The Lightning Holder
"A Monster Realm? How interesting... I never knew one existed." (Trench Coat Man)
"That information is only known to us of the High Tueurs. We have decided to give you the chance, Frankenstein." (Turquoise Mask)
The Turquoise Masked Man tossed a purple cloth mask to Frankenstein.
"I am very grateful. I will fully serve the High Tueurs until my death." (Frankenstein)
"Shut your mouth. We know your past. You're not one to be loyal, we just want your magic and research." (Turquoise Mask)
He put on the purple mask. He started to laugh.
"I can't wait..." (Frankenstein)
"In one week's time, you will get a message." (Turquoise Mask)
His voice suddenly disappeared into the darkness.
Frankenstein stood alone. His mangled bloodied arms and purple cloth mask sitting in the silhouetted room. He touched his face. His mask covering up his hidden skin. He smiled.
He looked in the mirror. His deep purple eyes peering through the matching mask.
"Not to be attracted. Not to be retracted. Only subtracted and multiplied. Who am I? Who are you?" (Frankenstein)
He pointed at himself.
"I am you." (Frankenstein)
He walked over to a heavy metal case on the brightly lit table in the middle of the room. He opened it up revealing four gooey balls of flesh and tissue.
He picked up two of the balls and tossed them across the room.
He then pointed out his two index fingers, crossing them into a link. He pointed at the small gooey balls on the floor.
Like a chain.
He pulled hard on the chain. He pulled his bloodied bandaged arms across the air, pulling his two fingers apart.
"Release!" (Frankenstein)
The chain snapped.
The balls slowly began to morph and change. From flesh to goop. They morphed into estranged animals, with patterned bodies, and grotesque limbs.
"Experiment 1 and 2. Find the intruders and kill them..." (Frankenstein)
He looked up at one of the monitors. He saw Jack and Ginger heading up the stairs to the second floor. He pointed at Jack.
"Kill all but him. And that is an order! No funny business!" (Frankenstein)
---
"So where are you from Vlad?" (Marsh)
They walked around the first floor of the large building. The walls closed in tight. Dust piled up high.
Vlad carried a small flashlight as Marsh lugged his heavy backpack.
"My families from Moscow." (Vlad)
"Moscow, Russia? Huh? You do have that type of accent." (Marsh)
Vlad turned annoyed.
"I don't! I wasn't born in Russia. I have an American accent." (Vlad)
"Yeah. Just kidding, just kidding." (Marsh)
They reached a locked room on the other end of the facility. Vlad pried on the knob, but it just wouldn't budge.
"Is it locked?" (Marsh)
"I'll just break it open." (Vlad)
He pulled back his arm, channeling for a heavy smack on the area around the lock. He then focused his magic into his fist-
"Wait! What if this is the locked room Ginger was talking about. Should we really go in without them?" (Marsh)
Vlad stopped himself. He looked at the metal door in front of him, it's roughed up scratches and rusted edges. He then looked up to the ceiling above.
"Didn't she say it was on the second floor?" (Vlad)
"Yeah but-" (Marsh)
Vlad immediately smashed through the door. Hinges flying in all directions, bolts and metal shards shooting across the room.
The door fell over with a thump.
He handed his flashlight over to Marsh.
"I'm going in. Shine the light in front of me." (Vlad)
"Uhh... Yeah... I got you." (Marsh)
He shined the light into the room. Vlad stepped in with his gloved fists pointed out and his magic coursing through his veins, through his fingertips.
A crackling and tapping sound echoed around the small dark damp room. Like a massive cockroach roamed on the cieling.
"There's something here..." (Vlad)
"Where!" (Marsh)
He shined the flashlight across the dark empty space. Boxes piled atop each other, bookcases filled with old journals, old books, old literature from hundreds of years ago.
Vlad looked up to the corner.
Red eyes in the darkness.
"Shine on the corner!" (Vlad)
Marsh shined his light into the corner.
"KREEEEEEYIYEEEYIE!" (Experiment 2)
"What is that thing!" (Marsh)
Vlad quickly pushed Marsh back out through the destroyed door.
"Don't stand too close. I got this." (Vlad)
The monster crawled across the ceiling. It had six arms, a long tail, and a body pulsing in and out. Its head was dented, with horns and antlers pointing in no order. For its arms, it had hooves, fingers, paws, six wiggling ligaments stretching in all four directions. It had two mouths, with its gooey pink flesh vibrating a horrendous screech across the small dark damp room.
Vlad pointed out his fists. He slapped them together creating a shock wave of magic power.
"Vitality!" (Vlad)
His fists started to glow a bright yellow light. They became charged with magic. A magic so powerful that it blinded anything and everything around it.
"Marsh, don't come back in here. I'll kill this thing!" (Vlad)
"Yeah yeah! I wasn't planning to..." (Marsh)
Marsh crawled away from the shining room. He hid on a concrete wall, watching the fight from a far distance away.
The screeching continued, the fight continued. He watched as the bright yellow light dimmed in and out, exploding into flashes, slashes, back and forth. He heard punches and screeching, tumbling and crashing.
