A/N: The DMC Mythos I adapted for use in Chapter 5 is based off the those created by Author Laryna6, who also operates mainly in the DMC section thus far. So, I don't take any credit for it, she should. Read her stuff, really. She does such a great job putting a sense of humanity is the very John-Woo world of DMC, plus the back-stories she creates… never mind, just check up her stories some time, right?
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Late night, and Gizmo needed sleep, and made it quite clear.
"Move it, Kludge-heads! There's no second chance if you snot-buckets screw this up!" The boy on a jetpack shouted disdainfully to his two partners-in-crime as he shoved gold and diamonds into his sack.
Jinx scoffed, and flicked out sparkling and enchanted light at a safety deposit box that was thrown to the ground among others. The locks on the metal containers malfunctioned easily, leaving entire families' inheritances for the girl to pick through, "Get a grip, Gizmo. We hit this place before, and security hasn't even picked up. We're fine."
"What about them pip-squeak good-guys? They tried to trash us the last time we were here." A particular Mammoth of a man snorted as he approached the pair, his arms hugging a load of gold bars.
Gizmo sneered as he rubbed a finger under his nose, "No problem! I jumpstarted a few alarms around at some other places before we started here! Those crud-munchers will be chasing false leads long enough!"
"Then let's get going. We've got enough to hold us down for a while." Jinx said, hefting a sack of her own over her shoulder.
As the three of them leapt through the smashed vault door, Gizmo still couldn't help but sneer, "Yeah! Perfect get-away! Nothing could get in out way-"
Except for a bus. Like the one that smashed through the front glass windows of the depository, narrowly running down the three villains who jumped out of the way before sliding around to a halt. As the door opened on the side of the bus, Jinx, Gizmo, and Mammoth could hear three distinct voices from within.
"Dude… Boss… can we stop running a bus into everything? I'm thinking I'm going to be losing years offa my life the way this keeps up."
"If you can find a suitable replacement for this bus for purposes of a battering ram, I will consider it."
"Nggggah… Freezie. My bus isn't invincible! You know how much TLC I put into these things? And you just keep telling me, 'ram, ram, ram'!"
"Because it is an efficient tactic, seeing the profit one makes after raiding this facility, made possible by forced entry."
"Yeah… Val' you are sure nobody else staked out this place, right?"
A girl in a suit appeared, looking backward into the confines of the bus while snorting, a boy in a winter jacket and a cowboy in a red leather jacket following, "Don't be an idiot! This place is well under our jurisdiction-"
That was when Valentine turned around to see the three on the ground, valuables scattered about them.
Eyes met.
The awkward silence in the air was so thick you could taste it.
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Competition
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As always, Valentine proved to be a valuable icebreaker, as her eyes bulged at what was wrapped around Jinx's neck, "HEY! I was going to steal that! Get your neck off that!"
"Me! Who the heck are you!"
"You answer me! We've been planning to hit this place for over a week!"
Gizmo spat, "A whole stinkin' week? We were going over this for a MONTH! Take that!"
"Actually. A whole month is tactically unsound. Too many variables could occur, complicating an already complicated plan. It is best to keep the framework of a heist simple." Mr. Freeze suddenly countered.
"Who asked for your opinion, you scum-runner!"
"…Excuse me?"
"Moth brains!"
"Clarify."
"Crud Muncher!"
"I do not understand."
"You stupid… dumb… slime-eating, face-stuffing, snot-sucker!"
Devil Hand's eyes widened from behind his never-removed shades, "Dude! Boss! You're gonna take smack like that?"
"Oh, you understand the etymology of those phrases? I personally am ignorant of these particular ones."
"Er… no…"
Valentine shouted back over to the trio before them, "Come on! Drop the goods and get! This is our turf!"
"No way! There's plenty left in the vault! Go and get that!" Jinx shot back.
"Nuh-uh! I'm not giving away freebies! This is our bank, and I mean it, every last penny! So back off!"
Mammoth took a threatening step forward, "You back off, pip-squeaks. Guys from the HIVE don't take orders from anyone, except from the Headmaster."
Devil Hand frowned in thought at the words for a few seconds, before a realization hit him, "Dude! I was there when I read the papers! Wasn't the HIVE school place like the place that got the axe by those heroes a few months back? Dude, Boss, you weren't even here when they got beat down."
"Irrelevant."
