Chapter 11: Out-Cognito
The day had come and gone, the events dully noted and recorded in the archives. Grimscott and Yacazuma have snuck out of the couple’s home with no obvious problems as far as stealth and staying lowkey. The two split off on their own business, and Grimscott reported back to her normal post the next day: the front desk of the Brawlers’ High Command building.
After hearing that scampering noise, John and Swordkill followed the path for another two hours before returning to the building, where the MadGamer awaited them. The search resulted in nothing physically, but John was deadset on the fact that there was something unusual in that pit. But there weren’t any more of the Watchmen that could have accompanied them on another search, so MadGamer reluctantly decided to hold off the search until the next day. That’s where John, Swordkill, and McJesus were headed today. MadGamer instructed the lot to head off to the Cavern to continue the search from where John and Swordkill had left off. Now MadGamer had matters to attend to with another Brawler.
In the room with MadGamer was a man with an entirely-blue body, like a jumpsuit that covered him literally from head-to-toe. The only thing about his body that wasn’t blue were his eyes. There, he had white slits with black outlines carved into this jumpsuit of his.
“Good to see you could make it here, Gunsmith,” MadGamer greeted the blue man.
“Good to see you...” Gunsmith said almost reluctantly. “So, uh... what were you wanting me here for, exactly?”
“We gotta hurry with this, so I’ll just tell you: I was wanting you to become the next Watchman.”
Gunsmith raised his eyebrows in a bit of surprise.
“Seriously? I mean, why me though?”
“You’re a strong Brawler, and a lot of the Brawlers have a lot of respect for you,” MadGamer explained. “And we need another member to fill up the spot Elementell left... still haven’t quite got that taken care of...”
“You need me to help you find the missing Brawlers, don’t you?” Gunsmith asked dully.
MadGamer shrugged, and waved his hand around in a bit of a stall.
“Ehhhh.... yeeeah. There’s that, too.”
Gunsmith’s eyes glared at seemingly nothing and his mouth made smacking noises to show his disapproval.
“I... ugh. Look, this is something they gotta do on their own. The rest of Brawl City can’t get caught up in this crap.”
“You don’t think that they might need help?” MadGamer asked.
“You want me to help out Bloodlust?” Gunsmith asked, remembering that the Brawler Bloodlust, his archenemy, was among the missing.
“Yeah-hah, no. I’m not doing that.”
“Well, what about Balto and Psibat and, and, and the other guys?” MadGamer asked.
“Well, they’re still helping Bloodlust, so no. Besides, isn’t Metalhead on that list, too? Last I heard, he wants to kill us.”
MadGamer rolled his eyes. And gave a huff of frustration. At the moment, he was trying to figure out how to get Gunsmith to switch over to his side.
*****
Grimscott sat in her usual spot on this day. Her feet were kicked up on the actual desk as she waited for a call, reading a comic book. This time around, she received a newly-received copy of Batman: the Killing Joke.
A mighty wind blew into the building’s entrance. The book Grimscott held shook in the wind and her hair, kilt, and hat ruffled around like autumn leaves. Grimscott didn’t seem to notice, for the rest of her body just sat still, ignoring the sudden monsoon hitting the room. She looked over the comic book to see who she expected caused the breeze.
“Weeee bit late, eh Quickfeet?” she asked from behind her book.
“Shut up,” he told her. “I had to take care of a grudge match...”
“D’ya win?”
Quickfeet was making his way to the elevator. He stopped at Grimscott’s desk, however, and stopped there for a moment.
“You friggin know it ”
Grimscott looked up from the view of the comic book.
“Yeah, I’m sure you cheated or something... Hey MadGamer’s wantin’ ya to help out the others.”
“Oh, goodie... where at?” he asked.
Grimscott flipped the comic book back into view.
“Out in the Cavern somewhere. I dunno where they are. You’ll find ‘em in no time, though.”
“Well, duh. S’cuse me for a sec. I’m grabbing a cup of joe first,” Quickfeet said as he stepped in the elevator.
Grimscott only answered with an abrupt “Kay ” and let Quickfeet rise up to the room in front of MadGamer’s office.
*****
“See, I told ya you waited too long ”
“Relax. I’m still too fast for him.”
“For that guy? Were we looking at the same dude in orange?”
“Yeah, don’t you worry your pretty little head.”
“Hey, shut your damn mouth Just wait, he’s gonna kick your ass...”
*****
“Alright, fine I’ll do it ” Gunsmith finally agreed.
