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PK FIRE! I accept your challenge.

I'm going to leave the battlefield up to you.

On the front steps of a rather impressive looking building we see a rather tall and thin man. His shabby appearance was a stark contrast to the three story example of classical Greco-Roman splendor. The shoulder length black hair had many grey streaks that only seemed to highlight how unkempt it was. Next were the eyes while the irises were an odd dark red the main thought they brought to mind was apathy. While very tall at six feet seven inches the man’s thin frame seemed to imply that a strung wind would surely knock him off his feet. The large white trench coat, chain mail vest and blue undershirt seemed to hang off his shoulders. Only kept in place by the large black messenger bag. Tattered olive drab pants and brown running shoes completed the world worn look of the man.

The white marble shone brilliantly in the sun. The large columns that supported the roof had to have cost a small fortune alone. The Parthenon was most obviously the inspiration here. Though while the inspiration was plain to see the extravagances didn’t end there. Stain glass windows depicting likenesses of heroes and villains of a decidedly mechanical nature gleamed in the sunlight. Upon closer inspection one could see intricate carvings of a more fantastic nature adorning the large double doors. Depicting scenes of powerful mage facing off with dragons of truly monstrous size. One could only wonder why any person would go such lengths for what was a non governmental public building is anyone’s guess.

Lawrence Williams. Had seen a great many things in his long life. They ranged from a living jello mold to the personification of Death itself. So while the seemingly months old yet totally abandoned library before him wasn’t even in the running for the strangest by far he would admit that the library being in this state in spite of the fact that it was in the midst of a bustling metropolis was quite odd.

He deseeded to make the most of this rare stroke of good luck. He climbed up the stone steps to the front doors and with some difficulty pushed them open, not even bothered by the fact that they shut on there own with little more than a soft thump. Will paused to behold the interior of the library. Aside from the occasional stain glass window the walls were lined with towering bookshelves made of fine cherry and oak. The west side of each floor was for nonfiction, the east for fiction, children’s and young adults reading materials took up the first floor while the second was for adults, the reference materials, news papers and magazines took up the third floor. There were tables and chairs dotting the landscape. Thought the large isles gave one plenty of room to maneuver with ease.

After taking in everything around him Will noted how dusty things were it looked as though he was the first person to set foot here in weeks. Wondering why this was as he walked to a near by table glancing at the multitudes of books around him. Yawing he sat down and rested his head on the table. With any luck this magnificent building would continue to remain empty save for himself and he could enjoy a breif respit from his chaotic life.

Substitute all possible values for X!

His respite, however, would be sadly shortlived...

-------------------------------------------

CRASHMAN stood up from a pile of crunched-up cardboard boxes in the shipping-and-receiving room towards the back of the library. His optic sensors flashed and he began twisting his faux eyes around the room, processing the digital feedback.
He was half a second from launching a missile at a random V-cart when he made an important development.
Due to a corrupt data glitch, CRASHMAN's programming entered a loop that would cause him to destroy everything until his mission was complete, and, of course, his mission wouldn't ever be considered complete until he had destroyed everything. You see how circular logic can be dangerous with robots?

It wasn't until he did a background scan of some old files that the loop was shifted. This did not improve the situation at all, however... He simply switched from the idea of destroying everything to destroy everything that moves. It was actually much worse...

He began "looking" around and his visor locked on to a section of the wall.
He began moving. Not bothering to utilize inconsequential hand motions, he simply walked through the door, pushing it open with his body. Had the door opened inward from his relative position rather than outward, the splintering, cracking sound would have been quite the concentration-breaker for would-be readers. The door quietly creaked open as he forced it. Will heard heavy, metallic footsteps as the smaller but heavier-than-he red-and-white bomber entered the room.

He looked up and that's when it started. As soon as he moved.
CRASHMAN held up his right arm and the tip of his drill-hand opened slightly. He aimed at his target from more than eighty feet away, and a volley of thirty double-A-battery-sized incendiary missiles were expelled from the port on his arm. They flew between the aisles and through small openings in bookcases where there were not enough books to fill the shelf. Will became all to aware of the oncoming threats as they barreled towards him and the table on which he was resting.

Will sighed and rolled his eyes while he sprang backward from the table he had been sitting at seconds ago. Though he was able to move himself to the very edge of the explosion that resulted from the rather shotgun esc firing pattern he was still far from safe, the shockwave caused him to smash into a near by bookshelf as well as be peppered with the splinter that were once a rather fine table and chair set.

Hissing in pain Will rose to his feet, wincing from the bruising along his back and left hip. Acting on a reflex more then actual aggression his response to the attack was to slip his sling into place load a lead bullet and with a sharp crack of his arm launch the projectile at his attacker with the type of lethal precision attained only with several lifetimes worth of practice. The three inch long by one and a half inch wide oval round zipped through the air at a breakneck pace. It smashed through Crash man’s visor and collided with his forehead dead center between the eyes. Had Crash Man been human the bullet would have sunk into his head and killed him instantly. However this was not the case the projectile simply rebounded off the stronger metal and fell to the floor with hardly a sound.

Not missing a beat Will began to limp away from his attacker, with his back to the wall as he was attempting to put some distance between himself and the steadily advancing Crash Man he subtly slid a rather large book into his messenger bag and then proceeded to reload his sling. Soon after Will found himself at the base of the stairwell that led to the second and third floors of the building. While carefully ascending the stair backwards Will decided to try and stall for time by addressing his apparent attacker.

“Keep the noise down would you, this is a library after all.” He deadpanned hoping that some banter would by him the time he needed to form a plan.

“Keep the noise down, would you? This is a library, after all.”

An electronic voice with bad intonation came from a speaker somewhere around the robot's neck. "Negative; Priority Override: Mission Priority 9/9!"

