Tex wasn't sure how much time had passed before he was able to even conceive of himself again. He didn't feel like he'd lost consciousness, but he'd spent so long with his eyes closed that he might as well have.
When he did get them open, he was greeted to a confusing sight.
He was pressed against the wall of a small room. Presumably a bathroom, considering the sinks and toilet lids that were scattered astray. Everything was shaking, and a strange noise radiated from the floor.
Tex tried to take a step forward but found the task was harder than he'd been expecting. Specifically, it felt as if he'd been lying on his back and tried to take a step up the wall.
A crack sounded out. A large chunk of the ceiling crumbled and flew off in a direction that seemed to be up. Shocked, Tex looked through the new hole in the tiling to see a swirling vortex of confusion. He could see the ground, but it was like he was looking at it from an airplane window.
What was more interesting, however, was the tornado that he seemed to be somewhere inside of.
Tex heard a scream. For a moment, he thought it was his own, but he quickly realized the pitch was too high and nasally.
"...Somebody there?" Tex asked.
The source of the scream responded with a cough. Tex was pretty sure it had come directly from his right.
"I'm not certain where here is." the voice replied.
The voice was definitely nearby. Tex looked over his right shoulder to see a bathroom stall. In a surprisingly easy maneuver, he hoisted himself up with the stall door so he could look inside it.
Pinned under an astray sink was a familiar looking man.
"Ben Shapiro?" Tex realized.
"What's happening?" Ben replied.
Tex was unsure how to respond. Another chunk of the wall flew out, and the room tilted slightly forward. Tex watched as several miscellaneous objects began to slide across the floor towards the hole in the wall.
"My violin!" Ben called.
"Hmm?"
Ben pointed his finger frantically at a black case as it slid a few feet away from Tex. Tex swung his weight to the side, catching the case with his foot.
Tex lifted his leg and transferred the case to his hands. Once he'd slung it over his shoulder by the strap, he returned his attention to Ben.
"Don't worry, I got you." Tex said as he climbed the rest of the way into the broken stall.
Tex reached for the sink, and Ben did the same. With their combined strength, the two of them were able to push the sink away.
Ben stayed sitting but dusted himself off once he'd been freed.
"Oh, thank you." Ben sighed. "I appreciate your actions."
"Ain't nothing. You alright?"
Looking at his hands, Ben wiggled his fingers and shifted his legs.
"I appear to be intact." he replied.
"Good. I'm gonna check this out."
Scooting along the ground, Tex made his way over to the chunk of wall missing. After positioning himself with care, he took another look outside.
It seemed that the room they were in had been detached from the courthouse. Tex could see other chunks of the building caught in the figure eight shaped whirlwind, as well as what seemed to be stray members from the courthouse. What was most interesting, however, was the black rope whipping around the storm that stretched above them all the way down to the ground.
"I guess I can't deny I'm at least partially at fault for this." Ben said, and Tex looked over to realize Ben had followed him.
Tex could see all the way to the ground. The courthouse was the only structure that had been destroyed, and the storm seemed to have not moved at all. Even the two buildings next to it were perfectly intact. Tex was pretty sure he could see people on the ground at the bottom, but he was too far away to tell what they were doing.
He was surprised he wasn't more scared.
"If we caught that black rope, perhaps we could pull ourselves down." said Ben.
"I was thinking the same thing."
"But the question still remains of what we'll do once we get lower in the storm. It's likely we'll just fall to our deaths."
"Eh, it's better than waiting to starve."
The inside of the storm was shaped like a figure eight, with the black rope on the inverse side of the storm as them. So when the bathroom began to move towards the center of the storm, the rope mirrored their path.
Tex steadied himself as much as was feasible and stuck his head through the hole in the wall. The wind hit him hard, but he stayed put.
The rope zoomed closer. Thankfully, it was passing close enough to the bathroom that Tex wouldn't have to jump for it.
He reached both his hands out and captured it with ease. The line went stiff.
"Wanna get out of here?" Tex asked Ben, and he could feel an unintentional smile ghosting over his lips.
After a moment of consideration, Ben leapt forward and climbed onto Tex's back in a pseudo piggy-back position.
"Oof." said Tex.
Tex could feel Ben's body shifting around his shoulders. A second later, Ben brought the strap on his violin case to wrap around both of their waists. Tex passed the black rope up to Ben so he could undo his belt and then redo it around the violin strap, locking them together.
