Chapter 10

Madame Motions teleports me and Scanman into the room where the other Villains are right now. The look on their faces when they see that I’m released is nothing but sweet.

Iceman takes the first action. Before I take a step forward my feet are frozen in blocks of ice. He jumps to his feet almost immediately. Ghost, the Thinkers and Fem Fatale are right behind him.

“What the fuck is he doing out of his cage?” Iceman asks.

“Unfreeze him,” Scan replies.

“You might want to answer his question, Google-man,” Fem Fatale responds, with a gun pointed at Scanman’s head. It’s a German Luger. I’ve seen her shoot with the thing countless of times in the training room while she talked about all her escapades.

“You don’t want to do that,” Scan says.

For extra measure she adds, “You can probably calculate that my chances of missing are very small.”

They mean business and they are not looking at me in a friendly way.

“He has something to say,” Madame Motions tells everyone.

It took forever to convince Madame Motions to get me out of my cage. She didn’t believe me but luckily after a while she didn’t have a choice. If Vigor was with Web Weaver right now then I was the least of everyone’s concerns.

Ghost shakes his head, “Boss says that he should be locked up. He should be locked up. Period.”

“Take him back old lady,” Iceman orders, “I’m not going to ask you twice.”

“And I’m not going to answer to you once,” Madame Motions responds, “I don’t need to answer to some walking mini fridge. Respect your elders.”

“Take him back Motions,” Fem states, “He’s a traitor.”

She seems hurt. I get it. I know that Fem cares about Vigor. It’s become clear that they were closer to each other than I could ever imagine. All this time I had been the new guy. Somehow Vigor was getting close to me and the moment he seems to start letting me in, I try to kill him. So yeah. I understand that they don’t trust me. I don’t blame them. Hell, after the dumb shit I’ve been doing lately I don’t even trust my actions. But right now this isn’t about me.

I look at Fem and try to see if there are any remnants of a friendship left there with her, “Fem, I know you don’t trust me right now. You have every right to want to kill me.”

Fem’s luger is positioned at the center of my dome. She could make this shot with her eyes closed, “You finally are saying something we can agree on.”

“Vigor is in danger,” I respond.

“Coming from the man who tried to fucking poison him?” Icebox asks.

“I’m not the threat right now. The threat is Web Weaver.”

There is silence for a minute. There is silence and then laughter. The villains are laughing, all except Icebox who is just putting on his extra cold stare. The sad thing about Icebox is that he’d be kind of handsome if he didn’t look at me with that pissed off glare every moment he had the chance.

“You’re so full of shit. Motions, you believe anything don’t you?” Fem asks me at that moment, “Take him back.”

“He sounded very convincing.”

Ghost turns to Fem and says, “Jesus . Alzheimer’s is a hell of a disease…”

“Motions, Web Weaver has known Vicious forever. He would die for him,” Fem responds.

Fem and Ghost laugh at that moment really enjoying this moment. Madame Motions flushes with embarrassment at that moment. She gives me an angry looking.

“Thanks for embarrassing me,” she tells me, “Back to the cage with you…”

“No!” I respond, “Listen to me please.”

“Let’s go,” Motions grabs a hold of my hand.

Before she disappears however Icebox stops her, “Wait. I think he’s telling the truth. Something has been…different about Web Weaver.”

We all turn to him. To say I’m shocked that Icebox is coming to my defense right now is an understatement. I meant this is Icebox for godsakes. He hates my fucking guts but here he is right now actually defending me. I look at him and he looks at me. For a moment I can swear that he might not hate me right now as much as he usually does.

“Web Weaver is one of Vigor’s closest followers,” Ghost says.

The Thinkers add simultaneously, “Very loyal.”

“Except he’s not Web Weaver,” I respond turning to the Thinkers, “When was the last time you were able to read his mind completely.”

“Just small things,” Mr. Thinker says.

“He’s been closed off for a while, but then many people start to close off after awhile,” Mrs. Thinker responds, stopping abruptly probably not wanting to give her Limit away.

Icebox nods, “A few months ago Web Weaver was sent on an intelligence mission by Vigor. I knew about it because it was taking Web Weaver a long time to come back so Vigor sent me after him. I found Web Weaver. For a while everything seemed the same, but then things seemed to change. For one he was sexually interested in Materias. The Web Weaver I knew was never gay. It was strange so I started following him. I started keeping a closer eye on him. I told Vigor about it but he wouldn’t believe me. We had no solid proof.”

