Something Slender (and Awful) - Hate leads to suffering

[x-minibruiser.livejournal.com]

Molly Hayes did not do her homework, and Professor Slenderman is not happy about it.



At first glance, the man standing in the rear of the subway station looked much like any other New York City commuter - a somewhat tall man in a black suit and tie, his head covered by a black hat. Only upon a second, more careful look, did the smooth featureless face and impossibly long arms become apparent. Where the average person's arms hang down to somewhere around mid-thigh, his fell somewhere past the knees. There was a rigidity to them, a sense that even if they were to extend to the floor, that rather than drag limply behind him, they would bend and place on the ground ahead of him, like an extra set of legs. The strange arms became even more unsettling when raised and extended, as they articulated twice, as if he was possessed of a second set of elbows.

Clint never got a first or second glance, though, despite his unusual eyesight. A flicker in the lighting caught the corner of Molly's vision. The man was a handful of feet away, but before she could turn to say something to Clint, a hand came down on her shoulder, clamping painfully, and then they both were gone, leaving Clint on his own.

Letting out a yelp of surprise, Molly felt herself be dragged backward. That hurt. She didn't expect to be hurt. Squishable.

It started to remind her of something...something green, of plants, but there wasn't a lot of time to really think more about it with the evil skinny no face guy behind her.

A bright purple light flooded from her eyes as she stomped on the bad guy's foot with enough force to dent a hole in the ground before bolting.

It was weird. It felt like she'd been hurt but her powers worked? Molly was no longer in the subway station, though. Instead, she was running through the empty corridors of the mansion. But where the mansion had a sense of home, a subtle blend of light and sounds and smells that all meant 'comfort', this felt...wrong. Hissing whispers echoed through the halls, with the sense that if you just listened hard enough you might be able to understand them. Lamps cast disturbing shadows on the walls and doorways. And underneath it all was the quiet, menacing tapping of shoes slowly stalking and pursuing her.

The change of location had Molly feeling a little topsy turvy, and it took her a moment to even realize where she was. She slowly backed up, glancing around, wondering if she'd been teleported. But it didn't seem right. None of it seemed right. "H--" The footsteps and whispering made her eat her words, and want to run. It felt like one of those scary movies her parents never let her watch.

The nearest door seemed to be the one to Kyle's classroom so she went there, hoping to find a familiar face.

Familiar faces were in the room, all right. English class was in session, and Kyle looked up from his desk with a scowl as Molly entered. "You're late," he said flatly, pointing at her desk. The rest of the class looked silently at her, judgment clear on their faces. "Since you've finally joined us, perhaps you'd like to explain Camus' use of absurdism in The Stranger, and how it relates to existentialism, even though Camus didn't consider himself an existentialist?" Kyle's expression was mild, but something lurked under the surface. Something dark.

Wondering if she'd maybe blanked out again, Molly sank down in her chair. Everyone else's expressions were cold and unhappy, like she'd done something wrong.

"I...I thought we were reading that story on Monday?" Unless they all read it and she forgot?

"Nice try, slacker," Kyle snapped. He pointed a finger at a spot in front of all the desks. "Up here," he instructed, as soft tittering began among the other students in the room.

Totally not expecting that response, Molly opened her mouth, paused, then closed it before hesitantly getting up and shuffling her way up to the front.

This didn't feel normal. Maybe Kyle had eaten some bad deer.

Once Molly had reached the designated spot, Kyle scowled at her. "Now, did you actually do the reading I assigned, or were you a retard and forgot?" The giggles from the other students swelled louder, a malicious undercurrent to it.

"What?" Molly said quickly, her eyelashes fluttering like a frantic moth trying to escape a window. It was an adult saying those things, mean things. She didn't know how to react. Kids said them before. Artie. But they were kids. She didn't think adults would say it.

"I'm not a...I'm not stupid. That's a bad word, Mr. Gibney."

"So? It's what you are." Kyle shrugged as the students got up from their desks and quietly formed a loose circle around Molly, with Kyle's desk forming part of it. No matter which way Molly looked, she could see someone staring at her. And the snickering whispers were becoming clearer.

"Shortbus."

"Dum-dum."

"Lamebrain."

