Complications 2.7C
ZFighter18
I'm not a god. I AM WHAT A GOD PRAYS TO.
- Location
- Maryland
Thanks to @LordCirce for his help with Beta work. He's the best!
Anyway, I listened to this song while I wrote this. I feel it matches the tone.
Complications 2.7C
The distance between the two of them vanished quickly as he and Glory Girl rushed at each other. On the outside, he was the picture of confidence, despite his somewhat bruised appearance, arms in position to deliver powerful strikes.
On the inside, however, he was fucking giddy. He was in a fight...and with another Brute again! Lung...Lung had been weird...and a bit disappointing. Sure, he was strong...yeah, but he didn't seem as strong as the stories about him said he was. He didn't seem like the Dragon of Japan, the villain that fought Leviathan one on one. Apparently, Lung needed even more time to get to that level of power. Maybe if Greg had realized that, he would have delayed a bit, stretched out the fight...but that was the past.
Glory Girl was the present. Alexandria Jr...The Glory of Brockton Bay...New Wave's Shining Star. She was almost as famous as Lung, and for good reason. Before ramping up, Lung's baseline was little more than a very fit human being, albeit one who stood almost seven feet tall. You could take him out with a metal bat or a pistol shot to the brain if you caught him unawares. Victoria Dallon was a completely different story. Her strength was incredible, 10 tons at last measure and durable enough to brush off a grenade. Her speed was no joke either, according to several posts on PHO, she was clocked at almost two hundred miles an hour in the air. With stats like that, she was a complete beast.
Best part about it, she was like this all the time. All he had to do was beat her and he would know where he stood. No wondering if she wasn't at her strongest like Lung. This would be an open and shut case of Brute vs Brute.
Glory Girl dashed at him at over twice the speed she had been moving at before, creating a slipstream in her wake and surprising Greg a bit.
A bit.
He grinned, dodging a wild swing from her and countering with a jab to her stomach that sent the heroine stumbling back. Capitalizing on her pain, he followed up that quick jab by launching a salvo of strikes all over her body.
His speed aiding him, his toned arms flailed like powerful pistons, repeatedly pounding the heroine's body like a speed bag. His strikes resounded from her body with loud booms, almost like thunder. Pulling his fist back, he threw another punch as fast as he could, directly into Glory Girl's ample chest.
An instant before his fist landed, Glory Girl's open palm caught it and her grip tightened, eliciting a crack and a choked scream from Greg. White hot pain surged through his wrist and fingers in an instant, disorienting him.
Glory Girl smiled at him and increased her grip on his fist, crushing his broken fingers even further while at the same time, her other hand gripped his shoulder just as tightly. Greg grunted in pain, struggling against Glory Girl with all his might.
'God, Scion, fuck all! She wasn't this strong before!' Greg thought to himself as he fought for dominance. Half of him was angry that he was losing, while the other half was excited to be in a fight...and the third half was excited...in another way. This was the first time Greg had been this close to a girl this hot and honestly, his head wasn't completely in the right place.
She noticed his wandering eyes as they began trailing downwards to her chest and screamed in righteous female anger as she realized what he was looking at.
"PERV!!!"
Distracted as he was, Greg was completely unprepared for Glory Girl's invulnerable forehead smashing into his rather durable nose with an incredible amount of force, and for the third time, another one of his body parts shattered as she struck him.
"Gah! Fuck! Fuckfuckfuckfuck!!!"
Now his head was no longer the only thing that wasn't in the right place. He felt like a grenade had gone off right in his face, white hot pain centered directly on his definitely broken nose. Hot liquid gushed from his nostrls, sending him reeling and once more filling Greg's mouth with the coppery taste of his own lifeblood. Stumbling a bit, he tried to fight through the pain, a feat that was made a hundred times harder by Glory Girl continuing to squeeze his damaged hand and shoulder.
Disguising his pained groans as angry growls, Greg pushed back with all his might, attempting to force the buxom blonde away from him. Despite his broken hand, he actually seemed to be making some headway as she was slowly, but surely, forcing away the crazy blonde in front of him.
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Victoria was angry. It was an emotion that she was familiar with, especially in brutal fights like thia, when people just wouldn't stay down when she punched them. Confusion was one that came up less often, but she was definitely feeling it now. The blonde creep she had seen harassing her sister was battered to hell and back, bruised and bleeding, but even when she could feel the bones creaking in his hand, he was somehow pushing her back and away.'Was he...was he getting stronger? Fuck that!'
Narrowing her eyes, she tightened her grasp on his shoulder and was rewarded with another crack and a hiss of pain. Despite that, he only grit his teeth and continued to push, somehow ignoring the intense pain he must have been feeling. What would it take to put him down?
