A/N: Heads up! This is the start of a sequel! If you haven't read my first story "All of Eternity at my Fingertips" you probably won't fully comprehend whats going on here. That said, my first story ended up being 46 chapters and over 100,000 words long, so a short summary might be in order. (You should still probably at least read the epilogue of my first story, though that may leave you more confused.)
This is basically a Self-Insert that has evolved into an Original Character. He's been referred to as a "BBEG", a "Irredeemable Asshole" and a "Monster"
These are pretty much all correct labels. If you do not enjoy reading from the perspective of an evil powerful character as he stomps through a setting, this story is not for you!
This story will also earn it's M rating, which means smut and violence in gratuitous amounts. If that isn't your cup of tea, this story also isn't for you.
If you're still here, yay! Hope you enjoy the read!
White Void
"Alright, I've got your first stop."
I don't know how long I was floating in the void before the voice came back to me. It could have been an instant, it could have been a thousand years. Time, it seemed, was rather meaningless in it. But the voice startled me out of my thoughts and I sighed, replying to it, "Wonderful. Do I get to know where I'm going?"
"Well actually, I wasn't planning on telling you."
I grimace, rubbing the bridge of my nose with my fingertips, "Of course you weren't. Am I about to get fucked here? Are you going to fuck me?"
"Of course not! This next setting will be a bit more challenging than your first, but don't worry I've got your back. A couple little perks and you'll be all set. Also a couple small changes to how you work. There won't be any vervain in this new world, so I'm nerfing your compulsion. It will only last a couple days before wearing off now, and if you keep compelling someone they'll build up a resistance to it. Also nothing complex! Simple commands only now!"
"There's no White Oak either, at least not the mystical kind that works on you. But this setting has plenty of people who can tear you limb from limb and obliterate every last atom of your body, so that's okay. You won't be the biggest fish in the pond, by far, but there will be plenty of room to have fun. Oh and on the fun note, you're practically your own race now. So if you feed someone your blood and then kill them, they come back as a hybrid, not a vampire. There aren't any vampires or werewolves in this setting anyways."
I sigh and just shake my head, "I'm guessing I'll have to figure out these perks as I go, won't I? And it's not like I can stop you from apparently changing my compulsion on a whim. Fine, I'm ready."
"Well, one you'll probably figure out as soon as you realize what setting you're in. The other you'll have to experiment to discover. Go ahead and step through the portal now, and good luck!"
As a large gateway spawns into existence before me, I see what looks like an empty dark alley of some unknown city at night. Without another word to the Omnipotent version of myself, I step through.
XxScenebreakxX
Unknown Time, Unknown Place
There is a sense of vertigo as I find myself once again on a solid plane of existence, and I have to fall to a knee to catch my balance. Now that I'm actually through the portal it would definitely appear that I'm in a dark alley, but as the portal closes behind me, I find out it is far from empty.
"Who the fuck are you supposed to be?"
I stand up and brush imaginary dust off of my clothing, a bit thankful that the ROB version of me had let me keep my kemiya enhanced armor, and a little afraid of just what it meant that he let me have such an advantage. Finally I turn around to find what could only be a gang of Asians looking at me in a mixture of bewilderment, suspicion, and fear.
Through the throng of people came their leader, nice big guy with a metal mask, no shirt, and dragon tattoo's all over his upper torso. He stared at me with clear suspicion and anger, and once again voices his displeasure, "I asked you a question. Give me an answer, or I'll smear you across this street."
As I took him in, as I took in the Asian gang members around him pulling out guns, it finally clicked, "Oh fuck no."
I could hear the growl in Lung's voice as he assumed I was answering him, "Fine, the hard way it is."
"No! Fuck this!" Even as I continued to bemoan my poor fortune I flashed forward, coming to a stop behind Lung and lashing out with my arm. A moment later Lung's head, mask and all, went rolling down the street. His large body slowly toppled over, now boneless with nothing to support it.
I was breathing harder than I had in a long time, my adrenaline had actually spiked as I realized what I was face to face with, what world I was in. I was so freaked out that I actually pointed a finger at Lung's dead body and spoke to it, "I am NOT fucking fighting Worm's version of the goddamn Hulk less than a minute after getting here!"
