28 hours later

Along the wavy, open space of the Sahara Desert, a single scarab beetle was carrying a leaf nearly just as big as it towards a small little den formed into the side of a rock. Before it could get to it’s den, though, a heavy gust of wind lifted in the beetle, it’s leaf, and the sand around it, throwing it all in various directions. Some thrown sand ended up hitting the den’s entrance, covering it up.

Not much later, a helicopter lowered down to just above the sand, the whirling blades continuing to disrupt everything nearby.

One of the sliding doors on the side of the helicopter opened, and I jumped out of the copter, and just before it lifted back up, Rose stuck her head out the side and waved goodbye.

The helicopter started flying away, leaving me on my own… as usual.

I turned around, and spotted the faint sight of a factory, just barely visible thanks to the nearby horizon and the desert heat.

Staring deep in thought at said factory, I grabbed my scabbards, and brought them in front of me, before looking down at them.

I’ll avenge you mom and dad… no matter how long it takes, he will die.

I placed the scabbards back on my backpack, and I started walking towards the factory.

So… still doing this alone, I see?

Answer this. When, after… him, have I ever worked well with someone?

…

Dylan and Issac.

That doesn’t count. They’re family.

So is Rowan.

Don’t fucking speak his name. He’s likely an enemy now… I can’t get sympathetic for him.

…

Besides. I’m not gay.

Hah, right. Stop kidding yourself.

How many times do I have to tell you this?! I’m. Not. Gay!

Yet, despite my protesting… I continued to only think of Rowan…

Once I made it close enough to the factory walls, I looked up, estimated the height, and grabbed my teleportation disks, putting one disk in either hand. I then wound back my right arm for several seconds, before, finally, throwing one of the disks with just enough force for it to land on the roof.

Smirking, I pressed the center button on my other disk, bringing me to the roof. I collected the disks, then walked to a very light grey ventilation shaft; sticking out from the roof.

I looked to my right, towards the road where the others would come into the factory through. I considered waiting for confirmation that they acquired a truck… but decided against it.

I unsheathed the sword from my top scabbard, and focused on activating it. As the mystical and magical electricities entwined with one another, my thoughts returned yet again to Robert.

The hate I felt for his betrayal… how he pretended to be friends with my family, pretending to put aside their ancestor’s wars with each other, only to seemingly forget all that as soon as Rob Freeman came into the picture… it disgusted me.

Once the sword was fully charged, I plunged it into the metal, and sliced open a square hole, allowing me to crawl inside.

Then, watching the electricity fade away, I reiterated the very same promise I made on the empty graves of my parents.

“I don’t care what it takes… I will avenge you… and make him suffer.”

I always wondered if Rob survived… he was my idol after all. But, whenever I thought about the stories he told Elizabeth, of his past life; I figured they both went into hiding after Creation Town was destroyed.

Crawling through the vents, I let my helmet form around my head, and thought about scanning the area for a hostile.

As a result, I heard a light ding, followed by my Rowan-sounding AI voice saying “Detecting 0 hostiles in the area.”

The fuck?

…

“Switch from detecting organic lifeforms to robotic lifeforms.”

Another ding, and the AI corrected itself “Detecting 1,545,246 hostiles in the area, and steadily rising.”

Fuck me. Robert’s mass-producing robots.

I groaned, reaching a vent grate below me that led to a hallway with a fairly large pair of metal double doors, with two robot guards in front of it.

Smirking confidently, I grabbed a white-striped disk from my belt, and dropped it through the cracks of the grate, but not before pressing the button in the center.

Upon hitting the floor, the disk shot out a high pitched whirring sound, causing the robots to grab their… weirdly ear-shaped auditory sensors and scream in agony.

I used my teleportation disks to get past the grate, the I kicked the robot on the right into the face, knocking it into the wall and not causing a single scratch to the robot. In fact, it hurt a fucking lot performing that kick. I nearly broke my ankle.

