Chapter 2: An Interesting Development
#2 of The New Change
"Hey Dad. It's James. Today's my 23rd birthday. 7 years, huh? It's been a long time. You probably have something else you wanna hear though. I took mom off life support last week. She passed away last night, and I bought the grave next to yours for her." James looked around, stopping his conversation with his dead father for the moment. He made sure to check that no one was around, and once he was satisfied, he sat down next to his father's grave marker.
"It's been developing. That thing... inside of me. You knew about it, I'm sure. I think I've figured out how to control the change, and it's taken me long enough." James got to his feet and sighed, closing his eyes. "And now that college is out, I don't have to worry as much about being seen as before. The inheritance you left me was more than enough for me to buy my own place. Thanks for that." He turned, walking back towards his motorcycle, a black Kawasaki Ninja ZX-14. James put on his helmet and proceeded to ride off, past a limousine entering the cemetery.
The limo stopped right about where James had parked, and two men in black suits, the kind you would see at a funeral, got out and walked up to the grave of James' father. The one with a hat walks up closer and kneels.
"Jonathon, we're deeply sorry. With how you stopped contacting us after your son was born... we didn't find out about this until just recently." The other man walked up and shook his head.
"There aren't any excuses for us. We should have come sooner. But we will fulfill the promise we made, Jon. Don't worry about that. Your parents...when we told them, they were delighted and crushed at the same time. They can't wait to meet their grandson."
James couldn't help but enjoy riding his motorcycle down the highway. He looked at the exit signs, and saw that he just passed Exit 35B. He knew his exit was 38A, so not much further. It made him a bit sad though, the feeling of the speed that he was at made him feel in control, powerful, and free. That quickly ended when he felt a horrible pulsing in his head. James grunted and closed his eyes for a moment, then going back to keeping his eyes on the road.
James, we need to get out of here, now!
The mysterious warning came too late for James, and he heard a gunshot. He saw the bullet hit right near his front tire and bounce off the pavement. James swerved, taking cover behind a large truck, swearing.
"What the fuck!" He quickly sped up and leaned down, trying to increase speed. He heard another gunshot, and this time, it hit his back tire. It blew out, and James knew he'd go into a slide.
"Fuck this!" James shouted, and turned, heading towards the edge of the highway. He was glad it was at street level, so this would hurt less. He jumped off his motorcycle just as it started sliding, and he slammed onto the ground, rolling to the grassy side of the road. A moment later he heard a large explosion, and figured that his bike was gone now.
James tried to get up but for some reason couldn't move. He then felt a warm feeling on the inside of his helmet, and saw something red creeping into his vision. A moment later, he was turned over, and saw two men dressed in black suits. He recalled seeing them as in the limousine he passed on his way out of the cemetery.
"James, you'll be fine, don't worry." He heard from one of them as his vision started to fade.
Hang in there James.
James sat up as soon as he woke and began looking around. He found himself at home, in his own bed. He brought his hand up to his head, and felt a large patch on the back of his skull. He shuddered and sighed a bit as he thought back to who helped him. He felt something odd about them.
"James? Are you awake?" He heard coming from the hallway. He didn't recognize the voice, which worried James. He kept an eye on the door as it opened. He felt his body freeze up when he saw who came through the doorway. There were two large anthropomorphic dragons, a blue-scaled and a red-scaled. He remembered how bloodthirsty and vicious his own draconic side had been in the past, and recoiled.
"James, it's okay. You don't need to worry anymore, you're safe now." The blue-scaled spoke slowly, as if trying to comfort James.
"H-how do you know my name?" James asked, curiously and fearfully.
"James, we knew your father Jonathon. We're his brothers." The red-scaled dragon moved closer to the bed, and James didn't seem to mind anymore, so both dragons pulled up a chair to the bed.
"He never told me he had brothers." James mentioned, growing a bit suspicious.
"We figured as much... he said he was going to cut off contact with the family once you were born, so that you would be what he considered ‘normal' until you were of age." The red-scaled replied, shrugging. "We let him do his thing."
"Huh. Okay then. Can you at least tell me your names since you know mine?"
"Oh, I'm Camer." The red-scaled answered.
"And I'm Sorm." The blue-scaled added.
Don't forget me, James. I'm you.
"Holy shit!" James recoiled and looked around, shaking his head. "Who the hell was that third voice?" James questioned, glaring at his uncles.
"Third voice?" Sorm looked at Camer for a moment and then they both started chuckling.
"James, don't worry. It's the manifestation of your draconic side; didn't your father leave you anything to learn from? This information is basic." Sorm asked. Camer shook his head and sighed; he knew his brother, and he knew Jon would have wanted to teach James personally.
"No, he didn't. He left me an inheritance, nothing else." James looked away and crossed his arms. Sorm and Camer looked at each other for a moment, then back at James.
"Jonathon... told us to look after you and bring you back with us to his parents to be taught everything you need to know if something happened to him." Camer mentioned, placing his hand on his nephew's shoulder. Neither of the dragons knew what it was like to have a loved one murdered, and were glad they didn't.
"...Guys...how much do you know about what happened?" James asked, cocking his head.
"Well, we know that your father was killed, your mother was put into a coma, sometime between then and now you gained access to your draconic side, and that you recently took your mother off of life support." Sorm replied, curious as to why James asked.
