Two Page Shorts by Nick Venom (top reads .txt) 📕

*NOTICE*

The previous scene is the end of the short story, but every Extended Challenger Universe (ECU) entry will feature a teaser scene similar to Marvel’s post-credits scene. This notice will not be featured on every entry except for the first phase of the ECU [Element: Origin, The Insurgents: Season One, Jarvis Light: Chapter One, Impossible Girl, Element: Season One, and The Hunter S1]. In the future, every entry will feature a teaser scene that hints at the next installment in the franchise or towards the big bad of the universe (similar to the post-credits scene that showed Thanos to be the big bad of the universe for the first three phases of Marvel).

A middle-aged plump man sat at his desk overlooking an enclosure that had barbed wire covering the tops of every wall. The enclosure was in the shape of a square with several buildings scattered within the ten acres of land. One of the buildings in the middle of the enclosure stood at a towering height of 2,000 feet, shaped similar to a skyscraper. The building was nicknamed the ‘Skyscraper’ based on the similarities. 

The plump man sat on the fifth floor of the Skyscraper and looked over a large rectangular window that wrapped around the building and gave him a good view of the courtyard nearby. People wearing bright orange outfits mingled in the courtyard, watched by men hovering over them dressed in dark blue outfits with a taser and gun on their belts. One of the officers looked up at the Skyscraper and nearly made eye contact with the plump man. 

A man who looked to be in his early twenties with dirty blond hair, wearing a dark blue outfit similar to the officers on the ground floor, approached the plump man. He had a tone build, unlike the older man. “Can I release the dogs tomorrow?”

“Why?” The older man asked.

“My boys are bored at the moment. They wanted some kind of entertainment so I decided to use the dogs to slaughter a few of them.” 

“Slaughter the prisoners?” The older man asked while raising one of his eyebrows. “Go ahead as long as the government doesn’t find out,” He said while chuckling. “Kill as many as you like. Oh, and let your boys take a couple of the women.”

“Thanks, Dad,” the younger man remarked before rushing out of the fifth floor and down to the ground floor, meeting with his ‘boys’. 

The older man shook his head while smirking. “My boy is maturing. Soon he’ll have the abilities to take over the Vault.” He then grabbed a file that read every name and codename of every prisoner. “I sent Trigger and the others to locate a few artificial humans, so I can replenish the ones that Steven will kill. This is the life” 

***

“You need more experiments?” Spark Shot asked someone via his phone. “I can prepare them.” 

“Do it. The 1st Edition has been created and on standby. They’re waiting for the souls. Project Life will rise.” A low voice responded.

“Yes, it will rise. Batch Zero is on its way to completion. There’s been a few dramatic waves, but it’ll be smooth sailing soon.” Spark Shot said, pacing back and forth in his room - a large room with only a few things being a bed, a desk, a rug, and a few drawers. “Project Life will rise.”

“You better not make a mistake. This needs to be kept out of the public’s eye.” The voice remarked.

“Absolutely, Caulton. I promise you that.”

“Doctor Caulton.” The voice corrected him. “Refer to me as Doctor Caulton - and I’ll see to it that you keep your promise.” 

“As long as I live.” Spark Shot said.

“Good… you better live long.”

Lakeside High adopted the newest ranking system of granting their students titles based on their raw power. The ranking system was based on Chess pieces with the King and Queen titles being the strongest and Pawns considered the weakest.

The King and Queen of Lakeside High were King Bryce and Queen Marci, two people that ruled the school and surrounding area with their immense abilities. Bryce was known to be courageous and kind, but strict and quick-to-anger. Meanwhile, Marci was regarded as the flower of the school, her beauty making almost every man---single or married--fall head over heels for her. She was also compassionate and intelligent, single-handedly responsible for winning annual duels against other schools. They made a great pair at the top of the rankings, unbeatable in many people’s eyes.

Under the King and Queen came their Knights, serving as their subordinates and assisting with any tasks assigned to them. The few knights in Lakeside were used as butlers, bodyguards, and tutors by the King and Queen, something that was seen as remarkable. To be in the presence of the King and Queen was something unfathomable to the lower ranks. 

Following the Knights were the Rooks, then Bishops, and---finally---the Pawns. Bishops and Pawns were thrown into a category known as Low Tiers. Rooks and Knights were considered Middle Tiers with the King and Queen, being at the pinnacle of the ranking system, were the High Tiers - they ruled over the school.

Meanwhile, Pawns were at the lowest ranking of the school, often mistreated by those with higher rankings. You would assume that the Pawns would clump together and fight against their mistreaters, but the reality of their situation was ten worlds apart from fantasy. The resentment in the Pawns was pushed towards a common enemy; Niko. 

