Chapter 21 part 2

Samuel

He felt his head pounding and his limbs feeling weak before he ever opened his eyes. It was just like when he was first put into the hospital.

This time, however, he wasn't waking up to bright lights. Nor was he in a room with kind doctors and nurses that he knew he took for granted.

Instead, he was outside and in the dark. At first he thought it was pitch black, until his eyes adjusted and he woke up a bit more.

He was still surrounded by people when he awoke, but they weren't kind in any meaning of the word. They were unfamiliar looking and gave off an odor. They were dressed in tattered rags and had dirty looks on their faces.

It was still cold though. It always had to be fucking cold.

"Ey, he's awake" a filthy looking girl shouted back to someone behind her.

Samuel blinked a few times. Then he blinked some more. His vision was blurry and he could've sworn this was all a dream.

The only sign any of this was real was the immense pain coming from his body. He could feel his heart pounding hard and his fingers twitch.

Suddenly a wretched smelling man— who was scarily skinny— stumbled his way over.

Samuel only glanced up at him, the whole situation feeling unreal. And then, in a fraction of a second, the toe of a shoe made harsh contact with his rib cage.

He let out an ugly sounding grunt. This was definitely not a dream.

Despite his weak appearance, the man's kick was hard. It only added to the tons of pain Samuel was already in and made his head feel fuzzy.

His vision got even blurrier and sounds became faded in his ears, sounding distant and delayed.

"Hey man, weren't we told not to bust him up too badly?" The same voice from before spoke up.

"Relax, I'm just wakin em up" a new voice came from right above him where the scrawny man was standing.

A sharp ringing began to echo in Samuels ears, making it harder to hear and intensifying his already awful headache.

All of his senses betrayed him and he wasn't sure what had happened for some amount of time.

The next thing he knew there was a large man standing before him.

The man was obese to a concerning extent and must've been at least six and a half feet tall. He was a Chinese man dressed in an all but flattering white t-shirt with a black leather jacket overtop.

Samuel couldn't help but shudder, frightened by the man's appearance alone.

However, the fear only intensified when the man spoke up.

"Hello", was all he said for a long moment.

His voice was deep and loud. It was like there was a bass speaker where his voice box was supposed to be.

Samuel didn't respond, he only stared up at the man.

"Ah, you must be confused" the man continued in a condescending tone, responding to Samuels silence, "but don't worry, I'll explain everything"

Samuel still only stared. His heart was pounding and he was sweating more than normal despite the cold air.

"I'm Guzantee, your friend Matias may have told you about me" he elaborated after what felt like an eternity.

Samuels eyes almost doubled in size and all the pain in his body was replaced with shock. This was Guzantee.

He saw a sinister smirk form on the man's face, making his ugly face somehow uglier.

"Now now, don't look too surprised" he mocked, the smirk growing.

Samuel did his best to wipe the fear off of his face, but it was no use. He was in the possession of the one guy who had tried to kill Matias, and he didn't even know why.

How did he get to Guzantee anyways? Wasn't is the new villain who had attacked him, why wouldn't he be with her?

All of his questions were soon dismissed when the fat man began talking in his booming voice once again.

"The new villain, as you call her, unfortunately cannot be here with us right now. She did do a good job catching you though, don't you think?" Guzantee mocked.

Samuel cringed at Guzantee's overly exotic dialogue, but his fear never faded.

"What.." Samuel began, testing his voice. "What do you have to do with this?" He questioned.

The man took a large step closer, making Samuel stiffen even more.

"I'm quite honestly surprised nobody has figured out my involvement yet" he spoke, suddenly sounding more formal.

Samuel stayed silent, waiting for him to continue.

After many seconds of silence, Guzantee laughs. It was loud and made Samuel uneasy. Something about it, however, had a trace of normality. It wasn't a complete inhumane thing, like Samuel was partially hoping it was.

"Assuming Matias told you about me, I'll start with something not even he knows" Guzantee began.

Samuel couldn't help but wonder why Guzantee was so willing to tell him what was happening. Was he not worried Samuel would tell anybody?

"First things first, you probably want to know where the new villain came from" he spoke smoothly, glancing at Samuel after every few words.

Guzantee went silent, now staring right into Samuels eyes.

"Well, do you?" He asked in a mocking tone.

Samuel felt heat rise to his head along with anger. He was really trying to shame Samuel more than he already had.

Samuel nodded slowly, looking down at his hands. He heard Guzantee let out a small chuckle, but bit his lip and said nothing about it.

"Well, she is kind of like my daughter" he said casually.

The muscles in Samuel's arms tensed. He couldn't imagine them being that close. He couldn't imagine them being close at all.

