Chapter 7

Chapter 7

By the time the Inspector and Chastity got to the front of the building and the Infinity Knight had picked the lock to get out, the scene outside was absolute chaos. The people of New York had turned to rioting, smashing vehicles and windows; advertising signs had collapsed; and fires burned out of control, lighting up the horrific scene with yellowish-orange light dancing all around; people fought at random points around the open area of Times Square. And, the noise of the violence was near-deafening.

As the Inspector pulled the door closed, Galloway reached in and wrapped her arm around his. He looked up with curiosity.

“I just feel safer this way,” she mouthed, since her words were lost in the cacophony.

He grinned dumbly and shrugged his shoulders, as if to say, “Who cares, as long as we’re together.”

She was tempted to slap him, but the sounds of violence all around them killed the impulse, knowing that if she hit him they both might end up being drawn into the fighting. She sighed to herself.

“C’mon, Inspector,” she shouted, hoping he’d hear her. “Let’s get outta here!”

The Infinity Knight sobered up and nodded. He pulled out his optic pocketknife and scanned the area. The device still indicated that the source of the power was due south, so he pointed in that direction. They cautiously picked their steps around shattered glass, bricks, burning cars and scuffling people.

The chaos wouldn’t acknowledge their attempt to stay out of the fray. A large, shabbily dressed man stumbled backwards from the fight he was in. Seeing what was happening, the Inspector pushed Chastity out of the path of the huge man, only for the brawler to run into him, causing them to collapse in a heap on the littered street. The big man lay on top of him for a little too long before rolling to one side and getting up, the Inspector pushing his abundant buttocks up as he moved. That didn’t seem to sit well with the brawler.

The tall and rotund man, once he’d steadied himself on his feet, turned back and grabbed the Inspector by the front of his jacket, lifting him a good two feet off the ground, so that they were face-to-face. The Infinity Knight was momentarily disoriented by being pulled off his feet, but was brought back to reality by the strong breath of the man who was manhandling him. Alcohol was apparently available in large quantities and the big man had consumed more than his fair share.

“What the deuce are you doin’ to me, dude?” the intoxicated brawler belched.

His two-chambered heart had begun beating a staccato beat as he felt fear overtake him. The blood pounding in his head for the first time in his existence threatened to overwhelm his senses.

The Inspector managed to raise his hands in a show of surrender. “Nothing, nothing!” he squeaked.

“I know you had your hands on my butt, dude!” the brawler bellowed at him. “You wanna know what we do with your type? Do you?”

The Infinity Knight squinted in incomprehension, then he figured out what the man was implying. “Look, no offense meant. I was just trying to help you off of me,” he blurted.

The brawler looked confused for a brief moment, then frowned even harder than before. “I know hands when I feel them, dude! I know what you were trying to do to me!”

As the confrontation escalated, Galloway approached the side of the huge man and whistled to get his attention. “Sir! Let my boyfriend go!”

After the words somehow got through the man’s alcohol-dampened brain, he turned to regard her, then laughed heartily and mirthlessly. “Your boyfriend?” he guffawed, as he lifted the Inspector higher into the air.

“Please!” she pleaded loudly. “Please let him go!”

The brawler looked up at the Inspector’s face, seeing his pleading and deciding that the little man wouldn’t provide much resistance. “Fine,” he grumbled.

He lowered the Inspector about half the distance that he’d been above the ground, but seemed to change his mind, pushing the Infinity Knight up higher and pulling him closer to him. With a sudden, violent thrust, the Inspector flew backwards, crashing onto the hood of a burning car. The brawler stood there, laughing at his handiwork while Galloway stumbled over to the Inspector’s side. She spared the big man a scowling glance, then
went to check on her friend’s condition.

“Inspector! Inspector!” she cried as she approached him.

The Infinity Knight lolled his head forward to look at her and immediately felt pain, something that was rather alien to him. Not to say that Infinity Knights never felt pain, just never this intense. He gingerly sat up as Chastity reached him, standing directly in front of him on the front of the car.

“Are you all right?” she asked worriedly.

The Inspector lifted an arm and winced, then winced at the other pains that the first wince caused. Then, he was acutely aware that he was aching all over. “No,” he complained. “Ouch. Ouch. Ouch.”

Galloway’s training kicked in and she ran both her hands over each hand, arm, leg and foot, then gave his head a quick examination, before she finished running her hands across his back, then his chest; the Inspector winced and moaned as she did so.

Her assessment done, she looked hopefully toward him. “No broken bones, which is good,” she pronounced, but he barely heard her over the rioting and the crackling fire inside the car on which he sat. “Can you get up?”

The Inspector cautiously put one foot down on the litter-strewn street and winced as a jolt threaded its way up his leg and spine. The pain went away fairly quickly, so he repeated the process with his other foot and got the same result. Sore as he was, he smiled gingerly.

“I can do this,” he said through gritted teeth. “I just reincarnated. My body will heal in a few minutes.”

The nurse gave him an odd look, but dismissed the statement. She put his right arm around her shoulders and helped him walk away from the car, trying to get through the street without another incident.

