DARK, PART 2.
Major Wayne woke up suddenly, agitated and confused. The last thing he remembered seeing through the monitor was how his Rangers were beaten by the giant white-skinned man and other armed men before a cadet left them unconscious strangulating them with mud.
'Then Clayface escaped the Rangers,' the commander thought as he sat down and shook his head. He moved his hand to his waist so he could use some device on his belt, but he did not have his tool belt on. 'Not being out on the battlefield for so long makes you careless,' he thought again.
The commander inspected the room. It was dark, but he was used to the darkness. The commander located his star scientist, J'onn J'onnz, unconscious and lying on the ground. Wayne could see that he was in a cell, an old cell with a door with metal bars, considering how advanced they were in the base. This was not good.
Footsteps were heard, people were heard arguing ... and laughing very devilishly. Major Wayne went back to lie on the ground and pretend he was still unconscious. Maybe something he heard could help him. He listened to four keys being pressed, then the door opened and the short man with his umbrella, cupworker, monocle and black and purple suit; He entered only the cell, since he wanted to savor his physical revenge against him.
"The prisoners are lazy," said the Penguin. The Penguin hit J'onn on the head with his cane, making him move, then went to Major Wayne and hit him in the back. Major Wayne and J'onn moved, but they avoided getting up quickly.
"Who are you?" The commander asked with a low head, feigning pain. "You are more skilled than I thought."
"Obviously," the Penguin responds. "Especially when he's an old enemy of your family." He said bringing his face close to the commander's head.
"Cobblepot." Says the commander.
"Then you do remember me," the Penguin tells him, smoking a cigar and expelling smoke from the commander's face. The commander does not flinch. "Your family destroyed mine, and finally I will have my revenge on you, Wayne. There is nothing you can do to prevent it, not even this. "The Penguin took a knife from the handle of his umbrella and brandished it on the commander, but he caught it and bent it until it broke the Penguin's arm.
Penguin henchmen entered and took Commander Wayne by the arms, relatively immobilizing him. The Penguin rubbed his hand as he approached again, but this time without his umbrella that he could not hold because of his broken arm. He would take revenge later. His henchmen were about to hit him in the head. "Do not hurt him, I'll do that after he destroys the city." The Penguin said, rubbing his arm. The commander remained with an angry look while the Penguin pulled out a holographic device.
"Let me guess, you're going to show us your evil plan about how you plan to take revenge on me. Right? "He asked, keeping his brow furrowed.
"I do not think so, Wayne," the Penguin said, showing Grundy the holographic device. "I'm just going to tell you that I will get my revenge on you by destroying your city, as well as the base of the Justice League. And this man you're seeing is the one who will lead me to victory. "
"We've never seen it in Zone C." Major Wayne said. "And you're not so good at creating an almost invincible monster. You should tell me how you got it. "
"That's what I'm going to tell you," said the Penguin, expelling the smoke from the cigar in the commander's face. "Interestingly, I found him buried below when I returned to the city. I had to make sure you did not see me so I could carry out my revenge, Wayne. And with Karlo distracting your Rangers, you will not be able to save them, neither them nor your city. Karlo, show him. "
A penguin henchman inside the room revealed himself to be Clayface, revealing his body made of mud.
"You easily escaped from my Rangers the first time, the next time you are stopped they will not make that mistake again, Karlo."
"According to you, but I can easily beat them." Clayface is about to hit J'onn.
"Do not attack J'onn. He has nothing to do with this. Hit me. "Major Wayne said.
"Nice try, Wayne, but I'll take revenge on you later." Clayface hit J'onn. J'onn's head hit the wall and he was too weak to stand up. "Let's go from here. Open the door."
The keys were heard and the gate opened. The Penguin henchmen threw Commander Wayne back and left.
XXX
Some Rangers killed by the defeat had returned to the base, heading for the conference room. They were angry at how Major Wayne had left them hanging and without help. Yes, they told him they could do it without their help, but now he did not help them when they needed it the most. That and they were upset about being beaten by a giant man with pale skin and a short with an umbrella. The Rangers entered the conference room, finding it empty.
"Great." Kal said. "Now he even wants to hide somewhere else."
"It is true. Now he does not want us here anymore, "John said.
