Solomon Grundy

Kevin Grant's pov

Walking to the nearest subway loading area, it was mostly deserted since there was no train scheduled to stop here. I know for a fact that the one I was on didn't stop here. There were still a few hobos and a business person or two who missed their train that scrambled here in vain for another one.

I didn't attract but a glance or two when I made my way to the surface. The streets were damp, and slightly populated by evening office people or other late nighters trying to get home. Streetlights reflected gold on a puddle or two and a nip was in the air causing me to shiver. Before the warmth of freedom and victory could fool my nerves boots planted down behind me and everyone on the streets looked at me. Well, more the alien girl behind me.

"Do not attempt to flee, please."

I slowly turned, trying weakly, "¡Yo no hablo Engles!" (Spanish: I don't speak English.)

Across the street, I saw a man in a fedora and trench coat writing something down in a notebook before walking onward. We're those dots on his face? Starfire got my attention and I frowned, knowing that I toast.

"Oh," she sighed, "here."

Then she kissed me and I tensed. What the hell? Her eyes squinted at me, anger practically boiling, "You don't KNOW know Spanish do you?"

"N-no?"

After a slap I guess I deserved, I hit the cement while onlookers started filming the spectacle. Eye level with a puddle, I saw the water ripple and thought I heard something when my ear was against the ground. I know I sure as hell wasn't fat enough to make that ripple like Mr. T-Rex off of Jurassic Park. Starfire lifted her hand to her ear while I just sighed, chilling out on the ground even though I wasn't bound or handcuffed.

"Robin, I got him are you sure that you don't need help?"

Then the water rippled again, more than before.

"Um, Ms. Illegal Alien from another planet?" II murmured wearily.

But then there was a crack in the middle of the street. A sewer mane was launched into the air and landed on a parallel parked car and starting an alarm. Stench greeted our nostrils before the large, rotten and lumbering mass came out of the street like a worm out of a apple. Breaking off bits of blacktop as he climbed out of the hole he was too big for.

Everyone on the street went silent and the only sound was the monster's voice as he mumbled:

"Born on Monday, ruhh Married on Wednesday-" it shrieked and punted a cargo van into a crisp backflip as it smashed the car parked behind it, "Grundy no care if Gold no like poem!" It roared and civilians started screaming and running.

Shooting up I said, "I'll help!"

"No, stay back!" Starfire said, true to the info I gathered on her. Mostly carefree, she was serious in battle and similar situations. She took to the air but I did what I always do.

Not listen.

I walked up to the beast yelling, "Hey! Ugly!" He turned to me, good. Keep him distracted. "Chill the hell out! We gonna do this the hard way or the easy way?!"

Directly in front of him, Starfire couldn't get a shot with her laser vision. We mad dogged each other for a second and the zombie laughed. "Stupid fly."

Backhanding me, I didn't fly away but my neck snapped and my head almost came off. Starfire shrieked in horror and started blasting. The minutes or seconds passed in a haze until my neck repaired itself. Quickly glancing around I noticed the civilians hiding about and back to the lasers and debris going everywhere. Stretching my right arm like a pitcher I took my left arm and pressed my right out of socket.

Releasing my true potential red auras and hellfire enveloped me. I put my hands together and launched a fireball like some DBZ characters and he stopped.

"Etrigan?" The monster's head turned back, vengeance and hatred in his eyes and I yelled to my alien friend,

"Get the civilians out of here! You're faster than me!"

Starfire had her hand to her ear, undoubtedly calling for backup.

"What do you mean Robin's heart flatlined?!"

Was the only thing I heard before the giant as tall as the streetlight leapt up and tried to hammer fist me. Dodging easily, I socked him in the jaw with a boosted hellfire punch but damage was minimal if not zero. I also didn't expect the other effects of the hammer fist.

The beast had brought the street we were standing on into the sewer and subway tunnel under it. The effect caused me to stumble into his shoulder and he gripped me and tossed me the pavement on the outside of the hole with a sickening crunch. My eyes widened when my auras dissipated weakly, those gave me extra defense and made me bulletproof. This guy is something else! Stomping out, I tried to get up, but he kicked me so hard I clipped a car, pawn shop door, shelf and was embedded into the wall with my feet OVER MY SHOULDERS.

