213. Metropolitan part 8
CLANG!
An iron hammer to Metallo's face.
"OOOF!" the android flew back and slammed back straight through a computer console.
POW!
CRACKLE-CRACKLE!
CRKKKK!
Computer station after computer station in the subterranean control room exploded and sparked in succession.
The guards who had rushed up behind Metallo were jolted and thrown about in surprise.
PHOOOOOOM!
Steel flew in on Prototype jet boots before landing and running over to the grounded Metallo. "Lemme at his rotten, sniveling face!"
Metallo dizzily stood up just in time to receive a flurry of merciless fists from Mr. Irons. WHAM! WHACK! CLANG!
The helmeted avenger pummeled and forced Metallo across the length of the room towards the smoking corner.
In the meantime, the guards in the room recovered. They aimed their guns at the backside of the attacking Steel.
SPLOOOSH-SPLOOOSH-SPLOOOSH!
Three 'tentacles' of water shot into the chamber and promptly wrapped expertly around the wrists and ankles of the gunmen before whipping them up into the ceilings and walls.
TH-THWIP!
WHAP! SLAP!
The gunmen collided, grunted, and fell unconscious.
SPLASH!
Tempest vaulted wetly into the room, landed, rolled, and ended in a kneeling position upon which he produced two levitating spheres of salt-water above either wrist….flicking them towards the last standing guards.
SP-SPLAT! The water 'bullets' struck the men's mouths, choking them. They gagged, dropped their weapons, and stumbled-writhing to the floor.
Tempest smirked, standing up. "Grow some gills, you yahoos."
TH-THUNK!
"AAAH!" Steel's body flew from a fierce blow across the control room till he slammed up against a locker on the other side. CLANG! "Nnngh…," he was imbedded in a 'crucified' position against the dented material.
"…..," Tempest glanced right.
Metallo stood tall and strong in the corner opposite of Steel. He pivoted his metal head, cracked his joints, and uttered mechanically: "Right. Let's start that one over." His foot positioned itself over the handle of Steel's grounded hammer and slammed its heel down over the bar. THWAP! TH-TH-TH-THWIP! The hammer spun straight up in the air. Metallo expertly jabbed his hand out, grabbed the long handle, and swung it too like a javelin….this time back at Steel. "NNNNGH!"
Tempest winced.
THWIIIIIIIIIIIISH!
Steel shook himself out of it. He looked up from where he rested in the body-dent. He gritted his teeth and clapped his hands up in front of his face at the last second
TWHOOOOSH-CLNNNNNGGGGG!
Steel's palms expertly landed on either side of the hammer's head before his own weapon could come hurtling through his mask. The long metal bar-handle shook and wobbled to a stop.
"Whew….," Steel murmured.
ZAAAAAAP!
Metallo's laser blast landed in the ceiling above Steel. Chunks of metal and earth collapsed and buried the hero.
CRNKKKK!
"MMMMF!" Steel struggled beneath the rubble.
Tempest gritted his teeth. He looked over at Metallo.
The half-flesh android smirked at him, walking over with his high-powered wrist laser aimed at the Atlantean.
"Time to fry and batter you, boy!"
Tempest stood as if in a spotlight. He glanced left and right. "…." He glanced up.
Fire sprinklers……
Metallo's laser rifle charged.
Tempest smirked at the android. "You know….you really need to wash your mouth out."
"Ah ha ha ha ha ha!" Metallo cackled, then smirked. "Please, guppy, is that the best you can come up with?"
Tempest shot his hand out.
Metallo sneered and flicked his wrist laser. The barrel glowed.
Tempest's eyes flickered purple as he aimed his fingers at a sprinkler above Metallo, burst the water free from the high spicket, and gushed a sharp jet of water down and into a floating ball of aqua right in front of the android's firing laser.
ZAP!
FWSSSSH!
A burst of steam exploded in front of Metallo from the point-blanc detonation.
"Augh!" he stumbled back.
Tempest meditatively swung his arms and deposited bursts of water into the air from the sprinkler system all through the ceiling. He concentrated the dozen independently balls of water into dense spheres and proceeded to strike, hit, smack, and whallop Metallo from all angles.
WH-WH-WH-WH-WHAP!
Metallo jolted, grunted, and growled.
Tempest continued the punishment, chuckling. "Come on in, pal! The water's fine!"
"I will not….be schooled….by a….urchin-humper!" Metallo snarled before desperately aiming both wrist-lasers straight down into the ground and firing. ZAAAA-AAA-AAP!
Waves of heat billowed out along the ground in short waves, giving Tempest the nasty sensation of hot foot.
"Nnngh!" he jumped, his toes burning. He lost concentration, and the balls of water splashed down to the floor.
Metallo snarled and charged at him.
Tempest gasped, jetted two charges of water down from the spinklers, coiled the aqua around his feet, and vaulted himself up in the air.
Metallo's metal arms grabbed nothing. He stumbled with an electronic gasp.
Tempest forward-flipped over the android, landed in a slide, and twirled about with his back to the smashed computer consoles.
Metallo growled, grabbed a chunk of robot-arm controls, and ripped it out of the control room's foundation.
Tempest sweatdropped. He glanced up yet again at the sprinkler system.
Metallo spun around. He held the chunk of metal devices high above his head. He snarled and prepared to hurl it.
Tempest grunted, jerked his purple-glowing arms, and ripped two lengths of pipes out from the sprinkler system.
CRKKK-CRKKKK!
"NNNNGH!" Metallo flung the heavy debris across the room at the Atlantean.
Tempest expertly aimed the pipes straight at him and unleashed a high-pressured torrent of telekinetic water.
SPLISSSSSSSSSSSHHHH!
The water tore into the debris in mid-air, stalled its momentum, and sent it throttling back straight into Metallo's chest.
CRUNNCH!
"NNGH!" Metallo snarled and tore the debris up. "You're really PISSING me off!"
Tempest smirked. "How literal can you be?"
"THIS!" Metallo then proceeded to run, jump, and propel one of his impregnable flying kicks straight towards Tempest's skull.
Tempest gasped. He twisted his hands.
CRKKKKKKK!
The entire network of sprinkler system pipes wetly popped out from the ceiling, bent and twirled like snakes in mid-air, and swiftly coiled around Metallo's body in mid flight.
CRKKKK-CLANNNNNG-GGGG!
Metallo jerked to a stop in midair.
Tempest leaned back. Metallo's metal foot ended barely an inch from the Atlantean's nose.
"Nnnnnngh……nnnnnghhh!" Metallo struggled, paralyzed in the metal pipe-web.
"Hooo boy….," Tempest smirked. "Boy was that cl…."
PHOOOM!
An ankle rocket of Metallo's blasted against Tempest's forehead.
The Atlantean was blown back against the control room's wall. SWOOOSH-SMACK!
