by Jason Levine
Ruth grabbed the blade off the floor and moved to Edge with it. Murray stopped her.
“You try to stab it and you’ll stab Edge too.”
“Any other ideas?”
“One, but it’s another crazy one,” Murray said pressing the buttons to expand his backpack’s mask and start the air flowing. He turned off his watch and then grabbed a piece of cloth that had been torn off from Edge’s jacket. “When I count to three, turn off the dampener.”
“You’re right,” Ruth said. “This is crazy. Won’t that thing just get stronger again?”
“Then you can turn it on again quickly. Move out of arm’s reach.”
Murray wrapped the fabric around the creature as Ruth walked a few paces away with the dampener.
“One… two… three!”
Ruth turned the dampener off and Murray ghosted. As he did so, he pictured bringing the creature with him and only the creature. The creature ghosted along with him, detaching from Edge’s back. Edge stopped seizing and lay still. Murray floated with the writhing creature.
He wasn’t sure if it needed air to survive, but it definitely didn’t like being separated from its host. It was twisting and turning in Murray’s grasp, trying to escape. Murray held tight until it stretched its body and turned its head back towards Murray. He saw dozens of teeth in its mouth and they were all headed for his hands. Murray threw it away from all three of them. It floated for a second before becoming solid again and landing on Murray’s floor with a wet thud.
Murray de-ghosted and landed his rear on the ground. The creature was headed towards him, moving much faster than something without arms or legs should move. Murray struggled to get up but there was no time. A familiar smell filled his nostrils. Burning. Twin reddish-yellow beams of energy shot in front of him and hit the creature. It gave one last shriek and exploded. Black goo coated everything within a foot radius of the creature–including Murray’s legs. Murray looked back, Ruth had dropped the dampener and had aimed both her fists at the thing.
“Disgusting,” Murray commented.
“Ugh. You don’t know the half of it,” said Edge as he shakily got to his feet.
Chapter Thirteen: Exit Edge, Enter Eddie
Ruth quickly aimed her fists at Edge, they glowed again.
“Whoa, don’t fire,” Edge said holding up his hands. “I’m not quite sure what’s going on here. Who are you two?”
“Who are we?” Ruth asked, her fists crackling with energy. “We’re the people you chased and attacked twice.”
“I did?” Edge asked, putting his hands in the air. “I’m really sorry, if I did. I honestly can’t remember. I don’t want to fight.”
“You sure as hell won’t fight us,” Ruth said. “I’m going to kill you if I so much as see a tiny patch of metal on you. Murray, turn his watch back on.”
Murray slowly walked over to Edge and pressed the button on the side of his watch. Edge doubled over in pain as the watch glowed blue.
“You don’t remember us at all?” Murray asked as he backed away.
Edge gripped his midsection as he tried standing up straight. His face still grimaced in pain.
“The last thing I remember was the General ordering me to some junkyard.”
Murray backed over to Ruth. She kept one glowing hand pointed at Edge as she leaned in to whisper to Murray. “Can that stuff cause memory loss?”
“It does, but usually it’s limited to an hour or so before the person drank it,” Murray whispered back. “Maybe it’s stronger when injected? Or maybe having that leech thing on him changed the drug’s effect?”
“Well, I’m not buying his little amnesia act,” Ruth said quietly before turning back to Edge.
“You want us to believe that you don’t remember attacking us? Well, you can start by giving us some information. What was that thing on your back, Edge?” she asked, raising her second fist to face him again.
“That’s how the General controls people. It affects your head. Makes you want to do anything the General tells you to do. And, please, call me Eddie. I really don’t like the name Edge. It’s what the General insisted on calling me while he was controlling me.”
“So you’re claiming you weren’t responsible for attacking us with your big friend?” Ruth asked.
“My big friend? Oh, Bradley. Well, I guess he goes by Brawn now. We aren’t really friends. We just were assigned to work together. We didn’t have much in common, really, besides the fact that we were under the General’s control.”
“Did you two have your powers before the General?” Murray asked.
“No. Neither of us did. Bradley was some sort of gardener or groundskeeper. He was hired to spruce up the old military base outside of town. He didn’t realize that the General was the one who hired him until he wound up with a leech on his back.”
“And you?” Ruth asked, letting one of her fists fall to her side and stop glowing.
“I was a pickpocket. Not the noblest of professions, I’ll admit. I was going through a rough patch. I snatched the wallet from this a guy in military fatigues. His buddy spotted me, grabbed me, and tossed me in their car. I figured I’d be lectured and turned over to the cops. Instead, the General offered me a chance at real power. Trust me, if I knew what he was going to do, I’d have turned him down. Not that it would have made a difference. He’d probably have forced me to go through with it like he did to Bradley.”
“What did he do?” Murray asked.
“He injected me with some black goo. Every inch of my body burned. It felt like I was being twisted inside out.” Eddie shuddered as he spoke. “In all the pain, I barely noticed him attach that thing to my back. At first, I thought it was part of the process. I’m not even sure if I was under his control at first, but as I was admiring my blades for the first time, he told me to stab this guard. Part of me was horrified. I mean, I’d done some bad stuff, but never took anyone’s life. When he told me to do it, though, it suddenly sounded like the best idea I’d ever heard. I ran my blades through the poor guy without a second thought.”
