Monday— April 18th, 2011.
TIGHT SPOT.
12:18 PM.
How would an insect controller defeat a raging dragon over 40 feet tall, breathes fire, is covered with fire, literally undying, and is infused with Tinker tech that would amplify the dragon’s powers?
Plenty would argue the question wasn’t even worth entertaining, and the insect controller would lose one-sidedly. But this was Taylor we were talking about.
And if you were to ask Taylor how she would defeat the ‘Rage Dragon’, then here’s her answer for you—
“If my insects won’t be able to beat you, then that just means I don’t have enough,” Taylor rose to the air as she used her swarm of flying insects to carry her which would have been normally impossible.
Forcibly altering and boosting her insects at the cost of their life force, Taylor was able to give her swarm an extra oomph… Their buzzing was loud, and the mass of insects she had summoned were so many the sky had gone dark.
Lung was able to extract himself from the grappling hooks, allowing him easier flight, but he wasn’t able to get much space for himself as Taylor came launching torrents of insects in concentrated force.
“RAAAAGH~!”
It frustrated Lung, while angry, he was able to maintain a semblance of autonomy by redirecting his anger at Taylor. Most people would forget, but Lung was a powerful pyrokinetic. It didn’t mean he lacked control because he was a rage machine prone to emotional outbursts. It meant something more...
Within a few seconds, he conjured three-foot-wide fireballs and launched them at Taylor.
The Etomancer’s response to this was swift.
Taylor submerged herself in her insects, the cloud she stood upon scattering as she did so.
As the fireballs exploded, Lung was taken aback to witness not just one, but three Taylors flying amidst her insects. The looks of surprise could be seen from Lung’s body language.
Each Taylor moved with precision, weaving between the fireballs and coordinating their attacks with the swarm. This was a combination of the spider emblem’s hologram technology and the control of insects. Taylor had masterfully shaped three separate sub-swarms taking a humanoid shape in her image.
Meanwhile, the spider emblem in her chest outfitted the insect clones with a hologram skin. The spider emblem had a good hologram range of roughly 70 meters. The real Taylor was hiding beneath the swarm, and Lung’s target of aggression was nothing but clones.
Slowly, Lung was getting overwhelmed rather quickly.
Taylor wasn’t holding back as she sent her bugs at Lung’s every orifice even from the more sensitive parts like his anus and rectum. She went as far as having ants carried to her insects and injected into Lung. There were lots of insects that had the ability to deposit their larva under any creature’s skin, and injecting ants from their sacs was more than feasible. Though most of her insects were burning, Taylor didn’t plan on giving up anytime soon. She knew that if more got burned, she only needed to send more.
The clouds remained dark…
Taylor’s insects were numerous and acted in varying clusters... the land, the sky, and everywhere! Despite the raging inferno and Lung's immense power, Taylor persisted with vengeful fury. She had pushed her insect control to its limits, sacrificing their lives to bolster her swarm's strength.
With murderous thoughts leading her, Taylor slowly began strategizing where to put insects that were forcibly carrying Black Widow venom… a lethal enough weapon that could be proven even dangerous to the strongest capes.
Lung exploded in fury, while the micro-bombs in his blood went off and accelerated his healing and further transformation. From 40 feet, Lung was now 60 feet tall with large multiple wings and a more monstrous visage— he had been taller than the monstrous Leviathan, but now, Lung was twice the Endbringer’s height.
How was all of this possible?
For certain, Lung was pushing his abilities to the max… and he was ramping up on a scale never seen before. He was the Dragon of Kyushu, and he have found himself a worthy opponent… Insect or not, he had labeled the ‘Entomancer’ as a worthy adversity he had to overcome.
Unfortunately, Taylor didn’t see Lung that way… What she saw was a ‘Target’ of her revenge, something that needed to be put down not out of a desire to do good, but because Taylor wanted to feel good… or context-wise, to feel less shitty after what happened.
“This is for Dad,” Taylor revealed herself to Lung, as she configured the optimal paths for her ‘Killer Bees’ modified with Black Widow venom on their stingers and sacs.
Since when did she get the time to do this?
