Stay Alive

"Can anybody move?"
"Kinda....might need another minute or so. Stronghold?" Sally asked.
"Barely."
"We won right?"
"It isn't moving."
"Good."
"What now?"
Stronghold closed his eyes. "Bullets?"
"We're out."
"That's just great."
"Can still fight?" Chandra asked.
"I don't think so. Everything hurts like hell.....we need to stay here for awhile longer. Rest, catch our breath, lick our wounds....all that stuff...and then we move on."
"Move on? There might be more of those things!"
"And we can't just stay here either, we'll be sitting ducks."
"For now....we rest." Sally said.


After waiting for ten minutes, they got up and moved on ahead

Stronghold was dragging the sledgehammer and moving sluggishly now. Everything hurt. It was getting hard just to lift the hammer, he felt sharp pain whenever he tried to take a breath or take a step.  The last fight...he was almost certain some of his ribs were broken now. He shook his head, fighting through the pain. The others were almost certainly on their way by now, they would survive this, they just needed to survive. He looked at the other three there with him. Sally's hair was a mess and she was holding her stomach where the creature had stomped on her. Jim hard marks on his throat from where the creature had grabbed him and his voice was raspy. His back was hurting and his wrist was broken. He had cuts and bruises from the fighting and beatings he had endured. Chandra wasn't much better. They had been beaten to hell and back. Reaching up with his free hand, Stronghold adjusted his mask and stood up as straight as possible. He was scared, that last abomination had nearly killed them all. If they ran into another one. Looking back at them again, Stronghold made a decision.

The four of them continued on until they came to a staircase that lead up to a doorway. It was a very long one. They cautiously walked up the stairs and tried the door. It was locked. Stronghold tried again and again. Nothing. "Dammit."
He heard Sally scream and turned around. There, entering the room, it's footsteps echoing around them, was a second monster, this one even bigger than the first, needing to hunch down as it walked through the door and then stood up to face them. Immediately after entering, the creature crushed the doorknob, trapping them inside the room with it.
The creature growled and advanced on them.

Sally attacked first, yelling at it and swinging her sword at the creature. However, the creature held up it's hand and grabbed the sword blade in it's palm. The blade cut it's palm a bit, making it bleed the same black blood as the last one but it took the sword from her hand and threw it away and before backhanding Sally away. She hit the wall behind her hard. Stronghold ran down the stairs and slammed the sledgehammer against it's forehead. The creature grunted but then hit him up into the air back up the stairs. Stronghold landed on his back hard and dropped the hammer. The creature then turned to Jim and Chandra who were already running forward and tried to stab it. Jim succeeded in stabbing into it with the sword but the creature just grabbed and slammed him against the floor and then tossed him into the wall. Chandra drove the daggers right into it's chest. Blood spurted from it's wounds but it didn't seem affected, picking up Chandra, slamming it's head against his and then flinging him away. He landed next to Sarah and slumped to the ground. Stronghold leaped at it again and threw his entire weight into a punch to the creature's throat. The creature stood still for a moment before punching him in the stomach and then flinging him away, throwing him away. Stronghold fell to the ground, bounced off of it and into the wall. He lay still for a few moments before slowly reaching up to the wall and pulling himself to his feet. "Not done yet." He gritted his teeth and rushed it again.

Artemis wiped the blood from her hands, Speed Devil would live and they had gotten the information they needed. "Last Leg Prison."

"I know that place!  It's pretty far in the woods and it was abandoned years ago. The place was closed down due to illegal torture and experiments done on prisoners." Ultra Girl said.

"That has to be where they're taking him. It would make sense for a place like to have underground levels." Carmella said.

"And the jammers are in the underground prison's roof." Ultra Girl realized.

Reaper was already calibrating her jamming device. "This should be enough to deactivate them once we're in. We just have to hope he's..."
"He's Alive." Artemis said firmly. "Let's go."
Dude and Carmella held out their hands. Reaper grabbed Dude's hand and Ultra Girl and Artemis grabbed onto Carmella and they super speeded off, blitzing through the woods to the very side of them, arriving at the prison.

