Boogeymen II: Teenage Wasteland Chapter 11: Extinction, a teen titans fanfic

Part 11: Extinction

Patience is a virtue.

Though when one is applying the phrase to an incarnation of evil, perhaps one should wonder if it is really appropriate.

Schematics of the saying aside, nothing was more important then patience. Michael knew that. His first victim, his sister, he'd gotten her by surprise, but after all that, it had been waiting. Waiting for the right time to leave the asylum. Waiting for the right time to seek what he needed. Waiting for the right time to spill blood.

And in this case, it was even more important.

Last time had been bad. His first chosen victim had been snatched away from him, and while he had managed to pierce the heart of the one who had stolen her, it had only been because the child had believed himself invulnerable to Michael's blade and had stood there, waiting for him, not because Myers had hunted him down. Cutting into him had been deeply satisfying, but it was a satisfaction swiftly denied Myers, as others had arrived, others with great strength…that was all Myers remembered, except for what had happened afterward had not been favorable to him.

And now he had returned.

But this time he would follow his old ways. He would be patient. He would watch and observe, and wait. He would pick his moment where he would be strongest and his victims would be at their weakest.

There were others here, including a kindred soul (or maybe kindred demon would be more appropriate) Myers had met face to face. But they had ignored each other in pursuit of their greater goal: death. The masked one walked off, choosing to be relentless. And Myers watched, and waited…

And he knew it was time to act. Somehow, he knew. It was his time, on his night (semantics aside), and he would show them why all who knew him feared him.

He was Michael Myers.

And he began his approach.

"Oh god…" Shimmer whispered, as Myers began to walk towards her. Her gut felt like someone had poured liquid coolant like the kind in the barrels Rhinoceros Beetle had moved down her throat, as she watched him come for her.

And then fresh adrenaline flooded her system, and she turned and began running away, though running was a very strong term as she was still mostly dragging her very heavy brother, as Myers slowly and calmly approached them, one hand clutching a long knife, a knife that had been denied blood too long.

Mammoth saw him too, from the corner of his vision…and he knew what he had to do.

"Run…Selinda…" He whispered.

"I'm not leaving you!" Shimmer said, trying so hard to put distance between herself and Myers as she headed for the nearest door, but he was so heavy…

Mammoth closed his eyes. He'd always said only wimps cried.

He'd been a fool.

"Selinda…just know…I did this…for you…"

And Mammoth found one final surge of strength as he slipped his hand behind Shimmer's back and shoved her forward, sending her in front of him in a rapid fire stumble, and as she collapsed on the other side of the door Mammoth willed strength into his numb legs and took the two steps needed to get to the door keypad.

"BARAN!" Shimmer said, as she turned around from where she lay, tears in her eyes.

"Run."

And Mammoth smashed the pad, and the door slammed shut.

Mammoth drew in a long breath through his nose, let it out, and coughed up a bit more blood as he turned around to face Myers, who had not deviated from his slow pursuit of the siblings.

Mammoth clenched his fist, feeling his knuckles pop.

"All right then Shatner! Get ready to be beamed up!" Mammoth roared, as he charged at Myers.

Shimmer pounded on the door, crying Baran's name…and then realized that despite closing said door, that didn't stop her. She was a matter transmuter. A steel door meant about as much to her as a foot high fence.

…But Baran had clearly told her to run. Should she not honor his last wish…?

No! Her was her brother! Shimmer slammed her palms on the door and concentrated.

As Mammoth slammed into Myers, knocking him down, and Mammoth began pounding on his head and chest, using every bit of strength he had left.

He felt the deep burning sensation as the knife plunged into his gut, but he ignored it, trying to pound Myers' head into jelly.

The knife sank in again.

"HAH! Is that the best you can do!"

The door began to dissolve away as Shimmer transmuted it into sand…

"You should have stuck…with Curtis!" Mammoth snarled, blood spraying from his lips, even as the blade pulled out of him a third time, even as he delivered another thunderous punch to Myers' head, and drew back to give another…

The knife pierced his hand, and that finally gave Mammoth paused as he bellowed in pain, and even as he did Myers yanked himself from beneath Mammoth's grip, getting up with a scary amount of grace…

"BARAN!"

The scream was the last thing Mammoth wanted to hear, and his head darted back to where his sister stood, in the ruins of the door, and he realized that what he hoped hadn't come to pass. She'd cared too much, worried too much, tried too much…she was back in danger…

And that was the last thought he had, as he began turning back around to Myers and had his throat slit from ear to ear with one swift slash.

"…Seli…" Was all Mammoth could gurgle before he collapsed, blood pooling around his head.

And Shimmer stood there, frozen to the spot, as the same realization that had occurred to Mammoth came to her. He'd pushed her away to try and save her, and instead she'd turned around…and she'd gotten him killed.

Her brother was dead…and she'd made his sacrifice be in vain, as she was no longer protected from Myers.

It was that realization, more then anything, that sent her turning and screaming away, wailing in fear, in agony, in despair, in all the things that such events breed in people.

Myers, blood dripping from the nose and mouth of his mask, wiped his knife on the back of Mammoth's outfit and set off after Shimmer.

He'd get her.

He just had to be patient.

The room was silent.

And then the door exploded off its hinges as Flay smashed through it, bouncing off the ground and coming to a stop. He lay there, gasping, feeling like every bone in his body was broken. Hell, it probably should have been. But the door he had gone through had previously been the victim of a golden sphere laser blast, severely weakening it, just enough so that Flay went through it instead of flattened against it, though that fortune sure didn't feel like it.

His whole body screamed with pain. His new omega cat o' nine tails whip (and it was amazing he hadn't sliced off a limb or set himself on fire when he'd been thrown through the door, but then again, he knew his weapons like they were a part of himself) had proven highly effective against the sphere army, but they just KEPT coming, and despite all his efforts they'd sliced and diced several new wounds in him before Flay had gone for all the marbles. He turned a leaping dodge into a sideways lunge and had gone for the Tall Man, reasoning that if he cut off the head the body would die.

Except he hadn't reached the Tall Man. The demonic undertaker had just slightly raised a hand, and Flay had stopped in mid air. At which point Flay had been forced to spin around and take out the next wave of spheres before they ripped his back apart, and when he had turned back around the Tall Man was there, grabbing his throat, lifting him up and throwing him through the air like he weighed nothing, hence his aforementioned trip through the door.

He was getting up, despite all the pain

"Boy…" Came the raspy voice, and the Tall Man slowly walked through the door. "Have you not tired of stubbornly clinging to this coil of life?"

"Only one I know." Flay said, and made a 'come hither' gesture.

The spheres came, as they always did, led by twin golden spheres that fired their lasers. Flay leapt through the air, the ground exploding around him, spinning and slashing out, his whips flying through the air and slicing, shattering, striking, and sizzling into the spheres, cutting a wide swath through them before Flay fell to the ground and did a semi-breakdance spin to get back to his feet, whirling his whips around him in a field of death…

As a sphere flew up and came down at a nearly perfect downward angle, digging into the top of Flay's shoulder, and he snarled in pain and clawed at the sphere, trying to get his fingers under it and yank it free before the drill came into play. He managed, but even as he did a new wave attacked him, and Flay was forced to do gymnastics away, though it was clear he was slowing down. He landed and lashed his cat o' nine tails around again…

And an armsaw sphere flew it, the blade clipping the left side of his forehead and triggering another flow of blood, the liquid running into his eye and causing it to sting as Flay growled again and smacked the armsaw sphere from the air, taking eight of its brothers with it. But still, more came.

And the Tall Man watched. Much like Michael, he knew the value of patience.

And there are some guys who just move right into fucking one's shit up.

As Gizmo spiraled across the room, flying via his jetpack as the energy cannon shot up again and fired four swift blasts into Uberjason's body, blasts that Gizmo followed up with another barrage of miniature missiles. As explosions once more consumed Jason, Gizmo landed and brought up his reformed once again main gun, and intense fire spewed from the barrel, enveloping Uberjason in flames.

Flames he started walking against. Gizmo's eyes widened, and he held the pressure, but Jason kept coming, walking against the stream, and the gun was growing dangerously hot…

Gizmo shut off the flamethrower and tried to switch to another mode.

And Uberjason was there, swinging with his machete…

The orb slammed into it and deflected it away, and as Gizmo scrambled backwards several more slammed into Uberjason's face, causing him to recoil.

Nightwalker leapt in close and swung the chainsaw, the whirring blade digging deep into Uberjason's side (apparently his flame bath had softened the 'plastic'), chunks of synthetic and rotting dead flesh spraying from the wound, and then Nightwalker yanked it free, dodged a counter machete slice, and then thrust up his chainsaw into Uberjason's face, gorging a line across his mask in a shower of sparks. Uberjason recoiled again, and Nightwalker swung back the chainsaw and slashed it in again.

Uberjason's machete intercepted it, another storm of sparks flying from the interlocked blades as the two matched strength, the teeth of the chainsaw screaming against the metal machete as the door glared at each other.

And then Uberjason shoved, sending Nightwalker flying and sprawling on his ass like it was no big deal, the chainsaw's body landing on his chest and knocking the wind out of him, and as he coughed violently Uberjason swung the machete up.

As it morphed into a morning star, a long length of chain with a spiked ball at its end, a spiked ball Uberjason swung down towards Nightwalker, who yelled and rolled away, barely avoiding the crushing sphere, but even as he dodged it Uberjason pulled the morning star back as it morphed again.

Nightwalker got up, turning back to Uberjason with his weapon…

As Uberjason stabbed forward, and the trident he had formed sliced across the air, stabbing at Nightwalker, and Nightwalker yelled as the points slammed into him, the chainsaw blade blocking the attack but not enough as one point went into his shoulder and another just above his left lung. Nightwalker staggered and fell again, as the extending trident flowed back to Uberjason and reformed into his demonic machete. The weapon was now truly his.

It cheesed Gizmo off, knowing that he'd give Uberjason that weapon, having been quite shocked when he saw the weapon morph and realized it was his metalliplastic blade, thought broken and revealed to not be so. But Gizmo had a good way of releasing his anger, as he zoomed above the slasher.

"Hey ugly!"

Uberjason's head snapped up.

"You lost your marbles a long time ago! Maybe these will do!" Gizmo tried to quip, as his boot heels snapped open and tiny round spheres began pouring out, similar to Nightwalker's orb bullets. But these were slightly smaller…and only had one task.

Explode.

Gizmo'd gotten the idea from the Joker.

Explosions once again consumed Uberjason, three times as intense as the previous ones as Gizmo dumped all his miniature mines on top of the bastard. Once hr ran out, he flew back down to ground level, as his main gun converted once more, this time to an antitank rifle.

The smoke cleared, revealing a hunched, severely burned Uberjason, who slowly glared up. Gizmo grit his teeth, partly at the fact that he was still up and partly at what Gizmo was seeing. The line across Uberjason's mask, scoured by Nightwalker, was starting to grow fainter. The damn nanomachines kept fixing him no matter what Gizmo did. And he could have sworn he'd shorted them all out. Well, he couldn't do the big electrical zap again, so he'd just have to settle for what he had now, as he aimed his rifle and fired.

The shot blew a huge chunk out of Uberjason's shoulder.

But it also lacked the recoil dampeners Gizmo's old omega shotgun had had. Which meant Gizmo went flying back across the room like a bullet himself, slamming into the wall behind him as he once again banged his head, familiar colors exploding in his vision as he fell to the ground.

