Pick Your Poison
Enzyme 3.8
[Saturday, November 20, 2010]
We moved quickly, Panacea stabilized Pantera with barely a touch, finished fixing up Bebop, and then after I set Pantera against a wall, I helped the boar and hero with our downed friends. "No. No! They've lost too much blood. I can't-." I interrupted Panacea's panic over her sister and Rocksteady by tossing what was left of the waitress's corpse at her and she yelped. "What the fuck Dealer?!"
"Here's some blood, whatever she's got left." I then trudged over to the bar and hefted up the two dead males and dragged them over as I saw Panacea with hands on both her sister and the dead girl, and the body of the late waitress seemed to be melting into Glory Girl as she rapidly restored to full health, and snapped awake with a gasp. "Now for Rock." I dropped the dead men next to my not-yet-dead lieutenant, and Panacea, having gotten over her bout of squeamishness, quickly used what was left of the mush that was once a girl on Rocksteady.
"W-what the fuck?! What happened?!" Glory Girl screeched as she rocketed up into the air of the destroyed pub and surveyed the situation in shock and horror. "Amy why are you using-?!"
"I had to do something! They're dead, you're not. It's Triage." Amy stated as the last of the dead girl was absorbed into Rocksteady. "I can't believe this. I thought this was going to be safe."
"The Empire happened. They hosed the place knowing we were in here. The whole point of Somer's Rock was to be Neutral Ground. Now they've violated it. If we weren't going after them before, we definitely are now." I declared as I moved to the gaping hole in the front of what was once a business and poked my head out to listen for sirens.
"Oh god, what happened?!" At hearing a woman's voice, I turned and examined a fairly short woman in a decently fancy gray pantsuit with a baby in her arms and a fairly chubby young man around my age in a gray casual shirt and blue jeans looking at the scene with horror.
"The Empire's gone too far. That's what happened. They must have had a heavy machine gun to do this. I swear, if I get my hands on Purity I'm going to make her suffer for this." That was the only conclusion I could draw. She was the one we were supposed to meet up with besides New Wave, and the Nazis decide to spray the place before she arrives? It was obvious.
"W-w-wait! I had nothing to do with this!" The woman shouted at me with indignant rage. "I told nobody I was coming here! I was coming here to ask for protection from the Empire, not break the Truce!" Wait. Hold on a second.
"Purity? Why are you out of costume? And with kids?" My currently adrenaline-fed brain was catching up with me as I calmed down, and let logic take over. "I see. It is best that you arrived late. I hope you didn't plan on bringing your car, wherever it's parked, we need to get out of here. Now." I turned inside to see Panacea had gotten Rocksteady healed and on his feet, if woozy and supported by Bebop, and she was just finishing up Pantera. "Everyone, change of plans. Dogpile in the van. Now. Bebop, I hope you can still drive."
"Uh, Rock's the one who...fuck, okay." Bebop, with Rocksteady's arm over his shoulders, rushed out of the ruin, and I could hear the high-pitched sirens of the police. Unlucky first responders.
"Follow them, get in the van they show you. You too heroes, you being seen here would be bad." I directed everyone, urging the civilian ID of Purity and her accompanying children towards the alley with the van, which was thankfully mostly untouched. "Hurry." I calmly urged as everyone dogpiled in and squeezed to make room, before I got in last and slammed the doors of the invisible vehicle shut. "Drive slow Bebop."
"Um. Uh...I...I can't…." Bebop squealed in distress at trying to focus on the complex task, which woke the baby and Purity shushed her and bounced as much as she could in her seat squeezed between the boy that came with her and a groggy Pantera. "Boss, I can't remember how to do this! I can barely remember how to tie my shoes right. Or that I don't need them."
"Bebop. Calm. Turn the key." I directed, and the tinker van rumbled as it started up. "Now, hoof on the wider pedal, press down on it. Once it's down, pull the lever on the side of the wheel towards you and pull it all the way down." Bebop did so, but turned on the windshield wipers instead of putting us in drive. "Wrong one, push it back up, and pull the other one." I would've done it myself if I could drive, Purity had no idea where to go and an infant to keep calm, and Rocksteady was barely awake. "Come on Bebop. You can do this."
"Okay. Three, two, one, let's jam!" Bebop suddenly tossed the van into drive and slammed his hoof on the gas, launching us out the other end of the alley and he jerked us left onto the road, just barely missing a police car that was about to pull into the alley we'd left. "WOO! Now I know why Rock loves the driver seat!"
