Chapter 33: King of the Monsters
"No," Bob whispered, staring at Enigma in shock, "That's impossible."
"You know it's true though," Enigma replied with a dark chuckle, "I can hear it in your voice."
"You died!" Bob shouted, as if his anger could keep the truth at bay, "I saw you die!"
"You saw an explosion. That's not the same thing," Enigma countered before gesturing at his face with his mechanical hand, "Though, as you can see, it was pretty close. Luckily, I had contingencies in place, and that's why we get to talk again today."
"I'm so lost right now," Susan said as she shook her head in confusion, "Do you know this guy?"
"His real name is Buddy Pine," Lucius explained as he glared at the screen, "Most people know him as Syndrome."
"No way!" B.O.B. exclaimed, his eye going wide with shock, "I have no idea who that is!"
"Not surprised we haven't heard of him," Link added with a chuckle, "I mean, what kind of lame name is Syndrome anyway?"
"He's directly responsible for the deaths of at least two dozen superheroes," Lucius stated, his gaze never drifting from Enigma's image.
"Oh, yeah, okay," Link replied, his eyes wide, "You're right, that is a terrifying name."
"Glad to see people still remember me," Enigma chuckled.
"Just not the way you wanted," Bob spat.
"Well, I suppose if you can't be famous, being infamous is the next best thing," Enigma replied with a shrug.
As Enigma spoke, alarms began going off in the control center, complete with flashing red lights.
"What's happening!?" Honey exclaimed as she looked up at the lights.
"The unit we sent down to investigate the impact is under attack!" one of the technicians reported.
"Under attack by who?" Helen questioned, "Is it the Syndicate?"
"I-I don't know!" the technician replied, his face ashen as he turned to look at the heroes, "All they're saying is…it's some kind of monster."
"Well, as fun as this chat has been, it sounds like you all have more pressing matters to deal with," Enigma said, and the heroes could almost see the grin on his metallic face, "But don't worry, be seeing me again very soon. Say hi to Fred for me."
With that, Enigma's image disappeared, and was replaced by a quartet of camera feeds showing the lowest level of Home Base. One feed showed the device that had struck Home Base, now twisted and mangled like something had torn its way out of it. Another displayed a damaged boiler spewing steam, obscuring most of what the camera could see, though the body of one the armed guards could be seen sprawled on the floor, and just for a moment, the shadow of something large could be seen moving through the steam cloud. The third camera observed a pair of guards firing their weapons at something that could not be seen, only to be sent scattering as a large chunk of concrete was hurled at them. The fourth showed an injured man crawling into frame before a large shadow fell over him and he was suddenly dragged out of view.
"Good Lord," Doc whispered in shock, "What sort of creature has he unleashed down there?"
"Only one way to find out," Bob said, a look of grim determination settling onto his face as he turned from the screens and began marching towards the doors, "Suit up everyone, we've got a guest to greet."
Later,
"Alright, everyone, here's the plan," Elastigirl said over everyone's communicators, "We've broken up into teams to cover more ground but we know this thing is sneaky as well as dangerous, so keep your heads on a swivel and watch each other's backs."
"Everyone keep in contact too," Mr. Incredible added, marching down the hall with Elastigirl, Ultraviolet, and the Dash, "Sound off. This is Team 1."
"Team 2, checking in," Excelsior called in as he looked around one of the utility rooms along with Kitsune, Big Guy, and Megamind.
"Team 3, all together," Ginormica said as she looked around a generator with Doctor Cockroach, B.O.B. and the Missing Link.
"Team 4, we hear you loud and clear," Laserblade said as he searched along a different hallway with Torque, Ms. Chemistry, and Frozone.
"Alright, everyone," Mr. Incredible stated, "Check in at regular intervals, and let us know if you find anything."
As Mr. Incredible finished, he and the rest of Team 1 stepped into the room where they had seen the guards attacked. Steam was still spilling out of a damaged boiler, filling the air with a hazy, muggy fog. Chunks of the concrete had been dug up and tossed around, and the scrap remains of the underground missile that brought the creature to Home Base lay scattered amongst the debris.
