“God damn it Tesla.” Tim sighs as dust from another hole in a wall spreads through the wing, but not as fast as panic.
He’s attacked places with civilians before, but never as densely packed as this. Still the chaos gives Tim a good opportunity to slip away, glancing at the adults he was just talking to getting dragged away by armed guards.
They’ll be Tesla’s targets, so Tim will either have to focus on defending them, or drawing Tesla’s attention. He dives behind a drink stand, not the perfect cover but it’ll have to do, and activates his suit. He snags a cup of juice and slides over its counter, walking towards Tesla.
This suit is not the one PK’s been fighting all this time, it looks different, brand new. Instead of looking like a mechanized Frankenstein, it's all smooth, round white pieces almost artfully put together into a huge, diver suit.
“Eric! Wheeeeere are you Silverline!?”
PK gets close, and splashes the juice on the back of Tesla’s head, sending sparks and steam rising from it. Tesla turns and takes a step back, lightning coalescing in his hands.
“You can’t give me a day dude?” PK tosses the cup into a trashcan. “A day, is all I'm asking!”
“Oh ho ho,” Tesla hand thunks against his chest as he chuckles, “interrupting something am I, Mr. Prehistoric Kid?”
“Yes, so please, let’s pick this up another time?” PK puts his hands together in a mocking plea. “Besides, look at the civilians around, they’re packed in too dense, this isn’t where you want to do this.”
“On the contrary, my nemesis, hahahahaaa.” Lightning sparks off his back and into the animatronic dinosaurs, melting away their fake skin to reveal their robotic frames. “This is the perfect place! Because I can fight at full power, but you? You can’t!”
PK glares at Tesla and watches as the robotic dinosaurs run at the guards surrounding Eric, Connors and Moore.
“Dude, I love those things!” PK yells, jumping towards the machines, only for a sonic boom to blow him away.
He lands as Tesla’s enormous fist comes down at him like a hammer, he kicks back, dodging it, then jumps and transforms into his Compy. He plans to land on the arm, run up it, but as soon as he does, sparks fly and he’s sent straight up.
He shakes his head, hair standing on end, he goes to flick the air, to dodge Tesla’s follow up, but the mad scientist is right. There’s too many people. Lightning hits PK, chaining through his cells, and blasting him though the roof. He’s nearly able to land, but Tesla follows, his armor coursing with lighting, and he grabs ahold of PK fracking him into the roof.
“I’m sure you’re wondering where this new suit of mine came from, bahahaha.” Tesla taunts.
PK’s been through this before plenty of times now, if he manages to force a movement, his cramping muscles will make his arm convulse, retracts, and he can tear through the suit. He manages it, but Tesla has done this dance too. He releases and back steps, the shock wave missing the mech and flying into the sky
PK stands, jaw still clenched from the lightning in his veins, only for more to surge through as Tesla punches him off the building, fellows, then punches him into the ground. Tesla lands above the craters and reaches in, only for a shock wave to hit him this time, throwing him on his back.
“Haha! Always so plucky!” Tesla taunts as he stands, “Honestly, I owe this suit to you and our misadventures my friend!”
PK rolls his eyes and transforms into a Megalania, a giant Komodo dragon, and digs into the crater, going underground.
“You never wondered where all that money went from our fight in the bank?” Tesla asks as fires lighting into the crater.
PK burrows underneath him, the cement moving out of his way like it’s air, and then he snaps his tail upwards. The concussive blast sends Tesla and debris flying into the sky, PK going human and jumping above pats him, grabbing a chunk and using it to punch Tesla into the ground.
“Ha! Didn’t feel a thing!” He raises an arm to fire a blast, only for PK to dodge with a flick into the air.
He lands between Tesla and the convention center, transforming into a Stegosaurus, roaring and swinging his Thagomizer.
“After our run in during that hostage situation, it put me into contact with Ms. Beth and her friends.”
PK charges, Tesla jumps away, but is caught by the thagomizer. The tail is only able to make a small hole though, as PK’s forced back to human. He recovers midair, puts on a few tons to land, and charges as a Nasutoceratops, a large Triceratops-like ceratopsian with curved, bull-like horns.
“Her and her cartels were more than happy to procure my supplies as I continued to use you,” Tesla tries to side step, but Tim shifts into a Triceratops proper, his longer horns poking another hole into the armor before flying off.