Letting go of his shoulder for a split second, she struck him in the nose again, this time with an elbow, forcing another grunt from him as blood spurted from his nostrils. Unceasing in her quest to make him hurt, she slammed the same elbow across his face, leaving him open for her follow-up attacks. A jab struck his jaw and less than a second later, a right cross impacted his battered ribcage. He stumbled back, but didn't fall, nose broken and gushing blood, completely unable to defend himself but for some sick reason, he was still smiling during every single moment of the fight, despite the brutal thrashing he was receiving.
Glory Girl was not one to waste an opportunity, especially when it came to a fight. Her fists came down in a combined hammer fist and he reacted, bringing up his fore-arm to block. She made sure he regretted that. His fore-arm shattered with a distinctive crack, and his face twisted into a grimace of pain. Glory Girl felt a deep sense of satisfaction as he staggered and she rushed forward, confidence brimming. Another hammerfist was swung into his chest like a bat, sending him rocketing back, unsteady on his feet.
Dashing forward, she slammed her fists into his chest repeatedly, copying the volley he had demonstrated on her before. His chest was slick with blood, all of it his, but her fists still found purchase on his body, driving him backwards and forcing grunts of pain from him with every single punch.
It wasn't as fast as his...or anywhere near as smooth...but it really didn't have to be. She was stronger. She was better. She was Glory Girl.
Pausing for a moment, she took in his damaged state. His face was a mess, swollen and bloody, his nose damaged beyond all recognition and his teeth broken and shattered. For a second, she felt kind of sad for him but that quickly dissapeared as she saw him smile once more. This sick fuck was a villain, a bank robber, and worst of all, HE WAS GOING TO HURT AMY!
Winding up her body to deliver every single bit of force she could muster, she let a powerful punch fly, hammering into his chest like a freight train. The asphalt directly underneath them cratered from the sheer force behind her strike, sending gravel and dust flying with a small shockwave of displaced air.
In other words...she hit him. HARD.
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Greg found himself flying once more, the immense strength behind Glory Girl's punch powerful to send him flying over rooftops and hurtling over half a mile to crash directly into the side of a Brockton Bay police car. The collision of his body into the steel frame of the vehicle didn't even faze him. Neither did the din of tearing and crumpling metal bother his sensitive ears. If anything, the impact was a comforting and welcome cushion compared to the diamond-hard fists of Glory Girl. He faintly heard the terror-filled screams of people that he could only conclude were civilians but he paid them no mind. He was more than a bit preoccupied with his own rather important issues at the moment.
Pain...brutal, agonizing pain that just wouldn't cease. Greg's face surged with that same white-hot pain, his right shoulder and left wrist both hung limply, completely shattered by Glory Girl's vise grip, his chest was still covered in his own blood, as well as many bruises and minuscule cuts.
In all honesty, he wanted to stand up and fight but his body...his body just wasn't listening. He wasn't exhausted. He was just too broken, his body too weak to keep fighting as it was. Something inside him raged at that thought. That shouldn't be! He shouldn't be losing like this! Lung didn't make him feel like this...this pathetic, this...weak. Glory Girl...she was strong. Definitely stronger than Lung had been that night. That shouldn't matter! He shouldn't be weak...he was strong, powerful. He was Kheran royalty...whatever the hell that actually meant. Anger made him stronger! Yes...that's what he needed. ANGER!
GET UP!!! GET ANGRY!!!
Giving up was not an option!
'Stand...stand...get up! You can do it! Move!' he screamed to himself. He felt the familiar heat flowing through him and churning all his conflicting emotions into a simple-minded anger that was all he needed to fight. His rage was forced, weak, but it was working and he could already feel his body righting itself, albeit somewhat slowly. Still, his body refused to obey. Too much pain. He needed time. Time to focus, time to heal but time...time was something he didn't have.
He felt more than heard her touchdown. The ground cratered and shook around her as she landed with all the subtlety of an earthquake.
Greg opened his swollen, bleeding eyes to stare up at a viciously smirking Glory Girl.
Placing a bloody hand around his jaw, she pulled him up from his sitting position against the crumpled car door of the police sedan. As she held him up at her eye level, she glared directly into his eyes as if looking for something. When she apparently didn't find what she was searching for, she shook her head slowly.
"You're a fucking piece of shit, you know that?", she began after a long pause.
Greg said nothing.
"I mean, really, what the hell? You and your stupid-ass team rob a bank and hold everyone hostage like a couple of grade-A scumbags! Then you tear up the bank like a bunch of shitheads for whatever fucking reason....."
'Wait...she thinks I'm with them...'
"Honestly, I wouldn't care too much about the other shit but I saw you. I saw you!!!," she shouted in his face, her expression distorted in pure rage. "What were you trying to do to Amy?!"
"Nrrsshing," he forced out through the grip Glory Girl had on his jaw.
"What?"
