RKMBs Forums .::Important::. Writer's Block Hero Revolution [Welcome to Thunder City] #2

Walt Curie had never been a rebel. He also never learned to fly a plane.

Both of these could have been crucial earlier in life, because now, he was having to do both...

In the ensuing confusion, Curie had grabbed Eddie from Knell's monstrous hands and snuck aboard his boss' escape vehicle. Now, he was a fugitive from his boss, en route to see the only man who could help him.

Dr. Charles Walker.

The snakes adorning the child's head hissed as the child continued to wail in displeasure. He was away from his "father" and he was none to happy about it.

Fumbling for his phone while still trying to steady the controls, Curie punched in Walker's cellular phone number.

"Hello?"

"Walker! Thank God! It's Walt!"

"Walt? What are you doing calling me on this number?"

"I didn't know of any other way to get in touch with you and I need help!"

"What kind of help?"

"I need a safehouse! I just busted out of Knell's fortress in the middle of a battle with those 'Revolutionaries'! He's still back there fighting, but when he's done..."

"Sorry, man. Forget it. Too risky. Besides, you're not a metahuman. This is a metahuman racket, after all..."

"But, you don't understand! I..."

"Sorry, pal, but I just can't do it..."

Curie paused, pondering his next move.

"What if I had something you needed?"

"Such as...?"

"The dossiers on those 'Revolutionaries' to start... pirated from the Malvan-X mainframe."

"That it?" Walker asked, his angst beginning to become noticable through his inflection.

"Uh... no! I also have Eddie!" Curie said, looking back at the cryin baby boy.

"Who?"

"You know! Eddie! Knell's genetically spliced and enhanced clone of Cicciotto!"

Another pause, this one on Walker's end.

"Alright, you convinced me. I'm transmitting coordinates to you now."

Curie sighed in relief as the numbers began to pop up on his phone.

"Oh, and please don't mind the mess when you get in..." Walker added. "We've just finished... entertaining..."

[ 12-31-2001: Message edited by: Chewy Walrus ]

Knell charge at me. He’s mad, furious. I don’t see my son. He has somehow lost him. And now he’s furious.

I became ghost, and he pass right trough me, ending on the wall, while my friends engage a terrible battle with the lizard-men.

“Knell, you monster. How they call you…? Ah, right! Doktor Klone! Where’s my son?”

The monster turn back, hissing at me. “Curie! That bassstard. He hasss kidnapped Eddie!”

“Who’s Curie?”

“My help! I know where he’sss going! To sssell him to Walker!” says Knell. Only now I notice a large bleeding wound on Knell’s back. Curie must have shot at him.

“Find Eddie! Love him! He’sss a beautiful baby…..” hisses the monster, just before closing the eyes and falling flat on the floor.

Well. The man which could have been my worst enemy has just died. But my son is gone. Around me enrage the battle. A kid has died to save us. Now it’s time I take my responsibility.

“Revolutionaries!” I shout. “Regroup at the corner!”

Every one of us runs to the corner of the large room.

“Everybody is OK?” I ask, while we shot at full power, with all of our abilities, at the guards.

Everyone nods the head.

“Good. Now, listen to me! Mxy! You can see this tower like a blueprint from outside our dimension. Find the infirmary and bring the kid, Jason, there. There should be some sort of cryogenic device. Frozen the kid body. Nowhereman and Naeken, go with him and secure the room. We’ll arrive soon to help you”.

“Kristogar, these guards are reptiles, so they are cold blooded. Find the conditioning controls, and bring the temperature near five Celsius degree. They will fall asleep! Sorry I don’t know Farheneit, but you are a scientist right? Danny, help him.”

“Tobias, come with me. We have both supervelocity, and phasing powers. We must bring each surviving prisoner and scientist to the infirmary. We all regroup there, and then we’ll see what to do. There is a big marine serpent out the tower, we must act before it find a way to crawl inside!”

“Now, GO!”

And each one does exactly what I have said. Mxy, Nowhereman and Naecken disappear. Kristogar and Danny fly off the opening in the roof, and I and Tobias run away at full speed, phasing trough the guards, heading to the levels below.

