CHAPTER 5: Day Of Reckoning
PART 1:
So it's, like, a totally normal Tuesday afternoon at the beach. Kids are building sandcastles, looking all cute with their little buckets. Old dudes are fishing off the pier, probably complaining about their bad backs. Seagulls are squawking, stealing fries from some lady's picnic. Basic beach stuff, right? Then, out of nowhere, the ocean just EXPLODES. Like, I'm talking a straight-up nuke went off underwater. Water shoots up like a geyser, soaking everybody within a mile. People are screaming, dropping their ice cream cones, and tripping over beach chairs.
Then this tall, shiny motherfucker just strolls out of the waves like he's walking into a 7-Eleven. He's gotta be, like, eight feet tall, all slick and silver, with this creepy-ass glow coming off his skin. At first, everybody's just staring, like, "Yo, is this some rich dude in a fancy sci-fi bodysuit? Like, Elon Musk testing some new tech?" A couple of surfers even whip out their phones to film it, thinking it's some viral stunt.
Then the dude MOVES.
Way too fast. Like, one second he's standing in the surf, the next he's halfway down the pier. He walks up to this massive cargo ship docked nearby, one of those huge rusty ones loaded with shipping containers. The thing's, like, the size of a football field. And this alien? He just SMACKS it with one hand.
The whole ship folds like a cheap Walmart lawn chair. Metal screeches so loud it hurts your ears. The crew on deck—poor bastards—don't even get a chance to scream before they're crushed into human pancakes between all that twisting steel. Containers tumble into the water, splashing waves over the beach. People are losing their minds, running in every direction, slipping on wet sand, crashing their cars into each other trying to peel out of the parking lot.
This rookie cop, probably fresh out of the academy, stumbles forward with his gun drawn, hands shaking so bad he can barely hold it. "F-FREEZE!" he yells, voice cracking like he's auditioning for a bad action movie.
The alien just looks at him, like, "Really, bro? You serious?" Then—YOINK—it grabs the cop's arm and rips it clean off. Blood sprays everywhere, like someone turned on a fire hose full of red Kool-Aid. The cop drops, screaming, while the alien just licks its fingers clean, all slow and creepy like it's tasting barbecue sauce.
That's when the real screaming starts. People are trampling each other, kids are crying, and some dude's trying to save his cooler full of beer while running. Total chaos.
PART 2:
Melvin's chilling halfway across town, halfway through a double cheeseburger with extra pickles, when his fancy superhero suit starts freaking out. The little screen on his wrist lights up, blaring: "THREAT DETECTED: SOME REAL BULLSH*T GOING DOWN AT THE PIER." Ketchup drips onto his lap as he groans, "Aw, man, I just got this suit cleaned."
He stuffs the rest of the burger in his mouth, chugs his soda, and zooms off so fast he leaves a trail of fire in the air, like some kinda human comet. People on the street are yelling, "Yo, it's Watt!" as he blazes past, his suit's jets screaming. He gets to the pier in, like, ten seconds flat, skidding to a stop on the boardwalk.
The scene's a nightmare. The cargo ship's a crumpled mess, half-sunk in the harbor. Cars are flipped over, smoking. Bodies are scattered—some not even in one piece anymore. And there's the alien, just standing there in the middle of it all, surrounded by wreckage and blood, looking bored.
"Alright, ugly," Melvin says, cracking his knuckles like he's about to fight some dude in the school parking lot. "Let's see what you got."
He revs up his suit to Mach 3, the air around him practically catching fire, and launches a punch right at the alien's kidney area—or, like, whatever aliens have instead of kidneys. The impact should've sent this thing flying into the next county.
Nothing.
The alien doesn't even flinch. Melvin's fist just stops, like he punched a steel wall. The shockwave makes his arm go numb, and the alien slowly turns its head, giving him this creepy-ass smile, like, "That's all you got, kid?"
