The rain poured over their heads as they made their way down the street.
It was empty now, the swarming tide of civilians replaced by the deluge of rainwater flowing past their legs. The water was three and a half feet deep, and would only rise higher with time.
Cars bobbed up and down in misery as they raced down the street, the water carrying them across. Yīng gasped at the bodies that came with them.
"Focus on me or your feet. Ignore the dead. There will only be more."
He noticed her nod out the corner of his eye. She looked faintly ill.
"The effect will not last?"
She snapped her head back towards him, shaking her head as if arising from a dream. "Only a few hours. Long enough to do what you need to do, I hope."
"Good. If it lasts any longer than that, I kill you. You understand?"
She nearly tripped, but as he reached out to steady her, she adjusted herself and nodded, face grim. "I understand."
He grunted his acknowledgment and turned his head to the sky. The storm clouds rolled and swirled around him. He focussed inward, readying himself. He could feel himself warm, as though a fever was setting in, the scales hardening below his skin. He frowned. Kyushu had not flooded this way.
Irritating.
The sloshing of water, the rolling thunder, and Yīng's grunts of exertion were the only sounds in the world, the alarms long since turned off.
If he hadn't known any better, he would have thought the city was already dead.
By now, the last few heroes and villains should be arriving.
His heart was beating faster now, superheated blood speeding throughout his veins and arteries.
Yīng spoke up, apparently unable to hold in her curiosity. "Have you ever fought any of the others?"
"No. The Simurgh's flight and speed would make a fist-to-fist battle impossible, and by the time my flames would be hot enough to hurt her, I would either be long dead, or she would be long gone. I am unsure whether I could survive Behemoth's radiation, and I have no intention of finding out."
"How does your power work, anyway? I've seen you throw flames around, but I don't see how that would let you fight that monster."
He grunted in irritation as a scale broke free near his shoulder, blood flowing down with the rain before it settled in place. The water fizzled with the heat. She eyed the rapidly vanishing blood and the silver on his shoulder in disbelief. "At the start, the fire is my only weapon. But when in danger, I grow scales, the flames get hotter and hotter, and my bones lengthen and harden. I grow taller, and depending on the danger, wings. When I fought Leviathan, near the end I was a head larger than him, and had an extra pair of arms about to grow in. Your questions distract me. You will cease them."
Yīng muttered something under her breath, but after that, she made the wise decision and silenced herself. The effort of keeping the transformation in was not inconsiderable, and he needed to concentrate.
The heroes would not be able to stall as they had in Kyushu. The water underneath the city would force them, and by extension him, to action.
He would not get the time he would like without weakening the city's heroes and infrastructure too badly. The distance between the apartment and his staging ground would buy him fifteen minutes of charge. The beginning stages of the fight another seven to eight. He would be much more vulnerable than before, but hopefully, the sheer amount of people in the wings would buy him that extra time.
Another patch of scales burst through his thigh, piercing straight through his skin like needles before they flattened and connected. His flesh was heated now, and the rain turned to vapor as it met his skin. Steam wafted around him perpetually now, even as he kept a tight lid on the flames begging to be released. The blood and sweat flowing from his body resembled magma more than anything else. Yīng was watching him with an equal amount of fascination and horror.
That familiar high was beginning to seize him, but he powered through. His skin was bulged outward from the nickeled steel threatening to break free.
He reached up to his face and pried off his mask, shaking his head and letting his hair flow free. They were close now.
He stopped in his tracks, turning to face Yīng. She was shaking from the cold, clothes completely soaked. The water here was up to her knees.
She must have seen the grave look on his face, as she straightened herself out as best she could. "If I fall, find Lee and take this to him. I have drilled him on the meaning for years. He will understand." He could feel his teeth start to sharpen into razor points, and his toes and fingers were growing numb. He would not be able to hold it in for much longer. When her hands grabbed the mask, he clamped one hand onto her wrist, making sure she was looking him in the eye. "Do not lose this. Lee will take you to my fallback stash. There you will find 10,000 American dollars. Use that to escape to any city you please. My only request is that you take care of Lee. He will keep you safe, even if his understanding of English is very poor. Tell him what to do, and he will do it. Understand?"
She nodded, jaw clenched, choking slightly from the steam, wincing as it ran across her face, and when he pulled away, he left a reddened mark behind on her wrist.
"Are we almost there?"
"Yes. It's high up enough that it will give a good view, but not too tall the fall will kill us."
Well...
"Kill you, at least."
She did not appear pleased by the amendment but nodded all the same.