"Nrrrsshinng!"
His neck found itself with her other hand clamped around it, slowly and rather painfully limiting his airflow while the hand around his jaw was drawn back in a threatening fist.
"Don't fucking lie to me! You piece of shit, I saw you!!!", she growled in his face.
"Ah...dnt...knw...whaa...yu're...tlking...abou...," he managed to gasp out, his face red.
"I SAW YOU IN THE BANK!!," Glory Girl screamed in his face, her grip on his neck tightening as she raised him higher with only one hand. He began to kick wildly as his airflow became weaker and weaker. "YOU HAD NO CLOTHES ON! HER SHIRT WAS RIPPED OPEN! I KNOW WHAT YOU WERE TRYING TO FUCKING DO!!!"
The more she screamed, a golden aura seemed to appear around her body, brightening with every single syllable until it shined like a halo. Greg didn't even notice. He was much too focused on her actual words and the intensifying heat building in his body. The meaning behind her words smashed apart the pain-induced daze in his mind like a sledgehammer breaking through concrete. 'Did she...she just...she called me...' Heat rushed through his body and rage filled his mind, healing his most severe injuries, and he knew this was it. It was time.
Opening his mouth, he spat at her and a thick stream of blood and phlegm shot from his mouth directly into her eyes, immediately robbing her of sight.
"God, what the-?", she yelped out of shock rather than pain. Stumbling back, she let go of his neck and Greg reacted. Lashing out with a quick right cross, he aimed for her gut and instead met Glory Girl's toned forearm with a sound like thunder.
He winced slightly. Felt like punching fucking diamond.
Trying again with an even quicker jab, Glory Girl reacted to his speed, jumping back and launching a powerful kick that a Spartan would have been proud of.
The kick glanced off his side as he dashed to the left, narrowly avoiding the brunt of the attack.
Lunging forward, he delivered a jab to her throat, causing her to gasp for a moment and immediately followed with an elbow into her face.
His elbow made contact and Greg's smile became positively vicious at the sound of Glory Girl's nose breaking and the spray of blood that followed.
"Hahahaha!"
Letting out a short gasp of excited laughter, he smashed another elbow into her nose if only to see more blood spill, and as she reeled back, he laughed once more. Bolstered by the fact that he could actually make her, the invincible Glory Girl, bleed, his mind accelerated and he Moved.
Rushing forward, he thrust his a fist into her chest before dashing to the side and plunging an elbow into her ribs.
Glory Girl reacted to the pain and swung her fist at him in slow motion and he tilted his head to the side, dodging her strike with ease. His fist found itself impacting her cheek and blood flew from her mouth. He rushed her before she could gather a defense, blitzing back and forth, and striking everywhere she left vulnerable. Kick, jab, right cross, left cross, right hook, knee, uppercut, headbutt, headbutt, HEADBUTT!!!
With every single hit he landed, her golden aura flared and faded just the slightest bit and she seemed to be struggling. He moved again, slamming a knee into her gut and she doubled over, groaning in pain. Grabbing her by the hair, he smashed her face into the crumpled police car, ignoring her pained screams. For a moment, he contemplated stabbing her with his blades or using his blasts. He quickly banished the thought. He didn't want to kill her. She was a hero, after all, albeit a stupid, crazy one.
Other than that, Greg was beyond caring. His mind had been all too focused on pain a short while ago. It didn't matter how much she screamed, how much she begged or pleaded. It didn't matter. Right now, he was focused on winning. She thought she could dominate him, crush him like an ant, make him feel weak! She was wrong.
Face bleeding and covered with cuts, Glory Girl screamed in anger and pain, her fists flailing wildly, trying to hit anything. Evading her wild swings with some difficulty, he caught her by the arm and gave it a sharp pull. Her eyes suddenly widened and Greg heard a sharp pop as Glory Girl's shoulder joint was quickly dislocated. Another powerful pull sent her flying over his shoulder in a textbook judo throw and she hurtled through the air.
He watched her flail as she screamed, pain robbing her mind of the knowledge that she could fly and he ran after her, Zirin surging through his body, and forced himself to keep pace with Glory Girl as she careened through the air. She began to descend quickly, flipping head over heels as she did, and Greg continued running, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Two hundred feet...one hundred and fifty, one hundred eighty...one hundred fifty....one hundred...Now!
Time slowed for Greg and he hissed in pain as his right arm burned intensely as he pushed his energy into it, all the heat in his body centering in his fist. Veins bulged, stretched to their limit, and his fist was surrounded with an aura that was as red as his eyes. Glory Girl flipped over once more and as she finally caught sight of him, it was already too late.
Greg shot upwards into the air, glowing fist already pulled back, his exultant smile widening as he noticed Glory Girl's eyes widen in shock as he appeared in front of her. Her limbs flailed wildly as she locked eyes with him, fully aware of what would happen next.
