CHAPTER 88: Banishment

“Adam, I’m not sure this is a good idea,” said Police Chief Sanchez as he stood next to Adam back on the street.

They had rounded up a little over 300 men. Sanchez hadn’t seen the inside of the clinic yet. Or the people they were waiting to bring out.

They had radioed base and called for as many ambulances, busses, and support personnel as they might need. Elouise and Tom had interrogated some of the men that were “maintaining” the women. They confirmed that both legal and illegal drugs had been used to keep the women subdued. They had also confirmed the purpose of the place, which earned the men who spoke a decapitation from an enraged Tom and his followers.

Adam had stopped caring about these people, the men rounded up in the streets. Many of whom were shouting profanities or demands. He didn’t listen. To him they had stopped being people. Stopped being human. They were just a different type of invader, to be conquered and put down.

“Studied have shown that separating children from their parents, even suspected abusive ones, is just as detrimental to them as making sure they stay connected,” Sanchez stated.

Adam met Sanchez’s eyes, and the man flinched. He had grown accustomed to Adam’s intense looks, filled with fury. Now it was different. Scary in another way. Instead of burning, these eyes felt like they could drain the life out of you and not care.

“We bring them,” Adam stated simply before looking back to the clinic building.

“I understand you’re upset but we shouldn’t make any decisions based on emotions,” Sanchez continued.

“Then let’s asked the voice of wisdom, who came to prevent us from doing just that.” Adam turned to Elouise who was also just staring blankly at the building.

“We bring them,” Elouise said quietly.

“All hail the bandit king and queen. Destruction, pillaging, and taking the women and children,” said Tom. It was a measure of everyone’s upset that no one smacked him.

“Destruction is a good idea. Once everyone is out, have the mages and Demo Men level that building,” Adam ordered.

Someone from the herd of captives yelled, “But there are valuable things in there.” He quickly regretted it after seeing Adam’s glare.

There was organized chaos as more vehicles arrived carrying additional troops and support. Adam’s mom and Mrs. Rhodes, a nurse, came as well. After entering the building, his mother rushed out while gagging. She came over to Adam with teary eyes and put an arm around him. He didn’t move or acknowledge the attempted comforting.

Those around Adam took charge as he stood there stoically, watching people moving but adding little. His presence, and the pressure it gave off, kept people moving quickly and provided authority to the people giving orders. When a question was asked of him, he stared down the person and answered it as briefly as possible.

After 30 minutes of activity, what Adam was waiting for happened. From up the street came the mob. A couple hundred men and women. Some carried guns, others blunt objects. A few even had bows and arrows. It was almost a surprise they didn’t carry torches and pitchforks.

Most of the people looked dirty, but not the man in the front. He was a bit taller than Adam, and thin. He wore sunglasses that matched his styled dark hair and neatly pressed suit. His business shoes made a clopping sound every time he stepped.

Adam didn’t care. He turned and walked towards them, his metal boots with a rubber coating made no sound as he walked. A shrill whistle from Tom got everyone attention, and soon Adam had Lucas and Tom at his sides, shield bearers behind him, and raid positioning was formed up. Quite a few moved to protect the support staff and the rescue vehicles.

“Who are you that invades our city?” Mr. Tamare asked when he was close enough. His words were deliberate and caused a twinge in Adam’s hostility.

“Why are you stealing our people?” demanded a smaller, more belligerent man who was behind Mr. Tamare. Adam could see the resemblance to Brandon. He could also see the skittish woman holding the back of his shirt with her left hand, since her right arm was in a sling. It was easy to see that the skinny woman’s arm was swollen and needed medical care, and that was besides the large bruise on her face. Her gaze darted around in fear while she desperately held on to her husband.

Adam called his ranks to stop. Then he just watched the men, not responding.

“Oh, stealing them? Is that what we’re doing?” mocked Tom. “What was it you were doing with them?”

“They were receiving the best medical treatment available in our city. They were in a medical clinic after all,” Mr. Tamare said grandiosely. “You have now started a conflict. Have you no respect for law and order?”

