^^Above, chapter title credit: Song by Radiohead.^^

{Geoffrey}

I can almost feel Ridley's rage before I see it. He spins on his heel the second the headline comes on the news, and I don't see him leave the room – only the door swinging shut behind him. I take a second and look around for Raina. But my need to go after Ridley is greater. I convince myself that she'll be fine and plow after him.

I make it to the street and lose him. I try to calm my breathing as I spin around in one circle, and then another. But I know if we don't catch him, he'll blow up and cause even more of a problem.

"Geoff?"

I turn towards the revolving door. Eckles is emerging, his short dark hair sticking up in every direction. He looks like he's been running his fingers through it. In agitation, maybe, or anger.

"Hey, Howard," I answer, knowing I have to put aside the differences between us, just for tonight.

"What's goin' on? You left so fast I could barely catch you."

"Ridley. He's on the warpath."

Eckles nods, and then grasps my shoulder. "Tell you what. You go find him, but don't make any sudden moves 'til you got backup."

"Backup?" I echo, knowing I sound slow. "You'll send some?"

"Yeah, 'course. Wouldn't want your wife to lose her husband now, would we?"

"I'm surprised you even thought of that."

He shrugs. "My cousin's in the business of hurting people. I've had a lot of time to think about it."

≈

When he's gone, I have to run across the street, to a dark alleyway, and pull out the ball that contains my suit. I toss it on the ground, and while it unfolds I begin to strip down to my underwear. Then I climb inside it, ball up my clothes, and toss them into a dumpster. Quickly I scale the fire escape and crouch down once I get to the roof. I let my super-sense calibrate, but with all the distractions around me it takes longer. At one point I'm distracted by Matt, coming out to the street and looking around.

I push off the roof and ascend, so now I have a bird's eye view of the area. My super-sense locks in this time, pulling me uptown. I drift that way, letting it direct me like a compass needle. I have a feeling Ridley's headed towards Salinger's election party venue. He'd rented the entire Guggenheim museum, which makes it much more difficult. Now we're not only trying to stop him, but we also have to try not to damage the art collection either.

Soon I hone in on the museum, lowering myself to the roof by degrees. I can hear cheering and a voice, although it doesn't sound like Salinger's. Once my feet touch ground, I duck down and then poke my head up, watching the front entrance. Knowing Ridley, though, he'd probably get in through the back and ambush everybody that way.

I step off the roof and float down to the ground, right behind a bodyguard. That's when an idea hits me. I grab the back of his jacket and yank him towards me, clamping a hand over his mouth before he can say anything.

"Listen very carefully to what I'm about to say to you," I tell him, and he nods. "Your boss is in danger, and if you want to live to see it, you'll tell him to get the hell out of this building."

Then I release him, melting back into the shadows. I see him walk up to one of his colleagues, his knees knocking, and say something into his ear. The other one nods and turns to speak into the radio attached to his shoulder.

That's when the ground starts rumbling, and suddenly the manhole cover in the middle of the street shoots into the air. I push off the ground and go after it, catching it and tossing it onto the roof of the museum like a Frisbee. Then I look back down just in time to see a slimy black mass emerging, tentacles grabbing onto anything within reach. The journalists and bodyguards assembled nearby begin to panic, stampeding in all directions. I make a beeline for the Blob, shooting three lasers into it. It screeches and falters, but keeps coming.

"No you don't," I growl as it wraps its tentacle around a lamppost and pulls. I drop straight down, slamming my feet into it as hard as I can. It lets go, punching me in the midsection and sending me flying. I slam into the side of Salinger's limo, making the alarm go off. The driver gets out, looking angry as hell, until he sees me.

"Get out of here!" I shout at him, just as I feel a tentacle wrap around my ankle. "Go!"

I don't get to see if he does. The tentacle drags me up off the ground and throws me down the street. I smash into the front windshield of a taxi, hearing the screech of brakes, a horn, and breaking glass. I roll off the hood and apologize to the people inside, jumping up and shooting two more lasers, from both my hands, at the Blob. It's on its way towards the entrance, tentacles constantly moving.

