Chapter 16
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***
Karen tried to sneak in from the opposite side. They decided to split up with Will to scatter the Tyranids' shots between them. Meanwhile, the para-demons were trying to catch up, but were still too far away to be a real threat. Still, the open terrain made for easy maneuvering opportunities, and para-demons were never known for their finesse of movement.
More para-demons emerged. Karen cut a path through them with laser beams.
Surrounded by enemies, she couldn't rest for a moment, and inadvertently missed a blow to her back. At that moment, Will intercepted the paw of the para-demon, and threw the creature into the wall.
«I'm sorry to set you up, but we have a serious problem," Will said, emerging beside Karen.
They were standing on the road, among numerous two-story houses. Time was playing for seconds, because the Tyrants were taking aim, and were about to start shooting.
«Yeah... I couldn't get through the shots either. They throw me back, and the closer they get, the harder it is to dodge," Karen pointed defiantly at the burned clothing around her thighs and breasts. - So you want to try it another way? Are you sure?
«I don't know...to tell you the truth, Vanessa asked me something in secret from you because you wouldn't understand.
«Will, not now.
«I mean..." he sighed. - And why isn't there a way to...
«I said not now! - Karen shouted.
The distant clinking of metal clicked in her ears and Karen opened her eyes wide.
Before Will could speak, the simultaneous firing of seven cannons slashed her ears, and the cannons, located in different parts of Gotham, hit their target. At exactly that moment, Karen struck Willard Light in the back of the head.....
"Too late..."
The dense beams had already covered them, a deafening explosion rang out.
The shockwave shattered windows, flipped the car, and rippled across the cracked earth a few hundred meters away, turning the entire area into a shattered skeleton of streets. Buildings shattered, hundreds of para-demons were blown away, and molten asphalt rushed out in a thick wave, dead air hissing.
***
The rear compartment of the giant Apocalypse ship opened as abruptly as a huge gray carcass jumped out of it directly from several kilometers below.
Right in the fall, the Steppenwolf had a view of the ruins of Gotham City, and in them, right in the night, he scrutinized the flashes passing through the city. And then seven simultaneous shots ripped into the center and ripped the space with a bright explosion.
The shockwave reached him as well, showering his tough flesh with a hard blow.
The steppenwolf hummed.
«What's with the target?
A mechanized voice came over the transmitter, "All seven shots hit the target directly, but she disappeared from radar at the last moment."
«You made it. Shoot the same way, now. He'll reappear.
"Prinima..." - The signal was drowned out by a sharp vibration.
There was a bright flash in the defeated area that blinded the eyes of the Steppenwolf. The cannons switched to the rapidly approaching Wayne Tauer target, and a scattering of shots pierced the ground... continuing the pursuit of the elusive target. The yellow flash flashed between them like an elusive dot, stroking out unpredictable zigzags in sharp strokes like a swooping fly, and the pursuing shots covered Gotham with incessant gunfire. In Steppenwolf's eyes, it was like a laser show without end. The reason for this was the quick maneuvers needed to avoid the preventive fire of the system, which tried to calculate the target's movement in advance.
But how could Steppenwolf see out of the sky... the system was failing.
"Target is rapidly approaching Wayne Tower. Re-analyzing target.
Completed.
Trying to stop: impossible."
The steppenwolf hummed.
«We'll see about that.
***
Simultaneous shots from three sides, a vertical leap, and teleportation to the discarded kunai. A succession of shots stayed behind him, blasting a scalding wave into his back. Flash.
With each passing moment, the Wayne-Taver towering proudly over Gotham grew closer. His muscles heaving with tension, his body sweating with sticky sweat, his hot breath escaping from his clenched chest in hellish agony with each new movement. His body was working at the limits of human capacity, stiffening from the vibrating force.
Just appearing before their eyes, the tasks and streets flew into the air in molten debris, and vanished in moments from the Tyranids' new shots.
There was a great rumble in the distance, and the space near Wayne Tower shuddered. It was Karen who had reached the target, but....
"I can't get through! There's a barrier standing here, they knew to come!"
