- Location
- Brazil
More than Taylor saying that his powers are fiction and thus never existed? No much.
All Fictions (Worm Alt!Power)
- Thread starter Jeckparadox
- Start date
More than Taylor saying that his powers are fiction and thus never existed? No much.
- Location
- Existance
That's not all that worrying.
It's kind of like the difference between losing an arm, which is bad, vs having an arm that will randomly try to torture you and you have no idea when it might happen.
If Coil doesn't have his powers he's still got options. Go to Cauldron for more, and point them at Taylor in the process, take his piles of money and retire somewhere warm and less shit than Brockton Bay, push on with his plans to gain some sort of control over the city just having to be more careful, etc, etc. And, yes, Taylor can come along and remove all of those options as well, but that's just more work for her and at that point she's already going to be meddling with him constantly.
But leaving him his powers means he has to live with the fact that Taylor, essentially, walked up to him, slapped him in the face, and showed him he's literally incapable of doing anything about it. That, at any time, he could be running a scheme and try to drop a timeline and it just doesn't work. That he can no longer risk wasting his power on things like stress relief or other things that don't directly benefit him because he has no idea when Taylor might just take his control away from him so he has to make sure he'll get something out of using his powers.
Taking his powers away from him removes him from the game. Leaving his powers to him but messing with him whenever she feels like it forces him to play a game he doesn't want to, and means she's still holding the option to remove the power completely over him.
Or, it would except he doesn't know that yet anyway.
RinKaihou
AllSeeingEye
- Location
- Behind You
Path to Still Existing
Step One: Door to Coil
Step Two: Shoot before he speaks
Step Three: Door to several miles above Ash Beast
Step Four: Throw corpse in Door.
Frozen Flame
Fragment of the Devourer
- Location
- The Darkness Beyond Time
Glad to see another Medaka box related fic. I've always found Kumagawa's powers and attitude to fit well just about anywhere, there's just something about an utterly broken character who always loses and who is completely resigned to that fact that is utterly enjoyable. Going the leader of the Minuses/outcasts route is something I haven't seen before, looking forward to how Taylor's going to change the bay and maybe even the world.
- Location
- Existance
If she's not, as WoG has mentioned, bound by normal parahuman limitations, one of the worst things she could do would be to start removing the Endbringers and collapsing the gentleman's agreement the world operates under, freeing the villains to stop giving a fuck about what the heroes want or do.
Because that's going to result in a hell of a lot of deaths, even it prevents them. And since she's so focused on how she can't 'win', it'd be right up her alley to attempt to make things better and fail at getting the result she wants.
Undersiders 1.4
- Location
- Minnesota
"Goner, we have to hurry." Tattletale shouted, "Come on! We already have everything we can carry."
"Just a second." She said, looking at the safe, "So, we're just leaving all of this?"
"Well, we can't exactly carry all of it!"
"Come on!" Grue roared, pulling the trolley loaded up with stolen cash towards the elevator.
Taylor looked back at the money that remained, and decided that it wasn't real. Lisa stared at the safe empty of every single cent, all that was left of the Ruby Dream Casino's money was being wheeled out by them.
Taylor walked back towards the trolley, and then began helping to push it, Lisa joining a second later.
"What were you two doing?" Brian grunted as he pushed.
"Goner left one hell of a devastating calling card."
"They took... all of it?" Battery asked. As one of the local speedsters on patrol, she had been directed towards the casino to see if she could catch up to the Undersiders, but by the time she arrived, the trail had gone dead. More than dead. The normal signs of an Undersider retreat- namely massive claw marks scored into streets and buildings, just weren't there.
Something else that wasn't there was money. The safe was empty. Absolutely empty. There might have been an actual ton of money in there, and the Undersiders had gotten away with every last cent of it. It shouldn't have been possible, but there it was.
"All of it." the PRT man said, "We can't make heads or tails of it either. The best explanations are that there was some kind of Mover abilitiy that they used to move the money they didn't carry."
"What about the cameras?" Battery asked.
"The moment the door opened to let the Undersiders in, they cameras went black. Color and sound returned the moment they left. We're assuming Grue's darkness."
"No, I've seen his darkness, it spreads gradually." she said.
"Then, who else? Tattletale? Hacking?"
"Maybe. Though I've heard her suspected specialty is cold-reading people, or possibly even mind-reading. Hacking seems a little outside her purview." Battery frowned, "I don't like having this many loose ends." But if they were gone, they were gone. As it was, the Protectorate had bigger priorities than tracking down and making a raid on a group of teenagers. Especially the way the ABB was prowling around the area even now.
"This was an insult." Lung growled, his lieutenants wisely remaining silent. Oni Lee and Bakuda were sitting in their own positions in the wings of the room, just as quiet as the unpowered lieutenants. Lung snarls, and everyone in the room flinched as his grip squeezed the steel table, leaving imprints under his fingers. "Those damn children think they can take what Lung has claimed?"
"...It wasn't widely known you were targeting the Ruby Dreams Casino." one of the unpowered lieutenants offered, "I don't think this was meant to hurt us, the Undersiders would have known better than trying to take what is the ABB's."
"I don't care what they meant to do! They emptied it! We told the Nazis, we told Coil, no one touches the goddamn Casino!"
"We didn't tell-"
Lung slammed his hand on the table, and looked up, to see which of them had been speaking out against him, but they all averted their eyes. He breathed out, letting it go. "...I want them dead. This city has too many villains without them making a menace of themselves as well." he turns to Oni Lee, "Find them. Once you have a location, keep them busy. I want a couple dozen of our people with guns. I'll handle the dogs, they kill everyone else."
"Yes sir."
Oni Lee watched as the group bounded over the rooftops on the back of the giant dogs. He recognized the all-black form of Grue, the lilac skintight costume of Tattletale, the flowy white outfit of Regent, and the simplistic affair of a jacket and dog mask for Bitch.
His eyes lingered on the last member however. She had a basic costume. Black pants, black jacket, black domino mask. She had long curly hair, and was a thin girl. He didn't recognize her. He allowed himself a small grin. She must have joined just a little while ago. How unfortunate for her, joining the group just as Lung declared that it would be destroyed.
Teleporting closer, he pulled out a pistol, and Tattletale screamed out "Regent!" before he could even get a shot off. The teen kicked the dog he was riding, urging it to increase in speed, letting him dodge Oni Lee's shot. Frowning, he pulled a pin from his grenade, before teleporting away. From his new vantage point, he tossed the grenade in his hand, and watched with satisfaction as his clone leaped for one of the dogs, throwing his own grenade. The clone's grenade went off first, and then the clone disintegrated, and then the real grenade went off on the other side.
With explosions on both sides, the dogs were forced to run forward, towards the docks. Towards Lung's ambush.
He teleported to another nearby roof, and began taking pot-shots. He could have simply murdered them all if he devoted himself to it, but Lung felt that this was a personal matter, and wouldn't appreciate not getting to fight at all, so Oni Lee didn't put too much effort into it. As long as they kept along the path to the ambush, that would be enough.
Then, his eyes widened as he saw another person on the opposite roof, with a gun. Another new member? Raising his pistol, he fired once at the other person, only for them to- crumble to ash?
Another new Undersider? A Trump? The costume even looked the same as his own.
Another one appeared, right next to him! And there was another on the roof. Oni Lee drew his knife, and leaped for the copycat, who in return pulled out his own knife.
Then, both teleported away, letting their clones get gunned down by yet another doppelganger. A fourth. The second was still just watching, gun at the ready, dividing his attention between the Undersiders and himself.
Oni Lee remembered, belatedly, that the Undersiders were still an issue. He would deal with the copycat himself, but only after he steered the teens to their deaths. He teleported away, and his clone self-destructed with a pulled grendade pin.
He teleported next to the Undersiders, and tossed a flashbang, spooking the dogs into taking the corner he wanted them to. Then he teleported off again, glancing back, only to see that nearly a dozen doppelgangers were chasing him!
"Goner what the FUCK did you do!?" Grue demanded. He and Tattletale were on Judas, Alec was on Brutus with Taylor, and Bitch was alone on Angelica.
"Hahahaha!" Regent belted, barely able to hang onto his ride, "Oh god, they're trying to kill each other!" he said, deeply and utterly amused.
"I reversed their collapse into ash. I thought maybe it would drag him back from where he teleported." she said, passively, "This is a really weird outcome though. All of them are the real Oni Lee, now."
"Well fucking stop it!" Brian begged, "The ABB were bad enough with one Oni Lee!"
"No. Never stop." Alec said.
"I don't care." Bitch said, "They're spending more time fighting each other than they are hurting us, so it's okay, right?"
"Surprisingly, yeah." Tattletale said, watching the utter chaos unfolding behind them. Grenades kept going off, flashbangs, pistol shots. The cacophony of nearly... twenty six, heavily armed teleporters fighting each other, was overwhelming, "Oni Lee thinks that the others are Trumps, and self-replicators, copying him. He thinks they're a bigger threat to the ABB than we are."
"Which one thinks that?" Brian asked.
"All of them! They all think it." she grimaces, turning to Taylor, "But please, please stop it. Some of them are going to survive, and make peace with each other, sooner or later. Then the ABB will be massively more powerful. They were a force in the city with only only two active Capes. The more Oni Lees there are, the more trouble they'll make."
"We can take care of them later." Bitch said.
"Take care of- how?" Brian asked.
"Kill em'."
"Bitch, I don't like killing people." Taylor said, "I prefer making people miserable."
"They're not real people." Bitch said, "They're clones."
"They're real now."
"Your powers are terrifying." Brian murmured, mostly under his breath, "Okay, we'll ignore it for now. We need to get out of here-"
"Shit!" Lisa said suddenly, "We aren't escaping!"
"Of course we're escaping-"
"No, we were running from Oni Lee, but Oni Lee wasn't just chasing, he was herding-" she glared at the buildings around her, "-we're in ABB territory. Fuck."
"If we turn around, we'll eventually run back into Oni Lee." Brian said.
