Part 4: Rob’s Villainous Misadventures
The barely visible yellow glow on the blue sky looked like stars that were too occupied with their own deeds, so they forgot to hide when the sun rose. Periodically flickering, they were moving across the firmament as if the energetic nature couldn’t be stopped even by the laws of physics. Slowly, but steadily those tiny and golden inclusions were changing their position with enough speed to notice after an hour of observation. Moreover, sometimes merging with each other, they created different constructs only to break apart in no time. Almost like ethereal butterflies made from light that were in constant dance, but too afraid of even a single obstruction that could halt their everlasting festival and desire to move. The scene was odd but captivating for anyone who hadn’t seen it even once during their life.
Therefore, sparing a single glance at the direct cause of the superpower’s appearance, Gray Lion switched his attention to the major topic of his day – the Facility. No matter how important, groundbreaking, and world-changing the event of a comet flying toward Earth, and its following self-destruction that spread immaterial particles, which triggered the wave of transformation across the globe, the event was around eighty years old. Yes, only a single continent stayed intact, leaving barely a tenth of the former population, but it was already a history. Very old history. On the other hand, his plan was only starting to turn into reality, being just on the first step from finally turning into life. So, throwing away the long-changed sky with aftereffects from the Birth of Powers, Gray Lion focused on the building in front of him.
The Facility, despite being a well-protected government laboratory, was located in the middle of New Miracle City. Disguised as the skyscraper meant for several megacorporations and standing right beside dozens of other similar buildings, it had no signs of hiding anything. On the contrary, the biggest part of the building was used by the different government services – like the Tax Office, Social Security, and Superhuman Insurance Office. There was even a local police station, causing an even bigger flow of a crowd in and out of the skyscraper.
“To hide it in such a prominent place,” Gray Lion shook his head, remembering how hard it was to find it. Only by sheer luck, he managed to get his hands on the valuable hint that pointed at it. The following months were spent checking the old schemes of the city before it was turned into the capital while adding more filters to the search. The problem was that most data was wiped out during the event with the Comet, and the government never bothered to put back the information about their secret facilities into the net, so they could be hacked by a random teenager. Therefore, the dusty old schemes inside the basements of the multiple libraries finally led him here. Using his scanners and a week of observation, Gray Lion confirmed that it was it. The place that was worth guarding at all costs.
“Well, the location inside the capital under the watch of Demonologist works much better for my plan. I bet he will come, especially after I leaked the info about my interest in another weapon to kill him… He will come, and I will finally get my revenge.”
It was another reason why Gray Lion had chosen the Facility. The rumors always spoke about its closeness to the capital, just not right inside it. That made any danger to the place a responsibility of the local heroic team. Only if they failed to fight off the threat, the global elites would step in. Luckily, Demonologist belonged to both groups, making his appearance basically a guaranteed outcome. It reassured Gray Lion that he had a noticeable chance of succeeding. He just needed to be careful not to mess up in the initial phases.
Making a deep breath to calm his nerves, the man, or better to say the villain, slowly started to walk toward the building. The special mask was hiding his face from the cameras, while the outfit covered his physique and multiple gadgets he had hidden. Still, the jammers were ready to intercept any attempt to focus on him, disturbing the signal. Obviously, it would cause possible attention, but he didn’t need a lot of time to break in.
Pausing in front of the main door to give way to an elderly woman, Gray Lion caught his own reflection on the glass. Disguised as the middle-aged man with a red beard and bald head, he wore a checkered red shirt, wide jeans, and a massive black belt to support his big belly. It wasn’t perfect in the slightest, causing the effect of an uncanny valley, but it was enough for his goal. Gray Lion was never good at masquerading, preferring more direct combat tools. And that he intended to use at fullness.
Smiling at the police officer at the entrance and getting a weird look in return, Gray Lion stepped inside the station, simultaneously activating his machines. The first one to follow the command was a device, located in the parked van just outside the building. The buxom-looking policewoman was in the process of checking its plate numbers before towing it out from their entrance. Too busy with her pad, she missed the opening of the car's side door, which showed a huge barrel of EM gun. The following shot blasted the device into pieces, crumpling the metal of the van and shattering the glass in the whole square. The shockwave threw most of the passersby on the ground, causing terrified screams from all over the place.
