Troubled Paradise

Chapter 6 Get Over It

Everything had unexpectedly breezed over. When Ian opened his eyes once again everything was back to normal. Fisher was still being questioned when he had somehow passed out. Ian laid in his bed staring at the ceiling. He thought back to his dream- he couldn't remember. Everything that had happened he had forgotten it. Ian scratched his head in confusion feeling as if he was missing something important but never the less he threw the thought out the window. If he couldn't remember it wasn't important.

A few days later Ian was once again getting ready for the day. It has been around 2 weeks since he had first arrived and he was gradually getting used to it. However, he was bored out of his mind. The words Dean said before repeated in his mind, "We haven't found another case yet that needs the team's assistance. We'll share anything new we've found but for now you can relax in your rooms and try to build a bond." Ian snorted as he recalled the last part. No such bond would be formed between him and those cursed elders.

He sat down on his bed rummaging through his head for what he could do to pass the time. He searched his limited memories of everything he had seen when he had just arrived but only the cream blank walls filled his mind and the large space he had seen through the window. Suddenly he felt something in his brain clicked as he remembered the training grounds he saw on the day he came. He got up and  marched out of his room to the front door, only stopping to put on his boots.

"Where are you going?" Rico asked from the couch.

"To pick a fight." Ian replied casually. Rico stopped short and only after a while did he speak again, "Very funny. The training grounds?" Ian only nodded his head in response. Rico looked him up and down before speaking, "Not like that."

Ian stopped his struggle with his shoes and looked down at the casual clothes he was wearing. It was all given by S.P.A.R themselves so it was rather bland clothes with no distinctive feature about it. Ian looked at him confused. "You need to wear your uniform, it's mandatory."

Ian dropped into a slouched position releasing a exhausted sigh, "Thought I only need to wear the uniform when we're on some mission? Besides it's uncomfortable in this heat."

"Doesn't matter go put it on." Rico said leaving no room for an argument. Ian was finished with putting on his boots by now and reached for the door knob. "Don't." Rico said but Ian only twisted it open.

"Hey." He said once again but the door was already open.

"I'll remember next time." He broke out into a sprint as soon as his feet stepped out into the open. Rico still laid slouched on the couch and was wishing for a day of peace, which he thought had finally came his way, at least until he remembered that Ian existed.

Rico stayed still for a while before pushing off the couch. A series of swears rained from his mouth.  He marched off to find the disturbance to his little holiday, keeping a steady pace so he didn't have to see Ian's face so soon. Meanwhile Ian was too busy searching for the training grounds that he didn't even notice how weirdly the other members were looking at him. He always checked behind him once in a while just to make sure that Rico wasn't there to force him to put on that heat stroke attracter.

As he skipped around he finally caught sight of the familiar scenery, the training grounds. Just like before, in front of him wàas a large area of glass for spectators and beyond that, leading down, a fight was currently taking place. He stared in interest as the two females clashed, one with lightning and another of water, enemies in nature. He had originally thought that the water user would lose since water was a conductor of lightning and could easily be used against her but instead she took advantage of that little fact.

The fight ended with the lightning user in a water bubble, defeated by her own ability in the water. Ian watched as the girl attempted to break free but instead more and more volts filled the water, the lighting was clearly evident in the water now. Ian began making his way down to get a clearer view of the fights. There wasn't a lot of people seated along the columns therefore making it easy for Ian to find a seat with him alone.

The second fight was just starting when a group of people had sat down around Ian. At first he thought that it was his so-called 'team' but the voices said differently.

"I'm quite surprised of your ability." It seems that these people were his fans. "I wonder how a criminal like you got in." Anti fans. "You should be in jail, piece of shit." Haters. They were haters.

Ian huffed getting up to find a new spot but they also stood up to block his chances at escaping. He sighed, "Don't you guys have anything better to do?" It seemed he had pushed a wrong button since their faces grew dark. "What about you? Or was blowing up a bridge on your to-do list?." Ian nodded his  head, "You could say that."

