You couldn't get more of a dead end life than me. I wanted to try and bee something, and wanted to make so many lives better. But now here I was, driving silently down my long, empty forest consumed driveway to my isolated cabin. I had just been turned down a job at Apple, despite what my potential proved. See, I was an artist and inventor. After I made countless devices and gadgets that tried to help make the world a better place, a little guy like myself was still a nobody. I failed to succeed succeeded at my dream, to change the world. Why? Because I had nothing, no success, no money, no credibility. I could tell when I was declined a job, an invention was rejected, and an art piece I made was tossed out it was because of that. I knew.
I groaned as I stared at the gravel road ahead, my hands tightly griping my car's steering wheel as the events from earlier replayed in my head over and over again. The cold stare of the manager, the quiet snickering from other employees around me, his bullsh*t reason for declining me, security escorting me out as employees either laughed or shot me looks of pity. The more I thought about it, the angrier I got. Not wanting to rush out of the car and punch the nearest tree till my hands bled, I turned up the volume on my radio, letting the music flow through the speakers. I had been smart to bring my CD with over 100 of my favourite songs, but considering I'd been on the road for weeks, it made sense. I sighed as When Can I See You Again by Owl City played, and I shot a glance at my rear-view mirror to look at my back seats. Stuff I normally brought with me, from a few blankets and pillows, my favourite movies, a portable DVD player, toothbrush, deodorant and shower stuff all a large bag resting on the seat right in the mirror's view. Resting next to it was a large purple suitcase I customized myself with stickers and decals that housed two weeks' worth of clothing (it was a pain to fit it all in), and on top of both rested a little box that carried my newest invention that Apple manager rejected. It was just a modified phone with a stronger signal and other buffs, like a far stronger and longer lasting battery.
Looking at the small box, I grumbled and shook my head, taking a tight right as my driveway went further. I regretted getting such an isolated house with such an egregiously long road. With the money I saved from what I was able to sell, I chose to buy a small one story house with all the basic essentials and a basement. My basement had been transformed into a workshop combined with an artist studio, just so I had privacy, away from the noise of the massive city of Vancouver, all so I can have peace.
The setting sun was giving the sky a bright orange glow, and thanks to the lack of any sort of light along the sides of my gravel path, the forest darkened. I pressed down a bit more on the gas pedal to get home as soon as possible, my fear of the dark tickling the hairs on my neck. I made a left, and I suddenly felt... off. Something was going on. I looked up through the windshield and noticed the sky was suddenly becoming cloudy, the faint sound of thunder reaching my ears. I pushed my foot down further on gas pedal more as I accelerated to 50 km/h, my car shaking because of the gravel I drove on. I saw that the clouds continued to group up, the sky growing darker. But something irked me. It felt like the clouds were form over only me, and were following me. I pressed the gas pedal down even more. The thunder from earlier boomed louder than before. The wind began to pickup, causing leaves to fly around at break neck speeds and the tree tops to bend dangerously low. I tried my best to shake my growing feeling of dread, chocking it up to stress, exhaustion to being on the road for hours, and my rage at the Apple incident. As I sped up, the clouds began to swirl above me, the sound of thunder becoming deafening. My car's speakers cut out suddenly out as I swerved out of a rouge branch that flew at my car. It felt like a tornado was forming right over my head. I felt the dread running through my whole body as I saw parts of the clouds flash. Lightning. I grit my teeth, dodging debris that flew at me from all angles.
Suddenly, lightning struck a tree to my left.
I yelped in fear as I jolted the car away, only for lightning to strike a tree to my right. Every time I jolted away from a tree, lightning would strike. I had no idea what was happening, my nerves frayed. Then before I could react, lightning struck the ground in front of me...
And a bright white light formed above the smoldering ground where the lightning struck. I yelled in fright as I slammed on the brakes, but I couldn't stop. The white light was dragging me towards it as my car's tires screamed in protest. I attempted to jump out of my car, but it was too late.
I was pulled into the light.
