Boogeymen II: Teenage Wasteland

by Legend Maker

Halloween is here. The end has come. Who will survive? What truths will be revealed? And most importantly of all...will the door finally be closed? And even if they survive...will the Hive ever be the same? Is it over?...Is it ever?

9. Wounds

Part 9: Wounds

Strange…

I thought by now I'd be the only one left. That the other members of this organization I've infiltrated would all be dead by now. That they'd lack the strength of mind and character to survive.

The will to live can only go so far. If wanting to survive were all it took, the casualties of war would be much lower. But there's more to those kinds of hells then not wanting to die. Just wanting that won't save you, not in the mass psychosis of war…or of this, in ways an even worse psychosis. War may have its own unreal feel, but this is fueled by creatures and situations that shouldn't exist at all.

I thought they'd all be dead.

And really, why should I care? These are my enemies. If they all died, it's one less problem for us. If I got out, I could just call up J'onn and tell him to blast the school from orbit. That would fix the problem.

But I'm not like that.

So strange. In our battles I would have never guessed any Hive members could show the strength of will that I've seen. They never seemed to show it before. Maybe it was a curse of situation, that only opposites can clash, that possessing such similar qualities nullifies so many needed facets of combat, of rivalry, of battles, to nearly render the whole point moot.

So I won't flee. I'll fight.

I always was stupid that way.

---

Sil's shriek seemed different now, almost as if there was a faint undertone of joy within it, as if she had fully judged her opponent's capabilities and decided they lacked what was needed, and that she would enjoy rending them to pieces. Perhaps an offshoot of her insatiable desire to mate, evolving into a sense of pleasure of eliminating those who would get in her way. Or maybe she was just a bitch.

Fortunately, Jinx could be a damn big bitch herself, as she ran in firing off hex blasts. They didn't do any actual damage, but they ripped up the floor and caused clouds of dust to obscure her, as Jinx leapt through the air, twirling her hips and torso to rev up as much momentum as she could, and then slashed her leg out in a backwards right arc, violently kicking Sil across the face. However, the neck breaking strategy didn't work a second time, as Jinx felt her whole leg go numb from the impact, while Sil seemed barely affected at all. The hybrid grinned fiercely, and then fired off a tentacle.

Which a fired orb intercepted, and as the tendril jerked back, Nightwalker ran in, zig-zagging and firing, shots bouncing and ricocheting off Sil's body. Damn. Not only had her armor healed back, it was tougher then before, as Nightwalker leapt into the air, flipped 180 degrees, and fired downward as he flipped over Sil, slamming several shots into her elongated head. It just staggered the alien…

As Zippy ran in, ramming an elbow into Sil's throat, then kneeing her in the chest, and as Sil flew into the air from the impact, leapt up and elbowed Sil back down into the ground, dashing off before the alien even impacted.

As Nightwalker aimed and fired off two explosion orbs. They detonated on Sil, and she vanished in the blast.

Zippy stopped, breathing heavily.

"Ican't…keepthisupmuchlonger…" She told Jinx.

Sil leapt from the fire, small flames already sputtering out on her smoking body, claws and arm sword slashing, as Zippy ran and Jinx cartwheeled away. Sil went for the slower target, bounding after Jinx, swinging with her deadly claws.

Jinx did a backwards Matrix dodge away from the swipe, and then twisted onto her side, spun her body around, and rammed her shin into the back of Sil's legs, and at the same time, as if by divine timing, Zippy and Nightwalker ran in, as Nightwalker leapt into the air and spun. They landed their roundhouse kicks, ground and air, at the same time, the cracking sound so loud it was as if someone had broken a large stick, as Sil went flying…

And flipped over, hit the ground, and sprang back before any of the three Hive members knew what was going on, her eyes flashing.

Her blade slashed out, going for Nightwalker and slicing across his chest, so quick that the swipe was done and glancing Jinx's shoulder before Nightwalker was even aware he was cut.

Sil missed Zippy though, as the speedster darted away and then back, hammering a powerful roundhouse thrust kick that once again sent Sil flying, this time with more success.

"Arrgggghhhhhh!" Nightwalker said, clutching his wound. His armor was of the highest degree available, and Sil had cut through it like it was made of tissue paper. He felt his blood running down his chest, onto his hand…

His fist clenched.

"JUST DIE YOU BITCH!" Nightwalker bellowed, as he raised up his gauntlets and began firing rapidly. Sil leapt away from the blast of the first shot, hit the wall, and climbed up rapidly as Nightwalker blew a small hole in the wall and then on the ceiling, missing every time.

Jinx watched in amazement as Nightwalker snapped, and realized he wasn't using his lock on systems: he was just shooting at soon as he thought he had a shot. Which was way too slow for catch Sil, but Nightwalker was beyond that now, as he unloaded and reloaded so fast it looked like it never happened, as he began firing again, more explosive orbs detonating around the room as Sil dodged, seemingly without effort. With seconds Nightwalker was out of ammo again.

"I WILL kill you!" Nightwalker snarled, as he reloaded again. This time it was his acid orbs, which splattered all over the wall and floor, eating huge holes as Sil dodged them as well…

And then Jinx slapped Nightwalker across the face. Well, the helmet.

"Stop firing! You're using up all your ammo!"

"She has to DIE!"

And then Nightwalker fell forward onto his face as Zippy hit him on the back of the head.

"Sorrylookslikeyouneededthat." Zippy said. "LlarenesIamrunningoutofgas. Eitherweneedanewplanor…"

Bone daggers flew at the group, and Zippy ran for it, even as Jinx pulled Nightwalker out of the way…

As Sil flew at them, claws slashing. The first slash caught Jinx's hair, slicing her head bands, and the second caught Nightwalker as he shoved Jinx out of the way and took the slash for her. The claws pierced through his torso, digging into his gut, and Sil shrieked as she prepared for the evisceration…

Which allowed Nightwalker to shove his right orb launcher in her mouth.

"EAT ME!"

The blasts exploded out of Sil's head, the inner tissue apparently softer then the outer, and Sil reeled back, wailing, black blood pouring from her mouth and skull…as Zippy ran past her, stopped, and then ran forward, grabbing Sil along the way and running straight across the room where she slammed Sil chest and face first into the wall. Blood sprayed.

"Are you all right?" Jinx asked, as Nightwalker fell to one knee, gripping his stomach.

"Armor…took most of it…she just managed…a few flesh wounds…" Nightwalker growled. He also noted to himself that his orb launchers weren't meant for such close range shots and he was lucky it hadn't exploded on his arm, as Zippy ran back to them.

"Youok?"

"Yeah I'll just…FUCK!" Nightwalker cursed, as Sil bounded across the room, refusing to stay down despite everything that was happening. Zippy jerked her head around, and her eyes narrowed.

"Knockherintotheair!"

"Wh…" Jinx said, but Zippy was already gone. "What did she…"

"You heard her!" Nightwalker said, as he dodged away from Sil, tentacles lashing where he had just been. He fired at her from the left orb launcher, which Sil dodged: the orb splattered against the wall and the acid within began to eat another hole in it, as Sil snapped out her tentacles and grabbed Nightwalker, hoisting him above her as she prepared to draw and quarter him…

Nightwalker's new blade snapped out and slashed, severing one tentacle and badly slicing another. Her grip severely compromised, not to mention the pain, Sil turned more of her attention to Nightwalker, and hence left herself open as Jinx ran in, wielding a piece of wood she'd gotten from somewhere, as she slammed it across her chest and head, and as Sil turned her attention back to Jinx Nightwalker sliced through the last tentacles, which released him…as Jinx wound up and did a golf club like swing across Sil's face, even as Nightwalker dropped down, grabbed Sil by the shoulders, jammed his foot into the small of her back, and fell backwards, the impact and throw combining to toss Sil skyward.

As Zippy ran past them, her form a blur, and began to spin. Jinx suddenly found the hair on her arms and head standing straight up: the air was utterly charged with static electricity.

And then Nightwalker grabbed her and pulled her away.

"We need to get clear! And hang on to something!" Nightwalker said, as Zippy spun even faster, and a whirlwind of air began to form, a whirlwind crackling with electrical power that had seized Sil and was now battering away at her helpless form: Nightwalker's cutting of her tentacles kept her from shooting out and getting hold of solid ground, as Nightwalker and Jinx ran across the room and seized hold of a wall rack that served some unknown purpose, the air trying to suck them in as Sil shrieked and thrashed.

And then the tornado slammed her into the ceiling, and again, and again, and then into the walls, and then into the ceiling again, even as the electricity grew fiercer and fiercer…

And then abruptly shorted out, as Sil plummeted to the ground, landing with a sickening crack.

Zippy was suddenly next to the pair, collapsing to her knees, utterly exhausted.

"That was…my last big move…I am…down to fumes." Zippy said, and Nightwalker believed her: Zippy was so drained she was actually talking normally.

"…Oh no." Jinx said, and Nightwalker didn't even have to look to know what was happening: Sil was getting up. She just would not stay down.

But Nightwalker had fully expected that, as he ejected his right gauntlet clip and slammed in his last acid rounds. Sil might have started moving again, but even she wouldn't be back up and springing around in two seconds.

Which left her a prime target as Nightwalker's helmet locked onto her rising form.

"A little gift from Giger." Nightwalker said, and fired.

The acid orbs all hit her at the same time, utterly covering her, and she shrieked as the immensely powerful castic began to eat into her form, melting through her armor, burning through her muscles and organs, as she collapsed in agony, starting to melt.

Nightwalker lowered his arm, ejecting the clip, and then slapped another one in.

"Female of the species." Nightwalker said, and snorted derisively. Jinx whacked him on the shoulder. "Ow! What?"

"You'd never have been able to do that without us."

"Well that goes without saying."

"I need some food…and maybe…a nap…" Zippy gasped.

"Sure thing Sal. We'll…" Jinx said, and then the color drained out of her face. Nightwalker blinked, and then it hit him.

"Impossible…" He said, turning and looking.

