Of all the parts of my training that I was glad to have done, I was most grateful for my morning jog. Right now it was paying off handsomely as I ran through the streets and back alleys. As much as I could keep my distance from Lung by monitoring him with my birds, I still had much smaller legs than him at the moment. Which meant once he got sight of me I wasn't going to be able to outrun him. So for now I focused on keeping my distance about a block away from his position.
The only downside was that I lost track of Sam and Julia earlier than I would have liked as they moved away from me, since we were going opposite directions. The street they had gone down had enough of a curve that the birds at the end of my range couldn't see them.
But I was fine with that, because that would mean Lung wouldn't see them either. I just had to keep him occupied long enough that he couldn't track them down. I figured fifteen to twenty minutes should be plenty of time for them to get somewhere safe. Then I could slip away.
As I tracked Lung with the birds I had under my control, I took stock of what creatures I had available. As usual I was limited to the typical city dwelling types of animals like pigeons, bugs, rats, and the occasional stray dog or cat. Given I was about to skirmish with one of the toughest capes in the northeast I really could have used a rhinoceros or something. I knew I could do bigger animals from a trip to Brockton's zoo, but sadly the days where I could sic a tiger on my enemies were a long way off.
In the meantime I was focusing on Lungs movements. I wasn't quite sure if he was just doubling back to the site of our last meeting from ten minutes ago or if he had something else in mind. My pigeons also gave me a good view of Dr. Jurassic and his attempts to get away from the heroes ("WOULD YOU GET OUT OF MY WAY! DR JURASSIC ISN'T GETTING PAID TO DEAL WITH THE LIKES OF YOU!"). They were actually doing a decent job hemming him in. For the moment at least I felt comfortable ignoring him.
What concerned me now was that Lung had arrived at what had been the battle site between us and Oni Lee. He was currently inspecting the debris from our fight, mostly just shrapnel and a few spots of dried blood here and there. It was a bit surreal watching a giant flaming dragon looking over the street as if he was a police detective inspecting a crime scene.
Deciding that this was to choose a hiding spot I picked out a deserted alley I could stay out of sight in. Although I had an opportunity to strike first I held back my swarm for the moment. If he gave up the chase now I wouldn't have to reveal that I was still nearby. Not to mention I didn't want to find out if he could ramp up any more than he currently was. There were rumors on PHO he could grow wings, and Lung potentially being able to fly was the absolute last thing I needed.
On top of that I could also see that Armsmaster was nearby as well, watching Lung through some binoculars on top of a building near me. He was currently having a conversation with someone on his communicator. Probably going through the same calculus as I was about whether to confront Lung.
However I couldn't help but wonder what Armsmaster was going to do. If he was going to try and capture Lung himself he might need my help. Despite how I felt about the heroes, if any of them were going to actually do their jobs and try to take down Lung, I felt like I should back them up at least.
So I began moving a few pigeons I had closer towards where Armsmaster was observing Lung. I had to be careful not to let it get into his field of view though, in case he noticed and got suspicious. I had gotten better at making my pigeons look natural, but it was still a work in progress.
Unfortunately at about the same time Lung had made up his mind. Despite what I would have preferred though, he had chosen to continue his pursuit. Even worse was that he chose to go the exact direction Sam and Julia had gone. I don't know if it was him making some sort of logical deduction or if it was blind luck, but I decided it didn't matter. It was time to make my move.
I unleashed the hundreds of birds I had gathered that had been waiting on the nearby roofs. Before Lung had realized what was happening he was swatting the air as I kept his vision obscured. I supplemented this flock with the tens of thousands of insects I had gathered as well, and followed Julia's suggestion of setting them on what should have been Lungs' most sensitive spots.
As my bugs landed directly on Lungs eyes he howled in pain as he was now being fully blinded, and his clawed hands now moved up to protect his face, rubbing at his eyes to try and clear away the insects. As for below the belt the less said about that the better. But at least I'm pretty sure he noticed I was targeting that area, so it must have been having some effect.
