The overpass was larger than you’d expect. Twenty feet below was a section of highway. A fall would spell death. We entered from the north of the overpass. On the south were five of the strangest looking individuals I’d ever seen, lit up only by the headlights of the van behind them. The first was sitting on the railing fiddling with a device in the palm of his hand. He wore an orange beanie and had a creepy grin on his face.
Standing across from him, was a man in his fifties with his arms crossed. He was wearing a lab coat that was soaked in blood. He had horn rimmed glasses and a scornful grimace. His hair was grey, and across his right eye was a gnarly looking scar. The sniper stood over the railing next to orange beanie. He wore a black jacket and a black beanie. He was staring at the highway below. He didn’t even notice our approach. Standing in the center of all of them was a man that towered over them. His hair and beard were red as fire, and he was rippling with muscle. He was Flynn, leader of the Irish.
Sitting like a gargoyle on the top of their van was a monster.
“Where is Alistair?” Flynn bellowed.
“He wasn’t sure this wouldn’t be an ambush so he sent us.” Odie explained. Flynn raised a handgun at us. We all stopped dead in our tracks.
“Stop moving. Send the prisoner forward and stay still. After we’re done, peace talks will commence.” Flynn said in a thick Irish accent. Odie and John gave each other uneasy glances. I didn’t move at all. The sound of a window being shot out broke the silence and our prisoner was pushed forward.
“Okay, you little fucker. I have nothing against ya’, personally. But a deal’s a deal.” Flynn said.
The creature on top of the van leapt down and landed on all fours like a cat. Its metal flesh was blacker than the night sky. It appeared to absorb the light being emitted by the van. Its fingertips and toes all ended in silver blades. Its head was round and looked like a dome. Its eyes were two flat glass windows on its dome head.
They looked like portholes. Behind them I saw a light being emitted. It stalked towards our prisoner wearing the monkey suit on all fours. The prisoner didn’t move an inch. Gar didn’t look like I did when I wore the suit, he slouched more. He had his arms crossed, as if annoyed by the prospect of being face to face with this otherworldly creature. His head was tilted slightly. He leaned in a little as the creature stalked closer. The creature was utterly silent. I saw the light behind the porthole eyes move to focus on Gar. I gripped tight onto my rifle, though I’d never shot a real gun before.
In a flash of motion the creature pounced on Gar. It happened so fast I didn’t even see Gar move out of the way and land on the creature’s back. He stood awkwardly on top of the monster’s back, the claws on his toes sunk deep into it. Its domed head twisted around one-eighty degrees and it stared at Gar.
The silver claws on its feet started vibrating. Starting at its legs, and slowly moving up its body, the creature turned to stone. It had the same texture as the concrete that made up the road we were standing on. The only parts on it that hadn’t changed were the glass eyes, and the silver claws. Suddenly it stood up straight on two legs. Gar stayed standing on its back. It was far taller than a person could ever be. It thrashed around violently as it tried to shake Gar off.
I aimed my gun at the creature’s eyes. John reached out and grabbed my hand. I looked at him and he wordlessly shook his head no. He pointed at Flynn, who was watching me closely. “Best we do it their way. He’ll be fine. Gar’s insanely good at fighting.” John reassured me. Gar was on the creature’s shoulders. His legs dangled freely down its chest. It kept reaching up at him, clawing and punching. He would just move and avoid them.
He looked like a living blur in the suit. He hit both of the creature’s eyes with his hands, but the glass didn’t break. The gamble had cost Gar. The creature caught him in his claws and in a single motion threw him off of its shoulders. Gar skid across the road. The creature wasted no time. It raised its fist and slammed down against the ground in a punch so hard it sounded like thunder. I had closed my eyes once the punch collided with the ground. I wasn’t sure I needed to see someone’s innards mixed in with my suit.
“You crazy fucker.” I heard Odie mumble under his breath.
I opened my eyes to see Gar walking up the creature’s shoulder. His claws sunk into its arm, and then in a quick motion he backflipped off of it. As he landed I noticed large chunks taken out of the creature’s arm. It raised it up to examine it with its strange eyes. Then it looked straight at Gar. Gar stood with his arms crossed, two large chunks of concrete lay at his feet.
I couldn’t figure out what was going on at first. It wasn’t moving, it just stared at its hand. Gar didn’t try to move. Then the concrete on its arms and legs slowly dissolved. It turned to dust right in front of me. Underneath the armor, the creature was a large skeleton of bright silver. The porthole eyes were attached to a reinforced metal skull that was attached to the rest of the skeleton. It wasn’t made of bones, just metal poles for arms and legs that ended in claws, and a chest that was essentially just a pole leading to the head. It was covered by sharp metal ribs for protection.
I couldn’t figure out for the life of me why the creature had dissolved its armor. It was leaving itself vulnerable for seemingly no reason. Gar decided to capitalize on this weakness. He charged towards it, ready to make the kill. Before he could get within a foot of it he was launched through the air and landed on the roof of the van.
He did a back roll and landed on his feet like a cat. I watched closer the second time. Gar jumped straight up through the air and tried to land on the creature’s skull. He was thrown straight up. I still couldn’t figure out what had happened. Gar was rocketed off the overpass, landing somewhere below.
When the creature jumped I figured it out. It can mimic and control whatever substance it changes its armor to. It changed its armor to air, and it was controlling that air. It jumped straight up and hovered above the ground. It hovered over the railing and slowly descended below where Gar had landed. I looked over the railing with the others.
