by Scott Wilson
“Well I guess that saves us a trip to the doctor,” Jadice said. Caden couldn’t take his eyes off his unharmed skin.
“How is that possible?” he whispered.
“It takes a lot more than just an arrow to kill you,” Jadice explained. “Trust me, I know. I spent thirteen years trying to figure out how to do it.”
“But I don’t get it,” Caden said, still in disbelief. “There’s not even any blood.”
“Do you really think that’s normal human blood inside you?” Jadice asked, leaning close to Caden. “Do you really think that’s a normal human heart beating inside you? If you want to find out, there’s plenty of devices around here to cut yourself open with.”
Jadice’s way of putting it wasn’t the best, but she had a point. Now that Caden thought about it, there had been plenty of times at the Home when he should’ve gotten scraped or cut but never once had he bled. He’d always just thought he was lucky, same as how he never got sick. But no, it was because he was built that way. He wasn’t sure if he liked that. It made him feel … unnatural.
“Let’s find Watson,” Jadice said, patting Caden on the back. “If you could bleed I’m sure you’d be bleeding questions, and Watson is the only one who can answer them all.”
Jadice strode through the Basement as though she were walking in her own home. Caden and Annika followed behind, drinking in their surroundings. People stared at them, wondering who these new faces were. Most of the attention was given to Deber, limping and clomping on the concrete with her hooves. It was probably the first time a horse had ever been in the Basement.
The people in the Basement looked like the townspeople in Salem, but they were thinner, paler, and their clothes were odd. Unlike the earth tones in the town above, the people in the Basement wore all colors of the rainbow. Some even had shirts with pictures or words on them. And every single person, regardless of age, was wearing a plastic helmet on their head, presumably to protect from falling Iltech and rubble.
“Do all these people live here?” Caden asked Jadice.
“A lot of them do,” Jadice responded, “but most of them are just passing through. They get what they want. medicine or tools or whatver, and then go back to their lives Upstairs.”
“But how could the Church not know about this place?” Annika asked. “It’s so big, how did they even build it? And—wait a minute, you were an Apostle! Why didn’t you have this place destroyed if you knew about it?”
“You really like asking questions, don’t you?” Jadice grumbled. “Why don’t you try staying quiet for once and open your eyes. Maybe you’ll find some answers.”
Annika glared but didn’t say anything more. Jadice led them past piles of Iltech and through jungles of cables and wires to the other side of the massive room. She finally stopped in front of a building built into the concrete wall. It was as tall as the Basement itself and had windows every few stories giving off different colored lights. The bottom floor was open, filled with boxes of Iltech, and at the very front sitting at a desk with a stained yellow computer was the strangest thing Caden had ever seen.
It looked like a human, except for the single massive eyeball it had for a head. It was short, couldn’t have been more than four feet tall, and sat hunched over in a faded camouflage jacket typing away furiously. Caden didn’t want to go anywhere near it, but Jadice walked right up to the desk and slammed down her hand.
“Hey there, Clops! Remember me?”
The giant eyeball swiveled toward her and blinked. Caden and Annika stepped back in revulsion. Then something even stranger happened—the eyeball laughed.
“Well, well, well,” it said in a raspy old voice. “Thought I’d see the sunlight before I ever saw you again, little Jadi.”
It wasn’t a monster; it was a person. The eyeball’s two hands reached up and grabbed the magnifying glass in front of its head, pulled it up, and revealed that it was a pale, rubbery old man with one eye sewn up and a grin full of metallic teeth. The giant magnifying glass was attached to his helmet by a thick cable, and it was now hanging up in the air, making him look like an Iltech angler fish.
“Last I’d heard you’d gone and joined up with the Apostles,” Clops wheezed out. “You’re not planning on turning us in, are ya?”
“Trust me, if that’s what I wanted, this place would’ve been gone ages ago,” Jadice said. “I left the Apostles. Didn’t like what they were doing anymore.”
