Blossom

[HERO] 2. starkeeper

Added 2023-10-09 19:27:37 +0000 UTC

Clara wormed closer to the grate, lying on her belly. Her hoodie was pulled up to cover her nose and mouth like Izzy had done, so her bare belly was pressed to the cold dusty floor of the air duct, but she was too excited to care. Her heart thudded against the metal; she stared into the viewfinder of her camera.

She hoped Nico and Izzy had found a decent viewing angle. More angles of this glowing stone thing would only help validate their findings. She zoomed in on the orange hazmat suits, trying to get a view of the scientist’s faces. There weren't any logos or words. No way to discern who they were working for, but she studied them and the vans, and came up with nothing. That was when large metal doors opened with a bang.

Clara bit down on the cloth in her mouth to keep from shouting. She saw him with her eyes first; he was unmistakable with those broad shoulders, the halo shimmering over his head, and his long golden cape trailing behind him. She moved the camera, turning the focus and adjusting the ISO now that there was a new source of light in the warehouse. His dark grey uniform was skintight, showing off all his muscles, and his eyes were two beads of glowing, golden light. It was him. Him!

She wasn’t as big a fan as Nico was, and to be honest, maybe nobody was, but she was still in awe. Starkeeper was the strongest Generator type hero, and his substance was light. He was S-ranked, the strongest on the planet, and there was no telling the depths of his abilities. There was even a growing religious following dedicated to him called the Children of the Star. He was a God to them, and even though Clara thought it was foolish to worship Awakened people, she couldn’t blame them.

Starkeeper could traverse vast distances so quickly, his official documentation claimed he moved at the speed of light. Clara had her doubts, and Izzy would go on about the limitations of physics, but there was no doubting his recorded abilities. That footage was public. He could lift skyscrapers. He’d obliterated an asteroid bigger than Earth’s moon with a single punch last year. And there was that incident in Sylhet where he ended a Tempest Incursion event all by himself.

It seemed like he could do anything and, on top of that, he was fiercely handsome. “The Man of Gold - A North Star for the World.”

The man whose poster Nico kept on the ceiling over her bed. The man who flew through Nico’s dreams and sparked very intimate, inappropriate private thoughts that she shouldn’t share with anyone else but couldn’t help spamming in The Ugly Duckling chatroom.

And he looked brilliant on camera like he always did. Clara had never seen him in person before, though she’d spotted him flying over New Apple City many times, but always as a streak of light. This wasn’t exactly in person, but he was on her camera, and she couldn’t help but feel like she’d caught him just for herself. She couldn’t wait to post this footage on the blog.

Excitement ignited like a cascade of fireworks; she couldn’t stop smiling. Whatever this place was, it must be a secret laboratory where Starkeeper worked closely with scientists to... her train of thought screeched to a halt. What were they doing here?

Were they trying to increase his abilities? Strengthen him somehow? Make him more handsome? Was the strange stone related to his abilities?

“Oh,” she whispered. In her excitement, she flicked the camera away by accident, and Starkeeper was out of frame. It took her a second to find him again, and she zoomed in slightly, unable to help herself. The handful of people in her chatroom were about to have something juicy to dissect. This was definitely going to land her more followers, and she’d be known as the amateur journalist who’d taped Starkeeper in secret.

He was leaning against one of the refrigerator things. His dark gray uniform hugged his muscular body tight, and God was he muscular. And behind him, his golden cape trailed on the floor. His hair floated gently like he was always underwater, but she knew the hair follicles were just attracted to the halo he always kept hovering over his head. Nico had done several reports about that for the blog.

Nico had also talked endlessly about wanting to lick that halo, and now even Clara was curious. What did solid light taste like? Was it hard and firm? Or more like water?

She wanted to whisper to Nico that her husband had shown up, but she figured Nico would’ve said something by now if they were in position. Clara didn’t want to prematurely overexcite her.

Starkeeper spoke with two of the scientists. At first, they’d all seemed to welcome him, but one by one, they were starting to pull away. They seemed hesitant. And it took Clara a second to figure out why.

