Chapter 33: Weakness and Strength

SLASH!

Sarah flinched and shrieked as Armory sliced the massive blades right through her body. He stabbed through her chest, straight into the ground behind her, and she cringed and winced, pushing her fading ability to the limit, turning almost transparent in the process as the razor-sharp swords passed harmlessly through her.

SLASH! SLICE! WHOOSH! SLICE! Armory growled and grunted as he repeatedly attacked her, swiping his blades and claws uselessly through the phantom girl. "What the hell is this?" he cursed, and he stopped attacking her. The girl was completely unaffected by his entire barrage, and she just stood before him, trembling in terror. He leaned in close and stared into her eyes, examining her. Her breathing was quick and shaking, and he smiled at her.

"So, what do you know? You're just nothing," he said to her. "Just a ghost." He poked his finger directly into her breast and deep into her ribcage. Sarah jolted at the invasion, but continued to stand there, paralyzed and shivering. "Yeah, I know how this power works. Nothing can touch you. That means you can't touch anything back. That makes you completely worthless."

"N-not ... worthless..." Sarah stammered. "I'm n-not ... nothing..."

Armory turned his back to her and said to Adamantine. "Ignore her. She's nothing." He started to walk away.

Sarah clenched her trembling fists. "Not nothing. I'm Moonglow." She took a deep breath. "Look at me!"

He continued walking, waving the giant blades above him and picking out his next target. He centered his attention on Simon. The boy lay there groaning, and holding his head, and the huge hulking cyborg grinned and took position over him. Sarah concentrated, summoning her energies, and started drawing symbols in the air.

"Armory. Check it out," Adamantine said, indicating the girl.

He turned and considered her. "What do you know? She's a mage," he said tediously. He returned his attention back to Simon, targeted him, and raised his blade.

"I said LOOK AT ME!"

Moonglow thrust her arms wide, and she enveloped herself in power. Glowing circles and glyphs and lines poured out of her, arranging themselves into harmonies of concepts, balancing motifs and syllables. Her fingers flashed and danced on both hands, spelling runes in the air and directing arrangements. She blazed with a fluorescence of spirit and color, and serpentine tendrils erupted from her body, twisting and winding in the air around her.

Armory glared at her, and raised one wing cannon at her. The blade retracted, and it started powering up. "You know how this works, kid. You have to turn solid to touch me. You try anything, and..."

He didn't finish. Moonglow attacked, and her tendrils surged forward, striking like cobras, splitting into four, then eight, then sixteen thinner tendrils. They weaved together into a web, wrapped about his many limbs, and she yanked hard. Armory slipped and tumbled on his back, smashing to the ground. Joey flopped about in the grasp of his tail and smacked into the floor as well. The giant cyborg twisted and flailed against the assault of the now dozens of intertwining magical tendrils. Sparks flew as the metal man rolled across the concrete.

He roared and fought, pulling against the onslaught of mystical tendrils, and he fired a blaster cannon. The erupting fire and lightning ripped through the streams of mana, breaking the bonds. Sarah screamed in pain from the disconnect, and the fiery blaster stream continued, passing harmlessly through the young mage, and then ripped through the metal wall far behind her. The girl doubled over and held her hands as the magical energy backlash surged into her.

Armory clawed and slashed at the fading tendrils, clearing them from his body. "That all you got, girl?" he mocked. He extended the blades from his wing cannons. "Let me show you what I can do to your friends." And he turned towards Simon again, and raised the blades high, ready to strike.

And then he saw the sparks.

Joey, still in the grasp of Armory's long metal tail, had one hand stretched out. And apparently during Armory's struggle against the magical tendrils, the boy had managed to grab ahold of Simon's hand. And the Omegaplasm sparks were flowing.

"What is..." Armory said, and he froze.

The monstrous metal man stood still, watching the flow of energy as Joey held onto the thin boy's hand. He just stood there and watched.

"Kill him!" Adamantine yelled.

He continued to stand there.

"What are you waiting for?" she yelled again.

He just continued to stand there, unmoving.

Simon opened his eyes, and stared up at the cyborg. "What's the matter?" he said with a slight grin. "Can't move?"

Armory trembled, and shuddered just slightly. A faint strain of motors hummed and clicked uselessly in his body, unable to fight against commandeered braking systems. He strained and grimaced against his unresponsive body.

