The TCR Chronicles (a Kabuse User Story Productions)I will be archiving it here, kthnxbai.
Hmm... thought AFKeeker.
This is interesting. I've never seen one of these before. Wonder what it means...?"Hey, GameForLife! Get over here!" he yelled. "There's something here I want you to see! And bring that Simmons character along as well, he might be helpful."
Grumbling, GameForLife walked over to where AFKeeker was standing, dragging Simmons2pntO behind him with the collar of his shirt. "This had better be good, old chap. You know I hate to be disrupted while I'm doing business."
"Oh, you'll want to see this, GameForLife. Tell me that isn't the weirdest rock you've ever seen and mean it, and I'll buy you a truckload of cookies."
"Hmm... Is that a purple glow emanating from it? Weird as hell, man," GameForLife said. "Simmons, what do you make of it? Look familiar?"
Simmons2pntO edged forward to get a better look at it. GameForLife was right - the rock, about the size of his fist, was glowing purple. It took him a while to realize what it was and the significance of it. "Oh my god, holy crap holy crap holy crap. Holy. Crap. No effing way."
"What is it?" GameForLife and AFKeeker asked in unison.
"This was supposed to be just a myth, I had no idea it was real. And if
this one is real... then the others, too...."
"What are you talking about? Spit it out already!"
"Alright, alright! Calm down, AFK. That's one of the eight Spectrum Rocks," Simmons2pntO said. "There is a myth told that before Zeus died, he invited every god to his deathbed, and when they were all crowded around him, he captured all their powers and sealed them into seven rocks corresponding to the seven major colors, and hid them somewhere. The eighth rock is pure white, and contains the powers of Zeus.
"Without their powers, the rest of the gods died shortly after. Only one of them wasn't there that day - TCR. Legend has it that he's been searching for the Spectrum Rocks so he can get his hands on all the powers and rule the universe. Only, he wouldn't just rule it. He would destroy the universe and re-create it to follow his every whim and desire. Basically destroy life as we know it and shape the universe and everything in it to his liking.
"When I first heard this, I thought it was all nonsense. These gods never existed, everyone knows that. They were just something people made up to scare children a long time ago or for a good bedtime story. Maybe people wanted to explain certain phenomena and couldn't, so they made up these fictional beings. Complete nonsense. But... still. I wonder...."
"Wonder what?" AFKeeker asked. "What is it?"
"Well... the only to know for sure is to grab hold of the rock and see for ourselves what happens."
"Let's go for it," GameForLife said enthusiastical
ly. "What's the worst that could happen?"
All three of them looked at each other. Feeling more than slightly foolish, they all nodded and reached for the rock.
***
Somewhere far away, a being called TCR cackled with mirthless laughter. He had waited 3000 years for this day, and no one would stop him. Finally, his time had arrived.
END PROLOGUE
The TCR Chronicles (a Kabuse User Story Productions)I will be archiving it here, kthnxbai.
Hmm... thought AFKeeker.
This is interesting. I've never seen one of these before. Wonder what it means...?"Hey, GameForLife! Get over here!" he yelled. "There's something here I want you to see! And bring that Simmons character along as well, he might be helpful."
Grumbling, GameForLife walked over to where AFKeeker was standing, dragging Simmons2pntO behind him with the collar of his shirt. "This had better be good, old chap. You know I hate to be disrupted while I'm doing business."
"Oh, you'll want to see this, GameForLife. Tell me that isn't the weirdest rock you've ever seen and mean it, and I'll buy you a truckload of cookies."
"Hmm... Is that a purple glow emanating from it? Weird as hell, man," GameForLife said. "Simmons, what do you make of it? Look familiar?"
Simmons2pntO edged forward to get a better look at it. GameForLife was right - the rock, about the size of his fist, was glowing purple. It took him a while to realize what it was and the significance of it. "Oh my god, holy crap holy crap holy crap. Holy. Crap. No effing way."
"What is it?" GameForLife and AFKeeker asked in unison.
"This was supposed to be just a myth, I had no idea it was real. And if
this one is real... then the others, too...."
"What are you talking about? Spit it out already!"
"Alright, alright! Calm down, AFK. That's one of the eight Spectrum Rocks," Simmons2pntO said. "There is a myth told that before Zeus died, he invited every god to his deathbed, and when they were all crowded around him, he captured all their powers and sealed them into seven rocks corresponding to the seven major colors, and hid them somewhere. The eighth rock is pure white, and contains the powers of Zeus.
"Without their powers, the rest of the gods died shortly after. Only one of them wasn't there that day - TCR. Legend has it that he's been searching for the Spectrum Rocks so he can get his hands on all the powers and rule the universe. Only, he wouldn't just rule it. He would destroy the universe and re-create it to follow his every whim and desire. Basically destroy life as we know it and shape the universe and everything in it to his liking.
"When I first heard this, I thought it was all nonsense. These gods never existed, everyone knows that. They were just something people made up to scare children a long time ago or for a good bedtime story. Maybe people wanted to explain certain phenomena and couldn't, so they made up these fictional beings. Complete nonsense. But... still. I wonder...."
"Wonder what?" AFKeeker asked. "What is it?"
"Well... the only to know for sure is to grab hold of the rock and see for ourselves what happens."
"Let's go for it," GameForLife said enthusiastical
ly. "What's the worst that could happen?"
All three of them looked at each other. Feeling more than slightly foolish, they all nodded and reached for the rock.
***
Somewhere far away, a being called TCR cackled with mirthless laughter. He had waited 3000 years for this day, and no one would stop him. Finally, his time had arrived.
END PROLOGUE
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The group in question was playing a harmless game of two-on-two soccer, FinchLynch and Huberstank against Monkey300 and TKdademon. The latter two were winning by one point, and FinchLynch was going for the goal to tie when it happened, although none of them noticed it until it was too late.
A rock the color of a calm ocean fell from the sky directly ahead of Finch. As he was running, he managed to trip on the rock. Cursing, tumbling, he rolled a few feet and came to a stop, covered in dirt from head-to-toe. He tried to clean himself off properly before the rest of the guys showed up, but didn't manage it quite well. When they arrived, they couldn't stop laughing. FinchLynch picked up the rock that he had tripped on and began to examine it, being drawn to its blue-ness. As he was handling it, it became warmer and warmer, but he didn't notice it until it was so hot that it burned his skin.
"Come on guys," he said, "stop laughing. It's not that funny, I'm sure it's happened to you guys als - Ahhh!"
He dropped the rock on the ground and noticed that it had singed a round shape into the flesh of his palm. It hurt like mad, but he bore it with no further complaint. Then things got really interesting.
At the same time that Huberstank picked up the blue rock that had burned Finch’s palm, Finch began to float. At first he just hovered above the ground, but then he climbed higher and higher, and was apparently doing what could only be described as flying. A few minutes into this bizarre experience, Huberstank realized that not only was the rock burning his palm, but it was glowing the brightest blue he'd ever seen.
Then, as if from nowhere, there was another Huberstank, and another, and another, and another... until there were 20 of them. All of them stared at one another in fascination and horror, and then they all looked up to see that FinchLynch had stopping floating in the air and was hovering right above them, a half-smile on his face. No one said anything for a few minutes.
"Jesus Almighty, what the hell did you guys do?" Monkey300 blurted out, breaking the silence.
"I dunno," said 13 of the Huberstanks, while the other 7 shrugged.
FinchLynch looked at his palm, feeling at the spot where the rock had burned him. He was thinking at how odd the rock had been and how it felt weird as he held it, when he fell the fifteen feet he was floating.
"Goddamn it, not again!" he screamed. No sooner did he fall, did Huberstank's nineteen copies disappear.
"Aww, I kinda liked them! Why'd you have to make them go away, Finch?" Huberstank asked.
"I don't think it was him," TKdademon said. "You both picked up something from the ground before that... stuff... happened. That could be the source of it."
"What, you mean this little blue rock?" Huberstank asked, and showed it to them.
Monkey300 grabbed it before Huberstank could retract his hand, and dropped it just as quickly. It seemed to leave a burn mark on his hand as well. TKdademon, on the other hand, picked it up from the ground and although it burned for a few seconds, it became quite cool afterwards.
A frisbee came out of nowhere, heading for their group of four. "Watch out, guys!" a voice yelled slightly too late.
Monkey300, known for his amazing catching skills, instinctively stretched out his arm to catch the rogue frisbee. But instead of catching it, he seemed to dispel it, making it go back to its owner with a rush of wind.
"Unreal..." he whispered.
"Whoah, Jesus, that was fast! How'd you catch it and throw it back so quickly?"
"I'm not quite -" Monkey300 started to reply before noticing who it was. "Mel! Wow, it's been a long time, how've you been?"
"I've been great, Monk, thanks. Just been out and about, hadn't had much time to keep in touch. Been keeping very busy. What's going on?"
"Well, we were having a two-on-two soccer match, until Finch here decided to be stupid and trip over- "
"Hey!" FinchLynch yelled. "In my defense, it was right in my way, and the ground was slippery..."
"Yeah, yeah," Huberstank interrupted. "Excuses are lame, so save it. Whatever. But this really cool thing happened just before you got here, Mel. We found this rock that can apparently make us do all this really cool stuff. Finch here started to fly, I made a whole bunch of copies... and I'm not sure what happened with Monkey300 and TKdademon, but they touched the rock, too."
"When you've finished blabbing, Huberstank, I might be able to explain in English," TKdademon said, and as he talked the ground under him began to freeze. "I'm not all too sure what happened, Mel, but if you can believe it, it seems like this rock is magical, as much as I hate using such a lame word. Huberstank started to multiply until there were twenty of him when he touched it, and Finch here started to float, and then fly. I'm not sure what Monkey300 can do, nor what I can."
"So I am, it seems." But he barely got the words out of his mouth when the frost melted and instead began to smolder as if on fire. TKdademon instinctively stepped back, and the smoldering stopped. "Flippin' A…."
halogoddess1 just stared at them, mouth half-open in amazement and shock. "Do you guys think I can see that rock?"
"Sure, Mel," TKdademon said, and handed it over to her, and for a second thought that he saw a hellish gleam in her eyes. It was over just as fast, and TKdademon dismissed it. He didn't notice that the rock was also covered in frost until Huberstank pointed it out to him.
halogoddess1 held the rock, warmed it up... but nothing happened. It didn't glow, didn't burn, didn't do anything, in fact, other than be blue. "Doesn't seem to be working for me," she said, but instead of cynicism in her voice, it sounded more like disappointment.
Her cell phone rang then. "Sorry guys, I gotta take this, be right back." Mel walked towards a tree close by and answered the phone. "Yeah, boss? Any news?"
"No," said TCR. "I haven't found any besides for the green one I managed to acquire a week back. What about things on your end?"
"I seem to have stumbled upon four unlikely people who apparently found the blue one. I have it with me, but it doesn't seem to be doing anything for me. Either they sucked it dry, or it can sense who I am."
"It doesn't matter. I can take away any powers they have taken from the rock. As for the others that haven't been unlocked, there is another way to make it give up all its powers. I'm still trying to track it down; it's proven elusive, even for me. It's been a thousand years already and the search is only now starting to get interesting. Alright, bring them to me, alive, but make sure you aren't discovered. I need them, Melissa. Don't fail me."
"I won't, sir."
Click.
END CHAPTER ONE
There was now only a sliver of sun left, and it reflected his mood better than he could put in words. When the ocean finally swallowed the last ray of light, he got up, turned on the spot, and blinked out of existence, reappearing again in a room a thousand miles away. Three people were already there, and it seemed as if they were waiting only for him. They sat around a round wooden table, and two of them gave him disapproving, glaring looks.
"You're late again," said caleba04. "That needs to stop. Time is not on our side."
"Caleb is right, Zatch," LoveNCaboose said. "You've been distant these past few days. What's going on?"
"Nothing," Zatch lied. "Thanks for worrying, but really, I'm fine. Who's the new guy?"
"I'm BlackViper, and I'm here to help," the new guy said.
Zatch turned to LoveNCaboose and said, "What? How do we know we can trust him? Where did you get this guy from, anyways?"
"He's one of us, Zatch," she replied. "He wants to help, I can feel it. I even got Caleb to make sure. No one's ever been able to fool him, I doubt BlackViper would be the first."
Zatch raised his eyebrows at her. "Are you sure? This wouldn't be the first time you've made a mistake."
LoveNCaboose shot him a look of pure venom and looked like she was about to retaliate, but instead she said, "No, Zatch, this time it's different. I trust him, you should too."
BlackViper looked from Zatch to LoveNCaboose, to caleba04 and then back to Zatch. It seemed for a moment that Zatch would just leave, but he reluctantly took a seat at the table. He wished he could leave this whole stupid affair right now and disappear forever... and was tempted to do it. He could pull it off if he wanted to. But he was in too far and leaving now would only make things worse. If there was one thing he had learned from his past, it was that running away from your problems only delays the repercussions. And when they finally arrive, they're much worse. No, he would have to stay, at least for a while longer.
caleba04 stood up. "Alright, I was hoping for more time to explain this, but there really isn't any. We have the red Spectrum Rock, and my sources tell me that others already have most of the rest. The only one that has remained unclaimed, besides for the ever-elusive Zeus Spectrum, is the yellow one. If we can get to it first, we'll have a bigger advantage against the opposition. I don't have the exact location, but I know the area. It’s a big place, so we'll have to split up. Zatch, you and BlackViper seemed to have this connection, I think you two should pair up."
