Who We All Fear: Chapter 1 – Divine Intervention

Chapter 1 – Divine Intervention

Meridian, the City of the Afternoon Sun, has my particular attention out of every place in the world.

An angel comes to me asking, “Owen Dessous, is about to be killed by Alexis whom his crime family hired to kill him. Will you allow this?”

“I’ll allow him to be attacked, but he will survive,” I command.

Alexis shoots Owen in the chest under an overpass while he is joking and laughing with his homeless friends. His friends carry him off to a hospital that will save his life while the others stand in front of him to prevent Alexis from shooting another shot. Meanwhile, the commotion has stirred the scum of the overpass who see Alexis as prey and start to surround her.

Another angel comes to me and says, “Those men and women want to drug Alexis and have their way with her. Will you allow it?”

“It’ll happen and she’ll die this day,” I command.

What I allow to happen, happens even though I abhor it. For Alexis’ employers, it didn’t matter if she reported back to them with the success of her hit since they’re at a breaking point thanks to Owen selling them out to the authorities, and their high-ranking members were arrested or killed in a gunfight with the police. Now, the remaining people loyal to the Dessous family are using all their resources and connections for one last bank robbery before they leave Meridian for good and disappear to where they can’t be found. During the robbery, the family separates into two areas where the bank keeps their money. In one section, two undercover agents of the government keep watch as the family fills their bags with money and gold.

“My Lord,” an angel says as he appears before me. “Zack and Lian are tempted to kill those criminals. Should this happen?”

“It shall,” I command.

Zack and Lian are overcome by their temptations and shoot every member of the crime family. They expose their true identity to the employees of the bank.

“Give us four hundred each and we’ll make sure the rest of the criminals don’t leave this place alive,” Zack says.

Under pressure and thankful for their help, the employees do as Zack says, but before Zack and Lian can take care of the rest of the criminals, the police snipers arrive, and not knowing who the two agents are, kill them since they see them taking money with guns in their hands and know that the people have already been killed. Knowing that the situation is bad, the allies of the Dessous in the police arrive and start firing on their own, however, none of the law-abiding officers suffer fatal injuries from being shot and kill those who turned on them thanks to my intervention. Without anyone else to get them out of this, the remaining members of the Dessous family fear for their lives, and the greed in their hearts makes them want to fend for themselves while others call them traitors. This leads to them killing one another and the end of the Dessous crime family.

This entire affair that happened within Meridian was just a small part of the larger picture happening in it with many more crimes and scenes of murder and betrayal happening in it. Owen is one of the only truly virtuous men in this short story since he has repented of his sins and done things to make amends. My justice can no longer be abated by the prayers and penances of the faithful, so I must now involve myself further in its affairs. After hearing what happened to the Dessous family, the Soleil crime family seeks to take their place of power in the criminal underworld. They meet inside an expensive casino hotel that their family owns and gather the family's decision-makers.

Tete walks into the room that falls silent at the sight of his presence. He sits at the front of the meeting room table and looks over the reports that his family has prepared for him.

With everything in hand and an idea in his head, Tete says, “With the unfortunate deaths of our valued associate, the Dessous, their businesses and the few that remained loyal to them need someone to care for them and we will be those people. Benir, take care of Owen Dessous. He may be in the hospital on his deathbed, but we want to make sure he doesn’t speak any of our secrets.”

“He’s requested a priest to give him his last confession and taste of the Eucharist just in case he does die and I’ve already volunteered. He’ll be dead after I leave this room,” Benir says.

“Couteau, I want you to be my wife’s bodyguard at today's party for our disgruntled guests.”

“My knives are sharp and plentiful just in case something happens,” Couteau says while feeling the scars from past fights on his arms.

“I’ll make sure they fall in line with their new boss, my love,” Soins says with a bow of her head and a smile on her face.

“Good. With that done, we should have a majority of the city under our influence by the end of the day-”

The light in the room suddenly decreased as if the power went out, and yet, the lights in the room still shine. Even though the guards in the room are on high alert, the members of the family sit calmly in place.

“Huh. It’s probably another short power outage. Calm down, everyone. It’s simply the cost of running a casino that never sleeps,” Tete says.

“It will cost you more if you go through with your plans and continue your life of sin and crime,” I say in the dark.

“Who’s there? Show yourself and I’m sure we can make a deal, or you’ll at least leave this room with your life.”

“You may know me as Veritas.”

“I’ve never heard that name, so you better leave or talk civilly here because I have no time for no-name heroes and vigilantes.”

“I have no time for your sinful behavior and thoughts and will not allow it to continue any longer. Cease and repent now or your family will face my judgment just as the Dessous family did.”

I allow the light to come back into the room.

“There’s no one here,” Soins says.

“They could be invisible,” Couteau says as he calmly flips his knife and looks around the room, ready to throw it.

“I don’t know of any superhumans, heroes, or vigilantes who can turn invisible,” Benir says. “He’s probably all talk and just another nobody looking for fame and fortune.”

“Regardless, we should keep an eye out for him. We’ve been able to avoid trouble with hero and vigilante associations because we’ve shown ourselves to be honest businessmen. Let’s continue it and if this mysterious character reveals himself again, we’ll deal with him,” Tite says before dismissing the meeting.

Benir heads to the hospital where Owen is being cared for, and while he is ascending the elevator, I speak to his conscience.

“You are a priest, not a murderer,” I say.

Looking around and trying not to be startled, Benir says, “You won’t stop me, invisible voice. You don’t know me.”

“You worship me at the altar and have dedicated yourself to me. You will listen to me for the first time in your life or pay the price you know is damning.”

“I dedicate myself to my family.”

“They are not your God. I am.”

“You are nothing, but a nuisance and all talk. Do something if you wish, coward. I’ll kill you if you do.”

The elevator stops at the floor Owen is at. Going into his room, Benir sees that Owen is barely conscience enough to confess his sins and receive me in the Eucharist. At first, Benir plans to kill Owen, but I forcibly change his mind and make him think he’s doing what Owen wants for appearances. Then, Benir takes out a silenced pistol, puts Owen’s pillow over his face, and shoots him point blank in the head, killing him.