---
One minute passed.
Vlad ran out of the room with a worried freaked expression. He ran up to the hiding Marsh.
"Marsh! This is real bad! This thing is out of my range. I can't kill it!" (Vlad)
"What do you mean? You've fought monsters before, right?" (Marsh)
Vlad leaned forward watching as the creature slowly crawled out of the room unharmed by any of his attacks.
"My magic doesn't work on it. There's something inside... Strange... Odd... It's no monster. It's worse than a monster... It's human!" (Vlad)
"Huh...? Human...? Human...! What!?" (Marsh)
---
Jack stepped back.
"Ginger there's no need to worry about me dying, being expendable. Cause I've got a secret weapon up my sleeve. I'll be able to can kill it in seconds." (Jack)
He held out his arms.
"Yin and Yang!" (Jack)
White and black orbs appeared from thin air.
The red-eyed monster slowly crawled through the darkness. It's elastic arms swirling like octopus tentacles, it's pink gooey flesh flopping about. Ginger shined her flashlight on it.
"Wait! I've seen that thing... Before..." (Jack)
He immediately recognized the flesh tones, its morphing shape. He immediately knew what it was, what type of monster it was.
"That's no monster..." (Jack)
Ginger leaned out from her watching spot.
"What do you mean?" (Ginger)
The monster flopped forward, it's blubbery flesh rolling around the small tight corridor.
"A while back I fought one, it was my first mission on the force. It stuck with me, what Yaku said. This is the same monster. It's human." (Jack)
"Human? Like a shapeshifter, or a parasite?" (Ginger)
Jack grabbed his black orb. He kicked it toward the rolling monster, it's fleshy body blubbering about, wiggling outward, taking up the entire corridor, squeezing through.
"But this one's different. It's more controlled. The last one felt out of control, this one looks like it-" (Jack)
He realized what he was saying-
The monster opened its goopy mouth, it's hundreds and hundreds of grinding teeth, green slime and blood squirting across the dusty space.
It got closer.
Jack stood still.
Its face...
The black orb slowly floated out front.
Ginger jumped from her hiding spot, she watched as Jack stood still, his arms to his side, letting the monster get closer and closer.
He stood perfectly still, waiting, calmly. He held out his white orb. Waiting patiently.
"What are you doing Jack?! I know I said you were expendable, but that doesn't mean just killing yourself!" (Ginger)
He stood still. Stood still...
The monster stood still. Neither attacked each other. They just waited. The black orb touched the monster.
"I'm sorry... Human or not. You were far too gone for this world." (Jack)
Ginger stood silently. She watched as he stepped closer to the monster, as he held out his white orb. She watched as he touched the orb that touched the monster. She watched as he touched the white orb that touched the black orb. As he pushed it deeper in. Slower and slower.
The monster let it happen. It let the orb flow into its fleshy body. It's silent cries, it's red eyes glistening in the soft light of his flashlight.
It cried.
"You were forced. Created. I can see it. Your pain... I'm sorry..." (Jack)
He pushed the black orb fully in. Its folds flowering into its flesh, into its insides, folding around itself. Folding and folding. It ingested the orb.
"Ummm... Now we..." (Jack)
He turned around with eyes of confused fear.
"I suggest we run away!" (Jack)
"Huh?" (Ginger)
She stood stunned and confused by the interaction between monster and human.
"What did you just-" (Ginger)
He grabbed her by the arm, pulling her down the hallway, running in the opposite direction.
"What did you do? What is your magic?" (Ginger)
"It's Yin and Yang. I can absorb and release magic with an equal and opposite reaction. It's not that special, I think... But I still haven't fully discovered all its secrets." (Jack)
"But why are we running, shouldn't we kill it?" (Ginger)
She looked back at the crying fleshy tentacle monster that filled up the entire corridor.
"It's a long story, but this guy named Bob, we were talking about my magic and he suggested a very smart idea. To use c4. So... You know what... I'll just show you." (Jack)
He turned around at a far enough distance with his silhouette cast in the shadows of the flashlight darkness.
"I recently learned how to control my output and input, so... How c4 do you think could take down that monster?" (Jack)
"I don't know? How much do you have?" (Ginger)
"Enough to blow down this building." (Jack)
She stood stunned for a quick second.
"Ummm... How about like... A little bit." (Ginger)
"Ok... A little bit it is then." (Jack)
He focused on a little bit of power. Just the teensiest bit, the smallest bit, the littlest bit. He divided it in half, then half again, and finally... He was left with only a sliver of magic.
He channeled it through the white orb to the black orb.
"I think that's enough! Just hold tight, it's gonna be a big-" (Jack)
She grabbed ahold of Jack.
Boom!
---
Minutes earlier.
Vlad and Marsh ran down the narrow concrete hallways.
The small fleshy monster chased behind, with its fast limbs that carried from wall to wall.
"Vlad why couldn't you kill it?!" (Marsh)
They turned corner after corner, running in circles around the building, trying to come up with some sort of plan to kill this small, fast, gooey, creature.
