Crystal Ch. 05

Tentacles had shot out of the water around the ice platform as another roar vibrated through the water. Quickly, Crystal shifted the platform of ice into a sphere. The moment it was formed, the tentacles struck, sending the sphere deep in the water, where the heroes in the ice sphere got a blurred look at the large creature.

Meanwhile, above the surface, Zipper, Hyper, Osprey, and Jasper was doing their best to deal damage to the Kraken's tentacles. Both Hyper and Jasper were firing intense beams and flames, respectively, at the tentacles at bay, but it was really Osprey and Zipper who was inflicting damage. Both heroes had blades (Zipper had knives and Osprey used his bladed wings) and were using them to make cuts on the Kraken's skin, which compared to the Kraken's size, were very small ones.

Still yet, the Kraken started focusing its attack on the two of them, annoyed that they were causing damage to it. Fortunately for Osprey and Zipper, they were small enough to quickly dodge the attacks and hack at the monster's skin. It took a while, but they were finally able to get past the thick skin as blood spurted from the Kraken's veins. There wasn't much coming out, but with the combined attacks of Osprey and Zipper, they were able to turn a small cut into a big gash.

Suddenly, the tentacles started flailing even more violently as something beneath the surface was happening to the Kraken. They went down under the water automatically as a roar shook the earth and the flying heroes watched the dark shape of the Kraken flee. The ice sphere suddenly bobbed up and was shifted back to an ice platform.

"I thought you guys were goners," Zipper said.

"What happened down there?" Osprey inquired.

"We couldn't see exactly what happened clearly, but it seemed like sharks had attacked the monster," Crystal informed. She made the ice platform larger and said, "Get on. We found the villains' hideout."

They got on and Crystal reshaped the platform back into the sphere and forced it to go down. There were still sharks around looking for the source of the blood, but the heroes passed harmlessly by them. As they went deeper, there was less sunlight reaching the depth they were at but Hyper made a ball of light in her hand, effectively taking care of that problem.

As they went deeper, they saw the underwater hideout standing about three feet tall. Crystal directed the sphere towards the one of the entrances. Entering the entrance, the heroes rushed forward and came into the command center.

"Disperse and find Max and the agents," Commander Shinobay ordered.

Quickly, the heroes grouped, ran their separate ways, and looked throughout the villains' base. Dot and Zipper checked each of the bedrooms, Hyper and Crystal checked the kitchen, Osprey and Cherry checked the bathrooms, Jasper and Shell checked the fitness rooms, and Ghost and Dr. Walton checked the other entrances.

"Any good news?" Commander Shinobay asked.

"None from us," Cherry sighed. The other groups reported the same thing.

"This isn't good," Commander Shinobay said. "It seemed like they knew we were coming and hightailed it out of here. We better get out immediately in case they left a trap for us."

"I told you we should've done that," they heard Dictator Jones say. Turning around, they saw Dr. Genie and Dictator Jones coming out a secret doorway. "We could've gotten rid of the whole hero squad in one blow and be over with it, but no, you just had to get everything from your lab."

"This is everything I've learned," Dr. Genie informed. "Without this, I'm practically amnesiac. Do you want me to restart on my experiments?"

"Alright, you have a point," Dictator Jones shuddered.

"Where is Max?" Crystal demanded.

"And the other agents," Jasper added.

"Hold up, one at a time," the Dictator smiled. "As you can see, the agents, and the villains for that matter, aren't here. You could say we decided to . . . move out."

"And Max?" Crystal growled.

"Oh, he's still here," Dr. Genie smiled. Calling into the secret doorway, she yelled, "You can come out now!"

Minutes later, the heroes were greeted by the one and only Max. He still in the same clothes he was in since they last saw him. There a few bruises on his face, to Crystal's anger, but he was still alive, that's all that mattered.

"Max, it's me Crystal," Crystal said, stepping forward. "We came to rescue you."

"Crystal hold up, something's not right," the Commander said, looking at wicked looks Dictator Jones and Dr. Genie were giving them.

But she ignored him. She finally had Max in her sights and she wasn't going to let him slip through her fingers. She stepped closer, still beckoning Max to come to her. When she was halfway, Max raised his hand at her and dark wisps from around everyone accumulated behind Max, morphing into a large black turret.

"Max," Crystal said, cautiously.

"His name is no longer Max," Dictator Jones announced. "It is now Dark Matter."

"Crystal, get back!" Hyper yelled.

Dark Matter closed his hand into a fist and the turret started firing. Crystal made a quick ice shield while the Commander covered the rest of the heroes with a force field.

"Ghost, I changed my mind, you're up!" the Commander yelled.

Nodding, Ghost turned intangible automatically and ran straight for Dark Matter. The turret turned on him and started firing but the bullets went through him. The moment he was close, Dictator Jones turned to him and mentally assaulted him into submissions. Quickly, Zipper raced forward and retrieved Ghost before he could be killed. Jasper flew out around the shield and fired a huge fireball at the villains and Dark Matter. Hyper also went around the shield, but going the opposite way, and fired a hyperbeam at the villains and Dark Matter.

