Self Destructing Messenger

#29 - High Beams

Nothing overtly idolistic had happened yet. No screaming or anything, just some security going after the dog on the loose and the girl tearing through the shoppers. Maybe it was a false alarm, Gia thought.

And then her phone rang. She pulled it out. Pyro.

When she answered he sounded a bit panicked. "Gia? Are you guys still here?" he said. There was some weird noise in the background, like water splashing.

"Yeah," she replied. "What's going on?"

"Uhhh..." he paused. It sounded like he was moving, then, "Any chance you could send Azalea up to the food court? I think I'm about to be killed."

"What," she squeaked.

"Just- hang on." And his call ended.

She turned to Elaine. "We have to go!"

The redhead looked from her friend to the Man in Black. "What about him?"

"What about him?" Gia said, trying to keep the rising panic from her tone. "He's not exactly one of the good guys."

The Man in Black snorted. "I am too a good guy."

"Are you?" Elaine asked. "Is that why you were thinking of drowning us in the fountain earlier?"

Gia paled. "What?"

"But I didn't," he reasoned. "See? Team Justice all the way."

"Pretty sure Team Justice is off facing down an idol and yet here you are. Not helping."

Gia grabbed Elaine's arm and yanked her close. "What are you doing? He could kill us! Let's just leave!"

Elaine frowned at her friend. "I'm tired of running and hiding. Trust me, it's no way to live life." The redhead wrinkled her nose. "Do you smell something?"

"At least we'll have a life to live!" the brunette shrieked, ignoring her friend's attention deficit disorder. "We could get seriously hurt!"

"Really, Gia? Really?" Elaine said dryly, then yelled, "I'm pretty aware of that!"

The Man in Black watched them bicker. It wasn't interesting and he had only recently paid to have his jacket dry cleaned. And by paid, he meant he had collapsed the cleaners for a one hundred percent discount, which he had to do twice as he had been standing too close to the first demolition and had gotten his jacket covered in dust.

So he wandered off, coming to a stop near a Victoria's Secret. It took the girls some time but eventually they noticed he had moved. They caught sight of him at the same time, leaning against glass, arms twisted in front of his thin frame. He smiled and then casually indicated upwards with one hand.

Slowly floating in the air was a large burgundy bubble. It glittered, lit up by the skylight above, reddish fluid sloshing around within. The oddity picked up speed as it drifted. Most of the holiday shoppers stopped to stare at the giant out of place orb.
"Go go go go!"

Both girls scrambled towards the Man in Black and the cover that the overhanging floors offered. The bubble shifted in space, pulled towards them but was too high. It struck the second floor railing and burst, sending wave after wave of fluid raining down near them.

The mall erupted into full blown hysteria.

Gia and Elaine pressed against the glass of the shops, not wanting a drop to touch them. God it smelled awful, like bratwurst strung up in the men's bathroom of a Parkinson's treatment facility.

People dropped their things, grabbed up their children and ran for their lives. The crowds vanished, like a ripple extending from gross ground zero.

"I'm gonna vom," Gia said, gagging twice.

"Indeed," said the Man in Black. "This is why I will help next time."

Elaine had been patting the back of her friend while she heaved but she stopped. "Why don't you help now? Take care of the other idol?"

Other idol? Gia started hyperventilating.

The Man in Black seemed to mull this over. While he was processing, the display in the Victoria's Secret window exploded. Gia screamed. Two mannequins tumbled to a stop about fifteen feet away. Then one of them moved. It, or rather she hadn't been a dummy after all, but was instead one of the employees. She writhed in pain, gradually coming to her senses. Her eyes rose from the ground, back to the store. In the next instant, she was scrambling to her feet, shoes sliding in the glass. Traction. She sped off towards the closest mall exit.

All Gia could think was why weren't they behind her? Why hadn't they gotten out before her? Why were they still standing there?

The sounds of movement within the lingerie boutique, a click of stiletto heels. One step. Two. The Man in Black tilted his head curiously towards the source, taking a step back. The girls did the same, making sure he was much closer to whatever it was than they were.

A perfectly manicured hand grabbed the empty window frame, followed by a long bare leg ending in a sky high heel. The stripper shoe struggled to find stability in the debris and wobbled back and forth before it found purchase. It was followed by a shapely body clad only in a pink lace thong and gravity defying bra. The woman's hair was peroxide blonde and full of extensions. She moved awkwardly into the mall common, then turned her make up heavy face towards towards the trio.

The Man in Black nodded, as if it all made sense now. "Yes," he said. "I will take this one for the team." And flicked his hand towards the sexy idol.

Her ankle rolled, bone breaking through the skin of her calf as she jerked forward, overcompensated and began to fall backwards. She screamed, high pitched and inhuman. It happened so quickly that there wasn't even time to react to the lasers shooting from her breasts.