Chapter 138: Chapter 137

Chapter 137

Senator James was usually a composed man. He was in his late 40’s, young for a man of his position in the senate - though not much of the senate was left if he had to guess the whereabouts of the old government. Still, he’d done a good job in maintaining order after calling the present military into action and setting up systems for food distribution.

But that food reserve was running out, and without a supply chain that worked properly he was in for some real problems unless he figured out how to go about getting almost a million people access to foodstuffs. That didn't even include the other cities of Rockford and Milwaukee, which had been put under Chicago's military protection but were fending for themselves in the meantime through the local mayors otherwise.

Senator James grimaced at the idea that the last estimated count was placed that low. Chicago was nearing 3 million before the integration, but after the tutorials, monster attacks, anarchy, and hostile neighbors they’d had to put down - they’d lost almost two thirds of the population.

He shook his head in silence under the bland light of the prison interior. Today he wore a typical black suit, well pressed, with a red tie and dress shoes. His hair was combed back in the usual gelled style he liked most, emphasizing the single gray streak in his otherwise dark brown hair that was borderline black. He sat in a chair across from the prison warden’s desk, waiting for the old balding man across from him impatiently while the warden sifted through papers. It was unfortunate, but the warden had very recently become a person of importance in the city that Senator James had to deal with all too often.

“Surely it can’t be that hard to find a paper on a man who was just admitted into the prison today?” Senator James stated sourly, tapping his finger against the padding of his armchair while glaring across the room.

The old warden glared right back, adjusting his navy-blue baseball cap, but didn’t reply and went back to sifting through papers.

Senator James sighed, but thankfully the search only lasted another couple of minutes before the files were pulled and handed over.

“That’s what we have.” The warden stated sourly, leaning back in his rolling chair and looking out the window to the sunset along the skyline. “Our best identifiers couldn’t get any read on his person other than the class of ‘Warlock’, but they did get partial reads on each of the things he’s wearing along with that wicked-looking staff he had and the contents of his spatial bag. All the details are right there in those documents, pretty nasty stuff. These items make our own weapons look like children’s toys, and the general isn’t too happy about it.”

“General Florence?”

“Is there another general I should be aware of?”

Senator James pursed his lips, closed his eyes, and tried not to be too snippy with his retort. “No, warden. You are correct, there is only one general. Now tell me…”

The senator laid a picture of Riven’s passed out body on the desk. “The notes here say that this ‘warlock’… someone mistook him for a monster and tried to shoot him?”

“A civilian, yes.” The warden said with a head nod. “9mm bullet right to the head, which promptly bounced off ricochet to hit someone else in the shoulder. Didn’t even leave a dent.”

“Jesus.”

“Gets worse. That weapon he has? It’s higher grade than anything anyone in the city has - that’s for sure. And look-” The warden pointed to a line that was highlighted with yellow marker on the description written out by their intelligence officers. “Requires vampiric heritage to wield.”

Senator James blinked, scowling as he did so and flipped the page over to get another look at the snapshot of the staff. “So you’re saying this man’s a vampire?”

“We don’t know, but his staff implies that he is one.”

“I didn’t realize vampires were real.”

“Is it really something you want to question at this point after all that has happened?”

Senator James shook his head, continuing to scan the notes on what little information they’d acquired on this stranger. “No. I won’t question it. I just find it very weird that he was teleported out of nowhere in the middle of downtown with a magical disturbance that caused power to go out for entire city blocks. Bringing the powerlines back up is going to be a real pain in our ass considering how long it took the first time. Are you sure we have those manacles fitted to him properly?”

“Yes. He’s got the suppression manacles on and we’ve posted soldiers outside his cell. The general gave them strict orders to fire…” The warden’s voice trailed off, and both men looked to the door leading out of the small office when gunshots erupted further into the prison.

A terrifying cold sensation swept over them both, a palpable presence settled onto their minds like a titanic weight of pressure, and a thunderous boom rocked the prison - shaking the very walls of the large structure. Red frost began forming along the furniture, ceiling, chairs and even their hair as the mens’ breath started giving off visible vapor. Senator James held onto his chair as the quaking of the prison got more and more violent, gritting his teeth and staring wide-eyed to the window that was being covered in this new onslaught of abnormal red ice - until all of a sudden: everything stopped.

