Badass Ch. 06

"As you can see Boris, The Hand isn't particularly carried by Erykah; it's just that she gets all the recognition. The other 'fingers' so to speak are ridiculously competent, and are willing to serve her from the shadows. This guard of yours unfortunately doesn't stand a chance."

Zdenek slowly and deliberately placed his feet at a measured shoulder length distance apart before crouching slowly. He looked at Boris who had started growling from his throat as he activated his AE powers. Boris' already massive arms became bigger and got covered in black fur, while the fur that was encroaching on his face was white. His mouth and nose started getting longer and turning into a muzzle, but stopped as he wasn't planning on drawing out anymore power. From what Zdenek could tell, Boris was at about 40 - 50 % of his maximum, so he didn't think that Zdenek could do much to him with that level of strength. Zdenek brought his fists up to waist level and started tensing up, with his fists not quite clenched but his fingers still bent. His body vibrated as he started summoning his power, and veins coursed and throbbed all up and down his neck and up to his jaw. He looked up at Boris with a stern look on his face.

"Ok Boris.... Let's go!"

Zdenek squatted down even more as he started activating his powers. His ears grew long and pointy, both sets of canines grew into fangs, his hands became larger and covered in blue fur as his finger nails grew into long black claws. His coat fluttered about as his slight transformation took place, and his tail found its' way out of the back of his jeans, and just like before, it was long and slim, covered in blue fur with a bushy tip. A purple tinge had filled the whites of his eyes, as he opened his mouth and the purple fireball that had burst out the first time did so again. The entire Hand of Aegis had taken a second to watch the transformation, as all of them bar Erykah hadn't seen it before. Amy looked slightly in awe as she had never seen anything like it before, and Steph and the twins were equally as impressed. Amy looked over at Steph.

"Holy shit Steph, what the fuck IS that AE power? I can't tell from nothing about him really changing, but whatever it is, it's fucking impressive..."

Steph didn't even look at Amy to reply, as her gaze was fixed firmly on Zdenek.

"Yeah, you can say that again...."

Steve and Don were also staring in awe and were very impressed with just how strong Zdenek felt to them. Steve started to say something.

"Fucking..."

And Don finished off what Steve was saying.

"Bad ass!"

Erykah just looked back, taking her eyes off the wet mob before her for just a second. She just nodded at Zdenek before turning her attention back at the goons.

Zdeneks' transformation calmed down and his coat stopped fluttering about. He then stood to his full height and looked at Boris with his amber eyes with purplish whites. Boris had no idea how to react to what he had just witnessed as he had no idea what kind of animal had long pointy ears, blue fur and such long fangs.

"Wha-what kind of AE do you have?"

Zdenek took a second to consider his answer but then just looked at Boris with sincerer in his eyes.

"I'll tell you once you join Aegis."

