LSH: The Battle For The Universe
By Bruce Wayne
Disclaimer: I don't own these characters, I'm just borrowing then for a while.
The characters are owned by DC Comics and I'm writing this just for the fun of
it.
CHAPTER 11 - UNDERGROUND DUEL
Shrinking Violet was ready. She had been quiet and listening to
Tazz all along and was waiting for -- to know about those deadly buttons.
That was what Colossal Boy had previously whispered to her: "After I
get Tazz to spill the beans, keeping his attention on me, you do your stuff."
And now taking off into the air from her perch, Violet aimed for
the back of the villian's head, where she intended to land as she grew to
normal size. But what was Tazz saying ...?
"Your petite girlfriend thinks I'm unaware of her," and he looked
at a device on his wrist. "But my wrist-monitor, which magnifies micro-
scopic objects, has been following her all the time. And now she'll have
company."
Tazz pushed a button. A panel opened in his control board. Out
flew a bug that made a peculiar metallic buzz, which rose in an ominous
crescendo.
In mid-air, Violet came to a halt, startled at what she saw coming.
"A mechanical bug," she gasped. Violet was caught between the proverbial
rock and hard place. If she now grew back to normal size, Tazz would get
her. If she stayed at insect size, she would have to eavade this mechanical
attacker.
It was twice her size, and was made of gleaming metal, its wings
operating from some tiny internal motor. In shape, it was like no species
of insect, but was a hybrid mixture of all types, with six jointed saw-edged
legs. It had two huge mandibles that clanged as they opened and shut, and
a long steel stinger like a knight's lance. It was a formidable machine-
powered robot insect against Violet had no chance.
As the mechanical Frankenstein came buzzing toward her like a
ferocious praying mantis, Violet frantically began twisting and looping in
the air, hoping to elude it.
"She will never escape that bug bloodhound," promised Tazz,
watching his minature monitor. "It has target-seeking sensors, attuned
to the female's heartbeat. The pounding of her pulse is all the robot
needs to hang on her trail and duplicate every maneuver she makes."
And now a deadly dogfight -- between two pseudo-insects --
took place.
No matter which way Violet darted, the miniature metallic monster
followed relentlessly. When she tried a straightaway flight at top speed, the
robot bug quickly began putting on steam and overtaking her.
An idea struck her. She flew toward the cave wall and darted
into a crack in the stone. "It's too narrow for him to squeeze in," she
breathed thankfully.
But outside the crack, the tiny tin terror began extending a steel-
spring probe, further and further. At its end were barbs, and Tazz's jeering
voice drifted to Violet's ears as he watched all this on his wrist-monitor:
"Those barbs are poisoned, my dear. One touch and you shrivel into a
miniature mummy."
Violet was forced to slip aside before the barbed nemesis could
reach her, then work her way out of the crack. But now she was in the
open again, at the mercy of pursuing robot insect. Was there no escape
for her?
"Coward!" said Tazz mockingly to Colossal Boy, who stood
helplessly. "Why don't you aid your girlfriend? Surely a great giant like
you could defeat a mere mechanical bug."
But of course, that's just what Gim couldn't do -- not as Colossal
Boy. As Tazz gloatingly glued his eyes on his wrist-monitor screen, he did
not notice Colossal Boy shrinking down to his normal height and vanishing.
A moment later, Colossal Boy sprang into action, running across
the floor to the Vulcan machine and swiftly climbing it, with many hand-
holds avaialable to him in his normal size. When he was perched some-
where near the top, on a huge pipe, he cupped his lips and called: "Vi!
It's me. Lead that tin bug over this way."
Hearing the shout, Violet swung up toward the pipe, the mechanical
bug pursuing as he was programmed to do. Colossal Boy's shout was no
warning to its one-track computer mind.
"Vi! Get behind me!" he ordered as she approached him. She
darted around his body as Gim eyed the robot insect coming toward
him. Then Colossal boy unwound a teriffic blow, "Right at your chin, if
any," he barked.
Evidently the miniature mechanical monster was not built to with-
stand a blow from a Legionnaire. Gim's blow drove the bug into a nearby
wall and the attacker cracked into several pieces.
Muttering what must have been curses in his native tongue, the
villian poised a finger over a red button on the wrist-monitor. "So, Colossal
Oaf, you assumed your normal form to tackle my robot girl-killer, eh?
There's still one thing I can do ... I can press the destruction button and
blow this cavern, along with you two, to smithereens."