Then the sound of gunfire was gone. The frost stopped accumulating. The heavy feeling of pressure subsided, and only calm remained.

The warden wheezed out a gasp, eyes wide and hands shaking. “What the fuck was that!?”

“Senator James got up, not bothering to wait for the olderman, and headed for the door. Putting his hand on the cold metal, he winced at the sub-zero temperature - and pulled.

But it didn’t budge.

“The door is jammed!” He tried to yank harder, but it still didn’t budge. Ice had covered the door’s hinges, and all he got was a grating sound whenever he yanked.

The warden shambled over, almost slipping on the ground and cursing aloud before leaning in and taking a hold of the door handle himself. He pulled once, twice, and then three times before the handle completely snapped off - and the warden fell backwards to the ground with the metal piece clutched in his hand.

“Shit!” Senator James looked around for another way out. He went over to the landline - the only types of phones that worked here anymore ever since the satellites went down. Cell phones were nothing but little pieces of garbage now, so that wasn’t an option. But when he picked up the landline, it rang a dead signal - likely due to damage sustained by the building with whatever kind of freakish event or attack was going on. “God damn it! We’re trapped in here!”

From beyond the door and far down the hallway beyond a solid door held in place with keypad access, where he’d stationed his personal escort - more shots rang out. He stiffened when the shots abruptly died, then turned around when he heard a monstrous crash of metal on cement.

Senator James exchanged looks with the warden who’d just gotten to his feet - supporting his weight on the desk. “Something just took the barricade off its hinges.”

“You don’t think I didn’t realize that!?” the older man hissed in terror, fumbling with the drawer in his desk and pulling out a handgun to cock and load it. “By god, this world has gone to hell!”

Steps echoed, crunching through the long hallway one after another. The ground shook underfoot, and the senator’s heart shook with it while he quivered and backed up to the frozen window. He briefly thought about trying to throw a chair through the glass behind him, but it was bullet proof and there was zero chance of success in that avenue. He could only hope that whoever or whatever was on the other side - that he’d be able to negotiate with it.

*CRASH*

Thick, black, metallic claws tore through the cement on either side of the door, gripping the entire thing in four different places. Dust and debris shot into the room, and Senator James watched in awestruck horror as some gigantic brute pulled and ripped the door right out of the wall with part of the cement binding it.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

The warden didn’t bother waiting, rapid-firing his pistol into the dust cloud that washed over them and sending sparks off his target with every bullet that hit. A demonic, deep chuckle echoed into the room, and Senator James paled to a deathly white when the visage of a huge armored THING appeared out of the debris.

It was absolutely massive, having to hunch over in the relatively small confines of the hallway behind it, with four muscular arms tossing the door aside effortlessly. It lacked any eyes or nose, only having a metallic, spiked, helmet-like head to match the rest of its obsidian body where thin lines of red, sinewy muscle could barely be made out between the large plates of armor fused to its body. Its smile was what creeped Senator James out the most though, as it had rows of very long, very sharp obsidian teeth that smiled wickedly back at him while it continued to laugh.

“My god…” The warden said, stumbling back and shakily fumbling to load another magazine. “Oh my god, oh my god, oh… my… god…”

From behind the large monster a humanoid figure stepped out, and James immediately recognized him as the previously unconscious warlock they’d subdued and imprisoned earlier that day. He looked around, the feathered headdress-like mask turning left and right before settling on the warden who lifted his hand to fire.

The warlock lifted his own hand in turn, and red ice quickly encompassed the pistol as well as the warden’s hand - causing the man to scream in pain.

***

“Oh shut up. I guarantee a little bit of cold is far less painful than being struck with a bullet.” Riven snickered, walking into the room towards the screaming old man - backhanding him to send the warden toppling to the ground. “I hate dealing with idiots, and there are oh so many of them. Fay, ask which one of them has the goods.”

The succubus entered next, and alongside Athela the two demons pulled a bound man who’d been halfway cocooned in red threads. It was the same military man with the crew cut who’d tried to tell Riven he had to take off his stuff and hand it over.