Tex supposed there could have been worse people to be tied to.
"Are you prepared?" Ben asked.
"Ready when you are."
The black rope was still in Ben's hands. Tex leaned forward in invitation, and Ben quickly matched his movements.
Tex's world quickly turned upside down as Ben began to pull them down the rope. Before Tex could lose his footing, he grabbed the section of the rope under Ben's hands and added his own strength. After the two of them had walked their hands up just a foot or two, Tex kicked off from the bathroom, leaving it behind for good.
"I apologize for climbing on you without warning." Ben said.
Ben was much easier to carry in the storm, where gravity seemed to be having a hard time figuring out what it was supposed to be doing. With their two pairs of hands and Tex's one pair of feet, the two of them quickly found a good climbing rhythm.
"It's alright." Tex replied.
"I didn’t want to waste time."
So far, the two of them were making alright time. It seemed they were inching themselves along about a foot per second. It felt like it should have been a more difficult task, but it wasn't like anything else about their situation made sense.
Tex could tell he was doing more of the work, although he didn't mind.
"So, uh..." Tex trailed off.
"Yes?"
"Didn't get the chance to yet, but I wanted to mention the whole thing in the courtroom earlier."
Tex felt Ben's weight stiffen against his back.
"It wasn't my intention to offend you, but I'm not going to apologize if I did." Ben said coldly. "Nothing I said was accusatory, and--"
"Woah, woah. I was just gonna say sorry you got wrapped up in this."
Ben’s weight relaxed.
"Oh." he breathed. "My apologies."
"You alright?"
"Yeah. I don't know why, I just assumed you were attacking me."
"Huh."
"Either way, it's an unnecessary apology on your part. I'm the one who got us into this."
Tex nodded. Ben didn't say anything else, and Tex quickly found himself bored with the silence.
"So, uh." Tex repeated. "Your name's Ben, right?"
"That is correct."
"You doing alright, Ben?"
It took Ben a moment to respond.
"I'm trapped inside of a vortex, I might die, I'm cold, and I missed lunch." answered Ben.
"Oh."
"What's you opinion on abortion?"
Tex coughed.
"Pardon?" he asked.
"I haven't talked about abortion in over an hour. See, I'm getting shaky."
Tex wasn't sure how to reply. Ben momentarily placed his hand in front of Tex's face to show him it was indeed shaky.
"So when do you think a baby is alive?" Ben pushed. "First breath? First heartbeat?"
"Uh--"
"Conception? Development of the brain? First signs of motor skills?"
Tex chewed on his lower lip in thought.
"I don't really believe in life like that." he replied.
"What do you mean?"
Ben's questions were rapid-fire fast, as well as the pace of his speech. Tex always appreciated when people spoke quickly.
"I mean, I don't guess there's ever a point where a fetus or--anything, really, is suddenly alive." said Tex. "I don't think life is an on or off switch."
"Would you consider yourself to be alive?"
"...I don't know."
"You don't know?"
"I don't know what life is."
It took Ben a moment to respond.
"But you still must have an opinion on when the abortion cut off date should be." Ben pushed. "One week? Two weeks?"
"Nah, not really. I just feel it's so circumstantial."
Ben didn't reply, but Tex was interested enough in the conversation to keep it going.
"What's your opinion?" Tex asked.
"I believe abortion should be banned."
"And why's that?"
"I believe life begins at conception."
Tex stayed silent, but Ben didn't elaborate. He almost didn't notice when another man caught in the storm floated by.
"That it?" Tex wondered.
"I consider the potential life of a baby, and everything it will become, to be more of a gain than I think the loss will be for the parents."
"Fair nuff."
"Ben Shapiro destroys pro-abortion journalist with Facts and Logic!" the man floating by yelled happily at the two of them.
Ben threw his weight and momentarily unhooked his legs from Tex's back so he could push the man farther away in the storm with his feet.
"Do you disagree?" Ben asked once he'd returned to his original position.
"Don't really agree or disagree. Honestly, I just don’t think it's all that sad when a baby dies."
"...You don't?"
"Nah, I reckon it'd be way sadder for an eight year old to die."
Ben didn't reply. Tex found himself worried that he'd offended him.
"It ain't like I love abortion, though." said Tex. "I don't reckon it should be done all frivolously."
