Step 8.4

It really was inevitable.

My factory played a part. With such an easy target, Lung would try to attack it sooner or later. It went deeper than that, though.

As it stood, people could still ignore me.

They might call me lucky, say I only got as far as I did because of fortune. Call me a coward, because I avoided fights with capes that could actually hurt me. People might call the stories of StarGazer fighting Leviathan and chasing it off propaganda. So long as so much uncertainty lingered in the air, I'd never be able to advance.

A point needs to be made.

"Oni Lee is secured," Ramius said.

"I haven't seen Bakuda, yet," Armsmaster replied. He glanced to me. "Do you?"

"No," I said.

With all the action closing in on my position, I only needed one Haro watching. Navy tracked over one hundred and fifty individuals approaching my factory, some falling in behind Lung, and others moving toward side streets.

The ABB I saw standing docile before started moving. As Lung continued his march, they fell in behind him. Their faces looked, set? Not determined, or amazed. They didn't seem happy. Just certain. Yeah, certain. That's a better word for it. Like they saw what came next and took it for granted, so they followed.

They kept their distance from the man himself. I imagine they needed to.

Lung is hot.

I know. Regretted it the moment I thought it. I meant Lung is literally hot. The air around him rippled with heat, even in his current state. The closest ABB maintained a good arm's length from his body.

The man himself didn't seem to care. He walked with a casual certainty, like this didn't mean anything more than an afternoon stroll. More than a little intimidating, I admit. Lung ruled the Docks as long as I remembered. He did that with only Oni Lee for help. Few capes managed to hold onto so much with so little, and it all came down to his sheer power. The kind of power that let him fight a whole Protectorate team and win. The kind of power that necessitated the heroes keep Stratos, a man who could hurt the Slaughterhouse Nine, around twenty-four-seven just to keep him in check.

Almost makes one rethink standing in his way.

"Let me handle this," Armsmaster said. "Ten minutes is a long time."

"I may be incorrect," Veda said. "It is difficult to judge Lung's chronological progression once he enters a battle. Available data is inconsistent."

"After ten minutes he'll be far along," Armsmaster said. "Lung is one of the most experienced villains in the country, and he isn't hot headed like Hookwolf."

Because letting you handle Leviathan with your experience worked so well.

"Your tranquilizer doesn't work most of the time," I said.

Armsmaster raised his chin.

"Tranquilizer?" Piggot asked. "Armsmaster, we have protocols to follow before using tinker tech in the field."

"It is currently in the testing phase," Armsmaster said. "I began work on it some time ago, but distractions have compounded my progress."

"Forecast saw you try it," I said. "It rarely works."

"Only three successful possibilities out of twenty-nine," Veda said.

Armsamster looked ahead. "Sometimes it does?"

"Your choice," I said. I fully expected him to try, regardless of my warnings. I supposed I'd let him. If we ended up in a possibility where it did work, all the better. "I'm going forward with my plan regardless."

"I intend to try," he said.

"Your choice," I repeated. Piggot grumbled something, but I gathered she didn't plan on stopping him. "The ABB are splitting a block east. Some are going north, others are going south."

Behind me two troopers hauled Rune away. She didn't resist. Others lifted ABB and Empire goons off the street and started moving them. I didn't worry about being surrounded. Tactically it didn't matter. Practically, once the battle with Lung kicked off people would start getting hurt. If we didn't keep the normals out of the line of fire we'd have a corpse factory.

Glancing down toward Astraea's feet, I asked, "Green?"

"In position," he said, "in position!"

We're all set then. "Be ready." I signaled Lafter, and looked ahead.

Lung continued his steady stroll.

Well… here we go.

I pressed on the pedals and the air around Astraea exploded.

I slammed my fist into Lung's jaw. The blow shattered the air, knocking the closest ABB back. Lung took the hit, turning his head at the last second. His body still recoiled. He fell back toward the ground, and I pushed Astraea to keep going.

I slammed down into the midst of the ABB, swinging the blunted GN Blade through the air. The men packed in together so tightly I actually got some resistance swinging through them, the breaking of bones and screams of pain following the strike. Fangs darted around me, firing from every direction and downing a dozen more ABB.

I turned toward Lung.

He'd risen back up already, casually turning to me with his arm raised.

"Ready to die?"

I laughed. Couldn't help it.

"You have no idea how fucking funny that question is."

