[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/sWeTptS.png[/img] [sub]“And The Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place” part II | [url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/posts/5417068]◄[/url] [url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/posts/5421089]►[/url] | [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QTDcffpunY]Post Theme[/url][/sub][/center] [indent][color=silver][color=#9fc5e8]“My name is Sivana,”[/color] the man stated. [color=#9fc5e8]“[b]Doctor Thaddeus Sivana[/b].”[/color] The Dude-in-a-Suit couldn’t have made [i]less of an impression[/i] with the pair. Still balancing the stacked laundry baskets atop his head, the young-looking Teth merely continued to regard the man with a mixture of apathy and disdain. For his part, Dudley seemed to take the more diplomatic approach. [color=#ffffff]“Look, Mister Siva…”[/color] [color=#9fc5e8]“[i]Doctor,[/i]”[/color] Dude-in-a-Suit corrected the retired hero swiftly. It prompted the boy’s eyes to narrow slightly. [color=#ffd700]“I get the sense that’s not a medical degree,” [/color]Teth remarked, not bothering to mask the irritation in his voice. The Dude-in-a-Suit just gave a slight nod in acknowledgement of the boy’s observation. [color=#9fc5e8]“I have an... [i]interest[/i] in certain antiquities,”[/color] the man supplied cryptically. If it was possible, the man was very quickly approaching the limit of Teth’s patience. Which was not a long runway to start with. [color=#ffffff]“What’s that got to do with us?”[/color] Dudley asked, ever the oblivious Boy Scout. [color=#9fc5e8]“You? Nothing,”[/color] Dude-in-a-Suit answered, summarily dismissing the current [i]Captain Marvel[/i] and focusing his attention instead on the former. [color=#9fc5e8]“However, I imagine you’re much more familiar with the history I’m researching,” [/color]Sivana added, looking directly at the boy as he spoke. The child’s eyes pulsed with an ominous glow, as a distant roll of thunder echoed overhead. For the second time, Dudley took a step to insert himself between the pair. Either out of some misplaced sense of protecting Teth, or else because he could imagine the boy turning the Dude-in-a-Suit into a scorch mark on the sidewalk. [color=#ffffff]“What makes you believe that?”[/color] Producing a smartphone, Sivana casually replied, [color=#9fc5e8]“TikTok.”[/color] [indent][i]“Yo, what up, it’s your boy, [b]SuperFam19[/b], and I’m here in Happy Harbor at a coin laundromat on a tip that sometimes Captain Marvel comes in here to, you know, wash his drawers or whatever, and so we’re gonna... oh, shit, yo. It’s [b]him[/b]. It’s totally him.”[/i][/indent] As the video began to play on the screen, Teth merely rolled his eyes. Startled, Dudley tried his question again. [color=#ffffff]“Well, yeah, but what’s that got to do with...”[/color] [color=#9fc5e8]“Keep watching.”[/color] [indent][i]“Oh, shit, you’re that kid from the YouTube vid. The one where you and Captain Marvel were fighting that giant robot in Fawcett. Dude, are you like his sidekick?[/i] [b]OH, FU--[/b]”[/indent] The video then went sideways. Literally, as if the camera or the one holding it had been thrown through the air. Flashes of light and the sound of something like an explosion could be heard, before Teth’s face briefly entered the frame. [indent][i][color=#ffd700]“...I ruled [b]Kahndaq [/b]you f*cking plebeian piece of...”[/color][/i][/indent] Sivana ended it there, tucking his phone away as he deadpanned, [color=#9fc5e8]“Rocket science.”[/color] Dudley just blinked. [color=#ffffff]“Well, [i]yes[/i], that did happen,”[/color] the Captain Marvel remarked, glaring down at the boy behind him. For his part, Teth just looked away as if ignoring the whole thing. [color=#ffffff]“Look, Mister-- [i]Doctor[/i],” [/color]Dudley began, stammering over the man’s titles a moment before he said, [color=#ffffff]“Just so we’re clear, we paid for that phone he destroyed.”