The story of Taylor Hebert and James Barron continues in Boss Fights 3.3. Beta by Faria Lyton.

Boss Fights 3.3

During the fight with Lung I'd been simply gathering up every bug in range and ordering them to close in on us. I'd kept up my [Combat Mapping] of the combat area and on the ABB grunts, but I hadn't maintained a map of the entire area under my control. With the fight over I'd extended my map and discovered we had guests: four humans and three huge creatures. Something was off about the creatures. My bugs smelled dogs, but the scale was all wrong. They were far too large to be dogs.

A teasing feminine voice called out from the group. "Oh, don't stop on my account."

I rushed more bugs to the area as one of our watchers came out of hiding. A woman in a dark-shaded costume climbed half-way down a ladder and leapt confidently down to the pavement. As she stepped into the light I got a better look at her. She was young, blonde to strawberry blonde, and a few inches taller than me. Her costume was skintight and combined blacks with shades of purple. Given how tight the fit was, I doubted her breasts were as fake as mine. If I'd worn that outfit, I'd look like an upright frog.

[Fashion Rating, Tasty. +30% to Reaction Rolls, +30% to Seduction, +30% to Stealth, +10% to Intimidate. If you've got it, flaunt it.]

What? Like I needed more weirdness from James's power. Apparently it had now decided to be my fashion consultant. Meanwhile, I'd relocated more bugs to the roof: one male, big and muscled wearing a plastic helmet; one girl, also well-built with a facemask; one male, smelling strongly of soap and shampoo with a mask and a crown; and three huge creatures that smelled of dog, blood, and bone.

"Are you forgetting something?" asked mystery girl.

James finished ripping away his shirt and ditched it. "Eh, yeah, sorry. It was kinda in the way and flapping around after Lung, and I'm rambling. I should stop."

"Whatever excuse you need. Not that I mind," she flirted.

What the fuck? It wasn't like I owned James. We were friends. Partners. This just wasn't the time or place for flirting. Seeing him with his shirt off, he had buffed up considerably over the past few days, but this was femme fatale level bullshit straight off of the movie screen. James's last name was Barron, not Bond. This girl was as fake as one of Emma's smiles, but James was lapping it up. She was obviously playing him. Once again I had to be the responsible one. I moved extra mosquitoes onto her. Meanwhile, I directed more bugs up to the roof where her gang and the dog-things were hiding. While Lung had killed almost all of my venomous bugs, I still had plenty of bugs left and moved them into ready position. If they tried anything, I'd be ready.

Blonde-and-flirty turned to me. "Why did you guys even get into a fight with Lung?"

"He was going to kill children." I placed a few dozen horseflies close to her. Not as good as wasps or bees, but better than nothing. "We couldn't let that happen. And who are you?"

Her self-satisfied smirk didn't waver. "So you both just charged in to save the day? Or rather, you," she nodded at James, "charged first and you," she gestured to me, "jumped in to save him. And the kids. Good work. You really saved our asses."

Ah, shit. The 'children' Lung had mentioned, the ones James and I had gone to so much effort to save tonight, were capes. Worse, from the way she avoided my question I was pretty sure they weren't good guys.

"Do you mean…?"

Apparently James was even more confused than me, and I didn't know what to make of Miss Smirk and her friends. Should I launch a preemptive strike? If there was a new teen hero group in town, I should have heard about it. Then again, if there were a villain group in town, then I should have heard that too. I had researched the local gangs. "And, you still don't have a name."

She shrugged. "Neither do you. You tell me yours, I'll tell you mine."

"I'm Lady Bug, and this…" I waved a hand to James, "Is my partner, Beetle Knight. Now who are you and your friends?"

"The name is Tattletale." Her name suited her very well. She had that smug air of knowing something others didn't.

[Relationship with Tattletale has increased!]
[Relationship with Tattletale has advanced from 'Stranger' to 'Peer']

Huh, that popup was actually helpful. Peer sounded neutral and not hostile. Maybe we wouldn't have to fight. I kept moving more bugs into position anyway. "So Tattletale, why was Lung after you, your friends, and your three beasts?"

