Underground Hatred - My Hero Origins (MHO)

23: Take Down an Asset, Bring Down the Hierarchy

Word Count: 2465

(Kat)

 The rest of the day was a swim through a murky current.

Kat was glued in a swamp, mud sucking her feet down. Each muscle struggled to be freed, but once she was out of a single step, she was faced with the next. The beginning started with her on her hands and knees, practically swimming through the oobleck dirt. She was neck deep, strange scents blinding her nose. The mud smelled of corroding metal and strong fumes of alcohol wipes. The same blurry haze of the streams of water around her matched her eyesight, echoing how blindly she trod on with her day-long journey.

By midday, Kat was to her feet. Her vision was clearing, the strong scents gone. Rather, it was replaced with laundry detergent and a masculine tinge. Her feet moved ever so slowly, continuing their wander that led her mindless body to where it sensed to go. The sticks turned to lively branches filled with green and vibrancy. Pink flowers guided her path, smaller white ones to decor the rims. The brush emerged through the thicket and the dirty depths, revealing beauty that hit sparks consistently in Kat's soul. A piece of liveliness. A touch of fire. A taste of actualization.

The mud receded from Kat's calves to her ankles. Her legs were caked in dried remnants of mud. Bits of her skin tingled with bugs to dance along the surface, bringing her back to life. They danced and spun, whirring with excitement of her life: they were especially attached to her left bicep—so active that it stung like a million bee stingers penetrated there. Her vision cleared of the blurry mud that once drowned her eyes, but some remained inside her brain. She failed to recognize the fauna that encompassed her body. The colors of the flora were dull to her swimming mind. Though, she followed. She followed what her body told her to do, to guide her, to bring her to her final destination.

A building erected from the swamp life, shadowing over on stilts. Guards sat beneath: the dinosaurs of modern day. Their teeth were made of pearls, their scales a ghastly green for armor. They watched the deteriorating stilts with their lives, circling the perimeter. Kat trudged to the house, something speaking of life—a different life than the one she witnessed. Amber eyes locked on to the black beady ones of the guards. A guard paused. Kat paused. The two stood in the pit of the desolate land, decision making locked in the gazes. Bribery, bardery, treachery.

They both wished to see past the barriers: the docks. Moss erupted from the cracks, the tiniest of creatures climbing on. Each being wished for something: one for escape, the other for power. The hunt for power was silenced for decades, but now brought to Kat's attention. The guard begged for a new life, for freedom of their comrades. The docks stood for years. It was time to take it back, to bring it to the knees of Mother Nature as everything should. Everything would return to normal. A simple task—and it was laid out for Kat to make a decision.

Kat's feet returned to their march, finding their way to the dock. The other guards paid no attention to the girl's arrival, but the singular guard of the deal escorted her with their gaze. The dock made it to Kat's chest. The rotting planks carried small life, but the build of trails said how long the project lasted. Pain twisted inside Kat's stomach, the life along her body crying out to stop the betrayal—but the deal was made. The guilt ate at Kat. The agreement was in place for those who struggled, to aid the ones who needed it in the teeming life of the swamp; this was to turn the equilibrium back to the rightful rulers.

The guard pushed her feet up, releasing her from the grasp of the mud. A gasp of breath held itself in Kat's lungs as she struggled to stand atop the dock. The constant wading through swampy marsh wobbled her knees when back on her feet, but the high stance—the freedom—on the dock powered her through the hardship. The power surged through her veins, but the chirp from below echoed the true meaning of who was able to place her there.