“See? You can’t do anything,” Benir whispers to me, sealing his fate.

He tries to go back down the elevators, but I have made them temporarily malfunction to force him to take the stairs. As he tries to, I cloud his mind so he doesn’t see the slip hazard sign near it, falls down the stairs, and cracks his head so hard that he dies instantly. Both men are brought before me. Owen, a lifelong criminal who repented and did penance in the final days of his life, receives Heaven while Benir, a priest who spit in my face every moment of his life, receives Hell. Turning to the rest of the Soleil family, they are starting their party in the basement of their casino.

Many powerful and influential men and women are attending the party from the poorest gangsters and hitmen to the wealthiest police commissioners and politicians. In one room, Soins is the center of attention. She is craved, not only for her beauty but also for her smarts since she can deduce what a person likes and always finds a way to get it for them so that they fall under her influence. The men and women are here to ask her to talk for them and are willing to do whatever she wants. I dim the lights of this already dark den of sin and make my presence felt.

“Calm down, everyone. It’s just the power,” Soins says in her sweet voice.

“It’s not the power. I am here again,” I say.

“Veritas. My husband may not have convinced you to stay out of our affairs or join us, but I’m sure I will. Let me see you, touch your hands, and share a drink with you.”

“You will cease this debauchery and get your husband to do the same or your family and associates will perish today.”

“Turn on my family? I don’t think I will, especially when we will be the most powerful family in Meridian.”

“Power in the hands of men is a fleeting thing. You boast of your control and influence over men and women, but I hold the key to all. Observe.”

The men and women of the room move in all directions according to my commands, throw aside expensive bottles, rip up and burn the cases of money they brought with them, and walk out of the room and out of the building.

“So what if you can influence people like that? When I get my hands on them again, they’ll listen to me and only me!”

“Their hearts do not belong to you. You do not have as much control over people as you think.”

“Shut up and leave me!”

“Since this is what you have decided, I will leave you forever.”

With my presence gone and the doors of the room locked, the demons take root in their prey. The degenerates in the room drink themselves to death, rip one another apart, and rape those that they see with Soins being among them. Since the room is soundproof, no one outside of it in the other rooms is aware of what is happening, not even in the camera room since it is looping previous footage. Couteau is in another room trying to enjoy the party and watching for trouble while everyone is dancing. I dim his vision and senses along with those dancing and now only focused on the dancing and the smells of the relaxing fumes that the Soleil family had put into the vents.

“Couteau, leave this place while you can. You’ll find a greater use for your skills elsewhere,” I say.

Couteau reaches into his jacket, takes out his knives, and then says, “I don’t care about being useful. I just care about serving my family.”

“You don’t believe that. You don’t think they make the most of your handiwork with a knife and ability to be more deadly than even the most skilled gunslingers. This is because a part of your heart that I made longs to be under my service. You will go from being an assassin and bodyguard to a hero just like you wanted to be as a child.”

“Forget about what you heard about me and my past. I’m a hero in my way by serving my family as a killer.”

Couteau slowly walks through the crowd while keeping his head on a swivel. I call out to him while reminding him of the virtuous motives of his past to be a protector of his family and the innocent, and yet, he lets his corrupted instincts start slashing wherever he hears my voice coming from. By the time he reaches the other end of the dance hall, everyone in it is dead, slashed to bits by his knives. Lifting the veil from his senses, he turns around, sees the massacre he has committed, looks at his hands, and then screams. His screams attract the attention of the rest of the party, and when the guards see what Couteau has done, they point their guns at him and tell him to explain what happened.

“It’s not too late to change,” I say.

With a loud cry, Couteau says, “It is! Shoot me!”

Couteau then charges at the guards who are so scared that they are forced to shoot and kill him. The rest of the guests are shocked and frightened by what has happened and are scrambling to leave the basement, but I have locked the exits and these exits are blocked by a fire started by the rats who have been chewing on wires in this disgusting casino. The rats have also destroyed the wires in the camera room and servers so that the Wi-Fi doesn’t work and no one can call for help from the basement.

As Tite tries to calm everyone down, I say, “It’s not too late to save everyone.”

“Veritas! You’re the cause of this, aren’t you?” Tite says with damaged composure.

“I am. To save everyone, you must throw yourself into the fire and burn for your sins for a time. You will not die and I will snuff out the fires and open the doors afterward.”

“What?! That’s crazy! I won’t do it.”

One of the men of influence who secretly brought a superhuman with him tells his bodyguard to open the doors for him. The superhuman does since he’s supposed to be tough and resistant not only to fire but to bullets and blades, however, as soon as he enters the fire, his skin falls off his body as if it were butter and his bones turn to ash because I have taken away the gifts that I gave to him. This has frightened the crowd even more who tell Tite to do as I have said who doesn’t want to.

“He wants me to stop being the way I am and I won’t allow it!” Tite says.

Having had enough of Tite’s cowardice, they throw him into the fire, burning him alive. He runs out of the fire, worsening the problem and hastening the spread of the fire. Many people die as Tite puts out the fire on himself, and by the time he collects himself, everyone else in the room has died and he is cornered by the fire.

“It’s not too late to save yourself and your soul, Tite,” I say.

“I’m the only one who saves myself and I refuse to apologize for who I am! You can’t make me change!” he says.

“So be it according to your word.”

The fires of this world and the next consume Tite and drag his soul to where the rest of his family and allies now reside. I then allow the fires to consume the rest of the casino and bring down the building itself. Now, I set my sights on my next targets. The Dessous and Soleil crime families are just the beginning in this city called Meridian where the blood of the innocent calls out for vengeance and there is more justice to be dealt and little mercy to give.

