Dragon's Progeny [Worm/ABB OC]

[TheCuriousGuest]

Lol, just knocking on their door... Not that they expect manners from them.
Unfortunately for Kaiser if he fails to answer it ruins what little control he has left, called out in his own territory by Lung's Daughter and refusing to 'defend their land'? So much for superiority.

I'm sure Undersiders won't run into trouble or anything.

They practically stampeded through the doors towards the vans parked outside. In just a few short seconds, the warehouse went from full to bursting with my men to virtually empty. Only myself, Nana, and Kon were left standing inside.

Click to shrink...

Saw minor mistake, Kon still a PRT prisoner so not in warehouse with them.

Bet Kon's sat in a cell mocking PRT that he managed to permanently deal with the 'invincible' Nazi and didn't steal credit from Teenager or his own powers.

 

[Sadguychet]

Naught but silence followed my words as they hung in the air in front of me. Rain pelted my mask and costume as I stared at the building, awaiting an answer to my challenge. Thunder rumbled in the distance, like a prelude for what was to come, before my challenge was finally answered.

Metal and glass flew in every direction, falling just short of where I was standing as the front of the office burst apart, blooming like a flower in spring. Several figures strode from the ruined building, and my eyes locked onto the man in the front, slowly approaching with heavy steps that echoed through the rain.

Kaiser's armor gleamed even in the downpour as the man slowly walked forward, every bit the mockery of a knight that he masqueraded himself as. His subordinates followed him as he left the building, Hookwolf, Krieg, Crusader, Stormtiger, and Cricket, the gang was all here. It seemed I had interrupted a rather important meeting. Just as planned.

"So nice to see you have finally decided to show yourself, Kaiser." I called to the man as he approached, "Though I will admit, I would have preferred not having to come to your front doorstep to be granted an audience. Even so, I am happy you are here. I was beginning to worry I would have to end this war without showing you the error of your way."

"You've overstepped this time, girl." Kaiser returned, stopping a distance away from me, "You've performed admirably so far, but by coming here, you've overplayed your hand. You should have stayed away. Even you have no chance against all of us together."

"When your world ends and the Empire is wiped from the earth, we will see if you still believe that." I said, gazing at him stoically, "And to think, all you had to do was return Rune and all of this could have been prevented.

"The Empire doesn't bend the knee to savages like you." He spat, and I shook my head.

"It doesn't matter anyway, that ship has long since sailed." I said as most gathered along the ground, "Rune will be with me soon and you will bend the knee to the people you refer to as savages. And then those savages will decide your fate."

"You're delusional." Kaiser spat.

"We shall see."

Kaiser gestured and blades burst from the ground around me. At the same time the mist swirling at my feet swirled upwards, clouding me in its presence as my transformation began."

The sound of metal skittering off stone echoed through the courtyard as my new form shrugged off his blades with ease. I reached forward as my form built around me, and a stone hand the size of a truck burst through the fog, snatching Hookwolf off of the ground like a lost puppy as he foolishly tried to charge through the mist before my transformation was complete.

I rose, my body building upon itself as I grew to tower over the capes before me. My face, set in an emotionless mask made from the very stone that surrounded us, peeked through the fog as I laid my glowing eyes upon my foes, and in a voice wrought from crumbling gravel and scraping stone, I spoke.

"I feel that this form is most appropriate for dealing the final blow to an organization such as yourself, don't you?" I stood, sand and crushed rock sloughing off my back as my joints ground together. Hookwolf squirmed in my hand, blades scraping against my 'skin' as he tried to free himself.

I squeezed him harder, crumpling his metal body like a soda can as I sneered at Kaiser who was standing stoically, appearing undaunted in the face of my power. He would learn.

"This war…" Hookwolf's body snapped in half in my hands, two halves of his lupine form falling out of my grasp to squirm upon the ground, "Let us bring it to an end on this day."

