2013-10-05 - Heeeeere's MOLEMAN!

It's a nice day in Keystone City as James enjoys a big ol' sub sandwich. From the 'Pride of Keystone City - Sammy's Subs'

Yep. Things are going nice.

Then the entire ground shakes. People start running for cover as masonry starts falling. An earthquake? The ground... it breaks open, with a little girl clinging to the edge, screaming for her mommy! Her mother is trying to grab for her, but can't reach her!

Warpath, sandwich in hand, dashed to try to grab the little girl. Luckily he can run over a hundred miles an hour. Bits of sandwich fly as he dashed, and managed to grab the girl by the shirt to pluck her up and over to her mother. "There you are, little lady," he said, "now get out of here! Somethin' big's about to happen!" But what? Just what!? The ground is shaking! James almost seems like he's trying to hold fast to the ground itself with his feet... but really he's trying to wolf down the rest of his sandwich.

The mother sobs with joy as you quickly grab the child and give her child back to her. She nods, "Thank you... oh god thank you!" as she runs off to try to get into shelter.

From the abyss that just formed, as James tries to wolf down the rest of his sandwich (priorities, after all! It IS the pride of Keystone City!), he hears a roar...

Then suddenly, out from the crack in the earth, comes a giant sized monster, easily 80 feet tall! It looks like a cross between a giant centipede and a lobster. As it looks down at you, it roars again! And... there's someone on its back!

A short, pudgy looking man dressed in green, wearing a visor and carrying a staff. "GREETINGS, IGNORANT SURFACE DWELLERS! DO NOT RESIST AND YOU WILL ONLY BE TAKEN PRISONER TO WORK AS SLAVES IN THE GLORIOUS WAR AGAINST TYRANNUS!"

As he bellows, two more beasts come out from the crack - signigicantly smaller (maybe 20 feet) as well as several dozen moloid minions.

"NOW... MY LOVELY SUBTERRANEAN BEASTS! TAKE AS MANY PEOPLE PRISONER AS YOU CAN! KILL ANY WHO RESIST!"

Yep - it's Mole Man.

Warpath's eyes visibly widened beneath his domino mask. And his jaw dropped. "Now there's something you don't see every day." Maybe he should have some backup. He put his fingers to his mouth and gave a loud, shrill whistle. "HEY!" he said, before trying to finish off the rest of his sandwich. "You mfff wfff Kfftffn Shhfff, yff mph wifff mmph!" ...What? He chewed. Swallowed. "Sorry. You mess with Keystone City, you mess with ME!"

Mole Man looks down at Warpath when he whistles. He figured he'd get some workers from some of the 'new' cities' that arrived after the merge. At least he knew enough to stay away from a few, like Metropolis and Gotham City. But Central City? From what he had heard, it just had some guy who 'runs fast.' No aliens with superstrength. No 'mysterious hero who seems to be unbeatable.' Just some guy who runs fast.

Yeah, they don't have a lot of news reports in Subterranea about who the Flash is.

But he sure isnt a big native american guy, so Mole Man looks pretty confident. It helps when you're on an 80 foot monster with other monsters and minions as backup.

"THEN MESS WITH YOU I SHALL! CRUSH HIM MY BEAST!"

With that, the monster takes one of it's front claws and attempts to slam it down on this foolish interloper!

Warpath, in a flash, drew one of his Vibranium knives. He threw up his arm, the blade pointed upward, directly in the trajectory of the incoming claw! So all that strength will be put onto that dagger - and that poor monster may get the worst kind of puncture of it's day! And James may end up in the ground, but he's surprisingly sturdy and strong!

The beast slams its mighty claw into Warpath, but in doing so, even though it does create a hole in the ground with James in it, it then pulls its claw back, green acidic blood spurting out from it as it shrieks in pain from the puncture wound. It even backs up, to the ire of its rider.

"NO! NO YOU STUPID BEAST! DESTROY HIM!" he yells, when he notices that, despite being pounded into the ground, the 'interloper' is still alive! And has wounded his precious Lobsterpede!

As the monster reels back, Mole Man arghs, and yells to his minions, "MOLOIDS! DESTROY THAT HAPLESS BUFFOON!" He points at Warpath so they know which 'hapless buffoon' he means, since Warpath doesn't exactly look either hapless or like a buffoon. The moloids, not generally the type to have thoughts of their own, obey their master - about 25 of them all rushing at Warpath even before he gets out of the hole in the ground!

The problem with getting rushed and getting out of a hole in the ground? James can get to his feet with his superhuman reflexes. And then he's piled on by two dozen plus one Moloids... and James gets to fight. He's not going to kill these people - he doesn't know if they're sentient or not. But he's going to pummel them all. Being one of the best fighters in the world, as well as one of the strongest (the superhero population ain't THAT big!), it may be likely he'll make short work of all twenty-five before even breaking a sweat.

When the dust clears, he's standing atop the pile, lifting a hand to wave. "That all you got, Moldy Mole?" he taunted.

The moloids all try to pretty much tackle and jump on Warpath. Suddenly, they're all thrown asunder by Warpath. Any who arent knocked out from that are quickly pummelled shortly afterwards. When the dust clears, Warpath is victorious. And Mole Man is furious!

STUPID MOLOIDS! KILL HI-" Then he realizes they're all already unconscious. Okay, this is NOT working out! He yells at Warpath, "BUT YOU'RE NOT THE FLUSH!" Then looking at the other 2 smaller monsters, "WILL SOMEONE EAT THIS ... WHO ARE YOU ANYWAY?!"

Yes, he said 'The Flush.' He only 'skimmed' the internet about the new heroes.

