"Kid, I regret taking you on a boat ride!" Kalini shouted as we ducked behind a file cabinet, dragging Adam along. A laser blast shot through the top part of it, sending metal and burning paper flying.
"In my defense, you overcharged me for it," I said as I checked the gun I'd grabbed. After making sure it was loaded, if half-empty, I leaned my head out of cover.
Gurdurr swung his I-beam at Sidearm, who blocked it on one of his arms. Three metal arms, sprouting from under that cloak of his. How many could he create?
Tyrunt dug his teeth into an arm and was waved around by Sidearm.
"Let go damnit!" Sidearm shouted.
"Tyrunt!" the little dinosaur shouted. At first, one could mistake that cry for one of determination and rage. Then, you would notice the happy gleam in his eyes as he went flying through the air.
"Well, I guess he's always been an adrenaline junkie," I sighed.
As Tyrunt enjoyed the impromptu roller coaster ride, Gurdurr brought his I-beam around to block a laser shot. He grimaced at the power of the laser hit, but managed to keep his ground, spinning the weapon in his hand to lash out at Sidearm. The supervillain raised a gun in a normal hand, shooting Gurdurr in the chest, but the tough Pokemon ignored the bullets to lash out at his opponent.
"What do we do? Should we be helping them?" Kalini whispered.
"No. We have our own opponents," I said firmly.
Three guards were still standing. Adam was staring at the fight as Kalini held him by the neck in one meaty hand.
"We'll take those guys down while I keep an eye on the fight," I said with a frown. Same basic plan as always. Some of the team would clean up the adds, while the rest would tank and dps the boss.
Yeah, I know, it's cliche for a nerd to fight using video game terms, but they work for a reason.
I looked at the gun in my hand with some distaste. There's a certain mindset that you need, to be willing to use a gun to kill someone. It's why soldiers spend so much time in basic just getting that mindset.
I just had my experience punching people with everything I had to take them down. I wasn't willing to kill anyone.
Still, we had three guards to deal with. I'd do what I could.
"Knock him out," I told Kalini firmly. "I'll take care of those guys.
"Wait, wha-" Adam began to say, right before a meaty fist slammed into his face, bashing him into the ground. Adam gasped, then took another, then one more punch, finally passing out.
"Damn. Forgot how tough he was," Kalini said, shaking his hand with a wince. In the meantime, I got to work.
I crouched out of cover, watching out of the corner of my eye as Tyrunt was sent flying back when the arm he'd been chewing on was finally bitten off clean through. Gurdurr went in on the side Tyrunt had ripped the arm off on, smashing a fist into a cursing Sidearm's side. The merc took a fist capable of breaking steel with a loud shout of pain, rather than an explosion of blood and bones.
So that suit was able to protect him. At least around his waist and chest.
"Break his legs!" I shouted as I went from crouching to running. One of the guards, a guy who was looking around, presumably for Adam, looked up at me. I flipped the handgun around and tossed it at his face with everything I had.
I think that action surprised him more than the actual impact. Not often someone throws a gun. It hit him in the face with a lot more force than I expected, sending him onto his ass while he fired a shot into the air. I jumped up and landed on his chest with both feet, kicking down and smashing him onto a floor covered in discarded metal and broken concrete. He gasped in pain, but still managed to raise his gun. I grabbed his head, raised it, then smashed it back into the floor, doing it twice before he was out like a light. He'd likely need medical attention, but better hurt than dead.
I heard a loud gunshot, and felt pain in my shoulder. Fuck, again? I rolled with the shot, rushing behind a shelf that had survived the onslaught Tyrunt, Gurdurr, and Sidearm were dishing out. The guy who shot me, a large white man with a bent nose, ran after me, sensing weakness. I grabbed a mini-fridge off the floor, spun out of cover, and chucked it at him, surprised at how light it was.
"JESUS FUCK!" scar-nose ducked under the fridge, which smashed apart behind him. He rose up to have a small kitchen sink bounce off of his chest sending him right back down.
"Why is there so much shit in here?" I mumbled. Ignoring that point, I ran over to him as he tried getting back up. I didn't have time to think. All I could do was attack the first vulnerable spot I saw. I brought my fist up, then came down with all I had.