"Nnngh!" he slumped hard to the floor.
Metallo grumbled: "And once I get down from this infernal mess I am giving you SUCH a scaling!"
CRASH! Steel burst out of the pile of rubble with his muscles flexing in fury. "RAAAAAAAUGH!"
Metallo glance over. His robot eye dimmed a little. "Awww shitstain…."
GRIP! Steel swept up his hammer, charged across the room to the pipe-tethered Metallo, and swung with all his might. "Give me some candy, you piñata-ass punk!"
SWOOOOOSH-SMASH!
Metallo ripped free of the pipes and slammed into the far wall.
Steel leapt upon him and continued pummeling with his hammer, shouting a violent war cry.
And it was at around that very pounding moment that I finally regained my breath.
I slumped up into a sitting position, wincing, rubbing the finger-marks of Metallo on my scarred neck. I inhaled deeply and gazed at the heavy-impact fight.
"…………."
I groaned mutely.
I wonder if it'd make any difference if Diana volunteered a 'can opener' for us instead……
I gazed left.
A guard sputtering on salt water was struggling to get up.
I leisurely picked up a rock-sized piece of debris, juggled it in a metal hand, and threw it smokingly at the thug's skull.
Thwooooosh-THAP!
His eyes crossed. He slumped over and laid cold on the ground.
I picked up Myrkblade. I struggled to my feet. I glanced over again at the metallic fight.
Steel was still laying it on thick with his hammer.
Metallo backed up into a corner, blocked, and countered with a jabbing fist or foot or laser blast. The battle was gradually getting even.
Tempest rested on the ground, worse for wear.
I bit my lip.
Yeah……
Nap time over, Noir……
I prepared to blur over there, when….
"Whoah!"
"Shit!"
"They found us!"
I jerked. I looked over to the opening to the control room.
Three fresh guards stood, gasping, gaping at the wrecked, wet interior. Two of them had guns raised and the other was fumbling with incendiary grenades.
"Cover me! I'm going to roast them!"
"Just chuck the damn bombs!" Metallo shouted beneath Steel's punishment. "I can survive! The others can't!"
Steel blinked under his mask. He turned and gazed at the doorway. He gasped…for he was in no position to relent his attack on Metallo and stop the grenadiers from roasting half a dozen lives. So he looked at me and uttered:
"Noir! Jump 'em!"
"Rrrghh!" Metallo growled.
"…..," I gazed over at the doorway guards. They prepared to launch three grenades.
Solo job.
Yeah……
I can do that.
TH-THWISH! I twirled Myrkblade and blurred towards the exit.
The two gunmen flanking the grenade-tosser gasped and fired.
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT!
RAT-A-TAT-TAT!
I teleported through the streaming bullets, teeth gritting.
Three grenades flew.
I exhaled and materialized with an upswing.
CL-CLANG!
I deflected two grenades out the doorway.
THWOOOSH! The third zoomed at my head.
GRIP!
I clutched it with a metal hand, flicked the titanium wrist, and tossed it back out as well.
C-CLUMP! It bounced off the head of a guard ("Ouch!") and twirled off to land along with the other three on the water-edged platforms of the cavern below.
Cl-Clank! Clank!
POW!-PHOOOOOOOOOM!
The guards jolted as a fireball lit up below and behind them.
I wasted no second.
I leapt at them….
T-T-T-T-T-T-
SWOOOSH! TH-THWAP!
I plowed into the two gunmen and kicked my way through the grenadier in the center.
SMACK!
I landed with my legs spread and my feet planted on the railings of metal stairs leading down to the waterside platforms.
Two distant thugs ran in front of the fresh flames and fired madly at me.
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!
I slid down the railings on smoking feet, all the while twirling Myrkblade left and right.
CL-CL-Cl-CLANG!
I reached the end of the railing, vaulted off with a pulse of murk, and flipped over the two men.
They dumbly spun around….
Plant!
I landed in a squat behind them, between them and the fire. I spun with a leg sweeping out.
TH-THWAP!
I tripped them.
"Ooof!" SPLASH!
"Dah!" SPLOOSH!
They fell into the waters on either side of the precarious platform.
I stood up, breathing heavily.
"There!"
"Get him!"
BLAM!
BL-BLAM!
Pistol fire.
Bullets streamed past me.
"…….," I turned and glared at the south side of the chamber.
Three gunmen standing on the platforms near the loaded train cars aimed and shot at me from a distance.
BL-BLAM!
BANG!
I looked right into the grenades' fiery blaze. I stuck my hands towards the flames, coursed murk through the billowing smoke of the inferno, and produced a thick wall of smog sweeping across the platforms.
My body disappeared from the gunmen's sight.
They stopped firing and blinked. Their necks craning.
"Huh?"
"What the…?"
FWOOOOSH! A pillar of smoke shot out towards them.
They gasped and tried to aim again….
FL-FLASH! The smoke parted as I teleported into the midst of them with Myrkblade swinging.
THWACK! SMACK! I struck two guards hard with the broadside of my sword and sent them collapsing across the platform.
Cl-Click!
I spun.
A pistol to my forehead.
The third thug smirked. "Come get your first kiss of lead, sweetheart—"
FWOOOSH! I teleported.
The man gasped and fired. BANG! BANG!
But I was gone.
He blinked. He looked left. He looked right.
A shadow….
"H-Huh?" He looked up.
I hung on the robot arm high above the platforms by my metal arm. I was in the middle of twirling my blade and chopping off a metal grappling 'finger' from the device. CL-CLINK! Thwoosh! The object fell.
The man gritted his teeth and aimed his gun up at me. THONK! The debris landed squarely on his head. He grunted, rolled his eyes, and fell down hard.
I exhaled….
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT!
P-PING! PING!
Bullets danced off the robot arm around me.
I winced and gazed westward.
On the far side of the cage—taking shelter behind the vial-covered train cars—four gunmen took awful aim and tried to pincushion me from afar.
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT!
BANG! BANG!
BL-BLAM!
I swung around till my body hugged the east side of the robot arm. I used it as a shield against the bullets for a few second before striking Myrkblade against a metal pylon in the rock ceiling of the cave. CL-CLANK! I thusly propelled myself on the dangling arm across the rest of the cavern's length till I hung approximately over the hiding gunmen. I grunted and stabbed Myrkblade sharply into the support joints of the arm.
CRKKK!
The arm fell.
I vaulted off it in mid-air.
"Look out!"
"Aaah!"
"Jeez!"
The men gasped and leapt/dove every which way.
CRASH!
The arm smashed loudly into the ground, forcing the thugs to tumble across the ground from the concussion.
As I landed on the rear car of the 'train', the golden vials were rattling from the chaos.
I glanced at them……sweatdropping.
SMASH!
"AUGH!"