The acid pool had eaten through the floor, but Sil was no longer crouched there. She'd pulled herself free, and now lay on more solid ground, the acid having severely burned her…but it had stopped.

And it had started growing back, as Nightwalker goggled at the sight. This was insane. Even if you could heal, one couldn't just pull new forms of mass out of nowhere. You needed a source, you needed…logic.

Which horror films rarely if ever functioned under. And they were playing by its rules.

"…Oh shit." Nightwalker said.

"What do we do?" Jinx said. Nightwalker glanced at Zippy, and then at Sil, and then around the room.

"…Sal! We can't keep fighting, not like this! Jinx and I will hold her off: you open one of the doors and get us out of here! You got enough left to do that?"

"…Yeah. Hellyeah." Zippy said, as she shoved herself to her feet.

"Then do it! Jinx, GO! Don't give her time to fully grow back!" Nightwalker said, as he charged, Jinx at his heels, as Zippy's eyes darted around the room.

And realized there were two doors.

And she had no idea which one to pick.

---

Their potential escape route sealed by the terrified Billy Numerous, the remaining Hive drones, along with Flay and Flense, also has a few different doors to choose from if they wanted to make an escape. However, they had bigger problems.

"Argggggggggghhhhhhhh!" Patrick said, as he withdrew a handgun and blew the silver sphere that had dug into his leg right off, leaving the blades stuck in his shin armor as he got his main gun back up and tried to defend himself from the swooping death machines.

In a series of rapid whip cracks, Flay dropped five more spheres, but seven took their place. The Hive drones Belinda and Kane blasted three of them, but the four closed in…until Flay slashed his fire whip forward and spun it in a circle, forming a wheel of fire the spheres flew into. Confused and distorted by the flames, they found nothing on the other side, as Flay had rolled forward and was bringing his fire whip back around, knocking all four from the air in one masterful slash.

The Tall Man would be impressed if he was inclined that way. He usually only needed a handful of Sentinels to deal with any problems his servants couldn't seem to handle: this group was holding off the whole legion of them. But not for long.

"Son of a…!" Flense snapped as a whirring buzzsaw sphere clipped his shoulder, even as another swooped in for his head. Twin tendrils intercepted it, the drills sawing through the sphere and sending it crashing to the ground. Leaping away, as his computer rapidly tracked and locked onto a series of targets, Flense ran for the wall, leapt off it, and flew into the air, where he snapped his arms out and a dozen metal tentacles flew out, all of them smashing through spheres.

While another one rammed into his chest, knocking Flense back to the ground with a 'whoof', as the drill emerged and began sawing into Flense's chest piece.

"Little fucker!" Flense said, grabbing the sphere. "I CAN'T FIX THAT!" Flense yelled as he slammed the sphere into the ground, smashing it. Flipping to his feet, Flense lashed out three tendrils, knocking more spheres down and out. But even more came: there was still a great number sitting on the ceiling.

"We can't fight here! We need to…" Belinda yelled out, as she blew away two more spheres…and suddenly found the Tall Man standing in front of her.

"Hello ugly." Belinda said, and opened fire.

Only a few bullets hit, which the Tall Man didn't even seem to notice, as he lifted his hand. Belinda suddenly found a crushing pressure wrapped around her throat, cutting off her air, lifting her right off the ground as her gun clattered to her feet.

"You fight so hard against the inevitable." The Tall Man said. "Now or later, you belong to ME."

Flense's tendrils lashed around the Tall Man's forearm.

"DROP HER YOU DAMN EVIL BUTLER!" Flense yelled, and yanked, his blades digging in as he ripped the Tall Man's lower arm clean off. Belinda dropped to the ground, gasping, even as her eyes fixed on what was coming from the wound. It wasn't blood: it was some kind of yellow goo, splattering on the floor. Despite having lost an arm, the Tall Man didn't seem very much inconvenienced, as he turned towards Flense.

"It appears more of your malapert blood needs draining." The Tall Man said, and at his words more spheres sprang from the ceiling and made their way for Flense, at least fifty of them.

"SHIT!" Flense snarled, leaping backwards and lashing with his metal tentacles, the blades sawing and carving through the mass, but even Flense couldn't drop all of them, as Belinda snatched up her gun and dove away from three spheres coming after her.

"Patrick, Shane, cover the kid! Kane, get us out of here! Robert, you cover him! Flay!"

"On it!" Flay said, reading Belinda's mind as he swapped out his fire whip for his other electric/sonic one, and then reared back and slammed them together, setting off a dull shockwave that hurt everyone's ears and caused all the spheres near Flay to veer widely out of control and crash and burn.

But he wasn't close enough to Flense, as the spheres were on him, stabbing and sawing, Flense screaming as he tried to keep them off, one of them slicing open his chin with a long arm saw blade while three more rammed into his chest and stomach, and as Flense tore at them another swooped in and pierced its blades into the upper right side of his skull. The wound was very shallow though, as Flense reached out, snarling, and clawed at the sphere, yanking it out just before the drill hit skin and throwing it away, as the Hive drones tried to lessen the number of spheres attacking Flense, but they were too late, as more pierced into his chest and shoulders…

And then a golden sphere flew in front of him and cut loose with a positron blast, the impact blowing off against Flense's chest apparatus, and as Flense stumbled back from the impact, his outfit having kept him from dying but still devastated all the less, two more spheres flew in, one slamming into his knee while another planted itself right between his eyes.

And then Flense hit the fence barrier of the elevator hole and toppled over it, falling over and into the darkness, screaming all the way down until his cries faded completely.

"…Aw crap." Flay said, and then to add insult to injury, he noticed the impact blow had burned out one of his electric/sonic whips, and with a muffled curse he dropped it as he brought the other one up to protect himself from new attacks.

"Fuck! We can't stay here! KID, WE ARE LEAVING!" Belinda yelled.

"If you say so!" Flay snapped, cracking two more spheres from the air, as he ran for where Belinda was heading, even as she ran herself, Shane providing covering fire.

And then his gun ran dry. Shane immediately dropped it and yanked out twin handguns, blowing away any spheres that came close.

Movement to his left. Shane glanced, and saw the expressionless face of the Tall Man, and jerked a gun to aim at him…

Which left him wide open, as a golden sphere flew in, buzzsaws whirring, and sliced Shane's throat from ear to ear. Shane let out a confused gurgle, and then collapsed, dead.

"Ah fuck we lost Shane!" Patrick yelled.

"You're a master of understatement there Pat! Let's move before AIYYYYYEEEEE!" Belinda screamed as SOMETHING leapt up, gnashing at her face, and she realized it was the Tall Man's severed arm, changed into some kind of toothy monster that apparently like the spheres wanted a first hand look at her brain, as she dropped her gun and grabbed at the creature, trying to keep it away.

"Chief!" Patrick said, trying to get a bead on the entity.

"Forget it! Just GO!" Belinda said, and Patrick hesitated for a second, and then ran for it, as the thing lunged forward, actually gnawing on the top of Belinda's nose…

And then a whip curled around its 'wrist'.

"Ash did it first…" Flay snarled as he yanked backwards, pulling the hand-creature away even as he snapped back the whip in his other hand. "AND HE DID IT BETTER!" Flay snarled, bringing his charged electric/sonic whip down on the hand, blowing it to bits in a spray of yellow fluid. And then, much to Belinda's amazement, he actually took the time (in his case 1 ½ seconds) to yank out another whip, grab her gun with it, and somehow yank it up into her hands.

"…Thanks." She said.

"Anti-grav whip. Brought it along just in case. Never know when…" Flay began, and then Belinda raised her gun and blew away a sphere that was shooting up behind Flay. "Right, bad time to talk."

"GOT IT!" Kane yelled, as the door he was working on slid open.

"Ok let's go let's go!" Belinda yelled, as she and Flay ran for the door, spheres on her heels…until Belinda threw her gun into the air, turned as she yanked out twin grenades, tossed them, turned around, and continued running as her gun fell back into her hands and the grenades blew up in mid-air, scattering the spheres, as Patrick ran through the open door, then Flay, then Belinda, then Kane the cracker, and finally Robert, who had been covering Kane, as he slapped the door closing button without turning around to do so.

As a sphere flew from the smoke and impaled itself right in the back of his neck. Robert jerked, and tried to pry it off, but it was too late, as the sphere drilled into his spine, Robert pitching forward onto the ground…

And then a whip smashed the sphere off and into a wall, where a burst of gunfire blew it away.

Kane crouched down next to Robert, feeling for a pulse. He shook his head after a few seconds, and Flay's hands tightened on the whip he was coiling back around himself. So much death…

"We can mourn him later. We have to get out of here, find reinforcements, anything but hang around. Move." Belinda said, and the group silently headed off.

Back in the room, the Tall Man looked at the closed door, even as he held out his severed arm and, with some unpleasant gurgling noises, a new hand emerged from the arm of his suit: Flense had somehow ripped off his arm without damaging the actual clothing. The Tall Man slowly closed and opened the fingers once, as his spheres whirred around him.

"They only believe they have escaped." The Tall Man said.

And then, as if the Tall Man had willed it, the door opened up again.

The Tall Man hadn't.

And he didn't question it, as he slowly started walking.

---

While Flay and his fellows fled the Tall Man, and Flense had plunged to an unknown fate, the remaining member of the former trio rounded a corner, even as he flipped over and aimed.

The spheres flew around the corner, and Buzz Bomb blew another one out of the sky, but there were at least nine left, and they kept after him, dodging Buzz Bomb's two follow up shots, as he whirled 180 degrees to look where he was going again…

And found he was heading straight for an open door.

"AHHHHHH!"

Buzz Bomb flew in, and a loud sound of crashing followed, as all the spheres flew in after him…

As Buzz Bomb flipped down from above the door, where he had hid, knowing the room was coming up, and having prepared by tossing several mini grenades in, which had made the crashes as they slammed into and knocked into stuff, as Buzz Bomb flew back out the door and took off down to the left, as he snapped out a detonator and pressed it.

