[center][img]http://baku-panda.org/images/absolute_robin.png[/img]
[sub][ [url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/posts/5042432]Prev[/url] ]  [color=#9fc5e8]“[b]FEAT OF CLAY[/b], Part XV”[/color]  [ Next ][/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]Lanely Point[/color][/sup][/INDENT]
[color=silver]Extending her hand so that he could see it, Annie displayed an arm mangled by protrusions that were seemingly fused to her.

[color=#f4cccc]“I remember now,”[/color] Annie said, her face downcast as her arm went limp. [color=#f4cccc]“Clayface had washed out to sea. He couldn’t hold his form anymore. He drifted near those pipes and something in the chemicals made him whole again.” [/color]

Her arms came up, gripping the sleeves of the cardigan that she wore, as she seemed to try to hug herself. [color=#f4cccc]“But he wasn’t strong yet and he didn’t know where he was, so he created me. And then sent me off to find out if it was safe. I was supposed to look around and then come back, but when I walked away from him... I forgot.”[/color]

Turning her head up, the girl seemed on the verge of tears as she said, [color=#f4cccc]“Now he wants to take me back.”[/color]

Even for a computer, it was a lot of data to process.  It was only a second or more, but to a digital processor, that was an eternity.  When he’d finally blinked, the costumed toy wonder snapped forward.  Placing his hands on the girl’s arms, he said, [color=#ffd700]“I won’t let him.”[/color]  His hands gave a squeeze as he declared, [color=#ffd700]“Don’t worry. I’ll save you!”[/color]

[color=#f4cccc]“Save what?”[/color] 

It was heart-wrenching, the sound of someone losing hope.   Turning her face away from his, the girl softly uttered, [color=#f4cccc]“Don’t you see? I’m not real.”[/color]

In that instant, the doll’s own words seemed to play back into his audio receptors. [i][color=#ffd700]“I’m not real, but you always treat me like I’m a real person,”[/color][/i] he’d said those words to Dick.  And Dick had tried to correct him.  Suggested that Toyboy was as real as anyone.

He hadn’t believed it then.  But, for some reason, he desperately needed to believe now.

[color=#ffd700]“[b]Yes[/b],”[/color] the boy said, with such conviction that Annie looked up. [color=#ffd700]“You are.”[/color]

[b]“No, she’s not.” [/b]

[color=#ffd700]“-tt-”[/color] the doll uttered, a tic displaying itself as Jason pulled himself away from Annie.  Drawing an explosive batarang from his utility belt, the Toy Wonder squared off as Matthew Hagan emerged from out of the shadows of the chemical warehouse.  

A large sickle-shaped blade formed, transforming Clayface’s right arm into a scythe that dragged along the ground, creating a grating sound.  “You know now. You’re part of me,” Hagan said, extending his left hand out toward the girl. “Come home.”

[color=#ffd700]“Stay behind me,”[/color] Jason snapped, flipping open the batarang.  Dropping his stance, the doll was already starting to analyze the available options. [color=#ffd700]“Don’t let him touch you,”[/color] the boy added, recalling that Annie had fused with Hagan’s debris.

Hagan’s right arm pulled back. “I’ve warned you once kid. Stay out of this!” Clayface roared, thrusting the scythe forward.  

Jason jumped over the strike, bouncing off Clayface’s extended arm and then planting a swift boot print to Hagan’s face.

Slumping forward, Annie cradled her head in her hands. [color=#f4cccc]“I don’t know what to do anymore!”[/color]

“Come back to me,” Hagan uttered, even as he sparred with the Toy Wonder. “It’s the only thing you can do,” the man added, as his left hand started to stretch toward the girl.

[color=#ffd700]“No!” [/color]

The batarang stuck into the back of Hagan’s head, producing a crater in the shoulder and torso when it exploded a moment later.  Clayface’s form swirled, as the monstrous form turned to face the doll.  As the creature’s head re-formed, the monster uttered, “That’s enough out of you.”

