I had already done my research on Fracture, reading through the few news articles that bothered to mention him. I stood by as he activated his signature power, which caused him to scream from the pain. Jagged bones tore through his flesh, jutting out as makeshift weapons.

  After a few moments of watching his bones burst out of his body, he was finally ready to attack. To his credit, he rushed forward without fear, striking me in the chest. But he was a rookie, a villain for less than a month. Which meant he likely started around the same time he awakened.

  His punch bounced off me, unable to break through my scales. With his arm out of position, I placed one of my claws on his exposed shoulder. With one downward swing, I lobbed off his right arm. It took him a few seconds to follow his arm to the ground, screaming as he fell.

  That was when it hit me. A quiet voice whispering to me, stirring something I never knew that I had insidenme. It called to me more than any bottle ever did, tempted me more than any woman ever could. I stared at Fracture, who was now thrashing in a pool of his own blood.

  The scent of his blood wrapped around my mind, drawing all my attention towards it. It smelled so fucking good. There was only one thing I wanted at that moment. More.

  From that moment, everything went hazy. I remember the screams of the club members, desperate to escape. The way that he cried out in pain as I tore through him, using my fangs and claws to tear apart his body. I was covered in his remains, yet i still attacked what little was left, desperate to find more blood.

  That was when the second thing hit me. Tóxica slammed into my side, throwing me off whatever remained of his mutilated corpse. She was growling something at me, but I wasn’t interested in listening to whatever words were there. The only thing I saw was another bag of blood in front of me.

  I lunged at her, letting my instincts guide me. My fangs moved to sink into her neck, and my claws tore at her side. That only startled her for a moment, before she was able to throw me back. Before I even had a chance to collect myself, she launched herself onto me and I collapsed to the ground.

  She was screaming something at me, but I couldn’t understand it. I just screamed, mindless fury taking hold of me. Tóxica began to violently beat me, each of her blows scrambling my mind as the back of my head crashed into the floor. Despite my desperate attempts to tear into her exposed scales, she didn’t stop.

  I wasn’t certain when it happened, but I was able to think for just a moment. Like I’d been knocked back into my mind. I used whatever willpower I still had to return back to normal. My scales began to constrict, as if I was squeezed into my original shape.

  By the time I was able to think clearly, I found myself lying on The Crab Factory’s floor, covered in blood, with Tóxica holding me close. Her hand gently ran over the back of my head, while she hummed a song into my ear.

  It was barely audible over the club music, but I could make out the words, “Sana, sana, culito de rana, si no sanas hoy, sanarás ma?ana.”

  Once I started to relax, I looked up at her. “What’re you singing?”

  For the first time in the near month that I’ve known her, she blushed. “It was a song my mother used to sing for me. For when I was hurt.”

  “Thank you... What the hell just happened.”

  “I forgot the feeling of the first transformation.” Her relieved smile started to fade. “The change is a lot to handle. It’s good that you were able to return.”

  I gave her a hug. I wasn’t sure why I did it, it just felt like the right thing to do.

  Tóxica reciprocated the hug for a few seconds before pushing me off. “We need to go. You said that we needed to leave right after we killed them. It has already been a few minutes.”

  “Yeah, you’re right. Let’s go.” Was the only thing I could mutter, feeling unusually flustered.

  We left The Crab Factory, finding that the surrounding area was practically abandoned. There was no one in sight, and there were only two cars left in the parking lot. Right as I started to go down the street, Tóxica whistled to catch my attention. She was spinning a set of car keys on her finger.

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  “You know neither of us can drive, right?” I asked while walking back.

  “We’ve lost the head start, so we need an advantage, no?”

  Admittedly, she did have a point. A few minutes had already passed, and any henchmen that were with them would be calling people in a panic. Our time advantage was mostly because people hated waking up in the middle of the night.

  We climbed into a red camaro, with leather seats that were quickly ruined by the blood. Thankfully the driver wasn’t alive to mind the mess. Tóxica revved the engine, and she pulled us out of the parking lot after a bit of struggling.

  Once we finally reached the road, she hit the gas like it owed her money. There wasn’t anyone else driving, which was a gift from the Dendra above. She swerved through the streets, struggling to keep the car straight as we drove away from the crime scene.

