The Stolen Jewel of Hecate

Chapter 23

I was swinging around the city, seeing giant holes in the ground and people running around like chickens with their head cut off, but no Steven. I keep looking until I find Dolostone and Hightide. "Guys, we need to evacuate the city. If that thing digs enough tunnels the whole city can collapse," I say firmly and they nodded along. "Sparks, this is kind of my battle. This thing is dealing with rocks and dirt; that's my power. You two work on getting everyone out, I'll try and fill up the tunnels as they get made," Dolostone, and I'm going to be honest, I like his plan. "Sounds like a plan, Hightide, let's go," I say, running off to find civilians with Hightide not very far behind me. "So Sparks, Where do you propose to lead everyone?" Hightide asked, and I immediately had an idea. "We should lead them to the farmer's fields. There is nothing out there that can fall on someone, and I think that earthworm wants to destroy as much as possible," I say, and Hightide seemed to agree with that plan. He took the east side of the city, and I took the west side. It seemed almost everyone evacuated, but the problem is I have no idea where everyone is. I found a few people to swing to safety including one couple, and the girlfriend or wife was crying hysterically. "Ma'am, what's wrong? If it's that you're scared, there is no need to worry. We will take this thing down and get you back to your home," I say sharply, but the woman is still in major waterworks. "My baby! My baby!" The woman screamed, and I just gave a head tilt. "Ma'am, you need to calm down and tell me what's wrong," I say, putting a hand on her shoulder to try and calm her down. "My baby is still at home! I need to get her!" the woman screamed, trying to run back to the city, but I ran in front of her. "Ma'am, it's too dangerous to go back now. I will get her for you. Tell me the address and I promise to get her to you," I say with confidence. The woman immediately gave me her address and it was near where the earthworm started. That baby could be crushed any minute! I try not to show my concern and head out to the address the lady gave me. I'm running down the streets, and I pass Hightide carrying out his last civilian. "Sparks, what are you doing? That's everyone. You are going to be crushed if you go back that way. Besides, the earthworm is this way," HIghtide said, pointing in the opposite direction. "There is a baby still in the city. You go on without me. I'll be back,' I say, and then I keep on running. Hightide yelled after me, but I ignored it. This baby is more important. I found the address and went inside. Multiple things were lying around, and a few things were destroyed from falling off shelves, but I have no baby. I found a staircase that leads to the next floor, and I could hear muffled crying. That must be the baby. I ran up the stairs and looked around. I heard a louder, muffled cry behind the door on my left. I opened the door, and what I saw was insane. There were bookshelves knocked over, support beams were on the floor, and baby toys were everywhere. This was a poorly built nursery. Well, I guess this couple didn't read the part about giant earthworms attacking the city. I'm ducking under beams and stepping over toys when I see a tiny bundle. I rush over to the bundle to see a tiny baby girl wrapped up. She almost looked like me. She had little tufts of blonde hair on her head, beautiful brown eyes, and even with everything going on, she had a giant smile on her face. I picked up the bundle of joy and started walking out of the house. As I closed the door, I felt a huge rumbling that wasn't going away. All of a sudden, the giant earthworm came up from the floor, missing me by only a few feet. I fell on my butt and hugged the bundle even tighter. The earthworm roared. I don't know if ordinary earthworms roar, but this wasn't exactly an ordinary earthworm. I backed up against the wall, still on my butt with the baby in my arms, and I was expecting the worst. I pull out my whip from my belt and stand up, making sure I put the baby safely behind me. I started spinning it in circles, trying to use it as a shield as I stepped closer. The closer I got, the madder it seemed to become. It tried to lunge at me, but the whip just blocked its attack. This would be a great time for my powers to work. I moved my 'shield' to the side and held up my hand. Maybe I can shoot fire from my hands. Nothing. I try giving it a bit of motion, but still nothing. Good thing this baby won't remember this poor attempt at using my powers. I put my shield back in front of me, and I try to figure out a plan. I see a window behind me and the baby, and as much as I don't want to do this with a baby in hand, it's the only idea I got. I start stepping back to the window. I pick up the baby with one hand, but still maintaining the shield with the other. The worm moves closer, creating a bigger hole than before, and destroying some of the ceiling. In one swift motion, I stop the whip from going in circles and do something I never thought I'd do. Jump out a window that was a story off the ground and over a cliff. I wish I knew that before I jumped, but it's too late now. I never knew our town was on a cliff. I'm falling with a baby in my arms, and this baby is no longer smiling but is crying like her legs are being pulled off. I'm frantically looking for something to grab onto. I see a root, and I swing my whip in that direction to grab onto it. My whip latches on to the root that was sticking out, and now I'm stuck. I'm hanging on a root over a giant lake. I wonder if this couple ever went cliff diving off of here? Sam, focus! This isn't the end right? I see the earthworm poke its head out the window, and it sees me, and its head goes back inside. I hear the rumbling. It's doing what I think it's doing, isn't it? I feel the rumbling getting stronger and stronger, and there was only one thing I could do if I don't want to be worm food. Unravel the whip and go swimming. It wasn't ideal, but it's better than being eaten. I loosen the whip, and I start falling again. I hold the baby tight in my arms and prepare to pencil dive into the water. We went under, and I quickly tried to swim up so the baby wouldn't breathe in water and suffocate or something. I reached the surface, with the baby in hand, and started swimming to shore. I saw the earthworm heading back towards the center of town while I was just making it to shore. I looked down at the bundle of joy in my arms. She wasn't happy, obviously, because she just got dunked underwater, but the crying made me see she was alright, just pissed at me. I manage to swing back to the fields and hand