Their already hostile faces grew darker, "Then what about a fight?" Ian smirked, "That's what I came here for." He was told not to interact with any obviously hostile members but the rules weren't gonna fix him anyway. No harm in adding another broken rule to the pile. The boy went to talk to the instructor to verify their fight and soon enough they were both on opposite sides of the platform. The instructor obviously wanted nothing to do with the fight but with Ian's threatening gaze he reluctantly agreed.

"The rules are simple, if one of you is out of bounds, unconcious, or simply forfeit the match then the other wins. This is training therefore no playing dirty, this is just a test of natural strength and strategy. You can't manipulate anything from outside your bounds, any signs of that results in the opponents win, got that?"

Ian yawned in response which obviously angered both his opponent and the instructor. "With that said, Ferris, Mikelo, the countdown starts now." Although the hatred was clear when the instructor said his name no one minded it. It was all too interesting to see who was going to win, A street criminal or a professional hunter.

"You're not going there." Rico said angrily, dragging Ian roughly back to their room. "It's not my fault! Who knew he would talk so big and actually be that weak." He said, stumbling. "The training grounds are only open for the newly recruited! If a match was supposed to happen between high tiers other high tiers would be there to stop it just incase." Rico shouted. "How the hell was I supposed to know that? I should've gotten a chance to fight! Why didn't I fight?"

Ian asked basically hovering in the air. Rico stopped and pointed back to the window that led down to the arena. It could barely be seen from their current position but the faint traces of smoke and fire was there. Ian folded his arms over his chest and rolled his eyes, "Not my fault your place was so flammable."

"You were supposed to keep it within the boundaries!"

"That was an accident, the guy's ability was wind. He was the one who made it spread."

Rico was too angry to even respond and ended up staying quiet the rest of the way. "Just stay here until we actually need you alright?" Rico said as he threw him inside. Ian stumbled before regaining his balance just in time for his door to slam shut in his face. Ian sighed,

"Plan A for entertainment unsurprisingly failed." He sat on his bed thinking of everything else he could do before settling on his plan B. He didn't want to carry it out but if things continued like this then he would die of boredom before they could even find Oliver. Ian only waited two days before wanting to go out again.

"Hey I wanna go outside." Rico who had coincidentally just came out of his room overheard, he muttered a few words under his breath that sounded an awful lot like, 'For f***s sake not again,' as he locked himself in his room. Ian raised a brow at that but soon dismissed it as Rico going to miss out on a fun time with the one and only Ian himself. Bruno sighed and called out to Karsyon who was sneakily trying to get pass by using his ability. He too sighed as he was dragged into the problem as well.

"I, uh, have some stuff to do." He said to Bruno who was looking at him with dark eyes. "You guys act like it's so bad spending some time with me." Ian rolled his eyes as he straightened his posture. "Don't underestimate yourself. You're a goddamn pain in the ass." Dior said standing at her door. "Exactly!" Rico shouted from his room. Ian pouted, flipping over the couch to land seated with his arms crossed. "I'm not that bad."

"You lit my cat on fire." Karsyon spoke.

"I thought we had a no pet policy." Ian replied innocently.

"You blew up my door." Dior said.

"I was knocking but you weren't answering so I just took it up a notch."

"You ate all of the food we had in the fridge." Rico said.

"Sharing is caring."

"I don't want to hear that from you of all people and besides that was only a few out of the many thousands." Dior continued.

"Don't forget a few days ago!" Rico interrupted."

"The point is, we're not accompanying you outside." Dior said as she proceeded to close her door. Ian got his que, silently agreeing to Dior's words. Then I'll go by myself then Ian thought snickering while Bruno had a look of slight concern on his face but quickly turned back to watching the tv. It was Ian they were talking about and nothing could be put pass him. It was about 10 or 11pm when Ian was certain everyone was asleep and peeked outside his room's door. He looked left then right, verifying that there truly was no one awake at these times.

