Atlas jumped off the destroyed pieces of the SURVIVIOR Version 3. The glare he gave me would have turned anyone to dust by how intense it was. I was confident, though, that this wasn't going to go last time, where he landed those hits. I'm at max power, have control of my powers better and no longer fight like a bum. Overall, I'm way stronger now compared to our first fight.
Still, he's not backing down. Either my last attack rocked his brain into a smoothie or he's got a trick up his sleeve. Atlas was wearing gauntlets and body armour, similar to Gavin's. The only difference was that his armour was pure black in colour. He was just standing there, looking at me menacingly.
"The person giving you advice through those SEE Goggles is Gavin, right?"
I was thankful that my goggles covered my eyes because they went wide as dinner plates. But I was stunned. How had he figured it out!? I swallowed a lump in my throat before speaking.
"Who?" I said, adopting a confused tone and expression.
That only served to make Atlas smirk. "I knew it, it was him. That's why you have such advanced equipment, and yet you're not a Government weapon or agent. Gavin is your mentor and the one giving you advice the whole time."
I felt my heart pound, and I could feel cold sweat travelling down my neck. I wanted to curse myself for being a terrible liar, and no, Gavin is exposed. I clench my fist, which only makes Atlas smile even wider. Cocky turd, I couldn't wait to swipe that ugly mug off his face.
"Relax, Red. Atlas may be a brute, but he's smart; he would have figured it out anyway." Gavin reassures me, which eases me somewhat.
Atlas continued to remain smug. "Did he tell me that I was his student?"
"Yup, a lousy one at that." That was a lie, but he doesn't need to know that, does he?
His smirk faltered before regaining it. His body was relaxed, too relaxed. It's like I didn't just destroy his trump card.
"I doubt that I was his best student, better than even that little weakling Jason. I learned all his moves, his tactics. And even his skills in deceiving!" He shouted at the last part, grabbing something and flinging it at me.
I easily caught the object just before it could hit my eye. It was a large hunting knife. This caused me to snort, and I was about to taunt him for thinking that this was meant to be impressive, only to blink in surprise when out of nowhere, Atlas stabbed himself with two syringes, each containing a gold liquid which vanished as it went inside his body.
"Crap…"
That knife throw wasn't meant to attack me, but a diversion. And now he injected himself with the Emperor Serum. With just one injection, you could temporarily increase your strength about fifty times, and since he had just injected himself with two, that means he's about a hundred times his base strength. I made an annoyed sound. This could be bad. I watch with disgust as Atlas roars as his muscles start to grow bigger.
His skin darkens, his hair turning to a silver grey. With a mouth full of drool, his transformation is complete. A bigger and stronger Atlas. Unlike last time, thanks to injecting himself twice, he was slightly bigger, his bloodshot eyes even more prominent. It's to the point; I can't see any white part of his eyes.
His dark muscles were grotesque, even looking more monstrous than any bodybuilder before him. He grinned at me as saliva dripped from his mouth.
"I'm going to take pleasure in killing you even more knowing you were trained by Gavin. Not only am I going to throw that old fool to the pits of despair, I'll show both of you I'm the superior student." He calmly walks towards me, his hands in his pockets, clearly not taking me seriously.
I took a deep breath to calm my beating heart. I can't afford to be nervous. I cracked my neck.
"You really think inflating your muscles is supposed to scare me, let alone beat me?"
"I don't think so, I know," Atlas said confidently, a smirk on his lips.
He stopped as he was in front of me, looking me down like I was sort of an ant. I couldn't help but smirk back. I can't wait to knock his tooth out.
"Prove it, you third-rate villain."
I instantly had to dodge when Atlas tried to knock my head with a hook. I then jumped away as he tried to catch me with a roundhouse kick. I barely touched the ground when he started to rush at me again, a bloodthirsty grin etched on his face. He tried to grab me, but to his shock, I batted his arm away before jumping up and delivering a straight punch right in the face. He shouted in pain, his eyes squeezed shut from the pain.
His legs buckle, barely regaining his balance, but I wasn't done with him. This guy especially had the gall to underestimate me. Two body blows to the stomach, which dented his armour. He tried to swing at me, only to be ducked before jumping off the ground and using my head to smash his face. He crashed on his back, clutching his bleeding nose. Atlas looked so shocked.
Clearly, I didn't think I stood a chance after injecting myself twice. While I'll admit he was definitely faster than we had fought before, I wasn't the same guy he had fought before.
"Wow, are you sure Gavin thought of you? You kind of fight like a drunk bum."
His eyes widened at my words before his hand slowly itched away from his nose, showing a full view of his blood. He gritted his teeth. Ooh, he's mad as heck. He shouts angrily, getting up before delivering a series of swift, clean blows which would overwhelm any other opponent. But I was different, blocking his punches and kicks.
