32 Leaving Skidmarks

POV Kieu :

She looked rough, but not enough to determine if anything 'horrific' had happened to her yet. Aside from the forced drug exposure she looked 'relatively' fine. She should honestly be thankful to the Merchants for their unusually gentle treatment of her.

I look her up and down, inwardly wondering if those things were natural... She looked nothing like what you'd expect of a stereotypical Tinker, with blonde hair, a pale(likely from drugs) yet nice face with plump lips and long eyelashes... Most noticeable to any warm-blooded male was her body, huge breasts that looked like they may have been sculpted by Panacea(if she ever tried her hands at cosmetic surgery), a fat ass(in a good way), and an hourglass figure.

Were she not covered in her own waste and dirt, dressed in stained panties, and exhausted from drug use, she'd been an extraordinarily attractive woman... My less-than-pure inspection of her aside, I still had a job to do.

"So, you want help or not?" I ask while slowly strolling from one side of the room to the other. I'd never honestly admit it, but being a cat was too comfortable to be 'comfortable'... I imagined that in a few years if I didn't temper my will I'd be reluctant to stay in my humanoid form outside of emergencies...

"Y-yes! Please! I don't even know how long they've kept me here..." She rubs her arm while digging nails into her skin, inadvertently leaving pale trails across her filthy flesh.

"Alright." I mutter, transforming into my base form and jabbing a thumb behind me. "Grab on, we'll leave through the roof."

"Y-you're a kid!?" she blurts in surprise.

"Yeah? This kid's gonna save you, so either hold on or get back to the baby rendition." I drawl, and my nose twitches as she gets closer... She needed a shower asap.

"Baby-rendition...?" she quietly mutters as she wraps her arms around my neck.

"Rolling around on the floor while babbling and defecating on yourself..." I retort before unleashing my claws and climbing up the wall with the woman as a rucksack. I have to peel back the roof a bit for us to fit, but soon we're stood atop one of the warehouses in the area. It'd be tough to get out given we were in the centre of Merchant turf, but I wasn't exactly expecting to go quiet.

We look over the edge of the roof and spot an alleyway on the opposite side of the street... Unfortunately, below us guarding the warehouse door were three Merchants. One was strung out nearby on a dirty couch, completely out of it on whatever he'd taken, while the others still seemed to be conscious.

"H-how are we going to get out!? We'll be spotted as soon as we get to the ground!" the woman fearfully exclaims. "Can you do that cat trick on both of us?"

I shake my head, "No, it's a 'me-only' type of deal. I do have a plan though." I state as I let myself fall off the side. She gasps but covers her mouth with her hands as I drop towards the two junkies, claws spread.

I fall right between them, and before I hit the ground I bury my fingers into the their necks, just below the backs of their skulls. A crack sounds out, along with a thud as they drop like puppets with the strings cut, which isn't a bad metaphor given I'd severed if not their brainstem then just below it.

That done, I walk up to the last living junkie and rake my claws across his neck, killing him. I look back up at the Tinker and see her retching while emptying the content of her stomach, huh, I'd have thought given the torture she'd been put through she'd be less sensitive about killing them...

Climbing back up, I gesture to my back as she wipes her mouth of vomit. "Let's go before someone notices the bodies."

"Y-you just killed them! A kid! I-I-It's sick!" her stifled voice shouts.

"They were going to rape you." I drawl as I slide down a pipe with her on my back, "Even if they didn't have that planned, they probably deserved it anyway."

"B-but you don't know that... A-and you shouldn't be judge, jury, and e-executioner!"

I sigh and rub my face, accidentally smearing it with blood, "How many times am I going to have this same damn conversation... Look, think what you want, but shut your mouth until after we're safe?"

I take her lack of response as her, if reluctant agreement.

We duck through an abandoned bus depot to avoid some junkies and passed a trashed liquor store when shouting could be heard. "Jigs up, they found the bodies." I whisper as the sound of multiple modified engines fills the background of the night.

She was still frail from her 'drug treatment' but I dragged her over to the waterfront, jumping down onto a dilapidated pier and towards the ship graveyard. But by the time we were halfway headlights appeared above us, and illuminated the bay as we hid under the ledge overlooking the wharf.

"Run, I'll hold 'em off." I urge. They only had a couple capes, and those they had weren't exactly powerhouses.

"But-"

"Shut the fuck up and go. I can handle myself, you'll only hold me back. Go. Now!"

...

"I'll remember this." she promises with moist eyes before fleeing towards the boat graveyard. As she leaves I leap up onto the upper ledge to prevent anyone following her, catching a stray Merchant grunt by punching my claws through his chest.

This, of course, directly in the headlights of five cars, and in front of every Merchant that'd come... I could barely make out their silhouettes due to the blinding lights, but it was more than twenty at the very least.

"Johnny! That fucking jap-cat killed 'em!"

"KILL 'EM BACK THEN!"

I leap to the side while using the corpse in my hands as a meat shield against the couple thugs who actually had guns. Bullets pinged around me but the only thing they hit were the spasming half-alive dude who hadn't registered his missing heart yet.

The body gets tossed as I reach a nearby building, hiding behind the corner and reaching for the gun at the back of my waistband.

The Merchants, perhaps thinking I'd fled, ran over to where I was hiding without much caution. A stupid idea as I proved by slashing the throat of the nearest man. He goes down with a gurgle but I continue, raising my own pistol and rapidly firing some shots at them.

