Chapter 12: Lithium Vs. Magna

Tyler had just enough time to gasp, then put his arms up, catching her knife-like handsthat vied for his innards. The force of the connection between the two sent Tyler flying backwards, tumbling out of control, with Lithium along for the ride. As they spun wildy through the sky, just above the bay, Lithium Flower wrenched one of her hands free, retracted her nails, then made a fist. She reared up her free hand, then let forth a vicious blow, socking Tyler clean in the side of the jaw.

He winced in pain as solid metal impacted into his face, sending him flying right into the high tension wires of the Golden Gate Bridge–about two miles away.

"That was not cool," he growled to himself as he shot forth.

Anticipating his attack, Lithium's arms took on a new form–razor sharp katana swords.

"I think you could use a bit of a trim, Magna Man," she hissed as he rocketed forward.

"Oh great," he muttered, stopping just before he would be caught and sliced like bread.

Lithium swung her right sword tipped arm. Tyler contorted his body back, as she narrowly missed beheading him by a centimeter. She then swung her left arm, trimming off a few strands of his hair.

"Did I do that?" she asked in a mocking way, a devilish grin on her chrome featured face.

"Hey! Watch the hair!" Tyler barked, just as she put her foot to his face, then pushed off, getting free once again.

How'm I gonna take her down? I can't hit a girl, he thought to himself.

"Come on Magna Man! Show me what you've got," Lithium enticed.

Well, she asked for it, he thought as he stuck his had out, palm facing forward. An orb of glowing energy began to materialize and the air around him started to crackle.

"I don't know about you, but I like it hot," Tyler said with a smile in his tone.

A violent hell storm of super heated energy shot from his palm, enveloping Lithium Flower. The girl screamed as the radiant heat over took her. The sheer heat caused her to loose consciousness and fall from the sky. Before she could land in the water, Tyler swooped in, snagged her out of the air, then gently floated down to one of the piers below, into a crowd of onlookers.

The people made a large circle around the two as Tyler laid her onto the wooden surface. Once on the deck, Lithium Flower's chrome luster disappeared to reveal the real person inside.

"Magna Man? It's really you," one person said from the crowd. "Is she dead?"

"I don't know," Tyler quietly responded as he knelt beside her.

The once silver woman, was now a lovely blond with bronze tanned skin. Though there was only one girl he really liked, he had to admit that Lithium Flower was a sight to behold. Cautiously, he moved some of her blond locks away from her neck, then checked her pulse by placing a pair of gauntleted fingers on her neck.

"She's alive," he said, feeling her, albeit weak, heart beat.

"Maybe you should... you know... finish the job, Mag's," someone else from behind him suggested.

"He's right. You should have killed me when you had the chance!" Lithium Flower roared, her hazel eyes shooting open.

She snapped her hand up and latched on to his jugular, choking him. As she did so, her mettalic luster returned, covering her whole body. Scared onlookers backed away and watched in horror as the once placid girl awoke and had Magna Man in her clutches.

Like a rag doll, she flung Tyler into an emptied F-Line streetcar, knocking the historic tram off the tracks in a shower of sparks and shattered glass.

"Well... didn't see that one coming," he groaned as he tried to get up.

He then saw her come down, finger nail talons ready to puncture him like a pin cushion. Before she could get the chance, he back flipped out of the way. Lithium Flowers nails cut into the streetcar as if it was nothing more than aluminum foil. Nearby masses of people who were watching the action above them scattered as the watched the tram get torn to shreds. Before she could cause anymore damage, Tyler rose high into the air, using the sun to mask his appearance.

"You know, I've never hit a girl," he called out while high in the sky, "but you are seriously askin' for it!"

Tyler came down from his sunshine cloak and tackled Lithium Flower into the ground, leaving a wake of glittering sparks as her metal anatomy slid on the hard concrete.

"Don't you know, Magna Man? Chivalry is dead," she exclaimed as he tried his hardest to keep her pinned down.

"What can I say? I'm old fashioned," he retorted.

"To hell with that, little man," she hissed, "this is a new era."

Lithium Flower managed to get one of her legs free, place her foot squarely on his chest emblem, and push him off–right into a building, the force of the collision between man and steel, causing the windows of the structure to shatter and sprinkle the sidewalks below with razor shards.

"Come on Mags, you're gettin' your ass handed to you," Tyler heard some spectator yell out, followed by a few cheers, helping to motivate him.

Tyler dug his hands into the side of the building, then pushed off. Briefly, he took a look back, as if admiring his body imprint on the domicile.

"Alright, you want some? Them come get 'chu some!" Tyler roared as he stood defiantly.

Lithium Flower's toothy smile was riddled with evil. She lengthened her nails, then shot forward. Tyler noticed there was a car behind him, then got a crazy idea. He unsnapped his cape from his shoulders, then held it out, as if he was a matador, right in front of a parked car–where Lithium couldn't see it.

"Toro! Toro!" Tyler called out as Lithium gathered speed.

Just before she could strike him down, Tyler pulled his cape back. As if in one fluid motion, he stomped his boot into the bumper of the car, causing it to flip upwards. He then snapped his cape back on, spun around on his heel–safely moving his body out of the way–then gave Lithium a slight smack on her rear as she sped right by him.

