Chapter 10: The Scourge

“How many do you think survived?” asked Jenna. “Not many,” Balto replied. “I don’t think Sorrow would have many of them stay at the third hideout; it would be a security problem.” “If I knew where it was, I would tell you so we could finish this for good.” “Just hang in there,” he said, embracing her. “I have a feeling we’ll be out of this soon.”

When evening came, Balto found Jenna looking at the sunset, which was partially obscured by several hills in the near distance. He sat down beside her and nuzzled her, and she returned it. “I love you, Balto,” she said. “I love you, too, Jenna,” he replied. His eyes wandered up a nearby crane, formerly used for unloading the warehouse’s goods from boats. “Hey, Jenna,” he said, “I’ve got an idea.” He put one virus arm around her and used the other one and his feet to climb the crane, making his way to the top of the girders, just below the operation platform. They looked out to the west, now seeing the setting sun in all its decadent glory. “Now we can see it,” Balto said. “Good idea,” Jenna said. “It’s lovely.” They looked into each other’s eyes, and Balto held Jenna close to him so they could share a passionate kiss. “I’d like to stay up here for a while,” Jenna said. “How about you?” “I’m so game,” Balto said. “Let’s get up on this platform…”

It didn’t take much thought for Sorrow to decide what to do next, any reservations blocked out by a certainty that his victory was at hand. “Finally, it is time. Our friend Balto has raised the stakes high. Very high.” An evil smile crossed Sorrow’s face. “Nemesis,” he said. A dark form moved forward in the nearby shadows of the third hideout. “Brother?” it replied, with a horrid, rattling voice. Sorrow spoke, his voice laced with cruel amusement. “I want you to go out to Balto’s home.” Nemesis was silent for a moment. “Do you mean Rosy’s house? We all saw what happened to Backlash.” “No. I meant…his other home. Where the rest of the misfits live.” Sorrow turned his head to look at Nemesis, and they both laughed wickedly…

There was a letter on the doorstep of the warehouse when Balto and Jenna came back down in the morning, and Balto opened it. “There can’t be much left Sorrow can do,” he said, beginning to read.

Mister Balto,

You are forcing me to take extreme measures here; your persistence and success surprise me. I am not done by any means, though. There are few options remaining. Hence, I now summon you…to a dinner party. What’s on the menu? We’re having goose. My deadliest servant is out after one right now, and he might be bringing back a pair of nice, plump bears, too. Sound good? If so, you might want to be on your way immediately.

Regards,

Sorrow

Boris was sleeping restlessly, not wanting to get up, although it was well into the morning. He vaguely heard clunking footsteps on the deck of the ship. “Arghh!” he mumbled. “Balto, quiet down!” The footsteps were approaching him. “Mmph. Stop stomping…” The footsteps came right up to him, then stopped, and he looked up with bleary eyes. “Balto?” His vision cleared. It was black and huge, with skin stretched over sinewy muscles, and it was kneeling over him. It spoke. “Not exactly…” Boris’ jaw dropped like a rock, and the creature smiled, showing dirty-white teeth. Boris screamed and took off running down the deck, and the creature turned and jumped with a forward flip. As he came down, he drove a pair of claws into the deck, trapping Boris’ neck between them and pinning him. “Don’t try it,” the creature growled. Boris was gasping with fear, and tried to stay still. At this moment, Muk and Luk happened to climb up onto the deck. They both gasped. “Uncle Boris?!?” Muk shouted, and Luk wailed with fear. The beast looked up at them, holding his free hand horizontal above Boris’ neck. “If you even think about running, I’ll chop this bird’s head off!” Muk and Luk were shaking with fear, but they dared not run. “Get over here, now!” the creature growled. They walked over, and were forced to sit next to Boris. The creature grabbed some rope and wrapped it around the three of them, tying it painfully tight. “Now then,” he said, raking his claws across each other, “shall we make this fun?” He uttered a ghastly roar, and Boris, Muk, and Luk screamed in terror. The creature laughed with delight. “I will think about which one of you to play with first…”

“COME AND FACE ME!”

The beast straightened up and turned his head around, looking off the side of the ship facing Nome. “No time,” he said, walking towards the edge.