"No ... no!" cried a different voice from behind him. Tazz slowly
turned and saw four more Legionnaires. Sun Boy aimed a beam of red-hot
heat at the alien from the future. Expecting to see Dirk's beam of heat to
bounce off a force-shield -- it didn't. The heat blast struck Tazz right on
the hand and wrist, melting the device and blackening the villian's hand.
But he didn't cry out in pain.
"He's an android," gasped Violet in realization.
"Right," he replied. Tazz the android was himself guided by
remote controls and a monitor into which the real Tazz was staring,
elsewhere on Earth.
Colossal Boy, angrier than a hornet, grew back to a size of
ten-feet tall.
Tazz suddenly turned and stopped abruptly, seeing the giant teen
towering before him. "Back in your Colossal form!"
"Yes, and my anger is as big as I am." Suddenly his arms went
around Tazz, force-field and all. "After all," rumbled Gim, "even with that
invisible shield, its only ten feet around."
Yanking the Tazz android and his energy bubble off the floor,
Colossal Boy hurled them stright at the Vulcan Machine with titanic
force, aiming for the electronic devices within its heart.
A gigantic spark leaped forth, piercing the energy bubble and
electrocuting the android into a blackened mass. It could hardly be called
a corpse, since it had never been truly alive.
"Everybody out of the cave!" roared Ferro Lad. Violet landed
on Gim's shoulder and held on to his collar as he began running with the
others into a side passage through which they had entered before. Ferro
Lad strode to where two limestone columns in the middle of the big
cavern extended from floor to roof.
By some freak of geological processes, through eons of time, two
giant stalagmites from the floor and two stalactites from the ceiling had
met and merged.
Crooking an elbow around each of these natural pillars, Ferro Lad
strained mightily, knotting his muscles in his body. Stone creaked and
groaned.
Suddenly like a cannon shot, both limestone pillars snapped. A
ceiling weakened by ages of seeping waters now began to collapse, as
Andrew had surmised would happen.
With a resounding roar louder than a hundred thunderclaps, the
entire cavern collapsed inward. Untold tons of rock crashed down on
the Vulcan Machine, flattening it into a hissing, smoking ruin. Nothing
man-made or alien-made could withstand that crushing force. Nor any-
thing alive ...
Back on the surface, outside, a projected image of Tazz was
seen in front of the five Legionnaires. Tazz spoke calmly from his
unknown retreat far away, "Legionnaires, the Masked One didn't
accomplish anything. While the Big Oaf was swatting my robot bug, I
had pressed the final button, sending the ultrasonic broadcast of trigger
waves down into the Earth's crust. Such sonic vibrations, as you know,
follow rock strata everywhere. Thus, the destruction of my Vulcan
Machine now was a futile gesture."
Tazz's voice rang triumphantly. "In nine days, along with Earth
dooms one and two, volcanic catastrophe number three will also
happen, right on schedule."
His frosty eyes stared straight at the Legionnaires now, and
there was a curl on his lips. "But I think the end of the world, for you,
has already happened -- the Masked One, of course, could never come
out of the wrecked cavern alive."
"You're right," murmured Brainiac 5. "Absolutely right, Tazz."
The Legion scientist smiled and looked past the image of
Tazz and could see Ferro Lad!
Tazz cursed eloquently when his image turned and focused on
Andrew. "But I'm glad," he said then, with a malicious grin. "It means
that you will be around to die with the rest of the human race, nine days
from now, when the world comes to an end. Now ... good-bye."
His floating image faded away, as a last harsh laugh rippled
mockingly through the air.
"That's true," whispered Violet. "We won against the Tazz
android, but lost to Tazz himself."
"Well, at least one thing we know," muttered Brainiac 5,
"is that the real Tazz, who was neither at Antarctica, nor here in the
South Seas, must be in the Sahara. Here's hoping that team of
Legionnaires can settle with that inhuman monster there."
"By the way," asked Colossal Boy, "How'd you get out of that
collapse Ferro?"
"Brainy had an escape route planned for me even before we
made our presence known to Tazz. As the cavern came tumbling down,
I just flew through the passage as fast as I could. Luckily I'm invulnerable.
Otherwise, I'd never would've made it out."
"Let's get back to the clubhouse fast," said Invisible Kid. "We''ll
rejoin the others there. The Antarctic team must be on the way back.
Then we can all go to the Sahara and help out there. It looks as if the
big showdown will be there."
