Crossover Earth '98
RUMBLE IN DALLAS
MICHAEL SURBROOK
Crouching on the roof a nearby warehouse, Kayli chewed thoughtfully on a nutrient bar. She was here, in the city called Dallas, with the express intent of causing a great deal of destruction. Destruction she was due to get paid handsomely for, thanks to a contract Carlos had accepted on her behalf. It was a dream mission, the type she lived for.
Carlos had invited Kayli into his office a few days ago to inform her that he had a new assignment ready. It seemed that the boss of a local underworld organization was troubled by the existence of an independent drug distribution operation. Since this drug operation was running without the consent of the local organization, the boss had asked Carlos to look into it. Carlos - who was no man's fool - offered to take care of it for them in exchange for certain financial considerations.
Taking care of a problem like this was a no-brainer to Carlos. The locals wanted the operation destroyed, and if you wanted something destroyed you called in Kayli. She accepted the job happily, since it meant she'd be able to cut loose with no restraints and no one looking over her shoulder. The fact that Carlos had informed her "Casualties are not a problem..." was just an added bonus.
Finishing her nutrient bar and tossing the wrapper away to join the assorted clutter on the rooftop, Kayli stood, trying to get a better view of her surroundings. The drug lab was located in an old warehouse in the middle of an industrial zone. She was surrounded by a virtual sea of low, flat-roofed buildings, miles of rusting chain-link fencing and numerous large trucks. Some distance to her left was a sprawling tangle of railroad tracks, and periodically the night air was cut by the howling shriek of a train's passage. To her immediate right was a water tower, its formerly white surface orange with rust stains that had mostly obliterated the red lettering that had once adorned it.
Down below, the back lot of the warehouse contained a large truck, supposedly for shipping televisions - which is what the warehouse was supposed to hold - a number of cars and a battered trash dumpster. Kayli studied these items with some care. She had already formed a plan on how to take out the lab, now all she needed was the right tools. The truck seemed like a nice idea, except it was rather large and unwieldy and Kayli doubted it would explode satisfactorily. The dumpster would be easier to throw, except that that it was unlikely to contain anything more flammable than cardboard and paper. Looking over the ground cars, Kayli finally selected a low, sleek street machine that looked to have been built for speed, not durability. That meant that it was probably light in weight and fairly fragile. Perfect.
Walking across the roof to the far side of the warehouse, Kayli dropped into the dark between buildings, well out of sight of her intended target. Moments later, the bright yellow flare of her battle aura illuminated the area with a flickering light. Fully charged, Kayli paused for a moment, savoring the feeling of power that coursed through her body. Crouching slightly, she then took to the air, arcing over the low, broad warehouse to land amid the scattering of cars parked in back of the drug lab. She caught a momentarily glimpse of a tall, massively muscled man, cradling a weapon of some sort in his hands, before bending over to grab the low-slung sports car. Metal crumpled under her fingers and the frame creaked as she lifted the vehicle's two thousand-plus pounds over her head. Turning to face the loading dock that ran along the back of the warehouse, Kayli grinned. The tall gun-toting man was still there, staring at her with wide-eyed amazement. "Catch!" she called, tossing the car at the loading bay doors.
With a shattering of glass and a screech of metal, the car slammed into the loading dock, cutting of the guard's scream of fear as a ton of steel and fiberglass smashed him into the concrete. The car bounced and rolled, tearing through the thin sheet-steel of the warehouse's outer walls. Large sections of wall ripped free with a spray of rivets, crumbling like so much tinfoil as the car continued to slid across the slick inner floor in a spray of sparks.
Bringing her hands before her, Kayli summoned a bright ball of glowing light. Concentrating, she unleashed a continuous stream of energy bolts, the brilliant white beams flashing through the darkness to tear into the dark, rolling, hulk of the car she'd thrown. She continued firing for several long seconds, until a dull whump announced the imminent detonation of the vehicle's fuel tank. A bright flash and deafening roar filled the spacious warehouse as a ball of fire climbed its way through the roof.
Laughing, Kayli easily leaped the short distance from the ground to the loading dock. Of the guard she'd pitched a car at, there was no sign, except for that of his weapon, lazily spinning in a circle on the floor. Igniting her beam sword, she walked into hell.
Inside, the warehouse was a blazing ruin. The car had crashed through stacks of televisions and other electronic devices, before fetching up against a massive framework of pallet racks. The resulting fireball from the exploding gas tank had ignited scattered stacks of cardboard boxes, wooden pallets and packing materials. Beyond the thick metal frmework of the pallet shelves, tables crammed with drug-processing paraphernalia lay in a shattered ruin.