~X~
I now knew how my laundry felt in my washer and dryer. I flailed helplessly in my car, still buckled in my seat, as my vehicle was sent tumbling down... something. It was a tunnel of some kind, but it had no ground, and the walls, if that's what they were, made it look like I was falling down a spinning cylinder made of cracked stained glass. The miss matched shapes flashed multiple different colours as white cracks flashed behind like the lightning from earlier. Sometimes I'd see what looked like people and places flash in the different parts, but my car was tumbling so much and was falling so fast that I couldn't really focus. Well, I couldn't focus because of that and the millions of voices that bombarded my ears. The voices hit me from all sides, echoing across the tunnel at an ear-bleeding volume.
I tightly squeezed my eyes shut, covering my ears with my hands. But that did nothing to quell the voices. It all sounded like it was right in my head. I cringed as hard as I could, trying to somehow piece together what was happening. But before I could think about anything else other than the tunnel, my car suddenly stopped tumbling and landed on a road. Or, I think it was a road at least. I was too busy trying to desperately fight against the tunnel, which was now pulling me down it more and harder than before, and straighten my car so I would stop skidding like a drag race car. My head pounded in pain as the voices grew louder and louder, and I had to squint as a light of rapidly changing colours formed at the end of the tunnel and began to approach fast. I felt faint and weak as the voices transformed into a loud ringing, and the flashing light consumed my vision. Just as it felt like I'd pass out, everything snapped back to reality. I did my best so control my runaway car, but I was only able to turn it so a collided the whole left side with the pure white wall. With a thunderous crash, I smashed into the wall, and fell unconscious just as I saw people rushing to my aid.
~X~
I began to feel conscious again as the sound of two voices hit my ears, tones of both a mix of confusion, frustration and worry.
"...sure this is actually happening?" the first voice asked, a slight English accent noticeable.
"Well, it has, and did", the second voice asked, deeper than the first with anger dripping out, "We better fix this, and fast, before she shows up."
"It was your idea of turning the machine on, brother", the first voice snarked.
"Hey! Don't go pinning this on me!" The second snapped back, "You wanted to have the stupid thing built in the first place!"
"Only because you forced me!"
"Stop being a cry-baby, you lost that game of Jenga fair and square!"
As the two voices devolved into unintelligible bickering, I was finally able to open my eyes to see who was talking. As I did, I felt that I had been put on a couch of some kind, and I could faintly hear curious, suspicious muttering coming from behind the two arguing voices. I did my best to focus at the two who were arguing, and as the blurs in my vision lifted, my eyes bulged. In front of me were two blobs, one pure white and the other the darkest black I've seen. The white blob, the owner of the slight English accent, had void-like eyes and mouth, his eyes shooting daggers at the black blob as he yelled at him. Speaking of the other blob, his eyes were a burning red and a zigzag mouth of the same colour twisted in a furious scowl as he lobbed insults right in the white blob's face. Behind the, forming a little crowd, were people of multiple ethnicities wearing heavy knight's armour, left side black (their left, not mine), and right side white. I just stared, while still lying down at the scene in front of me, trying to make sense of it all.
That's it, I died and went to heaven, I thought to myself, I'm dead, and these are angels.
Suddenly, I shot up in a seating position, startling the whole crowd. The two blobs stopped fighting and looked over at me in shock, before looking back at each other and straightening themselves out, the black blob clearing his throat. They both smiled at me with clearly phony smiles, eyes showing their worry and fear. I looked between the two of them quickly, finally noticing how tall they were. I was 5'1", but these two were clearly double, if not triple my height! Both were obviously clear to the pure confusion on my face, so the white blob stepped -er, more slid- forward and spoke.
"Hello! I'm happy to see you're awake!" he said to me, "I was worried that crash got you!" He put his phony smile back up. After a moment of awkward silence, the white blob looked slightly behind him and gestured to the black blob. The black blob rolled his eyes (or, I think he did) and stepped forward.
"You're going to be confused, but trust me..." The black blob trailed of slightly as he shot the white blob a side glance before returning his glance to me, "We'll help you get... settled." That pause didn't help with my fears, but I looked up at the two of them and nodded with a sigh.
"Good!" the white blob exclaimed. He shooed the armoured crowd, and after they dispersed, turned back to me. "So, we should introduce each other then. I'm Lightness, and this stain", he gestured towards the black blob, who snarled at him in returned, "is my brother Darkness."
I stood rooted on the spot, letting this all process. Lightness and Darkness seemed to be aware of this, as they shared a look, and then turned back to me. I nodded.
