Chapter 8 The Embodiment Of Decomposition
"Umm...umm...whose Harrison? Uh...shit, I meant to say that I am Harrison."
"Oh, I am Sam Austin."
The two shook hands while Harrison chuckled, "Sorry, it's just that it's not every day that you get to meet your role model."
"I understand. Anyways, are you alone?" Sam asked.
"Nope, I am with my parents," Harrison replied.
"Great, would you mind if I come in?"
"Really?! I mean, yeah."
Arthur nearly fell from his seat when Sam stepped inside the house. He glanced at Harrison's parents, who commented when they saw him.
"You're the guy my son can't stop rambling about," Arthur said.
"Dad!" Harrison replied, embarrassed.
"What? It's true," he insisted.
Sam approached Harrison's parents and shook hands with them.
"Mr. and Mrs. Samson, allow me to introduce myself. I am Sam Austin, the CEO of Austin Industries."
"Ooh, we already knew that," Maria said with a smile.
"Oh, well. Since you know who I am, I'll explain why I'm here. You see, my company and I have been keeping a close eye on your son's profile, and we would like him to work with us one day. I came here to tell you he's been offered an internship at Austin Industries."
When Harrison heard those words from his mouth, his brain vibrated with shock. His heart rate increased. This was in such a way that it nearly burst out of his rib cage.
His parents quickly got up to their feet and rushed to him. They encompassed him with tight embraces while he stood motionless.
"Oh, Congratulations, son," said Arthur.
"Oh, I'm so proud of you, Harrison," said Maria.
They released him from their grip sometime after. Harrison looked at Sam with dubiety.
"Are you sure that this is real? I hope that you're not pulling my leg?"
Sam approached him and placed his hand on his shoulder. He tightened his grip to assure him.
"I assure you, it's real. Now if you dont mind, could you come with me for a second? It won't take long."
He nodded and left the house with him. They found a Mercedes Benz AMG GT parked close to the pavement. Harrison placed his hands on his head with his mouth gaped in response.
"No fucking way! Please tell me that I'm dreaming!" He exclaimed while Sam approached the vehicle with a smile.
Standing in front of the car, he gently caressed the door handle. In doing so, the door automatically opened.
Harrison's brain vibrated with more shock. It was a matter of time until it ruptured, much like an explosive in its shell.
"OMG! It is real!"
He went to the other side of the car and caressed the door handle. When it opened, he entered and looked around as the door closed.
The flat-bottomed steering wheel, covered in Alcantara trim, featured a strip of a blue lens, while the center console had eight buttons neatly placed in a V format.
Meanwhile, the dashboard consisted of a tablet-styled screen controlled by a command system. Where else the center console separated the cabin in half and had low seats. The low seats were divided by a considerable transmission tunnel.
"So, shall we?" Sam inquired.
He nodded as Sam started the car. When the vehicle vibrated, he placed the gear lever on the first one before putting his foot on the accelerator. Once he did that, he drove the car to an unknown location.
*************
They arrived at an abandoned building on the city's outskirts sometime later. At first glance, Harrison narrowed his eyes with skepticism.
He parked the car in front of the building and switched it off. The door automatically opened when he caressed the handle. Harrison did the same thing as well.
While they approached the building, the young lad scoured his surroundings. The parking lot was littered with broken glass pieces and mutilated beer bottles. The metal-span insulated metal panels that once garbed the interior were now coated in a brown, goldish pigment. Thus symbolizing the building's degradation. A set of multi-pane windows look down on them, broken and full of disdain.
"I don't mean to sound like a scaredy cat, but isn't this place dangerous?" Harrison asked.
Sam smirked and said, "Relax, there's nothing to be afraid of. "
Once they got inside, they halted. Sam turned around to face Harrison, who looked at him with skepticism. The two had a stare-down for a while. This intensified the atmosphere around them while the young lad was filled with a sense of discomfort. He clenched his fist and narrowed his brows. Now, he waited for Sam to act.
"I know that you have abilities," Sam said.
"Yeah, I do. I'm good with computers, and I'm partly good with basketball too."
"I'm not talking about that."
Harrison looked at him with a dumbfounded expression.
Then suddenly, Sam fired an ultraviolet ray at him. The blast sent him flying as he fell on his back and groaned. It carved a hole in his shirt.
"I fired an ultraviolet blast at you," Sam said.
Harrison stood up with difficulty. The hole carved by the attack bared his chest. He had third-degree burns.
"What the fuck, dude?!" He exclaimed with anger.
Harrison punched the ground forcefully, and the Earth shook violently. A short while afterward, the building's flooring was split in half by an earth fissure. Pieces of the ceiling started to fall on Sam. He instantly took flight and hovered in the air.
He skillfully flew in several directions to avoid the rubbles when he looked up. After Harrison's wrath had simmered, Sam landed on the left side of the split flooring. He moved slowly toward the boy and stood toe to toe with him. His right hand then rested on his left shoulder.
"Harrison, Imma need you to calm down!"
"Then why the hell did you try to kill me!" He shouted.
