I could make out that it was a man and a woman that were standing near a concessions counter and there were line dividers between us, metal poles connected by ropes.
The nasally voice laughed. “Damn, Feint. You knocked her out clean. Guess Witches aren’t so tough after all.”
The woman who had just spoken had a bleach blonde buzz cut and symmetrical dots tattooed on each cheek. She had a hefty metal chain wrapped around her waist.
The other who I supposed was called Feint was a muscular man with a bushy moustache wearing combat boots. He was for sure a Cast, they probably both were. I hadn’t seen anything hit Nell.
I quelled my shaking fingers as I looked down at Nell. Her black hair covered her face. She’s just unconscious.
“We’re winning the race, by the way,” the buzzcut woman said. “You’re not going to beat us without your Witch.”
I forced myself to speak in a level tone. “How did you know about us?”
“Louis said he got some wisdom about you two,” Feint said with a sneer.
“It’s intelligence, dumbass,” the woman said, smacking him on the head. “Intel.”
The big man winced and warded away her hand. “Easy, Flux.” He turned back to me and said, “The Ghost Queen is making moves and we get to be a part of it.”
Helen knew about us? That sent a chill down my back. Of course she would if she was working with Organ.
“Why do you care about the people living here?” I asked. The entertainment center was creepy. I’d never been to one, so I didn’t recognize any of the animal characters that were plastered all over the walls and signs. The carpeted floors were matted and covered in unidentifiable stains.
Flux shrugged. “They’re Casts, they could be useful. Louis tried recruiting them before but they declined. So it’s a two birds, one big stone situation. He’s trying to teach his brother a lesson and maybe we can scare a few new recruits into joining us.”
“That’s fucked. Why are they living here?”
Flux snorted. “It’s not like you can just go get groceries when you have a bigass horn sticking out of your head or whatever other Shape you get. They don’t have a choice. We’ll offer them safety when no one else will. They’ll come around to it eventually.”
I clenched my fists. “And it only requires them to do your dirty deeds for you. How thoughtful.”
A rumbling sound echoed across the room. Flux shifted uncomfortably. “We should hurry this along before he shows up. Look man, I’m not exactly cool with it either, but the boss wants his fun. How about you back off and don’t make this more painful for yourself.”
“Not happening.”
Feint cracked his knuckles. “So you have an armor Shape. That’s unlucky.” He moved his arm and something smacked me in the face. I took a step backwards, my eyes watering. It felt like I’d just gotten punched square in the nose, even though I was wearing a helmet.
Flux was unravelling the chain at her waist.
Feint moved again and I raised my hands defensively. The blow smacked across my arms, like my armour wasn’t even there. It hurt, but now I knew. Feint was somehow throwing punches like I was standing right in front of him.
I couldn’t see the next punch coming through my arms. It hit me in the gut, knocking the wind out of me. I doubled over, clutching my stomach. That hurt more than Aaron’s punches.
Chain links clinked and a whistling noise sounded overhead. I threw myself to the side as the chain smacked the ground. Flux reeled the chain back in while Feint’s punches rained down on my arms and shoulders. I clenched my teeth and weathered the blows, taking slow steps towards them. I just need to close the distance.
My hip bumped into one of the metal line dividers and pain shot through me, arcing through my leg, making my muscles spasm. I crashed down, getting tangled up in the rope. My leg felt hot, like I’d just gotten electrocuted. What the fuck was that?
The chain rattled as it whipped down towards me but I couldn’t move out of the way. The moment it hit me, pain surged through my body, like I’d just touched a live wire. I could hear Flux whooping as I twitched, gasping from the unending stream of pain. Lights danced in my eyes. Finally I spotted the chain draped over my shoulder and I grew antlers out from that point, knocking the chain away. Is everything electrified?
I gasped, feeling the residual spasms leave my body.
“One more for good measure, I reckon,” I heard Feint say.
“Comin’ right up,” Flux grunted, pulling in the chain. “Just gotta give it a second to charge.”
I couldn’t move. I waited for the inevitable surge of electricity.
“Fuck!” Flux shouted. I raised my head. She was holding her shoulder, bleeding from a spike embedded there.
Feint moved to throw a punch and then had to duck to barely avoid getting hit by the machete that spun a deadly arc past him.
I rolled over to see Jessie supporting Spike, who had his arm pointed at the two Red Ring members. His side was bloodied and he was quite pale. The rumbling in the distance seemed to be getting louder.
“Forget them!” Flux shouted. “Let’s find these people before he shows up.” She took off deeper into the building with Feint following close behind.
Jessie spat. “Cowards.”
“We…” Spike panted, “we have to go after them.”
Concern creased Jessie’s face. “You got hit. You should take it easy.”
“I can’t. I said I’d protect them. I can stand.” Spike let go of Jessie and straightened up.
I picked myself off the ground and went over to Nell. Her chest rose and fell. I hoped she’d be okay.
“Fine,” Jessie said, looking at me. “You go with him. Kick their asses.”
“I can’t leave Nell.”
“I’ll look after her.”
