How to Date a Superhero Ch. 09

But Mega-Girl didn't back down.

Her fist balled at her side and she stared towards the twelve-foot monster in his bright orange prison pants, "This day just keeps getting better and better... it's been a while since we tangled, Leviathan. I heard you escaped prison."

"LEVIATHAN KILL YOU NOW," his baritone voice boomed, "THEN LEVIATHAN RICH."

Mega-Girl cracked her knuckles, "Ten million, I heard. You should finally be able to afford some new pants."

"LITTLE GIRL MAKE FUNNY JOKES. LEVIATHAN SMASH LITTLE GIRL!"

Despite her outward confidence, Mega-Girl wasn't sure she could defeat her newest foe. She had battled the Leviathan once before, but on that occasion the entire World League fought at her side. No one knew what the Leviathan was or where he came from; he certainly didn't appear human with his immense size, bluish-grey skin, and ridged scalp. Mega-Girl only knew that the Leviathan's strength was on par with hers, he was nearly impervious to harm, and incredibly savage.

She decided her only advantage was her speed and power of flight, so Mega-Girl took to the air as the Leviathan barreled towards her. She darted around at head-level as the Leviathan swung a hammer-like fist towards her and missed. The Leviathan swung and missed again but Mega-Girl flew backwards out of his reach.

"STAY STILL," the Leviathan boomed, growing annoyed as he tried unsuccessfully to grab her out of mid-air.

"Yeah, right," Mega-Girl kept her distance, waiting for an opening. It came when the Leviathan tried a wild haymaker and became momentarily unbalanced. Mega-Girl shot forward and slugged him across his cheek with all her strength.

Her punch actually staggered the monster.

The Leviathan shook his head to clear the cobwebs and grimaced, "LITTLE GIRL HIT HARD, BUT NOTHING CAN STOP LEVIATHAN."

Weary of missing punches, the unearthly villain swung his arms together in a massive clap. The resulting shockwave of air and sound waves hit Mega-Girl with as much power as a fist, spinning her through the air. She landed hard and tumbled across the sand. The Leviathan leapt after her, crashing down on top of Mega-Girl. He hammered her with several blows, driving her into the ground.

Mega-Girl desperately grasped outwards, clutching for anything that might help her. Her hand only found gravely sand, so that's what she used.

"ARGH!" the Leviathan bellowed after Mega-Girl threw the sand into his eyes. He backpedaled and covered his eyes with a forearm, temporarily blinded.

Taking advantage, Mega-Girl peeled herself off the ground and launched herself into the air. She peppered the Leviathan with punch after punch, connecting solidly across his face with every swing. She was sure she had him on the ropes, but then that terrible lightning struck her again.

Cyclone swooped through the air above the titanic battle, riding on his own winds. Buying time for the Leviathan to recover, he gestured with his arm and sent another bolt arcing downward.

Mega-Girl screamed and fell to the ground. Each strike of lightning filled her body with pain and made her muscles spasm and convulse uncontrollably. She knew she only had moments before the Leviathan would recover and begin raining more of his viscous blows upon her, but there was nothing she could do to stop it.

=======

Apollo awoke in his bed to the sound of a television reporter covering the events taking place a few short miles from his condominium. He looked towards the TV in the corner of his bedroom and quickly ascertained that Mega-Girl was in trouble. A wave of uncertainty washed over him as he crawled from bed. He wanted to teleport to her side and join in the battle, but for some reason he couldn't muster the will to move. It was like a murky fog was clouding his mind, preventing him from any decisive act.

Sensing something was amiss he placed a palm to his forehead, "What foul sorcery...?"

Wondering where his sister was, Apollo staggered to his feet to seek Artemis' aid. Moving on unsure legs he heard voices coming from the adjoining bathroom and leaned against his bedroom wall, sliding against it towards the bathroom door.

"The attack has begun," he heard an unpleasantly dark voice say, "Is my nephew subdued?"

"Yes, my lord," Artemis' voice replied, "I have spent the last week seducing him body and soul. He belongs to me now."

"Make sure he stays that way. Do not forget how dangerous he is -"

Pushing the bathroom door open Apollo stumbled inwards to see a naked Artemis, horns protruding from her forehead, speaking to a shadowy image in a mirror above the sink. "Treachery!" he snarled, lunging forward.

The demon's horns quickly retreated into her forehead and she looked human once again, exactly like Artemis, but it was too late. Apollo saw her ruse for what it was and grabbed her around the throat. "Apollo!" she gasped, suddenly strained for breath, "It is me... your sister... you love me... you don't want to hurt-"

Apollo squeezed harder when he felt the seductive magic of the succubus' voice cloud his mind further, "Cease thy wagging tongue, demoness!" Only his anger prevented her magic from working its full effect.