However, before everyone started to act, tens of tiny spiders fixed their metallic bodies on the designated spots. Protected from the EM attack with special insulation that effectively destroyed most of the gadgets, they activated the inbuilt explosives at the moment of losing the connection to the control center. The next several seconds caused even more destruction, sending the crowd into a panicked state. Some tried to escape the place no matter what, while others just dropped to the ground or searched for the place to hide. That included even some police officers, as, despite all training, not all were ready to risk their lives for strangers. To the law enforcer’s credit, most of them immediately jumped into action, trying to help. Unfortunately, this was the moment that Gray Lion was waiting for.
Ripping his shirt off, he exposed the fake belly under the cloth. The latter was already opening its side, showing two small machine guns that were raised into the air a second later. Pushing his body forward, Gray Lion started to shoot. Bursts from the guns were drawing erratic lines on the surroundings, piercing the bodies and objects. Penetrating flesh, shattering screens, or leaving holes in walls, the rain of fire was also reaping the lives of unlucky ones. His aim was awful, but the sheer number of bullets together with multiple targets made it irrelevant. Especially considering his need for chaos. And chaos he got.
Just in a mere twenty seconds the whole police station and the area around was turned into a completely different place. The place where no one could feel safe, and the death reigned. At least that was the feeling Gray Lion wanted to push on everyone, and while they were stuck in this sensation, he proceeded with the next part of his plan. No matter the commotion, the periphery of his sight still caught the figures of potential government agents, who showed no signs of fear. It only accelerated his actions.
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Running inside the building, he quickly found the stairs before going down. The memorized route helped him to avoid any time loss, leading to the special spot inside of the basement where, according to the schemes, the thickness of the wall was the smallest. The villain had no opportunity to use the main entrance of the Facility, so he chose another solution – to break in using a vulnerability. Placing his fake belly and setting the timer, Gray Lion quickly distanced himself.
The following explosion was strong. The villain did his best to focus the blast's energy on a single direction, but even the remnants of the shockwave almost caused the collapse of the ceiling, sending multiple cracks across the walls. The raised dust obstructed the vision, and he had no means to disperse it. The inbuilt passive filter in the mask helped him, but with the aftereffect of the EM strike, no devices were working. So, relying on his eyes and hands, Gray Lion found a hole after a half-minute struggle. The scene made him curse loudly as even with all the power from the special explosive, the hole might be too small for him to fit.
“To hell with it, I don’t need anything,” muttering quietly, Gray Lion started to undress. Dropping machine guns down the hole with few spare clips, the villain quickly threw away his boots before proceeding with other pieces of his fake image and all prepared gear. Just under the minute, the former big guy turned into a fragile teenager with a short frame, dressed in a tight black suit that only emphasized his skeleton-like appearance and made him look much younger than his real age. It finally helped him to push through the hole with some effort, leaving behind the agents who were already searching the building.
The corridor of the highest level of the Facility met him with flashing red lights from the alarm. However, that only made Gray Lion grin with anticipation. He was so near, almost in the distance of the stretched hand. Now all he needed was to find the weapon that could potentially kill Demonologist. Even if not, his plan would do it for sure…
“Freeze! Don’t move! Raise your hands, so I…,” his thoughts were interrupted by the loud voice, that sounded from behind. Slowly turning around while ignoring the demands, Gray Lion saw the guard, who was pointing at him with a handgun in trembling hands. Moreover, the moment the guard noticed the villain's appearance, he halted his commands, processing what to do, “you are so young…”
“Yes, I am young, but it doesn’t mean I am weak. You see, I am called Gray Lion after my older brother… He had similar power, but while he was directed to himself, my are opposite,” the villain smiled, making a first step forward.
“Don’t move or I’ll shoot!”
“Do it. I am just a fifteen-year-old teenager, almost a kid. Do you have the guts to kill a child? I haven’t even kissed!” raising his hands, he continued, “So, what I was talking about? Yes, Lions. Those animals are powerful, but they never hunt if the prey isn’t big enough, putting everything on lionesses… And I reassure you…,” finally the guard gave up on any attempts to stop the villain, pulling the trigger. However, the bullet was stopped by the figure of a huge predator that suddenly appeared in front of the teenager just an instant before the projectile reached his body.
