[SNEAK PEEK] The Swamp
Mass Manipulation films a promo for an innovative superhero prison.
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The Swamp By Limewah Subscriber Reward for Moxas (June 2024) 18+ SNEAK PEEK
The Swamp’s containment pool was as wide as a bungalow, and was as still and smooth as a pane of glass. Scores of heroes were kept here under this greenhouse-domed swamp, safe and sound, where they could no longer do any harm.
If one looked closely enough, they might be able to catch a glimpse of dark shades floating beneath, as still as the standing water around them all.
That was what the bald eagle was doing. Mass Manipulation, the villainous mogul himself, stripped down to his slacks, and his white plumage was a little puffier thanks to the humidity of the place.
He couldn’t smell the pheromones, but he could feel them inside his sinus, and feel the message being written into his mind.
You will not be able to see your chosen quarry beneath the surface.
“I know that,” the eagle said, glancing over his shoulder at the massive creature looming over him - not to mention, his nervous camera crew.
The guard resembled an elephant in shape and stature, though its skin was far smoother and more of a green-ish grey, and there were visibly purple veins pulsing along its body like thick tree-roots. There were two sunken recesses where the eyes would have been; the only eye this creature had was at the tip of its ‘trunk’. This construct of a hive-mind of alien hewed very close to the crew, having little concept of personal space.
“Son of a-” The chain-smoking sparrow who was the boom operator cursed and tugged on his pole, trying to dislodge the microphone from the slimy ferrofluid-like texture of the Cepheusian’s belly. “This fuckin’ place gives me the… I Am Very Grateful To Be Here.”
The gruff voice became something quieter, almost like a synthesised voice. When Mass Manipulation looked again, he saw the sparrow staring into the Cepheusian’s trunk-eye. It was bathing his face with a rainbow cascade of colour. His cigarette fell from his beak, and the boom began to slip from his slackening talons.
“DON’T START THAT SHIT,” Mass Manipulation barked like a drill sergeant, both snapping the boom op out of his trance, and making their guide pull back with something that vaguely resembled apologetic-ness. “That’s expensive equipment, right there. If you want us to big up the swamp and bring you more heroes to feed on, you need to give us the space to work…”
We did not appreciate the complaints.
“I’ll dock his pay,” Mass Manipulation lied. “Now… bring him up.”
The creature’s trunk periscoped upwards like the feelers of a slug, and it began to vibrate.
Cepheusians communicated not just with pheromone scents, but with almost imperceptible sound. Like the sound of a trumpeting bray, from the other side of a vast plain, only barely reaching the ears.
The stillness of the swamp was broken by a ripple and a bubble.
“This is good. Set-up. Now.” Mass Manipulation snapped his fingers, and the pudgy mouse quickly brought his camera forward and squished it into the peaty floor of the swamp. “Lens cap off.”
“Fuck, yeah, right… Rolling!”
Just in time, too. Tall rabbit ears slowly emerged from the bubbling cauldron, followed by a head, shoulders, a muscular torso, and finally the legs.
The rabbit was completely still, arms by the sides, legs together. When the last bit of him emerged from the surface of the pond, it went still, and it looked as though he was standing on green ice.
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