[Fiction] Broken Knight

[Cade]

Cade stepped through the portal and onto the ground outside the building he had been told about at Scripps Institute of Oceanography in La Jolla. He made his way inside and was met by three officers with the La Jolla police department. They looked to bar his path, but one decided it better to let the obviously agitated nova pass. Secretly the officer realized how glad he was that it wasn't him that was the target of Cade's anger. Without directions Cade made his way to where two Detectives and a few other officers were. He could see Maria's body on the ground, covered by a plastic sheet. There was blood on the edge of the counter, and indeed the air hung heavy with the scent of what was done in here. He could still smell her fear, her despair, and his anger caused him to shake visibly.

One of the Detectives came over to him and looked up into his eyes. "Mr. Alistaire, that was sure quick. I called you only a few minutes ago. The Girls father has also been told, he said he would make his way here as soon as was possible." Cade seemed to calm some as he looked down to the Detective. A cursory evaluation of the elder Detective told him the man was very good at his job and that he too was angered by what he saw tonight.

"Thank you for your diligence Detective Ryan. I'm sure Eric will thank you when he arrives." Cade did his best to keep his tone neutral, but his anger and pain over this was evident. "Is there anything I can do to help you in your investigation?"

Detective Ryan was about to say something when another officer ran into the room and put a sat-phone into his hands. "It's Detective Peirce, he knows where the bastard that did this is.!" Detective Ryan looked to his partner and nodded. His eyes found Cade's and he smiled. "Excuse me just a moment." Cade nodded and then the detective took the call. "Jason, the perpetrator is in a yellow Honda heading down I-5 to San Diego proper. Tell that nova there with you that if he wants to help he can get you in front of the guy.. He's way out of his jurisdiction, but this guy's all over the road. He might come in handy." Cade heard every word and could only assume that Pierce was a nova with both telepathic and pretercognitive abilities. He looked to Detective Ryan and nodded. Let's go, Ill help in any capacity you require.

Ryan nodded to his partner and the three of them Entered the portal conjured by Cade out to their cruiser. "I'm going to put the two of you at the Gillman Drive on-ramp. see if you can get the SDPD to set up some roadblocks further down." Cade focused and pushed hard and opened a gateway large enough for the Cruiser to go through. "Go now! It's clear!" The Detecives didn't have to be told twice and gunned it . once they made it through the portal Cade closed it and took to the skies, making an aerial survey of the highway as he went. Part of him wasn't sure of what he'd do if he found him first. Whoever did this to his Maria would pay, that was all he knew.

At over 200 kph he soon caught up to the car. It was true t form a yella Honda S2000, swerving in and out of traphic at over ninety miles per hour. The Detective's car tore onto the Freeway and began trying to close in on the yellow honda.He could hear them ordering the car to stop and pull over and in the distance he could see the lights of a blockade. The traffic had thinned out thanfully, but now the driver was accellerating. Several more cars joined the chase and they tried unsuccessfully to box in the nimble honda. It was then that he realized the Honda wouldn't stop. He vanished through the gateway and appeared at the blockade. He smiled and took up one of the radios. "Detective be prepared to stop suddenly he's not going to.. Just keep him coming at the blockade, I'll make sure nobody hear gets hurt. You may want to get an ambulance here though, just in case." Detective Ryan acknowledged and called for an Ambulance at the blockade. The officers standing there looked at Cade and he smiled, feeling his power surge through him. "All of you need to take cover. I will handle this matter." Despite their training they all felt compelled to listen and trust in the nova standing amongst them. They moved away and Cade saw the oncoming Honda and a wicked smile creased his lips.

"Allright kid, time for your joyride to stop." Cade placed himself in the only opening that a car could get through and steeled himself for the impact. True to form the car didn't seem to care about the man standing there he just wanted to get away, even if it meant running down some guy standing in the way. Cade didn't move even as the car seemed to fold and cruimple around him. thirty grand of metal and rubber crumpled like a beercan against him as he stood rooted to the ground. He heard the boy's legs snap as the engine was shoved back into the passenger compartment. He heard the scream of fear and pain. He kept his features neutral, but inwardly he smiled. bits of glass and twisted and warped metal flew around him even as the car settled back to the ground. He made his way to the crumpled driver's side and could hear the boy's breathing and heartbeat. He pulled the door loose from the car and stood there looking at thi mishmash of metal, flesh and bone that were the boy's legs. he felt sever gazes upon him and he could feel the apprehension in Detective Ryan's mind. "Get the paramedics here fast. He's alive, but he'll bleed out if we move him. right now the engine pinning his legs is all that's keeping him alive. He has 5 broken ribs, and his left humerus is broken, just to name the most serious injuries."

Detective Ryan just looked at Cade. "All your officers are safe, and he has been stopped without being killed. He'll live if your paramedics have any skill and I'll transport the ambulance to a nearby hospital the same as I did your cruiser." Detective Ryan nodded. "Don't worry Cade, he won't get away with a slap on the wrist, and I'll see to it that your actions are seen as what they really are, a nova who came to help." Cade nodded his understanding as the paramedics arrived. He helped them extricate the boy from his car and then took them to the hospital they'd reccomended. He then spent the next six hours relating the details of his involvement to three separate members of the Police Department. Through it all he remained calm and did his best to be truthful and concise. At around seven in the morning he walked out of the Precinct and shook hands with Detective Ryan. "Thank you for your help, Cade, it's been nice working with a nova who doesn't believe themself above the law." Cade smiled. "We novas live here too Detective. I agree laws are there for the benefit of all. If there's anything else I can be of help to you with, you have my contact information.

Just then a black rental cadillac pulled up and Eric Castille stepped out of the car. "Michael." He saw the blow coming but stood there anyway as Eric's fist pistoned into his right cheek. "You bastard. You said you'd take care of her!" Cade waved Detective Ryan off even as Eric continued his ineffective assault. Eric was on the verge of tears when he finally slumped to his knees before Cade. "Come on Eric, let's go see her, there's nothing for you to do here." Eric, his rage spent allowed Cade to get him into the car and they drove to the morgue.

They were left alone in the room with Maria's body and there eric wept openly for his only child. When his tears stopped he only then noticed that there were tears on Cade's face as well. "Wt was this, revenge? is it your fault?" Cade looked at him with a decidedly hurt look in his eyes. "It was just some guy at random, a student who desired her. believe me it would be easier if it were my fault."

Eric looked at him and said "I'm sorry Micahel, you really did love my daughter didn't you?"

Cade looked at him and then down at Maria's serene face. He pulled a small box from his pocket and opened it to reveal the ring he'd picked up the day before. He laid the boc and then looked back to Eric. "I was going to ask her this Friday. now, I have to wonder if she'd still be here if I'd done it sooner. How I wish that I had done it sooner, how I'd have liked to see her eyes when I asked and she answered."

Eric, for the first time sees how deeply the loss of Maria has hurt his old friend. He'd been days away from gaining a son-in-law, and now they'd both lost what they cared most for. Tears streamed down Cade's face as he knelt beside Maria's body, and he knew how wrong he'd been earlier. He laid a hand on Cade's shoulder and offered him the only words he had left. "She'd have said yes Michael, and I would gladly have called you son." Cade looked up and the damn broke as he wept openly at the last of his close family's passing.