Week 17: Kaden- A Superhero Defeating a Monster

Full Prompt: “A superhero defeating a monster”

Story:

“now.” A man who sat cross legged, eyes closed, whispered to himself.

He sprang from his seated position, his movements fluid, balletic, as if he had rehearsed them a thousand times before. Because he had- in his mind. He set to picking the lock of his cell, with a shard of metal meticulously collected, having waited for the perfectly calculated time to do so. ::click:: ::clack:: ::click:: The tumblers rolled into place and he silently opened the barred door and slunk along the nearby brick wall toward a bay of computers. His sole mission to send a message. He quickly hacked through the firewall, and beamed a transmission to just one television on Earth.

 ::SMMMAAAAACKKK:: 

A monstrous back-hand sent the man flying across the room and crashing into the opposite brick wall. His body fell limp. 

“NOOOOO!!!” A woman screamed from a similar nearby cell. She tried with all her might to bend the bars between her and the man. She struggled and raged against them to allow her freedom. The dispenser of the back-hand all but scoffed watching her vain attempts. Her husband lay motionless across the room and she sank to the floor weeping.

“Rage can’t free you from this place.” A soft voice came from a darkened corner of the cell next to her.

“What?…” The woman questioned, defeated. 

“Hope will always be more powerful than hate.” The voice continued. 

“Hope?!” The woman repeated in disdain. “Who do you think you are to talk to me like that?… About hope…”

“Someone who has been in this hell much longer than you. Someone who witnessed their loved one perish very much the same way. Take my hand, River… Yes, I know who you are and I know you’ve been rendered powerless here. But I haven’t. 

River lowered her head and remained still. 

“Yes, we’re here and we’re prisoners,” the voice continued, “but I know you haven’t given up. Because YOU don’t give up. Because you can’t. You, above all others must endure. You must. What you’re able to do, how you’re able to help- your extraordinary powers- they must equal an extraordinary spirit. I know you don’t see a way out. I know you feel weak. But take my hand and you will see there is always hope.”

River cautiously extended her hand and met her fellow prisoner’s touch. She immediately felt strength. She felt warmth and light being transferred to her- a great power she had always possessed, returned. 

“Incredible.” She uttered as she nodded toward her helper, in thanks.

“Just be careful,” the voice cautioned, “the monster is not what you think.”

The woman stood and returned to the bending of the bars, which now easily gave way under her restored might. She looked towards her husband, wiped her eyes, and swiveled her head, setting her sights on the now silent creature. A billowing, giant monster made of smoke and fire was unmoving in the corner of the cavernous space. She hovered off the ground and slowly toward it, readying herself for combat. But the combination of bending the bars and defying earth’s gravity, without the true source of her power on hand, quickly exhausted her.

Falling to her knees, she gritted her teeth in willful defiance: “I can’t… I can’t do this by myself.” She admitted quietly as the monster rose from its corner and approached. “I’m on my way.” She directed toward the motionless body of her husband.

River stared into the burning eyes of her fate as it loomed. Suddenly, the bricks of the wall to the East began to shutter. They moved as if someone were shaking each of them individually. Then their motion ceased and they simply removed themselves from the wall. This space left a doorway big enough for a person to pass through; and one did. 

“Quinten!” The woman gasped in astonishment and relief. 

“Mom!!” The figure exclaimed as he rushed to her side. 

“Your father,” she nodded toward the limp body of the man across the room, “I couldn’t… I can’t absorb ANY moisture from ANY spot of this place. I can’t replenish my strength… I couldn’t save…” she wept in the comfort of her son’s arms, as the monster drew nearer.

The man cradled his mother, looking around the room and staring down the advancing threat: “Well, I’m glad I found you. But mom,” he began with a knowing grin, “there’s a reason this place is so bereft of moisture- its because it has to be.”

The man extended his right arm toward the ceiling of the brick dome, reaching his five  fingers out. At the beckoning of his hand, five small holes began to dissolve into the brick overhead, and through them sprouted steady streams of water. 

“Because we’re under water.” He confirmed.

The water reached the woman’s mahogany skin, some drops absorbing, some pelting off. She felt stronger and stronger as her source of power, the earth’s most plentiful natural resource, rejuvenated her. 

“Let’s handle this thing.” She decreed, as she levitated off the ground, glaring intently at the smoke monster. 

Her son, Quinten, raised his arm toward it: “It’s not natural smoke- I can’t do anything to manipulate it…”

“Then I will.” The woman determinedly stated as she hovered higher, clenching her fists.

“It’s real fire, though.” Quinten smirked, extending his arms and drawing the flames from the monster’s eyes. As he did, the smoke billowing from its body dissipated and the creature was rendered inert. 

“Its… nothing.” The woman kicked at a now motionless, robot-like skeleton.

“I told you- the monster is not what you think.” Came the voice of her cell mate, still imprisoned. 

“Quinten, set her free.” The woman instructed her son.

“I can save him.” The cellmate stated as Quinten motioned for the metal bars to open.

“Who?” They inquired simultaneously

The now free woman walked toward the lifeless body of River’s husband and Quinten’s father. 

“His heartbeat is very faint, but it’s still there- and after what I witnessed the two of you do, well… watch.”

She laid her hands on the fallen man and a pink glow encompassed them both as he sat up and gasped for air.

The man looked around: “Probability still has not failed me.” He smiled as he saw his son. “Thank you Eir, he nodded toward his healer.”

“Dad!” The boy exclaimed. 

“Hui, don’t you ever scare me like that again,” River asserted as she took her husband into her strong arms.

“Easy- I was dead… or rather mostly dead.” He joked at her embrace. 

“But how?!” Quinten asked of the cellmate.

“We still have a problem.” The cellmate, Eir, changed the subject.

“Indeed.” Agreed Hui, now standing firmly.

“As I said- the monster is not what you think.” Eir walked across the cavernous space and straight through what appeared to be a brick wall.

River and Quinten were visibly astonished as Hui seemed unfazed at the revelation. They all watched as the holographic wall flickered off, revealing Eir to be standing next to an old, wheel-chair bound, green-skinned man.

“Here is the real monster.” Eir stated and continued- “He is the reason I have been here so long. He took my mother from me; drained her powers trying to keep and use them for himself. He created that smoke monster. He created all the robot attacks, in an attempt to round up people with abilities in hopes of enhancing himself. He kept me here, hoping for the same. But what he never realized is that my healing power comes from love. I was completely incapacitated here. This place of selfish love… but that love creates nothing!” She screamed at the wheezing, helpless man. “Nothing.” She breathed again. “I saw your husband sacrifice himself to save us all- and that gave me enough to revive you, River, but seeing your son selflessly enter here, not knowing what he was getting into, only in pursuit of saving his parents… a mother’s love for her child, for her son… that, that gave me enough to revive your father- from near death. Love. Selfless love. Hope. They are the real power. And people like this,” she kicked the wheel of the villain’s chair, “people like this will never understand that.”