DolphinSimpHe/HimDec 17, 2020#78I had barely even processed what Dubbilex said, before they revealed a vial of disturbingly fluorescent blue liquid and downed it all in one gulp. Almost instantly, they began groaning with pain as they doubled over, but when they looked up, I could see that the whites of their eyes had turned black. Their body shook and their fingers twitched, and I felt a tinge of nausea when I could hear the sounds of bones cracking and skin tearing. Their muscle mass increased immensely, as though they were being pumped full of air. Disturbingly, their own flesh began to peel off of their body as though it were paper, revealing a dense, armour-like hide underneath. Between the horns, the eyes and the hulking figure, it was an understatement to say that Dubbilex looked completely demonic.
Their mouth opened and they let out a horrific roar, fitting their new image. But what was more disturbing was how they then closed their mouth and looked down at the four of us, and it twisted into a vicious, bloodthirsty grin.
I was about to make a remark about the fact that Kid Flash would have been well within his power to stop Dubbilex from drinking the vial in the first place, but I lost the opportunity when the latter charged at us with another vicious roar. We were probably going to be hearing that a lot for the next few minutes. Aqualad took charge of the situation and leaped towards them, his water bearers shifting into a mace and a sword which proved to be as effective as a regular glass of water would be. With one oversized hand, Dubbilex grabbed the mace and hurled both it and the person holding it into the wall. Unsatisfied with just that level of violence, they immediately followed it by picking Aqualad up by the throat and slamming their fist into his face. The sound of the impact, and the power behind it, made me sick.
The assault continued against the poor, but thankfully quite durable Atlantean, and I turned my attention to his attacker's mind. The moment I reached out with my telepathy I was bombarded with agonising white noise and sheer bloodlust. With a gasp I pulled away from their mind, but my intrusion seemed to have drawn their attention. They ceased their assault on Aqualad and barrelled towards me. It was clear from the white noise that whatever that serum had done to them, Dubbilex's mind was in no shape to be performing telepathy or telekinesis. An advantage I had over them, now, as I mustered up all the telekinetic energy I could to push Dubbilex away.
To my surprise, but certainly not disappointment, Dubbilex's enhanced body slammed into the roof and then punched clean through it, sailing through the air before landing in the wide expanse of CADMUS' ground floor. Despite the vicious beating he had just taken, Aqualad was the first to follow through the hole I had just made, with Robin and Kid Flash following suit as the former used his grappling hook.
~Aqualad, Robin, Kid Flash. Please keep Dubbilex busy. I am going to attempt to telepathically pacify him, but I will be defenceless while I do.~ I sent out a telepathic message to the three of them while I remained on sublevel one. Trippilex simply wasn't the right form to be fighting that creature with in close quarters, and I could tell that one good hit would end me.
Focusing, I closed my eyes and reached out with my telepathy. Every other sense around me faded away as I found myself in a black expanse of nothingness. There was no sound, no scent, no light and no feeling. It was just me, or more specifically, my mind.
I reached out, and in the distance appeared four other individuals. Three of them were clearly defined and detailed, being Aqualad, Robin and Kid Flash, though their bodies were transparent, likely due to their ongoing battle with Dubbilex requiring the majority of their attention. And speaking of Dubbilex… their mental form in this plane was a single-coloured haze that barely matched the shape of their body. Focusing my telepathy in on their body yielded the same results as earlier, and I was beset with noise and rage. But this time I didn't pull out.
The noise grew louder and louder as I slowly forced myself to walk, telepathically, towards Dubbilex's mind, guiding my telepathic energies to get closer and closer. My legs- well, my mental projection of legs, felt like they were made of lead as I dragged them across the ground, and my vision began to blur as I had difficulty focusing on the mind ahead of me. It seemed so much easier to just… give up. To stop this pointless escapade and just let the sidekicks handle it.
But if I didn't take Dubbilex down now, they would win. They would beat Robin, Kid Flash and Aqualad until they were broken and bloody and then they would come back down here, and they would murder me with no difficulty and no resistance. And I wasn't some noble hero that would sacrifice himself or endanger himself on a whim with no regard for his life. I didn't want to die, and I was afraid of it. More than that, I wanted to live. I wanted to leave this building and breathe fresh air, I wanted to eat something that didn't come through a tube and I wanted to spit in the face of everyone at CADMUS that was responsible for this. I wanted to live, and I was not going to die right as I was nearing the finish line.
Those two selfish compulsions, two of the most basic instincts in any sentient living being, were what empowered me to take another step towards Dubbilex's mind. The noise was deafening, almost silent in how loud and constant it was, but I was close enough. I stopped and stood in place, hesitating for just a moment, before I screamed into Dubbilex's mind with every ounce of power and will I possessed. Louder than I had shouted before, louder than I could ever have shouted with just my vocal cords alone.
~CALMBEATENTIREDPEACEFULSLEEPYBROKENWEAK~
Dubbilex's hazy mental form trembled and quivered, perhaps a sign that I had come out victorious, or perhaps a sign that I had barely shaken them with my attack. Regardless of the outcome, I had certainly tired myself out. And so, barely able to mentally stand, my other senses all faded in as I focused back on the physical plane. The last thought that ran through my head as I fell unconscious, was noticing as I transformed back into a human.Last edited: Jun 13, 2022