Ms. Infinity (Book 1): Earth's Greatest Hero

by Kirschner, Andrew

  And so even now, Betty still protected her daughter. Like she said, a mother could only stand by so much. She was still there in many ways unknown to her. She might even be present, completely unseen and unnoticed, in the midst of Ms. Infinity’s heroic pursuits. She would contribute in quietly in many ways, even by doubling Bonnie’s strength in emergencies, for instance her force of impact on an asteroid. Truth be told, she more than doubled it. Betty’s strength wasn’t equal to her daughter, but greater.

  And Bonnie took the credit, when anyone did. Or Ms. Infinity took the credit. So if that was how her daughter wanted it, then that was fine with her. Nothing gave her more pleasure than seeing her daughter’s success, her pride. Such is a parent’s heart. She had found much of the same love in teaching. With Scott and with many others, the student’s success was all the thanks she needed.

  But now it seemed her protective nature had proven her undoing. She had made a fatal mistake. In letting her daughter believe she was alone responsible for her success, she let her face danger without crucial knowledge. Betty had only herself to blame.

  Betty flew back to Earth. It was a bitter pill to swallow, leaving her daughter to fight a dangerous enemy alone. The flight back home left her filled with worry. She could only hope and pray that Bonnie could take care the danger of herself.

  As she landed, she became visible once again, and stepped out onto Northern Boulevard. She took out her phone, containing her long and detailed plan for fighting Misery. Bonnie had never asked her for help, or expressed any interest in planning for the attack. Now the plan was unlikely to be useful. Yet it occurred to her that she might have to do some more planning; she might now be the only person around who could fight back an oncoming invasion. She did her best to take it with the calm and quiet that had always been her demeanor, no matter what the cost to herself. She was now Earth’s sole inhabitant bearing the knowledge of its deadly peril, and of the dubiously prepared hero whose fate it now rested on.

  12. Superhuman Confrontation

  Resting in her quarters, the best she could, was Ms. Infinity. Or so she still seemed. Outwardly she wore the form of the great superheroine. But inwardly, alone with her private thoughts, she was Bonnie again, missing her home and her mother. Long missions like this made her appreciate her simple daily comforts, the kinds of things that others took for granted. Being a great distance from home didn’t get any easier, no matter how many times she did it.

  She had hoped that having a guest with her might make the journey more palatable, and in a way it was. Yet there was also an unexpected downside. Throughout the trip there were many reminders of Hal’s human vulnerabilities and limitations. Try as she might, she simply could not forget the things that separated her from everyone else.

  Maybe it was her fault too. She had been very consciously showing off, making each action look as big and magical and heroic as possible. Hal was certain to be awed. The odd thing was, she was actually exerting herself far more than usual. She was not sure why.

  Still, Ms. Infinity greatly enjoyed her missions, for all their difficulties. She wore her superhero guise with pride. Even as she longed for home and its comforts, she was also getting impatient; she was craving for some action. They were not yet at their destination, but they were getting close. The nearer she came, the more excited she got for battle. There was an instinct inside her that was waking up. She had an itching to protect her home and all the people of Earth. It would soon be time to unleash her power, and release her wrath on Misery.

  After a while, she gave up resting, and began her preliminary preparations for battle. That enemy was all she could think of.

  Her name, such as we understand it, was Misery. Perhaps in her world, the name she bore was common enough to sap its meaning, great though the language’s power might be in conferring expectations. Yet she lived its meaning to an extreme. She was ruthless, and without mercy or conscience. She was grimly determined to amass power to herself by any means available to her.

  In the years since the departure of her rival, Misery had grown in stature. She had risen through the ranks of her people through flattery and fraud, her success built on a foundation stained with the suffering of many others. And yet, she could not be satisfied. Even as she improved her status, she faced forbidding limitations. A female in her world could only rise so high; even at her apex, she was still a servant. Her masters treated her harshly, tormenting her with acts of simple cruelty, ever flaunting the authority that was forever out of her reach.

