CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
不可能なことにがかかりそうです時間,パート3 !
The Impossible is Going to Take a Little While, Part 3!
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There are moments when, after blood, sweat and tears have been shed, you look down at what you've produced and wonder "Was it worth it"?
This was one of those times.
Chopsuey, experiment 621, had tried to stop 593, Heatwave, from destroying Hawaii. His partner, Nick, had done all he could in the fight against her and her partner. And what had they gained?
Granted, Heatwave was badly bruised-up.
But that was it.
And Nick was dead.
Not worth it…had ANY of it been worth it?
"What was the point?!" Dan mumbled. "We tried to save the world and look what's happened. Mr. Moral Compass himself has…has…" He couldn't finish it. "This isn't right."
"He had the strongest heart out of all of us, and now he's…he's GONE…" Kim whispered.
"NO!" Chops screamed, slamming his fists on Nick's chest. "NO!"
"Wh-what are we supposed to do?" Dude asked. "This…this aint't right…"
"We have to keep going…" Dan said softly, looking away. "We have to head off to the control room and stop Senkoukura. That was the plan, right?"
"But…but Mr. Nice…" Charlie whispered, pointing at Nick.
"It's what Nick would have wanted us to do! He would have wanted us to save the world!" Dan screamed back, tears appearing in his eyes. "I didn't want that poor child to die…but we can't do anything for him! We…" He looked down at the ground, then covered his eyes with his arms. "We just can't…"
"We have…we have to have hope and keep moving." Spud insisted. "Dan's right. We CAN'T give up. Nick would want us to keep moving forward, to keep trying."
"This isn't fair…" Rueben said, clenching his fist. "Chops, you shoulda CREAMED that bitch!"
"She CHEATED, didn't she?" Crystallene whimpered. "I KNOW she did, I KNOW she did…"
Heartwing just sobbed, burying his face in his hands and crying as his tail battered the floor.
"He's dead…he's really DEAD?" Sara murmured. "I can't perform last rites unless he's DYING…but I can still pray for his soul…"
"He's NOT dead…" Chops sobbed, raising his fist again, body shaking madly. "You're NOT dead…you can't be! I!"
SLAM!
"WON'T!"
SLAM!
"LET!"
SLAM!
"YOU!"
SLAM!
"DIIIIE!"
THA-WHUNK!
…bump.
Shush's ears perked up. The last tears she had fell down and she beamed, rushing over to Nick, pushing Chops aside and putting one of her abnormally large ears down to his chest and listening. "SHHHHH!" She hissed. "I need to HEAR!"
Everyone took in a breath, eyes widening. Could it be?...
Shush listened intently, eyes narrowing, then closing completely, focusing all her effort on her hearing and…
BUMP.
BUMP.
BUMP.
"Hot Diggity DAMN, the kid's alive!" Shush cried out, eyes widening as she beamed.
"HE'S ALIVE?!" Chops cried out, eyes filling with hope.
"My ears don't lie!" Shush laughed, grabbing ahold of Chopsuey and shaking him. "He's alive, he's alive, he's ALIVE, Chopsuey! You must have jump-started his heart with all that beating you were doing!"
"You big DUMMY!" Charlie said, kicking Dan in the shin, laughing. "He's alright! He's gonna be just fine!"
"He may be alive, but we need to make him better!" Crystallene shouted. "YUUKU!"
"RIGHT! I'M GIVING IT MY ALL! MINISTRO SOCIUS!" She yelled out, holding the book high.
Crystallene raised her hands above her head as the shining javelin appeared, glowing more brightly than before. She slammed it back into Nick's heart, and the healing waters bathed over him…and they saw his cheeks flush.
"He's going to be alright, but he needs to get air into his lungs!" Spud said. "Somebody's gonna hafta do mouth-to-mouth!"
SCHMONK!
Everyone gaped as Morpholomew immediately leapt to Nick's side and began administering CPR. The others all fell over on their sides, groaning in agony…save for Chopsuey, who had begun laughing even as the tears fell…but they were tears of JOY now…not sorrow.
"Nick…don't you ever…don't you ever scare me like that. Never again!" He whispered.
"Nick's going to be okay." Crystallene said, smiling as Morpholomew stopped giving him CPR. "We just need a place to keep him safe until he can heal."
"Luckily there's a place where he can rest up and heal." Gantu informed them all, raising a digit in the air. "Remember the liver area? That big tank room with all of the smaller tank capsules around it?"
They all nodded and Gantu smiled broadly. "Well as it were, the liver expels poisons and other harmful substances…the capsules in that room are good for healing…I've heard Heatwave likes to take baths in there to relax."
"Well come on, we've got to get moving!" Dude said, lifting Nick up with Spud's help.