"Can you control your damn pig?!" Purity screeched as she hugged her baby to her chest and the boy helped keep them stable as Panacea and Glory Girl did similar for Pantera and Rocksteady.
"Yeah! At this rate he's gonna get us all killed!" Glory Girl then screamed as Bebop ran a red light and narrowly avoided multiple cars heading both ways. "Mother fucker! Slow down!"
"I think I'm gonna be sick…." Panacea muttered as she clung to Pantera and lurched at a rather vicious turn Bebop made that had us skidding on the rear double-axles as he turned right towards Downtown.
"Bebop! You're going the wrong way! Turn us around!" I demanded, and the boar-man snorted and laughed like a maniac as he rammed a utilities truck off the road with us barely feeling it, and he pulled off a sliding U-turn on the same road before gunning us back towards the Docks. "Okay, so long as he doesn't cause too much mayhem, we should make it to the Fishery. If we somehow get separated, the old Fishery in the Docks is our main headquarters."
"The Fishery? No wonder nobody has found you guys yet. Max was planning to buy out several properties in the docks for more storage, but several buildings, including the Fishery, are still owned by some British maritime company overseas, and for some reason aren't willing to sell." Purity cooed at her baby, and sighed as she slumped into the more-aware Pantera. "Christ. I knew getting away from the Empire would be rough, but this is ridiculous."
"So long as-right here Bebop! So long as we maintain our cover, we should be…." I halted my thought process and couldn't comprehend the sight while Bebop pulled us to a stop.
The Fishery was in ruins.
Someone blew up the front of the building. I could see several crew members desperately digging into it, likely to save comrades. We could see through the gaping hole into the motor pool and I noticed that Squealer's monster truck was gone, and the Hoorah was as well. I could also tell that the area of the motor pool that was crushed was where….
My lab….
My Lab.
MY LAB!
All coherent thought fled me, I was barely aware of bursting out of the rear doors, sprinting towards the ruins. The high-low pitched sirens of the PRT were coming, I didn't care. I had to salvage something. The rats were in there. My notes. Everything. I ignored the cries of pain of my comrades, they would be fine, I modified them to be fine. I jumped and navigated through the twisted piles of corrugated steel and broken metal infrastructure towards where my lab once was. I grunted with exertion as I grabbed the fallen wall of my lab, and practically yanked it and part of the collapsed ceiling out.
I rushed in, immediately grabbing my binder filled with the fine details of my creations. I also grabbed the can of Primal I'd made first thing this morning along with Tie-Dye's which I had sitting in the small fridge, as well as a sealed aluminum canister of Mannus, both went in my thigh pockets. I then began dumping everything I would have to leave on the floor, including the dipping vat of Mannus and then the biodiesel farm. I went to the cage where the rats used to be contained, and I examined how they chewed through the bars in just enough space for them to escape. No matter, I could get more later. I then tabbed open several cans of Air-Yes, and prepared the thermite molotov jar I'd prepared just in case the worst happened.
"Freeze!" I paused at the demand that came just as I exited the hole in my former sanctum, and turned my head just enough to see Miss Militia on the other end of the former motor pool aiming a rifle at me. "Get down on the ground." I could see PRT pouring in through the no-longer functioning bay doors behind her, taking aim at me as well with their rifles and foam sprayers.
"Certainly." I casually chucked the jar of rust and aluminum dust with a bit of vacuum-sealed white phosphorus behind me, and dove for the ground even as they opened fire. The resulting blast, being both concussive and incendiary hurt almost as much as when I blew myself up, but despite its size, my prone position with my feet facing it saved me from the majority of the blast, flames, and shrapnel. Militia and the troopers, not so much. I staggered to my feet, checked that my binder was safe, and limped towards the pedestrian entrance, pausing when I saw Panacea and Glory Girl rush in through the shredded building front, who also slowed down at seeing me.
We only spared a moment to stare, before they rushed past me towards the groaning hero and troopers, so I took the wordless opportunity to keep limping towards hopefully safety. My stride evened out as I went, and I looked around at the swiftly abandoned former home of over a hundred people. The clinic was boarded up with a mound of trash, likely by Mush. They probably couldn't get the pregnant women or injured out so fast, so they decided to barricade them so we could come back for them. The cafeteria was a shambles, only a couple of the dispensers were missing, none of the vats of course.
