The Ball: Part 14 (Spidophile)

    (Click here to read The Ball from the beginning)

When we last left our hero, he had come face to face with the powerful supervillain who had just informed Sven that his name was Echo. - Lauren

"Neva hoid of him," said Sven, quoting his Second Favorite Musical of All Time. The shadowy figure glided closer to Sven.

"Echo, as in a man so wicked that he was consumed by his own sin and forced to live in the agony of tortured souls as an echo of human life."

"Really?" breathed Sven.

"No, but that's what most people think."

"Why do you call yourself Echo, then?"

"Irrelevant. What is relevant is the fact that you have let my mortal enemies fight the scabbed one and the minions, foolishly choosing to face me yourself."

"Who's the more foolish? The fool, or the fool who follows him?"

"That's a ridiculous question. Let's just say that if you strike me down I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine."


"Dude! That's awesome, man!"

They high fived. Poki stumbled past with his head stuck in Cap'n Cino's coffee cup.

"E-e-cho-o," came his voice from somewhere inside the Impenitranium mug. "This isn't going well. You s-said you had it all figured out!"

"I do," replied Echo. "and I will prove it by defeating this guy in a miniskirt."

Echo shot out a shadowy fist, sending Sven sprawling on the soaked floor. Sven shook his head and clambered to his feet.

"Alright Enchilada- uh- Nachos- no, Shadowcat?"

"Echo," grumbled the shadowy figure.

"Echo, prepare for a Spoonful of Justice! TM."

Sven shot a stream of spoons at the villain, who dodged them and disappeared. The hero spun around, scanning the room for Echo. He felt a chilling wind behind him and two shadowy hands closed around his throat. Sven struggled and aimed an electrical bolt at his attacker.

"Ga-awk!" cried Echo, surprised.

"That doesn't mean anything in echo-language, does it?" asked Sven nervously when he regained his breath.

"It means: Teleport back to Headquarters!" spat the villain. Live energy began crackling around him.

"Coward! You're running away!"

"I'm not running, I'm making a strategic retreat." and he was gone. 

Our hero breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't want to fight Echo. But as he raised his eyes to the ongoing battle, he saw live energy crackling around the villains.

"Next time, heroes!" snarled Scab Berto.

"Next time you won't be so lucky!" called Puerto.

"Bye, Ben." said IDK slowly.

"Mmm-rrrrr-mmmffff." mumbled several other villains from the floor. And they all disappeared.

"Darn!" grumbled Ben. "I thought that the Watcher was gonna come and give Sven a sub-atomic time displacer capable of transporting living beings back to the immediate past."

"Nerd, this isn't some superhero-attended wedding," scoffed his cousin.

"Speaking of wedding," chirped a loud voice behind them. "Ben and I would like to make an announcement."

Dr. Spork whirled to see Nicole Soapdish running towards him.  Nicole took the microphone in one hand and Ben's hand in the other.

"Benny and I are getting married!" she announced, showing everyone her hand with the suicide ring on it. 

The superheroes clapped and cheered a little awkwardly, as they wondered why Ben would propose to someone like her. Sven was aghast. He knew Ben well enough to know that this was not his doing.

"Ben!" he hissed. "Can I talk to you in private?"

Ben was lying on the floor in a dead faint.

"That's unfortunate," Sven sighed. Cassandra hurried over to our hero and put her arms around him.

"Yes!" she cheered. "We won but not really!"

Chief Captain Leif Captin was shaking his head.

"All those criminals got away. It'll take months to jail them all again."

"Don't worry, Captain Captin, you have the superheroes of New Spork City standing behind you," assured Sven. "And by you I mean the New Spork City Police Department."

"Well, that's all good and heartwarming but we really need to do something as soon as possible."

Dor was finding it very easy to accomplish that. You see, Poki had many enchantments he used to keep himself from harm, and among them he unwittingly wore a teleportation nullifying spell. When Echo had teleported away all the villains, Poki was left behind. He tried to escape, but was pursued and apprehended by Dor. The rain god and sulky villain soared into the ballroom.

"This villain, at least, has not escaped the ever-seeing eye of justice." Dor told the chief of police.

"Should I take him into custody?"

"No," laughed Dor. "I shall take him to Tartarus, under custody of its ruler Hades and his queen Persephone, and their dog."

Poki groaned.

"But they hate me! And it's, like, thirty below down there. And that guy Charon? Always asking me for money! And Cerberus stinks like three dogs every time he swims in the Styx, and -"

"Enough, brother! Your punishment fits your crime and you know it! Now, heroes, see that he doesn't run off while I go get some pomegranate seeds. It's rude to visit the underworld without a gift."

Dor dropped Poki on the ground and flew off. Poki crossed his arms and stared angrily at the heroes, who stared angrily at Poki. This continued until Dor returned.

"Alright, Poki. Let's go."

"Just let me have the mic for a few seconds."

Dor looked at him sternly.

"Last request."

Dor nodded. Poki took the microphone from Nichole.

"Hear me, mortals! This day you will enjoy a petty victory, to which I say: Bravo! Celebrate and gloat while you still can! For I will return! And then I will DESTROY you! MARK MY WORDS!!!"

"Yeah, Yeah, whatever. Same old villain speech," yawned the White Spinster.

"See you later, alligator!" called Cap'n Cino as Dor and Poki left.

"In a while, crocodile," hissed Poki.

Next up: Sven confronts Ben about his dubious engagement.

Read the next section: The Ball: Part 15 (Lauren)