This World

by Lee, TD

  “I did not wear the right clothes for this,” Drake says, his body completely turning into fire and releasing himself from the steel confines he was in. He moves over to Vesper and melts the ice away.

  I move over to Kirika. Her eyes are shut in absolute anguish as tears are starting to form at the edges of her eyes. “Kirika are you going to be okay?” I ask.

  Kirika shakes her head. “I-I don’t know. I can’t hold them for much longer, all of their pained voices is just becoming too much for me to handle.”

  “What do we do then?” Dom asks.

  “We best separate. Some of us will have to stay out here to fend of the supers while the others go inside and find the Seeker,” Adele answers quickly, “Dom, Vesper, you two will stay out here with Kirika.”

  “But Vesper knows where the Seeker is,” Ainia remarks.

  “He knows it is underground, but not the precise location. Perhaps if I can log into a computer inside, I can find out the exact location so we do not waste time searching idly,” Adele says, “this is our best chance.”

  “Alright, Dom, Vesper, and Shiko I guess, you guys gonna be okay out here?” Drake asks, somehow while still in his fiery form.

  Dom nods as she cracks her knuckles. “We’ll be fine, but hurry, just in case.”

  “Will do,” Adele says, “let us go!” Adele rushes through the doors and the rest of us follow suit.

  Inside the HERO HQ, it’s oddly quiet. Every single step we took echoes all throughout the building. It’s dimly lit in here, only a couple of lights are on with a couple of blinking computer monitors. Potential threats could be lurking in the shadows here and we just don’t know it. With Drake flying off Drake, still in his fiery form, flies off for a higher floor.

  “Drake!” Ainia calls out to him, but he doesn’t reply, “Where the hell does he think he’s going? The Seeker is on a lower floor, why is he flying up?”

  “He’ll be back,” I say. It’s not like Drake to just abandon us like this.

  “There may be some information on the whereabouts of the Seeker on one of these computers, I will have to do some deep searching,” Adele says, moving over to a computer and immediately typing away.

  “How are you even going to access those files anyway? HERO is pretty tight on their security no matter what kind of threat comes their way,” Ainia questions. She’s keeping a watchful eye all around us.

  “I have learned a thing or two about HERO’s security. There is always a flaw in the system,” Adele says confidently, her fingers typing away.

  Vesper suddenly snaps his fingers and waves at me and Ainia. He’s pointing down a hallway and wildly emoting at us.

  “Vesper what the hell are you trying to tell us?” Ainia asks.

  Vesper answers by wildly pointing down the same hallway, but he added some sword swinging and aggressive walking.

  Ainia angrily sighs and pulls out her phone just to shine a flashlight on the floor. “There, tell us what you’re saying.”

  Enemies are coming! (/ﾟДﾟ)/

  “What?” Ainia asks, pointing her sword at the hallway.

  Footsteps start echoing throughout the lobby. I can tell there’s a lot of them coming. Vesper readies up by taking out a couple of sickles from inside his jacket. An elongated arm comes towards us, Ainia slashes at it but her blade bounces off. The arm makes its way to Adele, but luckily Vesper moves so quickly that he is able to redirect that hand away from Adele. Coming out of the shadows is a gang of super people ready to fight.

  The group of super people make the first move as one super person with horns charges towards us with their horns pointed at us first. With how dark it is, it’s hard to tell how fast this guy is going, but thanks to Ainia we dodge. Followed up is an attack of spikes that fly toward us. Again, thanks to Ainia we don’t get hurt because she blasts the spikes away with her wind powers. Vesper is doing his best to fend off any of the super people that are targeting Adele with his assortment of weapons; how is he carrying all of these weapons in his coat?

  I, of course, am just standing around not being of any help. I can’t fight and these super people would pulverize me into dust within seconds if I tried. Anytime there’s something coming my way, I dodge it the best I can. Maybe I’ll get a nick or scratch here or there, but it’s better than dying outright. I have the data drive that’s going to help everyone, I can’t afford to let everyone down here.