"I shoulda guessed random chatter wouldn't work." Will said to himself as he backed up the stairs. He noticed that the robot was still quite a ways off, so if he just turned and bolted up the stairs rather than cautiously backing up, he could escape his line of sight. <If I'm going to distract him by communicating, I'd best be a bit more direct and not beat around the bush. He is a robot, after all.>

His idea was correct as he ran up the stairs. After passing out of CRASHMAN's view, he did not hear him fire. He could still hear the steady advance of his titanium feet, though. He reached the second floor and looked over a railing to spot the mechanical menace.

Walking towards the bottom of the stairwell Will ran up, CRASHMAN spotted him on the second floor out of the corner of his optic sensors. As soon as he turned his head, the lead round Will had released collided with the side of his helmet one half-inch from his "eye", leaving naught but an insignificant scratch.

"Crap!" <Aim was perfect, too. If he hadn't spotted me and turned his head at the last second, I would've disabled one of his optic lenses.> Will ran behind a well-stocked bookshelf. He made sure it was one of the ones that was bolted to the floor.

CRASHMAN activated the thruster on his back and launched up to the second floor and over the railing. He landed with a very obvious sound.

"Who are you?" Will threw his voice to a distant aisle.

"I am code-named CRASHMAN." he responded launching a dozen incendiary missiles at the wrong bookshelf. With a small but combustive detonation, the rack burst into flames. The furniture was mostly metal and the carpet was a special fire-retardant material, but if all those books ignited and spread the fire with a chain reaction, this place was going to blazes.

<Not even gonna ask for my name? He's not into talk... but he did answer my question, strangely enough.>

The missile port on his right arm opened completely and he switched to his signature Crash-Bombs, basically the combination of a large cluster bomb with concussion grenades. CRASHMAN panned the floor searching for his current target. Will was twenty feet away, taking cover in the non-fiction A-G's.

(NOTE: CRASHMAN will answer Will's questions and immediately try to terminate the conversation. Once Will starts to catch him with reasoning, he will glitch out with "Priority Override: Mission Priority 9/9!" and try to kill him again.)

Well this is another fine mess I’ve gotten myself into. I don’t know why but that codename has me thinking about something else along those lines, though it’s definitely not in my best interest to dwell on it now. Right head back in the fight now. If I’m careful enough I could probably fire a sling bullet into his missle port from here. Will pondered to himself.

No that will have to be a backup plan for now. In spite of how odd Crashman’s AI seems to be he’ll have figured out by now that I’m accurate enough to land a shot like that. Now that I’ve thought of it though his behavior is rather odd for a combat robot. Why didn’t he open that door with his hand rather then literally walk through it? Also why didn’t run after me or fire a second round before I could get to the stairs? For whatever Reason his AI isn’t working at peak performance right now. Perfect, if I can baffle a chess program into defeat I can throw a few curve balls at this Skynet knockoff. After concluding this train of thought Will settled on a plan of action.

Given that he couldn’t really die and that he worked best by thinking on the fly his plan could be at best considered suicidal.

With impressive speed for someone who’d not only been blown back first into a book self and hadn’t even bothered to pull the splinters out of his arms and legs Will dashed from his hiding spot and made a flying leap at Crashman. While the advanced combat robot had heard his target leave his cover and turn himself to line up a rather nasty kill shot he wasn’t expecting the tall thin human to rush him and was therefore unable to fire before Will slammed into him at full force.

Once again one of Will’s oddball tactics worked. He had hit Crashman with enough momentum to send the robot stumbling backwards over the guard rail causing them both to fall to the floor below. With a thunderous crash they impacted the cement below. While Crashman had taken the brunt of the impact(and landing on his thruster pack to boot.) Will hadn’t gotten away Scot free either. His right arm was numb from the shoulder down and along with his aforementioned hip and back burses he had managed to drive several of the splinters sticking out of him in deeper.

Still He had pulled himself to his feet and stumbled away from the fall tacking cover by hiding behind the stairwell to the upper floors of the library. He knew that while he final got a solid hit in he’d need a bit of time before he could make his next move.

OoC: (beginning in the middle of your post ;) )
As soon as it turned away, Will made his move and dashed from his cover. CRASHMAN aimed its missile port at him but he crouched down like a football player and charged. With CRASHMAN processing his sporadic behavior, he leapt into the air for maximum leverage and plowed his shoulder into the highest point on the robot. He was actually a little surprised at just how heavy this thing was, but he tipped him backwards, causing him to break clear through the railing. They both tumbled to the ground floor, causing their respective injuries. Will rolled off the robot and went on his way.

Lacking all of the twisty torso muscles of a flexible human, CRASHMAN had to perform a complicated procedure using what few joints it had in order to return to its feet.

<???> As soon as Will saw how difficult it was for CRASHMAN to get up, he realized he had bought some time and began planning. It took the robot six full seconds to rise to a standing position.
From his position behind the stairwell, Will sent another lead round into a window off to the robot's right. It heard the shattering sound and aimed at where the window used to be and Will rolled a fire extinguisher towards CRASHMAN. The sound of it rolling was covered up by the loud glass breaking sound.

"Eat this, you Santa Claus-colored bucket o' bolts!" Will slung a lead round at the nozzle on top of the fire extinguisher. It hit it with enough force to cause the canister to explode violently. White chemical vapors filled the air, momentarily blinding CRASHMAN, and the force of the explosion staggered him. Will used this opportunity to seize a monitor from a library computer. As the cloud of chemicals from the fire extinguisher were still dissipating, CRASHMAN barely managed to see the computer monitor soaring at his face with impressive velocity. Regaining his balance by shifting his feet, the metal assassin punched the incoming screen with his left drill-hand. It shattered into a thousand pieces, and virtually no damage was incurred to the robot.

