[b]The Worthy Household
Union-Point Hills[/b]

For the first time in months James had returned to the Worthy household for a meal. They had been extending invitations to him on a near weekly basis since he had moved out shortly after graduating from Academy 12 but it was rare that he found the time. It was something he felt bad about. His grandfather Robbie Worthy had been a father to him when his own father had abdicated any and all paternal responsibilities at birth, he’d helped mould him into a man, but James never was any good at showing his gratitude. It was his girlfriend Iris that had finally heaved enough pressure on him to relent and make the journey to Union-Point Hills to see his grandparents. His grandmother Veronica had been ecstatic when she had heard he was coming, even more so once she found out that Iris was accompanying him.

They had been together for a little over six months. James wasn’t sure whether it was going to go the distance as some of his friends seemed convinced it would, but he felt comfortable with Iris in a way that he hadn’t done with other girls. They shared interests and it never felt like work when he was with her and that counted for a lot. It wasn’t any girl that he would take to meet his grandparents. He had tried his best on his way there to explain to Iris what his grandparents were like, what Robbie was like especially, but not long after they had arrived and conversation had turned to the recent Fiend attack he wished he’d spent a little more time explaining. It wasn’t exactly an appropriate topic for discussion at the dinner table but when had that ever stopped Robbie before?

“Prison is too good for people like that. You’ve got to put a bullet in their brains before it gets there. You put them on the stand and all you’re doing is giving them a platform to spread whatever bile it is they believe. No, I say you put them down hard and send a message to all of the rest of the scumbags out there.”

James shook his lead a little as he looked up from his plate of food. Though his grandfather was completely oblivious to the bemusement in his eyes as he looked at him, it was clear as day to both Iris and Veronica.

“Due process exists for a reason.”

“You would say that,” Robbie said with a smile. “Your generation is too liberal for its own good. God knows what state this country is going to be in when you’re in change. What do you think we should do? Hug the Fiends to death? Talk to them about their feelings?”

Veronica smiled disarmingly in the hopes of diffusing what she feared would be another vocal difference of opinion between her husband and her grandson. She had endured plenty of them over the years. They were never violent, nor was there ever even the slightest hint of dread, but they did often make for uncomfortable viewing from the outside.

“Can’t we just have dinner once without it turning into this? I’m sure Iris doesn’t want to hear the two of you arguing.”

Iris smiled politely as she pushed a strand of her silken ginger hair behind her ear with one of porcelain white hands.

“It’s fine, honestly.”

Robbie smiled and pointed at Iris with a chicken wing in his hand.

“See? She’s a big girl, she understands there’s nothing wrong with a little robust discussion. So tell us, James, what would you have us do instead? You still haven’t answered me.”

Again the look of bemusement crept over the face of James Bishop as he weighed up how futile the discussion they were having was. For over a decade he had engaged in discussions like this with his grandfather where he bent over backwards to provide him with empirical evidence, with fact, in the hope of changing his mind. It never worked. Robbie’s politics, Robbie’s whole being, was rooted in a completely nonfactual existence. It was about the gut feeling, instinct, a more primal sense of right and wrong. It wasn’t something that James could empathise with but he knew better than to concede entirely or he’d never heard the end of it.

“I’m an architect,” James said with a sigh. “It’s not my job to decide our country’s counterterrorism policy and I wouldn’t presume to second guess the people who are responsible for it. All I know is that I’d sooner not have some innocent man or woman gunned down because VPD are gunning for retribution.”

Robbie stared at James for a few moments as if weighing up a response.

“Hmpfh.”

He was unsatisfied by his grandson’s response, clearly, but he looked down at his food and continued eating instead of continuing their debate. It was the first time that James could remember it happening and from the look on Veronica’s face it was clear that she was surprised too. Maybe he’d sensed he had stepped over the line, maybe it was because Iris was there, or maybe an old dog could learn new tricks. Either way James was happy enough not to have to continue the discussion.