When she spun back to Kyle, he was smiling widely. But there was nothing friendly or nice in the smile. And his mouth looked like it had too many teeth in it. Like someone who didn't know had just drawn a bunch of tiny teeth, all the same shape and size, in Kyle's impossibly wide mouth.

Backing up, Molly found the desk keeping her from fully making it to the wall. This wasn't right. None of this was right. She wondered if they thought it but they wouldn't say it. They wouldn't be this way. Especially Kyle. And his teeth. They were like shark teeth. And Kyle's teeth was like a land animal. She called him a wolf once but he said it was a fox.

Maybe this wasn't real. And if it wasn't real, then....

"No. I am not!" Molly shouted, balling her fists as a purple light flashed across her eyes as she spun around, hoisting up the desk over her head.

"If you guys don't get back I'm gonna bruise ya. Cause I'm stronger than you. And you're just trying to be creepy and mean so you can scare me. The real X-people wouldn't be mean. They're nice. And they help people. And I want to get back to them now, please."

Kyle - who looked less and less like Kyle as the illusion unraveled, reached out to grab Molly, again. And just like before, the fingers on her shoulder hurt. The hand tightened, the unspoken answer clear.

No.

At first Molly hesitated, because there was pain. But then she remembered that she was holding a really big desk high above her head. So she threw it at him.

"Okay. I warned you!"

If it WAS really Kyle and he was possessed or something she'd say sorry later. Cause if she DID feel hurt then maybe the unsquishable part was not there and she was still strong so she'd have to run. Like really fast.

Not-Kyle let go, and when he appeared around the edge of the desk before it slammed into the floor, it was not Kyle at all that stood there, but an unnaturally tall man in a black suit. If it had had a mouth, it would have hissed in disappointment at her. And around her, the students' arms and legs began to stretch, longer and longer, all beginning to reach toward Molly.

"Whoa!" Molly said. "You're a shapeshifter too? Why do the bad guys get all the cool powers?"

She ducked the arms and legs in a baseball slide, quickly scrambling for the door past the students, whom seemed to flicker in and out now. She looked for heavy things to throw at him as she ran...like a dresser from the hallway, and a potted plant, and one of the professor's expensive vases.

None of the items hit the Slenderman, but they did keep it out of arm's reach. It stalked along the hallway after Molly, the slow, methodical movement of a predator that knows it and its prey are the only things around, and nothing can keep the prey from getting away. It moved with an anticipatory quiver, as if it was savoring the moment.

He kind of reminded Molly of a snake, with no face. Voldemort! Her mind was wandering, though. Partially because she was scared, partially because she really wanted to try to find a way out. But if the world was weird then maybe the way out was not gonna be easy. Still, she had to try.

The doors in the hallway opened, but rather than the residents of Xavier's, all of Molly's friends, it was just more and more of the Voldemort guy. And they all looked at her with those creepy blank faces, and started walking toward her as she ran away from them.

They were everywhere. And it was more than Molly was really able to fight so she ran for the safest place there was, hopefully: up the stairs and to a familiar door covered in construction paper flowers and her name. Her room. But the moment she went in there she found nothing in there...not even a door anymore.

Nothing but bare white in all six directions - four walls, ceiling, floor, everything was a smooth featureless white. Not even a light fixture was there to be seen, although the room was well lit. The pure whiteness of it all made it difficult to see how large or small the room actually was.



Firefighters are supposed to rescue you, right? Renee Nguyen finds out that is not always the case.



Suddenly, Renee found herself missing the stifling damp and silence of the subway car. Anything was preferable to what was bearing down on her now. The subway car was gone. The subway was gone. Matt and Hope were gone. Everything was gone except the fire

"HEEEEEEELP! HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELP!" Because what else did you scream in the face of something like that? She started to retreat from it but where would she even run to? There was nothing but darkness and fire but given the option, running toward the darkness seemed like the best choice.

Just as she turned to run, though, she saw a figure emerging from the flames. It looked like... was it a person? "Oh my god, thank god you're here, please please please you have to--" It was a fireman, but there was no face behind the mask and no gloves at the end of its sleeves, just the same strange flipper like appendages she and Molly had seen on the man on the street. This was no ordinary subway fire if such a thing existed, Renee thought as she ran. This was much, much worse.

The strange figure didn't seem to step up his pace and he kept following her with the same unhurried movements as he had made when he walked through the figure. Still... he kept up with her perfectly. He did not do anything else... he just followed her...

