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This work is copyrighted to the author © 2006.  Please
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Eternal War - 2
by The Synthetic Divine (syntheticdivine@aol.com)

***

AUTHOR NOTES: Well, Part 2 of the story is now 
complete. It's fairly short for a story-part of mine, 
but I promise the 3rd part will be longer. At least 
around the length of the 1st part, minimum. I'll try 
and keep the notes short, this time around. 

If you haven't read the first part of this story yet, 
then you probably should before reading this one, or 
the story won't flow nearly as smoothly. All content-
related warnings, as well as warnings as to the 
previous stories leading into this one, were contained 
in the notes for the first part, so I won't repeat them 
here.

If you'd like to send feedback on the story, I can be 
reached at SyntheticDivine@aol.com but please be sure 
to use "Eternal War" as the topic or I might 
accidentally mistake it for spam and delete it. Now 
without further ado, I present to you the second part 
of this story.


Eternal War: Part 2


Without hesitation, Alex walked smoothly up to the run-
down building on the outskirts of town. He knew it 
could be a trap, but he couldn't openly display any 
signs of nervousness, that was if he'd actually felt 
any to begin with. He was supposed to be meeting a 
human gang, one who was supposed to have a lead on the 
boy they were searching for, the one named Zane 
Collins. It could always be a setup by the opposing 
side to lure Lord Thade's servants in, but just the 
same he'd come without backup. 

If it was an ambush by opposing freaks, Alex still had 
a fairly good shot at escape. No other freak to his 
knowledge, with the exception of Seth, could move as 
fast as he could. Certainly no freak that served the 
True Minds. If he had backup, there'd just wind up 
being a chance that any freaks he had with him might 
perish in the ambush, as their chances wouldn't be 
nearly as good as his. No, Alex's best chance at 
escaping an ambush would be on his own abilities, with 
no team to hold him back.

Of course, if it was an ambush, and it turned out to be 
a True Mind laying in wait, well... Alex was as good as 
dead, no matter what he did. And had he brought backup, 
those freaks would simply die with him. They wouldn't 
stand a chance against a True Mind no matter how many 
of them were together. So either way, it worked out 
better if he was alone. He carried with him a suitcase 
containing one million dollars. A tidy sum by many 
standards. The moment the gang turned over the 
information they said they had, it was theirs. Of 
course, if it turned out their information was 
inaccurate, they'd pay for it later.

Raising his free left hand, Alex knocked five times on 
the door in a steady rhythm, then paused for a few 
seconds, knocked three times more, paused another few 
seconds, and knocked one last time. A knocking code 
seemed absolutely ridiculous to him, but it was what 
the gang had wanted so it was what he was doing. He 
wondered if they really thought it was at all 
effective, though. Maybe ten seconds passed before the 
door opened a crack, an eye peering out at him. 

Alex was dressed in a simple black shirt and black 
jeans, carrying an equally black suitcase. He was sure 
he didn't look dangerous in the least. And humans were 
generally stupid enough to judge a person's danger 
level based on their looks, so he didn't anticipate any 
problems on that account. Sure enough, after only 
looking him over for a few seconds, the door opened 
further. The guy inside was maybe 6'6", with a rough 
face and a variety of tattoos along his arms. The 
leather jacket the guy was wearing was almost too much, 
but Alex somehow managed to keep himself from cracking 
a smile.

"You're Alex?" the guy asked, before glancing at the 
suitcase. "That the money?"

"I am, and it is. Now where's your leader?" Alex asked 
in return.

"Follow me." The guy said, before turning to walk down 
a hall. Alex quickly stepped inside the door, reaching 
out with his left hand to push it shut behind him, 
before trailing after the guy. About halfway down the 
hall the guy turned into a side hall, walking nearly to 
the end of it before stepping through a doorway to the 
right. 

As Alex followed him into the room, he found himself 
facing four other guys who all seemed to be variations 
on the first guy's appearance. Oh, the height, facial 
structure, and such were all different of course. But 
they all had the same style tattoos, the same somewhat 
unkempt look about them. Heck, all but one of them had 
on the same leather jacket. Alex could detect slight 
bulges in the jackets and waistbands that implied guns, 
but that was of no importance to him. They were all 
human, he could feel it, which made them no threat to 
him.

