13/13/13
Chapter 1

13/5/13

No one knew what to make of it. The earthquakes, the globe-spanning Aurora Borealis, the bizarre weather. People were even more confused when astronomers, physicists, and computer programmers concluded that the Earth’s year had extended by a whole month, a thirteenth month. They did what people usually do when something big, unexpected, and confusing happened- THEY PANICKED! And for every person that panics; there’s either a person not panicking that’s taking advantage of the panic-

“No one move, give us the money and no one gets hurt!” Shout 21 armed thugs as they swarm into the semi-economically-collapsed bank.

-Or, hopefully, there’s a person helping people survive through the panic.

CRACK!

The thugs turn around just in time to see half their group get taken down by the ‘Predator.’ The gang members all paled. Alax Christos was called ‘Superman’ by his fellow cops and ‘Predator’ by the Criminal Underworld. This Police detective was the most feared man in New York City.

Not only has it been said that he could take down several criminals with his bare hands, but his interrogations. He never resorted to physical violence. He never had to! Rumor had it that he was so terrifying, the guilty party would confess on the spot!

The mountain of a man cracked his knuckles as the terrified brutes held him at gunpoint. “You sure you want to do that?” He asks. The goons didn’t need to be told twice; all 10 of them laid down their arms, let their hostage go, and put the cuffs on their hands themselves.

“”Wait, 10?” Thinks Alax Christos to himself. ”Dispatch said 21...”

And then he sees a glint in a nearby surveillance mirror. Not having time to do anything else, he jumps at the thug who’d just moved from his hiding spot behind the pillar-

BANG!

The fiend smirks as the bullet hit him in the shoulder at point blank-range-

CRACK!

That smirk remained on his face as the blow to his head rendered him unconscious. Alax sighed as he made sure the jerk was unconscious then handcuffed him.

He then looked around quickly to make sure no one had seen what had just happened. The power grid was mostly still out from the earthquake; so no security cameras.

The last 10 gang members were more concerned with whether or not he was going to beat them up, to pay attention to what just happened. The few civilians that were around were too busy cowering. The only one that saw anything was the little girl who he’d just saved from being used as a hostage.

“You okay, sweetie?” Alax asks the 5-year old girl. She nods, then looks at the bullet hole in his shirt.

“Are you being watched over by an angel, mister?” She asks curiously. Alax chuckles as he uses his handkerchief to pick something off the ground.

“Something like that.” He admits as he pockets the bullet that had ricochet off his body.

My word, bit of a Gary Stu isn’t he? Well, don’t worry; he’s not the main character here, mostly. No, that position goes to his son.

12-year old Tyrone Christos woke from his bed. He rubbed the sleep from his red eyes as he drowsily looked around his room. For a moment his vision danced with webs, monsters, and demonic symbols before he finally comes fully awake and his eyesight stabilizes. His room is simply filled with the usual cryptograms, ciphers, equations, conspiracy webs, pictures of zoological impossibilities, and a weird trout hat. For the moment, he ignores all this as he goes to measure his height on the mark on the wall. What he sees is disappointing ”Great, still short. He thinks to himself, annoyed, as he walks over to a mirror and removes his shirt. ”Still no muscles?” Thinks Tyrone to himself irritated as he tries to flex- ANYTHING. “Come on! I’ve really been pumping iron lately! Or at least when I’m not busy doing research or reading, anyway. Still! There should be SOMETHING. And on top of that, I still don’t have-

“Still no chest hair, huh?” Asks a teasing voice from behind.

A flustered Tyrone cries out in mortification as he tries to cover up his scrawny body. 15-year old Red Jack smirks as her friend quickly tried to put his shirt on as she finished climbing through the apartment window into his room.

Many would look at this intergenerational relationship weirdly. They’d be even more alarmed if they knew how it started…

….several months ago....

