NYoom!
Special thanks to my lovely co-author and wife,
@hellgodsrus, without whom I would never would have been able to take part in creating half my fics, and our girlfriend
@SolarFlare for being awesome and also betaing! Also special thanks Prime Betas
@Tamahori and
@32nd_freeze and
@Ganurath for being betas and feeding me validation and feedback between updates!
Enjoy!
Predators
9.2
-.-.-
The three of us were in the back of a plain white van we'd found that was unlocked and had a spare key tucked into the fold-down-shade-thing. We weren't stealing it, we were borrowing it. I wasn't sure how to tell what kind of gas it took, but Amy said it was good manners to bring it back with a full tank - and that was going to be even
more important given we hadn't really asked to take it. Or knew whose it was.
Basically we were being shady as fuck and it was
exciting.
Baby's first grand theft auto!
"So. Everyone ready?" Amy turned around in the driver's seat to look back at us. "Taylor, once they've got them on, make sure they're on
these settings -" She handed me a note - "And… are you going to be able to talk to us through your human body while you're Khanivore?"
I paused. "Um. I've… not really tried that before, no." I remembered it kind of happening way back when I first discovered -
re-discovered what I really was, but that was more due to the implant breaking down than effort on my part.
"
Ugh." Victoria thumped her (bare) head back against the headrest. "If that doesn't work, we're in trouble."
"If I leave my voice box in here, I can still talk but listening might be a different kettle of fish."
"Where did that saying even
come from? Like -" Crystal screwed up her face. "Who puts their fish in
kettles."
"People without cooking supplies? Who the hell knows."
"Hats on. I don't know if the Beasties besides Khanivore can keep up with the road speed limit." Amy turned back around and started up the van - immediately turning off the radio. "Ah. Shit. It's a manual."
"You only just noticed?"
"We were looking for cars that were unlocked and had keys, we couldn't exactly afford to be picky!" Amy shot back. "I can drive it, just - I probably won't be very
good at it."
Vicky did up her seatbelt and groaned, putting her headset on. "We're going to die before we even find a single Empire goon."
"We'll be fine. You've got Gay Pride Godzilla looking out for you." I grinned. "Night night, girls." I flicked the switches for them both and they fell slumped against each other. "See you roadside, Amy."
I dropped out and blinked awake on the floor of the lab. It was dark - really dark - so everyone was probably asleep or inside by now, which would make getting out much easier. Holding the door open for Mahway and Emmim, I tested out the venom-switch thing Amy had put in. It felt like… curling a finger. If I focused, I could inject the harder stuff. But otherwise I was relaxed and I
hoped it defaulted to the knockout stuff Amy had made. I could even unfold my fangs separately from the bladders, which was a relief.
I like my weaponised body.
Emmim trundled up next to me and waggled their long, uncurled, scaly tail before trying to do what I think was a forward roll. Their scales sprouted into the tarmac as they did it and suddenly they were like a tire on a hill, collapsing out of their little ball of armour with their tongue sticking out of their flat snout a good thirty metres away, big pale eyes wide. Mahway burbled and tendril-slapped past me, grabbing a street light and swinging on it - it bent noticeably under their weight - before landing a little way down the road, tentacles swishing as Emmim preened themselves.
I wasn't sure how to split my focus - but I tried. Muffled indistinct yelling from Crystal and Victoria. And possibly screaming from Amy? Or tires - it was tires. My pace forward was slow as I tried to evenly split my senses - would doing this make my human body more immune to powers than my real body?
"
-ON'T SCREAM OUT OF NOWHERE LIKE THAT I ALMOST CRASHED!"
"I just crouched down and then suddenly I was a beyblade!"
"Well if you can
control it you'll be able to keep up with the van! Think of it as like using your shield while flying - "
"Victoria, it is
literally nothing like that!"
"Shut up, I'm trying to work out how this gearshift thing works! Shit, that was the
brakes not the clutch, argh - "
"We uh. We good here?" I asked - I heard the voice from my box as well as my throat. I might just leave the box in the van, because when it came time to fight, I wasn't going to be able to split my attention like this. I'd already walked through - through uh. One roadworks sign without realising it. And stomped on a cone. And -
Crunch- headbutted a lamppost.
Fuck.
I stumbled away and towards where I'd heard the screeching tires and the rumble of an engine, pulling my voicebox from my chest as I did so. In the van, Amy was wrestling with the gearstick until the engine stopped making worrying clunking noises, and her phone was saying something to her -
reading out a webpage about how manual shift works?
My human hand opened the door and my Beastie hand dropped the voice box into it. "
Okay, so split attention doesn't work so well. I knocked over a lamppost. And some signs. And a cone."
"Victoria, Taylor, give me your phones, Khanivore, lean your head out over here for me," Amy commanded, rolling down her window. I shrugged and obeyed, dropping myself at the driver's side window before using my human hands to rummage around for Vicky's phone.
"Here you go."
"Hope this works…" Amy sighed, calling my phone from Victoria's. "Oh. Stay human for a moment."
"Bone cage phone call?"
"Pretty much." She made a slight face. "Going to give you an extra ear, just for the phone, so you don't have to have it on speaker and alert everyone you run past to what we're saying."
"Specially as it's mostly going to be screaming at Amy for not knowing how to drive."
