The storage room erupted in chaos.
Livewire had been the first to notice.
She had been floating lazily near the ceiling, arcs of blue electricity crackling across her skin, when she spotted Medusa’s purple hair disappearing behind a row of cages.
“Hey!” Livewire’s voice crackled with static.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
Medusa turned, calm and unhurried.
The cage behind her hung open, empty.
Another freed slave was already scrambling toward the exit.
“I’m freeing what you’ve enslaved,” Medusa said flatly.
Livewire didn’t wait for more.
She threw her arms forward, and a bolt of concentrated lightning ripped through the air.
Medusa was already moving, her speed supernatural, but the bolt grazed her shoulder.
A shower of sparks erupted, followed by a hiss of pain.
Then Medusa removed her eyecover.
Livewire froze mid-lunge, her body locking up.
For a single moment, her electric aura flickered and died.
“That’s all you got, freak?” Livewire snarled, fighting through the effects of the petrification.
She was strong-willed, a veteran of Belle Reve and countless Suicide Squad missions.
But the hesitation was enough.
Medusa closed the distance in a heartbeat, chains materializing in her hands.
Then something massive crashed through a stack of crates to her left.
King Shark.
He was enormous, easily twelve feet of muscle, teeth, and raw hunger.
His great white shark head twisted toward Medusa, and he grinned, rows of jagged teeth gleaming.
“Free lunch,” he growled.
He lunged.
Medusa barely dodged, flipping backward as his claws tore through the concrete floor where she had stood.
She landed in a crouch, hissing.
“Now it’s a fair fight,” Livewire cackled, her electricity surging back to full power.
She threw another bolt, forcing Medusa to dodge right, straight into King Shark’s path.
Then the air shimmered, and Medea appeared in a swirl of purple light.
“Forgive my lateness,” she said, already chanting.
A barrier of ethereal energy flared to life between Medusa and King Shark’s crushing blow.
The massive shark slammed into it, his claws skidding across the shimmering surface as though it were solid diamond.
“More tasty snacks,” King Shark rumbled, turning his attention to Medea.
“Don’t touch her,” Medusa said coldly.
She moved like a blur, her chain wrapping around King Shark’s wrist and yanking him off balance.
Before he could recover, Medea’s spellfire rained down on him, blue-white bolts sizzling against his thick hide.
He howled but didn’t fall.
Livewire circled overhead, gathering more power.
“Cute tricks.
But you can’t hit what you can’t see.”
She vanished in a flash of lightning, reappearing behind Medea.
Her hand, crackling with voltage, reached for the witch’s exposed back.
Medusa intercepted her.
The two women clashed mid-air, Medusa’s chains against Livewire’s electricity, neither giving ground.
Below them, King Shark shook off the spellfire and charged again.
Medea raised her hands, and the floor beneath King Shark erupted.
Stone spikes slammed into his chest.
He roared, stumbled back, and crashed through a row of weapon crates.
“Are you all right, Medusa?” Medea called.
“I’m fine,” Medusa replied.
“Focus on him.”
But King Shark was already recovering, his regeneration closing the wounds Medea’s magic had opened.
He shook his massive head, snarled, and charged again, this time faster and more determined.
His claws raked across Medea’s barrier, and she felt the strain as cracks spiderwebbed across its surface.
“You two are fun,” he said, “but my daddy made me to eat things like you.”
Medea’s eyes widened.
“He’s strong.”
“I’ve noticed,” Medusa said dryly.
She lashed out again, forcing King Shark back, while Medea sent another volley of spells his way.
But Livewire wouldn’t stay down.
She emerged from the lightning, her eyes glowing with power, and hit Medea with a full blast of electricity from behind.
Medea screamed, her concentration breaking.
Her barrier shattered.
King Shark lunged.
Medusa was there in an instant.
She crashed into King Shark’s side, wrapping her chains around his throat and yanking him away from Medea.
The beast flailed and snarled, but she held fast.
Then an explosion.
A blur of motion, red and blue.
A figure slammed into King Shark with enough force to send him flying across the storage room.
