The Showdown [closed]

[Rhett Goddard]

Rhett was not one to just jump into things. He was a planner, a controller. Even the things that he apparently did out of emotion and with no logic or reasoning behind did have a little bit of both, but most importantly, were planned at least to a minimum degree. He didn't like leaving things too many things in the air for the universe to decide.

He woke up very early that morning making sure not to wake Odion up. He took a quick shower and soon he was out the door and on his way to Hammel. He knew he had said to himself that he'd never leave Odion out of his sight ever again, but this was something he had to deal with, it was now or never.

Before getting to the Student Lounge, he did a recon. He had to make sure no one was going to interrupt his meeting. It was fine, most people he knew could wake up early were still asleep, at least, he'd have about ten minutes without anyone interrupting, but still, he focused and attuned his ESP to learn if anyone in his meta-range could wake up and walk by. Then again, ten minutes was about enough.

Rhett had stolen the number from Odion's cellphone. Captain Obvious. Stupid nickname. He then proceeded to text Lani: "Student Lounge now, or I'm telling...". It was ambiguous enough, Rhett knew Lani didn't have his number and hopefully he'd think the text was from his boss or something from the organization. Rhett didn't care really, as long as he'd follow his instructions.

Some minutes later, his ESP told him he did, and he was in his way. The room was dark and he leaned against a wall next to the entrance. He had learned of Lani's power some time ago: telekinesis. It turned out to be harder than he thought since the newbie he attempted to use couldn't identify it and he just couldn't see himself asking around and risking that Lani learned Rhett was asking about him. In the end, he found out, and it's the reason why Rhett was being careful. He knew at most he would be able to land a punch or two before Lani used his abilities on him. But he didn't care, not this time.

Finally, the other blonde arrived, and before he could turn the lights on, Rhett did what, physically, he did best: run. He ran and tackled the boy to the ground, landing in front of him and in one quick movement sitting on top of the boy as his fist moved all the way back and then all the way forwards right into Lani's nose.

As the punch connected, many lost strings and feelings inside the blonde found their way. Rhett was relieved, revenge was sweet.

[Lani Hunter]

Lani hadn’t slept, he hadn’t done anything really since he had gotten back. He lay for a while in his bed staring at the ceiling wishing it would come down on top of him. He sighed knowing he could do it but didn’t have the courage. He was a coward. And now everyone knew it. Everyone he loved, everyone he cared about knew what he was. He was a liar and a thief and a coward. Deciding he needed somewhere else to be Lani moved off of his bed but only found himself getting halfway toward the door before his depression collapsed him to the floor. “What have I done?” He asked himself aloud surprised at how much like a whimper his voice came out. Curling on the floor he allowed himself to shed tears for his past life. He would have to leave. That was what had to be done. His life here as Lani Hunter the telekinetic was over. But… but before he left he had to make things right again.

He looked up his eyes shining with determination before he dropped his head back on his arms. But where to start? He shook his head. Adrianna, he needed to talk to her, but God, how could he face her? After that? How could he ever deserve to even look at her again? His heart throbbed and Odion. Odion had been the hero when Lani had been paralyzed and how had Lani repaid him? With broken trust. He’d be lucky if the redhead ever acknowledged his existence again. He moved his hand as he realized he was biting down on it. He tasted blood on his teeth and wiped his hand on his jeans. His boss hadn’t come after him yet but Lani wasn’t thinking he was home free. Perhaps the only people who still loved him were states away but he couldn’t beat to tell them what had happened. He couldn’t hear his father say ‘I told you so’ or hear his mother cry.

He might as well go home for the rest of the summer and lay low though. But that would be like running away… He was avoiding it though. The night had been long and he had just vanished. He didn’t need to figure things out, he knew what he needed to do, but it was the struggle swallowing his pride and facing his fear that people might hate him. He was busy tearing his hands through his hair when he felt his phone vibrate on the floor. He crawled his way over, “What now?” He asked not even worried about the fact that he was speaking to himself. He barely read the text before he was out the door. What was happening? Who was here? Was it that blond demonness? How had she gotten his number? He started down the stairs and hissed in pain. After all the excitement had died all of the pain had rushed back at him. He wanted to race down the stairs but his body was covered in bruises and cuts. He had winced when he had seen his face in the mirror, he looked like mess with bruises covering his face and most of his body. Thankfully though the internal damage was minimal and there was only a little blood. All of the would heal in a few weeks. No scars. Hopefully.

