[center][img]http://baku-panda.org/images/absolute_robin.png[/img]
[sub][ [url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/posts/5006530]Prev[/url] ]  [color=#9fc5e8]“[b]FEAT OF CLAY[/b], Part XI”[/color]  [ [url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/posts/5026804]Next[/url] ][/sub][/center][COLOR=steelblue][INDENT][B][SUP][SUB][H3]B L Ü D H A V E N[/H3][/SUB][/SUP][/B][/INDENT][hr][/COLOR][INDENT][INDENT][sup][color=goldenrod]BLÜDHAVEN MUNICIPAL BUS TERMINAL[/color][/sup][/INDENT]
[color=silver]The chair rocked back on its casters, tipping over onto the floor as Dick found himself on his feet. 

HIs hands slammed down against the console. His face was mere inches from the monitor, staring at the scan-line visual of a man who’d thought dead for the better part of the last twenty years.

[b]Clayface[/b].

[color=#9fc5e8]“That’s Hagan,”[/color] Dick uttered tersely. His hands flexed instinctively, as if eager to put his arm through the screen. Toyboy was still very much an [i]experiment[/i]. And now the Toy Wonder was faced off against one of Nightwing’s most challenging opponents.

[i]“Do you know how long I’ve been looking for you?” [/i]

The sound of the man’s voice sent chills racing along Dick’s spine, recognition slamming into him even as the massive figure began advancing upon where the doll was positioned between Clayface and the strange girl.

Across one side of the screen, Dick saw Toyboy’s computer brain start to process the information. Evaluating the known data sets for Hagan and extrapolating different contingencies. First, second, and third order effects of various courses of action.

[b][color=#ffd700]TARGET ID: HAGAN, MATTHEW[/color]
[color=#ffd700]VOICE RECOGNITION: 92.7 PERCENT[/color]
[color=#ffd700]THREAT ASSESSMENT: HIGH[/color][/b]

“You were supposed to come right back!”

The robot was just standing there. Processing. Calculating. Analyzing. The shadow of the large figure passed over the boy. An arm extended forth, reaching for the girl as if the boy was not even there.

The sharp intake of breath snapped the doll into action.

Even before Annie screamed, the robot’s arm snapped up. Grabbing Hagan by the wrist, the outstretched fingers were just short of the girl’s face. [color=#ffd700]“She doesn’t want to go with you,”[/color] the boy stated flatly.

“I’m her father, punk,” Hagan snapped.

[i][color=#9fc5e8]“Say [b]what[/b] now?”[/color][/i]

Even as Dick’s voice registered in the doll’s head, the boy was lift off his feet as Hagan reared his arm back. 

Then flung away as Hagan pitch forward. “Stay out of it!” the man barked, flinging the boy through the air with an inhuman strength.

Gyroscopic sensors kicked in. In midair, the doll adjusted his body alignment. Re-orienting, the robot flipped around. His feet planted against the side of a wall and pushed off. 

Hagan’s hand again reached for the girl’s head. Annie seemed frozen in fear.

Jason connected with Hagan’s left side. Shoulder down, the boy slammed into the man with sufficient force to send ripples through Hagan’s form. The two fell away from the point of impact, with Hagan lifted off his feet and coming down hard on the ground.

Jason rolled back along the ground, the black and gold cape fluttering as he popped back up to his feet. Adopting a generic martial arts t-stance, the boy dropped his center of gravity and assumed a ready stance as he replied, [color=#ffd700]“I don’t [b]think[/b] so.”[/color]

The man’s form rippled like water, the flesh and clothes replaces by reddish brown mud as he staggered back to his feet. The left side of his body had an indentation of Toyboy’s silhouette, which disappeared as his body reformed into the monstrous figure of Clayface.

A large backhand swiped at the costumed Toy Wonder. “I said, [b]outta my way![/b]”

Reaching a hand to his utility belt, Toyboy dropped low and then sprang forward with a straight arm jab. The black gloved hand sank into Clayface’s body, vanishing into the muck up to the elbow. 

