Authors notes: Brought to you by boredom... That is all.
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In the year 2676, the human race has expanded far and beyond its home planet of Earth. Contact with alien life and colonisation of other worlds had been a regular occurrence since the early 2200s. For some, it was a shock to learn that they were not only not alone in the universe, but that there were civilisations far larger, and in some cases more advanced then the human race.
Though distrust was inevitable between some parties, the human race eventually found themselves apart of a Galactic Dominion in the year 2345. It was a galaxy wide organisation that had nearly 400 different intelligent species all working together for the betterment of life and security. However, prejudices are easy to develop and some humans began to speak out against the Dominion as they refused to work with, or even associate with any form of non-human life. Why this was? Who can tell with some people?
Anyway, a mere 10 years after the human race had joined with the Dominion, large portions of humans rebelled and soon began to work together to form a separate organisation, called Goliath. Though it was nowhere near as large as the Dominion, it was small and organised enough that it could evade the massive force of the Dominions soldiers and utilised old school guerrilla tactics in order to attack with the element of surprise. Soon enough, it had become a force that was an actual threat to the Dominions stability and power. And now, in the year 2676, the terror cell Goliath is still going strong and has at least tripled in size compared to its original numbers when it was founded over 300 years ago.
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In the Milky Ways equivalent of the middle of nowhere, a lone star ship flew through the void. It wasn’t anything special, just a small long range ship with single accommodations for an occupant. Kind of like a futuristic combi van. The pilot of the star ship was none other then the bounty hunter Shaw. While she wasn’t the most renowned hunter in the galaxy, she got her jobs done. However, her appearance would sometimes put off some customers as she looked, a little unsettling. Her hair was a dark black, and while that isn’t very unnatural, her grey skin and horn like antennae sticking out the top of her head were. That, combined with her four red eyes and razor sharp teeth, made her look pretty freaky.
Though, at the moment she was not engaging in any kind of freaky activity that one would associate with that kind of appearance. Instead, she was playing an online shooter with a bunch of randoms and mowing them down like no ones business.
“Come on you little shit… poke that head round that wall. You got no chance….” She whispered menacingly as her team surrounded the last surviving enemy cowering behind cover. Just as she was about to shoot the sucker in the face with a rifle she lost connection to the server.
“What the fuck? Computer what just happened!?” she yelled to the ships inbuilt AI. She hopped out of her games area just next to the ships control panel and tried to find out why she lost connection.
“Some form of large interference has knocked out all forms of communication with outside sources. I am unable to determine its magnitude but I hypothesise that it is a solar storm” a robotic voice answered. An image of the predicted course of the storm showed that it was only about an hour away form hitting the ship.
“That’s what knocked me off the match? Mother fucker” Shaw cursed as she once again tried to reconnect with the galactic web. While doing so, a warning siren began beeping loud and continuously.
“The solar storm appears to be a level 8 force. Since such storms are extremely rare, this ship was not designed to withstand such a powerful occurrence and will likely be destroyed. The ships destruction is irrelevant however as you will be killed by the radiation from the storm long before it hits in an estimated 30 minutes” the ships computer warned its sole occupant emotionlessly.
“Are you serious!? W-well how do I get away from this thing? Can we out run it? Is there somewhere we can hide?” she asked frantically as she opened up the holographic map of the current star system she was in.
“This ship is unable to out run a solar storm” the computer replied, “However, the local scanners show that there is a ship within time range that is designed to withstand solar forces of up to level 11. You will be safe there.”
“Okay… okay great. We’ll stop there and wait for the storm to pass. I’ll set the coordinates now. How long do you think that the storm will last?” the alien woman said as she directed the navigation computer to fly the ship towards the safe zone, whatever it was.
“Impossible to calculate. Estimation will suffice. Based on the power and size of the storm it will most likely pass in one earth week. Or possibly not. Solar storms are unpredictable” the computer told Shaw as she sat down in her command deck chair.
“A week….?” She sighed, “Well, whatever. It’s better then dying I guess. Let’s hope that whatever this safe place happens to be is comfortable. And not a derelict…” As she spoke her ship was already speeding off towards the only little speck of safety from the oncoming storm.
…………..
The safe area, as it turned out, was not a derelict. It was, in fact, some kind of hotel for space farers off the beaten track. The ship had managed to outrun the solar storm and was now safely parked in the parking/loading bay for the place. Shaw, having gotten out of her ship to check the place out, noticed that there was a fair number of other ships parked in the dark grey coloured steel area. Most were small and fast looking ships like hers, most likely belonging to other bounty hunters or fellows of a questionable disposition. There were a couple of odd looking ships in the area though, most notably what appeared to be a tour ship.
“What the fuck is something like that doing out here?” she wondered out loud, “Don’t often find people without bounties this far away from decent civilisation… Oh yeah, which reminds me….”
Shaw turned to the entrance of the station and looked above the large metal sliding doors. ‘The Trans-Galactic Hotel: for all adventurers braving the outer rim’ the neon sign above the doors read. She sighed and approached the door and surely enough, it was a motion sensing automatic door. Not really relevant but a nice detail.
As it turned out, the door opened to an elevator. As it descended our ‘hero’ felt a bit of apprehension of what might be waiting in the station. Probably not the nicest people if she was honest. Her thoughts were interrupted when th elevator doors opened to behold what was honestly a pretty damn nice looking place.
For starters, it was air conditioned which is always a plus. The entire area seemed to be quite large, unsurprising considering it was apparently a hotel. The floor was covered in a very comfortable looking red velvet carpet, and just a few meters away from the elevator was what appeared to be a common area/bar. And in the surrounding area around the common area/bar was filled with slot machines, poker tables and other life destroying fun for the average drunken outlaw to waste all their shit on.
“Dude who runs this place must really like red….” Shaw mumbled as she stared at the lobbies décor that looked as if it had been purchased from a Vegas casino after some asshole had bled all over it.
