5.21 – Battle of titans
The connection with Redline fuzzed out for a few seconds. “I’m here…” she said, panting.
“I can see what’s going on. Damn. It’s Onslaught! He’s fighting and… with… Oh… Big Evil and Crimson Coil. It’s pretty savage stuff! So far it’s just them, but they’re enough trouble as-is. They’re leveling the landscape. Honestly, it’s pretty interesting to say the least to witness.” She gave a soft whistle. “I don’t know if you can take on Onslaught, but you can probably help out with Big Evil and the Coil. I can take the Crimson Coil, personally, but right now I’m trying to lay low. Bombshell’s about, let’s say, twenty minutes away from my position. As long as they stay out here--”
The connection split and Dynamech’s helmeted face appeared to the side. “Actually, Speedy, do you know where you are? Yeah, probably not. You’re over a crashed alien craft. It was labelled as dormant and inert, according to my ‘research’, meaning hacking. It’s been pinpointed as green-slash-sigma which means that certain authorities see this as an object of interest, but low risk. This may be the source of old American Indian legends of monsters and shaman powers.”
“Okay. That’s pretty serious,” Redline said. “There’s a pile of rubble near where I’m hiding. I can check it out without being spotted, probably.”
“They’re after an old crashed ship?” Aurora mustered her energy and increased her velocity.
“That’s my theory,” Dynamech responded. “Too bad I didn’t go after all. I might have been able to paralyze that big dummy with some electric stimulus.” His tone was sarcastic.
“Don’t be an ass,” Redline shot back. “We’ll handle this. Bombshell’s on the way, so if we can just keep them contained, we can take out Big Evil and the Crimson Coil… then between the three of us, we can bring down Onslaught. I’ve got a few tricks I can pull, after all.”
“Just be careful not to let him absorb your kinetic energy,” Dynamech said, “You’re probably one of the worst types that could go against him. Keep a good distance away. Aurora, would you like some advice? I’d let them keep fighting. I mean, wait until someone’s knocked out.”
“Smart, but what if someone gets hurt?” Redline asked.
“No one’s out there, right?” Dynamech pointed out.
“Well, no… but…”
“Well, like you said, keep the bad guys contained. Keep them from moving to populated areas.”
Aurora chimed in, “Roger. The only problem I have is that the longer the fight goes on, the more powerful Onslaught becomes, right? It’s a question of whether to take on three weaker opponents or one super-charged. What should we do to shut him down? I’m very good at restraining my opponents, but I haven’t used my halos against someone with a power rating as high. Bombshell can help with restraining him, but it might be a near thing from what I’ve read. Like you said, Redline can’t help much there.”
“Okay, first of all,” Dynamech replied. “I find it’s easier to focus on one opponent at a time, even when he’s more powerful, it’s better than three banding together to hit me from every direction. Secondly, Onslaught’s cybernetics require motion in order to function, so if you crush him into the ground, that might help. The problem with that is that you have to keep him from moving. Bombshell can hold him. You can’t simply punch him, though, nor blast him. If you can get him to hold two ends of a power cable, you can lock him up pretty easily. I think it’d lock his muscles up.”
“There’s no power lines out here,” Redline said. “Maybe we can dig up a power coupling from the spacecraft?” she asked.
“Probably better not to mess with it,” Dynamech dryly said.
As the discussion continued, Aurora passed through a bank of clouds and when she passed through she was able to see the villain’s battle arena. She slowed down to avoid creating a sonic boom that would advertise her presence and used her card to home in on Redline’s position. After locating her, she floated by the cloud and watched to avoid detection.
“I’m here, Racer. Wow… this is something else, even from high up,” Aurora said, fascinated. “Got another ETA on Bombshell?”
“Fifteen minutes,” Racer answered.
Aurora used her card to zoom in on the battle in time to see Big Evil lift up a huge boulder and slam it down onto Onslaught. He seemed to know what he was doing. Energy crackled around the largest villain on site. Energy rippled through Onslaught's body even as he was driven into the turf.
The boulder shattered after a few repeated hits and with a mighty punch, Onslaught leaped at the demon, whose suit was in tatters. The sound of the collision echoed off the clouds. Aurora watched as Onslaught started to pay Big Evil back for his last attack by pounding the demon into the ground, hitting him like a hammer and a nail. The barrage of blows was stopped when Big Evil finally managed to grab a punch, twist and flung Onslaught a distance away so he could pry himself out from the ground. The Crimson Coil wasn’t anywhere in sight. Aurora scanned the whole terrain with her card to glimpse her.
“I can’t see Crimson anywhere,” Aurora reported.
“I saw her moving towards the mound of rubble to my Northeast,” Redline Racer said. “I’m not sure where she’s gone beyond that, but I should be able to find her when I need to. I can stay out of sight simply by virtue of my speed, but I don’t want to get caught, either, so I’m just continuing to stay out of sight, right now.”
“Good, Speedy,” Dynamech said. “Stay under cover. Don’t get close to Onslaught and the both of you should continue to only keep an eye on things.”
A pillar of flame drew Aurora’s attention and she turned her card’s camera in that direction. It emanated from Big Evil to wreathe around Onslaught’s body in that huge pillar of fire in an attempt to maintain distance as the rampaging cyborg stomped through the conflagration with one hand covering his face. He growled in pain loud enough to be heard, but nothing was stopping him. Big Evil continued to throw flames into Onslaught’s path.
Aurora whistled as she watched and waited. “Jeez, this is crazy. Mesmerizing. He’s like a huge, invulnerable zombie.”
“Yeah, I know what you mean,” Redline said. “I want to jump in and I don’t…. Maybe we should examine the rubble while they fight over it…?”
Dynamech shook his head negatively. “Keep an eye on the big guys. Even if the other two get into the craft, I doubt either of them have the technical capabilities to do anything with the craft.”
The Midnight Avenger broke into the conversation, coming up from the bottom of the screen. “It’s a good idea, Redline. Use your speed to stay hidden and get the locations of everyone in the area.”
“Just be careful.” Dynamech sighed.
Redline Racer disappeared from view, becoming a red blur that moved rapidly across the site. She returned to her original position after a short time. “Okay, there’s a little cave here or something in the rubble pile. I see something. It’s a red glow. Of course Crimson Coil’d be in there, but it’s too dark in there for this time of the day considering the sun’s position. That might mean Gothschilde’s on site as well. She’s not often sighted without Big Evil around.”
Gothschilde was considered to be Big Evil’s partner in crime and had control over shadows and darkness much like Black Angel. Rumors said that she summoned Big Evil from Hell, bound to serve her. Her level of power was indeed a similar profile to the resident villain in Aurora’s mind, but they weren’t the same as the Black Angel.
Aurora gave a whistle again. “Sounds like a good match for me, or very bad if I’m wrong.” Sweat drops. “If all the rumors about her are correct, I’m going to have my hands full.”
“Should we check it out, or wait for Bombshell? They must have some kind of angle here… something in the ship they’re after. Why bother if they don’t have any hope of success? It must mean there’s something they can do.”
The Midnight Avenger nodded. “Don’t wait. If it’s not the ship itself they want, what if something’s inside despite reports indicating that the ship is derelict and that there’s nothing of interest,” his tone was sharp. “Stop the two inside!”