Chapter 1 the king of madness is born
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Madness King

Chapter 1 the king of madness is born

I lived in an apartment with my friend, Greg. My name is Jorge muse, I was a collage student when, one day, I woke up to the annoying alarm that Greg always sets. I turned the alarm off, got up, turned on the television, and made my self a pop-tart. I heard "the mutants that infest our streets are people with abnormal powers, some can shoot fire from their hands, some can become stone, and there are millions of them walking our streets, even now. It has been shown that being around a mutant for a while can cause a human to become a mutant. There is a special force that has been dispatched to deal with this threat, they are called the MDD, if you see a mutant, do not approach it." I turned off the television and looked over at my calendar, I didn't have any classes that day, so I went for a stroll to the coffee house. I walked along the busy streets, not really seeing anyone. At the coffee house I walked in and stopped for a moment to take in the sights and smells. I walked up to the counter and ordered a medium latte. As I waited for my latte, I looked through the magazines, a few moments later I got my latte, paid for it, and sat down in one of the booths.

I sipped my latte while I watched he traffic pass by. I noticed Greg going in one direction and decided to follow him. He walked for a long time, apparently going nowhere in particular, I followed. He stopped in a junkyard and walked up to a car that looked older than both of us combined by at least thirty years. He got into it and closed the door. A few moments later, the door opened, but he wasn't inside. I got curious, I walked over and sat in the car. I closed the door and waited, nothing happened, then I noticed the keys were in the ignition. I decided "why not" and turned the key, the seat fell, with me in it. It fell a long ways, before stopping in the side of a large underground chamber. I got out of the chair and it went back up. I looked around the chamber and walked toward the center. I saw an incredible sight, people doing things that was humanly impossible, flying around, shooting beams from their hands, creating water out of air. It was all too much for me, I ran back to the chair, it came back down for me, I got in and it went up. I ran away from the car. I walked home using all my willpower to keep walking. I turned the television on and waited thirty tense minutes before the mutant warning came on again, I watched for the MDD phone number.

The moment it popped up on the screen I dialed it into the phone "hello" an unenthusiastic voice greeted me "hello, I have a report for mutants" the voice sighed loudly "was he on a stage with a 'the amazing' something sign near him" "what? No! Hey were doing things like flying and making water from air" "where" a different voice commanded, it was incredibly harsh and raspy "well." "umm, in the junkyard, the car near the center that looks like all the wheels are gone, it's beige, you get in and turn the key, it went down a long ways before stopping in a huge cavern where they are." "How do you know this?" "I followed someone who looked... different than other people, he went down there." "Thank you, goodbye." and he hung up violently. I set the phone down and sighed, the next day, Greg didn't return home. I went out to look for him, I checked all his favorite spots to hang out, but I couldn't find him. I realized that Greg was a mutant when I couldn't find him anywhere. I called the MDD phone and was met with the same "hello" "umm, yeah, hi. I would like to know how the mutants are treated after they are captured" "who cares, they aren’t human, I think they just shove e'm in cells" "okay, also where are the mutants held" "in the main building, why?" "No reason." and I hung up. I got some warm clothes on and drove out to the edge of town.

I continued on until I came to a giant building with a huge cement wall surrounding it. I parked my car and walked over to the front gate "halt" the guard commanded "why, this facility is meant to contain mutants, not keep people out" "you are not allowed to go any further" he stated I was beginning to get angry "why!" "You are not allowed to go any further" he stated again with more force "why!" I repeated louder, I was getting really angry "you are not allowed to go any further!" this time he yelled and looked ready to put force behind those words. I lost it, I punched him, once in the face, and he barely reacted, then, what happened next I will never forget, he began just staring straight ahead, doing nothing. I didn't care, I walked past him without a second thought. I walked up to the building in the center of the wall, it looked more like a prison than a military base. I walked in the front door and passed cells, there were many people crammed into them, and the conditions were horrible. I kept walking until I found the control room, there was a scientist sitting in a chair.

I snuck up and pushed the "release all" button, the scientist jumped when the alarm sounded. He looked at me for a moment before charging at me, I dodged out of the way and touched him lightly on the back of the neck, he snapped to attention, staring straight ahead. I walked out to chaos, there were people everywhere, both in uniform and out. The MDD's were trying to control the situation and the mutants were all trying to escape. I walked calmly through the crowd, touching the MDD's and walking steadily toward the door. I walked out to the walled area where there was a flood of people all going to the door. I waded through them, I noticed someone, I tapped Greg on the shoulder and he jumped, he turned around and saw me. He smiled and laughed, "so at least we have one thing in common, we were all caught by the MDD" "umm, not really" I said "what?" "I’m actually the one who let everyone out" I replied he just stared at me with his mouth open as we were carried through the door "well then, where are the ones that helped you?" "There wasn't anyone" "what?" he looked at me like he was assessing me. "Well, what can you do" "when I touch someone, if I want them to, they become cationic" "cool," he looked at me with admiration "all I can do is turn to metal" "nice" and he and I smiled for a while.

Later , after we got home he said "hey, why don't you come to our hideout and meet everyone" "nice idea, let's go" I let him lead the way to the junkyard "your base is in a junkyard?" "Not in, under" "cool, so is there a secret hatch somewhere?" "Follow me" we walked over to the car "you need to get in, close the door and turn the key, it will go down fast" and he got in a few moments later the door opened and I got in. I marveled at the courtyard of a large multileveled house, I walked with him up to the door and knocked "hello" a voice called through the door "who is it?" "Steel, with guest" "who's the guest?" "The one who sprung us all out of the MDD" "WHAT!" I jumped as the voice yelled and the doors burst open, revealing an adult about seven feet tall, he was muscular, wearing a black tee shirt and jeans, "come on in" he said. We walked in to be greeted by a large-ish crowd I laughed nervously, but it quickly became the kind of laughter that almost hurts, I stopped after a moment, but I realized that everyone was laughing uncontrollably.

