The Unnatural Disasters

1,p2. All the reasons not to trust strange women: Decibelle

Today's escalating very quickly, isn't it?

First I was in town, doing Rapist Watch, which sort of dissolved into chasing Bear.

I wonder what's going on with that now. Hopefully, the police can understand that the guy in the bear costume clutching someone else's purse is the bad one. Anyway, they know my mark- I.e the building supplies everywhere- so hopefully they understand that the 'vigilante' Decibelle has caught another 'crook', or something like that.

If I survive the current situation I'll have to go to the estate again tomorrow and put those bricks back.

'The current situation', or otherwise known as the three large electronic spiders that want to kill me, grab my attention back. They ram themselves into my defences.

Great.

The chairs I'm using, which aren't the greatest fortifications at the best of times, crack under the spider's weight. I play a couple of notes and some of the chair legs on the floor fly their way back into position: but this thing won't last forever, and I don't have a plan for when that happens.

"Hey! You okay in there?"

Is that Luda?
No. I can't look through the chairs and find out, obviously. But it doesn't sound like her- it doesn't sound like anyone I'd recognise. Not that that's surprising, because I have no idea where I am and I doubt anyone I know would either. But the voice seems... nice. First human being that's checked up on me yet, that's for sure.
I decide to respond.

"Ah, no, I'm good: are you okay? And by the way, who are you?"

Jeez, I sound very welsh right now. The accent comes through most when I'm stressed: and considering that I'm pretty frequently stressed, the 'vigilante Decibelle' tends to sound like someone fresh across the border. The spiders have stopped their attack.

I'm pretty sure this is just their strategy. Attack, retreat, attack... repeat until whatever. It's far better for me, in here, then it'd be for anyone out there- meaning the voice, and presumably the owner, will need shelter.

Speaking (pun intended) of the voice, they've gone silent.

"If you want some shelter, I can make some room for you in here," I continue, hoping for a response from the stranger.

"What?" The voice sounds distracted. "Could you?"

"Sure!" I play a couple of random notes, making enough of a hole in the fort for a person to climb in.

Funnily enough, a person climbs in.

As the hole crashes back down to where it was, I get my first look at the stranger: they're around my height, wearing a black motorcycle helmet and suit for some reason. There's not really much to describe because of this- if I had to choose a body type, I'd say apple, but I don't really know.

"Who are you?" I repeat.

"Pixel. Hi. He/him for now. Do you have any games on your phone?"

"Decibelle. Hi. What?"

"In your boot. iPhone 7, right? Unless it's a work phone, you gotta have at least one on there. Can you give me it?"
I glance down. He's right- I took it along for quizlet purposes, in case it was a quiet night.

How naive I was, thirty minutes ago.

"Why? Going to blow it up?"

"Depends on which answer's going to get me your phone quicker. Please?"

Is this guy part of the team Luda talked about? It'd make sense, if he wants my phone for something that could get rid of the spiders. Seemed fairly unfazed at the flute thing, too.

"Fine." I hand over the phone. "What are you going to-"
I stop; he's gone.

By 'gone', I mean really, very much outside-this-plane-of-existence gone. I look round, already knowing that he's not behind a chair. I think- it looked like he went into the phone, somehow. And I know, that sounds insane: but I do deal with insane on a bi-weekly basis.

There's a few seconds of awkward pause. Well, what do I do? Go looking for him? I'm just about to start doing so, when a burst of colour crashes out of my phone and through my barrier.

It's Pixel, holding a cartoonishly unrealistic bomb. I think I recognise that explosive. If that doesn't sound completely insane. It's from an app- Brickbrakers, if I remember correctly- one of those match-threes that I feel just materialise in your phone one day. Pixel must have taken it out of my phone, somehow...

well, guess I know what he can do now.

"Eat bad bomb clipart, everyone!" He yells, throwing the bomb into the centre of the room. It explodes. Comedically, of course.

There's a 'bang'. A flash of yellow, and then... nothing. Nothing but shrapnel and angry spiders.

I can't say I'm an expert on explosives, but I'm pretty sure they're meant to do more then that.

"Well," Pixel says, turning to face me, "that didn't work. Please remind me to never do that again."

"Will do," I reply. My focus isn't on him though: it's on the spiders, who've just remembered we exist and want to make sure we don't do so for much longer.

"Aw, great," I mutter.

"What?" Pixel replies, "Why the 'aw, great?"

"Well, see, I planning on doing something Incredibly Dumb and Stupid to get rid of these spiders before you arrived, and then you arrived, and then you tried to stop them which was very sweet but didn't actually work, meaning I'm going to have to go through with the Incredibly Dumb and Stupid idea."

I rush towards the spiders before he could have time to respond.

"Stay there!" I shout to Pixel as I run. I hear the mechanical grinding of the robots, as they stare incredulously at the girl running toward them.

They turn to face me. We're in my wanted formation now: a spider making the sides of a nightmare triangle, me in the centre. I try not to think about how much this looks like a cult sacrifice, raise my flute to my lips, and wait.

It's a good thing these robots are synchronised, isn't it? Whoever made them was pretty clever, deciding on a command to make them all charge at once toward something in the middle of all of them. The only way you could get out of something like that would be- well, if you could fly. Fly, or...

They charge. I jump upwards. I have to have perfect timing, otherwise I'll get to know what a giant-robotic-spider-triple-sandwich feels like.

Spoiler alert: I doubt it'd be fun.

Luckily for me, the first chair-part flies into position at the exact right moment. I use it to jump, close enough to touch the spiders. Play more notes in midair, and it comes back up again. Jump off again. Arguably, I could always use the same one chair piece as an impromptu hoverboard- however, I can't balance on small moving things at the best of times, and this'd be the worst of times. So I keep going: play, jump, play, jump, play, jump... skimming just above the robots heads, as they charge straight towards each other.

They do the inevitable: they crash.

It only takes a second. A second for them to total one another, a second for me to turn round and a second for me to miss the chair.

I scream, before finding myself in somebody's arms.

"That... was incredibly stupid," says Pixel, holding me in some sort of bridal carry.

"It worked, didn't it?"

"Doesn't mean it wasn't stupid! You could have died! Horribly!"

"Aww! You've only known me three minutes, yet you care that much. I'm touched."

"I will drop you."

"You can try!"

True to his word, he does- but as I'm getting back up, I hear something. Screaming.

"It's coming from that way!" Pixel points towards the corridor.

"Let's go!"