Chapter 10 by Green

Chapter 10

By Green

Sunside headquarters really was your generic villain’s lair. Gray, dungeon-like halls. Hands cuffed behind my back. Poor lighting. I really didn’t understand why bad guys inconvenienced themselves walking around in the dark.

I half expected the Sunside Dreamer that I met to give me a rough push like they did in the movies as he escorted me. But he didn’t. He was actually quite nice and opened the doors for me very politely. I almost had the urge to say thank you.

Instead I asked, “So what’s your name?”

He didn’t answer until we walked a good distance, and even then, his response was short. “Rohan.”

The interrogation room was exactly my expectation though. One table, two chairs, a lamp. Rohan pointed at the chair I was to sit in, and I took a seat without further persuasion. The door on the other side of the room opened and out stepped another man holding a very pointy-looking needle. I couldn’t sense any disloyalty from him.

“Wait,” I said. Both Sunside men paused and stared at me.

“Why are you doing this?” I said, to Rohan in particular.

He glanced at the other Sunside Dreamer before shrugging. “I don’t know.”

“Don’t act like you’re so special, kid,” the other one said. He couldn’t have been two years older than me. “It’s your power we want. And when Freya is done with you—”

“Just stick the needle in him,” said Rohan. I squirmed as the second Dreamer came nearer and he had to grab my arm and jab the needle in my like a stabbing knife.

“What was that?” I demanded.

“So you stay in the Dreamworld,” Rohan said. “And you don’t escape by waking up.”

“How long will it last?”

“An hour.”

“Stop answering his questions like an idiot,” Rohan’s partner growled. “You’d think you were the one were being interrogated.”

The two of them left the room but not before Rohan looked over his shoulder at me. Then it was silent. Just me in a big, poorly lit room. I hope Bluu, Frazer, and Eric are okay, I thought. I bet either Freya or one of her high-ranking henchmen will come to see me. That should give the others time to rally the allies they’ve converted without any heads noticing. But let’s be realistic here, how long can I last against black tendrils or whatever superpower is shot at me? I’m just an emotion manipulator. I solve puzzles. I tugged at the restraints binding my hands behind my back. And I have no hands.

I sensed the disloyalty before I saw the person entering the room. He was middle-aged, older than both Rohan and the other Dreamer. He wore a black choker around his neck, along with a short man bun ponytail.

“So you’re the Jimmy Cartwright that everyone’s been talking about,” he said, sitting in the opposite chair.

“And you are?” I asked warily.

“Spencer Sno,” he said. His eyes were silvery blue. The air around me suddenly felt very chilly. I reminded myself that I was in the Dreamworld—my physical body wouldn’t get hurt. But that didn’t stop me from wondering or fearing whatever this guy’s ability was.

“Where’s Freya?” I asked. “She’s the one I have unfinished business with.”

“Ah, tough guy, aren’t you? You should know my ability will give the same outcome as hers.” Spencer leaned forward. “I will freeze your brain until you are nothing but a mindless walking statue. And then you’ll follow our bidding, just as planned.”

Oh shit. I didn’t think it would be that easy for him. Or that fast.

“Where are you keeping my friends?” I demanded, trying to get more time. Spencer was already standing up.

“Your friends?” he said. “You’ve only known them for less than a week. You don’t know what dark secrets they might have.”

“They’re better than you and your crazy lot, that’s for sure,” I retorted. “I’d bet my money on them over you anyday.”

“Really?” Spencer smiled. He began to slowly walk around the table towards me. “I don’t see your friends coming to save you now.”

Spencer’s emotions were a mix of anticipation, caution, and determination.

C’mon, emotion manipulator. You don’t need hands to solve puzzles, just your head. I stared as hard as I could at him, willing him to feel more cautious and hesitant. I’d never tried this before. I was becoming desperate. Spencer stopped for a second. Then he just smiled and kept walking towards me. His hand reached out for my head.

“Why are you doing this?” I asked as my last resort. His cold fingers touched my forehead.

“I don’t know,” he answered.

I felt a brain freeze hitting me like I swallowed ten tons of ice cream at once. My mind went blank, white as ice, and my whole body stiffened. Stillness. Cold shivers. Then nothing. Spencer withdrew his hand. His eyes sparkled.

“Rise,” he commanded.

I rose. He untied my hands; I barely struggled. He walked out the door, beckoning me to follow and I did. Like a robot.

As we headed down the dark hall, we began to come across other Sunside Dreamers. They shied away from Spencer but sneered at me. My eyes were fixed straight ahead, my movements automatic, with only one thought: do as Spencer said. Though my face was stoney, deep down I still hoped this wasn’t for nothing. I hoped Bluu, Frazer, and Eric had made it to the hostages and weren’t dead yet—

At the end of the hall was a set of double doors guarded by two Dreamers. Their faces were as still as mine. They let us through without any questioning. This was the room where the hostages were supposed to be kept.

