All she saw was red.
She lay strapped to a flat table.
She couldn't move her arms, legs, or even her neck. All she could do was look up.
And all she saw was an eerie crimson circle made of what appeared to be glass.
The shape, the colour, and the texture all felt wrong. Like she was looking at something that wasn't supposed to be there. She felt disgusted in a sense. The same way one would feel if they saw a maggot on their food or feces inside their house.
Wrong.
She tried to concentrate on something else as the red object made her uncomfortable. She heard sounds.
Unpleasant sounds.
Sounds of several women screaming in pain.
Sounds of babies crying.
No. Not babies.
The sound resembled that of crying babies, but it resembled nails on a chalkboard even more.
Whatever those things were, they weren't babies.
Human babies, anyway.
She then heard the sound of a man speaking. The language he spoke, despite her lack of understanding, disgusted her the same way as the red circle up above.
She didn't want to listen anymore.
She wanted to get out of here.
Where was "here" anyway?
How did she even get here?
She tried to remember but she got nothing. Her last memory was waking up strapped to the cold metal table.
She didn't even remember who she was. Her own name, her loved ones, her life, everything.
Nothing.
She had nothing.
She was about to cry until she saw a large figure in a dark red cloak standing over her.
Knife in hand.
She wanted to scream.
She opened her mouth to scream.
Nothing left her lips.
She couldn't make a sound.
All she could do was listen to the words he spoke, poison to her ears...
"Lacthum Brackakum De Vil"
And squirm and struggle...
As the cold metal blade pierced the delicate skin of her chest...
Meanwhile...
"Didn't think I could do it, Milten?" Max said with a chuckle.
"I didn't think you'd be stupid enough to, Max," Milten replied, clearly not amused.
"I tried to stop him, Boss," Luthor said with a hint of nervousness in his voice. "But he's too much of a wild card. From the looks of things, he enjoys this stuff."
"You're damn right I do," Max said, stepping on the head of a nearby muman, crushing his skull in a way Milten could clearly hear.
"When I sent you two to this Broker gang base, I expected you to have enough sense to take a hostage or two. Someone we can interrogate for answers on Broker's plans. Not massacre them all!" Milten spat angrily.
"Oh, I'm sorry!" Max said with his finger on his right cheek for dramatic effect.
Max scoffed in disgust.
"Can't you take this seriously? This was our chance to surpass the Super Society, and you blew it. Don't you care about that?" Milten said with genuine sincerity.
Max couldn't help but laugh.
"You've worked with me long enough to know the answer to that, Milten. You know what I want." Max said indifferently.
"What do you want?" Luthor asked angrily.
"If you value the lives of your family, Luthor, I recommend you don't ask. I've grown fond of you after that pathetic attempt to stop my massacre. Don't make me rethink that."
Luthor and Max remained silent for long seconds until Luthor took a step forward, causing Milten to intervene.
"That's enough, Luthor. Don't start something you can't finish," Milten said, shooting down his attempts at attacking Max.
"But sir, he..."
"That Black Reactor Core in your new armor doesn't make you invincible, Luthor," Milten said with a somber enough tone to get Luthor to back down. "Let's just head back to base. We'll discuss this later."
Once Milten cut the call, the two stared at each other again.
Max smiled.
He had made a few adjustments to his red energy armor, allowing for a more streamlined design with an exposed mouth.
So Luthor could clearly see the smug smile on his lips.
"So, you still wanna go?" Max said with another smile.
"You're not human."
Max looked at him in silence for a moment.
"What you just did. How you did it. It wasn't human."
"And when did I say I was? You don't know me. You're not like me. You have a family to get back to. A pretty wife, good kids. I don't have that. All I have is me and my dream."
"And Jake, apparently. I see the way you suck up to him."
"A means to an end."
"Still. That man, despite looking like a monster, he's more human than you'll ever be."
"I can live with that," Max said, still smiling.
Luthor scoffed and activated the thrusters on his new suit. Before Max could say another word, he was already in the air.
Max broke into laughter again while growing crimson red wings on his back. After tiring of the laughter, he set off to join him.
Just as the two left, disappearing into the clouds, Simon crawled out of his hiding place.
He reached into his back pocket and picked up his phone and dropped it soon after. He cursed profusely as he struggled to pick it up. The more he tried, the more his hands were covered in sweat.
Finally, despite himself, he held the small device in his hands and made his call.
"Master?" He said, wiping the sweat from his brow.
"Yes, Simon? What's wrong? I haven't heard from your group in a while."
"They're dead."
"What?"
"They're all dead!" Simon screamed, breaking into tears. "Everyone! Flow, Gigant! Plastique! Image! Mester! Korb! All of them! My friends! They're all..."
"Simon. Calm down. Take a deep breath. Now explain."
Simon heeded his words.
"Th...these two guys. One was in some black spandex suit with glowing red lines and horns and stuff, and the other was just white."
"Just white? As in Mr. White?"
"N...no, not really. It was like his skin was made of metal. He had eyes, but they were black with white dots in them. Scared the hell outta me."
"These guys killed your team?"
"Y...yeah. We weren't doing much. Just packing boxes and stuff. Getting ready for the reinforcements for the big attack, and then these two guys, these monsters, they broke in and..."
"Massacred you all. I see. How did you survive?"
"I used my powers to mess with their perception and stuff. They couldn't see me. Once the building collapsed, I found a pile of boxes to hide under."
"I see."
"I'm so sorry, boss. We were too weak. These guys were..."
"It's okay, Simon. Don't worry. All these two have done is make a powerful enemy. Report back to the stronghold effective immediately."
"Yes, sir," Simon said, trying his best to get up and move.
"And Simon..."
"Yes, sir?"
"I'll avenge them myself," The Broker said calmly despite his monstrous voice...
To be continued...