Showdown! The Best of the Best

Chapter Thirty-Four

Deku and Danny exchanged wary glances as they came to a massive steel door that stood out from the others lining the passage. The ghost boy frowned as he noticed Deku pulling on two red pieces of handwear, resembling gauntlets. As his brow furrowed, the hero-in-training noticed his unlikely partner sizing him up and grinned cautiously.

"These are called the Full Gauntlets," Deku explained. "See, I actually haven't mastered all of my power. For me, it's taxing if I go all out. So a friend built these for me so that I can use one-hundred percent of my power. If I need to."

"You plan on doing that here?" Danny asked.

"I'm not sure if I'll have a choice," Deku sighed. "I've been in fights like this before, you know. Fights where it's less about winning...and more about survival."

"You and me both," Danny said somberly. "You ready?"

"No," Deku admitted. "But I'm as prepared as I'm going to be."

Nodding and gritting his teeth, Danny's fist slammed into the door. With a colossal shriek of protest, the frame plummeted in on itself, but did not break down. Beckoning his friend to stand back, Deku pirouetted forward, and the steel flat of his boot spun into the door. This time, with another shout of destruction, the doors flew inward, colliding with the metal wall across the chamber on the inside. The two heroes stiffened briefly, clenching their fists before crossing over the threshold. 

The room was wide and spacious, with blank, grey walls that towered high above in an arch. On the other side of the egg-shaped chamber was a massive bank of monitors that towered to half of the room's full height. Danny's mouth twisted into a frown as he noticed that one of the metal doors had punctured the wall next to the monitors. The other lay flat next to an ornate chair that faced the screens. As Deku and Danny crept closer, the chair swiveled around so that the man sitting in it could face them. 

The figure that now confronted the two heroes was massive, both in stature and bulk. He was as much flesh as he was metal, with the lower half of his body comprised entirely by an artificial exoskeleton. His right forearm seemed to also be comprised of steel, but this material was something more articulated and grand than what his legs were built of. His cold blue eyes sliced through them as he gave a cunning grin.

"You took longer than I expected," he chuckled. "Welcome." 

Deku and Danny exchanged a nervous glance as they each crept in opposite directions, attempting to flank the metal man. Kringle stood as he chose to fix his gaze on Danny, ignoring Deku. The fingers on the end of his metallic arm flexed and he jerked his neck sideways, cracking it. Danny felt a chill of familiarity as the movement reminded him of limbering up before he went out to fight ghosts.

"I suppose this is the part where you order me to call off the Kriegbots, and cease my assault on your friends," Kringle said gloatingly. 

"No," Danny hissed. "This is the part where we beat you down."

The air sundered as Danny bolted forward and slammed into Kringle. His body protested as he came to a halt, brought from maximum velocity to nothing in a nanosecond. Kringle stumbled backward a step or two, but Danny felt his heart chill as the grin on the mastermind's face widened. His concern mounted as he attempted to go intangible, but found Kringle's metal arm wrapped around his neck regardless. 

Winding his arm back, the colossal engineer hurled Danny in front of him like a pitcher throwing a baseball. Danny flew end over end through the air before slamming into the gargantuan bank of monitors, sending showers of sparks everywhere. Glass and shorn pieces of metal speckled the air like snowflakes as he crumpled to the ground. Slowly, he rose on his hands and knees, coughing.

Kringle spun just in time to intercept Deku's rapid charge with a kick. He spun with the uncanny grace of a ballerina, bringing his metal limb into the air to connect with the aspiring hero's midsection. Deku felt the air leave him, but he took the hit gracefully, spinning like an arrow and recovering in a three-point landing. He sprung again, the atmosphere galvanized by the crackling spirit of One for All. 

"ST. LOUIS SMASH!!!"

Deku twisted like a cyclone and brought the iron sole of his boot around to land a hit on Kringle's face. Kringle, unfazed, reached out with his unarmored hand and stopped the momentum of the teen's attack with his forearm. His brow furrowed, and the stone around him rippled with cracks as he tensed under the Herculean force of the teen's attack. Grabbing Deku's throat with his free hand, Kringle slammed him into the stone in one fluid motion. Deku gagged as the wind was completely stolen from his lungs, but he had no time to regain his composure. One of Kringle's metal soles trampled his midsection, and a gout of blood shot from Deku's mouth in response.

Kringle's grin vanished as his head turned to see one of the massive doors that had been sheared from its anchor point hurtling toward him. Releasing Deku, he reacted in time to effortlessly bat the ten ton door out of the way. However, he was met with a fist to the face as Danny followed behind it. For the first time, Kringle somersaulted backward as he was hit with the full force of an unhindered attack. As the villain landed on his back on the opposite side of the chamber from them, Danny knelt down to help Deku to his feet.

"You okay?" He asked tenderly. "You're not quitting on me, are you?"

"Never," Deku panted. "I can't. Not now."

"Get up, then," Danny insisted, helping Deku to his full height. "I don't think we're done with this guy."

Danny's suspicion was confirmed as the door he hadn't thrown at Kringle came speeding toward them, split into two pieces. Deku leaped upward with a surprising amount of grace for the hit he took and pulverized his half of the door into a thousand pieces of metal. Danny's eyes burned blue as he expunged a great breath, causing the air around them to rapidly drop in temperature. A burst of cold air froze the door solid, and Danny shattered it with a kick as the icicle made its approach.

Kringle was on them faster than they could perceive him. Deku doubled over again as Kringle's foot connected with his solar plexus. Danny lashed out with a bolt of ecto-energy, but it was slapped away by Kringle's metal arm. For his trouble, he received a full haymaker to the face, which sent him onto his back. He, too, felt the full force of a foot to the stomach, which caused him to cough profusely. 

Kringle's foot ground into Danny's stomach. In his metal arm, he held Deku by the throat, the boy squirming to get out of the hold. The world receded as Kringle's metal heel pushed Danny further into the stone. Kringle crouched over, wrapping his free hand around Danny's neck. His grip was unlike any the ghost hero had ever experienced. 

"My plans are unfit to be compromised by the likes of you," Kringle sneered. 

Using the final bit of his strength, Danny wrapped his hands around the arm that Kringle held him with. The villain's eyes widened in shock. Danny felt a mixture of satisfaction and overwhelming rage fill him. In that same moment, Deku arched his back and swung his legs forward, bringing a fully powered kick into Kringle's ribs. The villain stumbled, and his grip loosened, freeing Deku. 

In that moment, as Kringle's grip on his throat loosened ever so slightly, Danny opened his mouth, and the palace shuddered as he wailed.