I jerked and looked up towards the now-distant control room.
PFTOOOOOOOOOM!
Entangled in each other's grappling arms and propelled by dual pairs of ankle/boot rockets, Metallo and Steel soared fierily out of the roost and across the cavern.
My body turned as I followed their burning trajectory over the platforms, the train car, and into the western wall.
CRASH!
I winced.
SWIIISH-CLUNK!
The two fell hard from their impact.
They were still entangled in their mutual wrestle, miraculously. Metallo shouted and kneed Steel in the chest before slamming him against the front train car. CLANK! The vials rattled. The two struggled. Steel shouted: "RAAUGH!" He lifted Metallo and spun around till he had the former Interganger's metal skull in his glove and was slamming the villain's cranium repeatedly into the cave wall. CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! Metallo snarled, spun his head around, and 'bit' onto Steel's gloved fingers. "AAAAUGH!" Steel jolted. Metallo wrapped around the man, gripped him by his shoulders, and slammed him into the ground. CRKKK!
"Ooof!" Steel struggled, pinned chest-down to the cavern floor.
"Hrmmmm….just like old times, isn't it Irons?"
"Wait till I get my hands on you, you ugly-ass, overpaid…."
Metallo gripped Steel's helmet and started to crush it in.
CRKKKK!
"NNNGHH!" Steel winced inside his suit.
Metallo snickered. "Reunions are so sickeningly suit, aren't they, chap? Alas….your career as a sardine can climaxes!"
SWOOOOOSH! I streaked towards the two and ended with a heavy upswing of my smoking blade.
SWACK!
Metallo was jolted into a sitting position atop Steel's back. "AUGH!" He rubbed his cheek and frowned at me with half-a-face-of-flesh furrowed. "Gee, I'm sorry. I didn't know he was yours!"
I glared, shades glinting.
"Get OFF me!" Steel kicked his feet back with rocketing boots.
PFTOOOM!
Metallo was propelled back towards the front engine of the underground train. CLAMP!
Steel hobbled up, dragging his hammer off the ground. "That…..stunk….," he hissed.
I helplessly nodded.
"Oh boys!" Metallo waved, winked a human eye, and produced an array of tiny missiles out from his back shoulders. Ch-Chtink! Chtunk! CLAK-CLAK! "Would you mind taking the flak for me?"
I blinked.
PFTOOO-PFTOOO-PFTOOOOSH!
The flaming projectiles soared in.
Steel gasped. He looked at me. He looked at the missiles. Behind us, recovering thugs shouted and scrambled away as Steel charged at me and gave me a bear hug. "Noir! Get down!" He aimed his iron-plated back to the onslaught.
P-P-POW!
POW!
Flames erupted all around us. The missiles impacting Steel's back billowed in a parting fountain. I was slightly singed…but otherwise unscathed.
I panted in his grasp, sweating.
Steel shook inside his suit…groaned…and murmured with a tired chuckle: "Yeah…I'm gonna be wearing a lumbar harness under the Prototype for a weak after that…"
SWOOOSH-SMACK! Metallo sailed in with a flying kick and plowed the two of us over.
TH-TH-THWAP! Steel and I rolled before collapsing across the sealed-off, southbound tracks.
"Ha ha ha ha ha ha!" Metallo cackled merrily before smirking. "You two are a couple of push-overs!"
"Okay….," Steel grunted and stood up with his helmet. "Now he dies…."
I nodded wearily.
CHIIIIING!
Metallo flexed his metal arms and got into a fighting stance.
Steel palmed his hammer, glaring.
I held Myrkblade up, smoking dancing down from beneath my shades.
Metallo merely smirked, his curled metal knuckles clenched.
The Luthor-hired fiend beckoned us.
Steel and I faced off from him across the tracks.
Hammer and Myrkblade and titanium muscles.
Flames settling in the distance.
Smoke and mist in the air.
"……"
"……."
"……."
A BEAT.
SWOOOOSH! I blurred towards Metallo.
He ran at me, snarling. Stomp-Stomp-Stomp-Stomp! "YAAAAUGH!"
I ran, jumped, and spun with Myrkblade slashing outward like a helicopter blade. TH-TH-THWISH-CL-CL-CL-CLANK!
Sparks flew off of Metallo's body as I repeatedly struck him.
He swung a fist at me.
I teleported into smoke form, billowing through Metallo's torso.
Metallo lumbered.
Steel charged. "RAAAUGH!" He jabbed his hammer-head straight into Metallo's gut.
The android fiend clutched it with two hands and pressed Steel's charge to a stand still. GRIPPP!
I solidified behind Metallo's back, spun, and swung Myrkblade homicidally towards his neck joints.
Metallo wrenched a hand free from clutching Steel's hammer and shot it blindly behind his head. CLUTCH! He caught the length of Myrkblade in a titanium palm.
I jerked and yanked and fought to pry the blade free.
He smirked and tossed me effortlessly over Steel's shoulders.
"!" my black eyes bulged as I flew over my companion.
Steel wrenched his own hammer free. "Nnngh!" He spun and swung the weapon hard at Metallo's skull.
Metallo ducked, stepped back, smirked, and aimed a wrist laser rifle. "Ha!"
Steel gritted his teeth beneath his mask, braced himself against his hammer, and aimed the Prototype's glove-gun back at the android.
Metal and flesh teeth. Narrowing eyes.
Metallo fired. ZAAAAAP!
Steel fired. ZAAAAAP!
The two streams of glowing energy met in the center of the chamber by the train cars. FLASH! The point of contact of the two beams strobed and pulsed brightly. The android and the hero struggled to overcome the other opponent's array of power.
In the meantime, I had tumbled hard to the ground besides a collapsed group of half-unconscous thugs. I stood up, rubbed my hair head, and saw Steel's predicament.
"….."
I desperately looked to the side.
A thug with a vest full of grenades groaned before sitting up dizzily. "Mmmmf….is it Saturday again?" He opened his eyes. Blink-Blink. "Oh right. My job."
THWACK! Myrkblade popped him atop the head. He moaned and slumped unconscious. I reached down and snagged a high-powered grenade from his vest. Panting, I looked over at the fight. I clutched my left metal fingers around the explosive, tensed my jaw, and blurred.
FWOOOOSH!
In the meanwhile, Steel and Metallo were still struggling to overcome each other's laser power.
"Heh…..some upgrades you got!" Steel sneered while focusing…focusing…focusing the glove-gun. "Just what is Luthor giving you for helping Triangular get a few chuckles in, huh Corbin?"
"Quite simple, my good sir…," Metallo smirked. "In this confusing, criminal underworld…he's giving me an upper hand." Ch-Chtink! A wrist laser appeared on his other limb. "BOTH of them!"
Steel's jaw dropped wide under his mask.
