Metal Man Strikes Again (Open 1-on-1 challenge)
Posted: Fri Feb 26, 2010 8:40 pm
Ever since that previous fight, Metal Man was still seeing triple. He was also seeing strange shades of blue. Cursing the name of the one named Snake, he lurched through unsteady corridors of time until he found himself on the edge of a mountain, on a blasted planet.
All around were cinders... and a bright red building, barely attached to the side of a fried mountain. Atop its vine-like twisted supports were walls of glass of metal, and within them were barely functioning computers.
...
Metal Man ripped the sheet metal wall off and shoved it off the platform. It made a satisfying somersault of metallic groanings and crashings as it fell all 5000 feet down the side of the mountain.
There within was the last vestiges of his past group--the "Time Adventurers", a motley crew which had saved him from his former 'employers.' He crunched some bits of glass under his feet as he dizzily scanned the lurching shades of blue, green, and metal.
Dying, cracked LCD screens spoke of some massive 'SYSTEM DISCONNECT ERROR', but that wasn't important. Metal Man shoved a pile of legal forms and books and pencils off a skeleton's desk, and then checked the time on the dead man's watch.
"Hm. 5:14. What a stupid time."
He shoved the skeleton off to the side and opened the drawer. The drawer fell right off the desk and spilled its contents off of the floor. Metal Man groaned and shoved the desk aside, making an even loader squelching noise with the tile-and-table friction.
He fished around and then picked out a strange little remote.
"There it is."
He breathed shallowly, leaning on the desk. He saw after-images of himself in the reflections of his visor. Then he stood up and jabbed the remote into his left arm's timepiece.
A fountain of blue sparks lit up the dim aerial office. Small holes burned in the floor paperwork. Metal Man's vision cleared and he stood up, no longer the victim of a system desync. He put away the strange device and surveyed his surroundings.
"Delta office. They never did tell me why this was closed." He picked up the skeleton and looked at the watch.
"What could have destroyed this place before the Time Cops got the chance?"
He was about to get an answer, as a local temporal instability warped something else into the hallway facing his back...
All around were cinders... and a bright red building, barely attached to the side of a fried mountain. Atop its vine-like twisted supports were walls of glass of metal, and within them were barely functioning computers.
...
Metal Man ripped the sheet metal wall off and shoved it off the platform. It made a satisfying somersault of metallic groanings and crashings as it fell all 5000 feet down the side of the mountain.
There within was the last vestiges of his past group--the "Time Adventurers", a motley crew which had saved him from his former 'employers.' He crunched some bits of glass under his feet as he dizzily scanned the lurching shades of blue, green, and metal.
Dying, cracked LCD screens spoke of some massive 'SYSTEM DISCONNECT ERROR', but that wasn't important. Metal Man shoved a pile of legal forms and books and pencils off a skeleton's desk, and then checked the time on the dead man's watch.
"Hm. 5:14. What a stupid time."
He shoved the skeleton off to the side and opened the drawer. The drawer fell right off the desk and spilled its contents off of the floor. Metal Man groaned and shoved the desk aside, making an even loader squelching noise with the tile-and-table friction.
He fished around and then picked out a strange little remote.
"There it is."
He breathed shallowly, leaning on the desk. He saw after-images of himself in the reflections of his visor. Then he stood up and jabbed the remote into his left arm's timepiece.
A fountain of blue sparks lit up the dim aerial office. Small holes burned in the floor paperwork. Metal Man's vision cleared and he stood up, no longer the victim of a system desync. He put away the strange device and surveyed his surroundings.
"Delta office. They never did tell me why this was closed." He picked up the skeleton and looked at the watch.
"What could have destroyed this place before the Time Cops got the chance?"
He was about to get an answer, as a local temporal instability warped something else into the hallway facing his back...