No sooner had they stopped then the snipers placed around the roof opened fire on them. Ultra Girl held up her hand and stopped the bullets with a TK field around them and Carmella super speeded onto the roof and zipped around it, taking out the snipers and bringing the last one down to Ultra Girl. "Do your thing."
Ultra Girl grabbed his head and pulled him close. "Where is Stronghold?" She demanded and forced her way into his mind and got the prison's layout and the elevator to the underground level where Stronghold would be along with the location of the Game Master, the sicko responsible for all this. She telepathically ordered him to go to sleep and the thug collapsed on the ground, asleep. Ultra Girl gave them the layout.
"Alright, we're going underground. Saving Stronghold is prority one. Ultra, can you pinpoint exactly where he is?"
Ultra Girl reached out with her mind, focusing as hard as she could. She yelled in pain. "Damn, there's....interference of some sort...like...static. But...I got something. He's alive, but, he's hurting. Badly. We have to hurry."
They nodded and ran in. There were guards inside of course but the heroes easily plowed through them and fought their way to where the secret elevator would be. On Artemis's insistence, Artemis forced open the door, revealing the elevator. They ran inside and set it to go underground. "Hang on Matthew, we're coming."

Stronghold hit the ground again. The creature walked over and kicked him through the air. He landed on the stairs. Seeing the hammer, he crawled over to it and lifted it up and swung it around at the monster in desperation, hitting it across the face at least hard enough to make it back up a step. Stronghold then swung it at the creature again. This time the creature grabbed the hammer mid-swing. Stronghold leaped up and kicked at it's chest with both feet, more specifically, aiming at it's chest where the daggers were still imbedded, driving one of them in further. The creature didn't like this and swung him away, still keeping it's hand on the sledgehammer. Stronghold started getting up when the creature grabbed his face and forced him against the wall. It started to squeeze his head as hard as it could. Stronghold struggled helplessly, punching and kicking at it in vain. It lifted him up further, the monster preparing to crush his skull. It was interrupted however when Sally leaped up onto it's back and put an arm around it's throat and began jabbing a dagger into it's chest. The creature threw away Stronghold and dropped the hammer before turning and reaching back, grabbing Sally and throwing her away. Stronghold was barely getting up when Sally landed on top of him. Stronghold struggled to his feet and stood to face it.
Up at the top of the stairs, the door opened and several soldiers walked into the room. Game Master's security. They were prepared to open fire when they saw the creature thrashing them. They stopped and sat back to watch. The leader of the team sighed.
 "Damn, can't believe it beat us here."
"They still alive?" A second guard asked.
"Not for long."
"Hey, who do you think is gonna die first?"
"$70 on the chick."
"You're on. My money's on the kid in the costume."
"Sooo....what do we do if the kids do win?"
 "Yeah, that's gonna happen." A guard laughed.
"I know, but, you know, what if they do?"
"If they do, we simply fill them with holes. Problem solved."  The leader smiled.

The Justice Patrol arrived at the basement floor and the moment the elevator opened they took off running. The power nullifiers were already affecting three of them: Ultra Girl, Carmella and The Dude. However, Reaper's technology jammer was working also to deactivate them.

Stronghold pushed himself up, holding two bloody daggers as the creature advanced on him again. He leaped at it, yelling in defiance and slashed and stabbed at the creature but it just kept walking, barely affected by the cuts at all. The creature reached down, grabbing his blades and tearing them from his grip and then squeezed, crushing them in it's grip, destroying the metal blades and leaving only the hilts. The creature dropped them and punched Stronghold in the face, launching him through the air. He saw the creature still advancing on him and tried to get away, backing away from the monster. It reached him and lifted hi into the air, pulled back it's fist and began punching him in the face, hard, again and again.

"Reaper, isn't it ready yet?!" Artemis yelled.
"Almost!" Reaper worked with the technology jammer, struggling to get the frequency of all of the jammers in the underground prison as the heroes kept running through this hellish underground maze. Almost...almost ready.

Jim and Chandra attacked the creature, Chandra slamming the sledgehammer against it's ribs and Jim stabbing it with the sword. The creature paused it's assault on Stronghold to turn around and back hand them away before turning back to Stronghold who despite his utter agony and wounds, still punched at it helplessly.

"Come on....come on...just a few more seconds...just a few more...THERE! I GOT IT!"

