Amalgamation

by Lucas Flint

  “That’s where you’re wrong, ugly,” said Rubberman. He tapped the side of his head with one hand. “My powers come from the Dread God’s brain. My life is even tied to it. Therefore, it’s only logical that I would have some kind of connection to the Dread God’s mind, though I will admit even I was surprised that this would work.”

  “Wait, what?” said Bolt, looking from Rubberman to the Dread God and back again. “What do you mean, you have a connection to the Dread God’s mind? What are you talking about?”

  “Let me explain,” said Beams. He sat up slowly and winced, resting his hands gingerly on his broken ribs. “You may or may not know this, but Rubberman got his powers when he touched the Dread God’s brain many years ago. His life is also tied to it in such a way that if the Rubber Ball is destroyed, Rubberman will die with it.”

  “Before Beams and the others came to your rescue, they stopped by the Elastic Cave first and brought me with them,” said Rubberman. “I didn’t quite understand it all at first, but when Beams showed me the God Slayer and explained his plan, I was all for it. I may not be getting paid for this, but saving the multiverse from tyranny seems like payment enough.”

  “Right,” said Beams. “I theorized that Rubberman might have some connection to the Dread God which we could exploit to weaken or defeat him. I didn’t bring Rubberman in at first because I thought the God Slayer would be enough, but now I’m glad I brought him as a backup plan.”

  “Wow,” said Bolt. “So are you saying that the Dread God is dying now?”

  “Not quite,” said Rubberman. His eyes narrowed. “His mind is incredibly strong, much stronger than his body. I’m inflicting a lot of pressure on it, but I’m not strong enough to destroy it. The God Slayer, however, should be strong enough to kill him for good.”

  Beams nodded. “Which is why I need to retrieve the God Slayer and stab it through the Dread God’s head. It’s the only way to kill him for good.”

  “But what about Rubberman?” said Bolt. He looked at Rubberman. “If your life is tied to the Rubber Ball and Beams destroys it, then you will die, too, won’t you?”

  “Possibly,” said Rubberman. “We discussed this on the way here. It’s possible that the Dread God’s resurrection has weakened my own link to the Rubber Ball. Not enough to sever it completely, but enough that I might survive even if we completely destroy the Rubber Ball.”

  “It still seems like a huge risk to me, though,” said Bolt. “You could still die.”

  Rubberman shrugged. “So what? If I have to sacrifice myself to save the multiverse, then so be it. I’m not looking forward to death, because I’ve still got a business to run and things to do, but if the only way to defeat the Dread God is by sacrificing me, then that is a risk I am willing to take.”

  Bolt could not stop staring at Rubberman. The Rubberman who stood before him was very different from the Rubberman he had met in that alternate universe. That Rubberman had been timid and cowardly, cowed by a bossy woman who only cared about money. This Rubberman was confident and heroic, who would make a great NHA member in Bolt’s own universe.

  Yet at the same time, they’re both still the same person, Bolt thought. Even that alternate universe Rubberman could do the right thing when the situation called for it. Makes me wonder just how different these alternate versions of ourselves are. Maybe there’s some defining feature of each individual which is the same no matter what universe they’re in.

  Bolt shook his head. He would have time for pondering deep philosophical questions later. Right now, he and Beams needed to finish off the Dread God before he recovered from Rubberman’s mental assault.

  As if thinking the same thing, Rubberman retracted his body back to its original size. Both Bolt and Beams landed on the floor on their feet and Beams immediately rushed toward the dropped God Slayer. Right before he could lay a hand on it, Graalix suddenly appeared in his path, spreading his arms wide to block Beams from getting the God Slayer.

  “Oh, no you don’t, you little brat,” Graalix snarled. “I will not allow you to get your precious God Slayer back and use it to kill the Dread God. The Mother World shall rise again and—”

  Bolt activated his super speed and zoomed past Beams and toward Graalix. With a roar of triumph, Bolt slammed his fist into Graalix’s jaw as hard as he possibly could. Graalix didn’t even scream. He just went flying through the air like a bullet and crashed into and through a wall straight on the other side of the room, disappearing into the vast darkness of the Shadowlands beyond the walls of the Fist.