My fist sunk deep between his legs. I felt things shifting under the blow. He stared at me with a look of pain and deep betrayal, followed by a wheezing gasp that was an octave too high. I was so worried he was going to get up again that I followed that up with a kick. In the same spot.
"Too… far," he gasped out, twisting into the fetal position.
"In my defense, you shot me," I said with a look at my shoulder. Then I looked at the fight.
Tyrunt had a dent in his side where hardened flesh had taken an impact. Gurdurr's muscles looked even larger than before, but he had a few more bleeding scrapes. Still, they looked more or less okay considering they were fighting lazer tentacle man. I looked around for the last guard.
He was gone. For a moment, I was worried he'd gone for his boss, but Kalini and Adam were still hiding. Well, Kalini was hiding, Adam was passed out.
Damn. Would have been nice to have kept him from escaping. But fine. That left me room to help.
I ran over to where everyone was fighting, picking up a chunk of concrete and tossing it as I went. One of Sidearm's metal limbs smacked it out of the air, but that left Gurdurr open to hit him in the leg. He screamed, glaring at me.
"You done hiding behind your monsters, you coward!?"
"That's kinda my thing, to be honest," I said without shame. Seriously, I was closer to 'wrestling an Onix' Bruno than most Pokemon trainers, so trying to accuse me of cowardice wasn't going to work. "Gurdurr, Drain Punch!"
He went in with one of my favorite fighting moves. Sidearm raised a laser cannon to fire at him, but I threw another chunk of concrete, picked up a piece of discarded pipe and yelled at my dinosaur. "Tyrunt take care of one of those arms!"
"GUR!" a green orb surrounded Gurdurr's fist. Sidearm's laser cannon was sent spinning as a concrete chunk hit it, and the fighter punched Sidearm in one of his real arms, some of the scrapes across his body healing.
Sidearm shouted. "Damnit, just-"
"Tyrunt!" a proud shout filled the area. Tyrunt's ran across the rocky field. For just a moment, I could see power flickering across his jaws. Then, to my surprise, his mouth started to glow… blue?"
"Wait," I frowned, trying to think of which of his moves made his teeth glow blue.
The mini-T-rex ignored my confusion to attack Sidearm. The merc swiped one of his arms at Tyrunt.
"Get the hell away from me, you stupid lizard!"
Chilled air surrounded Tyrunt's mouth just before he bit down on a steel arm. And ice flew across the span of the arm, Tyrunt clenching tightly with his arms and legs waving happily.
"ICE FANG!?" since when did he know that? No time to ask that question, I broke into a run. The metal cracked as extreme cold spread through it. I swung the metal pipe in my hand into the arm like I was going for the home run. The metal, already stressed by Tyrunt jaws and Ice Fang, exploded into shards. It was actually kinda refreshing, the sudden burst of cold everywhere.
"Since when could you do that!?" I shouted while Gurdurr swung his I-beam around to bash Sidearm in the chest, sending him back a step.
"Tyrunt."
"What are you talking about, of course I needed to know about it!?"
"Ty."
"Yeah, and Mudkip having ice powers already doesn't mean you can't use them too!"
As I was flabbergasted by Tyrunt's weird thought process, Gurdurr blocked a bullet on his I-beam, giving us a scathing look. "Durr!"
Right, back to business. I looked over at Sidearm. He was down two arms, thought I could see they were slowly repairing themselves. Really slowly, but still enough to be worrisome. "Don't suppose you'll surrender?"
"And ruin my rep!?" Sidearm shouted. "Sidearm always gets his man!"
"I'll be sure to inform the League of Assassins they have competition," I said with a scoff. "Come on," I grabbed another rock, hefted the rod in my hands, and nodded at Tyrunt and Gurdurr. They nodded back. "Take him down!"
"Gur!"
"Ty!"
"Bring it on!"
We rushed for each other, Tyrunt in front of us. Sidearm shot at him, getting some chips knocked off but ignoring them to attack him with draconic energy surrounding his tail, spinning to slash at Sidearm. The supervillain sidestepped the tail swipe, allowing it to cleave through the ground he'd been standing on, then blocked Gurdurr's I-beam on his last robot arm. I hit him in the face with a rock. Repetitive, but if it worked on people in the Pokemon world...