The creature threw Stronghold down and stepped on his back. He lifted his head. Sally was down, too injured to keep fighting. Jim and Chandra could barely move, both of them beaten bloody. Stronghold tried to push himself up but the creature was too strong. "Noo....not....not like this...not like this..."
The creature took it's foot off and threw him onto the staircase. Stronghold yelled in pain. It advanced on him slowly. The guards laughed at his futile struggle. The creature raised up it's fist to finish him. "I.....won't....die."

Reaper activated the jammer, shutting off every power nullifier in the entire prison. The shutting down sound echoed throughout it.
"LET"S MOVE!" Carmella and Dude super speeded the five of them through the prison, Ultra Girl reaching out with her telepathy to navigate them to where Stronghold was.

The creature swung at Stronghold to punch him as hard as it could. He raised an arm to defend himself and stopped the punch cold with one hand. He was stunned for a moment and then felt it, felt new strength filling up his body and as the sounds echoed around them, Stronghold quickly figured out what it meant: His powers were back. He shoved the creature away from him, tossing it across the room with ease. Stronghold picked himself up and stared it down.

"My turn."

Reaching down, the creature picked up the Sledgehammer and swung it at him. Stronghold swung his arm at it and demolished the hammer with a backhand. He advanced on the creature. It roared and punched him in the face. Stronghold simply smiled and the creature tried again, accomplishing nothing but hurting his own hands. "What's wrong? Not having fun anymore?" He asked. It kicked at him his head but Stronghold just slapped the kick away, sending it sprawling. The creature started to get up and saw Stronghold winding up. Kissing his right hand, he raised up his fist and then punched the monster across the room so hard it not only hit the metal wall, it broke the wall. The creature fell to the ground, not moving. Stronghold wiped the blood from his face and then turned to the guards. They backed away. Even with the distance between them and the heavy wounds on his body, they took steps backwards. There was the sound of a gate crashing down and breaking.

"THE HELL?!"
Stronghold smiled.
 "What....what the hell was that?" One of them asked.
"That? That was the cavalry." They arrived seconds later and stood with him. Sally, Jim and Chandra looked up, almost unable to believe what they were seeing. The Justice Patrol had arrived. The team was back together. They were safe.
"Avengers Assemble, Assholes."

Five Seperate Battles Part 5: Speed Demons

On the other side of the city...

The Dude blitzed over a series of land mines and they exploded behind with Dude already clear of the explosion. He kept running until he arrived at the old cathedral. Running inside, he saw a man tied to the ceiling with a rope that was starting to snap. There was a pit of spikes below him. Dude was about to run up and get him down heard something and turned around and saw the villain. Speed Devil. He twirled his staff. "Hello Superhero."

The Dude turned around and looked at him. "Alright, what's your gimmick?"
"Speed. Real speed." He said.
"Really?"
"Yes and if you want to save the civilian, you'll have to get by me."
"First, tell me where you took my friend and why."
"Why? For kicks. As for where...I don't know."
"Except you do know."
"What?"
"You just told me. You said that you took him for kicks, which means you know where he is." Dude raised a hand to his ear. "You get that boss lady?"
"Good move Dude. We're on our way."
"So what? I'll beat you to death well before any of them arrive."
"Good luck with that."
Up above the rope snapped and the man started to fall while at the same time the two speedsters rushed each other.
Helpful Note: The following exchange takes place in the time it took the man to fall from the ceiling...

The Dude jump kicked him but Speed Devil blocked it and sweeped his leg and Dude landed on his back but he pushed off of his hands to spring back up and started rapidly punching him but he used his staff to block the punches and responded with a super fast knee to the chest but the Dude saw it coming and backed away from him and Speed Devil swung the staff at him and it slammed into The Dude and he swung him against a bench and Dude fell over onto it and he got up and The Dude flipped over onto the one behind it and then Dude jump kicked him in the face and got a solid hit on Speed Devil who flipped off of the bench and landed on one knee and The Dude was already super speeding at him. Speed Devil recovered and the two ran around the church moving too fast for the human eye to see and slamming each other into walls, against the ground, against benches, against the old pipe organ, and against the altar. Dude grabbed his staff and kicked the back of his leg and then hit the back of his head and threw his staff away but Speed Devil recovered and backhanded him across the face and then gave him a super speed kick in the side. The Dude slid across the ground but stopped himself and waited until he was close and hit him with a 540 degree spinning kick that caught him completely off guard. Landing on the ground, The Dude speeded over to him and gave him a series of rapid punches in the stomach and then kneed him in the face and then hit him with a super fast uppercut, speeded over to the left of him, kicked the back of his feet and then punched him back down to the ground.