“Fantastic The Brawlers are gonna be thrilled about this ” MadGamer said with a fist pump. “Let me get your new badge and everything, and it’ll be official.”
MadGamer jumped from behind the desk and was at a cabinet of drawers, opening one to search for the tiny piece of authority.
“So, I’m not gonna have to help with the whole search thing, right?” Gunsmith asked.
“Nope Just like we agreed... Ah-ha ” MadGamer finally pulled out the badge that every Watchman wore, the one once belonging to Elementell the Trouble-Maker.
“You could still help out if you want...” MadGamer suggested.
Gunsmith looked up at him with glaring eyes and a crooked mouth. MadGamer stared back on with an expectant smile, despite the awkward silence.
“No thanks. I’m good,” Gunsmith told him as he snatched the badge away.
MadGamer looked mopey.
“Alright, fine... Oh, yeah I gotta have you sign something real fast ”
MadGamer jumped back towards the file cabinet again and pulled out on another drawer. Just like how he did with the badge, MadGamer rummaged and tore through the items in this drawer too, which turned out to be deep with stuff. Finally, he pulled out a dirty brown book. He placed it on his palm like how a waiter might hold a pizza and blew the dust away. He brought it to the desk and flipped it open. Afterwards, he gestured Gunsmith to come look at the inside of the book, which he did.
“This is where the Watchmen sign to make everything one-hundred percent official. Your name stays in here forever. It’s kinda like a Watchman archive.”
Gunsmith looked over the page it was opened to, which is apparently the spot where his name was to be added.
“Huh. Does this thing go all the way back?”
“Yup All the way back to when Trinidex was the boss,” MadGamer told him.
Gunsmith looked around the desk for a pen. He found it quickly enough and held it to the book. There was a line that MadGamer gestured at for Gunsmith to write down his name. A couple scribbles later, and Gunsmith’s place in the league of Watchmen had come to fruition. But a series of noises outside of the room interrupted them.
*****
The Cavern’s innards were occupied by three of the Watchmen: McJesus, John, and Swordkill. It was them and one other Brawler that accompanied them. She was a beautiful woman, flawless physically in every way. Her skin was a light and creamy color and was smooth from head-to-toe. Her hair was a silky-brown with ends that fluffed out at her shoulders. She had piercing blue eyes that were the exact same shade as the bluest sky, and sparkled so fabulously with an unending supply of hope behind them. Out of her back sprouted a pair of wings that have lifted her up to amazing heights. And much like her husband, a golden band encircled the crown of her head, except hers was complete while McJesus’s was broken in places. It was as if she had fallen from Heaven Above. Which she genuinely had.
Her name was Angelface, and she had supposedly been crafted by the very hands of God in Heaven as one of His angels. Some would say that He sent her to be McJesus’s bride so she could act as his guardian angel, constantly watching over him. Though more would say that theory is ridiculous once they consider McJesus’s powers of combustion. To most, she was just a Brawler that resembled one of God’s warriors. Her wings not only allowed her to fly as high as she wished, but they could also grow to any size desired. And with the wings being damn-near indestructible, she could act as an unbreakable shield many times, a power partially inherited by her son. And for whatever reason, Angelface had the ability to detach some of her limbs to reach great lengths, a power inherited to a much higher degree by her daughter.
Angelface had heard of the task assigned to McJesus and his band of Watchmen. Being his loving wife, Angelface loved spending time with McJesus whenever his schedule would allow, and this was one of those opportunities (despite what little romantic feelings could be found with a Brawler like Swordkill around).
“You guys find anything?” McJesus asked to the group behind him. He was leading the pack, Angelface almost right next to him. The other two Brawlers both said no and the two kept on going. The four Brawlers were in a larger section of the Cavern. It was very deep, but also very wide, wide enough to be engulfed completely by the light from aboveground.
“So, what do you think you’ll find here?” Angelface asked McJesus sweetly. Her voice was just as beautiful as her looks might imply.
“Ask John,” he replied, flinging his head towards said Brawler. “He and SK were the ones through here before.”
Swordkill muttered to himself.
“Ask John? Not ‘Ask John or Swordkill’? Okay, I see how it is...”
“I dunno what’s here,” John replied to the two. “I’m thinking it’s got something to do with the missing Brawlers. Last time we were here, something ran from us.”
“Maybe, I could fly on ahead?” Angelface asked. “See if I find anything? The lighting is pretty good.”
Swordkill could be seen smacking his forehead with the palm of his hand.