The four of them were surrounding a fifth guy, who was 
seated in a chair between them. This last one at least 
looked a bit different. Like Alex, he was dressed in a 
dark shirt and jeans. He had only one tattoo, on his 
neck, of what looked like a miniature panther. He had 
dark hair and eyes, but there was a sharpness to the 
guy's eyes that told Alex that he was the most 
dangerous human in the room. 

Of course, that didn't mean much to Alex, since he 
himself was no longer human. The guy also happened to 
be smoking. When Alex walked in he was perhaps halfway 
through his cigarette. For several long seconds the guy 
just studied him, taking an occasional drag off the 
cigarette as his eyes remained fixed mostly on Alex's 
face. Finally he reached over and idly ground the 
cigarette out into an ash-tray on a nearby table, 
exhaling one last cloud of smoke before speaking. 
"Let's see the money." He said in a cold steady voice.

Alex took a few steps forward before dropping to one 
knee, setting the suitcase on the ground in front of 
him, facing the gang's obvious leader. Quickly flipping 
open the catches, Alex slowly lifted the top on the 
suitcase so the whole of the gang could get a good look 
at the contents. Two of the gang members actually let 
out a whoop and high-fived each other, the rest were 
all grins. Except for the leader, who just smiled 
coldly and nodded. "Alright, it's good. Now for your 
information." The guy said, before reaching into his 
pocket to extract a thin slip of paper, which he held 
out between two fingers.

Rising back to his feet and striding another several 
steps forward, Alex reached out to take the paper, 
quickly raising it and unfolding it to read what was 
written on it. Just one word. 'Fool.' When his eyes 
quickly shifted back to the gang leader, the guy was 
smirking. "That was really, really stupid of you, you 
know. Coming alone. Big mistake." The guy said, at the 
same time as the other members of the gang suddenly 
pulled their guns.

All Alex felt was annoyed. What a fucking waste of 
time. "No. Hate to tell you this, but you're the stupid 
one. And this mistake is the last one any of you will 
ever make."

The gang leader just emitted a snort of derision as he 
shook his head. "Shut him up." He told the surrounding 
gang members.

Most of the gang members had smiles on their faces as 
they pointed their guns at him, but Alex knew that 
would soon change. However they didn't all open fire at 
him at once, instead the one who'd met him at the door 
took aim at his chest and fired the first shot. 
Instantly Alex felt his speed kick in to the max. He 
just waited as the bullet came closer and closer, foot 
by foot, until at the last second he reached up and 
snatched it out of the air. Quickly shifting it around 
in his hand and then positioning the bullet between his 
thumb and index finger, Alex lifted his hand. 

Narrowing his eyes slightly, he took aim and, with one 
quick slashing movement of his hand, he threw the 
bullet back at the guy who'd shot at him, much like 
throwing a dart. Only the velocity on the bullet this 
time was far higher then what the gun had fired it at. 
He'd never been that good at darts though. He'd been 
aiming at the guy's head, but it took the man in the 
throat at a slight downward angle. The sudden splatter 
of blood behind him was enough to tell Alex that the 
bullet had passed all the way through.

As the guy collapsed, choking on his own blood, the 
surrounding gang members just looked back and forth 
between him and Alex for a couple seconds in amazement. 
And then suddenly all of them seemed to focus at once, 
and that was when they opened fire en-masse. Alex 
figured they'd planned on killing him slowly, but 
apparently seeing what had happened to their dying pal 
had been enough to change their minds. He stepped out 
of the way of the oncoming bullets long before they 
ever had a chance to reach him.

Striding towards them, he could see that every one of 
them was still focused on the spot where he'd been less 
then a second before. Even the gang leader was staring 
at that spot with wide eyes. None of them had a prayer 
of being able to follow his movement at full speed. 
Hell, none of them would have had a chance of being 
able to follow his movement even at a tenth his max 
speed. He reached them before they'd even realized he'd 
moved. 

Two of them were easily dispatched with quick kicks to 
the chest. He only used a fraction of his real 
strength, hitting them just hard enough to cave in one 
side of the chest such that the broken ribs were driven 
deeper into the chest cavity, but not hard enough to 
drive the bodies through the walls behind them. He hit 
the heart side of the chest both times, but even if the 
hearts weren't struck they'd still die. It would just 
take them awhile longer.

The third guy he dispatched by reaching one hand up to 
the guy's chin, and the other hand up to the back of 
the guy's head, and then proceeding to twist the head 
almost entirely around. The fourth guy's eyes had just 
started to shift to try and find where Alex had moved 
to from his initial spot when Alex's hand closed on his 
throat. Idly Alex plucked the guy's gun from him with 
his free hand before tossing it to the side. 