"Yeah, we need to smack that b—tch up!" Sara said vehemently.
Everyone looked at her, eyes widening.
"What? There's no commandment that says "Thou shall not kick thy neighbor's ass"!" Sara said, putting her hands on her hips.
…
…
…
…Heatwave let out a yawn as she emerged from the healing waters of the capsule in the liver room, looking herself over. "Ah, that's better…" She remarked in a chipper fashion. "All squeaky clean!"
"Can we get going now?" Harry mumbled. "I'm bored as sin…"
Heatwave tossed him a look as she reached for her staff, exiting the capsule and shaking the excess liquid from her body. "Don't make me use the shrinking spell on you again." She snapped, waving the staff at Harry. "Come on, we must get a move on to the brain!"
Heading to a secret elevator, Harry and Heatwave stepped inside and Heatwave pressed a button against the wall, starting the elevator up. They stood in silence for a few minutes.
Tall and tan and young and lovely
The girl from Ipanema goes walking
And when she passes, each one she passes goes – aahhhh!
When she walks, shes like a samba
That swings so cool and sways so gentle
That when she passes, each one she passes goes – oooohhh!
"…"
"…"
"…I hate this song."
DING!
The door opened and they walked across the floor into the open space of the brain room. The skies shone overhead as the various display screens flickered, hovering around the room.
"Well, let's see how close we are to…what the?" Heatwave blinked. "What on Earth? Why are we facing the sky?" She looked at the holo-vid screen and frowned, crossing her arms, then snapped her fingers. "OH! Oh, yes, of course…"
As it were, Senkoukura was swimming on his back. "Doo-dee-doo-dee-doo-dee-dooooo!" He sang as he swam.
"…your son's a-"
"Finish that sentence and I'll eat you. The HARD way." Heatwave snapped.
"You'd NEVER be able to fit me in there!" Harry bragged.
Heatwave tapped her staff. "Oh REALLY?!"
"…"
"Now…WHAT is my son?"
"…a fine specimen of a boy." Harry finished.
"GOOOD." Heatwave said, smirking as she twirled her staff and headed towards the controls. "Now then…if you want to see something interesting, I'm going to have Senkoukura submerge, then come back up and spew water into the air like a whale!"
"Not that that doesn't sound interesting, I'm going to have to interrupt your little plan." A voice spoke.
Heatwave and Harry turned around to see none other than…
Leroy…and Lillith.
"L-Leroy?!" Heatwave whispered.
"Hello…Heatwave. How are you?" Leroy inquired, brushing his hair back slightly as he smirked. "How's your son? Treating him well? I hope so…" His smirk became a grin that was the work of a demon. "I REALLY hope you've been taking good care of him…since he's MINE now."
"How the hell did you not get caught by Spooky's experiment-sensing power?!" Heatwave hissed angrily.
Leroy waved a paw dismissively. "Oh, THAT. It's no big deal…I'm just radar-proof, that's all. Well, unless I CHOOSE not to be." He added. "I'm also skilled in teleportation, which is why I was able to get up onto Senkoukura and to hide myself when you were trying to break the seal before."
"You were HIDING?!" Heatwave snarled. "Where?!"
"Your bedroom." Leroy snickered. "You know I've read your diary!"
"You DIDN'T!" Heatwave hissed.
The red, nasty-little experiment's voice took a high falsetto. "Boo-Hoo, my roommate molested me!"
"Dick!" Heatwave snapped.
"Dyke!" Leroy shot back.
"Hey, it was only ONE time!" Heatwave yelled angrily.
"Ooh, but WHAT a time!" Leroy went on, his voice taking the high falsetto once again to imitate the diary entry. "We made passionate love in the closet as the hum of Jumba's power generator faded into the night!" He giggled evilly. "Dangerous sex, dangerous sex, why ISN'T there a single word for dangerous sex?"
Harry had begun laughing so hard his legs were quivering. Heatwave immediately whacked them out from under him with a quick sweep of her staff and pointed at Leroy, claw extended. "You have ten seconds to get out of here. NOW!"
"Oh. Really? Because I was thinking along the same lines, dear lady!" Leroy remarked.
He clenched his fist and grinned evilly as a dark aura surged around him. Heatwave gasped as she felt the sheer, immense POWER coming from him go through her. Before she could do anything he was rushing forward, paw held up to blast her.
"PUNCHITO!"
THA-WHOOOM!
The fist strike hit home and Heatwave went flying into the air, sweating madly. He was so POWERFUL! "HARRY!" She roared out.
"ONDATA DI CALDO!" Harry yelled out, fast as he could.
Heatwave launched the fiery imp-shaped spell at Leroy, eyes narrowing. "Eat THIS!" She roared.
