I really couldn't help but wonder how things had gone downhill so quickly. I think it's been barely an hour since I had left the checkpoint and I've already had at least two near death experiences and am currently nursing an arm injury. The biggest piece is out but I'm pretty sure there were probably a few fragments still in there. But now that Taylor's driven off Oni Lee and I've been bandaged up, I could at least relax a bit and focus on how I was going to explain my injury to everyone els-
"Guys!" Taylor said frantically, interrupting my train of thought "Good news and bad news. Good news, Oni Lee isn't a problem anymore. Bad news is that Lung is coming back. We need to get moving, now!"
Goddammit, today is just the nightmare that keeps on giving isn't it?
Precautions didn't seem to like this development either "What? Why is he coming back?!"
"I… managed to injure Oni Lee enough that the Protectorate could arrest him, but Lung was close enough to notice that. He got away and I think he wants to make an example out of us. He's circling around the Protectorate heroes and Dr Jurassic so we have a few minutes before he gets back here." Taylor explained hastily.
"But we're never going to outrun him with your sister injured!" Precaution shouted.
Taylor suddenly looked a little hesitant "Then… then I'll have to distract him. If we split up he can't follow both me and you guys."
"What!" I shouted. Unfortunately I moved too much and my injury caused me to wince in pain. Of all the times for Taylor to act like a martyr she picks now. I had to put a stop to this, so I tried my best to talk her out of it. "No, no, no! Absolutely not! You can't face Lung by yourself! He'll kill you!"
Taylor wasn't persuaded and instead she reasoned. "No he won't. My power lets me know exactly where he is, which means I can avoid him. But if we stick together he'll catch up to us easily."
"I wouldn't slow us down. I can still move…" I tried to protest, trying not to show how much the shrapnel was bothering me.
Taylor wasn't fooled though. "Barely, you've lost a lot of blood. I doubt you'll make it further than a block before you collapse."
Precaution sided with Taylor as well "I agree, Taylor's plan makes sense. You're in no shape to fight and I'm not very well suited for fighting Lung. Though while we're on the subject my power suggested that attacking below the belt and his eyes work the best."
"I can do that. See? I'll be fine." Taylor said.
Dammit, I wasn't going to win this argument and time was running out. I had to do something. But then I remembered there was something I could do that they couldn't do so easily, call for help. I could bypass all the screening and call the PRT console directly with my phone.
Granted I'd get yelled at for going off on my own, but once I got injured with the grenade shrapnel any hope of hiding my transgression went out the window. It wasn't something I could fix in the ward showers like Missy did with her injury from Hookwolf.
"Alright… fine. At least let me call the PRT so they can help. Any problem with that?" I asked.
Taylor initially looked like she wanted to refuse, but then she apparently reconsidered. "If it means you'll get moving, then yes. Lung is getting closer and we don't have any more time for arguing."
Even if she was conceding so I would go along with her plan, I was still grateful she was at least accepting help. "Thank you, it shouldn't take more than a minute."
When I went to pull out my phone with my uninjured left hand however, it became clear that calling for help wasn't going to be so easy. I noticed a hole in my pocket that wasn't there an hour ago, and it was immediately apparent what had made it.
"You have to be fucking kidding me." I ground out in frustration.
The problem was that in the phone was lodged another piece of shrapnel from Oni Lee's grenade. It was hardly bigger than a paper clip but it had completely shattered the screen and basically turned the device into a paperweight. If we weren't in mortal peril I'd probably be more thankful that it had caught the shrapnel before it had gotten to me.
Once Precaution saw the condition of my phone she commented "I… guess we can still use the burner phone."
"If you want to get put on hold forever then sure." I replied.
The reason I was pessimistic about doing that was that while you could call the console, you were more likely to get ignored if you were an unknown number since they prioritized official traffic. My helmet had a radio communicator installed but it had a limited range because of the small battery. It was only meant for tactical use. We were supposed to use our phones for long distances since those didn't crowd the radio frequencies the PRT could use.
But before we could talk anymore I began to hear thundering footsteps approaching us from a distance. Our time was up.
"I need to go, take the phone and I'll lead him away while you try and get help." Taylor said, right before tossing a cheap flip phone to Precaution.
Before I could protest Taylor then turned away and started running down the street towards where Lung probably was.
"Wait!" I shouted. But before I could move to follow her, Precaution grabbed me and held me back.
"Woah, hold on! We just talked about this!" Precaution said. Instead of arguing I instinctively struggled against her and tried to break free. I didn't think about whether it was a good idea, I just knew Taylor was running into danger and I didn't like that.
