Scripted Encounters 3.3 was authored by Faria Lyton as a part of Co-Op Mode. This chapter is reposted as part of A Bug in the Game with permission. This chapter comes after Boss Fights 3.2 and will overlap the first part of Boss Fights 3.3
Scripted Encounters 3.3
I look up to see a shadowed figure climb most of the way down the fire escape ladder before skipping the last few rungs, dropping to the ground with a light 'tak' before approaching us. As soon as she gets close enough to see… Oh, sweet mother of spandex! Purple and black fabric clings everywhere. And she's in the kind of shape her costume demands. Damn. Okay, eyes up. Hmm. Blonde. I think I've recovered fairly quickly, but I still meet a knowing smirk. "Are you forgetting something?"
["Tattletale"]
[Level 28]
[Know-it-all]
[Relationship with "Tattletale" has increased!]
[Relationship with "Tattletale" has advanced from 'Stranger' to 'Peer']
Oh, my shirt. I finish powering through the hem and slide the whole mess off, probably blushing like crazy under my helmet. "Eh, yeah, sorry. It was kinda in the way and flapping around after Lung, and I'm rambling. I should stop." Thankfully, I stop just before I would have said something unfortunate about being uncomfortably aware of my nipples, topless in the spring air. With two girls.
"Whatever excuse you need. Not that I mind." Did… did she just elevator-eyes me? She turns to Taylor before continuing. "Why did you guys even get into a fight with Lung?"
"He was going to kill children." There's absolutely no regret or hesitation in Taylor's voice. Hope that means she doesn't blame me for dragging her into that. "We couldn't let that happen. And who are you?"
Spandex Chick, er, Tattletale's smirk doesn't shrink at all. "So you both just charged in to save the day? Or rather, you," she nods at me, "charged first and you," gesture to Taylor, "jumped in to save him. And the kids. Good work. You really saved our asses."
"Do you mean…?" Our? Lung was after her and some friends? Do her friends also wear spandex?
"And, you still haven't given us a name."
Tattletale shrugs. "Neither have you. You tell me yours, I'll tell you mine." Her voice brings the Mona Lisa's smile to mind - not mocking, per se, but clearly amused by a secret no one else knows.
"I'm Lady Bug, and this is my partner, Beetle Knight." Her gesture towards me is probably unnecessary, given we're the only three conscious people in the alleyway. "Now who are you and your friends?"
"You can call me Tattletale." I consider using a whispered [Observe] to get more info, but it seems like she'd catch that. And with how little info I usually get, I probably wouldn't learn anything new, except maybe something random, like her three sizes. Hmm...
Taylor sounds a little wary. "So Tattletale, why was Lung after you, your friends, and those three beasts?" It's not easy remembering that the Taylor Hebert who can't seem to avoid her bullies is actually so aware of her surrounds.
Tattletale turns to face Taylor. "You're wondering if we're heroes or villains." Of course she's a hero. Her outfit is way too… It would be slinkier or scarier if she was a villain. "The world's a little more complicated than that. There are lots of shades of grey. Tonight, we're both fighting the ABB." Oh. Guess I was wrong on that one.
"But you're still a villain." Taylor's choking up on her bat again.
"Like I said, it's complicated. Sometimes life takes an unexpected path. Things happen that you can't take back. I'm here to stop you from making a similar mistake. You, ah, overdid it a little. Lung's dying. You beat him too fast, his regeneration isn't strong enough to get all the toxins out. He needs… your epi-pens. Both of them, and go for major veins. The jolt should be enough to save him."
"Knight, what's the status on Lung?"
Just 'Knight'? I suppose 'Beetle Knight' is a bit long to use every time. Hmm, what works for 'Lady Bug'? Definitely not using 'Bug' when I can avoid it, and 'Lady' would seem sexist at a glance… No. Focus. I need to make sure the slumbering villain isn't dying, but I'm not so sure about showing off this part of my powers. I turn to Lung and mutter the softest [Observe] I can manage.
["Lung"]
[Level ?]
[The Dragon of Kyushu]
[The world-infamous leader of the Azn Bad Boys and only parahuman to survive fighting an Endbringer one-on-one. Controls fire and regenerates. Grows in power over the course of a fight, eventually turning into a dragon. Prefers armchairs to couches.]
[Lung is currently suffering from a potent blend of insect toxins, delivered in mass quantities. Without medical help, Lung will die within minutes.]
