“Spider King….”

A soft, sweet voice echoes around the room. A pair of eyes open and Tempest sits up, scanning the room for the source, only to be greeted by darkness.

“…My old friend.”

Feet touch the ground and he rises from the bed, the blanket that covered him hitting the dirty floor unceremoniously. Taking a few step forward, he wipes sleep from his eyes and again, he scans the room – this time his eyes have adjusted to the darkness that shrouds everything and he’s able to make out the few, varied items he keeps in his bedroom.

“Come out to play, King Freak…”

When he hears the voice again, he stiffens – but not from fear. The voice swirls around the room like a mist, and when it enters his ears, it’s like he’s listening to the sweetest song that he’s ever heard.

He cannot explain it.

Nor does he want to. Not at this moment.

But he does want to know where it is coming from. He wants to know how something so alluring, so sickeningly sweet could come from down here.

“Tempest… Oh, Tempessssst……”

He strides across the floor, making it to the door. A jolt of electricity shoots through his body when he places a hand on the doorknob – the icy metal feeling like shards of sharp glass, cutting into the hardened flesh of the Spider King’s hand. But when he pulls away to inspect, he finds nothing.

Reaching out again, he opens the door and takes his first steps into the underlook. The place he feels most at home. By now, his eyes have adjusted and he can see the hallway in its entirety – lined with doors, doors leading to rooms beyond the imagination of anyone who dares to enter this place.

“Come find me… Moseley. Come out and playyyyy with meeeee…”

The name sends prickles up his spine, tickling his nerves in a way he was not expecting. Hearing it in this way, it turned his curiosity into desperation. He began opening door after door, peering into each room on his way down the seemingly never ending hallway, his disappointment growing each time he was greeted with anything other than the source of that which continues to entice him.

“Only you can find me…”

Tempest tries a few more doors, but when his hand rests on the final doorknob, once more he feels a jolt of electricity and in an instant, somehow he knows that this is the door that holds his answers.

Without hesitation, he pulls the door open and steps inside – a dim light within flickering, illuminating the nearly empty room, and the slender figure that stands beside one of the only pieces of furniture in the room, their back to the Spider King.

“There you are, Moseley.. I was wondering when you’d figure it out…”

He strides towards them, and the closer he gets, the stronger he feels this magnetic attraction – the more he needs to be closer to them. But they raise an arm, and he stops – almost as if they were controlling him themselves, like Tempest was nothing more than a marionette doll, held up by a couple of strings, unable to do anything except what they want him to do.

“Who…”

Tempest says, his eyes watching the fluid movement of the figure in front of him. He begins at the ground, a pair of faded Mary Janes, covered in mud and dirt leading up to a pair of soft, slender legs, adorned in torn, tattered stockings. He swallows hard when he sees the length of the short, ripped dress that revealed the tulle beneath, and barely a glimpse of her behind, covered in a pair of ruffled, lacy panties.

His eyes continue upward to a corset top, tied as tight as the frayed thread would allow, cinching in her waist and accentuating the curves that lie beneath. Finally, his gaze rests on the back of her head, and a mess of curly blonde and pink locks of hair. It was then, and only then that she turned around to greet the Spider King.

“Surprise…”

 

I smell sex and candy here… Mmmmm

“The Final Girl.”

Tempest finally says, seeing her face for the first time. Except, this wasn’t the Final Girl he knew. No, when she turned around to greet him with a smile, he was shocked to find her face scarred and deformed – much like his own.

Her arms, and her bust were covered in dirt, and only one striking blue eye could be seen beneath the mess of curls that sat atop her head. She takes a step forward and immediately drops to her knees in front of him.

“Yes, my Spider King?”

She rests a hand on his bare torso, her fingernails digging into his flesh as she drags her hand down towards the waistband of his pants. For a moment, lust took over Tempest’s body, and for that moment only, was he content to let her do whatever she wanted. It was the Final Girl, after all.

Only, it wasn’t.

Forcing himself to take a step back, his body screamed out in anguish the moment her hand was no longer touching his skin. The spots where she touched felt like hundreds of tiny razorblades, searing into his skin, but when he reached down to inspect the area, he found nothing.

“What are you doing here?”

He asks, beckoning her back to her feet.

“Don’t you want me here? Isn’t this what you’ve always wanted?”

Tempest shuddered.

“See? Let me help you…”

“Help me? How?”

Finally, the Final Girl rises back to her feet and approaches the Spider King once more, placing a hand on the side of his bare face.

“Let me help you vanquish the Omen that invades your mind…. Let me help you bring your true self out for the masses to enjoy along with their bread and circuses. Let me help you be everything that you have yet to be….”

