The Damocles Solution 23
The snakes laughed as they watched Janine quietly shed tears on Egon's chest.
They laughed, as now he was too terribly weak to even struggle against the binding coils. They snapped at her hair and clothes, well out of reach, but whether she was near or not was not the point. They laughed and snapped, because soon, in the blue light that started to fill the room, Jormunger would be summoned, and devour everything, and it would be nothing but amusement to them.
They cackled and hissed at their leisure now, Janine being, at first, too drained to even bother to try and strike them.
She picked up her head, and sure enough, there was one right in front of her, as it had disengaged itself from one of Egon's limbs.
Fanning out its hood, and curling around itself, it hissed in her face, and when she reached out to grab it, it easily dodged.
It was making its way up Egon's arm, and she saw it was ready to wrap itself around his neck, solely to send her into sheer panic.
About to curl itself around, it hissed loudly again—
-until it, along with the rest of them, stopped stone-silent where they arose from Egon's bindings.
And before she could even begin to try and strangle it first...
...the snakes around him all dropped over, dead.
Blinded by her rage at the little snakes, and glad to see their demise, Janine began pulling at them to rid herself of the sight of them, and in a flash, all of them were piled a short distance away in an onyx-colored tangle.
Now rid of the serpents, she looked up…and soon enough, the words Aracelli were speaking were solidifying into a gigantic, serpent-shaped form that filled practically the whole room. Its cobalt blue coils led up to a firey-maned head, and from its fangs, acidic green liquid dripped that, when falling to the earthy floor, dissolved it into boiling acid.
The form silently turned its head toward Aracelli, its coils bending and turning, as if this is how it displayed cogitation.
Someone dares call for me. And calls for me, without proper presentation of ceremony.
Janine gaped at the strange sensation that she had. It was, in fact, not speaking. Instead, it was projecting its thoughts into her head.
It slowly opened its eyelids, then narrowed its soulless black eyes. Turning its head ever so slightly from side to side, it flicked its tongue. My venom is in here. I can sense it.
"I have summoned you," said Aracelli boldly. "I have done so to ask your—"
Not even deigning to look at her, Jormunger addressed her impatiently. You have done nothing but interrupt my slumber so far. Continue your channeling or I may lose my patience.
Aracelli flinched at the sharp answer she received. For the first time, she looked terrified, and resumed what she had started. More coils appeared as she spoke, partially blocking her from view.
The giant serpent's fire-crowned head glided over to the barrier. It passed through not only effortlessly, but also caused the barrier to disintegrate with a loud, almost electric snap on contact with it. The barrier was in no way able to stand up to the force of a god.
It opened its maw, and hungrily licked its lips. It undid a few of its coils as it moved toward Egon and Janine, and stopped, hovering a few feet over both of them.
This one, it thought, its darker-than-black, reflectionless eyes riveted on Egon, unconscious yet again.
This one has my venom coursing through its veins.I can smell it.
It hovered its nose over him for a moment, completely ignoring Janine's existence.
Interesting. This one knows much. Very much.
It hissed so quietly, it could have almost been considered a serpentine purr.
Janine looked up at the gigantic serpent, terrified at the power of its thoughts. "Egon…! Please…wake up…please move! Something!" she said, tugging at his jacket sleeve, her wide eyes not moving away from the firey-headed god's mesmerizingly evil eyes.
Yes, very much. I can smell it.
Its tail curled under Egon's chin, and ever so gently pulled, shifting him so it could sniff at his right side. Pulling back his jacket and shirt, it almost smiled when it saw all that had happened to him. It pushed a little more, and eventually uncovered his right shoulder.
My mark is heavily upon you, I see, it thought, seeing black, twisting vein patterns in his shoulder muscles, spiraling upward and downward.
It reared up its tongue, and drew it acoss his torso…stopping just long enough to press in to his discolored right side. He in no way could contain his reaction…he was coming back in the most hellish way possible to full consciousness.
Mmmm. Humans are so terribly amusing when they must be dealt with.
Seeing him struggle, Jormunger gently unfolded a few of its smallest coils, and used them to move him, and once again press him to the ground. The size of the serpent made it effortless to do so. It only looked like it was softly done.
Horrified at his cries, and now surrounded by cobalt coils, Janine started tearing desperately into the god's face with the only thing she had-her fingernails, crying out his name, and crying for it to stop it all.
