Inertia
Everything was sore, but it could not distract Impulse from what was happening to his right. There was no need to look ahead, so the young speedster could turn his head to get a good view of everything happening.
The Titans themselves were surrounded by bad guys, and Thad had just shown up in a brand new costume and was finally giving the game away. The truth was finally being revealed, and even Impulse still felt surprise about what all this was suppose to be for. Personally, he didn't really care what the bad guy was trying to do since all that mattered was that it was going to do something to people that might hurt them. Or it might not. Was turning into monkeys painful?
What mattered more to him, though, was how the Titans were reacting. It would have been so much better if he could see their faces, but all he got were their backs, and that little kid wearing the metal spider legs, little legs dangling in the air. The quiet though, may have been worse. Other than Red Robin sputtering a bit, they weren't really saying anything.
Had Thad not been kidding? Or lying? Had the Titans not noticed that he had been replaced? That hurt, man. It hurt deep into the bone, because the muscles were tired from all this running. How could they not have noticed? It was him! He was a pretty unforgettable character if he didn't say so himself.
Hell, even Wally had said something like wanting to forget and couldn't. Impulse still took it as a compliment.
"I am not understanding," Starfire finally said. "If you took the place of Impulse, for what reason? Why do so? Why try to befriend us?"
"Oh, poor Starfire. Has no one here taught you anything about lies?" Thad taunted. "Really, the naive space girl bit is really annoying."
"I know enough about lies. What I wish to know is the reason for the lie," the hot (what? She was!) Tamaranian said. "Why deceive us? What is it you want that required the impersonation?"
Oh, he could have told her that. Kinda. Something about the Flash legacy and Thawnes being, what was the word for it in this age? Oh yeah, jelly! Thawnes were always busy being jelly! He was using that right, right?
Thad shook his head. "It doesn't matter anymore. I will not live in anyone's shadow anymore. So, how about you," and here Thad turned to send a look towards that creepy guy in the wheelchair, "get your little experiment started. There's no need to keep everything quiet anymore." Thad turned to stare down the Titans, "Not when they know everything now."
"So we can kill them now?" the girl with the pink hair asked.
"I don't see why not," Thad said flippantly.
I want the shapeshifter alive, creepy guy in the wheelchair ordered. You can kill the rest. Mallah, accompany me. The wheelchair backed away, then turned on one wheel. Huh, didn't know that thing was so mobile. With the wheels whirring, creepy guy was wheeling himself out. Mallah lowered his gun, snorting at them before following after, leaving everyone else to have the big fight. Hopefully, it was the climatic one, but you never knew how these things went.
"And we're alone," Thad crooned, arms crossed over his chest. "Six on six. Even numbers for once."
Pounding an armored fist into a palm, Wonder Girl snarled, "More like that's what you're going to need to protect you from what I'm going to do with you."
"As if," a girl with way too red hair and a skintight leather outfit scoffed, arms akimbo with hands planted firmly on her hips. "You couldn't beat us even with the numbers on your side. He might be on our side, but we can take you without him, thank you very much."
"And who are you nobodies?" the pink-haired leader picked up, smirking. "Trying to play superhero? Did you stumble on us by luck? Bad luck? How much of it was him bringing you to the right site? Putting you at the right place at the right time to catch us in the act?"
"It doesn't matter," the big, hairy guy next to the girl in the leather outfit cut in, mimicking Wonder Girl by punching a large fist into an open palm. "We're gonna murder your asses here and now, and you're never gonna bother us again."
Even though he was still running his heart out, Impulse knew that things were about to get ugly real fast. He had to do something. Anything. But these damn things on his wrists and ankles kept him under wraps and this freaking hamster wheel kept him running. All the energy he made from the Speed Force was being sucked away, and even if he could use it somehow, would there have been enough in the first place?
He had always been fast. He had always had superspeed. For the first time, he could only feel how worthless it was because he couldn't use it to save the day. Was this what it was like to be normal? To feel so powerless?
Then, perhaps the only real normal person in the room, Red Robin, challenged, "We'll take whatever you can throw at us, fake Impulse."
The reaction, even for a speedster, was so fast. Thad was literally at Red Robin's throat, holding it and everything. Even from here, on this wheel, Impulse could feel the hatred coming from his imposter, and that was...funny really. There was no other way to put it, it was funny feeling.
"You don't call me that," Thad said in the coldest, most hate-filled voice Impulse had ever heard, and he had heard Eobard Thawne once ranting to Wally about his ancestor. Not Wally's ancestor, his. You know. Barry Allen. Just need to make that clear. "I am not a fake version of that moron."
"Could...have fooled me," Red Robin choked out. Oh, was there some kind of smile on the guy's face? Impulse was so imagining one there. "You're...you're the one...who was...pretending to be him."
It must have been some punch, because Red Robin was flying back, and being caught by Wonder Girl, and everyone was watching, even these bad guy henchmen. Thad had his arm out, the one that hadn't been choking Red Robin—hey, maybe calling him Red would be better. You know, so he wasn't thinking or saying Red Robin all the time, it was kind of a mouthful. Anyway, the arm that hadn't been choking Red was balled into a fist, so he had to have punched. How hard, how fast, he couldn't see from this angle!
