(WHAT? Jammers? Are you sure?) Artemis asked Ultra Girl telepathically. (Yeah, that's what Violet told me. She wasn't lying either.) (Alright, jammers in the ceiling huh? Okay, since we can't find him anywhere in the city, and there's only one place he could be: He's keeping him underground. It would have to be a large area too if he's sending psychopaths after him as well.) (Do you think it's in the sewers?) (No...no, too easy to get out...there has to be something else...) Artemis trailed off as she noticed something. (Alright, I have to go. Get in touch with the others and tell them this. I'll be back.) Artemis unsheathed her swords as she walked the docks. "Come on out boys." She sensed an attack from behind and turned and blocked a sword strike from behind. She saw a tall masked man. "So, ninja's huh? Tell me where my friend is and I'll let you keep your teeth."
The ninja pressed the attack.
The two dueled in the middle of the docks before he backed away, drawing his sword and slashing at her. The two clashed so fast they were blurring from their speed, their blades clashing at incredible speed. The ninja tried to kick her away but Artemis raised her knee and blocked it and then stabbed at him with both swords. He blocked her swords and the two parted away. The two started circling each other. The ninja crossed his swords and pressed something on his chest. In front of her eyes, the ninja vanished. Artemis smirked. "Camouflage huh?" She turned on her infrared vision in her mask and begin clashing with an invisible ninja. She got in an a stab at his chest but the armor stopped her sword. He spun around and slashed at her legs but Artemis flipped over the swords, leaping several feet through the air and then crossing her swords to block a sword strike from another one. The first ninja was already running over to them, twirling his swords as he spun around and slashed at her. Artemis blocked both swords with one of hers and backpedled away as she dueled both of them at the same time. They were fast, as fast as her and both of them were using two swords and full body armor. They were well trained to, combining martial arts with swordsmanship. They clashed swords with her again and then gave her a double kick in the chest that sent Artemis flying through the air. She skidded on one knee to a stop and then twirled her sword and reached back, blocking a literal back stab attempt from yet another one. Artemis got up and twirled her swords as they surrounded her and then attacked all at once from three sides. Artemis spun and slashed and parried as best she could but she couldn't fight all three of them all at once like this. She turned and ran, sheathing one sword and then turning and throwing down the smoke bombs in front of her to distract them and grappled up to the building there. Artemis saw yet another one charging her and gripped her sword with both hands and charged him. The two rushed each other as fast as they could and then passed by each other. For a few seconds, there was silence. Then Artemis reached down and pulled out a bomb. "One down." She smiled as the ninja collapsed, a slash across his chest. Artemis had cut through his body armor. She ignored the pain in her side from where she'd been cut. It wasn't serious and she threw the bomb several feet to the side. The others had arrived already and were rushing her, but the bomb exploded and destroyed a portion of the roof. The ninja fell through it but dropped his sword and fired a grapple up at the roof. Artemis threw a shuriken at it through and the shock traveled down the grapple and into his hand, causing him to fall to the floor. Artemis followed soon after, leaping down and landing on a pile of crates and then flipping off of them and landing on the ninja and then flipping off of him and then kicking him in the face hard enough to launch him backwards up onto the crates. Glancing around, Artemis noticed a pair of civilians tied to a rope that was dangling from the ceiling, above a meat grinder, with flame throwers firing on and off. The rope was slowly lowering. "I'll have you down in a second!" She called to them and ran over. The remaining two ninja's dropped down and rushed after her. The flamethrowers were playing havoc with her infrared but she would need it for now. Sheathing her sword, she pulled out two bombs: A capsule and a smoke bomb. Artemis pressed the button on the capsule and threw it at the grinder while also throwing up the smoke bomb. The capsule exploded all over the grinder, covering it in sticky gray goop that clogged it up, stopping it from working. Artemis back flipped over the two ninja's as the smoke bomb came back down and blew up in their faces. Thanks to the distraction, she was able to pull out her tazer gun and fired it at the first ninja's back, sending a powerful electric current through his body, taking him out. Unsheathing her swords again, Artemis dueled the remaining ninja in an intense and dazzling display of skill and swordsmanship, the two fighting each other like demons before Artemis got in the finishing blow, slashing him across the chest and then spin kicking him to the ground hard enough to dent his metal helmet. With the ninja down for the moment, Artemis sheathed one sword, threw the other at the rope, calculating the timing in seconds and then running and catching the couple before they fell into the flames, landing safely. "Are you alright?"
The ninja recovered and was leaping over her head, ready to bring down his sword on her but Artemis whipped out a second tazer gun and fired it at him without even looking, shocking the hell out of the ninja even through his armor and dropping him.
With the ninja's taken care of, she untied the civilians and turned off her infra vision. "Are you alright?" She repeated.
"Yes, thank you, oh thank you!" The man and woman hugged her. "Woah! Uh, yeah, you're welcome. yeah. Now, did they give you anything? A-a piece of a code maybe?"
"Oh yes, here, right here." The man said and handed it to her, pulling the piece of paper out of his pocket and handing it to her. "Great, thanks."
She stood up and turned off the flamethrowers before gathering her gear. The woman noticed the blood on her side. "Oh...are-are you alright?"
"It's nothing. A scratch. Call the police, let them know what happened here." Artemis said and headed out. "Artemis here, area secured." (And now for that medical pack I keep in the cycle.) She thought to herself.
"Now then, isn't this nice?" The Gentleman asked Sally. Her hands were tied. The larger man, The Gentleman called him Chef, had tied her while the other lunatic pointed a gun at her. The last she saw of Stronghold was him being dragged into another room. Now the Chef was sitting with them, his arms on the table. The table. That was the worst part. That was where the horrible smells had come from. What she saw in that room was far worse than what they had gone through all day. It would haunt her nightmares for life. She almost hurled all over herself as she looked around the room.
"Still, I wish that Claire and Jameson could have joined us. It really is too bad." The Gentleman sighed.
"We'll just have to save them some leftovers for when they're feeling better." Chef offered.
"Brilliant idea."
Chef took the lid off of a silver plate revealing bits of meat. "It will take awhile to prepare the main course, would you like an appetizer?"
"F-k you." Sally spat.
"What was that?"
"You-you! F-K YOU, YOU MONSTER! ALL OF YOU! YOU'RE JUST ANIMALS!" Sally yelled at them, tears streaming down her eyes. "YOU....do you have any idea of what you've just done!" She cried. "He was a hero! A HERO! H-he fought for this city....risked his life...and you-you...just....you just.....goddamn you!"
The Gentleman sighed. "My dear, this is no way for a dinner guest to act. Please restrain yourself or else I shall be forced to silence you."
"Go ahead....go ahead and kill me! Just like you killed Stronghold! Shoot me in the back like the coward you are!"
"I see, if that's the way you want to be." He nodded to Chef. "Do understand, I do not strike women. My friend here however..."
