Sell you a Bridge chapter 224

April 20th 2016 Appalachian Mountains 9:00 PM EDT

The  ridiculous mustachiod weirdo fighting my girls was...shockingly tough. I  didn't jump right in, since I wanted to know what I was getting into  and my girls could take care of themselves. Zee was going full battle  goddess, hurling purple lightning and an endless string of spells from a  distance while Dreamer got in close and was hammering away at the  distracted biker guy. Despite all of this though, the huge red eyed,  chalk skinned behemoth was cackling like he was at at a comedy show.  "Keezy fems! The main man can't be taken down by party tricks or little  girl punches! "

He  reached up to his back and pulled off some sort of claw  handled...thing. It was a sort of hooked bet. He swung it down at  Dreamer like a falling star dropping from the sky, and I blurred across  the  open space, knocking my girlfriend aside as I called Tartarus back  to my hand. The was a rumbling boom as the impact force rippled out  around us and the ground beneath me cratered but stayed whole, probably  thanks to the base below us.

The  huge alien's red eyes narrowed at me. "The main man hasn't seen a  keyblade in a long time metal man. You must be pretty strong to wield  one of those. Strong or not though the main man isn't going to fail to  uphold a contract. Nothing personal, just business." He stomp kicked me  right in the chest and I felt my feet lift off the ground as I rocketed  backwards. I stopped dead about five feet away, my augmented wings  taking a bit to counter the force of my flight. I winced as I felt  actual pain on my chest. This guy hit fucking hard.

It  was pretty obvious Zee's intervention was the only thing that kept him  from swatting Dreamer like a fly.  I banished Tartarus, dropping to the  ground. "You were just beating on my girls. That seems pretty fucking  personal to me. But sure, I guess when I cave in your fucking skull  it'll just be business. Maybe I can write it off on my taxes." I blurred  forward and slammed my fist into his gut, doubling him over and setting  up a brutal upper cut that slammed  into his face and sprawled him over  backwards.

He  wasn't as durable as he was strong, but even as I watched his flesh  knitted back together and he rocketed to his feet with a crazy grin.  "The metal man can take a punch and dish one out! The main man is  impressed. Let's see how many of those you have left in you." He roared  and threw another punch at me, smashing a right cross into the side of  my face and following it with a body blow.

I  felt both punches. He hit WAY harder than Metallo, and while he wasn't  nearly as durable, that insane regeneration implied stamina that was  probably no joke. Fuck him though, no one could go forever, and all  regeneration had limits. Besides I had just noticed I was lacking in  hand to hand. What better time to get in some practice. I rocked him  back with a pair of blows to the ribs and continued throwing body blows  as a pair of haymakers rocked my head back. It rung my bell pretty good  but I didn't let up, and neither did he.

Rinse  and repeat. I had been hoping that this would be an opportunity to  train up my bare knuckle brawling, but this fight wouldn't teach me  anything. This wasn't martial arts, this was fucking brutality. We threw  punches with no regard for defense or strategy, just force to flesh  nonstop, first to stop would be the loser. The behemoth was grinning  like a maniac and howling with laughter. "Now this is a fight! The main  man hasn't met anyone who could fight like this in a long time! But it's  no use little metal man! The main man can't be hurt for long and he  never goes down!"

I'd  noticed that actually. His blows were hurting even through the armor,  but every single punch I landed healed in seconds. Seconds were an  eternity in this fight though. I planted my feet, gritted my teeth and  drove my fists even harder. I absolutely would not let this asshole get  within punching distance of my girls after getting his blood up like  this. He had been toying with them before, I was sure of it, but for  some reason seeing my keyblade made him take this seriously, and in a  serious fight this monster would pulp Dreamer or Zee. They were the  exact worst match ups for someone like him.

So  I stacked my blows, if one was healing I hit twice, if two were healing  I'd punch a third time. I considered reaching for my gun but honestly I  was afraid I'd be overwhelmed if I stopped punching long enough to grab  the damn thing. I needed him to let up for a minute. So I did the  weirdest dumbest thing I could possibly think of. I yelled. "Time out!"  The chalk white fist stopped an inch from my face and the big alien  scowled down at me, but he actually fucking stopped.

That  brought me up short. The alien looked impatient. "What is it metal man?  The main man is having fun, if you need to take a break maybe you  aren't worth my time after all." I'd been planning to take out my  holiday gun and see exactly how much he could regenerate, but his  willingness to let me stop and take a break made me pause. I might have  another option here.

I  actually did need a second to catch my breath but I had the perfect  question to stall. "You said you won't fail a contract. What exactly is  does your contract say?" I was honestly starting to almost like the big  lug. He didn't have an ounce of quit in him. Plus I kind of didn't want  to expose my gun. I'd used it on Black Beetle, but we'd been in that  super dimensional lockdown. There was a chance The Light didn't know  about it, and if I could save that ace in the hole for the Apokaliptan  contingent it would solve a lot of problems.

