Chapter 5 - Greed Made Manifest
Alec wasted no time in striking, his hair flying forward, shaping into a fist, poised to strike right into Pouria's nose. The mayor twisted out of the way just in time to avoid the punch, flying past like a bullet.
Pouria quickly grasped the hair, thinking he could use it to grapple Alec to the floor. Instead it wrapped around his hands, cuffing them together and allowing Alec to deliver a gruesome golden fist straight toward Pouria's chest. The spikes dug into him as he tried to dodge away, they raked out across his chest and blood began to spill. Pouria shouted as pain surged up his whole body, for a moment, he was completely numb.
Pouria quickly realized it only hit bone, painful, but not as bad as hitting any organs. He snapped out of it and quickly pulled his hands free from the grips of Alec's hair. He tried to dodge to the side as another golden fist came at him.
It missed, but he was losing ground. If Alec pushed him up against the wall with the sinks, less than two feet away, he would be pinned in. If he was there, he was as good as dead. He couldn't escape Alec's hair, and it was quickly overwhelming him. He knew he needed to make moves of his own.
Another clawed fist flew forth, but it only met the palm of The Bear, catching it with its permanently blank stare as a taunting reply. It grabbed Alec's wrist, raised it's knee in tandem with Pouria, and slammed the crass idiot's skull straight into both of them.
Alec was hardly done, grasping The Bear’s leg and throwing him off balance for a mere second. Pouria stepped forward and threw a left hook to retaliate, and it connected, but only against the hair as it flew around to block.
Again, Alec wrapped the ponytail around Pouria's left fist and threw out another punch with a fist of his own, but this time Pouria knew Alec's tricks.
Pouria's flare took the punch, giving Pouria's right hand, still free, the time to grip the occupied hair and give it a hard tug toward the floor. Alec's maw flew down with immense speed and smashed straight into the lip of the sink, shattering it into bits of dirty porcelain. His blood quickly began to flow, repainting the almost-green sink a fresh, dark red.
Pouria saw the door and took the opportunity. Alec was bruised and battered on the floor, but he surely wasn't dead. It was enough time for Pouria to flee though, and flee he did.
He ran out of the bathrooms, absorbing his Soulflare. He tried to walk as casually as he could across the casino floor and blend in. If Alec gave chase, he would have a harder time finding him before he made his way up the stairs.
The information didn't matter any more, surviving to fight another day was all that Pouria cared about.
Without a single trouble, Pouria got to the stairs and darted up them, not wanting to look back as he opened the secret door and slipped out of The Smokehouse for what he hoped was the last time.
The street outside was still empty, and the rain fell harder than before, soaking Pouria within seconds as his mood quickly soured.
He decided that he needed to get as far from this place and anywhere that had anything to do with Blueberry Corporation as he could. Clearly his friend who owned the company had been corrupted just like the rest of the cultural elites.
Was the stranger who saved him working for them? He certainly heard Thunder say it. Why would one worker want to kill him, and another want to protect him?
It didn't make any sense to Pouria, all he wanted was to find Kaino and make sure he wasn't dead. He needed his help more than ever before.
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Four hours later, Pouria had collapsed outside an alley, leaning against a trash bag on a dumpster, falling unconscious from exhaustion. The morning light had barely crested the horizon.
The rain was cold and unforgiving. His first night back in his city was nothing but struggle and suffering. No progress had been made beyond getting inside the border. Pouria felt broken inside.
He knew now that Alec found him out, the news would sooner or later catch onto him. Even as Herculean of a feat it was that he’d made it through the border undetected, he was still in trouble now.
His eyes opened, even as he felt like he would die any minute from his wounds, he couldn't rest. He knew that while they weren't fatal yet, if they became infected they would pose a serious danger to him. He needed to find help.
"I still don’t know how you knew about me…" a voice said from behind Pouria, startling him. He quickly turned around, prepared to summon The Bear to defend his limp body.