"Okay", I said with a sigh, "My name is Caleb. Now can either of you explain what the heck is happening!?" I ended with a shout. Lightness and Darkness both suddenly began to mumble and stammer, as if they didn't want to tell me what was wrong. Before I could speak up again, a shriek echoed throughout the whole room. All heads turned to the door on the far left, where a woman with tan skin stood, small dot eyes filled with raged and mouth slightly agape.
Looking upon her, she looked so strange. Her hair had her bangs dyed white and cut like a cloud while the hair that went down her back was a full rainbow of colours. She wore a cape that was basically the opposite of her hair, the bottom edge that just barely touched the floor the housing the cloud. Her shirt was light blue with rolled up sleeves housed a cloud decal, and she wore rolled denim shorts with sneakers coloured like a rainbow.
Her fury filled face looked at my crashed car, which I just noticed was still crashed against the wall, then to me just angry at all, rather sympathetic, then looked to the two brothers. Her eyes, I swear, bugged out and flashed red. She charged full steam right at the two brothers, both of them inching away slowly in fear. As the woman barreled at them, I noticed another being came from the doorway, its face contorted in concern when it looked upon me. The thing was similar to Lightness and Darkness, only it was slightly shorter, body a bright purple that occasionally flickering like a hologram. The purple being rushed to my side and began to look me over with its glowing magenta eyes. Its zigzag line mouth, just like Darkness' only magenta, was twisted in a worried frown.
"Well, good to know you aren't hurt", the being said. From the voice, I could tell the 'it' in front of me was actually a 'he', despite the fact his voice sounded like it was coming out of a walkie-talkie. I looked him over in suspicion, only to be snapped out of my thoughts by a yelp of pain. My and the purple guy's heads snapped to the woman, who was losing it on the two brothers, both of them whining and yelping in pain as she furiously bombarded them with her clenched fists.
"Sis, please, we didn't expect-" Lightness began only to be stopped by a fist slamming into his face.
"Come on, Rainbow, this isn't that-" Darkness said only to get kneed in the gut.
"You two-" The woman, Rainbow, screamed "- can't be trusted to be alone for more than two seconds! Look at what happens!' She unleashed a flurry of rapid fire punches and kicks on the two brothers before finishing them off with a powerful left hook. I cringed as the two blobs recoiled hard and fell together on the ground, groaning in pain. Rainbow gave them one last vicious look before spinning on her heel to face me. Her features went from 'murder everything in sight' to 'you poor sweet thing' in a heartbeat. She rushed up to me, looking me over while standing beside the purple guy.
"I'm so sorry about what happened", Rainbow said sweetly. Somehow, all my tension from before magically vanished. "And I'm sorry my idiot BROTHERS-", She raised her voice at that last part, quickly shooting a glare over her shoulder before turning back to me, "-had to drag you here against your will."
"What!?" Darkness shouted, arms emerging from his body to help I'm stand back up, "It's not like we wanted to drag him here on purpose! We were testing the generator when a portal suddenly opened out of nowhere! Next thing we know-" He gestured to himself and Lightness, who was still sprawled on the ground in pain, "-Caleb here shot through with his car and destroyed the generator! We were about to explain things to him, but you came in-" He pointed angrily at Rainbow, "-and flattened us before we could do anything!" Darkness' arms disappeared into his inky abyss body, still looking at Rainbow in a mixture of hurt and anger. Rainbow's face fell to horror.
"What!? OMG, I'm so sorry you two!" She rushed over and helped Lightness up back to a standing position. "Guys, I'm so sorry. I just heard the portal open, felt the energy, and 'big sis' took over." Darkness grunted and shrugged, while Lightness waved her off.
"It's okay, sis", Lightness said, "Everyone makes mistakes."
"Yeah", the purple being spoke up, "But what about that mistake." An arm that emerged from his body jabbed a thumb at me. The other three looked at me like deer caught in headlights. They looked between each other, then they all looked back at me after the purple being joined them. I suddenly felt very self conscious as they all stared me down. It didn't help that they all towered over me, with even the shortest Rainbow still being a whole two heads taller than me. I shifted nervously, keeping my eyes on anything but them. But a sigh snapped my attention back to the four, Rainbow's face housing a hard to read expression.
