The Kids of the Minor God - FLASHBACK

That was the last straw. Maybe not though. Falko blew his fuse so badly it might have blackouted the Northern American continent. Grabbing the cup of coffee that hia frightened waiter friend just gave him, he drank the cooled coffee in a matter of ten seconds, before releasing his rage by throwing the cup at Falko. The cup missed her and shattered against the wall. The missed throw was intentional. "THAT'S F-CKING ENOUGH, OKAY?!" he bellowed, throwing the thick menu at Falko. The throw was also an intentional miss. The menu whooped past her and smashed roughly against the concrete wall.

"Hey!" One of the waiters called, coming over as the other customers waited in shocked silence.

"You wanna go, baby doll?" Falko asked Jack, getting to her feet. Her hands had curled into fists and a slight grin dug wrinkles at the sides of her nose.

"Both of you, with me," the waiter said, grabbed them by the scruff of their neck and shoved them into the room behind the kitchen. "Who's gonna pay for all that damage? You? You? (He looked at each of them in turn) Where are your parents?"

"Our Dad's in the Empire States Building, if you wanna have a word," Falko nonchalantly crossed her arms.

"Get him on the phone!"

She spread her hands. "Sorry. No phone. You got a phone, mate?" She asked Jack.

"I will…" Jack answered hastily, pulling out his wallet. The waiter crossed his arms, then reached out to frab the 100$. "And no phone. Let's get outta here." he added with a grin. Opening the back door of ths kitchen, Jack and Falko walked down the dark alleyway, but kept away from one another at a considerable distance. Even when they were out into the main street directly toward Manhattan's center, the Empire State building, Jack remained his silence.

The door fell shut behind them and Falko gave it the middle finger.

"Ugh. Fantastic. Couldn't even finish my cappuccino. Thanks for that, brother."

"Oi!" A voice called behind them. The fourteen years old whirled around. "You forgot your stuff!" The waiter was holding her bag and folder, standing in the doorway. Sighing, she walked back, extending her arm... and the waiter threw her bag with precision and strength into her stomach, knocking her breath clean out.

"It ain't my fault. You started it!" he protested. The waiter threw Falko her stuff, with precision, into her stomach. Jack rolled his eyes. "Don't call me your brother. I hate to think of you as my sister." Jack murmured coldly. Jack says mean things, to anyone, when he feels like it. And right now was the perfect moment.

Falko landed on her back, her eyes wide with pain. "DUDE!" She shouted as soon as she got a bit of breath back. "What the f*ck is wrong with you, you absolute nutcase? Don't you know basic social interaction, didn't they teach you that in that stinking sh!thole you came from?!" She was so mad she considered using one of her powers but the waiter didn't give her the time.

"You should learn a bit of respect, little girl, especially towards those out of your league." His skin darkened and turned a bright crimson colour as he gained in height, his clothes ripping open Hulk-style to reveal huge muscles of pure concrete.

OOC: Monster attack?

BIC: Jack ran back and wrapped one of his arms around Falko to prevent her from lunging at the waiter. "Calm the f-ck down Falko." She was surprisingly strong comparing to him. But Jack couldn't help noticing his waiter friend suddenly grew in size. His muscles grew. "Is that…what I think it is?" he murmured.

OOC: Ay yay

BIC: The waiter kept growing in size until he stood at around three meters height, his crimson skin covered in tattoos and pointed teeth showing from under his lip. He was holding two heavy bronze spheres, one in each hand, like oversized bowling balls. They were steaming.

"I think this is the part where you scream and run," he calmly said.

Falko, held by Jack, had backed away against a wall in shock but that statement shoved her back to reality.

"Look who's talking." She jerked her chin at the balls he was carrying. "You compensating for something?" She fumbled around in her neckline, found the amulet and ripped it off its chain -- immediately, her long daggers appeared on her hips and her crossbow strapped itself to her back, digging into her spine.

The Laistrygonian smiled and tilted his head, sizing up her weapons. "Aww." And then he threw the first sphere.

"DUCK!" she shouted, pulling Jack with her as she threw herself out of the way. The sphere hit the wall and exploded, the deflagration sending stones flying. One hit her shin painfully.

Falko's ears were ringing. Her vision blurred for a second.

Coughing up dust, she crawled away behind an overflowing bin, reaching behind her to slide her crossbow out of its sheath. Even with the dust in the air, she could see the giant -- no time to lose. Closing one eye, she shouldered the crossbow and took aim before clicking the first bolt free. It hit his shoulder, right over the collarbone.

"Ouch." He grabbed the bolt and broke it off clean … then his eyes traveled to where she was hiding at. No reason to stay still. Falko took aim at his eyes and fired, but missed. The bolt flew past his ear. Sh!t. Sh!t. Reloading with a twist, she sent one at his stomach, one at his chest. They hit their targets but weren't deep enough to cause any lethal damage.

"Hello there," the Laistrygonian said, and kicked the bin over on top of Falko.