  Despite her hard work, Ainia is getting overwhelmed with how many super people are attacking her. Once she uses her wind powers to push a group of supers away, another group would be blindsiding her. It’s an unfair advantage. Where’s Drake?

  A large flame comes from above. Descending is Drake in full costume that he wore during his most notorious years as a superhero. Form fitted and everything. I knew he wouldn’t just leave us like that, but about time he came back.

  “Took long enough,” Ainia says in between tired breaths.

  Drake descends and stands next to us and says, “Sorry, I burned my clothes off so I had to get this old, dusty thing.”

  “It’s fine, didn’t need to know that you were naked,” Ainia remarks.

  The two get back to fighting, now with Drake’s support it seems fighting against the super people is a bit more manageable. Adele needs to hurry with pinpointing where the Seeker is. There’s only more people coming now, not less. It doesn’t even seem that the supers that they do manage to take down stay down for long. They get back up, but act a bit sluggish before being able to move like they normally would.

  Ainia, Drake, and Vesper are able to end up tying all of the super heroes together by binding them with the elongated limbs of a superhero, I think Ainia muttered his name was Rubberband while she was in the middle of the fight. Any of the conscious supers are trying their best wiggle and force their way out of their confinement, but it seems that Rubberband is really hard to break.

  “You done yet Adele?” Ainia asks a bit annoyed. Adele has been taking quite a bit of time.

  “Yes, just about,” Adele replies. “It appears the Seeker is far underground about 200 feet below us.”

  “We can’t just use the elevator to get to it, I don’t have access to it,” Ainia remarks, she looks at Drake.

  “I don’t either, I can barely get in this place without people trying to get me out,” Drake says, “we might just have to break the cables of the elevator.”

  “That or find an appropriate keycard to gain us access,” Adele chimes in. “Although that will be a lot more difficult than it may appear.”

  “Nothing about this is easy,” Ainia remarks.

  “We’ll have to-”

  Drake interrupts himself as it seems he notices someone coming from the hallway we need to go down. Drake throws a flaming ball that illuminates the hallway as it travels, but gets deflected into the wall by the figure. Emerging from the shadows is the familiar superhero that Ainia never wants to ever be associated with. Blind Justice is ready for combat, he’s armed and moving aggressively towards Ainia.

  “On my command, you guys are going to run past him and to the elevator,” Ainia says, stretching out her wrists briefly.

  Ainia twirls her sword as she walks equally as aggressive towards Blind Justice. Even though she’s moving away, I can hear her speak to Blind Justice, "I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t waiting for this day to happen where I can prove that I can kick your ass and say that I’m strong enough to not ever be associated with you, but not like this. I never wanted us to fight like this, but everyone thinks you're the best at what you do and I'm the second best at what I do. I'll prove all of them wrong here and now because I was the best at what I did and what I did is not very nice."

  Without any further words or warning, the two clash. Their weapons echoing loudly through the lobby. Furniture, plants, and anything else is being destroyed by them. Ainia’s sword slices so cleanly that I’m honestly surprised that she hasn’t actually killed any of the supers that she’s had to go up against. Blin
d Justice would shoot lasers from his eyes that Ainia would deflect sometimes hitting a wall that immediately ignites into flames, sometimes hitting a hostile super to our benefit. Ainia uses her wind powers the best she can against Blind Justice, she’d throw him around or push him away, but it doesn’t seem like it’s enough.

  Where Blind Justice has strength, Ainia has agility. Blind Justice has speed, Ainia has skill. They’re interestingly contrasting, but I can see how they would also work so well together. Unfortunately for Ainia, she doesn’t have a plethora of superpowers to choose from like Blind Justice. Other than his laser eyes and superhuman physicality, he would sometimes breathe out fire or ice, his punches would create a powerful wave that knocks anyone in its path over if they’re not prepared. Blind Justice, even in this mind controlled state, seems to be so particular with his movements and strengths that it seems like he knows exactly what he’s doing.