“Yeah, right. As if the conflict wasn’t started when one of your parasites fired a gun at the boss and his wife, Abbey,” said Tom sarcastically, with a finger on his lips while looking to the sky theatrically. “It was when we came and helped the captives you were slaving out.”

“What captives? There was no slaving. They simply needed medical attention.”

“I’ll agree with you there. After being in your care, they sure needed that attention,” taunted Tom.

At Tom's continued accusations, Mr. Tamare's expression flashed from the smugness to concern, though only for a moment. He turned to a few of the more prominent followers and whispered quietly with them. There was plenty of emphatic gesturing and whisper shouting. A few more people came forward and joined the impromptu meeting. Adam couldn't hear what was said but it seemed very heated.

When Abbey's dad finally turned back to them, there was confidence on his face and stance.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

"I've been assured by these good people that your accusations are incorrect, nothing more than slander. I will no longer listen to your attempts to discredit hard working people just for your own greed!"

“My wife was in there,” one man shouted angrily at them.

“My kids were too,” yelled another man.

The mob began flexing muscles, shifting their cudgels. Taunts and insults were cried out.

“Now the mighty General, who has fooled everyone to believe he isn’t an alien lacky, has come to kidnap our people, like he kidnapped my daughter,” said Mr. Tamare with increasing vigor. “You’ve stolen all the food and water, you’ve kept the best of everything for yourself. And now you’re collecting all the women for your own perversions!”

“Oh? Perversions? Is that what you guys were using them for?” said Tom, no longer joking.

“I demand justice!” shouted Mr. Tamare to his own group. “We demand justice! We demand justice!”

The rest of the mob took up the chant. Adam continued to stand still, watching them all.

Then another voice spoke up as Police Chief Sanchez came forward.

“I was police chief before the invasions started. What justice are you looking for?” asked Sanchez.

“Arrest that boy! Stop protecting him! He must be held accountable,” screamed Mr. Tamare, causing similar shouts from the crowd.

“Were you not watching the news when the invasion hit? Did you not see footage of governments falling?” Sanchez asked genuinely.

“What are you talking about? That’s impossible. This is just that boy taking out the electric grid so he could seize control,” Mr. Tamare said towards his own people, reinforcing a truth that he held tightly.

“And what if it isn’t? What if it happened? I’m not saying we won’t hold Adam accountable for wrongs, but so far we haven’t seen anything that even violates our old laws.”

“That is also impossible! That man is sneaking away with our people. The city’s people!” shouted Brandon’s dad.

“See this?” asked Mr. Tamare as he indicated his people behind him. They were thumping clubs and taking aim with guns. “This is what happens when you go against the people. This is the consequence when you push the people too far!”

A cheer went up from the men behind him. The volume rose. Shields went up behind Adam and swords were drawn. It continued for a few minutes, but Mr. Tamare frowned when he saw Adam still standing there unaffected by it all, watching him with eyes of ice.

When the sound lowered down, Adam finally spoke. He didn’t yell or raise his voice. His words came out casually, surprising both sides.

“Go home. Treat your people better and keep away from ours. Then there won’t need to be a conflict,” Adam said, as if telling the rules to a playground game. “This isn’t the time for human conflict.”

Brandon had pushed his way through the shields and was next to Adam, looking mournful and shaking his head as he watched his parents. His mother saw him and then spoke out. Her voice quivered as if she was much older than her current age.

“Brandon…son…it isn’t too late. Just listen to your father. He knows what’s best for us.” Brandon’s dad turned and looked at her with anger. She flinched back but didn’t let go of his shirt. “He’s still willing to forgive you and your friend. Just stop causing this trouble.”

“Oh, mom,” Brandon said shaking his head, not really responding to her. Tears were forming in his eyes but his resolve didn’t change.

Brandon’s dad, seeing Brandon dismiss him, started stomping forward. Everyone grew tense on both sides. This could be the match that started the fire. He walked right up to Adam and poked him in his chest piece.

“What’s a little shit bag like you gonna do if you don’t get your way? Huh?”