Icebox was always around Web Weaver. I just assumed they were good friends but now it was clear he was spying on him for Vigor.

“Web Weaver is Philip Leaf.”

“As in Bishop Philip Leaf?” Icebox asks me.

Scanman is the one that replies, “That’s the very one.”

Icebox shakes his head, “We need to move. Vigor is in danger. Big danger…”

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I’m not sure who made Icebox the leader when Vigor wasn’t around but everyone kind of just went with it. It’s the first time all of us are leaving at once and it’s clear when we get in the huge black van with Ghost behind the wheel that things are serious.

It feels good here with my old outfit back on. I must say. I look on the other side of the van to see Fem with her red skirt. Icebox has on his blue trunks and the Thinkers are wearing their matching black and white suits. Scanman decided to stay back at the lair since he was never really the type to be on the field but he is monitoring the area from the distance and communicating us through earpieces.

“I’m glad you let me come,” I tell Icebox.

He gives me a hard look, “I still don’t trust you. Not one bit. You’re not good for Vigor, but if this is a trap then all of us are going down with the ship.”

He grunts a little as he looks away. I want to ask him if he has a plan but it’s clear that Icebox is no Vigor. His plan is to freeze shit over and blow shit up and get Vigor the fuck out of the meeting he’s in. That’s all it comes down to. The funny thing is Ghost and Fem Fatale are completely on board with this plan. The Thinkers and Madame Motions probably have their reservations but they don’t express them. They just sit awkwardly in the back of the van giving nervous glares to one another. I don’t blame them. At this point everyone is nervous and everyone probably has a very good reason to be.

“You ready for this?” Fem asks me.

I can read the others. They are all wondering the same thing. None of them have seen me in action. They look at me wearily. They might as well say it. This guy’s a faggot and Vigor isn’t here to protect him. What use is he to us? He shouldn’t be here.

I lean back. My eyes are avoiding the villains, “I’ll be fine.”

We pull up to the Ministry building downtown. It’s one of many. When the Ministry came in they took over a lot of the buildings in downtown Pittsburgh. They started the barter system so that there was still some sort of basis for the economy. Honestly though it was all bullshit. It was just the Ministry making sure people had something to work towards so they avoided riots. Truth was we were all prisoners of the Ministry in Metropolis. Human and metahumans alike. When the Ministry put up the wall they put on a curfew as well. All phone calls started to be monitored, rations going in and out of the city were calculated and big government became just about everything. I’m talking about cameras everywhere. Big Brother was watching.

Luckily with all the cameras and all the programming Gadget Girl left behind, Scanman was able to be our eyes and ears out there.

Icebox comes back, “Scanman what can you see.”

Scanman’s voice pierces sharply into our ears, “Vigor is on the third floor. He’s still with Philip Leaf. Minister Ashley is also on the third floor.”

I find that weird, “What are they doing?”

“Seems like they are talking. Little does Vigor know that the floors are crawling with Ministry members. And oh yeah. The Hall of Heroes is here as well.”

“Mayor?” Icebox asks.

Everyone seems to hold their breath at that point. Hell if Mayor was here right now this wouldn’t be much of a rescue mission. It’d be a suicide mission.

Luckily Scanman shakes his head, “I’m not picking up Mayor. I just scanned Lady Liberty at the ground level of the building and Kid Lightning on the 4th floor. There are also a shit load of Ministry officers. They are all waiting for something.”

“A queue to try to take down Vigor,” Icebox says. It’s not a question.

“Well let’s give them one,” I say.

Icebox looks at me and raises an eyebrow. I think he’s surprised when I stand on my knees as the truck pulls over.

“I’m with Materias. Point me to that bitch Lady Liberty,” Fem states bluntly.

“No. I’ll take on Lady Liberty. Last thing we need is for you two to get personal again,” Icebox says, “You, Madame Motions, Ghost and Materias teleport to the Fourth Floor. Take out Kid Lightning. I’ll take out Lady Liberty with the Thinkers.”

I expect Fem to be a little pissed off but instead she shivers and puts on a flirtacious smile, “I like a man that takes charge.”

As if Icebox needs his head gassed up anymore. I would complain that this isn’t the time or place but it’s becoming clearer that Fem has abandoned her sights on Vigor and has a new crush in Icebox. I can’t complain about that. It’s hard enough to compete with whatever history Vigor has with that crazy ass Ashley Keeper guy.