The succubus grasped desperately towards the mirror but found no aid from its image. With a loud snap her neck broke and her head fell back limply. Apollo let go of her form, letting it fall to the bathroom floor. He turned towards the shadowy figure of his uncle.

"Your will has grown strong over the centuries," Pluto chuckled, a sound like glass breaking. "Few can overcome the seductive claws of my pets."

"PLUTO!" Apollo screamed, already feeling the fog of the demon's magic leave him. "Curse thy interference! How dare you send thy shape shifting demons to possess me with their foul magicks!"

Pluto chuckled again, "Do not pretend you didn't enjoy a week of lust-fueled passion with your dear 'twin'. I know all about your incestuous dalliances with Artemis."

"That was centuries ago!" Apollo fumed, "I forsook her, as I did all of Olympus!"

"Evidently you still have unresolved feelings for her," Pluto taunted.

"Where is she?" Apollo demanded, "Where is the real Artemis?"

"Artemis is in Olympus, of course, where she returned shortly after acquiring the bow of Minerva for me. You see, Apollo, it would seem Artemis has unresolved feelings for you as well; feelings of jealousy, betrayal, and hatred. You abandoned her, as you did all of Olympus. She was all-too willing to help me in my plan to acquire the soul of your precious Penelope and trade me the bow."

Apollo slammed his fist on the bathroom counter, cracking its marble surface, realizing he had been played for a fool. He thought back to the moment of Artemis' return a week prior and the way she grasped his cheeks, looked him in the eye, and kissed him. Apollo suddenly knew that was the moment the succubus trapped him with her magic and swayed him to betray Penelope. It was the second time one of his uncle's demons had possessed his mind against Mega-Girl and Apollo swore to himself there would not be a third.

"Thy schemes will fail," Apollo growled, "No longer will I suffer any demonic spells or conjurings."

Pluto laughed, "You are too late, nephew. No doubt my agents have already succeeded in killing your mortal love. I will make her the Queen of Hades, and together we will be invincible! All of Olympus will tremble at our might! My realm will be filled with the corpses of war and together we will consume my brother's cursed Olympus!!"

The shadowy image faded and Apollo screamed with anger, punching the mirror and shattering it into a thousand pieces. He ran from the bedroom to gather his shining armors and quicksilver spear, donning them with haste. Once suitably prepared for war, he vanished in a brilliant flash of light.

=======

News vans lined the Claremont Bridge and all the major networks were covering the titanic fight. Cyclone's storm clouds continued to loom above, creating a dramatic backdrop for all the rolling cameras. The entire country, if not the world, was watching the battle between Mega-Girl and the Leviathan. Their fight had carried them a quarter-mile up river to a shipping facility with a large warehouse, hundreds of steel shipping crates, and a tall crane used for loading barges. Adding to the drama was the sudden arrival of a silvery VTOL jet and three members of the World League: Dr. Prizm, Brickhouse, and Astro Boy. They landed on a section of freeway nearby that had been cordoned off by police.

Dr. Prizm quickly took charge as the trio exited their jet. "Brickhouse," he said, adjusting his reflective goggles to telescope mode while surveying the area, "It looks like Mega-Girl needs some help with the Leviathan."

Brickhouse was a tall and muscular man with red skin and grooves in his flesh that made his body look like it was made of literal bricks, "I thought we were supposed to be arresting her?"

"That will have to wait," Dr. Prizm instructed, "We need to gain control of this situation first. Astro Boy - see what you can do about the weather."

"No problem," Astro Boy grinned, a blonde-haired lad only eighteen years old; he wore a blue and white spandex costume without a mask. A Saturn-like symbol decorated the chest and upper arms of the skintight outfit.

While Astro Boy flew into the air and Brickhouse ran towards the shipyard, Dr. Prizm turned towards the police to coordinate efforts with them. He quickly learned that the police had successfully arrested twelve of Two-Fold's duplicates, but thirty-eight more had fled the scene and remained at-large. Madam Venom and the Jester were also gone.

Cyclone remained, however, and it didn't take Astro Boy long to locate the villain hovering on his winds high in the sky.

"Hi," Astro Boy waved a cocky hand, flying right in front of Cyclone, "My name is Astro Boy. I'm here to inform you that the National Weather Service has not authorized any thunderstorms for this area. Please cease and desist all further weather manipulations."

