100TH POST!!!
“I was useless!” Blacktide paced in the break room, clenching his fists. “I’ve never been so useless in a fight. I can’t believe it!”
“The Hearse
is indestructible, my friend,” Nyhtwulf said. “Nothing we can do could ever
damage it.” The Twilie Demon was munching on cream cheese cubes, complete in
their foil wrappers. This didn’t faze him when it came to talking and created a
‘nom nom’ sound with the words.
“Could have
been worse, couldn’t it?” Atomizer said, “After all, I tried my power on an alien
weapon and nearly blew a whole city street away.” Atomizer popped open a soda
and took a long drink.
“I’ve never
come across anything like that before. I’ve always had to worry about
accidently killing people around me. If it weren’t for Nyhtwulf being my
partner now, I doubt I would still be here.” Blacktide stared out a window. He
instinctively wanted to punch a wall in his frustration, but knew better.
“You saved
innocent people,” Nyhtwulf said. “I saw through your eyes.”
Blacktide
remembered the fallen ceiling beams and trapped civilians. His power was
instrumental in freeing them. His power literally erased key points in debris,
allowing Dr. Vampire and Lonestar to use their strength freely and safely for
several rescues.
“Yeah, I
did.”
“So you
weren’t useless, Man!” Atomizer said. “You did good. I’d pat you on the back,
but I know you’d hate it so I’m doing it verbally, okay?”
Blacktide
couldn’t help but smirk at the idea, “I hate that too.”
In another
room, Dr. Vampire lay on a table unconscious. Dreamseer had her fingertips at
the Doctor’s temples. She was completely silent. Electrode stood outside the
room with Lonestar, watching the ordeal.
“You want
to tell me what happened out there?” Electrode asked.
“Since he
was turned into a vampire by Lord Dracula himself, our leader has had to
contain a great darkness. There is always the chance of it coming out and it
makes him very powerful. It’s a curse that none of us have found a way to
break.”
“So he
could become a monster at literally anytime?”
“No. He’s
only at risk under certain forms of great stress or in places of great evil.”
“Inside The
Hearse had to be pretty evil, I imagine.” Electrode nodded. It reminded him of
the struggle he saw in Blacktide.
Up on the
roof, Nightfall sat on the edge of the building with Anubis, gazing over the
city lights of New York.
“I’m
telling you, I never thought it was possible to feel such pain,” Anubis said.
“I think that thing could have actually killed me. And I understand Doctor
Vampire’s problem, but that was quite a surprise as well.”
“Dreamseer
is taking care of him. You know, this is an important lesson for you. You have
these new and wonderful powers, but you don’t know any of your own limits. Now
you know that you have to be careful out there.”
“I know. I
knew I could be hurt when I got shot by one of those alien weapons. I just
didn’t know I could be hurt that bad or hit that hard. I’ll sure remember next
time.”
“Sounds
like you want revenge on The Hearse.” Nightfall cocked and eyebrow in
disbelief.
“Well,
yeah, wouldn’t you? I want a rematch.”
Nightfall
laughed, “Oh you are such a rookie! That’s not what I meant by learning your
limits. You can’t kill The Hearse.”
“You’re
only supposed to laugh when I actually tell a joke you know,” Anubis tried to
show an expression of fake pouting on his jackal’s face, but it just looked
like a weird snarl.
“You’re
just funnier than you realize!” Nightfall smacked him on the shoulder.
“Careful,
you’ll knock me off the roof,” Anubis teased, so she hit him some more.
“You can
fly!”
Far across
the country, a new mission unfolded. The gangs of south Seattle are well known
for their violent crimes. A lot of young lives have been wasted over
territorial disputes, drugs, and women. All it really takes for a gang member
to get shot is the wrong color clothing, an odd hand signal, or just a bad
attitude. Two small groups met over a dispute in a rundown area of buildings
awaiting the wrecking ball. Posturing became words. Words became anger and
shoving. Shoving turned to weapons. One brought out a knife and his opponent, a
gun. A hail of gunfire took down all but one thug who dodged between the
buildings on the run. He lost his way through the decrepit buildings and lost
his way to the exit. High fences and barbed wire thwarted his escape attempts.
His pursuers were catching up to him as he dodged behind a dumpster. He clutched the edge of the trash container
while he fought to catch his breath. The other gangsters passed him by, but it
wouldn’t be for long.
“You’re in
a fix,” the smooth voice startled the young thug so he spun with his knife
ready. A quick strike to the wrist from a black cane topped with a silver
skull, knocked the knife away. The man in the top hat smiled at him.
“Relax, I’m here as your friend. I
can help you,” Stormy said.
“Yeah? Well
you gonna help us both get killed if you don’t shut up.” He looked worriedly
over the dumpster. The other thugs weren’t in sight yet.
“How would
you like to teach them a lesson?”
“What? You
got an uzi?” The thug wondered if he could dive for his knife.
“No, I have
this,” suddenly a 20 foot tall suit of mechanized armor was standing behind
Stormy. It was rounded and smooth with a pair of massive metal hands. Its feet
were as wide as the hood of a mid-size car. Portions of the armor played a
trick on the eyes as they seemed like portals to view the universe. Stars,
planets and deep space could be seen in the reflection of the arms and legs. The
massive head section split open and lowered in a way that would allow a person
to climb into the cockpit.
“You should climb in and take it
for a spin. It’s much better than waiting to get shot.” Stormy faded away with
a cruel chuckle.
The thug could
hear them getting closer. Surely they heard some of the noise that guy made.
What else could he do? He climbed up into the big suit of armor and the panels
closed over him. A metal halo dropped down around the top of his head and he
could feel control of the whole machine. Screens appeared and he could see
outside. He moved his arm, and its arm did the same. He turned to face the
opening the other thugs would come through. The shooter came around first and
stopped cold with a shocked expression. The thug willed the machine to step
forward. It put a great metal foot on the dumpster, and crushed it flat. The
other gangsters fired their guns, but bullets were useless against the mystical
TANK armor.
The thug laughed, “You still wanna shoot me?”
The first
shooter met his grisly end in the compacting grasp of a metal hand. The thug
pilot laughed, delirious with power. The others turned to run but energy beam
weapons fired from the armor’s shoulders. Both men were turned to charred
skeletal remains.
“Yeah!” the
thug yelled. But then something felt odd. He couldn’t move his arms and legs
anymore, and the TANK started moving without his commands. Scanners located the
nearest populated area as the thug watched and it started walking. As his mind
went blank he heard the metallic voice coming from the machine.
“I am
TANK.”
(Feel like you're missing out? Catch this link back to Number One.)
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