===============================
UVR3: REINVENTING THE WHEEL
===============================
SECTION TWELVE RESULTS
===============================
In the ring, Sophitia was trying her hardest to hit Lord Raptor, but the zombie rocker was just too fast for her. Every time she swung at him, he ducked or dodged, laughing maniacally.
Finally, as Raptor was off-balance, she thrust her shortsword forward. Raptor tore a hole open in his own chest, letting the sword hit nothing at all, and knocked her down with a headbutt.
As Sophitia struggled to get up, Raptor chortled in triumph... right up until a piece of metal dug into his ear.
"Dodge this."
Hol Horse pulled the trigger on his pistol, the Emperor, and watched Raptor fall like a puppet with its strings cut. He took a puff from his cigarette, tipped his cowboy hat to Sophitia, and smiled. "Hey there, miss. What's a pretty thing like yourself doing in a contest like this?"
Lord Raptor, unnoticed by Hol, popped right back up. "That hurt, you son of a bitch."
Hol nearly swallowed his cigarette in shock, and turned to find himself face to face with the blue zombie. The bullet hole healed up before his eyes.
"Boo."
"GAH! CRAP!"
And away the cowboy ran.
Raptor simply snapped his fingers and muttered, "Chainsaw."
Le Malta popped out of the ground and wrapped his mouth around his master's arm. A six-foot long chainsaw tore out of Malta's backside, and Raptor smiled. "Groovy."
The chase was on.
"And so," Clark said, as Hol Horse ran screaming behind him, "those are our orders. Hey, are you listening?" he asked, noting that Leona had her eyes set on something behind him.
Pagan, who had been charging at Clark, pulled up a couple feet short of him when Hol Horse and Raptor run across her path.
"Leona? What--"
Clark didn't get to finish his sentence. The moment Raptor got out of her way, Leona shoved Clark aside and slammed a charging punch into Pagan's stomach. As Leona backed away from her, something on Pagan's back hissed briefly.
Clark dove for cover.
Pagan was engulfed by a loud explosion that sent her flying over the force field... and directly into a storm of laser fire.
Serious Sam raised his eyebrows. He'd expected to blow away a pack of aludron reptiloids. On the plus side, though, whoever the late woman was, the reptiloids were now busy savaging her corpse.
Control Booth
"Two point eight three seconds," Birdman announced. "That has to be the fastest I've ever seen someone bite it."
"I knew the War Gods would leave their mark someday," Wanderer said. "But what about Tak? Didn't he get punched into dust upon entry?"
"Indeed he did. But it took a while for the dust cloud to settle. Technically he lasted the longest."
The Ring
"One of these days," Sakura muttered as she tripped and fell to the canvas, "--oof! I'm going to have to learn to keep my big mouth shut."
While it had often worked with Ryu, trying to engage this "Kyo" guy up close was certainly not going to work. She had heard of fireballs, sure. Those were common. What she *wasn't* used to were people whose hands were on fire. That just wasn't done. Sakura would get in a punch, or a kick... and get a second-degree burn for her trouble. Her dress was singed in more than one place.
"This was fun for about a minute," Kyo said. "If that's the best you can do, though, get the hell out of my way!"
"...hey now," Sakura said. "There's an idea."
As Sakura got up, Ryuji Yamazaki fell down. A low Snake Arm had whiffed, and Casey Jones punished him with a cricket bat to the face.
Casey put the bat away behind his back and pulled out a hockey stick. "Shouldn't make that face or it'll freeze like that, slime bag."
Ryuji growled in aggravation as he made it back to his feet. He threw his weight behind a low sweep, but Casey saw it coming, jumped it, and shattered his hockey stick over Ryuji's head. Ryuji collapsed, as Casey abandoned the broken stick for a Louisville Slugger.
"Got you now, punk." Casey laid into the prone Ryuji with the bat.
"Hey!" Lei Wulong exclaimed, running over. "What are you doing? Do you honestly think that this is how you should fight for justice?"
Casey stopped his attack, and stepped over Ryuji's body. All he could do was stare at Lei.
"Don't you have any sense of honorable combat?" Lei asked. "Do you really think what you're doing is right?"
Casey tilted his head to the side slightly, as if considering this, before nailing Lei in the gut with his bat.