"We can take him." Bitch said, "We can take all of them. Goner can heal us, remember?"
"Even Goner can't bring us back from the dead." Brian said.
"Well..." every Undersider but Bitch turned towards her, staring.
"...I feel cheated." Regent said. The first to recover, "Talk about winning the superpower lottery, all I do is make people twitch, and Miss Monotone here gets to play god."
Lisa looked downright terrified, "Okay, Goner, please, please promise me you won't spread that around. If you do start telling people, you will absolutely get kidnapped and forced to revive people."
"The only people I've told are you."
Grue sighed, "I can't fucking deal with this right now... Then, what, we just turn around and wade through it? We take the damage, and move on, have Goner heal us along the way?" he looked her up and down, "Can you heal yourself?"
"Yeah, but I've never died before, so I don't know if I can bring myself back."
"Well, then here's what we do-" Grue began.
"Undersiders! I see them!" shouted a man with a gun, into a radio, he then began repeating his location into the radio.
"Shit." Lisa said, "Lung is right behind them."
"Let's fight him!" Bitch said, "If we have Goner healing us, then we can beat him!"
Grue shook his head, "No way, even if she can keep us alive, I don't want to get roasted tonight."
"...How about just me and Bitch? We'll distract Lung, and the rest of you can use the opportunity to escape."
"I'm not going to let you just..." Lisa put a hand on his shoulder, "-no."
"She's telling the truth. She can really bring back the dead, just as easily as she could fix the TV." she looked to Bitch, "We'll need Judas and Brutus with us, they're the only ones trained enough to follow our directions, and we need to ride them out of here."
"...Fine. Treat them okay, and feed them when you're home."
"Okay. Just... both of you come home safe, got it?"
"Sure." Goner agreed, beginning to slip off of Brutus, when Alec shook his head.
"Nah, don't bother. You two get out of here." I'm sticking around to see Miss Monotone beat up Lung."
"Come on." Tattletale urged Judas forward.
The three remaining watched them go, and Alec turned to look at Taylor, he was grinning widely, "So, just us sociopaths left? Fun!" he turned Brutus around, and Bitch moved Angelica after them as they headed to where Lung would be waiting for them.
Taylor smiled.
Screws impaled ABB to the walls. Spasming fingers and twitching muscles turned their guns on each other. Dogs charged through without hesitation, sending people flying.
Lung turned the corner with the last of his men, and beheld the carnage, "You fuckers!"
He started picking up speed, running to tackle them, but with every step, he was a little bigger, a little shinier, and flame was glinting along his fingertips. Throwing flame forward, Regent swept with his scepter, and Lung's arm was sent wide, the flame blasting harmlessly against a wall, scorching through a bit of ABB graffiti. The dogs met him head-on, the dinosaurs forcing him to the ground, only to find him growing larger and burning hotter the more they bit and chewed at him.
Then, Taylor jumped off Brutus, landing on Lung's chest, the impact pushing him onto his back on the ground. She summoned two screws, and shoved them through his arms, pinning him to the ground. She then took a few steps back and thrust two more oversized screws and plunged them through his calves.
Once he was properly attached to the floor, all three were forced back by a massive explosion of fire. Bitch urging Angelica against her intincts toward the fire to grab Taylor in the giant jaws and drag away her already-smoldering body. In a moment, the burns were gone, both on Taylor, the dogs, Bitch, and Regent.
"UNDURSHIDURS!" he roared as he grew larger, the steel scales pushing past his arms, his shoulders, and going up his neck beneath his metal dragon mask, forcing the two screws out of his arm with a meaty squelch sound as he pushed himself up. The holes in his arms were already closing, and the flames were doing their work on the street, making the tar itself bubble.
"He's pissed!" Alec said unhelpfully.
Lung reached down, ripping the screws from his legs, only to find two more embedded in his head, and then for Angelica and Brutus to bite down on a leg each and drag the gang boss across the street and slam him into a building.
The dogs backed off, and the three of them watched as Lung pulled himself back up, the two screws being pushed out of his head by his regenerating skull.
"MUDDURFUGERSH! AH'LLKEL'YU"
She healed the burns the dogs received, fixing the rest of the ABB while she was at it. At this point, Lung was going to get out of control, and they didn't need to be pinned down right now. She watched as gang members ran off, and turned her attention back to Lung.
He was almost the definition of an elite. A power that made him stronger the more danger he was in, the ability to regenerate from anything. A gang leader, rich and surrounded by women, too powerful for the law to contain him, his simple existence leaned towards beating down others without ever losing.
She could just make him not exist.
But she didn't like killing people, not permanently. No, what she wanted was for Lung to be miserable. She looked him up and down as he got taller and taller, scales burgeoning across his whole body. His fingers had sharpened to points, and a tail was beginning to snake out of the burned remains of his pants-
Oh wow. He was naked. Nice.
He launched a massive fireball at them. Regent screamed as he fell off Brutus, and Taylor was just as much caught up in it. Brutus jumped like a shot, howling as he returned to Bitch's side where she was riding Angelica and leaped out of the way.
Bitch stared, for a moment, at their unmoving bodies, before roaring in rage, pointing at Lung, "Brutus. Kill. Angelica, kill."
Both dogs rushed forward, wrestling with the still-growing dragon man and forcing him down, slamming him to the floor over and over, creating a crater, and burning bit by bit through the dogs mutated tough skin. But they wouldn't let up, shaking him, biting him, pulling at him.
And then, to Bitch's relief, Taylor got back up again, perfectly fine, not even singed, "Well, that was as good a test of any. Oh, Alec."
Alec got up, and stumbled a bit, before laughing nervously, "What the fuck."
Taylor narrowed her eyes, "Well, now you went and actually killed one of my friends." she said, pointing at Lung, flinging a screw.
It pierced one of his feet, causing him to fall to one knee just as he got up, letting Angelica at his neck. The dog dragged him to the floor, and Taylor walked over, ignoring the flames, and stood on his chest.
"IYALL FRY YU" Lung managed through his transformed lips. "HYU'R GNNA regret this you bitch-" he blinked at his own voice. He then realized that the weight of the girl, which had been almost nonexistant when he was almost fifteen feet tall and made of metal, was suddenly a lot more present. She was also closer- "RRGGH!" -and had driven screws through his arms again, cutting off all sensation from them.
Already, he was ramping up again, but he had to start from the beginning all over again.
She made another screw, and then brought it across Lung's head, rattling his head. And again. Suddenly, steel scales began to erupt around his jaw, flames flickering from inside his mouth, already he was swelling in size- when suddenly he screamed out, and stopped moving beside the ragged fall and rise of his chest. Taylor looked over to where Alec was squatting by Lung's leg, his scepter pulling away from Lung's skin.
"We beat him." Bitch breathed.
"Hah!" Alec laughed, a single, harsh, note. "Ugh. It doesn't hurt any more, but that's one hell of a hard way to die." he kicked Lung again, "What now?"
"Now, we get out of here." they turned, looking to Lisa and Brian, who were now in one of their vans. Judas, having reverted back to a much smaller size away from Bitch, was also in the van. "Armsmaster is heading this way."
"You came back for us?" Taylor asked, "We would have been fine."
"We're a team, sorry." Brian said, "Even if- you're invulnerable, or something, that doesn't mean we should just leave you behind to fight alone. Come on. Just because you guys could beat Lung, doesn't mean that it's a smart idea to go against the whole Protectorate."
"We could win." Bitch said, "We really could."
"I know, but it's not worth it, okay? We already have enough to celebrate, and talk about. Let's head back to the base, okay?"
"Sure." Taylor said, her face twitching a bit. "...Thanks for coming back for us." she undid Bitch's transformation of Angelica and Brutus, and Bitch and Alec led the two dogs into the van, Taylor hopping in afterwards and shutting the door behind them, leaving Lung cruficied to the concrete, unconscious.
Armsmaster's motorcycle rushed down the street on autopilot as he balanced on top of it, using his hands to swing his signature weapon. It crackled with electricity as he slammed it into an Oni Lee- one who thankfully didn't collapse into ash, simply writhing from the shock before falling into blissful unconsciousness. Velocity then followed, stopping in front of the collapsed Lee and blasting him in the head, hands, and legs with containment foam. He turned into a blur as he pulled a multitude of weapons away- motions that were becoming practiced, by now.
After all, the other ones they captured kept their weapons in the same spots. This made the seventh that the two of them had taken down.
Adding that to the six that were still fighting Triumph and Dauntless, not to mention each other, and the five corpses, that added up to 18 confirmed Oni Lees. But based on the signs, there might be even more who already escaped the area before the Protectorate arrived.
More than that, there were reports that Lung was fighting the Undersiders, and if he didn't hurry, he might end up only finding four scorched corpses. "I'm going ahead to challenge Lung." he told Velocity, "Go help Dauntless deal with any they capture." he ordered.
"Got it." the speedster turned into a blur, moving in a moment over to where most of the fighting was still ongoing. Dropping down to his bike, he revved it, speeding ahead towards the docks.
He patrolled the alleys at high speed, almost too fast for him to take in, before his visor alerted him of something he just shot past. Slowing down his bike and reversing, he pulled back into the utterly wrecked alleyway. Flames still went strong in nearby piles of trash. But what took up his attention was Lung.
Unconscious, bleeding, and crucified.
He stared at it for another moment, before he pulled himself back into the reality of the situation. He walked forwards, and injected the gang boss with a specialized cocktail of tranquilizers meant for high-power regenerators and biokinetics. If anything on Earth could keep Lung dead on his feet, it was that.
Sure that the boss would stay asleep, he tried to pull at the huge screws in the man's arms. But, as a screw usually acted, he supposed, it had, well, screwed into the concrete. He didn't have the strength to pull it free. Gritting his teeth, he began the bloody task of turning each one, slowly, until he could pull it free from the concrete, and from the gang leader. Then, he pulled Lung to his bike, and made a beeline for the PRT building, and for the brute containment cells.
