#in need of refueling
Summary: “You?! Why would I trust you? You have brought me nothing but failure. Time and time again; nothing but disappointment!”
His father’s words might have been a result of his possession by the White Bone Spirit, but whether or not they were his true thoughts, Red Son vows to prove them wrong. To do so he seeks to attain a power strong enough to destroy his father’s immortal enemy. After all, he’d much rather throw fire at his problems.
Word Count: 2113
Ratings/Warnings: Teen and up; injury, burns, angst and hurt/comfort, toxic thoughts caused by toxic parents, panic attacks, abuse.
Notes: Red Son and MK finally talk
Credits: Big thanks to @painted-arachnidand@simplyfornardo for helping me bounce ideas off of them. And also thanks to @lemonsqueazie for providing me with “Journey to the West” lore. I don’t know much about the original novel or other iterations, but I still tried to keep some things compliant with the lore. You should check all of them out, since they’re really great content creators with neat ideas!
———-
Red Son catches his breath as he looks over the city with the imposing mech still nestled in its midst and signs of a fight surrounding it. He didn’t mean to run like a coward. His legs just took him away without thinking. As he calms down he thinks back to what he had just witnessed.
When he first met Sandy, he admits that he thought the man could be dangerous. But after weeks with him, he had come to know him as soft and gentle and kind. Red Son supposes he was still those things. But for the first time since Red Son knew him, Sandy’s intimidating form was exactly that - large and intimidating, and definitely able to punch a hole through a powerful mech.
And angry.
Out of anything Red Son wasn’t expecting that.
A part of him feels almost betrayed. Why didn’t Sandy tell him? The large man was always a paragon of self-control and tranquility. For him to be… not that… left Red Son feeling like the rug was pulled under him, and what was once a single bit of stability in his life for the past month or so, was not so stable and in-control after all.
But he did tell him, didn’t he? He had mentioned anger management. And then there was part of that conversation with Pigsy that Red Son had overheard. Red Son knew. He just didn’t see. And it wasn’t until now that Red Son could see how much Sandy understood what he has been going through. Despite the fear and the hurt, something in his chest tugs at that thought, and it is as if it is pulling him in the direction back to the city.
Red Son shakes the thoughts away, takes a steadying breath, and turns back to the mech.
—-
There is finally a lull in the pulses of energy that were being taken from MK, and he’s finally able to catch his breath. He supposes Sandy stopped attacking the mech due to it healing up and not mattering anyways, but he can still hear quiet echoes of a fight going on outside.
He tugs halfheartedly at the webs holding him, with no results. He’s having trouble staying awake, but he wants to fight back. It’s just that a lot of the fight has left him. Both physically and mentally.
So he’s not pleased when he sees Red Son pop out of some sort of drain in the ground and enter the room.
“Red Son,” he growls, which is about all he can muster.
Red Son looks around surreptitiously before coming over to him and begins to pull at the webs holding him. MK stares at him, dumbly. It takes a few moments of hearing Red Son grumbling angrily as he tugs at his binds before MK snaps out of a momentary confusion and asks, “What are you doing?!”
“What does it look like, Noodle Boy? I’m trying to get you out of here so you can stop the Spider Queen and save your styuuuupid friends. And the city, too, I guess.”
MK blinks, unevenly. “Maybe I’m more out of it than I thought… Are you saying you’re trying to… save me?!”
“Maybe? Yes! SHUT UP! I’m trying to concentrate.”
MK squints his eyes; brain trying and failing to make a connection. “Why?!”
“Ugh!” Red Son throws his head back with an exasperated sigh, but doesn’t stop in his attempts at breaking the webs. “Because! I, tch, need you to stop Spider Queen! And I would be very much put out if you all died.” As if not wanting that statement to hang in the air, he quickly changes subjects. “This isn’t working. Maybe if I try to mess with the main controls…” He goes over to the machinery adjacent to MK and tries tapping some buttons and messing with some wires.
MK, still frustrated with the lack of explanation, pushes further. “Why do you care? Why are you even here?! Is this some big trick? If you really wanted me out of here, why aren’t you even using your powers?!” Red Son’s back is to MK as he works on the machines. With each question he seems to get more angry and haphazard in his attempts to mess with the controls. MK finally yells again, in hopes of getting an answer, “Red Son!”
“Aaarrghhh!” Red Son yells angrily and slams his fists on the machine. This causes some sort of feedback as energy zaps out of the machine, and he’s thrown across the room and skids across the ground back towards where MK is. He lets out an angry grunt as he lands on his back, but MK isn’t sure if it’s because of the machine or the pain or his usual anger. He gets his answer when Red Son finally yells out a response.