But my struggle proved pointless, because once again my arm flared up in pain and I couldn't muster up the force to break her grip. A few seconds later Taylor turned a corner and I lost sight of her.
Left alone on the street with Precaution restraining me, and all I could utter was a simple "...Fuck."
Once I had absorbed that there was no way I would catch up at this point, I became slack in Precaution's grip. There wasn't much point in struggling against her at this point. She tried to reassure me "I know it looks bad, but your sister is smart. She'll be able to handle herself. You should be more worried about getting to safety."
My safety? My sister had just run towards the most dangerous parahuman in the city probably and she wanted me to worry about my own safety? I wanted to yell and scream at her for that. But words didn't come out, just an inarticulate growl of absolute frustration. This didn't seem to scare her.
"I'm serious, she's doing this because wants you to be safe." she said. Then, probably to try and de-escalate, she let me out of her arms and let me face her. Looking at me straight on she continued "I know you want to help but you need to see a doctor. Putting yourself in danger again won't help anyone."
I didn't know how to argue against that. Everything in my training had told me that if you were injured, the person you had the most responsibility towards was yourself. If this was an exercise I should just listen to what she was telling me to do, and get to safety before trying to call anyone.
But this wasn't a training exercise. My sister was about to be in a fight for her life. Every minute could be the difference between life and death for Taylor. But then again, nobody said I could only do one thing at a time.
"Okay, fine. But I only agreed to leave once I got her some help from the PRT. I could even get us a ride. Just let me have your phone and I'll go with you." I demanded.
"Deal. But be careful this is our only phone now." she replied, grabbing the phone and handing it over to me. "Now let's get moving before we waste any more time."
Reinforcing her point, at that moment a fly flew directly into my face. I swatted the damn thing away. Right, Taylor is still close enough that her power can let her see us. She must've noticed we hadn't moved yet and was probably getting impatient with me.
"Alright already, I'm going!" I shouted. Then I added "If you can hear me sis, we're going to have a long talk about manners when this is over."
Seriously, it was the second time today. If she wanted to be accepted as a professional hero then flying birds and bugs into peoples faces all the time was not going to help.
"That's the spirit. Now if you could follow me before I decide knocking you out and dragging you away would be easier, that'd be great." She lightly threatened as she started dragging me by the shoulder down the street.
I didn't appreciate the tone but I understood I probably shouldn't push my luck at this point. So mustering up my strength and ignoring the throbbing pain in my arm I followed her down the street at a brisk pace.
"You know if you knocked me out the PRT might not take that so well, assaulting a ward being a crime and all." I idly noted, just in case she was serious about that threat.
Precaution seemed unfazed by this "Duly noted, and if they ever ask why I did that I'll tell them you were being yourself. I'm sure anyone who knows you will understand. Now I remember you promising a ride if you could call the PRT, how about you get on that?"
"So pushy today..." I said, getting one last word in before I dialed the console number. I tried not to move my injured arm too much while my good arm was occupied holding the phone. Holding the cheap flip phone I had been given up to my ear, I could hear the dial tone beeping away. I felt an unease as I worried that it would be ignored. But then, finally, I got a small break.
"This is the PRT console. This number is reserved for emergencies. I'm going to need you to verify your ID and state your emergency." came the voice of Tina, my handler.
I felt an instant sense of relief from hearing her voice. I guess she was pulled from her office to cover the console so they could mobilize as many field personnel and wards as possible. Even if my situation was a bit embarrassing, I was much more comfortable about talking about it with her than anyone else.
"Oh thank god. Console this is Manes, ID code 9719 Sunday Magnolia Horseshoe. I'm on Upton street with Precaution. We have reason to believe we are in imminent danger from Lung nearby. Requesting backup and an evac ASAP." I said.
"Hold on, Manes? I thought you were on checkpoint duty with Gallant and Shadow Stalker? And what are you doing with Precaution?" Tina asked, with a rising tone that conveyed her growing confusion. I suspected that she was probably rubbing her forehead in a sudden headache on the other end.
"Yeah it's a long story, I'll tell you about it later. Can you get some to my position?"
"I'm sorry Manes but there's been a change in the situation and we're having some trouble getting a handle on things. A parahuman named Bakuda just appeared a few minutes ago and she's causing a lot of problems."
I could hardly believe what I was hearing. "Wait… Bakuda?! The Cornell Bomber?! What the hell is she doing here?!"
