Virus heard the challenge, and returned to her Virus form. If he’s not stopped, Trask and dozens of others will die, she thought. I don’t have a choice. “I can’t let you go, Hazard man. And I can’t step aside either. You’re killing people!”

Hazard man grinned. “That’s the general idea, yes? You made your choice, hero – or is it heroine now? Mr. Chips?”

“Yip, Yip!” Mr. Chips configured for battle – maximum ECM and as much armor and standard weapons as his robotic torso could accommodate with what energy he had left. “…Target Acquired…”

This is going to be all out war in less than 10 seconds. I need speed, or I’ll be overwhelmed. Virus concentrated, and tried to alter her metabolism and muscles just a bit to eke some measure of speed and agility out of them. The problem is I still don’t know exactly what I’m doing when I do this – I just do it. I need to find a way to learn how to do this better!

Virus saw Hazard Man raise his energy weapon, and dodged to one side, leaping with superhuman speed. The energy beam missed her by only a few inches, and struck the top of the elevator structure on the roof of the bank. The structure exploded, and a few moments later they heard the crash of the fallen elevator from within the shaft. Virus leapt free, and landed on her feet – and realized her tactical choices were limited. All my powers are based on touch, she thought to herself. If he can keep me at range, he’ll trash me. Dammit!

Mr. Chips ran into view, and unleashed a volley of machine gun fire at her, forcing Virus to dodge again – and although she dodged the majority of the shots, she felt one rip through her arm, which started to heal. The bullet wound stung like hell, and would probably slow her down. She ran behind what looked like a chimney to try and formulate a plan – but she could already hear Hazard Man’s blaster powering up to disintegrate the chimney and everything behind it. Chromatofores! She thought… The cells that let a chameleon hide! She quickly morphed and hid, and tried to crawl away – and seconds later heard the chimney behind her explode. Debris and tiny stone chips rained down on her, and she scuttled away, waiting for a chance to strike.

Mr. Chips slowly approached the shattered chimney, looking for signs of Virus or her body. He passed within inches of her position, simply not seeing her due to her chameleon disguise.

Virus moved, reaching for Mr. Chips – but this time, instead of attempting to hack him, smash him, or shock him, she simply grabbed his robotic body, and whirled, using Mr. Chips as a ‘human shield’ – hoping that Hazard Man might blast anything that moved. She whirled – just in time to see Hazard Man fire his blaster – as planned – towards her. Mr. Chips took the brunt of the beam full on, but the sheer force of the beam blasted both Mr. Chips and Virus back off the roof – and they fell five stories to the ground, landing hard on the opposite side of the street. Mr. Chips had been blasted free of Virus’ grasp and into the wreckage of a four door sedan, and Virus had slammed into a light standard, which was bent and dangerously close to toppling over.

The pain was incredible. Virus felt several bones broken in her – her ankle, some vertebrae, and knew she had ruptured several organs. She felt she was healing – but would it be fast enough? She tried to pull herself up to sit, and shrieked in agony as the pain increased tenfold – but she managed it. Virus only hoped Mr. Chips was as badly damaged as she was.

“Hey, Hazard man!” She called out. “Your dog makes a pretty good shield! Thanks!” She used the chromatofores she had given herself to hide once more, and watched as Hazard man made his way to the edge of the roof. He was backlit by a number of security lights and simple light pollution from the city itself. He made a great target. I have GOT to get me some ranged weapons or attacks, ASAP, Virus thought. You just can’t let a shot like that go to waste.

“Where are you Virus?” He called out. “Let me know so I can kill you.”

Virus didn’t say anything, and let her healing ability slowly repair her.

“Mr. Chips is far more advanced than you realize, Virus.” Hazard man said. “He is designed to analyze and change to adapt to his target – a nemesis system designed to beat any single foe. Even if you kill his body, his intellect will be uploaded to the internet. He cannot be killed. I saved him. He will never die. He will never feel pain again.”