The Dude then turned around and ran over to the falling man and leaped over the spikes and caught him, carrying him over it. Dude rolled to his feet. "There we go. How are you today?" Dude asked. Behind him, Speed Devil started getting up. "One sec." The Dude super speeded over to Speed Devil and began running around him so fast he caused a whirlwind as he pummeled the super villain until he was done and The Dude punched him down again.

"Thanks for the workout." Dude smirked.

Artemis, Ultra Girl, Reaper and Carmella arrived soon after to find the beaten down villain laying on the floor in the Church. The man was recovering and The Dude was praying for forgiveness for fighting in the Church. "Hey girls, glad to see you made it. Here's the bad guy."
Artemis withdrew her sword."Wait." Carmella spoke up. "We should do this outside."
"Good point." Ultra Girl reached out with her telekinesis and grabbed Speed Devil, carrying him outside.

"Talk." Artemis said coldly.

"Go to hell b-ch." Speed Devil spat.

"I was hoping you'd say that."

The Dude closed the church doors. "Mister, you might want to plug your ears."

Carnage

"My name is Chandra." The man said to them. He explained that he had gotten into a cab and was then gassed, waking up here. Sally and Jim introduced themselves while exchanging weapons and they turned to introduce Stronghold and saw him sitting on the ground, resting against the wall. His eyes closed.
 "Stronghold?"
No response.
Sally ran over and checked on him. "S-Stronghold?"
He opened his eyes and smiled. "Sorry, just needed a moment to rest. Are you guys ready to go?"
"Yeah, but....but are you going to be okay?"
"I'm fine." He assured them again. He used the hammer to steady himself as he stood up and continued forward with the three of them following behind him.

Eerily, there was silence for several minutes, no sign of anymore lunatics. "Maybe....maybe it's over." Jim offered.
"Can only hope." Stronghold said.
They traveled down cell blocks, through hallways, down and up stairs, through more cell blocks and through a giant steel door to a new area. It was way different than the prison they had been in. It was much more wide open with a higher ceiling and bright lights. The whole room was painted white and the floor was stainless steel. "The hell?" was all Stronghold could ask.
"Is...is this it?" Sally asked. "Are we out? Are we free?"
"I-I don't know....this is...this is different that's for sure."
As Chandra followed them in and the door closed however, a metal gate slammed down in front of the door, blocking off any escape. "DAMMIT!" Stronghold turned to the gate and tuged on it. Nothing. "Damn."
"S-Stronghold?"
"Well....we're out of one prison and into another....the hell is this place?"
"I'm sorry." Chandra said.
"It's cool man. It's not your fault. Right now we just need to...to...."
Seeing Stronghold freeze up, the three turned as one to see what he was staring at. At the other side of the room, a giant, hulking, brute of a man walked into the room. His back was covered with bones protruding from his back, his muscles massive and engorged. A part of his face split open, revealing blood and bone.
This new enemy was different than the others were. This one, was not human.

