Week 32.5 – Held

Previously: Digger, Twain and Cole were all prisoners of the Cobalt Czar. And now…

The next day, Janet came in and flirted with Digger a little, then gave him a shot that made him pass out. When he came to, he was curled on the floor in a dark, cramped room about five by five by five. Just small enough that he couldn’t quite stand up straight or stretch out full-length on the floor. So he sat until his butt turned numb, smelling the air grow staler and staler.

He heard noises outside the door and wondered whether they’d be shoving in a bowl of maggoty gruel or something, but instead, he heard a door open next to his room. Cole’s voice said, “Thanks guys,” as the footsteps retreated down the hall.

“Cole?” Digger asked.

“Digger!” Cole shouted. He sounded drunk. “Are they giving you the same stuff they’re giving me? Cause I got a serious buzz going here.”

“No,” said Digger. “I’m stone sober, and I’d seriously love a beer right now.”

“Huh,” Cole pondered. “Wonder why I get the good stuff?”

“Because you have powers,” Twain said from the cell on the other side of Digger’s.

“What did he say?” Cole asked.

“He said because you have powers,” Digger said, “and they think I don’t, I guess. Can you get us out of here?”

“No powers,” Cole said. “That blue juice seemed to suck it right out of me.”

“Blue?” Twain asked. “Was it glowing?”

“Yeah,” Cole said. “Did they give you some, too?”

[blockquote type=”blockquote_quotes” align=”right”]I think the crystals come from the City of the Moon…And I think that they absorb power from everyone in a certain radius, power that would otherwise manifest as superabilities. And I think the Cobalt Czar has found a way to claim that stolen power for himself…[/blockquote]“No,” Twain said. “But it helps confirm something I’ve suspected for a while now.”

“What?” Digger asked. “Seriously, what’s this really about?”

“Think about where we are,” Twain said. “Northern Mongolia. Have you ever looked at the demographics here?”

“No.”

“Well, if you had, you’d find out that you are in the superpower black hole,” Twain said. “Ten thousand square miles with no native supers. None. With one exception.”

“The Cobalt Czar,” Digger clarified, hoping Twain wouldn’t correct him and make him look stupid.

“Whose skin is blue, and whose powers manifest in the same color,” Twain said. “And at the same time, you have a legendary City of the Moon, which is somehow connected to that blue glowing crystal we took from Caveat’s mansion. You’ve got an ultra-rare superfruit that only grows on that set of ridges. And now, your friend’s powers are being suppressed by a drug that glows the same color blue. Seeing the pattern now?”

“No.”

“I think the crystals come from the City of the Moon,” Twain said. “I think there might be a lot of them in the area. And I think that they absorb power from everyone in a certain radius, power that would otherwise manifest as superabilities. And I think the Cobalt Czar has found a way to claim that stolen power for himself.”

“So what are you saying?” Digger asked.

“If we can escape and make our way to the City of the Moon,” Twain said, “I think that by destroying the crystals, we can render the Czar powerless.”

So okay, new plan. Wonder how long it’ll last before someone changes it? Join us next week for the next thrilling chapter of Run, Digger, Run!

To read from the beginning, click here…