《He was a Man, and I was a Villain》14. Stalking a Half-Naked Man
Advertisement
The elevator dinged. God himself cockblocked me at every chance. How did the elevator work with the basement gutted?
“Chaos Theory! You have done it now! Governor Jonas can no longer cover for you!”
A sleek black robot with a screen for a face rolled out of the elevator. It looked like a T.V. connected by a long pole to a tiny tank. A round man with curmudgeonly jowls floundered about on screen. Unfortunately, a large pebble blocked the robot’s path. The machine tried to roll over it but tripped and crashed onto its side.
“Chaos! Why is the screen sideways? Damn technology!”
I sighed and teleported the robot back onto its treads.
“Tombo, you run a technology company. You can’t say that.”
“Biotechnology! There is a difference!”
No, there wasn’t. His company sold machinery, too.
“Okay, whatever. Tombo, what the heck is this?”
I gestured at the Squat.
“Where is it? I cannot see!”
“Stop screaming. You don’t need to yell for me to hear you.”
I shifted him to the Squat and teleported a lamp into the room for light. The monster lay in a twisted heap.
“Chaos Theory! Did you kill my chimera? You bastard!”
“Hey, it was an accident. All’s fair in love and war.”
“You destroyed my labs and killed my test subjects! Do you know how hard it was to build this? Not only that, most villains do not take to the modifications! You will rue the day you poked the beast, Genewall Ltd! Justice shall be swift and ruthless!”
“The Squat destroyed your labs—your illegal labs—not me.”
Tombo grumbled and shifted his robot to get a better angle of the corpse. Iseult pushed off my back. He lifted the robot by its neck and stared into the screen.
Advertisement
“You experimented on villains?”
“Who are you? You look homeless! I hate homeless people! You should all be rounded up and shot!”
“I am a fucking villain.”
“Even worse!”
Iseult shook the robot.
“Did you capture a woman named Guinevere Paxley?”
“Stop shaking the screen! You are making me sick!”
“Fucking answer.”
Iseult held the screen steady. The robot’s treads rolled, but it couldn’t get away from him.
“Of course we did! You are looking at her! Our greatest creation, dead!”
Iseult stiffened. Oh no. The Squat was…. Iseult crushed the robot’s neck in his grip. His face masked all emotion, but bulging veins on his forehead indicated his feelings.
“Chaos Theory, fucking find Thomas’s location. I want to speak with this bitch in person.”
“That’s not the best ide—“
“Fucking do it.”
Yes, dear. I searched through Three Faces, but Tombo wasn’t in any of Genewall’s buildings. I couldn’t find him in his houses or apartments either.
“Haha, you fools! You will never find m—“
“Found him.”
“What?!”
He stayed in his lakeside cabin outside Three Faces’ city limits. I stole food from there occasionally, not like he noticed. The man could buy a grocery store on a whim.
I teleported us into his office. Bright yellow lights lit the warm room. Red persian rugs, mahogany furniture, family portraits—his office had it all in spades. Tombo himself sat behind a massive wooden desk, so large I could lounge comfortably on it. In fact, I did. I teleported onto his desk, laying on my side with my head propped by my right arm.
“Come here often?”
“Chaos! You are getting blood on my desk!”
He jumped to his feet, revealing a button down shirt but no pants. Gross. I didn’t need to see that, ever. I popped behind Iseult. He was taller, so he could block the view.
Advertisement
“Why aren’t you wearing pants?”
“I am in my own home! I do not need pants for video calls!”
Iseult rushed forward and lifted Tombo by his neck. He shoved the large man against a wall. Tombo clutched at Iseult's hand and gasped for air.
“You did this. You fucking killed her.”
I shifted to his side and patted his shoulder.
“Iseult, this isn’t—“
“Quiet.”
He dropped Tombo to the floor. The man crumpled while rubbing his neck.
“Wh—!”
“Shut the fuck up.”
Iseult slipped a knife to Tombo’s throat. He gulped, fear setting in.
“Do not kill me! I am a figurehead!”
“You fucking bitch. Human experimentation is the lowest of the low. You are pure evil.”
I piped up.
“Don’t forget human trafficking.”
Iseult glared at Tombo. If looks could kill, he’d be dust.
“You still wish to keep your life?”
“Killing me is pointless! I do not have the power to decide Genewall’s path! They will not miss me!”
“So who the fuck runs Genewall?”
Tombo seemed troubled.
“We have a board of directors! They elected me into the CEO position!”
“Then I will kill them.”
I leaned on Iseult like he was a wall.
“Hold your horses. Do you really think that’ll be a good idea? Genewall still holds value. It’d be best if it doesn’t collapse. Let the law handle him. They won’t take kindly to his crimes.”
Iseult pushed me away, but I teleported back to my spot. He sighed.
“There are no laws for the wealthy. They killed Guin. I will not let them off for that.”
“They turned Guin into a monster. I killed her.”
She didn’t need to die. It was my fault. Iseult scoffed.
“Why do you defend these bitches?”
“There are many reasons. For one, Genewall patented the cure for Space Cancer. If they collapse, no one else is allowed to use it.”
Tombo spoke up.
“He is correct! We have patents for many medications! The common people will suffer if we fall!”
“The law allows this farce?”
