53. Shining
Shining
Isaak
Astrid’s eyes darted back to him like headlights. She walked around him, the black tendrils of tape binding his wrists and ankles tight, keeping him sitting and still. Talia’s glass pod still hovered in the air.
“You’re so much like your father. Proud. Stubborn. Foolish.”
Isaak turned his face away. “What the fuck are you saying?” Astrid had been a blight on his family since the beginning, it turned out. “You went after my father, too?”
“I played your parents against each other. What can I say…? Your mother was more useful to me if she gave herself completely.”
Had his father fallen for Astrid’s machinations all those years ago? Could she have been controlling him, like she’d been trying to do to him and Dylan? Did that mean his dad wasn’t entirely to blame for everything that had…?
Oh, Dad. I miss you.
Astrid knelt down next to Isaak, shifting her weight onto him, basting him in the smell of her chest, an intoxicating aroma of flowers and sulphur.
“I wish things had gone differently between us…” She grabbed his shoulders and licked his forehead, fighting off his protests. “Maybe we can still be together.”
She got up, looked back at him, and laughed. She held her arms out and sheets of plastic armour sleeved out over them, black and red and shining. The material wrapped around her chest and waist, leaving her legs, and the plant-leaf tattoos, exposed.
“There’s just one problem. This Dylan of yours.
I don’t think she’s your type,” she said haughtily, entertaining only herself.
Astrid clapped her hands excitedly. “Your warrior lover left the Tapeworld temporarily, but I’m sure she won’t be long.
She’ll want to come get you.” She licked her lips, her features darkening.
“Don’t you dare hurt her—”
“Or what? You’ll find a way to free yourself from those bindings and punish me?” She leaned forward. “Mmm… Maybe I would like that.”
He swallowed down nausea. “Goddess, you’re a freak.”
“Too early to be calling me a goddess, Ike. I still have to become a Tech Queen first.”
There would be no stopping this woman if they let her plans continue, her ambition matched only by the kink that she brought into everything. The Tapeworld was her playground. And he’d helped her bend it to her will. Were any of those data heists real, or just tests of her mind control?
“What have you been having me steal?” he asked.
“Oh, Isaak. I’m not a movie villain. I’m not going to tell you every detail of my plan so you can find a way to stop it.
” Astrid laughed. “It’s tempting though…
” She kept walking around him in a circle, now wearing gunmetal red heels that clicked on the marbled floor.
“I just want people to love me.” Astrid traced a heart over her chest. “Is that really so much to ask for?!”
“You’re not asking!” Isaak shouted. “You’re forcing people to do it. Release them! Keep me, if you must, to satisfy your obsession with my family!” His arms and wrists ached against the tendrils.
“Come now, Ike. You’re too good, too exceptional, to be pulling this sacrificial bullshit!” Astrid spat. “You’re better than all these worms put together.”
“It’s not bullshit.”
“Tell me you wouldn’t give up all these poor trapped people for a chance to be back in the game? Playing ReSports again in front of adoring crowds, so your Dylan gets to see you in your full glory. Shining under a thousand spotlights, like you rightfully deserve!”
His bottom lip trembled, his cheeks warm. A cold sweat ran down his back. He remained silent, eyes on the floor.
“Imagine. Your gorgeous blue-blonde Dylan cheering you on from the stands, the Millenium Dome all lit up, just for you… Wouldn’t you kill all of my sleptigrades just so you could get your knee back?”
He stared at her, unable to speak. His chest was exploding.
“Well, wouldn’t you? Tell me!” she shouted, her voice echoing through the vast flatland.
For a year she’d manipulated him into the bottom of a pit.
And if she had asked him the same question a month ago, he might even have considered it.
But it was different now. There were people in the real world who actually cared for him.
Who would miss him if he disappeared. Who made him feel like he was more than just an outcast, a criminal.
“No,” he said finally. “Keep your lies. I’ll keep limping along.” He smiled at the thought of her. “Dylan.”
A red light in the distant towers shifted blue.
“You fucking fool!” Astrid hissed. “I wanted you, Isaak. Until you quit on me like the simpering dog you are. I could have made you my Tech King. But you’ve made your choice.”
