The Crusaders -Volume 1

Chapter 3

Part 1

Simon Christos' mansion, Oregon…

The terrified partygoers quickly scrambled to vacate the room as the monster let out its cry. Christos looked on, utterly petrified as the massive, muscular creature stared with piercing black eyes and vicious teeth gritted right at him. Starbolt and Mind Master took fighting stances, the former raising his hands in preparation of an energy blast while the latter took a standard Kung Fu stance, as Nocturne made use of his Chiropteran sorcery to conjure a colony of mystical bats that surrounded his body. In an instant, crackling blue energy from the electric towers in the monster's back made its way from the ends of the conductors to his uprising metal fists, firing blasts of electricity from its palms that made contact at the balcony on which Christos stood. The balcony crumbled where it was hit, and in an instant, it collapsed and sent Christos plummeting down in a cloud of debris. At that moment, Starbolt and Nocturne both attacked the monster with energy bolts and bat clusters from their forward-flung hands, while only a knee-jerk telekinetic hand-raise from Mind Master kept Christos from hitting the ground. The monster quickly switched its attention to Starbolt and Nocturne, giving Mind Master and Red Cross the opportunity to run to Christos' aid.

"Mr Christos, are you okay?" Mind Master asked as he telekinetically set him down.

"Could be a hell of a lot worse, considering." He replied, brushing the dust off his shoulders as he regained his balance. Mind Master motioned to Red Cross.

"This is Red Cross. She'll get you out of here."

"Me?" Red Cross let out, at once meek and contrarian. "But… I mean, I don't-"

"You'll do fine. Go." As the two departed, Mind Master took out his communicator, a palm-fitting rectangular device that projected a miniature holographic screen from its top, beneath which was a small interface with buttons for moving through the screens above and selecting functions. Though his inability to see the screen kept him from realising it, his effort to contact Techsmith and Gunk was thwarted by electric interference. Likely a side-effect of the monster's explosive entrance. His continued futile attempt to establish a link was cut short as he was forced to jump out of the way of a flying Nocturne, who collided hard with the wall behind him after being thrown across the room trying to attack the monster, his colony dissipating into the air once he made contact. Nocturne struggled to rise up but refused the aid of Mind Master when he offered it. It had been a long time since he'd been hit that hard, and he wanted his rib cage to remember the pain. He pulled off his sunglasses and scrutinised the beast with his black eyes.

"What's the bet our mate here is after the Apollo?" Nocturne asked rhetorically.

"Let's find out." Mind Master responded. He turned to the exchange between Starbolt and the monster and focused on its psychic ticks in an effort to gain some clarity on that particular point. Like when it was only just materialising earlier, its mind was dim and sluggish, but he deduced that may not be its fault. Its thoughts seemed to be dulled, as if buried beneath beastly impulse. To get anything from it, he'd need to get mind-to-mind with the monster. Though Nocturne was taking harsh punishment, Starbolt was having a better time of it. As the creature directed its electric blasts at him, he found himself dashing around in the air and firing energy bolts in retaliation at rapid pace, dashing to a new vantage point when an electric blast was sent his way. The monster's body jostled with each blast it took, but wasn't majorly affected by the attacks.

"Come on, Frankie-boy!" Starbolt goaded with a smirk. "I thought lightning was supposed to be fast! Your shooting is as slow as your cognitive speed!" Suddenly, Starbolt was stopped, held in airborne suspension by a field of electricity the monster was emitting from its palm. He felt pain as the energy was once again drained from him, before his body snapped forward, flying at the monster, and was met with a right hook to the side that sent him through several walls and, eventually, the other side of the mansion in a stream of dust from the destroyed marble. Taking advantage of the opportunity as the monster turned its back on him to stare through the holes at the weakened Novon, Mind Master quite literally jumped in, using a burst of telekinetic energy to leap onto the shoulders of the monster. He kept a crouched position behind its head as he placed his palms to its temples, briefly dodging its swaying fists as it tried to knock him down. Suddenly, the beast stopped, and after its arms fell limp at its sides, it fell to its knees. Mind Master jumped off the monster's shoulders and landed in front of it as Starbolt, having somewhat recovered from the hit, stepped through the massive hole in the wall while gripping his right side.