Spotting one of the guards laying on the ground nearby, Dash rushed over to the man, his speed punching a small hole in the steam cloud.
"This guy's still alive!" Dash confirmed as he checked the man's pulse.
"Thank goodness for that," Elastigirl sighed, as she glanced around at her hazy surroundings, "Now we need to find the other three and get them to safety."
"Keep on your toes, everyone," Mr. Incredible stated, "I get the feeling that this thing hasn't…"
Mr. Incredible trailed off as he sensed movement behind him. Looking over his shoulder, Mr. Incredible found a dark shape looming over him, standing a full head taller than the giant of a man, and wider as well. The creature's features were obscured by the steam but Mr. Incredible could make out glowing, yellow eyes, and an angry, rumbling growl rolled off of the shape.
"Gone far," Mr. Incredible finished quietly, his eyes having gone wide in surprise.
Before he could react, the monster lashed out, backhanding Mr. Incredible with one of its beefy arms, the force of the blow completely knocked the bulky hero off his feet and sent him flying into a concrete wall.
"Dad!" Dash shouted as he looked at his father in shock before narrowing his eyes at the lurking shadow. A split-second later and Dash was in front of the monster, the breeze kicked up by his speed once again blowing the cloud of steam to the side. Teeth gritted, Dash threw a rapid series of punches at the creature, striking it dozens of times in only a few moments. He quickly realized, however, that his punches were having no effect on the creature, and slowly stopped striking him before he looked up at the towering beast.
With the cloud of steam dispersed, Dash could clearly make out the creature's features. It was a reptilian monster, the crimson scales on its back, head and limbs glittering from the moisture in the air, while tan colored ones ran along its throat and underbelly. Jagged teeth peeked out from its lips and sharp claws sprouted from the ends of its fingers. A pair of sail-like fins sprouted from the monster's shoulder blades and ran down its back to the tip of its long tail. Its glowing yellow eyes glared down at Dash as a deep growl rumbled from somewhere in its chest.
Dash only had a moment to chuckle meekly before the monster roared and took a swipe at him, forcing the speedster to duck out of the way before quickly retreating from the creature. With another roar, the creature charged at Dash, raising its claw to swipe at him again, but before it could, Elastigirl lashed out and wrapped both of her arms around the monster's bicep, holding it in place. Snarling, the monster yanked its arm forward with surprising strength, pulling Elastigirl off her feet and whipping her around before violently slamming her against a wall, forcing her to release her hold as the force of the impact caused her body to spread out like a pancake.
"Mom!" Dash shouted as he raced back into the fray. Sensing him coming, the monster spun in place, sweeping its tail across the ground and tripping Dash, sending him sprawling. As Dash pushed himself up onto his hands and knees, groaning in pain, the monster lumbered over to him, a threatening growl signaling its approach. Still dazed, Dash could only watch helplessly as the monster loomed over him, raising a claw threateningly.
The creature swung its claw down, but instead of striking Dash, it hit a shimmering forcefield that sprung up between them. Snarling, the monster looked to the side and spotted Ultraviolet standing a short distance away, one hand outstretched. As the two locked gaze, the monster's eyes widened in what Ultraviolet realized was recognition. Confusion crossing her features as she noticed the monster's hesitation, Ultraviolet slowly raised both of her hands and held them out in what she hoped was a calming gesture.
"Hey," Ultraviolet said gently, motioning for Dash to get away from the creature as she continued holding the creature's attention, "Hey, it's okay. Maybe we all got off on the wrong foot here. Maybe we don't have to fight."
Ultraviolet held the creature's gaze as she spoke and as she did, she couldn't help but feel a strange sense of familiarity wash over her, the monster visibly relaxing as it looked at her.
"What are you?" she questioned as she unconsciously let her forcefield drop.
The monster offered no answer, the steam cloud slowly collecting between them once again, hiding its beastial features. Then, suddenly, something large shot through the steam, slammed into the monster's side and smashed it into a nearby wall. Blinking in surprise, it took Ultraviolet to realize what had happened before she looked in the direction the monster had been knocked, and found Big Guy pinning it to a wall, the concrete cracking from the force of the blow.