‘Looks nice and fancy though. Hope the couches are comfy…’ she thought to herself as she approached what she assumed was the main counter, which apparently also acted as the common areas bar judging by all the alcohol stored on the shelves behind it.
She hadn’t paid too much notice to all the eyes that had been following her, but as she dinged the little counter bell and waited for the bartender or hotel manager to talk to her, she had time to take a look at the kind of company she was with.
The first thing that got her attention was a small group of three at one of the couches with a pile of cards on the table between them. Honestly, what really got her attention was the fact that they were playing fucking Uno in a casino hotel, but they were also an odd looking bunch for this part of space. There was an odd, octopus looking alien wearing a Hawaiian shirt and casual slacks. Sitting next to the octopus was what looked almost like an Earth Ant in similar attire to the octopus. And finally, the third on the other side of the table was a Human who appeared to be in his twenties and also wearing typical tourist clothes with unkempt, shaggy brown hair and stubble which gave him an air of laziness.
Shaw continued to stare at the strange party and came to the conclusion that they were probably the ones who came with that tour ship parked on the upper deck.
‘Odd for people like that to be out here. Must all be really stupid. Really hope I don’t have to talk to them.’ She thought as she turned back to the counter as the tender had decided to finally show up.
The bar tender in question was some strange looking alien with a head that made it look kind of like one of those Sontarans from that old sci-fi series, Doctor Who. Except that this thing was green. And had five bulbous yellow eyes. And a black, slightly curled moustache for some ungodly reason.
“Well, hello there darlin’. What brings such a lovely young lady to my fine little establishment?” The bartender asked, leaning on the counter.
‘Why the fuck does he sound like someone from a wild west movie? Jesus, he's even wearing the kind of clothes an old western bartender would wear’ Shaw thought as she cleared her throat.
“Uh, yeah. I had to stop off here because of the solar storm that’s… probably almost here already now that I think about it” she replied, “My ship wouldn’t have been able to take it so I had to stop somewhere safe. Didn’t see too many ships parked up on the platform so I assume you have some space for me to stay until it passes?”
“Heh, yeap. I figured as much. You ain’t the only one who’s here cause of that. They ain’t actually too uncommon out here. Had this place built to survive that kinda storm. You’d be surprised at how good business is, even this far away from civil society. Pretty quiet right now though… I’d wager this place is usually full up when one of them storms hit” the Bartender explained as he started fiddling around with his desk terminal.
“Right…. Well, I don’t actually care. But good for you. Can I just get registered already?” Shaw huffed as she wasn’t particularly in the mood to chat with an overly talkative receptionist. She gave him her details as quickly as she could and made her way over to one of the poker tables with a bit of a game going on. About time for a bit of R&R as far as she was concerned. Or at least, a sociable kind of R&R.
…………..
There were three people sitting at the table that Shaw decided to join. Well, three people and an alien. The first man wore what could only be described as a mechanics jumpsuit that had been redesigned for combat purposes. The man himself seemed to be Caucasian and had shoulder length black hair with a surprisingly well done executive beard cut. He was also wearing black aviators indoors for some douche baggy reason.
The second man appeared to be from African decent and was also wearing shades indoors, though they were blue and kind of thin so he got away with it. He was wearing a black leather coat over a simple white t-shirt with some simple jeans. He seemed to have a similar overall hair cut to the other man, though his head hair was shorter with tight curls.
Then there was the alien creature that they were playing what appeared to be poker with. He (assumingly) wore some kind of thin, but supposedly effective metallic body armour and not much else in the way of fashion. He was also carrying a very visible gun. The alien bore a bit of a resemblance to the typical ‘grays’ look that’s associated with aliens, though with a thinner head and straight black eyes. Not to mention a hell of a scowl.
Shaw stopped right at the edge of the table, pulled out a roll of cash and dropped it unceremoniously on the table and crossed her arms. The three pairs of eyes looked at the cash and then at here questioningly.
“Mind if I join?” She asked with a smirk.
The three simultaneously answered with;
“Fuck off.”
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Well, there’s the first chapter of this story. Sort of just popped into my head, but I surprisingly have a plan for where this is going to go. Should be fun. Or not, I really have no clue.
Anyway, leave a review or I’ll kill you.
......
“Just die you bastard...” I mumbled as I fought a particularly tough opponent in one of my various video games. I was sitting at my computer desk on Friday night, enjoying a bit of role-playing and rampage as I had come to recognize as my end of week ritual. The game I was playing was a relatively new one called ‘Siege of the Darkwauld’, a pretty decent open world role-play game where class and race do factor in to storylines and character interactions.
As I gutted my enemy I reclined in my chair and took a swig of my ginger beer. My glasses had slid down a bit so I gave them a little push back up and swatted a bit of my dark grey hair out of my face. ‘Once it starts to get around shoulder length it can become kind of a pain in the arse’, I thought to myself, ‘maybe I should get a trim tomorrow or something...’ Just as I was thinking about that, I noticed the Friday night line-up I had switched on for a bit of back ground noise had suddenly been interrupted by some news flash.
Good evening folks. We are sorry to interrupt your regular scheduling but a situation in the down town area of New York involving two powerful mutants has broken out. Or reporter at the scene, Natasha, will fill in the details. To you Natasha.
“Oh shit.”
Thank you, desk person. As you can see, it is a scene of utter carnage as a strange fire mutant person and some rock thing are fighting it out; seemingly to the death. We are unsure about what caused this fight to break out. When we tried to interview the fire guy he melted my camera man.
That would explain the terrible feed we are getting here, Natasha. The situations sounds quite bad. I know for a fact that we only have two camera men left on staff, and I doubt that they’re willing to go out into the field after the whole ‘finger’ incident.
