The Archway, Part 8

“You are...Uhhhh!...Mine!” I stated, gritting my teeth with effort  as the power began to flow.

Touching Jang-Mi reminding me of the time I stuck a butter knife into a power outlet. I could feel the unbelievably excessive energy that drove her through life, so that even five minutes of sitting in a chair would be enough to reduce her to smoldering ashes. I understood why she considered this gift to be such a burden. Still, I needed that power, and once I recovered from the shock of touching it, I began to see how I could harness it.

Jang-Mi's gray coveralls slowly shifted color and texture until they were bright pink flannel. Her modest butt swelled outward as her new pampers sprang into being. Her belly turned white, and a golden lightning bolt insignia ran across it. A hood grew over her head, from which a set of long, floppy, pink bunny ears sprouted. Her shoes melded with her clothing, until she was dressed in a comfy-looking set of footie pajamas.

She stared at me for a moment with wonder in her eyes. I realized that, despite her new outfit, she had stopped hopping up and down. With a gasp of pleasure, she fell backward onto her padded rear. She lay sprawled on the polished steel floor, sighing with relief.

“Ooooooh my gawd, this feels amazing!” she said in a relaxed, wistful voice. I realized that this might have been her first time lying down since the Archway had changed her.

“Jang-Mi! Focus! We're still in trouble here!” hissed Cynthia, her serious tone totally undermined by her silly doctor's costume.

Jang-Mi rolled her eyes. “Just rub my belly. You can have all the energy you want. I'm gonna take a little nap.” With that, she stuck her thumb in her mouth and closed her eyes.

I would have liked to have time to ooh and aww at how adorable she looked, but Cross could be opening the door and blasting us all with her nullifier any second now. I grabbed Sammy and hauled her toward Jang-Mi.

“Fill up and get poofing! Get us down to the basement if you can. Quick!” I ordered.

“Huff...huh...yes, Boss.” She said. Sammy pressed her palm against Jang-Mi's lightning insignia. “Holy....!” she gasped as the energy blasted through her. The lightning insignia began fading, as though it were a meter for a Jang-Mi's reserves.

“Everyone hold on to me! We're goin' for a ride!” shouted Sammie, her newfound enthusiasm back in her voice. Cynthia and I grabbed her shoulders, and once again, the room melted into wild golden shapes with impossible angles. It was impossible to discern our direction in this bizarre realm. I only hoped that we wouldn't end up inside a wall or something. I could sense the great effort and concentration that it took Sammie to move with the three of us dragging her down, but it was possible with Jang-Mi's power on tap. Soon, the weird shapes inverted once again, becoming a dimly-lit room full of packing crates.

Sammy collapsed onto the floor, exhausted yet again. She lay next to Jang-Mi, who seemed to be fast asleep on the cold floor. “Huh...huh...will...will that be all...huh...Boss?” she asked, hopefully.

“You did great, Sammy!” I told her, patting her shoulder. “You just rest now. I'll probably need you again sooner than you would like.”

Sammy did not even pretend to object. She, too, stuck her thumb in her mouth and closed her eyes. After a few seconds, she snuggled up against Jang-Mi for warmth. The lightning bolt on Jang-Mi's stomach, which a moment ago had been a vibrant gold, was now little more than a dim outline of pale yellow. Clearly, these two would be out of commission for a while.

“Ooooh!” said Cynthia, clearly moved by the sight of the two diapered women on the ground. “They look so cute together!”

“They sure do.” I agreed, but without much enthusiasm. I looked around. A short distance away, Nurse Wipes waved at us enthusiastically. She was in the middle of giving Princess Boom-Boom a diaper change. Judging by the swollen diaper she now held, it had been much-needed. The sight of it made me think of Megan, and a chill went through me. She would have loved that, before the nullifier beam hit. Cynthia and I jogged over to them.

“Welcome back! Did we win?” asked Nurse Wipes in her usual chipper tone. She didn't seem the least bit bothered that I had returned with a completely different set of companions.

“I made stinkies!” announced Princess Boom-Boom, proudly and needlessly.

“I'd call it more of a draw.” I growled. “I picked up three new converts, but I lost Suki and Megan. Cross has Suki's raygun, and she's using it to reverse all my changes. It's only a matter of time before she comes down here, and I've already spent all my best trump cards. I really don't see how I can win this.”

Nurse Wipes pursed her lips sympathetically. She finished taping up Princess Boom-Boom's new diaper, wiped her hands with a baby wipe, then spread her arms and pulled me in for a hug. “Aww! There, there, Miss Hubble. I'm sure it's not as bad as all that.”

