HL: Chapter 28

Jackie'd just gotten back to the Mansion and heated up some leftover Beef Noodle Soup when it happened. A giant wave of rolling Chi damn near knock him on his ass, accompanied by some kinda roar Jackie ain't never heard before. When Jackie'd gotten back to his feet, he looked out into the bay and what he saw was like some shit outta some sorta old Japanese Kaiju film. A giant Half-Turtle, Half-Dragon, Thing was wading through the Delaware Bay toward Gotham, and Jackie just knew that it had something to do with the Old Man and him cutting loose a couple weeks back. Only thing was, the Old Man ain't exactly in town to help clean up, which was fucking typical.

"Oh fuck me." Swore Jackie.

Immediately, he raced to throw on his uniform, Black Tiger was just about the only guy in the City right now could stop this shit from going any farther. Well, him and Etrigan, but he ain't seen hide or hair from the Demon or his handler, Sir Jason, for at least a month. Zatanna might be able to help with spell support, but she ain't in town neither. Too busy with her Vegas residency to live in Gotham full-time these days. That meant it was up to him. Soon as he got kitted out, he leaped outta his bedroom window and headed for the sky using the Resplendant Crane Takes Flight. Then he was off like a shot, headed for the Giant Dragon Turtle Thing in the middle of the bay.

"Fuck, Fuck, Fuck! Why's this shit always gotta happen on my day off?" Questioned Jackie.

"'Cause you're not Lucky like me, Brother Drinky." Came a familiar voice from nearby.

Jackie turned to see Sun Wukong leaning casually back as he flew through the air next to him. Jackie ain't sure why Sun Wukong was here, but he was glad that he was. He blew a breath outta his nose that he didn't realize he was holding as he nodded at his erstwhile Sifu.

"I got no clue why you're here, but I'm glad you are. This is gonna be rough." Admitted Jackie.

"Ah, that's a bit of a problem, I'm afraid. See, I'm not actually here. I'm a projection, only you can see or hear me." Shrugged Sun Wukong.

"What? Why?" Queried Jackie.

"'Cause the Jade Emperor hasn't decided whether or not he'll let us visit the Mortal World yet or not." Answered Sun Wukong.

"Since when do you give a fuck 'bout what the Jade Emperor wants?" Asked Jackie.

"Since Erlang Shen decided he wanted to crash on my couch for a few days, just to make sure I wasn't doing anything I'm not supposed to. That doesn't mean I can't still be helpful, though. Case-In-Point, the Demigod you're up against is Bixi, one of the nine sons of my Old Friend Ao Guang. He's a Dragon Turtle, a powerful one too. We're not just talking strong and tough, either. He has the power to create Earthquakes and Manipulate Water, like an Ao, but he also can command wind and lightning like Long, plus he's got his own tricks regarding fire." Explained Sun Wukong.

"That's great, how do I beat him?" Questioned Jackie.

"If you're me? He usually gets the picture after a few good whacks from my cudgel. For you? You need to figure out why he's here. If you ask me, he's probably here because you woke him up." Informed Sun Wukong.

"Woke him up? What's that supposed to mean?" Queried Jackie.

"Bixi's a Lazy Fucker. He takes long naps, we're talking decades, centuries, even millennia at a time. The last time I even heard of him being up and awake long enough to do more than swim out to sea to stuff his face was back during the seven-thirties." Answered Sun Wukong.

"That was over a thousand years ago!" Exclaimed Jackie.

"One-thousand-two-hundred-sixty-four, to be exact. That's good news, though. If you threw around enough power to wake him up, then he'll probably want to test you to see if you've got the skill to go with the power. If you pass his test, he'll probably just wander off and go back to sleep." Offered Sun Wukong.

"Probably?" Asked Jackie.

"Hey, it's been a while since I last saw him. I can't speak to how much he's changed. Except in terms of size, he's a lot bigger than he used to be. He's gotta be at least a Li long, and two-hundred-million Jin heavy, now." Frowned Sun Wukong.

Jackie looked at the rapidly approaching bulk of Bixi and couldn't help but agree with his Sifu. He hadta be at least six hundred feet long from end to end. That's the kinda size that dwarfed aircraft carriers and shit. In fact, Jackie was willing to bet you could fit two whole-ass Supercarriers into Bixi and still have room left over, the Asshole was just that big. And now Jackie was gonna have to fight him, least for long enough to impress him enough that he would fuck off and leave Jackie's City alone. As he raced for Bixi, he noticed the steam coming offa the Water around the guy. His very presence seemed to be superheating the damn ocean.

"I guess that means I don't wanna get too close for too long, then." Mused Jackie.

"Probably not. Say, isn't that the friend you've told me about?" Questioned Sun Wukong.

"What?" Queried Jackie, turning his head to look in the direction indicated by Sun Wukong.

