Red Arrow dodged his first attack, diving and rolling back onto his feet. He turned to find that the minion had already gathered himself and had lunged again.
Red barely dove out of the way from the second assault. His broken wrist knocked against the floor and he let loose a soft grunt.
This guy was fast- he had to give him that.
But then the super sprang his own attack, throwing one of his arrows like a javelin at the thing. The figure seemed to disintegrate as the exploding arrow hit and Red Arrow smirked.
"Behind you!" G.A. suddenly warned from the sidelines.
Sure enough, Red spun around to find himself face-to-face with his opponent. His eyes widened.
An after image? THAT'S what he had shot? What the hell was he dealing with here?
The thing struck, nailing a punch on the lower left side of Red Arrow's jaw. The super took the hit, using its momentum to fling himself backwards, flip, and then land on his feet again.
"Spry little devil, aren't you?" The shadow snarled mockingly.
But Red could tell the thing knew it was going to win.
Well, not while he was still breathing.
Red looked around again, catching sight of an electrical box in the darkest corner of the massive room this time. He wondered…
Quickly, the super threw three arrows at the figure. As he predicted, the thing moved incredibly fast…
But he was also already gone, running his own route. He had to get to that box.
A shriek behind him told Red the figure had already caught onto his plan. But he couldn't think of much else to do with an opponent so fast- he must be moving close to Kid Flash's speed. It wasn't anything like before.
Red didn't make it to the box.
About three yards short, the figure reappeared.
"I didn't count you as chicken, Little Arrow," it narrowed its eyes.
Red Arrow stopped dead in his tracks. "You're right; I'm not."
He threw a smoke arrow at the figure this time, the tip exploding into a glorious gray-haze.
Then Red ran in, sliding cleanly under the figure, favoring his broken wrist. The box came up to him out of the haze, and he kicked the'on' switch.
Nothing.
Red Arrow tried to keep his cool as he whipped an arrow out and spun it around once before prying open the electrical circuits.
These things have to have a weakness; it must be light. I need to turn these circuits on.
But the smoke was fading from the arrow he had thrown earlier. This became apparent to Red Arrow as it became easier and easier to see what he was doing.
His fingers were still on the broken wires when a spindly hand fell on his shoulder. He turned and grunted as a punch to his chest pushed him sliding across the warehouse floor.
He began to recover from that when an elbow came from the right and sent him dizzily back to the floor.
"We dissslike outside influence," the figure hissed angrily.
Another strike to his head.
Red was starting to see red spots in his vision; he couldn't tell if his head was bleeding or if it was the beginning of a concussion.
A kick to the side.
"Red Arrow!" G.A. heard his former mentor through the chaos.
Funny, that was the first time he ever heard him use his new superhero name.
A kick to the chest. He needed to get up.
Red rolled over and pushed himself to his hands and knees. This time it was as if something electrocuted him, since a ripple of pain spread throughout his body at point of contact.
One of his ribs was broken.
"Stop this! Stop!"
Green Arrow again.
But Red Arrow wouldn't accept defeat; he reminded himself not to lose his morale.
A kick to the side.
He couldn't lose sight of his spirit.
A kick to the head.
He couldn't lose sight of his life…
A kick to the chest.
He couldn't lose control.
Kick to his broken ribs.
He couldn't lose control…couldn't lose control…couldn't…lose…
He blacked.