CHAPTER TWELVE: BATTLE LINES
The district that was once home to the Closeau Wax Museum was devoid of life within the hour following the Crusaders arrival.
Guy Gardner had no real plan to follow, just counter measures. At the moment, the strategy that mattered most was the containment of Gray Man. No, not the Gray Man, Guy amended. Dreamslayer. Since Ted had voiced the suspicion, Zatanna was able to hypothesise how the former Extremist had managed to take possession of the lobotomised Gray Man's body. Wherever Dreamslayer had gone after his battle with the Silver Sorceress, he must have still maintained his consciousness, even if he was disembodied and adrift. In truth, taking control of the Gray Man's body would have been easy to do because there was no independent will to prevent the invasion.
Once inside his victim's body, there was nothing to prevent Dreamslayer from making use of every twisted power that Gray Man possessed to take revenge on his enemies. If anything, Gray Man was more powerful than he had ever been. As an Extremist, Dreamslayer had been the most dangerous member of the group. Dreamslayer was the master of dimensions. He had once opened up a dimensional rift and stranded Justice League Europe there with nothing more than a thought. If any attack was to be made on the Extremists now, Dreamslayer would have to be dealt with first.
"I can't figure this out." Ted remarked as they approached the museum using the same entrance that Booster had taken. "They have to know we're here."
"If this Dreamslayer is as formidable as you say, then he must." Zatanna added feeling her own unease. While she had no prior contact with the entity known as Dreamslayer, she could sense his presence. It was thick and overpowering, like the stench of dead things. There was such malevolence in him that Zatanna shuddered at the darkness that lived in the core of him. It was inconceivable to her that any creature would choose to wrap itself in such mind numbing evil. There were far more powerful entities than the one she now faced but they had some kind of ambition or twisted purpose to their being. Even the sorcerer Wotan who had once kidnapped her father Zatara had purpose, misguided as it was. He had wanted to rule the world. All she could sense from this Dreamslayer was a rage that burned white hot that its intensity made it impossible to obtain any coherent information from him.
"Maybe its a trap." Sigrid offered from her corner of the dimly lit passageway. She wished Beatriz was here. At least then the Brazillian could light up this corridor. Unfortunately at the moment, Beatriz and General Glory were entering the museum by air, acting as a decoy while they made their silent entry into the building.
"Let's keep a little optimism here." Guy snapped. "Of course he knew we'd be here. That's why he went to all this trouble of bringing his buddies back to life."
"I don't know why." Ted retorted. "We've beaten them before."
"Yeah and if you remember correctly, the Sorceress died in the process." He deadpanned. "Beetle, I know you're still pissed about Booster but no heroics got that? You and Zatanna keep Dreamslayer off his feet until the rest of us take care of the Extremists."
"Get you." Ted gave him a look. "Since when did you win any prizes for keeping your head?"
"Since I got smart," Guy tensed. "And I thought you were too."
"Boys," Sigrid interrupted. "Let's play nice now. We got more important things to deal with at the moment. Now Beetle, you know Guy is right."
"What a mortifying concept." Ted said rolling his eyes but his remark was devoid of any malice, only mischief.
"You'll get yours." Guy shot back. However, the tension in the moment had been broken and that was all that mattered.
"Okay Guy," Ted said after a moment. "You're right. I'll stick with the pretty lady." He gave Zatanna a boyish smile.
"Christ." Guy groaned and turned to Zatanna. "Don't worry about him, he was like this with Wonder Woman too."
"Hey!"
Zatanna laughed softly but she knew Ted's feelings for her were more than utter lust as that episode with Wonder Woman had been. He was genuinely attracted to her and she was starting to become a little curious to know what he looked like under the mask. "I think I can handle him." She chuckled.
"You were worse with Tora!" Ted declared in his defence, slightly embarrassed that Guy had brought up his behaviour with Wonder Woman.
"That was different!" Guy protested but could not deny it either.
"BOYS!" Sigrid said loudly, silencing both of them immediately. "Boys and I use the term accurately, this is not the time for this. As much as I love team by play, we have things to do."
