Thanks for the reviews guys! I really appreciate it :) Anyway, time for another chapter! Hope you all enjoy!
"Alright, next group to the obstacle course, let's go!" Two dozen watchdogs silently obeyed, starting the course just as the previous team finished. They were already fast, and - despite the lack of depth perception - they were able to clear all of the targets. Really the only obstacle that slowed them down were the tires, and even then they were able to get through pretty fast with only a couple watchdogs getting temporarily stuck inside them. Peepers ordered three more groups to run the course before turning to Hater for approval. "Well Sir? We were able to beat most of our times from last time. Are you pleased?"
Hater was. "I suppose it'll do," he replied nonchalantly as he turned to leave, "go ahead and let them go for dinner." Peepers nodded, and Hater left, turning to walk down the long, crimson hallway.
Checking his watch, the skeleton scowled. They had another five hours before they arrived on Tezworalta. The planet's two suns would've set by then, but Hater had anticipated this and ordered his tech department to make over a thousand night vision goggles for the troops. Without the issue of total darkness plus the element of surprise on their side, the mission was going to be almost too easy. Hater smirked to himself. 'Of course, that doesn't mean it won't be satisfying. It might even be a little fun.'
He reached the end of the hall and was met with several different directions to take. It was almost crazy to think about how big his ship had gotten in only a couple years. But of course bigger is better, and Hater's ship was everything he wanted and more, both on the outside and inside. Made mostly out of stolen goods and materials, it was filled with anything an evil lord could need, and even more that he didn't need but just wanted for the sake of having it.
The only thing about the ship that would annoy Hater was that his crew would sometimes get lost in the maze of hallways, rooms and various traps set for intruders. Heck, there were even rare occasions when he got lost (but Hater would never admit this, of course), but not enough to become an issue. It took a minute for him to remember which hallway led where.
'Let's see... Torture room, lab, prisons, weapons room and target room, more hallways, food court- hmm, food court...' Well, it was dinner time. Most of the time Hater just ordered a plate to be taken to his room, and when he did stop by the food court, it was just to grab something to go. 'Might as well, I'm already here.'
It didn't take him long to arrive in the brightly lit area that was already filled with watchdogs, munching on food and chatting away. Of course, silence fell as soon as they noticed him. Immediately, any watchdog standing in line either sat down or moved aside. Evil overlords don't wait in lines, after all. Hater didn't bother thanking them, he just trudged over to the hamburger station. "Two triple burgers with extra pickles," he stated. The watchdog cashier nodded before running back to the kitchen. It only took about a minute for Hater to receive his food.
When he turned, he was met would hundreds of big, red eyes staring back at him. He was lucky he was used to those stares otherwise he would've flinched at the sight. Hater scoffed. 'That would definitely be a shot to my reputation, being scared by these guys.' So, he just started looking for an empty table.
Unfortunately, there was at least one soldier sitting at each table, but when he found a nice but full table on the west side of the room, one glare sent them running. Smirking, Hater walked over and sat down. He had just started to unwrap his first burger when a voice stopped him.
"Um, need some ketchup Sir? I can get some for you?" a watchdog offered, some grunt who's name Hater never bothered to learn. Either he was being polite to keep on his good side, or he was trying to suck up. Either way, it annoyed Hater.
"No," he answered bluntly, turning away. No more than half a minute later, a particularly deep-voiced watchdog interrupted him again.
"Sir, I was given two orders of fries instead of one, would you like-"
"No, I wouldn't," Hater interrupted him before taking a bite of his burger, effectively ending the conversation. He heard tiny feet walk away from him, and gave a silent sigh of relief. About halfway through, another watchdog - who presumably also worked in the food court judging by the paper hat that sat on his head - started to walk up to him with a handful of napkins, but one sharp look sent him running away.
'I think I'm starting to remember why I don't eat here,' Hater thought to himself. Unfortunately, he still had another burger to eat, and he had skipped breakfast and lunch, so he didn't really want to throw it away. As he begun to unwrap it, he glanced up.
Every watchdog in there was looking at him, silently waiting for an order or an opportunity or, or something! Some of them were just looking over their shoulders, while others were staring without any attempts to hide it. Growling, Hater felt electricity grow in his hands. He didn't mind being feared and respected but for glorn's sake, couldn't he eat a damn burger in peace?! When he heard another watchdog start to speak - he wasn't really sure where - presumably to ask him something, he finally snapped.
Slamming a hand on the table, shaking the two lunch trays sitting there - 'Wait, when have there been two of them?' - Hater glared at them all. "All of you, TURN AROUND, NOW!" Whimpering slightly, every single eyeball turned towards their food, not stupid enough to disobey the skeleton and not daring to look up.
