The Creed: Running Down The Rabbit Hole
#2 of The Creed
*NOTE: J and Purp are the characters that belong to /u/Just_One_Dude and /u/Purplebatman in name only, mainly because J is a cyborg on Reddit and Purp is not a fox.
Several weeks prior, in New Orleans
Fuck. Yet another job I didn't get, I thought as I walked to my dingy apartment from the Burger KIng nearby. They hadn't actually rejected me yet, but I knew from the moment that the manager laid eyes on me that he hated me. It was probably the way I dressed, in a sleeveless black hoodie with white shorts and old, crappy shoes. I would buy some other clothes, but money was running out fast, and I already didn't have enough for the next payment of rent. The only reason I still had a phone was because my parents refused to let me get rid of it. "Otherwise, how could we communicate?" My mother had insisted, and offered to pay the bill. I suppose I didn't really have to use the phone, but nevertheless, I did. My earbuds were in 24/7, pumping some type of music through me. It was one of the few ways I coped with living along with almost no hope, because over the course of the past 6 weeks, my college fund had dwindled to a mere $200 as I paid for housing and food. Speaking of which...
I turned down the street to walk to the supermarket to pick up a case of ramen and a pot, so I could reduce my food expenditures, when I noticed a shape out of the corner of my eye. I had just strolled into a bad neighborhood by accident, and there where I just passed was a figure in white, leaning against the wall conspicuously. Suddenly, two cops pushed me out of the way and ran in the direction that I was going.
Once the cops were out of sight, the hooded figure nearby began climbing up the wall, onto the roof. "Wait!" I called out and rushed to follow him, climbing up the fire escape. The figure began sprinting faster, and though I was fast, I couldn't keep up with him. Before I knew it, he had disappeared. No... not disappeared. His fingers were visible as he hung on the edge of the rooftop. And suddenly, they weren't. I heard him hit the ground with a thud, and saw the top of his head as he sprinted his way around the corner, looping back to where I had first seen him. Abandoning all logic and reason in order to seize the opportunity, I ran to the edge and just before he passed under, I jumped.
Time seemed to slow. Air whistled by, rippling through my jacket as I fell through the air. I threw my upper body more forward, so the fall would be more dissipated. 5... 4... 3... 2... 1.. I connected with him, and he fell to the sidewalk loudly.
"Who are you?" I asked "Why were the police after you? Where are you going?" I asked, pinning the struggling figure down. He stopped squirming and began to speak. "Do you have faith in the human race?"
The question was so pointless, so random, that I was left stunned momentarily. "Ye-" I started to respond when his arm broke free and slugged me across the jaw. Everything went black for just a second, and the world began to spin. The figure had gotten out from under me and was running again.
Too shaken to walk or run, I called out after him. The only thing I could think to ask was "Why?"
Several days later
It was midnight when I was awoken by a tapping at my window. I got up off of the bare mattress that served as my bed and dared see what it was about. Nothing was outside except for the city at night, a swirling beacon of lights and colors. Standing there, watching the city at night, it was easy to forget about what had woken me, and I did. It was about 20 minutes later that I felt the draft, and about 20 seconds after that that I realized what the draft meant.
The hooded guy was standing over me, waiting patiently for me to wake. "Not the most observant are you?" He asked, smiling in the dark. "Come on, grab your shit. It's time to go."
"What? I asked, confused and tired. "Why the hell would I go anywhere with someone who won't even tell me his name?"
"Simple. Why not?"
I had no good answer. My life was spent pretty much trying to scrape by, and I'd done more rash things in my life... but I wasn't trusting this guy too much.
"Okay, I'll go, but only if you tell me just who in the hell you are." I finally replied, grabbing my phone, charger, wallet, and shoes.
"My name is J, and I'm an Assassin." He said, smiling that Cheshire grin of his. Before I knew it, he had leapt out of the window and there was nothing left of him in my apartment except for the rapidly fading afterimage of a smile.
Soon I was running after the Assassin, desperately trying to keep up. The scale down my building appeared to have been surprisingly easy for J, and though I managed to get down quickly via stairs, he had beaten me to the ground, and now we were racing in the darkness, he on the roofs and I on the ground, but I was starting to tire quickly. It seemed to go on for hours, but my phone was still playing the same album when we got to our destination.
J and I stood in panting silence, staring at the large plantation house, with but one windows lit up in the night.
"Where are we?" I asked. It seemed impossible for this to be anywhere within running distance.
"Closer than you think. Come on in." J replied in his usual cryptic manner. He opened the door before me, and I was greeted to a rather grand hall that seemed at least a century or two old. I heard a door open from upstairs, and out walked a silver and purple fox.
"Hey Purp," J said to the fox. "This is the guy I was telling you about.. uh, crap. What's your name?" He asked me, and it was then that I realized that I had never told him my name.
"Tyres, but don't worry about pronouncing it. I go by Ty." I explained. "Nice to meet you, uh, Purp?"
"Short for Purplebatman," he explained, despite the fact that that was hardly an explanation. "It's my username on the Haephestus DB."
"Hey, don't confuse him, he's tired enough as it is. Come on, let's get you a bed," J said, leading me up the stairs where I found a room with a four poster bed, a very nice computer, and enough power outlets, which was all I needed then. I kicked off my shoes and got in bed, falling asleep almost instantly, where I was greeted with dreams of a certain otter.