“Sounds about right for the girl I knew,” Clops said through a cough. “But, if you left the Apostles, does that mean you still have the … well, you know.”
Jadice rolled up her sleeves and showed off her glowing blue palms. Clops gazed at them with his one good eye and drool started spilling out of his mouth.
“A real angel weapon,” he said longingly. “I don’t suppose you came here to sell it to little old me, now did you?”
“Nice try, Clops,” Jadice said with a smirk. “But even if I wanted to sell, you couldn’t afford it.”
“Are you sure?” he asked with a wink. Or a blink. It was hard to tell when he only had one eye. “I have more than you think. You’d get enough money to do whatever you wanted.”
“There’s only one thing I want, and it can’t be bought with money,” Jadice said, suddenly turning serious. She put a hand on Caden’s shoulder. “But here’s something you might be interested in.”
Jadice pushed Caden forward and Clops leaned over the desk to get a closer look. He brought down the giant magnifying glass, making his one eye as big as his face, then quickly pushed it back up again.
“The kid reminds me of one of your old boyfriends, Jadi,” Clops chuckled. “But what about him? I’m a weapons dealer, not a slave trader.”
“You’re not looking close enough. Blondie, show him your hands.”
Caden didn’t appreciate being treated like an animal sold at market, but he did as Jadice said. When Clops saw his glowing red palms, he leaped forward like lightning.
“Is this one for sale?” Clops asked through heavy breathing.
Jadice shook her head. “No, but—”
“Oh, for steel’s sake! Jadi, you’re killing me. You bring two angel weapons in one day and neither are for sale? Are you trying to give this old man a heart attack?”
“This is no ordinary angel weapon,” Jadice said. “Remember the stories you used to tell us when we were kids?”
Clops took another look at Caden through his magnifying glass. His massive eye grew even wider.
“You don’t mean to say …”
He was interrupted by another monster behind him. A seven-foot-tall hairy man came staggering out of the building with boxes of Iltech loaded in his arms. He had white bandages under his helmet and wrapped around his arms. There were holes in his ears and lips that looked like they once held stone piercings.
Caden recognized him right away, but Annika was even faster.
“You!” She thrust an accusing finger. “What are you doing down here?”
It was the butcher from Salem. He had survived Caden’s explosion into the building. Caden readied himself to fight, to try and summon up whatever power he had before. When the butcher saw Annika, he froze, and his boxes crashed to the ground.
“You …” he said, his voice trailing off.
Annika balled her hands into fists and her eyes darted around, looking for anything that might serve as a weapon. But before she or Caden could make a move, the butcher crouched to the ground and hid behind Clops.
“That’s them, Daddy!” the butcher yelled. “They’re the ones who hurt me!”
It didn’t feel right, that deep powerful voice blubbering like a child. It disarmed Caden and Annika, but Clops looked even more shocked.
“These little kids are the ones that gave you those bruises?”
“Yes, Daddy!” the butcher cried. “The little girl and her friend too!”
Annika looked stunned. Her mouth was hanging op
en as words tried to escape.
“But … but it was because you tried to cut my hands off!” she yelled back. That got Clops’s attention. He glared at the butcher and brandished a wrinkled finger.
“Evan! How many times have I told you? Enough with the hand-chopping! These are our valued customers! Not your stupid little toys!”
Evan cowered in fear as Clops yelled at him. Caden had to hold back from laughing.
“But … but Daddy!” he cried.
“Don’t you ‘but Daddy’ me, young man! If I hear about one more hand-chopping incident, then I’m taking away your dvd player. And you know what that means: no more Star Trek!”
“No, Daddy, please!” Evan begged. “Those are my history lessons!”
“Well then, no more cleaving. Do you understand me?”
Evan sniveled. Tears were streaming down his bandaged face, but he managed to nod. Clops shook his head in disappointment.
“I’m sorry about my son,” he said. “He runs the butchery upstairs alone, and without his pops around to watch over him, he can do some pretty stupid things. Is there anything I can do to apologize for the trouble he’s put you through?”
