I'd never killed a man in the two weeks I'd been masquerading around as Vengeance, but I had definately felt the desire to. It was easy to get caught up in the moment, lose yourself to the feeling of absolute superiority and do something rash. Fortunately, I'd been able to control and contain it to a reasonable level in the past, and I was having to do the same today. I could smell the fear on this one as I held him motionless against his will and made him listen to my monologue. The little white collared worm had been responsible for the layoffs of over 1,000 people, all for some extra profits for him and the higher ups in his company, and I was here to make him pay for it. These people thought they were untouchable, secured by their money and power; it gave me so much pleasure to be able to rip that sense from them with only a few gestures of my hand.
In a matter befitting of his character, the man began to beg for his life when I held my handblade up to his neck, offering me whatever I wanted in return. These people were so daft - I come under the flag of rooting out their corruption, and in turn he tries to use it to get out of the situation. It angered me, but I knew it was only natural, so I was able to stay my blade.
"Have you not listened to a word I've said, Mr. Greaves?" I responded. "Neither your money nor your power means anything to me. My only concern is that you attone for what you've done."
"Of course," he whimpered, "I'll do anything that you want."
"Yes, you will, Mr. Greaves, because if you don't, there's not a single person in the world that can stop me from exacting my own brand of vengeance for the people you've wronged. I expect we have an understanding."
"Y-y-yes," he studdered, "I w-w-will do what you asked."
"Good," I stated, releasing my telekinetic hold on him and watching as he fell to the ground and cowered away. "I hope for your sake, Mr. Greaves, that we don't meet again."
Without looking back, I turned and walked out of his house, levitating myself once I was back outside again. In truth, levitation had been one of the hardest things to learn. Propelling other objects was an incredible amount easier than propelling yourself. Normally, when drawing on my power, I could use a hand or body part as a focus to make it clear to the energy what I wanted it to do, but in the case of levitation, it wasn't so. I had to train my mind to push under and around me with precise amounts of force so as not to fly in aimless directions or at uncontrollable speeds. Levitation was one of my more painful lessons - impatience and overconfidence had left me with a large bruises on my shoulder and hip that were taking forever to heal. Losing control and falling 10 feet onto pavement was not one of my brighter moments. However, in the end, I had developed a mastery of it, and I was now able to move at speeds that slightly exceeded running, which I was currently doing as I glided over treetops on my way back to my car.
The past couple weeks had been a very interesting time. I had put my figurative boot up the figurative asses of over half a dozen corrupt individuals since my first outing with Seguin. It was addicting. Still, I had to be careful - the papers didn't really know what to make of me, and the cops were looking for me. I was hoping for a more inviting reception from the general public, but I guess some people didn't approve of my methods. Some hailed me a hero, others a freak. My favorite was one reporter who had called me out to be a possible member of the horsemen of the apocalypse. Nevermind the fact that it didn't even make sense, considering my actions, but I also didn't have a horse. Sometimes I wondered why I bothered helping out society. I knew though; I wasn't doing it for them, I was doing it for me.
As I approached a familiar clearing out in the middle of nowhere, I started into a slow decent. Parked in front of the abandoned looking forest trail, my little white car awaited me patiently, hidden away from the rest of the world. I had come to the realization after my first time as Vengeance that I would need a way to change in secrecy and get home again as the regular Ryan, and in the couple weeks that I'd been using this place, I had still never seen another person even close to it. As I touched down to the ground and began to slip off my layers of black, I didn't even bother to look around to make sure no one was watching - I knew there was no one here. I stripped off the final layer, revealing my regular clothes underneath and stuffed my costume into a bag in the crowded backseat of my car before climbing into the drivers seat. I was just Ryan again.
It was hard to adjust back to your average joe sometimes after returning from adventures as a powerful avenger. It was a completely different mindset, and I'd almost found myself talking like Vengeance to Aimee a couple times when I first started. I made sure to prep myself every time now before I went inside my house. Just a couple minutes of reminding myself who I was supposed to be usually worked wonders, and I felt it would today too as I sat in my driveway talking to myself. "I'm a leaf on the wind," I said quietly as I got out of my car and walked up to the front door. I placed my hand on the doorknob and paused; I could hear Aimee inside talking to someone. "Odd," I thought, she said she might be here tonight, but not with someone else. Not dwelling on it, I twisted the knob and stepped inside. My stomach sank to my feet when I realized who it was.