Reacting to the pain only with a grunt, I grabbed two blue-striped disks and threw them onto the robots’ chests. I then pressed a button on my left gauntlet’s computer, causing the disks to sap all the power and blue electricity from the robots.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Once they dropped to the floor, I collected my disks, and walked through the automatically opened doors, which slid into the bottom left and right, respectively.

In the next room was a long catwalk, leading to a 360 degree balcony with a futuristic red holographic computer; the rest of the large, cylinder, pit-like room was completely pitch black.

I walked up to the computer, and slid a dial with a power logo, causing the entire room to light up, revealing dozens of not hundreds of giant computers, all viewing outside and inside camera perspectives of the factory, as well as some cameras in the government facility housing my unit and I.

I scanned the computer for any applications that could educate me on Robert or his army, and eventually found the Word Document app.

Several decades ahead of human technology, and Robert still uses Word? Wow.

At the very top of the window showing all the documents made in Word, I found something titled Battle Plans.

Clicking on it, I proceeded to read aloud the following:

“When the U.S. government, or, more accurately, I send Steve’s unit to attack my robot factory, I’ll have Alexander there to help… progress Steve’s story. Then, once all that is done, I’ll delay the war until Samantha Akeldama and Matthew Freeman are ready, or at least as ready as Matthew will be… then I’ll turn them against each other, hoping that their fight will result in Matthew betraying the government to protect Samantha and Steve.”

…

“Signed, Knightmare Wreede.”

The memories began flooding back almost faster than I could process.

“Knightmare. He’s the one I’ve been talking to during my dreams. All these years… he’s working with Robert?!”

Unsure if I wanted to read more, but going with my gut, I clicked off the window showing that document, then clicked on a document titled The Accidentals.

Lemme guess. My family? Sounds like a name he’d give us.

“Steve Berkan: Has a unique ability to learn skills instantly, and, pairing that with his thirst for knowledge, he’s become a master at combat and warfare. Not to self — Brute force may a better option when dealing with him. Especially because of… what he also unknowingly is.”

I fucking knew it… wait.

“Carnage: Furious and unpredictable to most. Will stop at nothing to avenge his family. Like Steve, he wields a Univantium Anti Grim Reaper weapon capable of leveling entire cities. Note to self — a tough opponent, but easy to manipulate.”

“Samantha Akeldama: Has a strangely powerful ability to control reality itself. She can bend anything from her environment, or nearly any foe, to her will. But… she’s still a child. Won’t have to worry about her for several more years.”

…

“Rob Freeman.”

“Oh shit,” I cussed to myself.

“Brutal and legendary. No matter what I throw at him, even elite warriors with Univantium weapons, he always survives. But… he appears to hold back. Especially after his twin sons were born. Note to self — A deal could be formed between the two of us, but attaching strings to any said deal should be done with extreme caution.”

I scrolled down, and saw a name that made my heart sink, despite it confirming the pattern between the names.

“Rowan Griggs: My son. Reliable… for now. Easy to manipulate, despite the fear I have of him betraying me. I know it’s inevitable, with what I’ve done to him and Steve, but… anyways, he is able to create and control magic, giving him a wide range of abilities, as long as he’s able to control his desires. Note to self — my best shot at controlling the others. Especially Steve. Signed: Robert Griggs.”

…

Does this mean… I was right? Rowan and I will be forced to kill each other?

No, I don’t think so… he speaks like he has yet to, at the very least, fully control Rowan. Plus, this seems to have been written pretty recent. Only an hour before the last document we read.

I guess so… at least now I know ahead of time what Rowan’s powers are.

I closed off the document, then went to the next one… which said it was first made ten years ago… but was edited just yesterday.

“Matthew Freeman: My eventual ultimate foe. Unlike the small hints Meni gave me about the other Accidentals… she was immediately willing to share everything about Matthew. Like my brother with Raen, and now me too, technically… Matthew is a major reincarnation of Pemo.”