  Panting hard, Bolt looked over his shoulder at the surprised Beams and snapped, “What are you waiting for? Get the God Slayer. I’ll cover you.”

  Beams nodded and rushed past Bolt toward the God Slayer. He bent over to pick it up, but then the Avatar suddenly appeared in front of him, raising his sword high above his head.

  “I won’t let you get the God Slayer,” said the Avatar. “For the Dread God!”

  Before the Avatar could bring his sword down on Beams’ head, Rubberman launched himself toward the Avatar. As Rubberman flew, his body stretched into a bundle of rubber ropes and, upon hitting the Avatar’s chest, immediately began constricting his body like a snake. The Avatar cried in surprise and dropped his sword, struggling to remove Rubberman’s rubbery form off his body, but Rubberman clung to his armor like a second skin and wouldn’t come off no matter how much the Avatar clawed at him.

  Sensing an opportunity, Bolt flew toward the Avatar and began pummeling him with rapid-fire fisticuffs. The Avatar couldn’t react or respond due to Rubberman constricting his movement. All he could do was grunt as Bolt launched super strength powered fist after super strength powered punch at his chest and abdomen, hitting him over and over again, each punch landing even before the last punch finished hitting the Avatar’s body.

  Finally, one of Bolt’s fists pierced the Avatar’s armor and green energy began leaking out. The Avatar screamed in pain, but Bolt thrust his fist inside his armor and unleashed a powerful burst of electricity inside the Avatar’s body. The Avatar’s screams grew even louder for a moment as the lightning blast burned through his essence until he abruptly stopped screaming. His eyes glazed over and he fell over backward with an audible thunk, smoke rising from the hole in his chest where Bolt had punched him.

  Even before the Avatar fell, however, Rubberman let go of him and jumped off his body, returning to his original proportions and landing next to Bolt. He wore an impressed look on his face as he looked from Bolt to the Avatar’s body and back again.

  “We make a surprisingly good team,” said Rubberman, putting his hands on his hips. “If I didn’t already have Beams and you weren’t from an alternate universe, I would offer you a chance to come work for me as my sidekick.”

  Beams cracked a smile at Rubberman. “Nah. I like being a superhero better than being a sidekick, but thanks for the offer. We could still work together sometime after all of this is over, though.”

  Rubberman smiled back, but just then Beams rushed up to them, the God Slayer in hand, and said, “Guys, I got the God Slayer again!”

  “Awesome work,” said Rubberman, giving Beams the thumbs up. He gestured at the Dread God, who was still clutching his head in agony and seemed to not be paying any attention to his surroundings. “Now we just need to get it lodged in the Dread God’s skull and we’ll be golden.”

  “You will have to get past me first!”

  The three of them looked over in the direction from which the voice had come and saw the Dread Priest now standing between them and the Dread God. The Dread Priest held his staff before him like a sword, but in comparison to the brute size of the Avatar or the agility of Graalix, the Dread Priest looked dreadfully weak. He was obviously thin under his robes and shook like a twig in a hurricane, which made it harder for Bolt to take him seriously, though he knew better than to underestimate the Dread Priest’s power, given what the Dread Priest did to him the last time he saw him.

  �
�Game over, Priest,” said Bolt. “Graalix is long gone and the Avatar is dead. Soon, your god will be dead, too, and what will that leave you with?”

  “Silence, you fool,” the Dread Priest snarled. “Graalix was nothing but a pathetic Pokacu, the lowest of all the races in the universe, and the Avatar little better than a brute who was good only for muscle and nothing more. I, on the other hand, am the Dread God’s most loyal and powerful priest, who has led his people for eons and shall lead them for eons still.”

  “Brag all you like about your awesomeness, but it won’t stop us from breaking your neck,” said Bolt. He tilted his head to the side. “Or maybe your back? Then again, it doesn’t make sense to talk about breaking bones with you Darzen guys, because you’re energy and all.”

  “Even if you kill me, you won’t kill the Dread God,” said the Dread Priest. “Take this!”