"So what?" Jinx snorted, "With this money, we can restart the HIVE!"
"Yeah, well get that money from another vault!" Valentine sneered, "This vault's is claimed by the Friece and Valentine Foundation!"
Gizmo also moved a few feet forward challengingly, "Oh yeah? Maybe we should take it from you, just to prove we're better than you dweebs!"
Jinx followed, "Actually… I like that idea. I don't get told off by new-comers."
Devil Hand pointed at the approaching trio, "Okay, whatever. Since we're going to go down and dirty for it, I can do the talkin' smack, too. You. Gizmo, right?"
"What's it to you, barf-brains?"
"…Is it just me, or are you wearing baby pajamas?"
Gizmo's face was blank at the words for a second, before the boy suddenly began shaking with rage. You could almost see the steam as he shouted, "WHAT DID YOU SAY?"
A touch of a button, and a trio of rockets came out from Gizmo's backpack. The Foundation members dodged away from the miniature explosions that shot at them, Mr. Freeze meanwhile humming in thought.
"It appears there is no other alternative at the moment."
Valentine grinned wider than ever, bringing up her fingers, "Come on then! Ciao!"
The windows on her bus shattered at her command, letting her ghoul soldiers fire out of the vehicle at the Foundation's opponents. Amidst the bullets, Jinx shouted to her comrades, "Guys! Gamma Maneuver! Move it!"
"Choose one and nullify him or her." Mr. Freeze countered, skating towards the closest enemy, which happened to also be HIVE's resident master of bad luck. Devil Hand somewhere rushed down Mammoth, while Valentine stood, laughed, and watched Gizmo zip away from the battery of firepower that was her bus.
Mr. Freeze decided to handle things directly, swinging his open lighter downward, and letting a thick column of frozen flame fall towards Jinx. The pale child merely countered with flourishing spins and twirls, letting sparkling power ribbon around her protectively from her waving fingertips. The two energies clashed for only a few moments, before the blue fire merely evaporated.
How curious. I would almost conclude abilities similar to the Starfire's: high-heat energy emission… but…
Leaving his analysis for later, Freeze continued to blast and slash with his icy lighter, though Jinx nimbly evaded the direction of each attack. In mid-leap over another blast, Jinx suddenly noticed her landing point suddenly growing a thick slab of shining ice over it. Unable to stop her self, she slid off her feet and crashed with a yelp. Quickly flipping to her knees, Jinx found Freeze above her, lighter ready to drop a ton of ice onto her being.
Jinx threw out her palms, energy flashing. The lighter's flame fizzled out.
Mr. Freeze blinked. He hit the flint once. Twice. No flame came about again.
"A fault…? Unlikely… Valentine's devices have never failed-"
A high platform boot slammed into his midsection during his shocking new revelation, while Jinx sneered, "Well, that's just bad luck for you, isn't it? Here's another dose. Seven years worth of it."
A flash, and Freeze was bouncing across the room for Jinx's idle entertainment.
Devil Hand meanwhile had flown through the air, both feet slamming into Mammoth's face. As the brawler dropped away, Mammoth snorted.
"I've took better shots in a massage parlor. Is that the best you got?"
"Dude, you don't say that to a guy who's made of pure, unadulterated, Alexander-ness!" Devil Hand growled back, his fists also arguing that point as they riddled Mammoth's chest.
A large hand wrapped itself over the cowboy's head, its owner grumbling an annoyed, "Shut. Up.", before slamming the man into the ground several times. Tossing the brawler into the air, Mammoth's mighty backhand sent Devil Hand flying across the room as well.
Valentine snorted at the sight of her boys getting thrashed, and snapped her fingers, causing the direction of the BooDoo fire from the bus to split its focus between the remaining HIVE as well, rather than just slowly pulverize Gizmo's protection as he covered himself behind a column. As the gunfire became more scattered, Gizmo's form rocketed out from the shattered column, making Valentine grin as she ordered her troops to fire at the boy.
As the bullets hit, the hologram collapsed before a dumb-founded Valentine.
"Hey! Stupid! Check this out!"
The sorcerer twisted around to find a sleeker, slimmer missile coming out of her blindside, and burrowing deep into the side of the bus. The following fireball that replaced the bus slammed into Valentine's midsection, throwing her through the air next.
