A Waken 10.5
Jogging was a hard habit for me. I always wanted to tinker, or go over information Veda gathered. Planning took mountains of time and I did it best with all the information in front of me.
I missed some days. Other days I ran in the afternoon instead of the morning. It was a robotic thing. Rarely paid it any mind, despite how much more in shape I looked and if you can't be girlish you might as well be fit.
It felt different that morning though. I'd noticed the Docks improving. Families went out, and children went unsupervised. Used to be you'd never see that save for in a few neighborhoods and streets. Yet, the air felt different again.
No ABB.
No men in red and green. No tagged corners or buildings. No men lingering in cars or on corners. Even when I started beating them back they still did all that. Reminded people they existed. Kept the fear in the open for everyone.
All gone, save some remains of faded paint. Oh, a few thugs still lingered about. I spotted one group that seemed familiar standing on a corner absent colors.
I didn't think about how that might develop. The moment was too real. I ran on a lengthy jog, worked up a sweat, and let it sink in.
The ABB is dead.
Even with Lung still free, he was just a cape. No captains, no crews. No crews, no organized crime.
The end of an era.
Just one last nail to hammer down.
Pink had breakfast ready when I walked through the front door. I paused, looking back at the steps.
"Did you fix the step?" I called.
"Yeah," Dad said. "Figured it had been long enough."
I closed the door and jumped into the shower to wash off. When it came time to dress, I looked at my closet. I'd never been particularly fashionable. I kept thinking about Labyrinth, which I'd never admit because Lafter would say something about it.
I liked that look. Sort of a business casual, I guessed. Nice blouses, slacks, a tie. It looked good on her and looking at myself in the mirror I wondered. Might not be hip or stylish, but I already looked older than my age suggested. Tall. Thin. I could pull off nice blouses, slacks and ties, couldn't I?
Unfortunately my array of baggy pants, hoodies, and loose fitting dresses gave me few options on that front. Wasn't sure how many of them fit me anymore. I'd grown a bit over the summer. A few new items might be called for anyway.
But if I even mention the words 'clothes' or 'shopping' half the people I know will swamp me wanting to 'help'.
Maybe I could put the Haros and their uncanny ability to acquire things to work.
If things went according to plan, the Bay would become a lot calmer soon. More time to plan. Time to tinker. Make arrangements and contingencies. More time not in costume.
Weird to think about but there I was thinking about it.
I slipped my costume on and then pulled some baggy clothes on over it. Pink had breakfast ready when I went downstairs.
"Good run?" Dad asked.
"Yeah." I sat down and glanced at the papers in front of him. "The city feels different."
"I've noticed too." He glanced up at me for a moment. Worried. Proud. Confused. Not really sure which combination of the three exactly fit.
Soon. Deal with it after.
I'd have plenty of time soon. Forgiveness wasn't the word for what I wanted to give Dad, but Veda's words rang true for me. I didn't want things to keep lingering as they had most of the past few weeks. Dad fucked up—big—but I'd seen myself how easy it is to be a bad parent without meaning to.
"Kati called," Pink chirped, "Kati called."
She rolled back along the counter and held out my phone. I left it behind. Historically, I've allowed myself to become distracted while running and ended up tinkering instead. So, no screens. A Haro could watch me from the sky and Veda could dive in if anything happened.
"Kati?" I called. "Is everything ready?"
"More or less," she called back. "Keep throwing these curve balls at me and I will need some staff."
"I know. I've already been thinking about it for a while."
One person could not be expected to manage relations for an entire cape team. Kati needed help and I'd hire some—and pay her properly—as soon as I could afford to. Incredibly generous in my mind she'd yet to mention pay.
"Do you think it'll come off right?" I asked.
"I think it'll get the point across."
"I'm surprised you went along with it. All of it, really."
"Truth is a tricky thing, Newtype. It means different things to different people. My goal isn't to decide what it is, but to manage the realities of a world where it holds many meanings so my client can achieve their goals with as much public support as can be mustered."
