Snip #39
One leap later and I was there.
'There' being a rubble mountain of loose bricks and unattached mortar, the remnants of one too many holes in a series of walls reduced into a mound of used building materials.
And yet, there was no way there were enough material to form a pile taller than myself, even if everything dislodged from all four holes I had pushed Lung through had made it here into a single pile. Given how much scattered rubble I noticed while jumping here, that was clearly not the case.
No, the reason for the additional bulk was easily deduced; here and there through gaps in between the bricks and mortar, the thick scales of a dragon could be seen. A rough humanoid form sat mostly concealed in the midst of the deconstructed material, except for a pair of feet the size of tree trunks sticking out from the bottom.
I tensed myself up the moment I saw Lung. I prepped my stance, staying a respectful distance away from his new resting spot. My arms rested by my side, ready to be quickly brought up into a guard, whilst my legs were bent and wound up to leap away on a moment's notice.
I focused all of my attention in his direction. I had to be quick the moment he decided to act, probably preceding the resumption of his rampage with a large explosion or fireball or some other form of devastating attack.
Dust flooded the space between buildings, an aftermath of the building materials' forceful removal. It barely thinned in the windless space between buildings, and I had to resist the urge to blink as it made things difficult to see in the already dim light of the alleyway.
Any moment now. Lung would storm forward anytime now.
A brick rolled down the pile. Another followed it, a clear indication of shifts of material deeper within the temporary mountain. Puffs of pulverized mortar blew outwards as something inside gave way, reinforcing the thickness of the dust cloud in the alleyway.
Any. Moment. N-
One of Lung's legs moved.
I tensed.
I needn't. The motion appeared to be a byproduct of gravity, with no will behind its execution; the green trunk of enhanced musculature had been shrinking, and it suddenly went from bending forward much like a beast's to bending backwards as a human knee should. Unbalanced, the rest of the leg simply flopped to the side.
I continued to wait. I dared not release my stance.
Lung's other leg surrendered its fight with gravity a moment later, hitting the brick pile with an unimpressive 'plonk'.
There was still no movement from the person himself.
This must be a trick. It must. There was no way the simple shove from earlier would take out an Endbringer-tier cape.
The debris mountain collapsed into itself as it continued to shrink greatly.
… I continued to hedge my bet that this must be a really smart trick.
***
If this was a trick, it must be a really stupid example of one.
The leftover pile had stopped shrinking in the long moments of anticipation, the few minutes I had been waiting for something to occur. It was now a quarter of its original size, and the side facing me had collapsed into a smaller, flatter pile on the ground.
An Asian man's heavily tattooed and muscular body was revealed in the newly opened gap. He was much larger and more built up than myself, something I could easily see for myself; he was all but naked beyond the thin layer of concrete dust on his skin, other than the splotches of half-melted material which I assumed was his clothing.
The small mound of bricks around his waist thankfully hid things that should be private from view.
Lung also appeared to be unconscious despite his obviously uncomfortable brick bedding. He slumped slightly forward, his head bowed towards the ground, his arms hung strengthless from loose shoulders and his legs remained sprawled every which way inside his newly formed blanket of reddish brown debris.
And he was snoring. A rumbling of deep sleep echoed loudly in the silent alley.
If this really was a trick, the Asian crime lord was a top notch actor.
But I was starting to think this might not be the case.
Whatever the case may be, this confrontation was decidedly anti-climactic.
I had long since relaxed my stance, resting my tensed muscles with a relaxed pose as I leaned against a wall. My caution still meant I did not look away from the dragon reverted to human even if I was blinking more to keep the dust from my dried eyes.
But… I still couldn't believe it. A single shove knocked out The Lung? A simple push from me disabled the Dragon of Kyushu so completely and totally?
Maybe Lung had fallen wrongly after he hit the buildings I had shoved him into, probably the result of leading his fall head first or something? Perhaps his larger size had been a detriment somehow, his greater weight causing his fall to be all the harder? Or he hadn't reached his legendary Endbringer strength yet, requiring more time to power up?
There was also a nagging thought in my mind that 'the Dragon of Kyushu' legend might even be overblown, but I scoffed at the wild mistruth as soon as I thought of it; the wildly popular video back home was more than proof enough of his most impressive moments.
But most importantly, I was starting to feel impatient. The waiting had stretched longer than I would have liked, and the itch to simply
DO something was getting hard to ignore. I had been waiting all this time for something to happen, and Lung almost seemed to be mocking me with his unconsciousness...
Unconsciousness?
This was… a dilemma.