Looking down at the small Robin, the monstrous figure just seemed to issue forth a hollow laugh and sadistic smile. A large hand flowed around the doll’s neck, lifting him up into the air.

The doll was giving him a self-satisfied smirk. 

Confused, Hagan looked down as a flash of red light caught his eye. There was part of a batarang jutting out of his midsection.

An explosion a moment later tore the man apart, sending parts of Clayface splattering around them.

Jason landed back on his feet. Already, the larger puddles of mud were starting to pull back toward one another. A hand emerging forth as the pools started to reform the monster. Pausing to look back at Annie, the boy said only, [color=#ffd700]“Stay here!” [/color]

Then, turning back toward where Hagan’s golem-like form was beginning to reappear, the boy sprinted forward. He collided with the clay figure in a classic take-down tackle, propelling the two of them off the side of the second level terminal platform.

Somersaulting away, the boy made a three-point landing just a few feet from where Hagan became a wet stain on the floor of the main terminal entrance. The black cape furled about the doll’s slight form, as another explosive batarang was unfolded in hand. 

His thumb was on the detonator.

With a beastial roar, Hagan burst from out of the puddle on the floor. Rising nine feet over the small robot, the monster loomed large. “Like to play [b]rough[/b], kid?” Clayface’s voice growled, echoing off the walls of the busy terminal. Hagan’s fists were transformed into large, spiked balls, as the man barked, “All right, let’s play rough!”

The spry, small figure rolled left to avoid a downward swing. Hagan’s wrecking ball fist shattered the floor tiles and left an impression on the foundation. Hagan tried to made a swing with his left hand, but the doll had already closed the gap. Springing from off the floor, the Toy Wonder literally put his fist through Hagan’s face -- as the force of Jason’s uppercut split apart Hagan’s form from sternum to scalp. 

Bracing one foot against Clayface’s shoulder, the Toy Wonder nimbly vaulted away. Twisting in mid-air, the explosive batarang was unleashed in a hook shot right before one of Clayface’s arms connected with the the boy in the air. 

Pulling his form to one side, Hagan avoided the batarang. Laughing, the Clayface slammed the child-like robot down against the floor. Then, reeling the boy in, looked the toy in the eye as he uttered, “You missed.”

A bubbly laugh tricked from out of the doll. Eyes alight with hellfire, the impish figure flashed a devil-may-care smirk and asked, [color=#ffd700]“You sure about that?”[/color]

Confused, Hagan’s head twisted around. Behind him, the batarang stuck into the middle of the wall.

Next to one of the fire alarms.

The muffled explosion a second later sent a trigger through the entire facility. Overhead, fire suppression sprinklers kicked in, dumping gallons of water inside the terminal.

“NO!” Clayface roared, terror gripping his face as the water started to thin out the mud composing his body. Toyboy was dropped unceremoniously onto the floor, as Hagan bolted for the exit. The doors to the terminal were thrown off their hinges, as Clayface erupted from out of the bus station and onto the city street. 

As Jason sprinted after, the large creature vanished. Liquified and plunged into one of the storm drains recessed in the crook where the sidewalk met the street.

Back at Dick’s apartment, the man heard the boy’s voice ask, [i][color=#ffd700]“Think we foiled that jewel heist at least?”[/color][/i]

[i][color=#9fc5e8]“A better question might be, what’s his interest in that girl?”[/color][/i] Dick’s voice replied, inside of Jason’s head.

[color=#ffd700]“The girl...”[/color] Jason echoed, the cape whipping around as the boy turned back toward the bus terminal.  Police sirens were close. The flashing lights could already be seen. Regardless, the boy turned and ran back inside. A grappling line sailed out to the upper levels, as the boy swung back to where he’d left Annie.

There was no sign of her now.

[color=#ffd700]“Figures,”[/color] the boy uttered dryly.[/color][/INDENT]