Icebox calls it at that moment and storms out of the truck with the Thinkers. The rest of us gather near Madame Motions and prepare ourselves to be teleported.

“He said the 4th floor…not the fucking 14th…” Fem barks at Madame Motions.

The teleport wasn’t very successful. This is a waste of time. I’m looking at Madame Motions with her long ballroom gown and wondering where the hell she think she is. I wonder if she really thinks she’s an Understudy for Cinderella’s wicked stepmother on Broadway play or something. I’m here to save Vigor with a slut, an old lady and a guy whose skin complexion looks like Powder. We are ten floors up from where we need to be.

“Listen little girl. I don’t question you getting dizzy after you hit a couple of targets. Don’t question how my shit works,” Madame Motions.

She’s talking about Limits and I think it’s clear.

“Can’t you do it again?” Ghost asks.

“I don’t know this building. I need to know where I’m going,” Madame Motions says, “So unless you all want to end up stuck in a wall I’d say we are as close as we are going to get. Hence we ended up on the wrong floor. You know. When I was your ages I had more respect for my elders…”

“No time old lady---“ Fem cuts her off and grabs my arm, “We’re taking the stairs.”

We start to descend pretty fast with Madame Motions skipping the thought of running down the steps and just teleporting lazily down each staircase. I am starting to realize how the old lady’s powers work. She has to actually know where she is going before she gets there. Ghost is silent right now. He’s clearly in the zone running ahead of us.

“I was really pissed off at you, you know that?” Fem asks as we descend down the stairs.

“I figured that when you had your luger pointed at me,” I respond.

She has her luger on her now. Fem is holding it and clutching it as though it was a hard dick. She’s is holding it close and damn near worshipping it. Her skirt flails as she descends the steps.

“If you hurt him, I just might use it,” she responds.

“Hurt who?”

“Vigor, goddam it. Who do you think I’m talking about?”

“Listen. Trying to poison him was a mistake. Besides. That’s Vicious Vigor. I’m sure you’re not worried about little old me killing THE Vicious Vigor. He’s the most wanted man in the world.”

Fem laughs. “I’m not talking about killing him. I’m talking about hurting him. There are more ways than one to hurt a man.”

I think I understand what she’s saying.

“Like I said. No one can hurt Vicious Vigor.”

“I used to think the same thing but then I saw how hurt he was when he realized it was you trying to kill him. Mind you this is a guy who gets shot at for a living. This is a guy who is probably the most wanted man since Osama Bin Laden. You’d think he’d be immune to shit like that right. Hell. This is a man who can make his skin as hard as steel. But you still hurt him. You might as well had taken a bullet man. You might as well shot him dead.”

My heart races. I didn’t think I had that effect. Not on Vigor.

Had Vigor really been that hurt by what I had done?

I don’t have time to answer.

“HEADS UP!”

We are on the 6th floor when the shooters come out. Gunfire rings into the stairwell and Fem pulls me back just in time. Ghost is running forward, running right through the gunshots. I hear a rush of screams as Ghost pins one shooter and chokes out another. He makes light work of the two Ministry officers and continues down the steps without taking so much as a beat.

“Stay behind me,” Fem tells me, probably noticing the expression on my face. Had she not pulled me back at that moment my brains would probably be splattered on the walls right now.

More gunmen come onto the stairwell. Madame Motions is there grabbing their guns and disappearing in flash before they have the chance to shoot. She leaves it open for Fem Fatale and Ghost. Fem Fatale is shooting through the hall so wildly that I think she’s going to hit Motions before she is able to teleport away or maybe pierce Ghost before while he isn’t intangible. What seems like wild shots definitely aren’t though.

We are on the 4th floor before I know it and as soon as Ghost goes through the door I feel it. There is a WHOOSH and I’m knocked off my feet. I’m laying on the ground suspended tied up at that moment. I’m not the only one. Fem Fatale is next to me with ropes tied up around her as well. Ghost may have been tied up but he made himself intangible and slipped right through the ropes. He seemed dizzied by whatever it was and is staring blankly at the wall trying to gain his composure.

“You people never learn do you?” a voice says.

