by Darren Sloan
"Yes."
"Is that what he did to you?"
"Yes. I was coming home from work and when I turned around, they were surrounding me. They were so fast. I didn't know where they took me. Everything went black and when I could see again, I saw him standing over me."
"Atrocity?"
"Yes. He held the mask up and slipped it over my head and then I felt the needle cut through me. I screamed but that seemed to make him happier. He wanted me to hurt. He wanted my pain."
"What is he trying to do?"
"I don't know. I just, I just," She began to trail off and soon let out another piercing cry. Jason heard footsteps coming from down the hall and he ran back to the window, but he stopped when he saw a small army of smiley faced people standing outside the hospital. "He knows! He knows!" The woman barked. Jason turned just as a security guard kicked the hospital room door open with his gun drawn.
"Freeze!" The guard ordered. Jason looked back out the window and it looked like there were even more Smilers outside. With barely a thought, he leapt through the window, followed by a cascade of broken glass. As he tumbled down, the suit bled out of him and was fully formed as he hit the ground. The Smilers then started to advance on him. Some held weapons, while others seemed to loll around like zombies. A few ran up at Spectrum and he was able to punch them away with little effort, but the whole group kept closing in on him.
Spectrum was fighting them away when he heard a familiar sound. He looked up and saw a small squad of Drone Droids approaching.
"Better the devil you know." Spectrum uttered to himself. The Drone Droids hit the ground hard and began fighting against the Legion, but they seemed more interested in Spectrum and were just fighting through the Smilers to get to him. It looked like the Drones' designs had been improved upon and they looked more aerodynamic and sleek. They also seemed to be much more powerful.
They managed to whittle down the Legion, but soon Spectrum was fighting off the Drone Droids, after the remaining members of the Legion ran off. More Drone Droids were incoming as Spectrum continued to push them away, but what had started as skirmish was growing into a war.
Spectrum was about to retreat, but before he had a chance, something came down and destroyed three Drone Droids in one swoop. Spectrum looked up and it was Panther. She had arrived and was cutting down the Drone Droids with exceeding ease.
"What are these things?" Panther asked.
"Automated security. Don't worry. Just keep breaking them. What are you doing here anyway?"
"I was monitoring your Comm-Sphere and I picked up on the energy spikes. Your friend Tyler returned to your home and I assumed you may need my help."
"Good instincts." Panther swung her sword around and ripped the last Drone Droid in half.
"Were you able to learn anything?"
"Nothing I didn't already know. I don't know what Atrocity's exact plan is and neither does anyone he controls, but I know we have to shut him down as soon as possible." Spectrum looked up and he saw another squadron of Drone Droids approaching.
"We need to get clear of these hostiles." Panther said. Her Comm-Sphere flashed and she then snagged Spectrum by his arm an dragged him through the Wurmhole.
When they emerged from the portal, Spectrum looked around and it appeared they were a few miles away from the hospital, on the roof of a tall luxury apartment building. Spectrum looked out onto the city, deep in thought. He then snapped around to Panther.
"You found me by following energy readings?"
"Yes."
"Could you scan the whole city for those same energy signatures?"
"Easily," She said. The Comm-Sphere then flew up and projected a table showing the energy spikes throughout the city. "The blue and green signals are normal energy use, such as electric appliances and what not. These orange signals are Atrocity's energy." She said.
"Is there a way you could apply this to an actual map of the city?" Without a word, Panther flicked a few buttons on her portable computer and a holographic map of Towers City merged with the energy map. Spectrum approached the map and studied it carefully. He noticed the largest concentration of orange energy was in one spot.
"I don't know what's going on there, but it looks like the largest concentration of Atrocity's power is right here," He said as he pointed to a point deep in downtown. "Tranquility Court."
Chapter 33
Spectrum V. Atrocity
Panther and Spectrum made their way across town, following Towers Boulevard, the one street that ran across the entire city, cutting all the way through to the heart of the downtown district.
