CHAPTER THREE
1456 Words
CHAPTER THREE
The alien bat’s sucking was becoming louder and louder. Beams glanced over his shoulder, wondering whether he would be able to survive the fall from this height. His power boost earlier was already starting to wear off and he wasn’t wearing his costume, which would have helped prevent a few bumps and scrapes at least.
Do I really have a choice, though? Beams thought, looking back up at the alien bat. If I don’t let go, I’m going to get a face full of alien acid, which will probably kill me immediately. Maybe if I fall and break my legs, I can drag myself to safety somehow.
But the thought of falling and breaking his legs was too scary for Beams to even consider. He held tightly onto the edge of the roof, looking into the face of the alien bat, listening to the sounds of the other aliens flying around and attacking the citizens of Golden City. Beams just hoped that Rubberman would somehow be able to stop this invasion even if he died.
All of a sudden, the alien bat gasped in pain and teetered back and forth for a second before it fell forward. Beams clung to the side of the building as closely as he could as the alien bat’s body fell past him and crashed onto the street below, knocking down a street lamp in the process. Looking over his shoulder, Beams saw the alien bat lying on the street in a very awkward position, with weird yellow liquid rapidly pooling underneath it. Even from a distance, Beams could smell the stink rising from the yellow liquid, which reminded him of sewage water and blood.
It’s dead, Beams thought. But who killed it?
“Kid!” a voice above shouted. “Are you okay?”
Beams looked up to see a complete and total stranger standing above him. He was a young black man, probably in his early or mid twenties, wearing a weird-looking blue-and-yellow uniform that reminded Beams of an astronaut for some reason. The man had short, curly hair and stunningly white teeth, like the kind you see on models in toothpaste commercials. Nonetheless, he gave off a strange timelessness about him, as if he was much older than he seemed. He also carried what looked like a glowing energy sword in his hand, like a light saber, though Beams knew it couldn’t be an actual light saber.
“Uh, yeah,” Beams said. “Who are you?”
“A friend,” said the man. He crouched toward Beams. “Did that Kakarr hurt you too much?”
“That what?”
“The alien bat thing I just killed,” said the man, gesturing at the body below. “They’re called Kakarr. Very nasty creatures. They’re particularly fond of disemboweling their targets after melting their faces off.”
Beams shuddered at the mental image of his faceless body being torn open by that creature. “Uh, can you help me up?”
The man held out a hand toward him. “Sure. That’s what I’m here for, after all.”
Beams took the man’s hand and the man helped him up onto the roof. Beams crawled a few feet away from the edge, however, before he stood up and looked out toward the spaceship. The ship was still hovering in the air above Golden City, lightning and clouds shrouding it like a robe, while more of those creatures this man called Kakarr swarmed the city like bees. People were running and screaming, traffic was backed up as people tried to drive home, and general chaos and pandemonium reigned in downtown Golden City.
“Thanks for saving me,” said Beams, glancing at the man. He turned around. “But I need to get out of here. I have places to be and—”
The man suddenly grabbed Beams’ forearm, making Beams look at the man again. To his surprise, the man wore a deeply serious expression on his face, as if he had no intention of letting Beams go.
“I understand you’re one of this city’s protectors, but you shouldn’t toss on your costume and fight just yet,” said the man. “I came here to let you know exactly why these aliens are here and what they’re trying to do.”
“How do you know my secret identity?” said Beams in alarm. “My license—”
“Don’t worry,” the man said. He mimed zipping his lips shut. “As an IEA member, I’m used to keeping secrets. I won’t tell anyone you’re really Beams, the sidekick of Rubberman, though right now I’d say keeping your job is the least of your worries.”
Beams hated the idea of this complete stranger knowing who he was, because it was illegal for a sidekick to reveal his identity to anyone, which was grounds for his license being instantly revoked by the government. On the other hand, this man did just save his life and he seemed to know what these aliens were and why they were attacking the city, so Beams decided he would worry about how this man knew his secret identity later.
Yanking his arm out of the man’s hand, Beams turned to face him and said, “IEA? Is that some kind of government agency? You’re not with the Department of Superheroes, are you?”
“I’m not affiliated with any earthly government,” the man insisted. “’IEA’ stands for Interdimensional Elite Agency. We protect the multiverse from any and all threats to its safety.”
“Multiverse?” Beams repeated. He narrowed his eyes. “You’re not trolling me, are you?”
The man smiled. “You just saw an alien spaceship spewing lightning descend from the sky and send giant alien bat creatures to terrorize the citizens. You almost got killed yourself. And you find it hard to believe that there are other universes beside your own?”
Beams opened his mouth to say yes, but then thought about it and closed his mouth. “All right. Let’s say I believe you. You’re a member of some sort of interdimensional agency which protects the multiverse from threats. Why are you here?”
The man jerked a thumb over his shoulder at the massive spaceship floating in the sky above Golden City. “I’m here for that, obviously. If we don’t stop that thing, it will destroy your entire city and everyone in it.”
“Yeah, I could guess that,” said Beams. “Which is why I need to get to my boss, and fast, because it’s our duty to protect Golden City from any and all threats. It’s what we’re paid to do.”
“True, but just destroying one spaceship won’t save your city,” said the man. “If you and your boss manage to take these guys down, they’ll just send another and another until they either destroy you or get what they want.”
“’They’?” Beams repeated in horror. “You mean that thing is part of a fleet?”
“Oh, yeah,” said the man, nodding. He spread his arms wide. “They’ve got tons of those things, mass producing them on a scale that would make even a Chinese factory look tiny by comparison. And that ship is one of the smaller ones. You don’t want to see the warships.”
Beams gulped. He hoped that the man was exaggerating, but given how serious he sounded, Beams realized that the man might actually be downplaying just how big and powerful this enemy was. Even so, Beams found it hard to imagine how you could mass produce ships of that size on any reasonable scale.
“But what are these creatures?” said Beams. “Why are they here? Where do they come from? What do they want?”
“I can’t answer all of your questions here,” said the man. He walked past Beams, heading toward the other side of the roof. “We need some place safe to talk. The Elastic Cave would probably be a safe place to talk, because your boss is going to need to know this, too.”
“Wait, you know about the Elastic Cave, too?” said Beams, turning to watch the man walk away.
The man came to a stop and looked over his shoulder at Beams. “Of course. We know pretty much everything about you, because we’ve been watching your universe for a while. Granted, we’ve only been paying attention to you in particular since the West Texas incident, but we still have a fairly complete profile of you and your boss.”
“Why have you been watching me since I went to West Texas?” said Beams, eying the man suspiciously.
“For the same reason the Darzens—which are the aliens currently invading your city—are attacking your city,” said the man. “I’m surprised you haven’t made the connection yet, but I suppose it has been six months since then, so—”
“Six months …” Realization struck Beams like a lightning bolt when he realized what the man was talking about. “Those aliens … the Darzens … I’ve met them before, haven’t I?”
The man nodded grimly. “Yep. The Darzens want the Rubber Ball back. And they’re going to destroy your whole world to get it if we can’t stop them.”
- Writer
