8:48 PM 23rd March, 1989.
The giant green thing raised a massive fist over me as I watched, momentarily stunned.
The following moment gunfire rang out, heavy guns. Fist sized holes were blown into the creature in a stream, causing green fluid to splatter onto the asphalt and corrode it. It lowered the arm to defend from the annoying stings.
I took that moment to take flight, moving sharply back and away. That was far too close. He had me dead to rights.
"GGGGG!" It ground out, in frustration… and I can honestly say I was surprised it had emotions.
It aimed at one of the armed vehicles with the other arm and let loose. To be foiled by yet another barrier, one placed in the path of the spray, just out of reach of the creature. It is good thing my barriers, aside from a slight haze are completely transparent. The creature seems blind to them.
It glanced at me and pointed both arms my way. I played turtle under a wide barrier as the spray began, but to make things interesting, apparently the creature could learn. Because while one arm continued to blind me behind my barrier with acid, the other moved to target a French military vehicle. They saw it coming and threw the machine into movement I could sense, trying to evade.
They failed.
In scant moments the vehicle was a melted wreck and the occupants, very, very dead.
That didn't stop the other vehicles and soldiers taking potshots, or the helicopter that joined the assault a moment ago unleashed a flurry of rockets from underneath a pair of stubby wings.
The creature groaned under the assault, before turning and running blindly as it sloshed, splashing green ichor everywhere in it's path. The question of course, where the heck was it headed.
Until a soldier swore in realisation.
It is headed straight for the outskirts of Paris. It was too dumb to know better; if it could even understand the costs of it's actions.
I'd have to slow it down until conventional firepower could be applied.
At that moment Fleur called on the radio she gave me. "Found the laboratory's manifest. There is a significant quantity of liquid nitrogen being used for experiments and specimen storage. A vat. The helicopter has orders to follow the monster, come retrieve it."
Perfect. Turning I rushed into the lab, to find Fleur emerging from the basement by the stairway.
No time for subtlety and minimising damage in this situation, I pulled her down with me to give directions. The vat, the size of a small swimming pool and several feet tall was heavier than a small car. Unscrewing the bolts holding it in place I lifted it carefully, before tearing some of the concrete roof away using the embedded steel rebar to give me a quick exit.
Turning I followed the creature, as I passed I emptied the truck filled with steel for my use as projectiles, using a steel plate to provide a platform as footing for myself and Fleur as I flew.
She coordinated with me and the helicopter over the radio, by relaying the direction and current movements of the green creature.
We saw the flashes of rocket impacts as we caught up.
It had just waded through a stream and was ten minutes at current best speed from emerging into a heavily populated suburban area.
A second helicopter buzzed, high overhead. A news chopper, most likely broadcasting live.
The armed helicopter was called off, just in time as the creature lashed out with a pinpoint stream of goop at high pressure; which passed beside the evading military vehicle.
I moved down, getting in it's path and raising a barrier. As it slowed to strike me, the vat of liquid nitrogen slammed into it's back. I let the entire thing get swallowed and dissolved, just for the inevitable reaction as the seal on the liquid container was breached.
The creature froze solid. In places. Not a complete freeze, as it could still move the left arm and leg slightly. But the reaction slowly died off and then began to reverse.
"Damn, it wasn't enough!" I groaned as he took a step forward.
"We can't let it into Paris! Who knows how many lives would be lost if it does!" Fleur responded.
"I'll do what I can to stall. Call up any reinforcements you can to deter it. If it comes down to it, we may only have one remaining option. Shout for help from Superman… if we're lucky he'll hear us." I growled. "But until then, we struggle on!"
I set her down back as far as I could and then moved forward, to do the one thing I could do well.
All out attack.
I sent down the sheets of steel and several rods, tearing and slashing into the creature as it trudged, barely mobile, onward.
I aimed at the goop directly below the arm, trying to sever the connection. The first sheet got stuck past the half way mark, but the second from the opposite side came up and they met in the middle with a clang, as the arm dropped to the ground.
With a jerk, I threw the creature's unconnected arm aside, back towards the stream and focused on the other. A mistake I immediately regretted as the severed limb was replaced by a tentacle limb of pulsating green fluid spinning like a vortex which lashed out at me across the distance like a whip.
Even as the second metal limb was severed the regenerated first struck against a hastily erected barrier around me at the very last moment and hurled me down into the ground. In a round barrier like a hamster ball, I spun out of control.
The barrier at least absorbed the impact to a degree, as I got a mouthful of sod and left an imprint of my body in the wet soil. I think I cracked a rib or two.
As I lay, listening to footsteps shuddering the earth I heard heard a shout. Female. Fleur.
I stood up to catch sight of her hurling a grenade, which bounced off the green skin before exploding.
Big Green really disliked that, sending a lash of his right fluid tentacle at her which she evaded with an acrobatic flip. She followed up with a leap over a back handed swipe that would have placed her in a world record position in high jump on a normal Earth.
But human is still human, the protean arm curved and came after her as she descended.
With a gesture I gave her a barrier as a foothold, giving her the opportunity to leap aside at the last moment to avoid the chemical monstrosity's blow mid air.
It lashed out again, with both arms.
Fleur leaned back to avoid the first, I backed her up by sending several plates of steel down like shurikens, hacking into the flailing green limbs.
"GGGGGG!" The giant groaned, as it drew the arms back in pain as they were partially severed along their length. I followed up by sending plates to slam into the torso at chest height and ramming them home with metal rods, trying to slice the gelatinous goop in half like dough with a cookie cutter.
It slumped and the green fluid poured from the great gash. But as always, the gash began to seal, the fluid to return to the main body. And thus Fleur and I waited. For the onslaught to come.