[Metal Man]

The man of steel stood there, watching the twin bolts of red energy fly straight at him. Their violent essence reflected in his visor. And they smashed straight into his chest. Twin clouds of blood filled the air before Metal Man. But the Man stood there... unmoved.

The guards, on the other hand, were clearly prepared for Amrick. Those Metal had shot down began to stand up. Metal Man looked back at them, his shiny red chest wound bleeding. He had few words for them. "...What the hell?"

The Captain of the guards stood up. On his uniform, a strangely shaped disc could be seen. Probably, it was a prototype technology stolen from an alien culture. And, to Metal and Amrick's chagrin, this device was clipped to his uniform. This son of a gun smirked, showing his teeth almost like a wild baboon. In this man's unnaturally white and even smile, there was a golden replacement front left tooth, which served primarily to intimidate easily frightened soldiers. He spat a small bit of blood at Amrick and Metal Man, thinking it would make these two interdimensional intruders shake in their boots. "This is the most secure place in the base. We deal with all kinds of threats... you're not going to--"

But mid-plot speech, the man's mouth met with Metal Man's right fist. The inconvenient shield flickered and spazzed out as the starstruck Captain fell down as fast as he had stood up. The other guards backed away slowly as Metal Man turned to Amrick. He spoke again, this time with an indignant, grating tone. "Are you not intelligent? This is not your job. It's not mine either! It's clear this is some sort of trap, and I wound up in it probably because of you! So as long as we're here, I may as well kill you, as then perhaps those idiots chasing me will give me amnesty. Doesn't it make sense to you?"

Amrick just tightened his lips. Instead of agreeing, he pointed his Time Knight staff and prepared to fire yet another volley of Rapture's Prelude, which would probably soon be followed by something else flowery like Rapturous Doomsday Beam or Ultimate Apocalypse Noogie. Whatever it was, Metal Man had already had enough of it. And it had only been about five minutes into the battle--a new record!

The Man of Steel moved fluidly. Five more Rapture Blasts of Ominously Bolded Doom were thrown at him, but he didn't plan to become a bloody fountain THAT easily. Instead he grabbed that nasty Captain Annoying Tooth Man and his Right-Hand Mook with his vice-like metal hands. Then he ran directly at the furious red magic, screaming "FINE, BE THAT WAY! I'LL JUST BEAT YOU UNTIL YOU STOP GIVING ALL THOSE SPELLS YOU USE GIRLY NAMES! RAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" Clearly, he had everything under control.

The blasts impacted Metal Man and his 'guests', splattering them all with vaguely explosive crimson fury. Amrick saw nothing but the smoke of a violent explosion, and for a moment, he felt safe. He rested his staff. Then he went to do his work, glancing behind him to the treasure trove. Why, to his eye, he saw see many magical artifacts. Some of which were even related to the Time Kni--he heard a noise and turned around. Wait why is that blood-covered shiny metal thing doing no one can survive that many Rapture Preludes I am not going to just stand here and be hit--

Amrick yelled at the top of his lungs. "BIG BANG--"

"BUTTASTIC BURRITO BONGO HEAD ATTACK COUNTER!" All that came out from Amrick was a gasp, as the insidious screeching of Metal Man smashed his precious concentration to bits. It also didn't help that the Metal tyrant had somehow taken the vaguely-shielded Captain and chucked all 200 lbs of pure American tough guy right at Amrick's mouth mid-spell. *SMAAASH!* Amrick became reacquainted with backwards momentum for a moment. Then he annoyedly shoved the Captain aside...

"ULTIMATE UGLY-TASTIC UKULELE ASININE FLYING MOOK DOOM RAID ASSAULT!!!" ...And ducked a flying right-hand man while he was at it. Amrick muttered a curse at this vulgar man of steel and prepared another fancy spell. This time, he would counter Metal Man's obvious non-spells. He raised the staff, as Metal Man grew dangerously close.

"Why do you persist in this, man of steel? You don't kno--"

Metal Man had given up on words. Taking a page out of his previous playbook, he punched the mage straight in the staff. *SMASH!* Whether or not he broke the staff, he certainly knocked the Time Knight backwards. The Knight's muscles tightened and he reflexively swung the staff at Metal Man. But the Shiny Man viciously headbutted the staff right back. His attack was so furious so hard it smashed his own visor! But then it sent the staff flying out of Amrick's hands. The staff clattered uselessly to the ground as Metal Man kneed the distracted Knight in the crotch with a metal knee. *SMACK!* Amrick wished this impudent annoyance had died already... but it was STILL just the beginning. The pained Knight bit back, going for Metal's left hand--but the metal hand made Amrick yell in pain instead. Metal wound up a punch with his right, aiming to pummel this guy to death. Amrick, interested in living more than a few more minutes, thought with his head and kicked Metal straight in the painful hole-in-the-chestplate that earlier magic spell had made.

Metal stumbled back, growling at the suffering that little smack caused him. Both combatants were on their knees now, breathing and bleeding hard. Time Knight vs. Time Bandit--they were well matched, and both knew it. But both thought they had a trick which would bring this deadly battle to an end.

Unfortunately for the guards, both of them were probably wrong.

Metal inexplicably ran to the left, his feet cracking the concrete and making an infernal metal racket. Meanwhile, Amrick got his staff and prepared a giant spell to get rid of this insane annoyance.

Metal Man stood at the pedestal where the Stargate was, sizing up Amrick again. I bet he thinks he's better than me... with his fancy little annoying prissy dumbspells. Who the f#$k gives their attacks a name like STARLIGHT BONGO WALL? He shook his head. Then he realized that a faintly visible barrier had protected Amrick from serious injury. He narrowed his sweaty, blood-tainted brow at Amrick in frustration, peering from behind the broken glass of his visor. It was on now.

As blood still flowed from the charred hole in the center of Metal's chestplate, Amrick powered up a new spell--he had his staff, after all. He was going to show this idiotic terrorist what a Time Knight could do--and how this annoyance had misunderstood everything. Then he swung his staff and--*SNAAAAP*--heard a loud metallic snapping noise?

...The Stargate lurched, now floating off the ground. Its semi-reflective surfaces almost glowed in the flourescent light. Clearly, it had gained a mind of its own... No! It was METAL MAN who held it... and he was turning it around in his hands like it weighed nothing. Amrick's eyes went wide as he realized what the Man of Steel was doing--he was... trying to use it as a chakram? Amrick had but seconds to spare before the massive object would come for him. He yelled out a spell hoarsely as Metal Man swung the massive ring into the smoke-filled air. It spun like a Xena-shaped giant had thrown it herself... and Amrick hurled his might at it. But they did no good as its immense mass sliced through them all. Then smashed into Amrick's still somewhat active barrier!

A loud shattering noise filled the room as the active barrier became the million fragments of a barrier. Amrick was knocked back by the force, but by some luck, he had not been decapitated OR crushed--the ring landed with him in the middle.

"Beginner's luck, as always." Metal shook his head and then calmly lifted a silver pistol to the heavens. *BANG! BANG!* *BOOOOOM BOOOOOOM!*

...The mage heard an explosion and saw above--Metal Man had shot out the rafters. And why, look, from there came two explosion-propelled fluorescent lights and their shrapnel! Oh, what an interesting physics experiment that was going to be...

...And from the looks of it, the man had more where that came from!