And for the first time since I have met these man, each one seems to be proud of what he’s doing.

And while I run trough the corridors of the Tower, I can’t stop myself to sing.

“You better watch out, you better not cry
Better not pout, I'm telling you why
Santa Claus is coming to town

He's making a list and checking it twice
Gonna find out who's naughty and nice
Santa Claus is coming to town

He sees you when you're sleeping
He knows when you're awake
He knows if you've been bad or good
So be good for goodness sake

Oh! You better watch out, you better not cry
Better not pout, I'm telling you why
Santa Claus is coming to town.”

"Santa Claus is coming to town?" Larry Lance said aloud. "Someone is singing in this hellhole?"

Larry Lance had hid himself by phasing into a false ceiling. He had seen security running about and then lizard men leading some gadily clad men into a room. He then saw someone run out of the room after the ceiling had apparently collapsed. What was more amazing was that the man had a child in his arms with live snakes protruding from his head. Lance felt his stomach turn just a bit.

Lance was still confused. He wanted out of this place, but wasn't sure if he should make a break for it or not. Finally, the singer came into his line of sight. It was one of the men that had been prisoners of the lizard men. "Maybe these guys will help me!" Lance whispered under his breath. With that decision made he floated out of the false ceiling and directly in front of Kristogar and the singing Eurostar!

The fallen form of Doctor Zachary Knell - the Leviathan King - rasped heavily, obviously straining for any oxygen he could get.

"Lousssy Curie..." he moaned, stumblng weakly to his feet and limping to his desk. "Shot me in the back. I'll sssee hisss head on a sssspike before I die..."

"Are you sure about that?"

"Wha...?" Knell says, looking up feebly.

"I can help you get the revnge you seek. On Cicciotto, his pathetic little 'gang', on Curie, and even Walker, if you'd like."

"Wh-Who are you?" Knell rasped, slumping down, beginning to lose consciousness finally.

"An interested party. Nothing more. I can even heal your wound, if you so desire. However, it will require your total allegiance and resources sworn over to me... a 'selling your soul' type of deal, as it were."

"And if I refusssse?"

"Then I leave you here to die. It's just that simple. The choice, however, is ultimately yours."

The man extended his hand toward the reptilian scientist. Knell looked warily from the outstretched hand to the man's face, contemplating motive. Finally, as the chill of death began to creep through his body, Knell reached forward, grasping the comparitively smaller hand of the man before him.

"Very good, Doctor!" the man delightedly said, turning to the shadows behind him. "Mr. Ktl... Frederico... whatever your name is, please come forward and treat the good doctor."

One of the last images Knell saw before he blacked out was the figure of a muscular Cuban in a running outfit coming toward him - his eyes glowing with black energy...

My name is Kristofer Schanz. I'm a scientist.

Hm. I suppose the word "scientist" as a description of my career is too vague. My field of expertise is chemistry, and thus I am a chemist.

Now, I am not given to ego, but I am considered by those in my field to be one of the greatest chemists in Europe. I detest false modesty greatly, and although it may seem rude to do so, I must concur -- I am one of the greatest chemists not only in Europe, but in the world.

Yesterday I quit my job.

Have you ever heard of the parable about the hidden treasure?

"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field."
--Matthew 13:44

This parable, although not quite applicable to my situation, should help one to understand the reason I quit my high-paying job at Lundgren Chemicals here in Stockholm.

It was while I was working on a type of polymer late at night three days ago that a brilliant idea hit me like a flash! Leaving the polymer project aside for the time being I continued to work on my idea all night long. By morning I was exhausted but excited beyond measure. For I had created a chemical compound which, when inserted into the bloodstream, could change the very laws of probability to one's favour!

I am not a dishonest man, but naturally, since I had discovered this chemical on my own and not for the company, I chose to keep it a secret, since Lundgren Chemicals would likely not see it my way.

The possibilities for this "probability chemical" (which I have decided to name "Schanz" -- or Chance -- after myself) are almost limitless, but it was required that I test it out on myself.

That day, after I called in sick and went home and had a cat-nap for about thirty minutes (I was too excited to sleep any longer) I went to the corner store, and -- after swallowing a single drop of Chance -- I purchased three lottery tickets, each from a different lottery. Later that day I discovered that I had WON ALL THREE LOTTERYS!

