Chapter 73 – Distraction Pt. 3

August 27, 2010 - Gotham City, NJ

Gotham Sewers

4:20:27

No one even had time to scream as they plunged toward the churning waters below. There was a shower of bricks and rusted metal below them and Superboy twisted in mid air, as everything falling slowed perceptibly from a blurring rush to a more sedate pace. Gravity continued to assert itself forcefully but as he engaged his superspeed, he had the time to perceive and move before they struck the water that was approaching at a worrying speed. His eyes flicked between his teammates as he evaluated who needed his help before they all hit the water along with rubble beneath them. 

Aqualass; she’s closest but she’ll be fine. Tough enough to handle hitting the water and the platform, and water is her element.

Ms. Martian; tougher than she looks and she can density shift if she needs to. Actually, she’s pulling away… she’s using her telekinesis. Smart girl!

Next was Kid Quick, who was moving at nearly regular speed as she began to windmill her arms while pointing downward, the air already oscillating. She glanced at him as he moved, and gave him a wink and a grin, before throwing her head towards Robin. He returned the nod at superspeed and kicked off the railing he had just been holding, putting a new dent in it as he flew towards Robin. Her hand was just touching her grapnel gun as they fell.

Robin! Kid’s fine but Robin isn’t going to swing away in time. And if she hits the platform, she’ll break!

He wrestled his fear for her down and steeled himself, angled his body into a spear, reaching out with an arm as he rocketed past her, snagging the back of her canary yellow utility belt. It's much heavier than he would have thought, and Robin almost folded in half when she felt the jerk. Superboy cannoned toward one of the massive support columns that hold up the vaulted ceiling overhead, reaching out with his free hand to sink his fingers into the brickwork, slowing their flight, now more horizontal than vertical. 

Bricks shattered under his fingernails as he drew a line across the column, lurching into open space again as he ran out of runway to brake. The brief burst of superspeed ended and time resumed its normal progress, the dull roar of the swirling water below spinning back up like a record that had been slowed down and now sped back up. Seeing that he was about to hit the water with Robin, he twisted to be right side up and chucked her toward the ceiling. As he falls toward the water, he saw her fire the grapnel into the wall and swing around the column, and then everything disappeared in a frothing maelstrom as he plunged into the depths.

The water in the storm drain chamber dragged powerfully at him, and if he were still human, he would never come back up again. Thankfully, he no longer has to worry about the frailty of the human condition. Water that would be shockingly cold is merely an annoyance, and as soon as he can get his feet under him, a few swimming strokes propelled him back to the surface. The current was still dragging him toward the whirlpool in the cavernous chamber’s center, ringed by support columns like the one he had just scoured with his fingertips. More rusting catwalks sat a story or more above them, clinging to the walls and crossing between columns, and massive pipework hangs all around the edges, dumping a deluge of water into the chamber every minute, while the whirlpool sent it down into some stygian drain.

Casting about, he saw Aqualass knifing through the water towards Kid Quick, who was visibly sweating as she windmilled her arms into cyclones, the air pressure turning her into a living hovercraft. Ms. Martian hovered above the two, eyes aglow as she kept herself flying and extended a hand toward Kid to keep the speedster out of the water. 

Kid slowed her windmilling arms, relief flooding her face as she realized she was held safe in the Martian’s telekinesis. Aqualass rose out of the water on a column of glowing, much cleaner water. Catching Kid in the column, she pushed them toward a nearby platform. 

As Superboy saw the trio heading for safety he directed his attention back to the ceiling, in time to see Robin swinging on her grapnel line towards the same platform, and breathed a sigh of relief. With a few powerful kicks, he shot through the water to reconvene. 

But as he saw the rusted pipe above the team’s new sanctuary rear up like a serpent, he tried to shout a warning that came too late.

The massive pipe peeled away from the wall, as thick around as a barrel, and it slammed into Aqualass with inexorable force. She never saw it coming, folding around the blow and was hurled across the chamber, slamming into a far wall and dropping back into the water.

WIth a sickening speed, the ‘pipe’ finished peeling off the wall and slammed wetly into the platform, rocking it and the others as its weight settled. The patina of rust faded away and its thick trunk sprouted arms and legs, the open end of the pipe revealing a ghastly vision of a cruelly grinning human face. The mouth was wider than his shoulders, filled with crooked yellowed teeth, no nose above it, only a pair of dimly glowing yellow eyes above. As the creature resumed a humanoid shape and shed its disguise, it towered over the heroes, eight feet tall and half as wide, a body made of a light brown clay that oozed and flowed even as it spread its arms wide and roared at them. It moved less like a person and more like a wave, as it had no joints and each of its limbs undulated toward them. Its right hand swelled into a massive square hammer, the size of an engine block, covered in short spikes. The other twisted into a massive hooked sickle claw, the clay of its arms hardening into a stone-like consistency.

