by Jason Letts
“No, I think we should finish what we started. Go do it,” he ordered.
“It’s just that I need to have a plan, as you always said. What’s my strategy? I don’t think they’ll have much pity on me if I explain that my power was stolen.”
Widget ripped the protective goggles from his head and threw them down at the ground. A sneer of revulsion twisted his face. His words were full of venom. “Have you learned nothing from me? How could you be so blind? A power cannot be stolen. You don’t have a power because you are not real.”
“What?” she murmured, scared by his vicious snarl and frightened he might answer.
“You’re not real because I made you. You were never born, and that’s why the web never gave you a power. You never saw your mother’s womb, only a rusty tin filled with fluids and tubes.”
“No, that’s impossible!” she protested, fighting back the tears. He had nothing but the hard, blunt truth on his face, and his confidence devastated her.
“Oh, it’s very possible. Thanks to me…and your naïve parents. They had no idea I was growing you, mostly because your father was a simpleton and I made your mother too sick to even know her own body,” Widget raged.
“What about the wild man who kidnapped my sister? Was that true?”
“It was exactly as I said. I turned him on your family and told him to take your sister. Couldn’t have him fouling my great experiment,” Widget hissed.
“You’re a monster!” Mira shouted in anguish.
“No, you are, you vile little wretch! So long have I weathered your idiocy and your disgusting biology. I’ll be so happy to use you for what you were always made to do, to advance my knowledge.”
“I’ll never help you again. I hate you!” she screamed.
“You say it like you have a choice, I’m your creator, and your choices have always belonged to me. How does the saying go? If you have something, let it go. If it doesn’t return, it was never meant to be, but if it comes back, it’s yours forever. This has always been meant to be, Mira.”
As he spoke, Mira slipped her hand into her pocket and grasped the bottle of her mother’s tears. She yanked the tiny cork loose, and in one swift motion expelled the contents onto Widget’s face. The liquid splashed against his skin before he could turn his head away.
“That’s from my mother!” she taunted, expecting her power to make him fall asleep any second. Instead, he began to laugh, pulling an identical looking glass bottle with murky liquid from his pocket.
“You sleep so soundly,” he cooed, jerking his free arm and striking her across the face.
As Roselyn collapsed and everyone stared in disbelief, the figure scurried for the tunnel. It left a scrawny young man behind who covered his head and curled into a ball while everyone else trampled over him.
“Oh, this one’s not getting away!” Vern said, practically salivating as he hustled his way to the front of the group. Nearby, Aoi shimmied against the wall and slipped into the tunnel before everyone else clogged the entrance. They sprinted through the subterranean maze, following the hoarse breathing of the spy when there wasn’t enough light to guide them.
Emptying out into the walkways of the main cavern, they stopped abruptly when they found the wooden planks had been destroyed, hewn in half and held only by the ends. Their eyes followed the clatter above, and they saw the tiny spy racing up the stairway. His feet took the part of the step he touched with him, absorbing it into his body.
While others watched in awe or ran for the stairs the opposite way around, Vern grabbed Aoi and jumped over the railing. Together, they floated up and out into the middle of the pit, through the river water and toward the ceiling. They spiraled and somersaulted, Aoi struggling to keep track of where the spy was. He raced for the surface, bounding closer to the top and leaving everything he touched in ruin.
Aoi set her feet on Vern’s chest as the spy emerged from the cavern onto the wide-open plain. Out in empty space, vast darkness below them, Aoi leapt off of Vern for the surface. Her momentum carried her to one edge, and Vern pulled himself across to another. She struck the surface with her midsection and quickly scrambled to her feet. Vern landed on the opposite side and walked himself up through the massive opening in the earth.
The spy headed for Darmen topside, kicking up dirt in his wake. Aoi tore through the sand, reeling him in. Vern too circled around and tried to catch up. Together they swept across the sandy ground underneath the interconnected stars. Pumping her legs, Aoi closed the gap and soon was in striking distance of her target.