My hands were trembling now, but not because of the money. I put the lottery tickets in three envelopes and sent them away to my three favourite charities as anonymous donations; I was uninterested in gaining a fortune in that manner and the unwanted publicity it would involve.

Later that day I performed another experiment at a local pub. After swallowing another drop of Chance I entered a popular Stockholm disco-pub and found that I had the attention of every beautiful, available and intelligent woman within. It was difficult to turn each of them down when they asked me out on dates; I have loftier goals for Chance, however, and although I hope to marry a good woman someday and have several children I cannot permit myself to have a "love-life" as yet.

My third experiment involved the most physical risk to myself. Although I had been a star athlete in college, and I am still in excellent health at my current age of twenty-seven, it had been years since I had attempted anything foolhardy; after all, I had been concentrating on my career in chemistry since graduation. Thus, it took quite a bit of courage for me to attempt this next experiment.

It required the use of a plane, which I luckily found at a bargain-basement price. As soon as we had arrived at a point five kilometres from the Swedish coastline above the Baltic Sea I directed the pilot to allow me to parachute out of the plane. As he had his back turned I sabotaged the parachute with a pocket-knife, and then I swallowed no less than three drops of Chance before donning the faulty parachute and jumping out of the plane.

We were two-hundred and fifty metres above the water when I exited the plane. As a creeping fear rose in my stomach I counted the seconds which passed by before I finally opened the parachute. As I expected the parachute was useless and did nothing to stop my fall. For the next few moments I felt as if my life were flashing before my eyes. Was the pursuit of scientific truth really worth risking my life in such a foolhardy manner? Yes. As I said, I'm a scientist.

I was less than twenty metres above the water when a sudden gust of wind blew myself violently upwards. It was a miracle! The exponential rate of speed of my fall to earth was cut down drastically. But I was still heading towards the sea, with no land or boats anywhere in sight.

Just as I hit the water (with no more force or speed than one would have while diving off of a high diving board at a swimming pool) I saw out of the corner of my eye a large, dark shape. I fell underneath the water level for a moment, but I was then pushed upward by a giant object coming from beneath me. It was a few moments more before I realized that I was riding on the back of a sperm whale! Another miracle.

That whale took me all the way to an island, where I caught a boat (someone who couldn't use it gave me their ticket at no charge) back to Stockholm and back to my home.

I went in the next day and quit my job, explaining that I was under a great deal of stress lately and wished to go on a sabbatical.

The truth?

I want to put my creation to good use, in a way which will benefit mankind. I want to be a hero. I already have the looks and the build for it (I'm blonde, muscular and stand at 6'2"), and I believe that I can show the world that those with special powers can be a boon to mankind, not just a danger. All I am waiting for is a chance...

Running and phasing from corridor to corridor, I cross Kristogar and Danny en-route for the conditioning installation.

an instant later, a man phases down the ceiling, stopping right in front of me.

"Help me, plase!" he shouts.

"Your name?" I ask.

"Larry Lance!"

"Edulcore Cicciotto, the Eurostar. Pleased to meet you".

I take him on my back, and run forward, looking for other prisoners.

[ 01-01-2002: Message edited by: The Eurostar ]

Mandelovia City, Mandelovia.

Kristofer Schanz stepped out of the taxicab and found himself in the heart of the city. The plane ride had been more difficult than usual, of course, since September 11th the security measures had been noticeably upgraded, and understandably so. It was difficult to explain the vial of Chance he had with him, since he kept it in an unmarked bottle which they at first assumed was alcohol. It was fortunate for him, he thought as he paid the taxi driver, that Dr. Quantos had written up all the paperwork for it beforehand and allowed it to be brought onto the plane with no further questions asked.

Schanz had attended several of Dr. Henry Quantos' lectures while in high school and university (when he was still lecturing, that is) and had always found them not only valuable for information and insight, but uplifting as well. And when Schanz spoke with the good doctor after a couple of those lectures, he found the old Canadian to be very pleasant and helpful. Kristofer Schanz was also very pleasantly surprised to receive a note of congratulations from Dr. Quantos upon his appointment to his post at Lundgren Chemicals, one of the most prestigious chemical companies in Europe. He had only met the doctor twice, but Quantos had remembered his name!

