It was only by sheer instinct that you were able to telegraph the next series of events, and sheer luck that you were able to live through them.
Your hand instantly dropped down to your utility belt the second you felt heat radiating close to your spine, prompting you to instantly sidestep to the right.
The fireball whistled past you in a auburn blur, nearly singing the fabric of your cape as you evaded it. The fireball singed the ground in front of you, keeping the feral Cheetah at bay for the moment.
Just as she was about to create another fireball, you threw the small pellet at her feet, watching as it exploded into a dense cloud that soon enveloped her.
“What the-?” she started to say, before she started gagging, clutching her throat. The smoke pellet workings its magic, you took advantage, running at her just as she was coughing, now momentarily discombobulated by the smoke.
Covering her mouth with her forearm, she barely managed to escape from the smoke cloud, only to open her eyes, and run into a right hand, courtesy of yours truly.
Your fist rammed into her face, a faint grunt emitting from her mouth before she collapsed to the ground. You turned just in time to see Cheetah lunging at you from mid-air.
SHINK!! The sound of her claws scraping against your steel gauntlets emitted a metallic screech from both sides, as you firmly grounded yourself.
Leaning in closer to you, she uttered a feral roar towards you, baring her pointed canines, before pushing off, her tail weaving through the air excitedly.“You’re mine!” she screeched through gritted teeth, before lunging at you yet again.
Her feline claws sliced through the air in a downward arc, before clawing the spot where your throat had been mere seconds ago.
Your boots skidding across the floor to avoid to fatal maneuver, both arms rose in a boxing stance in response to her challenge.
Her figure soon became a snarling blur as she lunged at you yet again, unleashing another feral barrage of blows. Her claws collided with your steel gauntlets, inciting metallic screams from both sides. Slashing and thrusting madly with her claws, you continued to deflect her blows with your gauntlets, with one blow just barely managing to nick your shoulder, exposing your Kevlar.
Snarling in frustration, she aimed a crisp roundhouse kick to your cowl, but you quickly brought your right gauntlet up to deflect the top of her foot.
Your cape danced wildly as you continued dodging her savage thrusts and forearms.
In a desperation move, she aimed a throat thrust towards you, her claws aiming towards your vulnerable throat plate. Intercepting the blow with an X Block, your gauntlet claws managed to scrape her own forearm, causing her to stumble forwards in pain.
Sensing an opening, Cheetah wisely stopped your advances by snapping a swift roundhouse towards your midsection. Your hands instinctively dropped, but the kick only proved to be a feint. With ease, she raised the same leg even further, and aimed a roundhouse to the head.
Barely able to parry the kick with one forearm, you jumped back as she slashed out at you yet again, her claws this time able to slice through your cape.
The slits on your cowl narrowed as your fabric was torn in between her fingers.
Reaching into your utility belt, you quickly flung two Batarang towards her, watching as the projectiles launched through the air towards her.
A smug grin adorning her face, she easily knocked them both off course with a mere flick of her wrist, one of the Batarangs lodging into the metal railing.
“You’ll have to do better than that,” she taunted, before dropping down on all fours and pouncing on you yet again.
Her outstretched arms soon clawed through thin air, as you instinctively ducked to avoid the overhead thrust. Snarling in frustration, Cheetah clawed at you wildly with one hand out of pure rage. Taking advantage, you easily grabbed her wrist, pulling her into a swift right cross to the cheek.
As she stumbled forward groggily, you continued with a brutal backfist to the mouth, with the same hand. Finishing the combo, you clamped your fingers together in one collective fist, before driving your knuckles into her chin in an emphatic double axehandle.
Knocking her off her feet, she flailed wildly in the air before barely regaining her center in the last possible second. Recovering in mid-air, she snarled at you angrily before wiping a line of blood from her mouth.In fact, just staring at her own blood seemed to infuriate Cheetah even more, who was about to lunge at you again.
“Enough!”
A pink barrier suddenly materialized in front of Cheetah, solidifying into a thick wall. She glowered irritably at Star Sapphire who descended down from her vantage point, the aura around her glowing in tongues of pink energy.
“I’ve stood by the sidelines long enough! Time to end this!” she declared, before advancing towards you.
Gesturing towards you, a volley of medieval-era arrows suddenly materialized out of her left wrist, rocketing towards you at breakneck pace.