They kept at it again, but then the rain petered off slightly, and he paused, holding a hand up as a signal for her to do the same. The clouds above him had parted, but more had come elsewhere, centering around what he would guess to be the boardwalk. "We need to move faster. He is upon us."
He picked up speed to an awkward jog, water boiling beneath his feet and clearing a path. Yīng had to keep slightly to the side to avoid being scalded.
By the time they made it to the building, it was pouring like a typhoon by the Rig. He stopped a moment to give it a small nod. "Koun o inoru."
"What does that mean?"
He ignored her question with a shake of the head.
"He is here. Come."
They made it to the back of the fire escape and up to the rooftop just as the wave arrived.
He could not help his slight flinch while looking at the obliterated shops and malls.
When the beast itself became visible through the downpour, Yīng gasped.
That was when he let go, and the scales surged free, blood pouring to the floor and melting partway through the rooftop.
His fingers cracked, curling to the side, scales bursting free and dislocating the bones, extending the phalanges forward an extra three inches before the scales settled, fingers snapping back into shape as his nails hardened and lengthened, shaping into claws.
His heart was beating fast enough to kill a normal man now. The adrenaline was surging through, but he waited. The itch to burn was almost indescribable now, but he held firm.
Then Leviathan charged, and the massacre began.
He could vaguely make out what he thought was Krieg being bowled over in the distance, and a handful of capes followed suit, this time in many more pieces.
Alexandria appeared just in time to sock the beast to the floor, and a tidal wave came and washed the wounded away, the beast disappearing in the chaos.
And now the chase began.
Yīng was watching in horror as cape after cape was crippled or killed.
Buildings collapsed, roads flooded, and houses were simply carried away by the tide.
His feet extended outward, and he could feel the scales forming around his bones. He was already eight feet tall.
Leviathan ran through a skyscraper, and its impact as it hit the ground made him sway on his feet.
Legend tracked the beast, blasting it with enough force to send it careening down a city block, sprawling across the pavement. And now a wave.
His guess was right, and another tidal wave, larger this time, swept past.
A predictable pattern, but no less a deadly one.
"How do you fight that?"
Leviathan ran through one of Laserdream's forcefields like it was not even there and butchered another group.
He turned towards her. His face was less human, but still recognizable. "You do not. 90% of the capes that appear do not slow the beast longer than a moment, and most die for the trouble."
He waved his hand towards the destruction. "Like I said..."
A mangled corpse was dropped from Leviathan's claws, and an almost lazy swing of his tail brought down four more.
"A good day is 1-4. This does not seem to be a good day."
His body was almost covered now, his pants ripped and tattered.
"The plan. One more time."
Yīng managed to tear her eyes away from the destruction and center herself. She was shaping up nicely.
"We wait for your power to stall, then I sing to you. I make you focused, mad, prideful, determined, unable to give up no matter the odds so your power keeps getting stronger. While you fight him, I run away and find a place to hide until either you're dead, or he's gone."
"And if I fall?"
"Find Lee, give him your mask, loot your stash, and find a city to hide away in."
"Have you picked a place to go?"
"No."
Hookwolf had latched onto Leviathan like a limpet, shearing his face apart until the beast grew annoyed and grabbed him, throwing him down to the rain slick concrete and flattening him with a stomp.
Hookwolf did not get up.
He laughed. "Then you better start thinking."
His face was covered now, and his hair was hardening into silver.
But it was slower, almost hesitant.
He scowled.
On some level, he was almost afraid.
His power could sense that, it knew that he couldn't win no matter how he escalated.
He felt some scales start to recede.
"It is time."
Yīng nodded, and began to hum.
He could barely hear it past the battle, yet it stood out all the same. It almost seemed to echo, bouncing in and around his skull.
He felt himself relax as she paced around him, alternating between low and high notes, shifting pitch and tone in a glorious siren song.
His brain turned to mush, body sagging slightly. A rage unlike any other made flames flare across his hands before a feeling of peace and warmth washed it all away.
He thought of his mother, the wonderful songs of his youth, and a molten tear poured from his eye.
The scales burst free again, this time faster, trying in vain to defend him against the invisible threat.
She did not bother attempting to rhyme or sing her words, but they sounded just so beautiful all the same.
A whisper. You are strong.
I am strong.
You are the best.
I am the best.
You are undefeatable.
I am undefeatable.
A normal volume now, voice harsher.
You are furious.
I am furious.
This city is yours.
This city is mine.
Shouted now.
You are LUNG!
I am LUNG!
And he is Nothing.
He is Nothing.
A whisper once more, as close to his ear as she could get.
Prove it.
He obeyed.