ic Jinn and Tonic

[Ecalsneerg]

"Well, hot damn," breathed Geckoman as the crazy scientist broke into a dead run. That guy was surprisingly fast. A chase was just going to end up in a stalemate. Luckily, it hopefully would not come to that.

 

He took a couple of steps forward and seizing the door firmly, yanked it from its already weakened hinges. Already sweating from the exertion of running so far, he forced himself to take a couple of quick spins, holding the door high as he did. As he felt sharp pain spasm through his muscles, he dropped to his knees and took quick aim, sending the door sliding down tarmac with a horrific SCREEEEEEEEE noise and a cloud of red-orange sparks.

[Supercape]

GM

 

Doctor Tonic looked back at the sound of screeching, but to late. The Door hit him on the backs of his knees, and he rotated, and fell. It was as though he had slipped on a banana peel in a kiddies cartoon. 

 

"I ain't ever seen that before!" gasped one pedestrian on the sidewalk, who had indeed never seen that before and thus documented it on his mobile phone camera. 

 

"Neither have I!" said Doctor Tonic, Angrily, flat on his back. 

 

"Geckoman, you almost tempt me to stomp your irritating green behind onto the sidewalk, leaving nothing but a big ugly Green stain that the City will try to wash away for years...but...but...but almost is not enough. Not when I have a daughter to save! Although your vexations will be paid for when I have time!" he swore, starting to get up...

[Ecalsneerg]

Geckoman took a single step forward. "You don't have that time, smart guy. I'm Geckoman. Up until now, I've been nice. I've tried to convince you to stop, to find a different way, that what you're doing is mad, what you're doing is wrong. I asked you, please, to stop. And you won't relent."

 

He took just one more step forward, stopping near the rising Doc Tonic. "A lot of things have told me to stop, a lot of things have been vexed by me. Aliens, gods, the Gorgon's Herald. A cyborg Centurion. And none of them stomped me flat. Doc, you drugged me, drained my blood, strapped me down and got in a car. And I still beat you on foot." He dropped into a fighting stance, fists high, legs spread for balance. "So, c'mon, big guy. You want me to stop? Get stomping."

[Supercape]

GM

 

"Of no consequence, Green Gecko!" said Tonic, clenching his teeth, and clenching his hand around Geckomans blood, shaking it in front of him. 

 

"This is the universe, this is everything! Every spirit, every planet, every atom, to me! My Daughter will not suffer as I have. This is my vow, my God! hahahaha!" he said, becoming cheerful once again. 

 

"Oh Guardian Jinn! Forces of God! Lend strength to my legs and breath to my lungs! I shall be fleet as a fox, silent as a panther!"

 

And with that, he turned foot and sped off. His pace was beyond Olympian, equalling anything Geckoman could have done. 

[Ecalsneerg]

"Oh, come on!" shouted Geckoman after the retreating Doc Tonic. "Come hit me! Please?" He shook his head. "Everyone wants to hit me when I'd prefer they didn't," he muttered to himself. 

 

Right, cleverness time. This guy was fast, really fast, and based on the jumping, likely very strong. And Geckoman had been running a lot, and was unlikely to keep up a solid pace long enough to catch him. What'd be faster. What could he do that the Doc couldn't, that would let him, if not necessarily stop him from getting to the hospital, get there faster?

 

Geckoman looked up. A support pillar. And a long, long rail. "Monorail!" With that, he altered his course, and sprinted towards the pillar. He was going to ride that monorail!

[Supercape]

GM

 

And so, it seemed, was Dr Tonic. 

 

His speeding thick legs propelled him in giant bounds across the ground. He was not so much a skilled fast runner, as he was simply able to bound along in giant leaps, one, two, one two. 

 

"The Gecko is ever the cursed lizard of Allah! The Jinn shall give wings to Tonic! Hahahaha!" he laughed easily despite his effort. 

 

He was just as fast, but not quite as direct. Not that he was indirect, though. Whilst Geckoman crawled up the side of the monorail pillar, Dr Tonic paused, and simply jumped up on to a nearby truck, then, steadying himself, jumping up to the monorail itself. It was fast, but not as fast as Geckoman. 

 

By the time he landed on the monorail, he was wobbling from the jump, a clear thirty feet in the air, Geckoman had beaten him to it. They stood on the rail itself, facing each other...

 

With the sound of an approaching train speeding towards them...

[Ecalsneerg]

"Train!" shouted Geckoman, rushing forward. "You were just in a car crash! You can't do this, you lunatic!" He slid along the rails, going under Doc Tonic's legs and rushing up to pin his arms from behind. "Hold on tight, and don't struggle, or we both die. You are an infuriating pain in the ass, but that is a TRAIN!"

