《The Juveniles - Segment 1 (Completed)》
Prologue: Hi there!
A middle-aged man approaches the blank screen and smiles intently at the readers. "Good Morning, Afternoon, and Evening to all readers, I am Doctor Richard E. Goodman, a "lead" character of the story "The Juveniles" written by - uhh." He turns off-screen, "Should I read the name?"
No response was heard, but Richard was definitely hearing somebody, which he nodded and looked back at the readers.
" - written by Anonymous, unfornately, the author still needs some time to gather his lost data, as his studies are failing and his brain no longer listens to him. However, this series of stories is gonna be a doozy for both you and me."You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
"Anyways, I''m not gonna keep you here any longer. Oh and here''s one ting though; the author may have to write it in a semi - "Hollywood script" style as one of his friends, again, Anonymous #2, told him about screenplays being written here. Of course, Wattpad is famous too, but what''s the harm of sharing it to another website, right?"
"Until then, readers! See ya'' ", he leaves the screen.
RICHARD(O.S)
*********, we need to talk.
Chapter 0.1 - Fate
EXT. CEBU, PHILIPPINES - MACTAN INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT - 4:00 AM - JUNE 24, 1994
A black Sedan parks in the parking lot, which is filled with cars and empty motorcycle spaces. The car briefly stops for a moment, until the engine shuts down, silencing its humming. Then the car doors open showing two kids, one older boy and a young girl, followed by two adults, presumably their parents. The four wear casual clothes, with jackets as the weather around the Philippines is a bit unstable due to the constant climate change that circled all over the globe.
The boy looks and holds the mother''s hand tightly, her face not shown.
The mother glances at the boy, presumably smiling at him, "Kinakabahan ka ba? (Are you nervous?)", she questions her son.
The boy merely nodded begrudingly, "Dadalaw ka sa amin, di ba? (You''ll come visit us, right?)"
The mother, knew the tone, crouches down, showing her simple beauty. She takes a second to look deeply at him, "Oo naman. Ingatan mo lang yung kapatid mo habang wala kami, carry? (Of course. Just take care of your sister, carry?)" she slowly extends her fist towards her son,
The boy smiles, losing his anxiety, and fist-bumps with his mother, "Carry."
The two looked at the distance to see the father and the sister waiting on them. "Halika na kayo, mami-miss natin yung flight!(Come on guys, we''re gonna miss our flight!", the young sister excitedly exclaimed at them. The family rides the escalator.
The boy groans at his little sister, "Tahimik ka diyan. Mula ngayon, kailangan mong maging gumulang. (Shut up. From now on, you need to be mature.)", he says with a little authority.
The sister humphs. "Bakit? Takot ka ba mag-iisa lang ka? (Why? Are you scared being alone?)" she jests.
The boy paused for a bit, thinking about his sister''s question, "Hindi. Para hindi ako magda-dala ng isang bata sa labas ng ating bagong bahay. (Nope. So that I won''t bring a child outside of our new house.)"
"Haaaaaaaah?! Pero gusto kong mag-explore! (Haaaaaaaah?! But I want to explore!)", she stomped her feet on the escalator.
The father motions his head to the little sister, "Anak, Makinig sa iyong kapatid, hindi ka namin maaaring mawala dahil ang Greece ay isang malaking bansa. (Honey, listen to your brother, we can''t lose you since Greece is a big country.)"
"Maaari kang lumabas, ngunit sumama ka kay Tiyo Basil o sa iyong kapatid, mas magaling kung silang dalawa. (You can go outside, but you go with Uncle Basil or your brother, even better if both of them.)"
The sister lets out a sad "Aww" as she fuzzles with her pink jacket.
INT. FLIGHT 927 - 5:30 AM
After waiting for an hour and 30 minutes, the passengers are comfortably seated and the plane is ready to go.
Alo sits comfortably in his seat, resting his head on the chair, his eyes slowly drifitng off to sleep, until a spitball sticks on his face.
He touches the ball with disgust and looks at his sister, who was snickering mischievously holding a straw.
However, he only groans in irritation and turns the opposite side to avoid more surprise spitballs. He then slowly drifts off to sleep as the clean air-conditioners help him soothe his head. Outside, he can hear the engines humming as the plane takes off and heads to Greece.
INT. FLIGHT 927 - 5:57 AM - MID-FLIGHT
Alo suddenly wakes up in his seat, beside his mother. He turns to the adjacent side, looking at his father and sister, both asleep.
He jumps out of his seat and groggily walks to the bathroom. His vision was a bit foggy, but he can see a large figure approaching him, his hands is in his pockets.
Abruptly, he and the stranger bumps into each other, "Aray! (Ouch!)", he exclaimed.
"Hey! Watch where you''re going!", the stranger quietly yelled at the kid,
"So-Sorry, sir. I wasn''t looking.", he clenches his fits hard, making a mistake to a stranger, who is also a foriegner. But the stranger sighs and crouches making eye contact on his level.
"Hey, look at me."
The boy does so, getting a clearer look at the stranger. He is wearing a dirty white lab coat, his hands, now revealed are covered in thick black leather gloves. His face is clean, pale, and something you see in a prince-charming movie. But his lab coat has some sort of badge with a number 51 embroidered on it, yet the entire badge was not clear.
"No need to get mad on yourself, I thought you are one of those annoying kids. Sorry.", he kindly apologizes to Alo, to make him feel better.
Alo loosens up and looks at the stranger. "Oh, uhh."
The stranger chuckles lowly, "Tell you what, kid. You need to stop picking fights, it doesn''t make you sleep well.", he then smirks confidently as he leaves.
"Uhh, thanks?", the boy reluctantly thanked the stranger as he fake salutes, going back to his seat.
"Who was that guy? That lab coat sucks.", he thought a bit, but shrugged it off, as he went to the bathroom and do his business.
Meanwhile, the stranger sits on his proper place and thinks about the kid, "Yup, he''s worthy.", he smiles a bit before sleeps in the trip.
Stolen story; please report.
EXT. ATHENS INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT - 6:30 AM
The plane lands along the runway, slowly stopping in its position. A door opens, revealing the passengers, exiting the airline. The family pack their bags and head on inside to the airport.
EXT. ATHENS INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT - ENTRANCE/EXIT
Outside of the airport, a 40-year old man wearing a pair of sunglasses, a casual polo and jeans, leans his back on a bright red Hummer, fitting for group of people going on trips and other outside activities. He then sees the family exits the airport building and smiles at them.
Alo gasps, "UNCLE BASIL!", he runs up to him and straight-up hugs him, which the uncle anticipated.
"He-Hey there, sport! How''s the trip?", he asked.
Alo perks his head up to him, "I''m tired! Can we crash at your place?", Uncle Basil notices the small eyebags and winces a bit.
"Geez, get some rest, you rascal. Go inside.", as soon as he says that, the two siblings race off to the humvee, with Alo screaming "SHOTGUN!".
The father approaches Basil and clears his throat to catch his attention. "What the hell is with your get-up? You look like shady-ass dealer."
Basil chuckles boastfully, "You like it? Jane said I lack a taste for fashion, but what do I care?."
"Oh, so you also don''t care about the women flocking over your shades?", the mother raises an eyebrow teasingly. Uncle Basil frowns a bit on her, "Hey, I''m a changed man. I''m no longer the playboy you knew since first year college."
The mother can only scoff at that remark, before grabbing more bags to the Hummer. Uncle Basil turns to the father alone, a bit worried. "So, you two ready for that offer? You can still back out if you want."
The father just smiles it off, "Nah, we''re taking a risk. Besides, we wouldn''t be here if it weren''t for you. Thanks, Basil."
The uncle just waves it off, "No biggie, I''ll take care of the runts for you once you get back. I still need to think about what school should they go though."
"My wife already had that planned," the father replied. "Just keep them safe.", he taps on his back as he walks to the car, followed by Basil, who''s going to drive to his house.
EXT. STREETS - GREECE
The hummer drives around Athens, much like any other city in the world only much more cleaner and orderly. People come from different countries gathered around small storefronts to buy souveniers to large restaurants that brings their the best delicacies in their beloved country.
Alo mindlessly gazes at the happy people, feeling homesick and want to experience something good in his first day in this new environment, while his little sister "Wow-ed" at the sight of the beautiful small tourists located within the city, her face glued to the glass of the car.
INT. BASIL RESIDENCE
Basil opens the door from the outside, letting the family in to relax a bit from their long trip. As the family are surprised to see the house''s grand interior, the camera pans around, decorated with antiques and old paintings. Alo''s sister rushes upstairs, while Alo walks to the couch and lies there sleeping.
"I know its not much, but make yourselves at home, and - oh! - there''s some grub on the fridge!", he announced as he walks upstairs to show thefather around his home. Though the mother approaches Alo, covering his eyes with his wrist.
"Okay ka lang?(Are you okay?)", she asks with concern.
Alo twitches his lips a bit, slightly "Hindi ko alam kung anong gagawin ko dito. Aalis ba kayo ngayon? (I don''t know what I should do here. Do you really have to leave us?)"
"Pero ilang taon lamang ito -(But it''s only for a few years -)"
Aloangrily groansat his mother, " - Kalimutan na ang sinabi ko, narinig ko na yan ang ilang beses. ( - Forget what I said, I already heard that one many times.)", he gets up and heads upstairs to join with his little sister.
The mother sighs sadly again, alone in the living room.
Chapter 0.2 - Descent
INT./EXT. BASIL''S RESIDENCE - JUNE 25, 2019 - 8:45 AM
A taxi is waiting right outside the house, the parents exit, followed by Basil who helped them pack their stuff for their work. The father turns to Basil one last time, "Hey, don''t go easy them. They''re young but they yabber like her, and can pack a punch.", the mother elbows him on the side, frowning.
"As he was saying," the mother continued, "Basil, we''re trusting Alo and Tatiana to you. I know this is hard, but please get along with them. It''s already tough for them now that we''re ACTUALLY doing this. "
"I know, I get it. Be safe, you two. Don''t keep them waiting.", Basil replies with a caring tone. He knows Alo''s parents as much as his best friends, because they are his best friends, and he will do anything in his power to keep his promise; after all, it''s what he do.
INT. ALO''S ROOM
Alo watches the taxi drives off to its destination, unhappy about his predicament and wishes to go back to the Philippines where his home really was. He frowns, then shakes his head disappointedly, grabbing a thick dark blue jacket along with him.
Alo reaches for the door, but his little sister, Tatiana, glances at him whilst playing some kind of mobile game, "You''re going to leave too?"
The brother holds the doorknob, not looking at Tatiana. "I''m just gonna get some fresh air. I''ll be back soon.", he opens the door and leaves the room, just for Tatiana''s game to be over. The sister "humph" and covers her face with a pink fluffy pillow, "This sucks..."
EXT. STREETS - ATHENS, GREECE - 8:56 AM
Alo walks casually on the sidewalk, looking at the people having fun, taking selfies with their friends, and other extraneous activities. One complete family caught his attention, stares at them.
"Good on them." He thought to himself, then moves along, both of his hands in his pockets, avoiding any contact with strangers.
EXT. RESIDENCES - ATHENS, GREECE - 9:10 AM
Unlike the Philippines, the residences here are quiet compared to the city he passed, however this doesn''t mean there are transgressions roaming around. The boy remains cautious, keeping his senses a bit on edge.
As he continues to walk by, he hears a garbage bin being thrown violently, catching Alo''s attention. He carefully inspects the commotion, only to see a frail young beggar facing three rich teens, one of them at the center was wearing clean clothes, golden necklaces and a backwards ballcap, the two, presumably his lackeys crack their knuckles threateningly. Overall, they haven''t experienced a proper fistfight.
Alo rolls his eyes around and scowl at the three bullies, picking on the beggar and hides behind a wall, trying to eavesdrop on their conversation, just to know who is the victim and the suspect, but in his guess it was the rich kids who started it.
"Please, I just want some food.", the kid begged for mercy, the sadness is clear in his eyes. However, the ballcap teen just snickered at the boy,
The two lackeys approach the beggar and simultaneously hang him up in the air, struggling to be free. The ballcap takes a garbage bag filled trash, fecal matter and dead stray animals, "Want food? How about this for FOOD?!", he opens the garbage bag and pours all the disgusting contents all over the poor child. The three of them laughed boisterously, while kid cries in shame.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
"That was delicious, wasn''t it?", he chuckles slowly, before signalling his boys to drop him on the ground. The bully pulls out a switchblade, small yet sharp. The smug leader chuckles again, "Now for desser -"
"- Hey!", a voice cried out behind them, they looked to see a small child, angry at their little fun activity.
"Well, aren''t we lucky today, boys?", the boys grins devilishly at Alo, who was still determined to fight them.
Alo scowled at the leader, "You lot had your fill, now leave him alone."
The group leaves the useless beggar, and slowly approaches the next kid. "Or what? You''re nothing butfresh meat!", the leader replied.
"Or things will get - ", he then felt a sharp kick in his gut, followed by a stronggrip the front collar of his jacket. His face is close to the bully. He can feel his breath touch his neck, with the two goons smiling and ready to mess him up completely.
"You fucking deaf, kid?! You''re. Are. Nothing.", he emphasized the last three words slowly, and spits on Alo''s face, then slams him down on a pile of mud, staining his clothes. As he was about to get up, one of the goons delivers a swift kick to his chin, sending him flying on his back.
The goon leader suddenly stops, feeling a vibration within his grabbing something from his pocket. He takes out a cellphone and opens a message, then groans in arrogance.
"Ugh. Mom just texted. I''m heading out.", he says while putting his cellphone and the switchblade back in.
The first goon glances at the leader, "What about him and that scanty kid?",
"That thing can scrounge up food better than us.", the goon leader eyes Alo, about to get up again. "But him? Heh, let''s just waste his face. It''ll be worth it."
Alo, his head spinning from the kicks around his body and his lips dripping small amounts of blood, manages to get up but as he looks forward. A fist caught him off guard, breaking his nose and pinning him down back on the ground.
The trio start to beat Alo up the old-fashioned way. Meanwhile the beggar crawls away like a poor rat, leaving Alo all alone and defenseless despite saving him the trouble of being further harassed. Once outside the alleyway and leans on a wall, a man wearing a dirty lab coat leans behind a wall beside, hearing Alo''s painful cries and incessant laughter of the goons. The beggar looks at the man, "Why aren''t you helping, mister? He''s in trouble."
The man smiles at the beggar, "I don''t know. What about you? That''s how you repay your friends and loved ones?", that question made the young beggar think about his actions, and covers his ears as the beating still continues. The lab coat man threw something in front of the beggar, to which he takes a closer look.
"Take it while you can. But mark my words," the man''s eyes grew cold and serious, "Unless you change your ways, you will always be a beggar. In and Out.", he walks away casually, going where the wind takes him.
EXT. BASIL''S RESIDENCE - 5:39 PM
After getting some "fresh air", Alo comes back with all kinds of bruises and dirt all over him. His jacket slung over him like a towel and his pants and shoes are soggy from the mud and piss he fell on, or splashed on. Within a clear distance, he sees two police cars with bright red and blue lights flashing repeatedly. In front of the gate to their home was Basil and Tatiana, both of them are horrified and saddened by the news, with the latter crying beside Basil.
Alo rushes to them, and looks at the officers who also had the same look, "What''s going on?", he calmly asked. One of the officers crouched down on his level, "Kid, about your parents...",
As soon as the officer explained the entire story to him, his heart immediately sunk down faster than the Titanic. From the moment his Mom took a new job along with his Dad, it was falling apart slowly until now. He couldn''t blame the police, he couldn''t blame his sister or those rich assholes that kicked him in the curb, he couldn''t blame anybody, except himself. He could''ve warned both of them not to go. He could''ve joined them on their new job, and even if they are supposed to die, he could''ve at least said ''I''m sorry'' or ''I love you'' to them to clear off the gap between them.
His heart felt empty that day as Godtookhis only happiness anyway, besides his sister and Basil. Was it his personality? His actions towards strangers? He literally took hours of beating and smelled like piss earlier because he was just trying to save a poor child. And that said child just left him for dead, no ''Thank You'', no help, na da.
INT. ALO''S ROOM
Alo opens the door in his room, and gently tosses the dirty jacket on the floor like garbage. He then let his weight fall over on the bed, face-first. Few seconds after, he sobs quietly then lets out a muffled scream of anger.