Jinx laughed as she launched another foot into Mr. Freeze's hunched and un-retaliating body, knocking the boy to his back, "You guys really were nothing but talk in the beginning, huh? You're useless without your little toy!"
Another burst of bad luck from Jinx rendered Freeze unmoving as he slid across the ground to a spot near the burning bus.
Mammoth chortled as spun about, the Devil Hand he gripped onto by his ankles on the outside of the increasingly faster revolutions. In an instant, he was tossed, the speeding red projectile having enough force to drill right through one of the columns in the room. Falling limply on the other side of the wreckage, Devil Hand lay prone as rocky portions of the destroyed pillar buried him.
Valentine had the unfortunate luck to get up, groaning and rubbing her head, while she tried to remember the number of her bus that just blew up. I'm gonna have to fix that weakness later…
In a moment, she found herself surrounded by the HIVE members. Valentine indignantly folded her arms and sulked, "What?"
There wasn't much to be said. After Gizmo left her hanging upside down from the ceiling, Valentine fumed.
"Hey. Is anybody from our Foundation alive?"
Mr. Freeze's voice painfully whispered back, "It appears that Devil Hand is unconscious, or at least unable to make verbal communication with us. I am unwell."
"Well, that sure jiffs it! Valentine never takes second pickings! This sucks!"
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Terra pulled on her new outfit and admired the colors. After a few weeks of nothing but washed and rewashed white dresses, the team pitched in with their taste of design.
"Her color's yellow." Valentine noted.
"I believe it would be advisable for her to carry some form of eye-protection. Perhaps goggles." Mr. Freeze also inputted.
"Gloves, man. She needs gloves." Devil Hand finished off.
Thus, while the three of them were of heisting to their hearts delight, Terra, though somewhat reluctantly, stayed behind on Mr. Freeze's command, enjoying her new outfit. A form-fitting jacket covered the geokinetic, and on Valentine's behest, the color scheme fitted to be like those of infamous Bruce Lee, black stripes over yellow expanses. Deep blue shorts stopped just above her knees, showing off her thin legs that ended in collared, tough shoes. Devil Hand's fingerless-gloved touch also found itself onto Terra's own hands. Mr. Freeze's advised goggles were around her neck.
All in all, Terra felt very good outside of a white dress. Very good.
Then the elevator in the observatory room Terra was in dinged, letting the doors slide open with its occupants and sacks of money.
"Hey guys! You're back-"
"You two idiots are Freezie and Devil Hand! How on earth could you two idiots lose to those other idiots? My loss is your fault!"
"Our fault? Look Val', you're the one who got owned by pajama boy, not me! Not Boss!"
"I had to break up my concentrated fire to assist your two sorry butts! I was on a roll! What about you Freezie! You let that cheerleader-ballerina-goth kick you around!"
"My main armament had some sort of mechanical fault in it."
"Impossible! I always made them perfect!"
"Tonight, it was not functioning. That I am sure of. Therefore, I hold you responsible for the mechanical error."
"Oh, so it's my fault that your lighter is broken!"
"It would be."
"Oswald! You jerk! If you have such a problem with my lighters, MAKE YOUR OWN!"
"Hey! Val'! We all screwed up! Don't just blame us! You messed up just as much as anybody else!"
"You don't talk to me that way D'! What about your God Hand you're so proud of? HUH? And you got beat down by some big oaf!"
"Well your zombies weren't exactly a fancy piece of work against pajama boy!"
"Well if you think you can do a better job, go ahead!"
"Fine!"
"Fine!"
The Factory door slammed shut. Mr. Freeze returned down the elevator to his room. Terra was left confusedly blinking while Devil Hand slouched on the sofa. You couldn't see the dark cloud above his head, but his left arm burning a seething orange was enough to make anyone back away.
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In the morning, things hadn't improved. The three glowered at each other around the kitchen table they slid into the observatory for breakfast, and Terra wasn't exactly fond of the tension.
"Dude, Boss! I told you we could have used Terra!"
"We all agreed that Terra was not ready for active duty yet. Her current ability is not yet sufficient."
"So when is she going to be ready, Freezie? When those losers kick our butts again?"
"The loss is irrelevant. Our main objective was to collect funds. We have done so."
"Not without losing to them! We can't lose! Now we look bad in front of everyone!"
"Dude! Boss, once you lose, they'll keep muscling in! They'll think they can push us around!"