 

He mustered up every last drop of strength left in his bones, and pushed against gravity, against Doc Tonic's giant bulk, against the screams of agony in his legs, against the thin rails upon which the two men perched, and desperately, teeth gritted and arms tense, tried to leap atop a moving train.

[Supercape]

GM

 

Up they sailed, through the air, and for a moment, at the peak of the arc, all was still. Geckoman could feel Dr Tonic in his grasp, strong, powerful, his body clearly leaning more to the muscle end of stocky than the fat end. He strained against Geckoman's grasp. There could be little doubt he was stronger than his Green adversary. But although he was fast, he was no match for Geckoman. 

 

"Fool! Do you know why I am called Dr Tonic?" he said, grinning whilst trying to break free. 

 

Geckoman felt a tension in his fingers, something spreading up his nerves from where he had touched Dr Tonic. 

 

And then they landed, with some roughness, on the top of the Monorail train. A crunch which left a dent in the car, and screams from passengers. 

 

"My illness...a nerve degeneration. I had seizure after seizure. All tonic seizures. You know that, yes? A stiffness in the muscles, a cramp, a paralysis, as the nerves insist on full contracting..."

 

Geckoman could feel his nerves and muscles tensing...

[Ecalsneerg]

Geckoman stumbled back as the Doc resisted his hold, something burning at his muscles. Fatigue shot through every muscle, even as his nerves fired and refused to fire and left him even weaker at the knees than before. Ugh. Why couldn't he be smart or strong, not both. It seemed a little unfair.
 
He gritted his teeth and rolled his neck, still panting heavily. He could feel his regenerative powers removing some of the damage from the lactic acid, fighting the toxin for every nerve ending and muscle. "Nice. Try. Buddy."
 
Geckoman leapt up vertically, the train's movement carrying him over the Doc's head. He landed on one hand, twisting his body like a coiled spring, then loosing it to send a vicious kick toward the villain's spine. "Really, it's just getting embarrassing for you now."

[Supercape]

GM

 

"I do not just try! I succee...wha?" gasped Dr Tonic, his broad frame turning but not turning fast enough. 

 

The kick caught him right in the back. On a man without Tonic's robust frame, it could have snapped a spine. But Geckoman knew better...Tonic had the strength and constitution of ten men, or more. 

 

Still, a crunch was heard, and Tonic's legs started to fold. The power of the kick sent him tumbling off the Monorail, spinning into an advertisement for "Gordon's Gin", an elegant smiling tonic woman holding up a cocktail glass full of the spirit. Tonic crashed right into the giant picture of the cocktail glass. 

 

That's right. Gin and Tonic 

 

A few obligatory sparks fizzed around him, and he fell again, solidly, landing on a poor Freedom City Taxi, whose roof caved in. 

 

Tonic groaned and rolled his eyes. 

 

And Geckoman felt another electric spasm crawling up his foot...

[Ecalsneerg]

Geckoman panted and fought the urge to lie down. "Well, hopefully that got me some time... welp." He shimmied down the side of the train and peered through at the terrified looking passengers, giving a friendly wave. 

 

"Hi! You can't hear me, probably, but can you..." He knocked on the glass and made an opening gesture. "Open this window up? I need to make a few..." He held his hand to his ear in the universal 'phonecall' gesture. "Calls. Crazy man, you know the deal. Really just bumming everyone out."

[Supercape]

GM

 

The terrified passengers leaned this way, they leaned that way. And then Geckoman slid into view, at the side of the carriage. It was fortunate that he was known. Green men jumping unto your monorail carriage and crawling around it was an unusual sight, even for Freedom City. 

 

"Yeah...uh...sure thing...man....you must be that Gecko dud, yuh? Far out!" answered one tall, lanky gentleman with bright red dreadlocks and a scuffy goatee. He looked malnourished and was smoking a highly suspicious cigarette. He looked equally suspiciously unfreaked out by the experience, in disobedience to his t shirt which excitedly berated everyone to freak out in large orange letters, a perfect mismatch to the yellow background. 

 

He opened the window and passed him his Mobile, which was playing a Jimi Hendix Song, "Crosstown Traffic". 

[Ecalsneerg]

Geckoman crawled in the window, sliding down into one of the seats near the window. He waved the phone at the man who'd passed it to him. "Thanks for the lend, but y'know... c'mon, headphones, man." He hit the pause button, and started dialling a number, holding the phone up to his ear.