That’s when I noticed whose quick enough to tie up Fem and I before we even see him. There is a man standing at the top of the stairs. He’s handsome. He’s tall and mixed complexion. He is a sexy. I have to admit. Fem is looking back at me and I can tell she is thinking what I’m thinking. I mean this dude is FINE. He is young maybe college age, hopefully not high school. He has a tone sexy body that I can see through his bright yellow spandex. His track tights are plain with a purple lightning bolt going down the front. The lightning bolt is a happy trail that leads right to his huge bulge sticking out of his plants.

“God bless track tights,” Fem whispers.

“Fuck yes,” I agree, “He can tie me up anytime…”

The boy clearly hears us discussing how sexy he is and he doesn’t seem extremely interested in it. I’m reminded he’s our enemy when he runs down the steps quickly and slams Ghost’s head into the door knocking him out.

Madame Motions appears and sees what’s going on and just looks shocked to say the least.

“Get Ghost!” I scream at Motions, “And get the fuck out of here.”

“I don’t take orders from you kid,” Motions argues.

“DO IT!” Fem screams at her.

Madame Motions disappears right before the WHOOSH happens and the guy speeds up and down the stairs seconds away from getting at her. She grabs Ghost at that moment and in a flash Madame Motions teleports out of there.

“Kid Lightning,” Fem Fatale states.

“Fem Fatale. I guess we both have a reputation huh?” he asks but then turns to me with an awkward stare, “Whose this? Your sidekick or something?”

“I’m no one’s fuckin sidekick,” I respond.

To prove my point I touch the ropes and he watches curiously as they untangle. The ropes that he tied me with aren’t ropes anymore. I’m holding a whip in my hand. I twirl it around my head a couple of times. I crack the whip towards him as he’s standing at the top of the stair case. He moves quickly running so fast that I don’t even see how much I’ve missed him. I crack the whip again and again at that moment.

Before I know it the kid is running up and down the staircase. He’s racing past me so fast to the point that I’m swirling the whip all around hoping that at some point I make some type of contact with him.

“Cool powers,” he tells me, “Not cool enough though.”

“Loosen me and give me that thing. I won’t miss,” Fem states.

I grab onto the rope she’s tied on and turn them into sand. The sand falls to the ground around her. I hand her the whip and in a second Fem cracks the whip and the boy is on the floor with a busted lip. She is standing there with the whip now approaching him like some type of Dominatrix.

“I swear I had a wet dream about this once,” I confess.

She gives me a wicked smile but keeps her eyes on the boy who is rubbing his lip and looking a little angry, “Go on ahead. I got Speedy Gonzalez over here.”

“You sure.”

“Yeah. Vigor needs you. A lot more than he needs me.”

I don’t know what she means by it but I’m not going to sit around and ask her either. From what I can tell she must somehow trust me. I guess I’m not the enemy anymore if she’s sending me to save our beloved leader.

I run out to the third floor and can feel sweat dripping down my tight suit. I’m not sure if it’s because I just descended a fucking 10 story staircase, fought a guy who puts the Roadrunner to shame or if I’m just nervous. I settle on the fact that it might be because I’m fucking nervous. Yes. That has to be it. I’m fucking as fuck. My heart is racing and I’m fucking nervous.

I’m nervous to see Vigor again.

As soon as I get on the 3rd floor I’m confronted by Ministry officers. Gun shots break out shooting at me. I duck behind a desk. There cubicles all over this floor. There is one main light streaming across the type. I have to think about what I’m going to do and I have to do it fast. Vigor is depending on me. Everyone is depending on me right now. Clearly Icebox and the Thinkers haven’t been able to work their way up from the ground level yet. Ghost and Madame Motions had to retreat. Fem is still fighting Kid Lightning in the stairwells. Right now it’s up to me and me alone.

Then I hear a voice and realize I’m not alone, “Materias. It’s Scan. I got your back man.”

Thank god.

“Are there any cameras? Can you see how many shooters there are.”

“I can see from the street cameras into the building. There are two. They look a little nervous. Rookies. The other two are standing by the entrance. There is a light above you. I think that light might be the main light for the whole floor. If you can take that light out...”

Good idea.

I grab onto the chair and melt it into the shape of an Uzi in my hand. With the Uzi I shoot at the lights above me. The place goes dark in a matter of seconds. That’s when I grab onto some eye glasses on the table. Some poor blind soul probably left them there to go through his excel sheets. Within an instant I change his glasses into night vision goggles. At that moment I want to thank God that Sunbeam used to have me learn the ins out and outs of stupid machinery back when I told him what my limit was.