I threw my shield into his chest and activated it. The panels opened, and the GN field threw Lung back into the air. Big he might be, but not big enough. He rolled across the street, Queen flying over him and deploying the Fangs again. Armsmaster stepped forward, twirling his halberd as Lung started to rise.

"Keep Lung there," I said.

If he wanted to play with the big mean rage dragon, fine.

I raised my pistols at the other ABB.

Let's get these idiots out of the way.

"StarGazer, crowd control."

I opened fire, and the ABB returned it.

Bullets and GN beams streamed through the air. I ignored the little pellets. They didn't hurt, or threaten my armor. Queen's Fangs flew and fired, and Veda brandished a pair of sabers before landing at my side and joining me in the midst of the melee. We forced the ABB back, one injured thug at a time.

I watched constantly for any sign of Bakuda, but I still didn't see her. Did Lung plan to hold her in reserve?

I lifted into the air, stilling firing as I angled toward a nearby rooftop. Queen remained in the street, covering for PRT troopers who came forward to drag the injured criminals off the street. They worked their way around Lung and Armsmaster. Lung watched me at first, but as the Protectorate leader grew closer he turned.

Amused, he did not seem.

I landed on the roof and quickly grabbed the spare bazooka tube I'd stashed there. The loading arm slammed a magazine into the weapon, and I lifted back into the sky and fired.

The rockets launched one after the other, ripples of air exploding and taking out half a dozen ABB at a time. They'd started with numbers when they first moved toward my factory, but more and more seemed to show up. Over two hundred now, easily. A few continued on toward Shanty Town and tangled with Miss Militia and a single squad of PRT troopers. Should be alright.

The Empire continued their retreat south to chase after the Undersiders. From the PRT com chattered, I gathered Dauntless was shadowing that encounter but not getting directly involved. No point crying over spilled milk, they say. I supposed, Tattletale's interference did come with an upside. With the Empire withdrawing, I could focus all my energy on the ABB. Not my ideal, but serviceable.

I reloaded my rocket launcher, and turned my attention north. Triumph roared into the advancing ABB, most of whom took to cover behind parked cars and in store fronts. I fired three rockets that way, and then turned south. Prism advanced her position more aggressively, her clones fighting in the middle of a crowd. I fired around her, knocking over as many ABB as I could.

I aimed my pistol at a truck and fired. The engine exploded, and the ABB inside poured out. The Fangs caught them in their backs, and Veda came down atop the vehicles roof.

An object I recognized rolled out of one man's hands. I cursed, shooting another man as he tried to grab it. He hit the ground and fell over the device.

Too many people in the blast radius.

"Red," I called. "You free?"

"Free, free."

"I need you to grab another bomb and dump it somewhere it can't hurt anyone!"

I kept shooting my pistols, my eyes spotting another grenade in someone's hands. A Fang shot him as he tried to throw, and the device fell back toward the ground. The air erupted, a vortex of wind and force blasting through the street and shattering every window.

"Fuck!"

When the air cleared up, it didn't look too bad.

And by didn't look too bad, I mean a dozen guys on the ground bleeding and holding their wounds. No glass, or anything. A hole, in a perfectly cut sphere, lay in the side of the building. I blinked as I assessed the damage, namely the smoothness of it. Like someone just scooped a whole piece of building out and vanished it.

That looks like what Stratos' power does...

Red flew out of the sky and grabbed the other grenade. I covered his retreat, and kept my eyes out for anymore bombs.

Between Triumph, Prism, the troopers, Veda, and myself, we managed to push the unpowered ABB members back to the end of the block. They didn't fight to advance so hard anymore, and some started running. Of course they did. In a just a little over a minute and a half, we'd managed to disable several dozen of them. The cut in their numbers really stands out when you're standing at the back looking ahead at a field of men laying on the street.

A few tried busting down doors to get off the street. One of them rolled back onto the street, holding his face and screaming.

"Hey, rude!" Lafter stepped out of the building with a smile. "Knock first!"

She dodged the first bullet, and the second darted past her head. She charged ahead, swinging beam sabers into the ABB.

"I'm not late, right?" She asked.

"No," I said.

A flash of light drew my attention.

"Right on time."

Behind me, Lung poured fired into the street like water. Armsmaster stood his ground, walking through the flames at a steady pace. His armor closed around him completely, protecting even his beard from the embers.

I raised my brow.