“I don’t have my powers! I told you! I can’t even control a stupid stove when it goes out of control.” He holds out his hand and MK can clearly see a light burn on it, and he makes a connection to the earlier incident with Mei. Red Son continues, “I haven’t been able to shoot fire or anything ever since my father took the Samadhi Fire from me. And that was after I tried to please him by bringing him the Monkey King, which it turns out he didn’t like. And then I tried to be,” here he makes a disgusted sound, “… good. And I tried to make nice with you all. Which it turns out that you didn’t like.” MK frowns a bit at that comment. “And now I’m trying to fix what I did before, when I made a deal with Spider Queen back when I got the Fire in the first place.” He starts frantically waving his arms in the air. “And I’m trying to save you but everything keeps blowing up in my face!! LITERALLY!!!” He heaves a tired sigh, his arms flopping back to the ground, and doesn’t make any move to try to get up.
MK stares at Red Son, who isn’t looking at him in return. It’s like he wasn’t even yelling at him, but just yelling in general. But MK listened. And suddenly some things clicked into place. “You… you’re telling the truth.”
Red Son makes a frustrated noise. “Yeah, but what does it matter now? I can’t be a hero or a villain. I spent so long trying to please my father, I don’t even know what to do.” He again raises his hands above him, but this time slowly to look at them, pondering out loud. “It’s hard trying to be yourself when you don’t know who you are.”
MK finds himself nodding along to that last part. “If that ain’t the truth.”
Red Son clenches his fists and sits up sharply, pounding them on the ground on either side of him. “Oh sure, now you’re pretending to understand me! Now, when I’m completely useless, and you’re all tied up, you actually listen.” His fists grow slack again, and he hunches over. “You don’t understand how pitiful it is that the son of the Demon Bull King not only can’t live up to his father’s name, but can’t even help his enemies.”
MK’s eye twitches slightly. That struck a chord. The side of his lip quivers up in a half smile. “Hah,” he barks out a quiet laugh with no mirth. “You think I don’t understand what it’s like to have to live up to someone else?!” He laughs a bit more, weakly. “I’m the Monkie Kid! I have to live up to the Monkey KING,” he emphasizes. “And look at how I’m doing. I nearly got the Monkey King killed! And even when I literally have all of his powers and am invincible, I still managed to get captured and am being used as some sort of battery to help destroy the city! If I get out of this somehow, I doubt the Monkey King will want me to be his successor anymore.”
Red Son finally turns to MK and scoffs. “Oh you’ll be fine! Your friends will still want you around because, I don’t know, you all care about each other or something? Sandy even kept me around for who knows what reason, and I’m an enemy!” Then he gestures at himself. “Furthermore, I’m the one who started this whole thing. If you really want someone to blame for this mess, it’s me, not you! You’re good at this.” He meets MK’s eyes, and emphasizes, “Too good.” After a beat he lowers his head dejectedly, and rubs his face. “I thought if I made things right, I could maybe be a part of that. But I’m not even good enough to be at my father’s side, much less any of yours.”
MK mulls over the exchange. He thinks back to all of Red Son’s interactions with him and his friends recently. With the sudden context of him not being able to use his powers, his relationship with his father, and his current actions, a lot of things started making sense. Now that he thinks about it, if MK had paid a bit more attention, he’d probably have been able to understand better. He just hadn’t wanted to. After some silence, he starts slowly. “Yeah, maybe you are to blame, a little bit…” Red Son further hunches his shoulders. "But maybe I was wrong about you, Red Son,” MK continues, “And I think I was just too angry at you… and at myself, to really listen to what you had to say.”
Red Son’s head snaps back up, and stares at him, wide eyed. His eyes seem to search MK’s own, also appearing to be mulling over the conversation. But whatever is going on in his head, he must have found an answer, as he recovers and says. “Well, I know a bit about how that feels.”
“I guess we’ve got some things in common then.” MK manages a half-hearted grin.
“Ugh! Don’t get all touchy feely on me, Noodle Boy.” Red Son grimaces.
MK smiles a bit more genuinely than he’s had in a while.
“Well, I definitely understand not feeling good enough. And if you want…” He worries his lip between his teeth, debating the decision he’s about to make. He feels it’s the right one. “…If we do get out of this, then, I think I’d be okay if you still worked at Pigsy’s shop.”
“Really?!”
“Yeah, well I don’t think Sandy would be happy if you randomly left. And you did risk your neck coming back here. And…” MK wished he could move because he really wants to fidget from this awkward exchange. But he’s glad that it feels honest, and not so filled with distrust and cynicism anymore. It feels more like himself that way. “And in the end, I’d rather be friends than enemies,” he finishes quickly.
Red Son relaxes, almost imperceptibly. “Indeed.“ He lifts up his chin and tries to sound pompous, but there is an underlying vulnerability there, as he says "I would prefer that arrangement as well.” He chances a look at MK who flashes him an even bigger, though no less tired, smile, to which Red Son dramatically rolls his eyes and groans. But he looks back at MK with a half-smile playing on the corner of his lip.