As Spectrum flew over the buildings below, he looked down and he could see the streets growing more dense with members of the Legion of Smiles. First it looked like just a smattering of groups. A few blocks further up, it looked like the groups were growing larger and then when he was just blocks away from Manicore Industries' main building, the streets were flooded with Smilers.
He could also feel the persistent buzzing in his head return, but even stronger than before. It was as if the more of the people who were gathered together, the stronger Atrocity's signal became. They were probably all radiating his powers like remote antennae.
Spectrum dipped down toward Panther who was traveling along the cities rooftops. She was leaping and bounding with flawless accuracy and the silence of a thief.
"Are you feeling all right?" He asked. Panther came to a stop and looked up at him.
"I'm fine. Why?"
"Because I'm feeling Atrocity's signal. I thought the suit was insulating me, but I guess the closer we get to him, the more powerful it becomes and it's breaking through."
"I feel nothing. While I appear human, my Xenosian brain is different from yours. I suppose it makes me immune." Spectrum landed before Panther and clutched his head and she ran to him.
"God! It's like a rail road spike through my temporal lobe!"
"Maybe we should retreat."
"No! He's doing this to the entire city and if we don't stop him now, he's going to destroy everyone. I can focus. Play through the pain."
"Are you certain?"
"Yes. Yes, I am." Spectrum looked up and he could see the Manicore dragon high up, reaching past the city skyline. He knew they were close, but as he was preparing to go back up, he looked down and something in his mind switched off. Instead of flying up into the air, he leapt down and shot toward the ground like a guided missile. His thoughts were blanketed in rage and anger. He only saw targets all around. Some inexplicable trigger was pushing him to fight against the growing crowd of Atrocity's followers.
As he hit the ground, the reaction was instant. Everyone around Spectrum turned their attention to him and swarmed all over. They leapt down on top of him and he could feel them trying to pull his arms from his body and claw at his suit, but he pushed back in kind. It felt euphoric as Spectrum allowed himself the pleasure of fighting back with no hesitation or reservation. He plowed into crowd with an abandon he had never allowed himself before. It was like Heaven as his fists found their intended victims. He could hear the crack of their bones and the thud of their bodies as they fell. The more enemies he took down, the more he thirsted for. Spectrum was kicking and punching and firing bolts of energy with no thought or plan. All he wanted to do was hurt people. He wanted to hurt the people he hated the most. Everyone.
As Spectrum spun around with his fist primed for another strike, he saw Panther standing before him. He felt his thought return to him at last and he looked around at what he had done. He looked down at his hands and they were trembling.
"What did I just do?" He asked.
"Whatever has taken these people is starting to overpower you."
"I couldn't think. I just wanted to cause pain. I wanted, I, I don't know." Panther seemed to attempt to reach out to Spectrum with the intent to calm him, but before she could, a swarm of bodies fell down over both of them. Spectrum started to feel his anger rising, but he grappled onto the last bit
of sense he still had. He knew the people in the masks were victims and weren't in their right minds. He knew it wasn't their fault. He fought the urge to attack, and only defended himself. He looked over and saw Panther struggling against the others.
"Don't hurt them!" Spectrum barked. "They don't know what they're doing!"
"I'm trying!" She yelled back. "But I'm starting to hear that buzzing you were talking about. It's getting louder."
"Fight it! Just fight it!" Spectrum urged. He then felt a sharp pain in his leg and he dropped to one knee. He looked up and all he could see was a swarm of smiley faces closing in on him. He felt their hands latch onto his arms and they pulled him forward.
The fight was over and Spectrum was being taken away. He wasn't sure where they were taking him, but he could only hope where ever he was going, there would be answers.
As Spectrum and Panther were dragged along, he looked up and saw the dragon that sat upon the Manicore building becoming larger. He could see the detail of the statue that was exposed by the lights installed around it. He could also hear the rhythmic chanting of thousands of people coming from all around. They had taken them to Tranquility Court. Spectrum looked around and saw that the plaza was packed with Atrocity's followers. They were all gathered before a large platform that was built in the middle of Tranquility Court with torches burning on each corner.