I grit my teeth as my power urged me onward with feelings of loss and vengefulness. This was our Home. Someone figured out where we were and have simultaneously tried to kill me and mine at Somer's Rock with the Empire, and now someone's destroyed our headquarters. There's only one slippery asshole left in this city anyway who could've arranged it all.
Coil.
I would have his head on a pike for this. I'm calling Tats as soon as I get out of this situation, and I'm going to see if I can't help her arrange his untimely demise. Fuck, this was going to be rough, bad enough we have to deal with the Empire, now we-. I ducked as I heard gunfire behind me, and I grabbed a workbench that still had unfinished Jeeper equipment on it, pulling it out and dumping it on it's side to make a shield as I roadie-ran towards the pedestrian entrance.
Once in the cramped alley, I sprinted out of the tight squeeze, and barely ducked to avoid a stream of containment foam. I zig-zagged across the small access road, dodging several bursts of the capture method, but some splashes got on me, weighing me down. I tossed off my coat, ditching my slingbow and arrows with it to prevent getting foamed, even tossing it at an oncoming stream to buy me time as I made it to the alley across from the Fishery.
I rolled at hearing a hollow ringing coming at me, and barely dodged a tackle followed up by a sword swing. "Huzzah! The Mighty Mouse Protector is-!" I quickly sprayed the shapely knight of mice with Air-No, and my favorite hero promptly inelegantly passed out. I wish I could get her autograph again, but I'll settle with the one in my pocket.
Not waiting for any of her backup to catch up, I bolted onward through the alley, and cursed as I dodged an oncoming grapple line courtesy of Armsmaster on his motorcycle, and I dropped my only can of expanding fog before running down the street from him and ducking into another alley. "Surrender! You are surrounded!" Echoed a woman's voice from overhead, and I seethed as I looked up and saw one of Dragon's VTOL craft just before it aimed a spotlight at me.
There was no point in running anymore.
My gang was scattered. I'd foolishly tried to clean my lab and take at least some of my work without my lieutenants with me. I was going to be captured, likely imprisoned and even sent to the Birdcage because my power's having hijacked my ability to function as a normal human being would make rebranding as a hero 'unpopular' because I didn't at least have a convenient caveat of being a Case 53.
I paused in the little fenced off loading dock behind the abandoned storage buildings, sheds compared to the warehouses, with enemies closing in. Well then. If there's nothing left.
I took the can of Primal out of my thigh pocket. This one was supposed to be a proof of concept. I was going to use it on a bird or lizard first since it's a hybrid one I made with DNA Leet told me was 'legit' from one of his old inventions and I haven't tested it properly. Thankfully my DNA had very strong reptilian traits, so this wouldn't kill me, whatever comfort that was.
Worst thing that could happen would be I die, painfully and slowly. Well, Uncle Eagan would tell me to man up and get on with it. I popped off the cap, pulled up my mask and my bodysuit and chugged. It tasted like cherries. I kept drinking as I heard several sets of feet approach, and once it was empty, I threw it at the nearest source of noise, sprinted for the heavy bay doors, and lifted them up just enough to slide under, before kicking the guide rail on the side inward to pinch it shut.
Just in time too, I gasped as I collapsed to the cold concrete floor, and screamed as the unholy burning agony swept through me. Dear fuck, how could I have done this to-?! "AAAAAARGH~!" I felt my bones shifting, snapping, reforming as the Primal told my body it was Wrong, and my Stim agreed. I felt hot. So hot. WHY IS IT SO HOT?! I tore my money-print hoodie open, not caring for my signature article of clothing as I needed to let my flesh BREATHE!
I ignored the sounds of my reinforced clothing tearing at my enhanced strength, as viceral animalistic panic and power flooded my veins. I faintly registered the sounds of multiple breaching methods breaking down the normal doors further inside, and tiredly dragged my mutating body behind some dusty crates to hopefully buy myself enough time to finish my transformation.
I panted as things began to clear up. My eyes could see in the darkness with incredible clarity, but it wasn't the light-sensitivity of felines. I took a deep inhale through my new nostrils, smelling that something was rotting somewhere in here, possibly for a long time. I couldn't see myself in detail with the dark, so looking down only told me that my hoodie and shirt were shredded, my pants as well, barely leaving me decent, and my boots had even broken open, I could feel what felt like my big toes poking through the fronts.