Your blood and your pain, human, it thought. Its attention was still directed toward the physicist, as it barely registered Janine clawing at it.. Delicious. Exquisitely delicious. Perhaps this rebirth will be beneficial after all.
Its tongue trailed slowly upwards, and rested for a moment on his shoulder. Now halfway to consciousness, Egon turned his head to the right, trying to get a glimpse of Aracelli, and struggling uselessly against cursed coils yet again. It watched him while doing so, intensely amused, acting more like a cat that had caught a mouse than a leviathan deity.
Jormunger, offended at the loss of its captive's attention for the moment, withdrew its tongue slowly, and used its narrow tail to push gently upwards under his chin. He winced against the touch, disgusted, and defiantly glared at the serpent out of the corners of his narrowed greenish eyes. In response, the huge serpent forcibly snapped his head left again.
Were you not so interesting, I would have crushed your throat as soon as I took in your scent, human.
Janine desperately tried to pull its tail away from him. Even the narrowest part of it was too strong for her to move it an inch.
You are still alive, it projected to all of them, its attention still turned, however, only to Egon, and the physicist ground his teeth as the serpent god's tail pinned his head to the cool ground. You are strong. Very strong. Your origins are very strong, indeed. I dislike sacrifices who fall into slumber too quickly.
Seeing that scratching and clawing at the cobalt skin with her nails, and trying to disengage its tail from him was not even garnering any attention, she pounded away at its coils, cursing and crying. It was also useless, as its scales were seemingly made of glass-impenetrable, slick, crystalline.
Utterly frustrated, she fell to the ground, and not even after a moment, threw herself over Egon's body.
She landed across his chest, and her housecoat spread over him like a protective blanket. She hid her face in an arm, which covered his shoulder.
Jormunger hovered over her, seemingly surprised, and pulled back its tail.
"You're not doing anything else to him," she told the god, turning and looking up at it. Slowly placing her head back down, she faced his, watching him recover.
This one is rather bold, it thought, as if she suddenly appeared out of nowhere, though it only simply bothered to acknowledge her presence for the first time. This one is very strong, too. Future-a strong future. I cannot comprehend the reason why, and I care not to. Perhaps I shall take them together… perhaps not.
At first, Egon was too far blinded by pain to say anything…however, he managed to gather his wits again in the short lapses of Jormunger's attention, and his eyes widened to their limits. All he saw was Janine huddled across him, and the huge serpent god above her.
"Get…away…" he angrily rasped, now aware but still struggling in a sea of heat and pain.
He struggled when he saw she was not moving. "Janine! Get AWAY! NOW"
"No! I've handled a few gods in my 'busting career…I'll handle this one too!"
Practically screaming out of pure frustration, his voice only went hoarse and ratty from fatigue. "NO!…Had a…particle accelerator! All four of us…were THERE! GET OUT OF THE WAY!"
"No," she insisted quietly. "I'm doing this…because I love you, Egon."
I have decided. Though humans are rather amusing playthings, it thought powerfully and calmly, interrupting their heated argument, I also dislike distractions.
The serpent wrapped its coils around Janine's arms, and, as easily as one would pick a flower, pulled her just far enough away from him. She cried out his name, devistated at the separation, and the simultaneously exasperating closeness of it. When the coil carrying her stopped moving, she was taken aback by Egon's furious, condescending glare, and quite visible snarl, directed right at her. "Egon…?"
"A child's game!" he rasped, chastising her furiously as he struggled. "Stop treating this…like a child's game!"
With Janine finally removed from him, and therefore the center fo the serpen'ts attention, he turned away from her, and was not able to see her fleeting pained look due to his severely myopic vision. He tipped his head far back, and tried to steel himself for whatever the god would do, or continue to do. At least….it's me and not her…he thought, actually relieved that the leviathan god had pulled her away from him.
She must have another means of power, he thought in the precious few seconds his thoughts weren't absorbed in either dealing with either the serpent god, or with Janine. The serpents are dead…the men must have gotten all the braziers…there must be…something else…
Jormunger dove in again, stopping to purposefully press in that agonizing place between his waist and his right shoulder. Not even hearing Janine's continued cries of his name, struggling and crying out blindly against it was all he could do not to pass out.
