chapter 46: Trouble in Tokyo I

Pausanias grunted as he was thrown backwards by a black fist, crashing into a lower floor.

"What's the matter, 'Spartan'?" The voice of the one thing he hated the most at that moment boomed with a chuckle. "Forgot to train and decided your new toys would suffice?"

Not even bothering to reply, Pausanias growled as he stood up shakily before jumping out of the building, just as a huge black fist tore through it.

The day had started well. No, scratch that, the day had started beatifully. After months of leaving him rotting in a cell but otherwise alive, the courts, all of them, had finally decided what to do with Uehara Daizo: death by electrocution in a sacred chamber that would nullify his power, with Spartan and his group making sure nothing would interrupt the ceremony. Saying that both the greek and the wolf yokai were happy about this would be understating it. After too much time of waiting, that monster in literal human skin would finally get his comeuppance. Better yet, one of the persons he had made her life a Hell would be there not only to witness it, but also to make sure it happened.

And then something exploded near the prison the execution would take place in and Daizo didn't waste time turning into a giant monster. He probably tried to turn into Godzilla out of obsession, but couldn't get more than a bigger version of his giant form which, unfortunately, would be more than enough to kill them.

Fortunately, he was no longer invulnerable, either.

Pausanias watched with a grim smile as Ayame, carried by a familiar little android, flew over Brushogun's body and sent a thunderbolt crashing down to his head, causing him to roar in genuine pain and try to swat them and nearby JSDF gunships like insects, obviously without success.

His satisfaction evaporated when Scarface slammed into them at high speed, forcing Mecha to drop Ayame, both failing to the ground. The fall wouldn't kill them, but the many, many ink monsters that Daizo had created could, so Pausanias, didn't waste time to charge in.

Hephaestus, after finding out that the sword Pausanias took with him to Japan had been nigh useless in his fight against Brushogun, decided to forge, then send him not just another one, but also a plethora of new, divinely empowered weapons and a more protective set of armor not just for him, but his fianceé: for him, a kopis that could turn any organic thing into stone, a spear that could cover its wielder in flames or incinerate anything it struck, and finally a maul so heavy it could generate a small earthquake if it hit the ground, and of course utterly mulch anything it hit. As for Ayame, she received a pair of wakizashi (originally more traditional athenian xiphoi that Hephaestus had reforged 'to keep the girl's culture', according to his father) that could generate lightning to fry anyone stupid enough to get close to her, and a spare breastplate from Themyscira's most active protectors (also modified for the same reasons as the swords) that could stop all small arms rounds yet not encumber her at all.

Sadly, while Ayame always brought her gifts everywhere she went when on patrol, Pausanias didn't expect anything to happen during the execution.

Fortunately their friends, a ninja and a literal robot boy who had been wronged by Daizo in the past, had gone with them to the prison.

As Pausanias hacked and slashed his way through the sea of ink creatures, strange objects similar to water balloons began falling around him with incredible force, drenching the area. The creatures were literally washed away by the blessed water, their essence dissolved by the positive magic. Then, a certain multicolored ninja jumped in.

"Are you okay, Spartan?" Saico asked as he threw another of his water bomb on the ones attacking Ayame and Mecha-Boi, destroying them and allowing them to return to the skies. "I thought they'd overwhelm you."

"You didn't need to help, but thanks for the save anyway." Pausanias then moved Saico away just as an ink monster, one that had somehow survived being drenched, lunged at him, turning it to stone as it jumped. The statue flew for a moment before shattering as it crashed on a car. He then turned to look at the six-way fight taking place in front of him.

One was Saico-Tek, real name Toshio Murakami, member of a ninja organization that used the latest in technology to work, who had been imprisoned by Daizo after a failed assassination. The other was Mecha-Boi, a robot driven by a preteen personality who had been forced on a non-lethal rampage after Daizo murdered his creator, or as Mecha preferred to call him, his father. Thanks to research and preparation (Saico's blessed water bombs and something about the spectrum of light for Mecha's repulsors), they too were able to hurt Brushogun.

