Highway Star

The manager's apartment was 3/9ths ways across town, the distance of which is utterly meaningless to you. But he was on the third-floor, if that helps matters. No?

Phantom unlocked the door and in stepped the two, Phantom reverting the sound of their footsteps before they could be fully born. The living room was half-kitchen, across from which were two doors, one to the bedroom and the other to the bathroom.

"KNOCK-KNOCK!" shouted Natasha as a heavy wind yanked the door off the bedroom -

- and revealed nothing but an empty bed. "Oh, damnit."

"Figured he had already left." muttered Iris. "Goddamn, it's cramped in here."

Natasha looked at her oddly. "Iris, this is literally the biggest apartment I've ever seen in New York. He's probably paying $4,000 a month for this."

"What a horrific state."

"Yep. Some day a real rain will come and wash all the scum off the streets."

Iris crouched down to begin her timeline, but heard something rattling in the bathroom.

Natasha glanced at it tentatively, but Phantom rotted the door and there was nothing there. She shrugged. "Nope, fuck that." She aimed her right hand out and a geyser of lava shot into the bathroom that splattered, melting through the entire room; purple, segmented and monstrous hands began leaking out of the lava flow and seeping out of the bathroom as Iris shot up.

"Ah, fuck." muttered Natasha. "The host is here. Let's clear the rooms out."

The two rushed to the bedroom; the light was on inside and out of it came a flower of electricity that cleared the room, but caught no host. Iris rushed to the bed and crouched down, sweeping underneath it with a superheated ray as Natasha shot off a few bolts of green lightning beside.

As Iris stood up, she kept her back to the wall, and in the next instant -

- two monstrous hands sprouted from the walls and grabbed her by her neck, thumbs trying for her eyes -

- but two electric eyelids kept her safe as she broke out of their grip, turning to face her assailants for the next instant scene.

The wall rotted and revealed the world outside; their base lost, the hands fell off into a fist of pressure that punted them outside and sent them sailing, time reverting and repairing the wall as Iris rushed out of the bedroom with Natasha.

Glancing at the floor-is-lava bathroom again, Natasha checked inside and saw bottles of medication scattered across the floor, melting & dripping their contents in the lava; she frowned as they didn't disintegrate, and in the next instant -

- purple spores shot out of the pills & towards the two -

- but a swift wind threw herself & Iris to the ground; from above, more purple hands fell on Natasha -

- and into the lava she rolled, taking a dunk inside as she tried to shake them off. Behind, Iris staggered up and felt a presence behind; she turned just in time to blast the hand with another fist of pressure that splattered it across the living room and against the wall, holding it off for now.

She turned back to see Natasha dipping her head above the lava; two hands were grabbing at her hair and trying to gouge out her eyes. "I-Iris -- Phantom, fuck -" Natasha ripped the hands off her and lost a few tufts with it, coating the hands in liquid lava as she threw them away -

" - Phantom!" shouted Iris; Phantom's strand twitched and accelerated the lava's cooling -

- encasing the foul appendages in igneous rock as Natasha kicked herself up, rushing with Iris into the living room with the ceiling fan still on above, shining & blowing. Behind, the bathroom door reverted shut and kept the floor repaired to keep the hands trapped.

"Starting to think the host isn't here!" groaned Natasha, backing away. "Ugh, this is probably-"

- Iris felt a purple monstrous hand trying to dig into her left boot; she kicked her leg up and punted it into the ceiling fan, Phantom's strand accelerating its blow -

- and the spinning blade churned it into bits of purple blood & gore, spores bursting out of its corpse and spreading across the room -

- but the fan's suck accelerated and pulled it back in, Natasha laughing beside: "Hey, I bet you could convince guys to stick their-"

The rest of that joke will not be relayed.

More segments of hands were dripping in from the ceiling; palms and fingers and knuckles. Several leaped at Iris and formed a full hand mid-flight, but the ceiling fan's light was still on and the next scene was instant.

