The Wicked One

Chapter Nine | Gateway, Part Two

Marie stared at where they had slipped out of thin air. In her amazement, she was unprepared for the sudden force that rammed into the bars of the cage. The brute force sent her off her feet and unto the ground, her head hitting the steel floor hard, instantly pulling her down into cold, sharp darkness.

...

"Wh-What do you want from me?" the scientist cried out as I pinned him against the cage.

I knew I had almost over done it with all the teleporting, but I did not care. All I could see was Bosko, lying face first in a pool of his own blood, bullet in his skull. I gripped the collar tighter as I picked up and slammed the scientist into the cage again. I heart small voices cry out in fright, but I paid them no mind.

"Please, stop!" the man begged, sweat and tears streaming down his face. I only pushed him further against the cage, wanting nothing more than to mash his body between the small spaces between the bars.

"Kyd Wykkyd, that's quite enough, I think," a stoic voice spoke over the cries of the scientist and children. Surprised, I looked over my shoulder to see a tall, pale scientist standing only a few feet away.

"C-Castro?" the scientist gripped in my hands mumbled.

"Good to see you again, William," the scientist deemed Castro returned with a casual nod before focusing his unblinking gaze back at me. "Kyd Wykkyd, if you would be so kind as to release him. I believe you've made your point."

Just then, I realized who I was and where I was. Instantly the blinding anger left me, the dark cloud passing. I released the scientist who fell to the ground in a shameless heap. I stood there, dumbfounded, before finally deciding the best thing to do was help the man up.

"I...ah...thank you..." William muttered, taking my extended hand as I helped him up. He then looked from me to Castro.

The anger gone, I could now easily see how beat up and worn out the man looked— not including the scarring I had recently gave him. Dark bags hung from his eyes, his forehead had endless wrinkles, and a permanent frown seemed etched on his mouth and in his eyes. He looked like some un-dead creature struggling to live.

Castro chuckled just then."How amusingly accurate," he said as if out of nowhere. I looked over at him, half confused—half amazed. He didn't just...

"Oh, but I did," Castro said with a smile and a wink. It looked odd, as if his face was not used to expressing emotion. Which, through all my sudden shock and awe, I guessed wasn't far from the truth.

"Professor Castro," William spoke up, his eyes fixed on the ground. "I..."

"...have made a complete mess of things, is how I hope you planned to finish that sentence. Because you certainly have," Castro said, looking over at Bosko lying dead on the ground and the cowering children in the cage.

"I..."

"You could have at least told me," Castro continued, looking down at his fellow scientist. "I would have told you what this was a lost cause from the beginning."

"But...But it's not a lost cause!" William argued with a sudden sense of determination. He then walked over to a machine that shocked me that I could have possibly over looked it.

For one, it was massive. Reaching from the top of the expansive room to the very bottom, it resembled a circular gate with tubes intermingling around it. Stairs led up to its giant opening, which only led into the wall it was built into. William walked up to a number of consoles that had their wires linked up with the massive device.

"It's only minutes from being ready, Castro! Only a few minutes until I can bring my son home again!"

Castro looked at the machine, his face expressionless."Was it worth the lives it cost?" he asked, looking at William.

His fellow scientist looked at the ground, his face looking slightly whiter. "Bosko said that too. What lives are you talking about? All I did was kidnap the children and lock myself in with the machine. I waited until it was near ready...though it took longer than expected to set up..."

"But what of what you have done to the properties of our dimension?" Castro pressed, though there was a note of doubt in his accusation and I to was beginning to see what was transpiring. "You allowed whatever you're trying to open up to seep into this building, twisting its properties and killing unsuspecting innocents."

"I...what?" William responded, dumbfounded as he stared up at the machine. "I did not even think this thing was capable of doing that! Until just a few minutes ago, I didn't even have it running!"

"You..." Castro began, though he quickly drifted off. I could only imagine he was doing whatever he had done to read my mind to read the one named William's. "...You blind fool. How else do you think you managed to avoid being caught for days?"

"I...thought, because of the kids..." the scientist mumbled.

Castro gave him a dead look. "More like, doors that should lead to the next room led to the basement. Windows sent you tumbling through ventilation systems. You could take the stairs forever and never get anywhere. The list goes on, my friend."

"Fascinating!" William suddenly exclaimed, wide eyed. Though he quickly lost his enthusiasm when his eyes locked with Castro's cold ones. "I mean...ah...How awful..."

"Yes. But what is most awful about this situation is that our dear general has decided to take very drastic measures to reach you now."

"Now...when you say drastic..."

"I mean suiting up in a battle mech and ordering his men to blast through walls with grenades drastic."

"Ah...I see..."

"That is good." Castro spoke evenly, his gaze focused on a door on the far side of the room. "For. in less than two seconds, you will be seeing those very same men come blasting through that door."

"Now...when you say two sec—"

In that moment, a great blast tore its way through the door that all three villains were looking upon. Even before the dust cleared, squads of men with guns and armor came storming out, forming lines around the hole, guns trained at the trio that stood directly across from them.