Red Son then takes a deep breath, picks himself up, and dusts himself off, a lot less harried than he seemed before. “Well, none of that is going to mean anything if I can’t get you out of here. Let me try again. Maybe if I try picking these apart, strand by strand, it’ll work…” He begins to reach towards the webs holding MK.
There is a small buzz, like static, that MK feels. Oh no. He knows what’s coming
“Red Son, wait-!” he warns, before Red Son gets too close, and his voice is cut off by a surge of energy shooting through him. All MK can do is scream in pain.
Yet again the mech is taking energy from him and he feels himself grow weaker and weaker. There’s a buzzing in his ears, but it’s accompanied by what sounds like a voice. He attempts to see through eyes squinted in pain. Red Son is there and his mouth is moving, saying something; calling him?
“Noodle Boy, stay with me! You are not allowed to go to sleep now, do you hear me?!!”
Things begin to fade and the edges of his vision darken. As he loses consciousness, Red Son’s voice echoes in his ears.
“Noodle Boy! Noodle Boy!… MK!”
Then nothing.
Summary: “You?! Why would I trust you? You have brought me nothing but failure. Time and time again; nothing but disappointment!”
His father’s words might have been a result of his possession by the White Bone Spirit, but whether or not they were his true thoughts, Red Son vows to prove them wrong. To do so he seeks to attain a power strong enough to destroy his father’s immortal enemy. After all, he’d much rather throw fire at his problems.
Word Count: 1940
Ratings/Warnings: Teen and up; injury, burns, angst and hurt/comfort, toxic thoughts caused by toxic parents, panic attacks, abuse.
Notes: Sandy POV, and my love for “To Catch a Leaf” is very apparent in this one XD
Credits: Big thanks to @painted-arachnidand@simplyfornardo for helping me bounce ideas off of them. And also thanks to @lemonsqueazie for providing me with “Journey to the West” lore. I don’t know much about the original novel or other iterations, but I still tried to keep some things compliant with the lore. You should check all of them out, since they’re really great content creators with neat ideas!
———-
When Sandy got back to his houseboat and saw, not only that both Red Son and MK weren’t there, but also that there was a gaping hole in his roof, and a giant mechanical spider looming over the city, it didn’t take long for him to piece together that the Spider Queen was plotting something evil and that MK and Red Son got caught up in it somehow. So he calls his friends at the noodle shop to inform them of the situation and quickly makes his way over to the giant spider.
The spider base is walking along a main stretch of road in the city. Many folks are scrambling away from it, and from the rubble left in its wake. Sandy looks the mechanism up and down. It moves slowly, but purposefully; its long and sharp legs smashing down in the concrete as it goes. He needs to get in there.
So he makes the obvious move when confronting a giant, destructive vehicle.
He plants himself in front of it, holds up his hands, and asks it politely to stop.
For a moment, it seems like it’s going to continue its rampage.
Sandy doesn’t budge.
Then there’s a hint of recognition in the many eyes covering its face, as it angles its head down towards him. It comes to a slow stop, steam and some magical green glow billowing out of its crevices. The section that looks like its mouth opens up and the Spider Queen herself steps out.
She has a confident and calm aura about her, as she assesses the large man in front of her. “To what do I owe the pleasure?” she asks, not sounding at all pleased.
Sandy perks up cheerily. “Ah, hello! Sorry to interrupt your villainous rampage throughout the city. But I was wondering if you perchance had a fire demon and the Monkie Kid with you?”
As if to answer his question, Red Son himself steps out from behind Spider Queen looking sheepish, and almost sickly.
“Red Son!” Sandy exclaims happily. He’s about to go over to him when the Spider Queen moves one of her spindly legs in between them and interrupts.
“Ah yes, he was in your care for a while wasn’t he? There’s a lot of gossip among the city spiders.” She grins wickedly. “But did you know that it is largely thanks to him that I was able to power this spider base before you and begin my takeover of the city?”
Sandy looks between her and Red Son, disbelievingly. Guilt is evident on Red Son’s face, but he stammers out desperately, “It’s not like that! I– that was before… I- I didn’t know she’d…”
Spider Queen again brushes him aside, “Whether intentional or not, I am grateful for his services. I doubt you’d want him around anymore. He works much better with me - I could use an engineer to work on my Arachnoid Base and other mechanisms…” She eyes Red Son, almost hungrily.
Red Son lets out an audible gulp, but lowers his gaze as if he can’t bring himself to look at Sandy.
Sandy himself does feel a tinge of hurt. That Red Son could’ve helped orchestrate this is a possibility. But he feels like Spider Queen is bending the truth. And with the shame on Red Son’s face and the way he holds himself, Sandy can tell the implication is eating him up.
