The Sleepwalker

Part Three: 21

Agent Hazard

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Hazard didn't sleep all night, and it wasn't that she was not given a bed by Cliff, even though there was one empty one, or because she was chained to the sink of the bathroom, but because she was watching that Cliff guy through the open bathroom door. And he was watching her.

They weren't speaking, they were not doing anything other than maintaining eye contact, even when the chef snored or the big guy shifted and creaked the whole bunk, which shook the chef who was on top.

"You can sleep, you know." Hazard said eventually. He almost flinched when she spoke.

"I haven't slept in a long while." He responded, sitting on the edge of the bed. "I don't and can't sleep. My mind has the scary capability to think up dark things."

"You're afraid of your dreams?"

"Yes," he said quietly.

They sat in the semi-darkness for a while, listening to distant screams and roars.

"I also can't move when I wake." Cliff went on. "It's like a sleep-paralysis demon is stalking me. I can't escape it." He looked at his fleshy wrist and sighed. Hazard realized it was a watch, which she knew she'd get when she survived this.

"How long has it been?" She asked eagerly.

"Since crap hit the fan? A little over forty hours. So I haven't slept in about thirty." He twirled a finger around his ear. "But I don't know. Time isn't processed as smoothly as it should be up here. The light's on, no one's home. I've been running purely on adrenaline and instinct."

"Sounds terrible."

He grinned faintly, which she could barely see in the room's low light level. "Sounds like life. I'm fine, by the way."

Hazard thought back to Key and Cliffhanger's argument. She didn't agree with either side, actually. If not for these chains and cuffs, she'd already have been off looking for Polybius, and screw these humans.

"Right." She said, resting her head against the sink. "Well, I on the other hand would like to get some beauty rest. Please leave me alone."

He mumbled something under his breath, but she was already passed the point of caring so she slept peacefully and had dreams of a nuclear bomb wiping out an entire city. She was in the center of the explosion, yet remained unharmed.

Hazard was shaken awake in what felt like minutes by the big guy whatshisface. He grunted when she woke, and left the room only to be replaced by Cliff, who looked like garbage if she were to be honest. He knelt down in front of her, so she got to see exactly how crap over forty hours of sleep deprivation can make someone look. His eyes were more bloodshot than usual, purple, almost black circles resided under his puffy lids, and his dark skin was very pale.

"Morning sunshine. You look wonderful," he mocked. "you slept right through my alarm."

There was a spot on the back of her head where it had sat against the sink that hurt like crazy and also made her irritable, and she was sure that her hair was a mess, but she bit by the retort that she still looked better than he did.

Hazard yawned and stretched, taking her time. The big metal case that resided over her nebulium arm was still as heavy as ever.

"Yeah, I tend to do that.' She finally said, sounding extremely bored because she was. "What time is it?"

"Almost six a.m., going by S.S.T.."

Hazard's brain was still foggy, but she knew S.S.T. stood for Standard Society Time, a global time system that everyone in the Society used. For instance, if it were one p.m. in Canada for all the Agents there, it would also be one p.m. for the Agents over in Ireland, New Zealand, and everywhere else. It didn't depend on the sun or time zones around it. It just ran on a very, very incredibly accurate atomic clock at the Society's headquarters, which oversaw all the Aspects. Like ninety percent of Agents, she'd never been there.

"Alright," said Hazard, "See you in a few hours then."

"Nope, we're leaving now." Cliff rubbed his eyes and stood. "Ferro, you got the food?"

In the other room, the chef (who still sat on the edge of a bunk) held up a small container containing muffin bits. He looked guilty, as if he had been taking more cookies than he should have from the jar.

"Did you steal..." Hazard began, but Cliff cut her off.

"Agent Hazard," said the sleep-deprived Agent, "you are going to bring us to your dorm room, where we will collect the Prototype and promptly kill the Sleepwalker."

Hazard cleared her throat. "Thanks for talking over me. If you want the location of the Prototype you better start treating me like freaking royalty." She waited before continuing, making sure she had the whole room to herself. "Also, where are my..." She almost said friends. Why did she almost call them friends? "... my roomates?"

