Chapter 8: Hunting Grounds
Vixen had no idea how long she had been running for, stopping only once she arrived in a clearing where the rusty remains of an old storage facility were located and the only sounds she could hear were bird calls and no gunfire, roaring thrusters, or the shouts of pursuing criminals. Her sole reason for calling a retreat was to force Intergang's hand; if they pursued then they could be lost in the jungle, if they did not then she and Colt could plan their next move…
And come to terms with their actions.
The blood on her gloves, soaking her claws, was another stark reminder of the Tantu Totem's hold over her. A parting 'gift' from the trickster god Anasi to those who relied on the divinely-imbued totem too frequently: the longer she remained in the thrall of a particular animal, the more she adopted its natural instincts… namely a primal, bloodthirsty rage. If she didn't control herself, measure her awesome abilities, she would in time be reduced to a animalistic killer. It wasn't the first time this had happened, although Vixen kicked herself every time it did, with Vixen having slain poachers in her native Zambesi… those she believed were her parents' killers.
Her gaze turned towards the sky as she spoke into her earpiece. "Colton, over here. It's safe." She said softly. The rush of thrusters followed as Liberty Lance jetted down, the electromechanical suit stumbling as it made landfall until it stood under the corroded roof of the old storage place. The chassis panels opened and Colt couldn't haul himself out fast enough, falling to his hands and knees where he promptly vomited. Still dry-heaving when there was nothing left to give, the despairing blonde man forced himself to sit under the shadow of his suit, knees drawn up to his chest where he buried his head between his knees.
Mari watched him for a brief moment, recognizing what he was going through. She exhaled quietly. "Axolotl." Her body swiftly regenerated her injuries, flesh restored to its healthy glow. Only after that did Mari approach Colt and sit down next to him, wrapping both arms around him. "Oh Colton…" She whispered as she heard him murmur to himself.
"I didn't mean to kill him. I didn't want to kill him. I didn't mean to kill him. I didn't want to kill him."
Mari said nothing, letting Colt try and come to terms with things. When he started crying, she hugged him tighter. They sat there for some time, alone together, wallowing in varying degrees of remorse. Colt's remorse transformed into despondency. "Why am I here? I shouldn't be here. I'm no hero. I'm a failure."
"No, Colton, you are not a failure." Mari quickly interjected. "You made a mistake."
"A mistake that killed someone."
"But did you mean to kill him?"
"N-No." Mari said nothing more and let that sink in. Colt sniffed and wiped his eyes on the back of his hand. "Doesn't change the fact that I did kill him."
"You're right. It doesn't. Just like I didn't mean to kill that Torcher girl, but I'm pretty sure I did. Grizzly claws are sharp as scythes." They both looked at her clawed gloves for a moment. "That's the problem with my totem: if I use it too much, it consumes me… turns me into an animal. I have to be careful with it, but I got so caught up in being outnumbered back there I lost myself."
Colt finally looked her in the eyes. "So… you've killed before?"
Mari nodded slowly. "I pretty much went berserk when I was hunting down my parents' killers. Before I knew it, and before the League could stop me, an entire band of poachers were dead by the lion's claws." She pondered for a moment and then met his gaze again with a soft twinkle in her dark eyes. "Did you know Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman have killed before?" Colt shook his head. "Wonder Woman was raised to be a warrior on an island of women soldiers. She knew how to kill before she was eighteen and really has to hold herself back, it's something she deals with every day. Batman… Batman wasn't even in control when it happened. There was this guy, Deadman, he's basically a ghost and the only way he can do anything is if he possesses someone's body. Well, he saw someone trying to take a potshot at the League and used Batman's body to grab a discarded gun on the floor. When Batman was himself again, he was mortified of what he did. Didn't speak a word for days but I've been told he still hates himself for it. Superman's incident was in his early days. Purely by accident. Guy was threatening to kill a family of four and Superman just bolted over to stop him. Forgot to measure his strength and broke the guy's neck on impact." Mari explained. "He felt so bad he cooped up in his Fortress and wouldn't talk to anyone until Batman and Wonder Woman sorted him out. Now it's a story he tells new members of the Justice League to explain the consequences of actions as well as our need to be careful and be aware of our surroundings. All heroes have a lesson like that to learn. If people like the 'big three' have to learn that lesson, neither you or me is exempt from having to learn it. It's just a question of if it makes or breaks someone."
Colt sighed. "I feel pretty broken right now." He confessed. Mari slipped a hand across his jaw and slowly guided his face towards her.
