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And as this took place, a villainess was hunting her very last target.
“You mean to tell me yer the one who created those diabolical miscreants, the Physics Five!?” Vagabond, also known as Thomas Fletcher exclaimed to a frightened man with a white suit, almost balding head, and a small, but thick mustache under his nose.
“Y…y…yes! But I must tell you! I think someone is trying to kill me because of it! I’ve heard things… telephone calls. They wanted me to give up the Physics Five! But I soundly refused!” He cried.
“Two things,” Amy Harper, or Shockwave as some know her as, piped in. “Why would anyone want to kill you for that besides us, and why did you send them after us in the first place!?” Shockwave asked in great disbelief. “That Plasma Wisp* of yours tried to kill me!” (NJU#4)
“You don’t understand! I don’t send them out to do my own bidding. I rent them to concerned customers! My company creates them. They’re not real people or heroes! It’s all science! We have some of the greatest minds of Physics and Technology in our laboratories working on these products right now!”
“Wait a second… so people actually, rent heroes?” Shockwave asked.
“Well, we sent out our first prototype group to some technological company. The thing is, they only last for a few months, and then they go kablooey. We’re currently trying to remedy some minor flaws in the formulas. Pretty soon, we can go mass-production!”
“Well, this explains why the Physics Five suddenly disappeared from our quarters,” Shockwave said.
“Now, this down-right doesn’t sound safe,” Vagabond said.
“Who was the first customer you rented it out to?” Shockwave inquired.
“I don’t know… it was too long ago.”
“Dang it, man! Can’t you keep records around here?” Thomas asked.
“Please, don’t hurt me! You must protect me! You’re heroes right? So save! Protect!”
“Well, who’s after you?”
“I don’t know… someone just called saying I better give up my Physics Five. They offered me a good amount of money. But I don’t want their money! I want my Physics Five!”
But as he finished his sentence, the air became silent as Shockwave beckoned for Vagabond to hear a distinct whistling noise coming from outside. A noise that distinctly resembled…fireworks. A skylight in the roof burst into broken shards of glass as a bright light erupted and let out smoke to cloud the heroes’ vision.
“I’m afraid you can’t keep your Physics Five, Mr. Walton.” It was Oblita, who had come for her last target.
“No! I knew this day would come!” Mr. Walton exclaimed in fright.
“Hold on thar, lil’ missy,” Thomas said, pointing his revolver toward the young destroyer. “Now no one has to get hurt.”
She looked at the weapon and scoffed. “Please, a gun? Bullets can’t hurt me. Just try it,” she taunted.
“Now we don’t want to do anything we don’t want…” Vagabond coaxed, cocking his gun.
“I came here for Mr. Walton. Now step aside, or we’ll have some unnecessary casualties,” Oblita threatened.
However, as chance would have it, Oblita was suddenly struck by a spherical blast of electric proportions. She convulsed for a second, and then returned to a floating state, more furious than before.
“No one gets me while my back is turned!” She angrily yelled.
She then sent a powerful purple blast against the perpetrator, and Shockwave was sent hurling backwards in fiery pain.
“Now hold on!” Vagabond yelled, pulling the trigger. He shot twice, and Oblita stood upright and comfortably, easily taking the blows. The bullets ricocheted as if being deflected from a piece of strong metal.
“I really hates bullet-resistant villains…” He said.
Oblita sped toward Thomas with great flight speed and picked him up by the shirt collar, and threw him while in the air against a case full of empty glass bottles and beakers. Vagabond was down for the count.
“No!” Mr. Walton cried, seeing the heroes losing, and losing rapidly.
However, hope was not lost, as Shockwave reemerged from her fallen state. She clasped her hands together, and created a beam of electrical yellow light to form a sphere above her hand. After releasing more current into the bright sphere, she finally triggered the intended effect of her plan. The sphere then exploded into eight more spheres, each bombarding Oblita with great speed and precision. Shockwave then fell to her knees after using much power.
