Rise To Stardom - Chapter 239

Chapter 239: Cookie Cutter
Vance wondered if he was being a bit paranoid.

After all, he had only blinked his eyes, and Kyle, whom he could swear had fixed him a baneful gaze a fraction of a second ago, was equally smiling at him in a friendly manner.

Maintaining his outward demeanor though, the fixer couldn’t help but ask himself, a small chill running up his spine;

‘What… was that?’

As for Kyle, having stepped off the now inactive treadmill, the dynamic cables holding him in place removed by the stunt team, made his way to one of the many chairs littering the set.

Lowering himself onto it, he gently massaged his temples.

‘[Deep Dive] at Grade S still takes way too much out of me…’ he remarked tiredly, almost feeling like he could collapse again.

Luckily, this was the only scene he would be shooting today so he was at least glad that he could head home anytime from now.

But more than that, was another skill Kyle had activated way before he had even activated [Deep Dive], one that might’ve further exacerbated its effects.

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Active Skill – [Mind Probe]

Reads the immediate thoughts of a specific target within range.

___________________________

A new active skill.

One he had created last week in an effort to keep himself ahead of whatever the Hollywood Fixer was up to.

It had cost him a hefty 20,000 exp points as it was one of those skills that did effect his mind but honestly, it had been a necessary trade-off.

And now, after about a week, he had finally gotten a general idea of what exactly Vance was up to.

Disrupting the ambience on set by either injuring him or his colleagues severely, gathering info about the movie’s plot to leak to the public and causing a disastrous ‘accident’ on set, case-in-point, arson.

Safe to say, Kyle was not welcoming of any of it, one, tiny, bit.

But as of now, he’d have to play the long game and pretend to be oblivious as he had no concrete proof or evidence that Atlas International was in fact, involved with Vance Vercetti.

Hopefully, the PI Oliver had hired, would come up with something tangible and concrete, sooner, rather than later.

* * *

(The next day…)

The seemingly exhausted Tech Wiz meme was still making its round on the internet even after a couple of weeks.

And for various netizens and Kyle’s fans especially, the picture itself had come as a much needed relief to them.

Considering the incident that had transpired with him collapsing on set a few months back, it was nice to know that he was faring well enough that the movie’s production team was comfortable with making jokes about their time on set.

As a result, on one of the funnier takes on the meme…

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POV: When you just fought a punishing boss in Elden Souls, only to realize there’s a phase two.

[Photo.jpg]

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…which had gotten a good number of engagement on TweetTalk that was posted by a random netizen, was an active comments section;

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Peter_Writes_Fantasy: I have to admit, that’s a pretty funny one and I can totally relate to it. Also, I’m glad Kyle’s faring well and filming seems to be coming along splendidly.

Wiz Lord: Man that suit’s fire! Love that it’s also comic accurate! Shows that the live action adaptation is in good hands. Looking forward to the DLC’s release too. November, please hurry on along!

Eddie Donkey: Was actually quite lucky to come across Kyle and Sharon while he was filming in New York. They were so polite and all smiles. Wonder if Kyle was in an extremely good mood that day though ’cause I swear I could’ve seen him dancing around the set before I walked up to him…

HelloHomie_I’mTony: The fact that the movie isn’t even done filming yet and we already have what I feel might go on to be an iconic meme… we’re winning guys. We’re definitely winning.

Toast Malone: You know, hearing that Kyle’s also going to be one of the main composer the movie’s score and soundtrack, actually makes this meme feel all that much more believable.

WeDoABitOfTrolling: Memes aside, this single image actually speaks volumes. The fact that they could’ve gone full CGI, but are similarly pushing physical performances… I just can’t help but staunchly believe that this movie is going to hit different from the cookie cutter superhero flicks we’ve been getting in recent memory.

Shounen Junkie: I know what you mean @WeDoABitOfTrolling. Like seriously, if Kyle is already seemingly this wiped out during filming, imagine how crazy those action sequences are gonna look on the big screen. Can’t help but be hyped man!

Chai_Cenat: Hoho! That’s a good meme right there. Stealing it! But I’mma say thank you first ’cause I ain’t no asshole. Oh and tune in for my marathon streaming session of [Tech Wiz]’s DLC in November [glitch.tv/chaicenat]. Shameless plug I know but hey, it’s gonna be exciting! Don’t miss out!

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Chuckling a bit at that particular comment from the shameless plug, Sharon, casually lounging on her chair with a little Eliza atop her laps whom was excitedly looking around, raised her gaze up from her smartphone’s screen to watch as Kyle, once again dressed in the suit, walked onto the set.

All he would be filming today however, were two scenes that would transition into the another scene which had already being filmed in New York and at the same time, end said scene respectively.

This scene, was the pre-revelation scene that resolved all of Nathan’s questions, how he got his powers and also, simultaneously, shed light on whom the mystery cyborg, supposedly was.

