-11- HEROES
James and Taggart had slowly distanced themselves from Cosmo, who had since their encounter with the Villains become cryptic in his behavior. Although they were slightly disturbed by how shadowy their newfound companion had become, the two citizens found themselves unable to separate from him. Ever since Cosmo's sudden shift in demeanor, he had seemed profoundly confident in every action he took, every step he walked. Cosmo had barely even acknowledged James' or Taggart's presence, leading the two of them without words to an unknown destination.
The day was approaching early evening and the ruins surrounding them were becoming dimmer. Walking several paces behind Cosmo, James and Taggart began whispering to one another. Taggart leaned in to his friend, whispered, "This Cosmo character has got to go."
"Yeah, he's weird, but he seems like he knows what he's doing," James replied.
"So what is he doing?" Taggart asked. "I thought we came here for Quaza."
"We did," James said. "Maybe he's leading us to it. Maybe he remembers his life when he worked for the Hero Factory, like where the Quaza was stored."
"How do we even know he did work here?"
"Why else would he be here?"
"No, it's too weird," Taggart affirmed. "I don't like him. We have to ditch him."
"At least ask him where he's going," James replied.
"Why don't you ask him?" Taggart argued. James rolled his eyes, felt unusually reluctant to speak to the black and blue armored citizen.
"Hey, excuse me?" James managed bashfully. Cosmo stopped then slowly turned around to face him. The look in Cosmo's eyes was piercing and stern and this caused James to look off and to the ground when they made eye contact.
"Yeah, so uh…" James began.
"You waste time," Cosmo said firmly. "Speak."
"Yeah, right, uh, where exactly are you taking us?"
"I am not taking you anywhere," Cosmo replied. "You merely follow me."
"Okay, yeah, but where are you going?"
"If this is regarding your Quaza, that is not where I am going."
"Hey listen, pal," James began, gathering enough confidence to face Cosmo and walk up to him. "We helped you out back there, so how about a little respect?"
"You offered me nothing," Cosmo said.
"Yeah, well something we did jogged your memory, it looks like, so maybe you owe us some respect."
"Nothing you did helped me regain my memory."
"Okay, wise guy," James said, loading his gun and pointing it at Cosmo. Taggart saw this and looked with shock at James.
"Whoa, hey!" Taggart said, putting his hand on James' shoulder. James shrugged his hand off and aimed at Cosmo. Cosmo stood unflinching, his expression entirely unchanged as if he took no notice that a gun was pointed at him.
"Don't forget who holds the cards here," James said.
"James, listen to yourself," Taggart said. "That's a fellow citizen you're aiming at."
"Just a second ago you said you wanted to get rid of this creep, and now I'm thinking you have a point. Who are you, Cosmo? One second you were quiet and scared, and sort of adorable for it, the next you're a royal pain in the back. Answers…" James thrust his gun forward at Cosmo, continued, "Now!"
"Telling you who I am would make no difference to your journey," Cosmo said. "Telling you what I am after would not bring you any closer to your Quaza. Nothing will. The Quaza Chamber was buried in ruin after that so-called, 'Makuhero Cataclysm…'" Cosmo said those last words with sudden anger, speaking "Makuhero Cataclysm" through clenched teeth and balling his fists as he spoke. James and Taggart were deeply disappointed. The two looked at each other in shock. James then turned back to Cosmo in protest.
"Oh yeah?" he asked confrontationally. "How do you know?"
"I know everything about this place and more," Cosmo replied. "Even if you dug your way to the Quaza, it would be utterly tainted beyond use at this point. Your quest is over."
"If that's true, you're of no value to us, then?" James asked slyly, grasping his gun tighter.
"You have no idea with whom you deal," Cosmo said. "If you kill me, this nightmare you live in will never end." The poise with which Cosmo spoke those words chilled James and Taggart. It felt as though Cosmo had peered into their minds and seized them. James lowered his gun. The two citizens stared in almost terrified adoration.
"What nightmare?" James asked.
"You hate this world," Cosmo said. "As do I. I am the only one who can free you from it." James wanted to ask a thousand questions, but somehow could not. Taggart stared at Cosmo, still disturbed by the black and blue armored citizen.
"Right…" James accepted. "Uh…no hard feelings?" Cosmo produced a curious smile.