"To shorten a long story, I took her away from an awfully abusive household when she was young" he smiled "but she already had these powers when I found her"

The wording Guzantee used made Samuel uneasy. Saying "took her away" and "when I found her" just seemed odd to him.

However, Samuel gave no reply. He held his tongue as best he could and tried to keep the fear and disgust out of his expression.

"I, however, was the one to train her. I'm the reason she is so powerful and you're so.. not" the large man continued to mock.

Samuel wanted to argue that it wasn't his fault he was so weak—compared to the new villain at least— but didn't. He refused to let himself be put in a worse situation than he was already in.

"Don't you have anything to say?" Guzantee asked after a long moment.

Samuel still stayed silent. He didn't even shake his head in response.

"Hm" Guzantee hummed in response. "I suppose you don't want to know how this whole villain vs. hero feud started then"

Samuel perked up. He knew how it started. He knew Matias's side of the story and how he, Samuel, had made all those awful decisions to fight him.

"What do you mean?" He asked, skeptical.

"That depends" he began "what did Matias tell you?"

Samuel took an unsteady breath. Surely Matias hadn't lied, right? He was so sure they had been honest with one another, finding out Matias lied would crush him.

But nonetheless, Samuel explained it all to Guzantee. He gave all the details about how Matias had stolen from Guzantee and how Matias was running from someone who was sent to make him pay back the money he owed. He went on about how he wasn't trying to make it onto a public side walk, but he was also trying not to get taken back to Guzantee and his men.

He tried to continue with what all happened next, but Guzantee stopped him.

It was silent for a moment, Guzantee nodding in thought.

"I guess that's what it seemed like from his perspective" Guzantee finally spoke up.

Samuel couldn't help but feel relieved. Matias hadn't lied to him. He only told what he believed to be true.

On the other hand, however, he was scared of what the truth was. If Matias hadn't figured it out in the years since it all happened, then Samuel didn't know what it could even be.

When he saw Samuels mixed expression Guzantee let out an amused hum.

"The guy who was chasing him wasn't one of my men, he wasn't in a gang at all actually" he half-chuckled while explaining.

Samuel nodded slightly, trying not to seem as vulnerable as he felt.

"He was actually someone who I hired. Once I found out Matias had powers like the new villain I could resist" he went on.

Samuel felt his muscles stiffen. How had Guzantee known Matias had powers? Not even Samuel had known others had powers at the time.

Guzantee must've seen the confused expression on his face, and continued on explaining.

"You see, after Matias had stolen from me I sent out some people to watch him" he spoke bitterly.

Samuel was once again infuriated by Guzantee's wording. Using the word "watch" to make himself seem less like a stalker only made Samuel even more angry.

"And one day he had used his powers, just casually, while someone was watching" he smiled "and so the next time he was near my area, I sent out the man I hired to chase him onto the sidewalk"

Guzantee laughed coldly and humorlessly. It truly sent shivers up Samuels spine and made his heart slow down rather than quicken.

"He really is predictable. I mean honestly, I don't think I could've pulled that trick on anyone else with the same amount of certainty it would work" he continued to joke.

Samuel slowly put the pieces together, his brain fighting against him. Guzantee is family to the new villain. And Matias wasn't chased by one of Guzantee's men. And he was chased on to the public sidewalk intentionally.

Samuels head pounded. He was feeling all kinds of grief, and anger, and disappointment. He was scared, but he knew there was nothing he could do to prevent it. He was trapped.

Guzantee chuckled for what felt like the thousandth time.

"I know, I know" Guzantee said in response to Samuels expression.

Samuel looked up at Guzantee, pulling at the restraints with the little power he had.

"Now then, I'm sure Matias will turn up here soon" Guzantee sighed in contentment.

And with that, he walked away. Every step shook the ground slightly and Samuel could see the lumps on his legs and back jiggling as he moved.

Samuel felt nauseated with all the new information he had and no place to put it.

It was clear to him now, Guzantee had no use for him. Samuel was only there to lure in Matias. Once Matias was here, who knows what was going to happen to Samuel.

The thought scared him, terrified him even, but he didn't have long to think about it. As soon as Guzantee was out of sight all the other people, all part of Guzantee's gang, Samuel assumed, started inching closer.

When they were all no further than a foot from Samuel one crouched down and held up a plastic bag an inch before Samuels face.

Inside the bag was seven half blue and half white pills.

They opened the bag, dumping all the pills into one of his dirty hands. Samuel didn't look at the man's face, but he could tell he was smiling.

And then everything went blurry, before it all went dark.

------------------------------------------------