"Go to hell, Caleb," Zatch said.
"I love you too. I'll be with LoveNCaboose. Any questions?"
"Yeah, where exactly is this place?" BlackViper asked.
"Portugal."
***
Then a voice he recognized very well boomed: "This is your last chance, TCR. Stop your conquest now and you will be saved, but imprisoned for eternity. Fail to do so, and you will die, and I promise to make it very painful."
"Never, Zeus!" he screamed. He felt his body melt to nothingness, and all was black.
Suddenly he was in his bed, and everything seemed to cool off at an impossible rate. He was drenched in sweat. Just a dream, he thought. It was only a dream...
He flexed his hands, then his fingers, and water shot out of his hands with force enough to take down a tank. "At least that still seems to work," he mumbled. He was still disturbed by the dream, but the cool feel of the water running through his veins calmed him down. "It was just... a dream."
The rest of the night was peaceful and dreamless.
***
Running.
He ran as fast as his feet could carry him down the corridor. Dressed in black, he was almost invisible in the dark corridors. Extraordinary thief though he was, machinimarox wasn't a ghost. Even he had been fooled by the seemingly rudimentary security and alarm, and overlooked the traps that were set to catch him. A few moments later and he would have been killed, or worse... trapped, caught, and tortured for information.
But at least the damned rock is safe... I really hope it was worth it. Money or no money, that was way too close.
machinimarox cursed himself silently for being so foolish and nearly ran into a guard patrolling the corridor. Freakin' A, I can't catch a break, can I? He backed up slowly and chose a different route. This time he restored the calm that had gotten him out of tighter situations that this and instantly became nothing more than a shadow on the wall. Only a direct beam of light would show his position. The power was knocked out thanks to him, and his vision in the dark was catlike.
He encountered two guards on his way out excepting the first, and took care of one by slitting his throat with the sharp dagger he always carried around with him; the other by breaking his neck. If it weren't for the accident that nearly killed him upstairs he might've thought this too easy. He stepped out into the night air. Finally, this was over. Now all that had to be settled was the payment. He removed his gloves and tucked them into one of his many pockets.
For the last time that night, he was careless. He felt cold metal on the back of his neck. "Hand it over, and I promise not to kill you. You know me, machinimarox; I'm a man of my word. Don't let this get too far."
"Gavino…" machinimarox said. "Fancy meeting you here. I thought we were friends, though. It's quite a shame."
"We are friends," Gavino replied. "But there are other friends with… how shall I say... greater persuasion. I don't want to kill you, we both know that. I will do it if I have to, though. Hand me the rock."
machinimarox couldn’t see a way out of this. It seemed as if he would have to give up the damn rock. His employer wouldn't like it, but that meant nothing. If machinimarox didn't want to be found, he wouldn't be. He could disappear faster than a drop of water in the desert heat. Not even she would find him if he didn't want her to, and she was the one who hired him in the first place.
Sighing heavily, he reached into his pocket and grabbed the rock that had caused all this trouble. It tingled in his hands, and the orange hue glowed bright for a second within his pocket.
Gavino reached out for it with one gloved hand, and put it in turn in his own pocket. "It's been a pleasure doing business with you, Kaare," he said, and smashed the barrel of the gun into machinimarox's head. Stars exploded in his vision and he felt as if his head had split open, but within a few seconds everything went dark and he felt no more pain.
Gavino walked away without even a backwards glance, but if he had looked behind him, he would have seen something very peculiar. machinimarox's body shimmered for a few seconds, and then disappeared from vision completely. He was gone.
END CHAPTER TWO
They let go as fast as they could, rubbing the spot where the electricity has shocked them.
“What the fuck was that?†GameForLife asked.
“If I had to guess,†AFKeeker said, “and I think Simmons2pntO will agree to it, what happened just now was probably an energy transfer of these powers that Simmons spoke of. Clearly not all of them, as there are more rocks out there, but some, at least. Am I correct in my assumption, Simmons?â€
“I would assume so, yes.â€
GameForLife scowled at Simmons2pntO. “How do these ‘powers’ work, then? I don’t feel any different. Do you?â€
“To be quite honest, GFL, I have no freaking clue at all,†he said. “The extent of my knowledge is what I’ve told you so far. And like I told you, I didn’t think something like this could be real and so didn’t bother studying up on the myth. I might’ve, over time, but it wasn’t really high on my list of priorities.
“As for how these ‘powers’ work… I think believe trial and error works best in finding out. In every myth or story I’ve read, powers like the ones we’re supposed to have are generally fueled by emotions or outside forces, at least until the user learns to control his emotions, thus controlling the power.â€
“So what, you mean like this?†AFKeeker asked, and punched Simmons2pntO in the face… or so he thought. Where Simmons2pntO should have been there was now only air. AFKeeker looked frantically around for him, but couldn’t find him.
Simmons2pntO suddenly reappeared in front of him.
“Super speed, nice,†Simmons2pntO said, and grinned. “My turn.†He disappeared again, materializing right behind AFKeeker, kneeing him in the back and gripping him in a tight headlock.
It didn’t take long for AFKeeker to react – he shrunk a little and transformed into a black panther, slinking his tail back and forth and growling menacingly. He lunged for Simmons2pntO but missed. Changeing into a bear, he rushed at Simmons2pntO but missed again as Simmons2pntO disappeared in a blur of air. This time, however, he landed on GameForLife and flattened him. He heard a few somethings crack. A second later he was thrown off of GameForLife with such force that he flew 50 feet into the air; he transformed into a falcon and landed safely, and became himself again.
“Oh shite nuggets, AFK, that really hurts!â€
GameForLife struggled to get up and when he finally stood upright, Simmons2pntO and AFKeeker saw that one of his ribs was sticking out of his shirt and a circle of blood had formed around it. A second later, however, it started to squirm and draw back and with a sickening crack it fell into place, good as new. GameForLife’s shirt remained bloody as ever.
“Simmons, give me your jacket. I don’t think walking around here with a giant bloodstain all over my shirt is a good idea,†GameForLife said, and Simmons2pntO quickly threw off his jacket and passed it over.
"It might be a bit small," he added as an afterthought.
"Doesn't matter," GameForLife said, and put on the jacket. When it was on he grabbed Simmons2pntO by his shirt and snarled, "What the soddin' hell was that? Jesus Christ, Simmons, I almost died. What the hell is the matter with you?"
"I'm sorry, GFL, I didn't know he'd run into you. I should have been more alert, but I wasn't thinking. And hey, you're look perfectly fine to me. Looks like your power got doubled - superhuman strength AND the ability to heal yourself. You caught a really lucky break there."
"No thanks to you," GameForLife said back, but he didn't really hold it against Simmons2pntO. After all, he never would have known about his doubled power if Simmons2pntO hadn't disappeared when AFKeeker charged. And he had to admit, superhuman strength and the ability to heal were pretty much awesome powers as far as he was concerned. A smile started to form on his face. "Just be more careful next time, is all."
"I think he will," AFKeeker said. "We really should start to learn to control our powers, though. We're lucky we're not in a public place, otherwise we would have made a huge scene. Think of the questions we'd have to answer, and the lab tests and the escaping and running and the media attention... Uch."
A loud shot suddenly pierced the relative silence that had materialized, and GameForLife screamed as it tore through the tendons and bone in his shoulder - but none of them stayed behind to wait and see if there was going to be more. GameForLife, who had fallen down in pain, was picked up by Simmons2pntO and AFKeeker as they all ducked into a nearby alley and ran like the hounds of hell were chasing them... and in a sense, they were quite right.
"Speak of the fuckin' devil," AFKeeker muttered under his breath.
END CHAPTER 3
“Looks like you guys were telling the truth after all,†she said, but that seemed to break their concentration. The Huberstanks disappeared, leaving only the original; FinchLynch floated near-gracefully (and reluctantly) down to the ground; the frost around the tree behind TKdademon evaporated; and the storm around Monkey300 dissipated.
They all looked slightly disappointed but gathered around her anyways. Melissa tried to keep a look of wonder on her face, and found it harder than she’d thought – but managed all the same. “Do you guys have plans for the day?†she asked them.
“None that I know of,†Monkey300 and TKdademon said simultaneously.
“I’m not doing anything today either,†Finch said.
They all looked to Huberstank. Half-frowning, he said, “Sorry guys, I’ve got plans with my girlfriend today. I’m supposed to meet up with her in an hour.â€
“Are you sure you can’t reschedule, Huberstank?†halogoddess asked. “It’d be a shame, really. It’s been a while since we all hung out together.â€
“I’ve already cancelled one date with her, I really don’t want to push my luck.†His face brightened suddenly. “But I’ve got an idea! I can make a copy of myself and send him off with you guys! That way we can still technically hang out together.â€
“Why not send the copy with your girlfriend and come with us?†FinchLynch asked. “Wouldn’t that make more sense?â€
“Not really,†Monkey300 answered before Huberstank could open his mouth. “What if the copy disappears in the middle of the date? Last time I checked that’s never a good thing. The only thing I’m actually worried about is if Huberstank will be able to keep the copy around for so long. It takes quite a bit of concentration from what I’ve seen so far, at least for me. He might get tired out from his date without even getting to the good stuff...â€
“I’ll be fine,†Huberstank said, and a copy of him appeared right next to him. “Don’t worry about it. Worst-case scenario is my copy will disappear when I’m with you, and no harm done. And please, Monk, I've never been too tired for a lady. I actually once-â€
"I believe we get the point," TKdademon said.
“So we’re all agreed?†Melissa asked. “Good. There’s someone I want you to meet.â€
***
He opened his eyes and was surprised to see that the sun was just barely starting to rise. He checked his watch to be certain, and sure enough, he had only been out for a few hours. He glanced around and was thankful that Gavino had knocked him out on the sidewalk and not on the street. This may not be a main street, but all it takes is one car with its lights off to run over a man dressed in black lying down on the street in the middle of the night.
He got up and cleaned the dust that had managed to stick to him over the course of the last few hours. He cursed himself silently as he did this, constantly berating his carelessness. He suppressed the urge to scream.
He started to walk away when a thought hit him. He had killed two guards on his way down and broken into a maximum-security vault, and he’d been lying down by the entrance of the building for a few hours. How had no one come down to investigate and not seen him just lying there? Surely they would have seen his unconscious body lying there by their front door...? It didn’t make sense to him, but he thanked whatever gods there were for the lucky break, and again vowed to stop being so careless.
He looked at himself in the window of a nearby shop to make sure he had cleaned himself properly… and got the biggest shock of his life when he couldn’t see himself in the reflection. He stepped closer to the shop window to get a better look and still couldn’t see anything, not even the reflection of his eye, which was a few centimeter away.
He walked over to a different shop window to see if maybe it was the lighting of the sun but he still couldn’t see himself. For the life of him he couldn’t understand it, but less visibility was not something he was going to complain about. He decided to try one last experiment on his way home.
He stopped by a 24-hour convenience store and walked in. The guy behind the check-out desk had his back turned, and when he looked at who had entered his shop he was surprised to see no one. A blank, puzzled look etched across his face while a sly smile started to form on machinimarox’s.
He walked over to the guy and started waving at him, mere feet away, but got no response. The guy stared through him as if he didn’t exist… or as if he was invisible. The grin on machinimarox’s face grew bigger. He grabbed a few beers and a couple of snacks off the rack, stuffed them into the pack on his shoulders and left the store, leaving the owner bewildered and open-mouthed.
***
TCR moved through the jungle at extraordinary speeds, weaving through the dense foliage like a snake in the grass (which wasn’t far from the truth). He was getting close, he knew it. He thought about the two villages he had destroyed on his way, making sure that no one else could find the information he had extracted from them… and almost felt a pang of guilt. Almost.
He didn’t think of himself as evil, really. I mean, after living for more than 3000 years you kind of start to develop thoughts about the state of the world, and most of them aren’t that great, and get worse over time. Watching people live and die and not changing much about the state of the world will give you the idea that human life is pretty expendable. The only life that really matters is your own, really, because you are the only one who understands what the state of the world is, and you’re the only one who can change.
So he wasn’t an evil guy, really. He just didn’t care for the state of the world, and if he got the chance, he’d probably demolish it and start all over. The world could only regress in the state that it was in… so what harm is there in blowing it up and reshaping it to his will? He could live with the end of six billion people, if it meant making the world a better place. The ends justified the means, surely.
He was ideal, yeah, but definitely not evil.
TCR moved deeper into the depth of the jungle, searching for the thing that had eluded him for millennia.
END CHAPTER 4
He had no time to make sense of any of this as he pursued his quarry. Every time he got close and tried to summon something to take the intruder down, it blew up right before hitting him, and that was something that 1337Cab00se could not understand.
