A few hours later, Squirrel Girl came back to consciousness in a hospital room. "Damn, that sucked," she muttered, remembering the burning sensation from the emergency amputation. She looked at the stump where her left arm had been. It would take some getting used to, the fact that she only had one arm, but that would have to wait. Right now, she had bigger concerns, such as finding where the virus was hidden. Knowing Shape, he would keep it in a place where someone could find it easily, however Jim walked in before she could keep thinking.

"Hey SG, how you feeling?" Jim asked her.

"As good as can be," SG said with a grim expression, "when I see 'Shape,' I'm not going to hold back," SG snarled as she stood up and flexed her remaining arm, "somebody needs to stop 'Shape' before anyone else finds those antidotes, if this thing spreads, millions of lives could be lost, if not more if this thing spreads beyond Los Angeles." SG said.

"About that, yea 'Shape' made another broadcast while you where out, he's broadcasted the locations of all the remaining cures, I'm sending in all the heavy artillery to try and stop them, but I doubt we will be able to make it to all locations." Jim said, and that caused SG to ponder for a minute.

"What's the most heavily populated area?" she asked the captain.

"Griffith Park & Southern Railroad, it's closed for the night, I'd imagine everyone is heading there now to secure what they think is an antidote." Jim said as SG got a determined look in her eyes.

"Then that's where I'm going, I've got to secure that virus before it gets loose." SG said as she prepared to leave the room.

Before she could make her escape, a doctor came in. "Squirrel Girl, I've got good news and bad news," she said. "The good news is that we were able to completely close up the area that was opened by your … impromptu amputation. Unfortunately, your arm was completely unsalvageable, so you will have to get used to living with one hand, I'm afraid. I just need you to sign this form, and then I'll let your parents know you're here."

SG put her signature on the form, and as soon as the doctor left the room, she looked for a vent. Finding one right above her bed, she stood up and pulled the vent cover down, jumping into the now open vent. She took a few moments to pull the vent cover back into place to cover her escape, and silently crawled through the vents, allowing her tail to poke out. She continued until she came to one that had moonlight coming through it. Feeling more than a bit impatient, the young heroine kicked the vent cover out, dropped into the bushes, and began running through the streets, only to awkwardly fall to the ground when she tried to jump. "Dang. Gotta remember that I'm one-handed now," she muttered as she collected herself. Thankfully, she wasn't that far away from the Griffith Park & Southern Railroad, the railroad in question. After a few minutes of running, and more than a few close calls as she almost hit her head on a few light posts, she arrived at the train station. She jumped the fences and managed to stick the landing with only a light wobble. "You know what? I can do this," she said to herself.

"I'm glad to hear that," a familiar voice said. SG jumped in shock and turned toward the owner of the voice: Officer Moss, the man responsible for the loss of her arm. "I figured you'd be here eventually, but I didn't think you'd be here this quickly." The officer looked to the side awkwardly and sighed. "Look, I'm sorry for me injecting you, I'm sure you've had a heck of a time explaining that to your parents."

SG shook her head. "I haven't told them yet, but the doctor's no doubt told them that I've one-handed," she replied. There was an awkward silence as SG tried to think on how she was going to say what she was about to say. "Look, I'm not mad at you for what happened. You didn't know that was the virus. I might get upset later, but at the time, you kinda had to cut my arm off to make sure the rest of me survived. Besides, that wasn't my good taunting hand, anyways," the squirrel heroine joked awkwardly, earning a chuckle from the police officer. "So, what now?" She asked.

"We look for the vial," Moss said. "Chances are, it'll be hidden somewhere in this place where no one would usually find it. I've got a search warrant for the place, so if I find anyone's stash, I can have them arrested if I catch them near it, or if not that, I can impound the drugs."

SG blinked. Search warrants weren't easy to get. "How long was I out?" She asked.

"Few hours, give or take a few minutes," the police officer replied as the two walked into the station. "How about you go to the right, and I'll go to the left?" He asked as he handed Squirrel Girl a walkie-talkie. Squirrel Girl nodded, and the two split in opposite directions at a light jog. Time could be of the essence, and they weren't going to waste whatever time they may or may not have. After a few minutes, Moss spoke into his walkie-talkie: "Squirrel Girl, have you located the vial?" He asked.

"No, not yet, but I found what looked like some white powder in a plastic bag hidden in a yellow storage container," the reply came back.

"Dang kids. Playing too much GTA V," the officer thought to himself. "Don't touch it," he said into the walkie-talkie. "That could be cocaine, heroin, or just drywall. Still, I'd rather not take the chance. I haven't found the vial again. Continue searching. I'll check back in a few minutes."

