by BRANDON WOO
14
The Device
Alice:
Its been a day. No sign of Luke.
I’m starting to wonder are my powers giving me a hallucination toil too.
I can’t be that crazy right? I mean even The Detective said he is after all a ghost story. I wanted to see Luke again. His tone sounded like he is lost, angry. Like his emotions being tied in a knot. It feels like I should save him than kill him. I went to school as usual, walking towards the locker area. I got to my locker and grabbed a few books. I stared at my locker blankly and scanned around for Amanda. Nothing.
Often times, Amanda and I had alone time from each other. She was a person who wanted the limelight while I never wanted that but here we are, me having the limelight from the wrong crowd while she only gets it in only some places. That small chunk of purple hair added two more chunks now. Three to be exact. It went from my right to having one at the center and left side of my hair. So far, still nice. Its stopped growing ever since the last time I checked it. Must have been it maximum growth. When my parents asked, I told them I’m trying out some color.
I mean having the city looking at a badly printed image of you on the newspapers is really. Wired.
Dazzle Girl got a bit of fame.
DAZZLE GIRL’S SIDE KICK OR COMPETITION?
To begin with, Sand boy and I barley know each other.
It was only one incident where I met Jacob Brown.
Huh, I remembered his name.
But anyways, we are neither.
I felt kind of bad leaving him hanging on the sand cloud but I had other matters to attend to. Just thinking about Luke scares me, with
Amanda’s life is at risk I won’t be able to live with myself.
I have to prevent it from ever happening but I don’t even know where to start. I can’t imagine life without her.
She was my only best friend but also my greatest weakness.
If anyone knew Dazzle Girl is Alice Dagger,
Its goodnight Amanda Summers And goodnight Alice Dagger.
Which is why I wanted the Detective to find him fast.
I walked pass a few classrooms. Thinking about what Luke said. I don’t think we’ve met before. Not even at the Docks if I recall.I still believed I can keep these two lives of mine together. If I could just look for Luke and end him, I can. Because of that, one part of me has to die for now Its
Dazzle Girl or Alice.
Several other kids walked in and out from it. I walked pass the kids, making for the toilet. I made it through to the sea of kids with backpacks to the door of the office. Their heavy backpacks bumped me hard. Some were missed.
I pushed through and walked towards the janitors closet.
Then I stopped at a horrifying figure of a man appearing from the door.
A scary man wearing the janitor’s uniform.
That disgusting old orange uniform that tall figure, it looked too familiar. It was him.
My one of my worst nightmares, finding The Detective in my school.
Its the Detective! What is he doing here?
I walked towards the janitor.
His figure was clear.
That tall figure, that face young but slightly aged face. His dark brown hair well combed. But looked quite gray a bit.
He sneaked into the science lab.
I carefully crept into the lab and sneaked behind him.
He began to pull out some device in his hand.
PEZZZZZZZZZ~
The device buzzed in a low frequency.
PEZZZZZ~ it stopped. I crouched lower, freezing solid.
PEZZZZZ~ it started again. I began to move.
“Detective...” I whispered.
“Mr D!” I called patting him on the back.
The Detective panicked, he jolted and began to fumble around the room.
Trying to hide the device he made.
“hello girl...” he said in a sweet tone.
“can it D. Its me.” I said.
His face changed from that smiling face back to his serious face.
“you really shouldn’t call me that.” he said. He turned back to the empty lab and pulled his device out.
PEZZZZZZ~ there is that buzzing again.
His voice didn’t sound too pleasant. It sounded like he had a soar throat.
“sorry.” I said quickly trying not to be awkward.
“what are you doing here in my school anyway?” I asked.
“I’m...looking...for something.” he said distracted.
He began to twitch the device in his hand and slid it in his pocket.
“what’s that?” I asked.
“well,” The Detective said.
“I think I told you I had trouble with my powers before right?”
“yeah..” I said confidently. The Detective is a Firefly. He has the power to control electricity but at a low amp. Because of this he can only fire his powers for a very limited amount of time and to strengthen it, he needs things made of metal to amp up his powers as well as original sources.He can also talk to people in their heads.“this! Could help me.” he said pulling out a mini torch light like object.The whole object appears to be made of metal.
The handle tip appeared to be made of copper. The center of the device is this strange looking cylinder twisting mechanism that is white and behind it is a black button cylinder. The button is also black.