He softens his gaze, speaking to the Spider Queen, but looking at Red Son when he says, “I would like my friend back, please.”
Red Son’s face shoots up and locks eyes with Sandy’s. Sandy holds the gaze long enough to make sure Red Son got the message. Once Red Son’s eyes widen in quiet understanding, Sandy turns to Spider Queen and says, “And I would like you to tell me where MK is. I want him safe, too.”
Spider Queen grimaces slightly, as if the display displeases her. She waves an airy hand and says “I have no idea where the Monkie Kid is. Maybe climbing up a tree?”
Suddenly Red Son blurts out, “He’s here! She’s captured him and is using him as an energy source for–”
Quick as lightning, Spider Queen shoots a web across his mouth, preventing him from finishing his sentence, then shoots another around his arms and torso so he can’t take the web away.
“Annoying little welp,” Spider Queen mutters.
“Hey now!” Sandy steps forward. Red Son wasn’t able to finish what he was saying but it was enough for Sandy to understand. MK was here. And he wasn’t going to leave without both of his friends. “I don’t think you want to keep my friends here. Let them go,” Sandy says sternly.
“Oh, I think I very much do,” Spider Queen retorts. Then she looks behind Sandy and smirks, “Anyway it looks like more of your companions want to join us…”
Sandy turns around to see Pigsy, Tang, and Mei charging towards the scene; swords, frying pans, and other implements of destruction held at the ready.
“Sandy!” Pigsy yells. “We got your message! We’re here to back you up!”
“She has MK and Red Son!” Sandy responds.
“Not for long, she doesn’t!” Mei says confidently, and she leaps in the air, sword swinging in front of her. Pigsy and Tang follow her jump.
As they arc towards Spider Queen, she makes a motion and the Arachnoid Base’s head lifts upward. A glow surrounds its mandibles, some sort of energy building up. Sandy’s eyes widen in alarm, recognizing an incoming attack. He turns to his friends and begins to shout for them to look out, but his warning cry is drowned out by the blast of green energy that the spider mech shoots at them.
Mei and her sword makes a momentary defense against the surge of energy, but the attack is too powerful and all three of them are quickly overtaken by its light.
For a heart stopping moment, Sandy can’t see them.
Then three figures fall from the air, smoke billowing out behind them as they fall.
“Guys!” Sandy cries out, attempting to quash down the fear bubbling up in his gut and the old memories of past battles flashing across his vision.
His friends stir and groan from their position on the ground and slowly begin to pick themselves up. Unfortunately, before they can take back a fighting position, Spider Queen has shot her webs at them, pinning all three of them together and sticking them to the ground.
Sandy spins back to Spider Queen in a harsh motion. Too quick. Too angry. Sandy takes a breath. “Let them go,” he says, in a low rumble and without his usual mirth. “Please,” he softens his tone and his expression, raising his eyebrows in compliance.
Spider Queen lets out a thoughtful hum, looking Sandy up and down. “I hear you used to be a pretty scary guy. But in person you are so boring. I wonder what would change that…” Sandy clenches and unclenches his fists, trying to control his stress levels. But she continues. “You know, it’s funny you call both them, and this little twerp ‘friends.’” She motions at Red Son. Then she shoots another wad of webbing at the fire demon. The force is enough to fling him to the ground out of reach on the other side of Sandy. “Who do you care for more?” she asks, darkly.
At her command, the giant spider lifts its two front legs upwards. One is brought towards Pigsy, Tang, and Mei, and the other goes to Red Son; both with their heavy and sharp ends hovering dangerously close to his friends.
“Choose,” she says simply.
“What?” Sandy is momentarily speechless, air leaving his lungs.
“Who will live and who will my spider crush under its leg?” Spider Queen grins.
“N-no! Both–! –Neither! Don’t hurt any of them!” Sandy stammers. He’s trying to stay centered, trying to stay grounded, but he can’t seem to get a good breath in.
“That’s not how this works,” Spider Queen drolls. Both of the mech’s legs inch closer.
“Look, I don’t think you really want to do this. I mean, what will this accomplish?” Sandy tries to reason with her.
“Oh, just a bit of fun for me and pain for my enemies. Now choose or they all die.” The legs inch closer.
“Why don’t you point those at me instead?”
“Three,” she begins to count.
“Listen, don’t do this.”
“Two.” The legs come even closer.
“Please,” he begs.
“One.”
“STOP!”
The legs swing downwards.
For just a moment Sandy is no longer there. He is in a different fight, with his companions injured, laying around him, unmoving. He doesn’t know if they are alive. Long forgotten rage finally bubbles to the surface.