He scratched at the burn mark and his hand moved to the gauze he had taped on his cheek where his boss’s ring had left a deep gash. His slow moments might have led the person to believe he was being cautious but really Lani didn’t care. At this moment his self preservation instincts high but his secrets were out and unless he wanted to put himself in a position where he would hurt people he needed to hear this mysterious person out. Lani opened the door and was greeted with a black abyss. He took a deep breath and stepped in his hand reaching for the light switch. Before he had a shadow of a chance something big and strong slammed into him. Lani had always been better at running than close combat, but this guy, he didn’t feel like he had a much different build than he did, he could probably fight him off. Before he could though something heavy sat on his chest and pain erupted in his face.

His power reacted before Lani did. The body was flung back and he heard a crash as it slammed into the opposite wall. Lani groaned and rolled to his feet feeling his nose. His mind screamed in agony as his power turned on the light. How simple it was but how painful. His eyes found the offending person and Lani’s jaw dropped. That was the last person he expected to see. “Rhett,” he said the name like it was a swear. He touched his nose and seeing blood on his hand as he pulled it away he released Rhett from where he had pinned him against the wall. Rhett was the last person he wanted to see and unfortunately was no the outlet of all of his frustration. He flew forward and threw out his hands as his power reached out and holding Rhett’s feet.

His hands slammed into Rhett’s chest and as the other blond fell back would trip over his stationary feet. Lani’s eyes were feral, the eyes of a man who had been bent until he broke. Nothing mattered anymore and this hated man was here. He hated him for what he did to Odion and he hated him for what he did to Adrianna and indirectly himself. Hate! His power fed on the emotion and coiled around Rhett wanting to crush him in his clothing. It squeezed working its way up his legs. Lani released his hold as he realized that was happening. “You’ll tell nothing,” Lani said his voice low and dangerous. Then Lani opened his arms as if inviting Rhett to try to hit him and he laughed. It was a frightening sound, hinged with hysteria. That was it. It wasn’t funny but Lani couldn’t stop it. “Don’t you see?” He cried overcoming his hysteria for a moment and reached into the emotions that were going wild in him. “There is nothing you could possibly do to me.” Everyone who was important knew and no one could keep him jailed. He would become a fugitive if Rhett told. But Rhett would always be looking over his shoulder.

[Rhett Goddard]

And here it goes. Rhett had never been telekineticly handled, but somehow, it felt oddly familiar. He was a bit impressed, but he wasn't surprised nor scared as he flew into the wall. He wasn't scared either when the other blonde went unto him and punched him in the guts. Granted, it hurt like hell, and he let out a soft painful moan as the punch connected, but his face showed no fear nor pain. He had been ready for this, he knew what to expect, and more importantly, he had his abilities attuned at Lani. Rhett was reading him, and the hate on his face was making him rather easier to read. This was going to be a piece of cake.

Rhett let the boy talk as he stood up, all while remaining silent and with a expressionless face.

"Are you done?" Rhett asked coldly. "Because let me tell you something, you're dead wrong," He sighed strongly. "it's quite the opposite, there's little you can do to me." Rhett couldn't move his feet, but thankfully, he could still motion with his hands as he talked to the animal in front of him. "Because let's be real, do you really think that you can accomplish anything by punching and turn me into a physical wreck?" He let off a little smile before returning into showing no emotion. "To stop me from anything, you'd have to kill me first and we both know you won't, do you even know where meta-criminals go? Specially those with problematic abilities as yours? You don't want to know."

Contrary to what it sounded like, Rhett was not trying to scare the other blonde, he was just raising a point: just because Lani could beat Rhett, he wasn't going to win anything. From the beginning, Rhett had all the cards in hand. His plan was close to flawless and everything was going according to it, at least up until the day before. Rhett knew of Lani's dark life, Rhett knew of his dealings, job and boss, but he could have never preempted that Adrianna and Odion were going to be kidnapped. Rhett wasn't ready for it, but the fact that in the end, things still worked out the better for Rhett did assure him that his plan had always been flawless. If anything, that seemingly random and unexpected event had worked in Rhett's favor and, unfortunately, also against Lani. Contrary to what it looked like, Rhett had never targeted for bad things to happen to Lani.