"No, wait!" Ultraviolet called, spotting Excelsior, Kitsune, and Megamind helping her parents to her feet.
"You are being detained," Big Guy said, his voice booming but calm, "Please do not resist."
Snarling in rage, the monster immediately began fighting against Big Guy's grip, scratching at his armor and struggling against his robotic strength.
"You are quite physically strong," Big Guy observed as he held the monster in place, "But you will find that I am stronger. You will not escape."
Seemingly in response to that, the monster calmed, it's eyes narrowing as it grabbed Big Guy's arm with both of its clawed hands.
And then the monster began to glow.
It was a light blue glow that contrasted sharply with the crimson of its scales. The glow seemed to infuse the monster's entire being, tracing its scales and outlining its form, the shade of its shining eyes changing to match. And then the monster did the last thing anyone expected it to do.
It began to grow.
Before their very eyes, the monster's form shifted, its shoulders broadening, its legs lengthening and even its tail crawling across the floor as it grew longer. The glow slowly dissipated as the monster grew, disappearing completely when the creature came to stand a full head taller than Big Guy, the robot's arm pressed uselessly against the monster's lower sternum.
"Oh no," Big Guy said flatly a moment before the monster's grip tightened on his arm, its claws digging into the armor as it lifted Big Guy off the ground, spun him around and threw him across the room, sending the robot smashing through a wall with a thunderous crash.
A hush fell over the room as the gathered heroes stared at the gaping hole in the wall that Big Guy had disappeared through in shock. Slowly, they turned their attention towards the towering monster, the rumbling noise of its growl filling the room before it let out a thunderous roar that shook the very air, causing some of the heroes to wince and cover their ears to protect against the deafening noise.
"Move!" Mr. Incredible bellowed as the monster stopped roaring and started charging at the heroes, forcing them to scatter as the creature slammed into another one of the boilers, the machine screeching loudly as metal bent and more steam began filling the room.
Rolling to his feet first, Megamind drew his De-Gun and began firing off shots at the monster, peppering it with bolts of blue energy. Snarling in annoyance as it flinched away from the attack, the monster grabbed part of the destroyed piece of machinery and hurled it at Megamind with shocking ease. His eyes going wide with fear, Megamind held up his arms in a vain attempt to protect himself, but before the debris hit him, Ultraviolet conjured a forcefield in front of him, the debris smashing against it with a thunderous crash.
Rushing forward, Mr. Incredible leapt at the monster's blindside, shoulder tackling it in the back, sending the monster stumbling forward. Catching itself, the monster snarled and turned its attention towards Mr. Incredible, only to be blindsided by Big Guy, who used his rocket boots to throw his entire weight at the monster's head. Wrapping his arms around the creature's neck, Big Guy began desperately wrestling with the monster as he draped himself across its back. They struggled for a few moments before the monster managed to grab Big Guy by his arms and flipped the android over its shoulders and slammed his back against the ground.
Snarling, the monster moved to strike Big Guy again before it noticed Mr. Incredible leaping through the air towards it. Whipping around, the monster swatted Mr. Incredible out of the air with the back of its meaty paw, sending him shooting back the way he came and bouncing him off a nearby wall. As the monster turned its attention back to Big Guy, tendrils made of black and white microbots shot out of the steam cloud and wrapped themselves around the monster's arms, holding them in place. The monster roared in rage while struggling against the bindings as Kitsune rode out of the steam cloud on the back of an undulating wave of microbots. With a wave of her hand, Kitsune stepped onto the floor and sent the rest of the microbots surging forward, causing them to swarm over the monster and drag it to the ground.
"Nice job, Riley!" Excelsior called as he raced over to her side while Big Guy picked himself up.
"Don't thank me yet," Kitsune said, her mind feeling like a hive of buzzing bees as the microbot swarm struggled to hold the thrashing monster in place, "I don't know how long I can hold him! I hope someone has a plan for putting this thing down for good!"
"It's scales seem to be energized in a way that repels my D-Gun," Megamind stated as he joined the pair, holding up the weapon in question, "But I think if I can get close enough and aim it into one of its orifices, I should be able to dehydrate it."