Was it something wrong with him? Did the intruder have a power of his own? If it was the latter, then why wasn’t he using it to blow holes through the walls and escape? What was he after? Why was he leading him deeper and deeper into this maze-like manor, away from what they were guarding?
He grabbed his walkie-talkie and called over Gavino, who was in charge of security. “Hey, Gav, where’s this guy’s position right now relative to mine? I’m tired of chasing him.â€
“He’s in the northwest section, a floor below you and a few feet to your left. The quickest way to get there is to take your next left and through the secret passage located in the terminal. You should be able to cut him off if you hurry.â€
“Thanks.†1337Cab00se put the walkie away and took the shortcut Gavino had mentioned. Going through the terminal, he ended up in a section of the mansion he had never seen before. He didn’t stop to investigate. The end of the passage led him to a door, and when he walked through it, he saw the intruder running towards him with a stunned look about him. Apparently he had underestimated 1337Cab00se.
He tried to run back the other way but a wall appeared, blocking the corridor mid-way. A taser gun materialized in 1337Cab00se’ hand, pointing directly at the intruder. The intruder was trying to get rid of the walls using some kind of molecular combustion (so that’s how he did it before) when 1337Cab00se spoke.
“Don’t even think about it. If I even sense you trying to do anything more than breathing at the moment, I’ll electrocute you to hell.†The intruder nodded solemnly, and 1337Cab00se continued. “Now, I want to know a few things, and I better get my answers damn quick. Who are you and what are you doing here? Who sent you?â€
The intruder only smiled one of those insane you’ll-never-know smiles, and before 1337Cab00se knew what was happening, the intruder had blown a hole through the floor and had dropped down. He picked himself up quickly and ran down the corridor. This time, however, he tripped over a rope that stretched across both walls, and his head landed on concrete. Pain detonated in his cranium and he thought he felt something thick and liquid running down his hair.
1337Cab00se was there in a second, blood dripping from his cheek where pieces of the floor that the intruder blasted had nicked him. This time he didn’t hesitate. He pressed the trigger and sent a few strong jolts through the intruder’s body. The body shook violently for a bit, and then he passed out. 1337Cab00se spit on him.
“You bastards never learn,†he said, and dragged the body down to the dungeons, where the interrogation chambers were kept. He was going to have a lot of fun with this one.
***
Unbeknownst to 1337Cab00se, when the intruder had blasted down the floor, he also sent a message to his partner, the real reason why he had led 1337Cab00se deeper and deeper into the heart of the mansion. The message consisted of one word: Go.
When Dman82 received it, he moved from his position and went to work. “This’ll be easier done than Pamela Anderson,†he muttered to the night air around him. He crossed the giant courtyard, taking care to avoid the hidden cameras all around the perimeter. He was clad in a blacksuit, and the night was dark, but he didn’t want to take any chances.
He reached the front door of the mansion, but instead of knocking or breaking into it using conventional methods, he passed it by completely and aimed for the wall to the door’s right. He looked at his watch, waited 13 seconds, and walked right through, showing no sign that he had just phased through a solid wall with no ill side effects to him or the wall. In fact, the only evidence that might’ve shown proof of this extraordinary phenomenon would have been the camera, which until now had been pointing directly at him.
In no time he was already very close to the object of his desire. In a way it had seemed too easy, although one thing bugged him. Every once in a while a camera would make a turn that wasn’t scheduled at the right time, and Dman82 frequently found himself having to hide through a nearby wall. It was odd, he told himself, but he just shrugged it off. There was no way he could get caught.
Boy was he wrong.
***
Except he was doing something about it, and yet still nothing seemed to be wrong. He moved random cameras across the screens with his mind, he connected to all the motion sensors in the mansion, but he still could not detect what it was that made him uneasy.
Maybe he was just being paranoid. That was it. He’d been doing this for way too long and now he was seeing enemies in shadows, irrationalizing ambushes in the safest of places. And yet… he was still perturbed, even with thought. Something about tonight’s events just seemed out of place. He remembered 1337Cab00se’ voiced anxiousness when he apprehended the intruder, that maybe this was a setup and this made him more uneasy than before.
I’m probably just feeling edgy from this whole business with machinimarox. My subconscious is probably trying to make me feel guilty about attacking a friend by making me feel nervous that maybe he’ll be back for me with revenge. That must be it.
Except this thought did nothing to calm Gavino’s mind, because if machinimarox was coming for him, he probably wouldn’t know it until the last second, when he’d be too late. He was wondering how he had even bested him in the first place (probably just luck) when he saw it. The barest flicker of a shadow in one of the corridors leading up to the room.
Without the slightest hesitation Gavino scrambled out of his chair and went to the secret passageway that would lead him to where the apparently-second intruder was heading. Whoever it was, they would get one helluva surprise. Two, in fact, if they were lucky. Running through the shortcut he wondered whether it was machinimarox, back for his revenge.
One thing he had right, however: machinimarox would be coming for him. The only thing he was wrong about was when and where it’d be, and when the time finally came, he’d have one helluva surprise himself.
***
Dman82 looked around him. He had finally made it, and it only took a few minutes. This was almost too easy. The room he was in was completely bare, save for a glass case on a raised platform in the middle. There were red laser beams crisscrossing every which way from floor to ceiling in the ten foot radius surrounding the case.
Not a problem, Dman82 thought, and stepped through all the lasers just as he had done to every wall from the entrance of the mansion until here. No alarm went off, and that didn’t surprise him. The glass case, he saw, was embedded with wiry threads that were meant to detect any type of external pressure. Like that would stop him. He reached into the case and grabbed the orange rock with a gloved hand and as soon as it was out, he stuffed it into his pocket.
“Not who I expected, I have to say,†said a voice directly behind him. “But a valiant effort nonetheless.â€
Dman82 turned around. A man was standing there, hands folded over his chest. He saw no weapon in sight. “There’s nothing you can do to stop me,†he replied. “I’d like to see you try.â€
“On the contrary my dear friend,†the man replied. “I’ve seen what you can do, but it won’t help you now.â€
“Try and stop me.â€
“Ah, well, here’s where I explain your demise,†the man said. “I probably shouldn't, because that would give you more time to escape... but I'm feeling lucky today. You see, I, like you, have a certain ability. Except unlike you, I have more than one. I can stop other people from using their own abilities against me.
"Now, each different security measure in this compound activates some kind of toxin that gets released into the room. The one I’m thinking about will knock you out in less than 7 seconds. I’ve gotten the immunity shot to it. You haven’t. All I have to do is think it, and you’re down and out before you can get more than four words out of your mouth.
“And while you're processing this, I feel compelled to tell you that the rock you grabbed was a fake. It’s been nice chatting with you.â€
As soon as the man finished talking, Dman82 heard a hissing noise come from every pore and crevice in the room, and tasted something bitter in his nose when he breathed in. Before he knew it, he was unconscious and being dragged down to the dungeons.
***
Gavino threw the second intruder into the holding cell adjacent to where 1337Cab00se had put the first intruder. No one gets past my security, he thought as he locked the cell and tucked the keys into his pocket. With his mind, he activated the security bubble that would prevent either of them from using their powers to escape. He thought that he was feeling slightly better now that this whole mess had been averted. In fact, just thinking about it made him feel a whole lot better.
He didn’t know it, but he didn’t have a very long time to live.
END CHAPTER 5
Every single day he would check in, grab his ugly uniform (which to him was the sickliest color of blue he had ever seen), and sit down in front of more than thirty screens and just watch a whole bunch of dim-witted animals for hours on end next to his “partnerâ€, who he also disliked.
Life, in short, sucked.
Today, he was in an even sourer mood, because his girlfriend had just broken up with him. He really liked her, and he tried to please her, but sometimes she was so high maintenance. Who did she think she was, asking for this and that as if he grew money on trees in his backyard? As soon as she left he had regretted his decision, but it was already too late to call her back.
When he checked in for the day and sat down in his post, he didn’t notice that the monkeys were acting strange in their caged habitat. He might’ve, if he really cared. His security partner hadn’t arrived yet, but he would, soon. He didn’t like him, either, because he was always so cheerful. It made him sick to his stomach. And he couldn’t even get the guy fired because the guy knew the system so well. No one could replace him and still produce the same results.
He pulled out his iPod and listened to some music that undoubtedly reflected his mood, while he watched the screens and waited for his partner. It was another three songs by the time he arrived. That was another thing he hated about his partner – he was always always always late. Yet it never counted against him, because he was so good at his damn job.
“Hey, Pablo,†his partner said cheerfully as he checked in.
Hey, asshole, Pabzlobo75 wanted to reply. Instead he just mumbled, “Hey, lefty. Someone left a message for you about five minutes ago. Sounded urgent or something.â€
“Alright, I’ll get right to it.â€
lefty went to his post and picked up his phone, listening to his messages. One of them was indeed urgent, and as he listened to it he stared at the wall of video screens, searching. He found the one he wanted, and saw the problem immediately. He wasted no time in relaying the message to his partner.
“The monkeys have gone wacko, Pablo, and the director wants us to check it out. He also wanted to get the tamer in case things get way out of hand. Can you call him, let him know? Thanks. I’ll meet you out by the money cages.â€
lefty grabbed his jacket and left. At least he was alone now. Pabzlobo75 called the monkey tamer with reluctance, and finished the conversation as soon as he could. Then, as he was about to leave, he saw something very peculiar on one of the screens. The video monitor that was supposed to display the section with all the reptiles shimmered and blacked out for a second, and when it resumed, it degaussed and shimmered some more, and started looping the same few seconds of images again and again, all the while shimmering and blacking out. In his three years of working here he had never seen something so strange.
He grabbed his walkie-talkie. “lefty, something weird is going on by the reptile section. I’m going to go check it out, I’ll meet you at the monkey cages a bit later.†The walkie chirped three times with the regular “Got it, over†signal.
The reptiles were all the way in the opposite side of the zoo, but at least he didn’t have to be around anyone else when he went to check it out. There was definitely weird going on, and he was going to find out what was making the camera act all strange. And whatever the hell it turned out to be, he was sure he wouldn’t like it, either.
***
BlackViper realized that there were probably cameras in the zoo got straight to the task of setting up a time shield around the entire area where they had materialized. He didn’t want to risk getting caught. He wasn't sure how this would affect any security measures the Portugal Zoo had, but he hoped it wouldn't mess with the system too much. And if it did start messing up a bunch of crap, BlackViper wasn't intending to stay very long to find out. Either way, as soon as they were gone and blended into the crowd, the time shield would go down and everything would get back to normal.
"Quick, there's no time to lose," he said. "I've put up some measures to stop anyone from finding out about our little trip, but they'll know about it soon if we don’t hurry. We should split up and blend in as soon as possible. Caleb, you and Erin check out the aquatic section. Me and Zatch will head towards the mammals."
Erin and Caleb nearly vanished as they moved quickly, and Zatch did the same as he started to run towards the mammal section of the giant zoo.
"Hey, Zatch, buddy! Wait up!" BlackViper yelled as he ran to catch up.
Zatch stopped in mid-stride and turned around, anger flaring in his face like a pack of hornets ready to kill an invading bee colony. "I know Erin doesn't care about formality and what you call her, but she also happens to trusts you. I have yet to do that. Until I do, don't call me buddy. Ever."
"Sheesh, man, lighten up," BlackViper said, slightly insulted. "We're on the same team here, in case you haven't figured it out. We're both trying to do the same damn thing. Why don't you just chill out for a sec?"
Zatch grabbed BlackViper by the shirt and lifted him up to eye level. "Don't you dare tell me what to do," he snarled. "You don't know half the crap I've gone through in my life, least of all what I had to do to get this high up the ladder of evolution in this company. You think you can just barge in and start being all merry, taking up positions here and there without having earned it. Well, you can't. So don't. I wouldn't advise you to test my already short temper at the moment."
Zatch had barely begun to put BlackViper down when he realized that he wasn't holding him anymore. He was five feet away.
"You think you're the only one with a cool power? Try again."
Before Zatch knew what was happening, BlackViper managed to land a sucker punch that nearly ripped through his jaw. The next second another punch to his gut arrived that invited a second helping of pain to spread through his body. Zatch crumpled to the floor, holding his stomach.
BlackViper appeared a few feet away from Zatch and spoke. "You don't like me, I get that. But we're on the same team. So unless you start treating me like a team member, I can turn equally as nasty. I don't like fighting, but I’m damn good at it so I'd consider before making your decision."
"Is that a threat?"
"Just an observation. Now, can you deal with my presence a bit longer while acting civil, or do we have to fight it out some more?" BlackViper walked up to Zatch lent out his hand to him. Zatch chose not to take it, and stood up.
"Yeah, I can do it," he said, and backed up a little to give himself some space. "Just one last thing." He teleported the few feet of distance between them and sent BlackViper sprawling to the floor with an uppercut.
"There, now we can get along just fine. But I swear to whatever deity exists in this godforsaken world, if you ever touch me again, Viper, you will sorely regret it. Powers or not."
