Snipped

*CRACK!*

"Ho-ly shit!" I mutter as goosebumps go up my arms and back. I could feel the shockwave from the punch Lung had just taken to his face, and I was sincerely surprised he hadn't been knocked out there and then. Any thoughts of trying to fight the guy myself evaporated when fire burst from his body as he grew an extra five feet in an instant. Fenja, who'd delivered the initial punch blinked wide-eyed at the continually growing foe, and had to be pushed out of the way by her sister to stop her from getting speared by a claw.

Kaiser was summoning hundreds of thin metal spears to kill Oni Lee, who kept teleporting around and creating clones to act as dangerous distractions. Othala was trying to fix up Crusader from whatever damage I'd done by killing his ghosts, but it appeared to be pointless.

My eyes search for the last Empire cape...

*Boom!*

Two of Sherrel's RC bombs suddenly detonate at Kaiser's feet, enveloping him in a cloud of smoke... Unfortunately, once it clears the man is standing firm with not a scratch on him. Must've been Othala's doing...

I shake my head from the skirmish, inwardly grimacing as I see an ABB gangster barely fifteen take a bullet to the face. My focus was better served searching for the wayward cape-Oh, there she is.

"What? Ready for round two?" I growl at Cricket as she slinks from the roof entrance. She looked different than before, healthier somehow... She didn't have the artificial larynx or the numerous body scars, she noticed my focus and snarled at me, though she didn't speak a word, electing to charge at me instead, dual kama twirling like a hurricane.

I keep myself well aware of Sherrel in the corner focussed on her cars as I intercept the woman. Ducking under the first kama while smacking the other out of the air with my sword, I run directly at her, not allowing her to make use of her unconventional weaponry. I remember well how our last encounter went, and without the environment giving me an advantage I may not have come off so well.

I was faster, more agile than her, so once I was inside her guard her weapons were an active detriment... Or so I thought. With a grumbled "Not this time." she throws her weapons at me, crossing the chains and causing them to get tangled up with my sword, which only became even worse as the kama themselves hooked themselves on nearby terrain, all but locking my weapon in place.

By the time I realised what her plan was she'd already planted her feet on my chest, causing me to stumble back. I release the blade and swipe a claw at her, but she swiftly drops and produces a dagger from her hip before proceeding to shank me in the gut like I'd stolen her cigarettes.

"Why always the gut!?" I grab her arm and face before she can add my eye to the three wounds she'd already made, my claws digging into her flesh. My scowl only gets worse however when she spits in my face with a bloodthirsty grin splitting her lips.

Bad move.

*Crunch!*

I force my left hand closed causing my claws to dig into her face and break through bone as I collapse her skull. She may have been fast, but she lacked any Brute capabilities, making her a glass canon in cape fights.

Her body instantly goes limp and I vengefully toss her corpse off of the building, towards the Empire side below. The two blokes the boy lands next to shit their pants when they see their cape hit the ground with a splat, the malformed head becoming flatter and sounding like an egg as it hits the concrete with a crack.

As if to add insult to injury one of Sherrel's RC bombs drives up to the bleeding corpse and detonates, sending bone, limbs, teeth, and other viscera raining down on the Empire... Kaiser about loses his mind when Cricket's burned mask slides to a stop at his feet... Oh, we locked eyes.

"BASTARD!" he roars, angrier than I've ever heard the man. He throws his arms up and I feel the building shudder as something shoots up from the ground floor.

"Time to skidaddle!" I shout to Sherrel, grabbing the Tinker who loses grip of her controller as I leap to the next building, the roof of which is around three floors down... This is gonna hurt.

I take a glance behind me, but not as bad as that... A massive steel spear punched right through the roof of the tower block, and like branches hundreds of smaller spears shoot from its base, annihilating everything on the roof.

*Crunch!*

I land feet first with legs locked to try and take some of the force from Sherrel. With her tucked to my chest, I hit the ground, both of us rolling as my shattered legs dangle behind me. SHIT THAT HURTS!

"Y-you alright...?" I ask with a shudder and breathe a sigh of relief as Sherrel slowly gets to her feet, staring back at the giant metal spear sticking out our previous location.

"W-we should have died...! How do you even fight something like that!? M-my bomb did nothing to him!" she exclaims, her rant trailing off when she turns and spots my utterly mangled legs.

"Uh, help me straighten these please? They'll heal faster that way." I say.

"R-right!"

"N-now on my mar-AARRGGGHHH-FUCKER!" I start jus as she tugs hard on one of my feet. "THEY AREN'T DISLOCATED FOR DEAR CUNTING GODS SAKE! OOOHH MAN ALIVE!"

"Sorry!"

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

Bodies from both sides were strewn across the street, ABB and Empire taking huge losses, not that anyone cared unless the life taken belonged to a cape. Kaiser's rampage after Cricket's death had wiped out much of the ABB's force, but it didn't mean anything in the long run, especially now that Lung had ramped up...

He'd grown larger than the nearby buildings, fires billowing from his body melting everything they touched, turning the road and other nearby structures to slag. Fenja and Menja couldn't even approach him without getting burned. Kaiser's earlier attack with his spears hadn't done anything but anger the ugly-ass dragon, despite spearing the monstrosity through the throat and heart.

