socalfunplaces Chapter 329 The Nuclear Energy Family and the Firestorm
Chapter 329 The Nuclear Energy Family and the Firestorm
Chapter 329 The Nuclear Energy Family and the Firestorm
"Turn left ahead; that's the main control room, but you'll have to go through this protective door to get there. Hmm, I rebuilt this nuclear power plant after that massive explosion... Let me think, what was the password again? I wonder if they changed it later..."
Ronnie Raymond, his fiery hair flowing, hovered in front of the iron gate, unleashing beams of fire from his hands that melted a hole in it before flying past.
"In urgent situations, Dr. Stein, we don't have time to try codes one by one."
"Hmm...that's fine too. Your decision is correct," Dr. Stein said.
Dr. Martin Stein is a renowned nuclear physicist and Nobel laureate who founded the Hudson Yards nuclear power plant. In this universe, he is not the evil version of Earth 3 from a parallel universe, and therefore appears rather unskilled in combat.
"Of course, because of passion—just kidding, I won't shout it out loud."
Ronnie Raymond, being a teenager, was more direct in his actions compared to the white-haired Dr. Stein.
While Dr. Starn was building the Hudson Yards nuclear power plant, he was attacked by a group of anti-nuclear terrorists who planned to steal plutonium and take a child, Ronnie Raymond, hostage during an expedition.
However, they targeted the wrong person. Even though Ronnie was just a lower-grade high school student, he was a formidable fighter, and he also possessed a common flaw among young people: he never considered the consequences, displaying a uniquely youthful courage—
After all, not everyone would choose to attack an armed assailant with their bare hands.
Clearly, the thugs didn't choose to fight Ronnie fairly. After stealing their loot, they tied Ronnie and Dr. Stein up like dumplings and threw them into the main control room.
They planned to use TNT to detonate the nuclear reactor at the nuclear power plant, causing a nuclear disaster that would kill Dr. Martin Stein, and Ronnie, the clueless hostage, would also be killed in the explosion.
Then a huge explosion occurred.
Martin Stein and Ronnie Raymond merged to become the world's first nuclear-powered superhero.
Because Martin Stein was unconscious at the time, the firestorm manifested in Ronnie's body, while Martin Stein appeared in his mind, offering rational advice.
They are superheroes formed by the fusion of two or more individuals through the Firestorm Matrix, with Ronnie, who is skilled in fighting, in charge of controlling the body, like a truck driver;
The other individual, Dr. Steiner, appears in a form of nothingness that can only be seen and perceived by the individual who controls the body.
They flew into the main control room.
"Hmph, there's no one here."
The firestorm swept across the ground, and Ronnie said, "I didn't see any villains at all..."
Beside him, Dr. Stein was still rambling on and on:
"Ronnie, I still don't quite agree with us coming here directly to confront the villains. We should first stop the nuclear power plant's meltdown reaction, and then wait for Batman. He told us he would..."
"etc."
However, Dr. Stein interrupted himself, realizing something was wrong.
"Watch out, Ronnie. Something's not right. I sense something's off," Dr. Stein said. "The quarks at both ends of the neutron are spinning violently, bobbing back and forth. There's a group of people... or something there."
Ronnie's eyes widened.
He only saw a short distance away, someone shining a green beam of light onto a palm-sized box, which was then magnified and transformed into something very ordinary...
Household refrigerator?
He looked up and saw the guy emitting the beam of light, half of his body hidden in the shadows, with only his eyes flashing with an eerie green light.
Standing beside him were several figures of varying heights and builds, both men and women, all with green eyes, creating an eerie atmosphere.
A ray of light shot out again, and a coffee table and television set reappeared in their original, magnified form. A woman's shadow hung a clock on the wall, and two small shadows pushed in a swivel chair.
Soon, the main control room, which occupied a fairly large area, was decorated by them to resemble a family home from the 80s.
Upon closer inspection, Huo Fengfeng noticed that each of them was wearing a nuclear energy symbol.
Hello, child!
Firestorm heard the tallest man among the group of people hiding in the shadows say, "Welcome indeed."
The voice sounded like the typical "model husband" voice from 80s television shows.
"Oh, welcome to our happy family." A tall woman walked over and took the arm of the tall man.
"Who exactly are you?" Firestorm asked.
The tall man answered him, tightening his hat.
Strangely, they stayed hidden in the shadows and refused to come out into the light.
Firestorm could only see the brown hair of the woman beside him reflecting a faint light in the shadows.
"You can call me Dad."
The tall figure said, "And this beautiful woman is Mother. Very beautiful, isn't she?"
He reached out and embraced his wife.
"Oh, darling, he's so bad."
The woman who identified herself as "Mom" said, "And these are twins, a brother and a sister."
"Hey."
"Brother" forced a smile and greeted him.
His mouth was open, and the oral cavity emitted a faint green glow in the darkness, making it clear that a smiling face was floating in the darkness, revealing one tooth after another.
The "younger sister" then came over, hugged the "father's" arm, and said in a spoiled, childlike voice:
"Do you know who he is? The man who controls nuclear energy! I've seen him on TV, he's my dream guy!"
"Got you!"
Firestorm looked down and saw a little kid who wasn't even as tall as his knee and a dog wagging its tail running toward him. Both of them had their heads down and were hugging their own legs.
Huh? That's strange. Why is there a piece of metal on that dog's back? Is it wearing a dog outfit?
"And that's my little brother and my dog. Together, we form a nuclear-powered family!"
Firestorm felt a chill run up his spine to his head, pressing down his fiery hair on his forehead.
"You can't stay here. If you continue like this, this nuclear power plant is in danger of exploding. We're talking about total destruction, do you understand? Once it explodes, nothing will be left."