He spat out the blood that had been pooling in his mouth.
***
Pabzlobo75 watched the fight between the two in fascination, and decided to follow these bizarre characters as they made their way towards the mammals. They sure as hell were more interesting that some brainless monkeys.
END CHAPTER 6
I wasn’t always like this, you know. Filled with spite and hatred and anger at everyone who wasn’t sympathetic to my cause. I used to be different. I used to have friends. I used to belong somewhere. But it all changed, and I suppose I’m glad it did. I never would have seen the truth otherwise.
Some people assume it, but here’s the confirmation for all those non-believers. Gods are born from nothing, and yet appear when the need arises. Poof, just like that, fully grown and ready to kick some ass. Humanity needed fire, so just like that what’s-his-name jumped into existence and helped them along, setting off a few continents in the process (you have to remember, fire was a new thing for him, too).
Sometimes nature does something that suddenly warrants someone to take care of it, like lightning, or earthquakes, or hurricanes and tornadoes. The list is infinite. Someone needs to control them, otherwise they’ll run rampant around the world causing chaos and destruction. Sometimes nature manages to take care of itself after a while, and so the god who was created to be in charge starts to die out. Sometimes other gods band together and converge some of their power to form new gods, but these are few and far around the world.
That’s what happened with Zeus, who had named himself king over us all. Apparently no one argued with him. I wouldn’t know, I was in the underworld at the time, managing everything. You don’t get very good reception down there, and it’s a full-time job that takes forever and a day to teach to someone else. So I was stuck down there for good that fateful day.
By that time I had been down in the underworld for quite some time, and I gotta say, it changes your perspective on life a lot. It wasn’t an immediate change, but after a while I started to be filled with spite and hate and anger at the way life worked. People told me their stories down there. I started to think that maybe I could change the way the system worked if I had the right firepower.
A few weeks after Zeus sensed that his time was coming to a close, he came to visit me. Maybe it was because he was already so power hungry, or maybe it was because he was going to die soon, but when he stepped into hell, something inside him changed.
He had absorbed some of my spite and hatred, and came up with a plan to capture everyone’s powers. After all, if he couldn’t be Lord of all Gods anymore, no one could, right? I told him it was an alright plan, but that no one would fall for it. He told me they would, that their greed for power would be their own downfall. He said that he would spread a rumor around, saying that he’d announce who would be the next King after he had passed.
I realized my opportunity then, so I goaded him on, even helped him. I knew it would cause the death of everyone else I knew - people I used to call my friends - but I didn’t care. I was too filled with hope for a new beginning, and that would have only been possible if everything were to go, if I were to start from scratch.
The day that they all died plunged the world into dark times, and it took quite a while to get it all together again. No one new was created after that. I was the last one. I think Zeus realized it then, and that’s why he concealed all the powers. He didn’t want me to have them, either. Damn traitorous bastard.
Since that day, I’ve been searching for them, all eight of them. I heard rumors of other gods that had survived, some rogue ones that had escaped Zeus’ tyranny before the day he betrayed them all, and after a while I found a few of them, enlisted them to my cause. I convinced some of them to let me use some of their power to create others for my cause, as well. Some defected, and I’ve made it part of my mission now to make them pay dearly.
For three thousand years those rocks have eluded me. It’s only now that they’ve started to appear. And soon I, TCR, will have them all – and with them, the power to shape the Universe to my will.
Five Days Ago:
His phone rang, but before he even picked it up, TCR already knew who it was. He could sense it. When he answered the call, his suspicions were confirmed.
“Melissa, what have you got for me?â€
“Sir, I’ve just had a premonition.â€
“What about?â€
“You’re gonna love this, boss. It was about the rocks. You were holding one, and the others were scattered around the world, though I don’t know where. And whenever it will happen, it will be soon.â€
“How soon?†TCR’s voice was laced with excitement, and although he could’ve hidden it, he chose not to.
“Less than a week, sir. I saw a North Carolina-based newspaper in the area where one of the rocks fell, and it had the date on the front page.â€
“Alright, Mel, you’re in charge of North Carolina then. I’ll send Erin to another place once I’ve found the location, and ZIM5492 and 1337Cab00se to another. With luck, we can work fast enough to get them all before anyone else realizes what these things really do and their significance. Good job.â€
“Thank you, sir, I won’t disappoint you."
***
TCR sensed the presence of it in the jungle, and so followed it there. Problem was, it wouldn’t let him sense any further than the general area, and the general area was pretty fucking big. So he was in quite a dilemma. But he was TCR, and so dilemmas only existed as problems for a short while. This one was no exception.
He worked on starting to sense the people who lived the jungle, the natives. Surely one of them had information on the object he sought. They must be its guardians. TCR worked on sensing for someone who was thinking about the object, but nothing came up, and he soon realized his mistake. The one guarding it wouldn’t be actively thinking about it. For one thing, he wouldn’t be told what it was, therefore he wouldn’t know what to think about. For another, the object was clearly surrounded by some type of magic to make its guardian forget about it even if he knew what it was.
So he began searching and sensing for someone who was actively or passively not thinking about it, and after a while he found it, but not quite. He was dismayed to find that it was rather further than he had anticipated, and that he would surely need the assistance of the fellow tribes guarding it.
But no matter. He was fast enough that distance would not be too much trouble. It only meant he had to work for what he wanted, which he had no problem with. No pain, no gain, right?
After an hour’s worth or so of searching, he realized that he had been going in one giant circle. Clearly the ones who guarded the item had ancient magic on their side. He stayed calm, however, and manipulated some ancient magic of his own into the area, ridding it of its petulant charm.
All at once the trees and plants that were crowding him vanished, and he found himself in a clearing of fields, huts, and primitive tribesmen. The first thought that entered his mind when he saw all this was How will I get rid of them when I’m through here? Not an altogether pleasant thought, but it was necessary to think things all the way through in the type of business that TCR dealt in. He had to make sure no one could follow his tracks.
The second thing he thought about, and the one which brought him to a more immediate action, was Where and who is the leader of this tribe? Obviously these people were important to his quest, as there would be no other reason for them to be hidden here by ancient magic. He grabbed a passing tribe member and said in their native tongue, “Bring me to your chieftain. If you try to stall or take me the wrong way I will know, and then you will find yourself in a very unpleasant situation. Do I make myself clear?â€
The tribesman muttered a few words of acknowledgement and started to walk away, motioning for the strange, new person to follow him. They wound through a bunch of huts and fields until they arrived at a rather larger hut than the rest. The tribesman mumbled a few words and scurried away faster than a cockroach when faced with light.
When he entered, the chieftain looked up at him. It took a second, but the tribe leader’s face went pale, looking as if he had just seen a ghost. Not a wholly welcome reaction, as it clearly meant that he was expecting him for a very long time. The chieftain himself looked a very old age, although his aura gave the impression that when cornered he would fight back, and hard.
With all the comefidence of someone who has just conquered a major galactic empire, TCR said, “You have something I want, and you will give it to me. I give you no choice in the matter. Either you will hand it over quickly and quietly or I will destroy your little village, kill every last one of your people, and get what I want anyway, all while you watch. I will kill you last.
“I know it sounds horribly cliché, and that you probably don’t even know what that word means, but the thing about clichés is that they are very often accurate. So I urge you to consider carefully how you answer me. As much as you would not like this place to be obliterated, I would not like to obliterate it. You have one minute before I change my mind about letting you live.â€
The chieftain merely stared at him as some of the color returned to his face. The surprised look had vanished from his face and it was now blank from emotion as he considered this proposal. After a while he said, “I have been waiting for you to arrive for quite some time.â€
He got up, and turned towards a door in the side of the hut which had previously not been there. He smiled.
“Come, follow me, we have business to attend to.â€
END CHAPTER 7
This was exactly the conclusion that Simmons2pntO, AFKeeker, and GameForLife reached when the latter was shot in the shoulder. The former two had to drag GameForLife only for a short while before his shoulder healed and he could run without any support, but even at full strength there is only so much running you can do.
That was the second conclusion the three arrived at, which led them to find a hiding spot. Once they were safely hidden in an abandoned warehouse (where else?) they started forming a kind of plan.
"A kind of plan? We don't need a plan, we need a miracle, for Christ's sake!"
“Ah, see, Simmons2pntO, I knew you'd react this way," said GameForLife. "The point is, we still need to do something. They found us once, they'll find us again. This place won't stay under the radar for very long. So we need some kind of plan, something to figure out what we'll do. And fast."
A sudden thought struck AFKeeker, and he was mostly correct in his assumption. Mostly.
"Wait a second, guys, you're thinking about it all wrong," he said. "We don't need to be the ones doing the running away, we need to be the guys doing the chasing. We have powers, as lame as that sounds. My guess is that they don't - otherwise why shoot at us? That always creates a big mess and leaves room for evidence."
"AFK brings a good point,†GameForLife said. “What say you, Simmons?â€
“I think we can make it work, actually. AFKeeker, you can shape-shift, right? You can become a bird or something, or just turn into someone else, take on their looks. Whoever is chasing us probably won’t expect us to split up, and I’ll go out on a limb here and predict that they also know what we look like. Find out where these people are, get their location. Got it?â€
“Done,†came his reply.
“Alright. Once you get back with their location, I’ll use my speed to get them and knock ‘em out quick and easy, pardon the pun.â€
“Not a very good one,†AFKeeker said.
“Not a very good one what?â€
“The pun. It’s not a very good one.â€
“Whatever.†Simmons2pntO shot AFKeeker a look that said I can’t believe you’re choosing to comment on something so ridiculous at such a crucial time. AFKeeker shot him back a look that spelled Watch me.
Without another word, AFKeeker turned into a pigeon and flew out of the warehouse. His plan was to become a falcon with much keener eyesight when he got higher.
That left GameForLife and Simmons2pntO by themselves. They were quiet at first, but when the silence was too much to bear, GameForLife spoke. “Listen, I know we didn’t get a chance to finish our discussion back when AFK had just found the purple rock, but-“
“Save it. Now’s not the time.â€
“Are you sure? We’re quite alone, no one would overhear us.â€
“Now’s not the time,†Simmons2pntO repeated. “He could come back anytime, and it’s not ideal now anyway. We’ll deal with the current situation first, and if we have some private time later we can discuss the issue again.â€
GameForLife sighed. “Fine. But so you know, the decision isn’t final until we discuss it further.â€
“Yeah, yeah, I know.â€
That was when he walked in.
“I hate to crash your party, boys, but I believe you have something I want, eh?†His voice drawled; he spoke as if he were bored and this was the only entertainment he’d had in years. He wore a large trench coat that seemed to have endless amount of pockets and made him look larger than he probably was. His face was obscured by the shadows of the warehouse, but his eyes burned an electric fire color, shifting constantly between blue, white, and yellow.
“And exactly who the hell are you?†Simmons asked.
“A rose by any name smells just as sweet, eh?†the stranger said. When both Simmons and GameForLife looked strangely at him, he added, “My name’s not important, in other words. All that matters is that you have what I want, and I won’t be leaving until I have it, eh? Do I make myself clear?â€
“Go to hell,†Simmons2pntO said. “I want to know your name, or you won’t get whatever it is you want. Eh?â€
A blue-white flash of light erupted from one of the stranger’s hands and sped towards Simmons2pntO at an incredible speed. But Simmons2pntO was faster, dodging the attack before it had traveled halfway across the room. The blue-white flash hit the wall behind him and exploded in a blaze of sparks and electricity.
Post edited 5/19/08 9:44PM
He stuck a hand into one of the many pockets of his coat, and pulled out a gun with a silencer. It was pointed at Simmons2pntO, who had tried to speed across the room and grab the stranger before he could pull a dangerous stunt. Simmons2pntO currently lay sprawled on the floor a couple of feet in front of the stranger.
GameForLife watched all this from where he was, slightly perturbed but not too much. The gun wouldn’t hurt him, he thought, and neither would the blue flashes. He could heal himself, so he figured he was in no immediate danger. Simmons, while not in immediate danger, was causing enough of his own, so he stayed alert just the same.
The stranger kept his gun pointed at Simmons2pntO, who was now struggling to get up. He rubbed his head and said “Wha’ happen’d?†in the slurry kind of voice you get when you first wake up from a long night of drinking.
“Nothing that would change the situation you would have been in otherwise, I assure you. I wouldn’t recommend trying whatever it is you were doing again, though. You’re liable to fall down a second time, eh?â€
Simmons2pntO was tempted to try speeding again, but then he remembered how the protagonists of any movie or book he'd ever read or seen never listen to the bad guy making the threats, and consequently always end up in a worse condition than before. It never dawns on them to, for once, not be stubborn. Simmons now realized why. He felt the heat rise from the blood flowing to his face in embarrassment, but kept his cool.
He looked back at GameForLife, who looked back at him indifferently. He shrugged a shrug that seemed to say We might as well hear him out, but really said Stall him. Let’s get AFKeeker to surprise him when he returns. Simmons2pntO felt resignation seeping through the pores of his skin and didn’t like the feeling one bit.