"Yes, I would question your moral integrity if you did." Ben replied.
“Hmm.”
"Would you prefer the number of annual abortions to increase or decrease?"
"Uh, decrease, I guess."
"But you believe there should be no legal repercussions for doctors or patients who participate in abortions."
Ben's tone didn't feel accusatory, only seeking precision.
"Legal, no. I was thinking more..." Tex trailed off.
"More what?"
"Town I grew up in has a real low abortion rate. The way we did it was that if your mama couldn't afford to have you, it didn't matter. Everyone was so tight knit that the community could raise you easy."
"Pro-choice redneck OBLITERATES Ben Shapiro!" another man floating by yelled to the two of them.
Ben responded to Tex with a noise of disapproval.
"You don't like that?" Tex wondered.
"I value a self-sustaining family model."
"Hey, I do too. I don't think it would've worked on a larger scale."
"Personally, I'd still advocate for something even smaller."
Tex nodded and returned his focus to climbing, but only for a minute.
"What's your opinion on sex-reassignment surgeries?" asked Ben.
“Uh--”
"What age do you think people should be considered eligible to consent to sex-reassignment surgery?"
"Do you--do you just like to talk about controversial subjects?"
It took Ben a moment to respond.
"I like to talk about important subjects." he answered.
"...You kinda act like you hate it."
Given they were so close, Tex could feel Ben shake his head.
"No, I just don't like when people tell me I'm completely moraless for sharing my personal morals." Ben explained.
"How often do people do that?"
"About as often as people make the claim that my criticisms of mumble rap mean I dislike black people."
"Hell's mumble rap?"
"I don't hate black people, I like jazz."
Tex's mouth twisted to the side.
"Rap ain't that bad." he replied.
"Are you a fan of rap, good sir?"
"Nah, but I'm a fan of country, and people say all the same stuff about that."
"People say country music is a generic genre that too overtly panders to the working class."
"Yeah, but that's all just radio fluff. You could say that about any genre."
Ben hummed in response.
"Is country your favorite genre of music?" Ben asked.
"Bluegrass, prolly." Tex answered.
"Huh."
"What about you?"
"Classical."
"...You lean more towards musical theater, or high class shit?"
"I like arias."
Tex felt himself smile.
"You like Schubert?" he wondered. "Or Donaudy, Giordani, or--"
"If you were expecting me to be impressed by your knowledge of Italian composers, you were correct."
Stolen story; please report.
Now that they'd made so much progress, Tex saw that the rope they were climbing down led to another semi-enclosed chunk of the court house swirling around inside the storm. The rope also continued out the other end of the room all the way to the ground, giving the room the appearance of having been threaded.
"Where did you learn about those composers?" asked Ben.
"My mama used to make me sing."
"Mmh."
"And then I got vocal lessons for, uh, eight years."
Against his back, Tex felt Ben's weight shift with excitement.
"In classical?" Ben pushed.
"Yeah."
"In that case, you might be interested to hear I've been trying to compose music myself."
"Hell, I'm interested."
Ben replied with a sheepish sort of chuckle. Tex felt a sudden desire to change the subject.
"How'd you think the rest of the city’s doing with the storm?" Tex asked.
"Considering the contained nature of the storm, I sincerely hope they're planning to help us."
A woman cleared her throat loudly. Tex looked over to see the head council member, swirling close by with the rest of the city council members.
"All in favor of a two percent property tax increase to fund the repairs of a new courthouse," she started, "please say aye."
"Aye."
"Aye."
The council members barely acknowledged Tex as he maneuvered himself over to them. That was, not until he snatched a Tupperware containing a sandwich from the hands of one of the council members.
"Hey, you can't do that!" he said.
Tex handed the sandwich to Ben and got back to climbing the rope. He felt Ben stiffen on his back.
"You stole from a government official?" Ben whispered in amazement.
"You said you missed lunch." Tex replied.
"And weren't you worried they would just shoot you?"
"They don't got guns."
"Arrest you, then."
"How would they arrest me?"
It took Ben a moment to respond.
"I'd always just assumed it was something they could do on demand." said Ben.
"Yeah, lotta people do."
Tex took a look at their path. They'd gotten close enough to the room under them that Tex could now see it was the disembodied lobby of the courthouse.
"Sometimes I don't give back the pen after I sign in at the doctor's office." Ben whispered.
