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B1-39: PLAYTIME

  Their backup started to pour out from the nearby buildings, armed henchmen accompanied by sentient toys. But the firing of bullets had slowed, and even Polymeniac’s playing had quieted down. Plaything continued to blather on, however.

  “You have fallen into our trap!” He raised his free hand into the air and clenched it into a fist. “Now don’t waste any time begging for mercy, because me and my toys plan to enjoy [Playtime] without any breaks!” He pointed at us.

  That was the problem with Supervillains like Plaything. Whenever they had the upper hand, they did nothing but talk about just how much they have the upper hand. Of course, even if this was part of some new ability, he still left himself wide open.

  I aimed my hand towards Tóxica and activated [Borrow]. I had a two-in-five chance to get a power that would be useful, but more importantly, I had a great idea for if I grabbed the one I had in mind.

  [Brute Force][Borrowed]: Your physical strength is doubled.

  

  

  Reload moved towards me, pulling out the hunk of metal from behind his back. It was just dark enough that the henchmen couldn’t see what we were doing, and their aim was bad enough that I’d take my chances with having this thing out. But, even with [Brute Force], this bomb was still damn heavy.

  My muscles strained as I shifted it from two hands to one, fighting against the weight of the metal. When Plaything once again exposed his hand during his, somehow verging on sexual, speech, I took the opportunity to use [Give].

  You could hear his speech falter as he noticed the hunk of metal flying through the air, aimed directly at him. Plaything tried to move back, his movements staggered and panicked. But it was too late to escape, as the bomb found its way into his hand.

  The Building Breaker landed in his free hand, and for a second, Plaything barely managed to hold onto it. Every henchman froze up, confused as they stared at him. But, after a second, Plaything’s grip faltered, and the bomb fell to the ground.

  The explosion shook through the building down to the ground, and the burst of noise seemed to reverberate through the speakers. But, when I was blinded by the light from each direction, I realized that wasn’t the case. Every single one of his toys surrounding us exploded, bursting into brilliant streaks of flame.

  It was overwhelming, chaos instantly spread throughout the street. The nearby buildings had entire walls shatter, sending chunks of brick and rebar flying through the air. Any henchmen standing near a toy joined them in their violent fate, sending chunks of human remains flying through the battlefield.

  To be honest with you, I had no clue that any of this would happen. Once the violent shockwaves let up, I looked up to the rooftop where they were, seeing a sight that left me in utter disbelief. There stood Plaything, clinging onto the remains of the roof, completely unharmed by the explosion. If it wasn’t for the fact that his outfit was unfortunately destroyed in the explosion, there would’ve been no proof that we even hit him.

  But I could deal with his miraculous survival later. With the surrounding henches thrown off, through a mixture of brutal injuries and death, I ran towards the building where Polymeniac and Plaything were performing from.

  Tóxica and Reload followed after me, Reload was firing at the dazed henchmen, gunning them down before they had a chance to fight back, while Tóxica grabbed a henchman that was in her path, smashing his skull against the ground.

  By the time we reached the main entrance of the building, most of the henchmen had recovered from the shock of the attack. Those that didn’t run away were now firing at us, bullets flying wildly through the air.

  I decided to make the most of [Brute Force] while I still had it. With one swift kick, my foot kicked open the door leading into the building. Once all three of us entered, we shut it behind us.

  I could hear and see the henchmen still firing, bullet holes turning into massive craters on the door’s surface. They’d break in soon, so we needed to take advantage of the time we had. Tóxica grabbed a nearby sofa and threw it against the door.

  “We’re going straight for Polymeniac and Plaything,” I called out to them. “They should be trapped in the building with us. Tóxica runs point, we’re going in loud and violent. Reload, watch the rear, shoot freely.”

  The two of them moved straight into action. The building seemed to be some sort of office, the first floor being a reception desk. The bulletproof glass windows let me see the swarm of henches outside, the ones that would slaughter us the second they caught us.

  This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  Tóxica wielded a pump-action shotgun in one hand, using her free arm to smash open the locked door to the stairwell. Inside was an absolute bloodbath, remains of henchmen and toys splattered on the walls. But it wasn’t abandoned.

  As we climbed the stars, gunfire started to rain down from the upper floors. I shoved myself against the wall, narrowly avoiding half a dozen shots that were aimed right at my head. Reload tried to shoot back, but he couldn’t land any decent shots at this angle.

  Tóxica just charged forward, not letting something like bullets stop her. We were able to reach the second floor before we ran into our first enemy super. She had flowing locks of brown hair, which danced around her body. Behind her were a handful of henchmen, seeming far too smug for the situation they were in.

  Follicruel was able to control her hair as if it was another set of limbs, able to use it for grappling and pinning down her enemies. If Tóxica was caught off guard, she could easily be thrown down the stairwell where the enemy henchmen were about to swarm.

  Before I could tell Tóxica to let Reload handle it, as he had the best match up, she charged forward. Follicruel’s hair met her charge, wrapping around Tóxica’s arms as she approached. To my surprise, however, Tóxica was the one who won the exchange.

