“I told you, I don’t know,” said the boy, in a soft, high pitched voice. “I only just discovered my… my gift.”
“There were other champions with you,” said Rain Dancer. “Who were they?”
“Melt…” whispered the boy. “And the other one was… Greenthumb, I think.”
Malcolm recognized the names. Melt and Greenthumb were two field champions who had paid him a visit shortly after he’d joined the Champion Authority. They’d been looking for Rose, and at the time, she’d been hiding in his apartment. It had taken Malcolm a while to assuage their suspicions, but somehow, he’d managed it.
I guess they also find and locate the newly gifted, probably to train as champions.
“Come clean,” said Rain Dancer. “I can tell that you’re lying. Tell me what you know of the local champions, or things are going to stop being fun for you, you know.”
“I swear I don’t know anything!” cried the boy. “Please! I don’t know! I’ve never seen their base. They didn’t tell me where we were going. I was just walking with them, and then… you guys attacked us… and…”
Rain Dancer looked furious, but Malcolm could tell from the demon’s breathing that he was trying to keep himself under control.
“…So be it,” said Rain Dancer.
“Are you… going to torture me?” asked the boy.
Rain Dancer chuckled.
“Do that thing again,” he said.
Malcolm leaned a little further into the doorway, watching as the boy extended his hand and wiggled his fingers. A small chunk of concrete had broken loose from the floor in one spot, and it lifted on its own, hovering up a couple of inches. It looked as though it was taking the boy a great deal of effort to maintain it, and after a couple of seconds, he sighed and let it drop to the floor.
Telekinesis, maybe? Interesting…
“Teddy, I want to give you a choice in what comes next, ya?” said Rain Dancer. “But the only way you get one is if you show us how strong you really are.”
“I… can be strong,” whispered the boy. “Just please, don’t kill me.”
“I’m not going to kill you, Teddy,” said Rain Dancer. “Just a test.”
“…What test?”
“You have to get out of this cell, Teddy,” said Rain Dancer. “You’ll only have a few minutes to do it. Just use your powers at full strength, get the door open, and you’ll be safe. Easy, you know?”
“But… but…” Teddy was shaking his head. “I can’t!”
He reached out to grab Rain Dancer as the demon turned to leave. Rain Dancer knocked him to the floor with a push. He started to turn toward the door, and Malcolm realized that he needed to hide, fast.
Malcolm jumped, pulling the wind underneath him and propelling himself toward the ceiling. The hallway was just narrow enough for him to wedge himself into it by pushing his hands into one side, and his feet into the other.
He watched Rain Dancer walk out, praying that the demon wouldn’t look up. Rain Dancer didn’t even notice him. He watched as Rain Dancer closed the door to Teddy’s cell, and slid a heavy latch into place before turning a key to lock it from the outside.
Malcolm waited until Rain Dancer disappeared down the hall, and then let himself fall to the floor. He tried the door, finding it solidly locked, and then gave it a gentle knock.
“Hey!” he hissed. “Teddy? Can you hear me?”
Malcolm heard a startled cry come from the other side.
“Who… is it?” asked the boy.
“A friend,” he said. “I’m Wind Runner. I’m with the Champion Authority.”
“You’re… Wind Runner?” Teddy’s voice was practically reverent. “You! I… can’t believe it. When I first got my powers, all I could think of was being like you…!”
Well, he kind of ended up in the same situation I was in yesterday, so there’s that.
“We have to get you out of here,” said Malcolm. “Do you know where the key for your door is?”
“He said I have to get out of the cell on my own,” said Teddy. “He said… Oh god!”
Malcolm heard a new noise, something that didn’t make any sense. It sounded like a waterfall had just burst into existence on the other side of the door.
“He’s filling the room up with water!” shouted Teddy. “There’s a pipe in the top! He’s… going to drown me.”
Malcolm swore under his breath.
“How fast is the water filling up?” asked Malcolm.
Teddy screamed in reply, which seemed like answer enough. Malcolm tugged at the door. It was heavy metal, and the latch locking it was a stiff iron bar.