I met Jessie’s serious eyes. There wasn’t any disgust left in her expression. “You fought hard for us. Not every Ring has a spine like that. As far as I’m concerned, we’re family now. I fight to the death for my family. She’s in good hands. Go.”
The fire in Spike’s eyes spurred me to make a decision. He turned to go and I followed after him. There were a lot more holes in his arms now. I wondered how long it took for him to grow new spikes.
We went down a hallway filled with stacks of cardboard cutouts of lions and elephants holding various fast food items. The walls were painted a garishly bright green.
“Do kids actually like this kind of thing?” I wondered out loud.
“Fia likes them.” Spike was still glaring at me as he spoke. Guess I can’t win someone over that I hurt that badly.
“One of the people who lives here?” I guessed, scanning the exit to the hallway warily.
“Yeah. She’s just a little kid. But she can’t live normally because her mother injected her with Dice.”
I felt sick at the thought. “Is this really the only option for her?”
Spike prodded a hole in his arm with a finger. “We don’t have a place in society, but that isn’t a new thing. The system fails people all the time. Sometimes there are no good choices left.”
We came out of the hallway into a room dominated by a large play structure. Light shone down from a skylight in the roof onto a ball pit in the center. Brightly coloured slides curved in spirals and padded floors collected dust visible in the midday sunlight.
A bunch of metal chairs lay scattered about the jungle gym. Another chair popped over a short wall that hid part of the play structure from our view. Spike’s arm jerked up for a moment, like he’d been pulled by a puppeteer’s strings. He backed up as the chair crashed down in front of us. So they were above us, hiding in the play structure’s many levels.
The rumbling was growing in volume, like a jet was passing over the building.
“Don’t touch metal,” Spike murmured. It dawned on me that the symmetrical dots tattooed onto Flux’s face were the shape of wall outlets.
I heard a link of metal clink. Quietly I moved closer, stepping over a chair that had its legs in the air. Flux suddenly popped out of a tunnel and then quickly ducked back inside as a spike thudded into the plastic siding.
“You don’t got many of those left, do you?” Flux’s voice echoed out of the tunnel.
Feint poked out over top of the wall and Spike reacted before I could think. Feint threw a punch and then staggered back, a spike piercing his forearm. Spike staggered for a moment, shaking his head from the blow he had received in the exchange.
I Shaped Locust Legs.
Feint and Spike recovered around the same time and both flung out their arms. The spike missed, hitting the wall. I turned back to see Spike had bumped into one of the chairs and he had fallen to the floor, spasming.
“He’s out of ammo!” Feint called gleefully. He was right, Spike had no projectiles left in his arms.
Release. I flew at Feint but landed short, scrambling to gain a grip on the foamy railing of the wall.
Feint leaned over and threw an actual punch at me. I released the wall, sending antlers out to stab into the foam and anchor myself. In the same motion, I punched him back, cracking my armored fist into his cheek.
He fell backwards, moaning in pain and holding a hand to his face.
“Oh, come on!” Flux shouted from below us. “You are such a baby!”
I climbed over the side and landed over him. “Oh? You can dish it out but you can’t take it?”
Feint scooted himself backwards, fear written on his face. I heard Flux’s footsteps coming up the ramp behind me. I turned to face her, only to receive a punch to the back of the head. Flux appeared and tossed her chain like she was passing it to me.
I stumbled and twisted, barely avoiding the metal, only for Flux to close her hand around my wrist. It felt like my whole body lit on fire, every muscle acted on its own, squeezing like it wanted to tear itself apart. But I was growing used to the pain.
“Take a dip,” I said, before seizing Flux and throwing her over the wall. Then I turned and kicked, my foot crashing into Feint’s face. He keeled over, clutching at his bloodied nose. The whole play structure was shaking. My eyes slid over to the main level. What the fuck…
“Mother fucker!” Flux shouted, erupting from the ball pit. She struggled to haul herself out of the pit, grasping at the unpadded side. “You know how many diseases have probably been incubating in there for a decade?!” She managed to pull herself out and looked up.
A man towered over her. He was a giant, tall enough that he could reach a basketball hoop without jumping. His expression was like an oni mask, a grin that was closer to the snarl of a wild animal than a human. The muscles under his reddened skin were off, like someone had tried assembling human musculature from memory. There were bumps and ridges in strange places. As his chest expanded to pull in a deep breath, a deep rumbling shook the ground, like an engine sat in his chest.
Flux snarled and laid a hand on his bare chest. The shock made the giant’s mane of hair poof out from the static. He ignored her, raising up his eyes to look directly at me. I felt a shiver as his eyes gleamed with anticipation.
“You are the one I’ve been looking for.”
Flux pulled out a knife. “You don’t fucking scare me-”
The man batted her aside with his arm. The motion was fluid and effortless, yet Flux was flung bodily into the air. She slammed into the far wall with enough for to send the knife clattering away and she slumped down, unconscious.
“Who are you?” I asked.
“I am known as the Goblin,” he responded, his predatory gaze having never left mine.