Wasting no time, you threw yourself back as the arrows flooded the spot where you had been standing on seconds earlier, dissipating as soon as they found a solid surface. Landing on your palms, you pushed yourself back in an astonishing feat of agility, before your boots met the floor a few yards away.
Standing up, you started to reach into your utility belt, only to suddenly clutch your sides in pain. Nearly doubling over, you realized that one of the pink arrows had managed to clip you in your kidneys, slicing through your Kevlar before finally dissipating.
You were then forced to run as Sapphire raised her fist to unleash another construct. Your cape flapping in the wind, your peripheral vision made out the villainess slamming down a giant tendril construct towards you. You were almost to the stairs when the tendril suddenly clamped your ankles together. With a cry, Sapphire reared her ring arm back, knocking you off your feet.
With a grunt, you slid across the floor, your face especially taken the brunt of it before the back of your head smacked against one of the metal bars.
Wincing loudly, you instead played possum as Sapphire approached you, a triumphant smile painted on her face. Raising one hand, she created a giant flyswatter construct, which hovered about you like a magnifying glass to an ant.
“Time to crush you like the insect you are,” she proclaimed triumphantly.
But just before she could do just that, you twirled around and hurled a pair of metal bolas at her. Her premature celebration would cost her valuable seconds to react, as the bolas coiled around her waist within moments, wrapping around her several times.
“What is this?” she demanded, before the circular weights suddenly discharged, electrocuting her.
She screamed in agony as the electrical discharges surged through her body. Her face distorted in pain, but that was only the beginning of the end for her. Within seconds, her body had gone completely limp, her mystical aura beginning to waver. Finally, she fell back down to Earth, smoke trailing from her chest as she barely missed the catwalk.
Clambering to your feet, you walked up to the area where she had fallen. Grimacing, you made out her barely stirring body slumped against a broken conveyor belt, her mystical aura completely gone.
You were about to vault over to help remove the Sapphire Gem when something rapidly approaching to the corner of your eye caught your attention.
With a feral grin, Cheetah slashed through your torso in a pivotal moment, when your guard couldn’t be any lower. Her feline claws cut deep into your Kevlar, eliciting a pained cry from you as you stumbled back.
Landing on all fours, she licked her lips hungrily as fresh blood began filling in the three claw marks left by the wound. Clutching your chest, you leaned on the railing for support.
“You didn’t forget about little old me, did you?” she taunted, before lunging at you yet again, seeking to capitalize.
Her slashes and thrusts sliced through empty air, as you shifted your feet back in perfect timing with her attacks. In turn, her moves began to lose its fluidity, instead relying on pure emotion instead of strategy.
Finally, you were able to capitalize when she tried for a desperate rake across the face.
Just when she was about to connect with the move, you expertly sidestepped the move, instead watching as she sliced through the air where your neck was merely seconds ago. The blind lunge caused her to lose her footing, allowing for you to capitalize.
You grabbed on to her right forearm and twisted it behind her back, causing her to shriek with pain. Performing an improvised wristlock, you continued to twist her arm backwards, until her knees started to buckle. Now with both hands grasping her wrist, she winced in pain, before glowering up at you resentfully.
However, you wouldn’t maintain this advantage, as Cheetah, utilizing her feline tail as a weapon, coiled the limb around your neck as you leaned in to restrain her other wrist. Gagging as her tail constricted around your throat, you involuntarily loosened your hold as she pulled you forward, while wiggling her arm free.
Tripping your front leg with her ankle, Cheetah sent you careening into the railing at top speed, your mouth tasting steel. The blow dazed you, while giving the feline criminal enough time to recover. Your knees nearly buckled, but you managed to recover, if only to turn around still dazed.
Forwarding her momentum, Cheetah twirled around on one foot, and in one fluid motion, nailed a smooth spinning heel kick to the side of your head. The kick, delivered with her usual ferocity, sent you in a full 360. Your visor even briefly malfunctioned as the heel of her foot send you in a whirlwind of dizziness.
Lurching backwards, you stumbled back into the railing, your forearms hooking around the bars for support. Your vision finally cleared, but that might’ve been too little, too late.
“The mighty Batman? Hah, no man can defeat the mighty Cheetah!” she proclaimed bashfully.Almost dramatically, she lifted her back leg up, and slammed it towards your torso in a crushing roundhouse kick.
Your gauntlets immediately dropped to cushion, or if you were lucky, parry the blow.