He was the weakest of the pawn, ranked at the bottom of the school. He was mistreated by higher rankers and other Pawns. They never treated him like a normal person, bullying him for being weak and giving him the nickname of ‘Weakest Pawn’. It didn’t help that one of his best friends is one of the beauties of the school, ranked right under Marci in beauty, named Allison. She was a natural blonde, reaching 5’10 in height, and weighed right under 100 pounds. She was a skinny but not frail girl with pinkish skin and dark green eyes. Her eyes were memorizing. 

She wore a red and white skirt that dipped under her knees and a loose gray sweater on top. Many asked her about the weird paring, but she shrugged the questions off. 

In contrast to Allison, Niko had night-black hair that dipped to his forehead, curving to the left before it reached his eyebrows. He wore a black sweater that was a size too big for him, hovering past his waist. He wore creased jeans that looked to be black but had hints of blue in them. Unlike Allison’s happy demeanor, Niko wore a face of pity. However, he didn’t enjoy being treated with such pity. 

To add insult to injury, his other best friend named Jac was at Rook ranking and had a girlfriend. His girlfriend, Liliana, was a bright and shining girl who reached the same rank as Jac. They looked like a couple right out of a magazine; perfect in all regards. 

Niko met Liliana through Jac and found her to be a kind girl. Liliana, on the other hand, disliked Niko because of his lack of strength, but her opinion slowly changed. She grew to understand him over her three-year relationship with Jac.

The weird pairing between three high rankers and the Weakest Pawn in school brought a multitude of threats, the most apparent one being Ethan. He was at Bishop rank, slighter higher in the hierarchy, and treated Niko as a speed bump in his path towards love. He had an unrequited love for Allison and despised Niko for having a good ‘platonic’ relationship with her. 

His one-sided anger brought him to lay hands on Niko, along with the aid of his friends. This anger is what pushed him---one normal day---to track him down and wailed on him in an alleyway near the school. Ethan’s friends shared his anger, pounding Niko with blows from their fists, metal pipes, and baseball bats. They bruised and bloodied him, leaving him curled up in a ball as police rolled up. Unbethonest to them, a passerby noticed the one-sided beating and contacted the police. 

The boys scattered, jumping over fences and dumpsters, to escape the police. While they were being chased, an ambulance was called over and they picked up Niko’s near-lifeless body. The ambulance carried Niko to the nearby Lakeside Hospital. The doctors and nurses patched Niko up as best as they could before leaving him to rest in a hospital room. 

As Niko stared up at the ceiling, waiting for the recurring questions of “who did this to you?” and “what bones did you break today”, he reflected on the laundry list of injuries over the past years of his life, most at the hands of bullies and power-tripping higher rankers. This long list of injuries worried Allison and his friends, who visited him in the hospital for the hundredth time that year. 

“Niko, are you okay!” Allison exclaimed, her eyes bubbling with tears.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine.” He told her, smiling as if he wasn’t nearly beaten to death an hour before. “Just some minor damage, nothing more. It’s nothing to cry over.”

Jac scoffed, walking over to a whiteboard that housed the nurse schedule. “Is your rib cage being nearly torn apart count as minor?” He asked. Liliana stood by his side, shaking her head while smacking her lips. 

Allison grabbed his face and forced him to stare her in the eyes. “I’m not going to take a no for an answer. Who did this to you?” Allison asked, a hint of anger resting in her eye. 

“You already know the answer, Allison. It’s the same person as last time… and the time before…. and the time before that.”

“... Ethan, right?” Allison asked. “Don’t tell me that he’s been harassing you.”

Niko looked away from Allison, his eyes begging him to never make contact with her. He listened to them, staring off to the side. Jac noticed the movement, clearing his throat and taking the attention off Niko and onto himself. He gave Niko a free pass, for now. 

“You know Ethan’s in love with you, right? He intends on offing Niko, the closest male friend you have, which will leave you for the picking. Or at least that’s what he intends on doing. If it wasn’t for my strength and high ranking, then I would be in the same boat as Niko.” He explained.

Allison turned to face Niko. staring at his eyes. ‘Was it Ethan?” Niko reluctantly nodded, lighting a fire in her.

“Then this is all Ethan’s fault. I think you should tell him your real feelings, shut him down as peacefully as you could.” Liliana suggested. 

“You’re right, I’ll tell him my feelings up-front and stop him from attacking Niko!” Allison exclaimed. 

“That’s naive, Allison. Doing that will give you the opposite effect. It won’t stop him, only aggravate him further. You might as well load a gun for him, at that point.” Jac chimed in. 

Niko nodded, adding “yeah, I’ll take care of it.” 

“How?” Liliana exclaimed. “I’m sorry to say, but you aren’t strong enough to protect yourself. What would you do, try to bargain with him? Plead with him?”

“Lily!” Allison shouted.

“No, don’t get mad at her… she’s right. I’m not strong enough to protect myself.” Niko