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Set in a world changed by superhumans and vigilantes, three brothers seek justice in different ways. Salvatore bends the law to his will through alegal means, his youngest brother, Renzo, tries to be a by-the-book type of cop, and the middle brother, Ignazio turns into a monster after trying to kill himself and finds a new purpose in it. Each brother has their own story and struggles to deal with while being challenged at every turn. 
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Having had enough with life, Iganazio crashes his car into the side of an oil truck in the hopes of ending his life, not caring that his wife and infant daughter are in the car with him. Despite what happened, he wakes up in a mysterious facility with his arms and legs clamped down. He discovers that he can shape his body to whatever he imagines, along with other abilities that he'll discover, and through them, he may find a new purpose for his life and a way to make up for what he's done.

Mother's Least Favorite: Chapter 3 – An Unquenchable Thirst for Penance

Chapter 3 – An Unquenchable Thirst for Penance

This hunting and killing of criminals has become addicting to me. Maybe it’s because I’ve been living in the memories of the people I’ve assumed into my body, or the killing is turning me into a different person. It could be that I was always a monster, and now I get to be that in an unrestricted way, but then again, why would I regret killing some people like my wife and daughter, want a normal life, and want to say sorry? I want to say sorry to my wife, my daughter, the innocent guard I killed, and my parents. I want to apologize to them for being such a horrible son, for not involving myself with the family, and for keeping my distance from them.

My reflection has woken up my mind from wanting to kill and has, instead, given my mind focus on my true target. The people that I’ve killed have given me a list of names of those in Coronamento who want to take the research they’ve done, sell it, make a name for themselves, and change the city and world in their own way. Coronamento may be a shady place, but they’re the lesser of two evils in this case and at least don’t work with criminals, murderers, and human traffickers, or at least the legitimately good people in it don’t like my older brother, Salvatore, and his boss Giovanni. I’ve gathered pictures, files on USB drives, paper receipts, and the research the traitors inside of Coronamento have copied and put it all in a single place. Tonight, I’ll go back to the facility and expunge every traitor in a single night. After, I’ll let them do whatever they want with me. If it’s being killed or locked up forever for experiments, I don’t care because I deserve both and worse.

Everything is already set up. In my days of hunting and criminals, I’ve learned that I can leave pieces of myself and use them as traps to either kill or capture, so I’ve done that and placed pieces of myself in the facility where my targets are. When the time is right, and all my targets are where they should be, I activate my trap, bring everyone to me, and reveal myself. The facility locks itself down, and every possible guard here has their gun locked on me.

“You’ve all been looking for me, so here I am, and I come bearing gifts. These men and women are traitors to the company, and if you’ll allow me, I’ll prove it to you,” I say.

 I then tell them the address where I left the proof and then am approached by Giovanni himself. He wears a confident smile on his face that he always has when I see him on TV and in videos on the internet and the green and purple dress pants and outfit that he usually wears.

“I’m glad you came to us with such gifts. I guess I should’ve expected it since you come from a family of investigators,” Giovanni says.

“Maybe, but I am unworthy of my family name. I only hope that what I’ve given you helps you and is an acceptable penance for my many sins. Now, I give myself over to you. Do whatever you want.”

“Oh, stop being so dramatic,” Salvatore says as he approaches me from the crowd of guards. “You’re not the type.”

“You can put down the traitors, Ignazio. We’ll handle things from here,” Renzo says with officers behind him.

“Why are they here?” I say to Giovanni.

“Your brother wanted to know the moment I got news of you. Who am I to deny one of my best employees and his brother?” Giovanni says with an extended smile.

I give the traitors over to the police, who take them away. Giovanni and the other guards leave me and my brothers to ourselves in a breakroom. Surprisingly, they don’t restrain me in any way, nor do they put any guards around us, but then again, I am in their facility with numerous superhumans and guards here and dozens upon dozens of cameras. I then explain what I’ve been doing, how my abilities work, and why I’m here now. Despite knowing that I’d be explaining myself to my brothers and practicing my explanation using the memories of people who can explain things well, I tell them everything in my voice and way. It seems that my guilt and shame are too much for even my body to bear.

“I know you’re probably livid at me still for the deaths of my wife and daughter. You can shoot and beat me as much as you want. I won’t die from it even though I know I deserve it,” I say.

Renzo and Salvatore look at me as if considering it and holding back their rage.

Salvatore walks up to me, slaps my face, turns his back on me, and says, “There. I did what I wanted to, and don’t tempt me to do more.”

“Ignazio. I…I’m not as mad at you anymore. You’ve shown that you’re sorry and willing to give yourself up to pay for what you did, so…the only people you have to apologize to are mom and dad,” Renzo says.

To my further surprise, Renzo and Salvatore don’t yell or do anything to me, keep the conversation short, and Giovanni allows me to see my parents at their house. Of course, my brothers are accompanying me, so I guess they’re supposed to be watching me so I don’t do anything. When I see my parents, I think I’m ready to explain everything to them, but I break down in tears.

“I’m sorry for not being the son you wanted or could be proud of! I’m sorry I couldn’t be an officer like my brothers were and kept using every excuse to stay away from our family. I’m sorry for trying to kill myself and only ending up killing my wife and daughter! I’m sorry!” I say with both hands covering my face.

My parents embrace me, tell me that it’s okay, and forgive me, which only makes me cry more, especially when my brothers embrace me as well in one big family hug.

“I’m sorry if we made you feel lesser than your brothers. It was never our intention,” my mom says.

“You only need to be sorry to God, son,” my dad adds. “I forgive you.”

After having dinner with my family for the first time in a while, I am brought back to the Coronamento facility by my brothers and talk with Giovanni, who won’t turn me over to the police because of what I did for him and his company.

He says, “The police won’t take you in as long as you work for me. It’s a pretty good deal, working with your brother and being paid more than you ever did at your previous job at an office, isn’t it?”

“Yes, it is,” I admit.

This is sort of what I expected because of Giovanni’s kindness and pragmatism. What good would I be being stuck in his facility being researched every day when I’ve shown that I’m more useful out in the world? Part of our agreement does include some tests on me so they can understand how my body works, but I won’t be a lab rat to them. When news of the traitors to Coronamento is brought to the news, Giovanni spins it as him being transparent and willing to cull his own employees if they turn against the law and himself and is given praise by the majority of the public because of it since he actually knew nothing of their backstabbing. He really is good at making the most of bad news.