That certainly caught Precautions attention, and she seemed as unpleasantly surprised by this development as I was. This was why losing my wards phone sucked so much; without it I was very much out of the loop if anything big like this happened. But that was a problem I couldn't fix immediately. I had to focus on what Tina could tell me now, so I kept my attention on the little flip phone as I struggled forward.
"I understand your confusion. What we know right now is that she's riding in a modified Jeep and is equipped with a tinkertech grenade launcher. She just forced her way through Checkpoints Echo and Foxtrot. At the first one she blinded all the officers there with an overpowered flash-bang bomb. At the other checkpoint she used an ice bomb, and now the whole street is frozen over. We're not certain what her goals are."
"Sounds like she hasn't mellowed out much from her first appearance." I sarcastically noted. Apparently I haven't had to deal with enough explosions today. But then I processed the last detail she mentioned. "Wait, don't you know who she's with?"
"Our best guess right now is that Lung recruited her, given he recently made a trip out of town. We can't make any assumptions though. Just know that she's far too dangerous to confront alone."
Oh joy, the ABB probably had a bomb tinker now. Just what Brockton Bay needed. Precaution tapped my shoulder to get my attention, and once I did look over to her she whispered "Ask for backup again". Despite the pushiness I got her point, so I tried to follow up my earlier request.
"Okay so things are bad. Is there anyone who can help us? I'd take anyone right now."
"Not right this minute. The troopers and other wards are stretched too thin. Between Dr. Jurassic, Lung, and Bakuda moving around its total chaos. I can try and get someone to come but it depends on how urgent your situation is."
Dammit, she's trying to soft pedal the situation. Everything is FUBAR right now and no one is really in control. That meant no help for us and definitely no help for Taylor. Makes me wonder why we bother paying taxes if three villains is all it takes to overwhelm a city.
At this point I had to accept I wasn't getting any backup. Still I needed to tell someone my situation if there was going to be any chance of someone coming.
"Well on one hand it's just me and Precaution right now. On the other hand, Lung is probably just a block or two away and I just had to bandage up a shrapnel wound so I'd say kinda high at eight out of ten." I said, then I took an uneven step and my arm flared up from the extra movement. "...make that nine out of ten actually."
"...Manes! You didn't mention that you were wounded! You need to lead with that!" Tina scolded, and I realized it did look kind of bad that I hadn't given my injury much thought. Just as she was about to get worked up she took a breath and forced herself to calm down like the consummate professional she was.
Audibly sighing again Tina continued "I'll do what I can but it might take a minute. In the meantime please try to get to safety the best you can, okay? Most of the heroes are tied up with Dr Jurassic, and Armsmaster is going after Lung himself right now so there won't be anything else to spare."
"So we're on our own? What are we even supposed to do?" I asked.
"I'm sorry all I can suggest is that you ... Hold on, I just got a fresh reported sighting of Bakuda. Didn't you say that you were on Upton street?" Tina asked, with a change in tone that suggested I wasn't going to like why she was asking that particular question.
Not liking where this was going I confirmed "Yeah, we're almost at the intersection for Terry Avenue and…"
Before I could continue I heard an approaching car engine in the distance, made more distinct by the lack of traffic around us. Then as I was splitting my attention between the phone call and the ominous mechanical noise, I tripped on a pothole.
"Shit!" I shouted.
As I suddenly fought to keep from letting myself fall to the ground, the flip phone flew out of my hand and smashed into the ground with a terrible shattering sound. Thankfully Precaution was on the ball and grabbed me before I fell very far.
Once I managed to regain my balance, I got a good look at the phone. To my chagrin, the pavement had not been kind to the cheap device and it had split it two. I looked over at Precaution. If I was mortified she was indignant at this latest development.
"Manes?….." she said, in a low heated tone.
"Yes?" I answered.
"That was our only other phone."
"I can pay for it?..."
"That's not the problem!"
"Okay look I'm sorry okay! For what it's worth I pretty sure we weren't getting any help from the PRT anyways."
"Oh great. Now we're gonna have to walk…"
Precaution suddenly stopped her little rant and began looking around in a slight panic. Even if I didn't quite know how her power worked I knew that was bad. I also knew that from what I had just learned that there was a strong possibility that the vehicle we were hearing was Bakuda's. But given all the routes she could be taking, surely we wouldn't run into her?