  The supers that were bound by Rubberband release themselves and start attacking again. Luckily, Vesper and Drake were ready for it rather than continuously watching Ainia fight Blind Justice and immediately engage in battle.

  Adele and I spectate from a safe distance, but both of us would need to move around depending on what’s happening around us. A fist here, a fireball there, then suddenly acid from the air. Nowhere is particularly safe for us, but we make do with what we have.

  Ainia said to go when she said to, but she hasn’t said anything yet. Is there a reason why she’s been quiet still? She’s definitely occupying Blind Justice who is our biggest threat, so wouldn’t it be safe to go on ahead? Then again it’s Blind Justice, the most notorious hero of HERO. He probably has super speed to catch up with us which would make it really hard. Damn, we really do have to wait.

  Instead of just watching like I am, Adele has been doing her best to search for a keycard that we could potentially use. She doesn’t have any luck, it would be weird to even have such a valuable keycard lying around just for us to pick up.

  Ainia, using her agility to the best of her ability, maneuvers and rolls all around Blind Justice’s body. She uses the long tassel of her sword to wrap around different sections of Blind Justice’s body. Once it appears that she’s done, she moves away, holding her sword backwards. She’s tugging tightly at the now bound Blind Justice who’s having a hard time moving around. “Catch!” Ainia yells throwing something at me.

  What I almost drop is Blind Justice’s keycard. Wow, Ainia was able to get this from him?

  Ainia tugs her sword again, but this time Blind Justice is lifted into the air in an orb of constant raging wind. “Go! Now! I can’t hold him for too long!”

  “Drake! Go with Ridley” Adele orders.

  “What about you guys?” I ask.

  “Vesper can fend defend the both of us. We will act as distraction, maybe even go outside just to be able to have more firepower. Ainia is holding off Blind Justice the best she can, we cannot afford to waste time. You two need to go now!”

  After punching a super through the wall, Drake swoops down and picks me up. “Let’s go kid!” He flies so fast down the hall that none of the supers are able to catch us.

  Drake and I arrive at an elevator. We step in and scan a keycard that immediately starts descending, but it definitely doesn’t feel fast enough. I look over at Drake who is fidgeting and impatient. I can tell that he’s ready to get into more fights with the way that he’s just kind of bouncing a bit with his legs. He’s taking several deep breaths.

  “How’re you feeling?” I ask, as if I don’t know the answer to it.

  “Well, trying to save the world and not have former team members kill me is pretty much a great way to shoot up my adrenaline and fear so, all-in-all pretty pumped,” he answers me as he pops his back and knuckles. “We’ll have to be careful, there’s just one of me to fight so you have to stay close no matter what. If I’m flying, you find a safe place to hide until we can move again okay?”

  “Y-yeah,” I say. My heart drops a bit from the fact that we’re getting closer to where we need to be, but there’s just so much riding on just getting this data drive. My heart is pounding faster than it ever has before. The anxiety is getting to me.

  “Ridley, you’ll do fine,” Drake says, reading me like a book. “I know there’s a lot happening and it really depends on us to save everyone, but we have to remain calm. Or as calm as we can get if I’m speaking realistically here.”

  “R-right. I’ve just never done anything like this before,” I reply, “I just wish I was more ready.”

  “No one really is ready for things like this. Heroics wait for no person, they just have to act,” Drake says. He places his hand on my hand starts ruffling up my hair a bit.

  “That’s strangely profound coming from you,” I say.

  Drake manages a smile somehow amidst the situation we’re in. “Jackel said that to me. It never really occurred to me how true it is.”

  The elevator comes to a violent stop. A flashing red light assaults my eyes. It doesn’t appear that we’ve arrived to the right spot yet since the elevator door isn’t opening by itself. I hear something land on top of the elevator followed up with loud pounding. It sounds like someone is trying to break in here.

