“Red, the icicle,” Harley whispered next to me, and I felt her pull it from my hand, leaving me weaponless.

  I pulled off my gloves so I could access my bubble powers, but I didn’t know what use they’d be against the giant gooey mess I was looking at.

  I decided to trust my wife as she backed up the few feet toward the sewage. She’d had two icicles in her hands, and now they were melded into one.

  She added mine to that, making a hollow pole, then raised it. With a downward plunge, she pushed the ice spear into the shit of Seattle, holding the end with one hand, and reaching the other to me. I took her hand and saw what she meant me to do.

  Auld stood between the Monster Goo and us, and I reached for one of his hands. It was frigid, of course; he was made of ice, but that was the key to ending our nightmare.

  As I held my wife’s hand with my right, and Auld’s hand with my left, I activated my Bubble Control, doing something brand new. Foam poured slowly from my left palm onto Auld’s hand, and I felt Harley sending a stream of cold water over my right hand.

  The chill was nearly too much, both hands feeling frozen in the winter air, then having all that bone-chilling water coursing over them, but I held on. Everything depended on it.

  Auld’s hand in mine started to feel less like a hand and more like a slippery mass, and in the dim light of my headlamp, I could see him holding out his left hand and letting bubbles and water pour onto the pavement in front of the Monster Goo.

  If it had a reaction, I couldn’t see it. Or hear it.

  At the moment, it seemed completely inert, but I didn’t trust that for a second. I continued to let Harley siphon water out of the sewage through her Invento-Weapon filtering straw and pour it over my hand. Then I funneled it through my bubble stream to Auld who had no problems controlling the soapy water and directing it towards our enemy.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  In fact, he seemed to be inverting his Rapid Ablation power, turning the foamy water into something more solid, creating a small wall between the Murder Goo and us.

  What was he doing? That wouldn’t help! We didn’t need to contain the monster; we needed to end it!

  The soapy wall was about shin high when our nemesis decided it’d had enough of our games and lurched forward, straight for the frozen angel next to me.

  But Slayer Auld was ready.

  In a flash, he pulled water from Harley and me, using us like a spigot, aimed his Rapid Ablation at the wall before him, and pushed upwards with mental focus, searing the monster as it flew towards him.

  The approaching mass splattered to the ground, powerless, but that was only its opening salvo. Another wave of goo separated itself from the tunnel and lurched for Auld.

  He dropped my hand—well, he wasn’t Auld anymore. The giant ice sculpture became a wall of water spreading from tunnel wall to tunnel wall, and the Murder Goo could not penetrate it.

  “Auld!” Harley shrieked, and my heart echoed her dismay.

  For while I had huffed my way through our relationship, I was fond of the icy creature and his singing voice. He reminded me too much of my wife to truly resent him, and the thought of him sacrificing himself for our sakes was too much to bear.

  “Harley! What next?”

  But she was already moving, glowing with green light and Turbo powering her way to the Auld wall. Both hands before her, she Reverbed green energy into the water, which instantly glowed with the power of her intention.

  It was a beautiful sight, backlit by two headlanterns. A giant green glowing wall of water that repelled the assaulting Monster Goo with Bouncy House magic.

  Still, that wasn’t enough. We had to eliminate the menace, not just rebuff it. It could not be allowed to steal the shoes off the feet of poop-stepping Seattleites any longer!

  I knew what to do. It was my turn to save the day.