Preparing to leap at him, she felt a gooey, soft hand catch against her forearm. The spy stopped suddenly and turned on her, his flesh seeping under her skin. He had no face to speak of, and his deformed mandible produced a raw, itchy burning sensation where it seeped into her skin. She tried to jerk away, but found she couldn’t break free. Punching at his chest, her fist stuck to him like gum.
“Ahhhhhhhh!” she screamed.
She felt something else tugging at her back, trying to pull her away from the amorphous blob attached to her arms. It swept her off her feet as it drew her back to Vern’s outstretched hand, but she didn’t move. Suspended in the air between these two forces pulling on her, Vern had little effect in drawing her away from the spy.
Gradually the figure holding her by the hands let go and resumed his dash for Darmen. Aoi dropped to the ground, falling with her arms outstretched. When she got up, Vern raced alongside her, and they pursued him together. He glanced over at Aoi and saw a serene calmness on her face, differing vastly from her usual fiery and treacherous demeanor. Vern did a double take and watched her most of the way.
The spy made it to the first buildings of the city and turned into a narrow alley. By the time Aoi and Vern got there, they couldn’t find any trace of him anywhere.
“Great, we lost him!” Vern moaned.
“Let’s keep looking,” Aoi said. “He must be hiding somewhere.”
They started poking their heads around the nearby buildings. As she checked out a crate, Aoi noticed something strange happening to the wall in front of her. It started to change color and puff out in places.
“Aoi, you need to back up.”
“What is it?” she asked, looking up toward the strange deformities in the clay wall. She retreated next to Vern, just as the building began to rumble. The clay surface started to soften, and its shape imploded into one bulky mass. The roof suddenly lurched up on one side. Screams came from within the clay house, and part of the wall separated to reveal a family inside. The ground shook as one end lifted into the air, supporting its weight on the other end, which rapidly divided into legs.
“No way! This is crazy!”
Speechless, Vern and Aoi watched it take its first thundering step into the alley. The globular, animate structure stood taller than any of the nearby buildings, and clay dust continued to fall from it. Aoi picked up a hefty rock and threw it at the colossus, but the rock sank right into it.
“What do we do now?”
“I have no idea.”
Mira reeled to the side from Widget’s blow. She steadied herself, gritting her teeth and cocking a fist to strike back. Though she landed the punch, it seemed to hurt her as much as him. Soon his hands were upon her, and they tussled back and forth. He slapped his hand over her mouth and she punched him in the ribs. They growled and groaned, a white-haired man and a frail-looking young woman.
Widget knocked her back against the wall and held his forearm to her throat. Mira flailed, trying to knock herself free. She saw the icy malice in his eyes; she was an inhuman defect in their reflection.
“Did you think I’d underestimate you again?” he hissed.
Mira struggled to breathe, shifting the focus of her retaliation from her arms to her legs. She kicked at his shins, making him wince, and sent a knee to his groin, causing him to wail and let go of her altogether.
Gasping for breath, Mira hobbled to one of the counters scanning for a we
apon. She saw a knife on the table and she lunged for it. Clutching the blade’s handle, she turned back to Widget. Expecting to have the advantage, sudden dismay shook her when she saw him slipping on the rubber gloves and grabbing one of the Leyden Jars. He took it in his hand and held his thumb to the trigger valve.
“You know I will always have control, you disgusting cretin. Just let me douse you with this. It’ll shock you unconscious and you’ll never have to worry about waking up again.”
He inched forward, wary of the knife though his range far exceeded hers. Her eyes darted everywhere for options. She didn’t think she could throw the knife well enough to hurt him. Still he inched forward. She had no idea how far the jar could actually shoot. He suddenly bit down hard as he pulled the trigger and the jar unleashed its charged contents. Mira dove behind a nearby table, tossing away the knife to avoid landing on it. The electrified water sprayed the wall, causing snapping sparks to shower down as it connected with metal instruments and filaments. It dripped and formed a puddle on the floor, from which Mira anxiously withdrew her legs.