“Dur Why didn’t I think of that last time? ”
“Because you were too concentrated on leaving...?” John glared.
McJesus was looking towards the ground, at nothing in particular. He was thinking about Angelface’s suggestion, stopping the walking through the Cavern. The other three stood around him and waited for him to say something to them, let them know what was on his mind.
“What if something is here?” McJesus wondered. “I don’t want anything happening to you...”
Swordkill clasped his hands near his face sarcastically.
“Awww... adowrabwle ”
John quickly smacked him upside the head.
“I’ll be fine, hon ” she assured McJesus. Afterwards, she gave him a quick peck on the cheek.
“I’ll be up ahead.”
Angelface’s wings grew slightly and spread themselves open. In seconds, she was off and twirling up in the air to gain altitude, and then flew down the path of the Cavern. McJesus looked as if he wanted to say something, but by the time he could get his mouth open, Angelface was gone.
John approached McJesus, his knuckles against his hips.
“So you think something’s in here too, eh?”
“Just in case...” McJesus muttered. He turned to Swordkill. “Hey Do me a favor and fly up so you can see her, okay?”
Swordkill raised an eyebrow and smirked.
“Worried about our little dollface honey bunches of oats, are we?”
McJesus glared distastefully at him, and John started a parental scolding of sorts. Swordkill held up his hands in a motion that said “calm down”.
“Alright, alright, I’m going ” Swordkill told them. He stuck two fingers in his mouth and whistled back down the Cavern’s path, leaving a thin trail behind it. A yellow blob shot down his way like a small rocket and stopped on a dime at Swordkill’s feet. Once it was up close, it could be clearly seen that the little rocket was a orangish-yellow cloud. Swordkill jumped on its top and jetted straight up towards the sky. From the hole in the ground, the other two Brawlers could see the bottom of Swordkill’s cloud, as its rider looked off into the distance.
“Worried about her much?” John asked as he approached McJesus.
“A little. Can’t help it, you know,” McJesus answered. “Sort of comes with the territory.”
“Well, if I was stupid enough to get married, I’d know exactly what you mean.”
McJesus looked over to John and gave sort of a smirk of approval, which John happily returned. As the two stood idly by, they could hear Swordkill shout.
“Ho, shit ”
Both McJesus and John looked up to Swordkill’s spot in the sky. The dreary-eyed, worrisome McJesus about opened his mouth to ask what Swordkill was yelling for, but the cloud shot off down the Cavern’s path too quickly. And less than a heartbeat later, McJesus was sprinting down the Cavern’s path.
*****
The door opened yet again. Grimscott didn’t appear to notice at first. She figured that one of the Watchmen was back from their patrol on the Cavern. The steps came closer and closer to her, but she still didn’t put down the book. Eventually, her curiosity gained a hold of her and she finally looked past the pages. Her eyes peered over to see the glimpse of a very familiar face.
She began to greet him as she went back to the comic book.
“Hey there, Muh-”
But mid-sentence, she figured out something wasn’t right. She looked back to the elevator quickly, and then back to the person in front of her. They looked exactly the same... or their faces did, anyways.
“What the hell?!”
The comic book slammed down on the desk and Grimscott whipped out her scythe as fast as she could. Grimscott’s teeth gritted and her foot pressed against the desk. All of the force in her went towards shooting herself at the imposter and swinging the scythe at him. She landed on the floor and sprinted at the man, who looked upon her with a vast amount of smugness.
Grimscott finally reached the man and swung the scythe at the figure as hard as she could. He was unmoving, and last Grimscott saw, he didn’t even make an attempt to dodge the blow. But when that scythe whipped around and took aim at the man... it hit nothing except for air.
Grimscott looked on with confusion. A tense face looked ahead to find the man, but he was nowhere in sight. Then, a sharp blow. Grimscott felt an immense amount of pain as something struck the back of her neck. Her vision began to fade and her legs turned to gelatin. With what little sensibility she had left after the hit, Grimscott tried to retain her balance and turn to face the figure behind her. She made it half way before her legs finally decided that it was time for her to hit the floor. Her vision faded to black as she passed out, and she could only watch the man as he headed up the elevator.
*****
Both pairs of legs were leaping and bounding over rocks that strew the path. McJesus was way in front of the duo, while John was heaving as hard as he could to simply keep up. McJesus had his mind racing as he ran, making the dodging of the rocks on the ground almost mindless; he wasn’t even really aware of how fast he was going. All he wanted to do was get there, feeling anxious as time kept on pressuring him.