Taylor's willpower combined with her granular control of her minions had allowed her to make preparations despite the complications that tinkering with insects had brought her. It wasn't true tinkering as most of her insects were modified by relying on pure creativity brought by her budding madness over the idea of revenge.
Motivation could go a long way.
Lung swiped at Taylor but he had only hit a clone.
Taylor revealed herself a second time, a few meters away from where she stood.
With herself as a ‘distraction’, the ‘Killer Bees’ successfully made contact.
Lung conjured blazing spears and launched them at Taylor with incredible accuracy and speed. While at it, Lung launched his flamethrower from his maw.
But the Protectorate was prepared for this, Taylor seemingly cluing them on a plan beforehand.
Dauntless intercepted the fire breathe with his shield as he zoomed in the air from the cover of the swarm, a spherical shield surrounding him and Taylor in an instant.
The flame spears proceeded unimpeded, seemingly with penetrative force.
From afar, Triumph made his move using his powers to send a sound-based shockwave to scatter the blazing spears. After this, Taylor immediately retreated into the embrace of her insects bringing Dauntless with her. Taylor ensured that they were hidden. Better yet, Taylor sent more flying bugs in Lung’s line of sight.
According to the sub-AI’s calculation in her watch, there would be roughly 40 to 55 minutes before the spider venom kicked in… “To the Protectorate, we only need to hold up for an hour, before my venoms worked. For now, hold your ground and minimize Lung’s movements. We pin him down here, or send him to the ocean.”
Taylor purposefully left the fact that Lung might be killed by the amount of toxins that she was injecting at him. Heck, Taylor was being extra creative by having her insects ingest poisonous substances and inject them into Lung.
If she concentrated enough, she could share her insect’s senses. Taylor knew where everyone was, and how 'trapped' and 'desperate' Lung was becoming.
It felt good to be strong. In the beginning, she saw her power as weak, lame, and useless, but now that she was operating at what she believed to be her full capacity, she could not help but love her powers.
“You are going down today Lung,” Taylor promised to herself, “If not ‘down’ for good, then enough that you’d know to fear me!”
With little effort, she subdivided her attention and covered for the Protectorate hiding nearby. Everywhere she looked, there was only a dark haze evident to her swarm literally being everywhere.
From time to time, random sound blasts and lightning-like spear strikes would hit Lung. Every time Lung attempted to fly higher, grappling hooks would home on him and drag him down.
“ETA is 2 minutes tops. This is Peter, do you copy?” Peter’s voice suddenly called to the open comms.
Taylor was surprised unsure of how she should reply.
It was Armsmaster who replied, seemingly having integrated the Protectorate channels into theirs. “Copy that, this is Armsmaster. Status report: Entomancer is taking point, we are doing everything to stall him, and while we have forced Lung into a stalemate, I am afraid he could still ramp up for more.”
“We should be able to take him down if we can hold him for an hour long,” Taylor added, “My insect toxins are a perfect counter to his healing. I surmised his healing had something to do with his ‘Changer’ attributes. We inhibit his abilities to heal, and we could take him down.”
Peter arrived right at that moment: dark nanite-based armor with arachnid legs came crashing down at Lung. The arachnid legs were brutally slashing at Lung and perhaps forcibly injecting tranquilizer into the raging dragon. The Spider was anything, but inefficient. He proceeded to web up Lung and dragged him down. Peter had come prepared as he used fireproof webs this time.
More grappling hooks swerved from Lung’s blind spots, and each of them zeroed in on him with brutality.
Dauntless with Velocity was pulling one. Armsmaster with Assault and Battery was pulling another. Triumph with Miss Militia was pulling a third. And Peter was pulling by his lonesome, more webs being flung at Lung and forcibly killing his flames.
This was it.
Taylor grinned under her mask, and she struggled to show it in her body language despite the haze of insects covering her.
Within Taylor’s domain of insects, she felt the New Wave forming a perimeter around them… This was overkill, but anything to put down Lung was highly appreciated.
.
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.
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Monday— April 18th, 2011.
UNCOMFORTABLE.
12:58 PM.
Peter wouldn’t know about Endbringers, though it was public knowledge that Lung once stood against an Endringer one-on-one, he still remained ignorant of most things at large.
It wasn’t that Peter was looking down on Lung or the Endbringers, but this felt too easy which was making him feel uncomfortable. Lung was menacing, he was big, burning, and incredibly vicious.