I turned and exerted my power, sending a rolling wave of concrete towards the group. Pillars of iron raised all of them upwards, bringing them safely out of the path of my attack which continued forward undaunted. We all watched as it reached the building behind them, shifting supports and breaking columns inside and sending it crashing inwards as it crumpled to the ground.

As the dust settled and my enemies turned to face me, I sunk deeper into the ground, rooting myself in place in preparation for the coming fight.

Here and now, the war would end.

~~~

Lisa whistled to herself as she watched a plume of dust fly high into the air through her binoculars a few dozen blocks away. Through the pouring rain, she could just barely see the grey form of something made of stone rising into the air. Her power supplied her with the connections that she couldn't make herself and she grinned.

"A golem? Well I guess one way to stick it to a bunch of Nazi's is to become a creature of jewish folklore. Though I doubt they get the reference." she said as she watched the monstrous creature disappear behind some buildings. She put her binoculars away, turning away from the fight to watch the fires that were burning merrily all across Kaiser's territory, "Damn. She really wants to end this here, huh? Hope she realizes the heroes aren't just gonna sit down and let this go no matter how scary they think she is."

Immediately after she said that, she shook her head, "What am I saying? Of course she knows. That's probably what she's counting on." She turned to the only other person on the roof, " Anyway, looks like the plan is underway. That means it's our turn to do our part, you ready?"

Lisa didn't get a response from her companion and she rolled her eyes, "Right, emotionless drone. You're gonna be able to follow orders, right? I don't know whatever commands Yosei uses to get you to do what she wants but I can't really leave you on this rooftop to drown in your own mask."

Oni Lee regarded her lifelessly, and Lisa withheld a shiver as her power tried and failed to extrapolate what he was thinking through his almost robotic mannerisms. She turned away from him, stalking towards the roof-access door, "If you can listen then follow me. We're going to get your boss's girlfriend back and it would help to have some sort of firepower on our team when we do."

Luckily, it seemed like the silent treatment the man was giving her wasn't just him ignoring her as he swiftly followed without word. Lisa rolled her eyes as she walked down the stairs, quickly making her way to the ground floor where the rest of her team was waiting in an alley just outside.

She walked up to them, ignoring the glances they gave the silent demon following behind her. She clapped her hands, "Alright, gang, you ready to go rescue an ex-Nazi from a group of practicing Nazis who may or may not have her best interests at heart."

Nods all around while Regent shrugged, tapping his cane, "As long as we're getting paid. I didn't have anything else to do today anyway."

Lisa ignored his comment as she walked up to one of the dogs, climbing on its back and grabbing a bone spur to keep herself stable, "Lets get to it then. This'll be a quick, in and out thing if we don't fuck it up, so do me a favor. Don't fuck it up."

After all, it was her ass on her line. And theirs too.

~~~

The apartment that Agnes owned was one of the nicest in the city. Personal chefs, indoor pool and gym, a real five star kind of place. That of course, meant there was security outside, watching out for any vagrants or unwanted visitors that might try and get a peek at the lavish lifestyle that was just behind those glass doors.

When said unwanted visitors showed up on the back of dogs the size of an RV though, well apparently even a place like this didn't pay enough for them to lay down their lives for the one percent.

They parked the dogs in the alley off to the side, ready for a quick getaway in case things went south. It was decided that Lisa, Grue and Lee would go and retrieve Rune while the others would stay outside and wait for their signal to escape. Hopefully with the three of them together things would go smoothly.

The doors of the hotel swung open with a chime, and every eye turned to Lisa and her group as they strode in like they owned the place. Lisa held up a gun and fired a single shot into the ceiling, causing them all to freeze.

"All right, everyone out." She called into the scared silence, gesturing to the doors, "Leave your valuables and your phones and skedaddle. No need to be a hero and get shot like one. I'm talking to you, bowl-cut." She pointed her gun at an undercover officer reaching for the hidden weapon holstered at his waist. He froze as she called him out, and Lisa smirked at him, "Leave the gun buddy. Don't make me say it twice."

