Chapter 53: Rippling waters

(Which is why we must step forward and bring a new change...)

"Quite a talker, ain't she?" Tony asked the soldiers inside the vehicle. 

First, no one spoke, and tony was about to focus on his phone again when the female soldier replied, "That she is." 

"Finally, someone willing to talk!!" Tony smiled. 

"They are just nervous. It's not every day we get to escort a billionaire." She bumped the guy next to her as she said that. 

"Well, I'm sure you would have been more forthcoming if, in my place, it was her." Tony joked. 

"Ohh, I doubt that." The woman was quick to refute, causing surprise to Tony. 

"Hah~! So, I guess I am that attractive." Tony took a selfie with the man next to him.

"If I was retired, she would have been my angel, but right now, I would choose you over her any time of the day, Mr. Stark." The woman said with certainty. 

"I'm sure every soldier in this vehicle agrees unless they are thinking from their dicks," She boasted, which made Tony grin. 

"All of her welfare payments are worthless to us right now. Hell, we are not even sure if we'll live long enough to become veterans right now. So you, who are providing us with conventional weapons that will help many of us survive until that day, mean a lot more than what she does," She explained.

"You don't have to worry, ma'am. As long as the military has money to buy, stark will keep providing you with weapons." Tony jokingly saluted before leaning back in his seat. 

*BOOM!!!* 

*Screech~ tinnnn...*

"What...what was that?" Tony asked, hurrying to correct his posture.

"We are under attack" Everyone removed the safety lock on their weapons.

.....

"We have a problem, sir?" Coulson was talking on a phone as he walked on the streets of New York. 

(What is it, agent?) 

"Tony stark has been attacked on his trip to Afghanistan. The current condition is unknown as we didn't discover his body at the attack site." 

(Hmm. Despite his flaws, stark remains one of the most intelligent men on the planet. A valuable asset, particularly in light of the growing suspicion that El Enterprise has been compromised. Determine whether he is still alive and, if so, retrieve him.)

"That... I'm afraid but sir that might not be possible. The military thinks of this as their failure and given how stubborn they could be, I don't think they would allow us to be part of the rescue operation." He stopped before a building in the center of the city. It had a giant logo that reads "STARK". 

(Fine then remain passive. Keep an eye on the company. Stay in New York for some time. I have a feeling that things are about to become troublesome there.) 

"As your command, Sir." He said before closing the phone and putting it in his pocket.

.....

''Hurry, we don't have the whole day." A grunt yelled at the workers before walking to the table. 

The workers kept unloading the shipment into the warehouse as the guards walked around them with guns in their hands. 

The whole shipyard was silent except for them. Given that it was nighttime, there wouldn't be anyone here for a few hours. 

The guards were simply assigned as a precaution in case some homeless people happen to come here by chance.

One of those guards walked to the left side following the routine. Here, the light from the warehouse was dim at best. There were lots of metal crates sitting here creating a maze of sorts. 

The guard looked around and found nothing suspicious, so he turned around and started to walk back to the warehouse when a gloved hand emerged from the darkness and grabbed his mouth so he couldn't scream. 

Another one pulled him inside the darkness. Sounds of skirmish sounded in the darkness for a second before all went quiet again. The fate of the guard was unknown. 

Before long a man appeared out of the darkness. He was clad in all-black armor, a utility belt on his pants, and a large black cape covering his whole body that helped him camouflage in the dark. 

Only his lips were visible as the rest of the face was covered by a bat-shaped mask. 

He narrowed his eyes at the work going inside the warehouse before melting into darkness once again. In there were four unconscious guards tied together. 

Kar-el glanced at them once before jumping on the giant metal crate without any sound. He maneuvered around the place, hiding in the darkness and one by one picking guards without alerting any. 

Before long, all the guards in the outside perimeter were out cold, and only two guards in the inside perimeter were remaining. 

It was impossible to take one out without alerting the other as both were in the light.  

Kar-el ran at the closest one, keeping his body low and constantly zigzagging just in case. In his right hand was the judgment in its one-handed sword form. 

Just when both guards finally saw him rapidly approaching them, Kar-el throw 2 Batarang at the guard farthest to him. 

One of them embedded itself in his heart while the other found his forehead instantly killing him. 