But my success was short lived as Lung now played his trump card against my swarm. Suddenly the air around his body exploded in flame. The animal minions I had set on him didn't stand a chance, and in mere moments dozens of birds and countless insects were charred beyond recognition. Their remains fell to the ground, leaving bits of ash and burnt feathers surrounding him.
However that wasn't the end of it, because I had made sure to keep healthy reserves of insects ready to go for another couple of rounds. I withdrew the birds that had survived Lungs outburst. Once the fire around Lung had burnt out I sent in my second wave of insects to once again attack his eyes again. It might have been predictable, but I didn't have time to think of a better plan. I figured he wouldn't get far if he couldn't see where he was going, and thankfully that assumption was holding.
Meanwhile the pigeon I had dispatched to listen in to Armsmaster had finally gotten into position, and thankfully Armsmaster was still talking.
"-and for the last time tell New Wave that they should focus on hemming in Dr Jurassic. His Pterodactyl drones need to be disabled and they're the ones with the most fliers. Once he's neutralized we can redeploy. I still think that I can …" Armsmaster paused as he listened over his comms before he continued "But he's distracted right now! If I hurry and get close I can ...What do you mean there's another situation? … okay fine. I'll hold position and standby. In the meantime I'll continue monitoring Lung. Contact me if there's any updates. Over."
As much as I would like to know what the "other situation" was, all I learned was that Armsmaster wasn't likely to help me. Even worse as Lung burnt away my third wave of insects I began to realize that at this rate my reserves of insects were not going to last much more than five minutes at this point. Lung was already keeping his fires burning much longer and taking away any windows of opportunity for my bugs to attack.
Meanwhile I could see that New Wave was finally arriving. The pterodactyl drones that had been circling in the sky suddenly started taking evasive maneuvers. As for the T-Rex bot that Dr Jurassic was piloting it was definitely on its last legs as well, with a lot of the armor having fallen off. He was not taking it well.
"DR JURASSIC IS ON HIS LAST NERVE WITH YOU PEOPLE! YOU WON'T LIKE DR JURASSIC WHEN HE'S ANGRY!" he shouted.
As concerning as Dr Jurassic losing his temper was, I had bigger problems. Because as my sixth wave of bugs tried to continue my assault, Lung threw out a wave of fire that devastated that swarm. At this point I was already down at least half of the bugs I had started with and barely any of them had any stingers or pincers. It was mostly a collection of flies, beetles, and cockroaches I had collected to bulk out my swarm.
I was forced to face facts at this point, my animals were powerless to slow Lung down anymore. Flinging bugs and birds at him wasn't going to do anything against his flames. I did at least accomplish one thing however. Now that Lung could see he switched from walking away to prowling through the street searching each alley for me. I wasn't in immediate danger but I'd definitely have to move soon.
However, my bugs suddenly pick up on something. There was something invisible approaching the alleyway. I hadn't noticed before because I was mostly using my bugs on Lung, and my pigeons were supposed to watch my back. But I hadn't expected a stranger to be nearby, let alone someone who was completely invisible. With the few bugs I had available near me I started tracking this stranger and maybe seeing if I could figure out who it was. But once a few more of my bugs made contact I began to get a sinking feeling of who this was.
As more of my bugs attached themselves I learned that the surface they were on was definitely artificial, which meant it was likely a robot. So unless Uber and Leet had picked a very bad time to do one of their dumb stunts, then Dr Jurassic had another drone I hadn't been aware of.
Just great, just fucking great. Is it too much to ask that this dumb idiot would leave me alone!
But apparently the universe didn't care about my feelings. As this mysterious drone entered the alleyway I weighed my options and made the call to be direct.
"Show yourself! I know you're there!" I shouted.
"Ah I knew you'd be hard to fool. Deactivating stealth mode." came a familiar voice.