The instant before his fist reached her seemed to extend forever as the both of them stared into each other's eyes. One was blue and filled with fear, the other a bright pupil-less scarlet that exuded excitement. The moment lasted for an eternity on it's own.
Then his fist exploded in a flash of red light.
Glory Girl rocketed towards the ground, plowing through the asphalt and blasting through several parked cars as her aura flared wildly. She finally stopped when she slammed into another police car, unconscious and bleeding, her costume torn to shreds.
Greg shot upwards hundreds of feet in the air with the force of the explosion propelling him. He had won. At least, he was pretty sure he had. That was a long, hard fight and he wasn't sure what to think. Instead, he simply watched his surroundings as he continued his upwards journey.
'Everything's so beautiful from up here. So many blues, clouds so thick, sun so bright. God, I really wish I could fly...hmm, Glory Girl must love flying. I should really talk to her later...ask her how she liked the fight. Hope I performed okay. Wonder if she'll want to do this again."
After a few seconds of psuedo-flight, Greg found himself slowing down and he realized, with a wince, that he had reached the highest point of his flight. He began to drop, and he closed his tired eyes and let himself fall.
Five seconds later, he felt the crash in every bone in his body. The sound of screeching metal, police sirens and the loud shouts of several voices served as a wake-up call for Greg and he opened his eyes. Rolling over onto his side, he noticed the initials P.R.T on the crumpled top of the car he lay on. 'I really hope I don't get in trouble for this.'
Despite the beating he had received, he didn't feel all that bad. His nose was definitely broken, he felt like he couldn't breathe, he was completely exhausted and there was this odd, painful itching in his right arm. Other than that, though, he felt fine. Why shouldn't he? He had destroyed Lung and he had just beaten Glory Girl. He, little Greg Veder, had beaten the best this city had to offer. He was the toughest, the fastest, the STRONGEST cape in all of Brockton Bay. He was UNSTOPPABLE!!! No one could touch him! NO ONE, NO ONE!!!
Greg raised his right hand in the air and pumped his fist, only to be splashed in the face with blood.
'What the...'
His hand was little more than a stump, bone sticking out from his wrist where his palm should be....his right hand...his favorite hand.
'Huh, okay. Hand's gone....I can deal with that. I heal, right?' Greg thought to himself, nodding his head. "Yeah, I'm fine. I can heal from this. Yes, I can. I can. I...I...I can do this. Can you heal what isn't there?"
Sitting up on the destroyed husk of the PRT vehicle he had landed on, mind stressed a bit from seeing his hand gone, Greg threw his head back and laughed wildly.
"Superior, stand down!"
Pausing his laughter, Greg looked to his side, hysteric laughter and manic smile both slowly fading as he took in the sight in front of him.
The Brockton Bay Wards, minus Shadow Stalker, stood in formation below him, ready to fight. For some odd reason, they all seemed tired and somewhat beaten up, almost as if they had just gotten into a big fight.
Aegis stepped forward out of formation and shouted once more.
"I repeat, Superior, stand down!"
'Do they want to fight?' Greg thought to himself, his heart rate speeding up again at the thought of fighting a knockout brawl with Aegis. Glory Girl was invincible 'Hah! Not anymore!' but Aegis...he was implacable. 'NO!' Greg shook the thought out of his mind. He couldn't do that. Aegis was a hero and he hadn't tried to start a fight...yet.
"Okay, I realize this kinda looks bad, with the smashed up street and this car," Greg began, gesturing downwards to the crumpled PRT van he sat on top off,"....but I can explain....See, it's like this...."
He stood up on top of the van and turned his entire body around to face the Wards. As if on cue, they all suddenly groaned and stepped back, placing their hands over their masks.
Glancing at each of the Wards in turn, he noticed most of them doing their best to avert their eyes, the only exceptions being Vista, who appeared to be peeking through her fingers.
"What's wrong? Something wrong or so-...OH..."
A sudden sensation of cold air to his lower body brought to his attention that he was no longer wearing any clothes at all. The explosion must have eviscerated the already ripped slacks he had been wearing, along with his boxers. 'Huh, I guess Alexandria brand boxers aren't that durable after all.'
Glancing back at the Wards, he realized that they had been getting an eyeful of his...junk. Blushing deeply, Greg placed his right hand in front of his groin and the other hand behind him.
When the Wards still made no attempt to look at him, Greg realized that he had been using his non-existent hand to block their view.
Raising his bleeding wrist to his face, Gregory snickered. "Oh, yeah...hehehehe....I don't have that anymore. This is kind of funny, actually...No hand...hehehe...naked in public and covered in blood, in front of heroes and...hehehehehe...a little girl...Hehehehehehehehehe..."
