by Lucas Flint
“Tragic as it may be, this does work out well in our favor,” said Uncle Josh. He pointed ahead of us. “The path to the tunnels are now completely open and we didn’t even have to fight him.”
“Good point,” said Christina. “Come on. Let’s get out of here before guards show up.”
Christina took a step forward, but as soon as she did, the purple goop that had once been Benjamin shifted. All of a sudden, it began bubbling and expanding like crazy, becoming a bigger and bigger bubble with each passing second. The three of us watched in horror as the purple goop soon became twice as tall as Uncle Josh and three times as wide. It knocked aside Benjamin’s glasses, which fell over the side of the railing into the purple vats below with a splash and a hiss.
Then arms and legs began to grow out of the blob, while the blob itself took on a more humanoid shape. A monstrous head rose out of the top of the blob, forming a neck with it. The creature’s head resembled some kind of demon, with sharp teeth and horns poking out of either side of his head. In seconds, we found ourselves standing face to face with a tall, muscular humanoid creature with completely purple skin. It towered over us, though its head did not quite touch the ceiling of the lab. Not that it needed to, however.
“Oh my god,” I said. “What is that thing?”
The creature smiled. “’Thing’? I’m not a ‘thing.’ I’m a person. Benjamin van Dijk. Remember?”
“Benny?” said Christina in shock. “That’s you?”
“Of course it is,” said Benjamin. He raised one clawed hand and flexed his fingers. “I honestly didn’t know what the drug would do to me when I injected it into me, but it appears that it has turned me into some kind of living goo or possibly clay. I will have to analyze my new powers later. For now, I will perform my first scientific experiment on the limits of this form’s powers by murdering all three of you in cold blood.”
“Murder this!” I shouted.
I pulled three disks out of my pouch and threw them directly at Benjamin, who didn’t even try to dodge. All three disks hit him in the chest, but instead of knocking him back, they just got stuck in his gooey form and slowly sank into his body, leaving the three of us to stare at him in shock.
Benjamin’s laugh was bubbly, like bubbles in a swamp. “Did you honestly think that your pathetic little disks would be able to hurt me? My new body allows me to absorb attacks that would have killed me in my old body. I wonder what else I can do? Oh, I know.”
Benjamin suddenly jerked his arm at us. His arm suddenly extended like a whip and wrapped around Christina, jerking her off her feet and pulling her toward him before either Uncle Josh or I could react. Benjamin held Christina with one hand, looking at her with a mixture of amusement and hunger on his face.
“Let me go, you creep!” said Christina.
She raised her hand and a sizzling energy rope appeared out of it. She slammed it through Benjamin’s head, sending chunks of purple goo flying everywhere. It looked like a kill shot to me, what with Benjamin now being headless and everything.
But Benjamin’s body stood there for a couple more seconds before a head reformed out of the stump of his neck. Soon, Benjamin looked good as new, a huge grin plastered all over his monstrous face.
“That almost hurt, Christina,” said Benjamin. “But it’s harder to make me feel pain now. My new body can absorb attacks, like I said, and that includes the pain I would normally have experienced from an attack like that. Your attack was annoying, but nothing I can’t handle.”
Christina looked genuinely taken aback by Benjamin’s little trick. I had to admit that I was shocked by it, too, if only because I’d never fought a super like this guy before.
“But just because I can’t feel pain anymore doesn’t mean you can’t feel it anymore,” said Benjamin.
His purple goop suddenly started to cover Christina, going up and down her body until only her head was visible. She gasped, but then the purple goop started to enter her body through her mouth, making her choke.
“You don’t know how long I’ve waited to do this,” said Benjamin with a deep chuckle. “Even before you betrayed Icon, I hated you and wanted nothing more than to see you suffer. Now I have the power to do it and it is delicious.”
Normally, I wouldn’t have cared if Christina got killed, but we still needed her help, and besides, Benjamin was in our way. So I flew toward Benjamin and gathered all of my strength into one punch.
