Displaced

Chapter 74

With an evil grin, Blake momentarily softened the metal of the bathroom floor, allowing the grappling hook to sink in. Once it was deep enough to stay put, he re-hardened the metal and watched the rope attached to the hook go taut. The whole situation made him want to laugh out loud. Here he was, not just waiting for a group of idiotic assassins to break into his home but actively helping them do it. Still, he kept silent so as not to spring the trap too soon.

They'd thought they'd found a way through his defenses, the fools. Of course he'd thought of somebody trying to tunnel through the metal. That's why he'd created circuits running through every wall that would trigger if something broke them by, say, eating through them with acid. The alarm had gone off before they'd made it even two feet into the bottom of his fortress, and he'd already been standing in the adjacent hallway, ready for their arrival, when the acid had finally broken through and destroyed the floor of the restroom.

Finally, after what felt like an interminable wait, the first assassin poked her head through the hole. Only she wasn't an assassin. She was something he'd never thought possible: somebody from home.

He wasn't alone.

In his typical self-absorbed way, Blake had never once considered that there would be anybody else from Earth on Scyria, and why would he? He'd never come across another installation like the one that had brought him here. Hell, he'd never come across any other technology on that level at all! But now that he looked at the thin girl climbing out of the hole, with her messy short black hair and her grey eyes, it occurred to him just how stupid of an assumption that was. Why couldn't there be other installations hiding around the world? If you could build one, what would stop you from building many more?

He wasn't alone.

As that realization hit home, a weight that had been pressing down upon his soul, of which he'd been unaware this entire time, evaporated and a geyser of emotion sprang forth within him. His body trembled uncontrollably at the sudden onslaught, the shockingly strong feelings coursing through him clouding his mind and making him weep. There were so many things he wanted to say, but he found himself barely able to say his own name while remaining upright.

He wasn't alone.

This girl, Sofie... she was from Earth. She knew what a movie was. She'd listened to rock and roll. She'd wasted hours browsing shitty websites on her phone. She'd breathed the same air and stared up at the same sky. She knew the greatness of home, of the truth about civilization that he'd so far been unable to convey to Samanta, Leo, or the other Otharians. Finally. Finally, he'd found somebody who would look upon his works and understa-

A fist struck him squarely in the jaw and his head rocked back. He stumbled—more from surprise than from the blow's rather paltry power, really—and steadied himself against the nearby hallway wall.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?!" Sofie roared at him, rage hotter than the sun burning in her eyes. "DO YOU THINK YOU'RE SPECIAL OR SOMETHING?! THAT RIGHT AND WRONG DON'T APPLY TO YOU?! HUH?! SINCE WHEN DID BEING A FUCKING MURDEROUS DICTATOR BECOME AN ACCEPTABLE THING TO DO?!"

"You... you hit-" Blake stuttered, confused by the unexpected onslaught.

"THIS ISN'T A FUCKING GAME, YOU PIECE OF SHIT!" The girl hollered as she shoved him hard in the chest. "THESE ARE PEOPLES' LIVES YOU'RE MESSING WITH!"

"Hold the fuck up!" Blake shot back, his mind finally catching up to the moment. He straightened up to his full height and stared angrily back into the irate woman's burning gaze. "You think you can just waltz in here and fucking punch me in my own home? Who the fuck do you think you are?"