The Man of Gold’s posture was... off. Like he was tired or something. And what was he holding?

Clara’s fingers shook as she fiddled with her camera, looking for the micro directional-mic Izzy had installed. It could extend almost a foot, and it was tiny and nearly invisible, but it could pick up audio from a distance. And this huge warehouse was perfect since nothing else would get in the way.

With a few more taps, she connected it wirelessly to her earpiece and then fiddled with the audio focus. Her heart caught in her throat as the mic picked up Starkeeper’s booming voice.

“...regret to inform everyone this operation is now deemed unfit.”

Clara blinked. His voice sounded strange. Slightly higher pitched and slurred. Slurred.

A wave of murmurs and unintelligible muttering went around the scientists. Clara held her breath. She zoomed in a bit on the superheroe’s face and realized his cheeks were red. Very red. His golden eyes, usually sharp and focused and leering, were unfocused and dull. His eyebrows were too high, and a corner of his lips was turned up like he was smirking.

He was drunk. Clara had seen her mom drink enough times to know what drunkenness looked like.

“We're putting the kibosh to this,” continued Starkeeper, raising his hands like he was giving a speech. In one hand was a bottle of some dark red liquid. He licked his lips. “Effective immediately.”

Her earpiece crackled, and she flinched. Nico’s voice filled her ear. “You’re not gonna believe who’s on camera.”

“I think I can,” whispered Clara, feeling like she was choking. Something’s wrong. Why didn’t Nico sound excited out of her mind? Or worried or upset or something? Starkeeper was drunk. That was one of the biggest laws for Awakened people. Absolutely no mind-altering substances. “Where are you guys?”

“It’s Bubblegum!” said Izzy, in a high-pitched whisper. She might’ve been jumping up and down if she wasn’t stuck in an air duct. “Right here! Oh God, she’s so fucking cool...”

Nico shushed Izzy, and it sounded like they had more to say, but static overtook the earpiece, and Clara lowered the volume. There must be interference from something. Maybe they were just too far apart. She reconnected it to her camera, bringing her eye to the viewfinder again.

Bubblegum? Why was she here? Bubblegum was one of the heroes that both Clara and Izzy had major crushes on. Maybe not to the same extent as Nico’s thirst for Starkeeper, but Clara always thought if she’d Wake, she’d want to be a hero as strong and sexy as Bubblegum. Maybe even work alongside her.

She turned the camera, trying to glimpse the far side of the big space where her friends should be. Her head was spinning. Two world-class heroes? In the same strange factory? That couldn’t be a coincidence.

Then she had a dark thought. Was Bubblegum drunk too? Clara couldn’t see any sign of the other hero. Did Nico and Izzy take a wrong turn and end up somewhere else? Was there another part of the warehouse with mysterious objects and machinery?

The scientists were running around undoing tubes and shutting down the beeping machines. Starkeeper stood near the stone, taking more swigs from his bottle and eyeing the glowing thing. With them so close together, the camera struggled with the competing light sources, but Clara tried her best to get a clear image. Starkeeper burped, and the sound echoed throughout the warehouse. Don’t try to figure it out now, she told herself. Just capture the news. Analyze it later.

Then one of the scientists approached Starkeeper. A woman’s voice crackled through Clara’s mic. “My lord, please. We are so close. A few more experiments with your DNA and we are certain...”

My lord.

Starkeeper turned to face the scientist. He staggered just a bit then straightened up. His halo shimmered as he ran fingers through his golden hair, but suddenly that movement didn’t seem sexy at all anymore. My lord.

Another scientist stepped toward the Man of Gold. This one was a man, taller than the first scientist. “Please,” he said. There was a tremor in his voice. “The shard is reacting with more and more positive results! A few more specimens... a few more experiments... everything indicates we can replicate strength and power on par with your own.” He paused for a bit, as if gauging Starkeeper’s reaction, but the hero only took another swing from the bottle.

