A twisted ball of metal and concrete had been flung at him from an empty building by the monster. Arc grabbed it with his power, flung it against another empty building and stuck it on. He nearly collapsed from the strain. As the monster hurled another ball at him, Dragonryder blasted it from the side with an energy blast, knocking it out of its trajectory. It landed in the street and rolled safely past Arc. Mach5 spun into a whirlwind around the monster to distract it as Dragonryder got closer. The monster roared in anguish and managed to land a lucky punch at Mach5 and knocked him into a building.
"Mach5! That's it. Game,"
"Hold on Lady Feedback, I got him!" Dragonryder called.
She let lose a wave of energy at the beast. He let out a roar of pain and melted into a pile of goo.
"Alright it did it!"
Mach5 slowly emerged from the rubble, shook himself off then walked up to the melted remains of the monster. Lady Feedback walked up to it and peered closer.
"Do you think its dead?" Dragonryder asked as she walked closer.
"Don't know. Hope so."
Arc hobbled over.
"Arc, are you okay?" Lady Feedback said.
"Note to self: never try that one again."
"Good advice. Looks like were done here. Too bad, I didn't get any fight time."
"Are you really that eager?"
"Just a little. How am I supposed to be a hero if I no one let's me do anything?"
"We're just not used to having a girl like you on the team." Mach5 said.
"Hey!" Dragonryder and Lady Feedback said at once.
"Sorry! What I meant was, we're so used to Feedback. He's used to his powers. We don't have to worry about him as much. You're new at this, we're just worried you'd get hurt." Mach5 rephrased.
"And that Feedback would kill us if anything would happen to you." Arc added.
"So that's it. I can't protect myself, even with his powers. They are MY powers now. I'm here to train to save MY HUSBAND from the psycho that captured him. This is hard enough as it is without MY FRIENDS treating me with kid gloves all the time."
"We're just trying to help." Arc said.
"I don't need help, I need friends. Friends that know when to let me loose."
"Okay, we'll back off. Right guys?"
"Right." Dragonryder and Mach5 said in unison.
"That really means a lot to me. You guys are...■
The rumbling from behind them stopped her in her tracks. They all watched in shock as the monster reformed. The monster roared in anger and threw its fist into a nearby empty building. The beast had been smart enough the attack in an area that was run down and had few people, which made evacuating the area easier. Either that or the team was just lucky. Lady Feedback was betting on lucky.
"Dragonryder, you copy?"
"Yeah Router, what's up?"
"We've done a complete scan of this thing and found the only pure way of getting rid of it is to destroy it from the inside. Outward attacks won't do anything much but make it mad."
"Well, that would have been helpful BEFORE I got shot into a building." Mach5 said under his breath.
"We copy that Router. Guys, I have an idea. Dragonryder, Mach5; get that things attention. I'll do the rest."
"What about me?" Arc said, with a little whine.
"You sure you're up for it?" Lady Feedback asked.
"Always." Arc assured her.
"Alright. Game,"
"Do you want me to hit him from the side or behind?"
"Behind. Game,"
"Should I try and trip it?"
"MACH5!!" The three of them said in unison.
"Sorry."
Lady Feedback shook her head. He glared at the monster. This was a test; she knew it in her heart. She would rescue Matt and she would bring down the person who took him from her. She was given these powers for a reason. She was no longer the wife who cheered her heroic husband on from the sidelines. She was the hero now. And today, it was time to prove it.
"GAME ON!!!"
A flash of white light erupted around her. Her suit was bleached perfectly white. Her hair turned a mix of silver and white. A dazzling sun disk formed on her back, a rusted copper green color. Dazing flames sprouted out from the sun disk and formed a tail behind her. Her ears traveled up the side of her head and transformed into white, furry, wolf-like ears. Her eyes became yellow and red markings covered her face. She had harnessed the powers of Okami Amaterasu, the white wolf.
"Woah! Cool!"
Lady Feedback smiled. She then looked at the monster. Her wolven eyes glowed bright.
"Let go!!" She called and leapt into the air toward the monster.
Mach5 began to high-speed "hit and run" the monsters feet. Dragonryder blasted it from the side. Arc grabbed a dumpster and hurled it at the thing. The onslaught from the three Beta Flight members gave Lady Feedback just the opening she needed. Her flaming tail magically transformed itself into a large, staff sized, paint brush full of ink. A brush appeared; time itself stopped and the world around her transformed into a canvas for her to paint on. She drew swift lines across in the air. As time righted itself, the lines transformed into sword-like cutting arcs that sliced into the monster and the brush transformed back into her tail. The monster roared in pain and took a step back, just as Mach5 wanted it to. He grabbed a chain and wrapped it around the monsters leg.
