[x] All out assault! hit him with everything you've got, and keep hitting him!

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I Burn
1-3

His sudden appearance had caught me by surprise but I was able to recognise him as Mush - There are only so many giant trash monsters in the city it could be, after all - , A merchant cape and third in the pecking order. I didn't know what he looked like under that armour of trash but he was currently close to eight feet tall.

Even as I watched, more trash was being pulled from across the room and adding to his form. Merchants, or just druggies in general, were not exactly know for cleanliness so he had plenty of crap to call on.

He took another swing at me and I ducked under it, dropping the bags of cash as they were just slowing me down. I wasn't afraid of getting hurt, I'd just rather not touch him if I could help it.

I tried to move towards the front door but he lashed out. Swinging wide, his body shifted to let his arm flail like a whip. I dodged to the side, swallowed my revulsion, and hit back at his chest.

My fist sank into the trash with a disgusting squelching noise, not even reaching Mush. It was like hitting a spunge. The soft trash acting like ablative armour, compacting and breaking under the impact and anything knocked loose was simply reabsorbed. Oh god, it's wet...and warm!

Somewhere in the garbage, Mush laughed, "Suck on it bitch! you can't hurt me!"

Emboldened, Mush pushed forward. I brought my arms up in a guard and allowed my power to absorb the impacts as he drove me against the wall, hurling insults as he did.

I couldn't hurt him but he couldn't hurt me either. I could feel the energy building but I didn't dare use it. Behind Mush, I could see part of the drug lab and a couple of the downed Merchants. If I cut loose now, the whole place would go up.

Realising he was getting nowhere, Mush combined both his arms into a single club and brought it horizontally across my arms. The impact spun me round and sent me sailing across the room. I hit the floor and rolled until the wall stopped me.

My head was still spinning as I tried to climb to my feet. Something was running into my eye, when I whipped it with my hand I realised I was bleeding. Either there was something sharp in Mush's arm or I'd hit my head when I fell.

Given the trash of his body and the state of the floor, both were bad scenarios.

It's odd how the mind works. Mush was advancing slowly, gathering more debris as he moved and I could feel my power already closing the wound. But what I really focused on, was the strands of black mixed in with the blood on my hand.

I was proud of my hair. It was long, dark and curly, like Mom's. It was the only thing about my appearance I felt was truly feminine and I spent hours taking care of it.

He'd taken a chunk out of my hair, something my power can't fix…. My temper started to flare, burning away my restraint, and my eyes flashed red.

Fire burst under my feet and propelled me forwards. I reached Mush before he could get more than halfway across the room and drove my fist deep into the filth and set off another blast.

The outer layer exploded, covering the walls and me in god-knows-what, and sending him backwards. He struggled to stay upright, his armour already gathering more debris. Not giving him time to recover, I charged forwards again.

Every hit knocked more trash from his body, The cursing from inside getting more colourful and panicked as I drove him backwards until he hit the wall. He was thrashing about more, flailing in fear as I laid into him.

It wasn't enough, my blows were not getting through. In a flash of temper, I added fire to my next hit.

I smiled at Mush's scream as the flammable trash ignited, forcing him to discard much of his armour. I hit him again and again. More force, more fire.

Snarling, I pulled my fist back. I put as much power as I dared into the blow.

The old wooden wall behind Mush shattered and he came to a stop in the middle of the road, shedding armour as he rolled. In a burst of fire I was on him again, raining blows and burning away his armour. As the trash burned, it revealed a scrawny, pink skinned man.

"You fucking cum-sucking bitch! Skidmarks gonna mess you up! You can't do this!-" the tirade continued even as I pulled him free of the trash. Holding him tight with both hands, I brought my head down his with a crack and he slumped bonelessly to the ground.

I stood there, breathing heavily, my temper had finally burned itself out. I checked Mush was still breathing and ziptied his hands.

I needed to get out of here, even in this part of the city, someone would have called the police by now. As I turned back to the house, intending to collect the cash and run I realised how badly I had screwed up.

An entire wall was missing and thick black smoke was streaming through the hole as fire spread. The house was a bomb waiting to happen. It was mostly old, dry, wood and full of crap, not to mentioned the drug lab in the kitchen.

My eyes widened. The Merchants!

I'd left them tied up and mostly unconscious in there! This was my fault, I had to do something!

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An: I tried to upload this a couple of days ago but FF wouldn't let me log in.