[/color] [color=#ffd700]“[i]-tch-[/i]”[/color] Teth uttered, a click of his tongue capturing the irritation as it was his turn to glare at the old man. It was clear Sivana wasn’t here for any of that. [color=#9fc5e8]“I want to ask you about [b]Kahndaq[/b],”[/color] the man remarked flatly. The ominous glow returned to the boy’s eyes, as his glare shifted from the old man to the Dude-in-a-Suit. After an icy silence, the boy finally answered, [color=#ffd700]“Hard pass.”[/color] With that, Teth merely turned and walked away. [color=#9fc5e8]“I’m willing to pay for information.”[/color] The boy wanted to keep going, but he could already hear Dudley saying that they could use the money. Any money. ...and he’d be right. [color=#9fc5e8]“Enough to reimburse a few more phones at the very least,” [/color]Sivana added, as the boy came to a stop. The boy didn’t look back as he offered simply, [color=#ffd700]“Do what you like.”[/color] Continuing onward, whether Sivana followed or not was of no consequence to him. Though, when it became clear that the Dude-in-a-Suit was following, the boy said, [color=#ffd700]“It’s BYOB though. Old geezer stocks the ‘fridge with RC Cola. Can’t even afford Coke or Pepsi.”[/color] [color=#ffffff]“I happen to [i]like[/i] RC Cola!”[/color] [i][color=#ffd700]“No one likes RC Cola!”[/color][/i][/color][/indent] [b][color=#87ceeb][S]M O U N T J U S T I C E[/S] T H E R O C K O F H O M E L E S S S O N S O F B I T C H E S[/color][/b] [sub][b][color=#87ceeb]|[/color][/b] 10 minutes later[/sub] [indent][color=silver][color=#9fc5e8]“Do you prefer to walk? I imagine with your powers that you could have transported us here in the...”[/color] [color=#ffd700]“My [b]gifts[/b] are not a [i]parlor trick[/i] for your amusement,”[/color] the boy answered, his eyes adopting the otherworldly glow as his presence seemed to suddenly fill the room, swiftly silencing the man. [color=#ffd700]“Nor are they to be taken [i]lightly[/i],”[/color] the child-like entity warned, even as he and Dudley welcomed the stranger into their home. Or, at least, what passed as such. [color=#ffd700]“...including by me.”[/color] Sivana took a moment to regain his cold composure. [color=#9fc5e8]“Forgive me. On the street, I might have mistaken you for a child,”[/color] the man remarked evenly. [color=#ffd700]“We are, each of us, children in the eyes of someone,”[/color] Teth noted in kind. Sivana seemed to be sizing him up. [color=#9fc5e8]“You really are [i]him[/i], aren’t you?” [/color]the man uttered after a moment. Teth’s patience had hit capacity. He rolled his eyes in naked disdain of the man’s awe. [color=#ffd700]“If you didn’t already believe as much, you wouldn’t be here,”[/color] the boy snapped. If Sivana waste his own time, so be it. His time? Now that was different. Holding out his arms, the boy hopped back onto a sofa that had definitely seen better days. [color=#ffd700]“So, [i]Mister Doctor[/i], what did you think was going to happen next? [i]For God’s sake, let us sit upon the ground and tell sad stories of the death of kings.[/i]”[/color] Sivana’s head inclined, clearly surprised by the boy’s words. Not just the words, but the phrasing. [color=#9fc5e8]“Shakespeare?”[/color] the man remarked, though it was more of a question than an observation. Then, grasping for straws, guessed, [color=#9fc5e8]“King Lear?”[/color] [color=#ffd700]“Richard the Second, Act Three, scene two,”[/color] the boy supplied flatly. Then recited, [color=#ffd700]“[i]How some have been deposed, some slain in war. Some haunted by the ghosts they have deposed.”[/i] [/color] [color=#9fc5e8]“A message,”[/color] Sivana observed, dropping down into a chair across from the boy. Then, leaning forward, asked, [color=#9fc5e8]“Or a warning?”[/color] [color=#ffd700]“That depends on you,”[/color] Teth answered cryptically, before adding, [color=#ffd700]“Consider your question [i]carefully.