“The black goo did this to you?” Murray asked.
“Yeah. You’ve seen it before, though, right? Isn’t that how you got your powers?”
“No. Our powers come from the Light One,” Ruth answered. “We’ve never seen any black goo before.”
“I have.”
Ruth and Eddie turned to look at Murray. In shock, Ruth let her second fist fall to her side and stop glowing. Murray sighed and headed to the still-open vent opening. He stepped onto the step stool and reached into the vent. He pulled out a backpack and placed it on his kitchen table. Opening it up, he removed his work mask and goggles.
“I got it for you a few nights ago.”
“Got it for me? Wait a second. You’re the thief we hired to steal the goo from that lab?”
Murray nodded. Ruth quickly turned around to face Murray.
“You’re a thief?!” she exclaimed.
Murray sighed. “Yes.”
Ruth balled her fists tight. For just a moment, they glowed bright white. Then, she whirled around on the spot and started walking towards the door.
“Where are you going?” Murray asked.
“To get Thomas.”
“Without us?”
“US?!” Ruth shrieked. Her fists glowed bright white. “There is no ‘us.’ He’s a killer and you’re a criminal and a liar. I don’t want anything to do with either of you. I’ll get Thomas myself.”
Ruth left the apartment, slamming the door behind her. Murray opened his door and went into the hallway, but Ruth had already entered her apartment and locked the door.
“You do realize that I could go right through this,” Murray said.
“Try it and you’ll get blasted,” came Ruth’s reply from the other side. “I should take both of you down. Or at least report you to the police. You helped me before, though, so we’ll call it even. Now you stay out of my life and I won’t need to end yours.”
Murray figured that repeating her statement from before about the ridiculousness of explaining powers to the police wouldn’t help the situation. He walked back into his apartment feeling dejected.
“She’s not coming back, huh?” asked Eddie. He was sitting down on Murray’s couch.
“No and she’s going to get herself killed trying to rescue Thomas.”
“Maybe, but I don’t think she wants our help and it’s been my experience that you can’t help someone if they don’t want you to. Best to just look out for yourself.”
“We’ve got to do something.”
“Do we? To be completely honest, I just got free from the General’s control. I’m not going to stroll back to him so he can do it to me again. My plan is to get out of the city as quickly as possible.” Eddie yawned. “But first, I need some serious shut-eye. You don’t mind if I crash here tonight, do you?”
Without waiting for an answer, Eddie laid down on the couch and was soon snoring.
Murray looked at the sleeping figure on his couch and walked into his kitchen. He put the duffel bag back into its hiding space in his vent and closed it up. Picking up his backpack containing his work suit, Murray walked into his bedroom. He tossed the backpack down and collapsed onto his bed.
Sitting up, he looked at the TV on his wall. With it off, he could see a reflection of himself.
“What’s my next move?” he asked his reflection aloud. “Ruth’s gone. She’s probably going to get captured or killed. Eddie’s not going to go back. I certainly can’t take them on alone. I need some kind of help.”
Murray fingered the clasp on the pack. He pressed a button and the top unfolded into a mask. He pressed it again and the mask retracted.
“I need help.”
Murray fished through his pockets until he found the business card.
Sam Treis’ Junk Sculptures
“You’ll be amazed with what we can do with garbage.”
555-1234
Murray grabbed a phone from his nightstand and called the number. As before, it picked up before even ringing.
“Frankly, I’m surprised it took you this long to call.”
“Sean? I need help. Thomas is in trouble and I think Ruth’s going to charge in to save him. I’m afraid she’s going to get killed–or worse.”
“Ruth has already contacted me. I convinced her that she was too injured to fight now. She’s visiting a mutual friend who should be able to heal her. That should delay her by a day, but even I couldn’t stop her once she’s done. She really is her father’s child.”
“Can we call in her father? This whole thing sounds big. We need to throw all we have at it and, from my understanding, he’s one of the most powerful guys around.”
“He’s THE most powerful man around. Which is precisely why he will not be going.”
Murray paced across his floor. “That makes no sense.”
“Murray, you saw what has been happening to me. Ruth’s father shares a similar fate. He’s kept his powers suppressed for years now which has slowed his deterioration. If he went in with powers blazing, it could very well be the last thing he ever did.”
“Fine, do we have anyone else we can get to help?”
“Unfortunately, not. Ruth filled me in on Thomas’ prophesy. You might be going up against the Dark One. He’s been quiet recently so some of us dared to relax a bit, but nobody I know would volunteer to face him one on one.”
“So that’s it then? We let Thomas die? We let Ruth die trying to save him? And we let the world end thanks to this feeding swarm or whatever it is?”
“No. We will act, but we must be smart about it. Murray, when you steal something, do you charge right in?”
Murray paused. He had never felt much shame for his occupation. A small part of him, however, was saddened that Sean knew what he did for a living. “You know?”
“Like I said, Ruth contacted me. Then again, I knew before you began your training. I’m quite thorough when I research someone. While you were here, I had robots scanning your apartment. You have quite a few interesting pieces of technology hidden in your vent.”
