Chapter 22: The Deadpool
"I'll go down first," Gerald volunteered as he climbed down until he was submerged into the floor and cement and could see the tunnel ahead of him, even with his new night vision it was still hard to see and he had to feel his way around until he came upon a dimly lit opening right below him. "Everyone be careful. There is a bit of a drop."
"I have you," Darwin told him and Gerald could feel someone hold his ankles. "What do you see?"
Gerald looked down into what could only be the work out room. He could see stationary bikes, weights, work out benches and a punching bag that was being used by some boxing kangaroo gremlin. There were a few others on one of the exercise bikes. Two were sitting and one was standing on the seat and holding the handle bars while two others were working the pedals. There was one gremlin that was sticking to one of the machines and he was covered with various pieces of scrap metal.
"There are a few stragglers, but it is mostly empty," Gerald answered. "I'm going to hold onto the edge and the rest of you will climb down me. Darwin you are first and I know we have to hurry but we also have to be careful and we still need to get our stuff down there as well."
Gerald sank his claws into the edge of the ceiling and held on as tight as he could while he waited for Darwin to climb down his body. He then felt his own ankles being grabbed and looking down he could see that Darwin was still hanging a few feet above the ground. The next to climb down was Penny and he felt shiver go through his own body at her mere touch. He also needed to work out because his arms hurt from holding on with the extra weight, but he sucked in his breath as he felt Brody scale down followed by the two mogwai.
Once the smallest three members of their party were on the floor Penny let go and she ran towards the nearest padded exercise bench and pushed it over to where they were with the help from Brody. Darwin landed on the bench and he and Penny helped Gerald down.
"Did they notice?" Gerald asked as the mogwai climbed back into their packs. He looked around and could see the boxing gremlin and the ones on the bike still at it. "Come one we have to go." He jumped down from the bench and they raced over towards the pool.
Gerald had to admire the design of the pool. There were a couple of shower areas along one side and a raised platform near the front covered with several deck chairs and behind the main pool there was a small two foot deep kiddie pool. There was also what looked like a tiki hut to the one side and Gerald could see the tops of the heads of the humans hiding inside along with glasses and bottles of various types of alcohol, but that was not the main concern.
The gremlins had gathered round both pools and already the smaller pool was filled with them while others hung around the tiled edges and stuck their hands in the water or where being splashed by the others. The larger pool was almost full of them with various shades of green and brown creatures treading the waters while others were either jumping into the water from the sides of riding down the water in the one slide or even using the diving board.
"Gerald," Darwin's voice was a whisper. "I found an outlet." He pointed to the nearest panel that was several feet away.
"Everyone try and be quiet," Gerald said as he and the rest of his party made their way over to the spot. He pulled out a couple of chords from the one bag and used the connectors for the two of them. He then pulled out the one electronic device they had, a purple radio.
"Time to fry?" Brody whispered.
"We'll get the ones in the smaller pool," Gerald whispered back. He reached for his two-way only to find out that he had lost it. He looked over and saw that Penny had already held it.
"Mr. Clamp this is Penny," she whispered.
"Talk to me, Penny," Clamp said on the other end. Despite the fact his voice and lowered into a whisper he was still oud.
"We are going to take out the smaller pool," Penny answered.
"Great idea we are about to make a huge mess out of the large one," Clamp asked.
"I just need these," Gerald said as he placed on some of the rubber gloves from the janitorial supplies Chuck at gotten them. "Make sure you get yours on, Brody plug it in."
The brown gremlin gave him a thumbs up and plugged in the chord.
"Let's see if it works." Gerald turned on the radio and was greeted with static. Well that meant it was on and it was running, just in between stations. Now he just had to launch it.
"Daddy?" Penny asked, her voice cracked from worry. "What is he doing?"
"What?" Gerald looked over to the larger pool and felt his jaw drop. Peltzer was standing on diving board.
"Cannon Ball!" Butterball cried out as he ran towards the large pool where everyone was jumping in only to be grabbed by the arm and held back by Razor. "oof."
"No," Razor said. He wanted to wait.
Chuckles grunted and pointed at the slide.
"Wait," Razor told him and pointed towards the bar. "Humans." He knew they were up to something.
"They kill us again?" The vegetable was standing near them.
"He not wait," Garrison said as he pointed towards the diving board as Billy stepped on to it.
"After," Razor said. He still had to wait and see. "Maybe."
Chuck plugged the hair dryer into the connector. There were enough chords to give him enough length that he could turn it on and toss it into the water. He still couldn't believe it was going to work exactly as how they described it but Kate and Murray had assured him they had seen it happen. The creatures get wet, they get fried and they melt into piles of green and brown goo.
"Can you still throw?" Lynn asked Murry as they were making the last connections.
"Shoulder hurts but it still works," Murray said. "I promise I'll get it checked after we fry these little bastards, just don't tell Sheila I waited to get it checked out."
