(A/N) Hey guys, we're back again, with another update! As you know, we didn't get to finish our fic before X-Ray and Vav debuted, and I'm sorry for that – I was really hoping that it'd be something we'd get to do. We had problems with people turning in unfinished chapters, or ones that were far too short, and I started full-time work for Christmas, so my ability to fix things was hampered. However, we're going to get this fic finished before the finale of the animated series at any rate, I promise you!
Speaking of the animated series, I really hope you all enjoyed that first episode! While it has officially made our fic non-canon, as even the heroes' abilities are slightly different, I was pretty happy with how both we and RT overlapped in our ideas, particularly with that final reveal. You know which one I'm talking about!
Again, we're still looking for writers for In the End, You Always Kneel, but apps will close in a week, so if anyone would be at all interested, well, you know the deal at this point in time.
Now, I'll leave you to the chapter. Enjoy!
Chapter Forty-One – Beginning of the End
Ray Narvaez Jr / X-Ray
Written by SpoonyAzul & NicKenny
"This was it. The beginning of the blasted end."
― Fisher Amelie, Callum & Harper
"The real glory is being knocked to your knees and then coming back. That's real glory. That's the essence of it."
― Vince Lombardi
Doing his best to remember the fastest route to the Achievement City's harbour, X-Ray raced forward on his green motorcycle – Dirk Dirk – weaving around traffic and though alleyway to reach his destination. A mixture of light and dark blurs surrounded him as he passed by cars, street lamps and the rare surprised pedestrian at an eye-watering speed. He glanced at his partner on his right, his blue motorcycle lagging ever-so-slightly behind. To his left was Iron-Ryan, hovering just over his head, his face emotionless and hard like stone. Mogar kept up along with Vav, his stomping causing cracks in the asphalt.
With a sense of urgency, X-Ray increased the pressure on the accelerator and sped up, his surroundings turning hazier and more obscure – save for Vav, who had followed suit. The FBI had already arrived on the scene before them, overseeing the evacuation of the civilians out of the harbour in order to keep a lid on collateral damage.
After taking another right turn, a whiff of sea salt and the overpowering stench of fish sneaked up his nose, and the sun's bright reflection in the water almost blinded him. X-Ray remembered the city's official statement that the water surrounding the harbour was crystal clear and unpolluted. Of course, those were often outnumbered by many news reports on local companies dumping waste into the murky waters. This led to many a dead fish washed up on the beaches of Achievement City, reeking of chemicals and horribly mutated beyond all recognition.
The city wasn't the only thing that needed cleaning up, that's for sure.
Seeing a small crowd ahead of them, X-Ray and Vav slammed on their brakes and skidded to a halt, while Iron-Ryan landed on his feet and Mogar slowed to a walk next to them. A few people in the crowd turn their heads, and a few shouts and whistles later, everyone stood gaping at the four heroes, their eyes wide. Ignoring the small gasps and whispers aimed at them, they headed into the docks filled with AHPD officers, FBI agents and Ryan's golems, all intent on getting civilians and sailors out of the harbour and as far away from it as possible. They ran towards the yacht floating in the lapping waves of the sea, its giant, white sails billowing with the sea salt breeze, having been pointed in the right direction by an FBI SWAT team.
Just a few dozen feet from the pier that the boat was docked at, they saw Agent Heyman with his back turned and speaking into a two-way radio, surrounded by several dozen police officers who were busy establishing a perimeter around the area. "How's evac going, Burnie?" they heard him ask, as they walked up behind him.
The radio provided an answer shortly after, with a burst of static. "We've almost got everyone out. A few stragglers here or there, but nothing the golems can't handle."
"Alright, keep me posted," the other agent replied, before clipping the radio onto the side of his pants, and turning his attention to the four superheroes approaching from behind.
X-Ray frowned, walking up briskly to the agents. "Is he on the yacht, J-Roll?"
"Yep, we got visual confirmation earlier. It looks like he's alone though – we lost sight of him a few minutes ago, but he's definitely still on-board," the agent shrugged. "It's as if he's been waiting for you guys."