But the people here weren’t hostages. Except for three new additions. Crap. Eric and Bluu both knelt on the floor with their hands tied. The Dreamers surrounding them parted for Spencer and I to pass through. I thought I saw Rohan’s face in the crowd but there were too many people present for me to decipher, too many emotions swarming my mind. Coupled with the brain freeze, it was a real headache.

Frazer stood before his sister. His hands were not tied yet. Next to Freya’s feet was the backpack of antidote vials. Freya held one in her hand and turned it over in the light like it was a curious specimen. But she knew exactly what it was.

“Looks like you lost,” Freya said when she saw us approach. “Game over, brother.”

Frazer glanced behind his shoulder. A look of alarm crossed his face when he witnessed my blank expression. I was helpless. My brain was still frozen, my limbs with it.

“You got him,” Frazer finally said in resignation. “You got what you wanted. Just let all my friends go.” “

So the Wang Group can rise up and challenge me again?” Freya laughed. “No thanks. Soon, Sunside will be strong enough to take down Nozpin and our old daddy will regret messing with me.”

She raised the antidote vial triumphantly as she said that.

“Dad put limits on us for our own good,” Frazer argued.

“Really? Because it seems like it made you weaker.”

Black tendrils burst from her arm and stabbed towards Frazer. But Frazer was the fastest man I ever saw; he ducked and the tendrils hit a couple of Sunside henchmen, who howled in pain. Freya didn’t seem to care and made another shot at her brother. He was crouched on the ground and pressed his hands to the floor.

A spark of shock penetrated my brain freeze when I saw the same—yet different—black tendrils blast out of the ground to meet Freya’s. They pushed against each other like wrestlers, allowing Frazer enough time to leap away. Freya’s tendrils finally shoved his back into the ground. Of course. Their abilities were the same. Black Ribbon.

“We have Jimmy Cartwright,” Freya snarled at her brother. She kept shooting tendrils at him, which made the crowd shuffle backwards to avoid getting hit. “We’ll test the limits of his power and have him warp the minds of all who stand in our way.”

“He will resist you!” Frazer shouted back. “We will all resist you!”

“How?” she cackled. “Your friends are captured. Spencer has frozen Jimmy’s brain; he’s practically a mere puppet already. And you are outmatched and outnumbered.”

Multiple tendrils sprouted from her other arm, so she looked like a dark octopus waving its tentacles in the air.

“You’re in the middle of Sunside territory. You’ll never escape me again. Not even your precious co-founder Kristen Wang can save you with the number of Sunside members I have.”

“Oh?” Frazer stopped dodging and straightened. “How many Sunsiders do you have, really?”

“The number of people here barely make half of them!”

“Then I bet you won’t mind if we cut that in half again.”

A blur darted across the room. Freya spun towards it but it was long out of her range. She looked around in confusion. The backpack of antidotes was gone.

In that moment, Spencer turned his silver eyes on me. And winked.

What happened afterwards was utter confusion. Neighbors in the crowd turned on each other. All sorts of abilities were activated and the whole room became a Dreamworld mess. One Sunside Dreamer lunged at me, and it was easy to guess whose side he was on. He had dagger-like claws for nails and elongated fangs that aimed for my neck. I did not appreciate the vampiric resemblance, especially since I had no garlic. Spencer’s hand shot forward and my assailant was on the ground in seconds, frozen still in lunging motion.

“You good?” he said. I opened my mouth to reply but he grabbed my shirt and yanked me forward. Spencer reached over my bent body and froze another attacker behind me.

“Yeah, thanks,” I said breathlessly.

“Great. Now help the fire-breathing idiot.” Spencer pointed in Eric and Bluu’s direction, shoved me towards them, and ran off to freeze more people. Needless to say he was friends with Eric, which I found iconic. Fire and ice.

Rohan was already untying Eric and Bluu when I rushed over in the havoc. I saw the antidote backpack next to him.

“Was that you?” I asked. “The blur that ran past?”

“Superspeed,” Rohan answered simply. He stuck out his hands and helped Eric and Bluu stand up.

“Freya moved the hostages,” Bluu told me. “We have to find them.”

“I know where they are,” said Rohan.

Eric nodded towards the exit. “Go. The rest of us will buy you time. Hey, Jimmy, where’s the cold-hearted douchebag Spencer?”

In the midst of all this chaos, I managed to smile. “Not sure anymore. He told me to go help a certain fire-breathing idiot.”

“Well damn, job done. Now get out of here.”

Bluu, Rohan, and I ducked and slipped and dodged our way towards the exit. We had assistance from presumed Sunside allies who blocked enemies from reaching us.

It had been Eric and Frazer’s job to tally all the potential Sunside defects and plan for them to gather here. My job was to locate one of these Sunside defects—someone feeling disloyal, in this case Rohan—and have them take me to the interrogation room. Eric’s buddy Spencer was one of Freya’s top Dreamers. His ability was perfect for “capturing” me; it made sense to have Freya let him handle it. Everything had gone according to plan except now.

We still had to find our friends.