<strong>Edward Riley  - Downtown Gilead: Walking the Walk</strong><br/><br/>The city was heating up, but Riley wouldn’t have known it. everything just seemed to merge into the other, and he couldn’t get a fix on why he felt so disjointed. And what the hell was with his reflection? What was happening to him? Suddenly he stopped. He was on the outskirts of his usual area, even when he walked around for work. It was funny how you only know about where you work and the immediate bubble around it. He was about to walk back when he’d heard the quickly muffled cry of “No!” before the sound of a bottle breaking.<br/><br/>What happened next was beyond him. He walked in the direction of the sound. Walked like he knew something was wrong. It was a little like an out of body experience, because he wanted to go the other way and couldn’t. He was compelled to go to that alley, like something wasn’t giving him a choice. He had enough control to see his reflection in a car he passed by. It was him again. The soldier. It was all too strange to come to grips with. He wanted to leave badly…it didn’t involve him, he didn’t have to be there. There was something else though, more powerful. He needed to be there, was looking for the obvious danger. Yearned to vanquish it.<br/><br/>But by the time he got to the alley, the feeling was gone. He’d had control over his body again. he thought he might be able to just leave without anyone noticing, but the assigned lookout challenged him with a loud “You gotta problem, man?”. Riley stood there. He didn’t know why but he just…stood there, like his mind was processing the question in every context. The second time the man asked, he did so with the sudden sound of a switchblade to add emphasis to it. Riley looked at him, a little confused, but answered “Yeah…I do.”<br/><br/>With that he began to walk closer. The lookout gave a quick glance to the other two guys holding the woman against the wall and said “got a fucking hero over here…” and walked to meet Riley. Each step Riley took towards the man made him tingle, until that tingle travelled down his right arm. He thought it was nerves until flashes of blue light appeared in the darkened alley. He noticed the lookout’s sudden stop, but Riley kept walking…needed to keep walking. “Hey! Step the fuck back!” the lookout said, his voice laced more with fear than command.  It didn’t matter in the slightest, since Riley wasn’t quite himself today.<br/><br/>With a punch, the gathering sparks of power in his hand turned to a force in and of itself. Before the lookout could react, his body was propelled to the side, where he collided with the wall and collapsed. After taking a moment to look at his unconscious body, Riley’s eyes made their way to the two holding the woman. One left at a run, but the other grabbed the woman and took out his own blade. Before he could put it to her throat, Riley gave another punch, but this time it extended into a solid streak of light. Blue energy pierced the man’s knife arm at the wrist, and he cried out before dropping the knife. Riley walked closer and kept the man’s arm pierced when he looked to the startled and very confused woman. “Leave” He said, and it wouldn’t be known if it was the overall situation, or the look in his eyes as he said it, but she hauled it back outside…into the light.<br/><br/>Riley then had time to regard the last man. Huffing through the pain, the man asked him “what the hell are you?” to which Riley honestly replied “I don’t know”. He wanted to kill him…he didn’t know why, but the idea seemed so  tempting…so…adequate. In the end, however, he couldn’t do it “I suggest you take yourself and your friend back there to the hospital. Please don’t let me see you again.” he said, with a hint of sadness in his voice. Something was off…every fiber of his being craved the judgment, but he could not deliver…not now. The energy left the man’s wrist, and though no mark showed, it would be about a week before he felt right using it. he didn’t know how he knew that…he just did.<br/><br/>Standing silently as the man roused the lookout, they both hobbled out of the alley as fast as they could in their condition, and still he stood. The charge still pulsed and flashed around his arm and hand, and the blue was more vibrant than anything he’s ever seen. It somehow seemed more real to him than even the alley he stood in, but it couldn’t last. As the thirst for justice fade, so did its power, and Riley was able to stand as the last flashes of brilliant blue faded to nothing. He walked out of the alley and back to work, feeling just a little different. He didn’t realize it, but that moment would start a chain reaction that would turn his life upside down.<br/><br/>On the upside…it appears as though he wasn’t crazy, though now he had a thousand and one other questions.<br/><br/><br/>