"How long is she gonna be on my couch, Miriam?"
The "she" in question was Rhonda Wellington Lloyd. Once a typical ten-year-old girl with typical ten-year-old girl interests, Rhonda had been transformed by a hidden order of techno-mages into a half-angelic, half-demonic being of immense power. Unfortunately for her, the transformation had given her more than just power... it gave her pale violet skin, black-feathered wings, a venomous barbed tail, a third eye, razor sharp claws and teeth. After a few months, she'd finally adjusted to her changes, but whether society would accept someone like her was another story.
...but that's not important right now.
The important thing is that Rhonda has been charged with stopping the rise of the ancient chaos lord known as the Dark One (who, unknown to anyone, has currently taken the guise of the United States' Attorney General), who, in turn, has chosen his own champion, Rhonda's classmate, Helga Pataki, who has been reborn as the demon warrior Hellga.
Hellga's first act upon her transformation was to try and kill her own family, her parents Bob and Miriam and her sister Olga. Rhonda managed to prevent their demise, but completely exhausted herself doing so. It is on their couch that Rhonda now rested.
...which brings us back to our opening scene...
"Bob, hon, she exhausted herself protecting and healing us. We owe her our lives."
"Yeah... well, her claws are scratchin' up my upholstery!"
"She can't help that. Besides, the couch is a small price to pay for getting our Helga back."
"She's not gonna get her back! Did you see her, Miriam? She's a monster! She tried to EAT Olga!" He broke down, despairing. "She's gone. Our little girl is lost."
"...not lost..." muttered Rhonda, coming out of her deep sleep.
"What?"
"I said, she's not lost. When I was fighting her before, I felt something... a spark of the real Helga."
"Then..."
"Then there's hope, Mr. Pataki."
She got to her feet, still a little unsteady... resting had completely healed all her injuries, but her power was still spent.
"Are you okay?" Miriam said with concern.
"No... I'm all healed, but I'm still weak. I can barely walk, forget about flying."
"Then, you'll just HAVE to stay for dinner!" a cheerful voice from the kitchen trilled. "I made the most wonderful pesto lasagna. You simply must have some. I'd be insulted if you didn't."
"Are you kidding?" answered Rhonda. "I haven't had real food for a month! Of course I'll stay!"
"Shouldn't you be going after Helga, Rhoda?"
"It's Rhonda, and like I said... my power's completely drained. I need to eat so that it can build up again."
Which was true. The only power she had that was still working was her telepathy, which was telling her that Bob still didn't trust her, Miriam was irritated at Bob for not trusting her, and Olga was in deep denial about what had happened and was trying to lose herself in cooking.
"Well... I guess if you need it... okay. You can have dinner with us. But if anyone comes by, make yourself scarce."
Oh, of course, Rhonda thought bitterly. Can't let yourself be seen harboring a freak like me, can you? She'd come to grips with her new form and powers, even was sort of beginning to like them, but the reminder of the kind of prejudice she'd face was irritating.
Oh well... she'd have to deal at some point.
It's not people, Hellga mused as she gobbled down the contents of the hot-dog cart she'd hijacked – the owner had fled at first sight of the juvenile she-demon – but it'll do.
Why aren't you attacking? the evil voice in her head screamed.
"Oh, shut up. You know as well as I do that I need to recharge before I do anything. What if I run into Princess Three-Eyes again?
Well, hurry. I am not patient.
"Look... do we have to kill this "Arnold" guy? I mean, couldn't I murder someone else to prove my loyalty? Couldn't I keep him as some kind of pet?"
The human you once were had affection for this one. You don't still have such feelings, do you? Such feelings should be alien to a creature of evil.
"Wha? Me? No, of course not! I... just wanted a slave I could boss around and torture for my amusement!"
And so you shall have such slaves... but after you kill Arnold.
"A-as you desire, master."
"Okay... that's enough. I feel like I could fight an army!" Rhonda remarked, pushing away the plate.
"'Bout time" muttered Bob. "You ate three trays."
"And now it's all raw energy that I can draw on. Thanks, everyone. I'll be back with Helga as soon as I can, okay?"
With that, Rhonda leapt through the hole in the wall, wings outspread, and took to the skies.