“You didn’t tell Ruth when you found out what I do?”
“That was for you to tell her. I do wish she’d taken it better. She has quite a black and white sense of right and wrong. Much like her father did once. Back to the problem at hand, though. How do you prepare for one of your jobs?”
Murray thought for a second.
“I gather as much intelligence as possible about the place I’m breaking into. I interview someone from the inside if I can. I learn about the strengths and weaknesses of their security systems.”
“Exactly. You gather information. That’s what we need to do now. Don’t think of this as a full frontal assault. Think of it as a heist. You need to steal Thomas back, Come to my junkyard tomorrow morning. We’ll plan our next step. And bring our friend with the knife hands with you if at all possible. I’d like to talk with him also.”
“Thank you, Sean,” Murray said.
“No problem. For now, do two things. That creature that was controlling your former enemy? Get as much of it as you can in a bag or container and stick it in your refrigerator. That should help preserve it until you bring it with you tomorrow.”
“Will do. The other thing?”
“Get some rest. I have a feeling that the next few days will be long ones.”
Murray hung up the phone and walked out of his bedroom. He went into his kitchen and got a plastic container that he often used for food.
“Well, I won’t be using this one again,” he said to himself as he used it to scoop up as much of the creature’s goo as possible. After putting the sealed container in his refrigerator and thoroughly washing his hands, Murray returned to his bedroom. He collapsed into his bed and was asleep the moment his head hit his pillow.
Chapter Fourteen: General Control
Murray awoke to the smells and sounds of breakfast. Wiping his eyes and yawning, he crawled out of bed and looked at the clock. It was already midday. He had definitely been exhausted from the previous day’s efforts.
Murray made his way into the kitchen. Eddie was there with a robe on, shaking a frying pan in which eggs were sizzling. A small stack of toast was already piled on a plate with more in the toaster oven. Jams, jellies, and butter options were arranged on the table.
“Good morning,” Eddie said. “I hope you don’t mind me borrowing your robe. You ripped this suit pretty badly when you got that leech off of me and I don’t have any other clothes on me.”
“No, I don’t mind at all,” Murray said, trying to stifle another yawn and failing badly.
“I made some breakfast and coffee’s brewing.”
Murray grabbed a cup of coffee and a plate of toast. Eddie slid two eggs from the frying pan onto Murray’s plate.
“I always wanted to be a chef,” Eddie said as he cracked two more eggs into the pan and sprinkled some pepper on top. “Somehow, that never panned out. The closest I got was a fry cook at a small diner. Got fired after the manager blamed me for stealing from the register. It wasn’t me but the guy had it out for me, big time.”
Murray nodded. He understood all about horrible managers. His experience with Albert seemed like a lifetime ago.
“Thanks for the breakfast,” Murray said crunching on a piece of toast.
“No problem. It was the least I could do considering you saved me from the General.” Eddie flipped the eggs. “I’ve been remembering more. Nothing that could help, unfortunately, but I remember attacking you and Ruth. Again, I’m so sorry for that.”
“Not a problem,” Murray said. “You weren’t the one in control from the sounds of it.”
“So what’s the plan? Are you going to try to catch up with your friend? Talk some sense into her?”
“Ruth? No, I spoke with another friend of ours last night and he thinks that’s not a good idea.”
Murray spread some butter on a slice of toast and to
ok a big bite.
“I’m actually going to see him today,” Murray said after swallowing. “You should come.”
Eddie slid his eggs onto two slices of toast and cut into it. Yolk oozed out of his egg and flowed off the toast.
“Look, I appreciate everything you’ve done, but I’m not so sure that’s such a good idea. I’ve got to head out.”
“Where are you going?”
“Anywhere but here. I’d recommend you do the same. The General is planning something big in three days.”
“What?”
“Honestly? I don’t know. While I was under his control, questioning him didn’t even enter into my mind. I just did what he told me to do. From what I was able to gather, though, this entire city is in his cross hairs. He plans on expanding after that, but I figure I can stay ahead of him for a good while.”
“Whatever he’s planning, it’ll make him more powerful, right?”
Eddie took a big bite of egg, chewed, and swallowed. “Like I said, I don’t know what he’s planning.” He looked down at his plate as he stabbed a piece of toast with his fork and used it to wipe up yolk on his plate. “It’s probably safe to say that he’ll get more powerful as he goes.”
“So wouldn’t the time to stop him be now and not some time in the future?” Murray couldn’t believe these words were coming out of his mouth. He always had a policy of protecting himself first and not falling for noble causes. Then again, whatever this General had planned was probably bad for his “business” as well. How much thieving would be sought after in a world under the General’s control?
“Maybe it’d be better to stop him now, but I’ve already been the General’s puppet once. I’m not planning on a repeat performance.”
Murray finished the last bit of his eggs and wiped his mouth with a napkin. “At least come with me to meet my friend. After that, if you still want to, you can leave. He might even be able to help you get out quickly.”
Eddie sighed as he ate more of his egg. “Fine. I suppose I owe you that much since you got me out of the General’s control, but I’m definitely not promising anything beyond that.”