Benjamin turned his head to see me coming, but he was too late to dodge. I slammed my fist into his chest with enough force to make his whole body explode from the impact. Christina fell to the floor with a thunk, where she lay breathing in and out rapidly and coughing up the purple goo, but even as I lowered back to the floor, the scattered remains of Benjamin’s body were already reforming not far away from where I stood.
But I didn’t pay attention to that for the moment. I looked down at Christina and said, “Christina, are you okay?”
Gasping for breath, Christina looked up at me and said, “What do you think?”
I was about to come back with a snarky answer of my own, but at that moment I heard a low growl and looked over to see that Benjamin had fully recovered. He looked more pissed off now than he had before, however, and he even seemed a little bigger than before, though hopefully not tougher.
“Back up already?” I said, turning to face Benjamin. “I thought you’d be down for a few minutes at least.”
“That didn’t even tickle,” said Benjamin. He cracked his neck back and forth. “But it did annoy me, and now I have the power to do something about people who annoy me.”
Benjamin raised his hand and shot a tendril of purple goop at me and Christina. I grabbed Christina and flew into the air, narrowly avoiding Benjamin’s tendril. I flew over to Uncle Josh with Christina in my hands and landed next to him, letting go of Christina at the same time, who almost tripped over her own feet but managed to regain her balance when we landed.
“This is a terrible situation,” said Uncle Josh. “With Benjamin in the way, it will be even harder to get to the Tower than before.”
“Christina, do you know what Benjamin’s weakness might be?” I said, looking at her. “You knew him, right?”
Christina shrugged. “All I know is that he’s the biggest nerd in the organization and that he doesn’t handle rejection especially well. Otherwise, I couldn’t tell you how to beat him, if that’s what you’re asking.”
I cursed under my breath. “We don’t have time to fight him. For all we know, backup might be coming any moment to help Benjamin defeat us.”
“Oh, you need not worry about my fellow Icon agents, Trickshot,” said Benjamin, his mouth twisting into an ugly grin. “I will kill all three of you myself and present your corpses as gifts to Chaser. Or perhaps I will use your bodies in future scientific experiments. I suppose we’ll just have to wait and see what Chaser says.”
I scowled, but it was clear that we had no choice but to fight Benjamin if we were going to get out of here alive. I looked at Christina and said, “Christina, you and Uncle Josh should stand back. I’ll try to fight Benjamin and distract him long enough for both of you guys to get past him.”
“Sounds good to me,” said Christina. She shuddered. “I really don’t want to feel all of his icky, sticky goo on my body again. Worst feeling of my life.”
“But your punches already didn’t do anything to him,” said Uncle Josh. “And your disks weren’t much more successful. You need backup.”
“Thanks for the offer, but I don’t think numbers will help in this case,” I said. “You and Christina just need to get over to the tunnels. I’ll join you after I deal with Benjamin.”
“You do know I can hear everything you are saying, right?” said Benjamin. “Foolish intruders. Do you really think I would let you get past me?”
Benjamin’s right hand transformed into some kind of cannon, which he aimed at us. He then fired a blob of purple goop, which Christina batted out of the
air with an energy rope before it could hit us. The blob fell over the side of the railing into the open vats of purple goop below, where it landed with a plop and a sizzle.
“Good reflexes,” said Uncle Josh, looking at Christina as her energy rope dissipated.
“I try,” said Christina with a shrug.
“Right,” I said. “Now, you two need to get out of here. I’ll keep Benjamin distracted.”
Without waiting for their responses, I flew toward Benjamin. Benjamin extended his clawed hand toward me and tried to slash me out of the air, but I swerved out of the way at the last second. I flew over the side of the railing and hovered above the vats, which were crackling and sizzling below me like lava.
“What are you waiting for, Benny?” I said. I gestured at him. “Come and get me. Or did your Power not give you the ability to fly?”
“I don’t need the ability to fly to take you down,” said Benjamin.
