Have you ever had a really dumb idea, but had to resign yourself to the fact that there aren't really any better options, at least none that you can think of at the time?
Well, Mary is becoming familiar with that feeling.
Even though Challenger just slapped Lung away like she was trying to score a homerun, it's clear that it won't have really done much of any damage, and with Lung being Lung, he's only going to be stronger next time she tries, making her ability to put him down even less tenable.
Luckily, that's where dumb plans come in.
With that in mind, as Lung starts clawing his way out of the rubble, fire coming off of him in torrents hot enough to turn any metal it touches a glowing red, she turns to the trio of suit wearing Villains.
"Oi! Nazis!" She yells out to get their attention, before waving both arms vaguely in the direction of the growing dragon man. "Go make yourselves useful so we can coordinate! I have a plan!"
Thankfully, they seem to take her at face value about having a plan. As for whether they came to the wright conclusion as to the effectiveness of said plan, well, who's to say what they are thinking?
As the three of them set off, one seeming to absorb whisps of darkness, another generating an ethereal hand big enough for them to stand on in order to fly. The blond's power is noticeably more creepy though, as his chest seems to open up, ribs splaying out as if inviting someone in, and probably growing longer than they should be.
She doesn't really know what his power is supposed to do other than be real creepy, but that's not her concern right now. So instead of thinking about it, she just rushes closer to Miss Militia, beckoning Challenger to join her, who surprisingly does so without complaint, though also without urgency.
She really just seems curious more than anything else.
Works for me, Mary thinks to herself as they gather up, explosions and whooshes of fire going off in a steady staccato behind her.
Challenger is the first to speak, "You really do look like shit, y'know that?" And it really must be true if the look Miss Militia is giving her is any indication. But Mary can't see the blisters and burns decorating her skin, for obvious reasons, and chooses to ignore Challenger's statement.
"I have a plan, but I'm not going to tell you what it is, because you'll tell me not to do it, instead, please just do as I say."
"What!? No!"
In response to Miss Militia's exclamation, Mary turns to Challenger, "You cool with me doing a mystery plan?"
"Sure," she quickly answer with a careless shrug, causing Miss Militia to turn a scathing glare upon her fellow Hero.
But Mary quickly interrupts whatever she was about to say. "Cool! Two against one, you're outvoted and there's a rage dragon raging behind me, so no recounts!" Reluctantly, Miss Militia accepts that now really isn't the time to argue, and settles down.
"Challenger, can you hit harder with your axe or your rifle?"
"Axe."
"Dope, I need you to hit Lung right about here-" She points to a location on her torso, somewhere between the front and side of her body, right at her lower left ribs, "-on my signal, as hard as you can. Militia, what can your power make that has the most single-hit impact?"
Her power, a semi-sentient green energy, transforms from a shotgun to a massive anti-material rifle, taller than she is, with a bipod long enough to be used standing. If not for the fact that it's power generated, it'd probably weigh enough to tip her over with how she's resting it on her shoulder.
"...Yeah, that works. I want you to hit the same place but on the other side, at the same time as Challenger." Miss Militia gives a reluctant nod, along with a glare that promises a stern talking to, and Mary abruptly realises something catastrophic.
She's not going to get her lobster and grilled cheese, is she?
Pushing away her grief at the though, she gives them both a nod, and dashes away, leaping onto a nearby roof and making her way around the roaming battle, until she is behind Lung, who is now nearing twelve feet tall, and has grown a tail.
Her plan did not involve Lung having a fucking tail! Oh well, it's a stupid plan anyway.
Removing all her senses except for her hearing, Mary immediately falls on her ass, but ignores that in favour of focusing on the sound of Lung. Unfortunately, all she can hear is the roaring of flames, as well as the much more literal roaring of Lung, saying something incoherent about killing people, she doesn't really pay attention to his words.
Looks like she'll have to get closer then, joy.
Turning her eyes back on, she sees that the Nazis really aren't doing all that hot.
Creepy rib guy looks probably about as bad as she does, covered in welts and burns and the like, everywhere except for his exposed organs interestingly enough. Hand guy is safely flying in the air, another similarly sized hand trying and failing to restrain Lung. And lastly, wispy shadow guy is actually trying to slug it out with Lung, except that basically seems to just amount to doing his best not to die.
Mary lets out a smile. She's always wanted to do a Superhero Entrance, even if it's wasted on a bunch of Nazis.
Plan in mind, she scales another, taller building, and watches the fight for a few seconds, the fight moving fast enough that a few seconds is enough time to get a grasp of the battle's rhythm. She waits until wispy shadow guy overextends and it about to be punished for it, before igniting herself in flame, and launching straight down at the scaly gang lord.
To Umberto, it was as if she just appeared. Right as Lung's clawed arm was about to bat into him, a woman in a tattered red and blue costume, it's edges burned away, appeared before him, punching Lung in the side of the head hard enough to knock him over with a thundering crash.
He notices her knuckles split open, exposing red flesh from the recoil of the blow, before his attention is drawn to her burn covered face, not that he expects himself to look any different, as she speaks.
"Ever hear the story of the Nemean Lion?"
Before he can even answer, she is already moving again, getting into close quarters with Lung, uncaring of the fire boiling her skin. If she can't feel it, it's not there. She has a minor regeneration factor anyway, she'll probably be fine...maybe.
"I'' 'ILL 'OUUU!!!" Lung roars out, barely coherent with his head resembling a dragon more than a man.
Once Mary gets within striking distance, he wastes no time in swinging for her head, moving at speeds far greater than he should be capable of. But Mary dodges the blow with ease, and takes another step closer, side-stepping a jab with his other hand, and returning the favour by landing two quick punches on his chest, stepping back in time to avoid his counter.
But for all his strength grows, his mind gets left behind, leaving him predictable and easy to fight, even if he is twice as tall and more than thrice as strong as her. Even when he tries to surprise her by lashing out with his maw of razor sharp fangs, she finds no trouble remaining untouched by all but flame. However, she can feel that her punches are barely doing anything, and even then, they feel less impactful with every strike.
Knowing that she's running out of time before her stupid plan loses any validity that it might have previously held, Mary focuses on her hearing, abandoning all but her ears and balance. Through the sounds of roaring flames, heavy steps and staggering blows, Mary picks up what she was listening for.
A breath. Lung's breath, to be precise.
She takes another couple of seconds, just dodging his blows, to get a feel for his breathing pattern, before deciding that she's out of time to be picky and quickly working out her timing.
Jumping back after dodging his next blow, Mary turns to the Nazis and 'tags them in', so to speak.
"Challenger! Hit on four!" Mary yells out, trusting that she'll be heard, and takes a stance.
She counts down two seconds in her head, before the street cracks under her feet, and her body blurs forward, an indent of her foot being left in her wake.
In less than a second, she reaches Lung, and in what seems to be slow motion, she lands horizontally with her left foot on his chest, and as his eyes slowly track her movement, he only gets a glimpse of a wide smile before her other foot comes up into the bottom of his jaw with all the force of an enraged bull.
With a meaty thud, Lung's head snaps to the sky, his elongated neck stretched all the way out. And with supernatural agility, Mary climbs onto the back of the monstrous Lung, wrapping her legs around his neck, positioning them so that her left bends around the neck, while her right hooks around her left foot and digs it's knee into hopefully his carotid arteries.
The very next second, Challenger appears in a burst of movement, and swings her axe with all her might right into his left lung, a series of explosions trailing behind the hunk of metal. Almost at the exact same time that her axe makes contact, a thick .950 calibre bullet smashes into the scales covering his right lung, failing to pierce, but still hitting with more than enough force that, combined with Challenger's blow, all of the air escapes Lung's lungs.
Immediately after she hears the air leave his mouth, Mary clamps down hard on his neck, squeezing her legs with all of her, not inconsiderable, might, even as her foe is thrown back, crashing into a parked car and leaving her just as winded as her back tears a hole through the car's roof.
But she doesn't give up her hold on Lung's oxygen supply, something he clearly notices as he rushes back to his feet, attempting to bring his arms up to claw her legs off of him. But she stops him by hooking his elbows with her own, locking the limbs and then pulling back with everything she's got until the scales covering his serpentine neck start cracking from the pressure.
She thinks for a moment that despite her best efforts, she's not going to be able to hold him, but then another pair of incredibly large, hands appear over her own, helping her pull taught and leaving Lung's upper body immobilised.
Which leaves his lower body, and his fire. Something he seems to realise just as soon as she does, if the sight of her thighs bubbling is anything to go by. But he doesn't just turn up the heat, as even without any of her senses, Mary just knows that his tail is coming round to slam into her.
Luckily, Umberto steps in, tanking the blow for her but getting launched into an already half crumbled wall for his efforts. But as he brings his tail around for another swing, Challenger steps in, parrying it away, and following up by hitting the back of Lung's knees, to stop him from slamming his back into a wall.
He tries to get back up, but his strength is noticeably waning as oxygen deprivation starts getting to him, enough that Mary feels comfortable restoring her sight and sense of balance. Not one to go out without a fight, Lung's fire burns even brighter, lashing out at the creepy ribs Nazi, who was in the midst of trying to carry his companion to safety.
Immediately, the men's screams wash over the street as fire hotter than anything before washes over them, melting their skin by the second. But even as Handy Nazi sends their hands after their friends, Lung doesn't escape Mary's grip, and, as his head starts swaying, clearly close to blacking out, he seems, more than angry, to be... confused? As he stares at the men his fire is burning to death, almost as if it wasn't his flame.
But that would be impossible. His fire is his own, no one else could control it... Right?
That weary confusion, only lasts until he sees Mary leaning closer, his new facial structure giving him clear view of her maddeningly wide smile as she comes to a stop right by his ear, her whispered words being the last thing he knows before darkness claims him.
"No one will ever believe you."
The thud of Lung's body hitting the half melted street feels unnaturally loud in the sudden silence that followed the roaring of his flames all disappearing at once, and Mary has to withhold a wince as she beholds her thighs.
Her legs are fucked, to put it simply, the parts of her that were directly in contact with Lung are even showing bits of bone through the melted flesh.
It's really gross, so Mary looks to the sky instead, even as she pulls her legs out from under Lung's bulk, stretching them out. And then she resigns herself to the fact that humans are curious creatures, and stupidly decides to return her sense of touch, only for blinding agony to rip through her every pore, causing her to let out a low keening groan at the sensation, both hating it and revelling in how alive it makes her feel.
"Man, if you looked like shit before, then I ain't got a clue what you look like now." Challenger's amused voice brings her attention to the side, where she gives the approaching woman a wry smile.
"Keep saying shit like that, and you're gonna make a girl self conscious~," Mary manages to rasp out through gritted teeth, her voice sounding like death and actually making Challenger cringe a little, not that she loses her grin.
"Heh, somehow I don't think that'll be a problem," finally reaching her position, Challenger looks down at Mary, seated on Lung's fallen back as she is. "By the way, that was so fucking metal, what you just did. How you feelin'?"
She doesn't even have to think about her answer, it's so obvious to her. "Euphoric~. I feel amazing~, it's makin' me wanna fuck~." She finishes with a giggle that is shared by Challenger.
"Well, good luck with that," the older woman says, gesturing to her half melted thighs, though Mary only shrugs.
"There's a kink for everything."
"Ok, first of all, that's really gross." She doesn't continue as she notices Mary starting to sway slightly, her eyes blinking blearily.
"Hey, Challenger," Mary whispers, her voice tired and faint, "catch me."
And then she is out like a light. Challenger does catch her before she hits the ground, though she also cringes at the gross feeling of Mary's skin, and then lets out a sigh at the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps, audible even over the approaching sirens. She just knows that Miss Militia is going to be a pain in the ass after all of this.
///
PRT ENE HQ
July 2nd, 23:50
///
Emily Piggot is not having a good night.
As if being woken up in the middle of the night and forced off of her dialysis machine wasn't bad enough, the situation she was walking into almost made her want to pull her hair out for all the frustration it's causing her.
Now, here she is in her office with her Deputy Director, Renick, a new stack of paperwork on her desk and another day full of chaos. This city is going to be the death of her one of these days, she's sure of it. From a stress induced heart attack if nothing else.
"Renick, sitrep!" She barks out as she plops into her seat, alternating her baleful glare between Renick and the pile of papers before her.
"Ma'am," he gives her a nod, before handing her yet another file, "at approximately nineteen-fifty hours, Assault and Battery's patrol came across Oni Lee and were forced into an engagement. At near enough the same time, Challenger encountered a shootout between E88 and Red Heart gangsters at the same time as Hookwolf, Stormtiger and Cricket, leading to a confrontation. Similarly, Dauntless encountered a force of mercs suspected to be Coil's men. Then, at approximately two-O'hundred hours, Lung intercepted Miss Militia and Falcon's patrol, resulting in another confrontation."
It's all Emily can to do avoid throwing her coffee at his face, but she gets the feeling she's going to need the drink to get through the rest of the night. It helps that her coffee tends to come with a little 'extra' these days, int he form of rum, of course.
Fuck this job.
Closing her eyes, she counts back from five, and when she opens her eyes again, she is no longer Emily Piggot, an annoyed and overworked woman, she is Director Piggot a woman with a glare that can cow superhumans.
"Casualties?" She demands, keeping to her order of priorities.
Renick's answer is quick and crisp, giving all the important details without wasting any time, which is a big part of why she likes having him as her Deputy, not that she can feel any joy when she actually hears the news. "One injured, no deaths on our side, three injured civilians no deaths, unconfirmed injured from the gangs, something north of ten, with four deaths, one normal, three cape."
There is a bit of grim satisfaction at the deaths of Villain capes, but that satisfaction is carefully tempered by years of careful paranoia and the knowledge that nothing can ever go well in this cursed city. The other shoe will drop, the question is when, and if she'll be crushed under it's merciless heel.
God she hates this fucking job.