The car Mr. Chips had fallen into exploded, raining flaming debris down onto the street. An armored Mr. Chips crawled out of the wreckage – his fur burned off to reveal the skeletal chassis of his robotic body beneath. “Yip, Yip!” Mr. Chips yapped as he strode from the wreckage. His metallic chassis looked heavily armored, but even that armor had taken a beating in the five story fall. Even so, the diminutive robotic dog looked as deadly as a Terminator as it strode from the wreckage of the car. Virus was less than thirty feet away, hidden by her chameleon ability. His glowing red eyes looked scary and frightening in the dim light.

Above, a helicopter shone down a searchlight on the scene – and Hazard Man laughed in triumph. “Look Virus – it’s the police, or the news. Either way, your demise and my victory will be recorded for posterity! Your loved ones can watch you die, over and over on the evening news. How does that sound, Virus? Will they cry over you? Will they feel your loss – or will they just go on, and forget you?”

God, I’d wish he would shut up, Virus thought. But he’s right – I am in deep trouble. Concentrate on the dog, she thought. He’s the one to beat in this team up – if I can beat him, Hazard man will go down easily. She knew he would be protected against electronic intrusion – he was before at the warehouse. He might even be protected against electric shock, if he and Hazard man took basic precautions over what she did to them before. Then again, he wasn’t prepared for immense strength, she recalled. Maybe I smash him? She looked around, and saw a nice chunk of steel from Mr. Chips’ exploded car within reach. Smashing it is, then.

Mr. Chips looked about for his target and couldn’t see anything – but the sensors built into his olfactory array could smell her. She was close. “Yip! Yip!” he said, frustrated. He paused a moment to try and reconfigure his senses to get IR and UV sight… The next thing he knew he was being clobbered by Virus wielding a huge chunk of exploded car, smashing him again and again with the steel and carbon fiber, and her biologically enhanced strength. Part of his chassis warped and bent, and one of his legs crumpled.

“Take that, you little bastard!” Virus crowed as she smashed the robotic dog. She smashed him again, and once more for good measure – and then screamed in pain as Hazard Man’s blaster beam caught her dead on, slamming her into the ground. Crap. I let my guard down, she thought. I need to change tactics. The pain from the blaster was intense, and centered on her lower torso – and she was sickened to see the wound when she looked down. An apple-sized hole had been punctured through her lower torso by the beam – right through her. She nearly gagged at the smell and look of it – only the cauterization of the beam had kept her innards inside of her. The smell was wretched – it smelled like Sunday roast. I can survive this, she thought. Don’t think about it – just fight!

The battle raged on…

* * *

Darryl was back home, after spending an afternoon with Martin and his girlfriend Susan. Not surprisingly, they had really liked Colby at the Halloween party, and equally unsurprisingly, they had noticed her abrupt change in mood and decision to leave. What he hadn’t known is that Martin had heard that a jock was found upstairs the next morning, lying on the hallway floor, paralyzed from the neck down. He had been taken to the hospital, and as far as anyone knew, the doctors didn’t know what was wrong with him.

Sue had asked if Colby knew kung-fu or pressure points, as a lark – and although Darryl could rightfully say she knew nothing about martial arts, he couldn’t say the same about anything else, even though Sue and Martin laughed it off. She did that, didn’t she? He thought. But if her story is right, he was sexually harassing her – and might have raped her. Looks good on the idiot. I wonder if he even remembers what he almost did?

Martin and Sue had also mentioned that she obviously had issues with her parents – and asked him to mention to her that if she wanted to talk – about her folks, or about being trans, she could always call them. Sue was a local activist in the LGBT scene and a known ally, and Martin was just trying to help – seeing as how he had been where Colby was now, in his own way, a few years ago.

All in all, it had been a good afternoon. Darryl still missed Colby, but hopefully, she’d be home soon. He grabbed the dinner he’d put in the oven, and settled down in front of the TV for the evening, figuring he’d watch a movie or something. Maybe I’ll catch the highlights of the game I missed, he wondered.

As the television flared to life, the news announcer’s voice came through clear. “…it seems Virus is fighting for her life in a battle royale spreading across three blocks of downtown Empire City… Hazard Man and his robot dog have injured her with energy beams and other weapons several times, and she just won’t go down. The damage is rising, and local police have been instructed to hold back and form a perimeter to contain the battle, but it’s anyone’s guess as to how long this can go on. Hazard Man looks fine, but his robotic dog has taken a serious beating. Virus seems to be concentrating on taking down the robot – but her wounds are incredible!”

