Rabid walked down the street, the collar of the trenchcoat Topnotch had given him turned up against the rain. He had headed out immediatly after arriving in Chicago, intent upon his target. The building came into view, the place he had escaped from only a few days before. It belonged to Chaos, the man who had killed his gang, tried to brainwash him, and finally killed Fireball. Briefly, he's thoughts floated back to New York. Once they realized what he intended to do, Topnotch and Tough had tried to dissuade him. When that failed, they offered the aid of the Ironhawks. Rabid had turned them down. Enough people had already died because of him, and chances were that he himself would not survive.
He was going to kill Chaos.
Rabid considered walking through the front door, then discarded the idea. Instead, he turned down the alley running between Chaos's building and another. Undoubtably, the alley was monitered, but he hoped that he would just be mistaken for another bum. He reached a particularly dark shadow and gathered his energy. With a thought, he was beyond the wall and into the building.
Rabid backed away from the shelving in front of him, heart pounding as he realized how close he had come to teleporting into it. He knew that the chances had been very good that he would have blinked into a wall or object.
With a shuddering breath, he turned his thoughts away from that to his surroundings. Around him were shelves covered with napkins, food, and cooking utensils. He had, appearently, teleported into the kitchen storeroom of the complex. He grinned at his good fortune, having expected to land himself directly into a fight. Rabid stuffed his trenchcoat below one of the shelves and pulled the hood up on the grey and black outfit Chaos had given to him. When in doubt, he thought, act like you know what your doing. Hotfire and he had used the idea many times to get themselves in and out of trouble. He assumed his most arrogant expression and strode purposefully out the door and through the kitchen.
The kitchen staff ignored the suited man as he walked through their midst. Rabid noted that they all wore metal attachments to their heads, marking them as cybs, cybernetically brainwashed humans. Since they had no instructions concerning anyone dressed as one of Chaos's men, they acted as if he didn't exist.
Rabid avoided the double doors leading out to a cafeteria and passed through a door leading into a hallway. He calmly marched down the passages, headed toward the elevators he remembered seeing on his escape from this place. The few people he passed were cybs, unaware of his status as an intruder.
He reached the elevators without incident and patiently waited for one to reach him. He had been kept below ground and he figured that Chaos would be himself as far down as possible, so people could not just head through a window to get to him. The doors opened, and Rabid passed a grey haired man exiting the elevator. The man turned to regard him curiously. Rabid ignored him and hit the lowest button he could. There was a spot for a key below that, and he guessed that a key would get him to Chaos's personal floor. But it would be a simple matter for a person as talented as Rabid to descend to that last level.
The doors slid shut and the elevator went down. Rabid took the opportunity to remove a javelin for his quiver. The numbers descended to the floor he had chosen but the doors did not open. Rabid swore under his breath.
A voice emerged from a grilled speaker. "Identify yourself."
Rabid walked to the door and blinked into the hallway beyond.
"Freeze!" came a yell from down the hall. Several cyb soldiers were running towards him, weapons raised. Bullets burned the air as they hurtled down the hall at Rabid. They passed harmlessly through empty space as Rabid teleported away.
He reappeared a floor down. Someone swore behind him, and he attacked even as he identified his oppenents. They were two hulking brutes. One was Pulverise, a seven foot man built like a elephant. The other was Ironmace, smaller than Pulverise, but carrying a large baton.
He delivered a kick to Ironmace's chin and lashed out at Pulverise with his javelin. The big man leaped out of the way, then bounced back at Rabid. Rabid teleported behind him, then ducked out of the way of Ironmace's baton. He tumbled between Ironmace's legs and drove his javelin into his opponent's calf. He dropped his baton and fell to the ground, howling.
As Rabid faced off against Pulverise again, he heard the tell tale ding of the elevator arriving at the floor. As the doors opened, he leaped at Pulverise, grabbing the front of his suit. They blinked out and reappeared, Pulverise's body fused to the elevator doors. The mechanisms whined as they tried to rip him apart. Pulverise screamed his agony.
In the elevator, the Cybs opened fire, trying to open the doors.
Rabid grabbed another javelin and burst through a doorway. Behind it was a luxuriant bedroom, with a humongous bed, the sheets a mess. Rabid's eyes fell upon a man who was finishing pulling on an outfit. The thin man snarled when he noted Rabid and thrust his hand out. Blue lightning sparked through the air. Rabid twisted out of its path and it scorched the door.
"Rabid, you dog!" Shock yelled. "Saving us the bother of recapturing you? Surrender, and I won't fry you where you stand!"
"I think not."
Rabid dashed madly at Shock, trying to reach him before he released another burst. Almost negligently, Shock flicked his hands, filling the air with blue sparks. They shot across the room, rushing to meet Rabid. Rabid blinked away and beyond them, reappearing so close to Shock that his javelin reappeared inside the unfortunate man. With a terrible grimace on his face, he fell.
Rabid gazed at him for a moment, then went to his quiver for another javelin. Out of no where, a huge man appeared and bashed Rabid across the room. His quiver went flying, scattering his weapons. Rabid slammed into the wall, then struggled up to view his opponent. He recognized the scar running from the bridge of his nose to his mouth.
"Chaos," Rabid spat.
"Looks like I underestimated you, boy. Didn't expect you to escape, and I didn't expect you to come back. My mistake. Of course, now I get to correct it, by killing you. Say hello to the Changlings when you see them again!"
Chaos disappearred from sight, and Rabid looked around desperatly. Only a faint rush of air warned him to teleport to the side, narrowly avoiding a kick. He blinked over to his javelins, but they were kicked out his reach before he could get one. He blinked away, avoiding a crushing blow. He did not move fast enough to avoid the next punch.
Rattled, Rabid could not concentrate as Chaos grabbed him in a bear hug and began to squeeze. The thought that he should run and face Chaos later ran through his mind. But he knew he would never get another chance to fight on even terms with him again. He gathered himself to teleport away when he felt the first crack. He screamed in unbelievable pain, as vertebrae were crushed and ribs broken. It felt like all his nerves had been set afire. Desperate, his hands clawed the air above him. Without knowing how, Rabid realized that he held one of his javelins gripped in his hands. With strength born of pain and death, Rabid drove the javelin through Chaos's skull.
They collapsed to the ground, Chaos's face oddly placid. Rabid shifted, trying to crawl, causing his back to errupt in fire. Panting, he lay still, trying to figure out what to do. He had lost all feeling in his legs, and the pain in his chest was unbelievable. He coughed, blood spilling from his lips. In detached horror, he realized that his ribs must have slashed into his lungs. He lay there for an eternity. It grew harder and harder to take that next breath. His vision began to grow dark. Blackness.
End of Rabid. Next Story: The Overlord, the Martyr, and the Chosen One.