That sounded rehearsed. She seemed more skeptical of the things I told her than Murrue, but all she did was ask me if I was being honest with myself. I said 'as honest as I think anyone can be'. She nodded and accepted that, though I didn't think she was entirely happy.
That might be because I warned her of my scheme to start a 'shell game' with Brockton Bay's villain scene. She called it a PR reps worst nightmare. I didn't need convincing. Blue Cosmos would jump at the chance to crucify a hero, as personal experience taught me.
"I see," I said.
"The finer points of the PR creed can be covered later. Do you think this will work?"
All I really knew was that nearly two days of review got me nowhere. There were too many possibilities. I simply didn't know enough about Teacher or his goals to say what purpose he might have in letting Coil get captured, or how he might attempt to use the lawsuit.
The latter came with the complication that I could use the money for any number of good things. That potentially selfish cause made it hard to decide if I should simply let events play out or try to disrupt them. What if my actions tipped Teacher off to what I knew? Did he already know?
"Don't know," I admitted. "But if it shakes someone somewhere, I might figure something out."
I couldn't sit back and wait for Teacher's scheme to play out.
"Suppose we'll see," Kati replied. "It's all ready to go."
"Right."
I ended the call to Dad's worried stare.
What could I say? If I told him the truth he'd worry. If I told him a lie it wouldn't last. If I said nothing he'd worry and it wouldn't last.
I glanced at the papers in front of him. "More stuff from Blue Cosmos?"
"Yeah. They called it the final case they want to present. I think they want to file."
"Well. At least it'll be over."
Despite the words, I kept wondering if I should call the whole thing off or not. I ate my breakfast and told myself again there would be time soon. Time to work things out. Part of me worried that was just me slipping back into my old habit of powering through things, but no.
The dawn is coming.
I finished my breakfast and rose. "I'm off. Do I need to sign any of that?"
"Yes," he said. "But it can wait till tonight." He glanced at me. "You'll be back for dinner?"
I didn't turn, lest he see my face.
You'll be back for dinner, said like he worried I wouldn't have one again.
"Yeah." I gave a false smile. "Stop worrying so much."
Completely the wrong thing to say. I knew it the moment I said it but…time.
I left the house like I did most mornings. I boarded a bus, rode it toward the library, got out, and slipped into my van.
"Is everything ready?" I asked as I peeled away my baggy over-clothes.
"Arrangements are complete. Orga Itsuka has cleared the area around the location and I have double checked with the Haros. There is a negligible risk of harm befalling bystanders."
I nodded. "Good."
I sent a text message to Orga. An innocent one, a simple warning to clear his guys out. Green, Orange, Purple, and Navy were already in the air watching as Bakuda and Lung stood in a shadowed area of the train yard. A junk filled lot, nestled between three dilapidated buildings. Lafter was in position elsewhere, and Queen rose miles to the west where no one would see it.
The stage was set. The only question that remained was Bakuda. Dinah gave it better odds she'd actually help me with Lung, but the aftermath remained murky in its own way.
I could just take them both.
The plan got messier if I did, but it still worked. More or less. Would be a lot less stressful too. Just slam into her as fast as I dared, knock her out and then deal with Lung.
It would be the safer course.
But then I'd have to deal with the aftermath. The revolving door would begin. I'd have to keep fighting new assholes, rather than getting the time I needed. In a way it almost seemed petty. Lung wasn't a major player outside Brockton Bay. Just a run of the mill two bit hood, with the power to become a walking inferno with scales.
Meanwhile, other threats brought the world to its knees.
I gave Orga a few minutes. Veda brought the van to a stop, and the sides pulled back. I climbed into Exia and closed the chest.
"Lafter?" I called.
"Ready and waiting."
"In and out," I warned. "It's fine if people see you, just don't let them see your face."
"I got it. Easy stuff. Good luck with your date."
I rolled my eyes as Exia was lifted into a standing position. I checked the systems off and double checked the Buster Sword attached to the right arm and swung back. The big blade was heavier than the one I used on Astraea, and a lot less friendly. I probably couldn't go swinging it at anything I didn't want seriously hurt. Or anything short a brute rating.