Withdrawing his arachnid legs back on his suit, Peter opted for a more agile approach as he side-stepped and webbed to his left and right, launching into a zigzagging motion.
If not for Peter’s webs with oxygen-absorption qualities, the two-kilometer radius would have burned down before he arrived. The Protectorate and Taylor might be underestimating Lung, and Peter wouldn't take his chances.
The moment the Protectorate and Taylor had forced Lung almost at ground level, he began churning massive super-heated blood and chunks that would have caused the very air itself to burn. It was complicated, but Peter’s knowledge base and perspective on technology were rapidly advancing to the point it was making him uncomfortable. He couldn’t remember when it started, but he was getting to a level that would make even Mr. Stark proud.
That aside, Peter still felt it too easy… “There was something important on the rig… or something behind the scenes we have not foreseen,” Peter’s mind was working at great speeds in the background while considering the possibilities. The ABB was acting on information they had acquired via an anonymous source.
Considering Danny Hebert’s recent death, targeting Taylor, the possibility of Coil’s involvement could not be ignored. Even if Coil had escaped, his touch on this city remained.
Peter requested private communications with Armsmaster, while busily shooting more webs at Lung.
Armsmaster’s voice echoed from his helm’s speakers, “What is it, Spider?”
Spider? People were starting to call him by that ‘nickname’ more often which was understandable since ‘Iron Spider’ was too much of a mouthful, and it was the same for ‘Spider-man’, heck, his Hero-Colleagues never addressed him as ‘Spider-man’ back in his old Earth.
“I suggest you lock down the Rig, if you have a self-destruction protocol, then all the better.”
Armsmaster was calm despite the bluntness in Peter’s tone. He asked the obvious question, “Why?”
Peter explained his concern, citing the possibility of Coil's involvement and the need to secure the rig against any potential threats. “I know you have your own perspective on this, but I strongly believe Coil has a hand in this. The ABB is functioning on information beyond what they are capable of. If Bakuda gets a hand on your technology, that will enable her to create more dangerous bombs. Coil might not be directly involved, but the ‘information’ the current ABB is taking advantage of is dangerous. It is better that Bakuda get nothing out of this.”
"Understood, Iron Spider. I'll initiate the lockdown protocol immediately," Armsmaster replied over the comms. "Better safe than sorry. However, know that I wouldn’t risk ‘self-destructing’ the Rig."
Taylor’s swarm continued to run interference and as camouflage, though it was getting taxing for the others. Peter could see from the other capes that they were getting uncomfortable with not being able to see and hear clearly because of the dark cloud of bugs, but they were managing just fine with the occasional instructions from Taylor via the comms.
With a forceful jerk of motion from Lung, Armsmaster was dragged away. Armsmaster’s grip remained on the grappling hook, while Assault and Battery disengaged, the duo speedsters becoming a blur as they bounced on pseudo-insect platforms directed by Taylor.
Peter webbed up and kicked Lung right in his jaw.
Meanwhile, Battery shoulder-tackled Assault who then came crashing at Lung’s legs with a hyper-kinetic charge. Battery proceeded to mark Armsmaster, watching out for him.
When Armsmaster reached Lung, he transformed his grappling gun into a shield and came crashing with all of his momentum: gravity and weight superimposed on him. Armsmaster rolled in the ground, and mid-roll, Battery picked up Armsmaster and dragged him from Lung’s range.
Lung tried to take a swipe at Armsmaster but he missed by a mile, thanks to Peter's spider legs sprouting back again and rending Lung's side with impunity.
The rest of the Protectorate remained in their place and dragged Lung away from Armsmaster’s direction.
Peter webbed up more binding lines at Lung and connected the strings to hefty beams of steel or even the concrete ground just to keep him in place. “Hey, hey, the sun is getting really low, big guy,” he joked.
Lung only roared at Peter back with fiery spear projectiles and fire-breathe on his way, but Peter just jumped out of the way and sped up his web-shooting,
The 60-foot monstrosity should have been impossible to contain like this, but Peter was pulling the weight of everyone with everything he had. Gone was his usually joking tone, and there was only severe seriousness in his eyes. Taylor was doing great too in keeping everyone alive. The most problematic part of this fight was Lung’s heat was yet to reach its peak, this suggested he could ramp up more, and grow stronger.