As for me, I’m on my first assignment with Salvatore and Renzo, cleaning up the rest of the conspirators who the traitors and their criminal friends knew. Going immediately to the emergency meeting point where the criminals agreed to meet if their plans were ruined in the form of Vic, I find several of my targets there.

One of them looks at me and says, “Vic? How did you manage to escape all the chaos?”

“Are you saying a slick bastard like me couldn’t get out well…hahaha! I didn’t,” I say.

“What…what do you mean?”

“I died, or rather, Vic died,” I say as I start to transform. “And you will, too.”

I assume the targets of interest into my body while my brothers shoot the rest who resist arrest.

“Did we really have to do this in this way?” Renzo asks.

“It’s the most effective to find the criminals we need to find. They were going to get life sentences or the death penalty anyway,” Salvatore says. “Did those people have the information we needed?”

“Yes, and they had more,” I say.

I didn’t expect I’d ever work with my brothers like this or want a life like this, but this is the life given to me, and I’ll use every second of it to pay for my past sins. Even though I’m still a monster, I’m at least a monster who is putting his life to good use for once.

The End

Mother's Least Favorite: Chapter 2 – Use of the Useless

Chapter 2 – Use of the Useless

I’ve struggled to find a purpose in my life ever since I got my new abilities. At first, I pretended to be the man I killed by being a part of his family. It was easy because I have his memories and can imitate his voice. His appearance has also given me the cover I need to go back into the facility to further look into my abilities, but after a few days, I stopped pretending to be the man. It felt wrong to be someone I’m not and lie to the man’s family, and I didn’t find any useful information on the mud I’m comprised of.

Since that didn’t work, I went to confession at a church, of all places, because it randomly entered my mind for whatever reason. I haven’t been there since my family forced me to go in my teenage years, and it was an awkward experience. There, I admit the many things I’ve done, such as murder, lying at my first confession, lying to be someone else, and so much more. The priest tells me to make amends to the family of the man I murdered, so I do by leaving a note on the dinner table of the man’s family admitting that I was actually a stranger and the real man they love had died three days ago before leaving and never looking back. It's the only way I think of making amends because telling the truth to the family would only get me caught by the authorities and put back into that facility to be experimented on.

Well, that was pointless and, somehow, a relieving experience at the same time. It seems my life is at a real dead end now. Should I kill someone else who has a comfortable life and take their place? No, I felt too guilty after the first person I killed to do it again. It could be a simple task to fabricate a new identity, but I would be living a miserable life again, with the only benefit or curse being that I can’t get sick and die.

In the silence of the night, I think and think and think and don’t come up with any answers that I like. I wish I was someone else. Maybe I could be someone else and forget who I was, but no matter how much I tear at my mind and try, I can’t forget who I was. The man who I killed is easily set aside in my head and doesn’t take a prominent place in my memory, but my name, Ignazio, and the memories associated with me take priority, and the details of it are clearer and feel more real than that of the man’s. My true identity clings to me, and my most shameful memories torture me like a curse no matter how much of myself I tear off. There’s no real choice for me other than to accept the pathetic excuse of the man I am and move on.

A full day passes before I make up my mind and chose to look into more of the truck that was carrying the mud that mutated me. From the report I last read, the truck was actually stolen from inside the facility, so someone besides Coronamento wants to make use of the mud and is willing to go to dangerous lengths to get it. I follow the leads Coronamento and their private investigators have and then go from there. Unlike them, I can go days and nights without sleep, food, or water and somehow be fine without the need for any of it. Thanks to my tireless hours of following people around, I find out that an underground group of criminals stole the truck and are planning another theft at a meeting today.

Knowing where a few of the people are, I visit one of them in their homes, kill them, and take their place. They’re a criminal, and I planned on killing them all anyway. Upon looking through this man’s memories, I feel even better about having killed him. Going into the basement, I release a woman he held captive and yell at her to leave. She does while crying and without any clothes on, and I leave not too far behind her. The meeting location is here in the desolate part of the city and not too far from this house. It’s a rundown factory that was once a prominent employer and valuable producer back in my grandfather’s day.

The factory is heavily guarded by people of both gangs per their previous agreement. Inside, I see just as many, if not more guards and a few people already here with me, sitting down at the meeting table. The three look at me with suspicion as I slouch down on the chair. I light a cigar that’s filled with some foreign chemicals that I didn’t know about until I killed this man, blow smoke at them, and smile.

“Like it?” I say and then laugh. “It’s a new brand I’m testing.”

Despite my surprise at my own acting, I’m thankful that I’m able to act so confidently since I have the man’s memories. If I was myself, I probably would’ve pissed myself by now.

“Can’t you wait until your testers make sure that stuff doesn’t kill you quickly?” one of the bosses says. “We need a product that keeps customers coming back, not one that instantly kills them. Do you remember what happened with your homebrew alcohol?”

“I do. It was wild and worth the week I spent in the hospital. It’s a shame we didn’t make more. I wanted more.”

“A man like you, whose blood is all alcohol and drugs, can handle it to an extent. Other people, even the addicts who scratch their skin off every day, died before they finished the bottle,” another boss says.

“Oh, shut up. You know what? I’ll give you all a truckload of my finest products if you let me have a personal supply of that booze for myself and the most hardcore of addicts, sold at the most premium of premiums.” I then start pointing at each of the bosses. “I know how you like them young, virgin, and pure. I got whales of every skin color for you. I didn’t forget about you and have been keeping myself from my supply of chicks with dicks and boys with vags for you. These can be all yours and more if you accept my offer.”

“I’ll consider it and talk about it over dinner tonight. Let’s do this one meeting at a time. Okay, Vic?” one of the bosses says.