The shouts and screams of survivors drew Kayli's attention back to the task at hand. Wrapping her tail tight around her waist, she quickly jogged inside the gaping hole she'd torn into the warehouse wall, pausing only to fire a energy bolt into a slowly rising figure on her right. The man promptly blew apart into thick spray; at this range and intensity, as the blast had superheated internal body fluids to steam.
Kayli grinned, her teeth a bright white against the dark gray of her skin. Carlos wanted the distribution center destroyed, and destroyed it was going to be... even if that meant killing anything and everything that moved in the increasingly chaotic confines of the warehouse. Kayli was now at the sharp end, and it didn't matter if her targets were 100 ton M'larrne hovertanks or humans armed with primitive slugthrowers, there was only one rule: take down your target before he has a chance to take down you.
Reaching the tall framework of the pallet rack, Kayli wrapped her hands around on thick metal support and pushed. The support was faintly warm though her gloves, the result of the fiercely burning ground car to her left. The shelf unit creaked as Kayli slowly lifted on leg off the ground. She was still at full strength, and in this state she could topple most armored combat vehicles. Bracing her feet, the concrete creaking under the strain, she sent the entire structure over with a deafening crash.
There was a long moment of silence that followed the clanging and shattering of the collapsed shelving unit. Figures darted through the smoke and dust, most too concerned with getting out alive to think about opposing their attacker. Kayli was aware of a series of hollow pops off to the right, where the main drug lab was, but none of the bullets came any where near her. She tossed another bolt of energy in the gunman's general direction before taking to the air to witness her handiwork.
Her survey of the battlefield was abruptly cut short of a loud squeal of tortured metal. Turning, Kayli stared in open-mouthed amazement as the water tower slowly leaned towards the warehouse. Smoke spurted from the base as the legs ripped free of their concrete anchors, and the ladder assembly tore free to swing crazily across her field of vision. The whole structure fell with agonizing slowness, as if savoring the effect its collapse must have had on any potential witnesses.
The tower smashed into the back parking lot thunderous impact. Two cars were instantly crushed, as the tank hit them square. The tank itself ruptured in a spray of white, roaring, water that swept the past the remaning cars as if they were mere children's toys. The wall of water smashed into the loading dock with enough froce to shake the whole building. The lower half of the wave was stopped instantly, but the upper half continued pushing forward, washing debris, boxed TVs and running gangers before it.
Kayli continued to hang in the air and stare as the water surged past below her. The wave crashed and edied around the car, collpased pallet rack the the shattered equipment of the drug lab. Most of the fires were instantly snuffed out, while free-floating debis was slammed into the far wall, splitting more seams in the process. Here and there, wet, bedraggled gangers sloshed their way through the mess, making for any one of a number of exits.
As quick as it had come the wave was gone. Out in the parking lot, the assorted cars were piled like discarded toys. The wall of water had pushed them all to one side, tumbling the smaller vehicles. Within the warehouse, most of the water has washed out the far side of the building, force open doors or pushing apart weak sections of wall. Kayli dropped to the floor, landing with a faint splash, and took stock of her surroundings. The drug lab was thoroughly destroyed, both by fire and water. But... it seemed wrong some how. How... whay had the water tower collapsed? Had someone else been responsible? Kayli, realizing that one of this planet's so-called 'superheroes might be nearby perked up, glancing about the warehouse for any sign of life.
Standing near where the drug manufacturing had taken place was a man. He was dressed in a white coat, stained now with water and soot, and dabbed at his face with a purple cloth. Kayli paused and eyed him speculatively.
Dropping the cloth, the man glared at her. "You... you... bitch!" he screamed. "You've cost me millions!"
Kayli shrugged, her eyes narrow. "And?" she said quietly. Something didn't feel right and she had no time for silly posturing.
"Now you die!" He right arm snapped upward his hand closing around a dark steel blur.
Kayli dropped instantly, rolling to one side through the thin sheet of water that still covered the floor. A single shot rang out, the bullet whipping through the space she had occupied just a moment before. Kayli pointed her fist and speared the man with a lance of brilliant white energy. The bolt lifted him off of his feet and flung him into a far corner of the warehouse, his once-white jacket now blackened smoldering from the sudden burst of heat.
Rising to her feet, Kayli stumbled, putting her hands to her head. She felt ill, wrong, as if she shouldn't be here. Had she done something wrong? Staggering to the open warehosue door she had used to intially enter the building, Kayli paused wiping at the tears that now streaked her face. She felt distraught, the images of destruction around her bringing forth great waves of sadness. Her mind was whiling with conflicting emotions. She had completed her job just as Carlos had asked, so why did she feel so upset? Unable to find an asnwer, Kayli took to the air, straking across the night sky in a flare of light.