I knew what I had promised Armsmaster. To poke Lung and run, and in doing so leading the danger he represented away from everyone else.
But if Lung was down and out, taking him in would be easy, wouldn't it? And having him arrested would solve all the crime he represented, won't it? With a villain to capture and no downsides in his apprehension, a hero's duty was clear, wasn't it?
Yeah. I believed that was what heroes did.
Carefully, I placed my right foot carefully towards the unconscious villain. When Lung did not react to my advance, I followed it up with my left. Quietly I took another step. Emboldened I took yet another.
Less than a dozen steps later I was right on top of the gang leader.
I took a deep breath to center myself, another to ensure calmness. Slowly, I bent forward. One of my arms cautiously reached out towards Lung's sprawled leg-
It was a feeling, a sense of danger without anything suggesting such. But I reacted immediately to the the sudden premonition.
I leapt into the air.
The explosion from four stories below turned the narrow gap between buildings into a storm of moving air, a blastwave strong enough to shove me upwards.
I turned, trying to see how Lung almost got me. I had another sudden sense of danger, but this time I could see a blur of movement from beside me, above me.
I kicked outwards, my leg hitting and pushing off the sixth story wall beside me. A moment later I was sailing above the roof of the apartment opposite where I used to be.
I spun in the air fast enough to see the explosion as it occurred. A blast of fury erupted from where I had been, a devastating sphere of mobilized air collapsing the wall where I had pushed off from, a deafening roar of induced violence despite the disappointing lack of a fireball.
Wait. 'Lack of a fireball'? That did not look like one of Lung's attacks. Either he was holding something back, or-
A face suddenly filled my vision.
It was an artificial face, a crimson mask with two green vertical stripes. I immediately recognized the design, the distinctive crescent eyes, exaggerated cheeks, stretched leer and fangs of an oni mask.
And I could see more of him as he doubled over. He was wearing a black bodysuit, but the 'ninja' aesthetic this newest parahuman was obviously aiming for was somewhat ruined by the belts he also wore, militant bandoleers full of a multitude of obviously modern-looking equipment of various shapes and sizes.
I withdrew my left fist from where it had impacted into his waist, and was about to punch him out with my right when he suddenly straightened.
My eyes widened as I saw his left arm.
More importantly, I noticed the string he held in his left hand as he pulled-
- I pushed him awa-
I landed onto the rooftop on my back hard enough to scatter the gravel around me. I felt the rest of the explosion from above a moment later, a large blast of pressure from above. It was as if a giant was shoving me down. Pebbles, pipes and an air conditioner unit or three tumbled away from me as if they were weightless toys.
A large chunk of meat slopped onto the roof beside my head. It turned into dust as I watched.
So that was Oni Lee, if I remembered Tailor's lessons correctly. I also remembered what his abilities were: a teleporter who left temporary copies of himself behind when he 'jumped', copies which he used as suicide bombers.
I grinned instead as I flipped myself upright. This ninjitsu wannabe had just made a big mistake.
There was a flicker, a shadow on the ground I noticed out of the corner of my vision. I spun to my right, my left arm stretched out as it lashed low. My plan worked; my forelimb smashed into and overpowered the ninja's legs, the black suited assassin forced into a disorienting spin in the air.
My right arm was already in motion. An open palm pressed against his chest from below.
The explosion afterwards was a small, tinny pop high up in the air.
I did not look at it; I had not been idle. I spotted the next two Oni Lee clones easily, and my leap there was speedily direct thanks to the cleared roof.
The ABB cape barely had time to react before I grabbed his shoulder and thigh with both my hands. I twisted my stance with the same movement and smoothly threw him in the same direction as his previous copy.
The next clone did not even have the chance to react; he was still facing away from me when I reached him. A single jab brought unconsciousness as he slumped at my feet.
I was away even before the one I had disabled had turned into dust; another Oni Lee duplicate told me the fight wasn't over just yet. This copy knew I was coming however; he was already pulling the string on his payload despite only just starting to turn towards me.
I stopped that maneuver easily however; my arms reached out the moment I landed beside him, wrapped around him, held him up in a bearhug which also trapped his hands by his sides.
I flexed.
I felt the crackling as his ribcage collapsed. He crumbled even further, the clone dissolved into a cloud of fine, whitish dust.
The more involved maneuver had cost me some time however; there was yet another copy of the teleporter some distance in front of me, and his crimson mask seemed to mock me as he looked in my-
I sensed rather than saw another clone step up behind me. I ducked as I spun around, and my right arm lashed out at the first thing that came into view.