“All of our bouts, all tests to create this perfect combat armor. No weaponry on Earth stands a chance, save your teeth and horns of course!” Tesla laughs, tapping the fresh hole.
“I am not in the mood for this today, Brown.” PK flattens his hand and sends it through a street lamp, catching it as it falls.
He throws it like a javelin, Tesla letting it ping off his armor. PK jumps, kicks it, it pings off the armor again.
“Too close to glass for a shock wave, hmm?” Tesla laughs while firing arcs of lightning that rip through the blacktop.
PK flips over them, transforms, only for a lightning bolt to knock him to the ground. He goes to get up, but Tesla is on him again, overloading his cells.
“You said you weren’t in the mood for this? But do you know what I’m in the mood for, dear nemesis?” Tesla's suit roars as it pours amps into and out his hand. “For all I’ve been working for to be achieved, to move on to bigger fish, maybe even to be done with you.” A spear of lightning forms in Tesla’s other hand. “Did you know that the tip of a lightning strike can reach the same temperature as the surface of the sun? I doubt even you can survive that for long.”
Tim tries to transform, small, big, anything. He tries to think of anything he can do that’s new, that Tesla won’t just be able to dodge. He’s starting to feel like he’s suffocating, a breath rarely entering his lungs, panic setting in.
The lightning spear comes down and touches PK’s chest, burning through his suit in an instant, and making his skin feel hot. He smells his own skin starting to cook, burn, the pain mixing with the panic, and the frustration. But, it's not all bad.
As the pain gets worse. it cuts through the panic, offering not so much clarity, but an anchor. Tim uses it to focus in, focus on how to end it, and he finally comes up with something.
He gets his arm to twitch, not as Tesla, but into the ground, sending out a shockwave. It tears another crater into the parking lot and sends PK and Tesla into the sky. Lungs finally take in air, hands ball into fist, and PK glares at Tesla, only to receive another face ful of lightning.
“This is the day of reckoning, Prehistoric Kid!” Tesla shouts as PK flies off.
PK skips off the ground and smashes into a car, sending it spinning into the air above him. His body finally obeys him, and he transforms into his T.rex. He snatches the car from the sky just before it lands on another one, and sets it down, using his tail to swipe away what debris remains in the air.
He turns back to human, and his wristband goes off.
“Are you guys alright?” Tim asks Lance.
“Yes, you need to go to the van.”
“Don’t have time.”
“Tesla is monologuing to Silverline.”
PK rolls his eyes. “Guess I do have time.”
He sniffs the air and pinpoints the van, leaping to it and popping the back open.
“What am I looking for Lance?”
“The two topmost containers by the fridge, it contains what I’ve been using the salvage on.”
PK throws them open, finding a bunch of weird devices in one, and what looks like cobbled together armor in the other.
“The bottom container is an insulated suit for you, it isn’t finished, won’t last long, but it may give you a leg up.”
“What’s all this other stuff?”
“That is for me.”
PK takes out the insulated suit, made of welded together pieces of Tesla’s other suits and anything else Lance could get his hands on. Pink insulation sticks out of spouts, like torn flesh on a zombie.
“Frankenstein suit.” PK snaps his fingers and lays it out transforming into a compy, scurrying into the chest piece, and turning back to human.
In the next moment, PK is dropping down through the hole in the ceiling, setting down Lance’s crate, and dashing towards the accosted scientists.
He curses under his breath as he sees just how many civilians are still in the building. When you move at the speeds PK is moving at, it's easy to forget just how slow a regular person is. Still, it's been at least a few minutes, he would’ve expected it to be emptier, but the panic Tesla is causing is slowing everything down.
PK passes by the mad scientist and to the robot dinosaurs assaulting the guard. His arm passes through a raptor, bisecting it, then he grabs both halves and throws them at Tesla’s face. He tunes his hearing onto the next machines, and hones in on its motor. A guard fires his gun at a larger, animatronic, and PK plucks a bullet out of the air and flicks it into the motor, making the robot sputter and collapse.