I quickly glanced over at the group opposite us. Orange was still fiddling with the detonator, and his brother was still watching with his sniper. They didn’t seem to care at all about the strange battle in front of them. I looked back down at the battlefield.
Gar was on the side of the road in the grass. He had rolled down a hill into a ditch. The creature gently descended down near him. It started violently shaking, and suddenly an armor made of soil conjured itself around it. This time the armor no longer had definite form. It was a shifting mass of dirt. Gar looked up at it.
“What’ll you do if our guy wins?” Odie asked Flynn. Flynn casually looked over with a smug expression.
“Four grand on my guy.” Flynn replied.
“You’re on!” Odie laughed. John shook his head disapprovingly. I looked back down. Gar had jumped into a tree and was staring down at the monster below.
The soil creature was trying its hardest to climb up to reach him. It created soil tentacles to try and latch onto the branches. I realized that the creature was actually trying to pull Gar down. It ripped the branches down one by one, as Gar steadily climbed further up the tree.
“What is he up to?” I asked John without looking away.
“No idea.” John responded uneasily.
Once he reached the top, Gar jumped straight down and collided into his target. They both rolled violently further down the hill. Gar stood on top of the creature. He punched its eyes, trying to crack them.
“It’s not gonna work…” I mumbled.
“Looks like your boy is taking a beating!” Odie yelled.
As if responding to the sentiment, the creature completely subsumed Gar in soil. Flynn let out a chuckle. I could see Gar struggling to escape. He successfully ripped through and jumped away. The creature snagged his tail on the jump and he face planted a few feet away. It dragged slowly back into the soil. I was sure that he was about to die. The creature had stood up and its dark brown armor was crawling and shifting around it.
Suddenly a flash of white appeared. It was moving so fast that it made me flinch slightly. In a fraction of a second the creature was shot into the nearest tree like a cannonball. The initial impact of the blur sounded like a bomb going off. The impact was so strong it sent out a shockwave that felt like a punch to the gut. When it was all said and done the creature was limp against a tree and its soil armor was in a pile underneath it. One of its porthole eyes was cracked. Gar was climbing up to his feet, dusting off his knees.
“What the fuck was that!?” Flynn shouted. The brothers turned our direction. A smile crept onto The Arsonist’s face. The Sniper seemed only mildly interested.
“Ah fuck.” I heard The Sniper whisper under his breath.
“No idea, man.” Odie replied.
I can’t believe he’s their communications expert.
Flynn pointed his handgun at us. But his neck broke before he could pull the trigger.
Gar was on all fours on the railing, his tail wrapped around Flynn’s throat. I could see the glow of the white eyes in the dark. The Arsonist didn’t seem to care much as he pulled out a handgun and aimed it at Gar’s face. Without a second of hesitation Gar threw himself off the side of the railing. The Sniper ran over to finish him, but Gar was on the opposite railing a second later. Gar’s tail was around The Arsonist’s throat this time. The Sniper didn’t even seem alarmed when he turned around and pointed the rifle at his brother.
“Let go of him.” The Sniper said far calmer than I expected anyone to sound, given the situation.
“Put the gun down, asshole!” Odie yelled.
“No.” The Sniper said without missing a beat.
“Worth a try.” Odie shrugged.
“Please shut up.” I heard John mumble as he hit Odie in the shoulder.
“So you work for the Platinums. Can’t say I’m surprised. I’ve heard that they have mechanical geniuses within their family.” The Surgeon finally spoke up.
“It’s clever, send a ‘superhero’ out to eliminate competition. I imagine the small fry stuff was just to test out the suit, correct?” His arms were still crossed, but his frown had become a slight smirk. Gar looked at him and shrugged.
I didn’t fail to notice him tightening his grip around The Arsonist’s throat. The Arsonist’s right hand desperately gripped the tail that was choking him. His left held the detonator.
“Alex. If he squeezes any tighter you hit the switch.” The Sniper said.
“Alex, your mom’s a whore.” Odie said.
This is unforgivably out of hand.
That’s when I heard Alistair approach. His footsteps were hard against the ground, steady and rhythmic. When he came into view I saw that he had his hand up with the palm facing towards us. When I looked back at the stand off I saw that The Sniper’s gun was floating above his head, just out of reach. He was staring at Alistair in what I assume was anger.
“That’s enough of that. Your boss is dead. You’re not going to get paid. Conflict only serves to hurt all of us. Garfield, let go of the man.” Alistair said calmly.
Gar’s tail slowly slipped off of Alex’s throat. He gasped and coughed as he fell onto his knees. His throat was bright red. His brother ran over to him to help him up.
“A word before you go. I’m interested in your talents.” Alistair commented. They stopped dead still. Alistair then looked down at me. “I owe you, superhero. Now take your suit and return home.” Alistair said. I nodded as Gar slipped off the suit and handed it to me.
“Hey, can you make me one of these? That was really fun.” Gar said in a really awkward way, once I was finished putting on everything but the mask. He was rubbing the back of his head with his right hand and he had a goofy smile on his face.
“Maybe another time.” I said right before I slipped the mask into place and inserted the battery. As I departed I looked over the railing.
“Night, bro!” Gar smiled and waved goodbye as I ran off. The creature was still down beneath. Unconscious or dead. Nothing else was there.