Time.
"I'm starting phase one," I announced. "Send a message to Murrue. I'm engaging Lung and Bakuda. I have a plan. Don't send anyone in for ten minutes. If the fight is still going by then, I probably need help."
"Sent," Veda said.
Let's go Exia.
I pushed on the controls. Exia burst forward, trailing light as it came out from between the buildings. A few heads turned and a car stopped as I flew past. I kept low, under the rooftops.
Time is running out. And I needed to be bold.
Dinah saw what could happen, not what would happen. If she saw the path then it existed. I needed to find it, not fret about all the other paths that might come. I'd seen it. It was possible, and I'd find the way there one way or another.
And you're in my way.
I threw my shoulder forward. Exia barreled through wall after wall until I slammed into Lung from behind. The man tumbled forward across the ground, Exia digging feet into the ground as I braked. Holding the right arm out, the Buster Sword swung forward into its ready position, and I drew a khatar from Exia's leg.
The weapon looked like a big punch blade, and I threw a foot into Lung's back as he tried to rise. Fire poured off of him. I felt the heat, though not as harshly as the last time we fought. I buried the khatar in Lung's shoulder, right where the wing would start to emerge.
He grew, fast. His hand swiped back, propelled junk and dirt into the air. It all burned in the fire, and I shot back before his claws—suddenly the size of fingers—could test my armor.
I glanced at my rear cameras. Bakuda pushed herself to her feet, launcher in one hand. She jumped back when I came through the wall, and then rolled away as fire swept through the lot.
Time to pick your side.
Lung roared, his body whirling toward me and swiping a hand through the flame.
"Oou."
You, I think. His face was already contorting, and he'd grown more than two feet. Faster than before, and the time before that. I'd hoped there might be a limit to how quickly he could ramp up.
If there was, I hadn't found it yet.
Lung did not grow at a constant rate. He grew faster when hurt. His power didn't just make him bigger. It grew him to match the damage being thrown his way. Scaled to the threat. Whether his power used its own judgment or took feedback from Lung I wasn't sure.
Academic as a question, probably.
"Aoda."
I didn't quite know what that meant.
Ahead, Lung rose up tall in the fire. The flame spread, spilling over the narrow lot and brushing up against the walls around us. Light from the GN drive mixed into the flames. The conflicting lights danced, green and red mixed together.
Lung looked past me. Bakuda pulled a flare gun from her coat. A very familiar flare gun. I'd seen it twice before. She pointed it at me. Lung began to move, turning left. Clearing the line of fire. Or, giving her one.
"I wonder what this does…"
The gun lingered on me for a moment, and then turned on Lung.
I think I saw surprise on his face as the mask fell from it. He moved and the shell went over my shoulder. I started moving to match him. The flames blew over me, and I fought through them toward the shadow of something within the fire.
I caught sight of Lung's arm and turned away from it. I swiped the Buster Sword at where I expected the villain to be. Only he wasn't there.
The arm was there.
Lung wasn't.
The fuck?
"Huh, so that's what it does."
Lung's arm hung in the air, surrounded by frozen fire. It took me a moment to comprehend it. A freezing effect? No. The fire looked hot and alive, just unmoving. The arm looked trapped in mid movement, muscles tensing and scales just starting to emerge from the skin.
Frozen, like—
I moved as a wall came crashing toward me. Lung roared, and I barely avoided his hand as he swiped at me. Bakuda threw her launcher up and took aim. Lung swiped his remaining arm down, throwing fire and dirt up into the air.
Bigger. At least twelve feet. So much in so little time?
He didn't stop. He turned on me immediately, blinding me momentarily with a wall of flame. I blocked his swipe with my shield. Arms were growing on his sides. I saw them as they swiped at me. They came up short, and the claws seemed too small to hurt, but the ferocity struck me.
Not like before.