He said, and prepared for battle.
"Oh, that's not the case for us, you silly boy."
The nuclear-powered family emerged from the shadows, and the gaze of Firestorm lingered on their faces. Each of them was dressed like a model family from an 80s television set, but half of each person's face was tattered, revealing the mechanical nature beneath the bionic skin, devoid of any human appearance.
The eerie glow of nuclear energy emanated from their eyes, and each of them wore a fake smile as if they were alive.
Firestorm stiffly lowered his head and saw his "little brother" and the dog lying on his lap, and they were the same.
"Watch out, Ronnie, they're robots, and the dangerous kind at that."
"What? You're saying they're robots?" Firestorm turned to Dr. Stein and said, "How is this...?"
Outsiders cannot see Dr. Stein's head floating in mid-air from Firestorm's perspective, so to them, Firestorm appears to be talking to thin air.
"Hiss? What? We're robots?"
The nuclear-powered mother was so frightened that she dropped the nuclear wastewater she was holding in her thermos on the ground.
Upon hearing the word "robot," the members of the nuclear energy family all gasped in shock and then exchanged bewildered glances.
Their faces showed anthropomorphic frustration and surprise, but they were like puppets imitating humans, filled with indescribable stiffness and terror.
"He used the word 'machine,' which was really rude of him."
"Nuclear Energy Brother said. The nuclear energy dog beside him whimpered in dissatisfaction."
Nuclear Mom stepped forward. She first switched her expression to a blank one, and then to a slightly conflicted one, like changing a puppet's mask on stage. However, the real mask was so lifelike that if you didn't see her change of expression, you might even think that her conflicted expression was somewhat sincere.
"We prefer to be called Automated Americans."
She explained.
"Oh my god, this is a topic that should never be touched."
Nuclear Energy Brother said:
"That's a sensitive word, buddy."
"Little sister, our friend needs to take an etiquette class," said Nuclear Dad.
He did not refer to Nuclear Sister as his daughter. To these monsters, the so-called father, mother, and sister were merely parts of their names.
"Yes, Dad," Nuclear Sister replied.
"Give it your all, Ronnie, don't underestimate them."
Dr. Stein reminded him in the ear of the firestorm.
"What? Hey, she said I'm her dream guy."
"...?"
Dr. Stein honestly replied, "But Nuclear Sister is a robot; you can't have a romantic relationship with her."
The doctor took Ronnie's words seriously; an elderly person who stays at a nuclear power plant conducting nuclear energy experiments is unlikely to be able to understand the jokes of young people.
But the next second they saw Nuclear Sister open her mouth and stick her tongue out at the firestorm: "Sweet dreams!"
boom!
A ghostly green light emanated from her mouth and eyes.
Outside the nuclear power plant.
The alarm was still blaring, and almost everyone had been evacuated.
"Aaaaaaaahh ...
The firestorm spun and crashed through countless steel walls before accidentally falling into another warehouse, which was filled with rows of large barrels covered with logos that Ronnie couldn't understand.
"Ah, my head..." Firestorm scrambled to his feet, clutching his head. "I swear I'll teach those two little bastards clinging to my legs and that dog a lesson!"
"Ronnie, listen to me..."
"Understood, Doctor. I'll do everything in my power to wipe out these rusty barrels!"
Firestorm stretched out his fist towards the sky, and then countless flames erupted from his body. The young superhero Firestorm was full of fighting spirit, and his whole body was on fire!
Then he set the bucket next to him on fire.
"No, what I mean is, this is a toxic waste storage room."
"...And I just set these chemicals on fire, good job."
boom!
A flash of white light.
"Ronnie, wake up."
Firestorm got up from the ground, swaying slightly: "Where are we now?"
He looked up and saw that the surrounding scene was black and white, and Dr. Stein was standing in front of him wearing his own shirt and brown vest.
"In my memory, in addition to sharing physical bodies, we also shared a united spiritual vision."
Firestorm got up from the ground and saw a group of American officers not far away wearing their medals as armor.
"Oh, is my attire inappropriate for this setting?"
"No one can see or hear you or us. What's being watched right now is a test I took a few years ago with Dr. Eric Shana."
"Dr. Shana created this robot in the hope of using it to experiment with the terrible mutations that nuclear energy can cause in ordinary people."
"But he made those robots too good. He originally expected that the nuclear energy would have a negative and destructive effect on them. However, instead of being destroyed by the nuclear reaction, the robots created an explosion and, after absorbing the energy of the explosion, they all became robots capable of using nuclear energy."
"Nuclear-powered father can emit nuclear radiation, nuclear-powered mother can create electromagnetic pulses, nuclear-powered brother can emit heat pulses, and nuclear-powered sister can emit shock waves..."
"They breached the entire base and then escaped."
"They've been on the run ever since."
"I understand, I understand. So you mean it's our turn to stop them, I get it."
"Yes, let's get started. I'll say this: unless our combined physical form has lost consciousness, which is certain by now, we've already been..."
"They imprisoned them."
Firestorm opened his eyes and saw himself bound like a dumpling inside a large piece of metal, suspended above a swimming pool created by the nuclear energy family.
Firestorm howled:
"My God, Professor. You're always so accurate in your judgments, why can't you make a mistake even once?"
"Not this time, wait, something's not right."
Dr. Stein said.
Firestorm looked ahead. The professor was right; at this moment... he was facing not only the nuclear energy family.
"Hello, I am Deathstorm. This is our first meeting."
The firestorm started to draw its breath again.
He saw a firestorm exactly like himself, except that it had a skull on its head.
"Maybe we should call Batman and ask him to come save us," Dr. Stain's head appeared beside the firestorm. "Things seem to have changed a bit from what we thought."
(End of this chapter)