She raised her hand high, claws extending out from her fingers.
Isaak winced, ready for her strike, fighting the instinct to look away. Come what may.
BOOM.
A jagged line cracked the ground between him and Astrid and an explosion knocked him over. Rubble flew in all directions.
“What is this?” Astrid swung around, hovering in the air.
A figure flew out through the cracked tarmac, landing next to Isaak. A woman dressed in white, blonde-and-blue-dyed hair.
“Are you okay?”
Relief emptied all the air from his chest. “What took you so long?”
“Traffic.” Dylan smirked.
“Little help?” He motioned with his chin to the tape binding him to the chair.
Dylan leant close to Isaak.
“Gunkatana!” The blade summoned in her right hand. She sliced through the tape tendrils. “Here.” She handed him the weapon with a smile.
“How are you able to summon that sword?!” Astrid hovered some distance from them, her recklessness temporarily checked by what seemed like genuine surprise.
“Gunky at your service…”
“Look threatening, Gunky! Dee, look out!” Isaak shouted, rolling to the side.
Astrid let out a scream and flew towards them, her fingernails still claw-length. Dylan rolled away, and Astrid swiped only at air.
“I’m ecstatic that you’ve joined us, love!” Astrid’s eyes were bloodshot, nearly pure red.
“Wouldn’t miss it for the world!” Dylan planted one foot in front of the other, arms up in guard, one hand closer to her face, the white knuckle-dusters protecting her fists.
Isaak leapt toward Astrid, the Gunkatana in his hands. He slashed at her side, slicing into her thigh below the red metal armour. A torrent of black light burst from the wound and she shouted.
“Worm!”
Isaak landed, spat on the floor, and raised the Gunkatana again, tip pointed at Astrid.
“You can’t use that sword! That’s Third Kingdom’s, you fool!” Her voice was a caustic phlegm. “The Book King will find us!” She rushed at him, hand open, claws out.
Dylan leaned into the Apocalypse Revolt combat form, then ran at Astrid and hit her with a low kick, pushing her away from Isaak.
She hovered further from them, keeping her distance for now.
Isaak’s pulse raced. More lights on the horizon flashed from red to blue, electric energy crackling through them. Isaak aimed the Gunkatana at Astrid. “Let Talia go!”
Blue sparks rayed out of Astrid’s hands. “You’re gonna bring the King’s wolves here with that weapon. You’ve ruined me!” She weaved her hands in a summoning motion.
“Touch him and die, bitch!” Dylan shouted.
Astrid screamed, her hands outstretched, shooting bolts of lightning at Isaak.
Dylan ran at her, deftly dodging the rays. Each step landed heavier and heavier on the marbled floor.
Isaak fired the Gunkatana.
Just as Dylan was about to hook-punch Astrid, the Gunkatana’s blue-red bolt hit her in the chest, pushing her closer to Dylan. Dylan’s punch hit Astrid square in the face, the white knuckle-duster scarring her cheek, a line of light particles flying into the air.
Astrid let out a shriek, pulsing with sharp pain and fury. “You meddling bitch!” She grabbed Dylan by the neck. Her nails dug into her skin, drawing pixelated blood.
“Let her go!” Isaak shouted.
“And why the fuck would I do that?”
Dylan struggled to break free.
Isaak aimed down the Gunkatana’s sights.
No. It was too risky. He might hit Dylan.
“Come on, Gunky!” He jumped in the air, sword raised.
“I’m not sure about this course of action,” the sword said.
Astrid lifted Dylan with both hands and tossed her towards Isaak like a rag-doll human shield. Isaak’s blade was already swinging in their direction, too late to stop.
No! I’m going to hit Dylan! “Stop, sword!”
Something blasted into him from the side, ramming him away from Dylan and Astrid, and smashing a crater in the tarmac with his bulk.
Everything hurt.
Dylan careened away from Astrid. She spread her arms and rotated in mid-air, taking control of her fall and manoeuvering a three-point landing, knee, foot, and one hand on the floor.
“Dee-lan!” Miss Kitty leapt from Isaak into Dylan’s arms.