"Least she coulda done was fixed my wall," groused the Beeper King, earning a slap from Miriam. "What? I'm just saying..."
"That's for the whole afternoon, Bob. Did you even once treat that girl like a human being?"
"News flash, Miriam... she ISN'T a human being! She's some mutated freak spewing fairy tales about angels and demons and the only reason I put up with her is she's our only shot at making Helga normal again!"
"And what if Helga's stuck like she is now?" Miriam shot back. "Tell me... would you love her any less if she had to go through life with hooves and horns and all the rest? Or would you turn her away because she doesn't fit your definition of 'normality'?"
Bob opened his mouth to answer, then shut it again. He really hadn't thought about that.
"Thought so," Miriam remarked with a slight smirk. "I think you owe a certain little girl an apology when she gets back."
"Yeah, whatever... " mumbled Bob, defeated.
It was a typical day on PS118's playground. Some of the kids were playing football, a few were hanging around on the jungle gym, still others had taken up at the tetherball court.
A sudden burst of flame and brimstone signaled the end of the normality. All heads snapped in the direction of the intruder. Jaws dropped open in unison at her appearance... and her familiarity.
"Oh my gosh..."
"Is that... no way..."
"What in the..."
"Holy crap!"
"Shut up!" yelled the demon. "Yeah, it's Hellga. Take a picture, it'll last longer."
"Okay," replied Sid, whipping out his camera. A fireball instantly incinerated it.
"Criminy... it's a figure of speech, nose-boy! Now.... where's Arnold? Nothing personal, but I have to tear him to shreds."
The denizens of the playground eyed her nervously. Arnold was out sick today, but none of them wanted to give her his location, since she was clearly hell-bent (pun intended) on killing him.
Which didn't really mean much, because Hellga was a telepath.
"Out sick, huh? Well, looks like I'll be paying the Sunset Arms a little visit. Thanks! When I'm done killing him, I'll make you all my personal slaves as a reward, okay?"
At about the same time Hellga was teleporting over to the schoolyard, Rhonda was racing through back alleys at speeds that would make the Road Runner jealous. She would've flown, but that would cause a commotion.
When she finally made it to PS 118 (at the very moment that Hellga was saying her last line above), she realized it was moot anyway. Hellga clearly wasn't big on subtlety.
She quickly closed the distance between them and tackled Hellga. "Nobody's killing or enslaving anyone!" she shouted.
"Well, well, Rhondalloid, I was wondering when you'd show up. Kinda surprised that you'd show your freaky three-eyed face around here, Miss Fashion Queen."
"I may be freaky, Hellga, but I'm still way prettier than you."
The two grappled in the middle of the schoolyard, too evenly matched to really do anything to each other. Any wounds they managed to inflict healed almost instantly. All they were doing was providing entertainment for any kid stupid enough to stay and watch, which, considering this was an elementary school, was all of them.
"This is so much cooler than science class.", remarked Harold between bites of a Mr. Nutty.
"See? What'd I tell you?" Curly said smugly. "Rhonda's an alien, and she's here to protect us humans from evil monsters! I think I'm owed an apology, don't you?"
Nadine sighed. Rhonda's cover had been blown completely. There wasn't any reason to keep her secret anymore. "She's not an alien. She's a combination of angel and demon. I think the official name for it is 'dark angel'. A bunch of monks did it to her when she was born, but she's just now changed into her true form. And yes... she's here to save us from evil monsters."
"Oh," Curly replied. "Think she'd let me smell her feathers?"
"You're weird, man," quipped Gerald. "Funny thing, though... if she's supposed to be half-angel, how come she doesn't look much different than Helga?"
"I actually asked that question. The monks explained that, despite what the Church and medieval artists depicted, angels and demons aren't too different from each other, physically. They're really just different breeds of the same species, but while one is drawn to chaos and violence, the other is drawn to peace and order. Rhonda, being both at once, has free will. Helga's all demon, so she doesn't."
As Nadine explained the metaphysics behind it all, Hellga and Rhonda managed to push each other away. They stood now, sizing each other up.
This is way too dangerous, thought Rhonda. I have to take this somewhere where there are no spectators.
She concentrated on an image of the abandoned quarry outside of town, and focused on the two of them being there.
