Stalwart Defender was a near physical match for Ace, and Warpath had trained his entire life for situations such as these. They should have been able to take this fight in their stride, but their lack of proper teamwork and failure to communicate was conspiring against them. If Stalwart had said he was going to increase his weight to two hundred tonnes then Adam might have warned him against it. Instead he went right ahead with it, all that weight being concentrated through the soles of his feet, a strain to much for the floor to take. The black marble began to dip dangerously underneath him, like the roof of a cardboard box in the rain. This new concave threw a variable at Warpath during his lunge that he couldn't possibly have predicted, the unsteady footing ruining his balance. His spear tip wobbled, now thundering towards Joshua's rather than it's intended target. At that same moment Stalwart and Ace hit the ground, over four hundred tonnes coming down on an already weakened floor. The marble gave explosively, a wide radius all around them disintegrating into chunks, dust being thrown out in all directions in a blinding cloud. Adam was right on top of the two combatants when it happened, quite possibly being caught in the calamity too.
Madcap's squirming proved chaotic enough to distract Ten from employing her super-speed once more, though the speedster did manage to slam her forehead into the mad vigilante's nose, more out of sheer luck than any intention on Ten's part. However Madcap managed to bring her Joy Buzzer into play shortly after that, slapping the 'toy' into Ten's shoulder, the playing deck themed villain giving off a strangled choke as her body convulsed uncontrollably as the shock traveled through her nervous system. The speedster was as good as out of the fight for the time being. Madcap would get no respite though, as four Lex-Sec officers were bearing down on her now, drawing batons in anticipation for an easy fight.
Madcap was just a girl, after all. How much trouble could she be?
Jack's eyes had taken on the glassy, mad eyed gleam of an addict with his next fix in sight as Twilight's barrier receded. He was a shark that could smell blood in the water, seconds away from going on a feeding frenzy. Then Juno's field began to get hotter, and Jacks smile faded. In the space of a heartbeat the encounter turned, Twilight giving off the kind of heats exhibited by plasma arc welders, and getting hotter by the second. Jack began to scream. He quickly went from supreme confidence at the surety of his victory, to near hysterical with pain. His body leapt away from Twilight's like a tightly coiled spring left to boing away. He hit the floor, his body quickly reverting back to it's normal human shape, though there was a slight orange glow to him now, and a distinct lack of solidness to him that suggested her attack had done no small amount of damage.
"You bitch," he whimpered silently, arms covering his face as he went into the fetal position.
King pivoted on his heel, trying to keep Bloodwalker in his line of sight, struggling to train his gun on the speeding demon. His attention was then grabbed by the sight of Queen being near eviscerated. It distracted him for a mere moment, but that is all the opening Tamashi needed, throwing his sword. Unfortunately swords aren't designed to be thrown, despite how often movies try and get you to believe otherwise, and the blade went wide, spinning end over end until it hit the wall behind King hilt first, dropping to the floor with a destitute clatter. Bloodwalker followed up quick on his failed attack though, lunging in close to try and grab King, who struggled to get his rifle up in time. The two struggle in a grapple, King attempting to knee Tamashi in the testicles, and failing that to pull his revolver and shoot the demon point blank once more.
Lex-Sec were falling like autumn leaves to Thorns dedicated assault, but more were poring in the room by the second. A call for heavier weapons was made, quickly being obeyed when four Lex-Sec appeared equipped in seven feet tall
combat exo-suits. The suits gave the wearers a degree of super-strength and endurance, backed up by heavy fire power through their high-explosives and shoulder mounted rail guns, though their maneuverability would be compromised somewhat. Rockets in the boots and back-plate allowed them to fly for when evasive maneuvers were required, but in the relatively small confines of Luthor's office that was unlikely. The suits made the Lex-sec feel invulnerable, evident when two charged Thorn to face him in hand to hand combat, eager to test their mettle against the organic behemoth. Another fixed his rail gun upon Twilight, charging up a shot. The last approached the dust cloud caused by the battle between Ace, Warpath and Stalwart defender, obviously meaning to take out the winner.
Fenrir was still having trouble shaking the stars from his vision, but he was aware of how
bad things were going. He'd wanted a clean mission, preferably taking the Royal Flush Gang down without Luthor ever being aware of their presence. What a ridiculous fantasy that seemed now, with Queen bleeding out on the ground, half his team seemingly mad with blood lust and Lex-Sec firing wildly at everyone in attendance. Fenrir turned to their boss.
"Tell your men we're here to help Luthor." he said. Luthor raised a quizzical eyebrow.
"This is your idea of help?" Fenrir scowled at that, a vicious retort about what he's do to Lex if he didn't call his men off bubbling to the surface. It died when the cruiser slowly drifted past the office windows, tilted at an angle. All thoughts of Luthor, the Royal Flush Gang, or the battle roaring around him faded, all to be replaced by one thing;
Belle.
The Wolfman began running towards the open window, dodging plasma fire, leaping and hurdling branches encroaching upon the office. Somehow Belle must have activated the ship's engines, but then lost control. His only mission now was to save the girl, and stop that VTOL from crashing into the city streets and hurting innocents. If he had been thinking more clearly he may have considered enlisting Poltergeist or Twilight to help, but he was running on animal instinct now.
Reaching the window (empty of glass since Jaymi's devastating attack on Queen) he leapt, legs powering him through the sky towards the cruiser that was now floating about ten feet below the office, and over twenty feet away. He hung in the air for what seemed like an eternity, trapped in that dead place between the Outsider's VTOL and Lex tower, no going back anymore. He finally hit the top of the cruiser, his momentum nearly making him roll over the side, but he managed to grab a hand hold at the last second, talons scrabbling in between the joints of the carriers outer plating. He spent a few heart beats breathing heavily and remembering how much he
hated flying before shimying towards the access port. Time was against him, the longer he took to get the cruiser back under control the more likely it was that the craft would crash.
He reached the access panel in record time, fear for Belle and of causing a major disaster on the Outsiders first outing urging him on. Opening the hatch one handed while hanging from a VTOL thousands of feet in the air that was essentially crashing was even harder than it seemed, but somehow he managed it, swinging himself inside the carrier, instantly taking in the gloomy and mostly destroyed interior. A low growling sounded from in front of him, Belle's scent in the air, though muskier and more pungent than before.
He was over his blow to the head now, and his mind made the connections quickly. He dropped into a crouch, hand inching towards the knife belted at his hip.
"Belle. . . " He called softly, knowing deep down what was to come next. No matter what happened he had to stop this VTOL from crashing. If at all possible he would talk the girl down, but after suffering from his own similar affliction he doubted that would be an option. No, instead he prepared himself to force her into submission quickly. Too many lives were in danger to have it any other way, even if he hurt her in the process.