Armsmaster was picking up metal debris and was doing something in his bike, seconds later, a grappling hook was mounted on his bike’s rear end.
Peter assisted the veteran Protectorate and blinded Lung with his webs, and then delivered a punch or two to attract the big guy’s attention… The bugs under Taylor’s control increased their ferocity too.
“Clear away, I need to aim properly,” called Armsmaster from the comms.
With Lung momentarily distracted, Armsmaster maneuvered his bike into position, aiming its modified grappling hook directly at Lung's chest. With precision honed through years of experience, he fired, the hook embedding itself deep into Lung's thick, scaly hide. As the grappling line tightened, Lung let out a deafening roar of rage, but it was too late. Armsmaster activated the winch on his bike, pulling with all his strength to drag Lung toward a nearby containment unit.
Meanwhile, Peter continued to web up Lung's legs, binding them tighter and tighter to restrict his movements. Taylor's swarm of insects buzzed around Lung's head, disorienting him further and preventing him from focusing on Armsmaster's actions. The combined efforts of the Protectorate and Taylor were paying off, inch by inch, they were gaining ground against the raging dragon.
From the sky, a bulk of metal came crashing down just adjacent to Armsmaster. The pieces of metal moved, and shortly after, creating a box-like shape… It was a containment mechanism designed to contain Lung.
Karen’s voice echoed in Peter’s ears, “It appears to possess similar designs to the containment unit set aside with the Veronica Project. The design of this particular construct appeared to be capable of even containing the Hulk.”
Armsmaster's bike strained under the weight of Lung's massive form, but the veteran hero pushed on. He rushed to the containment unit while mounted on his bike. A small door opened from the inside, allowing him an exit. With one final, decisive tug, he managed to haul Lung into the containment unit, sealing him inside just as the last rays of sunlight disappeared below the horizon.
Lung had become smaller for some time roughly around 40 feet tall.
Dauntless came crashing at Lung forcing him into the containment unit that only stood roughly over 30 feet tall. Peter helped by kicking the monstrous rage dragon in the gut and then pushing him with his arachnid legs.
Lung curled down as he was forced to the containment unit.
The rest of the Protectorate had let go of their grappling guns.
Triumph unleashed more sound-based shockwaves and helped on pushing Lung down on the box.
Taylor cleared away her insects, allowing Miss Militia to rain foam-based grenades she loaded on her grenade launcher. Miss Militia’s shots were accurate enough not to impede Dauntless and Peter.
With a final, resounding clang, the metal panels of the containment unit slammed shut, sealing Lung within its sturdy confines. The intricate locking mechanisms engaged with precision, ensuring that not even a shred of daylight could penetrate the chamber. As the last bolt slid into place, a soft hiss echoed through the air as the unit pressurized, forming an impenetrable barrier around the enraged dragon.
Armsmaster's bike whirred as he disengaged the winch, stepping back to survey their handiwork. The containment unit stood firm, its reinforced walls gleaming in the fading light of day. Around them, the rest of the Protectorate and Taylor's swarm of insects maintained their defensive positions, ready to respond to any further threats.
"Containment secured," Armsmaster announced over the comms, his voice tinged with satisfaction. "Lung is locked down tight. Good work, everyone."
However, Peter remained worried… This time for a different reason. In his holo-interface, he saw that Lung was losing his heartbeat, and was suffering from a weird cardiac arrest that would kill and revive him alternatively. Peter had sneakily injected a piece of his nanites to monitor Lung’s situation.
Lung’s nerve endings were damaged beyond measure. Lung was suffering from severe pain, stiffness, and muscle spasms throughout his body. This was the work of the Black Widow poison, Peter realized.
This would either leave Lung dead or at the very least crippled unless his healing factor could restart on time. The ‘micro-bombs’ in Lung’s veins only worsened his situation.
Peter looked at Taylor who was approaching him.
“We are done here, let’s go get Bakuda,” remarked Taylor.
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#Teamwork #Lung’s still a punching bag, just more durable #OP Taylor #Flying Taylor #Conspiracies #Lung not done yet