She smiles again, this time showing her teeth – Covered in decay and smelling like rot. The stench fills the room, but it does not phase the Tempest. He pulls in a deep breath as a fly lands on his cheek, one of many that are buzzing and flying around the pair.

“Show me…”

 

Who’s that lounging in my chair? Mmmmm

“In order to… exterminate the Omen… you must understand what makes her tick.”

The Final Girl begins pacing in front of Tempest, her eyes wild as she speaks.

“In order to keep what is rightfully yours… You must break her in ways that she has never been broken.”

She reaches down and grabs The Spider King’s hand and pulls him towards the door, grabbing it and throwing it open – Leading him into the hallway. They make a beeline towards another door within the hallway, and before she leans in and opens it for him to see what is inside, she turns around and leans against the door.

“And in order to break her like she’s never been broken, you must see what’s already broken her.”

The Omen plagued him, so much so that he found himself more desperate to rid himself of her than he was anyone else. She infiltrated his mind in ways he never thought possible and it left him willing to sacrifice anything in order to free himself from her claws.

Tempest nods and the Final Girl smiles, releasing a maggot from between her lips and letting it fall between them. She turns and opens the door to the room, inviting The Spider King in.

Once inside, the Final Girl lets the door slam behind them, but all Tempest is focused on is the scene before him. A tall man standing beside a fireplace, his eyes staring daggers down at a small blonde as she cowers on the ground, tears falling from a pair of pale blue eyes. Once the door shuts, the man looks up and across the room – Directly into the eyes of the Spider King.

“Who in the hell are you?!”

The little girl doesn’t even bother to look in Tempest’s direction as the man pushes off of the fireplace and approaches him. Tempest raises his arms in defense, shaking his head.

“My name is Tem…”

He glances over at the Final Girl, who shakes her head.

“My name is Moseley, and I’m not here to stop you from what you are doing. I.. I’m here to watch you break her so that I can break her too.”

Tempest points at the little girl on the ground.

“The Omen.. She haunts me.”

The man stands in front of Tempest, and he laughs.

“This worthless thing haunts you?!”

He whirls back around and steps up to the little blonde girl, grabbing her by her hair and pulling her to her feet. The little girl shrieks and cries, clawing at the man’s hand, trying to free herself from his grip – which only succeeds in him clenching down on her even tighter and slapping her with the back of his free hand.

“Daddy, Please…”

She cries out, and he does it again, this time sending a splatter of blood from her busted little mouth onto the bare skin on Tempest’s chest. He looks down at the blood splatter and runs his hand across it, smearing it.

“The Omen bleeds…”

He pulls his hand from his chest, and while the little girl begs her father to stop – Tempest licks her blood from his palm – closing his eyes and savors the flavor of pain and abuse before he turns his gaze down at her once again as her father continues his ruthless attack.

The Final Girl leans into his ear.

“She may bleed… But many have tried to use this against her, and all have failed. ”

The King Freak smiles as the Final Girl reaches for his hand and grabs it, pulling him away from the scene before them. Tempest, however, couldn’t pull his eyes away as a father mercilessly bloodied his own daughter right in front of them.

The Final Girl pulled on him once more, and Tempest glanced up to see another figure standing in the corner of the room, hunched over and he couldn’t quite make it out before being jerked towards the door. He relented, allowing her to lead him from the room and back into the hallway.

 

Who’s that casting devious stares in my direction?

She wasted little time, pulling him to the door directly across from the one they’d just exited.

“And here.. Dear Spider King, is proof.”

The Final Girl opens the door and the two of them step through the threshold. Once the door closes behind them, Tempest is treated to a sight that he’s wished he could have seen many, many times. And quite the treat it was.

Laying on the ground in front of him – Lucy Wylde, bloodied and beaten – Her face nearly unrecognizable as blood poured from various parts of her body and soaked into the concrete beneath her. Her arms were tied behind her back, and she was defenseless as an older version of her father knelt down in front of her, a sick smile on his lips.

“Welcome to Candyland…”

The Final Girl sang, waving her arm in front of them as if she were presenting this to Tempest as some sort of prize.

Gary Johnson glanced over at Tempest and The Final Girl, and he smirked as he grabbed Lucy by the back of her head and brought her upright, her back against the wall – Her head resting against a backdrop of dried blood and God only knows what else.

“You two here to watch me put my problem child out of her misery?”

The Final Girl giggled as Tempest moved forward, something in the back of the room catching his eye momentarily before he turned his attention back to the scene before him. He nodded his head.

