CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN

BLACK AND THE BEAST

Too many. Way too many

That's what was flashing through Dang’s mind as cleaved through the hundreds of murderbots that surrounded him. As soon as he cut one down, another took its place, twice as strong, twice as tough to cut through. His punches and kicks were beginning to do less and less damage each time he threw them, likely a consequence of taking a Grimm punch to the body.

The pain raging inside him flared up as a reminder, making him waver and miss a punch, allowing a murderbot to punch him back.

He growled as he touched his rings once more, and two escrima sticks grew in his arms. Fighting barehanded was starting to get old.

The overambitious murderbot jumped forward, following through on his initial attack, hoping to be the one lucky bot that took down Dang.

That was the last thought that ever crossed through its CPU.

Dang constantly moved around, to prevent the robots from dog piling him, one thing he absolutely did not want to happen. He was starting to feel the backlash of jumping from fight to fight continuously, and having to switch gears. How long has it been?

Barely over an hour? And I'm nearing my limit?? Pathetic.

Grimm’s roar brought him out of his own head and back to reality. The monster was clearly feeling left out watching Dang and the murderbots go at it. It surged forward, bulldozing through the murderbots in his way, and headed straight for Dang.

Dang swung at the murderbot he was confronting, taking its head clean off before dashing towards Grimm too.

Shift up a gear.

Dang and Grimm clashed in the middle, fist colliding with hard metal. The impact generated a shockwave that cleared out the murderbots around them, giving Dang some breathing space. Grimm drew his fist back and swiped with his other hand. Dang jumped, soaring over the attack and thrust both feet into Grimm’s head, sending him flying.

He landed gracefully and resumed his fighting stance, raising his guard.

Shift down a gear.

Energy starting flowing back into his body and he thanked the stars. He might not have to do this barehanded after all.

The sticks retracted into rings as Dang grabbed the first murderbot that dared to approach and ripped his head from his body, with nothing but pure physical strength. He crushed the skull in his hand.

“Resonate.”

The skin on his arm gradually changed until it resembled the metal on the rest of the murderbots. Three thin claws jutted out from in between his knuckles.

“I really hope I'm not infringing any copyright laws with this…” He planted his feet firmly on the ground and pushed, shooting himself forward, and straight into the crowd of murderbots. He swung his arm around, slicing and dicing murderbots as fast as he could. His second arm adopted the properties of metal and claws jutted out of it too.

Dang was on a roll now, spinning and twisting as he cleaved and dismantled his way through metal skin. He tore through their numbers, separating them from the rest of their body in swift and precise moves.

“Now that's more like it!”

Dang was getting into a dance now, one of destruction, and woe to all murderbots who were there to witness it. At this point, he hardly felt the pain that had been there a second ago. His healing factor had immediately gone to work, cleaning up all wounds and bruises. Now the pain had been replaced with adrenaline.

“You look like you're having fun!” someone called from up above.

Dang wasted no time in reacting and extended one of the rings into a bo staff, and hurled it with all his might at the source of the voice. He didn't even check to see who it was.

Caden smiled.

The staff struck the ceiling, missing its intended target who had disappeared and reappeared in front of it.

“So that's your power?” Dang asked.

“You did all that to force me to use my powers?” Caden asked. “Impressive. Here I thought you were just angry.”

“I am.”

“Of course.”

“So, what do you call it? Your power?”

Caden smiled again, “Nothing.”

Before Dang could ask more questions, the cave trembled again, signifying the approach of the world's most annoying monster of the week.

He turned to face Grimm, who barreled towards him on all fours this time. Like the beast he was.

The metal skin on his arms crumbled, and Dang bent to feel the ground beneath him.

“Resonate.”

Instantly, his entire skin became rock solid. He planted his feet in the earth and stood his ground, waiting as Grimm got closer and closer.

WHAM

Grimm thrust itself, head first, into Dang…but he didn't budge. He took the force of the impact and remained standing, unmoved.

Solid earth. Good defense.

Dang threw a punch of his own, knocking Grimm back into a crowd of murderbots.

“That’s a strike.”

Above, Caden’s smile had turned into a frown. “I guess Grimm's not as powerful as I thought he was then?’

“Yeah, have you considered feeding him more protein?”

Grimm emerged from the smog, his fiery red eyes exuding the rage it was feeling. It opened its mouth and roared once more, attempting to use ‘Paralyzing Scream’ again but Dang was already there, underneath him, delivering the nastiest uppercut. He forced Grimm's mouth closed, causing it to bite its own tongue off.

Grimm soared into the air and Dang launched himself in pursuit, his ring already forming another weapon for him to use. This time, it was nunchakus.

He delivered a barrage of blows, each landing with 110% of his power, and Grimm roared in pain.

“I'm not done yet.”

Dang grabbed Grimm's arm, spun, and threw him as hard as he could at the ground. Grimm slammed into the ground, the force of the throw reverberating around the cave and then converging back at that point, pushing him up. Dang came down hard, planting both his feet into Grimm's armored torso, leaving a Grimm-shaped crater in the earth.

