My last remaining memories were shards of incomplete emotions and pained senses.

Intense heat and the smell of burning fabric and leather. An impact.

Vertigo and the immense weight of light gray. A series of numb collisions.

Flashing lights and the murmur of voices. Familiarity, but discomfort.

Lastly, the cluttered shambling off into somewhere dark. Some amount of peace as waves of gloom washed in and out. Part of me wondered if this was death, but I knew I wasn’t that lucky just yet. Whatever tether I had to the mortal plane wavered in the strong breeze, but my work wasn’t done. Hadn’t suffered all I needed to. My true purpose unfulfilled.

My eyes cracked open slowly. Unhindered by my goggles, the white ceiling above me caused a pulse of pain to wash through my delicate orbs and into my skull. Perhaps I preferred the darkness, actually.

The sound of wheels moving across wooden floorboards was the only thing preventing me from going back to sleep.

A figure loomed over my left side. Green lights illuminating me, the rather drab expression on the young woman's face softened at seeing me lucid.

“Gunquake. I was starting to worry.”

[Did I win?]

“No. Not exactly.”

My brow furrowed as I tried to piece together my last waking moments. I had… pissed off Roxy to the point that she had started burning up. She leaped at me and then… pain. Sounded like she had beaten me in the duel, if that's as far as my brain allowed.

Eyes looked around, aching at the sides. A familiar picture on the right side. Something rustic.

[I am back home?]

Clara sighed. “Yes. Forgive me, but I didn’t allow them to take you to the hospital. There were a lot of forms I needed to sign for you to be released under my care. Apparently, I am now legally responsible for your constant well-being, and also your next of kin. We’ll never beat the incest allegations, Gunquake.”

I groaned and closed my eyes.

“Apologies. Too soon. In fact, I probably owe you a lot of thanks and a more sincere sorry.”

[Am I able to move before we do this?]

“No. Your arms, you can, but the rest of you needs to stay in place. Heavy sedatives are keeping the important parts of you from moving and falling apart.”

Opened my eyes back up and raised my arms slowly to observe them.

[Where’s my other hand?]

Now it was the techie’s turn to furrow her brow as she looked between my normal left hand at the shotgun that had replaced my right.

“Perhaps the concussion was worse than I had thought. What do you remember about yourself?”

Things were spotty. A mirror dropped and shattered that held all the information that made me who I was… but there were pieces missing. Or maybe there were pieces that belonged to a different mirror? At this point, it was hard to tell either way.

[I’m getting an odd sense of déjà vu.]

“Might be the head injury, Gunquake. Was it a superhero who put you down the first time to require your arm replacement?”

Painful images flashed through my mind, and I winced. Flickering lights and the sound of gunfire. Silhouettes, but no real detail. I took a deep breath, and they simmered away.

[Whatever happened, I wasn’t a huge fan of proceedings.]

“And of the last five years?”

[I remember nothing about them.]

Her eyes narrowed, blocking off some of the green light from her cybernetic orbs.

[Sorry, just a bit of humor. Where is Roxy? Is she okay?]

“Hospital.” Clara leaned away to look at something by the wall. “She is doing fine. Shock and some minor burns, but they want to keep her in for observation. The League is especially interested, as I’m sure you can imagine. She sent a message when she could, asking how you were, Gunquake.”

[Can you tell her I miss her?]

The techie tilted her head, but smiled. “Of course. I will.”

[And then fill me in on what the fuck happened.]

“I suppose this will be my first apology to you, Gunquake. I roped you into a scheme of my own without your consent.” She sighed. “I’ve known for a couple of years that Rockslide might have had some unrealized power. Something more than brute strength. There were times in the past where she became heated, but I don’t think she was ever aware. Once I saw she had fallen for you… I figured it would be the best chance to awaken this dormancy.”

[A reason for her to reach the Burnout state and break through her normal power level.]

Clara smiled. “Somewhat literal in her case, Gunquake. Don’t get me wrong, not everything has been due to my machinations. There was plenty of lucky happenstance and input from yourself, even if unwittingly. Of course, if she didn’t feel so strongly about you, then it wouldn’t have worked either.”

[Gambling it all on me working out what you wanted to happen was a big risk.]

“I agree. Selfish and reckless, in fact. I understand if neither of you forgives me. I put both your lives at risk, thinking things had to happen the way they did.” She shuffled uneasily and looked toward the door, before back to me. “I’ll come clean, Gunquake. I am Advanced as well.”

