endbringer, meet gun

[peterxy]

...Very unseasonable rains can be seen in the distance from the shores of Acapulco.

The Brockton Bay Protectorate starts organizing volunteers to be transported or teletransported in batches to it. Heroes, rogues, villains, anyone's assistance is appreciated. A rendez-vous point is set for non-Protectorate capes wishing to volunteer, and Protectorate capes are informed of the situation via communication devices.

Comments

[alicornucopia]

Someone lurches towards his car. He trips.

Someone else goes for a gun and shoots at Glam instead.

[mxglam]

They miss! Thankfully, because Glam hasn't had time to test their potential ability to make projectiles not hit them. In any case, just to be sure, some white armor that's - of course - bulletproof now covers most of them.

"Difficult it is," they say, and shoot at the someone else almost carelessly, using the upgraded version of their stun gun that curves to hit their target.

[alicornucopia]

Somebody has a knife and slashes at the fishing line.

A friend of Target yells "NO -" when the beam curves -

And Target collapses with a hole in his chest.

[mxglam]

What.

(Glam has not noticed they have just dropped the last foot onto the ground or that their cape is not billowing anymore.)

[alicornucopia]

"Bastard!" snarls Target's friend, and he shoots at Glam some more. The other guy takes his case of heroin and the money both and bolts for his car.

[mxglam]

Glam has starts running towards Target and a bullet grazes their shoulder - wasn't there supposed to be something protecting them there? "Nonononono he wasn't supposed to- that's not, that was a stun gun."

They realise what's going on, though, and try to shoot- where's their gun? Ow their shoulder hurts wait there's, they're wearing armor! No bullet! Why was there a bullet? Weren't they wearing armor? Shit no they're gonna die here if they're shot again and properly hit they can't die this is too stupid a way to die, the armor's there again-

[alicornucopia]

"Mixed up your fucking ammo, cape?" snarls Target's Friend. He reloads.

[mxglam]

"No that was- why would you expect a cape to want to kill your friend-"

They, they have armor, they have armor, that's unquestionably true, is the guy alive? He's breathing, he's alive, but he's bleeding a lot, he'll die like that, oh Glam has tripped, but they still have their armor they need to have their armor, and their gun, yes, their gun's there, but they can't shoot or this'll happen again-

[alicornucopia]

Target's Friend levels his gun again.

A robot knocks it out of his hand, bleeping angrily.

[mxglam]

A robot-

Oh thank Scion Lorica's here, had they been expecting Lorica to come all this time...? Yes, they had, is this evidence that their power is capable of that kind of reality manipulation, no of course not their power can't even tell a fucking stun gun from a gun that makes holes in people-

Is the guy still alive? Should they do CPR? No, he has a hole in him, are you daft?

(-Glam is still wearing armor, must not forget the armor-)

[alicornucopia]

Target's Friend falls over, tranquilized. The robot buzzes nervously around the downed drug dealer.

[mxglam]

"We- we need to help him, call an ambulance, or- no, you already did you're Lorica or her robot anyway of course you've thought of it already-"

Someone might notice that Glam is slightly freaked out. It's in the details, maybe a subtle read of their body language, something off about their tone...

[alicornucopia]

"Ambulance en route," the bot says in Lorica's voice.

[mxglam]

"Okay. Okay. Yes. Okay."

Crumple.

[thinkering]

Lorica's en route too, apparently; she drops to the ground beside Glam. "Jesus Christ, what happened?"

[mxglam]

Glam opens their eyes and looks at Lorica, blinking and sitting up slightly.

"I- I- it was a stun gun but they- I-"

[thinkering]

"Slipped your mind?"

[mxglam]

"N-no! Not my mind, I knew it was a stun gun!"

[thinkering]

"Jesus Christ, Glam, nobody else is going to believe you weren't walking around with lethal ammo, you know that, right?"

[mxglam]

"Fuckity shit fuck fuck-"

Multiple swearing. Oh dear.

[thinkering]

"Can you get your power to do healing. Even temporary just until he gets to the hospital. I have - first aid shit, I can't touch this."

[mxglam]

"I- I don't know, m-maybe, I'll try-"

They look at the downed guy. He is not dead. He is not hurt. He clearly is not hurt, that is not blood at all, that is not a hole they made with their own gun, it isn't, it isn't-

[thinkering]

Lorica grabs Glam's face and aims it away from the dying man and at her helmet. "Glam. Listen to me. He is going to survive. A tiny percentage of people die before the ambulance gets them to the hospital, I just looked it up, I've got internet in my helmet. He's going to be fine. And you can't have hit him very hard to begin with, think about it, they can't have been expecting anything worse than a regular gun and that'd be easily survivable and that's without including your own expectation. He's going to be fine. It's a flesh wound and maybe a broken rib, he'd be conscious if you weren't trying to stun him. Listen to me."

[mxglam]

They're listening. They're saying nothing, but they're listening, and they're trying to believe. Yes, Lorica's right, believe her words, he's not going to die, that much blood is not enough to kill someone, is it, but it was so much blood, was there a puddle of blood on the ground, they don't remember, they think there was but they're not sure-

[thinkering]

There's a siren. Lorica's hands drop to her sides and she lopes in its direction.