Chapter 6
"I did warn you not to look into this." the stranger said with a heavy sigh. "But, alas, the work for me is never done." he suddenly jumped at Peter, kicked him in the stomach, and launched him towards the stairs with a loud crash onto a table. When Peter got up he saw that the stranger was choking Olivia and holding her above the ground. He was holding her with his left hand and a spear in his right, ready to plunge it into her chest. "Be Reborn, Emerald Lord!" Peter yelled. When he said this his outfit changed. He was now wearing a gauntlet that encapsulated his whole arm, a sword on his back, and a belt with emerald shards. The rest of his clothes were intact. "Good! I was hoping to see some potential come from you!" exclaimed the stranger as they tossed aside Olivia into a nearby mannequin. Peter drew his sword of emerald and jumped at the stranger. The stranger blocked with his spear of obsidian and the two of them began to battle.
Peter and the stranger jumped from wall to wall, from table to table, and their blades clashed and were like that of thunder and lightning. "Who are you!?" Peter yelled at the stranger, demanding some kind of answer. "You'll know in due time." the stranger said with a grin on his face. They continued to clash their blades. Then, Peter saw an opportunity and slashed at the stranger's chest, but when his blade met the stranger's chest it was like he hit a wall. "Obsidian is known as a stone to protect oneself from negative energy." the man said as a great burst of energy came from the stranger's chest that shot out and pushed Peter away. Then the stranger flew at him when Peter heard a voice "Parry!". Peter instinctively listened and parried the attack. "What!?" said the stranger, confused at the fact Peter was able to do such a thing. "E.L?" "Yup, I'm your auto-aim but you can only use me once per minute. So stop quacking at your own strength and hit the guy!" urged E.L. Peter sliced at the stranger's face and hit him right on the cheek revealing the stranger's true identity. "Mr. Waker!?" said Peter in shock. " I was right in saying you would find out in due time," said Mr.Waker. "Now reveal the truth, Obsidian Guard!" When Mr.Waker said this he disappeared and reappeared behind Peter and slashed him across the back. With a sickening cry, Peter fell to the ground. As Peter thought this was the end, he heard E.L again "ROLL AND PARRY!!!" and with the little strength he had left he did as E.L told him and was able to roll out of the way of Mr.Waker's attack but only blocked his second attack. Then Peter heard a familiar voice from above. "Cleave through my enemies, Ruby Queen!" screamed Olivia as she soared through the air and stabbed Mr. Waker in the back with 2 ruby daggers. It created a massive wound on both shoulders of Mr. Waker's back. But it did nothing except anger Mr. Waker as a great force pushed her away and into a nearby table. "HOW—HOW DARE YOU INTERRUPT MY BATTLE WITH HIM!!! YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS!!!" screamed Mr. Waker. Then Peter saw an opening and stabbed Mr.Waker in the back with his sword. At this, a machine in the banquet hall above began to malfunction and exploded. Quickly Mr. Waker pushed himself away from Peter and said "I will be back for you!". Then he disappeared. As soon as the machine exploded the world regained its color and texture. The mannequins became people once again and were frightened at the explosion and started to run to the elevators.
As the fire department quenched the flames Peter and Olivia sat outside on a bench. "Are you sure you're okay?" asked Olivia, still feeling bad that she didn't do much but get in the way. "Don't worry. I learned a new trick for that." said Peter as he took out one of the emeralds from his belt and placed it on his back. Then his wounds were healed. "How'd you learn to do that?" Olivia said, shocked at such an incredible discovery. "E.L told me." "Who's E.L?" "Who's Ruby Queen?" asked Peter, realizing that he never thought of how Olivia got her powers. "Ruby Queen is my power and I'm guessing E.L is yours?" "His name is Emerald Lord," said Peter. "Cool name," said Olivia. "How'd you get your power?" asked Peter. "I was at my house when somebody knocked on the door. When I went to check who it was, I found a box with a ruby inside and it split in 2 and fused with my hands. Then I heard a voice telling me how to use my power and I called her Ruby Queen. But after that guy who just attacked us, Mr. Waker, started appearing and watching 'my progress'." "That's exactly what happened to me! That means he must have been watching our powers grow so that he could...use us?" Peter said, now not sure of his thinking. "He was probably trying to see if our powers worked or not. No, he was experimenting on us to see if this new technology worked or not!" Olivia realized and the two finally figured out why most of this happened. "Wait then why did the machine blow up? Because neither of us did that and it doesn't make sense why Mr. Waker would do it." "I don't think we were the only people experimented on. He could have sent someone to bail him out or someone was sabotaging it so that we could escape." said Peter recounting the call that Mr. Waker had with a higher up. "So, what should we do?" asked Olivia. "Let's go eat. We never did get to eat." said Peter hungrily.
