Hellfire(12): Rescue(Finale)

The world kept shaking, but my wheels didn't care, the engine certainly didn't, pushing out enough power to make me dizzy. The cylinders kept going, raising a bisected sandstorm behind me.

My drive—through certainly dangerous—was turning mindless in a hurry, all I had to do was drive straight and try to not add more variables for others.

But even then I could not move my head from the drive, I needed to keep an eye in case of shit went down.

Still, it was not like I was blind about the affairs around me, my [Forager] kept watch.

I could see the battle in the sky but ineffectual as I was my objective remained.

Get to Raven and bolt.

My foot pushed down, gears shifted, and my eyes went to the base of the ritual site, the demons were aggregating there, so I barked over the microphone, "Saturate the base of that with everything you got."

And as expected of the well-oiled machine called the American Military came "Acknowledged," without a second's delay.

Good thing too, I didn't have the time, I pushed the engine to its limits as I picked up the pace to the platform, which had gone from light years away to a stone's throw at most. I could even see the first volley of shells that had landed ahead of me, fuck seeing, I could feel them, the shaking of the earth, the sand storms they kicked up, the heat that crystalized the sand into glass...I could fucking feel it all.

All of it.

Except stone being shattered.

It took a few seconds before the dust settled, a few more before I could properly see...the platform was undamaged. 105mm artillery shells had landed with pinpoint accuracy and the bloody stone was unmoved, unblemished even.

Something was up. Something that I didn't have the time to care about.

I pushed harder. The wheels spun up more and more sand as I finally rounded next to the platform.

Letting my wheels cool I stepped off, just as another round of shells flew past aiming for the centre of the platform only for all of them to crack and blow in the middle of the sky, never reaching their target.

"Fuck me."

Maybe it was some sort of magic bullshinator. At least I hoped.

And so with that, I jumped into action, pushing myself into a run as I tried to move up the platform, only to slam myself face-first into what felt like a wall, bending my nose sideways and rattling my skull bones.

"Ahhh!" I groaned as my hands moved to touch the injury, trying to assess it. Unnecessary as my powers blitzed into action, snapping everything back into place.

"Vandal!" My comms shouted a second later, Barbra, "Magic all around! Barriers you can't get in—"

"Yeah," I bitched, "Fucking found out."

I should have guessed that when the shells did Jack and shit.

Then a roar. Something roared.

I knew what did.

Hell!

I turned around.

Tens.

Hundreds.

Thousands.

Too many.

My hands instinctively went to my guns, but I remembered, pistol calibres did fuck and all to their hides.

So I let it go, and as I did the first one charged me. Like a freight train, it ran through the sand instantly closing the distance between us.

Then my training kicked in, I jumped to the side dodging a slam that would have crippled me, instead, it crashed into the barrier. But it wasn't alone, a horned beast came next, I eyed its hide which was already damaged, there was a fissure-like crack in its woody skin.

I pulled my gun as I jumped, dodging another slam and jammed my gun into the fissure, pumping a magazine of lead into the thing.

It roared but didn't go down, I had missed everything vital, not only that but it had fucked my positioning at my back were two demons and in my front a thousand more.

I couldn't win.

There were not the demons from the watchtower.

I needed something. Anything.

A claw swiped down at me from the front, I rolled away and a leg stomped down on me as I did. It smashed the floor, digging deep into the sand barely missing me.

Shit!

My hand went to my waist, I felt what I had—grenades, and flashes, but nothing for CQC.

My power, could that help?

I didn't know. Never used my power offensively. But hell, time to learn.

Momentarily I closed my eyes, and I looked for it. I didn't have to.

My instincts roared. And the extra flesh that I aggregated flailed to life.

As if I were a monster, they burst front from my back into appendages with spikes at the end.

Then they moved stabbing through the spider-like eyes of a a beast behind me and tearing straight into its brain.

Ripping it apart.

But that was not enough, my tendrils connected with the flesh taking the severed nerve codes and creating a fake brain in place. A brain devoted to me.

It all happened in a flash, and in that flash, I had turned a demon into a flesh puppet.

But I was distracted for that time and I paid for it, as an arm, thick as a trunk bashed into my gut sending me crashing into the barrier.

My spine felt like powder. And my whole body ached but again my power kicked in. Snapping everything into place again.

But that was not what I was interested in, rather my eyes clicked on my puppet, the tendril had been severed, but it didn't go anywhere rather the severed flesh coiled into the demon and dissolved into it, becoming just like the rest of its body.

All of it, all of it, I could feel. Heck, I think I could even control it, the process and all.

But now was not the time to think.

I jumped away from the barrier, creating a distance as all of them tried to rush me. So I ordered the puppet attack with a thought and it did.

Slashing its claws into the nearest demons, chunking out a pound of flesh from the abdomen, gutting it.

I now had a chance. So my other tendrils moved but the demons showed intelligence and pulled its hands over its eyes.

Mother fucker that thing adapted too quickly.

