Quoted By:
<span class="mu-r">“Aw, first boyfriend playing hard to get? I’d suggest dinner and a movie to start. We can make it a double date so you feel less like hitting him. I’ll bring my girlfriend.”</span>
Scorpia made a bewildered expression, her attack pattern flagging in the middle of your rambling.
<span class="mu-g">“What, with Boomer? I’d rather fall on my own stinger than go anywhere with him.”</span> Scorpa said, her eyes narrowing to show her displeasure.
<span class="mu-r">“I’d rather none of us got stabbed with that thing, but you can’t win ‘em all.”</span> you quipped, narrowly avoiding a swipe from her pincer and flipping over a sweeping strike from her tail.
<span class="mu-r">“I like what you’ve done with your suit. Hard-hitting, fast response, shields, blasters, more strike angles. And don’t get me wrong, you’re fast, but my teacher’s faster. And she’s got like…eight of these.”</span>
<span class="mu-g">“What, like…an octopus?”</span> Scorpia asked.
<span class="mu-r">“Yes, ‘like an octopus’. I fought an octo-girl, but not in the way that you’re thinking. Get your mind out of the gutter.”</span>
<span class="mu-g">“Well, I wasn’t thinking about it before, but now I am.”</span>
Scorpia shook her head, throwing another wild claw swipe that went entirely wide on its way to your face. Despite this being a training session, you were surprised by the viscous nature of her fighting style. She was still pretty raw, but her striking speed was nothing to sneeze at. If she had been better trained, then you might’ve actually been in trouble.
<span class="mu-r">“Can you use that thing to get those hard-to-reach places on your back? Because it looks like it’d hurt if you tried.”</span>
You paused, giving your opponent a sideways look.
<span class="mu-r">“...<span class="mu-i">Have</span> you tried?”</span>
<span class="mu-g">“Have you even stopped to take a breath yet!?”</span> Scorpia said, her frustration building with each passing moment.
<span class="mu-r">“Superhuman stamina. I don’t know how I ever lived without it.”</span> you said. <span class="mu-r">“Are you sure you’re good to keep going? You’re looking a little green.”</span>
Scorpia let out a low snarl and stabbed at you with her pincer, just like you’d been waiting for.
Your arms blurred, strands of thick gossamer spinning around your hands to form a solid chunk of webbing in the rough shape of a shield, just in time for Scorpia’s tail to make contact.
Her stinger punched straight through, ignoring the resistances that your webbing should have offered, and almost threatening to puncture straight through your arm. Luckily, pulling out was far harder than she would’ve expected, because her tail was left thrashing around in your impromptu web-trap, leaving her with only her razor sharp pincers and plasma blasters. Which, in hindsight, was a hell of a lot more useful than you’d originally thought.
(Cont.)