"I think that might makes right," Casey told him.
And with that, mighty Casey swung the bat. Wulong took a home-run shot to the chin that sent him clear over the force field, and for the next fifteen minutes, the roving gangs of Chinatown had more than just Jackie Chan, Stuntmaster, to worry about.
Casey Jones twirled his baseball bat dramatically and put it away, dusting his hands off as he turned around.
That put him face-to-face with a psychotically smiling madman. Ryuji palmed Casey's head and snickered.
As Casey sailed up into the air, he felt a momentary sense of relief; he wasn't going to go over the barrier. Instead, he started falling back down, towards the maniacal laughing of--
Uh-oh.
After an extended series of headbutts, Yamazaki reared back and slammed Casey straight out of the ring.
"What, is that it?" Ryuji barked. "I'm just getting started!"
Casey landed hard on his back on a beach somewhere, in the middle of the night. Casey held the mask gingerly as he stood up, which was painfully digging into his face. Even if he could've seen straight, it was too dark out to see anything.
That included the enormous man skulking towards Casey with an axe in his hands. Coincidentally, Jason Voorhees had just been thinking about getting a new mask.
_Sub-Basement 8-23-12, RumbleDome Hotel_
"YoU arE a FOol TO cHAlLeNge mE, DoOM!" Blackheart melted into a puddle and appeared behind Dr. Doom, trying to grab him. "fOR mY FaTHer, i wILl deSTroY yOU!"
"Please. To claim this in the name of Mephisto is an insult to Doom's intelligence." Doom went airborne to dodge Blackheart's clumsy grab, and blasted it with both gauntlets. "Your father himself is a foe worthy to have battled Doom many times. It is very much a shame that the apple falls too far from the tree, so to speak." Doom crossed his arms and descended at Blackheart, feet first.
Blackheart intersected Doom's attempt by tossing a meteor to the ground and engulfing Doom in a pillar of ice. Confidently, he slinked over Doom's way and laughed. He stretched his arms out and demonic pawns spawned out of his chest, spreading in Doom's direction. Doom reached out one hand and disintegrated them with some mild blasts. Doom tried a stronger discharge at Blackheart's head, but the demon prince met the energy head on with his Dark Thunder attack. The two concentrated their energy, Doom mostly getting the advantage.
"dOOm YoU FOoL!" Blackheart taunted as he stomped onto the ground and covered Doom with more Hell spawns. The creatures clawed at Doom's armor, trying to get in. Doom did the only thing he could do and allowed Blackheart to zap him... which destroyed the imps.
In another battle, King blocked a slap from Nina Williams. He firmly grabbed her wrist and shoved her into a wall.
"Listen, lady! I got nothing against you. Now go bother the guy with the pointy hat, and let me get a piece of that green freak!"
Nina, with a blank stare, grabbed King by his wrist, flipped him onto his back, and stepped down on a very delicate area.
crunch
King slowly stood back up and pointed at Nina. "Okay, niña. Now you went and made it personal!"
Ogre just stood in the shadows, unchallenged, chuckling at the brawl.
Magneto was both amazed and annoyed. What should have been a mostly one-sided fight against Jedah was nullified by a quick healing factor that made Wolverine and Sabertooth look like bubble boys. But considering Magneto had a force field at his disposal, it sounded about fair.
It came in handy, too. Jedah attempted to carve the mutant leader from the side with his conjured scythe, but it bounced off the magnetic field and forced the demon lord back. Magneto smacked his foe away with the powerful wave of his hand.
Jedah retained his composure. "Endure your shield as much as you want, human. I'll crack the shell eventually."
"Human? Don't make me laugh."
Q-Bee, taking a page from Blackheart's book, was using her drones to keep Taki at a distance. As fast as she was, Taki was out of her element, and she'd taken a few painful stings. As another drone's stinger connected, Q-Bee readied her own, to put an end to the ninja.
A katana blade parried it.
Q-Bee turned her head and saw the glowing red eyes of Ichiro Tsunami.
Taki nodded and moved on to attack Lilith. Her dagger swipes were dodged again and again as Lilith skipped backwards, with a smile on her face. She went for an uppercut, but Lilith ducked underneath it and grabbed Taki with both arms.
