That night, Tom found himself surrounded by craters and soldiers. Six controlled-range missiles soared towards the sky, homing in on him. With a gloved hand outstretched, he faced the oncoming projectiles, his determination unyielding.
"Take cover!!!" a lieutenant shouted, and bodies hit the ground in a scramble.
BOOM!!!
The earth shook, shockwaves rippling across the base as the missiles struck. Amidst the chaos, General Kirby couldn't hide his prideful smirk, thinking the threat was over. "Good, that's gotta do it." He said, but the smoke that hung in the air hinted at a nightmare far from finished.
"Thanks for the warmth, General. It was starting to get chilly out here," Tom's voice sliced through the suspense as wind cleared the smoke, revealing the ongoing onslaught.
"Is he some kind of alien?" The surprise in General Kirby's eyes warred with fear, yet his resolve solidified.
Tom's hand remained extended, two missiles suspended mid-air, his other hand nonchalantly in his pocket. The explosions of the others didn't faze him. He expertly held one missile in front of him and the other behind, shielding them from the fiery bursts.
"Care for a return gift, gentlemen? "How about I return a piece of your gift boys, it was indeed mind blowing. Sharing is caring, as they say." Tom's words dripped with menace as he sent the two missiles back to the soldiers.
BOOM!!!
A severed leg plopped at Tom's feet, blood staining the ground. He glanced at the grotesque offering before looking back at the soldiers. "Hey, looks like someone dropped a leg," he quipped before bursting into a chilling laughter.
"His sanity's gone, General. We can't beat him like this. Can we use Weapon X-052?"
"Use whatever it takes. Since we aren't aware of his weakness, he might be a bigger threat than even the Kryptonians." General Kirby's order rippled through the base.
Tom's gaze pierced the ground using his X-ray glasses, revealing an underground labyrinth that extended beyond sight. He clenched his jaw, frustration seeping in. Finding Raven couldn't wait.
"I've wasted enough time here. Time to finish this." Tom's thoughts were a determined whisper. Among the soldiers, some carried peculiar blaster-like weapons with disc-like appendages.
"General, could we wrap this up? Got lasagna waiting, and I doubt those savages would save me any." Tom's exasperation rang out as he referred to his new housemates.
"He's underestimating our millitary power. Fire!" General Kirby commanded as he clenched his teeth in anger.
The men took aim and Shot at him. A sonic-like wave came from each of them and it was a direct hit, or so they thought. Tom seemed to just stand there as the air around him vibrated and waves resonated around him, with him in the middle and without making contact with him but the soldiers relentlessly pressed on.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
'Impressive,' Tom mused as he absorbed the sonic onslaught. With strategic deflection, he thwarted the soldiers' assault, leaving them flustered when they stopped firing. He made it resonate around his deflective field and it seemed like he had absorbed or stored the energy.
Since he was being attacked by more than nine soldiers who were firing that weapon at him, it made the attack powerful enough to make a Kryptonian ears bleed, and bring them to their knees as it affects a being at a cellular level, unless the Kryptonian were quick enough to attack the weapon before it started to shatter their cells or melt their brain.
"Now it's my turn." Tom said, barely above a whisper. The sonic wave he reserved and had flowing around his deflective field, he suddenly released it and the wave hit the soldiers.
"How is that possible? If he isn't a metahuman then what is he? How are we supposed to deal with a monster like that?" General Kirby's voice trembled, watching his men die horribly. His soldiers were bleeding from their eyes and ears as they dropped to the ground, an instant death.
The remaining soldiers looked at him with terrified stares. It wasn't a fight anymore, it seemed more like war and the enemy who stood right in front of them was more than a nuclear power.
"Like they say. If you want something done right, you've got to do it yourself." Tom said before dashing through the concrete barricade the remaining soldiers were using to take cover.
As if with brute force, Tom destroyed it with a punch and grabbed two soldiers by the head and smashed them on the ground, they burst open and brain matter was splattered on the ground.
The gruesome scene and his red pupils sent insane chills down the spine of the soldiers as it made him seem like some a fearful demon from hell who enjoyed killing, and they just ignorantly picked a fight with him.
Nothing worked, there was no point shooting bullets because it just got sent back at them. Missiles and all weapons they had available at the base were effective, not even the blasters.
"I've wasted enough time already. Okay boys, let's quickly wrap this up." Tom proceeded to create a hole in the ground which linked to their underground facility as the one at the top was just a cover up for the research facility down below. Looking around, Tom saw that the soldiers didn't have the will to fight anymore but tried to steel their resolve in order not to disgrace their country, or abandon their duties as soldiers.
*SIGH*
"I guess I just have to crush your hopes, or what's left of it at least. No need to fight, just survive for your families' sake. Don't let duty blind you into dying a pointless death." With two fingers directed at some rifles, he looked at General Kirby who was bleeding from his arm. Kirby slowly lifted up the ground and four rifles levitated into the air.
The first one struck the General's right hand. His agonizing screams filled the battlefield as he was pinned to a wall behind. Tom had him stretch out his limbs as the second one went for his left leg, digging easyly through his thigh and into the wall.
Tom waited for him to scream before letting out a psychotic laughter which made him seem like he complete lunatic. He seemed like had a few screws loose. "You expect your soldiers to die unnecessarily even though you know that it was a futile attempt to try to bring me down." Tom said as he sent the third riffle through Kirby's right left and into the wall.
His screams were as loud as the previous ones, he was slowly losing his strength and was almost passing out due to the loss of so much blood. The soldiers watched sympathetically and in shame as they couldn't do anything about their general's predicament.
A few brave ones who couldn't hold themselves back ran towards Tom, one tossed a grenade at him, the others kept shooting at him, saying he must have a weakness of some sort.
The grenade dropped at his feet and he just sent it back to him as he buried it in the soldiers chest before it exploded. The others just committed a pointless suiside as the bullets got deflected back at them. "Well, that was foolish." He said as he sent the last riffle through the general's other thigh and hanged him on the wall like a scene from a satanic ritual, while the few remaining soldiers watched in horror.
He flew over to the edge of the hole he had made and turned back to look at the general. "Well, I'll be going down this hole now. If you are lucky enough, you'd be dead before I get back up here." Tom looked back at the hole as he continued.
"If not, I'd take pleasure in sending you to hell myself. Painfully." He added with a hint of nassicime before descending into the human sized hole into the ground, kind of like a shortcut according to him.
…
[Meanwhile back at Gotham]
Black Mask who had a personal vendetta against Ghost who didn't even care for a beef with a small fry such as himself, had picked a war with Ghost that evening.
He sent a handful of his underlings to attack two of Ghost's territories which were under his and the Outlaws' protection. He reached for his phone in his pocket as it began to ring.
"We just attacked a few warehouses and underground businesses believed to be under his protection." The words that came from across the line as one of his subordinates gave him a report.
"Perfect, now he has no choice but to come out of the shadows. Hope you made it clear that the attacks would keep coming, and without giving any hint that I am behind it all?"
"Yes sir."
"Good, he brought this upon himself. I will drag him from the shadows, bring him to his knees and shamefully dethrone him from his place amidst the top bosses in the criminal underworld." Black Mask said as he ended the conversation with an evil laughter.