Universal Inconstants

Chapter 19

 A sudden angered yell sounded through the alley, and within three seconds, two of the crab people had been knocked out and the third backed away, afraid. The bracelet was snatched from Wyatt's wrist and he fell forward, caught by someone he hadn't even seen enter the alley. And as he stood himself up a few moments later, disorientation gone, he looked up to find Analiza Glist protectively standing between him and the crab person, a random pipe she'd found in hand.

The crab person rushed; Wyatt watched admiringly as she whacked the crab mercilessly, throwing curses at it for hurting her best friend and closest ally. 

Just as quickly as she'd rushed in, she grabbed Wyatt by the hand and dragged him toward the exit, and instantly they both saw just how many crab people there were. The streets were swarming with them, and even as the two of them rushed to the U-Stor-It, they didn't know if they would make it. 

Then Mysterion showed up, and fought with Analiza to break through the crowd and get Wyatt Greybill to safety.

As they quickly approached Tolkien's house, Mysterion rushed forward and fought with Thermos while Analiza pulled Wyatt into the house. 

After one final shove, Tolkien and Kenny rushed back, slamming the gates shut and booking it to the door. Quickly Tolkien moved to the keypad on the basement door, punching in the code before opening the door and rushing down the stairs. The other three followed quickly. Kenny blinked as he looked around the familiar base. Tolkien had left it completely untouched, it seemed. The latter rushed to the computer, tuning out everything but the screen set in front of him. 

Too many memories rushed into his head, but for once Clyde would have to wait. He couldn't fight to honor Clyde, through research or through force, if there wasn't a world to fight for in the first place, after all.

But they didn't have anything to go off of. Tolkien always needed a sample to research. He knew this by heart. Without a sample, or in this case without one of the mind control devices, he couldn't pinpoint a way to stop the creatures.

It was then that he saw out of the corner of his eye something being placed on the desk beside him. He looked down and instantly picked up the object; one of the bracelets the crab people had been using had been placed down by Analiza.

Tolkien instantly started a familiar process he often went through: research. He'd learned on his trips to the lab with Kenny how the process is done, and he saw a way to help when he was given the chance to start his own cancer research. He was given an opportunity to help prevent someone else from going through the pain he'd gone through.

And he took it.

Tolkien quickly typed into the computer, and Kenny handed him some tools to help disassemble the object. Kenny quickly turned on his wrist communicator and called Jimmy.

"Hey Jim, we have one of the devices here," he started. "Could you come over here? It might help move the process along with more people here."

Jimmy couldn't respond for a few seconds as he fought. He was getting tired. There were too many of them. "I-I-I c-can't," he forced out. "Th-there's-" he paused as he fought off one of the crab people. "T-too many."

Kenny became worried. Fastpass was not doing well. "Jimmy. Get out of there," he quickly ordered.

Jimmy tried to. He really did. 

But one of the overtaken pedestrians grabbed him. More civilians piled on. Jimmy couldn't fight, not against the people he knew and loved. He struggled, and struggled, and he could hardly hear Mysterion's worried yells over the clamoring of the people piled on top of him. He felt his wrist get grabbed by an outside crustacean and quickly yanked away, leaving harsh scratch marks on his skin from the hard serrated shell.