Alternative Stories

"Where the hell is this bastard?" An annoyed male voice pierced the silent night air.

A sigh came from the lips of the man next to him. "Just be patient, if this goes well it will be one hell of a pay out."

"Tch, whatever..."

These two men, as well as the dozen or so armed individuals scattered around the area, were a part of a black market smuggling group. They had come to this abandoned warehouse for one purpose, they had a delivery to complete, one that involved a lot of money.

Thankfully for the rather inpatient ones amongst them the one they were waiting for soon arrived not long later. They approached slowly, their body covered head to toe in clothing, a fact that made it impossible to see any of the people underneath.

"Took you long enough, you're nearly an hour late." One of them grumbled with a sour expression.

"I apologise." Was all they received in response, as the buyer approached.

The person who had just complained coughed as he felt somewhat unnerved by the strange, almost artificial tone in the buyer's voice. "W-whatever, so long as you have the money I don't care."

"A-anyway, the boss is inside waiting for you." Another of the armed men muttered while gesturing for the covered man to head inside.

"I will be going then." He mused with a flat yet slightly upbeat tone.

"Sure..."

"Am I the only one who found that guy creepy as hell?" Someone said getting several uncomfortable nods in return.

Entering inside the rundown warehouse, the client was met with quite the sight, and yet they showed no viable reaction at all. The large open area within was packed full of crates, supplies and various other things all neatly arranged into sections depending on certain factors.

"Good, you're finally here." The short yet tough looking man in question huffed as he walked over. "Everything you ordered is here, although I have no idea how you're going to move everything by yourself."

"Twelve generators, large, high grade and portable, the type that they use in the military. As for everything else, well, it's all inside the various crates and containers." The man continued gesturing with his hand slightly. "Feel free to check the merchandise if you want to make sure it's all there."

"It will only take a moment, please wait." The buyer replied as they walked forward and took a glance around the warehouse.

"What the heck does this guy want with all of this crap anyway? Generators, mechanical components, blue prints, medical supplies, different metals and ores, even weapons and explosives, what the heck is he trying to do? Supply a small private army?" A large dark skinned man asked with his arms crossed in front of himself.

"No idea, I mean this isn't his first time doing something like this, the guy has apparently been buying stuff like this from all over for a few months now." The boss shrugged, not really caring at all. "However, so long as he pays I don't give a shit."

"Fair enough."

After a couple of seconds the buyer turned back to the group. "Everything that was requested is here."

"You barely even looked at any of it though..." Someone muttered under their breath.

The man in charge of these thugs simply shrugged, not bothered by the client's strange behaviour. "Now then, where's the money we agreed on?"

"I do thank you for your assistance." The covered man said before he snapped his fingers causing all the thugs to look at him somewhat confused. "Unfortunately, your assistance is no longer required and I have been ordered to clean up all loose ends."

"Erm...was something supposed to happen or what?"

"I don't know what exactly your trying to pull buddy bu-the fuck?" The boss of the group tried to say but suddenly all the lights in the warehouse flickered out.

"What the hell just happe-AAAAAAAH!

"Jesus fucking christ?!"

"What in hell are those things?!"

Despite the screams and chaos around them the buyer's flat yet polite tone did not change. "Once again gentlemen, I thank you for your assistance, please, have a nice day."

 _ _ _3rd Person Pov Change_ _ _

"Hey, Bob." A woman dressed in a white lab coat spoke as she approached her colleague.

Said colleague was a muscular yet gruff looking man who was currently tapping away at a console. "Yeah?"

"Whatcha doing?" She asked only for "Bob" to answer without looking up at her.

"Just checking some files."

"Which ones?" She asks with a puzzled explanation.

"The ones containing the video footage from the tests up in orbit." He mused.

"Weren't those encrypted?" She asked with a confused look on her face.

Her colleague simply shrugged before saying. "They were."

"You sure that you should be looking at them then?" She hummed with concern in her voice, not that he seemed to care

"It'll be fine, I'm just curious as all."