In that second Zdenek disappeared. He was running towards Boris in an anti clockwise circular arc as he wanted to test the waters to see how good he actually was. He ran with his body low to the ground and sprung up as he spun 180° in the air, extending and swinging his right leg first, before continuing and spinning the rest of the way bringing his left leg into the move completing a spin kick. Boris parried Zdeneks right foot away by bring his right fist across and placing it behind Zdeneks foot before back handing it away on its natural course, making Zdenek continue with the move before bending his left arm up and completely blocking the left kick. Boris then tried to grab Zdeneks left ankle, but he twisted in the air and used his right foot to kick off of Boris left hand, twisting and doing a somersault before landing facing Boris in a squat. Just as he landed, he pushed off the ground and started running towards Boris. He ran so swiftly that he was almost a blur, and moved in a zig zag pattern, disappearing from sight for a second before reappearing to the right, before doing it again and appearing on the left, trying to see if Boris could keep up. Just as he reached Boris, Boris threw a straight right at him, appearing to have completely seen through the zig zag tactic. Zdenek spun to his left to avoid the blow and then pushed off again, dashing towards Boris with his right hand cocked. Boris however had seen this coming, and as Zdenek through a straight right of his own, Boris' left was already there to block. As Zdeneks' fist made contact with Boris' left forearm, Boris threw a short right hook, trying to catch Zdenek off guard. Zdenek looked to his left and saw the incoming fist just in time, as just before the massive fist was about to make contact, Zdenek brought his left palm onto the back of Boris' fist, pushed down, causing himself to lift up and spun while stretching his body horizontally, completing a few revolutions as he spun past Boris' face and landed elegantly to his right. Zdenek stood up and quickly pushed off from his right foot, doing a back flip but leaving his right leg extended, although slightly bent and completed a kick while doing the back flip. Boris managed to move his head back in time to avoid getting kicked in the chin. Then, just as Zdenek completed the move and landed on the ground in a slight crouch, he was late in looking up and when he did, he saw that Boris had thrown a straight right down his throat again and he couldn't avoid it, leaving him with no choice other than to block. Zdenek crossed both arms in an 'X' across his chest and Boris' fist struck his arms and the force not only caused Zdenek to properly take a knee, but also also made the thick floor cave in slightly around him. As Boris' fist moved back and the steam wafting off of Zdeneks' forearms was still fresh, Boris threw another straight, however this time Zdenek anticipated it and rolled to his right and watched as the straight missed and pumbled the ground. Zdenek had figured out that if Boris' right had been used, then his left would be ready for defense, so he decided against jumping straight at him. Zdenek started running behind Boris to catch him out, but Boris started spinning in the opposite direction. He spun and tried to smash Zdenek with the back of his right arm, but Zdenek successfully ducked under it. As he was coming up though, Boris' left arm came swinging around and the clothesline like maneuver caught him flush on the chest, with the impact creating a mini shockwave and sent Zdenek hurtling towards a corner of the large room and he crashed into it, causing some railing and curtains to fall down on him and cover him up. Boris snorted arrogantly as the curtains were crashing onto Zdenek and he pumped his chest out to show Zdenek who was boss. His arrogance only lasted a second though, as there was a flash of purple light, before a quick surge of purple flames started burning through the curtains. As the flames burned a hole in the curtains, Zdenek stood up slowly with his head down. The corruption attribute of his flames meant that the curtains and carpets which weren't burning but were still close enough started witling and disintegrating into black dust. Boris had never seen purple flames, or anything that just destroyed things for just being there. Zdenek slowly raised his right arm to shoulder height, assuming the same pose he did when fighting the Buffalo Alpha. He looked up and opened his eyes, and Boris saw the seriousness in Zdeneks' eyes. Boris then stamped his right foot on the ground and let out a cry as bright orange flames surrounded his body and flowed into and around his fists as he seemed to be charging some kind of ability. Zdenek didn't seem to notice or care about what Boris was doing, and as the last of the curtains which had been covering him burned up into nothing, Zdenek spoke.

"Corruption Blast."

Zdenek clicked his fingers and the large purple fireball suddenly appeared and flew straight for Boris, who was no longer looking as flustered as he bent his arms up brought his forearms up across his torso, forming a sort of peek a boo boxing guard. Then, flames suddenly burst out from his forearms and covered them, forming a sort of shield, which the Corruption Blast went straight into with quite a bit of force. As the two flames clashed, Zdenek started walking forward as he waited for Boris' flames to be obliterated by his; that however, did not happen. As Zdenek got closer, he noticed his fireball did not seem to be having any effect on Boris, or any of the areas around him and after a few seconds, an orange light seemed to be glowing from within the ball, looking as though it was trying to come out from it until it finally did; Zdeneks' Corruption Blast exploded with a glow of orange light, and as the purple flames were being destroyed by the orange, Zdenek could see Boris' eyes poking out from behind his fists, filled with confidence. Zdenek was caught by surprise at the fact that his Corruption Blast failed to affect Boris in the slightest.

"You look confused Zdenek. Were you that confident in your strange purple flames getting through mine? Hmmm?"

Boris' voice was just dripping with confidence as he spoke from behind his flaming block.

"Let me explain something to you Zdenek; I am more defenses oriented. I have worked purely and solely on my defense, as I do not have the speed and agility of most, so from a young age I worked on timing, defense and reading peoples movements so that I could anticipate and move a few steps ahead of them, as I have been doing with you."

Boris started pumping his flames, and flames formed a circle around him and started dancing around, with streaks of flames spinning and dancing around Boris in perfect symmetry, making it look almost look like a water feature, but with flames. Boris was still speaking from behind his guard, but his hair was slowly moving about in the wind that the flames was causing, and the entire room was being illuminated orange, with the light being at its brightest around Boris.

"I have the ultimate defense Zdenek; no one besides those stronger than me can get through it, and you are no exception."