I blinked, rubbed my eyes and looked again, every one was looking quite bewildered "wow, that was weird, why did we all suddenly start laughing?" a loud voice near the back called "so, that's your power, huh?" I looked around, confused and said "umm, no, at least not originally" I touched one person at random and they stopped and stared straight ahead. I looked away from him and he returned to normal "what just happened to me" and everyone looked confused "but we each only get one power" I sighed and leaned against a wall as everyone dissolved into chattering "maybe teller could figure it out?" everyone stopped talking and looked at him "teller would kill him if it were minor and take him if it were major, the only way he could leave him alone were if it were either beyond his control, or just in between" "yeah, and we already know that it's major" "it might be beyond his control..." and everyone dissolved again into chatter. "I’ll go see him," I stated loudly "I have a feeling that I’m supposed to" one person sighs and steps forward "I know where he is, I’m locator, I can find anything" steel stepped forward, next to me "I’ll go with them" we walked out together and went toward the lifting chair, we got on one at a time, steel, locator, then me.

When we were all up we walked to the east, toward the middle of the city. we turned so many times I lost count, locator leading the way, we crawled through back alleys and high ledges, until we got to a warehouse with the number five painted on it in faded red paint that was beginning to flake. We opened the large doors with a loud screech. There was a tall man in a black cloak standing in the middle of the gloomy, dark room. steel and locator walked up to him and began talking to him after a while he said "alright, I will tell what his power is, bring him to me" ,his voice could be heard anywhere in the ware house, I walked toward him and said "what power do I have?" he put his hands on my face for a moment and then he pulled them away like they had been burned "you have power over madness" the three of us stared at him for a moment "you are able to cause people to laugh uncontrollably, sleep, have nightmares, become cationic(a mental illness where the afflicted stares straight ahead), become dazed(unable to notice what is going on around them), go berserk, or become violently phobic of the first thing they see." "Holy" steel said he reached out to grab me as he said "you are powerful enough to compete in my master's games" steel tried to jump between us, but he was able to grab me.

He suddenly snapped to attention, not moving, I began to walk away, locator and steel quickly followed "he'll be like that for about an hour" we began walking back to the hideout. About thirty minutes later we were getting into the car again. When I came down everyone stared at me, when everyone else was down one of them finally worked up the courage to ask "what happened, did you find him?" "We found him, he said that Jacob’s power is ... madness" everyone looked at least somewhat confused by this. "what do you mean?" one person chimed in "apparently I can cause people to go mad" there was some murmuring about this, ""so what happened before..." and their voice faded out. suddenly, before anyone else could chime in I heard something from inside the building and some of the lights in the building turned green everyone went into the house and went to specific rooms, steel called back behind him "go to the last door on your left, ask for assign" and he ran off. I went down the left hallway and knocked on the door "hello, who is this?" a voice asked "I’m here for assign" I said "wait a moment" responded the voice, then a few moments later the door opened, revealing a hunched over teenager with lanky black hair, a black shirt, and black jeans "are you assign" I asked "yes," he said, he looked at me and his eyes turned black for moment "go up all the stairs and go to the room at the end of the hall" and with that he closed the door in my face.

I walked up all the stairs until, at the end of one there was a long hallway that looked like it needed a good cleaning, there were cobwebs everywhere and the place looked like it hadn’t been dusted for a very long time. as I walked down the hall, I noticed the doors were labeled with things like 'happiness, sorrow, fear' and things like that, at the end of the hallway I found a door labeled 'madness' I opened the door and walked in, the first thing I noticed was that the lights were green. The room looked bigger than assign's it also looked very dusty and old. I walked downstairs and almost ran into steel "yike!" he yelled as he barely prevented plowing me over, he caught his breath for a moment "why are you here, only the people with green lights in their rooms are supposed to be here, were going on a mission" "umm, my light is green" he looked at me for a moment and said "well then, follow me" so I followed him, he walked into an incredibly long grey room, both walls were lined with lockers, each one had a name, "look for the one with the name that was on your room on it" so I looked around for the locker until I found it at the edge of the room, covered in dust.

I opened it and saw a costume in it, it was a black, purple and green full body costume with holes for the eyes, nose and mouth, and it looked somewhat like a jack-o-lantern. I put it on, like I saw everyone else doing with theirs, it was surprisingly dust-free and it fit perfectly. I noticed everyone was lining up and I lined up next to them, the wall in front of us lifted up and we all started moving into the area that it revealed. "Go and sit in the chair with the name on it" I heard someone who apparently knew this was my first time say. I walked around until I found the chair labeled 'madness' and sat down in it, I realized that I was sitting right next to someone in a green and blue costume. He looked over at me and said "hi, I’m burst, and you are" I noticed that that was the same naming as on his chair "hi, this is actually my first time, I’m madness" he jumped about a foot. “M-madness? The king of the mind?” “Umm, I guess so” I responded somewhat lamely. The floor below the chair dropped and I found myself speeding down a tube, in the middle of this little ride the tube gave way under me and I fell through blackness, the only thing I saw was a multicolored portal open up beneath me.