Chapter 65 : Holding the high ground
Hello guys, gals and others ! Hope your week's good. Second week since I started work up again so… Meh ! 🫤
As usual, you can read my other stories as well as other chapters on my Patréon page. Search for Cathbel on the website. And I am interested in reading your comments and reviews. If you've got stones, I don't mind taking them off your hands either…
Now, let's talk about… Eleceed ! A Korean WEBTOON on the app of the same name (in France at least… don't know about other countries). It's about a High school kid with the power to move fast… because of his power, he stays under the radar, has no friends and moves often. Until he discovers he's not the only one with superpowers ! With his master, a fat cat with electric powers, he'll make friends and enter the dangerous worlds of Awakeners (Awakened ?).
Let's move onto the chapter. Enjoy !
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Doctor Octopus, angered by my careless comment, furrows his bushy eyebrows and reacts dramatically :
« You mock me ?! You dare mock me ?! »
One of his tentacles suddenly digs powerfully into the sidewalk. A moment later, the same tentacle flings a chunk of concrete towards me while the others, as well as his legs, are propelling toward me. I wonder if his anger is pushing him to make even more mistakes…
In order to test that theory, I spit twice, willing the ink to become invisible. The first glob impact the projectiles and vanishes it. As for the second… It seems I've underestimated Doc Ock. The instant after the concrete disappears, his eyes widen and he ducks to the side. While he doesn't see it… Or at least, I don't think that he can, he suspects that I'd use this opportunity.
That being said, I might have slightly underestimated him, the fact of the matter is that, at the end of the day, he did make a mistake. And his mistake cost him. While he reacted quickly, he fell short. The invisible ink lands on his side and he finds himself suddenly unable to move.
As I'm about to knock him out and add a layer of visible restraints on him, the ground rumbles once more. This time, much quicker. Idly as I prepare for Rhino's charge, I ponder the fact that he's reacting to the potential loss of his teammate. I always thought the man rather… intellectually challenged, shall we say ? From what I've read in comics and my memories, Rhino has a one-track mind. He's a goon, primarily interested in money. Once he acquires his power, or depending on the version of him, the hardware, which allow his rampages, he boasts about his power and relish in destruction.
I didn't take him for a team player… At all ! Now with the truth that, perhaps I don't know all there is to know about the marvel-verse once more displayer for me to see, I have to react. So, I use something I've already used once in the past. Rhino uses his durability and momentum to cause damage so… Let's cut on his momentum then !
The ground between us suddenly turns liquid. Rhino, losing his footing, starts to plummet face first into the liquid asphalt. I let him get his face out before hardening the ground once more around him.
« Let's make sure… » I mutter to myself.
I know the overused trope of the guy you believe is trapped, only for him to get out of his restraint once he starts flexing. Rhino has a lot to flex ! So, I decide to turn what was once a mix of mostly dirt, rocks and asphalt into metal and rubber. The rubber I add almost as an afterthought when I consider that the guy still has to breathe… Hopefully, this will allow him to.
I turn back to face Doctor Octopus once more, expecting him to still be unmoving… But he isn't. In fact, he's nowhere to be seen ! I scan around, imagining him trying to sucker-punch me from the back or fall on me… Finally, after a bit of panic starts to rise in me, I spot him, clutching the sides of a nearby building with his tentacles and continuing to climb. Is he fleeing ? My eyes trace toward the roof where I see a water tower…
I start running toward him silently. I'm not sure what his plan is… Or if he has one beyond just getting away from me. Otto Octavius is a smart man. And he knows it. In one version of the comics, he managed to create a device to switch bodies with Peter Parker, because his own body was suffering from a deadly disease. He became the Superior Spider-Man this way… Maybe…
As the thought forms in my brain, my body halts. Almost simultaneously, Doc Ock reaches the apex of the building and disappears from my sight for a second… The next moment, he comes back with a scifi-looking gun mounted on his shoulder, two of his tentacles manipulating it while his arms operated the trigger.
« Oh, shit ! » I swear and starts diving for cover.
I'm pretty sure a wall's not gonna cut it, but what else can I do ? Well, truth is… a whole lot ! I will the wall used as cover to reinforce itself, turning the brick, concrete and mortar into steel, phrik and beskar… At least, that's the idea in my mind at the moment.
The next moment, as I cower behind a wall I have no faith in, my back to it, I feel vibration and heat coming from it and rising. The heat, I mean. It's obvious it won't hold… Slowly, or at least, in my mind it is, I turn when a realization crosses my mind. I touch the wall… It's hot, but… It was cold a second ago. It's also obviously some kind of metal. I've transmutated it ! Or Transfigured it, whatever !
Don't get me wrong ! I know that my power are reality altering in nature. I knew that this was in the realm of possibility. But the thing was, it was only a theory up until now. My power relies just as much on my imagination and how I use it, than it relies on phrasing, on me defining things, symbols etc… Finally, it relies on how beautifully I can write and draw. That's my understanding of it anyways… However, at this moment, for the first time I've accomplished something I never have !
Suddenly, I smell grilled octopus and the pain makes me take my tentacle off of the wall. Still, now I feel giddy ! This just opens so many new doors for me ! I can't wait to conjure scifi orbital cannons, legendary mystical swords, or simply cast a spell I'd consider an 'Ultimate'.
I shake my head to prevent myself from daydreaming. At the moment, my situation is rather dangerous. I slap the wall with a cooling charm to give me a few more moments. Now… How do I get the Fake-Topus off the building ?