He sees Tesla’s arm lift, and PK jumps in front of Silverline and Connors, tanking a lightning bolt. Lance wasn’t joking, this suit won’t last long, as that blast already leaves the outer layer of metal dripping. It isn’t without its benefit though, as before it ever gets the chance to cool, PK scoops it into his hand and splashes it on Tesla’s face, obscuring his eyes.
PK turns to the three bots left, and transforms into his T.rex. One flattens under his foot as his jaws hit the neck of another. The crushing force is so intense that the electronics inside explode before the teeth get anywhere near them, and the machine gets instantly decapitated.
A stray lightning bolt rakes the roof, causing ventilation and other debris to fall. A shaft almost hit Dr. Moore, but PK’s tail bats it into another about to hit one of the guards. Another bolt rips across the ground in an arc towards Connors, so PK becomes human and jumps in front of him, shaving his arms into the ground and bringing up a massive chunk.
“I’d appreciate a chat after this, Connors.” PK grunts, and once the sound of the arc is gone, kicks it forward into Tesla.
“I’ll see what I can do.” Connors answers back, ducking out of the way of more falling ceiling.
PK didn’t see when Tesla cleaned his face, but the madman is using his restored sight well. He fires bolt after bolt, at Eric, Connors, and into the ceiling. PK’s attention becomes more and more divided, he sashes the last robot about to land on Silverline, then transforms into a Dilophosaurus so that his tail smashes a chunk about to land on a woman.
He scoops a child out of the way of a shattering glass display, kicks the floor at Tesla’s hand to redirect an attack. Someone’s leg snaps, PK throws the heaviest thing he has in reach at Tesla and passes the injured civilian to emergency responders. Tesla changes it up, adding attacks aimed at PK,
“Damn it Tesla!” PK yells as he lands on his back, “You need to stop!”
“Oh I will! very soon.” He raises his hand, there’s a thunk sound, and a yellow foam grows over it. Tesla fires, the foam burns, but no lightning comes out.
Another thunk, Tesla catches a projectile from the air, and it bursts, the same foam enveloping the gauntlet.
Lance walks forward, a basic black mask and coat on, firing another canister from a launcher on his left arm, as another device constantly moves on his right. It's like a dozen mechanical fingers with a dozen more coming off of them, holding chemicals and pouring them together, attaching different components together, and loading the launcher all at once.
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Lance kicks forward a device that unfolds into an antenna just in time for Tesla to fire a lightning bolt, redirecting to the gadget and grounding the attack.
“Prehistoric Kid, the ceiling here won’t last much longer, focus on the evacuation.”
Tim’s first instinct is to argue, Lance doesn’t have any powers, how the hell is he supposed to keep up with Tesla? But at the same time, he’s right, this wing is falling apart, and there’s more than a few people still inside.
PK expands his senses wide, making sure to always keep track of Lance and Tesla, then gets to work. The old man admiring artwork, scooped up and placed outside. A lost child behind a knocked over support column, handed off to a paramedic.
Nearly everyone but the scientists are gone, every attempt at escape made on their own cut off by Tesla. At least his focus is split too, and now PK has only a few more people to worry about.
He goes for Eric first, only for a bolt of lightning to collide with PK’s chest and finish off that piece of the Frankenstein suit. Tesla runs at them, only for one of the foam canisters hits his foot and sticks him to the ground.
It lasts less than a moment, but gives PK time to scoop Eric up and jump away. Tesla reaches his control out to a live wire, and brings it into PK’s path. It goes for Eric, and PK brings his leg up, still insulated, to block it. It catches on his knee, but then wraps around him and drags him to the ground.
He’s forced to toss Eric away as he slams into the sand pit, then swipes his hands through the cord. Tesla goes to finish Eric off, but Lance interrupts him with another canister, his last canister. Tesla burns it away and shoots at Lance, his lightning going down to the grounding device, but this time he doesn’t stop. Instead, he uses the lightning like an appendage, raising up the gadget and smacking Lance in the arm with it.
Lance’s assembly machine shatters and he’s knocked on the floor, and Tesla raises the grounder above him. PK flips out of the sandbox and digs his fingers under it, tossing it at Tesla. The madman breaks concentration, the grounder dropping towards Lance, and turns to fire lightning at the incoming projectile.
PK dashes for Lance as Tesla superheats the sand, encasing himself in glass. Prehistoric Kid bats the grounder device away and then transforms into an Ankylosaurus, sliding Lance under him as the glass prison sunders and sends glass flying through the air.