Chef stood up, walked around the table to Sally, turned her to face him and struck her hard across the face. He then pulled out a gag and tied it around her mouth.
"There, that is much better." He took a bite. "Delicious. Chef, could you be a pal and start preparing the main course?"
"Of course sir."
He then walked to the kitchen. Sally sobbed and screamed through her gag. "Sally, Sally, Sally, we really must work on your manners. Why can't you be more like Jim here?"
Jim shot him a death glare.
In the kitchen, Stronghold was laying on a large metal table. To say the room around him was utterly nightmarish would be taking it too lightly.
Chef washed his hands in the sink and opened up the oven. Yes, it was just about ready. He could feel the heat coming out of it. He opened the pot and sampled the soup. Perfect. Looking around the room, he found his work gloves and put them on, one at a time and cracked his knuckles and then pulled his favorite butcher knife. He washed it in the sink and then turned around and walked over to the table, humming to himself. His mood was lost when he was tackled across the room, slamming into the sink. Not wasting a second, Stronghold reared back and punched him hard in the throat, preventing him from screaming out. Chef fell to the floor, gripping at his throat and gasping in pain and agony as he struggled to breathe. Stronghold kicked him, knocking him over and then got on top of him, grabbed him by the shirt and whailed on him, beating him viciously.
When he was done, Stronghold looked around before finding a metal tray. Studying it, he smiled to himself, turned off the oven and took the steaming hot pot of soup off of it and ran back into the dining room like a bat out of hell.
The Gentleman glanced up, then back down and then looked up again in absolute horror as the superhero came barreling in. He was so shocked that by the time he reacted Stronghold was already on top of the table and running towards him. He pulled out his gun and fired but Stronghold raised the pan in front of himself, the bullet pinging off of it safely. "Wha-"
"SOUP'S UP ASSHOLE!" Stronghold yelled and threw the steaming hot soup at The Gentleman, washing over his face and causing him to drop his gun and howl in agony as he fell over as the soup scalded his face. Seizing this chance, Stronghold leaped on top of him tray first, driving his knees into The Gentleman's stomach and smashing the tray against his face. Stronghold raised his fists and went on an all out assault, the brass knuckles beneath his gloves making perfect close range weapons as he wailed on the lunatic.
When he was done, he pulled the Gentleman to his feet, having essentially beaten his burnt and scalded face into burger. "H-h-how....ow....how?" He choked out. "I-I killed you...."
"Didn't take." Stronghold said and slammed him face first onto the table and then threw him to the ground and then, just to make sure, he picked up a chair and smashed it over his back, breaking it. Stronghold spit on the ground. "None of you animals understand do you? I'm not locked in here with you." He put his foot on his back. "You're locked up in here with me."
Stronghold then turned around and walked over to Jim and Sally, untying them. "Hey. Sorry for making you wait again."
Sally just stared. "I SAW IT! I-I-I....I saw...I saw you die...you...you got-got!"
"Shot? Yeah, hurt like f-k and actually knocked me out for a bit there."
"But....but I thought your powers were-"
"They're gone. It's a costume trick." He explained as he got her ropes. "I can change the costume based on my thoughts. It's how I stopped the sword earlier. It was at least able to partially stop the bullets. Saved my life." He turned to Jim after untying Sally. "Now what's your name?"
"J-Jim....I'm not with them....they-they said...they said they kill me if I...I tried to warn you." Stronghold was getting his bindings.
Stronghold smiled. "Hey, don't worry, I understand."
Stronghold grabbed the gun and then searched the Gentleman, finding some ammunition. "Ummm...are either of you good with a gun?"
"I-I thought heroes didn't, you know..."
"Kill? No. But it's better than leaving it here. Besides, it would give us a range advantage. Aim at legs and arms, shoot to disable."
Game Master sat back in his chair, staring at the screens. Ultra Girl and Reaper had both won their challenges and now Stronghold had risen from the dead. "F-K." He rubbed his helmet. "...Do we suck or are they just that good?"
Ultra Girl flew over the streets of the city and arrived in the ruins. She dropped down and glanced at the area around her.
"So these are the old town ruins. How morbid." She said to herself and reached out with her telepathy to find innocents. The first thing she picked up was someone up above her. She looked up and saw a bright purple light flying towards her. Ultra Girl lifted herself up into just before it hit. The blast causing a large explosion below her that sent Flannery flying backwards. She hit the ground hard but shook it off. Looking back up, she saw another blast flying towards her. Ultra Girl raised her telekinetic shields to block the blast. She struggled against the power of the beam but was able to push it away. A teenage girl, who didn't look to be much older than her, floated down. "Thought that would get you. Huh."
"Who are you?"
"The name's Violet." Her body glowed with the same purple energy from before. "My card." She blasted Ultra Girl at the same time that Ultra Girl pushed at her with her telekinesis. The two powers collided in the middle of the street until there was an explosion, flinging both of them backwards. Violet wrapped herself in energy again, protecting her from the impact. Ultra Girl flipped in the air and landed on her feet. "Why are you doing this? These are innocent people!"
Violet sighed and jumped back up to her feet. "...Eh."
"Eh?"
"I dunno, I was just feeling kinda bored when Skullface showed up and made a deal with me."
"Skullface? Tell me, where is he? Where is my friend?"
"Got me. Guy didn't tell me that part."
Ultra Girl was trying to read her mind but whatever that energy around her was, it was...disrupting it somehow, she couldn't get in. "Fine then, next question: Where are the civilians?"
"Uhhh....let's see...in the church. I think that's where I put 'em."
"You think....or you know?"
"Shut up and fight." Violet said and blasted her. The beam was larger this time but Ultra Girl was able to lift herself up into the air over it and then TKed her down the street and then into a wall to her left. Ultra Girl flew over and kept herself ready. A beam of energy flew out and slammed into her shields, pushing Ultra Girl backwards and into the building behind her, creating a large hole in it. Violet flew up after her, blasting into the building sent Ultra Girl into. However, Ultra Girl had already made a hole in the floor and flew down to the next floor, opened a window up with her mind and then flew out, floating underneath Violet and hitting her from below with a telekinetic blast. Violet's aura protected her but it still caught her off guard, the attack slamming into her and tossing her up into the air. Ultra Girl raised her arms above her head and then threw them down, tossing Violet down to the ground. She made a small crater on the impact. Ultra Girl flew down next to her. "Ow."
"Ready to give up yet?"
"Not even close." She replied and blasted Ultra Girl away. Fortunately she was able to get her shields up in time. (Something is up here.) Ultra Girl thought to herself as she skidded along the ground on her back. She sprung back to her feet just in time to be blasted away again. Ultra Girl was sent flying by the blast out of the old town.