The lightbulb's electricity accelerated and broke out of containment in a rain of glass -

- and into the flying hand went the falling glass, slicing through and lodging in deep -

- and a swift reversion returned the glass to its rightful home & the monstrous hand with it, keeping it trapped inside the bulb, writhing and squirming for air as more electricity filled the bulb.

Beside, Natasha snapped a few hands apart as a woman might snap a wishbone. "Good job! Okay, fuck, we gotta find the host, though -- can you -- repair if I wreck?"

"I can." Iris nodded and let her mentor step forward, one hand aimed at the bedroom and one at the bathroom; two geysers of lava shot out and filled the unholy fuck out of both rooms with lava, Phantom's strands closing the doors of each as they let the two rooms simmer.

"If another hand appears, this is remote." muttered Natasha.

Iris glanced up and saw tree roots sprouting out of the bulb; one burrowed up into the filament and all the lights went out, though Natasha kept a lava-coated hand high like a torch. "Get the feeling it's feeding on something. Is it?"

"Yeah, probably. It was getting into the pills earlier."

Iris tried to accelerate the electricity in the bulb, but found it entirely clogged by roots, and in the next instant -

- two monstrous arms covered in leaves burst out of the ceiling and tried to grab her; the air superheated around herself -

- but the leaves burst into steam, hot vapors covering her and starting to scald her skin -

" - Meteorology!" shouted Natasha; a snowy cocoon covered Iris and kept her safe from the steam -

- and a strong wind pulled her out of it into Natasha and out of the arms' grip, Natasha grabbing her protege and running out to the hallway as they turned to see the next strange scene.

The two monstrous arms dripped out fully from the ceiling, and two monstrous legs formed out of the lightbulb as segments of its torso slithered from the bathroom. Soon it constituted a full creature, Neanderthal-esque, a humanoid beast that walked on four legs but could still grip and maim with its front hands, its grinning jaw.

Natasha Flagg was no archaeologist, however. "Enjoy the volcano, dick!" A wave of lava shot into the room and Natasha slammed the door shut, running up the hall with Iris at her side and the stairs down up ahead. "Fuck, this is probably a remote Revenant. These are total pains in the asses."

["Overdrive Best Part Extended 1 Hour - Joseph Joestar's Theme". The background tempo helps the fight flow. There is also "Jojo Overdrive [EXTENDED]" if you prefer instrumental.]

"Remote Revenant?" said Iris, relevantly as they ran.

"Yeah. The host isn't here and the Revenant acts on its own. They always have a tell for where the host is, though."

"How far away could he be?"

"Few miles?" Natasha winced. "It's fine, just figure out the tell."

40ft behind, the door was beginning to budge; Iris kept a glut of pressure on it as they ran, her pressure weakening as she went past 50ft and was eventually 75 away, and as Phantom's power dimmed at such range -

- the pressure disappeared; two monstrous arms burst out of the door -

- but a swift revert & repair sliced them off and left them wriggling on the ground as Iris & Natasha rushed into the stairwell, sliding down the guardrails with no time to waste. They were half a floor down when they looked up and heard the sound of pattering legs; one floor down, Iris felt the stair-rail bend above and assumed it was the creature -

"-Phantom!" "-Meteorology!"

Two bolts of electricity shot into the rail and caused it to shudder above -

- but a gust of oxygen hit the rail and the entire thing rusted away, corroding in an instant; the two fell off and hit their faces on the steps down, rolling and scraping their way down to the next flight, wincing as they stood but unable to stop to groan. The creature was catching up with them above; only one floor separated them.

"Sorry for this." said Natasha, and in the next instant -

- a gust of wind blasted herself & Iris down the stairs -

- and another curled them around; Iris turned back mid-flight and saw the creature rushing at them on all fours -

"-Phan-"

- Phantom's strand reverted the broken rail, and as the shards of metal flew back to their rightful home -

- they shot right through the creature and sliced through its neck & lack-of-nose; it staggered but made no noise, as Natasha's wind curled them around and deposited them right at the first floor, concrete hall up ahead.

