With his vantage point, Green Arrow had watched the short exchange before the meta-human had been pretty much swatted down the Chinese robot. But considering her initial barrage, she also had super strength and invulnerability, so Arrow was pretty sure the girl was just dazed. Then when the thing raised its guns towards where she got knocked down, he quickly drew back an arrow and fired.
From what he could tell, the robot had plenty of firepower, not too much when it came to tactical programming. When Green Arrow had first attached the thing, it took weapons lock off the bigger threat, and ended up getting pounded. Of course if the Chinese had been able to program the thing better, it probably wouldn’t have gone on the rampage.
As soon as Brimstone started to turn away from the girl without firing a shot, Oliver gave an internal nod of satisfaction. So you can’t track multiple targets huh big guy, he thought before it raised the two fully charged cannons at him. It was then the Green Arrow had another revelation.
The mechanical monster was pointing both guns at him, and he had nowhere to run.
A thought about the unfairness of life popped into his head, and Oliver Queen jumped off the rise he had been standing on before it was evaporated. The heat from the blast made him close his eyes, and he just waited for his body to burst into flames before he was completely turned to ash by the nuclear powered laser cannon.
Then the Green Arrow’s luck managed to kick in at the last moment, and he found himself saved.
Although a half second later Oliver was wondering if death would have been better. Something slammed into him from behind and lifted him up with almost enough force to pull his arms out of their sockets. Then he felt himself being carried through the air at a speed much too fast for someone without a specially designed suit, and came to a sudden stop that made the billionaire want to lose his lunch.
Even with his head still spinning, Green Arrow opened his eyes to look around. He was floating hundreds of feet off the ground, behind the robot’s back. He looked down at the arms and saw his rescuer had been a girl, but it wasn’t the alien he’d come here with. The girl holding him up was definitely inexperienced, the crushing grip she had on Oliver’s ribs were proof enough of that, and so was the sudden start/stop way she was flying around to stay behind Brimstone.
As soon as the robot turned around, the girl moved with him. Oliver took a look behind him while the robot was still scanning the scenery. The girl’s costume was somewhat of a shocker. He recognized the emblem, as well as the gold, white, and red layout. Mary Marvel had been one of the old school super heroes back around the time of World War 2, the sidekick/partner of that era’s Superman: Captain Marvel.
But Oliver had seen pictures of the original Mary Marvel, and this definitely wasn’t the same girl. He couldn’t be sure from his angle, but he thought she was shorter. The hairstyle wasn’t even remotely the same, and this Marvel had bright red hair compared to Mary’s auburn color.
The whole idea that the girl was some sort of fan emulating a hero seemed a little outlandish though. She was Japanese for crying out loud! They fought alongside Captain Nazi, not against him.
Maybe she was a descendent? The thought made the green clad hero shake his head. The old guy must be rolling over in his grave, Oliver thought before getting his mind back on the task at hand.
Okay Oli, time to think, Batman’s not the only non-powered hero with a brain, the Green Arrow told himself as he tried to remember what he read about Captain Marvel back in college. Mary and him were supposed to have the same powers, and Oliver hoped that was still the case. If the girl was even a member of the Marvel Family that is.
Maybe it was best not to go along that train of thought right now. If she wore the symbol and flew the colors, she had to be a Marvel. So, what could she do? Well, super strength and flight that are equal with Superman’s, check and check. I know she’s got invulnerability…although I could care less about that at he moment.
Ranma groaned as the monster started to turn around again, and she quickly zipped under the thing’s legs to come out at its backside, but not before kicking it in one of its knees, which started the search for her all over again. The man in her hands looked up and mumbled something she couldn’t understand. Although, she guessed it had something to do with her flying.
As the dance continued, Ranma could see she had a problem. The green guy had saved her twice before when she messed up, and with him in her arms, she couldn’t do all that much besides annoy the thing that had been kicking her ass since she met it. Putting the guy down was out of the question, the giant flaming skull creature could step on him if she landed in the weapons safety zone, and there was no way she could get him to a safe distance and rush back before that thing was ready to shoot at her again.
After his stomach settled from the Marvel girl’s last bit of dodging, the Green Arrow turned his attention back to the here and now. The fact was, with her hands pretty much tied, she was pretty low on options. Captain Marvel never used heat vision, or energy beams, or any of that flashy stuff guys threw around nowadays.
Oliver hated to admit it, but her best option would be to just drop him and get back to fighting. Of course his conscience had something to say about that. Yeah, let the rookie see you die, emotionally scar her for life hotshot the man told himself.
Maybe he could make one of those big heroic showings about being okay. If he did get killed, Green Arrow was pretty sure there wouldn’t be a body left to ID… at least not enough of one left anyway. Quickly thinking up the best ‘fight the good fight’ routine he could under the circumstances, Oliver looked back at the girl, the Marvel insignia catching his eye.
The billionaire stared at the girl’s chest for a moment, not that he was a pervert or anything. The foreign Mary Marvel had a pretty big pair, but she was way too young for him. It was the lightning bolt that held his attention.
Didn’t Captain Marvel have control over the weather, or something like that? Wasn’t that what the whole lightning bolt symbol was about?
“Hey,” the man said to the girl carrying him. When she didn’t respond, Green Arrow tried raising his voice. “HEY!” As soon the girl looked down at her, he pointed to the robot. “Can you hit it with a lightning bolt at the knees? We need to try and stop it without causing a nuclear explosion.”
Ranma blinked at the unintelligible words. Although she spoke a little English, it wasn’t her best subject; more like bottom of the ladder. “Come again?”
What little hopes the Green Arrow held for victory were quickly killed off by the girl’s confused tone and what had to be a question. She doesn’t speak English the man thought as tears rolled down his eyes at the unfairness of this life that would soon end. Behind them, Oliver saw Brimstone was turning around to face them, and in her confusion, the Marvel girl didn’t notice.
“I could have taken Japanese in college but noooo, French impresses the girls,” Green Arrow mumbled to himself in what would probably be the last words of his life.
Read the comments on this episode
(Posted Sun, 19 Nov 2006 16:03)
Questions? Problems? Suggestions?
Send a mail to addventure@bast-enterprises.de
or use the contact form.
らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
All other series and their characters are © by their respective creators or owners. No claims of ownership of these characters are implied by the authors of this Addventure, or should be inferred.
The Anime Addventure is a non-profit site.