A massive explosion blasted from the door, knocking Buzz Bomb to the ground. He shoved himself and whirled around, lasers at the ready in case anything emerged from the room.

But nothing emerged except tongues of fire. Buzz Bomb had successfully blown up his pursuers.

"AH HAH!" Buzz Bomb laughed. "Thought you were the big time, eh? That you had the old Buzz! But you gotta get up pretty early in the morning to put one over 'Thee Man, Bee Man', and brother, you didn't get up early…"

And as Buzz Bomb gloated while backing up, an arm fell on his shoulder.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Buzz Bomb screamed like a little girl as he immediately fell down and crouched into a fetal ball. "NOTINTHEFACE! NOTINTHEFACE!"

"Get up you idiot." Mammoth growled.

"Wait…I know that voice!" Buzz Bomb said as he removed his arms from around his head. "MAMMOTH! You're a sight for sore eyes!" Buzz Bomb said, as he leapt up and actually hugged the giant.

Mammoth slammed Buzz Bomb lightly into a wall for that.

"Ohhhhhhh…so nice to see my joy reciprocated." Buzz Bomb said.

"Move or it lose it moron. I don't have the time to wait around for you." Mammoth said, stomping off, as Buzz Bomb picked himself up and flew after him.

"Mammoth my good friend! Do you happen to have some batteries?"

"Shaddup!"

"Yessir!"

"I found the source of the noise." Mammoth said as he entered the latest training room, which was one of the far central ones.

"Company! So glad I don't have to escape with this Neanderthal!" Buzz Bomb said, as he looked at Shimmer and Rhinoceros Beetle.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?" Mammoth yelled.

"I said I'm glad I don't have a cape or else I'd fall." Buzz Bomb quipped. Mammoth glared at the insect-suited teen for a bit, and then turned back to his sister and 'friend'.

"Enough farting around. We need to get out of here."

"Baran, we SHOULD have been out of here a long time ago! We're going in circles!" Shimmer complained.

"No we're not! We're just in a crisis, the territory seems unfamiliar because of it…"

"Do you have batteries?" Buzz Bomb asked Rhinoceros Beetle. Wilby shook his head.

"Selinda, calm down. I WILL get us out of here." Mammoth growled in his latest response to his sister's argument.

"Maybe you can't! Maybe you should let someone else try!"

Mammoth snorted.

"Someone else? Like who? Wilby? That kook?"

"Better then…" Shimmer replied, and then her eyes spied something. A familiar kitten, which had emerged from a nearby door, looking a bit stunned and weary.

"Mittens!" Shimmer squealed with joy, and ran for the kitten. "I knew you'd come back! Come here puss! Come…"

Mittens suddenly whirled around, all his fur standing on end as he hissed at something behind him.

The machete swung down, but the agility named for felines saved Mittens again as he leapt away, and even as Shimmer stopped in horror, her feet slipping out from under here in the process, Mittens beat feet, running away and down the hallway Mammoth and Buzz Bomb had just emerged from.

As the massive figure emerged from the doorway, towering over the girl.

Uberjason looked like hell, his body a patchwork of repairs, as his reactivated nanomachines tried to lessen their load during their own repairs by incorporating the materials around Uberjason to fix his form. But he was still fixed up and rarin' to go again, his fiery red eyes blazing at Shimmer, who screamed.

"Holy shit!" Rhinoceros Beetle yelled. "Jason!"

Uberjason looked down at Shimmer, and then started raising his machete again…

And then Mammoth's fist slammed into him, throwing him back down the hallway he had emerged from.

"Come on!" Mammoth said, as he scooped his sister up and ran away. "Wilby, get us out of here!"

"What?"

"You always knew all the door codes, get us out of here!" Mammoth yelled.

"What, oh…right." Wilby said, and transformed back into his normal small form, as he ran over to the opposite door and began punching in the codes.

Uberjason had slid past a hallway that crossed across his, forming a plus sign, and he lay there for a bit before he got up, cracking his neck, and starting back down the hallway…

And stopped.

Someone else was there. A new figure.

He was roughly Uberjason's height and build, but while Uberjason now wore armor of metal and plastic molded into his nigh-indestructible flesh, this figure was dressed simply in a blue boiler suit, and wore a white mark with black hair, emotionless eyes peering from the mask. In one hand he clutched a long knife.

The two stared at each other, Uberjason's eyes blazing, the other's never showing a whit of emotion.

And then loud banging noises began coming from down the hallway, as Mammoth apparently got tired of waiting and tried to open the door the only way he knew.

The figure's eyes glanced behind him a bit, noting the noise. Uberjason's expression did not change, but something in his poise spoke all the same: These are my victims. Go find your own.

The pairs of eyes remained locked, neither side giving an inch.

And then Uberjason moved, stepping around the figure and walking down the hallway.

And the figure allowed it, as it turned slightly and watched Uberjason stalk after his prey, and then turned his head and started walking down the hallway again.

Two masters allowing each other the chance to hunt prey. Once all the prey was gone, perhaps they would hunt each other.

"Baran, knock it off! You'll activate the door magnets and then I won't be able to open the door at all!" Wilby yelled, as he put in one more code…

And the door opened, much to Mammoth's surprise.

"…Well. Ok then…"

"AHHHHH!" Buzz Bomb screamed, and Mammoth jerked his head around as Uberjason emerged from the hallway again.

"Fuck!" Mammoth cursed, and considered just running for it. Then a voice in his head piped up, noting that if he did that, Uberjasan might just teleport in front of them like famous horror slashers always did and take them by surprise. It might be better if he took the bastard down.

Yeah, he liked that option better anyway, as he stepped forward, cracking his knuckles.

"Ohgodit'sJasonwe'reallgonnadiehe'llkillusallkillusall…!" Buzz Bomb shrieked as he ran in circles.

"Wilby, you protect my sister! One single hair gets harmed, I'll rip you apart myself!" Mammoth growled. "Buzz Bomb!"

"We'redoomeddoomeddooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo…"

Mammoth's blow almost seemed to compact Buzz Bomb like an accordion.

"STOP THAT! ATTACK!"

"Aye aye sir!" Buzz Bomb said, saluting. "Ya milk drinkin' spandex wearin' knuckle draggin' insult to pachyderms."

"WHAT?"

"I said uh…INCOMING!" Buzz Bomb said, as he took to the air, as Jason strode in and swung his machete at Mammoth.

Mammoth dodged away and uppercuted Uberjason so hard he was flung into the air, where Buzz Bomb flew in and kicked him…and then yelled and began air dancing while holding his foot as Uberjason crashed into the ground.

"Ugh. Brother, you always were…" Shimmer said, before Wilby stumbled a bit, leaning against the wall. "Wilby? Are you ok?"

"…Inhaler…asthma…" Wilby gasped, and Shimmer recalled that Wilby was indeed prone to asthma under stress. And he was clearly terrified of who had shown up, as he fumbled in the pockets of his Hive robe. Shimmer helped, though Wilby found it first, jamming it in his mouth and inhaling. He took several more deep breaths, then relaxed a bit, even as Uberjason, back up, stabbed at Mammoth, who again showed surprising grace and dodged aside, lacing his hands together and, with blows that rang through the room, slammed them across Uberjason's face, then down on his head, and then around and up against his head and upper body, sending him flying again.

"Hah! You're all rep and no step, dead man! Your normal moves won't work on me! I snack on danger and dine on death!" Mammoth snarled.

"Yeah, and I…uh…ingest…calamity…or…damn it why do I always have to go after the good quips?" Buzz Bomb complained, and opened fire on Uberjason from above, barraging him with lasers. Uberjason got up, even though he was clearly affected by the barrage.

"Ha ha ha! You can't get me up here!" Buzz Bomb taunted, as he flew around and continued his assault, as Mammoth charged in again.

Uberjason threw his machete at him, forcing Mammoth to dodge aside, as the machete flew on and through the open door that had been Mammoth's planned escape route, and even as he did Uberjason reached for his belt and removed a handle, a familiar looking handle.

Gizmo really shouldn't have left his broken weapon sitting on Uberjason's chest.

As Uberjason stabbed the metalliplastic weapon up and the liquid metal blade shot out, extending twenty feet through the air in a giant thin knife that stabbed into Buzz Bomb's abdomen and stopped him dead, and as Buzz Bomb yelled Uberjason yanked his arm sideways and swung Buzz Bomb across the room and into the opposing wall with a thud, the armored teen tumbling to the ground as the weapon retracted.

As Mammoth seized the monster, lifting his form up like he weighed nothing and then slamming Uberjason down on his knee, back first. Mammoth's face grimaced at the blow, but he still had plenty of strength to lift Uberjason up and slam him head first into the ground. Flexing his legs, Mammoth leapt up into the air and came crashing down feet first on the monster…

Who snapped up his arm, as the blade extended again and stabbed up Mammoth's side, impaling under his armpit and going straight through his arm, nicking the bone as it burst out of his shoulder. Mammoth bellowed in pain, staggering off as Uberjason retracted the blade.

"BARAN!" Shimmer screamed, and tried to run for her brother, and then found massive hands encircling her: Wilby had transformed back into his giant form when she wasn't looking.

"No Selinda! I said I'd protect you!"

"But my brother!"

"He's tough! You can't just charge in! Come on, we'll go, but be careful!" Rhinoceros Beetle said, as the two of them crept around the room. Rhinoceros Beetle was only able to rein Shimmer in because Mammoth didn't seem badly hurt: yeah, blood was running down his arm, but he looked far more mad then hurt, as he backhanded Uberjason, knocking him off his feet again. Uberjason got up, as the morph weapon surged out and formed into a giant axe, an axe Uberjason swung in a giant overhead swing.

Mammoth clapped his hands on the weapon, stopping it, and then kneeing Uberjason in the chest, doubling him over from the impact, and then slammed his hands down on his back, hammering the slasher into the ground.
"Ah nuts!" Buzz Bomb cursed as he finished trying to repair his impaled abdomen. It was no good though: his jets were toast. That left him his wings to fly, which made him considerably slower. But his abdomen had more then jets: it also had all his bomb making materials, as he yanked several pieces out.