“Wind Runner!” screamed Teddy. “Do something!”
What am I supposed to do? Rain Dancer has the key. I’ll lose if I try to fight him for it.
“Teddy, use your power!” said Malcolm. “Try to push from that side, and I’ll try to shake the door from this one.”
“A…Alright.”
Malcolm kept one hand on the door, feeling it jiggle slightly from Teddy’s efforts. He tried to force wind into the lock. The door was airtight, and there was no way for him to get his wind manipulation to the other side.
“Try pulling, Teddy!” said Malcolm. “Can you pull the door toward you? Does your power work that way?”
“I can try,” he said. “Hurry! The water is… it’s up to my waist!”
Malcolm took a couple of steps back from the door. He took a deep breath and reached out, summoning as much of the wind as he had the strength to. He threw it forward in a massive, directed blast, trying to hit the door in a way that would knock it loose by breaking the hinges.
He knew he was taking a risk. Already, the euphoria from overdoing it with his powers was surging into him. It felt almost like a challenge, a goal in a video game. Get the door off the cell to save Teddy’s life. Time was ticking away, and only he could save the day.
I need to stay focused. I can’t lose myself, not with this kid’s life on the line.
“Wind Runner!” Teddy was coughing on the other side of the door. “I… I can’t.”
Malcolm gritted his teeth. He felt something dangerous twist inside him as he let loose with another wind blast. He was chuckling, drunk on his powers, but the strength he was putting into his efforts went beyond anything he’d done before.
The door shook, shifted forward an inch or two, and then fell off its hinges and into the hallway. It was followed by several thousand gallons of water and an extremely waterlogged and grateful teenage boy.
“There,” said Malcolm, taking deep breaths. “Come on. We have to find my other friend, and then we’re getting out of here.”
“That’s enough.” Rain Dancer stepped into the hallway. “You’re a fool, Wind Runner. You just murdered one of our allies by sticking your nose in where it doesn’t belong.”
Malcolm didn’t waste time on words. He summoned the wind, still feeling the flutter of the euphoric body load from what he’d just done. There was still water pooling on the ground nearby, and he had a theory about what Rain Dancer’s weakness might be.
Drop anything electrical into water, and it short circuits!
He splashed Rain Dancer with a solid, wind propelled, scoop of water. Rain Dancer just laughed.
“Not a bad try,” he said. “Not even close though.”
Rain Dancer threw his hand forward, hitting Malcolm with a burst of electricity intense enough to make it feel like the fillings in his teeth were about to explode. Malcolm fell to the ground without enough breath left in his lungs to so much as scream.
“The kid is useless to us,” said Rain Dancer. “Weak powers. He doesn’t know anything about the Champion Authority. I wanted to see if he’d make an interesting spryte or demon, you know, but because of you… I’ve changed my mind.”
“What?” screamed Teddy. “No!”
Lightning shot forth from Rain Dancer’s hand, crackling across Teddy’s soaked body. Malcolm sat up and tried to push Rain Dancer back wit
h the wind. It was hopeless. He couldn’t summon the energy, and barely managed to shake Rain Dancer’s clothing.
“The water in the cell was a test,” said Rain Dancer. “If this little champion recruit had reached for his full potential, reached his turning point, he might have become something useful.”
Teddy’s screams went on until he ran out of breath. Malcolm made another attempt to push Rain Dancer back, and received a painful electric burst in return.
“I would have done the same to you, you know?” shouted Rain Dancer, raising his voice to be heard over Teddy’s screams. “Tortured you, gotten all of your juicy information. Unfortunately, you and Ms. Shadow Spryte come as a package deal, and I think it’ll be more fun for me to stay on her good side.”
Teddy’s head and limbs seized wildly on the ground. Smoke was coming off his clothing, even though he was still wet.
“You’re… going to kill him,” Malcolm managed. He tried another attack, but was only able to summon a weak breeze, his powers drained from exposure to his weakness.