"I'm not him. I'll never be him. Never again. I am not an impulsive twit," Thad seethed. "And since names are so important, I'll give you one. Remember it for however long you're still alive, which won't be very long, that I am not Impulse. I am...Inertia."
Ooh, Thad finally picked a name for himself and it was—
"That is stupid," Raven interrupted the running speedster's thoughts, almost making him trip over his own feet but you know, fast reflexes, pun totally intended.
"You have an opinion now, Raven?" Thad, ahem, Inertia called out to the girl who was not so creepy right now but maybe that was because of how well-lit this room was.
"You're a speedster who's name of choice is the complete opposite of what you're suppose to be," Raven explained in a deadpan that was so dead….um, something, something, something involving a pan and he couldn't keep following that train wreck of a thought. "Why are you calling yourself the complete absence of movement when moving quickly is what you do?"
"You know, the girl's got a point. Why don't you pick something that's fast, like...what's another word for fast?" Cyborg pointed out. "Quick? Dash? Anybody else got a better name?"
"Oh, like you're so creative, Cyborg," Inertia snapped, throwing an arm out. "You have no right—!"
The glowing loop of a lasso tightened on that outstretched arm, the mystical rope attached to it instantly growing taut. With her massive strength, Wonder Girl pulled and took Inertia right off his feet. Impulse's double being swung through the air, his body heading right for the big, hairy guy and the girl with the red hair and leather jacket.
To his credit, the big, hairy guy caught Inertia and quickly threw the speedster away. That left him wide open for the blast of energy Cyborg fired, the blast hitting the big lug and carrying him off his feet. Birdarangs flew through the air at the little kid with the spider legs who shot them down. However, that distracted the little guy enough sp that Starfire could pull on one of those legs and, with a heave, threw little body and machine limbs over towards where the pink-haired girl and the teleporter who helped kidnapped him stood.
Obviously, the teleporter did that thing with his cape and teleported while the pink haired girl dashed to a side to avoid the mess of metal legs and screaming bald kid. Impulse's eyes widened at how quickly it all happened, and he almost let out a sequel of excitement. Unfortunately, he couldn't do that since he needed the air more for breathing right now.
Another stumble had him looking straight ahead once more. Dang, he wasn't used to losing his footing so much. That wasn't like him. Because of this, he could start hearing the sounds of violence and he so wanted to see it. Then, he wanted to help with it. "Cause it was a fight. Fights were fun, especially if you were kicking the other's guy's butt.
"Impulse! Impulse!"
His eyes turned more than his head did, but he caught Red in his periphery, crouch low so as to avoid anything flying through the air while next to this giant wheel.
"Focus on me! How do we turn this thing off!" the Titans' leader demanded.
Well, that was a question he could answer. After having this thing shut down and restarted so that he could at least eat those bland and not-really good "meals," he knew exactly where Red needed to go. "That big thing over there! Has a panel! One of the buttons!"
Red looked over his shoulder and at the towering Speed Force energy sucker thing. "Hold tight!" the costumed teen said as he sprang from his crouch and into a run. From what little the speedster could see, the vigilante dodged laser blasts, moving bodies, and anything that could be picked up and thrown about. Despite the exhaustion he felt, Impulse could feel hope growing within the closer and closer Red got to turning this thing off.
So of course Inertia had to appear right between Red and the panel at the last two seconds.
"Uh, uh, uh, now what do you think you're up to?" the evil imposter sneered.
Red had drawn back into a defensive stance, arms held up, but he had to know that would do him little good against someone with superspeed. Still, he was going to put up a fight, and it was a different reason for Impulse to shed a tear.
Then the shrieking green monkey wrapped long arms around Inertia's head, destroying the tense moment instantly.
"Gah!" Inertia cried out, trying to grab at the primate that pulled at his chopped-short hair and scratched at his face with his hind paws.
Red Robin took full advantage of the distraction, picking up his leg and kicking his booted foot into the blond clone's stomach. Inertia bent over, though his head was pulled back by monkey arms, giving Red the chance to clasp his hands together and swing them to land a heavy blow against that copycat face. Red reversed, landing another blow before lunging around the assaulted speedster, racing to the panel.
There were a few seconds as Red came to a stop, his head moving from side to side before his hands rapidly began to push and flick switches. Beneath his feet, Impulse could feel the tread begin to slow, the wheel finally slowing to a stop.
No sooner was he at walking speed, that his legs gave out and he pitched forward, landing on his chest and face while panting hard. His body was so sore, so tired, it felt as if he could barely get the energy to move. And of course the wheel he had been running on was so warm, hot in a way but not enough to cook him yet, which a cold surface would so be welcomed right about now.
Distantly, he could hear an explosion, but really, all effort was being put into breathing and slowing it down, and ignoring tiny pieces of some kind of plastic glass stuff raining down on him, and did they have that kind of stuff in this era? Then his body was being picked up, almost cradled, and then he found a sight to behold when he cracked opened his eyes—when did those shut again?.