Before Melvin can even think, the alien backhands him. Hard. Like, so hard the air cracks like thunder. Melvin goes flying across six lanes of traffic, tumbling through:
A hot dog stand (ketchup and mustard splatter everywhere, smells like a cookout gone wrong)
An empty school bus (thank God no kids were in it)
The front window of a Bank of America (glass shatters like a million tiny knives)
He crashes into a teller counter, coughing up burger crumbs. His suit's screaming at him: "WARNING: MULTIPLE CONTUSIONS DETECTED. RIB #3 CRACKED. EGO BRUISED BAD."
Melvin spits out a tooth, wincing. "Okay… that frickin' hurt." He tries to stand, but his legs are wobbly, and his suit's jets are sparking like they're about to die.
PART 3:
Just as the alien's about to stomp Melvin's head into the pavement like a bug—
WHAM!
A black boot comes out of nowhere and slams into the alien's face so hard its head does a full 360-degree spin, like some horror movie crap. The Man in Black lands in a crouch, all badass, his gloves humming with this blue kinetic energy that makes the air around him ripple. His suit's all sleek and black, like if Batman and Iron Man had a baby.
"Took you long enough to get here," Melvin coughs, trying to sound cool while clutching his ribs.
The alien's head snaps back with this nasty cracking sound, like someone breaking a glow stick. Its glowing eyes narrow, and now it looks pissed. Like, "Oh, you wanna go, huh?" pissed.
Man in Black doesn't even blink. He just cracks his neck and says, "Let's do this."
[THE FIGHT GETS NASTY ]
Round 1:
Man in Black throws a punch charged with so much kinetic energy it makes the air boom. The hit lands on the alien's arm, and its weird silver armor cracks like an egg, bits of it flaking off like glitter. The alien stumbles back, but it's not down. It swings a fist right into Man in Black's gut, and—oh man—dude pukes blood all over the pavement, splattering his own boots.
Melvin, trying to be helpful, limps back into the fight and throws a supersonic kick at the alien's leg. Big mistake. The alien just catches his foot mid-air, like it's grabbing a frisbee, and starts slamming him into the pavement over and over, like he's trying to tenderize a steak. The ground shakes with each hit, and Melvin's screaming, "Ow! Ow! OW!" while his suit sparks and smokes.
Round 2:
Man in Black shakes off the blood and cranks his gloves to MAX, some kinda "Overdrive" mode. Now his punches hit like freight trains, each one sending shockwaves that crack the asphalt. He lands a hit on the alien's chest, and it actually staggers back, leaving a dent in its shiny skin.
But the alien's like, "Nah, I'm good." Its skin starts glowing brighter, then turns diamond-hard, sparkling like it's made of freaking crystals. Man in Black's next punch just goes clink clink, bouncing off like he's hitting a tank. He curses under his breath, shaking out his hand.
Melvin, still dizzy from being used as a human hammer, gets an idea. He starts running circles around the alien at Mach speed, kicking up a fire tornado that lights up the pier like a bonfire. The flames are so hot they melt nearby street signs. But the alien? It just walks through the fire like it's a nice summer breeze, not even singed.
Round 3:
The alien's done playing. It grabs both of them by the throats, lifting them off the ground like they weigh nothing. Their feet dangle as it smashes their heads together with a sickening crunch, like two coconuts colliding. Melvin sees stars, and Man in Black's nose starts gushing blood.
Then the alien yeets Man in Black through a gas station across the street. The pumps explode in a massive fireball, sending flames and black smoke into the sky. People scream even louder, thinking the world's ending.
Not done yet, the alien spikes Melvin into the sewer grate like he's a football. The impact's so hard it busts open water pipes, and filthy sewer water shoots up like a geyser, soaking everything. Melvin's lying in a puddle of who-knows-what, groaning, "This is so gross…"
PART 4:
Just when it looks like it's game over for our heroes, the sky splits open with a deafening CRACK. A lightning bolt slams into the alien's chest, knocking it back a few steps. Sparks fly everywhere, and the smell of ozone fills the air.