"What's going on?" he shouted.

Simon rolled to face him. "I've heard about you. You're Armory. My name is Cyberstorm. Let me show you why I'm called that." And he concentrated on the massive structure of densely packed microelectronics standing before him.

Armory screamed as his entire body erupted in sparks and smoke as circuit boards and processors overloaded. He shook and quivered, motors spinning wildly and systems failing, and the towering cyborg leaned back, and toppled over, smashing into the concrete ground.

Simon grinned. "Thanks for the EM shielding, Omega Boy!"

"No problem..." Joey responded, and he pulled on the now loosening metal claws, releasing their grip on his body.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU?" Armory yelled as he flopped and spasmed on the ground.

"I'm your worst fucking nightmare," Simon answered as he crawled towards the flailing cyborg. "I'm a micro-electrokinetic," he boasted while pulling something out of his belt pouch and brandishing it like a sword. "With a Phillips-head screwdriver!"

"NO! GET AWAY!"

Adamantine grimaced, and turned to the five zombies. "Kill them!" she yelled. Muscle roared. The other four patchwork creatures hissed, and they all charged towards the various kids.

"EVERYONE! UP!" Joey yelled, jumping to his feet. "Moonglow, get that ward up!" She nodded, and started gesturing, and shrieked as a massive patchwork zombie tried to tackle her. It fell straight through her and smacked into the ground. Not far from her, another patchwork zombie leapt towards Jeff. The boy reached out with both hands extended, and the air thrummed with power. The zombie creature lurched in mid-jump, hit by a wave of solid force, and sailed past the boy, slamming straight into the creature currently occupying the same space as Sarah. The two zombies skidded across the floor and smashed into a set of shelving.

Two other zombies had charged inward, but a torrent of papers, tools, nuts, bolts, and just general random debris swarmed over and around them. The zombies spun and swatted at the flying objects as the tornado of objects batted and smacked the creatures. Lynne gestured and concentrated on the cloud of junk, attacking the two creatures. The attacks did nothing to hurt the creatures, but it kept them busy and distracted until JeffLynne was free from dealing with the other two.

Muscle charged towards Joey, roaring and clawing towards him. Joey gasped and hesitated, unsure whether to use his power-draining ability in such close proximity to his team. But Raquel quickly jumped in front of him. She fearlessly threw one silver fist straight into the massive man's hand, and with a loud KRAANNGG reflected all of the incoming kinetic energy right back at the zombie. Muscle howled as his own massive strength was pushed right back into his own hand, throwing his arm back, and a second KRANG straight into his chest shoved his body back. The huge zombie growled and snarled, and he grabbed her by the arm and hoisted her up into the air.

Raquel struggled and kicked as she dangled from the zombie's grasp. "LET ME GO, YOU ROTTING FREAK!"

The zombie stared at the hanging girl, his eyes roaming over her body. "Grrr ... llll" he managed to say, and a long stream of drool poured from his mouth.

Clyde, the last of the kids to recover, saw the huge zombie hungrily eyeing Raquel, and he screamed out in challenge. "LET HER GO!" And he charged the creature, his muscles pumping and inflating as he ran. In the short run to the zombie, he put on about twenty pounds of pure muscle, and slammed into him. Muscle dropped the girl as the two powerhouses crashed through shelving units and boxes. Clyde continued, screaming and pushing and pumping his body, smashing them both through metal frameworks and structures, and eventually straight through the thin metal wall of the warehouse, and out into the night.

Joey dropped to Raquel. "You okay?" he asked.

"Uch!" She shook her hands, trying to clean them of the rotten stench. "Never better," she answered. She looked about, taking in the entire scene. Simon had crawled towards the fallen cyborg and was continuing his electronic assault on him. Jeff and Lynne were creating a tornado of debris and throwing zombies into each other, and Sarah was now recovered enough to work on the ward. Clyde was out playing with the big muscle, so that just left Adamantine. She glanced back at Joey. "You go find them. I've got her."

"Thanks Reflexx."

She stood up, brushed herself off, and faced the indestructible woman. "Hey Bama! Name's Reflexx. You ready to party?"

Adamantine scowled at the girl. "You seriously think you can hurt me?"