"Heh heh heh…," Metallo aimed his other laser at Steel's skull. The barrel started to glow.
Steel braced himself…
SWOOOOSH! I blurred up, ducked beneath the laser flash, and landed in a skidding stop before Metallo.
"Huh?"
PLANT! I shoved the grenade into his metal jaws.
"Mmmmmf!"
I gritted my teeth angrily, flicked the pin free with a metal thumb, then slapped my forearm with the blunt-side of Myrkblade.
WHACK!
Pop!-Hisssss!
I swiftly detached my metal prosthetic from my torso and jumped back.
Metallo broke his laser-contact with Steel and stumbled back, comically trying in vain to shake loose a grenade and a detached metal arm that was keeping the explosive stuck in his jaws.
Steel and I hobbled back, watching.
Cl-Click!
Metallo's eyes widened.
"Mmmmmmmffff!"
POWWWWW!
His android body was engulfed in flames.
Steel flinched.
I glared, frowning into the fire.
Gonna spit or swallow that……shithead?
Flickering fire.
Then…
SW-SW-SWOOSH-CHUNK!
My metal arm landed—still in tact—at my feet, embedded into the ground.
"…..," I knelt down and re-attached it. Wincing momentarily at the chilling sensation that sent haunting shivers through my body.
Steel walked over and patted my shoulder. "Good job, man. You put the money where his mouth was."
I shrugged.
"…."
I glanced aside.
Just where's Garth, anyways?
Eventually, the flames dissipated.
The smoke cleared.
The two of us watched the figure of a steaming, singed android appear…slumped against the train cars and the slightly disheveled vials.
"……………..," Metallo suddenly whirred to life. He stood up in a mechanical jolt. All of his fake 'skin' had been burnt away, and the automaton was simply that….a metal skeleton with a hideous, gaping skull glaring at us with charred metal outlining where the bulk of the grenade went off.
"Ewww….god….," Steel shook his head. "I swear….do they always come so nasty underneath?"
I shuddered.
Metallo shook and stood up on wobbly legs. He tilted his head to the side. His mechanical eyes flickered. The voice of John Corbin came out of the machine….but for some reason now—with only the pure skull of the metal monster facing me—I could no longer make the mental connection.
"Well now….I seem to have gone naked…."
"You're gonna be spare parts if you don't give it a rest, Corbin!" Steel frowned, pointing. "Face it! We came, we saw, we kicked your ass! Now surrender before we call in the Justice League to REALLY tear you apart! This shipment is going nowhere!"
"Shipment? What shipment?" the jaws and metal teeth of the android clenched tightly as he leaned his head to the side, and I realized that it was the golem's best attempt at 'smiling' with the Corbin cover off. "Oh…pitiful me! You mean the golden essence lingering in the lovely train cars behind me! My mistake!" He reached two hands stealthily behind him. He grabbed a pair of vials. "I did not intend to steal them! I only meant to SHARE THEM WITH EVERYONE!"
With a metal-ringing snarl he flung the vials at us.
I gasped.
Steel frowned. "Enough games!" He raised his hammer and began to charge. "Consider your face scrap metal, punk!"
I gripped his shoulder and held him back.
He jerked and looked at me. "What, man?"
Crash!
Shatter!
The vials broke into the ground before us.
"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha….," Metallo chuckled. "Heh heh heh heh…"
"What's he chuckling about?"
I didn't pay attention. I was too busy staring at the rock floor before us. I gulped.
"………"
………
FL-FLASH!
Two warm, golden halos appeared in the ground by the tracks.
The whole cavern started to shake.
Out from the hard earth, two mounds of shifting, gold-glowing gravel started to form.
Steel gasped and doubled-back. "What in the devil?"
I shuddered.
The two mounds rose up and up….and started to melt and form into two separate, vaguely humanoid figures.
In an all-too-familiar menace, two golems of glowing gold formed straight out of the earth. Both equally as strong and as dangerous as the single devastator I fought within the bowels of Area 51.
Not a time for a rematch……
"Well aren't you pretty….," Steel murmured to the nearest automaton.
ST-STOMP!
The two ten-foot golems faced us with heavy feet like a pair of metaphysical, lava sumos.
"They'll be the quickest date you ever had….," Metallo amusingly uttered. He grabbed three more vials, grunted electronically, and tossed the golden cylinders behind us.
Sh-Shatter!
Shatter!
I gritted my teeth and spun around.
CRKKKKK!
CRKKK-CRKKK!
Three glowing spots in the earth rose up behind us.
We were soon surrounded by five hulking golems of earth.
Five times the ordeal in Area 51.
Not good……
"My compliments to Hell," Metallo waved his hand, stepping backwards. "I hear its chambers are rather vacant for new imbeciles this time of year. Dosvidan'ya!" And Metallo spun and ran towards the front train engine along with two awakening, groaning thugs.
"Noir!" Steel pointed at the train. "He's going to get away with the shipment! Stop him!" A beat. The man winced under his helmet. "Sorry to give orders…."
I shrugged and gripped Myrkblade.
I don't mind orders.
FWOOOSH!
I blurred forward.
I could see Metallo and the two goons jumping into the engine compartment and starting the train down the tunnel…
SWOOOOSH!
THWACK!
I grunted, clotheslined by a glowing-gold arm.
CL-CLUMP!
I landed hard on my back, exhaling.
"Noir!" Steel shouted.
Two golden rock beings stood menacingly above me. Flickering puffs of flame billowed out from fine cracks in their stony exoskeletons. Their earthen tentacles waved and whipped down towards my fragile form.
I winced.
"NNNGH!" Steel rushed in with a hammer and a hulking shoulder of metal.
CL-CLACK! The stone tentacles smacked off of him.
He barely stumbled, spun, and swung his hammer dead-on into the left golem.
CRUNCH!
The right one wrapped his tentacles around the hero's back and started to constrict the Prototype suit.
CRKKK-KKK-KKK!
"Nnnnghh!" Steel struggled, squirming in the grasp.
In the meantime, the three other golems to our rear stomped towards us. The leftmost and rightmost of the trio opened gaping holes in their chest and launched hot spray of fiery gravel. PFFFTFTTFTTTOOM!
The grappled Steel was in the blast zone.
I summoned what little strength I had and vaulted up with a twirling, smoking spin of my sword. SLASH!
The wave of murk deflected the hot spray off to all corners of the room.
FWOOOSH!
I landed, gripped Myrkblade, took a breath, and blurred towards the three monstrosities.
They all flung and flailed their earthen limbs and tentacles at me in succession as I streaked by them.
STOMP! ST-STOMP! THWOMP!
I ran up the body of the leftmost, vaulted off, twirled in the air, repeatedly struck the center and right one—TH-TH-TH-TH-THWACK!—and landed in a perch on the western wall of the cavern. Plant!