“Yup,” said Rain Dancer. “He would have gone on to become a champion, you know? Would have killed people like me, Shield Maiden, Rose. And eventually you.”
Teddy’s body suddenly erupted into flame. Rain Dancer kept electrocuting him, pumping in energy, literally melting off the boy’s skin and turning him into dust and bones.
“You evil bastard!” Malcolm roared and sprinted toward Rain Dancer.
If I can get close enough, I can take his power!
Rain Dancer just laughed. The lightning hit Malcolm full in the chest. He gasped, and then everything went dark.
CHAPTER 23
Malcolm felt cold. He blinked to make sure his eyes were open. It was still dark, and he was lying on his back. Wherever he was smelled of dust and mold, like a dank closet gone unopened for many years.
Focus. You were fighting Rain Dancer, and…
And he’d lost. Malcolm forced his body into motion, rising to his feet and turning in a slow circle. He couldn’t see anything, but he reached out, first with his hands.
He was in a small room, but it was different from the cell where he and Rose had been kept in Underworld. By using his wind listening, he got a sense of the exact dimensions. The cell expanded upward, almost fifty feet overhead, but was no more than fifteen feet wide across.
I’m in… an elevator shaft?
He didn’t have time to give it more thought. A small slit of light appeared high above him, and Malcolm could barely make out two figures standing and peering down at him.
“Don’t panic,” called Rain Dancer. “This is all part of the plan.”
“You bastard,” said Malcolm. “And killing that boy? Was that part of the plan?”
“Take it easy,” said Rain Dancer.
“Fuck you.” Malcolm wished that he was within range to spit in the demon’s face. “You and your fucking cult are no better than the champions. You’re a killer, Rain Dancer.”
And I’m going to be the one who kills you.
Malcolm clenched his hand into a fist, trying to get a sense of whether he could charge the opening and make it through before Rain Dancer closed it. They were too high above him, he decided.
He could try it, but it would be the end of the conversation and any chance he had at talking his way out of the situation. Which, he silently conceded, he was already doing a pretty poor job of.
“Wind Runner,” came Shield Maiden’s voice. “You might not understand why we do what we do, but please, believe that we act in the name of what’s right. We want peace, and a better world.”
Malcolm grimaced, unable to contain himself.
“And how many thirteen-year-olds are you willing to murder in cold blood to make that happen?” he called up to them.
“More than you’d be comfortable with,” said Shield Maiden. “At least, as you are now. We’re still giving you a chance, Wind Runner.”
“The same chance that the boy had,” said Rain Dancer. “We’ve trapped you here for a reason, ya? You’ll have a chance to use your powers to stay alive, and even escape. But it’s going to take more than you’re capable of as a normal champion.”
Malcolm let out a mocking laugh.
“So what?” he said. “You’re going to fill the shaft with water? Is that supposed to scare me?”
“Poison gas,” said Shield Maiden. “We picked one heavy enough to sink to the bottom. If you want to stay alive, you’ll keep flying.”
A chill ran down the back of Malcolm’s spine.
“Go ahead,” he said. “I’ll find a way out before I turn.”
“If you manage to, given what we’ve done to the doors, the result will be the same,” said Shield Maiden. “This is for the best, Wind Runner. We want you to reach your full potential.”
Malcolm heard a hiss come from somewhere nearby. He let out a panicked shout, immediately calling for the wind and charging up the elevator shaft. He kept himself pressed against the elevator shaft’s side with air pressure, running up the wall like a character in an action movie.
“Have fun,” said Rain Dancer, with a laugh. “We’ll be back once you’ve received the touch of the stars.”
The open doors closed, cutting off what little light Malcolm had to see by. He ran up to where the opening had been anyway, slamming the wind into the sides of the elevator’s shaft and trying to make an escape for himself.
Nothing happened. He could still hear the hissing sound coming from the bottom of the elevator shaft. Malcolm used his wind running to keep himself as high up as he could. There was little to grab onto for purchase within the elevator shaft, and he suspected that Rain Dancer and Shield Maiden had chosen it for that reason.