"Don't need to. Just gotta keep you busy." And Reflexx started running towards her. Her feet flashed silver in her ballet slippers as she reflected her own kinetic energy back into the ground, pumping her speed abnormally as she accelerated towards the villain. She hit a good thirty miles per hour and swung her silver fist upward, delivering a swift uppercut to the woman's iron jaw. And with the speed of her fist from her swinging arm, plus the additional speed of her reflected energy accelerated run, plus her own strength, plus the fact that for every action there is an equal but opposite reaction, which was reflected by her ability, this all added up to a devastating blow.

KRAANG! Adamantine flew backwards, tumbled through the air, and smashed into the wall. The wall dented behind her, and she shook her head to clear it. She barely had enough time to look up before Reflexx barrelled into her again, both silver fists punching directly into the woman's stomach. Irresistible force met unbreakable skin, and Adamantine broke through the metal wall. Reflexx climbed out the hole after her, taunting the villain. "Yeah, that's right, bitch! She hits HARD!"

Joey turned to take in the rest of the fight. "How..." was as far as he got before he ducked to avoid a flying zombie.

"Sorry!" Jeff yelled.

"Watch where you throw those things!"

"I said I'm sorry!" JeffLynne looked about through two pairs of eyes, searching for the best way to dispose of the four zombies, and found a good spot in the debris from Clyde's charge through the warehouse. Shelving structures were twisted and broken, leaving a few long and sharp metal struts poking upward. They concentrated and lifted a zombie up, over and threw it onto the strut. The metal pole stabbed through the reanimated dead body, and the patchwork creature wailed and thrashed, unable to extract itself. One by one, JeffLynne cleared the room of the remaining three zombies, impaling them onto the shelving poles.

Joey winced in disgust as he saw the flailing zombies as they writhed and pulled on the spikes. "Ew ... Yuch!" He turned and saw that Simon had managed to crawl on top of the spasming Armory, and was pinning him down and jamming him with a screwdriver. "Sim ... Cyberstorm! Do you need help?"

"Nah! I've got this!" he said happily as he notched a screw and loosened it.

"Moonglow! Are you good?"

Sarah was weaving her spell, laying down the foundation circle into the floor, enclosing a large area which included Simon and Armory. "I'm fine!" she reported.

Joey spun and checked on the others. "Scrappy?" The dog was nowhere to be seen, having had the good sense to run when he had the chance. Crashing, fighting sounds came from outside as Clyde and Raquel battled Muscle and Adamantine. "Baekdu ... Reflexx..." The superhero names came easily to him now that he could see them seeing themselves as heroes. He turned to Jeff and Lynne, and had a flash of inspiration.

"GEMIKNIGHT!" he called to them.

The twins stopped, and their eyes went wide with surprise. "LOVE IT!" they yelled.

"You're with me!" They nodded eagerly, and the three of them ran down the length of the warehouse.

"RRAAGGHHH!"

Muscle roared and slammed heavy fists into Clyde's back. The muscled teen screamed in pain. He had carried the behemoth far from Raquel, far out of the warehouse and into the dark side streets, and he stumbled from the shockwave of the double fists into his kidneys. The creature grabbed his body and pulled, throwing them both off balance, and they tumbled and spilled onto the rough pavement.

The zombie creature was cold and solid. Its body was a mass of heavy meat and sinew and bones and stink and rage. Spit flew from the abomination's mouth as it bellowed. Fists pummeled and fingers clawed, and Clyde fought and kicked at the monster.

It grabbed the boy by the head, shoving one massive hand over his face, and wrapped thick cold fingers over his skull. Clyde grabbed the arm and tensed the muscles in his neck, pumping them with strength to keep his neck from snapping, and he flailed and flopped as the monster threw him from side to side. The boy managed to get his foot solidly into the zombie's chest, and shoved him hard, breaking the creature's grip on his head and throwing them both back.

He rolled to his feet, breathing heavily, and watched his opponent crawl to its feet and stand up, towering over him. This thing was bigger than him, and it was obvious that it was stronger than him as well. This massive, raging monster had no soul, no compassion, no fear, and no pity, and it was a darkness that Clyde knew all too well, one that terrified him. Every instinct of his told him to run, to get the hell away from this thing as fast as possible.

And who would blame him?