Renee glanced over her shoulder as she ran. She hadn't gained any distance. What the hell was going on? "STOP following me!" She actually stopped for a moment and turned around to shout at the figure following her, making sure she was heard. If he didn't stop, she was going to start calling up friends, consequences be damned. Something totally out of her control was going on and she wasn't going to just sit back and let it happen.

He just kept moving towards her at the slow, same steady pace. With one hand he reached out her, it's fingers almost flowing like waves. "You're all alone, child... No one will protect you from this..." With his other hand he gestured and flames raced past him advancing on Renee quickly.

"Oh, that's where you're wrong," she called back, angling her run to one side and fighting back tears. She had to keep her voice confident, she thought even as the heat of the flames built up around her. Anything to try to scare him off. "I'm never really alone." Matt and Hope might've been gone, she might not have a single real person around to help her now, but she had her friends. She always had her friends.

Renee's distraction by the fire meant she could only summon one but maybe it'd be enough. She had to stop and turn around to face the man--sort of man? mutant? spectre? whatever!--chasing her, but it meant she could send the figure she herself summoned aggressively up into his face. "Go away!"

The fireman reached out with his hand, his fingers lengthening into blades and casually cut the spectre down. "That is supposed to be your protector, child? How weak he is... That only proves it more: You are really all alone!" More fire sprung up around Renee, attempting to force her towards the firemen. "Why don't you come with me? You will never have to be alone again..."

Renee collapsed as the fireman cut her friend in two. Damn that hurt. "No no no, I'm not, I can't be, somebody's got to come..." She scrambled forward, away from the fire that was starting to circle around her and the figure. "No!" She crushed her eyes closed and summoned another friend, this one lifting her up, though with considerable difficulty. Maybe if she could get high enough she could see where the flames ended and get them to carry her there. This felt like her last chance at getting away.

The slenderman simply reached up and caught her ankle, pulling her down into his arms. "Come with me, Renee... You will be with me, with us forever.... Never be alone again..."

"With one last burst of energy Renee managed to wrench her ankle away from the creature's grip, but it meant her focus on her friend was broken and she was dropped to the ground anyway. She scooted as far back away from the thing as she could before she got too close to the fire, but there was nowhere left to go. "No, please, I don't want to, they have to come, please just leave me alone..." She was crying but the tears barely made it down her cheeks before evaporating in the oppressive heat. Her lungs were on fire, her body ached, and she knew there was no way she was getting out of this on her own now.

Within moments the creature was crouching down next to her, almost tenderly resting one hand on his leg. "Don't cry, my dear. Your friends don't have to come. You will be safe and sound with us... And never alone..." He reached out with his other arms, attempting to scoop her up in her arms.



Madelyne Pryor is proven so very wrong, and does not land on her feet.



Maddie glanced around at the altered New York City street. A dense fog had descended, blocking out the sun and twisting itself around the tall buildings, cutting them down to their first few floors. The omnipresent traffic had stopped working, not blinking yellow or red as was the case when they usually stopped functioning, but had turned completely. Were it not for the illuminated street lights, turned purple by the haze, and the glow emitting from inside the buildings from behind drawn shades, Maddie would have been quite literally in the dark as to where she was.

It was the City, all right, but not as she had ever seen it. There were no obvious architectural clues as to her current whereabouts to give her a specific location within Manhattan, no tower with a corporation's logo or any other notable storefronts, and any street signs that might have existed seemed to be lost in the fog.

And despite the meteorological condition, the air did not feel heavy to Maddie as she slowly stepped further into the abandoned street. It was cold and clear and dry, and the noxious city smells had disappeared altogether, replaced by the scent of... nothing. It was like being on top of a mountain where the air was cold and crisp and pure. She smelled absolutely nothing. No car fumes or cigarette smoke or urine or even the salty sea air.

"I don't think we're in Kansas anymore, To-To," she whispered loud enough so her traveling companion might hear. For some reason, it just felt right that she should whisper else she disturb the silence and who knew what else.

"Here," Maddie thrust her arm out behind her, "take my hand. You're right, we should stick together." But Maddie's hand remain unheld. But she had expected this; the girl seemed too adverse to people, and too stubborn, to engage in contact in any form.