The fog seemed to take an eternity to clear, as Gizmo finally managed to get up.

Uberjason stood before him. Gizmo yelped and tried to get his gun back up, but Uberjason grabbed it and yanked it from his hands, crushing it to scrap and tossing it away before turning back to Gizmo. He whimpered…

And then with one giant flip and expert plant, Nightwalker was standing on Jason's wide shoulders, looking down. Uberjason looked up in surprise.

"Hi."

Nightwalker thrust the chainsaw down, trying to saw through Uberjason's mask and head, and while he failed to do so he managed to drive Uberjason back, though Uberjason's jerking movement caused Nightwalker to lose his steady perch, as he leapt and flipped through the air to avoid the slash Uberjason attempted to stick through his guts.

"You ok?" He asked Gizmo.

"I've been better." Gizmo groused, his head pounding.

"Your gun got wrecked. Maybe you should get out of here."

"And miss all the fun? Hell no." Gizmo said, as he almost seemed to float off the ground, and then his backpack extended outward, wrapping around his body and head, encasing Gizmo in an armored green metal suit, as jets erupted in his boots and his backpack finished readjusting itself.

"You really are a techno geek, you know that?" Nightwalker commented.

"You're too kind."

Uberjason slashed at the two, and as they split up Gizmo snapped out his arms and the gauntlets around them snapped open, as rotating barrels began to spray energy bullets in a high intensity barrage, the shots slamming into Uberjason's body, some of them even going through him, but it didn't slow him down at all, as he stalked after Gizmo. Muttering curses, Gizmo flew backwards, as another barrage of mini-missiles flew off and exploded against Uberjason, explosions Uberjason walked through, more bits of him sloughing off. He'd been hit so many times he now looked like a cross between his mechanized self and one of his older dead and rotting selves, but his inhuman drive remained unaffected.

Though it did make him a bit more vulnerable to attack, as Nightwalker leapt in from behind and slashed the chainsaw into the small of Uberjason's back, the blade ripping deep. Nightwalker made that his only blow as he yanked the chainsaw free and leapt away as Uberjason swung back at him, and then turned back to Gizmo.

As the blast Gizmo had charged up completed itself, and he slammed his gauntlets together and fired another beam at Uberjason, this one more concussive then explosive. It blasted Uberjason through the air, his machete flying away, and as he landed on the ground Gizmo flew above him and fired the last of his mini-missiles down onto his body.

Readings flashed across his goggles, and he grimaced. His energy fuel cell was almost completely depleted, and the rest of his systems were battered too. He wouldn't be able to muster much more in the way of offense, so he'd have to be creative…

Or let someone else do the work for him, as Nightwalker pounced on Uberjason and drove the chainsaw down, yelling as he tried to saw through Uberjason's head and face again, trying to put him down with the very weapon that was so often attributed to him despite the fact he'd never once used a chainsaw to kill anyone…

And that fact seemed to anger him, as his hand snapped up and seized Nightwalker by the throat, sitting up and hurling him through the air (though he managed to hold onto the chainsaw and not gore himself with it during the landing: he was good at using that thing!). Getting up, Uberjason shook his head and glanced around for the flying nuisance. He didn't see Gizmo, so he went after Nightwalker, picking up his machete along the way, even as Nightwalker himself got up. His shoulders moving heavily up and down, denoting his exhaustion, Nightwalker nonetheless revved the chainsaw one more and charged.

Uberjason swung first, but Nightwalker dodged the downward swing and sliced a glancing blow up across Uberjason's chest, then ducked under the roundhouse swing and slashed out again.

Uberjason's blade swung back, meeting the chainsaw.

And the chainsaw exploded, the blade mechanism finally snapping off and spraying out, parts of it catching Nightwalker on the head and chest even as the main body overloaded. Nightwalker dropped the chainsaw as it erupted into flames, and then it hit the ground and exploded, causing Nightwalker to fall backwards onto his rear.

And then it began to fade away, perhaps like it should have earlier.

But not before it had managed to lure Nightwalker into a trap, as he looked up on Uberjason…

"Eat toejam, you snot-sniffing crudmuncher!" Gizmo yelled as he dove in, braking up at the last moment and jamming his jet boots into Uberjason's face, causing the monster to recoil once more, giving Nightwalker the necessary recovery time to leap and roll out of the way. Gizmo didn't hang around either, as Uberjason grabbed for him and missed, as the midget genius flew over to Nightwalker.

"Well, if you got some sort of Night-Oblivion Ray tucked into that belt, now's the time to pull it out." Gizmo said.

"Don't have an Oblivion Ray. Barely have anything left at all." Nightwalker replied, trying to find any remaining ammo clips he had.

"Shit." Gizmo relied. Nightwalker stared at him. "What?"

"You cursed."

"Situation warrants it! I don't have anything left with any real ommphhh either!" Gizmo cursed, as Uberjason, having finally recovered from the jetboot attack, started after the two again. Gizmo spied the 'fanny pack' Nightwalker had on his belt.

"Don't suppose you have anything in there that would help."

"Even IF we could manage to hook up the C4 on him, he's proven rather immune to explosions." Nightwalker replied.

"Point."

"Don't suppose you have a device on you that would make a dead relative of ours come out of nowhere and drag our not-so-good friend here into the nearest lake." Nightwalker asked.

"No. Got a convenient river of toxic waste?" Gizmo retorted.

"Nope."

"Then I'm at a bit of a loss."

"We can't just run away."

"He'll teleport ahead of us."

"But I must admit besides that I really don't…" Nightwalker said as Uberjason drew in close.

And then metallic tendrils shot around him, the ends floating up around his head even as the main body snared Uberjason, and as Nightwalker and Gizmo watched in some surprise, the ends opened up into whirring buzzsaws, buzzsaws that drove into Uberjason's head, face, and neck, sending him flailing back as the blades tore into him…and tore themselves to pieces on his body.

"HEY YOU! YOU MOTHERFUCKER!" Came the angry yell, as the tendrils yanked Uberjason onto his side and then recoiled back to their owner, who Gizmo and Nightwalker stared at in some surprise.

"Flense?" Nightwalker said.

It was indeed the teen, bloodied in the face and body but still alive, kicking, and apparently quite angry, as he fired out his metal tentacles again, drills emerging that dug into Uberjason, boring into his body before Uberjason grabbed them and ripped them out, slicing at them with his machete and missing as Flense retracted them once more.

"Come on retard! Forget those pussies! I'm the one you want to fight! Come on!" Flense yelled.

"Ok…I think he might have lost it." Nightwalker commented.

"Your mom was a fucking whore! She deserved to have her head chopped off, kept her from blowing everyone in Crystal Lake! Come on you bastard! I'll finish you off and bury you right next to her slutty corpse!" Flense snarled.

"Dear god he's COMPLETELY lost it." Gizmo said.

And it appeared he had, as Flense's taunts seemed to open up a whole new realm of rage within Jason, his eyes almost looking like they were going to catch fire as he stalked after Flense, who stared at him, almost as if he'd just realized what he'd done.

"Uh…oh fuck." Flense said, and ran for it, Uberjason stalking after him like the devil himself, completely ignoring Nightwalker and Gizmo as he left the room, hunting the teenager who had dared say such blasphemy.

"…Uh…ok. That was unexpected." Nightwalker said as Uberjason left. "Should we follow him and help or…" Nightwalker said, as he turned his head and realized that Gizmo was no longer floating next to him.

"Nightwalker." Gizmo called from down the hall he had zipped down, the one that lead from the door Shimmer and Mammoth had fled through. Nightwalker turned and quickly dashed towards the voice.

He found Gizmo quickly, kneeling next to the body of Mammoth, sadly shaking his head as he took his hand away from his neck.

"Gone. Damn, Baran…damn." Gizmo said, and sighed.

"What killed him?"

"I don't know, but I'd bet anything I own that it's after Shimmer. We have to try and find her and help her. For Baran's sake."

"Shimmer? Can't she turn stuff into other stuff? Is she really in danger?" Nightwalker asked.

"Nightwalker, you must understand. There are three kinds of people in the world. Those who crack under the pressure, those who do but can be taught not to, and those who naturally don't. You're one of the last group, I can tell. Shimmer's in the middle, and she hasn't been properly trained yet. Odds are the fact that she could probably turn the bastard into a statue has been lost in a rush of panic. And that could get her killed. Come on!" Gizmo said, and took off down the nearest hallway, Nightwalker sprinting after him.

It wasn't just panic that motivated Shimmer's run. It was guilt as well, an overwhelming remorse that she had gotten her brother killed (the fact that he probably would have died anyway was lost on her: he had died because she hadn't run away and in that act of defiance had left him open to what had killed him), the same guilt that had motivated Zippy, and while Pyramid Head had been dealt with, it appeared another wrath would be along shortly to punish her for her 'crime', a crime only her conscious mind seemed to know, as her subconscious instincts seemed quite devoted to the idea of 'Run until you get away'.

Unfortunately, as Wilby had found out, the hand behind all this had begun stacking the deck in its favor, as Shimmer ran into the most recent training room. A small part of her brain recognized it as the room where Wilby had tried to find a weapon and Mammoth had dressed her up in the armor she was wearing…

And then the box shifted, completely on it's own, and a hand grenade rolled out, rolling across the floor seemingly by itself, and while it didn't remove its own pin, it did something just as bad.

It rolled under Shimmer's foot.

Causing her to slip and fall forward, the grenade being flung through the air by the force of the slip, as Shimmer's head and face came down and smacked into the ground, knocking her silly.

And there she lay, unconscious…even as the shape pursuing her slowly continued to follow, as if he knew his pace wouldn't be a problem.

And despite his fury, Jason didn't move any faster then his usual quick walk, as he stalked the hallways for Flense. It wasn't often that a victim eluded him, especially considering his special 'talents', but even they hadn't allowed him to catch up, as he just kept getting glimpses around corners of the fleeing figure. But Jason had never failed when it came to the hunt: he might be delayed but he was never stopped for long.

He almost walked past the stairs before he stopped. His head turned to look at the metal steps, descending down into the basement of the Hive from a trap door. Could his victim have fled down there? Or was it a setup?

Uberjason scanned the room, then looked back down the stairs…

And heard the noise. His head jerked around.

Flense's feet slammed into his mask as Flense swung down from the ceiling, two tentacles adding some extra ommph and sending Uberjason tumbling down the stairs and into the basement. Flense landed, as several more tentacles emerged from his outfit…all holding grenades.

The pins flew out, and Flense tossed all the grenades down the stairs and dove out of the way. The floor bucked and splintered beneath him as flames belched out through the trap door.

Flense shook his head and peered over at the smoke pouring from the hole, slowly getting to his feet. One metal tentacle formed a fan, and Flense slowly, carefully approached the trap door, two more tentacles at the ready just in case, as the fan began to blow the smoke away, as Flense hunted for the master hunter.

Jason found him first, as the hand flew from the smoke, grabbing Flense by the throat before he could react, and with a yell Uberjason yanked him forward, trying to stab Flense in the chest.

The angle didn't work out, as the blade deflected off the apparatus, but Uberjason settled for throwing Flense down the stairs at the same time, where he crashed into the wall, groaning in pain. Uberjason turned and headed down, the room still filled with smoke, but Uberjason didn't need to see to find his prey, he knew where he was and he was going to make him pay…

Flense's foot snapped up and kicked Uberjason in the head, and then Flense whirled up and slammed out an arm, as another metal tentacle flew through the air and impaled through Uberjason's head courtesy of his eye hole. Flense yanked back the tentacle, slick with dark blood, as Uberjason staggered a bit and then glared murderously at Flense with his remaining eye, as if he was trying to kill him with a gesture.

