I had no time to react. The grenade went off with a blinding flash and a deafening explosion. The whole world went white, my ears ringing. I stumbled around, senses entirely deprived. At some point I think I fell to the floor. After several moments the ringing in my ears subsided and I heard the footsteps and voices of a few people. My vision was still mostly impaired, but growing better with each blink. I could make out Angel's form, and another person next to her, kneeling. She wasn't moving. After a few blinks, I made out a purple tuxedo and dark hair on the second person, and when I could finally see completely I recognized the purple tattoo on the mans neck, and the long, black ponytail. It was Hun.

I struggled to my feet, head aching from the sudden attack on my senses, and grabbed onto a nearby table for support. I looked around the room. Baxter Stockman was standing next to Hun, who had retrieved two pill bottles from Angels coat pockets. A few other Purple Dragon goons milled around, some of which I recognized. The lady with the mohawk was among them. A revenge attempt? How did they know I was going to be here? My head swam, but I'm not as dense as people like to think I am. The answer hit me.

Stockman. When he was typing on that invisible keyboard, he was telling Hun what was happening. I knew he was tied to the Purple Dragons, and from what I could tell, Hun was their leader. It made sense that he would be in contact with him. The whole slideshow deal was just to distract us long enough for Hun and his goon squad to show up. I tried to move, but my legs were jelly, so I tuned into the conversation that Stockman and Hun were having.

"-ay be some complications. Emotional stability could be tampered with; they're essentially the strongest steroids on the planet. Make sure you only take two or so at a time, and always take the followup dose, or your insides will eat themselves," Stockman finished. Hun tossed the pill bottles to mohawk girl, who shoved them deep in the pockets of her leather jacket, before clapping Stockman on the shoulder and lifting up Angel in a fireman's carry. "I mean it, Hun. No more than two a week. We've no idea whether the human body can handle the rapid acceleration in protein production. You might die, or else something far worse could happen."

"Thanks, doc," Hun said, a cocky grin peeling apart his lips, "don't you worry. Two at a time, like you said." He whistled, and the goons started to file towards the shattered window, where I had only just noticed a helicopter hovering. His beady black eyes caught sight of me as he turned to go, and his grin turned into a sneer. He handed off Angel to the big guy I had seen the night these wackos were chasing me, and cracked his knuckles. I had recovered my balance by then, surprising myself at how quickly I was able to shrug off the flashbang. Maybe an additional benefit of the pills. I let go of the table, and stood up straight, eyes locked on Hun.

"What are you doing with Angel?" I asked, balling up my fists. Hun barked a short laugh.

"We're taking her," he said, "what are you gonna do about it?" Stockman looked from Hun to me and held up a hand, eyes a bit wide.

"Ah, Hun. I would advise you be careful, he-"

"Shut it, Stickbug," Hun interjected. Then, talking over the quiet correction of 'Stockman', he continued. "I can handle this goon. I took him on once, I can handle him again." Then, to me, he added, "hope you like the taste of knuckle sandwiches, pal." I mirrored the smile on his face, all teeth. I felt a bit naked fighting without my mask, but it couldn't be helped.

"I'm surprised you recognize me," I said, circling to the left. He followed the action in the opposite direction.

"Oh, please. Your voice is very distinct," he laughed his short laugh again, "not everybody can manage to sound cocky and pitiful at the same time. You could get a career in Hollywood." I brought my fists up, and he did the same. He was sans brass knuckles this time. I shook my head.

"You suckered me last time. I'm a lot tougher to take down when I'm ready for ya," I said.

"Hun, seriously, you don't understand. He-" Stockman tried to intervene once again, going over and trying to grab Hun's shoulder with a skinny hand. The bulkier man shrugged him off and pushed him several paces back, to be caught by one of the Purple Dragon thugs, who were all watching intently. Hun was locked onto me, with the balance of a trained martial artist. In a regular fist fight, he would clobber me. But I had a secret weapon up my sleeve. Eventually, I got tired of circling. I needed to get Angel and I out of here. So I took the first punch.

I ran straight for him, and swung a heavy haymaker wide at his head. I wanted to end this with one massive punch. Hun was faster than me, though, and ducked beneath me, jabbing me in the gut a few times before ducking under my second messy swing and backing away. Each punch I threw blew through the air and blew my wild black hair around a bit. Despite how much power they were packing, I couldn't seem to land one. Hun was too fast. I kept throwing wide punches, and he kept hitting me. The strikes would have taken me down had I been normal, but given my super strength at the time, they were painful. Just not fight-ending.

My time came when Hun decided to get in close.

I was getting tired of throwing the big punches, and he must have noticed that my punches were coming out slower, because he came in with a series of punches and kicks to my chest. He lingered for just a moment too long, and I closed my arms around him like a Venus fly trap.

Hun was a bit shorter than me, and more muscular, but those things didn't matter. My grip was iron. No technique could save him. I locked my hands around his forearms, and began to spin. Before long, Hun's legs were lifted off of the ground, and after a few more spins I gave a grunt, sending him flying across the penthouse. With a heavy crash, he collided with a pristinely white wall, destroying a sizeable chunk of wood and plaster. He was out cold.

Clapping my hands together to brush them off, I turned towards the other Purple Dragons. I pointed to the big guy.

"You're gonna leave her," I moved my finger to Stockman, "and him. And you're gonna take that piece of crap behind me and go. I don't ever want to see your ugly mugs again, not in my neighborhood, not in New York. Dig me?"

Each of them was standing, dumbfounded, for a few seconds before they nodded. Big guy laid Angel on the floor as gently as possible before walking sheepishly past me to lift Hun out of his hole in the wall. Then he, mohawk girl, and the other Purple Dragons made their way out onto the chopper, and flew away into the now setting sun. I rubbed at my chest. I was gonna have bruises there from all of Huns attacks, that was for sure. I walked over to Stockman and Angel, kneeling beside her and checking her for injuries. She seemed clear of any, and she was breathing fine, so I turned to the scientist.

"Alright, Slugma," I said.

"It's Stockman! For goodness' sake you pea-brained…" He stopped himself, as if he just remembered watching me throw a full grown martial artist 30 feet into a wall. "What is it?"

"You're going to tell me everything there is to know about the pills I put inside of myself, and you're going to tell me now." I said. He nodded, a smile ghosting the right corner of his mouth. It twitched.

"Well, for starters," he said, his voice dripping with mirth, "you just let those Purple Dragons get away with the rest of them."