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I've finally done the sequel to the previous Dark Files stories. Decided it is probably better to post it in here but may post it in chat if I decide to. It has less humour and more serious dark action involved, and has lots of open branches that may or may not be explored in future episodes. However, it is hear at demand from certain members on here. It does contain members of SR, though there are some even more fictional characters included too. This isn't, admittedly, my best work. So there's plenty of room for improvement in my next episode as and when it comes.
Previous Dark Files episodes:
[URL]http://ukchatforums.reserve.co.uk/display_messages.php?threadid=95323&forumid=4006[/URL]
The Dark Files 4: Breakthrough Part 1
Three months had passed since Snuggly attempted to take out his enemies and conquer SR towers. Instead, he lost who could have been a potentially valuable ally and exiled himself to his secret headquarters in Scotland. Tony knew he was going to leave, but he didn’t think it would be like that.
Many JATs lost their lives and El Robin got a cut of the action amounting to his destruction, and the once powerful magician caught a fatal chill. All this was because of a change in the balance of power. That balance that made Dark Mark become Albino-man and Edgy to ready his axe for the power of good.
However, there hasn’t been any activity for three months now, things seem to be returning to normal. Edgy spent most of his time putting up with valley girls who don’t even know why they’re turning up for work, as well as playing on his Xbox, and Dark Mark continued singing about ice-cream, after thinking up an excuse as to how the freezer got rather…damaged.
“We’ve made a breakthrough!”
Azul checked his computer console and noticed signs of life in the body in the glass tank.
“Snuggly, we’ve made a breakthrough!”
”What is it?” answered Snuggly on the telephone.
“We’ve made him...as you ordered,” Azul paused for a moment, his excitement making him feel like he was the main character in this episode, “We’ve made Breakthrough!”
Suddenly, a klaxon sounded and the lights turned red. Breakthrough had smashed the glass and was free! Without proper education, he could be a dangerous being! Especially with that…power!
Azul expected this, but kept it to himself. He didn’t want to be blamed for things going wrong. Snuggly knew the risks of creating a mutant, but ordered Azul to continue the project anyway. Azul ran to the emergency exit and the door slammed shut behind him.
The other scientists in the room ran about aimlessly, whilst others tapped at computers and communicated messages of distress on the internal radio system. Large metal shutters began to close, used to quarantine the room in case of any…incidents. A few scientists managed to get out but most were trapped. Trapped at the mercy of Breakthrough.
“Edgy, how are the modifications coming along?” asked Tony, anxious to find out how the installation of the new defences was progressing.
Edgy tapped a few buttons on his computer console. “The underground base of operations is almost complete; artillery cannons and machine gun turrets are hidden all around the grounds and at key areas of the building; the new sensor array has been installed – we can now view anything in sensor range from any angle; and the new recruits have finished their training.”
Tony was impressed, but kept a serious expression on his face, “Who are they?”
”Rickoss, Grey Fox and Cooky. They are the new ‘Elite’ team of operatives. They have been trained to infiltrate, spy, capture, but best of all….fight.”
Tony nodded, “Very good Edgy. Do the military have any idea what we’re up to?”
Edgy quickly commanded his computer to scan the military computers for any information on SR-Towers. Nothing appeared. “Not at all.”
”Good, we don’t want them getting on our backs. Lets make sure we only use our weaponry when we really must.”
Edgy made a quick nod and Tony left his office.
Another few days passed without incident. Edgy and Mark decided to visit their local city centre to browse for videogames. Entering a local department store, Mark and Edgy headed for the games section. On entering they noticed three characters chatting amongst themselves.
The ginger one turned to the short man in the dark maroon shirt, “We need to push those add-ons! Edgy managed to do it whilst he worked here. He made us a huge profit, and he even knew what he was talking about. That is why we couldn’t take him on full time. It would make the other stores jealous that someone in the company can both provide customer satisfaction and obliterate our rather high targets.”
The other man in a dark grey shirt and black tie shoved his middle finger up at the ginger one.
“Mike, how are you going to meet my incredibly stupid demands?”
Mike turned to the man in the black shirt and shrugged his shoulders, “Any suggestions Schaefer?”
Schaefer replied, “We could stop this pretence that we can actually meet high demands without doing the job and actually run this region professionally!”
The ginger one went red in the face, “You be careful Schaefer. The last person who had an opinion, even if it was a supporting one, was…dismissed.”
Schaefer began to raise his fist until a small axe hit the top of the square counter they were stood beside.
”Enough,” commanded Edgy. “Schaefer, we both know that this bloke is the laughing stock of the company and his time will come. Mike, just nod and agree to all he says, he’ll go quicker that was. Dan, when you look in the mirror, what do you see? A brilliant regional manager or a fat Avid Merrion? I tell you what we all see. A barrel of pies. Get some realistic targets and remove that ‘kick me’ sticker from your back if you want some respect around here.”
The ginger man looked extremely shocked, Schaefer was looking the other way with a huge grin on his face, and although he found it rather entertaining, Mike kept his face straight.
Dan felt extremely humiliated and decided to go for a break. He walked away from the games section and out of site. Mike and Schaefer both applauded and Mark walked over to the Xbox section.
Suddenly, the lights went out. With no windows there was no external light in the building. The was a glow from the till screens and emergency exit signs, but nothing more.
”Mark, stay here. I know this building better than anyone. I’ll check out the back.”
Mark nodded and Edgy started walking towards the escalators.
Edgy noted they weren’t moving by themselves and started to walk up them.
As he reached the top, he noticed the security guards a few metres away calming down an elderly lady who was quite frightened by the blackout. He followed the main path between the childrenswear and homeware and turned to the left when he was at a ninety degree angle from the passageway leading to the lifts.
Sticking close to the wall, he headed towards the double doors that were restricted (without locks) to the staff. He could see through a small window on the door that the lights in there were flickering.
Quietly, he pushed the left door open and stepped through. Everything was exactly how it was a couple months ago when he worked there. He tried the first door to his right.
Locked.
He then tried the door to the gents. That was open. He stepped through and noticed the lights were on. To his right was a door to the locker room. He tried the old code and the door unlocked. Slowly stepping through he looked about the room. He noticed that locker 101, his old locker, was open with something sticking out.
Edgy picked it up. It was a note which read:
Dear Edgy, Mr. Davies is under the control of Breakthrough. He is a very dangerous being. I don’t yet know how to beat Breakthrough but am heading to SR Towers to see if your scientists can help me find the answer.
Good luck,
Azul.
Edgy suddenly heard a slam and turned round. The door was shut and the handle broke. A green gas started pouring through the vents into the square locker room. Edgy grabbed his large axe and sliced the door open with a large swing.
That was too easy Edgy thought to himself.
Edgy pushed the outer door back open and looked around. The lights were still off.
He stayed close to the wall, axe in his right hand, his left feeling along.
He avoided the women’s locker room and found the canteen. Stepping inside through the double doors he noticed the lights were flashing with a sense of irregularity. He made a quick sweep of the room with his eyes. No ones home. He started to turn back to face the doors, however, as he did so, he noticed a figure sitting at a table at the far end of the room.
Mark paced back and for, whilst Mike and Schaefer stood behind the till motionless, keeping quiet to avoid trouble.
The customers had now cleared the store and security were locking the entrances to avoid stock being taken.
As Mark continued his pacing, he suddenly heard a voice, “Great Albino. Store room.”
Mark wasn’t sure how to react. Was it real or was he imagining things? Only one way to find out. “Mike, Schaefer, keep out of sight and yell if you need me. I’ve got to check something out in your store room.”
Mike looked back at Mark, “Only staff are allowed in there!”
Mark sighed then answered, “You’ve two choices. The first is to let me go in there to do what I need to do, or two, I force my way in there. I don’t want to have to act with force unless I really need to.”