"This is going to be a hard day for all of this", she said as she walked to the door behind me, the one she burst through, "Things aren't going to get any easier if you just stand there gawking, c'mon." She gestured me to follow her, the purple being, Lightness and Darkness following right behind. I looked at her, to my car, then back to her. I sighed and followed, heading into the unknown with four strangers.
~X~
I followed far behind the four mysterious people as we walked down a long hallway. The red velvet carpet we marched on made me feel weird, this massive building I was in sprawling and endless. To my right was a wall of windows that over looked a large city bathed in the bright midday sunshine. To my left was a long line of paintings, occasionally braking to fit in a door, each one housing a person on it, name signed on the bottom of the frame. Some, I recognized. William Shakespeare, Walt Disney, Stan Lee, Jim Davis, Rebecca Sugar. All of these creators were legends (for better or worse), making so much media that changed the world. I was so entranced by all this paintings that I was completely off guard when the others turned down another hallway. I shook my head and ran off of them, choosing to head to the front of the group next to Rainbow. I looked up at her, and she looked down at me and smiled, something i kindly returned. We kept walking in silence for a bit longer, before I couldn't take it anymore.
"Okay, can someone here explain what is going on?" I asked, "And where I am?"
Rainbow looked down at me again. "Don't worry, Caleb, we'll explain things soon-" She looked at the doors we passed "-just need to find... the right room." She headed into a room to her right, and the rest of us followed. The room we entered was a large room with a large bed and other furniture you'd find in a bedroom and living room. I was confused.
"Welcome to your new room!" Rainbow announced. I snapped out of my confusion and looked her in shock. Lightness and Darkness shared the same sentiment.
"WHAT!?" The three of us shouted at once. Rainbow shot a look at her brothers, and they shut up, but I didn't.
"What do you mean 'new room'?" I demanded, "What about me getting home? What about-", I fell silent as it clicked for me. "...I'm going to be stuck here for a while, aren't I?"
Rainbow nodded at me sadly. "Yeah... I'm sorry if this messed plans up for you", she gestured me to follow her again, "Bros, you two are free to go. I'll explain everything to our new guest here." The two of them nodded, waved goodbye, and went back down the hallway the way we came. Meanwhile, me, Rainbow and the purple being went down the other way to a door at the end of the hall. Rainbow opened it we walked onto the balcony that over a massive courtyard, and I stared at the sight before me in stunned silence. It was an extravagant garden, beautiful, vibrant flowers scattered about. Elsewhere were a small bush of a variety of trees, and elsewhere were more flowers and odd flora. I leaned over the balcony railing, my hands tightly grabbing the engraved golden bar. It didn't feel real. I was nudged on my shoulder, so i spun around I was met with a kind smile from the purple guy. He nodded his head over towards an outdoor patio set, with Rainbow happily waving the two of us over. I made my way over and sat in the chair across from the colourful girl, while the purple guy sat in the chair across the empty one. Rainbow beamed at me.
"So what do you think of all of this, Caleb?" She asked me, gesturing her arms up.
"Well, it sure is... something", I said. While everything was beautiful and awe-inspiring, I was so mysterious too. "Now, can you two explain what's happening?"
Rainbow nodded. "I was getting to that, but introductions should be dealt with. I am Rainbow of Colours, or Rainbow for short. This handsome guy-", she gestured to the purple guy, "-is Virus." I looked at Virus and he waved at me, so I returned it. Rainbow's smile grew, then she cleared her throat, turning all attention back to her. "I'm positive you met my brothers already." I nodded. "Yeah, I love them, but they can be a handful more times than not."
I looked at her thoughtfully. "Why is that?" I asked.
"Well, they are the physical manifestation of good and evil, so they tend to butt heads with each other a lot."
That made me straighten. Physical manifestation of good and evil? "Wait, so they are good and evil? Like, the whole idea itself?"
Virus nodded. "Yep, that's right", he said in his crunchy speaker voice, "Meanwhile, Rainbow here is the goddess of colours and I am a being made out of the code of the multiverse."
I snapped my gaze to him, my eyes as wide as they can get. "Multiverse!?" I shouted dumbfounded, shooting out of my chair. Rainbow and Virus recoiled at my tone, but relaxed as I sunk back into my chair as I let things click into place. Kind of. "Have so many questions", I said breathlessly, but I looked at the two of them with a steely gaze, "But what is the multiverse, first?"