"Well then, what are waiting on? Let's scrap the pile of junk!" Mogar growled deeply as he leapt up to the deck of the Corpirate's yacht, climbing up onto the side of the massive ship and lifting himself over the side onto the deck.
Iron-Ryan followed suit, with X-Ray and Vav trailing behind them. The deck itself was empty, and the heroes glanced at one another uneasily, fully aware that the Corpirate was probably preparing to ambush them at any moment.
The crept through the ship, and X-Ray activated his x-ray vision, attempting to scan the ship and locate the Corpirate's position. To his surprise, however, he found that he was unable to see through the walls or floor of the yacht – something was preventing his ability to do so.
"He's lined the boat with lead," X-Ray announced, deactivating his x-ray vision and shaking his head wearily. "He's been expecting us – why else would he have done this? We're walking straight into a trap."
"Then let him spring it!" Mogar growled, taking a step forward, his sword in his hand. "He can't hurt me, and he certainly take us all! We've let him run rings around us long enough – it's time to take the fight to him, once and for all."
Iron-Ryan nodded, and stepped forward, moving towards the Captain's cabin of the yacht, and wrenched the door open. They piled through, anxious to begin their search of the ship and drag the Corpirate out of whatever hidey-hole he had made for himself. However, they didn't have to.
He was waiting for them.
The Corpirate stood tall by the ship's wheel, leaning against it with his arms crossed, twirling his handlebar moustache absent-mindedly, a smug smile on his face.
"I've been wonderin' when ye'd be arrivin'," he informed them, and the heroes took a moment to readjust to this surprise, before regaining their composure.
They slowly flanked around the villain, surrounded him completely, blocking off all possible exit routes. X-Ray took a step forward, shouting, "It's over, Corpirate. We're taking you in!"
The Corpirate spoke up after a few moments, shifting his gaze to Iron-Ryan and Mogar. "Well now, if it isn't X-Ray and Vav. And I see you landlubbers brought yer new friends as well."
Mogar let out a deep, angry growl while Iron-Ryan's laser eye narrowed at the robotic villain. They both evidently still held quite a lot of hard feelings over the way the Corpirate and the Community, and how they had kidnapped and experimented on them, in an attempt to turn them into monsters. X-Ray couldn't help but smile to himself. That part of the Community's plan had certainly backfired, thankfully.
However, the Corpirate wasn't done. "Alas, it won't be enough ter beat me, ye see. I got meself a few upgrades since the last time we fought, I have ter tell ye. I've said it before and I'll say again, you yellow bastards. YOU CAN'T BEAT WALL STR–"
"Will you shut up already?!"
Mogar rushed the Corpirate with his giant diamond sword, and brought it down to cleave the robot in two. However, the sword met with nothing but air in its descent, and the sliced through the floorboards beneath him.
"I told you boy," a voice whispered behind the behemoth, before Mogar spun around, his sword flashing in the air, but once again failed to connect with the villain. It was only the that he noticed that his blade was getting a bit heavier, and the giant bear monster raised his head to see the Corpirate holding down his diamond sword against the floor, pinning it beneath his weight, grinning from ear to ear.
"You just can't beat Wall Street."
A metal boot smashed into his face, sending the behemoth flying through the wall of the Captain's cabin, and down the full length of the yacht, before he smashed into far wall, collapsing onto the ground with a moan. Using this as a distraction, X-ray fired an optic blast at the Corpirate, who swiftly ducked beneath it, while Vav rushed behind him, leaping towards the villain with a cry.
"Let's fight, you dumb bastard! You're not gonna pick us off one by–"
The Corpirate instantly spun around and grabbed the Brit by his torso, seizing the front of his suit, using just one single hand to hold Vav in place.
"ONE!" Vav said, his mouth muffled when the robot pirate smashed his head through the deck, sending his through the floor to the level below them.
"Vav!" his partner cried out, losing his composure for a moment out of fear for his wellbeing.
Iron-Ryan attacked with a punch, but the Corpirate grabbed his wrist and threw him towards X-Ray. The villain quickly followed up on this attack, closing the distance between himself and them in a handful of seconds, tackling them to the deck and into one of the masts, which cracked on impact and slowly fell over, smashing the port side of the ship.
