“I’m a bitch and you’re an asshole. There’s no difference between me and you except my gender.” This moron in the blue double-breasted suit was starting to annoy her. “That’s equality for you.”

“Yet you call yourself a business woman, Ms. Quell. Which is it?” Stanley, the mutant blood-sucking, cowardly HR representative was trying her patience.

“Bitch, first. Now get the hell out of my office.” She was gazing at the brainless citizens in the city streets below. Then to the 100-dollar bill in the glass case on her desk. It was the first and only thing that didn’t make her hate society and the dumb-asses she had to deal with on a daily basis.

After Stanley finally did leave, she caught a glimpse of herself in the reflection of the glass case. She struggled against the stereotypes of her skin tone, against the cliché biases of her gender. Sexism. Racism. Ageism. There’s only one thing that could make them look past their selfish hatred. Money. If you had enough you could bend men to your will. And she wasn’t about to apologize for that.

Being a chief executive meant she had to make the hard decisions and being a bitch meant she could stay in power. Power over a booming population that needed to be culled. Overpopulation, now that was a problem, thought Belinda. The might of the war machines in the medieval crusades showed humanity that it couldn’t hide its taste for blood. Neither could Belinda when it came to doing her part in the culling. Cruelty begets cruelty, she would tell herself. Why should she feel shame in having to increase the cost of life-saving medicine? Why should she feel guilt for selling contaminated foods? Recalls weren’t anything to worry about, especially since they were so common. So what if conditions in the factories weren’t up to code and the workers weren’t allowed to take breaks and work long hours?

Evolution. Survival of the fittest. It was nature that made her this way. But even still, she always felt like she was waiting for them to send someone to her office to arrest her but they never did. It was her bitchiness that made her strong. And her thirst for money and power made her invincible.

She checked her tablet on the desk. As always there were too many meetings on her schedule. Mostly involving the experiments running over budget and shareholders being pissed. The String Theory Spatial project was already taking place in the labs in the basement of the building. It wasn’t like she could put a stop to it. Interdimensional meddling would only net her a massive profit if it worked, at least that was what was promised by the eggheads. If they could manage to pilfer another universe for rare minerals and materials her company would reach the status of godlike omnipotence.

Before she could reorganize some of the meetings a bright yellow light appeared in the center of her office. She fell from her chair, shaken by the sudden explosion of red light. When she peered over her desk she gasped. A strange being appeared within the phantom aura. Green and sickly the monster stood on a set of claws that clicked when it walked. Its face was slashed with purple scars and had a long snout with a broad jaw, something between a bear and a humanoid reptile. Its shoulders had sharp needles and its hands were three-pronged pincers, able to do serious damage to her office, especially the glass cases where her childhood trophies were displayed.

Its triangular forehead pulsed when it spoke in a gross, froglike baritone. “Belinda Quell, you have been chosen.”

“What…who are you? What kind of sick joke is this? Get out of my office.” She had her finger on the security panic button under her desk.

“Your cruelty knows no limits, Lady Quell.” Its jaw undulated with a sickening growl. “I come from the bridge of the metaverse, where the Order of the Dark Ones has established a dominance over the lesser realms. We call upon every horrible entity of power to join us in our fight for supremacy. You have proven yourself worthy of its admittance. You will be a great champion of our order.”

She slowly stood, considering the absurd notion that a monster was standing before her and lingering on the word, “power.” Gold with plasma tentacles of dark red, the color of blood, the portal licked the monster like fire. “What exactly makes me qualified…for this position?”

It was naked, as far as she could tell, but this revealed no gender. “You have created much harm to the earth realm population. Quite impressive. Your duty is to serve the metaverse order and wage war against those who wish to destroy it. Make them suffer excruciating deaths. Punish the feeble. Cut apart our enemies.” It noticed Belinda’s eyes on its scarred and maimed torso. “You must dedicate your body to this great suffering. You have shown no mercy. This quality alone has proven great potential.”

Belinda, having moved past the idea that this couldn’t have been a prank considering the experiments being conducted below, thought about how the world rejected her brilliance in achieving success and how so many have tried to rob her of it, including most men. But the idea that she had to expose herself to harm was concerning. “You expect me to travel to this bridge between metaverses and leave everything behind and also to risk my health, for what exactly? I can’t just…go with you, out of the blue.”

The monster lurched forward with a limp, it’s leg clearly injured. It reached out with a pointed claw. She wanted to reach forward to see if this creature was real but held her hands close to her chest. “Are you denying this great honor? Either you willingly come or I will take you. The Order will not be dismissed so easily. We did not achieve such greatness by offering a choice.”

Over the years she had alienated her friends and family so traveling to another universe wouldn’t have been a problem. It was the prospect that she would have to suffer physically when she spent her entire life conquering those toils, leaving those sorts of trivialities to the lower classes. Before she could object again the monster latched onto her arm and pulled her forward into the rift, away from her peaceful existence and into the metaverse.

She wanted to scream. Beams of neon light shot around her like a waterfall and into the waterfall she fell like a raindrop. Code and other random symbols swam around her. This metaverse must’ve been a digital ecosystem of alien origin. Her stomach was pushed into her throat and her body tingled. How could she exist inside a simulation? She couldn’t ask questions before she tumbled onto a hard surface. It was a platform. The code disappeared.

“Welcome to the metaverse, a virtual plane where we can travel to any realm we desire.” Croaked the monster stepping to the edge of the platform. She couldn’t turn back now. “Any realm that requires subjugation. You will be designated a realm and bring the feeble inhabitants under our control. Kill any that resist.”

This couldn’t be. Her entire existence had become pointless. Everything she worked to achieve was gone. Beyond the platform was an endless number of rifts into other worlds. She could see thousands being slaughtered at the hands of variable monsters, eating, biting, decapitating with their claws, teeth, talons, and jagged pincers. Thoughts of her parents drove her to her knees. Tears welled as she became speechless. If only she had listened to her mom when she said, “Kindness is never expensive. It doesn’t cost anything.” But now her cruelty had costed her everything.

“Why…why me?” She pleaded. “I can’t do this.”

The monster, with its broad mouth and jagged teeth, turned and seemed to laugh grotesquely. “You were made for this, Lady Quell of Earth. You are the scourge of your planet. You’ve killed so many thousands under your rule. And now you will kill so many more. You will be the mistress of the dark, a great and malevolent being who knows no mercy. A demon who can rip and tear your foes to pieces.”

Several platforms moved toward the one they were standing on, containing monsters of various shapes and sizes. The one that arrived first had a squid creature with a hundred small tentacles centered around a giant mouth while next to it sat a gremlin with fur and sharp sword-like appendages for arms. On the other was a dark, metallic humanoid with wings, each was covered with a substance that must’ve been blood. The monsters disembarked and marched, slithered, and crawled towards her. This wasn’t who she was. Not inside. She was a beautiful and strong woman inside.  “No… no. I can’t. I’m weak. I’m a liar. I only ever wanted to be successful. I never killed anyone directly. I only did what needed to be done.”

The squid monster was coming closer. She fell to her knees. It lapped across the dry platform, sliding on slime, gurgling as it came. “Come…join us.” It said with a gargle. “You will be a glorious queen…or a delicious morsel. You decide. Come…”

Belinda stared blankly, tears on her cheeks. Had she really been so evil, so monstrous, that she belonged only with monsters? All of the faces that she harmed or possibly killed flashed before her eyes, even the ones she had never met. And she decided yes. She did belong here. With these monsters of the metaverse.