"It would have been more efficient if merely negotiated a deal. Unfortunately, the two of you were so eager to fight I was unable to voice such an option."
"Again! Our fault, but not Freezie's since he's so calm, he never makes a mistake!"
"I am simply aware of the priorities."
"Yeah. Aware. Mr. Aware. Well since you're so perfect, I guess you don't need my help for today! C'mon Terra!"
Things were certainly getting strange, as the two girls dragged one another off to the elevator.
"Valentine. Her training-"
"You can train her later, Oswald."
The elevator doors, amazingly, slammed shut. Devil Hand also gave a look to his emotionless leader. "Well, Boss. Looks like it's a day off for all of us. See you later, too."
Devil Hand tromped off as well, leaving Mr. Freeze to finish breakfast for the four of them
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"Insensitive jerk…" Valentine snorted through a smoothie as they sat in the mall food-court. A simple, one-word spell made the pair generally unobvious to the outside world.
It was well in the afternoon, and the fragmented Friece and Valentine Foundation had yet to contact each other.
"Does this happen often?" Terra hesitantly asked after a while.
"Whenever something messes up. Freezie always thinks he's the one at least fault, since he's so emotionless. Jerk. I should lick him on the face and give him a third degree burn."
Terra tried to console, "Well… you do have to admit he's been doing a good job leading the team since you all arrived…"
"Yeah, but that doesn't mean he's perfect! Jerk. Such a jerk. Insensitive to the ways of a woman…"
Terra herself was a little bit doubtful if Valentine could attribute her tastes to all those of the ways of a woman, but decided to ask about something else, "Valentine, why did you call Freeze 'Oswald'?"
"That was his first, first, first name. I do it sometimes to remind him he's still human, as much as he likes to deny it. Jerk."
Terra sighed, "Nothing's going to happen until somebody apologizes, isn't it?"
"It better not be me! I didn't do anything wrong! Those two other oafs screwed up last night…"
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After draining an incomprehensible number of smoothies, the two of them hightailed it back to Olympus Height when they happen to notice "Rae-Rae-chan" and "The Starfire" dragging each other into the shopping mall. Today was a day off after all; there was no need to start a fight.
So Terra found herself free again, as Valentine entrenched herself firmly in venting her still foul moods on her Factory projects. So, with nothing better to do, the Foundation's newest member made her way to Mr. Freeze's side of the mountain.
Deep in the network of fluorescent-lit hallways, a door opened before Terra, letting white mist pour out of the cold room.
"Freeze? You in here?"
"Wear one of the jackets. It will reduce your probability of being inflicted with hypothermia while you are here."
Obeying for fear of her health, a considerably more bundled Terra made her way into the deeper recesses of the ice-covered room, mist crowding about her feet, coming out as her breath. At the far end of the generally Spartan chamber was Mr. Freeze crouched over a desk, working on some machinery that took up the entire surface of the working space.
"You request my audience?" Freeze murmured, not turning back.
"Just… wanted to talk about what happened last night." Terra tried.
"A mechanical fault in my lighter gave the advantage to my opponent. Devil Hand was not able to regain his momentum against his own opponent as well. Valentine attempted to assist us, resulting in her own failure as well. Thereafter, we collected our priority funds and returned."
"Oh… er, what are you working on?"
"My opponent had an interesting ability. This device might theoretically counter her powers."
"Is it complicated?"
"Extremely. I suspect Valentine would have a better grasp of the mechanics than I."
Not again… "Don't tell me you're not going to talk to the other guys until one of them apologizes!"
"Valentine and Devil Hand are both emotional to the point of pettiness, and refuse to recognize their errors. Our purpose is to ascertain funds, not win every battle that arises. Negotiation was a probable option. Now we are trapped in this pointless territorial battle with these HIVE particulars."
"Well, you have to admit they have a point, right? I mean, you're pretty much appointed team leader, so you have to take some opinions, right?"
"I would still like for them to note my tactics are still generally more efficient than theirs."
I can see why Valentine would get annoyed with him…
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Night fell, and the observatory room was bathed in a dark-light contrast of hanging lamps that cast shadows in plentiful corners. It made nine o'clock feel like one in the morning.
"Devil Hand, please tell me you don't have a grudge with the other two."
The man in question poked his head out of the fridge that was placed against one of the vertical braces of the telescope, a bottle of tomato juice hanging from his lips.
