Eli stared out of the window of the high rise apartment as scores of police cars surrounded the front entrace, their blinding blue and red lights reflecting off the window. He reached in his pocket and turned the volume to maximum on his podcast to drown out the droning sound of the sirens.
"This isn't good. I need to hurry," Eli thought to himself.
He picked an old bulky laptop off a small desk and put one hand under it to support it, while typing in the password with the other.
Eli stepped over an pale, still body laying in front of a closet. He stopped himself abruptly, turning to look at the body. An old man laid with a large gash in the back of his head, his mouth was open and his glasses were shattered.
"It's all your fault!" Eli spoke through gritted teeth, "What kind of man is at home on a Saturday evening?"
He sat the computer to the side while it booted and squatted down right next to the unconcious man's ear.
"Maybe…if you just let me be with your daughter like we wanted, this could've ended differently. But you didn't want her with a 'loser' like me, huh…" Eli laughed maniaclly.
Eli's laughing was cut short as the laptop played as a short jingle, indicating it was fully booted. Eli picked up the laptop and opened the closet door with force, pushing the old man's body to the side with it.
He opened the web browser and sat down in the back of the closet.
Eli reached in his pocket and pulled out a small business card. The front had three short lines of black text on a white background and the back was completely black.
"That guy, The Oppourtunist gave me this after he got me away from Mechaboy," Eli thought to himself, "What'd he say? 'If I need someone in my corner, follow the instructions before 7 PM.'"
Eli snorted, "Someone in my corner, sure. I get the feeling that if I don't join this meeting, they'll come assassinate me," He thought to himself.
He looked at the business card closely and read the three lines of text on the front.
135.83.180.254
Password: TWx!0037
7 PM.
"There's no website or anything. Do I just…put this IP address into my web browser?"
Eli entered the IP address into his web browser, and the browser closed down immediately. After a few seconds, a new application opened in the taskbar of the computer. The application had a swirling grey background and a text box in the center. Eli stared at it for a while, before entering the password from the card and pressing Enter.
Several files downloaded themselves to his computer. Windows opened and closed, and the screen went off several times. After what felt like hours, a new application opened up, and he was placed in a conference call with five other names. There were no options or buttons in the conference call software, not even an option to end the call.
Eli read the names again and again while he waited.
Code Talker
Dirty Bomb
Cupid
Melpo
Thalia
Floren
"What are these, our villain codenames? I guess I'd be…Dirty Bomb," Eli thought to himself, "I don't want to play dress up and join some villain group, but I really don't have much choice right now."
Blood seeped under the door to the closet and touched Eli's foot. Mortified, Eli kicked the door multiple times with full force.
He yelled out, "Stupid old man! Don't. Bleed. On. My. Last. Outfit!"
A digitized voice scared him as he began to fall asleep, "Hello, I apologize for my tardiness. My name is the Code Talker. If you don't mind, please take a few seconds to familiarize yourself with the names on the screen. These will be your…coworkers, for lack of a better term. Their name is the only way you'll have to identify them. It may seem daunting but you will know when you meet someone else on assignment, so don't worry too much about remembering them."
There was a distant knocking, which grabbed Eli's attention before he quickly looked back at the screen.
"You have all been hand-selected by a member of the Black Company for consideration."
"The Black Company?" Eli thought to himself, "As in, the most famous criminal organization in the world? Jackpot! If I become a member, no one can stop me from doing what I want."
There was an aggressive knocking at the door to Eli's room. Eli adjusted slightly in the closet.
"Before we can allow you to join us, we need to test a few things: your power, your capacity for violence, and your willingness to destroy. Sounds pretty extreme, right? We picked you all because we know what you are capable of. And don't worry, we have a lot to offer you all as well. Tear away the adhesive on that card with the password. You all have 7 days. And if you fail, the police will be informed of whatever illicit activity we discovered you doing. That is all."
The video conference window closed immediately. Eli closed the window and set it to the side. He scratched at the card for a few seconds and tore off the adhesive, revealing some hidden text.
The incoherent, messy handwriting read, "Portland, Oregon. Wreak havoc."
Eli raised his eyebrows and thought, "I'm already in Portland, so that won't be too hard…"
Eil crumpled up the note and threw it to the side. Footsteps stomped around the room.
A voice screamed out, "Elijah Soverign! Come out with your hands where we can see them."
Eli thought to himself, "So I'm just a tool in some organization's scheme?"
He tapped his chin as he tried to determine his feelings on the situation, "Well…that's not too much different from my last job. At least I'll have enough funds to live like an alpha male should."
Another voice yelled, "We've ID'ed Jeremiah Silas! There's been severe head trauma, and there's no pulse!"
Eli smiled, "Let me greet my house guests before I get started on that."
He slid the closet door open to the surprise of a dozen officers. They all trained their weapons on him immediately. His skin cracked and his body glowed a bright yellow.
"Hello officers!" He shouted as they were blinded by the light.