"As you say," Cosmo said, then turned around and continued on the path he was walking. James and Taggart looked at one another as they followed him.
"Well, your little trip was a waste, James," Taggart accused, remembering why they were here in the first place.
"Yeah, yeah," James admitted sadly. "Go ahead and gloat." Taggart was surprised with James' response, no longer proud attempts to validate their trip's worth.
"So, you agree this was a waste?" Taggart asked with slight humor.
"Yeah, I do. Happy?" James said this with acid in his tone. "So you can run back to Makurotown now if you're done mocking me."
"Well, why aren't you running back to Makurotown?" Taggart asked. James looked at Cosmo, walking confidently ahead of them.
"I guess I just want to know who he is," James said, staring at Cosmo in awe. "Nothing is right about him. At this point, I'm certain he's either some kind of prophet, or mad out of his mind."
"Maybe both?" Taggart offered, staring at Cosmo with the same wonderment.
"Maybe both." James agreed. With that, both continued on after their companion, thinking hard about his words about living a "nightmare."
Cosmo stopped suddenly in his walking when he passed the defunct body of a Hero half-buried in ruin. The Hero's arms, head, and upper torso were jutting out of a pile of debris, as if he had been running from something falling at the time of his death. Two small blade-like weapons were stuck in the same ruins, possibly his weapons before his death.
Cosmo stared at the Hero intently, a snarl wrapping across his face. As James and Taggart caught up to Cosmo, they noticed this. Cosmo's deep blue eyes squinted in a frown. This was a face James and Taggart had never seen on the mysterious citizen. James felt compelled to ask.
"Hey, I hated the Heroes as much as the next guy, but what gives?" he asked. Cosmo did not answer directly, staring at the dead Hero for a few more seconds before voicing a reply.
"I must end this," Cosmo whispered to himself grimly. James and Taggart looked at one another when he said this.
"What do you mean?" Taggart asked nervously. Before Cosmo could respond, the three detected a nearby sound. It was a voice, gruff and scratchy, mumbling angry words unintelligible from their distance.
"Not again…" Taggart whispered. "Who is that? James and Taggart looked in all directions for the source. As they did, Cosmo walked up to the blades lodged into the debris near the dead Hero and tore them free. This startled James and Taggart, who looked at him and the dust he sent up into the air from dislodging the blades.
"Whoa, Cosmo, what're you doing?" Cosmo held the blades awkwardly at first, wobbling in place as he tried to steady himself while holding the heavy weapons.
"Get back," Cosmo ordered. James and Taggart gave their companion space and then watched him begin swinging the blades.
"Easy!" Taggart shouted.
The distant voice became louder, now audible. Its tone was hurried and manic.
"I'm the best, better than the rest!" the voice barked melodically. "He's nothing to me, nothing to me!"
"Who is that?" Taggart repeated. James was watching Cosmo swinging the blades.
"Cosmo?" he asked. "What are you doing?" Cosmo finished his swinging and looked at James.
"Steel yourselves," Cosmo advised. The mystic citizen then turned his head to look off to the right of where they stood. In the distance, a large red figure all too familiar to the citizens walked into view.
"No, no, no!" Taggart said shaking his head and backing up. Cosmo lifted his blades, swung them a few more times, then situated them at his hips before moving into view of the distant Villain they had encountered earlier. James and Taggart ducked, attempting to find anything nearby to hide behind.
"Do not bother," Cosmo said. "He has already found us."
The red Villain had been hopping up and down in a mad frenzy ever since he came into view, but had suddenly stopped. The crimson brute began arching his head upward, peering out in the direction of the three citizens. He cocked his head in curiosity, waddled closer to them to investigate.
Then he leapt in the air and landed back down with his gun aimed at where they stood, club raised in the air. He held his stance but began hopping again where he stood.
"Heroes!" he shouted into the air of the ruins. "H-heroes!" James and Taggart looked at their surroundings, looking for any sign of the Heroes the red Villain was talking about. Cosmo only stood staring at him, and as James and Taggart's gazes returned to the blue and black citizen, they realized the Villain was talking about them.
"Us, Heroes?" Taggart whispered. "Is he mad?"