 

He waited a bit for the call to connect. "Hi? Freedom PD? Ok, this is Geckoman, Giordano's contact. I need a favour, we've got a situation approaching Trinity Hospital, and we're going to need a cordon ASAP..."

[Supercape]

GM

 

"A cordon? Around Trinity hospital?" answered the police officer with the misfortune to pick up the phone. "We can do that...but...this is a hospital, right? Ambulances, nurses, doctors, patients...we can't just isolate the building!" he said, knowing he would get an earful for his position. "We gotta have details, Geckoman! What's going on? Who do we stop? What's the threat? We can't just shut down a hospital without a good reason...and even then, setting up a cordon..."

 

In fairness, he was signalling to the other offices to start assembling. To do something...but...what?

 

Tick tock tick tock

 

Every second on the phone was another second Dr Tonic was pounding his way towards Trinity. And now, out of sight. By foot? By car? By hijacked ambulance? or even police car?...however mad the doctor was, he was clearly far from stupid...

[Ecalsneerg]

"Listen, man, I know it's difficult to cordon a hospital, but all those doctors, nurses and patients are WHY we need it done," said Geckoman hurriedly. "Big burly guy, beard, possibly European to Middle Eastern ish. He's definitely some kind of meta, superhuman strength, jumps hella high, seems to have some sort of paralytic agent which harms people who come into contact with him." C'mon, facts, facts! 

 

"Says he's got a daughter in there with a degenerative nerve condition, he plans to inject her with something highly unstable he extracted from my blood. If we could figure out who she is, we could just isolate part of the hospital, but I'm on a monorail without any of my equipment and I can't be certain I'll get there first!"

[Supercape]

GM

 

Or would he?

 

The Monorail was heading for Trinity. That had always been the plan. And it sped along, with the odd screech that sounded rather nerve jangling. Even a few sparks. The Monorail had been jarred by Geckoman and Tonic's tussle.

 

The Cops were halfway through setting up the Cordon as Geckoman and Monorail halted a couple of dozen yards from the Hospital, still high up, on the Rail. Below, police cars were pulling up, lights flashing, and people of all sorts milling around; doctors, nurses, bystanders, paramedics. 

 

"Ho, its Geckoman! Dude, you better have played this one right, its pandemonium down here!" yelled up a young Police officer, pointing at the Green Hero and giving a friendly wave. 

 

He wasn't half off the mark, either. It would be a good few minutes before the Police had properly cordoned off the hospital, and even then, there would be a lot of angry civillians on both side of the lines...

[Ecalsneerg]

Geckoman slid down from the monorail, walking up to the officer addressing him. "I hope so too." He looked around at the cops nearby. "But this isn't a typical situation. Now there's less time crunch, I'll elaborate. A man calling himself Doc Tonic. He captured me, took my blood, and plans to use it because the voices told him to." He shrugged his shoulders helplessly. 

 

"He and his daughter have a degenerative nerve disorders, and he plans to cure her using it. Only, he is not stable, I doubt injecting my blood into someone is stable, and frankly this is something which just needs time and examination. And he won't budge. I tried to talk him down, but..."

 

Geckoman advanced to the cop, and laid his hands on his shoulders. "He's strong, fast, and his touch paralyzes, and he's also pretty intelligent, crazy aside. That is not the danger. The danger is that this man isn't a conqueror, he is not a thief, he is not a thug. He is a man scared for his daughter, and that is something much, much harder to stop than any of those. Think how hard you'd fight if your loved one was in danger. This man is fighting that hard, even though what he's fighting to do will likely harm his daughter."

[Supercape]

GM

 

Neee-naaaw---ne-naaaw!

 

A sole ambulance crushed through the throngs and sirens, its own one blazing and flashing. Something about it alerted the Geckoman, its directness, its fury of purpose.

 

Sure enough, driving it was a large man with mad hair, mad eyes, and a mad grin. 

 

Dr. Tonic. 

 

One brave police officer tried to wave it down. It slowed, briefly, drawing the cop to its side. A hand shot out, and the police man seized solid, a tonic seizure, turning purple and dropping like a toppled statue. 

 

Then the ambulance pressed forward, full of purpose and vindicated ambition. 

[Ecalsneerg]

"Speaking of," said Geckoman to the cop, quickly pulling his service weapon from his holster. "Here's our friend." He quickly spun and extended one arm out towards the speeding vehicle. He thumbed off the safety, and quickly moved his arm gradually, following the motion of the ambulance.

 

"Bang!" he shouted, quickly taking a shot, then pivoting his arm slightly and swiftly to take a second one. With two cracks, quickly one after the other, two of the ambulance's tires were wrecked, even as Geckoman waved at anyone not in a police uniform. "Get away from him, now! Go!"

