Chapter Text
“This way.” Zodyl led Rudo through the corridors with a single-minded focus, taking long strides and stepping swiftly. Rudo hurried after him, trying to not be left behind and lost in the giant maze of the Trash Beast’s insides.
“What are we doing once we get to the Sphere?” Rudo puffed out. “They’re going to send the Apostles the second they see us, and–”
“All accounted for,” Zodyl responded drily. “I think before I act, unlike yourself. The plan was put into place long before you got here. All you need to do is follow instructions once we arrive.” He side-eyed Rudo. “Are you capable of that?”
Rudo bristled. “I’m not stupid! I know how to–”
“Hush,” Zodyl dismissed, “We’ve arrived.”
Barely managing to stop in time to avoid crashing into Zodyl’s back, Rudo peered around his shoulder to the room beyond. Cthoni was waiting in the center of it, standing with her arms crossed and a bored expression on her face.
“Zodyl,” she greeted, not bothering to acknowledge Rudo. “Everything here is set.”
“The Cleaners?”
“They’re being taken care of, last I checked. Some are more… unconventional.”
“But they won’t get in the way.”
Cthoni shrugged. “Noerde’s and Jabber’s opponents are on the backburner. Bundus is capable of managing himself, and Fu will be fine so long as that annoying man throws the first punch. Other than that, nothing is guaranteed.”
Zodyl grunted. “Good enough. Rudo, with me.”
He set forth quickly, the tail of his coat fluttering behind him. Rudo grumbled under his breath, ready to start lashing out if Zodyl kept treating him like he was some kind of damn dog. That imperious look on his face reminded him of all the Spherites from above that looked down upon him his entire life. He was tired of it.
Nasty words died on the tip of his tongue as Rudo looked to the right, where Zodyl was standing stiffly. Massive pillars pointed like the teeth of a tiger jutted from the ground and ceiling, curling around a glowing center. A few of them stretched inwards and dipped into that center, tiny strings of glowing material hanging from the whitened pillars of bone.
A few small things were embedded in the middle, and Rudo took a few steps forward to get a better look. In horror, he realized that they were small knives and shovels, and that there was a sawed-off arm hanging from each. Rudo’s stomach churned as he examined the exposed bone in the forearm and the rough, dry edges of the wrist. Even in death, they clung to the weapons with a death grip.
“What the hell’s with the arms?” He asked, loudly. Zodyl sighed, put-upon, and glared at Rudo.
“Can you not just stand quietly for one moment,” he hissed in between his teeth. “I have more important things to do than explain every little thing to you!”
Rudo ground his teeth together. “I’m not–”
“Just stay quiet.”
Ice shot through Rudo’s veins at the glare Zodyl shot him, and his teeth clicked as he slammed his mouth shut. It wasn’t a conscious action, but something inside Rudo scurried back and showed its belly after a mere look from Zodyl. That same beast inside him fumed silently as Zodyl made his way towards the glowing knot, brushing a hand over the items buried in the side and noticeably avoiding the hands still attached.
“Time to take flight,” Zodyl murmured, suddenly gripping the center of the three, the axe. All around them, the Trash Beast started to rock and rumble, small pieces raining down from the ceiling and sliding down the sides of the wall. Rudo crouched down to avoid losing his balance and falling flat on his ass, lowering his center of gravity to stay in control.
“Make sure to have our transport ready, Cthoni,” Zodyl called out. He didn’t seem at all shaken by the tremors, feet planted firmly in the ground.
“Already done,” she replied blithely, rolling her eyes like there was no point in even asking.
“Excellent. Then it’s time for us to start in full. Rudo, come here.”
Rudo rose to his feet unsteadily and began walking over. The tremors from the Trash Beast had stopped, though it was swaying side-to-side in a way it hadn’t before. If he had to guess, Rudo would say that the shaking had been it getting in standing position, and it was now preparing to take flight.
“What do you need me to do?” Rudo’s nerves were falling away as his focus sharpened to a point. We’re going to the Sphere now. I can take my revenge. They’re all going to pay.
I’ll make them pay.
“Come here!” Zodyl snapped.
“Don’t do it!” Enjin snapped from the doorway, hair mussed up and panting like he’d just run a marathon. “Do not step towards him.”