"The others are going to take care of the ones in the kid pool," Clamp said while Forster was checking out the stun guns and Kate and Valerie were putting on their gloves. "Before anyone does anything I want to make sure you have your gloves on, safety first."
"Daddy what is he doing?" The voice carried over the two-way.
Chuck popped his head up and felt his heart sink when he saw that Billy was on the diving board and was about to jump in.
"Shit!" Chuck nearly threw the hair dryer he was holding towards Valerie before he jumped up, grabbed the bar and used it to hoist himself over and ran as faster he ever had before to the pool and jumped on the back of the diving board. He grabbed the makeshift cloak and pulled it back before he grabbed and tackled the former human to the ground. "Shit, shit, shit." He grabbed at Billy's middle and tried to drag him away.
Billy hissed and slashed at his arm with his claws.
"Ow, Jesus man, it's me, it's Chuck." He grabbed at the bleeding cuts on his arm.
"Stupid human," Billy snarled and was ready to lash again and would have if a feminine hand hadn't slapped him across the face.
"Billy Larson Peltzer," Lynn said in a stern tone. "You apologize immediately, young man."
Billy blinked a few times as he rubbed his cheek. His slender slit like pupils grew round after the last blink.
"Mom?" He turned to look at his mother who just stared back at him with tears running down her face. "Mom it's you. It's really you."
"My baby." She pulled him into her arms and sobbed but only was able to hold him for a few seconds before Kate joined in. "Kate is here. All the people who love you are here, except your father but he and Sheila are watching your children.
"Kate," Billy's own eyes filled with liquid sorrow as he looked up at his wife. "Benny and Sarah, and Gizmo…What have I…oh God."
"It's okay," Kate said as she stared into his eyes. "Everything is going to be okay."
"No it's not," Billy said weakly.
Crackling was heard and Chuck looked over his shoulder as Clamp, Forster, Murry, and Valerie had thrown in the devices into the pool. Blue sparks had jumped up from the machines and over the closest gremlins and then the other gremlins nearest them. Within seconds the whole pool was filled with sparking and vibrating gremlins.
"He's safe," Gerald said once he had seen Chuck had tackled Peltzer to the ground and it was time. He ran up to smaller pool and held up the radio. "This is for Roland Corbin." He drop kicked the radio into the middle of the water. He watched as several bolts of electricity jumped out and over the little monsters.
"The others," Penny gasped as she ran up to the ones who were spawning but not frying and gave them a good dose of the stun gun she had carried.
Gerald ran up to two others and gave them the full charge of his weapon before he ran up to the next closest group while Penny and Darwin assisted. They continued to run around, using the weapons until all the gremlins were vibrating. Smoke wafted up from their vibrating forms and they began to disintegrate, flesh melted off their bodies, leaving behind skeletal forms before they too also melted until there was nothing left but a kid's pool full of brown and green slime and puddles of the same color surrounding the tiles.
"Yuck," Brody said from where he sat.
"Yucky, but it's over," Gerald said with a sigh before he pulled Penny close. He stared deep into her eyes and stroked the back of her head before he gave her a long passionate kiss.
"See?" Razor asked. "This why we wait."
"Smart," Vegetable told him.
"All gone?" Butterball asked. "All dead."
"We could been there," Garrison asked before he turned back to Razor. "What now?"
"New plan. Let go." Razor made sure no one was paying them any attention before he four of them headed back towards the gym.
Billy watched the massacre as he was being held by both his mother and wife. A large part of him felt relief and triumph at the fact his plan had worked. The horde of gremlins were dying by electrocution and they were still twitching as they had begun to melt. Another part of him was angry at the fact that his army was being wiped out. He firmly told that other part to shut up.
"Your idea worked," Kate said. She was smiling and crying at the same time. "I thought I lost you. When you first went missing…I had no idea…we worried for your life…had no idea."
"That I'd be turned into a monster?" Billy answered in a low voice.
"No, no, no your not a monster," his mother said. "You just look different. I'm sorry I just."
"You look like you," Kate said. "I still see the same handsome, sweet, clever and creative man that I fell in love with." She lowered her head and kissed him on the lips.
Billy closed his eyes and he took in the kiss. It felt like he hadn't kissed her in forever. It felt like the first time they had kissed. The painful hollow feeling he had felt inside was filled with warmth and it remained there for a few seconds before guilt weighed down on him and crushed him.
"I love you, Kate, more than anything and I love you, Mom and dad, Sarah and Benny, and Gizmo and Snowy and Knight." He thought of their two cats and wondered if they would hiss and swat at him. "That doesn't change the fact that I'm a monster."
"Billy," His mother started but he cut her off.
"No mom I am. I thought I could just fool them and let them think I was going to lead them into the night, but after a few minutes I wanted to be their leader…I was their leader, both Razor and I. He was the same type as Stripe and Mohawk and he was them. He comes back and they used Razor's DNA on me. He was a Hei'an Lingxiu and so was I. I wanted to kill people…I did kill someone. I killed Doctor Friedrich. I killed the man who turned me into this. I took a life."
