Journey's End Read online

  Luke, Ray, and Dawn moved closer to get a better look.

  Unbelievable. Yup. It was her. And she was actually posing with them. Boys and girls, men and women, couples and families… people young and old stopped to get their picture taken with the life-like cat girl.

  “Okay, this is officially weird,” said Dawn.

  “I guess they didn’t see Mastermind’s video?” Ray asked.

  Luke shrugged. “Or maybe something got lost in the translation.”

  “But why isn’t she attacking them?” Dawn asked.

  People quickly noticed Luke in his high-tech super space suit. The crowds immediately turned their attention to him too. It seemed they also wanted their picture taken with him!

  Ray just shook his head and laughed.

  “Hey,” said Dawn, approaching Shadow. “What gives?”

  “Oh, you,” Shadow said.

  “What the hell’s going on? Not that I’m complaining or anything, but… doesn’t Mastermind want you attacking the city or something?”

  “That’s not what he said,” said Shadow. “His exact words were, ‘Show them your true nature.’ And me, well, I’m cute and cuddly.” She smiled. People took more pictures of her.

  Dawn seemed a little doubtful.

  “Look,” said Shadow. “They love me!”

  “But… you’re a mutant. And you keep attacking us.”

  Shadow sighed. “Yeah, sorry about that. Mind control. I’ve got nothing against you guys. I was just your waitress, remember? I’m really an aspiring actress. And now, look at me – I’m famous!”

  Dawn smiled. “True nature, eh?”

  Shadow nodded. “I hope they blog about me.”

  Dawn shook her head, laughing.

  Meanwhile, people stood around Luke, admiring his tech suit. And Ray, the entrepreneur, got a brilliant idea. “Get your picture taken with a real life super hero. Only five dollars… Or, hmm, what’s the exchange rate? Eighty yen! Just eighty yen and you can get your picture taken with—” He leaned over to Luke and whispered, “You have a super hero name yet?”

  Luke shrugged.

  “—this guy!” Ray said.

  “Super hero?” asked a young Japanese guy. “Awesome!” he said with his best American accent.

  Dawn asked Shadow, “So you’re really not going to hurt these people?”

  “Not unless the boss tells me to, like, specifically.”

  “Right. Mastermind can be… persuasive.”

  “I don’t know why I do it,” said Shadow. “It just feels so good, so right, when he tells me to do something. But afterwards… I think about it… and I’m like, did I really just do that?”

  Dawn nodded.

  Maybe these mutants weren’t really evil after all. Well, maybe some of them. Dawn knew firsthand how powerful Mastermind’s mind control was. Were these mutants just in the wrong place at the wrong time? Like she and Ray were, at that restaurant? What if Ray and the police hadn’t gotten there when they did? Dawn could have just as easily been a mutant terrorizing some part of the world right now.

  Shadow was the redheaded waitress. Just at the wrong place at the wrong time. An innocent victim in all this.

  She wasn’t evil. Just controlled by an evil man.

  And looking around, it seemed Mastermind’s terror hadn’t hit Japan the same as other places in the world. She could only guess why. Either way, the people seemed relatively safe here. And Shadow was loving all the fame and attention.

  “Stay here,” said Dawn.

  “What?” asked Shadow, posing for another picture with a couple of teenage girls with pink hair.

  “Stay here. Away from Mastermind’s influence. Don’t watch the news or anything. Avoid Mastermind at all costs.”

  “You kidding?” Shadow laughed. “He’s a million miles away now! I’m finally free! And I can turn invisible, don’t you know? I can’t help obeying him… but he’s gotta find me first!”

  Dawn smiled. “You’re okay. I can’t believe I just said that, but Tiffany, you’re alright.”

  “Call me Shadow.”

  “Stay out of trouble, Shadow.”

  Meanwhile, Ray collected some money. And Luke posed. It felt really weird doing this. Dawn rejoined them.

  “Come on guys, let’s go. She’s no threat here.”

  Luke stopped posing for pictures. “You sure?”

  “I’m sure,” said Dawn.

  “At least one part of the world is safe,” said Ray. “No idea why, but I’m not complaining.”