<How did he move that fast? Is his A.I. adjusting? Is he learning?>
CRASHMAN’s Hi-Jump thruster activated again and he flew through the air, legs dangling limply towards the ground. The jump pattern was a high arc, about thirty-four feet above Will’s head. As he reached the apex of the jump, which occurred directly above Will, he aimed downward with the missile port that was currently open on his right arm. He fired something that looked, at the speed at which it was traveling, like a glass orb. Will avoided it and, upon hitting the floor, it latched onto it with four metal claws. It blinked red, and Will immediately perceived it to be an explosive device. The Crash-Bomb blinked two more times before detonating. Will fled as far as he could in the 0.9 seconds it took between the first blink and the initial detonation, which had a small blast radius that he escaped. This initial detonation expelled and dispersed many smaller bombs that he could not avoid. He was peppered with a long series of high-force concussion grenades.

CRASHMAN landed and turned to see the damage being caused by his elaborate cluster bomb.
The fuel leak was internal, so one couldn't simply see the fuel spilling down the side. Will had no way of ascertaining that there was leakage.

Another Crash-Bomb slid into the firing tube…




OoC: To clarify damage acknowledgement, I’m going to say that when CRASHMAN landed on his thruster pack, it screwed up his fuel tank. However, for the sake of awesomeness (I want this to be a really good fight), I’m going to have him get off a few more jump attacks before he runs out of thruster fuel completely.

While he was able to avoid the brunt of the initial detonation without much hassle in spite of how shaky he was on his feet. Will was hit caught up in the rapid succession of smaller blasts. Small shards of the explosives lodged within him while he was also scorched by the bombs burning his hands witch he used to protect his face at the last possible moment.

Once he was able sluggishly rise to his feet Will saw Crashman analyze his work before once more taking the air via his impressively durable thruster pack. However this time Will was prepared for the attack and was in motion from the moment the metal assassin was starting his impressive arcing leap. Once again Crashman fired off his signature attack at the apex of his jump..

While Will was in motion far sooner this time, his mad dash only saved him by luck alone. The fight was taking a toll on him, while immortal he wasn’t much more resistant to damage then a normal human. Each little bit of shrapnel, bruise, burn, ach and pain was adding up. His stride was shorter and more unsteady. His vision was starting to swim a bit from the affects of his fall from the second floor and being caught up in several explosions. Still Will had mad his way to the closest wall he could find. Immediately he pressed his back to it as much for support as for the little protection in offered from Crashman’s aerial assaults.

Sighing, he muttered to himself, “It looks like I can’t put off using this any longer.” With that Will dug into his messenger bag and pulled out the book he’d grabbed some time ago. While this recently acquired skill was incredibly powerful and versatile it had two major down sides. The first being that he was still learning how to control or use it efficiently. The second was that it ate at his stamina, still his options were limited at the moment.

Nodding to himself in acceptance he opened the copy of “ Grimm’s’ Fairytales” and placed his left hand on the page the spoke aloud. “ Rise from the pages of lore and legend, come to my aid I order thee Big Bad Wolf!” With that a pillar of light shot from the book along with a deafening howl. The brilliant light and dreadful sound filled the room for a few seconds before dying down to reveal a grey wolf of truly massive proportions. From shoulder to ground he was nine feet tall, and from nose to tail tip he was sixteen feet long. It was easy to see how this wolf could blow down small buildings and eat people whole.

The Big Bad Wolf took in his surroundings for a second or two before turning to face Will. He lowered his head to stair the human in the eye then snarled at him, “You dare to call for my aid human! Bah why should I waste my time defending a twig like you!” He finished growling to prompt a fear from the thing man before him.

Taking a quick breath Will spoke. “Because I can not only bring you to new lands, but I also can keep you from the monotony of that never ending loop you’re stuck in. I’m sure that being cut open by a woodsmen, stuffed full or rocks gets old rather fast, as does being boiled alive by the very swine you intended to eat. By allowing me to call on your aid I bring you to a reality where you’re not condemned to and endless cycle of losses. Hell you may even find something to eat.” He finished his eyes never once breaking contact with the Big Bad Wolf’s

“Ha!” The Wolf barked “ You have gut twig far more then I thought you would. Considering that and how tore up this place is it seems that you’ve enough gall to only seek my help as a last resort, yeah I’ll help you human, provided you call me to this world to let me feast now and then.” He paused turning his head to look at Crashman who had once more remained oddly inactive taking in the situation before acting. “Climb aboard twig. Let me handle the human that stinks of metal.” The wolf finished.

Will nodded carefully climbing up the side of the wolf and taking a seat upon his back. While he was able to rest for the moment he knew that he couldn’t keep the wolf here for too long. It was draining him faster then he thought it would to maintain suck a large powerful being even now he was starting to sweat and his breathing was becoming more shallow. If he couldn’t finish this fight soon He was going to pass out and be at the mercy of Crashman while totally unable to defend himself.

The Big bad Wolf merely grunted once his new partner was in place. Then with a bone chilling how he raced at Crashman His thunderous footsteps rattling the windows as he charged forward inhaling deeply readying an ability that hade made him a legend. He was going to show the twig how easily he could crush the human before him.

Caution! PWNAGE ahead!

Just as CRASHMAN's A.I. had recorded enough data to assault Will at full capacity, more varibles were introduced to totally screw up the robot's processing advantage. Although it lacked the anatomical construction of a human mouth, the supernatural wolf growled out a raspy approximation of the English language.

"What's the matter, Tin Man? You look baffled!"
was the last operation performed by CRASHMAN before the canine terror pounced on him, teeth-first. His mouth closed around CRASHMAN's head and he took him down to the ground. There were loud snapping, crunching and grinding noises as the wolf's teeth punctured the both sides of the robot's head.

The Big Bad Wolf backed off of CRASHMAN, shaking metal fragments off his teeth and spitting inorganic particles out of his mouth. He coughed before looking back at Will.

"What kind of trickery is this?"

