Chapter 102 - Wonderful

Noticing Miss Masher's intent on joining in the pending scuffle, Miss Calculated holds an arm out in front of her.

"Mash, seriously, this is a terrible idea. I can almost guarantee that they're far back in the alley, with nothing for you to hide behind on your way to them. There's no way you'll be able to get close. If anything, you should be trying to stop Lucas." While Miss Calculated actively tries to dissuade her sister, Miss Masher visibly hesitates again.

"...But pointlessly destructive assholes like that are the worst. Even if we do leave, what if Chi or Jon get hit on their way past here while tryin' to catch up with us? 'Sides, Lucas has got endurance too, he can probably take the hit, an' maybe when seein' two of us the bastard might even surrender." As Miss Masher speaks her mind, she gently pushes Miss Calculated's arm out of the way.

Miss Calculated has a pained expression on her face, knowing all too well that her sister has already made up her mind. There is no stopping her now.

Lucas is currently standing at the edge of the entrance to the alley, leaning up against the wall. After hearing Miss Calculated and Miss Masher's exchange, he looks back over his shoulder at them.

"Well, only one way to find out, yeah?" After saying this, Lucas crouches down slightly, getting ready to dash into the alley.

This hardly improves Miss Calculated's mood, nor Willy's for that matter. Willy has dropped his mini-villains in favor of making clear bark double-taps, now doing so repeatedly to make his opinions known.

"Hey, hey, buddy. Calm down. I can't just let shit like this slide, you're not gonna change my mind." Trying to soothe Willy, Lucas makes a placating gesture in Willy's direction with his left hand.

With one final pair of particularly cross-sounding barks, Willy sits down in a huff. Now quiet, he stares at Lucas from his position down on the sidewalk pavement, near the same wall that Lucas is crouching next to.

As Miss Masher makes her way over to Lucas's side, another string of giggles followed by another high-speed airborne marble occurs.

"NOW!" Shouting out as soon as the marble whizzes past, Lucas ducks into the alley and starts sprinting as fast as he can towards the back, correctly assuming that's where his target is.

Without hesitation, Miss Masher dashes in after him, much to Miss Calculated's dismay.

[I didn't clarify beforehand, but I imagine you were expecting this. Miss Calculated was spot on.]

As Lucas looks around the alley he's now running through, there truly is nothing that could be used for cover. Nor as a useful offensive projectile, for that matter.

Behind him, there are the clear sounds of squealing tires, screeching breaks, honking horns, and multiple heavy collisions.

In the far back corner of the alley is a young girl approximately Jonathan's age, her red-brown hair is in a neat braid draped over one shoulder as she sits on top of a stack of crates. Wearing a spotless ankle-length yellow dress, she is so immaculate that she seems particularly out of place in her current dingy environment.

Resting on her lap is an open pouch full of marbles, which she is blindly plucking another one out of while giggling at the aftermath of the last one she fired.

'Fuck, it's a little girl!?'

[I would have thought you'd have noticed from her laughter.]

'That was hardly my focus at the time! Fuck, there's no way negotiation will work with her either, considering she's just doing this for kicks? Fuuuck!'

[...Ah right, you've only killed men so far.]

With a several-yard distance between them, the girl focuses her attention on Lucas for a moment, pouting slightly. Holding up the recently selected marble between her thumb and index finger, she turns her attention onto it and concentrates.

It trembles in her hand briefly before shooting out at Lucas, angled downward towards his legs.

[Shit, even if that doesn't puncture skin it will-]

Without sufficient time to react to the attack, Lucas is struck on his right knee just as it was supporting his weight, mid-run. The marble explodes into a cloud of glass shards as soon as it hits him, not damaging his reinforced suit in the least.

Between his endurance and the enhanced fabric of his dress pants, the force behind the impact is greatly diminished, but it is still enough to seriously hurt and make him stumble.

"FUCK!" Lucas shouts out while painfully staggering to the side, but he's able to manage to restore his balance instead of eating dirt.

The brick wall beside him, however, is hardly appreciative of the fact that he gouged a chunk out of it while he got his bearings. He's able to keep moving, but it did slow him down for a few seconds. He can't help looking at the stretch of chaos he inadvertently wreaked upon the poor innocent wall as he picks up speed once again.

'Oh, shit, that took way less effort than I would have thought.'

Miss Masher glances at him and continues running past him, her intentions towards the young girl quite clear.

Even before the girl got to see the results of her recently fired projectile, she has already begun holding up her selected ammo for her next shot.

When she finally notices that Lucas is still lumbering in her direction, as opposed to collapsed on the ground with the leg she hit completely blown apart like she expected, her eyes widen to an almost comical degree.

As Miss Masher is passing Lucas, the girl realizes that Lucas must have enhanced endurance, and changes targets accordingly to reduce the imminent threat.

[This isn't going to end well.]

When Miss Masher passes Lucas, she doesn't fully take into account their positioning, focused on trying to rush into melee range. For a short time, the two of them are in a direct line from the girl's position.

The girl launches the queued-up marble, directly striking Miss Masher center mass. It punctures a hole right through her chest, and even continues flying through her.

As it continues along its trajectory, it manages to strike Lucas's left shoulder. By now it barely has enough force left to make him flinch, erupting into a tiny cloud of glass sand on contact.

"FUCK! MASH!" Lucas can't hold back from crying out, stumbling briefly as he watches her fall to her knees and collapse on the ground. Even though it was just for two steps, it further slowed him down, giving the girl a bit more time to prepare for her next attack.

Holding a new marble up before her, the girl is concentrating on it intently. Not only is the marble itself vibrating, but her hand as well as her arm down to her elbow have also begun trembling violently as she builds up force.

Continuing his charge until he is almost within arms reach of her, Lucas is bringing his right arm back with a clenched fist, ready to swing at her the moment he's in range.

However, she starts laughing delightedly.

"Wonderful!" After her thrilled shout, she launches the marble point blank between his eyes.

The accumulated force behind it sends out a ripple of force, creating a sonic boom as it completely rips apart his skull and its contents.

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Lucas kills this chapter: 0

Lucas total kills: 7

Lucas deaths this chapter: 1

Lucas total deaths: 11

Lucas current GDV: 10.5

Lucas's fame level: 4* (Beyond just local, viral meme tier. Local levels are fairly high.)

Lucas's hero suspicion level: 2.5* (More than just passing suspicion for a few paranoid individuals)

Jonathan kills this chapter: 0

Jonathan total kills: 6

Jonathan deaths this chapter: 0

Jonathan total deaths: 2

Jonathan current GDV: 2.57 (+.1 net change)

Jonathan's fame level: 2.5* (Mostly just local)

Jonathan's hero suspicion level: 1.5* (Only highly paranoid people)

Willy's fame level: 1* (Anonymous meme fame, local fame as 'Xenoclast's dog')

Supervillain social circle size: 11

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Little character theater:

Jonathan is now sprinting his way to the scene with a fresh GDV task to rescue some trapped people from the multi-car pileup. He stumbles a bit as he experiences the rollback, as he had just entered into shared task range.

Willy is now back to repeatedly double barking at Lucas.

Lucas, gasping and shuddering while resisting the urge to hold his head in his hands, leaning against the wall near the corner of the alley: Holy FUCK that hurt!

427, running a fresh set of calculations: [The force behind that strike was… Goodness.]

Author, smiling at the audience: Lucas did get an idea from this run-through, can you guess what it was though?

Mr. Quacks, genuinely impressed by Jonathan's efficiency: Quack!