  “It is a little weird,” said Luke. “But time’s wasting. Next stop, Saint Petersburg, Russia.”

  “Great. Spiders,” said Ray.

  Saint Petersburg, Russia. Another beautiful city on Ray’s to-visit-someday list. He planned to travel the world and visit all these famous places one day when his business was bigger, and he could afford first class air tickets everywhere.

  He never imagined that he’d be teleporting instantly, with his best friend and his new girlfriend, chasing after mind-controlled evil mutants bent on taking over the world. Wasn’t exactly the dream vacation he always planned, but aside from the preventing the end of the world thing, it wasn’t too bad either.

  Saint Petersburg was beautiful. The gateway to Russia. A famous city. Full of so much history. And art. Canals, bridges, historic buildings, spectacular landscapes, and beautiful cathedrals. Instantly recognizable. Absolutely stunning and beautiful.

  Except for… the icky spider webs that stretched and hung from building to building, rooftop to rooftop, tangling up the entire city from overhead. Gross.

  Luke immediately scanned for people. Some were dead or slowly dying, undoubtedly from Arachnus’s poisonous bite. Others were in hiding. Some were shouting, in Russian, about a “cure” for Mastermind’s plague.

  “Cure?” Luke repeated, reading the translation on his heads-up display screen inside his helmet. “What cure?”

  “As soon as we get the spider guy, we move to Phase Two, right?” asked Ray.

  “Right,” said Luke.

  “I just hope our new hacker ‘friend’ is good to his word.”

  “Where are those people going?” asked Dawn, noticing a large group of people lined up and waiting impatiently outside a particular building. “At this hour, too?” It was still very dark out. But all this teleporting around between time zones got her a little jet-lagged. “What time is it, anyway?”

  “Late,” said Luke. He looked at the building. His heads-up display translated the Russian writing on the building. “It’s just a regular hospital.”

  “Why are they all going there?” asked Ray. None of them appeared to be injured. Arachnus was nowhere to be found. But his webs continued to loom overhead.

  Some local man stopped by them, apparently on his way to the hospital. He spoke urgently, pointing to the building. It was in Russian, so no one had any idea what he was saying. But he seemed to be encouraging them to come with him.

  Luke’s HUD displayed out the translation. “He says they’ve got the cure ready now,” said Luke. “What cure? Against Mastermind’s mutation chemical?”

  “That was fast,” said Dawn.

  The Russian man finally threw up his hands and left them behind. He went on to join the gathering crowd outside the hospital.

  “Too fast,” said Luke. “And what would they need a cure for, anyway? It’s not a virus. Mastermind would have to inject them one by one to… wait… you don’t think…”

  “We’ve got to stop them!” Dawn said.

  They ran up to the crowd. But the language barrier proved to be a problem. They only spoke English; the locals only spoke Russian. Luke’s heads-up display translated their words into subtitles, but he hadn’t yet figured out if, or how, he could use his suit to translate English into another language.

  “Dammit!” Luke exclaimed.

  Dawn tried pulling people out of the line. But they thought she was just trying to cut ahead of them!

  “
Guys,” said Ray. “They’re obviously under Mastermind’s control. We can save them – by completing our mission. We take down Mastermind, they won’t want to be injected.”

  Luke realized he was right. And if people in Russia in the middle of the night were running to the nearest hospital for some “cure” – it was probably happening all over the world right now. The only way to save them – everyone, worldwide – was to defeat Mastermind, once and for all. It was the only way now.

  “Alright,” said Dawn. But she wasn’t about to give up on these people. They couldn’t save everyone – but maybe she could help save a few. She transformed into a lion, big furry mane around her head, large jaws – and she roared. She roared loud and clear. Like she had never roared before.

  The people freaked out and ran in terror.

  Suddenly there was no more line outside the hospital.

  Ray was impressed. “Good job, nice thinking!”

  “Thank you,” she said, blushing as she returned to human.

  “Alright,” said Luke. “now all we need is lucky number seven. Where is he?” He continued searching and scanning the rooftops and upper buildings.

  The spider webs loomed above. “He’s definitely been here,” said Ray, captain of the obvious. “But he could be anywhere in the city by now.”

