Arc XLIII: Megan's Run, Part 2

Megan's Run, Part 2

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David Hopkins

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Short XLVIII: Bliss

Arc XLIV: Choosing Sides

Megan arrives in Hell after taking the door at the end of her previous story-arc. First, she meets the Devil, who trades her shotgun with his own version, to shoot some flowers with them, and gives her a pointer how to find Fiver.

She finds Fiver in his frequent bar, and asks him for information on how to find Angels in Hell. He agrees to share, but wants anal sex as a payment, while mocking her innocence, and the fact that she's apparently still alive. One of the patrons present in the bar is a freshly arrived Ordin.

After the act, Fiver tells her that something big is going to go down at the Necropolis - if she wants to find Angels, she'll find them there, but "probably won't like the trip. The Bartender meanwhile is cutting down some prisoners in the bar, and tells Megan to get some spare clothes from the back, since Fiver ripped her old clothes apart. When asked why he's being so nice, the bartender responds that he wants "to find out how it feels being someone like you in a place like this". Megan also feels tired for the first time since her time of supposed death, and the bartender warns her that even though she started out in hell alive, "Hell is starting to correct [her]".

Afterwards, she goes back to Fiver, saying that she needs to be "dominated" again by him, and leads him to the bar, tells him to close his eyes, and then smashes his genitals into a bloody pulp with a sledgehammer. She manages to escape the bar heading to the Necropolis, but Ordin is apparently in pursuit. She falls asleep in a little cave.

The story switches to a flashback to the day an apparently younger Megan (with longer hair) is a babysitter for Susan's little brother, and meets Susan for the first time - this is also the day Susan's teddybear earns the name "Mr. Bottomless Poop".

After waking up, she learns that 5 days have passed, and a newcomer lizard has taken her gun. The newcomer declares she's keeping it, and that she's going to the necropolis. Not trusting Megan one bit, she leads her out of the cave at gunpoint - but both run almost immediately into some Mountain people (large, tentacle-faced demons), forcing them into another cave. There, they discover the gun has reappeared near Megan. Lizard Girl knows she dropped the gun earlier, and asks Megan where she got that from - after learning from who, she wants nothing to do with the gun and shoves it back into Megan's hands. They encounter Lita, Sepka and a few freed prisoners, who are hiding from the mountain people as well.

During the night, Sepka explains to Megan why her eyes are different, since she (and Lita) have recognized their sins that damned them to Hell. In the morning, Specks and Megan continue to the Necropolis alone. Specks acknowledges Lita is doing something good, warns Megan that her eyes are going to make her a target.

Specks likes to frequent brothel for rest, while Megan encounters her own Mother - who is punished as by being split into two bodies - one being transformed into a child Megan, while a second part of her wears her own body - the "mother" abusing the "daughter" part. She mentions Megan's father is here as well, and complains his punishment is not nearly bad enough. She also tells Megan she tried to abort her, but that she even survived "two flights of stairs", ruining her entire life. While her Mother plays out her self-abuse further, Megan breaks down in tears.

After finding Megan, Specks tells us that while alive, she murdered a pedophile after deciding that he didn't get enough as a punishment. She also tells her that she will probably never regret what she did.

They arrive at the Necropolis, assuming there has been some kind of war, when an angel flies by, only to be beset by some Nam soldiers armed with artillery. Megan takes them out with the shotgun, even though she is not even aiming at the soldiers. They find the angel (Arty), and Specks reveals that she's an Angel as well, rubbing her eyes back into normal size. Arty recognizes Megan's still alive, but before they can discuss it, they are beset on by reworks. Since Arty and Specks can't be hurt permanently, but Megan dying would trap her in Hell, the two angels tell her to run, while they deal with the onslaught.

Separated, Megan runs into Ordin again, who tricks, and then beats her senseless.

Meanwhile, Kane has won the battle against the armies of Vince, leaving him at the mercy of Drip. Kane has arranged for a concrete tube to be constructed at the respawn point for Vince, effectively trapping him there. Nostrum appears with Ordin in tow, who gifts Kane both the shotgun, identifying it as the Whitman's Rifle that never misses, and a beaten Megan as a prisoner.

Megan is forced to march together with another prisoner named Tristesse, who escapes, but is recaptured shortly afterwards. She begs Megan to kill her, as her respawn point is far from here, providing her with an escape. She eats a Nightshade apple putting her to sleep to make it easier, but Megan can't bring herself to kill her. Drip however, being brought along in a cage, is more than willing to accommodate. He also tells Megan two things - one, that she probably won't have more than a few days left before finally dying, and that he's going to wait for her.

Kane wants to know about the angels they encountered, but Megan is not complying. To make a point, Kane feeds Ordin to Drip (who's stuck in a hole) as an "appetizer". He tosses Megan in afterwards, but she's able to cling to the walls, being rescued by Arty - but not without losing her tail first.

Arty discovers that Megan is dying. He finds Vinci and Central, who says that Hell has a hold on Megan now, so she can't be brought back to Earth. Arty then decides to bring her to Heaven instead, and Vinci agrees, but Central tells them that this won't work, since Megan has broken too many rules by now. Vinci and Arty fly off with Megan, while Central complains to her mother, and considers stepping down from her position.

Later, Megan wakes up in Farrago's apartment in Heaven, who tells her that while Hell has damaged her badly, God will see her soon. In order to make up a little for her time in Hell, Farrago shows Megan around Heaven for a while. They run into Arty and Vinci, who ask Megan about her meeting with God, but Megan wants to put it off for a few days, apparently Heaven making an impact on her decision-making.

Vinci&Arty meet with Central, who then asks Farrago why Megan's not meeting God yet, even though her wounds from Hell have more than healed by now - and then realizes Farrago has fallen in love with Megan.

The next morning, Farrago confronts Megan that she has to return to Earth, since her life is not over yet. Megan refuses at first, but Farrago promises her to wait "as many lifetimes as it takes" to wait for her, even if she somehow doesn't make it to Heaven at the end of her life. Megan finally agrees to meet with God.

During her meeting - while Megan never meant for Susan to be hurt and wanted the best of her, she was nevertheless hurt. God then surprises Megan by asking for forgiveness herself, since as the mother of all creation, she is also responsible for all people begging for forgiveness in the first place, from the beginning to the end of time. She also tells her that while she has nudged certain events in motion to help Megan, she was not directly helping her on Earth and in Hell, so Megan could earn that victory all on her own.

Susan will now grow up as originally meant for her - even going so far as being a firefighter, and a mother of two kids, one of them named after Megan. The tradeoff is that Megan returns, reborn, to Earth, her immortality ended.

The arc ends with a newscast telling us that Susan is alive and well, thanking Megan - while an older Megan is sitting in a bar, being remarked on that she has the same name and even looks familiar. Megan however answers that she's about thirty years too old for that. She heads out, passing Jack and Farrago, the former remarking that Megan is going to pass out before she dies, and that she'll remember Farrago "the very second she sees [her]".

Arc XLIII: Megan's Run, Part 2

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