Figment, Part 5

…What Would Be the First Thing You'd Take Out?

By Hedonism

Synopsis : Rebecca has kept her best friend with her since childhood, despite knowing full well that this friend is just an imaginary one she never had the heart to forget with maturity. Putting up with this minor psychological trait, she got on with life. Until after an attack from two vicious gangs, the friend she knew damn well was just made up turned out to be quite real, and capable of giving her ass-kicking transformational powers.

To their embarrassment, the second use of Figment's powers have been used to defend a policeman from a monster whose own task was to defend the policeman from her.

An image of Critter Man : http://www.geocities.com/orenotter/images/critterman.jpg

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Sergeant Becksley sat down on the slightly oily floor of the car park, his head in his hands and nearly resting on his knees. His radio continued to mutter at him, but he was too intent watching the spindly armed, furry monster's perforated chest seal up a foot thick hole in it, to listen.

"Get it together, Sarge!" said a voice desperately, though politely as someone who knew their conversation was being recorded. "No, you got to come, this is big! If you don't you could lose your job!"

He had been a copper for nearly ten years, and this was the first he had acted like a helpless damsel in distress out in the field. Then again, this was the first time he had been fought over by two carcrushing freaks.

He sighed lengthily and stood up, looking from the damaged but rapidly healing furry to the unsettling but cute lizard woman thing. "If you're finished now, I need to leave."

Aside from a semi-circle of tooth-marks in the bonnet, his car wasn't damaged. He got into it and slammed the door hard. Rebecca and Critter Man looked on as he pulled away sedately then slammed on the accelerator and rolled down the exit ramp at a near suicidal speed.

"Well, at least we're not going to be arrested," said Critter Man wearily as the hole collapsed in on itself and became just a massive scar in his regrowing fur. Within seconds, he had gone from holed to whole.

"Where d'you think he's off to?" asked Rebecca.

"Crowd control of a fire, I think his radio said," said Hedonism. She had a slightly more hissing accent than Rebecca, and shortened words more. Despite using the same body and the same mouth, it still sounded just a little as if two separate people were talking.

Critter Man looked at them strangely. His huge eyes squinted with puzzlement.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

"Ooops, we just chatted to each other out loud. S**t!" : I mean, we just chatted to each other out loud! :

"Well, fine," said Critter Man, smiling so widely that all his cruel teeth flashed. "That's why you didn't say anything. At least to me."

He stood up on his gnarly, talonlike legs and rubbed away the charred tufts of flesh that flaked off his chest.

"I have people to save. Properly this time. Good day, LL," he said, smiling still.

"What?" asked Rebecca.

"Lizard Lady," Hed chuckled. : Damn, did it again! :

"Maybe that should be Ladies," said Critter man. He leapt out of the window and fell four storeys into a hedged verge. His landing planted great, birdlike clawmarks deep into the soil on his landing, and he darted away

: Well, that was embarrassing, : muttered Rebecca. : No more heroics. All it seems to do is write off cars! :

Hedonism swept up the abandoned can of Trak-Lite and drank all that was left in it. Rebecca shrieked as she saw the deadly weapon swish into view then go down the hatch. But her parasite was in control, and she couldn't stop this from happening. But to her relief, she didn't burst into flames, though the stuff tasted even worse warm than it did straight from the fridge. She blinked madly, her tail rose, she got into a crouch and all her joints curled tightly as she got over the sulfuric taste.

Rebecca opened her eyes and blinked away the dizzying vision until she could see a window looking out on the city. And a massive plume of evil black smoke that blossomed into the air. It came from the center of a block of flats. A big block of flats. Hundreds of people lived in it. And many likely were still in there.

: I think that's the fire the policeman had to go to, : said Hedonism. : It's huge!:

: How long'll it take for us to get to it? : asked Rebeccs.

: What happened to no more heroics? You never were very good at keeping promises, : giggled Hedonism.

: How long will it take for us to get to it? : asked Rebecca, more wearily. Then her body sprang forwards into a run straight towards the window.

"Hey!" said Rebecca, "We're fourstroeysupaaaghhh!"

Her wings unfurled and captured the wind. The supernatural strength in her altered body allowed her to beat the wind mercilessly, and she pulled up from a horizontal glide into a completely vertical climb. Hedonism dyed their communal body scales to a dull, overcast grey to match the sullen sky, and when people looked up to work out what the flapping noise was or why an immense shadow passed over them they saw nothing to warrant a second glance.

: About forty seconds, : replied the little monster inside her with satisfaction.

If Rebecca was still human, she would be trembling with anticipation. Hedonism and Rebecca put their minds together to work out how to protect themselves from the conditions of this impromptu mission. The scales on their communal body hardened and became immune to fire. They hyperventilated immensely, storing huge quantities of oxygen inside them in compacted form so they wouldn't need to breathe in smoke. After some persuading, Hedonism persuaded Rebecca to let her harden the human's emotions so she would be able to look death and it's suffocated, charred victims in the face without screaming.

By now the air tasted foul and tiny flakes of burned plastic floated through the air, landing on their reptilian body. Their eyes changed, and Rebecca realised they could now see through the smoke, taking in infra red, ultra violet, heat signatures and other weird rays that made the opaque black clouds surrounding them look almost transparent.

With this new vision they saw a black furry shape leap from the ground and hurtle into the air, crashing through a window.

Flying was like fighting properly and with skill - Rebecca had no idea how to do it, but Hedonism did. It was like playing a computer game with the joystick connected directly to the mind - the human half of the partnership just directed Hedonism to make them descend by thought alone, not needing to know how to adjust pitch and yaw and rudder, or whatever was supposed to be done to make them go down.

Hed folded her wings and swooped, following the black shape through the now empty frame.

"Ahhh, so we meet again," she said to Critter Man as they looked around.