Cliff folded his arms and his left eye twitched madly. "Key's leadership is at fault. And carrying around an injured woman will only slow us down. We will leave them here."

Hazard remembered that the Prototype was not already a weapon, and needed to be tinkered with by Quantum. But... Hazard had a plan working out in her mind. Say she brings them to the dorm, lets them in, then slams the door behind them and runs. Lots could go wrong, sure, but with any luck she can bash the man holding her chains over the head and get down the hall before the big guy can splinter the door.

Luck... was not exactly on her side at the moment. But it did cause her to wonder: Who was hoarding it all? She didn't exactly believe in it as Jinx did, but still had to wonder why all these bad things happened to her.

Ferro spoke up before Hazard could speak further. He kept his eyes low, still sitting on the top bunk. "Cliffhanger, I really don't think we should go on our own. We're kinda screwed without..."

Cliff spun on the chef like a very tired tornado. "Oh? Screwed without Key's wonderful guidance? Think I can't save you?! I'm doing this for them, I am freaking protecting them! I AM -"

The big guy, Flux or something, put a large hand on Cliff's head, which caused the Egyptian Agent to fume a bit but his temper soon subsided like a wave crashing on the shore.

He sighed, rubbing his eyes. "We leave now. Ferro, grab Hazard's chains. Flux will take up our tail and I'll carry the supplies."

"We will need water as well, Cliff." Ferro said, hopping down and not sounding at all as his usual cheerful self.

"Whatever." Cliff said in a gravelly voice, "Camel up at the sink and we'll drink the next time we see a bathroom."

They each drank deeply, even though the water tasted a bit salty, and they were soon out in the semi-dark hall, walking silently as they were each taught how to when training to become Agents. The white lights around them were still bright, but flickered a bit, but the flashing red had dimmed from seizure-inducing to just plain annoying. Hazard was tempted to scream out, but with Cliff holding an Indexer right behind her she didn't dare. Would he actually shoot her?

"Alright Hazard," he whispered, "which way?

The demon on her shoulder told her to lead them away from their dorm, but decided to just tell them.

"Left."

And left they went. It was the right way, technically, but also not because it was the left way. Funny how those things work out. Following her directions, they passed the men's dorms, a few suspicious stains on the walls, and a lot of what looked like chewed-off nebulium arms, sitting around on the floor, the bodies they belonged to were no where in sight.

After about fifteen minutes and a few wrong turns... She was lost.

"Which way?" Cliff asked again, sounding irritable. But Hazard had lost her way pretty quick, because signs and maps had been ripped off the walls by something, human or other. Many times they had to jump over large holes in the floor because the tiles had been torn away and exposed service tunnels beneath.

"I... I actually don't know." Hazard said, looking around. They had stopped right in the intersection of four doorless hallways, and there was no signs to tell where she was. Signs in here worked a lot like street signs, but without them, all the white tiled halls began to look identical.

"You freaking better," he cursed, since he didn't use the word 'freaking', "which way do we go?"

Hazard shrugged, pulling the chains that Ferro held. Cliff might've thought she was trying to escape, so he pulled up his Indexer, face red.

"You're a fool," he spat.

She smirked, pushing it. "You're tired."

To her and everyone else's surprise, the already bright hallway lit up with blue energy as a shot burst from Cliff's fingertip. It landed squarely in Hazard's chest. Burning heat filled her body as the bolt sank below her jumpsuit and blistered the skin. She doubled over and let loose a loud, almost screaming groan.

Flux was on Cliff almost immediately, he grasped his friend's metal arm and pointed it upward as he balanced his large laser cannon with his other hand. Cliff did not fight against it, but left his face emotionless as he looked down at Hazard, who curled up into fetal position, crying.

"Cliffhanger!" Ferro, sounding horrified, and also sounding as if he was far away, said as he knelt down beside Hazard and cast off his bag. Nearby, a tile had been ripped off the floor some time ago and showed a crawl space below (the tile was gone). The bag fell down to the bottom.

Ferro continued, speaking over Hazard's gasps of pain. "How could you do this?"

"Oh shut it." muttered Cliff, "We know what place to make it hurt but not kill. She'll live."

