Def Rio

"De Frio"

Chapter Revenge

This chapter starts at the end of 10-pm in the perspective of Grover. He sees the damage done to Rio and becomes furious. In his rage he says "General Radelki, you will pay for this..." Grover then flees to the Radelki residence to do what must be done. Upon his entry, he sees Rachel Radelki in a similar state as her daughter. She sits in the living room, crying. Suddenly she notices the shadowy figure that had appeared. Her weeping immediatly stops as she stares at Grover. She remembers. "Robert?" He stares back at her for what seems like forever. A loud noise. General Radelki stumbles into the room, drunk as usual. Upon seeing Grover, his anger turns into fear. He attempts to flee, but there is no point...

It has been done, General Radelki was dead and Grover had disapeared forever. He thinks back to his days in Chicago, and he thinks of Rachel. Those were good times. How could this happen to her, how could he let it happen? She was foolish to be with him. There was no hope for her. There was, however, hope for his granddaughter...Rio.

Who is Who

If you haven't picked up on it yet, Ares Gordon, Schmuck's grandfather, is the scientist who engineered the ability and rebuilt Grover. Also it should be noted the ability was not directly given to Schmuck. Ares had been murdered by AAF years before Schmuck had been born. The ability procedure had been first tested on Emily Gordon, the mother of Schmuck and the daughter of Ares. She was drugged with the engineered medicine in her youth. Emily passed on the ability to her son, but never learned to use it herself.

The Ability

Burred visions. Shapes, but no objects. A rush, gratuitous amounts of adrenaline.

He awakes again in the Camper Headquarters, which is ironically a bar. Taking a look around, he sees the dead mercenary sitting peacefully in the corner of the room, slouched up against the wall. The rest of the Campers were scattered about the room. Suddenly he remembers. He clumsily sprints towards the door and reclaims his weapons. Busting through the exit, he looks left then right. There she was. Leaning on one of the dumpsters, smoking a cigarette. "He dead?" Rio asks with a hint of laughter. He nods slowly, confirming it. "Calm down, let's go home."

Just a note

Wanted to say the posts are not in chronological order in context to the story. The faction's flags are posted here as well.

The Saving Tree

Bullets started flying everywhere in the open plain. Schmuck fires back and Rio runs for the Willow tree. She makes it. Schmuck follows, firing shots for his protection. After he is sheltered behind the trunk, he looks back. Grover is charging the enemy. Schmuck yells to him, but his voice is drowned in the sound of rounds being unloaded. The bullets tear through his body once again. Grover persists until his lifeless body falls to the earth. Schmuck whispers to himself, “you will not be forgotten.”

Chapter Schmuck

Conformity is Schmuck's curse. He is on the wrong side of the war. Imagine living in a society that lives by a philosophy that you don't have faith in. That can't end well.

Grover essentially kidnaps Schmuck to bring him to his place of refuge, his place of hiding. An abandoned warehouse is pretty generic, but the abundance of them makes it perfect. He explains who he is, but not where he came from. Grover mentions Schmuck's grandfather Ares Gordon and "The Ability" briefly, but does not offer any hints on using it. He put's Schmuck under again, and when he awakes he is in his school parking lot, sleeping in the back seat of his vehicle.

The next day Grover instructs Schmuck to take him to the warehouse again. There he explains his intents and "the ability" further. Grover insists that 3 months of physical training is essential. After peak physical training has been achieved, 3 more months of mind strengthening will also be required. Only then will Schmuck be ready to use his ability, his gift.

6 months

The ability is controlled by emotions, as one might suspect. Any emotion that is focused enough will allow the mutation to happen. Grover cautions the use of anger. While it may be stronger, controlling it is quite difficult. He explains that he knows this because of his association with Ares, which is true.
"That's all it is? Why couldn't you have told me this before?"
Schmuck attempts to use the ability but fails.

Grover laughs