Week 14.1 – Bare Handed

Previously: Digger used the mystical Mask of El Coco to get rid of the seismometers being used by the Cobalt Czar to track his movements and keep him from using his Drillers. What he didn’t expect was to lose his Drillers, too. And now…

“Will you stop doing that?” Twain growled across the table. “People are going to think you’re on acid or something.”

Digger paused in twirling his hand on the end of his wrist, but didn’t manage to look away from it. “I’m sorry,” he said. “It’s just been so long since I had a real range of motion, I forgot what it was like. This is so weird.”

“It’s not weird,” Twain replied. “It’s normal.”

“That’s weird for me,” Digger answered.

They were sitting in a coffee shop, able to eat openly for the first time in days. Nobody was looking for them in Chicago, and even if they were, it was Digger they would be trying to spot. And without his Drillers or his costume (which had disappeared along with the Drillers), Digger was just some dude in baggy skater jeans.

“What do you think went wrong?” Digger asked.

“Nothing went wrong,” Twain said.

“What do you mean, nothing went wrong?” Digger asked loudly. Aware of the looks he was attracting from around the coffee shop, he added more quietly, “Of course something went wrong. Not only did I lose my Drillers, I lost all my other powers, too. I’m weak, I’m slow, I have no seismic sense. And look…”

He placed his palm down over his napkin, then lifted his hand. The napkin stayed on the table.

“What the hell am I supposed to do with this?”

[blockquote type=”blockquote_quotes” align=”right”]“What do you mean, nothing went wrong?” Digger asked loudly. Aware of the looks he was attracting from around the coffee shop, he added more quietly, “Of course something went wrong. Not only did I lose my Drillers, I lost all my other powers, too. I’m weak, I’m slow, I have no seismic sense. And look…”[/blockquote]“Blend in.” Twain reached across the table and forced Digger’s hand down, as Digger had started staring at his arm again, turning it this way and that. “That’s not blending in. Look, I told you before you tried it that the mask switches your body with that of a parallel you, in another universe. Obviously, whatever happened to give you your powers didn’t happen to this guy.”

“How does that happen?” Digger asked. “I mean, I understand the ‘not getting powers’ part, but… These powers have pretty much shaped my entire adult life, over fifteen years now. What kind of life do you think he has without them? Is he happier, do you think?”

“Probably not now,” Twain said, and took another bite of pancakes.

Digger thought about another him, working in some office somewhere, suddenly being saddled with a suite of moderately useful super powers and thirty pounds of metal grafted to his arms. “Yeah, I guess that would suck. Bad enough I’m stuck with them. Now I had to ruin some other me’s life.”

“Not necessarily,” Twain said. “You never know, he may be having a great time, getting back at all the people he doesn’t like.”

“What, go on a rampage?”

“It’s what I would do.”

“Didn’t need to know that,” Digger said. “You’re sure that the mask will change me back the way I was?”

“Of course,” Twain said. “Once it resets after 24 hours.”

“That’s weird, isn’t it? Only being able to change once a day?” Digger asked.

Twain shrugged. “It’s magic. It doesn’t have to make sense.”

How does Digger plan to find and save the hostage now? Join us tomorrow for another episode.

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