The man looked at her, and then to Grue and Oni Lee standing behind her, before deciding that whatever was going on here wasn't worth the trouble. He slowly removed the gun from his holster and out it on the floor, raising his hands to show that he meant no hard.

Lisa smiled, "Good. Now off you go. And don't worry about your room bill if you already got one, I'm sure places like this have the best insurance."

Her words urged everyone into action and soon it was like a stampede as all of the rich folks decided that their lives were worth more than their money and got out of dodge.

"Grue, be a dear and grab what they left behind." Lisa said as she made her way behind the clerk's desk. She sat in the desk, spinning around in the swivel chair just for the fun of it, "No reason we can't pad our pockets a little bit while we work."

In the meantime, she'd work on locating their target. The layout of the hotel's directory was unfamiliar to her, but that was what powers were for. It didn't take long to get comfortable with the layout, and after that it was just a matter of time before she found what she was looking for.

"Gotcha." She said, pulling up the woman's name and room number. She was basically at the top floor, just one room short of the penthouse suite which was surprising because Lisa totally thought that she'd be the type to party it up on top of the world.

Memorizing the number, Lisa logged out and grabbed the lanyard that was helpfully sitting in a small cubby just below the desk. Dangling on it was a card that Lisa's power told her that it was a spare maintenance key just in case someone got locked out of their room. That'd be their way in.

"Hey guys, I think I-ah! Jesus!" Lisa jumped as she turned her chair and was suddenly face to face with an angry red demon mask. She glared at him, "If you're gonna follow me around, can you do it further away? I can't help Yosei if I have a fucking heart attack!"

Oni Lee didn't respond, staring at the key in Lisa's hand as Grue walked up. The Thinker sighed, "Right. Well come on, she's pretty damn high up so it's gonna be one hell of an elevator ride. "

~~~

The first thing to cross Lisa's mind as they walked into the apartment was that Agnes had strangely good taste. The entrance of the apartment was well decorated, though she could tell that the stuff was expensive. So expensive that Lisa felt poor even breathing the same air as most of the stuff in here. At least Rune had some stuff to look at while toiling away in captivity.

Though, as far as Lisa could tell, the apartment was completely empty, cold and dead without a single sound to indicate that someone was inside. Frowning, Lisa looked back at her companions who were ready to follow her inside and held up a hand.

"Wait out here. If Agnes is here, I'd rather have the element of surprise considering who she's got at her beck and call." She said. Oni Lee didn't respond, but the fact that he didn't move to follow her told her everything she needed to know. Grue just nodded.

"Alright. If you run into trouble, use the standard signal."
"You mean scream and run like hell?" Lisa smirked.

"That's the one."

"Trust me, I will." Lisa said, giving him a nod before stepping inside, leaving the door open behind her. The main entrance of the apartment was a long hallway leading into an open room, and Lisa pulled her gun from her holster as she slowly walked forward, careful not to make a sound as she walked deeper into the apartment.

The halfway let out into what seemed to be a living room that had an amazing view of the city outside, just as Lisa had suspected. Agnes clearly wasn't wanting for any kind of view all the way up here. To the side was another hallway that probably led into a bedroom or maybe three, and there was a large-ish kitchen in the opposite direction, separated by an island that allowed anyone to see inside.

Lisa looked around, searching for any signs of life. There was nothing around to indicate someone had been here in the past several hours, or so she thought. As she turned around however, she saw something that made her rethink that idea.

Among the swanky furniture and german paraphernalia, a few things stood out. There was a wooden chair sitting sideways on the floor near the couch. Frayed ropes were lying beside it, hacked away haphazardly like someone had a personal vendetta against all things made of fiber and or hemp. A vase, or what was left of one at least, was smashed on the ground nearby and the jagged shards gave some clue as to how the ropes had been cut.

Lisa walked over to it, picking up the ropes in a hand and frowning at the red staining the brown strands, "Guess Rune didn't need rescuing after all." She muttered, turning them over in her hand as her power went to work, "But if she got out of the tower without her dear prince, then where oh where could Rapunzel be now?"

As if to answer her question, the dull thud of something heavy hitting the ground came from directly behind Lisa. Dropping the rope, the girl tried to turn around but someone grabbed her from behind, pulling her close as something sharp and wet was pressed against her neck.

She went stock-still and hot breath caressed her neck as the person behind her hissed in her ear, "Don't fucking move. Don't even speak, I know you Thinkers can't keep your mouths shut but you fucking better or I'm giving you a new one."

Lisa vaguely recognized the voice, and glancing at her reflection in the nearby window told her why that was. The blonde behind her had a black eye, a bruised cheek, and was almost definitely the person they were looking for. She had two pillows tied to her body with what was left of the rope that she had more than likely been bound with, and things immediately clicked for Lisa.

Rune hadn't left the building at all. She had freed herself, probably only a little while ago judging by how new the blood on the rope had been, and had hidden herself just out of sight by floating with those pillows she tied to herself. She was probably hoping to get the jump on Agnes and caught Lisa by mistake. Lucky her.

There, problem solved and damsel rescued. Now all Lisa had to do was keep said damsel from slitting her throat. Which was easier said than done considering that Lisa was pretty sure her neck was already soaked with blood. Which wasn't hers.

Well that explained what happened to the ropes. And that vase. Lisa grimaced as Rune's bloody hand pressed against her neck, doing her best not to think about the way it was seeping into her clothes. She met the girl's eyes in the glass, giving her her best disarming smile, "So do you do this to the room service too, or am I just special?"

The way that the porcelain held against her neck dug slightly deeper, Lisa had a feeling that it was the latter. Great.

Now how was she going to explain what was going on without getting her throat slit for just talking.