He aimed his cannon hand at me again and fired. I ducked, however, and dodged it easily. Then I hurtled toward him as fast as I could and kicked him in the face, but his head split at the last second and my kick hit nothing but empty air.
Then Benjamin’s head reformed and I had only enough time to see him grin like a monster before he slammed me with a giant fist. The fist sent me flying toward the computer in the center of the room, where I crashed into the screen and fell onto the floor with a loud thunk. My senses dazed from the impact, I nonetheless shook my head and looked up to see Benjamin walking toward me, drips of purple goo falling off his body with each step.
“You’re quite the persistent one,” said Benjamin, whose voice sounded more distorted than ever. “That blow would have killed a normal human, but perhaps I just need to hit you again. Not a problem. I can do this all night, though I’m not sure you can even with your powers.”
As much as I didn’t want to admit it, Benjamin had a point. I had already taken a good beating several times over the course of the night from people other than Benjamin and, while I wasn’t in danger of collapsing from exhaustion just yet, I did find myself growing more and more tired, to the point where I found myself wishing that I was back home sleeping comfortably in my bed. It didn’t help that I had yet to get in a really solid blow that actually hurt him.
Nonetheless, I rose to my feet, using the computer’s control panel for support. I needed to find a way to beat him, but that was easier said than done, because his powers made it hard to hurt or even hit him. He seemed almost impervious to injury, which made me think that this entire fight might be useless and that I would just have to abandon it at some point to join back up with Christina and Uncle Josh.
“Nothing to say?” said Benjamin. “Perhaps you’re weaker than I thought.”
Benjamin launched his claw at me. I shot up into the air, narrowly avoiding the claw, which smashed into the computer and ripped it into pieces.
“Hey, watch where you’re shooting that thing!” I said. “You destroyed your own computer!”
Benjamin snorted as he retracted his arm. “What do I care? All I care about is killing you. And I will do that even if I have to tear this entire lab apart.”
Benjamin raised his hand and fired his claw at me again. I dodged this time, but then he shot his other hand at me suddenly and it was a direct hit. He struck me in the chest and his hand clung to my chest, sticking to it like bubblegum. He then jerked me back down onto the floor, which I landed on hard enough to rattle the floor.
Struggling to get up to my feet, I looked up just in time to get slapped in the face by a tendril extending from Benjamin’s body. I fell flat on my back, but rolled backwards onto my feet and took several steps away from Benjamin, who retracted his tendril back into his chest, an amused grin on his face. I hated being on the defensive all the time, but until I could figure out his weakness, all I could do was dodge and fly around to distract him from Uncle Josh and Christina.
Suddenly, I heard Christina shout, “Hey, kid! We made it!”
Peering around Benjamin, I saw that Uncle Josh and Christina stood in an open doorway on the other side of the lab. The doorway seemed to lead to a set of metal stairs going down, though I couldn’t see exactly where they led from here. But I knew that had to be the entrance to the tunnels, which meant I needed to get away from Benjamin as fast as possible.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t the only one to notice Uncle Josh and Christina’s success. Benjamin had also turned around to see them and he growled deeply under his breath when he saw where they were.
“Stupid,” said Benjamin. “I’m an idiot for allowing myself to be distracted by this kid. But it doesn’t matter. I’ll fix that mistake of mine, like I always do whenever I mess up a formula in the lab.”
Benjamin raised his hand, but I rushed up behind him and slammed my fist into the back of his head. Benjamin’s head exploded, sending chunks of purple goop flying everywhere. I knew he would recover eventually, however, so I flew over him toward Christina and Uncle Josh, who were both gesturing at me to follow them.
But I didn’t get far before I felt something sticky attach to my ankles and I was slammed down onto the floor. Shaking my head, I looked over my shoulder to see that Benjamin’s head had already reformed and he was holding me down with a tendril extending from his chest.