Chapter 1 - Gifted
INT. BAR - SOMEWHERE WITHIN GREECE - JULY 15, 2019 - 9:30 PM
"And the rest is history...", Alo groggily took a gulp of scotch before slamming the glass down on the counter, listening to rock music from a low-level rock band on the small stage. Alo wears a dirty blue jacket, the same color when he was still a kid. His face is now grumpy and drowsy, paired that with a short black beard. "...still can''t believe my uncle never got angry with me when I left. I''m alwaysthe troublemaker.",
"", a punk-looking, skinny teenager rests her tattoed elbow on the counter, adjacent to him. She wears a black tank top, with tight skinny jeans, revealing her nice curves. She smiles at Alo, attracted to him. However, her smile faded as she is curious about something, "", she added with a playful chuckle.
Alo shrugs the question off and tries to think lazily, "Nah. I''m too smart to leave like that. Lemme see, when I was...18? Or was it 16? I dunno, my sister just told me to get out and that''s how I end up here."
"Where do you live now?", she asks with him concern, knowing a small section of his past, her job is not just managing her decrepit bar, it''s also her job to make the customers happy from their problems, even if its a silver lining.
"My apartment is right down the street. Wanna come?", he invites her nonchalantly, at least giving her an option considering she needs to have some down time every now and then.
"Oh sorry, honey. There''s too much going on in here; I got the dishes, the rowdy customers and -", she then feels something warm between her legs, however, this warmth felt good in a way. She glances at the bottom off-screen only to see Alo''s now erect penis, inside the hole of the counter. It''s bulging and veiny texture made her feeling of concern turn into lust, plus its presumably filled with fresh cum, all for her. The barkeeper was shocked at first, but slowly became entranced by the size, and her lust to play with it.
She maintains eye contact with the teen, her left hand pulls the zipper from her pants, showing a little bit of her pussy, while the other wrap around his cock and slowly rubbing against hers. With the distracted crowd growing larger, the two continue their sexual activity, with the lady letting out a moan, "Mmmph~...I guess...I can have a few minutes with -"
Suddenly, a fat man wearing a stylish suit that glosses and shines but with disgusting features, bump behind Alo''s back, ruining their moment. "Shovel off, you cunt!" and leaves them both.
Alo sighs and moves his face closer to the barkeeper, "Hold that clit for me, would ya''?", followed by a wink. She nods and zips her pants back up, and watch as her one of her customers is about to start some trouble.
As he fixes himself up,Alo walks to the tub of lard. "YO, FATASS!", the man menacingly turns around, insulted.
"ThE FuCk yOu JuSt CaLlEd Me?!", he grunts angrily, with a loud smelly burp at the end of it. Despite that, the troublemaker never felt any fear at all, just amused.
"Hey, I''m just returning the favor here.", he tries to play the innocent one, getting the people to side with him, if they ever notice. Five guys came up behind the thug, all disgruntled and irritated at Alo, clenching their fists, snarling at him like a group of feral wolves ready to ravage the teen, horribly.
The fat lard glances at his boys cockily and backs at him, "You''re making a bad move, kid. Why don''t you hit the bricks?Momma must so worried ~ -" A bottle flies from off-screen, breaking it to multiple shards, on his face. "WHAT. THE FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!?!?!", blood start to drip from his head, which he already noticed by now.
Alo turned around to see the barkeep, holding an empty bottle, smirking at him, "Heads up, cowboy!"
She tosses two empty beer bottles in mid-air to Alo, and gets down for safety. Alo catches both and quickly turns to the goons. A quick punch greeted him, bruising his left eye, yet the troublemaker rubs it off, and smashes one bottle from the goon''s head downwards, followed by a strong kick in the gut, knocking him over to his friends'' direction, breaking a customer table, along several other bottles.
The whole crowd focused their attention to him, including the band, the members are curious of the fight. The remaining goons looked at Alo with pure rage.
Alo raised an eyebrow, "What?", he breaks the one bottle from his hand, holding it like a dagger, while grabbing the other one from the floor. "Want some more?". The two looked each other in agreement and charges at him like bulls, yet they don''t think with their brains as Alo slides down and slices their scrotums simultaneously, without even looking. Two girlish screams can be overheard behind him.
The fourth goon straight up tackles him on the floor, but he gets up around him and delivers a swift strike to the nape with his elbow, paralyzing him at most. All this made everybody fear Alo, not because of his violent nature, but how literally fast it took to suppress them.
Alo walks towards the last goon, scared of him and his bloodied hands. Eventually, he grabs him by the shoulder and pulls him close to him, his mouth a few inches beside the goon''s ear. "Don''t you ever fucking come back. Get me?", after that the goon feels a sharp pain in the side of his gut, like a twisted knife stabbed into him. The pain is so unbearable it made him faint on the floor, when in reality, it was just his thumb with a sharp nail, it is unknown whether Alo grew that on purpose or not.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.
The barkeeper turns to the crow with a short pause, "PARTY''S ALL YOURS, BOYS AND GIRLS! DRINKS ARE ON THE HOUSE!", the crowd, expectedly, cheered as they continue to party, the band just ignore the fight that happened and went back to singing rock-and-roll songs.
As the party continues, Alo walks up to the barkeeper, waiting for him. He gets close to her, chest to chest. "So where we were we?"
INT. ALO''S ROOM - APARTMENT - 10:00 PM
The two barge in Alo''s room, kissing nonstop whilst taking their clothes off, seconds later, they are now naked. They jump onto his bed; Alo on top of her, starts to copulate with her, his thick cock rapidly thrusting inside the barkeeper''s vagina. Moans of their lust echoed around his room and their rowdy humps creak the wooden frame of the bed. And this went on all night.
INT. ALO''S ROOM - MORNING - 7:45 AM - JULY 16, 2019
The sounds of birds chirping and the bustling sounds of cars woke the teen up from his bed, letting out a tiring groan, he looks beside him to see the barkeeper, still naked, sleeping soundly with a tiny smile on her face and the sunrays shines over her cheeks. That made him smile for a bit, but a good morning requires a good breakfast.So he get''s up, still naked from head to toe, and walks to the kitchen.
KITCHEN
Opening the fridge, he grabs a bottle of beer and a small piece of bread from the dining table. He pops the cap with his strong teeth and drank half of its contents and taking a bite of the said bread. However, he hears something odd in the living room.
"Hello?", he called, but no response. He places the bottle on the table and munches the bread whole, readying his fists.
LIVING ROOM
His hunch was right, somebody is there. A white lab coat hung over the couch, sitting lazily on it, is a man with a black shirt and black jeans, watching the daily news like some casual. Alo stands there, not knowing what to do, but the first thing he feels; is anger. As he was about to grab the man, he drinks his large thermos, filled with black coffee with loud slurps, and smacks his lips.
"What a night, am I right? - "
" - Get the FUCK out of my apartment!", the man rolls his eyes, grabs his lab coat and the thermos, also turns off the TV with the remote out of respect of the owner.
The lab-coat man turns to confront Alo, and smiles, "After what I said at the plane...", then shifts to a saddened expression. Alo only gave him a confused look, like he couldn''t understand anything. Mission? Plane?
The lab-coat man walks to the door and before he could leave, he half-glances at Alo, "Meet me at the same bar, once you get dressed. And please, help yourself, you are better than this.", exiting the block.
Alo looks down only to see his dick, growls in irritation, turning back to his bedroom. What could that stranger want from him, he wanted to put that weird moment aside but deep down, that lab coat is familiar to him, and he mentions about what he said about the plane. The same plane when he was a kid? That''s bullshit. Then again, out of curiosity, Alo wants to have a talk, or a brawl.
INT. BAR - 8:00 AM
The whole place was empty, it was surprisingly clean and the mess from last night''s fight was gone. The barkeeper is still sleeping in his room, but who could''ve cleaned all this in one night?
At the center table, he sees the same man, wearing the same coat and black gloves, drinking from the same thermos and reading some folders on the table, looking unconcerned. He watches Alo as he takes a seat in front of him, his eyes glare daggers at him.
"Who are you?", that question made the man sigh, and takes out his ID, sliding it towards him with two fingers. Alo takes it, and reads his full name, "Richard Goodman?"
"Doctor...Richard E. Goodman", he corrected, taking a sip from his thermos. Knowing his name wasn''t enough, as Richard''s ID has no serial number, no company name, and no position or whatsoever. It was just his full name and his ID portrait.
"What do you specialize? By what I''m seeing right now, I guess Biochemistry or Physiology, otherwise you''re just some nerd-edgelord wanting some attention.", he lashed out, trying to get him to snap. But Richard shrugs it off,
"Nope, not even close.", he leans his arm on the table, "Let''s say I''m looking for...candidates, for my project that you''re not supposed to know unless you accept my deal. Sounds shady, but I promise you, it''ll be your worthwhile."
Alo chortles at Richard''s proposal, and stands up, "Seriously? You''re nuts. And the last time somebody made me a promise, never came back.", he turns away and heads out, but he hears the "doctor" stands up from his chair,
"I know what you''re capable of, Mr. Alo.", Alo froze in shock as he heard his name. "I learned everything. From that flight, from that incident, to now..." The teen slowly rotates to Richard who is feeling grim and in pain, "...and I''m so sorry."
The troublemaker is now serious about the doctor''s intentions, he was stalking him the whole time and never revealed himself throughout his entire life, mostly coping his parents'' death and struggling on his own. He is speechless.
"But I''m giving you a chance here, because you are special. And that''s no cliche. So, are you in?", he defended, waiting for his response. Alo is thinking on the spot, whether to continue his life of vices, or take the risk and go with the lab-coat guy that he just met at the airplane years ago. All those years of fighting, drinking, smoking, fucking, and lying; separated from his family and barely even knows how to count was excruciating, every night he thinks about his Mom and Dad, his little sister, his Uncle Basil, and the friends he had in his life, and it hurts him in the heart badly.
Alo clenches his fists and approaches to Richard, "Fuck you.", this made Richard laughs heartily and takes out his hand, which made the teen back off from fear.
Richard''s hand is deformed into a crystallized material with a color blue hue, it''s bright light reflecting off the sunrays like a real crystal should do. "No, thank you.", he extends his hand to Alo, expecting a handshake, "If you do this, there''s no turning back.", he warns him.
Alo looks at the hand carefully, and decides to go for it, holding his hand. The crystal hand glows even more, engulfing the whole bar with blindling blue light for several seconds, before slowly disappearing along with Richard and Alo, the bar returned to its empty state.
Suddenly, the barkeeper entered her bar, her hair messy and wear loose clothes. Her face is also confused as to how the bar was clean.
Chapter 2 - Begin
???
Alo opens his eyes to find himself in a white room similar to where Alice woke up in a white room in Resident Evil, he wears the same clothes from the meeting with Richard, but confused and has millions of questions in mind. His hand slides on the clean foamy wall, wondering if he''s in one of the mental asylums.He circles around the room, checking for exits and secret passages.
"Don''t bother trying.", a voice creeped up behind him. Alo looks behind and sees Richard, only this time, his body structure is frail and weak, he wears the same lab coat with his hands inserted in his pockets, his face now old and wrinkled.
"Richard? Where am I?", the teen asks with slight concern. The doctor merely glances elsewhere.
"I...don''t know. I call this "The Scape", mainly because of how weird it is, but because someone can envision their surroundings based on their emotions. In other words, you are still doubting yourself on our deal.",Alo clicks his tongue in disagreement as a silent response. "...Do me a favor, look at your hands. Describe what you see."
Alo extends his arms down, his palms facing the floor. He squints his eyes to see blue veins pulsating inside, glowing faintly, "What...The...FUCK?! What did you do to me?! -", he yells at Richard.
"I said describe, not complain!", Richard retorted, putting Alo in place in the meantime, which the teen murmured some stupid shit before coming to his senses again.
Alo looks back at his hands again, "There''s...blue...veins all over me. It''s glowing...", while he is panicking, Richard takes out a small filer and to gently grind down the edges of his normal nails casually, followed by a "Mh-hm, like my hand before?",
"Yeah, like yours."
Richard stopped grinding his nails and place the nail filer inside his pocket and watch as Alo keep staring at his body. "What else? What do you feel now? Besides the amount of awe.", Alo feels warm inside and seemingly fine; he doesn''t feel the gallons of alcohol coursing through him, he doesn''t feel the inflammation of his constant smoking within his lungs or his exhausted scrotum from too much fucking. No, this feels weird in a good way, as he is cured from all the diseases and infections he may or may not have known.
"I''m fine.", with that reply, Richard clasps his hands together and inhales deeply.
"YES! YES! YESSSSSSSSSSS!", followed by jovial laughter, "Oh God, I was right! I was right!", he screams to himself, puzzling Alo. "Sorry, I got carried away. Anyway, the reason why I''m happy right now, is you''re now part of the team!"
"The team? This was your project the whole time? To make a team?", the teen tries to figure out Richard''s cryptic statements.
Richard walks to Alo, now proud of him. "Yes! And since it accepts you, I may as well tell you everything. But first, -", he raises his right hand. " - wake up." And snaps with his middle finger and his thumb.
INT. BEDROOM- ??? - JULY 17, 2019
The teen opens his eyes again, this time in a white room, but filled with minimal decorations like a mirror, a desk, an empty bookshelf and a large wardrobe. Adjacent to his bed is a large sliding glass door, showing large pine trees, presumbly a tiny forest in the middle of Greece. Hold on, Alo lives in Athens, the capital of Greece, it''s mostly cities not trees.He gets up on his feet and exits the room.
Guess I''m not in Greece anymore
INT. HALLWAY
The teen slowly steps foot in the hallway, the glass floor feels cold and the air conditioners hum in monotonous. Next to his room are several other doors, leading to God knows where but in his view, just a bunch of empty rooms. A detail he almost forgot is the doors, including his, have some sort of card-scanning system built a few inches above the metallic and stylish doorknob. He looks both ways; the end of the hallway behind him is a glass wall still showing the forest, and in front, an elevator.
As he takes a step forward, an off-screen static noise alerts him, "What the - ",
"- Hey! You finally made it out without breaking anything! Good job! Now, before you try anything, I''d rather go down to the 2nd Floor and make some breakfast for yourself. Then we''ll talk.", Richard''s voice can be heard through an intercom at the center of the hallway.
Alo continues to saunter at the elevator, "So, this your place?"
"Nah, I''m more like the ONLY tenant here. Well, besides...them, but lemme give you a brief history on where you are right now.", Alo presses the down button, then the elevator doors open with a "DING!".
"Alright, shoot.", he says as the doors close back.
INT. ELEVATOR
"Okay so, we''re in our Headquarters here at West Virginia, USA. This place was owned by Mr. Ralph Branzuela, a former Area 51 employee that made incredible inventions during his time. He decided to retire because of how the government was treating him, and how they abused his technology *cough Roswell Project *cough. Anyway, onAugust 12, 1947, back when I was your age - actually I was 8 years old, whenRalph made a really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, REALLY, big mansion. It was just like you imagined.", Richard stated.
INT. 2ND FLOOR
The elevator doors open, arriving at the 2nd Floor, Alo''s eyes were blessed with an organized home; a living room with comfortable sofa, a flat-screen TV, different video game consoles, with a small shelf for game cartridges. The kitchen is much like any other kitchen but with high-tech cooking tools, the refrigator has a meter that shows how much capacity is it holding inside, which is plentiful. The utensils are in their proper places and his favorite; a case full of beer is placed on the table conveniently for him.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
"Which is?"
"Wood, Old, and obviously smells like rat feces.", Richard replied. Alo opens the refrigerator, picking up a tray of fresh eggs with a jar of mayonnaise, then closes it behind him with his butt. "Fortunately, he knew the problems and hired a team of fellow scientists with construction workers to fix everything, down to the last cranny. And those improvements are the ones you are seeing right now."
Alo nods in approval of the owner who made this, he must be really rich. "Then what happened to them and the owner?", There was an ominous silence between them, before the voice intercom acts up.
"They...passed away. The owner, in turn for the professionals that helped him, rewarded them with refuge and funds for their personal lives. However, he expected them to leave, yet the professionals felt bad and chose to stay as the owner shared his tragic story along what''s his purpose to build and upgrade his mansion. A mansion, mind you, had nopurpose. Until I, the last of the professionals, came up with one."
