Prologue

“If I don’t receive it by the end of this weekend, consider yourself terminated.”

*click*

It was unreasonable. Simply because one is unable to deliver on time, should he be sacked? Fired? Discharged? Left unemployed this young, in a world so vying? So what if the company loses a few thousand dollars just because I'm unable to finish the code in accordance with the contract’s deadline? Does it give them the right to play with the life of a virtuous office worker!?

I admit I took a week-long vacation, under the pretense of a medical condition, to visit Vegas. But it was never supposed to be found out. It was all because of that dimwit Anie. She sends Facebook friend requests to everybody! And she’s a generally accepted cutie, so more often than not, people accept her invite. And these “people”, in no matter of coincidence, include my lecherous manager. And then what? He bloody found out about my little ‘trip’.

I do not see a way out of this. The amount of code that should be required to go into the software is not so trivial that I can finish it in a day or two. I can't see a way out. I’ve already pleaded on my knees with tears and snot covering my face to him, twice; one when I got drunk in office hours and harassed a colleague of mine, and another one with an almost same of a development, albeit, the second time the colleague was a woman. So yeah, I had a decent level of self-awareness to know that no amount of crying or begging was going to get me out of this one.

“Oh well, I was incredibly bored of this life anyway.”

If anyone heard me say that, would be led to believe I am endorsing suicidal thoughts. But there was no one around. Not that I was a plain and lonely office-man who had no friends, just that I was presently inside my apartment where I have been living alone ever since I got a job. On the topic of friends, I do have a few. Matter of fact, it was five of us that went for the trip, and oh boy was it the best time I have ever had in my life. I might not even regret losing my job over it. Won’t even blame Anie for getting me practically fired, with how delicious her tits were. Ever had a foursome with you, the only male, in the center? With two crazy hot hookers, and a sexy friend, all drunk, all night, for days? Sleep in the morning, headaches and buckets of puke in the afternoon, casino in the evening, and drunken blazing sex in the night.

“If I’m getting fired, might as well go with a bang.”

Remembering the trip gave me a bit of a hard-on so I quickly relieved myself and sat down on the table that I always used when coding. I had a pen in my hands, which I was rolling on my fingertips while pondering. I intended to think things through calmly and patiently, and decide upon a viable course of action. A paper in front of me, I would occasionally scribble some of my thoughts. This went on for about 30 seconds before I had come up with a plan.

I got off the table, and opened my wardrobe. I was never too keen on fashion, so my repertoire was mostly an assortment of either comfortable clothes or formal ones.

I took out my most expensive and consequently, the least worn piece of clothing that I owned. I put it on and after admiring myself in the mirror for a couple of minutes, put on some office clothes on top. I picked up my laptop bag, put on my shoes and stepped outside my apartment. My laptop was on the table inside, but I didn’t need it today. History already deleted, and hard disk formatted, I locked the main door of the apartment. I just managed to catch the elevator. It had some old man going in, and he was kind enough to stop the elevator when he noticed me running towards him with my hand stretched out.

“Thank you!”

I thanked the kind old man and he gave me a smile. When it reached the bottom level, I got off and caught a cab. I would normally take a bus but I figured I could afford to make today a little special.

The journey to the office wasn’t of any particular note. I kept staring outside the window, watching the buildings and trees as they whisked right past us. The driver tried to strike up a conversation, but I wasn’t interested. He didn’t bother giving it another try, so it was pretty quiet except for the low volume on the radio and occasional vexing horns.

Upon arrival, I paid the man, gave another courteous ‘Thank you’ of the day, and walked into my office gates. I showed my employee ID at the security check, put my bag in the CT scanner and they let me through. Two or three people whom I knew gave me weird looks but didn’t strike up any conversation.

(The rumors must’ve spread huh?)

If you’ve worked in a closed office environment, you would know how rapidly rumors spread.

I went straight to the 13th floor where my team was placed. As soon as I entered, all gazes fixed on me. I could tell what was running through their heads without even looking at their faces: “What the hell is he doing here?”, “Isn’t he supposed to have been fired?”, “Is he going to prostrate himself again?”. I straight-up walked over to my cubicle which was in the corner of the room. Made entirely of glass, the building allowed a vibrant view of the outside world from our dull little cubicles. I threw my bag on my chair and turned towards the glass. This was only one of the dozens of sky-rise buildings in the city and I was indeed lucky to have this cubicle with such a breathtaking view.

I stretched my body like I usually did before getting to work and turned around to face my desk and the rest of the office. Many of the eyes were still on me.

(hmm..)

I was a little amused knowing how these petty workers found joy in the lives of others.

(How despondent do you have to be for that?)

Well, whatever. I never really gave much of a fuck anyway. I started to unbutton my shirt and took out my helmet without caring for the stares. I completely took off any external piece of clothing till all was left of me was a suit of black, from head to toe. This might not be any Wakanda, but today, I don’t feel any less than a certain black kiten. The other thing to come out of my bag was a baseball bat. Suddenly, as if reason had returned to the eyes of the folks present, they start to murmur and draw away.