"But she won't give us the location now!"

"She's useless if she doesn't freaking know!" To add to this, he kicked Hazard in the ribs, causing her to scream more.

"Cliff!" Ferro stood and was almost as tall as the Egyptian. "You're not thinking straight!"

Cliff growled. "I'm fine. Fine enough to know how useless you are too."

He jerked his arm away from Flux and looked around, looking down all four hallways. "WHY are you ALL STARING!"

Ferro looked as well, but no one else was in the intersection. Hazard rocked back and forth on her side.

Cliff didn't stop his rant. "SHUT UP! ALL OF YOU!"

Hazard saw red, but she also saw brilliant blue flashes of light as Cliff shot down the halls with maximum power. These also unfortunately made a lot of noise.

Flux grunted and ducked past Cliff to get to Hazard and Ferro and pointed down the hole. Hazard heard a weird sound, with her ear against the cold tile. It sounded like two large snakes were slithering across the ground. But another sound was also heard... a tapping. Like a nail hitting the metal. It sent shivers down her spine, despite the fact she was burning hot.

Flux picked her up and lowered her into the hole, where Ferro sat, and he pulled her deeper into the apparent service tunnel. It was probably three, maybe four feet tall, so Hazard figured it was good enough to fit the bulk of Flux. But he only poked his head down, face filled with sadness.

"Safe." He said as he pointed to Hazard. Then pointed to himself. "Sorry."

Hazard let loose another moan, but Ferro held a finger to his lips as if she could control the abysmal pain that was coursing through her body right now, but she managed to quiet her sobs a bit.

Above the service tunnel, every three tiles or so, a grate had been fitted over the wires and big red, probably water pipe. Visibility was poor but at least she and Ferro weren't completely blind, and if Hazard craned her neck at an awkward angle she could see down all four hallways through one such framework of metal bars.

Ferro dragged her down away from the hole but stopped under a grate. He was looking up at Cliffhanger and Flux, one of which was still screaming and shooting wildly. Hazard watched in pain as Flux tapped his friend's shoulder, trying to see if his friend was too far gone, causing said friend to pull his Indexer right up to the big guy's face. Cliff's face was a mixture of madness and tiredness, but he showed no remorse when he shot Flux right in the face. Ferro gasped; Hazard sobbed once more. She was honestly starting to like Flux... She had the decency to look away when his body crumpled into the tunnel and blocked it off. A small sob escaped her lips, and she looked down at her chest to see her disgustingly blistered skin. Hazard wondered how long they'd be stuck down here.

But this was also when the twin slithering and tapping noises grew to be extremely overbearing. Many things were nearing.

Then she saw some of it.

In the darkness, she saw up through the grate a very comforting screen. It was Polybius's 'press start' block letters, lighting up the hall. Sure it was cracked and damaged, but she was glad to see...

But then she saw the rest.

The other parts of the Sleepwalker came into view, purple muscles flexing and tightening. Every once in a while, a pulse of pixels would burst from the arcade screen and crawl over his body, looking very otherworldly. His smile was as terrifying as usual, not to mention the other additions he had made to his body (She was unsure if it was a he or an it), such as a clean hole right through his head, multiple floating tendrils that extended backward, what looked like a hive sat embedded in one of his palms, while the other hand had a large black triangle stuck in the wrist. Hazard, in her pain and broken mental state, thought it looked like a huge butt of a spider. It observed Cliffhanger, looking only a tiny bit surprised.

"Hello, mortal." greeted the Sleepwalker. Cliff screamed and shot the Sleepwalker, but the monster didn't even react. Instead, he chuckled.

"Alp," he simply said, voice sounding low, grating, and as if it was spoken through a low quality speaker. However, it was loud, and Hazard detected traces of the voice without the speaker effect, but it wasn't much better. "leave the mortal."

Without warning, Cliff fell to his knees and shuddered. Above his head, a brown little man popped out. It was hairy, it was repulsive, and it was scowling.

"Whaddya mean?" It said in a high-pitched voice. "You have a soft spot for humans now? I was havin' a good meal!"