Alo takes a bowl and cracks 3 eggs, and mixes them with a simple fork, "Uh-huh, quick quesh, though. If you were 8 years old in 1947, how the hell are you still alive back there?", he transfers the mixed eggs into a pan and turns on the stove, cooking it in a stable temperature.
"Remember my crystallized hands you were scared about? It''s a special kind of crystal that decreases the aging process of a living organism, be it plant, animal, human, or unknowingly, alien species.", This made Alo laughing his ass off, whilst opening the jar of mayo and poured a tablespoon on the cooking scrambled egg, then mixes them altogether. "HAHAHAHA! Yeah right, and I''m an overpowered God who can bend time and space at will. You think I''d fall for that crap? Science hasn''t been THAT crazy ever since engineers made drones that only carry small packages to somebody else''s door, only to find abunch of dildos ordered from Lazada as a mistake."
"Uhh, your first statement was half accurate. The crystal accepted you because you are ''worthy'' to harness its power.Depending on your abilities, of course. In your case, it''s close-quarters-combat with tons of endurance.", Alo is now again, confuzzled by Richard''s science-y talk. He flips the scrambled mayo-egg around and looks at the intercom.
"So you''re saying that the crystal also gave me superpowers?", he bluntly inquired him. Richard''s reply was a low chuckle. "Took you long enough.", Alo looks again at his palms, the blue veins reached at the tips of his fingers in surprise and amazement.
"No. Way."
"Yes. Way."
Alo takes a closer look at his fingers like Tobey Maguire got his first climbing ability as Spider-Man, only Alo''s fingers emit sparks of electricity instead of hairs.
"Although that power belongs to you, I''m preeeetty sure you don''t have the skills for it. Not that I''m saying you''re weak, just lack focus.", Alo stares at the intercom again, a bit insulted.
"What? I''m like totally focus right now!", he complained, but smells something burning inside. He looks to the scrambled egg, on fire and overcooked. He takes out his shirt and wraps around the grip of the frying pan, turns on the sink and pour cold water on the burning breakfast. After that minor accident, Alo pants heavily while Richard laughs in the intercom.
"You were saying?", the doctor continues to laugh, but Alo shakes his head dismissively, walking back to the fridge and cooks another batch of scrambled eggs. "Feel free to roam around the mansion, but don''t go outside yet, I still haven''t discussed to you about the ground rules and our main mission. The place may be yours, but we can''t have any outsiders breaking in."
INT. 2ND FLOOR
Alo, after eating breakfast is now sitting on the couch, playing the 1992 version of Mortal Kombat, playing as Scorpion against a Johnny Cage, controlled by none other than Richard. "So lemme get this straight, you are technically, "dead" because you passed the crystal to me earlier, and now you''re an A.I watching me like a creep.", he does a series of combos but Richard blocks all of them, letting the teen snarl.
"Alo, Ihave many contigencies, one of which is becoming a "creepy" A.I, though I must say, thatcrystal has been with me through thick and thin, now its your responsibility to guard it, or better yet, use it for good. That''s Rule Number 1: Don''t use your powers for your own personal gain. You can be Johnny Cage, but you can''t be Scorpion.", Richard''s character does an ultimate against Scorpion, killing Alo''s character in a gory fashion.
JOHNNY CAGE WINS!
FATALITY
"Oh, COME ON!", Alo throws the controller on the floor aside. The Johnny Cage character slowly looks at Alo, breaking it''s normal programming, "NEXT GAME!"
Alo is now playing Resident Evil 2, not the reboot. Currently, he''s controlling Leon as he kills several zombies with a handgun and a trusty knife. "Rule Number 2: Keep our agendas a secret."
"Uhh, do we even have an agenda?", Alo attempts to clarify Richard''s rule.
"Yes, although it''s rather noble and clearly dull. You''ll probably make fun of it."
Alocontinues through the game, "So? Say it.", Richard sighs in the intercom, "Our main objective is to save this planet from all kinds of threats;global andintergalatical. Earth is filled with corrupt governments, pollution, and a young albeit dumbed-down, cancerous generation, but it''s our home nonetheless."
"By definition of ''we'', you mean it''s just me?",the A.Iscoffs at Alo''s assumption. "There are others like you; Broken pasts, no sense of hope, and sometimes, barely alive.", a zombie tries to eat Leon but, dodges by sidestepping and busts it''s brains out. "The crystal can mitigate all that. If they got what it takes to fight for a good cause."
Mr.X abruptly busts out of the wall, making Alo jump a bit and shoots all of his ammo at the mutant, however, it was all for naught. Leon ran back to hide from the Mr.X in hopes of not getting pummeled to death. "Yet if you were to personally ask me what am I looking for? It''s an old artifact dated back in Ancient Egypt called"The Eye". The Germans excavated it and delivered it to Hitler in World War 2, but the Fuhrer, at his last moments, was rumored to be possessed by a soul of a ferocious god. Thankfully, Ralph killed him and took it here to secure it indefinitely."
Leon grabs a rocket launcher from a humvee and aims at Mr. X, closing in to Leon. "I take it didn''t go so well for him?"
"The Eye was strong. Too strong.", Leon fires at the mutant, covering him in a giant explosion. Despite all that, the mutant presses on, unfazed by the fire and the immense damage Leon caused. Mr. X grabs Leon and slams him down on the ground. "It overpowered him, and soon vanished without a trace.", The mutant throws Leon to a wall, his health bar is now 5% before the game is over."The Eye is out there, somewhere. And if it picks the right host, I can only think of the extinction of our world...and others if that were the case.", Mr. X grabs Leon by the neck and chokes the rookie officer, until the health bar reaches to 0, ending with a loading screen to go back to a previous save.
Alo shuts down the TV and stretches his back and lies down the couch, his arm placed on his forehead, "I can''t believe I signed up for this..."
"I get that feeling too, looking back at your previous life, you were a lost sheep. You lost your life there, but in here. You can start over and become something more. Need a good reputation amongst your peers in Greece and the world? Sure. Reunite with Tatiana and Basil? You got it. Avenging your parents?", there was a pause, knowing Alo is listening.
"- Revenge is a sweet feeling, but the old law about an eye for an eye leaves everybody blind.", then only silence remained within the floor.
"Your real training begins tomorrow, I have prepared fake IDs, clean clothes, money, shampoo bottles and some soaps. We have a state-of-art generator so you wouldn''t have to worry on wasting the electric bill. If you have any questions, you can ask me anytime.See you around.", the intercom shuts down, leaving Alo alone in his new home.
Chapter 3 - Sucker
INT. ALO''S ROOM - HEADQUARTERS, WEST VIRGINIA, USA - 6:00 AM - JULY 18, 2019
Alo is sleepy soundly in his room, snoring peacefully like a baby in a crib. However, the doctor-turned-A.I has other planes. All of a sudden, an airhorn sound effect blasts throughout the mansion, waking Alo as if he was in a horrid nightmare. "WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKE UUUP, RECRUIT! TIME TO GET YOUR DAILY DOSE OF TRAINING, MAGGOT! - "
" - WHAT THE FUCK CAN''T YOU JUST WAKE ME UP NORMALLY?!? GOD!",he exclaimed as he rubs his the corners of his eyes, he wasn''t wearing anything but his black boxers.
"Heroes don''t wake up no longer than 6 in the morning, walk it off. Plus I''m getting the hang of this ''drill sergeant'' attitude, makes me feel like Sergeant Dornan or ''The Soldier''", Alo ignores Richard by getting up and heads out to the hallway, going to make breakfast.
INT. BATHROOM - 6:05 AM
The shower automatically turns on once Alo stands on the sensor built into it, using the bathroom soap and shampoo to clean up.
INT. KITCHEN - 6:10 AM
Alo cooks up a couple of meatballs, wearing a black tank top and black boxers. A clean white towel is wrapped at the back of his neck.
Later on, he eats his breakfast and grabs a cup o'' joe (that means coffee), which is weird because he mainly drinks alcohol, now he drinks black coffee. He smacks his lips and wash the dishes, before calling Richard.
"ARE YOU SET, SOLDIER?!", as the voice booms, the teen poking around his left ear mildly disturbed by his shouting.
"Yeah, yeah, where are we going to train? You said this is a mansion.", Richard figuratively rubs his chin, despite being physically non-existent and has an idea. "Okay, okay, okay, okay. Let''s go to the Courtyard, it''s where I mostly do my target practice there. Just head down to the Ground Floor and go outside. Don''t worry, we''re out of society''s reach, not a single person can hear you scream.", Alo gets in the elevator and presses the ''G'' button, closing the elevator doors before him.
INT. GROUND FLOOR
Once the doors open, Alo takes a gander around the Ground Floor, which is just like any normal office lobby, some potted plants, decent paintings and a large sliding glass door leading outside. As Alo nearly approaches the door, the sensor activates, opening it for him.
INT./EXT. COURTYARD
The gusts of wind greet him and the peaceful wilderness made him feel calm and collected. He still feels depression from his old life, but smiles a little at the beautiful sightof the Appalachian Mountains. He waltzes to an empty field in front of the building, and looks behind him. "Oh my God.",
The sight of the Headquarters was a thing to behold, from an elevational standpoint (a term in Trigonometry), it''s a futuristic X-Mansion, with a flagpole above it, yet no real flag has been displayed.
He then hears a humming behind him, "Like what you see?", Alo meets Richard, dressed in his coaty best. His hands are still in his pockets, his expression pretty much the same as he first met him. "The building has a holographic system that has a range up to 500 to 1000 meters. Pretty cool."
Alo backs off a bit, "Is there anything else this place doesn''t have?", he questions with bewilderment. The doctor just smiles at him, "Nah, a few kids like you here and this place is livelier than the Great Depression."
Richard starts to pace around him, rubbing his hands for some reason. "So, welcome to the Courtyard. Where we train future juveniles into becoming "protectors of justice", aaand blah-blah-blah. You might be asking to yourself; ''But Richie, train? I don''t see any monsters around here? Am I going to fight the wind like a Shaolin monk?'' No. No, you don''t.", he looms at the ground for several seconds, making Alo uncomfortable.
"Golf-Eagle-Tango, Uniform-Papa. Block Numbers 3, 4, and 5.", the ground starts to erupt violently, paving a way forgroups of rusty robots, erupting from the ground like a bunch of zombies. They are grouped accordingly to numbers as seen on their shoulder plates which displays their block numbers. Their base color is pale blue but their mangled features does bring some false sense of security.
First, Alo notices several bullet holes and small-to-medium sized dents, presumably Richard''s weapons training. Second, they are rather thick, large and presumably bulky, maybe the one who designed this prefer function over form. Nonetheless, Alo doesn''t see them as a challenge. In short, they look like the RoboBrains from the Fallout series.
he robots beep in Morse code which Richard chuckle in response, "Good to see you guys still hate me.", he motions to Alo,
"Alo, these are Com-Bots, its a really sucky name, I know. It rhymes with cuuuuu - nevermind. These guys can pack a punch even with your powers. Despite their rustic appearance, they are updated with commendable combat A.I and can equipped with electrical batons and loaded with shock blasters.", Alo moves backward, away from the robots and Richard, afraid of their sizes. "Richard, I dunno if this is gonna work - "Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!
Richard frowns at him, "STOP YAPPING THERE MAGGOT AND GIT TA'' KILLIN'' I WANNA SEE THOSE HUNK A'' METALS FLY AND TEARS IN YER'' EYES! OR ELSE YOU''LL BE NOTHING BUT A LITTLE CITY ASSHOLE PIPSQUEAK WHO JUST LOST HIS PARENTS FROM A SORRY-ASS BUSINESS TRIP!", and used TF2''s Soldier voice in full volume, but realizes his mistake. "Perhaps I have said too much..."
Alo snaps at Richard with a death glare, "Aight...", then glances at the bots, their left and right arms switch into electro-fists, preparing to beat the living daylights out of him. The doc steps back, watching Alo and the Com-Bots begin their onslaught.
The first batch of Com-Bots charge up their shock batons and are about to bash Alo, but the teen grabs one in defense, withstanding the electrocution and uppercuts the bot, flying away for several meters. Three bots strike him in the back, grunting in pain yet grabs both bots and mashes them together, frying their systems. He grabs both batons and by the handle and start blocking their attacks and defeating the rest of the bots swiftly. This went on for 2 and 1/2 hours before one bot manages to break the Alo''s baton, then fires its shock blaster close to his stomach, further tazing him vigorously, putting him on the ground. The bots thought Alo''s will can bring him back up, so the second and third batch of the Com-Bots gathered all around, beating Alo mercilessly.
Alo, foaming from too much voltage absorbed into him, lies on the ground his face looking at the grass waving peacefully as his vision blurs, off-screen he can hear Richard''s voice, screaming at the bots and telling them to shut down.
Damn...that hurt.
INT. ALO''S ROOM - 9: 30 AM
Alo gets up sluggishly, looking at Richard who obviously feels guilty about what he said before, squatting on the floor, his head slumped down. He wanted to create a perfect team of superheroes to defend the peace and order of his planet, along with the decimation/extraction of The Eye, however, Alo guessing what he thinks, the doctor has ruined his first impressions with the brawler he expects to leave him, then go back to his old, dirty life.
There was silence between them, before Alo nonchalantly spoke up, "Am I allowed to get out of here?", Richard sighs as he anticipated this.
"Sure, the nearest town is a few miles, and...sorry for what I said.", even he lost his brief relationship between him, at least he apologized. Alo merely ignored this and exits his room, leaving the doctor alone. Off-screen he can hear the distant ''DING'' from the elevator.
Not too long he hears Alo, saying the same codephrase as he did before, Richard gets up from his spot. He couldn''t believe what he was seeing.
EXT. COURTYARD
Alo stares down at his fists, glowing brightly and electricty flows from the outside. He closes his eyes and concentrate on his energy. He can feel his all the pain from before fading away, letting the electricity spark drastically, consuming his shoulders before finally unleashing a powerful wave, that made the forests of Appalacchia flinch backwards from the source of the shockwave.
Alo gently opens his eyes to see his shoulders are transformed into gigantic crystallized fists. There was no time to think for anything sad or depressing, he feels joy and excitement as he smirks at the Com-Bots, backing off from the First.
"C''mon, Cum-Bots. Round Two.", he smashes the ground using his left hand, causing a massive earthquake, as the ground cracks towards the entirety of the bots'' position, Alo rushes to the horde, his fists now filled with lightning to the brim. Once the crack stopped moving,massive surges of electricityshoots out of the ground, shocking the majority of the bots'' circuits. Then like a daredevil passing through wall of flame, Alo jumps out of the torrent oflightning and smashes a bot into a pulp.
Several Com-Bots lifted themselves up, and shoot their blasters, however Alo didn''t feel anything thus his new powers are; Immunity to electricity and tough, crystallized fists that seems to conjure, again, electricity to fry his opponents and disable machines similar to an EMP blast. He looks at the bots and instantly dashes to one, behind him is a charred trail (super speed). He tears off the blaster, transfers the current of his fists to the blaster and lets out a huge laser beam. Letting out his pent-up anger, he aims the beam at every single robot he sees, some even disintegrated in a small amount of concentration.
But a surprise attack from behind caught him off guard, knocking him down. More robots surround him, yet the teen gets up lets out a war cry the bots one by one like last only with newly formed powerfists.
INT. ALO''S ROOM
Richard watches in suspense, looking at his first candidate lay waste to the training bots with a newfound power he hasn''t seen before. Flashes of blue light along with small explosions made Richard remember his first mission together with Ralph and his team. He smirks, then fist bumps in the air, "YUUUUUUUSSSSSSSSSS!"
Now their mission begins.
EXT. GREEN BANK - WEST VIRIGINIA, USA - 6:50 PM
Native citizens around the Appalacchia come and go to withdraw and deposit their money within their local bank, the Green Bank, although the bank is secure, the guards are always on edge due to the area is National Radio Quiet Zone. According to Wikipedia,"TheNational Radio Quiet Zone(NRQZ) is a large area of land in theUnited Statesdesignated as aradio quiet zone, in whichradio transmissionsare heavily restricted by law to facilitatescientific researchand the gathering ofmilitary intelligence. Roughly half of the zone is located in theBlue Ridge Mountainsof west-centralVirginiawhile the other half is theAllegheny Mountainsof east-centralWest Virginia; a small part of the zone is in the southernmost tip of theMarylandpanhandle."Basically, reinforcements are not available here on any source of communcation. But if an officer is authorized to order said reinforcements, the conclusion is pretty much the same as it will take a longer amount of time to arrive and assist.