I walked my way to the manager’s office, my head covered in the mask of the Black Panther. I had bought this suit last year. During comic-con, I made friends with some of the cosplayers there, and they introduced me to some big-shots in the costume industry. Even though I say big-shots, they were all comic fans, but do not patronize, for their work was nothing less than that of a professional. That’s how I ended up buying this custom-made, full suit Black Panther armor. It had cost me a fortune and I’d only ever worn it once during the last Halloween, so I figured I might as well..

I was about ten steps from knocking on the manager’s office. Suddenly, there was a man who stood in my way.

“Hey buddy, you alright in there? Don’t do anything dange..”

*SPLAT*

His head exploded in a splutter of gore and brain matter.

“Haha.. It’s been forever since I played baseball!”

“AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH”

Suddenly, as if hit by reality at the same time, everyone started to scream and run towards the exit.

“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA…..”

It was hilarious! Puny humans, running for their lives!

“BE GRATEFUL, MONGRELS! I DESCEND TO BRING AN END TO YOUR DULL LIVES! GROVEL IN MY AWE, OR RUN! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!”

The adrenaline coursing through my body was going off the charts.

*smash*

I smashed a desktop to my left.

“HAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHA”

I walked over the man whose parts of blood and skin were attached to my suit and bat.

“FUCKING RETARD! YOU RUINED MY SUIT! DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH I SPENT ON THIS!? HUH!? SPEAK, YOU DEAD MOTHERFUCKER!”

I kicked his body twice before the manager’s cabin door opened.

There’s no way he wouldn’t have heard the commotion.

*grin*

As soon as he walked out, trying to grasp the situation.

“HIIII BOSSSS!!!!!!! DID YOU MISS MEEEEE????????”

*creak”

I took a low stance and swung the bat with all my might at the area ahead of me. It was unfortunate for the poor guy that his legs were in the way. Yeah, totally not my fault.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH”

“Oh yes, the sound of that scream.. It’s so melodious..”

That old bastard who always gave me the eye was now on the floor, with one hand clutching his broken leg and the other trying to drag himself away from me. His face twisted in a mix of fear and pain, unable to decide whether to flee or cry.

“And the ball’s coming at an incredibly high speed towards the batsman. He adjusts his legs, he adjusts his weight, a slight shake of his hips to loosen up the stance. His eyes on the prize, will he be able to do it? Can he make history!? AND HE SWINGS!

*smash*

“AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH”

“AND IT’S A HOME RUN! THE AVENGERS SHALL BE GOING HOME AS CHAMPIONS! THE FANS ARE CHEERING!” *smash* “AND SCREAMING!” *smash* “AAAAAAAHHHHHHH” “AND DANCING IN JOY AT THE SPECTACLE!” *smash* “AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH”

...

I don’t know how much I hit the poor bastard. Though I doubt it was even an entire minute, it felt much, much longer. I seemed to briefly undergo a moment of bliss, as if I was, at last, free from the shackles of the world. I had done something unforgivable, after all. It wasn’t something that could be overlooked, no matter how much I groveled. Despite knowing that, there was a sense of satisfaction, of accomplishment. The feeling of having achieved something that no one else could. Everyone wants to do this, at least once, to somebody in their lives, but they’re so afraid. Afraid what will happen to them after, afraid for their own lives.

I looked down. It was quite a spectacle. I was never much of a fan of gore, but the scene in front of me did not leave me with a taste of disgust. I carefully investigated my handiwork. The body still had all body parts properly attached, just.. not in a way they would be on a normal human being. Not that the asshole would ever need it again. I’m sure he’s dead. He did stop screaming somewhere in the middle of all my hitting.

I looked again. Around; no one. But it was only a matter of time before security came. I looked towards the closest CCTV on the ceiling, took off my helmet, and gave a big smile.

(It was a little suffocating anyway.)

I looked down again. Back at the man whom I hit first. He was older than me, married most probably. It’s not that I didn’t at all know who he was, just that we never talked to each other. I frankly didn’t talk to many people here. It was a pretty suffocating atmosphere, what with all the office politics and cutthroat backstabbing and secretly licking the manager’s pussy. I’m sure he was one of them. Not that it makes any difference to him now.

"Shouldn't have gotten in my way, buddy. You died because of your own stupidity."

I turned my gaze to the manager. All joints of his body were broken. Arms and legs bent the wrong way, ribs caved in, multiple parts of his body squashed to a pulp, a pool of blood slowly expanding in the immediate vicinity of his body. His head crushed, with his eyes bulging out and tongue hanging out of his mouth.

*poke* *poke*

I poked his squishily-weird head a couple of times before I started to pick up faint sounds, which interpretably were most definitely shouting, from the direction of the emergency staircase. The security was almost here, most probably.

I went inside the manager’s cabin and locked it from inside. I had been inside here a number of times but I had never really bothered to look at the room before. Well, I didn’t really care now either so I straight off opened the window and jumped off.