Zdenek stood with his feet together, his eyes closed and his arms folded at his chest. His hood was down, and his ponytail was still in tact.

"Well then Boris, shall we find out..."

Zdenek spoke and he had the two voices again.

"Whether I am an exception to the rule or not?"

Boris tensed his arms and clenched his fists harder as the flames on his forearms intensified and grew in size.

"Come on then Zdenek, BRING IT!"

"Corruption Vision."

Zdenek opened his eyes and used Corruption Vision to examine Boris properly. He found that Boris had no openings or weak points that could be exploited at his current strength level. Zdenek then uncrossed his arms, and started powering up his flames, with his doing the same thing that Boris' did, circling his body and streams of flames rising upwards, looking like snakes and swirling around his body. His coat and ponytail fluttered about as well, before he took a deep breath and disappeared. Next thing, Zdenek reappeared in front of Boris and threw a punch which made contact with Boris' guard and the purple and orange flames clashed once more, as neither gave an inch; Zdenek on offense and Boris on defense. The flames around Zdeneks' fist began to wane slightly as Boris' flames were ridiculously strong, causing Zdenek to push away and do a backflip, landing on his feet. He then stretched both arms in front of him brought both his hands to shoulder level, mimicking the 'Corruption Blast' stance, but this time with both hands. The then started charging his flames again, with flames making slivers and swirling and swarming around his hands before disappearing for a second.

"Corruption Barrage."

Zdenek started clicking both hands like crazy, and all of a sudden a large number of purple blasts made their way directly at Boris, who pumped the flames on his forearms even more, which made his flame shield grow in size. As the many purple fireballs started crashing into the orange wall, the room lit up, with ball after ball smacking into where Boris was standing, creating a cloud of smoke as they did. After 10 fireballs had crashed into the wall, Zdenek stopped clicking, waiting to see if Boris had been affected in any way. His question was answered when a surge of orange flames broke out from within the cloud, and cleared the smoke away to reveal Boris standing there, completely unscathed. Zdenek didn't wait another second, as he set off for Boris again, running straight at him. Boris bent down some more and Zdenek leapt at him, and started swinging. Boris just kept bobbing and weaving, avoiding most of Zdeneks punches and kicks, and those which he couldn't evade only caught the flame wall. Occasionally Boris would throw a straight right or a combination, but Zdenek easily evaded those and went back to trying to hit Boris. After an exchange, Zdenek jumped back, and looked at Boris with Corruption Vision still activated.

'Fuck, I think I might have miscalculated. Maybe I underestimated Boris a bit too much. At this rate, I might have to--'

Zdenek didn't have time to finish his thought as Boris had stomped on the ground, sending a fire beam straight at him. Zdenek jumped to the right, and then started running towards Boris, who just waited for him. As Zdenek got there, he leapt in the air, bent his left leg and extended his right, performing an aesthetically pleasing kick to Boris' head. The kick however was caught by Boris who had been waiting for the kick, and had gripped Zdeneks' ankle. He then lifted Zdenek up, and smashed him back first into the ground before lifting him above his head and repeating the two more times before spinning Zdenek above his head and letting go, sending Zdenek crashing into the opposite end of the room. He then crossed his arms in an 'X' shape and charged his flames, gathering them up into his fists before unleashing a barrage of fireballs of his own into the spot where he had thrown Zdenek. The barrage crashed into the spot with force, causing bits of concrete and such to come flying out from there. Boris then exhaled deeply, and placed his arms by his sides, before snorting in arrogance and laughing.

"After all that big talk Zdenek, was that all you had to offer? Maybe you should have been dealing with the lower level guys, because I'm sure Erykah would have been more of a challenge!"

Boris' laugh grew louder as folded his arms again; ready to watch the rest of his guys beat The Hand.

Erykah, who had been keeping the goons occupied by using her more demanding area effect techniques was starting to tire slightly; not because of the techniques, but rather because she had to control those techniques and make sure that she didn't destroy the building, which was much easier said than done because while individually they would never be a match for her, since they were in a group they were much tougher to deal with, as she had to render them useless without killing them and keeping the building intact. She had heard the conversation between Boris and Zdenek during the first round of their fight, and was worried about Zdenek. She had every confidence in him, and believed that he could win the fight against Boris, but the way things had been going she was terribly worried. She was tempted to look back to see what was happening, but she couldn't because of the seemingly endless mob that was before her.