"Shit." Flense said, and ran for his life down the basement hallway, Uberjason stalking after him, eager to finish the job.

Shimmer found herself coming groggily back to life, feeling the warm stickiness as blood ran down her forehead from the great blow she'd taken, and she coughed from the dust on the floor as she tried to put together what had happened. She'd been running…

The pain of her brother's death hit her all over again, followed by the icy chill as she realized just what she had been running from, as she looked up…

Myers stood there, staring down at her, as if he'd been watching her sleep for god knows how long. Apparently, it didn't mean much if the victim didn't see it coming.

Shimmer screamed and tried to scramble away, as Myers pursued her, his wide steps easily outpacing her mad crabwalk, and as Shimmer turned over onto her hands and knees and tried to quicken her pace he reached out and seized her by the clothing around her waist.

"NO!" She screamed, fighting with all her might and managing to yank herself free from Myers' grip, but she only managed to scramble several more feet before he grabbed her again. Shimmer kicked her way free with another scream and scrambled away again…

Myers lunged forward, seizing her by her hair, this time in an iron grip, and as Shimmer screamed and wept, Myers yanked her up as he drew back his knife, preparing to gut the young girl.

The scream echoed down the hallway, and Gizmo jerked his head in the direction of the sound.

"That way!"

"You sure?" Nightwalker asked.

"I've twice pranked Selinda with a bucket of cold water. I know her scream!" Gizmo said as he turned around and shot down the corridor…

As the door closed in front of him.

"Crap!" Gizmo said, coming to a stop. Well, may as well try the usual thing first, as he hit the entry button.

And the door, strangely, opened. Gizmo didn't waste time pondering: he hit the gas again. Though the short time it took for him to open the door was long enough for Nightwalker to catch up to him, and hence the two ran roughly side by side as they went through the door…

And stepped into hell, as the corridor plunged into darkness around them and reappeared a second later. Gizmo came to a dead stop.

"No." He whispered. It was the corridor again, the exact same one he had seen an eternity ago. The same scabbed and broken floors, the same walls adorned with grating and doors and stone pillars and hanging, bleeding mannequins. Everything matched Gizmo's near photographic memory…and that chilled him to the bone because the corridor he had seen was across the school. And he knew he hadn't been turned around.

It had reappeared, here…

"Oh shit, not again." Nightwalker said, glancing around. "Let's go!"

"…Crud." Gizmo said, still a bit alarmed.

"Mikron! We have to move!"

"Hey! Don't call me…!" Gizmo began.

A hand exploded through the grating, a grotesquely swollen arm with fingers fused together grabbing for Gizmo, and he shrieked and backed away, as the grating was smashed to pieces by the creature coming out of it. It wasn't Pyramid Head, he had been dispatched, but it was far from pleasant, a overmuscled humanoid creature whose testicles and penis swung freely, the arms and legs of the creature jerking and distorting in ways that no human limbs could move, its face a mess of flesh and metal, as if someone had tried to fuse the face with a mask and failed, horribly, utterly. It had no eyes, flesh covering any space they might be, and in one hand it held a large double-headed axe. Gizmo gulped, as the creature twisted its neck at a grotesque angle and looked at Nightwalker, despite having no eyes, and the black clan teen surged backwards himself, bumping into one of the mannequins…

Whose chest exploded, as another creature tore its way from within the construct and leapt onto Nightwalker's back, the vigilante feeling a deep burning pain as whatever it was jammed a knife in, Nightwalker yelling as he staggered forward, trying to get the creature off, and whatever it was it was laughing, giggling like a child, its innocent sounds in horrible contrasts to its deeds…

Gizmo blew it off Nightwalker's back with a blast of laser gauntlet fire, and as it hit the ground Nightwalker whirled around to see it: a grotesque dwarf, much like a baby but at the same time anything but, holding a rusty scalpel as it grinned at Nightwalker.

It had eyes in its teeth, bloodshot orbs that stared at Nightwalker accusingly.

Nightwalker blew its head off with two well-placed orbs, unable to stand the blasphemous sight. He heard a yell behind him, and turned to see Gizmo frantically trying to hold off the overmuscled axe creature with his weakened lasers. Nightwalker emptied several more orbs into the monster, and as it staggered back from the blow Gizmo pulled out a small gun and sprayed a noxious liquid on the monster, liquid he ignited by kicking it with his jet boots. The monster, all aflame, staggered off, moaning in a sense that suggested pain and yet…anything but.

"Oh crud, what's going…" Gizmo said.

"Doesn't matter! Let's get out of…!"

Another mannequin exploded, and another demonic baby leapt for Gizmo and Nightwalker, who barely avoided it even as a door slammed open and out shuffled another overmuscled field, this one dragging a large pipe. Skittering sounded from the ceiling, and then another baby flew down at the two, Nightwalker kicking it away and mid air, the demon flying past another grating being smashed down to expose yet another muscle demon.

The halls weren't playing around any more.

"Oh crap. Any ideas?" Gizmo said as he and Nightwalker, back to back, looked around, even as more creatures spawned from hell emerged from the corners, the shadows, the dark.

"I don't plan on dying in here." Nightwalker said, snapping in one of his few remaining clips.

The creatures surged, and Gizmo and Nightwalker fired around them, circling as they tried to blast every target, but there was so many of them…

A demon baby jumped on Gizmo's back, forcing him down with the weight, and as Nightwalker turned to help a muscle creature struck him the back with a bloodied wrench, and then the creatures were on them, surging over their bodies and swallowing their screams with hungry moans.

It seemed that nothing would save Shimmer, except maybe herself, and as we have said, Shimmer wasn't exactly that…

But one thing she never forgot to do was feed her cat, and karma remembers in strange ways.

As Mittens leapt off a nearby stack of boxes and jumped onto Michael's face, clawing and hissing. Why this young cat who had done nothing more then run away from anything even remotely (though one could suppose they all were quite) threatening now chose to do this was unknown. Maybe he was tired of hunting for food in such a dangerous territory and had decided that Shimmer was his link to safe food. Or maybe it was just a plot device. You decide.

Michael recoiled away from the surprise, letting Shimmer go as he tried to keep Mittens away from his eye holes, as Shimmer collapsed with a gasp and turned around, her eyes going wide as she saw Myers yank Mittens off his face and change his knife's position to cut him in half.

"NOOOOO!" Shimmer wailed, lunging forward and grabbing Michael's leg. "YOU CAN'T HAVE MY KITTY TOO!"

And Myers' whole leg turned to steel, morphed into the steel floor much to his great surprise, as he looked down at the now dead limb, as Mittens squirmed free and fell to the ground, his moment of bravery done as he ran like the wind. Shimmer even seemed a bit confused herself, as if she had forgotten all about that aspect of her power…

And then Myers tried to stab her through the back. Shimmer scrambled away again, staring at Myers tried to follow her and found he could not move: his leg was firmly fused to the floor and he couldn't move from the spot. He looked down at the limb, and then back at Shimmer, and in his dead eyes was reflected something so primal and dangerous it would have chilled the Lord's soul.

"It didn't." The Lord said from behind the bar.

In any case it put wings on Shimmer's feet all over again, as she turned and ran out the nearest door, Myers glaring after her, as he yanked at his leg, trying to at least free it. He did that for a bit.

And then suddenly his leg was back to normal, as if it had never been turned to metal. Myers gave the limb an odd look…and then forgot about it and headed off after his victim again.

In another odd quirk of fate, had Shimmer run the opposite way of the way she had, she would have run right into the battle between Flay and the Tall Man, the battle that was reaching its final, fevered stage.

And Flay was losing, and he knew it. His body ached with pain and fatigue, his agile grace now only existing in his own mind, his survival now heavily dependent on luck. Spheres littered the ground all over, but more came to replace them.

One of his plasma whips had burned out first. Flay had tried to adjust as best he could, but even as he cut down another group of silver spheres his electric/sonic whip finally went as well, the power core burning out. With two dead whips, the cat o' nine tails was no longer the optimum weapon for Flay to use, but he could hardly take the time to change his setup around.

He tried anyway, taking a chance when a positron laser blast detonated at his feet and blew him through the air. Flay spun away from the swooping lunges of a few other spheres, and even in mid air he snapped off his flame whip. He landed, stumbled badly, and barely recovered as new spheres swooped in, as Flay swung the fire whip around him, using the heat shimmer and smoke to obscure him, even as he frantically tried to disassemble his omega hybrid with one hand.

A burning sphere flew through the air, knocked off course but not enough, as its unbladed end clanged into Flay's head, sending him stumbling into the wall and very nearly knocking him out. The fire whip fell at his heels, and new spheres zipped in. Flay ducked as one rammed into the wall above him and then dove forward, grabbing the fire whip back up, and did several flips along the wall to avoid the spheres behind it. He flipped back up, having held onto both whips the whole time, and put on one last fire whip display, as his fingers moved impossibly in his other hand…

The handles all came apart, finally unmerging fully, and Flay snapped off his flame whip and grabbed up his remaining plasma one as the two other dead whips fell to the ground, Flay wrapping the cooled off fire whip around to join its badly damaged brother, the anti grav whip, as Flay took up the plasma whip with one hand and the five-barbed ends of the other whip in the other. He no longer had the firepower to go for mass destruction. What would save him (ha) now was precision.

As Flay cracked his right whip and smacked a sphere out of the air a foot from his right ear. Well, Flay had never been a klutz.

The air filled with violent whip cracks as Flay went into another deadly dance, blending offense and defense with supreme smoothness, as sphere after sphere fell, even as he retreated, fleeing through an open door into the next room. His first thought was the room was a mess, as if someone had ransacked nearby rooms and covered it with junk. Then two spheres were coming for him, and he slashed with his plasma whip…

And watched in horror as it burned out in mid air. It got one sphere, but the second took the blow from the dead whip and the angle wasn't precise enough to stop it, as it flew forward and buried its blades into Flay's face.

Flay screamed, stumbling back, even as the drill came out, starting to shred through the tissue.

Flay got his hands up and yanked as hard as he could, pulling the sphere free in a brief splash of blood, and throwing it off into the air before a whip crack shattered it. Violently nauseous and dizzy, feeling like his brains were leaking out through his face, Flay none the less got his fire whip back out and blazing as the next wave came. He couldn't see, but Flay had never so much relied on his eyes as he did on the sixth sense that gave him such mastery over his weapons, and he took down every sphere in the latest wave.

Wiping his face, trying to clear his eyes, Flay looked around frantically, hunting for the next attack.

None. There were no more spheres. Incredulous, Flay whirled around…

And found the Tall Man staring down on him.

Flay recoiled, but only a step, as he lashed back with both whips…

The Tall Man swatted him away like he was a fly, as Flay came tumbling down some feet away. Pain shot through his body, but he managed to stagger up, snapping out the whips…

The sphere impaled in his shoulder. Before Flay could do anything, another impaled in his right arm, and then his chest, and then two more, and Flay, with one final scream, found himself being lifted off the ground and actually flown through the air, another sphere impaling into his wrist and causing him to lose his flame whip, and then Flay hit the wall, as a myriad of other spheres flew in, blades flashing.