“You hear that, Lucille? You’re going to die…”

And before Lucy could mutter a word, he clamps his hands over her face and she begins struggling against his grip as she can no longer breathe. Tempest kneels down beside them, watching intently as the Final Girl kneels down beside him and leans towards Lucy’s blood covered face – Licking the fresh blood from her broken cheek.

But just as her struggle begins to lessen, and everyone knows the end is near… The Spider King looks up just in time to see someone else standing behind Gary Johnson – A knife in her hand that she unceremoniously plunges into his back – a crazed look in her eyes.

“GAHHH!!!”

He releases Lucy and stumbles backwards, and now everyone can see the blade protruding from his back, and the blood – so much blood everywhere. He falls to his knees as this unknown person stands over him, her hands shaking, covered in his blood.

“YOU BITCH! I”M GOING TO FUCKING KILL YOU!!!”

He screams as he falls over onto the ground, and she kneels beside his screaming body, and she pulls the blade from his back. Tempest is completely enamored with this woman as she takes the blade and begins repeatedly plunging it into him… Years of pent up rage possessing her as she stabs him over and over.

And then she stops. Suddenly. She lets the knife fall from her hands as she stares at his dying form. Then, as if nothing had ever happened, she brings herself to her feet and dusts herself off and walks away – leaving him to die in front of them.

Tempest watched his dying breath, and then he turned his attention back to Lucy and he felt a pang of disappointment as he watched her struggle against all her injuries.

“Doctor Baal put her through all of this, and yet she prevailed. Like a cockroach.”

Tempest nods his head.

“Like a cockroach, the Omen clings to life.”

He spits defiantly. Watching her struggle doesn’t bring him joy anymore, instead it makes him angrier. It makes him wish her father wouldn’t have been interrupted before he–

And then he remembered.

“Where is she…”

“Lucille’s mother?”

The Final Girl said brightly, pointing across the room at a dark corner where the woman sat, rocking.

“She’s right there!”

And then it hit Tempest like a ton of bricks.

The Final Girl looked at the Spider King, nodding her head in approval.

“My, my… I think he’s got it…. Looks like it’s time for you to wake up!”

Tempest tilts his head in curiosity.

 

Mama, this surely is a dream… Yeah.

Gnaw Bone, IN
The Underlook

His eyes open and he sits up, again, looking around his bedroom. Outside the room, he hears talking – but much to his chagrin, it isn’t the sweet voice he’d been enamored by in another world. Instead he heard the sounds of Daedalus and Kosnar outside his door.

But as he laid back in bed, his thoughts drifted back to the Final Girl and the visions he had.. And he knew what he needed to do.

He just needed to find out where to look.

That woman… The mother of the Omen – She was the key to breaking the Omen that haunted him.

Tempest pulled himself out of the bed and padded towards the door, pulling it open and peering out into the hallway, where he unsurprisingly found Daedalus and Kosnar standing.

Daedalus: There you are! I need to talk to you.

Tempest: Later. We need to find someone. I need to find someone.

Daedalus stared at Tempest, confusion etched all over his face as Tempest walked between himself and Kosnar, making his way towards the stairs that lead to the farmhouse.

Daedalus: What are you talking about?! Who is so important that we need to drop everything and– What about Horizons? What about Lucy Wylde? What about–

Tempest turns around as he reaches the top of the stairs.

Tempest: This has everything to do with the Omen. This has everything to do with breaking her once and for all and emerging from her darkness that she’s enveloped me with.

Daedalus stares up at Tempest his eyes widened, and upon seeing the determination and the fire within his eyes – he nods his head.

Daedalus: Who do we need to find?

Tempest’s eyes narrow.

Tempest: The mother of the Omen…

 

Hagerstown, MD
Brooks Lane Mental Hospital

Against the better judgment of the staff, they allowed the Spider King and the rest of the Astro Creeps into the Mental hospital to visit one Christine Johnson. The woman didn’t have many visitors, so they couldn’t turn away anyone who wished to see her.

Especially at this time of year, and no matter how… frightening they appeared.

Tempest sits on the far side, centered on the table facing the door as they wait. Kosnar stood at the window and stared out into the parking lot while Daedalus paced around behind Tempest and Pisces stood in the corner nearest the door, staring at Tempest with a sinister grin on her lips.

They sit in silence, until the door opens and Tempest sees her for the first time, and he smiles from beneath his mask.

Christine Johnson steps hesitantly into the room, looking around at the characters that all have turned and stopped what they were doing in order to watch her. She pushes the graying mop of hair out of her face as the nurse helps her to the chair across from where Tempest sat.