Mike just responded with a nod and Mark opened the door, getting through the lock with a wave of his hand. He stepped in and closed it behind him, firmly.
“Hello,” he said, “I am here as you requested.”
“Well, well, well, if it isn’t my old friend Edgy.”
”Friend? I’d hardly call you a friend.”
Mr. Davis got out of his chair and straightened his jacket. “You insult me. We are all great friends here. We all have memories of working together we can share.”
Edgy smiled, “Just like you shared your bonuses with the hard working staff whilst you pretended to be an important company representative?”
”Now, now Mr. Edgy, there’s no need to get like that.” Mr. Davis started stepping towards Edgy. The lights still flickered. “We are here for a reason. You no longer work for me as an agent of the system. You were freed. I tried to make you feel small, like an insignificant pawn of the great chess board that is working life. However, I saw the impossible happen. I freed you. I unintentionally enabled you to enter a better life. A life where you feel you have a sense of purpose.”
”So?” was Edgy’s only response.
“So the reason we are both here is because you are not free. You have transferred to another system where you are just a pawn. You feel you have a sense of purpose but in reality you are being led through a pre-destined path by an evil power. This evil power will destroy you and I along with it. But I can not prevent my own destruction before removing one of the pawns from the system. And that is you Mr. Edgy.”
By now Mr. Davies was stood only centimetres from Edgy. He continued, pointing at Edgy’s face with a sense of anger at every point he made.
“It is you who must be destroyed. You who must be sacrificed so that I can continue. The Pawn must be removed by the king.”
”You’re so up yourself Mr. Davies. Infact, cut the Matrix crap and lets get on with it.”
”Yes.”
Mr. Davies’s rather large figure vanished and left Edgy standing, confused. Edgy held his axe at the ready, then started to look at the exits.
Through each door ran a large number of men all dressed in military colours, all there to kill Edgy.
Edgy waited for the right moment then made his attempts to defend himself.
He held the axe horizontally and hit the first guard in the face with the butt end. The next guard felt a harder impact from the head of the axe on his helmet. The axe vibrated causing Edgy to drop it, however it didn’t stop him fighting.
Another guard dived at him, knocking him to the ground. Edgy rolled with the momentum and smashed him in the face with his fist. He then flipped himself back to his feet and raised his clenched hands to a defensive posture.
The guards formed a tight circle around Edgy leaving him with no where to escape. He jumped, pushed through the ceiling panels and grabbed onto the metal frame hanging from the concrete above. Using the height advantage, he managed to kick a guard at great force in the chest, forcing him back onto a couple others. From behind, however, another guard grabbed him by his waist and pulled him back down to their level, allowing another to hit him several times in the face.
Edgy blocked a punch and hit back, knocking the aggressor to the ground. On the ground where he stood, Edgy noticed his axe.
Edgy shunted the guard behind in the chest and dived for the axe. With a forward roll motion, Edgy got back up to his feet and made one quick circular swing around him to give himself some space. Whilst Edgy tried to catch his breath back, the axe began to glow and Edgy along with it. When the glowing faded, Edgy seemed to have recovered his strength. He looked around and noticed the doors to the staff corridor weren’t too far away.
Edgy ran towards them and leaped onto the nearest table. The nearest guards tried to grab him but were unsuccessful. He leaped from one table to the next stopping momentarily to get his balance. When he reached the third table, he felt a strong force hit his back. He began to fall, and realised he wouldn’t regain his balance. The guards pounced on him and he collapsed, his head hitting the floor with a thud.
A heartbeat seemed to fill Mark’s ears, the same as before.
”Great Albino,” said a calm voice from the middle of the room. “Why have you left The Edgy? He is in great need of your help.”
”What do you mean? Is he in trouble?”
The girl lowered herself and positioned herself a little closer. “He is in mortal danger. He is The Edgy.”
”The Edgy?”
”Yes, The Edgy. The one who must survive if The Great Albino is to fulfil his destiny.”
Mark wasn’t sure how to react. “Where is he now?”
The girl shrugged her shoulders. “We do not know.”
Mark was confused. She could produce images of events happening miles away, why couldn’t she locate one individual? “Can’t you show him to me, as you did with Creepy?”
The girl shook her head, “We can only show The Great Albino what the conscious mind can display.”
Mark stepped forward, “You mean he isn’t conscious?”
The girl slowly hovered down to the floor directly below herself. She sat down with her legs crossed and stared at her hands. “That is what we said.”
Mark went down on his knees and grabbed her shoulders, staring into her eyes. He felt a strange sensation throughout his body as if he had energy flowing through him. “How can I help him?”
The girl looked worried and the glow faded a little, “I do not know.”
Edgy awoke to find himself tied to a chair. His axe was hung on a wall around five metres in front of him. The room was square, had white walls and a hard white floor. Neither of the four walls had windows though there was a glass window above Edgy providing a little light.
Edgy breathed a heavy sigh and tested the cuffs keeping his hands trapped. Too strong He then tried to reposition the chair by shaking it so that he would face the door. However, he soon realised the chair was bolted to the hard flooring.
Suddenly the door opened. In came a beast-like humanoid, around eight feet tall, with dark red skin. He had the look of a man but was rather animal in the eyes, like a snake or a feline.
”I bet you wonder why you are here?” He said, “You are wondering why you are still alive.”
Edgy look up at him, “The thought had crossed my mind.” As he spoke, he noticed his face was bruised and sore.
“We shall come to that shortly, but first I am going to tell you that Mr. Davies had nothing to do with this. I just borrowed his mind to find out more about you. I used a holo-imaging device from Snuggly’s laboratory to project his image to you and let my guards do the rest.”
Edgy’s expression remained unaffected. “Good plan. Trick me into thinking my enemy was human, I wouldn’t kill unless necessary.”
”Exactly. Thankfully they didn’t kill you, but they did a good job in rendering you unconscious.”
”So who are you?” Edgy responded, his voice was calm.
”I am what the scientists call Breakthrough. A highly powerful mutant created by genetic modification. The head scientist, Azul, managed to escape my wrath at the lab, however my anger destroyed the others.”
Edgy recognised the name.
“I need you Edgy. I need you to help me find Azul so that he can remove this modification in order for me to live a normal life. That is why you live.”
Edgy quietly tried again with the handcuffs, “Why should I help you?”
Breakthrough smiled an evil grin, flashing his sharp teeth at Edgy. He walked around behind him then put his large hands on Edgy’s shoulders with great weight. He put his face near Edgy’s ear and spoke almost as in whisper, his breath making Edgy feel rather ill, “Because if you don’t,” he gave a short pause, “I will break you.”
The girl’s glow increased and she stood up quickly. “Great Albino, he is alive.” There was almost the sound of joy in her tone. “He seems to be ok, however he is too weak to make a connection with. We think he will return shortly.”
Mark smiled, “Great, now I’ve got a question.”
”Ask away, “ the girl said.
”Who are you…really?”
The girl started to answer, “We are the Pow…”
There was a clicking sound on the door, someone was coming in. Mark quickly faced the door, held it shut, then looked back but the girl was gone.
He sighed, opened the door and saw Schaefer standing there, waiting.
”I heard voices,” he said, “I came to see if all was fine.”
”It was,” said Mark.
As Mark stepped out of the store room, the lights came back on. Everything seemed as it was with the exception of a strange object near the till.
Mark walked up to it and picked it up. It was a fez, and under it was a note. It read:
You have been visited by the Elusive Arabian Thief.
Mark asked the others if they knew who he was, but they both shrugged their shoulders. Looking at the fez, Mark said, “I’ll keep this for now,” he said, “I have a feeling it is something of great importance.” He now looked towards the two shop staff, “I must go.”
Schaefer stepped towards him, “I’m going with you.”