"Really, Topaz," the redhead remarked, highly annoyed. She spun around to face her companion. "I'm up to date on all my shots. There's no reason to be-" But Topaz was not there, and Maddie was left staring into a dark void. Topaz had been standing right there. Where had she gone?

Maddie inched toward the endless expanse of dark, hand outstretched in anticipation of a wall or doorway of some sort. But her hand glided seemlessly into the black wall with only the disappearance of her hand the only indication of any difference in scenery. She quickly pulled back, and hand visible once again, balled and flexed her fingers, checking for any changes. But there were none. Ever curious, the telepath thrust her hand back into the void. Once again, there was an obvious and distinct line where the dark ended, clearly visible against her pale skin. It was as it her hand had been cut off, but she could still feel her hand as she curled it into a ball then released it once again.

A sound in the distance, the first she had heard since leaving the subway station, startled her and she jumped back. Maddie wasn't sure, but it sounded like a scream, and not a girl's scream either, automatically ruling out the missing Topaz. It almost sounded like, well, like Billy.

"-afraid," she finished, though there was no one around to hear her. What was going on here?

Then there was nothing.

No buildings, no streets, no city. In fact, there was neither sky nor ground. She was floating, yet completely still. Whatever she did, however she moved or whatever direction she tried to go, she was always upright. Yet despite this, Maddie knew she was moving. She could feel her legs working, but each step only took her further into Nowhere, like she was stuck in a giant bubble. That was what she had quickly decided to name this place. It was neither hot nor cold, light nor dark, and there was no up or down or east or west.

In short, she was Nowhere.

But Nowhere didn't mean that there was nobody there. The slow methodical tapping of shoes on tile echoed in the Nowhere, and no matter how Maddie tried to turn around, it always seemed to be coming from behind her. And then the hair on the back of her neck ruffled, as if someone were breathing on it from just out of reach.

"Hello?" Although she was calling out, projecting her voice behind her, Maddie's voice sounded faded and muffled, as if the air was filled with cotton. The faint scent of decomposing roses accompanied each breath, tickling her nose in the most unpleasant manner. With her mind, she reached out to try and find this unknown being, but there was nothing there.

But there was something there. She could physically feel it's presence.

"Who's there?"

There was no answer to her call, though a rising suppuration could be heard. Snatches of whispered conversation, but never enough to provide any context to make sense of, came from all directions. Humidity exacerbated the unpleasant odor of the place, and left a stickiness on Maddie's skin.

With nothing to provide reference, there was no way of knowing how long she remained in the darkness. But then, a faint light appeared, seeming to be simultaneously far away and just out of reach.

She reached up to shield her eyes, for as faint as the light might be, it was still a stark contrast to the darkness that had consumed her. It's a trick, Maddie told herself. Because whatever this was, it thought it knew her, that she could be controlled. This Thing, this Place, it wanted her to go toward the light. The thought almost made her laugh (What? Her? Controlled? Manipulated so easily? As if.) but caught herself just in time; she couldn't let It know she was onto It.

As Maddie's eyes adjusted and her hand lowered, she could tell that this pinprick of light was all there was. It did nothing to illuminate the darkness. But it gave her an idea.

How foolish she was! She could make light. This Place, with its shifting and changing, felt Astral in nature. Why hadn't she picked up on this sooner? And now that the idea had dawned on her, of course she felt the electric power of psionic energy just waiting to be manipulated. She could practically hear Haller telling her that she was only limited by her imagination.

"All right," Maddie said to the Darkness. "Two can play at this game, asshole." And with a deep breath, drawing in the energy and her focus to her inner flame, the world exploded into light. A light so pure and bright that Maddie herself was almost blinded by its brilliance.

They were going to play on her terms now.

The flash revealed a figure, flinching away from the light Maddie had created. A long-limbed, featureless man in a black suit. One of the Slendermen that had been pursuing all of the New Mutants. Even though it had no eyes, the thing still had a hand up, trying to shield itself from the sudden glare. Its limbs thrashed angrily, then began to reach for the redhead.

"Awww, I'm sorry." She mocked as the figure as it thrashed and stumbled toward her. It took her a few moments to realize that the figure fit the description of the creature that had been stalking her fellow students. Well, Maddie wasn't above admitting she was wrong and apologizing to everyone. But first she had to get the hell out of dodge.