  The Dread Priest waved his staff through the air violently and then pointed it at Rubberman. Rubberman suddenly gasped and staggered backward, clutching his skull in a manner very similar to the Dread God.

  “Hey, what did you do to my boss?” said Beams, looking at the Dread Priest in shock. “Did you hurt him?”

  The Dread Priest smiled ghoulishly. “I didn’t hurt him. I cut off his connection to the Dread God. Yes, I overheard you talking about that. I realized that if I could use my dread magic to sever the connection between the Dread God and the rubber human that the Dread God would no longer be vulnerable to mental attacks from you humans.”

  Bolt’s eyes widened. “Then that means—”

  A rumbling laugh above made everyone look up. The Dread God had stopped clutching his head now. He still looked annoyed, but he was also smiling brightly as if he had just received everything he had ever wanted in his whole life.

  “Many thanks to you, my Dread Priest, for doing what Graalix and the Avatar did not and thinking tactically rather than rushing into battle like a fool,” said the Dread God, rubbing the back of his head. “Of all of the many decisions I’ve made in my eons of existence, appointing you as my Dread Priest was easily the wisest.”

  The Dread Priest beamed at the Dread God’s praise. “Thank you, my Dread God. I do it all for your glory and your glory alone.” He looked at Bolt and the others with madness in his eyes. “Pray to whatever gods you worship, humans, because now there is nothing to protect you from the Dread God’s wrath. Bathe in the despair of your hopelessness, gaze upon the Dread God’s terrible might and flee like the sheep you—”

  The Dread Priest never got to finish his sentence, because at that moment, a shadowy corridor opened behind him and the Midnight Menace stepped out. Before the Dread Priest could even turn around, the Midnight Menace stabbed his sword through the Dread Priest’s back and out his chest. The Dread Priest gasped in pain, staring down at the energy leaking out of his armor.

  “What … what is this?” said the Dread Priest. He chuckled. “This won’t kill me, you know …”

  “Maybe not,” said the Midnight Menace, his voice as cold as the darkness around them, “but the shadows will.”

  Before Bolt’s startled eyes, a dark, teeth-lined pit opened in the ground before the Dread Priest. It looked like the maw of a giant monster, perhaps a dragon of some sort, and it appeared bottomless.

  The Dread Priest had just enough time to stare at it in horror before the Midnight Menace ripped his sword out of his back and kicked him inside. The Dread Priest futilely spun his arms in the air for a second before he fell over forward into the maw. As soon as he passed through, the maw slammed shut around him. The Dread Priest’s screams of fear abruptly cut off as the shadows devoured him, leaving not even a shred of his robes behind.

  “Pathetic,” said the Dread God, staring down at the pool of shadow which the Dread Priest had fallen into. “He was one of my most faithful followers, but he always did have a tendency to declare victory far too soon. Oh, well. Perhaps I will resurrect him after I finish off all of you.”

  “Your followers are dead and gone, Dread God,” said Bolt, pointing at the Dread God. “You’re all by yourself now. And you are going down.”

  The Dread God chuckled again. “Foolish humans. My strength doesn’t come from my followers. My strength just is. And now, I will demonstrate it to you in a way that will be spoken of in legend and song for eons to come.”

  The Dread God held up a hand and snapped his fingers.

  Without warning, the entire Fist began to shake furiously. Cracks appeared in the floor and chunks of debris from the ceiling started to fall. The very shadows themselves started twisting and writhing in agony, while the unconscious Starborn stirred like they were having bad dreams.

  “What’s he doing?” said Beams, looking around in alarm. “Is he trying to bring the temple down on us?”

  The Midnight Menace shook his head. “No. Worse than that. He is destroying the Shadowlands themselves.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

  As soon as those words left his mouth, the Midnight Menace cried out in pain and fell to the floor. He clutched his head, breathing in and out rapidly. Then Beams heard another scream behind him and, looking over his shoulder, saw that Shade was lying on the floor in a fetal position, groaning in pain and looking paler than ever.

  “What’s happening?” said Beams. He looked up at the Dread God. “What are you doing to them?”