Lung looked bigger. Maybe just a few inches, but definitely bigger.

I didn't know exactly how fast he grew. Dinah's power lets her watch time elapse if she focuses, but its hard for her to describe it in words. Only internet videos and PHO posts – often incomplete fragments – offered me any way of estimating Lung's abilities. My one personal experience only amounted to knowing how confidently he used it.

When the torrent stopped, Armsmaster swung his halberd. Lung took the blow in the shoulder, not even flinching before grabbing the haft and using it as a lever. He lifted the Protectorate leader into the air. Armsmaster threw his feet forward and wrenched his weapon free, falling back into a roll.

A stream of fire erupted from Lung's hand. Armsmaster swept through it and stabbed his halberd forward. The head detached – bound to the haft by a thin chain – and shot forward. Lung caught it with one hand, but not before a spike shot out of the weapon and stabbed into his palm. The heat around Lung exploded, and the dragon fell to one knee.

I paused, ignoring a few rogue bullets.

If Armsmaster's tranquilizer worked, all the better.

The Protectorate hero flicked the haft of his weapon. The halberd head came free, returning to him as Lung fell forward onto one hand. The dragon man snarled. His scales now covered his skin completely, and the strap holding his mask to his face seemed strained. At least nine feet tall, minimum, and still growing.

Did that mean it didn't work?

One way or another, my question got answered when Armsmaster approached.

Lung reared back suddenly, moving with shocking speed. I got flash backs to Ali Al-Saachez from the movement. He moved with a practiced, focused, precision. Experience. Someone who didn't just know how to fight but reveled in it.

Lung's hand grabbed Armsmaster by the shoulder, and he heaved. The Protectorate leader lifted off the ground and flew through the air, a massive blast of fire erupting from the air around Lung. Armsmaster flew into a wall and his halberd clattered over the sidewalk.

"The tranquilizer didn't work," I said.

"We have testing for a reason," Piggot grumbled.

I fired my last two rockets and ejected the bazooka tube.

"I'm going back to plan A. Laughter, keep these," - I pointed at the ABB - "idiots away from the fight."

"Gladly!"

The flames died down, but continued burning across the street. Lung stood up, easily ten feet tall and covered in scales. His mask fell from his face, but I doubt I'd ever recognize him. In place of a face was a scaly-toothed maw, and sharp yellow eyes that flickered like fire.

Lung raised his head toward me, just in time for Astraea's fist to strike his jaw again.

He retaliated instantly. He swung, fingers curled like a cat's claws. I swung my GN blade up and cut a gash into his arm. He didn't hesitate, stepping forward and bringing a knee up into Astraea's stomach. I felt the blow, and the heat, but it didn't stop me. I grabbed his arm with my free hand and threw him over my suit's shoulder.

Lung hit the ground with a thunderous crash. His body rippled with the force of the landing, the breaking of bone filling the air.

Don't let him control the momentum.

If Lung took control of the tempo, he'd throw me around like a rag doll in a can. He needed to be kept off balance until I could spring my trap. I needed to hit him as hard as I could the entire time.

"StarGazer."

Queen shot overhead. Veda flipped the suit in the air and swung two sabers into Lung's back. He continued facing me, claws slashing toward my armor. I diverted the first blow with my shield. The Fangs shot out, cutting into the limb and tearing it apart. Ever seen blood boil into vapor? I have.

The temperature around Lung weighed on me. I didn't exactly build Astraea without AC, but I didn't build it to go walking through infernos.

Lung's mangled arm swung into me as he turned. He reached for Queen, but Veda floated her suit back. The Fangs cut into the other arm, tearing it to strips of flesh and bone. Brutal, but it kept him from grabbing us.

I slammed Astraea's shoulder into Lung's back and forced him to the ground. As soon as I got up and away, Veda fired the Fangs, peppering the ABB cape with laser fire. The beams didn't have much effect. Lung threw himself forward, fire erupting from his mouth as he found his footing. I raised my shield and blocked the barrage, dodging left and away as Lung came charging through.

He'd grown taller still, now easily standing above Astraea's head with an increasingly hunched form.

I swung my blade at his thigh, cutting a gash into his leg. Lung looked at me with steady eyes. The same steady eyes he'd had when the fight started. Confident, firm.

They followed my blade constantly, and yet he made no attempt to block or avoid it. I knew he got stronger and bigger the longer he fought. Maybe regenerated faster too. Still, he needed time to build up, didn't he? Why take blows he didn't have to, unless he wanted me to hurt him?