Then the entrance opens and Salinger emerges, with some of his campaign staff and a couple bodyguards behind him. The Blob squelches forward, grabbing two of them and throwing them to both sides. It does it again, so that Salinger's only protected on one side.

"Hey!" I shout, leaping straight at the Blob's center, where I know the human part of it is. I wrap my arms around its middle, trapping its spindly arms to its sides.

The Blob bucks like a bull, trying to throw me off. Its tentacles reach for me but I zap each one with a laser, earning a screech of frustration every time. I gesture for Salinger and what remains of his protective detail to run, as fast as they can. They don't hesitate or ask any questions. They just go, thankfully.

"Looks like your plan's been foiled again," I hiss at the Blob before letting it go and kicking it right in the face. Its head snaps back, but I don't give it time to recover. I kick it again and hit it with a laser for good measure. It screeches and tries to catch me, but I raise myself to hover just out of its reach. Two more lasers follow.

It grabs me around the ankle without warning, throwing me shot-put-style towards the park. I have no time to react as I punch through tree branches and then hit the ground, smashing a park bench to pieces. My head slams against something hard, stunning me.

"Hello, Geoff," says a familiar voice above me.

I raise my throbbing head, finding myself looking up at Ridley. He's in his Hammerhead suit, and his mouth is twisted into a triumphant sneer. "Looks like your backup was too little, too late."

"What do you mean by..." I try to sit up, but my vision spins. I blink, seeing the Blob advancing on us. Held in its tentacles, both unconscious, are Hank and Matt.

"Get up," Ridley snaps. "We have a lot to talk about, it looks like."

"I'm not going anywhere with you."

He nods at the Blob. A tentacle shoots out, punching me in the chest to knock me flat.

"Now get up. We don't have all night."

Wordlessly, with my entire body hurting, I drag myself to my feet. In the distance, I hear a rumble, and a roar like the earth vibrating underneath me.

"Krakatoa, as you might have guessed," says Ridley. "It took me a long time to get him back on his feet, you know."

"You never should have brought him back." I limp beside Ridley, refusing to follow him. "He was helping you the whole time. So was Banks."

"And now Banks is ruined, thanks to Eckles." Ridley clenches both fists. "I'll make sure Eckles'll never show his face around New York again."

Matt suddenly groans, distracting Ridley. I stick out my foot and trip him, and he goes sprawling. Before he can get up, I plant a foot in the middle of his back and stop the Blob with a raised hand, letting my laser warm up.

"I can dispatch your master right now if you touch me," I say, daring it to get closer. "You let them go, and maybe I won't."

"He's bluffing," Ridley says, his cheek smashed into the ground. "Don't listen to him."

I shoot a laser at him, purposefully missing his face by a hair. "I'm not, trust me. Release them, now."

With a wet sucking noise the Blob drops Hank and Matt.

"That's better." I try not to pay attention to Krakatoa's roars, sounding like a volcano's erupting. "Now would you like to leave by yourself, or will I have to force you?"

The Blob hesitates, but only for a second. It lunges at me and I react instinctually, summoning both my lasers and aiming them straight at the heart region. They hit directly, and the Blob's stopped cold, arms out straight and tentacles writhing. It screams, so loud and piercing that the lower windows in the nearby building shatter. Then it shrivels up, like a piece of paper burning. The last of its existence flutters to the ground, a burning scrap of something that looks like black plastic.

"No!" Ridley bellows, springing to his feet. "You...!"

He follows the Blob's example and lunges, but there's a thud from behind him and he stiffens and collapses. Matt's there, holding the leg of the demolished park bench and grinning.

"Watch him," I say, nodding to Ridley. "I'll take Hank, and we'll go see if we can fight off Krakatoa."

Hank's stirring too, rolling on his back and trying to sit up. I run over and offer my hand, and he grabs it to pull himself up.

"You okay, man?" I ask as he rolls his shoulders and his neck.

"That thing snuck up behind me and grabbed me by the neck," he says, rotating his wrists. "But other than that, I'm good."

"Good enough to fight a human volcano?" I dread trying to battle Krakatoa, especially when I've already been beaten up by the Blob, but now at least I have Hank.

Hank nods. "Let's do it."

--

Only 4 chapters left, folks!