Chapter 51: Deterrent III
Sunder and Cole fist clashed. As if a flashbang exploded, a blinding light swept out. Sunder screamed in pain as his wrist shattered, and icicles spread up his arm at an alarming pace.
His body skidded across the subway yard like a pebble across the water before his figure vanished behind a thunderous clash of metal as he detonated the train cart.
Sunder had superhuman levels of strength, nearing a hundred tons. Cole had just bridged the gap from an enhanced to superhuman physical level with his unadorned body.
"You got him!"
Sunder veered around, taking his eyes from the destroyed remains of the old train cart. 'Marrow? When did she arrive?' He thought. She smelled like a campfire, and her hair was a lot shorter.
"Argh," Sunder growled, dropping onto one knee. He seldom took injuries. The nature of his hideous mutation had at least afforded him a physio that could withstand a lot.
His arm was numb from the cold that hung to his flesh, the source of the almost brightly pulsating icicles that protruded from his arm. The arching pain brought him to his knee. He took another look toward the train cart in fear. Sunder shivered; arctic air exhaled from his lungs as the chilling blow penetrated his body.
"Sunder!" Callisto strode over, disheveled, mad at being tossed away by the mutant. Her dagger gripped tightly in her hand.
Sunder grumbled in acknowledgment of her anger. He had never been hurt to this level, even when he battled with Blockbuster, a Marauder.
Callisto and Marrow exchanged looks. The bone-manipulating mutant stare shifted from meeting her eyes and looked toward the crumbled train cart.
"No way he survives that, big guy." Marrow gloated.
He shook his head, not accepting the victory. "If he's not down, I won't be useful." Callisto frowned, looking around at the onlookers. Her facial expressions became conflicted.
"I will help. I'm sorry for leaving. Masque had promised to fix us, but I couldn't go through with it at the cost he offered. "Marrow explained.
"There will be a reckoning." Callisto bandaged arm writhled. "But now we defend our home as one. The Marauders don't care about inner group politics, just the extermination of our kind."
"What of his claims?" Sunder questioned.
"Too good to be true. My gut is telling me it's a trap. Callisto replied.
"What are we dealing with." Callisto's tone shifted, and she slid back into her leadership role.
"I've fought him once." Marrow added. "He can control fire and ice; he's not to be underestimated."
She looked at Sunder's arm and swallowed. "He burnt me pretty bad, too."
"He had similar power to Caliban. I'm unsure if it's the same." She paused and regained control of her breathing.
She continued. "He's fast, wields blades, and has electricity-related powers."
"Doubt he-
Metal shrieked as two gauntlet hands gripped the edges of the hole. Cole snorted in derision. He pulled himself from the destroyed remains of the decommissioned train cart.
The eyes of the Morlocks landed on the figure. Alarm writing itself across their faces. Nobody knew who said it, but it was ushered not in fear but wonder.
"That's Red Hood."
Cole's arm stung. He tested its motion as he whined it up like a pitcher, ignoring the astonished onlookers. All around them, Morlocks came from the tunnel. Eyes were spectating the battle taking place below them.
Angelica: What a bitch! I can't believe they attacked you after I said you were willing to help.
Jeremy York: I don't mind. I needed to test myself anyway.
Angelica: Bullseye thought you were down and out after your clash. Why did you run toward him like that?
Bullseye: Bet was he was unconscious. Glad I didn't place money on it. I'm starting to be afraid of you, kid.
Jeremy York: What better way to test my strength than against a Brute? And It'll take more than that to stop me, guys.
He slid the messages out of his immediate sight as his team went back and forth about the Morlocks and what they would have done differently.
The clash with Sunder had crushed every bone in his arm and shoulder and even fractured his ribs. His healing factor and chi infusion had made it seem like he hadn't even been injured.
'Not enough.' He thought. He still wasn't where he needed to be. If he wanted to avenge his family and uproot The Hand, he needed more power.
He scanned above him, feeling like he was in an arena match in Ancient Rome as the spectator's hushed murmurs poured down upon him.
He spread his arms out as if beckoning everyone to come.
"I offered your leader a way out." His voice reverberated. The mask technology made his voice heavy and insidious. His Fear Inducement power is lacing his words.
"Liar! You're with the Marauders." Callisto screamed in indignation.
He smirked underneath his cowl. She had no idea he was playing on a whole other spectrum. Her words were useless.
As if ignoring her, he continued. "Masque wanted to enslave, and Callisto wants your obedience."
"I want my people safe from those like you." She argued.
"She plays at being a queen. Look at her; she isn't one of you, a scarred face?" He scoffed.
"You were born with your condition. Some of you were mutated from your x-gene awakening. I offer you a cure, a return to society."
He paused his speech, letting his power seep into everyone. He hadn't even tried enrapturing dozens of people at once, and he felt limits as his ability ebbed.
"Alfred, how true are my words? I'm winging it here." He subvocalized.
"In the realm of possibility. If you can get one of them to undergo rigorous testing and research." Alfred answered.
Too bad he didn't have a geneticist persona. But he did have ATC and all of its genetic engineering technology.
"What is the cost?" Someone shouted from above.
