Two Page Shorts by Nick Venom (story read aloud TXT) 📖

you here, Guardian?” Max whispered, ducking under a row of bushes. 

“Yes,” Guardian muttered from behind him.

“Good, is my sister inside?”

“I can’t see inside.”

Max cursed under his breath, faint enough for the wind to take it and erase it from history. “Okay, can you help me get inside?”

“Yes, you should be able to turn invisible temporarily. Activate your armor.”

Max didn’t hesitate to activate his armor, a small cyan-colored flash attracting the eyes of a few officers.

“Willows! Kent! Check out the east side of the building.” The police chief barked. Max heard the heavy footsteps of two officers quickly approaching him. 

“How do I turn invisible?” Max asked.

“Say ‘invisible’.” Guardian monotony responded.

“This power is rather self-explanatory, isn’t it.”

“I didn’t create it. If I did, it would be more powerful and complex.”

Max shook his head. “Oh help me, God.” He then glanced over at his shoulder, hearing the footsteps almost nearing him. “Invisible.” He turned invisible, disappearing before the officers could see him. 

Now invisible, he stood up and crossed towards the school building. He leaned against a wall, next to a locked ladder. He formed an Ice Dagger, using it to forcefully crack off the lock. With it disabled, he entered the ladder, climbing up to the roof.

Once there, he found an entrance that led him to the top floor of the three-story building. He jumped down, landing with a heavy ‘thud’ sound.

Immediately, he heard footsteps approaching him from the ground floor. They climbed the stairs at a quick rate. Max scrambled to get against a wall, peering out from it as two men reached the top floor. One man, a slightly chubbier man, was out-of-breath. While he regained his oxygen, the other man looked around for the cause of the noise.

“Boss heard footsteps coming from up here?” The chubby man said. “I don’t see anybody.

“Because they’re hiding, dingus. Why would these stragglers show themselves… unless they’re in Special Ed.” The man howled in laughter. The chubby man followed his laughter, losing all of the air he regained.

The men passed the corner Max hid behind. He whispered “Ice Daggers” and summoned his dagger. He waited for the men’s back to be completely exposed before striking. He stabbed the skinner man, throwing him to the ground. He grabbed his head and turned it to face him, spewing his elemental essence at the man and covering his mouth. 

Max turned his attention to the chubby man, striking in his stomach. The man fell to the ground, his pistol bouncing out of his grip. Max noticed the weapon, spewing the chubby man with his elemental essence to silence him. He didn’t kill either of the men, only using his elemental essence to tape their mouth closed and tie them up. The elemental essence wasn't forged correctly, but Max could care less. They worked, which was the only thing he cared about.

Max went to the stairs, peering down to the ground floor. He locked eyes with a female, who was standing on the ground. She wore a ski mask, aligning herself with the people holding the school hostage. All Max needed to do is drop his dagger and it would kill her. 

Kill her? Max thought. He didn’t want to be a murderer.

Max shook his head at the woman, putting his finger to his lips. He tried to shush her and stop her from escaping, but she did so anyway. She ran away from the stairs, stripping Max of his perfect opportunity. He made a mistake.

 

 

“Cops on top!” shouted the female. “Kill a hostage.” He heard her voice echo from the ground floor. Max’s eyes widened as he raced down the staircase. He made it to the ground floor but stopped at the sight of a hostage with a gun to their head. The hostage was hidden under a hoodie.

“Move and I’ll kill her… are you a cop or a cosplayer?” A man wearing a ski mask and a black jacket, with solid black pants, asked him. 

“Throw the gun away!” Max said in a deeper voice in an attempt to intimidate the man. It wasn’t working. “Else you’ll be dead like your friends.” He taunted.

The guy scoffed and looked over at his female accomplice. “He doesn’t seem like a cop. More like a teenager who’s a wannabe hero.” He chuckled. His female accomplice broke a smile. “Drop down or I shoot.” 

Max had the Ice Dagger before his back, prepared to throw it. He hadn’t learned how to throw daggers, but his overconfidence ensured he was okay.

He wouldn’t be.

He threw his dagger at the guy, but his aim was off, leading to the dagger grazing his left hand. It dealt small damage, but nothing fatal.

The guy laughed and pushed the gun barrel towards the hostage’s head and loaded a bullet into the chamber. “If you have the advantage, don’t miss it.” He taunted. He squeezed the trigger, unloading a chamber of lead into the hostage’s head. The hostage fell to the ground and the hoodie flew off. The hostage’s face landed on the ground harshly, facing Max.

Max’s jaw fell. The hostage that was killed turned out to be Max’s sister, Madeline. Max tensed up and the guy laughed. “Oh, you must have known her then. That or you thought this was some type of movie where the hero saves the hostage at the last moment. Unfortunately for you, this isn’t a movie, it’s reality.” The guy said. He raised the gun at Max who started tearing up. “Ice Assault Rifle” He shouted. An M4 made out of ice appeared and Max gripped onto the trigger. The assault rifle roared to life, filling the guy with bullets before moving to the female accomplice. 