Before, Lung moved like a glacier. A force of nature, something that simply existed and expected to power its way through however long it took. Lung's leg short forward in a kick. I knocked it aside with my shield and swung upward. Lung bent back, taking only a light cut to the chest that quickly closed.
Flames kept swirling about in an attempt to block my vision. Hard to see, even with the sonic cameras. The heat rippled the air. Muddied the image. Not badly, but enough that I noticed.
Even then, I saw the difference.
This is Lung when he's actually trying.
A series of punches came my way, and I shot back. An explosion ripped through the ground, blasting fire about in a swirl. Lung threw another wave toward Bakuda. She dove for cover, grabbing something from her bandoleer and tossing it straight up into the air.
I circled around as the bomb spun apart into a dozen smaller bombs. I fired my GN pistol into Lung's side—power at max—and launched a missile from the shield. Lung stepped out of the way of the missile. The blast knocked him back, and he threw himself with the momentum.
Experience, I thought. The experience of a cape who endured for over a decade.
He crashed into the building. Rock splattered the brick and debris. Bakuda ran, moving toward the more open space beyond the lot. I drew back from the air. My thumb switched to the sonic camera. I tracked Lung as he came thundering out of the building a full foot taller and swinging a cast iron bathtub.
I dodged enough to avoid a direct hit. The thing still hit me in the shoulder. Exia spun. I threw the legs out and fired the thrusters to regain control. Fire blasted out from the roaring form, washing all around.
He's trying to blind Bakuda.
I didn't know exactly what she built into her mask. From the way she kept moving back and watching the fire wall I gathered she couldn't see through it.
Lung stayed on me, attacking as he kept growing in size. He was fast, and strong. I swung at his collar. He let me hit him, and then he spun his body around and threw me. I regained control quickly, avoiding a backhand he threw toward me, and the punch that came after it.
Fast.
Faster than his size would suggest, fast enough that even with Exia's speed my own reflexes strained to keep up. He'd punch one way, and then be ready to strike at where I went. That wasn't skill or powers. It was experience.
I did manage to get past his arms and behind him. I pulled the other khatar from Exia's leg and stabbed it toward Lung's back. I missed the shoulder blade, unfortunately. Though, I took note that the first blade remained in place.
No wings. As long as Lung stayed on the ground, the fight could be contained. Bakuda, Lung, and Exia all fighting in the streets was a disaster in every way. I needed to keep Lung in the Trainyard.
I flew out of the fire wall and landed twenty feet away from Bakuda. We stood out in the more open 'rail' area of the yard. The lines ran side by side by side, interspersed by rows of buildings and old warehouses. A few abandoned cars and trains still lay about. I worried, but Orga's guys spent two days clearing the area and the Haros didn't find anyone in a cursory search.
It would have to do.
"How long is this supposed to take?" Bakuda asked calmly, watching the fire dance.
"As long as it takes," I answered.
"As long as it takes?"
"It needs to be a little flashy or people might get suspicious."
"Fucking crazy," she grumbled.
"It's your reputation when this is done," I noted.
A crumbling—and flaming—canister came flying out of the fire and smoke. A boiler I realized, old and rusty. I dodged to the side. Realized the trick too late.
A shadow charged from the flames to my left, heading right for Bakuda. She fired her launcher. Her boots erupted and threw her into the air.
Lung was waiting. He burst out to her right, a crumbling brick wall falling to the ground as he moved to hit her in the direction of her refuge.
I tackled him in the side, and Bakuda threw her feet the other direction and fired her boots again. She threw another bomb straight up, and I pressed Exia's feet right into Lung and thrusted away. Fire erupted around me. One of my legs jerked and Lung spun me around.
I flipped over in midair and fired another missile as Lung shielded one side with two arms. The mini-rockets peppered and tore his scaled flesh apart. He dodged my missile and threw a wave of flame at me.
He wants to keep us separate.
Lung is not an idiot. He'd grown another foot, and seemed more beast than man. I saw one of his burning eyes glaring at me, while his back started to ripple.