And with that, they both left the store leaving Mike to lock up.
To be continued!
Previous Dark Files episodes:
[URL]http://ukchatforums.reserve.co.uk/display_messages.php?threadid=95323&forumid=4006[/URL]
The Dark Files 4: Breakthrough Part 1
Three months had passed since Snuggly attempted to take out his enemies and conquer SR towers. Instead, he lost who could have been a potentially valuable ally and exiled himself to his secret headquarters in Scotland. Tony knew he was going to leave, but he didn’t think it would be like that.
Many JATs lost their lives and El Robin got a cut of the action amounting to his destruction, and the once powerful magician caught a fatal chill. All this was because of a change in the balance of power. That balance that made Dark Mark become Albino-man and Edgy to ready his axe for the power of good.
However, there hasn’t been any activity for three months now, things seem to be returning to normal. Edgy spent most of his time putting up with valley girls who don’t even know why they’re turning up for work, as well as playing on his Xbox, and Dark Mark continued singing about ice-cream, after thinking up an excuse as to how the freezer got rather…damaged.
“We’ve made a breakthrough!”
Azul checked his computer console and noticed signs of life in the body in the glass tank.
“Snuggly, we’ve made a breakthrough!”
”What is it?” answered Snuggly on the telephone.
“We’ve made him...as you ordered,” Azul paused for a moment, his excitement making him feel like he was the main character in this episode, “We’ve made Breakthrough!”
Suddenly, a klaxon sounded and the lights turned red. Breakthrough had smashed the glass and was free! Without proper education, he could be a dangerous being! Especially with that…power!
Azul expected this, but kept it to himself. He didn’t want to be blamed for things going wrong. Snuggly knew the risks of creating a mutant, but ordered Azul to continue the project anyway. Azul ran to the emergency exit and the door slammed shut behind him.
The other scientists in the room ran about aimlessly, whilst others tapped at computers and communicated messages of distress on the internal radio system. Large metal shutters began to close, used to quarantine the room in case of any…incidents. A few scientists managed to get out but most were trapped. Trapped at the mercy of Breakthrough.
“Edgy, how are the modifications coming along?” asked Tony, anxious to find out how the installation of the new defences was progressing.
Edgy tapped a few buttons on his computer console. “The underground base of operations is almost complete; artillery cannons and machine gun turrets are hidden all around the grounds and at key areas of the building; the new sensor array has been installed – we can now view anything in sensor range from any angle; and the new recruits have finished their training.”
Tony was impressed, but kept a serious expression on his face, “Who are they?”
”Rickoss, Grey Fox and Cooky. They are the new ‘Elite’ team of operatives. They have been trained to infiltrate, spy, capture, but best of all….fight.”
Tony nodded, “Very good Edgy. Do the military have any idea what we’re up to?”
Edgy quickly commanded his computer to scan the military computers for any information on SR-Towers. Nothing appeared. “Not at all.”
”Good, we don’t want them getting on our backs. Lets make sure we only use our weaponry when we really must.”
Edgy made a quick nod and Tony left his office.
Another few days passed without incident. Edgy and Mark decided to visit their local city centre to browse for videogames. Entering a local department store, Mark and Edgy headed for the games section. On entering they noticed three characters chatting amongst themselves.
The ginger one turned to the short man in the dark maroon shirt, “We need to push those add-ons! Edgy managed to do it whilst he worked here. He made us a huge profit, and he even knew what he was talking about. That is why we couldn’t take him on full time. It would make the other stores jealous that someone in the company can both provide customer satisfaction and obliterate our rather high targets.”
The other man in a dark grey shirt and black tie shoved his middle finger up at the ginger one.
“Mike, how are you going to meet my incredibly stupid demands?”
Mike turned to the man in the black shirt and shrugged his shoulders, “Any suggestions Schaefer?”
Schaefer replied, “We could stop this pretence that we can actually meet high demands without doing the job and actually run this region professionally!”
The ginger one went red in the face, “You be careful Schaefer. The last person who had an opinion, even if it was a supporting one, was…dismissed.”
Schaefer began to raise his fist until a small axe hit the top of the square counter they were stood beside.
”Enough,” commanded Edgy. “Schaefer, we both know that this bloke is the laughing stock of the company and his time will come. Mike, just nod and agree to all he says, he’ll go quicker that was. Dan, when you look in the mirror, what do you see? A brilliant regional manager or a fat Avid Merrion? I tell you what we all see. A barrel of pies. Get some realistic targets and remove that ‘kick me’ sticker from your back if you want some respect around here.”
The ginger man looked extremely shocked, Schaefer was looking the other way with a huge grin on his face, and although he found it rather entertaining, Mike kept his face straight.
Dan felt extremely humiliated and decided to go for a break. He walked away from the games section and out of site. Mike and Schaefer both applauded and Mark walked over to the Xbox section.
Suddenly, the lights went out. With no windows there was no external light in the building. The was a glow from the till screens and emergency exit signs, but nothing more.
”Mark, stay here. I know this building better than anyone. I’ll check out the back.”
Mark nodded and Edgy started walking towards the escalators.
Edgy noted they weren’t moving by themselves and started to walk up them.
As he reached the top, he noticed the security guards a few metres away calming down an elderly lady who was quite frightened by the blackout. He followed the main path between the childrenswear and homeware and turned to the left when he was at a ninety degree angle from the passageway leading to the lifts.
Sticking close to the wall, he headed towards the double doors that were restricted (without locks) to the staff. He could see through a small window on the door that the lights in there were flickering.
Quietly, he pushed the left door open and stepped through. Everything was exactly how it was a couple months ago when he worked there. He tried the first door to his right.
Locked.
He then tried the door to the gents. That was open. He stepped through and noticed the lights were on. To his right was a door to the locker room. He tried the old code and the door unlocked. Slowly stepping through he looked about the room. He noticed that locker 101, his old locker, was open with something sticking out.
Edgy picked it up. It was a note which read:
Dear Edgy, Mr. Davies is under the control of Breakthrough. He is a very dangerous being. I don’t yet know how to beat Breakthrough but am heading to SR Towers to see if your scientists can help me find the answer.
Good luck,
Azul.
Edgy suddenly heard a slam and turned round. The door was shut and the handle broke. A green gas started pouring through the vents into the square locker room. Edgy grabbed his large axe and sliced the door open with a large swing.
That was too easy Edgy thought to himself.
Edgy pushed the outer door back open and looked around. The lights were still off.
He stayed close to the wall, axe in his right hand, his left feeling along.
He avoided the women’s locker room and found the canteen. Stepping inside through the double doors he noticed the lights were flashing with a sense of irregularity. He made a quick sweep of the room with his eyes. No ones home. He started to turn back to face the doors, however, as he did so, he noticed a figure sitting at a table at the far end of the room.
Mark paced back and for, whilst Mike and Schaefer stood behind the till motionless, keeping quiet to avoid trouble.
The customers had now cleared the store and security were locking the entrances to avoid stock being taken.
As Mark continued his pacing, he suddenly heard a voice, “Great Albino. Store room.”
Mark wasn’t sure how to react. Was it real or was he imagining things? Only one way to find out. “Mike, Schaefer, keep out of sight and yell if you need me. I’ve got to check something out in your store room.”
Mike looked back at Mark, “Only staff are allowed in there!”
Mark sighed then answered, “You’ve two choices. The first is to let me go in there to do what I need to do, or two, I force my way in there. I don’t want to have to act with force unless I really need to.”
Mike just responded with a nod and Mark opened the door, getting through the lock with a wave of his hand. He stepped in and closed it behind him, firmly.
“Hello,” he said, “I am here as you requested.”
“Well, well, well, if it isn’t my old friend Edgy.”
”Friend? I’d hardly call you a friend.”