The situation certainly does seem dire, desk person. *click*
“Jesus... fuckin’ mutants... and fuckin’ newspeople...” I muttered as I fell back into my desk chair after switching off the television. The stuff going on in that downtown area was exactly one of the reasons that I didn’t like mutants. Now don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I had anything in particular against mutants. I had the same dislike for normal people to be honest. I suppose that it’s because I’m an anti-social person by nature. But not some isolated computer world addict type of anti-social, more the Daria type.
“Fuck it...” I mumbled as I went back to my game. It didn’t really concern me and I was apathetic enough about things that actually did. As I un-paused my game to pick up the loot from my opponent I realised that my character had gone up a level. As I opened the perk selection page I took a bit of time to admire the character I had built so far. What? You all do it.
Anyway, the character was a female of the orcish race. The reason I had chosen to go with an orc is because I wanted to see how social interactions would go with such a race, and because after a bit of research I had found out that orcs have a much higher stamina levels then other races. The reason she was female was because of an old trick I had discovered in Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. As it turns out, female avatars have much smaller hit boxes then males, which makes avoiding deadly strikes that much easier. As or her name, I really wasn’t in a creative mood at the time when I started the game so I just put in my initials, M.R; Mick Reiling.
As I continued to destroy all before me like a king I noticed myself getting all hot again and closed my window so I could turn on the air-con. I had started getting weird bouts of strong heat about a week ago, and every time it hit me it felt a little hotter. Most people would feel some sort of concern over something like that, but I had never really gotten very sick as I grew up and if I did I was over it quickly, so I gave it no mind.
It was a few minutes later that I started hearing some booming sound off in the distance. I made my way over to my window and peeked out only to see an explosion only a block or so away. I barely had time to register it as a fiery being shot out of the explosion and several armoured vans shot down the street outside my window. I quickly shut my curtains for some dumb reason and ducked underneath the window.
“What the hell!” I whispered to myself, “That kind of thing is happening right outside my window!? Are you shitting me!?” Already panicking, suddenly hearing an explosion right outside the apartment and actually being shook by the force sent me into full blown hyper-ventilation mode.
‘Jesus fucking Christ, I’m gonna die! That was way to close, it’s going to blow up this building next! FUCK!’ I sprung up to get to the phone in order to call someone, even though the armoured vans kinda gave away that they were already there. But as soon as I stood up I fell straight back down to the ground as I only then noticed just how ridiculously hot my body felt.
My vision was already getting blurry and turned black before I could do anything to help myself.
........
Blackness...
...More blackness...
...Even more blackness...
...okay... stop that...
As those weird thoughts faded away I managed to crack open my eyes and found that there was light streaming in through the curtains. I squinted my eyes for a moment as the sudden brightness didn’t feel too good at all.
“What... the hell happened? What time is it?” I groaned as I started to sit up, noticing the strange gravelly sound to my voice that also carried a stranger high octave to it. Based on just how ‘nice’ I was feeling I chalked it up to a very sore throat. That theory would have been great if not for the fact that my throat wasn’t sore at all. As I sat up I noticed how weird my chest felt. I looked down to see two medium sized lumps on my chest where my small sized man-boobs should have been. I didn’t actually have any man-boobs but humor is always good to help ease a growing panic.
“Heheh... okay... whose punking me? This is not real right now. There is now way that what I think has happened, has happened!” I started to yell. Just to add fuel to the freaking the fuck out fires, I glanced at my arm and saw that instead of the slightly tanned Caucasian skin I was used to seeing, it seemed to have become a medium shade of green.
It was at this point that I finally sprinted for the nearest mirror. I skidded around the corner of the short hallway and tripped, hitting the wall. To panicked to really care about the pain though, I launched myself right back onto my feet and came to a sudden stop in front of the bathroom mirror.
The face staring back at me was one I would never think to find outside of a fantasy realm.
An Orc.
An Orcess!
“What the.... WHAT THE FUCKING HELL!!!!” I screamed at the mirror. My hair didn’t look very different in length but was now a deep black colour. My wide eyes were now an amber colour that seemed to glow a little.
As I continued to stare at my reflection with my mouth agape I saw that I now had what would be considered fangs, including two large ones that stuck up from my lower jaw over my upper lip. The final freakish part of my new look was large pointed ears sticking out the side of my head.
All I could do was stare at my new face with wide eyes.
“Did I go... through a burnout?... Is that what that heat was?” I whispered to myself. “How the hell did I go through a burnout!? I’m not a mutant!”
That’s what I said but seeing the evidence presented in front of my eyes I now had to admit that that may exactly be the case. I dropped down onto my couch and just stared at the blank television screen. I had no real clue how to react to this. Freaking out would be a good idea but I had already gotten a good amount of that over with, so I supposed a quick setting in of numbness was a good second phase.
As I sat on the couch I glanced over to the digital clock next to the television and got another slap in the face from reality. It was Thursday. For me, last night was Friday. Already coming to the conclusion I really didn’t want to come to I looked at the date on the screen and found that the obvious was true. I had been lying on my floor unconscious for A WHOLE GOD DAMN WEEK!
“But... but... If I’ve been here for a week the guys at work must have been calling non-stop to know why the fuck I didn’t show up! God damnit!” I growled as I leaped up and ran over to my desk to check my mobile expecting to find a text telling me that I’m fired from my job at the game store but when I looked at my inbox I found that I hadn’t received any texts or calls from work.
‘What? Why hasn’t anyone called? Did they think I took the week off without telling them? Wait...’ I looked back to the spot I where I had been lying for the past week and presumably changing for the duration.
“I was... lying in the same spot I collapsed...” I mumbled to myself, a slightly bitter realisation starting to come over me.
“No one even called anyone to tell them I was missing...”
...
...
...
“Those pricks! Even I would have called the police of paramedics or... someone if they went missing for a week! No one even came to check on me!” I threw my phone back on the desk and ground my teeth in agitation. It wasn’t so much that no one care that I was missing, but rather that they didn’t even bother calling someone who could check around FOR them.