The Sleepwalker walked right over to Cliff and bent over to look at him closer. Hazard closed her eyes, thinking he'd eat the Egyptian, but he never did. So she peeked upward, sending more pain through her nervous system. Ferro did the same beside her.

"You'll drive him into madness." The Sleepwalker said.

"Oh yes oh yes I would and I will and I did! Lookie there!" The imp shouted gleefully as he pointed to the form of Flux, which only sat a few feet away from Ferro and Hazard. "Human is mad! Human kill friend!"

The Sleepwalker grabbed Cliff's hair and pulled his face up. The look of defeat and remorse on his face was saddening.

"Tell me, mortal," the Sleepwalker said, "do you feel guilty?"

Cliff did not respond, but shook as if he was cold. The monster let go and stood up.

"Leave him, Mare." He said to the Alp, waving his hand. "Our minds are the greatest prisons never constructed by man. I want to see if he can live with himself."

The Alp huffed but ran off down the hall and out of Hazard's sight. She glanced at Ferro, who looked equal parts confused and hurt.

In all the confusion, the slithering was had grown louder and was now, very, very close. It was joined by three more sounds, each getting louder; A lady screaming, something lumbering with heavy boots, and muffled footsteps alongside the sound of a cane hitting the floor.

Something was about to happen. But Hazard couldn't guess what.

Above, the Sleepwalker watched as Cliff pathetically crawled away. He just stood there, not attacking, but with a look of disgust on his face. Or it was pride. Either way, his face was just plain indecipherable.

Approximately five minutes later all four noises came to a sudden and abrupt stop. They were close, and Hazard couldn't see them yet.

The Sleepwalker was cornered by four monsters, but he didn't look remotely worried. In fact, he was grinning.

What was he grinning at? Hazard craned her neck, much to her immense pain, to see.

Down one corridor, stood a man in a brown trench coat. He was leaning over slightly and had an old bowler hat pulled low over his face. Well, calling it a face would be a stretch, since there wasn't really anything there. Literally, it was just flesh, no nose, no eyes, and no mouth. And, staying with the whole 'missing things', he had no right hand, instead, there was a large, almost curved knife-like serrated hook. It glinted red in the dim white lights, but also seemed to glow.

Another hallway contained a disgustingly hunchback figure, dressed in a ratty red coat with dirty white fur edging. A hood was thrown over its head and two great big twisting horns shot out from it. Its face was hidden from view, much like the hook man, and it held a white birch stick in its hand, with ice forming over the pointed tip. Its other hand poked out from the red sleeve, gnarled and in desperate need of a fingernail clipping. Hazard thought it looked like an evil version of Santa Claus.

The third hallway was no better. A woman in a tattered white dress stood - No, she floated, since she had no legs - weeping. Red tears flowed freely from her eyes, and dripped onto the ground; onto her dress. Ghostly chains wrapped around her arms, neck and torso, and they rattled with every scream she belched out. A padlock rested like a necklace on her chest. Hazard realized she glowed, and all the lights behind her had been knocked out just by her presence.

And last but certainly not least, was a monster with probably a hundred snakes bursting from his neck, each one ending in a long and red-eyed vaguely reptilian head. He had dragon-like wings, and was barely small enough to fit into the large hallway. Two thick snake coils were situated below the waist, acting almost like legs. His chest was very muscular, but also very badly burned and blistered, much like Hazard's own chest, only much, much worse. He roared and slammed a scaled fist into the wall, causing a pipe behind the metal to rupture and send forth steam. Hazard hoped that wasn't something important.

The Sleepwalker took his time to look at all four of the new arrivals and he spread his arms wide.

"Welcome my friends!" He said mockingly, and he addressed each and every one of them.

To the man with the hook hand, "hello Hook. You got a girlfriend?"

To the evil Santa, "Krampus, you look just like Old Nick."

To the weeping woman, "Bloody Mary. How's your sister?"

And finally, he tapped his chin as he studied the last monster, "Typhon? Is that you? Man, you look like you've been to Hell and back!"

Each beast did not answer him back and instead looked ready to murder. Which Hazard realized was what they were probably here to do.