Did getting hurt make him grow faster?

I slammed Astraea's foot forward into his knee. The limb snapped, the weight of his body drove him back to the ground. I fired my pistols into his face, hoping to blind him for a moment. Two growths emerged on his back, and my lips set in a dogged frown.

"We need to keep him on the ground," I said.

The Fangs shot out and cut up the nascent wings. I didn't need Lung to start flying about. Hitting him got too dicey if he left the ground.

A blast of fire erupted, and while the heat rolled over Astraea's armor Lung swept my leg. I fired the thrusters and maintained my balance.

Did he just grow a tail?

Lung wheeled around with frightening speed. I took the punch with my shield and countered. Lung dodged my blade, and his other hand came down while the third – wait third? – hit me in the side. The blow reverberated through Astraea's frame and rattled my bones.

Lung rose over me, one hand grabbing hold of my shoulder while two came together over his head.

Fuck he is growing faster.

Fangs tore his raised arms apart. One mangled hand still managed to grab one and crush it. Veda's beam sabers cut into the scales of Lung's back, and I cut myself free by severing one of his extra arms at the elbow. Lung turned, his mangled limbs swinging out toward Queen. I cut into the tail as it came toward me, but didn't sever it.

My eyes traced up his spine to his shoulder blades.

His wings are already back.

I cut one of the extra limbs clean off, and threw myself away as Lung's elbow shot back in my direction. Veda directed Queen around Lung's left side, ducking under his arms and swiping her sabers through the other wing.

One of his hands came down on my shoulder and forced Astraea to a knee. The E-carbon strained around me, but I threw myself up with the thrusters and cut at the limb. The Fangs followed my cut with their own, tearing the limb apart yet again. It started healing instantly, skin and scale knitting back together much faster than I'd have liked.

Around us, the ABB's ranks thinned, but those still standing consolidated. Lafter weaved her way through the goons, PRT troopers backing her up about fifty feet away. Prism and Triumph had pushed most of the fighting back onto a street perpendicular to my factory, and they almost managed to form one long front.

Good.

No one to interfere.

"Veda?" I asked.

"Approximately three minutes fourteen seconds."

This is going to be trying.

"Navy, watch for Bakuda. Warn me if you see her!"

"Okay, okay!"

Lung stood at least twelve feet, a giant scale covered twister of fire. I couldn't take hits anymore. He'd grown too big. But he was big. The only other fight I ever fought that saw me facing a larger opponent was Leviathan. Lung might be fast, but not that fast.

I dodged and deflected his worst blow, countering with my blade and harassing him with my pistols at every opportunity. Veda peppered him with the Fangs, but as Lung got bigger he became more single-minded. He destroyed them when he got the chance, but kept his focus on me. And why not? He healed as fast as we hurt him, and the beams didn't do any lasting damage even after I turned the power up.

Soon enough I found myself forced to keeping one set of arms disabled, and barely able to keep his wings from growing.

At one point he wheeled suddenly, grabbing Queen by the leg and pulling. I took the chance to cut his infant wings again, and then stabbed the GN blade into his side. He ignored me, another hand grabbing Queen by the head. He started to pull, the wail of straining E-Carbon filling the air.

The remaining Fangs darted, beams projecting from their tips and cutting Lung's hand clean off. Veda swung her sabers down, and his grip loosened enough for her to get Queen free.

Lung said something I think. The words slurred in his maw, and I didn't care to understand them. His transformation apparently cost him the ability to speak. Probably just some clichéd threat against my life.

"Newtype," Ramius warned. "This I-""

"Just a little longer," I said.

Armsmaster started pulling himself from the rubble, but he seemed pretty dazed.

The fight went on, and maintaining momentum became a joke. Lung rose up to near twice Astraea's height. I flew around his blows, boosting myself back and forth, up and down. A fist crashed into the street and cracked it like glass, and his tail swiped through a building as he turned to swipe a wave of fire toward Veda.

We kept fighting.

There wasn't any other choice. I either held out against Lung here and now, or I'd best abandon the whole plan. If I failed here then nothing else I wanted to do would work, not the way I'd envisioned it.

And as the battle continued, heat pouring sweat down my face, I become convinced of what I already felt fairly sure of.

I can't beat him.

