Domination Video Script

Amazing. Granted, it was anything but smooth. Woodpecker Joe made sure to make the most out of it. He had tea and slurped it real loud without getting shamed in public. He ate a stranger’s spoon by his porch. And he proceeded to actually kick that stranger in his closet.

It was a nice house. It’s burning down quite fast. It was probably because Seven took the washing machine and slammed it against Tao. It didn’t work. But looking at the damage they’ve caused. He did use one of his last two black hole bullets, however, everything worked out just fine.

The air smelled of burnt candy. The concrete floor turned into a sheet of cookie crumbs, maybe a bit metallic but still rough like crumpled paper. It was not like he would eat concrete again. Ben was still on the ground, hunched like a wolf, probably because he thought it was cool to hide his broken legs. Seven barely survived, and he gave both of them a thumbs up before retiring to the floor and popping a small white flag over on his forehead for surrender.

HoneyCakes44 was different. Woodpecker stepped back and instinctively shadowed her from the disheveled enemy in front of them. It took a glance. He’s going to melt due to the heat that was bound his way for seeing everyone’s idol this way. She was on the ground, facing the sun, elated, breathing heavily, blushing, both her eyes shaking in this purple gleam as blood dripped from her nose.

It made Woodpecker Joe glad that he turned on their mind-link before committing to action. Benny shouldn’t see this. Especially Seven. He nudged her with the back of his foot, but her body was stiffed cold. Still, it was a nice mission. Might even be in his top ten.

He had a strong opponent. Now, they have a better sense of teamwork even though it was a bit rough. They surely overtaxed Seven to make this work, again. They also had a good amount of prep-time being utilized. Good money. They also made good money out of it. The most important thing was that, looking beyond, there was two blocks’ worth of justifiable collateral damage.

Something was off, now that he thought about it.

“Benny. Take her away.”

“But…”

“Toss her to the army of sixes and come back to save me.”

Right. He broke his gun along with the cannon. Woodpecker Joe clenched his trembling hands and took his stance. He kicked her again, but to no avail. She can’t move. Maybe it was the silence or if his ears were ringing because of that blast of sound.

Tao remained standing, his flesh torn apart like a bunch of violent sculpted marble cherubs thought his monstrous form was cute and pushed the skin and meat off his bones. He witched. His broken jaw mouthed off a chuckle. He raised his middle finger. What remained of his hollowed eyesockets was a purple gleam. He smiled.

“Benny.”

“Are you gonna be fine, Old Man?”

He was one step away from pivoting from his right foot and punching him in the face. Looking at him like a wet puppy wouldn’t work. He was far from being a martyr. He’s not a hero either.

It’s just that when a child looked at you like he would lose everything in the world if you somehow died, you’re bound to rethink your decisions. And that he did. He stepped back a bit. A moment of his death flashed when he threw his punch and get absolutely slaughtered by a counter-attack. Great. A bead of sweat dripped down on Woodpecker Joe’s face. He’s scared.

Woodpecker Joe forced himself to smile and leaned forward. He forced himself to smile. It would really be nice to have Benny just get away instead of triggering some flags that would help Tao get a last-ditch powerup.

“I’ll be fine.” He stepped towards Tao. “I’ll be—”

Something brushed past his eyes. Instinctively, he looked to where Tao was but he was gone. He chuckled and jumped to force his body to turn. His eyes followed a rapid trail of blood, a purplish gleam of violence that led his vision to chase a horned shadow that drove the kid’s face deep into concrete.

His brain didn’t work right. He reached to his waist for his gun, but no. It was destroyed not too long ago. His gaze fell to Anna. Time seemed slow. Their eyes met. Her look was that in a state of euphoria for having her power build up for too long, only to be released in one go in contrast to his, a probably desperate yet careful gaze that’s one shred away from losing all hope.

He let her help. Maybe that feeling that twisted his heart was visible. HoneyCakes44’s face changed at the same second. He liked it a bit but now was not the time. Maybe he was being too unfair. Woodpecker Joe was already scrambling towards Tao. He threw a punch and broke his wooden fist on his face. Again, no damage.

Tao smiled like it was cute and turned his world upside down. It wasn’t a romantic kiss. A love tap, probably, for him. To Woodpecker Joe, it was the rage of a thousand garbage trucks bludgeoning his face. The impact sent him honking into the air to do a triple backflip before rolling into the ground.

Everything turned into a blur. His ears rang more. His bones turned to cracked glass. He had enough time moving ever so slowly. It only ever shows up when he could screw things up or had screwed things up. The world was always giving its worst rewards. He sobbed. Maybe he was too complacent. Maybe their position was bad. Maybe coming up to her house with a robot whose hand was dripping in shit was not the best idea ever. Maybe he failed people again. He did it again.

Everything hurts. He could only breathe and move his torso a little bit. His legs might come back in a minute or two with millions of pins and needles. The rest doesn’t matter right now. It does feel like his lungs were about to rip through his ribcage but he needed to know how Benny was.