Right before me appeared a small robotic dinosaur, or at least smaller than the T-Rex he was also using. If I had to guess it looked like a velociraptor with a lot of small metal spikes attached. Were those supposed to be feathers? Did velociraptors have feathers? I had read an article on that once but I couldn't remember. Regardless the glowing green eyes of the robot were zeroed in on me.
It was a small mercy that I could push my emotions into my swarm of animals, because if I couldn't I would've been freaking out right now about being in a confined alleyway with a robotic apex predator. I didn't have anything to take him down so I'd have to put up a brave front.
"What are you doing here?" I asked, trying to put some authority into my voice.
"Well I couldn't help but notice that you've bitten off more than you can chew. Quite a bold move to challenge Lung like you did by taking down his lieutenant so brutally." The drone explained.
It was strange, hearing him talk so relatively calmly. If I didn't know better I would've thought it was someone completely different from the maniac who was facing Lung earlier.
"That's not what I was trying to do, that was self defense." I tried to justify. "And that's rich coming from the guy who's getting his ass kicked by the whole protectorate right now."
"Oh them? They're just fighting Rexy's automated combat program right now. It'll be a bit before they notice they're just listening to some pre-recorded lines I made ahead of time. Heh he he…" He continued to chuckle for a few seconds. Then he continued "As for Lung I doubt it makes any difference to him either way whether it was self defense. After losing his best lieutenant, he's going to hunt you down. And from what I can see you don't have anything that can hurt him."
"Well he can't hurt me either right now. I'm keeping my distance. He won't find me."
"Don't be so sure. His senses are very enhanced right now. You shouldn't underestimate the advantage that gives him. If you want to live, I suggest you listen to my offer."
"After everything you've done? You think I want to work with a maniac like you?"
"I can assure you that I'm quite sane. The maniac shtick is just a bit of kayfabe I do in fights. What can I say? It's a good way to get under my opponent's skin, and they make more mistakes when they're angry. Granted I probably should have toned it down with this target, but the more you know... Now are you interested or what?
I considered for a moment, and decided hearing him out wouldn't cost me anything. "What exactly is your offer?"
"We team up. I happen to have one last ace in the hole to take down Lung, but I need some assistance. What you get is a fighting chance to survive today. What do you say?"
It didn't sound like the worst offer he could have made. In fact his plan was much more rational than I would have expected from him a few minutes ago. Right now my alternatives were to make a run for it or to keep hiding. But that would only delay things. Lung has been in this city for years, and until someone took him down he'd be here for the indefinite future. If I escaped today, who's to say Lung wouldn't come after me some other time?
Trying not to commit either way I hedged "That doesn't sound like the worst offer I guess. But can you at least tell me what your 'ace in the hole' is before I accept?"
"Of course, this drone has a hyper concentrated sedative ready to inject by way of a syringe installed in one of its teeth. I just need to sink my teeth into him and I'll be able to make him go beddy bye for a week."
"That actually sounds like a decent plan. But…. why didn't you do that in the first place?"
"I did, this morning in fact. Unfortunately the jerk's super hearing caught my robots as they were approaching him and my ambush failed. I lost eight of my twelve drones while Lung only lost his favorite brunch spot." he explained. "After that I brought in Rexy for a second try."
"Oh…" I replied. It would explain why Lung was ready for him, if that earlier fight was his second 'try'. But it did not bode well for this attempt. "If it failed the first time though, why do you think it'll work this time?"
"Well A: Your bugs can help mask my robot's sounds so that Lung won't notice it so easily. And B: My robot runs silently, which means he can't hear it when it stays still. So if you can lure Lung to a certain spot I can hit him before he has time to react."
"Hold on… Lure? I'm supposed to be the bait in this plan?" I asked.
"Well you said it not me. And besides, I'm the one who bought the high power sedative from Toybox and the delivery system. Unless you brought some of your own, which I doubt, that makes me the natural choice to launch the ambush."
"But didn't you say you only lost eight out of twelve of those drones? Where's the other three? You could have used them to be bait or something."