“Alright, okay…”

Vic, the man I’m pretending to be, really did kidnap so many people and have them ready for the criminal bosses today. He’s known to be extra and a ruthless human trafficker. Of all the times, I wish I could snap my neck now so I could kill Vic again for the things he’s done. If they don’t take the offer, Vic planned to have his way with his captives until he either sells them off, kills them in his sick games, or outright kills them and has their bodies sold to cannibals and people who are into having sex with dead bodies. This meeting can’t start soon enough. It would be so easy to just kill everyone here, take their memories, and continue my search for information from there, but I know some people are coming who know more, so I wait as patiently as I can with my foot constantly tapping on the floor.

More people come in, and after fifteen minutes, everyone arrives, takes their seats, and readies themselves for the meeting. Everyone seems to be here except one important person that I can’t seem to pinpoint in Vic’s memories. Come on, you sick bastard, who is it? This guy’s brain might as well be made of garbage and crap for how good it is at remembering things outside of people’s fetishes, tastes in drugs and alcohol, and his vendetta against his parents in the government.

“Ladies and gentlemen, while we wait for our man of science to arrive, I’d like to renew our promise for what we’ll do with do with our prize once we obtain it and our roles in obtaining it,” the big boss says.

This big boss is a manager for all the criminal bosses who are allied to him and is probably the biggest and most powerful person in the city besides those who have legitimate power in the government or Coronamento.

“Do we really have to?” I say before cutting off my act. “Fine. I’ll make the most durable products you can imagine. You can do whatever your heart desires to them, even tear out and eat their hearts, and they’ll still be kicking and screaming. I’ll make sure those people in Coronamento are seduced into giving us the information we want, or there’s also sending my slaves at them as human bombs. I have enough to bring down a building anyway.”

I want to throw up after hearing Vic’s plan coming from my own mouth. The other bosses tell of their plans to use the mud to make better soldiers, give themselves immortality, put it in their drugs, and sell everything I mentioned to both criminals and legitimate institutions alike. They talk about their plans, each either infiltrating the Coronamento facility I was in through insiders, making their own entrance, or a head-on assault.

“Very good,” a new person says as she enters the meeting area. “I expect our plan will go smoothly, assuming everyone does their role without getting ahead of themselves and only going for the objective.”

The woman who arrives is dressed like a bum, but she’s someone I remember seeing at the facility I woke up in.

“I’m used to waiting before I get the…release I want,” I say with a chuckle and then switch to being serious. “What about the poor bastard who crashed into the first truck we stole? Is he important?”

“Yes, very important, if not the most important. We’ll have to find him after obtaining the research since his body contains the perfect formula for melding a body with the mud, so we can see how exactly it works and is supposed to be put together.”

I start laughing while transforming my face into its original form and using my real voice.

“Well…here I am,” I say with a smile and then turn the rest of my body into blunt and sharp weapons.

Before anyone can say anything, I start slashing people’s throats and bodies in half and smashing them into pulp in the ground. They start loading their weapons with special rounds and uselessly shooting at me while others try to escape. I make my arms shoot out to reach whoever escapes, especially the leaders who I bring into myself, so I can have their memories, voices, and appearance. No one escapes, and I become more brutal with every leader I assume into my body, and their memories become mine. My fight with them ends painlessly and more easily than I expected.

All these memories in my head are overwhelming and offer me the chance to take the position of someone in great power and influence, and yet, they aren’t me. I know who I am and what I have to do with these memories. Each and every one of these people’s associates will be exposed for their crimes or killed for it. I think I prefer killing at this point. It’s so much quicker and goes over a flawed justice system that these people have been able to manipulate to their will. Yes, I think that’s what I’ll do. This will be my life’s work and penance for my evil deeds.

Mother's Least Favorite: Chapter 1 – Miserable Fate

Chapter 1 – Miserable Fate

It’s been another long, hard day of work, and my wife is yelling at me, and my baby daughter is uncontrollably crying in the back of the car again while I drive us home. I should be used to it, yet today, it annoys me more than ever. Every regret I have, and everything that aggravates me is all in my head at once and feels like they touch every nerve. The words of my wife and the cries of my daughter are muffled as my thoughts overtake my head. I can’t handle it like I used to as if my strength fell out from under me.

Something has to change, but then again, what would be the use of it? I can’t live like this anymore. I can’t live anymore. I don’t want to. There’s no purpose or happiness in it worth looking forward to. It’s time to end it all. Just in the nick of time, I use what looks to be an oil truck ahead of me at a T-intersection in the road, so I speed my car towards it, ramming it into the side, hoping that the impact or subsequent explosion kills me, however, mud and dirt spew from it. I blackout from embracing the mud, allowing it to suffocate me to death so that it kills me quicker.

Unfortunately, I wake up in a haze, in a hospital with no windows. For some reason, my legs, arms, and neck have metal clamps around them, and there are many machines with needles and tubes around me.

“What is this?” I wonder out loud. “Hello? Is anyone there? Hello!”

No response. How am I even alive? Why am I alive? Where’s my wife and daughter? Did they survive too? I have to get out of here. I don’t want to be part of some experiment, but the metal clamps are too hard to break. If only my arms were…thinner. Huh? What’s happening to my arms? My legs?! They’re shrinking and turning into mud! Go back to normal! Go back!

Okay! Okay…They’re back to normal, and my arms and legs are out of the clamps. Now, how do I get out of here? There’s no window, and the door doesn’t have a handle. I see a vent in the room, but…maybe if I can make my arms and legs shrink, I can do the same with the rest of my body. It didn’t hurt when I changed, so there’s no reason not to try. Alright, it’s working. Somehow, I’m able to compress my body, limbs, and even face into a liquid and enter into the vents. This ability both scares and amazes me at the same time, and still, I don’t want to live.

The sound of the door opening makes me turn back to see who is coming through it. To my surprise, it’s my older brother, Salvatore, and younger brother, Renzo. What are they doing here?

“I thought the silent alarms were supposed to trip as soon as he escaped?” Renzo asks.

“Yeah, but we don’t know what powers he could’ve gotten from the mud,” Salvatore admits.

“It’s mud from your company, so your people should know.”

“Let’s just find him. He couldn’t have gotten far and probably doesn’t know what he’s doing.”