"Gotta keep running until the trick." winced Natasha as they ran.

They passed over a small vent, and Iris glanced down; there was a purple flower inside and she caught a whiff of something that disappeared moments later, as they came into the apartment's lobby and kept their run going.

Iris looked back and saw the creature in pursuit; it ran on all fours like a crimson & purple nightmare. Several purple flowers were on its back, spewing purple fumes that twisted around each other before disappearing.

"Maybe he's in... another apartment complex here." muttered Natasha as they ran out of the building and to the street beyond, rushing up the sidewalk. "Maybe it'll speed up or react differently when it's close to them. Sounds good."

Behind, the creature was gaining ground, and as it came 20ft within -

- a heavy gust of wind blasted it away and sent it scraping & rolling up the road; Natasha shouted for Meteorology again and a lava-tornado 10ft tall shot out and towards it to tangle it up, magma and bits of rock spewing as they kept their rush going.

"Apartment." Iris pointed across the street; another (presumably competing) apartment building was there past its parking lot, and the two rushed into the lot as Natasha spoke: "Iris, wait on the bottom floor and collapse the ceiling in on it while I climb up, okay? I've got you."

"A-Alright."

Alone, Iris rushed into the apartment's first-floor lobby and turned when she was about midway in it; she saw Natasha blast herself up with wind to the wall outside and start climbing out of her sight. The creature had recovered, and Iris watched as it entered the parking lot, hurtling itself along at terrifying gait, and as it entered the building 20ft ahead of her -

" - Phantom!" she shouted; time accelerated and the ceiling above it collapsed, sending a rain of rubble crashing down upon it and slamming it into the floor -

- but a sudden gust of wind shot from outside & above and yanked her diagonally-up; caught off-guard, her head smashed through a boulder of concrete as a dozen roots shot around her ankles from below, pausing her midair flight-plan. Roots curled around her ankles and gripped her tight; one shot up to her wrist and began to snap it back -

"- P-Phantom." she grunted; as the minute soundwave from the crack came into being, Phantom rapidly accelerated its birth -

- and the shockwave shot out of time's womb like a cutting wind that sliced through the roots and left her freed & falling back to the ground; she scraped herself up and let Natasha's wind pull her up, then blast both of them up to the roof as Natasha turned to her. "Uh, I needed you to be closer so I could pull you out."

Iris grumbled a bit but didn't reply. Natasha seemed annoyed and quickly glanced around, then grabbed Iris as she saw the line of shorter buildings below; a slide of clouds formed and both of them rode it down together to another rooftop.

"Do you have a plan yet?" said Natasha as they ran, and Iris nodded, telling it to her. "'kay. Ugh, what the fuck, this thing is getting faster. Wonder how it knows where we are. Or those fumes forming the weird cross-shapes."

They leaped again and hit a small asphalt lot rolling; they rushed once more and were soon on the roof of a convenience store, then turning to again see the creature gaining speed on them. They would need to counter it again. Natasha said something to Iris, inaudible as Iris prepared to run again.

It was coming closer now, and as its hands shot through the side of the store to start its climb -

- the wall collapsed inward and so did the creature -

- and a swift revert & repair sliced through it and trapped one half inside & the other out; checking on her spiderwork, Iris peered over the edge -

- but a monstrous purple hand shot up and grabbed her face, again trying for her eyes, its other fingers shoving pills in her mouth; she grabbed the hand and threw it off of her face, but as the pills landed on her tongue -

- roots burst out of the medication and shot through her tongue; a miniscule, short-range Phantom web formed in her throat and caught the other two pills, but more roots grew and started to slice through their captor. Staggering back and choking, a grip of pressure formed in her throat and tried to bend the roots; they barely budged, but did after the next instant scene.

