Downfall And Rise

by Nathan Thompson

  All I needed was just one person, who wasn't out to get me, to hear me and care.

  Dr. Dalfrey chuckled. She watched me roll on the floor, still shouting for at least fifteen more seconds.

  “Wes, I'm going to give you credit for that. If I hadn't cleared the whole building today your little trick just now might have actually worked. You're much smarter than others give you credit for. Just not smart enough to ever matter, it seems. But that's hardly your fault.”

  I just shouted louder. What did I have to lose? And who knew whether she was telling the truth?

  “Would you like me to shout with you, Wes?” she asked with another smirk. “Would that help? I'll give you another moment or two to realize no one is coming to save you.”

  I finally reached my cane and grabbed it with one hand. I started crawling toward the door.

  “But as I've said,” she said with a sigh. “All of this is no longer necessary. We found the way into Avalon ourselves. There's no more need to watch you flounder around.”

  She waited until I was almost at the door out, and then she hit a buzzer on her desk.

  “I'm done,” she said. “Come get him.”

  Heavy footsteps started coming toward me from behind the door. I rolled out of the way just as it kicked open. A slamming sound from behind me told me that the second door, the one behind Dr. Dalfrey, had flung open as well.

  Two large burly men in orderly scrubs stomped through the door closest to me, and the noise behind me told me there were at least two others I couldn't see.

  “You need four grown men for a disabled teen?” I shouted in disbelief. And just for the heck of it, I shouted out “Help!” one more time. Still no reason not to, at this point.

  “Probably not,” The witch said blandly. “But why stop stacking the odds against you now?”

  “Oh for...” I started to retort, but then the thugs closest to me were next to me, and one of them reached for me.

  Right, I decided.

  Time to drop the act.

  The stick in my hand shot up into the fake orderly's face, colliding into his nose with a red-colored crunch. He backed off, swearing and clutching his face. The second one grabbed the front of my shirt and pulled me off the ground.

  “No don't pick him up, idiot!” Dr. Dalfrey shrieked. “Just pin him to the floor and put him under!”

  As the thug lifted me to my feet and began to pull me into a sleeper hold, I threw all of my weight forward, grabbing his shoulder with all of my remaining free fingers. Since he was expecting me to resist his pull instead, he staggered backward, off balance from my sudden push. My momentum and angle of movement carried me past one of his shoulders. While still holding his shoulder, I hooked my foot and cane under his most stable leg and tripped it in a basic white-belt judo throw. The big oaf went tumbling to the ground, cursing in surprise, and I stumbled past him through the door he had opened.

  Dr. Dalfrey swore in frustration.

  “Bird in the web!” She suddenly shouted. “Execute! Bird in the web!”

  Suddenly my brain began to scramble, like old television static. My balance problems returned tenfold, and so did the pain. I nearly fell down right then and there. I staggered, barely still on my feet, and I heard the would-be orderlies work to untangle themselves at the door behind me.

  I gritted my teeth and pushed against something in my head.

  To my joyful surprise, it worked. I had my balance and focus back immediately.

  I was in the hallway leading to the main lobby. I took off, able to run awkwardly now, pushing on my cane and against one of the walls to propel myself faster.

  I had just reached the lobby when a hairy hand grab my shoulder. Thinking fast, I whirled and snapped my elbow into a familiar bloody nose, then slammed my cane into my attacker's stomach to knock the wind out of him and push him off of me. It worked, though I lost my cane in the process.

  But if I could just get out of the building, where there would be witnesses, then it would no longer matter.

  I staggered into the lobby, noting that all of the seats and even the front desk were now empty. I could have sworn it hadn't been that way when I first came in. But no matter. The glass-door exit was less than a dozen feet away, and the hallway wasn't big enough for all four men to rush me at once.

  Just treat it like you're trying to catch a pass, I told myself.

  I still couldn't run in a straight line, but with my brain working again I could remember a zig-zag passing route I used to run back when I played football. I juked and stumbled my way to the front door, dodging one tackle from another grown man who shouldn't have had nearly as much trouble catching me as he did, and made it to the front door. I pushed it open and stumbled out the door while another hand grabbed me from behind.

  “Help!” I screamed out as loud as I could. “Help! Help!”

  I sent a flurry of short kicks and punches behind me, then twisted my way out of another grip. My shirt tore and I lost a shoe, but it didn't matter, because I was outside now, where the whole world could see and hear what was happening.