"EAT-DIRT-YOU-FUCKING-LUNATIC-AND-STAY-DOWN!" Mammoth snarled, repeatedly stomping on Uberjason's head…and forgetting the morph weapon again, as Uberjason brought it up, the end forming into a hook that caught on Mammoth's leg and ripped a wide gash across the upper thigh. Mammoth bellowed, staggering back as fresh blood flowed. So far Uberjason hadn't managed to slice an important muscle or cut an artery, but it still hurt like a mofo.

"Maybe…you're not…LISTENING!" Mammoth growled as Uberjason got up again. "I SAID, STAY DOWN!"

Mammoth didn't kick very often, but in his case, he would have done a soccer player proud, as Uberjason took his billionth trip through the air and through the door that Wilby had managed to open.

"Yeah, that's right." Mammoth said.

"Baran!" Shimmer said as she ran up to her brother.

"I'm fine Selinda. They look worse then they feel." Mammoth semi-lied. "But would you mind doing that blood clotting trick again?"

"…Sure big brother. Sure." Shimmer said, as she concentrated. Having already done it once, the second time was a bit easier, as she managed to fix Mammoth's wounds a little.

"All right. Wilby, you and Shimmer stay here. I'm going after that bastard."

"What? Mammoth, no! You could be killed!" Wilby protested.

"And if we just leave, that fucking dead man will just come out of nowhere and try and get us later. I'm getting rid of him NOW, even if I have to personally smash open the gates of hell and shove him through them." Mammoth snapped. "Buzz Bomb, follow me! You know the drill!"

"Yeah yeah yeah…" Buzz Bomb said, as he slowly hovered up and flew after Mammoth, not taking his eyes off his work.

---

Nightwalker danced in as he fired one punch, then another, into Sil's face, and then dodged outward as Sil attempted to claw him. The hybrid's acid bath had severely weakened her and her armor, but Nightwalker could tell it was growing firmer by the second, and when it finished hitting Sil would hurt him more then it would her. So he and Jinx had to do as much damage as possible in that timeframe and hope Zippy had cracked the door she had chosen before then.

Jinx leapt in, landed, did a three spinning kick combo, and then spun away. Too many blows, as Sil reached out and 'slapped' Jinx as she tried to escape, catching her, on all places, across her rear. Jinx yelled as Sil managed to get a small bit of flesh in her swipe, the wound burning, not to mention the humiliation, as she whirled and fired several hex blasts at the monster. Nightwalker added in two orb shots that blew apart Sil's right knee and blew a hole in her chest, and the monster fell, shrieking.

"Uh…maybeitwasSebastion…?" Zippy said to herself as she tried to remember the door code. It came back as a negative: Zippy groaned to herself. She was too used to security punching in the codes for her, she could never keep all of them straight on her own.

"Uh, maybeitwasBennett…?"

ERROR WRONG CODE.

"Ohscrewthis, I'lljustdoitlikeFranksaid." Zippy said, and indeed did it her way as she began rapidly punching in code after code, entering nearly 300 different combinations a second as she worked her way up.

It took her nine seconds before it worked.

"Yes!" Zippy said, as the door slid open. "Guys I…no." Zippy whispered.

She'd picked the wrong door. It didn't open to escape. Instead it opened to the abandoned training room, even as Nightwalker leapt in with a kick…

And a tentacle fired from Sil's body and grabbed him, hurling him into Jinx, even as Zippy turned around.

"GuysI…"

Sil leapt at Zippy, screaming, and as Zippy screamed in turn the hybrid slammed into her, sending her tumbling into the room in a snarling mass. Sil apparently held killing Zippy in higher regard then the other two, and once she'd knocked them down, she'd taken the chance to go for a then standing still Zippy, trying to claw her face off. She got a knee to the face instead, knocking her off Zippy, but not for long, as she did a quick backflip and slashed down with her arm-blade. Zippy in turn backflipped out of the way, and the bone sword, still weakened from the acid bath Sil had taken, hit the ground and snapped off with a wail of pain from the hybrid, which allowed Zippy to wail on HER, as she ran in and blitzed Sil with another barrage of furious kicks before spinning around and doing an upwards reverse heel thrust kick that slammed under Sil's chin and sent her flying another few feet. She landed hard, bits and pieces of armor breaking off of her, but she was back up and going for Zippy before the young girl could make any distance, her talons stopped inches from Zippy's throat.

In the other room, Nightwalker and Jinx had gotten back up and run for the doorway, where Nightwalker had strangely stopped Jinx, even as Zippy did her kick combo, for all the good it did her.

"What are you doing?" Jinx yelled.

"This room's too small with all those damn things stacked at the end: we're more likely to get in each other's way."

"But Zippy needs help!"

"I'm working on that." Nightwalker said, as he raised his left arm and aimed into the room.

"What are you doing?"

"Got one acid orb left. I would have shot it down Sil's throat the first chance I had but the angle was all wrong. This time I won't miss that chance. And with what I did earlier, this WILL melt her head, and nothing I know can kept going when its head is gone."

"But Zippy…"

Zippy used her immensely powerful legs to flip Sil over her and into the nearest giant fuel canister, and then ran up next to her, leapt off, and kicked Sil across the head, Matrix style.

"Can handle herself."

Sil's tentacles lashed out, grabbing hold of Zippy. A muffled, surprised curse came from Nightwalker, and he lowered his left arm as he raised his right, firing several shots across that room that ripped through the tentacles and allowed Zippy to pull herself free, after which she proceeded to punch Sil another few dozen times.

"Shit. I keep forgetting Zippy's not a Speed Force user. She can't turn her speed on and off effortlessly like Hermes can, she needs to build up to it. The cramped conditions are forcing her to try and speed burst anyway, and it's already worn her out, she should have been able to dodge that tentacle grab." Nightwalker said, raising his left arm again.

"Ok…so what do we do?"

"Stay out of the way and wait for my computer to properly lock…" Nightwalker said.

And then Sil sprang away from a Zippy attack, clamped onto the wall, sprang for the ceiling, crawled across, and came back down to the floor, less then ten feet away from the pair. And she didn't look happy to see them either.

"Ack!" Jinx said.

"Might want to hex her, might want to hex her…!" Nightwalker growled under his breath, as Sil leapt for them, claws flashing…

Zippy grabbed her in mid air and leaned backwards, slamming Sil into the ground in a wrestling maneuver known as the German suplex, but as Sil bounced from the impact Zippy raced behind her and did it again, and again, and again, smashing a series of dents in the floor across the whole room before Zippy threw Sil into another fuel tank, denting the side and sending a spray of black ichor splashing across it.

"Perfect." Nightwalker said, as all the variables fell into place and Zippy dashed away for another blow. "Said goodnight, Gracie."
Nightwalker fired.

And a tentacle shot from Sil's chest and crossed the entire room, grabbing Nightwalker's arm in mid trigger pull, much to his immense surprise.

"WHAT THE…!"

The orb fired, but the course had been altered, and instead of her head, the marble slammed into the fuel tank side, some acid drops spraying on Sil, but not enough, even as Nightwalker cursed and slashed his way through the tentacle that was holding him, as Zippy dashed in for another attack, still going despite her exhaustion…

And then a dull groan filled the air, as Nightwalker looked up from the task he had been doing to where his orb had landed.

"Oh no."

The tank burst, reddish-black fuel spraying out in an immense torrent. Sil was drenched immediately, and Zippy, running in to attack, barely had time to put on the brakes before she herself was covered in fuel, as the pressure caused the hole to open up even wider and pump out even more fuel that spilled all over the floor.

Zippy collapsed, clutching her eyes, as Sil tried to move and found her feet flying out from under her, as she landed on her back with a crash. Nightwalker cursed again, even as he hunted for another ammo clip, finding it, snapping it in, and aiming at Zippy. He fired, striking Zippy in the chest, and a thick cloud of white powder poofed over here, power that swiftly swelled up as it absorbed the fuel. Zippy managed to clear her eyes, then shook her head, sending the foamy substance spraying around like a dog.

"That's convenient." Jinx commented.

"You never know when clogging some bastard's toxic waste shooting gun will be useful." Nightwalker replied. "ZIPPY! WATCH…"

Zippy tried to stand up and then slipped, falling on her side, even as Sil tried to leapt off the fuel covered floor and seize onto a wall, but her whole body was covered with the stuff and her claws couldn't catch, as she crashed down on the ground again after failing to grip another one of the fuel tanks, as Zippy tried to get up again and fell on her rear.

"Damn. The shit's worse then oil." Nightwalker said, as the fuel continued to fill the room.

Sil finally got to her feet, and with a shriek she launched herself at Zippy, who was immediately knocked down, the two of them sliding across the floor and hitting the wall. Zippy ducked under the claw swipe and pushed off, sliding away from Sil again, as Sil whirled around, got up, and then fell down again. Zippy stopped, carefully got to her feet, and then tried to run. She promptly fell on her face.

"We need a new plan!" Jinx yelled.

"Thinking, THINKING."

"Can we ignite the fuel to kill Sil?"

"Sure, let's blow up enough fuel to blast half this building into oblivion."

"What if we closed the door?"

Nightwalker thought that over.

"Too risky. The training rooms were built from scratch and hence made of much sterner stuff then the old school, but there's no guarantee…"

Sil sprang up the wall, bounced off, and lunged at Zippy, who managed to dodge and fell on her face again. She staggered up, her legs rubbery.

"Sil's adapting faster then Zippy! We need to do something!"

"Something or the best thing?" Nightwalker asked, as Zippy got up and tried to run a few steps, and then fell flat on her rear again. Sil took the chance and sprang, but Zippy reared up her legs and bicycled them, which was roughly the equivalent of Sil jumping into a jackhammer. She hit the fuel tank near the hole, a fresh gush of fuel spraying on her body.

"Why are we still standing here?" Jinx asked.

"Because…!"

And then Sil sprang up, set her legs, and thrust out her arm.

