ALL NOVEL Intermission: Not My Fault.
It was taking too long.
Getting it back was taking too damn long!
This stupid, (Gnome)ing System wasn't giving me back my powers fast enough!
It was all their fault. The aliens! The gnomes! The Telepaths! They did this to me! They're the ones who took my powers away! The ones who took my arm away.
Phantom pain shoots through me. Giving me the illusion that I still have something on that side of my body.
I look down at the stump. Clenching and unclenching a fist that isn't there.
I grind my teeth in frustration.
If I had just half my strength....
No!
Just a quarter!
A tenth!
Then none of this would have happened! I would have seen them coming! I would have smashed those Neanderthals in to the (Gnome)ing walls!
I would have cremated them till their bones melted into hot slurry!
Yes.
Yes!
I'll get them! I'll show them!
I'll show them all!
My skin tingles in anticipation. Relishing the idea of barbecuing those dirty (Gnome)ing barbarians.
The girl first.
Her brother took my arm so he has to go second.
He has to see what I do to her before I kill him.
Then he'll know!
He'll know that heroes are not to be messed with!
That aliens will never take me! That I'm bigger than some wasp man in his fancy flying saucer!
I feel another tingle.
One that travels down my spine and sets my teeth on edge.
[Sense Heat] is calling to me.
Telling me there's something crawling behind these walls.
Finally! I was afraid I'd run out of targets.
I turn to face the uneven stone.
"You think you're safe, don't you? You think I can't get to you because you're hiding! Like a coward!"
I raised both my hands, bracing myself and holding down the air around me with [Amplify Gravity] whilst protecting my own body from the blast using [Absorb Heat], [Absorb Kinetic] and [Absorb Light] all at once.
"HAVE A TASTE OF ME!"
[Pyrokinesis III] roars. Melting the stone wall in front of me. And the one after that. And the one after that.
Filling the passages with my awesome power!
The blast doesn't just consume hundreds of critters beyond my senses. It also swallows up most of the oxygen in the stale air.
I smile. Knowing hundreds are choking to death on carbon monoxide.
Maybe even thousands.
It doesn't take long for the notifications to come.
Level Gained: +50 Maximum Psy. +8 Ability Points.
Ability Evolving: [Pyrokinesis III] 7 has grown to [Pyrokinesis III] 8
Name:
Randall Haroway
Psy:
321/500
Type:
Projector II Level 54
Projector Abilities:
[Telekinesis III] 7 / [Pyrokinesis III] 8 / [Photokinesis III] 6 / [Sense Heat] 2 / [Sense Kinetic] 2 / [Absorb Heat] 5 / [Absorb Kinetic] 5 / [Absorb Light] 4 / [Reverse Gravity] 5 / [Amplify Gravity] 3 / [Frost Bubble] 2 / [Local Stop] 2 / [Local Jump] 3 / [Local Portal] 5 / [Resonance] 2
Ability Points:
0
I take a deep and satisfying breath.
Savoring the ecstasy that comes from progressing.
Then I wrap a [Frost Bubble] around me to cool my surroundings and follow it up by manifesting [Telekinesis III].
The air that remains gathers to me. Shielded by walls of solid force.
It doesn't ignite and I keep taking one satisfied breath after another.
I lift my body up. Bringing the lifegiving oxygen with me.
I fly.
Through horizontal hallways and vertical shafts.
Forward and up and down again.
Admiring my own handiwork.
'It took some time to combine [Force Bolt], [Force Bubble] and [Force Wall], but the results speak for themselves. Its still not as good as my old power, but its getting closer and closer with every level. Now I just need to figure out how to re-combine [Telekinesis III], [Pyrokinesis III], and [Photokinesis III]. That should get me back to top form. Back to the S-Ranker that I was. Then they'll pay. They'll all pay.'
My mind began conjuring images as I flew.
Scenes from the towns.
From the people.
My teeth started grinding again. The sheer unfairness of it all making my blood boil.