Tyrone cautiously walked down from his apartment over to Reds apartment. He was going to leave a cupcake for her on her doorstep like he always did when she was sick or depressed, had an argument with her dad, or in the midst of yet another nasty break-up with yet another jerk who didn’t deserve her (mostly that last one). Of course, he always knew about it, because he eavesdropped on her. She didn’t even know he existed (Sigh). “I’m such a pathetic Creep," moaned Tyrone to himself as he placed the cupcake on the doorstep.

GOTCHA!

Shouted a voice just as two strong arms grabbed him and lifted him up. “Gah!” Exclaimed Tyrone in surprise. He was even more surprised when he saw it was Red! She looked down at the 12 year old that now awkwardly squirmed in her arms in both surprise and amazement. When she faked being sick (something she’s long perfected into an art form) to catch the person who kept leaving her those amazing cupcakes, she hadn’t been expecting this!

“Okay, you want to tell me who you are and what you’re doing?” She asked.

Tyrone hung his head and confessed to spying on her. “I’m not a creep! I swear! I just...just didn’t know how to talk to you...” He trailed off realizing he was just digging himself deeper. Red frowned at him for a moment, not sure how to respond to this. Then she sighed, took a bite of the cupcake, paused to give a moan of pleasure, then got back to him. She set him down.

“Okay, look, I know I should be super creeped out by this, but these cupcakes are just so bleeding good! So how about this? You make me these cupcakes whenever I want, and we call it even.”

It amazed Red how quickly Tyrone and her became best friends; he was incredibly mature and intelligent for his age. He showed her the joy of heckling and mocking cliché shows, poorly written books, cheesy anime and badly directed movies. And she showed him the joy of sticking it to the man and other leisurely teenage pursuits...and let’s not forget his cupcakes! Sweet mother on a bucking bronco! They were so good! With all she’d eaten, you’d think she’d gain a hundred pounds. But she hadn’t. If anything she seemed to have lost weight! How was that even-

Red’s train of thought came crashing down as for a brief moment she saw the main reason why she hadn’t talked with him for over a month, the large gash across his back. For a brief moment it all came back to her- the abandoned hospital, the wailing, the ax, Tyrone’s blood pooling on the floor... As quickly as she could; she did what she did best in situations like this. She locked unpleasant thoughts and feelings deep within (which she would probably unleash later in the form of meaningless vandalism) and try to laugh away her concerns.

She chuckled nervously. “Seriously man; stop obsessing over that. Chest hairs are gross. You can be plenty manly without it. How many other boys your age can say they got an older girl sneaking into his room when he’s half-dressed?” She teased playfully. Usually, such a comment would make Tyrone more flustered and stutter. Not this time. The moment of surprise was over and his bearings were gathered. This time he just gave her a very intense, conflicted, and concerned look.

“Why are you here Red?” He asked confused.

Again, Red chuckled nervously. “Why would I need a reason to see my best bud?” She asked awkwardly.

“I....Best Bud?...but...don’t you hate me?” Asked a now kinda tearful Tyrone

Now it was Red’s turn to be confused. “What? Hate you? Why would I-”

“You nearly died because of me! It was all my fault! Why wouldn’t you hate me?!” He called out, now completely in tears.

Red was completely thrown by this, she’d never seen her little buddy like this before! “What?! No! No! Tyrone I don’t hate you! I could never hate you!” She said as she leaned down and gave him a reassuring hug. “You saved my life for crying out loud!”

“But it was my fault you were there!” Insisted Tyrone.

“Tyrone, you didn’t hold a gun to my head! I chose to go with you. I was actually planning on pranking you with a fake haunting to mess with you.” She admitted that last part more than a bit ashamed. “So if anyone’s the bad guy here, it’s me.”

This calmed down Tyrone a bit, but he was still very shaken. “It’s just that I couldn’t protect you...What kinda guy can’t protect a girl?”