He  rested a hand on his weird metal bat thing as he looked down at me  suspiciously. "The main man was tasked with defending this base. The  buggers didn't trust their toy soldiers to protect their interests here.  The main man doesn't usually do bodyguard work, but the buggers are  pretty rich. They paid more than the main man makes on ten normal jobs."  Huh, I didn't imagine anyone this tough being cheap. I guessed the  reach REALLY wanted to handle things here without alerting the green  lanterns.

It  did give me an idea though. "So...just the base? Like if everyone else  leaves you won't chase them? Like if I stay hear and fight you until one  of us loses anyone whose gone by the time that happens is officially  beyond the scope of your contract?" I doubted someone like this guy was  going to just let us leave peacefully, but it seemed likely he would  treat anyone who fled as someone elses problem, and we'd already taken  Metallo and Lex out of here, so we had no reason to stay.

I could stall him for another thirty or forty minutes before I started  getting really tired, and then just take a corridor away once everyone  else was gone. He looked skeptical for a bit before shrugging. "The main  man was paid to defend the base. If they aren't attacking the base,  he's got no reason to throw down. The main man don't fight for free." I  grinned under my armor. I was betting The Reach assumed there was no  viable way we could snatch Lex out from under the noses of a hundred  scarabs, so they had just hired him to guard the base. At ten times what  I imagined was already an exorbitant rate they probably wanted to make  the job as straightforward as possible to save money.

I  shouted back to my girls. "Go help Rana and the others take care of the  scarabs and then get out of here. I'll catch up after my fight." I  considered burning my points to boost myself up but this was a marathon  not a sprint. I needed to last, and I could tank his hits, rough as they  were. Plus I wasn't sure that I'd be able to actually do much good with  harder punches given his absurd healing. My best bet here was to just  keep going at the same speed and drag it out.

Zee  looked unhappy, but she nodded, heading off to help our daughter.  Dreamer came up to put a hand on my shoulder. "Be careful Morgan. Don't  do anything too risky." She leaned up to kiss the cheek of my armor and  then bolted for the battlefield where my daughter and mentors were  wiping the floor with literally dozens of the universe's most perfect  killing machines.

Lobo  was looking impatient, clearly anxious to get back to fighting. I  turned back to the huge alien. "Sorry about that, they worry, especially  when I'm fighting such a worthy opponent." I figured a bit of flattery  wouldn't hurt anything, and it wasn't a lie anyway. Lobo was tough as a  well done steak. I assumed. I'd never eaten a steak well done because I  didn't hate myself and everyone around me, but I'd heard dreadful  things, so I felt safe making the comparison.

The  big mustachiod bounty hunter gave me a solemn and almost sympathetic  nod. "Fems." That hadn't been what I meant, but the moment camaraderie  was nice enough that I choked down the laugh that almost escaped me.  Regardless, the time for walk was over, and I'd been resting up for a  few minutes now. The armor only drained my vitality when I did things,  so standing around had let me recover a bit. I was starting to get sore  and tired even in here, but it was only the faint beginnings of  exhaustion. I could go for a while yet.

I  blitzed back in at Lobo appearing in front of him in an instant and  stomping down on his instep. His right knee buckled and planted my feet  under him and dug out another brutal uppercut right into the bottom of  his jaw. His head snapped back but he caught himself jerking it back up  and then continuing the motion to slam it forehead first into my metal  plated skull. I didn't know what the fuck his head was made of but  whatever it was it was fucking sturdy because even through the armor I  almost blacked out from that blow.

I  started back in on his ribs and chest, working the body as he hammered  blows down on me from above, and just like before neither of us paid any  attention to defense. The world faded into a storm of strain and  exertion and power and impact as fists flew in a constant staccato that  blended together into the rumble of thunder as metal and flesh collided  for what felt like hours.

In  reality I think it was closer to forty minutes before the girls  finished the scarabs and left and by the time they made it out of range  of my aura sight I was caked in sweat under my armor and covered in  bruises even through the metal. Finally I couldn't throw another punch  and I held up both hands. "Yield." Lobo stopped. I was glad. I hadn't  been sure he would and thought I might need to just bolt.

He  grinned down at me. "You need more staying power metal man. The main  man could do this for hours. Must have trouble keeping up with those  fems if that's all you've got." I flipped him off, which apparently was a  universal gesture because he let out a booming laugh. He turned his  back on me and started walking away. "Still, you were a decent fight. If  you want to go another few rounds feel free to give the main man a  shout."

He  gave me an easy wave as the corridor swallowed me. I came out back in  my room on the island, and Zee and dreamer were already waiting for me.  It was probably a good thing they were too, because if they hadn't  caught me I'd have hit the ground as I blacked out from exhaustion. As  soon as I dropped the armor all the pain and fatigue hit me at once.  Honestly I was pretty happy when I faded from consciousness. I  definitely didn't want to be awake through all of that shit. The job was  done, I could get some fucking sleep.