I Won't Take Much of Your Time
It’s Cal again.
And I’ve been up all night. The sun rose two hours ago.
I spent the night in Chaos’ domain with the squad and the Trinity of Terra, as well as Jeff, Tommy, Leo and Stephen, working out a plan away from Pax and his prying eyes.
Chaos provided us with refreshments, and a comfortable part of his domain to work in with any amenities we needed and no distractions.
And he disguised himself as all of the absentees, making sure “we” were seen at the School, but he’s not sure if Pax won’t see through his ruse.
I didn’t even ask him to do that.
But the real us returned to the School and seamlessly swapped out with Chaos at sunrise, finding the School still full of hippies, but not walking into any unpleasant surprises.
And then we got to work, and got everything ready for our plan.
I’ve known what I have to do to nullify Pax’s threats all along.
I don’t know what will happen after I… do what needs doing.
Whatever comes next, the ChaotiX will face it together.
Even if what comes next is the end.
And at least two team members understand my plight.
Look, people KNOW that you aren’t a bad guy. You have fought for the universe countless times, hell, you have DIED for it, and as Tommy once pointed out, God Himself essentially approves of what you’re doing, because He wouldn’t let angels work with you otherwise. That’s the ultimate vote of confidence!
You are still a worthy Champion of the Sword of Kings, which you would not be if you were the monster Pax thinks you are.
Pax is blinded by his own light. I think he knows full well that his Peacemakers are in danger if their true nature is exposed. He knows that people would not accept him if they knew the truth about him and his Peacemakers, and he seems utterly confident that the ChaotiX face the same outcome. How fitting that he’s projecting.
There are plenty of people who can vouch for us! Who is vouching for Pax, huh? His own brainwashed flunkies? The psychotic fluffy-killing ex-lawyer who attacked a restaurant for fun?
The ChaotiX has brought hope to many worlds. We have done much good for the universe. Hopefully, people will understand.
Yeah, ‘cause this ain’t Marvel, and we ain’t the fuckin’ X-Men. Like HELL we’re doing a Days of Future Past Saga. Damn, now I’VE got that weird feeling.
Let’s just focus, guys. Just stay quiet for now.
Because in an hour from now…
The thing that needs to be done…
Will be done.
And I need to give that my undivided attention.
Right now, I’m sitting at my desk, in my office at the School, Marley curled up on the desk.
Just across from me, Xavier and Susan are watching as a cameraman sets up his camera, pointed at me and Marley.
MIKA is currently a black and blue business suit, my sword, shield and bag are hanging on the wall, I’ve taken a quick shower and shaved, and I’ve even made an attempt to tame my notoriously messy hair, which wasn’t entirely successful, but it doesn’t look too bad.
Xavier looks at me.
“Going live in a minute, Cal. You know what you’re gonna say?”
With a thought, a visor forms on my head, the script I’ve written appearing on the HUD.
“I won’t need a teleprompter, Xav. A stiff drink would be nice.”
Once again, we’ll be broadcasting worldwide.
I don’t know how I can do this sober.
But I have to do this.
As the final preparations are made, Xavier holds up three fingers, counting down.
“Rolling in three… two… one…”
And as the camera starts rolling, I look into it taking a deep breath.
“Hello, people of Earth. Good morning, afternoon or evening, whichever one applies where you are watching this. You probably know who I am, but for the handful of you who are living under a rock and don’t know, my name is Calvin Korkea, and I’m speaking today on behalf of the ChaotiX. There are several things I need to say, so please, bear with me.”
I smirk at the camera.
“I won’t take much of your time.”
At Faucheuse Plaza, decorated for the season with a massive Christmas tree and all the trimmings, a crowd watches Calvin’s speech on a large screen, above the front doors of Faucheuse Tower.
“The first topic that needs to be discussed is the death of Oliver Dinopolous, CEO of Dino Energy. As far as all of you know, the cause of death was a heart attack. This is not actually the case, I must confess.”
Calvin’s expression is now deadly serious.
“Because the truth is… I killed Oliver Dinopolous.”
At the Isabella Faucheuse Foundation, Erwin watches the speech via his phone in his examination room, between patients.