Woodpecker Joe lifted his chin, grunting, begging for his bones to hold on a little bit more. He whimpered and cried more to try. He couldn’t see it. Maybe it was the angle. He wanted to be sure. It was just a pair of legs on the ground. The trail of unmoving pair of legs left him tracing the mushed sight of blood and concrete. He couldn’t see it. He couldn’t see anything. Seven was looking at him, too.

“I went all out for nothing,” Tao laughed. “I’m done here. Who knows, maybe you’ll get to replace that joke of a weapon and joke of an arm. This society loves you so much for being bland that it saddens us.”

“I’m sorry.”

HoneyCakes44’s voice rang in his head. Her mind-link must’ve been active all this time. Woodpecker Joe can’t turn his head. He couldn’t move his arm, to turn his comlink either.

“I couldn’t move… Is anyone there?” She laughed, her internal voice twisting in pain. “I screwed up, didn’t I. No wonder no one wants to talk with me. I messed up real bad, huh? Come on, guys… Don’t you guys want to talk to me?”

Tao came to Woodpecker Joe’s field of vision, dragging HoneyCakes44 on the floor by her leg. Like a ragdoll. Like a heavy piece of trash or a bag of stones. The funny thing is he could’ve carried her over his shoulder as a real man would, but he decided to parade his victory to them. Woodpecker Joe would love to laugh if he could and if breathing didn’t hurt.

HoneyCakes44 glanced at Seven. Her face was still flushed and still limp, fully relaxed but paralyzed from letting her desire and forcing the limit of her ability the first time she did it.

“I just wanted to help.”

Finally, she looked at him.

Now, that’s just unfair. Woodpecker Joe didn’t know what he looked like at that moment. Sure, he must be covered in both blood and dirt. He might also be hanging for dear life. He could’ve been scowling and really disappointed. His face was just numb. Maybe he’s just drooping. That would be his best bet, but the way these kids looked at him was truly unfair. It made his wooden arm hurt, especially when it shouldn’t.

“I deserve this didn’t I?”

HoneyCakes44’s eyes gleamed purple. Soon, Tao would leave Woodpecker Joe’s field of vision. He stopped. He nodded to himself. He turned to drag Benny away, too. He gave Woodpecker Joe a bit of a very tight smile and walked out. But no one gave a shit about that.

Benny might be alive. He could see the boy’s head bobbing, groaning a bit. He would cry with his dry eyes if what was taken out was a simple pair of legs. But it seems that he gets to save his tears, with a bit of a sigh of relief on the side.

The kid was bloodied but alive. Bits of thickened skin and glistening scales etched his skin. It seemed that he didn’t get to use his power at all, but his desire to live was top-notch. He’s alive, barely.

Woodpecker Joe found himself looking at HoneyCakes44 again. Children, all of them. Her look softened a bit, knowing that at least Benny was alive. Unconscious, at death’s door, about to tickle the line between life and nothingness, but alive. And she was just there, her face stern and hardened.

She accepted it already.

Her eyes gleamed with purple, but she looked frail more than brave. Maybe, it would’ve worked with other people but not for Woodpecker Joe. He had seen it before. If he had a copper piece for every time he saw someone pretend that they were already accepting their fate like there’s nothing that they could do about it, he would have two coins, which would not be a lot but enough to tear his heart in half.

Woodpecker Joe wanted her to say it. She probably wanted to, anyway.

He’s tired of it. If he did this again, if he returned to what he once was, then he’s going to burn out like nothing ever changed. He needed to save himself first before he gets to save other people. This was the code that he was willing to die for. This was what he wanted.

Woodpecker Joe couldn’t scream either. And that’s where might everything end. He wanted her to cry it out. Beg for it. HoneyCakes44 didn’t look so stern. She’s about to break. She might as well break it. He tried to sharpen his gaze at HoneyCakes44’s eyes. Let it show. He begged her to let it show.

“Please…”

Her voice, about to break into a cry, ran in their heads. Her jaws shivered as she struggled to let out her words, but her tongue backpedaled at the very last second. She barred her words with teeth as tears streamed down her face. She nodded and forced herself to smile.

“Sorry. I deserve this. So, it's alright. I’m glad… that everyone else is alright. For Benny… I’ll see if I could do something about him. I owe you guys the fun, after all. It’s the least I could do, so it’s alright—”

“Shut up,” Benny muttered inside their heads. “Don’t turn me into a hater. I’ll save you, so please… shut up.”

A tear dripped from HoneyCakes44’s right eye. Bastard forgot that he was being taken too. But Joe smiled to himself. Maybe he couldn’t do it, but at least in his heart. It remained true. It was good enough.

He raised his chin and didn’t care even if it would break his most fragile spine. He couldn’t utter his words, but he made his mouth clear and mouthed HoneyCakes44 to never use her ability never again.