The two found a point of the Cavern’s path that curved, bowed like the letter U. McJesus was just around the bend when what sounded like an explosion sounded behind him. He looked back and saw a huff of dust and dirt pluming into the air and heard the noises of gravel and stone bouncing along the dirt. As the haze cleared, he could see John laying on the ground. And on top of him was Swordkill.
John wriggled his way free from the weight of Swordkill’s body, which had him pinned for a short moment. He looked where the dust was forming and saw a hole about the size of Swordkill drilled into the Cavern’s stone wall. A sudden idea entered John’s head, one that filled him with some worry and some excitement.
“Swordkill!” he said as he knelt next to him. “Swordkill, you alright?”
Swordkill grunted in discomfort as he propped himself up with his sword. His face, his body, his hair, his everything was covered with dirt and grime. As he stood, he rubbed the sore part of his torso and gleamed angrily back into the hole in the wall, seemingly ignoring John and the approaching McJesus.
Swordkill took a step, and his sword revved loudly.
“C’MERE YOU DOUCHEBAGS!!!”
McJesus arrived as Swordkill was leaping through the hole in the wall. His first instinct was that Angelface was on the other side and so he followed Swordkill in the blind rampage. John followed as well, figuring the two might need his help. But mostly because of his curiosity.
Bullets were flying from the other side of the hole where Swordkill was. McJesus and John emerged from behind him, and they could hear the disgruntled cries and yells as Swordkill cut through the bodies of a number of people. They looked over in time to hear a loud smack of leather against flesh. Swordkill let out an grunt and flew over the ground at a rocketing speed.
McJesus looked over to what hit Swordkill, but he couldn’t see it. All his saw was a stick clobbering him right in his nose. McJesus fell backwards and saw a figure bound over him. Near his head, the figure let out a punch, and a green glow of light erupted. McJesus couldn’t see the impact, but he could hear John reeling back in pain (amongst all the chaos and confusion there already was).
McJesus rose up to his knees and turned to face John. He could see John fist-fighting with that figure, the two dodging gracefully between each other’s moves. At one point, the figure jumped out of the way of John’s punches, then kneed John in the stomach and slammed both fists against his shoulders. John was on the ground, and the figure’s left hand glowed in green. McJesus only looked in that direction and gave a glare. An explosion erupted from under the enemy figure and launched him into the air. But immedately after, a thundering series of steps roared behind McJesus. And a familiar punch shot him high toward’s the Cavern’s mouth, then back onto the ground with a thud.
Rising from having his face in the ground, McJesus turned around to face the suspect of that hit. The dust was clearing, only to cover the feet of all of the combatants in the Cavern. McJesus saw that creature there. The giant tree he saw before, gleaming at him with those pure-black eyes. Three of the four hands it had clenched in anger. The other one was holding a limp and bleeding Angelface.
*****
Quickfeet pulled the pot out and poured some of the concoction into a mug. He could hear MadGamer discussing something with what sounded like Gunsmith. He looked back at the door for a moment, but his curiosity didn’t hold. Quickfeet was never the reconnaissance type. He found it way too dull and tedious. He ignored the conversation radiating from the other side of the office doors and headed towards the elevator door, slurping on his mug.
An eyebrow was raised when the elevator door dinged. He stopped for a moment to see who was in the car. An noise emitted as the door opened. Quickfeet looked to the car with completely opened doors. No one was inside.
Quickfeet’s eyes squinted and his suspicion rose quickly on his face. He chugged the rest of the coffee and threw the mug carelessly to the ground. His posture hunched over and swirls of tiny tornados wrapped around his hands, sucking in the air around him. His eyes darted around the room hectically to look for the intruder he knew was here. No matter where he looked however many times, there seemed to be absolutely no one else in that room.
“Come on out, you coward...” Quickfeet muttered to himself.
“Fair enough,” said a voice. From right behind him.
Quickfeet began to spin around to face the enemy. He slammed the back of his fist around and let out a giant slash of wind that toppled over vending machines and furnitures in the room. But it didn’t touch any living being. Because there was no one in the wind’s path.
As soon as the wind was released, Quickfeet couldn’t move his arms. He felt the full-nelson hold of someone behind him, pressing against Quickfeet’s shoulder blades with his elbows. Quickfeet slammed his feet solidly against the floor and gritted his teeth. A circle of breezes began at Quickfeet’s feet and rose up to his head. The tornado Quickfeet spawned encircled both him and the person holding him. Quickfeet built up the energy as fast as he could to blow the person off of his back. The intruder’s feet were lifting off the ground and Quickfeet could feel his body flap and flutter in the intense winds that were tossing around everything else in the room.