"Calm down," Diana said, raising her hands up to prevent anyone else from speaking. "He is always here. There is nowhere else to go. Usually it goes with J'onn. Maybe it was there. "
"So, let's go. Wayne can not do this to us, "Shayera said.
The Rangers went to J'onn's lab. The result was the same. The Rangers got angrier, but Diana recognized that this was not good. J'onn was always in his laboratory, and that he was not there was something worrying.
"I can not believe J'onn is upset with us now," Kal said.
"It's not for us," Shayera interjected. "It's for the commander. He always follows him, so he did it for him."
"Enough already," Diana said. "J'onn would always be here no matter what the commander told him. They're are not cruel. That means something bad happened to them. And I mean maybe someone kidnapped them."
"I do not think it's true novice. No one has been able to infiltrate the base since Kal gave unlimited access to Lois, "John said.
"We must check the security cameras." Diana insisted.
"I do not think so, Di," Shayera interjected, approaching her friend. "We told him that we did not need him and he fulfilled it."
"It's impossible," Diana said.
"It may sound ridiculous, but I agree with Diana," Barry interjected. "Do not be offended, but the few times I've seen him, he was never out of the conference room or he was going with us to J'onn's lab."
The alarm sounded. Fortunately, they were in J'onn's lab. Kal ran and sat in J'onn's chair followed by his fellow Rangers. Everyone saw Clayface destroying a Bleake Island building.
"I do not understand, mud face was destroyed," Barry said.
"I do not think so, Barry," said Shayera.
"It's mud, Barry. Surely he put himself back together some time after Shayera blew it up, " Kal said. "It's time for action. Ready?"
"Ready!" The others said in unison.
"Justice League, activate!" They shouted in unison. "Rangers of the Justice League!"
XXX
Clayface demonstrated power and total lack of compassion for the buildings and people who ran everywhere fleeing the monster that threatened them. Clayface knew the Rangers would come for him, but he would not be blown up by the Rangers again. This time, he would take advantage of them.
The Rangers arrived on the battlefield in their vehicles and placed themselves in their imposing positions.
"It seems you did not have enough the first time, Clayface," said Kal.
"But you're going to be locked up this time." Diana added.
"Shut up for life." John added.
"In a prison from which you will never escape," Shayera said.
"And to make it better, in a metal box, Mud rotten." Barry finished.
"You make me laugh, Power fools." Clayface said forming a grenade that could not explode, but it was to make them understand what he was going to say next. "I will take revenge on you by making them fly through the air like you did with me."
The Rangers put themselves in combat position and ran towards Clayface. Clayface hit Barry and Kal with his grenade-shaped hand. Diana drew her sword using her Morpho, and threw punches at Clayface, blows that only slid against its slippery surface. Barry tried to run, but this time, Clayface created obstacles with his body, which served and beat the yellow Ranger. Shayera approached Clayface and tried to electrocute him, but he saw it coming and threw his arm into an anvil. Kal fired his laser and distracted Clayface a little, and Diana could not do more damage to Clayface. John created a clay molding machine and put it on Clayface.
Clayface started to spin and shot mud everywhere. The machine started to spin faster and all the mud began to shoot up everywhere. The Rangers covered themselves until all the mud in the spinning machine had spread all over the street. The Rangers ran towards John.
"How did you know that would work, John?" Barry asked.
"It's easy, Barry," John replied suspiciously. "We had forgotten that it was mud and the mud does not resist turning at high speed." The mud came together again, and Clayface re-emerged. He kept on laughing.
"I think I should thank you for blowing me to pieces, Power boobies." Clayface said showing his brown smile. "Now I can be in many places at once, just like I did with your commander. But all of us can beat them. "
"What do we do?" They asked in unison. Clayface got a little smaller while a few clay men formed. Now they were a small army.
"Charge, Rangers," said Kal. This was new. They needed to have J'onn or Major Wayne with them.
XXX
In the Penguin prison cell, Bruce got up and went to J'onn and helped him get up.
"Are you okay?" Bruce asked his scientist.
"It could be worse, commander." J'onn said rubbing his face a little. "How did Clayface enter the base? Don't you have a system that detects intruders? "
"You designed the system, but I asked you to make sure it would guard against plants or strangers. Clayface assumed the identity of another person, again but it was one of our soldiers. "He said very neutrally.
