by Lucas Flint
“Yes,” said the Midnight Menace. “Your chances of dying horribly have fallen to approximately zero. Come.”
The Midnight Menace walked past her and, after a moment’s hesitation, Treehugger followed. Thankfully, neither Treehugger nor the Midnight Menace were harmed by whatever force kept people who didn’t show sufficient respect to the Temple from entering. Even so, Treehugger now wondered if the Temple itself was alive and judging every person who walked through its doors. The Midnight Menace didn’t seem very disturbed or bothered by that idea, but then, he had come here so many times already that he was probably used to it by now.
The interior of the Temple was as odd as the exterior. While it was as dark as the rest of the Temple, the light from the Midnight Menace’s flashlight showed more of those weird statues she had seen back in the courtyard of the other temple, except these ones were smaller and built into the walls. A set of rounded stairs—it was the best way Treehugger could think to describe them—went up to what appeared to be a second floor to the right, but the Midnight Menace didn’t lead her upwards. He took Treehugger across a wide-open central chamber with odd paintings and carvings on the floor to a door on the other side, which he opened and entered without another word. Treehugger followed, but only reluctantly, because she had an even worse feeling about this place than she did about the rest of the Temple.
She found herself walking down a winding staircase heading deeper and deeper beneath the Temple. The Midnight Menace was ahead of her the whole time, but occasionally Treehugger thought the Midnight Menace had vanished, only for him to reappear before her. It was probably just his cape and black armor making him blend in with the shadows of the staircase every now and then, which were even thicker than the shadows outside, or so it seemed, anyway.
To take her mind off such scary thoughts, Treehugger said, “What’s going on back in the Academy? Does anyone know I’m missing?”
“Yes,” said the Midnight Menace without looking over his shoulder. “Your teammates are searching the campus for you, as are several NHA members and some INJ members. Even Strike and the New Heroes are helping, though Strike has yet to fully recover from Bolt’s attack on him.”
Treehugger nearly squealed in excitement. The idea that Strike was searching for her, even if it was in a limited way due to his injuries, caused images of him holding her in his arms to appear in her mind again, but she had to force herself not to indulge in her own personal fantasies just yet. “So I haven’t been gone for very long?”
“It’s been about a day since you vanished,” said the Midnight Menace. “I would have stayed and helped search for you, but I sensed something wrong in the Shadowlands and so had to excuse myself.”
“Something wrong in the Shadowlands?” Treehugger repeated. “What is it? Is it me?”
“I thought so, because you are not supposed to be here, but despite finding you, I still sense something else wrong here,” said the Midnight Menace. “I don’t like it. The Shadowlands are normally empty, except for the creatures and monsters that prowl its shadows.”
“Servants of the Starborn, maybe?” said Treehugger. “I was told that the Starborn are after me. Could it be that they followed my escape pod here?”
The Midnight Menace finally looked over his shoulder at Treehugger, his red eyes looking confused. “Why would the Starborn be after you? You’re not special.”
Gee, thanks, Treehugger thought, but aloud she said, “I don’t know why. And it’s not because I’m ‘special’ or anything, either. The Servants are under orders to bring all superhumans to the Starborn. I think the Starborn want us for some reason.”
“That does explain a few things …” the Midnight Menace muttered, before saying aloud, “Well, I have not seen any of these Servants since coming here, so I doubt they’re the problem I sensed. It is probably something else, but I will find out later, after I get you back home. I don’t want to have to worry about protecting you from the various dangers of the Shadowlands. Once you get back home, tell your friends what happened and don’t think about this place ever again.”
“You don’t need to tell me that twice,” said Treehugger with a shudder. “I still don’t understand where we’re going, though.”
“As I said, we need to reach the correct location from which to teleport back to Earth,” said the Midnight Menace. “This particular location is located underneath the Temple’s foundations. I don’t know why it was put here by the original builders of the Temple, but it is and I can’t move it to somewhere more convenient.”
“Yeah, but it just feels so … scary down here,” said Treehugger. “Like we’re being watched.”
“We are,” said the Midnight Menace without a hint of worry. “The Temple watches everyone within its walls. That’s how it makes sure that no one harms it.”
“You mean this Temple is alive?” said Treehugger, looking this way and that, expecting to see eyes along the walls watching them, though the walls showed nothing out of the ordinary.
“Not in the way we think of life,” said the Midnight Menace. He tapped the wall with one of his gauntlets. “The laws of the Shadowlands are different than the laws of Earth. There are creatures here that could never exist on Earth; likewise, Earth has many creatures that could never survive in the Shadowlands. The fact that you have survived so far is interesting, because I didn’t know you would have the ability to handle the Shadowlands’ inherently destructive environment.”
Treehugger quickly looked down at her body, but she didn’t see anything missing, nor did anything feel out of the ordinary. “So it’s just luck that I’m not currently a shredded mass of flesh and cloth?”
“Maybe,” said the Midnight Menace. “There is still much I don’t know about the Shadowlands, despite having visited it many times during my life. Then again, most of the Shadowlands’ true destructive power is often concentrated on the mind. Your body may survive, but your sanity may not, at least if you stay here long enough.”
