The Delinquent

“Screw this town,” a Japanese teenager grumbled as he spray-painted on the side of a building. “What else can I expect from dull Pierview, the lamest small town next to a polluted ocean?”

Taylor Yoshida, a fifteen-year-old graffiti artist, continued to paint a large octopus. The odors of seawater and the local commerce teased the corners of his attention. He coped with such a mundane existence in the fish town through his artistic escapes on large structures.

A pack of four teenagers walked by him on their way to the marketplace.

“Hey, isn’t that kid the police captain’s stepson?” one of the kids asked. 

“Yeah, he’s homeschooled. What a weirdo.”

“Hey, I can hear you,” Taylor snarled.

“Then maybe you can hear this,” one of the students said. “Mr. Webb, some creep is spray-painting all over your building!”

A tall, muscular man stalked out his store as Taylor quickly tossed the spray cans in his bag and grabbed his skateboard.

“You dirty hoodlum!” Mr. Webb yelled and ran down the walk after him. “Get back here!”

Taylor jumped on his skateboard and barely rode away from the merchant as he struggled to reach him.

“Take it easy, old-timer,” Taylor smirked as he submerged into the market crowd. Adrenaline rushed through Taylor’s veins with each passing stroke on the boardwalk that skated him further away from his pursuer.

As the chase continued, a teenage Haitian girl with long braids, purple hat, blue jeans, and a light-blue shirt followed through the crowd of people. The girl took out a red camera and captured multiple shots of the skateboarding rebel.

“Please, help! Stop that vandal,” Mr. Webb shouted as he approached two off-duty cops enjoying the festivities of the marketplace.

“Hey, Sampson, isn’t that the captain’s step kid?” Officer Jones asked his partner.

“Looks like it,” Officer Sampson replied. “Come on, let’s go.”

“This doesn’t look good. Come on, Bonnie, think,” the girl urged herself when the cops looked interested in stopping Taylor.

She quickly noticed that the tent over a large fruit display behind the cops was supported by two wooden beams. Bonnie turned the focus of the camera lens and pointed it at one of the support beams. She clicked the shutter button and released a small concussion blast that caused the beam to explode.

The tent collapsed on the display and the fruit scattered across the boardwalk. Pedestrians slipped on the soft fruits as they walked through the marketplace. Distracted by helping the various consumers, the cops were unable to help Mr. Webb apprehend Taylor.

Bonnie rolled her eyes and whistled as she casually walked away.

Taylor took a fast left at the end of the boardwalk. The disgruntled shopkeeper chased Taylor behind the left corner of a building near the ocean, but Taylor was nowhere to be found. The path led to a dead-end only a few paces from the ocean.

“This is the sixth time this week that no-good delinquent has gotten away,” Mr. Webb fumed.

Moments after the shopkeeper left in frustration, the usually calm body of water rumbled strangely. Ripples on the water increased in frequency and a pillar rose from the ocean to reveal Taylor manipulating the water.

“Perfect,” Taylor smirked and directed the water to propel him back into the water.

"Perfect,” Bonnie assured herself. 

Unbeknownst to Taylor, Bonnie captured a few shots of his astonishing feat on film. 

Taylor rose from the ocean close to the side of the waterfront behind a condo. As he climbed the steps to the back door, a shadowy figure followed.

The figure lunged at the boy, but Taylor swiftly ducked then grabbed him around the waist. Taylor tried to pin him down, but the large man bent his knees and kicked himself up in the air with Taylor behind him. Taylor wrapped around the intruder and slammed him onto the living room floor. Taylor rolled over and his attacker pushed a gun into Taylor’s face.

They stalemated when Taylor generated a dagger made of water and held it to his attacker’s neck.

A pattern of footsteps entered the room, generated by an eighteen-year-old girl dressed in a police cadet uniform.

“Would you two please knock it off?” the girl asked.” It would be nice to come home and not see my brother and stepfather nearly killing each other.”

The masked man holstered the gun. Taylor dispersed his dagger before helping the man stand up. The man pulled off his mask to reveal a middle-aged Caucasian male with blonde hair and brown eyes.

“I have to say, Taylor, you’re doing a lot better. Your aikido is getting more fluent.”

“I know, John,” Taylor smiled.

“But you still hesitated when you pinned me down. Remember your enemy won’t always -”

“Give you the benefit of retaliating so you have to act faster. I know, I know,” interrupted Taylor.

“I don’t get why you constantly put him through this, John,” she agreed and leaned against the door frame. 

“That is simple, Eliza. Taylor might have powers, but there will be a time when he’ll face a threat that is going to take a lot more than just his powers to beat,” John explained.

“Well, when that time comes, hopefully, they’ll be more of a match than an ex-CIA agent who’s gotten in a little rusty,” Taylor teased.

“I will never understand boys,” Eliza said and rolled her eyes.

“Speaking of which, I’m going to have to head out in a few minutes,” John said.

“Let me guess, they still haven’t found the missing cops?” Eliza asked.

“Exactly and a few more have gone missing.”

“That makes twelve officers completely off the grid in the past two months!” she exclaimed.

“Which is why you won’t graduate Eliza to a full cop? Are you afraid of what might happen to her?” Taylor asked. “Not that I blame you. It’s not like she’s the one with powers in this family.”

“I can handle myself without powers, Doofus,” Eliza replied. “You don’t have to defend me and neither do you, John. So, whatever the reason is for not making me a real cop, please don’t keep it a secret.”

“Outside of concealing your brother’s origins from the rest of the town, there are no secrets in this house. Also, I do not doubt that either of you can take care of yourselves,” John said. “I made a promise to your mother to make sure you both were always safe and I’m going to keep that promise. For now, young man, keep practicing and laying low from the public light. And you, young lady, keep studying and hitting the books until I say it is safe to come out as a full cop. Is that understood?”

The siblings looked at each other with contemplative disappointment before they answered their stepfather.

“Yes,” Eliza and Taylor reluctantly agreed.

“Speaking of books, Taylor,” Eliza said,” I think it’s time to study for your next class in your room.”

“That’s right,” John added, “your online session should be starting in a few minutes.”

“God, it sucks being homeschooled,” Taylor complained as he stomped up to his room.

Eliza approached John before he had departed.

“We need to talk,” Eliza whispered.

“Can it wait?” John asked.  “As I said, we’re a bit short-handed on the force.”

“It’s important, John. It’s about Taylor.”

John’s face tightened in a grimace of concern.

Unknown to them, Taylor had stopped at the top of the stairs to eavesdrop on their conversation when he heard Eliza whisper.

He shut his eyes and harnessed the perfect pitch of Eliza’s and John’s conversation with his strange abilities.

Whatever secrets were about to be spoken; Taylor knew all too well he could not afford to ignore them.