The two vanished in a flash of light.
"...and here he is, making his debut for the Hillwood Tomatoes, Mickey Kaline Jr.!"
Mickey took his stance at the plate. The pitcher threw the ball. Mickey figured that the pitch would be...
A burst of bright light distracted him. For the rest of the week, Mickey would be out having emergency dental work done; the ball was high and inside, and had knocked out several teeth.
"Well, folks, I don't know what's just happened here. It looks like Kaline's been hit by the pitch, and there are what appear to be a pair of strange-looking creatures fighting in the infield. I think that I can safely say that I've never seen anything like this. And you know what that means, folks; it's the 'Yahoo Cola Weirdest Moment of the Game.' Yahoo Cola: 'Just drink it.'"
"Nice aim, Grapeface. I'm guessing you want to endanger even more people?"
"Shut up! This is HARD."
She focused again, and once again the two vanished.
"And they're gone again. How 'bout that, folks."
"...and, that's strike two."
This time, they'd landed in the middle of a taping of the popular children's show "Elmer and Pals." Elmer the Elephant, the preschool set's favorite pink pachyderm, was singing a song about oral hygiene when the two opponents fell on top of him.
"Sorry! I, uhh... didn't mean to do that!" Rhonda (who until the age of four had, herself, been an avid viewer) stammered, trying to help the foam-rubber beast back to his feet.
"Uh... we can edit this in post, right, Clyde?" Elmer whispered to his producer.
"Look... monsters hurted Elmer!" shouted a tiny voice in the gallery."
"Uh... we're not monsters! I'm... I'm a new character, Loido the friendly alien! And this is my grumpy sister Helgor!"
"HELGOR?! Oh I am gonna kick your..."
"Not in front of the kids!" She tried once again to teleport them away...
...winding up in a crowded china shop. As shoppers scrambled to get out of the way, Hellga took advantage of Rhonda's brief disorientation to shove her through a display case. "Never liked dishes," she muttered.
"Okay. One more try," Rhonda said to herself.
A flash of light....
"Aaaaand.... we're right back where we started. Congratulations, Rhonda. You're three for three."
"Oh, be quiet."
The two once again began to circle each other, looking for an opening. Hellga tried to down Rhonda with a volley of fireballs, but was blocked by an energy shield; Rhonda's third eye let loose a barrage of blasts, but Hellga turned herself immaterial to avoid them. So it continued, neither letting the other gain an advantage.
By this time, the media had gotten wing of what was happening. A camera crew had arrived; even now, the girls' battle was being broadcast live across Hillwood.
In his room at the Sunset Arms Boarding House, Arnold, recovering from a bout with the chicken pox, flipped on his TV.
"Must be some new show," he mused as the two creatures struggled on the screen. Then he caught the graphics at the bottom of the screen. Alarm gripped him as he realized just what he was seeing.
The location was his own school's yard. One of the combatants was an exact match for Nadine's description of the transformed Rhonda. And the other... he knew her too.
"The red one... it's Helga!"
Quickly, Arnold threw on his clothes and ran downstairs.
"Hey, short man, where d'you think you're goin'?" his grandfather asked, cutting off his exit. "You've got at least another day of bed rest before I let ya go outta here."
"It's an emergency, Grampa. At school."
"Lemme guess... one of your friends got turned into some sorta horrible monster and is goin' on a crazy rampage of carnage and destruction."
"Well... yeah."
"Hey, how 'bout that. The craziest thing I can think of, an' it turns out t'be true. Which one is it?"
"It's Helga."
"Helga? That little girl with the one eyebrow and the really obvious crush on ya that she hides behind a veil of hostility?"
"Yeah, that's h- what?"
"Nothin'."
"Anyway, she's turned into some kind of demon. Rhonda's trying to control her, but I think I might be able to calm her down."
"Heh heh, you and your altruistic naïveté. Good luck, Arnold. "
"Thanks, Grandpa!" Arnold shouted as he ran off.
"I dunno, Pookie, ya think I've gotten too desensitized to crazy stuff happening?"
"Vive la France!"
"Oh, come on now, Napoleon?That's a stereotype!"
