James watched as the car went underground. As a wanted man, Xavier couldn't risk his coming through the front door anymore. New Horizon was already considered a terrorist organisation by some. All it took was one slip that couldn't be solved in time to ruin any goodwill.
James got out of the car and looked around. In the underground car park, he couldn't help but feel he was in another fortress in the city. Numerous men in suits stood around watching, waiting. They were different to the security on the door, who was for show. Looking closely, he saw a couple of New Horizon tattoos on their hands and necks.
He knew the penthouse was Xavier's home, but upon seeing this, he raised the threat level posed by Xavier. He had his own personal army hidden in plain sight, separate from the clergy. The door opened for him, and James walked straight to the lift in the back. Looking up in the corner, he saw the camera had been removed. 'He never takes a risk.'
The lift ride was quick. Getting out, Xavier sat at the table by the window, looking out at the city. "You paid your respects." Xavier cooly said. Anger washed over James, but he quickly suppressed it. He wanted to blame Xavier for what happened, knowing he was the one person who could have changed the outcome, but he knew it was him pushing the blame. He had caused everything.
"Yes," James said with an empty voice and took a seat before him. Staring at Xavier, the man looked at him and stared into his eyes.
"What now?" Xavier asked.
"Now." James leaned back into his seat. He had run everything through his mind, and clenching his fists, he couldn't help but be filled with immense rage and regret, "Do I have a choice anymore. I have lost everything, Xavier. All I have left is this."
Xavier smiled and looked back at Newport. James followed his gaze. The distant sound of sirens echoed throughout the city, mixing in with the everyday life of the city that never stopped. "Hate is a brilliant emotion." Xavier said with his usual calm, "It is the strongest motivator, but like all flames, the brighter it burns, the quicker it fades." Xavier looked back at James, "It must be tempered, James, you must live for something other than hate, because once it is gone, what do you have left?" Picking up the half-empty glass of wine, he finished it. "Nothing."
"I have nothing left, Xavier. They have taken everything from me. Made me an enemy of the city, of the people that I have given everything for." James coldly said, "I don't have anything more." Taking a deep breath, he grabbed his head, "Isn't this what you want. You are all I have now, even if part of me despises you, I can't leave."
"It fills me with warmth that you see me as the only thing left in your life, my dear detective, but I am not all you have left. Why did you become a detective? Sure, you crave the feeling of cracking a case, but there is more to it than that. I have seen your past, you know?"
James lowered his head, "The city doesn't want me anymore. I tried so hard to be what it needed, to be the thing that kept order and peace. They don't want that, Xavier. Not the people, nor the force. They just want a headline, that's all."
"Yet are you finished with it. If so, I can do you one last favour and help you leave. You will always be a wanted man, but outside of Newport, no one will know who you are." Xavier sincerely offered, and James couldn't help but think it over. It was cowardly, running away from the mess he caused, but it was also a chance to start anew, to try again at a new way of life. Maybe he could try to settle down again, start the family he had dreamed he would have started with Vanessa.
"No." But James knew he couldn't. He may have been happy for a while if he had done it, but he knew he would eventually find himself back the way he was now. It would always be a part of him, chasing one more case, filling the void that permanently existed in his heart that craved to know the truth.
Maybe he could have justified it as his way of getting out alive after desperately trying to do so the past month, but that would have been a lie, and he knew it. Xavier's smile grew ever slightly at his words. "Then we have work to do," Xavier said.
"There is one thing." James said, cutting him off, "Misfortune and fortune walk hand in hand. Did you want me to discover the truth of my ability? If so, why? Why did you let me lose everything, Xavier? Why did you allow George to die, to let Rose become whatever she is?"
Xavier took a deep breath and poured himself another glass of wine. "Do you really want the answer? You will not like it." Xavier asked. James stared at him with an unflickering gaze. Xavier sighed and took a sip, "Curiosity. When I saw that future, seeing you change the nature of your aura, I was fascinated. What are the limits to it? You still don't truly understand what you did. Abilities can evolve, yes, but yours didn't evolve; it changed on a fundamental level, becoming something completely different. An evolution should have been, your eyes seeing deeper, that's all." He paused, "I am sorry for what happened, but I couldn't bring myself to change it."
James felt uncomfortable in the way Xavier spoke, even his apology, although sincere, felt out of place. It was like a mad researcher on the verge of a breakthrough who couldn't let himself be held back by restraint anymore, yet cared for the animals he tested on, "Was it always this, and you simply didn't realise, or did the fear of death push you to become something entirely different. I don't know, and yet it's so fascinating. What are the limits? And then that woman. Rose. What is she? I have never seen something like her. Is she human, an Aretfact? So many questions and yet I can't figure out the answer even with my sight."
The mix of joy and annoyance was confusing. James watched, unable to even be angry in the way Xavier spoke. It was a childlike curiosity warped into something horrifying and yet felt completely innocent. "All this because you were... curious? My life was ruined."
"And yet you are blessed. Can you copy my future sight? Can you become what that woman has become? The world itself, could you copy it? James, you have a path of transcendence before you, one that could perhaps bypass the need for human faith or Zoktis' home, and you can't see it. What is the past you built in the face of that?"
'Completely derganged. He isn't even hiding it anymore now that I have nowhere else to go.' James took a sharp breath and used everything he had to stay seated before Xavier. Xavier cleared his throat and fixed his tie, popping the collar of his silver suit afterwards. "Forgive me, I let my emotions get the better of me." Xavier took a sip of wine and smiled, "We are currently chasing our enemies, James. We need to get ahead, and for that, we need parts of the key."
"You know where they are?"
"No, but I have a guess." Xavier swirled the glass of the wine, "Have you ever heard of the Children of the First?" James shrugged. Of course, he had heard of one of the world's largest religions, which dominated an entire continent as its sole faith. Despite that, he was never a religious person and only knew the bare minimum.
"Well, they believe that all power stems from the Almighty and that each human carries a spark of divinity, i.e, abilities. Only when every man and woman has a fragment of divinity will the Almighty return. They are an old order and in some parts of the world, direct war with New Horizon. I'm sure you can tell our beliefs don't mesh."
"They have it?" Xavier nodded.
"It has been our guess. Now, violence is a sin for the Children of the First. After all, we all carry a fragment of the Almighty; therefore, to take a life is to harm the Almighty itself. They wish to stop this bloodshed between our two groups, and I have been tasked with leading these talks. After all, my abilities make it easy to prepare for any tricks they wish to pull." James leaned forward and nodded, "So, James, do you wish to take a little holiday with me?"
James stared at him, but suddenly couldn't help but think of something, "If they have this and an organistaion like New Horizon can't even get the key without trouble, how are people like the Gentleman getting it. They have many resources, sure, but it's all based in Newport."
Xavier smiled and took out his phone. Bringing the picture of the wall that James made up. Xavier made him focus on the large question mark in the middle, "It's a different question you should ask. Who is the person heading everything that has the means to do this? They have already proven they can steal from New Horizon, so why do you think they can't steal from the Children? This time we have to be first, and I believe we are already on the back foot."