Me and Iris rushed downstairs — I was getting a little concerned about how fast she was moving in heels.
When we got there nobody had moved. It was clear Father was intent on caving this man's skull in, and much to my own regret I helped grab the president and called over some medical staff — much to Jacob's displeasure. He groaned and let go.
"You guys never let me have any fun."
Iris ignored him entirely and went to tackle Samuel.
"SAMMY!"
They crashed to the floor. Iris held on tight — a sight that made my father visibly jealous.
My older brother was tall. Then again, compared to Taro nobody was. Built like a wall, dark skinned, and looked like every hard job he'd ever worked had left something behind on him permanently.
"Hi Iris," he said, patting her back as she nuzzled into him.
I squatted down and waved. If he's here that means the city is stable. "Hey big bro."
His eyes lit up. He stood — Iris still clinging to him — and pulled me in.
"ETHAN! BABY BROTHER! HOW ARE YOU!"
To say I got bear hugged would be an understatement.
I could feel my father's jealous eyes boring into the back of my skull.
"What are you doing here?" I said, looking up at him and trying my hardest not to crack a rib.
"Well — someone, who I won't name, told the family that Father had signed up to fight some scary alien monsters."
Everyone looked toward Avery, who was uncharacteristically quiet and hiding behind Samuel.
"Snitch," Jacob said playfully, rolling his eyes.
He was met immediately by a heavy punch from Samuel that sent him flying across the room — which appeared to do more damage than anything Taro had managed in their earlier meeting.
"Just be lucky Hana is out performing. She was supposed to come instead of me."
A collective shiver ran up all of our spines at the idea of our sister's rage directed at us.
We walked out of the testing grounds and into the hallway, where we could hear the president screaming from the medbay.
I'll be honest — it made me chuckle.
"So why are you really here, big bro?"
Sammy smiled and flexed an arm.
"To do what I do best. Me and Hana signed up to fight."
I should've guessed. If there were anyone crazy enough to follow my father into something like this, it would be those two.
My father — who had been playing with Avery — shot up immediately.
"You did what? My round hasn't even started yet!"
We all gave him a collective look.
"You signed up before you even knew who you were fighting and refused the very helpful information Gio gave James. You have zero grounds to talk," Iris said in a tone that suggested she had been fed up since approximately the moment she was born.
I watched my father's mouth open and close, trying to formulate a response he couldn't find.
So he gut checked Samuel instead.
Samuel responded with a right hook across his head.
Iris sighed, picked up Avery, and took several deliberate steps back from the brawl that was now ensuing.
"You little punk."
"Old bastard."
Their fists met each other's bodies with hits that would collapse most men — a sound like metal on metal echoing down the hallway.
James rushed out from the medbay. I could tell he'd been hiding a smile at the sound of the president screaming — but that stopped the moment he saw Samuel and Jacob boxing in the hallway.
He looked like he was about to call security.
"This is normal!" Iris yelled. I nodded to confirm.
I could see the unbridled joy cross his face when she said that. He's going to ask him to fight.
The brawl ended the way it started — both of them landing a hook to the face simultaneously and stepping back.
James rushed over to me and Iris, barely containing himself. "Just who is that? I've never seen anyone keep up with Jacob like that."
"Older brother."
James turned to look at Samuel — who was already squaring up for round two, held back by Iris — then turned back to us.
"Brother?" He clearly couldn't reconcile a man like Samuel with my father.
"He's adopted. Our father has countless kids — technically me and Iris are the only two biological ones."
I glanced over at Samuel and Avery for a moment.
If there's one thing I could give my father credit for — he's a damn good dad. I'd bet if you asked him to list a hundred facts about each of his kids, he'd give you a thousand.
"Any chance you could get your brother to sign up?!"
"He already did."
"…How? Signups go through me."
Please don't tell me he did what I think he did.
"Samuel!"
Samuel — who had been butting heads with our father, currently held back by Iris — snapped up and skipped over.
"What's up? Oh — hello, Mr. President." He shook James's hand. I watched James practically melt at being treated with basic human respect for the first time in weeks.
"Sammy — how did you sign up?"
"Oh, I talked to the old green guy who was in the president's office."
Me and James both snapped up at the same time.
"When was this?!"
"Like fifteen minutes ago."
James simply sighed. "No use worrying about it now — he's probably already gone."
Feel like we're forgetting the bigger picture of why he was here. But I kept that to myself.
"Was that bad?"
"Nonsense, my boy—" James caught the jealousy radiating off Jacob the instant he said my boy and course corrected immediately. "Err — it's no problem, really. We'll sort it out later."
The day ended with Samuel being assigned beat-up-father duty by Iris, and the occasional explosion drifting down the hall from Doctor Palesa's lab.
And even though I had complete trust in my father — that same image of Goliath's lifeless head kept playing in my mind.
Again.
And again.