Forget about that, he found that his face was right up against something soft and under some kind of fabric that was purple, and then he began to wonder what it was and why it felt firm as well…
"...believe his energy reserves are depleted and he is responding not at all. I am concerned for his well-being…"
Huh that...didn't sound like...um...oh wait, that's right, he was in the past. Present. Not future. It was all relative. Anyway where was...oh, yeah, though he hadn't been around her too much, he thought that might have been Starfire, and if so, was she the one holding him? He wasn't complaining because...uh, why complain about being held by Starfire?
There was another very loud explosion, and he could feel the force in his bones, but he still remained limp. He was too comfy right now, and when you considered everything he had been through, this was the closest he had ever been to having some rest. Not eating, not trying to chat up a monkey, just resting. Yeah, totally unheard of for him, even to himself, but here they were.
Then someone had to start shaking him. "Impulse? Do you need to get out of here? You're not looking so good."
Oh hey, Red had made his way over and he was taking time out of the fight to check on him. That was nice.
However, there was more to being a speedster than just running. Again, something that was also surprising to him, but after having a lot of fun with Wally, not that Wally would admit it, he had learned there was more than just the speed. It affected so much, such as healing and metabolism, which explained a lot. All he needed a few minutes, and he would have a second wind, being as close to good as new without being new.
"He's out of it. Let's get him to Raven, see if she can't get him out of here."
Hey, hey, hey, what part about superspeed affecting healing did Red not understand? Oh right, he hadn't said that part out loud. Duh! Let's fix that.
Impulse grabbed onto Red's arm, holding it tightly and getting some attention that didn't involve thinking he was lower than dirt. "I need a few, then I'll help kick some ass," he stated, putting some force into his voice.
Momentarily, he took notice of the white that made up the vigilante leader's mask and wondered how they worked. "You're sure?" Red's question pulled him out of the thought.
"Trust me. There's so much more we speedsters can do than you can imagine," he promised. Peeking upwards, and confirming once and for all that it was Starfire—nice—cradling—even nicer—him. Using some effort, he held up on arm where anyone with a pair of eyes and an attention span bigger than a, um, animal with an extremely short attention span, could see. "Think you can do something about this?"
Green eyes locked on the bracelet. While a handsome speedster like himself was unable to get it off, what with it being designed for speedsters, it was fantastic to know that it wasn't tough against the strength of a Tamaranian. Metal crunched and was torn off, and the weight that had remained constant was gone.
And that was in the top five of the greatest feelings ever.
They had been given the okay to actually kill these punks. Great. You would think that would be a relief to no longer have to hold back, but they had to. They were in a large room, one with a big machine in it, surrounded by what amounted to be oversized batteries, and they were all filled with this Speed Force energy stuff.
An example had been made when the cyborg had picked up and thrown one of those things, and Gizmo had stupidly shot it with his laser blaster. The resulting explosion had been intense, enough to knock more than several people off their feet.
Strangely enough, only the very tall girl with orange hair was able to remain up, and her back had been turned to the explosion, so that blocked the kid in red and white from the brunt of it.
Right now, the air was crackling with this unknown energy, and Jinx did not like it. As much as she would have liked to go all out, she had no idea what her powers would do in this place, and she didn't want to find out. That meant right now they needed a new battle plan. There was a lull in the action, which allowed her to grab Gizmo and almost shout in his face.
"We need to get this out of here. I don't want to set another one of those things off," she half-told, half-yelled at her smaller teammate.
"You don't have to yell," Gizmo more snarled back, though he was rubbing at one ear with his hand.
"I don't care who you grab, just move them away then go all out," she retorted.
"What about the green kid. That creep said he wanted him alive," the bald kid pointed out.
He had, hadn't he? Great, that meant at least one of them had to hold back…
"I'll take care of it," she said. "But as for the rest, kill them all."
A mean smirk grew over Gizmo's face. "Oh, I know who I want to take down."
Giving him a shove, "Then don't just stand there talking about it, just do it."
Ignoring any other protest, she searched for her target. She may have to hold herself back, but that meant she could still hit hard if it meant incapacitation. Now where was that green kid? His luck was about to run out.
Impulse was starting to look better, so he was going to have to trust him. That was saying a lot, especially since Red Robin felt he was getting to know someone new, someone he had no working relationship with. It had been this Inertia the entire time, so really, he had no idea what to truly expect from the teen whom he had told the Flash he would look after.
It...he felt like such a failure for being duped so easily. It was a feeling similar to his early days as a vigilante. Unlike those days, he didn't have the time to wallow in it.
Spotting Wonder Girl and Cyborg nearby, he called out, "We need to stop this thing! Spread out, find that man and the gorilla! Wherever they're going, they're going to turn this whole place on!"
He received nods from the two, but then Starfire had to speak up. "What about our opponents here? They will try to interfere."
"We deal with them quickly, but don't let them slow us down," he said. "Quickly now, let's—"
As he had been speaking, he had been turning away from the Tamaranian to try and see if he couldn't match his actions to his words, when a very fast fist decked him, causing him to stumble then fall onto his side.
"Can you be any more obvious?" Inertia mocked, his arms pulling back from being extended out. "Why don't you scream louder? I'm not sure everyone heard you."
"The hell!" Red Robin wiped as his cheek, rubbing it to dull the ache he felt. "What the hell happened? First you're trying to befriend us, and now you're a dick. What happened?"