In spite of myself, I found my mood improving immediately under the assault of Nurse Wipe's Sweet abilities. Her voice was melodic, her hug was warm and comforting. It was almost enough to make me forget that Megan and Suki were now in enemy hands. Sweets always seemed so lovely and kind, but sometimes feeling good is simply wrong. You had to be a psychopath to be happy all the time.

I felt the waistband of my diaper being pulled backward by a gentle hand. “How is that diaper doing? Does Miss Hubble need changies?” She asked.

“I'm fine.” I said, breaking off the hug with no physical effort but considerable emotional effort. It was like taking off a warm coat on a cold day. “Go see to those two.” I ordered, gesturing to the sleeping forms of Sammie and Jang-Mi. Nurse Wipes immediately scampered off. I sat down on the changing table and patted Princess Boom-Boom's tummy. “How are you doing, sweety?”

She giggled. “It's been great! Nurse Wipes is a great babysitter!”

Then her face became suddenly somber. “Is Megan and Suki gonna come back?”

I wrapped my arm around her. “I don't know.” I said honestly. “I hope so.”

She hugged me too. It was almost as good as Nurse Wipes, and it felt a lot more sincere.

“Where did Larry go?” I asked finally. Princess Boom-Boom rolled her eyes. “He went off and hid when I told him 'bout my stinky-pants! I think he's over there.” She pointed to a pile of crates in the corner. I got up and strolled over to the little fort he had carved out for himself. I found him siting on a crate, looking listless and depressed. It was comforting, in a way. He looked like I felt.

“Hey.” he greeted me flatly.

“Hey.” I returned his lack of enthusiasm.

“How did raid go?” he asked.

I sat down. “Crappy.”

He nodded. “I guess there's no point in asking you to keep your distance so that...quantum thing doesn't get me?”

I sighed. “I'll go away if you want, but a minute or two of exposure doesn't do much. I just...really need someone to talk to who isn't brainwashed.”

A faint smile lifted his cheeks. “I guess that's gonna be a rare thing for you, going forward.”

I tucked a fist into my cheek. “Yeah.”

“Where do you think this is headed?” he asked. “Your power, I mean. It seems like you'll either end up taking over the world and turning everybody into big babies, or just wind up in a prison cell.”

I nodded. “That's about it. I don't want to take over anything, or anybody. I just want to be left alone. Maybe if I can get out of here, I can just head out into the wilderness, with all the other Knaves.”

He chuckled. “You really think you're a Knave?”

I shrugged. “I steal people's powers and strip them of their free will. May as well call it like it is.”

He shook his head. “Nah. You wouldn't have let me go if you were a Knave. Hell, you probably would have killed somebody by now, just for fun. You wouldn't be worried about people's free will. You just want freedom. Just like me. Just like all of us.”

“What about the freedom I've already taken away?” I asked. “Maybe it would be better just to hang out and wait for Cross's nullifier. I'd be stuck here for life, but everyone else would be okay.”

Larry arched an eyebrow. “Nullifier?”

I sighed and filled him in. “Cross turned that thing Suki made for me into a device to reverse my quantum effect. She used it on Megan and Suki, and all those teddy bears. I guess they're all back to normal now.”

Larry's forehead wrinkled as he processed this info. “Hmm. Thing is, that device was with you when you came into Low Security. It must have been in your...field for some time.”

I straightened up. “That hadn't occurred to me at all.” I admitted.

Larry nodded. He seemed to be becoming excited. “Sure. But Cross is a Bright. She wouldn't miss something like that. Maybe she found a way to make the thing target itself, or maybe...”

“Maybe Cross has been avoiding confronting me directly because I might convert the thing right in her hand!” I finished, getting excited myself.

“Would that work?” he asked.

I shrugged. “Don't know! But I bet Cross isn't sure either. I was started to wonder why she was having so much trouble getting to me.”

Larry smiled. “Pretty risky. Either she confronts you and takes you down in one move, or she loses her gizmo and has to retreat. If she does, she's already infected, so the game is basically over. One little uncertainty between total victory and permanent diapers.”

I tented my fingers, looking every bit like the villain Larry had just convinced me that I wasn't. “So she doesn't know whether she can win or not. Maybe I can work with that.”

Larry matched my villainous posture. “It means there might be a basis for negotiation. What if I go up there and act as a sort of ambassador on your behalf? Cross can hit me with her nullifier thing all day and I still won't be on her side. If she tosses me in a cell, it's not like I was a big asset to you anyway.”

“You think she'd be willing to call a ceasefire and let us go free?” I asked.

“At this point, she might be willing to take her remaining forces back to Utopia and abandon this facility to you and yours.” he pointed out.