"Time to go!" Kaiser shouts, taking one last glance at Cricket's mask and running to one of the nearby cars. Fenja and Menja nod at one another, both winding up and delivering a simultaneous punch which knocks Lung through a building, allowing the Empire enough time to retreat.

With no one else to fight the enraged Lung just continues to stomp around and destroy shit. Thankfully leaving the surviving ABB members and instead targeting the Empire properties.

The ABB had won, for now... If what Kaiser said about levelling their turf was true, they wouldn't have anything to return to.

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

With my legs finally healed I stumble to my feet with the aid of Sherrel, still wincing from the slight fractures in my bones.

*Pop!*

Oni Lee teleports nearby and gestures for us to head downstairs, presumably to head home judging by the lack of gunfire and Kaiju battles. "I'm guessing we won th-guhk!..." I start to speak but find myself unable to as a beam punches through my side, cauterizing a hole through my lungs and heart.

"Wha?" Sherrel blurts in surprise as I force her to the ground, which turned out to be good timing as three more shots go off in rapid succession, turning my torso into something resembling swiss cheese.

I blink a couple more times, but the only thing I can focus on before I lose consciousness is Sherrel's horrified face and Oni Lee's quickly disappearing figure as he rapidly teleports towards my attacker.

"D-damn..."

*Thud*

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

POV Coil :

"Target down! Repeat, Target is down!" the sniper hurriedly reports over the comms, allowing Coil a sigh of relief. Had the man missed this chance they'd likely not be able to do it so easily next time, especially given the cat's strange ability to fuck with his powers.

"Verify status! Is termination certain?" Coil calmly asks, wishing to double check due to how important this assignment is.

Tracking down the cause of his recent set backs hadn't been difficult. For someone clearly related to the ABB the number responsible was thankfully few. Combine that with the new cape on their roster and it didn't take a genius to connect the dots. The Merchant raid where he first noticed the phenomenon must've been the boy's trigger event.

An odd combination of powers... Usually these things followed a rule of sorts. Things were interconnected and had a sort of symbolism, abilities were rarely disconnected from the greater whole, even if some abnormalities like Eidolon did exist.

...

The sniper was taking an awfully long time to answer... "Verify status! Was the elimination successful!?"

"C-can't talk! Oni Lee i-in pursuit!"

Hm? He was discovered? That's a shame.

Without a hint of regret he taps a nearby button which detonates the small explosive hidden in the man's bullet proof vest. Insurance to makesure no knowledge got out. The yield wasn't overly strong, but constrained behind the ceramic plate the sniper's body turned to a sort of chunky soup.

"That's unfortunate, without verifying the target's death his family are only legible for the lowest tiers of worker compensation." he mutters uncaringly before activating his power, something he'd been previously loathed to do due to the risk of that Stranger's power acting up again. "Now, where was I before the cat got in th way?"

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

POV Nishihara :

"How on earth is this boy even still alive!?" Nishihara mutters to himself as he observes the many doctors operating on Kaibyō in the makeshift operating theatre that'd been set up prior to the recent raid.

"We knew he could heal quickly." Lung states with crossed arms, not looking even slightly haggard from the earlier battle.

What was more surprising for Nishihara to hear was the fact Kaiser planned to have the place destroyed... Strange given there hadn't be a single sighting of Purity, Victor, Rune, or any other Empire capes. Was the Nazi bluffing or did something more important require their attention?

"Healing fast is one thing, Lung, but surviving having his heart and lungs destroyed is certainly something else. Did..." Nishihara squints his eyes in though, "Do we still have the recordings of his earlier fights? I wish to check something."

"I do not know, that's your job." Lung grunts, "Gozen failed."

"That's only to be expected for her first and rather sudden introduction to battle. I heard Kaiser only survived from Othala's granted invincibility too, rather impressive some might think for her first outing."

"Inexperience is no excuse for failure. She should have known better."

"You aren't thinking of punishing her, I hope? Her attitude towards us is amiable currently. She came to us, and I see no need to poison our relationship to a new Tinker."

"Not this timer." Lung growls before tilting his head towards Nishihara, "You presume much, to question me. Remember your place." he states, allowing silence to sit a moment before continuing, "Who did this?" he nods at the doctors scrambling to save Kaibyō.

"Lee found a Tinker tech rifle next the shooter, who'd had the wisdom to kill himself before he was caught."

"Hm... Which Tinker?"

"We aren't sure but, it resembles something Pyrotechnical would have made... Which means either a new Tinker or-"

"Toy Box."

"Hm." Nishihara hums in response, "That fool group of Tinkers must've sold it to our shooter. For a disposal soldier to be using it however, I can only think of one name who would do this... Coil."

"Him? Was he not hiding away like a coward? Why now? And why us?"

"Not us. Just Kaibyō." Nishihara remarks in thought, "If he survives we'll have to inquire if he'd antagonized the man at all. Either way, I assume you won't be letting this go?"

"An attack on Kaibyō is an attack on us all. Find him, we'll flush the rat from his hole and crush him." Lung growls, taking one last look at the operating theatre before departing.