The creature raised it's head and it's eyes, wide and bloodshot, fixed on them. There were hooks poking out of it's skin and peeling at the skin around the eyes. The eyelids had been cut off, as had the lips, revealing razor sharp teeth like a shark. In it's hand it wielded a bent sign.
"Shoot it."
"Stronghold?"
"JUST SHOOT IT!" Stronghold yelled at Jim.
He did so and took aim, emptying the rest of the handgun's ammo into it's chest. The bullets tore into it, causing black blood to spray out of it's chest. The creature kept coming however and swung the sign at them. The four heroes dived for cover and surrounded it. Stronghold attacked first, swinging the sledgehammer at it's ribs. It was a solid hit but the creature didn't seem fazed. It batted Stronghold away, sending him flying through the air and into a wall. Stronghold fell down to the ground.
Chandra tried next and slashed at it's back with the sword. Black blood sprayed onto his suit and the sword but once more the creature barely seemed fazed. It turned and punched him away but Jim caught him and fired on the creature once more, having reloaded with the extra clip. The bullets pierced it's flesh but they didn't seem to do anything to it. The monster swung the sign at him, knocking the gun out of his hand and then ran forward and grabbed Jim by the neck before he could recover and pinning him against the wall. It was about to crush his next when Sally jumped in and driving the sword into it's back. The monster dropped Jim and stood up straighter and flung her off. Sally hit the ground hard, knocking the wind out of her. The creature raised it's foot up and stomped on her, pinning her down. She yelled in pain. The creature was about to smash her with it's giant fist when Stronghold jumped in and swung the sledgehammer right at it's face as hard as he possibly could and actually made the creature back away, blood spraying from it's face. Gritting her teeth, Sally pulled out the daggers she had acquired from the previous battle and jabbed them into it's stomach. The creature kicked her through the air and Stronghold caught her. "You....okay?"
She spit blood out. "Ffff....fine."
Chandra fired at the creature's leg with the last of the bullets as Stronghold and Sally backed away. The creature fell down to one knee and Stronghold swung upwards with the hammer but it caught him with a punch. It grazed him but the punch still hurt like hell.
Jim threw the knives at the creature and Sally jammed the last of her daggers at it. It swung the sign at her but Sally just barely leaped over it and Stronghold blocked it with the hammer, but was still sent skidding several feet backwards. Stronghold ran forward again and slammed the hammer against it's knee and the creature hit his side with it's fist. He yelled in pain and was sent flying through the air. Fortunately though, the creature's knee was smashed now and it couldn't stand. Sally recovered the spare sword and running forward while Jim and Chandra leaped onto it's back to distract it and Sally stabbed the creature in the chest. The creature roared in pain and Jim and Chandra drove the other sword further into it's back and the knives in. It roared and thrashed and flung them through the air off of it. Stronghold flung the hammer at it's head, knocking it down. The creature fell to the ground and Stronghold limped over to it and just hit the monster with a brutal haymaker after haymaker after haymaker until it stopped moving and Stronghold fell down. "Please.....please tell me it's dead." He pleaded silently. Stronghold looked at the others. They were beaten and battered and almost as exhausted as he was. They picked themselves up and the four looked at each other.
"...Good.....work....team." Was all he had the strength to say.

Five Seperate Battles Part 4: The Countess

Carmella!

Carmella arrived at the outskirts of the city and began searching the forest. She sniffed the air and found the hostages. Speeding over to them, she found a few civilians chained to giant boulders. "Hang on, I'll have you out of there in a jiffy." She was about to help before she heard something behind her and turned around and punched a large log in half. She saw a tall pale skinned man walk out of the forest, pick up a tree and fling it at her. Already seeing it coming, Carmella super speeded around the boulders, ripping apart the chains and carried the civilians several feet away. "Get out of here, I can handle ugly here." She said and pocketed the code, memorizing it just in case and charged The Ghoul. She slammed him into and knocked him into one of the boulders, destroying it and making it crumble apart. Ghoul got up and yelled at her and charged Carmella. He was faster than he looked.

Ghoul collided with her but Camella used his momentum against him to throw him through a tree, knocking it over. Ghoul stood back up and turned and grabbed Carmella by the throat mid-charge and back handed her through the air. Carmella was tossed dozens of feet through the air but flipped in the air and landed on her feet. Ghoul was already leaping high above her and stomped down but Carmella dodged it and gave him an uppdercut, blitzed behind him, uppercut again, blitzed to the other side, uppercut and so on, juggling the villain in the air before she grabbed his leg and slamming him down to a boulder had enough to destroy it. Carmella flipped forward and slammed her feet down on his face, flipped off, turned around and kicked him into the air and then punched him in the back of the head hard enough to send him rocketing forward through the air and to come down and bounce across the ground for several feet before stopping.
Carmella blitzed in front of him. "That's what you get." She smirked and turned and called the others. "Hey guys, it's Carm, I'm just about finished here and-" She was cut off when Ghoul grabbed the back of her head and ran forward, tossing her through a tree face fist hard enough to smash right through it and continue through a second tree.
As she lay there stunned for the moment, the creature slammed down on top of her and began punching the back of her head repeatedly in an enraged fury, driving her further down into the ground until Carmella turned around and slammed her fist again the side of his head, sending it flying. Carmella stood up, growling. "That hurt."  She bared her fangs, her eyes glowing dark red.

