Chapter 9: Payback: Epilogue
"Wait, I'll go. You guys make a break for it." Buzz said in an uncharacteristically honorable fashion.
"I'm sorry, but why?" I said, wholly stunned in disbelief.
"Because even though you don't trust me, you're still people of your word. And something like that deserves my respect. Also, you make baller cookies. So yeah, run, honor my sacrifice blah-blah, you know the rest," the man said as his body dissolved into hundreds of insects.
Seconds later, we could see a frustrated Taurus as she started to fire shots all across the market. With each dissolved row of flies, my heart paced all the faster. And with a heavy pit in my heart, I was about to run until Fury decided to grab my arm.
"We have to help him, Gum," she said in a grave tone.
"I told you before we can't stop her Taurus, this is best we got, he made his cho-."
"Don't give me that crap, Gum! You've said before that Buzz is an ally, and I can't sit by and watch someone get hurt because of me! I just can't!" Fury said passionately as her grip grew tighter.
Even in the cloudy night sky, I could see Fury's mask almost break as her frame grew bulkier, her breath heavier, and her muscles bigger. But what was more striking was her terrified face that matched mine, making my composure shake all the more.
"I just can't-."
"Bullshit! In every mission, you've never thought we could fail, don't start now! We need you!"
Maybe it was clarity or repeated message once again, but at that moment, I had an epiphany: I still got stuck. I stuck to the exact ideal through madness or habit, the same vision that I could stand unopposed in this criminal underworld. The only difference now was that I had no background, no excuse to fall back on anymore, no turning back.
And if I'm going to pay the price of this ambition, then I have to do what I haven't done for two years now: get up close and personal. So my composure hardened to its former self as instead of running away, I finally started to stick to my guns.
"Your right Fury, I've never thought of failure, and I'm not going to stop now. So here's what we are going to do."
Out of all The Cons, I'd probably say my power was the best, even with a lifetime of wasting it. Still, that didn't make it any less of a hindrance. Down the Kayndee line, I got given the ability to activate inert chemicals in my sweat into an adhesive that looks similar to gum but a thousand times more potent from any point in my body.
Unfortunately, if I'm not careful, I can dehydrate, get hurt from the whiplash, or worse yet, get myself stuck on something. Meaning I had to make every shot count and think carefully. In one fluid set of motions, I tore off my coat and long pants to reveal my pink tank top and black shorts, tying the remains of said coat to cover only my forearms.
The chilly autumn wasn't doing me any favors, but I still charged in with one goal: destroying the enemy in front of me. So, with only a little warning, I fired two shots of adhesive from my fingertips directly into Taurus's eyes.
Taurus almost mindlessly yelled in rage as she tried to aim her pistols at me for my ruthless act. But by the time that happened, I was already moving forward, blocking each shot with my haphazard riot shield tied together from the destroyed debris.
Crafty creation meets hot plasma as the Rapids finally faced a shoutout for the ages. I made my advance forward through chipped-off stone and splintered wood, not stopping for anything. The closer I got, the harder each shot weighted on my cover. Which means I had to amp it up even more.
Using my free hand, I let my subsequent shot build up, bracing myself for the ride of a lifetime. I swear, like a backed-up firehouse, I could feel the fluid flow and bubble from my palm like a volcanic eruption. And once that build-up felt so bad my bones rattled, I let loose my self-made force of nature.
Like some demented football player, I crashed right into Taurus so hard that my cover completely shatters on contact. Whiplash hit me harder than a car crash as cuts and abrasions collected like a rain gauge.
The speed was so dizzyingly intense that the ground served as my only cushion as it started to rip into my arms. The shock almost made me want to fade away right there, too hurt even to process all my wounds. However, peaked adrenaline sends me right back into the fight as Taurus zooms into my field of vision with a punch with my name written on it.
Call it instinctive or quick thinking. I used what little sweat I had left to fire off another bone-shaking blast, this time from my left foot, and curved it just enough to have me back on my feet. I may not have a shoe, but Taurus now got caught in my self-made glue trap.
Taurus tried to escape my trap with all her might, but it remained an uphill battle once it started to harden. She might have gotten out of it, but unfortunately for her, she was in the slaughterhouse now. Then, in one fatal move, Fury struck Taurus coldly in the back of the head with a now broken cinder block.
The hit was so bad that even I grimaced somewhat, but I was through with hesitation. With what feeling I had left in my hands, I grabbed one of Taurus' laid-out pistols and made my way with her with more resolve than I've ever had.
"Next time you have beef with us, I suggest you "moo" ve out of the way."
After that, I unloaded the rest of the clip, an average person would've died immediately, but for a big girl like her, it should be like taking those old rubber bullets my grandfather used to talk about. Either way, we made sure to leave her with a crown of fruit, hoping that the noxious smell would throw off her own. I was almost about to leave for The Burrow until a voice came to play.
"Guess we have two different definitions of running away," Buzz said in a hurt tone while covering an open wound.
"Well, you know me, Buzz, I've always been stuck in my ways. So it's time to stop fighting that," I said with acceptance.
At that moment, Fury worriedly rushed to Buzz's side, inspecting his wounds like a mother-to-child. But, course, there was no need.
"I'll be fine, Fury. I might have to devour some more of your cookies and let the buggy's play with each other, but I should be fine. However, we should probably blow this place quickly. Enforcers from all over are about to get pissed that their business just got disrupted. So I suggest you keep yourselves on the down-low, and I'll give you the low down when necessary. Until then, Cons, it was a pleasure working with all of you," he said as he hobbled away.
"Do you think he's going to be alright, Gum?"
"Don't know, don't care, Buzz has survived worse. But, on the other hand, Us is a different story," I said gravely.
And with that in mind, the 2 of us started to make a b line towards The Burrow. All the while, one question reverberated from my mind. What if we are indeed stuck on this path? Does that mean that we have to pay a price that may get paid with our lives to move forward?
??? POV
I was not going to lie. Out of all my beatings, this would instantly be in the top 10. Covered in candy and rotten fruit is not how I wanted to spend my evening. But with the bliss of a concussion in my mind.
I realized that I had no reason to fear. Once I get a scent, I never forget, and when it comes to Damage, there is no failure. Those thieves tried to cross the devil, and he will know that he exists.
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