"Ohhhh, that is IT!" Ultra Girl yelled and sent a powerful telekinetic blast down the street right back towards her. The blast tore up the street and sidewalks as it approached her. Violet flew up into the air, crossed her arms and then flung them outwards, her hair standing straight up as her aura swirled around her more violently now. She sent out more powerful beams of energy that Ultra Girl barely dodged by flying up into the air and around the ruins of old town as Violet fired on her, the beams blasting clean through the buildings around them. Violet stopped firing and flew right at her. Ultra Girl turned to face her and channeled her telekinesis to strength and grappled with Violet as she slammed into her. Violet's battle aura pushing against her as she and Ultra Girl flew through the air, falling towards the ground incredibly fast. With a yell, Ultra Girl flung Violet down to the ground, causing her to break the ground and dig a trench in the street for a few feet before she kicked her feet up and fired a blast of energy from them. Ultra Girl jumped up over it, the blast flying down the street and continuing out of the old town. Ultra Girl slammed her again, pushing Violet further into the ground. Grunting, Violet flared her aura, flinging Ultra Girl head over heels into the air. Violet flew after her and punched at Ultra Girl only for Ultra Girl to dodge it and then channel her telekinesis to strength as the two clashed in mid-air. Violet's aura flashing in the air as she and Ultra blocked and countered each others attacks with a dazzling display of mid-air martial arts. Spinning kicks, blocks, right hooks, uppercut, block, counter, back hand, roundhouse, the two women continued with Ultra Girl being slowly driven back. It wasn't her skill, but her raw power. That battle aura of hers was getting out of hand here, it was starting to send her flying even when Ultra Girl blocked a hit. Violet flew at her again and attempted a punch but Ultra Girl ducked it and punched her in the stomach with her psionic strength while also sending out a telekinetic burst at the same time. The combination disrupted her battle aura and sent Violet flying away. Ultra Girl slammed her down into the ground again with TK and then lifted her up again and slammed her down again. As Violet was getting up and rubbing her forehead, Ultra Girl flew down after her and sent out another TK wave at her launching Violet away like a rag doll. Violet was just able to summon up her battle aura before she hit the ground though, protecting her. Once again, it began swirling around her, like a tornado now, the energy crackling in the air around her, shooting off and hitting buildings. Violet's eyes were glowing now. "Good try Ultra, really, it's been fun. Bye-bye now."
"Like hell!" Ultra Girl flew over to her, bringing her arms back as she gathered force and then flung them forward as Violet fired a blast of energy from her one hand. The telekinetic force wave pushed against her blast in the middle of the street. Ultra Girl dug her feet into the ground and gritted her teeth as she struggled to hold back her blast. Despite putting everything she had to hold her off, Ultra Girl was losing ground, her feet breaking the ground below her as she was forced backwards. Violet then used her other hand, the blast blowing her away.
The explosion shook the street.Violet waited until the shockwaves died down and walked over to where Ultra Girl was. She was laying in the crater in the ground. Her shields had saved her life but she was obviously hurt. Violet sighed. "Jeeze, I thought this would take longer. Nobody ever gets back up from that one." She looked down at Ultra Girl. "Should I?" She asked herself as she started to raise her hand up but then relented and turned to walk away. "Ah hell with it, I beat her didn't I? Guess I'll go get high and wait for the others to show up."
Where.......where am I? Did I....did I die? No.....this isn't.....where am I? Flannery saw a woman running down a hallway and a man in blue. It didn't take her long to recognize that the blue was a costume. Stronghold. He looked bad, his costume had tears on it and he was bleeding. She didn't recognize the woman but she looked like another hostage. Stronghold! Stronghold! It's me!
She yelled at him in vain. Whatever was going on, he couldn't hear her. Stronghold and the woman were complaining about something, a bad smell. She tried to reach out to him but she passed right through Stronghold. For a split second though, she got something from him. Violence, lunatics, fighting, fighting, powers gone....it was only for a second though. How did I do that? She looked back up to see Stronghold running over to a tied and bound man on the ground. A trap. She yelled to him but he didn't hear her. She saw a man in a suit walk out of the shadows. Ultra Girl screamed in horror and ran over to try and knock away his arm but she passed right through him. Upon contact though, she saw more visions.She saw what this man was, the things he and sick allies did to innocent people, what he had planned for them. It was enough to make her want to vomit. She heard the gun fire. She saw Stronghold scream in agony and fall to the ground. No. Blood on his back. Matthew. A larger man walked out and grabbed Stronghold, dragging him by his leg. Can't be. The Gentleman gestured for the woman to pick up the tied up man, holding her at gunpoint. No. Not you. Not like this. No. NO. NO!
"NO!"
Violet was calming her battle aura when she heard Ultra Girl's scream. "What the?" She turned around to look back at her. "Wait...is she glowing?"
"WHERE IS HE?!" Ultra Girl demanded. "TELL ME WHERE THEY TOOK HIM!" She was levitating in the air now, her eyes glowing as the rubble and fire from the crater she was in swirled around her. She sent out a psychic wave towards her. Violet was pushed away by it, her aura itself almost blown away from her. "That...felt....great." She smiled warmly at Ultra Girl as her eyes glowed purple once more. "For the first time...I'm really excited. I'm anxious even. I've got goosebumps. First time getting those. Thank you...thank you Ultra Girl. You made this whole stupid trip worth it." The two geared up for their second round, psychic power and raw energy swirling around both of them.
Ultra Girl let loose with a shockwave that shook the air around them, colliding with Violet and carrying her across the ruins of old town. Violet retaliated with a swirling energy blast that narrowly missed Ultra Girl, shooting high up into the sky and through a cloud. Ultra Girl gathered telekinetic energy and created an orb of telekinetic power in each hand and flung them at her. Violet increased her battle aura outwards and blocked the impact but it still rocked her, slamming her down through the streets. Her aura exploded outwards, destroying a wide circle around her and Violet flew back up towards her, sending out energy from both hands. Ultra Girl flew around to avoid them, the two engaging in a dogfight in the air. Violet took aim and blasted at her as she closed in. This time however, Ultra Girl was able to deflect it away with a telekinetic wave. Violet closed in however and caught her with a right hook. The TK Shields guarded her but the force of the blow smashed her through one building and out the other side. Ultra Girl stopped herself before she hit the ground though and flew back after her, gathering the rubble around her, wrapping it in telekinetic bubbles and flinging them at the villainess. Below her, Ultra Girl was also ripping up the street, yanking out chunks of it and flinging them at Violet along with old street signs, street lamps and chunks of the damaged buildings. She threw it all Violet. Violet blew it all away however with a single blast but it gave Ultra Girl the chance to circle behind her and blast her down to the ground with an incredible amount of force. So much that it smashed Violet through the street and down to the old sewer system below. Ultra Girl then used another telekinetic blast that pulverized the rubble that was covering Violet and smashed her down further. "I'M NOT DONE WITH YOU!" Ultra Girl yelled at Violet and dragged her up into the air with her and then flung her back down at the ground followed by TK slamming her into the sides of buildings. Violet managed to send a single beam at her but Ultra Girl dodged it. Battered and bruised but not yet beaten, Violet wiped the blood from her mouth and flew up to Ultra Girl to end it. Firing beams from her hands on the way up to speed herself up. She collided with Ultra Girl, both of them blasting each other at full power. Telekinesis fighting against raw energy. The telekinesis cracked the sky below them and cracked the windows of the buildings while the energy crackled around them, sparks of it causing fires and shocking the ground. Ultra Girl could see the power starting to flow through Violet's veins. She needed to end this soon, Violet was clearly getting more powerful the longer this went on. Ultra Girl could feel Violet starting to overwhelm her. The energy was starting to pierce her shields and she could feel herself being pushed back. "NO YOU DON'T!" Ultra Girl's eyes turned a bright green for a moment as the psychic power flashed around her and she immediately pushed forward with everything she had left. The result was more than she could have imagined.