Warpath put his hands together. Cracked his knuckles. Then he leapt up, leaping so well he must be FLYING! right to one of the 20 footers. These he can have fun with. He studied the monster. Tried to notice whether or not this huge lobsterpede had a tail. And if so... grab it! If he could, he'd throw it! Towards the even bigger monster's head! "Call me Warpath!!!" he declared triumphantly. "Now get back in the ground with your goons! Slavery's wrong, you jackass!"

As Warpath leaps at one of the monsters and grabs its tail, it pulls as it's grabbed! But, with monumental effort, the monster is thrown at the 'big' monster (big being a relative term given they're ALL big). Moleman's Lobsterpede staggers a bit. The smaller one going back into the abyss after hitting the big one and hitting the floor.

And if Mole Man was furious before, he was positively incensed now!

"NO! NO !!! COME BACK HERE YOU COWARDLY CRUSTACEAN!"

Time to show this 'hero' who he's dealing with! is the thought in Mole Man's mind as he takes his staff and fires a powerful energy bolt right at Warpath. He's fought the friggin' Fantastic Four before, after all, and he's suped up his Energy Staff for the next time he had to face The Thing!

Warpath got hit sqare in the chest. "OOF!" He went flying! BOOM! There went a fire hyrant. CRASH! He's through a freight truck! THUMP. After a light pole he's now against a solid mailbox, having dented it. Dazed, he staggered to his feet, his chest blackened. "...Whoa."

Mole Man gets on his feet and hops on his Lobsterpede. "HA! SEE - THAT'S WHAT HAPPENS TO FOES OF THE MOLE MAN! NOW ... DEVOUR HIM!!!!!"

On command, the second twenty-footer opens its multi-pincered jaw and attempts to do just that to the dazed mutant!

Warpath got multi-pincered jaws at his legs! "Oh, gross!" He then dug his hands into the mailbox and tore it from the ground, to beat the monster with it even as his boots were eaten. "Gross! Gross! Gross!!!"

The mailbox smashes into the monster's head, stunning it .... a BIT. It shakes its head a bit. James' boots? Gone into the monster's gullet!

Mole Man yells, "I SAID CONSUME HIM! PERHAPS YOU NEED HIM FRIED FIRST?" and then starts firing bursts of energy at Warpath again!

Warpath deflected the energy blasts with his mailbox! Two blasts, and the mailbox was melted and the mail in it was ashes. James tried to pull free from the monster and then scramble underneath it - for being over seven feet, that's a tall order.

Blast one! Deflected by the mailbox, turning it red hot! BLAST TWO! Turning it into melted slag! And Mole Man is still firing, laughing evilly, "DIE DIE DIE SURFACE DWELLERRRRRR!" as he's blasting away, trying to hit the big native american target. When Warpath dives beneath the monster, Mole Man winds up instead hitting the monster's armored hide! Still, the concussive blast hits it hard enough to send it hurtling into one of the cracks in the earth, sending it falling back to Subterranea.

If one could see Mole Man's eyes beneath his visor, he'd be blinking dumbfoundedly. "Wha...?"

James found himself no longer covered. Well, this isn't good. Vibranium knives were unsheathed. Maybe he could parry the blasts with these. He was good, but was he that good? "Just you, me, and your giant overgrown prehistoric Ultimate Feast!" And then he flew. Up, up, up... to eighty feet. He landed on the back of the lobster, nearby the Mole Man. "Cut the crap now, Dastardly Dwarf, or I'll make you know the need for dental insurance." Jesus, these LINES. They're TERRIBLE.

Mole Man jumps with a start when Warpath leaps at him, landing on the lobsterpede where its claws can't get at him! Wielding knives which punctured the armored claw of his beast!

Plus he's using such awesome lines!

"AHH!" He runs as fast as his short legs will take him, firing wildly at James as he retreats backwards towards the tail.

Warpath started to slide down the segmented hide of the beast, taking off after the Mole Man. "Not so fast, little guy! A going away present." He tried to give a warning poke to the Mole Man's posterior. "I have no idea who to call to deal with you, so GET BACK to your home and STAY THERE! Longer than forever!"

Mole Man jumps as he's poked in his butt by the vibranium knife.

"AHHHH!" he yells as he literally jumps off the beast to the abyss. "RUN! RUN! GOGOGOGO!" he yells out an order as what seems like some sort of parachute opens up and he goes down into the crack in the earth. The lobsterpede whips its back around, trying to buck you off before it retreats to the chasm.

Warpath gah'd! He went flying, but righted himself, soon hovering. He shook his fist and bellowed down, "And don't come back!" He floated there, sheathing his knives, and once everything was over, he called out, "They're gone, everyone! Does anyone need any help?" Man, if only this managed to get caught by the news.

Later, in the lower reaches of Subterranea, Mole Man frowns in his 'throne' as he tries to look up anything about heroes in Keystone City. True, Warpath said his name, but Mole Man was too busy pontificating to realize that.

Nope. Just the red speedster in Keystone. Maybe the masked native american hero was someone else in the Flash's (Flash, not Flush, of course!) circle of super-friends. He uses his computer to look up information - finding the name of the group. The Justice League. He then cross references it with what he knows of the cause of his most recent defeat, plugging in search terms. "Indian" "Native American" "giant" "Superstrong"

Then he says with a firm but threatening tone, "So that's who you are. Well mark my words, next time we meet in battle, you will fall at my hands!"

Mole Man looks up at the 'sky' (okay, actually the top of this gigantic caverns that make up Subterranea)

"YOU HEAR ME! YOU HAVE NOT HEARD THE LAST OF MOLE MAN... APACHE CHIEF!"