"That mouth of yours will get you killed one of these days, Nexus; unfortunately, today is not that day," Draven grumbled while flicking his hair out of his eyes and gliding down toward the ground from the sky.
"I recommend you all put your guns down, as I am not fond of having weapons pointed at me under any circumstances." He stated while clasping his hands behind his back and standing in a regal posture.
"Nexus…" Holding up a handgun and pointing it at Draven, who stood a few feet away, the general spoke softly, apparently wanting my input.
"Do as he says, General; there is no point in trying to fight, and considering his twisted personality, I don’t doubt hes up to something; however, killing you all isn’t his main purpose. That’s simply not how he thinks."
"Weapons down!" giving me a short nod, the General stored his gun into his hip holster and gave the command to his men.
"Wise Choice, General, and as Nexus has just said, I do have a purpose for coming here, although I do not approve of him calling my glorious personality twisted."
"Spoken like any well-deserving narcissist."
"Keep it up, and I will shut that mouth of yours and throw aside what I was told earlier by Lord Xipher." Hissing through clenched teeth, I could tell I was getting on Draven’s nerves, which made me smirk.
"Alas, I am only here to have a short conversation and set some things in motion; first and foremost, as sad as it is, General, you and Nexus here will be the only ones leaving the platform today. I apologize ahead of time for this, but…*SNAP*" With a click of his fingers, every single person and helicopter apart from myself, Draven, and the General Vanished from sight.
And if it weren’t for the vortex swirling at the center of the gate, I wouldn’t have had a single clue as to where they had all gone.
"Who’s being rude now, Draven? You just drew in a bunch of unsuspecting people into the Tower…again. I assume you used some type of command prompt that activated a clause that if anyone touches the surface of the mountain, they will be drawn into the first floor."
"Ding ding, we have a winner; however, I did make an exception for the Dear General; all things considered, I do need a messenger for the United States Government, someone with enough pull that they will be able to warn them of the consequences of trying to claim what doesn’t belong to them." Wearing a proud look on his face, Draven flicked his bangs out of his eyes and smiled cheerfully at the horrified General.
The source of this c𝓸ntent is frёeweɓηovel.coɱ.
"They…they vanished, one second here, the next…gone." The General muttered with a slight quiver in his tone.
"Decent move, still not on par with something he would have done, but decent nonetheless," taking the opportunity to toss a verbal knife at Draven, I spoke uncaringly about the potential death of dozens of people and the loss of hundreds of millions in dollars worth of Helicopters.
"Words hurt, you know, Nexus, anyway, do report back to your superiors that the Undead Tower is open to anyone who wishes to enter, no matter their age, nationality, wealth, or health; all are welcome."
"And you…Nexus, we will meet again," with that said, another portal opened behind Draven, and just like that, he was gone.
"Fucking cockroach hides at the first sign of light," I growled while leaning over and spitting on the platform.
"How….how are you so calm…" After several minutes of silence, with only the wind being our soundtrack, the General finally spoke up.
"It’s not my first time seeing something like this. I wish I could say things will get better, but they won’t; eventually, there will be thousands of people in the world, all equally as dangerous as Draven; he is but the first and, by a long shot, the biggest threat."
"He can be spoken with and tends to let out some information when dragged into a conversation, but at the same time, he is a fucking lunatic, so you can only trust a fraction of what he says." Sheathing my weapons, I cast a sidelong glance back at the gate and began walking toward the opposite end of the platform until I could look out over the edge.
"My…my men?"
"It’s likely they are inside of the tower now, just as he said, but I wouldn’t have put it past him to have kidnapped or killed a few for his own needs."
"Honestly, I’d be more concerned about the loss of the Blackhawks and Osprey. Human collateral damage is one thing, but those machines being in the hands of someone like Draven is far more worrisome. Although they aren’t war machines, they are transport ships, and you’ve given him the advantage of moving his forces with relative ease."
"I’m sorry to say I can’t give you more peace of mind because even though all of them are trained operatives with full tactical gear and guns, it won’t do them much good in the long run."
"Guns will become increasingly ineffective as time goes on, so while they will be confused, they are still beginning their climb with a more favorable starting point."
"For now, you need to get ahold of yourself, General, and get on the horn with the nearest command post to have someone pick you up," I said while catching sight of movement about 300 yards to the southwest, a group of returners making their way up the mountain toward the platform.
"While I could take you to the nearest town, it would take hours, and I doubt you would want to get the princess treatment from someone my age, considering it would be horrible for your public image."
"What about you? What do you plan on doing?" Even if he was shaken by what happened, the General was an experienced man and was starting to recover mentally throughout our conversation.
"Don’t worry; I’m not going to up and disappear into the night; that’s not my style; however, I march to the beat of my own drum and refuse to be under the thumb of any one individual. As such, I will be in touch in the near future, so don’t worry."
"However, for now, I need to get ready to meet the first batch of my people who are heading up," after saying my final piece, I stepped forward and walked off the platform, much to the General’s surprise, and free falling down hundreds of feet…as I plummeted, my thoughts were clear.
’I just wanna go back to my workshop; why is it always me that gets stuck with the annoying busy work.’
END OF ACT 2