BRAVERY OR STUPIDITY PART 4

H..hi.. My name is Ace. N..nice to meet you."

Captain Rocket introduced the lanky teen in a half black, half white spandex skin suit to his new team mates. What team you ask? Well, they were the Danger Squad.

An elite team of heroes formed to fight all manner of threats without perm8ssion or designation from the Commonwealth government.

Made of Victor Claw and his sister Kara Strong, better known as The Blur, Diamond Light, a cyborg whose skin was made from diamond ,vthe most mysterious yet aggressive member of the team and their leader, Hawk knight, who may seem closed off and quiet at first but had a secret love for his team. Especially Kara.

They were the world's first truly independent team of supers and now they were getting a new member.

Are you serious Bufford? This is the best you could come up with." Claw said with the obvious annoyance at the boy's lanky feeble figure written all over his face.

C'mon big bro! Be nice!" Kara said to her brother while giving him a nudge to his shoulder.

He's got a point Kara. This guy seems..uh.. unimpressive to say the least. Even Expander looks more muscular than him! And that kid's like a twig!" Diamond said with a condescending tone in her cybernetically augmented voice. She was a gluten for battle so seeing this new member being so scrawny and weak instantly made her disinterested in him.

Yes well looks can be deceiving guys. Show'em Ace!" Rocket said and with those words alone, Ace lept at the team.

Before anyone could react, he had already got in range and pinned Claw to the ground with minimum ease. The angry teen squirmed and yelled but he was no match for Ace's death grip.

Everyone else looked on in shock. Especially Claw himself.

With one word from Rocket, the boy was off Claw in a fraction of a second. Claw in his fury, grabbed the boy by the shoulder and attempted to threaten him while revealing a giant Claw from his wrist but Ace shrugged it off like it was nothing and left his grip.

Angering Claw even more.

Ugh.. the nerve of that little prick! When I get my hands on him one more time I'm gonna.." Claw said but was interrupted by Kara who nudged him again with her super speed. Claw wanted to protest, but Diamond grabbed him by the shoulder.

Leave him alone Claw. It seems I may have been wrong about him.." Diamond said, picking her metallic lips.

She stayed on at the lanky boy as he walked back to Captain Rocket with awe. Whoever he qas, she wanted to know since bringing down Claw was no easy feat.

As she watched Ace stroll nonchalantly to Captian Rocket's side, Hawk knight watched her stare. Slight jealousy flowing through him. Not enough to make him react but enough for him to notice it was there..

As he watched the boy move, only one thought invaded his mind. This kid can't be trusted. He quickly pushed those thoughts aside as Rocket called him over to meet the strange teen.

Austin approached the boy and shook his hand. He wasn't very social, but it was clear that the boy wasn't either. They looked at each other for what seemed like an eternity, with Austin getting a good look at his cold dead eyes.

What could they mean?

If only he found out sooner.

As he opened his eyes, he was thrust back into the dark reality he was in already.

A reality where his team was dead. Where Kara was dead. Where his mentor and best friend was dead.

And he was here, in the remains of half of Mr E's base, the Animal farm, destroyed by Ace with a bomb he pulled out of his sleeve.

Literally..

Austin, now realising the situation he is in, slammed ground in frustration with his feathered fist , making a large gaping hole in it with a large boom.

As he continued hitting the ground. He let out a loud scream. One resembling the call of an actual Hawk. What could this mean? Even he didn't know why he made this sound.

Was it from his inability to save his friends? His inability to save his mentor? His inability to avenge them? Or the fact that he wants revenge, something he swore against so many years ago? Austin may never know.

All he did was keep on screaming.

Kal watched the strange man in confusion.

Why did he save him from that explosion? Why did he care so much for a clone who's only purpose was to kill him? Kal had no answers for this. All Kal had was a strange and unconscious urge.

At that moment, without thinking, thd boy ran to the strange man's side and hugged him from behind.

Austin, shocked by this, turned around and sliced the boy across his face with his razor sharp talons.

The boy didn't even flinch and kept on hugging him. Austin, suddenly realising what was going on, looked at the boy in silence.

He reminded him of Bufford. Back in the good old days. The days he was just an unknown vigilante leading a band of renegades. The days were Bufford would capture him, send him to jail, only for him to eacape again.

The days where he only needed him and his team. But those days were over.

But that didn't mean they couldn't begin anew. He hugged the boy back tightly and although no words were spoken, they both knew their relationship from that very moment.

Just like Bufford was to him, he was gonna be to this boy. He was gonna raise him. Train him to be more than some weapon.

He was gonna do it. He was gonna form his own Danger Squad.

But first, someone had to pay and with Ace probably dead, there was only one more asshole left.

Mr E...

Meanwhile, in another section of the base, one of the few parts unaffected by the explosion, Paulina watched the scene before her in terror.

Before her was a large corridor with several large pitch black rectangles spread throughout the looming white walls in an eerie manner.

But that didn't scare her the most.

There sat a lanky man wearing a striped singlet and ripped jeans covered head to toe in green snake-like scales. He hard dark red eyes with long narrow dark pupils which stared at her entire being and a wide mouth which thanks to a sadistic grin showed his two giant piercing fangs.

An obvious result of the mutoxin Mr E tried to use on them.

Ahhh...ssso what do we have here?" The former man now muman monster said to her.

She knew he was talking to her because laying next to her were the unconscious bodies of her boyfriend, Zack and the shark woman, Stacya.