"Now what do we do?" He asked. "The Penguin wants to destroy the City and the Rangers faced Grundy. I do not know how to get out of here, and neither do you, commander. No offense."
"Being two years off the battlefield does not mean I'm useless," Bruce said in a whisper, and then pulled a knife from the sleeve of his uniform jacket. "Also, hitting Cobblepot helped him get this knife."
"Not that I'm complaining, commander, but how are we going to use this knife to get out of here?"
"Simple. I learned very well the keys that the minions pressed. Pressing the numeric keys of the cells of the base a thousand times to go to interrogate criminals helps you to memorize the sound of the keys. And, the knife will serve to get to the number board." Commander Wayne went to the cell gate and watched on both sides of the corridor to make sure no one saw them. Bruce took out his arm with the knife in his hand and directed it to the right. The board was there.
"Why not let me do it, commander?" J'onn said. "I also know how the keys sound."
"You're slow on this, J'onn. No offense. If we are slow, Cobblepot will come back here, since he will realize that his knife was lost. "A minute later the grate of the cell opened. "What did I tell you?"
"Commander ..." J'onn started.
"Let's go, there's no time," Major Wayne said. J'onn followed him cautiously. They walked through a complex building with elegant red corridors.
"I hope you arrange things with the Rangers when we get back to base," J'onn said.
"I have nothing to fix, J'onn." Wayne said without stopping. "They have to improve, and you know who has to do it. Also, this is not the right time for this. Better stop acting like a kid, and get out of here." This obviously bothered J'onn, but it would be better to leave the Iceberg Hall before arguing with Major Wayne.
The two walked for a few minutes before running into armed guards. The commander approached them from behind, grabbed them by the head and smashed their heads in a tremendous blow. The guards fell to the ground, unconscious.
"I did not know you could still doing that, commander." J'onn said.
"I have not been in these situations for a long time, but it does not mean I do not train," Bruce told him. "Let's keep going."
The two continued stealthily, although Major Wayne and J'onn, who had also trained a little, kept unconscious of the Penguin's thugs. The Iceberg room was a labyrinth, but they had made it to the top floor. They were still hidden, but the floor was full of thugs. They managed to sneak away and they came to a metal corridor, but it had an alarm system, which they did not think he could have, since it was not visible in plain sight.
The guards detected them, so it was time to run, so Bruce used the knife and opened the door easily. They arrived at a large room with many stairs and corridors. Bruce managed to see a window in the upper corner of the room, so he pointed it out and him and J'onn to run to the window.
"Commander, go on," J'onn said.
"No, come on," said Bruce.
"You said there's no time to chat. Go up, "J'onn ordered.
The commander went up and began to destroy the window with the knife. The thugs led by the Penguin had arrived armed and ready to shoot.
"Shoot but do not kill them. Wayne must still be alive, "the Penguin ordered. The thugs fired, causing J'onn to cover himself.
"Get out of here commander!" Yelled J'onn.
"No, we'll get out of here together!" The commander shouted.
J'onn hit him and made Bruce jump forward and out of the building, but he returned to see J'onn who could not get out because of the shots that were still directing him, as well as the platform that Bruce had used had caught fire a bit.
"I can not leave, commander! Get out of here! "J'onn yelled at him.
"I will not leave you here, J'onn!" The commander shouted. "I'm going to help you!" One shot hit the commander's forearm, but it had not caused much damage, at least that was how it looked.
"Do not do it! Return to the base! Go to my lab and find my safe! I know you'll come back for me, but the funny thing is that it took us two years, three months and fifteen days for this to happen! "
Major Wayne left and arrived at some Penguin bullies who had bikes at the entrance to the Iceberg Hall. The commander approached them and eliminated them without blinking. He took the bike and left, but it would be difficult to drive with his forearm hurt by the shot.
XXX
The Rangers had been able to knock down all the little mud men, but they regenerated more. Kal knew that the heat would not hurt Clayface much, besides that they had tried to throw pellets at him, but he had returned them and they had caused explosions. Kal continued to shoot down thugs, Diana eliminated mud men with her sword, Shayera and Barry shot them and John used grenades against the mud men.