Another copy of Oni Lee fell as his left leg detached from under him, his knee annihilated. He was yelling in deathly silence as he dissolved into another cloud of sand.
I was already turning, searching for new targets.
There were three. Two copies of the assassin were rushing towards me from left and right, but my eyes were drawn towards the third; the oddity continued to face away from me, not moving as he stood at the edge of the roof.
And then I noticed something else; I saw the light of the far building shift as a dark silhouette formed out of thin air.
'I see you.' I grinned again.
I leapt, outracing the two explosions behind me. With an arm stretched out in front of me in a classic 'Alexandra Package' stance I quite literally went straight through the ninja's latest clone. The viscera of a pulverized, divided body turned into dust around me, blown away by the speed of my passage as I rapidly closed the distance with Oni Lee's true body.
He barely had time to notice me before I was on top of him.
I saw his eyes widen behind the slanted eye slits.
My right arm lashed forward.
Oni Lee turned his head sharply downwards.
My punch hit him right in the face. His mask splintered from the force of the blow, the head behind not so much. His nose was bloody as his neck snapped backwards, but his face was barely smashed in due to the carefully calculated punch I usually used to tap out street thugs in motorcycle helmets.
And then he turned into dust.
Dammit! He had teleported again! But where-
Remembering what Oni Lee had just done moments ago, I spun around in mid air. I looked down.
My eyes widened.
The crimson masked villain stood below me on the ground. Behind him, one of the PRT agents fell backwards, the lady officer if her hair was any indication. Another was trying to draw his pistol even as he stepped in between another pair, the last PRT trooper, and in his arms the unconscious granny I was trying to save from earlier.
I ignored my dismay at having completely forgotten about rescuing the aged senior, because shock and anger had overtaken the idle thought.
The trooper who had fallen had a knife handle sticking out of her chest.
My perception of time slowed almost without my input as I focused on the disaster happening below. I continued to stare towards the scene, and displeasure of the current situation sharpened the temporal lethargy surrounding my senses even further.
I reached forward…
… and that was when I realized I had a problem.
Despite the advantage my heightened perception gave me, I was still hanging in midair. Even with the speed I cut through the air, there was simply nothing I could use to push away from.
I was still rapidly approaching the side of a building, but without something to push off from I was stuck here for now. I was helpless to change my current course, unable to stop the events below no matter how much I wanted to intervene.
I felt my teeth grind against each other.
Below me, Oni Lee jumped towards his next victim, targeting the officer who had boldly stepped forward. He started to spin about as he closed in. His right arm was hidden behind his body for a moment before it darted forward.
There was a dagger in his hands.
Thankfully, the officer noticed. He abandoned his attempt to point his pistol towards the parahuman, raising his arms instead. It was clear what his intentions were as he planted himself firmly on the spot, his arms reaching out to deflect Oni Lee's strike.
Which was why the officer was in no position to stop the suicide bomber's next act, the bomb-triggering string in his left hand being yanked-.
Armsmaster's Halberd was fast even with my heightened perception of the world, blurring with speed as it flew into Oni Lee. Both man and weapon flew to the side as it lifted him bodily off the floor, the axe blade buried deep in the modern ninja's waist as it bent the assailant almost in half.
The next moment, there was a cloud of silver dust around the tinkertech weapon.
I turned towards where the weapon had come from. Armsmaster stood beside the van I had almost thrown earlier. He was leaning forward, no, he was falling forward slowly in my perception. His entire body was balanced too far forward with the force of his throw, his posture unable to keep him upright. His right arm was stretched before him, still moving in an arc after his throw, and the armour around his limb was sparking electricity through its entire length, his right shoulder smoking quite fiercely as if in response.
Lines appeared in the air even as the Hero continued to fall. Blue shimmers of light shone from in the air in front of him, the shape it drew hinting at the shape of his famous Halberd. It thickened quickly, solidifying into blue and white, perfectly placed for a gauntleted hand reaching for it.
Oni Lee's arrival was less flashy, and more deadly for it; he simply appeared behind Armsmaster. The Hero somehow noticed his arrival however, twisting about to face his attacker even as he fell. It seemed to be too little, too late; another dagger was in the assassin's hand, the attack darted towards Armsmaster's neck, the blade flashing in-
I finally reached the wall.
I kicked off the building as soon as I could.
I crossed the distance in an instant and landed right where Oni Lee was.
In my careless haste, I had arrived too quickly; the abused road under my feet gave up, dissolving into chunks instead of only forming cracks. A storm of tar and dirt rose from the suddenly created depression, a sudden fog centered around me from the shock of my arrival.