Caden didn’t have to think. As soon as he heard the words, he pulled Deber in front of the desk.
“Can you help my horse?” he asked. The arrow was still sticking out of Deber’s white hide, now a hideous shade of dark swamp-green. It was seeping down her leg, infection making it spasm every few seconds.
“Well, I can’t make any promises for something that bad,” Clops said. “But I’ll do everything I can.”
Caden thanked him and handed Evan the reins. He caressed Deber’s mouth and she licked it. She was going to get better. He knew it.
“And what about you, young lady?” Clops asked Annika. “I know I can never take back the scare my stupid son gave you, but at least maybe you’ll let an old man try.”
Annika grinned like she couldn’t have cared less about almost having her hands chopped off. She pressed a single finger over her smile as she looked around Clops’s building.
“Do you have any weapons?” she asked. Clops guffawed so hard that he knocked a can of metal pellets off his desk all over the ground.
“Little lady,” he said, a smug look crossing his face. “You’re looking at the number one Basement weapons dealer for fifty years running. I’ve got everything from explosives to long range lasers to blades that pop open like popcorn to surprise and sever your enemies. Whatever you want, it’s yours.”
Annika tapped her finger against her lip, thinking for a moment, until she finally spoke. “I want the strongest weapon you have.”
Clops’s eye lit up. “Right to the point, eh? I like your style.” He turned to his son who was holding meekly onto Deber’s reins. “Evan! Give this young woman your magnetizer.”
“But … but Daddy!” he sobbed.
“Do it or I’ll hide the batteries to your Game Boy!”
Evan gave one last whimper then slunk his way over to Annika. He kept twitching in fear, as if expecting to be blasted away again any second.
“I … I’m real sorry about earlier today,” he whimpered. “I didn’t know y-you were a customer of Daddy’s. Here, you can have this. Just please … d-don’t hurt me again.”
He pulled something out of his pocket. It was a black plastic rectangle with buttons all over. It looked similar to Caden’s old “mute” button Iltech from back in the stable. Evan presented it to Annika like a worshiper making an offering to Gotama.
“And the charge packs too, Evan,” Clops added.
“But Daddy …”
“Evan!”
“Okay, okay.”
Evan peeled off what looked like a bracelet from his tree-trunk arm. It was a belt with metallic cylinders attached all around. Annika’s waist was just barely big enough to wear it. As she clicked it into place, she eyed the black rectangle in her hands suspiciously.
“Is this really your strongest weapon?” she asked.
“Sure is!” Clops said. “That’s a one-of-a-kind magnetizer made by yours truly. It may look like a boring old remote control, but it’s even more powerful—and portable—than a magnet-bow.”
“A magnet-bow?” Caden asked.
“Ah, so you’ve never had the pleasure of meeting a magnet weapon before. Here, wait one second.” Clops leaned backward and rummaged through the boxes of Iltech, grumbling to himself. “Now where did I put it? Where is it? Ah! Here we are.”
With a heaving grunt, he slammed a heavy Iltech crossbow onto the desk, sending metal sheets and containers clanging to the floor. It was shaped just like a Holy Police crossbow, but it was red all over with a shiny silver tip. Clops patted the magnet-bow and flashed a smile of metallic teeth.
“These babies shoot out magnetic fields to suck up Iltech. I imagine with an angel weapon inside you, it’d be pretty miserable to get hit by one. Yet another reason to be rid of it and sell it to me!”
Everyone ignored Clops’s offer. Annika was still staring at the magnetizer skeptically.
“I think I’d rather have the magnet-bow.”
“Nonsense!” Clops said. “The bow is just a glorified vacuum. That magnetizer though, it’s got some real juice to it, thanks to the charge packs. Just press power, push a button one to nine, and hit enter. At level one it just gives a little magnetic pulse, but at level nine it doesn’t matter if your target is made of stone or steel, you’re gonna blow it up.”
It was a lot to take in. Clops was using so many words that Caden didn’t understand. But if Annika was confused too, she didn’t show it. Now she was glowing with excitement as she held the magnetizer, inspecting it, admiring it from every angle.
