Eddsworld! Alter Motives

Chapter Twenty-Five "A Hands-Off Operation"

     Corey started to panic and kick in his seat. 
     “Soren?! The great leader Soren?” He squeaked.
     “Surprised?” Soren started to let out a cold laugh, “I bet you are. I normally don’t get involved in my soldier’s squabbles, but Lochlan brought this to me as a….. Special case.”
     Soren put their hand on Corey’s shoulder. Corey started to shake as Soren tightened their grip on him.
     “Squabbles? There are no squabbles!” Corey whined quietly.
     “Oh, but I believe there is, my naive little friend,” They responded as they started to step away, “I heard you were on a mission. Specifically, one to go after the ‘Red Leader’ and his Red Devils.”
     “Y-Yes,” Corey responded.
     “You were assigned to stay in the car, yet you were unable to do that, or even grab one of the soldiers to use as leverage?”
     “Yes…”
    “Then after the ambush earlier today, you decided to help not just a Red Devil, but a Red Devil who betrayed Sorilan,” Soren’s voice grew more jagged as they stepped in front of Corey, “You have failed me twice, Samura.”
     “But sir-!”
     “Enough! I am speaking now and as your superior, you will listen,” They said as they grabbed Corey’s chin.
     Corey started to tear up in fear. Soren slowly removed their hand.
     “Who am I kidding? Even if you were to listen…”
     Soren drew their arm back and punched Corey square in the eye.
     “You're too dumb to understand any of it.”
     Corey cried out in pain.
     “Sir! I'll try harder! I’ll do better!” He tried to plead.
     “You’ve run out of chances, soldier. Why should I anyway?” Soren spat as he hit him again, “You're dumber than a wooden plank, you're too stubborn to be used on a job. The only thing you were good for was your brute strength, and even then you were unable to take on even one soldier!”
     Corey tried to move away from the punches, but it only resulted in him getting hit in the throat. He coughed as blood came out of his mouth.
     “You pathetic…”
     Soren punched his chest.
     “Waste….”
     Soren pulled Corey’s head forward.
     “Of flesh!”
     They slammed Corey’s head down.
     “No wonder why Ronya abandoned you. You must have annoyed her enough to leave with your incompetence.”
     Corey had tears flowing down his cheeks. Blood from a growing cut on his forehead and from his nose started to mix with the salty tears. Soren lifted his face up again and looked at the small drops beneath him.
     “Pathetic,” They mumbled as they looked over to Lochlan, whose eyes were wide with anticipation, “Lochlan, get the pizza cutter.”
     “Right away!” Lochlan saluted as he started to leave, only to bump into another soldier.
     “Sorilan Headmaster! We have a message coming in from an unknown source!” The soldier exclaimed.
     “You are supposed to report to me, soldier! Not to talk to the Headmaster!” Lochlan snapped at them.
     Lochlan was about to grab the soldier’s wrist to drag him out of the room, but Soren raised their hand to stop him.
     “Hold your horses, Powell. Did you say it was from an unknown source?” They asked.
     The soldier nodded.
     “Transfer the message to here. We might as well give our message senders some entertainment,” They said as they grabbed Corey’s collar, “This is going to be very interesting…”
     …
     “I almost got the signal ready….”
     Ashley was standing in front of the large monitor. It had a red loading signal and a small beeping noise behind it.
     “How are we sure this isn't a trick?” Diwi mumbled as he tapped his foot, “This is a bad idea and a waste of time…”
     Paul smacked him on the back of the head.
     “Not. Now,” Paul hissed.
     Diwi went quiet. Ashley held her communicator tightly as the last bar loaded.
     “Corey?” She asked hopefully.
     The screen showed a dark room. Corey’s hands were chained separately to a table as he stared meekly at the camera. Blood and tears dribbled down his face. To his right was Soren, towering over him, their eyes squinted from a seemingly massive grin beneath their mask. 
      “Well, well, well. If it isn’t the traitor Ronya and the Red Devils,” they teased.
      Ashley’s face went from hopeful to immediate horror. Her eyes widened as she felt herself start to tear up. 
     “Ducky? Ducky, are you okay?” She asked in a worried tone.
     “Oh, how adorable, you have a nickname from him?” Soren asked as they lifted his chin, “Surprised you didn't say that when you left him with us.”
     “I would never abandon him!” She yelled, "What did you do to Corey?!"
     “Oh, it's nothing. I didn’t kill him,” Soren replied, “Not yet anyway….”
     There was a sound of a door being opened in the background.
     “I have it, Headmaster!” A familiar voice called out.
     “Perfect. Now, here is how this is going to go,” They started to explain.
     Soren grabbed something off-screen. They slowly pulled into the frame a round sharp blade, similar to a pizza cutter. Diwi went pale at the sight of it.
     “You are going to meet us in the same spot the little band of Red Devils escaped. You have 24 hours to go. Your ‘friend’ will be waiting. However, if you’re not there by then, say goodbye to your little rubber duck.”
     Ashley started to tear up. Tord balled his fist as he stared Soren down.
     “You wouldn't dare, Soren…” He said, angry.
      “You think I'm bluffing, Red Leader? Perhaps you need some….. convincing,” they responded as they grabbed Corey’s wrist. 
      Ashley shook her head, her face starting to turn a deep shade of red from anger.
      “No! Don’t hurt him! You better not hurt him!” She yelled.
      “Such a shame to disappoint with sympathy for a disappointment," Soren replied.
      They moved the blade closer and closer to Corey’s wrist. He started to weakly squirm. Ashley started to run at the screen, but Bing and Paul held her back, all the while she was screaming that Soren needed to stop.
    Then it hit. Corey let out a blood-curdling scream as the blade went into his wrist. A sickening crunch was heard as the blade went through the bone. Ashley yelled at the top of her lungs for them to stop, mainly to try and drown the sound of Corey’s screaming from ringing in her ears. A terrible and inexplicable feeling fell upon the Red soldiers. Soren’s eyes lit up as Corey’s screams grew louder and louder. Blood pooled onto the table, and Soren began to laugh, their pure enjoyment mixed with blood-curdling screams filled the ears of all witnessing the horrors presented to them. It felt like an eternity as they saw the bloody blade slice through the soldier’s hand until it was all the way through.