The woman scientist spoke up again, “We could have a legion of battle-ready warriors by the end of the next quarter! No more waiting for randoms in the general population. People could enlist en masse. An entire generation of synthetic heroes, all ready and willing to serve Chaos without question.” After a small pause and a nudge from her colleague, she added in a breathless voice, “My lord.”

My lord.

They were terrified. A chill ran down Clara’s back despite the fact she was sweating uncontrollably. The vent suddenly felt too hot. And she felt like a cube of ice melting in its own juices. Her armpits were wet. Her belly was stuck to the metal. She wiped her palms on her chest, her hands shaking so much, she let go of the camera. Something was so very, very wrong, but she couldn’t make any sense of it.

Nico and Izzy’s voices flitted through her earpiece again, still riddled with static and fading in and out of clarity, but she couldn’t pay attention. Her heart was pounding so hard, she wondered if the entire air duct trembled with each beat, and when Starkeeper spoke again, she winced.

“AND WHAT DO WE NEED SYNTHETIC HEROES FOR?” Starkeeper flung his bottle on the floor, smashing the glass and splattering the red drink. His entire body erupted in golden light, shining so brightly that Clara shut her eyes and whimpered. She blinked over and over, trying to clear her vision then checked the camera screen to make sure it was recording without issue. The strange gemstone shimmered more brightly than before.

Starkeeper kicked off the floor and rose slowly, and Clara should’ve been excited to capture footage of this, but all she felt was fear. Like a knife running down her spine. The Man of Gold had grabbed the two scientists by the throats, lifting them into the air, their legs kicking as they struggled.

His flight wasn’t the smooth, suave hovering they showed on TV. He lurched forward and back, then side to side, still holding the flailing scientists, smoke rising from their hazmat suits.

“There’s already too many sniveling brats running around playing superhero. And you want more? More silly little shits disturbing our peace?” Lightning lashed around his halo as he glared at them.

“Please,” begged the woman, her voice barely audible.

“It’s done. I declare this operation over. You are all dismissed.” He held them up higher as they made choking, gut-wrenching sounds. More smoke billowed from their throats, and Starkeeper glanced down at his smashed bottle. His face fell so dramatically, Clara thought he was about to cry. His cheeks were so red and puffy, and he sniffled. When he spoke again, he really did sound like he was crying. “We don’t need another me, alright? I'm the only one you need.”

“My lord... please,” said someone as the other scientists stepped closer. They were all begging for the lives of their colleagues.

Starkeeper’s sad face shifted back to fury. His eyebrows furrowed, and Clara swore she could see veins throbbing on his forehead. “My lord,” he repeated in a nasally mocking tone. “My lord, my lord, my lord.”

His hands glowed as bright as daylight, and then they closed into fists with twin, sickly crunches that echoed throughout the warehouse.

The heads of the two scientists rolled off his fingers, the hazmat suits burnt and sticking to their skulls. Then he released their bodies, and they crumpled to the floor. One of them twitched before going still.

Screaming overtook Clara's mic. Her arms were frozen in position as she stared through the viewfinder. Somewhere, an alarm bell had gone off, ringing, but she barely noticed it.

Starkeeper flashed forward and grabbed the nearest scientist. A man’s voice cried out and then went silent as Starkeeper ripped him in half. The others ran for the vans, and Clara turned the camera to see flashes of light zipping all around the orange hazmat suits.

Bodies fell one by one. Body parts. Burnt and torn and ripped. Blood splattered the warehouse floor. All Clara could see were flashes. Like she was recording fireflies at the park. Except, everywhere a spark appeared, one of the scientists fell, smoke rising from their bodies. The rancid stench of burning plastic and flesh was sucked into the vent, stinging Clara’s nose. She blinked away tears, watching and recording because that was the only thing she could do. She couldn’t even bring herself to move. To crawl back the way she’d come, to climb down the pipes, and scream at her friends to get out.

When the flashes stopped and Starkeeper appeared, the warehouse fell silent. One of the scientists was still moving. A woman who’d taken off her hazmat suit. There was a hole punched through her back and stomach, but she was crawling toward the vans, leaving a hideous trail of glistening blood.