Exquisite. And this will also make certain the deaths of my children will not be in vain, it thought, stopping with him long enough to attempt to glance sadly at the now dead serpents, piled now a distance away from him.
Such a shame that I will have his life soon enough…he is strong…it will not be just yet. But it will be.
The men raced down the narrow earthy hallway, and stopped dead in their tracks in horror as they entered the chamber. "My…God," said Winston upon seeing the gigantic snake-god, folding and circling and coiling around itself.
"Janine!" yelled Peter, noticing right away her fiery red hair set against the dark cobalt coils.
Janine pointed to the sorceress, her face lined with tears. "She's calling it down here! Do something! She's killing him!"
"Where is he?" asked Peter. "I can hear him…I can't see him around these coils—"
"Over there." Winston pointed to a place very close to Janine. He went many shades paler after using his scope to see Egon.
"Can you see him? How is he?"
In the sight of the scope, there he was, held down to the earthy floor by the gigantic serpent, his chin held up against his will by its coils, an unwilling plaything in its grasp. "He's…everything Janine said he was…" Infuriated, he slapped the scope on the gun, raised it and pointed it at the serpent god's head. "Let's get some boots outta this—"
"—No, Winston!" Ray cried, knocking away the tip of his gun. "That's Jormunger! There's no way you can shoot that! It's a god! Don't even try!"
"If you'd seen what I saw through this scope, you'd shoot, too!"
"We have to shoot at that woman channeling it!" He pointed to a form in the center of the chamber. It seemed that the elderly woman, whom the men knew had to be Aracelli. She was allowing herself slowly to become possessed by the powers she channeled with ancient words, and becoming more serpentine with every word she spoke, like the very demons she used in her employ.
Winston redirected his aim toward the woman. "Disgusting…what she's doin'…"
Ray adjusted his gun, and yelled into the chamber. "Max settings! FIRE!"
Two beams and an untraceably fast plasma shot hurtled toward Aracelli.
A whiteish-red light appeared around the now demonic form of Aracelli…and all three energy blasts vanished in a loud and crackling display of light into the supernatural shield she had just created for herself.
Ray ground his teeth in frustration. "It's not working! Why! Why isn't it working?"
"Pour it on, guys! We can last a lot longer than she can! We've got technology and she's only got this sorry light show she's making herself!"
Winston, throwing caution to the wind, continued firing away on single shot as soon as the pack was ready to do so.
Stopped now from her spellcasting in order to focus on creating her shield, Aracelli raised her eyes to the serpent, and held up a hand toward the men, still surrounded by the blinding bright dome of light. "Master! Please aid me in gaining victory!"
Jormunger turned from its plaything to glare at her with its terrifying, reflectionless black eyes. I cannot in this form do anything I do not do now, and will not do any such thing were I not.
"Master!" she insisted, "I have served you for all these years! Please, I beg you, aid me and I will be able to channel you fully!"
You are the one to channel my powers. I suggest that if you cannot handle these on your own, you would shatter to pieces should you finish what you started!
Mercifully released from the god's painful attention again in the few moments that it and the sorceress argued, Egon managed to force himself to see past the cobalt blue coils, which had finally moved out of his way.
He could see the blurred silver and darkest black of her cane in her hands, and on top, a glow…the glow of the red jewel in it. It radiated a whitish-red, and the barrier she created seemed to be coming from it.
That's…it….that's…that's…
Jormunger shifted, adjusted its coils holding him down, cutting off his thoughts and drowning him in pain again. The serpent pressed heavily, and now seemingly rather purposefully, against his broken limbs.
Now that I've had my taste, I know everywhere you are not whole, it thought, nosing his right side heavily. And I always will know.
He had now compeltely lost his voice. Try as he might, he couldn't utter anything louder than ragged, hoarse cries, which were lost in the noise of the proton beams and the electrical sounding shocks of the streams hitting Aracelli's humming barrier.
"C…..ca…." he began rasping, squeezing his eyes shut against the continued presses of the serpent's coils and tongue.
"Ca-! Ca…ne! Ca…ne!"
Janine, who was the only one close enough to hear him, looked at Aracelli defending her position, taking in how nauseatingly serpentine she now appeared, understood. "The CANE!" she yelled, pointing toward the long silver-and-black instrument in Aracelli's hand. Her voice projected easily over every other sound in the room. "He says to shoot the CANE!"