"
I can drive manual, damnit!"
"Yeah but the last time you did was
for your license exam!"
"Has someone ever tried to donate a car to you?" I asked, until she gestured at me to switch again.
"Yeah. It didn't end well because the PRT confiscated it in case it was a bomb or something."
"
I'm surprised you even got to accept it." It was… awkward hearing my voice externally. Like, more than usual because it was extra-distorted by being through the phone.
"I didn't. They took it regardless, just in case the guy was trying to kill me with a bomb or cut brake lines."
"You complained about it for months. Even though you know Azkaban-Grangering it was the right move, because - "
"I will hit you, Crystal."
"
But what is Azkaban-Grangering?" I asked, prowling away from the van to pick up Emmim and set them upright.
"Holy shit you're strong." Crystal made a surprised noise. "Picked me up like I was -
nothing."
"
Did you try to pick up Emmim yourself?" I frowned. "
Like - as human?"
"No? Wait - nullifying! Most of - wait so - "
"We count as weightless to her because we're tinkertech!" Victoria and Mahway bounced. "So she can fastball special you at people!"
"
... I'm not sure that's how it works, though I am pretty strong. I could toss Lung through a building."
"It could be though! And Lung was probably registering as human weight to you because his extra mass was power-based!"
"
Okay…" I wasn't really sure I wanted to argue it at this point, but - powers didn't really make sense to begin with, anyway. "
So, back on topic - Azkaban-Grangering? What's that?"
Amy got the van working again and pulled out, nearly running over my feet before slowly driving away. I was kinda glad that recent events meant a lot less cars on the road because we'd probably hold up traffic on accident, and if anyone recognised Amy, we'd be in
super trouble. Especially given the high whining and clunking the van was making. And Crystal's shouting, which echoed weirdly both muffled through the van and louder and distorted through the phone.
"It was a bit where -
Crystal shut up - Hermione had Harry's new broom confiscated by, uh, scottish lady I forget her name, to make sure it wasn't cursed in the third book." Victoria supplied happily as Mahway started swinging from streetlight to streetlight.
"
Oooh. Okay. Makes sense. So where are we heading first? Known Empire hangouts or just patrol?" Crystal was - kinda making me uncomfortable. Emmim was doing the roller thing again in little bursts.
"I mean, if we head towards Downtown from here, we might hit Empire patrols moving into old ABB territory, or investigating Eden. Might be our best shot?"
"
Alright. Let's do it!" I grinned and charged ahead -
"Taylor, Downtown is the other way!"
"
I know what I'm doing!"
"Yeah but you clearly don't know
where you're doing it." Crystal snorted.
"I feel like I should object on Amy's behalf, and you already smelled that she knows damn well where to
do it."
Amy made a burbled, staticky noise of frustration, and Mahway jolted mid rolling tentacle swing as a thwap echoed down the phone line. "
Stop it, Tori."
"
Oh my god, you guys." I fought the urge to facepalm because that'd probably give me a face as scarred as my human one. "
That was terrible." I switched directions and followed the van. We passed by so many ruined buildings - or maybe it was just surface damage for some, but - a lot of them were gutted by fire. Damaged, half collapsed. Others were just - standard for Brockton Bay. Abandoned, half collapsed, overgrown. Boarded windows. Mahway swung through them in whuffling swipes of tendril. "
Careful, Victoria - we don't want those collapsing on you."
"It's not
me though, it'll be
fine."
"
You don't have your invincibility right now, remember?" I pointed out. "
And digging you out will take time. We want to stay on the move and hunting."
"Alright, alright." Mahway shifted away from them, settling into a slower rolling tangle.
"
Crystal, how's Emmim working for you?"
"Nyooooom!"
"
She's not still drinking, is she?"
Emmim rolled past me, leaving little dents in the road from their scales. "I'm like a - what were the roly-poly droids from Star Wars called?"
"In which version of the prequels?"
"
Weren't they the same?"
"No they were definitely different - still disappointing, but different. I think the Aleph version had the ones I'm thinking of. Droideka! That was it!
Nyooom!"
"
At least we're having fun…" I lifted an arm and watched Emmim roll under me. Crystal was doing circles around the van and I because apparently we were going too slowly for her. "
We're close to ABB territory too, aren't we?"
"Hard to say." Amy grunted. "With Lung gone, they're splitting back up and who knows if they're even a thing anymore beyond Oni Lee."
"Oni Lee is still a problem, though." I could almost hear in her voice that Victoria worrying at her lip. "He could take out the van pretty easily what with his whole serial suicide bomber thing."
"
Oni See Oni Boom." I snickered.
"Funny," Crystal made an unhappy noise, "but not really if you think about it."
"
Sorry."
There was a crunch and screeching metal - followed by an explosion not too far away. Amy immediately wrenched the wheel in that direction - I could tell because of the vigorous complaining from the other girls and the hilarious way Mahway and Emmim both started flailing mid-movement and collapsed into a pile against each other before clambering to their respective upright positions and following.
The whole street looked like it'd been torn up, and there was a chunk of wall with rebar sticking out of it that was clearly taken.
"
That's not a good sign."
And… shouting.
Loud shouting. I could smell. People. Lots of people.
The boom of a shotgun echoed through the night.