[You are?]

“Potentially intelligence based, given my aptitude for technology. One of the reasons the League gives me a longer leash than the other techs. I also have a… well, it would be disingenuous to call it foresight. But my gut feelings are often correct, and you have a certain weight to you. I knew you’d pull this off for Rockslide.”

I sighed and tried to work out how injured I was. Pretty sure my chest took the worst of the damage. Knee and shoulder would have healed up with a few hours and some bone fixing juice. I remember a burning feeling, but couldn’t remember what exactly happened after I…

[Perhaps instead of telling her I miss her, profusely apologize for what I said to her before she rightly almost killed me.]

“You can tell her yourself when you see her. It will mean more that way.” Clara stood and stretched out her back. “I was honestly surprised at what you said, Gunquake. I wouldn’t have been able to come up with something more hurtful if I tried. And I had tried.”

[I never said I was a nice person.]

“True.” She put her hands on her hips. “But to jab at her strength, insecurity at how she wasn’t developing in her career, and to top it off with tugging at her heartstrings and causing her to imagine the man she adored laying with her amazing sister. That’s even worse a crime than the list of all your murders, Gunquake.”

[You think she’ll forgive me?]

“Either she will and you’ll be stronger than ever, or she won’t and you’ll be dead. Maybe I'll shortly follow you in that instance.” The techie gave me a wry grin. “I’m going to get some bread and a fresh canister for you.”

She vanished from view, but I heard her soft footsteps leave the room in the direction of the kitchen. I wasn’t too sure how I should feel. Was I angry that Clara had been guiding us both to force Roxy’s awakening? Not really. Ever since our lives had collided, we had been pushing each other to be better. I had broken the cage keeping Captain Snaps from reaching his potential and now performed the same miracle for the strength super.

And… that had always been my goal. The whole point of the duel was preventing us from being together like she wanted. Like I wanted. For her to put her passion to the test to see how she would fight, knowing something she actually cared about was up on the line. No rules and regulations from the League that she could no longer stand to cloud her actions.

The ideal end for me was always her winning, standing over my broken body. A self-sacrifice I was willing to make to turn her into the proficient super she could be.

I had never imagined she was something more. At some point in her youth, she would have plateaud at just having higher strength, and part of her control over that kept her from stepping up to what her full superpower was. It had taken some effort for her to break through that, and I wondered what that now meant for her future. For our future.

Clara stepped back into the room, a slice of bread in her mouth and chilled canister in her hand. Replaced it on the right side, and I couldn’t help but let out a contented groan as it hissed into place. She gave it a gentle tap before walking around my head back to her chair on the left.

[You look exhausted. How are you doing?]

She removed from the bread from her mouth and shuffled close to me again. “Well, you almost died three times since I got you back here. There’s irony somewhere in the fact that the last punch before she awakened literally broke your heart, and it was only the emergency rush of the stim pack I had given you that held you together.”

[Itemized damage list, smallest issue to worst?]

“Dislocated shoulder back in place, but some of the muscle was torn, so you’ll be bruised for a few days. Knee is setting, the break was clean so no complications. Two blows to your head, some swelling and a concussion, but nothing broken. Your chest…” She paused to sigh and take another bite of bread. “Your rib cage became more of a collection of bone fragments. Took me almost an hour to get all the sharp pieces out of your lungs. Massive internal bleeding, some other split organs-”

[Wait, how did you even manage all that?]

“Was easy enough to cut you open, Gunquake. Without the bone structure, it was as simple as-”

[You had to perform actual surgery? Not to doubt your ability, but that doesn’t sound like something I could recover from.]

Clara gave me a glum smile and waved the remnants of her slice at me. “You can’t see it from this angle, but there’s a pile of bloodied aprons and gloves over in the corner. Rockslide will not be pleased with me. If you think back to a few minutes ago where I described that I didn’t have foresight, you’ll be underwhelmed to learn that several of these secretive cases I have stacked up have robotic parts in. Almost enough to replace all of your bones, if necessary.”

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

[Reading between the lines… I have a metallic rib cage now?]

“Glad to see your gray matter is back up to speed, Gunquake. Your organs will heal of their own accord. It seems that your natural durability is a huge boon to your survivability when paired with the right stims.”

[And yet I still died three times.]