Flay was quite surprised when he didn't find himself dead seconds later, and he groaned and looked down on himself. Spheres covered his whole body, all the blades out and in his flesh, but they hadn't penetrated very deep, to the point where all they had inflicted were surface wounds. The sheer number of them, and their pattern, kept him pinned to the wall in perfect balance, like a butterfly under a needle. His left hand still held his lone remaining offensive whip, but the arm was pinned firmly and he might as well have not been armed at all.

Flay looked up in horror, as the Tall Man slowly approached, now with the slightest air of approval, of a hunter whose dogs had finally run the rabbit to ground.

The basement of the Hive base was a crude affair, as it wasn't intended to be used much. Unlike the above floor, which was a massive maze, the basement was pretty much a zig-zagging straight line, with several rooms that held the usual: supplies, tools, and even an interrogation room like the kind used in police stations, though why that had been built Blood didn't know, as he hadn't yet found a use for it. Besides a few stairways and the elevator that led down to it, there was pretty much nothing down there.

Except one very angry slasher, and his prey. However, the prey wasn't exactly going to give up without a fight.

As mentioned, the rooms held the usual.

And one of the usual was firearms.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Flense bellowed as he did a small leap out of the door in front of Uberjason, each hand clutching an uzi while several tentacles also held shotguns, machine guns, and pistols.

Flense opened fire.

And nearly flew right off his feet from all the recoil.

"Son of a…!" Flense cursed as he righted himself, propped himself up with a tentacle, and resumed firing just as Jason recovered from the first brief spray.

The narrow hallway amplified the hellacious noise as the firepower rained down on Uberjason. In the beginning that hadn't even bothered him, but now his body was broken down, battered by endless forces, and as a result the ammo riddled him, filling him with holes as Flense marched forward, emptying all the guns until all that came from them were dry clicks. Uberjason collapsed, black blood oozing from his wounds.

Flense dropped all the empty guns.

Uberjason sat up like it was nothing.

"Ahhhhhh FUUUUUUCKKKKKK!" Flense screamed as he turned and ran again, as Uberjason got up and once again pursued.

Shimmer was sure her own nightmare was still in pursuit, but she hadn't seen a trace of him for the past several minutes. The solitude had allowed her to calm down a bit, though she was still quite rattled. She knew he'd be after her: her transmutations only lasted three minutes and she'd been too scared to do anything else. And she was still wracked with pain over Baran's death, but she also understood that she had to try and get ahold of herself, if she wanted to survive.

Still, the eerie quiet was almost as bad as when Myers was in her vision, as she crossed yet another training room, this one pretty much empty. She figured she was just about out of the right wing of the training section: maybe once she reached the dormitories she could find an exit.

Of course the latest door was closed: even when the doors were opened none of them actually stayed that way. The panel was still intact though, so Shimmer looked over her shoulder, and then carefully began inputting the code.

It seemed to be accepted, and Shimmer looked over her shoulder again, her eyes darting back and forth, as she pressed the main button. Nothing came from the shadows, and Shimmer turned back to the door…

Myers stood in front of her.

For a moment Shimmer could only stand in utter shock. How? How had he gotten around her? Known it was THIS EXACT DOOR? How…

Because that's the way the rules worked.

Her attempted calm shattered as she screamed again, trying to turn and run away, but Myers' hand shot out and seized her by the front of her armor, lifting her up a bit as he lifted up his knife to cut her pretty face off.

"NO!" Shimmer screamed, as she went for his face, and while her sheer panic kept her from using her powers despite the fact she'd been planning to do so but not ten seconds ago, she did manage to yank his mask to the side, blinding him. Myers stopped his stab as he shook his head, trying to see, and Shimmer tore at his hand with her fingernails and managed to get him to release his grip. She landed, stumbled as she tried to do an immediate 180, and ran for her life.

Myers adjusted his mask somewhat so one dead eye peered out, looking upon the fleeing Shimmer…and then he raised his hand and hurled his knife after her.

It hit her right between her shoulder blades.

Shimmer stopped dead, whimpered with a sound that echoed Terra, and then fell on her face.

Myers finished adjusting his mask, walking over to his victim. A pity, long-range kills often lacked satisfaction, as he reached down and pulled his knife out…

It resisted him, and Myers found he had to yank fairly hard to get it free…and then he stared at the blade. Something was off. Only the very tip of the blade had blood on it.

And then Shimmer stirred, and Myers looked down at her. So, the armor she wore on her back had deflected the blow, so to speak: the knife had gone through it but only the tip had actually penetrated flesh, though the impact and the sensation of the tip just brushing up against her spine had caused Shimmer to collapse from shock.

Well, she didn't look like she was up to fighting, and her neck was quite bare. He'd just cut the spine there, and finish this off once and for all, as he swung his hand back and slashed out his knife.

Which stopped.

In mid-air.

Myers jerked his head towards his arm, staring at the limb…at the rippling shape he could now see that he focused on it, a space where he could see through but not perfectly, as if something was still there…holding his arm…without being seen…

"No, I'm not the Predator." The cloaked shape said.

Gizmo rammed into the side of Micheal's head and shoulder, putting every bit of momentum he could into the shoulder tackle, and while the strike rang through his body it sent Myers staggering away, a stagger that turned into an all out fall as the shimmering effect disappeared and revealed Nightwalker, who swung around and slammed his foot into Myers' face, pitching him onto the ground.

"Selinda! It's ok! We're here!" Gizmo said as he came down next to Shimmer, who looked up groggily at the midget.

"Uhhhhhhh…Mik-ron?"

Gizmo let the use of his name slide, as he shoved some smelling salts under Shimmer's nose. That cleared her up in a hurry.

"You better be grateful young lady." Nightwalker said as he knelt by Shimmer as well, his eyes on Myers' still fallen form. "I had to sacrifice something quite rare to get out of the situation we found ourselves in when we chased you. Gray magic fields don't grow on trees."

"What?" Shimmer said, confused.

"Forget it Selinda. It wasn't your fault." Gizmo said. Indeed, it had been Nightwalker's choice. He had, under the pile of creatures that he could not have escaped otherwise, fired off four potent words of power that had destroyed the protection that had shielded him against Betelgeuse but had also destroyed all the creatures piled on top of him, as well as pretty much all the ones on top of Gizmo, who had been shielded from the magical eruption by the bodies. They had gotten out of the corridor before more creatures could show up, and now knelt next to Shimmer.

And their problems weren't done yet, as Myers was starting to rise.

"Shit." Gizmo said.

"Selinda, can you fight?"

"I…uh…" Shimmer stammered.

"Forget it, you're still freaked out. Stay back, we'll handle Myers." Nightwalker said, as he put in an ammo clip.

"But…" Shimmer said.

"Selinda, I know what he did. Baran was my friend. I'll bring you this crudmuncher's head." Gizmo said, sounding a lot braver then he felt. In reality his weapon systems were running on fumes: he'd wasted all the good stuff on Uberjason before Flense had lured him away.

"Just keep out of our way." Nightwalker said, rising up, as Myers finished doing so and turned around, his expressionless face never changing.

"Nightwalker, give me back my cloaking device." Gizmo said as he flew next to Nightwalker. Nightwalker handed the device, about the size of an overlarge wallet that clipped to Nightwalker's belt, back.

"Thanks. Take this." Gizmo said, handing over another device.

"What is it?"

"Hologram generator. Give it a minute to read your body and it'll make clones of you. Good for screwing people up. I think this will serve me better." Gizmo said, as he snapped the cloaking device back into his setup.

"Hey Gizmo, one question."

"Yeah, what?" Gizmo said, as Myers began to approach.

"That device bends light to render you invisible, right?"

"Yeah."

"Then how come I could still see? Sight is achieved by light striking the eyes and the eyes interpreting them as images. If the light's being deflected, how come I wasn't blind?"

"…I'd explain that, but there's a lot of math." Gizmo said.

"Forget it, I got a D in Math." Nightwalker replied, and then Myers stabbed his knife at the teen, who dodged away. "But I got an A in Asskicking!" He snapped off, as he slammed a quick one-two kick into Myers' stomach and chest. He was hard to hit, with a body that was clearly composed of rock hard muscle, but at least it wasn't like kicking a wall.

"And an F in Banter, apparently." Gizmo said, as he snapped his goggles on and then cloaked himself. As Myers swung at Nightwalker again and Nightwalker cartwheeled away, Gizmo zipped around Michael and rammed into his back, forcing his jet boots into the boiler suit Myers wore, trying to ignite it. It didn't work, though it did knock Myers down and give him a nasty burn…

And also allowed his hand to swing up and grab Gizmo's ankle. Gizmo yelled as Myers yanked down him, stabbing his knife out.

Orbs slammed into Myers' arm, causing him to drop his knife, and then Gizmo got one of his gauntlets up and fired a spray of energy shots into Myers' face and chest, forcing him to let go. As Gizmo flew back up again, he once again cursed that he had used so much energy on Jason that now his shots did little more then stun and mildly bruise Myers, while Nightwalker himself cursed that he'd used up all his really good ammo earlier. Not only had he run out of explosive and acid shots, he'd also used up the more dense and compact normal ammo which hit harder: if Nightwalker had shot Myers with THAT ammo his arm would have been a shattered wreck. Well, if his orbs couldn't do it, Nightwalker would do it with his own body, as he ran in and swung his leg out, kicking Myers across the face. It just put him in range of Myers' knife, which he barely managed to leap away from.

Shimmer watched as Gizmo and Nightwalker darted in and out, stinging Myers with blows. And doing about as much damage to him as a mosquito. But they'd told her not to interfere…

Nightwalker punched Myers in the throat, and then grabbed his knife arm with both hands when Myers tried to stab him in retaliation. Myers seemed to struggle with Nightwalker for a bit, and then grabbed him with the other hand and threw him across the room like it was nothing. He didn't get to follow up though, as Gizmo came down on the top of his head in a diving knee thrust. It knocked Myers down, but it hurt Gizmo more them him, metal knee armor aside, as Gizmo spun off at an odd angle…

And then his cloaking device finally shorted out, rendering him visible. And Myers was back up and glaring at him.

"Oh crap." Gizmo said.

Myers started for him.

And then two perfectly fired orbs slammed into the back of his knees, causing him to collapse. Gizmo took advantage to fly in and shoot Myers a few more times with his gauntlets before he ran away once more, cursing his low power. As Myers got up, an orb ricocheted off his mask and drew his attention back to Nightwalker, who gave him the finger, which reversed Myers' direction.

"Grahhh. Gizmo's no charity case!" Gizmo muttered, as he thought his options over. His shots were too weak, all his other ammo was exhausted save for one lone rail driver tucked in his boot and with his gun destroyed that was worthless, and his physical attacks were doing little. What else could he…

He eyes were drawn to the ceiling. He had an idea.

He just hoped Nightwalker would catch on, as he flew up a bit higher, as Nightwalker again tried to engage Myers in hand to hand. Myers, by now, had apparently deduced this as well, and wasn't having any of it, as Nightwalker's spinning thrust kick was no sold as Myers brought his closest hand (fortunately not the one holding the knife) down on down on Nightwalker's back, driving him to his knees before Myers kicked him in the ribs and sent him flying across the room again. Shimmer gasped at the blow.

And Gizmo began firing, at the ceiling.

Nightwalker coughed violently, wondered where his backup was…and then his eyes were drawn by the noise of Gizmo's shots, as he looked up…saw what Gizmo was doing…and understood.

Myers was on him, stabbing downward.