"Ugh!" his lip split, he kicked out at me, getting me in the stomach, but Gurdurr uppercut him in the chest. He shot at me, but Tyrunt jumped in front of me to tank the bullets, while I threw the rock in my hand at him. Sidearm shot the rock out of the air with impressive aim, but Gurdurr headbutt him in the face, then Tyrunt bit down on his last arm with ice fang again, Gurdurr smashing apart the arm with a drain punch.
"Motherfuck-" Tyrunt's forehead hit Sidearm's. Dazed, he staggered back. Gurdurr and I came in.
Sidearm grabbed my shirt, pulling me close while kicking the pipe in my hand away. We fought for a moment before he twisted my arm around so that my back was against his chest. I was about to fight away, but he brandished a knife, holding it to my throat. We all stilled.
"Y-Yeah," Sidearm said, his breath rank. "That's what I thought. Tell those two to back off, or-"
"No," I said, scared, but not stupid.
"No? Who the fuck are you messing with kid!? I'm the best in the world, I'll rip your throat out!"
"Dude, the top ten mercs are Deathstroke, Deadshot, Lady Shiva… seriously, you have to go down the list a few dozen pages before you even get consideration."
He growled. "I'm gonna kill you, if you don't tell them to back-"
Fear and anger filling me with adrenaline, I snapped my head to the side with all my strength, our skulls clacking together. His knife was away from my throat. I yelled, about to hit him as Tyrunt and Gurdurr rushed to help.
A gunshot rang out while a bullet ripped through his hand. He screamed. The knife clattered to the ground. Another bullet got him in the foot, sending him tumbling to his ass. "What the hell!? What the-"
I kicked him in the face at the same time what looked like a tranquilizer shot hit his neck. For a moment, Sidearm stared up at me. "Gonna… ki-" he laid back, eyes slowly closing. Then he finally passed out.
Gurdurr, Tyrunt, and I looked around. He came out of the shadows.
"...You really listed me second to Deathstroke?"
"...I mean, only cause I didn't know you were aiming a gun thing at me," I mumbled, staring at him in shock and fear. "Seriously, what are the chances you'd be here!?"
What the hell was wrong with the luck in my life?
"Grrrrrr," Tyrunt growled.
"Don't," I whispered, trying to keep very still as my shock turned into wary caution. "I'm betting he was watching the fight the whole time. What are those, armor-piercing?"
"And rubber, just to keep you on your toes," he said casually.
I looked him up and down. White mask made of some sort of hardened material, with a single red eye lens glowing softly over his right eye. A red suit with black armor over select parts of his body. A pair of gun barrels strapped to the top of his wrists, one pointed at us, the other deceptively hanging lazily by his side. A large rifle strapped to his back. Floyd Lawton. Deadshot.
"You here for the bounty?" I asked.
"Didn't know there was one until these guys tried to fight you over it," he said. "I'm here for something else. Stop that," he said when Gurdurr shifted slightly. "I know you can block bullets. But you can only block what comes your direction. I'll kill both of them before you can move an inch. And if I do die, or even get stressed, the bombs around us will blow us all away."
How did he set up bombs!?
"I'm not here to fight, Kahu Kiaʻi," It took me a second to realize he meant me. "Not over chump change. I'm here because my boss wants to meet you."
"If the next words out of your mouth are Luthor, Ra's, or any other wanna-be world conqueror…" I warned, trying to keep still.
I was scared. Well and truly scared. Sidearm had been dangerous, but only because of his arms. Even then, my Pokemon had been able to take them down. Deadshot…
In most universes, he had been able to face the League and even give them a damn good fight at that. I trusted my Pokemon, loved them. But the last thing I wanted was for them to rush forward and attack Deadshot. Even if he was bluffing about the bombs, he was smart, experienced, and capable. He wouldn't be standing there, after seeing us take down a man with enhanced armor, unless he knew he could stand there. I wasn't willing to test how many armor-piercing shots I could take.
"Those guys aren't my type. For multiple reasons. And besides. If they wanted you dead, then you never would have seen me."
True.
"He's asking to come here," he reached into his pocket. Tyrunt stepped forward.