  This was a rich suburb that still treated itself like a small town. Even if no one lifted a finger to help me, they would still talk about what they had seen. The news would make it all the way through town until it reached someone who cared about me. They would contact the police. They could contact Davelon's father, who would use every connection he had to help the boy that had helped save his own son's life. Worse-case scenario, I would be kidnapped for a while until someone found me, since if they could have killed me they would have already done so. Best-case, and most likely scenario, they would back off and run, since they couldn't risk witnesses. They'd probably try again later, but I could get more help myself, maybe find long-term safety with the police or with Davelon's family.

  And I could still get stronger in Avalon, as the four idiots behind me had already found out.

  I thought all of this while running out into the parking lot screaming my head off. I could hear my attackers behind me and knew they were less than seconds from running out as well. But that was okay. I would juke and dodge like I've been doing. Every additional second I was free was another second I had to scream and draw attention to myself. It was a small neighborhood. People would recognize me immediately.

  So I ran.

  And screamed for help.

  And realized no one was outside.

  But that was impossible, I told myself. There should be nearby traffic, at least. There were too many people who either had the day off, or were out running errands as a stay-at-home parent, or were just taking a lunch break right now. One of them should be driving by at any minute and witnessing the situation. Then they'd help, call the police, or just tell their neighbors or coworkers what they saw.

  But there wasn't a soul out here except for the people trying to get me.

  I refused to believe that. Something in my legs shifted, and I ran straight out into the middle of the street, hearing a bunch of heavy panting and cursing behind me.

  I realized that both ends of the street were blocked off with flashing lights.

  Police cars.

  They were accompanying construction trucks working on the road.

  That seemed extremely unusual. But I didn't care. The absolute best-case scenario was me finding an officer right now, and there were at least four cars of them nearby. I only had to pick a direction and run to them. Heck, all of them could probably notice me at this point if I was loud enough.

  I ran to the cars on the right, screaming as loud as I could at the pair of officers I could see standing around.

  “Help! I'm being attacked! Please help me!”

  One of them looked at me, then clutched his radio and gave his partner a questioning glance. His partner just shook his head and apathetically and waved his hand, as if to say 'don't bother.'

  I refused to believe what I had just seen. I ran toward them anyway, still screaming for help.

  Then something
heavy slammed into me from behind, driving me toward the ground. I felt the air leave my lungs and tried to roll with the tackle, but I couldn't break free.

  “It's about damn time you caught him!” a rough man's voice said behind me.

  “Shut the hell up,” the thug wrestling with me growled. “If this was easy you would've caught the prick yourself. Now grab his legs.”

  I kicked my feet away, trying to use them to push myself back up. I used another twist I had learned from fighting unarmed in Avalon to get a hand free.

  “God damn it!” The brute said as he slammed his fist into my face. “Stay down!”

  Stars flew all over my eyes. I tried desperately to fight past the pain.

  “You got him?” I heard one of the officers ask.

  “Yeah, we'll have him down in a minute,” the man that had hit me said. He threw me another punch. And then another.

  “Well, whatever,” the officer's voice trickled into my rattling skull. “You've got thirty minutes left to wrap it up.”

  The beatings must be affecting my hearing, I decided. There was no way a police officer would admit to this level of corruption in a high-class office neighborhood during broad daylight hours. I chose to believe that someone was only moments away from helping me, and I somehow got my forearm in the way of the next punch. In another small victory, I put my knee into my attacker's gut.

  “Son of a bitch!” The man over me swore. “I said help me hold him!”

  More hands began to restrain me. I fought harder, swinging whatever appendage I could, trying to bite whoever my teeth could reach.

  “Doc!” One of the fake orderlies called out. “Use the damn code!”

  “I can't believe you idiots still need my help,” Dr. Dalfrey's voice and footsteps sounded clear over the tussle. I heard her sigh.

  “Bird in the web, execute,” she repeated tersely. The blurriness came over me again. Combined with the struggling and the blows it was almost enough to knock me unconscious. Almost.

  “I said bird in the web, execute!” The woman snapped again. Another wave of blurriness that I had to struggle through. “Bird in the web, execute! Bird in the web, execute!”

  My struggles weakened, but they still persisted.

  “Use the shot while you can, idiots! Bird in the web, execute! Bird in the web execute!”

  Blurriness kept coming into me like waves crashing onto a beach during a storm.

  One of the fists stopped punching me and reached to grab my throat. I fought it, but my neck was still pulled into an angle, and I felt something sharp and cold poke into it.

  Another second passed, and I was done. Whatever drug they put into me flooded through my body, and combined with the blows, and the strange blurriness Dr. Dalfrey was somehow causing me, my muscles and consciousness were finally giving up.

  With a final, silent curse directed at this town and every dirt-bag that lived in it, I closed my eyes and escaped to Avalon.