"As to what I can do, I can do a lot of things." He looked at his feet and then back at Lani. "Granted I can't walk because you stuck me here, but for how long until you get tired? You're still recovering from yesterday aren't you?" He smiled slightly again. "While I... the more you stay there, close to me, the more information I gather about you, the more weapons you give me to, let's say, give to Hammel afterwards." It wasn't a threat either. Just as Lani, both Rhett and Odion had a shady past, ratting out Lani could jeopardize him and the ginger both, even if it'd be next to impossible for Lani to get any evidence on them as it already too long ago and on the other side of the puddle. "Or your boss, or your family or what are left of your friends. But don't worry, you said it yourself, I won't tell, I don't want to ruin your life, you did a pretty good job doing that all on your own."

[Lani Hunter]

Lani’s anger was like a tornado. Quick and destructive in its anger but quick to fade. The debris left behind however was a wonder and Lani had not yet finished being angry. If able to he would have destroyed the whole place. Torn down all the bricks and strewn them all over the yard. He wanted to turn Hammel into rubble. But that wouldn’t do anything. It would displace a lot of people who saw the place as safe but he wanted to destroy something. He wanted to tear it apart. Tear it all apart. They would call him a monster, they wouldn’t be wrong. But Rhett rose to his feet and stood there in silence and Lani was always hard pressed to rage at a stone. For no matter how he howled and struck it with lightning without getting a rise out of it the the storm would destroy itself.

Lani growled and didn’t honor that question with an answer. He raised his chin defiantly and shook his head at Rhett. He braced himself his power lashing out here and there tossing things off shelves and overturning lamps. It was the only thing he would let it do. For he honestly now that he had repaid Rhett for that punch didn’t want to hurt him. Ok, well he wanted to give him a little more than a piece of his mind. For Adrianna and for Odion. “You think so?” He asked menacingly like he was accepting a challenge. Lani growled unhappy with the fact that Rhett was right. There wasn’t anything to accomplish here. “I can feel better.” He said his power taking the advantage of his rage and slamming Rhett back into the wall. His eyes narrowed and he shook his head at the other blond.

“Who say’s I won’t?” Lani challenged. A tremor went through Lani. He didn’t like the sound of that. He didn’t even think they had such things. “What are you talking about?” He demanded. Honestly if they had something like that Lani would rather be prepared but he still didn’t believe that anyone could easily overpower him to get him there, much less to keep him there. Lani had to admit that Rhett was right. He wasn’t doing anything but letting his anger get the better of him. Well, anger and grief. He clenched his jaw and reached up a hand to wipe at the blood dripping from his nose. It didn’t feel too awful. But that could have just been because pain was so well distributed through his body he didn’t notice anything new.

Beware the man who has nothing to lose. Beware even more than man who is under the illusion he has nothing to lose. Lani bared his teeth and barked out a laugh. “Oh like you tried to get Adrianna against me? Low move.” Lani now crossed his arms across his chest and focused on his power a little more at that question. The truth in that was more terrifying than anything else. But Rhett was wrong about one thing. Tired or not if Lani wanted to keep Rhett here he would. His face hardened and he didn’t answer. He had used his power a lot yesterday and his head was aching even as he held Rhett now the pain increased. But Lani, stubborn Lani, if only to prove a point would keep Rhett still until he passed out. Lani’s body braced at the threat and he snarled, “Screw Hammel, I’ll be gone before they think to look for me.” Confident in his abilities, he was. He clenched his fists and flew at Rhett. He gave him a punch right in the nose. He danced away quickly before Rhett could reach out and return the blow. “You’ll stay the hell away from my family, you bastard.” He snarled, “Or I will kill you.” No one hurt his family. Well, too bad for Lani, Lani worried like it was going out of style.

“Fuck you Rhett,” Lani said taking out his anger on this guy he hardly knew. “Fuck you for leaving Odion like that. For having the gall to speak to Adrianna after what you did to her.” Lani laughed bitterly, how true. Lani seemed to be rather good at digging his own grave. But Lani was angry and he needed an outlet. “Well then,” he said releasing his hold on Rhett and crossing his arms over his chest still standing in the door way. “You called me all the way down here to tell me that you won’t tell?” He laughed even harder. He wasn’t sure why he found the situation so funny.