The snake man, Typhon, roared angrily. "You murdered everyone in the Sanctuary!?"

The Sleepwalker shrugged. "The Sanctuary? The one I made? Yeah I did. I enjoyed it too."

Hook stepped forward and spoke in a gravelly voice. "They were not yours to kill."

"What, you guys are all upset because I killed them?"

Krampus chuckled but said nothing. His laugh sounded like nails on a chalkboard.

The Sleepwalker spun on him. "Here to avenge them, I suppose? Ah, don't you just miss the old days when each monster killed and was feared? Hook, you used to prey on couples making out in their cars, all because you couldn't find love for yourself. Krampus, you once beat children with your spear. And Bloody Mary..." She let out a scream, "well I'll be frank nothing changed there. And there's Typhon. Were you not the 'King of the Monsters' once? Times have changed it seems."

Krampus suddenly spoke. It was no better than his laugh. "We are not here for revenge or to avenge. We are here to kill you."

A few moments of silence passed. Hazard could almost hear Ferro's breathing over her own extremely loud heart.

"To kill... me?" The Sleepwalker asked incredulously. "That's hilarious! Everyone's saying Saint Nick's got all the humor, but Krampus is where it's at!"

Typhon's heads glared at the purple monster. "You have too much power."

"Why thank you,"

Hook jumped in, voice emanating from somewhere on his face, despite the fact he had no mouth or lips to form words. "You take what is not yours. You are nothing without the parts you have stolen. You are a fake."

Krampus pointed his spear. "The Sleepwalker is no legend. And we are here to keep our place on the totem pole. You are nothing but a shadow of the greats."

The Sleepwalker smiled and spread his arms wide. "You are the greats." His smile disappeared, the tendrils on his back were drawn into his flesh, and his muscles tightened. "And soon... soon you will be merely a shadow of me."

The effect on the four was immediate. Evidently they don't take too kindly to death threats. Typhon's many snake heads opened their jaws and belched fire at the Sleepwalker. Krampus threw his spear. Hook ran forward. Bloody Mary screamed, burning Hazard's ears.

Hazard swore she heard the Sleepwalker sigh before throwing back his arms and letting the fire hit Polybius's screen on his chest. The fire was absorbed as it traveled right through the glowing square, not stopping, and triggered a sudden surge of red and orange pixels that flowed down the Sleepwalker's right arm. When it reached his fingers, the repurposed flame shot out down Krampus's hall and disintegrated the spear midair. The evil Santa Claus conjured a wall of ice to protect himself from the inferno.

With his other hand, the Sleepwalker pointed the spider's spinneret on his wrist at Hook. A single but thick stream of violet slime sprung forth, hitting Hook square in the face, who stopped running to claw at the purple webs.

Bloody Mary moved her arms from her face, revealing dark inky pits for eyes, and held one arm out. Chains flew from her, wrapping around the Sleepwalker's own arm. He struggled but the chains pulled harder and pulled his limb downward. Hazard heard his flesh sizzle, and the smoke lazily drifted up to the ceiling from the arm. The Sleepwalker grimaced and pulled back, obviously hurt.

The others noticed he was weak and pushed harder. Krampus formed a new birch rod out of ice and slammed through his ice barrier, throwing it. The Sleepwalker caught it with his free hand and cast it toward Hook. The spear went clean through the man's shoulder and stuck there.

Typhon made his move. He charged the Sleepwalker, and briefly Hazard's vision was obstructed by two large snake tails, but when she could see again Typhon had him by the neck. Krampus waddled over and grabbed the Sleepwalker's free arm, freezing it solid as he held on.

"Ach..." the Sleepwalker struggled, but there was no give. "Well... well done you three. Hook? You're fired since you did nothing."

Typhon held him up, speaking from all his heads. "Be quiet while we think of a way to kill you."

"Typhon. You cannot kill me in a way that matters."

"Then we will kill you in every way until you die."

The Sleepwalker laughed faintly as Hook limped to his spot behind Krampus. Using his hook, he sliced off the spear in his shoulder easily. Part of it was obviously still embedded in his flesh, but it didn't hinder the monster-man. Hazard sort of felt bad for him. First, he got webs in his eyes, next he got a spear in the shoulder. What was next? Choked by Bloody Mary's chains?

