7.3

Lung didn't seem intimidated but it was clear that he realized something was wrong the moment that I turned green. Instead of continuing to torture me he began pulling on my arms apart, hoping to literally tear me limb from limb. It hurt of course but my breaker state as Armsmaster theorized ensured all the damage was spread out buying me a few precious seconds. I smiled and he redoubled his efforts believing me to be the threat, that the green glow around me was a lead up to an attack.

He was only partially correct.

With a crack he was sent head over heals with me still in his grasp as something slammed into him from behind. Putting away my sword and dagger I replaced them with white glowing lights. Focusing my power I was soon bathed in healing magic and life returned to me. However even as we tumbled away Lung managed to keep his grip on my arms.

Sliding to a stop he swung me shifting his grip in such a way that he was able to hold both of my arms with just one massive hand. Slamming me into a wall next to us he turned to face Glory Girl and Shadow Stalker. Where was everyone else? Were they hiding? Wait, wouldn't Shadow Stalker be better at stealth? Was Aegis and Kid Win still fighting Hook Wolf?

"Hey asshole!" Glory Girl shouted. "Let her go!"

Lung made an odd sound as smoke billowed from his mouth. It took me a moment to identify it. It was laughter, it seemed like he was almost amused? I pulled at my arms as much as I could but found no progress to be made, even when I was ignored his strength was still above mine. The strange jaw he had made it almost impossible to know what he was saying.

"IEIR REEIILL BRRRAARRK OOUUOOU!" He bellowed. He was obviously trying to communicate and if the tone was anything to go by it was most likely a threat.

I had to do something. Though I was out of health potions I still had the rest of my inventory to go through. I could pull out my sword again but with both of my arms being grabbed it would do little good. I had an anvil and I was positioned in such a way that I could drop it on his toe. No, too risky. This was a guy who could pick up a car without breaking a sweat. At most the anvil might annoy him which would lead to me being thrown into the wall again.

I did have a bunch of odd potions with multiple effects, most of which would poison me if I drank them. They were failed experiments that I happened to keep with me. It's not like I could sell them to the PRT really. I mean, who'd want to drink or buy poison that healed them at the same time? Might as well just have water.

"Come on lizard breath!" Shouted Glory Girl! "Too afraid to fight me fairly? Need a hostage huh?" Lung's grip on my arms tightened but my armor kept them from snapping.

Wait a second… my armor? What if I?

In moments I was free, running away from Lung.

He looked down to his hand in shock soon realizing that it was empty! I escaped by unequipping my gauntlets which gave me enough room to slip away. He lunged at me again, intent on revenge.

"RAAAAAR!" He screamed in frustration. All that time trying to kill me for nothing. Normally doubt would've flooded my mind by now. With a giant dragon man charging at me it would've been normal for fear to freeze my body. But with the aura of confidence I felt invincible and sure of everything!

"CHARGE!" Screamed Glory Girl as she slammed into Lung and despite his superior size he still bounced into a different direction. It was then that I saw Aegis fly around the corner holding something shiny. Despite his mangled body filled with blood and severed flesh it seemed he hadn't slowed down one bit.

"EAT THIS!" Aegis swung the golden object into Lung like a club. I noted that it had a containment foam grenade attached which promptly exploded on impact. As he was ready for it, Aegis was able to fly away before being caught in the mixture.

"RaaaarrRR?" He roared in equal amount of rage and confusion as if wondering where all these damn kids kept coming from. Erupting into flames his claws seemed to extend. Lung began to tear away at the foam as it expanded. Then the gold object, a familiar piece of Tinker Tech began to spark and beep. It was the remains of Kid Win's Hover board!

Time seemed to slow down as all the debris began to float around him ominously. Before we knew it Lung was in the air, high above us as a single dot. He didn't seem to go far enough to disappear from sight but he was still far enough that he wouldn't be a threat for awhile.

Kid Win turned up jogging with a smile to admire his handiwork. "Told you the gravity emitter would take you into the atmosphere."

"It's not quite space…" I mentioned.

"Well, technically he's still in the atmosphere." He replied quickly enough. "I'd say stratosphere at least." I nodded dumbly unsure what to say.

"Hey Vim!" Glory Girl hovered over to me. "You okay? Holy crap, I can't believed you lasted so long against Lung! When Gallant said you were a Brute I didn't think you'd be like Alexandria levels of invincible!"

"To be fair I'm not as strong." I told her. "Besides I was cheating." I refered to my potions.

"Focus everyone." Aegis interrupted us. "That was good work but we need to rendezvous with the rest of the Wards and Heroes before Lung escapes, he'll tear through the foam eventually and the damaged hoverboard will run out of juice soon."

"That's right." Added Kid Win. "I had to jury rig the grenade as a trigger for the anti gravity to work that way, I'm surprised it worked at all to be honest!"