They moved me somewhere else. I’m not in Underworld anymore.
It meant that even if he managed to escape, there was a very high likelihood that he wouldn’t be able to find his way back to Underworld again without a serious search. The only location he had to go on was the area around the sand cliffs, and he’d probably be searching for a hidden entrance.
Malcolm tried to keep thinking those kinds of thoughts, pushing his focus away from his impending doom. He was kicking back and forth, from wall to wall, trying to smash through the elevator doors with his feet. It wasn’t working, and he was starting to get tired.
The hissing sound of the gas entering the elevator shaft was the bane of Malcolm’s existence. He sniffed every couple of seconds, paranoid, knowing that the second he could smell the gas, it would already be too late.
His legs started to get tired, and he had to rely more and more on his power to stay aloft. Malcolm could feel the heady euphoria setting in. This time, however, he wasn’t sure if it was from overusing his ability, or the first onset of the poison, clouding his mind.
“Damn,” he muttered. “What am I supposed to do?”
He kept using his powers, trying to think of a way forward that didn’t involve dying or giving Rain Dancer what he wanted. Malcolm started humming a Nine Inch Nails song, knowing that it would help him keep his energy and sanity levels up, if nothing else.
Do I have a trump card, here? Wait… Maybe…?
Malcolm remembered absorbing Shield Maiden’s power earlier in the day. He could still feel it on the edge of his awareness when he reached out, but it was unfamiliar. It felt like trying to read directions in a foreign language, totally different from how instinctual his wind manipulation had become.
He was almost at the point of exhaustion, his legs too tired to keep pushing up and off the shaft. Soon enough, he would have to fly, and even using the burst method that Shield Maiden had taught him, he doubted that it would be enough.
I have to try this. Even if it doesn’t work, it’s better than what I’m doing now.
Malcolm held out his hand and felt for Shield Maiden’s power. He pushed his will outward, trying to make a shield bubble as he’d seen her do many times before. One flickered into existence over his palm, but popped after o
nly a couple of seconds.
There was clearly an art to it. It reminded Malcolm a little of blowing bubbles using soap and a wand, more of a gentle, careful process. He took a deep breath, this time sure that he could smell and taste the poison gas. Malcolm started coughing, knowing that he’d only get a single chance at what he intended.
He flew up higher into the elevator shaft, ignoring the rush of confusing mania that came with pushing his wind manipulation to the limit. Picturing the size of the bubble shield clearly in his head, Malcolm called it into reality, surrounding himself in it.
To his relief, he managed it, encasing himself in a bubble shield just barely wider in diameter than he was tall. The bubble, with him inside it, began to sink toward the bottom of the elevator shaft. He fidgeted nervously.
Let’s hope to god this thing is airtight…
CHAPTER 24
Malcolm waited inside the bubble shield, first for minutes, and then for hours. He knew that Rain Dancer and Shield Maiden would show up eventually, and he spent the time trying to stave off his boredom by formulating a plan.
He wasn’t capable of taking Rain Dancer on in a fight. Malcolm had to acknowledge that fact as the truth. Rain Dancer’s powers could hit him from a distance and keep him from getting in close, on top of being his weakness. Malcolm couldn’t match him in the same way he could a less formidable opponent.
Shield Maiden, in a similar sense, could subdue Malcolm using her power, but only if she got the first attack. Now that Malcolm could use her shield bubbles, too, he could surprise her and potentially contain her before she could get the drop on him.
At least, until I absorb a different power…
Malcolm gently pressed his hand into the inside of the shield bubble. It took very little energy from him to maintain. Outside the bubble, the toxic gas awaited him, which posed a problem when it came to what came next.
Rain Dancer and Shield Maiden would come to check up on him eventually. Malcolm’s hope was that it would be after filling the elevator shaft with a volume of gas that the two of them assumed to be impossible to survive. Perhaps they wouldn’t search for his body, in that scenario, and he could wait until they’d come and gone and then take his chance to escape.
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