"I won't be here long..."
That's what Meat said to Mr. E and Ace, who were too busy watching the news than paying attention to his escape rants.
He was trapped in a red room in God knows where, and these lunatics were just sitting there watching the news like a couple of old twats.
"I'll break out one day! And I will do exactly what you taught me! Survive! Don't you remember what you taught me? Nothing is more important than one's survival?"
"Would you shut the hell up?!" Mr. E shouted.
"This is the first time I'm interested in the slop that this f**king news studio pumps out so I'd appreciate some peace and quiet."
"I'd be happy to shut him up, boss." Ace said with a hint of sadistic pleasure in his voice.
"Nah, it's cool. And you don't need to call me that, son. You can call me dad." He said to Ace in a comforting tone.
But Ace was cold and distant.
Nothing changed between them since that day.
The day the Danger Squad had to die.
But now was not the time to think about that. Now was the time to address the elephant in the room. The one made of muscle tissue.
"Oh Meat, my glorious creation. You're right. But that doesn't mean you're getting out of here. Not until you... no... we have accomplished our mission. Just take a look."
Meat looked out the window of the mysterious room he was trapped in and a look of terror enveloped his face.
All the experiments.
All 500 of them were captured during the great prison break including.... Max. The one who freed them all.
Stuck in tiny red cells just like him. All unconscious to their surroundings.
It was a nightmare.
"You see! Even your so-called saviour is back in his cell! There is no escape for you! Max thought he could escape me by hiding in the Lost Light, but he never knew I worked with them. With a little tip, he was back here. Now sit back and enjoy the show."
Meat kept quiet and watched the news story.
Waiting for help to come.
Praying for help to come.
It didn't.
Meanwhile, a news helicopter was hovering over a police chase.
"I'm Amy Armstrong here at Empire News! We're here at Downtown, Empire City to report a chase between the police and a mysterious van carrying an important piece of Miltron Labs technology."
"Although we don't know what this technology is, we do know that it's insanely important considering the fact we were denied all information on it."
"AH! Is that... As you can see folks, the Hawk, the jet belonging to the vigilante, Hawk Knight, thought to have disappeared for two years, has returned and is flying above the scene."
"And what's this?! Three unidentified beings are jumping off the jet into the scene! Could the Hawk Knight be making a comeback?! Or could this be the emergence of new supers?!"
Down at the scene of the chase, Mrs. Manson, the police chief, who was currently approaching the van in a police car with her partner Cliff, was fuming when she heard the news.
"What do you mean new supers?! I thought the government registered all those damn freaks!! Put me up with the mayor NOW!!" Police chief Mrs. Manson spat at her subordinate as she chased the van.
"Uh... Mrs. Manson, sir, I don't think this is the best time." Cliff said to his superior as they watched the van and turned their attention to the man standing at the back of the van.
He not only had the Miltron Labs device next to him, but a mysterious syringe he suddenly stabbed himself with.
Soon Manson recognised the young man. Once she did she almost she'd a tear.
They underestimated him because this was Snek. Just another Flathead gang grunt. Although he was a little mental, he was barely an inconvenience to the police.
Suddenly his skin began to turn green.
That's when they realized what he injected himself with.
It was called Mutoxin.
And his his pupis narrowed so much, they became thin vertical lines like that of a reptile.
Then he grew scales.
"He's a Temp Muman! All available units open fire!!" Mrs. Manson shouted as several police cars began to cover the sides of the van and let loose a rain of bullets into it.
She didn't want to attack the boy. She really didn't, but he was already exposed to Mutoxin. He needed to go.
The officers unloaded a barrage of bullets onto the van causing some of them to hit Snek in his left arm, shoulder and stomach.
But all Snek did was laugh.
His hands soon began to bend, break and morph into giant snakes with heads the size of small cars and bodies longer than the van itself.
The snake hands struck out of the cars and terrified all who looked at them.
All Manson could do was look at them in shock. "Don't just sit there and drive past him! Unload everything into that freak before he levels us with those things!!"
But it was too late. Snek used his new snake hand to grab the nearest police car at the left side and chuck it at Mrs. Manson like a baseball.
"This is it."
The car flew at them so quick there was no time to react.
"My life is over."
No time to turn.
"Yet I feel so empty."
Only time to die.
"Maybe I should've patched things up with Austin before he disappeared."
Suddenly, Manson's internal monologue was interrupted when the car didn't land on her and Cliff, but rather a giant hand that appeared before them.
"It's okay, ma'am! You're safe." The owner of the hand said. A man going by the codename, Expanding Man.
As the hero left, two more followed. First was a speedster that was running so fast he could only be identified by some sort of blue blurry light.
And a grey skinned woman who was literally swimming on land.
"Ma'am! That speedster guy! Remember him? He was there during the slaughterhouse incident! Should we chase 'em down and..."
He turned to see she was ignoring him.
Manson merely took out a cigarette.
"Nah, let's let the costumed freaks handle this one. We'll chase 'em down when it's time to go to court." Manson said, smiling as more police cars zoomed past them.
Tired of this Muman shit.
Snek began grabbing and chucking these police cars at each other, but these mystery heroes began stopping the cars in their tracks and dropping them down safely.
Snek knew he had to turn up his game or else it's back to prison for him.
"Hey Luther! Sssstop going easssy on the gear and let'ssss book it!"
But Luther wasn't paying attention. He was bothered by the emphasis Snek kept placing on the letter S but thst was at the farthest regions of his mind. He was more concerned about his family.
And Hawk Knight.
He needed to deliver the Black Reactor to him or else he'll hurt them. And make sure he watches.
But Snek was a problem. He needed to go.
Snek kept on screaming and jabbering on with the supers.
"Oh sssshit! I was expecting one of the Super Society guys! Like that Forest Fire or Can Man. Who the hell are you asssholes? A bunch of newbsss?!" He said, addressing them.
"Yeah pal. We're newbs. And we're gonna be the ones to stop you." Jake said as he approached the van.
Snek continued to chuck cars and Jake had enough.
He switched to agility and began dodging the cars with ease and landing elegantly on one of the snake's heads, however they continued to fly onto the road.
All to the annoyance of Stacya and Zack.
Jake was now right behind the van. Standing on a giant snake hissing and throwing cars.
However, Jake jumped off the head and faced Snek. Just when he switched to strength to take Snek down, Snek revealed his secret move.
He then sprouted a third smaller snake out of his stomach.
And then more of them began to appear.
So much so they began to form a giant fist made of multiple snakes.
With one punch, Jake would've been sent flying across the hard asphalt.
That's what was supposed to happen if Zack hadn't expanded his legs fast enough to push Jake out of the way and receive the hit.
Along with the bites of a dozen poisonous snakes.
The fist moved so fast he couldn't switch to speed fast enough to dodge it himself. If Zack hadn't saved him.
It would've been him on the ground writhing in agony.
"Friend Jake!! He was bitten in several areas across his torso from those snakes! We have to save him!" Stacya shouted frantically.
But Jake was silent.
As the van containing those criminals got away.
His friend was dying as police zoomed past them.
The police probably didn't have much interest in them as compared to the robbery.
But that changed nothing.
And it was all his fault.
As Stacya kept on shouting his name in fear, Jake's mind grew blank.
To be continued