Darryl watched the screen with sick fascination as he saw an energy beam pierce Virus’s body, leaving a second cauterized hole in her torso. “No! Dammit! Colby!” He felt sick inside, seeing her hurt like that – seeing her being taken apart piece by piece by that insane maniac and his robotic dog. The girl he loved was being torn apart – and no one was helping her. He felt tears falling down his cheeks, and he felt like he was being torn apart too. Come on, Colby, get up! Get up, and come home to me… Please don’t die… Oh god, please!

Virus clutched her newest wound, and got to her feet. Looking at the newest hole in her torso, she snarled at Hazard man, and motioned with her hand. Then she tore off Mr. Chips’ right hind leg and tossed it over her shoulder. “Bring it on” was the obvious message, and Hazard Man obliged. Mr. Chips writhed in her hands, and bit down on her left hand – and even with the grainy video of the helicopter news team, it was obvious Mr. Chips severed several fingers from her hand – you could almost count them, falling one by one to the ground as she dropped him and clutched the bloodied remains of her hand.

Darryl watched with horror as the girl of his dreams was being torn to pieces. He felt like he was dying inside, right there with her on Television, and he couldn’t look away. This can’t be how it ends, he thought. It can’t be! Please, god, don’t let it end like this!

* * *

Detective Taylor drove like mad for the scene of the battle. Virus was fighting them both – and each time she had faced them before, she nearly died. She needed help – and he was the only one there who could give it. He had seized the car under the pretence of ‘police emergency’ – and he sincerely hoped his captain would back him up when it came time for him to give his report, but right now, he didn’t much care. Virus had saved him when he needed it – and now he was going to do his damndest to save her, or die trying.

His purloined car raced forward, and he came upon the rough perimeter the ECPD were establishing around the meta-human battle. Four patrolmen had set up a rough blockade with their cars, and were trying to keep a number of civilians back from the area. He drove up, and flashed his badge. “I’m going in – any arguments?” he asked.

The patrolman took a look at the badge, and shook his head. “No sir – it’s your funeral, sir!”

Detective Taylor stepped on the gas, leaving rubber on the street behind him. She might not have much time left, he thought. Gotta hurry!

* * *

Virus gasped in pain as Mr. Chips savaged her left leg, chewing and biting until his durasteel teeth hit the long bones in her leg. She pounded him with a chunk of concrete again and again, smashing against his head and torso – and then she felt the bones in her leg crunch as his hydraulic press of a mouth punched through them! She screamed in pain – the unbelievable pain – as Mr. Chips bit through her leg and severed her left foot, spitting it out on the ground next to him.

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Mr. Chips didn’t look unscathed, either. His left rear leg was crippled, and his right rear leg was gone – torn off by Virus’s biologically enhanced strength. His chassis was battered and broken – and he was as much on his last legs as she was. Hazard Man, by comparison, was injured – but only lightly so – and his attacks had been fewer than could have been, since he was afraid to shoot into their melee, for fear of hitting his beloved robot dog.

“Good boy, Mr. Chips! Now finish her! Finish her!” he screamed.

“Yip! Yip!” Mr. Chips responded, dragging his shattered Chassis towards Virus. He opened his mouth and revealed his machine gun turret. He opened fire – and bullet after bullet tore into Virus, and her body jerked from the impact of the high velocity slugs, jerking and twitching like a marionette who’s strings were controlled by someone having a seizure. She didn’t scream – she just collapsed in a heap, blood pooling out from where her body lay.

Virus could feel everything going dark… There were too many wounds… too many for her healing ability to deal with. Is this it, she wondered. Am I going to die? She felt herself fade, but fought to stay awake, knowing if she succumbed to sleep, it was all over – she would be dead, and Hazard Man would still be on the loose. Fight it, she thought. Stay awake. She tried to move her hand, but could only twitch the stumps of her fingers. She needed time – even a few seconds would help. She figured she didn’t have seconds. Her time was up.