James and Iris stayed for an hour more and discussion moved onto less divisive subjects like work. His grandparents had asked him how things were going as they were obliged to do and James had obliged them with his usual response. Towards the end his grandparents had thought it amusing to bring out some pictures of James as a young boy, clad in a black turtleneck, a tartan waistcoat, and a gold chain, which he had unsurprisingly found far less amusing than Iris had. As they left he had promised them that he would visit again soon and that he wouldn’t leave it so late next time and they had urged him to bring Iris along. Something she seemed quite pleased about.

[center][b]*****[/b][/center]
[b]Knightdale Rows[/b]

James stepped out of the car and shut the door behind him, waiting for his girlfriend to make her way around the car to his side before the pair set off down the road. Parking was terrible in this part of Knightdale Rows and they often had to leave the car a few blocks away from their apartment building. Whoever had planned this part of town had done a pretty bad job of it. Luckily for them though the walk was a fairly pleasant one outside of having to pass through a narrow underpass that seemed to attract vagrants from time to time. Though more often than not the strong VPD presence in the district made sure they were fairly well behaved.

“I’m sorry about back there,” James said with a shake of his head. “Sometimes it’s a little hard to slam the brakes on Robbie once he gets going.”

“You don’t have to apologise.”

“I know, I guess after everything they’ve done for me, his being like a second father to me after my mom passed away, it takes a little getting used to, how crotchety he’s got in his old age. He never used to be like this.”

“I understand,” Iris said, smiling as she walked. “You don’t have to be embarrassed about your family, James, we all have uncles, aunts, and grandparents that lose their filter as they get older. I had a good time, the food was nice, and your family seemed lovely, Robbie included.”

James smiled tenderly.

“Thank you.”

As they reached the underpass, Iris reached for her boyfriend’s hand and squeezed it a little as she returned his smile. When James looked up he noticed a man dressed in rags that were visibly hanging off of him stepping into the underpass at the over end. As he grew closer it became clear he had a gun pressed in his hand that as trained on the couple. Bishop placed Iris behind him and his eyes locked onto the gun in the man’s hand as he approached them.

“The purse.”

James could feel it. The gun in the man’s hand spoke to him as he drew closer to them. He only had three bullets, including the one in the chamber, but outside of that he didn’t have any metals on him. He could stop the bullet leaving the barrel but there was a chance the gun might blow up in the man’s hand and take it with him. For as angry as James was at having been threatened he could tell by the look of the man he was doing this out of desperation more than anything else. Slowly James lifted his hand and placed it in the air between him and the would-be robber facing him.

“You don’t want to do this.”

He could stop the bullet. He knew that much. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d done it but it would be the first time in a long time. It had been nearly two years since he’d even tried. What if he was a millisecond too late or too early? He couldn’t risk Iris getting hurt somehow, he’d never forgive himself if she did.

“You try anything funny and I’ll kill the both of you. You hear me?”

It spoke to him. He couldn’t explain it to anyone if he tried but his powers, his ability to manipulate metals, it wasn’t controlled and dispassionate, it was emotional somehow. He didn’t command the metals to do things, he asked them, and they complied. For a second James considered slapping the weapon from the man’s hand using his powers or hitting him in the back of the head, but he could feel Iris shaking with fear behind him. It wasn’t worth it.

Without a slight movement of his hand James flicked the safety on the man’s weapon on and reached for his girlfriend’s bag and tossed it in the man’s direction. It landed short of him by a foot or so and the man bent to pick it up, his weapon still trained on James and Iris as he did so, before backing away slowly.

“Clever man.”

The man scampered away down the alleyway with the purse in hand. James turned to his girlfriend, took her in his arms, and planted a gentle kiss on her head as she clung to him. He could have stopped that man, he could have taken his hand from him, or even let him shoot and sent the bullets flying back at him. He could have killed him for threatening him, for threatening the woman he loved, but he chose not to. And though it might not seem like it there was some kind of victory in that. At least he thought there was.