(A/N) I am so sorry this update took so long but I have a very, very good reason for once... I'm a college student now (awesome, by the way) and I am very busy. never in my life have I had so much homework... having only one class twice a week is nice though. anyway, Im setting a goal for myself to update at least once a month from now on, twice in december and march (when winter and spring breaks are). with that out of the way, please enjoy Battle of the Rust Buckets Part 2!
Episode 5: Battle of the Rust Buckets Part 2
"Sandro, you are freaking amazing." Mariah praised as she looked over his work. In less than two minute, Sandro had successfully managed to rig their iron man suit to take an electrical charge from the inside of the palms which would act as their power supply. "This should work perfectly!"
"Yeah, nice work." Aphrodite agreed halfheartedly while filing her nails.
"You sure you don't want that kiss?" Hiba chuckled, jokingly.
"Well, you are a girl now, but I think I'll pass." Sandro replied.
~CONFESSIONAL CAM~
"Don't get me wrong, Hiba's a good looking girl… When he/she wants to be." Sandro admitted to the camera in his bathroom. "But the whole randomly switching genders thing is kinda weird. Besides, I've kinda got my eye on someone else."
~END CONFESSIONAL~
"So what exactly is this plan of yours, Mariah?" Sandro inquired.
"It's simple really. We need a power supply and I can shoot lightning from my hands. I figure that if you could rig the hands up the way we need them then I could be our suits power supply."
"Mariah, that's ingenious!" Sandro exclaimed.
"And it could potentially backfire, causing a horrific electrical fire which could lead to your untimely death!" Aphrodite added, her voice full of sarcasm.
"Shut up, furry." Hiba chided.
Aphrodite almost lost control and lashed out at the Indian girl (… boy… whatever), but she kept control of her temper. Her rage belonged to Marissa at the moment, and she intended for the ice queen to take every ounce of that rage where the sun don't shine. Aphrodite also knew that she was the least liked person on her team, and going off on Hiba now would likely get her the boot if they ever ended up in the Round Room ceremony. And besides all of that, Aphrodite had to admit that neither of Hiba's chosen forms were very unattractive at all. No reason to ruin her chances now.
"Well, looks like we're done here." Aphrodite yawned, stretching her arms. "If you'll excuse me, I have some business to attend to." The other three members of her team eyed her as she strutted off, disappearing out the door of the hanger.
"I really don't like her." Mariah said. "And she's lazy."
"At least she stuck around while the work was being done." Hiba pointed out.
Team Antihero was the second closest to completing their suit with Jamilah giving out instructions and actually understanding them. Darrell was surprisingly helpful. While he didn't understand the directions that Jamilah was giving, he was able to figure out which parts fit together and how through the simple experience of working on cars and motorcycles over the years. Despite his intelligence, Riley didn't know much about mechanics or technology so if he wasn't getting orders directly from Jamilah or Darrell, he kept his distance. He found it slightly irritating that these two were more knowledgeable about this than him, but he didn't mind. He was a schemer, not a laborer. Jamilah was about as useful as Riley but, unlike him, she was watching Darrell and Jamilah at work, watching them intently as they worked, trying to learn what they were doing.
"Uh, Jamilah… we got a problem." Darrell said. "We only have half the parts we need for the arms and legs."
"You are not serious, are you?" Jamilah questioned in earnest. She quickly scanned the remaining parts they had. Darrell had succeeded in assembling what he could, but he was correct. A lot of parts were missing. "Great. What do we do now?"
"Well it's simple." Riley broke in. Finally, something needed done that he was good at. "If we don't have the parts we need, obviously someone else does. We need to make a trade."
"Trade what?" Darrell questioned.
"You're not too bright, are you?" Riley chuckled, patting his teammate on the shoulder.
~CONFESSIONAL CAM~
"Sure, insult the guy that carries two guns and a sword with him at all times. That's a smart idea." Darrell joked to the camera before him. "Guy may have a high IQ, but I think he's the one that ain't too bright."
