I bare my teeth in a defiant grimace, fresh spikes pushing through the skin of my knuckles. "Not today, bitch."

The rips and tears in my thigh send waves of searing agony coursing through my body with every movement, but I grit my teeth and push through the pain. I can't let it consume me, can't let it be the end of me. Not here, not now. Not with so much at stake.

Seizing the moment of contact, I drop my weight and lunge forward, wrapping my arms around Deathgirl's waist in a desperate double-leg takedown. We hit the ground hard, the impact driving the air from our lungs in twin grunts of pain. I use the momentum to force her onto her back, the unyielding concrete offering no respite beneath us.

"Got you now, you little psycho," I snarl, trying to ignore the way my voice wavers with exhaustion and pain.

Deathgirl just laughs, a manic giggle that borders on hysteria. "You think so, Bloodhound? You really think you've won?" She bucks and writhes beneath me, her small body twisting like a snake. "I'm just getting started!"

I slide my right arm under her neck, trying to secure a rear-naked choke. My left hand pushes down on her face, attempting to turn her head and cut off the blood flow to her brain. If I can just render her unconscious, put an end to this...

But Deathgirl is relentless, thrashing with a strength born of desperation and insanity. The tooth-spikes protruding from her hands and arms rake across my sides and back, while her chest digs into mine, bearing teeth of its own, shredding through my armor like paper and leaving bloody furrows in their wake. The pain is excruciating. It's like nothing I've felt before except that one time my eyes nearly got set on fire. But this is way more.

"Hurts, doesn't it?" Deathgirl hisses, her voice a manic rasp. "I'm going to carve you up, Bloodhound. Peel the skin from your bones and make you watch as I do the same to everyone else in this shithole city!"

A surge of rage and disgust rises up in me, momentarily eclipsing the pain. "Shut your mouth," I growl, tightening my grip on her neck. "You're not going to hurt anyone else, you hear me? This ends now!"

But even as I say it, I can feel my hold beginning to slip, my muscles screaming in protest as Deathgirl's struggles grow more frenzied. The choke hold loosens, my strength failing me, and I'm forced to release her and roll away to avoid a vicious swipe at my eyes, one that catches me by the helmet and rips my lower jawpiece out, sending it careening off to the side.

We scramble to our feet, facing each other once more across a distance of mere feet. Both of us are panting, our chests heaving with exertion. Blood drips steadily from my countless wounds, pattering onto the concrete like a macabre rain. Deathgirl is no better off, her skin a patchwork of gashes and punctures, the tooth-spikes that once bristled from her flesh now receding, leaving ragged, bloody holes behind.

For a long moment, we simply stare at each other, our eyes locked in a silent battle of wills. I can see the madness swirling in Deathgirl's gaze, a fathomless abyss of rage and pain and hate. But beneath it, buried so deep I almost miss it, there's something else. Something small and frightened and achingly human.

"Daisy," I say, my voice barely above a whisper. "Daisy, listen to me. It doesn't have to be like this. We can end this, right here, right now. Just... just give up. Please."

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"My name," she snarls, "is Deathgirl!"

And then she's charging at me again, her spiked hands extended like claws, a howl of rage tearing itself from her throat. I meet her halfway, lashing out with a low kick to her right shin. The impact sends shockwaves up my own leg, but I grit my teeth and push through it, following up with a quick left elbow strike to the side of her head.

She staggers, her eyes going unfocused for a moment, but it's not enough. It's never enough. We trade blows back and forth, a brutal exchange of punches and kicks and slashes that leaves us both reeling. My regeneration is working overtime, trying to knit together the countless wounds that crisscross my body, but it's a losing battle. I can feel myself slowing, my reactions dulling as exhaustion and blood loss take their toll. There's only so much injury it can compensate for.

Deathgirl looks little better, her movements growing sluggish and uncoordinated. The manic grin that once seemed permanently etched onto her face is gone, replaced by a grimace of pain and fury. She lashes out at me again and again, but her strikes lack the power and precision they once held. Even with her souped-up imitation of my own regeneration, it's nothing like Patches.

We're both running on fumes now, our bodies pushed far beyond their limits. Every breath is agony, every movement a herculean effort. But still we fight on, neither of us willing to yield.

In a last, desperate gambit, I launch myself at Deathgirl, aiming to tackle her to the ground once more. She tries to dodge, but her reactions are too slow, her body too battered to respond. We collide with a meaty thud, our limbs tangling together as we go down in a heap.

The impact sends us careening into the courthouse doors, the reinforced glass shattering beneath our combined weight. Deathgirl's back slams against the cracked panes, a spiderweb of fissures spreading outward from the point of impact. We slide to the ground, our bodies intertwined, a tangle of blood and sweat and pain.

I try to wrap my arms around her in a controlling embrace, seeking to immobilize her thrashing form. But she pushes at me weakly, bloodied fingers clawing at my face in a last, desperate attempt to break free.

"I hate you," she sobs, hot tears mixing with the blood and grime on her face. "I hate you so much!"

I say nothing, my jaw clenched so tight I fear my teeth might shatter. There's nothing left to say, no words that can bridge the gulf between us. There is only the fight, the desperate struggle to survive.

We lay there in the shattered remnants of the courthouse doors, our blood mingling on the cracked concrete. The world narrows to the sound of our labored breathing, the thud of our faltering heartbeats. Seconds stretch into eternity as we grapple weakly, neither of us possessing the strength to gain the upper hand.

But even now, with both of us teetering on the brink of oblivion, I can feel Deathgirl's struggles growing more frantic, more uncoordinated. She pounds her small fists against my chest and shoulders, but the impacts are feeble, lacking the power and fury of before.

It's almost over now. One way or another, this fight is drawing to a close. And as I hold onto Deathgirl with the last of my fading strength, I can only pray that when the dust settles, I'll still be the one left standing.

We're a tangled mess of blood and pain, our bodies so intertwined it's hard to tell where one of us ends and the other begins. Deathgirl's struggles grow more frantic with each passing second, but they're also becoming increasingly uncoordinated, her small fists pounding against my chest and shoulders with all the force of a kitten's swipes. Just as painful, too, with the many spikes emerging from her body trying to rip into me, but I've got armor and she's got a hoodie.

"Why won't you just die?" she screams, her voice cracking with equal parts frustration and despair. Tears stream down her face, cutting through the caked blood and grime, but they do nothing to quench the mad fire burning in her eyes. "Why won't you let me win?"

I don't answer, gritting my teeth as I tighten my grip on her flailing form. With a burst of effort, I manage to wrap my legs around her waist, pinning her lower body in place. My hands find her wrists, slamming them down against the cracked glass of the courthouse doors and holding them there with every ounce of my fading strength.

"It's over, Daisy," I pant, my voice rough with exhaustion and pain. "You can't win this. Not anymore."

But Deathgirl just sobs, shaking her head frantically from side to side. "No, no, no! I have to win! I have to!" She tries to headbutt me, but the attack is weak and misses, her forehead glancing off my chin. "Just let me win!"