The back of the unmarked PRT van nearby lifted off the ground; for a moment I thought the white vehicle was going to flip over and land on its roof, but it merely rose a third of the way there before it crashed back onto its wheels.
Armsmaster fared a lot worse; already falling, the Hero was unable to brace for my arrival, and was flung across the street by the force of my landing. I winced as I saw him land on his side, tumbling along the width of the sidewalk before his out of control progress was abruptly halted by the wall of the building there.
The glowing ethereal Halberd seemed to hesitate for a moment before it disappeared again, a teleporting streak of blue announcing the weapon's intention to chase after its owner's hand.
As for the immediate threat?
I sure hoped Oni Lee had teleported. Because the body in the crater directly beneath my feet was… a silvery pile of sand.
Phew.
I gave myself a moment of relief, after which I looked around quickly, searching for my rapidly replicating opponent.
There were two, no three Oni Lees around me. One of the clones continued to chase after the retreating PRT officers despite a leg injury of some kind. Another was on top of the building where we only just fought on, looking down towards us as if he was surveying the battlefield.
And a third had just appeared on top of Armsmaster's prone body.
My body reacted before my thoughts did; I jumped. My arms swept forward without hesitation as I tried to knock out the real Oni Lee.
He turned into dust behind a cracked mask.
I quickly turned about, using my enhanced perception as a cheat as I searched for the ninja where he had looked.
There, beyond a window!
The glass panels smashed inward as I went through it, leading my arrival with a punch through the opening.
Another oni-masked face crumbled into dust.
"Nggggg…" the involuntary growl of irritation declared my feelings as I snapped my neck about, looking out of the apartment as quickly as I could.
There!
I jumped out of the apartment. I had mistakenly aimed a little high towards the edge of another building's rooftop, but I was at least close enough to kick the newest Oni Lee standing there.
Yet another clone dissolved into dust.
"Not again!" I exclaimed, annoyed. "Why you… !"
Another of the countless Oni Lees was on the other end of the rooftop, standing right where I was headed towards. This more than anything told me he was yet another copy of the teleporting villain.
And as if to confirm my suspicions, the clone's left hand pulled away from his body, a string in its grasp.
I moved… or rather, I tried to.
It seemed I did not learn all of my earlier lessons today; I was still airborne. I was unable to maneuver.
I tried to move away, tried to flailed my arms about as I headed towards the clone, but nothing I did seemed to change my path as I headed towards the upcoming explosion, unable to alter the direction of my flight.
My recent experiences told me I could tank the explosion, and come out of it without any damage.
Possibly.
It wouldn't hurt.
Maybe.
This was going to suck.
If only I had some way to fly. Perhaps a way to form explosions from my hands, or some other useful power. From blasts of wind, to bursting flames, or maybe-
I was flung through the cloud of splinters that used to be a tree...
Wait a moment.
... barely staying upright as I was flung by the force of my punch....
Could I?
I twisted in midair, bringing my left arm down beside my waist.
The clone exploded.
I
punched
The roof
exploded.
My back hit the same wall I had just jumped off from. I felt it give way slightly as I bounced off, still stunned by the mere fact I succeeded. I began to tumble as I fell, gravity finally having a say in how I moved.
The world careened wildly around me as I spun. Random images flashed past my eye; I saw Armsmaster's visor pointed towards me from where he laid on his back. Some distance away another Oni Lee clone crumbled as the PRT got the upper hand, both agents still pointing their pistols into the dust cloud. The much abused unmarked van flashed by where it was directly below me as Oni Lee appeared in front of it, staggering as he formed out of thin air.
I reached out my legs, bracing for-
I landed.
The top of the van dented inwards as it took the force of my fall on my feet. My knees struck the vehicle next, pushing the roof downwards. The windows shattered as the rest of my body followed, and I began to tumble off its roof.
I briefly saw glass shards spraying outwards, a beautiful display refracted in the light. A brief image of a surprised Oni Lee as he only just began to lean away from the collapsing van, raising his hands to ward off the sharp, transparent splinters. And then he was out of my sight as my head was forced to turn away; I flopped over the front of the vehicle, the radiator grill almost touching my nose as my limbs flailed everywhere.
I felt my left fist hit something.
I felt something breaking under my knuckles.
And finally my tumbling came to an abrupt stop, my out of control fall truncated by my back hitting yet another heavily abused floor.
