by the_indestructible_man and underfahrenheit451
Los Angeles, antimatter world:
"RAHR!" the Indestructible Man grunted as he swung the Sword of the Metahero through a line of robo-police, ripping them to shreds.
Wiping sweat from his brow and looking up at the sun, he got to thinking about the one downside of indestructibility: if he had to spend most of time as a human shield, he would have to get a costume tough -- and heavy -- enough to not rip itself apart.
Looking to the east, he saw a few blocks away, rising above the rubble of razed buildings that once stood there, the new Los Angeles County Courthouse, rising twenty stories, steel gray with a shark motif running across it.
A subtle grin went across Indestructible Man's face as he yanked out his belt-phone and dialed up the General Lee's frequency. "Flintlock, I've got Law Shark's headquarters in sight. What's up with the cops out there?"
Taking a drink from his canteen, Flintlock heard the Indestructible Man on the radio. "Yeah, I took them out," he said as he looked at the burning wreckage of the cop cars. "After I shot out the tires of a couple of the lead cars, they swerved and took out a couple more." He took another drink from his canteen. "Then I reached this ravine where I they trapped me, and I had to make a last stand. A couple of rounds from my tommy gun and a few grenades later, I'm walking and they're not."
Indestructible Man: "Well, it's good that they're taken care of. How long 'till you get here?"
Flintlock: "I'm leaving right now."
The Indestructible Man was hiding in the parking garage of the courthouse when he saw a glint of orange outside. He sneaked out, then ran over to the alley he saw the General Lee pull into. As Flintlock climbed out, Indestructible Man began to brief him.
"All right, I've been plugged into the security cameras the past half-hour," said the Indestructible Man. "The place is crawling with robo-lawyers, and the courtrooms and holding cells are crammed with innocent Angelinos. Law Shark himself is in Courtroom 1420, arguing a case against fifty locals that looks like it'll result in another guilty verdict."
Flintlock: "Okay, then what's the plan?"
Indestructible Man: "We've gotta split up again if we want to take control of the situation before the bad guys catch on to us. I'll make my way up the service corridors to the fourteenth floor and take down Law Shark and his cronies in the courts. Meanwhile, you'll have to go below and free the thousands in the holding cells. A shortage in the electronic gates should release them. With that sort of army and Law Shark taken care of, his robot armies should be pretty easy to defeat."
Flintlock: "Then let's do it."
The two heroes grabbed their respective weapons and rushed off on their way.
Flintlock took out the map of the courthouse that Indestructible Man had given him. "I'll have to take out the generator in basement three, which should release the prisoners in basement four. Now, there is a heavy instalment of troops on basement two, so that'll be my first objective."
He walked to the elevator and pressed B-2. "I swear, this elevator music is the same as in that James Bond Goldeneye video game..."
The elevator stopped, and he stepped out. Luckily, there was no one there. As he crept down the hallways, he silently took out guards using his silenced sniper rifle and many of his knives. He reached a ladder and descended to the floor below him where the power grid was.
Flintlock: "Hmmm... Going to have to use a couple of timed mines to make sure I take the whole thing out." He took out three mines and sets them to three minutes. He placed the mines and decided to get out of there as quickly as possible.
Taking a cue from Night Court and sneaking through the courthouse disguised as a bum, the Indestructible Man found his way to Courtroom 666 and peeked in.
A line of fifty dirty, defeated Angelinos stood chained in front of a bench headed by a floating robot judge. Between the two stood a seven-foot metahuman in a pinstripe suit, his gray skin rising into a sharp fin atop his head.
Law Shark: "Has the magistrate reached a verdict? Guilty or innocent?"
Magistrate: "Innocent. Feed them to the Sharkticons!"
As the bailiff went to flip a switch to drop the floor beneath the convicted, a sword shot out from the doorway, severing the robot's hand at the wrist.
Law Shark: "What the--?"
Throwing off the dingy coat and scarf, Indestructible Man chucked a shuriken at the magistrate, disabling it, and, grabbing the sword, walked up to Law Shark. "Okay, Sharkie, time to go for a swim!"
"You call that a metahero line? Bah!" Law Shark pulled out a gun and whirled to aim it at Indestructible Man, as the hero swung the Sword of the Metahero and disarmed him, literally. "Aargh!"
Suddenly, having thrown off their bonds, the captured Angelinos charged at the off-center metavillain, violently pushing him out the sixty-sixth-floor window.
The Indestructible Man waded through the crowd and looked out as the gray frame smashed down into the pavement, stirring the attention of the robot guard, who were simultaneously blasted away by three explosions blowing up out of the ground from below.
"All right!" Indestructible Man said. "It's time to get out of here before the guards come or the building collapses! Grab any weapons you can find and head out!"
And so, brandishing his blade against the new flood of security droids in the hall, the Indestructible Man led the way toward the stairwell.
Flintlock ran down the hall with a crowd of tattered locals and a roaring fireball behind him, when his communicator rang. "Damn bombs blow up a lot bigger than I thought! ... Hello?"
Indestructible Man, over the communicator, said, "Hey, good news and bad news. I overturned Law Shark's case, and the jury threw him sixty-six floors out of court. But now his guards have appealed, and they're attacking the Angelinos."
Flintlock: "Okay, whatcha want me to do?"
"Get the prisoners some weaponry and bring them up here. We've got a full-scale riot going on."
Flintlock led the troops up to the first floor and saw the Indestructible Man outside the door grabbing something off the belt of Law Shark's corpse, then tossing a gun tucked into his belt over to a local.
Indestructible Man: "Flintlock! Hurry over here! We've got to get out before the Meta Syndicate realizes the metahero presence!"
The two ran and jumped into the General Lee, roaring off down the road. They drove a few blocks and pulled off into an alley as the Indestructible Man clicked off the Super-Dodge's security mode.
Flintlock: "Why'd you leave it here?"
Indestructible Man: "It overheated..."
Flintlock: "So is there something wrong with it?"
Indestructible Man: "Nah. It's fine after having time to cool down."
Flintlock: "Well, I'll be damned. What now?"
Indestructible Man: "I'm gonna try to send out a message to the others when I get out of city limits and the jamming range. You drive back to Lebanon, Kansas, and pull out the electronic tools I have stashed near the monument. Hopefully we'll all be back there soon."
The two drove off their separate ways, the General Lee to the east and the Super-Dodge to the north.