Taylor shivered slightly, clutching her coat closer to her body as a particularly harsh breeze hit her. She had been hesitant, at first, to include the trench coat Six had left behind weeks ago in her costume; the ends went down around her ankles, and the chances of tripping over them while running were… not zero. For once, though, her father's gangly, string-bean genetics were working in her favor.
In her decision to come out tonight, though, she had ended up putting it on anyway. The leather was thick and heavy, and the protection it offered cemented her decision to add it into her costume; at least until she could acquire the armor plates she had originally planned into the design. The jacket by itself might only stop a bullet or two, but that was one or two more than she'd be able to take without it. With a belt to keep it fastened around her waist, the end result was something like a cross between a cowboy and a noir thriller protagonist. Certainly intimidating, combined with her insectoid mask. She just hoped that it wasn't enough to cause any misunderstandings about her allegiances. The best way, though, to stop that from happening was to make her first impression on the heroes a good one, and to do that, she had to find some criminals to bring down.
Moving along, one block at a time, Taylor kept drawing bugs into her swarm, keeping them out of sight. By the time she caught sight of something worth checking out, that being a group of thugs in ABB colors, she had amassed a significant swarm of roaches, wasps, bees, spiders and all other species of insect, nasty and painful alike. She was tempted to send the swarm forward, have them disable the thugs before they even knew what was happening, but then she saw the others streaming out of a nearby building, gathering into a swarm of their own. There weren't many, maybe a few dozen all told, but it was enough to give Taylor reason to pause. Then, as if the universe itself were shaking its head silently, telling her to move on and forget what she saw, Lung himself appeared in the building's doorway.
The man was tall, a good six feet at least, his chest bared and showing off his many tattoos, and his face covered by an ornate metal mask depicting a dragon. Taylor wasn't eager to end her first night as cape as a charred corpse, but her curiosity was just strong enough to stop her from turning around and washing her hands of the whole affair right then and there. Rather, she crept off into a side alley, finding the fire escape to the building Lung had just exited. She snuck over to the edge of the roof, hiding just out of sight of any of the gangers but close enough to eavesdrop on Lung's speech.
"…the children, just shoot. Doesn't matter your aim, just shoot," He growled, "You see one lying on the ground? Shoot the little bitch twice more to be sure. We give them no chances to be clever or lucky, understand?"
Taylor's blood froze.
Killing kids?
She couldn't just let that happen; but she couldn't exactly jump into combat yelling 'Halt, Evildoer!', either. If the combined might of the local Protectorate couldn't take Lung, there wasn't a chance in hell that she could do it alone. Still, it wasn't like she could just let them run off to wherever they were going and kill innocents!
Taylor was still deep in internal debate, her swarm poised to attack at any moment, when a sharp crack jolted her out of her thoughts, followed by an agonized cry cutting off Lung's speech, and a meaty 'thunk' of something colliding with a wooden door after that.
She heard shouts of surprise, men scrambling out of the street as they hurried to figure out where the shot had come from, or at least avoid becoming the gunman's next target. Taylor scrabbled off of the lip of the roof and ducked behind the ledge, hopefully either unseen or ignored by the gunman. After a moment of silence, she peeked her head up, scanning up and down the street to try and find the source.
"Right here, boys," A voice drawled from one end of the street. Taylor's, and no doubt several of thugs' heads, twisted to face the voice. All she could make out in the dim light of the moon was a pair of glowing crimson eyes, slowly moving closer with each echoing footstep on the asphalt.
It occured to Taylor, frozen in shock as she was, that she recognized the voice; to say nothing of the distinctive crimson glare.
It was the same man who had saved her life weeks ago when he freed her from the locker.
"So, I just got a message not too long ago on this fancy new 'cell phone'," He continued, "And it promised me a lot of money if I came here, to this address, and shot anyone wearing red and green."
As Six slowly sauntered closer, Taylor could make out more and more details, including the large lever-action rifle resting over one shoulder.
