Disclaimer: All I can claim ownage of here are Golem, Chaos, Corona, Eventide, and Atlantis. Everyone else is either the property of Hasbro, Marvel, or L1707E.
Author's note: A big thank you to L1707E for letting me borrow his characters and for Beta-reading this for me. You're frikkin' awesome, dude!
This story is set in his Misfitverse slightly before the official recognition of the Southside Misfits, so my characters will be about 2 years older than they are in my current ongoing fic "Learning to Breathe".
Summary: Metallix learns the hard way why no-one invades Shadowatch's turf, and they get the bruises to prove it.
Broken, Beaten, Scarred
It was getting dark on that fateful Tuesday night when the mutant gang known as Metallix started to prowl for even more territory to call their own. Sure, the old junkyard was nice, but they wanted somewhere else to call their own. Something to make the other gangs quake in their boots and bandanas. Something to show the world they ruled Chicago. Tonight, they set their sights on the area surrounding a motorcycle repair shop in Southwest side of town.
"Diablo, are you sure about this?" A Hispanic boy, dressed in a black t-shirt with a skull on it, blue jeans, and a yellow neckerchief, asked a devil-like mutant walking at the front of the group. The speaker was Whiplash, named for his ability to create greenish-yellow energy whips from his fingers to beat his opponents. "I mean, there's that rumor that these bikers run this end of town." 'Diablo' was a red-skinned sharp-toothed mutant teen resembling the devil himself, only without the horns or tail, who led the gang. He shrugged.
"Why? Are you worried about a bunch of middle-aged drunks?" He asked.
"They're only human." A silver-haired teenager clad in black-and-silver scoffed. Mercury was debatably the most intelligent and calm-natured of the group, only joining up with his brutal gang-mates to seek revenge on a mystically-gifted mutant called Vixen. "We can defeat them easily."
"Just point me in their direction, and they'll fall like dominoes." A rhino-like teenage boy grinned, his voice showing his Jamaican heritage. For obvious reasons, he was called Rhinox.
"Hey, leave some for the rest of us!" A blond teen shouted. Ringer was yet another energy-wielding member of the Metallix line-up. He could form his energy into rings, hence his codename. "I wanna give 'em some pretty new jewelry. My way of welcoming 'em to the neighborhood." He created a couple small golden rings, and started juggling them.
"Don't worry, Ringer, I'm sure there's enough to go around." Diablo smirked.
"I suggestyou put your rings away, Ringer." Mercury warned sagely. "We do not wish to call attention to ourselves quite yet." Ringer shrugged and dissipated his rings.
"Never mind that! How will we kill them?" A girl with rainbow-colored hair, dressed in black leather, asked eagerly. She was Spectra, a mutant able to emit different kinds of energy, each representing a color of the rainbow. She could also phase through solid matter. The only girl in the gang, she was also the most bloodthirsty member of the team's roster. Her myriad powers made her potentially one of the most powerful members of Metallix, but her insanity was her big weakness.
"Funny, Rainbow-Brite, we were asking the same thing about you." Metallix stopped in their tracks when another, larger group of mutants blocked their path to the garage. The speaker was a short girl with short, teal-tipped black hair and a gothic-inspired black and purple costume complete with corset, dog collar, and cape. She was Eventide, resident dhampire (half-vampire) of the mutant teen team known as Shadowatch.
"What the hell?" Rhinox shouted. "I thought a bunch of bikers worked here."
"And we work for them. Deal with it." A tall boy with sandy brown hair and green eyes stated. He wore a black bodysuit with two green "V" shapes on the chest, emerald green boots, a black bomber jacket, and a green belt with a red cobra on the buckle. His teammates called him Chaos because of his uncanny ability to cause it. This talent was only aided by his mutant abilities of superhuman strength, flight, and invulnerability. "You were right, Reg, they are annoying."