Schanz knew Quantos had been working on some clandestine project for Malvan-X Corporation now, but he also knew that Quantos was one of the few men he could trust with the secret of his new serum, Chance; he needed advice on how to go about using it best for mankind (rather than for his own personal interest or for the betterment of one particular corporation), and Dr. Henry Quantos' name had popped into his mind immediately.

" 'ere, pal, could ya spare a dime?" some little drunken man said as he stepped into Schanz's path, "I been jinxed, b'y! Dem aliens 're lookin' fer me agin. Oh me nerves, de got me drove."

"Er, of course," Schanz replied, searching in his coat pocket around the flask of Chance for a few small bills. "All I have is a few Euros, would that be all right?" Mandelovia had been one of the few nations to keep its own currency upon the advent of this new year, 2002.

"Where you 'longs to?" the short man said, grabbing the bill.

"Uh... I'm from Sveri--er, Sweden," Schanz replied. "We don't use Euros either, but I don't suppose you have any use for Kronor...?"

The diminutive drunk grunted and presented Schanz with a toothy grin. As Schanz walked away from him with a smile, the man grumbled under his breath, "Chucklehead..."

Kristofer Schanz continued to walk through the heart of Old Mandelovia, towards the Malvan-X building, enjoying the sights, sounds and smells. He had vacationed in southern France and Italy and elsewhere on the southern coasts a few times while growing up, but somehow he had never made it here to Mandelovia. It was a beautiful, small country, despite its recent troubles. He hoped it would never change.

"Look out!"

Schanz turned around at the shout of the voice only to see the headlights of a sportscar head directly towards him at an extremely high rate of speed through this narrow, cobble-stoned street. He was in the middle of the road. As the car bore down on him, Kristofer Schanz's last thoughts were, Shit! Why didn't I take a drop of Chance this morning?

The car struck him at a speed of ninety kilometres per hour, flinging him forward into the brick wall of a small restaurant, and then the car itself careened into a lamppost and spun completely over.

A small crowd of people rushed over to the sight of the accident; the two teenagers in the sportscar were miraculously unharmed, but Kristofer Schanz's head and limbs were badly mangled; he was most assuredly dead.

"Shockin' dat is, shockin' b'y," a little, scruffy man said, feeling around for a pulse (or at least that's what people assumed). "Yer gone, me son."

The little man slipped away from the crowd with what appeared to be a flask of whiskey in his hand...

Mxy, Nowhereman and Naecken are in an empty corridor. Nowhereman carries Jason in his arms and Mxy is sitting in the floor with his eyes closed, concentrated, while Naecken keeps an eye on the other corridors to see if anyone comes.

Nowhereman: Are you done yet???

Mxy: Wait a minute, will you? This is not an easy thing to do...

Nowhereman: What's the big deal? You are 5-D, this should be easy to do!

Mxy: I'm not 5-D right now! This is a 3-D body, haven't you noticed? I have a 5-D MIND that allows me to do stuff you can't do, but if I'm not in the fifth dimension, I'm not fifth dimensional!

Nowhereman: So go back to the fifth dimension alredy!

Mxy: It's not that simple, I can't return until I finish my mission...

Nowhereman: Oh? So what's the plan?

Mxy: I can look at this building "as a blueprint" like Eurostar said if I get out of Mick's body for a second... not long enough to lose me link, but long enough to take a glimpse at this place... and I will do that if you LET ME CONCETRATE!

Nowhereman: OK, OK... arseface...

Mxy stays there motionless, until he suddenly falls uncouncious, and one second later he relives.

Mxy: OK, done! I know where the place is. Naecken, come here!

The three men get together and Mxy POPs them to the infirmary. A POP is not like a dimensional door. Mxy can POP himself to anywhere he wants without having to spend much energy from Mick's body. But he can only carry with him a limited amount of 3-Dimensional matter, to keep the space undisturbed.

Nowhereman: OK... there you go, boy...

Nowhereman says this words as he places Jason in the cryogenic tomb.