"We are not Heroes," Cosmo whispered, his voice filled with anger and shadowy conviction. James and Taggart looked back at the dead Hero near where they stood, recalling the anger Cosmo had shown towards it. There was a raw hatred of Heroes in their companion.
"Do you know who I am, Heroes?" the red Villain shouting into the air, his voice echoing. "I am XPlode, the greatest Villain in the universe! I kill Heroes like you every day! Hah-hah! I am the greatest terror that has ever been known! Yes I am! And I'm going to kill you all!" The red Villain, XPlode, crouched onto the ground, flexed his body, then fired from his back and his shoulders an array of fiery needles that soared through the air. When the needles came in contact with ruins, they exploded in fire, causing debris to shoot out in all directions. Some of the needles flew high enough to hit the walls of the Assembly Tower, and the combined explosions they sent ripped parts of the walls apart.
A rain of massive pieces of debris began crashing down behind XPlode, the bellowing sound of giant objects smashing into the earth stinging the ears of the three citizens. A great cloud of dust that only grew with each falling piece of debris burst forth across the landscape, dust and ash barreling towards the citizens. XPlode had been concealed by the cloud from where they stood, and as the land around them began collapsing, Taggart raced to James.
"James, we have to get out of here!" Taggart begged.
"You will die if you run," Cosmo said.
"We can't fight him though, Cosmo!" Taggart insisted. "He's a Villain!"
Muffled by the explosions and crashing of debris all around them was a cry. The cry grew louder and louder, until from out of the cloud of dust before them, the massive red figure of XPlode came screaming out into the air, his club raised behind his back to strike.
"Run!" Taggart yelled, and both he and James darted away from XPlode. But just before XPlode landed on the ground, Cosmo jumped beneath him. Taggart saw this and was horrified.
"Cosmo!"
But as XPlode's gruesome club came hurtling down to where Cosmo stood, the blue and black citizen raised his two blades and intercepted it. The giant club smashed against his blades, almost crushing Cosmo. But the citizen resisted, locking his blades with the spikes, his limbs buckling under the weight of the weapon. XPlode had landed directly above him, Cosmo standing under the legs of the mighty Villain. He stared directly into XPlode's green eyes, eyes coursing with insanity.
"I destroyed the Hero Factory!" XPlode affirmed to Cosmo, trying to push his club closer to Cosmo's face. "I did! No one else! Doesn't that scare you, Hero?" As Cosmo resisted the strength and size of the spiked club, XPlode raised his gun weapon and aimed it point blank at Cosmo's head. The citizen could feel the energy swelling up inside the gun.
Just before XPlode might have fired the powerful gun and killed Cosmo, a zap noise pierced the dust-filled air surrounding them, and a silver sliver flew into XPlode's spiked red face. The impact sent the Villain stumbling backward, out of his lock with Cosmo's blades. He fired his gun into the air after being sent off balance, dropping his gun and blade and grasping his face.
"You meddling Heroes!" XPlode shouted, tumbling backwards and caressing where the object had slammed into his head. Cosmo wobbled back to a firm stance, and then looked off to his left to see James, who was aiming his gun at XPlode.
"Taggart!" James ordered. "Fire yours!" Taggart fearfully climbed up next to James, aimed his ball bearing gun, and fired at XPlode. As XPlode managed to regain his posture, Taggart's ball bearing smashed into his chest. The Villain roared in pain and anger.
"Reload, Tag!" James commanded, and the two reached into their ball bearing boxes they had set next to them and began the cumbersome process of reloading their guns.
XPlode flexed his body again and new spikes emerged on his back and shoulders to replace the ones he had fired. He then scrambled to pick up his gun and club, and once he had recovered them, he crouched again.
"Not bad, Heroes!" XPlode commended them. "Now dance!" He flexed his limbs again and released a new barrage of exploding spikes into the air.
"Take cover!" Cosmo ordered from where he stood, and he, James, and Taggart all raced to find the nearest piece of debris they could hide behind. Some of the spikes whizzed past the three citizens, while others soared into the air and exploded onto the ruins of the Assembly Tower. A new shower of giant falling objects had started, but now they were falling directly around where XPlode and the citizens stood. As the objects came crashing down, the dust flew into their eyes and all around them, obscuring their vision. Cosmo looked upward through the cloud of dust to try and see the outlines of the slabs of falling debris enough to move out of their way. He ducked and jumped through the hailstorm of crushing objects, slicing some with his blades to keep them from landing on him.