Violet's scream was drowned out as the blast of pure psychic power swallowed her up. Ultra Girl fell on the ground. She was breathing hard, her face was dripping with sweat and her nose was bleeding. The pain she had taken through the fight had caught up to her, not to mention using power that she had never imagined she had. "Wha........what-what-what was....what was that?" Ultra Girl asked herself as she wiped the blood from her nose."I....I didn't know...how did I even do that?" She struggled to her feet and looked around for Violet.
Ultra Girl found her, despite everything, she was still alive, but injured. Her costume was torn and in tatters and she had blood on her legs and arms and one of her eyes was shut, her hair was a mess and her nose was broken along with bruises all over her body. She turned her head. "D-damn.....girl...you aren't bad. Thanks....it...it was fun."
"Violet.....tell me, why did you do this?"
"Mmm...I...I get--get bored easily...that's all."
"That's it?"
"I don't hate people...not even you...I'm not like the other loonies.....just...wanted...to have fun. That's all."
"Hmph. You could have joined up with us. That would have been real fun."
"Yeah.....maybe."
Ultra Girl could read her mind now. The civilians were safe, locked up in a shelter not far from here. "I...for-for what....s worth, hope...hope you save your friend."
"Thanks. Don't die Violet."
"Mmmm...don't worry...I won't."
Ultra Girl started to fly away.
"Jammers!"
"What?"
"I...just...I just remembered...skullface said....something about....ceiling..jammers. Don't..know what for though."
"Jammers....ceiling...I see. That must be how he's canceling Stronghold's powers...alright, I'll tell my friends that. Thanks for the warning."
Violet smiled and closed her eyes, passing out from her wounds.
Ultra Girl flew down to the shelter and TKed it open. The civilians were sitting around, unharmed. Violet hadn't harmed any of them.
Ultra Girl smiled and called to the others. (Ultra Girl here. Area secure and...I have new information.)
"Well. Well, well, well. THAT was an intense round wasn't it?" Game Master asked the camera. "I can't wait to see how the rest of the heroes will top that one!" He laughed. "And now, I return you all to your regularly scheduled game of death. Let's see how not-so-Stronghold is holding up!"
Stronghold tore off pieces of the doll's clothing to dress his wounds, wrapping them around his cuts to stop the bleeding. He wiped his chest wound the best he could and then stood up. "Alright, you ready to go?"
Sally nodded. Stronghold smiled and lead her down the hallway.
The 'Dining Room'
"I want to eat." A young blonde woman complained as she tapped her foot impatiently.
"Now, now, Claire darling, you know as well as I do that it is bad manners to begin eating before all of your guests have arrived." The Gentleman responded as he poured a glass of wine.
"Speaking of the guests, didn't we ask The Dolls to bring them right around now?" Claire asked.
"Guess those freaks f-ed up as usual." Jameson laughed.
"Language Jameson." The Gentleman finished pouring the drink and sipped it. Perfect.
"He could be right though." Claire sighed as she played with her knives.
"In that case, how about a little hunting?" George asked.
"The two of you hunt them down and whoever brings them back to the party is the winner."
"I like it." Claire grinned.
Jameson revved up his chainsaw. "Alright then, I'll be sure you proud sir."
The Gentleman smiled. "Of course. But remember, these children did defeat Jackal and The Dolls, don't take them lightly."
"Right, I got it." The two lunatics walked out of the dining room, laughing and joking about the hunt.
"Ahhh, they're good kids. So, think they can do it?"
"Even if they can't, nobody can defeat the two of them and remain unscathed and the hero is bound to be hurting after fighting his way through everyone else and overcoming the death traps laying around. If he does make it all the way here, I'll deal with him."
"And what makes you so sure he'll be easy to deal with?"
The Gentleman smiled and glanced at the hostage they had tied up against a chair, his mouth gagged. "A hero can never resist helping someone in danger." He walked over and patted him on the head. "I just want to take a moment to thank for you for being such a well behaved hostage Jim. That means a lot to me."
"MMMPHHH!"
"I am very sorry Jim, but I do not speak muffled."
As Stronghold continued on, he thought about the current situation. The bleeding had stopped at least, but he was still hurting. He had several wounds on his body and had cuts and bruises on his face. But at least Sally was unharmed so far. Still, there was no telling how many more of these psycho's were down here with them. He thought about what they had with them: A blunt weapon or two, a flashlight, and a lot of knives. He and Sally had searched the masked men and women, looking for a cell phone but there was nothing on them. So they were still stuck with no way to contact the others. They couldn't stand around waiting because there were still hostages down here. Hostages..how exactly could he tell who was a hostage and who was a killer?
He would just have to be more careful from here on..what he really needed was some armor. Armor. Stronghold looked down at his costume as an idea came to him. What was it that Derrick and Mariah told him? The costume could change itself depending on his thoughts. They told him this way back when he first got his costume from them. It went from a simple black cloth to the costume he currently wore. He focused his thoughts and...slowly, slowly, the part of his costume that had been cut and torn on his chest sewed itself back up. Perfect. He himself was still wounded of course but it at least felt better to have his costume in one piece again. Focusing his thoughts, he started focusing on the next part of his idea.
"Stronghold!"
He looked up to see Sally stopping him. They had come to another hallway, this one with closed wooden doors everywhere. "Alright...follow me." He said and walked to the door, stood to the side of it and pulled it open. The two jumped back and yelled as they heard a loud gunshot.
The gunshot echoed throughout the prison. Claire and Jameson looked up as they heard it. "They're at the hall of doors." Claire smiled.
"You okay?"
"Fine."
The two waited for a few minutes before Stronghold peeked his head in. There was a double barreled shotgun, the trigger tied to the door, so whoever opened it would be blown away.
"Holy shit.....they have death traps down here too!"