Treehugger gulped and put a hand on her head. “I don’t feel insane, but—”
The Midnight Menace suddenly stopped, causing Treehugger to almost walk into him. She managed to stop a few feet from him, but she had the distinct feeling that the Midnight Menace’s body was not really physical, as if she could just walk through him like normal shadow. She had no idea what that meant or whether it was true; perhaps the Midnight Menace’s body was literally made of shadow in this place or maybe her sanity was more damaged than she thought.
Regardless, Treehugger looked up at the Midnight Menace. “What’s the problem? Did you see something?”
“No,” said the Midnight Menace. “But I sensed something. We’re not alone in the Shadowlands.”
“Well, yeah, there are those weird monsters that tried to kill me,” said Treehugger. “That’s kind of obvious.”
“That’s not what I meant, girl,” said the Midnight Menace in annoyance. “I mean that we are not the only humans in the Shadowlands. I sense more people nearby.” He suddenly turned around, his tall body towering over Treehugger. “We must move and quickly, because these people are a threat to the Shadowlands.”
“But I thought you were going to take me back to Earth first,” said Treehugger in alarm. “Right?”
“Yes, but I’ve decided that it won’t hurt you to stay here for a little while longer,” said the Midnight Menace. “Besides, locating those who would wish to harm the Shadowlands is always the most difficult part of defending it. Now that I know where they are, I am going to crush them utterly before they can flee. It should not take longer than an hour, if that. But we must go quickly, before they realize that they have been discovered.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Rather than leaving through the normal exit, the Midnight Menace led Treehugger through another passage in the Temple off to the side. He explained to her that the Temple had dozens of such secret exits, though he didn’t explain who or what made them. Treehugger supposed they had been built by t
he same people who had built the Temple, though that wasn’t a very helpful thought, given how she didn’t know who built the Temple, either.
Regardless, Treehugger and the Midnight Menace were once again out in the Shadowlands, traveling west (well, Treehugger thought it was west, but without the sun in the sky, determining the direction of anything in this universe was a futile effort) rapidly. Although the Midnight Menace was faster than Treehugger—this time, she was sure that he wasn’t walking, because there was no way that he could traverse the uneven earth so quickly—Treehugger still managed to keep up, at least somewhat, because she didn’t want to be left behind in the shadows. The Midnight Menace was clearly slowing himself down for her benefit, but it was obvious that he felt she was just a drag on his weight. It made Treehugger feel a little ashamed, though in her defense, she had not eaten or slept for several hours and was already starting to feel exhausted. It didn’t help that the Shadowlands themselves were having a negative effect on her energy.
But it wasn’t long before they came upon a huge forest, though like the rest of the Shadowlands, there was something distinctly evil about this place. The trees were even taller than the Midnight Menace, with bark that looked more like flesh than wood and leaves as sharp as razor blades. Thankfully, most of the leaves were too high above their heads to be a problem, but it did make walking through the forest more nerve-wracking, especially after the Midnight Menace told Treehugger that she should duck for cover if any leaves fell, as they could cut through human flesh as easily as any razor. The Midnight Menace himself did not seem to be afraid of being cut, but given how he seemed to be made out of shadow, that didn’t really make Treehugger feel much better.
For most of the trip, however, the Midnight Menace was utterly silent, as if so intent on finding the people who threatened the Shadowlands that he had forgotten everything else. Treehugger tried to be silent, too, but she couldn’t help but be aware of her own footsteps and her own breathing. She hoped that it wouldn’t cause too much trouble for the Midnight Menace, although she had a feeling that the Midnight Menace was annoyed at having to bring her along. She wondered why he didn’t just leave her at the Temple, where she would likely be safe, but given how dark and scary the Temple was, she decided that she was safer with him.
Abruptly, the Midnight Menace came to a halt and held out an arm to stop Treehugger, who almost didn’t notice him stop until she walked into his outstretched arm. The Midnight Menace held a finger up to the mouth of his helmet and pointed forward, causing Treehugger to look to see what he had spotted.
At first, due to the thick darkness, Treehugger did not see anything, but eventually she saw a dim light not far off. It looked like it was coming from a clearing in the forest and she thought she saw movement among the trees, though it was hard to tell from a distance. Given how the Midnight Menace could see in the darkness better than her, though, it was pretty obvious that he had seen something.
“What do you see?” Treehugger asked, keeping her voice low just in case whoever they were watching was close enough to hear them.
“People,” the Midnight Menace said, his voice little more than a hiss. “Two people. And they are not the inhabitants of the Shadowlands, either. They’re from Earth.”
Treehugger bit her lower lip. “Do you recognize them?”
“No,” said the Midnight Menace, shaking his head. “One is a man, the other is a woman. Beyond that, I can’t tell much else about them, but they are probably superhumans.”
“Why do you think that?”
“Because they are not armed with any weapons. That means they are either stupid or they have other ways to defend themselves that don’t require bullets or blades. Not that that helps me know what powers they have, but attacking them outright now would be unwise until we learn more.”
Treehugger brushed aside her braided hair. “What are we going to do?”