Tonight... Tonight was a strange one. He would have to get the Protectorate Thinkers to have a look at the multiple Oni Lees to see what they made of it. Currently, the best theory was that Bakuda made some kind of duplication bomb- the ABB didn't have any other Tinkers, especially not any with cloning capability. But that didn't explain why the Oni Lees were having a death match.
And now, someone defeated Lung, and left him in an utterly brutal position. Sure, the man had a known healing factor, but brutality was brutality. It reminded him a bit of Shadow Stalker, pinning people to a wall.
Wait...
Shadow Stalker...
She had mentioned, that the disappearing girl, Goner, attacked her and her friends with giant screws, hadn't she?
He tried to imagine the thin, frail girl, who had been abused and suffered through M/S protocols while being utterly patient and understanding with them- he had felt intensely guilty, knowing Shadow Stalker had been tormenting her without anyone knowing. And then she suddenly vanished from all their records, even the most secure- his own armor's cameras the only thing that hadn't been touched, the girl's own father having had his memories erased.
He tried to imagine her doing this to one of the most feared Parahumans in Brockton Bay. "...Console." he said, activating his radio, "I've secured Lung."
"You took him down, on your own? What about the people he was fighting?" Kid Win asked.
"...I have reason to believe he was fighting the Undersiders at some point- there are imprints from Hellhound's dogs, but signs point to Goner having been the one to deal the final blow and contain him."
"Goner? The memory manipulator?"
"Shadow Stalker mentioned that she possessed a blaster power- the ability to create screws that were launched with enough force to knock her into a wall. This was disregarded at the time- and then later on we believed it was an illusion caused by Goner, but Lung had been attached to the ground by two oversized screws. This points to her ability having been real."
"...Attached?"
"They were forced through his arms and then into the concrete."
"Eugh."
"Be professional." he barked, "Now call it in. I need the Brute Containment Cells ready and operating. And some M/S tests for Lung, once he wakes up."
"G-got it."
"Just a second." She said, looking at the safe, "So, we're just leaving all of this?"
"Well, we can't exactly carry all of it!"
"Come on!" Grue roared, pulling the trolley loaded up with stolen cash towards the elevator.
Taylor looked back at the money that remained, and decided that it wasn't real. Lisa stared at the safe empty of every single cent, all that was left of the Ruby Dream Casino's money was being wheeled out by them.
Taylor walked back towards the trolley, and then began helping to push it, Lisa joining a second later.
"What were you two doing?" Brian grunted as he pushed.
"Goner left one hell of a devastating calling card."
"They took... all of it?" Battery asked. As one of the local speedsters on patrol, she had been directed towards the casino to see if she could catch up to the Undersiders, but by the time she arrived, the trail had gone dead. More than dead. The normal signs of an Undersider retreat- namely massive claw marks scored into streets and buildings, just weren't there.
Something else that wasn't there was money. The safe was empty. Absolutely empty. There might have been an actual ton of money in there, and the Undersiders had gotten away with every last cent of it. It shouldn't have been possible, but there it was.
"All of it." the PRT man said, "We can't make heads or tails of it either. The best explanations are that there was some kind of Mover abilitiy that they used to move the money they didn't carry."
"What about the cameras?" Battery asked.
"The moment the door opened to let the Undersiders in, they cameras went black. Color and sound returned the moment they left. We're assuming Grue's darkness."
"No, I've seen his darkness, it spreads gradually." she said.
"Then, who else? Tattletale? Hacking?"
"Maybe. Though I've heard her suspected specialty is cold-reading people, or possibly even mind-reading. Hacking seems a little outside her purview." Battery frowned, "I don't like having this many loose ends." But if they were gone, they were gone. As it was, the Protectorate had bigger priorities than tracking down and making a raid on a group of teenagers. Especially the way the ABB was prowling around the area even now.
"This was an insult." Lung growled, his lieutenants wisely remaining silent. Oni Lee and Bakuda were sitting in their own positions in the wings of the room, just as quiet as the unpowered lieutenants. Lung snarls, and everyone in the room flinched as his grip squeezed the steel table, leaving imprints under his fingers. "Those damn children think they can take what Lung has claimed?"
"...It wasn't widely known you were targeting the Ruby Dreams Casino." one of the unpowered lieutenants offered, "I don't think this was meant to hurt us, the Undersiders would have known better than trying to take what is the ABB's."
"I don't care what they meant to do! They emptied it! We told the Nazis, we told Coil, no one touches the goddamn Casino!"
"We didn't tell-"
Lung slammed his hand on the table, and looked up, to see which of them had been speaking out against him, but they all averted their eyes. He breathed out, letting it go. "...I want them dead. This city has too many villains without them making a menace of themselves as well." he turns to Oni Lee, "Find them. Once you have a location, keep them busy. I want a couple dozen of our people with guns. I'll handle the dogs, they kill everyone else."
"Yes sir."
Oni Lee watched as the group bounded over the rooftops on the back of the giant dogs. He recognized the all-black form of Grue, the lilac skintight costume of Tattletale, the flowy white outfit of Regent, and the simplistic affair of a jacket and dog mask for Bitch.
His eyes lingered on the last member however. She had a basic costume. Black pants, black jacket, black domino mask. She had long curly hair, and was a thin girl. He didn't recognize her. He allowed himself a small grin. She must have joined just a little while ago. How unfortunate for her, joining the group just as Lung declared that it would be destroyed.
Teleporting closer, he pulled out a pistol, and Tattletale screamed out "Regent!" before he could even get a shot off. The teen kicked the dog he was riding, urging it to increase in speed, letting him dodge Oni Lee's shot. Frowning, he pulled a pin from his grenade, before teleporting away. From his new vantage point, he tossed the grenade in his hand, and watched with satisfaction as his clone leaped for one of the dogs, throwing his own grenade. The clone's grenade went off first, and then the clone disintegrated, and then the real grenade went off on the other side.
With explosions on both sides, the dogs were forced to run forward, towards the docks. Towards Lung's ambush.
He teleported to another nearby roof, and began taking pot-shots. He could have simply murdered them all if he devoted himself to it, but Lung felt that this was a personal matter, and wouldn't appreciate not getting to fight at all, so Oni Lee didn't put too much effort into it. As long as they kept along the path to the ambush, that would be enough.
Then, his eyes widened as he saw another person on the opposite roof, with a gun. Another new member? Raising his pistol, he fired once at the other person, only for them to- crumble to ash?
Another new Undersider? A Trump? The costume even looked the same as his own.
Another one appeared, right next to him! And there was another on the roof. Oni Lee drew his knife, and leaped for the copycat, who in return pulled out his own knife.
Then, both teleported away, letting their clones get gunned down by yet another doppelganger. A fourth. The second was still just watching, gun at the ready, dividing his attention between the Undersiders and himself.
Oni Lee remembered, belatedly, that the Undersiders were still an issue. He would deal with the copycat himself, but only after he steered the teens to their deaths. He teleported away, and his clone self-destructed with a pulled grendade pin.
He teleported next to the Undersiders, and tossed a flashbang, spooking the dogs into taking the corner he wanted them to. Then he teleported off again, glancing back, only to see that nearly a dozen doppelgangers were chasing him!
"Goner what the FUCK did you do!?" Grue demanded. He and Tattletale were on Judas, Alec was on Brutus with Taylor, and Bitch was alone on Angelica.
"Hahahaha!" Regent belted, barely able to hang onto his ride, "Oh god, they're trying to kill each other!" he said, deeply and utterly amused.
"I reversed their collapse into ash. I thought maybe it would drag him back from where he teleported." she said, passively, "This is a really weird outcome though. All of them are the real Oni Lee, now."
"Well fucking stop it!" Brian begged, "The ABB were bad enough with one Oni Lee!"
"No. Never stop." Alec said.
"I don't care." Bitch said, "They're spending more time fighting each other than they are hurting us, so it's okay, right?"
"Surprisingly, yeah." Tattletale said, watching the utter chaos unfolding behind them. Grenades kept going off, flashbangs, pistol shots. The cacophony of nearly... twenty six, heavily armed teleporters fighting each other, was overwhelming, "Oni Lee thinks that the others are Trumps, and self-replicators, copying him. He thinks they're a bigger threat to the ABB than we are."
"Which one thinks that?" Brian asked.
"All of them! They all think it." she grimaces, turning to Taylor, "But please, please stop it. Some of them are going to survive, and make peace with each other, sooner or later. Then the ABB will be massively more powerful. They were a force in the city with only only two active Capes. The more Oni Lees there are, the more trouble they'll make."
"We can take care of them later." Bitch said.
"Take care of- how?" Brian asked.
"Kill em'."
"Bitch, I don't like killing people." Taylor said, "I prefer making people miserable."
"They're not real people." Bitch said, "They're clones."
"They're real now."
"Your powers are terrifying." Brian murmured, mostly under his breath, "Okay, we'll ignore it for now. We need to get out of here-"
"Shit!" Lisa said suddenly, "We aren't escaping!"
"Of course we're escaping-"
"No, we were running from Oni Lee, but Oni Lee wasn't just chasing, he was herding-" she glared at the buildings around her, "-we're in ABB territory. Fuck."
"If we turn around, we'll eventually run back into Oni Lee." Brian said.
"We can take him." Bitch said, "We can take all of them. Goner can heal us, remember?"
"Even Goner can't bring us back from the dead." Brian said.
"Well..." every Undersider but Bitch turned towards her, staring.
"...I feel cheated." Regent said. The first to recover, "Talk about winning the superpower lottery, all I do is make people twitch, and Miss Monotone here gets to play god."
Lisa looked downright terrified, "Okay, Goner, please, please promise me you won't spread that around. If you do start telling people, you will absolutely get kidnapped and forced to revive people."
"The only people I've told are you."
Grue sighed, "I can't fucking deal with this right now... Then, what, we just turn around and wade through it? We take the damage, and move on, have Goner heal us along the way?" he looked her up and down, "Can you heal yourself?"