The Corpirate turned around, looking for Mogar, and found him flying at him far faster than he had clearly anticipated, as the hulking beast charged down upon him, roaring wildly.
"BOOT TO THE HEAD!"
Mogar threw himself forwards, kicking out at the Corpirate and catching him with a fierce blow on the side of his head. The villain, however, barely moved beneath the blow, standing firm beneath the assault and grabbing Mogar by his ankle, throwing him in X-Ray's direction, but the behemoth was caught by Iron-Ryan instead before he could collide with the hero, and set down on the deck.
"Well, he wasn't lying about the upgrades," Iron-Ryan murmured monotonously, helping Mogar up as the beast blinked rapidly, dazed and confused, the cyborg examining the Community's leader through his single red eye. "He seems much faster and stronger than before."
"Great, now the rust-bucket's stronger from the last time we've fought him," X-Ray proclaimed, his frown deepening, "Even then, me and Vav could barely take him down."
"Hmm, seems our chances of winning this fight have decreased exponentially," Iron-Ryan said, his face hard and emotionless, even when given bad news. "Perhaps it's time to revaluate the current situation?"
"Fuck that shit!" A rumbling voice roared behind, followed by shaking footfalls. X-Ray looked behind him in time to see Mogar whiz past him, with his diamond sword in hand. "Let's take this fucker to the junkyard!"
"Mogar, wait!" Vav called out, climbing up out of the hole that he had been smashed through, but the behemoth ignored his call of warning, stabbing wildly at the Corpirate, and moments later was thrown back again.
"HA! You lily-livered punks can't hope to beat me. Prepare to die, yarrrgh!" the Corpirate taunted, before rushing at them, closing the distance in but a moment, and placing a metal foot into X-Ray's stomach, knocking the air of the heroes lungs, and sending him flying backwards until he crashed into the side of the yacht.
The Corpirate threw his head back and laughed, not even working up a sweat while fighting the heroes off. Then again, X-Ray thought, he wouldn't sweat ever, would he? He's either a cyborg like Ryan or some kind of robot – neither option really has much use for sweat glands. However, he was cut off mid-laugh when found himself in a full nelson, red-gloved hands having been shoved into the back of his neck.
It was now Vav's turn to laugh, as the Corpirate struggled in his grip for a moment, to no avail. "Got you now–OW!"
The villain smacked Vav in the face with the back of his skull, then threw him over his head and slammed him down onto the ground, before descending upon Vav and landing blow after blow on the Brit's unprotected face. He picked the hero up and held him aloft for a moment, about to bring him down on his knee – which probably would have shattered Vav's ribcage, regardless of his enhanced bones and muscles – when a laser shot out, catching the Corpirate in the torso and causing him to drop Vav and stagger backwards, before he was knocked down by Iron-Ryan's metal fist landing squarely on his jaw.
Having stunned the pirate by the impact, Iron-Ryan pummelled him with his fists moving at blazing speed, so fast that even X-Ray with his enhanced vision couldn't follow it. After having unleashed this onslaught upon the villain, he then knocked him down onto the deck with a powerful right hook, and Mogar quickly followed up on this attack, bringing his sword down upon the Corpirate. Once again, his sword met nothing but air, as the Corpirate rolled to dodge the attack, the behemoth was greeted with another kick to the side of the head. The impact sent him flying again, this time into Vav, and they both tumbled to the floor, swearing loudly.
The Corpirate focused on Iron-Ryan, rushing at him. The cyborg swung wildly at the villain, who ducked beneath a right hook that surely would have shattered the bones of an ordinary man, and smashed his elbow into Ryan's jaw, laughing as he did so.
The cyborg took a step back, rubbing his jaw in surprise, and then threw another punch towards the Corpirate, which, to X-Ray's shock, the villain caught, grabbing Ryan's massive metal fist. A brief moment passed as the pair struggled for supremacy, and X-Ray took the initiative and fired off an optic blast in the villain's direction. However, the Corpirate saw the blast coming and stepped back, dragging Ryan forward, and the cyborg took the full impact of X-Ray's attack, and fell, smoking slightly, to the floor.