"Oh? And how's that make you feel?"
"Like a pirate."
Tex let out a happy snicker at the image.
"Don't laugh." Ben scolded. "I always wanted to be a pirate, despite the amoral behavior and--general hygiene."
"You're right, I shouldn't laugh. You'd make a cute pirate."
They were about fifteen feet above the courthouse lobby when a woman poked her head out of the rubble and looked up at them.
"Speaking of pirates," followed Tex, "that kinda looks like a..."
"Tex?" the woman asked.
"...Tala?"
"Good, it's you two. That's almost everyone."
After they'd climbed down the last couple feet to the lobby, Tala helped the two of them through a missing chunk of rubble. Ben unhooked himself from Tex's back, and the two of them floated apart.
Tex immediately began to feel cold.
The inside of the lobby was trashed, although Tex had been expecting it to be. He spotted the 4chaners from the meeting by the stairs, as well as the two men he and Ben had kicked away from their conversation on abortion, but Junji was nowhere to be found.
The rope that Tala had used to fish them in had been tied to an intact foundation pillar. The other end of the rope wrapped around the pillar and poked out through a hole in the floor. When Tex stepped over to get a closer look at the hole, he saw once again that the rope was headed towards the courtyard ground.
"I'm glad you're alright." said Tala. "Give me a couple minutes, I'm going to go fish for the council members."
Tala left back for the hole in the rubble she'd pulled Tex through. As best he could with gravity all wonky, Tex wandered over to the group of 4chaners.
"Hey, uh." he greeted. "There a chance any of y'all happened to see my friend in the storm?"
"What's he look like?" one of the men replied.
"He's got dark hair, and he's all fussy and pedantic, and you kinda get the feeling from him that he was one of them kids in high school who wore a black cape to school and played Yugioh at lunch..."
The man nodded and pointed at Ben.
"Yeah, he's right there." he said.
"Tex, Junji's not in the storm." Tala called.
"Ah, thank god." Tex replied.
"I texted him earlier and he said he was trying to help people on the bottom. The rope we have is from him, and he'll pull us down when we get everyone."
Tex let out a sigh of relief. He hadn't even thought of trying to text Junji.
As Tala helped them aboard, several members of the council began to disperse throughout the room. One made his way over to Ben after noticing him.
"Give me my sandwich back." the man demanded.
"...No." Ben replied.
Defeated, the council member returned to his friends.
Ben took a seat on the floor and opened the Tupperware to reveal a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. After pulling out a small pocket knife, he carefully cut the crusts off in even strips. Once finished, he began to slice the sandwich diagonally so that it would make two perfect triangles.
A strong gust of wind powered through a hole in the wall and tugged the sandwich out of Ben's hands.
"Oh no." Ben said quietly as the sandwich soared out the hole.
"You still hungry?" Tex asked him.
"Yes."
"...How long you in town?"
Tex pretended not to notice the wide smile that spread across Ben's face.
"My original plan was to return home after the courthouse meeting," Ben replied, "but I don't have to be back in Los Angeles for--three days, I think."
"How bout I buy you some Subway when we get back?"
Ben raised an eyebrow.
"Is Subway kosher?" he asked.
"If it ain't, I'll ethically slaughter the cow myself."
Ben let out a short laugh in response. Tex wasn't sure why they were being so quiet. It was only a sandwich, after all.
Tala cleared her throat loudly. Both the city council and 4chaners looked in her direction.
"So, uh, are we ready?" Tala asked, dusting off her pants.
Both the city council and the 4chaners mumbled that they were. Tex raised an eyebrow.
"Great, I'll tell Junji to bring us down." followed Tala.
"What about the journalists?" Tex wondered.
"What about them?"
Tex let out a scoff of disbelief.
"We gonna get them?" he asked.
"We don't know where they are."
Tex took a look out a window. There were no more people to be seen floating about, which implied the journalists must have been in one of the rooms swirling above or below.
"They're probably in one of them." Tex said, pointing at the floating rooms.
"We can't check all of them." Tala replied.
Tex frowned.
"They'll be fine." Tala followed. “The fire department will come eventually."
"They might be hurt." Tex pushed. "Nobody's seen any sign of them?"
Along with several of the 4chaners, Tala let out a sharp laugh.
"We've seen this." said Tala.