Phantom peered into eternity and saw the water molecules in her mouth's air; it accelerated their evaporation and left nothing -

- and the hyper-aridity dried the branches out into twigs; she tried her pressure-grip again and snapped them apart like spines, crushing them into powder and Natasha's wind pulling it out of her throat. Iris thanked her and coughed, seeing a purple flower reconstitute on the wall below, along with the rest of the creature below that.

The floor rotted out and into the hole fell the women, a convenience store filled with shelves of snacks and overhead lights. Iris let Natasha know what she was going to do and rushed back up the store, but didn't feel her mentor by her side; she looked back and saw Natasha standing there, giving the same stare back at her and seemingly angry with her.

Iris realized it now and gestured Natasha to her; no response. She backed up, hotdog rollers spinning (but never getting any closer to her) at her left; several purple hands burst out of the meat and shot through the glass to grab her -

- but a superheat & pressure went through the hotdogs; they exploded -

- but the glass reconstituted and the foul dogs splattered only against glass as Iris stumbled back, dodging another branch swinging for her face as she saw Natasha with two monstrous legs wrapped around her. (Given the popularity of muscular women among lesbians, likely not the first legs that had done so, but usually they were more delicate.)

Iris realized the Revenant then. She hit the shelf at her right with a punch that toppled it over, falling and sending the rest over with it, scattering bags of chips all over the floor; she tried to use Phantom to rapidly rot all of the food items away -

- but she felt a presence behind and was forced to turn to it; the creature was 10ft away, its legs gone and crawling like a zombie towards her. More purple entrails were leaking out of the bags of chips, reconstituting its body. A thin purple strand chained the bags together and brought it to the creature, its legs beginning to reform again, coated in aluminum-coated bags.

Iris smirked.

She shielded her eyes from the overhead lights, and the next scene was instant. Phantom accelerated the electricity within, & again & again; an enormous bolt of lightning cracked our that struck the creature head-on; unfettered, it staggered -

- until the bolt spread to the bags it was coated in -

- and again -

- and again -

- and again, and again, and again; a carpet of green electricity forming and coating the entire floor as Natasha added her own into the mix -

- and the entire creature exploded like an overdone hotdog; Phantom reverted the bags of chips together and they all came together in an aluminum patchwork mess, yet contained the creature's gore for now as it fell back but continued to twitch.

No time to waste, Iris ran back to Natasha and Natasha blasted down the wall to the outside. They swept out through it, curled back through the lot and kept running, making sure they were running away from the initial apartment and not towards it. They had some time, but Iris still had not regained her breath.

Natasha spoke: "Okay, I think I want to-"

Iris smacked her and she shut up. "S-S-Shorry. G-God..." Iris stretched out her hands as they ran, writing a message in electricity: 'Affects speech'.

Natasha read it and facepalmed, then shook her head. "Those fumes are fine." She smiled but covered her expression.

Iris set Phantom to peer inside of her own lungs. She had no direct access to her biology, but she inhaled a bolt of her own lightning with no damage done. There was a lattice of gas she could only barely manipulate; a Revenant not part of her biology. More electric wording appeared as they ran: 'In lungs'.

The creature was in pursuit again. Iris leered back, then reverted the asphalt into tar; that would slow it some.

Natasha placed one hand on Iris's mouth and another on her own, and a gust of wind shot from it that pulled all the fumes & air out of their lungs. A swift reversion set their breath back where it belonged as they continued their run; an aura of air formed around their bodies, expelling the rest of the unseen fumes and preventing any more.

"Iris, I want to go down on you after this." said Natasha.

Iris was flustered. "W-What?"

"Oh, phew, that's how you'd react if you heard that right. Just testing that it's gone. It was either that or shout bitch as loud as I could."

"Don't make offers you don't intend to keep."

"W-What?"

"Just testing."