I thought about it. Negotiating with a Bright is almost as risky as negotiating with a Sweet. It's always dangerous to deal with someone who is smarter than you. Still, I didn't see any other way forward. Larry seemed like my best bet.

“Okay. Let's try it. Thanks, Larry.”

Larry shrugged. “Hope I still think this is good idea after Cross zaps me.” he said ruefully.

Larry left soon afterward. I helped him into the ventilation ducts and wished him luck. I sat down with my remaining forces and waited nervously. Sammie and Jang-Mi slept wrapped in blankets that Nurse Wipes had found among the supplies around us. With a little searching, we managed to find a crate of ready-to-eat meals, consisting of large crackers, lunchmeat, and little boxes of ice tea.

Cynthia was the only one who's nervousness seemed to match my own. I knew that any time we had gave Jang-Mi and Sammie the chance to recover their energy, and thus, potentially, the use of their powers. Still, as the minutes crept by, the lightning bolt on Jang-Mi's belly barely changed. I could tell that I had already demanded far too much from those two, and none of my other “converts” were battle-ready either. If Cross sent anything at us, even if it was just Judith or some other Knave, let alone all those Knights that I had briefly turned into plush toys, I would have to face it with almost no back-up. Nurse Wipes put Princess Boom-Boom down for a nap, wrapped in gray blankets. How ironic that she was the one who I had to thank for what little combat ability I still had.

After about an hour, we heard the heavy steel door of the basement warehouse slowly open. I jumped forward, ready to face whatever the Duchess had to throw at us next.

Instead, Larry was walking in, looking quite grim and carrying Suki in his arms.

“Larry! I'm glad you're alright! What happened?”

“I had an...interesting discussion with the Duchess. The situation is...a bit more complicated than I originally thought.”

He carried Suki to our little encampment and set her down on one of our collection of blankets. She looked awful. Her breathing was shallow, her body was thin, and her skin was as pale as Sammy's had been before I had converted her. Her pigtails and cute outfit had turned back into a dignified lab-coat, only grayer in color. Cynthia put her hands on Suki, but after concentrating and struggled for a bit, no sign of healing had occurred.

“I don't know what the problem is! I can't heal her!” said Cynthia. She seemed so sorry for having failed me. She even seemed frightened. I patted her shoulder reassuringly.

“It's not your fault. This must be what that nullifier does to us.” I said.

Larry sadly nodded. “She used it on me, and it left me tired for a bit, but it didn't really hurt me because I wasn't converted. Megan is just like this (he gestured toward Suki's emaciated form), and those teddy bears...” he winced and shook his head sadly. “They were still moving, a little, but they looked deflated balloons, and all their color was gone. Cross let me take Suki as a sign of good faith, but she's holding onto the others. Can you re-convert her?”

I put my hand to her forehead. “You are mine. You are mine! You are...” I sighed. There was nothing there for my power to connect with. She had been wiped clean of my quantum effect, and apparently she could no longer function without it.

“Maybe in a few hours, enough will build up that I can turn her back.” I offered hopefully. Larry nodded. Nurse Wipes wrapped Suki in another blanket. Our camp was beginning to look like an infirmary.

“What did she say?” I asked Larry. He sighed and sat down.

“She was open to the idea of a ceasefire. She put up a brave front, but I could tell she was running out of options. She gave me this...” He pulled out a hand-held computer with a large touchscreen on the front. I recoiled as if he had pulled out a live grenade.

“Are you nuts!” I shouted at him. Princess Boom-Boom stirred awake and began crying softly. Nurse Wipes immediately moved to comfort her. I plowed ahead. “You took a computer from a Bright! That thing might do anything! It could explode, or hypnotize us all, or sprout tentacles or something!”

Larry nodded as though he had already considered this. “I thought the same thing, but then the Duchess showed me what's on it. It's just a video file. After I saw it, I understood why Cross was so open to the idea of negotiating.”

I arched an eyebrow at him. “That doesn't really rule out the possibility of hypnosis.” I pointed out.

“I know.” said Larry. “But it really isn't that. It way too disturbing and scary to hypnotize anyone. Can I just show you? I don't think words do it justice.”

I sighed and sat back. I supposed that if were some kind of mind control video, this would be just how I would be suckered into watching it. Still, Larry didn't seem mesmerized. He just seemed tired and sad. I motioned for him to continue. My little band of diapered weirdos gathered around. Even Sammie and Jang-Mi were roused by my earlier outburst. I considered ordering them to back off so that only I would see the message, but I dismissed the idea. If I was mind controlled, there wouldn't be anything they could do about it anyway, and if I was really going to treat them as respected equals instead of as my personal servants, they ought to know what I knew. Larry fumbled about with the touch-screen, then sat the device against a crate and sat down to watch.