“So, Virus.” Hazard man began, walking up to her – but still staying a good ten feet away from her, out of range of her touch. “You did your best and failed – again. I told you I’d kill you – if not for what you did to Mr. Chips, then for trying to keep me from Trask. I’ll keep killing you too, until I can make it stick. I promised after all.”

Virus tried to talk – it was hard, and blood fountained from her mouth. “Then stop talking and kill me already.” She said. “If you keep monologuing you’re going to regret it. Even I know that much.”

“Is that what you think? Why? How? Do you think someone is coming to save you? No one cares about heroes here – this is Empire City, where everyone turns their back on everyone else. No one cares! I’ll savor this moment, and then I’ll end you!” He aimed his blaster cannon, and called out to Mr. Chips. “Hey buddy. You need to get out of the way, okay?”

Mr. Chips tried to drag his shattered chassis away from Virus, but failed, and Hazard man scowled and lowered his weapon, carefully picking up his robot dog, and moving him away from his enemy. “You’ll be okay, won’t you pal?” He asked, and in return received a few robotic doggy kisses from Mr. Chips, and a pained whine. “She won’t hurt you ever again, buddy.”

Hazard man lowered Mr. Chips to the ground, and raised his weapon, planning to finish off Virus. By now, Virus looked like she had healed some of the damage done – she was still missing her fingers and her left foot, but some of the serious wounds looked less serious. It was time to finish this.

“You know.” Virus said, as she staggered to her feet. “I’ll give you one last chance to surrender, Hazard Man.” Her eyes were unfocused, and she looked weak and shaky.

“Surely you jest.” Hazard man replied. “What are you going to do to stop me.”

“Nothing – except maybe distract you.” She said, pointing to something he couldn’t see behind him. They could both hear the roar of an approaching engine.

Surely she can’t expect me to turn around? Oh hell. He thought. He was only part way turned around when Detective Taylor’s car slammed into him at sixty miles per hour.

There was a bone shattering crunch as Hazard Man screamed, and was knocked back through the air a good thirty or forty feet, where he hit the pavement and rolled into a bloody heap. He was still alive somehow, protected his ridiculous armor, and he tried to stagger to his feet, with little success.

Detective Taylor tried to shield himself from the worst of the impact, but the airbags hit him like a punch to the gut, and the seatbelt jerked him up short, hitting him hard and making him gasp. He felt the car swerve, careen and flip onto its side. He was shaken, and disoriented – but alive, although he’d definitely feel the bruises in the morning. He tried to get out of the car, but the airbags needed time to deflate. He was trapped.

Virus staggered over to the nearly unconscious Hazard Man, who was broken and bleeding at her feet. “You should have surrendered, you stupid bastard.” She said, reaching out to touch him. She could tell he was seriously injured – and from the state of his DNA, he’d done something to himself. He wasn’t fully human anymore – he was, if she had to guess, part nano-machine. His brain now resembled a high speed fibre-optic network than a real human brain. What have you done to yourself, Justin? She wondered. She touched him, and he fell unconscious as she flooded his system with chemicals that produced fatigue and sleep. She paralyzed him from the neck down by swelling his scapular nerves as well – like she’d done with the guy who attacked her at the Halloween party.

Now to deal with the dog. She thought.

Mr. Chips dragged himself towards her, crawling with his front legs scrabbling, trying to get his mouth turret to get a shot on her. She herself was staggering as best she could on one foot and one stump, and was making her way over towards him as well. It was obvious from her clumsy movements she had shut off her pain receptors again, and was simply trying to finish the battle before she collapsed. She grabbed a piece of shattered steel from their brawl, and wielded it like a club, staggering in a zig-zag pattern to try and avoid being shot again by Mr. Chips.

Mr. Chips struggled forward, and then stopped. He yipped once more, and then his damaged vocoder said “Idea!” – and it sounded high pitched, almost like a cartoon character’s squeal. He knew he wouldn’t die – that he couldn’t die. Master said so! So all he had to do was take down Virus… It never even occurred to Mr. Chips that maybe Hazard Man was wrong – Master was never wrong! Virus was staggering towards him, and he began to reconfigure… She would destroy his body, perhaps – but he would destroy her in the end.