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The murderbots around them stood still, waiting for the dust to clear, and when it did, Dang was left standing.

He stepped off Grimm's now cracked armor, one hand in his pockets and the other nursing the back of his neck.

“That’s two down. Who's next?”

From his place in the air, Caden hissed. “Who is this guy?” He muttered to himself.

He watched as Dang put his fist up again, inviting the surrounding murderbots. “Come on tin cans, are we going to just stand around all day? Or are we going to finish this?”

The murderbots made whirring and clicking noises, their robot brains trying to calculate their chances of survival against Dang. It was next to zero. Dang watched as the murderbots that surrounded him glanced around, waiting for something to happen.

He turned to Caden with a smirk on his face, “I thought you said they couldn't get scared.”

“They…don't…” Caden himself was amused. Dang had managed to damage enough of them that it actually instilled fear in them. That was…

“... impossible.”

“What's that?” Dang called out. “I didn't catch that last part! Could you speak up? Or better yet, you can come down here.”

Caden ran his hand through his hair, “Hmmm…I didn't think it'd come to this, but it seems you've forced my hand.”

He dropped, falling through the air and landing with a BOOM before Dang, the shockwave of the impact kicked up smog around him. He stood and stretched.

“Now we're talking…” Dang murmured. It was the moment he'd been waiting for, the chance to end the person that hurt Anna. He almost couldn't believe his luck.

Dang raised his fists and Caden did the same.

“You should know before we begin, that I really don't want to kill you. I was actually just starting to like you.”

“Can't say the same.”

Dang shot forward, at a smiling Caden, and threw the first punch. It connected with Caden’s arm - one that he raised to block his face. Next, Dang went low, throwing another punch at Caden's gut. Caden brought his knee up to block that too.

Dang forced more power into his fists and pushed into Caden, forcing him back a few feet.

Caden started at the places Dang's fist had touched him, at the steam that emanated from it. “Woah, that was-”

But Dang didn't let him finish his statement. He shot forward again, bringing a knee up and aiming at Caden's face. Caden had to block again. Dang sent his other leg and brought it down for an axe kick. Caden raised an arm over his head to block it.

BOOM

The impact of the kick sent Caden further into the Earth, his feet sinking into the dirt.

Dang didn't relent.

He spun and sent a back kick into Caden's chest, which Caden blocked, but still wasn't enough to quench the power behind it.

With his feet still in the ground, Caden was forced backward, creating two shallow trenches in the Earth.

“Impressive strength, but-”

Dang was uninterested in what he had to say. As soon as his feet touched the ground, he pushed himself forward, blurring as he cut through the distance between them, and catching Caden off guard. His metal ring instantaneously morphed and became an escrima stick. He made to deliver a blow to Caden in the chest and Caden thrust his arms to block…but it was a feint.

He corrected, redirecting his fist upwards, and uppercutting Caden.

Caden got launched through the air and Dang jumped after him, trying out the same move for the second time today. He crashed headfirst into Caden, delivering a barrage of punches, and then he grabbed Caden by the arm, spun, and threw him to the ground.

Caden hit the ground and bounced, and Dang descended onto him. Planting both feet on his chest and smashing him into the Earth.

Flawless Victory…

The smoke cleared and Caden's bruised and battered body lay there, underneath his feet. His mouth opened, wanting to say something but Dang intervened. He placed a foot on Caden's throat and stepped on it.

“That's enough from you.”

Caden’s mouth hung open, trying to force air into his lungs but it was futile, not with Dang there. He clawed weakly at Dang's leg, his eyes radiating fear.

An image of Anna flashed in his mind.

Dang sighed and lifted his foot off Caden's throat. Anna wouldn't have wanted him to kill. He'd defeat Caden, and that was enough. Caden inhaled, grateful for the sweet cold air that was allowed to rush into his lungs.

“What I was trying to say was…,” he started, in between gulps of air, “...you should…”

Dang raised an eyebrow.

“...you should really…”

“I should really what?”

“...you should really…work on your perception skills.”

Caden smiled and his body started dissolving, into a black liquid. No, not liquid, it was more like…fire.

Dang watched as his entire body faded, and blew in front of him, where another Caden was standing with his hand outstretched. The black fire flew to him, wrapping around his arm and forming one of the bracelets on it.

“You're so…fiery.” Caden said, “An admirable quality, but unfortunately, it doesn't afford you a lot of room to think before you act.”

Dang turned to face him and raised his fists once more.

“You don't even know what my powers are or what they can do. Yet, here you are rushing in to fight me. Surely those twins can't mean this much to you, could they? Or wait…are they yours?” Caden eyed him, trying to figure out whether or not he was fit to be a father, “Nah, it can't be that. They're way too old, you'd have been a baby when they were born.”

Dang said nothing but glared at him, his fists still raised. Caden placed a hand on his chin, thinking.