"Gnugh?"
"D', get that out of your mouth."
"…Well, not really. Boss 'n Val' having a spat with each other?"
Terra snorted as she sat down on the couch, "They think it's everybody else's fault. Including you."
"Well that sucks! I didn't even know I did something wrong. Guess I'm gonna have to say sorry 'n all that right?" Devil Hand sighed. Out of curiosity, he sat in front of the telescope, peering through to the city below, while Terra kept talking.
"It's going to take a miracle to get anyone in this place talking to each other anytime soon."
"We're talking."
"You know what I mean."
"Yeah, yeah. But seriously, Boss is nothing but ice water who doesn't care, and Val's blazin', and cares too much! Course you're gonna get some steam between them sometime."
"So what are we supposed to do? They're not even willing to talk to each other! We're never going to get anything done!"
"…Oh, carp…" Devil Hand suddenly muttered, annoyed.
"What?"
"Man, right now I'm seeing those three guys breaking into the mall. That is totally our mall, man. Freakin' muscling in…"
A phone call later brought Valentine and Freeze up, both obviously not giving each other the right to look at each other, while Devil Hand explained the situation.
"Well, I suppose Freezie wants to negotiate again." Valentine shot under her breath
"I do not even see the point of fending off the HIVE from the mall. It serves no interest to us." Mr. Freeze blandly put it.
Devil Hand choked at that, "Dude! Guys! We can't let them push us around! The mall is on our turf! If we let them go, they'll keep going for bigger things!"
Valentine shot up her arms, "Whatever! Freezie's too stuck up to listen to us anyways! I'll handle this myself, or Freezie will blame more broken lighters on me! Jerk!"
"You do not address the leader of the group like that."
"Oh! Pulling rank, now! Oswald?"
"That too."
"C'mon guys! We shouldn't be arguing like this-" Devil Hand interjected.
"You shut up! You weren't even that much of a help last night!"
"QUIET!"
Terra's threat was backed by a tremor the traveled up Olympus Height. The gods were not happy tonight.
"We don't have time for this! It's everybody's fault, and everybody's going to go around in a circle to apologize, and then we're all going to go down to the mall, and stop those guys, and then rob it ourselves! GOT IT?" Terra hoarsely lectured.
Silence.
Devil Hand coughed, "I… er… I guess I'll go first… Icebreakin' and all… er…"
"Go!"
"Okay! Devil Hand is sorry that even though he's got a God Hand and made of pure, unadulterated Alexander-ness, he still lost to that big guy, and made Valentine break up her concentration while she was fighting pajama boy! Okay?"
Valentine scrunched up her face, but eventually conceded with folded arms, "I'm sorry… I… blamed Freezie… and D'… for messing everything up…I lost… and… itwasmyfault!"
Mr. Freeze was silent, before he lit another of his cylinders, breathing out white mist. "Given the extenuating circumstances, I believe I should also apologize to Valentine and Devil Hand for believing it was their fault alone for instigating last night's combat, and blaming their emotional conduct. I still believe that Valentine's lighter was faulty though."
"Faulty! Freezie, I swear, I never mess up making lighters! Besides it only messed up when you were fighting that Jinx!"
Terra frowned at the name, something niggling at the back of her head, "Jinx?"
"What, you know her?"
"I'm not sure really. I suddenly recall that people said she was some sort of master of bad luck, or something. I don't remember exactly, though."
Valentine turned back to Freeze, triumphant, "Ah-ha! I told you!"
"It would give plausibility to a theory I've been developing. Either way, I will admit that our tactics from last night were not sufficient. I have some particular strategies…"
Freeze looked to the geokinetic.
"…and Terra, who is of this moment, on the active roster, will be instrumental."
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The crowds gave their customary screams as they evacuated the mall, which remained open even at these hours. Gizmo was ripping electronics out the arcades, Mammoth was raiding the hotdog machine, Jinx was picking through the deliciously high-priced clothing, and all three of them loved every moment of it.
"You think those new guys are going to come and rain on our parade?" Mammoth rumbled between bits of packaged meat.
"Yeah right! I bet those scrub-cloggers are shaking scared in their two-bit hideout!" Gizmo snickered, reeling motherboards into his sack of goods.
"Besides, we already saw what they could do. They were just a bunch of pushovers." Jinx settled, a pile of dresses stacked over her shoulder.