Virus saw the little robot squeal ‘Idea!’ and then drop to the ground, apparently immobile, and got worried. This little robot had been full of demented twisted ways to kill her from the first time they had met. He learned from past mistakes, and he got better each time she faced him. He was up to something. She had intended to beat him to death with the length of steel she had, but she paused. Hazard Man’s blaster was lying on the ground a short ways away. He won’t be expecting that, she thought, and staggered over to pick up the unwieldy gun.

Meanwhile, Mr. Chips had reconfigured to become in effect, a pressure sensitive landmine – if Virus even touched him, he would explode with enough force to tear her body to pieces! He had shut down most of his ECM to configure himself to generate a sufficient thermal blast to destroy Virus, but there was enough to give him warning if she tried her old tricks. It wasn’t until he heard the “bweeee!” of Masters’ gun charging that he realized he’d been outwitted. She wasn’t supposed to play with Master’s toys! He thought. That’s just not right! Grr….!

BLAM! The blast from the blaster caught Mr. Chips, and propelled him backwards even as the lethal energy tore at his robotic body. He exploded, sending pieces of debris and burning metal all over the street – and windows within a city block broke from the shockwave. Virus staggered and fell, dropping the gun – and at first looked unhurt – until you saw the dagger sized chunk of metal that broke free of Mr. Chips chassis and impaled her in the chest. She screamed and went down, bleeding and clutching at her wound.

Detective Taylor crawled from the wreck of his borrowed car, and staggered out, surveying the scene around him. There were numerous small fires, a shattered hydrant spewing water in a geyser thirty feet high, several shattered and wrecked cars – never mind the street was full of holes from Hazard Man’s damn blaster gun. He saw Virus, and limped over. She didn’t look good. Any of the wounds she had taken would have been fatal on a normal person – but with superheroes you could never tell. One thing most of them had in common was that they could take a hell of a beating and somehow walk away. He hoped that was true.

“Virus! It’s Allan! Stay with me!” He said, kneeling down over her body. “Stay with me!”

Virus clutched at the dagger of steel in her chest and feebly tried to remove it, but her arms had no strength left – and one of her hands had no fingers.

Allan got the hint. He clutched the razor of steel and tried to pull it out, yelling in pain as he felt it cut his hands… But still, it moved – and in moments, he was clutching the shard that nearly took Virus’ life. Blood welled from the cuts in his hands, but he didn’t care. He cradled her for a moment, trying to protect her from the cameras, from the battle – just to give her time to heal. “You’ll be all right, Vi.” He said. “You’ll be all right. It’s over.”

Virus lay there in Allan’s arms for a few moments, knitting herself back together, until she was able to speak. “Thanks, Detective. I guess I needed a hand after all?”

“Nah, Vi – most of the heavy lifting had been done by the time I got here. I just helped you mop up. You’re not going to die on me, are you?”

Virus smiled, and touched his cheek. He was so concerned. “I don’t know if I can die, Detective. I think I came close to finding out tonight, though. Thanks.” She struggled a moment, and sat up, and Allan let her go. “Hell of a mess, though, huh?”

“You think? At least the governments Superhero Act means you aren’t legally on the hook for it.”

She laughed. I can’t even afford groceries without my powers! How the hell would I have paid for this? “Thank god for that, then.” She said, slumping down and groaning. Her fingers were regrowing and it hurt like a bitch! “So does this mean we’re partners sort of, like your cop friend and Tesseract?”

“Maybe.” Allan admitted. “I like the sound of friend better. I already have a partner.”

“Yeah – the one who shot you, right?” She asked.

“Yeah.” Allan admitted. “But he had a good reason. Trask had his family hostage. I don’t blame him. He did what he could.”

“You’re a good man, Taylor. A lot of people would hold a grudge.”

“I can hold grudges.” Allan answered. “But Brian’s the best partner I ever had. And I understand why he did it. He won’t admit it, but he’s a good man too.”

“I’ll take it on your authority, then.” She said, resting. She could feel some of the shattered bones inside her mending, some of the ruptured organs mending. “At the rate I’m healing, I’ll be fine in five or six minutes.”