With a soft giggle, Gregory Veder's eyes rolled to the back of his head and he passed out, naked and bloody.
Anyway, I listened to this song while I wrote this. I feel it matches the tone.
Complications 2.7C
The distance between the two of them vanished quickly as he and Glory Girl rushed at each other. On the outside, he was the picture of confidence, despite his somewhat bruised appearance, arms in position to deliver powerful strikes.
On the inside, however, he was fucking giddy. He was in a fight...and with another Brute again! Lung...Lung had been weird...and a bit disappointing. Sure, he was strong...yeah, but he didn't seem as strong as the stories about him said he was. He didn't seem like the Dragon of Japan, the villain that fought Leviathan one on one. Apparently, Lung needed even more time to get to that level of power. Maybe if Greg had realized that, he would have delayed a bit, stretched out the fight...but that was the past.
Glory Girl was the present. Alexandria Jr...The Glory of Brockton Bay...New Wave's Shining Star. She was almost as famous as Lung, and for good reason. Before ramping up, Lung's baseline was little more than a very fit human being, albeit one who stood almost seven feet tall. You could take him out with a metal bat or a pistol shot to the brain if you caught him unawares. Victoria Dallon was a completely different story. Her strength was incredible, 10 tons at last measure and durable enough to brush off a grenade. Her speed was no joke either, according to several posts on PHO, she was clocked at almost two hundred miles an hour in the air. With stats like that, she was a complete beast.
Best part about it, she was like this all the time. All he had to do was beat her and he would know where he stood. No wondering if she wasn't at her strongest like Lung. This would be an open and shut case of Brute vs Brute.
Glory Girl dashed at him at over twice the speed she had been moving at before, creating a slipstream in her wake and surprising Greg a bit.
A bit.
He grinned, dodging a wild swing from her and countering with a jab to her stomach that sent the heroine stumbling back. Capitalizing on her pain, he followed up that quick jab by launching a salvo of strikes all over her body.
His speed aiding him, his toned arms flailed like powerful pistons, repeatedly pounding the heroine's body like a speed bag. His strikes resounded from her body with loud booms, almost like thunder. Pulling his fist back, he threw another punch as fast as he could, directly into Glory Girl's ample chest.
An instant before his fist landed, Glory Girl's open palm caught it and her grip tightened, eliciting a crack and a choked scream from Greg. White hot pain surged through his wrist and fingers in an instant, disorienting him.
Glory Girl smiled at him and increased her grip on his fist, crushing his broken fingers even further while at the same time, her other hand gripped his shoulder just as tightly. Greg grunted in pain, struggling against Glory Girl with all his might.
'God, Scion, fuck all! She wasn't this strong before!' Greg thought to himself as he fought for dominance. Half of him was angry that he was losing, while the other half was excited to be in a fight...and the third half was excited...in another way. This was the first time Greg had been this close to a girl this hot and honestly, his head wasn't completely in the right place.
She noticed his wandering eyes as they began trailing downwards to her chest and screamed in righteous female anger as she realized what he was looking at.
"PERV!!!"
Distracted as he was, Greg was completely unprepared for Glory Girl's invulnerable forehead smashing into his rather durable nose with an incredible amount of force, and for the third time, another one of his body parts shattered as she struck him.
"Gah! Fuck! Fuckfuckfuckfuck!!!"
Now his head was no longer the only thing that wasn't in the right place. He felt like a grenade had gone off right in his face, white hot pain centered directly on his definitely broken nose. Hot liquid gushed from his nostrls, sending him reeling and once more filling Greg's mouth with the coppery taste of his own lifeblood. Stumbling a bit, he tried to fight through the pain, a feat that was made a hundred times harder by Glory Girl continuing to squeeze his damaged hand and shoulder.
Disguising his pained groans as angry growls, Greg pushed back with all his might, attempting to force the buxom blonde away from him. Despite his broken hand, he actually seemed to be making some headway as she was slowly, but surely, forcing away the crazy blonde in front of him.
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Victoria was angry. It was an emotion that she was familiar with, especially in brutal fights like thia, when people just wouldn't stay down when she punched them. Confusion was one that came up less often, but she was definitely feeling it now. The blonde creep she had seen harassing her sister was battered to hell and back, bruised and bleeding, but even when she could feel the bones creaking in his hand, he was somehow pushing her back and away.'Was he...was he getting stronger? Fuck that!'
Narrowing her eyes, she tightened her grasp on his shoulder and was rewarded with another crack and a hiss of pain. Despite that, he only grit his teeth and continued to push, somehow ignoring the intense pain he must have been feeling. What would it take to put him down?