I blacked out a second, and coughed dust as my body healed. I was practically on my chin, watching my feet be lifted back behind me as my body righted itself and I crawled forward with my good arm. I pushed myself up and tried to stand on a leg and that caused some of the shards of bone to stab through my skin.

Screaming I collapsed. Pain and I were best friends and it hurt like hell.

Err, well not really but you get the point.

Patience and I, however, were mortal enemies and I needed to get back out there and help. Turning over I tried to move my left arm and I could but uhh it was bending the wrong way. My right arm can't be broken so I started probing my bad arm to see if I could just fix it. I didn't want to repeat what happened to my leg.

There was a green explosion outside and I heard the sounds of battle still going strong. Hold on you goofy illegal alien from another planet.

Not feeling anymore breaks, I fixed my arm like Mr. Potato Head and started making sure that my legs were good. Poking bone shards back in my skin was never pleasant but necessary for the healing process. Once good enough I pulled myself up with the pawnshop's counter. My bloody hand on the glass I saw something shiny.

Pivoting my hand with a blood-smearing squeak I smiled at the objects below. Glancing to my left to the hardware section I smiled. I summoned a few stacks of 100$ bills and left it for the owner as I borrowed the things I needed.

***

Starfire's pov

A few minutes ago

As soon as the monster emerged from the ground I knew I needed help.

"I'll help!"

The suspect couldn't be trusted so I said, "No, stay back!"

I took to the air and COMM'ed, "Guys I got a problem here! A giant zombie in a black suit just crawled out of the sewer and-"

The suspect just walked up to it. I held my breath in all four of my lungs.

"B-Team is mobilizing." Raven declared, "And I'm coming."

"Raven, you're sick!" Gar said.

The monster backhanded him and I yelped, unease stirred at the angle his neck was but I blasted the beast. I hovered just out of reach, only able to distract it for the civilians to run. However there was always those who stayed behind to film the stupid fight! Time passed in a blurr of lasers, cat-&-mouse, and adrenaline.

Then an eloquent British voice was on my COMM.

"Excuse me Missus Koriand'r, are you busy?"

"Yes I am! I'm fighting a giant monster with knives in its back."

"Hmm, yes. I'm pulling up street footage now. The Batcomputer seems to say that the monstrosity you are fighting is none other than Solomon Grundy. He has been giving Master Bruce and Master Clark (Kent) a heap of trouble these days."

"So this is a Batman or Superman level threat?"

I dipped down below a swing and saw the fireball hit Grundy in the back of the head like a snowball.

"All in good time, I need to know if Master Dick is with you. It appears his pulse has flatlined and I was hoping that it was a technical error."

A chill passed through my body.

"What do you mean Robin's heart flatlined?!"

Grundy turned and attacked something behind him. He tossed the young man from earlier out of the hole he created. He's alive! Fear filled the boy's eyes before he was punted so hard he skipped across the street and disappeared into a pawnshop.

"Oh dear, Master Bruce is on the way. He also called for Missus Megan's uncle. Just hold down the fort Starfire!"

A car flew at me and I was forced to catch it. There was no screaming from within so I dropped it and time seemed to slow. Solomon's hand grabbed my lower half and he smashed me into the ground. Not once but three more times until realization hit me: if I don't do something I'm going to die.

I remembered my brother, Ryand'r, and his love for me.

Then I remembered my sister Komand'r…

and my hate for her.

Energy exploded out of me. The windows of all the cars and buildings shattered from the shockwave, the cement was turned into glass ten feet around me and I was able to bat Grundy's hand away. The light blinded him, that helped more than the explosion. Steam came off of him but very little damage was done.

He stumbled to the and knocked over a telephone pole. The wires arcing wildly as I hovered back. Then, the sound of several engines grew louder than the car alarms I set off. Were those? I looked to the sound and my suspicion was confirmed.

The man from earlier was in the middle of the street, his auras holding several saws and pistols. His ragged jacket was torn open, exposing his scarred torso as he cocked the lever action shotgun in his bloodied hands. Two machetes were tied to his back as well when he said, "Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum mofo what bean-stalk you fall from rot for brains?!"

***

Kevin Grant's pov

"Grundy just want to go home!" The monster sobbed before ripping out a light pole and flailing wildly.

