 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Introduction
Monthly Poll
2001 Archive
2002 Archive
2003 Archive
2005 Archive
Sequel Poll
2001 Archive
2005 Archive
2009 Archive
Fan Fiction
Fan Art
Tidbits
Movie
In Print
Radio
T.V.
Miscellaneous
Events
Site Map
Guestbook
Forum
Fan Fiction: Short Stories
Chapter 3
AS he drove, Shrevnitz looked back in disbelief and said, "You gave him
three million dollars, boss?" The following evening in the meeting chamber, Nostromos closed a book full of papers as he said, "Well, Lucas. Our benevolent brothers transferred another three million this morning." He threw his hands up into the air. "I predict . . . !" He brought them down again and smiled. " . . . you and I are about to become as rich as figs." He dropped into the throne with a burst of laughter. "Nostromos," a voice called from down the hall. Lucas looked toward the door. "Huh?" Nostromos stood. "Quickly." From a table nearby, Lucas snatched the long-haired wig from it's wooden head and hurried over, setting it atop Nostromos's head. He adjusted it while Lucas quickly attached the hidden harness to the thin cable, to levitate Nostromos if needed. Finished with the wig, Nostromos swatted a hand at him. "Out, out," he said, and sat back in the throne. Lucas grabbed the wood head and disappeared behind the curtain seconds before Larry came through the door. He saw Nostromos sitting in his throne, his elbows raised on the arms of the chair. His fingertips touched together before his mouth, and his eyes were closed. He appeared to be meditating. Larry walked down one of the aisles and quietly said, "Nostromos." He opened his eyes. "Brother Larry." "I got your message." Nostromos stood and came forward to meet him. "Thank you for coming. We have urgent business to discuss. The voice has warned that the brotherhood's fund is in jeopardy." Larry looked confused. "What do you mean?" He put an arm around him and lead Larry over to a table, where two sheets of papers were lying side-by-side. "We must convert the money it into gold bullion at once. I've prepared the papers for your signature." Larry looked at him shockingly. "But Nostromos, I can't possibly sign anything until I've notified the brotherhood." "There's no time." "But they must be informed. It's our obligation." Something in the way Nostromos looked at him in the next moment scared him. He seemed like he was losing his temper quickly. He took a step back and pointed upward. "Perhaps the stars can persuade you. I see a bad moon rising." Above them, more lights came on, revealing the room's series of enlarged planets that were used for the astronomy courses when they were being held. Tied to the moon was Margo Lane. Her mouth bound, rope encircled her wrists and ankles, wrapping around the large moon. Larry gasped. "Margo." She tried to say something, but the bound muffled her words. Nostromos pointed at the papers. "Sign." "Nostromos, what is this? I don't understand." This time he grabbed the papers and thrust them in Larry's hands. "Sign. Or she pays." "Why would you do this? I believed in you. You saved me. Please, Nostromos--" Lucas had suddenly appeared behind him and placed a rag over his mouth, muffling him. Struggling to keep his grip on the man, Lucas pulled him over to one of the seats and dropped him into it, then began tying him down with rope. Nostromos walked over. "I have one last prediction for you, Larry. The end will be swift. Brother Lucas has set enough explosives in this place to create a supernova. I suggest you make your peace quickly." Laughter. A sudden cry of laughter, sounding distant and close at the same time. Nostromos looked up, Lucas even quicker. "Oh, no," he said quietly. The laughing echoed through the room, growing louder and louder, more sinister. "It's the Shadow," Lucas said, and drew a gun from under his jacket. Suddenly, Nostromos felt himself lift into the air. He screamed out, arms and legs flailing as he seemed to fly around the room, coming close to one of the walls, then one of the planets, before descending rapidly and crashing into Lucas. Nostromos pushed Lucas off of him and struggled to get to his feet, reaching around to unhook the cable. "The control room," he said. He and Lucas emerged into the hallway running, rounding the corner and charging into the control room. It was empty. Nostromos looked up, where a wall-mounted ladder went to an open access hatch in the ceiling. He pointed. "Up there." Lucas went first, climbing onto the roof of the control room. Nostromos came up behind him. They looked around, but didn't see anything. Nostromos gestured, and they set off up a staircase that lead to the main walkway. They were now in the rafters above the meeting chamber. Below they could see the planets suspended from the conveyor system and the seats below. The main walkway branched left and right, circling wide around the mechanical station that supported and operated the planets. Nostromos pointed left. "You go that way," he said, and began moving right. Lucas walked slowly, stepping softly, eyes sweeping the walkway ahead of him. There had been no laughter since they left the chamber, but he wasn't about to assume that The Shadow was gone. He was standing in silence for a moment, listening, when he heard what sounded like a heavy rustling, like something whipping around in the wind. A sound almost like . . . a . . . cape! He turned and looked up in time to see The Shadow descending rapidly from a higher platform, slamming into him and knocking him to the ground. The menacing figure stood on the catwalk, towering over him. "Your turn to see the light." Lucas jumped to his feet and charged screaming, swinging a fist. The Shadow blocked with his left arm and swung his right fist, slamming it into his face. From another catwalk across the way, Nostromos saw the fight and ran back. Dropping back into the control room, he began flipping switches and levers, turning knobs, and pressing buttons. In the meeting chamber, the planets slowly began to move. Their old gears grinded noisily as the machine slowly came up to speed, and soon the planets were moving around the roof of the chamber, revolving around one another. Margo gritted her teeth and closed her eyes as the rings of Saturn came within inches of her. Smiling as he looked through the window into the meeting chamber, Nostromos grabbed a fire extinguisher from the wall