Chapter 111: A step by step plan

Getting the Espers to leave wasn’t as hard as Brent thought it was going to be.

They were apparently rather shaken, so when Brent waved his gun again, that seemed to scare them enough that they left through the hole that they had made in the front of the building. Brent really thought he was going to have to do a lot more, in fact, he knew that Esper Parker and Esper Gardner also expected that they would have to do a lot more as well.

They were both shocked that they didn’t have to do more. Both were prepared, but considering that the leader had to go get his wound treated, maybe that was why they didn’t put up much of a fight? Or they were going to report to Brent’s brother. Probably both.

“Okay, we need to get moving. Sophie needs treatment, and we need to go to the bank before they start blocking us at every point. Is there anything else you need to grab, Mr Caulder?” Brent asked, taking control of the situation. Mr. Caulder stared for a moment, Sophie in his arms before he shook himself and let out a shaky breath.

“I’ll need to grab my things from my personal office.” He said and Brent nodded. He glanced towards Esper Gardner.

“Esper Gardner, you go with him, Esper Parker and I will stay with Sophie down here. Make it quick.” Brent ordered. He had expected that they would push back against his orders, but they didn’t. Esper Parker easily took Sophie off of Mr. Caulder’s hands, and the other two rushed off.

“That was strange, wasn’t it?” Esper Parker muttered quietly as they watched the backs of the other two disappear down the hallway on the right. Brent let out a slow breath.

“Yeah. I was expecting more from them, honestly. Didn’t think the leader would back down so easily. They looked ready to cause trouble but as soon as I pulled my gun out they backed down.” Brent muttered. “Do you have any idea why?” Brent asked, glancing towards him. Esper Parker didn’t glance at him, his eyes black and scanning the areas before them that would be dangerous.

“Mm. I think the fact that you’re a Guide might have thrown them off.” He commented, and Brent jerked.

“What? Why?” Brent asked and Esper Parker smiled slightly.

“Well, the James family is already very powerful and is assumed to have connections to…well, I’m sure you know better than I do.” Esper Parker said with a dark chuckle. “They don’t have any members of their family that have awakened. It honestly felt like the universe was trying to balance out the disparity. Now? Now they have to grapple with the idea that there was one member that did awaken, and that they are a Guide with one arm. That’s going to shock them quite a bit.” Esper Parker said.

When he said it like that…it still didn’t make sense. It wasn’t as if Brent hid that he was awakened. In fact, that was the whole reason he was fucking made. It was a big deal that he became a Guide. Everyone had celebrated, even if they fucking hated him. Brent remembered the party that his family had thrown.

It had been all over the papers for days afterwards. Brent’s face had been all over everything.

It was why when he disappeared for about a week it was big fucking deal, and then when he came back with only one arm it was-

“What kind of shit has my brother been doing while I was gone?” Brent wondered out loud. Esper Parker, still staring forward, let out a chuckle.

“What didn’t he get up to? While making everyone dance in the palm of his hands.” Esper Parker sounded pretty upset, and honestly, Brent couldn’t blame him. There was a small, small part of Brent who felt bad for leaving. Just a small part. But then he remembered that he wouldn’t have been able to do a damn thing even if he had been here.

He’d already lost an arm to his brother’s whims, and there was a very big chance that his brother had also killed his grandfather. What could Brent have done as a powerless Guide back then?

The guilt he felt was something he had to push down and repress. Even if he had been here during the last three years, what could he have done? He hadn’t done shit when he’d been here for 20 years, he couldn’t have done anything in those three years either.

It was better that he had left, lived his life, and then came back. Now he had…allies. Friends. People who could support him in standing up to the evil that had haunted him his whole life.

“Mm. Well, we better cut off the legal resources as fast as we can. I would have liked to do a press conference, but that would go against Aunt Dina too much. She might lock me up until Kellen comes over if I did that without warning.” Brent was half joking, half serious. Esper Parker finally looked at him, his expression stern.

“She’s already doing that.” Esper Parker told him and Brent gave him a bright smile.

“She’s getting away with it because I know it’s also the right move right now. After this point though, I am going to have to be in danger and she is going to have to accept that. How else am I going to drag out the disgusting monsters hiding in the city? I’m sure you’re all sick and tired of letting him do what he wants, so let me do my job.” Brent’s smile was bright, but dangerous. Esper Parker frowned, his expression sour as he stared at the gaping hole where the front door used to be.

“I don’t like that.” He said. Brent almost laughed, but Esper Parker continued. “I don’t know what kind of life you’ve lived in the last three years away from here, but it’s dire for Guides here, Brent. Dire. Dina thought that she had protected everyone well, had done her best, and still…” His expression was painful to look at, even in a side profile.