Two hit non-lethal areas while the last of my barrage clips a driver who was hanging out of the window of his stationary car to shoot at me... He drops and ends up jamming the accelerator down. The car must've been an automatic as it immediately jolted forward and crashed into two Merchants, crushing them under its tires before crashing into the bay.

Half stunned by the chaotic events, the rest of the Merchants don't stand much of a chance. They weren't nearly as organised as the other gangs, and since most were half out of their minds on drugs, I was standing amidst a pile of corpses barely three minutes later...

I was half tempted to follow the Tinker to recruit her into my services, but I was sure the gains I'd make from killing the Merchant leader, Skidmark, would be worth more than a random Tinker.

It wasn't like I couldn't find her later anyway...

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

After interrogating one of the goons on Skidmark's whereabouts, I quickly made my way to the warehouse where his 'office' supposedly is. Scanning it, the entire place was boarded up like a zombie shelter, forcing me to go loud through a wall like the cool aid guy or quiet through the front door.

I picked the latter option, especially with how many Merchants had been mobilised after the recent massacre. I could handle twenty or thirty comfortably, fifty maybe I could handle if they weren't properly armed. But a hundred armed junkies with nothing to lose, who might have cape assistance? No chance.

I drop onto the guy guarding the front door, caving his skull in with my heels before ducking inside and finding myself in a hallway... At the of it, surprisingly, Skidmark stood.

If there were pictures in the dictionary, this guy would have his face above 'Junkie'. He was the absolute epitome of the word at every angle. The trash makeshift mask only covered the upper part of his face, leaving his mangled yellow teeth still in view. The bare blotchy arms filled with needle marks and other scars. The emaciated body that seemed to imply the guy had replaced food with whatever narcotics he enjoyed...

Even if he was a cape, I had nothing to fear from him. I'd done my research, and I was honestly surprised he was a leader of anything at all, especially an anarchic band of psychos who'd kill their closest friend for a bag of weed. Strength mattered, and this guy lacked it.

His power? According to PHO, witnesses, and PRT interviews, and what the ABB knew, the guy was able to create an area which would push things in certain directions. It was basically a speed boost pad from Mario cart. He'd been seen applying it to equipment and other things, but the strongest instance observed had been when he'd had it enhance a punch to around Brute 2. Enough to crack concrete but nothing I should be scared of.

Anywhere marked with his power gave off a weak blue glow, and judging by the more than intense glow in the area of the hallway directly in front of Skidmark, I imagined he'd placed them on both the floor, walls, and ceiling. Was this why he'd chosen a base with a long ass hallway as an entrance?

The crack-head gives me a cocky grin and tilts his head in my direction, "So you're the cunt-rocket who stole my bitch!? Didn't you know it's rude to touch another man's shit before he's fucking done with it!?"

"My bitch now," I shrug, "You know how it is, take your eyes off of them for a minute and they stray."

"Ha! Damn right! Shit, if you weren't one of 'dem AB-Bastards I might've liked you! You sure ya don't wanna swap sides and kick it to them squinty-eyed samuroids!? I can tell you right now we've got better cookies than whatever they're givin' you!"

"I wouldn't accept a boxed, unused pair of shoes from you, let alone food." I retort, "I'd have thought you'd have a hundred goons standing in between us... Where's this confidence coming from?"

"You'd like to find out wouldn't you, you bloody hemeroid... You don't talk like a kid, you know that? You sure you ain't just a midget?"

"I'm sure. Why?"

His grin gets wider, "Because I kinda feel bad about doing this." he moves his foot, dislodging something under some old newspapers. All I saw was the glint of metal when something blasted past like a bullet.

*CRAASH!*

My eyes flit behind me at the now-missing door, then at the building with had a huge crater in the side of it, the only evidence of what'd occurred being the half-shattered circular saw blade still stuck in the street's tarmac.

My body tilts sideways as I lose balance, unable to stand on my leg. Then, the pain started, as my leg from mid-calm down slides away and hits the floor, cut off cleanly from the rest of my body.

"W-What the fuck was that!?" I shout, clutching my injury and still in disbelief by what'd happened. I'd done my research! Skidmark shouldn't be able to produce projectiles faster than the speed of sound!

"Fucking tool! Did you think I'm dumb enough to face a shit-head like you without a backup plan!?"

Another cape? A mine? Timed ballistic?

"H-how?" I rasp, clutching my leg which was thankfully beginning to clot.

Skidmark picks up another rusty circular saw blade from the ground and holds his arms out, gesturing at the still-active glowing blue marks. "My power is shit! But no one's figured out that I can stack this shit to no end! I spent the last hour stacking these marks for your scrawny arse! I think I should be thanked for making this quick... Do it, say thanks!" he holds the saw blade near the mark, ready to try to take my head off with another supersonic projectile.

"O-only if I can have some last words..." I slowly respond, doing my best to ignore the pain and act the part of a scared child.

"Well, I'm a generous guy! Whaddya wanna say little man? Tell me where your mum lives and I might give her a tip... My tip, I mean." he chortles, snorting in an incredibly unattractive manner.

I nod, "Yeah... OMEGA BEAM!" I roar, holding my hand out at him and blasting as much magic as I could.

"HiiyaaAHH!" He gives a surprise scream and rears back, not expecting my sudden actions... Of course, he's surprised when all that comes out of my fingertips is blinding light, but before his vision returned I was already sprinting out of there in my cat form, still one leg down.