And the tentacle extended out, once again going across the whole room, catching Nightwalker by surprise as he'd thought Sil would need more time to recharge before she pulled such a stunt.

And Jinx hadn't been expecting it at all, as the tentacle wrapped around her and dug in, jerking Jinx forward as she screamed. She hammered on the tentacle, clawing at it with her nails, and then remembered her knife, as she dug at her pockets, forgetting where it was, seizing on the first thing she found…

The detonation device Nightwalker had also given her. Still in the grip of panic, she transformed it into a bludgeon as she hammered on the tentacle with it…

Then Zippy ran up behind Sil, elbowing her in the back of the head, and then managed to kick her down before slipping again, and as the tentacle slackened Nightwalker came up behind Jinx and cut the tendril in one quick swipe.

As the detonator began beeping rapidly. Jinx stared at it, realizing what she had done.

And did the knee jerk thing any person who realized they were holding a live bomb did: get rid of it, as she hurled it away.

"NO!" Nightwalker screamed, trying to grab it and failing as the detonator flew into the room and splashed down near a corner. "YOU COULD TURN IT OFF IF YOU ACTIVATED IT!"

"…Oops." Jinx said in sheer horror, as Nightwalker grabbed Jinx and ran with all the speed pure panic could muster: fortunately Sil hadn't dragged Jinx over the fuel puddle yet, as Nightwalker and Jinx ran past the door.

"What button did you press?"

"Uh, the middle one?"

"Shit! ZIPPY GET OUT HERE! YOU HAVE SIX SECONDS!" Nightwalker screamed again. Zippy reared up, but as she started to run a pair of claws reached up and sank deep into her calf, and she screamed and fell down again.

"Fuck. God forgive me." Nightwalker said, and stepped over and hit the door close button. Jinx's eyes widened in horror.

"What are you doing? She'll die!"

"And if the bomb blows with this door open we'll ALL die." Nightwalker said grimly, as the door began to slide shut.

Zippy saw it closing, and one final blaze of adrenaline surged through her system as she sprang up, even as Sil's tentacles reached for her, trying to rip open her guts and pull her heart from her throat…

Zippy grabbed them and tied them in a knot, fired fifty punches into Sil's face, and then leaped up and did a flipping kick across her face, knocking Sil down with a scream as Zippy flipped over, landed…

And slipped again.

The door continued sliding close. There was less then two feet left.

And Zippy realized she wouldn't make it. Her speed wasn't enough, and the conditions were horrible. She was going to die.

…Good. Things had to be made right. The whole team had to go. There was either an Elementals or there was nothing. She was just correcting the balance.

Just…

"Remember class, this is a world where very few of you can make it on your own. You have to watch out for each other. Giving up on others is the same as giving up on yourself, and vice versa. And those who give up…well, you're stealing the money and the jewels and the whatnot from them. They don't deserve them for giving up, so we take them. Because in that kind of apathy, you don't even deserve to die."

Scorcher's words…

…She wouldn't just lay back and let it happen. It would go against everything she had been taught.

But even if she didn't want to surrender to the seeming inevitable, she didn't know what to do. She just wasn't fast enough…

Hell, she heard that all the time. She was a speedster? Hah hah. Hermes left her in the dust in every test. Cauterize held such little respect for her that he'd outright ignored her when the Elementals had tried to take him in. And it was the Flash who was the fastest man alive, who had the legacy of speed. She could just run fast, and that would…

Do. Because it always had. Maybe not for her peers, maybe not for her rivals, but maybe in the grand stage! Screw the Speed Force! Screw lightspeed! She was Zippy, and damn it, SHE-WAS-FAST!

The door had a foot left…

And the bomb blew, even as Sil got to her feet. The fuel ignited immediately, flashing across the ground…licking Zippy's heels, as she dug deep down inside herself and ran, ran to save herself, ran to defy the odds, ran to defy reality, ran because she was the fast Elemental and SHE COULD DAMN WELL RUN…!

The girl blitzed past Jinx and Nightwalker, throwing them backwards from the windshear, as the door slammed shut.

And Sil turned her head even as the ground ignited around her and flame traveled back into the still concentrated fuel tank. Her scream echoed in the room.

And then was swallowed by the roar as the tank blew and the entire room was consumed in purifying flame, burning Sil's cells right out of existence as well as her final cry, as the tanks blew one after another and multiplied the power of the blast, and the doors and walls of the room the three lay in bulged out dangerously before the fire found an easier exit, the roof, and exploded out in a massive mushroom cloud of fire, striking the shield and cracking against it as it belched everywhere…and faded back. A few more blasts spurted from the ruined building section, but the blast had in the end been contained as best it could.

Bits and pieces of wreckage finished raining on Nightwalker and Jinx, who realized they were entangled again, Nightwalker on top this time.

"You know if I was a fool I would have sworn someone was trying to tell us something." Nightwalker commented.

"…Really?" Jinx said, a tad breathy.

"I'm not a fool though." Nightwalker said, as he got up and helped Jinx up. "Zippy? You ok? That was…oh no." Nightwalker said, as he saw where Zippy was lying. She'd managed one final blast, but it had had very little control: enough to get through the door, but not enough to fully put on the brakes, and hence she'd charged right into the opposite wall and now lay on the ground, breathing shallowly, her eyes glazed and a thin line of blood running from her forehead.

"Damn." Nightwalker said, jogging over as he pulled a mini flashlight from somewhere. "Zippy? Can you hear me?"

"…Made…" Was all Zippy could muster. He shined the flashlight in her eyes, getting what he thought was a good reaction, but he wasn't a doctor so he really couldn't tell: she could have a concussion or worse.

"Zippy, what's your name? Who's the president?"

"…Sal Marks…an asshole…"

"Is she alright?" Jinx asked.

"Not sure. Zippy, do you know where you are?"

"I know…what I need…bed…tired…so tired…"

"Damn." Nightwalker said. He checked Zippy's neck and found her pulse ok, and then he gestured for Jinx to help him lift the girl.

"My expert medical opinion is that I don't know if letting her rest will do her harm or good, but in either case she's completely helpless. We need to get her to a safe room and then get help. Rocko will probably know something."

"That sounds about as good as we can manage." Jinx said, as she and Nightwalker headed for the lone remaining door…and realizing the keypad was destroyed due to a stray bit of shrapnel. Nightwalker cursed and put Zippy down so he could retrieve the C4 bag and blow it, while Jinx stayed with Zippy, trying to comfort her.

"You got the bitch Zippy. You made sure she stayed in one place long enough to bite it. You won." Jinx said, referring to Sill.

"…Won…no…all dead…all gone…just me…why me…don't deserve this…any of this…I'm bad…I'm…bad…" Zippy babbled to herself. Whatever confidence and will she had mustered to fuel the speed boost, it appeared to have shattered on the wall she'd hit.

In the end, all Jinx could do was stroke her hair.

---

And the creature seized onto Flay's hair as it jumped off the barrels that happened to be stacked near the door and pounced onto his back. Only the fact that Flay was on edge saved him from having a heart attack in surprise, though the creature seemed quite ready to rectify the still living problem as it stabbed a scalpel at his eye. Flay intercepted it, cutting his lower primary finger as he tried to keep the scalpel away from him, even as Belinda, Patrick, and Kane whirled around.

"What the fuck!" Belinda yelled.

As another dwarf, clad in brown-red robes that gave them a remarkable resemblance to Jawas, came out of nowhere, swinging a bone saw at Belinda's ankles.

Too bad for it her boots were armored.

The bone saw clanged off, though it hurt, and as Belinda yelled and stumbled away Kane aimed at the dwarf and blew it away, his high caliber gun blowing the small frame into pieces, the body fountaining not red blood but yellow goo, even as Flay finally got a grip on the dwarf that had attacked him and slammed him on the floor. He stomped his foot, and a knife shot from his footwear, a knife Flay used to eviscerate the dwarf in a gruesome kick, more yellow crud spraying on his boot.

"What the hell are those things!" Patrick yelled, as more emerged from behind various covers and the shadows.

"The guck they bleed didn't tip you off? Flense said the Tall Man had dwarf servants!"

"Yeah but…oh my god." Patrick said, as he stared at one particular dwarf. "That's Phil."

"What?"

"The dwarf! It was Phil! We played cards together!" Patrick said, pointing at one of the approaching midgets, the face he knew now shrunk down and turned a golden hue, barely resembling the man Patrick had known.

And it was charging with another scalpel.

At least until Flay's whip lashed down and caused the dwarf's head to explode with an expert blow combined with an ultrasonic pulse, yellow gore exploding from the body, even as the other dwarves ran in to attack.

"He wasn't Phil any more! None of them are! We have to get out!" Flay yelled as he flipped over the group, and with a lash from his flame whip set three dwarves ablaze. The Hive drones snapped out of it and opened fire, blowing the midgets away as they tried to get close, their choice of weapons no match against what the Hive commanded.

At least until the low humming whir became apparent.

"Fuck! They caught up!" Kane cursed, and turned his gun towards the hallway the four had just come from, blasting three spheres before Belinda grabbed him and yanked him back, the four retreating as more spheres emerged, Flay covering the Hive with a whirling whip shield as Patrick and Belinda blew away a few more dwarves, the four of them finally getting past another door and closing it behind them.

More spheres emerged, swarming around the room, and more, and then the Tall Man entered, slowly, the dwarves looking to their master for orders.

"Patience." The Tall Man said. "They haven't much farther to go."

---

The room Mammoth had smacked Uberjason into was a training room devoted to overcoming difficult terrain. And since Blood had no use for people pussyfooting around, the terrain was actually quite dangerous, with balance beams that stretched over fire, rope climbing with ropes that randomly electrified themselves, and an obstacle course that included flying buzzsaws, swinging axes, and a tightrope walk over a razor sharp bed of spikes. Only the obstacle course was up at the moment…

And Uberjason had found one of the buzzsaw launchers, and having ripped it open, he hurled one of the deadly discs at Mammoth and Buzz Bomb. Buzz Bomb shrieked and dove for cover, while Mammoth tried to also do so, with less success: the buzzsaw slightly clipped his side, opening another stinging wound. Growling, Mammoth straightened himself, only to find a barrage of whirling razor blades heading his way. He bobbed and weaved as best he could, but his large frame only conducted itself to avoiding so well, and finally he had to make a sacrifice as he brought his hand up to avoid a buzzsaw hitting him in the face. The blade cut deep, and Mammoth bellowed in pain and rage.