That's when a bullet tore through the side of my head and I looked up to find many of the normal gang members staring at the one guy who had been brave enough to pull out his gun and just shoot me. I growl a bit as the bullet wound easily heals up, and my eyes flash gold and black even as my dual set of fangs drops down.
This has the desired effect of causing the entire gang to turn tail and run, even as I flash forward, disarm the gunslinger who'd shot me, and tear his throat out with my teeth. I drain every last drop of his blood and let his corpse fall to the ground just as Lung's had. I could chase after the rest of the gang, kill each and every single one of them before they got any further… but as I stood there, I could hear it.
The buzz of insects just barely covered up the terrified breathing of a figure on a nearby roof. A grin slowly spreads across my face, and in an instant I'm on the roof with a very familiar girl. Skitter was very menacing in the dark, I could definitely see how her costume might scream villain to a hero like Armsmaster. She was looking up and down the street frantically, clearly having been unable to follow my speed as I came up here.
Her bugs told her I was there before I could say anything though, and she abruptly spun around, freezing up at the sight of me. I was a bit bloody at this point, I'd always been a messy eater when I got hungry. I grin toothily, blood covering all of the skin below my lips as I step closer to her, "Hello my dear. Spying are we?"
Unfortunately she takes my tone and movement as a threat and a moment later I'm dealing with a wall of insects as she tries to overwhelm me. I could go through them and kill her, but I have enough presence of mind not to murder the main character of the setting I now find myself in, even if this is temporary.
So I'm forced to run away and leave Taylor behind to deal with the Undersiders, Armsmaster, and Lung's decapitated corpse. Awkward.
XxScenebreakxX
Taylor was frozen for what felt like eternity, eyes wide and breathe coming out in short gasps as she frantically searched the area with her bugs to make sure the monster that had just beheaded Lung was truly gone. It was because of this that she had a few moments warning before giant four-legged monstrosities complete with riders landed on her roof top.
The only thing that stopped her from attacking outright was one of the riders calling out quickly in a young female voice, "Whoa, wait! We're friendly, not here to fight!"
With a start Taylor pulled her bugs back, slowly beginning to calm down now that it seemed like she was safe. Slowly getting to her feet from where she'd instinctively crouched against the edge of the roof, she stared as a group of what she hoped were heroes slipped off the big monster mounts and approached carefully.
She preempted anything they might say with, "L-lung's dead." She could still barely believe it herself, but she'd watched it happen, and she felt like it was at least partially up to her to spread the news.
Everyone who was approaching immediately stopped, but then the one who'd called out to her, who appeared to be a blonde in a skintight purple suit ran past her to look over the roof, her eyes wide. Taylor just stood there, eyes on all of them, ready for anything after what she'd seen.
Eventually a male wearing black leathers and a motorcycle helmet calls out, "Tattletale?"
The blonde, or Tattletale as Taylor now knows, slowly turns around, her tone shaky, "She's telling the truth. He's dead. Some… thing with a whole lot of strength just swiped his head off before he could transform."
Taylor shivers as the explanation brings back the imagery it describes and she grimaces, composing herself, "It looked like a man. He came out of some portal in the middle of the air, and Lung threatened him. A few moments later, Lung was dead."
One of the group looks around carefully, dressed like some sort of renaissance reject, "But, he's uh… gone now yeah?"
This is mostly directed at the one they called Tattletale, so Taylor stays quiet as she answers, nodding, "Yes. Far as I can tell, there's no one here but us and bug girl."
Taylor was ready to bristle at that even though she hadn't even picked a name yet, when the sound of a supped up motorcycle interrupted her train of thought. All of the others tensed up and Tattletale and bike helmet guy exchanged a clear look before the blonde costumed girl turned to Taylor.
"Look, you need to come with us. That's Armsmaster on his way here. You don't want to be here when he arrives."
Taylor blinks at that, and begins to get the feeling that these aren't a strapping band of independent young heroes like she'd been hoping really deep down inside, "B-but I'm a hero. Someone has to tell him what happened."