Mr. Davis got out of his chair and straightened his jacket. “You insult me. We are all great friends here. We all have memories of working together we can share.”
Edgy smiled, “Just like you shared your bonuses with the hard working staff whilst you pretended to be an important company representative?”
”Now, now Mr. Edgy, there’s no need to get like that.” Mr. Davis started stepping towards Edgy. The lights still flickered. “We are here for a reason. You no longer work for me as an agent of the system. You were freed. I tried to make you feel small, like an insignificant pawn of the great chess board that is working life. However, I saw the impossible happen. I freed you. I unintentionally enabled you to enter a better life. A life where you feel you have a sense of purpose.”
”So?” was Edgy’s only response.
“So the reason we are both here is because you are not free. You have transferred to another system where you are just a pawn. You feel you have a sense of purpose but in reality you are being led through a pre-destined path by an evil power. This evil power will destroy you and I along with it. But I can not prevent my own destruction before removing one of the pawns from the system. And that is you Mr. Edgy.”
By now Mr. Davies was stood only centimetres from Edgy. He continued, pointing at Edgy’s face with a sense of anger at every point he made.
“It is you who must be destroyed. You who must be sacrificed so that I can continue. The Pawn must be removed by the king.”
”You’re so up yourself Mr. Davies. Infact, cut the Matrix crap and lets get on with it.”
”Yes.”
Mr. Davies’s rather large figure vanished and left Edgy standing, confused. Edgy held his axe at the ready, then started to look at the exits.
Through each door ran a large number of men all dressed in military colours, all there to kill Edgy.
Edgy waited for the right moment then made his attempts to defend himself.
He held the axe horizontally and hit the first guard in the face with the butt end. The next guard felt a harder impact from the head of the axe on his helmet. The axe vibrated causing Edgy to drop it, however it didn’t stop him fighting.
Another guard dived at him, knocking him to the ground. Edgy rolled with the momentum and smashed him in the face with his fist. He then flipped himself back to his feet and raised his clenched hands to a defensive posture.
The guards formed a tight circle around Edgy leaving him with no where to escape. He jumped, pushed through the ceiling panels and grabbed onto the metal frame hanging from the concrete above. Using the height advantage, he managed to kick a guard at great force in the chest, forcing him back onto a couple others. From behind, however, another guard grabbed him by his waist and pulled him back down to their level, allowing another to hit him several times in the face.
Edgy blocked a punch and hit back, knocking the aggressor to the ground. On the ground where he stood, Edgy noticed his axe.
Edgy shunted the guard behind in the chest and dived for the axe. With a forward roll motion, Edgy got back up to his feet and made one quick circular swing around him to give himself some space. Whilst Edgy tried to catch his breath back, the axe began to glow and Edgy along with it. When the glowing faded, Edgy seemed to have recovered his strength. He looked around and noticed the doors to the staff corridor weren’t too far away.
Edgy ran towards them and leaped onto the nearest table. The nearest guards tried to grab him but were unsuccessful. He leaped from one table to the next stopping momentarily to get his balance. When he reached the third table, he felt a strong force hit his back. He began to fall, and realised he wouldn’t regain his balance. The guards pounced on him and he collapsed, his head hitting the floor with a thud.
A heartbeat seemed to fill Mark’s ears, the same as before.
”Great Albino,” said a calm voice from the middle of the room. “Why have you left The Edgy? He is in great need of your help.”
”What do you mean? Is he in trouble?”
The girl lowered herself and positioned herself a little closer. “He is in mortal danger. He is The Edgy.”
”The Edgy?”
”Yes, The Edgy. The one who must survive if The Great Albino is to fulfil his destiny.”
Mark wasn’t sure how to react. “Where is he now?”
The girl shrugged her shoulders. “We do not know.”
Mark was confused. She could produce images of events happening miles away, why couldn’t she locate one individual? “Can’t you show him to me, as you did with Creepy?”
The girl shook her head, “We can only show The Great Albino what the conscious mind can display.”
Mark stepped forward, “You mean he isn’t conscious?”
The girl slowly hovered down to the floor directly below herself. She sat down with her legs crossed and stared at her hands. “That is what we said.”
Mark went down on his knees and grabbed her shoulders, staring into her eyes. He felt a strange sensation throughout his body as if he had energy flowing through him. “How can I help him?”
The girl looked worried and the glow faded a little, “I do not know.”
Edgy awoke to find himself tied to a chair. His axe was hung on a wall around five metres in front of him. The room was square, had white walls and a hard white floor. Neither of the four walls had windows though there was a glass window above Edgy providing a little light.
Edgy breathed a heavy sigh and tested the cuffs keeping his hands trapped. Too strong He then tried to reposition the chair by shaking it so that he would face the door. However, he soon realised the chair was bolted to the hard flooring.
Suddenly the door opened. In came a beast-like humanoid, around eight feet tall, with dark red skin. He had the look of a man but was rather animal in the eyes, like a snake or a feline.
”I bet you wonder why you are here?” He said, “You are wondering why you are still alive.”
Edgy look up at him, “The thought had crossed my mind.” As he spoke, he noticed his face was bruised and sore.
“We shall come to that shortly, but first I am going to tell you that Mr. Davies had nothing to do with this. I just borrowed his mind to find out more about you. I used a holo-imaging device from Snuggly’s laboratory to project his image to you and let my guards do the rest.”
Edgy’s expression remained unaffected. “Good plan. Trick me into thinking my enemy was human, I wouldn’t kill unless necessary.”
”Exactly. Thankfully they didn’t kill you, but they did a good job in rendering you unconscious.”
”So who are you?” Edgy responded, his voice was calm.
”I am what the scientists call Breakthrough. A highly powerful mutant created by genetic modification. The head scientist, Azul, managed to escape my wrath at the lab, however my anger destroyed the others.”
Edgy recognised the name.
“I need you Edgy. I need you to help me find Azul so that he can remove this modification in order for me to live a normal life. That is why you live.”
Edgy quietly tried again with the handcuffs, “Why should I help you?”
Breakthrough smiled an evil grin, flashing his sharp teeth at Edgy. He walked around behind him then put his large hands on Edgy’s shoulders with great weight. He put his face near Edgy’s ear and spoke almost as in whisper, his breath making Edgy feel rather ill, “Because if you don’t,” he gave a short pause, “I will break you.”
The girl’s glow increased and she stood up quickly. “Great Albino, he is alive.” There was almost the sound of joy in her tone. “He seems to be ok, however he is too weak to make a connection with. We think he will return shortly.”
Mark smiled, “Great, now I’ve got a question.”
”Ask away, “ the girl said.
”Who are you…really?”
The girl started to answer, “We are the Pow…”
There was a clicking sound on the door, someone was coming in. Mark quickly faced the door, held it shut, then looked back but the girl was gone.
He sighed, opened the door and saw Schaefer standing there, waiting.
”I heard voices,” he said, “I came to see if all was fine.”
”It was,” said Mark.
As Mark stepped out of the store room, the lights came back on. Everything seemed as it was with the exception of a strange object near the till.
Mark walked up to it and picked it up. It was a fez, and under it was a note. It read:
You have been visited by the Elusive Arabian Thief.
Mark asked the others if they knew who he was, but they both shrugged their shoulders. Looking at the fez, Mark said, “I’ll keep this for now,” he said, “I have a feeling it is something of great importance.” He now looked towards the two shop staff, “I must go.”
Schaefer stepped towards him, “I’m going with you.”
And with that, they both left the store leaving Mike to lock up.
To be continued!
Hahaha, Biggie Little, you suck SO badly, hahaha, moron!!!!!
*Snores
Get your basic spelling right before you criticise my writing.
I could spell that in infancy!
Get your basic spelling right before you criticise my writing.