Inertia rolled his eyes. "I changed my mind. Once, I thought I could have molded you...but that would have been more work than it was worth. And if tarnishing the Flash Legacy means killing you, then by all means."
"Flash Legacy?" the masked teen repeated.
"Oops. What's the term again?" From behind yellow lens, the blond speedster's eyes exaggeratedly looked up before whipping back down to the vigilante. "Ah yes, spoiler alert?"
"Spoil canceled!"
Impulse had become a blur of white and red and then Inertia was one of black and green, both gone. Okay, the speedsters were handling one another. That just left the other five.
There was a bellow from above; it took less than a second for Red Robin to look up and roll out of the way before Mammoth crashed down fist first where he had once laid. Small eyes followed after him, and a pair of lips pulled back to show off teeth that grinned with bloodlust. The masked teen was on his feet, arms held up at the ready for a fight. He remembered what their last encounter had been liked, and tried to think of a new tactics to use, because Mammoth's looks hid away an incredible ability to learn.
The same tricks weren't going to work twice, and he didn't have Raven as backup.
Turns out, he didn't need her because Mammoth had been paying more attention to him and not Starfire whose punch literally knocked him away. The large male landed on the floor with a bounce but then went into a roll himself before stopping on his feet.
"I will occupy this one," Starfire declared, green eyes firm on her large opponent. "Continue with ceasing this villainous plot, if you will."
Though he knew she wouldn't see it, Red Robin gave a sharp nod then raced away. "Wonder Girl!" he called out as he approached the armored blonde, a gold-encased fist missing the teleporting Batman wannabe. Angry blue eyes found him and as he passed her, he grabbed her other arm and pulled. Wonder Girl stumbled for a second before going along with it, but not without a complaint.
"What the hell! What are you doing?" she demanded.
"We'll let the others handle this. We have to stop...what this is before Jump City becomes Jump Zoo, all of it," he responded, heading for the doors.
If there was any resistance, it stopped, and Wonder Girl only took an instant to pull her arm away. She was, however, still following after him. Good, she understood how serious this was.
The only bad thing was that they didn't know which direction the man in the wheelchair and Mallah went. As they sped through the hallway they entered, the first T-intersection came up and a decision had to be made. He chose his right, barely slowing down to make the turn, though he heard armored feet skid across the floor behind him. She made the turn without running into anything, so he focused on where they were going next.
Then, up ahead, a black figure appeared into existence, blocking them. It was that teleporter again. Already, he knew that pursuit like this wasn't going to make searching for their bosses any easier. Someone would have to deal with him and take him out.
As his feet skidded to a stop, Wonder Girl almost running into him, he could hear her growl, "That asshole again."
"I'll handle him. You go on ahead," Red Robin practically ordered as he pulled out an explosive birdarang and threw it. Predictably, the teleporter teleported out of the way, but the throwing projectile still detonated, filling some of the hallway with smoke. "Go!"
Because it was also predictable, Red Robin spun on his heel, stretching an arm out and around Wonder Girl's shoulder. He gave a shove even as he leapt into a tackle, running right into the teleporter and knocking both of them down onto the floor. He took hold of one of the teleporter's arms, trying to pin it to the floor while struggling to capture the other, which the teleporter was already making as slippery as possible to grab.
"Go now!" he roared as he continued to grapple. "I'll catch up!"
Legs came up from behind and locked around his neck, and the strength in those thin limbs began to pull back. Red Robin resisted as much as he could, not about to give this guy any wiggle room. He did hear footsteps running away, so he knew at least this part was successful.
Now to focus on this problem.
Though large and filled with monitors of all kinds, this command center had been designed so that it could be operated by a single individual. He trusted no one else other than himself to conduct this experiment, so the additional hours of constructing, designing, programming, and coding had been mandatory until it met his standards.
His chair wheeled him in, bringing him to the center of this room. As soon as he stopped, he activated a lock brake on the wheels; there would be no unnecessary movement with the chair. Behind him, Mallah approached a nearby console and opened a small door in its side. Pulling out various cables, his petite Monsieur pulled and extended the cables until he reached the back of the chair. One by one, each were plugged into ports, and while this process occurred, he brought up the necessary programs to establish the vital connection.
Thank you, Mallah, he praised. Systems were booting up, programs were activated. Before him at the far side of the room, the ceiling-to-floor monitor activated, initially revealing a screensaver, one with an image of...better times. The screensaver was replaced with a log in screen, and a password was entered immediately. I have another task for you.
"Do you want for me to return and ensure that that mess is dealt with?" Mallah asked, and he could hear the anticipation in his companion's voice.
I have a more important role that needs to be fulfilled. I need you to guard the door. No one is to gain access. As long as I am connected into the mainframe, I am vulnerable. I cannot be interrupted, no matter the cost.
"Then I will protect you with my life," Mallah declared.
Thank you, mon petite Monsieur. It did not matter what they had to do to get this far, so long as Mallah was at his side, there was no need to fear anything. Now let us reach the heights of scientific academia that no one has dreamed to strive for.
Various windows appeared on the monitor. His eyes moved from one to the next, reading the information, interacting when needed, and setting up the next phase. Soon, all that was required was a simple click of a button. With a hand that could barely move, he had enough control to apply only the most lightest of pressure. That was more than enough as the touchscreen interface under his fingertips had been designed specifically for even the small changes of pressure placed on it.