Oh, I could win a fight with Lung. Behead him, rip out his heart, render him so crippled he'd probably die. Easy enough to do in Astraea, but I didn't need the PRT coming after me for it. For reasons beyond my comprehension, Lung didn't have a kill order. As much as the world might be a better place without him, I didn't intend to sidetrack all my goals just to be rid of the monster.

Lacking murder, I didn't have much. Maybe if Armsmaster developed his tranquilizer more, or if I developed some other means of stunting his power? Yeah, I might have a chance then.

Tinkers are all about preparation. Sadly, the sudden downfall of the Merchants forced my timetable.

I didn't have time to prepare to fight Lung like I wanted.

Astraea slid back, Lung's fist coming down into the street and blasting flames into the air. I cut at his knuckles, raking my blade through his scales and bones. He didn't stop, his other hand coming forward. Queen tackled his limb again, diverting the blow into a parked car.

I breathed the heavy air painfully. Lung rose up, easily fifteen feet tall. Four arms with another set already growing, and two wings Veda and I barely managed to keep cutting off. He's not fast like Leviathan, but it felt more like fighting an Endbringer than a cape. Fire and fury, more force of nature than man.

And I couldn't beat him.

"Veda?" I pleaded.

Alarms blared in my ear. Some of Astraea's circuits broke down under the heat of Lung's fire. A side effect of my rushed repairs after Boston. Some servos and thrusters went with them. The heat weighed on me, choking my breath.

The remaining Fangs shot through the air, tearing apart Lung's wings once more. I cut at his legs, dropping him to one knee for a moment.

"Veda?!"

"Now," she said.

My eyes shot wide open.

If you can't win a straight fight, then don't fight straight!

Just because I couldn't beat Lung, didn't mean I couldn't win.

"GREEN!"

"Fire! Fire!"

I threw Astraea's feet forward and my suit shot back. Lung roared, and I laughed.

"Have a nice flight!" I win!

The ground erupted. Concrete and asphalt shattered into dust, and the air erupted into a storm of debris. The sound echoed in my ears, like a wailing thunder that rang through the streets.

Lung looked straight down through the blast. I doubt he saw the Haros in the sewer below. Pink and Green held my railguns up, and Purple and Orange pressed the triggers. Two blunt tipped stakes shot right through the ground, impaling Lung's chest and knocking him off his feet.

He roared.

It didn't matter.

One second Lung stood, a flaming titan in the middle of the road.

A blink later he'd already been thrown a hundred feet into the air, red flame and green light trailing behind him.

The Haros fled, hastily retreating down the sewer tunnel. The street collapsed and dragged some cars into the sink hole. I'd probably have to pay to fix that too. On the bright side, the blast of dust and wind put out most of the fires!

Without a moment's hesitation I shouted, "Brace!"

I gave the troopers and Protectorate heroes a few seconds. Veda grabbed Armsmaster as he stumbled out of the building Lung threw him into. As soon as they cleared I hit the detonator.

The ground shook with force, three massive stun bombs detonating tin the sewers around my building. The blasts rippled through the tunnels and spread throughout the streets above. What few ABB remained standing shouted and collapsed. Two PRT troopers got caught in the blast. Lafter walked right through it, a few upgrades to her costume protecting her from the effects.

The city fell silent, save for some shouts and whines. One, maybe two gunshots rang out, but the comparative silence signaled the end.

I raised my head and watched Lung's figure fade into the distance.

"Where's he landing?" I asked.

Veda marked the position – a spot of ocean three miles off the coast – on my map.

"Well," I grinned, "swimming back will give him a good work out. Cardio is very important."

"I estimate it'll take Lung forty-one minutes to return to Brockton Bay," Veda said.

Assuming he doesn't linger.

"He won't come back," I said. "Not straight back here at least. I'll just launch him out to sea again, and he knows it." I looked out over the street behind me. "Laughter?"

"Yeah?"

"You okay?"

"Fine." She pouted. "Out of guys to punch though."

I smiled.

A quick check on Navy's cameras confirmed the outcome. The ABB who could still move broke. They ran in every direction, mostly. A few stood around, looking at the sky in dumbfounded shock. Of the criminals left behind in the street, my Haro provided a solid number.

Still no sign of Bakuda, but I didn't intend to wait for her to show herself. I got my prize. Now I needed to keep it and make this victory last.

"I've got one hundred eighty-eight thugs here that need pickup," I said. "The fighting's over here."