I could spell that in infancy!
*snoors*
This is genius, blah blah pop etc etc yadda yadda.
Happy now?
:-D
Happy now?
:-D
Too ... tired.
I'll read it tomorrow.
I'll read it tomorrow.
I've finally done the sequel to the previous Dark Files stories. Decided it is probably better to post it in here but may post it in chat if I decide to. It has less humour and more serious dark action involved, and has lots of open branches that may or may not be explored in future episodes. However, it is hear at demand from certain members on here. It does contain members of SR, though there are some even more fictional characters included too. This isn't, admittedly, my best work. So there's plenty of room for improvement in my next episode as and when it comes.
Previous Dark Files episodes:
[URL]http://ukchatforums.reserve.co.uk/display_messages.php?threadid=95323&forumid=4006[/URL]
The Dark Files 4: Breakthrough Part 1
Three months had passed since Snuggly attempted to take out his enemies and conquer SR towers. Instead, he lost who could have been a potentially valuable ally and exiled himself to his secret headquarters in Scotland. Tony knew he was going to leave, but he didn’t think it would be like that.
Many JATs lost their lives and El Robin got a cut of the action amounting to his destruction, and the once powerful magician caught a fatal chill. All this was because of a change in the balance of power. That balance that made Dark Mark become Albino-man and Edgy to ready his axe for the power of good.
However, there hasn’t been any activity for three months now, things seem to be returning to normal. Edgy spent most of his time putting up with valley girls who don’t even know why they’re turning up for work, as well as playing on his Xbox, and Dark Mark continued singing about ice-cream, after thinking up an excuse as to how the freezer got rather…damaged.
“We’ve made a breakthrough!”
Azul checked his computer console and noticed signs of life in the body in the glass tank.
“Snuggly, we’ve made a breakthrough!”
”What is it?” answered Snuggly on the telephone.
“We’ve made him...as you ordered,” Azul paused for a moment, his excitement making him feel like he was the main character in this episode, “We’ve made Breakthrough!”
Suddenly, a klaxon sounded and the lights turned red. Breakthrough had smashed the glass and was free! Without proper education, he could be a dangerous being! Especially with that…power!
Azul expected this, but kept it to himself. He didn’t want to be blamed for things going wrong. Snuggly knew the risks of creating a mutant, but ordered Azul to continue the project anyway. Azul ran to the emergency exit and the door slammed shut behind him.
The other scientists in the room ran about aimlessly, whilst others tapped at computers and communicated messages of distress on the internal radio system. Large metal shutters began to close, used to quarantine the room in case of any…incidents. A few scientists managed to get out but most were trapped. Trapped at the mercy of Breakthrough.
“Edgy, how are the modifications coming along?” asked Tony, anxious to find out how the installation of the new defences was progressing.
Edgy tapped a few buttons on his computer console. “The underground base of operations is almost complete; artillery cannons and machine gun turrets are hidden all around the grounds and at key areas of the building; the new sensor array has been installed – we can now view anything in sensor range from any angle; and the new recruits have finished their training.”
Tony was impressed, but kept a serious expression on his face, “Who are they?”
”Rickoss, Grey Fox and Cooky. They are the new ‘Elite’ team of operatives. They have been trained to infiltrate, spy, capture, but best of all….fight.”
Tony nodded, “Very good Edgy. Do the military have any idea what we’re up to?”
Edgy quickly commanded his computer to scan the military computers for any information on SR-Towers. Nothing appeared. “Not at all.”
”Good, we don’t want them getting on our backs. Lets make sure we only use our weaponry when we really must.”
Edgy made a quick nod and Tony left his office.
Another few days passed without incident. Edgy and Mark decided to visit their local city centre to browse for videogames. Entering a local department store, Mark and Edgy headed for the games section. On entering they noticed three characters chatting amongst themselves.
The ginger one turned to the short man in the dark maroon shirt, “We need to push those add-ons! Edgy managed to do it whilst he worked here. He made us a huge profit, and he even knew what he was talking about. That is why we couldn’t take him on full time. It would make the other stores jealous that someone in the company can both provide customer satisfaction and obliterate our rather high targets.”
The other man in a dark grey shirt and black tie shoved his middle finger up at the ginger one.
“Mike, how are you going to meet my incredibly stupid demands?”
Mike turned to the man in the black shirt and shrugged his shoulders, “Any suggestions Schaefer?”
Schaefer replied, “We could stop this pretence that we can actually meet high demands without doing the job and actually run this region professionally!”
The ginger one went red in the face, “You be careful Schaefer. The last person who had an opinion, even if it was a supporting one, was…dismissed.”
Schaefer began to raise his fist until a small axe hit the top of the square counter they were stood beside.
”Enough,” commanded Edgy. “Schaefer, we both know that this bloke is the laughing stock of the company and his time will come. Mike, just nod and agree to all he says, he’ll go quicker that was. Dan, when you look in the mirror, what do you see? A brilliant regional manager or a fat Avid Merrion? I tell you what we all see. A barrel of pies. Get some realistic targets and remove that ‘kick me’ sticker from your back if you want some respect around here.”
The ginger man looked extremely shocked, Schaefer was looking the other way with a huge grin on his face, and although he found it rather entertaining, Mike kept his face straight.
Dan felt extremely humiliated and decided to go for a break. He walked away from the games section and out of site. Mike and Schaefer both applauded and Mark walked over to the Xbox section.
Suddenly, the lights went out. With no windows there was no external light in the building. The was a glow from the till screens and emergency exit signs, but nothing more.
”Mark, stay here. I know this building better than anyone. I’ll check out the back.”
Mark nodded and Edgy started walking towards the escalators.
Edgy noted they weren’t moving by themselves and started to walk up them.
As he reached the top, he noticed the security guards a few metres away calming down an elderly lady who was quite frightened by the blackout. He followed the main path between the childrenswear and homeware and turned to the left when he was at a ninety degree angle from the passageway leading to the lifts.
Sticking close to the wall, he headed towards the double doors that were restricted (without locks) to the staff. He could see through a small window on the door that the lights in there were flickering.
Quietly, he pushed the left door open and stepped through. Everything was exactly how it was a couple months ago when he worked there. He tried the first door to his right.
Locked.
He then tried the door to the gents. That was open. He stepped through and noticed the lights were on. To his right was a door to the locker room. He tried the old code and the door unlocked. Slowly stepping through he looked about the room. He noticed that locker 101, his old locker, was open with something sticking out.
Edgy picked it up. It was a note which read:
Dear Edgy, Mr. Davies is under the control of Breakthrough. He is a very dangerous being. I don’t yet know how to beat Breakthrough but am heading to SR Towers to see if your scientists can help me find the answer.
Good luck,
Azul.
Edgy suddenly heard a slam and turned round. The door was shut and the handle broke. A green gas started pouring through the vents into the square locker room. Edgy grabbed his large axe and sliced the door open with a large swing.
That was too easy Edgy thought to himself.
Edgy pushed the outer door back open and looked around. The lights were still off.
He stayed close to the wall, axe in his right hand, his left feeling along.
He avoided the women’s locker room and found the canteen. Stepping inside through the double doors he noticed the lights were flashing with a sense of irregularity. He made a quick sweep of the room with his eyes. No ones home. He started to turn back to face the doors, however, as he did so, he noticed a figure sitting at a table at the far end of the room.
Mark paced back and for, whilst Mike and Schaefer stood behind the till motionless, keeping quiet to avoid trouble.
The customers had now cleared the store and security were locking the entrances to avoid stock being taken.
As Mark continued his pacing, he suddenly heard a voice, “Great Albino. Store room.”
Mark wasn’t sure how to react. Was it real or was he imagining things? Only one way to find out. “Mike, Schaefer, keep out of sight and yell if you need me. I’ve got to check something out in your store room.”