Pain filled my head as something small smashed into my skull. "Fuck!" I shouted in pain, staggering back.
"Next one will be a tank round," Deadshot said. "Pick. Your friend, or your pride."
Tyrunt stared at me as I held the spot I'd been shot in. Then he stepped back, his jaw tight and closed. Gurdurr glared at Deadshot, glaring angrily.
Deadshot thankfully didn't goad Tyrunt. The prideful dinosaur likely would have rushed forward if he had. Instead, he took a note out of his pocket and placed it on the ground, placing a piece of concrete on it when a breeze was about to blow it away. Then he rose up and looked across us.
"You're a lot better than most superheroes I meet," Deadshot said. "Most tend to be bad listeners."
"That's cause I'm not a superhero. I'm just a guy trying to survive."
"Hn… Meet us there in one hour."
"An hour, seriously?"
"He'd like to make this quick. So he stayed nearby. See you in ten minutes."
He turned and began to walk away, only to stop and look back. "Tell your big friend to come too. Boss wants to ask him questions."
"Fuck me!" Kalini shouted in the background.
Deadshot turned and walked away, leaving us behind.
"...Kalini!"
"Damnit kid, my life has gone to shit since you showed up!" Kalini shouted, popping his head up like a scared gopher.
"Just come out here," I said, stepping forward to pick up the note and looking at it. I sighed at the sight of the address. It was closer to where Alakazam was waiting. That would work.
"Tyrunt!" stone jaws grabbed a piece of metal, and the little guy shook it back and forth in a fit of rage, stomping his feet as he screamed angrily.
Gurdurr just stared at the ground, leaning on his I-beam.
"Calm down," I said to them. "We won against these guys. Deadshot, one of the most badass of the badass, decided we weren't worth taking on without attaching C4 all around us and prepping with armor-piercing rounds. Have pride in that, guys."
Tyrunt only chewed angrily at the metal in his mouth. Gurdurr seemed just as unconvinced. They didn't have the knowledge I did.
"We need to hurry, before a sniper round takes out one of our hearts, or the cops show up to investigate the gunfire and lazers," I said with a sigh.
"Can't we, you know… Run?" Kalini asked, walking over to join us. "He must have left by now!"
"..." I pointed at his chest. Kalini, Gurdurr, and Tyrunt stared at the same spot.
A single red-dot rested there.
"Oh, come on," he whimpered.
"Let's go," I turned to leave, only to stop. Hm…
I turned back and looked at a safe. It had survived all the crap that had happened, and rested there. Well… We did come here to get fake ID. Adam had to have a few hidden away. And hey, Adam had tried to screw us over. We couldn't call the cops on him, since he would tell them about Kalini, but we could still get payback.
"Tyrunt," I pointed at the safe. "Use Bite."
The dinosaur's eyes flashed.
Author's Note: And yes, I do think Deadshot would have won that encounter. The Pokemon are badass, VERY badass, but Deadshot, in many universes, has taken on far stronger opponents and come out on top. Even if we include him being beaten in the Young Justice universe by Superboy in his only appearance, that was Superboy on Shield, the drug that gave him full Kryptonian abilities. Being beaten by a full-blooded Kryptonian is nothing to be ashamed by.
Combine that with one thing. Prep. Deadshot had prepped. He set up panels he could shoot to give himself extra angles, had bullets prepared specifically for the encounter, and bombs set up that were attached to a heart monitor in case he did die. Now, if they were evolved, that might be a different story, but he's still a very skilled and smart opponent with a lot of experience. He might lose against a Tyrantrum and Conkeldurr, or even separately, but that's an argument for the future.
Besides that, Sidearm. Sidearm has only one advantage. Lazer arms. He may be a merc with some experience, but Gurdurr actually has more experience fighting than he does. I'd actually say that if the two do end up fighting later, Gurdurr will have a better chance.
But he is a legit threat. Lasers did some real damage, and Gurdurr and Tyrunt will need to heal from them.
As for who Deadshot wants them to see, that's probably gonna be the owner of Big Belly Burger. The guy needs new mascots.
Please consider supporting me on Pa tre on, where this chapter was released four days ago and the next one is currently available :D Chapter 12 is a good one, I promise.