"Oh, I had to send them away to run interference. Lung got a pet tinker recently and they're tasked with keeping her away. Besides, the sedative was expensive and I could only afford to put it in a few drones. This was the only drone left with any of the stuff in it."
"So I'd be risking my life on the small chance that you can do with one drone what you couldn't do with a dozen?"
"Unless you have a better plan it's the best one on the table right now," he stated.
To punctuate his statement, I could see that Lung was getting closer as he searched the area, with his footsteps slowly getting louder. It would only be a matter of a few minutes before he found me here. I had to make my decision now, and despite my better judgment I was going to have to take a risk here.
"Okay fine, I accept your offer. But! If we're doing this together then we're doing this my way."
"Hmm, you drive a hard bargain, but I guess this will only work if we fully cooperate. What did you have in mind?"
"Okay, so here's what we'll do when Lung gets here…."
Meanwhile
Getting into Bakuda's body was a cinch, just like I had hoped. Like all the other people I've possessed, it takes me a second to get used to the new body proportions. As it happens Bakuda isn't too far off from my size, so as I got my bearings I didn't immediately tip off her henchmen that I was in control now.
Of course if they noticed that my body had gone limp in the back, they could probably guess what had happened. Being locals in the cape scene they probably knew what to watch for. So while it would be fun to lead them on, I needed to get rid of them ASAP before they got any ideas. Thankfully while Bakuda was only a tinker, she was the most well armed person in this jeep by a wide margin. That meant my next move had a good chance of success.
"Hey, we need to stop right now." I said. "I think I saw something."
The driver thankfully only gave me a short look before following my order. As we came to a stop I slowly moved my hand to Bakuda's belt, where a pouch held what I hoped would make everything go smoothly. Once we had stopped the driver looked over to me again.
"I don't see anything Ms. Bakuda. What should we be looking for?" he inquired.
"Nothing actually, but I'm gonna have to ask you all to get out of the car." I said.
"Shit, the Mǔgǒu got her!" the younger guy in the back shouted.
"오래 가지 않음." The older one said, right before aiming the gun he was holding at where Precaution and my body were laying. "그녀를 풀어주거나 그렇지 않으면."
"Let me translate for Chung, get out of her or your friend gets it." the younger one said.
Since he said the older one was Chung, he must be Lee then. Assuming that Bakuda hadn't confused their names earlier of course. But for my purposes they were both armed and dangerous, and the driver was probably packing heat as well. It was time to play my trump card, so I turned to face them so that they could see that I was serious.
"Well then, let me make a counteroffer. Get out and leave town or else I'll be forced to use this!" I held up one of Bakuda's grenades in my right hand, far enough away from the driver that he couldn't easily reach it.
I wasn't exactly sure if it was one of Bakuda's creations, or just a regular grenade, but I doubted that mattered. In such a small vehicle any type of explosive had the potential to be lethal.
"Are you crazy! You'll kill us all!" Lee shouted. The driver and Chung seemed equally perturbed by my threat, and their eyes were now glued on the grenade that I was holding.
"Go ahead and try me. And besides I'm not even asking that much. All you have to do is walk away." I countered.
"We can't do that! The boss went through a lot of trouble to recruit Bakuda. If he finds out we lost her then it's our heads!" The driver said.
"Then skip town for all I care. Are you really going to let yourself get killed by this grenade just so you don't get in trouble?" I asked.
There was a tense silence as they all considered their options. I could only hope that none of these guys were macho types who'd rather die than lose a fight. I kept my finger hovering millimeters over the grenades activation switch.
Finally Chung lowered his gun and said "잊어버리세요. 난 멍청한 여자 때문에 죽고 싶지 않아요."
Once again I didn't know what he said, but I could see he was lowering his gun and exiting the Jeep. Lee seemed to follow his lead.
"I'm with Chung, the dumb tinker isn't worth it." Lee conceded, and he followed Chung's example and started exiting the car.
"What! But what do we tell Lung?" The driver asked a bit frantically as Lee was stepping out.