“I killed Oliver because he had hired the now-defunct PMC known as Duncan International to invade Primal Earth, plotting to exploit its resources to save his failing company. I confronted him in his office shortly after we dealt with Duncan’s men, and gave him a chance to come quietly. He refused, he made it clear that he felt no remorse for what was done on his orders, and that he wasn’t going to cooperate. So I killed him, by stopping his heart with telekinesis, to ensure that he could not make any further attempts. He was perfectly willing to destroy Primal Earth in the name of greed, and I have friends there, some of whom had been affected by Oliver’s contracted mercenaries. I have a son there.”
In Times Square, New York City, Calvin’s face can be seen on every screen as he speaks.
“Since then, I’ve been thinking about what I did constantly. I’ve been wondering if I did the right thing, whether I should come clean. But recent developments have forced my hand. You see, someone else made a threat to me that they would tell you about this first. That someone is also threatening to release sensitive information about multiple ChaotiX members besides myself. The person who made this threat to me is a name you might know, and a name that might surprise you.”
Calvin smirks audaciously.
“Father Lucian Pax, leader of the Peacemakers and the one who granted me my light powers.”
In San Francisco, one of the employees at Venom’s favorite curry restaurant is ignoring several customers waiting to order as he watches the speech on his phone, Calvin still smirking.
“I’m afraid that Pax is not who you think he is. He is much more sinister than his demeanor suggests, and he is, in fact, the person who blackmailed me. His misdeeds do not end there, however. Pax gave me my light powers as part of a plot to steal my Omega Class powers, which resulted in the attack on a Saingan bar in New Jersey a year or two ago, as I explained shortly after that incident. One of his Peacemakers, a former lawyer named Michelle Howard from San Francisco, originally New York, has been plotting to assassinate several ChaotiX members on Pax’s orders, has been killing feral fluffies in San Francisco for fun, attacked a restaurant owner in San Francisco too, abandoned her own fluffy to die on the streets of New York when she moved to San Francisco, and attacked a bus owned by a group of innocent hippies here in Cetteville only yesterday. I have been informed that another member of the Peacemakers is a convicted rapist and murderer by the name of Hector Verdugo, who mysteriously vanished from his cell and evaded multiple life sentences a few years ago, and I have reasonable cause to suspect that other Peacemakers may have similar crimes on their records, so they warrant a thorough investigation. That is the kind of people who Pax has working for his supposedly benevolent charity organisation. As much as Pax wants you to believe otherwise, he has no one’s best interests at heart but his own, and he will use anyone and resort to any means to achieve his goals, still acting like a kind, gentle, friendly old man in public, committing atrocities behind closed doors. He pretends to care, but he doesn’t, and he’s quick to turn nasty when he doesn’t get his way. I have seen for myself that he has an ugly, vindictive, manipulative side that he hides from the public.”
In the School’s rec room, Leo’s hippies have gathered around the big TV to watch Calvin talk, Stephen and Tom sitting on the floor, both in normal fluffy form.
“Had Pax’s intentions been entirely benevolent, he would have simply exposed me, and that would be that. But instead, he kept quiet about it so he could blackmail me into complying with his schemes. He threatened to not only reveal the truth of Oliver’s death, but to also reveal sensitive information about my fellow team members’ private lives. This is not something a good man would do, is it? And yet, Pax would have been happy to let everyone keep believing that Oliver died of a heart attack, if I had chosen to submit, and let his Peacemakers do as they please.”
Upstairs, in Jeff and Electra’s temporary quarters, they sit on the couch and watch the speech on Jeff’s phone, seeing Calvin sigh.
“But I’m no better, am I? I was just as willing to let people believe Oliver died of a heart attack, and if Pax hadn’t blackmailed me, maybe I wouldn’t be making this speech. But if you’re going to hear the truth, you should hear it from me, not him, because he would absolutely spin it to make me look like a monster who kills people for shits and giggles. I don’t want to be that monster. I have met that monster, and he scares me. I’ve wanted to be a superhero my entire life, and all I want to do with the power I’m fortunate enough to possess is protect people, help them be better, and make sure this beautiful world of ours can keep existing, being the wonderful world it is, becoming a better world. Pax is one of those people whose idea of a perfect world is one where everyone else just shuts up and does what he tells them to do. I want people to decide for themselves what to do. I don’t want them doing the right thing just because I’m telling them to do it, but because it’s the right thing to do. And the entire ChaotiX stands behind me on this. They stand with me by choice, not by obligation. Because they feel that I deserve their loyalty. But if I ordered them to start killing innocent people, they would-- preemptive apologies for the foul language-- they would tell me to go fuck myself.”