“Pardon my French, Virus, but that is cheating, and I’d love to cheat like that if I could. No one should heal that quickly.” Allan smirked. “But I’m glad you do.”

Virus smiled back. “Yeah – less paperwork to do if I don’t die, am I right?”

Their exhausted laughter echoed through the streets.

* * *

The Police and EMT’s moved up into the area shortly after the shooting and fighting stopped, and secured the area. Paramedics checked Virus’ wounds – but as she expected, by the time they got there, she was fully healed – including her severed foot and cauterized blaster wounds. She had also taken a moment to heal Detective Taylor’s hands, which he had cut saving her from the jagged shard of steel planted in her chest.

Virus gave her statement, and so did Detective Taylor, and soon they were cut loose.

“I guess this is it, for now.” Virus began. “You’re going to arrest Trask tomorrow?”

“Yeah, pretty much.” Allan replied. “Assuming he’s still in town as of tomorrow. I’ve got some unfinished business to take care of myself tonight too.” He sighed. “I guess you’re going to be going back to your boyfriend, huh?”

“Yeah.” She replied. “He’s probably worried sick with the TV coverage.”

“He’s a lucky guy.”

“Yeah – and I’m lucky I have him.” She looked over at Allan, and noticed an odd look on his face, and she realized what he was thinking. “You’re a good friend, Allan. If things had worked out differently, I could see us as a team, in more ways than just work.”

Allan smiled. “I think that I’d have liked that, Vi… But they didn’t – and Darryl’s waiting. You’d better get home.”

“Yeah, I guess I should.” Virus turned, and made ready to go.

“Wait!” Taylor called. “There’s something you might like to have.” He said, holding out a small burnt dog collar. It had a small dog tag that said “Mr. Chips ver 1.0”. “Call it a souvenir.”

Virus looked at it and smiled, and tucked it into a pocket on her costume. “Thanks, Allan! I mean it. Thank you!”

“Go on. Get out of here, Vi – before the news crews show up and make it look like you tried to cause all this damage. He’s waiting for you.”

Virus nodded, and unleashed her wings. She was tired – desperately tired – but she had enough strength to get home. One last flight before sleep, she thought. Here I go. Virus launched herself into the air, and flew off, leaving Detective Allan Taylor behind, and headed for home. Darryl was waiting, and she was so exhausted all she wanted to do was collapse in his arms.

She flew.

* * *

Darryl was on the verge of panic when he heard her land on the balcony. She looked exhausted, and drained, and totally at her wits end – and she looked beautiful. He rushed out to meet her, and She looked up at him with a sad, tired smile, and just said “Sorry.” Darryl forgot the long minutes of worrying if she was going to live or die, and just crushed her into an embrace.

“Please, Colby.” He begged. “Don’t ever let it get that close again. I thought I lost you.”

“You didn’t lose me, Dar.” She said, morphing back to Colby. “I’m right here. Can we go inside, hon? It’s been a hell of a night.”

“Yeah.” Darryl replied. “Let’s go inside.” He picked Colby up and carried her inside. The glass door to the balcony was shut, and he set her down on his sofa.

“Is it over?” He asked. “Trask, and this Hazard man?”

“Yeah,” She said smiling up at her boyfriend, who was obviously worried sick. “It’s over. Trask is going to be arrested tomorrow morning – and Hazard Man is out of commission for at while. I think if it’s okay I’ll take a few days off and look at apartments, okay?”

Darryl sniffed back some tears, and smiled. “Sounds good to me, hon. Let’s take it slow for a day or so, okay?”

Colby looked at Darryl and smiled. “Whatever you want, Dar. I’m not going anywhere anytime soon.”

“Thank you.” Darryl sat next to her, and wrapped her in his arms. “I was so worried. I didn’t want to lose you, Colby, and I was scared I was going to.”

“Me too, Dar. I’m okay.” She said, hugging him tight. “I’m okay.”

They held each other for a long while, just wordlessly trying to heal the grief and release the stresses of the day. They could feel each other’s closeness, and felt the affection they held for each other. It helped, and eventually they headed to bed.