"So I come out here, not expecting much, but lo and behold, an entire legion of guys wearing- guess what- red and green! And not only that, but they're talking about shooting children, if I heard King Dipshit over there correctly." Six unslung the rifle, holding it with the casual surety of a man who was confident he had already won. "I have to say, though; killing children? That's just bad taste." He worked the action, sending a brass casing skittering away into the otherwise quiet night.
"So. Who's ready to die first?"
There was a moment of silence, Taylor staring at Six, who was, presumably, staring at the gathered group of ABB thugs. One of the thugs shouted something in a language Taylor didn't know, followed by several more shouts in half a dozen different languages. Some ran, their footsteps echoing up to the rooftops, others opened fire. Six didn't flinch, didn't show any sign that the bullets were even hitting as he stalked towards them like some sort of revenant, bullets slapping against his jacket and helmet ineffectively.
Finally snapping out of her shocked silence, Taylor ordered her swarm forward. She couldn't take this whole group alone, but she could certainly provide assistance as someone else did. The shocked and pained cries she received in return only confirmed her decision. She held her more potentially dangerous bugs in reserve; but the roaches, flies, and other biting insects she ordered to attack en masse, and to good effect. Several gangers fell to the ground, literally covered in a blanket of insects, firing their guns blindly in a desperate attempt to chase the attackers off. Others, probably the smarter ones in the bunch, turned and ran; the combination of Lung being (hopefully) incapacitated, and an incoming cape they couldn't seem to stop made for more than enough incentive to cut and run while they still could.
Six's howling laughter as the bullets impacted his armor only added to the intimidation value.
"C'mon, motherfuckers," She heard him cackling, "That all you got!? Where's your spine, huh? I got mine right here!"
Taylor had to admit, even she was a little terrified by the display.
She didn't know how long it had been when the gunfire finally died down. She knew, in the back of her mind, that it had only been a minute or two, max, but it felt like it had been so much longer. Through her insects' senses, Taylor saw a half dozen thugs that hadn't had the intelligence to run laid spread across the pavement, some moaning and clutching their wounds, others curled up and covered in welts. Getting to her feet, gravel crunching beneath her, Taylor peeked over the ledge at the carnage.
Only to find herself staring down the barrel of Six's rifle a couple stories below.
"Don't shoot!" She yelped, ducking back behind the stone barrier. There was a moment of silence, and Taylor had a thought that she might need to use her bugs to keep Six from taking her head off before he finally responded.
"Wait a sec… Aren't you that kid I pulled out of that locker a few weeks back?"
Peeking back over the ledge again, Taylor saw that he had lowered his gun, his head cocked to one side.
"What was it, something with a 'T'?"
"Don't say my name!" She squawked, springing to her full height. "I don't want any of the gangs figuring out my identity!"
"Oh. Uh, sorry." He grunted. "Hey, was that you with those bugs just now? Nice work; helped save me the trouble of shooting those guys."
"Y-yeah." Taylor managed to stutter out. It felt nice to finally get some praise for once. She looked up and down the street, at the bodies of the fallen thugs. "...Are they going to be okay?"
"Who-? Oh, those guys. Yeah, I'll take care of 'em in a sec. Mind helping me out?"
Taylor nodded silently, sliding off the ledge and climbing back down the fire escape. Before she could reach the street, though, she heard grunting echoing out from up ahead.
"You better sit back down, before I make you- Hrk-!"
She heard another man yelling.
'Was that Lung?'
And then a thud like someone collapsing to the ground, followed by grunting, shouting, and other fighting sounds. As Taylor sprinted out into the street, She saw Six pinned to the ground by Lung, trying to kick the man off as he slashed with partially transformed claws. She could see Lung growing before her eyes, scaly metallic plates erupting from his back as he slashed and clawed and literally spat flames at Six.
She couldn't take on Lung!
...Could she?