Rudo’s face twisted into something nasty. “Would you just leave me alone, you slobbering shit stain! I don’t need your help!”
“Yes, you do,” Enjin said, hand resting on his knee for support. He straightened to his full height and used that umbrella he was carrying around–even though they weren’t outdoors–as a cane of sorts. “There’s more at play here than what they’re telling you–”
“Please,” Zodyl scoffed. He was angry, words clipped nearly in half. “Get over here, Rudo. I won’t ask again.”
Rudo paused. Zodyl was standing there, fists clenched, eyes set ablaze. The severed hands swayed ominously in time with the movements of the Trash Beast on either side of Zodyl. Cthoni had her head tilted coldly at him, stepping with slow precision to be beside Zodyl, hovering by the kitchen knife stuff in the swelling, glowing knot.
Then he glanced at Enjin.
Hair choppy, wild, and unstyled with what Rudo thought was a wrapper stuck in it. Hand outstretched ever so slightly, like he was stopping himself from pulling Rudo towards him with force. Clothes rumpled and tattered at the edges from what looked like years of wear and tear. The picture of insanity.
All apart from his eyes. Dark yellow like the wilting sunflowers that Chiwa never could manage to keep alive, as much as she watered them. Clear, calm, assured. Rudo latched onto them like a lifeline, using the pressure of their force to settle his mind enough to think beyond all the red and the screaming that hadn’t settled from when he first was sentenced, first thrown into the Pit with all the consideration that they gave to the rest of the trash they decided they didn’t need anymore.
“Have they told you what Vital Instruments are?” Enjin pressed, sensing an advantage in Rudo’s hesitance.
“Yes!” Rudo snapped back. Jabber told me, special things that gain power from being special to you. My gloves.
“What about Givers? Cleaners? Raiders? Anything?”
“They’re the Raiders… and you guys are the Cleaners?” Rudo said uncertainly, voice lilting up into a question when he didn’t even mean to.
“But what do we do?” Enjin pressed. “Givers? Hello? Anything ringin’ a bell as to how little you know?”
Rudo’s face burned. “It’s not like I’m stupid! I’m… this is all new, asshole!”
“Exactly!” Enjin exclaimed, snapping with his free hand with enough force to surprise Rudo and drive him back a step. “You’re new to this. And instead of using you, they should be helping you. You’re a kid.”
“Rudo!” Zodyl snapped. “If you wanted me to treat you like you were a child, throw on the kiddie gloves and keep you away from the action, you should’ve said so. I didn’t know you were interested in being so useless.”
“Hey!” Enjin glared at Zodyl, directly over Rudo’s head. “In case you weren’t listenin’, the kid and I were having a conversation. You can wait, you walking zombie.”
“Last I checked, you weren't a part of my deal with Rudo. Not that it seems to be on his mind much. Are you so quick to give up on your revenge?”
“No!” Rudo clenched his fist. “I want to make them pay. I need to. I was just–”
“Wasting my time,” Zodyl said coldly.
“Shut your mouth!” Enjin shot at him. Then, staring down at Rudo, he said, “Look, just like you, I clearly don’t know all that’s going on here. But any revenge that has you teaming up with this guy,” he jutted a thumb in Zodyl’s direction dismissively, “is something that you might wanna reconsider. Take a second, breathe, y’know? Don’t destroy yourself for the opportunity to hurt others.”
“Your father’s dead, Rudo. And this Cleaner would just have you walk away from that. Are you willing to do that?”
Rudo didn’t say anything.
“I didn’t think so. Get over here, now.”
“This has gotta stop,” Enjin muttered to himself. “Alright, big man at the top! I get it, you’re… I actually have no idea what you’re tryin’ to do, but I know you’ve gotta be crazy for doing it. And you can try and order him around all you like, but turns out that a house-full of Cleaners ain’t exactly gonna let this thing fly, so you might as well give it up now.”
“Hardly,” Zodyl scoffed. “And am I really supposed to be afraid of your little rag-tag group? Most of you are children, and all of you were stupid enough to get inside the very thing you’re supposed to eradicate. I knew you Cleaners weren’t worth the dirt on the bottom of my shoe, but it’s a wonder you manage to accomplish anything at all.”
Enjin’s face twisted sourly. “For someone so high and mighty, you sure seem desperate for this little shortstack over here–”
“Hey!”