Vevlan stood in front of him in the alley, unarmed, soaked in the rain. "You're the old mayor who caused the Exodus Event." He said. "You are here to fuck the entire city, right?"
Pouria didn't really know what to say to him, broken out of his deep sleep. The man looked so vulnerable and betrayed, and somehow he didn't seem aggravated at all, like how he was before. No, instead the man looked gripped by shock, fear, and perhaps the same confusion Pouria felt now.
"N-no… I didn't mean what I said." Pouria told the man, stepping forward. "I swear I was just trying to get some information. I am only here to find Dr. Phantom, not to destroy your park or whatever.”
"You were right. I know where he is." He said in a firm tone. "But I am not going to tell you where if you don't tell me the truth about what you’ve returned to do. Why do you want him?"
"I want to fix all the damages that have been done to my city." Pouria said with as much confidence as he could muster in his current state. "I am going to lead an attack on the council in the Crystal Canopy, and then onto the mayor themselves, all to take back the city into the hands of the good and honest people. For that to start, I need to find Kaino."
"Hmm… Well, I don't oppose that idea. As long as you aren’t on their side." Vevlan replied. "The people running SFM are deserving of something like that. Everyone on the council is living in luxury while people like us suffer. The mayor isn’t doing anything either, they hardly ever make public appearances. I suspect we don’t even have one anymore and the council is just running everything now."
“Who are they anyway? I haven’t been caught up to speed on who took my place.”
“It’s been ten different people since you left, the office isn’t really stable. Right now it's some young, handsome guy, but next month it’ll probably be someone else. As I said, it doesn’t matter, the Crystal Canopy council are the ones in charge.”
"The city is devolving into anarchy. And everyone will suffer if Soulflare falls." Pouria said. "Do they not see what is happening?"
"Yeah, and you didn't do much about it either. When the Exodus Event occurred, you turned tail and ran. Whether you were exiled as they say or not didn't matter, you chose to leave us rather than having some balls." Vevlan explained, his tone clearly offended at Pouria's actions. And while Pouria wanted to rebuttal, he knew that Vevlan was correct.
"I know." Pouria said, leaking shame like a bucket with a hole. “That’s gonna change now. I got lazy and overwhelmed, but-”
"Greedy too." Vevlan added.
"Sure, alright." Pouria said. "Look, I am not here to have a silly little chat about my failures, I am trying to fix things. We are lucky that Alec or whoever hasn't come looking for me yet. So, if you are gonna let me know where Dr. Phantom is, you should do it soon."
"My business partner and I worked with him in exchange for Soulflares of our own. We've since parted ways, the three of us. She went on to join the Canopy council, which was absolutely disgusting, but him…" Vevlan explained, then sighing. Pouria suddenly realized that bad news was about to come.
"He was submitted to the mental asylum."
"What? Why?" Pouria asked, shocked.
"He went fucking mad. I don't know how, but one day he was in his lab screaming incoherent nonsense at the top of his lungs. I go in to see what was wrong, and he is just exploding with laughter, dangling half his body out the skyscraper window, looking straight into the sun. He looks back at me with a manic glare, wordless. And then… he just… collapses backwards onto the floor. I straight up begin to think he died on the spot, but I will never forget the look on his face after that… That smile… It was so bright and unnerving."
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"What the hell?" Pouria said, trying to think up any kind of logical explanation to it… but he couldn't. His friend barely ever smiled, much less broke into a laughing fit.
"I was calling the paramedics when he stood up, walked over to his desk, and picked up a knife he'd been eating with." Vevlan said, his voice weak like he'd seen a ghost. "I screamed and ran as he chased me, chanting words that I swear are ingrained in my mind now. 'Stare into The Eye of God! May your soul soon see repent! Doom is coming! Doom is coming! O' your doom is imminent!'. I ran down ten flights of stairs with him chasing me. I barely got out alive…"
Pouria couldn't even speak. He wanted to say that this was fake, and deny that Vevlan was even speaking sense. But it was too specific to make up. The man’s body was shivering, jaw was stuttering, and through it all, Pouria couldn’t understand how his friend could’ve turned this man into a quivering mess.