He let his speed return to normal as he began to 
squeeze. The guy's eyes nearly bulged out of his head 
as he both started choking and took in the surrounding 
scene at the same time. Alex just kept squeezing, 
harder and harder, crushing the life out of the man. 
The guy lashed out at him with both fists, hitting 
Alex's face, his arms, his chest. But the guy was only 
human, and Alex barely even felt it.

Alex was maybe halfway to killing the guy when the gang 
leader suddenly leapt out of his chair and made a break 
for the door. With a half-growl of annoyment, Alex gave 
one last sharp decisive squeeze, putting a bit more 
strength into it. The guy's throat collapsed and neck 
snapped all at once. Immediately Alex released the 
body, his speed kicking itself back up to high gear. 
The body had just begun its trip towards the floor when 
Alex turned to rush towards the door. He reached it 
long before the gang leader did, and he put his body 
between it and the guy, just folding his arms over his 
chest and smirking.

As Alex's speed dropped back down, the gang leader 
continued his headlong rush for about a split second 
before he finally noticed Alex in front of him. 
Instantly the guy dug his heels in, trying to grind to 
a sudden stop, but he still wound up coming within a 
couple feet of Alex himself before he could halt his 
momentum. Idly Alex reached out, giving the guy a 
little shove. With enough strength to it that the guy 
flew back and down to slam into the ground a few feet 
away. 

Alex could've done much worse, he could've killed with 
the shove alone if he'd pushed hard enough, but he 
didn't want the guy dead just yet. Though the odds of 
it weren't good, he might still be useful. And so long 
as there was a chance, Alex had to follow-up. Without 
hesitation he strode over to the guy and moved one foot 
in to rest over the guy's left wrist before he 
recovered.

"How...." The guy panted out, staring up at Alex with 
wild eyes. He seemed inclined to say more, but Alex 
exerted sudden downward pressure against the guy's 
wrist, eliciting a cry of pain. Alex didn't want to 
break any bones just yet though, so he kept the 
pressure carefully controlled, and only applied it for 
a second before letting up.

"Good, now that you've shut up and I've got your 
attention." Alex murmured, as the guy continued to 
stare up at him. "We can talk information. See, I need 
to know if you were completely full of bullshit. Or if 
you actually found out something, but were just 
planning to kill me and resell it to other potential 
buyers. So tell me, the boy we wanted to know about. 
Did you get information on him, or not?"

"Fuck you!" the guy shot venomously at him, his 
expression getting angrier with every second. Alex just 
shook his head in disappointment, the guy was more 
stupid then he looked after all. With a cruel smile 
Alex once more exerted sudden pressure downwards with 
his foot, only this time he didn't stop until he heard 
the satisfying sound of the bones in the guy's wrist 
breaking. As the guy let out a sudden scream, Alex was 
once more in motion. Before the guy could even blink, 
Alex was on his other side with a foot on his other 
wrist.

Alex let the guy have several more seconds and a few 
more pained noises before he cut back in. "Allow me to 
ask you that question again. Did you get information on 
the boy, or not?" he queried, putting just the tiniest 
bit of pressure down onto the guy's wrist. Not enough 
to cause any more pain, but just enough to make the guy 
aware of what was going to happen if he decided to 
mouth off again.

"No... We didn't find out anything... We just wanted 
the money." The gang leader managed in a scared and 
very pained voice.

"Really?" Alex said softly, before giving an idle 
shrug. Once more pressing his foot down, he was 
rewarded by the sound of the bones in the guy's other 
wrist snapping as well. He believed the guy was 
probably telling the truth, but he needed to be sure. 
Hovering over the guy, Alex waited for the new bout of 
screaming to end before speaking. "I'll ask you one 
last time. Did you get information on the boy we wanted 
to know about?"

"Yes! Yes! We got your information! I'll tell you, just 
stop!" The gang leader nearly screeched at him. It was 
then that Alex knew for sure. The guy had been lying, 
he'd seen it in his eyes.

"Thanks for cooperating." Alex told him, before 
suddenly lashing out with his foot. One clean blow to 
the head with a bit of real force behind it was all it 
took to kill the guy. Turning, Alex strode back over to 
the suitcase, dropping to a knee beside it to quickly 
close the lid and pop the catches back into place. 
Grasping the handle, he rose and began making his way 
back towards the door. Lord Thade would be annoyed that 
the lead had turned up nothing, but he wouldn't blame 
Alex for it. Alex had killed the ones responsible, and 
that would be enough to satisfy Thade, even though he 
wouldn't like it.