  Luke’s scanner searched through buildings, looking for abnormal bio signs. “Come on, come on…” He had to be somewhere.

  “Anything?” Ray asked.

  “I’m searching!” exclaimed Luke.

  Arachnus was actually very close by. But they didn’t know it. They were too busy looking up around the webs. Arachnus, the black spider mutant, quietly lurked in the shadows, sneaking up from behind.

  He was one arm short. It still hurt like a bitch. Severed from the portal when he reached in after them. He wouldn’t make that mistake again. He wouldn’t make any mistakes with them again.

  He knew Ray had some kind of force-push anti-gravity power. And Dawn could shape-shift. And Luke’s battle suit had a painful laser beam. So Arachnus had to make his move carefully. Very, very carefully.

  The itsy bitsy spider… crawled up the water spout…

  They still didn’t see him.

  “After this,” said Ray, “we take down Mastermind, right? Back to New York City?”

  “Yeah,” said Luke, still scanning. “Without his mutants, he should be a piece of cake. And we’ll all wear ear plugs so—”

  Arachnus silently jumped from the shadows, landing on Dawn. She screamed. Arachnus clobbered her to the ground, ensnaring her in his seven arms.

  “Dawn!” Ray shouted.

  Dawn cried out again, this time differently. Like she was short on breath. Like something was being taken from her – painfully. “Ah… ahh… ahhhh!!!”

  Ray and Luke surrounded Arachnus.

  “Let her go!” demanded Luke.

  “Right now!” said Ray, readying his hands to send the hideous spider mutant flying – just as soon as Dawn was out of his icky clutches.

  Arachnus tossed Dawn aside. She fell to the ground, short on breath, exhausted and weary. What just happened? Why did she feel so… drained?

  He didn’t bite her, did he?

  The dark spider mutant smiled.

  “That’s it.” Ray flicked his wrist, launching the spider airborne and as far from them as possible. But as the spider went flying backwards, his arms began morphing... morphing into something else.

  “You okay, Dawn?” Ray helped her back up.

  “Uh, guys…” said Luke, still watching Arachnus.

  “I think so,” said Dawn.

  Arachnus’s arms changed, transforming into giant dragon-like wings. A long spiked tail extended from his body. His face reformed too – still had tons of extra eyes, and hideous spider-like fangs – but now he had sharp teeth, big ones, and horns on his head. His skin turned hard and scaly. Suddenly, he was half dragon, half spider, and all terror.

  And he flew straight back at them!

  “What the fuck?” shouted Ray, staring at the new beast before them. That thing was going to give him nightmares for weeks!

  “Stand back,” said Luke, stepping forward. He lined up his shot. Aimed. Fired.

  The powerful cutting laser shot straight at the dragon-spider monster. It struck him. Arachnus roared out in pain. But kept coming. Fast.

  “Alright, I got him!” said Ray, about to blast him back.

  But Arachnus was too fast, too strong, too agile. He dodged to the side, swooped down, and pummeled down on top of Ray. Holding his victim in his clutches, he began draining Ray now too.

  “Ahh!!! It burns!!!” Ray exclaimed. Something was draining the life force out of him. And it hurt like hell!

  Luke fired again and again. Each time hurt Arachnus, but not enough to stop him. Ray gasped for air. Luke dialed up the settings, increasing the laser’s power. He fired again. A bigger beam. A brighter blast.

  Arachnus tumbled back, screeching out in pain. He let go of Ray.

  Dawn ran to her boyfriend’s side. “You okay?”

  Ray struggled to regain his strength, struggling to catch his breath. “What the hell was that?”

  Arachnus transformed back into his normal spider-only mutant form. He stood several feet away. Stared at them through his many eyes. And grinned.

  Then he lifted his wounded, severed arm – the one he lost when they closed the portal on him – and let them all watch as he slowly made it reappear, growing out of the severed stump. His eighth arm returned to full size, completely normal, as if he had never lost it. He began laughing.

  “That’s not good,” said Dawn.

  “We don’t want to kill you,” said Luke, charging up another laser shot. “Come peacefully and this will all be over.”