"The next day, the authorities found him in the park, still looking into the sun, and they arrested him. He went to court, and he ended up pleading insanity. His lawyer reported that he seemed quite normal despite what he’d done. That fuckin’ psycho got sent to a psychiatric hospital on the South side of the city. He hasn't left there as far as I know. But the place got raided last week by some gang and the police have yet to reclaim it. I don't even think they care, cus it’s just the crazies.”
"What in the name of God happened to him?" Pouria asked rhetorically.
"I've wanted to know that myself. I've been there, but the gang who has control of it is apparently recruiting the crazy people, and arming them too. Nobody can get close to the building."
"Wow…" Pouria said, shaking his head in disbelief and confusion. "Well, this has been… Enlightening."
"Certainly. Kaino had some good things to say about you, so I am sure you weren't as bad as the news made you out to be… but what happened did happen, and I don't want to be anywhere near you. You are radioactive, and I want nothing to do with that." Vevlan said.
"Understandable." Pouria replied, nodding. "You've helped a lot, I wish you the best wherever your road takes you."
"You too. Give the mayor and the Canopy a big middle finger for me if you see him. Or at least give one to Sillah." Vevlan said, beginning to leave.
"Uh… alright." Pouria said. "Oh, by the way."
"Yeah?" Vevlan said, head spinning back around.
"Have you got a doctor that could help me? I've got an open wound." Pouria asked, looking down at the chest of his overcoat, torn to shreds and soaked in wet blood. Vevlan eyes opened with surprise a bit, looking like he hadn’t even noticed it.
"Actually, you know what? I know a guy who knows how to patch wounds, and on top of that, he may know more about the gang side of your issues. He’s got experience with them." Vevlan said, reaching out to help Pouria to his feet. “I’ll be a good person and take you there. But, it’s a bit of a walk.”
"Really? Thanks a bunch.” Pouria said.
“You’ll thank me more when you see his work. Best doctor I know, and I’ve been to a lot of them, believe me.”
“You sure know a lot about this city, Vevlan." Pouria said with a thankful tone despite his tired state. He clutched his chest as Vevlan held his arm out, allowing Pouria to stabilize himself on it.
"Uh… yeah. I guess I just get around." Vevlan said, helping Pouria walk as they hobbled alongside each other into the night.
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The sunrise shone brightly through the parting storm, and the refreshing morning air wafted into the household of the CEO of the Blueberry Corporation.
He got up from his bed at the chime of his alarm clock, smelling the coffee from the kitchen that his machine made each and every morning at seven o'clock sharp. He put on his morning robe, right beside his night robe, shower robe, and party robe, all made of silk to let in the cold air.
He went into his bathroom, washed his pale face in the sink, his shaggy hair, and applied a thin layer of moisturizer, one and a half pumps from the bottle. A hearty breath left his lungs as the man smiled into the mirror, and the mirror smiled back, content with the face within it.
He exited the bedroom and walked down the short connecting hallway to the kitchen and dining room. Upon the counter, there was a coffee machine. Each morning, in the coffee machine, there was usually a warm cup of coffee that he would have with a thin biscuit as he watched that day’s headlines from his favored news channel, GZ News Network.
Today, there was no coffee, no biscuit, and someone was on his couch, watching his channel, drinking his coffee, eating his biscuit.
The man, older by at least a decade, had his feet up on the oak coffee table, and his filthy boots, with their metal heels, dug into the fine woodwork, leaving surely permanent scratches.
He was injured, face heavily bruised, his oily hair covered in bloodstains. And yet he turned and gave his boss a winning smile.
“Oh boy, I have got some news for you, mate.” he said, narrowing his eyes at the already disgusted man who called himself his boss.
