“MWUHAHAHA… Now who’s going to save you all, petty humans? Your Gods? I don’t even think they exist. Now who is going to challenge me, the greatest Decepticon of all, Morguelon!” Intermission. This is the perfect movie, no; this is the perfect villain, thought the 13-year-old Dan Schmunck.
The red-curly-haired boy’s fascination for villains was as lively as a never-extinguishing-fire. He found villains as the coolest characters. His obsession for Morguelon was the greatest. If one was to enter his bedroom, he would be welcomed by hundreds of posters, paintings, even shirts of various villains from movies, comics or books. This time he wanted to do something different to portray his fascination, once again, for Morguelon and His Army of Three. He wanted to build them from the Lego.
Just like any other 13-year-old guy, he loved the Lego. It was shameful for a guy of that age to not own one. Well, then, I’ll just buy a Lego set and build Morguelon and His Army of Three for myself. That would be so cool, thought Dan as he walked out of the theatre. He headed off to the nearest Lego store and returned home at around 12 noon as his movie ended at 11 am; it was a morning show.
Once he was done building Morguelon and His Army of Three, he admired his work. It took him half an hour to build them all. He felt proud. Now all that was required for him was just a walk in the park to feel satisfied of what he created out of his own hands. He didn’t notice the slight movement made by the 3 feet tall Morguelon while he was going out of his bedroom.
When he walked back home at 1 pm, he was shocked to see the living room in shambles. He remembered leaving the house without the couch dragged across the room, the family picture shattered to pieces, the TV screen broken and his bedroom door smashed to smithereens. He panicked. Must be a burglar, he thought. When the side doors of his eyes noticed movement in the dining room, what he saw was incomprehensible.
The Lego of Morguelon and His Army of Three – Ultron, Megatron and Terrotron, had come to life. Their height had also increased by one foot. Dan, who was scared out of his wits, ran as fast as he could out of his house. He mentally calculated that their height rose by one foot in a half an hour. He had to tell this to someone, but whom? His parents were at office. He couldn’t call the Police; they would think Dan had lost his mind. Could he tell his neighbor about it, Nellie Jackson? Yes, she would understand, he thought.
“Hey kiddo! What’s up?” asked the cheerful-14-year-old-blonde Nellie. Dan told her everything. He was half-heartedly expecting her to burst out in laughter but Nellie was listening to his every single word carefully. If she could be very cheerful, then she could also be very serious at the same time. Dan liked this about her.
“If you can make villains out of Lego, then maybe you can also make heroes out of Lego”, suggested Nellie. “That’s a jolly good idea. You’re smart, Nellie”, exclaimed Dan. Nellie grinned sheepishly. They came back from the store at 1:15 pm and made four superheroes:-
- Electropsche- She looks like a human. Her powers are to read and control anyone’s mind. She can also move things with her willpower.
- Stormbreaker- Even he looks like a human but more bulky and stronger. His body can turn into any hard substance. He has enormous amount of strength.
- Nebula- She is a nimble, blue-colored human, maybe little smaller in size. Her powers are to turn invisible, to be of any size and to cause blindness in the opponent’s eyes for fifteen minutes once when she becomes visible.
- The Mechanic- His job is very little but crucial. He is the Guider of their task.
One problem, and major one, was that they didn’t come to life.
“I knew it”, muttered Nellie under her breath. While Dan kept cursing, Nellie was pondering over what happened. She spoke,” I think only the Lego set which you bought had that power in it. Maybe we should sneak in and grab four pieces from Morguelon and his whatever-“
“His Army of Three!”
“Do I really care? Then we come back and attach those pieces to our superheroes so they come to life”, Nellie finished.
“Okay, I’ll sneak in”, spoke Dan with a determined face.
“Are you sure? I mean, I’m older than you, so-“
“I am an expert on the topic of villains here. I know better”, Dan spoke with an air of sophistication.
At 1:45 pm, Dan didn’t turn up. “I guess now I’ll have to save the world”, Nellie talking to herself casually.
She brought out her enormous five feet talking teddy bear which she had received for her sixth birthday. The teddy bear always kept on repeating-“Do you want to have fun? Come one let’s go play! Yay, yay, yay, we’re having fun!” She never liked it. She fastened that teddy bear to her skateboard. She connected the skateboard to the lamp post. She let loose of the rope little bit so that the gravity (the slope) would drag the talking bear to the front gate of Dan’s house; visible to anyone in the house.
The bait was ready.
Meanwhile the Decepticons, now six feet tall, tried to attack the talking bear with their Neutrino guns, Nellie sneaked into the living room from the backdoor and with her sling shot she aimed at the end of the broad shoulders of Ultron as he was the nearest to Nellie. Few pieces came out and Nellie successfully retrieved them. She noticed Dan tied up in a corner and she mouthed, “Don’t worry. Superheroes will be here soon.” Dan nodded.
Nellie was correct. Those pieces gave life to the four superheroes and for the first time in the past one hour she smiled.