Panting from my position, I sweated and glanced northward through sweat-stained shades. The train was moving northward. The cars full of vials rattled and clanked as they moved along the tracks through the big, cylindrical tunnel leading out of 'Metropolis'. There was a huge, heavy vibration shaking throughout the chamber's interior. The mouth of the railroad tunnel was closing. A door….
It was sealing the exit behind Metallo and the escapees!
I gripped Myrkblade and prepared to leap into action……
STOMP-STOMP-STOMP!
I looked right.
Two golems in my face….CRUNCH!
I screamed mutely and tumbled to the floor after two automatons smashed and shattered the face of the cavern wall I was perched to.
THWOMP!
A third planted its foot over me. Applying pressure.
I winced and struggled.
Through thin black eyes, I gazed forward along the ground towards the tunnel.
The huge, heavy door was closing in like the spiral lens of a camera.
I struggled and strained to get free from the being standing on me.
"RAAUGH!" Steel smashed himself free of the monster holding him. The other golem got up just in time to face the brunt of his hammer—SMACK!—and then a direct blast from his glove gun. ZAAAAP!
I tried to squirm free, but the golem atop me just weighed in more and more.
I finally snarled, concentrated, pulsed murk through my body, and….
FW-FW-FW-FW-FW-FW-FWOOSH! I teleported up through the creature's body via its inner cracks and fissures. I solidified with a leaping jump out through the top of its glowing 'crown'. POW!
The golem would take a half minute at least to recover, during which I came back down, kicked my legs off its torso, and vaulted forward in a roll. I jumped to my feet, streaked past Steel, and gave him a blurring sword-slash to his nearest opponent for assistance.
TH-THWACK!
One of the golems battling Steel stumbled. He took the opportunity by grabbing its legs, gritting his teeth beneath his mask, and heavily swinging the monster around and into the bulk of the other's body. CRUNCH!
I ran and ran and ran towards the doors.
The train was a distant speck now.
The faint echoes of Metallo's electronic laughter registered down the curved halls.
The spiraling doors closed…closed…closed…
I gritted my feet, blurred, and leapt
FWOOOOSH-THWAP!
I slammed into solid concrete with a jolt. The northbound tunnel doors had closed.
Thwump! I slumped to the floor.
Dammit! Shit!
I pounded my metal fist into the ground.
Steel managed to run over and slam his hammer into the fresh wall of concrete.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
"Nnnnghh!" he grunted. "It's no use! Only someone like Superman can punch through these walls! They're built to withstand the pressure of the friggin' Ocean!"
ST-STOMP!
Steel spun around.
I stood up on wobbly knees.
The five golden monsters marched towards us as one solid line of earth.
As they stood shoulder-to-shoulder, the cracks in their arms and torsos spouted out flames that congealed with one another to form a molten layer of plasma eating its way towards us.
I raised Myrkblade nervously.
Steel gripped his hammer.
We planted our backs to the huge door, cornered. Out of options.
STOMP! STOMP! STOMP! STOMP!
The golems approached. Their raised their flaming tentacles.
I bit my lip.
Then….
SPLOOOOOOOSH!
A torrent of heavy seawater slammed and cascaded over all five of them. Steam exploded up towards the metal-laced ceiling of the chamber as the monsters on the tracks shook and convulsed from the aquatic punishment. The seawater ate into their frames and cooled the molten insides.
Steel and I panted. We glanced to our left.
A weary, bruised Tempest stood on a column of water protruding from the underground harbor. He strained and gritted his teeth as his eyes glowed a brilliant purple. His aiming wrist shook and tensed.
FW-FW-FW-FWIP! Tentacles of water shot up from a dozen different places in the water lining the platforms. The ocean spat out and congealed into one huge, cylindrical wave of liquid splashing over the golems. Cooling them. Hardening them.
Steel and I got the idea. He strained his muscles around his hammer while I raised Myrkblade.
Steel charged in.
I rushed forward.
Sp-Sploosh! We splashed through the salt water, swinging.
CRACK!
SMACK!
CLANG!
Chunks and huge pieces of stone flew and splattered. The golems were battered to pieces. Two more swings of a huge metal hammer and a few added slices of a smoke-laden katana…and the monstrosities were completely leveled.
SPLASH!
Tempest's watery punishment ended.
He groaned and teetered towards the platform.
FWOOOSH! I blurred over, raised my arms, and caught him just in time. I steadied him on the ground…dizzy.
"Nnngh…," he rubbed his head and wearily smiled. "I swear…sometimes her freckles light up when she laughs."
"……?" I made a face.
"S-Sorry…," Tempest cleared his throat. "That's how I meditate during battle."
I shrugged
Works for me.
"Good job, kid…," Steel hobbled over, the hammer balanced over his shoulder. "But….I'm afraid we're a little too late…"
Tempest squinted his dark eyes. He approached the huge tunnel door. He placed a hand against the thick concrete. "Heh…typical Terran build. The best way to resist water is to build something super THICK."
"Well that same thickness is what's allowing the damned train escape…," Steel folded his arms.
"……..," I gazed off.
"After what we all did….," Tempest murmured. He turned and gazed at the crates with the Lexcorp symbol on them. "I suppose we could try and use this sort of crap to incriminate Luthor. But what's the use?"
"Yeah…," Steel took off his helmet. A heavily-sweating John Henry Irons rubbed his bald head. "I'd rather chase this guy on foot than with red tape. But…dammit…we were so CLOSE!"
I slowly nodded. I gazed down at the tracks. I could still feel the faint vibrations of the faraway train taking off. But it all faded away.
"…….."
And then.
The lights flickered.
Zzzt! Zzzt!
"H-Huh?" Tempest blinked. "What in the….?"
Irons gripped his helmet in one hand, the hammer in the other. He gazed around, concerned.
My eyes winced momentarily from the light change.
But then the flickering stopped.
I looked all around.
"….."
My eyes settled on a computer console besides the northbound tunnel door.
"….."
I walked towards it. I glanced at the tiny monitor. Silent.
"What is it, Noir?" Tempest asked, walking up behind me. "Some glitch?"
My lips parted as I graced the tiny monitor.
'GOOD EVENING, NOIR. FANCY MEETING YOU HERE.'
"……..," I smiled.
The Oracle……
'YOU'RE ALL OVER THE PLACE, AREN'T YOU? NOT TO MENTION UNDER THE SKIN OF BOTH THE JUSTICE LEAGUE AND THE LAW.'
"Who is it?" Irons walked up, his head leaning to the side. "Some kind of hacker?"
I raised a finger to silence him….
'OF COURSE YOU AREN'T GUILTY, BUT YOU SURE ARE RECKLESS. LEAVE IT TO ME TO LEND YOU AND YOUR PALS THE HELPING HAND THAT YOU NEED.'