Salvatore and Renzo rush out of the room, leaving me alone with my thoughts. Salvatore works for Coronamento, and that means that the truck was theirs, and this must be one of their facilities where they hold superhumans. They also must know what happened and that I had caused the accident. Not too many years ago, my daughter’s face was disfigured by my dog, and my wife and I punished our daughter rather than the dog because we told her time and again to stop messing with it, and yet, she didn’t listen. Knowing that my mom would figure out sooner or later since she always wants to see her in person or via webcam, I told her what happened and not to tell my brothers, but she did, and they came over, shot the dog, and beat me and my wife while yelling at us about how we were bad parents.

They’ll do worse than beat me to death. Since I’m in this facility, they probably brought me here so I can be experimented on for the rest of my life! No! I won’t allow it! If this is a facility where they hold superhumans, they must have an armory with weapons that kill them. I wander the vents of the facility, looking at the different tests they do on people who are either prisoners or willing subjects. Much of the tech they use has weird runes etched into them, and they appear to be praying or chanting something in a language I don’t understand to use the tech or experiment on people through rituals. I heard Coronamento was up to some shady alegal business, but this looks more terrifying than I thought it would, and it’s also strange to me that a by-the-books cop like Renzo would be okay with bringing me here.

Eventually, I stumble upon a security room with a single guard inside. There’s a map of the facility on the monitor and access to the internet. He’s listening to cooking videos of all things and doesn’t seem to be too aware of me dripping into the room and reforming myself. Since I’m already a bastard who is going to Hell, and he’s in between me and getting a good look at the map, I kill him by crushing his head with my hands. Huh? What’s this? I’m seeing and hearing…flashes of the man’s memories.

He was a normal guy with a family and kids who took this job because he struggled to get by as a warehouse worker. I relate to that. As an office worker, I struggled to make ends meet because my company had to focus on paying insurance for superhuman and villain attacks and paying guards to counter them specifically. It doesn’t pay to work as a normal person, especially since you can approach a hero or vigilante agency and instantly become a superhuman or be enhanced with superhuman-like abilities after some injections and intensive training. Meanwhile, normal people haven’t received a pay raise in years, and college and trade school enrollment is at an all-time low. Maybe things will change when the fad of becoming superhuman through a needle, but that probably won’t be anytime soon.

It's why I don’t want to go back to living as if I could now that I’m a monster. Let’s see now where that armory is. Looking at the map, it’s on the fourth lowest floor. I’m on the fifth lowest floor, so it’s not too far away. Since I’m here, I look through the internet to see if my car crash is on the news. Surely enough it is, it’s been a week since it happened, and my daughter and wife died in it while I’m reported to have been taken in alive by Coronamento. So…they did die while I somehow survived. I really am a heartless bastard who deserves to die. Well, there’s no reason to hold it off any longer.

When I get to the armory, I find every kind of weapon, such as guns, swords, shields, laser weaponry, and more, along with different kinds of bullets. However, none of them work on me. They don’t even hurt me, and even though my body breaks apart, it always reforms.

“Why? Why can’t it die?!” I say out loud.

If there was a silent alarm like my room, it surely would’ve gone off by now, so I leave the armory just in time as security and my brothers arrive. Going through the vents, I search the facility for an archive or research center of some sort to see if Coronamento knows of a way to kill me. Because of my form, I see if I can change into whoever I want to, and sure enough, I can change my face and body into whatever I want it to, so I change into a security guard with a helmet on. Inside the facility’s archives, I find that Coronamento doesn’t know how to kill me either. It turns out they were trying to make a new kind of superhuman or substance that reforms flesh inspired by how God first made man.

This mud and dirt I’m made of now is not meant to be killed, and no kind of disease, frost, flame, electricity, or anything can completely dispel it. The researchers haven’t had successful results with any subject yet, and they’ve noted that they don’t expect to.

“So, I can’t die no matter what I do, can I?” I say to myself.

A researcher in the archives asks why a security guard like me is here, but I don’t answer them and slip away into the vents once I walk out of her sight. I traverse the vents, uncaring what fans, blades, and electricity I push myself through until I eventually find a way out of the building. Now, outside of it, I go back to my house and reform myself into my normal form. Looking into the mirror, I see something different about myself. It’s not the same image of me that I see in my pictures, so it’s just an image of me that I have of myself, which turns into a grey monster made of slug with red and blue eyes. I smash the mirror along with every picture of myself and my family that I see in my house before I throw myself on the floor and think about what to do with my life now. Of all the things in my life that I wanted, why can’t death be the one that’s denied to me? Why do I have to suffer like this? I guess it's because I’m nothing more than a useless piece of garbage, and I got what I deserve. Yeah…that’s probably why.

My latest book is done and out for free!

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The police respond to a prison break where both normal criminals and superhumans are kept. Renzo is among the officers who respond to the call, but once he finds his older brother getting mixed up in the event and helping a family member of the people who tried to kill him and his parents escape the prison, he'll find that this is the start of something larger than he expects and maybe the end of the police as an institution.

Scarier than Evil: Chapter 5 – The Law at Work

Chapter 5 – The Law at Work

In the police radio of my car, I hear nonstop reports of riots and violence aided by superhumans who are going after people whose dirt that Edoardo leaked on the internet. I turn it off since it’s giving me a headache and focus on talking to the people at the nearby precinct who are tracking Edoardo and seeing where he’s going while sending armed and available officers after him. From what I hear, Edoardo isn’t hiding and is taking part in the chaos he is starting by going after politicians, officers, and high-end criminals on the list he gave to the public.

His followers have hacked the speakers in the city to play a recording of him that says, “Rise up! Put to death those who have escaped justice and pervert it!”

After I arm up and get my armor on at a nearby precinct, I get a call that tells me Edoardo’s exact location, so I rush there to city hall and find police, heroes, and vigilantes fighting other police, heroes, and vigilantes. The people we’re up against are those I’ve come across and worked with at one point or another. These heroes, vigilantes, and officers were once beacons of justice, and now, they seem no different than criminals and anarchists who want to break and bend the law to their will, and yet, I can’t help but understand why they’re doing this. Still, there’s no negotiating with them. There’s only fighting for what we believe in, knowing ourselves to be right while knocking down the other thinking they’re in the wrong.