Before he knows what he’s doing, his fist strikes the mech, a hair away from Spider Queen’s face, and suddenly there is a gaping hole in its hull with half its head missing. The shock of the blow causes the whole mech to lurch backwards and the attacking legs manage to land just in front of his friends, ripping through the webs that had entangled them, but not harming them at all.
Through the hole that he created he sees MK. Any elation that he may have felt upon seeing his friend is squashed when he sees the state that the boy is in. He’s tangled up in webs which are attached to some machine. He looks sickly and outright exhausted; deep bags are under his eyes, and sweat fresh on his face. But he seems aware enough that his gaze flashes up at Sandy’s entrance, and looks at him with a strange expression.
“..Sandy..?!” His voice is small, but filled with a certain amount of shock and disbelief.
Through the fear and anger, a wave of shame washes over Sandy. What must he look like to MK right now? Furthermore, his thoughtless strike could have hit MK as it blasted through the mech! And didn’t Red Son say something about him being an energy source for it…?
As if to answer his question, the engines inside spark to life and jolts of energy start coursing through the webs holding MK, and he screams out in pain. The surrounding metal starts bending back into shape and the hole that Sandy created starts closing up.
Sandy can’t even find his voice to call out to the boy. He caused that. If he hadn’t attacked the spider directly then it wouldn’t have hurt MK by using him as a battery. The hole closes, cutting him off from potentially getting to MK.
Sandy looks around to see his other friends looking at him with similar levels of shock as MK’s.
And it hurts. He didn’t ever want his anger to show in front of others, especially in front of his friends, and especially when it caused them to be hurt. Again.
Even Spider Queen takes a moment to recover from the sudden blow to her base. Pigsy is the first to react, and he rallies Mei and Tang together to attack Spider Queen. Due to the damage to her mech and it still repairing itself, Spider Queen can only fight hand to hand, giving the others more of a fighting chance.
But Sandy doesn’t enter the fray. He can’t. His body doesn’t want to move. As the others exchange blows, Sandy can only stand there on unsteady feet, letting the noises wash over him. He vacantly looks over to where Red Son was last stuck, and finds that the fire demon is no longer there.
Summary: “You?! Why would I trust you? You have brought me nothing but failure. Time and time again; nothing but disappointment!”
His father’s words might have been a result of his possession by the White Bone Spirit, but whether or not they were his true thoughts, Red Son vows to prove them wrong. To do so he seeks to attain a power strong enough to destroy his father’s immortal enemy. After all, he’d much rather throw fire at his problems.
Word Count: 3551
Ratings/Warnings: Teen and up; injury, burns, angst and hurt/comfort, toxic thoughts caused by toxic parents, panic attacks, abuse.
Notes: FIGHT SCENE TIME!
Credits: Big thanks to @painted-arachnidand@simplyfornardo for helping me bounce ideas off of them. And also thanks to @lemonsqueazie for providing me with “Journey to the West” lore. I don’t know much about the original novel or other iterations, but I still tried to keep some things compliant with the lore. You should check all of them out, since they’re really great content creators with neat ideas!
———-
“Noodle Boy! MK!!”Red Son’s cries are not getting through. He grips at his robes anxiously, as the machinery continues to suck the life and energy out of the Monkie Kid. He looks around frantically, trying to make sense of the combination of magic and machinery of the mech. He isn’t sure if it’s the stress of the situation or if even his mechanical skills have simply left him, but he’s stuck there not knowing what to do. Even when the zaps fade and Red Son could grasp at the webs that are holding MK again, they don’t budge, and the boy does not stir. He tries to rouse him, calling his name again, and patting his cheek, but all he gets in return is a tired groan from the Monkie Kid.
“Come on, you can’t just give up now!” he says out loud, but he isn’t sure if the statement is for Noodle Boy’s sake or for his own. A distressed whine grows in his throat, which bursts into a short screech when the noise of someone entering the cavernous area echoes around the chamber.
He spins around to see the Spider Queen come out of the shadows and into the room. It sounds like she is dragging something behind her, but Red Son can’t see beyond her large spider-like body. Raising an eyebrow in momentary surprise as she notices Red Son’s presence, she walks in and gives the room a once over. Once she is content that nothing is out of place, her prideful and confident smile is back on her face.
“You’re back, Red Boy!” She sounds more pleased than Red Son feels comfortable with. “But are you back for me? Or for them?” From behind her, she whips around a few bundles of webs and throws them in front of Red Son.
He notices quickly that the webbing holds all the Monkie Kid’s friends captive, but the one that his eyes grow wide and fearful at is the one containing Sandy.
He looks so… defeated. Though he dwarfs his companions, the large man seems so small in the webs. His face is pale, and there’s a sunken nature to his eyes, not in terms of health, but in terms of spirit. There’s a shame and powerlessness on his features, that Red Son had never seen on him, and never wants to see again. Red Son’s heart sinks to the floor. The man does not stir, and for a moment Red Son is terrified that his lack of movement isn’t just caused by the tangled webs.
