Total pages in book: 55
Estimated words: 53529 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 268(@200wpm)___ 214(@250wpm)___ 178(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 53529 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 268(@200wpm)___ 214(@250wpm)___ 178(@300wpm)
“I’m done sitting on the sidelines, and I want to be able to see you guys anytime I feel like it.” I’m realizing just how important family is to me now that I’ve been separated from them.
Dad claps me on the arm. “We would love that, Huff. You be careful, too.”
“So, Mr. Ultra Mega Love, are we hearing you correctly? You faked your death because you feared for your family’s lives?” The reporter, Luna Satori, shoves the microphone closer as we stand on the Malibu pier, tourists snapping photos. She doesn’t seem fazed that I’m back from the grave.
“Please just call me by my first name.”
“As you like, Ultra.” She leans in and whispers, “But I think your full name sounds better.”
Not what I meant. “Can we get on with this?” I whisper back. “I have a real-life villain to catch.” Not to mention I need to free River. I mean, hopefully this interview will do the trick because her parents’ll see she’s not crazy. Though, it’s not like I’m about to let her rot one second longer than she has to in the loony bin.
“So, Ultra, what made you decide to come out of hiding now?” Luna has inquisitive hazel eyes that drill right through you. She wears her light brown hair in a short bob that makes her look older than she probably is. I’m guessing she’s twenty-seven or eight?
“Two reasons, Luna: I need to speak with the chemist who helped create me. I’ve been studying my condition, and I’ve found a breakthrough,” I lie. “It might lead to a possible cure, and I need to know if it’s safe.”
That should bait him in. See, the fishing’s paid off.
“You think you’ve discovered how you were transformed?” she asks. “This is big!”
“Yes. But my second reason for speaking with you is that I have a message for the world.”
“Go on. We’re listening.”
I look directly into the camera. “If anyone, and I mean any government or their agents, if any group of people, for any reason whatsoever, come after me, my family, or any person I care about because they want to blackmail me, use me, make more like me, then they need to know I’ll come after them. And not just them, but everyone they cared about. Their families, their friends, and even their pets. Goldfish, hamsters, dogs, cats, little reptiles, or colorful birds—”
“I think we get the point,” she says.
“Oh, sorry.” I shake my head and return to my menacing demeanor. An act, of course. “I won’t rest until everything they love is destroyed. And while I am sure I can be taken out—eventually—they need to ask themselves how many of their loved ones and furry friends I’ll get to first.”
Luna steps back, fully extending her arm to hold the microphone to my mouth.
“I’m not a violent man, Luna,” I say. “I’m only addressing the sickos who’re thinking of using the people I care about to get to me.”
She doesn’t look relieved. Fine. Whatever.
I look back into the camera. “You know who you are, and I’ll come for you if you threaten the people I love. All I need is a photo of where you live, and I can be there in a blink of an eye. So stay the hell away from my family and friend.”
“You mean friends?” Luna asks.
“I only have one, and she knows who she is.” Damn, I sound like a loner, but I’d rather have one incredible friend like River, loyal AF, than a hundred shallow friends who don’t give a shit. I want people I can trust in my life. Okay, and who won’t make fun of me for my sad taste in TV shows. Or my love of robots. “Sadly, Luna, I have more enemies than friends these days, and I want them all to know I’m done hiding from them.”
“It sounds like you have some serious foes out there, Ultra. Should we give you a new name? Mr. Revenge? Mr. Justice, perhaps?”
“Just Mr. Love.”
“Well, you are just, but you don’t sound so loving,” she replies.
I flash a confused look. “I am to the people who matter. I’m all about the love.” I point into the camera. “But if you’re an evil motherfu—bleep!—then I’ll show you a different kind of love.” I push my right fist into my left palm and grind.
Luna’s hazel eyes go wide, and she turns to address the camera. “Well, you heard it here first: Just Mr. Love is alive and well and ready to rumble. This is Luna Satori with channel one, reporting live from Malibu.”
The cameraman stops filming, and Luna waits until he’s back to the van to start talking. “Just Mr. Love, can I say something off the record?”
“I didn’t mean you should call me Just; I mean, I do believe in justice, but—”
“I think you’re really missing out on a big opportunity,” she says, cutting me off.