“Fair enough,†he said. “We’ll hear you out, but I still want your damn name. Your mother, if such a being exists, would not have been stupid enough to forget to give you one, no?â€
The stranger smiled wildly. “Insults, eh? You think this is a game, don’t you, kid? It’s far from it. You’re in way over your head, and you’re only dealing with me. I’m just a lackey compared to the big bad wolf, and if he doesn’t get what he wants, he’ll come after you himself. But unlike this meeting, you won’t survive the next. My patience is slowly dwindling, as fun as this little chat has been, so I will ask you once more to cooperate with me. Then I start to get nasty, eh?â€
GameForLife suddenly walked up to the stranger, keeping a fair amount of distance between them, and said, “Yes, alright, we’ll cooperate. What do you want?â€
“The rock that you have recently acquired. The purple one, eh?â€
“You want some fries with that?†Simmons2pntO intoned.
“No, but thanks for asking,†the stranger answered, and before Simmons knew what was happening, another flash of blue-white light exploded from the stranger’s hand. This time, however, it hit its mark, and Simmons’ arm seared with pain as his sleeve burned off. His arm sported a bright red hue, as if it had been severely sunburned.
“Let me know when you’re done, I’ll wait.â€
GameForLife watched as his friend caught his breath and looked up at the stranger. "Shit, that hurt. Jesus, you weren’t kidding.â€
“I warned you I wasn’t.â€
“Yeah, alright. Whatever.†He tossed the rock at the stranger; however, the rock didn’t glow like it did for him. “Anything else you want?â€
The smile seemed to fade slowly from his mouth as a serious look took over his face. “Now that you mention it, there is one other thing.â€
“What is it?â€
“You,†the stranger said, and pointed at GameForLife.
END CHAPTER 8
So while he loved his newfound invisibility, the fact that Gavino had outdone him in his task was gradually driving him mad. He could not seem to enjoy what life had to offer anymore, it seemed, until he would get Gavino back.
In fact, Kaare was so bothered by this that he found himself having a harder time than usually hiding from the person who had sent him to do the task he had failed. He never took on a job without down payment, and he had received half of his money when he took on the mission. Yet he had failed to retrieve that rock that was apparently so important (maybe it was some kind of rare gem?), and presumably his temporary employer was not happy that he had just walked off with the money.
Whoever this employer was, she kept sending people after him. But although machinimarox was an expert when it came to sleuthing, made even better by the fact that he could now turn invisible at will, he was recently making simple mistakes that nearly caused him to get caught time and time again. And this made him even more mad and nervous because he was steadily losing control of his fate. All because Gavino had gotten the better of him.
Shit!
He heard movement downstairs, in the two-story house he had recently rented out in the country in a very isolated part of England, hoping it would take his stalkers at least a week to find him, but it was only a day and a half since and there was already someone here.
As a force of habit, machinimarox never kept anything more material than, say, a pack of gum. He didn’t get attached to any items and didn’t have any paperwork to hide. Even his laptop, which he carried on him at all times, barely had anything on it beside for an internet connection and a few government search engines he’d stolen a few years ago. He stored all his information in his head.
The house was virtually empty in this regard, with the only truly incriminating item being Kaare’s gun, which lay on the tabletop. He rarely used it, preferring to sneak up on his targets and breaking their neck or slitting their throat. There was much more pleasure in that than in shooting someone, and it left a lot less evidence behind. Still, sometimes it was necessary, so he stowed the gun and turned invisible just as the door opened… and then disintegrated to dust.
A stunning woman walked in, wearing a beautifully textured red dress that seemed to be alive, flowing from her body as if a constant stream of air was around it. Her yellow eyes were mesmerizing, but when machinimarox looked deeper into them he could see only an abyss, total chaos, destruction of everything. A shiver ran down his back and he forced himself to look at a different part of her body, something he found difficult despite her striking looks. Her eyes kept attracting his, and it took all his strength to look somewhere else.
“I know you’re in here, so you might as well stop hiding. I can hear you breathing.â€
Kaare said nothing. She might be bluffing, she might not be. Only one way to find out.
“You don’t believe me? Alright, I hear that,†– she chuckled, and absentmindedly rubbed her ear – “no pun intended. I’ll give you about ten seconds to change your mind. After that I’ll have to force you to show yourself, and I don’t think this little cottage of yours will handle it all too well.â€
Then she started counting, and with each number she counted, something else in the house crumbled to dust. First a window, then the living room table, the bathroom door, a vase… soon machinimarox wouldn’t have a house left to hide in. But he remained hidden. The house wasn’t important. Hell, it wasn’t even his.
The woman sighed. “You leave me no choice,†she said. “You may experience some side affects when I’m done, but I assure you they pass relatively quick.â€
His world suddenly turned black, and he couldn’t move. For a while which seemed like eternity he experienced nothing and felt everything. Then he found that he could open his eyes, and he did so. The woman’s face was now distorted, twisted, and yet he could not help but think that this only added to her complexion. When she opened her mouth to speak, it sounded like angels singing.
“Reveal yourself,†she said in that angelic voice, serene and peaceful, at total calm with herself.
The woman walked up to him. “I warned you there’d be side affects. Don’t worry, though, they’ll pass in an hour or two. My name’s KaliYuga, by the way. You can just call me Kai if that suits you better.â€
She held out her hand to shake, and he took it. “Kaare, or machinimarox, whichever you prefer as well. I can’t say that it’s nice to finally meet you face to face, though, considering. I suppose this visit is about the object I failed to get you and the money I stole?â€
“No, not at all. The past is the past. Don't dwell on it, I always say. I’m actually here to recruit you.â€
“Recruit me? I’m sorry, but I work for myself. â€
“I think you’ll find that you have no choice in the matter. There’s a war coming, and it’s best you be on the right side when it does.â€
“A war? You’ve got to be kidding me. Get real.â€
“I have never been more serious in my life. I’m going to need everyone I can get, and you’re going to be a very valuable asset.â€
“Ah, see, this is where things get a tad touchy. I already told you I don’t work for anyone besides myself. Here's why: People tend to evaluate me based on my usefulness to them. As soon as I lose that usefulness, even temporarily, I’m gone. I don’t like that, so I don’t work for anyone. It’s simple, really. I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to say no.â€
“I had hoped it wouldn’t come to this. Maybe you will change your mind in the future. Our doors are open for you. If you do change your mind, then, to quote that one song, 'call my name, I'll be there in a hurry.' I’m sorry about your house. Enjoy the rest of your day.â€
Kai turned to leave, and machinimarox had a sudden thought. “Wait,†he said. “The rock, did you end up getting it some other way? I’m having a hard time understanding why you’d forgive me so easily unless you already got it through other means.â€
“You’re very astute, Kaare. I did, as a matter of fact. After you failed to get it, I sent one of my own to track it down. He did. He’s very efficient at what he does.â€
“Who? What’s his name?â€
“Gavino. He tells me you’re acquaintances. He was the one who suggested I try to recruit you.â€
Kaare let out a low whistle, and then saw his chance for revenge. “Well no shit. You didn’t tell me he’d be there. This changes everything. Alright, I’ll go with you. But I reserve the right to leave when I want, how I want, where I want. Got it?â€
KaliYuga laughed. She had him. “You’re damn right I got it. Welcome to the team.â€
“One question: how do we get to your headquarters? I don’t see a car, or a jet, or anything, actually. Unless you can fly…?â€
Without replying, she took out a phone from nowhere (her magnificent red dress had no discernible pockets as far as machinimarox could see) and punched a bunch of numbers in. She turned to him and said, “This is a test to see if you really mean to join. In about seven seconds, I’ll be gone. If you want to be gone with me, take my hand. You have four seconds now. Three. Two. One.â€
He grabbed her hand frantically and felt the whole of the universe tear apart. He closed his eyes as his stomach began to squirm and feel as if it was being punched in by a professional boxer. The universe ripped apart all around him and stitched itself back together. When he opened his eyes, he was in a torch-lit corridor in what seemed like a castle.
“Welcome to headquarters,†Kai said. When she saw that he was about to be sick, she added, “It gets easier after a while.â€
“Like hell it does," he replied, and gagged. "What the fuck was that?â€
“Massive Atomic Carrier, MAC for short. A teleporter, in other words.â€
“Oh God, this is like a science fiction nightmare. How do you even have one of those?â€
“Oh, we have way more than that,†she said. “Come on, there’s a lot I need to show you.â€
END CHAPTER 10
The aquatic section in the Portugal National Zoo can only be described as oceanic to the extreme. It is probably the biggest section of the entire zoo, and contains over a million different species of all kinds of living-in-the-water organisms. The amount of different fish, sharks, penguins, dolphins, manatees, that one scary fish from Finding Nemo, jellyfish, starfish, eels, and so on and so forth was just ridiculous. You could peruse its inanely large collection for days and not finish.
Currently, LoveNCaboose and caleba04 were winding their way through one of the many hundreds of corridors in the indoor section of the Aquatic Collection. They were just passing a miniature version of a coral reef when Caleb stopped dead in his tracks and closed his eyes. To an unknowing onlooker it might look as if he has just entered a comatose state while standing upright, but LoveNCaboose knew better.
“What is it?â€
He held out his hand in frustration, quieting her down. His eyes started fluttering lightly, and now it simply looked as if he was dreaming. This went on for a few seconds before he opened his eyes and said, “Zatch is coming. He says he’s got something. I’m sensing a little anger from him, though. Something about BlackViper. I wouldn’t expect him to stay here long.â€
“And I was just starting to enjoy this part of the zoo, too,†Erin pined. But she knew their business here was more important and much more delicate. And after she was done, she could come back here and really enjoy her time… if the place still existed.
The next second Zatch did come, however. Grabbing them both by the arms, he disappeared again, dragging them along with him. They landed softly but unorganized behind a large crowd of people, some yelling, some gasping, some cheering at something they could not see. Standing up and dusting themselves up, they finally saw what the crowd was making all that noise for.
They were in the mammal section of the zoo, and right by them was the massive cage of the monkey display. Only, the monkeys had gone crazy. They were jumping every which way, screaming at the top of their lungs incoherent nothings (they were monkeys, after all), their faces contorted into hideous and appalling expressions.
This was what the crowd was yelling and gasping about. The ones who were cheering were looking at the tamer who was in the cage, trying to get the monkeys to calm down and settle in their habitat – but nothing seemed to be working. No matter what the tamer yelled out or did, the moneys continued their frantic frenzy.
BlackViper quickly pointed the real point of interest in the scene to LoveNCaboose and Caleb. “Right in the middle of the cage, see the monkey with the lead sticking out of his ass? Look a few feet behind him, where the groove in the tree in. Look, a few of the monkeys are already getting mesmerized by it.â€
They looked puzzled for a moment but then saw the yellow glint in the groove that BlackViper had showed them. Caleb said, “How the hell are we supposed to get it from there? It’ll be hard enough with all these people watching even with the monkeys all calm and normal. I don’t suppose Zatch could teleport in and get it without attracting any attention…?â€
Zatch laughed sardonically. “Yeah, right. Nice try, but I’m not that good. Even if I could calculate the exact spot to teleport to in order to be able to grab the rock instantly, I could miss, my hand might slip, the monkeys might jump to that exact spot and then God knows what’d happen. I’m not risking fusing with a deranged monkey if there’s a better option.â€
BlackViper drew their attention by yelling “Damn it!†A few people in front of them turned to look, but quickly turned their attention back to the monkeys after receiving a scathing look from LoveNCaboose.
“Jesus, Steve, you want to be a little more obvious? What were you trying to do, anyway?â€
“I was hoping I could freeze time, but apparently my powers don’t work in the presence of that rock. Weird, Zatch’s worked perfectly fine to bring you and caleba04 here. Is it just me? Anyone else care to find out?â€
***
As it turned out, they never did find out. At that precise moment, the tamer, who seemed to be giving up on trying to control the monkeys, went for the rock. It had attracted his attention, and when he looked closer at it, he realized that it was glowing with the energy of a thousand suns, although not as bright, as if something was covering it, like a thin veil or curtain. So naturally, being the human being that he was, we went directly for the extremely shiny object.
He was ready to dodge and subdue any monkey who tried to get in his way, but none came. When he reached the rock, he felt his hands trembling and tried to steady them. He picked up the yellow rock, and for a second, everything was black – and then everything became white, all bright, and he could see nothing more.
***
Funnily enough, the thought of what he was doing lying down in the security offices of the Portugal National Zoo didn’t cross his mind until both Pabzlobo75 and lefty entered the room. That was also when he noticed that his headache was gone.
Oh, man, I need a drink.
“So what the hell am I doing here?†he asked them.