[Supercape]

GM

 

Bang! Bang!

 

The front tyres of the Ambulance blew out, shredded by Geckoman's bullets. The Green Hero just caught the site of Tonics bruised and battered face, teeth gripped in a furious grin, hands gripping the steering wheel so tight it bent, as he sailed past him, the Ambulance tumbling and tumbling, glass smashing, metal crunching and denting, in a full on roll. 

 

Three...four...five...six! times it flipped and rolled, before crashing into the Hospital itself, masonry and glass exploding, the Ambulance sliding several feet into the hospital proper as bricks and mortar and dust fell on it. 

 

"That's my gun, Sir..." said the slack jawed Police Officer, eyes like saucers, as he witnessed the carnage his firearm had caused. He looked as shocked and stunned as the large audience. 

 

"Geckoman shot an ambulance!" cried one outraged cameraman from the gathering reporters, capturing, and admittedly accurately, the situation in four words. 

[Ecalsneerg]

"Oh," breathed Geckoman as the ambulance rolled crashing into the hospital, gun falling from his limp fingers. The strain and exhaustion were getting to him. Crud. And now the press were going to screech in like vultures, writing and writing words upon words, none of which were going to be 'context'. 

 

"OK. Right," he gasped. "Don't get near him. Don't touch him!" He spread his arms wide. He was going to have to talk the Doc down now. He was going to have to, or his credibility would be massacred. Geckoman turned to point at the cop who Doc Tonic had taken down when he'd pulled in, and who apparently nobody felt worth focusing on. He pointed at the downed cop. "And don't just stand there, get that officer medical attention now!"

[Supercape]

"Errr...." answered the Cop, vaguely tapping at his empty holster, vaguely looking at Geckoman, and looking rather spun. 

 

"Yes...Geckoman..I mean...Sir... I mean...errr...." he bumbled over his words, as Flashlights and Cellphones clicked over him and Geckoman. 

 

He shot down an Ambulance!

 

Did you see?

 

He wrecked the hospital!

 

There might have been kids in there...

 

The mood hung in balance, like a spinning plate that would eventually fall, and shatter. And from the mumble - and admittedly, without full facts, deservedly so - was turning ugly to Geckoman's ears. 

 

"Medical attention, yeah, er..." said the Cop, looking at the hole in the hospital. "That might be a little hard to get right now, Sir...um...Geckoman...given what you...err...just did..." he spluttered, before losing nerve and running to help the seizing Policeman. 

[Ecalsneerg]

And there it was. The temptation. This would turn on him. Headlines. Night upon night of talking heads sitting in comfortable chairs talking about what they'd have done in a situation they'd never be in. And truth be told, they'd never react how they'd say they would. Geckoman took a deep breath. It was stupid, shooting out the wheels. But what could he have done? Thrown himself under it, let it plough into the crowd, let Doc Tonic take out a few cops and reporters, before doing god knows what in the hospital as people tried to stop him. 

 

It was tempting to just sit down, and go along with what every newspaper and newscaster'd be spitting. Why didn't he just do nothing. He could sit back, let the supervillain bust out, take out some police and journalists and nurses and doctors, and then shoot his daughter up with god knows what and kill her. But...

 

"Not an option..." he sighed. "Never, ever an option." Erik was going to kill him.

 

"Doctor Tonic!" he called, limping forward, chest heaving, one leg dragging slightly. "I know you're still in there." You fell off a moving train and kept moving, that didn't stop you. "You need to stop this. You need help. Look what's happened already. Stand down, and I will get you and your daughter help."

[Supercape]

GM

 

"Help? Help? That's what they all said! Help! They want to help me! Then they put me in a straight jacket and said I was hallucinating!"

 

He turned to the air to his left. 

 

"Yes, yes, oh Jinn! Then they injected me!" he said to the hallucination. 

 

"Never never never! I help myself now! My daughter and I, both blessed with the DNA of the divine!" he shouted at Geckoman, before leaping, and with some agility, off the turned Ambulance, dashing off into the hospital proper, to the tune of screams, sirens, and smoke. 

[Ecalsneerg]

Geckoman sighed and rolled his shoulders. "Again with the running!" He forced himself forwards, muscles and bone too tired or too overtaxed to move into a sprint. But he was already quick on his feet, and though absolutely exhausted, could still get a level of speed normal human athletes would be pressed to maintain. 

 

"Get back here! Now!" he shouted, half-running, half-jogging, half-limping (wait, too many halves?) towards the hospital, keeping an eye out for an item he thought he could use. Something to even the odds in this chase.