There was a large, makeshift throne built on the platform. It looked like it was made of scrap metal and garbage. Spectrum then could see Atrocity sitting upon the throne with guards pacing back and forth before him. He sat there satisfied and smug over his minions. They were trying to reach him, begging for his attention. Spectrum felt another sharp sting tear through his brain. Atrocity's powers were growing stronger by the second. His vision was beginning to grow blurred. It felt like every negative thought he ever had in his life was bubbling to the surface and enraging him. He pushed it all away because he knew it was Atrocity doing it, but it was getting harder to resist.
Spectrum was forced up onto the platform and he was brought down to his knees before Atrocity. Someone behind Spectrum grabbed his hair and forced his head up so that his eyes were locked with Atrocity's.
"We meet again." Atrocity said in an eerily calm tone.
"What have you done?" Spectrum asked.
"I'd think that would be painfully obvious. This city is mine, or rather, it is going to be soon. My control is nearly complete. I suppose you're here to stop me."
"I am." Atrocity then stood up from his seat and approached Spectrum. His steps were slow and deliberate. There was an unnerving calm about Atrocity that worried Spectrum. Once he got close enough, Atrocity knelt down and met Spectrum's eyes once more.
"Here. With you on your knees. You're going to stop me," Atrocity said with a sense of growing amusement. "Why don't you just give up? Can't you see what's happening? Even with your new friend there, you can't fight what I've brought."
"Yes, I can." Spectrum hissed. Atrocity stood up and regarded Spectrum with a concentrated look and then a flash of yellow light blinded Spectrum and he fell over onto his back, convulsing. He looked up again he saw Atrocity standing over him.
"What are you doing?" Spectrum struggled out.
"I'd think it's fairly obvious. I'm taking over. You see all these people?"
"You kidnapped them."
"I prefer to think of it as creative recruiting. The point is they're happy. They're happy to serve me and I'm happy to be their God. Which I am."
"You're just spreading hate."
"Exactly. I know a lot of people think humans are naturally good, but we aren't. Our first instinct is always to violence. When we meet something or someone new, we don't want to learn about it. We want to destroy it. We are a violent, hateful and self-destructive race. I'm just helping people be honest about it. The sooner we accept this truth, the better."
"We aren't all like that."
"Oh, yes we are. I know what you're feeling right now. You want to stand up and rip my head off, don't you? You want my blood spilled and all of this to end." Spectrum felt his instincts spike, and Atrocity was right, but there was something else. He wanted to kill, but he knew it was wrong. Even if it was Atrocity he was killing.
"No. I don't want to kill." Spectrum said as he struggled to his feet.
"Liar! I don't know how you're resisting, but it won't be long until whatever walls you've still got up come down. The hate that was just a whisper in the back of your mind will become a roar stronger than thunder! Because of me! You will hate! You will kill! You will be like everyone else here! In fact," Atrocity then walked over to his throne and produced a Smiley face mask. "I have one just waiting for you. I don't know how comfortable it will be over that mask you're already wearing, but I guess that's more of a 'you' problem." Atrocity approached Spectrum, but with the last bit of strength he could muster, Spectrum pushed forward and swung out his fist, clipping Atrocity along his chin and knocking him down.
"No! You are enslaving these people! You're poisoning them!" Atrocity got back up, only a little shaken.
"I have freed them! Now that they feel my power, they see the world as it truly is. There is no greater good or reward for a life of so-called virtue. Life is nothing but perpetual suffering from birth to death. Why do we even try to help others or live peacefully? It's not why we were made. We were made to kill and seek supremacy."
"And you're the one who will lead?"
"This mask gives me the power and strength over all! I have been chosen to be the one to stand over all others. Right now, I have half of this city under my thumb. Soon, I will have everyone and after I take Towers City, I'll take more and more. I will have this country! This continent! This world!"
"Sounds familiar."
"Yes, but the mask gives me the power no one ever had before. With this, I will succeed where so many others have failed!"
"Do you really think everyone is going to succumb like this?"