"He's an android." Will responded, directing anger at the assassin of whom he spoke. "He's designed to look like a man, but he's completely robotic. Furthermore, I'm certain he'll try to kill us both if we give him any breathing room."

CRASHMAN's left hand opened into a missile port and he aimed at the unlikely duo.

"Is that so?" The villainous beast quickly dove down on top of the mechanical menace and put a forepaw against his left wrist-equivalent, shoving its aim off target. An incendiary missile flew out the library's skylight. He brought up his left paw and slammed it down onto CRASHMAN's face. Once. Twice. Three times. The skin-colored paint ripped away. The plasticly deforming metal dented inward into his head. CRASHMAN's optic input began to flash from an angry canine face to a screen of snowy static. Back and forth it flashed. Damaged relay circuits reported irregularities to his CPU. The Crash-Bomb launcher on his right arm closed into a drill head and began spinning. In time with the wolf's fourth blow, CRASHMAN crammed the drill into his assailant's ribcage.

"AAAAHHH!" It didn't take very much ripping and twisting of the animal's thorax for him to hop back. Wolf blood had splattered the area, and there was a large hole of a wound in his stomach.

"Tricked me into getting a taste of your iron face, did you?! Now pay, you inhuman trash-heap!"

While CRASHMAN was getting up, the Big Bad Wolf clamped his teeth around his right foot. Exerting a great deal of strength, he spun in a circle, swinging the hapless robot around for momentum. Wolf managed to raise him off the ground and suddenly released his biting grip. The centrifugal force flung CRASHMAN through a wall into a room full of audio cassettes. He was greatly disoriented until he hit the back wall his head. This caused his legs to hit the floor. Immediately, his internal gyroscopes were able to detect which direction was down, and he caught his balance before falling completely to the ground. Wolf and Will looked at the wreckage. There was a white cloud blocking their vision into the room caused by drywall being powderized.

"..."

A Crash-Bomb flew out of the dust towards them. He dodged with canine agility, and the bomb flew far enough past them to be ignored. CRASHMAN walked forward into view. His right arm was leveled at them, bomb port fully opened. His upper half was jerking spastically and sparks were flying off of him. The top of his head was smashed in, but that didn't seem to be affecting him much. He did not stop his 'power trot', but kept a steady pace with the two of them as his destination.

<I get it. That's why he never ran at me. He's incapable of sprinting. That half-jog power-walk is the only speed at which his legs can propel him.>

Will's feral steed ran forward and swung his right claw at the robot. CRASHMAN's left arm shot up at an amazing speed and blocked the Big Bad Wolf's attack. He immediately followed up with a right-cross to the beast's face. What the heck, did someone give this robot Karate lessons?

Wolf staggered back, slightly dazed, then shook violently and bucked Will off.

"Get off, human! You're only slowing me down!"

Will flew backwards into a bookcase. No actual damage was inflicted by the collision, but it agitated the painful stings of his former injuries. When he looked up, he saw the metal assassin once again turn on his thruster engine, but this time, it launched him directly forwards. He rammed his shoulder into the Big Bad Wolf in a straight-up Robo-Tackle. They crashed through another bookshelf and began rolling on the floor wrestling for an advantagious position. The crash caused a miniature novel to fall on the floor next to Will. Curious, he turned it over to read the front cover.

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde

A compound explosion was heard in the distance.

"Hmmm..."

He began to meditate on the characters of the old story.

<Edward Hyde may be small, standing at roughly 5'7", but he is fast, vicious, armed, and quite strong despite his little stature. Although his size is altogether unimpressive, there is none more brutal than the murderous Mr. Hyde.>

The tiny book fit easily into his messenger bag.

--------------------------------

CRASHMAN was now sitting on the Big Bad Wolf's chest like a UFC fighter. They traded several blows to each other's heads, both exhibiting incredible endurance. The massive canine then wriggled his body with a whip-like motion, tipping the heavy robot off of him. He quickly rolled over on top, swapping positions. Instead of sitting on his chest, however, the dog stood upright, concentrating all his weight on his back legs. He jumped up into the air slightly--just enough to come stomping down on CRASHMAN's chestplate as soon as he tried to lean upward. He smashed his torso back onto the cement floor with a resounding 'clunk'. Having foiled his attempt to stand up, the Big Bad Wolf leapt up again, slightly higher this time, to really give the second stomp some attitude to go with it. Sparks shot out of the robot's chest as it dented inward. Bending his knees, CRASHMAN put his left foot flat against the ground and pressed down to raise his hips up for maximum reach. He then slammed his right foot into the beast's back causing him to fly forward off of him. Rather than skidding face-first across the floor, Wolf put a paw forward on to the ground in order to guide himself into a roll. After rolling to his feet, he spun around to see CRASHMAN already in a half-kneeling position with one hand (no hands, yes, but the end of his arm) on the ground and already firing a volley of incendiary missiles. They collided with him with rather weak explosive force, but he erupted into raging flames.

Luckily the Big Bad Wolf was no stranger to fire or heated situations, and managed to keep a cool head even though his skin and fur were being roasted. Keep a cool head, that is, after he infuriatedly slashed at a heavy metal cart labeled "Fiction--Teens" which, of course, very intentionally, ripped through the air into CRASHMAN, who sailed with the cart for a good ten feet before smashing into a support column. The conflagrated canine took off running across the library and jumped over bookshelf, springing off the top of it in order to get big air so he could leap clear over that whole section of aisles. Landing, he plowed through a solid wall ending up in a single-occupant ladies' room with one toilet and a sink. With a mighty swipe, he demolished the commode into dozens of porcelain fragments. The water pipe protruding from the wall where there had once been a fine lavatory began to spill cool, clean water onto all of the restroom floor. He dropped down and rolled, entinguishing the flames as they were pinched between his body and the water-logged tile floor.