"Arc! Splice it!" He called as he threw the two ends toward either side of the street.
Arc saw the chains and spliced them to two buildings on either side of the street, causing the monster to lose its balance and fall into its back. Lady Feedback landed on a side building and looked down. The monster gave one great roar and as he let out his cry, she stopped time. With the brush in her hand, she drew three circles within his mouth, each with a small line sticking out. As time resumed the drawings became three large bombs caught in the beast▓s mouth. It gagged on them and swallowed the bombs.
"Get back now!!" Lady Feedback screamed as the bombs erupted within the beast.
As the three Beta Flight members ran away, the monster puffed up like a balloon then exploded into a mass of white goo, covering the area. Lady Feedback just down from the building where she stood and landed on a bed of magic grass that sprouted around her feet. The grass vanished as quickly as it came and Lady Feedback walked over to her team. Or, at least, what she thought was her team. More accurately, three humanoid globs of white goo is the shape of her team mates.
"This stuff is gross." Dragonryder said, trying unsuccessfully to shake it off herself.
"I love being a superhero." Arc said with satisfaction in his voice.
"Only you would be happy covered in white slime, Arc." Mach5 sarcastically remarked.
"Okay back to base to get you three cleaned up. Game off."
She transformed back into her pink suit and walked off with the three of them.
-------------------------------
Orbi floated over to Lida and made one lazy circle around her head then floated next to her. Lida typed feverishly at the keyboard.
"I lost the bet again!"
"That's what you get. You never bet against a winner. And in accordance with our bet, the game keeps going."
"Can I at least talk to him once."
"I'll make you a deal. If he wins my next game, you can talk to him."
"You underestimate him."
"Oh really?"
"I think he will win."
"You've said that before. You're usually wrong."
"That's the point, usually. You've been beaten before."
"Twice. All these years and I've only been beaten twice."
"True, but one loss in enough. You may say you▓re unbeatable but I know the truth."
"No game is fun if it's unbeatable, you know this."
"I do. Maybe that why you keep playing, hoping for that one person who can beat you. At least, that's what I think."
"Why did I give human reasoning to a robot, I'll never know."
"Because you wanted company. That's what you said when you created me."
"Maybe. Maybe I just needed someone to talk some sense into me."
"Maybe."
----------------------
Matt sat eating an instant dinner while watching T.V. Lida had preplanned everything, sure enough. That was the scary part. Matt tried not to think about it. The more he thought about the measures she had taken, the more doubtful he became of getting out of this alive. But the good thing was, this had been the first time in forever that he had been able to go near a microwave without getting sick. As he sat there, he heard the familiar knock on the door.
"Come in." He called in a dry tone.
A small box stuck though the door way and shook.
"Guess what time it is."
"Another game?"
"Yup." Lida said as she walked in the door. "Hope I'm not interrupting."
"No, just watching T.V. What's the game this time?"
"You sound excited. Are you actually enjoying yourself?"
"Maybe. You still remember our bet, right?"
"If you win, I spill the beans. If you lose, I don't."
"I guess I need to win today then."
"Are you implying you let me win during the chess match?"
"Sometimes you don't have to win every challenge to win the big prize."
"You learned more from that little spectacle on T.V. then I thought."
"More then you think."
"Let's begin the game shall we? I assume you know the rules."
"Are we using a dictionary to make sure neither of us cheat?"
"Who needs a dictionary when I got Orbi. Orbi! Could you come in here."
"Orbi, who's Orbi?"
"Just wait." She said with a smile.
The small floating droid came zooming into the room and did a quick circle around Lida then Matt. Orbi then stopped and floated over the table.
"This is Orbi. Say hi Orbi."
"I can't believe you told him about me. You NEVER tell people about me." Orbi said as she flipped her lenses around to look at Matt though different scopes.
"Orbi, do you mind?" Lida said.
"Sorry Lida. Hi, I'm Orbi, Lida's right-hand robot. Though, maybe sidekick is a better term, seeing as how I HAVE no arms."
"Are you the one responsible for the holograms?" Matt asked.
"Speaking of which. Maybe you should change into your main hologram, Orbi. So Mr. Atherton here won't be distracted by your robotic appearance during the game." Lida said to Orbi.
"No problem boss." Orbi acknowledged.
Pieces of light cascaded off of Orbi's lens and formed into a shape. It began to become more detailed and solid. Matt gasped in shock at what stood before him.
"There that's better." Orbi's holographic image said, as she sat down.
"Well, that answers that question." He said under his breath.
"Excuse me? Oh, I see. You thought I had captured my mother as well. No, Orbi's been parading around as my "mother" for quite sometime." Lida said freely.
"So I noticed. So shall we get on with the game?"
"We shall."