Cole Harper lived three miles from the nearest gym, but, unless the weather was truly lousy, he refused to catch a bus. One of his personal mottos was, to stay in shape, you always have to make the most phyisically demanding life choices possible. He never used an elevator, for instance, no matter how many stairs he had to climb to get to his destination.

     The afternoon after that ugly business up north, he moved along quickly, jogging as much as walking, because the air was thick with moisture, and it was cloudy, and he figured it was going to start raining at any second. 

     He knew of a couple shortcuts. 

     One was across a supermarket parking lot. 

​     He got a look at himself in each mirror he passed. 

     He thought, I am one handsome bastard, I really am. 

     As he cut between the cars, he swung his arms as if in a fight, giving his arms a workout as well as his legs. If anyone ever did come up on him, he'd be ready, boy. In fact, as he jogged along, swinging at the empty air, he allowed himself the fantasy of being attacked by four or five guys. He'd swing at the guy closest to him first, before anyone had a chance to...

     WHAM! 

     Cole never saw it coming. 

     His brother, Trevor, was invisible, after all. 

     All Cole knew was that, one second, he jogged along, lost in his little fantasy, and the next second he was flat on his back on the asphalt.

     Trevor looked around for witnesses. 

     For the moment, anyway, they were alone. 

     Cool. 

     "Hi," he said. 

     He turned visible. Cole was face down on the cement. Trevor had a foot planted on Cole's neck. 

     "You going to act right?" Trevor asked his brother, "Or am I going to have to kick your ass a little more before we can talk?" 

​     "Let me up."

     Trevor took his foot off his brother's neck. Cole stood up quickly and dusted himself off. He checked his hair in a car mirror to see how bad it'd been mussed. Bad! Shit! Now he'd have to get his brush out of his backpack.

     "You've grown," Trevor said. 

     "Plenty." 

     "You've gotten handsome, too. You're probably beating them off with a stick." 

     "I am."

     "Why are you so obsessed with putting me in jail?" 

     "You're guilty." 

     "You couldn't have known I was coming to visit you, yet you still managed to ambush me with a dart gun?" 

     "How do you know it was me?" 

     "It was you." 

     "I keep the closet door open whenever I'm home if I feel the slightest bit suspicious about anything. Things have been crazy since you took off." 

     "You've been working out, haven't you? You never used to be this..." 

     Cole palmed Trevor in the chest so hard that Trevor had to stumble back. Cole followed it up with a twist and a kick aimed for Trevor's knee. Trevor avoided the kick only because he'd had three years of intense combat training with the Azure. 

     They wrestled in the parking lot for a good minute and a half. Cole fought with a ferocity that Trevor found puzzling. Where did all this rage come from? 

     They drew onlookers. 

     Shit, Trevor thought.

     He broke free from Cole to rise to his feet. 

     "Bye," he said, turning invisible. 

     "Chickenshit," Cole said. 

     "I've already been arrested once because of you, and once is enough." 

     Cole hit a button on his phone while he, too, rose. He rubbed a wound on his face. It'd probably make a bruise. Fuck! He hated bruises on his face.

     "I've got a number on speed dial I'm supposed to call if I ever see you," he explained to Trevor. 

     "You hate me that bad?"

     "Hate's got nothing to do with it. You're a criminal, and in America we throw criminals in jail." 

     "Even your brother?" 

     "Especially my brother." 

     "How long did you sit in that closet waiting for me to show up?"

     "Not long, really. I hopped in when I first heard you come in through the front door." 

​     "I was that noisy?"

     "I've been training myself."

     A car pulled into the parking lot. It had no markings, but Trevor knew damned well it was a police car. Another car pulled in at the other end of the lot. Another cop car. Trevor's visit with his brother was about to come to an end. 

     "I'll find you!" Cole blurted. "I'll track you down wherever you go! See if I don't!"

     "But why?" Trevor blurted back. "That's what I can't..."
     "We're scared, Trevor! You people show up and..." 

​     "​We people? What are..."

     "People are getting ripped off for all their money, and buildings are exploding, and rich people are getting kidnapped and..." 

     "I know, I know, the world's turned upside down, but, believe it or not, we're not behind it. We're trying to stop it. We're..."

      "I know all about you at the Domitikan tower! The business last year with that floating freak in the sky..." 

      "Egoneg." 

      "You were there, too. I have proof! You don't even live here on Earth anymore, do you? Because if you were on Earth, I'd find you."

      The cop car rolled slowly towards them. They had only seconds left to talk. 

      "Where's all this resentment coming from?" Trevor asked. "I never treated you..."

      "You ruined our lives! I hate you! I hate you!" 

      No more time. The cops were there. 

      "Get me out of here," Trevor said. 

      A portal that led to the dimension where he'd been training as an Azure agent for three years opened, and Trevor stepped through into what he ironically referred to as his "home".

                                                 CONTINUE