And Nightwalker ducked under the knife, snarling as it grazed his left shoulder, even as he rammed his right shoulder into Myers' gut and shoved him backwards.

As Gizmo's shots blew a chunk out of the plaster and stone roof and sent it falling down.

Right on Myers' head, as Nightwalker shoved him under the debris. The impact drove him to his knees, and Nightwalker leapt and flipped, ramming his leg up against Myers' down-turned face in a flipping knee strike, landing on his feet and dancing away as Myers was actually driven back up to his feet by the impact. Gizmo gave a short laugh of triumph: now he just had to do the same thing with the floor under Myers' feet, as he flew back down to get a bead.

And Myers whirled and hurled the knife at Gizmo, the blade flying true through the air…and plunging right into Gizmo's chest.

The good news was, his armor was just as good as Shimmer's.

The bad news was, it had a lot more stuff in it. Like circuits, and wires, and power sources.

And Myers' knife managed to hit in an area that scrambled all three, as electricity exploded on Gizmo and he screamed, voltage coursing through him for several seconds before it shut off, as he fell, smoking, to the ground with a thud.

"Gizmo!" Shimmer cried.

Myers turned his black eyes on Shimmer, his chosen victim, who he would claim…

If he could get rid of the black suited teen in front of him, as Nightwalker sprang in to attack again.

Myers no longer had his knife, but he wasn't six years old anymore. He didn't need a knife to take life, as he lunged at Nightwalker…

And found his hand passing through Nightwalker's head.

Even as another Nightwalker jumping over his back.

And another in his peripheral vision.

And yet another in front of him.

"What's wrong? It looks like you've seen a ghost." All the Nightwalkers said.

A powerful blow slammed into Michael's back, and as he whirled around another one was hammered into his face, staggering him again, as that Nightwalker, the real one, danced back into a group of holograms and lost himself in them.

"Shimmer! Help Gizmo! I'll keep the bastard occupied!" Nightwalker said, and all of the Nightwalkers aimed at Myers, who having no idea which Nightwalker was the real one, was defenseless against the spray of orbs that slammed into his chest and knocked him flat. Various Nightwalkers danced around his fallen body, making to kick him, as Myers swiped at the clones, unable to get a grip on them.

And then they all disappeared, revealing Nightwalker standing at a nearby door. He shot Myers once more to get his attention, gave him the finger again, and ran off.

Myers stood up as he considered…and decided he could get the red-haired one later. This one would be more fun to destroy, as he went after Nightwalker. Taking that as a cue, Shimmer crawled over to Gizmo, whose armor had retracted back into his still smoking backpack.

To her horror, Shimmer realized he wasn't breathing.

"I must admit boy, you are a unique one." The Tall Man said as he stood in front of the thoroughly pinned Flay. "Your example will serve me well in the future."

Flay, despite all his injury, could still muster a decent glare. The Tall Man, despite his face not changing, seemed to notice.

"You look so angry. The ones that fight always do. As they realize that I am so much more then they could ever overcome. For you are, in the end, just…a boy." The Tall Man said.

Belinda's gun pressed up against his temple.

"Not an issue here." Belinda said, as the Tall Man's eyes darted to her, and then she fired, an explosion of yellow goo flying from the Tall Man's head as he staggered back and collapsed.

The spheres went crazy, though in this case going crazy meant they yanked themselves out of Flay to go after Belinda…and ran into a barrage of machine gun fire that blew them apart, as Kane and Patrick ran in and began yanking the remaining spheres out of Flay, who collapsed to the ground, Kane and Patrick grabbing him.

"Told you you should have let us come along kid." Belinda said, her good humor hiding her true feelings. Flay had locked them up to spare them, and his body, covered with wounds, spoke of that stupidity.

"Sir!" Kane said loudly, and Belinda turned as she saw the Tall Man getting up. He did not look happy.

"What the…FUCK!" Belinda yelled, as she jerked her gun up and opened fire, new bullets tearing through the Tall Man before a golden sphere flew in and blew Belinda's gun apart in her hands, knocking her down as the sphere flew in. Belinda got her hands up and grabbed it by the arms that held the buzzsaws, but the impact knocked her off her feet anyway, and she yelled as the three bladed prongs at the end of the golden sphere pressed in, trying to force its way through her head…

A whip crack tore the sphere apart, Belinda sitting up in surprise, as Flay recalled his weapon.

"Not quite…finished yet."

The Tall Man's face twisted into that powerful squint, yellow blood running down his forehead, unable to believe that despite all he'd done the child could still fight. That settled it: he would deal with him personally.

"BOY!" The Tall Man bellowed, his voice reverberating around the room, as the spheres came, seemingly from nowhere, as Kane and Patrick got their guns up and firing again, trying to protect themselves from the assault, but for all the damage they had done there were simply too many spheres, indeed, they almost seemed to be toying with them as they swooped and slashed by.

And despite all his injuries, Flay went into another dance, lashing his lone whip about, striking sphere after sphere from the air, as the remaining Hive drones tried to help, Belinda drawing a handgun and adding to the defense, as Flay slashed down another sphere…

And then one rammed into his back, the blades digging in, but instead of drilling this one shoved him forward, away from the drones, and then Flay pulled himself from the blades and fell to the ground, trying to spring up immediately and not being too successful, as a wall of spheres cut him off from the drones.

And the Tall Man was coming, slowly approaching Flay, even as more of his spheres came, and Flay found himself being driven back as he fought against impossible odds.

Uberjason stalked down the hallway, hunting his prey, checking in every door he could. The half finished nature of the basement was clear: some of the doors, instead of metal, were wooden, propped up in a hastily assembled frame, easily enough for Jason to kick down.

The attack didn't come from one of those rooms though, as the blade flew through the air and impaled itself in Uberjason's forehead. He stopped as he saw the form dart back into the room he'd stuck his body from, and then he angrily yanked the scalpel out of his head and stormed to the door. There would be no escaping him.

Flense was indeed in the room, which was larger then the other ones in the basement: it was actually where Lucinda was planning to move her temporary lab for more privacy. But there was nothing in the room at the moment except Flense.

And his new toys.

"Man, you really are a retard, ain't you?" Flense said, as he held up the bladed staff, the glaive he had found in one of the basement rooms. And not just any glaive. A Blacktrinian glaive.

An eternity ago, Nigel had complained that due to his weapons having been sent away to be copied and then delayed in their return, he had to make do with a chair leg for defense. What Nigel never knew was that the real reason for the delay was because Blood had intercepted the weapons and squirreled them away, planning to copy them himself. The weapons had been stored in a basement room…a room Flense had found, and raided, Nigel's weapons now his, as his metal tentacles dangled above his head, holding three swords, a mace, and several other nasty looking tools that Nigel actually used for surgery but could double quite nicely as weapons, on top of the glaive Flense held in his hands. Next to them, Jason's machete looked rather puny.

"En garde." Flense said, and leapt in to attack. Uberjason retaliated with his own machete, but one sword blocked and deflected it while the other two stabbed and slashed across Jason's shoulders and head, as Flense did likewise with the glaive across Jason's chest and torso, sparks flying from the metal parts of his body. Uberjason was pushed back, but he didn't yield, as he forced the sword holding his machete away and stabbed it at Flense, the metalliplastic weapon extending out and lancing for Flense's head, but Flense jerked aside and redoubled his effort, bringing the mace down across Uberjason's face with a thunderous impact, and then seized his chance and rammed the glaive right through Uberjason's gut, the other end bursting out his back.

For a moment, Flense stood there.

And then Uberjason glared at him, as if asking "And that's supposed to do WHAT?"

His fist slammed into Flense's chest and sent him flying away, losing the glaive in the process. Uberjason grabbed the end and yanked it out, weighed it, decided it was too heavy for his tastes, and dropped it as Flense leapt in, hurling the various surgical tools at Uberjason as he slashed at him with twin swords in his hands and the weapons still in his tentacles. The weapons gorged more deep wounds into Jason's flesh, but he continued to shrug off the slashes and impacts, as he pushed again, trying to get his machete through.

The two of them locked blades, Uberjason's machete seized between the middle of Flense's weapons.

And then the swords clattered to the ground as Uberjason shoved down mightily, twisting the weapons from Flense's hands even as he clamped his other hand on Flense's face and tried to crush his skull. The arms holding the mace came down, hammering at the limb…and then Uberjason grabbed the mace, yanked it from the tendril's grip, and slammed it into Flense's chest, severely denting the metal apparatus, even more considering it had been weakened from a sphere laser blast. Flense flew across the room, hit the wall, and collapsed, coughing violently, as Uberjason disposed of the mace and stalked after him, machete at the ready.

Flense still had one sword left, and he charged in with it, swinging wildly and screaming, his tentacles snapping out drills and buzzsaws to aid in the attack. It didn't do him any good, as Uberjason deflected his now wild blows with his machete and ignored the tentacles, as they jerked back and away every time he sliced at them. Flense tried to spin around Uberjason and get him in the back…

And found that it was a bad move, as Uberjason spun around and buried the machete in Flense's side.

Flense screamed in agony, collapsing, and Uberjason raised the machete to finish the job.

The tendrils seized Uberjason, picking him up and slamming him hard against the wall. Uberjason was shaken a bit by the blow, but he still tried to counter attack, swiping at the tendrils and finding they retreated again, just like Flense was, as he staggered towards the door, holding his bleeding side.

"What was…I thinking…" Flense whispered.

He turned his head and found much to his horror that Uberjason was once again in pursuit. He passed Nigel's glaive, and picked it up and hurled it at Uberjason along the way. The blade struck Uberjason in the chest, but he simply reached up and yanked it out as Flense fled through the doorway, staggering down the hallway, trying to find a stairway, to get away…

Uberjason seized Flense by the back of his head, and Flense's eyes went wide in horror.

Uberjason didn't stab him.

Instead he rammed Flense through the nearest door.

Facefirst.

Myers grabbed for the diving Nightwalker, but it turned out to be a hologram again, and then the real Nightwalker slammed a kick into his knee and then backhanded him across the face before bounding away. Myers tried to follow the real deal, but the hologram device was very effective at hiding people, and he soon once again lost the teenager among the imposters.

The two had fought down several hallways, Nightwalker landing a blow or two and then retreating before Myers could get his hands on him. The hit and run was affecting him worse then Myers: he was hyperventilating, soaked with sweat, and every single muscle of his upper body seemed to ache.

He tried to relieve the pressure by shooting off a few more orbs, striking Myers in the head and chest and knocking him back a bit. He growled. He had three clips left, and he'd just shot most of one off. What he could he use to kill this bastard?

Myers lunged for Nightwalker, and Nightwalker retreated again, sending off more holograms, but this time Myers wasn't falling for it, he was heading straight for Nightwalker, as if he'd somehow learned to tell the difference, although how was a question that baffled the vigilante.

So he decided to change tactics, as he charged at Myers, running up the wall, bouncing off it onto the other, and then bouncing off that as he dove forward, slamming both fists into Myers' face, and as he landed he emptied what was left of the clip into Myers' chest at point blank range, Myers staggering back, and then Nightwalker blitzed him, firing off punches and kicks with all his remaining strength, slamming blows into Myers' kidneys, ribs, neck, and face, finishing with a magnificent leaping backwards spin heel thrust kick.

Myers staggered and nearly fell.

And then stood straight again, seemingly unaffected.

"No." Nightwalker said in horror.

Myers' backhand came with terrible speed, throwing Nightwalker onto his back and causing him to slide across the hallway.

