11 Cape Fight!

I suppose I'll be getting that cape fight sooner than expected then.

Standing before me is a giant thing that only loosely resembles a man.

It's standing at about 15 foot tall and it's body appears to be made out of rock, like a giant golem.

His sheer size makes me wonder how in the hell I didn't notice him, but a quick look up shows that he was hiding in the rafters and I didn't see him because of the sawtooth design of the roof.

Well, that sucks, and unless he just likes to hang out in rafters, that can only mean that I was expected.

Looks like I will have to be having some words with Hailey.

Ah well, and here I was complaining about tonight not being fun.

At least it's only Clay, his power being that he can absorb rocks and dirt to form a golem like shell around himself.

Sure he is kind of a heavy hitter in the Red Branch, but he is nothing like their powerhouses who I have no doubt would kick my ass.

In other words, I think I can take him.

Rolling backwards, I spring to my feet in what I wanted to be a smooth move but ended up kind of forced.

Guess I'll work on it.

"Hey there Clay man! I don't suppose we can talk things out like civilised folk?" I greet, not even slightly interested in talking things out.

Clay ignores my question and takes a meaningful step forward, his leg brushing a crate and destroying it, showing the inside to be empty.

Ah. I guess they already moved everything out, all in a day.

You gotta admire the efficiency if nothing else.

"Well, if we've got to fight, it's only right that we introduce ourselves properly first," I say before taking a theatrical bow, one of my arms swinging wide as I tilt my head to keep eye contact, which hurts with his height, "you may call me Tear, a pleasure.~"

Clay stops for a moment, only a few feet away from me, seeming to be considering his words before he nods his head once and speaks with a deep rumble.

"You talk too much."

I don't make the same mistake of inattentiveness this time and am thus able to jump to the side to dodge the sudden palm strike he sends my way.

His hand hits the ground with such force that it sends cracks spreading around it and I use the moment to rush forward, under the arm, to throw a punch at his stomach with everything I have.

𝘛𝘩𝘶𝘥. 𝘚𝘯𝘢𝘱.

"OWWWIE!!" I scream as my whole arm just snaps like a twig while Clay only stumbles back a single step.

Hopping back while cradling my arm as it slowly and 𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘺 knits itself back together.

Holy fuck that hurts.

I'm so distracted by my still broken arm that I don't even notice Clay swinging for me until my breath is forced out of my lungs and I feel my back smash into and 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 the warehouse wall, into the dark streets outside.

I spend a moment just lying there, my brain empty.

I think I have a concussion.

The night sky is so pretty.

𝘛𝘩𝘶𝘥.

Oh yeah, that guy.

Damn, this isn't going how I thought it would at all.

At least by the time Clay is looming over me menacingly my body has finished healing, my concussion going away and lucid thought coming back.

I was kind of hoping he would say a one liner I could work off of, but instead he simply raises his massive foot over my head, well, my whole body really, and prepares to flatten me like a grape.

Well, fuck you Clay.

As his foot comes crashing down, I roll to the side, barely avoiding the unfortunate fate of a Goomba and scrambling to my feet, once again hopping backwards to get some space.

Ok.

I'm getting my ass kicked, so I don't think there's much point in hiding my abilities here.

With that in mind, I relent to the constant itch in my lower back and with a feeling like stretching a muscle that hasn't been used in weeks, I feel my flesh bubble.

Ripping through my already ruined shirt, a pair of long ribbon like tentacles stretch out behind me, both longer than I am tall by at least three times.

They are probably about as wide as my thigh and an eighth as thick, if I had to describe how they looked, I'd say they looked like liquid blood pretending to be muscle, but with a slight purplish tint to it.

Honestly, I find them beautiful to look at, and I make them sway hypnotically behind me as I face down Clay, standing tall and proud, even with my ruined clothes.

At least my mask is fine.

With my ribbons finally free, I feel like a weight has been lifted off of my shoulders, every movement coming more naturally to me.

I guess I shouldn't keep them cooped up, not that I even have a reason to anymore.

"Well then big guy~ ready for round two?~" I taunt as my ribbons snap into place, facing him like a pair of vipers ready to strike.

With a grunt, Clay rushes forward once more, throwing a simple punch, intending to crush me once again.

But things are not so simple this time.

Being stupid and wanting to test my ribbons, instead of dodging like I should, I instead launch both of my ribbons to meet his fist.

Unfortunately, I have to abandon my test midway through as my ribbons simply bend and give way under his fist and I hardly move enough to avoid the giant boulder of a fist.

Whatever, enough tests, I'm not strong enough to mess around yet.

I should really start exercising.

Jumping to the side, my ribbons follow after me and this time I'm the one rushing forward.

I take a step to the side to avoid another simple punch and this time, instead of breaking my arm on his chest, I crouch down before him and dig my hands into the ground for leverage.