“Learn more,” said the Midnight Menace. “And then we will attack. Or, rather, I will attack; you don’t need to do anything except stay out of the way, as I have a feeling these two are dangerous.”
The Midnight Menace moved, but Treehugger grabbed the back of his cape, causing him to stop and look at her. “What?”
“Can I come with you?” Treehugger said. “I don’t want to be alone here in the darkness, even if you’re not far away. I’m afraid I might get attacked.”
The Midnight Menace looked rather annoyed, but he nodded and said, “All right. But stay out of the battle and don’t make any noise. I don’t want to have to keep track of you and the intruders.”
Treehugger nodded and let go of the Midnight Menace’s cape. The Midnight Menace vanished into the shadows, while Treehugger slowly made her way toward the clearing. She tried to be as quiet as she could, which was easy, because she could now hear a man’s loud voice coming from the light. It was a rough tone, one that seemed familiar to her, though she didn’t know where she had heard it before. She reached some bushes and immediately crouched down, keeping out of sight of the light. She waved her hand at the bush, causing a portion of it to move out of her way just enough for her to see the clearing.
The first thing Treehugger noticed was the source of the light. It was a tall, lamppost-like pole, standing upright in the middle of the clearing, apparently unconnected to any power source that Treehugger could see. It must have had a battery or something; at least Treehugger could guarantee that it wasn’t solar-powered, because there was not nearly enough sunlight in the Shadowlands to power something like that.
The next thing she noticed was the two figures sitting around the light. One of them was a woman, who wore a strange mask that completely concealed her face, except for her blue eyes, which shone with a rather peppy light despite the grimness of the Shadowlands. She wore pure white robes, which also contrasted sharply with the darkness of the Shadowlands. It was hard to guess her age due to her mask and robes, but Treehugger estimated that she was about 30-years-old or so.
The other figure, a man, sat opposite the woman, and he was the one talking. He was bigger and bulkier than the woman, wearing dark brown robes and a mask that covered the upper half of his face while keeping the lower half exposed. He also had brass knuckles on his fists, which he swung this way and that with every gesture of his hands.
But Treehugger didn’t pay attention to that, because she recognized the man: He was Arlecchino, one of the Venetians. She did not recognize the woman sitting opposite him, but she guessed that the woman was also a Venetian based on her mask and robes.
What are the Venetians doing here? Treehugger thought, her heart rate increasing. How did they even get here? Can they dimension hop now or something?
Treehugger wanted to tell the Midnight Menace who these people were, but she didn’t know where he was. She hoped the Midnight Menace recognized them, although as far as she knew the INJ didn’t have much experience with the Venetians. She supposed she shouldn’t have been too worried, given how powerful the Midnight Menace was, but the mere fact that these two Venetians were here was enough to set off alarms in her head, because she knew they couldn’t be here for any good reason.
Arlecchino was talking, so Treehugger listened as hard as she could in order to find out what they were doing here.
“… So I said to Volto, ‘That’s not a sandwich, that’s a rock,’” Arlecchino said.
It must have been the punchline of a joke of some sort, because the woman put a hand up to the spot where her mouth should have been and made a motion like she was giggling. Oddly enough, however, she didn’t make any noise; she was totally silent.
Her reaction must have pleased Arlecchino, however, because he chuckled and said, “I knew you’d like that. I got way more jokes where that came from. Good way to pass the time, in my opinion.”
Treehugger frowned. The way Arlecchino spoke, it was almost like he and the female Venetian were on a date. The idea of supervillains dating each other struck Treehugger as so bizarre that she wondered for a m
oment if this was all part of some elaborate dream she was having, but she resumed listening in order to avoid missing anything important.
Arlecchino glanced over his shoulder and frowned. “Where is Pantalone? He’s been gone for hours. At least, it feels like he has. Time’s hard to keep track of in this godforsaken place.”
The female Venetian made some signs with her hands, which Arlecchino apparently could read, because he just nodded and said, “Yes, I know that the Shadowlands are dangerous, but Pantalone is always telling the rest of us off for being late for our missions. Bet he got spooked by something in the dark. Don’t tell him I said this, but he’s still afraid of the dark. Scares him big time.”
Again, the female Venetian made a motion like she was giggling, but like before, no sound escaped from her mouth. Treehugger was not sure what was more unnerving: The woman’s silence or the fact that Arlecchino was hitting on her.
Suddenly, a flapping of wings could be heard, which sounded unnaturally loud in the darkness, and then a figure in a black flight suit landed on the ground near the lamppost. When the figure stood upright, Treehugger recognized him as Pantalone, another Venetian, who could fly with his wings, in addition to being able to control crows and possibly other birds with his powers. Both Arlecchino and the woman looked at Pantalone as he walked up to them, though Pantalone walked like he was trying to get away from something.
“Hey, Pantalone, we were just talking about you,” said Arlecchino in a casual voice. “How’d it go? Did the darkness scare you?”
Pantalone stopped and glared at Arlecchino. “The darkness was thick, but I finally found it.”
“What? You did?” said Arlecchino. He jumped to his feet, as did the woman, and the two of them looked at Pantalone eagerly. “Where is it? Do you have it on you?”