[Dupli-Kate's POV]
It's been exactly two days since the new team was established, and we already have our second official mission. Well, technically our first mission was supposed to be providing high-level security for the highly publicized NASA Mars launch, but that was cancelled abruptly. Apparently, the GDA found some sort of parasitic lifeforms completely out of nowhere on Mars, of all places, and scrubbed the whole thing.
So now here we are, flying across the country to deal with a local Chicago mob boss named Machine Head.
But before we left, it was unanimously decided to leave Pepsi-Man back at the headquarters today. Honestly, we were all way more afraid of the faceless corporate mascot than we were of actual mobsters.
We were making our way over the Chicago city skyline on our hover-cycles. I was riding behind Robot, holding onto his cold metal chassis tightly so I wouldn't fall off into the traffic below, while Rex rode on the back with us. Meanwhile, Black Samson, Shrinking Rae, and Monster Girl flew in a tight formation on the other cycle right next to us.
We were just making our final approach toward the towering skyscraper that served as the mobster's headquarters when a guttural, terrifyingly familiar scream echoed out from the top floor.
"AHHHHH!!"
'Oh no. That's Invincible!'
Robot didn't even hesitate. He accelerated the hover-cycle and we smashed straight through the heavy wooden doors of the penthouse suite.
"You and this giant pile of shit just ruined my doors!" a synthesized robotic voice complained loudly over the noise of the crashing debris. I turned my head toward the desk to see the cyborg mob boss glaring at us. "Also, ItaLIAn maple by the wAY!"
I blinked away the dust and took in the absolute nightmare of a room.
Invincible was currently being electrocuted mid-air by thousands of volts of electricity, his body convulsing violently.
Next to him was Titan. The massive and now more rocky mob enforcer was using a giant slab of stone as a shield to block waves of intense heat from melting his face off.
The penthouse was filled with a group of notorious, highly dangerous villains. I recognized most of them from the GDA database. Kursk, Magmaniac, Furnace, and Tether Tyrant were all actively engaged in the slaughter.
[Image Here]
The only one I didn't recognize was a massive, white-furred humanoid lion holding a giant spiked mace. He was standing completely still near the back of the room, patiently watching the chaos without taking part in the action.
Machine Head tapped his metallic glowing head with a single finger. "This little upgraDe shows me all kinds of POssibilities, which is how I know it's not worth explainINg to YOu bunch of morooOns what quantum PRoBabilities are and how futile your interruption is." He leaned back in his expensive leather chair and spread his arms wide to mock us but stopped when he faced Robot. "Well, maybe not me, DRiod brother! Hey maaAan, what gig are you running? V8 or 9?"
The fight kicked off instantly. Robot shoved the control sticks forward and launched our heavy hover-cycle directly into the massive, steam-powered humanoid known as Furnace, pinning the villain against the wall with a loud crunch of metal. Black Samson followed his lead and expertly crashed his cycle directly into Kursk, breaking the electro-maniac's concentration and freeing Invincible from the agonizing shock.
Monster Girl immediately transformed into her massive, hulking troll form and launched herself directly at the Magmaniac.
I jumped off the wrecked cycle and created three identical clones of myself.
'Okay, Kate, focus. Just grab the injured and get them out,' I thought, my heart hammering in my chest.
I ordered the clones to sprint across the room to pull Invincible and the rocky man out of the crossfire.
But Clone Number Two never even made it halfway.
A sickening, wet shhhhk echoed through the room.
The villain known as Tether Tyrant, a guy whose chest was literally a mass of prehensile intestines, lashed out. A thick, pulsating tentacle shot across the room and violently shoved its way straight through Clone Number Two's neck.
Ghk—!
A agonizing phantom pain instantly shot across my own neck. I dropped to my knees, choking and gagging as the sensation of having my windpipe violently ruptured flooded my nervous system.
People always ask me what it feels like when one of my clones dies, and the honest truth? It feels exactly like dying. It is absolutely terrifying but unfortunately it is also a very familiar feeling for me.
I aggressively shoved the pain down and packed the trauma into a tiny little mental box and locked it away in the deepest, darkest corner of my consciousness, exactly like I always did. I forced myself to take a ragged breath and somehow composed myself.
I'm a Hero for fuck's sake and I couldn't afford to freak out right now.
Rex saw me drop and he completely lost his temper.
"Hey you Hentai freak!" Rex yelled at Tether Tyrant, his hands glowing with bright orange explosive energy. "You're gonna pay for hurting my friend!"
