Location - Cadmus
Third Person
A thunderous metallic shriek shattered the air as a massive genomorphic fist tore through the reinforced steel door like it was wet paper. The sound of bones crunching as that same jagged, mineral-covered hand latched around Invincible's torso like a vice and without pause, the beast yanked him forward with such force the ground cracked beneath its weight.
Aqualad, Kid Flash, and Robin froze—shocked by the sudden assault..
"Aqualad!" Robin shouted.
Already moving, Aqualad charged forward, his senses already summoning tendrils of water from the emergency sprinklers overhead. They twisted around his arms like living serpents as he sprinted forward to assist. But the moment he crossed the threshold, he halted—his expression tightening.
It seemed they had more to deal with other than the beast that had Invincible.
Dozens of Genomorphs of varying sizes and grotesque builds—some hulking and brutish, others lithe and insectoid—crowded the passage. Interspersed among them were armed personnel in black tactical gear and a handful of wild-eyed scientists, their hands clutching the data tablets like a lifeline. Every gun, every piece of high-tech hardware, turned toward them.
Invincible twisted in the air, snapping the Genomorph's wrist with a sickening crunch. The thing let out a distorted scream and dropped him.
Bullets sang through the corridor, with the intent to kill.
"DOWN!" Invincible roared, tackling Aqualad in mid-stride. He slammed him through the open doorway behind them, shielding him with his body as bullets ricocheted off his chest and shoulders. Sparks exploded off the walls as rounds deflected wildly.
"Robin! Kid Flash! MOVE!" he shouted over the chaos, standing firm in the doorway, absorbing the brunt of the gunfire.
Robin ducked low, sliding toward a nearby terminal. "Just buy me one minute!" he barked, jamming a flash drive into the console. The screen flickered, a progress bar inching across as files began to transfer.
"Make it thirty seconds," Invincible growled, crushing the barrel of an energy rifle in his hand and hurling it back down the hallway like a javelin. It embedded itself in a Genomorph's shoulder with a wet crack.
Robin reached into his utility belt, pulling out a handful of disk-shaped explosives. He thrusts them into Kid Flash's hands.
"Plant these on the walls in the corridor, set them apart far enough as to not cause major damage."
Kid Flash raised a brow, his lips twitching. "And you're sure this doesn't blow us up, too?"
Aqualad answered from behind Invincible, "It has to work."
"It better work," Invincible snarled.
Kid Flash vanished in a blur of yellow lightning, the wind screaming behind him as he zigzagged through the hailstorm of bullets and plasma rounds. He was untouchable—his movements were untraceable as he made his way through.
He skated across walls, slipped between Genomorphs mid-lunge, and slammed explosives onto walls and vents. One of the smaller, spider-like Genomorphs leapt at him, but he vaulted over it, kicking its head and planting a final charge near the end.
"All set!" he shouted, voice echoing back through the smoke and carnage. "Tell Robin to blow it!"
"Do it!" Invincible yelled.
Robin smirked, hitting the trigger. "Time to make some noise."
The corridor detonated in a series of rapid, concussive blasts. Fire and shrapnel ripped through the hallway. A choking wave of smoke and dust surged forward, obscuring everything.
Robin tapped the side of his cowl. "Thermals on. Push the chest symbol."
Invincible glanced down, pressing the circular symbol on his uniform. His HUD shifted—shadows lit up in reds and oranges, silhouettes moving behind the smoke. He grinned.
"Oh, hell yeah."
He launched forward like a missile.
A hulking Genomorph emerged from the smoke, claws extended—but Invincible collided with it mid-roar, fist-first. The shockwave split the wall behind it as Invincible drove his fist through the monster's sternum, slamming it into the concrete so hard the corridor groaned from the impact. With a shout, he grabbed the creature's rocky skull and drove it backward, through the wall, pinning it in place.
Aqualad vaulted over Invincible's back, twin water-whips forming mid-air. Bullets rained around him as he landed in the center of a security squad. He gripped the wrist of one soldier and twisted it violently, the bones snapping audibly before he flung the man upward into the ceiling. The man crashed back down, unconscious.
Spinning mid-air, Aqualad kicked another guard square in the chest, sending him flying, then pivoted with a knee to the face of a third. Blood sprayed.
He exhaled, summoning his water-whips once more. One lash is coiled around a screaming scientist's neck. He yanked, pulling the man into a guard like a wrecking ball. He acted fast, allowing his water-whips to be destabilized and lose form, plastering onto the ground before his form lit up with a blue hue and an electrical charge flowed through, shocking guards and stunning many of the genomorphs.
Invincible took the opening, flying forward before pressing each creature into the wall, immobilizing them.
"Move fast," he said grimly. "Reinforcements are coming."
"I got eyes!" Robin shouted from behind them, already sprinting into the fight. He swung his collapsible bo staff, striking low. The weapon cracked against a thin, gangly Genomorph's knee, dropping it. Before it could react, Robin smashed the staff upward—into its chin, its neck, then its temple—each hit punctuated with a sickening thud. A claw flew past his head, another beast having come to the aid of its brother. A large grin was plastered onto Robin's face as he somersaulted forward, gaining distance before discharging three discs that crashed into its shoulder before exploding, throwing the beast back and crashing onto the floor.
"Clean sweep!" Robin called, regrouping with Aqualad and Invincible at the corridor's end.
But the ground suddenly shook.
"Something's coming," Aqualad muttered.
They barely had time to brace.
A blur of red lightning flashed past them. Kid Flash darted ahead, a cocky grin on his face as he turned into a red and yellow missile.
From above, a flying Geomorph dropped, wings spread wide and shrieking.
Kid Flash didn't slow.
He jumped, planted one foot on the wall, and twisted in mid-air. His momentum carried his entire body into the Genomorph like a battering ram, but he didn't stop there. Everything ran in slow motion, and such he began to spin, drilling and twisting the Genomorph as it impacted brutally into a metal door, making it unbolt and cave in.
Behind them, the destroyed doorframe revealed a spiraling stairway descending into darkness.
"Bingo," Robin said with a grin, moving toward KidFlash and giving him a small smack on the back, making the speedster laugh out with a tint of pride.
Invincible cracked his knuckles, stepping forward with Aqualad at his side, both nodding "Let's move."