What did I do? Did I cut it in half in the most sexy way possible? HELL NO, I hit the deck! Cars were slapped around like cans. Almost having a Vietnam flashback, I got up and started blasting. My auras unloading four pistols into him, blessed with unlimited hellfire ammo I also shot him with my 1887 Mare's Leg. I controlled a hedge trimmer, one big chainsaw, a smaller chainsaw and a buzzsaw and tried cutting whatever tendons where holding this elephant up. Hopefully that would cause him to collapse.

Hellfire shotgun slugs seemed to be the best thing so fare and I sighed. I passed up the semi auto shotguns just to look sexy. Roaring he swiped his free arm and I ducked, popping back up and firing again.

Big mistake.

The light pole came around next and I couldn't dodge it. Forcing as much energy I could into defense, my auras popped but I wasn't hit. The light pole bent in half but my pistols and tools twirled away. I eyed one in particular that flew towards a woman.

Well, an alien and a man.

It seemed Starfire was trying to multitask and as the chainsaw flew towards her I screamed. Time slowed, my eyes widened and…

And…

And it missed.

Oh well, big mistake.

I had taken my concentration off my opponent. He tried to hit me with the pole but missed because of his rage and how bent it was. I shuffled away with my feet while I was on my back, shooting the shotgun in his face. Roaring. he dusted me away with his hand. I twirled so much that I lost my shotgun but all I got was some skid burns.

Starfire blasted him and that got his back to me. He had cleavers, axes and swords in his back and got probably the stupidest idea ever. Eh, you only live once… kinda.

I ran up and used the weapons as clefts to climb on. Ripping out the cleaver I blessed it in hellfire and hacked at his head. Using almost my last bit of energy I summoned my auras and ripped out the weapons on his back and attacked him with those as well. I cleaved all the way through where his brain should have been.

I killed him! I did it!

Pfft, hell nah.

Screaming in rage he reached back, and tore me off his back. He didn't stop, he stomped on me before ripping my left arm off and beating me with it. Blood gushed and my energy started draining from me. Then, an unfamiliar feeling came over me.

What would have happened if he ripped my other arm off? Would I have lost my power?

Starfire flew in and kicked him with a flight-speed, and super strength kick. Grundy slapped her into a building in response and kicked me. I hit a fire hydrant and tumbled into a hotel. My dissolving auras started a small fire and triggered the fire alarm. That triggered the sprinkler system and my blood gushing from my arm mixed with the water.

I was losing too much blood. I could heal from this but the blood loss will knock me out. That's not going to happen.

Getting on my knees I mustered a little hellfire into my hand, grit my teeth and pressed it into the stump. As the fire hissed, cauterizing the wound I screamed almost like a woman. Hiding behind the front desk I could hear Grundy as he walked towards me, sniffing as he came in. The watery sound of tearing flesh made me grow cold inside.

He's eating my arm.

Grundy felt the water of the sprinklers and sighed. It seemed like he forgot about me as he mumbled, "Died on Saturday,

Buried on Sunday.

That was the end of

Solomon Grundy."

The sound of movement upstairs made me cringe. No, no, the fire alarm is fooling civilians into trying to evacuate! Leaping out from my hiding place I huffed, "You think you kill me big guy! Huh?!" I reached back and pulled out my machete, too weak to bless it with hellfire. "C'mon! Reunite me with my family! Stop this dystopian time torture called immortality you freak!"

His hand on my head he slammed me against the wall. My machete twirled towards the stairwell and hit something. Before I could tell what I was thrown into the street. The fire hydrant I hit earlier was spewing water into the sky. I was too tired to move. It was like I was dying in the rain and Grundy's footsteps were the thunder and the telephone pole he knocked over was distant lightning. Water dripped from the stringy hair on Grundy's head.

His hand was so big it wrapped around my head as he picked me up like a doll again. I screamed into his hand as he bit off the stump of my arm, slammed me and began to squeeze.

But then he stopped, dropped me and did a 'J' with his hand.

"Jericho control Grundy now."

"Wow," a woman's voice said, "I don't know if I should point out that you got your butt handed to you or say that you did a good job."

The woman was over me, black hair, a one-piece swimsuit and towel over her shoulder-

No, a leotard and cloak. My vision started to blur, I couldn't see her indigo eyes but I could feel her power. She coughed a wracking cough and spat, "Let's get you fixed up-"

That was the last thing I heard before going unconscious.