Cabinet Man vs. the New Kids on the Rock

Part two: confrontation

    The mid-morning sky was a crisp shade of blue, and the breeze carried the enticing scent of potential. Birds chirped nearby, setting the perfect soundtrack for the chipper atmosphere. As they strolled side-by-side down a dirt road, going nowhere in particular but with a spring in their collective step, Neil, Ryan, and Kevin talked and laughed amongst themselves without a care in the world.
    Then, as they walked past a large clump of foliage along the side of the road, there was a rustle in the leaves and a sudden flash of movement. Before any of them had time to react, a metal arm shot forth from the bush, and a massive steel claw--like the ones in arcade claw machine games, only much bigger--clamped around Kevin's neck with the precision of a bear trap slamming shut. He barely had time to scream before the arm raised into the sky, yanking him along with it. The next thing he knew, he was dangling ten feet above the ground, kicking his legs and scrabbling futilely at the vice grip around his neck.
    What the hell…? He tried to speak, but the claw pressed too tight against his throat to get any words out. He didn't have to ask what was going on, though, because he got his answer soon enough. The bushes rustled, and an arcade machine emerged. It had a chunky, old-fashioned design, with the word "Polybius" splashed across the marquee, sleek eye-catching decals on the sides, and a big pair of steel cabinet doors on the front peppered with flecks of what looked a worrying amount like blood. Even more concerning was its screen, which was lit up with a display of a cartoonish grinning face. A shudder ran down Kevin's spine as he looked down at the thing that had him in its clutches.
    Down on the ground, Ryan and Neil stared with shock and disbelief at their captive friend, and the bizarre machine that had him in its grasp. It wasn't the strangest thing they'd seen in their lifetimes, but one hardly expected to run into this kind of thing under these circumstances. A pilgrim in a hidden underground cavern; a ghoul in a haunted house; a joy-hating villain with magic powers in a secluded mountain lair--all those things made perfect sense. But a living arcade machine just out in the open like this? That wasn't something you saw every day!
    "By god," Ryan whispered, a tremble in his voice as he beheld the looming mechanical creature before him. "It looks like some kind of evil living arcade machine."
    Neil ducked behind Ryan, instinctively clutching at him for protection. "Yeah, and it doesn't look friendly!"
    The arcade machine in question confirmed Neil's assessment as it addressed them in a hair-raising mechanical voice: "I've got you now, you new kids… zzt… You thought you were so clever, going inside the game to win? But that's cheating, and nobody cheats at my arcade and gets away with their lives!"
    As the Polybius spoke, Kevin continued to writhe around in its grasp. The steel claw remained secure around his neck, despite his best efforts to pry it open. He was already getting light-headed from the lack of oxygen as the claw slowly constricted his windpipe; it took everything he had to keep pushing rather than give into panic. With one last grunt of effort before his energy was completely exhausted, he managed to force the claw… not all the way open, not enough to get out of the damn thing, but just far apart enough for him to breathe properly. He gasped for air, throat stinging after being constricted so tightly. Then, finding that he could talk now that the claw's grip was loosened, he craned his neck down to address his friends, who were still cowering on the ground.
    "Uh, guys, could you help me out here?"
    Immediately upon hearing Kevin's voice, Neil and Ryan snapped to attention.
    "Yeah!" Neil stepped forward, jabbing an accusatory finger up at Cabinet Man. "Nobody messes with us and gets away with it!" As the Polybius' simulated eyes flickered down to glare at him, though, Neil's momentary burst of confidence faltered. He gulped, skin going clammy, and turned to whisper to Ryan: "Think we can take him?"
    "I don't know…" Ryan stroked his chin with a worried frown. He knew from experience that he could fight when necessary, and so could the others, but… "Metal won't succumb to lethal force as easily as ordinary human flesh. You remember how much trouble we had against Gunfoot, don't you?"
    "Of course, I remember it like it was yesterday." Neil paused, lips quirking into a frown as he thought back to that near-fatal encounter. "Wait, it was yesterday, wasn't it? …And I don't even have a banana with me this time." He sighed and shook his head, the cold feeling of hopelessness settling in. "You're right; we don't stand a chance."
    "That's right!" Cabinet Man buzzed. Its screen flashed in dizzying colours as its pixelated grin widened. "I'll kill all of you pesky fools, zzt, starting with this one!"
    Not giving anyone time to react--not that they'd have been able to do anything to stop it anyway--Cabinet Man clenched his metal claw around Kevin's neck, hard. Kevin started to scream, but the sound was cut off with a sickening crunch. A harsh cackle emitted from Cabinet Man's speakers as, on the ground, Neil and Ryan gasped at the horrific sight. Still laughing, Cabinet Man tossed Kevin's limp body over its shoulder like a piece of litter and let him hit the ground and roll to a stop a few feet away.