Jumping back, the boy narrowly avoided a scissor strike as Clayface produced two razor-like projectiles and launched them in a criss-cross fashion toward the youth.  Landing atop a maintenance catwalk, the costumed youth paused only long enough to verify that he had Clayface’s full attention before scrambling up the thin metal scaffolding.

His eyes were actively scanning the OSHA warning labels on the tanks that surrounded them.  He had already pulled Hagan’s chemical composition from memory.  Hagan’s altered physiology contained carbon, lime, and calcium.  

A tendril of clay looped overhead.  Swinging up from the floor, Hagan’s colossal form dropped onto the catwalk in front of the toy wonder. “End of the line,” the man uttered, squatting low as he blocked the path ahead.

Putting his head down, the doll increased the power output to his hydraulic motors.  He hit Clayface with inhuman force.  The man briefly gave a gasp of surprise, as the boy tore straight through his body.

Solvent. 

Oxide salt.

What he needed was alumina.

A tendril of clay wrapped itself around around the boy’s arm, morphing outward into a hand that seized him by the wrist as it pulled him back.

“You’re [b]stronger[/b] than the last one,” Hagan uttered, as Clayface reformed himself.

Flattening his palm and fingers out into a knife-hand, the boy executed an inhumanly fast uppercut.  The liquefaction from the strike caused the slash to expand outward, neatly bisecting Clayface’s torso and head as the Toy Wonder calmly took a step back.  

[color=#ffd700]“You would be mistaken to confuse me for the prior Robin,”[/color] Jason uttered flatly.

Two more tendrils came up from behind him, encircling his head and neck. “Shame you [i]breathe [/i]like him,” Hagan uttered, reaching out to grab the boy by the shoulders and pull him into a bear hug.  Layers upon layers of clay began to fold over his head. Pulling against the clay was like salt taffy, it came away in ribbons as the boy struggled against the creature.  

That was when it saw it.

It was only a glimpse.  A brief second.  But it was enough for Toyboy to be able to accurately read the warning label on the tank that was beneath them.

It a storage tank containing tetracalcium aluminoferrite.

Clayface had enveloped Jason’s hands and arms, struggling to contain him in a battle of strength that caused Hagan to have to maintain a solid form.

It was enough for Robin to pick Hagan up off the catwalk.  And then pitch both Clayface and himself off the side of it.

The pair slammed down into a brown, crystalline salt.  

A cloud erupted, as Hagan leapt out a second later.  “No,” the man uttered, trying to walk and only able to stagger a few steps before his leg broke off.  His form was starting to harden. [b]“N...”[/b]

Arm outstretched, Matthew Hagan solidified into a cement statue.

Jason dropped down from the tank a moment later.  Annie rushed toward him, prompting the boy to throw up his hands to stop her.  [color=#ffd700]“Whoa.  Don’t hug me,”[/color] he cautioned, being caked in the brown alumina salt.

Turning her head, Annie looked out over the statue of Hagan. [color=#f4cccc]“What about Clayface?”[/color]

[i][color=#9fc5e8]“The statute of limitations has run on most of past crimes, but a significant number are still running.”[/color][/i]

It had been so long since Dick had said anything, that even Jason had forgotten that the former Robin was monitoring from the man-cave.  [i][color=#9fc5e8]“Not to mention to most recent crimes, assuming we can make the evidence stick.”[/color][/i]

[color=#ffd700]"That's a problem for the police,"[/color] the Toy Wonder stated finally.

[color=#f4cccc]“So what about me?”[/color] Annie asked next, turning her head up to look at the Toy Wonder.

[i][color=#9fc5e8]“Yeah, what about her?”[/color][/i]
 
The doll paused for a moment. [color=#ffd700]“That’s up to you,”[/color] he stated finally, giving a smile toward the girl. [color=#ffd700]“But, I think I know some people who can help.”[/color][/color][/INDENT]