That's all it took as dozens of voices clamored to be heard. He smiled as his eyes glowed iridescent, locking in on the speaker.
"Paltry compared to what you're already paying. Come and work for me. I'll pay you all top dollar and give you positions that fit you specifically."
Callisto growled as she realized she was losing her people again, this time to an outsider. She looked around, shocked at her friends and family willing to betray her further.
"No." She muttered.
"You can't." Her voice grew more assertive.
"This is not our way." She practically yelled, her lither body shuddering in rage.
"I challenge you for the right to lead. If you can-
He laughed at her and pointed toward the trio. "Come at me at once. Show me you three deserve to live." He meant it. He had no qualms about killing them.
Admittedly, he wanted Callisto on his side, but it seemed he arrived too late, and she had lost her way. How can such a person train him?
Chimes went off in his mind, and he smiled under at the Red cowl. His resolve has updated the mission.
He would enjoy the rewards.
Caliban
Seldom did he feel genuine fear, but that mutant had made him flee once his power failed, and the indescribable feeling of dread emanating from his chest burned the memory of his cowardness.
He had heard the battle. He rushed toward the Maruader, wanting to help his compatriots. A bat flared before him out of the shadow, and he flailed, backpedaling.
Neither Caliban nor Cole knew the rules of the game played outside their sight. The battle of fragments had been over the moment he fled.
Rout had been a condition, and Calliban failed.
Cole Stephens vs Morlocks
His mindset shifted as he delved into his personas. He dodged, not stepping back. To the surprise of his opponents, his taser materialized in his hand.
Marrow shrieked as the high-powered taser prongs embedded themselves in her chest and electrocuted her.
"You again?" He hadn't expected her to return so soon, but she didn't have one of the most remarkable healing factors. If he recalled, it was related to her extreme mutation.
He ducked underneath another blow. He flung his hand out, Bolas churning through the air, a staple of the Batfamily. They are customarily thrown around the feet of their enemies to tie them with a composite nylon cord. It often causes an escaping opponent to trip. The button push in Batman's glove can deliver an electric shock.
Cole activated the shocking function, and his laughter cut through the arena as he listened to Sunder cry of pain.
"Bastard." Growled Callisto. Her blade slid across his suit, gouging the armor. He tapped his utility belt and equipped his pop-out katana as he and Callisto engaged each other in enhanced speed.
His blade sang as Chi latched onto the weapon. An aura or wisps of life refracted off the blade. The two danced. Callisto had the edge, her ability granting her forethought, but he had the brute strength and grit to make her bleed.
The pop-out blade crumbled. Her blade embedded into his chest, his heart thumped, and blood gushed from his mouth, splattering the inside of the cowl. He front-kicked her, her blade remaining as his life's blood poured out through the wound.
He stared down at the blade. "Vibranium." He whispered, his breath visible from the ports in the cowl as the air grew colder and the icy wind crystallized.
"Sir, your vitals are growing haywire," Alfred stated.
His heart thundered in his chest. Such a wound would have been fatal. But he drew from
His dantian. It was minuscule, but due to the system and his unique characteristics, it was pure, pure, unbridled life poured into him.
"Monitor and save the data. I want to try something." He returned.
An aura of Electricity crackled around his arms like snakes coiling around prey. His red bat logo glowed. He grabbed the dagger, tossing it with enough force that it shattered the tunnel wall.
Chi was The power to manipulate the flow of latent energy in the physical body. Variation of Energy Manipulation and Life-Force Manipulation. Esoteric counterpart of Bio-Energy Manipulation and physical counterpart of Aura Manipulation.
Life-force energy exists in all beings. He harnessed his inner power to enhance his superhuman capabilities, but that wasn't all.
The control of one's Chi can allow for extraordinary abilities, strength, speed, stamina, durability, and reflexes, or in some cases, enabling the use of energy blasts, elemental manipulation, hyper-awareness, and sometimes nigh invulnerability.
Sunder emerged from the setback. His face scrunched in rage. His arms spread outward in what could only be described as an attempt to bear hug him.
He moved, appearing before the large Morlock, his palm flat on the man bare-chested. Cole could feel the man's heartbeat, his inner Chi. He pushed, and a bio-electric pulse blasted the Morlocks across the yard, his body slamming into the tunnel walls in a thunderous explosion.
Callisto screamed and ran toward him, disheveled and hurt. Cole dodged her telegraphed blow. He wanted her to understand her loss. He let her strike, and he countered.
His blows seemed light, but her body shook from each attack. She flailed. He tripped her quickly and grabbed her normal arm as she dangled in his grasp.
"You lose again." He stated. She squirmed, but her fight was over. He noticed the tentacled mass of her other arm. Alfred had already analyzed her and knew he could heal her with the Stargate tech.
He scanned the onlookers. "This is who you follow?" Murmurs started up. He ignored them and stared at Callisto.
He summoned his katana. The sheath slid off as he pressed it on underneath her arm.
"Queen no longer. You work for me."
"Never." She whispered.
His blade swept out again. A strangled cry rang out in the quiet yard; his ability washed over the makeshift arena, the sound of a screaming woman the only sound to be heard.