'It was the Telepaths! Them and the aliens! They've always had it out for me! How else would you explain all those people turning against me? I had TV commercials! My face was in cereal boxes! I only ate the finest foods and slept with the finest women! How could regular people hate me? What reason would they have to hate me? No. It was them. Telepaths snuck onto the town beforehand and mind-wiped the entire population. That's why they threw (Gnome) at me. There's no other way it makes sense. Everyone's been out to get me since day one! Its all them! Its all their fault! If only they didn't exist! If only I could burn them all with one flourish!'
I passed more and more charred bodies as I flew.
Centipedes, eels, moles, rabbits, were-rats, minotaurs, mushroom-men, poisoned plants, were-zebras, panthers, snails, otters, beetles and pumas.
All united by one common denominator.
They could burn.
I began to feel a rising sense of self-satisfaction. Only for it to be ruined by faces moaning inside the billowing flames.
They were people who'd turned against me. Fools and weaklings that had allowed themselves to be manipulated by Telepaths.
'Don't blame me. I'm not the one who set you against me. Blame them. Blame the Telepaths and the aliens. The conspirators controlling the governments from the shadows. The idiots insisting that the world is round! They did this to you! Not me! I'm not to blame. Its not my fault! Its theirs! Its yours!'
Traps triggered in unison. Filling the air in front of me with ballista bolts.
They smashed against my force field and shattered into splinters.
I smiled a triumphant smile.
Until the broken remains reminded me of that reporter.
The one who'd had the nerve to swing at me.
My power had activated, of course. It was a natural reaction.
But the sheep hadn't seen it that way.
They'd cried out bloody murder.
As if I hadn't been defending myself!
I wasn't an Enhancer! My body was only as strong as a regular human's! What was I supposed to do when an agent of the secret cabal tried to assassinate me!?
They shouldn't have been so blind! They should have blamed her masters! The ones pulling her strings! The Telepaths off the coast of Australia! They sent her to kill me! Her blood is on their hands! Not mine! I didn't do anything wrong!
The atmosphere vibrated and hummed.
A spray of bullets flew towards me, only to be met with more concentrated kinetic force. Each of the shots went wild. Striking the nearby walls instead of me.
I exerted [Telekinesis III].
Gouging out stones from the walls until I found the offending machine.
I ripped the turret clean out of its nest and made a crushing motion with my one remaining fist.
The metal screamed. Before collapsing into itself.
I clicked my tongue.
'Traps are a coward's weapon. The kind of thing Telepaths would use. No wonder they designed this maze. They wanted to strip me of authority. Of the Rank that made me a hero. Ha! It sure blew up in their faces! I'll leave here stronger than ever before! With brand new powers and a whole lot more gas in the tank! I'll show them! I'll show them all!'
'What will you show them?'
I stopped.
Landing with a resounding BOOOM! and hollowing out a crater with the sheer impact of my shield landing on the stone floor.
'A Telepath! I knew it! They couldn't finish me off with traps and they saw what I did to the gnomes they sent my way! I guess you finally decided to show yourself huh!? Bring it on!'
I opened my senses as far as they would go, trying to make out a heat signature or some errant movement.
'What are you doing friend?'
'GET OUT OF MY HEAD!'
I turned and turned. Despairing at my inability to find the offender.
'Where are you! Show yourself!'
'Haha! I'm right above you silly. I want to be your best friend in the whole world. I want to be your clothes and feel your smooth skin all over mine as I wrap you up and feed you and hug you and keep you warm.'
Mother(Gnome)ing pervert!
I dug deep inside myself. To the burning candle flame that was my inner world.
I found the wisp associated with [Resonance]. Grasping at the fickle mote and willing it to excise the messages coming my way.
I would have fed it more Psy, if that was possible. As things stood, it was my only hope to ward of psionic assaults.
It had worked against the gnomes, so it would have to do here.
'You think I'm helpless don't you? Don't you!? You think you'll get away with sniping me like a coward because I can't see you? Well think again! I'll burn you to a crisp!'