"Yeah, but I've never died before, so I don't know if I can bring myself back."
"Well, then here's what we do-" Grue began.
"Undersiders! I see them!" shouted a man with a gun, into a radio, he then began repeating his location into the radio.
"Shit." Lisa said, "Lung is right behind them."
"Let's fight him!" Bitch said, "If we have Goner healing us, then we can beat him!"
Grue shook his head, "No way, even if she can keep us alive, I don't want to get roasted tonight."
"...How about just me and Bitch? We'll distract Lung, and the rest of you can use the opportunity to escape."
"I'm not going to let you just..." Lisa put a hand on his shoulder, "-no."
"She's telling the truth. She can really bring back the dead, just as easily as she could fix the TV." she looked to Bitch, "We'll need Judas and Brutus with us, they're the only ones trained enough to follow our directions, and we need to ride them out of here."
"...Fine. Treat them okay, and feed them when you're home."
"Okay. Just... both of you come home safe, got it?"
"Sure." Goner agreed, beginning to slip off of Brutus, when Alec shook his head.
"Nah, don't bother. You two get out of here." I'm sticking around to see Miss Monotone beat up Lung."
"Come on." Tattletale urged Judas forward.
The three remaining watched them go, and Alec turned to look at Taylor, he was grinning widely, "So, just us sociopaths left? Fun!" he turned Brutus around, and Bitch moved Angelica after them as they headed to where Lung would be waiting for them.
Taylor smiled.
Screws impaled ABB to the walls. Spasming fingers and twitching muscles turned their guns on each other. Dogs charged through without hesitation, sending people flying.
Lung turned the corner with the last of his men, and beheld the carnage, "You fuckers!"
He started picking up speed, running to tackle them, but with every step, he was a little bigger, a little shinier, and flame was glinting along his fingertips. Throwing flame forward, Regent swept with his scepter, and Lung's arm was sent wide, the flame blasting harmlessly against a wall, scorching through a bit of ABB graffiti. The dogs met him head-on, the dinosaurs forcing him to the ground, only to find him growing larger and burning hotter the more they bit and chewed at him.
Then, Taylor jumped off Brutus, landing on Lung's chest, the impact pushing him onto his back on the ground. She summoned two screws, and shoved them through his arms, pinning him to the ground. She then took a few steps back and thrust two more oversized screws and plunged them through his calves.
Once he was properly attached to the floor, all three were forced back by a massive explosion of fire. Bitch urging Angelica against her intincts toward the fire to grab Taylor in the giant jaws and drag away her already-smoldering body. In a moment, the burns were gone, both on Taylor, the dogs, Bitch, and Regent.
"UNDURSHIDURS!" he roared as he grew larger, the steel scales pushing past his arms, his shoulders, and going up his neck beneath his metal dragon mask, forcing the two screws out of his arm with a meaty squelch sound as he pushed himself up. The holes in his arms were already closing, and the flames were doing their work on the street, making the tar itself bubble.
"He's pissed!" Alec said unhelpfully.
Lung reached down, ripping the screws from his legs, only to find two more embedded in his head, and then for Angelica and Brutus to bite down on a leg each and drag the gang boss across the street and slam him into a building.
The dogs backed off, and the three of them watched as Lung pulled himself back up, the two screws being pushed out of his head by his regenerating skull.
"MUDDURFUGERSH! AH'LLKEL'YU"
She healed the burns the dogs received, fixing the rest of the ABB while she was at it. At this point, Lung was going to get out of control, and they didn't need to be pinned down right now. She watched as gang members ran off, and turned her attention back to Lung.
He was almost the definition of an elite. A power that made him stronger the more danger he was in, the ability to regenerate from anything. A gang leader, rich and surrounded by women, too powerful for the law to contain him, his simple existence leaned towards beating down others without ever losing.
She could just make him not exist.
But she didn't like killing people, not permanently. No, what she wanted was for Lung to be miserable. She looked him up and down as he got taller and taller, scales burgeoning across his whole body. His fingers had sharpened to points, and a tail was beginning to snake out of the burned remains of his pants-
Oh wow. He was naked. Nice.
He launched a massive fireball at them. Regent screamed as he fell off Brutus, and Taylor was just as much caught up in it. Brutus jumped like a shot, howling as he returned to Bitch's side where she was riding Angelica and leaped out of the way.
Bitch stared, for a moment, at their unmoving bodies, before roaring in rage, pointing at Lung, "Brutus. Kill. Angelica, kill."
Both dogs rushed forward, wrestling with the still-growing dragon man and forcing him down, slamming him to the floor over and over, creating a crater, and burning bit by bit through the dogs mutated tough skin. But they wouldn't let up, shaking him, biting him, pulling at him.
And then, to Bitch's relief, Taylor got back up again, perfectly fine, not even singed, "Well, that was as good a test of any. Oh, Alec."
Alec got up, and stumbled a bit, before laughing nervously, "What the fuck."
Taylor narrowed her eyes, "Well, now you went and actually killed one of my friends." she said, pointing at Lung, flinging a screw.
It pierced one of his feet, causing him to fall to one knee just as he got up, letting Angelica at his neck. The dog dragged him to the floor, and Taylor walked over, ignoring the flames, and stood on his chest.
"IYALL FRY YU" Lung managed through his transformed lips. "HYU'R GNNA regret this you bitch-" he blinked at his own voice. He then realized that the weight of the girl, which had been almost nonexistant when he was almost fifteen feet tall and made of metal, was suddenly a lot more present. She was also closer- "RRGGH!" -and had driven screws through his arms again, cutting off all sensation from them.
Already, he was ramping up again, but he had to start from the beginning all over again.
She made another screw, and then brought it across Lung's head, rattling his head. And again. Suddenly, steel scales began to erupt around his jaw, flames flickering from inside his mouth, already he was swelling in size- when suddenly he screamed out, and stopped moving beside the ragged fall and rise of his chest. Taylor looked over to where Alec was squatting by Lung's leg, his scepter pulling away from Lung's skin.
"We beat him." Bitch breathed.
"Hah!" Alec laughed, a single, harsh, note. "Ugh. It doesn't hurt any more, but that's one hell of a hard way to die." he kicked Lung again, "What now?"
"Now, we get out of here." they turned, looking to Lisa and Brian, who were now in one of their vans. Judas, having reverted back to a much smaller size away from Bitch, was also in the van. "Armsmaster is heading this way."
"You came back for us?" Taylor asked, "We would have been fine."
"We're a team, sorry." Brian said, "Even if- you're invulnerable, or something, that doesn't mean we should just leave you behind to fight alone. Come on. Just because you guys could beat Lung, doesn't mean that it's a smart idea to go against the whole Protectorate."
"We could win." Bitch said, "We really could."
"I know, but it's not worth it, okay? We already have enough to celebrate, and talk about. Let's head back to the base, okay?"
"Sure." Taylor said, her face twitching a bit. "...Thanks for coming back for us." she undid Bitch's transformation of Angelica and Brutus, and Bitch and Alec led the two dogs into the van, Taylor hopping in afterwards and shutting the door behind them, leaving Lung cruficied to the concrete, unconscious.
Armsmaster's motorcycle rushed down the street on autopilot as he balanced on top of it, using his hands to swing his signature weapon. It crackled with electricity as he slammed it into an Oni Lee- one who thankfully didn't collapse into ash, simply writhing from the shock before falling into blissful unconsciousness. Velocity then followed, stopping in front of the collapsed Lee and blasting him in the head, hands, and legs with containment foam. He turned into a blur as he pulled a multitude of weapons away- motions that were becoming practiced, by now.
After all, the other ones they captured kept their weapons in the same spots. This made the seventh that the two of them had taken down.
Adding that to the six that were still fighting Triumph and Dauntless, not to mention each other, and the five corpses, that added up to 18 confirmed Oni Lees. But based on the signs, there might be even more who already escaped the area before the Protectorate arrived.
More than that, there were reports that Lung was fighting the Undersiders, and if he didn't hurry, he might end up only finding four scorched corpses. "I'm going ahead to challenge Lung." he told Velocity, "Go help Dauntless deal with any they capture." he ordered.
"Got it." the speedster turned into a blur, moving in a moment over to where most of the fighting was still ongoing. Dropping down to his bike, he revved it, speeding ahead towards the docks.
He patrolled the alleys at high speed, almost too fast for him to take in, before his visor alerted him of something he just shot past. Slowing down his bike and reversing, he pulled back into the utterly wrecked alleyway. Flames still went strong in nearby piles of trash. But what took up his attention was Lung.
Unconscious, bleeding, and crucified.
He stared at it for another moment, before he pulled himself back into the reality of the situation. He walked forwards, and injected the gang boss with a specialized cocktail of tranquilizers meant for high-power regenerators and biokinetics. If anything on Earth could keep Lung dead on his feet, it was that.
Sure that the boss would stay asleep, he tried to pull at the huge screws in the man's arms. But, as a screw usually acted, he supposed, it had, well, screwed into the concrete. He didn't have the strength to pull it free. Gritting his teeth, he began the bloody task of turning each one, slowly, until he could pull it free from the concrete, and from the gang leader. Then, he pulled Lung to his bike, and made a beeline for the PRT building, and for the brute containment cells.
Tonight... Tonight was a strange one. He would have to get the Protectorate Thinkers to have a look at the multiple Oni Lees to see what they made of it. Currently, the best theory was that Bakuda made some kind of duplication bomb- the ABB didn't have any other Tinkers, especially not any with cloning capability. But that didn't explain why the Oni Lees were having a death match.
And now, someone defeated Lung, and left him in an utterly brutal position. Sure, the man had a known healing factor, but brutality was brutality. It reminded him a bit of Shadow Stalker, pinning people to a wall.
Wait...
Shadow Stalker...
She had mentioned, that the disappearing girl, Goner, attacked her and her friends with giant screws, hadn't she?