Nightwalker came to a stop, shaking his head as he tried to recover his senses and think of a new way to use the holograms…

And then realized, to his horror, that the hologram device, clipped to his belt, was gone.

It was now on the ground a dozen feet in front of him, and Myers was looking at it with some interest.

Then he stomped on it, and Nightwalker was left alone.

"Oh no." Nightwalker said, as Myers came for him.

"GAHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Gizmo gasped as he sat up, feeling like he had been charbroiled.

"Mikron! It worked! Oh thank god I took those CPR classes!" Shimmer said, throwing her arms around Gizmo, who was a bit too flustered to complain about his real name.

"…Uh…you're welcome…I mean thanks…I mean…crud! Where's Myers?"

"Nightwalker lured him off…"

"Then we have to get there and help him!" Gizmo said as he got up.

"But…how?" Shimmer asked, as Gizmo tried to reactivate his armor and found it wasn't working. He muttered a few curses, apparently wanting to make up for lost time with all the silly child swears he usually used.

"Hey!" Shimmer suddenly said.

"What?"

"The knife!"

"What knife?"

"The one Myers stabbed you with!"

"What about it?"

"Where'd it go?"

And much to his surprise, Gizmo found that the blade that had nearly killed him was indeed gone, as if it had just vanished into thin air.

"…Forget that! We have to go stop Myers!" Gizmo said in the end.

"Ok!…How?"

"Well I'll have to think of something, but we can't just leave Nightwalker alone!…Where is he?"

"Uh…I don't know."

Gizmo nearly facevaulted before he realized that made sense.

"Which way did he go?"

"That way!" Shimmer said, pointing.

"Right then, let's go!" Gizmo said…and then found his jetpack wasn't working either. Cursing again, he found himself having to hoof it for the first time in a long time.

The wooden door exploded into splinters as Jason introduced Flense to it, the teen flying into the room, knocking over an old wooden chair in the process. He gasped, trying to get his bearings…and as he turned around he saw two things.

A window looking into another room.

And Uberjason's foot coming down towards his head.

Flense got his hands up and stopped the foot, barely, his tendrils coming to help, his micromotors screaming with effort once more as they tried to keep Flense's skull safe.

And despite all that they were failing, as the boot slowly descended with murderous intent…

Nightwalker staggered into the room, not knowing where he was going, just knowing he had to think of something, anything…and maybe the room would offer something.

Nightwalker stopped. He recognized the room. It was the 'office' of Blood's 'secretary', just outside Blood's own office, where he had been when he had interviewed and accepted Nightwalker for the Hive. Although since the place had once been a school, it was set up like a school, with the desk in front of a large glass petition which hid a desk the vice-principal must have worked at before coming to the door that led to Blood's actual office.

But Nightwalker couldn't see how it would help him…

And then the hairs on the back of his neck stood up, even as he saw the shadow fall over him. Myers. Already. How had he moved so quietly…

Nightwalker turned and tried to strike, only to find himself turning into Myers' thundering punch, knocking him to the ground.

Unable to resist the leverage, Flense negated it, as he slammed a tentacle into the back of Uberjason's other leg and caused him to lose his balance. Uberjason staggered, and then swung down with the machete to try and compensate, but Flense had already rolled away, getting to his feet…

Uberjason swung the machete to the side, the weighted blade grazing Flense's collarbone and sending him staggering back into the wall, a wall he bounced off…and into Uberjason's hands.

"OH NO!"

Uberjason lifted Flense up…

As Myers reached down and seized Nightwalker by the front of his outfit, yanking him up and then hurling him through the air.

Nightwalker struck the glass partition back first, shattering the glass.

The window between the interrogation and observation room shattered as well as Uberjason hurled Flense through it head first, Flense landing on the cheap wooden table inside and collapsing it with a crunch.

Uberjason stared through the hole he had made, and then he turned and left the police side of the interrogation room.

Myers approached the fallen Nightwalker, who had bounced off the desk beyond the glass partition and now lay on the ground, back first among the broken glass, twitching.

Nightwalker opened foggy eyes as he tried to remember where he was…

Myers' hands came down, seizing Nightwalker by the throat, and Nightwalker found his air completely cut off as Myers began to throttle him.

Blood spilling from his nose, a cut on his head, and a split lip, Flense slowly got up, looking around, wondering where the hell Jason had gone. He wasn't in the 'police side' of the interrogation room, which Flense could actually see because Uberjason had removed the barrier, and he wasn't anywhere in the small room Flense was in.

Which meant he was coming in the door.

And there was only one door, in front of Flense.

Flense approached, slowly, all his tentacles out, armed, and ready, one lone one slowly creeping forward to open the door, as Flense prepared to rip anything on the other side apart…

The door flew open.

And there was…nothing.

Flense's eyes widened in surprise.

And then he sensed the motion.

BEHIND him.

"No…" Flense whispered, and then he began to whirl around. "That's…!"

The machete pierced through his left side, driving through the armor of the apparatus and through the flesh beyond, exploding out through Flense's back, blood-slick.

"Immmmpppppooooosssssibleeeeee…" Flense whispered, as he stared at Uberjason, who had somehow appeared behind him, with no sound, no clue, no indication at all.

And why would he give such things.

Those were the rules.

Nightwalker flailed as he tried to fight Michael Myers off, but Michael ignored his blows as he continued to choke him, red spots dancing in Nightwalker's vision, and he tried to shoot Myers, but both his gauntlets were empty, of all the times for them to be like that, and he tried to reach his belt but his limbs were growing heavy, he just couldn't…put anything…together…

Uberjason looked at the piece of garbage he had finally impaled on his machete. There had been more resistance then usual, but Uberjason attributed that to the armor, and he'd gotten through that.

So Uberjason was greatly surprised when the light in Flense's eyes didn't fade and die out, but instead blazed up higher, as Flense reached up and clamped his hands onto Uberjason's mask.

"See no evil." Flense hissed.

And he drove his metal-laced thumbs into Uberjason's eyes, crushing them in a spray of black fluid, and Uberjason reared back as he was blinded, and even as he did he felt the weight go off his machete as the boy yanked himself off of it, and Uberjason swung wildly a few times, trying to find his target, before he stopped and waited, letting the nanomachines fix his eyes, his vision swiftly coming back.

He was alone: the boy had fled. But Uberjason paid that no mind. He'd struck the boy a mortal wound. All he had to do was bring him down, once and for all.

He could have done it by himself, but the spots of blood that left a trail just made it fitting. The boy had acted stupid, as all the teenagers always did.

And for that, they died.

It was the rules.

Hand and eye coordination is vital, and often needed to succeed in many things.

But sometimes just knowing things by touch is enough, as Nightwalker's hand finally seized on one of his last two ammo clips and yanked it out, the fingers fumbling but still getting it in, even as Myers began to vanish into blackness…

Nightwalker rammed the gauntlet up against the side of Myers' head and fired.

The feedback was terrible, as the point blank range caused the gauntlet to backfire and shatter, even as it blew most of Myers' ear off, as Myers let Nightwalker go and recoiled, clutching the side of his head, and the oxygen came back in a rush, striking Nightwalker like a bolt of lightning in the brain, even as his other hand seized on one of the shards of glass and picked it up, his hand protected by his glove.

But Myers could not say the same, as Nightwalker drove the shard right into Myers' groin.

Myers recoiled off Nightwalker entirely, clutching the wounded area, as Nightwalker rolled away, gasping in air. After doing that for about fifteen seconds, he finally risked a look over at Myers, only to find him thrashing and agonizing still. Well, at least he was still like a man in some aspects. And sometimes that was all that was needed to fell a monster.

Nightwalker pushed himself up, fighting off waves of dizziness, trying to figure out what he was going to do now. Just because Myers was down for the moment didn't mean he was…

Nightwalker heard the noise behind as he staggered towards the door that led to Blood's office, and he turned.

Myers was back up, as if he had turned the pain off like a switch. Nightwalker's eyes went wide. He'd been wrong. There wasn't any man left in the being before him. Nothing left but…evil itself.

Myers charged at Nightwalker, moving so fast…

The two of them crashed through the door, nearly breaking it off its hinges as Nightwalker tripped and fell, Myers nearly landing on top of him before he managed to roll away. He sprang to his feet, as he unclipped his remaining detonator. Maybe he could stick it down Myers' clothing…

Myers hit Nightwalker with a chair, causing him to go flying, the detonator flying from his hand. Nightwalker landed on Blood's desk, and Myers was on him on a flash, trying to strangle him again…

Nightwalker kicked Myers in the stomach, then spun his hips around and kicked Myers in the back of the head, then whirled around and grabbed a long pen off Blood's desk, ramming it down through Myers' hand and pinning it to the wood. Nightwalker spun back up to his feet, and noted that the bank of TV's that Blood used to keep an eye on the Hive was still on. He had an idea…

And then Myers yanked the desk up, lifting it violently with the hand pinned to it, and Nightwalker slipped and fell off, landing badly on his head and shoulders and causing more stars to go exploding through his vision.

Myers finally got his hand free and went around the desk, grabbing Nightwalker by the back of his outfit and yanking him up, putting both arms around his neck in order to break it.

But he couldn't get the right angle, as Nightwalker began to struggle furiously, kicking at Myers' feet and legs while elbowing him in the stomach and chest, operating on pure instinct. Myers thrashed Nightwalker around, trying to wring the fight from him so he could deliver the killing maneuver.

Nightwalker kicked him in the balls first. Myers' whole body spasmed, and his grip loosened…just enough, as Nightwalker's vision cleared up and he acted, as he ran forward, leapt up, planted his feet on the edge of Blood's desk, and then with every last bit of strength he had he shoved himself up and backwards, as he switched the angle of his grip so he was holding onto Myers instead of holding him off, as he flipped up and over Myers' head…

And rammed his knee into the back of Myers' head. Myers jerked forward, stumbling wildly, as Nightwalker landed, and with a scream he ran, leapt, and kicked Myers in the back as hard as he could.

Myers' head crashed through one of the TV's, and his whole body agonized as electricity coursed through him, the other TV screens, most showing static already, going to static and then exploding, as Myers jerked several more times and then went still, slumping against the shattered display.

Nightwalker stared for a moment, and then collapsed, utterly exhausted. He knelt there for a while, trying to collect himself, but his body had just about had it. Even when he got back to his feet he found his legs were rubbery and unsteady, and he needed to lean on the wall to keep his balance, as he slowly headed for the other door in Blood's office, the one that Blood and Scorcher had exited out of at the beginning, though Nightwalker didn't know that, he was just glad that they'd left the TVs on…

A slight sound came from behind him.

Nightwalker stopped, stock still.

And he realized that Myers' body hadn't faded away like the Nemesis…

Nightwalker turned around just as Myers got his arms up as a brace and pulled his head from the TV, his mask sliced and burned, but still showing those dead, emotionless eyes.

"…No." Nightwalker said again. "Damn it! You came BEFORE Jason! Stop ACTING like him!"

Myers started walking towards him, and Nightwalker turned and ran for it again, for the first time truly and utterly scared out of his mind.

Flay felt strangely calm, which was saying a lot considering that the Tall Man had targeted him personally for death. Though as per usual he sent his spheres to do the dirty work, as he whipped down two more and then was clipped by three others, each one taking a tiny bit of flesh with them, as Flay staggered back, wondering why his legs hadn't just given out yet.