A black van parks far from the bank, in it are several disgruntled men. The one in the driver seat scout the bank using a pair of binoculars. He smirks devilishly, delighted on his diabolical plan. "10 million dollars. Gotcha'', sucker."
Chapter 4 - Strong
INT. LIVING ROOM - HEADQUARTERS - 8:45 AM - JULY 19, 2019
¡±Now?"
"No."
"Maybe now?"
"No."
"Please?"
"No."
"Pretty please~"
"No."
Alo is smirking confidently the whole time as the hologram doctor begs for the now-overpowered brawler to summon his electric gauntlets that destroyed the Com-Bots before. Accepting the fact that Alo won''t reveal it to him, Richard sighs in defeat and slumps down on the floor like a cadaver. "Can you at least tell me HOW did you get it in the first place? It''s not like you thought of something important, closing your eyes and concentrate like some cliched MC and POOF! MAGIC!",
"Actually, I did thought of something important,closed my eyes and concentrated like some cliched MC and POOF! MAGIC! This works...for some reason.", Alo retorted while watching the Daily News around America.
"Yesterday, a robbery occured at the Green Bank, located in West Viriginia", Richard pops his head out of the floor to see the news. "Several armed robbers have taken 8.5 million dollars. Police weren''t able to catch the suspects, as the uneven terrain and the lack of units being dispatched prevented them from accomplishing their tasks. The people of West Viriginia protest to US President Donald Trump however the president does not consider rescinding the National Radio Quiet Zone or transfer additional units to the Green Bank, also further implicating it''s the law enforcements'' fault for not having any training about catching criminials in harshenvironments.", Alo mutes the television, whilst Richard chortles in mischievously.
Alo looks at Richard suspiciously, "I don''t like where this is going."
"Oh, but I want this. This is just what we need right now! A mission! It could be like one of those 1940s noir detective shows when I was a kid or - or Pulp Fiction! Yeah, that''s better! We need to investigate the crime and catch those guys, think about it; What are they going to do with the 8.5 million? Recruit more guys? Build a giant contraption that is a big threat no country alone can handle?! - ", Richard is thinking of many (and exaggerating) ideas.
Alo changes his clothes to a simple black jacket and dark blue jeans, " - or they are just robbers who do what robbers do. Spend it on a vacation in Hawaii, honestly, man, you overthink everything.", Alo wears his socks along with black-and-white Nike running shoes. "Yet a bad guy is a bad guy. And I want my bad guys like I want my coffee beans, grinded.", he cracks his knuckles and circles his head around, fixing a few dormant bones inside.
Richard only stared at him uneasily, "Ooookay, let''s call a cab while we still can, road''s far from here.", Richard disintegrates into tiny pixels while Alo heads to the elevator.
EXT. GREEN BANK - 9:10 AM
Multipleofficers are stationed near the area, searching for clues as to where the robbers have left. A small cab pulls over the nearby building, Alo coming out and pays the driver as he leaves. Richard appears secretly behind him, wearing the same old lab-coat but disguises himself as a normal bystander. The doctor sees a female officer, conversing with the manager of the bank with his frightened employees.
"Psst, you see that lady officer over there? Try talking to her, we need at least one or two pieces of information. I''ll scout around the bank, and call you if there''s anything interesting.", Richard backs off from Alo, turning to a secluded area at the side of the bank. Alo approaches the officer, as the emplotees went back to their cars go somewhere else where they will be safe.
The officer sees Alo and raises an eyebrow, assuming he''s here to ask about the incident.
"Uhh, good morning, officer. Mind telling me what happened here?", the officer only did a pokerface, not answering his question.
"One of the employees was my relative, I came down here to see of she''s okay?", he lies to her, making her feel bad for him for a moment.
"Sorry about that, sir. Those people you saw with me earlier were the dayshift employees, the Green Bank, as far as I know, has employees work at night. Fortunately, only the security guards'' bodies were found; no civilian casualties."
"How did they get in?", the officer jerks her thum over the bank entrance, which has a large gaping hole, the bank robbers presumably barged in using a tough car or worse, a military issued Humvee. Alo''s face became perplexed, "Huh...that''s...thanks, officer.", he weakly smiles at the still skeptical officer.
"By the way, nocivilians are allowed to enter the scene. We''ve already have too muchwork on our plates. Fucking Quiet Zone.", she leaves the teen alone, going back to her work. Alo just shrugs his shoulders and jogs off to meet up with Richard later on. However, the doctor can just pop out of nowhere around 500 - 1000 meters, which gives him the luxury of heading down to the city of West Viriginia, hopefully meet some nice folk down the road.
Hmm, well it is my cheat day.
He sees a black motorcycle approaching slowly. The leather jacketed driver, who''s wearing a helmet, slides his visor away, "Hey kid, need a ride?" Alo carefully looks at the driver, and for a few seconds of thinking, his jaw hung wide.
"What the - UNCLE?!", he exclaimed in surprise. Basil chuckles as he takes off his helmet conpletely, revealing his aged face with more wrinkles and his hair completely white.
"That''s the face I''ve been waiting for years.Ha-ha-ha!", he laughs as he embraces his cousin and pats his back proudly, still confused as to how he got here. Basil lets go and puts his hands on his waists. "I know, it''s a long story. Let''s talk over at the bar. Drinks on me."
"Ye-Yeah, sure. Thanks!", Alo smiles as he hops on his uncle''s bike and the two rode off to a nearby town.
INT. BAR - 11:30 AM
The two sit down on a table right next to a glass wall. Basil is pouring two mugs with beer and offers one to his cousin. "Here ya'' go. Just the way you like it. Simple and strong.", Alo smirks as he drank half of its contents.
"Thanks, uncle. By the way, how did you get here, I thought you were happy back at Greece.", he initiated the conversation, Basil just chuckles at the question.
"And I still am! But some of my...associates...have given me a job offer here. It''s not the same company your parents went, but I felt bad for them and Tatiana ever since you left without telling.", his face show remorse and lament, but Alo understood that.
"Oh, cool. Speaking of Tati, how is she? Lemme guess, she failed most of her school years?", the uncle sighs irritatingly,
"She''s still the childish runt you know, though she''s learned to grow up eventually. Kids, am I right?", Alo snickers back, and shakes his head. There''s a brief silence between them, the music of the mellow country music and some chatter at the other tables, both guys looking at their drinks, before Basil makes eye contact to Alo, not knowing what''s his life now. "How about you? How did you end up here? Did you go to work or you just, you know, steal?", he obviously emphasized the last word.
Alo curls his lips inward and still glances at the mug, "I, uhh, my friend wanted someone totag alongwith, and he and I scratched each other''s back until we decided to transfer here. It ain''t so bad here, although I need some time to getting used to.", he lied again, to cover up Richard''s identity and his secret powers. He sees Basil and Tati as his family, but there are some secrets a persson cannot share to somebody directly, let alone society as a whole.
Basil nods, but as he was about to reply, his phone rings in his pocket. "Whoops, looks like my guys are there. Guess I''ll catch ya'' later.", he smirks as he answers the call, whilst Alo gives out a two-finger salute to his uncle as he pays the tab and left.
EXT. TOWN - 12:00 PM
Alo roams around the serene town, his hands are in his pockets as he watches ordinary cars passing by the tall pine trees, birds flying in the sky in a V formation, the weather is all fine and dandy. He started making comparisons of the dirty and crowdy areas from his home, to this peaceful lush green environment filled with a pleasing silence.
He turns around the corner to see a normal bookstore, with glass walls at the front. Though Alo isn''t a fan of books, true, he needs tons of information regarding hand-to-hand combat now that he''s going to fight real bad guys like the ones that robbed the Green Bank. But in today''s generation, books are considered null and useless ever since Google decided to replace the hardbound with high-tech softbound copies, in which this case, Alo finds the latter thought confusing rather the former.If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.
Ah screw it, a little lesson wouldn''t hurt.
EXT./INT. - BOOKSTORE - 12:10 PM
He enters the bookstore, the airconditioner hums stagnantly and giving out cold air to cool off his body. He looks around the large shelves of books arranged accordingly to genres and in alphabetical order. He tries looking for some martial arts book or something that involves boxing. Guns are pretty cool, yet to him, nothing beats the old ''one-two''.
So far, there are no copies he found, but he sees a young slender bespectacled woman, presumably in her 20s, wearing what he thinks is a uniform of this store; pink polo-shirt, jeans and peach shoes. She climbs a rickety ladder, bringing a pile of books with her, possibly arranging the new arrivals. He notices the ladder had a few screws loose, but decides to watch the busy woman do her job.
After finishing arranging the books from the top shelf, she slowly climbs down, however, the metal ladder creaks loudly, until it begins to tear itself apart.
"Uh-oh.", it''s what she said, before falling. Yet Alo swoops just in time for him to catch her in his arms. She winces and closes her eyes, but reluctantly opens them to see Alo, giving her a straight look and lets her down, backing off a bit to give her some space. "Thanks for the save, guy. Phew!", she swipes the little sweat from her forehead and tries to avoid eye contact from the customer.
"Have you tried talking to your manager about this?", he glances at the broken ladder. The employee just adjusted herself, "Several times already, but they didn''t care much in this branch, since we''re far away from corporate.", she laughed it off before looking at Alo with a simple smile, "''Least that''s out of the way, what''re you looking for? Some novels? Technical books? Maybe some magazines from Playboy? Don''t ask how we got that last one."
"How ''bout some guidebooks on boxing? Or something that can help me defend myself."
She perks up with the mention of the category,"Oh, well lucky for you, we recently got a bunch of those here. I just - oh.", she looks up to where she climbed up. "It''s up there...", she lets out a grunt and a surrendering sigh. Alo shrugs it off, not letting the girl do anymore work for him. "Hey, it''s alright. I''ll come back tomor -", the clerk stretches her arms and legs, climbing the large shelf steadily and gradually becoming faster and grabs a thick book then throws it down next to Alo on the floor, before jumping down perfectly like a cat.
"- row.", the clerk picks up the book and extends it to the amazed teenager. "Here you go.Championship Fighting: Explosive Punching and Aggressive Defense, book by Jack Dempsey. It''s old but a lot of people recommend this for training."
Alo receives the book but glances at her, "Thanks.How much?", the clerk takes out a notepad then looks at him, "5 dollars and 50 cents.", the two head to the cash registrar, where Alo paid for the book, and smirks at her before leaving. "Before I go, uhh, mind telling me your name?", the clerk is taken aback by the question, but she tells herself its for business'' sake.
"The name''s Johan. Johan Estrada. But around here, people like to call me, ''Jo'' ".", she smiles at the same time, arranging the stuff on her counter, mouthing a phrase "Joe Mama".
"Alo. Joshua Alo. See ya''!", he leaves the store.
"Thanks again! Feel free to stop by!...or something ''cause we''re gonna close later...Damn it...", ruining her first casual conversation with a customer.
EXT. BOOKSTORE
Alo heads back to the headquarters, when somebody whispers his name.
"Alo, over here...", Richard is crouching in an alleyway of the bookstore, hiding from for reasons unknown.
"Richard! What the hell are you -"
"Sssshhhh! The cops saw me in the bank, then I bolted out of there as soon as I can."
Alo is confused, looking around like a lost John Travolta. "I ~ don''t hear any sirens..."
"For now!", Richard quietly screamed, "But I know what the robbers used to break in the vault and how they got out."
"Look, why don''t we discuss this back at HQ, then we can go to the next step. This time I''ll call the cab."
Richard nods stoicly, "Right. Be careful. We don''t know who we can trust.", Richard vanishes away in pixels.
Alo sighs and gazes at the quiet unnamed town.
"Don''t know who we can trust, huh..."
EXT. HOUSE - 8:30 PM
Basil walks along the pavement with his motorcycle, saving up some gas. He squints his eyes to see his front door slightly ajar, he stopped for a moment and observes his house from the outside. There he saw a sole light bulb flickering in the kitchen, yet nobody is there sitting. Basil swallowed timidly before dropping the bike to a nearby fence, and heads to the front door.
The door creaks once he grips the doorknob and enters the house.
INT. KITCHEN
Basil reluctantly walks into the kitchen seeing a suspicious duffel bag on the clean table. As soon as he touches the zipper, a click of a revolver behind his back. Basil didn''t even dare to raise his hands and playing it cool, his eyes are locked on the bag. "What''s this, hm?You said we''re done."
"Yeah, about that...Boss wants something else.", a rough voice replied. Basil breathes in a calm way, "He already got the whole family apart, his shares are my shares, what more could he ask from me?!"
"The daughter...", Basil freeze in terror, now this mysterious boss is now coming for Tatiana. However, Basil turns around, facing the masked thug.
"You know what I said to your "boss"?"
"You''ll handle everything, is that right?"
"Exactly. You can take their property, you can take their happiness, but don''t you EVER take his runts. -",
"Oh, so you don''t want the money, then?", he asks.
"Fuck your money. I just want my skin intact.", the masked man smiles beneath the cover and lowers the gun. "Good choice.", and then takes the bag from the table, leaving the house. Basil sits down the table, regretting his decisions on being responsible for the death Alo''s parents, the blood is still stained on his hands through the years.
He didn''t want to admit to everybody, but he also mourned for them. Then again, it was this client of his that blackmailed him into giving up personal information, which is his entire job and why he is rich in a span of months. And when his client threatened him for Alo''s parents, well...in this reality, its survival of the fittest.
"By the way," the masked man returns to Basil. "Do you know what the boss told me whenever he finishes his dinner?"
"What?"
"He said - ", pulls out a gun and aims at his head. " - no leftovers.", he chuckles and fires all 6 bullets into Basil''s brain, bits and pieces splattered across the kitchen table. His body now slumped on his chair, dead. Right after that, the killer left with the bag.
INT. BASIL''S RESIDENCE - TATIANA''S ROOM - ATHENS, GREECE - MIDNIGHT
Tati sleeps in her household clothes, a common habit from the Philippines, in her bed. The door creaks slowly, letting another masked man enter her room, unnoticed. The masked man takes out a handkerchief with doused with chloroform, it is unclear whether the dosage is lethal or enough to put Tati''s sleep not just one night but two. Maybe three, if they are lucky.
The masked man slowly covers Tati''s nose and mouth, instead of getting the jump on her. He let the scent of the chemical gets closer and closer before the vicitm finally succumbs to the effects. The man presses a lapel in his right ear, "I got the girl. Ready the van."
Chapter 5 - Alone
INT. 2ND FLOOR - LIVING ROOM - 9:00 AM - JULY, 20, 2019
On the table are pictures of vehicles, the Green Bank, weapons the robbers used and the recorded footage from the robbery displayed on the living room TV.
"Okay, so what we;re looking for is a black SUV, that can handle approximately 8.5 million dollars - that''s... 20 - 30 bags - and wheels that can traverse very rough terrain. These guys are smart going off road, but what they don''t got is evidence.", Richard sits down on the couch, he leans forward trying to find anything else from the video footage.
"Evidence?", Alo questions him while squatting down on the clean floor, arranging the evidences Richard took using the photograph system installed within the hologram.
"Not quite. They pretty much knew what they we''re doing. Back in the bank, I rewinded the bank''s security footage; those guys were armed with SCAR-H, M4A1 with silencers, and even C4 Explosives for the vault. Alo, these are not amateurs, they''re ex-military; using kevlar and some other stuff you can find."
"Or they could''ve bought it from a black market dealer. Those rifles and ''other stuff''? Half of those stocks can be found in the Deep Web or Dark Web.", he replies, looking at two sheets of paper before tossing one aside.
"The Deep Web?", the title peaks the doctor''s curiousity.