"And unguarded." 'Reg', a model-esque girl with a chin-length blond bob and blue eyes smirked. Her black outfit had a pink halter-strap at the top, which connected to a pink diamond on her chest. She had black long gloves with diamonds on the elbows, black boots with pink stiletto soles and pink diamonds over her knees, and a pink sash-like belt with a red cobra at the buckle. Known as Lady Mastermind, the blond bombshell could create illusions and read minds.
"And you are?" Diablo asked. One of the girls, a tall blue-scaled young woman with black-streaked blond hair, grinned wickedly.
"We are Shadowatch, and you've got ten seconds to get off of our turf before we make you wish you never met us." she answered. She wore a black tight-fitting vest with silver swirled designs resembling ocean waves, black pants with a thin silver stripe up the outside of the legs, combat boots, black fingerless gloves, and a black belt with the same cobra emblem that her teammates' buckles bore. Atlantis, the leader of the once rag-tag band of outcast mutants, possessed the ability to move water with her mind, as well as shape-shifting.
"Hubba hubba hubba..." Ringer's jaw dropped at the sight of the female members of Shadowatch. "Hey guys, maybe we don't have to kick their butts. The blue babe's obviously the leader. Maybe I can use my charm to convince her to let us take over her turf."
"Shut up, Ringer." Diablo grumbled. Taking a look at the assembled Shadowatch, he couldn't help but think that they were familiar to him...
"Yeah right, mon." Rhinox laughed at Ringer. "You aren't exactly Casanova." The blond teen glared at his rhino-like compatriot.
"I hate you." Ringer grumbled petulantly.
"We are Metallix." Diablo introduced his gang. "We want to send a message to you Shadowatch guys. Chicago is our town, and you are on our turf."
"Really?" Andi scoffed,
"That's right." Diablo grinned. "We want to take over your little garage here."
"Oh, really?" An amused Andi smiled. Bryan and Mitch started to snicker in disbelief. "Hey guys, they want to take over our garage." Shadowatch burst out laughing. "Hey, I'll give you clowns a tip: GO back to your little junkyard, and we won't send you to the hospital."
"Nobody orders around Metallix!" Spectra fired a stream of yellow electrical energy, which bounced harmlessly off of a multi-colored shield around the group.
"What a crappy attack." A Latina girl yawned. Her off-the-shoulder outfit had rainbow stripes around the top of the bodice, white armbands with strips of color at the top, white boots with the same multi-colored rings at the top, and a rainbow-colored belt with a Cobra emblem on the buckle. "Honestly, I've seen elementary-school kids do better."
"Why don't you show her what a real one looks like, Corona?" Eventide asked, a grin growing on her face. Corona grinned back.
"No problemo." In a second, the shield turned into a wave of brightly-colored energy that knocked Spectra several feet back, right into a wall (which she phased through).
"Chaos, Golem, take out the party animal." Atlantis jerked a thumb at Rhinox, who growled as the green-clad boy flew to him while a much heavier-set boy in a black and blue uniform followed behind. His skin seemed to be made out of rock, something he could turn on and off at will.
"No one insults me!" the animal-like mutant roared as he charged the girl and Golem (who was in the way). But rather than get out of the way, Golem hunkered down and caught him in mid-run!
"No wonder you got kicked out of the zoo." The brown-haired teen grinned. "You have bad manners and you're a crappy fighter." Rhinox tried to throw a punch, but was instead socked from the right by Chaos.
"Chump." The flying mutant snorted.
It was at this point that Ringer tried to enter the fray and rescue his teammate. Unfortunately, he found himself suddenly restrained by the petite gray-skinned girl. "You don't get to play this time." She sang in his ear before kicking him forward. He landed face first on the concrete. Hard.
"Pretty birdies." He warbled before slipping into unconsciousness.