Starkeeper floated over to her, his golden cape swishing behind him. When he spoke, his voice was hoarse. “Look what you made me do.”

“I'm sorry, my lord, please,” she gasped, collapsing before picking herself up to try sliding again. “My lord. Please. I have children and-”

“I have children,” he mocked. He took another menacing step toward her, but then his lips stretched into a smile. “You know what? You look kind of sweet.”

She made a sound halfway between a whimper and a scream.

He stepped closer and knelt, cocking his head. His fingers brushed her cheeks. “Very soft...” he said, in a low, husky voice.

He touched her shoulder, and she stared at him wild-eyed in disbelief. Then smoke rose from his fingers, and her face distorted into a scream.

“No, no, no,” he said, cooing. “Don’t do that. You’ll ruin it. Look how soft you are. So precious... Don’t want to spoil yourself, now do we?”

“Please!” she wailed, raising her face to the ceiling. She raised her arm. “Help me.”

Starkeeper froze and turned around, his face appearing on camera again. Clara zoomed out and saw what the scientist had seen.

A woman floated over the other bodies. She wore the same dark, skintight uniform as Starkeeper, but instead of a cape, she had a pink bandana around her neck. It was Bubblegum floating down from the far wall. Bubblegum was petite but muscular, with powerful-looking legs. Her long blonde hair was tied back in a ponytail, and she surveyed the warehouse, her pink eyes widening at the sight.

Relief rushed through Clara so hard, she thought she was going to pass out. Her slight crush on Bubblegum just blossomed into fanatical devotion. She’d save the day. She’d stop this... this drunken madness. She’d set things right.

The injured scientist on the floor raised a hand toward Bubblegum. “Please...” she pleaded, sobbing as she tried to crawl away from Starkeeper. “Help me.”

Bubblegum said something. Clara’s mic didn’t pick it up, but bubbles fluttered around the superhero. Words appeared on the glossy circular blobs as though they were round screens. Everything's going to be alright. Everything's going to be alright. Everything's going to be alright.

The text floated around her in a series of bubbles, the letters flashing across various languages. It was her built-in translator; she wanted to be a hero for the world, something Clara admired.

But just as Bubblegum descended, there was another flash of golden light, and Starkeeper was kneeling on top of the scientist like he was embracing her.

“Isak!” screamed Bubblegum. Isak, Isak, Isak, went her bubbles.

His name is Isak? What’s he doing to the scientist? Clara zoomed in on him again and nearly retched.

The scientist’s head was tilted to one side, her eyes widening in shock. Clara could only see from behind Starkeeper, but his actions were unmistakable. And when Clara’s mic started picking up the sounds of chewing, it was all she could do to keep from screaming.

But if she screamed, he’d hear her. And then he’d... the Man of Gold would... she was shaking so much now. Every muscle of her body wanted to crawl back the way she’d come. Abandon the camera. Abandon everything. Pretend she never saw this. Pretend she never wanted to investigate the warehouse. It was nothing. She saw nothing. There was nothing. Nothing happened.

But she couldn’t look away. He was the world’s favorite superhero. He was the guiding light for humanity. The North Star. The... Clara swallowed back a sob. Weren’t Nico and Izzy seeing this? Where were they? If they screamed, they’d be in danger. She tried to whisper their names, tapping on her earbud with trembling fingers, but her throat wouldn’t make a sound.

“What the fuck did you do?” What the fuck did you do? What the fuck did you do? What the fuck did you do? What the fuck did you do? An angry swarm of bubbles erupted around Bubblegum. She raised a clenched fist, and they popped out of existence.

“I solved our synthetic problem,” he said, speaking with his mouthful. Starkeeper stood, lifting up the scientist like a mother cat holding a kit.

“Could you at least-” Bubblegum made a sound of disgust and turned away to face the refrigerators.