  “Shit!” Drake says. He puts his fingers in the crack of the elevator door and forces it open. In front of us is nothing, but a dark wall. “Hold on tight,” he warns me as he grabs me tightly. He shoots fire from his palm at the floor and melts it so we fall through.

  My stomach feels like it’s in my throat as we freefall so fast that I’m scared that we’re probably just going to die by splattering all over at the end of the elevator. Why isn’t Drake flying!? I hold onto him because my life definitely depends on it. I can’t see anything so I don’t even know if the floor is coming up soon or not.

  Drake does start to have us slow down our descent to the point that he’s finally flying again. I feel like I’m going to throw up. I can just feel the vomit rising in my body.

  “Please don’t, not on me at least,” Drake says. I guess he’s able to feel my body starting to vomit.

  I look up to see if there was anything following us since there was something or someone that was on the elevator with us. But when I look up all I see is darkness, what was I thinking? Drake creates a flame that falls with us just to light up this long elevator shaft. There doesn’t appear to be any door or hallway at all so Drake just continues to descend down. It is until we reach the very bottom that there’s finally a door that Drake forces open that we enter.

  This hallway is strangely clean and fresh looking. The walls are a light blue with nothing staining them. There’s a couple of doors that appear to be sliding doors that lead into several different rooms that we have absolutely no time to explore. There’s several branches the hall takes with no indicator of where the Seeker is so we just have to hope that each turn takes us to the right spot.

  It took several times backtracking and turning to finally find a large door that looks like it could lead to the Seeker. When we approach it, it won’t automatically open. I try the keycard and nothing happens.

  “What do we do?” I ask Drake.

  “Can’t wait to get fined for this,” Drake says. He takes a step back and starts blasting the door with fire.

  “Are you trying to melt it?” I ask.

  Drake nods. “It’s the only way that I can think of for us to get in there. This door probably needs more than just the keycard to open and I doubt we have all of the other requirements.”

  Drake continues to try to melt the door. I stand around just getting more and more nervous and anxious. The Seeker is close, I need to get the data drive in it. I don’t even know exactly what the Seeker looks like so how can I just put this thing in it?

  The floor shakes a bit, which is concerning since we’re so far down from the surface. Crashing through the door is a large orange man-creature thing that tackles Drake. The orange man roars violently that only intimidates me to not move at all.r />
  “Go Ridley, I’ll hold him off!” Drake says, getting up and immediately fighting with the orange man.

  “I-I.”

  “Go! This is your chance to get in there, if you don’t take it now, we’ll probably never get another one!” Drake says. He gets grabbed by the leg and slammed into the floor and walls like a ragdoll toy. He recovers and uses his super strength to punch the orange man away from him. “Go now!”

  It takes me a moment to actually be able to force my legs to move through the large hole of the door, but I finally do.

  What I find on the other side of the door is a scarily large dome room. Lining up all around the walls are large screen monitors that make up a larger screen. Showing up is the globe of Earth with many red dots on each of the continents which does not look good. There’s a bridge I’m standing on that’s suspended in the air, but does not connect with the other side of the room. At the end of this bridge is a large computer looking device and a large chair that I can tell is occupied. Holy shit, is this it? Is this the moment? Is that King? Does he know that I’m in here with him?

  I move along the bridge quietly. King might not know that I’m in here so I just have to-

  Something punches my face and I’m kicked to the floor. Oh no one of the earbuds fell off. That can’t be good! I try to stand up, but something is forcing me on the floor. I can feel a heavy foot on my chest. I can barely see the person standing on me. It’s a rather muscular woman dressed in a revealing costume with her eyes completely glazed over.

  Why hello there. I’m rather surprised that you managed to make it this far despite not being a superhero.

  No! Shit! Even if there wasn’t forcing me on the floor, I can’t move because I lost control of my body. I can’t say anything or do anything.

  I knew keeping you around as my little seedling would sprout into something beneficial for me. And you have come and given me the exact thing that I needed.