And the Tall Man watched, his face fixed in an expression of great malice. Would he have to kill the boy with his own hands?

No…he would just have to hit him with the right time with a Sentinel.

And he saw no better time as Flay dodged several spheres in a row, not able to attack any of them, as the Tall Man slightly raised his passage fork.

And the sphere suddenly flew from within his clothing, shooting across the floor at an even greater speed then the usual sphere, as Flay's eyes were drawn to the movement…

It was amazing the sphere didn't make his head explode from the impact outright, as it slammed into Flay and sent him flying backwards, falling on his back, losing his last whip, as the drill began to emerge.

And much to the Tall Man's surprise, Flay fought still, clawing at the sphere and jerking his head around, as the drill tried to finish up the hole its brother had made.

Flay's eyes darted around in pure panic, as if trying to find something to help him, but all he could see was the floor and barrels and the ceilings and walls and the sphere and the Tall Man, looking down at him, waiting for the inevitable.

As Nightwalker stumbled into the training room and tripped over the remains of a Hiveborg. He fell down with a gasp, looking over his shoulder in surprise. He tried to get back up…

A wave of dizziness came over him, and he fell down again.

Myers followed him, ignoring the pain of his injuries, just like he'd ignored any attempt of his conscience to tell him what to do when he was a child, finally killing it before he'd killed his sister. And she'd just been the first of many, as he walked through the door.

A sonic cannon blast blew him off his feet.

"Thank you user friendly interface." Nightwalker said, as he aimed the arm he had commandeered for himself and fired again as Myers tried to get up, striking him in the face. Myers collapsed again, as Nightwalker prepared another shot…

And found the cannon refusing to respond. It just konked out.

"Shit!" Nightwalker said, as he tried getting up again, this time finding his mind a little clearer, and looked around, for any other weapons.

Myers sat up again.

Nightwalker was gone, as if he'd vanished. Myers stood up, and headed forward again, stepping into the room, looking around, trying to find his target…

Nightwalker dove onto Myers from the gym rope near the door, landing on his back as his gauntlet knife snapped out, as he tried to plunge it into Myers' neck. Myers stumbled around as Nightwalker attacked, missing the neck and plunging the knife into Myers' shoulder, as Myers tried to get the teen off him.

The knife hit true this time, piercing Myers' collar, Nightwalker yanking the knife out in a spurt of blood and stabbing it in again, piercing Myers' cheek through the mask, blood pumping from the wound…

Myers finally seized Nightwalker and yanked him off his shoulders and onto the floor with a powerful thud, Nightwalker's knife hitting the ground and breaking with a low snapping noise. Myers tried to stomp on him, but Nightwalker rolled away and got up, kicking at his head and chest, trying to rip open the wounds even more, as Myers grabbed for him and he danced away…

And bumped into a balance beam. Nightwalker whirled around, expecting another surprise…

And found Myers right in front of him as he turned back around.

Myers' punch rang through Nightwalker's head as it thudded into the side of his helmet, and as Nightwalker staggered to the side, Myers seized him, lifted him up again, and hurled him through the air. Nightwalker came crashing down onto a pile of gym equipment and did not move.

Myers glanced back at the balance beam that had allowed him to catch the teen…and looked at it with some surprise.

His knife was there, sticking out, as if it had been left for him.

Myers didn't look a gift horse in the mouth, as he pulled his knife free and started for Nightwalker.

"We HAVE to be getting close…" Gizmo said as he came out of the latest room, having found nothing, as Shimmer ran ahead of him, looking around the corner.

And seeing Myers pull his knife from the balance beam in the room off in the distance.

"Gizmo! There here is!" Shimmer yelled, and Gizmo ran to her side, pulling out a light laser pistol. It was the best he could muster, and besides all he had to do was get Nightwalker and then get the hell out of there, as he and Shimmer ran for the door.

Myers heard the noise, and turned to look at them. That briefly gave the pair pause, until Myers turned and started heading back for the unconscious Nightwalker. Confused, Gizmo ran a few steps further…and saw what Myers was going after.

"Ack! MOVE!" Gizmo yelled, as he ran as fast as he could, Shimmer beside him.

And then the door slammed shut in their faces.

"Oh no!" Shimmer said, as Gizmo cursed again and attacked the keypad, not even bothering to try fiddling with the buttons as he blew the pad's cover off and began fumbling around in the wires.

Myers approached his victim, not even caring that the door had mysteriously closed. It didn't matter to him. They were all going to be his. The door would just ensure one would be his a bit sooner.

Nightwalker did not move as Myers approached, but Myers didn't take as chances, as he reached down and clamped a hand down on Nightwalker's neck.

The sensation yanked Nightwalker from oblivion, as his vision cleared up…to see Myers raising his knife.

"NO!" He screamed.

The blade descended.

The hand intercepted it half a foot from Nightwalker's chest. Myers' head jerked up in surprise.

"Your luck just ran out." Jinx said, and clamped her hand on Myers' face and fired off a hex blast.

"Lousy rotten rassn frassn…" Gizmo muttered as he tried to connect the wires inside the panel.

And then it occurred to him.

"D'OH! Selinda, turn the door into something else!" Gizmo said.

"Oh! Right!" Shimmer said, as she ran up to the door and put her hands to it.

"Jinx?" Nightwalker said incredulously as Myers staggered away, his mask smoking.

"I knew you couldn't get anything done without me." Jinx said, smiling slightly, a smile that turned into an intense wince, and Nightwalker saw that while Jinx's other arm was lying limp at her side, streaked with blood.

"I thought…you were dead…" Nightwalker said as he got up.

"Probably should have been. But grabbing the side of a clock tower a few times on the way down as well as a rotten roof works wonders for death. Just turns it into a broken arm, a bunch of broken ribs, and a sprained ankle." Jinx said, and winced again as pain shot through her body. Nightwalker realized that the effort to sneak up on Myers and stop his knife must have been immense in her current state.

And she'd done it anyway. For him.

He clenched his fists tightly, as he whirled around to face Myers, who had recovered from the hex blast.

"That's IT!" Nightwalker yelled, and charged at Myers, charged on righteous rage. Myers stabbed at him, but Nightwalker dodged it and slammed a powerful punch into Myers' face.

"YOU DON'T BELONG HERE! YOU NEVER DID! GET OUT! GET OUT!" Nightwalker bellowed, hammering Myers with blows.

He hadn't learned to dodge Myers' backhand though, as Myers smacked him away and Nightwalker came crashing down next to Jinx again. Jinx looked down at him and then back at Myers, who was approaching. A hex blast drove him back, but not much.

"All right we're…Jinx!" Shimmer said as she ran over the oil she'd turned the door into and stopped when she saw the pink-haired member of the Troika.

"We're jinxed? What do you…Llarenes?" Gizmo said as he darted around Shimmer and saw her too.

"Hey Giz." Jinx said weakly.

"Where did…wait…I remember this room…" Gizmo said, as he looked around. It was the room where he had 'defeated' Uberjason, though the defeat hadn't stuck.

And then Gizmo saw Myers, still standing, battered and bloodied and burned but still going, heading for Jinx and Nightwalker.

And he had an idea.

"Selinda! Hide!" Gizmo said as he ran forward, leaving before Shimmer could reply.

"Argggghhhhhhh!" Nightwalker said as he flipped to his feet, as he slapped in his last clip of ammo. "I SAID DIE!"

Nightwalker emptied the clip into Myers, driving him back again, but he kept his feet, and as blood dribbled through his boiler suit he started forward once more, like he was stuck on 'repeat'.

Gizmo leapt up onto the balance beam and fired a few shots from his laser pistol. All it did was get Myers' attention, as Gizmo squawked and jumped off, running to where Nightwalker and Jinx were.

"Can you keep him busy?"

"I'm out of ammo, she's half dead." Nightwalker replied.

"Do it anyway! Just buy me a minute!" Gizmo said, as he ran off.

"Shit. Jinx, you stay back. You've done enough." Nightwalker said, and sprang forward, leaping onto the balance beam and flipping over Myers to kick him in the back.

"And let you get all the glory? No way." Jinx said, as she limped after the pair. She wasn't going to actually involve herself in the fight. Just get in her licks.

Nightwalker was doing a fair job of that himself, as he fired every punch and kick he knew Myers' form. Despite this, he actually LOST ground, as Myers pushed him backwards, swiping with his knife…

Nightwalker leapt up and grabbed onto something behind him, a giant rack holding a bunch of various balls for sports. Myers stabbed at him, and Nightwalker leapt off the top and over Myers…

As Jinx fired a hex blast at the bottom of it, and the rack jerked and then toppled over, slamming Myers down onto the ground as the balls went everywhere.

"Hah." Jinx said.

Then one of the bouncing basketballs hit her swollen ankle, and paint shot through Jinx's body as her leg buckled, the impact of hitting the ground hurting almost as much, a ragged cry escaping her.

"Jinx!" Nightwalker said, as he ran over to her, even as Myers grabbed the rack and shoved it off of him.

"What are you doing! Go kick his ass!" Jinx said, as Nightwalker very carefully helped Jinx up.

"After what you did for me? Forget it."

"You're supposed to be a villain dumbass. Look out for No 1 and all."

"I never was very good at being what I was supposed to be." Nightwalker replied.

"Really? What-AHHHHHHHHHH!" Jinx screamed. Nightwalker whirled, having kept his back turned too long…

The knife slash caught Nightwalker across the helmet and threw him to the ground. Jinx screamed as she tried to get away and fell down again as she put too much pressure on her ankle, as Myers loomed over her.

"STOP!" Shimmer yelled as she jumped on Myers' back. "YOU WON'T HAVE HER TOO!" The matter transmuter yelled, as she beat on Myers' chest and shoulders.

"Yes!" Gizmo said as he finished. As he had thought, his old gun was still in the room. Its fried state hadn't changed, but Gizmo had said he could possibly get it to fire one more shot. As it turned out, his swift repairs would only allow for one shot, but one shot would be all he needed, as he stood up and unzipped his boot.

Then he heard the screaming. Shimmer's screaming, and he jerked his head and found much to his surprise, instead of hiding, she was attacking Myers, somehow avoiding his counter stabs.

However, moving around to avoid said stabs caused her grip to loosen, and with a twisting jerk Myers threw her onto the ground. He immediately went after her.

"Ah crud!" Gizmo cursed as he got up from what he was doing, drawing his laser pistol as he ran over near the two. "Hey! Clownface! Forget her! I said FORGET HER!" Gizmo yelled as he shot Myers repeatedly with the low powered weapon. But it did get Myers' attention, as he looked from Shimmer to Gizmo and then back to the cowering Shimmer, then back to Gizmo when Gizmo shot him a few more times. That did it, as Myers started for the midget genius, who sighed and ran back to his gun. Well, at least he wouldn't have a hard shot, as he reached for his boot.

And realized, much to his horror, that it was empty. His eyes jerked to the footwear. His last rail driver was gone. It must have fallen out when he'd been running…

There it was, on the ground.

With Myers stepping over it and closing in on him. Gizmo yelped and sprang up, picking up the repaired gun with one hand as he shot the weak laser with the other, fleeing from Myers.

And then HIS luck ran out, for as mentioned Shimmer had turned the door of the room into oil. And three minutes hadn't passed yet.

As Gizmo stepped on a tendril of the spreading liquid and slipped, falling on his back as the working gun flew out of his hand. Stunned for a moment, he tried to get up.

Myers was on him, the knife stabbing down.