Whatever I was right now, it would have to do. I braced myself for when the doorway into the storage room I had fled to was breached, and when I heard it get knocked in, I tensed and mentally prepared myself. The heavy clanking told me the first in the door was Armsmaster, or maybe Dragon in one of her remote suits. "Come out Dealer. You're surrounded, outnumbered, and the Merchants are scattered." Armsmaster then.
I quietly placed my binder, which I'd somehow managed not to destroy in my anguished throes, and with surprising ease, near silently stalked around the edge of the room, evading the sweeping flashlights even as Armsmaster stabbed his secondary halberd into the ground, which proceeded to emit a steady strong light like a small sun. "What the fuck is that thing?!" Screamed a PRT Trooper, which I sensed was right near me by the sound and the heat he was giving off, so I pounced at him from our position near the corner edge of the crate-filled room.
He screamed and fired at me, which barely felt like an irritating swat from a child. Something I didn't let go unpunished as I let out an impressively throaty and echoing snarl before I wrenched the rifle from him with ease and instinctively lunged at his shoulder, biting down and making him scream more as my new teeth punctured his military kevlar like it was cotton. His blood was delicious. Oh god why does cannibalism feel so rewarding?!
Several other troopers fired on me from behind, and I growled as I whipped around and tossed my victim at them without using my claws, and I jumped with incredible power over the crates when Armsmaster fired a micro-grenade towards me over the crates. A good call, because the area it detonated was covered in a layer of containment foam. "What have you done to yourself…?" Armsmaster demanded of me with an infuriating amount of pity in his voice.
"What I needed to survive." My voice. It was deeper, throatier, raspier. My S syllables dragged a bit more. "By now, Squealer will have rallied the other bases, and my escape will be assured. I just have to get back out there." I examined my new clawed hands. I was covered in milky scales interspersed with patterns of black. What was odd was I was also covered faintly in short bright red plumage on the backs of my arms. I'll have to get a better look at myself later.
"No. You're finished." Armsmaster took up his main halberd and got into a ready stance. "By the power vested in me by the United States government as a Protectorate hero. You, are under arrest Dealer." I growled in response, I felt what must have been more plumage on my head and neck flare with my hackles as I squared off with the heroic armored tinker. He kept himself between me and his steady light source. Clever, if I could take that out, I'd have the advantage since I had thermal vision and he would have a limited field of view with just his visor.
But I wasn't dumb. I stood no chance against this guy, new body or not. Once I'd strafed with him towards the shutters, I gave him what I felt was a cheeky grin, and then bolted for it, dodging his grapple line as I reached out and snatched my binder a mere split-second before I rammed my body through the rusty old door, hissing as I tried to ignore the gashes the buckled metal left on me, and I valiantly wove through hails of bullets and even aerial containment methods from Dragon's VTOL with my new legs and tail making moving so much easier.
My mad dash back onto the streets was interrupted by a sliding van door opening in the air in front of me. I yelped with a raspy barking noise as I tripped and slid head-first into the wall inside the life-saving vehicle which slammed the door shut and took off so fast I slid backwards into the welcome arms of Pantera, who hugged me so tightly I heard her catsuit groaning. "Deal you fucking idiot! Don't run off like that!" Demanded my assistant, who then pulled my face to hers and kissed my new reptilian lips for a moment. "You dumbass. Don't make me worry like this."
I...I don't know how to respond. My heart was racing. My body was urging me to grab this sexy woman and Ravish her until she couldn't walk. To reciprocate these maddening pheromones she was flooding my senses with. To pin her to the bench right here and just-. "Pan? Uh. I...Think...this is a guess. I think...I may have incidentally fixed my emotion problem?" I don't think I can blush anymore, but I was feeling flush, hot. Especially in my groin as my huge, long tail flicked behind me in excitement and I resisted the desire to rip that catsuit off of her.
Pantera must've noticed, because her eyes widened, and she looked down between us with a bit of a shock to her face. "Holy shit...where were you hiding That?" I realized what she meant when she pressed herself into my embarrassingly exposed genitals, likely to hide me from the former Nazi and her son. "Uh...not that I'm not happy about this Deal? But, kinda a bad place for it. I'm not an exhibitionist, no matter how much I crave attention."
"Oh god, you two need to get a-." Rocksteady's comment was cut off by a massive explosion, and we snapped our heads in it's direction to see the top several floors of the Medhall building gone, and flying in shrapnel across the whole city.
"MAX~!" Purity suddenly screamed in anguish, and cried as she hugged her crying daughter to her chest, her son doing the same for her. What the hell is going on in this madhouse of a city?