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Essokinesis
Chapter 4 - Appeal

Chapter 4 - Appeal

Jackie and her friends are held in place by Phineas. Jackie tries to talk, but she can't will her jaw to close either.

"Paul," begins Phineas, "I've been looking everywhere for something like you. I'm honestly glad you guys decided to walk right into my door." Phineas walks behind Jackie, presumably towards Paul. "My sources say you can open portals to parallel worlds." Phineas's voice falters for a moment. "I will release you all from my hold on the general understanding that if any of you attack me I will make you kill yourselves. You can speak now." Jackie regains control over her jaw and vocal organs.

"Let us go!" Shouts Billy.

"...Wow. That did a lot to convince me to let you go," mocks Phineas. "Your fiery friend over here came at me first." He gestures to Jackie.

"Eat shit!" Shouts Jackie. "You tried to kidnap us!"

"You have to understand I couldn't risk someone else finding you first," says Phineas. "A power as valuable as Paul's must not fall into the wrong hands."

"What do you want with Paul, anyways?" Asks Abby.

"It's simple, really." Phineas snaps his fingers, and the group is able to move once again. "I want Paul to help me... willingly... traverse parallel realities."

"Why? I've never found anything especially interesting," says Paul.

"I... It's not important. Let's just say it's for the benefit of all mankind. Imagine if we could exchange science and information with alternate, more advanced societies? You've been squandering your power! Think of all the good you can do!" Shouts Phineas.

"I've had this power for all of 48 hours!" Rebukes Paul.

"...All right, that's fair, fair point. But you can prevent yourself from squandering it in the future. My company has the resources necessary to do these things! All I'm asking is that you consider it."

"Go fuck yourself," says James. Paul opens a portal and they walk through it.

"Guys... come on, Paul! Keep me in your backburner at least!"

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Through the portal, they arrive back in the small bunker area Hank took them to.

"Jesus Christ!" Shouts Hank. "Where did you guys come..." He leans to his left and sees Paul's portal. "Never mind. I thought you guys were taken in the raid!"

"See? We can handle ourselves," says Billy.

"I can handle myself," says Paul. "You can't even handle a fork."

"I didn't even- I don't have to take this shit!" Shouts Billy.

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"Will you guys shut the fuck up?" Demands Hank. "Where were you?"

"We paid that Phineas jackass you told us about a visit," says Jackie.

"...You WHAT?"

"We didn't kill him," says James. "Calm down."

"Oh my God. You guys... you guys... alright. Do you have any idea where Phineas even is?" Asks Hank.

"Yeah, uh... a city," says Paul.

"His company is based in FUCKING Russia! You guys just violated, like, forty international treaties! You don't have passports, you don't even have IDs! You're legally terrorists!"

"...Oh...that's not good," says Abby.

"Fuck. Okay. Fuck. If nobody else saw you, it should be fine." Hank sits down and takes his hat off. "Holy shit. I'll be lucky if I don't get charged with treason for this. I'll cover this whole thing up. You'll all be fine."

"So... can we go home now?" Asks Billy.

"The FUCK do you think, Billy!?" Shouts Hank. "Sorry, sorry. No. None of you are probably ever going home again. On account of you, you know, being international terrorists."

"So what? We just have to stay here the rest of our lives?" Asks Jackie.

"What do you want from me? I told you guys to stay here and you all left! You vanished! Those guys wouldn't have been able to take you, because backup was like, twelve seconds away!" Says Hank.

"Look, we're not gonna just sit in this room forever. You have to at least let us go help people!" Says James.

"This isn't a goddamn comic book, James," says Hank. "The second people find out you guys exist, what do you think will happen? Cults. Overzealous scientists. Some nutjob will probably put a bomb in the middle of a city and call himself a 'supervillain'. When people don't understand something, they act irrationally."

"How can you keep us here?" Asks Jackie.

"Is that a threat?" Asks Hank. "My men have this place on lockdown. You understand? The only way you get let out is if the higher-ups say so, and there's only about five people higher than me. Look, I don't want to keep you in here forever. If we let you operate, it would have to be covered up. Nobody could know a supernatural force was behind it. It would drive the world mad."

"We're fine with that," says Abby. Everyone else nods.

Hank sighs, and puts his hat back on. "I'm on your side here, guys. If you really want to do this, I'll put in a word with the general."

"What does the military have to do with this?" Asks Abby.

"The General of the Army is directly supervising this project. I'll talk to him about it." Hank stands up and walks out of the room.

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"Come, Winter, we have much work to do," says the armored man.

"Just fucking kill me already, Leviticus," says the golem.

"How many times have you asked me that? I always say no. Is that not the definition of insanity?"

The golem grunts and steps through the rift, following the armored man into a vast desert.

"Nevada... I was looking at some of his maps and globes. Compared to my homeland, this place is fairly warm."

The duo walks towards a gas station in the distance. Leviticus walks into the gas station and approaches the clerk.

"Do you happen to know where, one second... 'Area 51' is?" Asks Leviticus.

The clerk, an old man with gray hair and a straw hat, pauses for a moment before laughing hysterically. "You some damn tourist or something?" He jokes. "What in the hell do you wanna go there for!? You gonna break in! Heh heh heh!" He pounds the counter.

"I don't get what's so funny. Just tell me which direction it's in and I'll be on my way."

The clerk stops laughing. "You ain't from around here. I can tell from yer accent. You best scurry off before you tell the wrong kinda joke."

Leviticus sighs. "Very well. I offered to do it the peaceful way." Leviticus grabs the man's head with both of his hands, and the man screams as his mind is flooded and drained of trillions of visions at once.