Derrick beat her to the punch literally by rushing her in return, slipping her punch and uppercutting her jaw. The power behind the quick shot was enough to give her pause and Derrick capitalized on it. He stepped in and began delivering a barrage of punches to and across her face. Karli was getting rocked so she quickly turtled up and raised her arms up in front of her face to defend herself. Derrick hit them a couple times before dropping down to punish her body with repeated body blows and then he added in a leg kick to drop her down to one knee, grabbed her head and began slamming it against the metal railing and finished his combo with a knee thrust to her face and a kick to the stomach that sent her flying backwards down the catwalk. Karli flew backwards a considerable distance away from Derrick and slid away further on her back before stopping and getting back up.
(Okay, so it wasn't just a bluff. He really was enhanced. Potentially to the same extent as me. Not sure how the hell that happened but I can figure it out later. After I'm finished here.) Karli spat out a glob of blood and wiped her mouth and she started getting up with Derrick rapidly closing in. He leaped towards her and kicked at her face but Karli blocked it and she managed to push him away. Derrick landed on his feet and the fight resumed. Derrick lashed out at her with a series of snap front kicks that got through her guard and were driven into her stomach and she backed away from him.
"Gotta tell you, a 5'6 whiny spoiled twig of a brat doesn't exactly make for an intimidating terrorist." Derrick joked.
"Screw you!" Karli snapped back and attacked him again with a series of punches. Derrick backed away back down the catwalk while deflecting her punches aside and then shutting down a kick only for Karli to switch it up with an attempt at a spinning kick only for Derrick to grab her leg and body mid-kick and throw her off of the catwalk all the way down to the floor where she landed on all fours. Derrick landed next to her as Karli got back up and rolled her shoulders. "Got anymore in you?" She challenged and she attacked him again. She might have taken more damage than him so far but now she had plenty of room to maneuver. This fight was just getting started.
Karli attacked him again. She tried a few straight on punches and hooks but Derrick dodged and deflected them while backing away from her. She mixed in a kick aimed at his head but then Derrick grabbed her leg and hit her with a backfist before shoving her leg away and then he kicked her in the stomach to force her to back away. She did back off but she quickly recovered and attacked him again with a spinning hook kick aimed at his head that Derrick dodged, followed by another spinning kick aimed at his center that he dodged, and a low sweeping kick that he stepped over only for Karli to keep turning and then prop herself up on one hand and kick up at him. Derrick side-stepped her kick, grabbed her leg and threw her aside. She rolled away into the wall where she stopped herself with her legs, pushed off of it, rolled back up onto her feet and got back up. Derrick waited for her and she rushed him only to dash over to his side and she resumed punching him. Derrick however utilized his greater reach and height to keep her out of his range. A series of punches aimed at his chest and stomach were deflected and shut down by Derrick by applying force to the side of her arms or the top of her wrists to deflect them aside or knock them down. She soon switched it up with a leaping spinning kick aimed that Derrick dodged but she kept turning and managed to land a kick with her other leg that caught him in the face. Derrick backed away from Karli and wiped his lip. "Not bad."
Karli landed on her feet and then she rushed him and continued her attack. The two met in combat and began countering and blocking each other's attacks while exchanging attacks until Derrick caught her in the face and kicked her away. Karli backed away from him and Derrick capitalized on it by advancing on her with a double kick. She blocked one but was caught by the other but she recovered enough to dodge a backfist from him and then a few more punches before Derrick lunged forward, grabbed her, lowered her and began kneeing her repeatedly. Karli took a few of them until she was able to push it down and shove him away. Derrick slid backwards several feet before he stopped himself, chuckled and ran right back over to her and began dishing out punches at her face that Karli blocked with her forearms until Derrick dropped down for body blows and kicks at her exposed legs. Karli managed to withstand the hits though and dropped down to one knee while striking him hard in the stomach. Derrick withstood the punch but it still sent him sliding backwards. Derrick took a pause to rub his abs while Karli dropped down and rubbed her legs. Her Super Soldier Serum induced healing factor would have her back on her feet in no time, sure, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt.
Who the hell was he? She had the Super Soldier Serum running through her veins and yet he was still fighting her equally!
Derrick had to give it to her, she was durable. Most of the bad guys he'd fought would have crumbled by now but she was doing a decent job of holding her own against him despite the skill gap between them. He was even feeling her hits. That meant it was time to start taking this seriously. She'd earned that much at least.
Derrick took a deep breath, slowly blew it out and raised his fists again while Karli got back up. "Alright. Warm-Ups over. Lets start fighting for real."
"If you want to die that much then be my guest!" Karli ran towards Derrick again and leaped into the air to try a flying kick on him but Derrick had closed in on her already, dodged to the side, grabbed Karli and turned and threw her to the floor right out of her jump kick!