I ring out the Uzi clearing the room as soon as I can. I’m not the best shot in the world but with a fucking Uzi and night vision you don’t have to be. Helen Keller could have cleared out the goddam room.

I run out into the next room. My heart is racing.

“Scan do you see him. Do you see Vigor in any of the cameras?” I ask Scan through the earpiece.

“He’s in an office room. Two stores down. Keep running. Keep going. Go. Faster. There. Stop. Now turn to your right. He’s in there. But…he’s not moving…”

Shit. My heart is racing. I have to get to him fast. I storm into the room at that moment and when I get into the room I see Vigor sitting there. He’s just sitting there. I look at him and I’m confused as fuck as to why he’s just sitting there.

“Vigor…Vigor it’s me.”

“I’ve been waiting for you.”

“Vigor?”

Then as I look in Vigor’s face I realize…it’s not Vigor. It’s not him. It’s fucking Philip Leaf. And with one hard punch to the face all I see is black.

I wake up with a headache. The bed that I’m laying on isn’t the twin bed with gray sheets. It’s not the gray walls of Vigor’s lair with the one floor and one dresser full of sweats. The room I wake up in is a grand room. The ceiling is so high that I can’t see it. The bed is a canopy bed. I’m lying on golden silk sheets that I swear melt underneath my skin.

I’m completely naked and I’m not alone.

“You sleep peacefully,” a voice says.

At that moment I grab a decorative pillow from the king size bed and change it into a pistol. I hold the pistol towards the shadow walking towards me in the darkness. It’s Mayor Morale. He’s looking at me with a strong face and a smirk. A pistol probably won’t do the trick against a guy like Mayor Morale. I wonder if I have the time or energy to grab something else and make a rocket launcher. That may do the trick. I look around frantically.

He probably notices I’m panicking because he smiles at me, “You’re not a prisoner here. Bishop Philip let me know that you aren’t to be harmed under any circumstances.”

Philip Leaf. The fucking traitor who pretended to be Web Weaver. The fucking man who planned the Mandate Ministry. The man who is responsible for all the shit that’s fucked up in my life.

“Where is he?” I ask before looking around, “Where am I?”

“The Hall.”

“The hall?”

“The hall of heroes.”

I didn’t know the hall was an actual place. I just thought these fucking do-gooders who were on the news everyday if they pissed or sneezed were just called the Hall of Heroes. I look around the place. I didn’t know shit like this existed in Pittsburgh. I felt like I was in some Ancient Egyptian palace or something from the huge columns in the room and the marble floors. These motherfuckers were living nice. I had to admit that.

“Why am I here?”

Mayor Morals looks at me. This fucking guy smiles and you would think he’s some good samiritan. I knew better. I’d seen him kill my friends. Every part of me wants to take him out right now but I’m not in a rush to die either. If I attack him I don’t think I would have gotten that far. I’d learned my lesson from history. I bide my time wondering what to do.

“The bishop will see you. Follow me,” he says and then nods for a moment, “Leave the gun as well…”

I turn the gun back to a pillow. Then I realize that I’m completely naked. My suit is laying on the side of my bed. It looks like it has been cleaned. I wrap the bedsheet around my waist. It whips across the floor as I walk like one of Madame Motions huge gowns. Mayor Morals gives me a look when I do it but he doesn’t seem to mind.

I’m following the Mayor down the steps. You would think the Mayor of our city would be an errand boy or something. I mean he was the head of the Hall of Heroes and he was acting like a goddam butler for Bishop Philip. I guess I was definitely understanding a little bit more about the dynamics of this relationship.

I follow the Mayor down a grand staircase and down a massive hallway. They weren’t joking when they called this place the Hall of Heroes. Unlike Vigor’s lair this place is sprawling with character. It looks like I’ve stumbled right into someone’s Renaissance painting. There are beautiful golden hues and red carpets. I’m sure this place is a palace or something. I wonder what part of town we are in. There are guards around but they pay me no attention, disregarding the fact that there is half naked man following the mayor with a bedsheet wrapped around his waist.

“Wait here,” the Mayor says.