~END CONFESSIONAL~
Riley called over Team Sidekick, who he'd noticed were having a similar predicament, to do business. Rosetta was immediately reluctant to make any sort of deal with Riley, but Jay and Marissa both knew that they had no other option. The Only problem was deciding who got what. "Look, between the seven of us, Jay is the only one strong enough to actually support the suit while wearing it." Rosetta explained. "We've already agreed that he'll be the one wearing the suit for the next part of the challenge. We should have the parts for the arms."
"And leave us with no weaponry?" Riley demanded. "I don't think so."
"Riley, they do have a point." Darrell said. "No one on our team can support the suit without the legs."
"And besides, if I wear the suit we'll be far from defenseless." Jamilah added.
Riley relented, realizing that they were right. "Very well." He agreed with a huff and the trade was made. But just before the exchange, Marji noticed Marissa using her powers to frost over a few joint parts. She tried to tell Jamilah, but she was too busy helping Darrell assemble their suit to notice her frantic signing.
Team Villain was the second team to finish their suit. Even with Ana reading the Portuguese manual it was still proving nearly impossible for them to assemble the suit themselves, so Aiden used his magic (after a few failed tries) to summon Tony Stark to build it for them. Once the suit was finished and Mister Stark was successfully transported back to the Marvelverse, Team Villain proclaimed their armor complete. Chris, who had been too busy admiring his reflection to notice Aiden's little summoning spell, and Carly, who didn't really care, quickly inspected their work and told them to take their suit and join Team Hero outside. Teams Sidekick and Antihero finished their suits shortly after and joined them as well.
"All right!" Chris announced once everything was ready. "Looks like Team Hero pulled off the aforementioned something amazing and got their suit to work without a power supply! So we won't be eliminating one team automatically. Now it's time to move onto the second part of the challenge… the Battle of the Rust Buckets! All four teams will choose someone to pilot their armor in an insane battle royal! The last man standing will earn invincibility for their team and will decide one team that goes to the Round Room tonight. Now choose your pilots carefully everybody, and more importantly, fight dirty. I want some serious ratings off of this episode."
The Hero, Sidekick, and Antihero teams had already chosen their pilots and the rest of their teams helped Mariah, Jay and Jamilah into their armor suits. Team Villain, on the other hand, was having some trouble choosing. Jason and Ana were both convinced that they were more capable of piloting their suit and were arguing over it, Aiden and Rachelle just standing there watching.
~CONFESSIONAL CAM~
"They're like two little kids fighting over who gets the front seat of the car." Rachelle complained, kneading her temples. "I was half tempted to volunteer myself just to make them shut up, but... I don't do giant robots all right?"
~END CONFESSIONAL~
"I am the most skilled warrior! Clearly the armor should be mine to wear!" Jason argued.
"Oh please! With my telekinetic abilities they won't be able to touch me!" Ana snapped back. "I could just stand there and win without lifting a finger!"
Jason just shook his head. "Ares laughs at you and Athena looks upon you in disappointment. Winning a battle in such a way is a coward's victory."
"Better than no victory at all!" Ana retorted.
"I agree with Ana on that one." Aiden chimed in.
"Yeah, me too." Rachelle concurred.
Jason threw his arms into the air, fed up with his teammates. Without another word to them, he stormed off, mumbling something about Zeus's wrath raining down upon them from Olympus.
"Well that settles that then." Ana snickered.
~CONFESSIONAL CAM~
"These fools honestly think it will be that easy to win." Jason growled at the camera. "What they don't realize is that while Jay may be no threat with Ana's telekinetic abilities, both Mariah and Jamilah both possess powers with no mass for Ana to block. One blast of lightning or lunar energy from either of them and Ana is out like a light." He paused to growl and threw his head back. "I'm not sure who to vote for; they're all so incompetent!"
~END CONFESSIONAL~
"Okay here are the rules." Carly stated once everyone was ready to begin. "Since you're all post-humans, you can take more of a beating than the regular person. Still, we don't want anyone dying so try not to do anything lethal. Now there are five sensors on your suits: two on the chest, two on the back, and one on the lower abdomen. If theses sensors are struck by an opponent's attack they will begin to flash red. This means that they have been deactivated. If all five of your sensors are deactivated, your suit will cease to function and you will be out of the game. If your suit stops working for some other reason, your still out of the game. Other than that, it's pretty much free reign. Any questions?"