The two combatants were starting to wear each other down now, but still, neither would give an inch. The girls were almost equal in power, Rhonda's superior training being matched move-for-move by Hellga's unrestrained savagery. Their energy and physical attacks connected now, more often than not, and their cuts and bruises weren't healing as quickly now.
"I can still help you, Helga... you don't HAVE to keep this up! Because I WILL win!"
"Oh, suuuuure... the only way you'll win is if this turns into a fashion trivia contest!"
"Fashion... is not.... TRIVIAL!" Rhonda yelled, tackling Hellga. Within a moment, she had the she-devil pinned.
"NOW will you surrender?" she asked.
"Fine..." Hellga gasped out. "You got me. Let me just do one thing... THIS!"
On her last word, Hellga turned her palms out. Twelve-inch skewers of bone sprouted, piercing Rhonda's body. Pain lanced through her. She struggled to hold on...
"NOW who's surrendering, Princess?"
"Not... me..." Rhonda muttered, gritting her teeth. Focusing all her strength, she snapped the two skewers. Hellga howled in pain, clutching the splintered spurs.
"Next time... try NOT to miss every organ," said Rhonda, as she pulled the skewers out.
"Oh, you are going to..."
"...pay for that. Was that what you were going to say? Do they pass out a book of clichés to every new supervillain when they first start out?"
She hoped she was convincing... one of the skewers HAD nailed her through a lung. It wasn't fatal – she had four – but it hurt like anything.
They probably would have fought for hours more, until neither would have been able to go on, but fate intervened.
Well, actually, fate rode up on a bicycle.
"Helga! Stop!" the oblong-headed child shouted. "You don't have to hurt anyone!"
"Arnold... no! Run!" yelled Rhonda.
"Well, yeah, I have to hurt someone... I have to hurt YOU, Football-Head!"
With a single leap, Hellga jumped clean over Rhonda's head, and rapidly closed the distance between herself and Arnold.
Rhonda poured on the speed, trying her best to tackle Hellga before she reached Arnold.
She wasn't fast enough.
Within seconds, Hellga's talons were inches away from Arnold's heart.
Then, they stopped, dead.
The whole scene was a frozen tableau for the next few moments. Arnold, staring at the claws that were literally a heartbeat away from silencing HIS heartbeat. Hellga, paralyzed, unable to tear her claws away, yet unable to strike the killing blow. Rhonda, helplessly watching, knowing she would never be able to stop Hellga from ending Arnold's life. And the gathered crowd, holding their breath in anticipation of how this drama would end.
"Helga...?" Arnold whispered.
"Help me," the demoness replied, her eyes beginning to well up with tears. "Help me resist."
"You can do it, Helga. You've the meanest, bossiest girl in the fifth grade... no one can force you to do anything!"
Hellga gritted her teeth, forcing her claws away from Arnold. "It's... so hard... I'm so full of hate..." She collapsed on his shoulder, sobbing. Arnold found himself hugging her tightly and reassuringly.
"It's not YOUR hate. It's being forced on you."
"...no, Arnold. It IS my hate... my bitterness and rage. It's been pumped up to insane levels... but it's all from me. But... not anymore. I'm sick of hating. I've had enough for a million lifetimes."
She turned around. "I wanna be me again, Rhonda."
"Uh... I don't really know HOW to do an exorcism..."
"Then figure it out, quick... because I can feel it starting to build again."
How the heck do I do this? Do I just grab her by the shoulders and shout "Demon begone" like in the movies?
...well, it's not like I have any BETTER ideas...
So, she wound up doing just that. It didn't seem to have any effect at first...
Wait... I'm just not trying hard enough.
She concentrated with all her might on separating Hellga the demon from Helga Pataki, the girl she had once been.
Hellga convulsed under her touch, screamed..., then jerked away. She convulsed one more time, then vomited up a disgusting black mess that oozed down the storm drain.
"Was... that it?" asked Sid.
His question was answered by what happened next. Hellga seemed to shrink... her horns fell off, her wings shriveled up, her tail was reabsorbed into her body, her skin took on its old tone, her hooves reverted to feet... within a couple of minutes, Helga Pataki was back to her old self.
"Are you okay now, Helga?" asked Arnold.
"I've loved you with all my heart since Preschool," Helga replied.