"I-I can move i-if you'd like, Sir," said a small voice. Looking down, Hater could see that Peepers had joined him at the table, the only watchdog in that room that was either stupid or brave enough to try. 'So that's where the other tray came from,' he thought, looking at the plastic tray with nuggets and purple mashed potatoes on it.
He was already feeling aggravated, but at least with Peepers he could discuss strategies. "You're already here, aren't you? Just sit down," Hater snapped slightly. Peepers quickly sat down, and began eating quietly.
Enjoying a moment of peace where he wasn't being gawked at, Hater continued eating as well. He had just finished his second burger when Peepers finally decided to speak up, though he kept his eye glued to the table.
"We're still planning to invade Planet Tezworalta, right Sir?"
"Of course. Are your troops ready, Commander Peepers? You did hand out the goggles, didn't you?"
"Yes Sir, and all of them have been tested, making sure that they're all working at full capacity." Hater nodded, satisfied. "Um, Sir? I heard that, along with the Tezworalta army, we will be facing another army. Apparently someone else has taken over the planet before us." Realizing what he said, Peepers tried to correct himself. "B-But I'm sure we can handle it Sir, and I assure you it'll be ours by sunrise!"
Surprisingly, Hater didn't look the least bit offended. In fact, he was smirking. "Peepers, do you know what planet took over Tezworalta before me?"
"Um, c-can't say that I do, Lord Hater."
"Good." They didn't deserve to be known throughout the universe like he soon would be. "If your troops have any problems with them, I'll be happy to join the fight." The commander couldn't help but notice how Hater said this. It was almost like he wanted - no, hoped - that he would get a chance to fight, like this was personal... "But I expect you all to at least be able to handle the weaklings known as the Tezworalta militia." With that, he handed Peepers the two burger wrappers, silently ordering him to throw them away, and walked towards the food court exit, a smile still on his face.
Peepers blinked. 'If this is something personal,' he thought as he started munching on another nugget, 'I hope Lord Hater at least keeps some control.' Being by his side for three years now, the tiny commander knew how dangerous it could be when his boss let his emotions get the better of him.
()()()()()()()()()
Tezworalta was a square shaped planet, already making it rare. Even rarer was the gem-like surface covering seventy five percent of the planet. If Hater was interested in selling planets rather than collecting them, he would have more than enough to retire at twenty one. Of course, he had no interest in money, especially when it could be stolen so easily.
Landing on some of Tezworalta's softer surface, the 'mouth' of the ship was opened and dozens of Watchdogs jumped out, their night vision goggles secured to their faces. "First teams have been deployed!" Announced one of the control room workers. Because of it's huge population, they needed twice as many teams on this mission. Fortunately, with most of the capital city residents sleeping, it would be easy to surround it.
"Send the remaining teams as soon as the militia start to arrive," Commander Peepers ordered. Various messages were passed back and forth through communication, alerting everyone in the room of the soldiers' progress. As for Hater, he sat in his command chair, watching the on-screen monitor.
'Must be pretty heavy sleepers if hardly any of them's putting up a fight,' Hater thought to himself when he overheard one of the communication watchdogs say that the army had made it to the city hall, 'That or stupid.' Suddenly, there was a huge spike on the radar, as if a whole army had appeared out of nowhere. His eyes widened. 'What the hell? Last time I checked, they weren't looking into transporter tech...'
"Sir! Sir! SIIIIIR!"
Hater turned his head. "What!" he shouted, making his commander flinch.
"We just received word from our troops, they were ambushed!" Peepers replied, "A third of the soldiers have been taken out!"
Hater scowled. "Well then we'll just ambush them right back! Peepers, take us to the center of the city!" Not bothering with his normal 'Sir, yes Sir!', Peepers faced the controls and closed the ship's mouth before flying it to the middle of the vast city.
As he made his way outside, Hater could hear the screams of citizens, trying to escape the city. They could be dealt with later. Focusing only on his troops, Hater could see that they were fighting two types of soldiers. The first were Tezworaltanians, their periwinkle skin mismatched with the black and silver uniforms they were wearing. Of course, with their lack of muscles and experience, his Watchdogs were easily able to knock them out. 'No doubt they were used as a front line infantry.' Whoever was commanding them now didn't expect them to make it back.
The second type of soldiers however were a different story.
Wearing black robes and carrying sharp, iron spears and shields - some even infused with electric prongs - these soldiers no doubt looked familiar to the Watchdogs, which was why most of them weren't surprised at their strength. The soldiers were thin, their arms nothing more than strong white sticks, but they were smart. Add in the fact that they were a good five feet taller than Hater's soldiers, and even he couldn't blame them for their failure.