[/i]”[/color] Sivana just gave a nod, relaxing as he lounged back in the chair. [color=#9fc5e8]“I’ve been funding an expedition in the southern Sinai peninsula,”[/color] the man announced. Then paused a moment as he started to ask, [color=#9fc5e8]“You’re…”[/color] [color=#ffd700]“I’m [i]familiar[/i],”[/color] the boy answered shortly, interrupting the man. [color=#9fc5e8]“They think they may have found the temple of... well, that is to say, [b]your[/b] temple.”[/color] The boy’s jaw clenched, grinding his teeth as his eyes pulsed with the same otherworldly glow as before. Retrieving his phone, Sivana began swiping at his screen. [color=#9fc5e8]“I’ve found a clue in a tablet fragment that I believe may point to the resting place for an artifact from the era of your rule,”[/color] the man stated, extending the phone out for Teth to take and inspect. On the screen was an image of a stone chunk. Some Egyptian writing visible on it, even from where Teth sat. He didn’t reach to take the offered phone. [color=#ffd700]“Kahndaq was a utopia of science and magic,”[/color] Teth said, keeping his attention on the little man trying to cast a long shadow before him. [color=#ffd700]“There could be [i]thousands[/i] of artifacts, some small, some powerful.”[/color] Sivana merely shrugged. [color=#9fc5e8]“The scepter of Ra,”[/color] the man name-dropped casually, returning the phone to his pocket. A loud clap of thunder echoed outside the mountain. [color=#9fc5e8]“Legends say it was forged for your divine ascension,”[/color] Sivana continued. Then, looking the boy in the eye, added, [color=#9fc5e8]“But not by whom.”[/color] Teth was careful not to give any outward reaction. [color=#ffd700]“A gift, I think,” [/color]the boy answered. A calculated statement. Then, unconvincingly, said, [color=#ffd700]“I don’t remember.”[/color] Sivana sat back again, clearly evaluating the boy. [color=#9fc5e8]“Unfortunate,”[/color] the man remarked, giving a click of his tongue before he leaned forward again. [color=#9fc5e8]“Perhaps you could elaborate on the [i]qualities[/i] of this baton? The legends make it quite... [b]fantastic[/b].”[/color] The greed. The lust for power. It dripped from every word. It radiated from the man’s very pores. Grasping at straws, chasing greatness, never satisfied with what he had. The longer the boy looked into Thaddeus Sivana’s eyes, the closer he glimpsed his own reflection in them. The boy’s jaw tensed, as he drew a deep breath. Taking a moment to collect his own composure, least he do something Sivana might regret. [color=#ffd700]“As I said, I don’t recall,”[/color] Teth offered when he spoke again. [color=#9fc5e8]“I see,”[/color] Sivana remarked, not bothering to mask his disappointment. After a moment of silence between them, the Dude-in-a-Suit stood. [color=#9fc5e8]“Well, I imagine that should be all,”[/color] Sivana supplied, smoothing the front of his suit coat as he started toward the entry. [color=#ffffff]“You came all this way just to ask about a stick?” [/color]Dudley remarked, having watched the entire exchange while nursing a cold RC Cola. And somehow still missed the actual discussion entirely. [color=#9fc5e8]“Yes,” [/color]Sivana answered simply, regarding the fat hero for a scant moment before he turned and glared down at the boy. [color=#9fc5e8]“But I’ve no intention of being [i]lied to[/i], by ancient gods or their regrets.”[/color] [color=#ffd700]“Doctor Sivana.”[/color] The man had taken perhaps three steps when Teth spoke again. He didn’t look up as he spoke. [color=#ffd700]“There are things that exist which were created in error. Mistakes that cannot be undone,”[/color] the boy warned ominously. [color=#ffd700]“Should you go looking for the scepter of Ra, three things will happen. First, you will know [i]fear.[/i] Then, you will know [b]pain[/b].” [/color] Finally, Teth turned his head up as he finished the thought. [color=#ffd700]“And then you will die.”[/color][/color][/indent]