He glanced about, looking for the best direction to start running, and a crashing sound caught his attention. Adamantine and Reflexx had entered the parking lot some distance away, punching and kicking and slicing at each other in a display of acrobatics and skill. The sight of this girl made him realize just who would blame him. She certainly wasn't running away from her fight.

It was bigger than him, and it was stronger than him. Maybe it wasn't smarter than him. He would have to out-think it.

The grey, patchworked, misshapen thing bellowed again, and charged. Clyde redirected his strength, pumping more blood and mass into his arms until his once baggy sweatshirt tightened on him. He remembered the moves he had studied from watching Ssireum, Korean wrestling, and braced himself for the impact while readying himself to grapple the zombie. Muscle roared and swiped at him, savagely smashing massive fists into the boy, a move which he wasn't expecting. Ssireum didn't allow punches. Clyde had barely been able to block the blows with his arms, and staggered at the onslaught. He reached out and grabbed the creature's clothes, trying to lift the monster and force it to the ground.

The zombie simply grabbed him by the arm and flipped him into the street. WHAM! Clyde smashed into the hard pavement, the blow knocking the breath out of him. Muscle twisted and pulled, lifting and flipping the boy again and again. WHAM! WHAM! CRACK!

Something snapped in Clyde's shoulder. It was the same shoulder that Joey had dislocated two weeks ago, and had still not fully healed. A searing pain ripped through his arm, and Clyde screamed in agony and terror.

KRANG! KLANG! KLANG! KRANG!

Reflexx and Adamantine were in a furious fight, throwing punches and swings and fan kicks at each other at a staggering rate. The older woman raged and screamed at the girl, sweeping her feet and kicking high and low. Reflexx would dodge, drop, spin, jump unnaturally high, or block blows with her silver-coated forearms, reflecting kinetic energy back into the supervillain's fists and feet, throwing the woman's arms and legs back at her.

Adamantine never dodged in her fight. She simply absorbed each impact, each blow doing nothing to her invulnerable body. All that this girl could do to her was move her back. The woman threw punches that ripped into the concrete ground, smashed holes into the sides of trucks and forklifts, and bounced off the teenager's arms and legs. She dove to tackle the girl, only to watch her jump six feet into the air and then get kicked in the face. Adamantine flew backward from the kick and struck her head against a metal railing, which dented and rang loudly at the impact. She clutched her ears at the loud noise, and glared at the girl.

"You know, I'm going to rip that stain off your face!"

Reflexx gave her an attitude pose. "Bitch? Are you gonna say ANYTHING that I ain't already heard since third grade?"

Adamantine charged again. Reflexx braced herself, ready to throw the woman's energy back at her. The indestructible woman dropped in her charge and slid down over the ground, her impervious skin sliding against the rough concrete, and she kicked high into her stomach. She connected, and Reflexx doubled over and collapsed, gasping and writhing in pain.

The villain stood up. "Guess what, girl? I've figured you out." As Reflexx rolled on the ground and clutched her stomach, Adamantine reached down and grabbed her by the head, wrapping her arm around her neck. She lifted the groaning girl up to her knees. "That bouncing power of yours; it's powerful, but it doesn't cover your whole body. Just your hands and feet. All I had to do was find a soft spot."

Reflexx clutched the invulnerable woman's arm and tried to pull her off. She gasped and wheezed as the older woman started strangling her.

"Let's see how soft this part is," Adamantine said.

Joey and Lynne and Jeff, or Gemiknight as he was starting to think of them, quickly made their way through the long warehouse, checking storage rooms and makeshift offices for the girls. Yet the longer they searched, the more Joey felt like they were simply in the wrong building. They reached the back doors and ran into the dark street. The sounds of crashing and fighting echoed behind them in the parking areas as they heard Baekdu and Reflexx dealing with Muscle and Adamantine.

"Let's check that building!" Joey said, and they dashed over to it.

"Joey! Wait!" Lynne huffed as they ran.

"What is it?" He stopped. "Did you see something?"

"No. It's just that ... I really know this isn't the time, but I just wanted to say that I'm really sorry about what I did earlier today."

Joey gave her a double-take. "You're right! This is not the time. And I forgive you." He opened the door to the next building and stepped into the large warehouse.

"I mean," she continued, whispering, as they entered the dark storage area, "I don't know what got into me."

"I do. It was me."

"Well, yeah, but that was fun and all..."

"That's not what I'm talking about."