  Follicruel tried to throw Tóxica to the side, but Tóxica fought against the attempt. Follicruel’s head jerked around, desperately trying to regain control as Tóxica continued to pull. With her free hand, Tóxica grabbed a clump of hair and tore it out, burning through Follicruel’s Super Resistance in one attack.

  Follicruel screamed in pain, a chunk of bleeding scalp ripped out of her head. Tóxica used the distraction to close the distance, shoving her shotgun into Follicruel’s open mouth. Before the villain could try to get free, Tóxica fired.

  The garbled cries as the shotgun was fired were horrific, the first shot tearing through the back of the villain’s neck. Tóxica pumped the shotgun and fired again, shooting at the henchmen that were frozen in place.

  The henchmen, rightfully, freaked the fuck out, turning tail and trying to run up the stairwell. Tóxica aimed the shotgun, Follicruel’s body being dragged alongside it, shooting down the nearest henchmen until she was out of ammo.

  When she realized the gun was empty, she tossed it and the body down the stairwell. Reload and I just watched the scene unfold, neither of us stepping forward.

  Tóxica put her hand out. “Give me another, we need to move.”

  Reload tossed her another shotgun and Tóxica went back to climbing the stairs. While I knew the minor villains weren’t going to be a big problem to deal with, that just felt like an unfair to watch.

  As we climbed, the henchmen that were shooting down at us began to disperse. Despite their willingness to shoot at us for a paycheck, it seemed that they didn’t want to die. There’s only so much commitment you can expect a henchman to have.

  When we reached the third floor, it seemed that most of the henchmen had run out of the stairwell, hiding inside the floors of the building. My best guess was that Polymeniac and Plaything would be on what remained of the fifth floor, but that wasn’t guaranteed.

  What was guaranteed was that we wouldn’t have an easy time getting out of here. I heard violent crashing from below, and I looked down to see a swarm of henchmen spilling into the stairwell, having finally broken through.

  “Reload,” I called out to him.

  “Yeah?” he asked, tossing grenades into the crowd.

  “Nevermind, keep doing that. Tóxica and I are going ahead, follow us once they stop coming.”

  “Got it, boss,” Reload smiled.

  Tóxica and I made our way up to the fourth floor, easily mowing down whatever henchmen were left behind. From the explosions and screams below, I could tell that Reload was handling things well.

  But as we reached the fourth floor, the door that led to it was torn off its hinges, launched straight at us. Tóxica barely dodged out of the way in time, the door shattering against the concrete walls of the stairwell.

  There, he lumbered out, the titan covered in stone. Quarry smashed the door frame apart as he forced his way through. While he approached, I noticed that there wasn’t anyone else with him. There were no other villains or henchmen in sight.

  “Hey, big guy, it’s been a while,” I said, stalling for time. Reload was our best way to handle Quarry, and I wasn’t certain that we could do it without him.

  Quarry said nothing in response, which was predictable. As he walked towards us, I looked down the stairwell. If we dragged Reload into this fight early, then there was a chance that the henchmen from the first floor would get to us.

  I pulled out my sidearm and fired, the bullets of my pistol bouncing off his stone chest. Tóxica fired her shotgun, her shotgun slugs crumbling against his body. Nothing we hit him with was making a dent, and we were losing ground backing up from his approach.

  “I’ll hold him off. Go ahead when you can,” she said to me, pulling a flask out.

  I wanted to save her transformation for when we really needed it, afraid that we’d burn through her energy if we used it too early. But I needed to trust that she could make the right decision, that she could handle Quarry.

  Tóxica’s outfit managed to stay intact, if not strained, as she rapidly grew in size. Compared to when I first met her, she seemed even larger. Quarry stood at seven and a half feet tall, but Tóxica still managed to dwarf him in her reptilian form.

  Before Quarry managed to force us down the stairs, she charged at him. The two of them collided, becoming a mass of scales and stone. Tóxica scratched and bit at him, even the claws of her legs being used to try and disembowel him.

  But not a single attack seemed to hurt him. Quarry was forced to take a few steps back, trying to put some space between the two. In a movement faster than I had ever seen from him before, his fist shot forward, crashing against her jaw.

  Her head snapped to the side, and she put a clawed hand against her face. Quarry raised his arms, keeping his guard up for the upcoming fight. But after a hit like that, Tóxica couldn’t help but lose control.

  She launched herself onto him, somehow crawling on his body while tearing at it with every single attack she could manage. He stumbled backwards, unable to defend against the endless barrage of attacks. Still, his stone skin didn’t falter.

  While she unleashed a wild frenzy on him, a small gap of space appeared in the stairwell. I ran through, doing my best to avoid any flailing blows. Once I was past them, I just kept moving forward.

  A sizable chunk of the fifth floor was now gone, destroyed in the explosion. I could see the night sky staring down at me, the ceiling torn open, as if those abandoned ships were watching me. I tightened my grip on my semi-automatic and kicked down the door to the remains of the fifth floor.

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