  But she would not accept this fate, not forever. On the surface, she did as her circumstances demanded. She accepted her inferior role, playing it to perfection. Yet beneath her servile actions, she quietly maintained a will ever bent on own her ultimate attainment. And resolved she had always been, without ambivalence, without misgivings, that when the time came she would stop at nothing. No expense would she spare. No laws would she hesitate to break. No moral code, no conscience, no concern for anyone else would get in her way. And no number of deaths or ruined lives was too many. Her superiors never perceived the danger they faced, right under their noses.

  Yet as much as she hated the cruel men she served, she had an even greater hatred for the woman she knew as Bland Beauty, for power was something she possessed naturally. A number of times they had fought, and her enemy had prevailed every time, only to release her in the end. She resented Bland Beauty the more for her mercy, for Misery would surely have killed her enemy had she prevailed. And now she was within her reach. She would not let this opportunity pass. Yet there was more to this venture than revenge.

  Misery sat outside her space station, all lights unlit, alone, in complete and utter darkness. She awaited her sworn enemy with a grim and endless patience. Much was ahead of her, but very soon she would have her revenge.

  Hal awoke after a short and uneasy slumber. If nothing else, he was more or less recovered from the frightening experiences from earlier. Yet he was beginning to feel a deepening unease about the distance travelled, and the isolation now upon him. Just where were they? All he knew was that they were about sixty thousand light years from Earth. He wished he had paid more attention in science. He had no concept what that even meant, at least in any meaningful way. How far was that, really, relatively speaking?

  He took out his cell phone and selected the calculator. Remembering that light traveled at approximately six trillion miles per year, he multiplied that by sixty thousand. He got a thirty-six followed by many zeroes. When he counted them, he figured out that he was approximately three hundred sixty quadrillion miles from home. Inside him was a deep, nervous shiver.

  Next he hit the home button, expecting to look at the time. The reading was blank. When he thought a minute, he realized that this was obvious. There was no service in space. So he reached for his Big Box uniform and took out his watch from the pocket. To his surprise, it had stopped too. That was strange. It was new and worked on a battery.

  He stepped outside his room into the main hall, and walked to the nearest window. He hoped to see a moon, a planet, or at least some stars. To his disappointment, there was little but blackness. The void seemed to reach inside him, where he felt a deep and growing sense of foreboding.

  Suddenly he heard the voice of Ms. Infinity from above. “I’m glad you’re up,” she said, as she floated down from the ceiling where she had been doing some exercises, “We have a couple of things to talk about. I have a job for you. Come with me to the TV studio.”

  “There’s a TV studio?”

  They crossed the main hall into a room that Hal had not previously noticed. Inside there were cameras, computers, and a control board.

  “So,” said Hal, “This too you keep on a spaceship. Just how big is this place?”

  “I’m going into battle. I like to film my battles when I can. It’s useful for me to study my performance, see at what I’ve done well, and consider where I can improve. I usually have to let it just go on automatic, but if I have you
working it, that would be better. Do you think you can work the camera?”

  “Actually yes. I have a degr…”

  “Alright. So here is the switcher. There are many cameras outside. You can switch between them with this console. This decides what will be recorded.”

  “I actually know about this stuff, you see…”

  “Play around a minute and see how you do.”

  Hal worked a few switches, showing her his familiarity with the equipment. “It’s really no problem. This is up my alley. The thing is…”

  “Alright. Good to have that out of the way. Come with me to the atrium. I’m about to leave to do battle, and there is more to discuss.”

  “Actually, I’m wondering something.”

  “Yes?”

  “Well, it’s about Misery. If she’s after you, did she need to go through all this trouble to get you? Couldn’t she have just kidnapped you or something? Or is this really all about you? Is she targeting the planet for something else?”

  “Hal! I told you this is none of your concern. You can just sit back and let me handle this.”

  Ms. Infinity led Hal out to the atrium. She stopped in front of a large window looking out into space.