    Neil shrieked. Mind blanking with panic, he stood frozen in place for a moment until Ryan shoved him forward and yelled at him to run. And so he ran… or tried to. He only made it about three steps away before a second metal claw shot forward and clamped around his waist.
    In the corner of his eye, Ryan saw Neil go flying backwards. He turned, heart hammering, to see Neil's slender frame tossed through the air like a ragdoll, and every bit as limp, to land with a heavy thud on the ground next to Kevin several feet away.
    "You bastard." Ryan's voice quivered plaintively as he stared at his friends' motionless forms. "You… you've killed them!"
    "And now it's your turn, zzt!"
    Looking up at Cabinet Man's gleeful grin, Ryan could see himself partially reflected in its screen, both literally and figuratively. He knew how it felt to get a rush of excitement from violence; to relish in twisted things that would put other people off. But killing Neil and Kevin? That was crossing a line. He couldn't sympathize with that any more than he could sympathize with someone who preferred onion rings to fries.
    "No," he whispered. At his sides, his hands twitched, almost involuntarily curling into fists. "I won't forgive you."
    "I wasn't asking your forgiveness," Cabinet Man jeered. "Haven't you been listening, zzt?"
    Cabinet Man had seen this all play out a million times before. A group of kids would try to mess with him, and he'd put them in their place. By the time there was only one left standing, the last remaining survivor would either (try to) run away, or stand firm and swear revenge. But they never got their revenge, instead swiftly joining their companions in the underworld. No mere human could ever stand a chance against Cabinet Man!
    That was what he thought, at least. But this human lunged faster than he could have anticipated, with none of the usual warning signs beforehand--no shouting; no tears; no muscles visibly tensing in preparation. The only warning Cabinet Man got was a flash of something dangerous in those striking blue eyes, and then suddenly the eyes weren't the only thing that was striking him.
*
    Neil felt like he'd just been through a spin cycle in a washing machine. He coughed, wincing at the throbbing pain in his abdomen where the claw had grabbed him, and tried to get up. The only thing that hurt more than his midsection was his head, which spun so much his vision was blurry. Or, no, wait… Neil fumbled around on the ground and managed to grab his glasses. Upon wiping them off on his shirt and slipping them back on, his surroundings sharpened back into focus. He was still a little dizzy, but not so much that he couldn't sit up and look around.
    Kevin lay facedown in the dirt next to him, unmoving. Gulping down a spike of dread that sprung up in his throat at the sight, Neil reached over and jostled his friend.
    "Psst, hey, Kevin," he whispered. "Are you dead?"
    Kevin let out a weary groan and rolled over. Upon lapsing back into consciousness, he grimaced at the dull ache in his bones; he must've had a pretty rough landing after getting thrown like that. He sat up, rubbing his neck, as Neil hovered anxiously beside him.
    "Uh, nope," he replied.
    Neil's shoulders slumped with relief. "Well, that's good," he sighed, laying a hand on Kevin's shoulder. "You've died one too many times already, pal."
    Kevin arched an eyebrow, lips twitching into a wry smile. "Tell me about it."
    He cricked his neck, rolling it back and forth, and noted with mild surprise that his neck was one of the body parts that actually hurt the least. Sure, the skin of his throat was still a little tender, but it felt and sounded like all the bones were in order.
    "Y'know, I think that actually helped pop a few joints back into place," he quipped. "That Cabinet Man fellow should take up chiropracting."
    A few metres away from this conversation, another exchange was taking place--an exchange of blows. Cabinet Man's bulky arcade machine body bore a few new dents, and his paint had been scraped off in several places, but that wasn't slowing him down. As a half-human and half-machine, he wasn't held back by exertion the way ordinary people were. Ryan, meanwhile, although not necessarily "ordinary" by most people's standards, wasn't immune to tiring out. He'd sustained several nasty hits from those metal limbs that left him bruised and bloodied. Although he barely noticed this himself, his hair had come out of its ponytail and now fell in a curtain around his face, which was flushed bright red with exertion.
    As he swung his hand toward Cabinet Man in a karate chop, his opponent proved quicker, intercepting him with a strike to the shins. Ryan toppled over face-first; he rolled over just in time to raise his arms and block another strike from Cabinet Man. The steel arm pressed against his own flesh-and-blood limbs, forcing him to concentrate all his effort into pushing the claw away from his neck. He gasped with effort, skin flushed and streaked with sweat as well as blood--even more blood now, as Cabinet Man's cabinet doors swung open a crack and a thin trickle of blood dribbled from within all over the front of Ryan's shirt.
    "Just give up, would you?" Cabinet Man taunted, its pixelated grin unwavering as it pinned Ryan to the ground like an insect to a corkboard. "It's pointless. Your friends are already dead. Don't you want to join them, zzt?"