So they returned to Gold Experience Pizza, but this time they had a visitor. The man entered the restaurant and asked for a pepperoni and bacon pizza. He then waited outside to smoke. Peter and Olivia paid no attention to him. Sure, the city was trying to make itself healthier but that didn't mean everyone was ready for that change. Most people were taking the new growth of the city as an opportunity to grow and sell weed. They called these weed farms 'drug districts' since they became so large and almost like full fledged communities by themselves. But because they had developed new forms of drugs that were making both the state and most of the East Coast worse than before, the police had to sometimes burn parts of the city to get rid of the drug districts.
The man then returned inside and got his food. Then the chef got mad, speaking something in Italian. The chef then proceeded to throw a plate of spaghetti at the customer. He missed, but the spaghetti hit the wall and (somehow) stuck perfectly to the wall. "We should probably go…" whispered Olivia. As Peter and Olivia paid and left the restaurant, the man followed them outside with a kind of power resonating from him. "Why are you following us?" asked Peter. "Orders are Orders." He shrugged. He seemed exhausted as if he were about to collapse at any moment. The stranger then took his hands out of his pockets and muttered something under his breath. Metallic blue shoulder pads materialized on his shoulders and 8 strange, almost slimy, tendrils appeared. "Plus, I get paid overtime…" the man said sluggishly. Peter and Olivia quickly called out their powers and prepared themselves for battle.
The tendrils whipped around, slashing at anything in sight. Cars, buildings, street lights, the ground, dumpsters, you name it! Peter and Olivia frantically blocked and parried his attacks as fast as they could, but the stranger didn't slow down. He continued his flurry of attacks without breaking a sweat. The stranger grabbed Peter by the leg, throwing him at a car with enough strength to destroy the passenger door. Coughing up blood, Peter screamed at Olivia, "Get down!". At his cry, she quickly dropped to the ground as one of the tentacles swung and slammed into a nearby wall. She then ran towards the man, plunging both daggers into his stomach. She was then grabbed by the neck and thrown into a lamppost. But as she got up, she smiled, seeing that her plan had succeeded. "Why do you laugh in the face of death? Is it because you have accepted your fate?" the stranger asked with a look of disdain in his eyes. "No, just admiring my work,"
She spoke with bloodlust in her speech. At this, the man's wounds exploded with gallons of blood spraying in every direction. The stranger gasped for air from coughing up blood. He said in short breaths "What did… you… do to me?" "My daggers have a delayed ability. When I hit my target with the daggers, no matter how small a wound, approximately 30 seconds later the attack happens again but the damage is multiplied," she said pridefully. Peter was shocked at her confidence. He had never seen her like this before, always shy but kind, now she was confident yet cynical. "Awww, you gonna cry? At least try to sound awake when you die. If you don't, then it's not fun anymore!" she shouted maniacally. "Oh, really? Have you looked in the mirror lately? Cause it looks like you could use a nap." the man said in the same tired manner as always. She then fell down, now in a paralyzing sleep induced by a small stinger on her neck. The man was able to cover his wounds with his tentacles by reducing them to only slime. Like molded bandages on an infected wound. Seeing this, Peter tried to stand, but was quickly entangled by the arms of the man's armor.
"Man, you guys are tough! Oh no wonder Obsidian couldn't get you!" the man yelled, now slightly more awake because of his wounds. "Why do you want us? Are you guys experimenting with us?" asked Peter frantically, to stall for time as he thought of something to do. "Yeah, you're a bit of a small project we got going. Don't worry they give you all sorts of benefits! But you got to work for them if you want any of that." the man answered. Peter then heard E.L again saying "Hey, me again! I got a cool new thing for you!" "What?" "squeeze your right hand and pull the trigger. Trust me!" E.L urged. As soon as Peter did this, he felt a revolver appear in his hands. He couldn't see it because of the tentacles but it felt custom, engraved with some kind of design in its hilt. He then raised the gun and pulled the trigger. BAM!!! The stranger let go of Peter as he fell from the immense pain with a deafening scream. The man slowly started getting back up, gripping his shoulder in pain. Peter tried to get up but realized that he had been pierced by one of the stingers. He slowly felt the effects of the sleeping poison go through his veins but before he went into a deep sleep he clutched the revolver as tightly as he could and raised the barrel of the gun towards the attacker. He tried desperately, fighting against the poison to attempt to shoot the man again. Unfortunately, he missed the stranger by about an inch. The poison was a lot stronger than he initially thought. Soothing first his legs and then his arms, dropping the revolver. He collapsed to the ground as he fell into a realm of unease and fear. His only thought was "Is Olivia okay?".