Surprised by this onslaught, Oblita used her quick speed to try and dodge the attacks. She was able to effectually dodge thrice, but by the fourth sphere she was struck, then struck again, and again, and finally, once more. However the electric balls did not explode on impact at once, it seemed as though each sphere waited until it gathered enough energy to reach its utmost power; and finally they burst after some time into an explosion of bright light and smoke.
Shockwave stood silently and watched to see if she had gotten the job done. But she wasn’t foolish enough to know that she did. Because she knew it never was that easy when battling a villainess with such a magnitude of strength and power. Nonetheless, she waited.
She saw Oblita, in her sleeveless, legless, light purple suit, coughing to clear the smoke from her lungs. While she looked to a bit battered, it seemed as though she still had plenty of fight in her left. She knew this was it. She watched as Oblita concluded her coughing, and looked to her with angry eyes. And with great speed, and sudden expectation, she was struck in the face by the powerful fist of the unstoppable rogue.
“I think you know what comes next, Mr. Walton,” Oblita said darkly, narrowing her eyes.
Mr. Walton knelt upon the ground in cowardice.
“No, please! No! I…I…I’ll give them up! I promise! Just don’t do anything to me!”
And the deal was set.
7
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Shrinkray fled into the depths of the compressed chamber, following the many wires which would lead to his destination. He scanned the area, making sure he did not make a wrong move.
Meanwhile, outside, Invisiman hid in fright at the sight of the fortified super-soldier, leaving me to fend for myself.
“Thanks,” I muttered in my mind, evading a blast of red laser.
The super-soldier came rushing toward me in an enraged state. There was a tube that led to the solder’s suit, undoubtedly connected to the source that supplied him with his unique power. Somehow, I needed to get that tube off.
But there was nothing I could do. Each blow I landed was like an aluminum can thrown against a brick wall. I decided to buy time, for I knew the battle would not lean in my favor. A sweep of the feet, and he would have been on the ground. However, I was too presumptuous, as I realized I did no damage or movement to the soldier’s ankles. Immediately after, the soldier thrust two fists down upon the ground, ensuring a small earthquake felt by all.
As I dodged blows, Invisiman attempted to catch hold of the soldier’s connectivity tube.
“Time to shut you down!” He cried, pulling against the tube with all his might.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough. No matter how hard he pulled, the tube would not move.
“What did he do, re-enforce this thing with concrete!?” Invisiman wondered in awe.
But soon, the super-solider moved his super-charged hands to the back of him in order to try and take out the invisible nuisance upon his back. Invisiman was flailing around like a helpless chimp.
“’Lil help here,” he cried.
But there was nothing I could do.
Among the many wires and mechanical tendrils that were scattered about, Shrinkrau finally was able to find the power source of the compression chamber. It was a small, green-glowing sphere that empowered everything it touched.
“What kind of technology is this?” He wondered. “So unique… I’ve never seen anything like it!”
But he was digressing. He needed to find a way to disable it. With all his might, he threw his fist against the sphere. There was not a dent in sight.
“Argh! How can I destroy this? I have no weapons…” Then, an idea sparked inside his mind.
“Except my Shrink ray pistol!” He cried in triumph.
“If I reverse the polarity, I’ll emerge victorious!”
Shrinkray then shot himself with a powerful blast, increasing his own size doubly. He grew as large as he was able, and then crushed the orb with all his might, destroying the power source, and soon escaping the wired chamber. The prison was rendered inoperable.
Inside, Archer and Stargirl were startled by the sudden dimming of lights within the chamber.
“What was that?” Archer wondered, carrying his bow.
“It must be the power! We can get out of here, finally!” Stargirl cried, bolting toward the roof, and lifting the cylindrical prison above the air.
Stargirl, finally liberated from her imprisoned state, looked around for prey in ravaging fury. Then she spotted it. The prey that was going to be devoured…
She threw the cylinder down upon the super-soldier, who was knocked in a rolling frenzy to the opposite wall with a crash. She sped over in flight toward the weakened foe, and ripped off the tube and helmet, revealing a helpless Caltech industry worker.
“Where’s Oblita?!” She cried in anger.