"Who and how bad?" She doesn't need to specify her demand, Renick is good at his job, a small saving grace.
"Falcon, very. Gypsy has assured us that she has some manner of healing factor, estimated recovery time is six days, if Gypsy is accurate."
"Fucking brilliant," Piggot mutters to herself, letting her weariness show since it's only Renick with her, "all this chaos and the only injury we get just has to be a Ward, against Lung at that. Youth Guard is going to be up my ass about this as soon as they hear about it."
"I'll be sure to delay their calls, Ma'am," Renick responds, even though she wasn't addressing him, and she almost smiles at the thought. Almost.
"The casualties?" She asks instead.
"All Empire. Umberto, Bakasura and Járngreipr. Former two to Lung's fire, latter unknown."
"Unknown?" She wants to ask about the situation with Lung, doubly so considering one of her Wards was there. The Youth Guard are insufferable enough, if a Ward was forced to watch a pair of men burn to death, then they're going to give her an aneurysm.
"Járn-" he cuts himself off, giving up on saying the full name every time, "-They were with the other two, their body was discovered on a rooftop a short distance from the main fighting, with a hole in their head."
Brilliant, Piggot can't help but sarcastically quip in her mind, her furious scowl somehow deepening even further. As much as she may loath the idea of them, there are unwritten rules that the capes operate by, and one of those is to avoid killing other capes if possible. It leaves a bad taste in her mouth, but they need all the capes they can get when the next Endbringer comes knocking.
Now, the first two deaths could just be attributed to Lung's usual lack of tact, but the latter is clearly an intentional assassination, which means someone in her city has decided they don't want to play by the rules.
How frustrating.
"On the subject, what the hell happened with my Ward!" She can't help the way her voice raises into a shout at the end, not that Renick seems to mind. Wards are supposed to be kept away from this kind of danger, even if the Ward in question is barely a few months away from adulthood.
"Falcon and Miss Militia were finishing their patrols when Lung showed up and initiated a confrontation. Fighting ensued, until Challenger and the three E88 capes arrived and ganged up on Lung. Falcon actually ended up choking Lung out, with the help of Challenger and Militia, which is also why she's so badly injured, though that still leaves a couple of blocks on fire. Lung burnt the E88 capes as he was struggling for air, we're not sure about the other one."
The thought of a Ward not only fighting Lung but actually choking him out is both baffling and horrifying, so she chooses to put it on the back of her mind as it's something that, for all it's severity, isn't really urgent right now. "What happened to the capes Challenger was already engaged in, and does this mean we have Lung in custody?"
"Challenger was beating them back when Militia's call for assistance came in, and decided to let them retreat in order to provide aid. Most of the injured gangsters are from her fight, oh, and she also reports that a Red Heart cape showed up, we have him down as Leech, but did not engage. Lung is in custody, yes. There is little to report regarding the other confrontations."
Having Lung in custody seems like a boon at first, but she knows that it's only going to cause her even more headaches, and she already has enough on her plate with this hole mess.
Of course, that's when the phone on her desk rings, and a quick glance at the number has her cursing her luck, and genuinely considering letting it go to voicemail.
But now, she can't just ignore the Mayor, even if she knows exactly how pointless the conversation she's about to have is going to be.
"Get feet on the ground, even if you have to wake people up, to coordinate with police and fire brigade, then get into contact with whatever relevant insurances you have to and draw me up a report on how much damage has been caused this time, I'll get the Mayor to get some construction crews working on rebuilding."
Orders given, Renick gives one more crisp salute before leaving her office, whereupon she lets out a sigh and reaches for her phone, hoping that her patience can last through the coming conversation.
The last thing she needs is to snap at the Mayor.
Still though, what a shitshow.
///
A/N: He~llo! Dear readers!
Accidentally wrote a 2k chapter out of habit lol, would have normally ended at the cool one liner Mary gave, alas, I promised longer chaps so here we are.
Also, yeah, there was a reason no one showed up to intervene in the fight, there is a whole ass city full of scheming villains after all, and, more importantly, when reading my shit, you need to keep in mind that there is always more to whatever I write, gotta look underneath the underneath, as they say.
Seriously, I should write a spy novel at some point, because I love subtly adding stuff to my writing, but the problem is that sometimes I'm a bit too subtle lol, but for that I do hope that things will get revealed later and you'll be able to think back to earlier chapters and be like "wait, was that why this happened how it did?" Y'know what I mean? I love shit like that.
Also, in case it isn't clear, the PHQ is the protectorate HQ out in the bay, and the PRT ENE HQ is the Parahuman Response Team's HQ in the city proper.
(5)Advanced chapters on pat.reon, link in description and profile. Also, join the discord with this invite code! Pj3Dttwses