"Huh." Starbolt said, rubbing his left shoulder. "Didn't think that maybe we could just tell it to stop."

"Don't be so certain." Nocturne said, spreading his arms and summoning another Chiropteran colony. "Never met a monster I could reason with."

"As team leader, I hereby elect you 'morale officer.' No need to thank me or anything."

"How's that leadership thing going for you? Seems like Andrew's been doing all the legwork."

"He's my Number Two."

"We have a chain of command, do we?"

"Want in? Don't be such a dick and I'll consider your request."

"Would you two shut up?" Mind Master requested in an uncharacteristically frustrated tone as he stepped face-to-face with the monster. "It's hard enough blocking out all your damned psychic ticks, and this requires a whole lot of concentration."

"What are you even doing?"

"Taking a trip through this thing's memories to figure out where it came from and what it wants."

"Oh. Good idea."

"And it wasn't even an order." Nocturne snidely remarked, to Starbolt's cutting glare. Mind Master placed his hands on the monster's head again and began his venture. From the entrance to the now-destroyed balcony, Techsmith flew in on her jetpack, having been told what was happening by the fleeing guests and a stuttering Red Cross. She was all too ready to join the fight, with her missiles armed in the Battlesuit's retracted shoulder-pads and the nozzles of her plasma lasers risen out of the lowered bulk on her wrists and glowing green in pairs.

"Sorry I'm late, it was a mess trying to cut through the cr-" She began excitedly. Her buzz was immediately killed when she saw the monster in a docile state. "God dammit!"

"I know." Kon's mood changed completely once she arrived. "It was all very exciting. I got thrown through a wall and stuff." A disappointed Techsmith deactivated her weapons systems and landed on the ground.

"So what the hell took you so bloody long?" Nocturne's abrasiveness remained unchecked. "And why didn't you bring the jolly green giant?"

"He and Suzy are making sure the guests get out safe." She answered.

"Well, by all means. Let the healer and the living weapon play babysitter while we contend with the steroid-abusing version of Frankenstein's monster."

"I thought you said her power was useless?" Nocturne paused, silently admitting defeat. Techsmith took the opportunity to physically analyse the monster. "Holy crap." She muttered as she read the scan's information on her inner helmet.

"What've you got?" Starbolt asked. She excitedly walked over to show him what she'd managed to decipher about the monster through her wrist mounted holo-projector. Starbolt stroked his chin as he read the data.

"I don't know what any of that means." She lowered the projection after an exasperated sigh. Her tone quickly changed to somewhat misplaced excitement as she began her breakdown of the scan.

"His hands and his legs are all connected to some kind of big electric power source, right smack dab in the middle of his chest. It looks like it's mostly being used to power those big bug zappers sticking up outta his back since he obviously doesn't run on it. His insides look like they're made up of thousands of cables that act as nerves, transferring electrical energy to and from one another. I'm no expert on biology or anything, but the rest of him looks like someone stitched together muscles from about 1000 different bodybuilders to make him. Kinda fitting the theme, considering how all the tech in him comes from about 10 different designs as well. Full-on Frankenstein, this one. Inside and out."

"That sounds…"

"Awesome?"

"…disturbing."