Karen kept hitting the barrier as hard as she could and even applied her laser vision, but the bright beam collided powerlessly with the transparent smoothness and bounced into the ground, creating a vibration like a slam on the water surface and nothing more. A flash slammed from the side, and Tyranus' shot flew straight at her, throwing her back into the glass office building.
"One of the cannons switched to her," Will remarked.
He stopped across the street from Wayne Tower and jumped the nearest Tyrant. Put his hand on the coal-black colored metal surface and waited for a shot from the other Tyranids right at him. But instead, the remaining six Tyranids switched to Karen.
«They don't shoot at their own, then," Will said, looking up.
There, a Steppenwolf fell from the sky, deciding to keep him company.
«Looks like things are heating up.
***
"Do you wish to authorize a shot at subject 3405030439-tn?" - A mechanized voice rang out.
«Now! - growled Steppenwolf before collapsing to the pavement.
"Shots fired at allied facility authorized. Proceeding to execution."
***
Where Will was looking, a faint vibration flickered in the air. It was the barrier that protected the Wayne Tavern from the invading Apocalypse. Will threw a kunai at the barrier, but it hit an invisible wall and vanished like a piece of paper in a fire.
«Like aggressive," Will hummed, putting a small bug on Tyrant.
"The barrier blocks the ability to get inside Wayne-taver. As expected, the General has prepared well for my arrival."
Before the Tyrants' six shots from different directions hit Willard, he was gone.
And in the next instant, one of the seven tyrants shattered into splinters.
Will appeared beside Karen, who was lying under the rubble, and helped her up. Will disappeared again, and they reappeared in their hiding place, right next to the couch. Karen slumped painfully on the couch, covered in numerous burns that gave off steam, she was breathing heavily. Will crouched thoughtfully on one knee, picked up a pencil, and began to draw a diagram intensely.
"Time is short... if I don't get inside Wayne-taver in time, Vanessa and Beiste will be in trouble. What are my options? The barrier can't even be penetrated by Karen, which means normal attacks won't work, and I don't have time for stronger techniques. The Tyrants' shots are coming from six different directions at breakneck speed. They won't give me time to gather enough chakra for a good strike..." - Will nervously tossed aside his pencil and rose abruptly to his feet.
«We'll have to improvise.
And disappeared again.
***
Will moved to the marked Tyrant, or rather, what was left of it, and stood still, looking up at the sky. Para-demons were already circling there, but none of them dared to attack. It was more of a greeting that the General had prepared for him.
«And why am I not surprised that you decided to come right into my arms? It must have something to do with those people who are now off the east coast of Gotham," Steppenwolf suggested, opening his palm.
«As expected, you've already revealed all the cards," Will grinned nervously.
«Coming out with me to fight, into a blatant trap... just to help your friends? I don't know, maybe I overestimated you. It's a surprisingly absurd and stupid move, or you're looking down on me.
«No way.
"Looks like he temporarily stopped the Tyranids' fire. How unfortunate," Will thought.
The Steppenwolf raised his hand in mute command, and the para-demons that had surrounded Willard Light silently dispersed to the sides, forming a circle that acted as the 'arena'.
«You and I are going head-to-head, right now. I want to crush you with my own hands, bone by bone, in a direct confrontation. You've already lost to me in strategy.
«That's an interesting assumption," Will said, spreading his hands.
"I can't waste any more time here, but how do I get him to activate the Tyrants?"
Escape. Probably escape, nothing more.
«I'm sorry, Steppenwolf, but I'd rather fight you on one condition.
«Conditions? - The Steppenwolf fell glumly silent, however, not aggressive either.
«The condition is quite simple, you need to catch me," Will grinned, and as he charged, his silhouette disappeared in a yellow flash.
The Steppenwolf grinned and shook his head.
«I knew you'd say that. But the fact is, you're already caught, Willard Light. The trap you put yourself in has already been sprung.
Indeed, as Willard Light moved to the roof, the sky above his head began to distort and become covered with a reddish barrier of translucent lozenges like a multitude of scales.
Looking around, Will realized that the barrier was being created by the same Tyrants that surrounded the entirety of Gotham City.
A long mooing came from Will's lips.