He tried to imagine the thin, frail girl, who had been abused and suffered through M/S protocols while being utterly patient and understanding with them- he had felt intensely guilty, knowing Shadow Stalker had been tormenting her without anyone knowing. And then she suddenly vanished from all their records, even the most secure- his own armor's cameras the only thing that hadn't been touched, the girl's own father having had his memories erased.
He tried to imagine her doing this to one of the most feared Parahumans in Brockton Bay. "...Console." he said, activating his radio, "I've secured Lung."
"You took him down, on your own? What about the people he was fighting?" Kid Win asked.
"...I have reason to believe he was fighting the Undersiders at some point- there are imprints from Hellhound's dogs, but signs point to Goner having been the one to deal the final blow and contain him."
"Goner? The memory manipulator?"
"Shadow Stalker mentioned that she possessed a blaster power- the ability to create screws that were launched with enough force to knock her into a wall. This was disregarded at the time- and then later on we believed it was an illusion caused by Goner, but Lung had been attached to the ground by two oversized screws. This points to her ability having been real."
"...Attached?"
"They were forced through his arms and then into the concrete."
"Eugh."
"Be professional." he barked, "Now call it in. I need the Brute Containment Cells ready and operating. And some M/S tests for Lung, once he wakes up."
"G-got it."
- Location
- Existance
"I'm helping reverse inflation!"
Of course not. Taylor removed all the coins as well.
Didn't he just watch her do that multiple times with Oni Lee?
"Eugh, sir!"
- Location
- Hot Springs
Like I said, Taylor as Goner is the ULTIMATE Troll!Taylor 
.
.
- Location
- usa
Start erasing people's powers. That would make them really miserable. Or turn Empire capes black.
- Location
- Germany
Multiple Oni Lees...
My god...
There can be only one!
Highlander theme intensivies...
Pretty awesome, this story us fun
My god...
There can be only one!
Highlander theme intensivies...
Pretty awesome, this story us fun
Still wonder why she doesn't bring her mom back.
Frozen Flame
Fragment of the Devourer
- Location
- The Darkness Beyond Time
Because that's not what a Minus does. They don't spend time trying to make their lives better or anything silly like that, they just drag everyone else down to their level. Taylor is messed up in the head enough to not care about her mom's death beyond it being another time she failed, undoing it is about as important to her as undoing any one of the 'pranks' she suffered from. Unless she's doing it to break someone, she doesn't see it as necessary.
Don't try to apply normal reasoning to a Minus, that way be madness.
Don't try to apply normal reasoning to a Minus, that way be madness.
Undersiders 1.5
- Location
- Minnesota
"Reputation, huh?" Tattletale asked, "...How about Brockton Bay Central Bank. And since it's obviously not a money issue, I think the others would appreciate it if you gave them a nice bonus on top of whatever we steal."
Coil considered it. These talks went so much easier when he could have Tattletale here with him to torture information out of in one Timeline, while he dealt with her on the phone in the other. But after yet another close call with Goner... well, he was more-or-less hands free with the Undersiders now, no matter the Timeline. Goner kept him trapped for six hours, filled with Thinker Headaches, and more and more creative methods of suicide, not to mention all the times she killed him, and then brought him back again, forcing the closed Timeline open again and again...
It took a long time before he convinced her he'd never torture any of the Undersiders ever again.
He had even meant it. Taking them under suspicious circumstances led to Goner investigating, which led to Goner forcing her way into his base, which led to Goner fucking with his power. And then there was that one timeline when she somehow found Noelle-
He shuddered.
That could never be allowed to happen in any Timeline he was going to keep. Not under any circumstances.
"Boss?"
"Hm?" oh yes, Tattletale. The Undersiders would make for a good diversion, especially if Goner wiped out the bank like she did the Casino safe. "Apologies, I had to check on a message. You wanted a bonus, you'll get a bonus. Just make sure it grabs attention. The Protectorate and New Wave should be out of town, which means at most all you'll have to deal with are the Wards." The PRT and police would have a lot more to do than look into a random little girl who happened to not come home after school.
Soon, he would have his pre-cog, and his plan would become that much more secure.
"That should be fine." Tattletale replied.
Twelve Oni Lee had been captured by the PRT, six had been killed- five by each other, and one by Triumph when his sonic scream accidently triggered one of the Oni Lee's grenades.
The remaining eight, however, had come to a consensus, in a way. It was a rather simple decision, but one that had been hard to make all the same. They were all Oni Lee.
Bakuda hadn't been pleased, when she heard about what happened to him. She had a look-over, but couldn't find anything with her gear that could help her identify if any of them were the original, or whether there was anything wrong with them. And then, whe she told him about how Lung had been captured, Oni Lee wasn't pleased either.
The Undersiders had to pay, for what had happened, and then the Protectorate would feel the wrath of the ABB.
Oni Lee was, by nature, a follower. He did as Lung said, because Lung was the one with ambition, the one with power. Bakuda, similarly, had ambition. In another time and place, if he still was only one, a single demon, he would have followed her lead. But it was... strange, having the other seven around. They understood him. He didn't speak much, as few people understood the way he though, but his fellow clones- they had long since lost track of who came before or after -were people he could speak with. Open up to. Oni Lee knew that Oni Lee would understand, no matter what they were discussing.
As they discussed, they also sparred, and moved, and found that they were far more dangerous together than Oni Lee alone had ever been. They were more confident, with more direction, surprisingly. Alone with his thoughts, Oni Lee could barely muster anything even coming close to a goal- he was a knife in the dark, where Lung wanted him to be. But bouncing his throughts against himself, over and over, they realized as a group that they... wanted things... that they did have passion, deep down. And that together, they could muster the ambition to lead the ABB.
They needed to free Lung, as well as the other Oni Lee, from Protectorate containment. They needed to re-assert to the city that the ABB was not to be trifled with. And the Undersiders had to die.
Oni Lee was a follower, but the will he followed now was his own, as determined by all eight of him. Together, they were Orochi. The eight-headed dragon. The ABB needed a dragon to control it, but Bakuda was no dragon. A single Oni Lee was no dragon. But Orochi, together, could be that dragon.
"...What's with the new masks?" Bakuda asked, entering the room only to hesitate when she saw the eight of them standing in a circle in the room, with a single point open for her, "Are those Lung's extras?" Lung... well, he tended to destroy whatever he had on him every time he used his powers. Everything he owned, he owned in bulk out of necessity.
Lung would not miss eight of them.
"Bakuda." Ichi began, "We've come to an epiphany. From now on we are not the Oni. We are Orochi." he said, "We have been making plans, to retrieve Lung, to take revenge. We would appreciate your input."
"...You're renaming yourselves? Fine, whatever, I guess you can't all be Oni Lee." she looked at the helmets, and saw the characters for 1 through 8 in Japanese.
"We are Orochi now." Nana said.
"We want revenge first, to prove the ABB remains strong despite the chaos." Go said.
"The Undersiders must die." Roku said, "And their deaths should be spectacular. You will make this happen personally."
"Hey, I don't take orders from yo-" eight hands drew eight grenades, with eight sets of fingers alighting on eight pins. Bakuda stopped in her tracks, looking at them, "-okay. No need to get... to get violent here. We both just want what's best for the ABB, right?"
"Correct. And the best thing for the ABB is to be led by someone with the strength of a dragon." San, said, "We have become that dragon. The eight-headed dragon, Orochi."
"So, the Undersiders. I can get them, sure." she said, "Any requests?"
"We want them to be visible. Do not simply blow them to bits. Make them statues, or freeze them in time, or encase them. So long as our foes can look to the entire team and see what has become of them. Make them a reminder of the ABB's power." Ni.
"And be careful." Hachi said, "The Undersiders have a new member, the one who is responsible for this happening to us."
"That Goner chick? The one who knocked out Lung for Armsmaster?"
"Yes." Shi said, "Be wary of her."
"Sure."
For a few seconds, everything seemed business as usual, and then, suddenly, Grue's darkness flooded the building. Amy stumbled as she suddenly went blind and dizzy, and she dropped to her knees so as to not fall. She was considering what to do, when the darkness shifted position, now simply floating around their generator. When the people inside the lobby turned their heads, they found the security guard groaning on the ground, and saw Tattletale, Grue, and Regent standing in front of them. Tattletale had her gun, and Regent his scepter, both pointed at them. Grue turned to go back behind the desk, presumably to the safe.
"Everyone stay down." Tattletale said, "We're just going to be in and out, and no one has to get hurt."
"Of course, if anyone wants to play hero, that's fun too." Regent said, swiping his scepter menacingly.
Amy didn't move from where she was. She was out of costume, and more than that, her powers weren't meant for combat. But then, she was a superhero, wasn't she? She had a responsibility to try something... but not while Tattletale and Regent were watching.
Minutes passed, and Tattletale swore under her breath, "Go get the others. Tell them to finish up. We- we take it all." she ordered Regent, and Amy realized that this might be her chance as Tattletale was left alone... she began to move slowly towards Tattletale, only to stop when the girl met her eyes. Amy stared into brilliant green, and Tattletale's expression changed as she realized who she was looking at.
"...Well, well." she said, "Miss Dallon. Sort of."
"Look, you obviously didn't know I would be in here. But you should know that if you mess with me, both New Wave and the Protectorate will smash through those walls to get at me, right?"
Regent returned with Grue and Hellhound, along with her monster dogs as well as a girl that Amy didn't recognize. A new member? She was staring at Amy intently. Her expression was harmless enough, but her gaze made her feel nervous. "What's going on?" Grue asked.
"The Wards are gathering." she said, "They're in front of the bank, because they have the other exits covered by now. The van's probably already been found, so we'll have to get out on the dogs." she then pointed at Amy, who backed away on instinct, "Second, Panacea is here."
"Oh? The second-best healer in the city?" Regent asked. Despite his mask, it was impossible to think he wasn't smirking because of his smug tone.
Amy frowned. Second best? Oh sure, she might be a crappy superhero- she'd never be able to go out like Vicky or the Wards and punch people out in a moment or fly or blast things apart, but she knew she was the best healer on the planet. It was what she did.