"You feel like that a lot? Like you're broken and can't be fixed?"
"What gave it away?"
"The fact you only talk about your grandfather and not your parents." Mari answered. "I know a dysfunctional family dynamic when I hear one."
Colt tried to chuckle, but it just sounded more like a tired exhale. "No matter how much he tried to reinforce me, I couldn't help but feel like there was something wrong with me. My parents never really tried to relate. Even now I feel like a stranger whenever I go talk to them. Nobody ever really got me, but at least my grandfather tried."
Mari offered an empathic smile. "I think I'm starting to 'get you' with all the time we've spent together. Quite the date we've been on."
Colt looked incredulous, his despair momentarily forgotten. "A date? This is a date?" He asked. "Then what do you call flowers, going to a nice restaurant, eating good food, and watching the stars on a park bench?"
The heroine offered a thoughtful hum. "I'd call that Friday night." She answered. Colt's cheeks turned red.
"O-Oh."
Mari smiled his way, eyes half-lidded. "You're cute, you know that?"
The aerospace engineer turned bashful. "You… think I'm… cute?"
She nodded, voice breathy. "I do. I really do." Mari would have liked nothing more than to lean just. a little bit closer to Colt under she could feel his breath on her skin, but the lion's nose picked up the strong scent of sulfur in the air. "Get down!" She grabbed him and pulled, throwing them both onto the floor as a superheated beam of electro-plasma ripped through the air and seared a hole through three of the support girders that spanned from floor to ceiling.
"What was that?" Colt exclaimed, looking in the direction of the shot to see no one.
"No idea. Get back in the suit." Mari urged. They both scrambled to their feet and Vixen sprinted for the treeline to investigate. The foliage created crisscrossing shadows that messed with her vision. "Hatchetfish." A glow enveloped her left hand, escalating into a brilliant shining light that banished the darkness altogether. She stepped further into the trees…
Something tightened around her foot. "Puma!" She exclaimed, only to find herself being yanked off her feet and suspended upside down in the air. Vixen looked down and discovered a silver clamp wrapping around her entire foot that was connected to another silver bracer up in the tree via an anti-gravity beam. She growled at the sight of it, seeing how much mud had been layered over the thing so that she wouldn't notice. "Since when does Intergang use traps?" She asked herself. Liberty Lance bolted over, thrusters firing. Vixen looked up and suddenly realized the danger of having one of them singled out by a trap while the other was free. "Get back! Get back!" She exclaimed, making a frantic waving motion.
The warning came too late.
Another beam of electro-plasma ripped through the aft-section of Liberty Lance, cutting clean through the armor plate across his back as sparks erupted wildly from open electronics. The force of the blast threw the suit off its feet as Colt tumbled across the ground. Vixen scrambled to try and free herself from the trap, her core burning as she struggled to cut through the shackles made of an otherworldly metal.
Liberty Lance picked himself up as Rundas made his presence known, the Apokoliptian stepping from the trees like a skull-faced black spectre. The tip of his spear glowed a bright orange as arcs of electricity rippled down the shaft. Colt wasted no time training his bushmaster on the fiend and opening fire, bullets flying downrange as tracer rounds lit the scene. Rundas started sprinting, spinning his spear defensively to ward off the incoming bullets as others struck his flesh but failed to cause him any pain. He lunged forward with a mighty step, spear clasped in both hands, and thrust the tip through Liberty Lance's shoulder and pinned him to the ground. Colt cried out as the bladed edge nicked his real shoulder. Rundas' huge hand reached forward and crushed the barrel of the bushmaster before tearing it off.
"Did you think you can hide from the great hunter of Apokolips? You think you can interfere in the affairs of the Great One? His will is ultimate! Do you think you can use the power of the Fourth World and flaunt it in his face?" Rundas growled, tearing his spear free of his shoulder. He lifted it high over his head, aiming to plunge it down through Liberty Lance's head.
"Know what's old?" Colt gasped. "Monologuing." Lifting his right arm, he took aim with his fully-powered LANCE and pulled the trigger, blasting Rundas in the face and knocking him off. Rundas tumbled across the ground, rolling back to his feet while Liberty Lance forced himself to stand.