"Oh. Nope," she jumped away from the creature's grabby hands. "Can't catch me."

But it wasn't really trying to catch her, Maddie noticed. It wasn't advancing or trying very hard to grab at her appendages. Which meant that there was something else going on in its mind. Some other form of attack. You didn't just stop trying to catch something when it was so close. It could have surged forward if it wanted, but it didn't. Which was... confusing.

She stood still, studying the creature. What exactly was its game? What did it want from her? From all of them?

Despite the lack of features, something about the way the Slenderman was holding itself made it very clear that it was smiling. No. Not smiling. Smirking. Maddie had spent enough time smirking herself to know what it looked like. It had her in the palm of its hand.

Focus, Maddie, focus, she reminded herself. What changed? Why was it smirking?

There was an itch at the back of her head. Her eyes flashed in a moment of panic; something was trying to get into her mind. It couldn't be the thing before her, impossible, it didn't have a telepathic signature, how could it reach for her mind? Her heart raced and her breathing quickened; the world was spinning out of control. Nothing made any sense.

No. She wasn't going to panic. Deep calming breaths. Concentrate. She imagine a healing light spreading all over her body, drawing from her center. Wait. No. There was something pulling at her center, like a hose had been hooked up and it was siphoning off some of her inner light. When Maddie looked down out to reassure herself nothing of the sort was happening, she realize that she was wrong for the second time that day.

There were lines, nearly invisible like heat waves on a hot summer day, flowing from her body connecting her to the creature in black. Was this real, Maddie asked herself as she slowly raised her hand to the invisible rope. Solid. She tapped at. No sound was made, but this connection was definitely solid. And maybe if it could pull her, she could pull too, get whatever it was taking back.

With renewed confidence, she wrapped her hand around the lines and gave it a strong tug until her hand was resting close to her body. It was like a cool breeze over her body. Maddie smirked; it was working. She quickly reeled herself back in, hand over hand, her eyes locked on blank face of the failing non-man. "Looks like you got outsmarted again," she quipped. "I wonder if all Slendermen are this stupid or if you were off staring at shiny objects when they were handing out-"

A sharp jolt in her abdomen cut Maddie's taunt short. It didn't hurt, more of a jolt of relief than pain, like when you cracked your knuckles or neck while stretching and released all that lactic acid. A quick glance down was enough to confirm her suspicion that all of her was back in place. With some to spare, in fact, it seemed, judging by the black cloud floating in her hands. It had to have come from the creepy skinny bastard, that was the only thing that made sense; there had to be an anchor of some sort to keep the connection.

"Oops. Looks like I have something of your- shit." Her eyes widened with terror as the creature started to charge her. With no time to react, Maddie did the only thing she could think of: she threw the ball of black mist back at its owner, with a little telekinetic shock added for good measure.

It worked. The figure froze, its muscles seizing up leaving it paralyzed as the motion of its attack carried it forward face-first into the ground. There it lay, unmoving, for several moments as Maddie stared at it in disbelief. "It worked," she whispered in elation. She could rescue everyone! Then the reality of the situation hit her. There was no way she could take on nine other of these things all over the place.

She kicked the not-man's head in frustration. "Dammit! Dammit dammit dammit! Ew." The Slenderman was oozing and melting like wax off a candle into a pool of black goo at her feet. It hissed and sizzled, emitting a stench that could only be described as a mixture of foot funk, hot tar, rotten eggs, and urine. Maddie gagged. The body had melted to goo and the goo was evaporating into the air, revealing a hole that looked down on a New York City busy with life. A way out!

There was no time to search for the others, the hole was slowly closing, the fabric of the world repairing itself, and Maddie didn't know if she would be able to get out again. She could either stay here and risk facing more of these Slendermen, or she could escape and try to find help. No one had believed the others, but she was a telepath- she would make them believe.

But first she had to let them know there was a way for them to get out. In case she couldn't get back with help.

~It's not real. You can fight back. I'm going to get help.~

Then she jumped.

Down down down she fell. Tumbling, turning, not knowing which way was up. Her body feeling like it was about to explode, like one of those cartoons where the skin was ripped off, then the muscles, falling back into place only after the ground stopped the descent. And then she slammed onto the sidewalk outside the subway station butt first, followed quickly by the entire contents of her stomach.