I fired my pistol into his back, charging. He halted his momentum toward Bakuda and swiped at me. Another hand forced its way into the ground. The sounds of straining steel filled the air, and Lung ripped an old rusty track from the ground.
Shit.
He swung it at Exia like a bat. I blocked it with my shield but the force of the blow still threw me to the side. My feet dug a scar as I forced myself to remain standing and Lung brought the rail down for another swing. An explosion ripped through the ground, and Lung's left leg snapped.
Glass shards peppered the air as he roared. Bakuda's form rocketed through the flames and she fired another round from her launcher. Lung—and fuck he knows how to fight—slammed two hands into the ground as he fell and spun himself around. The explosion crystallized the ground but only skimmed Lung's side.
He jumped away from the blast and toward Bakuda.
I slammed into him again. His still growing body cratered the ground while she shot herself through the air and away. I cut the rail with my blade, and with my other hand drew my long sword. I slashed it into Lung's back, cutting his growing wing at the stub.
Lung's elbow shot into my side, throwing Exia forward. The blow reverberated through me, but the armor held. Lung lifted himself up, still growing leg not remotely a hindrance. He used his extra set of arms to move himself, washing heat over my armor and thrusting at me with punches.
I noticed the shift in form.
The change from wide and wild swipes to precise strikes and jabs. I blocked and dodged, swinging into his side. He threw one arm up to block my sword, but I stabbed my off hand blade into the forearm and pinned it.
Behind him, Bakuda aimed. I cleaved the buster sword into his arm with a quick swing and launched myself. Lung swung himself around as she fired. The bomb rippled the air. Space collapsed and the effect caught Lung's other leg. I watched it contract and twist. Lung roared, yanking his body free of the limb in a gory display.
The leg, fire, smoke, and dirt crushed down to the size of Exia's chest.
I stared at that for a moment.
"No bodies," I shouted.
Bakuda started. "You can't be serious!"
"None!" I repeated.
Lung started moving with his arms, one wing bursting from his back and flapping about. The fires burned harder and faster. Bakuda stumbled away as they got dangerously close.
Lung was talking again, but I didn't understand a word of it.
"Veda."
I placed myself between Bakuda and the fire, a GN Field projecting from my shield.
"Fire."
The air snapped. Fire and smoke vacated a cylinder of space behind. Lung's side tore free, and his body spun. The wind whipped around Exia and knocked Bakuda down.
"Reloading," Veda announced.
Anyone watching the mountains in the distance might notice one of the peaks billowing in dust.
Lung certainly didn't see it. He scrambled on the ground, both legs regrowing along with two arms and half his side. He'd grown to twenty feet, the size he'd been when I ended our last fight. He regenerated rapidly, far faster than I'd seen before.
Behind me, Bakuda was looking at the stake buried in the ground at a sharp angle.
"Hit him," I called.
She turned. "Gladly." Bakuda came out from behind me and fired.
"No bodies," I warned.
She didn't acknowledge me. Lung managed to throw himself out of the way with his two remaining arms, and shielded himself with his wing. Bakuda's bombs exploded around him, and I peppered his body with shots from my pistol.
The wave of fire was predictable, even without a dozen runs through Dinah figuring how Lung fought. Patterns, I thought. Lung attacked. When he couldn't attack, he still attacked. A good defense is a good offense, is one mentality. Lung subscribed to it to a 'T'.
I ejected propellant from Exia, blasting the fire back and away from Bakuda. She fired two more grenades, and the canisters in her launcher fell away. Lung had moved. The flames didn't hinder my vision, but they did hinder Bakuda's.
The dragon man avoided the worst of her blasts, constantly shifting his position. He threw out fire to obscure his movements. Rubble and debris were objects to throw, as distractions and weapons.
"Where?" Bakuda asked.
I pointed my sword at him.
The sonic cameras weren't disrupted by heat, though Bakuda for some reason caused them to flicker. She pressed something on her launcher and tossed it. The explosion that followed tore the fire apart and threw Lung back into a row of rail cars.
She pulled a pair of flare guns from inside her coat. "Did I get him."