Then I launch my ribbons like spears straight into his chest and with a grating sound, rock parts and my ribbons find themselves sticking clear through his body.

The fight pauses and I sigh in relief, making the mistake of celebrating too early.

I am rewarded for my fault by receiving a devastating kick that must have broken at least half of my ribs.

Motherfucker that hurts!

Looking up from where I land, I see Clay stalking towards me, none the worse for ware, the hole in his chest closing rapidly until he looks completely unharmed.

Now that's just demoralising.

Scrambling to my feet, I start a game of cat and mouse, getting grazed a few times where the pain in my chest distracts my movements.

Think Lusia, think!

He is clearly somewhere inside of the golem thing, I just need to find out where.

Then, like a lightbulb going off, I remember that I'm an idiot.

There is something else I noticed about my powers that for some reason I didn't really think much of.

God I am stupid sometimes.

See, when I look at people, I tend to get an idea of where to hit them, like... a biological diagram, but not as a visual, it's more of an instinct if anything.

When I look at this thing, now much larger from adding the dirt and rocks disturbed from our fight to itself, it becomes a lot clearer.

I felt its biology, and it only had one part which mattered.

The heart.

Clay, I figure, tucked away in the thick left leg of his construct.

Well, not I know where to hit, it's only a matter of hitting it.

With that in mind I stop my frantic running, and after dodging his next swing, I send one of my ribbons forward to wrap around his arm like a snake and I 𝘱𝘶𝘭𝘭.

Thanks to using his own momentum, he comes stumbling forward even as I step past my own ribbon that keeps pulling him from behind me, meanwhile I poise my second ribbon, and like a cobra it strikes forward in a blur of movement, piercing through rock and flesh with ease.

The fight pauses for a second time, only this time it is followed by a mans scream.

Clay's construct starts falling apart with his focus otherwise occupied, and I walk over to where he is lying, impaled on the ground through his chest.

I consider giving him some parting words, some cool one-liner or something.

𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘴𝘰 𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬 𝘩𝘪𝘮.

My second tentacle snaps out like a whip and Clay is no more.

I let out a long breath as the rush of combat fades into the dull throbbing of healing wounds.

Ow.

It's then that I notice.

I'm hungry.

Like, 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 hungry.

I definitely wasn't this hungry earlier.

I guess my regeneration is more draining than I thought then.

My eyes find Clay's downed body and his scent reaches my nose.

It's not the best, but I'm hungry so it will have to do.

Reaching down I grab his body and head and look for an out of the way alleyway.

Ten minutes later and I am on my way back to the flat.

I ignore the sirens sounding out behind me as I find my cape bag that I have decided to just stash under a ventilation box on top of a building and I quickly get changed, the cold air not really bothering me as I do so.

All told, I am back in bed in just over two hours.

It really felt like longer.

As I go to sleep, I resolve myself to start exercising.

Just because my power gives me a brute rating doesn't mean I can't work to make that rating higher.

---

"-and in todays news, in the early hours of this very morning, the police responded to a call for gunshots, only to arrive to a scene from a movie, the following video contains sensitive images, if you have any children watching I advise they look away."

As the news caster finishes speaking, the screen cuts to show the remains of my fight with Clay, as well as the alleyway where I *ahem*, had a little snack.

They then go on to explain who the blood pool is expected to belong to and how he was 'defeated' by a suspected new vigilante.

"Laaame, it's not even gory, what's the point in the warning? It's just a big ol' pool of blood, hell, it looks more like someone dropped a paint can or ten."

James' lackadaisical voice gets a snort out of me while Theo clips him over the head.

"Have some respect will you? Someone died today." He chides James, but that only seems to annoy him.

"So what? It was a criminal anyway, a gangster, a '𝘷𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘯'. Who cares if they die? Good riddance I say." The vitriol in James voice takes me by surprise.

I didn't expect him to have such a grudge against villains, must be a story there.

Theo shakes his head, clearly not wanting to rehash an old argument.

"Still, we now have a violent vigilante running around the city, and you know what happens with those types, we don't need another Gavel running around."

"Pah," James waves his hands, as if trying to disperse Theo's worry, "everyone learned their lesson with Gavel, if the newbie starts killing innocents then they will get birdcaged all the same, so I say let 'em at it 'till there aren't any villains left in the city, then just give them a nice pay check and ask them to move to the next city."

"If you ever got a job as director you would be fired within a week." Comes Theo's dry response.

Meanwhile, I just silently snicker to myself as I focus on my Solitaire.

If that's what you want James, then I guess I will have to deliver.

It would certainly be an achievement to have to my name, making a city truly free of villains.

Even Eidolons city still has villains in it after all.

-----------------------------

A/N: He~llo! Dear readers!

ooga bunga

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