'I wonder if Zdenek is alright. It's been quite a while since I heard Boris laughing at him, and Zdenek hasn't made a sound since then.'

Erykah was thinking to herself as she was faced by 10 guys, who themselves were quite tired. She was standing near the entrance and wasn't blocking it, which allowed for the idiots to approach her in batches rather than as a horde, which was better for trying to keep them occupied, rather than defeating them. One guy came at her head on and threw a punch which she caught in her right hand, before pulling him towards her and gibing him an uppercut to the gut, lifting him off the ground and doubling him up. He was still airborne when she let go of his fist and skillfully side stepped another blow before jumping in the air and spinning while extending both legs and doing a split like maneuver; kicking three guys before the rest ducked. She landed on the ground with her left leg bent and her right extended straight out. She then clenched both her fists and raised them above her head.

"QUAKE; Richter Level TWO!"

Erykah then smashed her fists into the ground, using her mind to control the flow and direction of the energy she expended from her fists, allowing her to determine how deep the force and how wide the scope of the technique would be. Her controlling it in such a manner was what was tiring her out. As the remaining six men lost their footing and struggled to maintain balance, Erykah then brought her hands together in front of her and clapped, the shockwave created by the sending the six flying backwards towards the door, where more were already climbing over them and rushing towards her. Erykah looked around for a second trying to find Zdenek, but ran out of time, as the next wave had already reached her. She was looking visibly fatigued, as she was slightly hunched over and her breathing was becoming slow and laborious. She grabbed two men by their heads and smashed them together. She then started spinning them around, using them as sticks or batons of some kind, having them smash into their fellow goons and sending them flying.

'Zdenek you stupid asshole, why the fuck aren't you moving?! Wake up!'

Erykahs' anger and thoughts caused her focus to slowly diminish and wane, and the more she used her techniques, the more unstable her control over them became. Erykah was in the middle of fighting a larger than normal group, and had gotten herself surrounded which was a bad thing seeing as more could flock through the door if she took even slightly longer with this group, as it would have been enough time for them to recover. She singled out three guys and dashed towards them, grabbing two of them by their throats, pulling them towards herself before lifting them up and choke slamming them into the ground.

'Zdenek still hasn't gotten up. Maybe I need to finish these guys off and get him up and help him with Boris.'

Erykah let go of their throats, and head butted the third guy on the face before turning around and pointing her open palms at four more of them.

"Hydro Eruption!"

A large beam of water flew out from a ball that had formed in the space in front of her hands. The beam took the four out and sent them flying into the wall just next to the door.

'Where did end up landing? I couldn't turn around to look, but it should be to my right.'

Erykah then jumped up and did a backflip over the group that was closing in on her from behind. She landed behind them, and before they could all turn around, she did the clapping move and took out another three and sent them flying towards the rest.

'Fuck, there are still some guys left here, and I need to get rid of them!'

Erykah then lifted her clenched fists above her head once again, and took a deep breath.

"QUAKE; Richter Level TWO!"

She smashed her fists into the ground, trying to control the amount of force and the direction of the energy, although it was getting harder to and she didn't know why. Erykah attributed it to fatigue, thinking that it was becoming harder because she was becoming tired. She then thought that she had to finish the group off faster in order to get Zdenek and take on Boris with him. She then started getting frustrated because even though she had mowed the mob down to 20, which was more or less half of the original amount. She had been taking on them in groups of 10 - 15 at a time, and as one group recovered, she took on the next, with the weaker ones falling off and staying down. This tag team system if you like had been working for both parties as it kept the numbers that were taking on Erykah low, while it gave those she had been fighting previously time to recover some energy and try take her out again. She also couldn't take them out, because they were going to become members of Aegis and bolster their ranks, so she had to keep the severity of their injuries down to a minimum. The environment had also been a double edged sword for Erykah as if she was in a parking lot or something, she could have just destroyed them with a more powerful Quake, but she had to be conscious of the building. Being in a building however meant that they had to get at them through a door, which only allowed some many through at a time. If the grunts weren't so stupid, they could have destroyed the doorway to allow more of them to get through, however they were more concerned with defeating Erykah, as the rep they would have gotten for taking out the Alpha of Aegis was far more an interesting thought than things like strategies and the like.