Chapter 6: Outlaw Man
"Yes, it's me," Pokey said, his voice twisted in an attempt at making a mocking falsetto. He'd failed.
"You never were good at making people feel bad," Elliot said.
"Oh, so now you're being personal?" Pokey said. "I'd be hurt, if I weren't completely above you."
"How is that personal, Pokey? Or has your mind gone the way of the rest of your body?" Elliot smirked.
"I'll have you know I'm a big man in Carpainter's little religion." Pokey smirked. "Soon to be much bigger when we have a worker of miracles."
"You refer to Miss Polestar, I assume." Elliot jerked his head back to the cabin, looked forward, smiled and shrugged. "Sorry, but as her personal bodyguard, I must prevent your entry."
"I can still hear you!" Skye shouted.
"And aren't you glad I'm not letting him in?" Elliot responded cheerfully. "So that's the law. I'm laying it down. Any questions?"
"Actually, yes." Pokey extended a hand, and let out a harsh cry. A black bird lighted on his hand. "Have you met my friend Quoth?"
"Pokey, that's a crow. As in, not a raven." Elliot leaned on his bamboo pole, a bemused smile on his face.
"Nevermore!" Quoth replied.
"Okay, so it's a particularly spiteful crow. It's still a crow, Pokey."
"You're pretty quick on the uptake for a dead man."
"You and what army, Pokey?"
Pokey nodded his head back and two burly customers dressed in all blue- blue hoods, blue shirts, blue pants, even blue suede shoes- advanced. The scent of turpentine started to fill the air. "Will these do? Meet my friends, Thug 1 and Thug 2. Quoth! Take him!" With that, the crow launched at Elliot, who smacked it aside. "Just like batting practice..."
Elliot stood up, leaning on the bamboo pole, a wry smile on his face. "As for you two, I have one word." He lifted his free hand. "SMILE!" A bright flash of light blinded both burly blue boys, and Elliot finished them off in short order.
"Now where is he...?" Pokey was running off, and Elliot gave chase. "Get back here, you fat sack of crap!"
Pokey could run pretty fast for a porkball, Elliot mused.
Elliot lost sight of him in the tunnel back to Happy Happy Village and dark had descended, or would have if not for the eerie, glowing blue miasma.
"Follow the bouncing blue people," Elliot scoffed to himself. He followed the light where it was brightest. Perhaps not the smartest move; Elliot couldn't see past the fog.
When he had run into his third tree, Elliot stopped for a moment. "Why couldn't I see this before...? I need to see..." The miasma thinned to his will. "And we could see all things... If we only had the eyes..."
Right in front of him was the huge temple. It was a large, two-story cathedral of blue proportions, just like everything else in this town.
Elliot adjusted the miner's helmet and looked up. "I wonder...?" He flicked the switch and the light sprang to life, in full brightness. "That settles my luck for the day... Let's see what the night may bring."
The huge double doors were big and solid wood and blue and smelled and felt of recent painting- that certain stickiness that only occurs about five hours after paint has been left to dry.
They were also very locked. "Aw, for-" Elliot jiggled the doorknob. Wasn't budging. "Uh... Bomb!" The doorknob resolutely refused to explode. He concentrated and thought. "Burst." Nothing happened. He twirled his fingers, spinning them in opposite directions "Unlock?" he put two fingers together, and slid them to one side. "Open?"
He touched the dooknob. "What's the point?" It started to glow. Startled, he looked at it, and it faded. He touched the door again. "Point?" The glow was dimmer and faded quickly. "Point!" The entire doorknob fixture glowed brightly.
He stepped back, snapped his fingers and in the same motion pointed at the doorknob. "Burst!" The doorknob blasted apart.
"Point Burst. But I didn't have a headache... So how...?" He'd figure it out later. Right now, he had a door to get through.
He pulled open the door using the hole he had created. The blue fog poured out, clinging to his clothing. Elliot stepped in, slowly.
The first thing Elliot noticed was the sound, the long drone of "Blue... Blue... Blue... Blue..." Filled every corner of the room, in perfect time with each other. The total effect was enough that Elliot had to resist breathing in time.
It was dark. Too dark for anything to get done.
He could see the people, or rather, the shadows that defined their shape- but it felt dry, and it was cold, despite the apparent lack of ventilation. Elliot looked around, noting that some shadows were darker than others. Taking the darker shadows to be closer to him, he made an attempt at moving through the temple. He was forced to elbow through people. "So confusing... Let's get this over with..."
Elliot continued to elbow his way through the crowd, getting closer to the THING at its center. Having gone through thin points and a wall of people about one person thick, Eliot came to a clearing. He was closer to the THING now. "Five to eight what color it is..." There were some people chanting in a ring around it while others marched in a circle, beating some sort of drum or something; Elliot couldn't tell and on further thought didn't want to know.
There was a door on the other side of the circle. Was it clear? Yes. He bolted for it before the circling members could even think of stopping him. He slammed it behind him, and ignoring the huddling secretary, walked up the stairs to Carpainter's inner sanctum.
