Left, right, uppercut, left kick, roundhouse punch. Her attacks came in a similar pattern, so repeating the same blocks wasn't a problem. However, her ever-increasing strength certainly was. Each punch I threw was added to her massive strength, and I couldn't out-match her in force. What to do?
I hated to resort to coward's methods but my best hope was to tire her out. I reached for one of six dust grenades on my belt and kicked it across to Xiao Long. She met it with a fiery right hook, effectively launching it aside. While I had hoped she would be knocked off balance, she began to sprint like a bull in my direction. Faced with no other options, I too sprinted forward.
As she wound up to sear my skin off, I slid underneath her and clipped a grenade to her belt. Without looking back, I rolled behind an air conditioning unit as the blast went off and flames roared overhead.
"Oh, crud".
An arm burst through the machine, grabbing me and tossing me into the air. In rapid succession, I felt several blows to my torso, as there was a loud crack. My chest tightened, and each breath began to hurt. The world was spinning, which was probably the reason for me throwing up. Suddenly my head was jerked back as she grabbed me by the hair. I thought, "Oh, #$%", as I realized that my mask had fallen off.
A cold drop of sweat trickled down my forehead as she began to hoist me up by my collar. "Wait a minute! You were that kid on the transport! Why are you dressing up in cosplay? And a better question is why are you trying to arrest me!?"
"Ugh. It's not cosplay." I coughed, and tried to move, which only made it worse as she began to pull my hair down. "It's an experimental suit of armor created by the Atlesian Company, Ghul Enterprise! Take a look!" I slipped a scroll from my suit and showed it to her. On it was files of the Atlesian Knight, the company, and it's "allegedly dead" owners.
She raised an eyebrow, and got closer. "Okay. But that doesn't answer my second question, and here's a new one. How did you get if this company's been shut down for 7 years?" I laughed in her face.
"You're kidding. Several people are in the hospital, and you're lucky they'll all make it. You've broken the law, and when the police can't catch criminals, I intervene." She lifts me up as I grabbed my cowl from the ground. As she was winding up to knock me out, I was hit with a small force that knocked me out of her grip.
I was thrown through the street, the sewer, and landed underground. The world was spinning like a top, and I could barely put my cowl over my head. After regaining my balance, I studied the person who rammed into me. She couldn't have been more than five feet tall, but that was enough for her to be terrifying. Her eyes burned with a fiery rage of which the like I had never seen before.
"Where the bloody 'ell did ye come from? I remember chasin' some red-haired moron, and I slam into you. Ye better be ready to get to the hospital, lad, 'cause you're in for a beatin'."
I tensed my jaw muscles, and started walking away. "Listen, young lady, I have no quarrel with you. I don't wish to fight you." She raised an eyebrow, and pulled something from the rubble. A baseball larger than herself, and hefted it upon her shoulder.
"Too bad for you, then, mate."