W..what do you want with us you asshole?!" We escaped that psychopath's deathtrap! Just let us go!" Paulina shouted at the muman man in frustration.

Only for him to scoff at her and make an insulting gesture with his tongue.

I'm afraid I cant do that little human. My boss has granted me the honour of guarding this zoo of his and I intend to do him justice. It's the least I can do for what he's done to me."

Least u can do?! He turned you into a monster! And what is this zoo you're talking about?"

Oh, well that'sss the room you're ssstanding in little lady. I'm the zookeeper of this little zoo but you may call me Sssnek...no... that was my human name. Call me, King Kobra!"

Wh..what are you? What is this place?"

This is the zoo. Where my boss' best creations are kept for the day the world is reborn. His personal ecosystem, if you will. What was formerly known as the Flathead gang are now, his glorious beasts! Far beyond the limitations of humanity. And you will soon join them!" Kobra said as he pounced onto her with lightning speed.

A normal human would've never seen his suddenly attack coming.

But Paulina wasn't a normal human.

And that's what she feared the most. Not the horrible room she was in. Not the giant snake man pouncing on her. No. What she fears the most was what she did in response to it.

He had liquefied in an instant and reformed just as fast, but now it wasn't an arm. Now it was a giant diamond hammer. A hammer she slammed the snake's face in with a nasty uppercut to his scale covered jaw.

A jaw he thought was unbreakable. But by the looks of the immense amount of blood pouring away as he flew across the corridor in a broken sorry state.

Once he managed to pick himself up from his sorry state, he looked at the girl in shock. She seemed so weak and fragile. His senses told her that she was just a normal human.

Now they were telling him to get the hell out of here.

Paulija watched her arm spasm and shake out of control. She was trying to turn it back, not wanting to revert to her old self...

Back to Diamond Light..

Buy the urges were coming back. Her lust for battle was creeping in again, along with painful images.

Zack, lying on the cold hard cracked floor of their old training room was one of them. Bleeding all over, most of his bones broken, and most of all, her sadistic grin as she licked her lips clean of his blood.

That was one of those images.

No...not now! Not ever again!" She screamed as more images clouded her mind. Images of bloodshed, violence and all the horros she inflicted on Zack as her personal form of "training".

That was her old sadistic self, hidden behind the guise of an innocent robot girl..

That was what she was becoming once more...

Kobra looked at the girl as she shook and screamed at herself and knew this was his chance. He made a mad dash to a nearby wall to his left and made a circular pattern on it.

Once he slammed his fist onto it, the black rectangles spread throughout the walls became more transparent and soon they vanished, revealing the horrors that hid inside .

Monsters of various shapes, sizes, genus and species emerged from each hole. Some were half gorilla, some were half crocodile, some were a mixture of man, oyster, crab and shrimp. It was clear they weren't the Flathead gang anymore.

They were Mr E's monsters.

Hey you freaks! I guess its finally lunch time! Now, go feed on thar human filth!" Kobra shouted at the beast men and focused their attention to a struggling Paulina.

Paulina fought hard to contain a light grin...

They charged at her with the ferocity of a rabid preditorial herd. Suddenly, like a simultaneous slap from God himself, their instincts went on overdrive, telling them all the same thing.

Turn back.

It was too late though, as they were already in mauling distance. As a gorilla monster, the gang's former leader, Falcone himself got close enough to grab her, both her arms liquefied and reformed at incredible speeds.

Arms no longer, they were two giant futuristic white plsma cannons which charged up a terrifying bright pink light and in an instant there was a large BOOM!*.

The creatures stopped in total shock at what happened. They would've have been vaporised completely, if the girl didn't redirect her cannons to the other side of the room at the last millisecond. Not only destroying the wall, leaving a dark gaping hole with smoke escaping from it's centre.

Not only all that, but if she didn't stop herself, she would've entered a bloodlusted frenzy. Something no one could stop, not ever herself.

Suddenly, she looked at them with ferocity in her eyes. She didn't have any bloodlust towards them, although her body clearly did. But the creatures turned back.

They ran in the opposite direction towards Kobra with no signs of stopping. How could they? They were terrified.

And Kobra was furious. As they approached, if he was going to get rid of thus problem, he'll need to bring the big guns. But first he needed to deal with these failures.

Hey!! Where the hell are you going?! Turn the hell around and fight damnit!" Kobra shouted, but the creatures still kept the stampede going. St this point, he was done defending them.

And was time to test out those modifications Mr E gave him.

Suddenly his entire arm went inside out, revealing his muscle tissue and bone. Although the creature's paid no mind to the sudden reveal, he activated his secondary ability.

Now mumans had only one ability per user but thanks to Mr E and his gifts, he had two. One in the form of his snake like abilities from the mutoxin and the other from something Mr E gave him.

Something very special...

As the creatures got near him, they suddenly stopped and were horrified at what they saw.

Mr E's new world is no place for weaklings.

A giant snake, made from meat and muscle fibres appeared out of Kobra's arm.

And devoured them all...

Just as quickly as he ate the monsters, the arm disappeared and his scaly flesh returned. Reeling from his meal, Kobra looked at the girl, hoping to see her face filled to the brim with fear after the demonstration of his immense power.

But what he saw shook him to his core.

Her back was bent, her arms, hanging like two wild vines and her face contorted in a horrible manner...

To reveal a bloodlust filled grin...

To be continued...