"I wasn't trying to kill you. I needed a catalyst that would enable you to manifest your powers. Look, I'm sorry for what I did, ok."
For a moment, he calmed down and took a deep breath. Then, he looked up.
"How did you know that I have powers? Only my mom and dad know."
"I'll fill you in as we go," he replied.
"Go where?"
***************
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Diana was composing a song at the studio. While she sang, the mic siphoned the tone of her beautiful voice.
Her coach stood across the room behind the glass wall. The pitchness of her voice started to increase, disrupting the tune's soft flow. Her coach responded by raking his face with his right hand and sighed.
He looked up and called out to her, "Diana!"
She failed to respond as his words were inadvertently brushed aside.
"Diana!" He shouted once more.
At last, she responded and looked at him.
"Oh, uh, sorry, sir," she chuckled. But when her gaze met his, she only encountered a stern expression.
"You were on track until you increased the pitchness of your voice. What happened?"
"I'm so sorry, Mr. Graves. I didn't realize that," She apologetically said.
"Ok, let's try this again. We'll take it from the top."
She sang once more. However, thoughts about her recent misfortunes plagued her. Although she still sang, she abruptly switched to another musician's vocal style. Of course, Mr. Graves noticed this and pointed it out. He slammed the screen of the booth from outside.
"Damn it, Diana, what is going on with you today? Why are you using another style other than yours?"
"My apologies, sir, I thought that..."
"Listen, Diana, I can see you are not in a good space right now. I'm afraid that we'll have to stop recording for today. We'll continue tomorrow."
"Wait, wait, we can't stop recording. I am not in my element, but please give me another chance. I'll make sure that'll focus this time," she pleaded.
Before turning his back against her, he rubbed his eyes and said, "We'll continue this tomorrow."
*************
"So let me get this straight, you're trying to tell me that we are related?" Harrison inquired.
"Yes, we are siblings," he replied as the left side of his face was buried under his left hand. His left hand perched on the arm of the chair that he sat on. The two were situated in the cabin of his private jet.
"Wow, it's not every day that you hear that you're related to your billionaire role model," he chuckled.
"It's not just that kiddo. We have other siblings roaming God's green Earth."
"What do you mean others?" Harrison asked.
"Well, how can I put it? There are four of us, siblings in total. Now we have to find the remaining two," Sam replied.
"What about my mom and dad?" Harrison asked.
"We'll stick to the story about you gaining an internship at Austin Industries. "
**********
Later that night
When Diana returned to her apartment, something of interest intrigued her.
She looked below the balcony and saw a grey Mercedes Benz AMG. At first glance, she was mesmerized by the sight of that lavishing beast. Before entering her room, she saw that her lights were switched on.
She unlocked the door and opened it. She got inside, and much to her surprise, she found Sam sitting on her favorite chair with his legs crossed. By his side stood Harrison.
"Surprised?" He inquired with a smile.
She crossed her arms and furrowed her eyebrows.
"No, not really. Please explain to me why you broke into my house?"
"I didn't break in," he answered casually.
"Then how did you get in here?" She inquired with a stern voice.
"There's no need for you to get worked up, Miss Livingston; it's not like I stole something," he said with a chuckle.
"How do you expect me to remain calm when you broke into my house? I have a big problem with that, Mr. Austin. Surely you wouldn't mind if I called the cops."
She took out her cell phone from her purse and dialed their numbers. Once again, he fired a U.V. ray at her cell phone, which was in her right hand. With precise speed, she fired a wine-purple blast at the ray.
When the two forces collided, it repelled the three further away from each other as a shockwave erupted. The shock wave did away with the fragments of her room. All that was left were wooden beams and some portions of the wall.
Once the dust settled, Sam approached her with Harrison. Before them stood a mortified Diana, her pupils were violet-purple while a wine-purple aura encompassed her body.
Then something out of the ordinary occurred. The intensity of her aura reached the wooden beams above her. The wooden beams began to deteriorate and fell from the roof. Moreover, the tiles around her were now coated with mold, bacteria, and mildew. They also cracked while the subfloor rotted away.
"So you can make things rot, like go super bad?" Harrison inquired with intrigue.
She calmed down as her aura dissipated, and her pupils returned to normal.
"I hope you are happy, Mr. Austin. Because of you, I don't have a place to stay. If you don't want me to call the cops, then you'll have to explain to the landlord about this mess and find me a proper place to stay."
"Consider it done."
He stood up from her chair and approached her.
"Now that that's sorted, we need to talk. It's about your powers."
************
From the dark, black void of space, a spaceship sped at breakneck speeds, entering the Earth's atmosphere.
Once deep into the Earth's spheres, it descended upon the troposphere, eventually. It crash-landed on an iceberg.
The spaceship was giant and was draped in a black and silver striped pigment. Then, a man in armor stepped out of the ship as the staircase descended. Once his feet graced the white, mushy land, his mask detached itself and revealed Gordon, the Knight of Bloodshed.
He sniffed the air and commented, "So, this Earth? A unique landscape, I wonder if this place houses life forms."
He took out a small device. It had features similar to a compass. The device directed him in a northerly direction.
"North it is."
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