Chapter 16: Fear itself
* Crash! " Ugh!" Titania grunted. Orion grabbed the woman by her hair and threw her into the ceiling causing her to land in the room above on all fours. Orion jumped through the hole after the woman and landed on top of her, driving his knee into her back and pinning her to the floor below him. Orion raised his fists and punched the woman in the back of the head two times with both of his hands.
Orion got to his feet and grabbed Titania's hair and swung the woman with enough force to throw her from the mansion and into the void outside. " Okay, that should take care of that problem for a bit. Now, I need to find the others." Orion said to himself. " Guys? Can you hear me? Where are you?" Orion tried reaching the others.
" We're in the medical wing." Reptil replied.
" Okay, I'm coming." ' I just hope the other one stayed down.' Orion thought to himself as he started running down the hall. As he made his way, the mansion started to tremble and outside it seemed as if the infinite void was expanding. ' That can't be good.'
He eventually arrived at the location where the others were hold up.
" Guys, what the hell is going on outside?" Orion asked as he ran into the room.
" The absorbing man, or whatever he's become has absorbed the properties of the mansion's Pym particle generator. The technology giant man uses to change size." Finesse explained. " He's forcing the mansion and everything in it to grow... And I believe his goal is to end that journey on earth."
" That's a bad thing?" Striker asked the girl.
" Infinite mansion is the size of a city. When we materialize, we'll kill thousands." Finesse stated.
" Okay, so how do we stop it?" Reptil asked the girl.
" I don't know. But I'm sure Dr. Pym had a way." Finesse told the boy. She then walked over to the nearest computer and started shifting through the files Hank had on the mansion. " Give me a few moments and I might be able to tell you."
The others stood by and watched quietly as Finesse searched through the files for anything that could help in their situation.
" Okay. I knew Dr. Pym had to have something for a situation like this." Finesse exclaimed.
" A way to stop the mansion from growing?" Hazmat asked.
" No. A way to destroy it. I can activate a destruct function that will atomize the entire structure. If I time it right, the civilians should be spared." Finesse explained.
" Great! How do we get out?" Striker asked the girl.
" There's a risk. But simply exiting the mansion as it materializes on earth should enable some of us to get clear in time." Finesse told the boy.
" Some of us?" Striker asked.
" If we can catch the absorbing man and titania in the mansion when it detonates, there's a chance of killing them. If not, they'll simply continue their path of murder and destruction. Someone has to stay to keep them here. Whoever that is will die." Finesse explained to the group.
" The training robot."
" Wouldn't last a second. They'd swat them aside and ignore them. It has to be someone they want to fight. Want to kill." Finesse told Striker as she cut him off.
" Is there really any need to debate? It's obvious who should stay behind. I'm the only one strong enough to stop them." Orion stated as he stepped forth and volunteered himself as the sacrificial pawn.
" What? No! You can't do that!" Veil yelled at the boy. " I can stall them. I can turn to mist. The explosion wouldn't hurt me."
" But it will. Your atoms would be dispersed, scattered between dimensions. You'd still die, and you wouldn't slow them at all, only he can." Finesse told the girl.
" I'm sorry, Maddy." Orion told the girl. He reached up and gently placed his hand on the girl's face.
Maddy held the boy's hand and started to cry. " But it's not fair! You shouldn't need to do this. We shouldn't have to do this!" Maddy shouted.
" I know it's not fair, but it's the only option we have that will stop them and save those people." Orion told the girl.
" Then I'm staying to." Veil told the boy.
" No, you're not." Orion replied.
" Yes, I am. You can't tell me what to do. I said I'm staying so I'm staying." Veil angrily shouted in the boy's face.
" You're going." Orion told the girl. He then turned to Striker. " If she tries to follow me shock her and drag her out of here."
Striker looked at the boy and sadly nodded.
" What No, you can't do that. You can't force me to go!" Veil shouted.
Orion smiled and gently placed his hand atop the girl's head and rubbed it. " I enjoyed the time we spent together. It was the greatest time of my life." Orion told the girl. " Forgive me, for this." Orion then brought his hand down and delivered a strong chop to the back of the girl's neck.
Maddy's eyes went wide before slowly passing out.
As she fell Orion caught her and picked her up into his arms. Orion then carried her over to Mettle and placed her in his arms. " Take care of her for me.'
" Brah, I promise." Mettle told the boy.