Alo realizing what he said, turns to Richard using his butt. "Oh right, you were in the 1940s. Okaaay, -", rubbinghis hands, trying to remember his college days,"- there are three layers the internet has as of now; The Surface Web, Deep Web and Dark Web. The Deep Web where private information is stored like government resources, medical records. But what''s really disturbing is the Dark Web, or as I like to call it, ''the real shit'', because here, you can hire hitmen, sell all kinds of weaponry and watch some dude fucking a dead body. I know, it sucks, but here''s the thing;", he stopped for a moment, trying to think of a plan that could make sense to himself and Richard. "If those guys were ex-military, then they would''ve been in contact with some guy who owns a domain in the Dark Web, and in order to get in the Dark Web without being noticed. My plan? We need somebody who can hack inside, so we can track them and figure out what the hell are they doing with that much amount."
"Hack? Oh dear. But modern problems require modern solutions, right?", Alo stifled a laugh to Richard. "What''s funny?"
Alo bit his tongue and looks to Richard with a straight face, "N-Nope. I was just - uh - thinking of something else."
"Right, feel free to go outside. I''m gonna go to the city, maybe those guys left something behind. Worth a shot.", Richard smirks as he teleports away, leaving Alo alone.
"Hmm, maybe the news is on now.", he grabs the remote and presses the on button. On his other hand is a glass of beer.
"I wonder if uncle''s awake now? Gotta call him later.",he happily thought of him, sipping his favorite beer.
"This just in, a 59-year old man has been shot dead in his home at a small town located within West Virginia at midnight.", the anchorwoman spout information about how the victim died and the witnesses, it made Alo rolls his eyes around mentally, but the next report will make him snap, reliving back to his old life of loss. "The man has been identified as Mr. Basil Sanchez - "
Once the anchorwoman uttered his uncle''s name, Alo''s blood went instantlycold and dead, his mind and his heart shut down, hearing is blurry and incoherent. His lips couldn''t move an inch, preventing him from yelling like it was stapled shut. The anger, the hate, it boils within him rapidly, he keeps looking at the dead body of his uncle on live TV, although censored, his eyes had the audacity to remove the pixels.
The glass he held falls down and shatters on the floor, the noise bringing him back to normal.
He grabs his jacket and runs fast to the road to call a taxi.
EXT./INT. RALEIGH GENERAL HOSPITAL - 9:20 AM
The cab stops at the entrance of the Raleigh General Hospital, where the body of Basil is stored atthe morgue. Alo pays the driver, throwing his wallet to him, before bolting to the hospital''s receptionist.
INT. LOBBY
Alo immediately stops right in front of the receptionist, who is shocked as he slams his fist down.
"The body of Mr. Basil Sanchez,NOW!", hisfrantic tonecaught the attention of the patients and staff members alike, all looking at him with skepticism and confusion.
The receptionist shakily grabs the police report on Basil''s corpse. "Uhm, he-he''s at the Morgue. Number #51 - ", Alo got the information he needed and runs to the morgue, not saying a "Thank you" to her, and brushing off anybody who gets in his way.
INT. MORGUE
Alo opens the door violently, seeing a doctor and two officers, one of them was the female officer from the Green Bank. The three stare at him, with the doctor clearing his throat. "Can I help you, sir?"
"Move...", the deep voice was intimidating enough for the three to back off.
Alo closes the door behind him, and walks up to the body of his uncle he loved just like his parents. Sure he cherished his moments with them, but Uncle Basil taught him how to be tough and be all grown-up like him. To him, he was a part of his family. Alo carefully pulls the white sheet, gazing at his pale yet peaceful face. Seconds passed, he covers it back and switches back to a mindless Alo, silently mourning, trying so hard to not let a tear fall down on his cheek as Basil wouldn''t like him crying in front of him.
The doctor and the officers looked at each other in worrisome. The female officer walks a step forward but Alo takes a step back.
"No..."
The officer stays on her position, knowing its disrespectful to interrupt someone''s grief. "Sir, we can he - "
"- It''s fine. I''ll go. Sorry for that, doc.", yet the doctor gave no response to him while leaving the morgue, his head lowered down towards the floor, closing the door behind him. Off-screen, the sky begins to gather around, dimming the area.
INT. BAR - 10:09 AM
The barkeeper pours a glass of beer for Alo, and slides it across the counter, with the sad teen catching it without using his senses.
He gulps the drink down and began to wave his head left and right, a sign of being drunk.
"Hey, buddy. Don''t you think you''re done for the day. Why don''t you pay up?", the bartender demands Alo''s payment, seeing the teen''s already drunk ina cloudy morning.
Alo drunkily waves off the bartender, "Yeah, yeah, I''ll*hic*fucking pay. Hold on a sec*hic*-", then he suddenly feels his pants are lighter than usual. He searches for his wallet, now lost but unknowingly recieved by good hands.
He smiles sheepishly at the bartender, "Ooooh crap, looks like ran out, he-he. Uh, do you mind if you could just put my name on the li -", the man walks up to him, with a not-so friendly smile.
"Listen, pal. I don''t have time for broke people like you. The way I see it, you can cough whatever is you got there, or, we could do the other way around. I worked my ass off for this bar, and I''m not letting any schmuck get away with it. This is a bar, not a sample stand.", now he starts to threaten Alo, ready for his next move. The customers from the other tables watch both of them in silence.
"I''ll pay for it!", a feminine voice came up behind them, cancelling the tension. The bartender glances at the customer, wearing a plain peach shirt, comfortable shorts and a pair of sandals for going outdoors, "He''s actually new and he''s having a hard time jiggering around here. Really sorry.", followed by a nervous laugh.
"Alright, young lady. But be careful, he''s wasted.", the bartender leaves to continue his business. She sighs and glances at the empty bottles Alo drank, though she drinks like any other alcoholic, this guy was on another level of that. "Thanks! I can see that.", she lowered her voice at her last statement.
Whilstling innocently, Johan slowly slides over to Alo, her glass of beer in hand. She tries her best not to make eye contact with him as she clearly just met him yesterday.
"Didn''t expect you to show up here*hic*I read that book by the way, it actually worked*hic*.", the drunk teen stated, with a little bit of slur on his tone. Johan kept looking at her glass on the counter. "Aww ~, thank you. Also, can''t a girl get a glass of scotch once in a while.", she gulps down her drink and winces from the beer''s afterkick. Her expression shifts from happy to mildly irritated.
He glances at her glass idly, "You got that ladder fixed?", Johan places her elbow on the counter as atstand, and massages her forehead, followed by a short cackle. "Even better. They fired me."
"Why? All because of that?"
"I dunno. Didn''t get the proper sales mark, low salary, a broken ladder, or just my personality. Take your pick.", she replied with wit, letting Alo burst out laughing, smacking his fist on the counter 3 times, before stopping.
"What about you? What happened?", she asks him. Alo didn''t respond for a moment, his smile transforms to a frown, looking back on his glass. "My uncle - he, uhh - died last night. Saw it on the news earlier."
"Oh, him? I''m sorry about that.", she takes out her wallet and pays the bartender, now returned from the kitchen then gives a new bottle of scotch for her and Alo. She mouths at the man ''Thank you''.
"Don''t be. It''s just life has a way of taking things. The problem is not how it takes, it''s what it takes from you.", he adjusts in his seat to make his body ache less.
Silence.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.
"You know, I used to be an honor student," she gazes on the shelves that display pristine looking bottles. "One of the top guys at Harvard." she uses her hand as an imaginary level meter.
"Lucky you. What degree did you take?"
She pours a drink for herself and Alo. "Computer Science. If you don''t know what that means, it''s alright. Basically hacking and other boring tech stuff, you wouldn''t get it.", then drank hers in one go.
For him, he takes thedrink and lets the ice block twirl slowly, clinking against the glass, "Then why''s smart gal like you end up here? Shouldn''t you be in a proper company?"
"Yeah, I suppose so. But politics got in the way. And as much as I like this country, its ruled by those corporate assholes. So here I am, jobless. I talked to my parents about it, they...weren''t happy.Said I was bound for success, not happiness. Eugh.", Johan reminiscent of how her family treated like she was the perfect child, though she isn''t the youngest and neither the oldest. She rests her head on the counter, face-first added with an exhausted sigh. "I just want to be who I am. Is it really that so hard to ask?",
Like a baseball bat hitting him in the brain, Alo thought of a risky idea, but Richard wouldn''t like one bit. He leans sidewards on the counter, facing the gal. "I hope you don''t mind but I could use some help.", Johan is skeptical about his proposal."It''s important and it requires your computer skills. No other things, just you and a computer.", in the meantime, Johan is interested, not because it''s another small job, but a small job with her kind of expertise. "Will this be a permanent offer?"
"Only if you choose to stay and help me out all the way, all I''m asking is for you to find the guys that stole the 8.5 million dollars from the Green Bank, plus I kinda wanna who killed my uncle. Do that, I''ll handle the rest myself.", Johan stands up from her chair. "If that''s really important, well, you got yourself a hacker, Mr. Alo.", she heads towards the door, "You still owe me though!", before finally exiting the bar.
Alo smirks by himself, and gets up from the stool, going back to the Headquarters.
EXT. HEADQUARTERS - 1:00 PM
After walking what it seems to be forever, away from the nearest town. Alo and Johan crouches down behind a thick bush. "Okay, what you see here, stays here. Do not tell ANYONE about this, got it?", Johan sincerely nods. Alo opens the bush from the inside, letting Johan look at the huge mansion at the distance. Her appalled expression made Alo snicker. "Yeah, I wouldn''t believe it either. C''mon, maybe he''s home.", Alo gently holds Johan''s hand and approach the courtyard.
But suddenly, Johan felt something off on the ground, "Hey! Did you feel that?!", the two stopped. And abruptly, several Com-Bots bust from the ground, quickly set their sights at Johan, accompanied by rusty turrets which are loaded with laser batteries.
"The hell? I thought I destroyed all of them before!", Alo glances at Johan, now fearing for her life, not preparing to die in the middle of nowhere. "Alo, what''s going on?!"
"VOICE COMMANDOVERRIDE: 000CC1F4!", Richard''s voice rings throughout the forest, the voice triggered the bots and turrets to stand down.
The robots stand in one horizontal line, waiting for further instructions. In a menacing entrance, a serious Richard passes through the aged robots, his hands in his pockets of his lab-coat, walking towards Alo and a frightened Johan. Richard stops in front of the pair, looking at Alo. "Looks like you have a stowaway over there, can I take a look?", his voice is deeper and glitchy, wanting for the threat to be intimidated.
The hologram peeks behind Alo, staring at a frightened Johan. He smiles kindly, "Mind telling me your name, miss?"
"J-J-Johan.", her fear is currently unstable since everything went from 1 to 100 pretty quick. Richard curled his lips inward and nods approvingly, turning back to Alo.
"Is she going to help us?"
"Damn right, she is. So, are you going to let us in or not?", Richard taps his holographic foot on the ground, thinking whether saving the world at the cost of rules or kill her for the sake of seclusion. "Are you seriously going to trust her?"
"C''mon, man, you did the same thing to me, why not her?", the scientist lets out a repulsive groan. "Fine, maybe I could bend the rules a bit.", both of them sigh in safety.
"But it''s okay. If she ever leaves, well, the bots are always here to help.", he threatens them with a smiles and a snap of his fingers. Behind the hologram are the bots going back online, but hovers towards the ground, hiding for other intruders.
"Alright! The two of you, please follow me!", his voice gradually goes to the casual, annoying tone. He hums randomly, which creeps Johan out as she enters the mansion for the first time.
INT. 2ND FLOOR - LIVING ROOM
DING!
The elevator doors open, revealing the living room being used as a briefing room for the Green Bank investigation. Richard teleports to the couch, unwinds himself. "Ahh ~, as you can see by the, numerous papers we have here. I, Doctor Richard E. Goodman, and my associate Alo, have been searching for the criminals that robbed our local bank with 8.5 million dollars. The good news is, we have physical evidence on what are they using to rob said bank. The bad news is, the majority of these evidences are located at what Alo said, ''The Dark Web''.", he mocks Alo using his voice to specify the last bit.
Johan carefully looks at the TV, now playing the security footage. "Sooo ~ you want me trace these clues back to the suspects?"
Richard nods, "Mh-hm. And at the very least, securing our location from other sources, even though this place has been under the radar for centuries.", Johan thinks about the mission, and has a small sneer formed on her face. "Sure, I''ll give it a go. Do you have a computer I can use? Preferably one that is updated."
Richard rapidly blinks his eyes, "Uhh...I - um - this is not -", while Alo is at the kitchen, glaring at him. "Richard."
"SHUSH, WILL YOU?!", he is genuinely irritated by Alo, especially topics about his past, his mission and the headquarters itself. He motions his vision to Johan, who is still waiting for an answer. "We - I mean, I have a computer...but, I''m not sure if you got what it takes to use it efficiently."
Johan crosses her arms sassily, "Mh-hm?".
INT. 5TH FLOOR - RICHARD''S ROOM / CENTRAL COMMAND -
DING!
Just as the elevator doors opened, a gust of extremely cold air passes through the two, sending shivers around their bodies. "J-J-J-Jesus, Richard. Why it is so cold? And dark?"
"You''ll see why.", Richard dissipates into pixels and for three seconds, thefluorescent strip lights turns on around the cold room. What they see is the dream of every programmer and every sci-fi enthusiast, and Johan has the honors of using it, personally.
"Ho - lee -"
"- Summit.", Johan couldn''t believe, she starts to laugh maniacally as she carefully approaches a towering metal block, attached with hundreds of wires, connected to another hundreds of the same metal block, all lined up properly. "I''m touching, a supercomputer. A. FUCKING. SUMMIT. SUPERCOMPU - HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! OH MY GOD, THIS IS THE BEST DAY EVER!", she proceeds to yell happily despite the negative 16¡ãC(which is equivalent to 3.2¡ãF).
Alo is mesmerized, roaming around the room of Richard, which is technically, not a room for himself. "What is all this?", Richard appeared before him, leaning on a metal block.
"A high-end supercomputer, courtesy fromthe Mr. Watson himself. Ralph and him partnered up when forming theIBMtoday, and bestowed a supercomputer here as a way of saying thank you. I know you haven''t fully explored the areas around the mansion, but the rest will be kept later on. But for now -" he spreads his arms in a welcoming manner.
"- Welcome to Central Command. Our new briefing room; complete with a big whiteboard over there.", he points at the left side of the area, where a large circular table with ergonomical chairs, adjacent to the table is the board. ", and the teleporter, which I actually used to get from here to Greece, it reads the data from Google Maps so you don''t have to input coordinates from a certain location.", then points at the right side, seeing a visible inactive teleporter that looks similiar to what the Avengers used in Endgame albeit medium-sized and can fit 4-6 people only. He chuckles as he catches up to Johan.
Alo is still confused around the mansion. Who was this Ralph guy? How did he manage to get everything from the 21st Century during the 1940s? Is it because of the crystal''s power? Or is it just his supreme intelligence, which is very unlikely.
On the other hand, a crouching Johan is busy touching the wires of the supercomputer perversly, the thick smooth insulation cover made her weak at her knees, but there is much more than just servers and wires. No, she must search for the computer itself.
She gets up and found a collective amount of huge monitor surrounded by medium-sized monitors, like every sci-fi movie ever. "Oh, baby ~". She heads to the main control and sits down a simple office chair, her hands gently placed on the keyboard.
"You like it?"
"I love it. Now, the evidence.", Alo brings the paperwork on the desk. Johan takes a sheet, looking at the plate number of the getaway vehicle. "Hmm, this one''s safe to get.", then Johan opens the TOR, which is again according to Wikipedia,''Torisfree and open-source softwarefor enablinganonymous communication. The name is derived from an acronym for the original software project name "The Onion Router".[10][11]Tor directs Internet traffic through a free, worldwide, volunteeroverlay networkconsisting of more than seven thousand relays[12]to conceal a user''s location and usage from anyone conductingnetwork surveillanceortraffic analysis.''
Richard turns back to the elevator, while Alo is wrapping his arms around himself to keep warm. "Welp, you two get comfy in here, I''ll make sure nobody founds us. Just tell me if you -"
"- Found it.", Richard slowly turns back to Johan in a comedic fashion. "Wut?", Alo also glances at Johan. "Y-You found it? Already?"
Johan just stared at the two stoicly, "You tell me.", she programs the monitors (including the giant one) to display the exact car from the bank robbery, with the same plate number.
