Beatrix’s Downfall: Part 1
by Holly Braendlein
You coming?
Yep, replied Beatrix to the text Frederick had sent. See you at the pool.
After locking the door behind her, Beatrix crossed the street and turned down a path through the woods, a shortcut to the public pool. She had her swim bag draped over her shoulder, and she had on her blue superhero suit. Her friends teased her for being so cautious and wearing her suit practically anywhere, but she had been in plenty of scrapes to know that one could never be too careful.
She inhaled the sweet, summery scent of the pine, and ran her hands over the moss and leafy overgrowth scattered all around her. She stopped in front of a bright red flower and admired it. Funny, she thought. I thought I knew every flower and shrub down this path. I’ve never seen this one before.
Suddenly, the red flower slowly wilted and turned swampy green. It transformed into a towering figure with black, beady eyes and wrinkly, green skin. Beatrix gasped and tried to scream, but it fell on deaf ears. She felt a sharp pain in her head, and darkness enveloped her in its embrace.
*
Frederick sat anxiously by the pool, waiting for Beatrix. It had been an hour since all his friends had arrived, and there was still no trace of Beatrix. Frederick grew worried with each passing second.
A high-pitched buzzing noise interrupted his train of thought, and Frederick leaped up and retrieved his swim bag. He rummaged through the contents, retrieving his suit. The logo on the front buzzed in alarm. He pressed the logo, and a hologram of Beatrix’s superhero logo, a snowflake, appeared in front of him. Frederick’s blood ran cold.
One of his friends shouted at him and said, “Hey, aren’t you gonna come into the pool? Are you chicken or something?” The others in the pool laughed.
Frederick looked back distractedly, lugged his swim bag onto his shoulder, and said hurriedly, “Sorry, something’s come up. Gotta go!” He darted away in the direction of the woods, hoping that this would offer him clues as to where Beatrix was.
Sure enough, along the path lay Beatrix’s swim bag. He pounced on his find and rummaged through the bag, but only found her swimsuit, sandals, and sunscreen. He looked around some more.
Upon further inspection of the area, he found a good-sized hole in the dirt beside the path, and dirty footprints near the swim bag, accompanied by red splotches. He peered at the stains and realized with horror that it was blood.
Beatrix’s blood.
Frederick raked his hand through his hair in agitation and whispered hoarsely, “Lord, show me where she is. Keep her safe until I find her. Please!”
*
Blackness and a throbbing pain in her head greeted her as she woke up.
Beatrix slowly moved her limbs, making sure they were intact. She seemed to be lying down in a cell of some sort, for the floor beneath her was stone hard and icily cold. She sat up and tried to remember what had happened.
Pool party.
Frederick.
Red flower.
Monster!
Her ears picked up the sound of incoming footsteps, and then light flooded into the cell, piercing the darkness and making Beatrix’s eyes sting in pain. Her head throbbed even worse. There were voices vaguely discernible, and when her eyes adjusted to the light, she saw the same swampy green, wrinkly figure from earlier. He stepped aside to let an even wrinklier man peer into the cell. He smiled, an evil smile that made her innards quake.
The person — as if he could be called that — reached over and took a microphone from the wall and held it to his lips.
“Greetings, Beatrix,” he said, his voice akin to a croaking frog. “Did you have a good rest?”
“How do you know my name?” Beatrix asked, frowning.
“Oh, we’ve been watching you,” he said. “We’ve been watching and waiting for this opportunity to cross paths with you. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Borakai, Chief Zorak of Planet Zona.”
The glass door of Beatrix’s cell was opened, and two Zoraks tramped in and took her arms. Beatrix lifted her hands and released ice into one of the guards’ faces, knocking him to the ground. Three others replaced him, carrying handcuffs that they promptly snapped onto her wrists, encasing her hands in thick metal.
They led her to a large room that housed a metal chair with groping wires connected to it. The various wires led to a huge computer screen on the opposite wall. She watched Borakai stride over to the computer screen and boost the power up. He jerked his head in the direction of the chair, and the three Zoraks strapped the protesting Beatrix down onto it.
Borakai took on an intimidating stance and glared at Beatrix, who was being hooked up to the numerous wires all about the chair.
Borakai stalked slowly toward her and said, “Where is Derrick Falton?”
This took Beatrix by surprise. “Who?”
“You know who,” he snarled. “Where is Derrick Falton?”
“Why would you ask me?” she asked incredulously. “I have never heard of Derrick Falton. And if I did, I sure wouldn’t be telling you.”
Borakai snapped his fingers, and one of the Zoraks went to the computer screen and uploaded a file. The picture that popped up showed a man about 5’ 11”, with loose, curly blond hair that stuck to his brow, and shoulders made for battle. Borakai took a few steps toward the screen and spoke.
“Derrick Falton was a man who wrought havoc amongst our planet. He worked for our government until he was discovered. Unfortunately, we were too late, because he already had our government secrets in his hands. We failed to stop his escape from Zona, and we have spent the last three years diligently searching for him. After some thorough research, we found that he had only one living relative.”
He turned to face Beatrix. “You.”
Beatrix gasped. This was impossible. She had no family. She was an orphan raised by the village preacher. She was told that a tragic accident had wiped out her entire family.