“Oh, just while you were here, yes. Twice at the demolition site, and once in the van ride over.”

[Mostly from the one punch.]

“Correct.”

[She could have been hitting me that hard throughout the fight.]

“Correct.”

[And now she can also create magma with her hands. Oh, how much damage did I take from that? I only remember a brief burning and the smell of my gear melting.]

“About that... Well, let me get a mirror.” She turned on the chair before stepping away briefly, returning with the small reflective mirror. Trying to angle it correctly so I could see, the image ran up from my stomach where the dark bruising covering me was split down the middle where Clara had cut and sown me back up. Mirror moved to my chest, right where my heart would be.

An open handprint remained.

Burned into my flesh like I had been branded. Her attack had melted through tactical gear and two other layers of clothing before scouring several layers of my skin almost to the muscle.

“A push,” Clara intoned. “Anything more forceful, and she would have punctured straight through you. The resulting shockwave from the barely held-back assault and her feet melting through the terrain caused the building to partially collapse.”

[That would explain why I can still taste concrete dust despite not having a mouth.]

“Another happy accident as it caused Rockslide to take a second to think about what she had done, and she cooled off - before passing out.”

[She won though.]

“Oh, Gunquake. No contest. Which means you get to tell her how you really feel, and I will no longer flirt with you.” Clara gave me a glum smile and shrugged.

[I don’t believe you are capable of that.]

“Have some faith, Gunquake.” Her smile turned genuine as she tilted her head. “But after this, you deserve some raw truth. I’m not after your heart, or what resides in your underwear. I want to be the technical mastermind behind the League’s best tech superhero. You mentioned me being your sidekick in jest… but that is what I want.”

[Done. The job is yours.]

She snorted and shook her head. “Easy to say when I’ve just saved your life a handful of times.”

[Given you were partly the cause of my current condition, let’s call it even.]

“A fair deal.” She yawned and stretched out again. “Promise me we’ll have a serious conversation about it tomorrow, though. I don’t want you to just accept outright.”

[You have my word.]

“I’m going to go have a quick bath and get clean, Gunquake. Your monitor will alert me if you’re in any danger, but you should be stable enough to sleep now. Although I would prefer you didn’t cause me to run down here in a state of undress, if possible.”

[Understood.]

I listened to her leave and go upstairs, but it sounded like she left the bathroom door open. Heard the taps run, if only slightly. It gave me a chance to reflect on our relationship, now that she had been open and straightforward with me. In some ways, it was exactly as Roxy had told me before. Clara and I would always have a strange, intimate bond that wasn’t really tied to classic relationships. She had just been inside my torso, rearranging broken parts and affixing a new rib cage.

If she wanted to be my sidekick as well, that meant we’d be spending a lot of time together. I cared for her and appreciated her candor and wit. Her technical knowhow would be perfect for what we had planned, even if her being my personal mechanic was the plan all along. Sometimes a more official stamp just held the pieces together.

This was all assuming that Roxy held no grudge over what had happened.

Given that she could tear me to pieces in her normal strength form, I wasn’t too confident that I could win against her magma form, even going in with the full intention of killing her.

Which was partly the point. Now I had another pinnacle to climb up and reach. In some ways, I had accepted that I was a force of nature. Like a gas expands to fill its container, I was destined to expand my power and strength. A compulsion to be the best. To not die when…

When I’d outlived my usefulness.

Brow furrowed as this slimy worm of a thought buried its way out of the mud inside my skull. Was that how I met my previous end, or perhaps just a fear I used to have?

I closed my eyes to try to bring back those pictures. The flashing images that my dying mind pulled closer to the conscious part of my being.

Not much luck, as instead my exhausted body sent me off to sleep.

And I dreamed. Of turmoil. Again, I stood with two normal hands, but now I was amidst a world in complete disarray. As if nature itself was trying to tear it asunder.

It was. The dream-me clenched his fists together, and the scenery shook, as if I was trying to erase it. Brush it all away. The heat subsided. Wind and rain died down. Storms cleared. All I was left with were the ruins that had barely survived. But I had also survived.

Took a deep breath of air that woke me, eyes widening and taking in the bloom of bright daylight. Back in the dining room.

“Relax, Gunquake.” Clara put her hand on my forehead. “You’ve had a bit of a fever. Not unsurprising given the trauma your body has been through. You slept the rest of the day away. It is now the following morning.”

