Hope Through Overwhelming Firepower 1.3
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There was a pause, as the assorted gang members glanced at her in disbelief. Taylor could imagine how she looked there.
A teenage girl wearing a green raincoat over a barely visible light yellow t-shirt. Along with a nondescript pair of jeans, a scarf around the lower part of her face, and a pair of dark orange goggles.
Not the most intimidating thing they had ever come across she imagined.
Overcoming their brief moment of disbelief, most of the gang members cracked up laughing. Some began making jokes, "Oh no, what are we going to do? And the like, a few made motions of mock fear towards her. Hands raised in supplication as if praying that she would not smite them.
Evidently, they didn't take her particularly seriously.
With one, staggering exception, Lung. And as he began to speak, the assorted gang members quieted down and listened to their leader.
"And... What makes you think you can take me" He declared, not mockingly, but seriously.
Taylor noticed the emphasis placed upon the "me" in the sentence.
"He's not even really considering the other ABB members as a part of this, is he?" Taylor frowned internally, "he's more intelligent then his initial appearance suggests."
That meant he was taking her seriously, automatically assuming that the only possible reason for a teenage girl to be so confident in front of a gang would be if she was a parahuman.
And parahumans were not required to follow any conventions of appearance when it came to what they could do.
She was an unknown, and therefore she was dangerous, something to be taken with all seriousness. And so she would have to respond in turn.
In lieu of answering, she simply raised a hand into the air in the direction of lung, gathered three of her sparks, shaped the charge created into a concussive blast, and released.
A flash of red issued forth from her hand. Moving quicker then anyone could react too, it impacted into Lung before he could finish blinking in response.
A choked scream, and the sickening crack of broken bone filled the air. As Lung soared backwards from the impact and crashed through a nearby building.
Taylor winced internally.
"He's regenerative, he should be able to survive that." Taylor mentally decided.
The assorted ABB members stared at the hole in the wall currently containing their fallen leader.
"They're in shock," realized Taylor, "Theoretically, I should be able to convince them to leave while there still reeling."
Attempting to put her plan into action, Taylor spoke out, "All of you, leave immediately." Facing a palm towards the group of ABB members for emphasis, she continued, "Unless you want to join your fallen boss in the wall over there," concluding with a motion towards the hole Lung had fallen through.
Unease began to spread throughout the gang members there. Their great and invincible boss was just smashed through a wall, and showed no signs of getting up, the one who did it showed no signs of effort in doing so, and now those hands that had shattered their illusion of invulnerability were pointed towards them. Some of the more experienced members tried to restore some semblance of order, but it was a looking like a lost cause, the process had already started.
Taylor smirked behind her scarf. "They're breaking, just a bit more, andI don't think there will be any child hunting tonight." With an internal smile, "Maybe I can be a hero after all..." Taylor began to speak"Re-"
The loud roar of a gunshot interrupted Taylor.
The impending riot halted in place. Everyone turning to stare at the source.
An ABB member, no older then 16, fell to his knees as a gun dropped out of his hands. Hands which he stared at as if they had betrayed him.
A deformed bullet fell to the ground, flattened from contact with a structure infinitely superior to its own.
Taylor stared at the hole in her previously pristine jacket. Two thoughts crossing her mind.
"Huh, apparently I'm bulletproof." Immediately followed by, "holy shit, he just shot me."
The shock of the event brought Taylor out of her internal reverie, as the realization of what could have happened to her if she had been any less durable set in.
Further reactions were cut off, as heat and fire blazed forth from the hole Lung had been knocked through.
Lung was awake.
Dragging himself up and out of the newly created cavity in the wall he screamed in pain as his body bulged unnaturally, bones reseting into their correct position. A thumb bone spun around, tearing skin apart in the process of healing itself. His left arm, barely holding on by a few strands of sinew, was held in place by slowly forming metal plates as his power rebuilt it. Ribs broke themselves and moved hideously under his skin in the process of repairing themselves. A slowly reforming jaw bone pushed aside the shattered remnants of his mask and finally enabled him to pronounce his verdict.
"I'm going to fucking kill you."
And he was angry.