The nurse gets her into the chair and nods to Tempest and the group before he leaves the room, and finally, Tempest leans forward and speaks.

Tempest: You are the key…

But in her current state, Christine simply repeats Tempests words, her eyes darting around the room, settling on each and every Astro Creep until she stops on Tempest’s mask.

Christine: You are the key… You are the key… You are the key…

Daedalus steps up behind Tempest and sighs.

Daedalus: And how is she supposed to help you keep the UGWC World Championship?

Tempest sits back, his eyes never leaving the face of the woman he watched do unspeakable things to her abusive husband, the woman who sat and allowed that same man to do horrific things to The Omen and her sister and he nods.

Tempest: This is the only remaining piece of the Omen’s past, the piece that ended the torturous reign of her father… the one thing that she’s left to rot away in this institution. But we…

Daedalus: I think I get it now…

Tempest doesn’t respond to Daedalus, instead he leans in towards Christine.

Tempest: We are going to take you with us, Christine Johnson and you will become one with us.

Christine: Becoming.. Becoming one.

 

Gnaw Bone, IN
The Underlook

Tempest sits on the dirt floor, his hands buried in dirt as a figure sits behind him, rocking in a chair. The UGWC World Heavyweight Championship sits on his lap. He grips the dirt in his hands, and brings it up and lets it fall down onto the title belt as he smiles beneath his mask.

Tempest: The Omen…

He says her name with an air of bitterness.

Tempest: Of all the people I’ve laid waste to in my time here, you are the only one that’s continually escaped my grasp. Many can say that at Run of the Mill, I finally bested you, but they… would be wrong. At Run of the Mill, Travis Pierce got lucky, and he stole what was rightfully mine. He stole that elusive victory over you, and he turned my hunger into starvation. And that’s why I had to win the Keys to the Kingdom match. The moment my hand was raised in victory, I knew it was going to be you. It was always going to be you.

He chuckles humorlessly.

Tempest: All this time you stand there, smug. You stand there acting like you are the one that resides inside my head simply because I have yet to come out of a contest between you and I victorious. But something you continue to overlook is the fact that with every failure, my need to do unspeakable things to you, my desperation to end you and everything you care about grows. You look at me like some pitiful little boy that you can just brush to the side without a problem and that… That has made me the most dangerous threat to you and your career going forward.

Tempest glances behind him.

Tempest: And while people you believe are better than me have failed to break you… I have uncovered the key. I have uncovered the one thing that everyone else has forgotten, including you.

He motions to the person rocking behind him, and she moves forward, revealing the face of Lucy Wylde’s mother. Her hospital gown is ripped and torn, her legs and arms are covered in dirt and the wild mess of hair atop her head hangs in clumps, tangled with leaves and small tree branches. Her eye look crazy as she stares into the lens, and then at Tempest.

Tempest: I give you, The Blueprint. Lost and forgotten in a mental institution, left to die alone… But alone she is no more. The Omen is made of pieces of this blueprint, yet the Omen ignores that which is hers. But worry not, dear Omen. I have given her a place to belong, we have given her a place to be free and be herself… And she has thrived. She will continue to thrive and I hope it eats at you like the maggots that ate away the flesh and the guts of your father.. The man who no doubt made you into what you are today.

Tempest laughs, which at first startles the Blueprint – Until she smiles as well and begins mimicking Tempest’s laughter.

Tempest: At Horizons, you believe a cage will contain us. You believe that it will keep the creeps out but I will do what I must do without them. I will grab you by your hair and I will pull you up to your feet and I will remind you of the things that SHE saved you from. I will remind you of the pain so exquisite… the pain you should have never escaped. The pain you will forever be haunted by. I will take you by the hand, and I will snap every finger, one by one and I will revel in your screams of agony. I will use anything that I can get my hands on and I will once again break your cheekbone, but I will go one step further and I will break both of them… and when you are blinded, I will bury your face… that lovely, lovely face into the barbed wire, disfiguring you in ways you could never imagine.

Tempest closes his eyes and lays his head back, the thought of doing these things to the Omen sending chills up and down his spine.

Tempest: And when you think that I am finished…

He reaches up and grips the sides of his mask, and pulls it from his face – Finally revealing himself to everyone.

Tempest: When you think that I am finished, all too quickly you’ll realize that I am only just beginning. For Tempest is a monster, but he is nowhere near the monster that I am. And I am coming for you, Lucy Wylde. And I will hurt you in ways that others cannot fathom. You believe that I am hard to look at? The Dark Man will not be able to look at you when I am done with you, and all of this?