Quickly she whispered something into his ear, the succubus using her silvertongue ability to get a drugged half-smile and a head-nod in the warden’s direction. She straightened, proudly pointing to the man Riven had just backhanded.

“Oh, so it’s dopey then.” Riven walked by Senator James without even a sideways look, pulling the warden to his feet and knocking the gun out of his hand - shattering ice and a finger with it. The old man screamed even louder, but Riven shook him back and forth rapidly like a rag doll to get his attention. “Hey idiot, shut up for a second! I SAID SHUT UP!!!”

Riven stopped manhandling the poor guy a few seconds later when his cries died down into a whisper, and then he looked around the room. “I’ve been told on good authority that you’re the dumbass who took my shit. Where is it?”

“Your shit!?” The warden repeated, quivering in Riven’s grasp and being held by the scruff of his shirt that was slowly ripping at the seams.

“My shit! Like, my staff and my bag and all that other stuff that you cockwombles stole from me.” Riven unceremoniously dropped the old man with a thud, then walked over and ripped open a closet door, only to frown underneath the porcelain mask he still couldn’t take off. “God damn it. Not here. FAY! Your version is better than mine, get over here and ask.”

“Yes master!” The succubus skipped over to the old man, getting his attention instantly with the two large objects she always had on her, and bent down while infusing mana into her words. “Where is my master’s stuff? You can tell me!”

Instantly the old man’s eyes hazed over, and he stiffened as his minimal Willpower tried to combat the demon’s ability. His Willpower was not nearly enough, and he gave a sidelong look at a large metal box with a lid off to the side of a couch on the far side of the room. “There.”

“Good boy!” Fay patted the old man on the head, then let her ability go as the man sputtered and fell back - horrified at what she’d just done.

“Mind magic!?” The warden gasped while Riven walked past him to the metal chest.

Pulling off the lid and flinging it halfway across the room, he cackled delightedly and yanked his staff out. The magic item pulsed in his grasp, fleshy tendrils embracing him tightly before the weapon was placed to the side and hovered mid-air while he sifted through the other goods.

Riven quickly became irritated again though, and one by one started putting stuff back into the bag of holding that these idiots had taken out. “They pulled out a lot of stuff to examine, this is going to take forever to put back inside. I swear to god if anything is missing…”

“Ahem…”

Riven straightened, and for the first time since entering the room - looked over to the man in the nice suit who was trying to put on his best impression of confidence. “What is it, pops? Got something to say?”

“Pops…?” Senator James repeated with furrowed brows. Becoming slightly more confident in his assumption, he straightened his tie. “You’re from Earth, aren’t you?”

“And you’re quite the Sherlock Holmes.” Riven stated sarcastically, turning back to the box and rummaging around again while pushing stuff into the satin spatial bag and setting aside his clothes. “What gave it away? The good old American accent or the fashionable outfit that so many millennials nowadays try on for sport? I’d like to say I’m a trendsetter, but I don’t think I’m the first guy to try out kinky form fitting cosplay.”n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Senator James almost forgot his current predicament when he started to grin, but quickly shut that down when he remembered that this man had torn through a heavily guarded facility and had likely killed many people to get here. This man was incredibly dangerous, and he commanded equally dangerous creatures. A wary frown quickly set onto his features, and he hesitantly took a step forward while side-eyeing the woman who was obviously a succubus not far off. “Just by the way you speak… I realize that we’re not speaking English anymore, but the mannerisms and the way you structure sentences is the same as me.”

“Goodie. Perhaps you people should have tried talking to me first before putting me in a prison cell and stealing all my shit then.”

Senator James winced, casting a sidelong look at the warden who was babying his broken finger. “Yes, that was obviously a mistake… I assume the men I stationed outside that hallway are dead?”

“Dead?” The warlock repeated, standing up and pulling out a pair of dark linen trousers as well as some leather boots. Going over to the frost-covered couch, the frozen magic vanished from the fabric when he sat down - and he began to put the pants on over his skin-tight jumpsuit. “No, I didn’t kill them. They were weak enough that my demons and I were able to subdue them without much fuss.”