Letting go of his shoulder for a split second, she struck him in the nose again, this time with an elbow, forcing another grunt from him as blood spurted from his nostrils. Unceasing in her quest to make him hurt, she slammed the same elbow across his face, leaving him open for her follow-up attacks. A jab struck his jaw and less than a second later, a right cross impacted his battered ribcage. He stumbled back, but didn't fall, nose broken and gushing blood, completely unable to defend himself but for some sick reason, he was still smiling during every single moment of the fight, despite the brutal thrashing he was receiving.
Glory Girl was not one to waste an opportunity, especially when it came to a fight. Her fists came down in a combined hammer fist and he reacted, bringing up his fore-arm to block. She made sure he regretted that. His fore-arm shattered with a distinctive crack, and his face twisted into a grimace of pain. Glory Girl felt a deep sense of satisfaction as he staggered and she rushed forward, confidence brimming. Another hammerfist was swung into his chest like a bat, sending him rocketing back, unsteady on his feet.
Dashing forward, she slammed her fists into his chest repeatedly, copying the volley he had demonstrated on her before. His chest was slick with blood, all of it his, but her fists still found purchase on his body, driving him backwards and forcing grunts of pain from him with every single punch.
It wasn't as fast as his...or anywhere near as smooth...but it really didn't have to be. She was stronger. She was better. She was Glory Girl.
Pausing for a moment, she took in his damaged state. His face was a mess, swollen and bloody, his nose damaged beyond all recognition and his teeth broken and shattered. For a second, she felt kind of sad for him but that quickly dissapeared as she saw him smile once more. This sick fuck was a villain, a bank robber, and worst of all, HE WAS GOING TO HURT AMY!
Winding up her body to deliver every single bit of force she could muster, she let a powerful punch fly, hammering into his chest like a freight train. The asphalt directly underneath them cratered from the sheer force behind her strike, sending gravel and dust flying with a small shockwave of displaced air.
In other words...she hit him. HARD.
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Greg found himself flying once more, the immense strength behind Glory Girl's punch powerful to send him flying over rooftops and hurtling over half a mile to crash directly into the side of a Brockton Bay police car. The collision of his body into the steel frame of the vehicle didn't even faze him. Neither did the din of tearing and crumpling metal bother his sensitive ears. If anything, the impact was a comforting and welcome cushion compared to the diamond-hard fists of Glory Girl. He faintly heard the terror-filled screams of people that he could only conclude were civilians but he paid them no mind. He was more than a bit preoccupied with his own rather important issues at the moment.
Pain...brutal, agonizing pain that just wouldn't cease. Greg's face surged with that same white-hot pain, his right shoulder and left wrist both hung limply, completely shattered by Glory Girl's vise grip, his chest was still covered in his own blood, as well as many bruises and minuscule cuts.
In all honesty, he wanted to stand up and fight but his body...his body just wasn't listening. He wasn't exhausted. He was just too broken, his body too weak to keep fighting as it was. Something inside him raged at that thought. That shouldn't be! He shouldn't be losing like this! Lung didn't make him feel like this...this pathetic, this...weak. Glory Girl...she was strong. Definitely stronger than Lung had been that night. That shouldn't matter! He shouldn't be weak...he was strong, powerful. He was Kheran royalty...whatever the hell that actually meant. Anger made him stronger! Yes...that's what he needed. ANGER!
GET UP!!! GET ANGRY!!!
Giving up was not an option!
'Stand...stand...get up! You can do it! Move!' he screamed to himself. He felt the familiar heat flowing through him and churning all his conflicting emotions into a simple-minded anger that was all he needed to fight. His rage was forced, weak, but it was working and he could already feel his body righting itself, albeit somewhat slowly. Still, his body refused to obey. Too much pain. He needed time. Time to focus, time to heal but time...time was something he didn't have.
He felt more than heard her touchdown. The ground cratered and shook around her as she landed with all the subtlety of an earthquake.
Greg opened his swollen, bleeding eyes to stare up at a viciously smirking Glory Girl.
Placing a bloody hand around his jaw, she pulled him up from his sitting position against the crumpled car door of the police sedan. As she held him up at her eye level, she glared directly into his eyes as if looking for something. When she apparently didn't find what she was searching for, she shook her head slowly.
"You're a fucking piece of shit, you know that?", she began after a long pause.
Greg said nothing.
"I mean, really, what the hell? You and your stupid-ass team rob a bank and hold everyone hostage like a couple of grade-A scumbags! Then you tear up the bank like a bunch of shitheads for whatever fucking reason....."
'Wait...she thinks I'm with them...'
"Honestly, I wouldn't care too much about the other shit but I saw you. I saw you!!!," she shouted in his face, her expression distorted in pure rage. "What were you trying to do to Amy?!"
"Nrrsshing," he forced out through the grip Glory Girl had on his jaw.
"What?"
"Nrrrsshinng!"