I brought my hand over a keypad. I typed swiftly.
'Do you know where the train is heading?'
'MORE IMPORTANTLY, I CAN HELP YOU TRACK IT DOWN.'
I blinked.
'BUT TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTION, IT SEEMS TO BE HEADING STRAIGHT FOR GOTHAM CITY. MOST INTERESTING.'
"One of Triangular's allies is in Gotham City…," Tempest spoke. "But what in Hades' name could they be doing with the vials there?"
'OPEN SESAME, NOIR. OPEN SESAME.'
CH-CHTUNG!
The three of us gasped.
The spiraling doorframe opened slightly. WHURRRR! It vibrated and shook with just a tiny sliver/crack open.
'THAT'S THE BEST I CAN DO, NOIR. BETTER DO YOUR DUTY WHILE YOUR CAN.'
Irons' palm landed heavily on my back. "Go, kid! It's up to you!"
"Neither of us are fast enough to catch up with that train….," Tempest added. "This was your mission from the start. Don't let us down…."
I exhaled.
Yeah……
Typical.
I comically saluted the computer console, ran towards the tunnel door, and dove with a smoking teleport through the thin crack at the last second—FWOOOSH!
CLANG!
The door closed behind me.
Irons and Garth stood alone in the chamber full of unconscious thugs.
The computer monitor flickered one last time.
'I GUESS YOU TWO ARE THE CLEANUP CREW.
Zzzzt!
The monitor faded.
Tempest made a face. "Why are all ambiguous computer entities so smartass?"
Irons shrugged and slipped his helmet back on over his head. "Since giant puppets of rock grew from exploding test tubes and started attacking people."
"True that…"
And they both wandered off to collect the cold thugs' bodies.
T-T-T-T-T-T-
And I was rocketing north along the cylindrical train tunnel.
Moving as fast as my blurring legs could propel me.
FWOOOOOSH!
I gripped Myrkblade in one hand and clenched my metal fist on the other side of me.
My black hair and bandanna tails whipped as I sped, sped, sped….
Dim tunnel lights streaked over me on the curved ceiling of the tunnel. Every three and a half miles—I judged—a door leading to an elevator contraption of sorts would appear embedded into the side of the long chamber. It was beyond my understanding just how anyone—much less an evil corporation like Triangular—could have afforded the time, money, and effort to construct this sort of thing. And the fact that it was now being used for the nefarious purpose of harboring and transporting Terra's essences….
It all seemed too perfect. Too perfectly evil. Even if I couldn't catch up with the train, exposing this place would be enough to hurt or damage Triangular.
But I was going to catch up with the train.
I was….
FWOOOOSH!
The tracks blurred beneath me. The lights streaked above me. The tunnel took a gradual ascent, bending up and then back down. And in such rise and fall, I saw the distant cars full of fragile cargo rattle before me. And far ahead of the trailing lot was the engine with the piloting android and pair of thugs.
I tensed my muscles and angled myself faster towards the back of the craft. I approached the rearmost car and prepared to jump….
T-T-T-T-T-T-
Inside the train engine…
"You buffoons! Can't this thing go any faster?" Metallo griped.
"What's the hurry, Corbin? You got what you wanted from Luthor! Those three creeps are far behind us locked away in the loading area!"
"Yeah! Our job is as good as done!"
Metallo's metal skull glared. "You just never learn anything, do you?"
Cl-Clamp!
A vibration ran up through the speeding train.
The two thugs gasped.
"Wh-Wh-What was that?"
Metallo craned his neck and looked out through the rear window frame of the car.
A certain black swordsman was clinging a metal hand onto the rear car and blurring his feet along to jump on.
"That, my good friends….," Metallo electronically hissed, "….is the typical sensation of life tossing you some shit salad." He raised his foot to kick the train engine door open….
T-T-T-T-T-T-
CLANK!
I looked up from where I roughly gripped the speeding train car.
Metallo appeared several feet ahead on the train. He stood in the gaping doorway of the train engine in front of the two thugs.
"Be a good squirrel and go 'splat' already!"
Ch-Chtink!
Chtunk!
Two mini-rockets propped up from behind his back.
I bit my lip.
PFTOOOOOOM!
I let go of the rear train car and hopped back.
POW!
The projectiles exploded in the train tracks behind the car.
I jumped up, drifted in the air from my velocity, and impacted the charred ground again with blurring feet. I jolted…slacked a bit in persuit…but maintained a swift running stance after the train.
Metallo stepped out onto the middle of the first car and braced himself between the rattling crates of vials. "HA!" He unloaded two more rockets. Ch-Chtink! PFTOOOOM!
I blurred left.
POW!
I blurred right.
P-POW!
Metallo gritted his skeletonous teeth and pointed two wrist-lasers at me.
Z-ZAAAAAAAP!
I held my breath, blurred left beyond the trailing golden beams, and ran up the blurring wall of the tunnel. My smoking legs brought me up along the curved ceiling like a motorcyclist inside a spherical cage. Before I could 'trip' over a ceiling light, I vaulted off, flipped, dodged another laser stream—ZAAAAP!—and landed in crouch in the center of the middle-most car.
"…..," I gripped Myrkblade and stared up at Metallo. Waiting…
Metallo aimed his laser at me, but hesitated.
"S-Sir! Don't shoot!"
"The vials!"
Metallo hissed. "I know that….you bloody imbeciles….." Cl-Clak! He retracted his arm-rifles and marched towards me down the rows upon rows of crates.
I stood up, twirling Myrkblade at ready. The speeding train cars vibrated and shifted beneath us as we blurred northward through the curved tunnel.
"Going to show me your ticket, Squirrel?" Metallo curved his skull-like teeth in another vain attempt to 'smile'. "Or am I going to have to just throw you off the Orient Express?"
My black eyes narrowed under my shades.
Just try and show me your pitching arm, deadbolt.
Metallo glanced over his metal shoulder. "Speed it up."
One thug gasped.
The other uttered: "B-But….But Corbin! At a higher speed we might—"
Metallo pointed with a sharp metal finger. "Do what I tell you or I'll lubricate the train wheels with your blood…."
The thugs winced.
"Y-Yes….sure thing, Corbin…"
One of them gripped a lever and pushed it all the way forward. "Nnngh!" Cl-Clak!
VRMMMMMMMMMMMMVREEEEEE!
The walls and ceiling became a solid streak of blue and gray. The air billowed for a second against us and then became paper thin as we approached a suicidal velocity. A queer warmth rose from beneath us from the nightmarish friction of the chugging train wheels against the hot metal tracks.
"One tumble at this speed and you'll become this tunnel's new paint job….," Metallo bowed at me eloquently and said: "That high enough stakes for you, boy?"
I aimed Myrkblade at him, getting into a ready stance.
The only grave you dig is your own.
His robot eyes flickered. "So be it…."
FWOOOOSH! He rocketed towards me.
I braced myself.
"RRRGHH!" He swung a left hook. THWAP! Raised a knee. WHAM! And uppercutted with his right hand. THWACK!
I blocked with my smoking sword the best I could. I slid back towards the rear car. I took a deep breath, and pulsed Myrkblade out at him. FLASH!
He stumbled.
I charged with a forward jab—CLANK!—a high-end swing—THWACK!—and a low blow to his knees—CL-CLANG!
Metallo took the brunt of my blows and slid back less. The vials on either side of us rattled.
Metallo shouted electronically and forced his shoulder into me.
WHUMP!
I slid back an entire car's length. The rear car.
"!"
I pulsed murk into my feet and clung to the train car just half an inch before I could fall off the very back of it.
I teetered…teetered…
Stomp!-Stomp!-Stomp!-Stomp! Metallo charged me with a heavily swinging fist. "NNNNGH!"
I braced myself, timed it just right, and teleported straight through him. FWOOOSH!
This time, Metallo skidded to a stop and teetered. His arms flailed on either side of him as he nearly fell off into the blurring madness behind and around us. "Wh-Whoah! Aaagh!"
I spun around, twirled Myrkblade, and slashed the weapon towards his rear.
He suddenly steadied his two arms behind his back and gripped the length of my blade.
"!" I struggled and strained to yank the weapon free from his grasp.
SWISH-CLANK! He spun his skull-like head around and chuckled at me. "Heheheheheh….how's your father?" PFTOOOM! He flipped over me with a blast of ankle rockets, anchored to my eight by my sword. He landed behind me, put his weight into his descent, and swung me by my very own weapon towards the front of the train. "HA!"
I flailed through the air with my sword past rows of rattling crates and landed hard on a shaking train car twenty feet up. TH-THWUMP!
"RAAAAUGH!"
I looked up in time to see Metallo leaping through the blurred tunnel and sailing down at me with his menacing jump-kick aimed at my person.
I gritted my teeth and somersaulted backwards.
CRKKKK!
Metallo's foot smashed through the train's floor and got stuck. "Nnnngh! Blast it!"
I jumped up to my feet, twirled Myrkblade, and slammed him hard across the metal face.
CLAK!
"AUGH!"
Again.
SMACK!
"Dammit!"
Again.
CLANG!
"RRGGH-RAAAUGH!" he shot an arm out, gripped me by the neck, and tossed me toward towards the engine.
The thugs gasped and shut the door just in time.
THWAP!
I slid up against it, wincing.
Metallo pried and pried….
CRKKK!
He snapped his foot free from the smashed hole and hobbled up into an angry stance.
"Nnnnnghh……"
Whurrr-Clak! He aimed a wrist laser at me.
"I'm starting to wonder what ever possessed me to spare an inch of your neck when my amnesiac self battled you in Kansas."
ZAAAP!
In molasses time, I saw the heated laser soar at me. I took a breath. I glanced up at the blurring ceiling. I decided to risk it…
FWOOOSH!
I dove straight up, teleported my body upside down, and made contact with the ceiling.
Metallo pivoted and re-aimed his laser. ZAAAP! ZAP! ZAAA-AAAP!
I blurred in a swift burst-second curve down along the curved tunnel, down the wall, and towards the train tracks. FWOOOSH! I disappeared under the cars.
"………," Metallo blinked. "Huh?" He marched over on metal feet to the edge of the platform and aimed down at the blurring mayhem of the underground world beyond the heavily speeding cars. "What in the devil? Did he give up on life that easily?"
A vapor of smoke rose up behind Metallo.
"……..," he turned and gazed down. "Hrmm?"
Smoke puffed out of the hole in the train car that his own kicking foot had earlier made.
"Oh fiddlesticks…."
FWOOOSH!
I teleported up out of the hole directly beneath him and solidified with a heavy, two-handed swing of my sword.
THWACK!
I fiercely uppercutted the android.
He flew off the train. He slammed against the blurring wall of the tunnel. Chunks of metal sparked off him as he grunted and was ricocheted back onto the train two cars down and near the rear.
I blurred towards him.
He barely got up on his knees…..
THWOOOOSH-CLACK! CLANG! SMACK! THWACK!
The android jolted and shook and wobbled from every heavy impact of my sword to his person. He stumbled and teetered further back towards the edge of the train.
I sweated, snarled, and struck harder and harder.
CL-CLANK! THUD! WHAM!
Just a few more strikes….
And he'd be over the edge.
He'd be over….
FLASH!
"I'm the one you want!"
"Annie! No!"
"Run Robin!"
FLASH!
I gasped.
I dizzily shook and fell to my knees.
A chill was covering my body.
Spreading up from my metal prosthetic.
I panted…
No.
Not here.
Dammit, no!
My metal arm throbbed up my shoulder.
Rrrrred Aviarrrrrry.
I dizzily wobbled. The speeding and blurring of the tunnel around me. The speed and the clanking vials and the sweat.
No.
NO!
"NNNGH!"
I looked up.
Metallo's foot.
WHAM!
I fell and tumbled back four crates' lengths.
"Should have stuck to your second wind, boy….," Metallo electronically uttered in a humored voice. He stomped over, raised his foot again, and kicked down at me.
I numbly blocked with Myrkblade.
Cl-Clank!
He growled and kicked down again.
I prepared to block…
FLASH!
Nnnngh!
"Jordan, run!"
"Ana?"
"We have to get out of here!"
"Ana, what is it?"
"Someone's taking over the school! Someone's…"
SM-SMASH!
"AAAAIEEEE!"
"AAAAUGH!"
"BEN! DAWN!"
"Run! Get out of here!"
"No, Ana! We stay together!"
"But-But……"
"Where is……?"
ZZZZT!
"AAAAH!"
"JORDAN!"
FLASH!
SLAM!
Metallo's foot flew into my ribcage.
I winced all over.
I rolled across the train cars.
Coughing. Sputtering. Barely holding onto Myrkblade.
"Heh…….heh…….heh…….," Metallo loomed above me. "What's the matter, Noir? Train rides make you sick?"
I wheezed, my eyes tearing.
R-Red Aviary……
He is here……
If I die, I hope to god he rips you up too, jerk.
GRIP!
Metallo had me by the neck. He growled and pivoted my entire body up into the air and down to the edge of the train car. THWAP! He shoved my head down towards the blurring tracks beneath the sparking wheels. He pressed my skull further and further. My black hair already started dancing and beating against the hot ground. Embers danced over my skull from the friction.
FWOOOOOOOOSH!
"You know what I find so very charming about you, Noir?" Metallo hissed as he pressed down on me. Choking and threatening to scrape my head against the blurring madness. "You're a walking magician's stone. I can look into your black eyes as you die right now beneath me. And do you know what I see? Doom. Doom for the Titans. Doom for all heroes who try to serve good. Doom to all that cling to what is balanced and considered the status quo in this world…."
I winced and hissed and wheezed in his grasp. But I was more attuned to the shivering sensation throbbing up my arm. I could barely even feel Metallo's weight on me. All I sensed or saw was red. Like a billowing crowd of crimson flapping after us in the endless night. Clicking and hissing and shrieking. Thirsting blood from the earth and a sky painted red…
"It is time for a new order. A time for the Underground to consume the world above. Lawfulness is an illusion, Noir. And Triangular will erase the dream by killing off the bloody dreamers!"
The chill lifted for but a second. I gasped, embracing the cold tunneled world. The train cars. The rattling metal. The framework. The reality of it all. The medium through which the Spectrum settles like sand in an hourglass.
And I snarled.
You're not the one who murders, punk.
There's someone FAR more evil and badass than you.
Open your eyes……or simply GO TO SLEEP!
I grabbed Myrkblade, swung it up and under the train car, and slammed a pulse of smoke into the underbelly of the car.
FLASH!
Black murk ran along the length of the last car we were on. The energy slammed into the joints of our car to the next, and exploded.
CRACK!
Our car shook. The vials rattled.
"What?" Metallo looked towards where our car was splitting off from the other trains. His skull-like jaw gaped. "No!"
I pulsed murk through my legs and kicked him off of me. WHUMP!
He stumbled back.
I jumped up.
He made a mad dash for the rest of the train as it rocketed away at a leap's length.
"No! You bloody idiots! Slow down! Wait! Wait!"
I ran after him. I dove. I grabbed his feet.
CL-CLAMP!
"OOF!" he fell down, tripped, and plummeted off the front edge of the car. "AAAAAAAAAAH--"
CRUNCH!
His shout was cut short by body being caught under the hot wheels of the train car. Indestructible metal met indestructible metal. The result…the framework of the train car fractured. CRKKKK! The train car jumped off the tracks. Sparks flew. The car skidded left with hot embers spreading. CLAK! I jolted as the car smacked against the left wall of the tunnel. The car skidded right, hobbled over the tracks, and smacked against the right blurred wall. CL-CLAK!
I fell on my rear.
WH-WHUMP!
RATTLE-RATTLE!
Another slamming into a wall.
CRUNCH!
RATTLE!
Three dozen vials flew out of the crates and littered the car's platform all around me. Glowing a hot gold.
I gasped, spinning my gaze around at all the dangerous, viable essences strobing all around me.
I panted. And as the train slowed down enough (one hundred miles per hour 'slow') I madly jumped off.
Just in time too. The wheels finally snapped off and the whole car upended before cascading suicidally in a sideways slide down the entire width of the tunnel.
SNKKKKKRKKKKKKTKKKKTTKKKK!
I dove through the air, impacted the ground, and rolled…rolled…rolled across the tracks.
When I finally came to a stop, I gazed up—panting—at the scant fraction of the golden shipment crashing to a heated stop.
POW!
The train car exploded.
With a sudden chill, I blinked.
Exploded?
A hot, golden glow erupted amidst the rubble of the collapsed car. The entire north face of the tunnel started to strobe a hot yellow. Thousands of vials were melding together and burning as one. I was no expert on thermal metaphysics, but I imagined that whatever giant golem all of those vials could conceivably produce wouldn't possibly be capable of supporting its own power and immensity.
The only possible outcome….
I gulped.
Volcano……
The gold-hot tunnel started to strobe and bubble and burn. A raw smoldering smell filled the air.
I hobbled up to my feet, bruised and panting all over.
I gazed southward.
Metallo's cold, metal body lie limp.
"….."
I glanced ahead of me.
Miraculously, there was a crevice with an elevator platform. One of the many that covered the tunnel every three and a half miles.
I'm screwed if I stay down here any longer.
Red Aviary……
I……
I have to get out of here.
I streaked towards the doors.
I ripped their cobweb-metal frames open.
SL-SLICE!
A golden aura bathed me from the north side.
The heat became unbearable.
I sweated and jammed my fist over a green button on a rusted console.
CL-CLANK!
WHURRRRRRR!
The cage-like elevator took me up the shaft. Slowly. Rattling.
I leaned over the side, glancing down at the bubbling hot, gold earth.
Come on……Come on!
The vials melted.
The hot yellow burned a ring.
A shaking sensation filled the tunnel.
A deep, resonating earth-quake.
The unofficial wrath of Terra multiplied a thousand-fold.
The vibrations ran up the elevator shaft.
The cagey car shook.
Rattled.
And I in it.
Nnngh!
CL-CLANK! CLAK!
The elevator jolted.
I gasped. Barely up the shaft above the tunnel.
What the Hell?
I slammed my fist over the button console again.
Slap!
Slap!
Slap!
A chill ran up my spine.
Shivers.
Shaking.
Rrrrred Aviarrrry……
The elevator was stuck.
Something had messed with the gears.
I was in the breathing tube of a giant, impromptu pressure cooker.
RUMMMMBLE!
The gold started to froth and explode.
I looked up the shaft.
Panting.
Sweating.
Shivering.
'Run, Robin!'
'Jordan, move!'
'AAAAAAAAAAH!'
'Click-Click-Click……Feed me, son…….'
I gasped.
A shuddered.
That voice.
In m-my head?
My arm……is f-frozen……
PHOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMBBBB!
The gold thermal energy erupted.
A tentacle of flame and fire ate its way up the shaft and towards me and the cage.
I shivered.
Red Aviary……
'FEED ME'.
I twisted my whole body and stared up the shaft.
Not today.
"!" I jumped.
P-Plant! I bounced off the wall.
I murked smoke into my limbs.
Pl-Plant! Plant! Pl-Pl-Plant!
I bounced like a vertical hopscotch up the shaft.
My murking limbs propelled me higher, higher, higher.
I barely glanced down below.
PHOOOOOMB!
The flames ate up after me.
The elevator car groaned and snapped as it fell free into the rising wall of fire.
FWOMB!
Shit! Shit! SHIT!
I kept bouncing and leaping up till my smoking feet blurred so fast that I expertly shot myself up the vertical wall and simply 'ran' up as fast as I could.
And as fast as I could turned out to be a hair's width from total, fiery oblivion.
My murking trails evaporated in the flames at my heels as I rocketed up, up, up.
FWOOOOOOOSH!
The climb went on forever. The heat, unrelenting. The sweat and the panting and the blinding aura at the edge of my shades….
THERE!
A sliver of light above me.
A door.
A partially-sealed lid to the outside world above.
I burned with all my might towards the exit with the fire at my rear.
Aaaaargh!
FWOOOOSH!
And I made contact.