“You’re going to pay, Livewire,” I say, bobbing and weaving between arcs of electricity flung wildly into the air,
“for all the people you’ve hurt today. The people you’ve killed.”“Wouldn’t a been near as many if you hadn’t taken yer sweet time gettin’ here,” she sneers.
“You’re the one always goin’ on about protectin’ the innocent an’ all that. An’ when real trouble shows, you’re late to the party. Far as I’m concerned, their deaths are on you.”Livewire points her index finger straight at my chest, pointing her thumb up to make a finger-gun gesture and lets loose.
“Bang.”In the fractions within fractions of a second, I can see the bolt of lightning arcing towards me, the air ionizing in front of me like a second bolt reaching out to it, completing the circuit. I try to juke to one side, but I might as well be moving through cement while trying to dodge a fighter jet-- just because I can see it coming, doesn’t mean I’m fast enough to get out of the way.
The explosion sends me tumbling head-over-heels, and my upper body curls up tightly before violently arching back as my muscles spasm. For a moment, there’s a sharp, stabbing pain in my chest as my heart actually skips a beat.
Before I can regain my bearings, she’s behind me, forcing me to the ground with another blast.
“Y’know, I was really worried I’d never get another chance at this,” she says, the air buzzing angrily as she hovers over me.
“Ta pay you back fer turnin’ me into a freak like you. They put me in an insulated cell in the Raft, huge walls a’ rubber an’ concrete an’ a release ta flood the whole thing with water ta short me out if I started actin’ up. I was startin’ to give up hope, Supes. I thought I’d never get out.”I lunge towards her, but by the time I’m even halfway towards her, she’s long gone. Another bolt of lighting sends me careening into the side of an old brownstone building.
“Then, hey presto, I find out I got friends in high places,” she gloats.
“A bald naked silver guy pops into my cell, says he’ll let me go if I go kill me a cape. Didn’t have a doubt in my mind which cape that was gonna be.”Silver……Damn it, the Surfer’s broken free. If he’s enlisting other super-powered criminals to do his dirty work, there’s no telling how bad this might get.
I lunge at Livewire again, and again she’s too fast for me. To be honest, I’m never going to be able to catch her.
Which is why rather than try to grab her, I’m trying to move her into position. She now stands between me and a large steel dumpster. It’ll do.
“Ah-ah-ahhh, Supes,” she scolds mockingly,
“ I can move at the speed a’ light, an’ you can’t. I thought ya learned that the first time we foug--*oof!*”“I did.”I might not be able to move at the speed of light, but my Heat Vision lasers sure as hell can. They pass through Livewire’s plasma form, but create a path right into the conductive metal dumpster, forcing her into the circuit and slamming her into the dumpster at full speed.
The dumpster explodes, sending smoke and shrapnel everywhere. Even before the smoke clears, I see arcs of cerulean light dancing wildly around her.
“That was a real cute trick, Supes,” she snarls.
“How ‘bout I try a new trick out on you?”Her body dissolves into an amorphous cloud of electrical plasma, and races towards me. I start to fly upwards, but she’s too fast. Every muscle in my body feels like it’s being pricked by a million pins and needles as the plasma wraps and constricts around me. Gritting my teeth, I continue to fly up, to give me some more room to maneuver, and to stay clear of civilians.
“See, I know this might hurt like hell,” I hear Livewire’s voice in my ear, her plasmatic form taking just enough shape to form a mouth,
“but as long as I’m attackin’ you from the outside, it’s not gonna do all that much. But maybe, if I go at you from the inside……”The angry buzzing fills my ears, and suddenly everything is white light and excruciating pain.
Livewire, she’s not just electrocuting my body…...she’s in my head. Not affecting my mind, but literally
inside my head, attacking my brain.
Can’t-- see---
--control-- arms--
--legs---
--breathing--
“GAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!”“That’s what I wanted ta hear,” her voice booms in my eardrums as they fill with blood.
“Don’t get too worried now, Supes. It’s all gonna be over soon.”My chest-- feels like spears running through me.
She’s not just-- not just trying to fry my brain. She’s--
--trying to stop my heart.
Can’t--- can’t break free. Can’t take much more.
Going to kill me. Have to….have to stop it.
Down.
DOWN.I fly downward, every ounce of willpower I have guiding my body straight down.
Straight down into the river. Short her out.
“No, no, nonononononAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA--”There’s one last burst of shocking agony throughout my body, then it clears.
The water around me is boiling, but it gets colder the further I sink.
Colder…..
…..darker…...
…..then it all goes black.
Retired
Half Pint
Hound55
Cyberlad
mickilennial
Ezekiel
Master Bruce
PrinceAlexus
Pilatus
Chronic