"Just don't blame me if the top brass end up skinning you alive for looking at encrypted files." She sighed, turning to leave.

"Yeah yeah whatever." He responded while waving her off.

"It's your funeral..."

Of course that wasn't the end of it, she was definitely planning to report his odd behaviour to the higher ups the moment she got the chance. To be honest she never really liked the guy, she didn't even believe that he was using his real name, not that she had any evidence to prove that but still.

Unfortunately however, she didn't even reach the door before a hand suddenly covered her mouth followed by a knife slicing through her throat. After cleaning up the blood and dissolving the body using some kind of blue liquid that rapidly broke down her body, her killer simply returned to his seat and continued messing with the computer in front of him, all the while grumbling something about primitive technology.

 _ _ _3rd Person Pov Change_ _ _

A sea of trees that towered above and blocked out the sky, exotic plants and flowers of all colors, the sounds of insects and animals filled the air, this is a rainforest, one in the North Eastern part of Australia. This primal, untamed place was filled with an abundance of life, it was not only beautiful but also dangerous in many ways, however that didn't stop some from wanting to explore its depths.

"Come along now and stay close." A season tour guide spoke with a serious expression as various tourists followed behind him while gawking at their surroundings. "We wouldn't want you all getting lost now would we."

"Just look at how beautiful it is, honey."

"It is...it truly is extraordinary." 

Despite his warnings the people around him weren't exactly listening, in fact he could only sigh as they ignored him in favour of snapping pictures of their surroundings. Thankfully for them this particular area was relatively safe all things considered, however that didn't stop their guide from internally cursing them for their lack of awareness in such a hostile environment.

"What kind of plant is this?"

"Oh tha-" He went to say with a smile only to feel a wave of panic run through him when he recognized the plant in question. "Stop!"

The tourist, a man wearing some rather large and round glasses, froze in place as he heard the sudden yell from the guide. "W-what is it?" He asked while nervously taking a step backwards.

"You nearly touch something you REALLY don't want to touch." The guide breathed as he gently pulled the man a little further away before glancing back at the plant that had caused him such alarm.

The plant in question was rather unassuming at first glance, it was a deep green in colour with large heart-shaped leaves, it was honestly rather bland looking compared to its surroundings to be honest, a fact that only made it more dangerous. On closer inspection however, you would quickly come to realize something rather shocking to say the least. To put it simply, the whole plant, from its stem to its leaves, was covered in thousands of tiny transparent needle like barbs that were surprisingly hard to notice at a glance despite the sheer quantity of them.

"What's so bad about it?" Someone asked, echoing the group's current confusion.

"Dendrocnide Moroides, also known more commonly as the Suicide Plant." He explained rather bluntly, causing everyone present to take several steps away from said plant. "It's called that because most people who touch it would rather die than keep living."

"Yikes..."

"So yeah, please stay away from it." The guide sighed outwardly, however internally he was a little happy these idiots were finally listening.

"Can I take a picture of it?" The person who had first spotted the plant asked after taking a second to calm down.

"Sure, whatever, but like I said, don't touch it, the slightest nudge could cause the poisonous barbs covering it to fall off and because they're so light they'll float through the air like bust particles." He explained with a slight shake of his head.

"I'll...I'll make sure to do that." He responded as he knelt down with his camera.

Strangely though, his once nervous expression changed to a completely calm and serious one the moment the group turned away from him. Without any delay he put down his camera and reached into his bag before pulling something out of it, said something being a strange cylindrical object that was made of both a sleek black metal with glowing blue lines criss-crossing across its surface. 

Twisting it sharply the object came apart into two halves revealing a shifting black vortex hovering within, a vortex that quickly absorbed the ominously named plant in front of the man. A second later he had once again enclosed the vortex and reconnected both of the halves back together before then gently placing the cylinder back into his bag.

Nodding to himself he got up and smiled, rejoining the group as if nothing had happened, not before reaching out with his mind towards some place unknown however. <>

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