As I continued to brood I began to realise that I really had to come to terms with the body I was occupying. Not go out and wear a dress or something like that but to finally say it.
“I’m fucking female.”
“....What do I do?....”
..............
..............
Heyay, heyay
What’s the matta wit ya?
Heyay, Heyayayay
As I sat on my couch, slightly bopping my head to some Redbone, I thought about how my day had turned out. Overall, it was shit. I had woken up after losing a week of my time to find that I happened to be a mutant after going through a burnout. After that I had also found out that I had been turned into an Orc woman; complete with fang and small tusks, hide-like green skin, pointed ears, tough black claws, amber eyes, and as it turned out when I had cut myself with said claws earlier, I also had black blood. Jesuses fucking ballsack, it was a shitty day.
I was currently sitting on my couch as the night slowly set in; watching a comedy to help calm my nerves and wearing my typical pyjama relax wear. As it turned out my height hadn’t changed at all and the only real difference in terms of my size was that I was a bit thinner, though that was most likely from not eating for a week. Oh yeah, after I had stopped being so pissy about my douche bag co-workers no giving two shits about me enough to even call someone, I realised that I was absolutely starving.
I had wondered why I wasn’t busting to go to the toilet, or why I hadn’t gone already while I was unconscious, but I just figured that my body had to use everything it could during my overly long nap to stop myself from dying from starvation. Though I really doubted I could starve to death after just a week, it at least helped the toilet thing make sense.
And back in the present, I was currently pondering just what the hell I should do. I had a couple of thoughts; one was that I should probably go back to work as I need the money... maybe even urgently as my lights and air-con were both on for the whole week. But then again, my new appearance may scare the life out of some people. The other thought was; fuck them. I don’t look that horrific, just unusual. And anyway, I can look however the hell I want. I guess the problem with that thought was that I didn’t want to look this way.
Thankfully, due to a lifelong regime of apathy, I had gotten over the whole completely change sex-race-body thing. I didn’t like it or particularly accept it, but I had gotten over the shock and the freak out. After all, a body is a body. I didn’t see any point in freaking out about it too much when I couldn’t do anything to change it. It would be like freaking out about how a meteor might take a wrong turn and hit earth one day. You can’t do anything about it, and if it did, you would be dead before you noticed it. So what’s the point to it other then wasting time.
No, instead I decided to slip into my typical gamer mindset of strategy.
“Okay, I need to come up with a game plan. What’s my plan of action?” I asked myself in my new feminine yet kind of gravelly sounding voice, “I... suppose I could just go back to work... The boss would probably just let me pick right back up if I prove it’s me and explain what happened... I mean, if they didn’t care enough about me to call a missing persons line then I doubt that they’ll care about me looking... different now.”
I leaned back on the couch and stared intently at the ceiling while trying to find a way to comfortably cross my arms without messing with my new boobs which I DID NOT want to think about at the moment. After a while of staring I eventually just decided, “Fuck it. I’ll just tell them now.”
............
“Whoa. That’s just... whoa man.” I heard my boss, Chris, say over the phone in response to my story. I had called him up just as he was finished with dinner apparently. For some reason he felt it necessary to explain in detail just exactly what he had been eating before he even asked who was calling.
“Yeah. Very whoa. Whoa but true. So is it cool if I just... come back tomorrow? Even looking like I am now. Cause I really need the money, man.” I asked him.
“Well... I don’t know... how can I tell if you’re really the real Mick? What if you’re just some imposter or... or something.”
“..... You’re kidding me right? Why would someone want to pretend to be me? WAIT! Don’t even answer that! Let’s just get to the fucking point already. How can I prove I’m Mick to you?”
“Well... I would have to ask you something only Mick would know... Oh, man I got it! What is my password?”
“Password? For what? The staff computer? The game storage-?”
“No, no. The password for my laptop.”
“Oh. That password. We don’t talk about that one.”
“Well I need you to tell me or I won’t believe you.”
“Cant I just tell you one of the other passwords?” I tried to plead.
“No!” Chris replied, “It has to be that one!”
“But it’s so fucking bad! I can’t say it man!”
“You have to say it.”
“God damnit! It’s... it’s kittyBALLS. You made your laptop password kittyBALLS and it’s terrible you dumb, fucking stoner!” I yelled.
“Oh wow! It’s definitely you Mick. No one else knows that password... or talks to me like that... well actually-“
I cut him off, “Shut the hell up. Can I come back to work or is there going to be a problem or what?”
“Nah man, come back whenever you want. I didn’t even notice you were gone really...”
“Yeah. Thanks for that by the way. Your gross negligence is much appreciated.” I replied dryly.
“Hey, no problem man. What does negligence mea-“ I hung up on him.
I rubbed at my forehead, careful of my claws as I did so, and sighed. I suppose it was good that I still had my job. Chris and the others constant stoner behaviour was both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, they were so easy going that they would even give some bloody, Satin looking motherfucker a job if it asked. On the other hand I suddenly realised why I didn’t feel to shocked when I found out that none of them had contacted me or someone else about me.
‘Well, I guess I can shower now or tomorrow morning before work. I fucking reek.’ I thought to myself. I looked down at the boobs on my chest and shuddered in debate over whether to deal with that aspect now, or later.
“Fuck it. Just repeat your life motto man. Life motto. I’ll just get it over and done with now so I wont have to care about it later.” I let out a long suffering sigh, which isn’t very rare as it is my usual sigh when I have to deal with people, and wandered off towards the bathroom.
..............
So that's it so far. I'm not sure whether to go into a plotline involving the MCO now and use a villain I've been making for a while later, or do it the other way round. Tell me what you want in the comments. Criticisms are always appreciated.
Fantasy Odyssey
.........
“Wow, you look really freaky. Like an orc warrior maiden from those pictures!” Chris said as he stared at me, while I stared back at him in annoyance.