“Alec. I have never been over to your estate, but I am going to guess that it looks like a pigsty.” he replied in a tone as thin and delicate as his half-eaten biscuit, as scalding as his coffee once was. He knew Alec was informal, but this was a new low.
“At least I don’t drink whatever the fuck this shit is!” he laughed, like he owned the place. “Coffee is for wimps who can’t handle a syringe of speed straight into their arm. I at least thought you’d be an iced latte kind of guy.”
“Get up.” the man said with a firm tone. He was the boss, his inferior should listen to him. He knew what would happen to him if he didn’t, right?
“Nah, I wanted to let you know real quick about somethin’ huge.” Alec said.
“I know Pouria returned.” his boss replied, more unamused by the minute.
“Damn! Big bossman with all the info, getting spoiled. Guess I got my face bashed in for nothin’ then.”
Suddenly the room grew quiet, save for the sharp chatter of the newscasters on the TV. Neither of the two men said a word.
They just stared, unable to read each other’s emotions, but neither of them were positive.
“I… was guessing… you wanted me to kill him.”
“No.” the owner of the penthouse replied, finally hitting his breaking point. “Mr. Echidna, do you understand how long I have waited to see that stupid man again? Do you? Hmm?”
Alec didn’t so much as move a muscle, much less try to reply. He was frozen in fear of what may come next, and his boss knew it.
“If you killed him, I swear to any fucking god that those brainfrozen gangs pray to nowadays, I will make you-.”
“No! Of course not! I let him get away because-” Alec stuttered, but couldn’t find a good enough lie to save himself.
“Hmm, perhaps I promoted you to CFO far too soon.” his boss said softly, with every ounce of rage inside him held back, running a furious hand through his hair, clenching it in disappointment.
“Y-you can go ahead and demote me! I honestly don’t need all the stress and paperwork as a CFO.” Alec sputtered out.
“You would love that, wouldn’t you?! All fists and no brains. Punching first and asking questions later. Only saving your intellect for yourself like the little rat you are.” his boss sighed, shaking his head with a flustered half-smile across his face.
“Haha! Yeah, I really am stupid.” Alec said with the most distressed chuckle ever chuckled.
His boss stepped forward and Alec rose to his feet like a soldier. With a scrutinizing glare, his boss peered him up and down. He saw the sweat dripping, mixing with the copious amounts of slick oil on his forehead. The empty mug of coffee remained in his hand, shaking like a leaf in the winter, but the moment his boss eyed it, he began to put it down. With a single flick of his finger, the owner of the Blueberry Corporation launched a bolt of blue ice that froze the cup, and his entire arm with it.
The look of shock on his face quickly turned to one of agony, a horrified guise painted upon his face within seconds as he shivered with fear. His expressionless boss’ hand clenched into a fist, and he took one solid punch at the center of the brittle ice. It wasn’t met with resistance, only abject terror.
The floor was shortly covered with shattered chunks of arm, encased in ice, and the air was thick with the sounds of roaring pain. Disappointment filled the man’s eyes as he saw the cold blood from Alec’s arm staining the fine fabric of his white couch. He would have to buy a whole new set, just because he let his emotions get the better of him. He knew who would be footing the bill, though.
“You are to leave the company, effective immediately.” he said calmly over Alec’s screams. “Such a weak, self-serving, criminal like you has no place here. The fact you fought him and lost is testament to how useless you are in both intelligence and strength. Ohhhh…” he practically vibrated with anger. “Your greed truly disgusts me, Al Echidna.”
The man walked over to the remote sitting on the ruined coffee table, turning the TV off. He then picked up his house phone from the receiver, and dialed a three digit building number.
“Please get me someone that can remove this pathetic man from my penthouse, urgently. Fire whoever is manning my door for letting this little fucker inside. Oh, and could you also get The Dustman on the phone? I need to arrange a meeting urgently. There’s someone we need to speak with.”