They crept through the dark warehouse, moving past boxes and shelves, and peering into the shadows.

"I just want to know if there's something going on between you and Sarah. And I know that you have secrets in your life. Lord knows, I've got my own, but I figure, if you and I are seeing each other, we shouldn't keep secrets from each other."

Joey sighed. "Lynne. Look. I don't want to keep secrets from you either. But you remember when you told me those really, really big secrets about yourself, and you made me promise to not tell anyone?"

"Yeah."

"Well, Sarah's got a really big secret too, and I don't think she wants me to blab to the school about it. You can understand that, right?"

She sighed. "Yeah. I can."

"And the worst part is that your really big secret and her really big secret just kind of crashed right into each other, and I got caught in the middle. So I can't explain it to either one of you. All I can say is, I'm trying to help her, and I'm trying to help you. For the same reason; I like you, and you're my friend." He paused. "I'm not trying to two-time you; I'm just trying to help everyone."

Lynne smiled. Then she jumped on him, throwing her full body weight on to Joey, and tackling him to the ground.

"Lynne! Wait! Not now!"

"DUCK!"

RROOAARR!

Something inhuman flew over them in the darkness. The air thrummed as Jeff unleashed his power at the creature, throwing it far into the warehouse where it crashed, causing a cacophony of clanging metal, breaking glass, and splashing liquids. Screeching and growling echoed around them from several directions, and Jeff spun around, throwing waves of force out, feeling into the darkness while Lynne scrambled off Joey. "How in the hell..." Jeff started.

"I thought you could feel things in the dark," Joey said.

"I can," Lynne said, scanning the area. "But when they just sit still until we get close, I can't tell what they are. We need some light."

"Light? Got it!" Joey crouched and spread his hands wide. He summoned the Omegaplasm, and the white sparks erupted in a brilliant, ivory fire, illuminating the area. They were surrounded by at least a dozen of the reconstructed zombies. Twisted bodies with scrambled parts hissed and flinched at the light.

Jeff grimaced and punched his fist towards a creature some yards away from him. Despite the distance, the creature flew back anyways, shrieking at it smashed into another. Lynne gestured into the darkness, picking up pieces of trash and debris, and started a whirlwind of glittering broken glass around them.

Joey reached out to her with one sparkling fist. "Need any help?"

"Just more light," Jeff answered.

Joey took Lynne's hand and pushed his power. Her mental defences were tough, but he knew where some of the cracks in her mind were, and he focused the Omegaplasm into those cracks. Lynne started glowing in an intense light, revealing the positions of a couple other zombies they had missed before.

"Perfect!" she announced, and she lifted straight up into the air.

Joey did a double-take as he saw his girlfriend soar up high under her own power. "Hey! I didn't give you that! How are you..." He spun and saw the answer. Jeff was gesturing to his other side, lifting her high into the rafters. "What are you doing?" Joey asked him.

"Getting's a bird's eye view," he answered. High above them, Lynne hooked her legs into the steel structure of the ceiling and hung there, illuminating the entire warehouse like a sexy chandelier, and seeing the position of everything and everyone below. "Now keep down!" Jeff ordered him. Joey kept crouched on the floor as Jeff spun and went on a barrage of action, throwing zombies and heavy boxes around in a mad frenzy. From up above, Lynne gestured and brought up a hurricane of shattered glass. Razor-sharp shards and particles whirled and danced around the horde of zombies, distracting and antagonizing them. The winds swirled and flowed around the two boys, surrounding them in a protective shield of deadly debris while they remained safe in the eye of the storm. Joey marveled at his girlfriend, and watched in amazement as Jeff went into a savage fury, throwing zombies into each other and impaling them on forklifts and other sharp implements. The impaled zombies clawed and grasped at their spikes, trying to free themselves.

"How do you kill these things?" Jeff yelled in frustration.

"Try a head shot!" Joey suggested.

"They don't all have heads!"

"Take out their eyes!"

The swirling vortex of distracting debris took a new path, and hurled at the impaled zombies, spraying and peppering the creatures with shard of glass. Most missed their mark or bounced off the bodies, but more than a few managed to penetrate the flesh. The creatures screamed and clawed at their eyes, wherever they had them, and more than a couple eyes fell to the floor.