  “Nothing,” the Dread God said with a vicious grin. “Not directly, anyway. These two and their powers are intimately tied to the Shadowlands. By destroying the Shadowlands, I am also destroying them. It is a nice little bonus because I find their ability to control shadows and summon tendrils … tedious, to put it one way.”

  Beans looked at Bolt and Rubberman. “Guys, we have no time to lose. We need to kill the Dread God now. That means getting me up to his head so I can stab his brain.”

  “Gotcha,” said Bolt. “I’ll fly around and distract him with my lightning bolts while you two figure out how to get Beams up there. Figure it out fast, because I’m not sure how long I’ll be able to distract him before he hits me.”

  Bolt launched into the air and immediately began flying around the Dread God’s head, peppering him with red lightning bolts. The Dread God snorted and snarled, swinging his massive hands about his head in an attempt to swat Bolt out of the way, but Bolt was nimble and quick, always going just outside of the Dread God’s reach and then responding with short, quick bursts of lightning aimed at the Dread God’s eyes and face.

  Beams looked at Rubberman. “Boss, are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

  Rubberman nodded. “Yeah. The Human Trampoline should give you enough height to make the jump, especially if you give yourself a power boost beforehand. Got any juice left?”

  “Yeah,” said Beams. “Should have just enough energy left to make the jump.”

  “Then let’s do it,” said Rubberman.

  Rubberman rushed toward the Dread God and then fell down on his hands and knees. With a grunt, he expanded his body outward until it resembled a large trampoline, which was just thick enough to support Beams’ weight. They called this particular move—in which Rubberman would turn his body in a human trampoline and Beams would bounce off of it to reach higher places or enemies normally out of their reach—the Human Trampoline. It was a new move they practiced often, but rarely ever got to use due to how situational it could be.

  But it should fit this situation very well, Beams thought. No more thinking. Just act.

  Closing his eyes, Beams fired his lasers into his eyelids and once again felt them bounce back into his brain. Adrenaline rushed through his body and made his eyes snap open. He rushed toward Rubberman faster than normal and then jumped and leaped into the air, landing firmly on Rubberman’s stretched back.

  Then Beams shot into the air toward the Dread God, using both his boosted adrenaline and Rubberman’s body to give him a gigantic boost. The Dread God was still distracted by Bolt, which was good because Beams was convinced that he was going to be
able to stab the Dread God directly in the head as long as he kept his trajectory going.

  But then one of the Dread God’s fists came flying at him suddenly. There was no way for Beams to dodge except to dive down, narrowly avoiding the massive fist, but it also meant he was falling toward the floor at intense speeds.

  Right before he hit the floor, however, Bolt swooped in and grabbed Beams’ shoulders. He shot into the air, dragging a surprised Beams up with him. They shot past the Dread God’s face, causing the Dread God to tilt his head upward in order to follow their flight path.

  “Beams!” Bolt shouted as they neared the ceiling. “Do it now!”

  Bolt suddenly let go of Beams, who fell toward the Dread God’s face. With a yell, Beams held the God Slayer before him and plunged it directly into the Dread God’s forehead. The blade sank through the Dread God’s skull and into his brain.

  Without warning, the Dread God began screaming in pure, absolute pain. And Beams didn’t just hear the Dread God’s scream with his ears. He also heard it in his mind, because there was still a small part of him that was connected to the Dread God. He could feel his pain, hear the Dread God’s screams of agony as they ripped through not just his mind, but through the minds of every Darzen in the multiverse. It shook him to his core and made him nearly lose his grip on the God Slayer. It also seemed to last for an eternity, and for a moment, Beams saw the history of the Dread God flash by in his mind. He couldn’t make sense of most of the images which flashed through his mind like lightning, but he understood that the Dread God was both much older and even more powerful than he originally believed.

  Then, as abruptly as it began, it ended. The screaming went away. The pain stopped. Beams’ mind was silent.

  And that was how he knew it was over. All of it. The Dread God—the mighty and feared Dread God, who had dreamed of nothing but conquering the whole multiverse under his heel—was dead.