«So that's why you let me in here, not bad.
«Either you come down to me yourself and we start our duel, or I'll make you do it! - The Steppenwolf growled," Activate the Tyranids and set him on fire until Willard Light comes to me, or until he meets a miserable death by a soulless machine!
Measuring the Steppenwolf from the roof of the five-story building, Will exhaled in relief, hastily folding his fingers into seals:
«And come on," he smiled, meeting the shots surrounding him from different directions.
But before they hit him, Will took a step back and opened his arms at a certain angle with extreme precision.
«Yeah, about here," he said coldly, staring at Wayne-taver.
The Tyranids' shots struck Willard, but suddenly froze in mid-air. They hit an invisible barrier that sucked the shots into the shrinking walls of reality until they disappeared.
«What's going on? - Steppenwolf asked.
In the next instant, a hole in space appeared above Wayne Tower, and a powerful energy volley of combined shots of the latest Apocalypse Technologies flew out of that hole. The thick beam slammed into the Wayne Tower's barrier. The barrier began to ripple and crack, slowly dropping energy flakes and dissolving into the air with fading sparks.
With a hot cloud, a gasp escaped Will's lips:
«Hiraishin: Dorai! (Soaring Thunder God: Guiding Thunder)
***
"Report! The barrier at Wayne Tower has been breached in 2.3 seconds! Recovery is possible in three minutes."
«Three minutes? - Steppenwolf brought his axe down on the ground, and a huge shockwave exploded the ground beneath him.
The ground for several hundred meters split apart to form an uneven ditch.
«Activate the defenses! Don't let Willard Light get in!
"Who would have thought he would use our own weapons to break the barrier. I still don't have enough information to calculate his actions ahead of time," Steppenwolf thought insulted.
***
Will had already made it inside the Wayne Tower and began to dash through the endless corridors with countless lightning bolts. The door flew off its hinges at a light touch at high speed, splintered, and flew under, generating a series of rumbles left far behind. Floors and panes of glass shattered as if they had been struck with barbed clubs as Willard Light traveled hundreds of meters in a fraction of a second.
"The movement inside Tavera provides me protection from Tyranes' shots, but I'm slowing down a lot."
By the feel of it, the Steppenwolf was rapidly approaching, but it was physically impossible to keep up with him.
Several of the para-demons that had appeared in front of Willard shattered from the impact, smashing through the walls with a clatter.
The red-metal gate to the main hall showed. Will hurriedly put his hands on them and pushed them open with a strained effort. With a heavy creak, it swung open and slammed against the walls.
Will stopped in Wayne's office, the walls serving as Apocalypse Central Control. The huge massive structure was releasing a dense beam of energy into the sky, tearing the sky apart. The air shook restlessly, tingling his skin, and the sky overhead was distorted in red clouds like a sea surface.
As Willard stepped forward, a magical field suddenly appeared beneath his feet, from which burst forth chains that bound his body.
«It's quiet now, but it's usually full of para-demons," Zatanna said.
She sat at a large table with her hands folded in a lock and silently watched her opponent's reaction.
Will grinned.
«I see they've been expecting me.
«Indeed, I assumed you'd be able to get in even through the barrier. Still, we don't know the limit of your ability yet. You didn't leave the Thunder God's mark in the hall, did you?
«You're insulting me," he shrugged.
Zatanna stood up abruptly from the table and ran her palm over the smooth surface, her fingers tracing a violet pattern of magic that was reflected in the large panoramic window behind her. There, as if distorted in agony, lay the gray and decaying skeleton of Gotham, or rather what was left of it after the Apocalypse attack. Will could see the rising barrier along the walls of the barrier that Zatanna had created, completely blocking the path of retreat.
In her eyes, burning with a merciless flame, smoldered hatred for all living things.
«You're not going anywhere this time, Willard Light.
***
Willard's reaction made Zatanna smile nervously and stop her hand on the edge of the table.
«What's so funny about that?
The windows shattered, and dozens of para-demons flew into the office, throwing themselves right at Will.
«You're not going anywhere, Willard Light. This is your end. All avenues are closed, and there's no way you're leaving this place!