Tala's phone was thrust into Tex's face. He examined the screen to see an article written and edited by Janet Scott about how the storm over city hall was disproportionately harming neurodivergent persons of hue.
The article had been posted to Harvard's online newspaper just a half an hour prior. It contained a photo of the street near city hall, shot from an overhead perspective high up in the storm.
"Uh." Tex managed.
"Hey, cowboy." a 4chaner in a black hoodie said. "Come take a look at this."
Tex pushed off from the wall so he could get closer. Another phone was pushed into his face.
Anonymous (ID: gqut6MPr) 19:00:14 No.777771792▶
>be me
>get word that some antifa f*ggots are going to a courthouse meeting
>someone gets the idea to hire Ben Shapiro, we make a post trying to raise cash >get a huge donation from some high up at Twitter and Whole Foods or something
>show up with my buddies to courthouse meeting, all of us dressed undercover
>get the libs to agree with us, then hit them with their own hypocrisy >antiflings get mad and start to argue >Ben Shapiro comes in
>antiflings get triggered by Ben Shapiro's presence
>they get so triggered that the entire courthouse erupts into a storm
>currently still caught in said storm
>find out antif*ggots have already uploaded an article to their school newspaper about how the storm is disproportionately targeting black people
>think it would be funny to find them and put MAGA stickers on their backs when they're not looking
>can anyone help
Anonymous (ID: AzGlDj6+) 19:03:52 No.777771908▶
You're such a fucking f*ggot holy shit.
Anonymous (ID: gqut6MPr) 19:05:14 No.777772185▶
I used google maps to get a top down view of what used to be the seattle courthouse. The picture in the article would place them above the church, so about 50 feet from the inside of the tornado, and the size of the buildings implies they're ~120 feet above the ground. assuming they haven't moved
Anonymous (ID: U7g9xySW) 19:07:20 No.777772379▶ [https://static01.nyt.com/images/2017/03/02/us/02tornado1/02tornado1-superJumbo.jpg]
assuming this article is accurate, the tornado is 200 feet across at the 120 mark. which would mean the full loop is about 31,415 feet
Anonymous (ID: QPebw0Iz) 19:10:31 No.777773935▶
the tornado is moving in a figure eight pattern
Anonymous (ID: ULMnA2/M) 19:11:05 No.777775234▶
Tornados make my dick so fucking hard. My sister used to be a storm chaser before she died in a storm and thinking about her getting sucked up in a tycoon makes me so horny.
Anonymous (ID: gqut6MPr) 19:15:14 No.777776390▶
google maps says our altitude is lower than theirs.
Anonymous (ID: p27gPbLl) 19:16:30 No.777777498▶
This is a dead end. Even if we could calculate relative position, the storm is moving too fast to matter.
Anonymous (ID: O99Kuh5E) 19:23:03 No.777777777▶
>be me
>make a lot of money selling alien impregnation dildos on Amazon
>like they're hollow and you can put silicon eggs in them
>hate life
>see your post
>read the article, search for the name of the author on Twitter
>find her twitter, find that she posted a link to the article on their Twitter
>see that she used Twitter for Android
>use some of my sweet sweet dildo cash to bribe Android under the table for phone tracking information
>Android sends me her tracking information
>Occum's razor my friends
"You did all that just so you could put MAGA stickers on them?" Tex asked.
"H--heh, yeah." the man replied, unable to contain his laughter.
"That's stupid. Let's just get them and get out."
Tala sighed.
"Tex, you don't get it." she explained. "These people aren't good people."
"How could you know that?" asked Tex.
"They're bullies." one of the 4chaners replied. "You just don't understand how many people have lost their jobs over Tweets they made when they were fourteen or had their businesses destroyed for no reason at all. Or that've been doxxed, or harassed..."
"Yeah, and the worst part is that they have huge victim complexes." another added.
"Do you know how many racial minorities have been blamed for all the stupid shit they've done in our name?" Tala said.
Tex groaned and rubbed between his eyebrows.
"Let's just grab them." he begged. "We'll worry about it later."
The man in the black hoodie cleared his throat. Tex looked over to see he was still on his phone.
"They're above us." he said as he flashed his screen, showing the tracking app he was on.
"Hang on, let me text Junji." Tala replied.
Curious, Tex watched over Tala's shoulder as she opened the messenger app on her phone.
From Gamer Gril
hey, junji?
To Spoodge King 2.0
Hello.