* * *

Chastity Galloway had managed to help the Inspector out of Times Square without running into any more trouble. The two had trudged east down 42^nd Street, and she deposited him willingly on a bench in Bryant Park behind the New York Public Library. The Beaux-Arts-style three-story building towered over them in the background.

The nurse settled herself on the bench beside him.

“How are you doing?”

Despite the long hike away from Times Square, the Inspector’s heart had finally begun to slow down. He groaned in response, then opened his eyes to look at her. “You are so beautiful,” he slurred.

The incongruous remark made her laugh, making the Inspector blush in embarrassment and look away.

“Sorry,” he muttered sheepishly.

At least the noise had lessened, but the rioting had clearly spread out far from Times Square. Cars, trucks and even buildings were burning, lighting up the entire area. The sirens of emergency vehicles wailed and emergency lights flashed back and forth around them, but for the moment, they felt like they were islands in the ocean of chaos that had enveloped New York.

“No, it’s all right, Inspector,” Chastity replied gently. She paused for a moment, as he turned to look at her, the glow of the raging fire across the street lighting her eyes. “Actually, I like that you said that.”

They both laughed softly together and enjoyed the moment.

“But, how are you feeling?” she asked after a long moment.

The Inspector bent himself forward and grimaced, quietly muttering “ouch” over and over again until he sat back against the bench. “In pain. Still,” he said through clenched teeth.

Galloway suddenly grabbed her purse. “I should have some aspirin in my purse,” she supplied.

The Inspector wasn’t paying attention to her; he had his eyes focused on his hands, which he held tentatively in front of himself. Despite the pain, he turned his hands over and over, as if looking for something that wasn’t there.

“What is it?” Galloway inquired as she pulled a small white bottle from her purse.

The Infinity Knight suddenly realized that she was talking to him. “What?” he blurted, then noticed she was looking at his hands. “Oh, uh, I’m … I don’t know what I’m doing,” he finally admitted, looking dismayed. “I should’ve been healing by now. The reincarnation process shouldn’t be done already. I should just heal.”

“But, something went wrong in your process, you said,” Chastity reminded him.

The Inspector rolled his eyes before laughing brusquely for a few seconds, then stopped as the pain set in again. “Ow, ow, ow!” he protested.

“Aspirin?” Galloway suggested, offering two of the little white pills to him.

The Infinity Knight hesitantly picked them up and looked at them.

“You swallow them and it’ll help make the pain go away,” she told him.

The Inspector was skeptical, but as the ache in his back re-exerted itself. He popped the pills into his mouth and swallowed them. He waited about five seconds, then looked annoyedly at her. “That did nothing,” he complained.

Galloway sighed and shook her head. “They’re not instant pills,” she explained. “It’ll take several minutes before they kick in.”

“Several? Several minutes?” the Inspector demanded.

“Yes, several minutes,” she replied.

The Inspector sighed heavily and slumped in the bench.

“So, what do you think we’re looking for? What’s this power source?” Chastity asked.

He looked up at her. “Don’t quite know, but my optic pocketknife showed a form of phased energy, not something that should be used on Earth in 2000.”

“Phased energy?” she repeated, incredulous. “More science-fiction talk. And, you say this stuff is real?”

The Inspector looked away from her in dejection. “Yeah, it’s real,” he muttered. “And, definitely not from Earth in 2000.”

“What does phased energy do?”

The Infinity Knight looked up at her. “It phases,” he said blandly.

“And?”

“And, what?”

“What does it do when it phases?”

The Inspector thought that over. “All kinds of stuff and not much of it good. It can interfere with matter, plasma, other forms of energy. It can really mess up a planet quickly and it doesn’t take much.”

Galloway appeared to be considering the possibilities. “Such as, knocking out the power to a city like New York?” she inquired.

He pondered that, then nodded. “It could —”

Without warning, he bolted to his feet and turned in a half-circle, stopping in front of her, causing her to jump to her feet. His face broke into a grin. “Wow! This is … amazing!” he cried out. “The pain is gone!”

Chastity smiled in response, but was surprised by the suddenness of the reaction and the fact that he was more or less propelled to his feet by the aspirin. “It’s gone?”

“It’s gone!” the Inspector said gratefully.

“That’s wonderful!” Chastity cried in relief and pulled him in for a hug, which he belated joined.

After a moment, she let go of him and he of her. As soon as his hands were free, he reached into his pants pocket, retrieved his optic pocketknife and activated the device, completely ignoring Galloway. She sighed quietly to herself and tried to quell the emotions she was going through.

The Inspector turned the dial on the device to refine its resolution, then turned himself to the south-southwest. “Bingo!” he said triumphantly and started walking toward the Avenue of the Americas.

After getting a few yards away, he realized that Galloway wasn’t following him, so he turned back and looked at her in the yellow-red light of flames from the burning building across the street, where a firetruck had pulled up and firefighters were setting up hoses to spray down the flames.

“Chastity?” he beckoned. “Coming along?”

Galloway threw her arms down by her sides and marched up to him. “Of course I am. I’m not leaving you alone,” she replied sternly.

“Okay, then,” the Inspector said with a little trepidation.

She struck out ahead of him and he followed her.