Kind of funny how the two Non-Mammal members of the team ended up getting put together in the chapters of this story! That wasn't done deliberately like I said I tried to fit the Death Trap symbolically with a character whenever I could Dana got the 'Solitude' Puzzle and Goku got the 'Failure' Puzzle the last one I needed was someone for the 'Mouth of the Dragon' Death Trap and I didn't know their personality beforehand but given what has been previously established about Shirley's geas about fighting and she ends up getting the best Assassin for her position as each Assassin is determined by what Death Trap the character chose as we shall see in this chapter
After leaving her Death Trap, Shirley pulled her way through a dimly lit hall lined with suits of Japanese armor, the armor was quite old, there were six suits, three along each wall...At the end of the corridor 50 feet away there was a doorway.
Shirley felt an eerie feeling as she pulled herself along with her arms...The squeaky wheels of the board she had been given was not helping things! But because she had a rather pampered and sheltered existence compared to other Mutants who had been chosen...The Mutant Goldfish was not wary enough to suspect the ninja assassin was hiding last suit of armor to the left! Armed with a Bisento (Japanese pole arm) he was waiting until the Mutant Animal was in front of him to attack!
But fortunately for Shirley she had a few advantages albeit completely unintentional ones, because she was pulling herself arms on a low to the ground board of wood...She was much lower than the ninja assassin who was standing on a square stand like the other suits of armor so he had to reach down to get her!
The Goldfish gave a shriek when the last suit of armor moved and swung his pole arm toward her! Fortunately for her...As a Fish Mutant she was also naturally slippery so while the Ninja got her on...Well where her rump would be if she was a tetrapod but her mermaid-like body meant her...Waste disposal orifice was on the underside, so even as he hit her as she pulled herself away, the pole arm slipped on her shining orange scales leaving only a scratch...And also as the pole arm slipped on the Mutant Goldfish's body in his heavy armor the momentum caused the Ninja to fall off his stand just as Shirley had gotten out from under him causing him to crash at an awkward angle!
For the first few moments Shirley wasn't sure what happened, she didn't even notice her own pain and she looked at the human ninja who had crash landed on his head...And despite the fact he had just tried to kill her...Shirley hoped he hadn't just broken his neck!
"Um...Sir…" She said softly "Sir...Are you all right?"
The only answer she got back was a groan...She briefly though about using her healing touch on him, but realized it was probably better to use it on any of her her team mates as she could only use her healing magic a limited amount of times per day! She she went on her way.
As Lovelace slithered out of her Death Trap she also entered a dimly lit room. In the middle of the room there was a large low table on the table appeared to be a naked, pale, white corpse, past the table was a doorway.
While Lovelace being a Garter Snake did not have the ability to sense body heat like a Pit Viper...She still was able to flick out her tongue and was able to smell the human was still alive and was pretending to be a corpse! She folded her metal arms in disgust at this attempt at deception and similar to Bacon Bit she was stressed out froMm the previous Death Trap and ready to take out her aggression in a fight!
The ninja assassin had armed himself with shuko (Claws inserted under the fingernails) and listened as the Snake Mutant approached.
As soon as Lovelace was close enough he sat up to strike! However he was not prepared for the sheer strength of Lovelace's cyborg limbs! One arm caught the hand he lifted to strike while the other one gave him a good punch in the ribs!
While the ninja was trying to play dead...In this case it really was more genuine fainting from the pain as he was pretty sure she had just broken some ribs!
Giving a few hissing giggles with delight, Lovelace slithered out of the room.
Meanwhile Glass Joe had ended his phone conversation with Piston Hondo...With his hastily scribbled down notes he knew he had to get to Von Kaiser to tell him what he had learned about the White Ronin! Piston Hondo would try to contact Great Tiger to see what progress had come on his end.
Knowing he needed some quick energy for the long night ahead, Glass Joe quickly got out some of the salted chocolate caramels Dana had gotten from one of the fancier grocery stores (Apparently Mutant Dogs like Dana can eat chocolate with no problems but Humanimal Dogs can't or at least they'd have to build up a tolerance otherwise they'd just keep getting sick and most don't have the patience to do that) Joe quickly scarfed down three or four chocolate caramels, of course they were no where as good as France's best chocolatiers but they would make do in a pinch. Plus because of America's habit of monstrous portion sizes for their food they were pretty...Robust. Just three or four and already he felt like he had a meal.
After quickly washing them down with a some water, Glass Joe went over to the crib where their precious hybrid daughter Lily was sleeping.
"I hate to disturb your sleep My Dear Lily…" Joe said quietly as he tried to scoop the Mutant Puppy up as gently as possible "But I can't leave you alone to rescue your Mother and her Fellow Mutants...I'll drop you off with Uncle Bear Hugger and I should be back soon enough…"
Oops! Turns out we'll see Great Tiger and the Turtles in the next chapter as these two Assassin Rounds took a bit longer that previous ones but I do get to show Glass Joe preparing himself