The Big Bad Wolf angrily stepped back into the library. His skin was charred and his fur was soaking wet, which was uncomfortable to say the least. He looked and saw CRASHMAN firing a Crash-Bomb his way. Wolf began to inhale and enormous amounts of air were sucked into his chest and stomach. The wolf swelled to twice its size as he kept a sharp eye on the incoming explosive. When CRASHMAN's projectile was ten feet from the wolf he blew as hard as he could. It was as if a whirlwind had formed inside the library. The signature moves of both combatants met climactically. The flying Crash-Bomb was utterly rejected by the strength of the air current and flew off sideways away from both of them. It landed on the floor quite a ways away, but since the claws did not engage and clamp onto anything, the detonation timer did not start, leaving an unexploded Crash-Bomb in the corner.

"Whaddya know? I huffed and puffed and blew your stupid little bomb into oblivion! Now do you see what you're dealing with, Tin Man?"

The robot looked at him with a cold, emotionless stare.
Not even his high-powered processor could grasp how fantasy and reality could become one and the same... how this fairy tale creature could have performed such an impossible feat.

The Big Bad Wolf balled his hands together above his head and leapt forward. CRASHMAN hopped back out of the way as Wolf swung downward, and replied with an uppercut worthy of a comment from Shao Kahn. The forest beast was lifted off his feet and his head was thrown back, leaving him gazing skyward, his feet rising in front. A quick burst from CRASHMAN's thruster allowed him to follow, and he started a backward flip while passing over Wolf. As he completed the flip, he swung his right foot down onto the canine's face, spiking him into the cement floor.

Although greatly dazed from the impact, the Big Bad Wolf performed a Kip-Up. After CRASHMAN landed, the metal assassin and the canine juggernaut turned to face each other simultaneously. CRASHMAN aimed a launcher at Wolf and he caught the robot's arm. This process repeated with their remaining arms, but the Big Bad Wolf had something CRASHMAN did not. He clamped down on the mechanoid's torso with his massive jaws and yanked back, pulling CRASHMAN off balance. As the robot tumbled face-first, Wolf heaved with all his might, using CRASHMAN's forward momentum to swing him into a desperate backwards toss. The mechanical menace sailed through the glass barrier, down into the shaft of the central elevator and out of view.

--------------------------------

Will felt a bit stronger now, but he was drowsy. With the Big Bad Wolf fighting CRASHMAN, he had time to rest his muscles, pick out splinters, and tend to his wounds in general. He stood up and began stretching. Yes, his body felt relief, but his vision was fuzzy. It seemed as though as long as the Big Bad Wolf was alive and moving about in this world, that there was also an intense mental strain on him. Even though he felt like he could go eight more rounds, it also felt like he'd taken a thousand tests and written a hundred essays. He flexed his muscles and blinked a few times. He couldn't think straight...

He was approached by the Big Bad Wolf.

"Now, what was our deal?" he growled.

"Oh, yeah. Ummm--Hey!"

With a lightning-quick claw, the beast snatched his copy of Grimm's Fairy Tales. Before a reaction was even possible, the wolf had torn the book in half.

"I'm sure not going back in there!"

"What?! I--"

Wolf wrapped a paw around Will's throat, cutting him off mid-sentence. He lifted him off his feet by the neck and pinned him against the wall.

"I took a little gamble, see... I figured if you brought me into this world by speaking, you probably need to speak to banish me. Not gonna happen."

The claw was clamped tightly around his neck, preventing him from breathing or speaking.

The wolf laughed.

"Now that I'm in this alternate world where my destiny is determined by me alone, and I don't seem to be fading back, I really have no use for you anymore. They don't call me the 'Big Bad Wolf' for nothing! Don't worry, though; I'll make it quick..."

Will was reaching into his messenger bag for something to get him out this mess, but he didn't have to. He suddenly dropped Will to the floor.

"What's going on?!"

Wolf spun around, revealing a Crash-Bomb attached to the back of his head. Will jumped behind the customer service desk and put his hands over his head.

"NOOOOOOOOO!!!!--"

*PFROOM!!! Bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang!*
Suddenly, the strain on Will's mind was gone. He stood up and looked over the desk to see the Big Bad Wolf, decapitated from the blast. From a hole in the elevator shaft, he spied a badly smashed-up yet steadily-advancing CRASHMAN.

<You gotta be kidding me...>




OOC: OK, PK. Here's the rough draft. Hope you like it. There may be certain parts where you say, "Wait, that's not right..." This would probably be caused by my failing to properly imagine the full size of your creature. Let me know.

*opens topic for comments*

Will was reaching the end of his patients, while he wasn’t really surprised by the Wolf’s betrayal it still infuriated him that it happened. Then there was the fact that Crashman was still functional, granted the combat droid was looking far worse for the wear it was still apparently functional enough to continue its assault on him. So clamping down his anger in an effort to clear his still somewhat cloudy thought process he formulated a quick plan to by him a bit of time to think of a way to stop the mechanical menace before him.

Sighing to himself Will decided to make use of the two advantages he had at the moment. So he stood up and began to run for the stairs to the second floor. As he drew closer to the stairwell he noted the twitching and sparking Crashman take aim with the missile port on his left arm and fire. Will waited until the very last second to dive out of projectiles path as it rushed toward him. Once that threat was past he once more climbed to his feet and continued his shaky sprint to the stairs only just swerving out of his robotic assailant’s grip and continued up the stairs soon enough reaching the landing of the mostly intact second floor.

Once there he quickly took cover in the mazelike shelves of the nonfiction section. When he considered himself hidden he paused to take a breath and revaluate his situation. Though the mental and physical strain of keeping the Big Bad Wolf around was gone now he was still unsure as to where his second wind had come from. While he was able to finally free himself of the shrapnel he’d acquired over the fight the burns and bruises would continue to affect his performance for a while yet, as his most recent collision with the remarkably sturdy bookshelves here indicated.