To be continued ...
By Bruce Wayne
Disclaimer: I don't own these characters, I'm just borrowing then for a while.
The characters are owned by DC Comics and I'm writing this just for the fun of
it.
CHAPTER 11 - UNDERGROUND DUEL
Shrinking Violet was ready. She had been quiet and listening to
Tazz all along and was waiting for -- to know about those deadly buttons.
That was what Colossal Boy had previously whispered to her: "After I
get Tazz to spill the beans, keeping his attention on me, you do your stuff."
And now taking off into the air from her perch, Violet aimed for
the back of the villian's head, where she intended to land as she grew to
normal size. But what was Tazz saying ...?
"Your petite girlfriend thinks I'm unaware of her," and he looked
at a device on his wrist. "But my wrist-monitor, which magnifies micro-
scopic objects, has been following her all the time. And now she'll have
company."
Tazz pushed a button. A panel opened in his control board. Out
flew a bug that made a peculiar metallic buzz, which rose in an ominous
crescendo.
In mid-air, Violet came to a halt, startled at what she saw coming.
"A mechanical bug," she gasped. Violet was caught between the proverbial
rock and hard place. If she now grew back to normal size, Tazz would get
her. If she stayed at insect size, she would have to eavade this mechanical
attacker.
It was twice her size, and was made of gleaming metal, its wings
operating from some tiny internal motor. In shape, it was like no species
of insect, but was a hybrid mixture of all types, with six jointed saw-edged
legs. It had two huge mandibles that clanged as they opened and shut, and
a long steel stinger like a knight's lance. It was a formidable machine-
powered robot insect against Violet had no chance.
As the mechanical Frankenstein came buzzing toward her like a
ferocious praying mantis, Violet frantically began twisting and looping in
the air, hoping to elude it.
"She will never escape that bug bloodhound," promised Tazz,
watching his minature monitor. "It has target-seeking sensors, attuned
to the female's heartbeat. The pounding of her pulse is all the robot
needs to hang on her trail and duplicate every maneuver she makes."
And now a deadly dogfight -- between two pseudo-insects --
took place.
No matter which way Violet darted, the miniature metallic monster
followed relentlessly. When she tried a straightaway flight at top speed, the
robot bug quickly began putting on steam and overtaking her.
An idea struck her. She flew toward the cave wall and darted
into a crack in the stone. "It's too narrow for him to squeeze in," she
breathed thankfully.
But outside the crack, the tiny tin terror began extending a steel-
spring probe, further and further. At its end were barbs, and Tazz's jeering
voice drifted to Violet's ears as he watched all this on his wrist-monitor:
"Those barbs are poisoned, my dear. One touch and you shrivel into a
miniature mummy."
Violet was forced to slip aside before the barbed nemesis could
reach her, then work her way out of the crack. But now she was in the
open again, at the mercy of pursuing robot insect. Was there no escape
for her?
"Coward!" said Tazz mockingly to Colossal Boy, who stood
helplessly. "Why don't you aid your girlfriend? Surely a great giant like
you could defeat a mere mechanical bug."
But of course, that's just what Gim couldn't do -- not as Colossal
Boy. As Tazz gloatingly glued his eyes on his wrist-monitor screen, he did
not notice Colossal Boy shrinking down to his normal height and vanishing.
A moment later, Colossal Boy sprang into action, running across
the floor to the Vulcan machine and swiftly climbing it, with many hand-
holds avaialable to him in his normal size. When he was perched some-
where near the top, on a huge pipe, he cupped his lips and called: "Vi!
It's me. Lead that tin bug over this way."
Hearing the shout, Violet swung up toward the pipe, the mechanical
bug pursuing as he was programmed to do. Colossal Boy's shout was no
warning to its one-track computer mind.
"Vi! Get behind me!" he ordered as she approached him. She
darted around his body as Gim eyed the robot insect coming toward
him. Then Colossal boy unwound a teriffic blow, "Right at your chin, if
any," he barked.
Evidently the miniature mechanical monster was not built to with-
stand a blow from a Legionnaire. Gim's blow drove the bug into a nearby
wall and the attacker cracked into several pieces.
Muttering what must have been curses in his native tongue, the
villian poised a finger over a red button on the wrist-monitor. "So, Colossal
Oaf, you assumed your normal form to tackle my robot girl-killer, eh?
There's still one thing I can do ... I can press the destruction button and
blow this cavern, along with you two, to smithereens."