Aracelli shot a glare over at Janine, and implored the serpent god again to assist her.
You are mistaken when you think I am particular in who initiates my rebirth. If you do not succeed in summoning me, eventually there will be one that will.
Aracelli, now completely in half-human, half-serpent form, screamed in frustration, and dropped her barrier. Nimbly moving out of the way due to her newly granted powers, she dodged the beams of the proton guns easily, and when they hit the earthy chamber wall, the force blasted through and created a wide, long hole where the night sky could be seen. She passed the cane to her tail, and wrapped the top of it in a wall of coils.
In desperation, Aracelli raised her arm, and a large, javelin-like object appeared in her hand. The men recognized it as similar in shape to the braziers they had to destroy.
Pete's eyes went wide in horror. "Shoot that thing outta the air! She's aiming for Janine!"
Aracelli released the javelin, and it hurtled through the air, lightning fast.
It stopped dead and floated in the air right above Egon's head, snapping with electricity.
Egon looked up, helpless and wide-eyed, and saw it hovering an inch away from the pit of Janine's neck, held by the three men's proton beams. Too weakened to move, he could only scowl decisively, and beat the dread he felt along down to non-existence.
The men pulled at the javelin with their beams, trying to get it to move the few spare inches away from their secretary it needed to pass by her, and while they were preoccupied, Aracelli hissed, and made her way out and up the hole in the wall created by the proton beams.
"Dammit! I HATE when they're smart enough to start running from us!" cursed Peter, enraged that the woman was using an opportunity to escape.
I will come back for you should the spell be successful…or not, thought the serpent god, still addressing only Egon. I am bound to my channeler. It slowly released him and Janine, retracting its coils. The next time we meet, I wil not be…and I will come for you then.
Egon didn't even acknowledge the thought this time.
Janine…
You are insolent. You repeatedly shut out my presence now, human, thought the god, narrowing its eyes, perturbed at its pet's distraction. Next time, you will not.
When Janine was released, she flew down over him, and out of harm's way, and the men cut the power to the guns. The javelin hurtled past the two of them, and hit the wall, burying itself deep inside it with a low, earthy sound, There it remained impaled, surrounded by bluish, lightning-like energy.
Jormunger coiled away from them, and slowly turning headfirst into a floating ribbon of glowing, firey-colored water, followed Aracelli out of the chamber.
The men, having no time to stop and check on Egon and Janine, had to settle for the fact that at least they were now free from the attention of their captor.
They ran toward the hole at the top of the now destroyed wall, Peter cursing a verbal volley of nuclear fire and brimstone, Ray with a PKE meter in hand, and Winston turning back briefly to Egon and Janine with a terribly guilty look in his eyes.
With Jormunger gone out of the chamber, all Egon could do was throw his head back, close his eyes, and breathe…almost in tears. Every square inch of him burned, seared, and shook.
Janine whispered his name over and over, holding his pallid, burning face in her hands. "It's OK if you can't move….they're here…I'm…so glad they're here…they'll fix it…they always do." She kissed him on the forehead, and spoke softly into it. "It's over, Egon. it's over, it's gonna be OK now. We'll get you somewhere soon."
The guys were on it; they'd get the sorcererss. They always get what, or who, they're after.
She picked herself up from his forehead, and, ever so slowly, he found the strength to open his eyes.
Completely against his will, they locked with hers.
She gazed at him quizzically. He looked not only like he was a breath away from passing out, but he also looked like he knew what she was going to do. But these were not were so odd about what she saw.
"Ja…nine…"
It seemed there were so many things vying for control over him that it was difficult to keep up with the expressions in his eyes. She saw such a bizarre mixture of terror, anticipation, anger, desire, and intense pain-and to see him so—unfiltered-made her consider him even more fascinating than he usually was…
…J…please…don't…
…and desire to kiss him that much more. "I kept telling myself that you'll be fine, Egon…"
…do this to me…
…and now I know, you will."
Locked together…
…because I have to…
…she felt him bring up a shaking hand to her head, and just for a moment, press it toward him, and respond…helplessly, hungrily.
After a long few moments, his hand dropped to her shoulders.
He started growling deeply, fighting her kiss, to her sudden surprise. "Janine…Janine!" he said with sudden force inbetween heavily pained breaths.
