Season 1, Episode 3 - The Ring Dings II - "The Secret Origin of Alfie Coonan"

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Because the newest Rddhi users practiced in isolation from one another, Isaac went down into the basement of the Support Building, where the Academy concentrated all its Rddhi research. In windowless, concrete rooms that were at least well-lit by fluorescent lights, the new users could train one-on-one with someone more experienced. For Isaac, someone more experienced meant his classmate Ryan Leekman, a tall, lean guy with tanned skin and short hair.

Shokahu chose Leekman to train Isaac because of the similarities of their powers: Isaac had his golden fist, while Leekman could transfer his body mass into his fists and arms, increasing his muscle size and strength, in exchange for losing a few inches of height until he transferred the mass back to normal. It was actually sort of funny, seeing someone lose their height, until Isaac saw him use his overclocked fist to punch an incoming truck clean through, smashing right through it, all the way down the middle until the two halves collapsed to either side of him. Leekman was a Class 3, after all.

"That's my goal for you," Leekman explained in the old basement where the air felt dry and the temperature slightly chilly. "The longer a fight goes on, the more difficult it becomes. Ideally, you should be able to knock out your opponent in a single punch. So we have to work on increasing the strength of your punches."

Isaac nodded with determination. Leekman brought out two metal poles with a slight opening where blocks of wood could be placed in at chest-level. Extending the metal on the poles, Leekman placed down five blocks of wood. "Smash your way through these."

Isaac grinned. "Alright, here I go!"

Isaac felt the Rddhi swirl in his right fist then let it fly, golden energy screaming as his fist closed the gap.

A slight stinging pain went up Isaac's arm as his fist connected with the wood. He frowned; he had only gotten through two.

"I don't get it," Isaac admitted, rubbing his hand. "When I hit that New Yorker, I punched him back like fifteen feet."

"You should never assume, but I'm going to assume right now," Leekman explained. "You were probably under emotional distress, right?"

Well, I was saving someone.

Isaac nodded.

"Emotions are a powerful tool. Pure, genuine emotion can get you over that hump. But-" Leekman raised an hand full of objections, "-emotions can make you unstable. They can throw you off your game because you're only listening to your heart. You should be listening to a heart tempered by the mind."

Isaac remembered how he ran off deep into the sewers by himself because of the emotion within him and almost got himself killed.

"You got a point," Isaac admitted.

"To be a warrior, you need to fight with the strength of an emotional overdrive, except you're actually keeping yourself rational," Leekman explained. "You need to tap into your emotions without actually losing yourself to them."

"How do I do that?" Isaac asked.

"Lots and lots of practice." Leekman chuckled. "But the Rddhi is the force that unifies us all, right? Recognize you are one with everything yet you are yourself. Have the heart of all yet the mind of your own. The Hegelian dialect in the form of a kick-ass punch."

Leekman smiled and waved his thoughts away. "It's all pseudo-scientific mumbo jumbo, I know. But just keep training. You'll know when it happens."

Isaac wasn't sure he understood any of that. The only part he did understand was more training, something he knew he could do.

Leekman set up another five blocks of wood.

Isaac readied his fist, feeling golden energy build up inside of it.

Let the energy course from your heart, Isaac told himself. But don't lose yourself to it. Don't let your heart control you, you control your heart. Draw on the energy that comes from everything, but keep your own head-

Isaac slammed his fist into the wooden blocks. He pulled his hand back and smiled. Leekman nodded in approval.

Only one wooden block remained, seared black in the center where the golden fist connected with it. The other four pieces were broken in half, scattered on the concrete floor.

Both Isaac and Leekman heard the slight screeching of the metal door opening. Mr. Shokahu stepped into the windowless concrete training room, dressed in his usual black uniform, his face sporting his usual familiar blank frown. Isaac was slightly jealous of his red scarf; it was cold down here, in the bowels of the Support Building.

"That's enough training for today, you two," Mr. Shokahu explained, his voice sounding just as tired as usual. Isaac wondered about that. It's not like he had ever seen Mr. Shokahu do, well, anything that could be tiring. Could paperwork really take that much out of you?

But Isaac shook his head. "We've only been training for an hour," he protested.

Leekman nodded. "We can keep going."

"Leekman, you can keep training upstairs." Mr. Shokahu raised a hand to cut off Isaac's incoming protest. "I actually have need of you, Isaac. Please, Leekman, if you'll excuse us."

After looking at Isaac curiously, Leekman nodded and departed, leaving just Shokahu and Isaac in the basement room.

"What could be more important than training?" Isaac questioned. "I was this close - this close - to punching through five planks of wood."

"You'll get there. We have more urgent matters to attend to."

Isaac changed from training mode to mission mode. "Is there something I can do?"

Mr. Shokahu remained expressionless and dry. "There's that enthusiasm I appreciate. There is something you can do. In fact, it's something only you can do."