From Gamer Gril
we need you to raise us before you pull us back in
From Gamer Gril
we're trying to get the ((journalists))
To Spoodge King 2.0
How far would you like me to raise you?
"Hey Johnathan, how far up is the signal coming from?" Tala asked.
"About thirty-five feet." the man in the hoodie replied.
Tala nodded and typed out another text to Junji. A moment later, there was a series of creaks as the lobby began to drift upwards.
"Are we in range?" asked Tala.
"Give it another five feet." Johnathan replied.
Tala passed the information onto Junji. Tex took a look through a hole in the wall to see if he could spot the journalists.
"Ok, we're at the same height." Tala said.
Tex could only see one other room floating around the tornado at their elevation. It was on the opposite side of the storm, although it quickly began to zoom closer.
"Wait," Tex replied, “that's gonna--"
There was a crash, followed by the sound of tile cracking. Tex found himself colliding into a wall back first, although the impact only knocked the wind out of him.
He forced his eyes open past the dust to see that the left wall of the lobby had mostly crumbled, along with a wall of what Tex now knew to be another bathroom. The rooms were at the same level, so their connection resembled a very messy expansion.
All four of the journalists stared at them with confused expressions.
Along the divide, Ben grabbed the free end of the rope with the pillar and then reached for the closest pipe in the journalist's bathroom. Tex leapt forward and did the same, and it seemed their strength combined was enough to lock the two rooms together.
Tex grit his teeth at the amount of strength needed to hold the rooms together. To keep his hands steady, he found himself thinking of all the places he wanted to show Ben while he was still in town.
"What are you guys doing here?" asked Nancy.
"We're here to help." one of the 4chaners answered. "Come aboard."
"Hell no. You're just here to put MAGA stickers on our backs when we're not looking.”
"...No."
With difficulty, Tex cleared his throat.
"If you come over, we'll help you get down." he managed. "My word."
None of the journalists budged.
"Alright, they're not listening." Tala said. "Let's go."
"Yeah, I don't know what we should have expected from a bunch of retards." Johnathan added.
As he spoke, Johnathan flicked his eyebrows up. Several of the 4chaners let out a snicker that almost sounded preemptive.
"You can't say that!" Janet yelped.
"Can’t say what, retarded?" Johnathan repeated.
Janet slapped both her hands over her ears.
"Retarded, retarded, retarded." followed Johnathan. "This is the real world, no one's going to arrest me."
"You're a fucking asshole." Janet replied, her voice growing in volume. "Millions of people are afflicted with mental disabilities--"
"I wasn't insulting them, I was insulting you."
"--Fuck you!"
"Nobody here is mentally handicapped. You don't care about helping people, you just never want to feel anything bad."
"No! I care!"
Janet's voice had raised to the level of a shout. Furthermore, it had become shrill with distress.
"Fuck you!" she repeated. "I care! Fuck you! I care!"
"You don't." Johnathan said smugly, stepping closer to the bathroom.
"Fuck you! I care!"
Janet began to scream louder and louder until her voice was nothing more than an incomprehensible mess. Most of the 4chaners seemed overcome with hysterics. But truthfully, there was nothing funny about it. It was a visceral, sickening sight, to see someone pushed to their absolute limits
"Stop it!" Tex yelled to Johnathan. "This is sick! You're sick."
Tex wasn't even sure if Johnathan could hear him, considering the way the storm suddenly began to pick up speed. Tex grit his teeth when several of the 4chaners walked over the divide to join the journalists in the bathroom.
"Perhaps we should all calm down." Ben suggested.
The moment Ben spoke, all of Janet's attention turned to him.
"You!" she shrieked. "You--nazi!"
"...I'm Jewish." Ben replied.
"Don't engage with her." Tex begged.
Ben's grip began to loosen on the rope holding the two rooms together. Tex was forced to hold on even harder.
"I don't have to listen to fascists!" said Janet.
"I don't think you know what a fascist is." Ben replied.
"Ben, stop." Tex ordered. "You ain't gonna change her mind."
The corner of Ben's mouth lowered in thought.
"Tex, you don't understand." he said.
"What don't I understand?" Tex replied. "Please explain to me what I don't understand."
"I'm not trying to change her mind."
"Then what the hell are you doing?"
"People like this will never change their minds, they're just too brainwashed to believe too many insane things. So the only thing left we can do is mock and threaten them to let them know that they won't be tolerated."