"Dreamslayer, remember?" Zatanna added her support for Sigrid's argument. "Extremists?"
"Oh yeah," Ted said sheepishly. "I forgot."
"Come on." Guy shrugged and continued walking. "If they don't know we're here, its going to be a miracle."
**************
The evidence of Booster's battle with the Extremists was pointedly clear. His blood was still staining the walls
The Crusaders emerged in what remained of the Justice League exhibit, feeling the same chagrin as their fallen comrade. Although many of the pieces were damaged, it irked Guy and Ted especially, to see that they had not been good enough to make the collection. Only the present alumni of Justice League heroes were displayed in the rubble.
"There are still people here." Zatanna whispered as they moved across the room.
"Get them out of here." Guy hissed back.
"It will give us away." She pointed out.
"We'll just have to take the risk." He answered. "Besides, we can't fight them if they're going to use civvies as hostages."
"He's right." Ted agreed. "We'll improvise later, just get the hostages away."
"Alright." Zatanna nodded and took a step back from them. Taking a deep breath, she concentrated and sighted the people in her mind. She could see the terror in her eyes, the fear of death....
Suddenly, she was thrown to the floor without warning. As she hit the ground hard, her head swam with disorientation and those people were torn from her like water escaping into a drain. She made an attempt to visualise them but the pain in her head prevented her from maintaining her concentration. Zatanna looked up and found herself staring into yellow eyes that narrowed upon meeting her gaze.
"Zatanna!" She heard Ted shout.
Almost as quickly as she was attacked, she saw a streak of blue coming towards her at full speed. Before the being on top of her could react, the Blue Beetle had flown straight into him and heading straight for a wall.
"Are you all right?" Guy shouted as the rest of the Extremists began to fill into the room. Her eyes moved across the room, studying the situation. Lord, Havok, the one called Gorgon whose hideous tentacles was reaching from a misshapen head, Doctor Diehard and finally the one called Trace, were all present. She could not see Dreamslayer anywhere.
"I'm fine." She responded. "I'll find Dreamslayer."
She did not have time to hear a response as Lord Havok jumped towards her. With lightning fast reflexes that seemed out of place on a body carrying so much armour, he lashed out at her. His metal gauntlet connecting with her cheek. Zatanna felt her face flare up in pain as she felt backwards from the blow. Blood filling her mouth as she saw him preparing to fire something more formidable at her.
Guy saw the sorceress go down and deduced in a moment that Dreamslayer was aware that Zatanna was a powerful mystic. In fact, the Extremists were using the very same plan that Guy had intended to use on Dreamslayer. They were concentrating their efforts on Zatanna so that she could not harm Dreamslayer or impede his play for vengeance. "Ice! Stop him!" Guy shouted at the Norwegian heroine. Sigrid could help Zatanna faster than it would take him to cross the room.
Sigrid did not waste any time. She had seen her comrade go down and immediately sent a blast of ice at the armour clad villain. Zatanna was on the ground, stunned but recovering quickly. A trickle of blood had escaped the corner of her mouth, running a red line over the purple swell of her lower cheek. In seconds, the ice blast had encased him in a solid block of ice. He was frozen in place as Sigrid tried to run forward to Zatanna.
"Not so fast lovely." Sigrid heard as she suddenly felt tentacles sliding over her body. "We haven't danced yet."
Sigrid felt herself being lifted in the air under the restraint of those powerful tentacles. Air was being forced out of her body as she rose. Sigrid struggled to breathe as the coils around her tightened. She looked at the corner of her eye and saw the leer of the fat man who had her. Like cracking a whip, he lashed her against a near by wall. Helpless to act, she was slammed hard against the concrete and immediately felt blood oozing down her forehead.
"You dip so well." He laughed, tightening his grip until she felt her bones were going to break. Sigrid heard another cruel laugh as she impacted against another wall, this time with the side of her face. Her cheek flared in red pain and she realises that she was going to die if he was allowed to continued.