“So,” Borakai said. “If anyone should know where Derrick Falton is, it would be you. Now let me say this again: where is he?”
Beatrix took a deep breath and glared up at Borakai.
“I am telling you the truth. I know nothing of this Derrick and his whereabouts. Now please let me go.”
By this time, the two Zoraks kneeling beside her had finished with the wires and stood at attention back up against the wall on the far side of the room. Borakai walked toward the screen and hovered a hand over a small red knob.
“If you won’t tell us,” he whispered, “then you aren’t going anywhere.”
He cranked the knob to maximum power.
*
A loud, shrill scream ripped across the sky, making Frederick’s head snap up momentarily before returning to his feverish search on the computer in Beatrix’s apartment. Surely there was a tracking device on her suit. If there wasn’t, Frederick would have to fix that.
In an instant, her logo appeared on the screen. It wasn’t located on planet Fortis. It was located in the sky.
The sky? Frederick thought. But how? The only scenario he could think of was if she were floating above the planet’s atmosphere, and in order to do that, she would need a spacecraft.
That’s it! He thought. A spacecraft! But who had taken her? When he had inspected the area where she had disappeared, there had been a patch in the dirt that could’ve contained a flower, but flowers never got up and walked away like that.
Unless they were Zoraks!
Another scream ripped the air. He ran outside, opened a portal in the atmosphere, and jumped through.
*
When Borakai turned the knob, there was a crackling, and a powerful force within the wires shot into Beatrix’s veins, making her scream and writhe in the chair. A pop, a fizzle, and the Zoraks had what they needed.
Beatrix was unconscious in the chair when a hole appeared abruptly in the room and out stepped a young man no older than Beatrix. He looked around and spotted Beatrix lying in the chair.
“Seize him!” Shouted Borakai, pointing at Frederick with a gnarled finger.
Two Zoraks approached him, and in an instant their skin melted and took the shape of two chains, twirling and twisting in the air. As they struck at Frederick, he opened a portal in front of him, and the two transformed Zoraks disappeared through it.
“You fools!” screamed Borakai in rage. He pressed a button on the keyboard underneath the screen, sounding an alarm deep within the recesses of the spacecraft, summoning more Zoraks.
Frederick looked at Beatrix. He couldn’t just rip the wires off Beatrix. It would hurt her.
Streams of Zoraks suddenly poured through the entrance, some transforming themselves into guns, some into swords, and this gave Frederick the perfect idea. He grabbed one of the Zoraks, one that had transformed into a sword, and slashed the wires from the computer. As fast as lightning, he opened a portal and pushed Beatrix, who was still unconscious in the chair, through it. Frederick followed suit, closing the portal behind him.
They both plummeted toward the ground, through the leafy forest, and made a crash landing in the shrubbery. Frederick pulled himself up and rushed to Beatrix’s side. Frederick began to meticulously unhook her from the horrid contraption. In each area on her body where a wire had been attached, there remained a small bloody spot.
Beatrix’s eyelids fluttered open. She lifted her head and groaned.
“Don’t worry, Gingerlocks,” Frederick said soothingly. “I’ll get you out of here. Don’t try to move.”
He opened a portal to her bedroom, gently picked her up, and deposited her onto her bed.
The last thing Beatrix remembered was Frederick’s big, gentle hands wiping her sweaty hair out of her face.
*
Beatrix stirred ever so slightly and drew in her breath sharply in pain. Immediately, a hand rested on her shoulder, and a voice spoke through the searing pain.
“It’s okay. Just relax.”
She recognized the voice. She opened her eyes, and she focused on Frederick’s face.
Oh, how lovely it was to see his face. “Frederick. Oh, Frederick.” Tears streamed down her cheeks. Frederick lifted his hand to her face and wiped them away.
“It’s okay, Beatrix. You’re safe.” He stood up and reached a hand to her. “Let’s see how much damage they did.”
Beatrix meekly took his hand and rose from her bed, wincing. She slowly stood before Frederick, and copied the movements he did; stretching her limbs, arching her back, turning her head.
“Okay, let’s see about those powers,” he said. He walked over to the kitchen sink, filled a cup of water, and turned around. He proceeded to spill the water. Beatrix lifted her hands to freeze it, but the water splashed onto the floor.
Beatrix’s eyes went wide in horror. Her knees went weak, and Frederick got to her before she could crumple to the ground. He wrapped her in his arms, squeezing her tightly in his strong arms.
“They took my powers,” Beatrix said in despair. “That’s what the machine was for. It sucked all the power from my body.” She looked up at Frederick, her eyes filled with tears. “What am I going to do?”
Frederick held her away from him and looked intently into her eyes. “Don’t panic. We will get your powers back. You are still Beatrix even without your powers.”
Beatrix broke away from him, wiping the tears from her eyes. She started to pace the room, thinking. “They wanted to know where Derrick Falton was,” she said aloud. “They say he is my only living relative.”
She turned around suddenly to face Frederick. “We need to find Derrick Falton.”
To be continued …
About the Author
Holly Braendlein is an 18-year-old daughter of the King who lives in Kent, WA. In addition to having several health conditions, she loves to sew, write, do dance workouts, research her family history, and goof off with her siblings. You’ll find her other Beatrix stories on Pure in Heart, or her articles on Reformed Perspective.
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