He stopped chewing. The body slipped from his teeth and collapsed on the floor. The scientist’s head and neck were torn from her chest at an angle. The bones of her ribcage stuck out. Her eyes stared blankly at the ceiling as blood pooled around her, and Clara had the chilling feeling the dead woman was staring straight at her.

Starkeeper was spitting. He made retching sounds as he wiped his tongue on his hands. “Bitch was...” he said. “Blah, that aftertaste... This one was hooked on that Purity crap.”

Bubblegum’s face was a mask of fury. “You consented just days ago, Isak. The experiments weren’t even complete. Why did you change your mind?”

Starkeeper walked away, his golden cape swishing behind him. His handsome chin was covered in blood. “I had a change of heart,” he said. He raised his hand, made a finger gun, and a ray of light blasted through several of the refrigerator-like machines.

There was a brief delay, then each one exploded in turn, shaking the warehouse. Clara watched in silent horror, turning the camera as two of her favorite heroes walked through the mess of scorched bodies and spoke. She wasn’t sure why she was recording anymore, just that this was important. That she had to. The world had to know. She was moving on autopilot, her thoughts numb, her heart pounding so hard she thought it would bruise the inside of her chest.

“Chaos is going to be upset,” said Bubblegum, crouching beside the drink Starkeeper had smashed earlier. “These were good people. Efficient. Hardworking. Not one of our food supply.”

Food supply.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. I watched them for a while. Their bullshit didn’t even work.” Starkeeper stood over her, his hands on his hips. He threw back his head and laughed. “Lana, are you here to stop me?”

Are they going to fight? Maybe Bubblegum isn’t... whatever Starkeeper is.

But Bubblegum hung her head, shoulders slouched, looking defeated. All she said was, “I’m calling in the cleaning crew. We’ll make it seem like an accident. Don’t do anything else. Don’t touch anything. We'll say it was an experiment gone wrong.”

Starkeeper kept laughing as he walked toward the glowing stone. It was too bright now for Clara’s camera, but the superhero flattened his hand against the stone. The blue light mixed with the blood on his face, giving him an ugly, twisted appearance.

“Don’t touch that!” snapped Bubblegum, raising her voice. “Cauliflower died to get that for us. If we don’t-”

“Good riddance,” said Starkeeper, wiping blood from his mouth. “And fuck this.” Light surged from his hand. The stone pulsed. The dark beating heart inside expanded, dimming the light.

Bubblegum shouted, and bubbles streamed out of her hands, enveloping the stone, but it was too late.

The egg-shaped stone blew apart. Blue light surged through the warehouse, blinding Clara who couldn’t help but scream as everything shook; it sounded like the whole warehouse was coming down. Hot air surged through the air ducts. Something forcefully entered her lungs. Her eyes went wide as a burning, tickling sensation spread throughout her chest, and she choked. Coughing and sputtering, a pressure threatening to burst her apart just like the stone.

Someone shouted her name in her earpiece, and then, for a terribly long second, gravity stopped in the air duct.

She only vaguely understood it was falling; the wall was coming down, the view through the vent blurred vertically. She grabbed the grill with one hand and held the camera to her chest just as her head struck the top of the air duct with a resounding clang.

From The Ugly Duckling chatroom:

lilracoon (7:23pm): jesus christ. it looks like something’s going on at the warehouse

lilracoon (7:23pm): anyone know what's going on??

lilracoon (7:23pm): @NICOCOA????

Tyko (7:25pm): what happened? can you take a pic?

lilracoon (7:25pm): it's too dark outside and my phone's camera sucks.

lilracoon (7:25pm): but i can see it from my office. the warehouse looks like it collapsed? there's so much smoke

Tyko (7:25pm): shit i hope starkeeper's alright

lilracoon (7:26pm): i don't think anything can hurt him

lilracoon (7:26pm): but there must be trouble... i knew there was something off about that place

Tyko (7:26pm): you think it was a villian?

lilracoon (7:27pm): idk, just guessing

Doratora (7:28pm): i live a few blocks away. we heard a big explosion and our apartment shook but the alerts say not to worry. they have it under control.