Scripted Encounters 3.4 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 3.3 and will overlap the first part of Boss Fights 3.4.
I'd also like to announce a format change for game mechanics. They were previously set off by [Square Brackets]. In the original game mechanics were set off using single angle brackets (greater than / less than signs). Unfortunately FanFiction deletes single angle brackets. I discovered FanFiction doesn't delete «Double angle brackets» and I will be using those going forward as they are closer to the original intent.
Scripted Encounters 3.4
"Shit." Okay, so Lung's awake. Most likely. I mean, maybe… No. Murphy hates me. Lung's up. Round two.
"Tattletale just said there is a Protectorate hero on their way here now." Taylor sounds just as unconvinced as I feel. "If we leave, then whoever it is will face an angry Lung." She pauses for thought before continuing, "I'm staying. You could go."
Does she really think I'd leave her alone to face that again? Hell, I wouldn't leave Mystery Hero to do that, and I'm far more attached to Taylor than some stranger, especially after these last… has it really only been two days? Whatever, I'm not leaving her. "If you stay, I stay."
"You don't have to."
"We're partners. I'm not leaving you to face him alone." How many bugs did it take to bring him down, and how much was brute force? Does she have enough bugs to do it again? Probably not. "So, what's the plan?" Please tell me there's a plan.
«Stealth» still sounds freaking weird as a verbal command, even when she whispers it. Lady Bug creeps to the side of the roof and peers over. I'm not sure what she's seeing, but I can made out some wisps of smoke even in the dark. Great. More fire. "The plan is we wait here. If he goes home, fine." If only we could be so lucky. "I don't care. Let someone else catch him another day. I just don't want another hero to face him alone."
I want to protest. I really do. Lung is the driving force behind the ABB, the… third worst gang in Brockton Bay. He's weathered everything the heroes of our city could throw at him and walked away. But we beat him. We took down the single most dangerous parahuman in town. And yet, if we don't do it again, he walks. Again. But we… we got lucky. Taylor had thousands of venomous insects, and we don't have them with us to do it again. Damn it. Resigned, I sneak over and whisper to her, "I like this plan. Especially the part where we don't fight Lung again."
Taylor sharply turns to face me, full on. What? I wish I could see her face. Damn mask.
A large shadow shoots through the air behind Taylor, soars over us, and lands heavily behind me. Holy shit. I spin just in time to see him climb to his feet, gravel tumbling from his knees, the last few clinging a few extra seconds. ...I just had to open my mouth…
«"Lung"»
«Level "43"»
«The Dragon of Kyushu»
"Flank him!" Taylor yells, dashing left.
I charge right, away from her. The quotation marks are new, so I throw out a quick «Observe».
«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. Recently defeated by a pair of rookie heroes on their first night out.» Heh.
«Lung is currently suffering from a potent blend of insect toxins, delivered in mass quantities. Currently at half power for the next few minutes while his regeneration focuses on the venoms.»
Plus side, he's weakened. Minus, time limit. If we don't beat him now, we might never get a chance like this again. Gotta move.
Tiny black dots and fuzzy shadows gather from the gloom and flow into Lung's face. Eyes, nose, even ears if I'm seeing right. I really hope Taylor has something poisonous in there. Maybe it could buy us a few more minutes of half-power Lung.
"Muh… Mutherfawker!" Lung ignores me to launch two streams of fire at Lady Bug. She flings herself clear, rolling several times to take cover behind an air conditioning unit.
I take advantage of Lung's distraction to activate «Zombie's Hide» and step up off one of those little pipe chimney things. I really shouldn't try this in a real fight, but with him focused on Lady Bug, I've got a great opening, so I «Power Strike» a roundhouse into the back of his head. Not only does it actually hit, the loud 'crack' is from his head instead of my foot. «Critical Hit!» He stumbles away and blasts his own face with fire. Did I just concuss him or something? Bugs, right. Taylor's probably got gnats in his sinuses by now.
Lady Bug's golden figure jumps out from behind her cover with a yelled «Rising Strike». My god, those just don't work on Lung. He slides right around it and hammers a powerful kick right into her diaphragm, launching her away. If I were in her position, I'd be thanking the heavens for armor. That skid looks like it has some serious road rash potential.
...she's not getting up. Lung's still roasting his face, so she must still be directing insects at him, but I've got to hold his attention. I chain as many «Power Strikes» as I can enunciate together and make an important discovery. I don't have to call out every strike to pull off the technique, but it does do a bit more damage. It's a little easier to squeeze out a few extra attacks if I'm not wasting all my wind on vocalizing. I wonder how long I could have been doing this for...