Quickfeet put more focus into throwing the man off of him with these winds all around. But he could feel that intruder shift his grip very suddenly. His arms slipped out from Quickfeet’s elbows to release him from the crippling hold. And then the man’s palms were pressed against his ears. Quickfeet could feel the man wriggling and writhing in the tornado that engulfed them both. But the man seemed to work up enough force in his arms despite it. Next thing Quickfeet knew, the wind had faded away, calm was restoring to the room, and his neck was twisted in an unnatural position.
*****
The creature swung a pair of giant fists at McJesus. A quick swoop towards the ground, and McJesus was out of the way. Another arm was swung at him and McJesus managed to kick his way backwards and avoid that as well. All the while the creature was moving, McJesus could clearly see Angelface flopping in the thing’s grasp, as if he were carrying a life-size doll into the battlefield.
Now McJesus stood a decent distance from this monster, which turned to face him. He pointed at the hulking beast and created tiny balls of sparks right at the creature’s “skin”. The sparks rattled and bursted into great balls of fire directly on the beast’s body, McJesus carefully aiming so that Angelface wasn’t caught in the blasts.
The creature wasn’t phased in the slightest. Literally no reaction at all. Flame was folding against the monster’s body at an incredible amount, but the damn thing felt nothing of it. The creature stood there and took the beating, standing there as if it were waiting for a bus. At the same time, McJesus was exerting as much energy as he could into his self-made explosions.
This monster finally decided that it had enough. It took an arm and swung at McJesus. At the right moment, its respective claw released its load, and Angelface’s body was rocketing at McJesus’s head.
*****
“What in the world...?” MadGamer was almost forced to ask himself. Both he and Gunsmith were looking curiously at the door, wondering at the noises on the other side. Gunsmith’s curiosity gained hold of him. Quickly, let lightly and quietly stepping, Gunsmith leapt over to the door to the office.
The door creaked open slowly. Gunsmith’s head was near the crack, peering into the light of the next room as it opened. He looked all around the room as the door opened, looking for anything as soon as possible. At first he didn’t see anything...
The door was kicked in and smashed into the wall on its hinges. Gunsmith was shot back towards the back of the room, the back of his knees catching the desk’s edge, tumbling him over to the other side and out of sight.
MadGamer’s glance followed Gunsmith all the way back to where he landed and where he knocked papers and objects all around. MadGamer turned back towards the door with an open jaw. All that took up his view was a face. It looked at him menacingly, wearing a sinister grin of glee. MadGamer was all but too close to literally jumping out of his skin at the sight of the face. It wasn’t a stranger. If he didn’t know any better, the MadGamer would’ve sworn that he was looking in a mirror.
“‘ello there, guv’na ” the clone mocked.
MadGamer reached down at his side. Along with his portal gun, he also carries a couple of other weapons with him. He flicked up a hand-held drill, which spun immediately, and took aim at the person in front of him. But the clone knocked the drill away with a quick blow to MadGamer’s arm. The other arm took MadGamer and threw him to the ground. The clone raised his foot to stomp MadGamer into the floor.
But a loud shot rang all around the room, and the clone stumbled back, clutching his bloody shoulder. He looked to the source, and Gunsmith stood there behind the desk, a handgun clutched in his fingers. That was Gunsmith’s power: materialization and excessive skill with guns of any sort.
The noise rang out again. Before it could, the clone’s hand blurred to press a button on his body. And before the bullet left the barrel, the clone had disappeared. The bullet whizzed by and went through the wall, hitting nothing else. And suddenly Gunsmith felt a smack against his side. The clone had reappeared to smash a hand into Gunsmith. The other hand caught the falling blue man by his head, and slammed it against the desk like a basketball. The clone took Gunsmith by the shoulder and pinned him down on said desk, and the other hand’s fingers pointed for a kind of attack. And the clone suddenly stopped when he got a good look at his opponent.
“Ooooooh... of all the people to see,” the clone told him. “I didn’t think I’d find you here.”
Gunsmith’s eyes squinted in disbelief. He eventually voiced the question on his mind.
“And you know me how?”
“I’m an acquaintance of a good friend of yours,” the clone said. “Remember a lad by the name of ‘Dr. Genius’?”