Rex launched a handful of charged coins across the room. They exploded the second they came into contact with the fleshy tentacles, blowing the appendages into a fine, bloody mist and sending Tether Tyrant stumbling backward in agony.
Meanwhile, Monster Girl and Robot were two-manning Magmaniac. They expertly played defense and offense in turn, making sure neither of them got too close for too long to avoid getting melted by the intense ambient heat. Robot finally found an opening and transformed his mechanical arm into a sonic blaster. He fired a highly concentrated pulse of disruptive energy directly into Magmaniac's chest, completely destabilizing the villain's humanoid form and turning him into a harmless puddle of cooling magma.
Shrinking Rae had shrunk herself down to the size of a bug to try and make a stealthy approach toward Machine Head himself. But just as she got close to the mob boss's desk, Machine Head turned his metallic face toward her with pinpoint precision.
"Shoo, little bug," Machine Head stated in a synthesized, auto-tuned robotic drawl. "My nEw optical chip is waYtoo DAMN good to let a pEst like you jump Me!"
He swatted at her with what to her must have been a massive hand.
Black Samson immediately activated his jets and launched himself across the room. He managed to catch the tiny Shrinking Rae right out of the air, successfully preventing her from becoming a bloody splat on the far wall.
But before Samson could land safely, Kursk suddenly materialized behind him in a blinding flash of raw lightning and brutally shocked him in the back.
Invincible, finally recovering from his own electrocution, suddenly pushed himself up from the floor. Blood was running down his chin and dripping onto his ruined suit.
"You guys are fucking dead!" Invincible roared at the top of his lungs. His eyes were wide and completely feral as he locked onto the villains.
He blitzed across the room faster than my eyes could track, aiming directly for Kursk. But before he could land a punch, the rocky dude suddenly sneaked up behind the electro-maniac. He wrapped his massive, denser rocky arms tightly around Kursk and used the massive Greatshield to completely ground the bastard's electrical currents into the concrete floor beneath the carpet.
With Kursk's currents neutralized, Invincible drove his fist directly into the villain's face. The punch landed incredibly hard as bright red blood crackled with residual lightning as it spattered across the expensive carpet.
While the chaos raged, my third clone suddenly heard quiet yet terrified whimpers coming from a side office. She carefully opened the door and found a pair of civilians who looked like an African-American mother and her young daughter, hiding under a desk.
Just as Clone Number Three planned to help them escape... another one of those damn fleshy tentacles came whipping out of the hallway.
The appendage wrapped tightly around Clone Number Three's torso and violently ripped her in half right in front of the civilians. The sickening sound of flesh tearing echoed in the small room, completely traumatizing the little girl.
I nearly blacked out again as the sharp, blinding pain of feeling my own spine snap in half hit me like a current.
I staggered backwards as my vision swam. But again, I deluded myself into ignoring it. I shoved the agonizing trauma right down into the box with the rest of my deaths and pushed forward.
"Fine! I guess I'll have to resort to self-harm after all!" I yelled, my voice cracking slightly.
I immediately created Clone Two and Clone Three again. They sprinted forward in perfect synchronization and expertly dodged the incoming tentacles. They each grabbed onto one of the fleshy appendages with a vice-like grip.
Without a single second of hesitation, the two clones ran in opposite directions and threw themselves right out of the shattered penthouse windows.
Gravity did the brutal work for them.
The clones plummeted toward the street below, using their own body weight to violently tear Tether Tyrant completely in half from the crotch up before they hit the pavement and turned into a bloody paste.
The fight momentarily paused as the sickeningly wet sound of the villain being split apart echoed through the room. It was the first casualty of the battle, and the sheer brutality of it made everyone freeze for a fraction of a second.
Rex used the distraction perfectly. He charged up one of his explosive metal sticks and threw them precisely into a small gap in Furnace's heavy boiler suit. The blast went off internally, causing thick black smoke and high-pressure steam to violently billow out from the punk-mecha suit as the villain collapsed.
Meanwhile, I saw Invincible finally pull Kursk up by his head and forcefully throw the unconscious villain directly toward Machine Head's desk.
But before Kursk could even land, a gleaming, spiked mace suddenly swung through the air in a brutal arc.
CRUNCH.
The mace completely punctured Kursk's torso, instantly killing him. The impact sent massive sparks of residual electricity flying through the air, violently shocking everyone who was touched by the electrified blood except for Machine Head, who had oddly positioned himself just right so not even a single drop touched his prim suit.