"He's healing faster than before," I noted.
"He gets stronger faster the harder the fight is. Always got the sense he rarely put much effort into anything."
I could see why. If this was Lung at his full power, we might lose even if we worked together. He'd wear us down. Probably try to take Bakuda out first, and then get me somewhere Queen couldn't see. Already, I saw him stirring, throwing debris off his massive form. His legs were back, and he rose up quickly.
I checked the Haros as he grabbed an abandoned car and tumbled it toward us. I pushed Bakuda out of the way, and then leapt back myself as another car came crashing down. The ground shook and rattled as they flipped and crashed. Fire followed, and Lung jumped at me.
I blocked his hand with my shield and swung my sword into his leg. Again he took it, and I noticed the increased resistance in the cut.
I focused on defense.
Lung lost the fight before it started. He just didn't know it. Kind of felt bad for him.
The Haros captured the fight from multiple angles and ranges. Green and Orange from their positions got a really good look at the Gungnir's firing. You could make out the stake shattering the air as it flew before throwing up a tornado of fire, smoke, and dust when it struck the ground. In another, Bakuda could clearly be seen flying through the air.
That'll do.
I caught Lung's arm when he swung at me and spun around. I cut his wing with my blade and fired the thrusters to gain distance. Bakuda shot one of her flair guns, but it went wide. Lung avoided the blast and shot fire in return. She rocketed out of the way, and in that moment my heart skipped a beat.
"Veda. Fire."
The air cracked again. Lung—not sure how—seemed to sense it coming. He started to move in the less than a second moment between my words and the stake plowing through his shoulder and shredding his other side.
Unlike the first, it didn't bury itself in the ground. The stake exploded as it hit, and shattered. Blood spilled and burned, and Lung jumped back for the cover of a building. He'd noticed the angle of Veda's firing.
I pointed the buster blade at him, and throttled down the power. The blade split and opened. The edges pulled back to reveal the stake inside.
You are strong, I thought, but you lose.
I pulled the trigger. Exia absorbed the recoil, but the arm still snapped back and strained. Lung noticed too late, raising a hand that did little more than get pierced and nailed to his chest as my second Newter-blood stake buried itself in his gut.
Lung stuttered and ripped his arm free. The muscle and flesh tore as the stake remained embedded in his torso.
I closed the buster sword back into a blade and dodged the hunk of building Lung pulled free and threw my way. Bakuda fired another bomb, and Lung fell back to avoid it. The building shattered from the explosion.
And Lung kept falling.
He hit the ground hard, and Veda told me his mass had decreased.
I win.
Lung continued regenerating. I saw his arms and sides growing back, and the blood flow was stopping, but he'd already lost plenty of that. Blood was the medium, from what Veda gathered watching him across two different encounters. Lung's power could produce it, but it used blood to generate mass. Not sure how. Didn't really care.
Lung had lost gallons from the limbs he'd lost and the Gungnirs he'd been hit with. It stained the ground and his scale covered hide. And now one stake was embedded in his chest. Inside and out, the poison would spread and Lung was short on blood to handle it.
Fortunately, Faultline promised Newter's power seemed incapable of causing any sort of fatality. He'd tried. It never did more than knock his target out, among other effects.
And while Lung tried to stand, his balance clearly wasn't right. He fell back down, crashing against the ground. He shrunk to my eyes, and while he tried to rise a second time he fell again. He stayed down.
I remained on guard for a moment, sliding Exia over the ground toward him. I stopped about twenty feet away. The fire still burned around him, occasionally flicking up as he twitched.
"Veda, tell the PRT we need a secured transport. We have Lung." I turned, facing her. Switching on the exterior speakers, I said, "Bakuda got away."
She looked at me. I couldn't see her face from behind her mask, but I saw her body language. Defensive, a flare gun clutched in one hand.
She didn't betray me anymore. That possibility seemed to evaporate from Dinah's sight. Instead, we had an entirely different problem.
Keeping her from killing Lung.