Rainbow and Virus shared a look, and then the goddess of colour looked at me. "It's a bit complicated, are you sure you want to know?"
I nodded. "Lay it on me."
Rainbow took a deep breath. "Okay. Basically, you come from the place we call the 'Origin World', where we all come from. Well, not us-", she gestured to herself and Virus, "-but you get what I mean. All the shows, books, movies and video games that were made in your world? It created a full world here. An entire universe. Me, Virus and my brothers are the highest power there is. We make sure everything stays in line, and to keep from everything collapsing into a singularity or whatever. Every world is its own place, and no one knows about the others." She paused. "Well, except a select group. But what matters is you are in The Capital, the heart of the whole multiverse. You should be glad it was here, and not something like the Resident Evil or Walking Dead universes. That would be bad." Virus nodded, but then looked at me when I hadn't said anything. Rather than feeling fear or concern, I suddenly felt so curious and excited. Everything in media was alive here? All the shows and movies I watched and adored? All the characters that were my heroes? I felt myself smiling as much as my face could allow, my smile making the other two smile. I snapped out of my thoughts.
"Crap, sorry, I guess I should introduce myself properly", I said in embarrassment. Rainbow smiled and waved it off, while Virus chuckled kindly. I felt my heart swell, my fear being replaced with content. Looking at Rainbow and Virus, I felt as though I had friends in this strange, new land. As the warm, midday breeze brushed past my mess of brown hair, I explained to Rainbow and Virus my life before that portal accidentally sent me into the multiverse, from my inventions, my drive to change the world, and my failures. In return, Rainbow and Virus explained how things worked in the castle, from guard rotations, who to talk to if I was stuck or in trouble, what life was like in The Capital, and all the things to do. Rainbow also reassured me that the guard will take all my belongings from my car and into my new room. As the conversation wrapped up, almost after 2 hours of talking, Rainbow was practically pulling me out of my chair.
"C'mon! If you are stuck living here for a while, I want you to get a tour of the whole castle before the day is over!" She said happily. I was beaming as I bounded out of my chair and followed her towards the door back inside, Virus following close behind. Just as we reached the door, however, a guard came through, forcing us to stop dead in our tracks. The guard looked relieved to be seeing Rainbow.
"Thank goodness I found you!" the guard said.
Rainbow cocked an eyebrow. "What's going on? Did something happen?"
"Lightness and Darkness just found out that an emergency meeting with the council has been called."
Rainbow yelped while Virus came up next to her, obviously distraught. "Why? What happened?" He asked.
The guard pointed to me. "Apparently the portal that brought him here sent an energy surge throughout the multiverse, and every member of the council felt it. They're all on their way here."
I looked between Rainbow and Virus, faces etched in worry and concern. Virus nodded at the guard and told him to let the brothers know they were coming.
"What's this council?" I asked. Rainbow looked at me.
"Remember how I told you about that select few who knew about the multiverse?" I nodded, so she continued, "That's the council. The most powerful and important characters across the multiverse, from big time company mascots like Mickey Mouse and Spongebob Squarepants, characters aware of the forth wall like Deadpool, and gods, goddess and other characters that can bend reality and time." I blanched. All these characters, all of them so important and powerful, all of them were going to have a meeting. Because of me.
"What do I do?" I asked, "Do I just hide in my room until this meeting is over?"
Virus shook his head. "Not going to work. You can't feel it, but we can."
"Feel what?"
"You came from the world that made all of this", Rainbow explained, "You give off a lot of energy because of that alone, so many of the council members, while they can't pinpoint you directly, will feel your energy and ask questions. You'll need to come, but don't do or say anything-", she grabbed my shoulders and looked right into my eyes, "-got it?"
I nodded, and the three of us went back inside. I ran behind Rainbow and Virus as they darted through the halls. As I started to fall behind, Virus picked me up and carried me, Rainbow speeding ahead slightly. After a couple more sharp turns, we came to a large, extremely decorated door. Lightness was pacing in front of it while Darkness stood off to the side. Hovering next to him at his eye level was a small glowing orb, white on one side, black on the other. Both brothers looked up as Rainbow and Virus arrived, the living hunk of code setting me down.
