The Storybook Dimension

See disclaimer.

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The Weakest Color

Chapter 17: Rotten Eggs (With a Side of Treason)

–

The voice came from far away.

“Wake up!” Someone was shaking him roughly, rousing Bridge from a deep sleep. “Bridge, you have to get up. We have a training session with Cruger this morning. Wake up!”

Another shake.

“Just because you stay out all night doesn’t mean that you can get out of training.” Sky grabbed a handful of blanket and pulled. “Get up!”

Bridge groaned, and rolled over to face his roommate.

“Are you sick? What’s wrong with you?”

“I… I don’t feel very well,” Bridge managed, opening his eyes a crack. And it was true. Not even the Troobians knew what the effects of Mora’s machine would be, and Bridge felt far worse than he had last night.

“Maybe you should go to the infirmary, ” Sky suggested. “But you better make up your mind quickly, since we have a training session in…” he looked at his watch. “Fifteen minutes.”

“No, I’m… I’m okay. I’ll change, and then we’ll go,” Bridge said, sitting up with a wince.

“Are you sure?” Sky asked. He had seen Bridge injured and even sick many times before, but this time he seemed somehow… different. “I’m not sure this is such a good idea.”

“I’m fine,” Bridge replied, shrugging on his uniform. “Let’s go.” He walked through the door, a little unsteadily, with Sky following close behind him.

–

For some reason, Piggy couldn’t stop his hands from shaking. Another rotten egg flopped out of his spatula, falling in the crack between the stove and the counter.

“Where’s my food?” An irate customer growled, pounding his hands down on the counter. The salt and pepper shakers fell over, and rolled away. “Look, here’s your money,” Piggy snapped, shoving it back over the counter. “Take it. We’re closed today.” He slammed the door to the trailer shut.

A few moments later, three quick knocks came on the door. “We’re closed!” Piggy shouted shrilly. “Can’t you read the sign?”

The banging continued. “Open up! Emperor Gruumm wants to see you!” Piggy opened the door a crack, only to have a very large and very intimidating monster shove it open all the way, knocking him backwards.

“Who are you?” Piggy asked, nervously eying the monster’s sharp claws.

“I am Invisor, and I serve Mora and her master, Emperor Gruumm. You are the alien called Piggy.” The monster pulled him to his feet. “Emperor Gruumm wants to talk to you, and he doesn’t like to be kept waiting.”

–

A cool breeze drifted across the grounds of SPD headquarters. Sky ignored the rustling of the trees, and concentrated his posture, raising his sword into an offensive position.

He took a deep breath, centering himself. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Bridge mimic his movements and, on an unspoken signal, both rangers attacked.

Steel met steel as Cruger parried and blocked. Quickly spinning around, the commander disarmed Bridge in one quick move. His sword impaled itself into the grass a short distance away, and Sky continued his attack, trading blows until a misstep sent Sky’s sword flying as well.

“Good.” Cruger said. “Try it again. This time, think of the sword as an extension of yourself. You need to concentrate more on your movements, and less on the sword itself.”

Bridge reached for his sword, but before he could touch it, a strange energy arched the distance. The sword began to glow green and shake, the energy travelling outwards from the hilt. Pulling itself free of the ground, the weapon flew into his waiting hands.

Bridge panicked and dropped the sword. ‘Did I do that?’ Bridge looked at his gloved hands, and then back at Cruger and Sky, who were both staring at him.

Cruger walked over and carefully picked up Bridge’s sword, examining it closely. It looked to be just an ordinary sword, with no sign of what had happened before. “Bridge, what happened?”

“I don’t know. I mean, it’s never happened before, at least not that I remember.” Bridge said, trying to think up a coherent excuse. He certainly couldn’t tell them the truth, that his powers had been altered by an experimental Troobian machine!

“Maybe it’s because you’re sick,” Sky suggested, inadvertently giving Bridge a way out.

Cruger took a careful look at the ranger in front of him. Bridge’s reaction times had been slower than usual, but Cruger had attributed that to fatigue. “How long have you been sick?”

“Just since this morning,” Bridge said. “But I’m sure it’s nothing really, maybe just a cold or some sort of flu, not like an alien flu, just the normal kind…”

“Nevertheless, cadet, if you feel ill you should go to the infirmary. You are dismissed from this morning’s training exercise. I expect you to go straight to the infirmary, is that understood?”

“Yes, sir.”

–

“Let’s continue,” Cruger said, making a mental note to talk to Kat later. Illness was one thing, but suddenly developing telekinetic powers was a completely different thing.

Sky nodded and slowly picked up his sword, a conflicted expression on his face.

“Is there something you’d like to tell me, Sky?” Cruger finally asked.

“Bridge has been acting really strange recently.” Sky explained hesitantly. “I don’t really know what to think.”

Cruger blinked, hiding his surprise. He knew how close Sky and Bridge were. For Sky to mention that there were issues between the two, meant that things were serious indeed. “Do you think he’s a danger to himself or the team?”

“Yes… no… I don’t know.” Sky said, and shook his head. “It’s just a feeling.”

Cruger studied Sky for far longer than was comfortable. “Stress can make people act in strange ways. You’re his teammate, and his friend. Try to help him as much as you can, but keep a close eye on him. If anything else comes up, tell me.”

Sky nodded, and raised his sword once more.

–

From Piggy’s current position on the floor, Gruumm’s throne was even larger and more intimidating than usual. Not to mention the warlord himself, who was scowling and tapping his foot on the floor, his staff glowing menacingly. “Piggy,” Gruumm said, “I’ve heard a great deal about you.”