The Ghoul roared at her and leaped at her but Carmella swung at him, sending it flying and tackled it in mid-air the two digging a several foot long ditch. After struggling for a few moments she got up and flung him away and then picked up a tree, uprooting it right out of the ground and leaping after him. Ghoul landed on his feet just in time to have a tree smash into him, smashing him to the ground as the tree broke into splinters. Carmella then blitz punched him for several minutes straight before ending it with one final brutal punch that caused a small crater to form under him. Standing back up, Carmella put a hand on her head and calmed herself down, reverting to normal. "Sorry about that. But yeah, I'm done here. I'll meet up with you guys now." She said and blitzed off.

Carnival

Stronghold used some towels and bandages he found to at least wipe off the wounds he had. Next, Sally used some knives to dig out the bullets, wiped his wounds and cauterize them. It hurt like hell but they stopped bleeding at least.
He slid the pan underneath his costume, using as a small bit of armor in case he got shot again. "So, Jim, can I ask how you got here?"
"I-I work at a computer software company. I don't even know these lunatics. These guys...just broke into my home, hit me over the head, and I woke up here with a killer headache. This psycho put a bag over my head and dragged me here.....and then you two showed up."
"Well Jim, I'm glad to meet you. And I promise you, I'm getting you out of here."
"Thanks...but...can you keep fighting like this?"
"Ah please. These are just light scratches. You get them all the time out in the field." Stronghold forced a smile and stood tall. "Alright then, the gun is yours. Remember what I said."
"Yes sir." Jim nodded and pocketed the ammo.
"Sally? You ready to go?"
"Ready when you are."
Stronghold smiled and lead them onward, back out into the hallway and along the path.

"He's amazing isn't he?" Sally asked Jim.
"Totally....didn't you say his powers were gone?"
"Yeah and he's steamrolling right over everything...brass knuckles sure...but.."
"But he's just a kid."
"So was Captain Justice once and look at him now."
"You're right. I can only imagine just how tough the rest of the Justice Patrol is."
Despite his pain, despite his exhaustion, hearing that felt good. A smile crossed his face.

Game Master tapped his fingers against the console. "I swear.....can't these idiots do anything right? This is not in the script." He looked at a red button. "Should I or shouldn't I?" He reached over and almost pressed it but relented. "Naaah, the clowns are up next. I'll see how he fairs. If he wins, then I'll send in the heavy hitters. Place your bets now folks."

"Ummm....Stronghold?"
"Yeah?"
"Are any of the other heroes down here?"
"Doesn't look like it. There's no way these losers are good enough to grab them. And if they did? They'd have escaped by now. Knowing them, they're looking for us right now. We'll just have to hold out and save the rest of the civilians."
"You've got it big guy."

And then a screaming lunatic came barreling at them from out of nowhere. He leaped ontop of Stronghold, knocking him over and tried to strangle him but Stronghold threw him off and then Jim pistol whipped him, dropping the lunatic. "That felt good."
Stronghold smiled and then decked the lunatic just to make sure.

The trio continued into a much larger room that was.....surreal. That was the only explanation they could come up with for it. It was brightly lit and the whole room was painted in bright colors. One wall was painted to have a sky with clouds and water and yellow ducks floating on it. Another wall had unicorns painted on it, a house and field, dogs, cats, people...it was just....freaky. All of the paintings looked like they were done by a child. Even the floor and ceiling were painted. The floor having just a big yellow smiley face and the ceiling covered in unicorn pictures. The three kept an eye out but there was nothing. They passed right through with no danger at all.

"We are never speaking of that again."
"Agreed."


The next hallway was long and winding and the lights were off so Stronghold brought out the flashlight again and shined it in front of them. For awhile, there was nothing.