Keeping a hand on her leg, Derrick kicked her a few times while she was down and then he let her go, knelt down and began laying punches into her face until Tory knocked him aside and they got back up to their feet and Derrick attacked her again. Karli tried to hit him first but Derrick struck out at Karli with a lightning fast strike that blew past Karli's defenses and caught her in the face! (CRAP!) Karli exclaimed internally as the punch struck her face. (This guy's FAST!) Karli didn't have a chance to recover however because Derrick was on the attack! He immediately advanced on Karli with a power packed kick to the stomach while she was recovering! He drove his foot into Karli's stomach like a bullet with enough force that even Karli was rocked! She doubled over and hacked up gobs of saliva but Derrick wasn't wasting anytime! He came at Karli with another series of punches, 'flicking' his arms out, almost with a jerking motion, for quick snapping punches that struck her face repeatedly. She was able to back up but was put on the defensive! As Karli started blocking them however, Derrick mixed it up with a series of rapid fire elbow strikes and crosses as well, hammering her with a rain of blows from both sides to keep her on the defensive and blocking from above to open her up for another series of powerful kicks to her ribs! He landed a few quick kicks to Karli's side and then immediately launched into another punch to the side of his face before moving in and raining punches, elbows, crosses and side hits to his neck and face! Karli was forced to use defensive maneuvers in order to fend off his attacks but it was difficult with Derrick's sheer speed and she was forcibly backed away underneath the walkway. The problem is that Derrick kept her attention focused on protecting her face which left her open to hits from below which blew past her guard. The absolute beating she was taking opened her up for Derrick to grab one of her arms up so he could deliver a few heavy haymaker punches followed by Derrick grabbing her and driving a knee thrust into her stomach! Karli's jaw dropped and she gasped in pain while Derrick turned her away and kicked her to the floor! Karli was kicked so hard she flipped in the air and then slammed down on her back! Derrick seized this chance once again to get on top of her and rain punches down on her face! Karli's head became a punching bag as he began absolutely jackhammering her face! His heavy punches rained down on her like anvils and he began beating her into the floor, her head beginning to crack the floor underneath it more and more with every punch he landed. Karli began rapidly flailing around but Derrick knocked her hands away and retaliated by continuing the beatdown until Karli grabbed his hands and the two of them began wrestling and pushing against each other in a might superhuman struggle until Derrick shoved one of her arms aside and then he got up, grabbed her arm and dropped down and turned around and bound her arm in a lock! "GAAAAAAHHHHH!" Karli cried out as Derrick wrapped up her arm and leaned backwards in an attempt to break her super soldier arm. She struggled as hard as she could but Derrick's own strength was at least relative enough to her own that she couldn't break his grip easily until she was able to knock his legs away, sit up and grab onto him. Derrick brought his legs back and kicked out pushing her away. The two of them struggled against each other until Derrick allowed her to pull her arms free and then he kicked her away with both feet while she was off balance causing her to fly into a wall! The terrorist brat smashed into the wall, bounced off of it and landed on her arms and knees gasping for breath. Derrick took a momentary breather of his own before getting back up and he began walking towards her.
"Well? You ready to surrender yet?" He asked her.
"N-no....n-never! I WILL NEVER GIVE UP! ONE NATION! ONE PEOPLE! Why can't you understand that? What we're doing is for the good of the world! The world was BETTER without borders or boundaries! All we're doing is bringing it back to that time! Now the Governments of the world want to tear us from the homes we've lived in and deport us all around the globe and just forget about us like we're not even people! CAN'T YOU PEOPLE SEE HOW BULLSHIT THAT IS?!"
"I'm not denying the world has issues that need solving but you're wrong if you think that hurting innocent people who have never done anything to you will, in any way, shape or form, ever help your cause. None of those people you attempted to abduct earlier, much less me, had ever done anything to wrong you until you picked a fight with us. So now it's over. Your friends are already down and you're all going to prison together. Tell it to SHIELD when they're locking you up."
"SCREW YOU!" Karli yelled and got back up only for Derrick to release a multitude of high speed strikes, punches and kicks on her. She tried to counter him but Derrick swatted it aside and continued delivering punches. She turtled up and defended herself until Karli staggered aside and then he kicked her in the middle of her back and dropped her to the floor but Karli rolled with the fall and got back up and jumped up to the walkway again, vaulted over it and landed on her knees. She gasped for breath and wiped her mouth and brow as she sucked in air and let her Super Soldier Healing patch her back up while Derrick landed on the walkway across from her and he leaned against the railing as she was getting back up. After a momentary pause in the action she looked ahead and saw something she could use and then Karli ran towards him and then she jumped over him while Derrick was getting ready to continue the fight. He turned around to watch her run away and then he followed her until Karli jumped off of the walkway and down to the floor where she picked up a large heavy pipe and smiling as Derrick paused to look down on her.
"And what are you going to do with that?"
"Even the odds and smash your skull!" She leaped up to the walkway and swung the large pipe at him but Derrick backflipped into the air several feet away and landed on his feet.
"Nice weapon but even with your strength it won't work. Wanna know why?"
"It'll work just fine you bastard!" She ran towards him and leaped high into the air and then she swung the giant pipe down on him but Derrick had already jumped off of the walkway leaving Karli to strike only open air and smash the walkway!
"Ha ha ha ha."
Karli screamed in rage and leaped down from the walkway and down at him. She swung the pipe down again and the impact smashed the floor but Derrick hid under the walkway and gestured for her to bring it on. She attacked him again and swung the pipe BUT while the pipe smashed the pillars she didn't have enough room to swing it without it getting caught! Derrick smiled and ran past her, slipped around and kicked out Karli's leg again and began hitting her head against the metal. Karli was forced to drop the giant pipe to fend him off and knock him away. Derrick slid across the floor and bumped against the wall but he pushed his arm out to steady himself. "Nice job grabbing a weapon, good improvisation, but that one was too large and unwieldy to wield properly. Even with your strength you could only do big predictable swings with it. Fast and strong but too predictable to use against me."
Karli attacked Derrick again but he dodged out of the way and her punch broke a small crater in the wall. She continued trying to swing on him but Derrick dodged everything and her wild unfocused punches only broke more holes in the wall. Derrick countered with a few quicks to her head and then lowered his leg again and motioned for her to bring it. She continued to try and attack him but Derrick just dodged and countered everything and hit her at will despite her best efforts. "DAMMIT! HOW! ARE! YOU! DOING! THIS?!"
Derrick knocked her back again with a double punch to the stomach and then he rushed her and leaped into the air and landed a spinning kick across her face. "Isn't it obvious? While the source of our enhancements are different the power increase is fairly relative, right? In that case a fight between the two of us would come down to experience, instinct and skill. You're pretty good, you've got some moves, but I've had more extensive training that I've dedicated myself to improving. As a result I'm a better fighter than you." He explained. "I'm older and more experienced than you Karli. In other words you can't win."
"NO! YOU'RE WRONG! I WILL WIN! I HAVE TO WIN! I HAVE TO SAVE THE WORLD!" She shouted and ran towards him and attacked him. The fight continued and she unleashed punches on him but Derrick continued shutting her down and countering her attacks with ease and knocked her down again. Physically and morally defeated she got up and attacked him one more but Derrick blocked her kick, shut it down and shoved it down, closed in, grabbed her and picked her up, turned around and slammed her to the floor hard enough to create a booming echo on impact! Derrick turned her around and grabbed her leg, bent it backwards and pinned her down.
He held her squirming struggling form tight as the police began closing in on their location.
"NO....noooo....no no no no....y-you can't...I-I have....I have to save the world don't you understand?! I have to save it!"
"Karli Morgenthau, I can't imagine the live you must've lead that you would go down this path, maybe you really did have a hard life, maybe you got wrapped up in extremism, I don't know, but whatever your original goal you lost your way and you know it. When you begin threatening the lives of innocent people who've never wronged you in any way then you have crossed over the line. That's all there is to it really. Save your excuses for SHIELD. They'll sort things out for you."
Karli could only break down sobbing as the Police broke into the warehouse.
Derrick sighed with relief as he sat down on a bench and waited for Owain to meet up with him. He looked up as the musclebound Brick arrived. His shirt and jeans were a bit torn up but he barely had any bruises.
"Hey big guy. You alright?"
"Yeah. Just a light workout. You owe me new clothes though."
"Not a problem. Sorry to get you wrapped up in this."
"Ahhh don't worry about it. I'm fine with fighting if it's to protect the innocent." He sat down next to Derrick. "How about you? You're looking rather dejected over this whole thing."
"Oh, well, I've dealt with a lot of crazies over the years, but Karli was something else. How the hell does a kid like that get not only superpowers but also join a terrorist gang?"
"Who knows? That's for SHIELD to figure out. I'm just glad this whole thing is over with. Their victims can rest in peace knowing that their killers are now getting locked up."
"Yeah lets hope so." He stretched. "Hey man I'm thirsty you want a smoothie?"
"A celebratory drink, huh? Sure thing. Just grab me whatever. I trust you."
"Banana it is." Derrick replied with a smile.
Derrick had just finished paying for the drinks when he heard the voice of a beautiful confident woman behind him. "I know you've been busy tonight but that's a lot for one person to drink isn't it?"
Derrick set the two banana smootie drinks down and turned around to face the Russian Superspy behind him. "I'd question how on Earth you were able to do that...buut...superspy. The other drink is for my friend btw. Anyway what's up, Widow? You need a statement on the fight?"
