CHAPTER 12
THE COATLS

IT wasn't that hard to convince the warden of the county jail to allow Josh to have a single. Apparently, he was already a well-mannered inmate, and the warden had heard that Detective Kingsley was one of the most trusted on the force. Once she mentioned her past "friendship" – or whatever you want to call it – with Joshua Zuma, the warden had no problem with giving him a single.

She hoped this wasn't something she could get in trouble for. However, she merely presented it as a suggestion.

Iris knew that she needed to get a grip. While Dick did have somewhat of a point that she couldn't ignore something like this, he didn't realize that that was simply the only way she could cope. What she needed to do was bury herself into her work again, like old times. She needed to go to the station with her hair half-brushed and maybe a stain on her dress pants, sit in on one of those stupid meetings where the Chief liked to hear himself talk, take the train home and listen to the same man laugh over and over again, and then retire for the night in her shitty apartment with a box of cold pizza and another rerun of Friends. Normalcy – that's exactly what she needed.

She hustled her way to the station after quickly running off the train platform. She had to be cautious while still maintaining her usual sprint, due to black ice was already littering the ground. Icicles hung from the roofs of independent shops and pharmacies, signaling a winter storm that would soon be upon them. Iris only hugged her scarf closer to her face.

Her feet were moving so fast, and it was amazing that she even thought to glance in the direction of the newspaper rack sitting just outside the station's entrance. She almost didn't notice it – I mean, why would she? Iris only read the paper on Sundays. But for some reason, her eyes wavered in that direction, and suddenly, her whole body was moving towards the rack. Through the frost-covered glass, she could see the headline of today's Detroit Free Press:

TRAGEDY STRIKES LOCAL
VINTAGE STORE ONCE AGAIN:
MAN FOUND DEAD OUTSIDE ITS DOORS!

Iris swallowed, hoping that this was just some kind of sick joke being played on her, but everything was too real. She wiped away the frost with her gloves, and the paper was still there, burning into her eye sockets like a form of torment. Did she really not expect this to happen? How could she be so foolish? She was only practicing self-defense. Who knows what those men would've done if they got their slimy hands on her? But why – for the love of God – did she think this wouldn't get reported?

False hope, she guessed.

It didn't matter. She was going to ignore this, like everything else. She needed to pretend. Pretending allowed her to be normal. She couldn't be tracked to this crime – it wasn't like she even touched him.

No, you just burned his eyes and killed him from the inside out, her conscious reminded.

Iris scoffed, looking around and heading for the entrance once again. Shut up, she retorted back.

She didn't know how Dick realized she wanted to be left alone today. Maybe it was the scowl on her face once she entered the office. Maybe it was the glare she sent towards Mr. Angeles when he tried to approach her after her lunch break. Could be anything. Whatever it was, he steered clear of her. Sometimes, he wondered if he should ask her to walk with him to Jillian's Coffee, just as a friendly gesture – they were friends now, right? – but today was certainly not that day.

She got what she needed to get done. She contacted a few witnesses for comment on the "body found by the river" case. And then, once it hit six, she left for the usual six-thirty train home. Everything had gone completely normal that day, as if Iris wasn't wearing some weird necklace that gave her powers or how she managed to kill someone just a few nights ago.

(She was, however, surprised at the fact that she managed to not think about any of that all day. Maybe this pretending thing was easier than she thought. If Dick Grayson could pretend he wasn't Robin for who knows how long, Iris Kingsley could do the same.)

The platform wasn't as crazy as it would be on a Thursday evening. For some reason, Thursdays were when the train was the busiest, and Iris usually had to fight her way to the doors. Today, a few people loitered around the platform, mostly on their phones, scarves pulled up to the tip of their noses to brave against the cold. Iris looked the same as them, but she managed to look up from her phone for a split second to realize how quiet it was. Nobody made a sound, not even the homeless woman that liked to play the drums on her platform.

Once the train pulled up to a screeching stop, there was no shoving to get to the door. Iris plugged in her earbuds and walked leisurely into the last train cart. She turned her head while entering and noticed the rest of the small crowd hanging by the platform. Were people avoiding the trains today for some reason unbeknownst to her?

With a furrowed brow, Iris took her usual seat at one end of the train cart. For the first time ever, it was empty. Deserted. Barren. Uninhabited. Iris walked past the vacant seats slowly, taking in a sight that was completely mind-boggling to her. Once she had taken her familiar seat, she plucked her earbuds out for a second, listening to the quiet that filled the cart. All she could hear was the cold wind blowing outside. Iris turned her head to see if the cart before her was crowded, but all she saw was her own reflection staring back at her through the window.

There was no one here. Not even the elderly man that laughed to himself every goddamn day.

She was psyching herself out. Whatever weird feeling she was having – it was nothing. Iris popped her earbuds back in and sunk back into her seat. She just needed to get through this twenty-minute train ride, then she'd be home for the night. Maybe she'd even have that leftover spaghetti for dinner tonight –

Just as the doors were about to close, a man slid inside. The train lurched forward, slamming all doors closed, but Iris ignored the outside world with the loud music blasting into her ears. In fact, she hardly even noticed the only other person inside the cart until he was standing right in front of her, waiting to get her attention.