"Works for me!" Kitsune agreed before she waved her hands in an opening motion, causing tendrils of microbots to wrap around the monster's jaws and yank it open.
"Don't worry, little guy," Megamind said as he walked in front of the thrashing monster, and pointed the D-Gun down its exposed throat, "I can tell you from experience you're only going to experience some momentary discomfort and then-"
Megamind trailed off as he noticed the monster stopped struggling against its bonds and instead once again began to glow with an ominous, blue light once more. Notably, this time the glow seemed to be focused on the creature's gullet, which began to shine so brightly that Megamind had to squint against the intensity of it.
"Megamind!" Excelsior shouted as his visor flashed a warning about an intense energy build up, "Get out of there!"
"Oh crap," Fear whispered in Kitsune's head.
Before Megamind could react, a blast of blue-white energy shot out of the monster's throat straight towards him. Megamind held his arms out uselessly to protect himself, but before the blast struck him, Big Guy stepped in front of the former villain, his energy shield raised. The energy blast struck the shield with tremendous force, knocking Big Guy clear off his feet as his shield disintegrated in a flash of light. Big Guy slammed into Megamind behind him, and the two of them went tumbling back into Excelsior and Kitsune, causing them all to go spilling out the door into the hallway beyond.
Her concentration shattered, Kitsune's microbots lost their hold on the monster and it rose back to its feet, roaring triumphantly as the microbots sloughed off of it like dead skin.
Groaning in pain as he extracted himself from underneath Big Guy's armored arm, Excelsior pushed himself back to his feet just in time to spot Torque, Laserblade, Ms. Chemistry and Frozone racing down the hall towards him.
"Hiro!" Ms. Chemistry exclaimed as she kneeled in front of him, looking Excelsior over for any sign of injury, "Are you okay!?"
"I'm fine, just a little-" Excelsior cut himself off as he glanced to the side, "Look out!"
Leaping forward, Excelsior tackled Ms. Chemistry to the ground. At the same time, Big Guy wrapped his arms protectively around the still recovering Kitsune and Megamind and rolled in the opposite direction. A moment later the monster slammed into the wall between them, shoving its arm through it at the point where Excelsior's head had been a moment before. Yanking its arm out of the wall in a shower of concrete dust, the monster turned to face the assembled heroes and let out a titanic roar, its eyes and throat glowing bright blue-white.
Meanwhile,
On the upper levels of Home Base, warning alarms screamed and the lights flashed bright red. In between the wails of the alarm, a voice explained that the base was being evacuated and that everyone must proceed to their designated evacuation zones. As such, the halls were filled with throngs of scientists, doctors and other support staff, who were desperately trying to make their way to the hangar, despite the alert's request that everyone move in a calm and orderly fashion. Among the crowd, Margo was walking with Edith and Agnes, their hands grasped tightly in hers as she led them along.
"Where's Gru!?" Agnes all but yelled to be heard over the din surrounding them.
"I don't know," Margo admitted as she looked down at her youngest sister, "He's probably out fighting the bad guys or whoever is attacking the base."
"Shouldn't we be helping him?" Edith questioned.
"How are we going to do that?" Margo asked in turn, "We're just kids."
"So are Riley and Tip!" Agnes countered.
"Riley has superpowers and Tip has access to alien technology," Margo said pointedly, her tone brokering no argument, "We have neither. No, we're getting on one of these transports and we're getting to safety, which I know is exactly what Gru would want, so can you please-"
Before Margo could finish her plea, an explosion rocked the complex, causing all three girls to stumble and Agnes to fall to her knees. As she helped Agnes back to her feet, Margo looked ahead, trying to see what had happened through the forest of taller adults that surrounded them. As the crowd parted briefly, Margo could see a cloud of smoke and debris at a junction of hallways ahead of them. As the cloud slowly dissipated, Margo saw a group of figures moving through the smoke, and as they came into view, the gathered crowd let out a collective, terrified gasp.
"What?" Edith questioned as she tried to look past the gathered bodies in front of them, "What is it? I can't see!"