Ah gravity. Thou art a heartless bitch.



Susan Storm is pulled under, and cannot save her brother.



Sue had started to lag behind Tandy and Billy as they explored the station. Although she knew that it wasn't a good idea Sue had been jumping at every shadow and flicker of light, she just couldn't help herself. The thought of being stalked again was almost consuming her mind, last time she hadn't know anything was wrong and look how that had turned out, she couldn't help but wonder what would happen next. Lost in her thoughts Sue felt something brush against her foot, although she didn't manage to catch sight of whatever it had been the thought that something else was alive down here was strangely comforting. Feeling happier Sue rushed to catch up with Billy and Tandy when she felt something else brush against her foot. But it wasn't alone, and it wasn't just passing by this time. Sue stared at the floor in disbelief, there were hands growing out of the floor, a veritable forest of hands surrounded the girl, all swaying towards her. Sue couldn't help but scream as one after the other the hands grabbed hold of her legs, as she tried to kick free. All thoughts of throwing up a forcefield to defend herself vanished, washed away in a sea of pure terror as the hands actually started to pull her into the floor.

Down, down, down she traveled. Deep into the darkness. Other hands reaching to touch her. Long, strong fingers tugging at her jeans. Grasping at the ends of her coat. Running over her scalp and through her blonde hair. Tracing the lines of her face, caressing her cheek, their touch ice cold. Although there was no sound, Sue could almost hear the evil cackling deep in the back of her mind. The hands were laughing, and she was the butt of their joke.

For what seemed an eternity, though was probably no more than a few seconds, she was pulled down into the earth. Then, as if some forceful directive had been issued, the hands reluctantly retreated, and she was left alone. The darkness now was that of her eyelids drawn down over her eyes. But even before she opened them, Sue knew precisely where she was. The hum of computers, the smell of stale air, everything was familiar to her, for she was in a place she knew she would never forget as long as she lived.

She was in his laboratory.

"Sue!" The desperate voice of young boy called out. "Sue! Wake up Sue!"

"Johnny?" Sue blinked as she looked around for her brother, this couldn't be right he was in California wasn't he...they'd been here before....they'd gotten out right? "Johnny, what're you doing here? What's going on?"

He was in cage, identical to the one she had been kept in while held prisoner in this same lab. It appeared, however, that the good doctor had stepped outside for a moment as he was nowhere to be found.

"They took me Sue!" Her brother said in a panic. "Doctor Mole-Mole-Moleface says he's gonna do something to me. You have to help me, Sue!" He reached at the bars and tried to shake them free, to no avail. "Sue! Help me!"

With a cry of pure animal horror Sue ran to the cage pulling futilely at the bars. "Hold on Johnny, I'll get you out. Everything's going to be ok, you'll see. I'll get you out and we'll go home. Nothing to worry about." The girl's hands scrabbled in the dirt grabbing hold of the closest thing she could find, a large rock. Raising the stone over her head she brought it down on the padlock holding the door closed. Once, twice, thrice the rock came down; sparks flew from the padlock but when Sue stopped to check it there wasn't a mark on the lock.

Dropping the rock with a wretched sob Sue sank to the ground grabbing the rock with both hands and pulling with all her strength. Tears clouded her vision and her shoulders shook with barely restrained sobs. He couldn't have Johnny, not her brother.

"Well, well, well," an amused voice said. The sound of muffled footsteps from somewhere behind her grew closer and closer. "If it isn't Miss Susan Storm. What an honor it is to have you join us today."

Sue span around to face the shadow draped figure who had snuck up behind her. She didn't need to see him to know who it was. "You!" Her eyes widened as she moved in between Johnny and the man. "Don't come any closer." She warned him throwing the strongest forcefield she could up around the cage Johnny was trapped in.

"I won't," the doctor promised. "But they will."

As he spoke, two lumps of dirt began to slowly pull themselves out of the earthen ground beside, growing and shifting until they settled into shape as two golems. The lumpy, stumpy creatures latched on to Sue's arms and dragged her towards their master. "Useful little creatures," he remarked almost fondly. "Aren't they?"

Certain that the girl was secure and would pose no further risk to his plans, the doctor crossed the subterranean room and situated himself at his workstation. "It is good or me that you are here," he commented over his shoulder as his hands busied themselves preparing several syringes, all with very large needles. "You will be able to return to your father and tell him of my genius."

