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Chapter 21
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Renner’s armor shifted until he disappeared into nothing, his body hidden from view. Diero’s flaming firearms lit up the room as the bullets they expelled traveled the distance from barrel to boring spherical cranium, all of them absorbing into the strange, glowing blue mass which comprised it.
“Isn’t it curious?” Monopoly replied, eyeing the deadsperado with an air of malice. With a gesture, the gunslinger’s head suddenly imploded, crushing inwards like a paper bag. His limbs slightly jerking around in general motion for a moment, Diero dropped like a rock.
“Diero never got to say goodbye.”
The mood in the room had suddenly changed. This bumbling, brawling brute had suddenly achieved a level of power which elevated him from being very dangerous to being potentially unstoppable. I knew Renner’s rage over losing his beloved boney bodyguard was very easily outweighed by his self preservation and the very logical assumption that the sphere-headed simpleton could just as easily wipe out everyone in the room.
He noticed the tar-like troublemaker trying to get away into a crack in the floor, and with a flick of his wrist the fiend suddenly bubbled and boiled, flying across the room directly into Jethryn, whose cries of agony were smothered by the substance. The melted remains of Jethryn soon exposed themselves as the sticky subject evaporated away, leaving the trashbag-clad troublemaker a limbless lump of his former self. The silence from Renner in response was eerily audible, as if the absence of noise itself took on a sound. Eilrach had begun to move before flames suddenly exploded out of every joint and cavity in his Dreamer shell, and with his gaseous form extinguished, the body fell limply to the ground.
“Easy.” He turned to Renner, who still stared wordlessly at the remains of his friend. Before he could notice it happening, the armor on his body began to shift, suddenly straightening his limbs and solidifying itself into a long, rectangular shape, completely covering him. “How long do you think he will last, with his own armor picking him apart cell by cell? A day? A month? It does not matter to me. Whatever conscious part of him remains will observe it happening, whether he feels himself be lost to the machine or not.”
Winger was next, suddenly flying out from the bookshelf he had hidden behind, landing at Monopoly’s feet. “A pity you had to be here to witness all of this. Just think, out of all the times your hosts have died, you still managed to outlive your son.”
Oh, then I understood the silence. Winger’s body turned to mist, instantly vaporizing and slowly drifting from where it had once been, lost in the air of the room. “Well, I think I’ll save the best for last, then. You always were the best, don’t you agree?”
Right as he turned back to face me, the metallic pirate roared, thrusting his sword into the belly of his opponent. “You kill my hero!” He bellowed, slashing outwards and staining is blade with the black blood. “You make yourself a king! You slaughter everyone! Well, friend, enjoy your just reward!!”
Lashing out again, the blade disintegrated into dust against the exposed gap on Monopoly. With a slight gesture, his form repaired itself, and the Chronicler exploded backwards into a thousand tiny fragments of blue metal, frozen in the air, completely motionless as Monopoly hovered next to them.
“Death is a business.” He loomed above me, as Cordax suddenly whipped across the room and floated in front of my face, unable to move. “I deal in death the same way as a candyman offers his wares to children. The sight and smell of it entices those willing to buy.” Cordax’s worried, dreary expression grew more and more painful until his eyes crackled into static and liquid seeped out from beneath them.
“Only the dealer finds it sweet.” I retorted, placing my thumb against Cordax’s throat, feeling for the right spot. “You don’t provide a relief, a respite to pain. You entertain yourself.” I sharply drove my knuckle in, caving it inwards and dropping him unconscious. He was flung into the darkest corner as a deep grumble escaped Monopoly’s lungs. “You’re not a merchant, you’re an addict.”
“Fine. But what does that make you?” Monopoly asked, his hand suddenly extending to the side. An earth-shuddering roar followed, and Monopoly held the head of my mechanical form in his grip, detached from its body and seemingly powerless. “You risk the lives of everyone around you preparing for the ultimate goal of dying to everyone you supposedly care about - and now you remain, alone, the last of this miserable bunch. I know there are some others skulking around here; they will be eliminated, in time.”
“Going so soon?” I retorted, trying to maintain my coldness, but instead I saw a flash of scenes played out for me in exquisite detail - the city once helmed by Volume now under Monopoly’s grip, his reshaping not only the whole world but the galaxy in his own design, his wishes and desires leading to a future wholly uncertain in its outcome, but one tainted by the omnipotence of this despicable domehead.
