DC : Architect of Vengeance

The old bus wheezed to a stop at coordinates that didn't exist on any map, its engine ticking in the sudden silence like a dying heartbeat. Alex sat three rows back, watching condensation form patterns on the dirty windows as his fellow passengers stirred restlessly in their seats.

The elderly woman with her knitting had stopped mid-stitch ten minutes ago, her old hands frozen above half-finished blue wool. The businessman hadn't turned a page of his newspaper since they'd left the highway. Even the young mother's baby—who'd been fussing constantly—had gone unnaturally still.

A chill crept up Alex's spine. As a psychologist, he'd learned to read people, to notice the subtle signs of distress or unusual behavior.

"Did you truly believe you could destroy Grodd's plans and simply vanish into the night without any consequence?"

A deep arrogant voice poured into Alex's mind.

Around him, the other passengers began to twitch—small, mechanical movements that spoke of their minds being crushed under telepathic control.

The businessman's head snapped toward him slowly, "Off," he commanded in a voice that wasn't quite his own. "All of you. Now."

Alex's breath caught. The voice was wrong, the tone completely different, but more than that—there was something behind the man's eyes. Something that wasn't him.

The passengers except Alex rose as one, their movements synchronized like multiple puppets on a single string.

""Hey," He called weakly to the elderly woman as she shuffled past with vacant, staring eyes. His voice cracked. "Ma'am? Are you... are you okay?"

She didn't respond. None of them did.

Alex's hands were shaking now. Every instinct screamed at him to stay put, to hide, but his legs carried him forward anyway. He couldn't abandon these people—whatever was happening to them, he had to try to help.

Outside, the passengers arranged themselves in a neat line facing the treeline, standing at perfect attention like soldiers awaiting inspection. Alex slipped off the bus and positioned himself at the end of the line, his mind racing through possibilities. Mass hypnosis? Some kind of gas? Mind control?

The forest began to convulse.

The tall trees bent and cracked as something monstrous forced its way through them. A massive gorrila stepped into the moonlight-Grodd-nine feet tall, all muscle and dark fur, his red eyes sweeping over them like a butcher reviewing pigs for slaughter.

When the creature stepped into the moonlight, Alex's knees nearly buckled.

"Behold," Grodd growled in the same voice that had invaded his mind , "this is what happens when weaklings try to challenge those above them."

Alex pressed himself against the side of the bus, taking a shaky breath to steady his nerves."G-grodd..." His voice came out as barely a whisper. He cleared his throat, tried again. "Why are you here? What do you want with these people?"

"Them, not them. I am here for you." The creature's laugh made his teeth ache. " Me-Grodd-someone who is the future of your pathetic species, someone who is the peak of evolution, was denied my prize.You have foiled my plans and now you will pay for what you have done."

He gestured lazily at the elderly woman, who stepped forward without resistance. "This useless waste of carbon has perhaps thirty more years of meaningless existence ahead of her. Now watch as I start your punishment with a little blast."

Grodd's massive hand closed around her throat slowly, savoring her helpless gurgles. "Can you hear that sound, thief? That's the last pathetic breath of a life so insignificant that the universe itself will forget she ever existed."

The snap of breaking vertebrae echoed through the clearing like thunder. The woman's body collapsed to the forest floor, and Grodd kicked it aside, sending her spilling blood across the dirt with her entrails trailing behind.

"Please," Alex gasped between dry heaves. "Oh God... oh God... please stop..."

"God?" Grodd's amusement was toxic. "There is no god here, insect. Only me." He gestured at the businessman, who stepped forward with the same obedience as the old woman. "This one fancies himself important—a 'professional,' no doubt. Let me show you what I think of him."

Grodd's claws tore into the man's chest, twisting and ripping until ribs snapped like twigs. He lifted the dying man high above his head, letting blood rain down on his fur.

"Look at him struggle," Grodd mused, watching the businessman's mouth open and close soundlessly. "Even now, his inferior brain refuses to accept that his life means nothing. That he was always nothing but an ant waiting to be stepped on."

He hurled the corpse aside casually, already moving toward the young mother and child.

"Stop!" Alex screamed. "Please! They're innocent! The baby hasn't done anything wrong!"

Grodd's smile was pure malice. "Wrong? Right? Those are meaningless words, human. Made by weak minds to feel important." He seized the mother's arm, twisting until bone tore through flesh, savoring her scream like a delicacy.

"This cattle exists only to breed more for superior beings to command," Grodd explained as he slowly crushed her windpipe. "And this larva will never be smarter than a foolish chimp. Do not thank me, consider it mercy."

He held the mother suspended, forcing her to watch as her child dropped to the ground. The baby hit the dirt with a soft thud, unnervingly still—its fate unknown.

"You want to know what I think of human 'innocence'?" Grodd asked, his red eyes fixed on Alex's horrified face. "I think it's the pathetic delusion of a species too weak to accept its place in the natural order."

He dropped the broken woman beside her motionless child, then turned to the bus driver, who stepped forward like a man walking to his own execution.

"This one's mind was so hollow that controlling him required almost no effort," Grodd said. "He is barely more intelligent than the vehicle he operates. Perhaps I should put him also out of his misery."

Grodd's backhand caught the driver across the temple with bone-shattering force. The man's head twisted completely around before his body crumpled like a broken toy.

"Four meaningless lives," Grodd announced, turning his full attention to Alex with the satisfaction of a cat that had finished playing with its prey. "Four insects - all dead because of you. And their deaths proved nothing except your total helplessness. Tell me, do you like it?"

Each step the gorilla took seemed to make the very ground tremble. Alex scrambled backward but there was nowhere to go—just the bus behind him and nine feet of gorilla bearing down on him.

"I'm nobody!" Alex gasped, tears streaming down his face. "Just a psychologist! I just want to help people! I've never hurt anyone!"

He grabbed Alex by the throat, lifting him like a specimen. "But you did do something interesting, didn't you? In that girl's mind, you brought her back whole somehow. You should have known—Grodd never acts without a backup. The moment I failed, my imprint was meant to latch onto the one responsible."

Alex's feet dangled helplessly as Grodd's grip tightened around him.

"And now I'll rip it from your mind," Grodd hissed, "Every memory, every thought, every worthless dream you've ever had—gone. By the time I'm done, there won't be enough left."

Alex's vision began to tunnel, darkness creeping in at the edges as his consciousness started to fade. Grodd's smile widened with sadistic anticipation as he prepared to begin his true work—

And then a voice—calm, amused—spoke from somewhere behind them.

"You know," it said, "for someone who claims to be the perfect evolution… you're remarkably stupid."

Grodd went perfectly still.

Notes :

1) The flow feels a little off to me somewhere in this chap. Suggest any improvements you wish to have to make it more 'impactful'.