  “So Hal,” she said, “Don’t get overly concerned about what you see out there. I know some of my battles do get ugly, but it is okay.”

  “How do you mean?”

  “Well for one thing, Misery is pretty mean. I know that from experience. I’m sure it won’t be nearly as easy for me to defeat her as it is with the usual enemies. You saw me fighting a few common criminals, humans with guns. Misery is from the same planet as me, and I can tell you she’s no wimp. But I’ve always beaten her before.”

  “So…are you going to be alright?”

  “Never lost a battle.”

  “Okay…”

  “The other thing is that I will likely get very nasty and harsh with her too. She has ways of getting under my skin. Don’t let that get to you. You don’t have to worry about me. Misery, now she has to worry about what I might do. You don’t. I promise.”

  “Oh.”

  “I’m off!” declared Ms. Infinity. She flew off once again, apparently through the ceiling.

  Hal paused for a moment. Ms. Infinity’s warnings had put Hal at unease. For some reason, the second one was even more disturbing than the first. Just how nasty did she get?

  Suddenly, Hal was treated to another strange surprise from his back pocket. His cellphone was ringing. He took it out, and saw a picture of Ms. Infinity in the caller identification. He didn’t remember adding her to contacts, except as Bonnie Boring. He answered, and indeed it was she at the other end, speaking almost matter-of-factly.

  “Hal,” she said, “You need to start that video now. Also, can you please have dinner ready?”

  “Oh!” said Hal, trying desperately to take it in stride, “Sure. Of course I will”

  “See you later,” she said. Then she hung up.

  Hal put his phone back. Then he took a deep breath, and continued into the TV studio.

  Into the void of space flew Ms. Infinity. She was filled with energy, “pumped up,” and eager to fight. Her whole world at stake, she came upon her enemy as a tremendous, unforgiving force of nature.

  As she approached Misery, she communicated in their Centerian manner that it was she, Bland Beauty, transformed as she was, now come to defend the Earth. She gave her a warning: This is your chance to leave. You will not win this battle. I will not attack you if you return home and leave the Earth alone.

  Misery did not answer. She showed nothing but complete defiance. Whatever her plan, she was determined to go forward with it.

  Ms. Infinity warned her once again: I will not be merciful this time. There is a whole world at stake. You must end your attacks immediately, or it will be your end. Will you cease your attacks?

  Misery maintained her defiant posture. It was clear that the battle was on.

  Ms. Infinity prepared to attack, putting her will on her enemy. But in her single-minded focus, she could not see the danger that was about to confront her. Misery had prepared a lethally improved weapon. From the darkness at her space station, a tremendous catapult was set. In its oversized bucket lay a chunk of the asteroid, still frozen over from their earlier encounter. Misery had taken great pains to increase its deadly force by coating it with thousands of spikes, each of them coated in a dangerous poison. As her enemy approached, she relayed a message back to her space station. The enormous cable was cut, and the lethal payload was sent flying at a breakneck speed.

  Blissfully ignorant of her danger, Ms. Infinity looked at Misery with a hard, cold eye, thinking to land a hard blow at her. She was about to unleash her powers to their fullest, landing a catastrophic, unforgiving strike upon her at last. But suddenly the enormous asteroid came into view. Before she had time to react, she was hit; the projectile rammed into her as suddenly as a truck that comes around a corner. Now she was flailing from the force of impact, too shocked and confused to think or act. She was suddenly helpless on the giant meteoroid, trapped in its gravity, imprisoned to its motion. In an instant, she was gone, vanished into a vast distance.

  “So as I was saying, I have a Communications degree from the State University of New York at New Paltz, with a concentration in Video News Production. It’s now almost two years since I graduated. Anyway, I am going to be a TV reporter. Any day now, a big name network is bound to snap me up, and The Big Box will have to do without me. So of course I’ll work the cameras.”

  Hal was speaking into the air. He had a dim hope that Ms. Infinity could pick it up with her super senses. But if he was just talking to himself, that was fine too. At least he would be able to finish a whole sentence.