He looked back at me, but I gave him no reply. Even without his glimpse into the possible, I knew I was out of options. No more bodies to throw at the wall, no backup schemes layered on top of each other until the blackest, deepest part of the festering mess was lost in the darkness beneath the unfathomable weight of all the rest. Floating through the hole in the ceiling, he looked across the city wish an air of decision, and was immediately met by a thunderous applause from its denizens, compelled to receive their new authority with joyous admiration.
I, however, collapsed against the wall, the weight of the future bearing into me like a thousand screws. What else had I to hold onto in this world? My last respite of joy and hope was dead. The select few I dedicated any time and energy into were gone. My kingdom and empire was about to crumble. I had no legacy to leave behind, and my memory would be squashed beneath the feet of an unstoppable force beyond the point of reason.
Death, I thought, as I allowed my consciousness to seep from its body and into the great void, the unfortunate absence of being, is a business. It pulls, and it pulls, until there is no one left to buy its coveted wares, and we tiny germs stand before a division not equal, but just. A terrifying divide, as to the left we are swept, unless we can by some miracle find the low place from which we accept to be pulled to the right.
Armaghiddon.
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Renner’s armor shifted until he disappeared into nothing, his body hidden from view. The goopy Ghid-like glob has conveniently found another crack in the floor to disappear into. Diero bellowed, rushing the advancing figure, only to be caught in his oversized grip and chucked backwards into the tear he emerged from, which promptly closed the moment after.
“Isn’t it curious?” Monopoly replied, eyeing the deadsperado for the brief moment he remained visible with an air of malice. “Diero never got to say goodb-” His words were interrupted by an invisible arm suddenly clobbering him with a vicious hook.
“Dream: WAAAugHH” Renner screamed, which was a word I immediately realized I hadn’t heard before. Was there a hidden third dream I had never considered before, some secret phrase uttered only when Monopoly is about to squeeze your arm in half? Ah, no, it was an interruption due to Monopoly preparing to squeeze his arm in half.
Daring as this maneuver was, Renner’s armor was more than capable of reversing it. Monopoly grunted as his grip was violently broken, the now-visible armor of Renner suddenly increasing the size of his metal-mechanical sleeve, forcing Monopoly’s fingers to relinquish their pressure. Monopoly responded to this motion by slamming his fist directly through Renner’s chest, leaving a gaping hole in its wake.
“Lest you find a way to undo it, like last time.” He loudly whispered in the metallic moron’s ear, tossing aside his shuddering body like a wet rag. “I realized I could deck Diero and other Dreamers by putting a little bit of metal in the knuckles of my gloves.” He cracked his knuckles, speaking almost directly to the barely aware Cordax nestled in a quite splintered bookshelf. “And with a little tweaking in that cold place…”
Eilrach had the good sense to not attack immediately, his Ghid-like hands flexing impatiently. He seemed to notice what I had: the cavity formerly containing Renner’s heart had quickly filled with the metal from his armor, and was now contracting in rhythmic fashion akin to the organ he had lost. With a glance towards me, the gaseous goober suddenly darted forwards, shoulder checking Monopoly into the opposite wall just faster than the burly boxer’s hands could grasp at him.
Somehow, in his eyes, I could tell Eilrach knew what had to happen. His stance grew very low, his arms and legs far apart, a bit too close to becoming a giant spider for me to be comfortable with. I took the opportunity to bumble over to the plated pinhead on the floor who had the audacity to be in shock just because his heart got knocked from his body.
Of course, that wasn’t about to stop me any time soon. grabbing his limp finger, I traced out letters overtop each other on the carpet beneath him, and with a growl I ripped a chunk of it out. Now it was only a matter of getting to Diero.
Fortunately, the fight going on was entirely with Eilrach, who was suddenly proving himself exceptionally capable. I knew the metallic pirate who stood at the edge of the fight trying desperately to insert a jab or two into the combat wasn’t going to truly inhibit him; the former skeletal warlord was practically running circles around Monopoly, flipping over his punches, his lightning-like limbs landing speedy barrages on the brawler before he had the time to react, then darting out the moment he swung for them. Confident he could detain him for a moment or two, I began to move towards my mirror to enter where Diero had traveled to before my mind finally caught back up with my ego and I remembered it had been broken.