[Oh. How am I holding up?]

Her hand ran across to my temple before withdrawing. “Medical miracle, as always. Leg and arm should be functional, but I advise you don’t risk your torso taking any damage. You’re liable to burst like a very macabre pinata until your organs have fully settled behind the repairing muscles.”

[Ah. Fantastic. I was hoping there would be some bad news, too.]

She rolled her eyes and moved away from me to the side, out of view. “The bad news, Gunquake, is that you have to reorder most of your Public Defender gear. Not only did Roxy melt through every layer of your outfit, but some of whatever you dropped was lost as the building collapsed.”

I had used all my grenades and plastic explosives. The super had destroyed my sidearm. A couple of spent mags must be lost, but I had some spare.

[The gauntlet?]

“Thankfully, you didn’t use it much, and Rockslide only dislocated your shoulder rather than snapping your arm like a twig. It remains undamaged... if not a little sad that you didn’t utilize it.”

Not that punching or trying to cut Roxy would have done much. If anything, I was lucky that I didn’t try to block one of her real punches with it and gotten metal plates lodged through a broken arm.

[It can join my drum mag at the pity party then. The selectloader was incredible, you really outdid yourself there.]

Her footsteps circled around me before the sound of plastic bags being shuffled came from the right. “Keep buttering me up and I’ll see what I can do about getting the upgrade to that, Gunquake.”

[It gets better?]

She loomed over my right, her eyes narrowed. “Oh, so much better.”

[See, I knew it wouldn’t last.]

The techie gave me a wide smile before vanishing again. Context clues had me assume she was bagging up all the bloodied clothing and gloves she had gone through while putting me back together. Probably wouldn’t want the super to come back to that, which prompted the unspoken question.

[How is Roxy today? Any news?]

“She is fine. Sounds like she is in a rotten mood at being kept there overnight, but might be released today if she behaves.” Clara sighed. “We know how likely that is, Gunquake.”

If the League were there and prodding and questioning her, it wouldn’t surprise me if she burst into annoyed fire once again. Part of me still hadn’t accepted that was what had happened. That was a lot more than a normal superpower to have. It would be a lot for her to take in and absorb, so perhaps it would be better if I gave her some space for when she returned.

[Any chance I can get up and moving?]

“Only on two conditions.”

[Go ahead.]

“Firstly. No running away. I need you here to keep you healthy and monitor you. If Rockslide comes here to mash either of us into the ground, then so be it. Secondly, no clothes until your wound is healed.”

[Am… I wearing clothes now?]

“Shorts. That’s all you are allowed, so you can retain what dignity you have left.” She stepped back into my vision with a mask over her mouth and hand holding a large sack. “I’ve been elbow deep in your guts, Gunquake. Your fleshy bits no longer interest me and I can only see them in a clinical light. That said, I respect your privacy and desire to remain clothed in my presence.”

[Thank you.]

“Hmm. I was expecting you to say the same about me, but that says a lot that you didn’t.” There was a smile hiding behind the mask, only visible through the joy in her eyes. “But you may sit now.”

With a grunt, and full intention to ignore her flirting already, I slowly pushed myself up. Movement briefly assisted on the right side by the techie so that I didn't rupture anything. I looked like garbage. Clara had cut a long line up most of my torso, navel to neck, and I could only imagine the horrors she had to dig through in saving my life. Something I’d repay at any asked cost, if I had the chance.

“Easy on your footing and take things slow.”

Slid my legs to the side and shuffled to find the floor. Some residual ache in my knee, but it was working - all that I could ask of it. Same in my left shoulder. I lifted my hand up and flexed my fingers. Living at least another day, if all things went well. The parts of me not immediately around the surgery site were still dirty. Dried sweat and grime.

In seeing where my eyes were going, the techie nudged my gun-arm. “I ran a bath for you, Gunquake. I estimate there is a high chance you won’t fall apart and turn it into a soup.”

[Joy. But, thank you, Clara.]

“My pleasure. You can close the door, Gunquake. I have seen enough of your body for one day.” She pulled a face behind the mask that I couldn’t read and crossed her arms. “I’ll mostly be in the Workshop getting things set up, but message me if any issue.”

I gave her a nod and shuffled out of the room and toward the stairs. It was a miracle I was even moving, given the damage I had sustained. What I wouldn’t do to get my hands on my League report to confirm that some of my Advanced power was in having abnormal amounts of health regeneration.