After a brief introduction, the Mechanic spoke, “there is a core piece which gives the power to the rest of the pieces. We must get to it and destroy it before Morguelon understands the true power of the Draupnir, the core piece or else we are doomed. I sense that he already knows about it.”
“Wow, that’s charming”, said Nellie with a sour face.
Electropsyche came up with a plan-“Stormbreaker and I will attack on their army. Mechanic, sir, please guide us where the Draupnir is. Nebula, you have to follow whatever the Mechanic says.”
“And I’ll free Dan, my friend, who got captured by them”, added Nellie. Everyone nodded.
Nellie raised a doubt-“If the core piece, Drop-whatever, is destroyed, then wouldn’t y’all be dead again? ”
The Mechanic spoke firmly, “It’s for the greater good, Nellie.”
Dan’s house became the battlefield. Eletropsyche and Stormbreaker were fighting Ultron, Megatron and Terrotron, though outnumbered. They were losing ground slowly as the Neutrino blast from the Army of Three had caused enough damage to them. Moreover they were six feet tall whereas Electropsyche and Strombreaker were just 3 and half feet tall. The Mechanic scanned the house for Morguelon and found him in Dan’s bedroom. Nebula followed him. They hid behind the door and looked at what Morguelon was doing. Nebula was appalled at the sight, so was the Mechanic.
Morguelon had made a portal in Dan’s bedroom from where more Decepticons were going to come in through. They looked distant but were definitely heading towards the room. The portal was the direct connection from the planet Cybertron, home of Decepticons, to Earth through space. Cybertron is a shining metal, technological world; a planet of towering future cities without end and vast metallic plains, spiraling metal mountains and bottomless neon-lit chasms.
The Mechanic’s hopes had shattered. He turned to Nebula and spoke solemnly,” The humans are doomed. We have failed. Morguelon has used the not the power of Draupnir but the Draupnir itself to make a portal. Now there’s no stopping to it. ” Nebula was also heart-broken but she couldn’t just give up hope like that. “Master, what is the formula that humans call ‘Einstein’s formula’?” asked Nebula. The Mechanic, puzzled, answered,” It is E=mc². The formula asserts that the mass of an object, at constant energy, magically varies and this loss in mass converts into humungous amount of energy that can destroy anything. But why ask?” The Mechanic looked at Nebula’s resolved face and understood. He spoke,” I will not stop you and I know it’s not possible to stop you. I see you’re strong-willed. May the Force be with you.”
If one was to look at Nebula, he would think what difference she could make to the world. In fact, that same Nebula was going to save the Earth and the whole universe at the same time. She was literally going to sacrifice herself.
Nebula turned invisible and walked towards the portal. Once she was halfway into the portal, she became visible and turned Morguelon blind for some time; it was her power. It was now up to her. The fate of the universe rested upon her. I know it will cost me my life but that is for the greater good, thought Nebula. As she spiraled slowly at first then at the speed equal to light towards Cybertron, she almost appeared to be a ray of light, of hope, and suddenly she exploded into gargantuan amount of energy. That energy destroyed Cybertron and shook the house. She had destroyed the Draupnir and also ridden the world of the atrocious Decepticons by immolating herself. Now in space, anyone could see a cloud of dust far away in space formed due to massive energy.
Nebula had lived up to her name.
Nellie fell to the ground as the house shook. At the same time, she noticed that The Army of Three, Electropsyche and Stormbreaker had broken to pieces. She ran to Dan and freed him. They both went to the bedroom and the sight that welcomed them had explained everything to Nellie and Dan. They could make out Morguelon’s and Mechanic’s pieces but not Nebula’s. They understood that she had given up her life, her soul, just for them even though they had no connection with them.
“I wonder if I could ever be brave like Nebula or any of the other superheroes”, said Dan.
“We definitely learnt something from them. That is bravery and sacrificing for the greater good”, said Nellie with a purposeful face.
“It was all my fault. My stupid obsession of villains! Look where it led us!” spoke Dan in a small voice.
“It’s okay. At least you learnt your lesson. That is more important.”
“That’s fine but what do I tell my parents about what happened to the house, the huge hole in my bedroom?” said Dan, pointing towards the house-in-shambles.
“Ha-ha! You’ll have to make a good story to convince your parents about the condition of your house.”
“Well you’ll have to tell your parents about your teddy bear blasted by Neutrino guns!”
“Nay, they don’t care about it. Anyways, I never liked that teddy bear. It kept saying- ‘Do you want to have fun? Come one let’s go play! Yay, yay, yay, we’re having fun!’ ”, said Nellie, making her voice sound like a baby’s.
“Ha-ha! How about we go for a walk in the park and feel glad that the world isn’t ruled by those monsters, Decepticons, eh?” suggested Dan.
“Or to think of a story to tell your parents about the house? Definitely!” laughed out Nellie.
Nellie and Dan cackled, and ran into the park.
-Mansi Nanavati
From The Desk of a Crazy Teen Girl 