However I was immediately proven wrong when a Jeep screeched around the corner into the intersection in front of us. Before it went much further it came to a stop as it reached the middle of the intersection square barely 20-30 feet away from us. I glanced over at Precaution and she immediately confirmed what I suspected with a question.
"They mentioned Bakuda was in a Jeep right? Because my power is telling me we need to get the fuck away from that car." She said, glancing around trying to find another direction we could run.
Sure enough the sunroof on the Jeep retracted and a young woman emerged. She was wearing large, opaque goggles and a metal mask with a gas-mask filter and a braided cord of black, yellow, and green wires over her shoulders. In her right hand I could see the tinkertech grenade launcher Tina had mentioned.
For a moment she just looked at us. Best I could guess was that she was sizing us up. Then she broke the silence.
"Well, well, well. I was wondering when I'd come across some heroes. Hands where I can see them and don't move unless you want to find out what my two-twenty-one series grenade does today!" she yelled through her mask, giving it a robotic, monotone hiss.
Thinking through our options quickly we couldn't run back where we had come from since outrunning a car was a no go. Going left or right wasn't looking viable either, given the range her weapon had. I could use my ghost but I couldn't see who was in the car with her. Her driver could easily gun it and run us over if I went for Bakuda, and if I went for the driver Bakuda pull her trigger. And I doubted our chanced of avoiding yet another grenade. So my power wasn't going to give us an easy win, and I'm pretty sure Precaution didn't have any tricks up her sleeve.
But… we were just trying to survive right now, not beat her. That was the only objective that mattered. If I could trick her, then maybe I could avoid a fight altogether. Then I heard a whisper from Precaution, trying to get my attention.
"Psst Manes, she has self worth issues. Whatever you do, don't taunt her." she whispered to me.
Self worth issues huh? She did seem like the type who wants attention, maybe I could flatter her? That would be a good start.
"Oh, well our apologies for getting in your way. If we had known you were in town we'd have rolled out the red carpet for a hot new national celebrity like you." I said, opting to lay it on thick.
Precaution looked over at me like I had grown a second head. I don't know what her problem was. That was a pure compliment as far as I was concerned.
"Oh flattery will get you nowhere. But it's nice that at least someone around here can see a genius when it's right in front of them." she preened. "I am curious though, what's a couple of Wards doing so far out on their own in a place like this?"
Fantastic, she's a talker. And an arrogant one at that. Not to mention she mistook Precaution for a ward. Which suggests she hasn't researched the local cape scene very thoroughly yet. That meant I potentially had an opportunity to ambush her.
But an ambush right now, while she has her finger on the trigger of a grenade launcher, still wasn't a great idea. Instead I had something else in mind. For it to work I had to get under her skin somehow without provoking her outright. And I think I knew just the way.
"Yeah it was a bit of a surprise to see you here. I never would have guessed you'd join up with Dr. Jurassic." I said.
I couldn't see her face under her gas mask, but I'm pretty sure I just wiped the smile right off of it.
"And where did you hear that?" Bakuda asked in a low tone.
I shrugged my shoulders "Nowhere, it just seemed like a pretty big coincidence you two showed up in town on the same day. So I just figured…"
"Well, you figured wrong. I wouldn't be caught dead working with that showboating dumbass. I joined up with Lung because he recognized my talents. If I wanted to, I could wipe the floor with that dino-freak anytime." she insisted.
"Sorry about that, I'm sure you could. Does Lung think the same though?"
"Excuse me? What are you talking about?" Bakuda asked.
"I'm just saying he's been having a lot of trouble putting Dr. Jurassic down today. If it were me I'd have absolutely brought you along." I suggested.
Bakuda was quiet for a minute as she digested my words. But then she responded "Oh, you think you're being clever. Trying to get me to run off to prove myself. But I can see straight through what you're trying to do. Well tough luck you dumb bitch. I'm smarter than that."
As amazing as it would have been if she had actually done that, I thankfully have a much better kind of trick in mind. Of course I had to word my next few responses carefully if I wanted it to work.
"Damn it, you caught me. Oh well, I guess you'll have to stay here and deal with the backup I called in a few minutes ago." I breezily confessed, as if I wasn't lying through my teeth yet again.
"What!..." Bakuda roared.
"Yeah I called for a ride after I got hurt." I said, pointing to my bandaged injury. "They should be here any minute now. So unless you'd like to fight whoever shows up by yourself…"
I'll admit this whole scheme was a bit more convoluted than I would've preferred, but you play the cards you have the best you can. And if you were stuck with a joker and an UNO plus-one card for a hand, there was always bluffing. Thankfully Bakuda must not play cards much because she seemed to be having a hard time telling if I was bluffing or not.