After filling both of them with bullets, Guardian appeared and took the assault rifle away from Max. Guardian raised his staff and chanted a spell. A small purple mist came out of the orb and floated towards and above the hostages. The mist knocked out the hostages as Guardian whizzed Max out of the building. Max looked at his sister’s body before he was rushed out.

A Swat force penetrated the building to see knocked out hostages and dead robbers. The Swat swarmed the building and found the other two targets. They arrested the alive targets and took in the dead targets. They freed the hostages and analyzed the school. The police chief then quickly issued a statement to a crowd of newspapers. 

“The people that robbed the bank fled to the school and took hostages. Due to unknown circumstances, a hostage was executed and signs of a fight were found. This led to Swat intervening and taking down all four suspects. The crime is being investigated for a fifth suspect, but that is all.” The chief concluded. They didn’t notice Guardian and Max peering over the edge of the roof at them. Max, with tears in his eyes, watched as the body of his sister was put into an ambulance. Guardian shook his head and stood on the edge of the roof. Max, on the other hand, bawled his eyes out. His sister was gone.

 

 

***

 

 

“I want him dead.” A man in a suit ordered another man, who was dressed in a black cloak.

The man in the cloak hid his face from the suit-man. “I need five million upfront.” He demanded.

“Deal, you’ll get the other five after the deed’s done.”

The cloaked man nodded and looked out of the room that the two stood in. The room was at the pinnacle of a large and skinny skyscraper that overlooked the entire city of Chicago. A banner under the room read, ‘Smithson Incorporation Opening New Store In Willis Tower’. The man glanced over his shoulder at the suit-man. “I want Renix’s daughter dead!” Kenny Smithson declared.

“I’ll kill her within five days.” The cloak-man told Kenny.

“Perfect, I can’t wait for Renix to crumble once his precious Skylar is left dead like a stray dog. Make sure you don’t headshot her. Let her feel intense pain.” The cloak-man nodded before jumping out of the window. The wind picked his cloak up and revealed the sniper that the man had attached to his back. In his pockets were twin suppressed pistols. The man’s hood fluttered to reveal the color of his hair---a whitish-gray hair styled messy and draped over his forehead. 

Instead of falling to his death, darkness surrounded him and floated him down. He reached another roof, jumping from roof to roof to search for his target and gather data about her. What was her usual route, who were her friends, where did she go to school? He wanted everything.

Meanwhile, Kenny---who remained in the skyscraper---muttered to himself. “After Renix will be other competitors. I’ll be wealthy and the only person left fighting. Then I’ll unleash them and the Underground will be mine.” He looked out of the window. “Bow down, Chicago, to your new ruler!”

 

 

Hello All!

 

The section above following Kenny and the cloaked man will be an Extended Challenger Universe (ECU) exclusive; teaser scenes. These teaser scenes work the same as Marvel’s post-credit scenes. 

Element: Origin will work as the first installment in the ECU, pathing the way for future releases. Similar to Marvel, these releases will be separated into phases. Phase One will include the following releases (which can be found on this account and in different forms {short story, four-episode seasons, eight-episode seasons, twelve-episode seasons, and more} ):

 

 

Element: Origin (Short-story) The Insurgents: Season One - The Rise of the Insurgents (Four-episode season) Jarvis Light: Chapter One (Short-story) Impossible Girl (Short-story) Element: Season One - Becoming A Hero (twelve-episode season) The Hunter: Season One (eight-episode season) [June 2021 - July 2021] The Zombie Infection: The Dead Walks

A man turned the corner, basking in the fleeting sunlight, before walking down an abandoned road. Armed with a Sporter 22, a scope attached to the gun, he pressed forward. He had a duffle bag strapped to his back, following his every move. 

The man passed by the broken front window of a restaurant, nonchalantly glancing at it, before retreating a few steps to meet with the object. He stared into the window, seeing a reflection of himself. His charcoal-black hair was overgrown, dangling in front of his eyes and extending to an inch or two on all sides. His hair---that used to be well-maintained and luscious---was unkempt and withering. He hadn’t washed his hair in half-a-year. His body hadn’t been washed in less time than that.

His black bomber-jacket was zipped half-way, exposing the blank black tee under it. The tee was wrinkled, affected by his bad hygiene. A sling for ammunition rested on his chest, sliding towards his right hip.

His jeans were torn at the ends, dirt encasing the strings spilling out of the worn-out jeans. The color was fading, changing from its deep blue to a whitish-blue.

“Where has my handsomeness gone?” He asked himself, his eyes staring deeply into his reflection. These few months had changed him drastically. The torture didn’t help either.

The man continued further down the street to a corner gas station. He raised his Sporter 22 to his chest as he approached the gas station’s large sliding doors. The sliding doors were smashed in, similar to the nearby large windows, but there were marks of corpses and bullet holes. 

Somebody made their last stand in the deteriorating gas station.

The man passed through