?", questioned JR as he still didn't believe everything he just learned about The Order.
"This cannot be real, it's like something out of a TV show or movie….there's no way that this is true!!", exclaimed JR.
"You saw the creature from that night, don't tell me you don't believe in The Order after seeing that thing?", questioned Mac which in the end had made total sense to JR.
"So what are we going to do now?", asked JR.
"Nothing….we keep it cool and play along with everyone else, hoping that no one pieces together the connection between us and the pillar of light.", said Mac as he began to set some ground rules for JR.
"James, I'm going to be serious with you….", Mac began to say which JR knew that he was serious because he never calls him by his actual name unless it's really serious.
"….your life is in danger, especially since you know about Alpha but I know that you can keep secrets really well.", said Mac.
"So I trust that you know not to speak about any of this to anyone….including Lucille.", said Mac which reminds JR that Lucky is still not in the loop of all this.
"You can't expect to keep her in the dark forever, you know that she'll get suspicious eventually.", said JR which Mac knows this all too well, but will still continue his best in hiding it from her.
"On another note, I want you to be mindful of your surroundings from now on.", said Mac as a cautionary warning for JR since his life is now in potential danger.
"If anything seems off or you know that you're in danger, then don't hesitate to call me.", said Mac as he offers his protection to JR although he's not too worried because now that Mac has Alpha, JR feels safe around them.
"Dude don't worry, I know you got my back so I know who to call when the shit hits the fan.", said JR confidently since he puts all of his trust in Mac and Alpha, especially after seeing what Alpha can do.
"Anyways, whatever happened with that meeting with the student council?", asked JR.
"Oh right, it really wasn't a meeting but more of Connors just wanting to get to know me better, or something along that line.", said Mac as he remembers back when he was speaking with Stephanie Connors early in the day.
"Huh….what do you mean?", asked JR since he was more confused but intrigued as well.
"Well it was just Connors who was there because she wanted to talk with me in private, which just annoyed the crap out of me.", said Mac as JR noticed the annoyed look on his face.
"I bet, so that whole commotion she made during lunch was for nothing?", questioned JR.
"Pretty much, she said that she was worried about how I was behind on schoolwork and wanted to help but the truth is that she really does have a crush on me.", said Mac which didn't surprise JR since they both figured that out awhile back.
"Funny thing is that I heard her say it not long after I left the student council room.", said Mac as JR looked at him in disbelief.
"Let me guess, you stayed outside the room a bit after you left letting Stephanie think that you were gone?", questioned JR as he shook his head.
"Hey it wasn't intentional, but yes I did.", said Mac while giving a slight chuckle.
"But that's not all….not long after I left the school and was on my way home, she approached me from behind because she forgot to ask me something.", said Mac which caught JR's interest….
"Ok….go on….", said JR.
"So she forgot to mention that there was an opening in the student council and offered me the vice president seat.", said Mac, then everything went silent for a moment as JR was waiting for an answer.
"Come on now, spit it out….tell me you at least thought about it?", said JR as he eagerly waited for a response from Mac.
"What, god no….I told her that I wasn't interested.", said Mac which JR comically fell to the ground in disbelief.
"What do you mean you said no? Are you out of your mind?", questioned JR after getting up off of the ground while checking Mac's sanity.
"JR, you know that I don't do school activities which includes the student council.", said Mac as he wondered why JR was acting like this was some sort of serious matter.
Then Alpha decided to chime in as to remind Mac about something else….
"Mac, don't forget to mention about her knowledge in martial arts.", said Alpha as a reminder but Mac didn't want to bring that up with JR.
"Nah, not gonna bring that up at all.", said Mac out loud which he then realized his mistake as he looks over to JR.
"Not bring up what?", asked JR since now his curiosity was caught once again.
"Uh….nothing….", said Mac nervously but JR wasn't about to let this go because he noticed that this could be something personal and Mac normally doesn't do….personal.
"Spit….it….out!!!!", exclaimed JR as his sense of persuasion got the better of Mac.
"Alright fine….she's actually caught my interest as well.", said Mac in extremely low, nervously tone of voice which surprises JR like never before.
"NANI?!....did I hear what I think you just said?", questioned JR as he couldn't believe his ears.
While JR maybe the comic relief of the group, he does have an exceptional skill in figuring out things before someone will say it….which is what's about to happen here.
"If Stephanie has caught your interest in some way for you to act like this….then she must've done something that you're all too familiar with.", said JR as his mind quickly eliminated all possible ideas except for one.
"Here we go, well there's no need for me to say anything.", said Mac since he knew how good JR can deduce things very easily and very quickly, but Alpha on the other hand wasn't sure by what Mac meant.
"Martial Arts….either she knows you're practicing or she's a fan and wants to study it herself.", said JR which threw Alpha for a loop as he was amazed by the fact that JR hit the nail right on the head dead on, but of course Mac wasn't impressed as he already knew this was going to happen.
"Hang on, how in the world did he figure that out without you saying anything Mac?", questioned Alpha although he was still amazed by this skill of JR's.
"Honestly I'm not too sure myself….he's been able to do this for quite some time now which annoys the hell out of me.", said Mac which JR then looks at him in confusion.
"Oh sorry, Alpha is amazed by your so called "detective skills" which like I said, annoys me sometimes.", said Mac in response to JR's confusion.
"But back to what you said JR, you're right….when she came up behind me, I kind of took a defensive stance thinking someone was going to attack me from behind and she easily knew the stance right away.", said Mac as JR began to laugh at his amazing detective skills but Mac was having none of it.
"Yeah alright, pipe down will ya….no need to rub it in.", said Mac who was really annoyed at JR.