He lets out a shaky breath he wasn’t aware he was holding. “Sandy…?” he whispers, fearing the worst.
Immediately, the face of Sandy perks up and looks up at him. Though tied up and on the ground, Sandy’s face shifts into a bright and hopeful smile. “Red Son! You’re okay! You came back!”
Red Son inwardly breathes a sigh of relief. That’s more of the Sandy he knows, though there’s a shadow across his features that doesn’t go away. Still Red Son shares a small smile. “O-of course, you big oaf! I was trying to free Noodle Boy, but my plans didn’t factor in you all being captured as well!”
Sandy laughs sheepishly. But is cut off by an annoyed groan from the Spider Queen behind them.
“Ugh, well I’m sorry to cut short this oh so joyful reunion, but I must set up my new batteries,” she finishes with a smile. Spider Queen whips the webbing holding the captive group around and they hit the wall with a smack, webs sticking them in place so they don’t fall.
Red Son flinches at the sound, then brings his arms up reaching out, yelling, “No!” He swerves to Spider Queen. “You dishonorable cur! You can’t!”
“And why can’t I?” She saunters over to him. “What is a powerless brat like you going to do about it?” She sweeps a leg around him and kicks him to the floor. He lands with an “oof” and looks up at her indignantly, as she strings along the webs, linking Sandy and the others to the machinery. Then she flips a few switches and says to herself, “Now, let’s see how this works…”
Red Son’s eyes widen as the machines whirr to life and the zapping starts again. However, this time, Noodle Boy isn’t the only one crying out in pain. The engines purr even louder and the lights in the mech glow brighter as power is now being drained from all of them. And again, it is Sandy’s cries of pain that shatter Red Son’s heart the most.
Before he is even thinking about it, Red Son rushes over to Sandy and tugs at the webs binding him. Upon grasping the webs, the effect is immediate and it’s all Red Son can do to keep his knees from buckling under him as the contact causes the energy surges to course through him as well. But he does not let go. He can hear Sandy speak in between grunts as he tugs at the webs around his chest, “Red Son… no! You… have to leave!”
But Red Son has always been stubborn. He grits out, “You never left me!” He struggles between spasms to pull more. “I’m not leaving you behind!” Red Son knows that there is little chance for him to break the webs, but he clings to them, desperately trying to free his friend.
The feeling is awful. It’s reminiscent of when his father was sucking his fire powers out of him. Like being drained, but with energy surges flowing in the wake of each pull. It felt like every pool of strength left inside him was draining; every pore being forcibly opened up, the last vestiges of his own power being taken. He feels electricity and hot iron rush through his body, and he yells, adrenaline pulsing and urging him to tug at the webs harder and harder despite the pain and the pull of power getting stronger.
Suddenly, there’s a large zap of some sort of feedback and something that feels like his ears popping, except that it’s from his whole body. It’s different from when he was messing with the controls. This felt like a pulse reverberating from inside him. He’s pushed back, away from the webbing, and thrown to the ground, crumpling in a sizzling heap.
He lays there gasping for breath, his whole body feeling like pins and needles, as if all of his limbs fell asleep and are waking up. There’s a ringing in his ears, but he can tell that the screaming from the others has at least stopped. He chances opening his eyes, which still have stars dancing around them, but confirms that the others don’t seem to be in pain anymore. At least they seem awake, minus the Monkie Kid. Sandy calls his name, but Red Son can only blink blearily at him.
There is a scoff above him and he shifts his head to see Spider Queen looking at him derisively. “Well that was anti-climactic. What were you hoping to accomplish with that little feat? For a genius mechanic, you really are such a stupid little boy. At this point I don’t know if I should hook you up to my machines to drain out what’s left of your demonic essence or just continue to watch you do that to yourself.” She lets out a tittering laugh and Red Son can only lay there, clenching his fists in anger and frustration and uselessness.
It is too much. The inability to do anything. Seeing his newfound comrades in danger and pain. Seeing Sandy, the man who had helped him get to where he was now, suffering the same fate as the Noodle Boy. And there Red Son is. Useless. And being the cause of all this in the first place. It is too much. And he is furious. At himself. And especially at the one bringing harm to them.
He grinds his teeth, his hair bristles, and an angry heat rises in his chest. Not one of shame, or of rage. But of a righteous fury he hasn’t felt in years. His body, which once felt cold and empty and drained, is filled with a warm energy. It spreads through his body, bubbles up to his throat, and as he growls, smoke wafts out of his mouth.
His eyes flash up to Spider Queen, hot red streaks trailing in their wake. His body tenses and he springs up from the ground in a sudden burst of energy, a ring of ember-like sparks crackling around him. Faster than even he can register, he rockets off the ground, slamming his now fiery frame into Spider Queen.