“I don’t want to know about the weird shit you look at online. And don’t compare me to it either that’s just really fucking creepy.” I grumbled.
The freak was looking me over like I was some kind of superhero model for the display shelves, though I couldn’t really blame him. For one thing I’d looked at the display models like that too, purely professionally of course since I had to check the guys too. Sometimes... The bulges in those latex suits were just too detailed for comfort... anyway; I was also a goddamn orc. Or I just looked like one. I would probably have to get that checked.
“But it’s so cool! You look so realistic!” he laughed.
“Well. As it turns out, there is a reason I look so realistic. It’s because I’m real.” I deadpanned.
“I know, but... just WOW! You look so orcy! Do you think like one? Do you hunger for manflesh, or do you hunger for... manflesh?” He said with a pose and a smile.
“No and no, dipshit. I’m not an orc. Well, maybe I am. Or I just look like what we think is an orc. Or, uh- LOOK! Geez, I’m me where it matters! In my head! All up in my brain and such.” I exclaimed.
“What’s good against a Crypt keeper Beast again? They have a resistance to a lot of stuff...” drawled a flat voice.
I looked over to one of the two tables in the shop. At said table sat a relatively small guy with dark hair, leaning over a card game of some sort. His attire was the usual; a hoody and jeans. I’d never seen him wear anything else but a wizard costume that one time during a card tournament.
“Oh, hey there Warren. Didn’t notice you. You can hit it with something to take away its resistance or something I think?” I mumbled, “Hey, wait? You aren’t curious about the whole mutant thing?”
He looked over at me with dead looking eyes and asked, “Do you have laser eyes?”
“Uh... no. I don’t think so.”
“Then no, I am not.” He replied as he looked back to the card game he was apparently playing with by himself.
“So what is your power!? Or powers? Or something.” Chris suddenly asked.
I thought about it for a second before suddenly realising that I had no goddamn idea what I had even gotten to in terms of super powers to make this shitty situation even worth it a little. I hadn’t really noticed anything unusual other then the obvious. I did notice my sense of smell and hearing were way more keen then humanly possible, but nothing in terms of super duper powers of justice and whatnot.
“I forget to check actually...” I admitted. I wasn’t exactly sure how to react to the thought of super powers. The shock of the Orc stuff was more then enough to distract me from everything else being a mutant entails. Jesus Christ, I didn’t even know what the hell I would need super powers for anyway. Hero work? Villainy? Fuck no.
“I really have no clue what I can do to be honest? Wait... isn’t there a testing place you can go to if you’re too lazy to do it yourself?” I asked aloud.
“MCO offices have places that you can get tested. There’s one around the block from here.” Chris and I looked over to Warren who was still flipping and placing cards onto the table in front of him.
“Right. Thanks, I guess. Well, then I’ll get going to do that. I’ll be back later boss.” I waved nonchalantly to Chris as I walked to the door.
“Hang on! I’m coming with you!” Chris exclaimed as he leapt to follow me.
I looked at him in suprise, “Why the hell do you want to come? Shouldn’t you be high in the storage room or something?”
“Hell no! I’m your employer! It’s my responsibility to watch over your wellbeing, and stuff.” He puffed.
“You left me unconscious in my apartment for a week.” I deadpanned, “I blame you for that too, Warren.”
“Oh, what the fuck?” Warren groaned.
“Regardless! I’m coming, whether it makes sense or not.”
................
I sat in the waiting room for an MCO testing facility. I didn’t bother to check for a name. On my right sat some freaky, stoner weirdo who was currently preoccupied with his shirt sleeve. He was also my boss who was with me for whatever reason. On my left sat some black hair, droopy little shit playing Pokémon who spent most of his time at the store even though he doesn’t work there. I was also usure of why he was here.
“Warren, why the hell are you here? I mean, I can understand why jack-arse here wanted to come I guess he had some unfortunate bout of responsibility come over him or something.” I grumbled.
Warren looked up at me and replied plainly, “I want to see if you have laser eyes.” And with that he went back to whatever he was doing.
I just sighed and leaned back into my chair, wondering why I had been waiting fifteen minutes for a doctor, or examiner or... whatever, the place was fucking empty!
‘Jesus, this doctor guy is slack... Is he eating a tire? What’s taking so long? There’s nobody here but us.’ I thought to myself.
Just as I reached the point where I was counting the seconds, a fifty something looking white dud walked out of what I assumed to be the break room for the non-busy. And when I say white, I mean Colonel Sanders white. With the moustache and everything.
The doctor looked over at me and stopped smiling for a moment before he put it right back on.
“Hello there. You must be... Mick? Was it?” he inquired.
“Uh, yeah. That’s me. You’re the doctor?” I replied.
“Well yes. Though I’m mostly an examiner. Would you follow me?”
I nodded and stood up to follow the examidoctor, leaving my unwanted companions to whatever fate awaited them in that dead boring waiting room. Smelt like dust in there it sucked.
..............
“So, you haven’t noticed any unusual abilities? No increase in strength at all?” The examiner asked me as he wrote on a clipboard. The examination room was actually kind of impressive with weights, treadmills... targets. It was like a gym in a particularly gun toting town. I had been in there for about half an hour trying out all the different tests usually tried on mutants to test their powers. However, aside from an increase in endurance, there wasn’t anything special about my new status. So far all I knew was that I could run a lot without getting too tired. Joy.
In fact, the only strange discovery was noticing a couple of men-in-black looking motherfuckers standing at the side of the room about halfway through the examination. I suppose they were there for security in case a mutant went rouge or something. It wasn’t the most comforting sight considering the stories you sometimes hear about the MCO executing mutants they drag into the woods, but I was pretty sure I was fine here. What with my witnesses outside. I think.
The doctor stared hard at his clipboard and scratched his head.
“Well, Mr Reiling... You do still prefer Mr yes?”
“Yes I do.”