Well, that was a little random. Armchairs? Best to focus on the important part. "She's right. He's fading fast."
"Okay, let's do this."
Saving a villain's life under another villain's direction, after beating the first villain to death's door. Well, day one as a superhero is off to an interesting start. Taylor fishes both injectors out of her belt and passes me one. Only two major veins near the surface I can think of, jugular and femoral. Saving a life or not, as long as I've got other options I'm not messing with another man's junk. Instead, I take a moment to find his pulse before jabbing the right side of his neck. Hooray for random late-night internet searches. Taylor carefully watches me, then copies my actions to hit the left jugular.
[A skill has been created through a special action.]
[A skill to treat minor injuries and ailments, [First Aid], has been created.]
[First Aid (Active) Lvl 1 Exp 0.0% / MP 10]
[Treats minor injuries like cuts and bruises. Can treat broken bones at higher levels.]
[5% increase in recovery speed of treated injuries.]
[Just because you don't bleed...]
Taylor whispers to me over the back of the unconscious Cape's head, "Is it working?"
A second [Observe] shows that his regeneration is outpacing the venom by a hair, and nets me a skill-up. "Yeah, he's stable now." Thank God. Lung may be a violent asshole, but I don't need his death on my hands.
Taylor pushes herself to her feet and turns to Tattletale. "Whatever your affiliation, thank you."
"So!" Tattletale bounces on her feet, drawing my attention down. I focus back up on her face. "I'm with the Undersiders. Thanks for taking care of Lung for us." She offers a gloved hand to Taylor and she takes it, after a moment's pause. "He was coming after us tonight. We decided to take the fight to him, take it on our own terms." I do my best to hold eye contact during my turn. Wow, that's a bright green. "We found Oni Lee and half a dozen guys, but Lung and the majority of his gang never made it. Nice work."
[Your reputation with The Undersiders has increased!]
[Reputation with The Undersiders has increased from 'Neutral' to 'Friendly'.]
And now we're on friendly terms with a group of villains. This has been an odd night. "The credit has to go to Lady Bug here. I highly doubt my advanced strategy of 'hit him, then hit him again, harder' was half as effective as," I already said Lady Bug once, need a shorter name fast, "m'lady pumping him full of a few thousand spiders' worth of venom." It's a bit formal, but it fits.
"I'm still impressed. By both of you. Why don't you come up and meet my team?" She holds up a hand towards Lady Bug. "I know we're not usually on the same side, but tonight we are. Things work a bit different in reality than they do in the news. Consider this a one-night truce. Someday you may be glad you have a backchannel."
Taylor pauses a moment before responding, "...you'd better not be planning anything."
"I wouldn't dare!" The look of innocent shock on Tattletale's face is so obviously faked it loops back around to reassuring. "We're evasion specialists, not combat like Lung, and you beat him like a rented drum."
"Ladies first?" I gesture to the rusted ladder she'd come down. Vague thoughts of coming up behind the villainess waft through my mind, momentarily.
Taylor gives me a light shove. "Move it." I think I hear her mutter something else, but I could be- Nope, Tattletale is laughing. I don't think I want to know. My increased stats are more obvious to me when used for something mundane like climbing this ladder. I could probably do it with just my hands, but don't want to risk stepping on someone's face trying it.
The building is only a single story, so there are no zig-zagging stairs to deal with. Three new people and three monstrous quadrupeds await us on the roof. The beasts draw my attention first as the most visually threatening. [Angelica, Level 34], [Brutus, Level 32], and [Judas, Level 33] are all hulking masses of asymmetrical muscle and bone spurs, something like skinless reptilian pumas. And they're almost as big as a minivan each. Angelica might be missing an eye and an ear, but it's hard to tell with just how ugly the beasts are.
I can feel Tattletale stand beside me, her nubile form radiating heat across the three inches between my left left arm and her spandex-wrapped… shoulder. "I'll make the introductions." Lady Bug leans around my right side to get a better view as Tattletale points out each of her teammates in turn.
The first, closest person is wearing masculine street clothes (leather jacket with fur collar, sturdy blue jeans, heavy work boots) and has a cheap plastic rottweiler mask strapped to her head, more like a tiny hat than any attempt at keeping her identity secret. She's almost as masculine as her outfit, with a lantern jaw and shoulders broader than any man in my family. Still, she's… proportionate enough that I'm sure of her gender. If only just. The three creatures defer to her in what seems like an instinctive response.