"No ... no!" cried a different voice from behind him. Tazz slowly
turned and saw four more Legionnaires. Sun Boy aimed a beam of red-hot
heat at the alien from the future. Expecting to see Dirk's beam of heat to
bounce off a force-shield -- it didn't. The heat blast struck Tazz right on
the hand and wrist, melting the device and blackening the villian's hand.
But he didn't cry out in pain.
"He's an android," gasped Violet in realization.
"Right," he replied. Tazz the android was himself guided by
remote controls and a monitor into which the real Tazz was staring,
elsewhere on Earth.
Colossal Boy, angrier than a hornet, grew back to a size of
ten-feet tall.
Tazz suddenly turned and stopped abruptly, seeing the giant teen
towering before him. "Back in your Colossal form!"
"Yes, and my anger is as big as I am." Suddenly his arms went
around Tazz, force-field and all. "After all," rumbled Gim, "even with that
invisible shield, its only ten feet around."
Yanking the Tazz android and his energy bubble off the floor,
Colossal Boy hurled them stright at the Vulcan Machine with titanic
force, aiming for the electronic devices within its heart.
A gigantic spark leaped forth, piercing the energy bubble and
electrocuting the android into a blackened mass. It could hardly be called
a corpse, since it had never been truly alive.
"Everybody out of the cave!" roared Ferro Lad. Violet landed
on Gim's shoulder and held on to his collar as he began running with the
others into a side passage through which they had entered before. Ferro
Lad strode to where two limestone columns in the middle of the big
cavern extended from floor to roof.
By some freak of geological processes, through eons of time, two
giant stalagmites from the floor and two stalactites from the ceiling had
met and merged.
Crooking an elbow around each of these natural pillars, Ferro Lad
strained mightily, knotting his muscles in his body. Stone creaked and
groaned.
Suddenly like a cannon shot, both limestone pillars snapped. A
ceiling weakened by ages of seeping waters now began to collapse, as
Andrew had surmised would happen.
With a resounding roar louder than a hundred thunderclaps, the
entire cavern collapsed inward. Untold tons of rock crashed down on
the Vulcan Machine, flattening it into a hissing, smoking ruin. Nothing
man-made or alien-made could withstand that crushing force. Nor any-
thing alive ...
Back on the surface, outside, a projected image of Tazz was
seen in front of the five Legionnaires. Tazz spoke calmly from his
unknown retreat far away, "Legionnaires, the Masked One didn't
accomplish anything. While the Big Oaf was swatting my robot bug, I
had pressed the final button, sending the ultrasonic broadcast of trigger
waves down into the Earth's crust. Such sonic vibrations, as you know,
follow rock strata everywhere. Thus, the destruction of my Vulcan
Machine now was a futile gesture."
Tazz's voice rang triumphantly. "In nine days, along with Earth
dooms one and two, volcanic catastrophe number three will also
happen, right on schedule."
His frosty eyes stared straight at the Legionnaires now, and
there was a curl on his lips. "But I think the end of the world, for you,
has already happened -- the Masked One, of course, could never come
out of the wrecked cavern alive."
"You're right," murmured Brainiac 5. "Absolutely right, Tazz."
The Legion scientist smiled and looked past the image of
Tazz and could see Ferro Lad!
Tazz cursed eloquently when his image turned and focused on
Andrew. "But I'm glad," he said then, with a malicious grin. "It means
that you will be around to die with the rest of the human race, nine days
from now, when the world comes to an end. Now ... good-bye."
His floating image faded away, as a last harsh laugh rippled
mockingly through the air.
"That's true," whispered Violet. "We won against the Tazz
android, but lost to Tazz himself."
"Well, at least one thing we know," muttered Brainiac 5,
"is that the real Tazz, who was neither at Antarctica, nor here in the
South Seas, must be in the Sahara. Here's hoping that team of
Legionnaires can settle with that inhuman monster there."
"By the way," asked Colossal Boy, "How'd you get out of that
collapse Ferro?"
"Brainy had an escape route planned for me even before we
made our presence known to Tazz. As the cavern came tumbling down,
I just flew through the passage as fast as I could. Luckily I'm invulnerable.
Otherwise, I'd never would've made it out."
"Let's get back to the clubhouse fast," said Invisible Kid. "We''ll
rejoin the others there. The Antarctic team must be on the way back.
Then we can all go to the Sahara and help out there. It looks as if the
big showdown will be there."
To be continued ...