"Ew! Yuck!" Jeff grimaced as the last zombie was safely impaled. "We're clear." Lynne released her leg-lock on the ceiling rafters and dropped, decelerating under Jeff's influence, and landed softly next to Joey.

"Wow. That was amazing," Joey said, reaching out and touching her cheek. Lynne smiled proudly and pulled him in, locking her lips on his. Her heart was beating rapidly, and she was breathing heavily, and she pushed her tongue into his mouth as she wrapped her arms around him. Joey pulled his head back, stopping the kiss.

"Wait wait..." he said.

"What?"

JeffLynne then noticed that her light was fading, and realized that the only reason Joey had touched her in the first place was to extract the glowing power. "Oh. Sorry," she said sheepishly. "Got a little excited there."

"It's okay. Superpowers make you horny," he said, quoting their Health teacher. He glanced up at the ceiling, and gave her a smile. "That move was pretty risky," he said, pointing up to the rafters.

Lynne scoffed. "Nah. Been doing that for years. I can find the cookies anywhere." She pointed down the length of the building. "I saw some light down that way."

They ran through the darkness, far from the writhing zombies, and reached some offices. One definitely had a light on inside. Jeff took point and opened the door, ready to hit whatever was inside. He gasped as he saw the people inside. "Joey! Check it out." Joey looked inside and saw the two men in there. Bullwhip lay unconscious and stretched out on a long table with an I.V. attached to his arm, and Multiplex slumped unmoving against the wall. Blood stained the latter's chest, and his costume was ripped. Joey ran inside and checked Bullwhip's neck. He could feel the warmth of a living body, and his light breath as he slept.

"Check him out," Joey said, indicating Multiplex. Jeff nodded and examined Multiplex.

"He's cold," he reported. "Shit. I think he's..."

"Yeah. I thought so. Bullwhip's still alive." Joey yanked the I.V. needle out of the massive man's arm, and tried to lift him. The man was too heavy for Joey to budge. "Jeff!"

"Yeah?"

Joey ran to the door and addressed Lynne, holding her cheeks. "Get Bullwhip back to Sarah!"

"No. I want to stay with you!"

He kissed her on the lips. "Get him to safety!" He took a few steps back and summoned his power. Lynne stepped back as she saw his hands and eyes darken with his power draining ability. "And don't worry about me. I can take care of myself. Just get him back to Sarah."

She nodded, and Joey took off alone, running into the darkness.

As JeffLynne sighed and stood there, he also lifted the heavy superhero using the telekinesis, and hoisted the man onto Jeff's back.

"Is he gone?"

The twins jolted and turned at the new voice. Multiplex had stirred and was watching them.

"I thought you were dead!" Lynne gasped.

Multiplex nodded sadly. "I am ... That was Joey Harper, right?"

"Um..." They hesitated, still shaken by the thought that they were talking to a dead man. They looked over the gaping chest wound that no one could have survived, and back into his distant eyes.

His voice was soft and lifeless. "No. Don't tell me. I'm under orders to report if I see him. I saw you," he said, indicating Jeff, " and you said 'Joey', so I closed my eyes. That way I didn't see him."

JeffLynne had recovered from the shock a bit to approach him. They didn't feel threatened by the dead superhero. "I need to get you out of here."

He shook his head. "No. I can't be trusted. Leave me. I can't get out of this body, and my others are failing." He looked at Lynne with a one last bit of hope. "Do one thing for me, will you?"

"What?"

"Tell her I wanted to."

"You can tell her yourself. I'm getting you out," Lynne said as she leaned down to help Multiplex stand up. "And who are you talking about?"

"No. Don't." Multiplex pushed her hands away. "If Tombspawn gives the order, I'll kill you without hesitation. Get him out of here," he said, pointing to Bullwhip. " ... and leave me."

"I can't just leave you."

"Tell Quantum Knight." JeffLynne startled at the name. "Tell her I wanted to, but I had ... spread myself so thin. I tried to be everything to everybody, but no one can do that. When she offered herself, I knew I wanted to be everything to her, and I couldn't do that as long as I was everywhere else. Trying to be so many different people at the same time ... is so hard ... that..."

"Believe me. I understand you completely."

"I wanted to be one for her. Tell her I wanted to, and I'm sorry."

JeffLynne teared as Multiplex gave them his final request. "I will. I'll tell her for you."