"Baby, that lower half just isn't you, you know?" Lilith said, with a playful squeeze. Her wings became long blades. "You should probably have it removed!"
Before the wings could cut Taki into two pieces, the ninja broke out of the hug and kicked off of Lilith's chest, flipping backward. In midair, she tried diving back at the succubus... only to fly straight into a cloud of bats, which had once been Lilith's clothing.
Ichiro admired the fresh blood covering most of his katana blade. Q-Bee lay by his feet, trying her hardest to get back up. The dark samurai suddenly became distracted and turned away. Even if his ally was taking a beating, a naked woman still has a way of getting one's attention.
He might have cracked a smile if it wasn't for Q-Bee grabbing him by the shoulders from behind. Before he could react, a stinger tore out of his stomach, much to Ichiro's horror. He dropped his sword, and opened his mouth, but nothing came out.
King, meanwhile, finally put Nina down with a powerbomb through a stack of shipping crates. He grunted with satisfaction, and looked around for another opponent. One presented itself in the form of Ogre, who slammed King to the floor with a shoulder rush.
Ogre picked Nina up by the ankle and looked her up and down in disgust. He discarded her body, and grabbed King's swinging fist out of the air without looking. King tried to power out of Ogre's grip, with no luck, and Ogre slapped a bearhug onto him. King struggled weakly, as his ribs began to give.
Taki stood on Lilith's shoulders and flipped backwards, driving Lilith into the ground, headfirst. She pinned Lilith to the ground, prepared to end her existence, but the image of Ichiro caught her eye. Ichiro was in the same position as before, only covered in a yellow crust with a giant bees' nest sticking out of his back.
Q-Bee looked at Taki and giggled. "What can I zzzzay? I've been buzzzzy azzz a-- ah!"
Taki pounced off of Lilith and landed over at Q-Bee, driving her Mekkimaru blade into the honeybee's shoulder. In the same motion, she drove her other blade, the Rekkimaru, through the right section of Q-Bee's compound eyes, piercing into her brain.
Q-Bee's response was a high-pitched shriek that almost deafened Taki.
Taki jerked Mekkimaru out of Q-Bee's head and whirled around, cutting across Q-Bee's neck with both blades. The head dropped free; the dead body withered into a skeleton.
Immediately after, the top of the beehive began to crack and a second Q-Bee broke out. She waved at the ninja girl and leaned over, holding her chin with both hands.
"Zzzzzo, what did I mizzzzzz?"
Taki's anger became concern when she noticed Lilith was back on her feet, only now, she was dressed in a tight outfit exactly like Taki's own.
"So, does this make me look fat? And be honest." Lilith posed, her arms behind her back.
Ogre held King's limp body up by the neck, studying the ferocious mask. "Ah, yes. I remember a man with a mask like this. His performance was just as horrible. And the way he cried for his many children..."
King's muscles twitched.
"...so pathetic."
King bent his knees and curled up, shifting his angle. While still held by the neck, he was able to dropkick Ogre in the face and free himself. He rolled to the ground, stood up, and delivered a second dropkick. Ogre staggered backward, and swung once, desperately putting all his strength behind a wild right cross. King easily saw through the attack, and hooked Ogre's arm.
Ogre was picked up and suspended upside-down, back to back with King. The masked wrestler sat down, turning the armbar into a Vertebreaker, cracking the God of the Fight's head into the floor. He rolled backward, picked Ogre up again, and delivered a German Suplex. Without letting go of Ogre's legs, King stood up and swung Ogre around, slamming him into a wall.
Ogre stood back up, but staggered and fell to one knee. King tilted his head and gave an over-exaggerated shrug. Ogre backed off, and walked through a hole in the wall. King followed, making sure there were no interlopers in their brawl.
Taki fell to her back and hopped up just as fast. Things were looking grim for her as Q-Bee, Lilith and a weak, but standing, Nina closed in. However, out of the corner of her eye, she saw Magneto gesture in a way she remembered from their time in the ring. She hopped up and attached herself to the ceiling, hoping it wouldn't collapse.
"SHOCKWAVE!"
The pillars of magnetic force slammed into Q-Bee, Lilith, and Nina, scattering them across the room and knocking all three unconscious.