"It's the Syndicate," Margo whispered in horror as she watched the group of supervillains, led by Enigma, march down the hall.
Margo could tell that the Syndicate weren't heading their way, but instead were heading down the perpendicular hallway. Unfortunately, a large group of civilians had been heading in the opposite direction, trying to get to the hangar and were now cowering before the Syndicate.
"God, I hate crowds," Margo could hear Enigma say thanks to the terrified hush that had fallen over the hallway, and watched as he made a gesture to the other members of the Syndicate, "Oni, can you do something about this?"
At his request, Oni stepped in front of Enigma, the massive purple monster looming over the civilians, who collectively whimpered in fear as they tried to push back from the supervillain.
"Move," Oni rumbled as he lifted his clenched fists above his head.
"Oh my god," Margo whispered, her eyes going wide with fear before she spun around, grabbed her sisters' heads and tucked them protectively against her chest before crouching down, "Get down!"
A moment later, the whole hall shook violently as Oni slammed his hands down, nearly knocking the girls down as dozens of people around them stumbled and fell. Margo grunted in pain as someone's knee hit her square in the back a moment before a man tripped over her and went tumbling to the floor, but she managed to stay on her feet.
The thunderous noise of Oni smashing the concrete floor quickly faded away, and Margo lifted her head to see what had happened. A cloud of debris was slowly settling in the hall, making it hard to see, though Margo quickly spotted the chunks of concrete and injured people that now littered the floor. As the cloud continued to settle, Margo spotted the Syndicate continuing down the hall, callously stepping over the men and women who now lay bruised and broken upon the ground.
As Margo released the deathgrip she had on her sisters' heads, she heard the low moans and cries of pain coming from the people on the ground, which rose in volume with every passing moment. Without thinking, Margo ran over to the nearest person on the ground, a man in a white lab coat who had a large piece of concrete laying across his right leg.
"Are you okay!?" Margo asked as she kneeled down next to the man.
"My leg!" the man cried as he writhed on the ground, "It's pinned!"
Turning to the man's leg, Margo grabbed hold of the chunk of concrete and tried to lift it off him, but failed to even budge it.
"Help!" Margo called, looking around the hallway at the rest of the people who were recovering from the attack as well, "Somebody help!"
Before Margo could get anyone else's attention, her sisters ran over and grabbed hold of the chunk of concrete as well.
"We have to move it together!" Edith declared.
Nodding in agreement, Margo grabbed hold of the concrete as well before the three girls lifted with all their strength, managing to lift it just enough for the man to wiggle free before they dropped the chunk of concrete to the floor with a loud bang.
"Are you okay?" Agnes questioned as Margo bent over to catch her breath while Edith brushed off her scratched hands.
"I think so," the man confirmed with a nod before he gave the girls a genuine smile, "Thank you three so much."
As Margo stood up straight, her eyes drifted back to the hallway the Syndicate had headed down, a ball of fear and worry wadding up in her stomach.
"Hey," Margo said as she looked at the man she and her sisters had just saved, "Remind me, what's down that way?"
"Uh, labs mostly," the man replied, caught off guard by her question, "Mainly the ones used by the heroes. Why?"
"Oh my god," Margo whispered as she spun back around and began running in the direction the Syndicate had gone in, her eyes wide in realization, "Oh my god!"
"Margo!" Agnes shouted, panicked as she watched her elder sister hop over debris and dance around the other people in the hall, "Where are you going!?"
"Stay there!" Margo called back to them before she skidded to halt, shaking her head in an apparent effort to negate what she had just said, "No, wait! Go find someone in charge! Gru, Dr. Nefario, anyone!"
"And tell them what?" Edith questioned, clearly baffled.
"Tell them the monster attack, it's all a distraction!" Margo shouted as she began running down the hallway again, quickly disappearing into a cloud of smoke and dust, "Tell them the Syndicate is heading for Megamind's lab!"
A/N: Didn't get this one out as quick as I would have liked, but pretty happy with how it came out. More exciting superhero action next time! As usual, feedback and critiques are always welcome, so please review! Later!