In New Quezon City, the Philippines, the people watch the speech on big screens, just like in New York.
“So if the authorities decide that the best thing to do about this is to brand me a criminal and arrest me, tell me to leave Earth and never come back, or simply kill me, then I won’t resist. I will respect the decision that is made, and the punishment that is deemed most fitting for the crime, and I will take that punishment on behalf of my team. My fellow ChaotiX act on my instructions, so I accept full responsibility for their actions as well as my own. I don’t want everyone like me to be punished for what I did, because I know how it ends, and so do you if you know anything about comic books: giant killer robots, death squads, camps.”
In a seedy bar in Detroit, a bunch of Jeff’s ex-friends from his abuser days watch the speech on the small TV above the bar, all of them grinning, having bought a round of drinks when the speech started.
They wanted to get popcorn, but the bartender doesn’t allow outside food in his bar.
“I’m hoping that it won’t come to that. I’m hoping that you’ll all understand that I sometimes need to operate outside of the law, and I don’t kill people unless they really, really have it coming. I’m the Harbinger of Chaos. Breaking the rules is expected of me, but I don’t do so without a good reason. Yes, I have occasionally gotten my hands bloody in the name of doing the right thing, and I wish that I didn’t have to, I wish that choosing pacifism was always the right choice, but the hard truth is that sometimes I have to choose between sparing the villain or saving the world. It’s not black and white, even if people like Pax see it that way.”
At the Oldman Farm, the Oldmans and their fluffies gather in the farmhouse’s living room, around the TV, Calvin’s expression growing stern, his eyes starting to glow red as he stands up and leans closer to the camera, putting his hands on the desk.
“If you’re watching this, Pax, and you probably are: too fucking bad, I told everyone about Oliver before you could, so lick my Omega-powered balls, you smug piece of shit. No, seriously, give ‘em a good once-over. If you tell the public anything else about us without our say-so, even something as small as which team members wear boxers or briefs, then I’ll just go ahead and tell everyone what all of that Light of Peace bullshit you blather on about all the time is really about. You’re already dangerously close to being fully exposed. Up for a game of chicken, Pax? Or are you already too chicken?”
I sit back down in my desk chair, my eyes fading back to blue, wondering how everyone is going to take this.
I hope they made sure their kids aren’t watching. That last part got pretty profane.
“I’ve fought for all of you countless times, people. I died for all of you once. If I was as evil as some people think I am, wouldn’t I have already conquered and/or destroyed the world by now? Would I have literal angels descending from the heavens to lend me their aid? Would I be able to handle chivalrium, the Hero of Metals, and would I be the current Champion of the Sword of Kings? This isn’t the first time a villain has attempted to besmirch my reputation. Please, don’t let it be the last. Don’t believe the lies that Pax will inevitably start spewing after this broadcast. Anyone who wants to ask us questions about anything I’ve discussed today is free to do so, there are multiple ways to contact us. I just want to protect the world, the people, the fluffies I love. This has been Calvin Korkea, and thank you for hearing me out.”
I wrap it up with a friendly smile.
“Hopefully, the next time you see me… won’t be at my trial.”
As the cameraman stops filming, Xavier manages a smile.
“That’s a wrap! I think they’ll take it pretty well, Cal.”
I check my phone, social media already blowing up, several hashtags already trending.
“We’ll see, Xav. Hopefully, the police and/or the military aren’t en route to arrest me as we speak.”
Marley gets up and stretches.
“We gut fwends in bof gwoops, daddeh. Dey knu yu deaw wif da shit dey nu can deaw wif.”
“Still, I shouldn’t become as bad as my enemies and act like I’m above consequences. That’s how Pax thinks, and Dehak, and Anti-Calvin.”
I get up, walking over to the window, the curtains closed.
When I peek out through the gap between the curtain, I can see the front gates from here, a crowd already gathering.
I think I can see reporters too, and I’m sure I see Alethea Kent from Channel 8 News in the crowd.
Fortunately, the wards are keeping them from storming the grounds, if that’s their intention.
Man, if only Hollywood movie stars had OUR kinda wards.
Well, some of them do, there are wizards in LA who do those wards for a fee.
“Welp, we can’t go out through the main gates for a while.”
Susan sighs.
“We dealt with this at my mom’s funeral too. We’ve got Vic keeping an eye on them in disguise, making sure they don’t do anything stupid until you show up.”