"Erm...let's avoid the doors."
"Good idea...keep an eye out for further traps." It didn't take them long to come upon further traps, the first of which was dozens of strings on the ground, all of which were attached to the doors around the hallway and something that was on the ceiling. "Okay...any ideas?"
"We need to get through here...soooo.." Stronghold took the table leg from her, backed up several feet away and then threw the table leg at the strings. Instantly, the doors sprung open and machine guns fired and blades from the ceiling swung down. Stronghold and Sally just stared. "Wha....what...I don't...what kind of psycho rigs up something like that?!" Sally yelled.
"The same psycho that would lock us down here in the first place." Stronghold said. They waited before slowly moving forward, not even bothering to try the other doors.
"FOOOUUNNNNDDD YOU!"
The two turned to see a girl skipping towards them and raising her knives. "I can't believe I got to find you first!"
"Oh great, another one."
Sally brought out the knives Stronghold had given to her.
"Oh that's just cute." Claire said and pulled out her swords.
"That is just cheating."
Claire charged them, giggling like a schoolgirl. Stronghold paid close attention to the swords and dived to the side and threw the flashlight at her. She swatted it away with her sword and Sally threw one of the knives at her but she blocked that aside as she did.
Stronghold ran at her and raised his arm like was going to swing at her. Noticing him, Claire slashed at him but Stronghold ducked under it and got in close only for Claire to knee him in the stomach. Stronghold was then kicked to the ground. "That was fun, now, let's start the screaming." She laughed and was about to gut him but Sally rushed her, throwing another knife. "Stay away from him!"
Claire turned around and knocked them away with her swords and then slashed at her with her other sword. Sally stopped and fell back but still got a cut on the cheek.
"NO!" Stronghold leaped to his feet and she kicked at him but this time Stronghold grabbed her foot and threw her down before she could cut him.
"That's better! Come on, make this fun for me!" She laughed and slashed up at Stronghold. He jumped back to avoid it and Claire leaped up to her feet but received an uppercut from Stronghold, getting a clean hit finally.
"How's that for fun?" Stronghold turned to see Sally getting to her feet. "Are you alright?"
"Y-yeah, you?"
"Alright, now let's-"
Stronghold was cut off by Claire getting up to her feet like nothing happened. Her lips were bleeding but she smiled. "Much better."
"Haven't had enough yet? Fine, come on."
Claire giggled insanely and attacked. Stronghold dodged a sword strike from her and ran to the side and then turned back to face her. "I'm going to carve you open and pull out your guts! Use your intenstines as a jump rope, shove these where the sun don't shine!"
"Lady....." Stronghold jumped her. She attacked, stabbing Stronghold in the shoulder before he managed to punch her away. "SHUT UP ALREADY!"
He smirked as he threw the sword to the ground. He smiled. So he was right. It was hard to make it happen, the costume was cut of course, but he had just barely managed to harden a part of it, just enough to stop the blade's impact. Stronghold then grabbed her wrist and then gave her another punch across the face, then another, then another and then shoved her against the wall and twisted the sword out of her wrist and kicked it aside. "It's over."
He walked over to Sally. "Hey, thanks for the backup. You really saved me there."
"You're welcome, you've saved me twice already, so...yeah."
"Saved is a relative term here kiddies."
Stronghold whirled around to see Claire getting to her feet. She had a blood nose and a black eye and cuts and bruises on her face. She was a bloody mess. "Come on, give me some more."
"What the f-k.....are you....what are you a meta?!"
"Don't I wish. It would be a lot easier to get food if I was. Naaahh, for me, it's like this..." She grabbed her nose and popped her nose back in place. She licked her lips. "I don't feel pain pal. You can hit me and hit me and hit me but I'll keep on coming."
"Oh, is that all?" Stronghold asked before taking a boxing pose. "You know something? I talked with a friend of mine about that once, and you know what she said? She said it's a disadvantage. You can't tell how badly injured you actually are."
"Says you." She eyed her sword but Stronghold was already rushing her along with Sally. She went for the sword, rolled, grabbed it and stood up, pulling up the sword only for the two of them to jump kick her int he face at the same time. They then gave Claire a double punch to the face. Taking her out of commission. The two breathed heavily. "Awww man, that was insane."
Stronghold grabbed up the sword. "Not bad, these things could be useful. You alright Sal?"
"One team up and I'm Sal huh? Yeah, I-I'm alright....did she say something about food?" Sally asked as she walked over and picked up the other one, pocketing one of the knives just in case.
"Who knows? Everyone down here is out of their damn minds." Stronghold shrugged. "Come on, let's get going."
The two didn't get too far before they heard the noise.
Jameson charged the two from out of nowhere. "RUN!" Stronghold yelled as the two of them booked it, running as fast as they could. Stronghold occasionally glancing back as the psychopath chased them down the hallway. Even accounting for the chainsaw in his hands, he was fast and he was closing in on them incredibly quickly. He swung the chainsaw, just barely missing the costumed hero. Stronghold gripped the sword's handle with both hands and then whirled around and slashed at him. Jameson parried with the chainsaw, sparks shooting off of the blades. The two of them clashed in the middle of the hallway, sword vs chainsaw, striking and slashing and parrying each other's blades as they manuevered around to get an advantage. The psycho managed to graze Stronghold's arm with the chainsaw blade, causing him to scream in pain as he fell back. He pulled back and attempted to stab him with the chainsaw but Stronghold was able to parry it, despite the pain in his arms.
"HAAAAA!" Sally yelled as she charged Jameson and slashed with the sword. Jameson knocked down Stronghold and turned and parried her sword, knocking the sword away from her and then punching her down. He was about to drive the chainsaw into her skull but Stronghold slammed into his side, knocking Jameson down and making him drop the chainsaw. Stronghold grabbed the chainsaw and threw it away. Sally stood up and held her sword tight.
Jameson recovered and brought out a knife and drive it into Stronghold only for the hero to grab his hands. The two struggled against each other for a moment before Sally kicked Jameson. Stronghold shoved him away and then rushed in, giving him a brutal punching combination and then knocking him to the ground.
Stronghold leaped on top of him and layed into him.
After a solid minute of beating on him with the brass knuckles, Stronghold stopped. Sally helped him up. She was hurt but it wasn't too bad. Stronghold though...she could tell this was starting to tire out. The sweat dripping down his face, he was hunched over, taking several deep breaths and he was bleeding again. As she saw him standing up again, she saw he was trying to hide it, but Stronghold was getting worn down.
Stronghold patted Sally on the back, smiled, and continued on with her.
The Gentleman sighed. It sounded like Claire and Jameson would not be joining the dinner party tonight. That was too bad. He would just have to make it up to them. Perhaps a gift basket with wine. Yes, a gift basket.That settled, he grabbed Jim and whispered in his ear before dragging him out of the dining room, threw the kitchen, down a hallway, out a door and floor. The Gentleman then stepped back into the room to wait.