"Baran!" Shimmer said in the next room from the noise.

"I know Selinda. But we can't follow him. He told us not to." Rhinoceros Beetle said. Shimmer looked around helplessly…and then glanced down. Her eyes suddenly lit up.

"Wilby! The camera!" Shimmer said, holding it up.

"What?"

"The Camera Obscura! It takes pictures of ghosts, right, and stops them? Well Jason's not really alive either! Maybe it will weaken him!" Shimmer said, and then much to Wilby's surprise she pulled away from him and ran for the open door.

"Ack! Shimmer no wait! Mammoth said to stay here! Stop!" Rhinoceros Beetle said, chasing after Shimmer. You would think his much larger stride would let him catch up easy, except he had another asthma attack in the middle of it, and by the time he'd sucked down another inhaler shot Shimmer had gone through the door.

"No! Selinda! Come back! You don't understand!" Rhinoceros Beetle said as he started running again. "THERE'S NO FILM IN THE…"

And then the door slammed shut in his face.

"Camera! No! How? What! Let me in!" Wilby said, mashing at the keypad. But he didn't even get an error message: the pad had gone dead altogether. Unable to get in the usual way, Wilby tried to do it Mammoth's way…and found the doors locking up when he tried to pry them apart. He'd activated the magnetic defense, the doors seemingly and actively working against him. That meant the only way to get in would be to pound the door down. Mammoth could do it, Rocko could do it, Platinum Blonde could do it…because they all had invulnerability talents. Rhinoceros Beetle did not. Even with his immense strength, he'd break all the bones in his hands before he got the door open.

Wilby sank to his knees before the door. One simple task and he couldn't even do that. No wonder Sabotage was always pushing him around and Brother Blood was forever riding him. He was as worthless as they decreed, unable to even do…

…No. Fuck that.

Rhinoceros Beetle shoved himself off the ground, turning around to stomp off. He might not have been able to smash the door open, but he wasn't powerless. His room had a pair of special metal gloves that he could put on to shield his fists. With them on, it would hurt like hell still, but he'd get the door down.

He was tired of running away.

---

"…Shouldn't have survived…others so much stronger…why me…I've sinned…" Zippy continued to babble as Nightwalker and Jinx helped her down a hallway.

"That's crazy talk Sal: it's no sin to survive. Just relax, we'll let you lie down soon and you'll feel better…" Nightwalker said.

"…Should be punished…may as well have killed them myself…I'm a murderer…"

"That's nonsense Zippy! Stop saying it! It only has as much truth as you're willing to give it! And you should give it none, because it deserves none!" Nightwalker shot back. He wondered how much of this was grief and how much of it was the head injury Zippy had suffered.

"Here, this looks like a room." Jinx said: due to Scorcher's earlier explosion due to what she had found, Nightwalker and Jinx had had a hard time heading back to the dorms, as they'd ended up in that section, with the hallway all warped and distorted, the doors melted shut. They'd finally gotten through it though. The door opened to Jinx's touch, and the two of them brought Zippy in. It had a nice large bed.

"Ok Zippy, you just rest here. We're going to go get Rocko." Nightwalker said, laying the speedster down.

"Should be with them…bad…deserve it…"

"Zippy, listen up. I know this must hurt horribly. And I know it makes no sense. I don't know why life does these things. It's either arbitrary or just plain mean, and in either case you're not to blame. So STOP THINKING THAT."

Zippy was silent.

"All right, you just rest here. We'll be back before you know it." Nightwalker said, as he headed for the door, locking it behind him.

"You think she has a chance?" Jinx asked.

"I don't know. I have no idea of the degree her head injury is, and if that doesn't kill her, the poison in her soul might. I really hope she listened Llarenes. I have a feeling a reaction like that in this place is a siren song for god knows what."

"You think…?" Jinx said, trailing off at the suggestion that even worse could happen.

"Like I said Jinx. It's either cruel or its arbitrary and in either case we need to look each other over before we find Rocko. If you haven't noticed, you have a hole in your pants."

Jinx was surprised she could still blush.

---

"What the…" Mammoth said, as he heard the door slam behind him, and he turned to see his sister standing there, looking rather stunned. "SELINDA! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!"

"I'm trying to…OH GOD LOOK OUT BARAN!" Shimmer screamed, as Uberjason swung for Mammoth's torso, the morph weapon formed into a cruelly barbed blade.

Mammoth intercepted it with his hand, slicing it up even more, but that didn't matter: his sister was in danger and he was wasn't going to stand for it, as he violently shoved Uberjason away with the other hand. Reaching up, Mammoth yanked down one of the swinging axes that was on the course and brought it to bear, first smashing Uberjason to the side with the flat and then swinging it up and burying in deep into Uberjason's shoulder, black blood squirting from the wound. Mammoth reared back his foot and kicked Uberjason away, as the weight of the axe drove him down.

"Buzz Bomb! You better have one of your namesakes or I'll just throw YOU at him!" Mammoth snarled, as Shimmer ran to his side.

"No need!" Buzz Bomb said as he flew next to them, his assembled explosive at the ready. "PREPARE TO DIE, MONSTER! Let all cower before the sexy might and intelligence of Buzz Bomb, master of all he surveys! When my terrible vengeance is wreaked upon thee, you will BEG for your pathetic lives, all of you, ESPECIALLY Gizmo, but I won't relent for a moment, just as you…!"

"SHUT UP AND THROW IT!" Mammoth bellowed as Uberjason yanked the axe out.

"Right!" Buzz Bomb said, and hurled the bomb at Uberjason, who watched it coming with some surprise.

The explosion consumed the entire middle of the room, and pretty much destroyed the entire obstacle course except for the spike bed, which was reinforced against the floor.

"Selinda, what were you trying to do? And where the hell is Wilby?" Mammoth growled.

"I…can't just let you fight alone Baran…"

"That's not your choice to make! God damn it all! And you…what the hell was that whole bit about vengeance?" Mammoth growled.

"Just you wait…" Buzz Bomb replied.

And then Uberjason strode from the fire, the flames sputtering out on his body, pretty much unaffected.

"…Well, shit." Buzz Bomb said.

"Bra-vo." Mammoth replied in an acid tone.

"Well, when in doubt, get a bigger boom!" Buzz Bomb said, and flew off. Mammoth growled, as his eyes flicked to Shimmer and then back to Uberjason.

"All right. If you see an opening, nail him with something. BUT STAY AWAY FROM HIM." Mammoth ordered, and then charged in, preparing to rip Uberjason's head off and, if it proved necessary, shove it up his ass.

Shimmer watched helplessly as her brother once again engaged Jason in fisticuffs, drops of blood splashing from his wounds with every blow. She couldn't let him fight alone, but what could she do?

She tried the camera, but as Wilby had been cut off saying, it had no film. Then she thought about turning the air to something…but what? Chlorine? That would hurt her brother more. Nerve gas? Ditto. Maybe she could throw something at Uberjason…

As Uberjason showed his own immense strength by dodging one of Mammoth's punches and slamming his fist into the giant's ribs: only Mammoth's stumble kept him from getting struck by the follow up slash by a metalliplastic blade. He backed up against the very tall spike field, a few of the points pricking his side, but Mammoth promptly made the spike field work for him as he reached down and broke off one of the long spines, using it as a club to drive Uberjason away as he approached.

Buzz Bomb, in the mean time, had flown over to a corner of the room and had begun feeling along the wall. Finding what he needed, he zapped two places with his lasers and a section of the wall fell off, revealing a large square plastic box that had clearly not been part of the original wall makeup.

"You laugh off my bombs, huh, huh?" Buzz Bomb babbled to himself, as he began removing the box. "Once I modify this, you'll never laugh again! Though you never laughed in the first place! Or at all! Well you'll never get the chance! Hah ha ha ha!" Buzz Bomb cackled.

Mammoth had by now totally forgotten about Buzz Bomb, as he rammed the spike into Jason's guts and shoved with all his strength, trying mightily to see if he could manage some or any damage at all. All he did was expose himself as the morph weapon Uberjason wielded turned into a spiked mace which Uberjason smashed across Mammoth's head, sending the older teen reeling away and collapsing. Uberjason yanked the spike out of his body, examined it, and then raised it above his head as he prepared to impale Mammoth.

"BARAN!"

The spike abruptly turned into candy glass, which shattered on Mammoth's already bleeding chest. Jason looked perturbed at the state his weapon had suddenly taken on, and then turned to Shimmer as she frantically scrambled back, having had to run right up close to Uberjason to transform his weapon. Uberjason's weapon morphed back into a blade, as he began to stalk towards Shimmer, who backed up in terror…

Mammoth was back on his feet with a speed you would have never believed, as he rammed his shoulder into Uberjason and charged.

"NO ONE HURTS MY SISTER! NOT EVEN YOU!" Mammoth bellowed, as he rammed Uberjason into the door leading to the next training room so hard it smashed it off its hinges, sending the pair charging into the next room, which was mostly empty: the only things in the room were giant weights and some gymnastics gear. Mammoth didn't keep his grip on Uberjason long, as he slammed the killer down onto the ground so hard he made a dent and sprang away before Uberjason could stick him again. He spat out a bloody tooth and glowered as Uberjason began to rise once more, even as Shimmer ran in through the smashed doors.

Mammoth's eyes flicked around the room. Yes, this could work, but he had to move fast!

"Shimmer, get over on the other side! Hive Training Room 1-B, this is the student Mammoth, requesting highest difficulty training session, maximum lethality!"