"You know, I've always hated grabby men!" Sigrid declared defiantly and closed her eyes, ignoring the pain. Unlike the previous Ice Maiden, Sigrid's ice forming abilities extended beyond simply projecting blasts of ice or forming objects. Genetically mutated on the chromosome level, she was able to control the temperatures in her body. Gorgon did not notice the initial drop in her body temperature because her skin was normally cold when she was in battle mode.
"I guess you really are frigid." Gorgon taunted as he prepared to swing her against another wall. He had not decided whether he was going to crush her to death or simply use her as rag doll to batter against the wall until he had pulverised every bone in her body. He supposed the fun was in the trying. All of a sudden, he noticed the cold. His tentacles were sensitive to all sorts of things and at this moment, they were registering temperatures in her skin that was falling sharply.....
A fissure appeared in the ice encasing Lord Havok. Guy heard the crack of ice breaking and immediately turned his attention away from Zatanna who was now on her feet. He faced the Extremist leader just in time to see the villain smashing his way out of his prison. His eyes blazed with rage as he raised one arm and started firing energy blasts from a launcher in his forearm of his suit.
"Find Dreamslayer!" Guy ordered finally as his skin morphed before her eyes.
Zatanna did not need to be told twice. Although injured, she was still more than able to function. "ecalp ruo ni yrolG lareneG dna eriF gnirB. !segatsoh eht ot elteeB eulB dna em ekaT" Since the Extremists were under orders to incapacitate her at any costs, Zatanna felt it prudent to remove herself from the line of fire. She was also taking Blue Beetle with her in case Dreamslayer was present. Guy's original plan for her and Beetle to keep Dreamslayer busy was still a good one and she wanted to use it, even if it required some adaptation.
No sooner than the words had escaped her lips, Zatanna and the Blue Beetle disappeared out of the room. The Extremist Tracer who had been wrestling with Ted, suddenly found himself in mid air alone. He dropped to the ground with an angry hiss but rolled harmlessly back to his feet. He did not get very far when suddenly a wall of green fire exploded before him. Beatriz soared into the room, with General Glory alongside.
"So you are what's left of our old enemies." Lord Havok growled as Guy's body morphed into Vuldarian armour as the villain sent another blast of energy at him. "You people are even more pathetic now then you were then."
Guy's arms morphed into two deadly looking weapons that fired powerful Vuldarian plasma at Lord Havok's. "Lot has changed pal!" Guy shouted as the blast sent the enemy through the wall into another room. "For instance, you're nothing more than a hunk of tin! Not even the original Lord Havok, just a lousy copy." Havok had smashed through the wall, trailing all sorts of debris as he fell back. Guy ran toward the crumbling structure, only to be faced by the lifeless features of the Beatles, David Bowie and Jerry Lewis, all playing audience to his battle with Havok. It was going to be a tough room. He stepped through the large hole in the wall, dusting off bits of plaster that were falling from the ragged edge of the cement.
The room appeared empty, even though the signs of their battle were obvious from its state. Plaster was crumbling off pocked marked walls, blackened by the stray blasts of plasma and whatever energy weapons they were using against each other. Some of the figures had started to melt from the intense heat. Ringo's nose looked longer than normal. He did not envy the refurbishment bill the museum was going to get when this was all over.
Guy approached quietly, ignoring what was taking place behind him. He was confident that the others could handle themselves. "That's what you are Lord Havok," Guy said loudly, hoping to draw out the Extremist with his taunts. "Just a tin plated copy of the original. You're the one who's more pathetic."
"I AM REAL!" Lord Havok screamed.
Guy looked up and saw the villain who had been clinging to the ceiling above, drop down in front of him. He raised both arms and allowed his fury to be expressed by a torrent of energy blasts that Guy was barely able to avoid by jumping clear. The force of the blasts completely obliterated the wax figure of Michael Jackson, splattering hot wax across the walls. Guy rolled onto his knees and morphed again, unleashing more of his Vuldarian arsenal on the Extremist.
Just a little more. Guy thought with a hidden smile. Come on buddy, keep trying to kill me, you're almost all used up.