" Alright, we've wasted enough time. The rest of you need to get ready to go. I'll need to stay to run the computer." Finesse stated.
" You? Jeanne, no you can't." Reptil told the girl.
" No one else is familiar with the system. I need to be here to make sure everything goes as planned." Finesse told the boy
" Yeah, but... Can't we try something else? You don't want to die do you?" Reptil asked the girl.
" Of course, I don't want to. But I'm going to. This way some of us will live." Finesse told the boy.
* BRRRRRRM!
" They're coming!" Striker shouted as an Image of Titania and The Absorbing man stalked down the hall.
" Guess, that means it's time to go." Orion stated. " Striker, you and I might not get along. But I hope you take care of yourself." Orion told the boy. He then turned to Mettle. " Dude, I wish we could have talked more. You and I are more alike than I originally thought."
" Brah, you were awesome. I enjoyed talking about surfing. I wish we could have had more time." Mettle told the boy.
Orion nodded and then turned to Jenny. " Jenny, I know I haven't been the best of friends to you. Hell, we hardly interact outside of training. And I'm sorry for that. I wish I had more time to get to know you. But I do know you have an amazing heart. A little rude, but you're straightforward and tough. I know you're going to be an amazing hero someday."
Jenny walked up and hugged the boy tightly before returning to Mettle's side.
" Finesse, Jeanne ironically out of everyone here I understood you the most. The want to naturally get better to be stronger, to master your craft. Hell, I trained every day for three years before mastering just the small things my teachers showed me. But you, all it takes is a few minutes. You are really amazing. I hope I get to see you on the other side. Maybe you can teach me a few things." Orion told the girl.
" I hope so. I hope so." Finesse replied.
" And you Humberto, dude. Just keep doing what you're doing and look after the others." Orion told the boy.
" Yeah, man." Reptil replied.
Orion walked towards the room door and looked back at the others one more time before turning back and raising his fist to the air. He then walked out of the room and towards the coming duo.
' All things considered, I guess this ain't so bad.' Orion thought to himself. ' You know times like this remind me of that song I heard on tv. How did it go? Oh, yeah, I remember.' " Inside of me a light was turned on, then I was alive. If you close your eyes your life, a naked truth revealed. Dreams you've never lived, and scars never healed. In the darkness, light will take you to the other side. And find me waiting there you'll see if you just close your eyes."
" That's a neat tune you're singing. I can't wait to hear you scream."
Orion looked up from his thoughts to see both Titania and the Absorbing man standing in front of him. " You know, I've been having the time of my life recently. I mean yeah, I learned some unsettling things. But I still managed to enjoy what I did have and then you two came along and ruined it. You guys are gonna pay for that. All the way to the grave."
With that said Titania and Creel and Orion all lunged at each other. Orion ducked under Titania's hammer and speared Creel through the wall beside him. Orion's first attack is to Creel's arm. He pulled back and slammed his fist into Creel's elbow with enough force to snap it.
Creel Grunted and dropped his hammer to the floor.
' Can't let them fight together. Gotta keep them off-balance.' Orion quickly grabbed Creel's broken arm and used it to throw the man into Titania.
" Ugh! I'm going to kill that brat!" Creel shouted as he got to his feet. His broken arm not bothering him at all.
" We will, my love. We will split him in half. Together." Titania told creel as she touched the tip of her hammer with his. The two possessed lovers then turned their attention back to the coming threat as Orion burst through the wall in front of them.
" I have to give you credit, boy. It's been thousands of years since I've bleed. You are no ordinary human. Hell, you aren't even a human are you?" Creel asked the boy. " Well, it doesn't matter really, because now you're gonna die a slow and painful dea?!" Creel suddenly stopped in the middle of his sentence.
Orion noticed the sudden tension between the two and raised his guard, ready for anything, Orion stood tall.
" Do you hear it my love?" Titania asked Creel.
" I do. It seems you get to live whelp. Our all-father calls us to the final battle. My loyalty to him is no less than what you mortals feel for one another. I leave you alive now, because I know soon the world will be ours and when it is, I will enjoy carving the serpent's throne from your skulls." Creel told the boy.
He and Titania grabbed their hammers and started spinning them around together, creating a portal for the two.
' No! I can't let them get out of here. I have to stop them.' Orion thought to himself. Without a hint of hesitation or fear, he leapt at Creel and Titania and tackled them both through the portal towards their final destination.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone