Fallen Hero 1.5 Episode 2: Three's a Crowd
On hindsight you are starting to regret beating the Rangers so handily. In the last four months you have become the new target for most new
You use your rockets as a boost to jump up into a roof and run, trying to get a visual on both your crew and Argent. Yes, you find them in the street. A huge crowd has already formed around the battle but still keeps a distance. You wonder how long it will be before the media arrives; or the cops.
Both Zaza and Pelayo are shooting Argent from a distance, Ward seems to be stalking her, perhaps to ambush her, and Nehal is shooting her with her shotgun. It doesn’t take long before Argent closes the distance on your youngest underling and punches her away with little effort. Nehal crashes against the wall right under you and you decide to finally join in and jump down, no way they’ll make it against her without you.
“I’m not here for you idiots. Where’s your boss?” you hear Argent say in a commanding tone. Just then Nehal notices you besides her and smiles.
“Yeah, you were saying bitch? You are fucked,” Nehal yells at Argent, catching the ranger’s attention and in turn alerting her of your presence.
“Finally, I was getting tired of dealing with the small fry,” she says looking straight at you.
“Who are you calling small-“ Nehal begins but you cut her off.
“Get out of here. I’ll handle her,” you say in your most commanding tone.
“What? But boss-“ Nehal begins but once again you cut her off, this time with a wave of your hand.
“I gave you an order. Get out of here. She’s mine,” you finish, leaving no room for argument. Nehal grudgingly nods and joins the others to escape.
“You are hard person to find,” Argent says with a smirk.
“What can I say, I’ve been busy,” you respond in a tone that conveys your own smirk.
“Too busy for little old me?” she says as the claws on her left hand extend.
“I’m making time now, aren’t I,” you say. When did Argent decided to banter with her enemy? She normally just goes straight to the point.
“That you are,” she says and with that she leaps in, fast, too fast, but not faster than you. You sidestep the claw attack and shoot a punch of your own but she evades it with little effort and changes her attack into a kick, one that you dodge as well.
You both take a step back, stopping any momentum you might have had. That was just a test, an assessment. You were trying to feel one another; and neither of you left a clue or a hint of what you can do.
“This should be fun,” you say while taking a stance.
“You said it,” Argent responds as the claws on her right hand extend and she takes her own stance.
Argent jumps in while you remain stationary. She throws a right; you dodge and shoot a right of your own. She dodges it and spins on one leg, preparing to use her other in a kick. You duck under the incoming kick and shoot a fist upwards. She leaps over you and lands behind. You waste no time and leap forward, knowing that another claw attack was coming. Failing that attack off balances her. You turn and use your rockets to barrel forward while she still off balance. However she recovers faster than you expected and prepares to meet you head on but you drop a smoke bomb blinding you both. Despite the blindness you know where she is, and so you tilt and fly past her and land several meters away. She turns around to face you with a hungry smile adorning her face.
Both of you stare at each other, daring the other to make the first move. A battle of wills, the first one to attack will dictate the pace of the fight, but the second can counter and turn the fight on their favor. Neither of you make a move, like two statues you remain motionless, your eyes clashing with hers, following one another. You pass dozens of scenarios through your mind, the Rat King helping you to process the information faster, but none lend themselves to complete victory, merely a small advantage that may or may not mean much. You wonder if she is going through the same thing, trying to figure out how to beat you without giving you an inch, it is clear you both are ready for the other. You both twitch at the same time and freeze again. Her smile grows as she eyes you up like a snake, waiting for the right moment. You would lie if you said you weren’t smiling yourself. Your heart pumps faster and faster, sweat slips down your forehead, your body threatens to lunge forward without your command.
You remember this feeling, the feeling of being in a tight spot with an enemy who is also on the same position. If one moves without being prepared the other will gut them. You have been there plenty of times. Like playing a mental version of chess, you each make a mental move to try and defeat the other. You have always relied on having a plan, and a backup, you hate it when things don’t go according to plan, and most of the time it leaves you frustrated. But then comes the exceptions, those few times where the feeling of being in this type of danger invigorates you, where you can really put your mind to the test and find out if you are smart as you think you are. This moment fits that perfectly. You are both hunters and preys, waiting for the other to make the wrong move; your eyes solely focused on her, and her eyes solely focused on you.
And soon you pay the price of getting caught up in the moment as you feel a big fist hit you square on the stomach. You catch a look of surprise from Argent before crashing against a car. You shake your head trying to piece together what just happened. Someone punched you, obviously, but it wasn’t Argent, if she had made any move you would have seen it coming. No this was someone else. Your eyes settle on that someone, standing in front of you and blocking your view of Argent, a figure panting and dressed in a red and white skintight suit. Oh goodie, it’s the polymorph girl.
“Ouch,” you say with sarcasm, if only to not let her know that that actually caught you off guard.
“Didn’t think you would get away that easily, did ya,” she says with barely held back rage. Her suit is roughed up and dirty in some places, but overall she looks no worse for wear. Glad to know that dropping a two story building on her did absolutely nothing. You are going to have a conversation with Mortum later about how to deal with polymorphs.
The girl turns to look at Argent and say “Hey there. Hope you don’t mind me tagging in,” she turns back to you and finishes with “I have a personal stake with this asshole.” Argent is just giving her a look that can only be interpreted as ‘what the hell do you think you are doing.’
“You know they say two’s a company and three’s a crowd. So why don’t you just step aside and let us adults talk,” you tell her as you flex your arms.