When he got back up Lung was tripping over his own feet and the only target he could hit was his own face. Now? He's moving faster and more powerfully with every moment. Aim's still shit, but it's actually taking some effort to dodge now. And he's got scales again, spreading across his stomach. I need Taylor back in this fight.
"«Power Strike!»" Hey, every bit helps. And it looks like two simultaneous punches only take one shout. «Critical Hits!» Lung actually slides a few feet back, a few scales on his abs cracked by the force. And now I'm overextended. Crap. This is going to hurt.
Lung winds up for a huge slash as his claws form. I don't flinch, not even when he… flips over me, roaring in pain. Hey! Taylor got him with a «Rising Strike»! It happened! He bounces a few times but recovers almost immediately. He starts throwing fireballs everywhere. Wow, his aim sucks worse than Bowser. It's probably due to the flies coating his eyes. Go Taylor.
Still, quantity has a quality of its own, and I was just barely staying ahead of the frankly absurd number of flames he's launching. It is weird just how many of them aren't going anywhere near either of us. What's he even aiming at? Oh, Taylor's made some «Swarm Clones». He must be totally blind right now.
«-120 HP» Lung's flames are hot enough that what looks like a particularly close miss still roasts me a bit. «-120 HP» Heck, there's enough of them «-120 HP» that it's impossible to avoid «-119 HP» everything. I still manage to get close enough to risk a drop-kick «Power Strike». It's more than a bit of a gamble, and I usually wouldn't risk it, but Lung is distracted and right by the edge of the roof. He flips over the side and crashes to the ground.
Clearly, a one-story fall means nothing to the man who fought Leviathan to a draw, and he jumps back onto the roof, a stream of flames from each hand washing over both of us. «-223 HP» Nope, that's a swarm clone he hit by Taylor. And another air conditioner. I'm not sure if anyone in the building under us can hear this fight, but they'll certainly notice when the AC fails completely.
"Cockshlucker!" Lung's slurring speech will probably be funny in retrospect. "I'm going -" He gags on nothing. Well, he probably just got a swarm of bugs down his throat, but I really can't tell with this poor light. He gets revenge with a full blast to Taylor's chest.
Lady Bug comes to a halt mere inches before her momentum would have carried her off the roof. Lung's apparently not done with her though, as he stalks over to her prone form. Guess he hasn't learned his lesson about turning his back on either of us just yet. Seriously, the now seven-foot tall Yakuza-wannabe just strolls past me like I'm not worth his attention. I educate him with a low «Power Strike» kick just over his butt. He stumbles towards the edge, but recovers. Just in time for Taylor to neatly throw him into the street. ...I think I'm getting Aikido envy…
In case I wasn't already in complete awe of Lady Bug, Taylor cements her place as the supreme badass of our team by leaping off the roof and catching the rising Lung midair with a positively brutal «Grounding Strike» to the face. As his plummeting form cracks the pavement, she lands on him and «Finishing Strikes» him into lala land. Damn.
«1315 XP»
«Your reputation with the Azn Bad Boys has decreased!»
Before I can process just how incredibly lucky I am to fight alongside her, a massive motorcycle roars into the ally and stops with its headlights illuminating the incredible scene. Lady Bug looks fully iconic, golden armor shining as she stands atop the silver-scaled dragon-man, battered bat still laying flat against his skull. The only thing that could make this look better would be if she still had her cloak and it was still falling into place. Add a little motion to the tableau.
The rider on the motorcycle is iconic enough on his own. Dark blue, almost black power armor with some silver details, a chevron visor with exposed (and bearded) chin. The huge polearm is completely unnecessary in identifying the new arrival as Armsmaster, head of the local Protectorate. Holy shit, we're about to meet a legend! Not Legend-legend, just a legend. Still. Holy boop.
I don't quite hear what Taylor's saying down there, but it's probably not too important. What is important is getting down there and trying to make a good first impression. If we play this right, get some serious rep out of it, it'll be easier to talk Taylor into joining the Wards with me. If I've learned anything tonight, it's just how dangerous these streets can get. And how important back-up can be.
On the subject of good first impressions, I'm topless. And it seems that my pants got torched at some point. The right leg is just plain gone, and the left barely covers my knee. A quick feel check is apparently the final straw for a particularly burnt section on the back, and I'm now feeling the breeze down south. Time for a quick change.
Green tee and blue jeans is not the most cape outfit out there, but it's all I've got. I drop «Zombie's Hide» while I'm at it. Not need to waste MP out of combat. At least I've got this helmet instead of whatever slagged remains would be left of the bike helmet I started the day with. Still, short sleeves and gloves? If we hadn't just KOed Lung (twice!), no one would take me seriously in this.