“Oh…it must be that woman then,” Caden smiled. “That woman must've been important to you, wasn't she? It's too bad about her, she had to go. She annoyed me greatly.”

Dang squeezed his fists tighter and tensed his muscles. One more word about Anna and he's going in the dirt.

“Tell me,” Caden continued, “does it eat you up inside? Knowing you weren't there when she needed you? And after she took care of you too. At least I think she did. You grew up in the shelter too, didn't you? So, she must've been the closest thing you had to a mom? How touching.”

The ground cracked under Dang's feet as he pushed himself forward, cutting through the air and at Caden, who laughed and did the same.

They went at each other, Dang determined to take Caden’s head off and Caden laughing maniacally, delighted at his successful attempt to trigger Dang.

Dang threw punch after punch and Caden blocked and blocked and returned punches of his own.

“Your strength is no joke.” Caden called out, still laughing.

Dang parried a punch from Caden and pushed forward, sweeping Caden off his feet.

“Oh?” Caden said, amused, “What now?”

Dang thrust them both as far as he could, into the wall behind them. He crashed into it.

When the smog cleared, Caden was nowhere to be seen.

“Good move,” his smug voice came from behind, “but you still don't know my power. If you did, you wouldn't have tried that.”

“I don't suppose you'd tell me if I asked,” Dang said.

“I would…but what's the fun in that? I want you to force me to use them.”

Dang turned and attacked, sprinting towards Caden. “Resonate.”

He tossed aside the detached murderbot arm that he'd grabbed off the floor, and his skin adopted the properties of metal. He blurred forward, and went at it with Caden once more.

Caden's smile quickly faded, replaced by a look of concern. His powers had significantly boosted his physical strength, allowing his punches to hurt a whole lot more.

His arms stung where Dang’s fists had hit him, so blocking was no longer an option, he had to dodge.

“You got stronger? That's nice but-”

Dang delivered a right hook and it connected, shutting Caden up and making his eyes widen in bewilderment. Dang quickly followed up, sending a couple more punches after him.

Caden dodged the first but not the second one, and was sent flying through the air. He flipped midair, righted himself and landed on his feet.

“When you start taking this seriously, let me know.” Dang said as he surged forward, his fists glinting in the lighting of the cave.

He closed the distance between them, getting closer and closer.

WHAM!

In his charge, Dang hadn't seen the fist that Caden threw at him and as a result, got sent flying back. He crashed into the ground, got up, and dusted himself off, “Is that it?”

Caden's hands were engulfed in…a black liquid. He wasn't sure what he was looking at. The black surrounded his fist but also…dripped like it was some kind of lava lamp.

“You wanted to see me use my power so bad, so behold…the power of black!”

Dang glanced around the cave, “did…did you expect applause?”

Caden growled, “Your jokes won't save you from my wrath.”

“Your wrath won't save you from being put in the dirt.” Dang retorted.

Caden grinned then, “Is that so?”

He made to take a step, then vanished. Completely.

Where'd he go?

Dang scanned around the cave, the only things he could see were the crowd of murderbots that surrounded them, watching the fight unfold.

“Boo.”

Dang spun, coming face to face with Caden. He leaned in, “Did I scare you?”

A fist was sent into Dang’s gut, draining him of energy as he skidded backwards and fell to a knee, gasping.

“By now, you're feeling the effects of my power.” Caden boasted as he walked forward, “‘Black’ is limitless, a vacuum. It sucks everything into it. Light…sound…energy…life.”

Dang stared at the hole in his gut where Caden had punched and saw his exposed skin, not the veil of metal that had been there a second ago. He bent over in pain as his healing kicked in, fortunately, unaffected by the attack.

“Come now, we're just getting started.”

Dang forced himself to his feet.

A roar came from somewhere around the cave. An all too familiar sound.

Dang turned just in time to see Grimm barrel towards him and swipe at him, the hit connecting and sending him backward.

“Look who decided to join the party,” Caden said excitedly. Grimm roared again.

Just great.

Fighting them individually was already a pain and now he had to fight them together? Plus, the never-ending waves of murderbots standing by as backup…

Dang managed to push himself up to his feet, stumbling as he did so. His breaths came sharp and ragged as his healing factor kicked in, working to repair the damage from Grimm’s enraged blow. He felt a rib pop back into place as it repaired itself.

His mouth filled with liquid, and judging from the taste of iron, he knew it was blood. He spat it out and wiped his mouth.

Dang thought about how much easier this would’ve been if his doppelgangers had been with him, and then he thought about how much he was going to be thinking that way for a while.

At the very least, they would’ve evened the odds and turned the battle from a 3v1 into a 3v3, which would have made this so much easier.

The ring on his finger extended, becoming a brass knuckle around his fist. With the second ring lodged in the ceiling, and with no easy way to get to back without being interrupted, he was already at a glaring disadvantage.

Those two really made everything easier…