Magneto, after the Shockwave had faded away, fell to the floor, his cape in tatters. Jedah licked the blood off his fingers. He conjured his scythe up once again and held it up high in order to drive it through Magneto's back.
Mekkimaru flipped end-over-end through the air, and sunk to its hilt in Jedah's forehead.
"Oh, girl," Jedah said, and staggered back like he'd had one too many drinks. "You do know how to treat me..."
"You like pain, do you?" Magneto said.
"Oh, yessss..." Jedah hissed.
"Then you'll truly enjoy this."
Ichiro's katana flew from the floor and stapled Jedah to the closest wall. At the same time, Magneto gestured with one hand, and Mekkimaru shot straight down from the wound in Jedah's head, with a sound like wet paper tearing.
Jedah's scream had a disturbing element of... satisfaction to it.
Blackheart held Dr. Doom up by one hand, as spirits from his Hell flew into Doom's body. In response, Doom grabbed Blackheart's neck and used his other hand to blast a laser off into his face. Both flew backwards.
Blackheart stood back up instantly. "EnOuGH oF THiS! I'm FIniShEd wIth YOu! ARMAGEDDON!!"
A shower of stones from Hell itself flew from the air above them, towards Dr. Doom, who simply stood still. The first few rocks missed, but the ones after them simply stopped, shattering against a hovering cloud of debris: Doom's Molecular Shield.
"Away with you," Doom said dismissively.
The Molecular Shield slammed into Blackheart. The demon, and the shower of stone, crashed into a forklift, demolishing it and burying Blackheart under a pile of rubble.
Jedah, with pieces of his body hanging by only a thread, tried to gather the unconscious Lilith and Q-Bee.
Magneto, back on his feet and visibly angry, flew towards Jedah, with Taki at his side.
"This isn't over. You're rid of me for today." A white pillar of light surrounded Jedah and his minions. "But our paths will cross again! Farewell!" Jedah and the other two faded away, accompanied by ominous laughter.
On the other side of the room, Dr. Doom raised one hand. A beam of power from his gauntlet vaporized the debris covering Blackheart's unconscious body.
"Tell Mephisto about exactly what happened today, Blackheart. Tell him about your failure. He will surely be impressed."
Blackheart narrowed his eyes in disdain, and didn't respond. Instead, he melted down into black ooze, and drained into an opening portal.
King ran back into the room.
"You have won the fight, then?" Doom asked.
"You bet. Once I got the upper hand, that green freak turned yellow and ran."
"You seem in good spirits, for one who has lost track of his enemy."
"I'll meet up with him in the Iron Fist, I'm sure of it. But now I know, Doom. Now I know for a fact that I can kick his ass. And I have you to thank, Doc."
Doom nodded. "Fair enough. I believe you'll be needed in the ring very soon. Go off and be careful. If you don't find yourself victorious, come and seek Doom."
"You got it!" King ran off.
Magneto appeared behind Dr. Doom. "I believe I'll take my leave now, Doom."
Doom nodded. "Be cautious, Magnus. We have many enemies, and Doom cannot repay a dead man."
Magneto drifted out of the room and into the darkness. His eyes were fixated on Doom all the while.
The hive that covered the body of Ichiro Tsunami finally crumbled. He stumbled forward and coughed weakly. He was groggy, but the wound in his stomach wasn't life-threatening.
"Clean yourself up, Tsunami," Doom said. "There is more work to be done."
Still on his knees, Ichiro pointed at Nina Williams, who was still out cold. "What do we do with her?"
"Leave her be. She's only a pawn."
Taki picked up her small swords, knowing it would be a good idea to wipe the blood stains off of them soon. She let out a sigh of frustration.
"I failed," she said to herself.
"They were not your demons," Doom said. "You helped foil their plans and perhaps even save this Multiverse we are all a part of. That in itself is more important than the deaths of those who you may never meet again."
Taki put away her daggers and walked away, but Doom was not done speaking yet. "If you are on your way to the Elimination Seating, Doom has a favor to ask of you."
"What would that be?"
"I need you to make a delivery to one Jonathan Talbain."
_Magic(k) Security Offices, RumbleDome Hotel_
"Huh."
Gabe put down his sandwich. "What is it?"
John pointed to a spot on the large monitor that represented part of the sub-basements. "I noticed an unusual amount of magic from this area."
