“Get up.”
Star Sapphire’s cold yet elegant voice hovered above the near defeated Cheetah, who responded with a groggy “What?”
Having approaching the feline fury, she wore an irritable scowl, probably out of disappointment that the Cheetah let her hubris and overconfidence get in the way of finishing the Dark Knight off.
Holding her ring hand up, she willed a scissors constrict to life, and manipulated it towards the bolas currently wrapped around her torso. The blades easily cut the metallic cable in half, freeing the former explorer.
“You’re pathetic, you know that? I’m gone five minutes and you’ve already made an even bigger fool of yourself,” Sapphire mocked, as Cheetah rubbed the back of her head sorely. She begrudgingly began to clamber to her feet. Even Cheetah couldn’t retort to that claim, seeing how she was a fist away from Belle Reve.
“He may be a mortal, but he fights with the strength of Hercules. Diana holds back, but he’s just as ruthless as the rest of us,” she admitted, a hint of respect towards the Batman in her voice.
“But not as powerful,” Sapphire reminded her, before turning to the fallen generator. “Thankfully, I’ve managed to salvage this fight despite your blundering. The Batman’s decided to play a game of ‘Hide and Seek’; I daresay we’ve given him enough of a headstart.”
“Please? He’s bleeding like a pig in a slaughterhouse. When I find him, I’m going to rip his heart out, then eat it,” she growled angrily, brushing past Sapphire’s shoulder.
“Actually, I had something a bit more...interesting in store for our dear Dark Knight,” Sapphire remarked, before turning to face the Cheetah.
And on that ominous note, the two strode across the fallen generator, before heading to the right, Cheetah on all fours and Star Sapphire levitating in the air.
The slits on your cowl narrowed as you witnessed all this happening from your vantage point. Reunited and likely more powerful than ever, you’d have another roadblock in your long, strenuous road to survival.
You were currently leaning against a wooden crate, the pinnacle of a mountain of containers. Clutching your midsection, you gritted your teeth as another pain-induced scream threatened to escape your lips.
You knew you had broken ribs, fighting metahumans and cosmic warriors for longer than twenty minutes tends to do that to a regular man, but this was simply becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy.
The more you fought back, the more injuries you notched up, and the window for escape was becoming smaller and smaller. You were simply hastening your end by continuing to fight.
As you clutched your stomach, you winced as your hand brushed against your fractured rib cage. The violet constructs had nearly pounded your internal organs into liquid, and worse yet, those were the important ones.
What felt like broken glass crunched against your sides, restricting your breathing. Anytime you attempted to inhale, you nearly doubled over. Anytime you exhaled, you began coughing violently, nearly vomiting.
Still, you crouched down and observed the pair as they continued following your footsteps.
Cheetah, now resembling a hunting dog, kept on all fours as she maneuvered around the metal labyrinth. You could tell Sapphire was barely stifling a grin at the sheer absurdity of it.
Then, finally, she stopped and examined a rusted pipe protruded from one of the old machines. Drops of crimson fell from the very tip of it, piquing her interest.
Standing up, she held out her tongue, and actually lapped up your blood, swishing it around in her mouth like mouth rinse.
“Disgusting,” Sapphire commented, revolted by this display.
“He’s a wounded animal, and he knows it. We’d have a better chance at finding the flying rodent if we split up,” Cheetah told her.
Sapphire merely nodded in agreement, in no mood to argue with her villainous colleague.
Biting her lip, she merely flew to the opposite direction, her violet form disappearing around a corner. Cheetah shook her head before bolting towards the stairs.
You knew this was a trap, and a rather clever one at that. As soon as you went after one, the other would attack from behind. Simple, yet effective.
But, they didn’t call you the “World’s Greatest Detective” for nothing.
Producing your grapple gun, you shot the cable out, and swung off to formulate a strategy.
Cheetah sauntered across the catwalk warily, constantly casting glances over the railing. Her limp was noticeable, but not stunting her movement. Still, she wore a pained mask every time she craned her head back. Her bare feet clanged against the metallic floor.
Still soothing her sprained elbow, she looked ready to change strategies when she suddenly heard a small clicking noise in the area below. Her ears perking up, she went to the railing and scanned for anything.