[Rachel "Bitch" Lindt]
[Level 39]
[Canine Minded]
[Relationship with Rachel "Bitch" Lindt has increased!]
[Relationship with Rachel "Bitch" Lindt has advanced from 'Human' to 'Unfriendly']
"You may have heard of Hellhound," Who? "but I should let you know she prefers to go by Bitch. The PRT and media prefer to keep it PG." I wonder why my power provided her full name… Guess I'll look it up later.
I'm slightly less sure of the sex of the next figure. Sure, he(?) has a rather masculine figure, with similarly broad shoulders and no apparent feminine features, but who knows what's under thick motorcycle leathers and that helmet? Eh, I'll just think of him as male. If he didn't want to be viewed as male, padding could have been added. The skull-shaped visor on his helmet isn't the most feminine choice either. His stance speaks of confidence and some martial arts training. Probably enough to take me in a straight fight, for now.
["Grue"]
[Level 34]
[Enforcer]
[Relationship with "Grue" has increased!]
[Relationship with "Grue" has advanced from 'Stranger' to 'Peer']
"Our fearless leader here is Grue." ...is that a reference to that old text adventure game? And was it Adventure or Zork?
The last one is a guy. A pretty boy, but male. I think. Too much chest exposed by his ren faire outfit to not be obvious on a girl. Probably. His mask/crown combo is kinda similar to Ta- Lady Bug's, but the lack of armor, silver color to the crown, and addition of a scepter give him a bit of a different theme.
["Regent"]
[Level 43]
[Heartbroken]
[Relationship with "Regent" has increased.]
[Relationship with "Regent" has increased from 'Whoever' to 'I-Know-That-Guy']
"Last and certainly least, we have Regent."
"Least?" I barely catch myself before I say any more, like mentioning his level. Oops. But seriously, dude's the strongest one here. Or most experienced. Still not quite sure what levels mean.
"Fuck you, Tattletale." There's a laugh in the crowned boy's voice, almost like this a recurring joke. "Are we going to talk about how new girl is stealing my shtick, or are we just going to keep enjoying the scenery? Either way works for me." If I didn't know better, I'd swear his mask was leering at me. I resist the urge to reveal my inventory just to grab a shirt.
"Lady Bug. Beetle Knight. I'm sure you can figure out which one is which." Tattletale is smirking. Ag- no, she never really stopped, did she?
Grue steps forward and offers me a gloved hand. "Good show on Lung. I take it those were your bugs?" His helmet adds a touch of deep reverb to his clearly masculine voice. I wonder if mine is doing the same? I could use the extra layer of identity protection.
"No, m'lady is the insect controller. I'm... " Crap, we never figured out what exactly is safe to mention. Well, they already saw me shake off some serious hits and [Sense Danger] wasn't completely useless. This time. "Thinker/Brute combo. She's the Master."
"And with her wearing armor and your helmet, people will assume the other way around. Smart." I don't have it in me to correct him. If he wants to be impressed by my foresight… "Of course, you shouldn't have told me that. We'll probably be on opposite sides someday, hero." Crap. At least he sounds more amused than threatening.
"So…" Change of topic, his turn to share. "What'd you do to piss off Lung?" Okay, maybe that was a little blunt.
"We robbed the Ruby Dream casino a few days ago." Isn't that from Final- no, that's the Golden Saucer. Why does that sound familiar?
Before I can continue, Tattletale interrupts, "Protectorate hero inbound. We gotta bail. Maybe we'll see you guys again."
The four of them quickly scramble onto the three dogs. It's no surprise that the two larger Undersiders, Bitc- Rachel and Grue each take a dog to themselves while the smaller Regent and Tattletale share a steed. Lucky bastard. The whole gang disappears as the monstrous canines carry them from rooftop to rooftop. So cool. I wonder if I could do that at 100 STR or so.
"Well, that was… interesting." I pause for a moment to review the conversation in my mind. "I think I just made an idiot of myself in the tee-ball league of keeping your mouth shut around villains."
"Maybe there's a skillbook on witty repartee for heroes." Taylor seems a little upset.
I don't think I spilled anything too sensitive, though. Maybe I can just keep the banter going until she forgets. "If there is, I bet Assault wrote it." Come to think of it, I think Mouse Protector did an instructional video on the subject...
Instead of running with the joke, Taylor's next words are alarmed. "The bugs I have on Lung are dying."