"That's where..."
"Right. Where the demons tried to steal McWild. The thing is," John pointed at a different monitor that listed the names of the combatants,
"these records indicate that Blackheart, Jedah, Lilith Aensland and Q-Bee just left this node."
Gabe started up a game of FreeCell. "You know how those demons are. They'll turn on each other at the drop of a hat. They probably got a little pissy and had themselves a slap fight. They're gone now. There's probably nothing to worry about."
"Yeah. You're probably right."
_Sub-Basement THX 11, RumbleDome_
Nakoruru and Siegfried stood side-to-side, next to a closet door. The closet itself was cleared of brooms and such days ago. Now it was used as a cell, to hold Demitri's prisoner, Ryo Sakazaki.
The door opened and a slightly peeved Drew Bogard stormed by the two guards. All the while he held onto the Mace of Tanis, his gift from his new master.
Drew sat down on a chair next to Johnny Maximum, who was intently watching a monitor. He spread his legs and leaned on the handle of the Mace.
"So how'd it go?" Maximum inquired.
Drew shifted his eyes and groaned. "Not well. Nothing we've tried has worked. That goody-two-shoes can't be corrupted. Maximov's probably going to just kill him, I guess." He watched the team of Charlotte, Clark and Leona stack the odds against Geese and Yamazaki, and gave a vicious grin. "Stab him, you French whore. Make him beg."
"I just don't get it," the football player said while looking at Drew. "Now you're an evil version of that Andy Bogard guy, right?"
"Yes, that seems to be the case."
"Okay, and this Geese guy, he's evil too, right?"
"Yes, and I know what you're getting at. Let me put it this way, so that even you can understand." Despite the insult, Maximum stayed put thanks to the fear of Drew's weapon. "We both want Andy Bogard dead. As for the rest of Andy's rancid little friends, I wouldn't mind seeing them suffer either, especially that Shiranui whore. But I still hate everything Andy hates. Andy hated Geese, and even though I don't care about what he did to Andy's father, I despise him just as much. Is that simple enough for you?"
"Uh, yes." Maximum turned back to the monitor. "I hate Mai too. She's the only reason why I lost UVR2."
"Sure she was."
Fuuma finished tending to Rolento's wounds. "One more stitch... and... there you go. Good as new."
"Amazing job, Fuuma," added Brocken. "I'm guessing Rasputin's shown you some tricks of the trade, so to speak?"
"Exactly. So now I guess you can go back to searching for the Infinity Gems?"
"Not precisely," Rolento told him. "My men are still out there looking for leads. Once El Gado returns, we'll act."
Inside the closet (hey, shut up), a different conversation was going on. "I've made my decision, Sakazaki. I may not be able to enslave you, but I will not kill you."
This came as somewhat of a shock to Ryo, who was chained up to a chair, gagged, and covered with his own dried blood. He couldn't turn his head to see Demitri behind him, but it was probably better that way.
"I came to a revelation, Sakazaki. You didn't just halt my plans. If that was it, you'd be nothing more than a stain by now. But you sent me to Hell. Do you know what that's like, boy?" Like the blink of an eye, Demitri was suddenly face-to-face with Ryo. "DO YOU?!"
The vampire stood back up and regained his composure. "Of course you don't. I checked up upon your past. Even with your mother dead, your life is easy. Your best friend is a millionaire who would give up all of his riches for you at the drop of a hat. You have a loving sister, and even if he is insane, a loving father who's proud of you. They are the reasons why you are going to stay alive, Sakazaki, because, one by one, Robert, Yuri, Takuma, Athena, and anyone else you hold dear will be tortured... slowly... to death.
"And you... you will be forced to watch them suffer, helpless to save them. Helpless to stop the pain. And once you are an old, decrepit fool with nothing left, I'll end your miserable life in a way so vindictive that it hasn't even been created yet."
Ryo cringed as he heard Demitri's voice seemingly come from inside his head.
"Then you will know Hell."
Outside the door, Siegfried and Nakoruru continued to guard, unmoved by whatever they heard. But yet, Siegfried found himself mystified by a strange whisper.
"Siiiiegfriiiiiied... Siiiiiegfriiiiied..."