“We were just about to ask you,†said Pablo. “All we remember is a blinding light, and then when we woke up the crowd had gone, the monkeys were normal, and you weren’t there. We came back here to try to track you through one of the surveillance cameras, but it looks like we’ve already got an answer. So what the hell did happen?â€
“I have no fucking idea, man. I woke up here with a splitting mother of a headache and then you walked in and it was gone.â€
lefty shifted his feet on the floor, leaned back on the wall and said, “Backtrack for a sec, here. What’s the last thing you remember?â€
RoadBlock rubbed the nape of his neck in an unconscious gesture, shaking his head. “Uhh, let’s see. I remember trying to gain control of the monkeys, but that didn’t work. They were freaking bonkers. Then, umm, oh yeah, the rock. I saw this yellow rock inside the cage, and it was glowing-†lefty and Pablo gave him a skeptical look “-don’t look at me like that, it was. Anyway, I picked it up, and then I woke up here. If anything else happened then I don’t remember it.â€
The cynical look that both Pabzlobo and lefty had given him didn’t leave their faces. Pabzlobo added a look of annoyance and distaste to the mix, just because.
“I’m serious, guys. You don’t believe me? Look-â€
RoadBlock reached into his pocket and pulled out the rock, which surprised him. Until that moment he didn’t know he had it in his own pocket. He tossed it over to Pablo, who caught it deftly and began to examine it. He didn’t get far before it glowed brightly for a second or two, became intensely hot, and then extremely cool. He, in turn, gave it to lefty, and the same thing happened to him.
“Well fuck a duck, RoadBlock, you were right,†he said. “What else does it do?â€
“Beats me. I know just as much as you d-â€
It happened all at once. To his left, a woman appeared with a younger man to her right. Behind him another man popped into existence, and in front of him, another person. All three of them were surrounded by these four strangers. Pabzlobo75 and lefty pulled out their guns and pointed it at two of the men.
“I want you to stay calm,†said the woman, who seemed to be their leader, “and put down your weapons. If you comply with us, we’ll see no reason to hurt you. Clear?â€
“No, it’s not,†Pablo said. “What’s to stop us from shooting you right now? You wouldn’t be able to take two steps towards me before I’d put a round of bullets through your brain.â€
The woman looked at one of the three men, who nodded, and when she turned around, Pabzlobo75’s and lefty’s guns were in her hands.
“What was that?†she asked in a mock tone. “Now that I’ve got your attention, I’m going to repeat myself. You better pray it’s the last time I need to do that. So again: stay calm, don’t alert anyone, and do as we say. Am I clear?â€
They nodded.
“What do you want?†lefty asked.
“The rock that your tamer picked up earlier, where is it?â€
“You mean this thing?†lefty said, and pulled out the yellow rock.
“Oh, Jesus, they’ve gone and touched it, Erin,†Zatch said. “Now what are we going to do?â€
LoveNCaboose frowned. “Well, this changes everything. Alright, you three – the guards and the tamer. You’re coming with us.â€
END CHAPTER 10
Monkey300, TKdademon, FinchLynch, and Huberstank’s clone stared at the decrepit house that was in front of them. The windows were smashed in and boarded up, and a bunch of planks were missing. Every inch of the paint on the walls was peeling, the door was smashed in, hanging off one hinge, and the steps leading up to it were missing chunks of concrete, as if someone had decided to continually bludgeon the steps with a bowling bowl. The ceiling was missing many shingles, and in a few places had fallen in to the interior of the residence, if you could call it that.
“What, this piece of crap?†TKdademon asked. “You don’t actually mean for us to walk in there, do you? That house looks like it’s ready to collapse right on us as soon as we step in it.â€
“I assure you it’s quite safe,†halogoddess1 responded. “Actually, you’ll be surprised at what you’ll see inside. This is actually a cover for what’s really hidden here.â€
“Don’t tell me it’s something as cliché as a secret hideout,†Monkey300 said. “And anyways, what’s to stop the government from tearing this place down for something more… humane? Don’t they have laws to get rid of houses like these?â€
“The government can’t get rid of it,†Mel answered, “because they can’t see it. It’s… hidden.â€
“What, like the Unplottable houses in Harry Potter?†Finch asked. “Get real. Magic doesn’t exist.†But as soon as he said it he realized how stupid that was. He was just witness to people cloning themselves, flying, freezing and burning things – all unexplainable. Why should something like this seem so unreal to him?
“Actually, Finchy, it’s exactly like that. Although I wouldn’t call it an Unplottable house. Don’t want to get in trouble with copyright infringements, right?â€
Melissa smiled. It was a joke.
“Well, y’all can stay here and continue shiverin’ in your boots,†Huberstank said, “but I’ve got nothing to worry about. I’m going in.â€
And then he did.
A minute later the rest of them followed, halogoddess1 at the back.
If it was possible for the house to look worse inside, then that is precisely what it looked like. Everything was in disarray and nothing in the right place. Couches and tables, besides from being torn and broken apart, were lying lopsided or upside down. Plates, glasses and silverware had apparently been thrown everywhere, because broken glass and china seemed to cover every space of the house. The floorboards were all busted or missing.
The house plainly looked like it was in the middle of being destroyed by an earthquake, when a hurricane decided to show up and crash the party, too.
Monkey300 let out a low whistle and a few expletives. “You were right, Mel. I am surprised at what’s inside, and not in the good way. There doesn’t seem to be an inch of this hole that isn’t destroyed or decaying. I thought you said this house was hidden from the outside.â€
“I did.â€
“So then why does it look like a black hole dropped by to say hello? I can’t imagine you’d need to keep something hidden in a giant mess if it’s already in an invisible house.â€
“Actually, Monk, the house is only guarded outside from the government. You can see how fast they’d be to tear this place down. The chaos here is strictly to confuse my enemies.â€
“Your enemies? You talk as if you’re being hunted by the CIA,†TKdademon said.
“It’s complicated. But I’m about to show you anyway, so just have some patience. Huberstank, if you would care to pick up that shrapnel directly next to your foot. Slowly, please. Finchh, can you do the same with the floorboard right under you, and TK, grab the two closest broken glasses.â€
They did as she asked them to, but before they could even get a good grip on the items, they disappeared from their hands and reappeared where they had been picked up from.
“What the…?â€
“Don’t worry,†halogoddess said, “that’s, uhh, supposed to happen. Turn around, you’ll see why.â€
Where the couch had been upturned by the broken bookcase (with ripped books filling up the floor around it), there now appeared an entranceway into a previously inaccessible room at the end of a corridor. It looked completely clean and orderly, and the quiet hum of machinery could be heard coming from inside it. Monkey300, FinchLynch, TKdademon and Huberstank stood with their mouths agape.
“This is the part where the monster jumps out, kills one of us, wounds another, and leaves the other three and a half people to wonder when it’ll be their turn, right?â€
“You watch too much scary shit, Huber. Monsters don’t exist, it’s all in the imagination of the psyche of the human brain.â€
“That’s exactly what the guy who gets killed always says, TK. Take it back, quick.â€
“Huberstank, you’re jumping at shadows,†halogoddess said. “Nothing is going to happen. And you’re a clone anyways, so nothing can happen to you. What gave you that idea anyway?â€
“It’s…nothing. I just got a chill, that’s all. I’m reading too much into it, I guess. And I guess I do watch too many horror films.â€
“Then follow me, guys. Don’t get lost.â€
The four of them followed halogoddess1. The corridor was lit with fluorescents hanging from the ceiling in chains. The walls sported speakerphones, some of which were broken, all of which were dusty from disuse. TKdademon asked halogoddess1 about the speakers, pointing to them.
“To be quite honest, I have no goddamn idea. They were here when we got the building and put our protection on it. We could never get rid of them. They just won’t budge.â€
“Mind if I try?â€
“Not at all, TKdademon. Just be careful.â€
“I will,†he said, and proceeded to put both hand on the nearest speaker to him. He concentrated for a moment, putting all his energy into his hands, and suddenly they began to turn ice-blue and a thin layer of ice covered the speaker. The thin layer got thicker and thicker, until TKdademon sent a jolt of piercing cold through his hands and the ice shattered, taking the speaker along with it.
A gust of wind suddenly blew through the corridor, sending chills down all their spines and raising the hair on the backs of their necks. An ominous silence filled the passageway then, and without warning the lights flickered and died. Seconds later, they came back on with a loud bang.
“What the hell was that?†Monkey300 asked, unnerved.
“I got a better question for you, Monk,†FinchLynch said. “Where’s TK?â€
“What are you talking about, Finch, he’s right behind– oh Christ. Where’d he go?â€
“I dunno. He was right here before the lights shut off…â€
“Melissa? Is this some kind of joke?â€
Mel looked just as scared as them when she said, “I swear to God it isn’t. This has never happened before, and I’ve been here plenty of times. Shit. Shit shit shit!â€
“Let’s get out of here,Mel,†Huberstank said. “I’m sure TK will turn up somewhere soon, but this place is now officially creepy beyond all possible human endurance.â€
“We can’t leave, Huberstank. Not the same way we came in. It’s part of what makes this place tick, you know? Trap someone in, get them hopelessly lost, the works. It’s very productive against intruders.â€
“You mean like the ones that made TK disappear?â€
“I don’t know what made him vanish, I told you. What I do know is how to get out, and that’s by going further inside. So come on. The faster you follow me the faster we get out of here.â€
They continued to follow halogoddess1, but kept closer together. They hadn’t walked more than five minutes when an ominous tune emanated from the speakers embedded in the walls. Monkey300 recognized it immediately as –
“Revolution Nine… Jesus Christ.â€
“I’m sorry, what?†FinchLynch asked.
“That’s ‘Revolution Nine’, by the Beatles†he answered. “It’s not even a song, it’s just eerie music with the words ‘Number Nine’ repeated at random intervals. It’s creepy as hell.â€
Before anyone could reply back, the music stopped, and was replaced with a tune none of them recognized. The words were distorted and sounded odd, like a cross between a machine trying to laugh and a maniacal killer hell-bent on getting revenge. After some time it became clear what the song was.
“That’s ‘I Want You’ - also by the Beatles!†Monkey300 called out. “But they sound so… demonic. Fucking hell.â€
Then the lights cut off again. FinchLynch was not there when they returned.
“Alright, Mel, you’ve had your fun. Stop it. It really isn’t funny anymore.â€
“Jesus Christ, Monk, I told you it’s not me! I have no idea what the hell is going on, and to tell you the truth, I’m a helluva lot more scared than you are. I’ve been here plenty of times and this has never happened. I don’t even know what’s happening, yet you’re convinced that it’s all some kind of prank. Who do you think has more reason to be terrified?â€
“You know,†Huberstank said, “that’s just the kind of thing that the killer would say to his murder victims in a horror movie…â€
“I Want You†finished its run and another song started up, sounding just as disturbing and eerie as the former. It was easier to recognize this one – “Hello, Goodbyeâ€, also by the Beatles. Again, the lights blacked out, and when they returned, Huberstank was gone, too.
Monkey300 grabbed halogoddess1 by the shirt collar and pressed her up against the wall. A powerful gust of wind blew through the corridor, mirroring his mood.
“I swear to God, Mel, if you don’t stop this right now, I will tear you apart. What the hell did you do to them?â€
“I already told you twice, Monk, I’m not doing anything!â€
“Yeah? Well if you don’t fix this, you won’t be doing anything for a very, very long time. Make it stop, Mel. Now!â€
The gust of wind became even more powerful and unhinged some of the fluorescent lights from the ceiling. They fell to the floor and smashed to pieces, sending sparks everywhere. It seemed as if the wind would soon overcome the rest of them, but just as it was about to knock the rest of the lights off the ceiling, the lights went out again and the wind died instantly. For one final time, the lights came back on. Monkey300 looked around, but couldn’t find halogoddess1 anywhere.
She had vanished.
The damn music was still playing, spine-chilling as ever, and Monkey300 was completely and utterly alone.
END CHAPTER 11
“Listen, I don’t want any trouble, eh? I need you and you need me, we both know that. So let’s stop with the formalities and get to the point. What exactly do you want?â€
He told him.
“That’s it? That little thing? What’s it got to do with me, eh?â€
He told him.
“And how exactly will you do that?â€
He told him.
“Jesus, you're thorough. How do you know so much about me, eh? Wait, don't answer that. I don't want to know. Once I meet my obligations, you will abide by your own immediately as well, eh? I have your word?â€
“Yes.â€
“And once both obligations are met, I’m free to leave, I don’t work for you anymore. You will not chase me or send people after me, eh?â€
“Correct,†he said. “Although it’s a shame we don’t see eye to eye in that regard. Still, you are the best of your kind, that’s all that matters to me. We will provide you with additional weapons if you need.â€
He turned to leave, but stopped with his hand on the doorknob and looked back.
“Good luck,†he said with a disconcerting grin, and vanished into thin air.
Present Day
“Anything else you want?â€
The smile seemed to fade slowly from his mouth as a serious look took over his face. “Now that you mention it, there is one other thing.â€
“What is it?â€
“You,†the stranger said, pointing at GameForLife.
“Me?â€
“You,†the stranger repeated.
“M-me?â€
“Yes, you."
"But... me?"