Her eyes darting left to right, she was about to turn the other way when a dark shadow suddenly raced from generator to generator. Licking her lips in anticipation, she vaulted over the railing, landing on the ground level yet again.
Walking towards the generator, she let her claws scrape against the surface to elicit a loud metallic screech, perhaps to intimidate the caped crusader. Then, she lunged beside the generator, claws extended.
Only, there was nothing there.
Frowning, she continued walking, now in the loading bay. Mountains of wooden crates passed by her as she examined her surroundings.
A shadow once again dashed past her, the sudden frenzy of footsteps catching her right ear. Running at the sound, she lept atop a wooden crate, ready to pounce. Once again, she was greeted by nothing.
Now frustrated, she dropped down from her perch and began stalking through the maze. She was about to let out a roar, when footsteps hit the ground excitably to her left. Stopping, she pinpointed the exact location to literally yards to her right, separated only by three-block columns of crates.
Deciding to remove that obstacle, she delivered a strong side kick to the one on top, knocking it over.
As soon as the wooden crate splintered, releasing its contents, she heard the unmistakable sound of the Batman cry out in pain, a sound she was all too familiar with.
Excitement getting the better of her, the Cheetah vaulted over the column, ready to finish off the downed Dark Knight.
Only problem, he wasn’t there.
Growling in irritation, she kicked the cracked open crate, before stepping over it. Fists balled up, she was about to simply call for the Batman to show herself, before the ball of her right foot was caught on something.
Pausing, she looked down, noticing several black pellets sprawled out on the floor. They resembled marbles.
Cocking her head to the side, the former explorer seemed curious, before a red beeping dot suddenly appeared on all of them.
Realization suddenly hit her. “Oh shi-!”
The pellets exploded in a fiery blaze that knocked her backwards. Blowing up literally in her face, she was thrown into the crate itself, sending burnt wooden planks and ash flying in the air. Now buried in the ensuing rubble, she was completely motionless.
As she continued moaning in pain, the same shadow quickly withdrew from her location.
Star Sapphire had similar luck, constantly chasing a shadow that would disappear any time she scanned a generator or machinery for organic life with her ring.
The resulting explosion startled the violet ring bearer, who turned to the sight of the loading bay. Eyes bulging in mild fear, she was starting to head towards her fallen teammate, when a shadow suddenly whizzed past her.
Twirling around on her heel, she instinctively fired a violet outburst. The energy bolt discharged against two generators, tearing some of the tubing apart.
Cursing herself for being too quick on the draw, she shrugged it off before continuing down the corridor. Constantly glaring to the sides, her body language was starting to betray her.
SHIINNKK! A Batarang suddenly embedded itself in the generator where her face would’ve crossed by in a few second’s time. The projectile, thrown with near perfect precision, actually cut a strand of her raven hair off as it whizzed past her.
Aiming her ring like a handgun above her, she couldn’t stop her lip from quivering and her legs from shaking. Her arm moving frantically to cover all four corners, she was completely oblivious to the shadow descending silently behind her.
“You’ll have to do better than that, darling,” she stammered, feinting confidence, before turning around to investigate behind her.
Your fist smashed into her mouth point-blank, a devastating right cross that nearly took her head off. Knocked back, she flopped on her backside as the punch resonated.
Now on the ground, Sapphire spat out a mouthful of crimson as you towered above her, still clutching your ribs with one arm.
“How’s that?” you replied sarcastically, answering her question before advancing to finish her off.
Still reeling from your attack, she was about as vulnerable as ever, her mouth bloody and her eyes near glossed over. You nearly had her, until your eyes regrettably trailed down.
Almost instantly, you were transfixed by her right foot, just as attractive as the rest of her body. Her toenail polish slightly smudged from the back-and-forth duel, she flexed them involuntarily as air breezed in between them. Her foot, arched so you could see her smooth sole stretched out across the floor, became even more tantalizing.
Somehow, your mental rivers became polluted with the images of a woman's bare feet, no doubt imprinted by Cheetah’s feet-based offense. And worse yet, you were starting to like it...
Capitalizing on your indecision, Sapphire brought her leg up, and wheel kicked you away, the top of her foot nearly knocking some of your front teeth out.
Staggering back, you tasted warm blood as she suddenly sprung up. Forming a mace construct with both hands, Star Sapphire lunged at you with one thing in mind: your demise.
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
More by this author