บท 92: Chapter 92 : Two down...
[Author note : Okay, so I've said it earlier but, it bears repeating. I will no longer post 3 chapters a week on this story. At least for a while. There'll only be 1 chapter a week. I'll also work on another story on my Patréon (é instead of e). I'll probably post it on this website later in the future as well.
Anyways, if you feel like supporting my stories, you can go on my Patréon page. Search for Cathbel. And please, as always, comments, reviews and stones are always welcome.]
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Leash was the first to fall. Given his annoying spionic teleportation and whips, Ned chose him for his first target. In order to take down someone who could simply wish himself away, the squib needed the element of surprise. Something that was normally impossible in a battle such as this one. Especially when he was THE target for most of these douchebags.
While Rose, Ridge and Caitlin didn't make much effort to try and kill Ned, the others were quite eager to lick Harvest's boots, it seemed. To the point that they hindered each other or even fought one another. So, in all the confusion, and with Ned's technomancy, it was (relatively) easy to avoid their gaze and disappear.
While Lucio was supposed to use mostly sound (as a DJ support character), Ned added a few functions (powers) to Lucio's body and equipment. One of them was an optical camouflage that he could use so that light simply passed around his silhouette and thus preventing it from being reflected in someone's eyes. Much like Sombra's, it was based off of the Disillusionment spell. And since most people relied heavily on their sight, this was how Ned 'disappeared'. More importantly, this was how he surprised Leash and rendered him incapable of fighting.
With the amount of internal damage his sonic weapon did, although he wasn't sure that the guy was dead, he most assuredly wasn't getting up anytime soon… Unless they had someone with healing powers in their midst. As for why he didn't make sure to kill him…
Well, Ned wasn't going to go on a murder spree simply for the heck of it ! While he didn't have time for the kid's gloves during a battle, he wasn't about to double-tap his enemies either. No matter how important the rule was… Anyways, it wasn't like these enemies were about to get back up, bite him and turn him into one of them.
The only way for him to become one of them is if he decided to join them. And that just wasn't happening in this lifetime !
Once Leash was done, he briefly glanced at him before scanning his surroundings for his next target. At the same time, he started to think about the man's similarities with the hero Bunker. The costume, the psionic powers… In DC comics, and most superhero comics, for that matter, people who shared similar powers were often linked somehow. And most often, it was through blood.
Was Leash a relative of Bunker ? The man seemed older, though not enough to be his father. A brother or cousin, perhaps ? They also shared their taste in colors as well : purple and fuchsia. Was it possible for the two to be…
Ned's eyes settled on Grunge. To most people, the man was completely impervious to damage. His shape-shifting abilities made him very durable. Perhaps now, only Superboy could take him on. However, Superboy's powers were also mostly psionic based, and if Mel's report was accurate, the last time Bunker used his powers on him, it didn't go well. To put it simply, the constructs had been completely useless ! Ned suspected that he either used his power in a way to negate the psionic or kinetic damage to himself… But that would require a degree of control and finesse the man simply didn't seem capable of. Or, technology was involved somehow.
In any case, his weapons should prove a great deal more effective than what the children could dish out.
The man was actually engaged in a 3 v 1 fight against Wonder Girl, Bunker and another man. The latter fought in a feral way, growling, running on all four and clawing. He reminded Ned of Wolverine in a way, though minus the adamantium claws piercing from his skin. Timberwolf. One of the Legionnaires lost in this time. Although the man 'worked' with the two teens, he seemed positively enraged by the fact. Or perhaps, enraged was just his default mode… Another reason why he reminded him of the feral X-man.
The fight was going… well. In the sense that they weren't losing, getting injured or tired. However, they simply couldn't do any damage to Grunge. As for the enemy, he seemed to enjoy the fight and forgot Harvest's order to target Ned. At the moment, he simply taunted his opponents and bragged about how awesome he was.
So, it was rather easy to sneak close to him, make sure his weapons wasn't pointed at his 'allies', jack it up to its loudest setting and blast the cocky fellow in the side ! Grunge was suddenly thrown quite a distance away as Ned finally reappeared. It seemed his Disillusionment enchantment had run its course.
Unlike Leash, the villain didn't go down from the first shot. Still, he struggled to get up and given the blood he was coughing, he took some internal damage as well. Ned decided to finish the fight before Grunge managed to shift his insides and heal them.
Just as he was about to close in on him, someone fell on the villain violently, and started to try and maul him. The action was so swift it took him a second to understand that Timberwolf was the one preventing Ned from finishing his enemy off. It made him wonder whether the guy was actually on their side or not… Then again, the Lost Legion was actually on their own side. In their time, they might be heroes, but here… They had to do everything in their power to survive and get back to their time. So, maybe they could be playing both sides.
That being said, Timberwolf wasn't exactly the kind of man to have plans within plans. Or any kinds of plan for that matter. The man talked, behaved and fought like an animal. Instincts and will were the only thing driving him. It probably didn't even dawned on him that his attacks were completely ineffective. Or that he was giving the villain time to recover from Ned's sonic attack.
« F*cking moron… » Ned cursed as he tried to find a better angle.
Unfortunately for him, the way Timberwolf fought, often made him cross path with Ned's line of sight, no matter where or how he positioned himself. Just as he was about to give up on taking this one down, a shot rang out, instantly throwing the future hero to the side. Surprised at first, Ned was quick to react and get in close, charging once again his sonic gun to the maximum and shot… Grunge managed to dodge most of the damage this time, however.
« So, that was you… » He croaked with narrowed eyes.
Ned scanned the man's body, finding no foreign working implants on him… His work was done it seemed. He turned around and told Bunker :
« You can finish him, now… Your powers should be effective. »
« Wait ! » The villain yelled but Bunker didn't let him continue talking.
Since Ned had his back facing him, he wasn't sure who the man was talking to… Was he asking for Bunker to spare him ? Or was he talking to Ned ? The latter shrugged. Not like he was interested in what this B-lister among B-listers had to say. Most of N.O.W.H.E.R.E.'s bad guys were forgotten after this event anyway. Some hadn't even made an appearance during the Culling.
Instead, Ned headed toward the people among their ranks that were somewhat worth saving. Fairchild, Ridge and Wilson. Also, the kids in the Ravagers' ranks, if they weren't too far gone.
* * * * *
Harvest watched the battle unfold in front of his eyeless face, silently seething. This should have been a most auspicious event for him ! The plagues of the human race was slaughtering each other in front of him and the survivors… They would finally see things his way. However, with the Titans that he couldn't break, the Legion that still somehow upheld its code and these… completely unknown individuals that he now realized might have been Edgar Stark's people… The death toll wasn't actually that high.
They dared staying their hands during this sacred event ! The fools ! They didn't understand why he was doing this. Why he was right. Why it was Just !
If only they'd seen the horrors of the future ! The rampaging Metahumans and aliens, the engineering diseases, the dead and dying worlds once flourishing… The Legionnaires should see things his way and yet, they didn't. So blinded by an ideology that only someone on the level of a God could live up to and follow. Among the Titans, he had found another that should have been able to understand as well… If only he could remember and, more importantly, forget his infatuation with a monster !
At this point and for the first time in a long time, Harvest regretted the absence of his son. If Jon had been here, things would have been vastly different ! They would have no choice, then. However, the half-Kryptonian was still in stasis from his last seizure. He needed more time to stabilize him… Or find a cure.
« So be it ! » He growled as he took his first step toward the battlefield.
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