Lucky for them, this was one fight Hater didn't mind taking over. Cracking his knuckles, he smirked. "Hey, losers!"
More than a dozen skulls turned to face him. They all looked similar to him, excluding their eyes, which were gold or maroon compared to his neon green. They were also looking more surprised and shocked compared to his calm, cocky demeanor. At this moment, it didn't look like they recognized him. Their surprise did however turn to anger.
"Traitor!" one of them, presumably the troop's leader, "You dare abandon our planet to join this pathetic army?!"
"You say 'traitor', I say 'getting off a sinking ship'," Hater smirked, "Bottom line: This place is mine now, so why don't you get out of here before I get really pissed."
"You're pretty confident for a man whose fighting alongside walking eyeballs that can't even take a hit," the leader replied, not impressed with Hater's boast, "I'd say twelve to one isn't a fair fight, but I've never cared about being fair."
Hater simply smiled at the fellow skeleton. "Neither have I."
At that moment, the bantering was over. The soldiers began to charge, their spears and shields at the ready. Deciding to make the fight last a little longer - it wouldn't be much fun to just destroy them now - Hater kept his electric energy contained and instead grabbed the first spear that came near him, swinging the soldier against two more and knocking them all down.
Dodging a blow to the face, Hater punched one soldier in the ribcage before bending down and swiftly knocking two more soldiers off their feet. Of course, these were easy hits, and the soldiers were almost immediately back on their feet. Of course, Hater wanted them to think he would be easy to defeat, that would make it much more satisfying when he proved them wrong.
With each punch or kick, Hater increased his strength. He could feel bones breaking as he continued fighting, and one by one, the soldiers went down and stayed down. After a while, more skeleton soldiers moved in, but Hater didn't bother playing with them. One hit and they were on the ground.
Half an hour passed, and various bones and bodies were scattered around him. Most of the watchdogs had left, either to head back to the ship to patch up their injuries or join the others against the Tezworaltanians. The few that had stayed though watched in awe as their leader fought without even breaking a sweat. Despite how easy it was however, Hater never lost his smirk.
Finally, only one soldier remained.
Hater could tell the man's joints were aching, and most of his bones had at least been cracked, if not completely broken. He had to hand it to him, he didn't give up. If it wasn't for who the skeleton man's leader was, Hater probably would've offered him a job.
"I don't, care, how well, you fight," he panted, "You're still a, a traitor! And the Skulldrion empire will reign strong!"
Hater looked straight at him, his eyes as cold as ice. "Maybe I am a traitor, or maybe I'm just something better," he said as he raised his arm. A ball of electric energy grew in his palm, and the soldier paled.
"Ke-?" That was all he managed to get out before Hater unleashed all the power he had been hold back against him. Skeletons were strong against normal fatal powers like electricity and fire, but they weren't completely invincible against them.
Knowing fully well that the body lying in front of him was lifeless, Hater simply turned and activated his glove communicator, his face expressionless. "Peepers, status report."
"The planet's militia has been taken out, and their leader has been apprehended. We're all waiting here at the city hall for your orders, Sir."
"Stay there, I'll be a minute or so." With that, Hater hung up and walked towards the royal purple manor in the center of the vast city. He kicked down the doors, walked past the handcuffed guards and his own saluting soldiers, and headed towards the main office.
Like all the other Tezworaltanians, the High Councilman of the planet had light purple skin and was pretty skinny, but this one was wearing an expensive looking suit and had slightly ruffled, jet black hair. He flinched at the sight of the skeleton leader, which only made Hater smile. He really loved his job.
"I've already made sure that he is the only official on this planet," Peepers stated, "and I heard that you've already taken care of the second owner's general. Which means the planet is officially on our control."
"Thanks, like I didn't know that already?" Hater said, rolling his eyes before switching back into 'evil overlord' mode. "Now, I have just a few rules to lay down as the new ruler of this planet." As if on cue, Peepers unrolled a long list of rules and commands as written by Lord Hater.
Some new laws were obvious like complete and utter obedience and loyalty to him, some could be called an abuse of power like what tv shows and music they were forced to call their favorite and would have to listen/watch everyday, and some - honestly Hater just wanted to see if they would actually follow them or he made them up because he was bored and needed to fill a space on the list. Whatever the reason, it was always satisfying to see the citizens of his new planet obeying his every word.
"Of course," the councilman said, bowing reluctantly, "but, could I just do one thing befo-"
"NO YOU CAN NOT!" Hater shouted, his loud voice echoing through the room. "You have the nerve to ask me, Lord Hater, if you can leave?! Understand this, Tezworaltanian: I rule this pathetic planet now! When I say 'jump', you say 'which cliff?', and you do not ask to go and-!"