"Regent." Grue growled.
"Can we take her with us?" the new girl asked.
"What- no!" Grue said, "What would you even want to do, hold her hostage? The Undersiders don't do that."
"I think she could be a good friend." Amy felt a chill down her spine as her eyes locked onto the girls. They were a deep brown, almost black. It made her look like she didn't have pupils, and hid whatever emotions she would have normally shown.
"Not right now." Grue said, "Come on, Tattletale, strategy."
She turned towards the hostages, "All of you, stand up. You're getting out of here." she said pleasantly, "Were going to open the doors, and then you're all going to run, as far as you can, until Grue's darkness hits you. When that happens, lie down so you don't trip. Nobody gets hurt, okay?" she turns to the others, "We'll have to fight."
"No." Grue said, "If we get into a drawn-out fight-"
"We don't have a choice. We have to go out past the front, and that means-"
"ATTENTION UNDERSIDERS. LET THE HOSTAGES AND PANACEA GO, AND SURRENDER."
"-a fight. That'd be them." Lisa said, moving closer to the window and looking out, "Bitch, you'll want to go for the one in Clockblocker's armor. Aegis and Clockblocker switched places."
"Fine." he looked to Regent and the new girl, "Regent you're with me, Goner-" Amy followed his look, and then jumped when she realized the new girl, Goner was behind her.
"You're like me, aren't you? Everyone treats you like trash, using your powers for their own benefit, to the point where you can't even think of not helping them. If you were doing it because you loved it- I'd hate you, but that's just..." she smiled, "Miserable. Want to come with us?"
"Come with- you're villains!"
"You wouldn't have to heal anyone any more." she said, creating a screw, and then putting it through her own skull in a burst of gore. Brain damage- I can't- Amy reached out to touch the girl, then pulled back before she made contact. She... she couldn't do anything anyway- if she- she couldn't just let someone die in front of her!
One of the other hostages started screaming.
"God damn it Goner." Grue moaned, "It's like having two of him, except she just does it-"
Then she realized that Goner was still standing. She pulled the screw free, and then squatted in front of Amy, before waving a hand over her face, making the wound vanish. "I'm the team healer. You'll get to do anything you want." she looked up, "As long as Grue doesn't whine about it. Your powers make you miserable, so why not just use them the way you want?"
"I'm-" she had to admit, the idea was... tempting. In a really strange way. She knew she could do more than heal, and- and if they didn't need her to heal them, then... "No."
"Aw." Goner pulled away, standing up. "Lost again, then. Sorry Grue, where do you want me?"
"...Support us from behind. Don't hit any of the Wards directly, but you're fine to get rid of Kid Win's weapons and hoverboard."
Lisa helped Amy up, and then started doing the same for other hostages, "Everyone! Remember, run as far as you can, then stop running when the darkness hits, or you'll likely trip. Lie down so you don't get hit in the crossfire."
Amy watched as Grue and Regent shoved the doors open. "Go, go, go!"
People ran through, and she looked back at Goner. Her powers, they didn't make her miserable, she made herself miserable. Because, because she wasn't good enough. Because she wasn't everywhere. Because Vicky lived and breathed hero, while she had to force herself to do the right thing.
The hostages fled, and Amy almost ran with them, but at the last moment, she turned and tagged Regent's bare neck. The moment her finger touched, she immediately became aware of his entire biology, and started telling his body to sleep. He crumpled immediately, and she turned to run anyway, joining the other hostages before any of the Undersiders can react.
She might not be a good hero, but she still was one. She began running, just like all the other hostages.
"Bitch!" she turned at the shout, only to see the massive form of Hellhound's dinosaur-dog hybrid charging towards her. She thought she was going to die, up until the moment a familiar golden flash knocked the dog to the side. She smiled as Vicky shoved the dog across the street. The other Wards began to advance on them as well, to help.
"Damn it!" Grue shouted, before sending out a wave of darkness.
Amy once again went blind and felt the sudden dizziness, she dropped to the ground. She wasn't sure how long it had lasted. She felt the ground shake a few times. Then, finally, the darkness clears away and she can see again. In front of her, stabbed into the ground with a screw, was a post-it note with a telephone number scribbled on it. Under the number...
Wanna hurt something for a change?
- G
Ripping it away, she blinked as the screw just- vanished. Standing up, she stared at the note, before crumpling it into a ball. She moved to throw it, before deciding to stick it into her pocket instead. She'd... she'd throw it away at home. No need to litter.
Walking over to the Wards, she told Vicky that she was fine, trying to calm her down, and assure her she was fine, and then of course she had to heal the Wards.
Only when she finished with Gallant, the last, did she realize that she had technically fought a supervillain, and won.
She hadn't... hurt him, exactly, but...
She knocked him out with a touch. Maybe... maybe she could go out, with the others. Be a real hero, not just the healer who doesn't heal enough. Maybe Mom would appreciate her, then.
Brian was scared.
He just couldn't wrap his head around her. She barely ever changed expression, he couldn't predict what she was going to do before she did it. She had a mentality similar to Alec's, but where with Alec he could give him a punch and that would usually be the end of it, with Taylor, it just wouldn't. She was the most powerful Cape in the group, easily. If he hit her, there was a non-zero chance he'd end up with a screw though his chest. And even if she didn't kill him, the bruise wouldn't be there in a moment either way. Like Regent said, she had won the superpower lottery.
Today had helped prove that as well. She didn't have a problem with following his orders usually, but when she got in a mood to do something, there was a good chance she would do it no matter what he told her to do. Asking Panacea to join them? Stabbing herself in the head in front of a bunch of civilians, like that wouldn't escalate the situation.
Worse yet, Bitch would have her back in everything. Alec too, nowadays. He had been grateful for her influence on Bitch at first, as she was calmer, more understanding, less willing to fight him on any decision. He had been glad the girl found a friend. Alec too, seemed to get along with her. She joined him in playing video games and watching TV, utterly engrossed where Brian thought when she wasn't with Bitch taking care of the dogs.
And whatever Taylor saw in Bitch and Alec, she saw in Panacea too. For a second there, Brian almost thought that Panacea would agree to join them. And where would they go from there? They'd have the entire Protectorate on their ass, plus New Wave, for Mastering her. Because why the hell would Panacea agree to join a bunch of thieves? In a world that made sense, the answer was that they Mastered her.
Lisa, at least, still had his back.
As they went out to the storage container that Lisa said their mysterious boss left their bonuses in, he was about to get her attention, to ask her if there was a time they could talk privately about the others, when a series of explosions around them caught him off guard.
"Everyone, on the dogs!" he shouted.
"You're not going anywhere, Undersiders!" a filtered voice shouted, and Grue turned towards the source of it turning the corner, Bakuda, sitting in a jeep. More ABB members with guns were with her, piling out of the car. "You messed with the wrong gang! You think you can fuck with us and live?" she turned a rocket launcher at them.
Grue put down a ring of darkness around them, obscuring the enemy's aim. Bitch was already ramping up the dogs, when he heard the sound of her launcher firing and barked "Get down!"
Everyone dropped as a grenade suddenly shot itself through the darkness, over them, and back through the darkness on the other side. With a terrible noise, the ground shook and Brian stared at the spot of his darkness that had been caught in the strange field. Where the rest of his darkness moved like gas, what had been caught in the center of it seemed to have flash-frozen.
It collapsed, shattering, along with a few dozen storage crates and whatever was inside it.
"Run!" he shouted.
Bakuda laughed cruelly, "Well, that was lucky it didn't hit any of you." she changed her aim, while whispering orders into her radio.
The men with the guns began to open fire, and Brian was about to do as what he knew Bakuda wanted- to have them charge down the relatively open path, where Bakuda would have a clear shot, but where'd they be safe from the bullets.
But...
He glanced at Goner, who was looking just as passive as always, clinging to Bitch as they rode, and then back at the pile of frozen shards.
"Keep going!"
"What?" Lisa asked, shocked, "We can't go towards them!"
"We'll-" he bit back a hiss of pain as the bullet slammed into him. The dogs were made of tougher stuff, he knew, and they kept going even under fire. More impacts spread across his body, and it was all he could do to keep his grip on the dog. "Just- keep going!" he shouted. He threw back his hands, spreading darkness in their wake and in front of him. Massive amounts of it spilled in every direction, the shooters calming down now that they couldn't see where they were shooting.
Then, another explosion rattled out, a huge burst of wind nearly flinging him from his ride, and blowing away his darkness along with anything that weighed less than ten pounds in every direction. Coughing, he realized that Goner had finally fixed him. His suit didn't even have any holes.
Sighing with relief as they left the area, and the ABB, behind, he focused on the road in front of him, putting out more darkness. "Follow my lead!" he shouted to Bitch. The dogs were used to his darkness. He knew that scent didn't change through it, and they would follow on instinct.
Leading them away, he turned his head at the sound of an engine roaring. Bakuda, on her jeep, had made chase. Another ABB was in the driver seat, and Bakuda was standing in the passenger seat, bracing herself against the speed with a hand on the windshield, and using the other to aim her rocket launcher.
She fired, and he prayed, hoping that the darkness would obstruct them enough to mess with her aim.
He winced as he heard the sound of the impact behind them, and he urged Brutus forward, to move faster-
He heard a whump sound as the field expanded in a moment. Looking behind him, his heart began to beat a mile a minute as he saw the field cover Lisa and Judas, and they just- stopped. Trapped in a time bubble. A bubble that was still growing. Goner and Bitch, on Angelica, were gone next. It was just him and Regent on Brutus, now, and the field was still growing. It had only been three seconds and already-!
Bakuda ordered the man to slow her jeep, watching as the darkness cleared away. She stared at the pitch-black bubble, and cursed to herself. Goddamn Grue had made it so that Oni Lee- or Orochi, whatever the hell they wanted to call themselves, wouldn't get their example.