The techie watched me ascend the staircase to ensure I didn’t fall and split in half. As amusing as the prospect seemed, I kept myself together and made it to the bathroom fully intact. Pushed the door to, but not fully closed - just in case.

After seeing the amount of bubbles in the bath, she was sure to get the sidekick position.

Pulled my shorts down and stepped in. The warmth burned at the stitching that ran from my stomach up to my neck cybernetics. Something to remind me that I wasn’t actually invincible, despite all evidence to the contrary.

Probably should have asked Clara to put my goggles on, but the break from everything but living might do me some good. Was mostly anxious and wanting to see if Roxy had sent me any messages. So much to say to her, but just knowing that she was fine would be nice.

I clenched and unfurled my toes. How far I’d come recently. Not even the power gained or my potential superhero career. Just… caring for others. Caring for myself, even. Disregarding my desire to leap headfirst into deadly situations, I now at least bathed and dressed properly. Maintained friendships.

The spark of hope that Roxy could drag me into having something more in my life had bloomed into a firework. Apt considering the previous day and growth of the super. But now I wasn’t just a killer or a tool for Boss. I was digging my own destiny with my own one and a half hands.

If Roxy appeared and snapped me in half, or banished me for what happened from the fight - that would be acceptable, and I’d consider my ascent no less of a success. Hardship was bound to occur. I had hopes that we could patch things up, though. Mostly because of the way I felt about her.

An aimless ache in my chest that could just be my injured organs, but also my heart, hoping that she was fine. Certainly, I always bounced back from the brink of death, but to me, she had been almost actually invincible.

Being thrown around like a rag-doll definitely drove that nail home.

I sighed, losing track of the time as my thoughts were filled with the duel. Water was cooling so I let some out. Hopefully soaking for a while longer wouldn’t harm my healing. Hot tap back on and I felt… relaxed? As much as I would like to praise the bubbles for easing away my pains, it was more likely to be the last of the stims working through my lax body.

Heat at an acceptable level, I turned the tap back off and leaned back and exhaled slowly. Put my left arm fully in the water beneath the bubbles to soothe those muscles, but the shotgun stayed on the edge. Prevented me from becoming fully submerged, but that was probably a good thing with how heavy my eyelids felt. Body did need the rest.

Eyes flickered open. Some time had clearly passed, but the water was still warm. Footsteps on the stairs. Could be Clara, but no… not as soft.

Bathroom door opened slowly, and Roxy stepped in, closing the door behind her. I froze in place.

Sports bra and shorts, the rest of her body still marred by streaks of black like charcoal and barely healed cuts. She looked exhausted, an withdrawn and annoyed look on her dirty face. My figurative tongue held in my throat as I waited to see if she was about to kick my head through the wall.

“Feel like shit. I need a bath.”

[Roxy… I can get out, I’ve been in here a while-]

“You move and I’ll fucking kill you.”

Her arms went up, and she pulled her top off. Dropped it to the floor before leaning forward to pull her compression shorts down. Kicked to the side.

“Apparently I’m some volcanic bitch now.” She held her arms out for me to see, before then flexing a leg in my direction.

Both extremities looked dried and cracked, as if they had blistered or scabbed over. Surface level, so they should heal - but it gave good reason for her dour expression.

“They said I’d need to get used to it. What do you think, Dubs?”

I eyed the fully nude super up and down. Despite the damage she had sustained, the bathroom light above her illuminated her musculature as if she was on display, red hair bright and blazing against the otherwise soft tones of the room.

[You look like a literal goddess.]

“Asshole.” Her expression softened. “Don’t want to hear it. I’ll tell you what is going to happen right now.”

She moved closer and stepped one leg into the other side of the bath. Her teeth clenched, and she hissed as the dried limb sunk beneath the bubbles. Second leg followed, before she turned and lowered the rest of herself in. Once sitting fully, she sighed deeply, and her eyes finally came up to mine.

They were brighter now. No longer just amber in color, they had a wavering glow, as if they were on fire in the background. Enrapturing.

“As you did this to me, you have to clean me off. It's only fair.” Her arm went down into the thick layer of bubbles toward me. “Give me your hand.”

A couple of seconds of her padding around in the unknown depths, before she paused. Her eyebrows raised in genuine surprise and fiery eyes went back up to mine slowly.

“Oh. That’s not your hand.”