Point-of-View: Neo Cronje
———————————————————————————
"Hm? Foreigners, huh? Do you need something?" Yawned the guy, looking annoyed, and a little confused.
He had slightly dark skin, messy medium-length black hair, lazy black eyes, heavy stubble on his face, and wore a blue sleeveless top with worn-out black shorts that went a bit past his knees, with a pair of cheap-looking rubber slippers on his feet.
He probably thinks we're tourists or something, and is likely wondering what we're even doing in a rundown building like this one, let alone knocking on his door...
"Sorry about this, but I'm going to need you to come with us," I remarked, getting straight to the point.
"Tch, just hurry up and get on with it already, dickhead," Growled X, nudging me in the ribs...little bitch.
She's also holding onto my shirt, probably to keep me from portaling away without her...which I definitely would do if I could.
"I'm sorry?" Responded the Outlier with a frown, before muttering under his breath, "The fuck is this? Ahem, so, uh...I don't feel like dealing with this, I'm busy and stuff, so could you please leave-...woah!"
Before he finished talking, I opened a portal beneath us, and the moment we began to drop and he let out a surprised yell of alarm, X quickly wrapped herself around my back, clinging to me tightly as we fell through the portal, landing somewhere in the Sahara desert.
"I know I'm super hot and stuff, but could you please get off? Because this desert is way hotter, and you're stifling me," I remarked dryly.
"Fuck off, I didn't want to risk getting literally cut off by your portal...and also, I wanted to do this!" She responded viciously, wrapping her arm around my neck and tightening the grip.
Trying to choke me out, huh? And her Nullification is in effect, so I can't use any of my Skills...no matter, I can manage without them. As she continued to tighten her grip, I swiftly reached behind and grabbed her head, before pressing my thumbs onto her eyes.
"Get...off me...or...I'll crush...your...fucking eyes!" I sputtered as her chokehold began to take effect, my vision starting to blur.
"Ow...ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, let go!" She yelled in alarm, before quickly getting off me and jumping away, as I coughed hoarsely and spun around.
Her eyes were red and she had an enraged look on her face, clear murderous intent in her eyes. Looks like this'll be the day when I finally take her down-...
"Where the fuck am I!? And who the hell are you people!?" Suddenly exclaimed a voice behind us.
Oh, right...I totally forgot about the Outlier.
"Stay out of this and shut up, just sit and wait or something," Growled X, her eyes fixated on me like a wild animal stalking its prey, "Now, then, I'm gonna kill you, you piece of-!"
I thought she'd understand the situation she's in, but it looks like she's too pissed off to really think it through...gotta make her realize exactly what's going on here...
"You sure you wanna do that?" I responded with a knowing smirk.
"Huh? What's that supposed to mean!?" She snapped in reply.
"Look around, Fake...," I replied, gesturing all around me as I trailed off, before stating, "We're in the middle of the goddamn Sahara desert, do you really think you can find your way out of here if I'm gone? Could you even survive for that long?"
Her eyes widened and her expression paled as she realized what I was saying...I brought us here using a portal, which means we could be hundreds of miles away from civilization out here for all she knows...and that happens to be the case, I saw no reason to bluff, so even I have no idea where exactly we are.
That won't stop me from escaping though, I've memorized the entire world map, having spent extensive time studying globes, as well as how coordinates are scaled and spread out, so all I need to do is picture the coordinates I want to go to, which can be made easier by looking at a picture of the place I want to teleport to. In other words, I can effectively teleport to any spot on the planet, regardless of whether I've been there before or not.
"I should have known...!" Growled X furiously, "This kind of dirty trick is so typical of you, considering how many of Eden's Meta-Humans you've killed by dropping them in the middle of random oceans!"
Heh, yeah, I've totally done that a few times...guess some of the bodies must have washed up on some beaches and been found. Looks like she doesn't know about the ones I've dropped into active volcanoes, those bodies will definitely never be found...
So long as my opponent isn't clinging to me or too fast for me to see, luring them to fall through my portals is easy, all I need to do is provoke them into charging at me, blinded by rage, and then open a portal under their feet and watch them fall through.
Of course, not every opponent is so easy to provoke, but not many are skilled enough to avoid my portals even if they do remain calm and composed. Anyway, I should focus on the situation at hand...
"Hey, Fake, mind undoing your Nullification already?" I requested with a smile.
"Fuck off, no way I'm trusting you enough for that," She scoffed in reply.
"Well, it's just...," I remarked, pointing behind her while maintaining my smile, "He's getting away, so I wanted to portal him back over here."
"Huh? Hey, where do you think you're going!?" She exclaimed, quickly chasing after the Outlier, who was running away...I mean, not that I can blame him for wanting to, but come on, we're in the middle of the desert, have some common sense, man.
Oh, looks like she's already catching up to him...and she's tackled him to the ground...huh, now she's kicking him with a look of irritation...aaand now she's dragging him back over here by his ankle.
"I think you broke his nose," I observed, as she returned.
"She fucking did, the little bitch!" Exclaimed the Outlier furiously, trying to kick her.
"Alright, buddy, why don't we all calm down for a sec, cool?" I said in a friendly tone, "What's your name?"
"What is this, the bad cop, good cop routine? Fuck off," He responded with a frown, as he wiped away the blood pouring out of his nose.