“Even if those two get away, that doesn’t mean I’m going to let you get away as well,” said Benjamin. “If I kill only you, then that will please Chaser all by itself. And I live solely to please his will, even at the cost of my own life.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
“Jack!” Uncle Josh cried out. “I’m coming to—”
“No!” I shouted back, waving desperately at them. “Stay back! You guys don’t stand a chance against him. I’ll be fine without you.”
Without waiting to see what Uncle Josh or Christina would do, I looked back at Benjamin, who was now slowly pulling me toward him with a murderous grin on his face. I pulled three disks out of my pocket again, but instead of throwing them at him, I threw them at the tendril that he was using to drag me toward him. The disks cut through the tendril as easily as string, allowing me to jump to my feet and fly toward Uncle Josh and Christina, who were watching the entire fight with surprised looks on their faces.
“Get in there!” I shouted. “Go in now! I’ll be right behind you guys!”
“What about Benjamin?” said Christina. “He’s still here and he’ll be coming after us!”
Christina was absolutely right. A glance over my shoulder showed me that Benjamin was already running after me. He ran slowly and awkwardly, most likely because he wasn’t entirely used to his new form yet, but I knew that he would catch up to us eventually, especially if he followed us into the tunnels. Yet how I was supposed to defeat him when I couldn’t even hit him? The constant sizzling and crackling of the Power vats below didn’t help me think of some way to beat him.
Wait a minute …
I landed just a few feet from Uncle Josh and Christina and said to them, “Get inside the tunnels. I’ll be right behind you guys, but I need both of you to get in there before I defeat Benjamin.”
“What?” said Uncle Josh. “How are you going to beat him? You can’t even touch him.”
“It’s too complicated to explain, but both of you guys need to get out of here before I can do it,” I said. “Otherwise, I’ll risk killing you guys as well.”
Christina frowned. “Whatever your plan is, it better finish him off for good. Otherwise, I will kill you.”
“I’ll be dead if I fail,” I replied. “Now go! We don’t have much time.”
Uncle Josh looked hesitant, but then he nodded and stepped into the stairway, with Christina following closely behind him. They didn’t close the door behind them, but they wouldn’t need to if everything worked out the way I thought it should.
I turned to face Benjamin, who stopped several feet away from me, his goopy form constantly dripping gunk onto the floor. I just now realized how horribly he smelled,
like swamp gas mixed with skunk. I guess I’d been too focused on beating him earlier to notice his stink, though with luck, I soon would not have to smell it ever again.
“Not running with your girlfriend and uncle?” said Benjamin, cracking the most disgusting grin I’d ever seen on another creature’s face. “I guess you really are an idiot after all. Or do you like to think you’re playing the hero here?”
“I’m just trying to keep my friends safe,” I said. “Which, I guess, is a concept you don’t understand, given how even your fellow Icon agents seem to hate you.”
Benjamin growled. “Shut up. I don’t need a brat like you lecturing me about friendship. With the power I now command, I don’t even need friends.”
“And now you sound just like a villain from a Saturday morning cartoon,” I said. “Ah, well. It was nice knowing you.”
I drew not three, not four, not even five, but six Trickshot disks from my pouch, but instead of throwing them at Benjamin, I threw them at the floor. The disks bounced off the floor and each went in a different direction, flying all over the room, hitting off every imaginable surface. The echoing of my metal disks bouncing off of every surface in the lab was not loud, but it was very persistent, like being in a room full of flies.
Benjamin, who had taken a step back when I threw the disks, just looked around with a puzzled frown on his face. “What are you doing? I thought we’d already established that your disks couldn’t hurt me. Throwing more of them around won’t actually hurt me more than the three you threw at me originally.”
I smirked. “If I had been meaning to hit you directly, I would have just thrown them at you. But I didn’t. Can you, with that big scientist brain of yours, figure out why?”
Benjamin tilted his head to the side, as if he was seriously considering the question, when I suddenly heard a small snap and then the floor shuddered under our feet. Benjamin suddenly looked around, fear on his face for the first time, while I had to hold onto the open door to the tunnels to maintain my balance.