Even in his enraged state and telegraphing his attacks, he was still a better hand-to-hand fighter than I. I was just simply strong and fast enough to perceive his attacks and even his feints. He roared as he tried to connect his fist to my jaw, but I blocked it and held it this time. He attempted again with his other hand caught again. And now he was just trying to overpower me, trying to push me back with his immense strength.
But I didn't even move an inch. I smirked at him before opening my visor. My eyes glowed intensely, which caused his eyes to widen. I wasn't intending to shoot at him; it was just a distraction. Sure, it would be easy to. But I wanted to pay him back for causing me pain and trouble from the SV3. And so I pulled my leg back before kicking him in the testicles, which caused him to yelp loudly.
His arms wilt, immediately letting them go to deliver two lightning-infused punches to the rib and abs before ending it by spinning around in the air and launching a back kick to his chest, sending him flying and crashing into a nearby tree. He groans as he gets up with quivering legs.
"Come on, is that seriously all you got? If we had an audience watching us last time, they would be sorely disappointed by your performance now."
"You, little…" He says in between breaths.
Looks like I didn't need to worry about a thing after all. I'm way too much for someone like him to handle. Atlas grabs the tree behind him and throws it at me like a javelin. I didn't even bother shouting my special attack, as I brought down my hand in a chopping motion, and an invisible and sharp air pressure sliced the tree in half. Atlas gasps as he is forced to bring his arm up to block, only for it to leave a massive gash on his forearm.
I hear him grunt in pain as blood oozes from the wound. His expression was one of wild anger and confusion. I sort of felt bad, actually, no, I would have felt bad if it were anyone else. Atlas had tried to use the tree as a diversion; he threw it and followed it, hoping for me to dodge, so I could be open for an attack, but with my Mind's Eye, his plan was a failure. And now all he has is a deep cut on his arm.
While he was still wondering how he had gotten hurt, I used this opportunity to body tackle him. His back crashed into several trees. I pushed myself off of him after the seventh one, while he was still mid-air, I grabbed his face and slammed into the dirt, the back of his head colliding with the grass below. He was dazed, hurt, and I'm pretty sure he had no idea what just happened. I removed myself from him and floated out of his range just in case he was just faking.
"Like I said, give it up before you embarrass yourself even further." This time, I had a serious tone.
I crossed my arms, glaring at him. It was over, and I was the victor. He stood no chance against me. While a part of me wanted to keep going and continue to humiliate the guy who nearly destroyed my home. But that would be a waste of time. He wasn't worth the effort; he never was.
I was thinking of ways to restrain him so the military won't have to deal with him. An injured Atlas is still a dangerous thing, after all. But my thoughts were dashed and my lips tightened seeing him get up again with quivering legs. It would have been kind of cool and awesome of him to tank my attacks. It reminded me of those old boxing movies my Dad often watches.
Where the underpowered protagonist is being beaten down by a powerful adversary, and yet still finds the strength to get up. It would have been inspirational if it weren't for the fact that he was the terrorist scum, while I was the hero, here to stop him.
"Give up? You have no right to tell me to give up after sacrificing everything to get where I am. After I watched countless friends die and be forgotten by time, after I finally killed that abusive piece of crap of a father. HOW DARE YOU TELL ME TO GIVE UP!!" He screams at the top of his lungs.
His conviction and the fire in his eyes made me flinch a little. I was so stunned that I didn't even realize Atlas pulled two more syringes and injected himself with it. But he wasn't just yet, pulling another one and injecting himself through the neck.
"W-What the heck are you doing!?" I shout.
From what I've seen, I don't think that injecting yourself with the Emperor's serum was healthy. The way your body expands and tears itself apart. It's not normal. He was clutching his chest, wheezing.
"H-Hey, are you all right!?" I asked, but I didn't receive any words from Atlas.
He dropped to his knees and started to scream in pain. I gasped, quickly flying to help him, only for my abdomen to be hit by a powerful force, sending me crashing to the dirt.
"Ow…"
It wasn't as painful as when I got hit by the railgun, but certainly more than unpleasant. I especially think he cracked a rib, which was confirmed when the SEE Goggles gave me an X-ray of my body, though not a second later, it was quickly healed. I groaned as I got back up, only for my jaw to hang open. To my horror, I watched as Atlas's eyes started to drip blood, his muscular system pushing through his skin. He was taller, more than ten feet.
His muscles were so large and thick, it looked ridiculous. It looked gross, scary and painful. Especially when Atlas screamed like a little girl. It was horrifying seeing the usually angry Super Soldier scream like that. Once he stopped growing and his muscles expanded, he took one step towards me with bared teeth. His eyes had no pupils, just pure red, with bloody tears leaking from them.