~~~

Stormtiger's blades scraped against my back as I lifted and slammed Hookwolf into the ground in front of me. Hookwolf's body was in shambles, with steel hooks bent and metal crumbling in my grasp, but he was still trying to fight. It seemed that he hadn't learned from our previous encounters. I squeezed him harder.

Keeping the metal man pinned, I sent a rolling wave of cement towards Stormtiger as well as Cricket who was standing close by. Stormtiger jumped over it but it slammed into Cricket, tripping her and sending her to the ground which immediately reached upwards, trying to drag her down. She escaped with the help of Kaiser who created a pillar of iron to push her out, and I growled in frustration as I failed to catch the woman once again.

As I focused on these four, the other two were being taken care of by my subordinates. Spook was battling Krieg, keeping the man occupied with his fear aura so that he couldn't rejoin the battle, while Crusader was being kept at bay by my men in the buildings. They took potshots at him from on high, keeping him pinned down so that the man couldn't concentrate on his ghosts.

The ground rumbled beneath me, completely bereft of my power, and I leaned back just in time so that the blade that shot from the earth merely sheared off the front half of my face instead of my entire head.

As my stone features crumbled to the ground, I turned to Kaiser who had created a platform of steel to stand on so that I couldn't manipulate the earth under his feet. Staring at him head on, I slowly reconstructed my face using the earth at my feet, fixing myself to the point that it seemed the damage had never happened in the first place.

Kaiser's fists clenched in the face of his impotence and I ground Hookwolf harder into the earth. He wasn't moving anymore, but I kept on the pressure just in case he was faking, "You must realize that you cannot win, Kaiser. Your empire is done. You are done. End the charade before you suffer more losses than even you can justify."

Every iota of Kaiser's posture radiated indignant anger. He drew himself up, pointing at me, "You are every bit as arrogant as your father, girl, and you will suffer a much worse fate than him I promise that."

I tilted my head, preparing to ask how exactly he planned to achieve that, when I was suddenly smacked in the face with what felt like a hundred tons of force. Light blinded me as I stumbled backwards, clutching my crumbling face in confusion and shock. Another impact slammed into my body, one after the other as I was pelted with some unknown power from on high, and every single one of them chipped away more and more of my body until I didn't even have legs to stand on.