Tattletale shakes his head, "Do you want to stay independent? Because if you stay and tell Armsmaster what you told us, he'll apprehend you for Lung's Murder and your best case scenario is being strong-armed into the Wards when they finally decide that a teenage girl with bug control couldn't have decapitated Lung. That means your parents get brought in. Do you want that?"
Taylor's eyes are wide behind her bug-like mask as she shakes her head, "Why would the Protectorate do that? You're lying, you have to be."
The motorcycle is getting closer now, and the others are already back on the big dog things as Tattletale reaches out and grabs Taylor by the shoulders, "Listen to me! I'm not lying, how do you think Shadow Stalker got recruited? Look, just come with us. No commitment, we drop you off where ever you want and part ways amicably. You do NOT want to be tied to this, Lung's death is going to cause a veritable hurricane."
Taylor hesitates for a long moment before shaking her head again and moving towards the ladder she'd used to get up here in the first place. She kept her eyes on the group of capes but they made no moves to stop her, and eventually Tattletale climbed back on one of the monsters and they went bounding off to the next roof.
Carefully making her way down off the roof, Taylor slipped away into the night, her dark colored costume letting her move through the darkness unnoticed. While she wasn't about to accept help from a group of strangers, the one girl, the girl who'd backed up her story, she'd shaken her enough that Taylor wasn't going to wait around for Armsmaster.
Maybe in a few days she'd go in, tell the PRT what she'd seen… but it would be on her terms, she wouldn't risk being treated like a criminal when she was going to be a hero. She wasn't going to risk being exposed to her dad on anything but her own terms. As she turned onto her street Taylor let out a low sigh of relief. She was home free.
Some first night out this turned out to be.
XxScenebreakxX
PRT Headquarters, Sometime Later
Piggot sat behind her desk and grimaced, resisting the urge to bury her face in her hands. With Armsmaster standing before her waiting for her response, it would not do to show weakness. After a second's more pause, she speaks, "Tell me again what you found."
Armsmaster nods and repeats himself, speaking concisely and clearly, "I arrived on scene at 11:39 pm. There was no one nearby that I could tell, and only two bodies. One unpowered ABB member whose identity we're still trying to discern, and Lung."
Piggot nods slowly as she digests this, "And how was Lung killed?"
"He was beheaded by some sort of blunt object, the tears suggesting that it was no cutting edge that did it. Best guess at the moment is a reinforced bat of some sorts. We should know more in a day or two."
Piggot grinds her teeth in thought for a long moment, "And how did the thug die?"
Here Armsmaster grimaces, seeming a bit disquieted by this next piece of information, "He died of blood loss. As far as I could tell, every drop of his blood was drained through a bite on his neck."
Piggot scoffs at that, "What, two nice neat little puncture wounds in the neck? Do we have a brute cape that thinks he's a vampire on our hands?"
Armsmaster shakes his head, "Not neat at all, whatever drank the man dry had rows of teeth. They tore his throat out in the process of draining him. If they'd left him with any afterwards he would have died anyways from the wound. As far as I can tell, it was fast and vicious."
Piggot stares at Armsmaster for a long moment before looking down at the papers on her desk, "So you're saying we might have a cape who triggered as an actual vampire on our hands?"
"Or something close to it, yes. At the very least, whatever it was had the strength to behead Lung and then drank every drop of blood out of a man through the arteries in his neck."
Piggot is quiet for a while more before letting out a slow explosive breathe, "Lung started out at Brute 4 in his base form. For now, we'll call this new one a Brute 6 and hope for more information to crop up before more incidents do. You're dismissed Armsmaster."
With a nod, the armored hero turned and left the room. Piggot leaned back in her chair and stared off into space as she imagined just what this would mean for her city. Lung was a monster, an evil that Piggot was happy to be rid of… but his death upset a balance that was barely being kept as it was. The fallout of this would resonate for months if not years to come.
And Piggot would be there to handle every bit of it.
A/N: Thanks for reading this far! If you have the time please consider leaving a review, I thrive on feedback!