One Punch Man: Attitude Adjustment
Ch.24: Hot Shot VS Cold Heart
"Ohh come on, do something already!" Spade yelled, his eyes fixed to the security feed of Mia and Simian. "When I put two martial artists together I was expecting to see at least one bloody kick!"
"They're sizing each-other up, waiting to see who will make the first move. It's common among professional fighters." Rose commented.
"I know that much, saw plenty of big brains like that in my scrapping days. You know how to stop their little mind tricks?" Spade asked playfully.
"Knock them out before they're done thinking?" Rose answered, rolling her eyes.
"That's right, always nice to know you're listening. How bout we check on Randy Boy again?" Spade said.
Rose complied and switched the feed on her tablet. The screen showed Randal trying to stay on his feet, his arms up to guard his face and chest while he blocked blow after blow rom Jackson. The cyborg's upgrades gave him the clear advantage in speed, an electrified blur kept passing and hitting Randal in rapid succession. Randal refused to go down, but Jackson landed a some good hits that almost made him fall.
"He really is a sturdy one." Spade commented with a smirk. "Shame things couldn't be different between us."
"It sounds like you're pining for this mans affection." Dr. Nova said mockingly.
"I could say the same about you and that test tube baby." Spade replied, making the doctor scowl and go back to checking her charts. "What about the painting kid? Let's see if El Idiota is actually doing his job."
The screen changed again, constantly changing from one camera feed to another as it kept up with Jeremy. He was forced to run for his life, using all of his agility and acrobatics skills to avoid getting torn apart by Tommy Escobar's pet Sapphire Tiger. The young Heroes face was dripping with sweat as he desperately tried to evade.
"Hahaha, I can do this all night cabrón!" Tommy yelled, happily watching from the sidelines.
"That seems about right." Rose said, unimpressed as she watched Tommy sit back and do nothing.
"I don't feel like watching a chase, next channel." Spade said, making Rose switch the feed to Kathy and Bella Zerra. "Oh wait a minute, we might just have something here."
The new security feed showed bullets flying in rapid succession and the room slowly getting covered in frost, Small icebergs were scattered all over the floor which provided Kathy with temporary cover but she still had to keep moving to avoid getting trapped and being frozen solid. Bella Zerra stood on an elevated, half circle shaped cover made entirely out of ice. It was thick enough to block Kathy's shots and Bella was able to use her freeze-ray to replace the parts being chipped away by bullets.
"You only have so many shots." Bella called out mockingly after ducking her head behind cover. "But my Ice Rifle's charge can last for days!" She said before popping up to blast Kathy again.
Jumping out-of-the-way again, Kathy hid behind the corner of Bella's massive generator. She blind fired her assault rifle overhead, making the mad scientist have to duck behind the homemade bunker again. With brief time to think, Kathy whispered a curse after realizing she was down to her last magazine. She had enough bullets to keep up the fight with the rest of her arsenal but with any luck it would not come to that. The temperature in the room had already lowered to the point where Kathy could see her breath. A chill begun to set it, making Bella feel all the more in her element.
"Are you scared yet princess?" Bella yelled from behind cover. "No money, no hired help, no mommy and daddy to bail you out...what can a spoiled brat like you possibly do on her own?!" She said while enjoying every malicious word.
Hearing that made something inside Kathy snap, years worth of similar insults flooded through her memory along with every time she went out of her way to prove the ones who made those statements wrong. Every adult who insisted doing hard work was unnecessary for a "lucky" girl like her and all the peers who were expecting her to be up stuck and pampered. Even her own family, who still thought they needed to intervene in her life for the sake of maintaining the company image.
"Ok bitch..." Kathy mumbled, pulling out her revolver. "Let's do this."
Kathy used her assault rifles remaining clip to keep Bella pinned, this gave her a few seconds of consecutive fire to examine the wall across the room. Mere moments were enough for her to estimate position, trajectory and odds of success. Once the assault rifle was dry, she tossed it aside and pulled out her revolver. Bella used her freeze ray again, making Kathy do a stylish cart-wheel as she evaded the blast. As soon as she was back on her feet, Kathy fired another shot but caught the mad scientist off guard by aiming at the wall. Before Bella could understand the motive, Kathy shot at the wall and the bullet managed to ricochet into grazing her left-side collarbone. Bella fell backwards, clutching the red stain forming on her lab coat. She pulled the trigger as she fell, making icy stalactites form in the middle of the ceiling.