His neck found itself with her other hand clamped around it, slowly and rather painfully limiting his airflow while the hand around his jaw was drawn back in a threatening fist.
"Don't fucking lie to me! You piece of shit, I saw you!!!", she growled in his face.
"Ah...dnt...knw...whaa...yu're...tlking...abou...," he managed to gasp out, his face red.
"I SAW YOU IN THE BANK!!," Glory Girl screamed in his face, her grip on his neck tightening as she raised him higher with only one hand. He began to kick wildly as his airflow became weaker and weaker. "YOU HAD NO CLOTHES ON! HER SHIRT WAS RIPPED OPEN! I KNOW WHAT YOU WERE TRYING TO FUCKING DO!!!"
The more she screamed, a golden aura seemed to appear around her body, brightening with every single syllable until it shined like a halo. Greg didn't even notice. He was much too focused on her actual words and the intensifying heat building in his body. The meaning behind her words smashed apart the pain-induced daze in his mind like a sledgehammer breaking through concrete. 'Did she...she just...she called me...' Heat rushed through his body and rage filled his mind, healing his most severe injuries, and he knew this was it. It was time.
Opening his mouth, he spat at her and a thick stream of blood and phlegm shot from his mouth directly into her eyes, immediately robbing her of sight.
"God, what the-?", she yelped out of shock rather than pain. Stumbling back, she let go of his neck and Greg reacted. Lashing out with a quick right cross, he aimed for her gut and instead met Glory Girl's toned forearm with a sound like thunder.
He winced slightly. Felt like punching fucking diamond.
Trying again with an even quicker jab, Glory Girl reacted to his speed, jumping back and launching a powerful kick that a Spartan would have been proud of.
The kick glanced off his side as he dashed to the left, narrowly avoiding the brunt of the attack.
Lunging forward, he delivered a jab to her throat, causing her to gasp for a moment and immediately followed with an elbow into her face.
His elbow made contact and Greg's smile became positively vicious at the sound of Glory Girl's nose breaking and the spray of blood that followed.
"Hahahaha!"
Letting out a short gasp of excited laughter, he smashed another elbow into her nose if only to see more blood spill, and as she reeled back, he laughed once more. Bolstered by the fact that he could actually make her, the invincible Glory Girl, bleed, his mind accelerated and he Moved.
Rushing forward, he thrust his a fist into her chest before dashing to the side and plunging an elbow into her ribs.
Glory Girl reacted to the pain and swung her fist at him in slow motion and he tilted his head to the side, dodging her strike with ease. His fist found itself impacting her cheek and blood flew from her mouth. He rushed her before she could gather a defense, blitzing back and forth, and striking everywhere she left vulnerable. Kick, jab, right cross, left cross, right hook, knee, uppercut, headbutt, headbutt, HEADBUTT!!!
With every single hit he landed, her golden aura flared and faded just the slightest bit and she seemed to be struggling. He moved again, slamming a knee into her gut and she doubled over, groaning in pain. Grabbing her by the hair, he smashed her face into the crumpled police car, ignoring her pained screams. For a moment, he contemplated stabbing her with his blades or using his blasts. He quickly banished the thought. He didn't want to kill her. She was a hero, after all, albeit a stupid, crazy one.
Other than that, Greg was beyond caring. His mind had been all too focused on pain a short while ago. It didn't matter how much she screamed, how much she begged or pleaded. It didn't matter. Right now, he was focused on winning. She thought she could dominate him, crush him like an ant, make him feel weak! She was wrong.
Face bleeding and covered with cuts, Glory Girl screamed in anger and pain, her fists flailing wildly, trying to hit anything. Evading her wild swings with some difficulty, he caught her by the arm and gave it a sharp pull. Her eyes suddenly widened and Greg heard a sharp pop as Glory Girl's shoulder joint was quickly dislocated. Another powerful pull sent her flying over his shoulder in a textbook judo throw and she hurtled through the air.
He watched her flail as she screamed, pain robbing her mind of the knowledge that she could fly and he ran after her, Zirin surging through his body, and forced himself to keep pace with Glory Girl as she careened through the air. She began to descend quickly, flipping head over heels as she did, and Greg continued running, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Two hundred feet...one hundred and fifty, one hundred eighty...one hundred fifty....one hundred...Now!
Time slowed for Greg and he hissed in pain as his right arm burned intensely as he pushed his energy into it, all the heat in his body centering in his fist. Veins bulged, stretched to their limit, and his fist was surrounded with an aura that was as red as his eyes. Glory Girl flipped over once more and as she finally caught sight of him, it was already too late.
Greg shot upwards into the air, glowing fist already pulled back, his exultant smile widening as he noticed Glory Girl's eyes widen in shock as he appeared in front of her. Her limbs flailed wildly as she locked eyes with him, fully aware of what would happen next.