This new dude leaps off a skyscraper, like, a legit 50-story building, and lands in this super cool superhero pose, one knee down, fist on the ground. He's got this bow made of pure lightning, crackling and spitting sparks. His arrows seem to form out of storm clouds that just appear around him, and his face is hidden behind this energy mask that makes him look like a thunderstorm with legs.
"Call me Tranquilizer," he says, voice all deep and echoey, like he's got a built-in reverb effect.
First shot: He fires an arrow, and the alien tries to catch it like a dumbass. The arrow explodes in its hand, sending bits of its armor flying. The alien roars, shaking the ground.
Second shot: Tranquilizer aims lower, and the arrow goes straight through the alien's foot, pinning it to the asphalt like a butterfly in a science project. The alien screeches, thrashing to pull free.
Third shot: The alien's smarter now and dodges, ducking under the arrow. It sails past and hits an abandoned delivery truck, which goes up in a 10,000-volt explosion, lighting up the night sky like the Fourth of July.
Man in Black, crawling out of the burning gas station wreckage, wipes blood from his mouth and grins. "Took you long enough, Tranquilizer."
PART 5:
Problem: The alien's skin is now, like, completely bulletproof. Bullets, punches, arrows—nothing's getting through. It's just standing there, shrugging off everything like it's bored.
Solution: Man in Black reaches into his busted-up armor and pulls out this tiny silver ball, no bigger than a marble. "Nanobyte bomb," he says, coughing up more blood. "This better work."
The Play:
Melvin, despite looking like he got hit by a truck, starts running Mach 5 circles around the alien. His shoes are literally burning off, leaving trails of melted rubber. The wind picks up, turning into a dust storm that stings everyone's eyes and makes it hard to see.
Tranquilizer summons three arrows at once, each one crackling with enough electricity to power a city. He fires them in a spread, forcing the alien to twist and dodge, keeping it distracted. One arrow grazes its shoulder, blowing off a chunk of armor.
Man in Black goes for broke. He charges in, dodging a swipe from the alien that would've taken his head off. The alien catches him with a punch that cracks his ribs through his armor, and you can hear the bones snap from a block away. But Man in Black grits his teeth, gets right up in the alien's face, and shoves the nanobyte bomb up its nose.
The alien freezes, its glowing eyes going wide. It makes this nasty gurgling noise, like it's choking on something gross. Then—
BOOOOOOM!
The explosion starts inside its head and rips downward, like someone stuffed a firecracker in a watermelon. Black goo and chunks of alien rain down for blocks, splattering cars, buildings, and a few unlucky seagulls. The air smells like burnt tires and rotten eggs, so bad people are gagging half a mile away.
[AFTERMATH]
Melvin:
Suit's 90% destroyed, just a few sparking wires and scraps left.
Nose broken, blood dripping down his chin.
Left pinky finger numb, probably from all the pavement slamming.
Got second-degree friction burns on his legs from running so fast.
Tranquilizer:
Lightning bow's cracked down the middle, barely holding together.
Hands are charred black from overusing his powers, looking like he stuck them in a toaster.
Only one arrow left in his quiver, and it's flickering like a dying lightbulb.
Man in Black:
Armor's completely shattered, hanging off him like tattered clothes.
Coughing up blood like he's got a lung full of it.
Left arm's definitely broken, dangling at a weird angle.
Probably needs new ribs after that last hit.
The city's a mess—half the pier's gone, buildings are smoking, and there's alien goo everywhere. But people are cheering like it's the Super Bowl. News helicopters are buzzing overhead, cameras zooming in on the carnage. Some kid, probably hyped out of his mind, chucks his Watt action figure at the pile of alien guts, yelling, "Take that, you freak!"
Man in Black slumps against a wrecked car, one side of his face swollen, grinning through bloody, broken teeth. "Next time…" he wheezes, "we aim for the balls."
Melvin just groans, lying in a puddle of sewer water. "Dude, I'm never eating burgers again."
To be continued.....