Ch 25
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Chapter 26
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It was like looking up at the sun, a sphere radiating pure blue light, except unlike the warmth of the sun radiating and shining on all things, it was a cold, callous light, whose heat burned and tore at anyone subjected to it without any of the joy or splendor.
And there was a terror, too, because this ominous blue sun had rejected its proper place and descended, not to increase the warmth shared with all around it, but to kill the entire world if it could.
If he could.
And if was beginning to seem like an inaccurate assessment, as the moment the color of the room changed, the dozen or so Wild sparks flew in and attempted, while radiating with the most intense of heat, to pierce the perfect sphere. And, in a instant, all of them were vaporized inside the glowing orb.
“Oh.” Wild observed from above, concern coursing through his voice. “That’s bad.”
The oozing Ghid sprung suddenly up from the floor, attempting to engulf the sphere, but a sphere-shaped void soon appeared in his middle. The substance quickly retreated into the gaps between the bricks, eager to escape any further damage.
“Ghid.” The sphere loomed overhead, eyeing me dangerously. “You can’t do anything now, you’re lost and alone. No way you can save yourself, no way you can kill me. Oh, but please have your entourage try as best as possible, because either way I’m killing all of them before I deal with you.”
“Everybody move!” Diero growled, firing a succession of shots at the sphere so quickly it resembled automatic gunfire. The shots were not aimed at Monopoly so much as they were aimed at the neon sign, which while inoperable still contained much of the flammable substance necessary to make them run. Both he and Gofers cleared the room fast, although Bird was not as swift, being trapped on the other side of Monopoly’s floating head. Indecisive, he stood in place eyeing the room right up to the glowing sphere making contact with the gases.
The resulting ball of flame I worried might light my body on fire, but it was just out of range. However, it proved an incredible smokescreen, as the two Dreamers tore out of the room with little to no trace of their path of departure, and the two doorways instantly began to change position as the room itself began violently tipping around.
“I bet you didn’t expect this to happen.” Wild’s voice seemed to emanate from every surface. “Now you’ll never be able to determine how to get out. I’ll have you so turned around you’ll be lost for hours.”
Monopoly said nothing, floating in the middle of the room as it revolved around him. Ghidrius’ body fell free of the debris it was trapped under and plummeted towards the former ceiling, only for the goopy Ghid to suddenly seep back up and collect the falling body before any real harm could occur. He disappeared a moment after, of course, and was unable to reach Ghidrius’ head in time, as it rolled about the room and ran into furniture.
Bird moved with the room, climbing over the bolted-down furniture in order to keep his distance from Monopoly, who acted thoroughly absorbed. He eventually timed the gap in the ceiling with the gap in the street above and jumped out, just avoiding getting his legs broken off by the rotating architecture. I felt the darkness crawl over my eyes briefly, and I pushed all my effort into remaining intact, pushing my senses beyond the limitations I had placed on myself.
The words of those beyond the room became clearer and clearer, as the hum of the movement quickly turned into white noise I was easily able to block out entirely. Renner was awake somehow, that much I could gather, and he was being rapidly brought up to speed by Winger, who was also instructing Gofers to carry Racie a little more carefully as the party ran for their collective lack of a life.
“But how did my armor know to make an artificial heart?” Renner asked, perplexed.
“It took some work,” Racie admitted. “But after watching what AI had invented in the prior fight, I figured out how to ‘tell’ the armor what needed repairing. It’s got your entire circulatory system figured out now, and probably your whole biological makeup as well. Heck, it might even know you down to the atomic level.”
“How… Reassuring.” Renner’s voice implied he was trying his absolute best to look pleased with that unsettling development. “Anyway, Winger, you’re gonna want to write and write fast. Establish a Dream or two with your Dreamer so we can have an edge in this fight, as I don’t know that anything Diero has can touch him.”
“Not likely.” Monopoly’s voice broke in, as the sound of boots skidding against concrete sounded in unison. “It’s very funny how that flying apostrophe thought tipping the room around would make me lose track of you all. Now, shall we make this interesting?”
My eyes cleared like lightning. The room was empty, mostly dark, and from what I could tell, upside-down. The head of Ghidrius lay in the corner, his eyes watching me through the slits in his helmet. He may have been able to tell I was still alive from my sudden head movement, but I would have to assuage his fears later.
As my focus once again increased, I heard the sickening sound of metal regurgitating itself. Or at least that’s what I imagined happening; I had no idea that it was the sound of miracle armor being eaten out of reality.
“Let that be a lesson for all of you.” Monopoly spoke, even as something zipped past him fast enough to hiss as it soared through the air. “The next time I remove someone’s heart I expect to see it gone the next time I look.”
“He dodged Wild Card.” Cordax whispered. “What do we do. We can’t do anything against this.”
“Well now, you’re starting to get the picture after all.” Monopoly chuckled. “I have to hand it to you, Cordax, you’re turning out sharper than I expected. Maybe that’s what stomping you into a fine paste was meant for, y’know? I wonder if breaking Winger into a dozen pieces has given him a quicker reaction speed.”