"Yeah, when can we get this started?" Jay demanded. "This thing is heavy!" Due to the lack of legs on his suit, the lower limbs were fully visible and people could see small cracks starting to form, only to disappear as Jay used his powers to repair them.
Chris just shrugged. "Hulk Chef?"
Chef appeared from seemingly nowhere, pushing a cart with a gong hanging over it. When he stopped, Chef proceeded to punch the gong to signal the beginning of the game. However, the force of his fist ripped the massive bronze disk from its support, causing it to fly through the air and slam into Chris.
The competitors still took this as a signal to begin the fight.
Mariah made the first move, shooting lightning from her hands to activate the suits power and weaponry. The propulsion jets underneath her feat burst on and she took to the air, flying straight at Jay, tackling him and knocking him to the ground. This impact along struck the sensor on Jay's abdomen, causing it to deactivate. The second Jay's back hit the ground, however, he kicked Mariah off and over him, then using his powers to make a wall of rock rise up in her path, she crashed through it, deactivating one of the sensors on her back. She crashed and skidded along the ground and by the time she'd regained her composure and set her sights back on her opponent, he had already set a barrage of missiles loose upon her.
Meanwhile, Jamilah and Ana were taking a much slower and patient pace to their battle. Ana had set up a telekinetic barrier between her and any outside forces the second the battle had begun, and Jamilah was very aware of this. She was also very aware of something that could distract Ana with ease. For no apparent reason, Jamilah began making loud, obnoxious clicking noises with her tongue over and over again. Ana's eye began to twitch the second this started.
~CONFESSIONAL CAM~
"There are three things on earth I cannot stand: snakes, needles, and clicking sounds." Ana informed the camera. "It's just so annoying! I remember one time in my language class this guy kept clicking his pen for over an hour and it nearly drove me insane."
~END CONFESSIONAL~
"Would you stop that please?" Ana half growled. Without a word Jamilah continued making the clicking with her tongue, the sounds driving into her skull like daggers. "I asked you to stop!" But still Ana got no response and as it continued she covered her ears with her hands. It was really driving her crazy, and if Jamilah didn't stop she was going to lose it…
She lost it.
Without a second thought Ana dropped her psychic barrier and charged at Jamilah, exactly as the Arabian girl planned. Just as Ana sent a wave of telekinetic energy at the other girl, Jamilah activated the jets on her suit, blasting her into the air, the psychic wall just barely missing her feet. Spinning through the air, she blasted a few beams of lunar energy at the other girl, hitting her dead on, taking out both of the sensors on her back, before dropping back down and flying along the ground, tackling Ana. They skidded along the dirt, Jamilah riding on Ana's back, until Ana regained her composure and lifted them both up with her telekinesis.
"You're going to pay for that, Jamilah." Ana spat, keeping a good distance between the two of them. "Hope you don't mind falling into a short coma."
"I do, in fact." Jamilah replied. "Look, even with your telepathy we both know I'll win in a battle of the mind. I would rather not risk damaging your mind and win a physical contest."
Ana rolled her eyes. "Nice try." And with that she began to probe the other girls mind. She soon realized her mistake however. The second she tapped into Jamilah's consciousness, her own mind was bombarded with so much information that she couldn't handle it. Mathematical formulas that would take up an entire blackboard, Shakespeare plays memorized word for word, binary sequences, Jamilah had even memorized her own genome sequences. It was too much for Ana to handle and before she knew it she blacked out.
Once she felt that she was free of Ana's psychic hold, she activated her jets again as she saw Ana begin to fall. She flew over and caught the other girl before landing and placing her gently on the ground. "I warned you." She said.
Just then there was a metallic clanging sound as the fist of Mariah's suit smashed into Jay's chest plate. Jay went flying over Jamilah's head, Mariah following after him as the boy skidded along the ground. As Mariah drew closer, Jay used his powers to raise the earth beneath him, causing a pillar to shoot up in Mariah's path. To Jay's surprise and dismay, however, instead of just slamming into the pillar she crashed right through it. Disorienting, yes, but not as much as Jay had hoped. As Jay fell with the rubble, Mariah landed behind him, whirled around, and launched a few rockets from the arms of her suit which hit Jay square in the back. He fell to the ground and was barely able to lift himself to his knees as Mariah readied another rocket for him. "Any last words?" she joked.