"Acknowledged." The computer said (Mammoth would have said a small prayer of thanks for it working if he'd been the type to believe in God, which he wasn't), as the walls and the floor began opening up, weapons emerging and arming. Uberjason glanced around in surprise.

"Override base training program, code: Crandall, Darhk, Adeline!" Mammoth snapped, now glad that Gizmo had made him memorize all the stupid things he had. "Remove training parameters! Hive students stating names! Baran Flinders, Mammoth!"

"…Uh! Selinda Flinders, Shimmer!" Shimmer called, as she realized what her brother was doing. Removed from their training duties, the weapons would revert to a basic offensive program of defending the Hive, and that included people in the Hive: Mammoth and Shimmer had just confirmed this by saying their names.

Which left the weapons one target, as a multitude of laser dots appeared on Uberjason's body. He looked down on them.

Seven different machine guns opened fire, and as Uberjason danced under the huge firepower barrage, other weapons firing lasers, exploding discs, and high velocity metal spheres opened up as well. Uberjason vanished under the onslaught, explosions consuming him.

"You ok?" Mammoth said as he joined Shimmer at the other end of the room. She nodded, even as the weapons continued to fire. But without a program limiting them, it didn't take them long to run out of ammo, leaving a cloud of smoke in the room.

Smoke Shimmer turned to water vapor, allowing the room to clear much quicker…and revealing Uberjason lying on the ground, twitching.

"Fuck." Mammoth snapped: all that and he was STILL showing signs of life. Mammoth's eyes fell on a massive cube of steel, one of the weights he and the other strongmen trained with. He had an idea.

"Selinda, turn this to glass!" Mammoth said, pointing at the cube. Selinda did so, which allow Mammoth to easily hoist it up and hold it over his head. "Now back to steel!"

The cube was returned to its old state, and Mammoth staggered under the new weight.

"Baran?"

"Stay here! Gonna finish this bastard off once and for all." Mammoth said, and stomped over to Uberjason. His morph weapon lay two feet from him; Mammoth kicked it away before he got any closer, as he took a deep breath…

And Shimmer, from her angle, saw Uberjason's arm tense up and then reach down for his leg, and her eyes widened.

"BARAN LOOK OUT!"

"WHAT?" Mammoth said.

As Uberjason yanked out his machete, the machete Mammoth had forgotten about, the machete Uberjason had retrieved before he had found the buzzsaw launcher, the machete he stabbed deep into Mammoth's chest as he sat up. Shimmer screamed.

"………………How…" Was all Mammoth could whisper, and then his strength left him, falling backwards as the steel cube fell to the ground with a gigantic crash, as Shimmer wailed again.

And realized Uberjason was back up, and looking at her. She blinked once, her tear-slick eyes shining with fear.

Uberjason started for her, and Shimmer ran, screaming, out of her mind with panic, Uberjason calmly picking up his morph weapon as he stalked after her, planning to complete his set.

---

The clock tower had been part of the original school: why Blood had never torn it down was something only he knew. But he'd insisted it be left up, and hence the Hive had rebuilt around it, building their training rooms and expanding outwards, leaving the clock tower in the rough middle of the school.

It still worked, and that was because of the second reason Blood kept it around: cleaning it and making it run smoothly was a great punishment. A great punishment one student had clearly resented, as he'd tried to completely remodel the top before he'd been caught and expelled. The mess hadn't been cleaned up yet, and hence the top of the tower now not only held the giant intricate mechanisms needed to turn the clock hands (which had stopped when the lightning had hit it) but a mess of chains, tables, broken parts, and general junk. A stairway that could be entered from one of the training rooms ran up the tower in a wall-hugging spiral. A stairway had once led up to the very top as well, but the wood had been far too rotten and so Blood had had it ripped out and replaced with a ladder exiting into the middle of the clock tower's top, wooden fencing placed around the hole to prevent anyone from falling due to the new lack of stairs below.

Shimmer entered the room in a blind run, and skidded to a stop only 2/3 of the way through when she realized the door in front of her was closed. Whirling around, she saw Uberjason emerge through the door she herself had just run through, and in the grip of panic and thoroughly manipulated by the essence that had polluted the Hive base, she dashed for the clock tower entrance. Uberjason's head turned to follow her, and then he started walking after her.

The door crashed open as Shimmer ran into it, and she ran for the stairs, taking them two at a time, getting about a third of the way up before she had to stop for breath. She looked down the stairway, and as Uberjason emerged and started ascending the stairs she screamed and began running again, never realizing she was essentially entrapping herself.

Uberjason calmly headed up the stairs (an odd thought occurred to him: he was glad he wasn't on fire…except he had never been on fire while walking up stairs. In a basement, walking through a cornfield, yes, but stairs…still he could swear…). He'd put the morph weapon in the holster that had held his machete: he preferred it, as he slowly ascended up the ladder that led to the clock tower top. The barrier around the hole consisted of a chest high piece of wood for the ladder climber to slip under, which Jason did.

Nothing greeted him except a mess and the creaks and groans of an old structure. He stepped away from the edge of the hole, took several steps into the room, and slowly looked around…

The sledgehammer slammed into his face, red hot, its normal hammer end converted to red hot metal, and as Uberjason stumbled back Shimmer hit him with it again, and again, and…the head broke off as the head burned through the wood, causing Shimmer to stumble. Uberjason recovered and slashed, and Shimmer screamed as the machete sliced through the armor on her chest…but not all the way, her organs saved by her brother's paranoia. The impact knocked her to the ground though, and Uberjason reached down and seized her by the hair, as he brought the machete to her throat and sliced sideways…

As the machete turned into water. That surprised Uberjason, as Shimmer had grabbed the hilt and gotten rid of the weapon. Shimmer frantically tried to get away, but she couldn't fully escape Uberjason's grip, and the slasher grabbed her by her upper armor and proceeded to hurl her into the clock tower's right wall. Shimmer bounced off, dazed by the impact, and as she looked up…

Uberjason's metal arm seized her, yanking her up and holding her above the monster as he began to crush her throat.

---

"All right!" Buzz Bomb said, as he completed his rewiring. The bomb he had yanked out of the wall could be set several different ways: Buzz Bomb had just set it in a way that would lessen the overall distance but greatly increase the damage done in the actual explosion area using carefully manipulated waves of impact, heat, pressure, and shrapnel. It would have easily sunk an aircraft carrier, as Buzz Bomb snapped the plate back on, picked it up, and got up…

And found himself facing an empty room. He'd been so absorbed in his task he'd never noticed the fight had left him behind.

"…HEY!" Buzz Bomb yelled in a wounded voice. "What gives! I was told to get a bigger boom! I have a bigger boom! This is an outrage! This is prejudice! But you readers don't care, do you? You want to get back to the previous scene, leaving me here gnattering to myself like some loony bin escapee, and why should you care, I'm just bits of data on your computer screen, a collection of 0's and 1's inside your hard drive! No, DON'T PAY ANY ATTENTION TO ME…!"

As you wish.

"Wait no…!"

---

Shimmer struggled and kicked, trying to escape Uberjason's iron grip, but she couldn't break it, and spots were starting to dance in front of her vision from lack of air, as Uberjason coldly looked on her, increasing the pressure bit by bit, making it last. The girl had ruined his pride and joy, and turned it into WATER of all things, so her end would be slow, even as Shimmer tried to escape, but his grip was, quite literally, steel…

And Shimmer realized just how true that was.

The hand that had been feebly clawing at Uberjason's arm suddenly grabbed it, and as Uberjason looked at it, he suddenly felt an intense burning INSIDE the arm, and then suddenly all the strength faded from up, as holes opened from INSIDE the arm and liquid began dripping out, hitting the ground, hissing as they struck, and as Uberjason reared back, dropping Shimmer, who collapsed on the ground, raggedly sucking in air, he looked in amazement at the arm, as the fingers wilted and more holes appeared, dripping the same acerbic liquid. Acid. She'd turned the inside of his arm to acid, and it was starting to fall apart…

Then it stopped, as the nanomachines began their repairs, and as Shimmer looked back up, her eyes going wide, Uberjason lowered the damaged arm even as he withdrew the morph weapon with the other. She had destroyed his machete, but he would make do, as his evil power seemed to interact with the morphing weapon as it shifted and changed into a carbon copy of the machete, right down to the black with rust and blood coloring. And as Shimmer continued to stare up at him, Uberjason started forward…

As the hand clamped down on his shoulder. Shimmer hadn't been looking AT him; she'd been looking PAST him, as Uberjason was spun around to look into Mammoth's furious face.

"You should have listened." Mammoth said.

The shockwave from Mammoth's titanic blow was so strong it blew the gears in the clock mechanisms, cracked the thick glass of the clock face, and rattled the whole tower, as Uberjason flew back through the air and crashed through the wall above Shimmer, smashing right through the side and out into the open air above the school before gravity seized him and yanked him down, as he smashed through the roof below him, falling back into the obstacle course…and landing right on the field of spikes, the many blades impaling right through him, as Uberjason gave one massive spasm, and then was still, dark blood running down the many spikes.

"Brother!" Shimmer said, as Mammoth fell down to one knee, breathing heavily.

"Henh. That would have killed a normal guy, but I got a lot more muscle and bone there then the average man. Too bad mama's boy didn't try and finish me off when I fell down in shock." Mammoth joked, though even Shimmer could see he was clearly hiding how severe the wound was.

"I thought you were dead." Shimmer said, giving Mammoth a hug.

"Dead? Hah! No one beats your brother!"

"Except the Titans."

"Right, except the Titans."

"And Superman."

"Yeah, but with him I was really drunk."

---

If anyone believed Ned Flanders had a high pitched scream, they should have heard Buzz Bomb as Uberjason crashed through the roof and was impaled on the spikes. It didn't last though, as curiosity replaced fear and Buzz Bomb crept up next to the spike field, looking at Jason's thoroughly skewered body as blood pooled on the floor underneath him.

"…No boom? It ended without a boom?" Buzz Bomb lamented. "How could it end without a boom? This undermines my entire worldview!"