The turret morphed into a shield around Dark Matter and the villains, protecting them from both attacks, then 'blew up' and forced the heroes to move back. Cherry teleported to the second floor and fired at Dictator Jones from above. The wisps reverted back to a shield, and then sent a tendril her way that pounced at her but Cherry teleported away. Dot immediately raced forward next and started clawing at the wisps, fighting her way through to get to Dr. Genie. Shell backed her up, blocking any attack coming at her from behind.

Unfortunately, they were forced back as they were picked up and thrown across the room. Surprisingly, the next to step up was Dr. Walton, pulling six different handguns out and firing at the villains'. This earned her Dark Matter's attention and he lashed out at her, but Commander Shinobay protected her with a shield. When he faced the Commander, Osprey swooped in front of them and shrieked a high pitched cry at the villains.

Dark Matter created another shield, but the sound passed through and made the shield vanish. Dr. Genie and Dictator Jones both covered their ears to lessen the pain, but there was no helping Dark Matter. He made a spear and threw it at Osprey, who tried to deflect it, but was still hit and went down. Zipper caught him before he hit the ground and brought him to the Commander to be protected.

"So we found a weakness," Osprey told Commander Shinobay.

Dark Matter made the shield again, this time making tendrils shooting out from random spots of the shield at the heroes. Those that weren't with the Commander ran and found safety with Crystal, as she was still trying to get through to Max.

"Will you help out for once?!" Jasper demanded. "If you haven't noticed, you're the only one who's not fighting!"

"That's because Max is being controlled," Crystal replied. "He's still fighting against Dictator Jones. I know it."

"Well do us a favor," Jasper growled. "Help Max by taking out Dictator Jones!"

She nodded pushed the ice shield at the villains. It blew up and Dark Matter made a gigantic fist to slam on top of the exposed heroes. They jumped to the side but Crystal gathered the ice shards and made a shield before the fist landed on top of her. Pulling the fist back, Dark Matter had it morph into a turret once again and pointed it at Crystal, who was stuck underneath a slab of concrete.

"Somebody get Crystal!" the Commander yelled.

Zipper was already moving to get Crystal when he suddenly stumbled and fell from a mental attack from Dictator Jones. Ghost tried crawling towards her as fast as he could but with every movement sparked another round of pain. Even Hyper and Jasper flew to get her but they crashed into a floating wall that appeared out of nowhere and disappeared when they fell.

Turning back to Crystal, Dark Matter once again closed his fist and the turret fired upon Crystal.

"CRYSTAL!!!" Hyper cried.

"HAHAHA!" Dictator Jones laughed menacingly. "Don't worry, you're up next."

When Dark Matter finished firing upon Crystal, he made the turret face the other heroes and prepared to fire.

"Any last words?" Dictator Jones grinned evilly.

"Yeah," Crystal said, climbing out of the hole. "You missed."

There was silence as everyone gaped at her. Even Dark Matter, with his aggressive expression on his face, was taken aback at her standing before him. And to add more to the confusion, there wasn't a mark or bullet hole in/on her. As a matter of fact, the only thing on her was the dust from the ground.

"How did you get out of that?" Dictator Jones stared, still awestruck.

"Your water pipes were underneath me," she smiled.

Dark Matter turned the turret at her but Crystal quickly dispatched of it by making a huge wave towards the villains. Dark Matter couldn't make a shield fast enough to cover them from all sides and the water smashed the villains against the wall. Sensing their defeat, again, Dr. Genie went through the secret door leaving her ally with the heroes.

"It's time to finish this Dark Matter," Dictator Jones declared. "I thought we were going to have fun with them for a while, but I guess I underestimated these heroes. Destroy them."

"He won't do it," Crystal smiled. As if to contradict what she said, Dark Matter made six turrets around the room and had them pointed at the heroes.

"You don't think so?" Dictator Jones chuckled. "I think he will."

"No he won't," Crystal countered. For some reason, her declaration got on his nerves and he attempted a mental assault on her. Unfortunately, she had already braced herself for the attack and redirected the attack back to him, giving him a brain freeze.

"What makes you think he won't kill you?" the Dictator replied.

"Because he could've made objects that really could've killed us, but he didn't," Crystal answered. "He could have grabbed us and slammed us until our heads bashed in. If you think about it, he really could have fired the turret even more intensely than what he did, but he didn't. Face it Jones, Max is fighting you and winning. You just don't know it."

Shocked, Dictator Jones slowly looked at Dark Matter. He was standing, almost frozen for a moment. Then, his body started shaking violently and an explosion went off around Dark Matter as he reverted back to Max.

"It's about time," Max grinned.

"I knew you could do it!" Crystal cried as she hugged Max tightly.

Seeing his loss, Dictator Jones ran for the secret door, but Hyper fired a beam in front of him, stopping his progress. Cherry appeared next to him suddenly and teleported him in the center of the group, where Crystal froze him to the ground.

"So what did Dr. Genie do to you?" Dr. Walton asked.

"Honestly, nothing," Max shrugged. "As it turned out, I had this ability since I was a child. Dictator Jones just darkened it when he kidnapped me and tried to turn me into a villain."