When the avalanche of ruin had ended, a thick, flinty fog of dust and ash had surrounded them. Cosmo lifted his blades in preparation for XPlode to strike again. He looked in all directions for the shape of the spiked behemoth in the fog of dust. He could hear the lumbering Villain stomping through the area but was unable to see him. Then a second zap of either James or Taggart's gun went out into the fog. Cosmo saw the flash of one of their guns as it fired.
"Where are you, Heroes?" XPlode said, his form slowly appearing as the dust began settling. "XPlode's got a present for ya!" In the cloud, Cosmo could see an orb of green energy swelling up near XPlode, and soon it was revealed he was charging his gun. XPlode held the gun's charge looking around for any of the citizens, then suddenly turned to Cosmo.
"Gotcha!" the Villain shouted, then swung the gun in Cosmo's direction and fired. The crackling of the orb of energy came whirling toward him. He leapt out of the way with barely enough distance between him and the orb. It hit a slab of ruin behind Cosmo, exploding and sending shards of rubble into the air. Cosmo tumbled onto the ground after dodging the orb but sprung to his feet to face XPlode again.
"I'm coming, Cosmo!" the voice of Taggart assured through the settling dust. As XPlode turned to the direction of his voice, the blue and red armored figure of Taggart appeared from behind a fallen piece of ruin. He lifted his gun and aimed it at XPlode.
"I'm not afraid of you, Villain!" he asserted with his gun at the ready. "Take this!" As Taggart pulled the trigger, smoke began rising from the gun. Taggart waited for the zap of the gun, but when it did not come he looked at his weapon in shock. He threw it at XPlode, who jump out of the way. The gun landed on the ground and exploded. Taggart was horrified, and XPlode turned to him and laughed.
"Real tough you Heroes are without your weapons!" he shouted triumphantly. Taggart looked at Cosmo in defeat. Cosmo stared at his now unarmed companion.
"I thought it'd last longer Cosmo!" Taggart said. "I'm sorry!"
"Take this!" Cosmo said, throwing one of his blades to Taggart. Taggart caught the weapon just as XPlode lunged at him with his club. Cosmo hurled himself towards XPlode, sending his blade into XPlode's left knee and cracking its joint. The red Villain tripped over his broken leg and smashed onto the ground. Taggart had slid out of the way, and XPlode attempted to lift himself up. But before he could get back on his feet, Cosmo jumped onto XPlode's body and began beating his heavy armor with his small blade.
"Get off me, you insect!" XPlode cried in pain. But Cosmo only hacked away at XPlode with his blade. With each collision, Cosmo's blade tore off more and more of XPlode's armor, exposing vital inner circuitry and mechanics inside the robotic Villain. When a big enough hole had been made, Cosmo repositioned his blade and drove it into the crack in XPlode's armor. Sparks and fire burst forth into Cosmo's face, and sent the blue and black citizen tumbling off of XPlode's body.
Even with a broken leg and a heavily damaged core, XPlode rose up again. His neck had been permanently cocked to the left with his head dangling at an irregular angle. His joints cracked with sparks, only barely able to maintain his stance using his club as a cane. XPlode dropped his gun and with his freed hand grabbed Cosmo's blade that still jutted out of the opening in his chest and forcefully removed it. The Villain tossed the weapon far off into the ruins beyond, and picked his gun back up.
"You-czk-czk-Heroes think you're so-ooo-ooo-czk-czk-czk…tough!" XPlode said with sparks flying out of his mouth and chest. His once glowing green eyes were flickering on and off. His left leg crippled and limp, XPlode lumbered slowly towards Cosmo using his club for balance. He slowly charged his gun again, cornering the now unarmed Cosmo against a collection of fallen ruins. Cosmo lifted clenched fists, unable to think of anything to defend himself with.
From behind XPlode, Cosmo could see Taggart charging at XPlode with the blade Cosmo had given him, but the red Villain saw this. He swung his arm around and fired the charged orb from his gun behind him at Taggart, who narrowly dodged it but was hit by debris thrown into the air by the orb's impact on a ruin. Cosmo grimaced at the sight, but prepared to strike XPlode with his two meager fists.