Cyclones face twisted, "What? Screw you, kid!" He gestured with an arm and summoned a bolt of lightning.

The crackling electricity lit the sky and struck Astro Boy squarely, but it didn't seem to bother him. In fact, he spread his arms and legs and seemed to enjoy it. "By the way..." Astro Boy grinned, "I absorb energy. But you know what's even cooler than that? When I shoot it back out!"

"Oh shit!" Cyclone spun in the air, gesturing to summon a wind that would carry him away as fast as possible.

Unfortunately for Cyclone, wind was not faster than light. Astro boy thrust his arms forward and ejected a portion of the energy he had absorbed, shocking Cyclone and knocking the villain unconscious. Astro Boy caught him before Cyclone hit the ground and flew him towards a group of waiting police.

=======

Brickhouse grabbed an empty shipping container and hefted it high in the air above his head before the Leviathan noticed his presence. He leapt and swung the container at the same time, smashing the massive steel box down on the Leviathan's head from behind the brute. The blow carried enough force that the steel tore open, encasing the Leviathan inside.

"Brickhouse!" Mega-Girl was happy to see him. She had been reeling against the Leviathan, unable to damage the monster with even her strongest blows.

"You look like shit," Brickhouse looked at her tattered and burnt costume.

"I'm hanging in there," Mega-Girl wiped her mouth with the back of a hand. She was surprised to see her own blood staining the skin of her hand, "Where's the rest of the League?"

There wasn't an opportunity for Brickhouse to answer as the Leviathan tore free of the steel container, "LITTLE GIRL GOT A FRIEND. DON'T MATTER. NOTHING CAN STOP LEVIATHAN."

Brickhouse charged forward. He was a foot and a half taller than Mega-Girl and outweighed her by nearly two hundred pounds, but even a man of Brickhouse' stature looked puny in comparison. The Leviathan simply outclassed him. Brickhouse wasn't nearly as strong as Mega-Girl, and though he was made of sturdy stuff he didn't share her level of invulnerability either. He managed to land a solid uppercut on the Leviathan, but it didn't even phase the behemoth. Brickhouse took the Leviathan's first counter punch, and the second, but the third felled him.

Mega-Girl returned to the fray, afforded a second wind by the distraction Brickhouse had offered. She hammered the Leviathan with a rain of blows, knocking him back on his heels. When he was off-balance, she grabbed his massive wrist in both of her hands and twirled around. The Leviathan was pulled from his feet, spun, and tossed. He crashed against the shipping crane, its metal supports rending against the impact. It took only moments for the entire steel structure of the crane to collapse on top of the Leviathan in a chaotic mess of noise and dust.

Brickhouse was regaining his feet, clearly addled. "Damn," he remarked, "That sonuvabich hits hard..."

"You might want to sit this one out," Mega-Girl suggested jokingly, "If you didn't bring your big-boy pants."

Brickhouse frowned at Mega-Girl, all five-foot-seven of her. He didn't like being challenged by someone who looked like they belonged on the cover of Seventeen magazine, "Maybe throwing him into that crane finished him off?"

Mega-Girl sighed and looked towards the settling dust, "You weren't with the League the last time we fought the Leviathan, were you?"

Brickhouse shook his head.

"Didn't you know?" Mega-Girl rolled her neck and cracked it...

The savage monster burst out of the wreckage, his visage a snarled mess of anger, "NOTHING CAN STOP LEVIATHAN!!"

A multi-colored beam of energy fired from above impacted against the Leviathan's face, temporarily blinding and slowing the gargantuan. "We need to work together," Dr. Prizm landed between Mega-Girl and Brickhouse, able to fly with his anti-gravity belt.

Mega-Girl knew Dr. Prizm well, had known the man beneath the goggled mask ever since she was a little girl. She respected him as a mentor and as a leader, "You won't get any argument from me, especially since hitting him for the last half hour hasn't gotten me anywhere. Where's the rest of the League?"

"Dealing with a situation in Europe," Brickhouse replied.

"We need to get Leviathan off his feet," Dr. Prizm barked, "Brickhouse, I want you to hit him low, at his legs. Mega-Girl, you go high. Once Astro Boy is finished dealing with Cyclone he can -"

A brilliant flash of light exploded in the sky before Dr. Prizm could finish detailing his plan and all three heroes looked upwards to see the arrival of Apollo, clad in his ancient Roman armor and hovering in the sky. He seemed to be glowing with an aura of yellowish light, which intensified by the second.

Brickhouse was the only one of the three who had never met the world-famous god, "Holy shit, is that -?"

