Young Writers Society

''Now, Kartiel, there is no need to be so harsh on yourself.'' I said to Raiden.
I felt the evil eye of the true Kartiel on the back of my head, and smiled. It gladdened my heart to cause him pain. I turned back to him.

''Oh, did I mistake you, sir? I do apologise, but the resemblance is more than passing shallow.''

I could not help but to lose composure, and chuckle.

''But- but you really mean to tell me you did not do this on purpose? You leave the detectors on, adopt the form of something that shows up in flashing red, proceed to wax poetry about plots and schemes for, at least a good half hour, and you tell me you hadn't lured us here on purpose for the simple pleasure of ranting at us? Gadzooks, man, I can scarcely believe you.

You say you kept this city in the air and knowledge of us from the Wraiths? I believe that, and I thank the ruddy stars that you remembered to do so. After all, even a stopped clock is right twice in the twenty-four hours.

But you disappoint me all the same. Only one encounter and I have already cataloged several of your weaknesses. You proudly identify as a self-proclaimed villain like a schoolboy in a pantomime, you're obsessed with explaining yourself, to no benefit of your own, and most foolishly of all, you seem to actually care about our opinions.''

I knew that he was a powerful foe to make, and that I was risking my soul to irk him so, but in that moment I could not care. He deserved a sound thrashing, verbal at the very least, and if I were to die then by hell's teeth, I would give him one to remember.

Codix's plan - because that was what Nadira had realized it was - miraculously seemed to be working. Kartiel was absolutely livid. He looked like he was about to lunge at one of them out of anger, but remained exactly where he was. Something about that level of control terrified her, but Nadira couldn't figure out why.

"I'm not going to fail this time," Kartiel spat out. "I'll do things right this time, and my experiment will work the way they way it's supposed to! The other groups weren't my fault, and I won't let this one fail, either! And then when the next group arrives, I'll run it again and it'll be even more successful than this time-"

"That's going to be difficult," Codix said.

Kartiel spun around and glared at him.

Or he would have, if Codix hadn't suddenly extended his lightsaber and cut into Kartiel's leg. He kicked the now injured leg out from beneath Kartiel; the god went crashing to the floor. Nadira suddenly understood what the end goal had been. He hadn't wanted to kill Kartiel - he had wanted to capture him.

Kartiel clutched his injured leg in pain and turned to look at the pod containing the only fully grown body. A strange warmth began to settle in the room. She wasn't sure how she knew what he was, but she was certain that he was going to try putting his soul in that other body.

So she did the first thing she could think of.

She raised her blaster and fired a round of light bullets into the pod. The glass shattered. Fluid rushed out onto the floor. And the body, riddled with countless fatal injuries, remained immobile. "You're not going anywhere," Nadira said, putting the gun back into the holster. "That's the only body you have left here, Kartiel."

"We caught you," Codix added, a proud grin spreading across his face. Nadira had to admit that it felt good to defeat a god.

Nadira turned to the others. "I remember seeing the location of some cells when I was looking at the map of the city. We could put him there."

I could not waste this opportunity.

Quickly, I unsheathed my dagger and sped toward Kartiel while he was distracted by his other body. So preoccupied was he that he found his throat at knifepoint before he could get at me. I prayed that his current body did not have the same powers as a real Wraith.
The sheer possibility of that situation was enough to put a damper on the satisfaction of holding the blasted cur at knifepoint. If only a little.

Suddenly Bo found himself on two opposing sides. On the one hand, he wanted to join in the mockery and joking, but on the other hand, he didn't want to anger Kartiel. He realized that it was deliberate, and it was all a plan... but for wh-oh. Codix slashed Kartiel's leg while he was distracted. Oh. Boris swept in with his dagger.

"Hold on Boris, we're trying to trap him, not kill him. The last thing we need is him commandeering one of our bodies or something," he said as he walked up to them. "...Is there anything like rope around? I can carry him down to the cell but he's also a wraith at the moment so..."

Seeing Kartiel clutching his leg, pinned to the ground by a knife-wielding Boris, put a smile on Aegeas's face. He walked over, placing a foot on Kartiel's back. Not enough force to hurt Kartiel - that'd be too cruel at the moment, even if he deserved it - but it would keep Kartiel in place. "I don't see any rope," said Aegeas, looking around. "But we could all grab him and haul him to the cell. It'll be harder for him to escape, and Nadira knows the way."

"That idea sounds good to me," Codix agreed, trying to determine what the best way to grab onto Kartiel would be. There were several of them in the room, so it wasn't like he had to worry about carrying too much of his weight.

He went to get a closer look at the god. As he was staring down at Kartiel's face - his long silvery locks covering the majority of it - he suddenly realized how easy it would be for their captive to escape. Just a little show of magic, and he could easily limp away.

"Before we go, I just have one thing I need to do," Codix said.

He walked over to Kartiel's uninjured leg and stabbed it with his lightsaber. Kartiel, to his credit, didn't cry out in pain. There was a slight wince to indicate that the pain actually bother him, but nothing more than that. "Was that really necessary?" Kartiel demanded.

"Yes," Codix said with not a single moment of hesitation.

"A wraith's feeding organs - the ones that let them heal - are in their hands. Should I cut off his hands?" Nadira asked, already moving to injure the limbs in question.

"Don't you dare," Kartiel growled, shoving his hands underneath his chest to prevent her from getting to them. "You've done enough. It would be foolish for me to try feeding on my subjects."

Bo raised his brows slightly as Codix and Nadira came up with practical, though merciless solutions for how to further subdue Kartiel. He was... impressed.

"Foolish, maybe, but I wouldn't put it past you. I mean, nothing personal, but you said so yourself that you're a villain so..." he turned to Nadira. "Cutting his legs will keep him down, right? I didn't get any wraith info that wasn't given via Kartiel."

"It's not going to make a difference," Aegeas said, moving his foot off of Kartiel's back and then standing behind the god. "He's already down. Also" - Aegeas grabbed Kartiel by the legs - "it's something to hold on to that we know hurts him. Take us to the cells, Nadira."

Standing outside the cell in which they had thrown Kartiel inside a few moments before, Raiden grinned.
"Hah hah hah! Get rekt, 'Villain'!" He laughed, pointing at Kartiel. And then, he did the unthinkable.

Raiden got on one knee, and dabbed.

Bo, mimicking the voice of the father of the “don’t touch that cactus” bit from an asdf movie on youtube, chided Raiden.

“Now, son, do not gloat in the face of the enemy.”

I nodded in agreement. "A wise proverb, my friend. It is far better to gloat behind his back, where it is the safest. But at present he is subdued, so exceptions can be made, and one can indulge in... whatever taunting custom that gesture was."

Bo had to use all of his willpower to keep a straight face and not laugh. “It’s called dabbing. What Raiden just did. Dabbing on the haters.”

"Join me, fellow brethren. We shall dab together, and create...THE MEGA DAB!" Raiden declared dramatically, switching his dab to the other arm.

Bo joined in with the dab, squatting down low next to Raiden and doing the deepest dab possible.

Codix, being the somewhat memer he was, also joined in with the dab. What could he say? He had started looking into memes to fit in more with his peers, and he had actually found them to be pretty entertaining. Nadira, on the other hand, thought they were stupid - something that he was reminded of when he saw the disappointed look on her face.

There was a loud groan from inside the cell. Kartiel, who had propped himself up against the bars opposite of where they were standing, was watching them with a mixture of disbelief and frustration. "I can't believe I was captured by people immature enough to dab after defeating a villain," he said, his voice just loud enough for them to hear his complaining.

Codix smirked. "You were the one who picked us, Kartiel. You should have done some research."