The knight quickly scanned the room to see that nobody seemed to be asking for his attention. And nobody else seemed to notice the soft voice.
"Siiiiegfriiiiiied..."
There it was again. This time it sounded slightly louder. Siegfried looked to his left to see Nakoruru, still with an emotionless glare. If she heard the voice, she didn't react.
Above them, listening intently from inside the vaulted ceiling, that strange, whispering voice was the only thing that Eiji Kisaragi *didn't* hear.
The Ring
Hol Horse was still running from Lord Raptor and his six-foot long chainsaw. The zombie, who seemed to be in a trance of some sort with his tongue hanging out of his mouth, swiped at the gunman. He barely missed drawing blood, but did cut off part of the flap on the back of Hol Horse's outfit. Hol immediately went full steam after that, running for his life.
"Damn it, J. Geil," Hol said out loud. "Where the hell are you?"
J. Geil was a little busy at the moment, paying attention to the team up between Charlotte and Leona against Geese, as Clark and Ryuji duked it out nearby. In the reflective surface of a fan's eye, the Hanged Man crawled out from the mat and stalked over to Charlotte, who was busy trying to turn Geese into a pincushion. The Stand gave a sinister snicker and advanced at her, unnoticed.
"How?! How could you throw out Haohmaru, you creep?!"
Geese desperately dodged and blocked Charlotte's rapier, but a few strikes got through his guard. He still had enough composure to retort, "I believe those are the rules."
Charlotte finally connected a swipe and took Geese off his feet. She pointed her sword at her foe and smirked. "Now I am going to return the favor, Geese How-- HEY!" She dropped her stance and turned around. "Whose hand was that?!"
The Hanged Man, noticed but unseen, drifted back into the mat.
Clark, who had just suplexed Yamazaki a couple seconds before, was confused at why Charlotte was looking at him with a look of extreme fury. Geese went to rush the French swordswoman while she was distracted, but Leona intercepted him and delivered a clean punch to the face. In the long run, the interruption was probably a good thing for him.
"How dare you touch me like that?!" Charlotte fumed.
"I beg your pardon?"
Ten seconds later, Clark Steele, a little worse for wear, landed in an abandoned amusement park where a giant cockroach was running amok. Clark got ready to tangle with it, but inexplicably, the roach exploded into goo. The splattered Ikari Warrior turned around and saw a black man in a suit with sunglasses on.
"What was that about?" Clark wondered aloud. He'd seen a lot of weird stuff throughout his year as a mercenary, but nothing like this.
"Sir," J said, "to explain what that was all about, I'm gonna have to ask you to take off those shades and look directly into this light."
"What?"
"I need you to take off those--"
"The shades stay on."
"No, seriously. I need you to take off the--"
"The shades stay on."
J reached to grab Clark's sunglasses. "Sir, I'm gonna have to insist that you take off-- AH!"
crack
"Let go of my hand, man!"
"The shades stay on."
"Man, if you don't let go'a me, I'ma gonna--"
WHAM *THUD* POW
Sometimes Ikari Warriors just don't understand.
Back in the ring, Charlotte moved back into the melee, slightly less peeved. The first thing she saw was Leona glaring at her with her arms crossed. She scrunched up her nose to illustrate her disdain.
"What's that look for?" Charlotte wondered aloud. "You saw what happened, right? He groped me!"
Leona narrowed her eyes for a second but then stopped staring at Charlotte. Instead she twisted her neck, and tipped her head back, shifting her blue hair. The hair moved away from her ear, revealing her missing earring... which was next to Charlotte's foot.
The earring exploded, sending the UVR veteran high over the force field and out of the ring. Leona, on the other hand, engaged Geese Howard in battle once again.
"I can't help but find this funny," Geese said.
Leona held her tongue and went after Geese with all she had.
But in Skies of Arcadia...
"My word!" exclaimed a stunned King Enrique. The newly christened ruler of Valua was currently acting quite unbecoming of his title, opting instead to cower behind his golden throne as he stared at the woman who had just arrived, quite abruptly, via portal, into the throne room.
"Mother! You've... you've returned! And you look at least fifty years younger! How can this be?"
Charlotte stayed silent, frozen in place. Shock tends to do such things to people.
