The Urban Supernatural Guy

Chapter 8: Ghost of a Father

Marcus stared at the man who'd raised him, who'd taught him how to throw a baseball and drive a car, who'd supposedly died protecting his family from supernatural monsters. The same man who was now standing in a room full of those monsters like he belonged there.

"You're dead," Marcus said, his voice barely a whisper.

"Death is such a limited concept," Richard Vale replied. "I prefer to think of it as a career change."

The resemblance was perfect—same gray eyes, same crooked smile, same way of standing with his weight slightly forward like he was always ready to take on the world. But Marcus's enhanced senses picked up details that were wrong. No heartbeat, no scent of living flesh, and an aura of supernatural energy that felt ancient and cold.

"What are you?"

"Disappointed in my son, mostly." Richard moved closer, and Marcus noticed that none of the armed figures tried to stop him. "Five years of the finest supernatural training available, and you still think in terms of human morality. Good and evil, right and wrong—such simplistic concepts."

"You killed people. Innocent people."

"I guided human civilization toward a better future. Do you know how many wars I prevented? How many plagues I helped cure? How many environmental disasters I averted through careful manipulation of human governments?" Richard's expression hardened. "The humans you're so eager to protect have been on the verge of destroying themselves for centuries. We gave them stability."

Marcus looked around at the command center, noting how Sophia and Sarah stood perfectly still. Not restrained, not threatened—just waiting. Like they were part of this too.

"How long have you been working with them?"

"Working with them?" Richard laughed. "Son, I founded the modern Syndicate. The organizational structure, the integration protocols, the long-term strategic planning—all my work."

The betrayal hit Marcus like a physical blow. Everything he'd believed about his family, about his father's death, about his own mission for revenge—it was all built on lies.

"Then why fake your death? Why let me think you'd been murdered?"

"Because we needed you angry. Motivated. Driven to become something more than human." Richard gestured to the supernatural soldiers surrounding them. "The transformation process works better when the subject has strong emotional investment in the outcome. Love, hate, revenge—all excellent catalysts for change."

Marcus felt his power building, responding to the rage coursing through his system. But it was different now, cleaner since Amanda's silver had purged the conditioning. He could feel the energy waiting to be unleashed, and for the first time since his return, he wasn't afraid of what it might do.

"So Amanda was right. You made me into a weapon."

"We made you into a bridge between worlds. The first successful integration of human consciousness with supernatural abilities." Richard looked proud, like a father watching his son graduate from college. "You retain all of your human emotions and moral reasoning while possessing power that rivals our ancient bloodlines. You're proof that the two species can coexist."

"Under your control."

"Under proper guidance. Humans need leadership, Marcus. Left to their own devices, they create genocide, nuclear weapons, climate change. We offer them something better."

Marcus looked at Master Chen, who stood silently watching the conversation. "And you? What's your role in this family reunion?"

"I was Richard's student first," Chen said quietly. "Everything I taught you, he taught me. The mystical realm where you spent five years wasn't some hidden sanctuary—it was a Syndicate training facility."

The pieces were falling into place now, forming a picture that made Marcus sick to his stomach. His entire life had been orchestrated from the beginning. His father's supposed death, his own transformation, even his relationships—all of it planned and managed by beings who saw humans as pets to be trained.

"What about Elena? The real Elena?"

"Alive," Richard said. "And completely unaware of the supernatural world, just as you were five years ago. We've kept her in stasis as a control subject—what you might have become if we'd chosen a different approach to your development."

"I want to see her."

"Of course you do. Human attachment to romantic bonds is so predictable." Richard gestured to the soldiers. "Take him to the Elena facility. Let him see what we preserved for him."

As the soldiers moved to escort Marcus out of the command center, Sophia stepped forward. "Richard, wait. The timeline has changed. Victor's people are moving faster than we anticipated."

"How much faster?"

"The Great Convergence starts in three hours, not six months. They've accelerated the entire operation."

Richard's expression shifted from smug satisfaction to sharp concern. "That's impossible. We haven't finished preparing the replacement subjects, and the human governments haven't been sufficiently weakened."

"Victor doesn't care about subtlety anymore," Sarah said. "His faction is planning a massive supernatural event—something big enough to shatter the veil between worlds permanently. No more hiding, no more gradual integration. Just complete supernatural dominance in a single night."

Marcus felt a chill that had nothing to do with the underground temperature. "What kind of event?"

"They're going to open permanent gateways between the mystical realm and Earth," Sophia said. "Flood major cities with supernatural creatures, demonstrate power on a scale that makes human resistance impossible."

"And when the humans see armies of monsters pouring through dimensional portals, they'll surrender to anyone who offers protection," Richard finished. "Even if that protection comes from other supernatural beings wearing familiar faces."

The scope of the betrayal was staggering. Richard's faction had been positioning themselves as the moderate alternative to Victor's extremists, planning to step in as humanity's saviors when the true invasion began. Good cop, bad cop, played out on a species-wide scale.

"You sick bastards," Marcus said. "You're going to traumatize the entire human race just to make them grateful for a gentler form of slavery."

"We're going to save them from extinction," Richard corrected. "Victor's approach would result in billions of human deaths. Our approach preserves human civilization under supernatural guidance."

"What about human choice? Human freedom?"

"Children don't get to choose whether to attend school," Sarah said. "Sometimes the adult in the room has to make difficult decisions for everyone's benefit."

Marcus looked around at the faces surrounding him—his father, his former allies, the soldiers with their inhuman eyes. All of them convinced they were doing the right thing, all of them willing to sacrifice human agency for the greater good as they defined it.

"There's just one problem with your plan," Marcus said.

"Which is?"

Marcus smiled, and for the first time since entering the command center, he felt like he had the upper hand. "Amanda didn't just purify my supernatural abilities. She gave me something else too."

He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out the tablet she'd shown him on the rooftop. The one with footage of the real Elena in Victor's basement.

"She hacked your entire network while she was pretending to be under their control. Every safe house, every operation, every member of both factions—it's all here. And it's already been uploaded to every major news network and social media platform on Earth."

Richard's face went pale. "That's impossible. The tablet was destroyed when she—"

"When she jumped? No, Dad. She threw the tablet to me right before she went over the ledge. And the upload finished about ten minutes ago."

The screens around the command center flickered back to life, but instead of Victor's face, they showed news broadcasts. CNN, BBC, Fox News, dozens of international outlets—all running the same story.

"SUPERNATURAL CONSPIRACY EXPOSED: Evidence suggests non-human entities have infiltrated world governments."

Richard stared at the screens in horror. "You have no idea what you've done. Humans aren't ready for this knowledge. They'll panic, they'll—"

"They'll fight," Marcus finished. "And maybe they'll lose, and maybe they'll destroy themselves trying. But at least it'll be their choice."

The command center erupted into chaos as alarms started blaring and the supernatural soldiers began receiving orders through communication devices Marcus couldn't see. In the confusion, he noticed something important.

Master Chen was smiling.