Mom, I'm Bulletproof

Chapter 20.4: In Trouble

"There is nothing you can do," Jhedora said. "Fighting me means fighting all of the Temple."

This made sense to Amy. Instead of a direct attack against Jhedora, she instead flew away from the mummy priestess, across the chamber lined with massive gold pyramids, back to where the other Temple agents were, where she first woke up.

The agents withdrew small pistols and aimed them at her. Amy, moving fast, knocked all three aside before they fired a shot. In front of her were three bodies under sheets, and one silver canister.

Amy grabbed the canister and threw it to the ground. As it shattered, a cloud of purple smoke emerged from the it, grew to a large size, and then reformed into seven-foot-tall man with bronze armor, frowning mask, and a red theater cape.

"I... am... Proscenium!"

"Hey, big fella," Amy pointed at Jhedora. "See that? She's the head of the Temple. The bad guy."

If Amy didn't know better, she would have sworn that his frowning mask frowned harder as it faced Jhedora.

With a "poof!" sound, Proscenium became a cloud again, floating upward, and in Jhedora's direction. Amy resisted the temptation to watch what happened. Instead she focused on the other two bodies under the sheets. Amy grabbed a hold of the first sheet and pulled. Dreamsmith was underneath, asleep. Amy saw his eyes twitching. He was dreaming.

She decided to let him sleep – and dream.

Amy instead pulled off the second sheet, to reveal the Ergosphere. Amy's first instinct was to remove the Ergosphere's sunglasses, but she hesitated and pulled back. She figured there must be a reason he never took them off. Instead, Amy shook his shoulder.

"Wake up, weirdo," she said.

The Ergosphere stirred, letting out a small groan. Amy then turned her attention to Future Girl. Amy barely touched her, only for Future Girl to sit up with a jolt.

"What? Where?" Future Girl's head jerked back and forth as she took in her surroundings.

Two of the Temple agents recovered and ran forward. Amy and Future Girl knocked them out with two punches.

"There." Amy pointed at Jhedora, floating in air above them with purple smoke circling around her. "That's the leader of the Temple."

Future Girl nodded and flew straight upward, only for Jhedora to swat her back to the ground with another blast of golden light.

"What's going on?" The Ergosphere sat up, rubbing his forehead. "I feel like my head's been run over by a 1981 Mercedes Benz. No, wait. Make than an '82. Definitely an '82."

"We might be in trouble," Amy said. "This is the Temple, sort of, and the flying mummy is the top Temple chick."

The Ergosphere hopped off the bed and stood. "Not a problem. Where's my ship?"

"No idea."

Jhedora knocked Future Girl back a second time. She crash-landed near them, creating a small crater in the black floor.

"Yes," the Ergosphere said. "We're in trouble."

"Maybe not." Amy pointed a Dreamsmith. "He's still dreaming."

Amy heard a stomping sound, and saw Proscenium running up the side of one of the pyramids, making it look easy despite his heavy armor. When he reached its point, he jumped, looking almost graceful as his momentum propelled him through the air at Jhedora. Another bold of light shot out of the mummy, but Proscenium became a cloud, allowing the light to pass through him.

"Creature," Jhedora said to Proscenium. "Your unpredictable existence has been tolerated for far too long. There is no place for who within the Temple."

She held out a hand, and what appeared to be shiny gold glitter spurted out from the bandages at her wrist. This glitter grew into a shining golden cloud to match Proscenium's purple cloud. The two formless masses intermingled in the air for a few seconds, flashes of light sparking from them both. Then, Proscenium's solid form took shape in midair and fell to the floor, landing with a loud clang.

Amy flew upward at a diagonal angle, heading right at Jhedora, until a pink and yellow shape sped in front of her and blocked her way.

"Stop!" Future Girl said. "We can't beat her like this."

"Of course we can. We're superheroes."

"You know what I learned on the submarine? Fight smarter, not harder."

"Sounds like something you'd say."

"Foolish children," Jhedora floated toward the two of them. "Don't you know that you are sinners?"

"Amy's not a sinner," Future Girl said. "She's sweet."

"And Future Girl's just a kid," Amy said. "And sweet, too."

"Your very existence is a sin," Jhedora said. "You must bleed for it."

Amy looked Future Girl right in the eyes. "Defense, not offense."

Streaks of golden energy shot out of Jhedora's body. Amy and Future Girl parted in the air, missing the attack. Amy saw Future Girl circle around behind Jhedora, so she flew in the opposite direction, keeping herself in Jhedora's eyesight.

Amy looked right into Jhedora's nearly dead eyes, keeping the priestess' attention on her and hoping for an opening to attack.

As she did, Future Girl flew right at Jhedora from behind. Jhedora's body stiffened, and a beam of brilliant gold light blasted out from the back of the neck. This beam struck Future Girl, sending falling backward among the rows of pyramids in the distance.

"She is young and confused," Jhedora said. "Her mind is confused, full of foolish notions."

Jhedora's dead eyes then locked onto Amy. "You're not like that, are you?"

Amy resisted the temptation to fly right at Jhedora for a frontal attack and instead asked, "If you've got me all figured out, why don't you tell me who I am?"

The slit in the bandages that represented Jhedora's mouth parted slightly wider, as if smiling.

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Next: The worst nightmare.