Then there was Crashman, buggy AI or not he had to admit that it was one of the more well constructed and persistent artificial beings he’d ever run afoul of. Though slow on it’s feet and now suffering from some truly visible damage he knew that this would still be a tough fight. That missile he had just barely avoided was aimed far too precisely for his liking given how on the fritz Crashman’s motor control seemed to be. It looked like he would have to once more take a gamble and use his Lore abilities.

Summoning another character was right out, if he couldn’t control the Big Bad Wolf, then keeping Edward Hyde on a leash wasn’t an option either. He doubted that the low tech firearms he could bring out of the novel would do him any good either so that only left one option. Borrowing the abilities of a character, with risk of adopting some mannerisms of said character until the spell was canceled. As much as he relied on keeping a cool head so he could think clearly and quickly he detested using this particular spell. However the slow plotting footfalls warning him of Crashman’s assent of the stairs made up his mind for him.

Deciding to take the bitter pill in hopes up a major upset in his favor will silently opened his messenger bag and withdrew the copy of “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” He quickly opened the book and laid his hand on the page within then quietly chanted to himself,. ”Through the pages of lore and Legend, knowledge becomes power lend me thy strength Edward Hyde.” With that an orb of light rose from the pages of the book and flew toward Will striking him in the chest as a sinister chuckle made itself known. Soon after light exploded from him alerting Crashman to his position.

Once the light faded a slightly transformed Will was revealed. While he for the most part was unchanged his thin appearance was altered by the bulkier more muscular frame of Edward Hyde. He stood somewhat ben from a slight hunch and his normally calm red eyes had a visible gleam of madness to them. Grinning toothily Will shoved the book back into his bag then advanced to the nearby guard rail. In full view of his advancing foe he tore off a section of the already damaged rail. With his new roughly baseball bat sized club Will Charged Crashman in a berserker like rage wildly swing his new found weapon.

Each moment that Will spent in thi altered state was affecting him more and more. While the boost in abilities was obvious what wasn’t were the mental effects. Along with the mental strain of using his Lore ability he was also trying to keep his own personality in control while Edward Hyde not only fought back but served his role of the Id personified by weakening the mental walls that were built up around Wills emotions and ramping up his already somewhat impulsive nature.

As Crashman lined up for another shot with his signature weapon he could tell that something wasn’t right with his target. While the human was know for his unorthodox moves and on the fly changes in tactics he was able to process that something was off with his current adversary’s mind. Still He had a job to do, first he would dispatch the target then upon returning to base he would upload the collected data for Dr. Wily to study.

"Through the pages of Lore and Legend,
Knowledge becomes power!
Lend me thy strength, Edward Hyde!"


His {Legend} ability had its downsides, yes, but it did rather well at distracting CRASHMAN. In fact, the Big Bad Wolf actually did visible, physical damage to the robot, a good deal considering he was just trying to buy time. But, despite the damage, CRASHMAN did not seem to be slowing down! Running out of options and resources, Will thought it unwise to use {Legend} to summon an uncontrollable Mr. Hyde, so he intsead decided to use {Lore}, incorporating Mr. Hyde into a polymorphic transformation of his own body.

It was the first time he would use {Lore}, so some of his predictions were merely conjecture. The transformation took less than second. He expected to feel a large physical change, but was surprised at how natural his altered state felt. It felt as if he had always been that way. This was a result of the mental 'side' of this transformation 'coin'. The difference in his mind was truly something else...

His mind was split in every sense of the word. It wasn't as if two minds, Lawrence Williams and Edward Hyde, were struggling within his head. Had that been the case, he could fight Mr. Hyde's consciousness with full mental strength. No. Instead, it was as if one-half of his own mind had been corrupted to become that of Mr. Hyde. Half of his mind became obsessed with reveling in the temporal pleasures of this world, participating in all such gratifying acts of personal wickedness, and causing childishly fun mischief. This, of course, was in opposition to Will's rational, reasoning mind which was now performing at half strength. However, the rational half of his mind, being deeper than the shallow Hyde's consciousness, was able to manipulate the personality of Edward Hyde. He took advantage of the most famous facet of Mr. Hyde's persona, his impulsively violent temper. The temper that was infamous for exploding at the slightest of provocations, and murdering those who truly did not deserve the horrible fates that he thrust upon them. Amidst the chaos of his conflicted mind, there was one thing that both personalties could agree on: Destroy CRASHMAN.
It may have been luck. Or perhaps it was the subtle guidance of the experience of Mr. Hyde that led him to acquire his current weapon, for in fact, Mr. Hyde's original weapon of choice had been a metal cane. Having 'procured' a piece of the guardrail (literally ripping it from its place), "William Hyde" rushed at CRASHMAN. In defense, he fired a flame missile at his attacker. Will used his left arm to shield his eyes from the fiery flash and struck the missile with the tip of the guardrail, causing it to explode in front of him and allowing him to run through the flames fast enough not to be ignited. It was a crazy move, but well-calculated, and had it been any other kind of missile, would simply have been impossible. But Will had watched CRASHMAN's miniature incendiary missiles explode enough times to know how they worked. Fortunately for CRASHMAN, primitive robots are not vulnerable to the panic induced by mental shock, so he simply adjusted his defenses after Will's nearly impossible feat. William Hyde gripped the guardrail with both hands and swung downward at the robot's head. CRASHMAN raised his left arm into a karate-style block and the weapon struck his arm with a loud, metallic clank. The plating on his forearm dented. CRASHMAN retaliated with a right hook which Will quickly ducked and rose up again with a horizontal swing that clobbered CRASHMAN's face. Large muscles on a small body frame meant that Will could move with great speed.

