by T5 and The Eurostar
The Tower of Cuccubao, Brazil:
Ameristar's headache from the device on her forehead was increasing, as much as her concentration to activate her ability to teleport was decreasing. She groaned.
"Ah, ah, aaah. You're awake," said a cheerful voice, which was male yet as high as if he had been a choir boy or something.
Ameristar realized she was blindfolded and gagged, with a lump of cloth in her mouth that tasted vanilla.
"This won't take long. And the pain will be short... so bear with me for awhile," said the happy voice in the dark.
A faint rumble could be heard from nearby; her friends, maybe? Hope rose in her chest, and she tried to spit the cloth out, but she was only rewarded with a sharper headache as the strain only made matters worse.
"There, there. Now, this will hurt only for a second or two... now," the voice reassured her. It was closer, and she could feel the breath of him on her forehead. What was he planning to do to her? Rape! No! That was Crasher; this was something else. She heard a buzzing sound, something that reminded her of a small... Noooooo! A drill!
"Such a lovely head... hee hee hee hee..."
There was a sharp pain in her forehead as she felt the drill enter her skull. She tried to scream.
The rumbling sound came closer, but it was far away. She felt everything just drift away. The sound of the ocean: were those waves she heard? Strange; she hadn't seen a ocean on her way here. Stupid thoughts.
Drax managed to bulldoze the remaining walls to let the team move around more freely. Suddenly, Raptor felt a pain in his forehead sharp enough to send him to his knees.
Chance took his arms and helped him back up. "Euro... I mean, Raptor... what is it?"
"I... feel her... her pain... impossible... but... she is there, I just know it." With a look of surprise and shock, he pointed to a wall farther ahead of them.
Drax replied with a grin, "Say no more. Follow me."
He was just about to break the wall down, when two small girls appeared around the corner. Both wore hot pink miniskirts and white tops with the words Eat Me! written on them. They wore no shoes and had blond hair with ponytails. They were twins.
"We can't let you do that," one said with giggles.
"Father would be... upset if you ruined his fun, you see," said the other.
A telekinetic bolt sent Drax, Raptor, and Chance flying into the wall behind them. And suddenly their clothes were on fire.
In the dark room, the man stopped drilling into Ameristar's head and used a pair of tongs to pull a small piece of Ameristar's brain out. With a splatting sound, the fat organ that was part of her landed on a plate.
"So... finished. Your friends can come in now to... errr... rescue you... heh heh heh heh."
The man left by using a door on the far side of the room that led outside into a beautiful garden. There, a small helicopter was waiting for him. As he ordered the pilot to fly, he smiled toward the tower.
"Goodbye, children... you freaks."
Edulcore Cicciotto:
I take away the remnants of my burning clothes, remaining totally naked. I glance for an instant behind me, to see the giant furry dragon helping Chance to get rid of his own clothes.
In front of me are the two giggling girls. This makes no sense. In a giant tower in the middle of the Amazon jungle, there are two teenage girls dressed like go-go dancers, speaking plain American English and showing psychic powers. This makes no sense.
"Father wouldn't be pleased if..." begins one of the girls.
"...we allow you ruin his fun," the other says, ending the sentence.
They send another mental bolt, but this time I can anticipate it. The bolt catches me, takes me off the ground and sends me back toward the wall, but this time I am quick to spread my wings, stopping in mid-air and flying back toward the girls. This time, they are the ones who are surprised.
Ladnikia cuts their heads with a simple, elegant movement. The two heads roll down the stairs.
I turn back. The dragon and the scientist are staring at me.
"Ed... I am sure there was another way..." begins Chance. "I could..." He stops all of a sudden, as if in thought. His eyes looks surprised. "My power!"
I get it. The blast of the twins had not bounced back. It seems his power doesn't work. How's that possible?
Pain. Great pain in my mind. Jackie is near here.
"Questions for later, Chance. We need to find Ameristar." I run upward, along the stair. The two follow me, but I can't help but notice how Chance looks with disgust at my sword.
Chance's mind was troubled. His power should have kicked in the second he had been hit by the girls. And Raptor's willingness to cut people's heads off was getting annoying. He remembered the good old days when heroes meant rescuing people, not killing them.
And suddenly, the world seemed to invert itself, and there was a great burning pain in his head that seemed to want to kill him. His eyes tried to focus, and he saw a bright light above him and heard voices.
"It seems one of the subjects has managed to burn his cerebro-sims. Give him another shot and apply new ones," one of the voices said with a detached clinical tone.
Cerebro-sims? Chance's mind was reeling as the new dose of drugs hit his system. The last thing he heard as he passed out was the angry voice of someone who cursed and yelled that he had somehow managed to inject himself with the needle.
This isn't... real... the tower... the fight... must wake up...