The man Elliot could only assume was Carpainter was there, as well as a statue about three feet tall. It had horns and would almost be mistaken for one of the later Academy awards, if it wasn't too large and had a sword of the wrong make. It gave off a small blue light, which seemed to fill the room, despite the white light coming from a 100-watt bulb. It felt familiar to Elliot, but he couldn't figure it out. There was a smell of ozone in the air, and a spark from the bulb to the statue illustrated why.
"You're Carpainter, I assume." Elliot held his staff in a guard position.
"I am. Who are you?"
"Call me Elliot. I'm here to release Skye."
"I see. And why would you want to? She would have a good life here."
"With no mind of her own? I doubt that." He dropped his backpack.
"Like she has one now? The poor girl is captive to her own visions, boy. Her mind is fragile. I could make it stronger."
"Bullshit."
"What?" Carpainter looked perplexed.
Elliot looked at his hands. The blue was fading into his normal skin tone, but it seemed to close around them in a small shell. "I said bullshit. Skye doesn't need you or anyone else. I can tell."
"...What?"
"I said, I can tell. What's the matter? Got paint in your ears? So let her go."
"I can't do that. She will lead my people to a new age of miracles!"
"You deluded fool!" Elliot shouted. "Do you even know what you're summoning in there?" The shell moved closer to him.
"The ultimate power... the greatest miracle of all." Carpainter shook his head knowingly. "And there's still time... Time for you to partake of this power. The power of Mani Mani!"
"You worship an idol which will bring about only your destruction... you go about blithely as if nothing will happen to you... and every day, this place dies a little more. And you ask me to join you in this- this farce? Shut up, give me the key, and destroy that statue while there's still time!"
"So be it, fool. Now die." Carpainter stretched his hand and two arcs of electricity came off the bulb. One went wide, but the other struck Elliot in the chest- and bounced. Elliot was knocked off his feet with the force of the hit and the rebound, but the bolt hit Carpainter square in the face. Carpainter convulsed as the amperes grounded through him. "...What? No. It can't be- that's mine-"
"Check for yourself, Carpainter," Elliot said, standing up. "It's called a Franklin-"
"I know what it is!" Carpainter snapped. "That little demon you call Skye must have stolen it from me! No matter. I'll get it back when you're dead!" He weaved his fingers together, then spread it out. Electricity arced between his fingers and hands.
"Hello? Franklin badge?" Elliot said, pointing to the thing. "Not going to work?"
"Even the Franklin badge can be overloaded. Now DIE!" Carpainter shoved his hands forward, and arcs of electricity covered the room, pounding against Elliot's body, slamming him into the wall. "Agh!"
The pressure was intense, and ratcheted up fro a brief moment before a thick white-hot lance of electricity struck Carpainter, sending him flying into the statue, which crashed through a window. The blue started to fade away, and the bulb stopped sparking. Elliot coughed as he whiffed a little too much ozone. He quickly checked himself for damage. Outside of a couple bruises and shallow cuts, no real damage. It was hard to breathe- must have bruised his ribs. "Life..." He groaned, and he started on his healing. Some cuts closed, and the bruises would probably be gone by morning.
The Carpainter was a little worse off than Elliot was. Some of his clothes appeared to be extremely burnt, and he seemed to be staring into nothingness. His mouth was ajar. "Oh, no way... I can't have..." Elliot took Carpainter's pulse. Weak, but it existed.
"Life!" The wounds refused to even budge. Small amounts of bruising appeared in his abdomen; he seemed to be hemorrhaging. "No. Life!"
The barest of responses; the burns were starting to subside as well as the swelling. Carpainter was breathing again. Elliot stopped for a second with the psychic healing. He looked away. "Why am I helping you...?"
The answer came, and he took off the Franklin Badge and placed it carefully next to his backpack. He turned back to Carpainter. "Because I'm not a coward. Life!" The pulse was stronger, but Elliot would have to let Carpainter regain consciousness on his own. The burns were fading into what appeared to be Carpainter's typical pasty white flab.
A labored exhalation, and a similarly loud intake of breath, though much swifter. "... What happened? Why does my chest hurt so?"
"Mr. Carpainter? You..." Elliot thought of how to put it, But Carpainter stopped him.
"I'm starting to remember now. The flock... everything that's happened. Skye... Oh, my God. What have I done? Here- take this key. Keep the badge. Get to the cabin as soon as possible. It cannot possibly make up for what I have done, but... please, free her. I'll stop the ceremony."
"Of course." Elliot took the key and pinned on the badge. Slinging his backpack, he slid down the banister to the bottom floor, where several people were wandering, a little dazed. "Get them out of my office... Please?"
Elliot shook his head and sighed. And then he laughed. Some things were just too much. Carpainter stumbled down. "Stop the summoning!" he shouted. "There will be no more Baptisms!"
It was too late- his so-called 'loyal flock' had already left him and the temple. "Thank God..."