The robot staggered back and a crooked smile washed over William Hyde's face. He had gained the advantage in this little melee. With little or no regard for his fist, Will slammed a malicious left cross into CRASHMAN's face. His left optic input blacked out when the lens shattered. He then swung the guardrail into CRASHMAN's midsection a few times. He didn't have ribs, but whatever was there took a beating. CRASHMAN's right port closed into a drill head and he threw a right straight at Will's chest. This seemed to be a quick move that Will wasn't expecting. Will twisted his torso so he would not be fatally impaled, but the spinning drill shredded his chest-skin open with just a glancing blow. The robot twisted into a left uppercut that Will sidestepped. William Hyde then jammed the end of the guardrail into CRASHMAN's chest plate and pried the corner open slightly. The metal assassin tried to fire a point-blank missile, but Will performed a spinning dodge which ended with a baseball swing. This time, as the railing connected with CRASHMAN's head, he heard a snapping sound come from around the neck area.
William Hyde chuckled as he saw CRASHMAN staggering and twitching. He reached his hand into the corner of his chest plate that he had pried open and felt around for some cables.

"I wonder what these wires go to?!"

He yelled yanking with all his might. Because the cable connector was screwed in place, the wires frayed. CRASHMAN's left arm opened into bomb launcher and locked in that position. The contacts from the wires touched his hand and he was electrocuted quite nastily. Will tried to gather his thoughts. His split mind was affecting his decision-making process. He finally pulled his hand out after a brutal zapping. CRASHMAN jumped forward into a lunging front kick that landed squarely in William Hyde's chest. This knocked him off his feet and threw him backwards onto the floor. The tremendous force against his ribcage left him wheezing.
His left arm was now permanently locked in bomb mode. His right arm was the only way he could fire missiles or use a drill. It closed into a missile port and he fired at Will. He rolled out of the way, still wheezing, and hopped to his feet, hiding in the tall-shelved encyclopedia section.

Suddenly, he felt it. He felt that tell-tale spark in his mind.

<Chaos...!>

Would it really be a good idea to stay in this form? He thought about undoing the transformation, as it could be dangerous to be in this state when things were about to get hairy.

It started four seconds later.

Will had prided himself on how relatively well he took both his forced immortality, and living dead center in a field of chaotic energy. Still given the type of situations good, bad, indifferent, that could be dropped into his lap at any given time he had developed an almost reflexive reaction to the warning signal he got, it was all he could do to keep himself from screaming ‘Hit the dirt!” as he dove to the floor and covered his head with his arms.

The four seconds passed at a snails pace. Sighing softly Will assumed a low crouch and began to survey the area around him, staying close to the bookshelf for cover. He counted himself lucky that the floor hadn’t collapsed, none of the bookshelves fell, or that Crashman hadn’t been restored to peak condition. Then his eyes caught sight of just what happened.

Apparently the entirety of both the basement, and the first floor had been flooded. He could see some of the debris from the earlier portions of the fight floating on the surface of the impromptu indoor lake; books, desks, tables, chairs, shelves and more were seen lazily bobbing in place. He grinned fiendishly if he could just force his metallic foe into the water he could not only by the time he needed to undo this exhausting transformation, but most likely deal a rather potent blow to Crashman.

Will was quite positive that Crashman had been water proof from the word go, now however this was not the case. With that large hole in his chest plate and the recently frayed wires water now posed a significant threat to the robotic menace. Though it would probably be in his own best interest to stay on dry land as well. Given how the water came to be there Will would be shocked if it WAS free of carnivorous fish like sharks or Piranhas.

It was this train of thought that brought his rather divided mind back to his state of well being, the wheezing breathes he was taking, and sharp pain in his chest meant that he had at least had his ribs bruised. He was also still a bit dazed from that nasty shock he got from yanking those wires, then there was his left hand, Given how much his knuckles were shrieking at him even though his hand was unclenched he had defiantly broken them along with several other bones. Te most grievous injury by far was his side. While he was able to twist out of the way for the most part and no organs seemed to be hit, it was bleeding rather heavily. Yes contact with that drill had to be avoided at all cost given how easily it chewed threw his trench coat, chain mail, and undershirt.

Still, he wasn’t down for the count just yet. While the Hyde persona was demanding that he drop Crashman in the drink by any means necessary, be it frontal assault, dirty trick, or forcing the robot to follow him it. While the first and third options were for the most part unworkable at the moment the second had its merits.

Quietly Will rose the rest of the way to his feet and once again peeked around his cover to take in his surroundings. Crashman seemed to be trying to compensate for both the loss of his left optic impute lens and use of his left arm by slowly pacing forward and turning his neck as best he could left and right as a means to have as full a field of visions as possible. While the robotic assassin’s back wasn’t to the water he was fairly close to balcony that overlooked the flooded first floor.

Will’s fiendish grin grew wide as a silently and slowly crept his way forward. It took several minutes and there were quite a few close calls but, now in stead of him having two bookshelves between himself and his foe they were only separated by one. Desperately hoping that this trick would work twice Will threw his voice so it would sound like he was standing several yards behind Crashman Will inquired in his new more gravely voice. “Shouldn’t you be harassing Mega man instead of me?”

Hoping desperately that he got the few seconds he needed Will threw all his remaining strength into his efforts to shove the tall metal bookcase forward. It took a great deal of energy but he was able to unbalance the tall shoveling unit enough to fall forward and with any luck Crashman was still in the area.

Will couldn't really tell exactly what was wrong with CRASHMAN's left arm. The shoulder and elbow joints seemed to work fine, but the bomb launcher was shooting sparks out. He could definitely tell he was half blind, though. He figured he could screw with his A.I. again.

"Shouldn't you be harassing Mega Man instead of me?"

The robot spun around to where Will had thrown his voice only to find nothing. While searching for his target, CRASHMAN glanced over the railing to the strange situation on the first floor.
<Yeah, that's right. Flooded. Bet your logic circuits are trying to figure that one out! Why don't you have...>

Will shoved the tall encyclopedia shelf and tipped it towards his foe.