Mike looked back at Mark, “Only staff are allowed in there!”
Mark sighed then answered, “You’ve two choices. The first is to let me go in there to do what I need to do, or two, I force my way in there. I don’t want to have to act with force unless I really need to.”
Mike just responded with a nod and Mark opened the door, getting through the lock with a wave of his hand. He stepped in and closed it behind him, firmly.
“Hello,” he said, “I am here as you requested.”
“Well, well, well, if it isn’t my old friend Edgy.”
”Friend? I’d hardly call you a friend.”
Mr. Davis got out of his chair and straightened his jacket. “You insult me. We are all great friends here. We all have memories of working together we can share.”
Edgy smiled, “Just like you shared your bonuses with the hard working staff whilst you pretended to be an important company representative?”
”Now, now Mr. Edgy, there’s no need to get like that.” Mr. Davis started stepping towards Edgy. The lights still flickered. “We are here for a reason. You no longer work for me as an agent of the system. You were freed. I tried to make you feel small, like an insignificant pawn of the great chess board that is working life. However, I saw the impossible happen. I freed you. I unintentionally enabled you to enter a better life. A life where you feel you have a sense of purpose.”
”So?” was Edgy’s only response.
“So the reason we are both here is because you are not free. You have transferred to another system where you are just a pawn. You feel you have a sense of purpose but in reality you are being led through a pre-destined path by an evil power. This evil power will destroy you and I along with it. But I can not prevent my own destruction before removing one of the pawns from the system. And that is you Mr. Edgy.”
By now Mr. Davies was stood only centimetres from Edgy. He continued, pointing at Edgy’s face with a sense of anger at every point he made.
“It is you who must be destroyed. You who must be sacrificed so that I can continue. The Pawn must be removed by the king.”
”You’re so up yourself Mr. Davies. Infact, cut the Matrix crap and lets get on with it.”
”Yes.”
Mr. Davies’s rather large figure vanished and left Edgy standing, confused. Edgy held his axe at the ready, then started to look at the exits.
Through each door ran a large number of men all dressed in military colours, all there to kill Edgy.
Edgy waited for the right moment then made his attempts to defend himself.
He held the axe horizontally and hit the first guard in the face with the butt end. The next guard felt a harder impact from the head of the axe on his helmet. The axe vibrated causing Edgy to drop it, however it didn’t stop him fighting.
Another guard dived at him, knocking him to the ground. Edgy rolled with the momentum and smashed him in the face with his fist. He then flipped himself back to his feet and raised his clenched hands to a defensive posture.
The guards formed a tight circle around Edgy leaving him with no where to escape. He jumped, pushed through the ceiling panels and grabbed onto the metal frame hanging from the concrete above. Using the height advantage, he managed to kick a guard at great force in the chest, forcing him back onto a couple others. From behind, however, another guard grabbed him by his waist and pulled him back down to their level, allowing another to hit him several times in the face.
Edgy blocked a punch and hit back, knocking the aggressor to the ground. On the ground where he stood, Edgy noticed his axe.
Edgy shunted the guard behind in the chest and dived for the axe. With a forward roll motion, Edgy got back up to his feet and made one quick circular swing around him to give himself some space. Whilst Edgy tried to catch his breath back, the axe began to glow and Edgy along with it. When the glowing faded, Edgy seemed to have recovered his strength. He looked around and noticed the doors to the staff corridor weren’t too far away.
Edgy ran towards them and leaped onto the nearest table. The nearest guards tried to grab him but were unsuccessful. He leaped from one table to the next stopping momentarily to get his balance. When he reached the third table, he felt a strong force hit his back. He began to fall, and realised he wouldn’t regain his balance. The guards pounced on him and he collapsed, his head hitting the floor with a thud.
A heartbeat seemed to fill Mark’s ears, the same as before.
”Great Albino,” said a calm voice from the middle of the room. “Why have you left The Edgy? He is in great need of your help.”
”What do you mean? Is he in trouble?”
The girl lowered herself and positioned herself a little closer. “He is in mortal danger. He is The Edgy.”
”The Edgy?”
”Yes, The Edgy. The one who must survive if The Great Albino is to fulfil his destiny.”
Mark wasn’t sure how to react. “Where is he now?”
The girl shrugged her shoulders. “We do not know.”
Mark was confused. She could produce images of events happening miles away, why couldn’t she locate one individual? “Can’t you show him to me, as you did with Creepy?”
The girl shook her head, “We can only show The Great Albino what the conscious mind can display.”
Mark stepped forward, “You mean he isn’t conscious?”
The girl slowly hovered down to the floor directly below herself. She sat down with her legs crossed and stared at her hands. “That is what we said.”
Mark went down on his knees and grabbed her shoulders, staring into her eyes. He felt a strange sensation throughout his body as if he had energy flowing through him. “How can I help him?”
The girl looked worried and the glow faded a little, “I do not know.”
Edgy awoke to find himself tied to a chair. His axe was hung on a wall around five metres in front of him. The room was square, had white walls and a hard white floor. Neither of the four walls had windows though there was a glass window above Edgy providing a little light.
Edgy breathed a heavy sigh and tested the cuffs keeping his hands trapped. Too strong He then tried to reposition the chair by shaking it so that he would face the door. However, he soon realised the chair was bolted to the hard flooring.
Suddenly the door opened. In came a beast-like humanoid, around eight feet tall, with dark red skin. He had the look of a man but was rather animal in the eyes, like a snake or a feline.
”I bet you wonder why you are here?” He said, “You are wondering why you are still alive.”
Edgy look up at him, “The thought had crossed my mind.” As he spoke, he noticed his face was bruised and sore.
“We shall come to that shortly, but first I am going to tell you that Mr. Davies had nothing to do with this. I just borrowed his mind to find out more about you. I used a holo-imaging device from Snuggly’s laboratory to project his image to you and let my guards do the rest.”
Edgy’s expression remained unaffected. “Good plan. Trick me into thinking my enemy was human, I wouldn’t kill unless necessary.”
”Exactly. Thankfully they didn’t kill you, but they did a good job in rendering you unconscious.”
”So who are you?” Edgy responded, his voice was calm.
”I am what the scientists call Breakthrough. A highly powerful mutant created by genetic modification. The head scientist, Azul, managed to escape my wrath at the lab, however my anger destroyed the others.”
Edgy recognised the name.
“I need you Edgy. I need you to help me find Azul so that he can remove this modification in order for me to live a normal life. That is why you live.”
Edgy quietly tried again with the handcuffs, “Why should I help you?”
Breakthrough smiled an evil grin, flashing his sharp teeth at Edgy. He walked around behind him then put his large hands on Edgy’s shoulders with great weight. He put his face near Edgy’s ear and spoke almost as in whisper, his breath making Edgy feel rather ill, “Because if you don’t,” he gave a short pause, “I will break you.”
The girl’s glow increased and she stood up quickly. “Great Albino, he is alive.” There was almost the sound of joy in her tone. “He seems to be ok, however he is too weak to make a connection with. We think he will return shortly.”
Mark smiled, “Great, now I’ve got a question.”
”Ask away, “ the girl said.
”Who are you…really?”
The girl started to answer, “We are the Pow…”
There was a clicking sound on the door, someone was coming in. Mark quickly faced the door, held it shut, then looked back but the girl was gone.
He sighed, opened the door and saw Schaefer standing there, waiting.
”I heard voices,” he said, “I came to see if all was fine.”
”It was,” said Mark.
As Mark stepped out of the store room, the lights came back on. Everything seemed as it was with the exception of a strange object near the till.
Mark walked up to it and picked it up. It was a fez, and under it was a note. It read:
You have been visited by the Elusive Arabian Thief.
