Chapter 2 Death of a Friend
Stephanie had stayed inside for the rest of the day, bored out of her mind. At the end of the week, her uncle had held a trial, at which point, Robbie had dressed up as a lawyer, and tried to convince Meanswell to kick Sportacus out of the town. He failed, of course.
Being the mayor's niece came with perks. But one of those perks was not a free pass. The kids had to go help Crassus recover from the attack. Sportacus was surprising silent on this issue. The kids went down the tube to Robbie's place, and each stayed there for two hours every day. Stephanie hated it.
Crassus hated Sportacus, and made his loathing very clear. He subjected Stephanie to hours of toxic spew regarding her hero. And she could not even tell him not to be quiet. Although injured, he seemed to be healthy enough to paw and push her around whenever the urge hit him. And he was irritable all the time.
But the absolute worst part was his eyes. They seemed to regard those around him as sacks of meat. They were prey, and he, an injured lion. It scared them that he would soon be healthy enough to act on his predatory urges. Trixie even suggested killing him in his sleep.
Sportacus was absent during their time there. It hurt Stephanie that her hero did not seem to want to be around her anymore. As far as she could tell, the whole group was getting the silent treatment. Once more, days turned to weeks, which turned to months. Then something horrible happened.
Sportacus was exercising in his airship when his alarm went off. "Someone's in trouble," he said to himself. He called for the door, and leapt down from the dirigible. A hundred feet from the ground, he deployed his chute. B.A.S.E. jumping was much quicker than climbing down the ladder. About a dozen feet from the ground, something round a rubber hit Sportacus, knocking him off course into a tree. It took him a few seconds to recover. Pressing a button, his chute collapsed back into his backpack, and he took off.
Sportacus looked about. Nobody was out, but his crystal was still beeping. (Time to do awesome flips until I magically wind up where I'm supposed to be) Sportacus thought to himself. (Cue jumping music). Halfway through a particularly amazing flip, the hero spotted Ziggy on the ground. The blond boy was having an attack. His body was shaking. He was on a special medication to control the effects of eating nothing but sugar for eight years.
"The pen, I need it!" Said Sportacus reaching for the pen Ziggy had given him. He pulled out the instrument, but found that it had been broken in the fall. "Oh Ziggy, I hope you have one on you!" He explained, searching the boy frantically. Once more, his training kicked into place, focusing his mind on his goal, and nothing else.
And no sooner had he begun to fear the worst when he discovered three in the boy's backpack. Breathing a sigh of relief, Sportacus took the pen and injected it into the skin of the boy. He waited for the attack to break, but it just would not. He stepped back and heard something crunch under his feet. He looked down and saw another pen.
"Something's wrong," The hero said to himself. "I'd better get him to a hospital!" He flung the boy over his shoulder and took off. His crystal started to beep, first rapidly, and then it slowed to a double beeping.
Beep-beep, Beep-beep…. Beep-beep…. Beep…. Beep… it slowed like a heart-rate, then, it flat-lined. Sportacus knew that it was too late by the time he put his friend over his should, but he had to try.
"Oh no, Ziggy, it's too late now…." He sighed.
Stephanie couldn't believe what she heard. Ziggy had an attack, and Sportacus had been unable to save him. She felt guilty. If she had been on patrol with him… Stephanie twirled the medical pen he had entrusted to her. He had counted on her to save his life, and she had failed.
The funeral was a somber affair. Even Trixie had nothing to say. Sportacus gave the eulogy because, well, he was awesome, and everyone knew he would do a good job. Stephanie could not imagine life would be like without Ziggy. He had been in her life for years.
She was still in disbelief when the casket was lowered; sobbing in disbelief that Sportacus was not making everything better. He was off with Pixel of all people, arguing madly. The pink-haired girl excused herself. She slumped down on the hill, and cried. Stephanie was not even there two minutes before a familiar blue form wrapped his arms around her.
"Sportacus," Stephanie whispered, "I just can't believe this would happen. He was always so careful!" She sobbed that last part. Ziggy was not a little kid. He recognized his limits and he stayed as healthy as possible. Now he was dead.
And things just got worse from there.
In the following months, Trixie acted worse than before. Instead of letting up, she was even nastier to those around her. Pixel got in trouble for putting cameras in private places. He violated his friend's trust when a camera was discovered in Ziggy's house, and Stingy was still a kleptomaniac, taking whatever he got his hands on. It was like the pureness of the group was just removed. Stephanie wondered what had happened to the happy group. At least Creepy Crassus had recovered enough that he no longer demanded the presence of the group. Actually, her uncle cut her a break. He told Robbie that, "Your friend has taken enough, and the children have lost enough too!" Although tried to keep the incident quiet, his wife had been right there, and she spread it around as much as possible.
Trixie ran away from home before this pronouncement had been made. It was too bad. Stephanie missed her very, very much.
The doorbell rang, probably more bad news, Stephanie thought to herself. She was right, of course, but when she opened the door, she gasped happily, "Sportacus!" She cried, jumping into his arms. He smiled, accepting her hug. He held on just a bit too long.
"It's time for training, c'mon," he said, and dragged her along. She was so happy; she did not even ask him what had changed. Chances were she had to return to helping Crassus the next day. Sportacus called for a ladder, and climbed up before her.
Eventually, her curiosity got the better of her, "Sportacus…"
He sighed tiredly. Then he pressed a button and a computer dropped down. It was a picture of him, much younger, with a smile, and large silver medallion about his neck. Sportacus cursed some German judge, and started. Before I came to Lazy Town, I was an athlete. I met Crassus when I was very young. We were both excellent athletes, and very, very competitive. He was a wild one, and a bit of a cheat. Thing is, he was pure evil. Steroids, drugs, booze; Crassus was into anything and everything. It drove him crazy, started half a dozen scandals before he was kicked out. We were friends, and I should have found a way to stop him but… I didn't…" He had now shared his darkest secret.
Stephanie stared at her hero in shock. He was crying. She lunged forward, saying, "I couldn't keep Ziggy from eating candy, stop Trixie from being mean, take something from Stingy, or keep Pixel away from his computers. You did the best you could, I know you did."
Sportacus let out a shudder, clutching Stephanie tightly. He felt a flow of forgiveness in his heart.
"Stephanie, he's here. That means trouble," He then went onto explain what happened the day Ziggy died. "Here's the thing, there wasn't any insulin in the epi-pens. It was sugar water." He could see the gears whirring: Someone had swapped the pens filled with insulin with sugar water, Ziggy had been injecting himself with poison, someone then hit Sportacus, a dodge ball pro, with a ball, shattering the pen he kept on him, and Ziggy had been injected with even more sugar water upon his friend's arrival. Stephanie looked suspiciously at Sportacus.
"So let me get this straight: Someone who would have been around Ziggy for hours on end, who has access to a Candymaker 3000, and wanted revenge on the group," Stephanie saw the stony face of her mentor realizing what he was saying; homicide. Sportacus did not speak for several minutes.
"Stephanie, I believe that kids are smart, that they know when things get too big for them. I am counting on you now, stay down. Pixel is under house arrest, thanks to Robbie's newest house-cozy invention, there's no way he can get out. No one's heard from Trixie in days. Ziggy's dead. I need you to promise me to be careful, okay?" She looked up at his hopeful face and nodded.
"I promise."