Gizmo got his gun up at the last second, bracing it under Myers' wrists, stopping the knife…for about half a second, as Myers' hell-given strength immediately began overwhelming Gizmo's desperation, as the knife slowly inched down, Gizmo screaming and cursing, and then growing silent, as the tip filled his vision…

"Hey asshole."

Myers looked up.

"Trick or treat."

Nightwalker and Jinx kicked at the same time, their boots driving into Myers' face and throwing him off Gizmo, though Jinx cried out and nearly collapsed as soon as the blow was struck, Nightwalker having to catch her again, as Gizmo sat up.

"Mikron! Here!" Shimmer yelled, as she crawled over to the rail driver and tossed it across the floor, as it came to a rest at Gizmo's feet.

A wicked grin, pure Gizmo, broke over his face, as he snatched up the rail driver even as he pressed a few buttons on his old gun, as Shimmer scrambled over to the group and Myers started getting up again.

The barrel shifted and morphed, forming into the same design he'd used on Uberjason. He always made his guns universal. After all, he was a genius, as he shoved the rail in.

Myers got to his feet, knife at his side, as he looked at the four, his black eyes staring into their souls…

And into the barrel of the enlarged rail.

"Trick." Gizmo said.

The rail shot across the room, impaling through Myers and carrying him all the way across to the opposite wall, where it impaled itself, leaving Myers stuck there.

Gizmo got to his own feet, as Myers jerked and struggled, just a bit more, looking upon the four…

And then he went limp, his knife clattering to the ground.

And from somewhere, the piano music played, as the four let out a breath of relief…and then another one as Michael's body began to fade away, eventually just leaving the length of metal that had destroyed him.

"You know Selinda…" Gizmo said, as he dropped the now entirely worthless gun. "When you'd jumped on him you could have just turned him into tofu or something."

"…Oh yeah…oops…" Selinda said.

"I guess whoever's in charge prefers drama." Nightwalker commented, as the music continued on.

Strangely, Nightwalker found it quite natural.

The sphere smashed to the ground as Flay yanked it out and slammed it down. Once again, he began getting up.

The Tall Man was, for once, aghast, as he watched the rising child. It was impossible. He simply could not keep escaping death. Not with his injuries, not with what the Tall Man commanded…a command he realized he would have to completely, utterly bring to bear.

He raised the fork.

Belinda and her last two men, pinned down behind some boxes, were quite surprised when 2/3 of the spheres trying to kill them suddenly veered off and went to the Tall Man, even as more spheres appeared around him.

Flay stared at the sight, and realized this was it. He was done. Alone, cut off, his only weapon a whip, nothing even around him to…

Wait a second.

A flash of memory came to Flay, images from when he was jerking his head around.

Words, blurry and upside down…but they had stuck with him.

"Boyyyyyyyyyyyy…" The Tall Man snarled, as the spheres gathered around him. "You should have let it go. Now your death will be ugly beyond compare."

"Look who's talking." Flay retorted. The Tall Man's face screwed up in the omnipresent squint.

"Enjoy the last use of your mocking tongue. It will spend the rest of eternity in a jar." The Tall Man said.

Jar…the word struck Flay's mind. Jar…container…barrel…the words were written on a barrel…a barrel that was…

And then it came to Flay. The words.

LIQUID COOLANT.

He doesn't like the cold!

And much to his surprise, Flay chuckled.

"Well then, what are you waiting for? Maybe you're afraid to strike, thinking that somehow I'll still win?" Flay said, putting on an air of suicidal courage.

That squint again, as the spheres readied themselves…

"You cannot win boy. You never could. For all your effort, your skill, your attempts, you are just A BOY! AND I AM DEATH!" The Tall Man proclaimed.

The spheres flew.

And Flay turned and dove, somehow avoiding all the spheres, as he reached up and uncoiled the anti-grav whip, praying for it to work, as he uncoiled it even as he hit the ground again and leapt to his feet, feeling the whip come alive in his hands, as he lashed it out.

"NO!" Flay yelled, as the whip coiled around the barrel.

And yanked it up and through the air like it weighed nothing, flying at the Tall Man, as Flay turned and dove one last time.

"YOU!"

Flay grabbed up the whip on the ground as he landed on his hands.

"ARE!"

Flay sprang off his hands and flipped his body over, as the Tall Man raised a hand and stopped the barrel.

He too saw what was written, and his eyes went wide.

"DEAD!"

Flay slashed the barrel in half with the whip.

The liquid sprayed out, the Tall Man becoming engulfed in white mist as he bellowed in rage, his form vanishing as Flay landed and all the spheres homed in on him.

And then they stopped, floating in mid air.

Confused, Belinda poked her head out from under cover to find the spheres attacking her had stopped as well, frozen in limbo.

Flay lowered his whip, as the mist cleared and revealed the Tall Man, frozen in a statue, a look of disbelief etched on his face.

Flay lowered his head, staring at the ground.

The best are remembered…

And then Flay heard the cracking, and his head jerked up as he saw the spiderweb of cracks race across the Tall Man's face.

His head exploded, as a golden sphere flew out, blades snapping out as it lanced for Flay's head.

The whip cracked out, knocking the master sphere to the side, the orb spinning drunkenly as it tried to correct its position…

The whip ends lashed out again, coiling around it.

"ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Flay bellowed, as he swung the sphere up and then brought it down as hard as he could on the frozen remains of the Tall Man, smashing the body to dust as he slammed the sphere into the pool of still evaporating coolant at the body's feet, the sphere freezing and shattering in an explosion of light.

And then all the other spheres lost power, falling to the ground, clattering down around Flay.

Flay called his whip back to him, looking at the remains.

Then, in one smooth motion, he wrapped his whip around his hands a few times and then sat down, legs crossed, a look of peaceful contentment on his face.

"…Whoo hoo! Great work kid!" Kane said, bounding out from behind the barrier of boxes.

"Kane! Careful!" Belinda snapped.

"It's ok! We won! Look!" Kane said, pointing to a fallen sphere. Indeed, they were fading away, all of them were, as well as the Tall Man's remains. "So much for the evil butler! He should have just settled for serving us crackers!"

"…Heh. What do you know? The kid pulled it off." Belinda said.

"Well, what would we expect from a H.A.E.Y.P member? You did good kid!" Kane said, as he walked up to Flay and clapped him on the shoulder.

Flay didn't respond.

"Hey what the…kid?" Kane said. "Kid?"

Silence.

Belinda approached as well, as Kane looked at her in confusion. She wasn't confused, as she knelt down and felt at Flay's neck.

Kane watched as she shook her head.

"…No…" Kane said. "But…he…"

"His heart couldn't take it I guess. His pushed his body as far as it could go, and in the end that was off a cliff." Belinda said sadly. Patrick didn't say anything, he just lowered his head.

"But…but…!" Kane said.

"This is why no one should ever try and be a hero Kane." Belinda said bitterly. "This shit happens."

Belinda sighed, and looked at Flay again, sitting there, as if he was just resting.

"Godspeed kid." Belinda said, and saluted him.

Flay's body sat there, unresponsive…but from the look on his face, Belinda knew he had no regrets.

The basement was larger then he thought, but Jason knew he was getting close, following the blood trail as it wound deeper into the basement…

And finally came to an end, in a room with a single overhanging lightbulb that dead-ended, no more doors.

Flense lay at the end of it, on one knee, leaning on the wall behind him and breathing raggedly, holding his chest, blood dripping between his fingers. Though the lone lightbulb cast most of the room in shadow, Uberjason could see Flense just fine.

"Well…you found me…I suppose…I shouldn't be…fucking…surprised." Flense said. The cockiness was gone from his voice, replaced by a dull resignation.

Uberjason started for him.

"STOP!" Flense said, holding up a hand. "You win! But before you fucking off me, you better damn well listen to me!"

And incredibly, Jason stopped. Flense lowered his arm.

"What do you think you're doing, moron?"

Jason cocked his head.

"Your mother's dead. You can kill every teenager in the world and it wouldn't bring her back. She's dead you fucking dipshit."

Uberjason glared at Flense.

"Really, think about it, if you can, and since you stopped, you clearly have SOME ability to think. Every time you come back, every time you slaughter a new group of kids, what she did is dragged up all over again. She went bonkers and killed for you Jason. And then you started killing. But there comes a time when it has to stop. But you just keep bringing it back up. You and only you Jason, like a fucking record. WHY?"

Uberjason just stared, though he gave the impression that said "You babble about this and you call ME stupid?"

"You think this is about your mother? Fuck no. You do this because you get off on it and nothing more. And I know damn well that eventually yanking your crank just won't do it any more. That why you kill fucking teens so much, eh Jason? Because they actually know how to have some fun without needing a body count? Do you hate them or envy them, eh, you fucking retard?"

Uberjason apparently decided that was enough talk and stalked towards Flense, who pushed himself off the wall and glared at Uberjason.

"I know when I'm beaten. It rarely happened in my life, but I know when I'm outmatched. So go ahead Jason. Add me to your list. I'll die knowing that at least my life had a purpose, at least I had some fun. You? You're just a fucker. And you damn well know it. So come on, you son of a bitch!" Flense said, as he raised his arms. "I'll see you in hell."

Uberjason slashed out with his machete.

It tore through Flense's body.

Without leaving a mark.

Uberjason stared, and then slashed again, and again.

The blade clipped through Flense's form without any effect. It wasn't him, as Flense smiled wickedly and then disappeared.

As he stepped out from behind Uberjason, having hidden in the shadows, and held out a long remote like device, as Uberjason turned around.

And the room lit up as twin walls of machinery came to life, immensely complicated slabs of metal and cybernetics, Jason between them, where Flense had lured him with his hologram, the machinery lighting up even more as Uberjason looked around, and then he stalked towards Flense, determined to do what the fake had claimed was all he could do: kill, and kill in the way only he could.

Flense said nothing, as he looked upon Uberjason for a second, and then without a word pressed another button.

And Gizmo's Intrinsic Field Remover flared to full life and activated.

Uberjason found himself caught and frozen in the light, the blinding light, brighter then he had ever seen, so bright it even counteracted his darkness, and as Flense watched, somehow staring into the brightness, he raised his machete and made one last effort to step forward…

And then he disintegrated, his metal and plastic and flesh burning away from his bones, and then the bones vanishing as the light grew even brighter, filling the whole room and consuming it with radiance.

And then the device whirred down, as Flense took his hand away from his face and opened his eyes, the last surge too much even for him, as he blinked and looked before him once more.

Uberjason was gone, torn apart at a molecular level. Even the mightiest creatures couldn't survive the removal of their innate intrinsic field.

Which is why Flense was so shocked when he looked down and saw Jason's metal mask and machete lying on the ground.

He nearly had a heart attack. How had THOSE survived? It should have vaporized EVERYTHING…

And then, as Flense watched, the mask and machete began to fade away, disappearing. Just a final touch of the dramatic.

CH CH CH AH AH AH…

Flense lowered the arm and tossed the remote down. He'd done it. He'd wiped Uberjason from the face of the Earth.

Though…as he put his hand to his chest and brought it back wet with blood, not without cost.

He felt so tired…

"…The many men so beautiful…" Flense said, as he staggered and fell to his knees. "And they all dead did lie…and a thousand thousand slimy things lived on…and so did…I…"

Flense fell on his face. He did not move again.

And then, the room seemed to grow a bit brighter, as part of the shadows seemed to shift away and flow down the hall.

It was very, very angry.