The instant before his fist reached her seemed to extend forever as the both of them stared into each other's eyes. One was blue and filled with fear, the other a bright pupil-less scarlet that exuded excitement. The moment lasted for an eternity on it's own.
Then his fist exploded in a flash of red light.
Glory Girl rocketed towards the ground, plowing through the asphalt and blasting through several parked cars as her aura flared wildly. She finally stopped when she slammed into another police car, unconscious and bleeding, her costume torn to shreds.
Greg shot upwards hundreds of feet in the air with the force of the explosion propelling him. He had won. At least, he was pretty sure he had. That was a long, hard fight and he wasn't sure what to think. Instead, he simply watched his surroundings as he continued his upwards journey.
'Everything's so beautiful from up here. So many blues, clouds so thick, sun so bright. God, I really wish I could fly...hmm, Glory Girl must love flying. I should really talk to her later...ask her how she liked the fight. Hope I performed okay. Wonder if she'll want to do this again."
After a few seconds of psuedo-flight, Greg found himself slowing down and he realized, with a wince, that he had reached the highest point of his flight. He began to drop, and he closed his tired eyes and let himself fall.
Five seconds later, he felt the crash in every bone in his body. The sound of screeching metal, police sirens and the loud shouts of several voices served as a wake-up call for Greg and he opened his eyes. Rolling over onto his side, he noticed the initials P.R.T on the crumpled top of the car he lay on. 'I really hope I don't get in trouble for this.'
Despite the beating he had received, he didn't feel all that bad. His nose was definitely broken, he felt like he couldn't breathe, he was completely exhausted and there was this odd, painful itching in his right arm. Other than that, though, he felt fine. Why shouldn't he? He had destroyed Lung and he had just beaten Glory Girl. He, little Greg Veder, had beaten the best this city had to offer. He was the toughest, the fastest, the STRONGEST cape in all of Brockton Bay. He was UNSTOPPABLE!!! No one could touch him! NO ONE, NO ONE!!!
Greg raised his right hand in the air and pumped his fist, only to be splashed in the face with blood.
'What the...'
His hand was little more than a stump, bone sticking out from his wrist where his palm should be....his right hand...his favorite hand.
'Huh, okay. Hand's gone....I can deal with that. I heal, right?' Greg thought to himself, nodding his head. "Yeah, I'm fine. I can heal from this. Yes, I can. I can. I...I...I can do this. Can you heal what isn't there?"
Sitting up on the destroyed husk of the PRT vehicle he had landed on, mind stressed a bit from seeing his hand gone, Greg threw his head back and laughed wildly.
"Superior, stand down!"
Pausing his laughter, Greg looked to his side, hysteric laughter and manic smile both slowly fading as he took in the sight in front of him.
The Brockton Bay Wards, minus Shadow Stalker, stood in formation below him, ready to fight. For some odd reason, they all seemed tired and somewhat beaten up, almost as if they had just gotten into a big fight.
Aegis stepped forward out of formation and shouted once more.
"I repeat, Superior, stand down!"
'Do they want to fight?' Greg thought to himself, his heart rate speeding up again at the thought of fighting a knockout brawl with Aegis. Glory Girl was invincible 'Hah! Not anymore!' but Aegis...he was implacable. 'NO!' Greg shook the thought out of his mind. He couldn't do that. Aegis was a hero and he hadn't tried to start a fight...yet.
"Okay, I realize this kinda looks bad, with the smashed up street and this car," Greg began, gesturing downwards to the crumpled PRT van he sat on top off,"....but I can explain....See, it's like this...."
He stood up on top of the van and turned his entire body around to face the Wards. As if on cue, they all suddenly groaned and stepped back, placing their hands over their masks.
Glancing at each of the Wards in turn, he noticed most of them doing their best to avert their eyes, the only exceptions being Vista, who appeared to be peeking through her fingers.
"What's wrong? Something wrong or so-...OH..."
A sudden sensation of cold air to his lower body brought to his attention that he was no longer wearing any clothes at all. The explosion must have eviscerated the already ripped slacks he had been wearing, along with his boxers. 'Huh, I guess Alexandria brand boxers aren't that durable after all.'
Glancing back at the Wards, he realized that they had been getting an eyeful of his...junk. Blushing deeply, Greg placed his right hand in front of his groin and the other hand behind him.
When the Wards still made no attempt to look at him, Greg realized that he had been using his non-existent hand to block their view.
Raising his bleeding wrist to his face, Gregory snickered. "Oh, yeah...hehehehe....I don't have that anymore. This is kind of funny, actually...No hand...hehehe...naked in public and covered in blood, in front of heroes and...hehehehehe...a little girl...Hehehehehehehehehe..."
With a soft giggle, Gregory Veder's eyes rolled to the back of his head and he passed out, naked and bloody.
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