Falling to the ground, I angled my face upwards to see what was hitting me and was met with a radiant figure floating high above the battlefield. Their body shone through the pelting rain and as they raised a hand to finish me off, I realized that the game had changed.

Purity sent a spiraling helix of energy towards what was left of my body which exploded into dust upon impact. My consciousness sank deeply into the ground, gathering power and watching as the woman continued to fire beams into the cloud of dust to make sure I was dead. Now that she was here, I would have to change up my strategy. Big and tough wasn't going to work anymore.

Concentrating, I sent strands of my consciousness throughout the earth, commanding it to do my bidding. The ground bubbled and shifted, before dozens of hands clawed their way free from their stone confines, rising from the earth like zombies. These figures, all fragments of a greater whole, looked exactly like my golem form but much smaller and far less powerful.

That didn't matter though, for I more than made up for that with sheer numbers. The only limit I had was the material around us, and as twenty more clones dragged themselves from the depths to face Kaiser like a legion all my own, I knew that what I had access to would be more than enough.

My stone soldiers charged forward on an unseen signal, becoming a stampeding mob that ran straight towards our enemies with little regard for their own wellbeing. They split into groups, assaulting our enemies in groups of five or six at a time. Since they were smaller and much weaker, it didn't take much for them to be put down, but they picked themselves back up just as quickly, reforming and going right back to mobbing the Nazis.

I added even more soldiers to the mix, keeping careful eye on what was going on up above. Stormtiger was using blades of wind to make short work of the horde and Kaiser made it seem even easier with his steel. Cricket was having a bit more trouble as she was a melee combatant, while Krieg and Crusader weren't able to do much at all thanks to already being preoccupied with my other forces. Hookwolf was still lying in the crater I had left him in, unconscious or dead, I wasn't sure.

Spook was engaged in actual combat with Krieg, using his oddly shaped body and sharp nails to his advantage as he fought the Nazi. Krieg's power slowed his strikes and made it hard to actually hit the man, but Spook's power ensured that Krieg wouldn't be able to get too close without seizing up in fear. They were in a stalemate, but for how long was anybody's guess.

To assist the man, I manipulated the earth underneath Krieg's feet, letting them sink into the ground and causing him to stumble as he was suddenly rooted in place. Spook capitalized on the opportunity, raking his claws across the man's face in a single harsh swipe that left Krieg reeling as several wounds were opened along his fair features. He screamed, grabbing his eyes, and it only took me a moment to realize that Spook had just blinded the man. Smart.

Just as I had predicted, Purity was the biggest problem. The woman's blasts were able to destroy swaths of my clones with little effort and I had no way of reaching her so high above the ground. I would have to bring her down if I wanted to take her out of the fight.

As Spook turned away from Krieg who was still lamenting the loss of his sight, I created a soldier directly next to my friend and put my consciousness into it, allowing me to control it much more directly.

"Spook." I said, and the man regarded me with a glance. He was panting, unused to this kind of physical exertion, and an odd sizzling noise was coming from his right. A glance revealed that the area of the cloak covering his arm was smoking as the skin underneath cooked even from the little amount of sunlight that peaked through the storm above.

Spook saw where I was looking and shook his head, "It will be fine. I just overstepped a bit and exposed my skin to the air. It hurts, but it isn't anything I'm not used to. What do you need, Yosei-sama?"

Deciding to take his word for it, I nodded and turned my attention to the woman raining hell on my stone soldiers, "Purity is a problem and she'll stay that way until we deal with her. Use your aura to bring her to the ground."

"Understood." The man said, turning his attention to the star shining high in the sky. Nothing happened outwardly, but the tension in the air noticeably thickened as his eyes locked onto the woman and he focused his fear aura solely on her.

Purity's light dimmed as the woman's body seemed to seize in midair. She stopped concentrating on her flight as her muscles locked up in terror and she began to spiral to the ground, landing a short ways away from the battlefield itself.