“He controls all four types of electricities. Organic, Technological, Mystic, and Magical… as well as, later on in our battle, a fifth type of electricity. White lightning, AKA hope electricity. Even as he becomes an adult, he’ll have seemingly infinite stamina and running speed, a healing factor strong and fast enough to regenerate his entire body within seconds, and possibly more. Along with that, he has determination and hope strong enough to get him through anything. It was difficult coming up with a plan to ruin his morale, but… I think I found one.”

“Signed, Knightmare Wreede.”

“Shit. Fuck fuck fuck fuck!” I rapidly cussed, closing the document, and rapidly scanning all other documents to find whatever plan he had for Matthew, who I assumed to be one of Rob’s twin sons mentioned by Robert.

I found schematics for the robots Robert’s been building, locations and bases he plans on conquering later, even his plans for Rowan and I. But, for some reason… his plans for Matthew felt more urgent than anything else. I don’t know at the time if it was because Matthew was Rob’s first ever child, and I didn’t want my idol to be hurt, or… for some other reason I just couldn’t place at the time.

Finding nothing else, I sighed with defeat, and went to look at the base locations, forgetting about the document containing Robert’s plans for Rowan and I.

Or… maybe I did remember. But, despite who I am, I didn’t want to know what he planned for us. Either way, I didn’t look at the document, unfortunately.

Alright… Robert is likely hiding out in a base somewhere in plain sight, where nobody would look for him… but also not anything livable or anyplace where a random civilian could accidentally discover a secret base. Basically, someplace nobody actually cares about.

After looking at every planned future base location, and mentally crossing out any bases where Robert wouldn’t relocate to, I eventually narrowed it down to 5 places. The Eiffel Tower, The Ellsworth Mountains, the Roman Coliseum, a Brony convention in Detroit, and basically any Waffle House around the world.

Sighing with slight relief, I closed the document, then closed the Word application. Finally, I prepared to turn off the computer, but just before doing so, I noticed an application tucked far into the corner of the screen, just barely visible.

Intrigued, I dragged the application further into sight, revealing a locked folder.

I tapped on it, and a window popped up asking me to input a letter-based password.

Immediately, I input the following: RobertIsGod. A check mark immediately popped up, and the window closed, before the folder opened.

The folder contained hundreds of books, letters, and pieces of historical artifacts all related to the Berkan and Griggs families. Curious, I scrolled down through the files, and eventually came across a Word document, strangely placed in the middle of it all. It was titled To Steve Berkan.

I knew whatever was inside was most definitely a trap… but I had to check. It could’ve contained a clue to where Robert is.

“This letter is made purely for Steve Berkan. Anyone else who reads it that isn’t part of the Griggs family will be fired and blacklisted from any and all jobs. Including illegal ones.”

“Hello Steve. I’m fairly confident you’ll see this, cause I know you’ll do anything to hunt me down and kill me. I gotta say, congrats! You follow orders exactly like a sheep! Just like your crush. Oh, yeah. I know all about how you feel about Rowan. Deny it all you like, but it’s true. Now… I bet you’re wondering why I wrote, or, typed this letter. You see, I wanted to help you reach me. And what better way to do so than by having Alexander reveal said information to you? Yep, you read that right! My other son is there, waiting in… well, I’m sure you’ll figure it out. Alight, that’s all I wanted to say. Byyye! Say hi to your parents for me! Oh, wait… they’re dead. Never mind. Signed — You fucking know.”

Gritting my teeth, I punched the floor, hitting it with enough force that the wires inside helping show the holographic computer split apart, causing the computer and the entire room to shut off.

Breathing heavily, I slowly stood up, trying to regain my composure… before I turn around and knee’d one of the metal poles helping hold up the railing out of it’s place.

“I will make you fucking pay, Robert. No matter what it takes.”

No! Not the poor innocent beetle!