Tattletale turned to face me. "You're wondering if we're heroes or villains. The world's a little more complicated than that. There are lots of shades of grey. Tonight, we're both fighting the ABB."

I knew that things weren't just black and white. Parian was a rogue. Faultline's crew were mercenaries. "But you're still a villain."

"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."

That… could be true. I'd hit him with a lot of venom. "Knight, what's the status on Lung?"

"She's right. He's fading fast." He was getting better at subvocalizing. I didn't even hear a mutter.

Okay then. I gave him a nod and fished out two epi-pens. I passed one to James. Go for major veins? How exactly did I do that? Fortunately James seemed to know what to do. He crouched down by Lung's neck. I moved to the other side so I could watch. He felt for a pulse and used the injector right there. Right. I could do this. I felt for a pulse and found one. This went completely against the rules for epi-pens that called for it to be injected into the muscle. I pressed down and injected Lung. Nothing else happened that I could see.

I whispered to James, "Is it working?"

James muttered something too quiet for me to make out, probably [Observe]. "Yeah, he's stable now."

I let out a sigh of relief. Sure, Lung was a villain and murderer several times over, but I hadn't wanted to kill him. I just couldn't let him kill James, or the kids. Still, the swellings all over his body spoke to how much damage my bugs had done, and I couldn't see the worst of it as he was lying on his stomach. I'd focused them on his face and soft tissue. I pushed myself up and considered Tattletale. Despite her flirting with James, she had just saved me from making a big mistake. I gave Tattletale a little half-bow. "Whatever your affiliation, thank you."

"So!" Tattletale bounced on her feet. She was far too perky for seriousness of the situation. "I'm with the Undersiders. Thanks for taking care of Lung for us." She offered me an open hand.

[Your reputation with The Undersiders has increased!]
[Reputation with The Undersiders has increased from 'Neutral' to 'Friendly'.]

Friendly was good. Apparently we weren't going to fight tonight. I've rarely had a girl offer to shake hands, but I guess this called for it. I clasped her hand and shook. Did this make us even?

"He was coming after us tonight," continued Tattletale. "We decided to take the fight to him, take it on our own terms. We found Oni Lee and half a dozen guys, but Lung and the majority of his gang never made it. Nice work."

"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 m'lady pumping him full of a few thousand spiders' worth of venom."

M'lady? Hmm, I rather liked the sound of that, but James was being too modest. While he had rushed in like an idiot, he'd made up for it by keeping Lung busy. I also couldn't be proud of my work as I'd obviously overdone the spiders.

"I'm still impressed. By both of you. Why don't you come up and meet my team?" She held up a hand toward me. "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."

Maybe, but there were still people in those windows capturing this on video, and something about her reminded me of Emma with her gift for twisting words and hidden agendas. On the other hand, I didn't have Lung's blood on my hands because of her. Plus, James's power had advised us to save the kids, and called them friendly. Even if I didn't completely trust her, I trusted James's power. "You'd better not be planning anything."

Tattletale faked gasped and clutched her chest. "I wouldn't dare! We're evasion specialists, not combat like Lung, and you beat him like a rented drum."

"Ladies first?" suggested James hopefully.

I gave him a shove for that. "Move it." I rolled my eyes at his back. "Perv," I muttered. While the comment was intended for James it was Tattletale who laughed. I followed him up to the roof to meet the Undersiders.

Despite the messages from my bugs, I was still taken aback by the three creatures that my bugs insisted smelled like dogs. They looked nothing like dogs. They were huge ugly things, as big as my father's truck. They didn't have a dog's proportions either, more like a tiger in length and in teeth, but they didn't have fur or skin. Rather than fur or skin, they had a tangle of naked muscle with bone spikes and spurs sticking out. Meanwhile my bugs kept insisting they smelled of dog and blood. They made me queasy. I had bugs in position, but without my more venomous insects I doubted they would even slow down these three monsters.

"I'll make the introductions," said Tattletale. While part of me had been staring at the dogs, I'd still been aware of Tattletale and her three teammates. I particularly noticed the way Tattletale was standing right beside James and almost rubbing her breasts up against him. So she wanted to play games? I sent a mosquito to buzz in her ear. Tattletale rolled her eyes at me and stepped a half-step away from James as she introduced her first teammate, "You may have heard of Hellhound, but I should let you know she prefers to go by Bitch. The PRT and media prefer to keep it PG."