Willard broke the chains on his legs and looked up sharply at the beam emerging into the sky. Time froze around him, surrounded by bloodthirsty demons that pulled their open claws toward him. There were many of them, but it was as if they were all frozen in mid-air and floating measuredly in the air. Time stood still.
«How naive of you to try to catch me with the same method a second time," Will said.
"How did I not realize right away. The main computer is underground."
He snatched one para-demon from the crowd, gripped its mouth tightly and smashed it into the crowds that surrounded him, bouncing back with a sharp flash...
The Para-demons fell in droves, but the ones that weren't under attack lunged straight at him.
«You seem to have learned the situation and my abilities quickly, commendable. But Zatanna, your magic is similar to my techniques, and it's not without its weaknesses," Will said, lifting a smiling gaze from beneath his bangs.
Sure that he was not going anywhere, Zatanna opened her eyes in surprise: the next moment Willard Light had disappeared right before her eyes.
«Is he... moving inside the barrier?
"He realized that my magic prevents him from leaving a certain area, but it doesn't block movement completely," she thought, "and what do you plan to do if you can't escape from this place anyway, Willard Light?"
Zatanna tilted her head thoughtfully. She had caught Willard in an obvious trap, he had come here and fallen into her hands, into her magic, but what was it that confused her so?
"Why didn't he run away if he could have done it sooner? Why would he come here, to an obvious trap? It seems there were two teams we spotted in Gotham," Zatanna's eyes widened sharply as she glanced at the Apocalypse setting.
«You want to find something here?
Which meant that Willard Light had some other plan that they were completely unaware of.
«That's not funny," Zatanna bit her lip and created a portal and dived into it.
"The target is moving inside the tower at breakneck speed. Units are trying to hold her off, but she's too fast."
«Try to hold him off. And stay away from the walls, he must have placed Thunder God markings all over Wayne Tavern. It must be Rasen Senko Cho Rinbu Kosan Shiki's technique that allows him to move at infinite speed through limited terrain.
"I understand, but... ah!"
"Damn you, Willard Light. He..."
"He's turned your trap into his own territory, Zatanna," the Steppenwolf grinned, addressing his subordinate over the comms.
Zatanna flinched right at the moment of the interdimensional teleport and jumped out of it on the fifth floor of Wayne Tower. Before an apology could escape her lips, she shuddered at the mountains of dead para-demons and ruined walls and floors she saw. And that was just the beginning, as the floors beneath her feet began to shake and the endless rumbling noise born of the battle breaking out in the tower soon grew even louder.
«I'm so sorry..." Zatanna finally whispered, and the floor beneath her feet collapsed.
Right at that moment, a multiple series of flashes passed all over Wayne Tauer, rapidly making their way lower and lower into the depths of their base.
Falling through the portal to the fourth floor, amidst the ruins, Zatanna landed on her knee and exhaled. It felt like she was reliving a fast-paced battle in Atlantis, surrounded by countless armies of enemies, with one exception-now their opponent was one single man whose actions and power were so unpredictable that she had to feel unbearable tension every second.
«Calm down and come to your senses," a harsh, cold voice ripped through the rumbling air. The Steppenwolf was speaking directly to her, making her flinch for the umpteenth time.
«Yes, Master...
«He's headed for the source of the portal. This is what Darkseid warned me about.
«You think Willard Light wants to free Superman?
«No, it doesn't look like they know he's alive," Steppenwolf said thoughtfully. - I think he wants to help the second team we spotted off the East Coast.
«Then I will go there to intercept them," Zatanna said.
The steppenwolf chuckled.
«Take your time. Even though I said Willard Light is trying to distract us, he's not stupid enough to come into the enemy's lair just to do that.
«Then what's he trying to accomplish?
«I don't know, but I think we're missing something. Their actions used to be predictable, but now something is wrong. Something in their thinking has changed drastically, I can see it reflected in their actions. Minor changes that you can only notice if you look closely," Steppenwolf closed his eyes thoughtfully and was silent for a few seconds. - I don't know what happened, but my instincts tell me that Willard Light should not reach his destination.
"I smell an odor of foreign influence that I hadn't noticed before."
***
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