The massive white lion finally stepped down from the raised platform. He casually licked Kursk's electrified blood off his spiked mace.
"Hmm," the lion rumbled, his voice incredibly deep and menacing. "I've never tried electric blood before. It's quite... shocking."
He slowly turned his piercing gaze toward our team.
"I was promised this world offered worthy opponents," the massive lion rumbled and his deep voice vibrated heavily through the bloody room. "But oh, how you all disappoint me. I will end this pathetic slaughter quickly because I still have to hunt down this so-called dragon knight that the metal-faced coward promised me."
"For the lASt time, BaTtle Beast!" Machine Head shouted angrily, pointing a metallic finger at the alien. "It's Machine Head!"
Battle Beast simply turned his massive head and let out a low growl. Machine Head stopped his barking, whimpered, and took a slow step backward, completely cowed by the sheer predatory aura the alien radiated.
And then, the brutality began.
Battle Beast moved with a speed that defied his massive bulk. He blurred across the room and casually backhanded Invincible. The impact was sickeningly loud, sending the Viltrumite crashing through two concrete support pillars.
"Killing you will be an act of mercy," Battle Beast stated coldly as he stalked forward.
Battle Beast didn't even pause his momentum. He spun around and swung his spiked mace directly at Titan. The giant mob enforcer raised the massive Havel's Greatshield to block the incoming strike and he desperately tapped his earpiece to call his someone.
"Please he has my family…he has Fiona…." Titan screamed into the comms.
The spiked mace collided with the stone shield. The sheer kinetic force of the blow shattered the grey artifact completely and sent Titan flying across the room. He crashed into the far wall and was knocked out cold before he even hit the floor.
"Hey, asshole!" Black Samson yelled as he charged forward and desperately tried to land a punch on the alien's jaw.
Battle Beast didn't even flinch. He simply reached out, grabbed Samson by the wrist. The bones crunched loudly under his massive grip. He violently ripped the cybernetic gauntlet clean off the man's arm before throwing him across the room.
Robot hovered backward and processed the overwhelming threat level.
"Black Samson, retreat!" Robot yelled in absolute panic just a second too late.
Samson's head cracked hard against the floor, instantly knocking him unconscious.
Monster Girl roared and threw a massive, haymaker punch. Battle Beast effortlessly caught her giant green fist in his own hand, twisting her arm until the bones snapped audibly, and then brutally kicked her in the chest, sending her sprawling in a broken heap, next to the desk.
Battle Beast looked down at her unconscious form and snorted.
"Pathetic child," Battle Beast rumbled.
Robot desperately fired a continuous beam of disruptive energy at him, but Battle Beast just walked right through it, completely ignoring the burning heat on his fur as he raised his mace and crushed the metal body flat.
We were completely outclassed. Our team was broken, bleeding, and mostly unconscious in less than a minute.
Battle Beast stopped walking and let out a deep sigh of utter boredom.
"Pathetic," Battle Beast declared in pure disgust. He looked down at our broken bodies and rested his bloody mace on his broad shoulder. "This battle is beneath me. There is no honor in killing insects but I shall put an end to your misery."
[Image Here]
But just as he turned toward me and Rex, a familiar but soul-shivering twang echoed through the penthouse.
TWANG.
A massive, golden Tatami gate materialized out of thin air right in the center of the room. Thick fog immediately rushed out from the gate as it slid open, rapidly filling the penthouse with a chilling atmosphere.
The distinct sound of expensive leather boots stepping onto the carpet echoed through the dead silence of the room.
An old, but incredibly basey and confident voice rang out from the fog.
"If you are so incredibly keen on looking for a challenge," the voice said calmly, as he took a slow step forward into the light. "Perhaps I might be of some assistance."
An older man with perfectly slicked-back silver hair and a neatly trimmed beard stepped out of the portal. He was dressed in an immaculate, razor-sharp butler's suit. But what immediately caught my attention was the massive, suffocating aura of pure purple energy flaring violently around his entire body.
[Image Here]
The sheer, oppressive weight of his physical presence made it hard for me to breathe.
The Butler? adjusted his cuffs casually, his piercing blue eyes locking directly onto the massive Lion.
"After all, it has been quite a while since I had a decent bout," he said in a perfectly even and terrifyingly polite tone. "Why don't you help an old man stretch his muscles, Beastkin?"
[A/N]: It was a big one but I wanted to give it all in Dupli-Kate POV.
Also DROP them Stones!!
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