Distantly, he could hear a hum, and he knew that at long last, it was starting.
It was easy to miss if you weren't paying attention. As the Transpacific Pyramid stood its vigil amongst the towering buildings that made up downtown Jump City, a pale yellow light ran up the edges of its four corners The light climbed higher and higher until it reach the distinctive spire that rested at its top.
Within the spire, the various coils and vacuum tubes were activated. Motors hummed to life as energy passed through countless bulbs, many designed so small and placed together so that they imitated a flat surface. This caused the pointed rooftop accessory to begin emitting a soft glow, one that went unnoticed.
For now.
It would take time before the appropriate amount of energy had been transferred, and once this powering up process had been completed, the emission of radiation would begin. For now, natural sunlight would hide this process.
An invisible countdown had begun, and the citizens of Jump City continued with their lives, heedless of the danger above them.
Cyborg thundered down the hallways, showing just how fast his cybernetic body could be. More force could be used with each step he took, pushing him forward that much more. The same, though, could not be said about slowing for turns. Sometimes, he would strike himself against the flat, vertical surfaces, but any damage that could have been done to him was almost nonexistent.
He was trying to find where the brain of this place was. That way, he could try to shut down this whole operation and bring a win to the good guys.
However, he wasn't only running because he was trying to put an end to this mess.
"C'mon, I just want to play with your insides! See what makes you tick! It's for science!"
And with several laser blasts hissing through the air around him, Gizmo was giving chase after him. Of course he had to get the most obnoxious one. Why couldn't it have been big and hairy? Sure, he was a douche, but he didn't talk a lot. Or sound just as annoying as Gizmo with that almost prepubescent voice.
Many turns had been made to avoid any of the blasts. Yes, he did try to return fire, but those spider legs were fast and could climb up the walls too. Gizmo was easily avoiding everything he shot at the brat. Well, except…
"You want to play this game?" he muttered as he managed to make a turn without running into anything. He was tweaking his arm cannon, making an adjustment. "Fine. Let's play."
Cyborg continued running all the way, and when he heard the pinking sounds of metal tips striking against the metal floor, he waited a good several seconds, ducking and dodging the few laser blasts fired at him, before spinning on his heel and raising his arm cannon up. A sonic blast fired, distorting the air as it passed through like a wall of pure sound.
As agile as Gizmo was, his legs were no match for the nearly invisible blast, not in speed or agility. The little twerp gave a cry of surprise as he was hit and thrown back, landing on the floor further down with a loud clatter.
Now, he could go and check, see if Gizmo was down, but that mummy man and his pet ape were more important. Wherever the hell they were, he needed to find them. So no, he wasn't going to be holding back anything. If Gizmo wanted to act big and tough, then he needed to act like it.
Cyborg turned away, continuing his search. This led him deeper into this underground complex, and of course he had no map. Well, you know what? Let's change that. He had convinced his father to program him with a hacking program. Let's use it and find out all he could about this place—
-and there was a firewall. Great. Oh, and he recognized this kind of complex coding. It was just like the firewall he had run into when trying to hack S.T.A.R. Labs. Wouldn't you know it, a former employee using the same malware defense. Someone had fully intended on making sure this place was digitally sealed shut.
Okay, okay, so he wasn't able to use one of his new toys. Big whoop. That just meant doing things the hard way.
Without any kind of warning, his sensor began to pick up a surge. Cyborg came to a stop, letting his cybernetic body do a quick scan and search of the places. While he wasn't able to hack into the network without a lot of time he did not have and a lot of effort, that didn't mean he could keep an eye on everything physical.
There was a surge of power, he was told, and it was going upward. Distantly he could hear the sound of something massive powering on. Oh, and now it felt like there were these tiny, barely felt tremors running through out everything.
Hey, wait, there was something he could do. He could try to find where all this power was coming from! Or at least find what just turned on! It had to be involved with the plan to turn everyone into monkeys, so stopping that would stop the plan.
Alright, he refined his sensors, and put in the command for a very specific search. Unconsciously, his head turned slowly to the left, until stopping. Straight in that direction; that was where he needed to go. Okay, so forward and left.
He began running again, heading in the direction that would take him closer and closer to his new destination. Sure, no map to guide him, but the amount of energy being emitted was more than enough of a beacon to follow.
Eventually, his running led him to a set of doors, behind which he detected what he was looking for. Adjusting his arm cannon back into default, he fired a blast into the doors, not bothering to try and be nice. To his satisfaction, the doors blew open easily.
Stepping inside, Cyborg found his human eye was widening at the sight in front of him. It was like some kind of generator...generators. They were both huge with large, round rotors, and connected together with some kind of large relay. Meshed into the relay was a monitor and panel, obviously the manual access.
Taking away some of the boxy nature of these generators, the shape kinda reminded him of either a set of organs, like lungs or kidneys, or if he was stretching, a brain. In the back, far from his position, he could see two enormous pipes running up from the machines and into the ceiling. So much was being transported through those pipes, an incredible flow of energy that met the signature of what he had been told was Speed Force energy that showed no signs of stopping.
Lucky him, he was going to have the chance of breaking the damn things.