Janet was still screaming when Ben let go of the rope. Tex watched in horror as Ben jumped over to the bathroom.
"Dammit!" Tex swore. "Goddammit, Ben!"
Tex did his best to keep the two rooms together, but he could tell he wouldn't be able to hold them for long.
"Will you help me?" he yelled to Tala.
"There's no point." she shrugged. "They're not going to come back over."
Tex let out a half-grunt, half-scream of defeat as his hands gave into the pressure. After falling backwards into the lobby, he watched in unadulterated rage as the journalists and bathroom zoomed away.
"Junji, pull us down." Tala said into her phone.
The lobby began to descend.
The ride down was short but unpleasant. Tex spent the whole journey grabbing tight to some half-upturned floor panels so he wouldn't get blown up to the ceiling and refusing to speak to Tala, while the city council spent it looking uncomfortable.
There was a drop as they were finally pulled down and out of the storm. Tex found his motor skills alarmed by the reintroduction of gravity.
"Hello." a familiar voice greeted.
Tex looked in the direction of the voice to see Junji's head poking through a missing chunk of rubble.
"There are less of you than expected." Junji followed.
"It's a long story." Tala replied.
"Yeah, a real long story." Tex snapped.
"And I look forward to hearing it." said Junji.
Tex was still fuming as Junji began the process of rescuing them. Thankfully, he managed to crawl through the rubble without injury and return to the regular world.
Once outside, Tex was greeted by a young man with gelled black hair and a white tank top cut low enough to show off his chest hair and rosary.
"Ey, how you doing?" the man greeted.
"Ugh." Junji groaned. "Dallas, this is Vinny Colacurcio."
Behind Vinny was a large spool of black rope, as well as several more Italian mobsters. When Tex looked up, he could see the bathroom still flying around the storm.
"We blocked off the street and kept the cars from coming by." Vinny proudly explained.
"Oh." Tex replied, violently disinterested.
"I will go get the others." said Junji.
Tex took a seat on the grass and did his best to collect his thoughts. To his dismay, Vinny stayed put.
"Say, uh." Vinny started, pausing for a moment to lick his hand and slick back his hair. "You ever need somebody dead, come to me."
"How bout you just get me some water?" Tex muttered.
"Sure thing."
Tex stayed in the grass and watched Junji help the council out of the lobby for a solid twenty minutes. The first moment he looked free, Tex caught Junji's attention and flagged him over.
"Hello." Junji greeted.
"You sure we can't help them?" Tex asked.
"The storm should eventually pass. We can bring out nets and attempt to catch those lost in it."
"But we can't--we can't get them now?"
Junji looked into the storm and frowned.
"Junji, please." Tex begged. "We gotta help them."
Junji shook his head.
"We can't stop them." he replied. "The only thing we can do at this point is profit."
Tex's face twisted with confusion. His confusion only increased when Junji began to wander towards the courthouse garden and motioned for him to follow. Tex quickly caught up and saw they were narrowing in on Adam, who Tex hadn't even thought to notice.
Adam was crouched over the same pink pinwheel he'd been examining before the storm. He barely looked up as he was approached.
"Hello." Junji greeted.
"Hi." Adam replied happily.
Adam stood up, plucking the pinwheel out of the dirt as he did. Tex raised an eyebrow when he noticed the wire and large battery connected to the stalk of the pinwheel.
"You seem to be in a good mood." said Junji.
Adam nodded and removed the battery from the pinwheel.
"Of course." he replied. "Thanks to the freak storm, I saved up enough clean energy to power a coal mine for years."
"A worthy cause." Junji stated.
"Thank you."
Junji nodded his own head for a moment before kicking Adam in the shins.
"Oww!" Adam yelped as he dropped the battery.
Junji neatly caught the battery in his palm before it could drop to the ground.
"Hey, give it back!" Adam said angrily as he reached for Junji's neck.
Junji sidestepped easily and kicked Adam in the shins once again. Adam fell to the ground.
"My apologies." Junji replied as he slipped the battery into one of his pockets. "But I have a less morally egregious use for this."
"That's my energy! Think of all the products Whole Foods could label as environmentally conscious!"
Tex felt a little bad about leaving Adam in the dirt, but he did it anyway.
"Don't think I won't find you!" Adam yelled.