"Yes, dammit, you. Are you deaf as well as stupid?â€
“But what do I have to do with anything?â€
“You are a healer, eh?â€
“I’m sorry, a what?â€
The stranger sighed. “A healer is someone who can heal himself, eh? He can also heal others, if he tries hard enough.â€
GameForLife churned his face into something which he hoped looked like deep puzzlement. “I have absolutely no soddin’ idea what you’re talking about, brother.â€
“That lie would be a lot more convincing if you didn’t just hand me a Spectrum Rock. Don’t play me for a fool, eh? I know what you are - what you both are. So stop playing dumb and come on. You saw how I stopped your friend’s power from working; I can do the same to you. And then when I hurt you… well, let’s not dwell on unpleasantries, eh?
“Oh, and if you got it into your head that you were stalling for time, waiting for your friend, I’m sorry to disappoint you.â€
The stranger shifted his weight so that his coat swished around him once, revealing a dark patch of what appeared to be blood. Out of his coat he drew a single falcon feather. “I didn’t have the heart to kill your friend,†he said, “but he’s wounded pretty badly. I can take you to him, you work your magic, but then your friend here has to go with me. No one leaves this building otherwise, eh?â€
“You don’t give us much of a choice,†Simmons2pntO said. “How do we know you won’t… dispose of us when you’re done?â€
“You know, I hate when people ask me that," the stranger said. "We both know there’s no answer to that question. Short of showing you a doctor’s note explaining my condition as a compulsive truth-teller, there isn't a way to prove to you that when we’re done I won’t slit your throats and throw you in a river. And all you’re doing is wasting valuable time asking all these questions, eh? Mine and your friend’s both.â€
GameForLife looked to Simmons2pntO, who gave him one of those Well, he’s got a point looks. GameForLife threw him back a scathingly evil glare. “Fine, where is he?†he asked the stranger.
“Follow me,†the stranger replied, and walked quickly out the door.
***
Five minutes later he decided that enough was enough, and called them. He got Dman82’s voicemail, which was not very comforting. He tried calling ZIM5492 but his phone was off too. Close to breaking point now, he was about to throw his own phone out the window when it rang. The caller ID told him it was ZIM5492. He lost grip of his phone as it vibrated and fumbled for it frantically before answering.
“Hello? Jake, is that you? Where are you and Dman? What’s taking you so long!?â€
The voice he heard on the other line was not Jake, however. “Jake, eh? As in the infamous and ever-elusive ZIM? Oh my boss will be so pleased to know we’ve captured him! I thought we did, you know, but I couldn't exactly tell, considering he doesn't photograph well. I suppose this Dman character is his partner, right? A two-for-one special today, it seems.â€
The livid look on his face notwithstanding, you could tell wizardmon5 was more than angry by the tone he used to say, “Who the hell are you and what have you done with them? I swear to God when I find out who you are I will make you wish you were dead.â€
“Well,†drawled the voice on the other side, chuckling to itself, “that doesn’t give me much incentive to tell you my name, now does it? As it turns out, I’m not very afraid of you. Tell your boss that 1337Cab00se has captured his little tag team of thieves, and if he wants them back, he’ll have to come get them personally, cause we don’t deliver.
“In the meantime, if you need me, I’ll be playing a little game I like to call ‘Who Will Crack Under Torture First’. Not a wholly original name, you see, but hey, whatever works, right?â€
“You lay one hand on my brother and you will sorely regret it."
“Oh? Which one of these twerps is your brother, then? I want him to have the honor of being first. And you should work on your threats, they're horribly cliché.â€
wizardmon5 hung up and slammed his phone on his desk, breaking the display and sending buttons flying around the room. Realizing his mistake, he muttered under his breathe over and over the words his anger management instructor had drilled into him. He felt himself calming down almost immediately, and he soon started taking control of the situation.
For starters, he’d have to call Melissa – he daren’t disturb TCR’s progress in his mission – and tell her the predicament they were under. Then he’d ask to be on the recovery team. And when he encountered this 1337Cab00se, he’d keep true to his word. 1337Cab00se would wish he had never been born.
END CHAPTER 12
Post edited 6/09/08 10:08PM
He had gone down to the interrogation chamber again. If he couldn’t get information out of them then at least he’d inflict some pain and piss them off. They were both chained to the wall by their arms and legs, and a thin transparent veil of navy blue surrounded them both, preventing them from using their powers to escape.
The veil itself could be used dually as a display to brainwash prisoners or keep them subdued and unable to plan escape by bombarding their minds with millions of images per second. The color of the veil depended on how much energy was necessary to suppress the prisoner’s ability. The more powerful you were, the more energy it took to compress, and the darker the color of the veil became. They were clearly not a power to contend with if let loose.
The room itself was bare wall save for their little prisons, and the décor was rather bland and boring. The room wasn’t designed to be a wholly comfortable experience, after all. One of the walls held a secret compartment where all the knives, syringes, metal bats or any equipment one would need to torture someone were stored. With his mind, Gavino “told†the system to expose the secret compartment as he walked in.
At first they had tried to struggle with their restraints, but that proved futile after a few hours so they reverted to keeping their face devoid of any emotion, which was the state they were in when he entered the room. Whoever trained them had trained them well. Gavino walked to the compartment and grabbed a particularly evil-looking device. He dissipated the navy blue veil surrounding ZIM5492, walked up to him, and fitted the device onto ZIM5492’s hand.
The device was made of strong metal and covered ZIM5492’s entire hand like a glove. There were small grooves in it by every finger and by the wrist. Little drops of blood dripped down from the groove by the wrist. ZIM5492 grimaced.
“Sorry about that,†Gavino said, “I forgot to clean it after the last use. Things to do, y’know? Anyway, this is how this will work. I’m going to ask you questions. If you fail to give me the information that I want, I press this little button here-†Gavino took out a smaller device with a little maroon button “-and when I press the button, you’re going to feel a lot of pain. A lot of pain.
“The device on your hand is designed to crush first your thumb and forefinger completely. That’s what the grooves are for, to let the blood out. Handy, no?" Gavino chuckled at his own pun and continued, "If you still fail to give me information, I’ll crush the rest of your fingers. If you still refuse to give me information, then this little device is going to revolve around your wrist, round and round and round until your wrist snaps. I don’t need to tell you how much that will hurt.
“So let’s begin. Why are you here, apart from trying to steal the Orange Spectrum? Why did TCR send you?â€
“You sure as hell like to talk, Gavin,†ZIM5492 said with a sneer. “I have honestly never seen anyone who liked to hear themselves talk so much. Tell me, does it hurt your back when you kiss your ass?â€
“How do you know my name, Jake?†Gavino snarled.
“Oh, we know more than just your names,†ZIM5492 said, and gave Gavino one of his crazy smiles. “We know all about you and your friends here. Everything about you, in fact. For example, did you know 1337Cab00se was the one who killed your sister?â€
“My sister was killed by a truck careening out of control. 1337Cab00se did no such thing!â€
“Oh yes he did, Gavin. Ask him yourself if you don’t believe me. They got into a fight and 1337Cab00se accidentally materialized that garbage truck right on top of your sister. Well, he claims it was an accident, at any rate.â€
"You're wrong, Jake."
"Am I? He killed her, Gavin. It's because of him that you haven't seen your sister in years."
“Shut up! Don’t you dare lie to me!†Gavino screeched at ZIM5492. His face was contorted with pain and anger. “1337Cab00se didn’t do any such thing and you know it. They loved each other, my sister and him.â€
ZIM5492’s smile was getting bigger and bigger. “Oh, no doubt about it, they definitely loved each other. They were set to be married a week before the accident, weren’t they? Such a shame…â€
For a second, it looked like Gavino was going to lose it. His eyes were practically falling out of their sockets, his irises had contracted. His lips were pursed so deeply with each other that it looked unlikely they'd ever separate, and his nose was flaring with the width of the Grand Canyon. But he took a deep breathe and reminded himself that ZIM5492 was just trying to mess with his head. He looked up at ZIM5492 and said in what was barely a whisper, “I thought I told you to shut up about my sister, Jake.â€
Then he pressed the button.
It took a full five minutes for ZIM5492’s screaming to subside, and now he was panting heavily, trying to catch his breath. He was looking at his fingers with an expression of utmost pain and contempt. He closed his eyes and bit his lip until he could control his pain and make it go away temporarily.
“Wow, I enjoyed that a lot more than I thought I would,†Gavino said, unsmiling. “Now unless you want me to enjoy myself even more, I suggest you answer my questions.â€
“Yeah, yeah, I’ll answer ‘em, just don’t take off your pants. I’m not into that kind of stuff.†ZIM5492 gave Gavino another one of his insane smirks.
“Everything is a joke to you, isn’t it, Jake? Well here’s a funny one for you. You want to hear it? I press this button and you say goodbye to the rest of your fingers. That’s pretty funny, no?â€
Gavino reached for the button again and fresh screams filled the room.
And that’s how it always went. ZIM5492 would always be a smartass and Dman82 would be completely silent, pretending to be mute. The only sounds that came out of his mouth were his cries of pain.
As his thoughts wandered, the door behind him slid open as someone entered the room. Gavino looked behind him and saw… machinimarox.
“Hey, Gavin, fancy meeting you here. I didn’t know you worked for Kai. What a coincidence this is, no?â€
“Y-yeah, this is definitely a s-strange coincidence,†Gavino stammered. “Kaare… what are you doing here?â€
“Oh, you didn’t hear? I work for Kai now. She was just telling me how after I failed to procure that orange rock thingy, you stepped in heroically and saved my ass by getting it. Thanks man. I owe you one.
“Anyway, I just wanted to let you know I’m here. We’re teammates now, so I thought I’d let you know that I’m watching your back.â€
Kaare left as suddenly as he had come, leaving Gavino nervous, afraid, and alone.
END CHAPTER 13
…And then it came. Alsace’s face went pale when he saw who it was. His facial expressions fought between surprise and terror and in the end settled for a mix of the two. This was the last man he’d have expected to walk into his hut. He’s heard stories and rumors about this man, and none of them put him in a very hospitable light. He was dangerous. He was evil. He was death itself.
He was TCR.
When he opened his mouth, Alsace felt death itself seep into his hut. “You have something I want,†TCR said, “and you will give it to me. I give you no choice in the matter. Either you will hand it over quickly and quietly or I will destroy your little village, kill every last one of your people, and get what I want anyway, all while you watch. I will kill you last.
“I know it sounds horribly cliché, and that you probably don’t even know what that word means, but the thing about clichés is that they are very often accurate. So I urge you to consider carefully how you answer me. As much as you would not like this place to be obliterated, I would not like to obliterate it. You have five minutes before I change my mind about letting you live.â€
Alsace knew he was going to die anyway, that this was his last day on the planet he’d so carefully guarded for thousands of years. He’d known it for a while that his time would soon come and he’d be faced with the ultimate test – and he was ready for it.
The chieftain looked as if he was merely staring at TCR while some of the color returned to his face, but he was thinking furiously how to handle the situation. In the end, he saw only one solution that was right. After he had thought his plan through he said, “I have been waiting for you to arrive for quite some time.â€
Alsace got up, and turned towards a door in the side of the hut which had previously not been there. He smiled.
“Come, follow me, we have business to attend to.â€
Then he vanished behind the door, and TCR followed him down a flight of stairs to what appeared to be a hollowed-out chamber under the ground. The walls wore ornaments and hieroglyphics in the thousands, but most of it was undecipherable to TCR. If he would have understood what they meant, he might’ve had second thoughts about entering the room so quickly. The stairs themselves wound across the walls in a circular fashion.
“There isn’t a quicker way to get down, is there?†TCR asked after seeing the amount of stairs he’d have to go down – and then back up.
Alsace looked at him with the distaste and patience of the old. “Unless you want to jump down, then I’m afraid you’ll have to suffer the length of these stairs.â€
He continued walking down, TCR following.
About halfway down, when TCR could take the noise of the echoing footsteps no more, he said, “What’s your name, old man?â€
“My name is Alsace,†the old man answered with infinite patience. “You’ll do well to remember it.â€
“I notice you haven’t asked me for name, Alsace.â€
“That’s because I know who you are, TCR. I told you that I had been waiting for you for quite some time, did I not? Yes, I did…â€
He continued walking down, TCR following.
Another uneventful few minutes of walking down stairs followed before TCR asked the old man, “Tell me, Alsace, how is it that you came to be the guardian of what I seek? And how did you know I was coming?â€
“Ah, that is but an old man’s long and boring tale, you would not want to hear it, and I would not want to tell it. It is, as they say, for another time.â€
“No, I think I’d quite like to hear it, you know. I’m sure it’s not as boring as you make it out to be, Alsace. Please, indulge me.â€
“I assure you that you’d not like to hear it. It is even more boring than I make it out to be, and while most old men like to talk, I like to listen. How does the saying go? 'Knowledge talks, wisdom listens', no? At any rate, we are here.â€
He turned to Alsace and said, “Where is this place, old man? Where have you brought me!?â€
“This is your burial place, TCR. You won’t be doing anymore harm.â€
He closed his eyes, and when he reopened them, the fury of a thousand wildebeests stared out at TCR. The stairs – every single one of them – started to crumble and collapse. The ceiling and walls quivered, sending dust flying everywhere.