He watched as Dylan embraced her, stroking her tawny-brown coat. “You’re back!”
“He was about to be a silly goose…” the cat said. She sniffed Dylan’s nose and started licking.
“Oh, my beauty. I can’t believe you’re okay! Ow, ow, you’re biting me.”
“Sorry Dee-lan.” The cat rubbed her face on Dylan’s nose by way of an apology.
Isaak got up, shaking off the broken bits of rubble clinging to his clothes. “Thanks for the save, Kitty.”
“This is all very touching…” Astrid’s voice soured the moment, and all of them instantly turned to her again. “But aren’t you forgetting something?” She beckoned Talia’s cage towards her.
Before Astrid could touch her again, Isaak raised the Gunkatana and fired, muzzle-flash like a crack of lightning.
The bullet hit Astrid in the chest, tearing a chunk out of the metal armour.
Astrid grunted and jolted backwards from the impact, releasing her telekinetic grip on Talia. Pain twisted her body. “That hurts. More than it should be hurting!”
She waved her hands at them, but nothing came out of her fingertips. She looked worried, and suddenly a lot less terrifying. “What… What’s happening?”
Dylan winked at Isaak, who was just as confused as Astrid.
“Sacha,” Dylan said. “Does that name ring a bell? Another one of your lost boys? Well, he’s in your office right now, and I believe he’s just stuck a Sleeper on your head.” She let out a nervous laugh. “It’s over. You lost!”
Isaak’s chest swelled. His heart felt like it was about to burst out of him. Pride suffused his insides, a glowing, warm feeling.
Astrid’s hand went immediately to her temple. She scrabbled for tape to rip off, but of course it wasn’t there now. “What? How?” Astrid recoiled. “No. My security—”
“They’re gone. Jewel sold you out.”
“Well, I still have your little friend! I’ll kill her if you don’t—” But Astrid was already gesticulating wildly at Talia’s cage, and nothing was happening. “No! Die! Why won’t you fucking die?”
Dylan sidled closer to Astrid, who was now powerless to do much more than try to back away. “This is for her.” She lifted her knee up to her chest, then rotated her back leg and body, hitting Astrid with the full force of her roundhouse kick and slamming her onto the hard floor.
Then Dylan spoke into her comm. “Talia’s here. Punch it.”
Talia dematerialised from inside the cage.
Dylan walked confidently past Astrid’s shuddering shape, towards Isaak.
She looked breathtaking, each step leaving behind a spectral frame, like a ghostly vision of her.
She was glowing with power, having unlocked a new talent with her last attack, a level of power within the Tapeworld he had no idea even existed.
“Wow,” he said. “This was your plan? You’re perfect—”
She grabbed his head and kissed him. She tasted like strawberries.
“You fucking meddling vegans!” Astrid raged. “Trapping me with my own invention... You can’t stop the Second Revivalists! You thought I made the Sleeper just for myself? You can’t even imagine what’s coming…” She was on her knees, trying to stand up.
Dylan snapped her fingers and jolts of energy pummelled Astrid until she was convulsing on the floor, the remaining red armour plates shattering in every direction.
The knot in his throat loosened, and the pit in his gut dissipated. He pulled Dylan close and looked into her eyes, struggling to put every emotion going through him into words.
He was free. He was safe. He was happy.
He settled on, “Thank you, girl.”
“I got you, boy.”
“You’re glowing.”
She smiled. “You too.”
He waved his hand in front of him in disbelief. Excitement flooded his chest as the gesture left the same ghostly frames behind in the air.
“Whoa…” He balled his hand into a fist, and it glowed even brighter, before the spectral fragments derezzed into pixel particles. New-found energy coursed through his veins.
“Shall we?”
“What about her?” He gestured at Astrid, a mess of blood and sweat on the tarmac, staggering like a broken-down entertainment robot. She whimpered, seizures running down her spine.
“She’s not our problem anymore. Let Elodie figure it out.”
He nodded.
Dylan held onto Isaak’s piece of tape, a naughty smile on her lips.
Isaak did the same with hers.
“Ready? Three, two, one…”