"Good thing I'm an undocumented immigrant." Junji said to Tex once they'd gotten to the street.
In the end, it took about three days for the storm to end. Which was, coincidentally, how long it took for everyone in it to pass out from exhaustion. Junji and the Colacurcio family were able to successfully catch everyone in safety nets and redistribute them to the closest hospital before anyone could die of dehydration.
At least Junji had gotten enough energy to power his teleporter for a thousand years. Tex did his best to think of the small victory while he waited in line to be helped.
"And your name?" the hospital receptionist asked.
"Dallas." answered Tex.
"Who are you here to see?"
"Uh, Benjamin Shapiro."
"Alright, let me go check with him."
The receptionist rolled her chair over to a phone. Tex grabbed a mini Snickers bar from a little bowl on her desk and popped it into his mouth.
"Alright, you're free to come back." she said after Tex had finished chewing the Snickers bar.
"Thanks."
Tex was given directions to Ben's room. After forgetting them on the way for the third time, he was led by a helpful nurse to a closed door near a bathroom.
He knocked once before entering.
"Come in." a voice greeted.
Tex opened the door to see a room much nicer than any one he'd ever been given when he'd been at the hospital. Ben was lying sideways on the only cot with a breakfast platter on his lap that he immediately removed upon seeing Tex.
"Howdy." said Tex.
"You came to visit me." Ben replied.
Tex nodded and took a seat on the side of Ben's cot, careful not to squish him.
"You doing alright?" Tex wondered.
"I've been better."
Tex let out a sharp laugh. Ben cracked a smile.
"When they letting you out?" asked Tex.
"In an hour or two. But then I have to get back to Los Angeles."
"Mmh."
Tex wasn't sure what to say. Ben folded his hands over his lap.
"I'm regretful for not spending the time with you." Ben said quietly.
"Was it worth it up there?"
"It was not."
Tex felt himself frown.
"I'm assuming it would be a hollow request to ask you to come with me." Ben followed, looking down at his blanket.
Tex winced at the way Ben's words stabbed him in the chest.
"Yeah, sorry." Tex answered. "I got stuff to do here."
"I suppose that's the answer I deserve..."
"Think we're just too different of people."
Ben let out a hollow laugh, followed by a cough.
"Yes." he replied.
"But don't let that make you think I didn't have a good time."
"Oh, I would never."
"I wish you the best, honest."
"I believe you."
There was something about being in a hospital that gave Tex the courage to do what he wanted to do. Perhaps it was the reminder that he'd eventually die.
"Fore I go." Tex said as he stood up. "There's something I want to give you."
"Interesting. I have something to give you too."
Tex made sure no one was coming from either way in the hall before closing the door and blinds. After checking to make sure there weren't any cameras, he settled back on Ben's bed.
"And what would that be?" asked Tex.
Ben turned on his side and reached under his pillow. After pulling out a few sheets of paper and a pen, he handed the papers over to Tex.
Tex gave it a look to see it was a music score.
"You wrote this?" Tex choked.
"I wrote it for you. I didn’t have much time to work on it, but I gave it my all.”
Absentmindedly, Tex touched the left side of his chest.
"Oh." he managed. "I'm...This..."
"What was it you wanted to give me?"
Ben's present served as a perfect segue into Tex's gift. So after making sure just one more time that no one was anywhere near, Tex leaned down and pressed his mouth against Ben's.
Tex only let the kiss last a few seconds. When he pulled away, Ben was still smiling.
"Thought I owed you." Tex muttered.
"You don't owe me anything."
It was time for Tex to go, and they both knew it. Tex made sure he had Ben's song safe in his pocket before standing up from the cot.
"Take care of yourself." Ben said when Tex turned for the door.
"Likewise."
Tex didn't look back as he left the room, but his heart still stung.
He walked out of the hospital with an ache in his chest. Thankfully, Junji didn't notice his bad mood and happily accepted the one-sided conversation until they'd gotten to Tex's fridge.
"I will see you at the next meeting?" Junji asked as he left.
"Yeah, yeah." Tex replied.
Junji left with a final goodbye and was off through the fridge.
Tex stared at his wall for a few long minutes before fixing himself a cup of tea and plopping down on the couch. After a few moments of consideration, he reached into his back pocket and pulled out the music sheet Ben had given him.
(click)
"Goddamn." said Tex.