“What do the other buttons do?” she asked.
Clops chuckled. “Absolutely nothing! They’re just to confuse your enemies in case it falls into the wrong hands.” He motioned to the building behind him. “Why don’t you head on inside? There’s a testing area on the second floor. You can take a practice shot or two.”
“Really?” Annika asked.
“Of course.” Clops snapped his fingers at Evan, making him jump. “Evan, you get that horse Upstairs right away. I don’t care if you have to sell off every last figurine in your collection, make sure it gets the best possible care or I’ll see to it that these three are riding you to wherever they’re going.”
“Yes, Daddy,” Evan said. He took one last terrified look at Annika and Caden, then led Deber away by the reins. Caden gave her an encouraging pat on the back. She didn’t whinny. She knew whatever Caden had decided was for the best. But that just made it all the harder when she looked back at him with big eyes and all Caden could do was wave goodbye.
“All right, all right, thanks for the gifts,” Jadice said, reminding everyone that she was there too. “But we’re here because we have some questions, Clops.”
“Well then, you’ve come to the right place,” Clops said with a grin. “Ask away!”
Maybe it was the thrill of all the Iltech around, or finally meeting someone who was offering to answer questions, but Caden blurted out the first thing that was on his mind.
“Is that a real computer?” he asked, pointing to the grimy plastic box on Clops’s desk.
“Sure is,” Clops said with a hint of pride. He turned the screen so Caden could see it. It was just a black screen with green letters and numbers. The glass was cracked and there were lines running down it, but it was still the most beautiful thing Caden had ever seen. It was real, working Iltech.
“How does it work?” Caden asked in an awed whisper. “Where does the electricity come from?”
“We’ve got a couple of tricks,” Clops said. “Plenty of generators left over from the golden age. Plus, you know all those windmills they have Upstairs? Think they’re for grinding grain? Nope. Most of ‘em are for powering us down here.”
“Have you ever been found out?” Annika asked. “Seems li
ke the Church would realize those windmills aren’t being used to make flour.”
“Well if they have found us out, no one’s told me!” Clops said with a chuckle. “Besides, we’ve got security measures in place to cover our tracks if the worst happens.”
“Like what?” Caden asked. Clops gave him his widest grin yet.
“Self-destruction.”
Caden waited for more, but nothing came. Clops laughed and banged on his desk.
“But don’t worry about that. Only one person around here knows the codes for the bombs: me. And I’m not about to blow up our home unless we have no other choice. Although we’ve had some close calls. In fact, one of the closest was just this morning.”
The memories from earlier today flashed in Caden’s mind. “You don’t mean Mr. Stercus and his calculator, do you?”
“Ah, did you know him?” Clops asked. “Yep, that’s it. He just had to babble something about the ‘Iltech black market’ while the whole Church and Police were on stage. Still didn’t deserve what happened to him though.”
Caden found that a little hard to believe. Annika spoke up for him.
“Mr. Stercus wasn’t a good person,” she said. “He had someone throw me in the air just for fun. If anyone deserved to get turned to dust, it was him. He was evil.”
Clops’s smile faded and his face turned serious. “Little lady, I’m a weapons dealer. I’ve sold weapons to people who have done terrible things, and to people who have done great things. You know what the difference is between them?”
“No,” Annika said.
“The great ones were on my side. That’s it. The only difference is that I believed in what they were doing. For someone else though, the terrible people could’ve been their heroes, and my great ones their enemies. Whether someone is ‘good’ or ‘evil’ has nothing to do with what they do. All that matters is what side they’re on, and whether or not it’s the same side as you.
“And your friend Mr. Stercus, maybe he did some bad things. But he probably did some good things too. No one ever wakes up and thinks, ‘I’m going to be evil today.’ Everyone just wants to stay alive and be happy. They want to be the hero in their own story. But, unfortunately, the hero in one story can just as easily be the villain in another.”