Gunsmith’s eyes widened not a second after the first few syllables of that name were uttered, an unescapable memory seeping up out of his brain. He muttered something out of realization.
“You’re with The Factory...”
“Bingo, Scooter!”
The clone clutched on to Gunsmith’s head once more and smashed it against the desk, hitting a stapler and a paper weight in the process. The dazed Gunsmith was taken by his shoulders by the clone and hurled against the wall behind him. That wall, however, is mostly a giant window. A shattering sound, and Gunsmith disappeared out of the building.
Not a moment later, the clone disappeared again. At this point, MadGamer had managed to get back on his feet, but not soon enough. That clone had the MadGamer again and pinned his left hand against his back, pressing his body hard against the wall. With the other hand, the clone pressed a radio on his ear.
“Finales The Gamer is mine ”
The MadGamer twisted his arm around so that a portal shot on the floor before him. The bright blue light distracted the MadGamer clone long enough. That grip loosened, and MadGamer had more movement available in his portal arm for a split moment. Another portal was shot into the ceiling, this one glowing orange. MadGamer disappeared into the blue portal, which was apparently something the clone wasn’t ready for.
When the clone looked up, he saw the MadGamer heading towards him. The drill was spinning again in MadGamer’s hand and it shot forward. The spinning metal met flesh to put a gash into the clone’s right cheek. MadGamer snuck in another shot and spun to whack the clone in the back of the head with the portal gun. MadGamer threw the drill at the clone one more time, but he disappeared again. The moment the clone disappeared, the back of MadGamer’s neck was riddled with midair kicks. A push with both legs shot MadGamer into the wall in front of him, and his forehead bounced off of one of the shelves on the wall. MadGamer hit the floor and started to get backup, but his arms were pinned by a pair of knees and his throat clutched by an angry hand.
“You’re fucking lucky that I’m not allowed to kill you ” the clone hissed through gritted teeth.
MadGamer’s eyes darted all around the room in search of an option. He strained his neck and arms to get them free of the clutch the clone had on him, but to no effect. But the clutch on his throat tightened.
“No You stay right here, wait for the others to get here ”
And two globs of light shot off from the portal gun, an orange an a blue. They connected with the wall the gun pointed to, opening portals right next to one another. The rims of the portals glowed with their respective colors. And looking into them, the two could see themselves at slightly different angles, like abstracted mirrors.
“Yeah, nice try,” the clone mocked. “You’re staying right the hell here...”
Something whistled and exploded near the two. The clone looked over to the source. There was a rocket fired into the room, the clone leaning back to barely avoid it. But the rocket had another shot at its target as it headed towards the pair of portals. Realizing this, the clone released the grip on MadGamer and rushed to press a button on his wrist. He disappeared, and the rocket continued over MadGamer’s head and bursted in flames on the wall. MadGamer, his body finally free, shot up and looked to the window. Gunsmith clutched on to the frame, holding a rocket launcher.
“Get outta here, Gamer I’ll hold him off ”
“Gunsmith What the hell is going on? ” MadGamer demanded.
“Later You gotta go now ”
A bone-crushing blow flattened Gunsmith’s jaw from his blind spot. A rocket and its trail could be seen blowing towards the sky as Gunsmith desperately tried to hit the clone one last time, falling down towards the ground below. The clone spun back around and glared at the MadGamer. The clone leapt over the desk and straight at him. The MadGamer’s drill revved loudly.
And the doors slammed open, wind blowing all of the room’s contents around. It blew violently all around, stinging MadGamer’s eyes and throwing his hair all around instantly. He looked to his left as the doors burst, and the familiar orange figure was running in the air at the MadGamer clone. Quickfeet, angry and bearing a very bruised neck, threw all of his body weight at the clearly-surprised clone as he screamed an obscene phrase of general disgust which best not be repeated.
Both the clone and the enraged Quickfeet shot out of the door like an orange, man-sized bullet. Wind followed in the orange man-god’s wake to throw around everything in the room. The monsoon rocked all of the office’s contents for some moments, and eventually faded away. More clamoring of feet came sprinting down the hallway. Without a word, Grimscott ran past the MadGamer and jumped after Quickfeet. A confused MadGamer followed.
*****
“I don’t believe this...” McJesus thought to himself, clutching the unconscious body of his beloved.
That familiar tree beast stomped patiently towards McJesus. Behind it, he could see the chaos of his comrades fighting off the beast’s allies.