"My magic can manipulate my life force and others life forces. I've tested it on a bunch of monsters, but that thing isn't just one monster. It's human mixed with a thousand other animals and creatures. But the worst part is in its core... When I punched it, I felt a deep core hidden beneath the flaps. And the only way for me to fully kill it without ripping it apart piece by piece would be to touch that core." (Vlad)
Marsh glanced at the monster changing them. He quickly came up with a plan.
"Uuuuhhhh... Ok! I got it! I think I got a plan!" (Marsh)
They turned another corner, running in circles.
"What's the plan?" (Vlad)
"It's not much of a plan, but more of a... You'll get the gist. I'll weaken it and you go in for the final strike!" (Marsh)
He abruptly stopped running. He turned around. The monster launched forward, its spiky spear like fleshy legs flinging outward, ready to slice open Marsh.
Marsh ducked tossing his heavy backpack into the air.
The monster slashed into the bag, ripping open its insides and throwing drinks and tools across the dusty floor.
Vlad turned around.
Marsh ungloved his hands.
"I've always been seen as week compared to my sister... But I'm not actually that weak. I'm just unmotivated." (Marsh)
"And you're motivated now? Do you even know how to fight? (Vlad)
"Yeah, I was motivated the first time I saw Jack. The way Red just excepted his power. It made me feel like a loser. Like I was born trash. But I'm going to prove them all wrong!" (Marsh)
He crossed his fingers into an x shape. The monster dropped to the floor, sniffing and wiggling through Marsh's backpack like a rabid dog searching for food.
"My plans going perfectly. It's distracted by my homemade sandwiches. Now I can use my power to ice this thing." (Marsh)
Vlad held out his fist. He stood behind Marsh ready to save his life if anything back happened.
"My power's a lot like my sisters. Except her's is stronger than mine. So I don't get the rep and shizz. But this time. I'm getting all the glory!" (Marsh)
He pointed his x crossed fingers directly at the monster.
"Thunder Claw-" (Marsh)
A loud rupturing explosion shook above them. The ceiling crumbled away, the roof falling over them like hard rain.
"What was-" (Marsh)
The ceiling fell.
"Get down!" (Vlad)
Vlad jumped in front of Marsh pushing him out of the way of the rubble.
Thump!
Crash!
Crumble!
The long hallway turned to rubble and debris.
---
Marsh stood unharmed his hands still pointed in an x shape, his body still ripe to fight the monster standing on the other end of the hallway.
"Vlad you there?! You got pretty badly hit?!" (Marsh)
Vlad reached out from under the concrete ceiling. His body and head were fully covered but Marsh could still see the life in his limbs. He held out a thumbs up.
"I'm... Good..." (Vlad)
"Good!" (Marsh)
---
The building still stood tall. Its long wide shape and sturdy structure made it safe even during earthquakes and tornadoes. Plus its reinforced concrete made it blast resistent.
Vlad and Marsh got unlucky. They were right below Jack's explosion when he launched it, so they got hit by all the concentrated rubble and dust.
"Marsh... Kill it..." (Vlad)
Vlad spoke from underneath the debris, his hand extruding out.
"I got it, pal! Don't worry!" (Marsh)
He stepped closer. His hands were extended out in an x shape, his eyes watching on the small wiggle of flesh on the other end of the hallway.
It crawled forward, sniffing the air, locating the next enemy.
It saw Marsh.
Its instincts were sharp. It could tell the power, the magic, everything about an enemy before it would attack. It was the pinicle of monster experimentation, but still... It was flawed... Flawed by one thing and one thing only...
Human emotion.
"Whatever you are... You're going to die! For Vlad!" (Marsh)
He ran at the monster. The monster ran at him.
"I've held it for a whole minute. This should be enough!" (Marsh)
He released his cross fingers and pointed out his open palm.
"Thunder Claw!" (Marsh)
A small flicker of lightning-sparked through the dark empty space in-between darkness and him.
"Shit! It didn't work!" (Marsh)
The monster slashed Marsh across the shoulder, blood squirting all across the floor. He fell forward, the sparks still flickering in the air, the lighting still coursing.
He got back up. His shoulder aching, throbbing.
"Just a little longer!" (Marsh)
They ran at eachother once again. Marsh swung his open palm.
"Thunder Claw!" (Marsh)
No lighting.
He fell forward onto his face. The monster jumped his back. It opened up its massive mouth and readied itself to chow down on some human meat.
"Thunder... Claw...!" (Marsh)
Thunder across the darkness above.
Marsh looked up at the monster.
The flicker kept flicking, kept going, like his new resolve, his new goal.
It finally touched his palm.
"THUNDER CLAW!" (Marsh)
The monster bit down hard on his hand. But he kept going, kept fighting, kept screaming.
"THUNDER CLAW!" (Marsh)
Like with any animal. It could detect the weather from a mile away. But this monster was a bit too slow. A bit too human. It released its mouth from Marsh's hand, but Marsh was too quick. He grabbed hold of the monster's fleshy throat.
"Thunder Claw!" (Marsh)
The lighting in the air struck right into his palm, right through the monster, right into its core.