"Well, as long as we're making thinly veiled sexual innuendos, the fumes are-"

"N-Natasha, I don't think 'I want to go down on you' is thinly veiled." coughed Iris. "T-That's about as thinly veiled as a man telling a woman he'd like to undress her, flip her over the table, pin her down and start fucking her."

"Well, I'm trying to control myself, such as how those fumes pretty clearly point to the host."

Iris looked back. The creature's fumes had changed; now they only pointed in one consistent direction; their own. "You sure?"

Natasha shot off a gust of wind at it. "I angled that wind and the fumes didn't change direction."

"F-Figured. I've got something for it."

They ran out to the sidewalk, keeping their motion up the street with cars parked at their permanent intervals. "Hey, Iris, wanna plan out something that'll actually succeed without the fumes now?"

"Alright."

Natasha glanced back as they ran; it was within 30ft now, close-range. "I'm gonna cut across the street, but I want to leave you behind to attack it." She repeated the message in electricity to ensure it was understood.

Iris glanced to the cars and formed her plan, then whispered it to Natasha. The creature was within 20ft; 10ft; it lunged at Iris & Natasha -

- but the next scene was instant. A blast of wind shot Natasha across the street: a second shot Iris through one of the car windows and into the seat; there she sat for a moment, watching as the beast crawled through the window to lunge at her -

- but she slipped out of the car and slammed the door shut; the creature tried to follow her but a shockwave blasted it back, and as the windows repaired themselves -

- a hook of wind pulled Iris back to Natasha; midair she scraped a pebble off the asphalt and shot it hyper-accelerated into the car's gas tank, Phantom rapidly exciting the molecules around it -

- and the spark burst the car into an explosion that blasted the doors off and scorched through the creature still inside; as Iris landed beside Natasha, she chronoshifted and repeated the explosion once more before they ran away again, repaired car behind them and creature still groaning inside.

"Fuck yeah." said Natasha. "Tired yet?"

"S-Slightly." Iris wheezed.

"Gimme your hand."

Iris gave Natasha her hand. A jet of wind sliced a small cut in it, and Natasha pressed her thumb over it; Iris felt slightly reinvigorated as Natasha pulled it away. "The hell is that?"

"Pure oxygen. Boosts you up for a bit."

"God, I wish I had your cardio."

"You will." Natasha winked and Iris smiled as they cut up the sidewalk; an alleyway was some seconds up ahead at their right.

Iris checked in her pocket and pulled up something she had kept from the convenience store: a thin glass shard from a bottle. "Check this." Time reverted and it repaired, yet spun in her hand and its nozzle pointed one way. "Fumes are pointing that way. I managed to capture them earlier when I was doing that."

"Oh, shit, and the fumes spun the bottle because they always have to point one way. Sick."

Iris kept it steady, her right hand occupied as they ducked into the alleyway; a ladder led up above, and Natasha was preparing to climb it when the creature came to the entrance of the alley, and as she blasted it with a wave of wind -

- a thousand holes opened up in its body and the wind fizzled with no push done; Natasha cursed as it leaped towards her -

- but a second wind blasted the wall at her right and a hook of wind pulled the rubble back to the creature midair -

- smashing & pinning it to the opposite wall with a sickening crunch; Natasha blasted it with a few more gluts of rubble as the two swept into the building right, standing in a restaurant bathroom now. Iris was still tiring, trying to keep the bottle steady as they ran and the wall repaired; but the creature's arms were beginning to phase through the wall, and soon its monstrous form was full again -

" - oh, fuck this - Meteorology!" shouted Natasha, zipping up her parka tight -

- and a blizzard filled the entire bathroom; snow and hail and chill filled the room with such speed & velocity that the toilets shattered in an instant; Iris accelerated the pipes and several jets of water burst out that blasted the creature to the wall, freezing under the immense chill as more holes opened up in its body, both intentional and sliced.

