Michael sat in his office, tapping his pen. Tap. Tap. Tap. Ever since Harold left, his company had been less productive. The man shark had ruined his day. He wished that the man shark, Nanaue or whatever, never even existed. He wished that Harold didn’t quit. To be fair, Michael did fire him first.

He looked over the blueprints of his transcontinental railway. His first railway stretched from the southern tip of Italy to Tunisia. His second one went from Alaska to Chukotka. His third one from Indonesia to Australia. He made one stretching from Brazil to the Ivory Coast. One from Newfoundland to Portugal. They would be built suspended in the ocean, roughly one mile below the surface.

It was his greatest plan yet. If it wasn’t ruined by Nanaue at the train station where . He had filed a report with Amanda Waller, but she had said that there were now multiple King Sharks, and they were already dealing with Shay Lamden.

He pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket. He drew out one cigarette, put it in his mouth, and lit it. Michael sat back and relaxed. He turned to his computer. He pulled up YouTube. He pulled up his favorite channel, Limenade.

“You know the rules and so do I, sit back, relax, and say goodbye!” Every video began with the same few words. On the third meme, which was something about Spongebob, the screen blackened. Not like it turned off, it turned darker than a black hole.

“Come on come on come on!” Michael angrily shook the monitor. “You fucking bitch!” Michael prepared to punch the monitor. He put his fist down. He checked his phone. The internet was fine.

Without warning, the monitor turned back on. There was some sort of cartoon character. Its left arm was a snake. In the snake’s mouth was a sword. But that wasn’t the worst part. On its head sat two hyper realistic eyes. Ones that stared into the deep depths of his soul. The character blinked once. It blinked twice.

“Wh-who are you?” Michael fearfully asked. The character simply blinked. “Wh-what d-do you want?” The character blinked once more. “What do you want with me?”

The character raised its snake arm. It pointed its sword at Michael. The character opened its mouth. Its voice was deep and demonic. It was like the voice of pure evil. “Steven,” it said.

“Well Steven, now we know each other, why don’t you help me with something?” Michael asked, all fear gone.

Steven blinked again. And again. And again. Seriously, does he do anything else? Steven raised his sword up, and slashed it downward, seriously damaging Michael’s monitor. A giant hole appeared. Steven stepped through. Once he was completely in the world of the living, he grew to the size of a fully grown human person.

“Michael. I’ve come to bargain.” (uh, the narrator was too scared to narrate this. So basically Steven said that.)

Michael stood up and stepped back. He backed all the way to the window. Steven stepped closer.

“Michael. Do not be afraid. I am not here to harm you.” (yeah you know what I’m scared of Steven too. He should go back into his scree- oh dear god what the fuck are you doing! STEVEN! NOOOO-) Run! Oh God he saw me! Aaaaaaaaaauuuuhghghdauahauhaahagahuahag!

“I-I don’t know.”

“Let me make you a deal. I will give you all the funds required to build your railway, and you will give me a human sacrifice.”

“Um...”

“I can read your thoughts. You think about someone named Harold. This Harold will suffice. You will find him and you will sacrifice him to me.”

“I- you know what? Harold betrayed me. He will pay. Let’s build this railway.”

“I will begin now. All you need to do is procure this Harold person.”

Author's Note

Michael and Steven are not a reference to Michael Stevens, aka Vsauce. Michael is a reference to the office, and Steven is just a funny name for a demonic character.

Narrator and Parentheses Guy are fine, as you'll find out in Equal and Opposite Chapter 4

Anyway you didn't really need to see this chapter but I wrote it for no reason