The Corpirate now turned to X-Ray, and rolled, ducked and dodged as the hero fired blast after blast towards the villain, ignoring the burning sensation in the back of his eyes, fully aware that he was overusing his powers. After all, if he didn't use them, there was nothing to stop the Corpirate from tearing him limb-from-limb right this minute!
After dodging several of the blasts, the Corpirate rolled over to a section of scrap-metal that had been part of the ship before the fight, and threw it in X-Ray's direction. The hero ducked, throwing himself to the ground as the object whizzed by overhead, and clambered to his feet, breathing heavily.
Before he could get his bearings, a vice grip wrapped around his throat and crushed down on his windpipe, cutting off air to his lungs. The Corpirate laughed manically as he hoisted X-Ray off the ground, his feet dangling in the air. "HA HA! You call yourselves the defenders of this city? Pathetic! Not even the four of you could stand up to the Community! No one can stand up to the might of the Corpirate! YOU CAN'T BEAT WALL STREET! YOU JUST CA–"
THWIP!
X-Ray wasn't sure what had happened for a brief moment, as the side of the Corpirate's metal skull suddenly burst into a violent spray of sparks, goo and shrapnel. The grip on his throat loosened as the villain collapsed into a heap and fell face first on the floorboards, twitching slightly for a moment before lying still on the ground, unmoving, a black liquid seeping out of the gaping wound on the right side of his head, exposing the circuitry within.
X-Ray greedily sucked in the salty air around him, pounding his fist against his chest as air rushed into his lungs, before finally speaking up. "What the fuck just happened? Vav, was that you?"
"Oh, my nose... that monging krev hit me in the nose," the British superhero moaned before looking down the gooey mess of what was once the Corpirate's head. "Blimey, I didn't do that!"
"Aw, damn it! I wanted to be the one to break the fucker into a scrap heap!" Mogar growled in disappointment, getting to his feet with a drawn-out groan.
"At least he's not a problem anymore," X-Ray said slowly, prodding the Corpirate gently with the end of his boot before shrugging. "Think the FBI hid a sniper somewhere in case we failed?"
"Hmm, that's certainly a possibility...or maybe, just maybe…" Iron-Ryan trailed off as he examined the 'body,' appearing to study the villain's head wound, with the bullet still lodged within, and its trajectory, before looking out to docks. "Hmm, it seems I've found the culprit…"
X-Ray frowned, looking out towards the docks, where the outline of a figure could just be made out by the human eye. X-Ray, however, could make out the man in full, due to his abilities, and saw a tall man standing with a sniper rifle cradled in his hands ...and all too-familiar facial hair.
"Wait. Bullet-Beard?" he asked slowly, blinking rapidly in case he was seeing things, and the squawks of disbelief echoed by Mogar and Vav showed that they clearly shared his opinion. However, Iron-Ryan merely nodded next to him, as the figure of the hitman saluted them with a wry smile on his face and turned away, disappearing from sight.
"Wot? You serious?" the Brit asked, looking out to the sea while shielding his eyes from the sun with his hand, restricted by his unenhanced vision. "I don't get it. Why'd he kill the Corpirate? I thought he was working for the Community and all that?"
X-Ray just shrugged, shaking his head, and glanced back down at the fallen villain's body. "I don't know what his reasons were. I'm just glad he helped us out."
"Shall we apprehend him?" Iron-Ryan asked, evidently ready to call a full squad of golems to them and send them after the bearded assassin, but X-Ray, to his own surprise, felt that this time, this one time, they should let a criminal walk away.
"Nah, let him go," he replied slowly, waving a hand in dismissal. "For now anyway. I'm sure we'll see him soon enough."
After all, he thought, turning away from the fallen Corpirate, who continued to leak goo onto the deck of the ship, Achievement City seems to attract crazy like nowhere else in the world. He'll be back, sooner or later.
Within moments, the FBI had swarmed the scene, and this battle, at long last, was over.