Red stifled a groan. ”There it is, the masculinity obsession, right on que.” The whole ‘need to be a man’ schtick that Tyrone had going was mostly humorous, but there were times it could really grate on her nerves. Like now.

“Okay, Tyrone? I appreciate the sentiment behind that, I really do... that being said-”

She paused to lightly bop him on the head. “Tyrone, I’m a big girl. I can look after myself. I know you didn’t mean it, but that was kinda sexist for you to say.” She pointed out. Tyrone lowered his head ashamed. Red cursed herself and quickly backtracked. “But never mind that! Seriously, stop worrying about being a man! You took a knife for me! You nearly died for me! If that isn’t being a man, then men are wusses!”

“She’s right sweetie.” Both kids immediately break apart mortified as they turn around to see Tyrone’s mother. A simple, kindly lady of clear Native American descent. “Despite the circumstances, we’re very proud of what you did for Red.” She turned to Red. “And Red... we’re grateful for you making sure Tyrone survived. You know you don’t have to sneak in here anymore right?” She asked.

Red rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. “I know Mrs. C., but old habits are hard to break, you know?”

Sky Christos just shook her head with a sigh, and offered to make Red breakfast while she was here. As Sky left the room, she smiled as for the first time in weeks. She heard happiness in her sons voice again as he finally returned to the side of his best (and only) friend. When Tyrone first introduced them to the girl, she’d been ecstatic that her son had finally found a friend, a little weirded out by how old she was, but ecstatic nonetheless.

Red and Alax on the other hand, were not so thrilled. As it turns out, this wasn’t the first time they’d met...

Red was considered by many to be ‘Brilliant but Lazy’. Where she lacked in academics; she more than made up in streets smarts and pugilistic’s.

Be it fight or flight, she was more than capable of thinking on her feet while being five steps ahead of anyone.

And that is how she got away with so many acts of vandalism, shop-lifting, breaking and entering, driving without a license, underage drinking, illegal street fighting, and loitering.

Red was well skilled in avoiding police detection, successfully fleeing police, and talking her way out of trouble, but then Alax came onto the scene… And that was when Red’s luck ran out.

Several dozen arrests and an (allegedly) destroyed police car later, there they were, pretending to be meeting for the first time with forced smiles in her kitchen when Tyrone introduced them.

After Alax was able to get Red alone; he told her that he’d let her continue her friendship with Tryone.

Both because it would be hypocritical of him to break it off after trying to encourage Tyrone to make friends for years, and the fact that she made his son happy in a way he hadn’t seen in years. (Plus the unspoken ‘discouraging a kid to hang with someone will only encourage them to do just that’ of course.)

However, he made it very clear that if she got Tyrone mixed up in her ‘shenanigans,’ an arrest would be the least of her worries.

At least that’s what Alax told Shy he said to Red, but judging by the fact that Red needed a change of pants afterward, Sky felt it safe to assume that this account of events was the ‘clean version’ as kids today say.

Needless to say; Sky’s feelings toward Red became mixed after that. The fact that Alax was certain that she was still up to no good and dragging Tyrone into it (he was further agitated by the fact that he suddenly couldn’t seem to catch her anymore), didn’t help.

But that was before the ‘incident’ at the abandoned Hotbed hospital. Before the image of a bloody and limping Red dragging Sky’s half dead son to the hospital, was forever burned into her mind.

So now, she was willing to give Red the benefit of a doubt. And so was Alax, though to a lesser extent.

It was then that she heard a knock on the door. Sky immediately tensed up, it was far too early for Alax to return home.

She pulled one of the revolvers out of its hiding place and walked cautiously to the door. She spied through the peep hole, and then her exterior turned icy.

Quickly putting the gun away (lest she be tempted to use it), she opened the door. The old man at the door lifted his hat. “Morning, Sky-

“My husband will meet you in the back alley when he gets home.” Interrupted Sky coldly, before slamming the door into his face. She quickly rushed to the phone and called up her husband.