She would have to, Taylor realized quickly. There was no one else nearby; any Protectorate heroes, if they were coming at all, would be too late to do anything more than distract Lung. If someone didn't stop him soon, then Lung would kill Six, or go on a rampage trying. Either way, people would die. Calling up her entire swarm to buy time attacking Lung, Taylor searched for something, anything she could use to stop him.
First Aid Kit?
No.
Pepper Spray?
A bit late for that, now.
Epipens?
Oh how ironic it would be, Taylor thought absently, for Lung of all people to be incapacitated by an allergic reaction. As it was, though, she doubted even the toughest of her insects could penetrate those scales of his, so it was a moot point. She ordered her swarm forward anyway; maybe she could distract Lung, blind him long enough for Six to take back the advantage.
Most of her insects burned up before they could find a weak spot in Lung's scales, his skin already hot enough to pop them like miniature water balloons in seconds, but her flying insects found more success. While his skin was too well armored to get through, Lung's defense wasn't perfect. His eyes, the inside of his mouth, and the areas up his nose were all regular flesh; just as vulnerable to bites and stings as any other person. Taylor ordered every flying insect she had to attack those areas. Wasps, bees, and mosquitoes among others all clustering into any exposed orifice they could find; dying in droves to Lung's flames, but effective nonetheless as they bit and stung at whatever exposed flesh they could.
The half-dragon man screamed, clawing at his face as one insect landed a particularly painful sting. After a moment of stumbling around and clutching his head, Lung roared, releasing a wave of fire that forced even Taylor to duck behind the building she was using for cover to avoid getting singed. All of her insects in the vicinity of Lung disappeared, instantly vaporized by the wave of heat. When she peeked back around the corner, Taylor locked eyes with Lung, who roared in response.
"You!"
Taylor stumbled back, tripping over her feet and sitting frozen with fear as Lung loped towards her, wreathed in fire and howling with fury. In seconds, he was upon her, towering over Taylor and growling.
"I 'onna 'ill you," He growled, his voice carrying a sort of finality. Taylor clenched her eyes shut, both from the intensity of the flames, and in a sort of acceptance of her fate. She had tried to be a hero, and fate had slapped her down for it. With her final moments, Taylor hoped her Dad would be alright.
Before Lung could strike, though, a shot rang out. Taylor heard a man screaming. Something warm and wet with shards of something harder intermixed splattered over the side of her mask.
Taylor opened her eyes. Her vision in her right eye was obscured, whatever had splattered over her face leaving her vision tinged red. With her left eye, Taylor saw Lung kneeling before her, clutching at the grisly remains of his mangled knee. Behind him, approaching with his rifle shouldered, was Six.
"When I say sit down," He growled, every step punctuated by the rapid fire
'Bang Ch-chink' of his rifle cycling, "You sit. The fuck. Down."
With every shot, Lung cried out, the bullets sparking as they collided with his armored scales and carved gouges and furrows into his back. When Six finally stopped, standing victorious over Lung, the ABB leader's body was a brutalized mess, both knees shattered and bloody pulps from where Six's bullets had managed to penetrate. Reloading, Six lowered his rifle at the villain's arms, blowing out the man's elbows in the same manner.
"Motherfucker," He grunted, "I'd like to see him get up from that."
Seemingly satisfied, he turned to Taylor.
"You alright there, kid? You've got a little something on your… Uh," He gestured to his right side. "Everything."
Snapping out of her stupor, Taylor wiped a hand over her mask. It came away covered in blood. Lung's blood.
"I'm… I'm fine." She lied.
"Yes. Because I'm totally going to believe that." Six agreed. "But if you don't want to talk about it, that's your business."
Stepping over Lung's body, Six held out a hand.
"C'mon kid, up you go."
Taking his hand, Taylor was pulled to her feet, Six clapping a hand on her shoulder.
"Good work back there, kid. Bought me enough time to get my bearings, even if you did almost get barbecued in the process."
Taylor swelled with alternating pride at being recognized for helping bring down Lung, and embarrassment on how close she came to dying in the process. She really could have planned that out a bit more. Finally she settled on letting the two feelings cancel each other out, taking a small amount of pride in the fact that she was alive and in one piece.
