Levi lifted his phone, eyes darting across the street. An enormous tower stood erect before him, thrusting up into the darkening night. Its silver beams gleamed with power and masculinity, circular shape and domed top a reminder of Alpha’s ever-present potency. Putting it all together, the collective of all those parts combined smoothly into the shape of a dick. A towering, enormous, hundred-story phallus.

Levi clicked his tongue. “Can’t believe Alpha did it before I could. If I wasn’t shit at venture capital, and had more than a hundred bucks to my name at any given time…” He clicked his tongue again, thoroughly disappointed in himself and the sheer inadequacy of his ordinary human body.

Putting his penis envy away with a shake of his head, he lifted his phone to his mouth, pretending to squeeze it like a walkie-talkie. “Maury, am I good?”

“You’re blurred on all the security cams for a five-hundred-yard radius. Best I can do in my old age.”

Levi snorted and pulled the hat a little lower on his head. “What old age? How does that stop you from using your power?”

Maury sighed deeply. “When you get old, everything gets harder. Body hurts, mind hurts, power hurts….”

Digging in his backpack, Levi pulled out a wireless earpiece and hung it on his ear, locking the phone and sticking it in his back pocket. “Yeah, yeah. Stay with me, and keep the teleporter fired up. I might need an emergency extraction.”

“That shit corrupts you like whoa.”

“I know. Better than handing me over to Alpha, in the worst case.”

Maury snorted. “True. I’ll keep it fired up, but don’t rely on it.”

“You got it.”

He eyed the tower as he walked a slow loop around it. It has a café inside, but I bet the elevators are locked to key cards, and I’d put money that the doors in the stairwell are as well. I’ll need access. I could ask Maury to try hacking it, but…eh. Too obvious to Alpha. There’s a big difference between casually altering a few security cameras in the area, owned by whoever, and attacking the infrastructure of Alpha’s tower itself.

If possible, I don’t want Alpha to find out Maury’s still alive. It’s fine if he knows I’m still alive—after all, I’m immortal. He knows I’m alive somewhere, he just doesn’t know where. Maury, on the other hand, is my ace in the hole, and all too mortal. I need to save her for when it matters.

Also, I want to save her energy for stuff that matters.

“Plus,” Levi mused, eyeing the rear door, where a homeless man squatted, “I’ve got a pretty good idea of how to get a keycard.”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

He checked his watch. Two hours had passed since he’d left Maury’s home. To himself, he murmured, “Is there enough time for pizza?”

A group of businessmen hurried past him, rushing for the tower. Sweat rolled down one man’s brow, soaking into his shirt at the neck and armpits. Another gasped, suitjacket flapping as he all-out ran for the door. Grasping a briefcase to his chest, the third rushed in, barely keeping up with the other two.

Blinking, Levi stared after them. “Late for a meeting?”

At the door, the man’s briefcase burst open. Papers flew. Too rushed to pick them up, the man didn’t so much as spare them a glance before running into the lobby.

Brows furrowed, Levi stepped forward and snagged one of the papers off the ground.

APOSTLES, UNITE! RISE AGAINST THIS TYRANNICAL CITY ORDER!

Levi swallowed. He looked at the lobby, at the sweating, rushing men. A nervous giggle erupted from his throat, unbidden. “So I’m not the only one who thought of this, huh?”

Staring at the sweaty men over his shoulder, an officewoman walked out, unhooking her badge from her suitjacket as she did. Before she could get very far, Levi sprang up and walked alongside her.

“Ma’am, are you okay? No injuries?” he asked, concerned.

The woman frowned at him. “What?”

“Please, come with me. I’m sure you must be very confused, but I’ll get you to safety,” he urged her, walking alongside her.

Her frown deepened. She rushed away from the building, her heels clopping against the pavement.

Levi jogged a little to keep pace. “Ma’am, please slow down. You’ve just been through a traumatic event. You need to be careful.”

“What are you talking about?” she snapped.

Behind them, white light burst from the lobby. The woman whirled. Flesh twisted up from the men’s bodies, boiling, then boiling over, frothy blood and organs and muscles all mixed together. They fell to the floor, dissolving.

The woman startled. “Wh-what…”

Levi offered her an arm. “Like I said, ma’am, a traumatic event. Did you suppress your memories? Please, come this way.” He gently took her other hand, slipping the badge she held from her palm to his as he did. With an earnest smile, he led her toward a side road. “You’re going to want to head straight out of the city and not look back, okay? Things are going to get hairy for a little bit here.”

Behind them, the men reformed. Thick white flesh coated distorted bodies. Black eyes stared in all directions, poking out of their heads, shoulders, backs, tails. Four claws, six, eight, immense maws opening in their bodies at seemingly random locations, barbs and blunt weapons and bone spurs all over, the monsters tore through the lobby and the café, chasing after the fleeing office workers and snapping them up. Two caught the same man and pulled like dogs playing tug of war. The man screamed, struggling. He clawed at the monsters, but his fingers couldn’t break through their thick blubber.

With one final twist, the monsters ripped him apart. Guts spooled from between his two halves, blood staining the white marble red, before the rest of his organs fell out with meaty thumps. The man gave one last scream before he trembled and went still, dead, and the monsters feasted on his corpse.

“I…what—James…” The woman stared, at a loss for words.

Nodding, Levi pushed her into the side road. “Straight home now, okay? And remember, this is all a traumatic dream. Go ahead and repress it when you get home.”

She swallowed, then nodded. Stiff as a marionette, she staggered down the road, away from the tower.

All over the city, roars sounded out. Flashes of white light seared the street all around Levi, bursting bright against the walls of distant streets. Alarms blared. Supers surged into the sky and sprinted down the streets, clashing with the monsters even as they came to life. Desperate shouts and terrified screams echoed through the skyscrapers.

Humming to himself, tossing his newfound badge in one hand, Levi headed back toward Central Tower, not a single care in the world.