"Only something I can do?" Isaac grinned widely. "You mean sticking my leg behind my neck? Because I can do that, I've been working on my flexibility, I always knew New England would need me to infiltrate somewhere through an air duct someday-"

Mr. Shokahu raised a hand. "Not that exactly. Something with a more...personal touch."

Isaac blinked, then felt a bead of sweat on his forehead as he realized Shokahu stood between him and the door.

"Not that," Mr. Shokahu said, sighing. "It's about the captured New York spy."

"The spy?" Isaac questioned. "You mean Alfie?"

"Alfie Coonan's his full name," Mr. Shokahu explained.

"What about him?"

"We've been keeping him in an isolated detention cell below the Tertiary Building," Mr. Shokahu said. "For the past month, he hasn't been willing to talk. He just lays around in bed, occasionally looking at the anti-Rddhi glove on his hand that keeps his powers at bay. He's lucky, all things considered. Most foreign prisoners would have died from torture by now."

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Isaac wasn't sure if he was supposed to feel bad about that or not. They were New Yorkers, after all.

"You don't use enhanced interrogation techniques on him?" Isaac questioned.

"Enhanced interrogation techniques," Shokahu repeated dryly, clearing finding amusement in the government-sponsored euphemism. "We treat Rddhi users very carefully. It's much more difficult to examine damaged goods. But anyway, we made a break through last night. Ms. Essex – you know her, the head of research – she was poking around him one night and he finally said he'd be willing to negotiate. Can't blame him, I wouldn't want to spend one night with her, let alone an entire month."

Isaac wondered if there was some history there. But he shook his head. "Negotiate? About what?"

Mr. Shokahu shrugged. "No idea. But this is where you come in."

"Me?"

"Alfie specifically said he would only be willing to negotiate with you."

Isaac went quiet and thought about it for a moment. With me? The nerve of this guy! First he infiltrates my nation, then attacks my school, tries to kidnap a classmate...and he has the audacity to try to negotiate with me? Negotiate! I oughta punch his lights out one more time, remind him of what he's done!

"Easy there, hotshot," Mr. Shokahu warned, recognizing the anger growing on Isaac's face. "I can't say I like him anymore than you do. But all you have to do is go down there and listen to him. See what he has to say. He might be willing to give up some information about New York or the other Unified powers."

Isaac supposed Shokahu had a point.

"Alright," Isaac said. "I don't like it, but I'll do it."

"Glad to hear it." Mr. Shokahu opened the door. "I'll take you to him now."

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Deep in the concrete bowels of the Tertiary Building, Isaac and Shokahu stood outside of a metal door. Behind it was another room, and inside of that was the jail cell. Two layers of security for Rddhi users. Isaac watched as scientists and military men moved around a corner, unlocking a metal portion of the wall that could be removed so they could look through a one-way glass as Isaac talked with Alfie.

"So I just sit in that chair, talk with the guy, and try to get some information out of him?" Isaac asked.

Mr. Shokahu nodded. "I've seen your conversational skills...just go out there and try your best."

"...thanks?"

Scratching the back of his neck, Isaac entered the interrogation room, closing the metal door behind him. It was a little unnerving, knowing there were a dozen observers rendered hidden by the one-way glass.

I suppose this is what a fishbowl must feel like. Can fish see out of their bowls? I've never actually seen a fishbowl, only on television-

The sight of Alfie lounging around his bed brought Isaac back to reality.

Isaac felt anger flare up inside of him, and he could just barely contain the Rddhi flowing through his arm. A dozen angry, vulgar labels stormed around in his head. Spy. Asshole. Attacker. Enemy.

One above them all.

New Yorker.

For some reason, despite the rage, Isaac found himself recalling Audrey's words from earlier.

They're people too, you know!

Isaac sighed. If New England had asked me to infiltrate a New York academy...had asked me to capture one of their leading Rddhi researchers...

It was from here that Isaac could feel just the tiniest hint of a connection between himself and the man laying on a faded green bed. Alfie's hair still looked so blonde it almost appeared white; his skin looked lighter, having only been warmed by flickering fluorescent lights in a cramped basement cell for the past month. He seemed leaner and thinner, too; Isaac couldn't imagine they'd be feeding a prisoner above the daily necessities. And there was the black glove around his hand, an anti-Rddhi device apparently developed by Ms. Essex herself. Isaac hoped it worked...or maybe he hoped it didn't, so he could kick his ass again for all the trouble he caused...

Isaac sighed and collected himself once more. He sat in the metal chair across from the cell bars. Alfie, who had been staring at the ceiling the whole time, finally gave Isaac his attention.

"Yo," Alfie greeted casually, still laying in his bed nonchalantly.

"...yo," Isaac answered, not exactly how prisoner interrogations were supposed to work. He knew he was supposed to lead the conversation, but it seemed like Alfie was in control when it came to the flow of their talking.

"It's been a while," Alfie continued, looking back at the ceiling. "I'm glad we finally have a chance to talk."

"Why me?" Isaac asked. "Why'd you want to talk to me?"

