Week 29.5 – The Cluster

Previously: Twain and Digger were fighting over the golden mask, while Metalord and Ghost Dragon were just fighting. And now…

Twain felt a tiny bit of fear worm its way up his throat, but he forced it back down. Digger might not be what he expected, but he wasn’t what Digger expected either. A couple of days ago, he’d beaten three men into the ground with a power he hadn’t suspected he possessed. He did fragment of the ancient form, just to get his mind right, and felt the crystal grow warm against his chest.

Digger scooped up Twain’s dropped baton. “I’m going to enjoy this.”

Twain grinned, and it felt as if the light from the crystal were shining out through his teeth.

***

Metalord magnetically grabbed a long power cable that snaked across three poles. He sent it slithering down to wrap around Ghost Dragon, and amazingly, it held, pinning his arms to his sides. For a moment, at least, until Ghost Dragon turned insubstantial and the cable fell through him.

But Cole wasn’t done. Now that the cable was inside Ghost Dragon, he tightened it around the Chinese woman who was obviously guiding the ghostly giant’s movements. The woman moaned and fell, but lifted from the ground an instant later, hovering inside Ghost Dragon’s translucent body.

[blockquote type=”blockquote_quotes” align=”right”]Twain smiled. “When we were back in New York, I was the one dressed like a woman, and you had superpowers. Looks like the high-heeled shoe is on the other foot now…”[/blockquote]“A valiant effort,” growled the ghost in Mandarin, “but she doesn’t control me. I control her.”

He grew even larger, well over 30 feet tall now, and Cole felt sweat prickle on his skin. He’d fought tougher opponents, but this thing was frightening.

Ghost Dragon charged forward, the woman pinned helpless inside him, the ends of the long cable trailing behind him.

***

Twain moved gently, easily, as if in a dream. The baton came toward him, but he simply relaxed and let it giude him out of its way. And then the world turned blue while a rushing rose in his ears like the roar of a river, and he let that river flow into Digger. When his vision cleared. Digger was on the ground thirty feet away and getting up only slowly.

Twain smiled. “When we were back in New York, I was the one dressed like a woman, and you had superpowers. Looks like the high-heeled shoe is on the other foot now.”

Digger opened his mouth as if to say something petty, but the debris behind him exploded, and Twain barely had a moment to recognize the refrigerator flying straight at him before everything went black.

***

Metalord swooped past Ghost Dragon, dodged a wicked slash, and summoned the trailing cables to his hands. Grasping the naked metal ends in his hands, he sent his strongest current flowing through the cable wrapped around the woman’s body, turning it into a super-powerful electromagnet.

Ghost Dragon snarled and turned to attack, but paused as a car slammed into his face. He batted the car away but was hit by two more. And then the real maelstrom started.

Tin cans flew from cabinets and nails pulled out of walls and furniture. Refrigerators and stoves crashed out through the walls of buildings and flew at the giant apparition. Transformers yanked off of poles in showers of sparks and metal pipes ripped up through the ground like the tentacles of zombie octopi risen from grave.

Ghost Dragon’s eyes widened as he saw a limousine, its driver barely able to leap out in time, lift and fly toward him, slowly turning end over end. But before it could hit, it was destroyed by a beam of blue radiance.

Ghost Dragon and Metalord both turned to look at the source of the beam.

“What the hell is going on here?” boomed the Cobalt Czar.

Yeah, that’s right. Next week, the REAL fight starts. Don’t miss the next exciting chapter of Run, Digger, Run!

To read from the beginning, click here…