Balto had shouted to the beast, seeing what was happening from afar. He and Jenna were standing several yards away from the side of the ship as Nemesis approached the edge. “What’s this one?” Jenna asked Balto. Balto used his virus vision, trying to figure out which part of Nemesis’ body was being affected by his disease. It was immediately obvious; it was the lungs, absolutely full of the pathogen. The advance form kept walking, and spoke a response. “I am Sorrow’s brother. The other great Mycobacterium. Tuberculosis.” Nemesis walked off the edge of the ship…but didn’t fall. He spewed tuberculosis bacteria from his body in a steady stream, levitating himself out from the deck and letting himself fall a short distance from Balto and Jenna, shrouded temporarily by a black cloud of bacilli. “And believe me,” he continued, “tuberculosis is something you don’t want to catch.” Nemesis practically spat the word catch, then, after a wet cough, spat some black blood from his mouth. “I have a threat that you haven’t yet truly faced. Backlash had it. Abaddon had it. But they didn’t truly exploit its potential. As for me, it is how my entire power works.” “How’s that?” Balto asked, tensing. Nemesis stared into his eyes. “Contagion,” he snarled. He leaned back and launched a black tuberculosis missile from his mouth, striking Balto squarely in the chest. Balto flew backwards, landing in the snow. He got to his feet, whipping his head back and forth, flinging the bacteria from the missile off his face. He tried not to breathe them in, but he could already feel them crawling in his lungs, and he knew it would be fatal very quickly. He used his virus cleansing, and flames spewed from his mouth as the bacilli died. Nemesis was unnerved at Balto so easily foiling his attack, but didn’t take the time to focus on his worry. He sprinted towards Balto, taking a massive leap into the air. Balto expected him to come down and attack, but instead, he just kept flying, staying in the air above and in front of him. The clever advance form began shooting lances of tuberculosis bacteria at Balto, hovering in the air, hoping to use his powers to keep Balto from being able to attack him. However, Balto wasn’t content to just let his enemy toy with him; as he deflected the deadly black streams, he felt them with the virus arms, perceiving their nature. After a few moments, Nemesis ceased attacking and stared agape as Balto levitated himself off the ground, a feat that Nemesis had assumed couldn’t be done without airborne pathogens. Balto was now, in fact, using slightly modified Ebola viruses and shooting them from his paws to imitate Nemesis’ power. The strain was very great; since Ebola wasn’t airborne, it was extremely difficult to force them to behave as such. Balto gritted his teeth, struggling with his viruses, finally getting the stream to sufficient strength that it came more naturally, and he didn’t have to put such effort into augmenting it. He shot himself toward Nemesis, and Nemesis flew toward him. They grabbed each other in midair, punching and clawing viciously.

Down on the ship, Jenna had the rope binding Boris, Muk, and Luk in her teeth, working it loose gradually. Finally, the knot yielded, and the rope fell loose to the deck. Jenna and the would-be captives looked up at the battle, frightened and awed by the sight.

Nemesis clawed Balto’s face, and he yelled with pain, hammering a vengeful punch into the advance form’s chest while holding onto him with the other. Unable to break free, Nemesis was pulled back towards Balto, who let him go before smashing both virus arms down onto his body. The advance form plummeted screaming at terrific speed, crashing into the snow like a meteor, sending a cascading shower of powder up around him. Balto watched him lay there for a few moments, wondering if he might have been knocked unconscious, but he stood up before long, and Balto dropped to the deck of the ship. Nemesis jumped up onto the deck, snarling, poised to spring. Balto put up his virus arms, ready to defend, and the advance form attacked him, using quick, precise swings. Balto ramped up his speed with his virus powers, evening the playing field. They both dodged and jumped, lashing out with lightning-speed attacks. Balto bit Nemesis’ outstretched arm and got a slash to a front leg and a kick in the face for it, falling back and hitting the railing. Nemesis prepared to attack Balto with a contagion stream, but Balto beat him to it, materializing and firing a jet of Ebola, growling from the effort, hoping for his life that it would have the desired effect. The gambit worked; the Ebola stream struck Nemesis’ ready missile attack, and it burst in a black explosion as the pathogens killed each other instantly. Nemesis yelled as the blast scorched his face and took a step backwards, trying to consider another move. This hesitation cost him, however; Balto had gotten up and come at him, and he gave the advance form a right hook, making him stumble backwards, trip on a barrel, and fall off the side of the ship with a startled cry. He went to the edge and looked over to see what Nemesis was doing, but when he arrived, there was nothing but a depression in the snow. “Watch out, Balto!” Boris shouted, but it was too late; Nemesis, who had run around the base of the boat and jumped up behind Balto in a single leap, put an arm around his neck, tightening it against his