“And most of it hasn’t been very good,” Mora added, “so you’d better be nice.” Her doll’s head flopped forward, and Piggy noticed that it was ragged and missing a button eye. “Do you like my doll? Her name is Cindy.” Mora gave Piggy a malicious smile.“She used to have two eyes, but she didn’t always do what I told her to. She was stubborn, and didn’t listen very well. Now she only has one.”

Piggy gulped, and tried his best to look innocent. “I’m just a simple restaurant owner, I…” Gruumm nodded towards Invisor, and the monster effortlessly picked him up, shaking him roughly. “Ouch!”

“I hear you’ve been talking to Broodwing. What is he planning?” Gruumm demanded, scowling at his captive.

“I’m kind of a public figure. I… I speak to lots of people!”

“Maybe some time in my prison will loosen your tongue. Take him away!”

“Wait, no, you don’t understand!” Piggy begged, as the monster dragged him from the throne room.

Mora gave her sweetest smile. “Maybe if you told us what you knew about Broodwing, then we’d understand.”

“Uh…” Piggy hesitated. “Broodwing likes rotten egg sandwiches?”

“Take him out of my sight!” Gruumm rumbled angrily. The bones on his armor rattled as the Emperor of the Troobians got to his feet, a murderous look on his face.

After that, Piggy was more than happy to allow Invisor to lead him from the room. Who would have known that Gruumm would take a simple joke so badly?

Piggy shrugged. Some people just had no sense of humor.

–

“Well, I can’t find anything wrong with you, besides a slightly elevated pulse and blood pressure.” The doctor gave Bridge a reassuring smile, which he half-heartedly returned.

“May I?” Kat asked, coming to stand next to the bed.

“Certainly, Dr. Manx,” The doctor replied, handing the instruments over to Kat. Closing the curtains around the bed, she left the room, the door closing behind her.

Once they were alone, Kat spoke again. “Doggie told me what happened earlier. I didn’t think that telekinesis was one of your powers: have you ever been able to move things with your mind before?”

Bridge shook his head. “I think that it’s a new power, because I’ve never had it happen before. I mean, weird things happen when I’m not wearing gloves, but I was wearing them that time and it still happened.”

“Can you show me?” Kat pointed at an empty glass on the bedside table. “Try to move that.”

Bridge stretched out his hand and concentrated, closing his eyes.

Nothing happened.

No green energy, no movement. The glass stayed perfectly still. Bridge turned back to Kat with an apologetic shrug. “I can’t get it to work anymore. I’m not really sure how I did it the first time, either.”

“That’s okay. We’ll try again later,” said Kat. “Has anything else happened lately with your powers?”

“Yes.” Bridge admitted. “They’ve been harder to control, and sometimes I get visions…”

“Visions?” Kat interrupted, slightly alarmed. “Of what?”

“Things that might happen, maybe.” Bridge said, mixing truth with the lies. “They’re usually small things like, I don’t know, what someone is going to eat for lunch or where they’re going to go on vacation.”

“I’d have to run some further tests in my labs, but it sounds like your powers might be evolving.” Kat replied thoughtfully. “I’ll need a blood sample to be sure.”

“Oh, okay.” Bridge said, and internally cringed. He had never completely gotten over his childhood fear of needles, and looked away as she drew blood from one of his veins, and carefully labeled the sample with his name and date of birth. “Try to take it easy the next few days, okay?”

Bridge nodded. That was easier said than done.

–

Bridge was bored. Cruger had dismissed him from all training and exercises for the day, leaving him with very little to do. There weren’t even any monster attacks – the city had been quiet lately, and he suspected that Gruumm was preparing for a final assault on SPD which, judging by the last few days, Bridge was meant to play a major part in.

Bridge forced himself to relax and to think of other things. There was nothing he could do about it right now, so there was no point worrying about things that might happen in the future.

“Psst!”

Bridge heard a muffled noise, and looked around for the source.

The noise came again, and it took him a few seconds to realize that it was coming from his datapad, which was laying face-down on the floor. Bridge cautiously walked over and picked it up. He immediately wished that he hadn’t. “Broodwing! What do you want?”

“You’ve made a serious mistake, green ranger,” The bat said with a knowing smirk. “My informants within SPD tell me that you gave the scientist Kat Manx a sample of your blood.”

‘News travels fast.’ Bridge thought, and suddenly realized that Broodwing must have spies within the science department. He’d have to be more careful from now on. “Yes, I did. So what?”

“You really are as dumb as you look.” Broodwing said condescendingly. “The Genetic Accelerator altered you on a genetic level, and tests on your blood will show that.”

“Then I’ll just tell them that it happened all on its own.” Bridge countered. After all, not even Kat was an expert on mutant DNA – anything was possible when you were dealing with superpowers, after all.

“And maybe they’ll believe you,” Broodwing said. “Or maybe they’ll decide that you’re not actually you at all, and instead a replacement, an imperfect copy,” he smiled wickedly. “Didn’t think of that, did you?”

Bridge hadn’t thought of that, but he wasn’t about to admit it to Broodwing. “Well, there’s nothing I can do about it – I mean, that sample is probably in secure storage by now. Why are you telling me this, anyhow?”

“Why did I tell you?” The mercenary looked almost affronted. “We’re partners, and partners do things for each other. Now it’s time for you to do something for me. You see, you’re going to help me dispose of a turncoat. He’s become a liability to my plans, and must be eliminated.”

Bridge’s mind was racing with the possibilities. “Does this person work at SPD?”

“No, of course not,” The bat said scornfully. “Don’t worry, he’s not even human. He’s an alien, a sneak and a coward.”

“I believe you know him as Piggy.”

—

To Be Continued

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