“We cannot blame ourselves for what others do.” Brent said, speaking from a deep place of understanding. “If we did that, I would be to blame for all of the things that my family did to others, including what they did to me.” Brent said kindly. He wasn’t trying to hurt Esper Parker, but the man seemed to stiffen.

“What they did to you?” He repeated and Brent chuckled.

“Well, yeah. I’m the youngest and the biggest threat to my brother for obvious reasons now, but back then they weren’t as obvious. I guess, in a sense, he made me the villain in his story.” Brent said with a shrug. It was then that Esper Gardner and Mr. Caulder came back. Esper Gardner came and took Sophie from Esper Parker’s hands.

“Let’s get out of here and see if they damaged our car. I spoke to Dina while Mr. Caulder was packing his important things. The Guild is on high alert.” Esper Gardner told them both. Brent nodded.

“How alert are we talking?” Brent asked and Esper Gardner gave Brent a calculating look before she smiled.

“Let’s just say that things are about to get interesting.” Esper Gardner said with a smile. Brent had no idea what that smile meant, but when Brent glanced at Esper Parker, he seemed to have an idea.

“Mr. Caulder, where can we drop off Sophie so that she’s safe?” Brent asked and Mr. Caulder frowned.

“Her home is on the other side of town, away from all of this. I also would feel horrible dropping her off in this condition. Her father certainly would never forgive me.” That was…fair. Brent didn’t even consider that, he just wanted to get her somewhere safe.

“We’ll worry about Sophie after, Brent. Let’s go.” Esper Parker said and Brent couldn’t argue with him. They had to move.

~

Thankfully, the car was in one piece and nothing under that car had been messed with. Brent didn’t check, Esper Parker did with his ability to manipulate shadows. That was sick as hell to watch, and only made Brent more curious about his powers. However, this was not the time.

Esper Parker and Esper Gardner got in the front seat, leaving the back to Brent, Mr. Caulder and they put Sophie in between them, keeping her upright and safe. Mr. Caulder told them what bank they had to go to get this ball on the roll and Brent and the others braced themselves.

They knew that from this point on, the chance that they were going to be attacked was high. Then again, there was a reason that Esper Parker had selected this car in particular.

Brent had seen cars like this before. Rhys had a ton of them, and Kellen had even shown off one of the cars that he had gotten him. It had looked similar to this car, so Brent knew it was probably the best one on the market.

Everything was normal at first, traffic making both Espers in front impatient while Brent sat in the back, scanning the outside world. He’d tucked his gun away into his front pocket. It wasn’t his favourite place, but it made for easier access with his one hand.

At one point, Esper Parker started driving erratically, going up onto the curb and avoiding hitting pedestrians as he drove but also avoided the traffic in front of them. Brent thought he was being ridiculous until he looked behind him and noticed that they were being chased, on foot, by Espers that did not look familiar to him.

Ah. Reinforcements had arrived.

Brent didn’t say anything to Esper Parker, nor did Mr. Caulder. He just gripped onto the handle in the back of the car, his other arm protectively over Sophie next to him and Brent smiled. It was probably a bad thing that he was enjoying a chase scene, wasn’t it? After all, he hadn’t seen much action in a while.

He did his best to hide his smile so that the others didn’t think he was crazy. He was a little crazy, but just a tiny bit.

They finally arrived in front of the bank and Brent didn’t wait for a second, he got out of the car while it was still on and headed for the front doors. He knew that they were trying to stop him, but he wasn’t going to let them. He didn’t even reveal his gun, just stepped into the building, shoulders hunched as the outside world went dark behind him.

He knew that the two Espers, the two Lieutenants would make sure that Mr. Caulder made it into the building as well. This was too important for the whole city for that not to happen. Brent didn’t even wait politely to speak to anyone either.

He stormed towards whoever looked free and pulled them close.

“I need to speak to the manager of this bank. Can you please make that happen? I have something very important to discuss with them, and my lawyer will be right behind me in just a moment. We need to go somewhere secure as there are several forces in this city that want me dead.” Brent spoke quietly to the terrified bank clerk.

Brent didn’t think that they would listen until Mr. Caulder came in.

“Mr. James!” Mr. Caulder scolded, adjusting his suit, a briefcase that Brent had failed to notice before in his right hand. “You should have waited for me.” He shook his head. It seemed that Mr. Caulder was a well known face since the bank clerk sucked in.

“Mr. James?” The clerk repeated and Brent grinned.

“Yeah. The bank manager?” Brent prompted and off they ran. Hopefully this went smoothly.

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