Tales From Crashdown: Beowulf

Chapter 7: Cauterize

     Beo finally stopped stretching and took a breath, “So, since you know my name, shouldn't it be fair for me to know yours?”
     The son scoffed, “Trolls do not use names unless they are gifted them.”
     “Or if you want to cast aside who you are, and it seems like you already have.” Replied Beo.
     The son snickered, “Mother has been teaching you. If you must know, you may call me Grendel.”
     Beo leaped into the air above Grendel's head before crashing down on his skull with her fist, making him stagger for only a moment before he headbutt her in the middle of the air.
     Once she hit the ground again, she grabbed one of the plates from the ground and watched it be set ablaze before throwing it at Grendel.
     He caught it, but it burned a mark into his hand, and tossed it away before using one of his steel legs to crush Beo beneath its tip.
     Grendel laughed aloud, “That's it? The great Beowulf crushed so easily?” He looked to his mother at the top of th e stairs, “You.”
     Freydís took a step back on the flat before she cried out to Riley, “Come on! Help already!”
     Riley looked down where Beo was stepped on, “Hmmm, not yet.”
     A light slowly began to creep out from under the tip of the foot, then it began to shake and Grendel started to tip over.
     Beo eventually stood straight, holding the tip of the leg.
     Grendel's eyes bulged from shock, “WHAT‽”
     Beo smiled, “Y'know you're a lot like a pile of dirty clothes.”
     Grendel began pushing down harder with the robotic foot, “Shut up!”
     Beo shouted, “You need a spin cycle!” With a quick twist of the hips, Beo toppled Grendel and began to sweep him across the ground in a circular motion. Then, she began to go faster, faster and faster, until eventually Grendel was lifted off of the ground, spinning in the air.
     Freydís took a moment to process what she was seeing, “Riley, when Beo fought me…..she…..she could have killed me.”
     Riley responded bluntly, “In an instant.”
     Beo hurled the electronic lumix to the hole in the wall where the drawbridge used to be, hoping he'd land in the moat, “Now get washed!”
     As Grendel soared through the air, he cried out “Never!”
     Suddenly, the wires from the walls swung out and caught Grendel, just before he flew out of the castle.
     Riley stood up, “Maybe I will need to help.”
     Grendel stood again, now more agitated. He clenched his fist and 2 plates from ground shook before flying at Beo and slamming her at both sides, beginning to crush her.
     Beo tried to push out her arms, but 2 more plates flew and crushed her at each side.
     Grendel charged forward and kicked the now immobilized Beo, sending her flying, crashing into the back wall at the top of the steps.
     Freydís leaped out of the way and braced herself as debris scattered from the crash.
     When the dust cleared, Freydís saw that Beo was still smiling, and gave Freydís a wink, “Enjoying the show?”
     Freydís scowled, “You're STILL just playing‽”
     Beo laughed, “No, that actually hurt.”
     Freydís took a moment to think, “Okay, I'm tired of this.” She turned to Riley and Joe, “Both of you, get up!”
     They did so, both surprised at the sudden shift in attitude.
     “Both of you are warriors, right? Start acting like it!” She pointed at Riley, “Use your blade and take out the legs. And use the spirit arts or whatever you call it if you can.” Commanded Freydís.
     Riley shrugged and grabbed his blade, “Fine! Might as well do something to stretch my legs.” Then, he leaped from the top of the stairs to the base.
     Freydís turned to Joe, “What do you do?”
     Joe pulled out a guitar, amplifier, and microphone from his cloak, “I'm the bard.”
     Freydís nodded, “Well, get to singing.”
     Joe started to assemble the set of devices and instruments as Freydís turned to Beo and pulled her out of the wall.
     Freydís looked Beo in her eyes and said, “You need to get this done. I have 130 years of NOTHING! A third of my life is gone!” She snapped her fingers, “just like that. Now that I have the chance for justice and the opportunity to get control of my life again, you can't even use all your assets! You have friends, people who can make up for your shortcomings, but you don't do it. Why? Cause you think it's ‘fun‽’”
     Beo argued, “If I have a chance to die, I'm going to at least enjoy it.”
     Freydís yelled back, “If you have a chance to die, then you're not the strongest there is!”
     Beo took a deep breath, “Y'know, you're pretty when you yell at me.”
     Freydís dropped Beo to land on her feet, “Beo, this isn't a game. This is my life at stake. If you fail, what do you think he's gonna do to me? What do you think he'll make me do? How many people do you think I unknowingly killed? How many more do you think will fall if you lose?”
     Beo was still for a moment, thinking. Then, she said, “Alright, I'll take this seriously.”
     Freydís got on her knees and kissed Beo on the forehead, “Thank you.”
     Beo popped her knuckles before leaping to the bottom of the stairs.
     Freydís followed behind, running down the stairs.
     At that moment, Joe finished putting together the system of electronics.
     Grendel grumbled, “Are we done with the sappy speeches? I'm ready for this to be over with!”
     Joe's voice boomed from the microphone, “Well are you ready, Riley?”