  After a while, I realized that Tóxica had no clue where we were supposed to go. It became a much worse drive when I had to frantically scream directions while we were breaking the speed limit by thirty miles per hour.

  It was a miracle that we didn’t crash into anything by the time we reached the food truck. I had thought of abandoning the car a few blocks away and walking, but the Disciples would be looking for this car, and if they found it, that would let them know the area we’re in. Despite how dumb it felt, the best place to park it was next to the food truck. If they found the car, then they would’ve already found us.

  After she barely avoided crashing into the truck, I climbed out of the car and threw up. I didn’t know if it was motion sickness or my body reacting out of panic. While I was willing to do a lot to survive, there was no way in hell I would ever let Tóxica drive again.

  I was still catching my breath when the first explosion went off. The sound carried through the air, even from miles away. I hadn’t realized just how loud those bombs were until then. A few minutes later, and with more explosions bursting into the sky, Reload and Frank pulled up.

  “Holy shit, is that a camaro?” Reload asked, still dressed like a FedEx worker.

  “Yeah, we grabbed it off a dead super. We managed to take two of them down,” I said, getting up from the cold asphalt.

  “Can I have it?” he asked.

  “What? You can’t even drive, and it’s soaked in blood.”

  “Yeah, but I always wanted one.” He shrugged. “Who cares if it’s a bit messy.”

  Tóxica tossed the keys to him. “Feliz cumplea?os.”

  “Yeah, mazel tov!” Reload laughed, smiling at the new pair of keys in his hand.

  While we talked, explosions continued to ring out across the city. It started off with a rapid pace, one every few seconds. But they’d slowed down to only every couple of minutes. Unless the Disciples were dumber than I thought, they’d be stopping soon.

  Frank finally left the driver's seat of his car. “So, I’m probably going to regret asking, but each explosion is twisting my stomach and I’m going to snap if I don’t. Why did we just leave those bombs out in the open?”

  “If we attacked each safehouse, we’d get through less than five before being overwhelmed,” I explained. “When we attacked the villains out in the open, their people called for whatever backup they could. And no one likes being up this late, so the first response was going to come from the henchmen keeping guard at the safehouses.”

  “Then why hit them at night? We would’ve fucked up so many more if we did it during the day, take out their whole army,” Reload asked.

  “Because we don’t need to kill all of them to win. Right now, the henchmen know that they’re losing. Their supers are dying, their safehouses are being taken out, and we’ve still not been hit. And now that there were two Tóxica’s attacking the club, the rumors are going to spread quickly. It won’t take long before they’re quitting in droves.

  “It doesn’t matter if we’re weaker than them, we just need to stay one step ahead. If we continue knocking down pieces of their foundation, then we’ll eventually topple the building onto them. But for now, we should all try to get some rest for tomorrow.”

  After a bit of talking, I headed away from the group, already feeling the exhaustion set in. [Borrow] took a lot of energy to use, but [Reptilian Transformation] took so much more out of me. While powers got easier to use the more experienced you are, it was a gradual process. Without a way to consistently practice all the possible abilities, [Borrow] would need to be saved for the right time.

  I grabbed a bucket of water and a change of clothes from the food truck, heading off to the back to give myself a shitty shower. It was the only way to clean ourselves while hiding out. And I needed that shower, I could already feel the blood creeping onto every inch of me.

  While I tried to wash off the dried blood, I couldn’t help but overthink. This was the first public showing of my power, and it risked overplaying my hand. But at the same time, they would be scrambling for answers.

  What they saw could have been anything. Tom Any was one of the villains that refused to work with them, and this would be a perfect match for his duplication ability. Even when they found nothing down that rabbit hole, it still wouldn’t answer their questions. It could’ve been power sharing, cloning, or something they’ve never seen before. If I was lucky, by the time they discovered what actually happened, it would be too late.

  But even if they did figure it out, it would’ve been worth it just to scare away the henchmen. I wasn’t sparing them out of the kindness in my heart. When we took down the Disciples, someone would need to fill that power vacuum. And I would rather recruit experienced professionals than a bunch of new recruits.

  When I was clean enough, I headed to the blanket and pillow that functioned as my bed. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t fall asleep. While the explosions played a part, it was my dreams that kept me awake.