The Lesser One Arc Two Version 2 Chapter 9: Thanks

 These episodes are out of order. If you want them all, then click the tag at the bottom of this chapter. 

Thanks

The deepest whump I’ve ever felt resonates through the air. I feel my blood jumping in my body. The giant robot loses an arm, and pieces of its amor fling across the road. The robot pulls a flamethrower from inside its torso and fires. The road is engulfed in fire. Sebastain swerves the limo, and we pass onto a side road. The giant robot follows us.

A military helicopter appears over the horizon. I lean forward in my seat. “Can you contact them?”

Sebastian nods. “I have their frequency. I think they already know what’s going on.”

The helicopter hovers over the road and fires an anti-tank missile. The missile screams across the fells and slams into the giant robot. The robot, however, tanks the blow. Its armor is scratched, but its frame is intact. The helicopter makes a close pass to the robot.

The robot throws a long wire with a hook at the end. The hook impales the helicopter. The robot pulls on the wire, dragging the helicopter around it. It whips the helicopter over its head and slams the aircraft into the pavement, right on top of a police car. Both vehicles explode in a violent bang. Shrapnel embeds itself in the back window of the limo.

Sebastian accelerates. “The military is on the way. Three harrier jets have been scrambled.”

“That might not even be enough.” I look at the giant robot as it chases us. “Where in the world did they get that thing?”

“It’s a portal being.” Mandrake shook his head. “They’re not relegated to just organics.”

“So it’s a minion of one of the darks.” I check my gun. “Give me a crack at him. Sebastian, can you open the sunroof?”

Sebastian pulls a lever and the sun roof opens. “Go for it, sir.”

I stand up and pull my upper body through the hole. I concentrate all my anima energy into the barrel of my rifle. A single bullet materializes in the chamber. It’s a hyper-dense quantum-lattice material with the composition of a neutron star.

Well, that’s what I imagine. In reality I don’t really know how my power does things like this. I simply think to it “make something really dense” and that’s what comes out. My anima spirit regulates all the small details and tells me after the fact.

“Eat this.” I fire the bullet. The barrel of the gun reduces to goo as the quantum-compressed ammunition is fired. The bullet traces a line of fire through the air and slams into the armor of the giant robot.

The robot is torn to shreds. Its chest opens up, metal wrenching apart and spraying across the asphalt. It trips on its feet and slams into the ground.

Three harrier jets scream over the horizon.

Sebastian radios the military frequency. “Code eleven ten. The bogie is down. Radical will take care of the back end.”

I raise an eyebrow. “Who’s Radical?”

“It’s Jirgrar’s codename in the military.” Sebastian turns off the radio. “This is a mess, and we’re going to take care of it. It’s not everyday that a gigantic robot tears up a highway and causes multiple civilian and police casualties.”

“So we’re just going to leave the site?”

“We don’t have time to deal with it. Don’t worry, though.” Sebastian closes the military operations panel. “The people who cased it will pay.”

We pull away from the battlefield and head towards Gall Noo’s stronghold.

An hour later, we arrive at a farm in the middle of the rolling downs. There are several large silos, which have seen better days. Sebastian parks the limo and we get out. Two individuals wearing black suits with bright red eyes and pale skin approach us. Both of them bow.

“We apologize for the actions of our master’s comrade.”

Sebastian frowns. “So it wasn’t Gall who attacked us on the road.”  

The man on the right straightens. “No. It was another.”

“Who, exactly?” Mandrake’s arms are crossed.

“Knack.”

Mandrake scoffs. “Ah, that idiot. He’s at it again, isn’t he?”

The man on the left seems amused. “In any case, we shall escort you to our master.” He turns around.

We follow the two men into the big barn at the edge of the property. When we enter, I look around and am quite impressed. The place has been totally refit in a modern boutique style, with very little of the original barn-like feeling remaining. It seems that Gall has quite the taste in decoration.

It is obvious who Gall is. He is a massive, muscular figure, wearing nothing but a loincloth, carrying a katana over his shoulder. His body is covered in detailed tattoos. He has long, dark hair that drops down to his waist. His eyes are bright blue and he has a scar across his chest that goes from his right shoulder to his left hip. He looks at us and grins.

“Markus, my boy. Can I call you that?”

I frown. “I guess.”

Gall taps his katana. “Bring some chairs for my guests.”

The henchmen surrounding him jump into action and bring us chairs. Sebastian leans close to me.

“Tia and several elves have this place surrounded. If we have to run, go out the last door on the left.” He then leans back as if nothing happened.

I sit down in a very nice custom-designed metal chair. Gall folds his hands.

“I know you are trying to become a Silverbone. That much is obvious. And I know that you’re probably going to need my vote.”

“Right.” I do my best to stay dignified with my posture.

Gall hugs his katana. “Unlike some of my comrades, I’m too sophisticated to just challenge you to a duel. Here’s my trial for you. I want you to invent a new drug.”

“First.” I grip my chair. “Where’s Crayton?”