The twisting mechanism appears to have four turns labeled in well drawn symbols black. There was a big thick line on top of the cylinder, indicating its the selected point.
The first one is a lighting bolt. Signifying powers of electricity.
The second one is what appears to be a WI-FI symbols.
“is this free WI-FI?” I asked.
“no!” he said. “it stands for scan.” he explained.
“oh..”I said. I kept looking and found third symbol.
An EMP symbol of a lightning symbol with an arrow tip facing downwards.
The last symbol is the symbol of a cross.
“repair I think.” I said.
“yes, it can repair anything including organic stuff.” he said.
“the EMP part is also a force shield. It disturbs other machines and also shields the user from any outer force.” he explained.
“its my tool now.” he added.
The front tip of the device is an emerald ball placed at the end and six copper rings filling up until the tip. Along side the black button, a push-up button. When I pushed up the button, the emerald extended out from the copper ring slightly longer. The buzzing changed than its original buzzing down.
“looks cool.” I said. “ you made this? what should you name it?” I asked. “Yes, I’m an inventor too you know. Its called The Wand.” he answered “oh” I said quietly.
“wait, what are you doing in my school?” I asked.
“I told you, I’m looking for something.” he answered.
There he goes again! Oblivious.
Is he being oblivious or is he just forgetful?
The Detective can be smart, straight forward, mysterious but forgetful?
How is he being all this?
“yeah I know.” I nodded “but what are you after?”
“follow me!” he said.
We walked quickly towards the janitor’s room.
The crowd of teenage kids stared as we walked out of the science lab to the janitor’s room.
People started mocking me. It would be totally wired when you hang out with a slightly old man.
We entered the janitor’s room. The Detective crawled through the pile of cleaning items. I followed him through the squishy and gooey brooms and mops. I never been into the janitor’s room.
I mean I am cool in school but I was never bullied.
I’m not like those super dramatic beauty queens.
Unlike some of the girls who tried to get close to the next hot guy, I only focused on
ly on one. Andrew Waller.
Wonder how is he? I didn’t talk to him since prom night.
How did he take in what happened during prom?
When your prom date ends the night that awkwardly, you might miss your chance getting a kiss from someone as attractive as Andrew Waller.
“Here it is!” The Detective said.
The Detective pulled out a picture of a strange figure in the photo.
“this is what you are after?” I asked.
The picture shows a metal human torso, its face was four eyed with no mouth. It has three horns sticking out from each side of its top head.
Its left arm appears to be a slightly bigger Gatling gun and its other arm is an arm with a grappling hook mechanism at the end.
Its legs are not human legs. Instead, spider like legs with only four.
It also appeared to have a fairly long retractable tail.
“they call it Fox Trap.” The Detective explained.
“Lab Tech. Adaptive intelligent machines.”
He pointed the Gatling gun.
“that gun is not even a gun.” he said
“what is it?” I asked.
“some kind of heat laser.” he explained.
“capable of destroying an entire town.” The Detective kept the picture.
“rouge experiment.” he said. “they were build for hunt and track down Convicts but failed when it went rouge against its creators.” he described. “Some of The Lab’s rarest dark secrets. This one went live a few days ago. They were all down. I don’t know how this came live.”
My eyes widen when I heard that phrase. “then, why is it here?” I asked. “Its sole purpose is to hunt Convicts. Its programmed to hunt YOU.”
“so let me get this straight.” I said.
“This Fox Trap, of all people came to hunt me?” I asked.
“well, yeah.” he said. “your the nearest Convict in town.”
but if the Detective is here, it might have a trace of HIM instead of ME.
“then why are you here?” I asked.
“oh ya, I almost forgot.” he pulled out a silver badge from his pocket and handed it over. The badge had a kitchen knife that has a butterfly symbol layering it at the back. “you are now officially my partner.” He congratulated. “wow.” I was lost for words.
I never got a badge before.
“what an honor.”I said. “thank you.”
“and as your partner, we look out for each other.” he have me a pat on the shoulder and stared right into me.
I tried to pretend that everything is okay.
But its not. There is something hunting me down.
I tried to pay attention in class but the thought of The Detective in my school distracted me from paying attention in class.
Math was difficult. All the calculations made my head hurt.
I’m good at math but The Detective worries me.
“sure he is fine.” I thought.