I brought in air all around me, preparing a second explosion.
This time, I sent it upwards. Making a pillar of flame that melted the ceiling until only magma remained.
Once more, the magnitude of my attack sundered several walls. One after the other.
I sensed newly formed lava dripping down and absorbed most of the heat from the searing droplets. flicking the others away with [Telekinesis III].
I poured more and more Psy into the conflagration. Laughing as I heard the vile Telepath screaming into my head.
It kept saying nonsense. Telling me that it wanted to be friends. That it wanted love.
Ha!
As if those monsters were capable of love.
"You might have fooled someone else, but you won't fool me! I'm much smarter than your average mook! I know your lies better than the back of my hand!"
I flew through the newly formed aperture, blasting away any remaining impediments with shockwaves of concussive force.
I rose like a phoenix from the ashes.
Giggling.
'Yes! Finally! My revenge finally got started! One Telepath down! A couple thousand to go!'
I searched for the body for another thirty minutes, growing more and more frustrated when I failed to find it.
Could it have escaped somehow?
I have a portal ability. Maybe it had a few mind-controlled drones on hand with similar capabilities.
That was a sobering thought.
'As expected. It isn't enough to ruin my life and to send innocent people after me. Now they're sending other Projectors too. Is there no end to their villainy? Is there nothing they find sacred?'
No. Of course not.
They got my assistant back home. Her and my girlfriend. Why would they stop now?
"It'll never be enough for them. It'll never end. They know I'm the only hero that sees right through them. They know I'm all that stands between them and global domination. Nothing is off the table for them. Its not my fault people keep dying. I'm not the one manipulating them into attacking me. Its them! Its always them!"
I looked at my reserves and growled.
It wouldn't be enough for another explosion. Not unless I de-activated my own protections.
"That must never happen. That's what they want. They want to see me getting reckless. They're waiting for me to make a mistake so they can capitalize on it and get rid of me for good. That's why they keep turning people against me. They want me alone. Without allies. That's the only way they can kill me now that I'm getting my old powers back."
I resolved myself to endure.
Floating until I was safely away from the epicenter of the blast. Then I walked. Protected only by a thin membrane of telekinetic energy in order to stop any damage a trap might cause.
Six more triggered before I found what I was looking for.
I willed the metal grate open with my mind and stepped into the water room.
I reached out with my hand, only to realize that I'd unconsciously brought up my stump.
My teeth ground down against each other.
I could feel the missing digits even now. Closing and opening as if they were still there.
'Is this also a Telepath trick? Something they've done to drive me mad?'
Yeah. That had to be it.
Someone as strong as me wouldn't have been shaken by a missing arm. I was better than that.
It had to have been the Telepaths.
I consciously chose to use my other arm. The only one I had left.
Water trickled into my palm and I brought it to my lips in one smooth motion.
I drank. Feeling my heart calming down. My veins cooling.
After that, I braced myself against one of the smoother walls and rested.
My dreams were dreadful, as always. Just another fact of life for someone who'd dared to stand up against his alien overlords.
I dreamt a voice. Pleading for me to let my guard down. Trying to trick me into lowering my guard.
I looked around me and saw a literal mountain of bones.
No, there were bones below me as big as mountains.
Pale maggots writhed in the muck. Squealing like piglets sent to the slaughterhouse.
Grime and mucus sloughed off their bodies, and I looked closer to see that they had human faces.
My assistant was there.
As was the reporter I'd defended myself against.
Their eyes were pools of purple blood and their mouths hung perpetually open. They made sounds. Terrible sounds.
Condemning me for my bravery.
I turned and turned in mid-air. Wings of brilliant flame keeping me aloft.
I saw the cavewoman and felt my rage consuming me.
The voice kept pleading. Trying to show me falsehood. Trying to trick me.
Then it stopped and took something away instead.
The last thing I recalled, was its sentence.
"I am your death. Butcher."