The Deadly Dozen
Key Advantages
There are several factors that give my team the edge in this fight.
Speed: Wiegeabos ubers, Green Lantern and Exodus, are capable of attacking at the speed of thought. Think that sounds fast? Its not not when I have Hadrian, an Android who thinks and reacts far faster than a human being (as evidenced by his fights with super-fast foes like Mr. Majestic). And thats to say nothing of Zoom, who can literally run rings around the Flash and makes Superman look as motionless as a statue by comparison.
Combine that with the fact that Hadrian can immediately teleport an opponent to any place on the battlefield (without even having to know where they are first) and that basically guarantees my team will get the drop on our opponents, and that they'll be able to dictate who fights whom.
Control of the Battlefield:Ive got a super-hacker in the Ghost and a sophisticated android in Hadrian, both of who can interface with and control technology. In a high-tech prison environment like this one, that means we can:
- view floor plans and prisoner registries from the prisons computer system, so we know whats in every inch of the battlefield and which superhuman criminals the various cells were built to contain
- take control of the security system, to use countermeasures designed to contain super-criminals against our opponents
- utilize the prisons surveillance system to keep tabs on everything that happens during the course of the battle
If we need even more info on the battlefield, Zoom can search it as thoroughly as we could ever want thanks to his super-speed.
Team Cohesiveness:Wiegeabos team mixes honorable heroes like Green Lantern and the Scarlet Witch with despicable villains like Exodus and Proctor. These characters will hate each other too much to work well together, and will never be able to agree on a strategy thanks to their vastly different levels of ruthlessness. Meanwhile, my team is pretty much ruthless from top to bottom. I have outright villains like Zoom and the Ghost, and heroes possessed by evil like Hadrian (Daemonite) and Invisible Woman (Malice). Even my most heroic character, Ambrose Chase, uses firearms as his principal weapon. This is a team thats willing to do what it takes to get the job done, even if it means getting their hands dirty.
Regarding Wiegs team, maybe his intent is for the heroes to simply be mind controlled by Exodus and Proctor, but I question whether they could function at maximum effectiveness in such a state. (And thats assuming someone as powerful as Kyle Rayner couldnt find a way to block the control.)
The Battle
In the first fraction of a second after the fight begins, before most of the participants have a chance to react, Hadrian teleports Green Lantern into a large warehouse-like room. Normally its purpose is to house assorted high-tech equipment when its not in use (such as after the prisoners these devices were made to contain have been released.) Today, its purpose is to give Zoom enough room to use his speed to maximum effect in his battle against Kyle Rayner. Hadrian has to hope that edge will be enough, as hes already moved on to his true target Exodus.
Hadrian vs. Exodus and Proctor
On the far side of the prison from where Kyle Rayner now battles Zoom, Hadrian now materializes. My team hopes to keep the oppositions most powerful fighters separated to prevent them from aiding each other. Immediately, Hadrian fires an energy blast, simultaneously teleporting Exodus into its path. The attack is timed perfectly, giving the mutant no chance to dodge.
He doesnt need one, as the attack richochets off Exoduss telekinetic forcefield. He senses immediately that Hadrian is an android and as such, immune to his telepathic abilities. So instead, Exodus fires a blast of telekinetic force. But just as quickly, Hadrian teleports out of the way.
Now behind his foe, Hadrian reassesses the situation with a speed only a computerized mind can muster. Exoduss telekinesis is even stronger than he feared trying to batter through his forcefield would be a long and risky process. Instead, he falls back on the one attack a forcefield cant stop teleportation.
Hadrian teleports Exodus again and again, sending him from one side of the room to the other, flipping him upside-down and sideways, while at the same time teleporting himself all around Exodus so the mutant never knows which way to strike. The effect is severely disorienting, just as Hadrian hoped it would be a disoriented Exodus cant summon the mental concentration needed to use his psionic abilities to their fullest extent. Several wild telekinetic blows miss their mark, as Hadrian continues his assault. Exodus sends out a telepathic call to his teammates just as Hadrian delivers what he hopes will be the coup de grace teleporting two miniature explosive devices (from the Ghosts arsenal) past Exoduss forcefield and directly into his ear canals, where they explode with a truly deafening bang.
Hadrian has not a moment to admire his handiwork, as his android senses alert him that one of Exoduss teammates has answered his call. Hadrian raises his forcefield, just as Proctor having teleported in behind him, brings the enchanted Ebony Blade slashing down. To Hadrians surprise, the magical sword passes straight through his forcefield. Despite his best efforts to dodge, the single stroke of the blade removes Hadrians right arm and portion of his chest.
But it takes more damage than that to put Hadrian down. Even as his body starts to knit itself back together, he fires an energy blast at Proctor. Proctor teleports out of the way, and attacks again with an attempted decapitation. Hadrian teleports out of the blade's path mere seconds before it connects, materializing on the far side of the room and firing another energy blast, which Proctor again evades.
Youre slowing, says Exodus, as Hadrian finds himself caught in his telekinetic grip. Surely you didnt think I could be defeated so easily. As Exodus taunts, Proctor leaps forward for the killing strike.
Not slowing playing possum, Hadrian is tempted to answer. Unbeknownst to these foes his body has withstood far more serious damage without significant impairment. But instead of replying, Hadrian lets his actions speak for him, teleporting Proctor right behind Exodus at the moment of his attack. The sword cuts through Exoduss forcefield just as it did Hadrian's, and takes the mutants head clean off. Proctors momentary shock is all Hadrian needs to teleport beside him and forcibly impale him on his own sword.
Zoom and Invisible Woman vs. Green Lantern
While Hadrian fought his battles, Zoom was fighting one of his own, against Green Lantern. Zooms speed puts even the Flash to shame, so Kyle Rayner cant even hope to perceive him. With Kyle comparatively frozen like a statue, Zoom zips around him raining down punch after punch. The sheer speed of the blows makes them hit as hard as if they were thrown by Superman himself.