Mxy: Phew! Mission accomplished!

Nowhereman: Yay! Hey, Nae, what's with the large face? You should be happy!

Naecken: I can't be happy about this.

Mxy: Uh... why not?

Naecken: I think we're doing something horrible. The boy's mind is alredy dead. The only thing we're doing is prolongating the body's suffering.

Mxy and Nowhereman look at Jason's body and realize he's right.

Mxy: I see what you mean... Why didn't you say something before?

Naecken: This is our mission. I thought it was not appropiate to question it.

Nowhereman: Nonsense...

Mxy: I guess the only thing we can do is... "pull the plug"...

Nowhereman: You're right.

Mxy turns the tomb off, and the three men stay there for a second and watch as the Revolutionaries have their first fall...

Mxy: This is not right... this shouldn't have happened. This doesn't happen where I come from. It shouldn't happen.

Nowhereman: What, death? It happens all the time, pal...

For the first time Mxy realizes the important of his mission... and the mission his new friends have.
Naecken sees the sorrow on his face.

Naecken: Don't worry. His soul is resting now.

The guys continue their mourn, waiting for the rest of the team to arrive...

Me and Kristogar- Sorry, Kristogar and I- are running down the hallway on the third floor of the building. We're opening doors left and right, looking for the room that houses the controls to the building's air conditioning.

"Is it that one?!" Kristogar yells to me.

"No, damn it!" I reply, running back out of the room I had just checked and slamming the door shut.

"Calm down. There's no room for lost tempers in this game," Kristogar says to me.

He runs up the hallway ahead of me, to the next door. I watch him open it and step inside. I check the room nearest me... about ten metres away from the room Kristogar just entered.

I step into it, looking for the air conditioning controls. But it's nothing more than some sort of small lab... some chemicals, some equipment. Nothing of any importance.

"DANNY! I FOUND IT!" Kristogar shouts from down the hallway.

Well, that was pretty lucky.

I turn around, to exit the room.

There, in the doorway, is one of the Leviathans.

"Oh, shit," I say.

The creature lunges at me, it's arms outstretched. I duck underneath it's grasp, then run behind a nearby cabinet.

"Shitshitshitshitshitshitfuckshitshit..." I'm muttering.

"You shouldn't swear like that. It's a bad habit," Hal says to me.

"Hal! What the hell do I do here?" I say, as the reptilian monster leaps over the cabinet, landing in front of me. I crawl between it's legs and scurry across the room.

That's right, I scurried. I don't get a chance to do that often.

"Uh... claw out his eyes or something..."

"Okay! Tiger claws!" I yell, watching the creature charging at me.

I barely notice the searing pain this time. After all, I have bigger problems right now.

The damn lizard thing lunges at me again. I swing my claws at his face, but he deflects them with his scaly forearm. The force of his block is enough to send me to the floor.

He jumps at me again. I roll out of the way, causing him to land next to me. As it turns over and is about to stand up, I slash at it again...

I hear a howl.

Is that me?

No, wait, it's not me... it's the lizard monster thing...

I got him! In the eyes, no less!

The damn thing stands up, with a hand clasped over his eyes. Blood is pouring from between his fingers.

"You haven't won, but you've bought yourself an advantage..." Hal says.

The creature is swinging his arms wildly, trying to find where I am. I've blinded it.

"Yes! I blinded you! Ha!" I yell.

"Idiot! Don't yell out loud at it!"

I quickly run out of the way as the creature leaps at me, having heard my voice and guessed where I was standing.

Shitshitshitshitshit...

Um...

What do I do now...?

Think... animal parts...

"Antlers!" I yell.

Hal complies.

I run at the creature, ramming it in the chest. I think I hear ribs cracking. I cracked it's ribs! I'm winning! I'm beating this thing! It's howling in pain again!

He falls to the floor momentarily. He staggers as he stands up again.

"Hal, what's an animal with strong legs?"

"Uh... kangaroo."

"Kangaroo legs!"

This feels as ridiculous as it looks.

But hell... I'm almost having fun.

I jump up, and kick the creature as hard as I can in the chest. With my new legs... that's a pretty hard kick.