After a few minutes, a reply came through the walkie-talkie. "Hey, Moss. I found the.-" CLANG! The officer frowned and began running in the opposite direction, hoping to find whoever hit Squirrel Girl and keep them from harming her further. The poor girl had been through enough as it was. Getting roughed over by a junkie punk wouldn't help things. A minute later, Moss saw a person standing over the unconscious body of Squirrel Girl. It was Shape, the man responsible for the entire incident. He immediately hid behind a nearby railcar and checked his gun. He had a full clip. Taking the safety off, he peeked around the corner. "Picking on kids, Shape? Not cool, man," the policeman said as he ducked back behind the railcar and began moving forward on the other side, trying to circle around the tricky villain. Charging straight in would not work. This required strategery.

"You and I both know that this is no ordinary kid, cop," Shape said confidently. He knew what the cop was trying to do, and he knew where Moss was, too. Still, he had to appear like he didn't know. "I don't know a whole lot of kids with one arm," he added, "or with police walkie-talkies. Tell me, officer. Did she swipe that from you when you weren't looking, or is she some kind of deputy?"

"Temporary deputy," Moss said, taking a position about three yards behind Shape. "She wanted to help, and she's got a more personal stake in this than a lot of people do. I'm here to make sure that your scheme fails."

"Scheme?" Shape asked, turning to where Moss' voice was coming from. "This is more than a scheme, my friend," he added as he began to deliberately walk in the direction of the officer's voice. "Pity you and your lady friend won't be around to see it!" He shouted as he charged, quickly covering the distance. He attempted to draw his weapon, but in his rush, he ended up body-slamming Officer Moss and disarming the two of them at the same time. "Like I said," he said, throwing a right hook at the officer that missed, "you two won't be around to see it." The villain threw a right kick that managed to catch the officer in the hip, dislodging his walkie-talkie and sending him spinning. Moss quickly regained his balance and swept Shape's legs out from under him. Immediately, he tried tackling the downed villain, only to catch dust as Shape rolled out of the way. "Too slow," the villain taunted, catching the officer on the chin with an uppercut. Taking advantage of the temporarily dazed state of his target, Shape began moving in with some body punches, finishing with a punch to the side of the face and a kick to the side of the right knee, causing Moss to collapse. Shape was immediately on top of him, but he was distracted by a small object hitting him on the side of the head. Curious, Shape picked up the small object, surprised at what it was. "An acorn?" He asked.

"I wish it were a pecan," a female voice said, "but I only had acorns." Shape looked up to see Squirrel Girl standing on top of the rail car that the virus vial was hidden under. "Didn't your mother tell you not to mess around with cops?" She asked.

"No, she didn't," Shape said, standing up and walking over to the clearing where he'd previously been. Understanding the unsaid signal, Squirrel Girl jumped into the clearing as well. "How's the arm?" He asked in a taunting voice.

"Oh, not too bad," SG replied casually. "Could be better, but I can taunt just fine with it," she added, doing a 'come here' sign with her left hand. Smiling at the challenge, Shape charged forward, only to get shoved back by a gut kick from Doreen. "Nice try, but I can take you down with one arm tied behind my back," Doreen taunted as she jumped back.

"I'll take that bet," Shape said as he charged forward again. This time, he dodged to SG's left side, but still got hit by a clean roundhouse kick. The heroine wobbled slightly, something that Shape was quick to take advantage of. He dodged toward her left a second time, but this time, he blocked her kick and shoved her leg back, causing her to fall over. Before he could pin her down, Squirrel Girl jumped backwards, dodging the attack. "Smart," Shape admitted as he began moving toward Doreen's right side as she began mirroring his moves. "You're compensating for that missing arm. Still, it won't do you any good," he said as he charged toward her. He blocked her kick, grabbed her right hand, and threw her to the side, seizing his gun. Before he could fire, Doreen's foot connected with the side of his head. Shape was quick to recover, and when Doreen tried to kick him again, he smacked her leg to the side and kicked upward at her gut, sending her flying backwards a second time. This time, Doreen hit her head on the rail car the vial was under, causing her to become dazed for a moment. When she regained her senses, she realized that she was right in Shape's sights. "Checkmate," Shape said with a smile as he pulled back the hammer on the pistol...

To be Continued...

I want to give a special shout out to my great friend Darkest Nightmares Dread who wrote a large option of this chapter, thank you my good friend.