I looked up from where I laid. Oni Lee loomed over me, covering the sky as he leaned over my body. Most of the features of his oni mask was shrouded in shadow as he looked down, his eyes wide and ominous behind the eye slits.
My right fist was already in motion.
My attempt to preempt his explosives turned out to be unnecessary however; the clone crumbled into dust before I hit. Silvery sand fell onto my face in clumps, causing me to sit up to get out of the way. I spat bits of cloned material which had gotten into my mouth, and rubbed at the sand clogged in my eyes.
Also, I heard a high pitched something. What was that?
Blinking my eyes to clear the last of the sand, I looked towards where the sound came from.
I beheld the back of another Oni Lee standing beside the sidewalk side of the van. Unlike the rest of the ninja's copies thus far, this particular one seemed to be in some distress; One of his arms was braced against the van, leaning against it as if his clearly shaking legs wasn't able to support himself. His hunched back also seemed to be radiating agony somewhat with how it bent and writhed, and his other arm seemed to be clutching something in front of him.
And he was the source of the sound I heard. It was a high pitched whine, an elongated gasp, a moan of pain that was one octave higher than anything a human could possibly produce.
I tensed as I turned about, squatting up onto my feet in the same motion. I did a quick look about for any clones, and with that done I looked back to the only Oni Lee I could see.
The masked villain continued to ignore the world, hunched over as he barely stood, his head bowed so low I was almost unable to see it from where I was. This was further proven when he did not react as a dart hit him square in the shoulder. He remained unresponsive as the turfed, silvery cylinder injected something with a hiss.
And then the oni-masked villain collapsed.
To my surprise he did not turn into dust.
Yet?
I did another quick look around for any clones, but did not find any. The sounds of explosions had also stopped, thankfully. And the body collapsed nearby still hadn't turned into dust.
Huh. That's that.
After another quick look about, I glanced towards the ABB ninja again before I relaxed. I examined my surroundings again, this time with a bit more care.
A block away, one of the PRT officer was tending to another. With a start, I realized the one being tended to was the officer I had seen being stabbed, the knife still embedded in her bulletproof vest. But she was also awake, clearly alive as she reacted to her colleague fussing over her.
Additionally, help was finally arriving; the last of the trio was in the distance, waving his arms about in the air as he directed a working black van towards us.
Also, Armsmaster was walking towards me.
Slowly.
It seemed that all the injuries and exertion had finally caught up with the Hero; he staggered forward in a good imitation of centenarian folk as he leaned heavily on his Halberd, the weapon turned walking stick digging deeply into the unsurfaced road.
I hurriedly ran over to him. He wordlessly tried to wave me away at first, but I ducked under the swing and put my shoulder beneath his arm.
"hurmph" the Hero grunted, but he said no more as he leaned onto me a moment later… an act which almost caused the both of us to fall with the way I was taken by surprise.
That blue and silver armour was
HEAVY! I was surprised he could even move in this!
"So, you caught him." I said, trying to strike up a conversation as we slowly crossed the road. "You got Oni Lee."
"
What?"
"That's your dart, right? I assume it has tranquilizers?"
"
Yes."
"So you got him."
"
... yes" He replied as he stopped. Together, we looked down at the knocked out villain.
"What's up with him anyway?" I wondered. "One moment he was teleporting all over the place. And the next he just… stopped."
I saw Armsmaster's visor up close as he turned to look at me. Through the crack in the inverted "V", I could see his eye wide with surprise.
"
You don't know?"
"Nuh huh." I shook my head slightly for emphasis.
"
You punched him."
I hummed questioningly as I looked back-
"
You punched him…" Armsmaster repeated. "
... hard enough to crack… a bone in his… pelvis."
"Oh." I thought about it. "Oh."
"
Yes."
"You mean I punched his…"
"
Yes."
"And cracked a bone behind..."
"
Yes."
"... Oh." I winced.
I let silence fall on us as I looked down on the villain. Despite its use as a capturing device, the tranquilizer was probably a mercy to him given the circumstances.
There was something else however. A feeling I had forgotten something important, something I should have remembered. The missing memory continued to annoy me the way a mosquito did, nagging at me almost as badly as Tailor sometimes did.
Wait. Was it about Tailor herself?
No, that didn't seem to be the topic I couldn't remember. I was also confident Tailor could take care of herself, and if not she should have the range to and would have already signaled me. So that definitely wasn't it.
. …
Whatever. It would come back to me eventually.
***
This ends the
Enter the Dragon arc... not counting the upcoming interlude.
Special thanks to my beta
@Enohthree. You know what you did, and I thank you for it.