From what he knew of Lord Havok, the villain required tremendous amounts of energy to power the suit armour he was wearing. Guy had chosen to engage him because Lord Havok could siphon energy from other beings that he used to recharge the sophisticated hardware of his amour. Guy exuded no such power and what Havok used against him could not be readily replenished. The more power Lord Havok expended to kill him, the less he had in reserve. Soon, he would be out of energy and helpless.
"You're not even alive." Guy retorted, knowing the sensitivity of the issue to Lord Havok. "The real Lord Havok died with your planet! You're just a side show re-creation for the kiddies to make fun at Wacky World."
"I'll kill you!" Havok shouted almost shrieking with rage. He released a volley of energy blasts, until Guy was leaping in the air like a dancer, trying to avoid them. Each blast continued to demolish the walls, until not one wax figure was left standing. Sunlight was starting to pour in as more walls came down. The room began to smell with the stench of heated paraffin and Guy could see Lord Havok starting to lose control. He was firing wildly, without thought or coordination. His attacks reduced to little more than outburst of childish temper. If anything proved that he was not the original, it was his behaviour now. The real Lord Havok was supposed to have better control.
Guy straightened up and held ground as Lord Havok took a breath and prepared to fire again. The man's anger seemed to subside a bit as it began to dawn on him what Guy's intention was in making him lose control. "You people think you know what the kill is all about." Guy said as he advanced on him. Although Havok raised his arms to keep firing, the villain did not look as certain of himself now. Guy morphed once more. This time, he morphed his entire body to take on the shape of a Vuldarian battle suit so none the energy blasts being hurled at him could penetrate his skin to cause harm.
"The kill is not about how much pain you can cause before the end, its about whose left standing." Guy replied, a sinister edge creeping into his voice. The voice was not quite Guy Gardner but had the consistency of Warrior, the last Vuldarian seed.
One of Havok's forearm launchers spurted impotently as its cannon slumped dead in mid fire. Obviously rattled, he focussed his fire from the remaining launcher as Guy moved into point blank range. Realising that a sustained attack of energy blasts was no longer an option, Lord Havok went for a more physical approach. Despite the armour, Havok moved with surprising agility, tackling Guy to the floor. However, Guy was ready for him. He rolled with Havok and threw the villain off him easily. As Havok struggled to regain his balance, Guy hit him with his Vuldarian plasma blasts, sending Havok into another wall. Guy could see the Extremist was dazed but gave him no chance to recover. This time, it was Guy who was blasting away at Havok with everything he had, except his energy sources were inexhaustible.
Havok was now reeling from the volley of plasma bolts that were attacking him relentlessly. His armour was starting to show signs of damage, as dents and tears started appearing in the flawless metal finish. It was not long now, Guy decided. He was almost done.
You're mine now, you hunk of tin.
***********
Sigrid was conscious of Guy's departure from the room with Lord Havok, however, she was engaged with an Extremist of her own. Gorgon was taking great relish in slowly crushing her to death. It appeared that the fat man found some sadistic pleasure in torturing his victims until their final gasp of life. As she felt the air forced from her lungs, she knew she had to put aside the pain and concentrate on carrying out her plan. The tentacles around her were like pythons, each time she drew breath, they tightened around her chest. Very quickly, Sigrid was unable to replenish any oxygen in her system and was starting to black out.
Think cold. She told herself. Think ice cold.
Her body was already cool to the touch but the more she concentrated, the blue in her skin became more than just pigment, it became icy. A thin film of ice started to form around her skin, until she was so cold that Gorgon's tentacles became stuck to her body. In a matter of seconds, thermal cohesion had chained Gorgon to her. Unless he wanted to tear his own flesh apart, he would not be able to remove himself from her.
"What are you doing, you frigid witch!" He screamed as the effects of her dropping temperatures started to make itself known to him. He attempted to uncoil his tentacles from around her but that idea was soon quashed as his skin stuck to her body like glue. Gorgon was as trapped as surely she was imprisoned in his coils. However, the worst was to come. As he jerked and tried desperately to dislodge her, Sigrid's body became so cold that her hair was starting to spike from the ice that was freezing around each strand.