"This is bad guys. Everyone is here already, and it's a warzone", Lightness explained, "That energy surge freaked them out, and now they want answers."
"Did you guys tell them anything yet?" Rainbow asked.
Darkness shook his head. "We didn't know what to say. With him here-", he pointed at me, "-guys like Bill and Strange are going to keep asking questions. We bailed when the Diamond Authority, specifically Yellow, started getting violent."
Virus groaned. "Can we have one meeting where it doesn't devolve into a freaking battle between gods?" That made me cringe. "We've got to do something."
Rainbow turned to me. "Caleb, you'll be off to the side with our staff. You don't say or do anything, understand?" I nodded in agreement. "And if things get too heavy for you, leave with a good chunk of guards and go straight to your room. Okay?" I nodded again. She knelt down and hugged my tightly before turning back to Virus and her brothers. Meanwhile the guard from before came up behind me and put a hand on my shoulder. I looked at him, feeling happy he was around my height.
"Name's Jeffery, kid. Stick close to me, I'll keep ya' safe", he said. I smiled at him, and soon I heard an explosion. I snapped my head to the large door that Lightness opened the tiniest bit. Rainbow scowled darkly as the sounds of too many angry, screaming voices. I tensed up, but Jeffery reassuringly put an armoured had on my back. I took a deep breath, and entered the room of angry, confused group of way too powerful people with Jeffery, the two of us right behind my new roommates. This wasn't going to be pretty.
~X~
It was just as bad as Darkness said it was. I was off to the side, hiding partially behind Jeffery, just enough so I could see the chaos before me. The room reminded me of the UN's main conference room, with the same desks, only for the ones further back to get gradually bigger. So many gods, goddess and overpowered characters lobbed insults and attacks at each other. I looked at the center of the room, where Lightness, Darkness, Rainbow and Virus sat at a large table. The brothers looked uncomfortable, Virus flickered nervously, Rainbow was scowling with her arms crossed, and the orb was flying around twinkling furiously, trying to quell the battle. I gulped, making the female French guard next to us, who Jeffery introduced as Carmilla, look at me sadly. I shot her a glance, and she shot me a reassuring smile in returned. I returned with a shaky smile of my own, but a loud explosion snapped my attention back to the council. I felt so weak and feeble seeing so many characters that were far too powerful for their own good. Bill Cipher, the one eye triangle demon from Gravity Falls, was butting heads with Cthulhu; Several incarnations of Zeus were in an insult match with one another; Aku and Black Hat glared venomously at Superman and ; and just like Darkness said, Yellow Diamond was firing off her devastating yellow lightning at Mario, Mickey and Spongebob, the three of them dodging with ease. I felt like this was getting nowhere, when suddenly a bang, louder than anything before, made me jump and my heart skip a beat. The whole room fell silent as all eyes locked onto Rainbow, who was now standing up with a furious look in her eyes. The three others at the table didn't even flinch. Rainbow kept her dark look as she scanned the crowd.
"Can you all get back to your seats-", She said, her voice gradually rising, "-and can we have a meeting like NORMAL PEOPLE!? " Everyone slowly and reluctantly made their way back to their seats, and calmed down enough to make Jeffery sigh in relief.
"Any longer with that chaos, and this room would've been a smoking crater like last time", he said, looking over his shoulder at me. Camilla said "Oui." in response, and I suddenly felt unsafe. All of these guys and gals together were nothing more than a ticking time bomb on an atomic level, and I felt sick. I nudged Jeffery, and he looked at me, Rainbow finally explaining things as best as she can.
"Jeffery, this is too much for me", I whispered, "Can you help me to my room?" The guard looked me over, shared a look with Camilla, and then he nodded at me. He and Camilla began to leave, shielding me from the prying eyes of the council. I snuck a peak at the table with Rainbow and the others, and very briefly their eyes flashed with kindness at me. I smiled and mouthed 'Thank you' to them before walking in front of the two guards so i could leave undetected.
"Who's he?" I heard the mad titan Thanos ask.
I froze in my tracks, same with Jeffery and Camilla. I spun around, still hidden behind the guards, and felt my heart sink into my stomach as I saw every member of the council staring past the four at the table right to where I was. My four new friends whirled around and stared at me in shock, fear and worry, before they snapped back to the council.
