CHAPTER 52: LII - THE RURAL SAFEHOUSE (PART 2)

The older dark-skinned woman rotated her shoulder and stretched her intricate bronze metal arm. She wore a tan overcoat with an open front draped over her shoulders, tan cargo pants and heavy black boots.

She dusted hay off of her outfit, the large not even bothering to pay the heroes any mind. As she moved, the heavy bronze epaulettes hanging off her shoulders dangled freely. She brushed hay out of her short graying braids. A hiss of steam escaped from her metallic arm as she played with a few of the dials and valves on her arm for a few moments before finally turning to the two heroes.

Shota leaned in and whispered to Nairobi, "This is the Ms. Friendly I was reading reports about? The potential unranked metahuman monster? She looks...old. Is she really that strong?"

Nairobi glared at him and whispered, "Don’t underestimate her. I thought the same thing, but I promise you her strength is the real deal. I’ve never seen anything like her in my life."

"Hardware," She stated flatly, catching both of the heroes’ attention, "Code Talker said you would go to the safe house in Seaside and Ninjaman would come to this one. I suppose even he can be wrong sometimes."

Nairobi immediately extended her nail and pierced Ms. Friendly through the shoulder.

Ms. Friendly didn’t flinch at the attack, nor even attempt to dodge or defend herself. She grabbed the nail and forced it out of her shoulder. Ms. Friendly glanced at the wound on her shoulder briefly before looking back at Nairobi. Nairobi retracted the nail and readied another attack.

Ms. Friendly clicked her tongue and shook her head, "Still doing that, huh? I’ve seen that before already. In fact, why don’t I get rid of that for you?"

Ms. Friendly lifted her bronze arm up and electricity bounced around it. Nairobi’s large nail glowed with a purple aura. It started to move on its own, first beginning with a small tug, before the pull was strong enough to drag Nairobi across the ground.

"That’s it, give that to me," Ms. Friendly taunted. After a few more seconds, as the pull of the nail began to lift her off of her feet, Nairobi let go of it.

Ms. Friendly held it in the air for a second before telepathically twisting it into knots and tossing it to the side.

Ms. Friendly turned to Nairobi, "That’s better. Now, don’t you have something else in your bag of tricks? I know that’s not your only weapon."

Ms. Friendly put her hand up and caught a blindingly fast uppercut from Shota in her bronze hand.

Nairobi’s eyes widened in surprise as she fumbled through her pockets. She thought to herself, "I didn’t even see Shota move. How did she block that?"

She pushed him away with little effort and smirked, "Hello to you too. You’re strong, aren’t you?"

Shota slid across the ground and kicked up a cloud of dust for a few seconds before finally stopping himself.

"And you’re fast," Shota spat out. He jumped back and stood next to Nairobi.

Ms. Friendly narrowed her eyes at Shota, "I know you. You’re Shota Netsuma, right? Your hero name is Portag. I can’t say it’s my favorite name. Your friend Keita’s name is much better."

Shota closed the distance in a second and threw another devastating punch, "You know all about us, huh? What are you, some type of hero nerd?"

She dodged the punch swiftly and tripped Shota, "Hero — Lord no, there’s nothing in this world that I hate more than you heroes. I just like to make sure I know my competition. Portag, Rank number 33, and your power is Level 99 for 99. I bet the marketing team we’re high-fiving each other when they came up with that. You can max out all of your physical stats and become nearly invincible for 99 seconds."

Ms. Friendly looked down at him as he scrambled to get up, "It seems like it only boosts your physical attributes though. Your fighting technique leaves a lot to be desired."

Ms. Friendly kicked Shota away, sending him flying through the side of the barn.

She turned to face Nairobi, "Aren’t you going to step in? Or are you content watching your ally get beat up?"

Nairobi reached in her pocket and grabbed a handful of screws. She kicked her leg up, lifted her arm and threw the fistful of screws like a baseball.

Ms. Friendly sighed and put her bronze arm up, electricity bouncing around it once again, "Really? This again? Maybe your arsenal is smaller than I thought."

The screws whizzed right past Ms. Friendly’s arm and piereced her body, creating crimson stains in her uniform.

Ms. Friendly, still unfazed by the pain, grabbed one of the screws out of her shoulder and shook the blood off of it, lifting it up to her eye.

"Huh. A plastic screw," Ms. Friendly examined, turned and flipped it, examining it slowly, "That’s pretty good. So it’s not just metal screws and nails you can control, but fasteners made of any material. I wonder if I made a screw out of hay, if you could control that."

Ms. Friendly flicked the plastic screw back at Nairobi, which she dodged easily.

Shota burst through the barn wall and threw another punch at Ms. Friendly, which was easily caught.

She glared at him, "Hm. That isn’t good at all. Don’t you have anything else besides throwing wild punches? Do you have any techniques, any martial arts skills? Or is flailing your arms enough to defeat the villains in California?"

Shota pulled his arm back and unleashed a flurry of lightning-fast punches. He gritted his teeth, "This doesn’t make any sense! I thought your power had something to do with controlling the weather. How can you keep up with me?"

A cruel smile spread across Ms. Friendly’s face as she swiftly blocked and dodged the onslaught of attacks, "Oh, sweet child. You should know there are other ways to gain strength besides being born with it. Your friend Mina knows all about that..." She turned to Nairobi, "And your friend Ninjaman does too."

The muscles in Shota’s jaw clenched, and his face twisted in anger. He thought to himself, "How does she know about that?"

The air distorted around Shota, and his hair stood on end. He let out a long exhale and glared at Ms. Friendly.

Shota growled out, "I’m tired of that condescending attitude. I’m not a child for you to talk down to!"

Nairobi reached in her pocket and unleashed another hail of plastic screws. Ms. Friendly dodged to the side but was caught in the air by Shota as soon as her feet left the ground. He threw another punch, which was blocked by Ms. Friendly. The attack pushed her back slightly, and she responded with a punch with her bronze arm.

Shota dodged and unleashed another barrage of punches, faster this time. His punches became more accurate, more powerful. Despite the mounting pressure, Ms. Friendly’s smile only widened.

"I’m starting to see it now. How you could be a top-ranked hero. You’re sloppy, but your power and speed are unreal."

Ms. Friendly held her hand up toward one of the decrepit farming vehicles in the barn and telepathically pulled the hood off of it. She held it up to shield herself.

Shota slipped past the shield and hit her with two consecutive punches, one to the stomach and one to the jaw.

Ms. Friendly failed to guard against the attacks and staggered back slightly.

She stopped moving for a second and gripped her jaw tightly. She snapped it back into place and grinned at Shota.

"So that’s Level 99, huh? Not bad. And to make it even better, you make the most out of your limited time by only using your ability when your attack is about to connect. I wonder how many seconds you’ve used so far."

Shota stared at for a second and thought to himself, "What was that? Did she just let me hit her?"

He shook the thought off and dropped back into a battle stance, calling out, "I still have enough to beat you."

"She hasn’t even used her ability yet. There’s nothing here, we should get out of here and try to call for backup," Nairobi spoke in a hushed tone.

Ms. Friendly put her hands behind her back and walked to the opposite end of the barn, stopping just near the other entrance.

"That’s what you think, huh? That you can beat me? We’ll see about that. I wonder how your ability stands up against mine," She stated coolly.

Ms. Friendly took in a deep breath and crossed her arms. The two heroes watched her movements in apprehension, both unable to move.

A palpable tension filled the room. Everything was completely still for a few seconds until Ms. Friendly opened her mouth. Nairobi watched in horror as she spoke. Shota looked at her confused.

"Anti-Weather System: Anti-Blizzard."