“To do your job for you,” Enjin continued as if Rudo hadn’t spoken at all.
What an asshole!
“And if you need a child, then I’m going to guess I don’t have to do much at all to screw this up for you. Is that right, big man in charge?”
Zodyl snarled, a guttural sound that tore out from his chest violently enough to send a shock rolling through Rudo’s body. “You Cleaners always talk and talk and talk without doing jack for anyone on the Ground. You all are just a bandage placed on the festering wound of the Ground, set to clean up the little messes the Sphere creates without ever fixing the problem at the root. As long as their little utopia exists up there, we will never have any more than this. Trash Storms and Beasts that rampage their way through the Ground until a Cleaner is kind enough to put it to rest, just long enough for it to have rest before the Sphere makes it reform again. The world will be better after I–”
“So, what?” Enjin interrupted. “You’re doin’ all this out of the goodness of your heart?”
“With my plan in motion, things will never go on as you have allowed them to. The–”
“Oh, forgive me,” Enjin cried out, flailing his arm above his head. “You’re obviously doing this out of the kindness of your heart. Those Trash Beasts you created ransacked their way through the Ground. People got hurt because of your little complex. And what you’re planning on doing to him–” Enjin pointed his hand in Rudo’s direction, “is not what I would call making the world better.”
“Means to an end. Necessary,” Zodyl said, his face flushed red with anger and dangerously blank. In the corner of the room, Rudo could see where Cthoni had retreated into the darkness, the only part of her visible the unnatural brightness of her cat-like eyes. She was just… watching. Waiting, maybe.
“Destroying his Vital Instrument will never be necessary,” Enjin said quietly, almost enough that Rudo couldn’t hear it.
What?
“What?” Rudo asked dumbly. Zodyl didn’t look at him, but Enjin shot him a grim look, eyes darting down to his gloves.
Rudo curled his fingers into the leather material. Destroyed? They couldn’t be destroyed. They couldn’t. They’d been with him for years and years and years–nearly as long as he could remember. Regto gave them to him. All he had left of Regto, and he carried them around with him everywhere. To have them be gone… no. No no no no.
“What the fuck?” Rudo said aloud. “Is that true? Why would you do that?”
Zodyl didn’t answer.
“Answer me, you demented, dead-eyed asshole!” Rudo shouted, the words tearing their way out of his throat like they were made with barbed wire and razors. “ANSWER ME!”
“Hey, hey, hey, calm–” Enjin tried to say, but Rudo wasn’t bothering to listen to him. All of his attention was focused on Zodyl and the shadow that obscured his face.
“What did he mean?” Rudo asked, not quite frantic but with a deep-seated panic that grew stronger and stronger the longer Zodyl took to answer him. “What–”
“Silence.” Zodyl finally said, the small, nearly whispered words filling a hole in the space that swallowed everything else into its depth. His eye twitched “Having to deal with you… has been the biggest ordeal of this entire plan. How stupid can one boy be? I should’ve realized that there were other ways of getting a Watchman Series item that didn’t include you. I should’ve left you to die in that wasteland, with the Trash Beasts of your kind’s own making.”
“I didn’t… the Trash Beasts aren’t there because of–”
“Aren’t they?” Zodyl cocked his head to the side, eyes sharp with cruelty. His voice was getting louder now, rising from his earlier snappy snarl to a vitriol-filled shout. “You are just another one of those Spherites.” Enjin quietly pumped a fist, then schooled his face again. “You’re arrogant and stupid and for once, I can see why the Spherites threw you away. You’re worthless trash.”
Zodyl kept speaking, but the words floated around Rudo’s head without ever making entry. Blood was rushing in his ears so loudly it drowned out the rest of the world. The beating center of the Trash Beast faded into the background, black swirling in the corners of his vision. Rudo’s breath sawed in and out of his chest, ragged and sour-tasting on his tongue. He curled in on himself, hunching his back and loosening the tension in his arms until they swung freely at his sides.
He felt out of control, like a leaf caught in the winds of a hurricane. The weight of his hands was too heavy and too light all at once, and they itched to be of use, to inflict wounds and hurt until the gnawing and gnashing hole inside Rudo was content.