The last period bell rang, the teacher requested us to do home work but I doubt they will. I passed by Andrew Waller but he didn’t noticed me.
I was going to call him but The Detective walked pass me on the other side and said one word that made me turned back “come!” I sighed and followed him into the janitor’s room.
The Detective kept a keen eye on The Fox Trap.
He was earlier seen marching foolishly around the hall when everyone left. Sometimes I wondered if The Detective is either trying to be funny or is still a child. A grown up child. We cramped inside the janitor’s room again. The Detective turned to me.
I tried smiling. Hiding my worries from The Detective.
“ready to work?” The Detective.
I took a deep breath and began power up my powers.
My palm glowed in a huge purple light.
The light glowed, reveling my purple short sleeve shirt and a long dark blue jeans.“lets just get this over with.” I said.
Its almost dark outside.
The moonlight was shining in through the windows.
“I’ve placed some trackers around the school area.” The Detective said.
“it covers a 50 Millimeter radius, so when something non-organic touches the radius. The tracker will beep and we will get our Fox Trap.”
I am sometimes shocked at the look of the wonders he could create with just a few simple tools.
He pulled out his i-phone and pressed an app.
The app revealed a top view blue outlined version of the school on a black background.
The trackers were red and constantly beeping, letting out a red expansion. Detecting any signs of other beings.
“dude, how old are you?” I asked.
The Detective looked me. “we’re not very different you know.” he said.
He turned back to the I-phone and checked.
We’re cramped in the janitor’s room.
Its the only room where we can get all the trackers under the i-phone.
I sat very close to The Detective, I am nervous.
The tracker in the cafeteria began to beep.
A strange yellow figure appeared crawling around.
“there!” The Detective said.
We marched out to the hall and ran towards the cafeteria.
The moonlight was our only light.
I powered my hands preparing to shoot while running.
The Detective took The Wand out and switched it to SCAN.
The Wand’s emerald glew brighter, creating that buzzing sound I heard earlier.
We slowed down looking left to right.
“come on, cafeterias this way.” I said.
“no, no, no...” The Detective mumbled. “oh that’s very clever!” he added. “what?” I asked.
The Detective’s Wand beeped weakly at our direction, that indicates that we are cold. The Detective turned to the left, weaker.
The moment he turned to the right, the beeps become faster.
“this way!” he said. “how does it know what to search for?” I asked.
“collected data.” he answered. “installed it this evening.”
We ran to the science labs. The beep gets stronger and stronger.
We’re closer.
I barged into the science lab.
“watch out!” The Detective shouted.
Its The Fox Trap!
Shooting relentless beams of heat laser.
“SOLUTION EQUALS TERMINATE TERMINATE!”
“Terminate?” I thought...
“CODE NAME DETECTIVE, TERRANCE JONES.”
“Terrance Jones?”
“TERMINATE! TERMINATE!” it screamed in its robotic voice.
The Detective switched the Wand to ELECTRICITY
TSEWWWWWWZZZZZZZ~
The Wand released a stream of green light with blue electricity swirling over the light onto the Fox Trap.
“VOLTAGE,” It said stared down at the stream.
Its head turned up, glaring at The Detective.
“SOURCE. WEAPON. ENGAGE!” The Fox Trap started clawing its way to The Detective.
Without any hesitation, I blasted my light beams at The Fox Trap.
PEW! PEW! PEWZZZZZZZ~
The Fox Trap was emotionless, restless. It dosen’t seemed bothered by the beam. “TERMINATE! TERMINATE!” repeated The Fox Trap, marching towards The Detective.
I pushed my beams up to eleven. PEWZZZZZ~
The Detective struggled to keep up with his powers. “keep it up Alice!” he said. Stopped shooting at the Fox Trap and ran to the nearby cafeteria tables. The Fox Trap was fast but not fast enough.
“where are you going?” I asked trying to keep it together.
“distract it!” he said. “I got an idea.”
I switched it to Butterfly Mode.
My skin glowed, purple lights began to emerge.
PEW! PEW! PEW!
I fired several warning shots and backed up.
The Fox Trap turned to me. Oh boy!
The Detective began throwing chairs at the Fox Trap. The Fox Trap turned back to The Detective. “TERMINATE!”
PEWZZZZZ~
I blasted a long beam again at the Fox Trap..
“interesting.” he said dodging from the heat beams fired at him.