"You have spirit, creature. But so have all the prey I've hunted. Their pelts adorn my wall, their skulls hang from my belt, their blood as quenched the spear in my hand." The new god growled. "You are no different. Know that your annihilation, your complete obliteration, comes by the hand of Rundas-!" He was suddenly pitched forward and slammed face-first into the ground by the power of the elephant. Vixen vaulted over him and slid to a halt next to Liberty Lance. Rundas picked himself up and studied the heroine for a moment. "You. You have great Fourth World power about you."
Vixen arched a brow before she realized what Rundas was talking about. "My totem."
"It's from the gods or something, right?" Lance inquired.
"Anasi the trickster of Africa." Vixen replied.
"I have battled countless champions of other gods." Rundas boomed. "The men lay broken under my feet. The women remain in my service in my harem. You will join them." He promised Vixen. The heroine wrinkled her nose.
"One, ew. Two, bug off!" She growled before a bolt of light erupted from her forehead and slammed into Rundas, coupled with a concussion bolt from Liberty Lance. The Apokoliptian recovered swiftly, flicking his free hand to brandish a curved blade that he flung at the pair. Vixen dove and Liberty Lance took light, the blade sparking off the edge of his armored leg as Lance opened fire with his MASS assembly. Rundas fired his spear, an electro-plasma blast shearing through the left shoulder of Liberty Lance and knocking him out of the air.
Vixen took advantage and rushed ahead with the ferocity of a tiger, lunging at the distracted Rundas by sinking her claws into his side and tearing upwards. His skin spliced wide open, revealing muscles dark with fresh blood. Rundas snarled and backhanded Vixen with his butt of his spear, the loud crack of bone echoing as the heroine spun through the air and tumbled across the ground. She popped her jaw back into place and saw the wounds she left on Rundas heal over almost as quickly as she had left them.
Liberty Lance opened fire with his signature attachment, rapid concussive rounds churning up dirt around Rundas. The Apokoliptian danced around them, drawing a canister from his belt and hurling it into the air. Compressed gases launched half the cap towards the airborn suit, metal bursting open into a capture net that caught Colt completely off-guard. Tangled in alien fibres, he fell hard and slammed into the dirt moments later. A salvo of electro-plasma followed, shearing off pieces of plating as dozens of warnings flashed across the HUD in front of Colt. Vixen intervened, arcs of electric eel lightning shooting from her open palms to strike Rundas dead on. He leveled his spear to absorb the blows while discs slipped free from the fur wrap around his left arm. The discs expanded, moving of their own accord and wrapping around Vixen's wrists and ankles. Their forward momentum threw her backwards and pinned her to the ground. "Perhaps you are too troublesome to keep alive." Rundas pondered, toying with the heroine as she struggled to free herself. "Or perhaps it will be more enjoyable to break your spirit and force you to live the rest of your days in service to one who is truly supreme."
Liberty Lance broke free seconds before the strength of the ant liberated Vixen, but her cohort beat her to the punch and drove head-first into Rundas. He planted his arm against the hunter's side and discharged shotgun blasts at point-blank range. Rundas shuddered, growling in retort, and flicked his spear. The pommel sprouted a scythe-like blade that was soon wedged in the gut of Liberty Lance, Colt gasping in pain as the tip managed to breach his own belly. He was flung around and bounced off the ground, pulsejets firing in an attempt to regain control before Rundas landed a brutish punch that tore free whole sections of armor plating. Liberty Lance tumbled across the ground, dazed and wounded, suffering another direct hit from the electro-plasma spearhead. Colt cried out as searing heat burned his arm and he fought back the urge to escape the confines of his suit.
Outside of it he had no doubt he would be dead in moments.
Vixen took over, sprinting across the ground and launching a drop-kick with the strength of a mule that bowled Rundas over. The hunter rose again showing no signs of injury from the blow. He drove his spear into the ground, generating a crackling field of electro-plasma that upturned hole sways of grass and dirt. "Gazelle!" Vixen sprang from piece to piece as she avoided the crackling bands of energy that threatened to sear the flesh from her bones. Propelling herself towards Rundas, the muscular power of the kangaroo knocked the Apokoliptian flat on his back. Vixen pursued him as he rolled to his feet, staff in hand. Rundas swung hard, Vixen ducking under his spear. "Giant armadillo." Her claws grew, elongating to 20 centimetres in length. Those massive talons sank through Rundas' stomach, the tips glinting just below his ribs as they thrust from his side. The blow meant little to the Apokoliptian until Vixen heaved upwards and only then did he stagger. The claws bit and cut, sawing through the Apokoliptian's body. His spear slipped from his fists as a heavy exhale escaped from under the skull mask. Vixen's claws jerked, snagged against Rundas' god-like bones. She tore them free, inflicting more damage than the first impaling had done. Rundas stumbled, a hand covering the ruination of his stomach, Vixen drawing back her blood-soaked hand to strike again.