That was when the bus crashed through the glass doors, screeching to another déjà vu halt in front of the HIVE members.
Devil Hand was immediately out, pointing at Mammoth, "Okay, fat boy. Round two!"
Valentine came out sneering, "Yeah! We're not leaving until we're done, okay?"
The other three laughed at this, before Jinx recovered from the comment first, "You guys lost to us even when you were evenly matched! It's three on two, now!"
"Yeah! Your Eskimo looking loser was smart to not come this time!"
Valentine kept on smiling, and open phone suddenly in one of her hands, "Actually, Freezie's waiting in the car park. Don't keep him waiting, lil' goth! Freeze and I are dying to show you our new science project! Terra! Commence!"
That was when the marble flooring beneath Jinx gave away, leaving the girl the scream as she headed into the abyss below.
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"Terra. I wish to handle this matter personally. You must go assist Devil Hand and Valentine."
"Are you sure?"
"Despite my earlier misgivings, I still place my full trust on any of Valentine's constructions. I will be fine. Go."
The voices wakened Jinx. When she came to, and found herself in the car park on her back. Above her, the concrete tunnel that carved its path all the way up to the mall was rapidly closing. Rising, she found herself alone with Mr. Freeze, whoever he was conversing with earlier very much gone. Mr. Freeze seemed to have been prepared this time. On his back he wore some sort of drum shaped backpack, humming alive with electronics. Slung under his arm was a long cannon of sorts that was hooked to the backpack.
"I see that you are awake. Good. I was hoping to examine the validity of my hypothesis."
Jinx's features darkened, powers glower at her tips, "So you have to get beat down twice to learn anything, huh?"
"Actually, I believe I learned much from our last encounter, hence, my hypothesis."
Jinx spun and released energy about her, hitting lamps and parked parks around Freeze, "Hypothesize THIS!"
"That is the point." Freeze remarked, and aimed his large cannon everywhere around him. Cars froze white, lamps froze before they fell, and Freeze didn't stop. The beam of ice white and blue stretched over everything the car park, icing columns and concrete, metal and exits, until everything was a frozen white.
Jinx scoffed, steam coming from her mouth, "So it's a fancier ice machine, huh? I can still affect ice!"
Jinx twirled again bringing bad luck to the icicles above Freeze. Nothing happened.
"What…?"
Jinx spat more energy. Columns, frozen fixtures, anything. Nothing.
"My… my powers!"
Freeze began to step forward; cannon aimed on Jinx always, "Are you aware of the theory of entropy? Objects with energy become unstable, causing its physical state to undergo degradation. Your powers seem to hyper accelerate the instability of the energy within objects, causing them to degrade within moments."
Hefting up his cannon, the boy in blue remarked, "This is Zero Heat, as coined by my associate. Any object the beam comes in contact with, the temperature of the device reaches zero Kelvin, losing all possible heat. Do you know what happens at zero Kelvin? The object loses all energy. Completely. No energy is equitable to no entropy. I have nullified you ability, Jinx."
Jinx could feel her sweat frosting in the cold air, while she laughed it off, "Oh yeah? Try this!"
She brought her waves of bad luck directly at Freeze himself. The boy merely fired directly at the energized particles headed towards him, turning the blast of energy into a block of ice that crashed to the ground.
"It appears my hypothesis has been proven. I shall be taking my leave." Mr. Freeze turned about and began to head to a surviving exit.
"Hey! Don't ignore me! We're still fighting!"
"I have already nullified your ability. Any semblance of real combat would be in the mall above, not with you."
Jinx raged, and charged towards Freeze, who was at the exit. The boy turned about and aimed Zero Heat at the doorway, and froze the opening shut behind him.
Sliding to a halt, Jinx realized what had just happened. She was trapped, and there was no way out.
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"You couldn't even bruise me! What makes you think you can do anything now?" Mammoth laughed at Devil Hand.
"Dude. Between you and me, I've got the know-how for kick-butt. Plus I'm smarter, and I'm more handsome. I know what I can do."
With that the two rushed at each other. In moments, Devil Hand this time found both his knees in Mammoth's face, and dropped back down.
"I told you! Whatever you do, you're not strong enough to even-GNRGH!"