“it’s build to take hits and give hits.” he said.
“TERMINATE! TERMINATE!”
“is that suppose to be helpful?” I yelled.
“it would if you’d let me finish.” he replied.
I kept my beams up at at The Fox Trap.
The Fox Trap just kept marching, slower.
“TERMINATE!” The Fox Trap repeated. God, does it ever shut up?
“ANYTIME NOW!” I cried.
“I’ve got it!” The Detective crawled out from the counter and threw more chairs at The Fox Trap.
One of the chairs almost hit me.
“TERMINATE!” The Fox Trap stopped turning towards me then back to the Detective.
I took a big side jump to another corner.
“hey!” I shouted.“are you crazy?”
The Detective switched on his Wand to EMP and launched it to the Fox
Trap. Instantly, the Wand gave out a blue and green shock wave rings expanding all over our surroundings. I stopped beaming and got down to the nearest table and took cover.
PEZZZZZ~
PEZEEEEEEEEEEE~ the sound of the Wand changed.
The Fox Trap’s movements began to slow down.
The Detective got closer towards The fox Trap
“TERMINATE! TERMINATE! TERMIN...ATE...”
It began to power down.
We both let out a big sigh when it was over.
The Fox Trap stood there freezing solid.
“Shut down!” The Detective said.
“EMP can always turn uncontrollable devices down.”
The Detective turned static.
“uh-oh!” he said.
The EMP not only affected the Fox Trap but also The Detective.
Who turned out to be a hologram.
The hologram began to fade out.
The Wand fell to the ground and through that hologram revealed a kid.
Around fourteen to sixteen-years-old. Fair skinned.
He has Short black hair, brown eyes, his face slightly round,
He was wearing worm green jeans,
blue Converse sneakers and a blue hooded jacket.
“Terrance Jones?” I asked kindly.
The kid looked around his surroundings.
He Picked up The Wand and looked up at me.
I stared back at him.
In its slightly deep voice, he began to talk.“hello Alice. My name is Terrance Jones. Also known as, The Detective.”
I was stunned. I was confused.
All along The Detective was just a child?
Terrance turned to the Fox Trap and scanned the Fox Trap with The Wand. “you’re just a kid?” I asked.
“to be fair Alice, You can’t even talk to your crush so ya, I’m a kid and I’m smarter than you.” Terrance smirked.
WHAT?! Is this cheeky kid messing with me?
Me. An eighteen-year-old girl taunted by a kid.
Now I’m mad.
I powered up and marched towards him to hit him in the face.
I grabbed him on the shoulder fairly tightly “HEY!” I called.
Terrance turned back to me and switched the Wand to EMP and pushed open the Wand.
“when I press this button, the Wand will hit you in the face and expands a huge bubble of a force filed that will trap you.” he taunted.
His stare was stunningly scary.
I wanted to hit him for that cheeky mouth of his but I don’t know what will the force filed do either.
His threat for using a force filed.
I powered down and lowered my hand.
I’m trying to beat up a kid here, how low have I gone?
“sorry.” I said quickly.
“I’m sorry too, Alice.” Terrance said.
“but we’ve got bigger things to worry about.”
Then it occurred to me.
Now that we’ve shut the Fox Trap down, how are we going to take it away from the school?
More importantly, what are we going to do about this huge mess at the cafeteria? I asked myself.
“I think I can help with that.” Terrance said.
Remember what I said about the REPAIR icon?
Its finally going to be seen repairing something for the first time.
Terrance ran off to the janitor’s room and pulled out some brooms and mops. “hey!” I snarled. “you read my mind again!”
“clean up! I’ll fix some of the damages for you.” he said.
He demonstrated by circulating the Wand around a heat beam shot on the counter.
PEZZZZZ~ the buzzing sound started. A green light glowed over the hole. Blue streams of light layered over the hole.
I looked at the hole glowing as it repairs itself.
Within a moment, the hole was fixed. Not a scratch.
“see?” he said with a smile.
It took a few minutes to get a hold of everything and clean up the mess and keep everything intact.
Terrance helped me unlock a door using The Wand’s SCAN.
Its second function. Unlock or lock items.
We pushed the Fox Trap to my locker.
Terrance pulled some kind of gun like device from his back pocket and aimed at my locker. Preparing to shoot.
“whoa! whoa!” I said pushing him off target.