Lithium Flower ran face first into the vertically positioned car. The resulting crash caused the auto to fall onto its roof, pinning her effectively and knocking her out.

Before she could awaked, Tyler lifted the car off her, scooped her up, placed her on the now exposed underside of the vehicle, then sandwiched her between the car by folding the auto like a slice of bread.

By now, hundreds of police, be it regular officers, SWAT, SERT, even the National Guard, took up positions, their weapons pointed not just at Lithium, but also at Tyler as well.

"You've beaten me," she weakly said as Lithium lay motionless, pinned tight by the car. "You have to finish the job."

"I'm not gonna kill a defenseless person." Tyler responded, then started to walk away.

"Then I will have to make myself not defenseless," she cried out.

Tyler heard the metal of the car whine, then shatter. He also heard every on looker, police and military as well, all yell "Magna! Look out!" Lithium bounded from the car, her talons ready to strike. Instinctively, Tyler spun around, held his palm out, and let loose a violent orange-yellow heat beam, swallowing the airborne Lithium Flower.

Through the heat, wind generated by the blast, he whispered just loud enough for him to hear, "I'm sorry."

After a moment, the beam fizzled out. There was no trace of Lithium, not a strand of hair or a shard of metal.

Nothing.

Still looking up in the sky where his beam was focused, he dropped his arm. The on lookers also looked up at the sky, then at him. The whole area erupted in cheers, applause, congratulations, everything. It was near pandemonium.

Tyler could only stay silent. It had been a long time since he had taken a life. Though he had to destroy her to protect the people, for some reason, he felt as if that was what she wanted. In fact, he swore he heard her say thank you before she disappeared.

A few blocks down spin, Raven, Chelsea, Eddie, Chantel, and Jennifer, along with everyone else crowding on Hyde Street, watched the final confrontation. The troop had no idea where Tyler was, though Jennifer tried to explain that he must have gotten split up during the rush and it would be best for them to wait and him to find everyone.

She, however, knew that it was him down there fighting with whoever that silver person was. And he came out the victor.

"Way to go, Tyler," she whispered to herself, smiling.

"What about Tyler?" Chelsea asked.

"Nothing, Chelly," Jennifer answered.

The whole crowd then cheered out "Magna" as he lifted off, high into the sky, then out of sight.

About a moment or so later, Jennifer saw Tyler come running through the crowd. "You guys! Hey!"

"My God! Tyler, did you see what happened down there? Where were you?" Raven asked as he walked up to meet them.

"Yeah. I guess through the craziness, I got separated. I tried to look for you guys down near the trolley barn, but no luck." he explained, a bold face lie however. "Are you guys all okay?"

The five nodded.

"Well, I really had a taste for a sundae. Guess that's outta the question now," Chantel groaned.

As they all started to walk off, Jennifer pulled Tyler off to the side.

"Tyler? Are you okay?" she asked him quietly.

"I'm cool," he answered.

"I can tell when you're lying you know," she scoffed. "Now what's wrong."

He knew if he didn't just spill it, she'd pester him for the next week or so. Submitting, he sighed.

"I had to kill her, Jay."

"Oh. Well, Tyler, it was self-defense. It was either you and a bunch of people, or her."

He knew Jennifer was right but the fact that he had to take another life still burned through him. And he didn't like it one bit. He looked at his hands, and for some reason, began to mentally trace the lines in his palms. Lithium Flower's face then appeared in his mind. Not the metal version, but the vulnerable one. The girl–about the same age as him–with the sun kissed tone, blond hair, and sharp eyes that seemed to have a fire of determination flaring within.

Tyler looked up at Eddie and Chantel, walking hand in hand. He then looked at Raven and Chelsea, the two girls laughing and chatting, recalling the day's events, seeming as if all that mattered.

Innocence. Something Tyler wished he could truly have back.

Just then, he heard a voice in his head, like a whisper. It was Lithium Flower's voice.

"I wanted to thank you for setting me free, Magna Man. You have shown me that it is possible to forgive, like you forgave me for trying to kill you. I'll never forget you, or the kindness you showed me, warming my heart and helping me to break out of my former shell.

"I no longer have to be known as Lithium Flower. I can now use my real name, Sabrina."

Tyler looked up into the sky, a slight grin stretching on his lips as he watched a few wispy cirrus clouds high up in the sky, float by.

"What's got you so happy now?" Jennifer asked him.

"Looks like I didn't take another life after all," Tyler said, still looking into the blue.

A Couple Notes: Faded Writer, one of the reviewers who make this story possible, asked me what songs I listen to when I write this. (Music from the site gendou . com)

I can't really say exactly which ones, it really just depends on what i feel like hearing at the time. But I can jot down the ones I listen to the most:

Cowboy Bebop: Call Me Call Me, The Real Folk Blues, Gotta Knock A Little Harder

Ghost In the Shell SAC: Living Inside The Shell (Gets To Me Everytime), GET9, Lithium Flower (Coincidence? I Think Not...), I Can't Be Cool, Run Rabbit Junk, Rise

Samurai Champloo: Battlecry, Who's Theme (Get's To Me Too... Y'all Best Not Be Laughin! The Gunny's Sensitive Too!), San Francisco

Most of the time, I don't always listen to the words, usually just the acutal music. Plus, half of these songs are in Japanese and i haven't spoken that in a while...