Gods and Monsters

X

Mr Smith's Safe House - Iver, Buckinghamshire

"Oh Charlie!" Trevor called from downstairs, "I must say, you and your friend up there have done a much better job than I imagined. Tell you what, I'll give you one more chance to give the boy up. One minute, your time starts...now."

Neither Mike nor Charlie were paying all that much attention to Trevor's bellowing calls. Instead, the pair were focused on the Purple Vice child in front of them, almost his entire skin now glowing an intense purple. Mike tried to calm the child down with a reassuring pat on the shoulder but nothing seemed to help, the kid clearly growing more and more agitated by the minute.

Charlie tried to keep his eyes fixed on the stairs as he waited for the next wave of soldiers, a third car having just pulled onto the driveway outside, but even he was growing worried with what was happening to the child. Mike tapped him on the shoulder, his eyes pleading for answer about what to do.

"I think the kid's power is overwhelming him due to the stress," Charlie said, "Think of a kid having too much sugar. They get more and more excited until eventually they have a sugar crash. Although in this case, a sugar crash could be more like an explosion that wipes out everything within half a mile."

"Oh you've got to be kidding me," Mike said as he turned back to face the child. Sweat poured off of the child's head as his powers continued to overwhelm him. Mike grasped hold of the child's shoulders, staring at him earnestly as he spoke, "Listen to me, kid. You can defeat this. You are the one in control here and Charlie and I are with you every step of the way. All you need to do is focus on something else. Just concentrate real hard and direct your power elsewhere."

The child shook his head, still growing a deeper purple each second that went by. "Please believe me," Mike implored, "You can do this. All you need to do is believe in yourself!"

Once again, Trevor called from downstairs, "Time's up for you, Charlie. Better say goodbye to that boy now."

The soldiers quickly made their way up the stairs, the first getting hit square in the chest with two shots from Charlie's revolver while the third shot slammed into the wall next to him. Out of bullets and out of options, Charlie crouched back behind the sofa next to Mike and the child. Charlie looked at Mike as the two tried to work out what to do when suddenly, the child calmed. The sweat stopped pouring and the purple glow that covered his entire body rescinded, instead returning to his hands in a glowing ball of energy. The child stood up from behind the sofa, staring down the soldiers while both Charlie and Mike tried to encourage him to sit back down.

"Hold your fire," the soldier at the front called, "Come with us, kid."

The kid merely stared back at the soldiers, his glowing hands outstretched in front of him, "No." The child pushed his hands forward, the glowing ball of energy soaring across the room as it hit the soldiers. Their bodies completely disintegrated, only small piles of ash left behind on the ground where they had been standing seconds before.

"Well," Charlie said, "That was certainly unexpected."

At the base of the stairs, Trevor couldn't believe what he had just seen. His entire unit wiped out, reduced to practically nothing. "You bastard!" Trevor stormed upstairs, firing his pistol wildly with no caution for the boys safety. "You wiped out all my men you slimy bastards!" He was inches away from the sofa now. Charlie jumped up in the hopes of somehow wrestling the gun away from him, but Trevor collapsed before he could, a deep red hole in the back of his head.

As his body gave way, Charlie and Mike saw Scarlett standing behind him as she holstered her pistol. "So, somebody care to explain what's gone on here?"

Both Charlie and Mike embraced her tightly, relieved that the ordeal was over. "Where's Peg? She with you?" Mike asked.

"No, I thought she was with you guys?"

Charlie shook his head, now worried for what his friend could be up to and what danger she may be in. 

Continued in Part 11...

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