the couple their little girl. The woman squealed with joy, and the father hugged his family. "Thank you, Sparks. I don't know how to repay you," the lady said, and I smiled. I'm just happy they didn't lose their baby. "There is no need to repay me. I'm just happy your family is back together," I said, and then I ran back to the city. I see Dolostone on the ground rubbing his head, Hightide trying to stab it with his trident, and I still couldn't find Cyclone. "Dolostone, what's happening?" I asked, concerned, and he only looked away. "We heavily needed your guidance on a plan, and when you weren't here, we fell apart. It doesn't help with the fact Cyclone hasn't shown up," He said sadly, and I gave out a huff of anger. Where the hell is he? "OK, I have a plan. It's fairly simple. You will use your powers to lock the worm under the ground in its tunnel. When it can't get out on either side, you open a hole above where the middle of its back should be, then I'll stamp it, and everything will be fixed. Remember, this is your battle. It's your strength, so we are counting on you," I say, and he nodded with confidence. He stands up and closes his eyes for maximum focus. The worm started digging again, and as planned, Dolostone blocked the exits. Hightide was watching from a distance, ready to fight in case the worm escaped. Dolostone opened up a hole, revealing the back of the worm. It was pretty deep, so he gave me a rock to float down on. He floated me down, and I jumped on the worms back. It kept struggling to get free, but looking back at Dolostone and seeing him so focused gave me confidence that it wasn't going anywhere. I pressed the button, pressed the stamp to its head, and it turned into familiar dust. I fell in the tunnel because it disappeared, and I was waiting for the dust to come over to me and pick me up out of this tunnel so it could fix the tunnel. It did what I expected, and now everything is back to normal. We got everyone back to their homes, and that was when Cyclone showed up. "Hey, guys. Sorry for not being here. I was busy," He stated, and this made my blood boil. What the hell does he mean by busy? "What the hell do you mean by 'busy'? What is more important than saving the town from being destroyed and killing people?!" I shouted at him. Cyclone started backing up, but I kept going forward. "Look, mister. We could have used your help getting that thing down. We could have used your help to save all these innocent people. We could have used your help keeping that thing from destroying everything! No excuse you could pull out of your ass will be good enough to explain what you did!" I shouted, pointing a finger at his chest, and Hightide came to my side. "Sparks, calm down-" "Calm down?! He let us do the hard work and just showed up to make it look like he helped!" I shouted at him, taking his hand off my shoulder. "Sparks, please! I was with the love of my life, and I didn't want to leave her side. I was afraid to lose her," He stated, and he is entitled to be with the one he loves, but abandoning us just to be with her when we need him most? If we didn't have it under control and we needed him, he would be dead along with this girl. "Well, guess what? If we didn't have that thing under control and we needed you, it would be your fault if your love died! Alright? It would be your fault that she died! It would be your fault if this jewel thief became the ruler of the world! You want to know why?! Because you didn't bother to show up! There could have been people we missed, but you didn't, but with you not there, not only would your love die, but so would those innocent lives!" Snap! My head snapped to the side. Cyclone slapped me. This bitch fucking slapped me! "What the hell, Cyclone?! After you not showing up and doing your job, you have the arrogance to slap me?! I didn't ask you to be a hero, but for god sake, you are these people's only hope to go home without having to mourn a family member. You shouldn't be that selfish," I spat, and Cyclone looked at the ground. "Sparks. How could you say something like that? I just wanted to hold her in my arms? Is that too much to ask?!" Cyclone shouted, and I was about to go back up to him, but Hightide held me back. "You selfish bastard! You were only thinking about what mattered to you, but what about what mattered to all these innocent people? Huh?! There is a couple that could have lost there baby today, but as long as you had that special person in your arms, it doesn't matter!? You being selfish could have cost her life, and yours too!" I screamed, trying to get out of Hightide's grip. "Sparks, cool down. Everything is going to be OK. No one is hurt. I know what he did is wrong, but he doesn't need the bad reputation you just gave him with the media around," He said smoothly. His voice started to put me in some sort of trance and calm me down. He finally puts me down and lets me go. I take a few deep breaths and look back at Cyclone. He looks defeated. He knows what he did was wrong, and that he wasn't thinking. "Hope your time together was worth it," I spat, and with that, I found a nearby ally to transform back to my original self. "Steven!" I shouted. I wish we didn't get separated, or he at least told me where he was going 'cause I had no clue where Ellie was. "Steven!" I shouted again. I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned around with a smile on my face. Except my smile disappeared when I only saw Hightide. "Oh-uh- hi, Hightide. Great job fixing the city and all. Do you know anyone named Steven Smith? We got separated, and I don't know where he is," I said with a single tear running down my face. Hightide came up close to me and wiped the tear going down my face. "Don't worry everyone is safe. You should get home, I bet your family is worried about you," He said with a smooth voice. "But what if he isn't? We ended with a fight and his last thought of me could be that he hated me!" I shouted with tears in my eyes. My knees buckled and I landed on the concrete. I was on the ground not caring that a famous superhero was watching me at my worst. I had my hands covering my eyes and I was letting everything out. I thought Hightide left, but he came down to my level and lifted up my shoulders. I looked into his calming blue eyes and he looked back into my brown ones. "Listen, everyone is safe. Your friend is just fine," He said and I sniffled trying to calm down the water works. Hightide then did the unexpected and hugged me. In the middle of the side walk without a care of who could see us. I hugged him tight and we just sat there. I don't know how long and I didn't care how long we were there. This was exactly what I needed.