The car came to a stop in front of the field, and she looked at it, feeling proud all the same. The sheer size of it was perfect, big enough to catch the entire group at once.
Well, mission accomplished. She knew that she didn't have to hire Uber and Leet for this kind of thing. Dismounting and walking around the semi-spherical field, she looked closely at the edges, wondering if there was some other kind of exotic effect, or if it truly was a time-stop field.
Then, it flickered, and popped.
Abruptly, the darkness kept on expanding, swamping over her.
She never saw it coming as Brutus bowled her over, stepping on her in the process.
The Undersiders kept going, and Bakuda was left on the ground, feeling half-dead. "How the fuck?" she rasped.
Goner grinned.
That had been interesting.
Coil considered it. These talks went so much easier when he could have Tattletale here with him to torture information out of in one Timeline, while he dealt with her on the phone in the other. But after yet another close call with Goner... well, he was more-or-less hands free with the Undersiders now, no matter the Timeline. Goner kept him trapped for six hours, filled with Thinker Headaches, and more and more creative methods of suicide, not to mention all the times she killed him, and then brought him back again, forcing the closed Timeline open again and again...
It took a long time before he convinced her he'd never torture any of the Undersiders ever again.
He had even meant it. Taking them under suspicious circumstances led to Goner investigating, which led to Goner forcing her way into his base, which led to Goner fucking with his power. And then there was that one timeline when she somehow found Noelle-
He shuddered.
That could never be allowed to happen in any Timeline he was going to keep. Not under any circumstances.
"Boss?"
"Hm?" oh yes, Tattletale. The Undersiders would make for a good diversion, especially if Goner wiped out the bank like she did the Casino safe. "Apologies, I had to check on a message. You wanted a bonus, you'll get a bonus. Just make sure it grabs attention. The Protectorate and New Wave should be out of town, which means at most all you'll have to deal with are the Wards." The PRT and police would have a lot more to do than look into a random little girl who happened to not come home after school.
Soon, he would have his pre-cog, and his plan would become that much more secure.
"That should be fine." Tattletale replied.
Twelve Oni Lee had been captured by the PRT, six had been killed- five by each other, and one by Triumph when his sonic scream accidently triggered one of the Oni Lee's grenades.
The remaining eight, however, had come to a consensus, in a way. It was a rather simple decision, but one that had been hard to make all the same. They were all Oni Lee.
Bakuda hadn't been pleased, when she heard about what happened to him. She had a look-over, but couldn't find anything with her gear that could help her identify if any of them were the original, or whether there was anything wrong with them. And then, whe she told him about how Lung had been captured, Oni Lee wasn't pleased either.
The Undersiders had to pay, for what had happened, and then the Protectorate would feel the wrath of the ABB.
Oni Lee was, by nature, a follower. He did as Lung said, because Lung was the one with ambition, the one with power. Bakuda, similarly, had ambition. In another time and place, if he still was only one, a single demon, he would have followed her lead. But it was... strange, having the other seven around. They understood him. He didn't speak much, as few people understood the way he though, but his fellow clones- they had long since lost track of who came before or after -were people he could speak with. Open up to. Oni Lee knew that Oni Lee would understand, no matter what they were discussing.
As they discussed, they also sparred, and moved, and found that they were far more dangerous together than Oni Lee alone had ever been. They were more confident, with more direction, surprisingly. Alone with his thoughts, Oni Lee could barely muster anything even coming close to a goal- he was a knife in the dark, where Lung wanted him to be. But bouncing his throughts against himself, over and over, they realized as a group that they... wanted things... that they did have passion, deep down. And that together, they could muster the ambition to lead the ABB.
They needed to free Lung, as well as the other Oni Lee, from Protectorate containment. They needed to re-assert to the city that the ABB was not to be trifled with. And the Undersiders had to die.
Oni Lee was a follower, but the will he followed now was his own, as determined by all eight of him. Together, they were Orochi. The eight-headed dragon. The ABB needed a dragon to control it, but Bakuda was no dragon. A single Oni Lee was no dragon. But Orochi, together, could be that dragon.
"...What's with the new masks?" Bakuda asked, entering the room only to hesitate when she saw the eight of them standing in a circle in the room, with a single point open for her, "Are those Lung's extras?" Lung... well, he tended to destroy whatever he had on him every time he used his powers. Everything he owned, he owned in bulk out of necessity.
Lung would not miss eight of them.
"Bakuda." Ichi began, "We've come to an epiphany. From now on we are not the Oni. We are Orochi." he said, "We have been making plans, to retrieve Lung, to take revenge. We would appreciate your input."
"...You're renaming yourselves? Fine, whatever, I guess you can't all be Oni Lee." she looked at the helmets, and saw the characters for 1 through 8 in Japanese.
"We are Orochi now." Nana said.
"We want revenge first, to prove the ABB remains strong despite the chaos." Go said.
"The Undersiders must die." Roku said, "And their deaths should be spectacular. You will make this happen personally."
"Hey, I don't take orders from yo-" eight hands drew eight grenades, with eight sets of fingers alighting on eight pins. Bakuda stopped in her tracks, looking at them, "-okay. No need to get... to get violent here. We both just want what's best for the ABB, right?"
"Correct. And the best thing for the ABB is to be led by someone with the strength of a dragon." San, said, "We have become that dragon. The eight-headed dragon, Orochi."
"So, the Undersiders. I can get them, sure." she said, "Any requests?"
"We want them to be visible. Do not simply blow them to bits. Make them statues, or freeze them in time, or encase them. So long as our foes can look to the entire team and see what has become of them. Make them a reminder of the ABB's power." Ni.
"And be careful." Hachi said, "The Undersiders have a new member, the one who is responsible for this happening to us."
"That Goner chick? The one who knocked out Lung for Armsmaster?"
"Yes." Shi said, "Be wary of her."
"Sure."
For a few seconds, everything seemed business as usual, and then, suddenly, Grue's darkness flooded the building. Amy stumbled as she suddenly went blind and dizzy, and she dropped to her knees so as to not fall. She was considering what to do, when the darkness shifted position, now simply floating around their generator. When the people inside the lobby turned their heads, they found the security guard groaning on the ground, and saw Tattletale, Grue, and Regent standing in front of them. Tattletale had her gun, and Regent his scepter, both pointed at them. Grue turned to go back behind the desk, presumably to the safe.
"Everyone stay down." Tattletale said, "We're just going to be in and out, and no one has to get hurt."
"Of course, if anyone wants to play hero, that's fun too." Regent said, swiping his scepter menacingly.
Amy didn't move from where she was. She was out of costume, and more than that, her powers weren't meant for combat. But then, she was a superhero, wasn't she? She had a responsibility to try something... but not while Tattletale and Regent were watching.
Minutes passed, and Tattletale swore under her breath, "Go get the others. Tell them to finish up. We- we take it all." she ordered Regent, and Amy realized that this might be her chance as Tattletale was left alone... she began to move slowly towards Tattletale, only to stop when the girl met her eyes. Amy stared into brilliant green, and Tattletale's expression changed as she realized who she was looking at.
"...Well, well." she said, "Miss Dallon. Sort of."
"Look, you obviously didn't know I would be in here. But you should know that if you mess with me, both New Wave and the Protectorate will smash through those walls to get at me, right?"
Regent returned with Grue and Hellhound, along with her monster dogs as well as a girl that Amy didn't recognize. A new member? She was staring at Amy intently. Her expression was harmless enough, but her gaze made her feel nervous. "What's going on?" Grue asked.
"The Wards are gathering." she said, "They're in front of the bank, because they have the other exits covered by now. The van's probably already been found, so we'll have to get out on the dogs." she then pointed at Amy, who backed away on instinct, "Second, Panacea is here."
"Oh? The second-best healer in the city?" Regent asked. Despite his mask, it was impossible to think he wasn't smirking because of his smug tone.
Amy frowned. Second best? Oh sure, she might be a crappy superhero- she'd never be able to go out like Vicky or the Wards and punch people out in a moment or fly or blast things apart, but she knew she was the best healer on the planet. It was what she did.
"Regent." Grue growled.
"Can we take her with us?" the new girl asked.
"What- no!" Grue said, "What would you even want to do, hold her hostage? The Undersiders don't do that."
"I think she could be a good friend." Amy felt a chill down her spine as her eyes locked onto the girls. They were a deep brown, almost black. It made her look like she didn't have pupils, and hid whatever emotions she would have normally shown.
"Not right now." Grue said, "Come on, Tattletale, strategy."
She turned towards the hostages, "All of you, stand up. You're getting out of here." she said pleasantly, "Were going to open the doors, and then you're all going to run, as far as you can, until Grue's darkness hits you. When that happens, lie down so you don't trip. Nobody gets hurt, okay?" she turns to the others, "We'll have to fight."
"No." Grue said, "If we get into a drawn-out fight-"
"We don't have a choice. We have to go out past the front, and that means-"
"ATTENTION UNDERSIDERS. LET THE HOSTAGES AND PANACEA GO, AND SURRENDER."
"-a fight. That'd be them." Lisa said, moving closer to the window and looking out, "Bitch, you'll want to go for the one in Clockblocker's armor. Aegis and Clockblocker switched places."
"Fine." he looked to Regent and the new girl, "Regent you're with me, Goner-" Amy followed his look, and then jumped when she realized the new girl, Goner was behind her.
"You're like me, aren't you? Everyone treats you like trash, using your powers for their own benefit, to the point where you can't even think of not helping them. If you were doing it because you loved it- I'd hate you, but that's just..." she smiled, "Miserable. Want to come with us?"
"Come with- you're villains!"
"You wouldn't have to heal anyone any more." she said, creating a screw, and then putting it through her own skull in a burst of gore. Brain damage- I can't- Amy reached out to touch the girl, then pulled back before she made contact. She... she couldn't do anything anyway- if she- she couldn't just let someone die in front of her!
One of the other hostages started screaming.