[Relationship with "Bitch" has increased!]
[Relationship with "Bitch" has advanced from 'Human' to 'Unfriendly']

Privately I wondered if she should go by Butch instead of Bitch. That wasn't a dig at her sexual orientation. She was simply one of the most masculine girls that I'd ever met. Her 'costume' consisted of army boots, men's blue jeans, a biker style brown leather jacket with a fur collar, and a cheap plastic dollar store dog mask that didn't even cover her face. Her mask was pushed up so that it perched on top of her head. The clothes matched the girl. She had a squat muscular build coupled with a blunt face, think eyebrows and wild blonde hair. My bugs found her scent to be a pungent mix of unwashed human and dog.

[Fashion Rating, Rebel. -15% to Reaction Rolls, +10% to Intimidate, +10% to Stealth. Doesn't play well with others.]

"Our fearless leader here is Grue."

[Relationship with "Grue" has increased!]
[Relationship with "Grue" has advanced from 'Stranger' to 'Peer']

Other than the shoulders and the height, the enigmatic figure in motorcycle leathers and matching black helmet only looked vaguely masculine. However, I had no doubt that Grue was male, because my bugs scented male. When exactly had I picked up the ability to tell male from female by scent? I had been opening myself up to my bug's sense of smell more, apparently it was paying off.

"Last and certainly least, we have Regent."

[Relationship with "Regent" has increased.]
[Relationship with "Regent" has increased from 'Whoever' to 'I-Know-That-Girl']

Regent dressed like a swashbuckler: knee-high boots with a folded-down cuff, skin-tight leggings, and a white ruffled shirt. All he needed was a rapier. Instead he rounded out his costume with a silver scepter, matching silver crown, and a stylized silver and gold mask. The silver crown went well with his short black and curly hair, but if he was going to have a gaping v-neck like that, he needed either some chest hair or more muscles to really pull it off.

[Fashion Rating, Rakish. +30% to Reaction Rolls, +20% to Seduction. He's a scoundrel.]

"Least?" asked James incredulously.

"Fuck you, Tattletale." Despite the words, he sounded more amused than offended. "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."

"Lady Bug. Beetle Knight. I'm sure you can figure out which one is which." Tattletale's smug introduction left me feeling like I was being slighted somehow.

Grue stepped forward and shook hands with James. "Good show on Lung. I take it those were your bugs?"

"No, m'lady is the insect controller. I'm... Thinker/Brute combo. She's the Master."

"And with her wearing armor and your helmet, people will assume the other way around. Smart. Of course, you shouldn't have told me that. We'll probably be on opposite sides someday, hero."

"So…What'd you do to piss off Lung?" asked James.

The conversation was flying fast and furious, and I felt a little cut-out. Regent was apparently gay. Grue thought that James was the leader, and I still didn't have a good quippy comment to throw back at Regent for 'stealing his shtick'. I had the better costume. If anything, his was the cheap knockoff.

"We robbed the Ruby Dream casino a few days ago," explained Grue.

What kind of morons would rob a casino owned by Lung? Although given that I'd charged Lung…

"Protectorate hero inbound," Tattletale announced. "We gotta bail. Maybe we'll see you guys again."

When Tattletale named her team evasion specialists, she had apparently been serious, because the Undersiders quickly hopped up on their dogs. Rachel and Grue each claimed their own. Tattletale climbed on behind Regent. Bitch gave a complicated whistle and the dogs all took off. Regent almost lost his grip as he'd been giving us a parting wave when his dog burst into motion. With a few steps to get up to speed the dogs leapt and sailed to the next rooftop and were quickly out of range of sight and my bug-dar.

"Well, that was… interesting," commented James. "I think I just made an idiot of myself in the tee-ball league of keeping your mouth shut around villains."

"Maybe there is a skillbook on witty repartee for heroes?"

"If there is, I bet Assault wrote it."