"He was the one who did this to you," Kate said as she ran her fingers through his hair. "I don't blame you. There was a possibility he would do it again to someone else."
"It's still wrong. I know it's wrong, but I enjoyed it and—Chuck!" He looked over at his new friend. His new friend that he had injured who was having his arm inspected by both Forster and a pretty brunette with glasses. "Chuck is innocent and a good guy and I hurt him." He approached the injured man. "Chuck, I'm so sorry."
"Dude, it's okay," Chuck said softly. "You tried to warn me before about your new instincts."
"And I let them take over me," Billy closed his eyes and hung his head. "I allowed it to control me and I attacked you. I attacked you when I should be thanking you. You saved my life and thank you."
"All part of the job," Chuck said with a grin. "Which I'm not going to have for a while." He stared at the pool filled with melted gremlins and made a face. "I've seen outhouses that looked better than that."
"I'll try to find you a temporary job," Forster said. "I'm head of security for Mr. Clamp and I could use someone like you at least until the mall opens."
"That is one of the most generous things I have heard from you." Kate told him.
"I appreciate that," Chuck said and took a few steps and tensed up and groaned.
"What is it?" the lady with glasses asked. "Is it your arm?"
"No my leg," Chuck explained. "Hurts worse than my arm. I think I pulled something when I leaped over the bar like that and don't apologize for that, Billy. I can see the words forming in your mouth but my leg is not at all your fault.
Billy closed his mouth. He was about to apologize and instead shrugged.
"I did something similar back in 48," Murry explained. "But in my case it was less heroic. I was just trying to do some cockamamie stunt to impress Sheila at the time." He kept grinning. "Billy, you gave us a scare down there." He pulled Billy into another hug. "Great plan by the way. We got them."
"Bill!" Clamp had finally noticed him and was walking over to them. "Finally found you, well we all found you." His grin faded. "We were worried about you. How are you feeling?"
"Embarrassed that I wanted to rage ware on humanity and scared you," Billy answered. "Guilty about killing Doctor Friedrich, relieved the gremlins are killed and feeling grateful that I have so many friends and family that care and happy that I am holding the hand of the woman I love most in the world, and slightly hungry."
"You killed someone, Peltzer?" Forster asked. The way he phrased it wasn't shock that Billy murdered someone but more likely that Billy was physically able to.
"It was the monster that mutated him and Gerald," Lynn explained and nodded towards the other pool where Gerald, Darwin and a female goblin were.
"Penny?" Billy asked as he saw the pretty goblin as she joined the other two in a three way hug. "She's okay. I had nearly forgotten…" He trailed off when Penny and Gerald shared a long kiss. "Should I be concerned about that?" He heard a cough from Murray who had turned away while the others shrugged. "I should have a talk with Gerald about this."
"Where is the body, Peltzer?" Forster asked.
"Right in front of the Corvette in front of Saks," Billy explained.
"How was it done?" Forster asked.
"Um he's kind of a sensitive about this," Chuck said as placed a hand on Billy's shoulder.
"I need to know the details so we can figure out how to cover it up," Forster explained. "Was it by knife or gun?"
"I tore out his throat," Billy answered and looked down. He pulled the sheet around him.
"That will be easy," Forster said. "A mutant animal took him out."
"Right, humans can't do that," Clamp added before turning to Billy. "Don't worry about, this Bill, we are going to smooth things over. We will implicate Friedrich and his assistants in bizarre experiments and he will be rightfully blamed for your kidnapping and your friend. The whatever story you told to get the people out of the mall will be what killed him."
"Spin it anyway you like it won't change what I've done," Billy told him and continued to stare down. "I still am a danger to others."
"Not for long," Clamp said. "We are going to do everything to help you. Whatever it takes to get you two back to normal and your friend says he is going to take care of Darwin, Forster will take care of Brody and-"
"Rand and I will take in Penny," Lynn finished. "We have already bonded."
"That's good, but who is Brody?" He knew he heard the name before. "Wait isn't that Gene's friend?"
"Yes he's the nice little brown gremlin," Lynn said. "I know that sounds strange."
"Yeah he's the one jumping up and down for some reason," Murray said and pointed at the other end of the area.
The brown gremlin did look frantic and was pointing at the two backpacks. Gerald picked up one and looked inside it and panic swept across his face before he set it down and looked into the other.
"Come on," Billy said before he ran over to them, careful to side step and jump over the piles and puddles of melted gremlin. He noticed one puddle had a small opera cape and a masquerade mask. He wondered which puddle was Razor but he didn't notice the other crown or towel cloak and he remembered seeing Razor standing to the side with his gang and the vegetable gremlin right before he climbed onto the diving board.
"We got a problem," Gerald said when Billy and the others caught up to them. "Make it two, problems."
"What is it?" Billy asked.
"Missing mogwai," Gerald explained. "Gizmo and Gene are gone."