She opens her mouth to say something but Argent cuts her off. “He’s right,” she says and walks past the girl. “This is a dance of two, not three. So get lost.” The girl stares at her for a second before speaking.
“He killed a hero, my boyfriend,” she yells at Argent.
Argent ignores her and continues walking towards you. “Hey, stop ignoring me,” the girl yells, reaching out to Argent. Argent turns on her heel and stares at the girl in the eye. You have been on the receiving end of that stare before so you know how intimidating it is.
“Get lost. This is the big leagues. Your boyfriend should have thought about that before he fought,” she tells the girl and turns back to you.
“Don’t be so harsh on the kid. I’m pretty sure you were a rookie once too,” you tell Argent.
“Oh, so you are saying you are not a rookie either?” she answers as if catching you in the act.
Damn it. You just gave her a clue to your identity.
“I’m not stopping,” you hear the third unlikely member of your trio. And before you can say a retort your face is covered in its entirety and your hands are tied. You then hit the ground face first. “You’ll pay for what you did to Shine,” she whispers in your ear before lifting you up and tossing you against several cars. Pretty sure you catch flashes of cameras in the process. Seems like the media is here, and you are not looking good.
You stand up and say “Listen, I’m sorry about your boyfriend ok? He ambushed and I sort of overreacted,” but you are forced to dodge to the side as another fist comes flying down your way. You begin tuning the small taser weapon you used earlier, pushing it to its limit. You are pretty sure the weapon won’t survive this but you are running out of options. The girl shoots another punch, her arm extending almost ten meters. But just as the fist gets ready to land you notice it stops. When you look closer you see a silver hand wrapped around the wrist. Argent. The silver ranger looks at you first, “Don’t think this is for you,” she says before turning towards the girl. With little effort Argent pulls the arm violently causing the girl to be pulled and basically fly right into Argent’s fist. The girl flies and crashes on the street several meters away.
“You know that’s not going to do much right,” you tell Argent standing side by side with her. Big mistake, she does not miss a beat and punches you in the face, sending you flying and crashing against some cars. You groan as you stand up. “Cheap shot,” you say.
“Not my fault you let your guard down,” she responds.
You look at her and chuckle. “Look who’s talking.”
Argent does not get a chance to retort as the girl covers her face and ties her arms, much in the same way she did to you. And just like you early, Argent gets to kiss the ground. But just as the girl reforms in front of Argent you sneak in and grab her by the back of her neck with your right hand, electrocuting her. Her screams are ear piercing and you quickly toss her aside. Your right glove sparkles, an indication that the weapon is not doing good. You bring up your HUD and analyze the weapon. Not going to last more than two more shocks. Better make them count. The girl stands up holding the back of her neck. You notice a slight burn. Argent stands up and stares at the girl. You get ready to get punched again but it seems the silver lady has decided that a temporary truce is better. Still it does not hurt to ask. “Are you going to punch me again?”
“You are not going to make me say it,” she responds.
“Can’t blame a girl for trying,” you answer with a chuckle. “Truce?”
“Truce,” she answers with a sigh. One small victory for you. Let see if the rest of the night goes as such.
The girl stares at both of you with rage. You almost feel pity for her, losing her boyfriend and coming to fight you only to end up having to fight Lady Argent and you. But alas she should have understood how this life goes. You know you do. She extends her arms and legs and darts forward. Argent takes point while you hang back, making sure the girl does not pull any surprises. Argent does much better than you did against the girl, evading all of her attacks like a ballerina, twisting and turning on her heels, feet light on the ground. Never once does the girl come close to tying her up. At the same time the girl tries some back attacks but you stop her before she does anything, punching and kicking away and if she gets you, Argent pulls you away before anything happens. It’s a familiar feeling, having someone watching your back like that. You wonder for a second if that’s why you have a crew, why you try to keep them safe so much. Why did that feeling had to go… You shake your head, this is no time for pondering, you have a polymorph to beat. And later a lady of steel.
The girl launches herself at you again and manages to tie you up. But just then Argent grabs her and soon all three of you are in a tug of war. In the struggle your right hand comes free and you use that chance to shock the girl once more. She screams as her body goes back to normal. You make sure to shock her again even if it means destroying the taser. You want to make sure she stays down.
After a couple of seconds, the girl falls on all fours, panting. She looks up to you and tries to rush you again but Argent knocks her out with one final blow.
Immediately you leap back, creating some distance with Argent. It seems she had the same idea and both of you stand meters apart.
“Heh, ready for round two?” you ask with little care. You are tired but you’ll be damned if you let Argent see that.
“You know I am,” she answers with a smirk on her face.
Without any more talk you both take a stance, Argent bringing out her claws once again. Funny, she retracted her claws and fought the girl without them. Was it because she thought she didn’t need them or because she didn’t want to?
Then you hear the sirens and see the lights. You both groan at the interruption. “Well, that’s my cue.”
“Oh no you don’t,” Argent begins but by the time she finishes you leap up, turn on your rockets and land on one of the rooftops.
You look down on Argent, frustration written all over her face. “I’m sorry we couldn’t finish it. But hey there’s always a new day. Sayonara,” with that you drop a smoke bomb and escape, ready to head to your hideout and rest. You have a long day tomorrow.
“Ma chérie, what did you do?” Mortum says while staring at the destroyed taser weapon. “Me nothing. My boss...” you drag out the s