"They've always been here", Darkness said flatly. I ducked lower behind Jeffery, the guard carefully putting his hand on his belt, which I was told had smoke bombs if things got ugly.
"Don't play dumb, Darkness", the wielder of the Infinity Gauntlet spat, "You know I'm not talking about your servants."
Virus flickered violently, Rainbow shivered, Lightness gulped, and Darkness growled. "There is no one else here but everyone you're use to, Thanos", Darkness said venomously. Thanos simply scoffed and lifted his gauntlet hand, making a swiping motion. Jeffery and Camilla suddenly were forced aside, exposing me to the prying eyes I tried desperately to avoid. I locked completely up as they all looked me over. Meanwhile, Rainbow rushed out of her chair and stood in front of me, shielding me from everyone. Carefully, she put something in my hand without anyone noticing.
"When I give up the signal, throw this at your feet as hard as you can", she whispered to me. I looked at the small ball in my hand, purple smoke visible inside. I looked back up at her.
"What's the signal?" I asked.
"You'll know." She turned back to the crowd. Even though I couldn't see her face, I could tell she was mad. "THANOS! What did we tell you about using your powers!?"
The titan simply scoffed. "Don't play this game with me, Rainbow", he said. Thanos stood up and jumped high and far, landing directly in front of Rainbow with a thud. "I can tell something is up with the kid. Who is he?" Rainbow glared at him. Thanos stood at equal height to her, so both glares were right between each other. I felt tense as I could hear other members of the council mutter and quietly discuss between their neighbours. Rainbow and Thanos began to argue, Virus was obviously losing his patience, and the brothers were trying to calm things down. It was becoming too much for me. But before I could react, Thanos grabbed me by the arm roughly and lifted me right into Rainbow's face.
"What is up with this runt, goddess?" He said, shoving me into Rainbow's face. I was terrified, and her face mirrored it.
"He's just a new recruit", she dismissed, pulling me out of Thanos' grasp and setting me behind herself, "He's new here, and I just felt like it was a good idea to watch one of our meetings."
"But you know this isn't the kind of meeting we should have audience for, is it? There's another reason for him being here, isn't there?"
Rainbow faltered slightly, before quickly recovering. "Thanos, now's not the time for this. We are here to discuss that energy surge-"
"That this brat is the cause of", Thanos interrupted. That shut everyone up, and forcing all eyes on me. I sunk behind Rainbow, who put a defensive hand around me.
"That's not true Thanos", Rainbow said simply, "Lightness and Darkness were testing out their generator, and it blew up in their face." Thanos looked at the two brothers, who both cringed and nodded. Thanos clearly wasn't convinced, so he shot me a suspicious glare.
"How old are you, boy?" he asked me.
I shifted uncomfortable, and looked at Rainbow. She nodded. I sighed and said my age.
"16."
Rainbow whirled around and stared at me in shock, Lightness and Darkness nearly fell out of their chairs, and Virus snapped his speechless, agape mouth in my direction. This made Thanos chuckle darkly.
"It seems my question has been answered, judging by your reactions", He said smugly. He looked at me with a look that made me feel like he was staring right into my soul. "Who are you?"
Before I could say anything, Virus came out of nowhere and stood in front of me and Rainbow, protruding his arms out defensively. The orb came over and let out a blast of energy that threw Thanos a good few feet back. He groaned as he stood back up, carefully and slowly.
"LISTEN UP EVERYONE!" Virus shouted, "THIS KID IS UNDER OUR WATCH, AND IF YOU HAVE AND PROBLEMS WITH THAT, THEN YOU HAVE TO ANSWER TO ME , GOT IT!?" His voice devolved into a mess of several voices of varying speaker qualities and accents right at the end, which seemed to sacred everyone into silence. Even Thanos flinched at Virus' tone. The living computer malware then turned around and began leading my out of the room. "I was getting bored anyway. Plus, it's best to stay out of their way." He jabbed a thumb over his non-existent shoulder, and I followed it to a very angry looking Lightness, Darkness and Rainbow overlooking the intimidated and silent council, especially the mad titan, who was now staring up wide-eyed at them. Jeffery and Camilla held the door open for us, and as they closed the door behind us, I could hear the screams of rage and fury coming from my three new protectors. With a click, the door closed, and silence fell onto us.