"We tell him whatever he wants to hear. This shit is above my pay-grade." Lee grumbled, before he slammed the car door behind him.
The driver looked at me again and I decided to press my advantage "Better follow them before I slip, my hand is starting to cramp."
That seemed to finally convince the driver to leave, and thankfully he scrambled out in such a rush he left the keys in the ignition. Once he had slammed the door behind him I put down the grenade and moved my thumb away from the switch. I watched for a minute to make sure the three ABB members were far enough away before I let my guard down.
Once I was sure that the danger had passed I got out of my seat and climbed into the back to free Precaution. The first thing I did was get the duct tape off her mouth.
Once her mouth was free, she made sure to share her opinion on my plan "Jesus Fucking Christ Sam! Never scare me like that again! It was bad enough getting kidnapped but having my power telling me that you were actually serious about that threat and not being able to say anything… Fuck."
I went to the zip ties around her wrists and went to get her out of those "Yeah, I'm sorry about that. There weren't a lot of good options and given our luck the longer I waited the more chance something else would go wrong."
Breaking the cheap zip-ties around her wrists she moved her arms back in front of her to rub her wrists "I know, today's just been an exhausting day to have a danger sense and… oh you have to be fucking kidding me."
Once I realized what she had said, I silently cursed the universe.
I began looking around through the Jeep windows and began asking "What? What could it possibly be no-"
Stopping short, I saw three very menacing robotic velociraptors approaching us. They were surrounding the car and it looked like they were inspecting it. For a moment I tried to reassure myself that Dr. Jurassic couldn't possibly have a reason to go after us. But then I remembered who's body I was currently inhabiting.
Checking with Precaution, I asked "You don't think I can explain that I'm not actually Bakuda to him, do you?"
But before she could answer, one of the robots shot down any hope of solving this peacefully. "IDENTITY CONFIRMED: BAKUDA. ACTIVATING NEUTRALIZATION PROTOCOL!"
What followed was the velociraptor robots tackling the car from multiple angles. Each blow rocked the Jeep like an earthquake, and suddenly I was finding it very hard to breathe as I tried to fight through my sudden panic. They must be trying to overturn our car so we couldn't escape.
In between blows I shouted to Precaution "We need to go! Can you drive?!"
Another blow rocked the car and Precaution answered. "I can try, I only have a permit though!"
"Good enough!" I shouted.
While she clambered into the driver's seat, I began looking for a way to fight back against these robotic monsters. I grabbed the grenade launcher I had left in the front seat and tried to make sense of its controls. I'm not sure if it was Bakuda's tinker instincts kicking in or if the launcher was just made to be intuitive to use, but after a few seconds I had an idea of what to do.
Just as they managed to shatter the rear window and tear off one of the side mirrors, Precaution managed to get the car started. I began taking the safety of the grenade launcher as we lurched forward, getting one or two more blows from the robots.
"Hang on!" Precaution shouted.
We began to pick up speed and a few parts of the Jeep like the spare tire on the back door and shards from the turn signal light fell off as debris. The velociraptor drones however were not deterred by us escaping, and just as we had created a gap between them and us, they started chasing us. Before long they were actually closing the gap as we sped down the streets.
Taking the grenade launcher in hand I opened the sun roof up top "Keep it steady, I'm not exactly trained to use this thing."
"Gotcha!" she shouted back.
Standing up I got myself halfway out of the opening in the Jeep's roof, and looking back I could see the robotic velociraptors getting even closer. Making sure the grenade launcher was loaded one more time I took aim. Once I had chosen the lead drone as my target I fired.
BOOOMMM!
It was only when the projectile exploded that it occurred to me I should have considered what I was firing. Because when it did explode a massive explosion, much bigger than a projectile that size should have been able to make, resulted. Leave it to a bomb tinker to overdo her explosions I guess.
Feeling the shockwave I shielded my eyes for a minute as my eardrums were forced to endure the reverberations of the massive boom. Once I looked back I saw that two of the three Velociraptor bots were gone, alongside a generous portion of the street. I assumed that I must have missed and the explosion was big enough anyways that it got the rear two drones. Even as the hole in the street receded as we drove away, I could see that it was big enough to cover both lanes of the road.
