Week 33.3 – Powerless

Previously: The Cobalt Czar asked Digger, “How does someone like you end up saving the world?” And now…

“Accidentally,” Digger admitted.

The Czar chuckled. “I like you. I’ll kill you slowly.”

“Wait, what? Slowly so I suffer longer?”

“No, slowly so I keep you around longer,” the Czar said. “You funny.”

“That’s not comforting,” Digger said.

“If you were looking for comfort, you came to the wrong place.” The end of the Czar’s cigar glowed red as he puffed on it. “Metalord said you wanted to warn me of some danger. So, what is danger?”

“What do you think it could be?” Digger asked.

“I asked you first,” the Czar said. “But in truth, nothing. I am the strongest man on Earth, and everyone fears me. Except your Metalord, for some reason.”

“He’s crazy,” Digger said.

The Czar nodded and blew another cloud of smoke at the ceiling. “Yes, but also strong, and I beat him easily. What could I possibly fear?”

“That,” Digger said. “You think you have no weakness. Everyone has a weakness.”

The Czar stared at him thoughtfully. “You sound as if you have something specific in mind. What is it you think you know?”

[blockquote type=”blockquote_quotes” align=”right”]The Czar stared at him thoughtfully. “You sound as if you have something specific in mind. What is it you think you know?”[/blockquote]Digger wondered for just a moment if he should bring up the cavern Twain had talked about, but the Czar had gone from jolly to quiet and still, so Digger thought better of it. “You tend to drop your hands right before you throw the hook,” he said.

The Czar smiled, but there was no happiness in it. “You tell jokes right up to the point of death. So American. You fear nothing,  and you care about nothing.

“I lived in America once, a long time ago. I knew people like you. They ignored me. They judged me stupid because I spoke with an accent. I was assaulted. I was robbed, once right out in public. A man stopped to help me up. He said, ‘People are assholes who take from you because they can.’ I think he wanted to encourage me somehow, but he only humiliated me more.”

The Czar dropped the cigar into an ashtray and stood, looming over Digger. He put his hands on the marble-topped table and leaned forward; the wooden legs creaked under his weight. “Because he was really telling me that I was weak, and the world only respects strength. So I made myself strong. Now no one can ignore me, and no one can take from me what I do not decide to give. I should probably find that man and thank him, but if he were standing in front of me right now, I would likely kill him for the way he made me felt that day.”

“Feel,” Digger said.

“What?”

“The way he made you feel,” Digger said. “Not the way he made you felt. Unless he, you know, made you into a hat.”

The Czar leaned down until Digger could smell the tobacco on his breath. “I tell you this story of my great pain, and you correct my grammar?”

“People are assholes,” Digger said. “And that includes me. Sorry.”

Digger’s treading on dangerous ground. How will he survive? Don’t miss the next episode!

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