"Big brother?" At the sound of that meek voice, Hater found himself suddenly silent as he turned to look at the small creature entering the room through a door he hadn't even noticed.
"I thought I told you to stay in your room," the councilman told her, sounding more nervous than angry.
The girl didn't reply at first. She instead looked up at Hater, trying her hardest not to cry. Green eyes met three, watery brown ones. "Please don't hurt my brother," she whispered before running back through the door. Seconds passed like hours to him in that moment, and if it wasn't for Peepers getting his attention, he probably would've stayed like that for even longer.
"Sir? I don't think she'll cause any trouble, shall we continue with the new laws?"
"Yes. Make sure you say every one, but before that, tell the troops to begin setting up a prison at sunrise. I want it finished in two days, with enough watchdogs assigned to stay here and keep everything in line."
"Of course, Sir, as always," Peepers nodded. However, one thing that did change from their usual planet takeover routine was that Hater didn't stay and make sure the former councilman paid attention. Instead, he left and headed back inside his ship, walking straight to his room. Practically everything outside his own head was dimmed and faded, practically invisible to him. But with every step, his own emotions grew louder and louder. By the time he entered through the final door leading to his private quarters, his hands were practically overflowing with power.
He grabbed the first thing he could reach - a mug that said '#1 Superstar' - and threw it against the wall. Not being able to control himself, Hater began to wreck and destroy everything he could get his hands on. The walls surrounding his room were so thick, he didn't have to worry about any Watchdogs hearing - though he assumed they would be smart enough not to interfere this time.
"Why! Damn it! She - that Tezworaltanian looked nothing like her! They didn't even sound the same! So why!" Why did it make him stop? Why did she make him show just a hint of weakness! He was going to be the most evil, successful ruler in the universe, he wasn't supposed to have weaknesses!
He could have done anything else, shown his authority or ruthlessness, but instead he froze up. He let himself be reminded! He let himself feel guilty and shame and- It made him weak! He was finally strong enough to take out any and all of Lord Obsidian's soldiers, he had finally taken one of his fa- Obsidian's planets for his own! A random thought crossed his mind: Was this whole mission just an act of revenge or defiance? No, it couldn't be, he couldn't be that pathetic!
But that was the thing. Whether it was a random thought that twisted his non-existent stomach or the origin of a goal that kept him on the path of conquering and ruling the universe with an iron fist, he couldn't escape the shadow of his former life. It was always there in the back of his mind, constantly reminding him of who he used to be, the life he used to live.
"NO!" He smashed the metal wall with both his fists. How many damn times did he have to tell himself? That person was dead! As far as anyone knew, he was never that person. He had always been - and always will be - Lord Hater. And that was the way it should be.
All his power exhausted, Hater fell to his knees, panting. "I am Lord Hater," he told himself, "I am Lord Hater." This was just another planet to add to his collection. Lord Obsidian was nothing more than a rival that he would take out when the time was right. He had no family, he had no friends. He only had a goal to reach, and more power to gain. His name would be remembered throughout all time, and it would be great. "I am Lord Hater. I am Lord Hater."
Finally, Hater felt himself relax, at least somewhat. All his thoughts were now focused on moving onto the next planet. He wanted to get off this one as soon as possible, but only because there was nothing there for him other than land.
He felt his glove 'ring', and he answered. "What is it, Peepers?"
"Sir, I was just won-... I wanted to say that I finished reading your list of laws, and the others have begun work on the prison. We should be done ahead of schedule."
"Tell anyone who's not building to get back to the ship and train. There are several planets nearby, and I want them all under my control within the week, understand?"
He could almost see his commander blinking in surprise. "Y-Yes Sir." There was another moment of silence. "Is, everything alright Sir- on the ship, I mean."
"Of course, why wouldn't I be?" he snapped.
"Just asking, Sir." With that, the line went dead. Lowering his hand, Hater remembered the damage he had caused in his room. He would have to get someone to clean it later. Hearing the small 'drip-drop' of water, he mentally added 'steal a new waterbed', and turned to leave. There were more important things for him to do.
Besides, planets didn't conquer themselves.
This chapter took FOREVER to write! I kinda knew what I wanted to say, but couldn't figure it out. Finally, I decided on just making it about Hater, saving Wander's side for the next chapter instead of mixing them together, and then I pretty much just turned on my iPod and forced myself to start writing. Once I got into it, everything else just came on its own. Anyway, hope this was okay. More Wander and Sylvia next, so please review and I'll see you next time!