  Arachnus shook his head. “I don’t think so.”

  Luke sighed. “Fine.” And he pointed his hand to fire at Arachnus. But the instant Luke started to move, Arachnus waved all his arms outward, and suddenly Luke, Dawn, and Ray all found themselves flying backwards.

  Dawn banged into a street lamp. Ouch, that hurt. Luke collided with a brick wall. And Ray crashed into the front windshield of a parked car. That was going to leave a mark.

  Arachnus wasted no time. He flung his arms again, and all three of them launched into the air. Arachnus waved his arms around, manipulating them, keeping them suspended and helpless in mid-air.

  Dawn shape-shifted into a bird – but couldn’t fly away. Luke teleported behind Arachnus. But the spider turned around, raised another arm, and Luke was suddenly helpless and floating again. Ray pushed back – gravity force against gravity force. Unfortunately, their powers didn’t cancel each other out. Dammit. But Ray got another idea. He lifted Arachnus up into the air too.

  “Hey, stop that!” the spider monster yelled.

  Now they all were floating in the air – Arachnus controlling them, and Ray controlling Arachnus.

  They began spinning and moving around each other, floating at each other’s control and mercy – leaping and lunging at one another, floating forwards and flying backwards, spiraling around each other, never getting too close or too far from each other. Luke fired his laser several times, from several angles. Dawn shape-shifted into various deadly creatures – trying to strike whenever she got close enough.

  Arachnus moved in for the kill. But Ray quickly pushed her away, just enough to make Arachnus miss. Arachnus drew Ray closer, but Luke teleported in to save him. Arachnus pushed Luke with a mighty gravity blast, sending him crashing hard into – and through – a nearby building. Thank God he was wearing that armored suit.

  Finally Dawn got an idea. They couldn’t beat him like this, being tossed around in the air by his multiple arms. But maybe she could trick him into giving up that advantage.

  “Hey ugly!” Dawn taunted him. “Bet you can’t do this!”

  She began changing, rapidly, transforming into a seventy-foot-tall giant. She towered over the buildings, cars, and r
emaining scattered people below.

  “I’m gonna squash you like the little bug you are!” she said. She held onto a building, raised her foot to step on him.

  “Ha! I can do anything you can do – and better!” Arachnus snarled. He rapidly started growing too. Ten feet tall. Twenty feet tall. Fifty feet tall. One hundred feet tall!

  His booming laugh rolled like thunder.

  “Uh, Dawn…” said Luke. “What are you doing?”

  Luke and Ray fell to the ground. Arachnus’s attention dropped off them. He was only focused on giant-sized Dawn now.

  “I stole your powers!” Arachnus boasted. “You can’t win. I’m unstoppable!”

  “Ray,” said Luke, “keep him distracted.”

  “Got it.” Ray pushed against the Earth’s gravity, levitating himself up. Dawn shape-shifted herself even bigger – matching Arachnus’s enormously huge size. The two giants locked arms, struggling to overpower the other in a match of one-on-one brute strength. Ray flew upwards, a small insect in relative comparison, and started hovering annoyingly in front of Arachnus’s giant eyes.

  Down on the ground, Luke looked at his left arm. His crystal was still strapped there. He tore it off. It was time to use this thing again. He started drawing a long line on the ground. A very, very long line…

  “I sure hope this works,” Luke said. He drew the line along the far edge of the street, alongside the buildings, around behind Arachnus’s enormous spider-like feet, across to the other side, down along the edge of the far side buildings, and finally, eventually back to where it started.

  Hardly a circle. But the portal shape shouldn’t matter. It just had to be an enclosed and defined space.

  Ray continued buzzing around Arachnus’s giant face like an annoying pest. “I’m over here. Now I’m over here. Hey, pay attention to me.”

  Arachnus swatted at him. Ray saw the giant hand coming a mile away, and easily avoided it.

  “Missed me, missed me! Ha ha, you suck!”

  Arachnus tried to grab Ray with his free hands. Dawn grew additional arms and hands of her own, locking the giant spider monster in an equally-matched struggle.

  Well, almost equally matched.