While I'm at it, I clear out the alerts that had been pilling up during the fight. «+4 Jeet Kune Do», «+2 Dodge», «+2 Power Strike», «+2 Elemental Resistance», «+1 Light Armor Mastery», «+2 Zombie's Hide», and «+1 AGI». That's two stats tied with my INT. I'll have to do something about that soon.
Ladders are bad enough climbing. Descending? The rusty contraption rattles with every step and I stomp down hard when I try to take one extra step after I hit the ground. Lady Bug and Armsmaster are staring at me, so I jog over to spend the least amount of time possible as the center of silent attention. Seriously, it's a little creepy.
"Come join us." God bless you, Taylor. She breaks the silence and (unnecessarily) waves me over. "Armsmaster, this is Beetle Knight. He's a…" There's a slight pause. It's probably too much to hope that an experienced hero missed it. "Brute/Thinker combo."
«Your reputation with The Protectorate has increased!»
«Reputation with The Protectorate has increased from 'Neutral' to 'Friendly'.»
«Your relationship with Armsmaster has increased!»
«Your relationship with Armsmaster has increased from 'Strangers' to 'Acquaintance'.»
"Humph." He doesn't sound approving, let alone impressed. It's the shirt, isn't it? Short sleeves and gloves looks absurd.
I would question her using my cover story from earlier on a hero, but I still remember her warnings about how an intelligent organization would use my powers. I'm all for doing my fair share, but I really don't want to be the world's first personal trainer cape. Still, a little more detail is only fair. "Yeah, what she said. Basically, I'm a half-assed Uber with a little extra strength and durability." Victor would be more accurate, but I'd rather compare myself to a putz than a Nazi. Give me a bit to polish my «Jeet Kune Do» and I bet I could take either of them. "I acquire skills a little faster than normal through training."
"And what skills have you acquired?" Why does he sound… dismissive?
Let's see, "A bit of Jeet Kune Do, some tricks with blunt weapons, and a few other minor skills." That about covers it.
"Knight, would you check on Lung?" Taylor gives me the perfect excuse to avoid more awkward questions. Meeting one of my heroes shouldn't be this… cagey.
"Yes, m'lady." The salute was probably over-the-top, but seriously. Armsmaster.
Tinkers and Thinkers are an interesting case. Without any flashier powers to confirm things, you could almost think they're just exceptionally perceptive or inventive baseline humans. As a kid, I wanted to grow up to invent the kind of gadgets Armsmaster fills his gear with. Discovering that mundane technology won't catch up with Tinkertech for centuries, if ever, was worse than getting confirmation that Santa isn't real. (Suggesting that Santa could be real, with adequate Tinkertech, didn't make that conversation any better.)
"Do you have any medical skills?" And he's not done with me. I don't like this feeling, like I've disappointed a parent by breaking a vase or something, but so much worse because I actually care what freaking Armsmaster thinks of me.
At least this time I've got something. "Why, yes I do. Just a bit of «First Aid», but enough to tell if he's breathing and check his heart rate." Booyah.
As I check on Lung (he's down, but not dying this time), I hear Taylor ask about how long it'll take for the PRT to pick up the big lug. A firefly flashes on an old-looking book bound in tarnished silver scales. Sweet!
«You've obtained the skill book [Dragon's Scales]»
«A magic to grant the user scales like a dragon. 30 MP activation»
«Blocks 1% of physical damage.»
«Blocks .5% of fire damage.»
«50 Additional MP used per minute.»
«Warning! Can not be used simultaneously with [Zombie's Hide] or other skin transformations until certain conditions are met.»
«Would you like to learn [Dragon's Scales, Lvl 1]»
«Yes» «No»
Want. So much want. A little 'wish-could-give-to-Taylor', but mostly want. I'll have to equip «Dragon Slayer» first to get the most from it, and I don't think pulling the whole lightshow five seconds after not telling Armsmaster about that specific power would go over well. I discreetly slide the book and around half a dozen scales into my inventory while pretending to check Lung's pulse. I stand and turn to the other two heroes.
What the fuck! Armsmaster has his halberd aimed at me! No, wait, at Lung. "Hey, no problem." I have no idea what I just missed, but I'm not looking to fight a… what is it? Tinker 7 or 8? I barely even realize when my hands lift into surrendering position.
"Sedate? I'm not sure that's-" Taylor trails off as a puff of carbon dioxide vapor pops out of the weapon.
«-5 HP»
"OW!" There's a sudden pain in my throat, just under my helmet. Are we under attack? I grab my neck, half to check what happened, half to hide that I'm not visibly injured. I find a small hard cylinder lodged there. A quick tug, "Ow?" and I'm inspecting a green-tufted dart.
«You have been poisoned!»
"Without an antidote, you will lose consciousness in 3… 2 seconds.»
"Ooh?" That doesn't… "I feel…" Help.