The closer guard didn't have a better ending. He raised his semi-automatic rifle to fire in panic. But by then, Kar-el was upon him. Judgment sliced the gun into two parts as well as the fingers of his right arm. 

His scream died in his stomach as Kar-el re-angled the swing while spinning and separated his head in a clean swipe. 

*KAAHHAAA...* *AHHHHH!* *AAAAH!*.

Screams and chaos insured among the workers as they ran for their lives leaving everything behind. 

That was the cue for the grunt to get out of his shock as he rose from the table on which he was doing accounting work and leaned for the gun beside him. 

A tiny metal ball rolled at his foot as he touched the gun. It was a flash grenade that exploded on his face as Kar-el pressed a button on his utility belt. 

*Kreechhh* 

"Ahh~ What ...!" He groaned feeling his ears ringing. His eyes had it equally worse with blood leaking from them. 

He raised his hand before his eyes subconsciously as if he was protecting them from the sun. His eyes repeated blinking to provide him with at least some vision. 

After a few seconds, some of his eyesight was restored only to find a punch coming his way that made him unconscious. 

.....

"Umm... Fuck" The grunt woke up to find himself tied up on the chair he was sitting on. 

Opposite him were three people, the man in a cape that attacked them and two young teenagers. 

The man was reading the ledgers when the girl spoke, "Uncle, he is awake." 

"Can you tell me what are you two still doing here?" The man had a rough voice. 

"Come on, uncle. We want to have some fun too. We promise that we will be on our best behavior." The male teen aided his sister. 

"*Sigh* Forget it. It's not like it changes anything but you better keep your end of the bargain." The man closed the books and finally focused on the grunt. 

.... Kar-el P.O.V

Just when I thought that I would have some free time to myself before the God of thunder arrives. I got the job of babysitting. 

Lo and behold, children of eternity. 

The personification of present and past, respectively. 

Now and her brother Then. 

"Hiii...!!? What... What do you want?"

My, look at this guy. Trembling even though I didn't even do anything to him yet. 

"Dear, would you be kind enough to pass me those chopsticks from the table?"

"Gladly, dearest uncle." 

She handed them to me while giggling in anticipation of the upcoming show. What exactly does she mean by dearest? She didn't have any more uncles than I, after all.

I'm not falling for your tricks no matter how much you butter me up, Hmph. 

I smiled at the man tied to the chair as I raised his left hand and slowly inserted one of the chopsticks into his middle finger. 

He screamed like a slaughtered pig. Thankfully, no one would hear them except us and the other tied men. 

"Feels terrible, isn't it? You forced me into this, you know? This should not be like that if you only behaved." 

I shook my head in sorrow over this sad situation. What could be done now except for lamenting the situation we are in? So sad. I was being sarcastic of course. 

"Please, *hic* I won't do this anymore. I promise. I... I will plead guilty, just no more of this." 

He begged with tears spilling out of his eyes nonstop, nose starting to run too. Overall an unsightly figure different from when he was free and ordering people around. 

"Do you know why you are in this situation? What did you do wrong?"

I slowly asked him leaning a bit closer. 

"I know. I won't ever sell drugs.  Please I promise."

His eyebrows flashed a sign that he wanted to appear innocent in front of society and this case trying to convey that he was not lying. 

I shook my head regretfully. 

"No no. We live in a capitalist country. Who I am to stop you from doing business? Sell however much you want, that's not the issue here." 

His eyes widened and his eyebrows flashed again but this time his head titled a bit. All signs combined meant that he was confused about what did he do wrong if it was not selling heroin. 

"You see, isn't it a basic courtesy to ask the owner of the place before you started a business on their property? As a drug dealer, shouldn't you be more understanding about the value of territories?" 

"But...but this warehouse belongs to El enterprise which belongs to its CEO, Serena.", 

"Exactly, and she belongs to me." 

"Kyaa~ so romantic." "Cliche if you asked me" 

I ignored the background noises. 

"What do you think would have happened if someone found out about this, and this appeared on the news? You guys would have gone underground but what about our reputation? That's not a good look, is it?" 

I clicked my tongue to emphasize my dissatisfaction. 