The free arm conjured a buckler out of hardlight and Rundas swung, slamming the hard metal discus into Vixen's delicate features as her head pitched to the side and her body followed. She went down and Liberty Lance charged in. He aimed his LANCE, his forward momentum nearly skewering Rundas had the Apokoliptian not bent his arm to avoid the blow. The concussive blast that followed was close enough to the wound to cause his innards to rupture, blood hissing and popping as it evaporated against the white-hot surface of the LANCE. With prodigious strength, Rundas lifted the vigilante off his feet like he weighed nothing and threw Liberty Lance across the ground where he slowed to a halt next to Vixen.
"We can't make a dent in this guy!" He gasped, panting for a breath.
"Keep fighting, we have to find a weakness!" The heroine urged as her bones and flesh restructured. Rundas was healing too, his New God physiology allowing him to recuperate within mere moments.
"You dull creatures. Compared to you, I am a god." He growled. "And I will not be denied my prize by the likes of you. Before this day is done, you will beg for mercy… and I will bathe in your fear." Rundas retrieved his staff and wasted no time attacking the pair again. Liberty Lance charged him, thrusters set to full. Tackling Rundas he shifted course and drove the Apokoliptian through the roof of the old storage complex, sending debris raining down in every direction. Vixen tracked their flight and summoned the anglerfish to strike Rundas with a bolt of fire. The New God shrugged off the attack and hammered his spear into the back of Liberty Lance, causing one of the pulsejets to stutter and misfire. The pair started nose-diving back towards the clearing, smashing through the wall of the second-floor office next to the storage space and they both slammed into the dirt.
Rolling to his feet, Rundas empowered his spear and swung hard, slamming it into Liberty Lance and the ensuing explosion sent the suit flying across the clearing where he left a trench in the dirt. Vixen stepped up, claws out, and circled her dangerous foe. "You will live to be my pet, champion. Either surrender quietly or be forced to submit to my might." Rundas commanded. Vixen ignored him, searching the Apokoliptian up and down for some weak spot. She needed time to strategize.
"You have no idea what I've been through. And I'll tell you, right here and now, submission isn't my thing." She retorted. "The only way you're dragging me back to whatever hell you crawled out of is if you kill me first."
"I would rather not. The sweet agony of defeat is far more befitting a champion like yourself." Rundas answered her. "Make peace with whatever god you serve. Know that this is your final instance in his service." He carried on and Vixen did not listen, her eyes scanning the handful of materials on his belt. She finally spied her prize; a Mother Box attached to his belt. One quick strike would open a Boom Tube and pushing Rundas through should hopefully bring an end to this.
Popping the tendons in her neck, Vixen dipped low and charged him, sliding under the swing of his spear before popping up to drive her foot into the back of his knee. Rundas snapped out his right arm and lashed a braided tendril after her, aiming to snare the heroine and tie her down. Vixen caught the rope with one hand and shredded it with the claws of the tiger before jerking on the remnants and landing a snap-kick that smacked into the single large button atop the Mother Box. On cue a Boom Tube thundered open, tearing open a circular portal in time and space bridging Rundas back to his native Apokolips. He saw her efforts but said nothing, swinging his spear down in a hard arc that buried deep in the dirt. Springing off the ground with the agility of an Ibex, Vixen sprinted up the shaft of the spear and kicked Rundas in the face as she vaulted over him and landed on her feet, forcing his back to the Boom Tube.
"Hunt's over, pal."
Rundas snarled. "Do you really think you will force me to retreat?" He demanded.
Vixen grinned. "Not at all." She looked over her shoulder. "Lance! NOW!" Confused, Rundas turned to see Liberty Lance taking aim with both arms. Before the Apokoliptian could react, the LANCE fired at full strength as a missile was loosed simultaneously. The concussive blast sent the new god flying through the Boom Tube and the missile chased after him before the portal closed. Vixen breathed a sigh of relief and wiped her brow. "Hopefully that missile will cause enough chaos to keep him from coming back." She mused, turning to face her battle-worn cohort.