Ian tip toed down the stairs with a pair of white sneakers in hand, wearing a pair of casually clothing. As he finally spotted the front door he constantly checked behind himself until finally reaching the handle, first unlocking then twisting it open. He quickly threw on his shoes, quietly closed the door and bolted away. The only sound through the empty dim corridors were the squeaking of his shoes against the ground. Although it took quite some time going down the series of steps he finally exited the building.

He was about to take in the cool air when he spotted some guards not far from him. Of course security, he thought bitterly. He sneaked behind them, using one of the building's supporting pillars for cover anytime the guards looked his way. He went to a stone wall that looked at least 10 feet tall, crouching down he unleashed some fire power from his hands as he jumped, easily getting over the wall and landing on the other side. He laughed historically, mocking his team members in his head as he headed down the street to the only place that would be open at these times.

A bar, or more accurately Light Feather. It was a decent distance outside the building's range since he was taken to the other side of LoopSide City by Dean. He called for a taxi and went on his way. It took about 20 minutes to finally arrive on the other side of the City and upon stepping out of the taxi he paid his fare and did a simple glance over the building's bright exterior, littered in coloured lights all surrounding the words, 'Light Feather.'

This was the only place in town, where no one recognized him due to the lack of technology. The place was extremely closed in, almost claustrophobic. It followed the orders of 'Whatever happens in Light Feather, stays in Light Feather' and luckily these people didn't leave at all.

Ian pushed opened the simple wooden door, instantly greeted with blasting music, quite different from how the bar usually is. There was an unexpected crowd in the middle and even a different bartender than he was used to at this time period but he brushed it off since hadn't been to the bar in at least a month; not including the time he spent within S.P.A.R. Ian pushed through the crowd before he was suddenly hauled around by his collar.

"Oh, we got a big boy." The lady said as her red cherry lips added flavour to her words. Ian natural instinct was to push way but the woman had a firm grip around his hand. She tilted her head in obvious attraction, her caramel hair was swept to one side with her movement of pushing towards Ian. "Sorry, but I'm only here for a simple drink."

"Then allow me to treat you to a drink pretty boy." She moved even closer allowing her bosom to rub against Ian's hand that he immediately retracted. "As long as it's just that." He had initially wanted to refuse her offer but decided that she'd probably pest him until he left. The woman gave a light laugh as they walked towards the counter which was right in line with the entrance door. As he sat down, so did the lady, folding her legs.

Her short black dress revealing slightly dark legs as she called over the waiter. "Golden Heart Attack." She said to the bartender as he nodded and went to make the drinks. She then turned to Ian,

"Alesha." She spoke. "Ian." He replied, since he hasn't used his old name in a while. "A hot name for a hot guy." Alesha pressed as she leaned closer towards Ian. He laughed awkwardly not used to the affection. He laughed awkwardly leaning away from Alesha. He really didn't want to involve himself with anyone since as soon his mission was completed he'd go back to what he does best until he finally got locked up or died during one of his raids. Alesha batted her long lashes, an action Ian didn't take too kindly but remained silent. She rested one of her hands onto Ian's thighs, moving further and further up until he pushed off her hand.

"The drinks are here." He said with a forced smile, seems he attracted one of the desperate ones. "Oh of course," she thanked the bartender and was about to pay when he said that it was on the house. Ian found it unusual but thanked him for the free drink anyways. Ian observed the bubbly crimson drink before finally taking a sip of it.

"It seems you're really trying to get me into your bed." He said as he turned to Alesha who was also taking a sip of her own drink. She rested one of her hands on the counter and the other used to prop her head up.

"Oh not only my bed darling." Her eyes flashed an eerily gold, strikingly different from her dark chocolate eyes. Ian turned towards the bartender who had the same eerily glow in his eyes. "Shit.." Ian quickly got up but his head spun causing him to lean on the counter for support. Alesha got up from her seat and crouched down beside him. "No d**g works this quickly." He huffed out. "It isn't a d**g honey, it's my poison." He collapsed onto the ground his vision blurring as he felt his body get heavier and heavier. The fake bartender headed into the staff room that was within Ian's sight and as the door opened it revealed the body of a man dressed in the same uniform, slouched slightly. It disappeared behind the closing doors just as quickly as it was shown. You gotta be kidding me, what kind of cliche bullshit is this.