Next to join in was Whiplash, who was wildly flinging his energy whips. However, he soon found himself being beat-up by two of the three remaining team members—Mimic and Thunderbird. Thunderbird's plasma wielding attacks flew in Whiplash's general direction, while Mimic used Corona's energy wielding ability to keep the bandana-wearing mutant from backing away. Whiplash was wildly trying to bash through the barrier with his finger whips, but it was worthless. The barrier still held. "I can go on like this all day." Thunderbird smirked, floating carelessly off the ground.
"I hear ya." Mimic smirked. "Let the games begin!"
Diablo started off by fighting Leathersuit, the green-scaled reptilian nephew of the Dreadnok's resident poacher Gnawgahyde. But once it was realized that Diablo only got stronger from the alligator-like mutant's blows, Lady Mastermind stepped in to even the playing field. No matter how much he struggled, Diablo couldn't get her out of his head. And while he fought her in his mind, Leathersuit continued to beat the stuffing out of his physical body. "No way are you going to get away that easy." Regan chided like a teacher disciplining a student. "This is why you shouldn't mess with a Mastermind."
"Or start fights you shouldn't have." Leathersuit growled. "Now, how about you feel some pain!"
Mercury observed the carnage with thoughtful eyes. Spectra was stuck in an energy bubble; Rhinox and Diablo were both getting their butts handed to them in two-on-one match ups, Ringer was out cold, and Whiplash's pants were now on fire.
"YEAGH! I'M ON FIRE!" The Hispanic mutant screamed as he leapt around, trying to pat out the flames on his legs. In a desperate bid to turn the tables in Metallix's favor, Mercury transformed into his liquid metal form and launched toward Atlantis—the only member of Shadowatch not otherwise engaged. In his liquid metal form, he was very hard to injure, so he figured that he'd be safe from whatever the blue-scaled girl could do.
Alas, liquid in the presence of a hydrokinetic is a deadly weapon. The blue-scaled girl's eyes glowed a bright aqua as she ripped Mercury's liquid form into many pieces and scattered them as far as she could muster. Mercury's screams sounded through the quiet street as Diablo looked up at her in awe.
"How?" He asked, only to be punched again by Leathersuit. "Ow!"
"They don't call me Atlantis for nothing." She growled as Lady Mastermind released her mental hold. Leathersuit was about to put another wrestling move on the devil-like mutant, but a cold glare from his housemate kept him still. She was the boss for a reason—reason being she was the dirtiest fighter in the house. "Now, will you all leave peacefully, or will we need to send you back in body bags?"
Diablo used this time to take stock of his floundering team. Spectra was thoroughly beaten up, having first been thrown through a wall, then trapped in an energy bubble and finally released, only to find herself unable to phase through the molecularly unstable form of Eventide, who'd caused Ringer to take a nap on the cement earlier. Rhinox bore several bruises and a bloody nose from his spar with Chaos and Golem, Whiplash had several ugly burns, and Mercury was still pulling himself back together. The demonic mutant sighed. "Fine. We'll go." He grumbled. "But we'll be back for a rematch."
"Good." Atlantis smirked. "We'll kick your asses even harder when you do!"
"But Diablo!" Spectra whined. He glared at her.
"If we don't leave, they will kill us. Or at the very least beat us to a pulp and dump our unconscious bodies in nearby dumpsters." He said. She frowned, but protested no more. "Rhinox, pick Ringer up off the floor. We're going home!"
"Good riddance." Eventide stated, brushing imaginary dirt off of her cape as Metallix picked up their unconscious teammates and walked away. The assembled Shadowatch then went back inside the building. "Honestly, can you believe the nerve of those morons?"
"Stupidity sounds more correct here, Kris." Regan studied her nails. "They didn't do their homework on us. Heck, they didn't even do any research on the Dreadnoks!"
"Because they're idiots." Atlantis snorted. "I'm almost convinced we should have just let the adults handle it. They could have held their own against them."
"But you gotta admit, that was a good fight." Steve grinned, stretching out his arms. "I finally got to try out that move I been working on!"
