Even in Conflict, Honor Thy Father and Mother: Chapter 2 – Family Fighting Activity

Chapter 2 – Family Fighting Activity

Idelle is in her golden armor and crimson bodysuit, and making sure I’m fine every minute as I’m sitting down on my parents’ couch and they try to cheer us up and tell us to eat our breakfast, so we can be ready for the upcoming fight. Knowing our parents are right, Idelle and I eat faster than we expect. I then start calling friends and associates that I have over in the hero association that I’m a part of for help, but none of my calls go through, not even calls to my friend’s personal phones or hero buzzer. My calls to the local hero association don’t go through either nor do my calls to the police.

“I should’ve guessed they’d block all our calls for help,” I say out loud.

“Are you sure it’s a good idea to involve others in this?” Idelle asks.

“They won’t be involved in the fighting. Instead, I want them to help the townspeople stay safe and away from the fighting.”

My parents suggest calling everyone they know using their phones, do so, and can get through to people to let them know what’s going to happen. Despite it being a spur-of-the-moment notice, the people we know agree to do what my parents tell them and inform the police and heroes to get everyone to a safe location.

“The people of Poca Bellezza are incredible,” Idelle says.

“It’s the famous southern hospitality,” my mom says.

“You two should be in a safe location, too. I don’t want you caught up in more of this, especially since Isaias and Irlene already seem to hate you,” I say.

“We’ll help where we can, while staying out of your fight. We wouldn’t want to distract you from beating whatever challenge those two scumbags have for you. I’m sorry that I called your real parents that,” my dad says.

“You have nothing to apologize for. They aren’t my real parents. You two are.”

My parents smile at me, call me their true son, and give me a hug. They also call Idelle their true daughter and drag her into the family group hug, which makes her cry a couple of tears of joy. The hug lasts for a minute before we let go. Idelle and I say our goodbyes and head into the town since our hour of rest is over. When we arrive in the town, we see that the once bustling and friendly place we once knew is a ghost town with no sign of life in sight, which is both good and off-putting at the same time.

“I’m sorry that I didn’t know this was going to happen,” Idelle says out of nowhere. “I had no idea those two would try this or cared so much about taking us back into their family.”

“I don’t blame you. From what you’ve told me and what I’ve seen so far of the general, he’s a very secretive guy, who doesn’t tell the whole truth when he explains things,” I say.

“No, I should’ve known, and shouldn’t have let his reassurances convince me to stop asking him so many questions. He’s manipulative, makes you think that he’s told you everything, and I should know that better than anyone.”

“It’s okay, Idelle.”

“The same thing goes for Irlene. I should’ve told you about her sooner, but she’s just as secretive as Isaias, if not more so, because she acts behind the scenes without being seen or acknowledged by anyone.”

“It’s fine. If anything, I’m more upset at how upset you are at yourself, so please, stop.”

“…okay.”

Idelle and I wander around the town, anxiously waiting for something to happen, but nothing does. We keep searching and waiting until Idelle gets a call from Isaias. The look of surprise on her face and tone of voice suggest something bad is happening.

Once she gets off the phone, I ask, “What did he say?”

“He knows where all the citizens of this town are hiding and-”

Irlene comes down from the sky where we are, cracking the concrete around her, and somehow not dirtying her uniform.

“I’m sure you would’ve guessed it by now, but we have eyes and ears everywhere. Did you think we wouldn’t have people or cameras watching our children?” Irlene says.

“You had me watching him! You said you weren’t going to send anyone else,” Idelle says.

“We meant that, at the time, but then changed our minds. You were a bit too unhinged in your hatred for us to completely trust.”

“You’re the reason why I’m like this!”

Idelle charges at Irlene, who blocks all her punches, kicks, and attacks from her snakes.

“Don’t spend too much of your energy on me. You’ll have a better foe to fight soon.”

Isaias runs at us from a distance I couldn’t see him from and stops the two from fighting by getting in between them.

“Our training dummies have arrived,” Isaias says. He points in various directions around town and in the sky to turn our attention to the coming threats. “More villains, criminals, and bad actors in government and business are here to clean their records with your defeat. What they don’t know is that your mother and I will be helping you in this fight because I want them dead or behind bars just as much as both of you do.”

“I’m not a hero to cleanse the country of villains and criminals! I only do it to serve God and my community,” I remind Isaias.

“Son, you have to have your sights set on the bigger picture if you want to accomplish that. Now, let’s focus on the enemy ahead and engage in a little superhuman family activity.”

Before I can get a word in, a barrage of explosions and powers hits us and separates me from Irlene and Idelle and causing damage to the surrounding area.. Unfortunately, Isaias is still with me since he wants us to fight together, which I reluctantly accept. We then head into the fray of battle, both of us using our speed and strength to take down our enemies one after the other. There’s even a bit of synergy and common tactics between us as we use the bodies of our foes against one another, and attack certain foes together, who we think need our attention.

“Did you have to send these many people to attack us?” I ask.

“No, there were fewer, but I expected them. We knew that giving the people who distrusted us too great a deal would have them bring backup to make sure this wasn’t a trap,” Isaias says.

“Which it was. You didn’t have to be dishonest with them.”