Aiming his arm cannon, Cyborg took a second to come up with a quip, because a moment like this needed a quip. "Time to shut this down." Okay, okay, it wasn't the best quip he had, but he was not about to admit to anyone that it was the first one he had. The Grass Stain would never let him hear the end of it.
So naturally, a metal spider leg had to slam down on his arm, causing his blast to hit the floor instead. The resulting detonation flung him back, and he gave a cry as he landed on the floor. His remaining, and exposed, human skin was feeling the heat from that one, and it was not pleasant.
Quickly, pushing himself up, he glared at the sight of an also recovering Gizmo. The little twerp was glaring right back at him, his spider legs wobbly.
"Buddy, you are going to regret that," Cyborg growled. "I'm not in the mood to mess around."
"And you think I'm gonna let a freak like you get the best of me?" Gizmo challenged. The glare became a very eager looking grin. "I'm going to enjoy taking you apart. Maybe I'll make a body just like that one, only better. A suit, just for me. I'm just gonna have to get rid of the worthless part."
"I don't know what your deal is, what your game is, and I don't care. You might think this monkey business is cool, but I don't, and I'm shutting this whole thing down," Cyborg retorted, finally getting onto his feet. His shoulders were slightly hunched, and his body was ready to move because the little bastard was going to try and shoot him.
"And I don't care. Let that other freak and his pet turn the whole city into monkeys. It's none of my business. I'm here to finish a job, but that doesn't mean I can't have a little fun, can't I?" Gizmo challenged back.
"And for being an obvious creep, you need to be put into a corner so that you can think about what you've done." Okay, that retort wasn't the best, but seriously, he wasn't sure if this guy was a midget or a kid. Or both! It was some random thing that sounded so much better in his head, and now that he heard himself say it, it sounded so lame. There was no way it was getting under anyone's skin today.
The grin was gone, and small eyes narrowed. "That was a jab at my size, wasn't it?"
Or maybe it did. "I don't know, junior. What do you think?"
"Why don't you try being original...um…" Aw, he was trying to insult him, probably about his cyborg body, but had come up short. Snerk.
"What's that? I didn't quite hear you from down there, short stuff," he taunted.
"Shut yer trap, ya gobsmacking crudstain!" Gizmo snarled as he finally, and predictably, fired a laser beam at him. Cyborg dodged to his right, the beam burning the air to his left. His arm cannon readjusted so he could counterattack with a sonic blast.
Gizmo reared back, his front two spider legs crossing in front of him protectively. The force of sound slammed into the legs, and the two hind legs dug into the metal floor, screeching as they were pushed back. The two forelegs pushed forward, tearing into the sonic blast and ripping it apart.
Once again, Cyborg's human eyes widened, only this time it was in shock.
"I figured your little trick out," Gizmo bragged. "It's what I do. I'll give it to you, you had to use it twice on me, but that was luck. All I have to do is see it once, and I can already counter it."
This begged the question of what Gizmo could truly do, but now was not the time. Yes, Gizmo was able to somehow cancel his sonic blast, but it had taken some effort. The radius of the attack was too big to dodge easily, so…
"You think you can handle me? Let's put that to the test!" he threw back, firing several sonic blasts in a row. It started overheating his arm to do that, so after the fifth, he took off running towards that monitor and panel he had spotted earlier. Gizmo was too busy trying to save himself from the onslaught of pain he had just fired to stop him.
Reaching the control station, Cyborg did a quick look at the panel, seeing the keyboard and various other buttons. One such button was larger than the others, and underneath it, in bold letters was ON/OFF. Someone made this user friendly.
"Score one for the good guys!" Cyborg crowed as he slammed his hand on the button. Now he could really focus on Gizmo while these generators powered down. They were still going strong, so it might take a while. Any second now, he'd hear the rotors slow, and come to a stop. Any second now.
They weren't slowing down. A quick scan gave away that energy was still being funneled upwards. What the hell?
"Get away from there!" Oh, and Gizmo was closing in, laser rifle aimed right at him.
"Too late, short stuff. I already hit the button!" he retorted. "You're going to have to get through me first!" It was a bluff for the moment, but he wanted Gizmo to think he had one over him. With too much to think about, that would keep the twerp distracted, and hopefully leave an opening to knock him out.
"I'm afraid that won't be happening, cyborg."
"Yeah!" Gizmo blindly agreed, before coming to an abrupt stop, blinking dumbly. "Wait a sec. You said you already pushed it! Why would I need to stop you if you've already done it!"
And what was up with the dumb question? Hold on, wait, wait, wait, he hadn't spoken, and Gizmo hadn't said anything, just agreed. So why was it he heard someone else?
"I just told you I already turned it off. You need to clear out your hearing!" Cyborg retorted. Internally, he was trying to figure out what was going on, but still needed to keep this banter going, so, "You're too late! I already beat you!"
"Honestly, you twentieth century tech 'geniuses' are so slow. I've already disabled the manual access. You're not shutting anything down."
There it was again! And it sounded like it came...right behind him. Though he knew it was stupid, it still didn't stop the cybernetic teen from slowly looking over his shoulder and at the blank monitor.
"Who the hell is talking?" Cyborg asked.