She lets out a surprised cry of pain as she is thrown several feet, and skitters to a halt, her eight legs catching her before she could fall. She looks up at her new foe. Sandy and his companions share her shocked expression as they all stare at Red Son.
Red Son is standing there, red flames licking around his form. He lets out a few puffs of breath, and looks at the fire dancing around him at his command, almost in disbelief. He lets the flames slither through his fingertips, soaking in the warmth and the power that he thought he had lost. A smile twitches at his lips and he laughs a hearty laugh, somewhere between excitement and mania, which echoes around the cave-like base, as he realizes what happened. “Your webs! Your stupid webs, with their energy-sucking! They must’ve opened up the last bits of my power that were hidden, even from me! You dumb spider!” His cackles stop and the mirth drops from his voice. He lights fireballs in his palms, as he turns a fierce glare at Spider Queen. “You will be letting my companions go at once, Spider Queen.”
Spider Queen glares right back, cold and angry. “No one commands me, child! With your powers back, your flames will simply become added kindling for my Arachnoid Base.” Then she gives a battle cry and charges at Red Son.
Red Son leaps to meet her, punching with a fiery fist. For a larger opponent, she is surprisingly nimble and fast. She dodges easily and lashes out with a few strikes of her own with her legs. Red Son spins out of the way and thrusts a couple of fire balls towards her. She parries his fists and skitters around him, attempting to hit him from behind, but he stomps down with pulses of flames spreading out from below him, causing her to jump back out of range.
From here, she spits out a web, which latches onto Red Son’s chest, and pulls him in. He sees her lift a leg up to meet him, but he quickly burns through the web tugging at him, then pushes out a blast of fire towards her. She shoots out another web, though this time at an adjacent wall, and pulls herself out of the line of fire.
She flings a much larger, net-like web at Red Son. He disintegrates the net before it can reach him, but through the puff of flame he has lost track of where she is standing. Suddenly, a heavy weight slams into his side as Spider Queen appears beside him and uses her bulkier form to throw the fire demon to the ground. He rolls harshly across the floor, but regains his footing, sparks of flame spitting from beneath his feet, and thrusts both of his arms towards Spider Queen sending another blast of fire her way.
She nimbly dodges out of the way again, then gets in close, swiping at Red Son with the sharpened edges of her spider legs. Red Son leaps back, boosted by a rocket of fire from his feet, but isn’t able to fully dodge the strike and a spider claw slashes through the front of his robes and knicks his skin.
He tries to light some sparks at their feet to create some distance between himself and the Spider Queen, but noticing the flames, she shifts her position to the ceiling, skittering along it and stabbing down at him from above. Red Son steps back, but finds himself backed into a corner. He manages to duck out of the way of a strike and roll forward.
He tries to put some distance between the two of them, and rockets across the room. He whips around for a ranged attack, but somehow she’s there occupying the space directly behind him, and thrusting a swipe down at him. He sends flames towards the strike, but she cuts through the fire and lands a jagged slash across his shoulder.
He is slammed to the ground, and the impact shudders through him as he catches himself with his arms and knees. He clutches at his now bleeding arm and looks up vengefully at Spider Queen. She shakes away some flames left on her leg, but seems unfazed, a hint of a smirk playing at her lips.
Red Son only just got his powers back and is rusty. Spider Queen is at the top of her game being powered up by an already powered up Monkie Kid and his friends. She knows she has the upper hand, and Red Son knows it too.
He looks past her to see the others still tangled in webs and unable to move. They are looking at him with a mix of shock, worry, and a bit of determination. Sandy looks especially worried for Red Son which echoes the fire demon’s own worry for the blue giant. He moves his gaze to the Monkie Kid whose eyes have finally opened, but still seems to be battling consciousness. Yet, his gaze attempts to stay on the fire demon. Red Son looks at him meaningfully. He realizes that he has to fight smarter if he wants to win.
With a shaky, but renewed resolve, Red Son thrusts flames from beneath his palms, still on the ground, causing fire to spread under the spider demon. He forces a column of flame to sprout up from under her. She leaps back, some of the fire singeing her as she dodges.
Now with a little space between them, Red Son flings several fireballs in her direction, all of which fly past her as she moves cleverly around the space. He begins to rotate, trying to circle around her and gain a good angle, but she is agile as well and swings at him with some attacks of her own. Red Son is only just able to dodge them with some of the swipes ripping through the fabric of his clothes.
He slaps his hands together letting a pulse of fire ripple out. She uses a string of webs to pull herself out of the way, and another to swing back around, and smack into Red Son again. He isn’t able to fully catch himself this time, and his head connects with the ground. Mind spinning, and head throbbing, it’s only on instinct that he is able to send waves of fire out around him to keep the Spider Queen away, as he wobbles back to a standing position.