~X~
After a while, of Virus taking corners and going down one hallway after another, to the point my legs felt like they'd shatter like glass, we entered a room. It was a typical rec room, with a pool table, large couch, vending machines, and a large TV with all manner of video game consoles hooked up. I didn't care, and just flopped onto the couch face first, all the weight of today just too much for me. Virus sat down next to me, petting the back of my head gently.
"Sorry this is how your first day turned out, kid", Virus said. I grunted and sat up cross legged and looked up at him, sadness painted on my face.
"Am I going to make your guy's lives harder because of all of this?" I asked. Virus shook his head smiling.
"Far from it. I'd like to think you being here gave the others the drive to reign in the council. It's not often the three of them can be that scary that fast."
I nodded and looked out the window above the TV, seeing that sun setting. I sighed, my fears from earlier still very much alive in my head. I was shaken out of my trance When Virus leaned over and looked my right in the eyes.
"You're with us now kid", he said, "Whether we can get you home, or you're stuck here, we've got your back. I promise I'll be here to help you when need be" I smiled up at him, my eyes becoming slightly foggy. The door to the room opened, and I turned to see Rainbow walked in, clearly exhausted. She slumped down on the couch between me and Virus, and quickly pulled me onto her lap. I looked up at her.
"That meeting..." she began, pausing to take a deep breath, "...was the worst. I'm going AWOL next time there is one." She looked at Virus, who nodded, clearly thinking the same thing.
"Where're Lightness and Darkness?" I asked. Rainbow looked back down at me.
"Sending everyone on their way. Tradition." She said with a shrug. I shrugged in return, earning a snort of laughter from the taller woman,
"What?"
"Nothing, just thought about Thanos' face when I blew up at him. Priceless", she snorted again, then quickly began giggling. I just smiled, and looked between them.
"So, since this meeting went up in flames, how about you give me that tour of the castle you promised?" I said. Rainbow and Virus looked down at me and both nodded, so we quickly stood up and made our way out of the rec room heading down the hall. The two of them led me through the castle, showing me main rooms of interest, from the barracks, swimming pool, bowling alley, cafeteria (where we took a break so I could get some food in my system), a better look at the wall of paintings from earlier, a better look at the courtyard garden, the main throne room, and where all of the map were so I didn't get lost. We even ran into Jeffery again, which came with its big news drop.
"Jeffery is now my bodyguard?" I asked, excitement lighting up my eyes.
Rainbow nodded. "Yep. After today, I feel like Jeffery is the best when it comes to keeping you safe if we're busy."
I looked at the guard with a smile. "You okay with this? I don't want to mess up your schedule or anything."
"Oh, it's fine Caleb", Jeffery dismissed, waving his hand while smiling, "After today, I feel like it's just the right thing to do."
I smiled at him, only for my features to fall as I let out a large yawn. Rainbow quietly cooed, while Virus rolled his eyes at her reaction. He then picked me up and the three left for my room, not before waving goodbye to Jeffery. The windows that out looked the city showed all the bright lights, vibrant neon signs and traffic filling the streets. We turned a corner and entered my new room. Just like Rainbow said, all my stuff from my car was brought in, even my 100 song CD was resting in its plastic case. I yawned again and flopped onto my bed, totally exhausted. I curled up and clicked the bed side lamp on. I looked at Rainbow and Virus, all three of us smiling at each other.
"Thanks you guys", I said, sleep slowly taking me over, "It means a lot to me that you let me move in."
"Oh, don't mention it Caleb", Rainbow said, "It's the least we could do after you technically were accidentally kidnapped." That made the three of us laugh.
"Yeah. All's good, kid", Virus added, "Now you get your rest. We've got a big day ahead of us."
I nodded and clicked the lamp off. "Goodnight guys", I said in a half asleep state. Both of them said goodnight back, and the closed my door. Soon enough, I was overcome by sleep, the calm humming of my bedroom fan being the only sound left.
~X~
One thing I want to say: The reason I haven't updated my other stories is because I lost the drive for them and I felt like things were being too rushed. I want to apologize for that, I am an artist first, but this story is genuinely something I want to finish. This means the world, and getting my characters out there will really help. Hope this makes up for my long absence in the writer world.
~Caleb~
