Episode 4: Comedy and Combat
The Archivist's words still echoed in their heads as the crew emerged from the subway tunnels into the gray morning light. Run or fight a god. Easy choice when running meant leaving the city — and everyone they cared about — to the Pillar's mercy.
"We need supplies and a new safehouse," Peter grunted, leading them through the overgrown rail yard. "And I need a fucking drink."
Kevin walked in silence, the Mythical Matrix's circuits glowing faintly under his hoodie. The destructive power inside him felt… restless. Hungrier since the fight with Seraphine. Wyatt stuck close, pipe still in hand, while Nathan covered their rear with subtle illusions.
They didn't make it far.
A strange, sweet scent drifted on the wind — crisp, sugary, with an undercurrent of rot. Then came the sound: a soft, wet crunching, like someone biting into fresh fruit over and over.
From behind a rusted train car stepped a figure that made even Peter pause.
She had the body of a woman — athletic, curvaceous, clad in a tattered red-and-green tactical outfit that looked like it had been grown rather than sewn. But where her head should have been was a massive, glossy red apple, easily the size of a basketball. A carved, jagged smile stretched across its surface, and two glowing green seeds served as eyes. A single leaf sprouted from the stem on top, twitching like an antenna.
"Applehead," Nathan whispered. "I've heard rumors. She's one of the independent Wrathborn. Completely insane. Loves playing games with fresh Glimmers."
Applehead tilted her oversized apple head, the carved smile widening with a sickening crunch as new fissures appeared. Juice dripped from the corners of her mouth.
"Mmm… fresh Rampager," she said in a sweet, girlish voice that didn't match her monstrous appearance. "The Pillar put out a big bounty on your shiny circuits. But I don't work for them. I just want to play."
She raised one delicate hand. Suddenly, dozens of oversized apples materialized in the air around her, each one pulsing with Glimmer energy. They exploded forward like living grenades.
Kevin reacted on instinct. He thrust both hands out and unleashed a destructive wave. Most of the apples detonated mid-air in sticky bursts of juice and pulp, but a few got through. One slammed into Wyatt's shoulder, exploding on impact and sending him flying into a pile of scrap metal.
"Wyatt!" Kevin roared.
Peter charged, Iron Tyrant form fully active. "I hate fucking fruit salad!" He smashed through a barrage of apples, but Applehead laughed and clapped her hands. The ground beneath Peter turned into a slick, sticky apple puree trap. He slipped, and she followed up with a spinning kick that sent a concentrated blast of fermented cider straight into his chest, knocking him back.
Nathan wove illusions rapidly — creating multiple Kevins and Peters to confuse her. But Applehead's glowing seed-eyes seemed to see through them. She plucked one of the illusory Peters and bit into it. The illusion screamed as she chewed.
"Delicious lies," she giggled. "But I prefer real terror."
Kevin sprinted forward, white-blue energy blazing. He was getting better at controlling the Rampager mantle. Each step left cracks in the concrete. He leaped and brought a glowing fist down toward her apple head.
Applehead's body moved with unnatural flexibility. She bent backward like a contortionist, dodging the punch, then countered by growing razor-sharp apple seeds from her fingertips and slashing across Kevin's torso. The cuts burned like acid.
"You're strong, little Rampager," she purred, circling him. "But you're still scared. I can taste it in the air. The Pillar wants to eat your power. I just want to watch you rot from the inside."
She opened her massive mouth wider than should have been possible and unleashed a torrent of pressurized apple mash mixed with corrosive enzymes. Kevin crossed his arms and poured destructive force into a shield. The collision created a sticky, hissing explosion that covered the entire area in sweet-smelling sludge.
While Kevin was distracted, Applehead turned toward the recovering Wyatt. She extended her arm, and a long vine-like apple stem shot out, wrapping around Wyatt's throat and lifting him off the ground.
"Such a tasty little sidekick," she cooed.
Rage exploded inside Kevin. The Mythical Matrix flared brighter than ever. Time seemed to slow as the Rampager mantle took over. He blurred forward, grabbed the vine, and shattered it with raw kinetic force. Then he drove his fist straight into Applehead's apple face.
The impact was devastating.
Her head cracked loudly. Juice and pulp sprayed everywhere. Applehead screamed — a high-pitched, childish wail — as she was sent crashing through two train cars. She staggered up, one side of her apple head caved in, green seeds flickering weakly.
"You… broke my favorite part…" she hissed, voice distorting. More apples began forming around her in a defensive swarm.
Peter, now free, grabbed a chunk of rebar and hurled it like a spear. It impaled her through the shoulder, pinning her momentarily to a metal wall.
Nathan hit her with a targeted Mind Labyrinth illusion — forcing her to experience her own head being slowly eaten away by worms from the inside.
Applehead convulsed, laughing and screaming at the same time. "This was fun! Let's play again soon, Rampager!"
With a final wet crunch, she dissolved her own body into a swirling mass of apple pulp and escaped down a storm drain, leaving behind a trail of sweet-smelling rot.
The crew stood panting in the wreckage.
Kevin helped Wyatt up. "You okay?"
"Yeah… just really hate apples now."
Peter wiped pulp from his face. "She's not dead. Freaks like her never stay down easy. But she bought us time."
Nathan stared at the storm drain. "She wasn't a Pillar scout. She's playing her own game. And she seemed… interested in Kevin specifically."
Later that night, in a new abandoned warehouse safehouse, the Archivist's warning weighed heavier.
Kevin sat alone on the roof, circuits glowing softly as he stared at the distant city lights. The Rampager mantle whispered in his mind — power, destruction, hunger.
Footsteps approached. It was Wyatt.
"We've got your back, Kev. No matter how weird this gets."
Kevin nodded, but deep down he felt the truth: Applehead was only the beginning. More monsters — fruit-headed and otherwise — would come. And the White-Blue Heart Pillar was still out there, waiting.
End of Episode 4