“Hey!” Enjin barked. “Quit it with all the abuse you’re spewin’ at him, It’s no–”
“If you’re going to ignore me, Rudo, then I have only one course of action yet. Words are my preferred method, but you leave me no choice. If you aren’t going to follow me, then I’ll have to take them by force.”
He started towards Rudo, his overcoat fluttering menacingly as he advanced. His steps were heavy, doom-filled. Rage colored his eyes a deep purple, nearly incandescent.
Immediately, something inside Rudo just… snapped.
All those little fights he’d gotten into on the Sphere… all the small moments with Regto… every fear-filled moment he’d spent on the Ground. His gloves had been with him through it all. Losing them would break him. And Zodyl walking forward to take them away made Rudo’s blood boil.
He wasn’t losing his gloves. Not today. Not ever.
Zodyl was a mere few steps away now, his hand held out with authority, like he just expected Rudo to hand his gloves over like they meant nothing to him. In his peripheral vision, Rudo noted the shadowy figures gathering behind Enjin that had to be other Cleaners that had found their way back from wherever the trash flood had sent them.
Rudo wasn’t thinking. Really, when had he ever? He wasn’t thinking this entire time, he was caught up in his own head and his own grief and didn’t even think about why Zodyl would want him, some random Spherite, and why he didn’t just let him die out in the wasteland.
“Agh,” Zodyl groaned. Rudo’s fist had made contact with his face, hard. Harder than he had hit Zanka. Adrenaline buzzed through Rudo’s small body, powering the next whistling punch that he leapt forward to make.
Saliva dripped from the corners of his mouth, little flecks spinning through the air and winding up on the lapel of Zodyl’s coat. Ferocity awoke in his movements, and in that brief moment where Zodyl was still shocked with how fast Rudo had moved, Rudo took advantage.
He kicked his leg out, clumsily and without any real form or art behind it, but it did the trick. The sole of Rudo’s shoes landed squarely on the side of Zodyl’s knee, and Rudo barely noticed the crack that reverberated through the room.
Within seconds, Rudo was upon him, punching with all the force he could muster and striking down fast, fast, fast. Blood coated the knuckles of his gloves, and a sick, perverted pleasure arose in Rudo knowing that if Zodyl got them, they were going to be with a price.
Not that Rudo was going to let him get them. They were his.
“Holy shit,” Rudo heard a girlish voice mutter behind him, accompanied by the satisfying crunch of Zodyl’s nose.
Rudo raised his arms up, bringing them together and pointing his elbow down just like that kid had done to him, back on the streets of the Sphere. It was all going to go down, down, down, just like all those sensitive bones on the inside of Zodyl’s stupid face. He was going to break them, break Zodyl until he was unrecognizable and pulpy and–-
“OFF!” Zodyl roared, using his superior body mass to toss Rudo’s body to the side. Rudo rolled over and over without being able to stop himself. Pain exploded through his jaw as his face cracked into one of the stalagmite-adjacent things jutting from the floor.
Rudo ignored it, quickly pulling himself to his feet again. Darting forward, he bowled his whole body right back into Zodyl. The two went sprawling on the ground, the blur of the world too much to tell who was on top. Clawed gloves reached out to paw at Zodyl’s face and whatever else Rudo could reach.
The world felt weirdly silent, even though Rudo was sure that noise had to be coming from somewhere. Gasps fell from his mouth with the intensity of a tornado, and he could see Zodyl’s mouth flopping this way and that as they tussled, but he didn’t truly hear any of it. Deciding to fill the space, somehow, words started spilling from his mouth, curses and condemnations that were borne more out of rage than any kind of truth that he was aware of.
A fist came out of nowhere and collided with the right side of his face, the same one that still had bits of rock embedded from the stalagmite. Then, before he could even think of recovering, Zodyl’s other hand came out to strike his diaphragm.
Breath effectively expelled from his body, Rudo stared up at the ceiling, with all the wonderful random objects crammed into crevices or just barely hanging in there. They were all a little rough around the edges, with chipped paint and warped metal and random little holes littered around their sides. Up there, they told their own story, showed that they had lived a life before getting used in Zodyl’s scheme. They were beautiful.
“I’ve had enough,” Zodyl said, tone snappish and frustrated. “I didn’t want to have to use this, but I see no other choice, since you’ve decided to be so uncooperative.”