"Yeah, I've got a few… look out for that wall!" Jay slammed his fist on the ground, causing a wall of rock to shoot up from the ground and then fly directly at Mariah. She used the rocket she'd prepared to break the wall, but wasn't prepared for the second one coming from behind which slammed into her and took her straight back to Jay. With the enhanced strength of his suit, Jay punched her chest plate, knocking the wind out of her and dropping her to her knees. Once she was vulnerable, Jay grabbed onto both of her shoulders and gripped tightly. "I'd relax your arms if I were you." He advised before he began to pull. She knew what he was up to and did as she was told, and before she knew it the arms of her suit had been ripped off, leaving her own arms in tact thankfully but effectively cutting off her power supply. "Yeah!" Jay shouted in victory, holding up the two robotic arms like trophies and doing a victory dance. "Who's the man?"
"You're not a very observant man, that's for sure."
Before Jay even knew what hit him, Jamilah had dropped down in front of him and shot a beam of lunar energy directly into his chest plate where his power supply rested, completely obliterating it. The shock knocked Jay off of his feet, leaving Jamilah standing victorious.
"And we have our winner!" Chris proclaimed, walking over to Jamilah and raising her hand into the air. "Jamilah has earned Team Antihero immunity from tonight's Round Room ceremony! Now just one question remains. What team do you want to send to the Round Room Ceremony tonight?"
"Team Villain." Jamilah said flatly. "There a few on that team I'm rather… wary of."
"Sounds good." Carly agreed. "Teams Antihero and Hero, have fun tonight. Team Villain and Sidekick, since you were both assigned to the Iron Man hero today, we'll be seeing you in the Round Room later tonight."
"What?" Jay questioned.
"You've got to be kidding me!" Marissa demanded.
"Two days in a row? Are you serious?" Rachelle yelled.
"Hey don't blame us." Chris as he prepared the teleporters to beam them all back up to the C.O.B. "It's the luck of the draw."
~THE ROUND ROOM~
Once again, Team Sidekick sat in the round room waiting Chris and Carly to show up, this timed joined y Team Villain. "I can't believe this." Marissa grumbled. "We're stuck in here for the second time in a row and we haven't lost either challenge!"
"Hey, relax. There's no guarantee that one of us is going home." Jay said before taking a bite out of an apple. "You both voted for Ana right? She nearly took one of my legs off in the challenge today."
"I did." Rosetta said.
"I voted for Aphrodite." Marissa yawned.
"But she's not up for elimination today." Jay pointed out.
"So?" Marissa questioned, stealing Jay's apple and sinking her teeth into the unbitten side. "Bitch needs to get gone." She mumbled as she chewed.
"That was my apple…"
On the other side of the table, most of Team Villain was painstakingly sitting through Jason's berating lecture about how they all screwed up. "In conclusion, at the risk of making a bad pun, when you assume you make an ass out of you and me. Jamilah was able to trick her way around your telekinetic barrier within two minutes and we lost the challenge because you refused to listen to me. So, what will we be doing from now on?"
~CONFESSIONAL CAM~
"Continuing to ignore you because you're bleeding annoying!" Rachelle exclaimed, rolling her eyes.
~END CONFESSIONAL~
"Okay people let's get this started!" Chris announced as he, Carly, still in their Iron Man and Steel costumes, and Steve the Camera Guy entered the Round Room. "You all know why you're here… because Ana lost the challenge. Now it's time for some sweet revenge!"
"Team Sidekick, you three know the drill." Carly explained. "Team Villain, here's the gist of it. If you get a golden comic book, you're safe. One of the comics has a special page that can grant you immunity if you're on the chopping block later. Whoever doesn't receive a comic book must step into the Capsule of Shame and will be shot back down to Earth from the Cannon of Losers. Any questions?" They shook their heads. "All right then, let's get started. Jay, how would you like the first comic tonight?"