"Right let's go!" Glory Girl announced as she grabbed me. Aegis despite his injuries was able to do the same with Kid Win while Shadow Stalker was content to perform some more shadow based parkour. It was at this stage that I noted that the sounds of fighting had stopped. It may have stopped earlier but with my fight or cookout with Lung, it was difficult to perceive anything else.

Eventually we reached the building where we left everyone else. Vista stood next to Dean. Clockblocker and Browbeat were at the edges of the building, watching the streets below. However I noted that someone was missing.

"Uhh… where's the giant Nazi prisoner?" I asked noting that she was replaced by a crater in the roof.

It was Clockblocker who answered. "Well, you know how we had containment foam around her hands like a pair of cuffs and how it was sticking to the roof? I nodded. "Well her legs worked fine so she just…. Got up and uhh… left."

"Wait, what about the containment foam?" I asked. "That didn't stop her?"

"Oh that stayed on her… it also stayed on the roof…. Well part of the roof which she kinda took with her…." Oh… that made sense I supposed. If you handcuff a criminal to a branch of a tree, well they wouldn't need to break the handcuffs, they could just break the branch and run off with it. "We thought she was gonna stay quiet but as soon as Dean got back…."

"Sorry everyone…" Dean apologized sheepishly. "I didn't mean to distract you all and give her the opening."

"Don't blame yourself Dean." Spoke Aegis. "Maybe I shouldn't have flown you in midair like that, besides." He sighed. "I should've known that would've happened and ordered Kid Win to secure her more."

"To be fair boss." Kid Win piped up. "I just used the last of the grenades on Lung, there's only so many of them I could scrounge up, the armory was pretty barren by the time I got there, I didn't really have a chance to look for more." Which made sense since the PRT troopers were supposed to be out in force.

"Well, everyone's safe right?" Asked Vista and I noted that she practically was hovering over Dean, studying every bruise and scratch he had on him. She pretended that she wasn't doing it and Dean gracefully pretended that she wasn't either.

Her face grimaced every time she looked at his stomach. While the wound was already gone due to my healing there was still evidence of his impalement. His pristine blue shirt was red with blood and grey from dirt.

Still, he was alive. We had accomplished everything we had sought to do today.

"Ahhh crap!" Clockblocker shouted. We all glanced over to him and noted what he was staring at. It was Lung again. I'm not sure what I expected but it wasn't Lung flapping his wings and flying towards us. Honestly I thought his powers would've worn off by now. He was supposed to only get stronger when he was in conflict and as far as I could tell we put him in time out! So why did he still have his wings? While he was no longer a dot, he was still quite far away. Hopefully enough time for us to prepare.

"Shit! Fucking! Shit! Crap! FUCK!" Shadow Stalker swore readying her crossbow. "Hey Vim!" She called out to me. "Have any bolts I can borrow? My tranqs won't slow him down once he gets this big!" It struck me that this was the first time that she had spoken to me without sputtering. Perhaps when faced with an objective to focus on she was able to move past the social awkwardness of having a crush on me?

"No bolts sorry." I told her. "Only arrows, will they work?" I referred to the dozens of steel and iron arrows I had created alongside my brand new Steel sword.

"Fuck!" She swore. "Probably not, they're balanced too differently, probably differently sized, wouldn't work well." She told me.

"I wonder if I can match him…" Browbeat mentioned. I glanced over to him and noted that he had bulked out. Not enough to rival Lung but enough that he might've made Lung work for his victory. "I don't think I've ever fought anyone as strong as him before." If anything the guy seemed eager.

Lung's wing beats were now audible, a soft but clear 'whumpf whumpf whumpf' in the distance.

"RAAAGHRRR!" His voice echoed around us.

"Let's get outta here." Vista called and with a gesture Lung became smaller, back to being a mere dot in the sky, even smaller than before.

"Vista's right!" Aegis called out. "Fighting him won't accomplish anything, let's move!"

We all got off the roof at that point. Aegis made sure to keep hold of Vista to keep her in view of Lung. Whatever strength Lung had gained from his powers hadn't translated too well into sheer speed luckily for us.

Vista continued to use her powers. Holes in walls were stretched becoming doors. Long alleyways were traversed in a single step. Rocky ruins that had been destroyed by bombs became tiny hazards that we could step or hop over.

Leaping through one last tiny hole in a wall it wasn't until we came across a completely undamaged building did the fact that we were safe sink in. We glanced at the sky and noted that Lung was no longer there. Had he gotten bored and left?

"We did it!" I shouted. "WE DID IT!"

"I can't believe it!" Aegis seemed to droop. His earlier authority seemed to just vanish as he slumped over from relief. Now he just looked like a kid, a teenager, he looked like us. "We took on Hookwolf, Lung and got away with it! We even saved Dean and noone was hurt!"

"Well…." Kid Win began. "I'll need to build a new board and repair my armor…" He rubbed his backside. "I don't think anything else is broke but I'm gonna be sore tomorrow." He seemed to wince in pain. "Hey Vim, any potions for me?"

"Sorry." I told him. "Already used them all." I raised my hands in apology.