He came out of nowhere, a clown dressed in colorful attire wielding a crossbow. He shot the arrows right at Stronghold's chest. However, the armored outfit and the metal pan underneath stopped them cold. Stronghold smacked them away and charged forward with the others, holding the sword up in front of himself to block any more arrows coming his way. The clown ran off laughing and they followed. They came upon a cross path however and two more clowns jumped them from both sides. One dressed like a hobo clown with a stubble and black paint all around his mouth and red paint on his mouth. He was wielding a sledgehammer and swung it at Sally with both hands. She was knocked down and rolled to the side to avoid having her skull smashed. The second clown was a woman wearing a pink polka dot dress, a jester hat and with white make up on her face with pink circles on her cheeks. She attacked Jim from behind by wrapping a plastic bag around his face. Jim stuggled against her for a few moments before he shot her in the foot and headbutted her in the nose. The clown girl screamed and backed off while Stronghold ran over to help Sally, slashing with the sword. The clown blocked it with the hammer's handle but Stronghold kicked him hard in the balls, twice and then kicked him in the stomach, making him drop the hammer. Sally got up. "Help Jim, I've got this!" Stronghold told her. Sally pulled out a knife and ran over to Jim and swiftly cut the bag off of him. They turned and grabbed the clown girl and beat the hell out of her.

Once they were sure she was down, they turned to see Stronghold walking over, dragging the sword in one hand and the sledgehammer in the other.

 "I am keeping this." He declared, handing Sally the spare sword. Sally in turn gave Jim her spare knives, keeping one for herself.

The three proceeded cautiously into an area with more bright lights. On the ground and on the walls were written HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA over and over and over in bright red paint....at least that was what Stronghold hoped it was.

They came to a turn which lead them down a twisting hallway and into another room. They stood to the side and opened it cautiously. Nothing so far. Stronghold was about to walk in when he noticed a string on the floor. A trip wire of some kind. He pointed it out to the others and they proceeded cautiously, stepping over it.

Once inside, music started blaring out of nowhere and constantly looping.

They jumped. "Okay....what the hell?"
"M-Music? Who would...I don't...what the hell man?"
"Let's just get going. If there's music, they might know we're already here."
"Good point Jim. Come on. And keep an eye out."

They proceeded into a hallway that was painted like and had several miniature carnival ride models set up everywhere.
They spotted several mannequins set up along the pathway. Each of them gave the mannequin's a good whack and a stab just to make sure. They did look lifelike after all. One thing they weren't prepared for was a clown dropping out of the air vents and onto Sally, flooring her and knocking the wind out of her. He tried to punch Stronghold but he blocked it with the sledgehammer and then kicked him in the face and then Jim decked the clown. Stronghold smashed his leg with the sledgehammer just to be sure. They helped up Sally. "You alright?"
She coughed. "Yeah, yeah, nothing too bad, just hurt a bit....wow...he's not getting up is he?"
"Nope." Stronghold smiled.

The three turned a corner to find another shelf of dolls...these though were all broken apart, their limbs and heads all piled up and scattered around, the eyes taken out and littering the floor. "Not more of these damn things."

"You saw dolls before down here?"
"Yeah and they were creepy then too."

The group entered a room that was once more painted with pictures all over the place. It was exactly like the earlier one only this one had statues on pedestals in weird poses everywhere. Upon closer inspection they were not statues but mannequins. Dressed like clowns. Stronghold shuddered on seeing them.

"Stronghold? Are you okay?"
"Yeah, f-fine....just....just give me a minute."

That's when they heard Jim yell out. They turned around to see him get knocked to the ground. His gun falling from his hands and it was then kicked out into the hallway. In front of them, was a woman. A harlequin clown with pitch black eyes...not even the slightest trace of humanity in them.  She laughed at Jim and at Sally and at Stronghold and then kicked Jim again in the face. She took a bow and walked into the room. "HIIII!" She squealed out to them and waved to the two. "Helllloooo victims! I'm here to kill ya! Especially you." She pointed at Sally.
"Try it, I'll cut your damn arms off."
"You are dirty."
Sally charged the clown and slashed with the swords. "Hey are those Claire's?" She asked as she ran and leaped over her and kicked her in the back of the head, sending Sally crashing to the ground. "Because I didn't like her. Your turn!"  She threw a dagger at Stronghold and then ran behind a mannequin to use for cover.

