27th December 2004
02:02 GMT -6
Owfucking
fuck!
Stompa raises her boot again and takes a look at me.
"Huh. Think I'm losing my touch." She lifts it a little higher. "Oh well."
I brace with my feet and
thrust my arms upward out of the parademon huddle, some losing their grip while others frantically try to hold on. I grab her foot and
twist, causing her to lose her footing and fall on her arse.
None May Conquer Conquest.
Then I
shove my arms out to the sides, yellow light thrusting the parademons off me! I trigger my aero-discs as the two Furies scrabble back. Now that the parademons are in one convenient location and appropriately
fearful, I hold my hands out to either side and
project cutting beams into the parademon pile. Parademons dead or cringing, I calmly fold my arms behind my back.
"Where's Granny?"
Lashina readies her ribbon-whip while Stompa gets her feet back under her-.
"And where's the other-?"
Surprise!
Claws! Claws scraping my cheeks as a weight lands on my shoulders! I feel them bite in as
I form manacles and clamp them around Mad Harriet's arms before lifting her off me and dangling her before me. My facial wounds… Aren't healing particularly quickly. They're shallow enough that they
should close up almost-.
Mad Harriet
bends, kicking out at me with both feet. She.. really
doesn't know when to stop. I wonder how Granny keeps her under control? I idly lean back slightly, catch her ankles at the apogee of their swing and then gently push them back down.
Then I float forward and backhand her across the face hard enough to break my own construct and send her flying to the feet of her colleagues.
"Is that it?" I look around, my face a pantomime of sadness. "Is this what Apokolips has been reduced to? Mindless, aimless charges into prepared positions?"
Shayera swoops down and floats just behind me, the head of her mace covered in off-purple scabs where she struck before its disruption field could fully re-establish itself.
"Even my
gordanians could manage better than-."
Something hits me in the chin, snapping my head backwards as I feel another impact to my abdomen. Environmental shield and armour soaks
most of it, but I'm still sent flying upwards before-
Two red dots.
-a series of impacts focusing on my face and chest. Fucking
fah!
Construct armour!
It
forms, and I see a half-second of black-red blur before it shatters and -I raise my arms to protect my face- the strikes start again. Alright -
agh- it's kinetic impacts,
create a kinetic barrier-.
There's another
strike and the barrier triggers-. It's
supposed to appear for a moment and then fail, but for some reason it's staying active. My attacker's right fist appears to be… Stuck..? In it. Said attacker is dressed in black, red and silver armour of Apokoliptian design not too dissimilar from my own. Silver boots, silver gauntlets, shoulder and neck guards and a silver helmet with a t-shaped visor. The rest is black but for the red tron lines. They're also
short-. No,
young. Assuming standard pattern humanoid development I'd say that they're younger than Lynne.
A boy or girl this strong and fast? I can't think of any-.
Two red lights appear behind the visor, then I get to see the construct generating my kinetic barrier melt for an instant before failing completely as the kryptonian child turns his eyes towards my bruised and bleeding face!
"Good, child! Kill this
disobedient boy for Granny!"
Pain Begets Loyalty.
AAAAAAGHH
gold kryptonite radiation!
…
Graaaghh!
Mirror!
The stealth heat beams coming from his face hit my construct and are deflected-
"Agh!"
-back into his eyes, causing him to drift back slightly in the air and cover his face with his hands before he recovers and returns his attention to me. Alright, fine, radiation didn't work on
Kara last time, bit silly for me to think it would work through fully enclosed Apokoliptian armour.
"Finish him!"
Remember the Lash!
Okay,
problem. His armour protects him from kryptonite radiation. Red sunlight might work, but his armour is fully enclosed. And I'd rather not kill a child if I can help-.
There's a
blur, and small legs wrap around my neck and strong arms grip my head and I feel the
pressure constricting and turning! Okay, actually in danger now.
Open fire!
Six drone weapons drop back into phase and open fire, death rays and blasters hitting my assailant in the back-.
And he's gone, and-. Two of the drones vanish from my awareness as he moves faster than they can track. Ugh, Apokolips: this child won't be a part-timer like Superman, he'll have been trained in his powers since birth. Constant exposure to pain and Granny's conditioning-. Where is the old hag?
The Champion's Challenge.
Mad Harriet might be crazy, but that doesn't let her just ignore a concussive head trauma. She's down for now. Stompa isn't fast or agile enough to hit Shayera in an open environment and is punch-drunk from repeated Nth metal mace strikes and Lashina-.
I
block her whip strike with a buckler construct and then
hit her in the chest with a full-.
"
No!"
Jghh! I feel my armour crack, and my spine with it! I'm knocked flying across the Apokoliptian landscape by the force of the strike! But at least I can feel this injury healing. I
take control of my flight and
warp back towards my opponent, feeling
slowly returning to the lower part of my body. He's stopped to check on the staggered Lashina, curious. Now, what
else works on kryptonians?
Ultrasonic blast.
The air
shimmers with the force I'm putting into it, and I have to
grab Shayera and
shield her to prevent her falling out of the air.
"Aaa
rghh."
The kryptonian boy grips the side of his helmet, knocking the weird panel ornaments off as he does so.
"Did you know they had a kryptonian?"
Shayera shakes her head. "Where did they get a kryptonian from?"
"Kal-El was here for weeks. They might have cloned-" Lashina looks at him with
genuine concern. "-him. Though I'm not sure why he's not an adult."
Still, we've done what we came here for. Granny will now think that Grayven 50 is gunning for her. Mother Box?
Ping.
I Stand Triumphant.
How about now?
Ping.
Good show.
"Vulture, we're leaving." Shayera nods. "I see that Apokolips isn't even worth my time."
Boom!