“what are you doing?” I asked.
“relax,” he said.
“I need to create a portal back my house. A shortcut if you like.” he pulled the device out again. “this can help me.” he aimed again.
“wait wait..”I stopped him again.
“how is it possible?” I asked, confused. “I don’t think portals can exist.”
“uh yeah. You just stopped a Fox Trap and now you think I can’t create a portal?” he asked. “now please.”
“but how?” I asked.
“ah! So you just do this.” he reached for the gun out of my hand and aimed this small black revolver like device at the locker. He pushed me a few steps back and aimed again. The device has a slightly bigger barrel on the front expanding from the center of the revolver while the back remains like a typical revolver with the trigger, hammer, grip and cylinder intact.
Terrance shot at the locker.
BLAM!
The shot’s impact created a blue hole.
A huge blue circle began to emerge in size at the locker, I was in awe that this portal appeared out from that hybrid gun.
“portal revolver. cool huh?” he asked sliding the gun into his jeans pocket
“ladies first.” he stood to the side and bowed politely.
I slowly walked into the portal and noticed this is a mirrored version of the school. The sign of my school basketball team banner was written upside down. Terrance walked into the portal and emerged pushing The Fox Trap in. The hole vanished and closed up.
“welcome to the negative zone.” he greeted.
The Negative zone, as described from Terrance is a mirrored version our world without the people or life forms in it.
“how come no one lives here?” I asked.
“cause its negative.” he answered.
“negative means everything is an opposite from our world. Including the structure, life forms and...” before he could finish I tripped on a bump on the floor and began to fall.
But instead of falling face first on the ground, I began floating.
Terrance grabbed me by the leg, stopping me from floating and higher.
“even gravity.” he finished. Using all the might he had,
Terrance pushed me off to the air and joined me in the air.
“this is so cool!” I said. “negative zone, everything is its opposite.”
he said.
we ventured into the Negative zone with style. Sure, it was hard to get down but once I got used to it, the negative zone became easy.
Like being in space but with oxygen.
We passed through the buildings, everything opposite.
We finally returned to Terrance’s house.
outside his house to his room.
Terrance’s room is what you expect from a teen.
“so exactly who are you? How is your hologram so good?” I asked.
“My name is Terrance Jones, I’m sixteen and that’s because it reacts to light normally until an EMP showed up.” he shows of his white solid wrist band with a black button at its base under his sleeve.
“this watch allows me to create the hologram. Refereed from some of the cutest guys from movies.” no wonder I was so attracted to him.
“Alice I’m sorry I lied to you but I need to make sure if I could trust you.”. “that is not a watch and you can.” I said. “so what do you need?”
“I need to find out about The Fox Trap and why its targeting me instead it was suppose to target you.”
“so it was suppose to come after me, but it turned to go after you?” I asked.
“yes.” he answered. “and I need to find out why.”
He turned to the Fox Trap and started checking.
I took light steps around and looked.
His room is very clean. His desk has a good table lamp shining over him. Near to his window. Right behind him is his tidy bed. His bed has an orange background space themed bed sheet and his blanket is blue with sky blue and white circles. The cupboard was well closed at the back of the door. Beside his cupboard is a shelf of neatly kept books of classic fairy tales and right below that shelf is a basket of other tools and electronic devices neatly kept. He seems to be a mature teen.
“I like it here.” I said.
“go home Alice.” Terrance said. “why?” I asked.
He dropped the Wand and turned to me.
“cause you’re not supposed to be here.” he turned back and started working again. “but you brought me here.” I said.
“yeah. And that’s a bad idea on my part.” he joked.
That’s not even funny. “where are your parents?” I asked.
“they’re are gone.” he said quietly after a long pause.
“gone where?” I asked. Terrance dropped the Wand again and turned around. “why are you so curious Alice?” he asked.
“well, kinda like Alice in Wonderland isn’t it. Curious-er and curious-er by the minute.” I smiled back at him. “go home Alice!” he repeated.
He’s not like the Detective. He sounds more grumpier and fussy.
Maybe this is his real self.
Maybe Terrance Jones is the reality of his personality and The detective is the loving illusion of him.
“so how old did you set The Detective to be anyway?”
“much much older than you. Around 29.” he said.
“I’m actually turning eighteen soon.”
Terrance turned to me slowly.