"So his plan failed . . . twice!" Hyper laughed. "It must suck to lose."

"I never lose," the Dictator growled.

The second he said that, he fired a mental explosion at the heroes, forcing them all to their knees. Looking at Crystal, he ordered her to release him. With no resistance, she unfroze him and was rewarded with an even more intense mental attack. At Max, Dictator Jones forced him to revert back to Dark Matter and stand by his side.

Slowly, Osprey rose and shrieked another high pitched cry at Dark Matter. Dark Matter fell to the ground immediately and Osprey then turned and flew straight into Dictator Jones, both of them crashing into the wall. However, Dark Matter had protected Dictator Jones from most of the pain, who stood and walked over to Crystal.

"I need to get rid of you first," he said. "Dark Matter, kill her."

"No," came the reply as Max fought for control over his body.

"You're still fighting?" Dictator Jones smiled at him. "Fine. I'll just do it myself."

He raised his arm and Max, and the rest of the heroes for that matter, watched in horror as his arm started to rise in synchronization. Immediately, Max forced his arm down, but with Dictator Jones' control over it, it was stronger than Max himself and continued to rise. It even made a gun and pointed it at Crystal.

"Pull the trigger," the Dictator ordered.

"Don't do it Max!" Commander Shinobay yelled.

"I can't stop it!" Max shouted. "I can't stop it!"

"Pull the trigger," the Dictator demanded.

"Don't do it Max!" Commander Shinobay yelled again.

Max struggled furiously to move his arm away. Like ticking time bomb, the arm continued to slowly rise until was just about straight with Crystal head. She put her hands in front of her face with the remainder of her strength, knowing it wouldn't be enough to stop the bullet.

"Pull the trigger," the Dictator demanded one last time.

It became apparent to Max that he was going to pull the trigger against his will. An idea suddenly came to him and, as detrimental as it was, he knew the only other option was Crystal's death. As his trigger finger started twitching, Max used his other arm to chop the elbow section of his arm. Like a reflex, the arm bent and the gun came under Max's chin . . . just as he pulled the trigger.

For a moment, it was as if time had frozen as everyone stared in shock as Max. Slowly, time continued as Max went limp and fell on his side. To everyone's surprise, Dictator Jones' head snapped back as he screamed in pain and fell to his knees like the rest of them.

The heroes helped one another stand as Dictator Jones' hold over them fell. The moment they were all standing, the secret door opened and Dr. Genie came out, as if she had watched everything that had transpired between Dictator Jones and the heroes. In her hands was a grenade launcher, from which she fired three smoke grenades. Whipping out her dart gun, she randomly fired into the expanding smoke cloud, hoping to hit as much heroes as she could.

When she ran out of ammunition, she ran into the smoke where she remembered Dictator Jones was and dragged him to the secret door. Before she stepped inside, she moved a rock next to the secret door and slammed her fist against it. Immediately, there were explosions all across the ceiling and water began pouring in the lair.

"Crystal, get us out of here!" Jasper yelled.

"I need to get Max," she replied, stumbling towards Max.

"Are you crazy?! You're still trying to get Max?" Jasper roared. "He's dead!"

"I'm not leaving without him," Crystal told him.

"Do you want us to drown?!" Jasper yelled. "Stop thinking about yourself for a moment and be a team player! The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few!"

Looking back, Crystal saw him holding Ghost, Commander Shinobay holding onto Zipper and Osprey, Shell carrying Dot, and Dr. Walton pulling Cherry and Hyper out of the water. Quickly, she made the ice shield over her partners to keep the water away and turned back to get Max. On her first step, water burst from the walls and the whole room began to flood.

Max's body was submerged under water and Crystal ran to get him. Out of the corner of her eye, Crystal also saw loose debris about to fall on the floating sphere. 'If the debris hit the sphere, it'll break the ice,' Crystal realized. She also realized she wasn't going to get Max's body and save the other heroes in the sphere. A few rocks fell next to her and looking up, she saw a giant slab of rock being pushed out from the pressure of water above her. She leaped one side as it hit the ground where she stood.

The rock was positioned between her and Max, effectively ruining any chance of getting Max back. Turning back, she brought the ice sphere to her, away from the danger of the loose debris. Stepping inside, she forced the ocean water to press harder against the ceiling until the entire ceiling gave way. As the room filled up, sphere was floated safely until it reached the surface of the water.

"We made it," Jasper gasped. "We actually made it out."

"Let's not celebrate yet," the Commander said. "We didn't accomplish any of the goals we set today. Crystal, take us to the Florida Heroes Tower, please."

*****Not what you expected, right? I know what you're thinking, "DM23, you weren't supposed to get rid of Max." My response, "I've wanted to get finished with this idea for a while now and now that this idea is finished, I can continue to the second phase. And, for all those who are still interested in reading this story, let me give you a little spoiler alert: Max isn't dead. I'm still using him because he is a major part of the plot, besides the sex. So just rest in the fact in knowing that you will see Max again and be ready for more stories, action, and sex along the way. And don't forget to comment your thoughts whether you like this story or not!" DM23*****