Alesha took up the unconcious Ian, dragging him towards the staff room, the crowd was too hypnotized into their dance that they didn't acknowledge anything else. Bruno rolled his eyes as the troublemaker was dragged into the room. I thought this would happen.. Bruno stayed still for a while in his seat at the bar before heading towards the staff room. Inside, there was a decent sized hole in the wall, inside barely lit but muffled sounds came from within. Without hesitation Bruno marched forward. There were thick bundles of webs around the walls of the hole that led inwards. Bruno carefully walked ahead mindful about the webs at his sides. He had only walked for a few seconds when he suddenly heard talking. He slowed his movements immediately.

"We finally got ourselves a cute one Leo." Alesha said titling Ian's head from side to side, properly observing her meal. "A shame that he refused me though." Her grip tightened, her long fake nails almost drawing blood. "That really hurt my pride." Alesha had on a pout with a fake look of hurt on her face as she moved her hand to one of the boy's revealed arms, pushing her nails into his arm. "Let's wake you up then, shall we?"

Coincidentally on que Ian twitched, opening up his bright emeralds to stare at Alesha, "Welcome back, Ian." Ian flared with anger attempting to rip off the thick webs that taped him to the wall.

"Hey, take your s**t off me so I can give you a proper kiss." He huffed. Leo, who had a shocking resemblance to Alesha, rolled his eyes and walked over to the exit where Bruno were observing. Bruno shrunk away, waiting for the unsuspecting male to walk right into the hilt of his sword. "You can give it to me just like this." Alesha said moving towards Ian, swaying her hips, meanwhile Leo turned to corner and was immediately met with a glowing sword and dark eyes, a bright contrast in the darkness. Leo's eyes widened as he gripped one of the webs.

Alesha stopped in her tracks just as she was about to touch Ian's lips. She didn't withdraw or move any closer as she called out, "Leo?" Ian, realizing her attention was elsewhere swung his head back then with full force onto Alesha's nose. A proud c***k sounded through the air as she shouted. "You son of a b***h!" She staggered back holding her bleeding nose. Ian struggled, using his partly free hand to tear off the rest of the webs. After only a few failed attempts he grew agitated and released an explosion instead.

It effectively loosened some parts of the web. Alesha looked up in shock as parts of her webs fell to the ground, leaving a wide hole that revealed a part of Ian's body. There was still a bit of smoke emitting and even his clothes were a bit damaged. Ian smirked darkly as let out another blast, both his hands and feet free as he stepped towards Alesha. "What's this? I thought you said you were taking me to your bed, huh?" He looked down at the trembling Alesha who had blood staining the whole front of her clothes, a vein became evident on his forehead in his fit of anger. "What else did you say you would do to me?"

"You wouldn't hit a girl would you?" She opened her mouth allowing the blood to drip onto her teeth. Ian stared at her, narrowing his eyes slightly.

"Y'know if there's one thing I like in life." He finally spoke, "it's gender equality."

Alesha was surprised with his answer, rushing to stand up and shouted, "Remeber that you still have my poison in your system you bastard!" Ian seized his movements immediately, knees slightly bent as he trembled. Alesha looked as if she had won the lottery,

"That's right asshole I've already won-"

"You mean this right?"

Ian showed his hand revealing green powder. Alesha's faced paled as every attempt to activate her poison had failed. "You should stop involving others and settle down." he stepped closer as Alesha stepped back, "All the options and yet.." he glared at her, "You chose this one."

"I don't have a choice like you rich kids have! Even before I was awakened as a Lumin all that I've been seen for was my body and don't lie 'cause even you too only saw me for it."

She shouted angrily. "Don't mix it up." Ian started, Alesha's face changed to confusion, "I only came here for a drink and since you were offering me one I decided to take you up on the offer so I didn't have to pay. Stop the sentimental s**t and lets get to the fighting part already." Alesha stared at him for a while before finally speaking, "Are you an i***t? No wonder it was so easy to intoxicate you." Alesha folded her hands over her chest looking at Ian bewildered. Ian snapped,

"What!? I was just taking it easy. I came out here to relax and free myself from my problems. It's not your business anyways. " Alesha spoke up,

"But if I remembered when you noticed you had ingested my poison you could only pass out from shock."