“oh, Congratulations.” he said. I could feel his sincerity in his words.
“thank you.” I said.
All this time The Detective treated me like a tool and I fell for it. But he was just a child and we were a good team. Maybe he’s just lonely. Maybe he does need a friend who knows a bit of the outside world. I tried not to be passive about it and accept it. There was a long pause while I wrapped my head around what just happened.“Alice this doesn’t change anything. You can’t go back to your old life, your a Convict now. ” he said.
“yeah?” I answered. “and what about you?” I asked. Terrance kept silent. His face filled in guilt. “thought so. I’ll see you around Terrance.” I took off from his room window and ran home.
Inside of me I thought to myself, this changes everything.
I went home thinking about the Detective hologram.
It felt real, it looked real. But when an EMP hits it, It fades off.
Maybe just maybe, Luke could be a hologram.
A good one. Solid like a clay.
Maybe under that body could be a little child. I turned and ran to a large football filed.
ZEZEZEZEZEZEZEZE~TSEEEEEEEW~ TSEEEEEEEW~
ZEZEZEZEZEZEZEZE~ TSEEEEEEEW~ TSEEEEEEEW~
Stopping there to catch my breath.
I looked up to the night sky.
Thinking about Luke. Trying to recall if I’ve seen him before.
Then out of a sudden I could hear footsteps, rustling through the grass.
I turned and saw a figure that was all too familiar. A fair skinned young man around my age, wearing jeans, blue sneakers and a brown jacket with the hood on and the jacket unzipped. Inside, he wore a worm green shirt. His eyes glowed in light green while his brown hair was combed.
He’s here! I realized. “Luke?” I asked.
But the figure just stood there. “you know you are a very brave girl. But why do you have to set that Fox Trap off? They are as hard as they come by you know.” He walked up to me and stopped.
“you sent the Fox Trap to my school?” I asked.
“bingo!” he said clapping his hands excitedly.
I got my powers ready. Preparing to beam, he’s not going anywhere.
“but why?” I asked. There was silence. “because ‘she’ promised that ‘we’ can live in peace until you came in. ” he scowled.
“what are you? Are you a butterfly?” I asked
“I have no idea.” he said cocking his head to the side as through he’s considering it.“maybe I am one... Maybe I’m not... Its not for you or me to know. Yet. But what should concern you at the moment is that what am I going to do with you, like right now. All this power at MY finger tips...” heh heh. He said with a smile in his words.
“what to do with it eh?”
His tone became even more taunting than it already was.
“oh I know!” he exclaimed. My eyes widen facing him as he glows in bright green light. A beamed, surrounding the field, following by a loud banshee like scream his light glew brighter and brighter, before I even noticed, I was blinded by the brightness. He started to grow in height and size, morphing into something much more terrifying. I tried to turn up, staring at it but the light became too bright for me to even see.
The light grew intense and then,
Gone. In an instant. No Luke, no bright light. Again.
Realizing it he’s back, I ran back home and went to my room.
“hey!” my mom said. “why are you home so late?” she asked.
“uh detention.” I Lied and raced to my room, closing the doors and started my computer.
I feel bad for lying but I had no time. I need to get answers.
I started to Google the site; Convict link Amanda shared it to me.
The site keeps all info about all Convicts.
Its made by The Lab to inform the public about Convicts.
I browsed through the site and found a NATURAL DANGER link. I clicked it and found something that I encountered lately.
A picture of neon green worm.
It called a, like Terrance said, A Glossy Worm
It Causes hallucinations and makes you insane. It also becomes a mind controlling agent, controlling your movements. They need a host to survive. They use our ears and enter the brain. Once that happens, they control you. Mine must have failed because it only entered my hair.
I kept reading and found something eerie than the worm itself. It came from a Glossy Queen and will turn a human into a, Tsetse Fly. A Convict with the ability to create deadly acid that kills you when in contact. The one that went in me was just a worm.
I was almost infected?
This turns out to me more dangerous than I thought.
And a note on the site, The Lab believes that there is a society of these worms in our world, it is also believed that the
y also have a Queen, who is an Omega of all the Glossy Worm. That’s when it hit me, LUKE!
He was all this time, maybe a Convict infected by a Glossy Worm.
Controlled by a worm, helpless.
This is my fight. This is between me and him.
If I’m going to stop him and I’ll have to do it alone.