"I thought I might see you again. Saving people's addictive, isn't it," he responded.

The room was gutted, and most of it's walls were charred skeletons of metal struts and crumbling plasterboard. Rebecca was standing on something soft and black, and hoped fervently it wasn't a body.

"Too late for anyone here," said Critter Man. "But there'll still be some people alive in the upper storeys. Gotta save them before the fire comes to join them. Come On!"

"I'll see what I can do here. You save the living, I'll save the dead."

That was from Hedonism. Rebecca wailed, :What you talking about? We can't mess about in here! :

: Damn right, : Hedonism agreed.

Critter Man looked at them, puzzled. Then he looked up at the roof and cocked his head, listening intently. He reached up and smashed his claws through it, pulling plaster and cement down onto his head. There were still small flames in the floor above, and thick smoke haunted it's roof. A man followed the descending debris and landed in Critter Man's arms. His hair was burned, he had scabs on his skin and had nearly fallen unconscious.

"I'll save him, You go on up!" said Hedonism.

Critter Man shrugged his shoulders, and looked at them suspiciously. What the feminine monster said didn't really fill him with confidence. But he put the man on the floor, leapt into the hole he'd created, and started his search for more living.

Rebecca felt Hedonism drink deeply from the man's terror and confusion, gaining energy and power from it. She stroked a serpent on her head, and it suddenly fell limp. Rebecca somehow sensed the spirit of the serpent, a seperate entity in soul, escape it's form and twine around her scaly arm. It's presence twisted the smoke that swirled through it's body.

"S, sir?" asked Rebecca tentatively to the man sprawled on the floor. He opened his streaming eyes and looked up into the serpentine face.

: We don't have time to save him. But he can save himself :

Rebecca felt Hedonism take over once more.

He took in the fanged, clawed, devil monster surrounded by noxious smoke. She shrieked with devilish, macabre laughter, drool escaping her lips, leered at his imminent death, belittled his helplessness, screamed her naked delight in watching him die so she could take his soul. The monster's presence burrowed into his confusion and near-insensibility, and made him think very, very clearly indeed. He breathed in deeply and exhaled the air in a scream of deep, primal terror.

"HAHAHAHAAAAAAA!! RUUUUN! FEAR WILL GUIDE YOUR ACTIONS!"

Hedonism suckled at the terror her prey was radiating and bound it into the serpent ghost. As the man screamed, she threw it's near-invisible form into his mouth.

The man got to his feet, took a few steps backwards, then ran with leaping strides, powered by endless, horror inspired energy.

Down the emergency exit which he seemed to find with pure luck. Taking steps three at a time, his mind only knowing the need to escape. His poisoned lungs immediately processed the invigorating supply of oxygen he got from the reptile, which had breathed into his face as he inhaled. Into the blinding smoke of the stairwell, still leaping steps despite his eyes being closed tightly, still taking every step correctly. Running out of air, his mind dimly recognised, no interest in breathing, just need to escape the evil monster he swore he could hear coming after him. Not registering that he punched out a window with strength he never knew he had, poked his head out, breathed in sweet, pure air and carried on down the stairwell. Suffering still from mind-numbing panic, instinct making him do things more intelligent than he would do with a clear head. Running on through black, swirling nothingness, then for no reason leaping almost a whole flight (which, had he known was now replaced with a fire blackened hole and forty foot chasm, he wouldn't have dared chance jumping over). Barging into the arms of a female firefighter on the thirteenth floor, wrenching off her mask and hyperventilating into it desperately, then putting it back on the startled, choking woman. Running past all the other firemen and continuing down stairwell after stairwell in this building's corpse, bounding over vicious, fire blackened spikes and weak flooring he didn't even see, until eventually reaching the front door. Charging through and leaping onto an ambulance man's stretcher before immediately falling unconscious and recommencing the asthma attack he had up until then managed to put off.

Doctors swarmed around him, profoundly amazed. As they pushed an oxygen mask over his face, his hair ruffled briefly, and something serpentine left his body to float away. While the man was terrified, it had been easy to control his instincts and take him exactly where he needed to go. Now she would look for Hedonism, and her nest-mates so she could brag about it.

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Critter Man bounded through the flames that roared through the corridors. His body was an inferno, thanks to the fire igniting his fur which swiftly regenerated what was being burned away. His nostrils flared, his ears twitched and both acted like radar to detect his prey.

He smashed through a door and by the whimpering he knew he had found his prize. He loomed over the screaming victim, who was until then desperately panting for clean air at the window. The monster raised his claws to end her life and make her into convenient bite-sized pieces, then laughed at his own bloodthirstiness.

"I'm here to rescue you! Is anyone else here?"

She continued to scream, and he waited impatiently for her to get bored of doing so.

"No, no-one else!" she finally managed. Critter Man looked around for someplace safe to put her. There was nowhere safe from the inferno which was consuming it's way up the building. There were no fireman's ladders near this room, and the ground was seventeen floors away. But on the other side of the street…

Critter Man grabbed the woman into his long, gangly arms and kicked out the window frame and much of the brickwork surrounding it. He paced backwards and offered a prayer to whatever gods of weird science had chosen to screw up his body. Then he ran, reached the edge of the parapet and leapt, the force of his legs crushing the brickwork beneath his feet.

The wind screamed around him. His victim joined in the chorus to the song of terror, with it's easy to remember lyrics - "AAAAAGGGGHHHH!!!". And Critter Man tried to ignore both.

He sailed through the sky and the residential flat on the opposite side of the street filled his vision. With an immense smash, he tore through the window he had been aiming for and they landed in a bathroom. A woman looked up from the sud-filled bath she was in and screamed just as much as the female in the unexpected, burning monster's claws. Let's hear it for Cliché!

By Hedonism