“I… I don’t know!” The frightened worker cried.
“Not so tough now, is he?” Invisiman remarked.
“Tell me! Tell me NOW!” She cried, raising her ready fist.
The man cowered in terror as he hung from the angry heroine’s grasp.
“Hold on, Stargirl!” I said. “I don’t think you want to become what you’ve been trying to stop… now do you?”
Stargirl’s eyes were trembling, but finally relaxed. She threw the soldier upon the ground and left him there… like a sickly mouse abandoned by a hungry cat.
“Better follow her,” Archer said.
And I did just that.
Stargirl forested through the air like an aimed missile seeking its intended target. She would not rest until she had her revenge. Her eyes narrowed as she scouted the city for the one opponent who had bested her in everything she did… herself.
This was most unfortunate, for I had no way of keeping up. I decided to call a cab.
“I’ll give you lots of money to follow that superheroine as best as you can,” I told the cabbie.
“Eh, I got nothin’ to do tonight, anyway,” He said. So we followed her. I had to make sure she didn’t do anything insane… even though she was already trying to stop the insanity.
8
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It was late. I rushed out of the cab upon hearing a loud noise across the street two blocks over. A large dust trail traveled at high speeds as a body brushed against the concrete ground for hundreds of feet. It was Stargirl.
Stargirl, though weakened, rubbed her ailing head and bulleted into the sky once again. She was not done. I saw as the two super-powered girls met with unrelenting force upon impact, each one's fist protruding into the other's face. That had to be painful. Both were forced backward from their normal stances, and took time to recuperate.
I watched in silence at the battle above, preparing to intervene if necessary.
"Don't you get it, little girl? You can't beat me! I'm a thousand times better than you ever were! I was destined to destroy you!" Oblita cried.
"I'm afraid you're the one who's confused, I'm not the evil clone who was spawned from my DNA!"
Stargirl sent a blast of fire from her hand into the face of Oblita, who let out a loud cry, and clutched her face.
Oblita retaliated with an even larger blast that thrust Stargirl down to the ground, crushed against the concrete.
Somehow I knew that Stargirl would never give up this fight. She got back up, and tackled Oblita into a brick wall of an empty building, causing it to shatter to the ground. Fire burned in Stargirl's eyes as she restricted her enemy to the ground. To her surprise, there was nothing Oblita could do to escape. And the spark of Stargirl's wrath was only beginning.
She drew her gloved fists back, and ignited them with yellow flame, proceeding to burn Oblita's face as she punched with each blow.
"Not so cocky now, are you?!" She yelled in anger, thrusting her fists forward as if to knock the life out of her, while Oblita groaned with each blow.
One more strike and she would have caved. Stargirl new this. She raised her arm and drew a great amount of forceful energy within her fist, to make the final cut. However, a hand clutched her shoulder. She looked back.
"Come on, Star, we're done here."
Stargirl looked back, and her eyes lowered. She turned back to Oblita, who was half-conscious, with burns upon her face. She looked pitiful, almost sympathetic, not the deranged villainess that Stargirl once knew. She didn't want someone like her around on the streets, pretending to be her own self. But she couldn't destroy her. She knew this.
Her fist returned to normal, and she raised Oblita up by her costume. Oblita's eyes struggled to open.
"Y... you didn't kill me?" she asked.
"No... I didn't," Stargirl replied. "Because I'm not like you."
"Well..." Oblita answered. "That's a mistake you'll live to regret."
She charged her fists and erupted a forceful blast against the heroine, and she escaped through the whisking air and disappeared into the night.
Stargirl, raised herself from the ground and knelt, pounding her fists against the ground, causing a small quake.
"You did the right thing," I said.
"Yeah, I let her go... to do who knows what."
"Don't forget. You beat her once. You proved yourself. You can do it again. Not only that, but you have allies on your side," I said lending a hand.
She stood up, and nodded.
"I guess you're right. Maybe now since I know what's been causing all my nightmares, I can finally get a good night's rest."
"That is, unless you eat those buffalo wings," I replied.
"Oh, shutup."
And we went home.
9
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