“Alright, well, I’m sorry to say that I’m stumped. I’ve never come across a mutant who was so... well frankly, useless.” He said bluntly.
“I can definitely see that you got your position due to your people skills.” I muttered.
“I’m sorry, but it’s just that you have no power whatsoever. Aside from having the abilities of say, the common dog. I’m afraid that you can’t really do anything interesting at all. You look interesting or strange more likely to most, but aside from that there isn’t much else.”
“Well isn’t that just fucking amazing. I end up looking like this and get shit all to show for it. Satans flaming balls, everything is SUCKING lately!” I yelled.
“Well, I suppose I’m sorry. Anyway, we need you to fill out a registration form. Code name, powers, though maybe not that part. All the required fields.” He mumbled as he stood up to leave for his office with myself following behind.
It took me a minute for the codename part to register in my head. As I sat down on the opposite side of his desk I asked, “Why exactly would I need a codename? I’m not gonna be chucking on a suit and hitting people. I work at a comic shop.”
“It’s only something there to protect your identity. No need to use it.” He replied.
“But... what?” I stuttered at he placed the form in front of me.
I looked down at the form and sighed in resignation.
................
The examiner stared at me with a hard expression and I stared blankly back at him. He coughed into his hand and sighed.
“Mr Reiling... I hope you realise that these form are government issued. You have a legal responsibility to take them seriously and provide correct information when completing them.”
“I did take it seriously. Well, not really. But I all the information I put down was serious. I wasn’t but, it was.” I replied plainly.
“Are you meaning to tell me that you are serious when you say you want your superhero codename to be ‘Bob’?” He growled at me while rubbing his forehead.
“There it is again. Hey idiot! I’m not going to be some superhero or super anything! Why do I have to keep telling you this? If you won’t take me seriously, then I won’t take your form seriously.” I grumbled angrily. For the past ten minute I had been trying to convince this dumb-arse that I had no plans on chucking on a costume and fighting crime. Especially seeing as how I apparently can’t do anything anyway in terms of super powers. It was bad enough that I was required to actually make a codename for myself regardless of my plans, but this Douchebag seemed to think that he was responsible for making it a good one.
“You really want to be called ‘Bob’? Fine then, it’s your mistake.” He said as he took the form and put it on top of a pile on his desk in that little ‘out’ bin.
He sighed and then looked back at me, “Well then. If you’re quite sure about such a terrible codename then I think we are done here. Your Mutant Identification will be sent to your address in a few days.”
I perked up and said, “Really? Great. I’m fucking out of this place then; I never want to see it again.”
“Oh, before you go. Are you planning on doing anything about your name? I personally think you should change it.” He asked me curiously.
I turned back at him and slapped my forehead, “Oh my god, didn’t we just finish this? I don’t care about the codename so no-“
“No, no. Not that,” he interrupted, “I’m talking about your name. Mick just doesn’t suit a girl, don’t you think. Perhaps you should adopt a more feminine name in order to help you adjust.”
I rested my chin in my hand for a minute to contemplate what he was suggesting. After a little while I looked up at him and I said,
“That is probably the dumbest fucking thing I’ve ever heard in my life. You... you know, call me crazy if you want but at the moment; ‘my name not suiting me because people say so’ isn’t even close to being in my top fucking fifty priorities.”
“B-but a male name just doesn’t suit you anymore!” he stammered.
“Buddy, ‘Mick’ doesn’t suit anyone.” I said as I left the office and closed the door.
................
I walked out into the waiting room to find that my unwanted companions were still there and still unwanted.
Chris looked up and leapt to his feet, “You’re done! Well!? Do you have awesome super powers?”
I shook my head, “No.”
Both of them looked down and sighed, “Awww....”
“No laser eyes...” I heard Warren mutter.
I looked at them both and thought for a second. It was then I made an important decision.
“You know what guys? Fuck it. Let’s go get something to eat. You arse-holes are better company then any other arse-holes I know.”
.................
“So, how goes the recruitment drive?”
“Poorly, sir. Our current staff is competent enough, however we are in need of more personnel.”
“I know that. That’s why I sent you out to look for potential candidates. Why do you always feel the need to repeat everything I say right back to me?”
“Sorry sir. I prefer to be thorough, it’s been a preference of mine since I-.”
“Yes, yes. I’m aware. My god, you probably talk all the applicants to death, that’s why we don’t have any. Well, it can’t be helped. I suppose it’s been long enough since I last went out to greet my potential staff personally...”
.................
“Can I touch them?”
“Fuck off.” I growled at the ten billionth annoying customer asking if my looks were real.
The dopey looking teen gave me a dirty look and walked off to look at the card selections and I leaned onto the counter and closed my eyes. It had been a few days since the power testing went down and I hadn’t done much but come to work and play games. That and deal with douche bags who like to ask lots of questions and don’t get what the evil eye is, or douche bags who seem to think that I part of some kind of plague and the cure is to yell at me. Occasionally some people from Humanity First decide to picket mutants in general just outside the mall and now that I was one of the things that they hate unconditionally, their constant yelling was even more annoying now that it tended to follow me a bit inside as well.
There was the added bonus that some of the people from the mob followed me into the store and were loitering around for whatever reason. I think anyway, they all look pretty much the same to me. I probably should’ve been a little concerned that a bunch of psychopaths who hate me were hanging out in my workspace but I wasn’t planning on doing anything unless they did. The only real illegal thing going on was people taking my picture when they thought I wasn’t looking. It had been happening for days now and I gave up on trying to stop them halfway through my first day back. I was a little unsettled that some of them might be fantasy fans with a little too much interest in Orcs but I decided to do better things with my time. Like playing some role-playing board game with Chris and Warren while ignoring customers. Always fun.
Apparently Warren had designed the character sheets for us the night before. He made Chris a human Swords master who specialises in dual wielding. He made me some kind of Orc, of course, Templar who specialises in healing allies and being a bit of a tank. And as for Warren, he made himself some kind of master wizard that specialises in lightning powers.