Arnold blinked, in confusion. "You... what?"
"Really. I carry a locket with your picture in it at all times. See?" She pulled it out; miraculously, it had survived Helga's conversion intact.
"Oh," Arnold replied, still confused. Here was his archnemesis suddenly professing her undying passion for him. It made no sense.
And yet...
All those times he'd bumped into her in unlikely places... all those moments when she seemed like she was about to reveal some huge secret, only to insult him again...
And now, he was looking at her, and all he could think was that she was kinda cute with her hair down like that, and even the unibrow wasn't that bad, it sorta gave her character... In fact... she looked almost like...
He slapped his forehead. "Cecile. It was YOU the whole time."
Helga nodded, blushing slightly. "It was my clumsy attempt to get close to you without getting close to you." She smiled; Wow, she's cute when she's smiling, thought Arnold. "It's strange... I've never been able to say any of this stuff, and now it's comin' out of me like water. I guess Rhonda expelled my inner demons, too."
"I, uh, didn't mean to," Rhonda sheepishly interjected.
"So, uh... Helga..." Arnold said, blushing a bit himself, "can I, uh... walk you home?"
"I'd really like that a lot," the ex-demon replied with a smile.
Well, there goes my cover, thought Rhonda, as she flipped by the news channels, all of which had continuous footage of her brawl with Hellga. Pundits were speculating on what kind of creature she was, what her intentions were, whether she was on the side of good or evil. Luckily, she'd been able to escape the scene without running into the waves of reporters eager to get the first interview with a mutant.
It would only be a matter of time before they found someone who would give away her name; for now, though, she was more or less anonymous. Thankfully, none of her friends had given her away; even Curly had been the portrait of restraint.
The truly surprising thing was... a lot of the press she had gotten was positive. Several of the reporters had referred to her as "the city's very own superhero". She'd been dubbed "The Violet Avenger", "The Winged Wonder", and "The Three-Eyed Titan". It was all kind of flattering, in an incredibly weird way.
On a whim, she dialed Arnold's house.
"Y'ello?" his grandfather answered.
"Is Arnold there?" Rhonda asked.
"That depends, are you one'a them telemarketers? Oooh, I hate those guys. Always callin' ya when you're in the, well, you know where."
"No. it's Rhonda."
"Oh, right, you're his friend the superhero! Hold on a second. Hey, short man, ya got a call!"
Moments later, she heard Arnold pick up. "Hey, Rhonda... everything okay?"
"As okay as it can be, considering the media circus my life just became. How's Helga?"
"She's gonna be okay, I think. When I left her, she was actually getting along with her family."
"Wow, these really are days of wonder," Rhonda said with a slight grin. "Look... I was thinking... now that everyone in our class knows about me, I don't see any reason to hide from them anymore... so... I was wondering if, maybe... I should throw some sort of little get-together this Saturday? You know, just a small getting-to-know-each-other-again thing?"
"Sounds like a good idea."
"Great... I'll call you right back once the arrangements are done!"
Now, THIS I missed... it's been too long since I've done any party-planning.
She started making calls...
He'd lost her. A demon warrior forged in pure hatred. The perfect champion... and he'd lost her.
All his careful planning... manipulating world events to increase chaos in the world... it was unraveling. He'd been fomenting tribal hatred across the globe, building his power with every war that broke out. Yugoslavia... that had been a big success.
Most recently, he had taken the guise of the Attorney General, the power behind the power. The president himself was a mere figurehead, the dilettante son of a career politician; years ago, he'd sold his soul to the Dark One, and now, he was nothing more than an empty shell to be manipulated.
He'd been the true mastermind behind the chief executive's seemingly ill-considered wars; actually, they were very well considered, as their true goal was not the elimination of terror, but the CREATION of terror.
With the early arrival of the Child of Light and Darkness, suddenly, there was a possibility of failure. He'd created Hellga to destroy her, but she'd been a miserable failure; he'd been unable to snuff out the spark of humanity that stubbornly remained within her.
Now, he grew impatient. The time for subtle manipulation was past.
It was time to unleash some REAL destruction.
TO BE CONTINUED....
Only two more chapters and an epilogue to go! If you want more, it's time to start begging me for a sequel. :-)