“I wasn’t. I only told half the truth. You get used to speaking the language of half-truths when you’re in my business.”

“I hope I never am.”

“We’ll see about that. You also wouldn’t have had to face this many people if you had killed the people I first sent after you. Now, they’re back up and brought more of their friends here.”

“I only kill if absolutely necessary, not because someone tells me to, even someone who says they’re my true father.”

“I understand, but this is that absolutely necessary situation. Just like the villain you threw into the sewage system, the law can’t legally punish these people, and can only send them away with a slap on the wrist or kill them behind closed doors and deny they did anything. Trust me when I say that I live by the same rule you do and that people are worth more dead than alive.”

“You have to view it in God’s way, and not your own.”

“I do everything for a higher power. When you’re in the same position I am, you’ll come to see that the shady way of doing things isn’t always necessarily evil.”

“I find that hard to believe because look at what you’ve done already. Look at this humble, quiet town that now suffers because of you.”

Isaias and I have already fought around and in my old school, the dinner I frequent, old toy and game stores I liked to shop in, playgrounds, churches, and food stores, all of which have nostalgic and personal value to me because of the memories associated with them and the people who I knew that worked in them.

“This isn’t the first time the government’s had a publicly secret execution like this. We have enough money and people to cover this entire thing up and make it up to the people we’ve hurt. You and they will see the greater good done through all this violence and destruction soon.”

“Tch. You’re unbelievable.”

Our fighting continues and lands both of us in the police station, thanks to encountering a strong foe who punches us both into the building. As we get up, Irlene also flies into the police station with us, and Idelle soon follows.

“Are you okay?” I ask Idelle.

“I’m fine, son,” Irlene says in her place. “Your sister is playing rough with me, but I understand.”

“What do you mean?”

“She’s been getting in cheap shots and allowing me to be overwhelmed by our foes. It’s something that I’ve done as well when I worked with people I didn’t like or wanted dead. Your father and I were deployed in circumstances where we didn’t need to write reports, and our superiors didn’t care what happened as long as the objectives were accomplished, so I used them to get rid of bad actors and evil people we were forced to work with.”

“That’s why you’re the slimiest out of the two of you,” Idelle says, referring to Irlene and Isaias.

“Your father is more slimly, if that’s what you want to call it. I can’t manipulate legalities and the wording of laws to suit our purposes like he can, and make everything that we do seem legally and morally correct.”

“And I can’t hide things and our enemies behind the scenes like you can,” Isaias says.

“You two can be lovey-dovey about your backstabbing practices later. Everyone is converging on us now,” Idelle says.

“How about we switch up partners? I’d like to spend time with my son, since my daughter doesn’t seem to like me,” Irlene says.

“Sure thing,” Isaias says.

Before Idelle and I can say anything, Irlene and Isaias separate us from one another as our foes converge on us and level the police station.

“What did you say to Idelle?” I ask Irlene.

“What do you mean?”

“She isn’t one to jump to violence, unless she thinks she needs to. What did you say to tick her off?”

“Nothing at all, except reasoning my love for you and her.”

“She doesn’t want to hear that. Isaias and you have put her through too much for her to care about hearing you out.”

“Then let me convince you about it so you can talk to her.”

Our foes attack Irlene and me as we’re talking, so we focus on that for now. As I fight, I see Irlene fighting in her own way in the distance. She viciously attacks her enemies with her fists and legs, just like Idelle does, but she doesn’t care to use their bodies as weapons against their allies; however, she does come to my aid, drawing some of the attackers' attention away from me. Wanting to keep her safe and unhurt, I try to redirect their focus onto me and make myself appear to be a more urgent threat.

“You’re more like me than you think,” Irlene says as we start to fight more closely together. “Whenever a person I care for is in danger, I become more vicious in my attack and throw myself into danger, not to say that your father doesn’t do the same. Where we are the same is in our goals being more short-term than your father’s long-term goals. We both know that what’s done in the present moment matters more than what could potentially be done in the future.”

“My methods are more honest and legal, and my way of fighting isn’t as vicious as yours.”

“We may disagree on many things, but I will admit your gift of strong kindness. Watching you treat everyone with kindness and help everyone, no matter who they were, touched us and made us reexamine how we acted. Also, seeing you happy with your adoptive family did admittedly make us jealous and yearn for normality.

“If you want that, then why did you have to put us all through this test?”

“Our family trade is violence. It has been for generations, my side of the family known for its military service, and your father’s known for law enforcement and the politicians it's produced. This is just how we do things to show our character and intentions.”

I’d say it’s warped and continue the conversation, but I’m tired of the back and forth and just let Irlene’s actions and mine speak for themselves. We intensify our efforts to finish the fight, remembering that we need to help Idelle and Isaias, which makes us fight faster regardless of the damage done to us, and we head toward the sounds of fighting to find that they have finished their side of the battle as well.

Going up to them, I say to Isaias, “That should be all of them. Is our test done yet? Have we passed it?”

“It’s not over yet. What’s the most important part of being a hero to you?” Isaias asks.

“Saving…” I grab Isaias’s collar. “You didn’t put the townspeople in danger, did you?!”

“Depends on what you do next. Better get to the community center soon.”

I grit my teeth and head off. There had better not be a hair harmed on them or else!