In this case, I don’t think there’s a shadow of a doubt that I’m right because of all the chaos, but I won’t pretend that my enemy is completely villainous and doing this for evil reasons. Rather, their reasoning is flawed and a result of injustice, which makes this all a tragedy. Nevertheless, I have a job to do and a city to protect, whether they are innocent or guilty. I take out two assault rifles from my car, one loaded with anti-superhuman rounds and the other loaded with normal bullets, and start firing at those I once considered coworkers without hesitation, as my dad and Salvatore taught me. Thanks to us outnumbering them, my allies are able to push back the people we’re fighting against so we can enter city hall.

Inside, I’m somewhat surprised to see Alex and Kurtis entering from the opposite side, with cops and superhumans aiding them as well. I fight to get to them and help them out while they’re pinned down. Once together, we can’t say a word until another wave of opposition comes from the upper floors.

“We knew you’d be here and need our help. It’s why we’re here, by the way,” Kurtis says.

“You can thank us later. We have to bring down your uncle before he can do any more damage,” Alex adds.

“Then let’s push back and get to him! Drinks will be on me!” I say.

The three of us move forward as a three-man squad, each of us picking targets that suit us. Kurtis uses his lighter guns to take care of the normal humans, Alex uses his heavy machine gun to tear through the superhumans, and I use my assault rifles to take care of both. With the help of our allies, we push forward to the upper floors of the building. I see Edoardo entering one of the rooms and chase after him while everyone else covers me to take care of Edoardo’s backup. In the room I find Edoardo in, I see two other injured people, one who is a well-dressed official while the other is a man in body armor. I’m about to shoot my uncle until I realize that my guns are empty, and he shoots the rifles out of my hands and points his pistols at the two injured people on the floor.

“These two people are a good representation of what I’m fighting against, nephew. One is a police commander who gets rid of evidence of his crimes for himself and his friends, while his friend here pays him to do so with the money he makes in drug, weapon, and human trafficking. Both of these men have escaped justice for years and deserve to die here, and now, and yet, you would protect them because they haven’t had a fair trial or didn’t pull a weapon on you,” Edoardo says. “Explain to me the logic in that.”

“The system isn’t perfect, but it prevents chaos like this. Cops are killing cops, heroes are tearing each other apart, and friends who once worked together are now at each other’s throats,” I say.

“That’s what was happening anyway. I accelerated the conflict and made bare the true enemies we should fight against.”

“Is this what you call justice? Don’t you think that innocents will be killed if anyone just exposes another person with or without legitimate evidence?”

“It’s worth it when no one in or outside of the law gets what they deserve like these pieces of human filth!”

“You’re a cop! You’re supposed to be an enforcer of justice, not judge, jury, and executioner!”

“This is me enforcing justice!”

Edoardo is about to shoot the two criminals on the floor, but I use my enhanced reflexes to draw my magnum and shoot him, the force of the bullet sending him flying into a nearby desk and dropping his guns. I walk up to him and am about to fire the final shot.

With a smile, Edoardo looks up, smiles at me, and says, “Will you change the system? Make sure the guilty are punished and innocents protected?”

“I will, uncle,” I say.

“Heh, I hope so, my nephew.”

My uncle dies with a smile on his face without me having to take the final shot, thanks be to God. Chief Bernardo rushes into the room, sees what happened, and laments not being here earlier.

“You shouldn’t have been the one to do it. I’m sorry. He was my friend, my brother, my responsibility,” he says.

“He was my uncle, but also, it doesn’t matter our personal relation to him. Justice was carried out, and much more needs to be done today,” I say.

“What about those two, bleeding out on the floor?”

“Call an ambulance for them. I’m sure the hospital will be full of men who don’t deserve mercy like them.”

For the next couple of weeks, the chaos that Edoardo started gets cleaned up by the police and our allies in our city. However, his chaos has spread to other cities since he exposed people beyond us, but since my responsibility is to care for the people within my city, I try not to worry about what’s happening in other places. Public trust in the police and authorities and thirst for justice is somewhat satiated after Edoardo’s ill-gotten evidence of digital paper trails and witness testimonies are reviewed by independent and legitimate authorities, and the people on his list are brought to justice, either executed or given lengthy sentences. By the end of it, I’m beyond tired and given a week’s vacation by Chief Bernardo, who tries not to blame himself for what his best friend did and yet is constantly working as a self-imposed penance.

While leaving the precinct, one of the cops who will be filling in for me comes up to me and says, “Hey, you’re Renzo! You don’t remember me, but we fought alongside one another during the riots. I’ll try to live up to the amazing things you’ve done!”

“Thanks,” I say, being completely taken off guard by the man’s words. “Try not to get in over your head.”

“Yes, sir!”

Outside, I receive more compliments from civilians who call me a hero and wave at me from people who think I saved the city. The compliments are nice and make me feel better, but they’re not the reason why I’m an officer. I do it because it’s what I think God wants me to do and to protect those who can’t protect themselves. It’s not a perfect job, and it’s not full of honest, good people. What job is? When I get home, I crash on the couch and receive kisses from my family as usual. As I look at their smiling faces, I’m reminded of the blessings in life that I’m thankful for, both small and big, and relax so that I’m ready to go out and do my job as a protector and enforcer of justice during my next day of work.

 

The End

Scarier than Evil: Chapter 4 – A Rigged Trial

Chapter 4 – A Rigged Trial

It’s been a week since we arrested Edoardo, and it's eerily quiet, with few crimes even happening in the worst parts of the city. The trial for Edoardo has been expedited to today because of what he’s done and his association with superhumans. I thought I wouldn’t be watching it, and yet, I’m watching it with my dad in my parent’s living room as if we were watching a sports game or show you would watch with your family. My dad sits in his car with a hand covering his mouth, and his eyes are glued to the screen with a glossy look to them as if he wants to cry. Meanwhile, Salvatore is helping our mom in the kitchen, and it’s then that I remember how much people say the two are alike. With the exception of Salvatore’s white and black hair and golden eyes, the two look similar, and my mom does have a history of getting in trouble with the law to get justice for herself and the people she wants to protect. It was that kind of trouble that caused my mom and dad to meet.