Devil Hand brought an amber heel backwards into Mammoth's groin. Not much more needed to be said of that. Left arm glowing, the Foundation's brawler let all his might through in his swing, the blade of energy plough vertically into Mammoth's scrunched form, launching him through the air. As he slid to a halt under a section of the second level, Terra had finally arrived from below ground from another stairway. Devil Hand shouted to her, pointing to the pathways that hung suspended over Mammoth.
"Ter'! The second level! Collapse it! Drop it! Boom!"
"Got it!"
Snapping her goggles over her eyes, Terra threw glowing fists towards the pathways that jutted out of the walls. In moments, the structures lining the mall shook loose, spilling dust and loose pebbles everywhere. Bringing her fists down, the entire level smashed into the ground. Somewhere, Mammoth was buried under the heavy concrete.
Above in the air, Gizmo fired down at Valentine's bus, letting the rounds rip apart the bus again.
"Not much without your stupid bus, girlie?" The flying green form laughed as he strafed by Valentine.
"Sorry, but I made more expensive models this time! Orcmen! Go!"
A snap of the fingers, and new creatures exploded from the destroyed bus in an orderly fashion. White, bald, skinny, tall creatures, all clad in business suits and sunglasses, a pair of scrimpy batwings jutting out of each creature's left shoulder. Striding out, with legs like springs, they all leapt through the air like a rocket, leaving Gizmo to shriek his way through the air as he tried to escape from the agile legion. Earthen pillars also suddenly started crashing through the ground, littering Gizmo's flight path with obstacles, while providing the Orcmen with rudimentary ladders for them to scuttle up and after the flying boy.
"Forget this! I'm out of here!" Gizmo shouted, flying for the glass roof of the mall, while stone pillars and business-suited orcmen chased after him. As he neared the glass, a giant blaze of blue washed over the glass, turning it into inches thick worth of ice. Skating upside down upon its surface, Mr. Freeze sped forward to intercept Gizmo, and in a single bound, dove off the ice and latched himself onto the boy genius' backpack, sending them sprawling through the air.
"Let go you dweeb!"
"I will not comply."
Also refusing to comply were about ten different orcmen who jumped onto the Gizmo, who was unable to rise with Freeze's extra weight. The pile quickly rushed towards the ground. Terra gave out a cry of concern, though Valentine snickered as she tossed her gigantic tome underneath the falling mass.
"Wingardium, Leviosum, Vertium, Rayse!"
The pile slammed into a cushion of air a few feet off the ground, where then they gently fell to the earth. Devil Hand jumped onto the dog pile with a throaty and heroic cry of "Never fear! D's here!"
It took a bit of effort, but eventually everything was peeled of the Gizmo in the center of it all, including his adored mechanical backpack. He sat with arms folded, sulking a "What?"
He was promptly buried up to his neck in solid ice, "Hey! What are you fart-heads thinking?"
Valentine turned a smirking face to Freeze, "Well, Freezie, what do you think?"
"I am making an official statement, Gizmo. I hope you make this known to the others. From tonight onwards, all properties on the south side of Jump City are under the jurisdiction of the Friece and Valentine Foundation for Extraordinarily Talented Persons. Only we are allowed to commit felony in this area. Any others who do without our sanction and fail to comply, will be summarily punished. Is this an acceptable statement?"
Devil Hand shrugged, "Seems to cover it all for me."
Valentine gave it her approval, "I like it!"
Terra also gave her nod, "I like it."
"I think it sucks-" Gizmo began.
Four death glares.
"I mean… sure…" Was the shriveled ending.
There were a few scattered cheers between the four Foundation members, especially when Freeze commended their newest active addition.
"I should have put you on active duty sooner. You are quickly showing yourself to be a vital member."
Terra gave a bit of a fluster, but kept it to a shining smile. Devil Hand cut in.
"Well, Boss. We won tonight. And we trashed the mall. So now what?"
Valentine bounced with an idea, "Oh! Oh! I know! There's this place down in the food court, and they make really good smoothies! Who's with me for free smoothies?"
A few hours later, the Titans would arrive to find Jinx with hypothermia, Gizmo with a bad cold, and Mammoth with a concussion. The Foundation members, though, found themselves in bed, full, cheerful, and quite sick of the flavor of strawberries for the next several days.
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Episode 7: "Lucky Clover" – To put it simply, Devil Hand always wanted a pet. Despite his peers' protestations, he lands himself with the dog of his dreams. Then things start going strange as their new addition comes with a very strange bite…