“Oh, that idiot?” Gall raises his palms. “I packed him inside a barrel and tossed him into the Thames.”

I stand up. “What?”

“Kidding, kidding.” Gall grins. “He’s downstairs. I just kidnapped him to get some information from him. He’s fine. You can have him after our talk.”

I stand down and exhale. “Okay. So you want me to design a drug for you.”

“Exactly.” Gall rubs his fingers together. “I heard that you are very good at conjuring new formulations of things.”

“You heard right.”

Mandrake puts his hand on my shoulder. “If you do this, you’ll be putting yourself in great danger. If the government ever finds out that you created a brand new drug with as much impact as something like cocaine, then there’s no telling what they’ll do with you. They might even send you to the Fortress.”

“We’ll just have to be careful, then.” I turn to Gall. “What kind of a drug do you want?”

“First. I want it to be odorless. It can’t be detected by dogs or sensors.”

“Okay.”

“I want it to be highly addictive.”

“Got it.”

Mandrake grips my arm. “Are you really doing this? There’s not telling how much havoc you could wreck by creating something like this.”

“Here’s the thing.” I turn to Mandrake. “If I can make a drug that is totally safe on a biological level, and is good enough that it replaces the current drug market, then couldn’t you say I’ve done good?”

Mandrake sighs. “If that’s how you want to think about it, then you do that.”

I turn to Gall. “Anything else?”

“I want it to be very easy to create with common reagents.” Gall rubs his hands together.

“Here you go.” I tell my spirit the parameters and a glob of blue liquid appears in my palm. “Lapthal. A drug that causes a short period of hyper-activated visualization in the mind without impairing normal function. It also stimulates adrenal release. Its formulation takes four household chemicals, whose preparation and ratios I’ll tell you after you promise to give me your vote. It’s impossible to overdose on, and it has no known toxicity to any human system or organ. It is also highly addictive. As an added bonus, it prevents withdrawal symptoms from opioids and benzodiazepines. It is a liquid at room temperature. It can be injected, smoked, ingested, or used as a patch.”

Gall stands up and walks to where I’m sitting. He dips his finger into the ball of fluid and puts it in his mouth. He closes his eyes.

“Mmmmm.” He sighs. “I feel as if all the weight of my past has grown wings and flown away.”

“Did I mention that it acts as a self-propelled therapeutic agent?” I smile. “If you take it enough, it will help you untangle your various mental pathologies through the stimulation of neural regrowth.”

Gall sighs. “I see a lot of money. Money everywhere.” He smiles. “You have my vote, kid.”

Sebastian stands up. “If that’s everything, then we’ll gather Crayton and get out of here.”

Gall waves his hand. His eyes have lost some of their sharpness and he appears less dangerous than when we walked in.

I write the recipe on a scrap of paper and hand it to him. He takes it. “Thanks, kid.”

Two of Gall’s minions come out of the basement with Crayton in between them. He looks worse for the wear, with several bruises on the face.

“Markus. Sebastian.” His smile is lopsided and painful. “Thanks for coming to rescue me.”

I frown. “Why were you kidnapped?”

Crayton grimaces. “They wanted something from me.”

“Did you give it to them?”

“I tried to tell them. It was stolen.”

We walk to the limo. Sebastian and several devils and elves walk in a protective ring around us. When we get inside, I continue the conversation.

“What was the object?”

“It was an artifact. I bought it on a whim off an auction site years ago. I didn’t even know it was valuable enough for someone to kidnap me for it.”

I touch the small black ball that was given to me by Grey. Could this be the artifact they were talking about? I turned to Crayton. “About Alice.”

Crayton’s face sours. He looks off into the distance. “She’s gone, isn’t she?”

“She’s not.” I grab Crayton’s collar. “You need to shape up. You’re the CEO of a multi-billion-dollar corporation. You need to start acting like it.”

Crayton sighs. “Yes. I know. I get it. But I’m just so alone in life.”

I tap Crayton on the back of the head. “You’re not that alone. You just need to make some friends. How about starting up a hobby?”

“There’s nothing I’m interested in.”

“Fishing?”

“Boring.”

“Bowling?”

“I’m terrible at it.” Crayton seems to be perking up.

“Okay. How about Jenma?”

“What’s that?”

“It’s a collectible card game.”

“That sounds … Interesting?” Crayton rubs his chin. “Well, I mean, it’s worth a try.”

“Then we’ll buy you a starter deck. You need to start doing you job, though. Esmex is lost without you at the helm.”

Crayton sighs. “I know. I’ve been lost ever since Alice went into a coma. I can’t believe she’s gone.”

“I’m doing everything I can to try and bring her back.”

Crayon looks at me. “I know. That’s why I appreciate you being here. Not only that, but you saved me from being abducted by a mobster.”

“Right.” I touch the orb in my pocket again. “Let’s try and move past that.”

“I can’t imagine what they wanted with that artifact.” Crayton appears pensive.

I open up the mini fridge. “Whiskey?”

Crayton takes the bottle. “Sure. Thanks, Markus.”

 

10

***