Clones rose from the ground around her and grabbed onto her limbs, dragging her down to the earth. She began to struggle as she realized what was happening, but it was weak and more importantly, futile. Though her powers may have been incredibly potent, she wasn't actually any stronger than a normal woman her age, and thus it was easy to keep her restrained.

Deciding that I would be better off removing such a potent variable from the battlefield entirely, I took command of one of the soldiers holding her down and softened the earth underneath her. She began to sink into like quicksand, and the fear in her actions doubled as she realized what I was doing.

"You should have stayed out of this." I told her as more and more of her body was consumed by the earth. Purity's light flickered with her fear, momentarily exposing her real features before she got it back under control.

"Please don't! He has my daughter!" She begged as she was submerged up to her neck. I gazed at her dispassionately as she continued to sink.

"I have torn apart many families for less than what your group has done. Yours is not special."
The ground consumed her completely, snuffing her light as she was taken by the earth. I stared at the spot in which she had disappeared for a long moment, before Kaiser's enraged shout caught my attention. I turned to him to find that he had been watching the whole time.

He raised his hands in a sharp gesture and hundreds of sharpened blades emerged from every surface available in a large radius around him. One after the other they came and sliced through my clones like they were made of butter, and even I was left stunned at just how quickly they fell.

The battlefield quickly became a patchwork of steel and shattered stone as Kaiser's power proved to be much more potent than I had originally thought. By the time it was over, only a single formed clone remained standing near Spook, and it was that one that I inhabited as I gazed around at this carnage.

"You are much more powerful than I gave you credit for." I said as I stared at the twisted blades all around us, "I see why my father respected your strength enough to leave you alone."

"I am going to crucify you, you wretch!" Kaiser spat, completely bereft of all previous decorum. The loss of Purity was hitting him hard and he was more concerned with making me pay than keeping up his kingly act.

I tilted my head at his throat, "As impressive as your act was, it was ultimately pointless. I have plenty of material around here to replace my lost manpower."

As I spread my consciousness out to make more stone soldiers, the roar of engines high above brought the entire battleground to a halt, and my heart sank as I turned my attention upwards to the sky.

Jets spit streams of blazing fire as three massive draconic mechs descended from the sky, landing in the middle of the battlefield and separating all of us from one another. Massive guns swiveled on the hips of two of the dragons, aiming towards me as they were primed to shoot.

They were clearly loaded with live ammunition instead of containment foam, and I was sure that whatever caliber they were supplied with wasn't something I wanted anything to do with, beanbag rounds or no.

As the mechs kept us in their sights, the third mech, this one much larger than the others and standing on six legs instead of two, knelt down. A hydraulic hiss sounded through the area as the front half of its body raised upwards, revealing a large cavity within the dragon.

Several heroes stepped out and formed a perimeter around the mechs, all of them facing me instead of the Nazis behind them. Kaiser and his people clearly hadn't been expecting this, and his anger gave way to wariness and confusion as he watched the display before him.

Armsmaster stepped forwards, his halberd glowing brightly as he pointed it towards me, "Stand down and withdraw your men, Yosei. If you don't, we are authorized to use as much force as we think is required to take you down."

I stared at the heroes as they filed from their transport, and I felt a deep, burning anger build inside my chest as I realized that they were here solely for me, interposing themselves between me and the Nazi's that I had promised to deliver retribution upon.

It seemed at the twilight of the Empire, the heroes sworn to defeat evil like them had instead rushed to their rescue. Why was I not surprised?

---

Took a break from writing but now I'm back!
Get chapters to this fic weekly at Sadguychet | Patreon! Chapter 75 has just been posted!

 

[Vasstago]

It seemed at the twilight of the Empire, the heroes sworn to defeat evil like them had instead rushed to their rescue. Why was I not surprised?

Click to shrink...

It sounds like Coil but it could very well be just Piggot being paranoid about a Brockton Bay's Games. Probably the first using the fears of the second.