Mark asked the others if they knew who he was, but they both shrugged their shoulders. Looking at the fez, Mark said, “I’ll keep this for now,” he said, “I have a feeling it is something of great importance.” He now looked towards the two shop staff, “I must go.”
Schaefer stepped towards him, “I’m going with you.”
And with that, they both left the store leaving Mike to lock up.
To be continued!
Previous Dark Files episodes:
[URL]http://ukchatforums.reserve.co.uk/display_messages.php?threadid=95323&forumid=4006[/URL]
The Dark Files 4: Breakthrough Part 1
Three months had passed since Snuggly attempted to take out his enemies and conquer SR towers. Instead, he lost who could have been a potentially valuable ally and exiled himself to his secret headquarters in Scotland. Tony knew he was going to leave, but he didn’t think it would be like that.
Many JATs lost their lives and El Robin got a cut of the action amounting to his destruction, and the once powerful magician caught a fatal chill. All this was because of a change in the balance of power. That balance that made Dark Mark become Albino-man and Edgy to ready his axe for the power of good.
However, there hasn’t been any activity for three months now, things seem to be returning to normal. Edgy spent most of his time putting up with valley girls who don’t even know why they’re turning up for work, as well as playing on his Xbox, and Dark Mark continued singing about ice-cream, after thinking up an excuse as to how the freezer got rather…damaged.
“We’ve made a breakthrough!”
Azul checked his computer console and noticed signs of life in the body in the glass tank.
“Snuggly, we’ve made a breakthrough!”
”What is it?” answered Snuggly on the telephone.
“We’ve made him...as you ordered,” Azul paused for a moment, his excitement making him feel like he was the main character in this episode, “We’ve made Breakthrough!”
Suddenly, a klaxon sounded and the lights turned red. Breakthrough had smashed the glass and was free! Without proper education, he could be a dangerous being! Especially with that…power!
Azul expected this, but kept it to himself. He didn’t want to be blamed for things going wrong. Snuggly knew the risks of creating a mutant, but ordered Azul to continue the project anyway. Azul ran to the emergency exit and the door slammed shut behind him.
The other scientists in the room ran about aimlessly, whilst others tapped at computers and communicated messages of distress on the internal radio system. Large metal shutters began to close, used to quarantine the room in case of any…incidents. A few scientists managed to get out but most were trapped. Trapped at the mercy of Breakthrough.
“Edgy, how are the modifications coming along?” asked Tony, anxious to find out how the installation of the new defences was progressing.
Edgy tapped a few buttons on his computer console. “The underground base of operations is almost complete; artillery cannons and machine gun turrets are hidden all around the grounds and at key areas of the building; the new sensor array has been installed – we can now view anything in sensor range from any angle; and the new recruits have finished their training.”
Tony was impressed, but kept a serious expression on his face, “Who are they?”
”Rickoss, Grey Fox and Cooky. They are the new ‘Elite’ team of operatives. They have been trained to infiltrate, spy, capture, but best of all….fight.”
Tony nodded, “Very good Edgy. Do the military have any idea what we’re up to?”
Edgy quickly commanded his computer to scan the military computers for any information on SR-Towers. Nothing appeared. “Not at all.”
”Good, we don’t want them getting on our backs. Lets make sure we only use our weaponry when we really must.”
Edgy made a quick nod and Tony left his office.
Another few days passed without incident. Edgy and Mark decided to visit their local city centre to browse for videogames. Entering a local department store, Mark and Edgy headed for the games section. On entering they noticed three characters chatting amongst themselves.
The ginger one turned to the short man in the dark maroon shirt, “We need to push those add-ons! Edgy managed to do it whilst he worked here. He made us a huge profit, and he even knew what he was talking about. That is why we couldn’t take him on full time. It would make the other stores jealous that someone in the company can both provide customer satisfaction and obliterate our rather high targets.”
The other man in a dark grey shirt and black tie shoved his middle finger up at the ginger one.
“Mike, how are you going to meet my incredibly stupid demands?”
Mike turned to the man in the black shirt and shrugged his shoulders, “Any suggestions Schaefer?”
Schaefer replied, “We could stop this pretence that we can actually meet high demands without doing the job and actually run this region professionally!”
The ginger one went red in the face, “You be careful Schaefer. The last person who had an opinion, even if it was a supporting one, was…dismissed.”
Schaefer began to raise his fist until a small axe hit the top of the square counter they were stood beside.
”Enough,” commanded Edgy. “Schaefer, we both know that this bloke is the laughing stock of the company and his time will come. Mike, just nod and agree to all he says, he’ll go quicker that was. Dan, when you look in the mirror, what do you see? A brilliant regional manager or a fat Avid Merrion? I tell you what we all see. A barrel of pies. Get some realistic targets and remove that ‘kick me’ sticker from your back if you want some respect around here.”
The ginger man looked extremely shocked, Schaefer was looking the other way with a huge grin on his face, and although he found it rather entertaining, Mike kept his face straight.
Dan felt extremely humiliated and decided to go for a break. He walked away from the games section and out of site. Mike and Schaefer both applauded and Mark walked over to the Xbox section.
Suddenly, the lights went out. With no windows there was no external light in the building. The was a glow from the till screens and emergency exit signs, but nothing more.
”Mark, stay here. I know this building better than anyone. I’ll check out the back.”
Mark nodded and Edgy started walking towards the escalators.
Edgy noted they weren’t moving by themselves and started to walk up them.
As he reached the top, he noticed the security guards a few metres away calming down an elderly lady who was quite frightened by the blackout. He followed the main path between the childrenswear and homeware and turned to the left when he was at a ninety degree angle from the passageway leading to the lifts.
Sticking close to the wall, he headed towards the double doors that were restricted (without locks) to the staff. He could see through a small window on the door that the lights in there were flickering.
Quietly, he pushed the left door open and stepped through. Everything was exactly how it was a couple months ago when he worked there. He tried the first door to his right.
Locked.
He then tried the door to the gents. That was open. He stepped through and noticed the lights were on. To his right was a door to the locker room. He tried the old code and the door unlocked. Slowly stepping through he looked about the room. He noticed that locker 101, his old locker, was open with something sticking out.
Edgy picked it up. It was a note which read:
Dear Edgy, Mr. Davies is under the control of Breakthrough. He is a very dangerous being. I don’t yet know how to beat Breakthrough but am heading to SR Towers to see if your scientists can help me find the answer.
Good luck,
Azul.
Edgy suddenly heard a slam and turned round. The door was shut and the handle broke. A green gas started pouring through the vents into the square locker room. Edgy grabbed his large axe and sliced the door open with a large swing.
That was too easy Edgy thought to himself.
Edgy pushed the outer door back open and looked around. The lights were still off.
He stayed close to the wall, axe in his right hand, his left feeling along.
He avoided the women’s locker room and found the canteen. Stepping inside through the double doors he noticed the lights were flashing with a sense of irregularity. He made a quick sweep of the room with his eyes. No ones home. He started to turn back to face the doors, however, as he did so, he noticed a figure sitting at a table at the far end of the room.
Mark paced back and for, whilst Mike and Schaefer stood behind the till motionless, keeping quiet to avoid trouble.
The customers had now cleared the store and security were locking the entrances to avoid stock being taken.
As Mark continued his pacing, he suddenly heard a voice, “Great Albino. Store room.”
Mark wasn’t sure how to react. Was it real or was he imagining things? Only one way to find out. “Mike, Schaefer, keep out of sight and yell if you need me. I’ve got to check something out in your store room.”
Mike looked back at Mark, “Only staff are allowed in there!”
Mark sighed then answered, “You’ve two choices. The first is to let me go in there to do what I need to do, or two, I force my way in there. I don’t want to have to act with force unless I really need to.”