At the same time, this was the scene that elevated [Tech Wiz: Year One], from a good superhero movie, to something more immersive and suspenseful with its unexpected twist.

This twist, in an of its own right, was something that was never in the comics but having thought about it extensively, ever since he acquired the IP rights, Kyle had always felt it would adapt so well to a live-action of the movie.

And thankfully, last year, after he had gotten Xavier on board as the Director for the movie, it was one of the few ideas that the Director had been so excited for when Kyle ran it through him.

In any case, as Adam and Clint, also got ready for the scene, with Adam dressed in the familiar green suit for stuntmen while Clint was casually dressed, a glasses resting on the ridge of his nose, Xavier, then walked up to one more actress on set and squat to her level;

“Alright Eliza. All you have to do here when Kyle lands on the platform, is to wave slightly with a surprised expression.”

“Can you do that for me?” he politely asked of the young girl who simply bobbled her head in agreement, her smile bright as she responded;

“Yes.”

“That’s a good girl.” Sharon gently ruffled Eliza’s hair whilst praising her, to which Xavier, having held onto her dainty hands as she giggled mirthfully, led her to the spot on the set that was planned for the last minute shot they had decided to include in to make the scene feel a tad bit better.

The moment the director was done placing her in the spot though, he gave the crew one more furtive glance to ensure everything was set for filming.

Then he walked back to stand beside one of the cinematographers while commanding;

“Lights… Camera… Action!”

{Tech Wiz: Year One | 15th of September 2022 | Act 4 | Scene 2 | Take 1}

Immediately after putting out the raging inferno, Tech Wiz, instead of recuperating, brought up the analysis of mystery cyborg’s propulsion beam as he glided through the air.

And then, tracing its trail of chemical remnants through the air with his visor’s functionality, Nathan soon arrived at a nice-looking bungalow in a quiet estate.

Landing on a treehouse nearby, Tech Wiz watched as a young girl, probably around six years of age, stared at him in surprise through a fairly wide hole in the roof.

Slowly waving over to him, her expression still one of curious surprise, Tech Wiz, reciprocated with a wave of his own, after which he then leaped from the treehouse to the ground, his exosuit already vanishing in the process, leaving him only in his casual wears.

– – –

Walking up to the door of the opposite house across the street where the trace of the chemical lingered in high concentrations, Nathan proceeded to knock on the door.

Yet, no sooner had he knocked the door, as if left unclosed properly, it slowly opened to reveal the house in a wreck.

The walls were scorched and the furniture were overturned as shattered glass, debris and splintered wood, littered the floor.

The flickering overhead bulbs too didn’t help, casting an almost eerie atmosphere as his gaze, landed on deep gashes of jagged claw marks and bashed holes on the walls.

Instantly, alarm bells went off in the young man’s head as he warily stepped into the house, the mess of debris, crunching beneath his foot.

Slowly moving through the apartment, his breathing silent and his senses alert, Nathan turned around the corner.

There, he could see as what was once a cozy living room was now a graveyard of broken tech, ripped out couches, sparking wires dangling from the roof, and what seemed to be… blueprints… torn to shreds across the floor.

But more than that, despite his curiosity of whom exactly owned the house, the young man soon heard a faint mechanical hum, coming from the floorboard beneath.

With another tentative step and a small gulp, Nathan followed the faint hum and soon, descended into the basement.

– – –

The room was dark, damp, and filled with toppled shelves and scattered data drives as Nathan dropped in.

And at the center of the chaos, the mystery cyborg loomed, his cybernetic arm gripping a terrified Malakai by the throat, the man’s legs kicking desperately as he gasped for air.

Instantly, Nathan’s eyes widened in a mix of terror and shock as he called out;

“Prof!”

Glancing over to his student, even as he himself was slowly feeling the light in his eyes dying out, Malakai, limply tried to raise his hands upwards, seemingly trying to gesture to Nathan.

“R…u…n…” he let out faintly.

However, with his rectangular, mechanical visor glowing red in the dim light of the basement, the cyborg slowly turned his head, looked at Nathan dead in the eye and then, simply angled his gaze back to Malakai and stated, his gruff, cybernetic voice, ominous as ever;

“You have three days to fix the nano-serum’s unstable isotopy and reverse engineer it.”

Then he trained his gaze, back on the young man whom had stumbled upon both of them and declared;

“Or both you, and him, die.”

With a casual toss, the cyborg flung Malakai aside like a broken kite, the Professor, colliding against the wall brutally!

And then Nathan saw it, his gaze widening in a mix of addled shock.

Malakai Volt’s arm, had the same cybernetic build as the cyborg’s.

But before the young man could even let out any words, the levitating cyborg, appeared before him in a propulsion boost, and in similar fashion, smacked the daylights out of him.

Like a blur, Nathan similarly crashed into a toppled shelf, the light, slowly fading out of his eyes as he faintly watched the cyborg, leave the basement.

“Tailslate and… Cut!”

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