Silently I resolved to blame this on Bakuda if anyone asked about it. She made the bomb after all, so I could honestly say that it was her fault.
"Kind of overkill there, huh?" Precaution noted, a bit frazzled herself.
"Yeah, give me a sec to see if I have any other types of ammo on me." I said.
The one remaining velociraptor bot was thankfully far enough away that I could focus on going through Bakuda's pockets to see if there was anything else I could use. Finding the grenade I had threatened the henchmen with earlier, I decided this couldn't possibly be any worse.
"I'm gonna turn a corner! Hold on!" Precaution shouted.
As promised she slowed down a bit before executing a tight turn at the next intersection. Taking my shot I threw the grenade right as I was about to lose sight of the bot chasing us. Once we were on the next street I heard the grenade go off, with a large boom but not as bad as before. But before I could make sure it had done its job, Precaution slammed on the brakes.
Suddenly being thrown forward I had the wind knocked out of me as the edge of the sun roof slammed into my stomach. Trying to regain my breath, I was just about to ask Precaution what the problem was. But then I saw for my own eyes what had caused her to stop.
Standing before us in the middle of the street was Taylor, and just beyond her an approaching Lung. The street was also full of her bugs, creating a massive buzzing noise. Turning around towards the car. she certainly looked surprised to see us. And honestly I was surprised to see her out in the open so close to Lung as well. Didn't she fucking promise she was going to "keep her distance"?
Before I could call out to her she immediately sicked some of her bugs at me, and once again I was regretting taking control of Bakuda. With all the noise her bugs were making I'm pretty sure she couldn't hear me. Maybe if I showed her my body- wait no, knowing my sister that wouldn't go over so well.
Being very thankful that Bakuda included a gas mask in her costume, I rapidly had to prioritize whether to attack Lung or get Taylor out of here. Because for some reason she was hardly moving! Was she too terrified to move or something?
Making a split second decision I decided that I had a grenade launcher so I might as well use it. I aimed it towards Lung and went to pull the trigger. But before I could fire Taylor must have noticed me getting ready to shoot, and thus she redoubled her efforts.
Being an amateur with firearms I had just gone to a rule of thumb and aimed at Lungs center of mass. However because of the swarms interference my shot went lower than intended, and when it landed…
BOOOMMM!
A monstrous cry rang out "AAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHH!".
…It had landed right below Lungs beltline.
Oh my god. I had just blown Lungs dick off.
As Lung collapsed in pain our eyes met, and I saw the look of absolute betrayal and rage in his dragon shaped face. He probably was wondering why Bakuda had betrayed him so suddenly. I know we were actually supposed to be enemies at that moment, but it's hard not to feel some guilt after you've exploded someone's dick off.
But before anyone had another second to absorb the last minute of events, yet another velociraptor robot suddenly appeared out of nowhere. I could have sworn I had destroyed that last one but it became immediately clear this one was being directly controlled by what it did next.
"FROM HELL'S HEART I STAB AT THEE!" it shouted, right before it added a final, total insult to injury and bit right into where my rocket had landed.
"AAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHH!" came a renewed cry of anguish, right before Lung collapsed to the ground.
Sweet Jesus what even is today?
I think the only reason Lung wasn't screaming louder this time was that he had probably gone into shock from the incredible pain he must have been feeling. If nothing else he seemed to not be getting up as the robotic velociraptor continued to bite down on him.
I on the other hand had only started to feel pain as my sister's bugs had gotten through Bakuda's armor. Now I was feeling her bugs' wrath as she tried to divide her attention between Lungs predicament and me.
"Ow Ow! Okay uncle, uncle! Stop it sis!" I shouted, putting down my grenade launcher as fast as I could without causing another explosion.