Liberty Lance stumbled forward, sparks erupting from an exposed hip pneumatic. The chassis plating had been sheared off in places, many panels implemented to armor up the electromechanical suit having been removed during the melee. Scorch marks coated the exterior along with rents and tears caused by Rundas. He managed to hobble back under the remnants of the roof over the storage facility before the chassis panels opened and Colt stumbled out and fell to the ground, bloody and bruised. "Ow…"
"Colton!" Mari rolled him over, tearing open the front of his coveralls to see a cut running across his abdomen, staining every inch of fabric close to it. His arm had also been burnt, the sleeves smoldering. Blood dripped from his mouth and his nose, and a bruise was purpling on his cheek.
"I'm okay…" he coughed, "I'll live." Mari eased him up off his back.
"You look terrible."
"Then I match how I feel." Mari summoned the regenerative power of the starfish to heal her own wounds before she pulled off one glove and used her claws to cut her palm. Her blood spilled onto Colt's wound and healed it within moments. "Woah… that was… weird." He mused, looking down at the perfect scar along his abdomen.
"I don't do that very often. Don't know how some people will react." Mari explained as she slipped her glove back on. She helped Colt to stand and they surveyed his suit.
"Brother, she took a beating." He said in dismay.
"Any chance you can get it running again? Intergang probably sent that goon after us to buy themselves time to make Earthstone." Mari asked. Colt scratched the back of his head.
"Uhh… maybe." He started searching around, find the door to a manager's office that easily broke off its hinges. On the desk he found an old dusty laptop and immediately checked it out. "Might still hold a charge, nothing seems wrong with the battery. If it wasn't dead, I could use this to diagnose the sub-systems and try to jumpstart the suit's main battery bank." Colt surmised. Giving him a soft smirk, Mari poked a finger into the power port and channeled the electric eel to send a surge into the laptop. Colt jumped, juggling the laptop in his hands before the dusty screen blinked on, surprising him. "Oh. Thanks."
"You're welcome."
Taking the laptop back to Liberty Lance, Colt pushed an abandoned crate over and set the it down. He fished out a connector cable from behind the padding his body rested against, jacking it into a port mounted within the chassis access hatch. The laptop came alive with a program command prompt and started automatically cycling through code. Colt's fingers dashed across the keyboard as he input his own data to start the diagnostic process.
"What's your prognosis?" Mari wondered.
Colt grunted in a displeased tone. "Propulsion system is down by fifty-percent and armor integrity has lost almost forty-percent stability. Weapons are still functional, which is good, but I have to rewire the pulsejets if I want to move anywhere."
"Can you?"
"Yes, but my hand tools aren't nearly as efficient as what I have back at my home." Colt answered, striding back over to his suit and pulling a small toolkit that was also stashed behind the same padding. "Then I have to jump everything… This is gonna take an hour or more." He concluded. Vixen sighed. She was afraid of that.
"That's gonna take too long. We have to go back and make sure Intergang can't make any Earthstone. I'm going back out there." She decided. Colt performed a double-take.
"What, alone?"
"I have to. Not just because they ruined my gala. I can't let these criminals get away with this master plan of theirs." Mari stated, making to leave.
"No, Mari, wait-!" Colt exclaimed, catching her by the arm. "You can't go out there alone, not against all of Intergang." Their eyes met. "I know I'm useless without the suit, but facing them all alone is suicide." She understood his concern, but she also knew the risks and what was at stake. This was something that needed to be done irregardless of what might happen.
"We don't have a choice. The window's closing, it's now or never." Mari urged him. "Stay here with the suit."
"Mari-"
"Colton," she interrupted him, a hand on his face guiding his eyes to hers, "I want you to know something. Whatever you do, no matter what, I really need you to hear this. Are you listening?" He nodded slowly.
Mari pulled him down and kissed him, her soft lips pressed tightly to his as she held him for a moment. When she pulled away, he was stunned.
"You are someone without the suit."
Colt was speechless and Mari left him that way, leaving him in the warehouse and disappearing into the island foliage. He stood rooted, watching her until the orange-brown of her suit vanished into broad green leaves. His heart was pounding furiously and his brain was all a flutter. A sudden surge of emotion swept over him that was undeniable.
"Mari…"
He refused to let her go at this alone. For the first time in his life he needed to do something half-measure. Liberty Lance just needed to be mobile, not whole. Returning to the laptop, Colt quickly started dialing through the number of sub-system tests remaining and executing delete commands to shorten the wait time.
Author's Note: Barrelling towards the end of the story here, so sit tight and get ready for a wild ride!