I was about to counter with Mouse Protector, but suddenly it wasn't relevant. "The bugs I have on Lung are dying." Not all at once. He hadn't detonated again, but he was doing something to fry them. I directed my bugs to dig into his eyes, ears and nose, but those bugs died too. I'd grown accustomed to having my [Combat Mapping], but in regards to Lung I was practically blind now. I could only guess that he was burning through my makeshift rope. Silk was fire resistant, but not fire proof. With Lung's ability it was only a matter of time until he got free.

"Shit," said James.

"Tattletale just said there is a Protectorate hero on their way here now. If we leave, then whoever it is will face an angry Lung." I did not want to face him again, but what choice did we have? Run. Running was actually the smart choice. "I'm staying. You could go."

"If you stay, I stay," he said firmly.

"You don't have to."

James shrugged. I would have given a lot to see his face right then, but all I saw was his helmet. "We're partners. I'm not leaving you to face him alone. So, what's the plan?"

"[Stealth]," I whispered. I moved to the edge of the roof and got down low so I could barely see over. The good news was that Lung wasn't surrounded in flames. The bad news was that Lung was already sitting up with his arms free. Jets of fire from his hands were directed at the remnants of my rope binding his legs. So much for my hope of salvaging my cape-nets. I directed some moths to fly in his ears to distract him. "The plan is we wait here. If he goes home, fine. I don't care. Let someone else catch him another day. I just don't want another hero to face him alone."

"I like this plan. Especially the part where we don't fight Lung again," whispered James.

I tossed an irritated look at James. I'm not superstitious, but I now had proof that bad luck was real. He was practically begging Murphy to screw with us… and apparently Murphy was listening, because Lung was now standing up and looking our way. How the hell had he spotted us on a roof in the darkness through stealth? Lung took three running steps toward us and then leaped. Apparently Bitch's dogs had competition for the Brockton Bay roof jumping championship. Fortunately, Lung's landing left much to be desired. He stumbled and fell forward, catching himself with one hand before rising.

"Flank him!" I cried as I cut to my left while running toward Lung. My bugs informed me James was going right. Good, because flanking Lung was the sum total of my plan. With Lung in front of us and the edge of the roof at our backs, we didn't have a lot of room for anything fancy. Meanwhile, I directed fresh bugs at his eyes, nose and ears. For once luck seemed to be with me. I'd been concentrating my bugs up on this rooftop just in case the Undersiders tried something. While I didn't have many good bugs other than fire ants, I had an entire swarm of other bugs to throw at him.

"Muh… Mutherfawker!" Lung screamed. He ignored James entirely and sent a twin jets of flame shooting at me from both his hands.

I leapt up in something that started in a gymnastic vault and ended in an Aikido roll and managed to avoid the worst of the flames, but I'd still felt a burn on my legs. I shoved my bugs at his eyes as I kept rolling to take dubious shelter behind some kind of air conditioning unit. Meanwhile James hadn't been idle. With a cry of "[Power Strike]!" he launched an impressive roundhouse kick at Lung's head. James's foot connected with Lung's skull with an audible crack that sent Lung staggering towards me.

My recently acquired knowledge of [Akido] informed me of all the wonderful things I could have done to Lung right then if I hadn't been cowering behind an air conditioning unit. I stood up to rejoin the fight as Lung directed a stream of fire towards his own head. My bugs on his face died, but the several moths lodged in his ear cannels survived. I took advantage of Lung's distraction and attacked with a [Rising Strike], but even injured Lung was faster than me. He kicked me just below the ribcage, knocked the wind completely out of me, and sent me flying backwards. I skidded along the gravel roof unable to focus enough to tuck and roll.

James laid into Lung with a series of [Power Strikes] while I laid flat on my back just trying to breathe. I had more control of my bugs than I did over my own body. I directed moths, mosquitoes and flies to continually attack Lung's eyes, ears and nose. They must have been doing something, because Lung kept blasting his own face with fire. James was more than holding his own. He seemed to be pummeling Lung at will, not that it was putting him down. I wasn't entirely sure that we weren't doing more harm than good. When Lung first landed on the roof, he'd been staggering around. While his aim was still erratic, his speed and power were increasing. More of his skin was covered with scales. Without spider venom we needed to hit him faster and harder. James needed my help. Unfortunately my body just didn't want to respond.