He crashed through a steel gate, tearing it from its hinges, and tumbled into the darkness beyond.
Medusa and Medea turned.
A man stepped out of the shadows.
His face was wrong, distorted, scarred, and too small for his muscular frame.
His eyes were hollow and white, and his skin was pale, drawn tight over his bones.
He wore a torn Superman costume, the “S” on his chest faded and cracked.
He was known as the failed copy of Superman.
Match.
“Medea…” Medusa whispered.
“I think we have a problem.”
Match didn’t speak.
He moved.
His speed was terrifying, almost Superman-level.
Medusa barely blocked his first punch, her arms crossing just in time to absorb the impact.
The force sent her skidding backward, her heels digging furrows into the concrete.
Then he was on Medea.
She threw up a barrier, but Match’s fist shattered it like glass.
He grabbed her by the throat, lifted her off the ground, and squeezed.
“Let her go,” Medusa said.
Match turned his head.
There was no intelligence in his eyes, only rage, pain, and hunger.
Medusa attacked.
She hit him with everything she had: chains, fists, and kicks.
But he was a Kryptonian clone.
Imperfect, yes, but still a Kryptonian.
Her strikes barely staggered him.
He threw Medea aside like a doll.
Medea hit the wall hard, fell, and didn’t move.
Medusa’s eyes flared with fury.
She removed her eyecover and fixed him with her full gaze.
Match froze, the petrification effect taking hold.
For a heartbeat, he was stone.
Then he moved again.
His fist connected with her ribs, and Medusa felt something crack.
She flew backward, crashing through a row of cages and landing in a heap of twisted metal.
Medea pulled herself to her feet, blood trickling from her lips.
Her eyes were on fire now.
“RULE BREAKER!” she screamed.
The dagger appeared in her hand, a simple-looking, unassuming blade.
She threw it with all her strength.
It struck Match’s neck and disintegrated the magical aura protecting him.
He howled in pain, clutching his throat.
His regeneration worked, but slowly.
“Now, Medusa!”
Medusa lunged, her chains wrapping around Match’s arms and legs, binding him tightly.
He struggled, Kryptonian strength straining against the magical bindings.
But Medea’s magic held.
“Tie them!” Medea shouted.
Medusa didn’t hesitate.
She moved like lightning, wrapping her chains around King Shark, who was just starting to stir.
She bound him tightly, then turned to Livewire, who was trying to retreat into the shadows.
“Not so fast.”
Livewire screamed as the chains wrapped around her throat.
Medusa yanked her close, and for a moment, just a moment, she considered petrifying her fully.
“No…” she whispered.
“Master wants them alive.”
She knocked Livewire unconscious with a single blow.
Medea moved to the captured trio, her Rule Breaker dagger in hand.
She aimed for the collars on Livewire’s and King Shark’s necks and struck.
The collars shattered, their magical bindings dissolving into nothing.
“They should be grateful,” Medusa said coldly.
“Mr.
Black is the reason for their freedom.”
She looked at King Shark and Livewire, both groaning as consciousness began to return.
Medea struck them both again, ensuring they would remain unconscious for a while longer.
“What about Match?” Medea asked.
Medusa approached the Kryptonian clone.
His bindings held, barely.
But he had no collar, no device controlling him.
Just rage and confusion.
“I’ll knock him out the hard way.”
She struck his temple with brutal precision.
Match’s head snapped to the side, and his massive body crumpled.
He fell, breathing deeply but unconscious.
Medea knelt beside her and activated the spell she had planted throughout the storage room.
“Ready?” she asked.
Medusa nodded.
They grabbed the unconscious bodies of Livewire, King Shark, and Match and began dragging them toward the exit.
Behind them, the storage room started to glow.
“We’re clear,” Medea said.
The explosion was silent.
Flames erupted, consuming the weapons, magical items, leftover cages, and chains.
Nothing remained.
The three enslaved meta-humans were unconscious, but alive.
Medusa looked down at them, then toward the path Alex had taken.
“Come on…
We have to move.”
They disappeared into the night.
/*
If you Like this story!
Check out my other story !
Shadow Monarch in Danmachi!