On the other side of the family, I look like my dad, with the exception of my eyes being red. My wife and Salvatore’s wife are talking and helping in the kitchen while the kids are playing outside. Today is our monthly family dinner, and most of it is the same as usual except for what is for dinner and what’s on TV. What is usual is my brother Ignazio not being here. I forgot what reason it was since he gives a lot of them, and I don’t care anymore to argue with him or press him on it, especially with what’s going on.

“Dad?” I say and then snap my fingers. “Dad? Are you okay?”

“Yes, I am. Just lost in thought and old memories,” my dad admits.

I don’t admit the same is happening to me, and I am just trying to keep my mind off what Edoardo said. If he plans to escape prison or the trial he’s in, then he has another thing coming because of the security around him and the evidence we have against him.

“Are you okay, Renzo? It couldn’t have been easy taking in your own uncle.”

“I’m fine, dad. I just need time to let the feeling of it pass away.”

“The feeling doesn’t just pass away after cases like this. It sticks with you. You must find a way to ignore it, pray it away, and not let it bother you.”

“I’m trying.”

“I’m sure you can, son. You have the quietness of St. Joseph, as they call it. It’s a terrifying quiet to some since you do what’s right without question or hesitation.” Salvatore joins our dad and me as we watch the trial start and the evidence against Edoardo is being presented. “I know they’ll bring up anything he said, but did he say anything special to you in particular?”

“He said I know that this isn’t the end, but it’s nothing we should worry about. In his diary, he wrote that he loves us, our family.”

“Hmm. He did and always will. Edoardo is a compassionate man, perhaps too compassionate because of what it drove him to do. If he said this isn’t the end, then he’s going to cause more trouble for us one way or another. Perhaps you should’ve shot him instead of arresting him.”

Salvatore laughs while I say, “You know I couldn’t do that. He had no weapon on him and didn’t resist arrest. Why did you say that?”

“I…I don’t know. Maybe it’s because I’m old and losing my mind or because I didn’t want to see my best friend, who I considered a brother, on trial like this.”

Understanding my dad’s feelings, I don’t say anything else, especially since the evidence against Edoardo is unable to be presented. They say that the files and maps I found in Edoardo’s house can be found, so Edoardo’s defense says that this evidence is a fabrication. Additionally, they say that Edoardo being present in the battle yesterday was coincidental since he owned the barn he was found in. I look over to Salvatore, who looks at me with surprise. We then look at our dad, who has the look of someone who seems unsurprised by this result. There’s disorder in the court now that the judge struggles to quiet down, but Edoardo standing up and speaking does shut them up.

“Judge Loeb,” Edoardo says. “I’m sure that you can pull the evidence against me out of thin air.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Now, sit down-”

“No, because I’m tired of you and your corrupt dealings, and unlike my prosecutors, I actually have evidence against you.”

“You’re the one on trial, Edoardo, not me. Guards, make him sit down.”

Instead of doing as they say, the guards simply stand around. So, this is what Edoardo was talking about. I spring up and call Chief Bernardo, who has been scrambling to find the evidence we found against Edoardo and is now rushing to the court where he is.

“Please, hand out to the crowd my evidence against the judge.”

The guards do as Edoardo says and give them pictures and files they are shocked to see.

“You can’t do this!” Loeb says as he stands up and is forced to sit down by the guards.

“Not legally, but when has that stopped you? How about when a human trafficker who was infamous for trading women to people in high positions of power was presented before you, and you said he was not guilty because the evidence against him disappeared before his trial as the evidence against me disappeared? What about this other case where an officer was stripped of his job for defending himself against criminals who were hitmen and ended up killing him not long after his trial? Who can forget the story of a politician you considered a friend who sold out the country he served to foreign leaders since they paid him well, and yet, his trial was forever put on hold, and he was exonerated by sketchy evidence?”

“This is all staged and fake! You’ve always had a bone to pick with me, Edoardo!”

“Because of what you’ve done! Every criminal that I put away who you were involved with was let go to murder, rape, or steal again, while every innocent person who I was forced to arrest was put in jail or ended up dead. Let’s not even get into your personal crimes that everyone in the court is reading of the sexual kind and plots that got you rich.”

The court is in more of an uproar than it was before.

“You won’t get away with this! I’ll make you pay for humiliating me!”

“Maybe, but you won’t be the one sentencing me. I know how many friends you have in high places, and they’ll be getting what’s coming to you. Even now, the evidence against them is being leaked on the internet, and they’ll face justice like you.”

Edoardo takes a gun out of his jacket and shoots Judge Loeb three times, twice in the chest and once in the head. I call Chief Bernardo again, and this time, he says he’s having a hard time getting into the court building since cops and superhumans are blocking his entry and that he may need to use force.

“You’ll have to! Edoardo has already killed Judge Loeb!” I say and wait for the chief’s response. “Chief? Chief!”

The phone hangs up, and I see that superhumans have appeared and broken into the courtroom where Edoardo is.

“The time is now to bring down the institutions that say they protect us but stab us in the back,” Edoardo says. “I’m starting with the police and then going after the three letter agencies of the government who are guilty of their own atrocities. If you know what’s good for you and are a good-natured person in these groups, then you should stand aside or join me, especially you, Renzo. I know you’re watching this.”

“Bastard,” I say while storming out of the house and starting to call Alex and Kurtis.

“Renzo!” my dad says from the front door. “Be careful!”

“I’ll be out there helping you, but remember, you have to be the one who ends this, brother,” Salvatore says as he runs past me and into his own car.

Looking back at my parent’s house, I take a moment to say, “I’ll be back. I promise.”

I then drive off as fast as I can with the sirens in my personal car blaring. This has to end now, and I don’t care if I have to kill my own uncle to do it! Now that he’s killed a judge and caused all this chaos, I have no choice but to.