"I am," the new voice answered, and you could hear the exasperation in it. "You so called heroes and villains are so behind the times. Let me catch you up. I am Craydl, and I am in control. Our friend's science project is going off without a hitch. And you are no longer necessary."
The doorway that was empty of doors had electricity suddenly form horizontal streams in it, blocking off all entry and exit.
"Now here's the deal. I'm about to activate a special little defense system, one recently added by myself. It's a fun gift of deadly neurotoxin. I'm going to pump the whole room full of it, unless one of you manages to kill the other first. Then I'll let that one go. Sounds fun, doesn't it?"
"What the hell! I'm still here!" Gizmo exclaimed.
"And that's not my problem. Now, the both of you might have a little surprise of your own, maybe some filters to keep you from breathing this stuff in, but this is a little gift from the future. Your skin will be absorbing this one, and it's not going to be fun. So, you two better get to killing someone pretty quickly. You might not have time to get out."
He did not like the sounds of Craydl, not the fact that it seemed like he was in a death trap, and with Gizmo of all people. Oh shit.
Cyborg whipped his head around just in time to see the little twerp already pulling the trigger on his laser rifle, the weapon aimed right at his head.
Minutes ago, he had been sick of running, but that was what Impulse was doing right now. The only difference was that he had a few minutes of not running to regain his strength and like some, um, very energized...okay, he did not know where he was going with this. Where he actually was going was down through the labyrinth of hallways and doing so with company.
Keeping pace right next to him was Inertia. The yellow lens made it easy to see Thad's eyes, trained right on him and not even leaving him for a second, even though they made a lot of turns.
They were sharp turns too, so it was impressive.
Impressive or not, though, Thad was a bad guy, and bad guys needed to be fought against. Since Inertia wasn't doing anything—heh, Raven certainly called that one—Impulse lashed out first. Finally, Inertia did something, but that was simply knock the red-gloved fist away. Clenching his jaw, Impulse threw a few more jabs, each one batted away.
Catching his latest punch, Inertia's green-gloved hand clamped down and wow, there was some force in that hand. Very strong grip there. It was a shame that it distracted Impulse, who was willing to admit he was the easily distracted type, because he was unable to stop Inertia from slamming the heel of his palm right into the red and white speedster's chin.
His head snapped back, his feet tripped over themselves, but instantly he corrected and was still keeping pace. An elbow went into his stomach, then an uppercut got him under the chin again, and after that only did Inertia released his hand.
"Come on, Bart. Show me what you can do," Inertia taunted. "Surely this isn't it."
Narrowing his eyes, Impulse kicked a leg right into Inertia's path, only for the green and black speedster to simply jump over it. A few punches were thrown, all dodged, and the blond's smirk only grew bigger with each miss.
"And here I had been worried about a face-to-face to you. Guess I shouldn't have worried!" A green-clad fist socked Impulse in the cheek, whipping his head to a side, only for the brunet to snap his head back. "You really aren't the sharpest tool in the shed, are you…?"
Impulse made a sudden left, only for Inertia to make the same turn at the same time like he had been expecting it. Pulling ahead, even if slightly, it gave him the chance to make a little jump of his own. Turning his body as he did, he shot out a kick, his foot soon blocked by the blond's lower arms catching the blow.
Got him! he thought as he continued twisting his body, his other leg swinging through the air and heading right for Inertia's head. Amazingly, and impressively, Inertia tilted his head, almost rolling with the swinging foot. And then it was over and they were both running without attacking.
"You don't get it. Haven't you figured it out? I spent decades aging. I took the time to actually learn how to fight," Inertia sneered. "You? You aged so quickly that you can only rely on your speed to do your fighting for you? What are you without it? That's why you can't beat me! I'm smarter than you!"
A fist curled under and got Impulse in the gut.
"Stronger than you!"
A hand grabbed onto brown locks of hair and roughly pulled back.
"Better than you in every way!"
Several punches rammed into the middle of his face before his hair was voluntarily released. His feet stumbled again, which allowed the Thawne speedster to keep even pace with him once more, side to side. A right turn was made, followed by the next left, then a right, another right, and a left.
Cracking open his eyes, Impulse gave out a yell and lashed out once more against his imposter.
Red should know what he was doing was what Wonder Girl told herself. Sure he had no powers, and that admittedly Batman-looking asshole did with that teleportation stuff, but Red should be able to hold his own. This wasn't the first time he fought someone with powers, and if he could match her, he should be alright.
It still didn't explain why she felt so concerned. The only thing keeping her going instead of spinning on her heel and charging back there was the trust the other teen had given her. He trusted her to find out where the bad guy had gone and to stop him. She would need to have trust that he could take care of himself while she took care of that mummy of a man and his gorilla.
That gave her a new problem: where the hell were those two creeps? This place had a lot of hallways with sliding doors that led to large rooms that had lots of science stuff in them. There were machines aplenty, but no gorillas and/or wheelchairs to be found.
It was also a bad time to mention that she hated playing hide and seek. She hated the hiding and she hated being it.
Now she was wondering if this was some cruel punishment and that Red got off lucky fighting that damn teleporter.
Okay, focus Cassie. If you were going to be punching anyone, it was either those creeps back there or the creeps you're trying to find. Since you were looking for the latter, you needed to find them first. So how were you going to do that?