Winger, whose single hand had been writing on something this whole time, started babbling incoherently at the mention of his being broken into a dozen pieces. "But I… Why d- I don’t… Why do I … Remember this? "
Unfortunately, the second half of Monopoly’s sentence had not quite registered, and with a vheeeoosh the sphere darted forwards, followed immediately after by a BANG which shook the entire room. I snapped back into the room I was in, dreading the blood-curdling scream that must have followed. But as no sound cracked the stone walls which imprisoned me, I refocused and heard the furious cry of a Dreamer, one significantly less experienced than Diero.
“Where did you get that.” Monopoly bluntly inquired, his voice flat with annoyance. “And… Why is everyone else on the floor…?”
“Like it?” Gofers replied, his voice shaky but enthusiastic. “Part of Winger’s instructions were to make an indestructible sombrero by any means necessary. And there’s plenty of Dreamers lying about on the street, which can be woven apart at the atomic level to make them into a faux-straw of sorts, and weave-”
Another vheeeoosh occurred, but this time was followed by a SMACK. “And the second part,” Gofers spoke again, this time having his speech imply a gigantic smirk. “To not let you hurt Winger here.”
“Nothing - absolutely nothing - can resist me like this.” Monopoly retorted. It was less anger and more stating a scientific fact, like if you called the sky green.
“Sure about that?” Gofers’ jaw was practically breaking with the size of the smile he implied. A number of footsteps occurred, presumably the present group running away as I could hear the impossible sound of Diero somehow sucking air through a cigar. The sounds that followed were impressive; a blue sphere ducking and diving with futuristic ambience followed by the blunt reality of four bony fists smashing into it over and over was impressive to listen to, and eventually Renner’s voice broke in on the scene, shouting out the Wild Card command and the fading cries of Jethryn’s protesting the action filling in the void where a crowd might have been cheering the pair of boneheads along.
And then there was another sound - the sickening noise I described before, but followed by a splattering sound much akin to when Renner became just as heartless as me. After that, a thud, and then silence.
The nice change of pace was broken by Cordax landing on top of me. “Ghid,” he began, but evidently heard something and rushed a whisper. “I have to be hidden! I got told on the way; don’t reveal me!”
He scurried off and ducked behind a piece of the couch, which had broken off the rest of it and fallen to the ceiling. The room lit up in a blue blaze once more as Monopoly reappeared, phasing directly through the wall and stopping for a moment to hover above me.
“Where is he.” Monopoly began, not giving me remotely enough time to respond. “I mean that viscous visage of yours, the one that just killed Cordax.”
“I don’t see how that would concern you.” I sneered, my voice suddenly losing strength and requiring me to pump more effort into using it. “You killed him before and enjoyed every second of it.”
“Enjoyed?” Monopoly snarled. “You selfish egotist, it’s what you did to him that forced me to kill him, to turn myself into the villain and alienate him from me. I haven’t had any other friend in existence aside from him, and he meant the entire world to me. Sure, I was rough to him at first, but in the end, he was the only one I actually cared about at all.” His speech was seemingly having the side effect of slowing Cordax down, as the little gremlin had advanced with knife in hand to attack the sphere, but now stood just in front of his previously safe and concealing cover, looking up at the glow with as gullible a mouth-agape stare could possibly be. “I nearly broke both my ankles and was willing to let myself die to ensure his safety, and you turned him against me before I even had the chance to go back to my home.”
“You’re the villain here.” He growled. “You’ve ruined the only friendship I’ve ever had and made me kill him once - and now you’re forcing me to do it again. I cared for him, and of course you wouldn’t have any idea what that means for anyone.”
“You really mean it?” Cordax inquired, his voice almost angelic in its childlike softness. Instantly Monopoly traveled in a very tight circle, carving a massive gash through Cordax’s stomach before completing the circle to end up exactly where he was before. “Of course I knew that Ghid glop was a portal. I don’t know how you invented that little number, but he’s been proving very annoying. In the time I was fighting those two numbskulls he managed to gobble up everyone in the entire group and whisk them all away. But I knew you couldn’t keep Cordax hidden from me. You’re minimally smart, Ghid, but you’re overall just an idiot.”
“Now where are the others? What guarantee is there that your sentient sludge stops working if you’re dead?” He loomed in closely, even as a mortified Cordax finished inspecting the massive hole in the stomach of his hoodie which had left the Cordax underneath unscathed and allowed the prepubescent naivety to melt away into a white-hot rage. “Because I can promise you, this won’t end up in your favor. You’ve got no one now.”
“Actually,” I wheezed, looking past the floating sphere in satisfaction. “I think that’s the only person I don’t have.”
“RUKAH!!”
Monopoly turned and darted at Cordax, whose hand was stretched over his head in a dramatic wind-up to jam the knife into the ball-shaped brawler’s glowing noggin. But he ducked under towards the pint-size problem’s stomach just a little too quickly to see Cordax holding the knife not in his raised hand, but inside the hoodie itself, positioned over his stomach, his off sleeve hanging loosely while his real arm held the knife securely in place.
A flash occurred that was so bright I think it could’ve been seen through the other side of the planet. I already knew it could be seen from further beyond.
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Ch 26