Ian flared, "Woman, go f**k yourself don't change the topic and let's get down to fighting already."

Alesha wondered for a moment before looking pass Ian, "I doubt that'll happen." Ian turned to where she was looking and his face paled instantly. Bruno stood there his face dark with anger and sword sheathed. Over his shoulder was Leo, slouched down with his face ghastly white. He looked as if he had seen a ghost but Ian denied that, it wasn't a ghost but a demon instead.

"What're you looking at me for? I thought you were having a chat?" Bruno asked darkly. Ian nervously backed away and Alesha picked up his unusual behavior. She could only try to hold back her laughter. She looked towards Bruno, "I'm guessing you know this kid." Bruno looked at her uninterestingly. "Ian this bastard he left without paying for his drink, even insulting our bartender." Alesha rambled on and on. "And so we decided to take matters in our own hands to teach him a lesson."

Ian faced the shameless woman with a shocked face.

"What-"

Bruno sighed and shook his head. Ian looked in surprise as it seemed that Bruno had unexpectedly sided with the enemy. Ian looked on in disbelief,

"You really think I did all that." Bruno didn't even waste a second, "At least a decent percentage of them." Ian was frozen while Alesha was having the time of her life laughing, even doubling over holding her stomach. Yes he had destroyed few places and made it inconvenient for people but- he cut off his thoughts.  She slammed her fists into the ground as tears welled up in her eyes, she didn't even care about the dirt she was picking up at this point. "I don't know of I should be surprised or disappointed." Ian muttered under his breath, rolling his eyes. Bruno looked between the two before settling on Alesha.

"A guardian who can't even trust you, wow." Alesha said wiping the tears from her eyes as she got up. "Don't test me woman." Ian said darkly but Alesha wasn't intimidated in the least. She only bobbed her head towards Bruno while smirking evilly and as Ian got her message. "You're an animal type, a spider?" Bruno questioned. Alesha replied with a simple nod of her head. "And that's my twin over there, psychic type, hidden room."

Alesha straightened up, brushing off her clothes as she spoke again, "I'm the cause of this problem. I come here to feed but feeding doesn't kill my victims. It merely makes you unconscious for a few hours the most." Bruno nodded well that explains why that room wasn't found out before since it's like it never existed in the first place.

"So you haven't killed a single person?" Bruno asked. Alesha shook her head, her face serious. "Well okay."

Ian choked as he looked up at Bruno, "Why are you letting her go?"

"It's in the rules, as long as it's not a danger to others I can't bring her in." Ian looked with disbelief, "She was trying to kill me!"

  "You're one to fall for it in the first place." Ian flared once more. "I told you that I was just relaxing!" He puffed. "You didn't even realize the drink wasn't on the menu dumbass." She added, sighing. Ian thought back to the scene. Because the bar wasn't always so popular they only had a permanent menu of drinks set right behind the counter wall. He had went there a lot of times and he had never heard of 'Golden Heart Attack' before. He didn't answer.

The night passed quickly and Bruno had taken Ian back towards his room, this time doubling the security, Ian could of course get out only because that's how it worked. Registered Lumins of S.P.A.R could exit freely but taking any other entrance than the main one when coming back would give Ian the shock of his life, literally. He was somewhat glad that Bruno had went to fetch him so he didn't have to walk head first into danger.

"You're really letting her go?"

"She hasn't done any damage." Ian pointed to his arm that showed the trail of blood. "She hasn't done anything life threatening." Bruno corrected. Ian rambled on and on about the cruelties that Alesha had done, mixing in some lies just to get revenge but this time Bruno didn't play along. Once Ian realized he was getting ignored, he walked in front of Bruno to slow him down. Bruno slapped him over the head and closed off the conversation with just a few simple words, "Get over it."