Releasing an angry roar, Widget hurled the empty glass jar against the wall behind Mira, who screamed as the glass shattered and pieces rained on her. Scuttling forward to the edge of the table, she craned her head to glimpse at her tormenter. He reached for another of the jars, all the while emitting a throaty wheeze. Mira pulled open the table’s drawer and grabbed a beaker. Launching it, it smashed against the ground near his feet.
He came back with the Leyden Jar, spraying the table and sending Mira scrambling to the next. She hurled tubes and glasses; he flung the empty jar. The sound of shattering glass, sparks, and yelling rang continuously during their furious exchange. Widget blocked the only door, but Mira spied the few windows high along the walls. She hurled a beaker, and it smashed clean against the pane, but the window remained completely intact.
“Do you think you can escape from me?” Widget taunted. “I am so thoroughly a part of you, there is nowhere you can go where you won’t feel my grasp. Those spots on your skin are no accident, girl. You’re Vitamin C deficient, and soon your teeth will start falling out. Death will be right behind.”
A sickening feeling tore at her heart. His awful words invaded her ears and she knew they were true. She remembered him denying her the orange, and his strict regiment of meat. Putting a finger to her gums, she felt how soft they were, and she looked again at the spots of decay on her legs. Only the rage she felt could mobilize her feeble body.
“You will never escape the toll of this evil. The joy you wrench from my pain will never last, and the misery that is your due will swallow you whole!” she seethed.
Avoiding another blast of charged water, Mira ducked behind the last table. She had nowhere else to run. Ripping open the table drawer, she lobbed as many beakers as she could grab. Widget dodged them easily, laughing at her impudence, but instead of trying to hit him she aimed for the electric light above his head. One of her throws finally connected with the fluorescent tube, and radiant sparks and glass crashed down around him from above.
The light suddenly flickered out, and Mira charged at him with a roar.
The hulking mass took a lumbering step toward Vern and Aoi, and they huddled next to each other in its shadow. In the odd light of distant fires and interconnected stars, they saw the house’s exterior morph into skin, which fought its way through the clay as the building’s materials transformed into body parts. It seemed to breathe, to move as a body would, although some parts remained solid clay. Another step forward and they had no choice but to run or be crushed.
Sprinting out of the alley onto the nearby plain, Vern and Aoi saw the Darmen Elite shadows racing to catch up with them. Will and Roselyn were not among them. Those approaching noticed the tremors rumbling through the ground, and they saw vague movement among the buildings, but they didn’t understand what was going on until the gargantuan figure stepped out into the open. Disbelief and dread struck them, and they stopped in their tracks.
“What are we supposed to do?” someone shouted.
Neither Vern nor Aoi had a good answer, but after a few more steps it became clear it was not trying to chase them. It instead headed directly away from the city.
“Where is it going?” another voice asked.
“To the river,” Aoi answered.
They didn’t understand what it was doing, but they knew they had to stop it. Together, they ran to the monster as it crossed the sandy ground. Daring to come closer, they noticed most of its ability to move went into walking, and so they circled around behind it at a safe distance. One kid tossed a rock so hard it went clear through the beast and didn’t fall for as far as they could see. He tossed stone after stone, but the holes quickly closed. Vern tried to pull it back, but it dragged him along without slowing down in the slightest.
In addition to the rocks, they found other ways to irritate the colossus, and they knew their efforts had made an effect when they heard a guttural moan rumble inside. Slowing its walk, the half-house, half-man mass jerked suddenly and flung chunks of clay from its arms at its attackers. A few shadows were struck, and it forced the rest to keep a greater distance.
They repeated the process of baiting it into giving up its mass, hoping it would wear down to nothing, but it soaked sand from the ground every time it took a step. More of the house converted into flesh, and it seemed nothing would stop it from reaching the river.
