Hardman's Bar

By Hadrian Howell (Hardman)

Chapter 27

Gutsman and I have a certain way of persuading inanimate objects that we want them to move. This was the primary reason almost a ton of mortar and brick exploded into the Frostmoore apartment building as we hit.

The steady feeling of rising gave way to the jarring shake of Cityman’s step, the shock that much more intense inside his foot. This was, however, a smoother ride than his arm had been. We looked for a way to get up.

Sparkchan pointed. “Those are the stairs we took last time,” she said by way of suggestion.

“Any quicker suggestions?” Gauntlet asked.

Gary and Gutsman shrugged, but I was already on my way over. The marble stairs that seemed to wrap around the inside of the building had a sturdy iron railing on the side not facing the wall. It was simple to remove it from its anchoring in the stone. I wrapped a length of it around my wrist and pointed my arm upwards, shooting off a Hard Knuckle which dragged the railing with it as it rocketed up the stairwell.

“All aboard!” I shouted as the makeshift rope fed upwards. Gauntlet was the first to grab hold, climbing the rope as it propelled him up, with Gary a close second. Gutsman gave me a questioning look.

“This thing is going to stop at some point, isn’t it?” he asked me.

“In about a second or two. I think we’re gonna have ta walk.”

As we exchanged words, Sparkchan was already climbing, and was several floors above us as the railing stopped tearing itself apart. My Hard Knuckle returned to me a little slower than usual, fighting the pull of the railing, so I unshackled myself from the stairs and began to climb them, following the already running Gutsman.

“So, Guts, there’s somethin’ I don’t understan’,” I said between even breaths as we scaled the building.

“What’s that, Hard?”

“Why’re the Wily’s Warriors ‘ere? Ain’t they actually followin’ Wily or somethin’?”

His voice had a shrug in it. “Don’t really know, Hard. Maybe Wily’s got them here to stop Cityman from taking his job.”

“Sounds like ‘im,” I grunted, rounding another corner. The roof exit was 27 floors up, and we’d only just passed the 10th. Rents in the building to make it flexible and large, missing portions of the stairs themselves were not making progress easier to obtain.

After fourteen steps from Cityman, we actually did make it up to the top of the Forstmoore building. We stepped out into a storm of chaos. The thick cables attaching this ‘leg’ to the ‘body’ of the Records building had started to unravel, the thinnest ones striking out with a will of their own at the closest Robot Masters. At least one Geminiman was ducking and weaving alongside a battered Bubbleman, whose unwieldy frame was probably making dodging problematic.

I could see a kind of platform system that would take someone farther up and into Cityman’s upside-down body, but those thin walkways were being guarded by this ‘anti-body’ system. As one of the tendrils snaked out to lash at me, I grabbed it in one fist and held it, barely able to remain in one spot as it writhed in my grip. Growling, I wrapped my other hand around it, closer to the base, and pulled with all the might my body could manage with the shaky leverage. The tendril pulled taught, and came loose with a deafening shrill of pained metal.

Another metal tentacle whipped over my head and slammed into someone else. I swore and shot a Hard Knuckle over the lip of the roof to grab them, only to find the person who came back was Crystalgirl of the Ascendant Androids.

“Hey, fancy meetin’ ya in a place like this,” I said with a mock smile as my hand clicked back into place.

“Thanks for the save,” she grinned at me, then threw a Crystal Eye over my shoulder and into another metal cable come to life. “But keep an eye on your own back, too.”

“There’s enough o’ us around, somebody’ll watch it,” I shrugged as the sound of injured air alerted me to an incoming tendril. I shoved Crystalgirl out of the way as it closed in and wrapped around me instead of trying to slam into me. These things were smart. Another Crystal Eye impacted into it and it gave enough for me to get loose and grab it, dislodging it like I did the one before.

“Ah, what would you do without me?” She sighed.

“Fall?” I ventured. I saw Quickman fall past the edge of the building, but before I could think of trying to rescue him, he was coming back through the Frostmoore rooftop exit.

“Well, this is getting us nowhere fast,” he mumbled.

“Do we know where this thing’s core is?” I asked him.

“Haven’t seen it,” he shook his head, “and I’ve been a lot of places on this guy. Duck.” We did as a cable whipped over our heads and was intercepted by Gutsman, who tore it out of the main cluster of cables and threw it over the edge. “It isn’t in the Radio Shack or anywhere in the Record building,” Quick resumed like nothing had happened.

“Not leaving us many options, is he?” Crystalgirl managed in-between shots of her weapon to beat back some of the writhing metal tentacles.

“Anyone considered the ‘off site controller’ option?” I asked Quickman, stomping a bold cable into the rooftop.

He shook his head. “Airman hasn’t found anything yet, and neither has Woodman. They’re both searching all over the parts of Monsteropolis that hasn’t been destroyed yet.”

“What about the air?” Gauntlet asked, literally coming out of nowhere.

Crystalgirl screamed. “What are you doing here? I thought I saw you go into the Record building!”

“Just a hologram,” he shrugged before turning back to Quickman. “Seriously, is there any kind of airship or something above him?”

“Not as far as I’ve seen, and there isn’t a cloud in the sky,” Quickman shook his head.

“Gyroman hasn’t said anything either,” Crystal told us.

A tremendous groan turned our attention to the central portion of the ‘leg’ support, which had become nothing but two cables under the assault of no less than eight robot masters from different teams. Gutsman and Iceman combined their efforts to freeze and then shatter one of the last two cables before the other one simple slithered back into the Records building. Frostmoore Apartments began to waver without the internal, controlling support of the cables due to the damage it had sustained, and as Cityman’s body swung forward as if it was just taking another step, a fresh batch of cables shot out of the Records Building and into another apartment complex known as Shady Acres. The building had already been evacuated, but it stared to bend and list and shake as Cityman claimed it as its new leg.

Crystalgirl, Gauntlet, Gary, Gutsman, Quickman, Bubbleman, Geminiman and I all let out a collective swearword.

“This thing doesn’t %#&@ing STOP,” Geminiman growled. “Who the hell designs something like this?”

“A guardian of the universe hopped up on evil energy?” Bubbleman asked. Geminiman conceded the point.

Shady Acres ripped free from the streets and sidewalks below and took its first tremendous step as a part of Cityman. I turned to ask my team leader what we should do next, but he was already gone. Another look confirmed he was clinging to the back of the Records building, already breaking one of the few remaining windows to let himself inside.