The Laistrygonian giant continued to grow in size and shape until his true monster form appeared, hideous. He taunted, with Falko repelling the taunt with her own words. Then the giant hurled his sphere at them. Falko pulled Jack out of the way as the wall behind them explodes, blasting rubbles everywhere, one of which scratched against Jack's hips. He let out an inaudible yelp, before moving to where Falko was hiding.

"You've got a plan? If we continue like this our chance of survival will be tremendously low." he asked, while unsheathing his spear.

Before any of them could react, the Laistrygonian kicked the bin over on top of them. Jack leaped straight at Falko, throwing the both of them out of the way. Jack immediately grabbed Falko's crossbow and took aim…at the emergency staircase right on top of him. His aim locked on the latch that could only be used in an emergency, and his finger pulled the trigger. The bolt soared and rustled through the air and smashed against the latch. Somehow everything today had happened by chance because the emergency ladder dropped at high speed, smashing the head of the Laistrygonian. The blow didn't kill him, but rather threw him to the ground, leaving a headache and dizziness.

Then he started to rise.

"Come on sis, he's waking up." he hurried, trying to get the both of them standing.

Falko managed to get back on her feet, her shinbone still aching painfully. She had a banana peel on her shoulder and a half eaten fish in her hair, her eyes narrowing angrily.
It was painful to admit but she was impressed with Jack -- she would never have thought of doing that. Letting him keep the crossbow, she grabbed the hilt of her daggers. "We gotta spread out. You, keep his attention with the crossbow." Her eyes traveled up to the strings of laundry above them. "I'll mess with him from up there."
Turning around, she threw herself at the wall of a house, her feet and hands finding windowsills, cracks and cavities almost naturally. Crawling up the side of the wall, she grabbed the gutter and eased herself up onto the roof, crouching on its very edge to keep an eye on the monster.

Jack immediately parted, his hand gripping the arrow. The demigod circled the rising Laistrygonian, shooting the crossbow. The arrow failed to pierce the monster's hard skin.

"Resistance is futile, child." the giant laughed. "Whatever you try, it is for nothing. I cannot be killed!"

Then it lunged at Jack.

Simultaneously, Jack drawn his spear and threw with a large force straight at the monster. The surprising attack was out of the blue and the monster yelped when the spear impaled it's side, and the weapon landed on the floor.

"ARGHH!" he roared. Taking the chance, he slowly moved backwards, shooting the arrows at the creature. The fissure started to heal, and the throw was almost worthless. The thick armor skin repelled the arrows like it was completely made out of sticks. The Laistrygonian brushed the arrows off without effort, and continued to advance.

Falko tried to think -- since when did Laistrygonians heal like this? Sure they all had tough skin, but none of them had such healing abilities. She didn't like this.

What she liked even less was the fact he was toying with them. He could've killed them long ago but it was as if he was enjoying it, being chatty, taking his time. With only two of his flaming bronze balls, he could've finished the job already. But no, he was playing around.

He wants to play around? Fine. I'll play too.

Crawling back on the roof, Falko flattened herself against the tiles so that she could see just the head of the giant. Then, with a smirk, she squinted in focused. It took barely a second.

"AHH!" the Laistrygonian suddenly shouted, flailing his arms. "AAAH!"

Jack stumbled backwards, continuously shooting the bolts at the monster, while constantly reloading the returning arrows. The Laistrygonian had started to flail his arms vigorously, and Jack took the opportunity to circle the creature. Unfortunately the giant had started to regain it's focus and jabbed it's giant fist at Jack. He ducked the hit and rolled to the side and grabbed his spear.

Jack continued to fire upon the creature, and the bolts continued to bounce off it's impenetrable skin. An arrow pierced, but wasn't deep enough. The Laistrygonian snapped it. "ENOUGH WITH GAMES, CASILLAS. I WILL END YOU NOW." he roared.

And Jack thought he was dumb because he continued to advance slowly, like he was still playing around. It was like he was weakening from the arrows, or from the spear, or probably because he was pushing all of the remaining energy into healing.

"Falko, if you have anything, then now is the time to put anything you have in motion!" he shouted out to Falko. His one hand holding the spear, his other shooting the crossbow, he slowly backed.

Funny he said that, cause she didn't really have anything.

Keeping her focus on the giant, she kept on casting an illusion into his mind, which adapted to picture something he was scared of. In this case, falling into a dark, bottomless abyss. Wonder why.

"AAH! HELP!" he kept shouting, holding his head in his hands.

However his mind was strong and she lost grip a few times. Sweat started covering her face, running down her cheek as she did her best to keep her power up, though she knew she might lose any time. Jack has to do something whilst I have him under control, she angrily thought. But Jack was a little 15 years old, up against a 10 feet tall giant. He couldn't reach his navel if he jumped on a trampoline. It had to come from above, it had to…

Falko looked up. The laundry strings.

No time to lose. She stood up and put the first foot on the laundry string, her eyes finding a spot to focus on whilst she balanced her way across, arms stretched out. Tight-rope walking was no problem for her, even if it was across a string in combat boots like now. She had experience.
The Asian was right above the Laistrygonian when she looked down, winked at Jack, then jumped.