"Fair enough...but also, you do realize the situation you're in here, right? I could easily leave, abandoning you in this desert, where you probably won't survive long," I remarked with an icy smile, before adding, "But enough hypotheticals! Let me ask again, what's your name?"
"...Inoka Fonseka. And you're a dick."
"Nice to meet you, Inoka," I smiled with a friendly tone, in an attempt to play nice and get him to let down his guard.
But I might have made a mistake in going with that approach, considering the situation that I've put us in...
"You kidnapped me and brought me to a fucking desert...so, no, it's most certainly not nice to meet you," He responded dryly.
"Seriously? You really think you can convince someone to let you kidnap them by being nice?" Scoffed X condescendingly, "Just use force, dumbass."
"Oh, I'm sorry, but do you really want to tell me how to do my job? You do realize the situation that we're in, don't you?" I countered with a patronizing tone, not very subtly attempting to piss her off.
"Yeah, well, keep pissing me off and I'll kill you, you asshole, I don't care if-!" She began to retort.
"Oh my God, shut the fuck up, both of you! Could you please send me back to my apartment!?" Snapped Inoka, looking like he'd had enough.
"Huh? Don't think you can tell me what to do, you little shit," Growled X threateningly.
"Whatever, just send me back, I've got shit to do, bitch!" He retorted irritably.
"Like what? You seemed pretty unbusy when we came knocking," I remarked with a raised eyebrow.
"Came knocking uninvited, you mean...this is all fucking bizarre, is this some kind of weird nightmare or some shit? How did we even get here, people can't normally just-...ohh, I get it, is this about that giant marble or glass ball or whatever that fell through the roof?" He inquired with a frown.
"Hmph, guess he's not as dumb as he looks," Huffed X cuttingly.
"Bite me, twintails bitch," He shot back with a glare, before turning to me, "Look, I don't know what happened, okay? That thing fell through my ceiling and nearly took my goddamn head off, and then I touched it and it disappeared. And then, all of a sudden I felt like I was abruptly getting stronger, which was a weird feeling since I haven't exercised in, like, five years or something-...never mind, let me get back to the point. Tell me, just what the hell do the two of you want with me, anyway?"
"Oh, actually, we should clarify that we're on opposing sides...I'm with the good guys, she's with the bad guys...oh, and by sides, I mean two opposing forces both made up of Meta-Humans, which are people with superpowers," I explained, with maybe a little bias.
"Hmph, good and bad is a matter of perspective, of course he's going to see the side opposing his as bad or evil or whatever, it's just his opinion-," X began to interject.
"Technically speaking, she may have a point...but let's look at both sides at face value, shall we? See, my side aims to peacefully coexist with regular human society in secrecy, while her side wants to overthrow regular human society and have Meta-Humans run the world instead of continuing to exist in the shadows," I pointed out logically, before surmising, "Think of it this way, my side is like regular white people, and her side is like white supremacists...but, you know, instead of white people, it's people with super powers."
"You're both white, so that's not the best analogy...but whatever, I don't really care. And what does any of that have to do with kidnapping me?" Responded Inoka with a bemused look on his face.
"That orb you came across...," Replied X, before explaining, "His side created nine of them, but after certain events, specifically me getting the better of this asshole, those nine orbs were randomly scattered throughout the world, and anyone who comes into contact with them will gain power."
I'll let her little comment about getting the better of me slide for now, but she's gonna pay for that. Hm, if I get the chance, maybe I'll drop her in the middle of the ocean somewhere...
"That reminds me, I've been wondering...unlike most of the other cases, it wasn't footage of you using your newfound powers that was reported, it was only the property damage caused by the orb that was actually reported...what exactly happened?" I inquired curiously.
"Ohh, so those weird posts I've been seeing online about superhuman sightings lately, those really aren't hoaxes, huh? Guess I should have figured that out after my own experience. And to answer your question, a news van just happened to be driving past the building when the orb thing crashed through my ceiling, and a couple of minutes after I touched the it and it disappeared, some of my neighbors and a couple of reporters from the news van came knocking," He sighed with a frown.
"Oh, I see. How did you explain what happened?" I asked him curiously.
"Well, I didn't want too much attention, so...I just said that I'd been asleep and was suddenly woken up by the loud crash, but by the time I was fully awake, the crater was already empty. And I didn't give the reporters permission to reveal my name or address. And, uh, most of my neighbors are either drug dealers or drug addicts, which means they don't want any attention drawn to the building...so they kept quiet too," He explained with a shrug.
"Okay, that's it! I'm addressing the elephant in the room!" Suddenly spoke up X impatiently, before narrowing her eyes at Inoka, "Which Meta-Orb did you come across?"
"Uh...not sure what you're asking," He responded in confusion, "The...glass one, I guess?"
Holy crap, that's right...all this time and I still don't know which Meta-Orb fell into his room, I was so preoccupied with finding him, and then dealing with X, that I totally forgot about that...
_____________________________________________
Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Don't forget to vote, and feel free to leave a comment, I appreciate any and all feedback and criticism!
Also, check out my Instagram account @aimdaqs for posts relating to this book.
Join the Discord server, I plan to tease upcoming chapters and future story arcs here, and you can also discuss or ask me any questions about the story and characters. Use the invite link to join:
https://discord.gg/sRbx9VbTVP