Again the senator winced. “Demons? Too weak? This is one of the most secure places in Chicago… we keep most of our hardened, higher level criminals here.”

Riven paused, having halfway put on one boot, and he looked up through the blank face mask with body language that imitated surprise. “Seriously? Chicago?”

Senator James nodded slowly. “That’s right… Oh, and my name is Senator Rufus James. You may have heard of me if you’re an American-”

“Nope. No idea who you are, don’t care either.” Riven went back to shoving on his leather boots. “You motherfuckers ruined the country because you were all so greedy, I’d half hoped you all were lost to the system tutorials. Did you know that many people with Type 1 diabetes, who were born with the condition, couldn’t even afford insulin and died due to your bad policies? And that’s just one of a billion bad things you people did.”

The senator’s face reddened, and his fists clenched. “I am well aware of the failings of our senate, I for one never voted-”

“Oh I’m sure you’re not the problem. None of you senators ever were, it was always the other side right? Always the OTHER political party. God help Chicago if they have one of you cockroaches already leading them. I assume you’re the man in charge here?” Riven grunted, standing up and pulling on a baggy dark shirt. In order to put it on he needed to literally tear off the sleeves and cut down the side so his pauldrons would fit. Immediately after that, the maw along his chest bit and ravenously tore through it in a miniature temper tantrum until the teeth were exposed to the air again - and Riven looked down dumbfounded at the shirt his ‘amulet’ had just ruined. “Oh, god damn it I better not have this happen to all the shirts I buy.”

Trying to change the subject and realizing that this warlock obviously had a very poor view of the government from back on Earth, Senator James spoke again. “So… these are your demons then?”

He stared at the two beautiful women who were sitting on the desk chatting in low whispers with one another, and then warily looked over to the living armored tank that was glaring at him with a wide toothy grin.

“Indeed. Now…” Riven tried to put on his cloak next, struggling to find a way to get it on without ruining it like he did with the shirt. He made sure it stayed open in the front so his ‘great maw’ wouldn’t eat through the fabric there as well. Thankfully and to Riven’s own surprise, the pauldrons actually lifted up off his shoulders to hover in place temporarily - allowing him to place the cloak back down and underneath the pauldrons just with a thought - which was certainly going to make dressing easier considering his ‘Twin Cannibals’ had been spiked down to his flesh only earlier that day. Then when he tried to remove the pauldrons manually again, they simply didn’t budge.

Must be the sentient item set sensing what he wanted. It didn’t want to let him go. Would it want to let go when all 5 of the set pieces were put together?

That would definitely be a problem he’d have to address sooner rather than later.

Riven grabbed his staff from out of the air, pulled his hood up to the edge of his porcelain mask where the peacock-like red feathers stood out in seven directions, and waved a hand over the window to clear it entirely of frost so he could check himself out in the mirror. “I have a busy schedule ahead of me and some jackass to find. Then I have even more jackasses to find… fucking Chalgathi out to ruin my day. You wouldn’t happen to know of any roaming person killing civilians by the thousands in this area, would you? Any mass murders you can’t explain? Any evil-looking baddies that need taking out because they’ve gone mad with power? Anything like that? I’m looking for someone fitting that description and I have no idea where to start.”

Confusion. That was the emotion Senator James was feeling right now, and he shook his head rapidly when Riven turned his way. “Uh… Uhm, no. We’ve had monster attacks and a lot of infighting during the anarchy after our tutorials if that’s what you mean… but a single person killing civilians by the thousands? I can’t say I’ve heard of anything like that.”

A thought crossed the senator’s mind, and sweat began to slowly accumulate across his forehead. Dabbing at it with his sleeve, he tried to contain his composure while the other man stared him down. If this man had just ransacked the prison so effortlessly, and he had a friend in the area with that kind of description… there wouldn’t be anything Senator James could do to stop him. It was very likely that it would take an entire battalion to kill this man just by the show of force he’d already displayed, and he didn’t even know the warlock’s true extent of power yet. “If I may ask… Why are you looking for this particular type of person? Is he or she an acquaintance of yours?”

Riven cocked his head to one side. “No, nothing like that. It’s a long story, but I’m here to kill them.”