[Rhett Goddard]

"I say you won't." Rhett gave off an empowering tone.

As expected, Lani's, and pretty much everyone's, vision of what Rhett had done was one in which Rhett was the evil wizard in the dark tower. Rhett was ok with this, he knew what would happen or where things would put him once he started it all. He didn't mind being the bad guy as long as things fixed themselves, or rather, as things went his way, which he believed was, definitely not, the wrong way. Granted, there were many other paths to accomplish the task of assuring Odion would go back to him and only him, but in his mind, this was the infallible one, and so far, it proved to be so, so there was no reason on doubting now.

"Oh really?" Rhett said to Lani's "low move" comment. "Didn't you strengthen your relationship afterwards?" He huffed while shaking his head softly. "Didn't she learn to trust you and reminded you, even more, that you had a vow to be there for her and not hurt her like her exes did?" Rhett crossed his arms and looked away. "Of course you screwed that now, didn't you, Captain Obvious?" He looked back Lani. "I know everything on what you feel about my boyfriend and what he feels about you. If I did anything, was make sure you would never follow those feelings up. And it worked, didn't it?"

At least until now it did. Now Lani probably didn't even have a girlfriend and by the time Rhett and Odion came back from France, all cards would be in the air and everything would be up for grabs. Rhett dreaded the thought. France had to be a defining point for him and Odion, otherwise... BLACK! Everything was black for a while and there Rhett was in the floor again. To accompany the pain in his gut, which was endurable enough, was now one in his nose. He cleaned it with his shirt as Lani continued talking, or rather, yelling at him. Rhett could even swear more than once he was seeing saliva fly out of the other blonde's mouth.

"Did you know there are three staff members awake by now?" Rhett said calmly from the floor, attempting not to cringe from the pain in his face. "Two of which are really not that far away, so as the friendliest advice I will ever give you, stop laughing like a maniac, you maniac."

Not like Rhett hadn't considered the idea of having them getting caught by the staff, he guessed that Lani being a telekinetic and using his powers in Rhett would get him in severe trouble, but taking into account that Lani had his nose broken as well, and was bruised all over his body from the night before, Rhett would get in at least slight trouble as well, which he couldn't afford now as he was travelling that same afternoon. It didn't mean Rhett wasn't ready for it if it happened, though, and if Lani continued making a mess of the lounge as he was, and continued laughing as he was, someone was surely going to crash their party soon enough.

"Yes." Rhett finally answered the blonde's question as he stood up. "I came here to do that." He wiped the blood from his nose one more time, being soft enough to not make the pain worse. "And to repay you what you put my boyfriend through." He pointed at Lani's nose. "Now, unless you want to keep using me to punch your way out of the anger of ruining your own life all by yourself," He placed his hands in his pockets. "I suggest you let me go. I have things to do."

[Lani Hunter]

Lani narrowed his eyes and shifted like a predator caught with a prey they didn’t quite understand. Or maybe it was the other way. Maybe Lani was the prey but he had become predator when he fought back and now it was a stand still between two strong beings. No one believed they were bad. Everyone had some sort of justification. Even murderers didn’t believe they were wrong. In the words of a Mr. Todd, everyone deserved to die. But then there were two sides to every story. For Lani, Rhett was the enemy, but for Rhett Lani was the enemy. It was all perspective. But Lani wasn’t willing to admit that he was wrong here. He wanted to say that Rhett was wrong, but he wasn’t. Lani wouldn’t hurt people who didn’t deserve it. And killing was where he drew the line. It wasn’t so much a line as a wall.

Lani scoffed, “Don’t pretend like you did me a favor. Adrianna and I were doing fine.” He didn’t believe that. That had to be an accidental incident of the situation. Lani knew Rhett’s plan. Get Odion. But Lani had to grudgingly admit that this roundabout way of strengthening his relationship with Adrianna would be a good way to get Lani out of the way. Too bad for Rhett, Lani didn’t forget his friends. He winced visibly at the reminder of his vow. That wasn’t fair. He didn’t want to break his vow but he wasn’t sure he could keep it. Lani took a step forward and jabbed a finger at Rhett. “You don’t get to call me that, asshole.” Rhett was enjoying this. Lani growled and shook his head. “You don’t know shit. You think because you have ESP or whatever you know me? You don’t know the first thing about me!” Now Lani was on the defensive, this was dangerous, Lani wasn’t even sure what his feelings were. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said dismissively, “But he’s not your boyfriend. You don’t get to decide that.” That was Odion’s choice.