Reaching the front door, Alex quickly reached out with 
his free hand and twisted the knob, pulling it open and 
then freezing for the tiniest fraction of a second. In 
the next instant he'd slammed the door, flinging the 
suitcase aside so it wouldn't get in his way as he 
turned to run. He only got a few steps before the 
figure was suddenly in front of him. He tried to change 
directions mid-step but then next thing he knew a hand 
was grasping his arm and flinging him to the floor. 

It wasn't hard, at least not hard enough to break 
through the surface of the floor and into the dirt 
beneath, but by the time he'd impacted the figure was 
standing over him, one hand extended in Alex's 
direction. All thought of trying to leap to his feet 
fled Alex's mind. The energy that hand could 
potentially unleash would kill Alex before he'd moved 
more then a few inches, even at his maximum speed. With 
a feeling of resignation he stared up at the being 
above him.

The True Mind was in the form of a man, but a badly 
burned one. His face was a mass of scar tissue, as was 
his hands. The head and hands were the only things not 
covered by clothing, but still Alex knew that every 
inch of that body was burn scars. He didn't need to see 
it, he knew who he was facing. He'd heard quite a bit 
about him. Char. As in to overcook. He still couldn't 
believe there was a True Mind who used that as a name, 
but given the True Mind's predilections, it sort of fit 
him. The burn scars were there because the True Mind 
wanted them to be. Every form he ever took was head-to-
toe scar tissue. It was grotesque in a morbidly 
fascinating way.

"Well, well, Thade's little lieutenant. As much an 
abomination as he is." Char said in a raspy voice, its 
mouth twisting into what probably was supposed to be a 
grin, but looked more like a grimace. "We've been 
looking for you."

"Yeah well, a lot of people are looking for a lot of 
things these days. Guess you got the short end of the 
stick in just finding me, didn't you?" Alex shot out, 
sneering up at the True Mind above him.

"Oh, I'll admit. Killing you won't be nearly as 
enjoyable as killing Thade will eventually be. But I'll 
survive the disappointment somehow." Char said, a raspy 
chuckle emitting from its throat as it dropped to a 
crouch beside him. 

Before Alex knew it, the hand that had been hovering 
over him was gripping his arm, and then suddenly Alex 
felt the burning. It was like the spot where Char was 
touching him was being corroded by some kind of acid. 
The pain was excruciating, but Alex gritted his teeth 
against it, wincing his eyes shut and doing his best 
not to make a sound. He didn't want to give Char the 
satisfaction, but it was getting harder with every 
second, the pain was steadily mounting. 

Finally his teeth unclenched as he let out a loud gasp. 
A couple more seconds, and even he wasn't going to be 
able to hold out anymore. But just when Alex was on the 
verge of screaming himself, Char suddenly released his 
arm. Which cut off the source of the damage, but only 
made the pain fade slightly. Just looking at his arm he 
could see that it was badly burned, and the worst thing 
was that it wasn't healing. 

His abilities weren't affecting it in the slightest. 
The pain was fading very, very slowly, and Alex 
couldn't help but let out a few groans as he tried to 
ride it out. Finally the pain stopped fading at some 
mid-level plane, hovering there without getting any 
better. It was still a bitch to deal with, but at least 
now it was within the barely tolerable range.

"Poor baby. Did that hurt?" Char rasped out, that 
twisted grimace still on its face. While you couldn't 
see the humor in its face, it was clear in the eyes. 
Char's eyes were laughing at him. "We both know there's 
no information I can get from you that I haven't 
already taken. So it's all a matter of how I kill you. 
And I must say, I've always loved the smell of burning 
flesh." Now Char did laugh, and it was one of the 
weirdest sounds Alex had ever heard. It was somewhere 
between a growl and a hiss. "Let's see how you like 
this." It rasped, and Alex could actually see smoke 
rising from its hand as it lowered towards his face.

***

(And so concludes the second part of this story. To be 
continued in Part 3, Zane's tale. Which faction will 
survive? Who will come out on top? Will power in the 
world remain with the Dark Minds who currently hold it, 
or will the planet find itself under the sway of a new 
Master? The answers all rest with Zane. Stay tuned.)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
This story was written as an adult fantasy. The author
does not condone the described behavior in real life.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Kristen's collection - Directory 44