…I have never realized how horrifying Clayface is. Fuck me, we’re in a horror movie.

Then, a trio of beeping birderangs sprouted from the protean villain’s face, before exploding with sharp bangs. Each carved halfway into Clayface’s visage before detonating, sending splatters of clay in all directions. He was practically decapitated by the volley, and Superboy paled in shock at the brutality. But even as he did, the neck of the monster writhed and twisted and reformed that awful head again. With a whipping motion, Clayface swung his sickle claw towards Robin as she sailed by on her grapnel line. The Girl Wonder evaded the strike but it caught her rope, sheering through it. She dropped out of sight, flaring her cape out to glide away.

Kid Quick and Ms. Maritan wasted no time as Robin fell back and Superboy plunged forward, trying to reach the battle. He felt the familiar brush against his thoughts as Ms. Martian brought up the mindlink, allowing them communicate while the water drowned out all sound but Clayface’s bestial roars.

Ms. Martian: Mindlink is up!

Robin: I’ll get Aqualass, you three keep him busy! We are not here to engage, just stall for time. 

Kid Quick: Right, stall for time. What do we even do against this guy?

Superboy: Stick and move, don’t get your hand stuck… in him. He’ll suck you in!

Kid Quick: Oh, gross, dame!

Superboy’s telepathic warning came too late as Kid zipped along and up the wall, launching supersonic punches that splatted into the clay of the villain’s form, leaving craters that nearly instantly filled back in, and then began sprouting little tendrils that reached out grasp at Kid’s wrists. She backpedaled desperately, but the tendrils sticking to her hands stretched to keep her hooked like a fish on the line. The sight made Clayface laugh, a deep and rumbling noise that had an ugly note, and he raised his hammerfist up to squash Kid.

But with a telekinetic burst, the tendrils holding the speedster down ripped apart and she retreated to a safe distance. Ms. Martian floated closer, eyes glowing a fierce emerald color as she exerted her telekinesis. The hammer blow fell and smashed a hole in the platform, causing it to shake as well. They were only twenty feet off the water’s surface, and Superboy finally reached them. He dove down to hit the bottom of the cavern’s cistern, kicking off to launch himself into the air. Flying out of the water like a submarine launched ballistic missile, he saw his target below him and angled himself toward it. He raised both hands in an axe handle smash and swung down as he came in for a kinetic landing. Clayface was just turning to face Ms. Martian and swing his sickle claw arm toward her when Superboy hit the shapeshifter like a meteor.

There was a sudden moist impact as he hit Clayface, and it disturbed him how much it felt like throwing a lump of clay in art class. The exact same heavy, wet and sticky sensation, but he hit this lump hard enough that it burst apart in a messy spray that coated his teammates and the walls. Both hands slammed down into the platform, buckling it, but it didn’t fall. He slowly stood back up, seemingly confused as to where the villain had gone. Looking down, he realized it was all over him. They were all covered in the tan, sticky mass and Ms. Martian frantically tried to get it out of her hair, to no avail. He looked up to meet Kid’s gaze. She blinked at him through a mud mask, then raised both hands like he’d scored a touchdown.

Kid Quick: Flawless victory! Let’s get Aqualass, go home and tell Bats the good news.

Ms. Martian: I don’t detect Clayface’s thoughts… I thought I would, this close. But the clay gives off nothing.

Superboy: Uh… I didn’t… kill him, did I?

A sinking feeling washed over him as he looked down at his clay coated fists and peered about at the tan goo coating everything around him. Some had flown into the water and was bobbing on the surface while the rest dripped off of them and the wall. His racing heart started to slow as the danger appeared to pass.

Robin: I doubt it. He took everything we threw at him this morning and laughed it off. You said he just regenerates, right? He’s been doing it all day. 

Superboy: Right… is that why you blew his head off to start? That was pretty ruthless.

Robin: You’re the subject matter expert here, did that look like it bothered him? He just grew a new head.

Superboy: Okay, I’ll concede that one. Still, it was pretty fucked up to watch.