By now, Gorgon was not simply screaming from the icy temperature but from genuine physical pain. In a moment or two, Sigrid would turn super cold. When that happened, she would start to freezing him to the molecular level. It had would have the same effects as his being dropped in liquid nitrogen.
"Stop it you bitch!" He shouted indignantly! "You're going to kill me!"
"You are a machine!" Sigrid managed to say. While he still remained tethered to her because of thermal cohesion, his grip around her has loosened significantly and she was able breathe again.
"You're dead anyway." Sigrid said coldly and their eyes met for the first time since they had battled. Considering what she was about to do him, the young heroine known as Ice Maiden felt it was only fair. As he gazed into her eyes, it came to him like splash of icy water his face what she meant to do to him. Those were the last moments of clarity before panic struck when he saw those eyes of became points of dark ice. Until then, he had not understood, had not realised the truth. To her, he was a machine and a machine could not be killed. It was never alive to begin with.
"Its time you knew that, Gorgon." Sigrid Nansen said finally before the super cold of her body froze the tentacles around her completely.
The rapid freezing of every molecule in the tentacles holding Ice Maiden was more structural tension that the metal fibres could tolerate. Both tentacles exploded outward, sending shards of brittle ice and metal in all directions. Sigrid felt air under her feet as she dropped to the ground, scraping her knees and palms on pieces of ice and shrapnel.. She raised her eyes long enough to see Gorgon shrieking in insane agony. She wondered if the pain was real to him or was it merely an extension of his programming.
The other tentacles on his head were flaying about wildly as if reacting emotionally to obliteration of its other brethren. The tentacles that had very nearly killed her lay on the floor around her. All that remain of them were nubs of metal, bleeding sparks and dangling live wires that had been torn apart by the explosion. Less than a foot remained of their original length and Gorgon's fury was beyond control.
"You're going pay for this!" He snarled with a guttural roar in his throat as the rest of his tentacles descended upon her.
Sigrid reacted quickly, not relishing another experience coiled into those deadly appendages. Shooting a blast of ice at them, the tentacles came no further as they were soon encased in thick ice. Gorgon's head was pinned against the side of the ice as he tried to free himself from this new predicament. "I'm going to rip out your heart for this!" He shouted in impotent rage but was unsuccessful in his attempts to break free from the ice.
"Sure you are, fat boy." Sigrid thought and turned to help the others.
*********
"You're no fun Tracer." Beatriz remarked as the Extremist smashed through a glass window, spraying sharp pieces in all directions before landing on the grass outside the museum. The man jumped to his feet, uncoiling like an animal as he landed on outside. Beatriz followed him closely, somewhat grateful that their fight had been taken out of the museum. There was a small fire raging inside the building already. Once she was finished with this bozo, she would have to go take care of that situation. Considering the building was filled with wax figures, a super heroine named Fire was probably not the best thing for business.
"Catch me if you can, Darling." Tracer looked up at her, producing a feral smile.
"I'll catch you alright." Beatriz remarked as she sent a column of fire right at him. "I'll fry your ass!"
Tracer jumped out of the way but even he had to realise that her aim was improving to match his speed and sooner or later, she was going to burn him alive. Still, the agility of this creature was unmatched by any meta-human she knew, Beatriz decided. She had thought Fox used to move fast but this Extremist looked as if he might be distantly related to the Flash. He moved like a cat and on had she been any other opponent, Beatriz did not doubt she would have felt his claws already. As it was, had he made the attempt, he would find himself attacking living fire. It was an experience Beatriz did not recommend to any of her opponents. However, this was not working as well as she would have liked. While he could not harm her in this state, she could not become human again without putting herself at risk. Thus, they were fast approaching a stalemate of sorts.
"General," Beatriz reached for the communication device lodged in her ear. When she was in full flame, it was the only place she was able to keep it without frying communicator completely. "General, I need you here. This guy is going to run rampant unless I get some help."
"Fire," Donovan's voice returned. "Have you seen the other one?"