"What do you want me to do?"
"Wait in the kitchen to make the preparations."
"You got it boss."
Stronghold punched a lunatic in the face, knocking him out as the two of them continued on. Stronghold's costume hardening as they kept going. They were caught off guard however by a horrible smell. "Oh...oh my God...what the hell is that?!" Stronghold asked.
"That's horrible...Oh."
They couldn't tell what it was, but something was rotting. "Whatever it is, we're staying away from it." Stronghold said as he fought the urge to vomit.
The two kept an eye out as they got closer to the horrible smell.
They saw the tied up man on the ground, gagged and bound. "Stay back." Stronghold said
He ran over to the tied up man and started cutting through the ropes with a knife. The man shook his head and tried to say something. "It's alright man, I'm getting you out of here. Do me a favor and don't attack me huh?"
He came out of nowhere, stepping out of the shadows. Sally didn't even get the chance to warn him. Two shots rang out. Stronghold yelled in pain and fell to the ground, two bleeding holes in the back of his costume.
Sally screamed in horror.
The Gentleman blew on his smoking handgun. "That was easy."
He turned his gun on Sally. "Now then, would you like to join me for dinner?"
"Artemis." Reaper called her on the comm link. "Artemis. Respond." No response. "Artemis!" Artemis finally responded. "Yes Reaper?"
"I know how you must feel. But don't forget who you are. We have rules."
"I know that. But if they have dared to do anything to him."
"We'll save him. Just focus on one thing right now."
"I am. Any idea who this guy is?"
"None, whoever he is, he's not an amateur if he can set all this up. Keep an eye out for snipers and traps."
"Back at you. Watch your back."
Reaper drove down the street and headed to the warehouse district.
"Great. Let's see...." Reaper thought back to the map and the overhead view of the warehouse district and just which one was circled. Calculating it all in her head, she realized it would be in the middle of the district and headed straight there.
As she drove, the cycle's computer beeped and she looked down at it. The computer had picked up landmines. Placed all along her path. They were suddenly detonated, causing explosions around Reaper as she drove through the district. Then she noticed a red light pointed at her and swerved to the side, the bullet just barely missing her. "Follow your own advice Reaper." She cursed to herself as she noticed the snipers on the rooftops. She flipped a switch and set the auto-navigation for the Reaper Cycle. Black smoke blew out and surrounded her as the snipers fired on her. The motorcycle exited the smoke with no sign of Reaper.
Up on the rooftops, a sniper was hit from behind on the back of his neck, dropping him. Reaper reached into her cloak, pulling out shuriken.
Reaper pressed her fingers against the glowing center and it lit up, turning red. She targeted the snipers as they searched for her and then threw them into the air. The shuriken targeted the snipers and flew towards them on their own. Some of the snipers noticed the incoming projectiles and turned and fired on them but it was too late, the shuriken stabbing into them and releasing an electric charge that took them out of commission. Once Reaper was certain that the snipers were out of commission and the bombs were taken out of commission, she headed to the target location.
Upon entering, a flamethower fired upon her. Reaper leaped up over it and landed on the floor behind it Just as she landed though, bear traps triggered and she just managed to leap into the air to avoid them. She landed back on the floor and broke the flamethrower with a kick and continued forward. All at once, several men in white suits, wearing brown gas masks and wielding sub-machine guns popped up and opened fire on her. Reaper ran for it, aim dodging their shots and reaching back into her cloak. She was getting a flash grenade ready as she grappled up to the rafters....only to find proximity mines already in place. Reaper barely had time to leap back down before it exploded. She threw down the flash grenade and it blinded the men long enough for Reaper to land on top of one, flip off of him and then swiftly take out the others. Reaper continued further inside. She stopped and hid behind cover as she saw a group of men armed with flamethrowers.
Reaper judged the situation, waited for an opportunity and then rushed them, blitzing two of them and taking them out with powerful punches and kicks, busting their body armor and sending them flying before the third and fourth men turned and used their flamethrowers. She dropped a gas grenade which exploded just as the fire would have reached her. The thugs continued firing until they both received a shock from Reaper from behind, due to Reaper using a ninja technique she learned in her training around the world.
Reaper continued inside and saw a man in armor waiting for her.
"Hello Reaper." Torcher said to her. "So pleased you could make it to the game."
"What game?"
"Look."
The armored man stepped to the side and gestured to the other side of the room. On opposite sides of the room were two families, both tied to bombs. It didn't take her long to identify what kinds of bombs they were. "No.....you wouldn't....."
The armored man laughed. "Yes, that's right. A very special kind of bomb: White Phosphorus. I assume you're familiar with it's properties."
"You bastard...they're innocents!"
"So is everyone this type of bomb has been used on. Never stopped anybody. Now then, here's the game: The timer has already started. You fight me, save the family and get out before all of the warehouses explode."
"Wait what?"
"Yeah, I have bombs in the other ones too."
"YOUR OWN MEN ARE OUT THERE!"
"And?" He asked as he activated the flamethrowers. They were much quicker then the others and with far more range, shooting across the room at Reaper who dodged to the side and came up rolling, reaching into her cloak and pressing a button on her belt before turning her attention back to the fight at hand, throwing the shuriken at him. Torcher turned and destroyed them with the fire. He leaped several feet straight up into the air and sprayed down at her, jets activating underneath his feet. Reaper dashed under the fire and he turned and continued blasting the flames down on her.
"HAHAHAHHAHAHAAA! RUN RUN OR YOU'LL BE WELL DONE!" He laughed as he flew after her. Reaper threw up the smoke bombs. He blew them up of course but it gave her a moment of cover to grapple up to the ceiling. She reached into her cloak again and pulled out the Reaper Blade and two skull bombs. She threw them at him and he of course destroyed them but they exploded, knocking him backwards through the air. He looked up to see Reaper leaping down on him, her cape billowing behind her as she changed the blade to sword mode and gripped it with both hands. He laughed and fired on her, Reaper falling through the flames, her armor protecting her from the worst of it as Reaper continued falling and she slashed at him, the two passing right by each other. Reaper hit the ground and rolled with the impact for a few feet, putting out most of the fire, already reaching into her cloak. Torcher meanwhile found one of his flamethrower guns cut off. "Holy s-t....you're not bad Reaper!" He pointed the other one at her. "BUT I'VE GOT YOU NOW!" In response, Reaper turned around and threw something at him. It burst open in mid-air and sprayed something all over him. "What the.....you-you think is gonna stop ME?! HEY! HEY WHERE YOU GOING!" Reaper was already heading over to the families, to save them. "I'M NOT DONE WITH YOU!" He activated the flamethrower again.