Vern looked over at Aoi, who stood idly. It surprised him how she accepted her inability to help so gracefully. Indeed, he only continued to pull to make himself feel better, having long known he would be of no use. Off in the distance, Vern saw Will and Roselyn emerge from the cavern. Her arm around his shoulders, he supported her weight and together they hobbled along toward the others.
Taking one colossal step, the spy plunged into the river. Immediately, it began soaking water up through its lower limbs. To the awe of all who saw it, the water raced through the clay, turning the awkward blocky shape into that of a person. Whereas its color had been the hues of clay before, water from the river diluted an arm and parts of the torso into an almost clear aqua. Its head rose higher and higher above them, ballooning around a gaping mouth sucking in air. On the ground below, the shadows trembled in fear.
“Wow!” Aoi gasped, staring into its humongous eyes.
“What are we supposed to do now?” Vern shouted.
“Can anyone do anything?” someone else asked.
Once the towering figure started soaking up the river water, it seemed they had no method of attack, no hope of conquering their foe. But then they heard a faint ringing from behind. A bell rang out over the center of Darmen, even reaching their ears by the riverside. Lights sprang up around the city. A gradual outpouring of people stepped out into the dim riverside prairie. Several climbed out of the cavern to lend a hand. The sudden support of the townsfolk moved the helpless shadows deeply, bringing a wellspring of relief to their faces.
All at once, the collected powers of the city revealed themselves. Clouds swept in overhead, blotting out the web and moon. Holes appeared in the spy’s outer layer, leaking small amounts of water back into the river. The air temperature began to rise and continued to do so until the night felt like a scorching summer day. Hailstones fell from the clouds and pelted the monstrous figure.
These attacks irritated the spy but did nothing to contain or overpower him. Again waving its arms, it launched a volley of matter at the group assembling on the plain. The puss-filled, watery chunks rained down, causing people to take cover. A few were hit, and the projectile’s strange chemical reaction left them incapacitated. When its composition seemed entirely saturated with water, it struggled against the bank and began drawing sand in to replenish itself.
Seeing it in a weakened state, the assembled masses intensified their resistance. A united feeling swept over them; they refused to give in. A stone of green flame lodged itself inside the spy’s torso and continued to burn. The
hot air evaporated some of the moisture. And in the most impressive display, a tiny meteor crashed down from outer space and collided dead on with the gigantic creature. The blow knocked it back into the river and downstream. While it struggled to regain its footing, massive waves swept along the river and knocked against it.
Cybil stood upstream, her lightning slices heaving the water violently and pressing the spy further back toward the gaping cavern hole. Will rushed in to join her, and together they combined their attack. The pounding waves and the drilling hailstones knocked it off-balance and pushed it back against the cavern’s edge. They all held their breath to see if it would fall over. Cybil and Will advanced down the river, unleashing a tidal wave that crashed against the spy’s waterlogged, hunching figure. It tipped backward, staggered, and dropped over the edge into the pit, crashing through bridges and tearing apart the pathways.
Everyone immediately ran to the cavern, anxious for the jubilation of finding they had rid themselves of the menace. Circling around and looking over the edge, all they could see was pure blackness. Cheers and celebrations erupted everywhere. Laughter and relief swept through all present, even if some had done nothing more than hurl insults.
“Oh, we did it! We did it!” Will shouted as he ran up to his friends.
“You did great,” Aoi congratulated him.
Behind Will, another crowd had formed around Cybil, who had trouble retaining her composure in all of the praise.
“I guess it just goes to show you, everyone gets a chance, even if it comes later than you expect,” she said, finding Will’s eyes in the crowd.
“Are you OK?” Vern asked Roselyn, who looked a little worse for wear.
“I’ll be fine,” she scoffed.
“Don’t celebrate too much,” Westley cautioned, coming through the crowd and joining them. “Look at how much trouble just one of them caused, and you’re going to be facing an entire army.”
“I know,” Vern conceded, trying like the others to swallow his smile. Something struck him then and it returned brighter than ever. “Hey! You never told me how they made the cavern!”
