Chapter 10: Power Trip.
Killowat paced down the corridor. At least he was on the right floor now, and resistance had been minimal; whatever Beast Boy's team was doing, it seemed to be working. Killowat froze at the low murmur of voices in the next room. It seemed to be a guard break room, or something. In any case, he needed to go through there for the quickest route to the generator. He stopped and listened outside the door, remembering Herald's lesson that it was always a good idea to gauge an opponent's strength before engaging.
"What you think's going on upstairs?"
"Dunno. Maybe one of those freaks got out or something. Anyways, they got enough guys to take care of it."
"Amen to that."
Killowat smiled. At least three, no more than about five, probably. Not a problem. He kicked the double doors open and strode through, looking as menacing as he could. It isn't hard when you're glowing blue and crackling.
"Hiya fellas." Being new to the hero gig, Killowat felt he could get away with stealing his cheesy lines from films for the moment. He adopted his usual stance, arms spread, fingers splayed. Bolts of lightning jumped from his outspread hands, sending one guard flying into a wall and another, unluckier, guard into three other guards, a table, the coffee machine, a television set that had been balanced on a crate, and, eventually, the wall. The last guard suddenly felt very alone. With a half convincing battle cry, he charged towards the Titan, who extended his arm, palm flat and fingers pointing to the ceiling. He pushed the man with no discernable force, but his pent up electrical energy was enough to send the man flying to join his compatriots.
"Oooh, yeah." Now this was the sort of heroing he had signed up for.
He opened a door opposite the one he had entered by, and continued towards the generator.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Robin was impressed. When Starfire and Beast Boy had burst in, shortly after Jericho had made his presence known, he had felt a surge of hope, but when he saw who had accompanied them, panic rose in his chest. What the hell was he doing here? However, the brief exchange between the Jackal and Slade had eased his mind slightly: clearly the two men were not on the best of terms, and that could be helpful. But now, seeing his friends combat an endless swarm of guards…
They were doing quite well, to say the least.
Starfire had elected to remain overhead and provide aerial support. She flew over the guards, just high enough that she seemed within striking distance, but high up enough to stay out of immediate danger. Her volleys of Starbolts were far more accurate than he had ever seen from her, and the look of grim determination on her face was alien to him.
Beast Boy was equally surpassing his expectations. His shifts were lightning fast. One second a hummingbird flew into a group of soldiers, only for it to shift into an ankylosaurus, which would spin on its axis, knocking the hapless men into the air, only for the dinosaur to shift into a gorilla, pounding on the guards that remained in the area as others rained down around him. And as for Slade…
Slade was a force of nature. He left a trail of unconscious guards in his wake as he ploughed towards the balcony. Robin had thought he had seen Slade at his most dangerous. It was clear now that he had been far from the mark there.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jericho was worried. He felt that he wasn't pulling his weight, letting his friends fight while he stood and watched. He looked around, desperate for something that he could do to help. As he looked around, he saw what he was looking for, and slowly edged towards it, hoping against hope that he wasn't noticed before he got there.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Killowat stood in front of the generator. He had removed part of the panelling, and several of the cables lay exposed in front of him.
"Here goes nothing…" said Killowat as he grabbed the cables with both hands and focussed.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jericho had made his way to the console without incident. Perfect. Quickly, he identified the correct handle and pulled down on it. Immediately, all the doors sealed themselves, and were quickly reinforced with blast plates. Emergency lockdown. Now no more guards could join the battle. All that was needed now was for Killowat to disable the generator.
As if on cue, the computer monitors fizzled and died, and the hum of the cages was cut out. Perfect.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Killowat wanted to run. He wanted to jump, to dance, to sing, anything! He hadn't felt this good in…ever! Turning to the door, he saw it had been sealed shut. Oh well, no problem.
Two seconds later, the door was smoking, crumpled, blackened, and embedded in the opposite wall. Killowat smirked. Now this was a power trip. He twisted his head slightly as he saw a squad of guards ran towards him. They slowed as they noticed how brightly he was glowing. They stopped when they noted the fact that he was literally pulsing with energy. They took a step back when they realised his feet weren't actually touching the floor. They turned tail and ran when he looked at them and smiled.