I landed Astraea inside my fence and stepped out.

Not too bad. The paint got melted off, rendering the entire suit a mostly dull gray color, but the damage didn't compare to Leviathan. Queen's left leg looked pretty mangled, and we lost about half the Fangs. It'll take a couple days to fix all that, but I'd do it at my leisure.

I'll have time to breathe now.

Ever since I first deployed O Gundam, the city spiraled from one imminent gang war to another. Ali Al-Saachez kicked off a massive battle with the Merchants, and then I did the same a few weeks later. Cranial forestalled further conflict for a time, and then Leviathan.

Things might finally calm down now.

I didn't need to beat Lung.

The Empire and the ABB threw themselves at me. In the aftermath, my factory remained standing. My suits remained functional, however battered. I caught nearly two hundred gang members and two capes. I beat two others, and launched a third – arguably the most powerful cape in Brockton Bay – out to sea.

If anyone wanted to call that a fluke let them.

I knew the difference between winning and losing.

The Empire didn't win. The ABB didn't win.

I win.

If nothing else, I'd assured the security of my factory. Every gang in the city would remember this fight, and they'd remember precisely how it ended.

Celestial Being on top, Factory unharmed. Two capes captured, two capes beaten, one rage dragon sent flying, and the biggest single arrest in city history. Probably. I doubt anyone ever managed to arrest so many criminals in one go before now.

I took a moment to look around.

The PRT troopers arranged the captured into groups. No one brought enough cuffs or zip ties for all of them, so many simply sat under guard. EMTs arrived within a few minutes to start treating the injured. Mostly ABB. I spotted one trooper being lifted into an ambulance, Noa sending another one of his men to accompany the vehicle.

I spotted Rune sitting in the back of a PRT van. Prism sat across from her, three troops standing ready with foam launchers.

Wonder how that'll turn out.

For all I knew, Tattletale only said what she said to fuck with me.

I'll have to keep an eye on it.

Lung would probably try to free Oni Lee, and the Empire, Rune. My last trick of intercepting text messages and changing the date of the prisoner transports probably wouldn't work again. Othala went free in Boston and knew all about it. She'd work her way back here eventually, assuming she hadn't already. I needed to assume that at the very least she'd already informed Kaiser.

BBPD showed up after a few more minutes.

Figured. The PRT didn't have enough room to move or hold so many people. We'd need the general police to take some. I'd have to poke through some of the stations to make sure nothing fishy happened.

I wrecked a street catching all these guys, and I'd like to keep them caught. Without them Lung found himself with a critical shortage of manpower. If the Empire or Merchants tried to push the advantage he'd be pressed on all sides. I expected the Empire to try and leverage their numbers, but I'd deal with that.

It would be trivial now.

The gangs would not be rushing to attack me again, not after this.

Even when Lung got back to the city, Dinah only saw one in nine possibilities where he assaulted my factory again. Of course, she did. Why would Lung bother? If he came back, I'd just stall him out and launch him out to sea again. Even if he wanted to try and hurt me, with so much of his manpower locked up and so many of his businesses damaged Lung didn't have the luxury of pursing revenge.

He had bigger problems.

Wish I could say the same about the Empire.

"What's happening with the Undersiders?" I asked.

Armsmaster stepped up behind me, saying, "They're in a melee with Krieg and Cricket, along with a few dozen unpowered Empire members. They'll probably escape."

My brow went up. "No sign of Kaiser and the twins?"

"No," Armsmaster said. "We have some intelligence suggesting he may have left the city."

"Why?" I asked.

"Unclear," Armsmaster said. He turned his gaze to Astraea. "It would be abnormal, given the timing."

Kaiser could probably hurt me, or at least, heavily hinder me. His power grew metal out of the ground, but I'd bet even money he could grow it on Astraea's surface. Even if he couldn't impale me inside my suit, he could hinder me by growing armor over the joints and limbs. Kaiser's habit of sitting in the background and 'ruling' the Empire protected me from that possibility, but I figured he'd come out and fight eventually.

Honestly, if felt like he should have tried already.

And still no sign of Bakuda.

Damn dangling plot threads.

"Sorry about your tranquilizer," I said.

"I'll refine it for next time," he said.

"Want help?"

Armsmaster gave me a curious look, and I explained, "I don't have a good way of dealing with Lung that isn't launching him out to sea or killing him. One of those is a shit option, and the other only works when I can set it up. It's not a means of permanently capturing him."