Leroy just held up his paw…
BOOOMF!
And stopped the burning beast in it's tracks. Heatwave's eyes bulged wide. "His BARE PAWS…he stopped it with one paw?! Not…not possible…"
"FISTEN!" Lillith read out calmly.
Leroy's palm glowed as a swirling surge of red light twirled around his paw, black electricity crackling as it sparkled around it. He moved it up and around, blasting the other spell to pieces…
And then he rushed forward and slammed it right into Heatwave's stomach.
"SQUAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUHHH!!!!!" Heatwave cried out as her body slammed into the ground, the spell ripping into her stomach sending blood and pieces of burning flesh flying off. Leroy stepped off her, smirking as she jumped up, eyes turning feral, swinging her staff. "YOU LITTLE MONSTER!" She shrieked.
THWOCKA-CRAK!
A single swipe of his clawed paw and the staff was broken in half. He then leapt into the air, grabbed her head and SLAMMED it into the ground, putting his foot on top of her head and looking down at her with a cruel smirk.
"You piece of trash. Did you honestly think you could wield all this power and not attract my attention?" Leroy inquired. "Now I'm going to use YOUR son for my own will. You're just a bug to me. Nothing more. Nothing less. A pathetic little devil who can't do anything."
"Shut…your FACE!" Heatwave roared, jumping up and throwing a punch at Leroy…
BA-BAM!
A backhand sent her flying through the air. Cheek red hot, body screaming in pain as blood oozed out of her stomach, Heatwave staggered up and the gem on her forehead glowed brightly. "Must…warn the others…" She thought. She took a deep breath. "ATTENTION! LEROY HAS ENTERED SENKOUKURA AND IS IN THE BRAIN! REPEAT, LEROY AND HIS PARTNER HAVE ENTERED SENKOUKURA AND ARE IN THE BRAIN!"
All of her associates, AND our heroes, heard the announcement. Chops's eyes went wide as saucers. "LEROY? He's HERE?! And he…" They narrowed to slits. "He must be fighting Heatwave…"
"They're all going to hear every word…and they're going to hear me BEAT you! And even if I don't win, they're all going to come here and KILL you." Heatwave said, standing back up as she clenched one fist and pointed at Leroy with her other hand. "What do you think of THAT, you red demon!?"
"I expect them to pay close attention…" Leroy said, holding up a single claw. "Because…"
WHOOMP!
He was suddenly ABOVE Heatwave, claw held down at her. "I want them to hear your screams."
And hear her scream…and Lillith's spell-casting…they did. Chops felt a twinge of pity rise in him. Her horrifying cries of pain…
"Dear GOD, he's a MONSTER!" Sara sobbed, covering her eyes as she heard Leroy laughing, a low and guttural sound that quickly became high and cold.
Then they heard Heatwave's words.
"No…I will not give up…I will keep moving forward!"
A shudder went through them all.
Keep moving forward…
"HARRY! USE OUR GREATEST SPELL!"
Harry held the book up, eyes wide with fear. If this didn't work…
"ARMATURA DEL PURGATORIO!" He called out.
Right before Leroy's eyes Heatwave underwent a strange change. Horns shot out from out of her hair as her body became larger, and her fingers changed into thick and long white claws. She grew two tails that had sharp spear-ends embedded at the back, glinting black as she stood up, and her muscles bulged as a secondary mouth opened on her stomach, the fanged maw dripping with drool.
"yOu…WiLl DiE hErE…i'Ll MaKe SURE oF tHiS…"She roared out in a deep, now-bass tone.
"We've got to get moving!" Kim said to the others. "Come on!" She led the others back towards the area where Eclipse had been, only to find…
He wasn't there. But the bridge leading to where the drill trap had been WAS. How odd…
Heatwave launched a set of claws at Leroy, intending to skewer him, but he leapt up through the air and punched her. HARD. Her form went crashing to the ground, but even then he wasn't finished. He kicked her over and over, laughing madly. "What hope did you think you had?!" He laughed. "YOU? Take over the world?!" His eyes narrowed as he crossed his arms and stepped away from her bleeding, bruised and battered body. "DON'T MAKE ME LAUGH."
"No…NO!" Heatwave gasped out. "I…I will not give up!" She yelled. "My future self brought Senkoukura here to foil you!" She roared out. "To destroy your plans with his power!"
Everyone who had been listening stopped moving. Their eyes bugged out.
THAT had been Senkoukura's purpose? To destroy Leroy?!
"You become a heartless dictator…you rule so many, committing such cruelty…" Heatwave gasped out. "We in Hawaii couldn't stop you in the future, so we sent Senkoukura to the past, when your near-godly powers weren't fully developed…" She clenched her fist and pounded the ground. "In time you develop an ability to completely bend others to your will, and that's something we COULDN'T stand!"