Thankfully Taylor managed to hear my pleas and the swarm mostly dispersed as I held my hands up in surrender. She seemed a bit confused, and her confusion only grew as Precaution rolled down the side window and leaned her head out of the Jeep.
"Hey I know your sister is annoying and all but I think you should give it a rest now." she commented.
"My sister… I thought I told you guys to run?!"
"We did, and it didn't work out so well." I said. "And what about you? I remember you saying that you were going to avoid Lung, not stand in the middle of the freaking street!"
But before Taylor could answer, I saw Armsmaster approaching on his Arms-cycle. As he skidded to a stop a few yards away from Lung, we must have made for an insane scene.
Pointing his halberd at all of us he shouted "Everyone freeze! You're all under arrest until I know what's going on."
The first one to speak was surprisingly Dr. Jurassic, who released his robots jaw off of Lung "HE'S ALL YOURS OFFICER!"
"What did you do to him, is he dead?!" Armsmaster shouted.
"NO, HE'S JUST SEDATED. THE FORMULA COURTESY OF ISOTOPE OVER AT TOYBOX. YOU'RE WELCOME." Dr Jurassic said.
Hearing that it looked like Armsmaster had been asked to suck on a lemon. "If you expect a congratulations you're not getting it. Now if you don't turn yourself in within the next five minutes we're going to throw the book at you."
Dr Jurassic of course wasn't intimidated. "HMMM I THINK I'LL HAVE TO DECLINE. I HAVE A BIG FAT PAYOUT TO COLLECT THANK YOU VERY MUCH. CIAO. SELF DISASSEMBLE ACTIVATE!"
And just like he said, the Velociraptor robot almost immediately broke apart, down to the smallest pieces. It was like someone had removed the final Jenga piece, and now gravity was pulling all the pieces to the ground.
With Dr Jurassic gone, Armsmaster turned to the three of us "And all of you, I'm gonna want a full explanation of what happened here."
Keeping my hands up I answered first. "I'd love to, but could I go to the hospital first? I'm probably overdue for some medical attention."
Armsmaster looked me up and down, "You look fine to me."
Once again, I had to spell it out "Your half right. Bakuda, she's doing fine. Just a few bug bites. As for me, Manes ID code 9719, not so much. Bit of grenade shrapnel in my arm right now."
Realization dawned across his face "Ah, console did mention you were in some trouble. Is your injury serious?" he asked.
"Not gonna die immediately but probably shouldn't waste any time, you know?" I said.
"Okay, I'll call the console and try to get an evac for you. As for you two…" He pointed at my sister and Precaution and said, "If you even think of walking away before I can talk to you, you're going to regret it."
As he turned away to make his call to the console I beckoned Taylor over to the car. She looked confused but complied.
As she got into earshot I asked her "Hey so you want to get our stories straight before or after we get to the hospital?"
She looked a bit surprised. "Are you sure about that? I'm pretty sure the PRT will figure out pretty quickly if we're lying Sam."
"No, no, no. Not for the PRT." I clarified. "They're going to be calling dad soon, and I'm probably gonna be in surgery for a bit since Panacea's definitely busy with more serious patients right now. So dad's gonna have a lot of questions for you about what happened today. You know how he worries."
If nothing else, being injured had one perk. Because if I hadn't been injured, Taylor definitely would have murdered me right there on the spot.
A/N
-And there you have it, the end of the arc. Hopefully the fight against Lung lived up to everyone's expectations. If anyone feels sorry about Lung's injuries, just remember he's a notorious sex trafficker in the story. In a way it's a very ironic way to be beaten for him.
-As for Taylor cooperating with Dr Jurassic, it's more of a 'making the best of a bad situation' choice she makes here. Even if he's a massive jerk, Taylor allied with worse people in canon so I figure she can bite her tongue for a short time.
-Hoping to focus on the characters in the next few chapters, especially in the interlude. Lots of fallout for people to react to with the ABB cape roster effectively wiped out. Will make for a lot of interesting situations.
-As always I appreciate any feedback. It's the only thing I ask for.