Torcher screamed in agony as the gel all over his suit detonated due to the flame, causing the fuel tank on his back to explode as well. The explosion was deafening. Torcher crashed down onto the ground. His suit had saved him, but it was an absolute wreck now, completely useless. Torcher himself was badly and unconscious. Reaper reached the first family and cut the ropes with the sword and then turned and threw the shuriken, cutting the ropes holding the other family. She heard a beeping sound and reached into her cloak and pulled out the jammer. It had found the frequency of the bombs in the area. Smiling beneath her helmet, Reaper pressed the buttons and worked with it until it was ready. She then held it up and pressed the last button, the jammer sending out a signal to stop the bombs in the warehouse district just in time. She waited until she was certain that it was safe and then put it back in place. She radioed the others. "Reaper here. All clear."
"OH THANK YOU! THANK YOU SO MUCH!" The mother of the first family cried as the family embraced.
"Just doing my job."
"Umm...ummm...."
"Yes little one?"
"Here...The bad man..he-he said we should give you this...if-if you won..."
The little boy reached into his pocket and pulled out a card. Reaper knelt down and opened it up. The first parts of the code.
"SALLY!" Stronghold gripped the knives and ran down the hallway, his heart pounding (STUPID! I WAS STUPID! I NEVER SHOULD HAVE TAKEN MY EYES OFF OF HER!) "SALLY! Sally where are you?!" He called out in desperation. He stopped as he came at the crossroads again. Where? Where did she go? Straight, to the left, to the right? Was she taken? Was...was she...why didn't he hear it? What the hell happened? Where did she go? Where? Where? He shined his flashlight down the paths in a desperate attempt to find a clue of some sort. He didn't hear the table leg fall to the ground or see it, so that meant somebody took it from her. But there was no way they would be able to restrain her, so that meant there were two people taking her. Stronghold stopped as he saw the table leg on the floor down the hallway in front of him and he ran over to it, pocketing the knives for now.
He knelt down to pick it up. "They dropped it here on purpose...I didn't hear a sound, so it must have been set down gently. No blood on it either, so she must still be alive." He assured himself. Picking up the table leg, he continued on. "Yes, she has to be alive. I can still save her." He repeated and continued down the hallway. He stopped when he spotted something on the ground. Her shoe. It looked like she had kicked it off to lead him. "Clever girl. Thank you." He kept moving forward until he saw a tall figure in a business suit standing in a doorway.
"I'll ask you once: Where is she?!" Stronghold asked the man. "ANSWER ME!" He demanded. The man's response was take off his coat, drop it on the floor and walk forward, rolling up his sleeve. Stronghold turned off the flashlight and set it down so he could use both hands. "Fine. I'll beat it out of you!"
Stronghold swung the table leg at the psycho who responded by grabbing and turning to the side, slamming Stronghold against the wall. Stronghold yelled out in pain. (Dammit, that hurt....s-still not used to being normal again...cripes this guy is strong!) He struggled and pushed against him as the masked man pushed upwards and then kneed him in the stomach.Stronghold gasped at the pain of the stomach. He recovered though and headbutted the masked man, who responded with his own. Both of them hurt their heads but thanks to his training and strength, Stronghold was able to recover and shove him away. Getting a grip on the table leg again, Stronghold swung it like a bat at the lunatic. The masked man raised his arm up though and blocked the swing and then kicked him in the stomach, knocking Stronghold away. Stronghold shook his head and held his stomach, feeling the pain in it. The psycho got the table leg away from him, threw it away and started punching Stronghold in the face and then grabbed him by the shirt and throwing him to the ground and kicking him in the stomach. Stronghold spit blood from his mouth. (Guh.......damn.......who the hell....this guy hits so damn hard....it almost feels...feels like.) Stronghold stared up at the man, noticing his gloves. (Feels like...like metal...oh I get it!) The man was on top of him them, getting on top of him and wrapping his hands around the hero's throat and pressing his thumb's against his windpipe. (N-not....not good....he's strong but he's...his hands....) As Stronghold gasped for air and the psycho increased his grip, Stronghold reached up and grabbed one of his thumb's with both hands and broke it before kicking the psycho off of himself. As the psycho held his broken finger in pain, Stronghold coughed and hacked as he struggled to get his breath back. (Now. If I'm gonna take him, it has be now!) Stronghold stood up and rushed him and gave him a brutal haymaker across the face and then following it up with more as he knocked the psycho down, jumped on his chest, and pounded on him repeatedly before getting up, grabbing up the table leg, walking over to him and swinging it down at the masked man as hard as he could. There was a satisfying WHACK sound as the thug went down. Stronghold took a moment to rest and rub his neck as he tried to catch his breath. He took off the psycho's gloves. "Just as I thought...he was using knuckle dusters." Smiling, he slipped off the dusters, took off his own gloves for a moment and then put them on and put his own gloves back on. "Thanks for nothing asshole." He stood up shakily, holding his head in pain for a few moments and then continuing on. He didn't need a mirror to know that his face was a mess beneath his mask already.
Wiping his mouth with the back of his glove, he continued forward. He found another shoe and then followed the path, seeing bloodstains in the forms of arrows on the floor. (Well at least I know where to go. Hang on Sally.) He kept running and kicked open the door to a more narrow hallway. He followed it through to a new room.
This room was painted differently than the others were. It was black and white squares everywhere and covered in blood. In the middle of the room, there was Sally, tied to a chair. There was also an unknown man hanging down from a chain that his hands were tied to. Surrounding them were more masked men.
Two masked men, two masked women, all of them carrying bloody knives. They turned as one to see him, apparently surprised that he made. Reaching into his pockets, Stronghold pulled out his own knives. "Let them go or I'll do to you what I did to your friend back there."
The man in the suit raised his knife and pointed to two words they had cut into the man. WEAK and HERO and then pointed at him.
"Screw you too."
The psycho's all charged him as one. Stronghold turned and ran for it, leading the psycho's into the narrow hallway before turning around just in time to block a stab from the blonde girl with his own knives and then slashing at her arm and kicking her in the gut. The girl backed away, holding her bleeding arm. The girl slashed at him again, causing the superhero to scream in pain as he received a cut across his chest. The others tried to push past her but there was no room. Dollgirl started slashing wildly with her knives as Stronghold parried with his own, their knives clanging against each other and echoing through the hallway until Matthew knocked away one knife, parried her other knife and then punched her in the face with as much strength as he could muster, throwing his entire body weight into the punch. This, combined with the brass knuckles under his gloves, was enough to not only shatter her mask but also send her flying backwards through the air against the others, blood dripping down her forehead.
Dollwoman knelt down and touched her pulse. She was alive, but out like a light. The others looked down at her and then at Stronghold. He couldn't see their faces but their eyes showed utter rage at this. "Come on then, you bastards."