"They went down way too easy, though." Andi shook her head. "I like my fist fights a bit more evenly matched than that."
"They're a gang, not a unit like us." Corona reminded her. "They think brawn is the only way to win a fight."
"And man were they wrong." Golem shook his head. "I mean, I'm not that bright, but even I know you gotta use your head when you're outnumbered!"
"And that is what separates us from them." Mimic smirked. "We got the brains, while they're all brain dead."
"Oi!" An English-accented voice snapped. The source of the noise, a lanky teenage boy with long messy brown hair and intense green eyes roared as he marched up to the group. He was dressed in an Iron Maiden t-shirt, blue jeans, and a black studded belt with a chain hanging off it. His hands were covered by green biker gloves and wrists had studded bands. He was Vincent James, aka Virus. Shadowatch's resident mad genius, Virus had an instinctive knack for invention, and could possess electronic devices. "What the bloody 'ell's going on? I was working in me lab, and I heard a racket outside! What were you all doing?"
"Surprised he could hear it with that discordant noise he plays in his lab all the time." Regan muttered under her breath. Virus shot the blonde a quick glare.
"There's nothing wrong with NWOBHM!" The English mutant snapped.
"Missed a helluva fight, Virus." Golem grinned. "Local mutant gang tried to take us on. We sent the morons home limping." Virus snorted.
"Only you would find amusement in brawling with some street trash, you tub of lard. Too stupid to do anything else."
"Don't call him stupid." Andi warned the insane English mutant.
"Of course, luv." Virus reassured the blue-scaled girl adoringly. "I would never do anything to cross you." Andi scowled in disgust, and Steve angrily clenched his fists, desiring nothing more than to pound the little English rat into the ground for looking at the boss like that. Cal sighed and patted Virus's shoulder as he walked towards the kitchen.
"Let it go, buddy. Let it go."
Later that night, Metallix crawled their way back into their junkyard home. Not a one of them escaped pain free, not even Mercury.
"Now I know what a tug of war rope feels like." The silver-haired boy moaned. "I'm sore in places I didn't know I could be sore in!"
"I think they broke my horn." Rhinox whimpered, collapsing in a dilapidated armchair, rubbing his horn.
"No, it's still hanging on there." Whiplash grunted, flopping down onto one of the salvaged chairs. He winced and hissed as he felt the pain from his burned legs. "I'm gonna be scarred for months!"
"Man, I didn't know those bikers hired out punks like that." Rhinox muttered.
"Wait, that wouldn't happen to have been Burnout's Custom Cycles we just tried to take over, would it?" Mercury frowned.
"Yeah. So? Why does that matter?" Spectra spat. Mercury and Diablo looked at each other, and it clicked. The powerhouse mutant smacked his forehead in disbelief. He knew that biker garage from somewhere, and now he realized it!
"We are such twits! That's the set of that TV show 'Growing Up Biker'!" Diablo hissed. "They're a bona-fide, hardcore mutant gang! Have been for two years now!"
"And those bikers are hardly slouches." Mercury pointed out in concern. "I think they could bench press most of our group without trying."
"Well then that settles it! Ow!" Whiplash stood up suddenly, then let out a cry of pain and sunk back onto his couch.
"Yeah, we need a rematch!" Spectra proclaimed. "We'll take those punks and their human masters out for good!"
"We ain't even close to their league yet!" Diablo growled. "Were you even watching the same fight? You know? The one where we got the crap beat out of us?"
"Then we need to train." Rhinox said. "That was an embarrassment! Even those Southsiders don't whoop us that bad."
"Train?" Ringer groaned, not lifting his face off of the couch. "Like the one that hit me?"
"Well, if we want to beat those other brats, we need to start." Diablo nodded, ignoring Ringer's groggy mumblings. "But first, we need some painkillers."
"Yeah. Those would be nice." Whiplash whimpered weakly.