She viewed up. The man in front of her was short, yet stout, with golden skin and a shiny bald head. His eyes were black and void of any emotion, while his lips quirked slightly into a lopsided grin. He wore a grey, tailored suit. Probably from some expensive brand, like Tom Ford or Giorgio Armani.

Iris took out her earbuds and arched an inquisitive brow. "Can I help you?"

The train cart was absolutely empty, besides the two of them. It was quiet – too quiet.

"Iris Kingsley," he spoke in a thick accent that she didn't recognize.

Iris swallowed hard. She carefully threw her earbuds into her bag, finding her ring of keys at the bottom of the endless pit. Her fingers locked around them. "How do you know who I am?"

The man chuckled softly, but there was something about it that made her feel so uneasy. Iris' ears were ringing now. The silence around her was truly deafening.

"We all know who you are, Iris."

Oh, fuck no. This guy was part of Josh's network – whatever that fucking was. They were coming back for her. They wanted her for something. They were tracking her.

The necklace was heavy against her chest now. Iris stood up, towering several feet over the smaller man, and felt an intense burning grow from her fingertips all the way down to her palms. As the lights in her hands flickered on, creating a vivid blue light that reflected across the linoleum floor, the man in front of her backed away slowly, but his casual expression didn't falter.

"What do you want?" She asked through clenched teeth. "What do any of you want? Leave me alone!"

He lifted a hand. His finger paused in the air, not pointing to an exact spot, but Iris knew exactly what he was referring to.

"I think you know what I'm interested in," he replied – calmly, efficiently, as if his words had all been planned out.

The train shook, causing both of their bodies to stumble, but neither fell to their knees. Iris flexed her fingers, feeling the raw power of the necklace flow right through her. Her eyes were shining bright: two vibrant pools of turquoise burning into the man before her. She clutched the pendant with one hand, barking back, "You're going to have to pry it off my dead body. But trust me, even then it wouldn't come off."

The man snickered. That only made Iris more furious. "Oh, I know. We know all about that necklace."

Iris narrowed her eyes. "We? Who the fuck is we?"

The anger inside of her was scary. The last thing she needed was even more blood on her hands, but this man – this stranger – was clearly after her, and she couldn't ignore it anymore. With this necklace on, she was someone else entirely – someone that terrified her.

He placed a hand to his chest, chubby fingers brushing past an enamel pin she just now noticed on his lapel. Her vision was foggy though, and she couldn't quite make out what it was. But one thing she knew for sure: he was wearing a necklace. The same necklace she found on those guys that attacked her outside St. Anne's last week. Iris advanced, but the man didn't move an inch.

"I am part of an organization called, the Coatls, and we've been looking for that necklace for a long time." He reached out for the turquoise stone hanging from the grace of her neck, but Iris swatted his hand away. "We almost got our hands on it before you snatched it away –"

Iris lifted a hand, and the light reflected against the man's black stare. He gawked at it in awe. "I'm losing my patience," she seethed.

"– But maybe this is a good thing," he continued, looking away from her for a split second. "Because the necklace has chosen you, which means you are what we've been waiting for. The return of Chalchiuhtlicue!"

She advanced towards him. The lights were burning into his sockets, but he couldn't look away. "What the fuck are you talking about?!"

The man stopped in his tracks. He lingered just by the doors to her right, but all he did was mimic her movements by lifting one hand in the air. Iris didn't hesitate. She sprinted forward, locking a warm hand around his throat, and hovered one light over his face. The man simply beamed at it with wonder.

"I've said too much," he whispered. "We will be in contact when he needs you."

"What –"

Iris could hardly finish her sentence, because the man was suddenly flinging himself towards the left set of doors, punching on the emergency button. The train lurched forward. The doors swiped open. Iris staggered and clung to one of the poles. The man gave her one last wide grin – the kind of grin you'd remember for the rest of your life – before hurling his whole body outside of the train as it moved at full speed.

The shriek that emerged from her lips didn't even sound human. Iris fell to her knees, gripping the pole for dear life. She screamed and cried as the train moved further away from the body of the unknown man. A man part of the Coatls – whatever that was. He was gone. He killed himself in front of her eyes, and for what? To save himself? To prove a point? Iris didn't have a clue, but she was horrified, shocked, and everything in between.

She hadn't even heard a scream. He must've died instantly.

Iris stayed there – clinging to the pole – for the ten minutes left of her ride home. The doors eventually closed, but she couldn't stop staring at where that man once stood. A sob clogged itself in her throat. She couldn't release it, though, too afraid it would cause more tears to leak beneath her lashes, too scared she would see the scene all over again once she closed her eyes. The lights in her hands eventually dimmed, but she didn't feel the pain disappear. Right now, everything seemed to hurt.

She didn't want to think about who would find the body someday.

•••

A/N: sooooooooo that happened.

sorry about that little break, guys! I hadn't exactly PLANNED to go on a small hiatus, but I figured it was the holidays and I really wanted to take a break to spend some time with family and friends. but now, we're back and better than ever!

updates for this story might change slightly. since the release of the new star wars movie, and the fact that I can FINALLY finish my fic, updates for this fic might change to bi-weekly. I'm not too sure. I have a lot prewritten for this fic, but it all depends on how much I can write in a week. I thought once I got out of college that I would have more time for writing, but JEEZ, sometimes it's hard to work full-time, write, and find time to relax. adulting at it's finest 😅

but anyways!!! hope you guys had a great holiday if you celebrated 💝