  He was thinking that he might use this video for his demo reel. Or better yet, he could sell it to a network. This was certainly a hot item, a real live superhero battle in space. He figured he would bring the matter up to her when she returned. He practiced switching a few times, then finally went live as the hero approached her enemy.

  He got his first look at Misery. She looked human, a blonde, though wearing a very strange outfit. It looked something like a robe, covering her entire body, nearly all in white with some light blue trim. There was a hood that hung behind her neck, apparently a head covering that was not engaged. He wondered about her story, and also what pieces might be missing from the story he had heard.

  As impressed as Hal was with the studio, it was more advanced than he even knew, more so than any human technology. Though he could not hear or perceive it, the cameras picked up Ms. Infinity’s Centerian communication with Misery. He did notice that there was no light on the subjects, and he wondered how the cameras could capture them. He also marveled that he could zoom in from a great distance, with surprisingly good picture quality. Altogether, he was like a kid in a candy shop. He had never had such an opportunity before; he had complete control of an entire news production.

  He was glad there were as many cameras as there were. One would certainly never have captured the action. It was clear that this was going to be a kinetic battle. He also decided that making dinner would have to wait a while. He really should not take his eyes off the job he was doing. Maybe he would just stick in a couple of microwave dinners afterward.

  Then he saw Ms. Infinity hit by the chunk from the asteroid. He was instantly shocked. At first, he took it for granted that she would be back in an instant. But then she did not return. It slowly came to him that this was more than a media event. This was a real battle between two powerful and dangerous people who hated each other completely, and would not hesitate to kill each other. Anxiety crept in as he pondered his predicament. He thought for the first time about what would happen if Ms. Infinity was taken out, and he was left alone on the ship many light years from home. Just how dangerous a spot might he be in?

  He kept the live camera trained on Misery, looking at every other camera for a sign of Ms. Infinity. Again an
d again he switched the preview monitor, hoping to see her, but to no avail. A long time passed with no action. He was in deep suspense, biting his fingernails, and feeling a horrible sensation at the pit of his stomach. However he noticed that Misery was still waiting impatiently. That seemed to tip him off that the battle was not over after all.

  For a few seconds, Ms. Infinity was in panic. She was not sure where she was. The pain was sharp, and she felt dizzy and disoriented. It took her a moment to put together what had just happened. She had taken a powerful blow, and the spikes hurt her. Yet she was lucid, perfectly together.

  She picked herself up, carefully positioning herself so not to touch any of the spikes. It was not easy. They were nearly everywhere. She found herself poised awkwardly. She only needed a moment to get her bearings. She was cut and bruised in many spots, but that was all. She felt the discomfort from the poisons, but her body was easily fighting them off. Misery had underestimated her. Now she would fight back even harder. Her eyes glowed with anger as she prepared for a cruel counterattack.

  After the blow that Ms. Infinity had taken, it could easily have seemed to the untrained eye that she was finished. Many fighters might have assumed victory at that moment, yet Misery was clearly not fooled. She stayed, floating at attention, awaiting Ms. Infinity’s reprisal.

  This was how Ms. Infinity expected to find her enemy. So before approaching, she turned herself invisible. Then she came up quietly. She watched as Misery waited and waited. After some time, Misery lost her patience. First, she began to grit her teeth, shaking her head. Soon after, she began to float back and forth in an aimless, impatient pacing motion. Before long, she was in a flying rage.

  That was exactly what Ms. Infinity was waiting for. As Misery cursed at her opponent, she failed to notice her approaching quietly from behind. Suddenly she was on the receiving end of a powerful blow. Now she was the one in a powerful tailspin. She went flying at a breakneck speed; the force of Ms. Infinity’s impact was a mighty thing indeed. For a moment she was flailing helplessly, and in seconds she covered a great distance. Yet she was also prepared. From her pack, she grabbed a device, and aimed it carefully. She sent a powerful series of waves to her space station. The blowback from the energy was enough to stop her trajectory. She then flew back.