Jak Koke - Clockwork asylum

Burnout smiled. "I know we don't have to, Mercury, but I want to. I want to feel your skull crack and collapse under my fingers. I've come a long way to watch you die."

Ryan held up his hands. "Listen. You stole something that doesn't belong to you, something you can't even understand. There's an easy way out of this where both of us leave this place alive. All you have to do is put the Dragon Heart on the ground and walk away."

Burnout cocked his head, as if he was listening to something inside his own skull. Then the smile returned. "Look at me, Mercury. You've left me with nothing. And for what? The Heart. You think I'm going to give up the only thing that makes all this worthwhile? Still, there is a way to end this easily."

"I'm listening."

"Why don't you lie down on the floor and let me kill you quickly. That way you won't have the shame of being beaten before you die. It would save you a lot of emotional distress." Then that scary laugh again.

Ryan shook his head. "So that's it, then. Neither one of us is going to give in."

Burnout went into a fighter's crouch. "That's it, Mercury. Let's dance, shall we?"

His movement was a blur, the fastest thing Ryan had ever seen. Burnout crossed the distance in the blink of an eye, and Ryan had just enough time to throw himself to the side as Burnout came rumbling at him like a tractor train out of control.

Except Burnout was in complete control. As Ryan leapt to the left, Burnout's right hand swung, open-handed, and caught Ryan across the chest.

The impact hit Ryan like a sledgehammer, and his body was lifted high into the air. Instinct made him roll with the fall.

Ryan came to his feet, a full three meters from where he'd been standing. His chest was on fire, and he magically channeled the pain away. When he could breathe again, he felt his ribcage, and realized that his body armor had been sliced to within a millimeter of the skin. Burnout was nowhere in sight.

"What the frag just happened?" Grind sounded completely confused. "One second he was in my sights, the next second he was gone. That fragger can move!"

"Position?" Ryan subvocalized.

"Wait a minute. Wait, I got him! Ryan, he's-"

"You still think you're a match for me, Mercury?"

Ryan spun to face the voice behind him, and just barely managed to deflect the high kick aimed for his head. The kick landed hard against his arm.

Ryan's left forearm went numb, and he rolled again, using the momentum of the kick to push himself out of harm's way. He staggered to his feet and forced himself to center.

Burnout was casually leaning against the trunk of the tree across the large center walkway.

Ryan stepped backward until his back was against a tree trunk. He could feel the cool ivy leaves rustling against his neck.

"You like how that feels, Mercury? To have your back against the proverbial wall?"

Ryan flexed his left arm, feeling the life come back in painful prickles. He smiled. "Not so much. The big difference is that I didn't put your back up against any wall, you did. You messed in business that didn't concern you and you thought you could get away with it."

"Just get him to move another half a meter, Quicksilver, and I've got the shot." Grind's voice was soft, full of concentration.

Jane broke in. "You got another minute and a half until lift off. Make whatever you're going to do count, 'cause if you're still standing at your present position when that room goes, I don't think even you could live through it."

The feeling in Ryan's arm was back to normal, and he smiled at Burnout. "I came in here to try and settle things without anyone getting hurt, especially the innocent woman you've got tied up. But I guess that time is through." Ryan forced his will to be calm, and felt the power channel down his arms to his hands.

"All right, Burnout. You want to dance, I'll dance with you." With that, Ryan threw out his hands, sending a battering ram of force straight at the cyberzombie.

Burnout tried to move, but even with his speed, he was way too late. The magical wall smashed into him, catching him in the chest and sending him flying. The marble tree he'd been leaning against cracked with a sound like thunder and tilted slightly to the side.

The cyberzombie rolled with the impact, turning his air time into a series of backward somersaults.

While Burnout was still in the air, Ryan moved. He leapt the first table of flowers in a graceful kicking motion. As Burnout hit the ground, catlike, with his feet under him, Ryan's foot smashed into the side of Burnout's head.

Ryan used the impact to drop himself back into a fighting stance, and Burnout fell with the sound of rending metal.

Ryan pulled his Manhunter and was about to pull the trigger when he heard Jane's voice in his ear. "Ryan, no! If you spark it now, I won't even be able to save Nadja. You're too close to her."

Burnout looked up and suddenly was scrambling toward him.

Ryan threw his body backward, catching the edge of the table directly behind him with his left hand.

He pulled his legs in tightly, and pushed off with his hand, causing him to flip over back into the center walkway.

Ryan stood for a second in the silence. Once again, Burnout had disappeared on him.

"Position?"

"He's standing right next to Daviar. He knows you won't pull the trigger if there's a chance you might hit her."

"Burnout!" Ryan called. "You talk big, but when push comes to shove, your cowardice shows through. Taking refuge behind a hostage, that takes guts. Yes, sir."

Out the corner of his eye, Ryan saw the form hurtling through the air, and he turned, the Manhunter ready to fire, but he never got the chance.

With a scream of rage, Burnout slammed into him. One metal hand grabbed the pistol's barrel, another caught Ryan's throat.

As they fell, Ryan slammed his free hand into Burnout's chest, packing a magical, as well as physical punch, and Burnout's body twisted in mid-air. The cyber-zombie's momentum carried him over Ryan's head, but the metal man kept his grip on Ryan's neck, and Ryan felt himself start to black out as his body was wrenched backward and down.

Ryan's grip on the Manhunter loosened for just a moment, and it was gone from his grasp.

Damn, he's strong.

Choking, he let his legs go over his head, and he found himself on top of Burnout's prone form, straddling the man's huge artificial torso.

Holding Ryan at arm's length above him, Burnout tightened his grasp, and a sparkling blackness began to close at the edges of Ryan's vision. Ryan struggled, his hands battering at Burnout's chrome body, bashing deep dents into the scarred metal. His legs thrashing, searching for purchase.

Then, just as his strength started to fail him, his flailing hands felt the Dragon Heart, tied to Burnout's waist.

Ryan touched it with his mind, and he felt its power surge through him.

"So we meet again, Ryan Mercury."

The voice dropped into Ryan's mind like an old lover, so familiar, yet so hostile.

I thought I might find you here, Lethe.

I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. The words had become a mantra in Lucero's mind and she couldn't shake them. She was back in the dark stain, at the metaplanar outcropping of stone. She sat at the edge of the newly reconstructed wedge of blackness, her back propped against the body of a young boy, his smooth skin cold against her spine.

Directly in front of her, Senor Oscuro was pulling another docile young girl toward the new altar of corpses. The pretty raven-haired child slipped on the blood of the latest victim" and dropped to her knees.

It had taken Oscuro a fraction of the time to create the new wedge-shaped stain near the tip of the outcropping. He worked with a renewed vigor that made Lucero ill, spilling blood and carving up corpses against the music. Pressing forward until the dark barrier came very close to the singer of the song.