"So…czk-czk-the time of the-shk-czk-shk-Heroes…comes-czk-to an end!" XPlode declared through a positively broken mouth, charging his gun and aiming it at Cosmo.
Across the wastes of the Assembly Tower ruins, another sound travelled through the air. It too was familiar to everyone participating in the skirmish. It soared through the air, coming from high above where they stood. It was the high-pitched screaming from before, whose source none of them had ever been able to identify. It was louder than it had ever been before. It was closer than it had ever been before.
XPlode stopped and looked up into the air, Cosmo doing the same. Taggart lifted himself back onto his feet and looked around.
Then they saw it, at first camouflaged with the surroundings, then clearer as it approached them. A strange, black machine floated down from the height of the Assembly Tower's walls, descending upon the fight below. As it came closer into view, screaming as it did, its form was made visible. It was a black, cylindrical robot with a box head attached to its top. Propelled through the air by what looked like a repulsor engine of some sort, this robot floated down gently toward XPlode. It had four tube-like arms, each tipped with a different tool. One had a saw, the other a blade, another a claw, and the last a hook. The robot's head was wrapped in a permanent glare, red eyes and a blue mouth. Out of its blue grill-mouth came the screaming, the exact same tone and pitch every time. The robot was playing this scream on repeat like a broken record player. As it neared XPlode, its scream was interrupted by words muffled with a deepening synthesizer.
"DESTROY VILLAINS," the mechanical voice of the robot said. "PROTECT ZIB." Then it screamed again, and flung itself towards XPlode. The four-armed attacking robot swung its arm with the sawblade into XPlode's back, cutting right through his armor. The red Villain roared at it and whacked it with his elbow. Cosmo used this distraction to slide under XPlode's legs and out of the area he had been cornered in. He then raced up to Taggart who had been watching from behind. The two citizens watched as the mysterious robot slashed and cut XPlode's armor down, floating around him faster than he could retaliate. He had landed two strong whacks against the robot and had badly damaged it, but it refused to stop.
As the screaming machine attacked XPlode, a hissing sound began coming from his body. Smoke rose out of his shoulders and the holes Cosmo and the robot had punched into his armor. XPlode finally got the edge over the robot, firing his gun at it and hitting it on the side with an energy orb. The strange robot went flying backwards until it collided with a ruin and dropped to the ground, unmoving.
Taggart and Cosmo watched as the triumphant XPlode slowly turned to face them. They began backing up, concerned about the smoke and the array of worrying sounds coming from the Villain's body. They began to sense what was about to happen, and broke out into a run from where XPlode stood. In his condition, the red Villain was unable to catch up to them.
Once Cosmo and Taggart had reached a safe distance, they watched the limping Villain waddle slowly in their direction. At the top of his voice, above the hissing of his damaged body, XPlode began shouting.
"I am-czk-the best!" he yelled. "I…am…XPlode!"
Shortly after he shouted this, the hissing and smoke rising out of his body reached a peak. Once this peak was reached, the red Villain exploded in a huge blast of fire and smoke, his limbs and body parts sent flying through the air and landing all around. Cosmo and Taggart ducked after their adversary had exploded, but rose up to survey the damage.
In place of XPlode was a small fire and a blackened area surrounding it that the explosion had seared. The two citizens caught their breaths, and Taggart then shouted at the burning remains of their foe, "That's right! That's right, you Villain! Eat it! You were beaten by citizens! Citizens! So eat it!" As Taggart released himself in gloating at the remnants of XPlode, Cosmo looked across where they stood. He then nudged Taggart to get his attention.
"What?" Taggart asked.
"Where is your friend?" Taggart's joy drained from his face, and then the blue and red citizen looked out in all directions for James.
"James!" Taggart shouted. "Hey James! We killed him! Get out here!" There was no reply.
"No…" Taggart whispered. "No, he's gotta be here somewhere." He then ran off into the ruins, looking everywhere for the yellow face and the yellow and red armor of James. As Taggart searched he called out, "James! James, buddy!" Cosmo slowly walked out as well, watching Taggart frantically scour the debris field around them for James. Cosmo wandered out into the field, listening to the crackling flames left behind by the death of XPlode.