Suddenly, the screen on the Sleepwalker's chest brightened. Four words registered: Player two has joined.

Hook suddenly drove his hook, which now glowed a bright red, much more than before, into Krampus's back, slicing it open with little effort. Krampus cried out and let go of the Sleepwalker's arm, letting his freeze effect stop as well. With his hand free, the Sleepwalker broke the ice and shoved his claw into Typhon's back, seemingly careful of the wings. The King of the Monsters howled and let go, causing the Sleepwalker to land on his feet and pull Mary with immense force. She went flying and crashed into Typhon, which didn't affect him in the slightest.

Krampus recovered and conjured up another spear. It had barely left his hand when Sleepwalker caught it and shoved it into the floor.

Hazard barely controlled her yelp of surprise when she looked over and saw Ferro.

Ferro, that is, with a spear poking out of his forehead.

His baby blue eyes flicked over at her before releasing one last breath.

The Sleepwalker caught Krampus's next spear and stabbed Typhon in the burned chest with it, causing the snake-monster to double over in pain. It must have hit something important, Hazard guessed it had punctured a lung, considering where the spear tip was.

In a smooth motion the Sleepwalker tore the spear free from the ground and whipped it at Krampus, who just barely sidestepped it. Hazard just briefly saw the Sleepwalker's face glance at the blood on the end before letting go. She hoped she had imagined it.

Hook, who had just stood there like a statue, suddenly burst into motion, jumping at Mary and clawing her face with his hook. It left more bloody trails down her face, surprising Hazard, who thought she was an ethereal ghost. Mary screamed, incapacitating Hook away but also knocking Typhon, who was in front of her, onto his knees. The Sleepwalker also cringed at the scream, holding his hands over where his ears should be.

"SHUT UP!" He shouted, voice crackling, as he shot a web at Mary. It hit her face and covered her eyes and mouth, dulling down the scream. Hazard found that she was thankful for that, since her ears felt like they wanted to explode. The Sleepwalker shot more webs at the ghost and hastily made a spider's web to contain her, but it didn't seem like it'd hold her for long.


Typhon was still on his knees, so the Sleepwalker seized his opportunity and slashed the snake-man's chest with one hand as he held his bulbous other hand outward at Krampus. The flesh on his puffed-up palm boiled and pulled back, revealing six small but long hexagon cells, orange and black. Bees that Hazard felt she'd seen before flew out, each one red and covered in purple goo.

Krampus screamed as they flew around him, and he tumbled out of Hazard's sight. The Agent turned back to the others to see that the Sleepwalker had now grabbed Mary's chain, which was still stuck around his web arm, and was now wrapping it around Hook's neck. The screen now read 'Player two had run out of lives'. Hook gasped and repeatedly stabbed the Sleepwalker, but it did not wipe the grin off the purple beast's face, even if the hook left some big wounds and sent tear-like globs of glowing yellow blood down the Sleepwalker's chest.

"Nighty night Hook." The Sleepwalker said, pulling harder. Hook slowed down considerably, before stopping forever.

Hook slumped to the floor and the Sleepwalker pulled hard on Mary's chain. The ghost went flying through the air, having been torn free from the web. She was caught easily by the neck. Granted, Bloody Mary gave up a pretty good fight, kicking and letting loose ear-splitting screams that made even the Sleepwalker flinch. It didn't make him look happy when he held her up, squeezing her air pipe slightly.

Typhon, who was still at least ten feet away, growled as he violently took the spear out from his wounded chest.

"Don't do it Walker." He said, obviously hurt. The Sleepwalker's long claws had left four long and deep cuts across his chest. Typhon glanced at what Hazard guessed to be Krampus, and also cast a glance at the crumpled form of Hook, whose empty face was not visible to Hazard, but soon the King of the Monsters looked back at the 'Walker', disgusted. "You murder our own kind almost as much as the humans do."

The Sleepwalker didn't let go of Bloody Mary, but looked at Typhon over her shoulder. "Oh? Our own kind? You do know of my nature, right? I am of a special kind, unlike you."

