Jacob emerged onto the sixth floor, having left a trail of carnage from the second floor up.
The moment he stepped from the stairwell into the hallway, a storm of gunfire erupted. Bullets ricocheted off him, tearing his suit but flattening against the impenetrable dragon scales beneath. He kept walking straight toward the shooters, his laughter—a low, maniacal chuckle—echoing unnervingly over the gunfire.
He drew his S&W 500 revolver and, with six precise shots, dropped six guards. He stored the gun back in his pocket dimension, then aimed his index fingers like pistols. Crackling bolts of blue lightning shot from his fingertips, sizzling through the air and striking down the remaining guards, piercing their skulls and killing them before they hit the ground.
Silence returned. A single figure remained: a burly woman standing like a sentinel in front of a heavy office door, her glowing red eyes glaring at him with hatred.
Jacob walked up to her. "Are you the alpha of those idiots I killed on the fifth floor?"
The woman didn't answer with words. Instead, a guttural growl rumbled from her throat as she shifted. Her head distorted into a grotesque, dog-like visage, and black fur sprouted across her body. She grew taller, her form becoming hunched as her arms lengthened into claw-tipped limbs.
Jacob looked her up and down with open disgust. "Gross. What kind of werewolf or weredog are you? You creepy bitch."
The creature lunged, slashing at him with her claws. Jacob caught one arm, then the other, his grip like iron. Enraged, she snapped her fanged maw at his face. Jacob leaned back, planted a foot on her chest, and held her at bay.
"Disgusting!" He muttered, watching her drool drip as she snapped her jaws impotently like a rabid animal.
With a brutal twist, he snapped both of her arms at the elbows. A sickening crunch echoed in the hall. He then kicked her to the ground, and before she could recover, he spat a glob of molten lava directly onto her head. A sizzling hiss filled the air as the woman's skull melted away in a cloud of smoke.
He stepped over the smoldering corpse, muttering as he approached the door. "Creepy bitch. She's even uglier than Peter's alpha form."
He reached the door and kicked it open, the frame splintering under the force.
Inside the lavish office, a beautiful blonde woman, Elena, sat behind a mahogany desk, looking at him with wide eyes. The albino python coiled around her shoulders hissed in terror, sliding down to cower in a corner.
Jacob raised a brow, thinking. 'So this is Elena. I saw her in the auctioneers' memories, but she's even more stunning in person.'
The moment he entered, a primal fear gripped Elena.
Jacob smiled, a cold, predatory expression, and walked over. He sat on the edge of the desk directly in front of her, reached out, and gently traced her cheek with his clawed finger. "Why does a beautiful woman like you have to be so evil?"
Elena flinched, shaking off the paralyzing fear, and slapped his hand away. "You can't just touch a woman's face like that, you know."
Jacob's smile widened. "My bad. I couldn't help myself."
"Who are you?" She demanded. "And why are you attacking us?"
"I'm the Joker. Can't you see?" He said, gesturing to his face. "By the way, do you want to know how I got these scars?" He traced the grotesque smile etched into his nano-mask.
Elena said. "No. I want to know your real identity and..."
Jacob cut her off. His clawed hand shot out, cupping her face. When she tried to pull away, his other hand caught her by the throat, his grip firm but not crushing. "Stop squirming and look at me."
Elena stopped struggling. A slow, confident smile spread across her lips. "As you wish." Her eyes began to glow with a sinister red light as she locked her gaze with his.
Jacob seemed unconcerned. "I had a beautiful wife once, just like you." He began, his voice taking on a storytelling tone. "But she was so jealous. One day, she saw me talking and laughing with another woman..." He traced his claw along her jawline, leaning in so close she could feel his breath. "...and when I got home, she gave me Kanima venom, paralyzing me. Then she took a knife..."
He paused, his eyes boring into hers.
"...and she said: 'If you're going to smile at another woman, I'll give you a smile nobody will ever forget.' Then she stuck the blade in my face and gave me these scars." He let out a soft, crazy chuckle. "The funny thing is, she couldn't stand the sight of me after putting a permanent smile on my face..."
Just then, Jacob felt a strange stiffness in the hand holding Elena's neck. He let go and tried to clench his fist, but his fingers were frozen, the skin beginning to take on a dull, grey, stone-like texture.
Elena laughed triumphantly, scrambling back from the desk. "Finally! I was scared there for a second. I thought my ability wasn't working on you. It seems it's just affecting you slower for some reason."
Jacob looked from his petrifying hand to Elena. Her skin had turned deathly pale, and her beautiful blonde hair had transformed into a writhing nest of hissing snakes.
"I see." Jacob said, his voice calm despite his predicament. "You're a Gorgon."
"It's too late for you to realize that now." She sneered. "You were dead the moment you locked eyes with me!"
Jacob didn't panic. "I was careless, but..." In a burst of speed, his good hand shot out and seized her by the throat again. "If I kill you, the petrification stops, right?"