"So you sent him back in time to destroy me?" Leroy inquired, looking interested.
"Not just that…he would require help…help from the souls of others! The plan was to unleash him on the world to feed upon the population until he'd gained enough souls within him…then he would recreate them with powers…powers like the ones you experiments have! Senkoukura's true strength is being able to give life back after taking it away, and giving power to those who didn't have it before! We would have made all of the Earth immune to your control…an entire world filled with superheroes would have sent you to Oblivion, but…" Heatwave snarled. "Those dumb kids ruined everything!"
Our group of protagonists sweat-dropped.
"My fellow stooges…I think we screwed the world…" Spud mumbled.
"Shiiiiiiiiiiiit." Dude moaned.
"I got desperate when they revealed they'd activated the time travel machine…" Heatwave admitted. "And I thought you were still on Hawaii or hiding nearby. I was willing to destroy all of the island to kill you so you won't rule in the future! From what my future self has told me I don't care if a few million die, BILLIONS will be saved!"
"You're so pathetically weak." Leroy laughed. "Your plans have all gone up in smoke because of some kids. I should thank them, they made my job easier…now I won't have to deal with any superheroes trying to stop me." He raised his paw. "Now then…suffer again…"
This time our protagonists didn't have the heart to listen. They turned away or plugged their ears as Heatwave screamed again. Then they heard Leroy's low chuckling as he advanced on her, and her gasps…
"You won't…get away with…with this…" She bubbled out.
"But my dear...I already have…" Leroy whispered softly, reaching for the top of her head.
There was a quick "SLOOK" sound of something being ripped off. A horrid cry. A THUD. Some begging from Harry and horrid laughter…
A CRUNCHING sound, followed by several muffled screams and some other disgusting noises…
Then silence.
The silence seemed to last an eternity, when really it was only five minutes or so.
WHOOOOOOOM!
Leroy appeared in a holographic illusion, the gem embedded in his forehead as he looked down on every single person inside of the Dragon Lord of Flame and Light. He held a near-broken Heatwave by the neck up as he smirked, belly bulging slightly. "Attention! I'M in charge of Senkoukura now." He announced.
"You son of a…" Heatwave gasped out.
"He ATE him!? EWWWWW!" Charlie gasped.
"I need to throw up now…" Morpholomew moaned, rushing to the side.
"You can TRY and reach the brain room." Leroy told the protagonists. "Not that it will do you any good. I'll just kill you. But hey, it's your choice. Of course…" He snickered. "Senkoukura's natural defenses will fight you every step of the way. So good luck with THAT!"
Snickering, his appearance vanished before our protagonists as Leroy tossed Heatwave to the side and turned to look down at the villains. "You worked for the bitch before. Now you work for the KING BASTARD. That is…if you're fond of living. Oh, and Kingpin, if you even TRY to usurp the power I've got or even MENTION it when you're talking to yourself, I'll rip your nose off and eat it."
Kingpin immediately covered his big, round nose and quivered.
"Now get on your knees, put one hand on the floor, and swear fealty to me." Leroy demanded of them.
"What's "fealty"?" Squee inquired.
A lot of the villains blinked stupidly, their human partners included.
"Looks like no one knows. Guess this really shows…the sorry that that US education's in!" Lillith sang out, snickering.
"…it means LOYALTY…" Leroy groaned, smacking his palm to his face and dragging it down.
"OH. Uh, Sneak?" She turned to her partner. Sneak had no hands, so he put his head on the ground.
"I'll swear it, no sweat." Flame said, putting his hand on the ground.
"You want my loyalty, you have it." Kingpin said. "Badda-bing, badda-boom!"
"Loyalty? No problem!" Sample proclaimed.
"Since I don't wanna die…let's swear loyalty." Nosy suggested.
"Best thing I've heard all day." Jameson agreed. Both of them got on their knees and put their hands on the ground. "WE'RE NOT WORTHY, WE'RE NOT WORTHY!"
"Bonnie?" Bonnie's partner Wyn inquired.
"…" Bonnie bit her lip.
"…this will be interesting." Spooky said, bowing his head in allegiance.
"I swear fealty." Jam said, slamming his own paw on the floor. "I shall be your blade!"
"Excellent…" Leroy hissed as he rubbed his paws, the vision vanishing before their eyes. He stood atop a platform in the brain room, sitting atop a throne. "Heatwave said I had godly power in the future…well…looks like I've got it right now, too…and I intend to use it. Oh, it's going to be a FUN day for me!" He laughed.
"…that magnificent bastard has SO got to die!" Chopsuey swore, clenching his fist.
Wow. What else can I say besides please review? ;)
