The Prisoners: Fight the Tarrasque

[Piper Juunanagou]

Although she didn’t necessarily want to drag more people into her little spat with the mysterious Magnus, Piper couldn’t help but breath a sigh of relief when the young half-saiyan jumped in to join her. Unfortunately, Juno’s presence seemed only to trigger an increase in their opponent’s strength, as if Magnus’ power was relative to the number of people trying to wail on him.

The concept vaguely reminded Piper of that drab, gothic computer game that Coop and Cruise from Beta Team played on the Internet when they were off duty. It was then that she realized how dearly she missed the majority of her fellow squad members. After all, the two privates would have been able to translate the myriad of nerd culture references inherent in Kill Town.

Juno. Piper conveyed the words telepathically, hoping that none of the other prisoners had the ability to read minds. Can you hear me?

Telepathy? The black-haired demi-saiyan replied, his telepathic voice rife with a sense of intrigue. You’re quite the, uh… multi-faceted soldier, Piper. He added as a slightly dubious grin spread across his young face.

Now’s not the time. The woman answered as she rolled her eyes. Before the soldier could formulate a follow-up, a cold, harsh voice invaded her head.

I know that you’re both telepathic, so why don’t you both cut the crap before I get bored. Based on the widening of Juno’s eyes, Piper could easily see that Magnus was telepathically speaking with them simultaneously. With a frown, the woman clenched her gauntleted fingers together and began to channel her energy as quickly as she could. Really? You are aware that I’m well aware that you’re going to try to throw that and then come rushing at me in a vain attempt to catch me off guard after I bat it away like a snowball, right?

“Fuck. You!” Piper screamed as she threw her right hand forward and hurtled the concentrated sphere of energy at Magnus’ face. The crackling orb spiraled as it zeroed in on its target, but just as he had plainly stated, the man reached out a hand and casually batted the projectile up into the air. Glaring with the utmost dissatisfaction, Piper threw her hand up and tightened her fingers into a fist. As she did, she noticed that the wayward projectile began to slow its ascent.

[I]Weird… Piper mused before Magnus appeared behind her and proceeded to slam his palm into the small of her back with enough force to remove her from her feet and send her crashing through the flimsy wall of a nearby shanty.

“Piper!” Any concern Juno may have had on his mind were diverted elsewhere when Magnus turned his attention on the half-saiyan. Gritting his teeth, the young warrior leaped back in a vain attempt to put some distance between himself and his overpowered villain. Unfortunately for Juno, Magnus was faster and soon the black-haired warrior was propelled through his very own shanty.

“Damn it,” Piper wheezed as she shoved aside the mound of debris that had collapsed onto her prone figure. Lifting her bruised skull up off the dirt floor of the abandoned hut, she managed to get a clear view of Magnus as he smacked the dust off his palms and then proceeded to casually abandon the scene. “Like hell you will!” The soldier rasped as she reached a hand forward to grab hold of the only stable section of the shanty’s outside frame. Clasping her fingers around the dented steel beam, Piper liberated the rest of her body from the rubble.

By the time Piper limped out from the broken shell of the metal hut, Magnus was already a block removed from her location. Growling beneath her breath, the soldier spread her fingers and began to craft another sphere of ki in her palm. As the energy coalesced around her hand, she noticed that Magnus came to a pause. A beat later, the man was standing behind Piper, his expression like that of a father disappointed at a misbehaving child.

“This is futile,” he whispered as he shoved the woman, causing her to nearly fall to the ground amidst her flailing struggle to maintain her balance. “All you’re doing is skipping stones into a hurricane,” Magnus chuckled as Piper reasserted her equilibrium and turned to face the man.

“You’re linked into this computer, and that’s the best metaphor you could think of?” The blonde snickered as she caught Juno lurking in her peripherals. The odd younger warrior was literally pulling rabbits out of his magician’s hat, but unlike the fluffy, adorable animals that magicians tortured for the sake of their audience, these were monstrous creatures with jagged incisors and huge, sinewy muscles.

“What are you looking at?” Magnus asked as he went to glance over his shoulder. Before the man could get a glimpse of the small army forming behind him, Piper released the sphere of ki she had been charging in her fist. The emerald bolt of energy struck Magnus in the gut and caused him to stagger backwards. In that short opening, the soldier was able to teleport a nearby revolver into her hand. Lifting the firearm, she smiled as she pulled the trigger and sent a round right into the villain’s right lung.

With a guttural scream, Magnus clamped his hands around the bullet wound and set his sights on Piper. He managed only to lift a single foot off the ground before Juno came dashing in with his staff. The first blow caught their mutual opponent in square on the back of his skull, but as Juno pulled back for another strike, Magnus pivoted his torso and closed a fist around the whole of the young hybrid’s face.

“I grow weary of this,” the overpowered villain growled as he began to squeeze down on Juno’s skull. It was at that moment that the brown-haired hacker was reminded of that there was a gun-toting soldier standing just a few feet away. With another jarring bang, Piper buried another bullet into the man’s stomach, causing his grip on Juno to waver enough for the wiry young half-saiyan to slip out and retreat a few paces.

“Now!” The impromptu magician shouted as he thrust his cane toward Magnus like a cavalry sword. At the signal, a horde of two dozen dog-sized rabbits came pouring out from behind Juno. The mob of impossible creatures descended upon their trench coat-clad target, and with an animalistic fervor, they tackled Magnus to the ground and began to tear into him like a slab of raw meat.

“Now that’s what I like to see!” Juno shouted as a grin spread across his bruised face. Unfortunately for the pair of battered fighters, the mob of bloodthirsty rabbits was suddenly frozen in a block of solid ice. With a frustrated grunt, Piper glanced up at the sky to see that Magnus was floating above the pack of iced bunnies, but despite gaining a momentary reprieve, it was quite evident that Juno’s tactic had achieved some degree of success.

Magnus’ trench coat had failed him in numerous areas, and in the case of his right sleeve, it had been completely destroyed by the mob of carnivorous lagomorphs. In a few of the regions larger were his coat had been torn away, Piper could spot rather unpleasant-looking wounds that were seeping enough blood to cause a steady series of fat droplets to pool atop the giant, bunny-filled iceberg below the floating hacker. If this were the real world, there was no doubt in Piper’s mind that Magnus would be a dead man, even if one factored out the gunshot wounds on his chest and abdomen.

“Fools,” the brown-haired man snickered as he undid the buttons on his coat and allowed for gravity to do the majority of the work involved with removing it from his person. Beneath the coat, the (oddly enough) built man was wearing black denim pants and a sleeveless black shirt. Both were heavily stained in blood and the removal of the coat provided a much more vivid look at the plethora of jagged, deep wounds that dotted the man’s upper body. “I’m afraid you can’t defeat me,” he remarked as he lowered himself down to the ground. Despite the front, Piper could tell that Magnus seemed to be a little paler than earlier.

He’s bluffing. He may be all-powerful, but he’s human just as much as you and I. Piper said to Juno as she teleported next to the younger warrior. With a nod, Juno clenched both his hands around his magician’s staff.

Guy has one hell of an HP bar... The saiyan remarked as he flashed a grin to the woman. Much to her dismay, Piper didn’t have the slightest clue what made the remark humorous, although she could infer it was probably yet another reference she didn’t quite understand.

Yea…let’s just get back to getting our asses kicked. Piper replied with a faint smile as the twosome turned their attention back to the scowling hacker.