"Hey hey!" Glory Girl laughed. "If it meant that Dean didn't die then it's worth it!" She shouted as she hugged her boyfriend. I was going to point out that the potions I referred to were ones I drank but decided that she and Dean deserved their happiness. Then they kissed forcing me to wonder if I should interrupt their little public display of affection.

It was then that I realized that we were surrounded by people with cameras and phones, taking pictures of us.

"Uhh…" I began. "Shouldn't you all be somewhere else? There's a big Cape fight just a block away."

"What Cape fight?" A random civilian asked. "Armsmaster and all the other Heroes already captured everyone." He stated a matter of factly.

Yeesh, how did we miss so many people? Hell there were even few cops among the crowd. They were probably here to keep the civilians away from the fight then to go in and arrest anyone honestly.

"Also, is it true that you fought Hookwolf and Lung?" Another person, a young girl asked, no doubt overhearing what the other Wards had mentioned just before.

"Uhh, not really?" I told them. "I never really fought Hookwolf, that was mostly them." I pointed at the other Wards and Glory Girl. "I just stalled Lung really." I told them.

"Vim was freaking amazing!" Glory Girl announced. "Just, jumped into the air screaming bloody murder outta nowhere!" Wait I what? "Then she lands on him with her sword and she's like RAAAR!" That's not how I remembered it at all. "I would've joined in and helped earlier but I had to make sure that Dean was safe from Hookwolf."

The crowd was eating it up as she continued to boast about me. Maybe Ash was right about Glory Girl, she did seem to like being the centre of attention.

"Then Lung tries to burn her alive and she's like NOPE I'm fucking fire proof!" I glanced down at my armor and noted that while I was slightly scorched the damaged was ultimately cosmetic. Even the tabard I wore was mostly fine. A bit more rigid then I remembered it but the color remained a brilliant red.

"Uhh hang on everyone." Kid Win shouted out as he placed his hand against his helmet. The universal sign that someone was talking into his ear. "Uhh, we've got to leave to see the rest of the PRT now…. Strictly Hero business… though uhh, Armsmaster does want to question you Mr Glory Girl's boyfriend?"

"It's Dean." It was impressive how well they acted out their ignorance. "I guess I better answer his questions… uhh thanks for saving me by the way…. I wouldn't be able to get some autographs while I'm here would I?" He asked to the benefit of all the civilians around. We managed to make our way through the crowds easily enough after that.

Eventually we found the rest of the Heroes and a small army of PRT troopers. Armsmaster turned to us with a huge smile on his face.

"And here's the girl of the hour now!" He announced facing me. I froze, wondering what the hell he was talking about. Miss Militia, disheveled as she was seemed very please by my presence as well. Assault almost bowled over several other troopers to come see me. The fact that no one had shot him any dirty looks made me wonder if this was a common occurrence.

"VIM!" Assault shouted. "You are a miracle worker!"

"Uhh thanks?" I still had no idea what they were talking about.

"You got Armsy to smile!" He announced waving his arms in his boss's direction. Miss Militia made a point of it to look away. While amused it was clear that she was trying to stay professional.

Armsmaster ignored him in favor of approaching us. "You seriously don't know?" He asked. I shook my head. "The incident occurred ten minutes ago while we were helping civilians in the area to evacuate, setting up strategic choke points to ensure their safety." That made sense and lined up with what I knew. "Up until recently we only had caught sight of a few mundane gang members of whom we arrested. Then out of nowhere Storm Tiger, Krieg, Othala, Rune, Crusador and Alabaster ran into our lines."

I noted that only Armsmaster, Miss Militia and Assault were here. The other Heroes must've been setup at other choke points leaving them heavily outnumbered. So why was he smiling? Did the Troopers even up the odds or something?

"Containment foam grenades and sprayers were deployed of course and I moved to intercept…. The odd thing being was that they didn't use their powers to stop the foam or deflect the grenades." He shrugged. "They tried to avoid them of course but they all got caught in the end." It was then that I noted the yellowish blob behind him with an errant foot sticking out of it. "When questioned it was revealed that they all heard someone matching your description shout stop at them." He paused, letting the information set in.

I did what now?

"While we won't tell the public about the nature of your Master power, I see no harm in informing them of your part in this achievement." His smile grew wider. "Your official media debut will be interesting." Oh? Oh, oh.....OH!

With everything going on I had completely forgotten about it.

"YEAAH!" I shouted. Then something beeped.

"Hang on." Armsmaster told me. He glanced to the side and nodded. "Hmm, it seems that the serum ingredients have arrived at the Rig. Since the situation with the Empire 88 and ABB have been handled with the former being scattered or captured and the later retreating, the Wards no longer have to remain at the Rig… unless you-"

"YES!" I couldn't shouted quick enough. "I mean NO! TAKE ME TO THE RIG! I NEED MORE POTIONS!" I told him. I calmed down, composing myself "How much of those ingredients did you get me?"

He seemed somewhat taken aback by my reaction. "Uhh, several tonnes?" It was like Christmas!