    "Not before I send you to hell," Ryan panted, glaring up at the arcade machine. He wouldn't usually use such harsh language, but this was a special case--he was furious, to a degree that he had only experienced a few times before in his life.
    Sadly, his threat didn't seem to phase the Polybius in the slightest. Cabinet Man only pushed down harder, until Ryan was certain his arms would break if this kept up. "We'll see who's, zzt, sending who to hell!"
    From their sitting position several feet away, Neil and Kevin watched this battle playing out with bated breath, wincing every time Ryan took a nasty hit. Finally, once Cabinet Man pinned him to the ground and he showed no signs of being able to escape, Kevin decided that he'd had enough of sitting back and watching.
    "Uh, shouldn't we go help him out?"
    "You think so?" Neil asked, face twisting into a skeptical squint. "I don't want to get grabbed by its claw-arm again…"
    "Hey, how do you think I feel? I almost got choked out by it!" Kevin reminded him, gesturing at his bruised throat as evidence (it wasn't actually visibly bruised yet, but it sure was going to be in a couple hours). "But we can't abandon Ryan, not when he's fighting to avenge us."
    With that valiant declaration, Kevin grabbed a small but sharp rock off the ground and got to his feet. Neil nervously followed suit and trailed behind Kevin as he strode purposefully toward Cabinet Man. Once they were close enough to land a hit but still far enough away not to be noticed, Kevin flung the rock toward Cabinet Man. Unfortunately, his throwing arm was just a little too good--the projectile sailed over Cabinet Man's head and bounced off a nearby tree. Fortunately, it then ricocheted off a boulder, then another tree, and finally hit the target.
    Kevin clapped and then pumped his fist in the air. "Score!"
    "Alright, you got him!" Neil cheered, mimicking Kevin's fist-pumping gesture despite having done nothing to contribute to this small victory.
    And it was but a small victory, make no mistake. Cabinet Man flinched, out of surprise rather than pain, as the rock bounced off his metal exterior without doing any damage. Scowling in annoyance, he turned to look for whoever had thrown the pesky stone. (In retrospect, this lapse of judgement was probably an indicator that Cabinet Man was getting rusty--metaphorically speaking, of course. On a physical level, he was a well-oiled half-machine.)
    In that convenient moment when Cabinet Man was distracted and the crushing press of its metal arm slackened, Ryan wasted no time in grabbing the stone and smashing it against the corner of Cabinet Man's screen (he was aiming for the middle of the screen, or one of its pixelated eyes, but the situation required him to move hastily and therefore his movement was uncharacteristically clumsy). Nevertheless, his imprecise strike was enough to make Cabinet Man buzz with rage and retreat. Ryan lay on his back and watched, too exhausted to pursue his opponent, as Cabinet Man scrambled away and vanished into the foliage from whence it came.
    Once he had caught his breath, he sat up. Head spinning, he stared down at his hands, much as he had several years before when first discovering his capacity for physical combat. An entirely different set of thoughts was going through his head now. I won… He slowly clenched his blood-spattered hands into fists, then unclenched them. The gesture left him feeling as hollow as a gutted stuffed animal being hosed down and rolled in dirt. But what good is victory when my friends are dead?
    Just then, the sound of approaching footsteps caught his attention. He looked up to see Kevin and Neil running over to him, their eyes wide with concern. Ryan let out a shaky sigh of relief under his breath, then gave them a slight smile.
    "Oh, hey, guys. You're alive."
    "Yeah, no sentient evil arcade machine is getting rid of us that easy."
    Kevin reached down and grabbed hold of Ryan's hand, helping him to his feet. Neil hung back and watched his friends with a troubled frown. Looking both of them over--himself, too, for that matter--all three of them were looking pretty worse for wear.
    "Geez, Ryan, you're all covered in blood," he observed, cringing as he pointed to his friend's blood-soaked jacket. "And Kevin and I are covered in dirt from getting thrown on the ground."
    Kevin looked down at himself and grimaced. Sure enough, his signature plaid shirt was looking a bit dustier than ideal, and he'd somehow gotten grass stains on his jeans despite having landed on the dirt road and not in the grass. Comparatively, Neil looked like he'd gotten off okay, but with his delicate constitution it was impossible to tell how okay he really was.
    "Guess we'd better head home and recuperate," said Kevin. Neil nodded his agreement, while at his side, Ryan slumped against Kevin and gave a weary murmur of confirmation. Kevin turned to stare into the distance, where Cabinet Man had vanished, and realized with a twinge of profound unease that the Polybius had gotten away with more fuel left in its proverbial tank than any of them. As much as he hated to say it… "Something tells me this isn't the last we'll be seeing of that guy."