Hardman's Bar
By Hadrian Howell (Hardman)
Chapter 25
Painless sleep is a wonderful thing. Waking up to a base that happens to have gained the ‘on fire’ quality somewhere during the painless sleep is NOT a wonderful thing.
Thick, black smoke clouded my vision and swirled like it had a mind of its own as I rolled out of bed and onto the floor. Fire was less of a danger to me as a robot than it was to most people, since I didn’t have lungs, so getting out of the building was less of a drastic chore for all of the team than it might have been for other people.
“Who the hell burns down our base in the middle of the…” Magnetman looked up at the sky. “noon?”
“Broad daylight, and somebody torches the base. Way to keep up on security, guys,” Needlegal mumbled sleepily.
Gauntlet was already raving. “NO! My counterfeit money machine! My cash! MY STUFF!” He went on like this for a while, so I won’t put the rest down. Suffice to say he was pretty dismayed.
“Anybody else hear thunder?” Topman asked.
“How does someone burn down a building made almost entirely of titanium, concrete, and advanced super technologies?” Snake asked, ignoring Topman.
“They’re really motivated?” Magnet suggested.
“Could have been Torchman,” Gemini shrugged.
Sparkchan shrugged. “We’re just lucky none of us have a weakness to fire. If any of the other teams’ bases had been torched, there’d be at least one member in serious pain.”
“Yeah,” Gemini grumbled, “Lucky us.”
“Seriously, does anyone else hear that booming sound?”
I listened for a second. “Nope, sorry Topman. Maybe ya got a hangover.” I sat down on the ground. “I’d like ta go a day er two without somethin’ I like burnin’ down.”
“I think it’s getting closer,” Top said in a worried tone.
What now?” Needlegal asked.
“We get a hotel room?”
“Shut up, Magnetman,” Needlegal sighed.
“I didn’t mean like that!” Magnet protested. “I meant so we could all get some more sleep. I’m still tired.”
“Why is the ground shaking?” Top asked a group that wasn’t paying him any attention.
“Yer HOUSE jus’ burned down and all ya can think of is getting’ more sleep?”
Magnet thought about it for a moment. “Well, yeah. I’m tired.”
“Well, I’m not, but I am tired of being confused,” Gemini growled, throwing a hateful look at Needlegal. “Whose side are you ON?”
“Isn’t anybody else worried about the ground and the shaking? Anyone?”
She shot back a glare full of venom. “I’m not being hypnotized anymore, you schizophrenic psycho.”
“And how can we tell you’re telling the truth?” Gem shouted at the top of his lungs to be heard over the roar of the fire and Gauntlet’s own brand of lamenting. “What if you’re still under someone else’s control? Huh? Answer me that, you bi-“
“ALL RIGHT, THAT’S ENOUGH,” I bellowed, standing up and moving between the two of them. “This ain’t th’ time fer this nonsense.”
“I have to agree with Hardman, because the thunder and the ground and the shaking and-“ Top was speaking quickly.
“Careful, Hardman,” Gem hissed at me, “She might shoot you in the back.”
“Only if he had a picture of you pasted there!” Needlegal screeched at him.
“Seriously, you two, this is ridiculous,” Sparkchan sighed. “There’s no point getting angry at each other. That only helps our enemy.”
“Guys?” Top asked.
“And just who IS our enemy?” Geminiman demanded. “Is it some new, dark mysterious figure or one of our own? Answer me that!”
“Calm down, hun,” my electric team mate responded, “we don’t have any information yet, so we need to calm down and keep our wits about us.”
“GUYS!” Top shouted.
And then came another tremendous roar. A sound that recalled to me images of a city in chaos, consumed by darkness. The horrifying cacophony of steel, concrete, and glass all shouting to the heavens of their torment as they were twisted and shattered and bent beyond all previous recognition. The arguing immediately stopped.
“Uh, guys?” Topman managed` feebly, pointing at something.
“WHAT?” four agitated Maniacs shouted at him. He simply pointed at a building. One that hadn’t been there when we’d come out. Cracks and tears in the structure gave it a kind of bend that called to mind the leg of some powerful titan, ready to spring. Then I looked up.
I’ve seen a lot of things. I’ve seen drunks, I’ve seen monsters, and I’ve even seen a man try to eat his own head, but there’s nothing that can really prepare you for the thing I’m going to call Cityman.
He was 800 feet tall, making him 80 stories high. He was, in fact, six buildings that seemed to be mashed together. I recognized some of them. His head was a snarling, gaping mouthed Radio Shack that looked eerily like the one down on 10th street. His right leg was a Temp-Co office building that I passed on my way to the bar every day. His left was a high-rise apartment complex know as Frostmoore that I recognized from down by the piers. His body was the cylindrical City Records building, upside down and joined to the legs by thick, powerful cables. Connected by thinner cables (probably as big around as a two lane road) were The Range, which was a small strip mall that served as his left arm, and the TechMode Industries building for the right, famous for the massive radio antenna on top that was now drawing back to strike at us like a spear.
“Well, there’s something you don’t see everyday,” Magnetman said is a voice a few octaves higher than his normal one.
“Topman, you should have said something sooner!” Geminiman hissed.
“I DID!” Top screamed at him as Citryman brought the antenna forward with a fury unmatched by any natural force.
We all threw ourselves aside as the point of the antenna crashed into the sidewalk where we’d been standing. I picked myself up in time to see the weapon draw itself out of the ground, pulled by the massive hulk of our new, mind blowing opponent. Shadowman was somehow already in action, moving with an unearthly speed up the right arm. Topman wasn’t far behind him.
