The Human Experiment

Tiny Egos

Chapter 10

           Adrenaline poured through her body when he had laid hands on her. He hadn’t even let her explain anything. All he knew was she wasn’t part of his construct. That hadn’t been what set the man off. It was the fact that she had no idea who he was. He said that he was a celebrity. A star on the rise. Men wanted to be him, and women everywhere wanted him period. The whole self-bio had been entirely underwhelming. She had met a system guardian twice this guy’s size and a male fae that put his looks to shame. Oh, he cleaned up nicely. With a fitted suit, clean cut feathered light blonde hair, and crystal blue eyes. She could admit he was pretty enough, but he wasn’t like the heart throbs of the 90’s or 2000’s. Rebels and bad boys. In comparison this guy had what girls in the twentieth century called ‘small d**k energy’.

           When he got angry enough by her lack of admiration for him, he tried to take her somewhere. She didn’t know what he planned on doing. Between the body they had seen and her encounter with Vincent she was less than inclined to accommodate.

           “Let go!” She was hoping someone from the crowd would hear her yelling and turn in their direction. She doubted he would want that kind of attention even if it was only a construct. Unfortunately, not one person looked their way. Either they were too far away and the event too noisy or, his construct was programed not to notice his more undesirable behaviors.

           “Stop fighting.” He was glaring at her now as he ducked and blocked her weak attack on him. Even if it wasn’t helping her get away at least it was keeping him from making any headway.

           “I suggest you let her go.” Caught by surprise he missed blocking her next hit which nailed him right in the family jewels. He was tougher than he appeared, however. Instead of releasing her like she thought he would, he tightened his hold on her wrist. He wasn’t completely unfazed as his eyes filled with moisture. Turning to the one who had addressed the actor. His features became indifferent. Her shoulders sagged as her gaze landed on the four people standing a few feet away. She narrowed her eyes at Vincent but ignored him in leu of the other three.

           “I think a shock collar is in order here. What do you think Everly?” Ian’s words were spoken without heat, but she could see the fury raging in his light brown eyes.

           “I assume this is Everly?” The man could have been talking to any of them, but his eyes had landed back on her.

           “I think you’re being too nice Ian.” The disembodied voice of Everly startled the man. His grip loosened as his concentration moved to the owner of the speaker.

           “I second that.” Lydia stated as she stalked forward towards them. Lifting her hand, a flame appeared on her palm. Rivulets of fire dripped down like water as light cast shadows across her sinister face.

           Seeing the man distracted she tried to take advantage of the opportunity. Yanking her arm as hard and as quick as she could. Her hope died in her chest. He must have been expecting her to do something and had waited to tighten his hand again. A look of pure arrogance sat on his face before he managed to return it to the black look he had adopted earlier. He was enjoying playing with her she realized. This was not how she was going down. Lydia had stopped a foot away from them. Her eyes drifted to Scarlett before moving back to the man who still held her. He wanted to toy with her then she was changing the game.

           “Burn him.” She had to admit her voice had come out more sadistic sounding then she had intended.

           “He’s still holding you. You’ll be burned too.” Scarlett glanced at him from the corner of her eye. His triumphant smile was all the push she needed.

           “It’ll be worth it.” Lydia shrugged as if it mattered little to her who got hurt. The small pillar of flame shrank and rounded out creating a ball of fire. She didn’t even blink as she lobbed the thing their way at a speed too fast for them to avoid. He reacted exactly as she predicted. Too vain to risk permanent disfigurement he let go and dove to the ground. Not that the damage would have translated to his actual body outside of the system. The flame that had been hurtling their way was doused at the last second by Luca. He was quick to counter the attack looking at Lydia questioningly. Apparently after all that time working with her inside her construct had taught him nothing about Lydia at all.

           Scarlett walked over to Lydia’s side only turning to face her attacker when there wasn’t a chance of him getting her again. She was no actress. The only reason her threat had worked was because she meant it. That didn’t mean she was foolish enough not to be leery of him in general. She even briefly wondered if he was who DAX had been warning her about.

           The man stood himself up, holding his hands up in surrender. The wrist band flashed instantly on his wrist as his jacket sleeve had fallen to reveal it. Scarlett noticed the confusion on Ian’s face when he had come to stand beside them.

           “Who are you?” The stranger took his time brushing the dirt from his clothing before he would answer.

           “I’m Miles the creator of this construct. Who are all of you?” Ignoring the question Ian pressed on.

           “What were you trying to do exactly?” She noticed the pinch of Miles’s mouth before he sighed while running his fingers through his hair.

           “I was trying to get her to leave. This is my construct and she’s intruding. All of you are. This is against the rules. I’m not paying for this session at all. You’ve all ruined it.”

           “Just how were you expecting to make her leave by dragging her off?” Luca was the one to ask this time and she couldn’t help thinking it was a very good question.

           “With the lift.” He responded jerking a thumb over his shoulder to indicate the direction he had been taking her.

           “Lift? I’ve never heard the wrist bands called that.” Miles rolled his eyes at Luca.

           “I don’t use the wrist band directly. My construct includes an actual exit that’s tied to the band.” Clearly the guy was beyond over the top.

           “Everly, can you confirm?” There was a brief silence after Ian’s question before a response came.

           “There is an entrance to an acclimation chamber attached to this construct. The chamber however has been blocked and I can’t tell where it would lead to now.”

           “What is she talking about?” Miles demanded in a huff. They were going to have to explain everything to him. Scarlett wasn’t sure they should. He was lying about his intentions earlier. She was positive. There just wasn’t a way to prove it.