"W…what?" she answered as he suddenly shifted her head to rest on his shoulder. She was now unable to pick her head up to look at him. His grip was rather strong…for now, but probably not for very long. He was fading fast now that he was confident that the other three men had the situation under control.
"Janine…"
She listened to his low voice with rapt attention, feeling his chest rise and fall, staggering with each pained breath.
"You must give your resignation as…soon as possible."
Everything stopped. Her eyes shot open, and her whole body went stiff.
"Egon? …no…no-Egon!"
She shook her head, unbelieveing of the cold-blooded words she just head him say. She attempted to get up from him, but his strong arm kept a tight lock on her shoulders, preventing her from doing so. "W—what?"
"Don't…look at me!" he rasped desperately, holding her shoulders down.
…please…don't look…
After a few more breaths through his teeth, he continued. "Give it to them as…soon as possible. You will not be returning to…to the firehouse!"
She lay there, stiff as a statue, still reeling in shock. The whole room seemed to turn wintery and claustrophobic. The chilly air in the chamber became more than a few degrees unforgiving. She did not hear him say those terrifying words. Not after so many years and struggling so hard only to finally break through his phenomenally thick emotional armor so recently.
"Most importantly…you will never see me again!" he whispered angrily. "Not at the firehouse, not at the hospital…not anywhere!"
"But…why did you just…you just kiss—"
"-I will not…acknowledge your… acquaintance should we see each other again! I unequivocally… refuse to discuss… this issue, or anything else with you! You are…relieved of your duties! Do you understand!"
There…
There they were…
Again she struggled, whimpering, trying to make sense of his now frigidly militaristic tone.
"Janine! Your…resignation! As soon… as possible! No discussion!"
There were the were words that for years, she was always terrified of hearing. When he'd had enough.
She reminded herself how much of a child she had been. She had said it, and he also had said it…how she continually played catch with someone who didn't want to be caught, and how much trouble she had gotten everyone doing it in the past. First, the genie, then, with Lotsabucks…and now, before and during the whole trip, she was doing the same damned thing…trying to impress him, trying to be more than she was, and trying to make herself into something she wasn't—all over again. She thought knowledge was different; it was lauded in the world Egon was familiar with. It was not "superficial"…like wanting to be a few inches taller or wanting to untrain your annoying, brash accent. It was understandable…right? It was good…right?
But, she turned it into yet another weapon to use in her relationship. This was definitely a weapon she couldn't use with keeping in mind that there would be someone always paying the piper in the long run.
Now that she had the opportinuty to wield that much power in one single sickening decision, she knew he was right all along. It's time all that ended.
So recently. She broke through it all so recently.
This was so different from the boyish, clumsy attitude she was used to seeing on him. His initial reactions were not so much rejection as trying to understand what it was like to feel…which he obviously was never permitted much in his past to do. Yes, he might have found her strange and annoying at first, but if he truly ever weren't really interested, he would have said so.
Like he did, with so much finality, just now.
And when the serpent god had taken her off his body, this is what that utterly reproachful look he gave her meant.
She nodded into his shoulder, and, while he still kept her there, broke down into the most bitter tears she'd ever cried.
"Goodbye…Miss Melnitz," he breathed, inhumanly clinical, starkly and nakedly dispassionate. His iron grip on her loosened as she could tell he couldn't push himself any farther, and finally was permitting himself to black out. "I hope the compensation…from your next position…is more worthy of you than this one…ever was…"
His grasp ever so slowly melted away, and soon, she was able to move again.
Still sobbing uncontrollably at his words, she picked herself up, and carefully replaced his left hand across his body.
Finally looking into his unconscious, angular, horribly pained, but still beautiful face, she stopped herself from what she so desperately want to do…which was to run her fingers through his thick, flaxen-gold hair, stroke his cheek, and kiss his delerium-inducing full lips again, while she waited for Peter, Winston and Ray to finish up with the sorceress.
Instead, she sat back, and held out her hands, staring at them in desperation, not knowing what else to do with them, now that he had sent her permanently away.
She brought her hands to her face, pushed up her glasses in order to cover her eyes, and continued to cry.
A child's game.
You've been a child compared to him since you stepped into the firehouse.
A silly child.
Time to grow up, Melnitz.
Time to not be a child anymore.
"Goodbye, Dr. Spengler," she said softly into her hands inbetween puffs of air. "It was…such a pleasure…workin' for you..."