"What other one?" Beatriz replied. Tracer was down below her. The last time she had seen Guy and Sigrid, they had their hands full with Gorgon and Lord Havok. Who was left? Then she remembered to whom the General was referring. "You mean Doctor Diehard?" She asked.
Although she was speaking to the General, Beatriz was still keeping a close eye on Tracer. He was running for dear life, trying to avoid the wall of fire she was sending after him. The green flames were pursuing him like the furies, burning everything in their path. Despite his bravado and false confidence, Tracer had to know that she was holding back. If she wanted to, she could turn this entire area into a barbecue roast. Mechanical or not, she did not want to completely destroy him unless she was forced to it. Beatriz noticed him running towards a duck pond located in the park area outside the museum. She guessed he was going to seek refuge within it. She waited until he was half way through it, when she flew towards the pond. Circling it took less than a minute and burning a ring of fire along its edge took even less time than that. At least he would be contained, she thought.
"I saw him running out of the place when the other slime attacked but he's been keeping a low profile and I'm wondering why."
"I'm outside the museum," Beatriz said shortly. "Meet me out here. We need to put Tracer on ice really fast. I've got a bad feeling about this."
Of the Extremists, Doctor Diehard's ability to control magnetic fields had made him one of its most formidable members. While he did not supersede Dreamslayer himself, he was still a force to be reckoned with. Doctor Diehard had once brought the world to the brink of nuclear disaster because his ability to manipulate magnetic fields had allowed him to keep a nuclear arsenal poised over the planet. Therefore, there was no reason for him to be hiding from them unless his concentration was required elsewhere. That possibility bothered her greatly.
She saw General Glory fly out of the window and emerge in the sky outside the museum, just as Tracer realised the trap he was in. As he waded through the water, local water birds took flight, unhappy about sharing the neighbourhood with such an undesirable. He scared them more than the fire did. She could hardly blame them.
"Where is our boy?" Donovan asked as he approached her.
"Down there." She remarked, glancing at Tracer as he made his way across the pond.
"Not very impressive is he?" Donovan asked.
"Not much," she smiled. "But don't underestimate him. He's dangerous and deadly."
"I won't." The General answered. "What are you going to do?"
"I'm going to find Doctor Diehard. He's not fighting and he should be." She said flying back towards the museum.
"I'll take care of this." Donovan called after her as he started flying towards the pond where Tracer was trying to decide a course of action since it appeared, he was trapped. He could not emerge from the water way unless he was prepared to step into a wall of flames. Donovan remembered what he had been told about the Extremists. Who said that a too much knowledge was a bad thing? General Glory landed in the middle of the pool metres away from Tracer and found that it was not very deep.
"I thought cats didn't like water." Donovan announced himself.
Tracer whirled around and glared at him. "I'm more than just a cat, hero." The Extremist bared his fangs, displaying a set of sharp canines. He lunged at Donovan with remarkable reflexes, managing to push the new General Glory into the water. Donovan felt backward with a loud splash. He looked up to hear Tracer's breath in his face. "Say die before I gut you for my friends."
Donovan did not intend to waste time with this animal. With lighting fast reflexes of his own, Donovan reached up and grabbed Tracer by the neck. Using his super strength, he closed his fist around the Extremist's neck cutting off any further attempts at posturing. Tracer managed a choked cry but nothing more. Sharp talons raked at his flesh but Donovan barely noticed it, not when he was invulnerable. His fingers slipped through the steel of Tracer's neck like it was butter, encircling metal, wire and other intricate circuitry. When his grip was firm, he yanked his arm back.
Tracer had no chance to scream or howl. His eyes widened like a man discovering his throat had been cut. Sparks of energy spat at Donovan from the open fissure in Tracer's neck. The Extremist's last act was to reach for his open throat, unaware that in seconds, his programming would register a major systems failure and his life as he knew it, would terminate.
"Die." Donovan replied as Tracer fell backwards into the water.
Donovan stared impassively at the body that was quickly being claimed by the murky water and glanced briefly at the wiring and metal fibres in his hand. He did not know much about electronics or replicants. However, he did know how to disconnect his television set from cable.
Apparently, this was not that much harder.