Adam looked down at the man, his finger pushing harder and harder against Adam’s chest, even if nothing would ever come from it. Then Adam’s hand shot out, led by his pointer finger much like Brandon’s dad was doing. Adam’s finger poked the man’s forearm and there was a shrill crack, shocking the crowd to silence.

Brandon’s dad grabbed his arm and started screaming. Adam delicately picked up Brandon’s mom, still holding on to the man, and handed her to Brandon. She began feebly hitting and struggling to get away, but Brandon didn’t let her go.

“Mr. Tamare, I think you’re acting under the wrong assumption. You seem to think that politics and rabblerousing matter. You’ve clearly not been paying attention, even though I keep saying this,” said Adam, ignoring the man noisily rolling in pain in front of him. Mr. Tamare was scowling at him, looking between Adam and Brandon’s dad.

“What do I have wrong?” scoffed Mr. Tamare.

“There is no government. Law and order has once more become whoever swings the biggest stick. And right now…” Adam used [Gladiator’s Approach] and appeared in front of Mr. Tamare holding the man’s face by the jaw and bringing it close to his own face. Mr. Tamare was taller than Adam, but the action had kicked his legs out from under him. “I swing the biggest stick.”

A quick use of [Incapacitating Shout] shook the mob. Not everyone fell to the group, but enough did.

“Here are the rules for now,” Adam said loud enough for everyone to hear. He didn’t need to look to know there was fear in everyone’s eyes. He could see it in Mr. Tamare’s. “Anyone who fires a gun will lose a hand. Anyone who disrupts our operations will lose their life. You all have three days to leave Jackson or to join the army fighting the invaders. The next three days we’ll be sweeping the city looking for more ‘medical clinics’ and gathered children. On that third day if we find a capable man with a zero in their tag, they’ll be executed for crimes against humanity.

“I might want to protect my fellow man, but those with a zero over their head are no longer men to me. Just cowards looking for someone else to stand behind.”

People were now starting to recover from his roar. He watched them get up, unsure if they should fight back or not.

Adam dropped Mr. Tamare. “Out of respect for your daughter, who despite being related to you is a great girl, I haven’t killed you. Yet. Clean up your act or leave. You don’t want us to meet again like this.”

Adam turned and walked through a quickly formed path among his troops.

“If they aren’t dispersed in three minutes, execute them,” he finally said to a wave of salutes.

***

The rest of the day was finished under frustrated exhaustion. Adam made sure a large enough force was set up to search for more places like the medical clinic they had found. He checked maps and watched as an ordered search grid was set up.

When he finally returned to his penthouse, he found the door open again. Inside were not his friends, but dozens of teens younger than him throwing a party. They were using his gaming systems, playing in the pool, there were even couples making out on his couches. He looked to the kitchen where his cooks were frowning as the food they had prepared for him had been messily snatched by the party goers.

His sister Emily was filling her own plate and when she saw him, she stuck out her tongue and continued. Adam took a deep breath. He wanted to get angry, but he had enough of that today. He wanted to kick everyone out and rage a bit, but his sister was someone he did want to protect, even with how antagonistic she was towards him.

Instead, he grabbed a bag of calorie dense snacks and rations that he kept for emergencies and turned back to the door. He saw the boy he had nicknamed “Meat Shield” leaning against a wall. When their eyes met, Adam raised an eyebrow. In response, Meat Shield gave an apologetic look.

Coming over to him, the boy saluted. An impressive tag of “Defender [4]” was over his head, showing that he had evolved his class to Tier 2. Adam knew he had been involved in most of the raids and thought highly of him for it.

“I only came to make sure they didn’t break your stuff,” said the boy.

“Did Gracie come?” Adam asked curiously.

“No, Gracie scolds Emily any time she plans to mess with you. She wouldn’t be caught dead at a party like this.”

“Well, thanks for looking out for the place. And Emily. I appreciate it, William,” Adam said, using the boy’s name for the first time. William smiled so proudly, giving another salute.

Then Adam left. He left his penthouse, his building, his base, and then his city. After the difficulties of the day, Adam needed some alone time. Some peace.

He needed to kill some invaders.