     “Yeah!” he responded.
     “Frey?”
     “Uh-huh!” She answered.
     “Beo?”
     “AH, HELL YEAH!” She shouted.
     “Alright fellas, let's GOOOOOOO!” Cried Joe.
     In a moment, Riley dashed forward and his blade roared from it's motor hilt as he sliced through the knee joint of the front-right leg.
     Grendel stumbled for a second before catching balance again.
     Beo turned to Freydís, “Distract him for 5 minutes, that's all.”
     Freydís turned to her, “Are you kidding me‽ This is serious, yo-”
     Beo glared at her, “I AM serious. 5 minutes and I'll vaporize him.”
     Freydís smiled and nodded, “Good thing I kept this.” She picked up her left foot and her right sprouted the chain she had stolen from Romero's weapon. The teeth dug into the ground and they glided her across the floor.
     Beo began to breathe and focused the flow of her spirit into her fist.
     Joe shouted, “The man in the back said everyone attacked and it turned into a ballroom blitz!”
     Grendel waved his hand and more wires from the wall lashed out at Riley, but he saw them coming and sliced them at the ends. Then, he aimed for a second leg, leaping at it.
     Grendel swung down with his arm, “Not doing that again!” He bashed his hand against Riley.
     Riley began to run up his arm.
     At this point, Frey's chain went from the floor to the front-left leg.
     Grendel swatted at her but he missed as she reached the top of his leg and flew upward, landing on his shoulder.
     Grendel clutched his hand and plates from the floor flew up to strike her, but she dug her foot into his shoulder and rode behind his neck to his other shoulder, causing the plates to slam into the side of his face, just as Riley successfully sliced the other right leg.
     Grendel collapsed again, only having his left legs.
     Frey rode to the front of his face after he collapsed and shifted the chain to her skull, the teeth coming out of her head. She bashed her skull into the eye of her son as the teeth rotated.
     The eye popped, causing a black watery substance to squirt out and Grendel screeched, “My eye! My eye! A you would blind your own son‽”
     Frey answered, “Quit complaining, I've been going off of noise since I woke up!” Then, she jumped off of her son's face and shifted the blade back to her foot and moved back.
     Grendel put his right hand on the ground, trying to push himself up, but struggling to do so from his weight.
     Riley leaped from the top of Grendel's head and swiftly sliced his wrist when he landed on the ground, quickly moving before the body collapsed again.
     Grendel put his other hand over his popped eye and turned to his mother and began to speak. He said, “This is what you feel is necessary? You would let these strangers come into our home and help them strike me down! You are my mother, the one who brought me into this world! Yet you not only stand there and see me suffer, but even help in this madness?”
     Joe came to the end of the song he had been performing, “It's, it's a ballroom blitz! It's, it's a ballroom blitz!”
     Freydís turned to look at Beo, and was amazed. Most of the world was blurry in her vision, but in this moment, Beo was as clear as if Frey's eyes were new. Beo was enveloped in a ride flame that went out from her whole body.
     Freydís looked back at her son, “I brought you into the world and I'll let her take you out.”
     Riley and Freydís ran out of the way as Beo began to yell out, “You didn't want to get washed up, so let's just send you to the dryer!”
     In the blink of an eye, Beo exploded forward and collided with the gut of Grendel, and both went flying back towards the opening. It was like watching an asteroid collide with a satellite.
     “You know this won't work!” cried Grendel just before wires blocked the doorway just as before, but dozens of times more. It caught them and kept them from exiting.
     The flames from Beo charred the flesh on Grendel's stomach, but did not pierce him.
     “Absolutely not, young man!” Shouted Frey as she rode the chain in her foot around the opening, cutting the wires that were sprawled across, finally throwing out Beo and Grendel, jettisoning both of them down into the moat.
     Joe and Frey stood in the opening, looking down into the water where they witnessed a massive splash.
     Joe shouted from the top of the stairs, “Did she die this time?”
     Riley shouted back, “Can’t tell yet!”
     Just then, bubbles began to come to the surface, followed by Beo launching out like a torpedo up to the opening, just barely landing inside.
     She began to dance about, “WOOOOOHOOOOO! That was awesome! I haven't gotten to use my Surtr Strikedown in like 7 years!”
     Freydís covered her eyes, “Have you know shame‽” She cried.
     Beo stopped for a second and looked at Riley, who was shaking his head. She asked, “Did I mess something up? He IS dead, I can go get his head if I have to.”
     Riley pinched the bridge of his nose, “Beo. Look. Down.”
     Beo looked down, now realizing that she was only wearing what she was born with. On top of that, she now realized from her fingers to her right elbow had been burned like the side of her face. She smirked a bit, “Hey Freydís, ever seen this before?”
     Freydís creeped her fingers apart for a moment, and watched for a couple seconds as Beo began to flex her body, making sure to give an entire overview.
     Beo teasingly said, “Oh? Not gonna look away now~?”
     Freydís shrieked, “Just put some clothes on you barbarian!”