<...A CLOSER LOOK!!!>

CRASHMAN turned immediately at hearing the metal creaking of the shelf tilting toward him. He thrust both arms up high and caught the falling shelf with his great android strength. A rather unforeseen event happened when the robot suddenly stopped the shelf at a 30° angle from its original straight-up position. Nearly all the books on CRASHMAN's side of the shelf slid off it, forming a pile on the floor around him. Hundreds of encyclopedias that had comprised most of the weight of this aluminum shelf no longer weighed it down.

What happened next would be hard to describe with words. CRASHMAN's processor performed a complicated series of complex probability calculations. The end conclusion was two-part: If he tipped the shelf back in the other direction, and Will had been the one who tipped it toward him, he would be pushing it back onto his target, trapping him. If Will was not behind the shelf, no harm done to anyone. Thus, pushing the shelf back would be a win-draw situation.

CRASHMAN's hydraulic arms launched the now lighter shelf back with incredible force. Will had not stuck around behind there, but had scampered to a parallel aisle two aisles away. Unfortunately, when he heard the shelves crashing down towards him in succession, he knew he had to give up his hiding spot or be crushed in these deadly dominoes. He ran across, but not fast enough to elude the video feed of his adamantium adversary. As soon as CRASHMAN saw him, he took to the skies with another high arc jump, opening both bomb launchers on the way up. Will grabbed a large biography and chucked it at an oncoming Crash-Bomb, deflecting it. CRASHMAN had fired three, so Will still had to run like blazes to avoid getting fragged. The two remaining bombs detonated with a devastating multi-blast which totalled 26 explosions. There was virtually nothing left of the aisles in which Will was hiding. He stood up from a pile of books, rather unharmed, considering the small cataclysm around him. He saw the relentless robot taking aim at him. CRASHMAN's right arm closed into a missile port. CRASHMAN unleashed a carefully timed and even more carefully aimed stream of incendiary missiles. Will was shocked when looked at the pattern in which he was firing. It forced Will to take off running in a specific direction. It left only one escape root. Will had no choice but to run into the corner. As soon as he did so, CRASHMAN opened both Bomb-launchers and fired at him. They stuck to the wall on both sides of Will, a foot from each shoulder. He couldn't retreat, he couldn't run left, couldn't run right... the only options were to stay and be blown to bits or to run straight into his advancing foe, who was now prepared for melee combat. CRASHMAN had forced Will to run the gauntlet...

A great many things have been said about fear, the thoughts on the subject include but are not limited to the following; fears is the mind killer, a primal emotional force, something to be feared itself, and even the starting point, to the dark side of human nature. While all of this is true fear can also be a motivating force and a powerful one at that.

At this moment in time Will allowed his fear to motivate him, to fuel his next desperate actions, While they could by not be his last they could allow him to delay interaction with something he deemed far more horrifying then physical pain. So without a seconds thought Will forced his body to not only move forward but to perform at as close to optimum capacity in spite of the limitations that his bruised, brunt, broken could allow. If his latest bid to stave off blacking out was to work he needed every bit of momentum he could get.

While once more he was able to avoid being caught up in the center of the blast Will was by no means clear of the explosion, do in equal parts careful timing, dumb luck, and skill He was free from the brunt of the blast yet was still close enough to be pushed forward by the shockwave it produced. While he was able to gain some extra momentum from this tactic a price was paid, the majority of his back now carried a massive second degree burn, witch in part cauterized the wound on his side slowing the bloodless some. Paying this no mid Will dug his sling out of his bag as he raced forward at the amazingly resilient android before him. Once the loop was properly secured in place Will dropped to the ground in a slide worthy of any major league player only just managing to pass through Crash Man’s legs. Next he slung his sling out behind him with striking precision the burlap cord wrapping around Crash Man’s neck. The results of this were possible only because of the momentum of Will’s movement, the additional strength that his transformation granted him and the unevenness of the terrain.

Crash Man was sent toppling backwards, unlike his fight with the Big Bad Wolf, he was not fortunate enough to prevent his tumble. Will had been able to maintain his hold on his weapon even though the speed of Crash Man’s fall was so freighting fast he was nearly squished by the android himself. Not wasting any time He climbed to his feet and raced across the second floor. As soon as the guardrail was within reach he leaped it, only clearing the iron rail by a few fractions of an inch. Seconds later coming to rest on top of a heavy oaken table nearly causing it to sink.

It was only then after he had come to a stop that he was fully able to reexamine his latest on-the-fly “Plan.” While he had indeed ran the gauntlet that he’d been lured into, struck a blow (no matter how small) to his metallic menace, and even got himself to a more open area with more avenues of movement he still had to admit he was trapped. He only had a few large platforms that he could move between,, and they wouldn’t last long given how efficient Crash Man tended to be with his ranged weaponry. Though Will had to admit to himself that this was still his best option, He wouldn’t of had time to reach the largely untouched third floor and barring a single row of bookcases, some bathrooms and a few carts of books the second floor didn’t provide enough cover to risk being forced into hand-to-hand combat again, the still largely open wound on his side and broke knuckles attesting to the fact that ranged combat was his only choice.

Sighing aloud Will loaded a bullet into his sling and got into a low crouch doing his best to shut out the pain he was feeling and slight blurriness of his vision. Uncomfortable as he was now he was in a prime position to either quickly fire a round at Crash Man or jump to the nearby front service desk should the robot fire at him. From here on out this was a waiting game, wait for his foe to walk to the railing overlooking the first floor, wait for the loud pneumatic hiss of a missile or bomb being fired, wait for a prime time to launch his own shot, wait for a cue to leap to one of his few remaining platforms. It was just a matter of time at this point, and as often happened time was not on his side. The Red king had made his move, now he just had to see how the White King would react.