"How the hell did someone manage to, not only pull all the stuff together to build this guy, but make the guy work?" Without warning, Mind Master's head jerked back. Trying to break through the mental suppressers and psychic blocks the monster's mind had in place proved too much for his own mind to handle on its own. He cried out in head-splitting pain as the monster unleashed an electromagnetic pulse that sent Techsmith's suit into an internal frenzy. The monster quickly regained what little consciousness it originally had, and within seconds it had Mind Master on the ground, foot to chest, crushing his ribcage. Starbolt, ignoring his injuries, flew at the monster, but was once again grabbed, this time by the throat with both hands. It screamed once more, stopped from going further by Nocturne. He grabbed the monster's wrists and ankles using the colony he conjured and turned him in his direction, pulling him off Mind Master and forcing him to drop Starbolt, dissipating the bats before grabbing a piece of rebar from the debris and running at the monster. Dodging its fists as they hammered down onto the carpet underfoot, he slid between its now spread legs on his knees. He stopped, crouched, then leapt backwards over its' head, and while maintaining a perfect airborne spin, viciously thrust the rebar into the monster's scalp, finally landing a few feet in front of it. Just as they did when Mind Master psychically pacified the beast, the sparks in its back towers stopped flaring once it fell. As the monster fell to the ground face-first, Red Cross and Gunk ran into the room from the balcony entrance. While Gunk stretched himself down in a stream of jelly, Red Cross went back through the hall she previously exited from to join her teammates. As Techsmith recalibrated her systems, Starbolt finished regaining his breath and ran over to Mind Master, pulling him closer to the others.

"Suzy, get over here!" He ordered. She ran over and kneeled next to Mind Master.

"So, you want me to…?" She started.

"Fix him." She tentatively felt his chest, running her fingers along the broken bones as his breath became increasingly laboured.

"I don't know. I mean, my power makes me feel… more drained the longer I use it. And these injuries… I don't know if I'll be able to-" Starbolt tightly gripped her shoulder.

"You can do it… you have to." After nodding in an attempt to disguise her lack of confidence, she got to work, hovering her hands over his chest. Soon, green light emerged from her palms, flowing across the damaged area, and Mind Master's bones began to tether together and move back into their original place. As the heaviness lifted from his friend's breath, Starbolt sighed with relief. She turned to him, her skin already starting to turn pale.

"What about you?"

"He needs it more."

"But-"

"When I need you, you'll know." He got up and stormed over to Nocturne. In an act that was somehow both utterly shocking and somewhat expected to all who saw it, he threw a punch at his discordant comrade. Nocturne, without moving his head, shot his arm up, grabbing Starbolt's wrist and squeezing with vampiric super-strength. Techsmith raised an arm, her lasers primed to fire at Nocturne, while Gunk waited for full-blown fighting before stepping in. A moment later, Nocturne released Starbolt, leaving him an already bruised wrist.

"Is violence really your only recourse?" The rhetorical question set Starbolt right off.

"Real high and mighty coming from someone who just STABBED A MONSTER IN THE HEAD WITH A PIECE OF REBAR!"

"Accomplished a lot more than any of you."

"All you 'accomplished' was the loss of our only real asset in the search for whoever is behind this attack!" Techsmith interjected, adding to Starbolt's previous statement.

"I wouldn't be so certain." Gunk stated. "His finger just moved." The Crusaders all turned to the sight of the monster slowly raising itself from the floor and reaching for the rebar in its head. As it pulled the pipe from its scalp and restarted the sparks in its back towers, several pieces of intact furniture and debris were suddenly thrown at it, hitting it in the chest and knocking it back. With an upraised hand that was controlling said objects, Mind Master jumped up from the floor, healed by a now-exhausted Red Cross. With captivating deftness, he approached the monster and delivered a fierce flurry of flying feet alongside supremely swift strikes from closed fists and straight hands alike. His every blow came with a burst of telekinetic force timed perfectly with the contact of his limbs to the beast's body. His arms and legs were at once pliable and forceful, his hands and feet like steel with their endurance. Starbolt and Techsmith watched the display the way a child watches their first martial arts film, before seeing him end the assault by jumping into the air, spinning around, and kicking the monster in the face with a massive burst of telekinetic energy and perfectly straight leg. The beast was sent flying through the massive glass wall that led to the outer balcony and into the enormous yard with a pained groan. Starbolt and Techsmith stood in slack-jawed awe as Mind Master turned around after his landing, his posture perfectly composed. He disregarded their reactions and went right over to the ailing Red Cross.

"Are you okay?" He asked, placing a hand on her shoulder. She leant back with closed eyes and heavy breath as she nodded. He turned to Starbolt. "What's the plan?"