Coming to a stop, the armored blonde looked around, trying to see if there was something, anything that might give her a clue. Nothing but metal all around that looked the same with occasional interruptions such as doorways and hallways. There were no landmarks or signs to say what or where anything was.
Distantly, she could hear a hum and it felt like this place was coming alive. There was no other way for her to explain it. Wonder Girl didn't like it, and since it was implied that they were in some kind of machine and not some underground lair, it meant that this science project thing was starting, and here she was not knowing what she could do to stop it.
She paused for a second as two blurs passed her, one red and white and the other green and black, both moving passed her on either side and not stopping. Well, that had happened, and by chance happened to take with it any last semblance of patience she had left.
Eyeing a set of closed doors, the thought of "screw it" popped up in her head, and action took over her body. Her legs pushed against the floor, her body practically flew through the air, an arm cocked back before lashing forward, her fist ramming into the first door she reached. The metal crumbled under her strength, and soon she was up to her elbow. Bending the joint, she pulled back and tore the door out.
Peeking in, she grimaced at the clutter she found in there. Looked like a storage closet with a lot of...things in there. Definitely not what she was looking for. Removing her arm, she tossed the remains of the door to a side, looked left and right, and spotted her next target.
Rinse and repeat.
This time, it looks like a workshop of sorts. She immediately spotted that machine they had found their gang of thieves trying to steal the night before. The whole thing was taken apart and left in pieces. Really, the base was the only way she recognized it. One of the walls was one long workstation, with all sorts of tolls and science equipment, all placed in neat order. Again, not what she was looking for.
The third one looked like storage for some machines, none of which she recognized.
As that door was thrown down the hallway, Wonder Girl continued forward on her mission.
Inertia ducked and pulled back only slightly. He completely evaded Impulse's fist, then closed in while that lanky arm was still outstretched. Giving a push with black-clad legs, the imposter leapt onto Impulse's back, wrapping an arm around the red and white speedeter's torso, and delivered another slug into a shoulder.
"Isn't this nice?" Inertia sneered into his ear. "You're giving your brother a piggy-back ride! I've only read about those. Let me thank you!"
Knuckles rammed into his ribs, then dug in. Impulse couldn't hold back the cry of pain that found its means of escape from his mouth. The green fist pulled back, then punched in again, then another time just because.
Clenching his teeth tightly together, the real deal speedster tried to shake off his rude piggyback passenger in the only way he knew how. He started making sharper turns, running closer to the walls, and trying to use whatever was in the environment to knock Inertia off of him.
Hell, he even tried a jump when he came across Red Robin and that teleporter in the middle of one hallway, wrestling on the floor as if they didn't know two speedsters were using it. Unfortunately, he didn't get enough height to scrap his clone's head on the ceiling, but it was the thought that mattered.
Thoughts aside, this was getting—ow! "Quit with the fisting already!" he shouted over his shoulder, glaring at the smirking Inertia.
"No," the blond simply retorted, then dug in another punch to his ribs.
Alright, if it was the hard way this prick wanted it, then the hard way it was! As one foot stepped onto the floor, Impulse brought his heel up while balancing on his toes. From there, it was easy to go into a spin, becoming a literal human tornado. There was a cry of pain from his piggyback rider, the hallway not big enough for this kind of thing, especially since Inertia hadn't wrapped his legs around his piggybacker.
The arm that wrapped around his chest slipped away, and then Impulse was running once more. Time to see about—urk!
Inertia hadn't gone far, and had already caught up, wrapping his arm around the brown-haired speedster's neck from behind. His head was pulled down so that all he saw was the floor, and then the repeated blows into his skull occurred. It was like the bone was a drum, the fist the drumstick, but the music totally sucked.
"So much for the Flash, eh?" Inertia taunted. "You're doing their line justice, aren't you? A failure to the end!"
The arm left his neck, the punching stopped, but as Impulse began to straighten, the palm of a hand slammed into the back of his head, nearly making him faceplant on the floor. A lot of awkward steps, arms throwing themselves out like trying to paddle the air, and an uncomfortable ninety degree bend of his spine, and he was able to right himself by literally throwing his shoulders back.
That's when the wall came into the picture. A slight adjustment to his body at the last nanosecond allowed him to ricochet off the inconvenient vertical surface, but then he was bouncing off the opposite wall and back to the first wall, then the next one.
Eventually, after several more bounces, the speedster was able to right himself once more with the added bonus of his body feeling even more sore than when he was finally freed from that damn treadmill of a wheel. Damn, how was he losing this badly?
"So pathetic," Inertia seemed to agree, still keeping up.
That little comment, however, had Impulse tightening his jaw. Okay, it was time for that last...um...there was a term for it, but he had no idea what this century called it, but it was a final play that turn the tables and he was getting distracted again. Keep focus.
Then figure out a way to put his boot up where the sun didn't shine.
Eris: You're not the only one to point that out, but do remember, he is paying for their services. They may be here because they're hired muscle, but why go through the trouble of employing them if you intend to throw them out into the cold? At the very least, get your money's worth, and if they give you no problems, let them stick around. The only thing better than hired muscle is well-behaved hired muscle.