John had become bloodied and bruised during the course of it. McJesus noted how John limped at his opponent with a solid determination. While the fake-Balto that John warred against was sharing an amount of damage, it was clear as to who was winning the brawl. John had slowed greatly, his blood was blinding himself, though he held his own.
Swordkill was inbetween two tasks. Typically, he hacked through the very few remaining foot soldiers in the Cavern, turning them into piles of armored hash. But there was another opponent: a girl with some sort of fancy dress. He could hear the music she sang into a microphone at hand, and could see Swordkill smashed by stone that jettisoned from the Cavern wall after she sang a familiar tune. McJesus called out for the help of his comrades, but the noise was lost in the midst of all that was happening.
The beast sprinted towards McJesus as fast as he could. One hand cradled the Combustion’s God love. The other pointed itself at the approaching creature. In the midst off all of the ear deafening, eardrums were ruptured as McJesus shot off explosion after explosion next to the creature. Though as he did so, he pictured himself trying to stop a cargo train by throwing pebbles. There was little area to go. With Angelface in arms, it was difficult to move quickly enough, and McJesus knew this. He threw himself over the winged-angel and winced to wait for the impact.
The fist collided with flesh. However, there was a puff of feathers mixed with the sound.
“...get out of here...” Angelface murmured from under McJesus’s clutch.
He looked back behind him. McJesus then saw Angelface’s wings flapped out to block the punch. The insides of her wings spread back to create a ringed barrier between them and the rabid thing outside. The tufts of feathers flew as the beast wailed and slammed and bashed against the invincible wings.
“You’re absolutely nuts,” McJesus told her. “I’m not leaving you.”
He let go of the woman and bounced off of the wall in front of them. In midair, McJesus let off more explosions between the wings and the angry monster. While they appeared to have the same effect as usual, it blinded the creature for long enough. McJesus jumped far enough to plant himself on the monster’s back, right in the center of those wings.
McJesus yanked on a pair as hard as he could muster. That creature let out a horrid noise that McJesus was sure would haunt his memories for a millennia, one that expressed an unknown sense of agony and perhaps fear in its shrill pitch. The creature stumbled away from Angelface, all the while McJesus twisted and yanked on the gigantic wings, their owner’s claws frantically failing at plucking McJesus away.
In an instant, McJesus could feel his teeth dent in his head, as a blinding green light filled his peripheral vision to the right. The sharp pains in his face laxed his fingers away from the deathgrip that they had on the creature’s wings. McJesus fell and slid flat on his back, belching out every huff of air from his lungs as he did so.
McJesus opened his eyes from flat on his back. He saw Balto-Boy standing above him. Or he thought it was Balto-Boy. A moment that lasted less of a second later, and McJesus corrected himself. It looked like Balto-Boy. And with snarled teeth and a look of unkempt hate about him, the look-a-like readied a fist shrouded in greenish lights and sparks. The first blow hit McJesus square in the bridge of his nose, leaving a small crater in the rock beneath McJesus’s head. The imposter raised his hand once more.
A tattered mess of a man fell onto McJesus’s assaulter before the second punch could land. John pushed the fighter away hard enough so that he stumbled off of the top of McJesus. McJesus could see John race as much as he could at him. His clothes were torn almost to rags from the battle. Spots of coagulated blood dotted John’s skin like a demonic leopard, most of it splattered under his nostrils. John limped his way over McJesus and fired some sort of blue material that was almost like stained glass columns with the ability to move about freely. The imposter leaped backwards and fired a green spike at John, which missed, and their own battle continued.
McJesus rose to his feet, though battered and weary. He looked towards John’s fight. John had released a cage of blue around his furry opponent, though the opponent dodged as he flashed into a whispy black form, but was soon back to his original and held John’s throat in a deathgrip. McJesus pointed a fire-coated hand at them.
Quick as a flash, a semi truck smashed McJesus in the back. The force shot McJesus like a cannonball towards the two other combatants, skipping like a stone to knock John out of the wolf-man’s grip, and then down to the Cavern wall. Both he and John landed in a heap, John unconscious and McJesus struggling to keep his. And to their right, Swordkill was on his knees, his fingers digging to release the microphone cable tightening around his throat. All the while, the sparkly-dressed girl wore an indisputable smile on her face.