Unfortunately, he’s all but lost track of where she went, and taking advantage of his unsteady legs, she spits a wad of webbing at his feet, just enough to put him off balance. He quickly burns it away, but not before Spider Queen is able to come up behind him and land a harsh blow to his back.
Red Son cries out in pain, which turns to a snarl as he throws fire in a sweeping arc behind him. Again, she is too quick to be hit and bounces out of the way, throwing another string of webbing at him. Slowed down by his wounds, he is unable to dodge and this one wraps around Red Son’s legs, which are pulled out from under him. She swings him through the air and he lands with a hard smack on his already injured back. Red Son lets out a gasp of pain as his breath gets knocked out of his body.
He lays there helpless on the floor wheezing and trying to pull air back into his body. His lungs refuse to fill properly, and all he can manage is some keening whimpers.
Spider Queen catches her breath and laughs as she saunters over to him. He stares at her wild-eyed, still trying to focus on his breathing, but he can’t do much more than that, and he’s forced to lay there and wait, until she slowly looms over his prone form.
“Congratulations on getting your powers back.” She sneers haughty. “You put up quite a fight, but all you’ve done is given me yet another energy source to pull from.”
Red Son manages a few gasping breaths, finally sucking in some air through his nostrils. He closes his eyes to quickly center himself, before looking back up at the spider demon defiantly. He lets out a tired laugh and responds with a sneer of his own. “Too bad your main ‘battery’ might have something to say about that…” His gaze shifts behind her, and he gives a knowing smile.
“What..?!” Spider Queen gasps. She turns around to see the Monkie Kid standing behind her, free of his webs and staff at the ready. She looks behind him, confused to see the webs that had held him, and his companions slowly disintegrating with freshly burnt cinders. Red Son’s flames had missed her, but they had hit their intended mark.
Upon realizing what all of his fire bursts were really meant for, she shouts at Red Son “YOU!” She whips around, raising a sharp leg over the defeated fire demon, and swings down towards his chest. Red Son just lays there, unmoving, smirk still on his lips.
Before the blow can land, it is as if her form disappears; replaced with a much enlarged form of Monkie Kid’s staff.
The Noodle Boy grows the magical staff long, flinging the Spider Queen across the base, through the machinery, and clear on to outside until she is lost on the horizon. With his full powers released, in just a moment, the Spider Queen has been defeated.
With nothing left to power it and no one to command it, there is a momentary pause where the Arachnoid Base goes still. Then it creaks and groans, as the metal caves in on itself, followed by a noticeable drop as the outer legs collapse, and the whole thing shuts down. Luckily, the main room is structurally sound enough that it does not collapse on the heroes inside, and only some debris and dust is kicked up with the motion.
Red Son sputters, a dull pain wracking through his body as he does so. But he tiredly lifts his gaze to Noodle Boy. The Monkie Kid retracts the staff, shrinks it to carriable size, and finally looks down at Red Son.
Red Son coughs out a weak laugh. “Heh heh, nice work, Noodle Boy.”
Monkie Kid doesn’t respond at first, and instead seems to search the fire demon’s eyes. After a somewhat tense moment, he relaxes and gives a small, thankful smile at his former enemy.
Red Son smiles back, more genuinely.
But he quickly becomes worried again as the hero wobbles on his feet and collapses next to him.
“Noodle Boy!” he exclaims. Red Son tries to get up, but finds he’s too hurt and sore to move properly. “Noodle Boy!” he calls again, attempting to reach to him with an outstretched hand to the motionless form next to him. He can’t fully reach him. “MK?” he whispers.
After a terrifying moment of uncertainty, Red Son’s outstretched hand is met halfway with MK’s own, placed gently on top of his. Red Son gives a gasping laugh. MK seems just about as wiped out as he is, if not moreso. But still, a smile spreads on his face as he lightly squeezes Red Son’s hand with his fingers in a gesture of understanding and appreciation. The sentiment means a lot to Red Son, and he softly squeezes back.
Sandy’s blue form enters his vision. His eyebrows are tilted up in concern at first, but his features and hunched shoulders relax greatly when he sees the gentle display in front of him, and from the small smile that Red Son gives him. Red Son is too tired to voice his relief that his caretaker is unharmed, but he gets the feeling that Sandy understands him anyway, just with a look.
The large man leans down and picks up both Red Son and MK, one in each arm. Red Son would normally feel undignified being cradled like a baby, but he’s so tired, and the warmth that comes from his two companions makes him relax. His eyes start to glaze over, and he realizes that he’s drifting off to sleep. He manages to take one last look at the banged up, but healthy and alive crew of the Monkie Kid, at Sandy’s ever exuberant face, and at MK’s now sleeping form, before he falls asleep himself. Injured, but this time feeling safe and at home.
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