Kal, in his desperation, fired a laser against a flood of water, causing it to open and shoot water at several mud men who were beginning to fade. Kal had an idea, so he shouted for his Rangers to meet.
"I already know how to beat him," Kal said. "John and Barry, go for water. The water will weaken them, but they have to fall elsewhere so that Clayface does not suspect anything."
"And what are you going to do?" John asked very curiously.
"I'll keep him busy," said Kal. "Let's go."
John and Barry left while the two female Rangers and the team leader did everything to hit Clayface. Clayface did not suspect anything, because it was shattering the three Rangers, even the one that had blown him to pieces by electrocuting him. Diana was still trying to hurt Clayface with her sword, while Kal shot him with a laser, causing Clayface's limbs to disarm but end up reassembling.
John had created a container with his mind, and a giant container of water was being taken especially for Clayface, although it had taken a few minutes to fill it since they had gone to the edge of the city, but now they needed to throw it out. Barry used his Morpho.
"Kal, John already has the water, but we do not know when to apply it," Barry said. Barry heard Kal being hit by Clayface and falling. As Kal had responded to his Morpho, he was beaten by Clayface.
"When Shayera electrocute him, throw in the water. It's maybe our only chance. " Kal ordered, but the order sounded very friendly, which made them accept the orders happily.
"To order, Kally." Barry said cheerfully.
They waited near their companions, who were constantly being beaten by Clayface's big fists. Shayera lay on the ground and Kal and Diana were being beaten by Clayface's giant hands. Clayface approached Shayera and formed a large mallet with both hands. Barry saw it.
"Wait for the signal, John. I'll take care of this, "Barry said before running to Clayface before John could say anything.
Barry ran desperate to protect his friend, and ended up crashing with Clayface's mud body. Clayface hit Barry with his back, where there was a cane he created with his body. That distracted him enough for Shayera to electrocute him. John deduced the signal and threw the container towards Clayface, spilling all the water on him. Shayera stepped aside, but Barry was left lying and received all the water with Clayface.
When all the water was gone, Clayface lay scattered all over the floor. The water weakened his body, and now he could not move until it dried.
"League Base, Red Ranger here." Kal said. "We need a special container to contain a large mass of living clay. And come soon before he recovers. "He finished.
"I'm fine, I do not mind being muddy," said Barry, removing the mud from the entire suit, until he had a better idea. "Power out," he said.
"I'm sorry Barry," said Shayera. "But thanks for helping me."
"I do not care, Shay." Barry interrupted. "You will not know when I will avenge myself."
"It does not matter that you beat me," said Clayface, who was using his last strength to tell the news to the Rangers. "The Penguin will beat to you, just like he did before with the white skin." This caught the attention of the Rangers. Everyone looked at him on the ground. Diana spoke.
"You were sent by the Penguin?" she asked.
"Yes. But I was just being a distraction. How I hate myself. I could not destroy you, but soon the Penguin will, as he did with the commander and scientist, and soon he will destroy his city."
"Bruce and J'onn were kidnapped by you?"
"Yes. I did it and it was very easy. They must already be dead, and I do not know where they are. And no matter what you do, you can not make me talk and ... "Clayface stopped when his mouth was spread on the floor.
The support arrived and they collected all the mud that formed Clayface, but it took a while. Once they left, everyone knew that the commander and J'onn were in trouble.
"We have to find them," Diana said.
"Sorry, Di," said Kal approaching her. "It seems that you were right that something bad should have happened to them." It was time to return to the base.
XXX
Returning to the conference room, the Rangers were still trying to find some clue to the Penguin's whereabouts. They had been reviewing the recordings throughout the city, but they could not find anything.
"Maybe he's out of town," Barry suggested to Kal.
"I checked, there's nothing," interrupted John abruptly.
"What did Clayface mean about the city being destroyed?" Shayera asked. "There is no way to destroy the city. Especially since there is nothing that threatens the city. "
"Maybe he referred to the commander," Diana said. "Or maybe the commander has something to do and that's why he kidnapped him."
"Do you think he's dead?" Kal asked. "I do not want to think that, but maybe something bad happened to him."
"Good deduction, cadet." Said a baritone voice. The Rangers turned and saw the imposing commander Wayne holding his forearm burned by the laser shot he had received from one of the Penguin's thugs.
NEXT: DARK, PART 3.