  Chapter 26: Paradise Under Siege

  I stumbled forward, aching all over. I felt like I had been the target of a vicious beat down. A minute later, I remembered I had been the target of a vicious beat down.

  But I had made it. There were mists and trees everywhere.

  I was back in Avalon. My body ached for a second longer, and then I felt the pain and damage slowly begin to heal.

  “Stell!” I called out. “Guineve! Breena!”

  No one answered. I limped forward, until my legs pulled forward into a walk, then a swift trot, then a full-on run.

  “Stell! Guineve! Breena! Answer me! They're coming! They're coming!”

  Dr. Dalfrey had said her people- whoever they were- had already found their way inside. I had to warn Stell and her Satellites she was going to be invaded soon. Assuming the invasion hadn't already begun.

  “Stell!” I repeated, shouting even louder than I had moments ago back on Earth. “Breena! Guineve!”

  “Wes?” Stell's voice called out from the mist. She sounded curious, but unharmed.

  “Stell!” I shouted gratefully. “They're coming! You're under attack!”

  “What?” her voice called back. I heard her rapid footsteps through the mist. “Wait! Who's coming? How are we under attack?”

  I stomped toward her voice, seeing her figure come out of the mist. I tripped on a tree root, one that I almost always saw in time before, and stumbled into her arms.

  She was half a foot shorter than me, but she caught me easily. “Wes! Just calm down. What happened?” She looked at me more carefully, her eyes widening slightly. “And why were you stumbling? Are you hurt?”

  “Yeah,” I panted, still trying to recover from the phantom pain all over me. “Just not here.” My body suddenly shuddered, and I felt as if I had been dropped or slammed into a small enclosed space. It dazed me for a second, and then I could see and think clearly.

  “They’ve kidnapped me,” I said after a moment. “Back on earth. They probably threw me into a van just now. I've been kidnapped.”

  “Kidnapped?” Stell asked, her eyes going wide. “By who? Slow down, Wes. Who's kidnapped you?”

  “I don't know,” I panted, slowly getting myself back under control. “I think they were the ones that tried to get in before, the ones behind those failed attempts you noticed. I think they've been watching me this whole time. They figured out how to get here, Stell.” I looked her in the eye. “They could get here any minute.”

  “You're sure?” She asked seriously. “You're sure they can come here?”

  “One of them was taunting me before I became unconscious,” I said. “She already knew about Avalon. She had been pretending to be one of my doctors for years, just to figure out how I was coming here. She said they had finally figured out how to get to Avalon on their own, and they didn't need to be careful with me anymore.”

  I took another breath. “They beat and drugged me, and she said a phrase that made it hard for me to think. When they knocked me out, I came here to warn you guys.”

  And that was all I could do, I realized. I had no plan for getting away from these people back on earth. Especially not since they were able to block off an entire street and put the police in their pocket to catch me. That alone was mind-boggling. I was just now processing the fact that at least one cop had casually stood by while four men nearly twice my size were beating my face in, and the only thing that officer had bothered to do was to ask my attackers if they needed a hand in kicking my ass.

  It was ridiculous. I'd never be able to trust anyone back home ever again.

  Could I even get back home?

  Was the rest of my family in danger?

  Were my friends?

  I shook my head. There was too much going on to have a nervous breakdown right now. I had to focus on one thing at a time.

  “Avalon,” Stell intoned firmly. “Activate Vigilance Level Ten. Notify all Icons and Satellites of a possible breach. Provide full information to my Satellites.” Her voice rang with authority as she continued speaking. “Designate yourself as experiencing a territory-wide Challenge and upgrade the severity of said Challenge as needed. Override any restrictions against your taking defensive measures independently, as well as any against updating Challenger Wes Malcolm with constant information.”

  “Acknowledged,” a voiced boomed from the mists. “Removing all restrictions concerning Challenger Wes Malcolm.”

  “I have restrictions?” I asked suddenly. “Why?”

  “There are a few things you don't get to prevent information overload,” Stell said distractedly, then she continued speaking in a firm, commanding tone.

  “Avalon, further orders. Provide all possible restrictions against any new arrivals from Earth, as long the nature of their Deeds is different from Challenger Wes Malcolm's. Do not automatically recognize Challenger status. Do not assist in unlocking Ideals. Do not assist in resurrecting from death. Classify all new arrivals from earth as humanoid monsters, unless they match Deed and Renown paramete
rs established by Challenger Wes Malcolm.”

  “Provide confirmation of last order,” The mists rumbled.

  “Confirmation code is Wool-Covered Wolf. Repeat, confirmation is Wool-Covered Wolf.”