As he did so, he noticed Bruce's goddamn jet fighter that he'd been working on the last time Jackie'd visited the cave flying out to try and take a bite outta Bixi. As Jackie watched on, some kinda heat beam flashed outta the Plane's nose, lancing out at Bixi's scaly head and lashing the Dragon Turtle across the snout to no real effect. Bixi snarled, roaring forth a plume of fire at Bruce's Plane, only for Bruce to pull off the kinda bank that Jackie'd only seen computer-controlled drones and ace pilots pull off before, dodging the blast of fire breath. As Bruce came back around for another pass, he fired offa pair of missiles at Bixi, one was destroyed in mid-air by a second blast of flame breath, while the other impacted Bixi's shell, freezing part of it, the tech probably the same sorta shit that Mister Freeze used when he was busy doing Supervillain shit. Unfortunately, the ice was quickly removed by Bixi rolling over in the bay, turning water to steam and melting the ice.

"Come on, Bruce! You tried it your way, now get outta dodge! I don't wanna haveta fish you outta the bay!" Hissed Jackie.

"Fire and Ice won't defeat Bixi. Not like that. Your friend with the Bat Motif might want to run. Preferably soon." Opined Sun Wukong.

Bruce didn't run, though. He just don't have that sorta move in him, and now it was gonna come back to bite him. Bixi roared, blasting another flame blast at Bruce's Plane. Bruce once again displayed the kinda flying skill and reflexes that most ace pilots'd be jealous of, dodging around the fire breath. Jackie'd felt the buildup even as Bruce weaved around the flaming torrent of Bixi's breath. You hadta be able to sense Magic to figure out what was about to happen, though. That meant Bruce couldn't tell dick about what was coming. Jackie could, though, and he picked up his pace, so that when the lightning bolt crashed down outta the clear blue sky, striking Bruce's Plane and killing both engines, Jackie was there to catch Bruce as he ejected.

"Easy, Bruce. I gotcha." Huffed Jackie, swooping in to save Bruce from falling into the Bay.

"I was fine. I have my rebreather on me." Grunted Bruce.

"Better to not need it. Besides, with this asshole being who he is, you wouldn't've lasted ten seconds in the drink." Insisted Jackie.

"You know what this beast is?" Asked Bruce.

"Yeah, Bixi. One of the Nine Sons of the Dragon King Ao Guang. We're looking at a genuine Demigod that also happens to be a Dragon. Shit's fucked, Bruce." Scowled Jackie.

"That's more your area of expertise. I don't handle magic, though I'm starting to think I might want to dabble a bit if these sorts of problems are going to keep coming up." Mused Bruce.

"Look. I dunno if I can handle this guy on my own. I'm gonna try and call in backup to stop him before he reaches the city. If I can't get the job done, though, you're gonna need to use whatever connections you've got to evacuate whatever parts of the Atlantic-facing bits of Gotham you can." Laid out Jackie.

"Backup? What kind of backup?" Questioned Bruce.

"There's a chance that if I call, Doc Fate will come." Admitted Jackie.

"You've mentioned working with Doctor Fate before. Do you think it will work?" Queried Bruce.

"Whether it does or not, I've still gotta try, right? Ain't that why we do this shit?" Asked Jackie.

"Right. I suppose I'll follow your lead then. Drop me off here. My ride is on its way." Agreed Bruce.

Before Jackie could ask just what the fuck Bruce meant by his ride being on its way, he spotted a wake trail being made by some kinda compact hydrofoil that was, naturally, bat-themed. As the Canopy slid away to reveal the Drake Kid that'd taken up the mantle of Robin after Todd had been killed by the Joker, and who'd been hanging around Steph. Jackie set Bruce down in the empty seat and nodded at Drake.

"No Babs?" He questioned.

"She's at SAT Prep." Answered Drake.

"That explains it." Huffed Jackie.

"Just in case Fate doesn't answer, do you have a backup plan?" Queried Bruce.

"Hit the bastard real hard and hope he goes away?" Asked Jackie.

"That's what I thought. I'll see if I can get a hold of Zatanna." Sighed Bruce.

"Right. I guess it's now or never, while he's still out in the Bay." Nodded Jackie.

"Good luck." Offered Bruce.

"Thanks. I'm gonna need it." Affirmed Jackie.

Then he was back up into the air, moving on Chi-Propelled wings toward the Son of the Dragon King and hoping that Fate'd answer if he called. Speaking of which, now was as good a time to try that as any. After all, it ain't like Jackie was gonna be able to fight Bixi and try to summon Doc Fate at the same time. He would need all of his focus just to keep in the fight against this asshole.

"Doc, if you can hear me, I need you to do me a solid and send some backup my way. We've gotta pissed off Bixi bearing down on Gotham right now and I could use some Magic Muscle as backup." Spoke up Jackie.

