"You're really thinking about it," Translucent said from inside the cage, his voice low and steady as his body faded back into view. "That's the problem with people like you. You hesitate."
Hughie said nothing. His eyes stayed fixed on the button.
"Let's be clear," Translucent continued. "If you kill me, this doesn't end here. Vought doesn't forget. They don't forgive." A faint smile crept into his voice. "You'll spend the rest of your life looking over your shoulder. Every stranger. Every shadow."
Hughie's grip tightened.
"They'll find you," Translucent said calmly. "Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow. But they always do. And when they do, it won't just be you. Everyone you care about becomes leveraged."
[Wow. He finally dropped the mask,] the System commented. [Fear works better when the audience believes it.]
"You can still walk away," Translucent pressed. "Let me out, and this ends. You get to go back to your quiet life. Press that button, though?" A pause. "That's a lifetime of running. And it won't be a long one."
Hughie looked up, his eyes caught in a storm of fear and doubt. Robin flashed through his mind. But layered over it was the man in the cage, promising consequences. Hughie stood frozen between rage and terror, pulled apart by the choice in front of him.
This was my moment. I started moving, a tiny black speck crawling silently across the dusty concrete floor. Hughie was so lost in his own personal hell that he would never have noticed me even if I were full-sized. I reached the leg of his chair and began the long climb up.
His jeans felt like a denim mountain. I crawled upwards, my dense form giving me a solid grip. I reached his shoulder, then moved carefully and silently along his collar until I settled at the back of his neck, completely hidden by his hair.
Hughie's hand was hovering over the detonator. He was about to make his choice.
My Combat Mastery provided me with an encyclopedic knowledge of human anatomy. I knew every nerve cluster, every pressure point. I shifted my weight, raised my tiny fist, and brought it down with all my concentrated force on the precise nerve bundle at the base of his skull.
The effect was instantaneous. Hughie's eyes rolled back in his head, and he slumped forward, his body going completely limp. He collapsed unconscious off the chair and onto the floor.
Inside the cage, Translucent stared as Hughie collapsed, his jaw tightening in confusion. He called out. "Hey?"
I dropped from Hughie's collar onto the table, landing with a soft tap. The detonator sat directly in front of me. I climbed onto the button and positioned myself over it. I braced my feet and pushed down with everything I had.
For something my size, it should have been impossible. But I was still a full-grown man's weight and strength, compressed into something no bigger than a thumbnail.
For a fraction of a second, nothing happened. Then, the world turned into a concussive flash.
The C4, shoved deep inside his ass, detonated. His indestructible carbon skin, which could repel a .50 caliber bullet from the outside, offered zero protection from an explosion originating from within.
The sound was a sickening THUMP that vibrated through the concrete floor and up into my very bones. The Faraday cage flashed for a moment with a silhouette of a man instantly and violently turning himself inside out.
Translucent's diamond-hard skin, the very thing that made him invulnerable, now became the ultimate shrapnel. The explosion turned him inside out. A thick spray of blood, organs, and viscera erupted from the cage, painting the walls, the ceiling, and the unconscious form of Hughie Campbell in a grotesque masterpiece of crimson.
I had been blown back by the shockwave, my tiny form tumbling through the air like a piece of gravel. I landed in a rapidly spreading pool of warm blood.
The stench was overwhelming. The sight was horrific. And the System's notification was beautiful.
[Supe Neutralized. Plundering Power: Carbon Skin (Tier 3). Choose Option: Retain or Convert?]
'Retain.'
The sensation was unlike any I had felt before. It was a change on a molecular level. I felt my skin… shift. It was like every cell was locking into place, forming an interlocking structure. An almost invisible shimmer passed over my body. I felt…indestructible.
I crawled out of the blood, my tiny form surprisingly clean, and made my way over to Hughie's unconscious body. He was covered in filth, but he was breathing steadily.
I located the detonator where it had been blown off the table near the cage. I lifted it carefully, keeping it from scraping the floor, and carried it back inch by inch. I placed it directly into Hughie's outstretched hand, adjusting his fingers around it just enough to look natural.
The scene was now perfectly set. When Hughie woke up, covered in the remains of the man he was supposed to be guarding. The detonator would be right beside him. His last memory would be of his intense moral conflict, of his hand hovering over the button.
He would think he had done it. He would think that in a moment of grief fueled rage, he had blacked out and pushed the button. He would believe he was a killer.
I took one last look at the boy who was about to wake up to a nightmare of his own making, and then I turned and scurried back into the shadows. I slipped out of the basement, up the stairs, and under the front door, leaving the electronics store and its bloody secret behind me.
Back in the car, I returned to my normal size, the feeling of my diamond-hard skin a comforting presence.
[Well, that was… messy,] the System's voice finally piped up, its tone a mixture of shock and admiration. [I have to say, your previous work was much more elegant. This was just… visceral. But effective! Very effective!]
With a smile, I started the engine and pulled out into the street, driving calmly back toward my penthouse.
On the interface in my vision, my status had updated.
[CURRENT POWERS:]
Cryokinesis (Tier 1)
Regeneration (Tier 2)
Carbon Skin (Tier 3)
Shapeshifting (Tier 3)
Size Alteration (Tier 3)
Super Strength (Tier 4)
Super Defence (Tier 4)