"Why wouldn't they? I live off of hate and everyone hates something. Everyone holds some bit of irrational rage and anger deep in their souls over something. Hate is everywhere. Even here in this great, pure, lily white haven. Evil lives in Towers City just like anywhere else. Rotting in its shadows and embedded under the feet of her people. I found it. I ignited it and as it grew, it corrupted. You all like to believe that it's impossible. You and so many others think the broad spectrum purity of this Utopia shields you from such base emotions, but there's no escape. Hate is in every mind and heart. Even yours. I can feel you fighting, but it's a struggle isn't it? You feel hate. You want to kill me right now. There's nothing more in the world you want than to crack my skull open. You can just picture standing over my lifeless body with my blood all over your hands. It makes you happy, doesn't it?" Spectrum felt the jabbing pain in his head grow more intense. Atrocity was right, as much as he hated to admit it. The thought of killing Atrocity was the only thing that would relieve the pain, for even a moment.
"I will fight you," Spectrum struggled. "I will never stop fighting you."
"Do you think you're the first to call me out? There have been challenges to my power and I have vanquished them all! You think you're the first to stand against me? You're only the most recent. I'm giving you a choice. Join me now, or you can end up like all the others. With your skull hollowed out and pinned up on my wall. Which is it going to be?" Atrocity asked. Panther then broke free from the people who were holding her back. She leapt up and landed back down in the thick of the crowd and caught everyone off guard. The distraction was enough to break Spectrum from Atrocity's powers. He then looked down and saw Panther pull out her sword. Spectrum leapt forward and grabbed her.
"No!"
"What? They want to kill us!"
"They're innocent! They're not in their right minds."
"They're all killers! It's either us or them!"
"Panther! Listen to yourself! That's not you. It's Atrocity!" Panther stepped back for a second. "Are you sure y
ou're not feeling something?"
"I, I don't know." Panther's voice was broken and trailed away. Spectrum turned and he saw the crowd of Smilers closing in on them. He lunged forward and jabbed one in the face, and kicked a few others away, but the more he attacked, the more violent they became. He felt it was becoming an unwinnable situation.
"Kill them! Tear them apart!" Atrocity cried. Spectrum looked up at him and he felt the last bit of his rationale thinking leaving him. He had one last thought. One last thread of sanity left in his mind and with all his strength, Spectrum rose up into the air and landed back onto the platform. Atrocity leapt at him and they struggled for a moment. With nothing more than a glance, Spectrum spun around and his fist shot out like a bullet, catching Atrocity in his jaw. He fell down and the crowd around them became rabid. They started climbing up onto the platform. Spectrum could feel their hands clamping onto his arms and legs, pulling him back, but He lunged forward with all his might, grabbed the top of Atrocity's head and peeled the mask right off. As it was freed from his body, the static in the air ended and the crowd all around him fell where they stood into complete unconsciousness. Spectrum got up and looked down at Atrocity. He was flailing around as if he were in searing pain. He kicked and screamed like he was being stabbed over and over again.
"Tucker! You're okay! I just took the mask!"
"No! I need it! I need the mask! Give it to me! Give it to me now!" He screamed. He got up on his knees and reached out for it with one arm, but he kept the other arm over his face, blocking it from view.
"We need to get you to a doctor."
"No! I need the mask!" Spectrum stepped away, hiding the mask behind his back. Tucker was melting down right there. He was crying and screaming in a hysterical fashion. It was as if something had been physically ripped from his body. Spectrum looked down at the mask and even though the eye slits were empty, it felt like there was something looking back at him. He didn't know what it was, but there was something more to the mask than what it appeared. Spectrum then held out his arm and attracted a small piece of scrap metal from the throne and used his powers to encase the mask with it. Ignoring Tucker's pleas to stop, Spectrum shot the piece of metal, holding the mask, straight into the sky with a powerful bolt of energy, hurtling it far beyond sight and, he hoped, someplace no one would ever find the mask again. Atrocity fell to his knees again and crumpled up, crying like a baby. Spectrum looked down at him with less anger and more pity. He raised arm and shot out a bolt of bright blue energy straight up. He held it there until he could finally hear sirens in the distance. He looked over to Panther who was sorting herself out as well.