Everyone
was silent as Tony stared blankly ahead, his breathing shallow despite the
adrenaline pumping in his veins. He dared not look down at the body beneath
him. “I…I had to stop him,” he stammered, his voice too quiet for anyone to
hear him clearly. “I had to…”
Suddenly
a force knocked into Tony and he fell backwards. A white-hot pain ran down his
left arm as he stumbled and fell to the ground. Tony tasted blood in his mouth
and he saw the crimson liquid running down his numb arm. The pain spread
throughout his chest as he lay next to Tommy’s lifeless body.
It
took only a moment for Steve to register what had happened. Turning to face
Obliterator, he saw the villain’s arm raised and the barrel of a mini-rifle smoking.
Though it was not possible through the metal mask, Steve saw the madman’s
smile, and his mind filled with rage. Swinging his mighty fist, Steve smashed
into Obliterator’s armor, sending him flying backwards. He did not fly far, and
slammed into an invisible wall. Natalie dropped the force field and grabbed a
hold of the armor as Steve ran towards Obliterator. Held steady by Natalie, the
villain could only watch as Steve collided with him, punch after punch
connecting and pummeling the heavily armored suit.
Further
away, Volt cursed. “Time to go,” he said turning and running away. “Cut my losses
short and get the hell out of here while I can.”
“Not
so fast, buddy. We aren’t done yet.” Jackson caught up to Volt and tripped him,
sending Volt sprawling. Volt smashed his hand into the ground as he stood back
up, sending out a flash of electricity. Jackson’s body absorbed most of it, but
the flash blinded him temporarily. While his vision was down, Jackson heard
Volt laugh.
“Keep
up the good work, hero. Until next time...” When Jackson could see again, Volt
was gone, and Jackson knew there was no point in searching for him now when
there were still work to be done here.
Sewage
reacted differently than Volt. With a roar, he slammed his arms into the remaining
buildings around him, causing them to tilt and fall onto the officers helping
below. Sewage continued his rampage by flooding the air with his
microorganisms, which flew right at the men and women below, choking them and
attacking their flesh. But Sewage’s attack would not go unpunished.
From
the ground, a mighty energy blast blew through Sewage’s body. As the giant
turned, Matt launched another beam, this one directed for Sewage’s head. The
beam went right through, blowing up the head in the process. “Damn, I though
Brian was in the head,” Matt thought as he ran towards the base of the monster.
“Well I know where he is now!”
Microorganisms tried to attack
Matt, but his body was supercharged with the seismic energy Land Slide’s
earthquakes gave off, and the microscopic organisms were burned upon contact.
Without hesitating, Matt dove into the pit from which Sewage was standing and
plunged headfirst into the liquid waste. A few seconds passed, but then
flickers of light could be seen before an enormous explosion tore apart Sewage
from the bottom up. A crater stood in the city’s center, the smoking puddles of
waste and sewer water filling the area and the remains of the giant falling to
the ground. The few microorganisms that remained slowly died off now that
Sewage was defeated. Standing in that crater was Matt, and on the ground in
front of him was Brian, naked and on his knees.
“I
can’t believe you teamed up with them,” Matt said to his former friend. “I
thought you were a better man than that.”
Brian
was hurting from Matt’s attack, his body bruised and burnt, but still he
laughed at Matt’s comment. “Really? After everything I’ve done, you still
thought I was a better man?” Brian looked up at Matt with an evil smile. “I
didn’t know you were such an idiot.”
“I’m
not stupid, Brian. Just hopeful.” Before Brian could respond, Matt kicked Brian
in the face, knocking him unconscious. Matt shook his head as he looked down at
Brian. “But there’s no hope for the hopeless.”
Meanwhile
across the square, Marian was battling for her life against the villainous
Sentinel. Stopped temporarily by Land Slide’s quakes, the giant was once again burning
a path of destruction with his heat vision, and Marian was just barely getting
in a few hits now and then. But Sentinel’s skin was as hard as diamond, and her
physical attacks were useless. All she could do was buy time for the people in
Sentinel’s way.