Copper reaches PK’s nose, the glass has hit Eric and Dr. Moore. Eric seems fine, if he's hurt badly adrenaline is keeping him going, while Moore has a huge cut in her leg.
“Shit.” PK curses as Tesla turns to Eric, and he dashes to defend the man.
PK picks him back up, watching Tesla raise his arms, but the lightning comes out early. It hits the ground, but then curves up and into the ceiling.
An entire section gives, and PK isn’t fast enough to clear the rubble, not without breaking the sound barrier and killing Eric. He’s forced to drop the man as he catches what’s about to bury them. It isn’t heavy, but it isn’t stable either, the weight of the rest of the chunk cracks and falls, a piece nearly collides with Eric’s head, but PK manages to kick it away.
“Nick! Please!” Eric yells, voice and body shaking.
Then there’s a flash, too fast for PK to block, to see, but he does see the lightning’s effects.
Burning track marks scorch Eric’s skin, reflecting the bolts that sear into him. His eyes bubble and pop, his hair ignites—practically vaporizes. His flesh reddens, expands, blackens, then burns away down to his last layers of muscle, revealing the shape of his bones, his skull.
Tim's stomach twists before the smell of cooking fat reaches his nose, nearly vomits before he becomes conscious of the grease leaking into a puddle under the still falling body. His chest feels like it's going to cave in and itself before the sound of sizzling adds the weight of a mountain to his shoulders, the sound of Eric’s weakened skull cracking against ground adding a planet.
Tim’s leg’s shake, buckles, and he falls to a knee. His eyes go blurry, his breaths quicken, become shallower and shallower. He chokes on the smoke and a cry trying to escape his mouth lets the rubble fall out of his hands, burying him and the corpse.
There in the dark, his terrible powers still let Tim see the body, making an old memory surface. His chest starts to hurt, pressure builds, getting warmer, and warmer, and warmer. His teeth grind before his jaw clenches, locking in place. His senses extend, then focus, sight, smell, taste, everything, and the mechanical hulk moving towards him.
He lifts his arm, positions his fingers to snap, then stops, realizing his powers guiding him into a smaller shockwave than what he really wants to do. He pauses, the mechanical lumbering getting closer, and closer. Then he transforms.
The rubble rises with his mass, with his six feet of claw that swipes through the air. It creates a hurricane of asphalt, metal, and dust, all punching into Tesla, sending off his feet and into the air. Tim roars, goes to pursue, then realizes his mistake.
Tesla is fine, even as he rises through concrete, the ceiling, and into the air. Tim can hear the suit groan, the metal buckle, but Tesla is fine. He coughs, the force finding him, he laughs, reaching the apex of his height and beginning to fall.
Tesla is fine, the others though?
Tim can smell Lance and Grant Connors, not see them, but they’re somewhere nearby. But Ophelia Moore, she’s still here, on the ground, yelling for help, as the ceiling completely gives, the second floor coming down on her.
Tim pivots and stands above her, kneeling down, putting his tons of muscles and scaly hide between Ophelia and the tons more of building. It takes only seconds for them to be buried, but it feels like it's hours, the rain of rock constantly pelting Tim like he’s an umbrella in a thunderstorm.
Ophelia wraps herself into a fetal position, her hand reaching out and touching Tim’s arm, gripping him as hard as she can as the ground rumbles for imaginary days, until it's over. Tim huffs a sigh of relief, goes to stand, to shake the debris off, when there’s a burst of force, and Tesla does it for him.
The concrete explodes on Tim’s side, lightning hits on knocks him out of his transformation, sending him flying. He twists his body, shoving his hand into a block and recovering, only to see the debris that had collected above his Therizinosaur form falling towards Doctor Moore.
His elbow flexes, air starts to distort around him as he begins to shoot towards her, but he can only move so fast, and lightning finds him again. He collapses, convulsing, eyes still on Moore, watching as the second floor approaches her inch by inch.
As the first chunk makes contact with Ophelia’s head, Tim wants to look away, but his body doesn’t let him. He wants to shut his eyes, slow his brain down so he can’t see every little detail of the jagged white debris carving in the paleontologist's skull, her skin splitting, brains and blood spraying out.