He howled in both pain and anger before rushing in at a speed I didn't expect. I barely moved myself away as his fist smashed through where I used to be a millisecond earlier. He roars as he throws a wild haymaker, which I blocked, but it still pushes me back. Atlas screams and throws multiple attacks, which I either dodged or blocked. Gone were the sharp movements and techniques just minutes ago, now replaced with wild punches that should have come from an enraged animal, not a soldier.
On one hand, his attacks are now telegraphed and easy to read and predict. But at the same time, it was faster and stronger. He pulled back his punch too much and too slow, allowing me to counterattack with a left hook on the jaw, which barely fazed him. He threw that punch, which landed because I was surprised that he tanked it. This knocks me face-first to the grass.
Before I could do anything, he grabbed my cape and started to use me as a battering ram against any trees. He kept on doing this until I forced myself still and headbutted him, which again barely did anything. No, it did hurt him. But his body was in so much pain and adrenaline that the pain from my attacks was only a pinch compared to the tearing muscles in his body. He socked me in the face for headbutting him.
I felt blood come out of my nose, which made me groan.
"You've got to get out of his hold, Red!" Gavin shouted.
Yeah, no crap, Sherlock! I forced my body up and shot my optic blast, which made him let go of my cape. He stumbled back with a burned chest, revealing more of his exposed muscles. He roared, charging at me again, but I flew into the air out of his reach, allowing me to get a breather.
"Holy crap, he's strong," I said, panting.
I wiped the blood from my nose and stared at the mad creature shouting at me. It wasn't even trying to grab a fallen tree or anything to throw at me. Only screaming and beating his chest for me to come down and fight it.
"That's the consequence of injecting yourself with multiple dosages of the Emperor serum. While the increase is massive, the downside is your brain starts to turn to mush, and now Atlas is now nothing more but a wild beast filled with fury and pain." Gavin explained.
"Any advice to take him down?"
"Hm…while stronger, his usual combat techniques are now gone. Just try to outspeed him using a hit and run tactic or try to fight him at long range, you're choice."
I nod. I charged at him, and he screamed, letting loose a furious barrage of punches. I moved to the side, evading all of them before planting my foot on his ribs, which caused him to shout in pain. Atlas tried to bat me away, but I was already moving, this time behind him. I punched the back of his head and then kicked his calf, which made his legs buckle.
Atlas keeps trying to hit me, but I was far too fast to be hit. It's not helped by my moving even faster.
"Machine Gun-Breaker!" I shouted before speeding up even more to the point I was now a blur.
Any attack Atlas made was far too slow and too easy to dodge. He wasn't even dodging my strikes, taking them head-on. I could feel his bones crunch at my strikes or gain large bruises, but even then, he continued to attack with wild abandon. I punched his face, infused with cosmic lightning, which finally stunned him enough for me to drop down, pulling both arms back, with my eyes glowing hot red.
"Shotgun Breaker!"
I slammed both fists, along with my optic blast, directly to his abdomen, sending him flying into the air before crashing hard to the floor. My SEE Goggles told me that I broke all of his ribs and 70% of his bones. It wasn't just that; he had numerous fractures and bruises. Despite all these injuries, he was alive, his heart beating fast, actually a lot faster than normal, most likely from the serum. I may hate his guts, but I won't be responsible for his death.
At this point, there is no point in restraining him. I bet even a normal kid could kick his butt. Still restraining would be a good idea. I moved to grab his broken body only to stop. My eyes and jaw went wide as dinner plates. Atlas was getting up, somehow, despite all of his injuries; he got up, and blood dripped from his mouth.
He bared his teeth at me.
"I'll kill you, I'll kill you, I'll kill you…" He repeated in a weak tone.
"D-Damn it, just stay down! Are you trying to kill yourself!?" I shouted, my voice shaky.
He grabs something from his pocket and pulls another syringe, pointing the needle at his leg.
"STOP!" I rushed forward to stop him, only for my face to get punched.
My visor cracked as my body collided with the ground, groaning. Well, that hurts. I grunted as I got up, but it was too late; Atlas had injected himself again, and to my shock, he pulled another syringe and injected himself again. He screamed once more as his muscular system tore through pretty much his entire skin. His hair fell out, making him bald, and his body even grew bigger.
His veins at this point were even bigger than my ARMS. He's got to be eleven feet tall, and he was comically wide; he looked more like a brick wall than a human. Atlas forced a huge grin, but I could tell he was in a massive amount of pain. I was surprised he hadn't passed out from his skin being torn from his ever-expanding muscles.
He tried to walk toward me, but then stopped. He was still a statue. I blinked, the cracked lenses of my visor showing me his internal organs. His heart was so fast, it was to the point that it might just-
POP
I gasped as I backed away. His heart…it just exploded. Atlas drops to his knees, looking at me with an extreme amount of hatred, but soon that fire in his eyes vanishes. He was motionless. Atlas is dead, while still standing up.
I dropped to my knees and puked.