Staring back at me was the face of my greatest sin. In the hallway stood Gary, the giant of a man whose life I'd ruined to better my own, and beside him a distraught looking Aimee.
"It's about time you showed up," Gary started, his hate filled eyes boring into me. This was bad - real bad, and I needed a plan of action quick. I decided to act the fool.
"What are you talking about? What's this guy doing here Aimee?" I questioned, looking confused.
"Don't act like you don't know, you prick. What is it you call yourself now? Vengeance?"
"Wait, what?" I lied, "First of all, what's that freak from the papers have to do with me? Second of all, who are you to be insulting me in my own house?"
"Cut the crap!" he shouted, "you ruined my life you asshole. I know it's you, I just know it. Now that you're here talking to me, I know for sure. I could never forget that voice - your voice."
I was stunned. I had never even thought of changing my voice for the recording. Obviously, that had been a grand error. I decided to keep up my act.
"My voice? What the hell are you talking about?"
"Is it true?" Aimee chimed in quietly, "is what he's saying true, Ryan?"
"Is what true!?" I almost yelled back. "I have no idea what this is about!"
"Don't lie to me!" Gary shouted again, extending a finger in my direction. "It ain't no coincidence what's happened around here and you know it. I thought I was a nut job for awhile after I was assaulted and told to leave everything I know by what I could only assume was God. Fancy this, when I start watchin' the news again and see this freak going around, using that same voodoo junk he used on me against other people. Thankfully, you're really predictable, so once I decided to come back and get my revenge, it was easy to find you."
"What the hell are you t.."
"Shut the fuck up!" he interrupted, "I'm not finished. Here I find you, dating my girl, and I've been watching you. I see you do your magic for her, and I seen you coming home late every night that that Vengeance character is out and about. So, I approach Aimee, tell her my story, and get her to let me in here to wait for you.
"You believed him Aimee??" I asked her, looking dumbfounded.
"You've been so weird lately, I didn't know what to think! I needed to know if what he was saying was true."
"I can't believe you would even listen to this Aimes, this is ridiculous!"
"I said, stop fucking lying!" Gary uttered before stepping forward and delivering a strong punch to my face, turning me away and sending me to my knees.
"Ryan!" Aimee screamed.
I had never been punched before. My face was on fire and my jaw felt like it was ready to fall off my skull. As I kneeled there looking at the ground however, something snapped inside me. If I'd have stuck to my story I could have perhaps won this battle of wits, but that didn't matter anymore. I had dreamed of moments like these, and I couldn't contain myself. Excitement took hold and I lost myself to it. I began laughing like a true lunatic.
"The fuck are you laughing at freak," Gary asked, moving towards me to strike another blow. I stopped him mid-step. "What the.."
"I warned you, " I said deeply, getting in a couple more short laughs and rising to my feet. "I warned you what would happen if we met again."
I wiped some blood from my lip for effect before throwing Gary towards my front door with a quick blast of telekinetic energy. As he hit it he pushed right through, the wooden door tearing off it's hinges and going with him out onto the front porch. I walked calmly out to him, all the humor gone from me now, a dark and serious expression in its place, and then knelt beside him.
"What was your plan?" I whispered to him, "thought you could use all that muscle to overpower me? Thought you could just march in and take her back from me? I may have lost her because of you, but you my friend, you will lose everything."
"Fuck you," he mumbled through bloody lips.
I could hear Aimee panicking and crying behind me, but I didn't care anymore. I stood again, pulled Gary up from the ground with Telekinesis and levitated us both into the air. Up and up and I went until we reached roughly 100 feet vertical. I watched him struggle for a moment before making my decision.
"Die," I whispered edgily as I released my grip on him and watched him plummet to the ground.
"Gary!" yelled Aimee just before he hit the ground and the cracking sound of his bones on pavement echoed down the street. I watched, suspended in the air as Aimee got to him and began sobbing as she realized his grim fate. She looked up at me and we locked eyes for the last time.
"Goodbye," I mumbled as I turned and flew away towards the unknown.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment