The Takedown

It was a normal day in Viletown. The bank was being robbed by the Powerpunk Girls, while the heroic Jomo Momo struggled to keep them at bay and to, maybe, stop them. Things were looking grim though, as the hero continued to struggle against his vastly more powerful opponents. People fled in terror from the scene of the fight, brushing by the mysterious stranger who seemed drawn to the violence.

The newcomer cocked his head and brought his fingers to his chin, "Could this be the place? In such disarray...so much despair and suffering. Yes, I think I have, at last, found where you are hiding," With a flourish of his bright red cape, the mysterious figure made his way toward the blaring sirens. There, in the heart of the dispute, he would find his answer.

XxXxX

"Hahaha! Is that the best you could do, Jomo?" Brat taunted, dodging another shot from the heroic monkey. She came down like a bolt of lightning, smacking him hard in the cheek, sending his blaster spinning across the ground. It landed at Brute's feet. The Powerpunk leader picked it up and looked it over.

Brute snickered, "This lame-ass thing? You thought this would beat us?" She held it out and fired it, nearly hitting Berserk, who was busy unloading the vault.

"Hey, watch it!" Berserk snapped, dropping what was left of the now vaporized sack of money she'd been carrying.

Brat sighed and put her hands on her hips, "Berserk! Be careful with the money! We came to get it, not burn it all up! You are such a klutz!"

Berserk just glared at her sister before returning to the vault. Brute snickered and threw the gun over her shoulder, advancing on Jomo. "Alright, let's finish this shit head off and get the hell out of here," she grinned and slammed her fists together.

Jomo scrambled to his feet, backing up until he, unfortunately, ran out of anywhere to run. He narrowed his eyes, "Curses…"

"Halt, that's enough!" A voice called out. Berserk had just finished clearing out the vault and paused by her sisters. She glanced at them, then back to the newcomer.

"Who is this nerd?" She asked no one in particular. The newcomer was a tall figure, human-shaped but obviously a monster with six big horns rising up from his head like antlers. Dressed in an ancient armored tunic and a red cape, he advanced on them with a stern glare. When he spoke, there was a chastising tone to his voice.

"Girls your age should know better than to take what doesn't belong to you. Have you not learned the importance of such financial institutions such as this one? Think to yourselves, would you like it if someone took the money you'd worked hard to earn? No? Then, I think it would be wise of you to return it at once!" he explained, stopping several feet from them and resting his hands on his hips.

Brat whined, "Oh my God, he talks more than Jomo, it hurts my brain...Brute make him shut up. Shoot him or punch him already or something!"

"Do you ever stop whining?" Brute muttered and shook her head, "Alright, fine, maybe this guy'll be more fun than Jomo was," she shot toward him, her fist passing through empty air where the newcomer had been standing once before. She slid to a halt and turned around, glaring at the monster. "How did you do that?"

The monster sighed, "Girls, I do not wish to engage in combat with you. However, if you continue with this nonsense, I will be forced to take you seriously and use my power to bring you to justice. I recommend you surrender peacefully," He explained.

"Talk, talk, talk! Just shut up!" Brat screeched, charging at him with a powerful punch. This time, instead of empty air, the punch got lost in a sea of red fabric. Before she could even question what was happening, the cloth wrapped around her, tight as a vice. With a grunt, the monster swung her around his head and brought her down with enough force to bring a trickle of blood to her lips. He swung her again, hurling her into the oncoming Berserk and sending them crashing into a heap on the ground.

"Ow! Get off, Berserk! You're always in the way, geez!" Brat spat, climbing to her feet and charging again.

Berserk glared after her and spat at the ground. With a growl, she joined the others' charge. The three buzzed around him like hornets, raining down vicious blows that always seemed to just barely miss their mark. When Brute threw a particularly nasty punch, it collided with Berserk instead, knocking her dazed to the ground.

"Get outta my way, pipsqueak! God dammit you're useless!" The leader spat, moments before being flung across the air by a devastating kick from the monster.

Brat tried to catch him from behind, only to have her blow blocked and a fierce knee slammed into her chest. With a swat, he threw her to the ground and quickly spun, avoiding Berserk's angry charge. With a small "Whoop!" he wrapped his arm around her neck and held her tight.

Berserk snarled and tugged at his arm, but his grip was harder than steel. As much as she spat and kicked and tugged, she couldn't break free. "Let me go! Dammit let me go!" Flames flicked at the corners of her lips. Her face was getting redder the longer he held on. She screamed, a stream of fire spraying across the air. The monster dodged the attack.

"Impressive, but futile, Miss...Berserk, was it? Please, relax before you bring harm to yourself," The monster scrunched his nose, "Miss Berserk, when did you last brush your teeth? A girl as cute as you are should take her dental hygiene seriously, always brush and floss after every meal to avoid tooth decay and gingivitis,"

"Shut up! Let go! Dammit, let go!" Her eyes were starting to water and a lump was starting to form in her throat, no matter how much she sprayed fire, it wouldn't go away.

"Aw, look Brute! Berserk has a new friend! Look at how close they are!" Brat teased, wiping the blood away from her face. She grimaced and whimpered when she felt the large bruise forming on her cheek.

Brute sat up, cradling her head, "Fuck, he's strong...ugh, quit playing around, pipsqueak!" she barked the auburn-haired sister.

"I'M TRYING!" Berserk screamed, a tear finally trickling down her cheek as she failed, again, to free herself from his grip.

"That's quite enough, Akio," A menacing voice called from the doorway.

The girls and the monster looked up. The monster's eyes widened and his grip finally loosened to allow Berserk to slip away. She snarled and glared at him, rubbing her neck and throwing dangerous looks at the still giggling Brat.

"You...you look just like him," the monster mumbled, tying his cape around his neck once more. He paused when he saw the vial of orange liquid in the man's hand. He glared into his one working eye, "You are the descendant of Jaaku,"

The man, Oppressor Plutonium, chuckled and fitted the vial he was holding into a gun of his own design. He leveled the barrel with Akio's head, "Plutonium, the Oppressor," he introduced with a small bow, "And you...the wandering monster hero, Akio. I've heard and read much about you."

"I've come to put an end to this," Akio began. The Oppressor fired the gun at him. Now, normally such weapons would simply glance off the hero's near impenetrable skin. This strange orange beam, however, tore through his arm, leaving behind a strange melted scar. He cried out, clapping his hand over the wound.

The Oppressor grinned, "You've already lost, Hero. Girls, we're leaving," He fired again, but, this time, Akio was prepared and managed to avoid the attack. The Oppressor chuckled and turned, leaving with the Powerpunk Girls, each carrying a couple sacks of money, close behind.

Akio narrowed his eyes, then turned when he felt a hand on his shoulder. It was the monkey: Jomo Momo, with a friendly grin on his face.

"This is perfect," Jomo said. Akio cocked his head.

XxXxX

"Who was that? What was that thing?" Brute asked, throwing her sacks of money into the Oppressor's vault with a growl. "Couldn't even fuckin' hurt him!" she grumbled.

Brat sighed, setting hers down and sniffling mockingly, "And he just beat us up so much…" she grinned, elbowing Berserk, causing her to drop her money, "Well, except for Berserk. She was playing kissy-face with him," she made kissing sounds, and giggled when her sister's face lit up. She dodged the swing Berserk took at her and stuck her tongue out.

"That's enough, you little cretins," the Oppressor barked, grinning wildly as he paced back and forth, caressing his gun. "I never imagined he would show his face so soon,"

"Who is he?" Berserk growled through clenched teeth, still glaring at Brat. She sniffed and quickly wiped away the wetness left on her cheeks. Thankfully they hadn't noticed.

With a few clicks at the console on his wrist, the Oppressor brought down a screen from the ceiling. An image of the monster they'd just faced appeared on the monitor, along with a map covered in thousands of little red blips.

"Akio, a monster that has been battling our family for generations. When my ancestor, Jaaku, was nearly defeated by him, he fled and began building a new empire." The Oppressor sneered, gesturing to the blips, "We've been tracking Akio through the years, every blip is a confirmed appearance he's made. As you can see, it's taken him a very long time to reach us. I had hoped he would give us a couple more years but…" the Oppressor chuckled, "Well, you'll just have to prove your worth, won't you?"

Berserk blinked, "Huh? What…"

Brat shoved her, cutting off what she was going to say, "What do you mean, Oppressor?" she asked in her place. She grinned when Berserk glared and tried to shove her back.

"Long ago, in that battle with Akio, my ancestor Jaaku managed to get a hold on some of the monster's essence. We kept it safe for generations...until a genius was born. A brilliant mind capable of harnessing that accursed monster's power, to make a weapon that even Akio couldn't stop,"

The Oppressor turned to the girls and grinned, "You girls were made from this monster's essence to destroy him."

Brute snorted and shrugged, "Big success, huh? We couldn't even fucking hit him,"

The Powerpunk leader yelped as she was jerked off her feet by the Oppressor. With a sneer, he leaned close to her face, "Well then...you'd better figure out how, or I'll have to go back to the drawing board." He threw Brute down and turned to leave, "If it comes to that…" he turned, leveling the gun that had managed to hurt Akio with them, "I'll be wanting my ingredients back."

The punks gulped and nodded in unison.