Robin: You literally just splattered him. You’re COVERED in him!

Superboy: …Okay, I will concede that one as well. I need a shower.

Ms. Martian: It would appear Superboy’s intel was on the money. It seems his intellect IS distributed through all of his matter. That must be why I can’t read his mind! Hello, Megan! His psyche is too dispersed to read normally. I need to adapt my own brain to something like that in order to match him telepathically.

The Martian girl wasted no time as she put her fingertips to her temples and Superboy was treated to the sight of her skull shifting beneath her red hair. He would have thought it a disturbing sight if he hadn’t just witnessed Clayface’s protean body in all its earthly glory, and splattered it across his friends in a single blow. When she was done, her eyes glowed again before a worried look passed over freckled face.

Ms. Martian: I think I’ve got him now, but he’s all over the place. He’s in… all of this stuff! Ew, its in my hair! HE’S in my hair!

Robin: Hair, later! Did we get him? I got Aqualass.

So she did; Robin was swinging on her reloaded grapnel, Aqualass’ limp form hanging off one shoulder. Superboy moved to relieve her of the burden as soon as he landed, and Aqualass groaned in his arms as her storm grey eyes fluttered open. Her eyes seemed to swim as she looked around and realized where she was.

Aqualass: What happened?

Kid Quick: Bad guy got the drop on us. He knocked you for a loop and then SB pasted him. Be glad you missed that part, some of him is up my nose.

They all rounded on Kid with a collective look of disgust as she shared that detail, which made her throw up her hands in indignant anger.

Kid Quick: What, I can’t be bothered by that but Ms. M can be upset about her hair?

Aqualass tried to stand on her own as Superboy set her down, but her knees wobbled and he caught her before she fell, clasping at her head.

Superboy: Hey, easy! You took a nasty hit. 

Aqualass: I should have… noticed the ambush. 

Superboy noticed how much she sagged as she communicated that, and it wasn’t just her injury. The wind had gone out of her sails, and it made his heart ache.

Superboy: None of us noticed it. He’s a shapeshifter, and Ms. Martian couldn’t detect him. This is what he does. 

Aqualass: Regardless, I am the team leader. Command, and responsibility, fall to me.

Kid Quick: But you delegated command to Robin. SHE led us into an ambush.

Robin: Hey!

Kid looked at her best friend and shrugged apologetically, looking guilty, even as her hands blurred while she wiped Clayface’s remains off her face and costume.

Kid Quick: Not trying to throw you under the bus, dame. But you were happy to take command when we started.

In his private thoughts he held back from the mindlink, Superboy actually agreed with that assessment, even if it felt mean. Robin had been leading down here, but she had also been fighting Clayface all morning. A moment’s inattention while the villain lay in wait like an ambush predator wasn’t that out of line. But he saw how much it angered Robin; her brow furrowed and her fists balled as she glared at Kid. She looked like she was getting ready to say something, or think it, when Ms. Martian cut in.

Ms. Martian: I think I’ve got him now… his consciousness has abandoned his... remains here. But he’s still conscious? I don’t see how. His mind is still nearby, just not in this goop.

Superboy looked around, scanning every corner of the room with telescopic sight and infrared, but saw nothing. The clay coating him was cold, room temperature. But he didn’t spot a reforming Clayface anywhere. The others also looked around, with Aqualass barely able to keep her head up, even as he supported her.

Robin: Spread out and search. Its not over yet.

Kid Quick: I thought we were just supposed to tail him?

Robin: And now we’ve lost the trail, so we have to find it again. Batwoman is still workshopping a solution based on the intel Superboy provided, so we have to get after him.

There came a sudden metallic banging above, and Superboy’s gaze snapped to the ceiling and the maze of pipes girding it. He saw one of those pipes move like a serpent again, and smash against a larger one. Blasting a telepathic alert, he helped Aqualass to lean on the railing and pointed out the target. 

But Clayface was too far away, at the top of the cavernous cistern, and they were down their able archer. Robin was already firing her grapnel and using it to haul herself up just as Ms. Martian flew toward the villain. But before they could get in range, Clayface smashed into the larger pipe one more time and a massive crack appeared in it. Water rushed out in a high pressure jet and the whole chamber shuddered as the massive water main pipe shook. The stress widened the crack, allowing more water to escape, which swiftly ripped the pipe apart. A veritable ocean of water cascaded toward them, and Superboy barely had time to brace Aqualass against him as the tsunami of water slammed into them.

Then everything became watery confusion.