Looking like the very same lioness that Gray Lion mentioned earlier, it was the size of a grizzly bear. Materializing from nowhere, the creature was completely gray without a single change in tone. It seemed like a primitive picture from coloring came to life, getting a physical form. The projectile penetrated its odd flash, leaving a hole but causing no visible change on its face. There was no blood, just a simple hole that slowly started to patch itself.
“That was rude! I wanted to end my speech… Okay, get him,” shaking his head in disappointment, Gray Lion calmly turned around, while activating his powers. Two more lionesses appeared around the terrified guard, looking exactly the same as the first one. Growling for a second almost as if deciding who the victim would be, they jumped forward a moment later. The lightning-fast strike of clawed paws tore through the body as if it were nothing. Another bite beheaded the guard, splashing blood on the walls. The teenager wasn’t looking at it, quickly picking up his machine guns and trying to get to the end of the corridor. However, before he managed to make a few steps, the figure of a man emerged.
Dressed in a long brown coat and disheveled suit underneath, he was smoking a cigarette sending circles of smoke into the air. His short black hair was a mess. His stubble on the face showed a lack of any desire to get himself in shape. Maybe it was just tiredness as the huge bags under his eyes and the overall look of exhaustion were too evident to miss.
“Gray Lion? You’ve changed after our last meeting,” breathing out another stream of stroke, the man spoke with a hoarse voice.
“Demonologist! I am here to take revenge on my older brother, whom you killed in cold blood!” the teenager shouted, sending his lioness in front of him with a mental command. Both machine guns were already raised, aiming at the calm man.
“Oh, you are his younger brother… Listen, kid, I wanted to help him, but he preferred to escape, despite his gruesome wounds just to avoid a prison. And I have to stress that he deserved the stay in there, but he didn’t need to die. Be smarter than…,” The loud shout interrupted his words when Gray Lion sent his summons to the target.
“I would kill you, fucker!”
“Well, hard way it is,” sighing with regret, the man simply stepping aside from the beast’s launch. Ducking under the clawed paw, he quickly headbutted the stomach of the gray animal, before striking down the last one with a punch, sending it flying into the nearest wall. Despite the look, the hit was so strong that it left a lot of cracks on the tough surface. Demonologist himself didn’t look any different, puffing on a cigarette one more time. Dropping it down a second later to avoid a chaotic burst of bullets that went above his head even without the need to dodge, he grimaced before muttering quietly.
“I am in dire need of sleep… Diablo, come!”
The next moment his whole figure turned into a scarlet formless sphere, transforming into some kind of an entrance to the abyss. It lasted a fraction of a second before disappearing, leaving behind a completely new creature. Demonic creature. The crown made from horns on the lizard-like head that carried only a small resemblance to the previous human face. Multiple bone spikes were protruding across the spine. A spiked ball on the tip of the thick but short tail. Clawed paws. Overall, the monster looked like a direct descendant of hell, with rough dark red skin, enormous maw, and literally diabolic hatred that was dancing inside two vertical eyes. However, the emotion was wiped out in another second, but not before the creature made a primordial roar, sending the sensation of eternal hunger and desire for tasty human flesh through just a sound.
“Try not to die, kid,” Grinning with a terrifying smile on the demonic face, Demonologist spoke, regaining control over his body. His voice was similar to before with a slight addition of lower tones, but exactly they sent shivers across the back of the teenager, halting his motions because of terror. Especially, when the demonic superhero made the first step. His changed frame almost covered the whole size of the corridor, creating deep marks on the surface of the walls and ceiling just from a single motion, “Or maybe let’s end this right now, so nobody is going to be hurt? We don’t need to resort to violence.”
“NO! You will pay for what you have done,” shaking his head to clear his mind, the teenager mentally focused on his ability before pulling even more creatures into reality, “The only one who is going to be hurt is you, asshole!” Checking his pocket and feeling a small object inside, he added quietly, “You will pay…”.