#Clogthulu

[talltoontales]

- ToonMan #4 Vortech: Clog in the Machine -

Prompt: "You called me." / "And you really came."

Prompt By: @creativepromptsforwriting (Tumblr)

Written: 03/21/2024

!!! HEADS UP: Mind control & minor body horror (don't worry, he's made of paper) !!!

A storm looms in the Pannel City night sky. A top one of the tallest skyscrapers in the city, a man in a blue and silver armored suit brood alongside the stone gargoyles. As he looks down on the city, inside his helmet, his suit feeds him information from every source it can access on his hub. Blog posts, news, police radios, and even video apps scroll across his feed rapidly.

“This is Central 6u-D, checkin’ in,” says Central. A green orb appears over the man’s feed, pausing it. “Agent Kanna, respond.”

“Vortech responding,” says Vortech, “19-1-6-5, over and out.” The man blinks, and the orb disappears, only to return a second later.

“Denied,” says Command, “You’ve been running the suit in green without moving for your entire shift, and tech support is not happy. They want you back so they can run a complete diagnostic.”

“The suit’s fine,” says Vortech.

“Not our call,” says Central. Suddenly, Vortech’s entire feed, save for Central’s orb, disappears. “Need you back here ASAP.”

“Can’t you stall them?” asks Vortech. “Say I’m dealing with an elusive blotling.”

“One, no,” says Command, “and two, wouldn’t work anyway because Dr. Wayne’s been hovering over my shoulder for the last thirty minutes, threatening to take my headset.”

“Great,” groans Vortech. “Scale from one to ten?”

“8.5 and rising fast,” answers Central.

“Then I’m taking the long way back, over,” says Vortech.

“Copy that, see you in hell,” says Command, “over and out.” Vortech lets his body fall forward, off the edge of the building, and starts free-falling. Vents on his claves, waist, forearms, back, and chest open, firing massive gusts of wind, launching Vortech through the air. As he flies across the city skyline, a red exclamation mark appears on his hub.

[E-SOS: Agent Wilhelm Requires Assistance]

“…Ugh. At least it’ll get Wayne off my back,” says Vortech. “Suit, rescue override, respond to the alert, and prep for combat.” Vortech’s hub re-activates, switching from surveillance to combat, as he flies towards the alert.

\\\\\

Vortech hovers over a series of abandoned dockside storage houses. “Suit, radio Agent Wilhelm again.” A dial tone rings in the headset for a few seconds before hanging up. “Great.” A pillar of black tendrils suddenly launches through the roof of one of the storage houses in front of Vortech. He flies over and dives through the hole left in the ceiling, making a superhero landing “You called?”

The inside of the building is dark, with the only light coming from the windows. The floor is just one big puddle, and water drips from the ceiling. Vortech looks at his HUD to see the temperature at around forty-five degrees. “Suit, activate chest lights.” Two panels on Vortech’s chest slide open, revealing two headlights.

Vortech walks through a maze of crates and damaged storage containers, jerking at every few sounds like a squirrel. He finds one storage container ripped in half. On closer inspection, he finds a strand of hair caught on one of the jagged ends of the container. “Disgusting”

“…Vor-”

Vortech quickly hovers backward, lands, and aims his arm cannon at the person behind him, finding it to be a drenched Agent Wilhelm.

“Friendly! Friendly!” whispers Wilhelm, hands in the air. Vortech lowers his arm.

“Wilhelm?” asks Vortech.

“Keep it down. I can’t believe you actually came,” whispers Wilhelm. He points further into the building. Wilhelm starts walking but is stopped by Vortech grabbing his arm.

“Wilhelm, what’s going on?” orders Vortech. Wilhelm shushes Vortech.

“It’s ToonMan,” whispers Wilhelm, “he attacked us!”

“ToonMan attacked you?” asks Vortech.

“Yes,” answers Wilhelm. “Jacobs called me about some disappearances in the area. Apparently, she had a lead and…”

“Let me guess,” says Vortech, “when you got here, ToonMan was waiting for you?”

“Bingo!” says Wilhelm, “He took my blaster and communicator and chased me around the warehouse for sport. Luckily, I lost him after diving into the loading dock.”

“So, ToonMan used Jacobs’ communicator as a trap?” asks Vortech.

“Yes,” answers Wilhelm, “we have to stop him before more agents arrive.” Vortech stares at Wilhelm for a few seconds.

“Sure,” says Vortech, “here’s the plan…” Vortech blasts Wilhelm in the chest with a gust of wind from his arm cannon, causing Wilhelm to slide on his back. Before he can get up, Vortech lands one of his boots on Wilhelm’s chest and points his arm cannons at him. “I’m gonna lock you up and let some guys and lab coats figure you out.”

“What are…you doing?!” yells Wilhelm as he struggles to free himself.

“Drop it, blotling,” says Vortech. “Whatever you’re playing at isn’t working. Just surrender and save both of us the trouble.” Wilhelm quits trying to free himself and glares at Vortech. His eyes go from pale brown to dark green, and blackness bleeds into his hair.

“Who do you think…you are?!” demands Fake Wilhelm.

“I’m the guy who’s spent every day of the last five years of his life learning, training, and hunting ToonMan,” says Vortech. A dozen dark green lights appear on the ceiling above Vortech and Fake Wilhelm. “And only he would be dumb enough to fall for a trap this bad.”

“And yet he’s still alive,” says Fake Wilhelm, “What’s that say about you?” Vortech blasts Fake Wilhelm in the face with a gust of wind, drying him off a bit.

“It says that I don’t have time to deal with you,” says Vortech. Black hair-like tendrils slither out from the darkness surrounding the two. Vortech picks Fake Wilhelm off the ground, noticing the tendrils. He blasts each of them, forcing them back. “Look, tell me where Wilhelm and Jacobs are, and you’ll at least be conscious when I take you in.” Parts of Fake Wilhelm’s hair bleach back to white, and he looks at Vortech with one of his eyes back to normal.

“In…here…!” The real Wilhelm struggles to speak, his good eye frantically shifting between looking at Vortech and the ceiling. Vortech looks up at a pulsing black mass of hair the size of a monster truck attached to the ceiling, with a green glow at its center. The hair creature fires a beam of water at Vortech. He tries to step back to dodge, but a tendril wraps around Wilhelm, pulling him from Vortech’s grasp and into the path of the water.

Vortech watches as Wilhelm’s hair darkens again, being overtaken by the hair creature “If it makes you feel any better, ToonMan didn’t fall for my first plan either.” The hair creature speaks through Wilhelm. “But when at first you don’t succeed…” Jacobs walks out from the shadows, drenched, with pitch-black hair and green eyes. Several more people walk out with the same appearance. Vortech tries to fly above them but is knocked out of the air by a shipping container.

The shipping container slams Vortech into the ground, but he recovers quickly, blasting it off him. Only for a figure to slam into again, hard enough to make a crater in the ground. Vortech sees a distressed ToonMan wrapped and bound with black hair tendrils piercing in and out of his body, using him like a puppet. “Try, try, and try again!”

. . . . . Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed the story! If you have any comments, critiques, or criticisms, please don't be afraid to let me hear 'em (as long as they're constructive (or funny)). You can also check out my blog for more short stories. Stay safe, drink water, and be kind to yourself and others. ToonMan, AWAY!