He had no clue if this'd work, mind you. He just knew that Doc Fate liked to keep an eye on him, and if he called out to him through the aether, it might trip whatever Divination the Champion of Nabu had going for that purpose. It was worth a shot, at any rate. Even so, Jackie was surprised as all hell when he actually got a response back from Doc Fate. The Champion of Nabu must've been listening in at the time. Jackie recognized the spell. It was a communications spell called Whisper on the Wind that'd been developed by an English Witch during the Salem Witch Trials for warning her covenmates that the Witchfinders were coming. Jackie'd only read about the spell, since he ain't had the opportunity to pick up any Mojo from that particular tradition. It allowed twenty-five words to be spoken into the wind, and the breeze would carry 'em to their intended recipient.

"Stall him for five minutes. If you can do that, I can bring in some heavy-hitters to help you beat him alongside me." Came Doc Fate's response via the spell.

Perfect, now Jackie just hadta stall an immortal Dragon-Turtle-Demigod-Thing for five minutes. That was perfectly reasonable, thanks, Doc. Jackie ain't got much of a choice, though. He hadta at least try, otherwise a lotta folks in Gotham were gonna die and a lot more were gonna lose their homes when Bixi made landfall. When you looked at it like that, there really ain't any alternatives here. With that thought in his mind, Jackie blasted forward, mixing Heaven and Flame Chi in his Ajna Chakra for the Qirin's Burning Gaze, before firing out a pair of beams of coherent heat and light at Bixi. The Chi-Powered Lasers of the Boddhisatva-level Technique could melt through tank armor in seconds and even hurt some of the toughest sons-of-bitches out there in the Costumed Villainy Racket. Against Bixi, they barely scorched the scales along his snout. That was a damn sight better than Bruce's tech'd managed, though.

Bixi roared out a blast of fire at Jackie, forcing him to jank to the side to avoid the pillar of flame breath before a buildup of mystic energy alerted him to the incoming lightning strike. Sure enough, the lightning came down at Jackie while he was still dodging the flame breath, but he'd been ready for that sorta move after seeing Bixi pull it against Bruce. A ripple of Chi blasted through him, and Jackie faded away, leaving a plume of sand in his place as he used the Great Sand River Bears Away the Serpent Technique to avoid the lightning, reappearing next to Bixi's right eye before hammering in a Chi-enhanced Punch, powered by the Iron Thrust. Bixi was forced to close his eye to avoid the punch hurting his eyeball. The scales of his eyelid bent inward, but they didn't break. Jackie hit the eyelid one more time with a kick enhanced with the same technique before being forced to dodge a grasping tendril of seawater reaching for him, thanks to Bixi's Hydromantic Powers.

As he dodged backward, Jackie conjured an Archmage-Level Wuxing Conjuration Spell, turning Bixi's Water Tendril to ice before shattering it with pure magical power and sending those razor-sharp shards right at Bixi. Of course, the Son of the Dragon King had all kinds ways to counter that sorta thing. In this case, he barked out a puff of flame breath and the ice shards, each big enough to slice a horse in half, instantly liquified before turning to scalding steam that exploded outwards with so much force that Jackie hadta fly back to avoid the explosion alongside the steam.

"Show me more! This is not the reason I was woken from my Long Slumber!" Demanded Bixi, with a roar.

"All right, guess we're doing this then." Agreed Jackie.

And the fight recommenced in Earnest once again. . .

XXXX

AN: All right, here's the start of Bixi's attack on Gotham. Notably, Bruce has already tried dealing with Bixi using his gadgets and hasn't been able to do anything but piss the Son of the Dragon King off something fierce. He's retreating to try and prepare a hasty evacuation in advance of Bixi making landfall. Notably, Bixi is coming at Gotham from the Southeast, via the Delaware Bay and Atlantic Ocean, as Gotham City sits on what is effectively a set of islands off of Cape May in New Jersey. That means that City Hall, the Financial District, and the Fashion District, along with the Docks of Port Adams, and crucially, Blackgate Island, are all in the zone for taking damage should Bixi make Landfall. And whenever something happens to damage Blackgate, the inmates all escape, causing Bruce no end of trouble.

In the meantime, Jackie's got to stall for five minutes while Doctor Fate gathers a team to help him out. I won't say who, exactly, Fate is gathering up, but I will say that they have enough power between them to slay Bixi if it comes to it. Meanwhile, Bruce is trying to get a hold of Zatanna, even though she's currently in Vegas doing her stage show. As for Bixi, he is one of those rare Demigods who is actually worthy of their title of Demigod. He would be rated one level above Jackie were he a Cultivator or Sorcerer, necessitating the backup.

At any rate, the next chapter will include the next part of the Fight with Bixi, as Jackie attempts to stall for time.

Stay tuned. . .