Mike just responded with a nod and Mark opened the door, getting through the lock with a wave of his hand. He stepped in and closed it behind him, firmly.
“Hello,” he said, “I am here as you requested.”
“Well, well, well, if it isn’t my old friend Edgy.”
”Friend? I’d hardly call you a friend.”
Mr. Davis got out of his chair and straightened his jacket. “You insult me. We are all great friends here. We all have memories of working together we can share.”
Edgy smiled, “Just like you shared your bonuses with the hard working staff whilst you pretended to be an important company representative?”
”Now, now Mr. Edgy, there’s no need to get like that.” Mr. Davis started stepping towards Edgy. The lights still flickered. “We are here for a reason. You no longer work for me as an agent of the system. You were freed. I tried to make you feel small, like an insignificant pawn of the great chess board that is working life. However, I saw the impossible happen. I freed you. I unintentionally enabled you to enter a better life. A life where you feel you have a sense of purpose.”
”So?” was Edgy’s only response.
“So the reason we are both here is because you are not free. You have transferred to another system where you are just a pawn. You feel you have a sense of purpose but in reality you are being led through a pre-destined path by an evil power. This evil power will destroy you and I along with it. But I can not prevent my own destruction before removing one of the pawns from the system. And that is you Mr. Edgy.”
By now Mr. Davies was stood only centimetres from Edgy. He continued, pointing at Edgy’s face with a sense of anger at every point he made.
“It is you who must be destroyed. You who must be sacrificed so that I can continue. The Pawn must be removed by the king.”
”You’re so up yourself Mr. Davies. Infact, cut the Matrix crap and lets get on with it.”
”Yes.”
Mr. Davies’s rather large figure vanished and left Edgy standing, confused. Edgy held his axe at the ready, then started to look at the exits.
Through each door ran a large number of men all dressed in military colours, all there to kill Edgy.
Edgy waited for the right moment then made his attempts to defend himself.
He held the axe horizontally and hit the first guard in the face with the butt end. The next guard felt a harder impact from the head of the axe on his helmet. The axe vibrated causing Edgy to drop it, however it didn’t stop him fighting.
Another guard dived at him, knocking him to the ground. Edgy rolled with the momentum and smashed him in the face with his fist. He then flipped himself back to his feet and raised his clenched hands to a defensive posture.
The guards formed a tight circle around Edgy leaving him with no where to escape. He jumped, pushed through the ceiling panels and grabbed onto the metal frame hanging from the concrete above. Using the height advantage, he managed to kick a guard at great force in the chest, forcing him back onto a couple others. From behind, however, another guard grabbed him by his waist and pulled him back down to their level, allowing another to hit him several times in the face.
Edgy blocked a punch and hit back, knocking the aggressor to the ground. On the ground where he stood, Edgy noticed his axe.
Edgy shunted the guard behind in the chest and dived for the axe. With a forward roll motion, Edgy got back up to his feet and made one quick circular swing around him to give himself some space. Whilst Edgy tried to catch his breath back, the axe began to glow and Edgy along with it. When the glowing faded, Edgy seemed to have recovered his strength. He looked around and noticed the doors to the staff corridor weren’t too far away.
Edgy ran towards them and leaped onto the nearest table. The nearest guards tried to grab him but were unsuccessful. He leaped from one table to the next stopping momentarily to get his balance. When he reached the third table, he felt a strong force hit his back. He began to fall, and realised he wouldn’t regain his balance. The guards pounced on him and he collapsed, his head hitting the floor with a thud.
A heartbeat seemed to fill Mark’s ears, the same as before.
”Great Albino,” said a calm voice from the middle of the room. “Why have you left The Edgy? He is in great need of your help.”
”What do you mean? Is he in trouble?”
The girl lowered herself and positioned herself a little closer. “He is in mortal danger. He is The Edgy.”
”The Edgy?”
”Yes, The Edgy. The one who must survive if The Great Albino is to fulfil his destiny.”
Mark wasn’t sure how to react. “Where is he now?”
The girl shrugged her shoulders. “We do not know.”
Mark was confused. She could produce images of events happening miles away, why couldn’t she locate one individual? “Can’t you show him to me, as you did with Creepy?”
The girl shook her head, “We can only show The Great Albino what the conscious mind can display.”
Mark stepped forward, “You mean he isn’t conscious?”
The girl slowly hovered down to the floor directly below herself. She sat down with her legs crossed and stared at her hands. “That is what we said.”
Mark went down on his knees and grabbed her shoulders, staring into her eyes. He felt a strange sensation throughout his body as if he had energy flowing through him. “How can I help him?”
The girl looked worried and the glow faded a little, “I do not know.”
Edgy awoke to find himself tied to a chair. His axe was hung on a wall around five metres in front of him. The room was square, had white walls and a hard white floor. Neither of the four walls had windows though there was a glass window above Edgy providing a little light.
Edgy breathed a heavy sigh and tested the cuffs keeping his hands trapped. Too strong He then tried to reposition the chair by shaking it so that he would face the door. However, he soon realised the chair was bolted to the hard flooring.
Suddenly the door opened. In came a beast-like humanoid, around eight feet tall, with dark red skin. He had the look of a man but was rather animal in the eyes, like a snake or a feline.
”I bet you wonder why you are here?” He said, “You are wondering why you are still alive.”
Edgy look up at him, “The thought had crossed my mind.” As he spoke, he noticed his face was bruised and sore.
“We shall come to that shortly, but first I am going to tell you that Mr. Davies had nothing to do with this. I just borrowed his mind to find out more about you. I used a holo-imaging device from Snuggly’s laboratory to project his image to you and let my guards do the rest.”
Edgy’s expression remained unaffected. “Good plan. Trick me into thinking my enemy was human, I wouldn’t kill unless necessary.”
”Exactly. Thankfully they didn’t kill you, but they did a good job in rendering you unconscious.”
”So who are you?” Edgy responded, his voice was calm.
”I am what the scientists call Breakthrough. A highly powerful mutant created by genetic modification. The head scientist, Azul, managed to escape my wrath at the lab, however my anger destroyed the others.”
Edgy recognised the name.
“I need you Edgy. I need you to help me find Azul so that he can remove this modification in order for me to live a normal life. That is why you live.”
Edgy quietly tried again with the handcuffs, “Why should I help you?”
Breakthrough smiled an evil grin, flashing his sharp teeth at Edgy. He walked around behind him then put his large hands on Edgy’s shoulders with great weight. He put his face near Edgy’s ear and spoke almost as in whisper, his breath making Edgy feel rather ill, “Because if you don’t,” he gave a short pause, “I will break you.”
The girl’s glow increased and she stood up quickly. “Great Albino, he is alive.” There was almost the sound of joy in her tone. “He seems to be ok, however he is too weak to make a connection with. We think he will return shortly.”
Mark smiled, “Great, now I’ve got a question.”
”Ask away, “ the girl said.
”Who are you…really?”
The girl started to answer, “We are the Pow…”
There was a clicking sound on the door, someone was coming in. Mark quickly faced the door, held it shut, then looked back but the girl was gone.
He sighed, opened the door and saw Schaefer standing there, waiting.
”I heard voices,” he said, “I came to see if all was fine.”
”It was,” said Mark.
As Mark stepped out of the store room, the lights came back on. Everything seemed as it was with the exception of a strange object near the till.
Mark walked up to it and picked it up. It was a fez, and under it was a note. It read:
You have been visited by the Elusive Arabian Thief.
Mark asked the others if they knew who he was, but they both shrugged their shoulders. Looking at the fez, Mark said, “I’ll keep this for now,” he said, “I have a feeling it is something of great importance.” He now looked towards the two shop staff, “I must go.”
Schaefer stepped towards him, “I’m going with you.”
And with that, they both left the store leaving Mike to lock up.
To be continued!