He wants to go deaf so he stops hearing the bones break, the blood vessels pop, the still beating heart that doesn’t realize it's out of the job, until it bursts too.
He wants to look away. He shouldn't look away. He can’t look away, as the seconds that feel like hours reduce Doctor Ophelia Moore into a puddle, her opal earring flying off and skipping across the rubble until it hits Tim in the face.
Like it's playing a practical joke, the lightning leaves his veins then, giving Tim just enough control of his body to reach an unsteady hand out for the bloody rock. His hand shakes as his pointer finger and thumb close on it, slowly lifting it up, dripping. But the joke isn’t over yet.
Tim doesn’t know where the opal flies off too, all he knows is he’s on his back, white stars in his vision that erupt into more and more solar systems as his body spasms from jolt after jolt, Tesla laughing as he fires.
“And now Prehistoric Kid!” Tesla yells, voice laced with triumph as he puts a knee on Tim’s chest, “for our little drama to reach its end.”
What little strength Tim can muster dies in his sinew as his body constantly takes in the electrical field of Tesla’s suit. He can’t look away again as Tesla collects lightning in his palms and puts his gauntlets on each side of his head. He can’t even cry, the tears vaporizing before they ever have the chance to leak out of his ducts.
“Once your brain is nice and cooked, once I know you’re not healing from it.” Tesla laughs as the sun-like heat tips touch Tim’s temples, burrowing through his skin , making its way to his skull. “I’ll only have one more thing to do before I move on to bigger and better things, my friend.”
It burns, it itches, Tim’s gums bleed as his jaw locks, his head throbs as his neurons suck in the storm forcing its way into his skull. His vision fades, there’s another boom, close to thunder. Consciousness fading, a steak of silver collides with Tesla, then everything goes black.
***
He was dreaming about something, a gunshot, a storm, corpses lying at someone’s feet, but it fades instantly as Tim wakes up, heart bashing against his chest like it wants to escape.
He extends his senses, trying to pick up Jane, Lance, Alex and Rowan, and finds Lance right beside him. Then he notices it, they’re not in the rubble anymore, not at the convention center.
“The others are safe.” Lance says, kneeling down.
Tim notices he’s on a couch now, in a living room. He registers that it's nice, but nothing else, as he brings his knees to his chest and holds them there.
Lance watches him, a frown growing deeper and deeper on his face.
“You... did well Tim.”
Tim? He didn’t even realize he’s not in his suit.
“You managed to contain the fight to just that wing, there were only a handful of injuries, only two casualties—”
Lance keeps talking, maybe about statistics, maybe about something else, it doesn’t matter. What does matter? The charred corpse and, maybe more, the red puddle.
Tim throws his hand over his mouth, nearly throwing up. How dare he think that Ophelia’s death matters more than Eric Silverline’s. What? Is it just because Tim looked up to her? Is it because her death is his—
“Tim, I don't know how to help you.” Lance, hesitantly, puts a hand on his shoulder. “You... under the circumstances—”
“Lance, Becca is asking for you.” A soft voice calls from across the living room.
Raegan Jones, they must’ve picked Tim up and brought him and Lance here. Well, that makes it seem like they’re definitely allies, at least.
Lance doesn’t answer, doesn’t budge, until Raegan moves behind him and touches his shoulder.
“It's important.”
“As is my remaining here, Mrs. Jones.” Lance says.
“Lance, I can handle it.”
He doesn’t answer, doesn’t move, Tim isn’t sure for how long, but eventually Lance relents and stands.
“Very well.”
Raegan watches him leave, then sits with Tim. She doesn't stare as hard as Lance did, not in the same way. Lance’s gaze had a much different feeling, sad, desperate maybe? Raegan’s is something else entirely, soft, comforting.
Tim isn’t sure if he likes it, how with just a look she’s coaxing him out of where he wants to be, where he needs to be. He lets out a long breath, and chokes on it, vision starting to blur from leaking tears.
Raegan smiles, and puts her hand on his, “Was that the first time you saw someone die?”
It's not the question he expected, it borderline gives him whiplash, but he shakes his head all the same time.
“Ah, something else then.” She picks up her hand. “Tell me?”
“It's my fault.” It practically explodes from him. He didn’t want to say it, hearing it out loud stings his ears, makes him almost throw up again, but it wanted out.