He flies backwards, into the concrete wall behind him. His skull cracks open, and he falls to the floor.

Dead, presumably.

"Hal! Reverse the legs and the antlers and the claws!"

I wince as I begin to notice the pain that this involves.

"Hal!"

"What?"

"I won! I beat the monster! I'm a superhero now!"

"I'll be sure to buy your action figure as soon as I can get down to the toy store."

I suddenly hear Kristogar's voice from down the hallway.

"Danny? Where have you been? I lowered the building's temperature..."

He stops as he enters the doorway and notices the monster on the floor.

"...oh. You were busy," He says.

"I won!" I say to him.

I'm still grinning madly as we leave the room and go to reunite with the team.

[ 01-02-2002: Message edited by: Danny ]

Mandelovia, Malvan-X Headquarters:

"His very presence is a disturbance to the time continuum."

"The old paradox problem, huh?" grinned Dr. Quantos as he rubbed his beard in thought. "Well, I'll consider what you've told me."

"Something must be done, Doctor. If you do not do it, I may have to take more drastic measures. I cannot allow this time paradox to grow into a full-fledged chronal vortex, for such a thing has the power to not only destroy your reality but thousands of others as well. And I am not sure that even I have the power to stop such a thing once it has become a vortex."

"No, I'll... I guess I'll have to do something about it myself, then." Dr. Henry Quantos sighed.

"Are you all right, Doctor?"

Quantos looked up at the glowing being before him, idly wondering for the umpteenth time whether any of that chronal radiation he irradiated could give him cancer. "It's... it's nothing. Well, a young acquaintance of mine from Sweden was supposed to call me as soon as he got off the plane at the airport, and he's gone missing. I have a sick feeling in my stomach that something's happened to the poor fellow."

"If you wish, I can check..."

"No, no, that'll be all right. I have several employees at my disposal anyways; I'll send one of them out to search for him." Dr. Quantos looked again at the glowing being and began to ask him a question he had never really received the answer to each time he had asked it. "Say, TTT -- you don't mind if I call you that, do you?"

"Not at all... Doc."

Quantos thought he detected a glimmer of amusement in that unearthly voice of his, but ignored it. "Why have you been so interested in my career all these years since you first visited me all those years ago. Back then I was just another promising young medical student, no different from a hundred other young men. What got you interested in me enough to help me along as you have all these years?"

"Let us just say that you remind me of someone."

That's what you always say, Quantos thought inwardly. "Maybe someday you can tell me about him, okay?"

"You have my word on that... Henry."

Quantos breathed a sigh of relief when the chronal being he knew only as a representative of The Time Trust disappeared, taking his chronal radiations with him. But just as he left Quantos could have sworn he had seen the thing smile at him...

When I am at the mid section of the tower, Tobias arrives to run beside me.

"Ihaventfindanysurviver.Onlylizardguardseating human flesh!" says the speedster, lowering progressively his velocity.

"I have find only this man. Larry Lance, meet Tobias Christopher!"

"Hi!" says Tobias laconically, while the metahuman on my back is mute from the shock of running at mach 1.

Then, the temperature suddenly lower.

"It looks Kristogar has succeded!" says Tobias, happy.

"Yeah!" I exclaim.

It's easy to find the infirmary, then, where all our friends have met, after they accomplished their tasks. In front the door, dozens of Leviathans guards are lying on the floor, immobilized by the extreme cold.

"Well done!" I say, stopping in front of the gathered heroes.

Then I notice the cryogenic womb. Jason is inside, but the device is not working.

Naecken says: "It was not wise, Edulcore. He is resting in peace, now".

"We could have found a way to restore him to life. I know a doctor, in Europe, that..."

"For who, Eurostar, all this struggle?" says Nowhereman. "For him, or for you?"

The question takes me off guard. Nowhereman is right. The truth is that I don't want a fallen right out of our first mission. I don't want to take the responsability of the death of a fourteen years old boy.

I don't want to recognize that giving his life to freed us, he has been the true hero among us.

I haven't ever shed tears in all my life, even when my parents died. But a tear, a single tear, this time runs over my fake Santa's beard.