It was kind of fun but after a few hours of playing and waiting for the Humanity First goons to fuck off I decided to go out and get a late lunch. I didn’t really have a usual place that I went to but I felt like going to a cafe. Maybe get a milkshake or something.
..............
When I arrived the reaction was a mix of interest, disgust, and trendy hipster Douchebag. There were a couple in the corner. I think there was one abusing the cafe staff because his coffee wasn’t organic or something. I don’t know. Or care.
I just made my way over to a relatively quiet corner and pulled out my laptop. I was thinking of playing something along the lines of Neverwinter Nights or something. Nothing too hardcore. Just something fun to play over a milkshake and a muffin.
I was just starting up the game when I noticed someone walking up to my table. I didn’t really think much of it until they pulled up a chair and sat on the opposite side of the table from me. I looked up to see what looked like some kind of celebrity or high profile dick-head with gold tinted sunglasses which obscured his eyes completely. His dark black hair with a weird white steak was parted to the left and along with his admittedly impressive CEO beard and moustache, he generally had the look of a tool.
He placed his suit case beside the table and looked me dead in the eyes. Taking off his sunglasses he said in a friendly tone, “Hello there, Mick. I have a business proposition for you.”
“You can call me Mr. Gold.”
...................
...................
...................
There we go. Chapter two is up and disgracefully late to boot. The perfect combo. As you can probably see in this chapter the whole name changing thing that happens in a lot of stories is a bit of a pet peeve of mine.
'Oh. My body is different. Time to immediately change my name, cause it doesn't suit me. Good enough reason as any. I mean, it's only my name I've had since birth.'
I dunno. It works sometimes but other times it just seems completely out of nowhere, out of place and pretty unnecessary. But that's just me.
Anyway, always happy to get reviews. Good or bad, always fun. Until next time.
Enter the disturbed dimension known as the Other Land. A world of darkness and hatred. A world that some humans are unfortunate enough or stupid enough to fall into. This tale tells of a young boy, who was 'gifted' with a curse upon entry, that may just help him survive. I kid of course; it will definitely help him survive.
Just a heads up to any authors that eventually start to like this thing. You can contact me if you want to write a story in the world or do a cross over with one of your stories. I would definitely be up for it.
Just so ye know, this be a prologue so it wont be too long.
.......
A small form huddled at the end of a twisted and foul alleyway. The figure curled up and shivering was nothing more than a small child, a young boy, no older than seven. The alleyway the child was shivering in was certainly no place for one so young. The walls were covered in spikes and barbs that only added to the desolate atmosphere of the area. However, it was not the questionable wall decorations or any sort of chill in the air that caused the boy to shiver as he was. It was the three ghouls that stood at the opening of the man mad crevice.
“Well, well. You little SHIT!” the most prominent of the three growled. His visage was one of horror, something that would only spawn in the deepest, most terrible nightmares. And maybe some creepy pastas. Sticking out of its green, melted skin on almost every part of his face; red, dripping horns stuck out for all to see. Its eyes were nothing but black, soulless pits that further accentuated its look of death. To add to it all, its mouth held no teeth, only bloody gums. However, the barbed tongue that rolled over its lips most definitely made up for that fact. Its clothing consisted of nothing but rags that seemed as if they were stitched to its very skin. The same went for its lackeys, only that the rags were also stitched over their faces.
“What makes you think that you can just crawl around my turf, WITHOUT my permission, and scurry away without any punishment!? Huh, you little bastard!?” It roared at the child who curled up to the wall even more, no doubt digging into the wall barbs.
“P-p-p-please... I-I just wanted a little food... Just out of the garbage! I swear!” the boy cried. The ghouls all laughed at the cowering child and the leader spoke up, “What’s your name, bastard?”
The child stopped snivelling and shakily replied, “J-Jeffrey...” The leader chuckled, “Well Jeffrey... I just wanted to know so I knew what to write above your corpse in your blood. As a sort of grave stone. I do have respect for the dead and all!” The leader dude whipped out its hand axe and approached the now crying child.
“Stop! Please... I don’t want to see anymore!” he screamed. “Heheh, okay then” the ghoul laughed, “Ill make sure to pull out your eyeballs. My treat!”
“Nooo! I don’t want to see... anymore... blood... your blood!” The ghoul stopped briefly before snarling, “I’m gonna skin you alive just for insinuating that you could hurt me you little shitball!”
It raised its axe and it shot down straight towards the boy who shut his eyes in terror.
*CLANG*
Leader dude suddenly went flying back down the alleyway and into one of his lackeys and a large form slowly stood up, revealing itself to be very different to the boy who was there just a moment ago.
The figures one glowing blue eye widened as it roared, “I’M GOING TO SEE BLOOD ALRIGHT! I’LL SEE IT AS I RIP YOUR SOUL OUT OF YOUR FLESH!!!” the figure, who was now obviously a she ran up to the still standing lackey and brought her newly appeared buzz saw weapon right down into its skull, nearly splitting its head.
“Fuck!” screamed the leader dude as it threw its other lackey straight towards the bezerk woman, who then proceeded to ram her buzz axe straight into the lackeys spine and then brutally ripped it out again as she screamed in glee, “HAHAHAHAHAHHAHA!!!! YOU DEAD FLESH WALKING! I’m gonna take this guys legs and strap them to the bonnet of my car as DECORATIONS! Course, I’ll need to get a car first so I guess I’ll have to SELL YOUR ORGANS TO PAY FOR IT!!”
