Chapter 358: Tick Tock (1)

"I... I will never talk!"

***

"There... there are hundreds of thousands of us just in this country alone...

...maybe even a million."

The man was wrong — he did talk. At first, Paragon ripped off one of his fingers; not cut, but he bent and tore it off like how one would do to chicken wings. But still, he refused to talk then... and so, Paragon killed another one of them... brutally.

Ripping her limbs one by one until she eventually died from her own screams.

And once again, Paragon returned to the man, this time... taking 2 fingers and ripping off all of the nails on his toes. Still, he refused to talk...

...that's when Paragon mowed his way through the rest of his comrades. And now, only he was left — his comrades, scattered and separated into a hundred pieces.

That's when he finally talked.

"How... how could you do this?" The man cried as he looked at the bodies of his dead comrades, "You would kill us for... for the humans!?"

"I apologize," Paragon sighed as he shook his head, "I am trying to be more human, you see."

"But you just said you're above them and us!"

"I admit, it can be confusing," Paragon shrugged, "But I suppose that's just what comes with being human. Now...

...talk."

The House of Super. Although the man wasn't sure of the exact date it was established, it should have been a fairly new organization that was created months after Riley Ross's death. As for the man, he joined the supremacist organization a year ago.

And their goal was simple — Make Supers 1st-class citizens, with the normal humans serving under them. It's where they belong, so as to quote the man.

As for their base of operations, they have many in each country. In the United States of America alone, they have more or less a dozen. Two of which the man was able to give the location.

"Who is your leader?"

"I... I don't know," the man stuttered; his tears, endlessly dropping to the floor, "I... I joined because... because my friend invited me and—"

"Who is your leader?" Paragon stepped closer to the man, causing him to flinch and almost curl up in fear.

"I think that's all he knows. Stop torturing the poor fuck."

"W... what?" The man then quickly raised his head as he heard Hannah's voice, only to see Hannah and the rest of the Baby Crew approaching them,

"W... You... you can see us?"

"Yeah," Hannah nonchalantly shrugged; her face, slightly wincing as she looked at the man, "We saw everything you saw."

"You... and you just let him kill us and torture us!?" The man lashed out.

"What kill?" Hannah tilted her head.

"Huh?" The man then quickly looked towards his supposedly minced and mangled comrades, only to see all of them intact; without even any wounds and just lying unconscious on the floor.

"Thank you, Paige," Hannah then pressed something on her ear.

[No problem, guys.]

"W... what?" The man could really only blink in confusion as he clasped his head; the blood from his dismembered fingers, trailing through his face.

"Uh, Paige?"

['Sup?]

"...Return the man's fingers."

[...What?]

"The man, his fingers and toenails."

[I... didn't do that.]

"Wh—"

"Oh," Paragon then slightly raised his voice as he looked at Hannah, "I apologize... I did that. It's real."

"..."

"..."

The Baby Crew, as well as Golden Fox, could really only look at Paragon in disbelief. As for the man, the only thing he could really do was let out a scream.

A short scream, that is; as Paragon kicked his head.

"..."

"...Well, that's that," Hannah was still quite perplexed as to what just happened, but she was the first one to shrug her shoulders and walk away, "I'll let Empress know what we've learned—"

"Kha!"

And before Hannah could finish her words, another scream echoed through the air. She quickly looked back, only to see Paragon... waking up another member of the House of Super by breaking her finger.

"What are you doing!?"

"We have to ask everyone," Paragon didn't really look at Hannah and the others and just lifted the woman up, "Paige."

[...On it.]

"F... fuck," Bella quickly looked away, "Is... this what they call an antihero? If so, remind me not to mess with him."

"..." Hannah didn't really say anything and just looked at Silvie, "You're... not gonna stop this?"

"They're terrorists," Silvie only looked away,

"They threw away their rights as soon as they started bombing people."

***

"Hey, we're not done!"

[Yeah, we are.]

"Don't you dare hang up on me, young lady- Hello!? Hello!? Fuck!"

The interrogation of the other members didn't really last long — not even a quarter of a minute. But alas, their information was useless and they didn't add to anything they didn't already know. But at the very least, it somewhat confirmed what the man said was the truth.

And all of that information was given freely to Empress... with an added insult here and there about her incompetence, of course.

"I swear... it feels like—"

"You're talking to yourself?"

"You heard what she said, Butcher?"

"I did."

Back in the Space Station, Empress was still inside the surveillance room — overlooking everything that's been happening on the surface of the planet. And right now, it was only her and Butcher inside the room.

"Don't you find it weird?" Empress then said as she looked at one of the monitors, "We have been trying to track any sign of them through all the wires and connections we could pull from... and yet there's nothing."

"..."

"And then we're finding out that there's activity on the ground?"

"That's true," Butcher nodded, "If it wasn't for that call, then we wouldn't have found out about it."

"..."

"..."

"I'll order for a lockdown," and with them just staring at each other, Butcher nodded his head and walked away. But before he could leave the room, Empress stopped him.

"No. If we're right and they're already inside... some of our people will be trapped with them," Empress whispered, "How many of your men do you trust?"

"You are the only one I trust in this ship, Empress."

"...That's sweet," Empress rolled her eyes, "But seriously, how many?"

"I already said it. You're the only one in this ship that I trust at a hundred percent."

"There are hundreds of normal humans here, Butcher! If those fuckers are in here, our priority is to keep them safe!"

"We're not heroes anymore, Empress," Butcher shook his bald head, "And right now, my priority is to keep the leader of this world safe — and that's you. We can't save everyone, you're the one who said that to us every day."

"Fuck!" Empress stomped her foot on the floor, causing the room to shake, "We're not going to leave these people—"

[Initiating Lockdown.]

And before Empress could finish her words, the lights in the room suddenly turned red.

"...Fuck."

"We need to leave, Empress," Butcher shook his head, "We do not know anything about the House of Super and what they are truly capable of. You're in danger."

"No," Empress also shook her head as she looked Butcher straight in the eyes,

"I... am not leaving these people behind."