I Hate Systems

"Today, annoying." One of the two Invaders in the corridor muttered, "That rich freak came with another woman."

"Ugh, that guy?" The other Invader pushed forth a trolley, one filled with grotesque intestines of an underground dweller, "His tastes, weird. The women he mates…"

"Ughly!"

"Ughly indeed," The Invaders conversed while heading in opposite directions. But right at the moment of intersection, something else had cropped up there too.

It was a stream of platinum, moving between the border of the floor and the walls. One of the Invaders frowned, looking to the side to mutter, "Did the decor change?"

Swoosh!

Suddenly, two spikes ejected out of the platinum stream and stabbed them in their throats, injecting its liquid into their bodies.

"Uhhh!" The two Invaders grunted, struggling to breathe as they felt suffocated, unable to move. Their bodies became heavy, not moving as they intended as even their external protrusions became covered by a layer of platinum.

Their bodies transformed into platinum sculptures when a platinum tentacle wrung a choker around their necks.

The choker unleashed a subtle energy fluctuation before melting into their bodies, vanishing immediately after. Mysterious lines akin to a human's nervous system manifested in their bodies, spreading around easily thanks to them being platinum sculptures.

A few seconds later, the nervous system was fully established as the platinum retracted itself, causing the platinum sculptures to revert back into Invaders, good as before.

The stream of platinum on the floor hurriedly flowed back to become the Platinum Head that gasped a little in response, "That was nerve-wracking."

Bang!

The door to a room opened as a shout resounded, "Where's my food?"

"Here!" The Invader pushing the trolley hurriedly entered the room to deliver food, slapped away once by the guest as it exited the room and closed the door.

"Fucking bastard…" It cursed under its breath once before returning to its duty. But this time, when it passed by the room with the tools, it stared at Platinum Head and nodded in their direction, motioning for them to follow it.

The building they decided to raid was a famous hotel in the area, frequently visited by people from all over the city.

And it was where they planned to establish their base of operations. That was why Platinum Head only targeted the staff of the hotel and not the customers. The choker was of course created by Stencil. It was what they planned to use to gain control of the place.

Just strapping the choker around the neck of an Invader would do the trick. But there would be too much commotion as a result, for the Invader would still be able to resist until it was brought under control.

Moreover, even after being brought under control, the choker would still be visible on its neck. And if a strong Invader were to see that, it would be able to break the choker and free the Invader, causing a leak of information.

Hence, Platinum Head used his power to transform the Invader's body into a fluid platinum sculpture, during which he planted the choker into its body, causing it to germinate like a seed and become its nervous system. This way, it was hidden from senses and could perfectly control the Invader without any room for error.

All necessary instructions had already been coded into the chokers. They only caused the Invaders to become traitors to their own and support the Heroes.

The Invader staff lead the team of Heroes towards a room, pointing them inside, "I'll ask all the staff on this floor to gather in this room in five minutes."

Saying so, the Invader staff went out to make preparations.

"I'll leave our positions to you, Dirt Encompass." Platinum Head said and jumped into a jug of water nearby, transforming into platinum to hide beneath the layer of water.

A-Class Hero—Dirt Encompass!

He specialised in tracking and stealth as Dirt Encompass used his power to transform the bodies of everyone into specks of dirt. The Heroes morphed from 3D figures to 2D figures that were scattered on the ground like dust.

As the dust was fine, it wouldn't be noticed by the Invaders who were clunky beings fitted with mechanical parts that constantly creaked and leaked oil.

So in this messy world, it was the perfect ability to hide themselves, which was why he was brought forth.

"Did boss ask us to assemble?" An Invader asked in confusion before entering the staff room, sighing at the messy interior, "We should change wallpaper."

One by one, the Invaders came in, adding to a total of eight, apart from the two that were already under control.

One of the Invaders under their control took the water jug and kept it in the centre, perfectly equal in distance from the eight Invaders. It then came to the front and said, "I'm not sure of the reason, but it seems the boss plans to give us a raise."

"Really?" The happy news surprised everyone, causing them to relax when using the chance, eight tentacles of platinum shot forth and stabbed into the throats of the eight Invaders, turning their bodies platinum.

"Now!" The other Heroes sprung into action, using their abilities to stun the struggling Invaders to allow the platinum liquid to seep into them faster and make it easier for the choker to become a nervous system in their bodies.

A dozen seconds later, the task was done as all the Invaders came under their control. One of them turned around to address Platinum Head, "The rules of hotel state we cannot go beyond our floor. So, you're on your own."

"No problem," Platinum Head nodded and led the team through the flight of stairs, alert as they cautiously descended. The dragon plushie suddenly patted his shoulder, "Wait, someone's coming our way."

Through the data being fed to the other dragon plushie at the terrace, it had a grasp of the layout and position of every Invader in the hotel.

Dirt Encompass immediately transformed them into dirt on the ground as an Invader moved forth, stomping the faint layer of dirt on the stairs, grumbling as it went ahead, "This hotel dirty!"

A couple dozen seconds later, the dirt reverted to the team who cautiously ventured down into the 24th floor of the 25-storey building.