"Ohh that was cold princess!" Bella said, laughing after she groaned in pain. "Maybe I should call you Ice Queen instead!"
Bella's good mood was cut off when by the sound of a metal pin being pulled. As Bella sat up, Kathy's last grenade landed perfectly between her legs. With just enough time to jump off the ice bunker, Bella rolled on the ground while the explosion turned the barricade into a shower of hail. When the ice stopped falling, Bella and Kathy were standing across from each other with both of their rifles ready.
"So...how's the shoulder?" Kathy asked with a sly grin.
"You're a cheeky one, just like me at that age." Bella remarked, smirking as she held her Ice Rifle at the hip. "Shame it has to be this way."
As she finished her sentence, Bella titled the freeze-ray down. One blast was enough to quickly cover the floor in a perfect sheet of ice. Kathy's feet slipped, but kept standing after taking a moment to balance herself. Bella used this moment to easily skate up to Kathy and smack her in the mouth with the butt of her Ice Rifle. The mad scientist wore regular but moved on the ice without any difficultly. Kathy's upper lip was split as Bella turned to freeze her in place, but Kathy surprised her opponent with expect level backwards skating and perfect jumping triple spin.
"Figure skating, spent most of middle school being taught by a very lovely couple who just so happened to be four-time world champions." Kathy coyly explained. "Guess you could call it a...princess privilege."
Bella chuckled as she switch the setting on her freeze-ray again. Both women began to skate around the room which added mobility to their gunfight. Kathy had to pick her shots and keep track of reloading but Bella simply had to let the icicle's fly. Kathy was half her age, but Bella was still spry and reveled in fighting on ice. This went on for a little while with neither side gaining the upper hand. Eventually, Kathy had to move with more caution to avoid the icicles sticking into the floor. This gave Bella an idea, switching settings again to shoot the ground and make small icebergs grow in milliseconds. This made Kathy have to focus on evading, sliding and jumping over every obstacle until a Bella finally managed to trip her up.
Sliding on her side, Kathy's back had a hard collision with a chuck of ice. Bella savored the moment, loving to watch the cocky Hero in writhe in pain. Kathy noticed Bella observing but more importantly, she noticed where the cold obsessed criminal was standing. Without a second thought, Kathy too out the sawed off shotgun that was holstered on her leg and fired both shells into at the ceiling. The scatter shot was enough to break and displace all the stalactites that had formed and grown over the fight, with most of them hanging over Bella's head.
"Ahhhhh!" Bella screamed in panic, diving to the side.
Bella slid on the ground belly first, she had enough time to look ahead and see the oncoming wall. She turned herself enough to hit the wall feet first, bending her knees to help with the impact. She was shaken, but not hurt and let out a breath of relief. The Ice Rifle was still in her hand and at her side, Bella was about to pick it up and keep fighting but a very stylish safari stopped her by stepping on the freeze ray. A long barrel was pointing down at Bella's head as Kathy stood over her with a Winchester rifle.
"Game over, you lose." Kathy said with panting breath.
"So it would seem..." Bella admitted after a moment of contemplation. "I must say, rather impressive for a prin..." Bella quickly stopped talking once the gun barrel was pressed against her forehead.
"Don't call me that." Kathy said with a stern growl. "My name...is Outback Girl." She said before slowly pulling the gun back.
"Very well.' Bella said reluctantly, slowly moving to sit on her knees after Kathy moved her weapon away. "But what now my dear? I'm almost frozen with anticipation. Will you tie me up? Bring me along? Maybe even try to make me see the error of..."
Bella's mocking was cut off by Kathy knocking her out with a stiff right hook. While checking to make sure the villain was really down, she wondered if Mia would be proud of her well placed punch. After that, she decided it was best to confiscate the Ice Rifle and take it with her.
"Ok, now to get back the...oh..." Kathy thought to herself, she was about to leave but then saw how much ice was blocking the doors. "Any chance there's a reverse switch?" She mumbled in frustration while inspecting the freeze-ray.