"After all, you have gained membership in our team, son" I whisper.

And then, a giant tremble shaken the tower to its foundation.

"The Leviathan! The marine serpent!" I shout.

We run to the windows. In the dense mist, lighten by the tower projectors, the gigant form of the Leviathan appears and disappears.

"We haven't finished yet, guys!" says Kristogar.

"Let's smash him!" shouts Nowhereman.

"Yes, let's go" says Danny, with a fiery expression that I never seen before on his face.

"No, wait a moment. That thing is poisonus. It produces this mist, that destroy each person's will. If we go out there right now, we will be reduced to mindless slave.

We must bring it inside the tower, and AT THE SAME TIME we have to left it. Then, when it is imprisoned here, we'll take down the whole building. OK?"

As the team stand silent, trying to quickly figure out a way of accomplishing the hard task Eurostar has suggested, Mxy breaks the silence and says.

Mxy: I look good in an elf costume, don't you think?

Everyone looks at him.

Mxy: Don't you think I look good in an elf costume?

Nowhereman: I knew this serious thing wouldn't last...

"We have to lure a giant reptile inside this place and then bring it down on it's head?" Larry Lance said aloud to nobody in particular.

"That's right, Lar.." Eurostar started to answer.

"We have to lure a giant lizard into this building and then completely destroy the building? Larry stated in a somewhat louder tone.

"Do you always repeat yourself?" Nowhereman snapped.

"Oh! I'm so sorry, mister!" Larry snapped back. "Ever since this cockamainee meta-gene came into my life my world has been turned upside down!"

"I'm sure you've had a rough time of it, Larry." Eurostar interrupted. "We've been having a bit of a rough time ourselves though."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Eurostar." Larry said meekly. "I don't mean to sound ungrateful."

"Well, kid...unless you have an idea on how to lure that thing in here it would be best to keep your mouth shut!" Nowhereman snorted.

Larry Lance's head fell just a bit. Now he was being scolded. He didn't care for this feeling of helplessness or the fact that his saviors were being overprotective, yet also consdenscending towards him. "Some guy died tonight trying to help you guys?" Larry wanted to make sure he had processed the information correctly.

Eurostar shook his head.

Larry glanced out the window at the Leviathan. For some reason the image of a cockroach crossed his mind's eye. He had a vague memory of tracking the insect for the purpose of capturing and...

"I ate the damn roach!" He screamed and then immediately gagged.

Suddenly, everybody was talking at once.

"What the hell?"

"There is something wrong with this guy!"

"Didhesayheeatsroaches?"

"Disgusting!"

"Check the back of the building!" Larry Lance hollered above the ruckus.

"Wha..."

"Huge cargo doors in back." Larry pointed excitedly to the rear of the building. "They brought me in through a huge cargo door!"

"Are you sure?" Eurostar asked.

"Positive!"

"Their Armory was just down the hall!" Nowhereman stated.

"A gas mask and some explosives would be nice." Eurostar smiled.

They quickly form a plan and after raiding the Armory Tobias Christopher is given a gas mask. Upon finding the huge cargo doors Tobias speeds away to the front of the building and into the mist fast enough to deflect it away from him, but slow enough for the Leviathan to see and follow him. His fellow revolutionaries are out of sight in nearby woods and only come forward after Tobias has lured the monster deep into the receiving bay. Tobias quickly doubles back and exits the building, giving the signal to bring the roof down. Well placed explosives level the building.

"You did good, kid!" Nowhereman smacks Larry in the arm. "As far as I'm concerned..." he continued, "...you can eat all the cockroaches your heart desires!"

Larry's head jerked from watching the blazing building and directly at Nowhereman. "B-but...I do-don't..." Larry sputtered in denial. It was too late though. Nowhereman had deliberately walked away from him, laughing quite loudly as he did.

I stand on the shoreline, watching the building collapse in on itself from no more than thirty metres away.

The giant serpent slithered it's way into the building after Tobias only seconds ago, and now it was being killed in an avalanche of collapsing concrete and steel...

There's something humbling about that. A creature of such power and majesty, it's life snuffed out so quickly.

There's been too much death today. Jason. The serpent. All the Leviathans we killed.