With Taggart having dashed off into the ruins, Cosmo remembered the task he still had to do, a task the voices in his head had given him since he awoke in the ruins of the Assembly Tower. He remembered everything now. All memories that had left him had returned.
"No!" came the screaming voice of Taggart from afar. Cosmo found himself unable to ignore Taggart's cry. He ran over in the direction of Taggart's voice, eventually finding him kneeling by a slab of ruin. As Cosmo approached him, he saw what he was kneeling before.
Caught under one of the large pieces of fallen ruin was the body of James, his lower body crushed by the jagged object. His gun and box were nowhere to be seen. Only his upper torso, head, and right arm lay on the ground before Taggart. Taggart had placed his hand on his friend's yellow head, holding the red helmet that protected it. Cosmo watched, powerless.
As Taggart cupped James' head in his hands unmoving, staring without words at his fallen friend, Cosmo walked up to Taggart, knelt beside him, and placed a hand on his shoulder. Taggart appeared to take no notice of this.
For several minutes, the two stared at James. The fire from XPlode's death still burned; a distant rustling sound. The afternoon was becoming night, and the fire provided a faint, flickering light that danced around the landscape. As the day grew dimmer, James' face appeared ghostly. His expression was blank.
"I am sorry," Cosmo said softly, keeping his hand on Taggart's shoulder. Taggart did not move or respond. Cosmo removed his hand from Taggart's shoulder and continued staring at James. The blue and black citizen stood up after a few more solemn moments. Finally, this evoked a response from Taggart, who had not moved. His words were faint, almost beneath a whisper.
"Where are you going?" Taggart's voice was filled with aimless despair.
"There is something I still must do."
No words came from Taggart, who had still not moved. Cosmo found it hard to leave Taggart, but as the urgency of his task returned to him, he knew he had to.
"You do not have to come," Cosmo offered as condolence. "You can stay, if you wish."
"I will come," Taggart said, and this surprised Cosmo. The blue and red citizen stood up finally, still staring at his fallen companion.
"I know this cannot be easy for you," Cosmo said softly. "But we must go."
"I know." Taggart then turned to face Cosmo. Taggart's blue face was at once melancholic and stern. Cosmo reflected it.
"Come then," Cosmo said, and Taggart walked up beside them as they continued into the ruins, steadily being covered by the arrival of night. They passed the burning fire from XPlode's death, having stayed contained to the objects it had ignited. Cosmo then looked at where the mysterious black robot from before had fallen. With enough light from the fire, he saw its shape, nonfunctional and still. Taggart saw where Cosmo was looking and did the same.
Cosmo approached the strange black robot, once screaming and flailing its four arms. When he and Taggart neared it and stood above it, a silence like the one they felt when looking at James overcame them. They stared for several minutes. Cosmo knew he was wasting precious time by doing this, but could not help himself. Both he and Taggart wanted to say something about this bizarre ally that had appeared out of nowhere, but could not. Cosmo found himself mourning the little machine, for its hideous screaming was what woke him from many of his visions. He felt almost personally tied to its death.
"We have to move," Cosmo reminded himself. He led Taggart away from the machine. Taggart looked back at the black four-armed robot for a few more seconds before following Cosmo.
The two citizens walked up near the burning fire. Cosmo searched the ground for anything flammable, found what looked like a pole made partially out of wood jutting out of a ruin. He grasped it, and forced it off where it stuck out. When he held the small rod, he carefully took it and dipped it into the flames. Its tip managed to catch after a few seconds, and Cosmo removed it, holding a makeshift torch with a fat but bright flame atop.
"You know where we are going?" Taggart asked, no doubts in his voice.
"Yes."
"I will follow you," Taggart said with a sigh. Cosmo nodded with a brief smile, and held out his torch in front of them. With their little torchlight, Cosmo led Taggart into the growing shadows of their landscape. Taggart at first wanted to know where he was going to be taken. But after James' death, the sense of purpose with which he had moved throughout their journey, from Makurotown up until that point, had left him. He trusted his mysterious new guide. He was certain now that Cosmo was not mad, that he knew precisely what he was doing. Of anything else, Taggart had no idea.