He pulled out a small broach from his coat pocket, the gem at its center a faded color that could have been red or orange, at an earlier point in time. Now it was just a murky brown, not dissimilar to a bloodstain. The metal was still whole, no chips or blemishes in its surface that Rudo could tell. Years ago, it might have been a treasured family heirloom, but now it was held in Zodyl’s large, grasping hand.
“Something stable would have been better,” Zodyl muttered, “But I suppose I’ll have to make due with what I have now.”
He made large, quick strides over to the glowing center of the Trash Beast, despite the shouts from the Cleaners behind them. The glow became even brighter as he pressed the small piece of jewelry into the pillar, right above the severed hands. It seemed to almost warble for a moment, before the wood-like material reached out to swallow the broach into itself.
Bile arose in Rudo’s throat. That could’ve been his gloves. They could’ve been sucked into the Trash Beast and destroyed to power Zodyl’s plans. Rudo almost let that happen just to get revenge. He wanted to throw up.
“Hey, kid,” Enjin murmured, crouching down next to where Rudo was half-sitting on the ground. “Take a moment, breathe.”
“Stop telling me what to do,” Rudo mumbled, shame-faced.
“I don’t see you doing it on your own, now do I?” Enjin chuckled when Rudo threw him a glare. “You’re a little terror, aren’t you? Must’ve been a heavyweight champion in a previous life.”
Rudo stared up at Enjin, perplexed. He had cursed him out, beat on his friends, and been his enemy for as long as he’d been on the Ground. And, despite all of that, his hands were gentle as they brushed along the side of Rudo’s arm. Even through the fabric, Rudo could feel the warmth he brought. Were all the Cleaner’s like this, with Gris’s gruff kindness and Enjin’s pointed but kindhearted taunts?
Or–and this was probably just the still-reeling part of Rudo’s brain that still screamed in panic whenever he thought of what nearly happened to his gloves–this would just be another trick.
“Bundus,” Zodyl called out, his beady purpled eyes fixed on Rudo’s folded form. They flicked over to Enjin once before rolling dismissively. “Cthoni.”
“Already done,” Cthoni intoned. Rudo whipped his head around to the other corner of the room where she had teleported–probably through her manholes. Towering beside her small frame was Bundus, who was carefully scanning over the whole room. He tipped his hat towards the gathered crowd of Cleaners and Rudo, complete with a small smirk.
“Right here, boss,” Bundus drawled, raising his metal arm. It gleamed even in the dim glow of the Trash Beast’s belly, and Rudo’s eyes caught on the polished, smooth curves of the arm
Zodyl grinned, a dark, wicked thing.
“Excellent. Since Rudo’s decided to be such a little pain, I have some more work to do to get our ticket to the Sphere stabilized. Deal with them while I do.”
He turned swiftly, marching back towards the severed hands and the knot that obscured the little broach he had shoved in there. Hand planted flat, he breathed out deeply and then his eyes flashed open, blazing purple.
“You sure? Alrighty then, partner.” He grinned somewhat apologetically at Rudo while squaring up. “Sorry about this whole thing, kiddo, but I’m gonna need you to step back if you don’t want this getting messy.”
Rudo scrambled to his feet, no longer content to be vulnerable on the ground. In the process, he elbowed Enjin in the side, but he ignored the older man’s surprised grunt.
“Like hell, you fucking hillbilly,” Rudo snarled, a tiny sliver of his earlier rage trickling back. Bundus didn’t look appropriately cowed, which only heightened Rudo’s desire to beat his face in.
He rocked side to side in preparation, but had to stop and blink in shock when Enjin took a few steps and strolled up to stand beside him. Casual wasn’t a word that Rudo would ever use to describe this situation, but Enjin leaned against his umbrella like he didn’t have a care in the world. Looking closer, however, Rudo could see the glow of his electric eyes.
Rudo blinked in shock as a few more of the Cleaners joined them, all standing at the ready. None of them stared at him, but the slight red-headed girl gave him a friendly smile. Support, the kind he hadn’t felt since the last breath Regto took, wormed its way into his heart.
This is… nice. Yeah, I think it’s nice.
“My words exactly, Rudo. Let’s make this fun, yeah?” Enjin gave a loose smirk, and Rudo couldn’t help but return it.
Hell yeah.