The Return of Ruby Rubber

7: Not Really a Superhero

Ruth’s clothes lay in an untidy heap on the floor. Fully kitted out in her Ruby Rubber uniform, she stood there visibly shaking before the five bodies of the mysterious Quinn Toople. She held up the ring on her hand.

‘I’d only come down here to give this back to the idiot who works here. I don’t want this costume - Red‘s not even my colour. I’m not really a superhero.’

‘Well, let’s find that out, shall we?’ said the nearest Toople. With a boost from one of her other selves she leapt into the air and aimed a flying kick at Ruth’s chest.

Without having time to think about what she was doing, Ruth bent over backwards at the waist, her rubber spine curling right over to take her upper body out of the way of her attacker. This Toople, the green one, crashed into the door behind her.

Looped around and looking between her own legs, Ruth could now see the red Toople, the one who had launched her green counterpart. One after the other, Ruth’s arms shot out like whips, coiling themselves around the red Toople’s ankles. Ruth violently contracted them both, yanking her opponent to the ground. There was an audible crack as this Toople’s head impacted against the floor, quickly followed by a whooshing gurgle as the prone body folded out of existence leaving Ruth’s tentacle arms flailing at nothing. Simultaneously, the navy blue Toople who had been nearest to her red sister as she had fallen reeled as if from a powerful blow. She staggered, her eyes glazing over briefly before she recovered her poise.

‘You are a tricky one, aren’t you?’ said Blue Toople. ‘I think a more concerted effort is called for.’

By now, Ruth had twisted her legs right round to follow the rest of her body and was settling back into a near approximation of her original shape. Her arms had more or less returned to normal size when the green Toople, back on her feet, grabbed her from behind and held her in a bear hug. That was the signal for the blue and yellow Tooples to launch their attack, both aiming punches to her stomach. Ruth winced, but realised she had felt no pain. Instead, Yellow and Blue’s fists were stuck in the putty-like mass of her torso, their owners struggling to withdraw them. Quickly coming to her senses Ruth extended her neck and twisted her head round to butt Green Toople on the nose. Green reeled back, releasing Ruth and giving her the space to coil up her right arm like a spring. Forming a fist at the end of it, she launched a thundering blow at the purple Toople who had rushed in to aid her comrades. The thud of contact was accompanied by the now familiar sucking sound as another of Toople’s bodies was rendered unconscious and reabsorbed by one of its fellows. The yellow Toople managed to pull free of Ruth’s gummy trap in time to be the one to receive the recombining body, and the shock of the experience caused her to tumble to the floor, senseless but still awake. Ruth turned her attention to the blue Toople still joined to her, unaware that the green version she had felled earlier was now scuttling toward her discarded coat.

‘What have you done with Stuart?’ demanded Ruth.

Blue finally disengaged herself from Ruth. ‘He’s just helping our employer with his enquiries. You might want to do the same.’ This Toople swung round, aiming a chop at Ruth’s neck. Without knowing why, Ruth’s instinctive reaction was to breathe in deeper than she ever had before, swelling up, inflating like a human balloon. It was an appropriate response, the blue Toople’s blow cannoned off Ruth’s round, featureless form, throwing the attacker off-balance. Ruth exhaled, deflating to her more normal proportions.

‘Why does everybody keep telling me what it is I want to do?’ Ruth’s torso began to lengthen, slowly extending until she resembled a constrictor snake about to strike. ‘Don’t I have any say in this?’

There was a hiss - not from the elastic snake woman - and a jet of vapour shot into Ruth’s face. Immediately she collapsed, her body unconsciously contracting to its usual size.

‘No,’ said the green Toople. She was now wearing the white coat, replacing an aerosol can in one of its pockets. The blue Toople walked over to her.

‘Why didn’t you do that earlier?’ asked Blue.

‘Don’t ask me,’ replied Green. Together they each took one of the recovering yellow Toople’s hands and helped her to her feet. ‘It wasn’t my idea to take her on in hand-to-hand combat. I just go along with the crowd.’

‘Don’t we all,’ said Yellow, and pulled her two sisters closer together. With an unpleasant squelch, the three of them merged, leaving only the yellow suited version behind, now wearing the coat that had been on her green alternate. She took out the device she had used earlier to scan Ruth, pressing one of its many buttons and receiving a quiet bleep in response.

‘Kaleidoscope Base, this is Quinn Toople,’ she said into it. ‘I have additional unknown subject with apparent strong ties to mission target. I’m bringing her in now.’ A second beep marked the end of the short message.

Toople looked down at Ruth’s unconscious body.

‘Could you be who K-Scope’s been looking for all this time?’

‘Oh, I think it’s definitely you,’ said Stuart.

‘Definitely.’

À SUIVRE…