"Well I'll admit, you have me in a bit of a dilemma. I could just let you go, but on the other hand…" she paused for effect as she raised her launcher and pointed it at us. "I can't just let two heroes wander around causing trouble for us."
Crap, maybe I hadn't played this as smoothly as I had thought.
"Whoa hang on, she's injured!" Precaution quickly moved in front of me. "We're not looking for trouble! Haven't you heard of the unwritten rules or anything?!"
"I've always just considered those guidelines, and you have me all wrong. I'm not going to kill you. I have something else in mind. Chung! Lee! Get out here!"
From the back end of the jeep two passenger doors opened on opposite ends. Out of them the two ABB gang members Bakuda had named jumped out holding rifles.
"Zip tie them both and duck tape their mouths shut. If we meet any other heroes these two will be very useful hostages." Bakuda explained.
You know, I shouldn't be surprised by how crap this day was getting. But here I am, at a loss for words. Getting kidnapped by the one gang in this city that no young women ever wanted to be kidnapped by. Alongside someone who was already traumatized by a previous kidnapping.
In front of me Precaution was sweating bullets. She muttered as the gangster approached us. "This can't be happening… This can't be happening again!"
"Don't worry," I whispered, trying to reassure her. "She's making one very big mistake. And if I'm right then I can turn all of this around."
"I hope you're right." she replied.
The two gang members continued approaching us before suddenly recognizing me halfway between us and the Jeep.
"보스, 우리가 그녀를 데려가야 한다고 생각하지 않습니다. 그들 중 하나는 유령 영웅 소녀입니다." came from the guy on the right, probably the more senior member judging from his older age.
"Would you shut up and follow orders! We need to move in case 'little miss roman armor' was telling the truth about her backup!" Bakuda shouted, probably only understanding that he wasn't following her orders.
The other gangster seemed worried too "Boss I don't think kidnapping her is a good idea-"
"Let me worry about that! Now shut up, get them restrained, and get in the Jeep!"
The gangsters shared a look and decided that disobeying Bakuda's decree wasn't something they could afford to do. I didn't know what the first gangster said myself, but I'm pretty sure Bakuda just dismissed her one chance to get clued in about what I could do.
Not wasting any time following orders, the pair of ABB gangsters closed the remaining distance and grabbed the both of us. I winced as my injured arm roared in pain under their grip. There was nothing I could do right now as we were restrained under the barrel of Bakuda's grenade launcher.
Soon we were being hustled into the back of the Jeep. It was cramped with four of us in the back, but our comfort wasn't a factor as we were squeezed in.
Once we were secured, Bakuda gloated. "To think, Lung had doubts about me going out so soon. Shows what he knows. Now drive. No reason to hang around here any longer."
As the Jeep lurched forward I took stock. Bakuda was in the passenger's seat, sitting beside a very nervous looking Asian guy who was driving. Me and Precaution meanwhile were wedged between Chung and Lee, who were dividing their attention between us and looking outside.
If my last ditch plan was going to work I needed all four ABB members here to be distracted as I made my move. Luckily Brockton's poor road maintenance worked in my favor this time, because sure enough as we sped through the streets we hit a pothole. The vehicle lurched up and everyone braced themselves to avoid getting tossed about, shutting their eyes for a crucial moment.
Taking advantage of this momentary distraction my ghost shot out towards my target.
A/N
-So it's been a while huh? Won't lie, I had a rough case of writer's block as I tried to think of a way to move the plot forward. Mostly I just settled on applying Chandler's law "When in doubt, have a man come through a door with a gun in his hand.". And as it so happened Bakuda hadn't been introduced yet so I decided it was close enough chronologically to her canon introduction that I could let her be the one to burst in with a gun, or grenade launcher in this case.
-As you can see, Sam is having quite the day. Hopefully I'm not stretching credulity about how badly things are going for her. Sometimes you need to put a character pretty deep in the hole so they can be properly challenged after all. As for Sam's one big break towards the end, let's just assume Bakuda's new enough in town that she's only skimmed over the ward's roster but hasn't actually studied it, focusing on studying the main heroes first. Plus being in a rush means she's not giving much thought about their powers.
-Once again I need to delay the conclusion of the battle. Hopefully the conclusion I have in mind for the next chapter will be worth the wait. I might even make it a multi=perspective one to do it justice.
-Please leave replies and feedback, it's the only compensation I ask for.