She walks over next to me, opening the curtains a tad and pointing at a bush near the statue of Pierre atop the fountain, about halfway between the gates and the front doors.
“That bush is probably him.”
“I’m gonna have to go face the music, though. I need to talk to them, make an appearance in person.”
I step over to the hooks on the wall by the door, grabbing my things.
“Better leave the sword and shield in the bag for this one. I gotta make like Jeff and make myself look as nonthreatening as possible.”
Marley hops off the desk.
“Mawwey nu am missin dis wun.”
In the white void, Pax sits in his armchair, leaning forward with his hands in his lap, staring at the televisions.
The screens are blank white now, but he saw Calvin’s speech.
Which was exactly what he expected.
And he’s holding his white cellphone in one hand, so he’s seen how people are reacting.
Which isn’t what he expected.
People seem to be taking Calvin’s revelations surprisingly well.
And judging by the look of barely-restrained rage on his pale, bearded face, his nostrils flaring as he exhales in and out, and his twitching eye, Pax isn’t taking that very well.
Anti-Venom is in her own armchair, staying silent because she doesn’t want to inadvertently make her boss even angrier, and doesn’t know what to say right now.
Any chance she had of going back to her old life as Michelle Howard after killing Venom is gone. She’ll be arrested immediately if she returns there, and she won’t be any safer in New York.
Both cities have criminalized fluffy abuse, just like Cetteville, and plenty of other places.
Anti-Venom is persona non grata anywhere fluffy abuse is illegal.
All she has now is killing Venom.
So she listens to Pax as he mutters to himself, hoping he has a solution to her problem.
“I don’t understand… I thought that they would all fear him. That they would hate him.”
He looks at the phone, scrolling through posts on social media with his thumb.
“But look at this! They’re actually happy that he killed that Dinopolous fool! Listen to these messages…”
And he reads some of the posts out loud with a mocking tone.
“Dinopolous kept driving up his rates, so I’m glad Cal killed him… oh, great reason to want someone dead… Mr. Korkea saved my son and his class from dying on a field trip, I trust him over some creepy old cultist… well, thank you, madam… based Cal gets… um… fecal matter done… I’m not sure what based means in this context…”
Anti-Venom hesitantly explains.
“It’s something idiots on the internet call people they agree with, I think.”
Pax turns to her.
“I wasn’t talking to you, Michelle, but thank you. So Calvin’s reputation is harder to destroy than I thought. I guess that means we will do this the hard way. We will bring him to his knees by force.”
“Um… Pax… I’m already not sure that I can beat HIM. I can’t beat his entire TEAM, even with All-White. And those other enemies you mentioned won’t be enough either. If you wanna wage war against him, you’ll need an ARMY.”
Pax chuckles, returning to his usual demeanor like flipping a switch.
“Michelle, I will have an army.”
He gets up, cracking his knuckles.
krrrk
“I’ve told you about the foul spawn of the Devourer, my dear. The Darklings. Those disgusting, insatiably hungry, soulless monsters. They are wild, and hard to control.”
Pax smiles, a twinkle in his eye.
“But as below, so above. Perhaps we should draw inspiration from our enemies. Michelle, come here and hold out your hand.”
Anti-Venom gets up and obeys, Pax taking her sharp, slimy white claw in his pale hand.
With his other hand, he pinches the back of Anti-Venom’s claw, pulling a bit of the white biomass off.
He lets go of her hand, holding his finger up with a wink, the white blob on his fingertip writhing.
“Watch closely, now.”
flick!
Pax flicks the blob off his finger, onto the blank white nothing that serves as a floor here.
“You see, Michelle, the Klyntar and the ChaotiX have one thing in common: they are both viruses.”
When he points at the blob, his eyes start glowing pure white.
“So the solution is obvious: the BEST way to fight viruses…”
And the blob starts growing rapidly.
The growing mass of white slime forms itself into a humanoid shape, around three feet tall.
The result looks a lot like a small, white, slimy clay golem that was accidentally animated before going in the oven, two little black dots for eyes, strands of slime dangling between the top and bottom of its mouth, its face having no other features.
As the creature gurgles, the Light of Peace gestures at it, smiling smugly at Anti-Venom.
“…is with ANTIBODIES.”
As his eyes stop glowing, Pax strolls over to his creation, pinching off another piece of slime.
“Let’s see how many of these we can make.”