But I had more options too, I willed the puppet's flesh to move. Causing it to rip apart into hundreds of tendrils, that all moved to attack the demons. Even if they covered their eyes one or three were bound to get through. And they did.

It didn't take long before I had a dozen or so puppets. Puppets that I put back into the process.

The attack had ground to a halt and I was converting more than I was losing.

Soon enough I outnumbered the demons. So, I took a breath and using the barrier as support pulled myself up against it.

Facing the battlefield I could only sigh in deep relief. I was saved.

Saved by my power no less.

But as I looked at the puppets gutting their former comrades under my command I could not help but feel that I had opened a whole new can of worms.

Well, I couldn't complain, it had saved my life, but what the fuck was I? Was I human? I didn't know.

But as the stench of blood railed me, I remembered it was also a question for later. I was not safe yet.

Right, what was I supposed to do? Raven. Yes, save that bitch.

Turning around, I faced the barrier. Now, how the hell do I get through?

Only one answer really, "Barabra, contact Zatana—" It was then that I realized I had not heard anything from her.

My hands went to my comms set, only to realise it was not there, what? It took me a second to realise what had happened to it and looking at my feet, yep, there it was—crushed, like a lot of my armour that was dented and cracked, I hadn't noticed because of my healing but my body that was bulwarked in the metal chest plate was bent in the wrong direction because the metal had dented that way.

I should not have been alive right then.

That rattled my spine, sending a shiver through it and my heart jumped with it. What the fuck!?

A human being should not have died because of this.

No. No. Don't panic.

You are alive. That's all that matters don't think.

Forcing my heart rate to still.

I had work, I could panic after.

So, what was I doing? Right, magic barrier.

Digging into my back pocket I pulled out my phone, which had been spared the pounding.

It was ringing, I had put it into silent mode so I hadn't noticed. But I was just glad that it was okay.

Swiping the answer icon, I pulled the thing to my head, and immediately Barbra shouted over the speaker, "Mira! How the? What the? Fuck the happened there? Why are they infighting? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I am fine, for the rest?" I am a monster that can jack other things' CNSs and make them into meat puppets, "Later, tell others to let them fight it out. Oh and connect me to Zatanna."

"Wha—Fine. Zatanna's busy, I will pull you to Dr. Fate."

Dr. Fate? The league was here then? Thinking so, I reconnected to the [Forager] and sure enough, Captain Atom was in the Sky with Wonder Woman along with perhaps a dozen or so Legaures who had landed close by to the Javaline.

One of whom I was soon talking to, "This is Dr Fate, what is it?"

Putting my hand on the barrier I pushed in, it was rock solid, smooth like marble too.

"Vandal here, I am at the base of the platform, there is a barrier stopping me, how do I get in?"

"You do not. It is a full barrier meant to keep the occupant protected. Not unless you can destroy the—" Before he could complete his words the barrier flickered and then vanished as I almost fell forward, barely managing to balance myself at the last second.

"What the fuck?" I spat into the microphone as I regained my footing, "It vanished."

Fate didn't seem to care one bit about the convenient timing as he carried on, "Someone must have destroyed the mana supply then. Good for you. Now go," before cutting the call, not even giving me a second to get a word in.

What a dick.

Still, he was efficient if nothing else, putting my phone back into its pocket I got to running.

My puppets were converting more and more and fighting too.

The ground fight had turned I was—we were winning.

And then I looked up, well my [Forager] did. Superman was being gang-pressed from all sides, slowly being boxed in as I moved towards Raven who was floating...oh, how do I get to her exactly?

I paused the connection and turned to my puppets, willing a handful of them to move towards me, their flesh tearing apart as they did and merging into a beast with slender and long limbs joined to claws bigger than my arms with a sweeping tail and a wide back.

It moved just past me like a freight train, crossing the platform in the blink of an eye, if I didn't feel its complete and total subservience I would have been praying for my life.

But I knew it so I felt no fear as it jumped up the stone rings maintaining grip by digging its claws into the stone. In seconds it was next to Raven and then with a final jump, it was—evaporated by a blazing flash of lightning that originated from Raven herself.

I blanked as it happened, my first real creation had just been...evaporated, burned away like paper in an incinerator.

"Okay, what the fuck?"

My phone rang again, I pulled it out, still blankly gawking at the scene and brought it to my cheek, "Hello?"

"Vandal was that thing yours?" Batman was on the other end, I nodded only remembering he couldn't fucking it after I did so, "Yeah."

I could hear the sigh from the other end, but I chose not to comment on it, "And the demons that are fighting each other?"

There was no suitable lie to get away so I was honest, "Yeah."

He didn't say anything for a second, letting a bitter silence settle in, before breaking it, "Don't do it again. Not unless necessary."

"Sure," I dismissed his words, "By the way, why did you fall back last time?"

"Need to know information. Keep up the good work and clean out that army. We will take care of Superman. And you are not to approach Raven. There is a very powerful spell around her that uses her as a power source, got it?"

"Yeah."