As the wolfman paced towards McJesus, with vision blurring and eyes struggling to stay open, the glove that tried in vain at imitation sparked violently in green and yellow. McJesus pointed at the wolfman with shaky arms with an explosion brewing. That hand was kicked away, and it instead hit Swordkill off to the side. McJesus through weary eyes looked up to see that tree-like monster standing above him. Angelface was again in his hands, face busted and bruised, and she was dropped in McJesus’s lap with a solid thud. The monster reached down with a single massive set of talons and squeezed McJesus around his midline, arms pinned to his waist. He was turned to face the wolfman imposter, whose glove glowed with an intensity seemingly stronger than a the lamps on a movie set. McJesus lay exhausted in the hand of the monster. The wolfman leaned in towards McJesus.
“You disappoint me, McJesus. After hearing so much... I wonder how easily the rest of this place will fall.”
That glowing fist met McJesus dead center with a flash of blinding light. The monster let McJesus drop in a heap onto the Cavern ground. The last thing McJesus saw in there was that monster lifting up its gigantic leg and smashing McJesus into the ground. He could hear voices, though, as he lost consciousness, which made him all the more confused.
*****
Quickfeet, Gunsmith, and MadGamer stood in the streets in front of the High Command. Gunsmith was hunched over with blood on his clothing and a broken nose, a rocket launcher in one hand and an assault rifle of some sort in the other. Quickfeet stood near him. He was clearly winded, and he stepped now with a slight limp and a eye that seemed to be sealed shut, still wearing that incredibly-bruised neck (though it had healed slightly). The MadGamer stood inbetween the two. His gun was still raised and the drill still revving. He was hardly scratched at all, though it was clear that he was exhausted by the battle. All around them were chunks taken from buildings, cars overturned and some flaming, roads ruined with freshly made faults and craters, and all was quiet around them, every soul in the vicinity running as far away as possible to be sure they could live to fear another day.
A gleam of light flashed on the roof of the Command building. All three looked up to see the clone staring down on them.
“You really think you can beat me?” the clone shouted in a zealous tone. “You can’t even see me half of the time. Take now for example...”
The clone disappeared once more. As soon as he disappeared, MadGamer was thrown forward by a fist against the back of his neck. Both Gunsmith and Quickfeet turned to pummel that spot with attacks, but the clone was back on the roof as soon as they fired bullets and winds.
“You see? ” he shouted from the rooftops. “I’m unbeatable
Gunsmith created a sniper rifle of some sort out of midair and aimed down its sight. The bullet shot out of the gun’s barrel at the roof of the building. The clone disappeared and reappeared only a few inches from his original spot. Gunsmith shot again, and the clone repeated. And it happened again. And again. And again.
Finally, the clone disappeared one more time and reappeared right in front of Gunsmith. The gun was ripped from Gunsmith’s hand, and the clone swung it at his head like a baseball bat, Gunsmith backflipping from the recoil of the blow.
But the clone’s mild victory was short-lived. A gust of razor-sharp wind fired down a wind tunnel. It carried the clone a good five feet before pummeling him back into the concrete and grinding his body on the pavement.
“Unbeatable my ass ” Quickfeet shouted with a big grin on his face. He limped towards the downed clone.
“Can’t beat the fastest being in existence, mother fucker ”
Quickfeet sprinted at a blistering speed at the clone and punted the thing as he reached him. The clone flew a good few stories before regaining his sense and teleporting again. He reappeared once more on the roof of the Command building, but slunk down as soon as he did so. The three Brawlers on the ground and this clone were back in the staredown...
The cracking of a radio sounded.
“Vertex Abandon the Gamer We need to regroup Over ”
“What? ” the clone spat into a headset. “I almost have him ”
“You’re not gonna get him if you haven’t already Now get back to HQ Over ”
The clone grimaced and looked back to the three on the ground.
“You punks are lucky... I’ll be back for your asses later ”
The clone teleported once more. The three Brawlers looked around frantically for a bit of time. He didn’t reappear in front of them. It was assumed that he actually left.
“Now that that’s over...” MadGamer said as he stood. “Gunsmith, just what the hell was that about???”
Gunsmith lowered his weapon and looked to MadGamer.
“He was with an organization called ‘The Factory’. It’s an underground science group that spans across the planet...”
“And we didn’t know about it?” MadGamer asked.
“Because they aren’t from here,” Gunsmith assured. “They worked on The Other Side.”
MadGamer and Quickfeet looked to each other with skepticism.
“Well, then, how the hell did they get here?” Quickfeet asked.
“Beats me...” Gunsmith said as he let his weapon dissipate. “But now I know why Balto was so secretive about this whole mess.”