He turns and disappears leaving me in a room with a glass wall. At first I think it’s some kind of aquarium but then the lights in the room go dark and the lights on the other side of the wall illuminate. There is where I see a man. He’s thin…extremely thin as though he hasn’t eaten in days. I don’t see his face because he has some sort of helmet on. The helmet is attached to all these strings. Above him I can see a screen. The screen dangles over his head and there are names on the screen. Names are just scrolling down the screen and the guy with the helmet is just looking at them weakly.

“His name is Mind Meld.”

The voice surprises me. Then someone walks out from the darkness of the room. He’s wearing a suit. He’s extremely handsome. I’ve never seen this man before but he has such a familiarity in his face. He looks mature but not old. He may be in his early 30s. He had skin the color of chocolate and it’s just as smooth. His hair is white, the color of snow but for some reason it doesn’t add years to how old he looks. His white hair is distinct against his chocolate skin however. He’s attractive in the most interesting looking way. His face has perfect symmetry. He flashes a smile when I look at him. His teeth are so white they are blinding me. His eyes are so black. They are the type of eyes that go really, really deep or that have nothing in them at all. As he approaches I’m not sure which it is.

“Who are you?” I ask.

“That hurts,” he responds to me, “I figured you would know me. Our connection was always that strong…”

Him.

“Web Weaver…”

I am panicking at that moment. I’m thinking about what I can change my sheet into. I can shrink it but there isn’t enough substance in the flat sheet to make a gun I don’t think. It would be too hard to transmute it into anything useful. There is nothing anywhere near me to really transmute and use against him. So instead I just stand there and stare at him hoping my expression doesn’t expose how much hate I have for him.

“I was him. I was many other people before, but this is who I truly am,” he responds, “It’s nice to meet you. For the first time--- and again. My name is Philip Leaf.”

Why would someone so beautiful ever want to change into someone else? I can’t figure it out. Sure the other Web Weaver was handsome but this man has that edge. It’s the kind of edge that lets you know this person will go down in history. I was standing in the room with a walking legend. The only person I’d ever seen that edge in before was Vigor.

“This guy is a metahuman. He’s your prisoner?” I ask.

“His name is Santonio Williams and yes. He’s a metahuman. He isn’t my prisoner though. He’s my weapon,” Leaf explains.

Where had I heard that name before? It sounds so familiar. I can’t put my finger on it and now isn’t really the time for me to be going down memory lane with my biggest enemy in the room with me.

“For someone who spent so much energy creating an organization to stop metahumans, you sure keep interesting company,” I explain. I almost forget before adding, “Not mentioning you yourself are a metahuman.”

“I’m not trying to stop Metahumans. See that screen Mind Meld stares at. That’s a list of metahumans in the city.”

“The Registration.”

He nods, coldly as though just another fact, “Yes. Every metahuman is listed on that screen along with their limits.”

“Why the fuck are you giving it to the anorexic guy?” I ask.

“Mind Meld has an interesting power. You see if he knows a metahumans limits, he can control them. He can meld their minds into his own. No matter where he is. He’s truly unique.”

Fuck.

“Impossible.”

Mind reading was one thing. Mind control was another. This kind of power could be devastating in the wrong hands and when I look at Philip Leaf I am definitely under the impression that his hands are the wrong hands.

“Actually not impossible,” he smiles bluntly and adds, “Metahumans make everything possible. That’s why I created them. You see in college I studied Darwinism. Survival of the fittest.”

He skips over the fact that he just said he created metahumans as though it’s nothing. Just at that moment I start to realize that Philip Leaf isn’t who he says he is in more ways than one.

“The Mandate Ministry. It was never meant to stop the metahuman threat…was it?”

He shakes his head, “No. I had to put on that front for the humans. See humans are weak. They are always looking for a hero. So I became that hero. And when you have a hero…you always have to have a victim. Luckily Vicious Vigor stepped up to the plate. So he’s going to take the fall when the time comes. He’ll go down in history as the villain and I’ll save the day. Just in time. And they’ll come to me when it all happens so that I can rule over them. So I can live like a God when it happens.”

“When what happens?”

He points at the list. He points at the list of all the registered metahumans who his pet Mind Meld has the power to control.

“Vigor will take the fall when invisible wall comes down and the metahumans destroy every government on the face of the Earth and wipe out approximately 90 percent of the human population.”

It was clear now what Philip Leaf was. He wasn’t a hero. He wasn’t here to save the humans. He was here to destroy the humans and take control of whatever was left afterward…

To read the next chapter in advance go to www.crushedcrown.com