Armsmaster 'hmm'd, and said, "Perhaps. Clearly, my current anti-Brute formula is lacking."

"Lung seemed to burn it off," I said. "That big heatwave right after he got stabbed."

Armsmaster nodded. "We can discuss it when we meet for the other matter."

Right. Dragon… Fuck, I need play dates with Armsmaster. Fun.

I spotted Lafter strolling around with the PRT troopers and Triumph, and Veda landed Queen next to Astraea while Armsmaster and I 'chatted.' I planned to end the conversation quickly and go home. I stank of sweat, and the heat did the worst damage to my hair. I needed a shower and some conditioner to fix that, and dad probably wanted to lecture me about risk.

I barely made it five feet to the front gate.

"Excuse me."

I turned, looking up at the woman. She wore a light blue skirt-suit, deep red lipstick – and too much of it – and held a microphone in one hand.

"Karen Randall," she said, "Channel Six. Can you answer some questions really quick?" My answer to that question apparently didn't matter, because she launched right into it. "We've received some reports that capes from the ABB and the Empire Eighty-Eight attacked just moments ago, do you have a comment."

I stammered. Brilliant.

The camera man stepped toward me, practically shoving the lens in my face. The little red light flashed and am I on TV?.

They weren't alone.

"Newtype, is it true you fought Hookwolf and Lung?"

"Were you afraid?"

"How do you respond to accusations your team's name and logo are insensitive to Simurgh victims?"

What the shit?!

The reporters swarmed me, cameras poking at my face or flashing in my eyes. People held microphones at me and asked stupid questions, and they all looked so gleeful.

How did they get past my fence? I built a damn fence and electrified it!

Leaning over, I managed to peer through the crowd of vultures. A section of my fence lay melted on the ground. Lung must have incinerated it during the fight.

And they just invited themselves in...

"Newtype do you have a comment?"

I searched for help. Armsmaster was swarmed himself, and evidently no happier than me. Lafter was still with the PRT troopers, and I didn't see any of the Haros. Where the hell did they get to? Beside the point. I needed a plan to extract myself before they started hitting me with cameras.

"I-"

"You what?" Someone snapped before I even got a word in.

How am I supposed to say what if you won't let me saying anything?!

"What are you going to build here?"

"How did you capture Oni Lee? I have a source who says you captured him earlier and people would love to know how you did it!"

"Did you really hire members of the Merchants? Why?"

"Are you worried about the gangs retaliating for today's events?"

I managed to get out an, "Um" and a "No?"

I mean, they'd do something but not-

"Do you have anything you want to say to the villains in Brockton Bay?"

I didn't see who asked the question, and honestly didn't even know if I had an answer. It didn't matter. They fucking frenzied on me, like piranhas. The questions kept coming, and I'm not even sure what half of them meant.

"Have you considered the political ramifications of your actions?"

Fucking politics, and what ramifications?

"What do you do in your free time?"

Yeah, let's just ask capes what they do with their masks off. We'll all answer that question.

"Does your cooperation with Armsmaster today signal the end of your legendary rivalry?"

How the fuck is it legendary? It's the most mundane aspect of my cape life!

"What's your favorite clothing line?"

"That's a stupid question, Michael."

The voice cut through the shouting somehow.

The woman approached at a casual pace, a portfolio tucked under one arm. She was pretty, maybe my dad's age. Tall and slender in a pale green pant suit, brown curly hair tied behind her head in a bun, with a pair of glasses in front of her piercing eyes. A prominent mole stood out in her chin, but it added to her features more than it detracted in an odd way.

Piercing eyes that set on me and didn't waver.

One of the reports said, "Oh fuck."

Michael, I guessed. Did he know her? She didn't have a camera man with her, and honestly she didn't seem like a reporter.

The woman walked up to me, ignoring the suddenly silent crowd. Her eyes lingered long enough to make me self-conscious, and then she gave me a small smile.

What?

It vanished in an instant.

The woman turned on one heel, saying, "Newtype will not be answering questions at this time. Celestial Being will make a statement later after fully assessing the outcome of this incident."

Wait, what?! We will?

Some of the reporters looked pale, and others seemed confused.

Karen held her microphone out, asking, "And you are?"

The mystery woman raised a hand and adjusted her glasses.

"Kati," she said.