"Get going," I said. "The PRT and Protectorate will be here fast. You can't be here when they do."
She looked past me, red lenses fixed on Lung.
"Bakuda."
Her hand shot up, and I moved to stop her. A flash of movement behind me turned my attention and I spun Exia around.
Lung slammed into me. The blow threw me back despite the man being only ten feet tall. Smoke billowed off him rather than fire, and he stepped clumsily. Scales peeled off his skin when he cracked Bakuda's wrist. She screamed and threw a punch at his face. The blast that erupted from her wrist freed her. Lung feel back and stumbled. I shot forward again, my head still jarred a bit from the blow.
I checked him into the ground with my shield and gave his jaw a good whip with the GN pistol's barrel. Lung stopped moving, save for the faint rise and fall of his chest.
Smoke continued to rise, and scales kept peeling off his body. His eyes looked up aimlessly, lacking any sense of the intensity I noticed before.
Behind me, Bakuda cursed. She fished her flare gun off the ground and turned on Lung.
"No!" I shouted.
"Yes!" She shouted back. "Get out of the way!"
I turned my shield toward her and readied my sword.
"Fucking insanity," she snapped.
"No bodies," I snapped. "I mean it!"
"He deserves it!"
"It's not about what he deserves!" They weren't my words. They were mom's. "It's about what you deserve!"
She didn't lower her weapon, but I saw the hesitation. She held her broken wrist against her stomach, her entire right side curling into itself from pain. The hand holding the flare gun shook. and I didn't like that.
"Kill him," I said, "and the PRT will decide you're just knocking off the competition. They'll go after you."
"That's the plan!"
"No it's not!"
I checked on Lung.
His little second wind seemed spent, and he'd shrunk back to what I assumed to be his normal size. Still huge as far as men went, with broad shoulders and a blocky face. He rasped as he breathed, and his skin looked pale. Some of the cuts and bruises on his face seemed to only half heal. He wasn't getting up again.
I pulled the release, and the cockpit opened.
I stepped out smoothly and faced her, saying, "The plan is that you never wanted to be here. Being under his thumb was not your first choice, it's just where you ended up! I can work with that. You can build from that!"
I turned my finger at Lung, who seemed completely oblivious to the argument happening above him.
"It's not about him," I insisted. "He lost. He not important anymore. It's about you. And Orga. About this city. We can break the cycle, this stupid game of cops and robbers, but not if you start knocking people off!"
I wouldn't stand for it. I honestly didn't give a shit about Lung, but if she killed him now I'd always be watching. Waiting for her to kill someone else. The plan wouldn't work like that.
Lung needed to live, not because he deserved it but because Bakuda needed to show restraint.
"Pretty words," she scoffed, "and how will they sound when he comes back?"
I reigned myself in. Shouting at her wouldn't work, so I thought. I forced my heart down and relaxed my shoulders.
"He's not going to come back," I assured her.
"Yeah, cause the PRT's track record with keeping bad guys locked up"—she waved her limp wrist at herself—"is so stellar!"
Speaking calmly, I urged her to, "Think about it. He could have killed Trainwreck whenever it suited him. He waited till you destroyed my suit to do it."
She stared at me.
I'd studied Lung's history, but I hadn't really given it much thought till recently. After his fight with Leviathan and the sinking of Kyushu, Lung first appeared in Los Angeles. He tried to establish himself there.
Alexandria beat the shit out of him. A member of the Triumvirate, one of the most powerful capes in the world and the epitome of a 'flying brick'. Lung left Los Angeles. He went to Denver. Hero beat the shit out of him next. Then the Philadelphia Protectorate, and Legend in two different cities.
For his reputation, it's amazing how many fights Lung lost. I supposed it helped that most people paid one random villain getting knocked around little mind. Until, that is, he made it to Brockton Bay and crushed the entire Protectorate team in one fight. One big fight and it all turned around.
Lung was powerful. I'd never call him weak, even as he lay there. But power can seem like something more than it is. Lung always ran when he lost. He didn't linger and fight. I'd taken note that he never appeared at another Endbringer fight, despite being about as close to unkillable as any cape could probably get.