and began bashed in the control panel, breaking everything and making sure nothing could be turned off. Lucas delivered a punch to The Shadow that threw him back, then jumped forward. The Shadow stepped out of the way as Lucas lunged for him. Toppling over the rail, he grabbed The Shadow's cape, and they fell together. They crashed through the top of one of the planets, The Shadow wasn't sure which one, but didn't have the time to care. Miraculously, the bottom supported them, and they staggered to their feet in the cramped space, struggling to maintain their balance as the planet rotated around the room. Lucas sneered. "You're about to fall out of orbit, Shadow." As the moon came around, Margo heard a loud punch, and then saw Lucas crash through the side of the blue planet, screaming as he fell to the floor below. The Shadow appeared at the hole and looked out. "Margo!" he shouted. Looking up, he saw that the planet was hanging from a thick black cable. With one gloved hand, he smashed away at the top of the hole, creating a narrow opening from the hole to the base of the cable rig. Reaching through with both hands, he grabbed onto the cable and began pulling himself up, tearing through a portion of the planet's top and steadying himself on the base of the connector rig. He caught sight of Margo, but she was too far to reach at the moment, nearly on the other side of the room. Taking a deep breath, he leapt across to the next planet, Pluto it looked like, and grabbed onto the cable. From there he leapt to the next one, then the next, slowly making his way toward the moon with Margo, which seemed to stay one step ahead of him. In the room below, Nostromos rushed in and looked up. The Shadow watched as the moon came around and lined up his next move. Leaping forward onto the next planet, he waited until the right moment, then gripped the support cable with one hand and reached down with the other, removing the connector pin. The planet detached from the base as The Shadow swung with the cable's momentum. Nostromos' eyes widened in shock as he saw the planet rushing toward him. He turned and ran up the aisle screaming. The planet sailed over his head and landed up ahead of him, cracking severely, held there for a moment, then began rolling back. Nostromos ran back into the room, screaming loudly, but the planet was faster and crashed into him. The Shadow let go of the cable and grabbed onto the moon's cable, sliding down to hang beside Margo with one hand. He quickly got the ropes lose and said, "Hold on." With their combined weight added, the moon began to move quicker, as The Shadow had hoped. Letting go at the right moment, he heard Margo yelling behind his head as they fell through the air. At what seemed like the last possible moment, he grabbed onto another wall-mounted ladder, hidden from view behind the partition curtain. They dropped to the floor. "Head for cover," he said. As they came through the curtain, Nostromos seemed to appear out of nowhere with a holler, crashing into The Shadow. Margo screamed. "Get Berman out of here!" The Shadow yelled. They struggled on the floor as Margo quick untied Larry, removed the gag from his mouth, and hurried toward the door. Nostromos got to his feet and lifted The Shadow off of his. "I wish I was a real psychic!" he hollered above the increasing noise of the overhead gears grinding. The planets were crashing into each other, pieces raining down around them. "That way I could predict how you will die!" The Shadow managed to break from his grasp and punch him. Nostromos recovered his balance and came back swinging. The Shadow blocked and gave him another bunch, then took one himself in the ribs. "There's no use! The end is near! The bomb has been set, and the fires of hell will engulf us in a matter of seconds!" Nostromos began to laugh. The Shadow staggered back as a section of planet landed before him, throwing up a cloud of dust. More and more pieces were raining down around them. Nostromos was still laughing, even when the entire half of a planet crashed down upon him, covering him in a pile of dusty debris. The Shadow looked up to see what was coming down next. Another section of planet fell and hit on his back, throwing him to the floor. Margo spotted Shrevy's taxi in the parking lot as they burst out of the entrance and down the steps. "What about The Shadow?" Larry asked. "It's okay. He'll be fine." They ran fast through the parking lot and took cover behind the taxi as Shrevy climbed out. "What's going on?" "The Shadow's still in there," she said. "The place is about to explode." Larry asked again, "You're sure he'll be okay?" This time, Shrevy replied. "Believe me. He'll be fine." The building seemed to rip in half with the explosion. Flames tore out through the windows, walls, and roof, bursting outside and reaching up into the sky. They ducked for cover as smoking debris crashed down throughout the lot, bouncing off the car, shattering its passenger-side windows. The main explosion was followed by a series of smaller ones, until finally the entire structure was barely visible from within the thick flames and heavy smoke that began to billow out. They got to their feet slowly and looked over the top of the taxi, across the rubble-strewn parking lot at the smoldering building. "Lamont," Margo said, so quietly she could barely hear it, and hoping Larry hadn't. She was so caught up in her emotions that she had said the name before she realized it. Larry said quietly, "Do you think . . . ?" She shook her head slowly. "I don't know." Even Shrevy was beginning to now have his doubts. "It doesn't seem like anybody could have survived that." They stood in silence for a long moment, hearing nothing but the crackling of the large flames. And then, from somewhere in the night, they heard another noise. It was quiet, but Margo smiled as she realized what it was. "Listen," she said. As the noise began to grow in volume, Shrevy smiled, too. "He made it." The laughing grew louder and louder, and then, from a section of building that was nothing but rubble, a dark figure emerged from the smoke, and The Shadow stood silhouetted by the flames, laughing. |
© copyright 2003 - Present
The Shadow: Master of Darkness
The Shadow is copyrighted by Advance Magazine Publishers, Inc. Disclaimer
The Shadow: Master of Darkness
The Shadow is copyrighted by Advance Magazine Publishers, Inc. Disclaimer