Stronghold was hit in the chest and fell to the ground, yelling out in pain for effect. The clown walked over, twirling and spinning her daggers. She was about to stab him but Stronghold reached up and punched her leg. She fell back. Stronghold leaped up and swung the sledgehammer at her but the clown backflipped to dodge it and threw the other daggers at him. Stronghold side stepped one and blocked the other before swinging the hammer at her again, knocking over a mannequin when she dodged.

She backflipped several feet away from him and then threw a dagger at his leg, slashing the side of it. Stronghold winced as his leg got cut. The clown giggled and made a bring it motion.

Stronghold ducked behind a mannequin as she did. The two began moving around the room, both hunting the other. Due to his injuries though and exhaustion though, Stronghold was breathing hard while the clown was silent, giving her a stealth advantage. Hearing a sound behind him, Stronghold whirled around....but there was nothing there.

He yelled out as he was slashed across his back by the clown. Stronghold stumbled forward and then turned and swung wildly with the sledgehammer, spinning around with it as she backpedaled around to get away before jumping behind a mannequin again.
 Sally charged in and slashed at the clown girl with one sword. She danced around her, flipping over Sally once more but this time Jim threw the knives at her. The clown girl spun around and twirled as she snatched the knives out of the air. She threw the knives at Sally, the knives flying past her and then the clown girl leaped up, flipping off of Sally and kicking her down. As she was coming down though, Stronghold slammed the sledgehammer against her stomach, breaking the clown girls ribs and sending her flying. She hit the ground and coughed up blood, holding her stomach in pain. "Nighty night." Stronghold said to her and punched her in the face, knocking her flat out.

Stronghold fell down to one knee, using the hammer to support himself. "Ev....everybody...okay?"

"Owwww....ow, yeah...ahhh, that hurt." Sally said and rubbed her jaw. It wasn't broken at least but her head and jaw still hurt like heck.

Jim walked over, wiping the blood from his mouth. "Hey guys....I'm alright...you?"

"Give me a minute." Stronghold said and pushed himself up. "Yeah....I can keep going...come on."

They opened the next door and immediately backed away as they were nearly roasted by flames. In the middle of the room was a man tied up with a large blade hanging over his head and a timer on it. In front of him was a laughing lunatic, spraying a flamethrower at the heroes. The Ringmaster walked forward, the flames getting closer. "Come on kiddies! Step right up don't be shy who wants to be the first to try?!" He fired again and they ran for cover.
"Dammit, we don't have time for this." Stronghold gritted his teeth and raised the hammer up above his head as the ringmaster walked into the room, spraying the flamethrower at the three of them. Sally and Jim ran for cover while Stronghold stayed just outside of his range, took aim, and then ran forward in the brief time between his firings and threw the sledgehammer at him like a javelin. The hammer hit the man right in the face, flooring and causing him to scream in pain and drop the flamethrower. Stronghold immedately leaped on him.
"Save the hostage!" He told the others.They did so, running in to get him out of the chair and untied and away from it just before the blade fell down and sliced the chair in two.
Stronghold finished beating the hell out of the ringmaster and walked forward, heavily sweating, breathing hard and bleeding. "...F-er." Was all Stronghold could say as he picked up the hammer and walked over to the others.

The GameMaster stood up and slammed his hands on the table.
"Enough." He gritted his teeth beneath the helmet. "Enough. No more playing around. I want these kids DEAD!" He slammed a fist down on the red button. "Send in the killing machines and the security. When you find them, kill them."

A voice spoke up.
"Yes sir. We're opening up the doors now."

In the darkest places of the prison, large metal doors opened and a gate opened up. In two different locations, two psychotic monsters were let loose in the prison. Two psychotic monsters with only one goal: To kill absolutely everything they found.

These were the all stars, the heavy hitters, the devils. GameMaster had played a great deal of money to buy these genetically modified psycho's on the black market and they had served him well. These kids were going to die and he was going to love every second of it.

And if they didn't get them? The security guards would.

"Better get ready kids, it's time for the boss battles."

Five Seperate Battles: Part 3: Goddess of the Hunt

(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.

Party Crasher

"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?"