"God damn it Goner." Grue moaned, "It's like having two of him, except she just does it-"
Then she realized that Goner was still standing. She pulled the screw free, and then squatted in front of Amy, before waving a hand over her face, making the wound vanish. "I'm the team healer. You'll get to do anything you want." she looked up, "As long as Grue doesn't whine about it. Your powers make you miserable, so why not just use them the way you want?"
"I'm-" she had to admit, the idea was... tempting. In a really strange way. She knew she could do more than heal, and- and if they didn't need her to heal them, then... "No."
"Aw." Goner pulled away, standing up. "Lost again, then. Sorry Grue, where do you want me?"
"...Support us from behind. Don't hit any of the Wards directly, but you're fine to get rid of Kid Win's weapons and hoverboard."
Lisa helped Amy up, and then started doing the same for other hostages, "Everyone! Remember, run as far as you can, then stop running when the darkness hits, or you'll likely trip. Lie down so you don't get hit in the crossfire."
Amy watched as Grue and Regent shoved the doors open. "Go, go, go!"
People ran through, and she looked back at Goner. Her powers, they didn't make her miserable, she made herself miserable. Because, because she wasn't good enough. Because she wasn't everywhere. Because Vicky lived and breathed hero, while she had to force herself to do the right thing.
The hostages fled, and Amy almost ran with them, but at the last moment, she turned and tagged Regent's bare neck. The moment her finger touched, she immediately became aware of his entire biology, and started telling his body to sleep. He crumpled immediately, and she turned to run anyway, joining the other hostages before any of the Undersiders can react.
She might not be a good hero, but she still was one. She began running, just like all the other hostages.
"Bitch!" she turned at the shout, only to see the massive form of Hellhound's dinosaur-dog hybrid charging towards her. She thought she was going to die, up until the moment a familiar golden flash knocked the dog to the side. She smiled as Vicky shoved the dog across the street. The other Wards began to advance on them as well, to help.
"Damn it!" Grue shouted, before sending out a wave of darkness.
Amy once again went blind and felt the sudden dizziness, she dropped to the ground. She wasn't sure how long it had lasted. She felt the ground shake a few times. Then, finally, the darkness clears away and she can see again. In front of her, stabbed into the ground with a screw, was a post-it note with a telephone number scribbled on it. Under the number...
Wanna hurt something for a change?
- G
Ripping it away, she blinked as the screw just- vanished. Standing up, she stared at the note, before crumpling it into a ball. She moved to throw it, before deciding to stick it into her pocket instead. She'd... she'd throw it away at home. No need to litter.
Walking over to the Wards, she told Vicky that she was fine, trying to calm her down, and assure her she was fine, and then of course she had to heal the Wards.
Only when she finished with Gallant, the last, did she realize that she had technically fought a supervillain, and won.
She hadn't... hurt him, exactly, but...
She knocked him out with a touch. Maybe... maybe she could go out, with the others. Be a real hero, not just the healer who doesn't heal enough. Maybe Mom would appreciate her, then.
Brian was scared.
He just couldn't wrap his head around her. She barely ever changed expression, he couldn't predict what she was going to do before she did it. She had a mentality similar to Alec's, but where with Alec he could give him a punch and that would usually be the end of it, with Taylor, it just wouldn't. She was the most powerful Cape in the group, easily. If he hit her, there was a non-zero chance he'd end up with a screw though his chest. And even if she didn't kill him, the bruise wouldn't be there in a moment either way. Like Regent said, she had won the superpower lottery.
Today had helped prove that as well. She didn't have a problem with following his orders usually, but when she got in a mood to do something, there was a good chance she would do it no matter what he told her to do. Asking Panacea to join them? Stabbing herself in the head in front of a bunch of civilians, like that wouldn't escalate the situation.
Worse yet, Bitch would have her back in everything. Alec too, nowadays. He had been grateful for her influence on Bitch at first, as she was calmer, more understanding, less willing to fight him on any decision. He had been glad the girl found a friend. Alec too, seemed to get along with her. She joined him in playing video games and watching TV, utterly engrossed where Brian thought when she wasn't with Bitch taking care of the dogs.
And whatever Taylor saw in Bitch and Alec, she saw in Panacea too. For a second there, Brian almost thought that Panacea would agree to join them. And where would they go from there? They'd have the entire Protectorate on their ass, plus New Wave, for Mastering her. Because why the hell would Panacea agree to join a bunch of thieves? In a world that made sense, the answer was that they Mastered her.
Lisa, at least, still had his back.
As they went out to the storage container that Lisa said their mysterious boss left their bonuses in, he was about to get her attention, to ask her if there was a time they could talk privately about the others, when a series of explosions around them caught him off guard.
"Everyone, on the dogs!" he shouted.
"You're not going anywhere, Undersiders!" a filtered voice shouted, and Grue turned towards the source of it turning the corner, Bakuda, sitting in a jeep. More ABB members with guns were with her, piling out of the car. "You messed with the wrong gang! You think you can fuck with us and live?" she turned a rocket launcher at them.
Grue put down a ring of darkness around them, obscuring the enemy's aim. Bitch was already ramping up the dogs, when he heard the sound of her launcher firing and barked "Get down!"
Everyone dropped as a grenade suddenly shot itself through the darkness, over them, and back through the darkness on the other side. With a terrible noise, the ground shook and Brian stared at the spot of his darkness that had been caught in the strange field. Where the rest of his darkness moved like gas, what had been caught in the center of it seemed to have flash-frozen.
It collapsed, shattering, along with a few dozen storage crates and whatever was inside it.
"Run!" he shouted.
Bakuda laughed cruelly, "Well, that was lucky it didn't hit any of you." she changed her aim, while whispering orders into her radio.
The men with the guns began to open fire, and Brian was about to do as what he knew Bakuda wanted- to have them charge down the relatively open path, where Bakuda would have a clear shot, but where'd they be safe from the bullets.
But...
He glanced at Goner, who was looking just as passive as always, clinging to Bitch as they rode, and then back at the pile of frozen shards.
"Keep going!"
"What?" Lisa asked, shocked, "We can't go towards them!"
"We'll-" he bit back a hiss of pain as the bullet slammed into him. The dogs were made of tougher stuff, he knew, and they kept going even under fire. More impacts spread across his body, and it was all he could do to keep his grip on the dog. "Just- keep going!" he shouted. He threw back his hands, spreading darkness in their wake and in front of him. Massive amounts of it spilled in every direction, the shooters calming down now that they couldn't see where they were shooting.
Then, another explosion rattled out, a huge burst of wind nearly flinging him from his ride, and blowing away his darkness along with anything that weighed less than ten pounds in every direction. Coughing, he realized that Goner had finally fixed him. His suit didn't even have any holes.
Sighing with relief as they left the area, and the ABB, behind, he focused on the road in front of him, putting out more darkness. "Follow my lead!" he shouted to Bitch. The dogs were used to his darkness. He knew that scent didn't change through it, and they would follow on instinct.
Leading them away, he turned his head at the sound of an engine roaring. Bakuda, on her jeep, had made chase. Another ABB was in the driver seat, and Bakuda was standing in the passenger seat, bracing herself against the speed with a hand on the windshield, and using the other to aim her rocket launcher.
She fired, and he prayed, hoping that the darkness would obstruct them enough to mess with her aim.
He winced as he heard the sound of the impact behind them, and he urged Brutus forward, to move faster-
He heard a whump sound as the field expanded in a moment. Looking behind him, his heart began to beat a mile a minute as he saw the field cover Lisa and Judas, and they just- stopped. Trapped in a time bubble. A bubble that was still growing. Goner and Bitch, on Angelica, were gone next. It was just him and Regent on Brutus, now, and the field was still growing. It had only been three seconds and already-!
Bakuda ordered the man to slow her jeep, watching as the darkness cleared away. She stared at the pitch-black bubble, and cursed to herself. Goddamn Grue had made it so that Oni Lee- or Orochi, whatever the hell they wanted to call themselves, wouldn't get their example.
The car came to a stop in front of the field, and she looked at it, feeling proud all the same. The sheer size of it was perfect, big enough to catch the entire group at once.
Well, mission accomplished. She knew that she didn't have to hire Uber and Leet for this kind of thing. Dismounting and walking around the semi-spherical field, she looked closely at the edges, wondering if there was some other kind of exotic effect, or if it truly was a time-stop field.
Then, it flickered, and popped.
Abruptly, the darkness kept on expanding, swamping over her.
She never saw it coming as Brutus bowled her over, stepping on her in the process.
The Undersiders kept going, and Bakuda was left on the ground, feeling half-dead. "How the fuck?" she rasped.
Goner grinned.
That had been interesting.
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- Location
- usa
Would Taylor care enough if/when she finds out about Dinah to go rescue her?
- Location
- VA
This fic is a delightful mix of horrific and hilarious. Good work. Eagerly waiting for more.
I think Dinah will be 'miserable' enough to count as something that interests Taylor.
I think Dinah will be 'miserable' enough to count as something that interests Taylor.
- Location
- South of North
Grue. Buddy. Pal.
There is a giant naked woman floating in orbit that drops down to drive cities insane every few months.
You do not live in a world that makes sense. Stop pretending you do.
Tawsnrrtsyip
Rick's Law Enthusiast
- Location
- Terra, Sol System, Orion Arm, Milky Way
- Pronouns
- Nice/Try/FBI/Pricks
Ooh.
That's... not saying good things about Earth Bet's prospects.
- Location
- Germany
I'm taking her home with me!
Goner is the greatest troll there is, and she's not even trying.
I feel bad for Grue though. And Amy, who would probably be happier as an Undersider. At least she didn't get Tattletaled
- Location
- United states of america
I've wanted to see a kumagawa Taylor fix for a long time now and now that I've found one I'm satisfied. This is an enjoyable story to read and I hope it continues.
I really really like how it's following the canon storyline for now but Goner's antics and behavior is straining it to become something else. That, and the fact that this is a good fic that showcases Kumagawa's powerset so well is what makes this fic so delicious.