Richard stares at in disbelief, "There it is. Black SUV, heavy duty off-road wheels.", he goes to Johan. "Who owns it?", Johan clicks on the profile, and moves backward. "Mr. Keith Schmidt. Corrupt businessman, black market dealer and I wonder why the cops never arrested him for this; Human Trafficking. He was also arrested for manslaughter in the 3rd Degree, but he later was released several months back.", the doctor and the brawler cringe at the target''s previous criminal acts.
The monitor switches to Keith''s mugface during his time in prison.
"Of course, it''s always the fatbastard that''s the bad guy.", Richard jeered. "What ever happened to creativity?", he glances at Alo, noticing his surprised face. "You alright, Joshua?"
Alofeels a sudden chill ran down on his spine. "Shit, it''s him. The guy at the bar!"
Johan peaks over the computer monitor, "Fat lard? This state is famous for it''s skinny hilly-billies, no offense, but I don''t know about fat lards."
Alo shooks his head, his starts to mess his hair in a panicking state, "No! I meant the guy I beat up back at Greece few days ago. Oh God, if he killed Basil, then maybe he''ll come for Tati. SHIT! This is all my fault -"
Richard walks up to him, "Now, hold on. It is NOT your fault, okay? You had your shot at putting him down, now here''s your second chance? Remember to stay calm - "
Alo snaps at Richard, having enough of his weird lessons, "FUCK YOUR CALM BULLSHIT! THIS GUY MURDERED ALMOST ALL OF MY FAMILY AND THELAST THING THAT I WANT HIM TO DO IS KILLING MY GODDAMN SISTER!" his emotions consumed him for a moment,about to punch a server block, but Johan gets herself in the way, giving a bruise on her cheek, putting her down, along with her glasses. Alo realizes what he had done, steps back from Johan.
She picks up her eyeglasses, and puts it back on then stands up to face him. Her cheerful side is no longer there. "Just so we''re clear...if you keep on being a manchild, then you''re basically a disappointment to your family you so desperately want to avenge. So, ZIP IT!",Alo, speechless and overwhelmed,lowers his fist in shame, and leaves the Central Command. A front shot a depressed Alo enters the elevator alone, as the doors close, a faint sob can be heard along with the movement of the shaft.
Richard metaphorically wipes his digital sweat from his digital forehead. "Thank you for - "
"- I did it for the computer.", she cuts him off rudely.
"Oh, right.", he clears his throat, moving on the next segment, "Well, this "Keith" fella sure has contacts, let''s do a little snoop - ".
Johan types hastily, "No can do. What''re we desk jockies? I''m tracking his location down so all this "investigation" crap is over. By the way, am I getting paid for this?"
Richard completely forgot about her payment, sure he has money, but he''s keeping it just in case when he has to go some other country without the use of the teleporter. "Uhh, I''m working on it.", he lied.
Chapter 6 - Favor (FINALE - PART 1)
EXT. FIVE-STAR HOTEL - ROOFTOP - GREECE, ATHENS - JULY 20, 2019 - 4:00 PM
Same things never change back in Athens, the lights around the city glow altogether, seeing it like starts on the ground pair it with the howling cold wind makes it more relaxing. Keith Schmidt earned this, he really did. It was a small celebration party in a bar, him dressed in his best, his men were enjoying their time, until that brat came in. Yeah, he ruined the entire party, single-handedly beated them, but it was just one child. Despite he sliced two of his best men''s balls, he clearly realized that kid was the one who''s parents were murdered on a business trip. However those minor setbacks won''t be a problem as the fat lard stands near the edge of the rooftop, smiling evily. His one hand in his pocket; the other is holding a cellphone. He dials a phone number, and waits for an answer. For a moment there was a brief static that was incoherent to hear.
"We got the money.", Keith replies boastfully.
The static comes in again,
"You saw those photos I sent you, right? The looks on their faces?", he chuckles at whatever he''s thinking.
The static is back for a third time.
The response made Keith narrows his eyes confoundly, "What? No, of course not. But I have added a bonus for you. Let''s say I did a little work on my own.", And lastly, the noise cuts off for several seconds, like a cryptic sentence.
"Yes, you will like her. Thank you very much. I''ll see you at the airport later." He smiles politely while ending the call.
A thug wearing a military outfit comes at him. An M4A1 assault rifle is slung behind his back, along with several mags around his waist.
"Boss?", the man called him.
Keith''s smile disappeared and faces the man. "Is everything ready?", the man just nodded in a second.
"All set. The bags are full and the boys are taking their time with her. Should be able to quiet her down on our way to the airport. If all goes wrong, our ammo is good for 30 cops max.", he summarized and heads to the door leading down inside the building.
"Good. I''ve had enough problems to deal with.", he said with relief. "But boss, what about that kid? What if he comes back?", Keith turns back to him,
"What? And slice your balls the second time? Don''t make me laugh, son. He''s just a brat.", Keith exits the rooftop, even the heavy footsteps echoed from inside can be heard clearly from here.
INT. HEADQUARTERS - ALO''S ROOM - 4:20 PM
Alo covers his face with a white fluffy pillow, lying on hisnow messy bed. Regretting his brash self for endangering his little sister''s life and blames himself for the death of his beloved uncle. The airconditioner hums quitely inside his room, but it wasn''t helping at all. The lights are dimmed to set his depressing mood.
I might as well leave, while I still can. Richard can probably use Johan as my replacement.
Alo gets back up, not even surprised to see Richard, squatting down as if he feels the cold floor. His back is completely backed against the wall, his eyes are locked on the floor.
"What do you want?", he asks the hologram with sadness.
The doctor stares at him with pity and just smiles at him, "I thought you might need some company."
"Fuck off.", that reply made Alo even worse, everybody has said the same lines over and over and over and over again, and it didn''t help him, not one bit. Right now, he doesn''t even care if someone just kept spouting hopeful quotes, it''s easier said than done, as they say.
Richard sighs longingly, "My parents left when I was a young boy no higher than your knee. Had my relatives take care of me for a long time. Going fishing, touring around America''s greatest landmarks, and eating at the parks full of happy families that don''t even care of the war that brewed behind them miles and miles away. Unlike mine, who had to go to support and fight."
"Until the news of their death reached my house. You know how it is.", he snickers and looks at the nature through the glass wall. "Gerald and Clarissa. Hmph. I still remembered their names etched on their gravestones. And how they smiled whenever they arrived from work."
Alo, wanting to hear the rest of the story, pays attention to Richard, sitting on the bed. "How did they die?"
Richard didn''t want to remember any of his memories, which is why the only reason why he is cryptic regarding the history of the mansion, and most importantly, the ominous crystal itself that passes on from host to host. "Gerald died from a failed experiment, the military didn''t even bother to save his works, just abandoned them for the German Nazis to make more weapons."
"Not so soon after, Clarissa committed suicide in her office building. She wished for a happy family. But who could blame her, she was naive after all. Reports says she jumped off from the room and shattered her skull, while Dad...he...he was...", Richard tries his best not to glitch out.
Around Richard is static that covers around his body, a sign of negative emotions running through the system, which it does not comprehend human feelings. Richard didn''t speak for a moment.
"... he was melted...down to the last tissue and bone. If your family died by the guns, imagine if they died far worse than mine did. You can imagine me shouting at the top of my lungs, holding my mum''s dead body and seeing my Dad''s liquefied form inside a glass jar. And at that point, it made me go for revenge, eventually I met the one who''s responsible for everything."
"And? What did you do to him?", Alo leans forward, eager to know about Richard''s past, or at least, a chunk of it.
Richard outright smiles at Alo innocently, "I let him go...",
That answer made Alo scream mentally at Richard''s actions. Sure the guy knows what he''s doing, but he''s clearly haven''t tried revenge in its core, to Alo, it''s illogical for someone to deny that life is unfair and the only way to deal with it is to fight back until it goes your way.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
"Of course, I know what you''re thinking. The guy was a chief of my Dad, a higher-up. He ordered him to create that experiment. The blood and, techincally his fluids, were on his hands. And I just let him go for it.", he pauses for a moment.
"Like I said, I was your age, I never knew what''s the feeling of getting back at someone, especially that turned your whole life upside-down.", he chuckles sheepishly. Then his smile changes to a distressed frown. His hologram structure begins to glitch on and off, another sign of negative emotions, albeit a little more stronger than earlier. "Because everytime you think about those kinds of memories, it strays you from who you really are. And that''s...", the glitch begins to take over his body, starting from his heart. "...utterly terrifying."
Richard wearily stands up on his feet, images of him moving erratically and mismatched colors can be seen visually, similar to the scary glitch effects of DDLC (Doki Doki Literature Club). His grunts are now distorted, his voice also changing to a deep, out of pitch, tone.
"I imagined myself, looking like a meager delinquent, holding a rusty, yet bloodied shiv, losing my mind as I wait
andwait.???a???n???d???w???a???i???t???a???n???d???w???a???i???t???a???n???d???w???a???i???t???a???n???d???w???a???i???t???a???n???d???w???a???i???t???A???N???D???W???A???I???T???A???N???D???W???A???I???T???A???N???D???W???A???I???T???A???N???D???W???A???I???T???A???N???D???W???A???I???T???A???N???D???W???A???I???T???A???N???D???
???
??? ???
???
???W???A???I???T???A???N???D???W???A???I???T???A???N???D???W???A???I???T???A???N???D???W???A???I???T???A???N???D???W???A???I???T???A???N???D???W???A???I???T???A???N???D???W???A???I???T???A???N???D???W???A???I???T???A???N???D???W???A???I???T???A???N???D???W???A???I???T???A???N???D???W???A???I???T???A???N???D???W???A???I???T???
???
??? ???
???
???-??? ???f???o???r??? ???s???o???m???e???b???o???d???y??? ???t???o??? ???K???I???L???L???,??? ???a???s??? ???I??? ???e???A???t??? ???L???i???V???e??? ???r???A???t???S???a???n???d??? ???S???M???O???T???H???E???R???E???D??? ???O???N??? ???P???I???L???E???S??? ???O???F??? ???S???H???I??? ???I??? ???I??? ???I??? ???I??? ???I??? ???I??? ???I??? ???I??? ???I??? ???I??? ???I??? ???I???T???!??? ???-??? ???I???T???!??? ???
???
???-??? ???I???T???!??? ???
???
???-??? ???I???T???!???
???
???-??? ???I???T???!???
???
???-??? ???I???T???!???
???
???-??? ???I???T???!???
???
???-??? ???I???T???!???
???
???-??? ???I???T???!???
???
???-??? ???I???T???!???
???
???-??? ???I???T???!???
???
???-??? ???I???T???!???
???
???-??? ???I???T???!???
???
???-??? ???I???T???!???
???
???-??? ???I???T???!???
???-??? ???I???T???!???
???-??? ???I???T???!???
???-??? ???I???T???!???
???-??? ???I???T???!???
???-??? ???I???T???!???
???-??? ???I???T???!???
???-??? ???I???T???!???
Much like the Blue Screen of Death, Richard glitches out of the hologram system, then comes back seconds later his hologram color went back to normal, however Richard''s cheerful side did not for the time being. "I''ll go check on our hacker, see if she''s found Keith''s location."
"Richard, I -", Alo was about to say something before the hologram disappears before him, without even looking directly.
INT. CENTRAL COMMAND
Richard comes back in the Central Command room, seeing Johan impatiently tapping her fingers on the desk. He approaches her, clearing his throat along the way to catch her attention. "Any leads?"
Johan, in turn, looks at the doctor, "Yeah, and it''s a big one. Check this out.", she clicks on an audio file and plays it for Richard to hear. As soon as the recording ends, Johan goes to Google Maps and collect the information of the recording to locate it''s source. "The call is originating from a five-star hotel in Athens. Based from what I heard, Keith''s already got the money from the Green Bank, thanks to his bank account. He also has a hostage and lotta men with a lotta guns. It''s gonna be a massacre at the airport."
Richard tries to think further on the recording, "What about the other caller? Did you found out who it is?", Johan frowns on her desk, moderately bothered.
"Nope. Caller''s using a new kind of voice synthesizer. God, I hate those things!", she crosses her arms and huffs. Richard nods cordially, in spite of the unfavorable response.
"It''s alright. The problem is how stop Keith from killing all those people and get away without a scratch.", he starts to pace around the desk, thinking of a solution to this problem but all possible ways leads to a bad outcome. Johan could send the information to the police on that country, but that would risk their location being found, and this whole "saving the world" will be nothing but mainstream entertainment. Not only that, he has only two people on his group, sending a group is a plausible plan, yet one is plain suicide.
His thoughts are halted when the elevators suddenly opened itself, accompanied by heavy footsteps.
"I''ll do it."
Richard and Johan see Alo, wearing a dark blue hoodie jacket, thick pants, and hard boots. Alo''s determined look made Richard instantly knows what''s his plan is. and the doctor, who just thought of every possible way is a bad idea, immediately disagrees.
The hologram maldy walks up to him, "Oh ho ho ho NO!, you''re NOT going anywhere! Keith has goon soldiers - "
" - They''re amateurs...They probably don''t know where the safety mode is. - ", Alo replies with no concern.
"You barely even mastered your powers - ", Richard retorted, knowing the brawler has only acquired one or two skills that involves offensive capabilities, as for the defensive? Not so much.
Alo raises 3 fingers to specify his counter statement, "- I destroyed 3 groups of deadly robots that survived decades ago with a few punches. - "
Richardthinks of something, then finally concluded of a situation, the teen couldn''t answer, "The public eyes will SEE you! - ".
"Then? I''ll get rid of them if I have to. Just pretend it was collateral damage.", It was his turn to be appalled by Alo,givinghim a disgusted look. This is a different Alo he''s seeing. No longer the lazy violent drunkard that he is before, but a developed, powerful yet vengeful man.
"I''m giving you a choice here, either you let me sneak me to Greece with that teleporter, or I could expose myself to everybody by buying a plane ticket.", Alo finally does an ultimatum for the doctor to choose.
Richardlets out a long exasperated sigh, "Okay. But for both of our sake''s, don''t die out there. The teleporter has already been activated, all you need is the coordinates for the airport.
Alo paid no heed to Richard''s advice, confident of his electrifying powers andhis thirst for revenge hasbeen pushed to the limit, he then takes out his phoneand types in the latitude and longitude of Keith''s location on the keyboard of the control panel. Once done, the teleporter glows in bright blue and Alo quickly steps on the platform. He glances at Richard, who frowns and looks somewhere else, presumably doubtful on Alo''s revenge quest, whilst Johan is surprised to see a real working teleporter and watches as Alo disappears to nothing but pixels much like Richard disappears in his hologram form.
Johan watches Richard going to a server block with a blank face, "So, that''s it?".
Richard heads to a server block, looking for something, "Yep."
"Not to jinx or anything, but he''''s going to die out there.", Johan tries to convince Richard to do something, yet stating the obvious isn''t going to help.
"Yep.I can only do so much within a 1000 radius.", saying the same answer, still looking around the server blocks of the supercomputer until he stops at one far from Johan''s line of sight. "Besides,", he takes something that glows brightly similar to Alo''s gauntlets, " - I''m not going to stop him.", he peeks over at her with a reassuring smile. "You will."
Johan unconsciously opens her mouth, now looking like the "Surprised Pikachu Face" meme, "What..."
Richard, despite being a hologram, he holds a piece of the crystal that Alo has and carefully places it on the desk of the supercomputer. "Mrs.Estrada, I understand you have no idea what our goals are or how do we manage to exist with little to no contact. But I would like to ask a personal favor from you...along with a proposition.
Johan tries to piece everything together, and gazes at him suspiciously. "You planned this one, did you?". He just freely laughed at her.
"What can I say? I always. ALWAYS. Have contigencies."
Chapter 7 - Destiny (FINALE - PART 2)
EXT. BASIL''S RESIDENCE - 4:59
At the front gate of the now empty residence of his home, a bright light flashes in the middle of the road, and one second passed, a person exits the bright light, stepping foot to the real world. Alo gazes at the house with remorse can still remember the police sirens rang at their front gate, closing his eyes.
He remembers how his uncle reacted to the bitter news, and Tati crying as she went back to her room in a tantrum. He remembered how he ran away from there and went on his own path, with hopes of being successful. Oh how wrong he was. He opens his eyes again, and takes a deep breath before going inside to search for his sister, or better yet her whereabouts.
But before that, he sees an old man staring at him stupefied by what happened.