Raegan studies him for a moment, “Keep going Timothy.”
“It's all my fault.” He covers his fight. “I didn’t take him seriously, I should’ve hit him hard as soon as he showed up. That suit? It's because of me. It wouldn’t be as strong without me, without the money he stole because of me, because of my family bringing him parts. If it wasn’t so strong then Eric would...” He chokes, “and if he... then Doctor Moore would still—”
That part is too much, too bathed in blood to want to be heard, and drowns away with Tim’s sobs.
Raegan puts a hand on his shoulder and gently pulls him onto hers. She lets him cry into it, soaking her sleeve with tears and snot. It's probably only minutes, but might be hours, at this point Tim can’t tell. Eventually though, it breaks, dies down to uneasy breathes and sniffles. Raegan hands Tim a tissue box, taking one out herself and dabbing her soaked sleeve.
“I doubt there’s anything I can tell you that will make you feel better sweetie.” Raegan puts an arm around him. “But despite that, I’ll tell you a few things anyway.”
Tim fiddles with his wristband and nods.
“Once I discovered you, all those weeks ago, destroying my daughter's mech, I looked into you, and I have to say, I was incredibly confused.”
Tim pulls the wristband, letting it snap harmlessly against his arm, “Confused?”
“Son of an infamous LA enforcer, entire family, a history of violence and drugs, but there you were, a history of violence, but also academics? Good grades, past the point where your siblings fell off, a deep interest in higher education and a laid out plan to get it. Then, you get these amazing abilities, and what’s the first thing you do?”
“Break your mech.”
“Yes, and harass dealers, dealers who practically live in your home. I’ll be honest, it didn’t paint a good picture Timothy. At first, I thought this young boy, smart and with all the power in the world, was just out to be vindictive, to lash out.”
His guts twist, he’s thought about it briefly before, how the thought of patrolling to help people didn’t even cross his mind until a few days in.
“But there were a few things that gave me pause. Do you know what they were?”
“That... I didn’t kill?”
“That’s one, but not the big one. You recall the swath you cut through all those meth labs? Plenty of fights, plenty of violence, but something else. Compassion.”
“Compassion?”
“How many migrant workers were there at those labs? Surely, if you were all vindictive and vengeance, they’d be punished in some way. But you helped them, high or not, child or adult, hurt or healthy. The hospital you sent them to in El Cajon, one that forgets to write so much down, surely someone like you would know that they’re involved with what you hate most?”
That also wasn’t what Tim was expecting.
“I... didn’t really think about it, I just did it.”
“And there it is,” Raegan smiles, “You just do it. Between all the drug busts, all the bouts with super powered dinosaurs and mad scientists, you just help people.”
“I... don’t know if that’s a good thing.”
“Because of Doctor Brown?”
Tim nods.
“What are you planning to do to him?”
Tim freezes, sick and heat mixing together in his belly.
“Kill him?” Raegan asks.
“I... don’t know. Should I?”
She chuckles, “You know, I have so many opinions on that, on who’ve you’ve left alive and Nicholas Brown. If I was writing a book, I’m sure I could fill an entire chapter with all my thoughts, pros and cons, three thousand to six thousand words, easily.” She turns him and looks into his eyes, “But my answer, the best answer, is a short, simple classic. That’s something you need to decide for yourself.”
Tim chews on his cheek, “I thought the goal was to try and make me feel better?”
“It was. Is. Funny how conversations flow isn’t it?” She teases. “It’s something you need to think about, it’s something I’m sure you’ve fantasized about, what kind of hero do you want to be? The way you grew up, I doubt you’re naive enough to think that killing isn’t an answer, but is it yours?”
“Ok, I know you want me to figure it out myself but—“
“Ah ah ah.” Raegan wiggles her finger. “You’re not getting that extra chapter out of me, Prehistoric Kid, but, if it helps, whatever you decide, my family has your back.”
“Really?”
“To nurture and inspire, Timothy Chapman, to nurture and inspire.”
Something is tearing through the farms of Windshore—something fast, ruthless, and impossible to track.
The men who find him don’t believe him.
A dark fantasy of pursuit, secrets, and survival.
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Dark Fantasy Horror Mystery Survival