"He's a coward," I finished. "He's not going to come back, even if he gets out. And I doubt he'll be getting out of the Birdcage."
It's the only place the PRT could possibly put him and not look like idiots.
"You need to leave. Orga and the guys are packing your stuff up. They're going to clear out and you should follow. Find somewhere else in the Trainyard to hide and lay low for a bit."
I watched her, standing defiantly in her way. Behind me, Exia began moving as Veda took control. She probably didn't appreciate my split second decision to exit my suit.
On second thought, I think I didn't appreciate that decision.
Bakuda's hand continued to shake. While the mask hid her face, I could see the battle waging underneath. She shifted her weight forward and back. Reeled in pain and straightened out in determination.
"You need to go," I repeated. "Armsmaster has a serious hard on for Lung, and I can not fight the Protectorate for you. Not like that and not right now."
She continued to hesitate, but then said, "I'm going to say I told you so. And I'll be a real bitch about it."
…"Fair."
She lowered the gun and stumbled back. Fires continued to burn around the area, and a building across the nearby rail line collapsed. One of the train cars Lung threw had smashed an entire section away, and the rest of the structure just crumbled.
Behind me, Veda turned Exia and pressed the foot against Lung's chest. Not enough to compress him, but enough that if he tried to rise there would be resistance.
I watched Bakuda as she sulked off.
"Send Red to her. Have him look at that wrist."
"That was very reckless," Veda said. "You should not have exited Exia."
Maybe not, but it worked. I hoped. She might simply plan to kill him later. Which meant I had to watch her regardless. Hurray.
But at least she hadn't killed him.
"We'll watch her," I decided.
Bakuda kills Lung.
Dinah saw it over and over again. Given what I knew now, I could guess the reason. She wanted to protect Orga and the rest of those boys from his retribution. She didn't care what happened to her…And fuck, why did I relate to that on some basic level?
"The PRT?" I asked.
"On their way." Veda showed me a feed from one of the Haros. "I do not believe they took our instruction to wait seriously."
I nodded, noting that two armored trucks and Armsmaster's motorcycle were already deep in the Docks. They must have set out as soon as the fight started.
"It's done," I mused. "Doesn't matter."
I turned, focusing my eyes on the figure that now appeared asleep.
"And find the Khatars." They fell out at some point. I couldn't really remember when but they did their job of keeping the man from growing out his wings properly.
There was something melancholy in looking down at him.
Lung. The Dragon. The Beast of the Bay. Dragon of Kyushu. He had a bunch of names and all of them were about power. The power of one man who held a third of a city through sheer force of will. Sure, he got his ass kicked getting to Brockton Bay, but that didn't really amount to much when he'd so soundly held so much of the city.
It should feel…more.
The sound of sirens in the distance caught my ear. Red dropped out of the sky and stopped Bakuda. He directed her back down the alley and another way, one that would take her clear of any brawl with the Protectorate or PRT. If Bakuda got arrested she was on her own. I'd only—and only—steer her clear so long as things remained kosher.
I didn't know how long Newter blood would keep Lung out and I didn't want to risk him getting his senses back.
Looking down at the man again, yeah.
I felt it should feel like more. More rewarding. More meaningful. But it wasn't. It just felt like Tuesday. Lung lost long before the moment he hit the ground high on Newter juice. I took him apart and unlike the Empire he didn't even try to adapt.
Our fight ended ages ago and I needed to keep looking ahead. The Empire remained. I needed to hammer things out with Orga and Bakuda. I felt better about that now, knowing the woman could control herself enough to do the right thing. Then came Coil and whatever the hell Teacher was up to in Brockton Bay. The Endbringers. The Nine. The future.
I almost felt sorry for Lung. Defeating him should be a triumph. Instead it felt like the first step at the bottom of the stairs.
I outgrew you, I thought as Armsmaster's motorcycle came up behind me. Sorry.
I turned toward Armsmaster, ready to start phase two.