Natasha backed up to the entrance of the room. Waves of avalanches washed over the creature. "Iris, head up ahead and take a breather for a few seconds."

Iris nodded and strolled out.

Natasha watched as the creature slowly broke free, shambling towards her. She felt like a prizefighter as she wound up her right arm, and as it tried to pounce on her again -

- her ice-coated fist slammed into its face -

- but bounced off like it had hit a trampoline; her arm smashed backwards into the wall and she winced in pain, hitting the beast with a gust of wind that did nothing for a second -

- but a cane of hail formed around its neck and yanked its head clear off with the momentum; a few branches burst out of its limp body to grab her, but she covered it in snow and they wilted as she strolled out to the main restaurant with Iris. She glanced back once more to the bathroom, and saw that it was already not there.

She wondered where it went. She rushed out with Iris back into the city street, keeping up a tailwind as they rushed through more sidewalks and up another ten blocks, bottle still keeping them pointed in a consistent direction.

"I'm going to try to keep up, b-but I'd prefer we start saving Phantom for the max effect I can have." panted Iris. "I-I still need to remake the bottle to triangulate his exact location."

"Yeah, shit."

Natasha turned and blasted the wall at her left with wind; the concrete that bust out slammed into the creature and sent it sailing across the street again. "Not sure we'll have time to verify, unless we can put it down real bad..."

"A-Another apartment." wheezed Iris, rushing right into another parking lot of a (presumably competing) apartment complex. (In actuality: all were owned by the same company.)

The apartment complex was up ahead. They cut into the lobby and ducked into the elevator, Iris beside Natasha mashing the arrow to go up; Phantom accelerated it and it began moving upward.

"Anything with the bottle?" said Natasha, glancing over. It had not moved.

Below, a rumbling began, and in the next instant -

- the creature's arms burst through the floor, its monstrous claws slashing through Iris's legs and trying to pull her down; Phantom reversed the elevator's ascent as a wind held her & Natasha down -

- and the creature went slamming into the ceiling but deflated like a purple puddle, no damage done, body covered in red flowers as it spewed poisonous fumes into their faces -

"Phantom!" "Meteorology!"

A vacuum wind blew all the pressure in the elevator into the creature; Iris followed with her own pressure-system -

- and the creature crumpled into a mess of purple & red flowery gore; the floor rotted away and Iris & Natasha fell down as the repaired elevator hyper-accelerated up, wind blasting them across the lobby as they landed back on the first floor.

"G-Got the bottle again." said Iris, holding up the repaired glass. It was pointing diagonally up. "I-I saw there's about three or four floors here."

"Oh, great." mumbled Natasha. "Okay, fuck, let's try outside."

They ran outside and circled around to the side of the building, asphalt lot with a grated sewer drain nearby. Above, Natasha heard a window shatter and looked up -

- just in time for the creature to tackle her from above; its monstrous hands ripped at her muscular arms as more branches sought her eyes, but her grip craned the branches back and snapped them apart. In a whirlwind of blows and purple tatters they rolled down the asphalt, revolving so swiftly that Iris dared not interfere.

But her mentor's physical strength was prevailing. She was holding back the creature's ripping arms and its grinning jaw that gaped for her throat; she landed a blow on it that sent it careening off of her, and with no hesitation she stood up over it, stomped its chest, then pulled and tugged at its two arms, until the tension overloaded its body and she ripped both arms off in a geyser of purple gore & blood; instantly she threw them away.

Phantom rotted away the sewer drain and Natasha hefted up the creature, readying to throw it down -

- but a set of branches burst from its lost limbs and tugged at her down; she tottered as more were added in, and fell into the hole with it below -

- but a midair wind turned her around before her back hit the drink, and into the liquid dunked the beast; a platform of snow kept her from landing with it and a swift wind blasted her up & out of the hole, spraying one jet of lava below herself, and Phantom accelerated the birth of what was to come as it hit the sewage -

- and an enormous explosion cascaded through the entire sewer below; a great geyser of fire burst out of the manhole and the ground shuddered, asphalt cracking as Natasha landed beside Iris, laughed, ran up to the side of the building and began her manual climb, punching handholds into the walls that Iris followed up with below.