After
landing hard on the ground and dodging another optic blast, Marian hid behind a
car. “Where the hell is my back-up?” She yelled into the radio before throwing
it aside. The chaos was too great for anyone to be listening to their radios;
they were all focusing on the battle in front of them. However that meant
nobody knew Sentinel was here and kicking her ass.
“This guy is freakin
unstoppable,” she said in awe as a group of Eagle Men tried to engage the giant
with advanced weaponry, but his impenetrable skin shrugged off the rockets and
electricity like water on a rock. She made a move to help the group, but it was
too late; Sentinel unleashed a heat blast and incinerated the Eagle Men where
they stood.
Marian
watched hopelessly as Sentinel marched on towards the city center, where her
family was busy fighting the rest of the villains. “Not on my watch,” she said
as a burst of confidence overtook her. She ran up to Sentinel and vaulted off a
car, landing a solid kick to his head. Sentinel stopped walking and looked back
at Marian, who was in a fighting stance, ready to do battle. Sentinel turned,
stared at the young woman, and then his eyes lit up instantly. “Shit!” Marian
said as she realized she had no time to move out of the way.
Just before Sentinel unleashed
his heat blast, a figure dropped out of the sky and punched Sentinel’s head
with such a force that the giant bent forward. With his head bent down and his
gaze on the front of his own body, the blast burned into Sentinel. When the
blast was cut off, the giant lifted his head and howled in pain; pieces of his
body began chipping off, and cracks formed from the newly burned hole in his
torso that leaked heat and bright red light. The villain’s howl was
indescribable, and made everyone who heard it stop and listen. The sound was
that of a being in unbearable pain and of immeasurable sorrow. As soon as the
howl ceased, Sentinel fell first to one knee, then to the ground, the light
inside his diamond-hard body fading to nothing.
Marian
looked behind the fallen villain and saw Jackson standing there holding his
right hand. The gauntlet on that hand was shattered from the strike. He looked
at her and smiled, tossing aside the gauntlet and shaking his broken fist. “I
have never punched something so hard before in my life.”
Marian ran over and jumped onto
Jackson in a leaping hug. “I have never been happier to see you, Alex,” she
said with a jubilant smile.
Before
Jackson could respond, the sounds of battle drifted over towards them from the
city square. Steve was still beating away at Obliterator, despite his bloody
knuckles.
“Steve,” Natalie said, walking
closer to him, “let me help.” Steve paused, his lips curled back into a snarl
as he watched Natalie tear off the armor from Richard’s body. The older man
screamed in pain as the wires and chips that had been fused to his flesh were
ripped away by the telekinetic.
Once all the armor was off, she
let Richard drop to the ground, his body naked, bloody, and torn by the ravages
of battle. “He’s all yours,” Natalie said while putting a hand on Steve’s arm.
“But the medics have Tony. They said he’s still alive, Steve, and you’re a
hero. Don’t forget that.”
Steve nodded and walked up to Richard,
towering over the frail old man on the ground; “Tell me why I shouldn’t kill
you right now and save us the heartache of doing this again.” Richard looked up
at Steve, and despite losing the battle he initiated, was smiling. Steve was
pocketed by bullet marks and bruises, even bleeding in some places, but still
standing strong despite the battle. Steve reached down and picked Richard up by
the torso, his two giant fists fitting around the fragile old man’s chest.
“Mind telling me what’s so funny?”
Richard coughed as Steve
squeezed tighter, but laughed anyway. “The darkness is coming for us all.”
“His hand!” Natalie yelled as
she ripped something out of Richard’s clutches. She floated the device over
towards her, and saw it was a simple beacon blinking red.
“What is it?” Steve asked; his
voice anxious due to the horrid tricks Richard was capable of pulling.
It only took a few moments for
Natalie to figure it out, but when she did she looked up to the sky. “Where’s
Matt?” Steve looked towards the crater where Sewage had been and saw Matt
staring up at the sky as well. “Steve,” Natalie said quietly, “Obliterator
called for back-up.”
The sky overhead grew darker as
the stars and moon were blotted out. A dome of blackness crawled over the city
square as Matt stared in horror. “She’s here,” he whispered to himself. “And
she’s more powerful than I could have ever imagined.”
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