Jason sat up.

Buzz Bomb almost made boom in his pants, if you know what I mean.

Though saying Uberjason sat up was generous, as he had a spike impaled through his right arm…and his left arm…and five through his chest and torso…and one through his head, sticking out his eye mask. So it was more like a small upward jerk.

But another followed it, and another, as Uberjason started to move. With a sick slurping noise, he yanked his head off the spike, even as he yanked one arm free and broke off one of the spikes that had been jabbed through his chest.

Buzz Bomb began backing up, unable to believe that the monster just would not die, as Uberjason continued to try and get free, even as more black blood spilled from his wounds…

And Buzz Bomb remembered what he was holding.

"Hmmmmm, ok, so this guy's immortal. If I run, he will appear right in front of me when I think I'm safe. I have no hope of victory or escape, nor does anyone else in the Hive. Only one thing to do." Buzz Bomb said, and pressed three buttons on the side of the box. A rapid beeping came from within it.

"TOP OF THE WORLD MA! TOP OF THE WORLD!" Buzz Bomb yelled, and hurled the bomb at Jason, and then ran for his life, as the bomb bounced off the spikes and slid down to the ground near Uberjason, as he looked down at it, as the beeping reached a crescendo…

The explosion blew the whole room to hell and shook the entire Hive base, as Buzz Bomb flew ahead of the blast and came down near the end of the second room, ironically on top of the metal block Mammoth had planned to use on Uberjason.

Buzz Bomb watched the door to the room he had just fled. Nothing emerged, and he cackled wildly and began doing a victory dance.

As for how good it was…let's just say Elaine Marie Benes suddenly had some competition.

---

Rhinoceros Beetle glanced over his shoulder at the shudder and faint noise. That was the second time in a short period of it he'd experienced such a thing, what was going on? Well, he could figure it out later, he had to get to his room! He was almost there…

And he made it, despite what had happened to the hallway (had someone taken a blowtorch to the whole thing?). Wilby shrank back down to his normal size and punched in the code, as the door swung open…

Into hell.

The blood was the first thing Wilby saw, all over the walls…and the second he saw was the bed, his hand clamping over his mouth in sheer horror.

The head lay over the side of the bed, a line of blood traced down it, a look of unspeakable pain and horror etched on it. Zippy. It was Zippy.

And she was quite dead. Her whole body had been butchered, laid open from groin to gullet, entrails and organs strewn across the bed, the bed so soaked with blood it was dripping with it.

And a figure loomed over her, a figure whose hand was plunged deep within the cavity that had once been Zippy's body, the fingers almost seeming to fondle the gore, as if it found it erotic.

Its head only moved in the very slightest bit, but Wilby didn't need for it to do so to recognize the figure. And if he hadn't already emptied his bladder earlier, he probably would have pissed his pants.

The light in the room was dull, but Wilby didn't need it. He already knew the form, the skin with flesh so pale it seemed white, skin covered with dirt and dried blood, the only clothing an apron like skirt also covered with dried blood…and the head…not human, an impossibly large helmet that was so big it dropped the figure's head to his chest, smeared all over with blood and in the shape of a…pyramid.

Nightwalker had been more right then he had realized. Concussion based or not, Zippy's longing had been answered, answered by a creature created to punish sinners, real or imagined, and Zippy had found in the end she couldn't run from it…from her fate…brought on by what she wanted…

"…Oh god…" Wilby said. He should have seen it coming. He should have known with the Camera Obscura appearing that elements of the games were coming to life. That the hell corridor that Mammoth, a corrupted soul, had seen, while his innocent sister Shimmer saw nothing came from a game series that was renowned for such terrible things, Silent Hill. And if Silent Hill had an avatar, it was the figure before Wilby, a monster born in the atrocities of executioners and reborn through an evil that sought to punish the guilty, whether the guilt had a base or not…

"…Pyramid Head." Wilby squeaked.

Pyramid Head's head moved ever so slightly, as if noticing Wilby for the first time…as Wilby forgot his task, forgot what needed to be done, forgot absolutely everything except a desire to run, to get away from this horrible monster, a monster that had emerged from the realm of fiction and was probably quite eager to get started on a new body count.

Wilby fled screaming down the hallway.

And Pyramid Head stepped off the bed, leaving Zippy's body, as he reached for a gigantic knife, a knife so big he had to drag it behind him, a knife slick with newly shed blood, as he began to follow Wilby.

---

"What was that?" Jinx said, as the explosion rippled through the Hive.

"Don't know, don't care. Hold still."

"Ow." Jinx said as Nightwalker pricked her.

"Told you. Almost done." Nightwalker said from where he was, Jinx bent over a chair as he sewed her pants back together, having also bandaged the wound that had been there. It was a very intimate position, and Jinx was aware of it, as a slow flush had grown through her. It was the last thing she had expected to happen, but in the last few hours she'd been through a hell of a lot, stuff that could change your whole worldview…and it had mostly been shared with this man, who'd stood by her like he'd known her all his life…

…And she was so tired of it. So much death, so much suffering, her old life so far removed. She wanted it back, if only in a small way…any way…

"There." Nightwalker said as he finished sewing. "Cost us some time, but better then you going around and mooning everyone during…" Nightwalker trailed off, as Jinx had suddenly turned around and pressed herself up against him.

"Take off your mask." She breathed.

"Jinx…"

"I don't care if you're ugly or scarred. I know what's inside. Take off your mask. I want to see your face…" Jinx said breathily…

The slap was the last thing she expected, and it smashed her mood like it was crystal.

"OW! What the hell was that for!" Jinx snapped.

"Maybe you could tell me. Considering how you almost just pulled my pants off. Which is the last thing I want Jinx." Nightwalker said coldly.

"But…"

"JINX, REMEMBER WHERE WE ARE. We are in an environment that can influence us, one that wants to make us vulnerable. It's playing on that, trying to make us do something stupid, so we can be picked off. I know that Jinx, and you know it too…because your feelings aren't for me. You're projecting them."

That was like a bucket of ice water in Jinx's face. Which is ultimately what she needed.

"…What?" She said, blushing furiously.

"Crisis situations are tricky Llarenes. The human mind and body don't react all that well to them. If shared with others, that can produce strong feelings, feelings that seem normal and almost right, but they're almost always hollow Jinx, needing great work to survive, and that's if the feelings are mutual. Jinx, before this night started I didn't know you from Adam, and vice versa. Yet you're coming on to me. It doesn't take a genius to figure out you're trying to work through something and I'm currently in the crosshairs. So back down Jinx. You're playing right into their hands, whoever 'they' are. I don't know who or what those feelings you're having are for, but don't let them use them." Nightwalker said, and stepped away as he picked up his belt and snapped it back on. He'd transferred the remaining C4 from an over-the-shoulder strap bag to a smaller 'fanny-pack' esque belt bag that he had tightly clipped to his left side. "Whoever 'they' might be." Nightwalker added.

And Jinx realized he was right. She had been acting foolish. Her feelings were for…who?

…Him?

"Jinx." Nightwalker said. "I hate being the cruel one, but we have to keep moving. So whatever you're feeling, shove it down and bury it. It'll get in the way."

"…Right…of course you're right." Jinx said. "But…Nightwalker?"

"Yeah?"

"Why do you never take your mask off?"

"…I have my reasons." Nightwalker said, and headed back out into the hall. Jinx stared, and then followed.

"Damn." Nightwalker was saying, as he reloaded. "My own moment of slippage back in the training room is coming back to haunt me."

"What?"

"My ammo. I used up all the good stuff to kill Sil. I'm down to regular and a few specialized non-lethal ammo types, and two detonators. We need to get to Rocko, and fast: not just for Zippy, but to help if we run into something else."

"What could be worse then…"

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Came the voice screaming out of the shadows. Nightwalker nearly blew Billy's head off.

"YOU!" Jinx said.

"Oh god the monsters, all over the place, keep them away!" Billy babbled. Nightwalker lowered his arm as he signed in relief. Just another Hive member…albeit one that was clearly quite mad. How far his mind had skidded off the rails, Nightwalker would have to see.

"It's ok Billy. The monsters are gone. You can calm…" Nightwalker said, putting a hand on Billy's shoulder…a hand that was slapped away.

"Not gone! Everywhere! In me! In you! In the walls, coming out of the goddamn walls!" Billy shrieked. "But they won't get me! I have died a thousand deaths but I won't die any more! I will persevere! I will outlive all of you, including me!"

"Billy snap out of it!" Nightwalker said, trying to give Billy a blow too, but he squirmed away. "Billy stop…it…"

"I will not stop! I will live! You will all die!" Billy said, backing away from the pair. "Scream in horror! Your destinies are sealed! But I will live, for nothing beats the numbers game, and I am No 1, as well as a million…!"

And Billy bumped into him.

He froze, his whole face going white, and then he slowly turned around with a whimper to look at the figure that stood in the shadows.

As a chainsaw roared to life.

"NOOOOOAAAAAAAUUUUUUHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Billy screamed as the roaring blade came down, ripping into his chest and tearing him nearly in half right before the shocked gazes of Nightwalker and Jinx.

"Crap." Jinx said in a small voice, as Billy's body fell to the ground, revealing the culprit: bloody butcher's clothes, mask of human skin, and a roaring chainsaw that sprayed blood on the walls as he lifted it over his head.

Leatherface.

The remake version.

"Oh god, why couldn't they have gotten the old one where he's retarded?" Nightwalker asked.

"It was already out."

Leatherface lowered the smoking chainsaw, a low squeal coming from his mouth, a subhuman noise of satisfaction. He'd found and caught one of the meals that had escaped him earlier, and now here were two more! More meat!

Leatherface raised the chainsaw again, the roar sounding like a beast from hell.

"Run." Nightwalker said.

"Yeah." Jinx replied, and the two of them did just that, as Leatherface charged after him, his chainsaw's guttural growl snarling like a rabid animal, as if it longed for blood as much as its master did.

The two fled for their lives.

Never realizing one of them was already doomed.