"So you don't know..." James looked away, and thinking back to his form, he felt a question rise in his head. "You both are different colors. Does the color of your scales mean anything?"
"Well, yes. It tends to show a mix of your personality as the dominant color, and your strength. Red is raw power, blue is wisdom, white is purity and angelic, green is bravery, yellow is speed, grey is balance, black is power, demonic, and curiously enough, equality. Why?" Camer questioned. "Wait. What do you look like in your draconic form, James?"
"Like this." James let go of the mental locks he put on his draconic form, and grunted as he began to change. He quickly shifted into his dragon form, leaving his two uncles in awe.
"My god..." Camer murmured, just staring. Sorm walked up to him, speechless for a moment.
"Uh... James?"
"Yeah?"
"We really do need to have a chat with a few others about this." Sorm spoke.
"Where?" James questioned.
"Uh..." Sorm looked at Camer quickly for an answer.
"Well...it's what you would call another dimension."
"No."
" What?" Sorm and Camer both spoke at the same time.
What? James' other side said in his head. James, this is important. It's not something you can just make a decision about without thinking over it. Take some time to decide.
"Hm, fine. One, two, three. There was some time. Still, no." James swiftly replied to the voice in his head.
Dammit James, stop being stubborn! The voice sounded a bit angry now. Ignoring it, James walked over to a nearby desk. He grabbed a pen from inside, and reached under the desk with it. He pressed it upwards, and there was a click. Suddenly, the open drawer he'd gotten the pen from started making noises. The bottom began to slide back, and James reached in, grabbing a large pistol from inside.
"False bottoms are amazing ways to hid things." James chuckled, and he turned to look at his uncles, who looked pale.
"James. What are you going to do with that?" Sorm asked.
"I'll tell you when I get back." James walked over to his front door, opening it and exiting the house, going over to a small shed in his front yard. He pulled out a key from his back pocket and unlocked the top lock, then opened the combination lock. James pulled the door open and went inside the shed, coming back out pulling a motorcycle. It looked almost exactly like the motorcycle he'd ended up crashing, but with subtle differences. There was a gun holster to the right of the seat, and the fuel tanks were more concealed. There was also a button on the small dashboard labeled nitro.
"Time to take my baby out for a ride, and I'm not crashing this one." James murmured, pulling on his helmet, still scraped and scarred from his crash, and getting onto the bike. He looked at his uncles as they came out, human, and still obviously confused.
"Later guys!" James shouted, his motorcycle roaring to life as he dashed out onto the roadway, far above the legal limit. Sorm and Camer had to use their arms to shield themselves from the dust cloud formed from the bike.
"Damn that boy, he's going to get himself killed!" Camer shouted.
"Let's follow him." Sorm murmured, quickly getting into their car. Camer got in moments after, and they drove off to follow James.
James was on the highway in a matter of minutes, and knew he was a good few miles ahead of his uncles. As soon as he heard a gunshot though, he knew the people who tried to kill him before were there. He slipped the pistol out of the holster and into his hand, using the mirrors to aim. He saw a black car driving up behind him, keeping up somehow.
James aimed and fired a few shots at the windshield, and watched as the bullets struck the window, only cracking it a bit.
"Fuck, bulletproof?! They knew I'd bring a gun this time!" James swore and avoided the coming machinegun fire, thankful his own vehicle was mostly bulletproof. He then aimed at one of their wheels and fired a single shot, smirking as the tire blew out. That smirk vanished when the car pull back, revealing three more.
"Fuck fuck fuck!" He screamed, and focused on avoiding the cars now. Looking up ahead, he saw there was an overpass. He sighed and took a moment to think, then made a hard left. His motorcycle slammed into the railing and busted through it, flying right off of the higher section of the highway. He thought he was home clear, but heard one last bullet fly. He felt searing pain as it ripped through his side, and let out a roar, his draconic wings sprouting from his back, which he used to stabilize his landing as he nearly veered out of control in midair. He landed smoothly, clutching his side as his wings receded. He rode off, not realizing that drivers with their phones out had recorded the change. He looked back and saw the license plates of the cars, remembering the lead one.
"Goddammit... I need to get to the hospital for this... it hurts bad... did it hit a vital? Damn it all to hell... at least I have one of the plate numbers... I'll need some help from friends after this though..." James grunted, hitting the nitro button and speeding off.
The three cars stopped at the edge of the highway where James had drove his motorcycle off of, and two men, drivers of two of the cars, got out. They both wore black clothes, exactly similar and none of the features of either of them were visible.
"James escaped again, Connor." The first man spoke.
"I know, Justin. We'll get him next time though. Bastard can't run forever." Connor remarked with a sneer.
"You'll have to explain this to our Master though, remember?" Justin shook his head, glad that he wasn't the one with that burden.
"I've got that under control, Justin. I've already figured out how to get James. No matter where he goes now, as long as he uses that bike, we can track him." Connor chuckled, seeming to have everything under control.
"Ah, tracker bullets. Very clever. I guess that boy will be seeing us sooner than he hopes..."
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Well everyone, hope you liked Chapter 2. There's something devious going on in James's life now, and it involves those two men, Connor and Justin (Shoutout to the both of you if you read this. ^^), who seem to have a boss of their own. How high does this hierarchy go? Who is really after James, and why? Did that bullet that hit James hit a vital organ? Should I even bother continuing the story? Answers to these questions later!