Virtually no way to accomplish my plan was left. Except, of course, for the other Dreamer in the room. Winger had wisely retreated backwards into the mirror room and was hiding behind a bookshelf, and pretty badly, too. I tactically rolled into the room, almost being clobbered by Eilrach backpedaling the Ghid Dreamer to avoid the furious grip of his opponent.
I grabbed my son by the shoulder and hissed some words into his ear. Confused but relenting, he scribbled them down on my coat sleeve, which I then bore towards the opposite wall where the sombrero sap had been rammed into by Diero’s attack. “OH!” He immediately blurted out, completely ignoring my cringing reaction and the suddenly observing blue sphere which rotated to listen. “FINALLY! I can’t see anything at all in here! Well except you. Listen, I don’t think I can move. Can you get me oummf”
Ripping my coat sleeve off and stuffing it down into his mouth was not a fun experience, let me tell you. I really liked that coat. But the moment it entered that immobile idiot’s jaw, a tunnel of flame roared out the hole and the wall exploded, leaving a tremendous cloud of dust in his wake. Monopoly started marching towards him, all fury boiling orange into the flaming sphere atop his neck, but the grinning face of the Ghid Dreamer preceded his wiry hands grabbing at the two posts that made up his neck and threatening to bend them apart.
Taking the opportunity, Gofers jumped with such an impossible force that the air shattered, the resulting BANG breaking every glass surface in the room. My first thought was Racie - she had conveniently disappeared. I was very much hoping her eardrums had survived this incident.
Unfortunately, as the metal prongs of Monopoly’s neck were snapped apart by the impressive Dreamer strength, Monopoly caught the flaming ball as it fell and spun around, using it to carve directly through the Ghid visage and sending the hostless body to the ground, its formerly capable green vapors hissing out of its crumpled form. “Another upgrade.” Monopoly placed the ball above where his neck should have been, turning to face me as it floated in place. “Krelikan made it clear I needed some form of security for such an outcome.” He walked towards me, evidently not noticing the black banana-shaped silhouette arcing across the sky.
“Eilrach puppeted your form well. Almost as well as you did yourself.” He continued, almost in a full-blown monologue as he instinctively stepped over the prone form of Renner, swatting the Chronicler away like a kid in front of you at the line for ice cream. What, was that too real of a metaphor? “But it’s a shame it wasn’t enough. Of course, nothing you do ever is.” Stopping, he looked back at the… uh… dec… decorated dolt? Is that too much of a stretch?
Anyway, you get it, it’s the guy with reflective armor lying on the carpet having a breakdown, yadda yadda, let’s move on. He - Monopoly, that is - glanced at his motionless form and suddenly raised his heel, wordlessly bringing it down of the head of this… this… silvery, no wait… silvery… shlemiel?
Nah, this is getting too hard. He’s just Renner. Sorry, I really tried to get some more in there. Well anyway, he stomped on his head, but the armor reacted and built him a nice helmet, and that made him angry again and his head went all orange and flamey once more, I hadn’t sen him do that before but maybe he just wasn’t ever this angry or something.
Despite his efforts, more and more of the armor just relocated to where his head and neck were. I suppose his attacks weren’t nearly as fast as his hand had been before. The exact moment he decided to switch tactics, however, the large banana-shaped object caught his attention, and he barely had time to intercept a large curved piece of metal smashing through what little of the roof remained, which the most dedicated observers may recall to be the trachea car I so dearly loved.
Look, I know you missed him too. Easily the most memorable person I’ve met despite just being Eilrach again.
Oh yeah, it happened to still be Eilrach again, as when the now battered Monopoly heaved the curved car and chucked it out the window, the engine and piping ripped itself out of the remains, hopping over the blustering bruiser with ease, and after landing quickly swiveling in place, the many pipes and tubes reconnecting and reshaping themselves into limbs with curved segments and harsh, sharp joints, with the low, blocky torso being the majority of the engine block.
Vertically the middle of the engine ripped itself from the rest of its frame, the pistons and camshaft repurposed to make an articulated and posable neck, leaving the separated section as a pointed, curved head, with no noticeable features, and a series of slotted vents on either side towards the front. It flattened to a point, kind of like a shoe, and breathed out green smoke from the vents like some kind of smoky grill.
“Evidently, you’re not used to using your head.” Ooh, I still with I could’ve thought of that one.
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