Indeed, he was fairly certain their combined strength would've been more than enough to kill the bastard if not for the intervention of three villains, one of whom decided to forget about the troops shooting at him or the fight next to him to focus on Pausanias, saws raised and 'mouth' opening to roar at him.

"C'mon, you sack of bolts and nuts!" He screamed at the rotund yellow machine, it's eyes and sharp teeth making it seem more of a monster than a mech.

Ayame growled as she tried to hack into the mononoke and electrocute him from the inside out, her swords being able to touch it, but Scarface refused to get within reach, and despite her speed it was hard for her to tag the spirit.

"Hold still, you damned ghost!" She screamed, earning a guttural wail from it.

Meanwhile, Mecha-Boi faced the cat woman, doing his damnest to vaporize her head, but she was too agile for him. At the inverse, she couldn't jump high enough to get to him, but it didn't seem she cared much about that.

"What's the matter, Astro Boy?" Nya-Nya mocked "Can't hit a simple cat girl?"

Mecha-Boi sceamed, furious. "You don't get to call me that, bitch! Only my friends and fan!"

The three villains were Nya-Nya, a cat yokai, Scarface, a mononoke from the far past, and CD-TIM8K, a flesh-eating combat droid more commonly known as Timoko. All of them were rogues, real ones, that Daizo had taken in, instead of making them. Why were those three helping Brushogun despite everything he had done to them, no idea... but after this, helping Brushogun and happily killing dozens of officers and soldiers, they sure as hell wouldn't end up rotting in cell, but in a morgue.

If they could kill them, that's it, because unlike Brushogun's monsters they were more than a match each for the fighters. Meanwhile, the monster himself, rather than continue his rampage across the city, merely sat there and watched as his enemies fought his beasts and the three rogues, laughing and even clapping his hands like a young child. It seemed that his defeat, added to having to wait for his impending death for several months, had finally eroded his sanity.

"Oh, look at you, heroes and villains fighting for my amusement like beetles on a jar!" He laughed before raising a finger to his chin, as if thinking of something, staying like that for a minute or so as the battle below him continued. All the while, the JSDF used the opportunity to unleash everything they had at hand on his back, with no success. Then, he clasped his hands. "Oh, I think I know what does this fight need!"

Suddenly, all of Brushogun's monsters went back to their liquid form and converged, until, a creature that promptly looked dow. It wasn't Godzilla per se, being green and having fins on both his back and arms, but it was still significantly bigger than Daizo was. The only good thing that came out of this was that Brushogun had decreased in size.

"A giant monster!" Brushogun laughed from his spot, clapping once more. "And this one's entirely original, not cheap some copy of Big G!"

"So long, boys" Nya-Nya laughed as she and her companions mader her getaway. Ayame threw some leaves at them, and Saico a bola shot, but they were more concerned with the new problem at hand.

"Can we take that?" Mecha-Boi asked, his synthetized voice making clear he was terrified of this turn of events.

Pausanias and the others, however, weren't intimidated in the least. "It's just a giant ink monster. Yes, it's technically real, but this time we can-"

Before he could finish the phrase, the monster roared in what seemed to be agony before exploding, sending a disproportionate sea of ink everywhere... including the group.

Watching the tide of ink coming, and seeing that the non-fliers wouldn't be able to escape fast enough, Pausanias sank his blade on the ground and raised his shield. "Mecha, fly! Saico, Ayame, hold onto me!"

Both did so just as the ink reached their position. The ink came with enough force to crush nearby cars and even push Pausanias back a bit, but other than that they'd be fine, protected behind Spartan's shield.

And then, as the ink finally receeded to reform into either the monster or something else, Pausanias raised his head, and saw something crouching where Brushogun's creature had been on, the blobs of ink around it motionless. A sight that made his blood boil when the dust finally set and he could see it more clearly, a huge, muscular monster in the shape of a man but more than twice the height of one, one he knew who it was, what it was, and more importantly, where did it come from... and who it was allied with.

Solomon Grundy.

I know, short and crappy chapter, but I've already psyched myself up with a good number of you not liking the story focusing on Pausanias and the others. Plus, Grundy is a peer to Superman, so even though he won't be the one killing Daizo, the fight is not really going to last much. In fact, the second part will be more drama-based, given everythint that