The leader screamed in terror and turned to run but an armoured hand grabbed its head, yanked it back, and slammed it into the ground. Before it could even say ‘ow’, it suddenly found that its eyeballs had been ripped out. “HOLY FUCK! MY EYES! AHHHHHHH!” it screamed as the armoured hand continued hold its head into the ground. The woman groaned loudly and yelled, “Ah, shut the fuck up! Eyes are for suckers! Ya don’t need them! I’d rip out my own, but I need it so I can watch THE BLOOD FOUNTAIN OUT OF YOUR ARTERIES AFTER I TEAR THEM OPEN!” The ghoul managed one final scream before the serrated saw end of her weapon was slammed down onto its neck, sepereating its head from its body.
The woman stood up over the carnage and let out a long maniacal laugh. She soon stopped and wandered out of the alleyway, speaking to herself, “Well that was a riot. All I need is an actual riot and my day will be complete! I wonder if there are any more ghouls around here to murder? Better find some more stuff to kill soon; I want to have a bit of fun before I turn back into my wussy self!”
Her maniacal laughter continued to fill the dread streets along with screams for a few hours after.
.....
Well, you know the story. The Other Land is ripe with evil and horrors. Rotten to the core. Residents more deseased then day-time gossip shows. And of course we have little Jeffery and the psychopathic killing machine that he turns into when he needs to the most.
Get ready to find out what hides under the monsters beds.
........
The dark twisted streets shrouded in perpetual night were as silent as ever. The only sounds were that of screams as some sorry bastard finally got what was comming to them. Or just got the short end of the stick. Doesn't matter in the Other Land; if you die then you weren't trying hard enough not to. Idiot logic for sure, but it is the only logic they have in the unforgiving dimension.
However, one particular street was strangely cheerful. Cheerful as in someone was singing. That particular someone just happened to be coated in a thick layer of blood and was tossing a severed foot in the air. The figure was Jeffery in his transformed state, chuckling evilly over the kill she had just made. Just a few minutes ago, Jeffery had been minding his own business, trying to loot a carcass for food, when the one who had murdered the said carcass had returned and tried to kill Jeffery as well. Well, poor Jeffery was so frightened that he almost instantly transformed into the raging death machine that is what he has come to call Wrath. She made short work of the woulda-coulda-shoulda murderer and then decided, 'Fuck! I'm bored!' And wandered off in the hopes of finding something else to kill.
And so, we return to now, with Wraths glowing blue eye fixed on her killing weapon, having discarded the foot not to long ago. She stopped and sighed, "Damnit! I'm bored as all hell! I need ta kill something else! That worthless piece of decaying, puss dribbling, anal leakage wasn't any fun at all..." She decided to swing her axe, "Why can't a bloody riot or a massacre break out or something? Nothing's happening at all! I just want to RIP out someone's spine and SHOVE IT THROUGH THEIR SKULL!.... But of course I can't do that cause the selfish, lazy bastards won't come out of their cowering holes.... Useless...."
"Can't believe I actually have to LOOK for people to kill... Only video game characters do that..." Unbeknownst to her, as she continue to grumble over the lack of fools to slaughter, a set of cheerful eyes were set on her back. The figure who owned these eyes giggled to himself, "Ohohohoho! Look at this delicious little morsel. Ohhhh.... I could just grind that flesh between my teeth, it looks juicy and tender. Just like a newborn babe..."
Wrath stopped in her tracks and stood silent for a few second before looking around, surveying her surroundings, her eye shining over the buildings and alleyways like a searchlight looking for people to incarcerate. If she was not wearing her mask you would have been able to see an evil grin form on her face as she sang, "Come out, come out, my little future cadaver." The figure in the shadows frowned, 'She noticed me? Strange... I haven't willed myself to be noticed... Does she have some power that nullifies mine?'
When he looked up from his contemplation, he realised that the woman had dissapered. He swung his head around in search of her before he felt a chill run down his spine and he spun around to face nothing. His frown deepend as he began to wonder what the woman was playing at. He didn't notice her standing beside him until her axe sawed its way through his rib-cage and tore apart the soft and delicate organs residing within. He gasped and choked for air as she leaned in close to his face, before she jutted him in the head and sent him sprawling down the pathway, leaving a large chunk of his torso torn and dripping on the end of her axe.
"Hahahahahahaha! Well well, a little boring in the end but at least I got to kill something I suppose..." She proceeded to swing around her weapon in an attemp to get the dangling flesh off of it, and did not notice her victim rise up onto his feet.
"Huh?" She grunted as she turned around. The sight that greeted her wasnt that pleasant. Well, it was the norm for her, but to the average person it wasn't. The figure who was now revealed to be some demonic little mime creature with a comedy mask sewn to his face, seem to be exposing rake like claws from his his hands as jagged spikes of bone burst out of every part of his body, including his face. "That wasn't very nice", he said, somehow in his usual voice, "I only wanted to make you feel wonderful... But then you had to go and try to kill me."
Wrath scowled and grumbled, "Yeah. And therein lies the problem, ya fungal infected speutum. Why aren't you dead?" The mime chuckled in a condescending manner and replied, "Well, that is my own little secret now it's it? I'm an unpredictable person. I can help you or hinder you, love you or hate you, rape you or bake you a pie. I'm just a mysterious guy."
Wrath just stood and stared at the mime creature, who now really seemed like he desreved to die due to that douchey rhyme. Just as she was about to make a leap for the bastard he held up his hand and she froze, a bright light beginning to envelope her. "I'll tell you what my angry little munchkin. I'm amused by you. And impressed. You saw me when I did not want to be seen and actually took me by suprise." As he said this, his body seemed to be returning to its original shape, "So I'm going to do something very unpredictable! I'm going to send you back to the mortal realm!"
Wraths eye widened in shock and apparent anger as she growled, "Wait a fucking minute! You mean earth!?" The mime looked thoughtful for a moment before he laughed, "Well yes! In a manner of speaking anyway. Oh! And just so you know, there are going to be some very strange things there, and some tasks you must do. But... I won't ruin the suprise! So... Toodoloo!"
And just as Wrath was going to scream at his for doing another douchey rhyme, the light around her grew blinding, and she disappeared.
.....
Well... What do ya think?