I nodded my head, and Tombo grumbled.
“The law funds it! Governor Jonas ordered these biological weapons herself! We started the chimera project for her!”
Oh no. Surah, what have you done?
“Why would Surah need biological weapons?”
“To empty the Vilzone, of course!”
Advertisement
- In Serial46 Chapters
Bardcore
Updates Mon - Wed - Fri _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ A night out with the lads finds Micky Taylor awakening in a gutter. This would be unusual enough even if it wasn't for the strange blue boxes that keep popping up.Finding himself in a world where nothing is quite right (don't even mention the m-word, seriously) our 'hero' has to find a way just to get by. Beer isn't going to pay for itself right? _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ What To Expect? - A lighthearted LitRPG with a focus on character building and exploration.- A narrative that unfolds through both description and dialogue- A slower-paced mix of slice of life and action elements- The occasional weird accent What Not to Expect - Massive power creep or power fantasy - Grimdark content _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Chapters 1 - 43 were written as a part of the Writathon, and are in the process of being edited up to standard. [participant in the Royal Road Writathon challenge]
8 81 - In Serial60 Chapters
Deep Space Combat School: Nexus
In the deep of space, a fully automated battle school instructs students and prepares them for leadership in the military, politics, and business. But the station holds secrets that none on board suspect, and when things go wrong the students must find answers for themselves.
8 149 - In Serial56 Chapters
The Girl from the Mountain
Alexandra Bedford is a weapon, a young woman with telekinetic powers capable of leveling entire cities, born to fight in the desolate remains of post-apocalyptic North America. There is only one problem: she may be losing control of her abilities. Sixteen years after a global pandemic devastated the earth’s population, the lines in the old United States have been drawn between the Cheyenne Directorate in Colorado and the New England Alliance on the East Coast. The Directorate, of which Alexandra is a part, is a small but powerful organization dedicated to returning the country to its former glory. However, when a diplomatic mission to the New England Alliance goes wrong, Alexandra finds herself at the center of a bloody civil war. Battles are fought on the old highways and in dilapidated towns and once-great cities. And as the conflict escalates, all of North America faces the threat of being burnt away by nuclear fire. Against this backdrop of war, Alexandra tries to uncover the long-hidden secrets behind the plague, her abilities, and the two men fighting to decide the fate of the United States - Henry Bedford, Alexandra's father and leader of the Directorate, and John Martin, the mysterious figure at the heart of the New England Alliance who may hold the key to everything she seeks. None of this will matter, however, unless Alexandra can prevent the power growing inside her from taking over and consuming the very world she is fighting to save. Author's Notes: I appreciate you taking a look at my novel, The Girl from the Mountain. If you're a fan of post-apocalyptic fiction, military thrillers, and/or cosmic horror, I think you'll enjoy this story. I completed the novel's first draft back in 2011 and made significant changes in 2016. Since then, I've more-or-less sat on the manuscript while working on other projects. Thanks to a bit of prodding, I've decided to send this story out into the wild with some touch-ups and additional revisions. I welcome any comments or criticisms, and I hope you enjoy The Girl from the Mountain!
8 227 - In Serial16 Chapters
Bellona the Heartless
Heartless has spent all her life in a post-apolcalyptic city in her tribe of vicious human unicorns, raiding other groups for food and water and fighting with other unicorns. After abanondoning her unicorn tribe, Heartless comes across a dying human phoenix who asks her to take him to Peter's Square. Reluctantly, she takes him but encounters difficulties because of her cruel upbringing. Will she be able to break free of the oppressive expectations of her childhood, adjust to the greater society, and find a new place for herself?
8 104 - In Serial18 Chapters
Aerial
When her islands are attacked and her people killed by the ruthless faction of Vardra, Sefarina Wavegrey joins the crew of an aerial warship fighting for their enemy faction, Linaria. Having never left her sheltered islands, Sefarina finds herself suddenly thrust into a world she has never seen before with races and creatures that she never knew existed. But with her need for revenge driving her into perilous situations, how long can she possibly survive?
8 183 - In Serial6 Chapters
The Kind Devil
Five veteran players of the old-fashioned but outdated VRMMO game, Orge's Bone, meet in the game for one last time before leaving forever. As real life friends, they were torn apart by certain matters, and now decided to say goodbye in the way they know best; a free for all battle royale. However, little do they know that fate has a twist to spin. As they fight it out in a folorn map, they stumble upon a secret teleport gate. Out of curioisity, they all enter it. They find a world more graphicly advanced than the current number one game, and NPCs that really don't act like they should. The game settings are similar to Orge's Bone; there are no levels, only physical strenght gains, which is gained by killing monsters and completing quests. They treat the hidden world as their greenhouse– a place to retreat when the real world treats them unfairly. But after a while, they discover no everything is as it seems– that the hidden world is far more dangerous. Michael is a cultivator whose goal in life is to change the tragic martial world, where killing is like breathing, into a land of peace. It will center a lot around how he'll change the perspectives of those around him, and how he tries to draft more cultivators to his cause, starting with the toughest nut to crack, the ruthless, bloodthirsty and easily-triggered Rector. Last but not least, with how he is met by the greatest tragedy and is forced to make the hardest choice.
8 142