"You are a false Walker," Typhon went on, watching his enemy carefully, "they will reject you when you see them."

"Good thing I'm not trying to make friends."

"They will kill you."

The Sleepwalker smiled. "They will try."

He grabbed the padlock that had been on Mary's neck and ripped it right off. A pulse of pixels surged seconds before it cracked. Bloody Mary stopped crying, transfixed, as the ghostly transparent chains around her slid off and piled on the floor. Her legs returned, and she alighted gracefully barefooted onto the ground, still held by the Walker. Mary looked at her arms as the blood on her face turned to tears, and color returned to her pale cheeks. She touched a fleshy hand to her face, looking shocked. She then turned her bright eyes upward to the Sleepwalker.

"Thank you," she whispered.

"You're welcome." The Sleepwalker said as he snapped her neck.

Typhon roared, each of his dragon heads spewing flame.

"I'LL KILL YOU!" He shouted, snapping the birch spear he had been holding.

The Sleepwalker smiled and shook the chains that were still stuck to his arm, expecting them to fall. But they didn't. And the few seconds he took looking down cost him dearly, since Typhon cleared the space between them with a single flap of his wings and grabbed the Walker's arm.

Crash.

The grate above Hazard bent as the Sleepwalker was slammed into it. Furthermore, he was lifted up by Typhon just to be slammed down once more. Next, Typhon grasped the purple monster by the leg and whacked a wall with his still-smiling face. Lastly, Typhon threw the Sleepwalker down and started to whale on his face with claw and fist. Each pound made the tunnel shake.

Finally, Typhon was done. He stood over the injured Sleepwalker triumphantly.

"Done yet?" The Walker said as he coughed up glowing yellow blood.

Typhon looked about ready to explode, since all his heads were on fire.

The Sleepwalker looked up at him, face out of Hazard's view. "My turn."

A purple web shot up, hitting the ceiling. Typhon focused up on it... and got a purple claw to the heads. It sliced at least ten clean off. The Sleepwalker stood and comically brushed off his shoulders, as Typhon howled in pain. The Walker was seemingly unaffected by the beating, though his body told a different story. Wounds covered his chest. Yellow blood added a new color to his purple figure, and his smile seemed crooked.

It didn't stop him from grinning as he fired another web, though. It hit Typhon's badly burned chest, and the Sleepwalker tethered the other end to the wall. More and more webs were spun, further pinning Typhon to the walls in some sort of twisted spiderweb, much like the one he used for Mary, although the strings were much thicker for this one.

"Caught like a fly in a web." The Walker chuckled, admiring his spinneret. Typhon, now stuck suspended a foot off the ground with his arms and legs wrapped around him in a magenta silk cocoon, didn't speak.

"I think... the title that was once yours now belongs to me, wouldn't you agree?" The Sleepwalker said, clawing at Mary's chains on his arm aimlessly as he spoke, but they seemed permanently seared to his skin. "Aware, the Sleepwalker, King of the Monsters. It has a nice ring to it. I'd ask for your opinion, but I don't actually care."

Bees had now started to fly back to the Walker, and each was caught by the flick of a floating tendril.

"Any last words?" He said, coiling up Mary's chains.

Typhon spoke. It was low, it was emotionless, it was delivered perfectly.

"You will die. Heaven will not let you in its pearly gates. And not even Hades will accept you. You will drift in nothingness. No one will remember your name."

And with that, the Sleepwalker stabbed Typhon in the chest with his claws. Green blood dripped down to the tile and drifted down the grate about Hazard, but she didn't dare move to wipe it off her face.

Back up on ground level, the Sleepwalker slashed through the web and tore off Typhon's wings. Two tendrils jutted out and over the Walker's head and grasped the wings, pulling them into place right behind his shoulder blades. Purple goo covered them, and the screen let out a surge of pixels.

The Sleepwalker sighed as he flexed his new wings. Hazard could see that he was injured; The monsters had left more than a few cuts and bruises. Nevertheless he walked over to Hook's body and tore out Hook's hook-like hook and attached it to the end of Mary's chain with violet webs. His body seemed to accept the chain, because dark purple pixels surged down it and left small glowing cracks throughout the gray slightly transparent links. This was evident when he pulled back his arm and the chain automatically got sucked into his forearm, wrapping and twisting around the limb.

