ASBO-Boy: The Core of the problem

Nia blinked away the dust and salty grime as they emerged into the control room. The journey through the tunnels was a sweaty blur. She watched Mike’s knees collapse as he lowered Flicker to the floor. She was now totally unconscious and barely breathing despite Malady and Nia’s best efforts.

Beside her, Malady snuffled, wiping her nose down her skin-suit sleeve. Nia’s own suit was torn and battered, the soft velvety purple material transformed and aged by the dirt. Malady’s hand hadn’t left Nia’s in the dark hours they’d been trapped under ground, nor had the younger girl spoken. Even though they weren’t so far apart in age, Malady seemed so much younger than she was, and Nia felt old and motherly.

“You took your time,” came a voice from behind a console of computer screens. It was Vue. Strength returned to her from nowhere as she charged up the stairs to confront him. He didn’t even look up, she stood there glaring at him until he summoned the effort to talk, “Yes?” he said, his eyes still scanning the windows of lists on the ancient computers.

“We have to get out,” Mike gasped in between breaths. His limbs were beginning to droop and sway like springs stretched beyond their elastic limit.

“I know, I know, but I haven’t got what I came for yet.” He replied petulantly.

“Dare we even ask what this place is?” The tall girl who controlled electricity asked.

“A distribution centre.” Vue replied, “A product of late twentieth century engineering. We unearthed it two years ago during our so-called Battle. There wasn’t a battle nor anything approaching one. Just us and this place.” He squinted blearily into the screen and them beamed, “Ha! I love computers.” The girl Arc-Light shook her head and wandered off. The ground shook again with increased vigour, around them Nia heard plaster slipping from the walls.

“Where are the others? The Elementals?” Mike asked.

“Tied up over there,” Vue jerked a thumb behind him.

“No they aren’t.” Arc-Light returned in a sing-song fashion.

“Really? Damn,” Vue said with the conviction of someone who’s disappointed there isn’t enough milk left for another cup of tea. “Ah well, it wont matter in a bit.”

The back of the room exploded and two forms barrelled into the room with the force of a Rhino stampede. Nia ducked out of the way and squinted through the dust. Something was glowing at the centre of the fray and Swelter emerged with a grunt as he was thrown across the room and into a wall. Something roared with inhuman potency and another form followed Swelter across the room. It looked like a tree.

“Bark!” Mike shouted as he emerged from the dust. Nia looked around – Vue had disappeared and Malady was dragging Flicker out of the way.

Nia was about to crawl after Malady when a strange feeling came over her. Suddenly, she was weightless and she began to float into the air along with everyone else. Sound was extinguished and her senses began telling her she was under water.

Figures emerged through the enormous hole in the wall. Marshmallowed men in enormous suits followed by a tall man in a long coat and a black trilby hat. One of the figures in a protective suit was holding a large lamp that was giving off an eery glow. Her skin suddenly erupted in chilling goose pimples as she discerned a shape, floating in the lamp. It was a baby. Waves of nausea and anger swept through her limbs like fire. They were using harnessing the power of babies? Infant Others – turned on like light bulbs? The very idea was ludicrous. It was cruelty so profound it went beyond anything she’d ever heard of before.

“Begin transporting the children out,” the figure in the hat commanded, “The Elementals should be taken to Cefn-Coed. The ASBOs will be escorted back to Sandfileds to await trial.”

Nia looked around to the others but found she couldn’t move her head. From the corners of her eyes she could see some of the others frozen in looks of surprise, their bodies suspended in the air like puppets. One of the suited men approached her and attached a noose-like rope around her wrist. She could only watch in horror as she was pulled through the air like a balloon.

They were all pulled outside, emerging into the early morning light and the husk of an old cast-iron framed building. It looked as though they were in the rib-cage of an enormous felled beast. It took Nia a moment to realise where they were – the ruin of the Pati Pavilion. Between them and the sea was the enormous sea-wall. The protection against global warming. The whole site was dotted with helicopters and police vehicles. Temporary walls had been erected to shield the public from what was going on within.

The ground shook again and the suited men began to hurry the operation along, but it was too late. The ground rippled like the surface of a pond and gave way much like the ground did at Dyfatty, only this time, they weren’t sucked under, they were propelled backwards as a giant form punched its way upwards.

Nia gazed skywards at the head of the being that emerged from the ground, an enormous stone colossus that towered over the ruins and slowly staggered its way out of the ground like a newly hatched butterfly from its cocoon. It was while Nia was staring at the figure standing on top of the giant that the bubble around her popped and she fell to the ground.

Her heart leaped into her throat. If the force-field had gone then it must mean –

Nia leaped into action, scrambling to her feet. Guns went off around her – the ASBOs and the Elementals sprung out of their cages and began tearing at each other like animals. She tried to dim her power as much as possible as she ran but the violence that erupted all around her was deafening.

It didn’t take long for her to find what she was looking for. The marshmallow men had all ran off leaving the lamp broken in the rumble. The glass had shattered and whatever ooze had been inside was seeping into the ground like ectoplasmic goo. The glow was diminishing like a dying candle and Nia’s heart skipped wildly as she hovered – willing herself to check to see if the infant was still alive.

Biting her lip she crept forward and peered into the shell of the lamp. There, amid a tangle of wires sat a pale lump of flesh. While the battle raged around her, she sat in the dirt, her shoulders wracked with heavy sobs of white hot anger.

Puffed white hands gripped her under the shoulders and dragged her to her feet. She struggled and fought with every last ounce of strength she had but it was futile. The marshmallow men took her to the nearest helicopter and secured her with power nullifying handcuffs. The others were kneeling in the dirt, their hands bound behind their backs.

“What’s going on? Answer me!” Swelter shouted at the men, but they didn’t answer. Beacon looked downcast and Elixir was genuinely frightened.

“You have no right to hold us – don’t you know who we are?” Swelter demanded, his face flushed with anger but no trace of his customary suit of flames. From behind a wall of marshmallow men the man in the long coat and hat appeared. His face was ghostly white and he was wearing a pair of round sunglasses.

“Don’t struggle.” He commanded, the tone in his voice betrayed a whisper of power and Swelter subsided.

“We haven’t done anything! Tell them to take these off!”

The tall man struck Swelter across the face with the back of his hand.

“Why? we were good – weren’t we? We were good!” Beacon said, sobbing. His voice creaking like the springs on an old bed betraying his age. Nia almost felt sorry for him.

“I’m sorry, my child,” the man said, his voice cold and icy. He wasn’t even the remotest bit sorry. “But you’ve seen too much. The balance needs to be reset.”

Behind them, the sounds of the giant subsided – it had gone. Nia turned to look at the marshmallow men as they closed in on Mike and his group of friends. Dimly she heard him calling her name. Then, in an instant they were gone.

The man in the long coat turned to address his silent, faceless men like a leader on the verge of battle, “They have awakened the Other known as Core. Helix’s predictions are beginning to come true. Secure the children and take them to Cefn Coed. They have an appointment with inmate 715.”