The next second she fell on his shoulders, coiled her legs around his neck and sank her daggers deeply into his eyeballs.

Ah, so that's why he was slowing down. She was using her powers.

Pulling all of his might into the power, he casted the images into the monster's head. He didn't know, but he guessed it was horrifying. The monster continued to yell for help.

"I'LL KEEP HIM COMPANY. KILL HIM." he shouted, his mind running to it's snapping point. Jack was shoving whwhatever energy he had left into the power, growing it but is instead weakening him. He felt himself trembling.

"I'M FCKING TRYING," Falko yelled back. The blade of her daggers had completely disappeared into the eyes of the monsters, green viscous blood oozing out with a disgusting smell. But far from being dead, the Laistrygonian was thrashing from side to side, threatening to throw her off. His roars of pain made her ears ring again. Holding on with all her strength to the hilts of the daggers, she almost bit her tongue off as he crashed into one of the houses, pulling him with her. She immediately let go of the daggers and protectively wrapped her arms around her head.
Black out.

Jack lost focus of the Laistrygonian and his mind snapped back to reality. His energy stopped getting drawn into his powers, slowly returning. He took a deep breath, and he felt dizzy.

Was the Laistrygonian dead? he thought.

Then his eyes started to clear and he finally visualized what was happening. The Laistrygonian had thrashed around and smashed itself against a brick building.

Pulling Falko with him.

"FALKO!" he panicked, sprinted to where a large hole had open in the wall. Bricks were scattered on the ground, dust filled his lungs.

The Laistrygonian died, Falko must have jabbed his eyes deep enough. The dagger with green blood was strewn on the floor, next to it was Falko.

"Come on, Falko, wake up." he grabbed one of her hands and lowered down, putting his fingers near her throat to check her pulse.

Her arms hurt. Her skull felt like a plate of mashed potatoes. Something warm covered her forehead.

"..wake up!" someone was saying. The sound came in a slow way to her brain, like a slug going through mud. She opened her eyes slowly, everything a blur of colors. Her mouth twitched.

"Come on, wake up!" The voice felt more present and Falko batted her eyelids, the world becoming slightly less blurry. Jack's face was hovering above hers, his fingers on her neck. He looked worried.

"Ouch," she managed to mumble. It took her some time to actually get her vision into focus, her head hurt like someone had smashed a brick into it. Finally she was able to lift herself onto one elbow. Something warm and gooey crawled down her nose and into her eye; she wiped it quickly only to realize it was blood. "What the bloody Hades happened," she grumbled.

Jack gave Falko a brotherly hug. He looked sentimental, but nah. "You killed him. The dagger smashed against his eye, probably into his brain. We're safe." he replied.

Pulling away from her, he stood up and grabbed his spear. Falko's crossbow was strapped to his back. Both of their faces were covered in dust, their clothes tattered.

"The cops. They're coming." he continued. Extending his hand, he helped her up. "Let's go."

Indeed, now he said it, she could hear sirens. Were they really coming for them though? Then she remembered the giant screaming around in terror and calling for help -- oh, right. Fantastic.

Grabbing his hand, she pulled herself to her feet. The world tilted dangerously but she managed to keep her balance. "Hold on." Lumbering over to her bag, she dropped on her knees and fumbled around inside it until she found her bottle of ambrosia. After two long gulps, she felt the pain in her head receding to a numb ache. All over her body her wounds, her bruises and the bleeding gash in her forehead started healing, disappearing and turning into scars. Her vision regained total clarity. Dropping the bottle back into her bag, she shouldered it and wiped her hand over her face. It came back dusty and bloody.

"Right. Time to go. Follow me." The tall girl fell into a run down the empty alley until they came out on a busy avenue, the sunlight making her squint. "This way." She grabbed his hand not to lose him in the crowd and jogged her way through the hundreds of New Yorkers, sometimes bumping into them and almost provoking an accident with a bike messenger. "Fcking Americans."

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PRESENT DAY
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"Did I forget that day in Manhattan? Hah, of course not. I was just messing around." Jack laughed. "That battle with the Laistrygonian was something one can't simply forget. Funny, he didn't try to kill me everytime I come to the café. Maybe he didn't want some attention from mortal authorities." he thought, before looking back at his sister. "He always looked fishy."

"He was also very much dead," she chuckled. "Some monsters are quite skilled with the Mist and can take the form of someone you've known for years."

Lacing her shoes, she thought about that day. After the fight they had gone to her aunt's flat, Ka-Seung, and hid there from the cops. Her aunt had been adorable and understanding, giving them cookies and tea and snacks, until her mother came home and drove them to camp. Falko hated it when the police was after her.

"Ready for a run, brother? I'm gonna annihilate you," she smirked, spinning on her heels.

"Not if I annihilate you first, sister!" he smirked. "You're gonna fail. Guarantee." Then he quickly darted away "Catch me if you can!" he teased