"Yep," Mega-Girl replied dryly, "It's my ex-boyfriend. This day just keeps getting better and better."

"This is fortuitous," Dr. Prizm analyzed the situation, "We could use the help."

Though he was hundreds of feet in the air Apollo's voice boomed loud enough for all to hear, "Prepare thyself, monster! Feel the UNFETTERED MIGHT of Apollo, God of the Sun!!"

The Leviathan cast his gaze upwards, still struggling from Dr. Prizm's blinding strobe-light flash, "HUH? PUNY GOD! NOTHING CAN STOP LEVIATHAN!"

"Oh shit," Mega-Girl's expression darkened, "Guys, we need to clear out of here. Now!"

"What's going on?" Brickhouse asked confusedly, backing away.

"I'm not sure," Mega-Girl grabbed Brickhouse's arm and tugged urgently, "But the last time I heard Apollo talk about his 'unfettered might' he said something about the whole planet shuddering..."

Dr. Prizm spoke into a radio intercom device at his wrist, "Astro Boy! Stay clear! Get as many civilians and police away as you can!"

Mega-Girl hoisted Brickhouse and flew into the air, away from the staggered Leviathan. Dr. Prizm activated his anti-gravity belt and followed after her.

Once the three heroes were clear, Apollo's halo of light suddenly exploded from around him and the very sky itself split open, a column of blinding energy shooting downwards from the heavens. It disintegrated the clouds Cyclone had summoned, a half-mile in diameter - a giant beam of pure solar energy.

The Leviathan squinted at its approach, lifting a forearm to shield his already sensitive eyes. "NOTHING CAN STOP-"

The beam struck and swallowed the Leviathan at its center. The beam fell on both ground and water. The river boiled under such intense heat, evaporating instantly and creating a giant plume of steam. Everything on the ground was burned to ash instantly; even the steel containers and crumpled crane could not resist such power and was reduced to molten slag. It scorched the earth, blackening the ground all around the wide beam and lighting the very air on fire.

Every living thing within a mile radius of the impact felt a wave of heat wash over them like a physical force. The windows of nearby police cars shattered and the people gathered on the Claremont Bridge were knocked off their feet. Mega-Girl and her companions were closest and each of them felt as though their backs were on fire. Mega-Girl knew Dr. Prizm couldn't fly as fast as she could and reached out for his wrist, pulling him along while flying as fast as possible away from Apollo's incomprehensible display of raw power.

It was like the sun itself had sent forth a portion of its power, a terrifying column of pure death. Energy poured from the sky, hammering the Earth and burning the very ground. Anything and everything within its half mile circumference was completely destroyed.

When it ended there was a circular crater a half mile wide and fifty feet deep, the ground within blackened and crystalized.

Mega-Girl flew Dr. Prizm and Brickhouse to a portion of freeway the police had cordoned off, where Astro Boy had also delivered a reporter and cameraman that had wandered too close to the battle.

"Jesus Christ!" Brickhouse hollered, Is the Leviathan dead? Nothing could have survived that!"

Astro boy also looked impressed, "The amount of energy... I wouldn't be able to absorb even a sliver of that much power!

Mega-Girl didn't allow herself a moment to gawk in wonder. She turned immediately to fly back and check on the damage but Dr. Prizm stopped her.

"Wait," he said, "I'm sorry, Penny, but I can't let you go. You're under arrest."

Mega-Girl laughed humorlessly, "You're kidding, right?"

Astro Boy and Brickhouse moved behind Dr. Prizm, ready to back him up.

"I'm afraid not," Dr. Prizm replied, feeling guilty for what he had to do. "I'm afraid we were sent here to arrest you. You're being charged with murder."

Mega-Girl watched as several police officers moved their hands towards holstered hips. She knew she could take them all on and probably win, even though she was exhausted from fighting the Leviathan, but she didn't want to. "I'll go with you, but I have to talk to Apollo first."

Dr. Prizm glanced around Mega-Girl to see Apollo descend and land on the crater lip. "Keep it short," he finally agreed.

Mega-Girl nodded and flew back to the scene of the fight, landing at Apollo's side. She looked down into the crater and was shocked to see the Leviathan lying at its center, his orange pants disintegrated but otherwise unharmed. He was, however, unconscious. "Holy crap," she remarked, "Can anything penetrate that hide of his?"

"T'was only a portion of my unfettered might," Apollo grunted, "Its full measure would have destroyed the city."

Mega-Girl turned to him, "You came here, to help me?" She had mixed feelings regarding Apollo's arrival. She was happy for his help, but still angry over his betrayal.