“You think your parlor tricks impress me, old man?â€
“I’m not trying to impress you, fool,†Alsace replied, and then started speaking in a tongue foreign to TCR. “Vehaya or halevana ke’or hakhama ve’or hakhama yihiyeh ke’or shiv’at hayamim. Lev tahor bara li Elohim veruakh nakhon khadesh bekirbi.â€
The walls and ceiling, previously quivering, were now shaking and trembling with the force of an earthquake and threatened to fall in on them. One of the mounds of earth, hardened after a thousand years, had dislodged itself from the wall and fell, grazing TCR’s arm and removing a few layers of skin from it. Another fell a mere inch from him. During all this time the old man seemed to be his calmest yet.
TCR made to move towards the old man, but stopped as a few more pieces of the ceiling fell between the two. “I won’t let you do this to me, Alsace. This won’t stop me-â€
Then the walls made good on their threat and collapsed on them both, crushing their bodies under their weight. TCR’s arm reached out as if to grab some invisible rope to pull him out, but after a few seconds the collapsed structure covered his arm, his hand, and then his fingers.
The dust settled, and there was relative silence. Some of the other tribesmen of the village had come over to look, see what the commotion was about. No one spoke.
A faint sound emerged from the rubble, like running water. Some of the tribesmen who had gone over to look commented on it, but most of them had their ears pressed to the wreckage, trying to make out what this sound was.
It grew louder, now like a running river, and then without warning out of the rubble erupted a colossal beam of water sending all the tribesmen scattering. From this beam seemed to float TCR. His face was bruised, his arms scratched and bleeding, and his neck hung at an odd angle. He stepped out onto the ground and reached for his neck, straightening it out with a sickly snap.
His mouth thinned out in an expression of loathing, and his eyes folded in on themselves. When TCR raised his arms, the colossal beam of water surged forward into the village, encapsulating every hut and drowning every tribesman in sight. Trees and fields were uprooted and sent everywhere, destroying anything they passed through.
The water started to boil, killing anyone who was trying to swim to safety. If someone was watching the scene from above, it would have looked to them as if a giant Jacuzzi had been set up in the middle of the Amazon.
When his anger had dissipated somewhat, TCR stormed off into the jungle, bringing the flood with him. He demolished everything in his path. Hid mind was so focused on his anger that he didn’t notice a particularly large root in front of him, and he tripped, falling head-first into a tree. He tried to dislodge the tree with his mind, but it wouldn’t move. He tried animating it and that failed as well. He closed his eyes and braced for impact…
…But none came. He opened his eyes and was amazed to find himself in a large chamber filled with mirrors. Millions of them surrounded him, on the floor, the walls, the ceiling. Every one of them reflected himself and the other mirrors back at him, creating the illusion that there were a billion TCRs in the room.
And on the reflected floor in each mirror lay the Zeus Spectrum in all its glory.
END CHAPTER 14
Soon… Just a little while longer… Ahhhhh…
***
Somewhere a lot closer
lefty woke with a start.
He had been dreaming. In the dream he was escaping from a particularly nasty-looking monster, although he did not know why he thought this. In fact, this monster didn’t have any particular shape as far as lefty could see. It was just a shadow which kept on changing form, and quickly at that. No more than a second passed between each of its transformations. While lefty couldn’t make out what these manifestations were – he was running away from it, after all – he was afraid; this thing, whatever it was, instilled terror and panic in him.
As he ran away from this monster he wished for a weapon of some kind to defend himself with, and that’s when different objects seemed to be drawn to him. They would follow him as he ran until he either grabbed them or waved them away with his hands. It took him a while to notice he was only attracting metallic objects.
He ran past two thugs and the guns they wore immediately jumped into his hands. He turned around to shoot the monster, knowing this would probably not hurt it but wanting to go out with a bang. As he pulled the trigger, he heard a creaking noise and that’s when he woke up.
His cell was creaking too, but not because of an un-greased hinge in the metal bolts that composed the window bars and doorway. The metal itself was the source of the noise, however. Intrigued, lefty got up to investigate the window, which was making the most noise.
In a way the window seemed an ironic joke by their captors. It didn’t look out into the outside world, and it certainly didn’t add to the décor of the empty cell. There was only bare wall behind those bars, and its sole purpose was to taunt whatever prisoner lay inside the small compartment. This didn’t surprise lefty in the least. He wasn’t expecting these people, whoever they were, to be nice, and his expectations were met wholeheartedly. They were bad-mannered to him and his two friends right from the get-go, and had an evil sense to them. They gave lefty the willies.
These people had thrown him into his cell shortly after transporting him, RoadBlock, and Pabzlobo in a teleporting trick he’d never seen before. Presumably they also put his two friends in separate cells. Either way, they had effectively separated him from the other two. The feeling of loneliness was starting to creep in, which was their intention, surely. But what did they want from him anyway? They seemed to have gotten all worked up about that weird rock. Something about all three of them touching that rock had messed around with these people’s plans.
He’d been in this tiny little room for a few hours now, and with nothing to do, he eventually drifted off to sleep. Not a comfortable sleep, considering he was lying on cold rock, but a sleep nonetheless. And now he was awake, still exhausted, back aching, and he was looking out a window that showed scenery no more interesting or eye-pleasing than Michael Jackson’s face.
The creaking got louder. The source was definitely the bars on the window, lefty saw. Examining them, he noticed that they were shaking slightly. Assuming (and rightly so) that this was an extremely unusual thing for an inanimate metal bar to do, he reached out for it. One of the bars immediately flew out, taking some of the cement holding it in place along with it, and landed in the palm of lefty’s hand.
Startled, he stepped back and dropped the bar instinctively. But the intrigue in him was awakened, and this subdued the temporary moment of alarm he was experiencing. He bent down to pick up the bar, but instead it flew straight back into his hand. He dropped it on purpose this time, and tried the same thing, with the same effect.
“Alright,†he muttered to himself, “so my hands can attract metal. Like my dream. But... can they dispel it?â€
No sooner had the words left his mouth did the bar fly out of his hand with force enough to knock out a bison. The bar hit the door and pinged loudly. lefty was sure someone would be along in a second to find out what the commotion was. He grabbed the bar quickly and tried to hide it, but couldn’t find anywhere. He thought of sticking it in his pants but rejected the idea for obvious reasons. The bar was more useful as a weapon anyway. If anyone walked in he’d just hit them with bar and try to escape.
He stood by the door, bar in hand over his shoulder in a baseball position, and waited.
But no one came.
Not after a minute. Not after five minutes. Not after twenty minutes.
He relaxed a little.
He got to work on escaping from the cell. For starters, he’d need another bar from the window as an extra weapon. Then there was the door issue…
***
“Yes, I know.â€
“And in a most peculiar way, too.â€
“Again, I know. Your mind patterns are ridiculously easy to define and read.â€
“Is there any point in ever giving you news?â€
“Can’t say that there is, but it’s nice to know how much you know, you know?â€
“Goddamn telepaths…â€
***
The enemy seemed to know his every move. No matter which turns he took, his captors were there. It was as if they could read his mind. He tried to use the metal bars as weapons, but the person who was chasing him kept reappearing at different points every time he swung.
lefty didn’t get too far before getting caught, and he gave up rather quickly, albeit with much resentment.
He was put in a new cell, but this one didn’t have any metal bars or doors – everything was brick here. Apparently his captors knew about the little trick he had performed back in his old cell. So much for that….
***
“He shows potential.â€
“How can you tell?â€
“I can read it in his mind. His brain patterns are off the charts. He doesn’t know it, but his weakness is power. In fact, he thinks it’s the one thing that won’t tempt him.â€
“Interesting. So you think I should approach him?â€
“Yes, but be very careful. He’s very astute. And whatever you do, don’t threaten his friends or family, that’ll just drive him against us. Just like the novels."
"Yes, just like the novels..."
***
They mostly left him alone with his thoughts, except for the one time that the woman had offered him something.
It happened about an hour after they had recaptured him. The woman walked in, dressed casually enough, but her face gave her away. There was too much in her eyes for the appearance to be deceiving. She looked at him up and down, assessing him. He saw how she noted his guard’s uniform – which he was still wearing – with distaste.
“You didn’t give me a chance to change.â€
“You didn’t give us a chance to let you.â€
“Yeah, well, your cell sucked. This one does, too.â€
“So I’m to take it you don’t enjoy lying on concrete?â€
“Fuck you.â€
“Sorry honey, I’m already taken.â€
lefty replied by turning folding his arms.
The woman said, “Not much of a talker, then? Alright, I’ll start. My name’s LoveNCaboose. Erin, if you want. I already know yours. I’m here to give you an offer I hope you won’t refuse.â€
lefty said nothing.
“I’m here to offer you a spot on our team. You don’t have to give us anything in return, this is a one-way offer.â€
“What do I get out of it, then?â€
“Well for one, your cell here gets upgraded. Way upgraded. We’ll also teach you what we’re all about, what we do, and how to enhance and improve your power.â€
“My power? You mean what I can do to metal? You know what makes it work?â€
“Bingo. We know how to show you the way to increase the magnitude of your power. We’ll show you... if you join us.â€
Then she did something very weird. She pulled out a page from a book she kept in her pocket – although which book lefty couldn’t tell – and she stared at the page. He couldn’t see what was written on it, but certain lines suddenly became highlighted by a bright green glow. Her eyes also turned the same bright green.
The page disappeared from her hand, and lefty suddenly found himself in a dark cave. There were cobwebs all around, some larger than himself, and they were sticky to the touch. He almost felt as if they were for him. Out of the darkness he could make out LoveNCaboose, who did not seem perturbed by the sudden and inexplicable change of scenery.
lefty moved towards her, and in doing so stepped on a bone that was lying in his way, snapping it with a loud crack! He could hear rustling now in the distance, and more bones snapping. Something large was coming his way. He positively ran towards LoveNCaboose now, but got stuck in a cobweb. He tried to untangle himself and only complicated the matter. He was stuck.
“Help me!†he whispered to LoveNCaboose, but she merely shook her head.
The large something loomed out of the darkness, and now lefty could see what it was – a giant spider with pincers larger than his arms and eyes larger than his face. It opened its mouth and squealed a horrible sound. Spittle flew out of its mouth, binding him even more in his entanglement. It rushed at him.
“Stop!†Erin commanded, just as the spider behemoth was about to do away with lefty’s head. The spider stopped dead in its tracks, unmoving but still breathing. lefty could feel its rancid breath. But he was safe… for now.
“Do you recognize this place, lefty?â€
He tried to shake his head but couldn’t. He was stuck firmly to the web.
“Come on, lefty, take a closer look. Are you sure you don’t recognize where we are?â€
It took him a few moments, but then it hit him. “We’re in Shelob’s lair.... But how?â€
It took him a moment of concentration, but he got it faster than he thought he would. “Judging by the weird ritual you did with the paper prior to our ‘arrival’ here, I’d say you can make things written on paper come to life.â€
“You’re very perceptive. Most people, under such stress and conditions would have forgotten all about that. Good. I can also control the surroundings that I bring to life. That is the reason why Shelob hasn’t killed you. I haven’t given it permission yet.â€
“And if you die here, you die in real life, too?â€
“No, lefty. This is real life. The only difference is that in this reality, I am God.†Her eyes glowed green again, and within seconds they were back in the brick cell, and the paper was back in her hand. She stuffed into her pocket.
“Jesus Christ,†lefty said.
“I’ll give you a few hours to consider my offer. I know it’s a lot to take in right now. We’ll know when you’re ready to give us your answer.â€
“Wait – what happens if I refuse?â€
“Then you stay here,†she said, and left the cell.
Truth be told, he was really considering accepting her offer. It would be so cool to be able to control and develop this newfound power (which he still did not understand and was thoroughly mystified by). And he’d finally be able to get out of this cell. How he ached for a bed to sleep on…
His cell door opened again, and LoveNCaboose stepped inside. “You’ve made your decision?â€
“Yes. I’ll join your group, whatever it is. But I expect answers. And my friends… they’re alright?â€
“Your friends are fine. And you’ll find more than just answers waiting for you here. Come on, let me introduce you to the rest of the gang.â€
***
“You handled that well.â€
“Of course I did, Caleb. What did you expect?â€
“I wasn’t expecting anything in particular. I was just stating that you handled it well. Can’t a guy give a girl a simple compliment anymore?â€
“Oh, is that what it was? I thought you were trying to flirt.â€
“I would never! I’m hurt that you would even think such a thing.â€
“Haha, right. But let’s keep to the point, here. He must not know the truth… not yet, at any rate. It could destroy his faith in us. For now, we keep him in the dark, so to speak. We train him, teach him. But that is all.â€
“And the other two? They both declined your offer, and their brain patterns show negative results in that aspect. They don’t seem to be willing to join with us. Perhaps they can sense what we’re really up to?â€
“I doubt it. But I’ll ask lefty to talk to them. I’ll see if he can’t convince them to join us as well.â€
“And if he fails, Erin?â€
“Then we kill them both.â€
END CHAPTER 15