"Not as much as I'd like a date with you, but I can live with this for now." Jay smirked. Carly both rolled her eyes and blushed behind her mask as she rolled up the comic and hit him over the head with it.
"And the next one goes to… Rachelle!" Chris proclaimed, tossing the comic to her. Aiden, Rosetta, and Marissa were given the next three, much to Team Sidekick's relief, leaving only Ana and Jason. "Well, let's see what we've got here." Chris said with a smirk. "Jason, you've been a bit of a, for lack of a better term, dick to your teammates. However, Ana, you cost your team the win by not listening to him."
"For these reasons, the final comic goes to…" Carly paused for dramatic effect as instructed, "… Ana."
"Yes!" Ana cheered as she jumped to her feet in excitement, ignoring the book that had been tossed in front of her. As she celebrated Aiden and Rachelle both glanced over to their ousted teammate. He only glared back at them, a fiery rage behind his eyes. "In your face, Freakazoid!" Ana blurted suddenly, breaking the tension.
"Now, Jason, if you wouldn't mind stepping into the Capsule of Shame? I've been itching to fire the Cannon of Losers all day." Chris chuckled. Jason did so without further instructions and as everyone else gathered around the window, they watched as Jason's capsule rocketed back down to Earth, flashing brightly as it entered the atmosphere. "Well, that's that!" Chris suddenly said. "Anyone up for a movie? I just got Thor on Blueray!" Some agreed and went with Chris, others decided to head back to their rooms. But as they all left, no one took much notice of Rachelle rolling up her comic and shoving it in her pocket, taking it back to her room to find a safe place to hide the Invincibility Page.
~LATER~
As Marissa entered her room after returning from the Round Room ceremony, she was both surprised and pleased o find Aphrodite packing her things. "Decided to quit, eh?" she asked with a snicker. "Can't wait to take a ride on the Cannon of Shame, can we?"
Aphrodite glared at her. "Don't kid yourself." She said as she went back to packing her things. "I'm here to win. I'm just moving into a different room."
"Can't risk getting frost bite on your perfect ass. I get it."
Aphrodite half roared as she threw down her bag and took on her feline form. She leapt over to her former roommate, who didn't even flinch, and held two claws directly under her neck. "Listen up, Ice Queen. I am going to get you. You won't know where, you won't know when… but it will hurt, and you will cry, and I will laugh, and… did I mention it would hurt?"
"I'm shaking in my boots."
Aphrodite growled. "You'd better." She then packed up the rest of her things and walked out the door, making sure to ram her shoulder hard into Marissa as she left. The feline girl made her way over to the boy's wing and knocked on the first door on the left. Hiba, in his male form, answered to door. "Aphrodite? Marissa kick you out this time?"
Acting as innocently as possible, Aphrodite pushed her way inside and explained. "I left on my own. I'm not going to room with the human blizzard. Mind if I stay here for a while?"
"Um, sure no problem." Hiba agreed as he began shifting into his female form.
"Who said you had to change your shape?" Aphrodite questioned, giving him a suggestive smile. "I don't mind either way." Half way through the change, Aphrodite walked over to Hiba and gave him a quick kiss, causing him to revert fully back into a boy before she pushed him back onto the bed. For a brief moment she changed into her cat form and, using her prehensile tail, grabbed a nearby book, throwing it against the door and causing it to slam shut.
~EARTH~
"…wasted my time on that ridiculous show." Jason grumbled as the doors on his capsule slid open, having already landed in a cornfield. "Why if it weren't for—"
"Hello, Jason."
As Jason exited the capsule, he looked up at the speaker before him and immediately fell to his hands and knees, bowing to the one before him. A massive man, at least eight feet tall, made purely of muscle and clad fully in Spartan battle armor. "Ares! My lord! I am not worthy!"
"Stand, my warrior. You are more worthy than you know, and the God of War has a special job in mind for you."
Jason nodded as he stood before the god. "Anything for you, my Lord. Name it and it shall be done."
Ares chuckled, patting the boy on the shoulder. "Tell me, boy… what do you know of Angels?"