Dollwoman dragged the girl away as Hood charged at him next, stabbing at the superhero. Stronghold crossed the knifes, silently thanking Artemis for her knife training. The lunatic and the hero clashed and dueled in the middle of the hallway with Stronghold on the defensive until he got an opening and kicked him as hard as he could in the balls, twice, stabbed him in the shoulder and headbutted him to the ground. Stronghold then jumped up into the air and stomped on him. "Next?"
Mister turned and ran back into the room with Stronghold in hot pursuit. Mister turned and flung the knife through the air like a missile at Stronghold but he blocked it with his remaining knife, grabbed it out of the air and continued inside.
Just as he reached Mister though, the Woman jumped him behind but the superhero saw this coming and turned around and blocked the knife with his own. Stronghold then kicked backwards to avoid being stabbed by Mister. He dueled both Woman and Mister the best he could but they were faster than him, getting cuts on the hero as he was pushed back by them. He blocked and dodged frantically until managed to manuever to Woman's left side and stab her leg and then kick the back of it after pulling it out, knocking her to the ground. Stronghold then backhanded the back of her head, knocking her to the floor. Finally, he rushed Mister, parrying a knife strike, grabbing his wrist, slamming his head against Mister as hard as he could and then punching the villain with a brutal punching combination, landing eight straight punches to his face and then giving him an uppercut and then pulling back and giving him his very bust punch to the chest, sending the villain several feet away.
Mister was out, Woman was out, Dollgirl was out and hoodie was out. Falling against the wall, Stronghold closed his eyes to rest for a few minutes before smiling and walking over to Sally. "Hey there, sorry about that, it won't happen again."
"MMMPHHH!"
"Huh?" Stronghold blinked as he noticed the long haired man was gone. "Wha?" Was all he got out before he felt a metal chain wrap around his throat.
"Gkkkk!"
"Daaaaamn. You're good. I mean real good. I didn't think you'd beat the family." The man laughed as he tightened his grip. "Not many people make it that far. But this is where it ends. That crying pleading girl will be the last thing you'll see. And then I'll kill her too." He taunted as Stronghold continued to struggle against him. He started lifting Stronghold up into the air. Thinking quickly, Stronghold elbowed him in the ribs. Again. Again. Again. As hard as he possibly could in panicked desperation until the man let him go. Stronghold stumbled away from him as he coughed and tried to regain his breath. The man laughed. "That's better, come on, try and make this fun for me!" He said and rushed him, punching Stronghold barely blocked his punches as he fell back and then punched him again and then giving him a punch to the throat, causing the lunatic to fall backwards. Giving him a death glare, Stronghold knocked the man to the ground and just went ballistic, hitting him again and again and again until the man stopped moving. He'd live, but he wouldn't be in an condition to fight any time soon. Falling over, Stronghold shakily reached over, put a finger on his blood and then licked it. Fake blood. That explained it. The room was a trap. If the knife psycho's didn't kill the victim, then he would. The man he fought earlier must have been sent to try and wear him down. Stronghold took his time to recover and then walked over to Sally and untied her. "Sorry." Was all he could. Sally burst into tears and hugged him.
"Can I ask you your name ma'am?" Stronghold asked.
"S-Sally." She said.
"It's very nice to meet you Sally...I just wish it was under better circumstances."
"You're Stronghold right? The superhero? I've read about you and your team in the papers. Aren't you supposed to be invincible?"
"Normally yes...but...I don't know. Ever since I woke up here, my powers haven't been working."
"That's bad."
"You're telling me. Sally, do you know who brought you here?"
"No...all I remember is men in black grabbing me and putting something over my mouth. The next thing I know, I'm here and that giggling lunatic is beating the hell out of me."
"Are....are there any others here with you?"
"Yes....oh God....he-he told me...he told me there were others here...captured just like me and...and they were scattered. I-I don't know where they are...Oh God...I-I-I..."
Stronghold reached out and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Hey, hey, it's going to be okay." He said with a warm smile. "I'm going to save you, I'm going to save the others, I'm going to beat down everybody in my way and then I'm going to beat the everloving piss out of whoever is behind all of this. I swear it."
"I...yes....thank you."
The superhero stood up and helped her to her feet. "Alright, let's get a move on."
Game Master watched him on the camreas and reached over to a console and pressed a button.
All at once, several dozen doors in the prison opened up and deranged lunatics began pouring out of them. "That should spice things up. I have to keep the viewers interested after all." He smiled beneath his helmet as the hits continued to pile in. There were sicko's from all over the world watching. He hoped that the children would put on a good show.
Stronghold continued along with Sally. "Do you see anything?"
"No, nothing yet. Stick close to me."
The two continued in silence until something darted across their field of vision. (Oh....this bodes well.) "The hell was that?!" Matthew put a hand on her mouth. "Shhh." He said and then turned around to make sure that nobody was sneaking up behind them. He turned back to Sally and motioned for her to be silent.
The two heard insane gibbering echoing through the prison. "Backs to the left wall." He whispered to Sally. "Ummm, why are we doing this?"
"So nobody can sneak up and grab us from behind."
"Ohhhhhh."
The two inched their way down the hallway and came to a four way path. Forward, backwards, left or right. "Left."
"You sure?"
"That shadow we saw earlier was heading to the right, we're going the opposite direction."
"Shouldn't we-"
"We don't know what weapons that person had and I'd rather wait until we're better armed."
"Good idea."
As they continued on, it got dark so they had to turn the flashlight back on to see. Sally was trembling and sticking close to Matthew as she gripped the table leg that Matthew had given her. They heard something scraping against the wall. Stronghold shined the light into the darkness until he saw a bizarre sight. A blood covered man with a teddy bear mask on, scraping his knives against the wall. When he spotted them the Bear Mask psycho threw his head back and screamed out at the top of his lungs before breaking into a full on run at the pair.
Stronghold and Sally were already running themselves, breaking into a full run back down the hallway, with Stronghold keeping his eyes on the ceiling above them, more specifically, the lights. Knowing it would be easier to fight in the light than in the darkness. Once they were under the bright lights again, Stronghold spun around and threw the empty bottle at his head as hard as he could. The wine bottle smashed against the psycho's left arm as he raised it up, giving him several cuts that actually made him take a couple steps back. The killer looked up to see Stronghold already getting in his face and throwing a couple of jabs at his head and then punching him in the stomach, an uppercut and then punching him across the face. The psycho fell backwards and then swung wildly, causing Stronghold to back away. Recovering, the psycho brought out a second knife and started swinging with both of them. Dodging the best he could, Stronghold saw an opening and kicked him in the stomach as hard as he could with a front kick and then punched out the psycho. Stronghold took a few breaths before pulling him up and giving a couple more hard punches and then slamming the psycho's head against the wall and letting him fall to the floor, just to be sure.
"Well.....that's two down." He picked up the knives. "Hey, Sally, how about y-" Stronghold looked up. Sally was gone.