"Is somebody there?", the teen kindly questions him. The old man shook his head as a speechless response. Alo nods a little as a sign of appreciation, then heads inside. He opens the front gate, hearing the tiny screech of the friction between two rusty metals.
INT. BASIL''S RESIDENCE - TATIANA''S ROOM
For an abandoned house, the things were pretty organized. There are minor objects that fell down on the floor. THe bedsheets were scattered all over, and the windows are open, letting the wind inside her room. However those last two observations clearly speaks for itself; Tatiana was kidnapped in her sleep. While investigating, Alo accidentally steps on a picture frame.He stops for a moment and picks it up, taking a closer look.
The picture was him and his family back in the 1990s, they were in the middle of Osmena Boulevard, behind them was the famous Osmena Fountain, along with other people, having picnics on the grass. He thought of the simpler times, back when everybody lived in peace and not filled with gray buildings and polluted air. He sees his little self, acting all grumpy beside his happy-go-lucky little sister. Despite losing almost everything he has, it warms his heart for a little, but that moment will have to be cherished later on.
For he has a fat lard to rip open.
Alo removes the picture from its frame and keeps it inside his jacket. He turns to the garage, see if Basil left something useful for him to use against Keith.
INT. GARAGE
The place was like the bedroom, intact. But Basil''s bright red Hummer is stationed, waiting to be used. Unfortunately, the real owner couldn''t make it, so he''ll have to hijack it for his own use; Thank God for reckless driving. Observing the amount of dust on the outside, Basil wasn''t able to clean it when he was away for America, yet he takes a peek inside.
The seats are clean and polished, some useless crap on the backseat along with cardboard boxes. He didn''t care about the contents anyway, all he ever wanted to use was already within him. He tries to open the driver''s seat but it''s locked, presumably from a remote. Considering the little amount of time he has, finding the remote is not advisable. Instead, he takes a wire hanger, a screwdriver for later, and a piece of yarn from a shelf full of junk behind the car, and combines them as a makeshift "slim jim", a tool that is commonly used for carjacking, its small and has a high chance of breaking, including the car''s locking mechanism, yet it''s reliable once the person has the right timing and the perfect precision.
He opens the car and checks around the back, but to no avail, there wasn''t any object that could help him. He checks the fuel gauge of the car, still enough to go for one more trip to the airport. But before that, he''s curious once he caught his eye on the compartment, he hesitantly opens it, seeing a piece of paper. The scent was old but the texture was smooth. Probably because this is a high-quality paper. He takes a closer look, surprised to see his name on it.
A letter from Basil to him? Did he made this before he died? Or was this another person?
He opens the letter and definitely suspected the handwriting: It was his uncle''s. It read:
Alo,
This note''s for you, boy. I''ll start off with a confession. A confession I''m sure you''ll regret meeting me in the first place. Years ago, I used to work with a man named Keith Schmidt. He''s a liar, a cheater and a stone-cold killer. He killed your parents with the information he stole from me.
You could say I was also responsible for their deaths; and you''re right. I''m also one of them. But that doesn''t mean I''m not dying or leaving without leaving my mark. I want that sonuva'' bitch dead, I want his dripping entrails hung all over Greece, to see that people like him will suffer the same.
I know this satisfy you as for me, but this is not for the both of us. It''s for them. Especially for your family. I left a gift along the way. Make it count.
- Uncle Basil
He moves the note aside, uncovering a Snubnosed .44 revolver, with 6 bullets already loaded into it. With Keith''s men armed to the teeth, its only fair he''ll take it with him, holstering the gun behind his back. He moves below the steering wheel (the steering column), for a few minutes he managed to hotwire the steering column, drilling the lock-pins with his meat-hunks (hands) and powering the dash. He revs up the engine, rumbling with glee.
EXT. BASIL''S RESIDENCE
The vehicle breaks out from the garage door, causing slight damage to the hull. However, this is the part where he won''t have second thoughts about this. Drifting and speeding around the streets, he drives to the airport, disobeying the speed limit, which he also accidentally knocked off.
EXT. - AIRPORT
A limousine parks at the drop-off area which is not allowed according to the airport''s guidelines. A guard armed with a compact pistol sees the disobeyer and approaches the vehicle.
He couldn''t see the guys behind the black glass which prevent from seeing who are the other people on the back seat, so he heads to the driver''s seat. He then knocks politely on the thick window. The window slider lowers down, looking at one of the guys Alo beat up at the bar before. The two exchange shady glances before the officer decides to speak up.
"Sir, I''m gonna have to ask you to park somewhere else.", he warns him, his vision remains unfazed and on alert. The driver pretends in accidental surprise in response.
"Oh sure, lemme just - ", he goes to get something behind him and pulls out a gun in his hand, and without a second thought, pulled the trigger and blows the brain out of that poor guard. The body slumps on the car, but the driver kicks it away with disgust.
The sound of a mere gunshot triggered everyone''s fight or flight response, and also alerting the nearby security on their current location.
The driver leans back to Keith, still wearing his suit from the rooftop and beside him is a quiet, yet mortified Tatiana, wearing a sleek gimp suit of all things, showing it off to the public all for Keith''s entertainment. Well, not public per se, since it''s starting to become a hostile ground, nobody has the guts to video when they are in this kind of danger. And pray to God those police officers better shoot accurately than Stormtroopers.
"Coast''s clear, boss.", he grinned.
Hearing the clarification, Keith takes out his revolver and holds a leash connected to Tati, giving her a little strong tug to know who''s in-charge. "Okay, out! Out! OUT!", the thugs grab their assault rifles and walk towards the airport along with their boss and their plaything. Once outside, Keith drags her around like a cargo bag, the suit barely protects her from scraping against the rough ground.
Twofrom the side area arrive and about to take position, when they are killed by Keith himself with his revolver. He turns to his heavily armed men, obviously they didn''t catch that since they weren''t actually ex-military, they were just a bunch of disgruntled men who forgot their training or just left the academy out of spite "Seriously? You all got the guns?! What am I even paying you for?!", he shakes his head in dismay, heading in first.
Behind them are 5 more units approaching them, but the soldier-goons dispatched them in coordination, eating Keith''s words out of his mouth but the boss already went inside and like the goons they are, they catch up to him.
INT. - LOBBY
Three guards rush to the enemy and the two provide time for the last one to radio in behind a ceramic wall used for cover. Keith sees them and had no time to aim, so he pushes Tatiana down on the floor and crouches to get him some cover. Also the grunts entered the airport and finally did something that made Keith appreciate them; shooting everywhere else to strike fear and not give the enemy a chance to move out. Keith lets go of the leash and reloads his revolver with special rounds, what kind of special round specifically, it is unknown.
The third officer radioes in for reinforcements from any nearby police stations or any patrols heading to the airport.
"To any nearby units, requesting immediate back-up inside the airport! There are - ", he peeks over seeing over 10 men shooting at them and heads back to cover, " - 9 or 10 of them. Requesting back-up no - ", the order was cut short thanks to a bullet that pierced the ceramic wall.
Through the hole where the bullet came, Keith loaded his bullets with some kind of armor-piercing rounds for a revolver. The two guards are also dead by the hands of the goons.
Keith lazily holsters his gun and grabs the leash again, but he turns to his men. "You heard the dead man, let''s get goin''!", they pick up the pace, hoping to get out with their heads, and their rewards, okay.
INT. HALLWAY
A group of security barricaded their way against the path towards the airfield via a catwalk, assuming the criminals are heading out of the country to escape and lay low. Their senses are heightened and prepare to engage the threat, but they weren''t prepared for two metal balls dropping behind them. One guard saw it and jumps away, "GRENADE! - "
KABOOM!
KABOOM!
And just like that, the whole position was compromised, within the rubble and dust, the rest of the guards gather around and open fire at Keith''s men. Fortunately, they were able to bring down two of the 10 men, but like the rest of the guards earlier, they are dispatched in return.
Keith sees his dead men and shrugs it off, "The lesser, the better. We''re almost there, boys! We''re gonna be home free!", the group left their corpses as they walk to the catwalk.
INT. CATWALK
The group can see the airfield but not the jet itself, and immediately think inside their heads are their greedy dreams and fallacious fantasies that result in getting of the country, not noticing the situation they''re in, and Keith is no exception. He thinks about living the life out of the grid, have women by his side, millions of boozes and everything man could ever dream of.
However, mid-way in the middle in the catwalk, one of the goons sees something in the distance and miliseconds after, backs off in shock, "CAR! - ", alas, the warning was late catching them off-guard and give Keith''s group one hell of an instant karma.
The guy who yelled got hit by the front, full force, knocking him out of the catwalk then falls to his demise, splattering his skull out on the ground. Coincidentally, this is one of Keith''s side-plans; to take all the money for himself. Keith and his men had a brief stare-off, before Keith mouthing ''Sorry'' at them, pretending to be pitiful and be sorry for them. The fat lard turns back on his men, leaving them trapped between a burning debris and the entire Greek police force breathing down their necks.
One of them, at least with a logical sense, breaks the window on his left with the butt of the rifle, paving a new way for the other goons. But as he was about to jump out, from the off-screen, a burning windshield sliced the man in half sideways, his body slowly splits into two, spilling out slightly burnt internal organs like his intestines and his mouth gurgling blood.
His upper fell down on the bloody floor, though the lower half is dangling on the edge of the catwalk, dripping blood immensly.
The rest are down to 7 looking back at the burning car and what they are looking is right out of low-budget movie flick. A person exits the car via driver''s seat, then stands tall and proper, his fists clenched tightly. Small area around his clothes are burning, eating the cloth away like a forest fire, along with his skin, charred but not too charred to see his skin tone.
One of the thugs got beat up by Alo, recognizes the blue jacket and his whole brain went gaga in fear. The teen takes a step forward, shaving off the burned pieces from his body. The rest them aimed their rifles but during their way here, they we''re already empty, taking out their pistols instead. They fire potshots at him, though Alo has one last trick up his sleeves besides electro-gauntlets and an area of effect that shoots out bolts of thunder.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
Before the bullets could even hit him, he manifests something from his fists and spreads his arms wide open, making the goons question what is literally happening. Between them is a big, bright blue electric barrier able to fry machines, projectiles and people alike. How he does it is similar to how Doctor Strange summons his portal and how Barik [Paladins: Champions of the Realm] deploys his own barrier.
"What...THE FUCK!?", the second goon couldn''t believe what he was seeing, and continues to shoot mindlessly at the seemingly impenetrable forward shield. Much to their chagrin, the bullets didn''t even come close into contact, deflecting them with tiny sparks, one bullet managed to ricochet to the shooter''s arm, grunting in pain.
Alo raises his head a bit, glaring daggers at the three. "My turn...", he steps back and exerts a powerful punch to his shield to the enemies like an Earthbender. Just as the barrier passes the goons by, they''re quickly electrocuted in their places, with the third and last one, the same goon who took Tatiana in her sleep, helplessly falls down on the floor, begging for mercy.
The teen walks up to him, looking down on him like some god that despises his creation. Alo crouches down to him, grabs his throat, and rips his voice box out, letting the goon scream like that one private in George Romero''s 1983 ''Day of the Dead'', his girlish yet gruesome yell made the others shiver in fear and agony. Bloodflew far within the catwalk, gushing out everywhere.
On the other hand, the two manage to resist the pain and takes out their own guns, aiming on Alo''s head, then again, it failed as two arrows from nowhere went through their heads and chests. The bodies drop dead, killing all of Keith''s men.
Alo glances at the shooter, only to be in gradual awe.
Johan waves casually at him, her appearance differs to her normal outfit. She has proper armor that covers her entire body because sleeveless to no armor only worsens the chance of survivability. Her quiver, arrows and her black longbow ominously glitches on and off, much like Alo''s power, but its not standard neon-green from the Matrix, but neon-pink.
"Now you owe me, again.", she parkours her way to Keith and Tati, showing her enhanced agility.
Alo shakes his head furiously, back to his senses. "Damn it, Richard.", he moves out again, following her.
EXT. RUNWAY
They are now outside on the runway. "There he is!", Johan points out on the far side of the airfield is a private jet waiting, and along with it, is Keith and Tatiana heading there with the former now in a panicking state.
Alo gazes at Tatiana, wearing a gimp suit. His eye twitches violently and turns to a nearby truck. "C''mon! I''ll drive!", Johan nods in return and follows him.
The driver was covering down for his life, hearing several gunshots and explosions for the past several minutes. The driver door was providing him some cover before someone rips it out with ease. He jolts up to see the intruder, only to find two teenagers.
"Keys.", the driver tosses the keys to the young man and pushes them aside, now running away to the opposite direction. Johan goes to the front seat whilst Alo revs the truck andraces to Keith.
Meanwhile Keith is sweating hard, carrying whatever he can with his bare hands. He didn''t care the bag was open thus leaving a trail of US Dollars in his path. As for the slave, well, she will be dealt with once this all blows over. He can now see the jet and a timid gleam on his face, before hearing what it seems to be a kind of vehicle.
He glanced behind him, "Ah, fucking kids!", he curses and drops the money and the leash connecting to Tatiana, pulls out his revolver and fire desperately at the truck, as long as it hits one of them.
One of the bullets hit the tire slowly losing air over time, however the two teens already perceived this and got out of the truck. Johan turns to Alo."I''ll go get Tatiana! It''s all on you!", she said before shifting directions.
Alo locks onto Keith and runs superbly fast, (though not as fast as Usain Bolt) almost reaching the jet. Keith holsters his gun and climbs the rail of the jet and heads inside, and immediately close the only door for him to enter. The jet gets ready for take off, moving forward to gain some speed.
Alo yells, "LITTLE HELP?!", still running to the jet. Johan looks at the plane already taking off, but the fat lard won''t be getting away that easy. She takes an arrow from her quiver, and carefully aims at the left jet engine. The arrow is glitching bright pink, foreshadowing a secret payload. Holding her breath, she releases the arrow and landed right where she wanted it to be.
INT. JET - COCKPIT
"Take us outta here now! - ", Keith pants heavily between his words, just closed the entrance, feeling safe and comfortable.
"I - I can''t!", the pilot tries to stabilize the vehicle, though it''s flying, they will crash one way or the other.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU CAN''T?!?", Keith exclaimed in rage. He moves his eyes over to the gauges and the control panel, all blinking madly for no reason. This is hopeless, everything was ready for him. Yet the sheer incompetence of his men, the brat that returned for revenge and his insatiate ego for wealth and women.
Suddenly, a loud thud can be heard inside the jet. The fat lard and the pilot went silent, with the former going back to the passenger cabin.
INT. JET - CABIN
Keith opens the door to the cabin, when suddenly Alo busts in, closing the door behind him from the air pressure. Keith growls in anger heads to a shelf, displaying several golden, yet rather sturdy trophies. Alo ganders at his weapons and scoffs at it, then summons his electric gauntlets, surprising Keith in the process. However, the troublemaker won''t open his mouth, possibly thinking multiplie ways to kill him gruesomely.
"Nice trick, brat...now get off MY FUCKING JET! RRAGGH!", he charges at him full speed.
Just a few inches away, from him, Alo sidesteps casually and uses his left foot to trip him down, causing him to fall, but the weight of Keith pushes the jet downward right away, losing his balance.
Keith gets up rather quickly and bashes Alo with the trophies in succession, but Alo hits back with a sharp kick in the gut, followed by Keith''s vomit, which is probably full of digested food. Lucklily Alo dodges it and pushes Keith towards his own vomit. The teen gets up and takes a step back, still feeling dizzy by the fat lard''s petty hits.
The fat lard gets up again, taking advantage of Alo''s recovery break, he drops the trophies, grabs him by the collar of his burned jacket and leads to the exit door, getting rid of him while he still has the chance. Keith grabs the lever and takes a last close look of his beaten up face.
"It''s just business, kid.", and finally opens the door, letting the air suck everything inside the bizjet, Keith was just about to let go, when Alo shocks him with his gauntlets, more powerful than a tesla coil.
Shivering from the pain, the fat lard accidentally closes the door behind them, letting the air inside the jet again go to normal. And due to the extreme volts coursing through his entire system, he falls down dramatically, this time the jet went down slightly.
Alo stands over the boss, powering down his shock gloves to small amount. He kneels on top of him and tightens his fist, raising up high.