Galford had originally thought that he could take on Grendal and Shinnok at the same time with no real problem, but this was rapidly turning out to not be the case. Shinnok had a vast arsenal of projectiles to play with, and Grendal had a very large (and very *painful*) hammer. Unable to get close to the Elder God, and unable to get away from the gargoyle, Galford seemed to be in a lot of trouble.
Captain America leapt in and stopped Shinnok's Scorpion Spear with his shield before it could skewer Galford, allowing Galford time to dodge a hammer swing that would've taken his head off.
"Need a hand, I see," Captain America said.
"I was just about to ask, in fact," Galford agreed quickly, as Captain America deflected a Sub-Zero Ice Ball from Shinnok. "Poppy!"
Poppy barked. Poppy had been unable to get close to Shinnok, and obviously there was not a whole hell of a lot that Poppy would have been able to do to a creature made entirely of stone. But this time, Poppy had backup.
Captain America saw Poppy take off and slung his shield over and past the charging canine, launching it like a missile towards Shinnok's chest. Shinnok saw the shield coming and knocked it away with a block, but missed what was coming under the shield. Poppy rammed the Elder God with a head butt that folded Shinnok's leg under him and sent him crashing to the ground.
Captain America and Galford whipped around to see Grendal raising his hammer, about to swing it downwards onto Captain America's head. Before he brought the swing down, however, Asmodeus's control faltered again and Grendal swayed, the bright glow in his eyes dimming slightly.
"STARS AND STRIPES!"
By the time his eyes' glow was at its brightest again, Grendal was well past the force field and through the dimensional field.
"Aw, SoN oF a *BiTcH*," he heard inside his head.
Grendal landed with a heavy thud in a pile of lighting equipment, next to a formerly well-lit stage. In the center of the stage, Eddy Gordo had been about to tell Regis Philbin that he thought A, Ngugi Thiong'o, was the correct answer, when both he and the host saw the vengeful stone behemoth charging at them.
Both Eddy and Regis shrieked, but that was all they had
time to do.
"Good job, friend!" Galford smiled and gave a thumbs-up to Captain America.
"It's not over yet," Captain America told him. "Remember, there's someone else you were-- whoa!"
Galford saw it the same time Captain America did; Shinnok had launched himself at both of them with Liu Kang's flying kick. Both of them ducked, allowing him to fly over their heads, and turned around to watch him sail clear across to the other side of the ring.
"REPPUKEN!"
Leona's attempt at dashing in and attacking Geese Howard with a ground slash was foiled by the energy wave that knocked her onto her back. Having watched Leona hit the ground Geese saw Shinnok, still in his flying kick, fly over her and straight towards him. Geese grabbed Shinnok's ankle before the kick connected and used the force of his flight against him to casually toss him out of the ring and into the dimensional field.
Shinnok landed hard on the concrete in the center of an alley, somewhere in Liberty City. He stood up and dusted off his costume. He decided to walk around and maybe force a couple citizens to worship him, but he accidentally tripped over a briefcase.
The Elder God growled. He, a god, had been taken down by a piece of luggage. But the worst had yet to come.
"Well what do we have here?" a Triad gang member asked, followed by a dozen of his closest friends, as he entered through one side of the alley. Shinnok looked around to see the other ways out crowding up as well.
"Looks like Ciprani sent a mouse into the trap. Look at this freak. Auditioning for Dead Presidents, dawg?"
"You know not who you speak to!" Shinnok said.
A voice came from the middle of the crowd. "Our bitch, that's who you are!"
Shinnok was able to take care of the first few attackers, but after about ten bullets in the chest and twice as many whaps to the head with metal bats, Shinnok found himself on his stomach. For the next fourteen minutes, Shinnok received the beating of a lifetime. That says a lot considering he was an immortal.
While that was happening, a squinty man in a brown jacket wandered into the alley, picked up the briefcase and quietly walked out. He hailed a cab, shoved the driver out, and drove back to Tony Ciprani's place for further orders.
But enough about that. Let's go back to the ring.
"Too easy," Geese snorted, dusting his hands off.
"I'd have to agree with that," Galford told Captain America.
Captain America nodded, propping himself up against the turnbuckles to catch a breather.
Posted on Oct 31, 2002, 12:29 AM from IP address 24.59.187.219