Brucie got back on his feet unsteadily, groaning like some drunkard recently awoken with a mountain of a headache. He looked the part, too, Lily decided watching him cradle his head. No matter, if he was giving her an opening then she would not be so ungrateful as to not take it. She dashed forward, electricity once more jumping between her fingers. 

Arm out-stretched, she lashed out, expecting to meet metal or flesh and see him wracked with lightning again. Only, no such thing happened. She had only moments to register that he had blocked her with the rubbery parts of his arm before pain flared in her left side and she was sent reeling. Jumping back, she sought cover behind a large machine of some description while cursing her own recklessness. She had seen a moment of weakness and just rushed in, and now she paid for it with blood and pain. It wasn't the first time she had done such a thing, and every time she did it in the past she had been admonished for it - not only by her superiors, but by Tsukiko as well. And if there was one thing she feared, it was making that woman mad. 

Resigning herself to being more careful, she went about inspecting her injuries. She still had that cut on her right arm, which was to be expected, as well as an assortment of lesser bruises and scrapes. Her newest additions were at series of cut along her rib cage. The bones kept it shallow and had protected her, but they still bled enough to make her worry. If she did find a way to close the wound, either by cauterization, bandages or thread and needle, she would be in trouble. 

"Come out, come out wherever you are!" the Shark's voice rang out, making Lily jump. That kind of voice coupled with sing song tone like that were eerie at best. 

[i]The fact that he calls out to me instead of going after me tells me that he is either expecting an ambush, or just not want to get in close. So far he has only engaged in melee whenever I have gotten close myself. Conclusion? He is superior at close quarters but prefers to stay at range. He is powerful at range, but so am I. I should stay at range, at least there there's no disadvantage.[/i] 

That decided, Lily ran out of cover. She did it again, and again, and again. Soon there were at least a dozen images of Lily standing hodgepodge around the room, some in plain view, others half in cover, and even some crouched on top of machines and pipes. Brucie looked much as she had expected; confused and unsure where to aim his cannon. 

He knew that all but one were fakes, having blasted through a few of them already during their fight, but even that knowledge could not keep his instincts from screaming at him that he was vastly outnumbered. Sapient though he may have been, she was still very much a shark, and his animalistic side told him that a single shark could not beat twelve beings such as Lily, not at the same time.

Luckily, he was not just a single shark. He was so much more. The remaining three tubes opened on his shoulder, spewing out a rocket each that immediately went for three separate clusters of Lily's, causing each and every one to seek shelter. The rockets exploded causing shrapnel, both metal and not, to fly across the room, ricocheting off of various surfaces, denting and puncturing even some pipes. Only three Lily's remained, and only one of them bled. A flying piece of metal had almost hit her in the eye, and only superhuman reflexes had allowed her to dodge it in time, leaving a bleeding cut across her cheek to show for it.

"There ya are. I can smell yer blood, y'know." Brucie grinned, looking the real Lily straight in the eyes; meeting her glare with as flippant a look as a shark could muster. 

[i]So he can smell my blood?[i] Lily almost smiled. "Good to know," she replied, and threw her hands outwards, covering a large portion of the room in the scent of blood. She wasted no time in getting back into cover, from shadow to shadow in an effort to throw off Brucie. She was successful to an extent, but not completely so as evident by the jets of water hitting places frighteningly close to her, both in front and behind. 

She couldn't afford to get hit. Too much water and her ability to generate friction between her tails would be lost. She jumped behind a thick pipe, coming to an immediate stop but sent forth the sound of a pair of feet running across the concrete floor. Metal groaned and snapped some distance ahead of her, a pipe having been punched clean through by a jet of water, clothes to where the sound of footsteps originated. 

[i]So he is going by sound now? He is working out what I can do. He knows I can mimic smell and create images. He probably suspects that I can also render myself invisible. Not untrue, but he went for the sound.[/i] 

An idea started to form in Lily's mind, one that was sure to earn the ire of Tsukiko were she to ever find out, but nonetheless one that she figured might actually work. 

She let the footsteps continue to circle Brucie, but had a second set split off in the opposite direction. Another set of footsteps sounded from Lily's current position, running out to the left. She didn't stop until six sets of running feet could be heard circling Brucie, both going in and out of shadowy areas. 

[i]Now comes the reckless part.[/i] Lily stepped out of into the open, facing Brucie, and started to slowly make her way towards him - tails undulating behind her. She didn't muffle her own steps or turn herself invisible. She played on his paranoia, on his expectations that the real one was among the phantom sounds surrounding them. Each step saw another ball of cobalt fire wink into existence around her

The shark immediately aimed his arm-mounted gun at her. He looked triumphant for all but a second, before suspicion took hold and his eyes narrowed. "Are you the real one?" he asked, metallic fingers flexing, fidgeting. 

"I am," Lily replied, fighting to keep her expression neutral. It was a gamble, telling him the truth, but hopefully he would take it as further misdirection. So far he had been easily fooled, falling for each and every trick she threw at him. There was no reason he would not beli-

"I believe ya." 

Water rushed at Lily, and once again it was only her superior reflexes that prevented her from sharing the same fate as the metal pipe from earlier. Barely the words had left the shark's mouth before she abandoned all pretence of being an illusion and threw every single bit of fire she had at him. 

Fire and water met in a roar of sound and mist, the resulting explosion sending both of them flying back. Lily ricocheted off of a pipe, landing face down on the concrete floor. 

Brucie had fared somewhat better. Instead of his own body taking the brunt, he had just managed to turn in such a way that has metallic limbs absorbed most of the blast and the resulting collision with the set of stairs.

"That one actually hurt," he groaned. 

The faint sound of Lily's groans echoed his assesment.