Lani’s eyes narrowed then widened alternatively as his thoughts whirled. He didn’t know that but unlike Rhett’s desire Lani didn’t care. He didn’t care about much anymore. He opened his arms and laughed harder and the couch jumped between them to crash into the opposite wall. “Let them come!” He cried. If anything that would give him something to do rather than wallow in his self pity as he had spent the night doing. He lowered his arms and blinked a few times as his vision blurred. Not good. He shook his head a little and he felt his power curl around him like a ferocious but loving companion. It was willing to attack for him but now it gathered around him ready to explode out at the sign of a danger to its host. Telekinesis, his sword and shield.

Thinking straight wasn’t something that Lani was doing well at the moment. Rhett had him fired up and he just wanted to fight everything and everyone. What could Hammel do to him? Honestly? Rhett had to be kidding. That didn’t scare him. Hell, he had just gotten away from his boss. Freedom was his! But his freedom came with a price. His friends had left him. Free and alone, no direction, no commands, no one to listen to. This was a dangerous position. He didn’t like the way his eyes were blurring though. The pain in his head was only blocked by the greater pain in his nose. After all, didn’t Rhett realize that Lani could easily lie and say he did what he did in self defense? After all Lani was the one that looked like he was one large bruise.

Lani barked out a laugh. “What about what you did to him? Do I get to repay you for that? Do you even care what you put him through?” Lani wasn’t letting up. “Do you know what happened after you left? Some boyfriend you are! You should have stayed gone!” Everyone would have been happier, Lani thought sourly. Lani shrugged and stuck his hands in his pockets his anger subsiding as he realized taking this out on Rhett wouldn’t help. “I’m not stopping you.” Lani said simply but stayed where he was. Did Rhett trust his power enough to walk past Lani to the door? Or was he just as unsure about what Lani was going to do as Lani was?

[Rhett Goddard]

Lani kept talking and Rhett watched silently. There was something definitely off with him, and if Rhett could manage to care, he'd feel bad for Lani. After all, it was understandable, the man had lost it all, and as much as Rhett said it, it had been his own fault, his own decisions. Rhett could have never come back, and, most likely, this same thing would have had happened. For Lani, it was far easier to blame Rhett for what had happened, but how he was reacting showed that he knew, and instead of plainly accepting it, insanity and anger took over, overriding logic. Now that last part, it did make Rhett feel bad for the other blonde.

Lani definitely didn't care if they were caught or not, which only made Rhett roll his eyes. Rhett did care and he was definitely going to leave before anyone else arrived, one way or another. Then he went on about what Rhett had done to Odion. Granted, he was raising good points, but they weren't thinks that hadn't passed through Rhett's mind and Odion's lips before. Whatever the answers were, they were of no business to Lani, so Rhett was definitely not going to answer them, as far as Rhett concerned, just by explaining the Adrianna business, Rhett had said far too many things. The fact that the slight pressure on Rhett's feet disappeared as Lani lifted the influence on his power from Rhett only reassured that Lani was not getting any answers from Rhett.

Rhett arranged his shirt and started his walk out. Initially, he thought it was weird that Lani just simply stood there to let Rhett walk away, hsi behavior clearly indicated that their meeting wasn't going to end if it wasn't with a bang from his part. Rhett, however, didn't, even for the tiniest fraction of time, worried. Not only worrying was somewhere far away from Rhett's personality, but even when Rhett doubted himself, he had figured out that acting like he didn't was best: confidence attracted good things. Having a quite handy extrasensory perception didn't hurt either.

"Good luck, Lani." Rhett said as he walked by the other blonde. "You'll need it."

"Is something going on here?" An adult and tall man stepped into the dark room as soon as Rhett finished talking.

"Doubt it," Rhett said to the man as he walked out the student lounge. "no."

Hey, Lani couldn't say he wasn't warned that his loudness was going to attract attention. As far as Rhett cared, the debt had been paid and he walked away without looking back. Hopefully, this wasn't going to be repeated anytime soon, hopefully, Lani was out of both his and Odion's life.