"It's not me. I am just responsible for unloading crates, that's all. Our boss decided to keep it in this warehouse, we just followed orders. "

"Everyone thinks highly of El enterprise. No one would have thought that millions of worth of cocaine are stored in one of their empty warehouses. That's what the boss said." 

That was an excellent strategy, I would give them that. Sadly for them, they were out of luck with this one. 

"Who is this boss of yours, so to speak?" 

I must share a cup of coffee with the guy before I bury him 6 feet under. 

"That's... I ... Can't say that." 

He shuttered and lowered his head in defeat. 

I silently picked up another chopstick and inserted it into his ring finger. 

"Ahhh, noo. I can't, please... Don't, please understand that he will kill everyone I know and love. I'm innocent too. It's... It's just that circumstances lead me to this path. I can't lose my family. Please understand, I was just doing illegal business, that's not a big crime. Spare me.  I promise I will be good." 

"It had been three months, the tasks given to you were going great, and everyone was happy. You, your bitching wife, and the kids. Life was great and then they saw you. Two men saw you doing your shady business, your boss wasn't a kind man so, in fear, you shot them. That was your first kill." 

Blood drained from his face and his face turned pale in horror as Then kept recounting all the killings that he did in such detail that only he knew. 

He gulped and licked his outer lips, the common signs of desperation. Poor guy, trying to falsify his past in front of the personification of the past itself. 

"Family?" I smirked.

" What did you mean that you have family, kids? How does that have anything to do with this? Did they not enjoy the rewards of illegal business and the crimes you committed? Then why should they not also bear the consequences?"

"Does the people you killed didn't have any family? They are suffering too then why should your family be the exception?" 

If I keep forgiving every criminal I come across just because they have a family, how crazy that notion would be? Life isn't roses and sunshine. Life is a tragedy, a beautiful one but still a tragedy. 

" Fine, I respect your loyalty. That's a very rare quality in today's time. I have felt a bit of pity over your situation so how about this, we play a game and if you win, we leave you alive with all your cocaine." 

"What...what game?" He fearfully asked. 

"That's why you should let me finish. One condition remains unchanged, no matter whether you win or lose, you can't use this warehouse ever again." 

I patted him on his cheeks. 

"Don't worry, it will not be a rigged game." 

I stood up from my chair and pulled it a bit backward. I picked up the table on which Now was sitting and inserted it between the chairs. 

"Considering you sell cocaine, you must have tasted it before. The game is straightforward. You can see this girl here." 

I beckoned for her to sit opposite him, and she did so, looking at me with interest.

"All you have to do is snort more cocaine than this girl. Fair game if you ask me. How much can a girl inhale? But remember, you can't stop inhaling if she is still inhaling otherwise her brother will shoot you in the head." 

He was silent for some time contemplating the situation while I opened one of the crates and took out two pouches of cocaine. Both had at least half a kilo of the product. 

I tore a hole in them before putting each before two of them. 

"Remember this isn't a race. You can take it slow if you want." I added as the man finally reached a decision. 

He leaned his head completely on the table almost touching it, and used his fingers to draw the cocaine in a line before he started inhaling. 

'Now' was just observing him like he was some kind of exotic animal and he noticed that. He noticed that she was studying how he was doing it and felt relieved that the girl was new to this. 

Finally, 'Now' began to move and copied his example before she, too, began to do what he was doing, albeit slower and hesitantly. Her unfamiliarity was obvious.

I never said I was a good babysitter. 

The man was quick, and before long he stopped and leaned backward. His face showed ecstasy as he took heavy breaths. 

He already finished three lines of cocaine that he initially drew and thought that the girl couldn't possibly finish even the second line as it was her first time. 

It reminded me of the rabbit and the turtle story where the rabbit was too assured of his victory and ended up losing to the slow rabbit. 

Two minutes later, he once again had to start inhaling because to his surprise the girl finished the three lines too and started to inhale the fourth line. Her breathing was even as it was before. No sign of tension on her face as she steadily consumed one of the purest cocaine you can find in New York. 

The victory was already decided from the start. How could he win against the daughter of Eternity, a fundamental being in her own right? 

She could snort the whole cocaine kept in this warehouse without batting an eye. 

Dying from overdosage of cocaine doesn't sound that bad though. At least he will die while being in heaven even if he will rot in hell after death.