"Don't think I've forgotten about you," he said offhandedly as he admired his new upgrade. He cast a glance at what must be Krampus but soon turned his face toward the grate.

Swifty, he moved over to her and peered down, smiling when she gasped..
"Hello."

He easily tore it off the floor with one hand, casting it at the wall, where it hit it with enough force to embed itself there four feet off the ground.

He barely cast more than a glance at Ferro, probably guessing that's where the blood came from, before he reached down and pulled out Hazard. His hands were oddly soft.

"Please don't kill me," Hazard whimpered, her burns... well, burning and hurting. The monster laid her down on the floor, where she, attempting to not look weak, got on her knees.

"I... I..." She gritted her teeth. "I helped you escape!"

His head whipped toward her, fast enough that it would have broken a human's neck if one had tried.

"Why," he said after a few seconds of thinking, "I may not remember you... But Polybius does."

Hazard's hopes rose. "Can I talk to him?"

"Afraid not. He's dead. But I have his memories... Agent Hazard. Jessica."

Hazard... Jessica... nodded.

"And so... very well. You did."

Hazard waited for him to go on, but he didn't. So she got the ball rolling. "Polybius promised me something..."

"Do I look like Polybius?" The Sleepwalker simply stated. It didn't seem like a question but felt like one. Jessica looked at the screen on his chest but didn't reply.

"The power to level a city..." he muttered, shaking his head. "Truth is that Polybius planned on killing you before he gave you that power. The traitor would tie up loose ends, much as I do. Give me your arm."

Jessica had nothing to lose. She offered her metal arm to the Sleepwalker, who took it, broke her own chains easily, and tore off the metal cover. Once the black arm was exposed, he covered it in thick magenta slime.

"In five minutes tear off the cocoon." The Sleepwalker explained, face unreadable. Jessica nodded, and the Sleepwalker stood, unfurled his new wings, and took off upward, crashing through the ceiling. Debris rained on Jessica, but she was oblivious to it. The first thing she did was look at Flux, who had a very blistered face. Next, she looked at Krampus, but couldn't find him. There was a red pile of liquid in the corner, but no Evil Santa.

Counting her seconds, she took off limping toward the place where Infinity and the others should be, trying to trace her steps. But she got a bit lost, going down the now much darker corridors, and soon gave up when she found herself in some sort of huge supply room that she didn't remember if they had passed or not. Crates of food sat around, some opened, some taken, and many packets of water had also been taken. This would sustain over a few thousand people, if properly rationed out.

Jessica sat down on one such crate once she hit five-hundred and ninety seconds, and when the pain in her abdomen reached its overflowing point in her tolerance bucket.

10.

The excitement went through her like probiotic yogurt, and she had to bounce her leg to keep from shaking.

9.

What would she do first?

8.

Attack the monsters, of course.

7.

She'd team up with Key to kill the Sleepwalker.

6.

Ironic that he'd die by the powers he gave.

5.

Or... screw Key, she'd off the Walker herself.

4.

She'd be a hero and would become famous, like she always wanted.

3.

Her arm started to heat up, and she began to sweat.

2.

She hovered a hand over the purple, inches away from the base of the goo.

1.

In one smooth move she tore off the violet slime. The metal arm came with it, in pieces.

The room was filled with blinding light as the nebulium core was exposed. It was a brilliant blue, steaming, and still stuck in her arm. And of course, it was beautiful. Imagine an entire nebula contained inside of a rod. Just looking at the stick would make the viewer gasp in amazement. Below the blue was a pulsing rainbow of colors.

"I'm going to name you Jeremy," Jessica whispered in amazement.

Then Jeremy became unstable and shook violently. The heat went far past what any normal thermometer was able to count, and Jessica felt her face slowly melt. She screamed, but she could barely hear herself over the sizzling and melting of the metal around her, and the instant crackling fires that the wood crates burst into.

Then Jeremy exploded.