Alfie smiled. "They say in combat, your strikes say more than your words ever could. And that right hand of yours certainly said a lot."

Isaac looked down at his hand. "What did it say?"

"It says you put everything into that punch because you wanted to protect that girl. You had no idea who she was, but she was one of your classmates, one of your people, so you put everything into that punch to save her. Am I wrong?"

Isaac remembered the way Esther looked at him when he confronted Alfie. She believed in him, even when he was powerless.

"How could I not have done everything I could to protect someone?" Isaac answered.

Alfie nodded in approval. "That's why I wanted to talk to you. We're complete opposites."

Isaac gritted his teeth. "I thought I could at least understand you a little better since we're both serving our nations. But it turns out your just a lone wolf who's only in it for himself."

Alfie's amused expression didn't change. "Oh? You ever think about why that might be the case? You ever think about what goes on in countries besides your own?"

Isaac was running out of patience. "Spill it, Alfie. What's your story?"

Alfie placed his hands behind his neck and leaned back, resting against the cement wall. "I'm a New Englander, just like you are."

Isaac just barely kept the Rddhi from flaring out of his hand. "Did you want to talk just to mock me?"

"It's the truth, Isaac. I'm a man without a nation, and a man without a nation, what does he do? Who does he stand for? What's the point of getting up in the morning? These are the questions I face."

"You just said you were a New Englander."

"I am. You ever heard of the Adironack settlers?"

Realization dawned on Isaac. "You were a colonist?"

Alfie nodded. "After the Presidential Restoration and the Upstate Conquest, my grandparents were like many other settlers. They just wanted peace, away from the smog and class conflicts of Narragansett. They were proud New Englanders. So were my parents. At least, I assume they were."

"Assume?"

"They were killed during the First American War during the Adirondack Campaign. The New Yorkers destroyed my village, and now I'm fighting for the New Yorkers, isn't that ironic?"

Isaac wanted to call him a traitor, but Isaac knew he himself was blessed for at least having a mother and a brother. "I'm sorry for your loss," was all Isaac could say.

"Well, nobody in New York was," Alfie continued. "They rounded us up, resettled us in labor camps. Considering I was a child, I was lucky to survive at all. But I worked coal mines, factories, just to get by, until that fateful day."

"What happened?"

"I stayed at work late one night and found a foreman trying to force his way on a girl in a secluded part of the factory. And before I knew it, I burned him alive. Flames shot from my fingertips. I didn't command it. It just happened."

Isaac felt sweat on his forehead. "So you unlocked your Rddhi powers protecting someone as well?"

Alfie smiled ruefully. "Maybe we're more similar than I thought. The authorities immediately took me in and put me in the Rddhi program. I was still a New Englander, of course. I just went from the lowest of the low in normal society to the lowest of the low within the Rddhi corps. The armband designating you as a New Englander, a subhuman, it hurts your very pride as an individual, but over time, you get used to it. Numb to it. I served New York because that's what I did. That's all I had."

Isaac remained quiet, brooding, his hands restless in thought.

"They told me if I kidnapped the lab rat, they'd free me. I could retire Upstate, be left alone. That's all I ever wanted." Alfie raised his hands in a "that's life" sort of way. "Of course, they'd never let me go. A Rddhi user is too valuable, New Englander or not. But the thought of freedom, no matter how much of a hopeless illusion it was, is what kept me going. And now..."

Alfie stared directly into Isaac's eyes.

"I might have a chance at that."

Isaac narrowed his own. "What do you mean?"

"New York will surely kill me if I ever make it back there," Alfie explained. "But here, I might be of service to you guys now."

A mercenary. Isaac gritted his teeth before sighing. Considering what this guy's been through...

"What do you want?" Isaac asked.

"I want my freedom. Let's say...I work with you guys until the end of the school year. Your school years end in June too, right? I'll give you nine whole months of service, then let me retire. Let me live in the wilderness, somewhere north. Just leave me be."

"I'm in no position to officially offer you anything," Isaac explained. "But even I know that's not enough. You're our age, right? I'd say, give us until the end of high school. And you better give us some good information."

"Tch." For the first time, Alfie looked annoyed. "Fine. I can do until the end of school. I've been waiting my whole life, I can wait a little longer."

"I'll vouch for you," Isaac explained. "I'll back you. I think what you've been through is rough. Give us some time to wash out the stains of spying on us, and I'll make sure you get your freedom."

"I thought you said you have no authority."

"I don't. And personally, I still don't really care for you. But a deal's a deal. And by keeping you under my watch for almost two years, I can make sure you won't try anything and your retirement is for real. Then you can get out of my sight for good."

Alfie smiled. "Feeling's mutual."

"But you gotta give me something," Isaac continued. "Give me some information right now I can take back with me so I can close the deal."

"I got a lot," Alfie admitted. "But I think there's one thing you guys will like."

He leaned forward, the dark grin on his face visible through the bars.

"You ever heard of the West Narragansett smuggling ring?"