I mean, sure, the serpent and the Leviathans were blood crazed monsters out to kill us all...

But still. They were lives. And I do feel bad about killing.

The building makes a deafening noise, like the mightiest thunder doubling upon itself and echoing infinitely. Chunks of conrete and shards of glass collapse down around us, causing us to run back along the shoreline to where we left the boat. A hasty retreat is most definitely called for.

An enormous shriek of pain echoes around the island.

It's the serpent.

It's still dying. The building is still falling.

These buildings take a good few moments to collapse completely.

I duck to the left as a piece of concrete roughly the size of a basketball narrowly misses my head, and I keep running along the sand. The other guys are in front of me.

I'm short of breath. This isn't good.

*COUGH*

I'm coughing. This definitely isn't good.

I need to stop for a moment, to catch my breath...

So I do.

Kristogar notices me stop, and turns around.

"Danny! We gotta go!" He yells.

I nod to him in reply, then cough again.

"You okay?" He asks.

"Yeah... probably just dust from the building..." I manage to reply.

My chest is clearing a little... that's good.

I keep running along the beach, and catch up with the others. Looking to my left, I notice what remains of the building come crashing down into a heap. Blood is seeping out from between the fallen concrete slabs. Lots of blood.

I can see the creature's enormous tail trailing out from behind the rubble. It shakes pathetically once or twice, then stops still.

The last of the building falls.

Everything becomes much quieter.

We all stop, and look over towards the ruins of the building.

Everything is still. The entire island is quiet, as if mourning the massive loss of life it witnessed today.

"Whoa," Hal says quietly, for nobody but me to hear.

After a few moments, Eurostar says, "Let's get to the boat."

We all clamber down the beach, to the spot where we left the boat.

We look around for a moment.

"Uh... guys..." I say, "...where's the boat?"

There is no trace of the boat, but it is not a problem. Mxy can open a transdimensional portal to the other side of the bay, near the docks of Thunder City. It is a short tract, and the five dimensional being will not be too tired, after.

“Mxy, can you…” I can’t even finish to ask, that we are back in Thunder.

There is a cold breeze from the sea, and the mist, the fetid breath of the Leviathan that has kept in chain the population of this city for many years, finally is wiped away. The sky is clear, and full of stars, but soon big clouds close over us.

We stand for a minute on the shoreline, watching the last remnants of the tower being swallowed by the bay.

“We did it, guys” I say. “Thanks to Jason, and to each of you”.

“But we haven’t saved your son, Edulcore” whispers Mxy.

“Yeah. But he is safe, and I know where it has been brought. We’ll rescue him the next time. Now let’s go back to the circus. And Merry Christmas to all of you.”

At my words, the face of Tobias is shadowed by a sad expression. Ah. I forget he doesn’t believe in Christmas.

He looks at me, having noticed I was looking at him. “How can you say merry? It’s the same Christmas I ever had. We haven’t rescued the kid, and the Jason has died. It’s the same, miserable Christmas I ever had.

“Care to run?” I ask.

“Run?”

“Yes. The elves can come back to the circus by themselves. We can run fast, very fast. But we have never tested who is faster” I say.

“You are powerful, Euro, but I am faster than you” he says, smiling.

“Show it!” I shout, beginning my race.

I head toward the city. I feel Tobias behind me. He is faster, but I’m in ghost form and offer no resistance to the air, so I can stay a little forward than him.

Soon we are in a heavily populated sector of the town. And what we are saying, it’s thousands of people running out of their home, singing and smiling and hugging each other.

Tobias stops. I go near him.

“What’s happening?” he asks.

“They are experiencing their newfound liberty. You see, the marine serpents, which I suppose it was a creation of Doctor Klone, had the ability to produce an… enslaving gas, if I can say so, that kept the city in line, whitout creating problems for TriVex. Destroying the beast, we have freed all these people”.

“We have done that?”

“Yes, Tobias, we have. How do you feel?”

He smiles. “I feel good. It will be a good Christmas for many people, after all”.

From the clouds begins to fall large snow flakes.

“It’s time we go back, Tobias”

“Yes, Euro. I bet Lil’Jo is waiting for us.”

THE END