"So she's a fan huh, you didn't happen to tell her about Mr. Lou's studio as a place where she can learn, right?", said JR which didn't sit well with Mac as it sounded like JR was trying to come up with some evil plan.
"First of all, no I didn't….second, don't you dare try to take advantage of the situation.", said Mac as he shut down any hope of whatever plan JR had brewing in his mind.
"Ah, you're no fun.", said JR who became disappointed.
Mac looks at the time and realizes that it's getting late and that he needed to start working on his schoolwork but nearly forgot that he also needed to go train with Luis as well, so he thought why not knock out two birds with one stone by taking his schoolwork with him and do it at the studio after training.
"JR please be careful on the way back home and remember just be cool around Lucky, we don't want her involved in this at all if possible.", said Mac as he walked JR to the door.
"Yeah don't worry, you got my back and I got yours….we'll be just fine.", said JR with confidence as he left Mac's apartment and proceeded to head on home while Mac locked his apartment and headed towards Luis's studio.
During the walk, Alpha thought that this was the perfect time to give Mac some info about The Darkness….
"So Mac, now that you're aware of The Order….I think now is time to tell you more about what they control, The Darkness.", said Alpha which with a name like that, who wouldn't be interested but Mac was different since it would only concern him.
"Yeah, I've been meaning to ask because I heard you and Mr. Lou talk about it briefly before.", said Mac.
"So what is The Darkness?", asked Mac.
Alpha began to explain to Mac everything he knew about The Darkness even though it wasn't much because both Luis and Alpha don't know too much about it just as The Order, but Alpha does mention the key point that The Order controls The Darkness and uses them for nefarious purposes.
Although it wasn't much to explain, it was enough to last for the remainder of the walk because as soon Alpha was finished, they had arrived at Luis's studio.
"Interesting….so they're basically like minions for The Order to just use and dispose of?", questioned Mac as he walked through the door of the studio, but before Alpha could answer him he was greeted by having to dodge a kick to the face.
"You're late Chandler, what took you so long to get here?!", exclaimed Luis as he was unhappy with Mac's tardiness.
"Sorry Mr. Lou, I was just talking with JR back at my place when I noticed the time.", said Mac even though Luis doesn't like when he makes excuses.
"It matters not, go get changed and be out here in five minutes!", exclaimed Luis, which Mac understood and headed to the locker room to get changed.
Mac was out in just under four minutes and was ready to begin his training, but Luis had other plans in mind….
"So, since it's been two weeks since your last training session, we'll need to go over some basics to see if you still remember what I've taught you.", said Luis and without any disagreements, they began to spar with everything that Mac has learned over the last five years.
Much to Luis's surprise, Mac hasn't forgotten any of his training as they kept on sparring while changing to different martial arts style on the fly….so since he wasn't concerned about having to reteach anything, Luis and Mac stopped sparring and took a quick break.
"Not bad boy, glad to see nothing has changed.", said Luis as he's glad to see that the coma hasn't affected Mac negatively in any way.
"Thanks, but I still feel kind of rusty.", said Mac.
"Well that's normal for someone who hasn't trained in over two weeks.", said Luis as to reassure Mac that everything was okay.
"By the way, I heard you mentioning something about The Order when you came….why is that?", questioned Luis as he wondered if it was something Alpha was telling Mac.
"You caught on to that, wow….but yeah, Alpha was telling me everything he knew about The Darkness just so I'd be aware of its existence.", said Mac which Luis is glad to hear that Alpha and Mac are getting along well so far.
"So how's Alpha been doing lately? Hopefully not causing any trouble?", asked Luis, then Mac jolted as Alpha began yelling from inside his head.
"Jeez Alpha, calm yourself down alright.", said Mac after recovering from that loud remark.
"Sorry Mac, didn't mean to yell like that….tell Luis to….on second thought, nevermind.", said Alpha which Mac thought was a bit weird for Alpha to back down from saying something.
"Anyways, he's doing fine but I think you hit a nerve Mr. Lou.", said Mac which Luis began to chuckle for a moment.
"So what about you Chandler, how have you been doing?", asked Luis as he changed his focus and tone.
"Well I'd say I've been feeling good….first day back at school was fun and it was good to see JR and Lucky again.", said Mac, but Luis did sense something was troubling Mac.
"Is that all?", asked Luis.
"No but I'd rather not talk about it, maybe another time.", said Mac which Luis understood so he didn't pry into it any further.
Shortly after, Luis and Mac resumed their sparring session once more just for Mac to keep up the momentum of training again, which then focus is switch back to a somewhat familiar face as she is sitting down on a chair and looking out a window….
"Oh my dear brother, where did you hide that power of yours?", said the mysterious lady who is interrupted by a man as he walked into what appeared to be the lady's office.
"Yes Lorenzo, do you have news for me?", asked the mysterious lady.
"Yes Lady Kassandra but unfortunately not any good news.", said Lorenzo which the newly introduced Kassandra wasn't too happy about.
"Hmm….what is it then?", asked Kassandra in a very displeased tone.
"Federal Agents of the FBI who are spies for The Order were able to look into the matter of the mysterious pillar of light from two weeks ago….", Lorenzo began to report….
"….but after interviewing multiple people from around the area, it seems that everyone within a one-mile radius has suffered some sort of amnesia because all they remember is doing activities hours before the pillar of light appeared.", said Lorenzo which then he finished his report, but Kassandra wasn't amused by this report at all.
"Well it seems that I underestimated my brother once again, clever fool….gather the other general's, we need discuss other plans of action.", said Kassandra as she ordered Lorenzo to located the three remaining general's and bring them back.
"Brother….where did you hide it, nonetheless I will find it….I have all the time in the world.", said Kassandra as everything becomes covered in darkness and the only thing that can be heard is a slight, devilish chuckle.
To Be Continued....