Elena's triumphant expression shattered into panic, but it was too late. Jacob released a surge of electricity directly into her body. She convulsed violently, her snake-hair writhing in agony, before she slumped into unconsciousness. He quickly inserted his claws into the back of her neck, sifting through her memories at a frantic pace.
By the time he was done, the stone-like stiffness was creeping up his legs, and his first arm was almost fully petrified.
He opened his mouth and unleashed a concentrated blast of dragon fire, reducing the Gorgon to a pile of ash in an instant.
The moment she died, the magical hold on his body broke. The petrified stone of his hand and arm cracked and flaked away, revealing healthy scales and flesh beneath.
Jacob clenched his newly restored fist. "That was scary. I almost died." He let out a shaky breath. "Let's not tell Allison and Lydia about this; they'd probably kill me themselves."
A smirk returned to his face. "Now, let's get the money and wait for that guy Dimitri to come back."
He walked to a bookcase lining the wall and pulled on a specific, fake book. With a soft click, a hidden door swung open within the wall. There was no lock; Elena and her partner had been arrogantly confident that no one would be stupid enough to steal from them.
Jacob entered the hidden room and let out a low whistle. Stacks of cash were neatly arranged on shelves. From Elena's memories, he knew it totaled around 160 million dollars. He swiftly stored every last bill into his pocket dimension.
His eyes then fell on the other items: various vials and bottles filled with preserved organs and blood from different supernatural creatures, alongside an assortment of potions. From the memories he'd absorbed from Elena, he knew their effects—some strengthened supernatural beings, others healed, and a few restored magical energy.
Jacob only took one thing: a small box containing twelve vials of magic recovery potions, which were crafted from magical herbs. He left the rest, his stomach turning at the thought of consuming something made from the body parts of another sentient being.
'I've drunk dragon blood potions from the system before.' He thought. 'But this feels different. This is just creepy. I can't drink a potion made from the organs of another person, supernatural or not.'
With a wave of his hand, he summoned a jet of fire, incinerating the grotesque collection of potions and organs. He exited the room, and thought. 'Too bad there are no other artifacts. They only had the two we already took—the cursed mirror and that dagger.'
With the loot secured and everyone in the building dealt with, there was no more reason for the structure to stand. Jacob made his way back down to the first floor and strode out the front entrance. He stopped about twenty meters away, turning back to face the six-story structure that housed so much suffering.
He raised a single hand. The air around him began to warp and shimmer with intense heat. A sphere of hot fire materialized above his palm, growing rapidly until it was a massive five meters in diameter, its surface churning with contained devastation. Jacob focused, his brow furrowing slightly as he willed the sphere to compress. It shrank, the energy within becoming denser and more volatile, until it was no larger than a basketball.
With a flick of his wrist, he sent the sphere shooting toward the building. It passed through the front door. The moment it reached the center, Jacob made a sharp, clenching motion with his fist. Then he activated his energy shield.
The sphere detonated.
There was no sound at first, only a flash of light so bright it bleached the color from the night. Then, a deep, earth-shaking thump was followed by a roar as stone, steel, and glass vaporized in a wave of burning heat. The force shot upward and out, eating the building from the inside. The structure didn't just fall; it came completely apart, crushing inward before being swallowed by a tower of fire that reached for the sky. As suddenly as it started, the fire faded, leaving behind only a smoking, melted pit filled with broken rubble.
Jacob found a large, scorched chunk of concrete, sat down, and waited.
He didn't have to wait long. A black sedan screeched to a halt near the ruins, and a powerfully built man—Dimitri—leaped out. His eyes frantically scanned the devastation, before they locked onto the clown-like figure sitting calmly amidst the chaos.
He stormed over, his voice a low, dangerous growl. "Clown! Where is Elena?"
Jacob smiled. "I turned her to ash." He said conversationally, as if discussing the weather. "It was a shame, really. She was a beautiful woman. Such a waste."
A bestial roar of pure agony and rage tore from Dimitri's throat. His eyes blazed a furious red. "I'LL KILL YOU!"
He moved in a blur, crossing the distance in an instant, and swung his fist toward Jacob's head.
Jacob's own hand came up with casual precision, catching the fist squarely in his palm. The impact created a visible shockwave that rippled outwards, kicking up a perfect ring of dust and debris from the ground around them. The concrete slab Jacob was sitting on cracked violently under the transferred force.
But Jacob hadn't moved an inch. He slowly raised an eyebrow, his golden eyes gleaming with predatory interest.
"You are strong!" Jacob mused, his voice a mix of genuine surprise and dark amusement. He tightened his grip on Dimitri's fist, the bones in the larger man's hand audibly creaking under the pressure. A wide, eager smirk spread across his face. "I hope you can last long enough for me to enjoy our fight."
To be continued... 😊