"...Thanks." She finally said.
"But anyway, what're you doing out here?" Six continued. "That getup of yours doesn't exactly scream 'going for a casual stroll in the park'."
"I'm-... I was looking for criminals to stop," Taylor finally admitted. "When I saw Lung and the gangers, I couldn't just let them go and do whatever they were planning. Feels kind of stupid now, though."
Six laughed, slapping her on the back.
"Ah, don't worry, that's just the near death experience talking. Makes you question every decision you ever made. Just ignore it; you're not dead yet, so things didn't go that bad."
Taylor stayed quiet; Six sort of had a point. Sort of.
"Yeah, but there has to have been a better way to take care of it-" She started to argue.
"And worse ways too. Maybe you could've tripped and brained yourself on the curb. No point in dwelling on the what-ifs." Six chuckled to himself. "Heh, reminds me of this one would-be mugger back in Freeside. Fucker was so strung out on Jet and Psycho that he couldn't even walk straight. Didn't have to lay a hand on him before he knocked himself out."
Taylor chuckled slightly at the thought. She remembered a PHO board she had seen some time ago mocking the Merchants at their worst. Highlights included a guy trying to threaten an ATM into giving him money, and another guy hallucinating that his gun had turned into a snake while in the process of mugging a man. They were good for a laugh when she was feeling down.
"But anyway, don't worry about it too much." Six continued. "We won, and that's really all there is to it."
"He's got a point, you know," A voice called out. Taylor and Six both whirled around to face the stranger, Six levelling his rifle in her direction.
"Whoa, whoa," A girl in a purple bodysuit, evidently the stranger in question, stood on the ledge of the roof across the street from them; holding up her hands in an appeasing gesture. Her tone wasn't hostile, but it wasn't entirely at ease either. Her smile, likewise, was not one that suggested friendly familiarity. "Don't shoot. I'm friendly. Or at least not hostile."
Oof… Took me long enough, huh? If you're wondering what happened to me for the last month or so, let me show you what happened about a week after posting my last chapter:
Me: Hey boss, I'm back home for Winter Break. I'd be happy to work a few shifts if you need some extra help.
Boss: Great! I'll put you in next week's schedule. By the way, think you could cover a couple shifts? One of our S/As is out.
Me: Oh yeah, sure thing.
Boss: Also, we're pretty busy next week. So you'll be working a few doubles.
Me: ...Oh. Alright then…
Boss: Also, two of our servers quit days before our Christmas banquet, literally our biggest event of the year, so we'll be extra busy!
Me: :)
My Other Boss: Oh hey, one of our Dishwashers is out sick, do you think you could cover for them?
Me: :)))))))
But anyway, that's the gist of it. December's always the busiest month, so it's sort of to be expected, but damn it felt like I was doing more work on break than I was at college.
For that reason, I decided to split this chapter in two to give you guys something as thanks for sticking it out so long.
As for this chapter, it had a bit of trouble on its way out, though I'm not sure if it was a result of inability to focus as a result of the previously mentioned work, or because of my subconscious 'shit writing alert' that stops me from writing when my writing starts coming out bad. Only one way to figure out which one it is, though, so make sure you point out any mistakes you spot.
On a related note, some of you may recall a one shot I posted to SB some time ago; a crossover between Worm and Ace Combat by the name of Pixy, in which Taylor triggers as a Tinker with the specialty of creating massive superweapons of the type common to the AC series. If you aren't, go check it out; I was pretty proud of it. But anywho, I've been struck by a bout of inspiration to turn that little one shot into something more. (Gee, I wonder where that came from, hm?) I'm not entirely sure how far I'd go with it, and I'm not going to just drop Cazador entirely to work on it, but I may decide to occasionally type something up for it as the inspiration strikes, maybe flip back and forth between the two stories. We'll see.
But enough of that; I promise not to take so long on the next chapter.