The Cloak Guard

The Sculptor, Part 4

Madison trembled, doing her best to hold the force field firm, but every second that passed made it more difficult. She could feel the whole weight of the earth pressing down on her, trying to crush her. It was like holding up a car or something on her back, sweat trickling down all over her body from the strain. She wasn't sure how much longer she could keep this up. She felt like she would collapse any second now and that would be it.

Travis was standing right next to her, looking at her with concern. He kept looking like he wanted to say something but didn't. Madison was grateful for that. She didn't need words of encouragement or anything like that right now. She just needed to focus.

It would be better to know that she was holding on for something. That there was some ray of hope. That the others would find them in time and save them, or that Travis was coming up with a plan or something. But he looked as lost as she felt and so far there was no sign of any help. They'd already checked Travis's phone but being underground like this disrupted its signal.

Still, no matter how long it took, Madison would still keep holding on.

"Hey," Travis suddenly said, surprising her. "I...I'm sorry. For bringing you into all of this. You were right, what you said. It is idiotic and suicidal to live your life like a superhero."

Madison sucked in her breath, remembering that day. It had been after the school battle with Swarm, when Travis tried to convince them all to team up. Considering how close they'd just come to dying, Madison had snapped at him.

"N-no, I'm sorry" she mumbled. "I shouldn't have said that."

"But it's true. Even if we do get survive this, this kind of lifestyle is crazy and is going to get us killed sooner or later. I mean, I accepted that. This is what I've always wanted. But you...I brought you into this. And that wasn't fair. So, I'm sorr-"

"I chose this too," she said so softly that it was barely a whisper. But he still heard her, staring at her with wide eyes. "I...I wanted to deny it, but I love my powers. I love using them. And I want to keep doing it. I've...been scared of really trying anything new my whole life because I hate failing. But, when I use my powers, I feel...better. Stronger. More like me. I don't know why." She looked up at him straight in the eyes. "So don't blame yourself. I wanted to come here. I wanted to help Eustace because he's my friend. The only one I had before you. And before that, I wanted to help Gabriela from Swarm. And if there's someone else out there planning on hurting my friends, I want to stop them too. It's what heroes do, right?"

Travis stared in silent shock for a few second before grinning. "Yeah. That's what heroes do."

"We might die here or another day or whatever. But I don't regret it. So you don't regret it either," she told him. "We'll find some way out of-"

"Oh, I already figured a way out of here," he said, shocking her.

"Wh-what?"

"Yeah I came up with something a few minutes ago."

"Why didn't you say anything?" Madison asked, glaring at him. "I'm literally getting crushed by the earth here."

"Well, I wasn't positive it would work or not so I wanted to apologize to you first before we tried it. You know, just in case."

Madison sighed. She felt like all her muscles were being stretched right now so was up for any kind of plan. "Just tell me what we have to do."

"Ok, first thing's first. Do you think you can open a hole in the force field?"

Madison gaped at him. "What? Why would I do that? The Sculptor would be able to get in!"

"I know. But he won't. Cause I'm going to put us into speed mode. Then, I'll use my lightning lasers to cut a hole through the earth. I noticed when I fought his dirt monsters that they tend to cut through his power, making them ordinary dirt again. Once I've done that, you use your powers again and push that severed earth out before he can use it again and then wrap around the hole so that we can escape."