If Kyle had not started the battle with his personal forcefield in place, it would have been all over before he knew it. As it is, within the first second of the fight, innumerable punches have already landed, and it is only by an incredible act of will that Kyle manages to maintain his shield. Attempting to aim a strike for Zoom is hopeless at this speed, hes essentially invisible. If Zoom wanted, he could run from one side of the prison to the other between blows hell, he could run a thousand laps around metropolis. But he figures simply racing all around the room is sufficient. His mistake.
With a thought, Kyle instantaneously surrounds the entire room with an impenetrable forcefield. He then expands his own protective forcefield outward until it extends all the way to the outer field, crushing Zoom between the two. Of course, in the fraction of a second it takes to do this, Zoom batters both forcefields with a few million more ultra-high speed blows. Somehow, Kyle hangs on, with the two forcefields finally pinning Zoom and crushing him until he blacks out. But the concentration and raw force of will needed to fend off such a barrage of attacks has left Kyle feeling like his head is splitting open and unfortunately for him, that feeling is about to get much worse.
From an adjacent room, Malice waits, invisible of course, and watches the fight by means of the security system. (If necessary, she can also make a portion of the wall invisible to create an instant window.) Of course, most of it happens much to fast for her to perceive, but she sees what she needs to Zoom lying on the ground, defeated. Not waiting for Kyle to recover, she generates an expanding mass of invisible spikes within the center of his brain. Though he wields the most powerful weapon in the universe, underneath it all Kyle Rayner is an ordinary man of flesh and blood, and with his gray matter torn to shreads, he falls.
The Ghost and Ambrose Chase vs. Deadline and the Scarlet Witch
In another part of the prison, Deadline and the Scarlet Witch search for their opponents. This wing of Stryckers is devoted to housing non-superhuman criminals mostly, it consists of small cells and narrow corridors. Suddenly, the Ghost cuts across the hall, running in through one wall and out through another. Of course Deadline can phase too, but he resists the temptation to follow the Ghost through the wall.
A trap, he mutters to Wanda, and instead he takes flight, carrying the Scarlet Witch along on his flying discs and through a corridor theyd mapped out previously. Their goal is to circle behind the Ghost and take him by surprise, but although it takes only a moment to reach his position, they find that hes disappeared. He cant have moved that fast, Deadline thinks. But he has other means besides his eyes to find someone, such as the enhanced hearing provided by his high-tech helmet. Concentrating, Deadline is able to make out a heartbeat. He aims a plasma gun and fires.
The blast tears through an invisible heartbeat decoy. At the same time, the Ghost whose suit also mutes sound while hes invisible tosses a bomb at Deadlines and Scarlet Witchs backs. They spin around just in time to see the Ghost become visible meaning hes switched to intangibility mode. The bomb explodes.
[Note: The sound suppressing tech and heartbeat decoys are things Ghost has used in the comics. He developed these countermeasures after Iron Man was able to detect him by his heart beat. Thus, hed be prepared for the possibility that a high-tech opponent like Deadline might try the same tactic.]
The explosion clears, and neither Deadline nor the Scarlet Witch are hurt. Ghost figured Deadline would survive, but he didnt know until this moment that Deadline could also extend his intangibility to someone hes touching.
Plan B, the Ghost says into a radio headset, signaling Ambrose Chase. Ambrose had used the prison surveillance system to monitor Deadline and Scarlet Witch and steer clear of them to give Ghost space to try and take down Scarlet Witch, who my team felt was the biggest x-factor in their plan. At this point, Ambrose is three floors above the conflict, but he takes the most direct root to the battle leaping into a large ventilation shaft and using his physics altering powers to run straight down its vertical surface.
Ghost however still has one more trick up his sleeve. He activates a command he programmed into the Strykers central computer, causing a prerecorded sound to be played through the intercom at maximum volume. Specifically, an agonizing high-frequency screeching sound one which is of course filtered out by the earplugs Ghost provided to himself and his teammates. Deadline and Scarlet Witch instinctively cover their ears (of course since they can hear while intangible they have no immunity to painful noise) and this causes Deadline to release his grip on Wandas arm, rendering her immediately tangible once more. Ghost fires a blast from his gun at the same time as Wanda fires a hex bolt back at him. Both shots land Ghosts suit overloads and goes haywire thanks to Wandas probability altering power, while the Scarlet Witch has a sizable chunk torn out of her shoulder.
At that very moment, Ambrose arrives. His physics altering field increases gravity around the grate leading to the air vent overhead, and with the structure unable to support its weight, it falls right on top of Deadline. Of course, it passes harmlessly through his intangible body. But right behind the grate is a sizeable pile of ultra-high density restraints used to secure prisoners with a high-degree of superstrength. Having found these during prep-time, my team realized they might be perfect for use against their intangible opponent. The Ghost even tested them and found they were too dense to phase through. Of course, Ambrose would never have been able to carry them here but for the fact that his gravity altering powers allow him to make things lighter, too. Now he makes them as heavy as possible, and the full weight falls on Deadline, slamming him into unconsciousness.
Scarlet Witch, still bleeding profusely from Ghosts attack, manages to fire a hex bolt at Ambrose, but he alters time around himself to give him the speed to dodge, and runs towards her along the ceiling of the hall. She looks up at him, taking aim for another hex, but her reaction slows, as her own head has now passed into the time-altering field of the man standing over her. Her head, but not her shoulder beneath it, which continues bleeding as fast as ever. Wandas slowed thoughts fade to black as she passes out from loss of blood.
The Deadly Dozen Win
) It'll be up eventually, though.