"Okay, gotta save some energy for the host." winced Natasha. "Any ideas on how to find a host besides dunking everyone in lava and seeing who doesn't drown?"

Iris glanced at the bottle: it continued to eternally point upward. As they climbed up to the second-floor hallway, she took a Flickendecke patch from Natasha's pocket. "This'll work, right?"

"Damn, that's smart." Natasha grabbed it and wind blasted it away; a hook of air brought it back to her. Phantom's strand twitched and every door in the hallway rotted, much to their inhabitants' chagrin; rushing alongside with Iris, Natasha threw the Flickendecke patch onto those she saw and hooked it back when it did not shrivel, their screams cresting as the fucking abomination touched their skin.

No shrivels in the first hall; they turned right and entered another, repeating the same to no avail. A door led to the stairwell; Natasha ran up and opened it. There were pipes inside, out of which were vines growing and leaking segments of the creature's body.

Natasha slammed it shut and ran away. "Nope. Meteorology!" A staircase of lava shot up through the ceiling and a staircase of snow chilled it down; they rushed up to the next floor and rotted the first door they saw. A man was sitting on the couch and watching the doorway; a Flickendecke patch curled around his face -

- and both he & patch shrieked and shriveled, throwing themselves away from each other; into the room swept Iris & Natasha as he threw his hand out, pleading with them as he tried to back 10ft away. "W-What in the f-f-fucking-"

" - Meteorology!"

"- Phantom!"

The creature reappeared ahead of him and leaped towards Iris -

- but five superheated winds shot through his limbs and sliced through each like there was nothing there, his mangled & cauterized pieces falling to the ground as the creature gurgled & disappeared, only a still-beating heart left. Dark hands reclaimed it, but a wind pulled Natasha's tablet to her hands and she scanned it just before it disappeared.

[Overpass Eclipse: Autonomous. Ability to grow 'life'. (Primarily plants.) Fumes distort vision/speech for those affected but point to location of the host.]

"S-Smooth." Iris wheezed and sat down on the couch with the corpse, then pushed the corpse off so she could lay down.

"Oh, that? That's nothing, Iris. Check this out." Natasha threw her tablet out the window, and at the apex of her range, a wind blasted it back towards her. It smashed against the outside wall of the apartment and shattered into pieces, falling into the streets below. "FUCK!"

Iris laughed and reverted it back to Natasha's back. She was amazed at Natasha's cardio; even for a host it was impressive.

"Alright, we gotta leave before they show up." said Natasha. "Sorry."

Iris looked expectantly to Natasha. "Aren't you forgetting something?" She gestured to her crotch. It took two hands.

"I don't know what you're talking about. Must've been the fumes." Natasha shrugged and went off to his fridge. "Meal-time first."

Iris laughed. She felt that her time as a mechanic & her uncle had numbed her to all sorts of bawdy & cruel jokes: which was likely a bad thing, but true nonetheless.

This time, Natasha drank several raw eggs: which was likely also a bad thing, but true nonetheless. "Hey, this guy probably has some stuff here, too, so we can come back after and supplement our shit salary."

They went back to the initial apartment and Iris's eyes rolled as they stepped through the door. It had been completely cleared out and destroyed. "Phantom." It shifted back to pre-fight. She crouched down and began her timeline, but was interrupted by Natasha's tablet vibrating.

(???) "It's your handler. Come speak with me."

"Oh, now they want us." muttered Natasha. "Ugh. Okay, we'll come back here tomorrow."

Iris sighed and walked out with Natasha, leaning on her a bit for support. She thought she might like a job where others went to her and not the other way around, knowing that the world was its best for those with their fingers on power.