The Golden Destroyer

Two months later,

"It was a pleasure meeting you, Jonathan. I hope you'll come for dinner sometime, whenever you have the time," Earl's wife said with a smile.

With a wave of gratitude, I thanked Mary. Apparently, Earl had been singing my praises about my work ethic, which had finally convinced his wife to invite me to dinner, even though he knew nothing about my past. She was truly a kind woman.

"Alright, it's getting late, let Jonathan go home and rest," Earl interjected, giving me a friendly pat on the back.

With a final nod, I said goodbye and left. A few hundred meters later, I took off my glasses and sighed in relief.

My serpentine, yellow eyes shone in the night like menacing headlights. After acquiring powers in my human form, I had, to my dismay, begun to develop physical attributes that were, to say the least, problematic.

My skin had become smooth and covered in extremely resistant, scaly patterns that crackled with power depending on my mood. My face had become angular, with a refined nose. My body density had increased, without being disconcerting to those around me. And the most problematic thing was that I sometimes absorbed electricity without realizing it, which had caused the garage's bill to skyrocket.

To hide all this, I had mentioned photophobia and a tendency to be feverish, which meant I always wore sunglasses and loose, thick clothing.

All of this combined had sealed my departure for the coming weeks. If it hadn't been for Earl's insistence, I would have already left. To keep me, he had even gone so far as to get me papers through the underworld.

And it saddened me in a way, because when they were ready, I would slip away silently. The less he knew, the better off he would be. If anything were to happen to him, I don't know how I would react. I had become attached to him despite myself.

"Damn it, those bastards are fighting again," I swore as I jumped at the sound of a volley of gunfire.

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

Three days later.

As I was fixing a dented car body, two men with grim looks entered the garage. Everything about them screamed thugs: leather jackets, gang tattoos, scrutinizing glances at everything and nothing.

Earl, who had seen them coming, went to meet them, his face stern.

"Can I help you, gentlemen?"

One of the men, clearly the leader, put on an affable air.

"Relax, buddy! Why are you so formal?"

Faced with Earl's silence, the man's cold smile remained on his face.

"We know you do good work here, and that at one time, you helped those in need. And we are in need, me and my associates."

"I haven't done that kind of charity in a long time. In short, I won't work with you or for you," Earl replied.

"Well, whatever. We just took over this town and we have a whole stock of stuff. That you can help us unload. You'll get your share, of course, and our protection."

"Still not interested. Get lost."

It had to be admitted, the leader had real composure: throughout this exchange, he never wavered for a second. In fact, he even stopped one of his impatient acolytes.

"Think about it," he said, caressing the chassis of a car. "Such offers rarely last."

As soon as the men left, I also went out to get some air. I felt my skin crackling, my senses flaring with anger, and my other personalities demanding their blood, just like me.

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

The following days were tense. Earl continued to work as always, but he was visibly deteriorating. I was constantly watching the surroundings. Even if they hadn't given an exact date. It was certain that the deadline was approaching.

This morning, inadvertently, I had overheard a conversation between Earl and an old friend of his.

"They're coming back, Earl, they're bringing the whole town to heel. And you know how it always ends with those guys," the friend said.

"I won't give in," Earl said furiously. "I left all that shady stuff behind me a long time ago. No way I'm going back."

Of course, I supported Earl's decision. Even though I had strong apprehensions.

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

Four days later, the gang returned. This time, there were more than seven of them, all visibly armed, and ready for a fight.

"Earl! My buddy," the leader shouted as he entered, "have you had time to think?"

Earl closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"Yes," he said, his eyes resolute, "and it's a definite and unlimited 'no'."

"Too bad," the leader sighed in disappointment.

Before Earl could react, one of the men overturned a toolbox, and the others followed suit, overturning everything they could find. While one grabbed Earl by the collar.

While I was in the background. I felt my blood boil at the sight of these guys. They were just trash that no one would miss. Only the prospect of scaring or hurting Earl held me back.

While Earl protested, a savage slap landed on his cheek, sending him staggering. No longer wanting to hold back in the face of all this, I quickly stepped forward, using my body as a shield between Earl and the thugs.

"What's this?" one of the men said to me, pulling out a knife. "The mute wants to play hero."

"I'm talking to you, asshole, answer me."

Taking a deep breath. I let the other parts of me, long repressed, take over.

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

Everything happened in a fraction of a second, even from my point of view. With a quick step, I moved towards the guy with the knife and grabbed his arm, which I incinerated in an instant.

While he was sprawled out, I was already sneaking up on the others, not giving them time to draw their weapons, not that it would have changed anything. My combined strength with my gravitational lightning wasn't doing them any good. The latter had a kinetic effect, and was much more powerful than normal lightning. Even in my human form, they had no chance.

Even though I had no combat experience, in less than a minute, I had annihilated the small gang, to the great pleasure of my other personalities who were jubilant in my head.

By a fortunate coincidence, the leader wasn't dead on the spot.

"What the hell are you… Damn it, don't come near me, you filthy monster!"

"Says the one who comes to extort honest citizens in their homes," I said, giving him a vicious kick.

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

When calm returned, I found Earl frozen in a corner of the room, a look of disbelief on his face.

"But damn it! Jonathan, you're not mute, you little shit."

Damn, I thought mentally, the cat was out of the bag.

"Apparently not, fascinating, isn't it?" I laughed, in an attempt at humor that fell flat.

"I knew you were shady. But every man has his secrets, and you seemed like a good guy. But this, how am I supposed to react to this?"

"You could say thank you, Jonathan. You just saved my life."

Still not believing his eyes. Earl didn't leave my side. Which was a little awkward.

"What you did is memorable, and I thank you for it. But how do you plan to get rid of these bodies?" Earl asked.

"You've already seen what I'm capable of. So let's keep going."

As quickly as possible, I gathered the bodies and anything that looked like evidence in a secluded part of the garage. And I zapped everything, until it all turned to ashes.

"Now," Earl said, looking deadly serious. "If you would tell me who you really are."

With a sigh, I turned to Earl, taking off my glasses. My slit eyes looked at him steadily.

"Have you ever heard of super-soldier creation programs?" I said, spouting one lie after another.