"He was a fool to dismiss me. And then you, my dear, escaped and my lab was destroyed. But it is no matter, only a small setback to a genius like me." He turned and flashed Sue a very nasty grin. Another golem formed at his side to carry the tray of syringes the doctor floated back to the cage where the screaming had ceased from the boy inside. "However, my investors are growing impatient. They expected results this summer, and I have had to delay supplying them. But Johnny here," he patted the cage, "is a good boy, not a brat like you. So I am sure that he will be quite cooperative."

"Of course, this experiment being untested, he will probably perish. But such are the sacrifices that come with scientific breakthroughs. You understand, Susan."

"You can't! It's not him you want, it's me. Leave him alone, please!" The girl begged, sobbing as she struggled futilely against the grasp of the golems. "Please!"

Johnny and the Doctor seemed to be standing further and further away their voices fading with the distance. What didn't fade was Johnny's cry of pain. A sound that cut through the girl who renewed her struggles in the golems arms. As if in reaction the golems dropped her face first onto the dirt floor. Sue scrabbled up, determined to get back to her brother and ran headfirst into a dirt wall. The golems had vanished, fading away into the earth they had come from; earth that now surround the girl.

Sue found herself in a small cube, dirt walls pressing in all around her; no way in and no way out. But still the screams didn't stop, Sue could still hear her brother's cries of pain as if she was in the same room, could still hear him calling for her, begging her to save him. Sue threw herself at the wall her outstretched hands clawing desperately at the dirt. She had to get through, she had to save him. Behind the wall o dirt...was more dirt...and more dirt.

Abruptly an ear-piercing scream echoed around the small cave and then there was nothing, only silence. "Johnny? Johnny! Say something"" Sue threw herself bodily at the wall, hoping for a sound, any sign that her brother was still alive. But there was nothing, only silence answered her pleas. Tears streaked unheeded down Sue's face and her fingers clawed lines down the wall as she sank to the floor, her breath coming in ragged gasps and sobs wracked her body.

"Sue?" Johnny's voice came hesitantly, a disembodied sound that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. "Why? Why didn't you save me? You're my big sister, you're supposed to keep me safe, you're supposed to be there when I need you. Why weren't you there?" "Johnny?" Sue pulled herself to her feet her eyes searching all over the room. "Where are you?" Sue couldn't figure out where Johnny was speaking from. "What's going on?" she whispered, seeming to fold in on herself. "I tried, Johnny. I..he was too strong. I couldn't...he just." All the strength seemed to flow out of the girl and she slid to the floor defeated. "I'm sorry." she whispered, "It's my fault, it's all my fault. He never wanted you, he came after me and now you're...It should have been me."

"Susan." Another disembodied voice echoed around Sue, but where the previous one had been sorrowful, this one was stern. "I'm disappointed in you. I expect more from a child of mine," Franklin Storm said. "No child of mine can be a failure. I won't permit it." The frown he must have been wearing was practically audible in his voice. "I can only conclude you are not my daughter."

"Daddy?" If it was possible Sue sank even lower, "No! I didn't mean for...I tried my best...Don't say that. Please, you didn't say it before, why now?" All of a sudden Sue's shoulder's straightened with a surge of energy. "Why now?" she asked in a louder voice. "Last time Johnny almost died because of me and you didn't say any of this. I was too blind to see it then but you were just worried about me. You always have been." A spark of anger kindled in the blondes eyes. "There's no way my father would ever say that. You're not really him are you?" she screamed at the earthen walls. "That mean's Johnny's still safe in LA." The relief Sue felt at the realization that her brother was safe was soon washed away in a surge of anger.

"You were using me weren't you! Come out and face me instead of hiding behind your tricks and whispers!" she demanded. But only a mocking silence answered her, a silence which echoed around the small cave reminded Sue where she was. feeling the familiar terror of being underground creeping up on her Sue cringed down for a moment before vigorously shaking her head and standing up straighter. "No! I'm not staying here!" With a determined look on her face the girl reached for the dirt wall above her head pulling at it. The falling dirt was reminisent of the last time she had seen Dr Molekevic, when he tried to bury her alive, but lost in a haze of anger Sue no longer cared. She was getting out