"This is for him.", he begins to punch him repeatedly, applying a little shock to quicken his death. Each blow of his fist generates a spark, mixed with blood. Until the sparks became cracks, as Alo screamed with such indignation, Keith''s very own head was about to crack open. Yet he stopped punching, lifting his heavy body, holding it upwards. One hand is holding his belly, the other on his chest.
With one last surge of his power, he electrocutes the boss, and slowly rips his entire body in half, cooking his fresh fatty innards like overcooked fried chicken, Keith''s eyeballs exploded into pieces in a comedic fashion. This went for a minute, the teen relishing on his kill.
After that, Alo has finally avenged his family, all that''s left is crispy human bits and piles of dust. He''s coated with human blood, not one spot has been left unstained. He pants heavily, dropping what''s on his hands, then head to the cockpit.
INT. COCKPIT
Unfortunately, he sees the pilot has been also killed in action, presumably he made contact with the controls, which are full of circuitry. The body is slumped forwards, blood dripping from his ears, his eyes and on his mouth.
He can drive a car, but not an airplane. He quietly left the cockpit and walks back to the cabin.
INT. CABIN
He finds a comfortable seat, looking out on the window, he can see the nearby airport paired with several buildings nearby. Alo remembers Richard''s quote about not taking any revenge and how it will soon backfire upon him. Guess he was right.
Alo glances at an adjacent seat, a kid sitting on the other side, wearing the same clothes as he is before, during his flight to Greece. The kid glances at him dead in the eye for a moment, hinting on what he has done.
"Man, you suck.", the kid jeerly said to him, before everything went pitch black.
INT. THE SCAPE
Alo opens his eyes, in sync with a strange church bell, finding himself right in front of a wooden door. His vision was all hazy and dream-like, he looked behind him and what he saw was breathtaking.
He''s on top of a small hill, overlooking a small village, built by hay, strong wood and cobblestones, similar to the huts within the Middle Ages where peasants house themselves away from the rich kingdom, though he sees nobody around, not even a child. Regardless, this view eases his pain before, thinking he''s in heaven. But personally, he didn''t deserve to be here, no. He''s a person who also committed crimes for the sake of forgetting the bad memories and he should be with Keith by now, roasting with his pig-like structure.
Behind him is a woman singing "Our Father" in an angelic voice. Alo holds the door knob tightly and opens it, going inside to meet the woman.
INT. CHURCH
"Give us this day, our daily bread ~,", Alo stares at a nun, kneeling down on the floor, her palms clasped lightly. She prays in front of a giant cross made out of oak, and colored glass, mainly blue, yellow, green and white reflecting the light against the back of the cross, looking as if it was sacred, because it is. The interior is a mix of Gothic, Byzantine and mostly Roman design. He walks cautiously, looking at the empty pews and the rather ominous columns, probably hiding something.
" ~ And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil ~ ",her song stopped and gets back on her feet slowly. Alo stops in his track and wait for her to notice his presence.
She slowly twists her body and smiles at him, "Ahh, it''s you. Welcome back." Her eyes are bright blue, her face is radiantly, her innocent smile made Alo nervous and thinking what to say properly at abeautiful nun.
Alo looks both ways with only his eyes, then chuckles nervously. "Sorry, I don''t think we''ve met - who are you?"
The young nun kept smiling, "It''s alright, I''m Julieza. The prioress of this small monastery." she bows only with her head to him, "Pleased to meet you.", then raises her head back up. "You can call me Julieza or sister, but I''d rather not go for formalities. Come, I''ll go make ourselves some tea."
Alo, doesn''t know where the hell he is, and definitely doesn''t know the strange person, yet he complies as he feels this relieving aura around, he feels safe and protected. The two head around the back, going to the kitchen.
INT. KITCHEN
The kitchen is simple and purely made of wood and cobblestones with finely-made interior designs. On a far wall, a small wooden crucifix is hanged, like every house in their dining room to say their thanks to the Lord. He simply sits down, hearing the teapot and pouring of the glass behind him. Seconds later, she appeared holding two teacups, though they weren''t as glossy and shiny like the upperclasses.
Alo sips a cup of tea, and is amazed by the flavor. "That''s...pretty good."
"Compared to your "alcohol", yes?", she also sips her cup of tea.
Alo is interrupted by her assumption, instantly figuring it out probably because he looks like he''s seen some stuff. "Y-Yeah...I guess you could say that. How did you know?",
Juliezalays her cup on the table. "Let''s say a certain man was rather too happy in sharing his experiences. You obviously knew him."
"Richard?"
"Mh-hm.", she nods again, "He always come here to pray and meditate, but now that you''re here, he comes in rarely."
There was a small pause, the teen hesitating to know, "Is that a bad thing?".
Instead, she laughs joyfully, "No! Not even that bad!," then her laughter died down, "In fact, I am happy for both of you. The good doctor has finally set his first step in achieving his goal, and you, who has finally learned his lesson about revenge."
That''s right. He remembered his last moments were crashing down nearby the airfield. Alolooks down in regret, realizing his fate, "I died, did I?".
Julieza nods grimaced for his noble yet barbaric actions, like ripping off Keith into two and deep-frying him, "Sadly, yes, but your body is still intact. What I''m talking to as of now, is your soul, which the crystal miraculously saved.", she replies with hope at the end.", there was a short silence, before narrowing his eyes at the nun. "I''m sensing a ''but'' here.",
Julieza adjusts her sitting position in a more solemn-like pose, "Yes.We need to talk about your destiny. Not as a simple person, but as a Juvenile.", that word made Alo scratch his head in his head. ''Juvenile''? What does she mean by that? Isn''t this a church with a relaxing atmosphere? Or what she just said was a figure of speech?
Alo leans, putting his left elbow on the table, "Juvenile? You think being a criminal is my destiny?", the nun abruptly flinches back in shock and tries to correct her previous statement. "No! I mean, the other meaning, what Ralph said. Argh, something about being young and free, while shunned by society. I don''t know why he called that."
Yes. It was definitely a figure of speech. Alo smirks it off confidently,"Ooh, that one. Meh, I kinda like first one, but sure."
Julieza lets out a sigh of relief, "Anyway, I''m giving you another chance to live. This might be longer than the last one, but you have to promise me you won''t get to any fights again.", her demeanor became mother-esque.
Aloraises his left hand, trying to convince her in a less surrending way. "Swear to God."
Julieza takes a moment to think on what Alo just did, about to reply but chooses not to, "Okay, let''s go back to the church."
INT. THE SCAPE - CHURCH
Once there, Julieza takes out a normal chalk and drew a pentagram, the smooth tiles made it easier for her to draw the symbol quite perfectly, but it''s far from complete. Alo steps on the pentagram carefully as to not break the spell all because of a small smudge of his boot. He observes this pentagram has a different feeling compared to the real-life versions, which is used for mainly in satanic rituals or pagan religion that involves sacrifice. Well, in hindsight, all religions have some sacrifice written on to it.
He glances at Julieza, "Are you sure this is going to bring me back?",
Julieza takes a few steps back and aligns herself at the giant cross. Now she, the cross and Alo are in one straight line. "Yes, but I want you to have faith in this."
Alo clearly doesn''t have faith, he might as well turn into ashes or drag his soul to the other side. That works for everyone. "Right ~ . Right.", he follows it with a sarcastic smile.Julieza casts a spell and a bright light portal begin to openabove Alo. The rays shoots out, hitting the old, giant cross and glows incandescent like the rays, the choirs of angels sung in melody while Alo is dragged atop in grace.
"Ooh, and don''t forget to tell Richard, "The keys now belong to him. That is all!", she waves at Alo goodbye, as he returns down back to the real world.
Once that''s done, she smiles again. "My, they''ve grown.", behind her are two unknown individuals. Both of them are male, however, they have distinct outfits. The one on the left wears some kind of Old-Western outfit, complete with the cowboy hat and the brown leather boots, compared to the right guy, wearing the same lab coat as Richard''s albeit much more cleaner and well-maintained, his hands were behind his back so it is unknown whether he has the same black gloves as the eccentric doctor or not.
EXT. CRASHED JET
"ALO?! ALO?!"
Alo hazily wakes up. His hearing and other sense are not working in peak condition considering he has seemingly resurrected from the dead by a kind nun. He can hear Johan and Tatiana''s voices, calling out to him.Alo slowly grabs a piece of debris from the plane, and throws it at a random direction. After a few seconds the debris he threw hit something metallic together with a sharp shriek in pain.
Seconds later, he sees a familiar silhouette, "He''s over here!", hearing Johan''s muffled voice through his numbed ear drums. Another figure walk upon him, although, she''s rubbing her head from an unknown projectile that flew right at her. Tatiana and Johantraverse their way to Alo,tending to his badly wounded body.
"C''mon, I''ll grab his arms.", her voice became much clearer, staying close to him and holds both of his broad shoudlers, while his sister grabs his ankles, he can feel his body being moved away from the debris. Johan preps herself, "Alright. On three. One. Two. THREE!", then a sharp pain rushed all over Alo''s structure, shouting at the top of his lungs as an effect, though it might feel better later on. Probably.
They pulled him out of the small tight spot and they carried him Human-Crutch style; for the conscious victim, this carry allows the victim to swing their leg using the rescuers as a pair of crutches. For the unconscious victim, it is a quick and easy way to move a victim out of immediate danger.
"Christ. I literally died back there.", he grunts in pain after that. But Johan, didn''t know he did died, takes it less seriously. "No shit. The cops are coming any second, we have to lay low before we leave this country."
The little sister has a proper idea, "Nobody hasn''t been into our house sincethe last two days.I say we head there.", the three escape the law enforcement and eventually exit the airport undetected.
Book 1 - Epilogue
INT. LIVING ROOM - HEADQUARTERS
"You sure about this? What about your high school?", Alo concerns for Tatiana''s life, not wanting to be like him; who unfinished his education.
Tati brushes it off with a raspberry, playing Mobile Legends on her phone, "Nah, it''s 2019, I can basically learn on my own, what I want, where I want.", her eyes still locked onto the phone.
"Okay, but don''t blame me if Richard disagrees with this.", he warns her, yet the little sister chooses not to be scared of some hologram.
Things went quiet for a moment, they can hear Johan washing the dishes in the kitchen off-screen. "Can we just pretend all this never happened?", his brother reluctantly asks.
Tati''s facial expression became gloomy, remembering what Keith''s men did to her, she closes her eyes and left the match. She huffs heavily, trying to remove some of the bad vibes around them. "No, I can''t. I''ll never forget what they did to me; a basic bitch. While you were gone, I argued myself whether you''d come and save me. But when we reached at the airport, that argument was jackshit."
"I need to be a better person. Not just for myself. But for Mom, Dad and Uncle.", she finished.
She feels a soft pat on her head, "Yeah, it''s what they would''ve wanted.", he smiles, seeing his sister, the only family he has now.
"Hey guys.", Johan calls their attention. "Richard wants us at the Central Command."
INT. HEADQUARTERS - CENTRAL COMMAND
"Okay, first off, I would like to congratulate, Joshua Alo and Johan Estrada for their bravery and unlocking their astounding, yet completely unexpected powers! Hip-hip-horray!", Richard raises his arms in victory and appraise, wearing the same lab-coat for God knows how many times he did use.
Several Com-Bots wave their hands frantically, while Tati was at the back playing with her phone.
"A~nd that was, - ", Richard checks his watch, " - 5 seconds of straight applause! Highest record." He walks to the big monitor, facing them, "That''s it for today, all of you get back to your holes! Except for you Tati, you stay, I need to talk to you three.", the Com-Bots hover out of the wall, ruining the central command''s cooling system for the servers.
"Hmm, gonna need a bigger elevator. Or some stairs.", he notes himself, while Tati walks up to her brother and Johan, curious to know what''s going on. "Real talk, something just came up when Johan was searching in Keith''s contacts.", the supercomputer shows a picture of an African-American man, wearing a prisoner outfit.
"His name, is Rhaka Muhod. - "
"Rhaka - what? That''s not name." Alo complained.
"For the Amazonians, yes it is.", the doctor corrects him. "He''s the de-facto leader of the Road Mashers gang located within Tokyo, Japan. We don''t know much about him, but what matters is his group''s, uhm, reputation."
The huge monitor displays a news outlet about the gang war between the Road Mashers and several other groups that continuously kill each other, one group the cameraman caught was several people dressed in black-and-green robes, on their hands are sharp knives and sickles, they engage the Road Mashers, holding big sledgehammers and other big, sturdy objects are attached with barbed wires and rusty pieces of metal. The two groups kill each other in brutal ways, one knife destroyed the camera, with the cameraman dropping it in a state of panic.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
"There are several groups around this city, which I presume, are fighting for control on whoever has the biggest territory. At first, it was a series of killings, but when these groups are full of maniacs, are together in one small spot, you know something''s about to go down hard.", he said.
Johancrosses her arms, "What do you want us to do?"
Richardpaces around, "For now, I want both of you to train.", he then motions to Tatiana. "And you, I''m doing this for Alo''s behalf, I know what it''s like to lose everything. But I''m going to teach you the basics on this mansion, how to maintain its systems and those robots."
Tatianaperks up from her phone, "So wait, I''m the cleaning lady?"
Richardshifts to his disappointed face, "I''m sorry, but that''s what I have for you to do. Your brother told me you''re not fit for action, and you just barely finished high school."
Johan gleefully tilts her body to Tatiana''s point of view, "But look at this way, you still got a 4G Wi-Fi.", she had to say that to make her appreciate their new home, which has everything they need and there seem to be more undiscovered parts of the headquarters.
She thinks it thoroughly and gives them a pokerface, "Mmmm, okay. Fair deal."
Richard pumps his fist in the air, "Awesome. Wait for me at the living room.", They watch her play on her phone while walking towards the elevator, surprisingly dodging the narrow pathed server racks and the millions of connected wires on the floor, unaware of any hazards she might fall.
Once she''s inside, the doors close on her, Alo glances at the hologram. "Pretty sure that wasn''t enough."
Richard scoffs at him, "You tell me. These groups are deadly, BUT, there is one that caught my attention.". He snaps his fingers, the response connected to the supercomputer, shows a picture of a blonde man of Japanese-American descent with a smug face. He wears a red suit with a black necktie. On his hands is an identification sign that''s usually used in incarceration, and sturdy handcuffs wrapped around his wrist.
Johan takes a closer look at the man, "Who''s this guy, he seems...familiar. I''ve seen him on TV once or twice."
"That guy is King Charles Veloso Espanol, leader of the Roaring Dragons biker clan. One of the rivals of Rhaka. His case is different, the reason might confuse you."
"But, Richard, we''re already confused since we''ve met you." Alo intervenes with a sick burn, the doctor doesn''t know that yet. Johan made a "surprised Shaquille O''Neal" meme.
Richard lets out a forced exhale, "Well, sorry. Apparently the crystal chose him like you two."
Now both of them are surprised in return, their group are starting to grow bigger."A third one!? Hell yes! How did you knew it picked him though?", she asked.
Richard stares at them with fear, "I was afraid you might say that.", the monitors of the supercomputer automatically show different profiles. Two of those were theirs. The other five are unknown and complete strangers to their perspective.
Alo concluded, but in a disturbing sense, "You were spying on us? And - ", looks confused at Johan, " - you''re British?"
Johan speaks in her native accent and dialect, "Something wrong, love?", her tone was mildly threatening.
Richard decides to interrupt the minor quarrel, "Guys I had to do it, for confirmation. The crystal may be all-knowing but I have my doubts. Alo, remember the flight? The crystal made contact when we bumped each other there. Same goes for Johan, during her time in Harvard, not liking how the professors treated you there."
"Then how did we met if you''ve seen me?"
"I was the janitor working in the night shift. You were high on caffiene as you finished your 1000-page thesis. Even my university wouldn''t do that to me."
"Oh.", she nods sagely.
The doctor stares worriedly at King''s profile, "As for King, he was at the Osaka Fire in 2005, I didn''t know what was going on ''cause one of the officers kept saying "Hinan suru", dunno what that mean. Now, he''s next and the only way to get to him, is to get your hands dirty once again ''cause in the next 4 months, you two son''s of bitches are going to Tokyo!", he yelled the last part like Ice Cube.
The two show visible confusion,
"It''s a Jump Street reference.", Richard ended.
"Well, shit...", Alo curses.
"Yabe...", Johan followed suit.
END